My hovercraft is full of eels.

[masako]

There is already a list of natlangs; http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm , so this thread is for conlangs.

Kala:

kohono nayo te kuamilo yeno
hover.thing 1SG.POSS of eel.PL to.be.full
My hovercraft is full of eels.

[Thakowsaizmu]

Middle Westlagian
Mıȷn Ƿændføcęrſſcapat ær fvlas Ælon
/mi:n vænd.føkʰɛrskʰɑpʰɑtʰ ær fulɑs ælon/
my wind_flying_boat-DEF is full-GEN eel-GENPL

[Toko]

Zelsen:


kuv svay sha loyvat lozhj na tje nje ukaljevj ju
be full (adverb) autoboat hover (description) personal (subject) eel about

[Xing]

Unnamed, experimental, radically head-marking language:

sesomar mersebar isumur irsesok

se-somar
3sN-hover
'It hovers'

mer-se-bar
1s-3sN-own
'I own it'

i-sumur
3p-eel
'They are eels'

ir-se-sok
3s.ERG-3sN-fill
'They fill it'

[DanH34]

Zidhgebzhail - Borrowing 'eels' from English, and using the simplest formation.

baedzvot-vae har-ielyk zhahalOvdinyks

My wind-vehicle is eel-filled.

Spoiler:

baedz-vot-Ø-v-ae har-iel-y-k zha-ha-l-Ovdi-n-y-s
wind-vehicle-ABS.SG.M-1-GEN.SG.M COP1-eel-ABS.M-PL NOMINALISER-PASSIVE-PRFT-fill-SIMPLE-ABS.SG.M-ADJ

[mbrsart]

Unnamed, experimental, radically head-marking language:

sesomar mersebar isumur irsesok

se-somar
3sN-hover
'It hovers'

mer-se-bar
1s-3sN-own
'I own it'

i-sumur
3p-eel
'They are eels'

ir-se-sok
3s.ERG-3sN-fill
'They fill it'

I LOVE this! (scuse me; "Zek iok miarete!")

Anyway...

Hra'anh
E thuchlena ioz ile'zola ze.

Code: Select all

e       thuchl-ena ioz      il-e-zola          ze
ART.DEF hover-NMLZ 1SG.POSS eel-PL-filled.with COP

/ɛ ˈt̪u.ʃə.lɛ.nɑ joz ˈi.lɛ.zo.lɑ zɛ/

[eldin raigmore]

How did I miss this thread until now?

[Ahzoh]

How did I miss this thread until now?

Where does this phrase even come from, and what practical purpose in everyday life does it have?

[Lao Kou]

How did I miss this thread until now?

Gee, I missed it, too, but I was sure I had translated this somewhere before, as there's a word for "hovercraft" in the lexicon (I guessed, wrongly, on the Conlang List), and lo (I gloss slightly differently now, but I translated it the same without peeking, yay! ):

Géarthnuns

Cha hörbulíngíns síten la sük zhangkwöksüf zçenpraz.
[tʃa høɾˈbuliˌŋĩs ˈsitɛn ˈla syk ˌʒa.ŋˈkwøksyf ʑɛnˈpɾaz]
DEF hovercraft-NOM 1SG.POSS.ADJ-NOM AUX.PRES INDEF.PL eel-INSTR.PL be.full
My hovercraft is full of eels.

---

Where does this phrase even come from?

Oh, come now, this is a conlang translation classic! The Tower of Babel, The North Wind and the Sun, Schleicher's fable, and the hovercraft... (Young 'uns, they just don't know the canon anymore. [though, in fairness, I don't know where it actually comes from, either ])

Edit: Okay, I didn't know. Found it. According to Omniglot: "It's possibly the most useful phrase there is, and a handy one to have when you're asked to say something in a language you're learning."

and what practical purpose in everyday life does it have?

You may or may not have noticed that there's a fair amount of non sequiturica over in the translation exercises -- that's a long-standing tradition both here and elsewhere.

[Lambuzhao]

How did I miss this thread until now?

Where does this phrase even come from, and what practical purpose in everyday life does it have?

As a teacher, I will teach you:

Lectura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Hungarian_Phrasebook

Segmento de Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao

Tarea en Casa
http://quiz.thefullwiki.org/Dirty_Hungarian_Phrasebook

[Znex]

How did I miss this thread until now?

Where does this phrase even come from, and what practical purpose in everyday life does it have?

Oh, you're missing out if you haven't watched much Monty Python! It's up there with the greats, such as "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries", "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weaponry is etc. etc.", and "If I were not in the CID, something else I'd like to be; if I were not in the CID, a window cleaner me! With a rub-a-dub-dub, and a scrub-a-dub-dub, and a rub-a-dub all day long; with a rub-a-dub-dub and a scrub-a-dub-dub, I'd sing this merry song".

