Foreign Language Word of the Day

[Carol]

Hey you leave Charly out of this and Ben also.(manically laughing as she trips out of sight)

[Savvy]

[image error]

CAPYBARA---WORLD'S LARGEST RODENT

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Ama...

[Ken, Moderator]

Cute. For a rodent.

Me, I love muskrats.

[Carol]

You're going to need a bigger boat.

[John]

David wrote: "A word from Spanish 1 or 2: ratazanas, "big fecking rats," with an unusual augmentative, pejorative as the often are in Spanish.



Most of the pictures refer to Brazilian sites. Maybe it's a Portu..."

In India, a friend and I saw what we thought was a hedgehog; a couple of minutes later, we realized (independently) that it'd been a rat.

[Ken, Moderator]

Them Indian rats are "corn-fed," as we say of many Americans these days.

[Sarah]

I would like to contribute the German word "Arschbombe," which is the cannonball style of jumping into the pool. Literally I bet you can figure it out.

[Carol]

Hee Hee I like that one S. You are right not hard to figure out.

[Ruth]

Heehee.

[Ken, Moderator]

We've all known a few over the years (arschbombes, that is).

[Savvy]

kinda fits right in with the 'word for a day' I posted a little while ago....DUMBASSERY!

[Carol]

ayep

[David]

Tunnelbana--Swedish for "subway" or "underground." A beautiful sounding word that makes sense.

[Ken, Moderator]

Similar to Deutschland's autobahn.

[David]

Same root, but not the same route.

[Ken, Moderator]

I say "root" as in "root beer," but when I say "paper route," I pronounce it paper "rowt."

If you can explain why, you're a better man than I (not that this is unusual, given my proclivities and anticlivities).

[David]

Because you have the loot, and I'm a lout?

[Ruth]

Ain't it de troot, said the trout.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Philistines! Rout (rowt) without the 'e'; route (root) with the 'e'.......because the first is English and the second is French.....different meanings of course!!

[David]

Well, Happy New Year, antipodeans!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Hrrumph! ;-)
....and many more!! (new years)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Oh! Of course...I am in 2010 and you aren't yet?

[David]

11 hrs. 51 minutes

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Gosh....that's a while to wait! It's been 2010 here for 9 hours already....

[Ken, Moderator]

It's 4:15 p.m. here on the Right Coast and I rec'd permission from the Even Bettyr Wyfe to go to bed before midnight. (Thank Zeus.)

Paper "rowt" is a colloquial New England thingy, kind of like the negative positive ("I speak funny and so doesn't he.")

[David]

Have a swig of Moxie for me, willya?

[Ken, Moderator]

Mmm. Said to cure hangovers. Ted Williams hawked it. I wonder if it cures brain freeze?

[Ruth]

Newengland wrote: "Paper "rowt" is a colloquial New England thingy, kind of like t..."

We have paper rowts in California, too.

[Ken, Moderator]

Only no kids deliver them anymore. It's all adults with suspect cars chucking bound-in-plastic-bag news out their windows at the end of your driveway.

And to think, I used to drop papers between the front and the storm doors. Now that was SERVICE (for a dime tip, typically).

[Ruth]

Newengland wrote: "Only no kids deliver them anymore. It's all adults with suspect cars chucking bound-in-plastic-bag news out their windows at the end of your driveway.

And to think, I used to drop papers between ..."

A few days ago our adult in suspect car gave us the Orange County Register instead of the LA Times. Shudder.

[Carol]

I didn't like the suspects hanging around so I canceled them all. I live in the Dark Ages. I don't have a foreign word today .What is a word for very tired. I thought people didn't go out anymore. Everyone wanted their hair done.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

fatigued (French origins)

[Ken, Moderator]

I feel wiped out (fatigué) as well. Been getting headaches this week (never do, usually) and just feeling tired all the time. Holiday rush? Let's hope so, because today the Good Wyfe and I waste devote the day to taking down the damned lovely Christmas tree and packing all the Christmas decorations back into boxes for the cellar. That's 2 out of 11 days off wasted devoted to putting up and taking down Christmas.

But I forget my yearly joke resolution (already): No Whining.

[[deleted user]]

excess of carbs and cabin fever = aches in head

Brisk walk with gulps of freshest coldest air is a pleasing antidote :-)

Farewell NE's Christmas tree *waves*

[Carol]

I am enjoying the brisk air and the Rose Parade, and going to watch Ohio Buckeye's wipe the field with Oregon Ducks. Quack Quack on TV

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Yes NE....what Apple said....works a treat. My tree is still up....I put it up ALONE!!! But I am waiting for my daughter to get back from the beach to help me pack it away....

[[deleted user]]

That's not fun Debbie :-(
It's nice to put up a Christmas trees with 'someone'
Hope you don't take it down alone
*makes a wish for Debbie*
:-)

[Ken, Moderator]

The mess is gone. Only we left the window lights out for the Wise 'Uns to find their way. Those come down on Twelfth Night.

[Carol]

The circle of a lamp light upon the snow ,guides the children home.
From their journeys far and wide, I leave the lamp aglow.
In hopes the rope of love tethers them loosely, to my heart.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Beautiful......

[Carol]

Thanks! I was feeling maudlin last evening, missing my kids too much.

[[deleted user]]

Such heartfelt lines Carol, it's lovely. :-)
Lucky kids.

[Ken, Moderator]

And here I'm waiting for old, hairy-legged men named Balthasar, Melchior, and Vern (bearing -- or maybe moosing, for all I know -- gifts). I like Carolakittykat's lights much more, on third thought).

[Carol]

Thanks,but they were rich as all get out. I would like a little Gold , Frankincense and Myrrh this year, please.

[Ken, Moderator]

Um, Vern is bringing nachos and dip.

[Carol]

Cheez whiz in a can and crackers in a pack.

[Sarah]

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT!!!!

Here are a couple German words that make me laugh:
1. Mutterkuchen, literally it means "mother cake," but it's actually the word for "placenta."
2. Brustwarze, literally "breast wart," but actually the word for "nipple."

Okay, now that I've ruined your breakfast....

[Ruth]

Hee!

[David]

German has very active compounding, often with Germanic roots. Sometimes the results seem odd to us.

Bra=Büstenhalter
Glove=Handschuh

Then there is Mark Twain's Allgemeinekonstantioplisherdoodlesachspielersbund--the general society of Constantinople bagpipe players.

[grebrim]

The German word for blank gun is Schreckschusspistole. I love the onomatopoeic quality of it.