Now You're Speakin' My Language (or Dialect)

[Janelle]

The only sandpaper I know is for woodwork. I’d assume it’s exaggeration or a joke without seeing the full context.

[CBRetriever]

thanks, I had thought maybe there was some kind of cloth used for abrading a wound, but wasn't sure. I was able to find the other words I didn't know like

Duco
lamington
rego
koori
gubba
ambos
B-double
globe
golliwog (I knew the US definition for this which seems to be the same as the Australian one)

please tell me if any of these are offensive and I'll edit my post

[Janelle]

Duco is the paint on a car.
Lamington is a cake, coated in chocolate and dipped in coconut.
Rego is short for car registration.
Koori is an aboriginal word for aboriginal people,mostly south east Australia.
I don’t know gubba
Ambos is short for ambulance drivers and paramedics.
B-double is a big truck, pulling two trailers.
Globe? What context? Light globe maybe. Or a model of the earth globe.
Golliwog I would assume is the same use, probably racist.

[Jacqueline]

I was thinking that the sandpaper could be what it felt like when they were cleaning out the wound.

[Jacqueline]

Gubba is used by aboriginal Australians for white man. Came from “government man” apparently.

Lamingtons are lovely. Squares of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut. Yummy.

Yeah golliwogs are those black dolls with fluffy hair. They’ve changed their names to Scallywags I believe. Probably used as some sort of racist remark if there is aboriginal slang in there as well.

[Anna]

CBR, are these from Resurrection Bay? Nice to have a glossary before I start, thanks! :D

(I knew Lamington, but that's the only one.)

[CBRetriever]

Anna wrote: "CBR, are these from Resurrection Bay? Nice to have a glossary before I start, thanks! :D

(I knew Lamington, but that's the only one.)"

yes they are - it's being discussed here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

I'm planning on buying the next book in the series and reading it too.

[Leonie]

CBRetriever wrote: "To Jacqueline and the other Australians here, I've been stumped by one word in a mystery book set in Australia - perhaps you could help?

the main character is getting a wound inspected/cleaned by ..."

I reckon it's hyperbole, and basically just describing what it feels like to have a wound debrided.

And lamingtons are delicious!

[Jacqueline]

That’s what I meant...what Leonie said.

[Anna]

What do you call (hot) chocolate/cocoa and chocolate milk and where are you from? Both the hot and the cold beverage, and is there a difference in what it's called depending on how it's made/served?

In Finnish it's 'kaakao', and we add 'kuuma' (hot) or 'kylmä' (cold) in front when necessary. Usually it can be deduced from the context, like for example if you're coming in from the cold you're likely wanting a hot drink. Kaakao is also the name of the plant (cacao), and sometimes also a flavor.

I think about this a lot! :D It started when I was in Budapest years ago, and wanted a hot chocolate. I tried ordering 'hot chocolate', 'hot cocoa', 'chocolate milk but hot', and probably some other variations, before I frustratedly exclaimed in Finglish that "I just want some kaakao!" and the server immediately understood me :D (It's 'kakaó' in Hungarian.)

For those who just call it chocolate, how do you know if someone is craving a drink or something to nibble on? :)

[CBRetriever]

In the US it's

hot chocolate = hot drink (Chocolat Chaud in French)
chocolate = food
chocolate milk = cold drink
iced chocolate = very rare in the US but has no milk and no sweetener so it's more like iced coffee

and I always have to tell them to leave the whipped cream off the hot chocolate (I hate the stuff as it's mishy in my mouth)

French Chocolat Chaud >>>>> very much >>>> US hot chocolate

[Anna]

CBR yes those are the terms I'm used to in English! I've never heard of iced chocolate! Is it a water based drink? Cocoa powder and water, like an instant coffee? Sounds... not very good XD

[Nicol]

I’ve always said abuelita which is the brand name of the hot chocolate 😂😂😂.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

We have Chocolat chaud, we call it drinking chocolate. It's a high fat solid chocolate or semi-solid chocolate that you add hot cream to. Cocoa and hot chocolate are usually the same, though sometimes cocoa is less sweet and more cocoa powder forward. They're both thinner, sweeter and have some amount of water or lighter milk in them.

