Calimac's language lessons
Feb. 22nd, 2005 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacI've spent more than minimal time in three countries where English is not the default language. In each country I found it especially useful to know one particular word in the native language.
Netherlands: gesloten. Means "closed." A really useful word to know the meaning of when you see it on a sign in the front door of a public building or museum just as you are about to climb a long flight of stairs to get there.
Germany: Bahnhof. Not much of a cognate for "train station." A really useful word to look for on little city maps when you're traveling around Germany by train.
Italy: basta. Means "enough." A really useful word to say politely to Italian street market vendors who are selling you groceries by weight. An even more useful word to say more sharply to people who without being asked grab your bags on trains and hoist them into the overheads and then expect 20 Euros tip when you're trying to offer them 5.
Of course, even in the United States one may find words that one doesn't encounter at home.
Hawaii: Aloha. Means ... just about anything, actually. Just say it a lot.
(Actually, Aloha was the answer to a riddle I learned when I first moved to Seattle. The riddle was: "How do people who live on Mercer Island say 'Merry Christmas'?")
Here's one that genuinely puzzled me when I first encountered it:
North Carolina: bah. Means "purchase." "Do you wanna bah that?" uttered by a store clerk required a couple reiterations before I could figure out what he was saying.
Netherlands: gesloten. Means "closed." A really useful word to know the meaning of when you see it on a sign in the front door of a public building or museum just as you are about to climb a long flight of stairs to get there.
Germany: Bahnhof. Not much of a cognate for "train station." A really useful word to look for on little city maps when you're traveling around Germany by train.
Italy: basta. Means "enough." A really useful word to say politely to Italian street market vendors who are selling you groceries by weight. An even more useful word to say more sharply to people who without being asked grab your bags on trains and hoist them into the overheads and then expect 20 Euros tip when you're trying to offer them 5.
Of course, even in the United States one may find words that one doesn't encounter at home.
Hawaii: Aloha. Means ... just about anything, actually. Just say it a lot.
(Actually, Aloha was the answer to a riddle I learned when I first moved to Seattle. The riddle was: "How do people who live on Mercer Island say 'Merry Christmas'?")
Here's one that genuinely puzzled me when I first encountered it:
North Carolina: bah. Means "purchase." "Do you wanna bah that?" uttered by a store clerk required a couple reiterations before I could figure out what he was saying.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 07:12 pm (UTC)In Southern Oregon (at least, around where my grandfather-in-law lives), they use "spendy" to mean both "expensive" and "willing to spend a lot."
When we lived in Connecticut in the early '60s, my mother decided to take up her old piano lessons to pass the time. (It was a really small town.) She asked the combination postmaster-general store guy if he knew any piano instructors. He recommended his wife. "I've had twelve years of lessons," she observed, "I need someone pretty good."
"Well," the guy said, "She was head a the Guvna's otts cancel."
"Otts cancel" is the best I can render it. It was an astonishing sound, and it took her several gorounds to figure out it meant "arts council."