Untranslatability

The most difficult word in the world to translate is ilunga, according to a 2004 survey of 1,000 linguists.

The word comes from the Tshiluba language spoken in the southeastern Congo. It means “a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time and to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.”

| Language

Image Problem

Actual names of politicians in the state of Meghalaya, India:

  • Adolf Lu Hitler Marak
  • Lenin R. Marak
  • Stalin L. Nangmin
  • Frankenstein W. Momin
  • Tony Curtis Lyngdoh

Hitler Marak told the Hindustan Times: “Maybe my parents liked the name and hence christened me Hitler. … I am happy with my name, although I don’t have any dictatorial tendencies.”

| Humor · Language

Woof

http://sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=28706

Dog barks around the world:

  • English: woof, woof
  • Albanian: ham, ham
  • Arabic: haw, haw
  • Bulgarian: bau, bau
  • Danish: vov, vov
  • Estonian: auh, auh
  • Farsi: vogh, vogh
  • Finnish: hau, hau
  • French: ouaf, ouaf
  • German: wau, wau
  • Greek: gav, gav
  • Hindi: bho, bho
  • Icelandic: voff, voff
  • Italian: bau, bau
  • Japanese: wan, wan
  • Korean: mung, mung
  • Latvian: vau, vau
  • Mandarin Chinese: wang, wang
  • Norwegian: voff, voff
  • Polish: hau, hau
  • Romanian: ham, ham
  • Russian: gav, gav
  • Spanish: guau, guau
  • Swedish: voff, voff
  • Thai: hoang, hoang

Robert Benchley wrote, “A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down.”

| Language · Trivia

“Dedicated to the Art of Mocking Public Works”

http://www.swanksigns.org/view.asp&ID=225

What does this mean? Who knows? Here are some guesses, from the readers at Swanksigns:

  • The happy, smiling sun will kill your puppy.
  • Don’t let your puppy drive in the sunshine.
  • This combo may turn dog into looming castle.
  • Do not let your dog drive into the sun, or they will be killed with green fire.
  • Attention! Dogs will drive to the beach on sunny days.
  • Car-driving dogs make the sun happy and then they die.
  • Warning: Car-driving dogs in sunlight may cause harmful power plant exposure.
| Humor · Language