False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
"áss" beam or pole compared to ass
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
So Borat is actually Cornish, not Kazakh?GrandPiano wrote: :cor: hwor /ʍɔr/ [ʍɔɹ~ʍɔɾ] "sister" - whore
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
-JRR Tolkien
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
I believe the from in Akkadian is /ʃi/.Creyeditor wrote:Hausa: shi "3SG.M" she "3SG.F"
The first one is especially cool, if Hebrew 3SG.F is really 'hi', because they are both Afro-Asiatic.
<mi> /mi/ "what" and :heb: /mij/ "who"
:eus: <baina> "but" <байна> "is, am, are"
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
-JRR Tolkien
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
sex "six" sex
disco "I learn" disco
ānus "ring" ănus "old woman" anus
fac "make!" fuck
dic "say!" dick
disco "I learn" disco
ānus "ring" ănus "old woman" anus
fac "make!" fuck
dic "say!" dick
Native: | Intermediate: | Basic:
Studied: (+all of the above)
Willing to study: :heb:
(Linguistic noob, fear not to correct me)
Studied: (+all of the above)
Willing to study: :heb:
(Linguistic noob, fear not to correct me)
- WeepingElf
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
I've been told about a school in England where the words AUDIO VIDEO DISCO are written above the door.G64 wrote: disco "I learn" disco
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- Creyeditor
- MVP
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
:ces: turista tourist turista To chatter.
Creyeditor
"Thoughts are free."
Produce, Analyze, Manipulate
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Ook & Omlűt & Nautli languages & Sperenjas
Papuan languages, Morphophonology, Lexical Semantics
"Thoughts are free."
Produce, Analyze, Manipulate
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Ook & Omlűt & Nautli languages & Sperenjas
Papuan languages, Morphophonology, Lexical Semantics
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
Hmm, there's more to it than "chatter". It's most commonly used in the phrase "totta turiset", which is more or less "what you say is true" in the sense "I agree with what you said" which has no implications of pointlessness like "chatter" does, but on its own it doesn't always necessarily even mean actual speech and can be dismissive, like "mitä sä turiset?" eg. "what are you babbling?".Creyeditor wrote: :ces: turista tourist turista To chatter.
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- mayan
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
pasta "cake" pasta
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
German <Sehr> "a lot; much; very" and Aramaic /ze.ɛr/ "small; short". This is even more confusing when you realize the Yiddish cognate to the German has an alveolar rhotic at the end, and that Ashkenazim often elide the /ɛ/ in /ze.ɛr/.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
-JRR Tolkien
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
Yiddish/Hebrew /nɪgun/ "A tune; A specific kind of Jewish folk music" English N***er.
You have no idea how many times I've been accused of racism over use of /nɪgun/.
You have no idea how many times I've been accused of racism over use of /nɪgun/.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
-JRR Tolkien
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
Also, doesn't Chinese have /nika/ <niga>Shemtov wrote:Yiddish/Hebrew /nɪgun/ "A tune; A specific kind of Jewish folk music" English N***er.
You have no idea how many times I've been accused of racism over use of /nɪgun/.
Spoiler:
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- mayan
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
<那个/那個> nèi ge [neɪ̯˥˩ kɤ̆˩~neɪ̯˥˩ gɤ̆˩]. See the OP.qwed117 wrote:Also, doesn't Chinese have /nika/ <niga>Shemtov wrote:Yiddish/Hebrew /nɪgun/ "A tune; A specific kind of Jewish folk music" English N***er.
You have no idea how many times I've been accused of racism over use of /nɪgun/.
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- mayan
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
ask and ass
It seems to be pretty common to pronounce "asked" as "assed", but people rarely notice because of how common it is.
It seems to be pretty common to pronounce "asked" as "assed", but people rarely notice because of how common it is.
- Thrice Xandvii
- runic
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
Also unrelated, but not as humorous, is ser to be.Shemtov wrote:German <Sehr> "a lot; much; very" and Aramaic /ze.ɛr/ "small; short". This is even more confusing when you realize the Yiddish cognate to the German has an alveolar rhotic at the end, and that Ashkenazim often elide the /ɛ/ in /ze.ɛr/.
If you say so. But I don't think I've heard it said that way. "Aks," though? Yep.GrandPiano wrote: ask and ass
It seems to be pretty common to pronounce "asked" as "assed", but people rarely notice because of how common it is.
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- mayan
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
The reason I thought of that pair is because I noticed myself doing it today. In informal speech, if you're not careful, it's not that hard to let /skt/ become /st/ (another option, of course, is metathesize it to /kst/, but I'm fairly certain that never happens in my idiolect).Thrice Xandvii wrote:If you say so. But I don't think I've heard it said that way. "Aks," though? Yep.GrandPiano wrote: ask and ass
It seems to be pretty common to pronounce "asked" as "assed", but people rarely notice because of how common it is.
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- mayan
- Posts: 2080
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- Location: USA
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
I don't think this one's been mentioned yet:
poisson "fish" - poison
poisson "fish" - poison
- alynnidalar
- greek
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
I go a step further and elide the /t/ in a lot of cases, I think, which results in the two pronunciations being exactly the same for me!GrandPiano wrote:The reason I thought of that pair is because I noticed myself doing it today. In informal speech, if you're not careful, it's not that hard to let /skt/ become /st/ (another option, of course, is metathesize it to /kst/, but I'm fairly certain that never happens in my idiolect).Thrice Xandvii wrote:If you say so. But I don't think I've heard it said that way. "Aks," though? Yep.GrandPiano wrote: ask and ass
It seems to be pretty common to pronounce "asked" as "assed", but people rarely notice because of how common it is.
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
I think sometimes I say [sk̚t], so the /k/ is barely noticeable.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
-JRR Tolkien
- Thrice Xandvii
- runic
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
You know, it's funny, but I just spent a bit today trying to notice this, and the /k/ does get dropped a fair bit. I think I might have been overextending what you said to imply that some people say "ask" as "ass" which I certainly have never heard. So, either it was a reading comprehension fail on my part, or some other sort of misinterpretation.GrandPiano wrote:The reason I thought of that pair is because I noticed myself doing it today. In informal speech, if you're not careful, it's not that hard to let /skt/ become /st/ (another option, of course, is metathesize it to /kst/, but I'm fairly certain that never happens in my idiolect).
Either way, you appear to be right.
Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences
gift - Gift "poison"GrandPiano wrote:I don't think this one's been mentioned yet:
poisson "fish" - poison
I feel like this one's prolly been done already though.
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Conlangs: Hawntow, Yorkish, misc.
she/her
Conlangs: Hawntow, Yorkish, misc.
she/her