False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

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GrandPiano
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

Here's another one: Wolof fukk "ten", English fuck
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by HoskhMatriarch »

GrandPiano wrote:Here's another one: Wolof fukk "ten", English fuck
I've seen that before...
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

:deu: dick "thick, fat", :eng: dick
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

German, man. It's such a dirty langauge (if you speak English).
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Egerius
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Egerius »

:eng: 'thick' vs. :deu: 'fick' 'fuck' (noun)
Even worse if you pronounce /θ/ as /f/... (as I did until class 8).
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Ahzoh »

Then there is :lat: cum.
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

...which only works visually since they aren't pronounced the same.
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Egerius
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Egerius »

Thrice Xandvii wrote:...which only works visually since they aren't pronounced the same.
Except if you're going to the North of England and use the Ecclesiastical pronunciation ([kʊm]) there.
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sangi39
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by sangi39 »

Egerius wrote:
Thrice Xandvii wrote:...which only works visually since they aren't pronounced the same.
Except if you're going to the North of England and use the Ecclesiastical pronunciation ([kʊm]) there.
Indeed. That's how I pronounce the two of them (at least when I switch into my more Yorkshire-y accent). In more "formal" contexts, like at work on the till or on the phone, I pronounce them differently since my accent there has the foot-strut split.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Jackk »

I (West of Manchester) only have the strut-foot split if I'm deliberately affecting a faux-Southern accent, so I do get this false friend, along with (more distressingly) come /kʊm/ cum.

From French:
vicieux "perverted, depraved, nasty" vs. vicious
terram impūram incolāmus
hamteu un mont sug
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

Jackk wrote:[...]along with (more distressingly) come /kʊm/ cum.
Wait... where are those two not pronounced the same?
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Jackk
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Jackk »

Thrice Xandvii wrote:
Jackk wrote:[...]along with (more distressingly) come /kʊm/ cum.
Wait... where are those two not pronounced the same?
I don't know, I can never tell which words have /ʊ/ vs /ʌ/ in dialects with the split. So would both of these be ʌ?

It kinda blew my mind when I found out that some people have the split between put/putt.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by MrKrov »

Jackk wrote:I don't know, I can never tell which words have /ʊ/ vs /ʌ/ in dialects with the split. So would both of these be ʌ?
Sweet baby me, yes of course they would.
GrandPiano
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

Jackk wrote:I don't know, I can never tell which words have /ʊ/ vs /ʌ/ in dialects with the split.
Generally, <u> and <o> correspond to /ʌ/ and <oo> corresponds to /ʊ/. The exceptions just have to be learned, I guess.
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

Jackk wrote:It kinda blew my mind when I found out that some people have the split between put/putt.
I distinguish those! (/pʊt/ and /pʌt/, respectively.) Also: please don't let this turn into an English dialect thread!
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GrandPiano
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

i was under the impression that the put-putt split was standard.

Anyway, back to the original topic:

The (Modern) Greek word for "yes" is ναι /ne/, which is really confusing because the word for "no" starts with /n/ in just about any other European language, so it sounds like it should mean "no".

Also, if you read this page, it says that Early Modern English had a four-way yes/no system. The affirmative answer to positive questions was /jeɪ̯/, spelled either <yea> or <yay>. Both of these can be confusing to speakers of today's Modern English: <yea> looks like <yeah> /jæ/, and <yay> is used nowadays to show excitement about something.
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Jackk
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Jackk »

GrandPiano wrote:i was under the impression that the put-putt split was standard.
Quite possibly it is, I wouldn't know. :)

Anyway, here's one French one that tripped me up last Friday:
avertissement "warning"
publicité "advertisement"
terram impūram incolāmus
hamteu un mont sug
let us live in a dirty world
GrandPiano
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

Adding onto that, the Spanish word for "warning" is aviso or advertencia.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by clawgrip »

GrandPiano wrote:i was under the impression that the put-putt split was standard.

Anyway, back to the original topic:

The (Modern) Greek word for "yes" is ναι /ne/, which is really confusing because the word for "no" starts with /n/ in just about any other European language, so it sounds like it should mean "no".

Also, if you read this page, it says that Early Modern English had a four-way yes/no system. The affirmative answer to positive questions was /jeɪ̯/, spelled either <yea> or <yay>. Both of these can be confusing to speakers of today's Modern English: <yea> looks like <yeah> /jæ/, and <yay> is used nowadays to show excitement about something.
Similarly, Japanese has a word iya meaning "no" when disagreeing with/correcting what someone said. The /i/ is usually dropped, so it sounds nearly identical to "yeah".
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sangi39
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by sangi39 »

GrandPiano wrote:i was under the impression that the put-putt split was standard.
The only place it's not really a feature of English, as far as I'm aware, is Northern England and the Midlands. Pretty much everywhere else has the split.


GrandPiano wrote:The (Modern) Greek word for "yes" is ναι /ne/, which is really confusing because the word for "no" starts with /n/ in just about any other European language, so it sounds like it should mean "no".

Also, if you read this page, it says that Early Modern English had a four-way yes/no system. The affirmative answer to positive questions was /jeɪ̯/, spelled either <yea> or <yay>. Both of these can be confusing to speakers of today's Modern English: <yea> looks like <yeah> /jæ/, and <yay> is used nowadays to show excitement about something.
There's όχι in Greek as well, which I lazily read as /ˌəʊˈki:/, so fairly similar to English "okay".

And the two-way "yes" contrast still trips me up in Icelandic. I know when to use it, but I just forget and trip up [:P]
You can tell the same lie a thousand times,
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.
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