If someone just said "I want chocolate" or "cold chocolate" I would assume they want a bar of chocolate, and perhaps cold. Hot chocolate and drinking chocolate require the descriptor word to clarify.

The iced chocolate I've seen is literally just hot chocolate made with hot water that you then pour over ice to make it colder lol. It's chocolatey and sweet and cold. I usually go iced mocha if I'm goin that way, but I guess if you don't like coffee it's a good option?

[Anna]

But is the cocoa powder used for iced chocolate the dark pure kind, or does it have sugar added? I assume sugared since you said sweet, pure dark cocoa powder isn't exactly something I'd drink with water for enjoyment!

Nicol, haha, that's actually kind of cute :)

edit: Nevermind, sigh, I don't know why I didn't google it already, now I have! :D It looks to me like chocolate milk with ice, but maybe with less milk and sugar?

edit2: Essentially what I mean is that cacao/cocoa powder is 100% cacao and it's bitter and dark, excellent for baking and yes you can make (hot) chocolate (milk) with it but you'd add milk and sugar. And then you have drinking cocoa powder, which is roughly 80% sugar and 20% cocoa powder. So I'm assuming that iced chocolate is made with the latter?

edit3: Just wanted to add that I promised myself I'd go to sleep early today and here I am at 4am discussing this very important matter! :P

[Mary]

CBRetriever wrote: "In the US it's

hot chocolate = hot drink (Chocolat Chaud in French)
chocolate = food
chocolate milk = cold drink
iced chocolate = very rare in the US but has no milk and no sweetener so it's more ..."

Here in the US we call the first both "hot chocolate" and "cocoa."

Much to the shock of small children who get into the baking cocoa and begin to eat.

[CBRetriever]

Anna wrote: "But is the cocoa powder used for iced chocolate the dark pure kind, or does it have sugar added? I assume sugared since you said sweet, pure dark cocoa powder isn't exactly something I'd drink with..."

actually the iced chocolate I had was not sweetened at all and had no milk - I think I actually had it in the UK. Here are a couple of recipes for it

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/216...
https://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/rec...
http://meltingmug.blogspot.com/2013/0...

[Phrynne]

Last time I had an iced chocolate in Aussie it was chocolate milk with two big scoops of vanilla icecream in it, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. It was definitely sweet:)

[Anna]

Sounds like iced chocolate can be pretty much anything 😄

[Jacqueline]

Anna wrote: "Sounds like iced chocolate can be pretty much anything 😄"

Yep some sort of chocolate drink that is iced pretty much.

[Andres]

I thought iced chocolate was made with syrup and hot chocolate was made with powder. Shows how much I know.

[Anna]

How do people laugh in text in your language? I remember when I first saw "kekekeke" I was *so confused* until someone explained it's laughing. In Finnish Keke is a man's nickname, and seeing it several times immediately makes me think of a very annoying song* about Keke Rosberg**.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umSdn...
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keke_Ro...

In Finnish I use several kinds of text laughing:

haha - the same as in English
hehe - pretty much the same I guess, but less enthusiastic?
hihi - giggling, I think I only use it when I'm being annoying

( I guuuueeeesss you could also laugh in hoho, but I would never!)

hähä - more of a neener type thing or mean laugh
muah - mwahaha

And of course they can be as long as you want them to be, and the number of vowels/consonants doesn't matter. Just keep bashing the keyboard until your body feels it's enough :P

And to cover all the other vowels paired with h:

huh - whew
hyh - eww (more likely hyi)
höh - bummer, that sucks

[Leticia]

In Portuguese it would be kkkk (ka ka ka - laughs) or rsrs (shortening for risos- smiles)

[Anna]

Interesting! I haven't ever seen rsrs!