[Lambuzhao]

I recently showed my son The Holy Grail. He's a pretty with-it and communicative kid, and yet at various points during the film all he could say was "Words fail me". I don't blame him. We both had a good laugh.

[Thrice Xandvii]

What age group is he in?

I think I would've loved if my dad had been more of a geek and shared things like Python: Monty with me when I was growing up. As it was, I spent a lot of time pretending I liked to play catch with him and then going into my bedroom to write "cuneiform" into silly-putty with a paper-clip taped to a pencil!

---

Also... on topic... this translation caused me to make up all kinds of fun and useless vocabulary, as well as make up some useful vocabulary, and perhaps my first irregular verb form:

Wæta wulátatæ æswaλao ítasao halazaosi al'ąswali.
Wæ-tæ wulat-atæ æswaλao-Ø ist-ьa-sao halak-ьaosi al=ąswal-i
1SG-GEN flight-GEN coach-DIR is-3SG.PRS-INST.INDF fill-PTCP ART.PL=eel-OBL
Lit: (A) coach of flight of mine is filled with some eels.

[Iyionaku]

Yélian

Reo casictúi escebit o'maymon.
[rɛɔ ˌkasiːˈtui̯ ɛskɛbɪt oːˈmaʃmɔn]
1SG.POSS hovercraft full-COP.3SG GEN-eel-PL
My hovercraft (lit. pillow ship) flows over of eels.

This is outdated. New version:
Reo casictúi escebit bar maymon.
[rɛɔ ˌkasiːˈtuw ɛskɛbɪt bɐɾ maʃmɔn]

Utseech

Bech luftkiechbooen i wonga aal.
[bɛç ˈlʊftkiːeçboːən iː wɔŋga aːl]
1SG.POSS air-pillow-boat COP-3SG fullof eel-PL
My hovercraft is full of eels.

[All4Ɇn]

Îçlo
I aerogyragno è plèn d'ânghille
[i ä.ɛrod͡ʒiˈrɑːɲo ɛ plɛn̪ d̪ɨˈŋiːl̪e]

[zyma]

Project Jade:

Yãıḵ ɍȝöıġ mâıẖar̄ xãb îɂɔ̃ıḅ daı ƃaır v̈îm.
/jãx˥ ᴙʷo̤ɢ˥ ma̰˥ɦaʟ̆˧ k͡xãb˧ ḭ˧ʔɔ̃b͡v˥ da˥ ʙaɻ˥ ѵḭm/
fish snake many boat air GEN 1 carry
My hovercraft is full of eels.

[Micamo]

Mithara

šiq̓eykʷey̓lkaʔ naka:mi:nač̕t̕uʔx
sh-i-q'ayk-wey'l-ka' na-kaa-miina-ch'-t'u'x
1s.A-REAL-boat-sky-CHAR DIST-INDEF.A-eel-APPL:INST-fill_completely
Lit. My sky-boat, someone filled it up with eels

[Khemehekis]

I already had a word for "hovercraft" (in Kankonian, at least, not in any of my other languages) before I saw this translation challenge.

Anyway, here it is:

Hwushafas na is as wetzan na hakuiles.
hovercraft of 1sg PRS full of eel-PL

[thaen]

Mithara

šiq̓eykʷey̓lkaʔ naka:mi:nač̕t̕uʔx
sh-i-q'ayk-wey'l-ka' na-kaa-miina-ch'-t'u'x
1s.A-REAL-boat-sky-CHAR DIST-INDEF.A-eel-APPL:INST-fill_completely
Lit. My sky-boat, someone filled it up with eels

So Mithara has indefinite articles?

[Micamo]

Mithara

šiq̓eykʷey̓lkaʔ naka:mi:nač̕t̕uʔx
sh-i-q'ayk-wey'l-ka' na-kaa-miina-ch'-t'u'x
1s.A-REAL-boat-sky-CHAR DIST-INDEF.A-eel-APPL:INST-fill_completely
Lit. My sky-boat, someone filled it up with eels

So Mithara has indefinite articles?

Not quite: kaa- is indefinite person, which means "someone/something." Filling the agent slot with this marker is the closest thing Mithara has to a passive voice.

Also, as one of its more idiosyncratic uses, it's used to "agree" with the slot used by the wh-fronted argument:

č šuka:č̕xt
ch s=u-kaa-ch'xt
who Q=IRRL-INDEF.A-kill
Who killed him?

č šaka:wč̕xt
ch s=kaa-u-ch'xt
who Q=INDEF.P-IRRL-kill
Who did he kill?