Did you know that...? (language trivia) (Philological Room) Language Learning Forum

Did you know that...? (language trivia)
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Language Learning Forum : Philological Room

90 messages over 12 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 11 12

Gibba
Triglot
Newbie
Sweden
Joined 5325 days ago
1 posts - 2 votes
Speaks: English, Norwegian
Studies: Polish, German, Swedish*

Message 89 of 90

16 March 2011 at 2:42pm | IP Logged

The Swedish word for housewife (Hemmafru) wasn't an official word until the 1950's. This was due to changes in society and women starting to work. Up until that time, it had been the norm for women to be housewives, therefore it was felt there was no need to have a title for it.
(A little tip for anyone interested in the Swedish language: I recommend Fredrik Lindström's books. He has written many books about Swedish and the litte-known facts. He also does stand-up and TV programs on the subject. Very entertaining!)

Edited by Gibba on 23 March 2011 at 5:58pm
2 persons have voted this message useful

Lady Sycamore
Newbie
United States
Joined 5000 days ago
1 posts - 2 votes
Speaks: English

Message 90 of 90

23 March 2011 at 6:48am | IP Logged

ReachingOut wrote:

In English, the word LEVEL can be written backwards and is still the same word.

In Italian the same is true for I TOPI NON AVEVANO NIPOTI (the mice didn't have grandsons)

On a fountain at Hagia Sofia in Istanbul there is the inscription "Νίψον ανομήματα μη μόναν όψιν" (clean your sins, not just your face) which also reads backwards.

On a lighter note, in Romania you might be invited to the table to eat crap. This is not what you think it is, but a kind of fish!
Also, Romanian has a word with three vowels the same in a row: COPIII meaning the children. COPII with just two Is(????) is stressed on the last syllable and means children, not to be confused with COPII stressed on the first syllable which means copies.
Confused?

Re: Romanian crap, I found a recipe online for "Saramura de Crap" which I giggled over for 15 minutes because I misread it. If you omit the "ra" it sounds like "some-more-of-the-crap" which in my household is common terminology for leftovers. ;)
2 persons have voted this message useful

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