[YouKneeK]

I pretty much just use haha, but it was interesting to learn about other versions! In the U.S. I've seen hehe on rare occasions, which I always interpreted as more of a silly laugh, along with "tee hee". I've also seen "mwahaha" for the evil laugh. I've only seen "hoho" by people trying to imitate Santa Claus! I'd never seen hähä, but I’m pretty sure that’s what Ernest uses. :) Hihi was new to me also.

I would not have thought of “huh” and “whew” as the same thing. What do they mean when used in Finland? Below are the ways I would define them:

huh – Depending on the context and the tone of voice used, I can think of 3 meanings: 1) An expression of confusion. (It could be either something more dramatic: "Huh?! What just happened?!" or it might just be used as a very informal way to ask somebody to repeat something you didn't hear properly.) 2) A thoughtful reaction to something unexpected. “Huh, that’s interesting.” 3) A solicitation for agreement. “The sunset sure is beautiful, huh?”

whew – An expression of relief. “Whew, I finally finished that horrible book!” or "Whew, I finally finished typing this excessively long post!"

[Anna]

We say 'huh' when you say 'whew', meaning the exact same thing.

Huh in English:

1) Hä(h)?

2) Ai(jaa)? Aha(a)? Hmm?

3) No h related sound :D We'd say 'eikö' or 'vai mitä? meaning 'isn't it' or' don't you agree'

And when you say 'aha!' as in light bulb moment, we probably say 'aaaaaaa!' or 'ahaaaaaa!'

Of course there are lots of other things that could be said, these are just the first ones that came to mind. And the pronunciation isn't at all what you'd think, but I'm really bad at trying to explain those! :D

[YouKneeK]

Very interesting Anna, thank you! And I will now add “huh” to my mental list of words that may not convey what I intend to say if I use them in a multinational setting, and may not mean what I think they mean if somebody else uses them. :)

In real life, I’m more likely to say “aaaaaaah” or “ooooooh” in a light bulb moment. I think I’ve been known to type “aha”, but I don’t really use it verbally unless I’m being sarcastic.

[Anna]

The u in 'huh' is pronounced like the o in 'who', the way you say huh in English sounds like 'ha' in Finnish :D No need to avoid it!

Like this: https://translate.google.com/?sl=fi&a...

[DivaDiane]

I’ve sung in Finnish a couple of times and the language couch said the vowels are like in Italian (and just longer if doubled) except the umlauted ones which are the same as German (sorry if that is overly simplistic!). So, huh in Finnish would be pronounced like hoo/who in English and hihi = heehee. Right?

[Anna]

Diane, yeah that sounds about right!

[Anna]

And I still want to know how other languages laugh! :)

[Mel]

In Japanese we add (笑) the character for "warau" to laugh to the end of a sentence.
But more commonly on the internet you'll see ”wwwwww,” also for warau.

There is also manga-style representative laughter
ははorハハ = haha
へへ　＝　hehe
ふふorフフフ　＝fufufu or huhuhu, either a tittering, or evil laugh

My laptop automatically selects these emoji options for "fufufu"
( *´艸｀)
(*￣▽￣)ﾌﾌﾌｯ♪

[Anna]

I think I've seen wwwww and had no idea what it meant :D

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

In French there's hihi, mdr (meurt de rire, like lol but with drama) and then all the american ones.

Whew is fiou
Um is bin (pronounced ban)
Huh? is Uh?
And then my favorite, they just say quoi, which is what? but they add some stank on it, so it's just kwAH??? Which is like huh? and "wtf are you talking about?" in one squack.
And oh! is either "aaahhh okay!" or "HO!"

[Jemppu]

Anna wrote: "... 3) No h related sound :D We'd say 'eikö' or 'vai mitä? meaning 'isn't it' or' don't you agree' ..."

Have to add the literal meaning of these (because I can):

"Eikö" = "No?"
(Ei = no, while -kö = suffix for inquiry - rather like Japanese か).

"Vai mitä?" = "Or what?"



(Loving this topic, btw - but I suppose that is true for the whole of this thread).

[Anna]

Yep, this is one of my favorite threads! :D

[Jemppu]

Melissa wrote: "... My laptop automatically selects these emoji options for "fufufu"
( *´艸｀)
(*￣▽￣)ﾌﾌﾌｯ♪..."

Had to check what my phone/google recommend for fufufu:
(ΦωΦ)ﾌﾌﾌ…

...which I have never used. (But I have long loved the fact that Japanese is so readily fluent with iconography beyond your usual written language, and has such creative use of any available characters - no doubt thanks in great part for its innate use of several writing systems in conjuncture anyways - an inspiringly malleable form of written communication).

[The Joy of Erudition]

Regarding "kekeke", I want to mention that in World of Warcraft, when someone from the Horde types "lol" in chat, it gets "translated" to Alliance players as "kek".

[Anna]

Kek :D

I hope I remember to start using that irl!

[Beth]

Anna wrote: "hehe - pretty much the same I guess, but less enthusiastic?"

I'm not a fan of this one, because it isn't clear whether it's supposed to be a chuckle (i.e. heh heh) or a titter (i.e. hee hee). Of course it's faster to type than either of the others, so is used more often in chats.

YouKneeK wrote: "in a light bulb moment. I think I’ve been known to type “aha”, but I don’t really use it verbally unless I’m being sarcastic."

Same here. Maybe it's supposed to be an onomatopoeia of that kind of moment? irl I'd be more likely to say "I see" or "oh yeah" or something similar.

The Joy of Erudition wrote: "Regarding "kekeke", I want to mention that in World of Warcraft, when someone from the Horde types "lol" in chat, it gets "translated" to Alliance players as "kek"."

On the proper faction's side, by which I mean the Horde ;) the opposition's lol is "bur."

[Emmett]

In Thai, the number five is pronounced like "ha", so when people laugh over text, they just write '5555555'. Which I love, personally 😆

In Vietnamese, you can see haha, kaka, kkk... all laughing sounds. Or if someone is writing a cutesy 'hehe', they might write 'ahihi'. And their 'ugh'/sigh sound is written as 'haizzz'.

[Anna]

5!

Haizzz sounds fun to say, although I'm not sure if I'm saying it correctly.

[Nicol]

In Spanish I’ll use jaja and in English lol but honestly I use 😂or 🤣 now most of of the time so it’s more of a return to glyphs like my ancestors 😂😂. And I feel like just as some words in Spanish don’t translate to English or vice versa some like 😒 (which is my favorite) don’t translate to verbal 😂. And if you asked me 10 or 15 years ago if I would communicate in this way I would have thought that was crazy 😜!

[Anna]

Jaja makes sense to me, and I've seen it, but I can't help hearing it as 'yaya', because J in Finnish is pronounced like that :)

And of course that always makes me think of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which I have not read :D

[Jemppu]

Emmett wrote: "In Thai, the number five is pronounced like "ha", so when people laugh over text, they just write '5555555'. Which I love, personally 😆..."

Excellent! I love this :D

(Oh. On the same vein, one could count in Finnish like "1 2 3 4 5 🎄 7 8 9"... or decorate a 'Christmas 6')


The Joy of Erudition wrote: "Regarding "kekeke", I want to mention that in World of Warcraft, when someone from the Horde types "lol" in chat, it gets "translated" to Alliance players as "kek"."

Cute :D

[Ed]

The Joy of Erudition wrote: "Regarding "kekeke", I want to mention that in World of Warcraft, when someone from the Horde types "lol" in chat, it gets "translated" to Alliance players as "kek"."

Apparently kekeke also works in Korean (ㅋㅋㅋ) and Japanese (けけけ).

[Anna]

I think I've shared the "kuusi palaa" thing before?

Yes, here it is.

[CBRetriever]

reminds me of an exercise we did in one of my French classes where we all had to say what our language uses for the sound of a rooster crowing. Cock-a-doodle-doo wond hands down for the weirdest. Cocorico is the French version

[Anna]

Yes, animal sounds are weird in all languages! (Except your native language, of course.)

[Anna]

Hmm, I guess human laughter is an animal sound :)