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Poll: Do you have a favorite word in each of your languages? Please share!
Autor de la hebra: ProZ.com Staff
Lisa Roberts
Lisa Roberts  Identity Verified
Francia
Local time: 05:22
español al inglés
+ ...
Thanks Lisa! Mar 1, 2008

Lisa Nottmeyer wrote:

Lisa Roberts wrote:

I'm not a German speaker, but when I went to Berlin last year I was equally taken and amused by the word 'Choos' (Bye)...perhaps more to do with the intonation...




I know from Spanish friends that the word definitely has some fascination for non-German-speakers ... but it´s spelled in a different way:

I hope you don´t mind if I correct it ...



Tschüs ! Tschüß ! or Tschö !

Best

Lisa

[Edited at 2008-03-01 12:29]


Not at all...I feared I might have spelt it wrong


 
Graciela Fondo
Graciela Fondo  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:22
inglés al español
SMOOTH - HARSH Mar 1, 2008

A word I love in English is "smooth". It has a sound that really conveys its meaning (at least, for me).

On the contrary, "harsh" gives me the exact idea of its meaning.


 
Rebecca Garber
Rebecca Garber  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:22
Miembro 2005
alemán al inglés
+ ...
my faves: Mar 1, 2008

English: corrigble. I actually learned incorrigible first, but the idea of being corriged was too much fun.
German: doppeltgemoppelt, because it's fun
Middle High German: lîb and ûzerwelter degen, from the *Nibelungenlied*. Long story.
Latin: pulchera, because no word for beauty should sound that ugly...


 
JPW (X)
JPW (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 04:22
español al inglés
+ ...
Here's mine Mar 1, 2008

My favourite word has got to be the Irish word for buttermilk:

Bláthach

If any of you have ever drunk buttermilk, then spat it out instantly, saying 'blaaagh!!!' then you've pretty much got the pronunciation (and taste) down to a tee.

[Note: buttermilk is sour milk used for baking. There are idiots who drink the stuff in this country]



 
Maryse Trevithick
Maryse Trevithick  Identity Verified
España
Local time: 05:22
inglés al árabe
+ ...
love them Mar 1, 2008

English: Goodness gracious, delicious

Spanish: Me encanta


 
Nicole Schnell
Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos
Local time: 20:22
inglés al alemán
+ ...
In Memoriam
Labbeduddel (German regional dialect) and persnickety Mar 1, 2008

"Labbeduddel" describes someone who has about the verve and the energy of a wet noodle. It sounds awfully cute in German and I guess I love this word because that's how my mom used to call our good old dog.

Persnickety simply sounds hilarious.

I love this poll!


 
Rocio Barrientos
Rocio Barrientos  Identity Verified
Bolivia
Local time: 23:22
Miembro
inglés al español
+ ...
One more...Paideia Mar 1, 2008

Nicole Schnell wrote:

I love this poll!



I agree with Nicole, this is a great poll.

One more favorite word: "Paideia"

It may be greek in origin; I understand paideia as "learning" to be intuitive, as learning to grasp, apprehend. I understand it as a different dimension of learning.....

This is how the dictionary defines it:

paideia
n. education aimed at forming an enlightened, mature mind.

[Edited at 2008-03-01 18:36]


 
PoveyTrans (X)
PoveyTrans (X)

Local time: 04:22
alemán al inglés
A few more Mar 1, 2008

Russian: звукоподражательный, ощущать (love the double -sch sound), черепаха (as a young student of Russian for some reason I got this word stuck in my head as перечаха which used to cause my host family in Russia much amusement), толстый (the family dog's nickname)

Croatian: ćevapčići (love making the -čići sound)

German: Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften (as students of German, we used to trail through the di
... See more
Russian: звукоподражательный, ощущать (love the double -sch sound), черепаха (as a young student of Russian for some reason I got this word stuck in my head as перечаха which used to cause my host family in Russia much amusement), толстый (the family dog's nickname)

Croatian: ćevapčići (love making the -čići sound)

German: Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften (as students of German, we used to trail through the dictionaries looking for amusing words and nominate a word of the week which we had to try and use as often as possible, however obtuse the direction we would try to steer the conversation in to get the word in - this one sticks out as causing us great hilarity ... the others are more well known false friends which particularly appealed to younger minds for their double-entendre qualities but shouldn't be repeated here.)

French: la lotte, les rostbifs

Swedish: lek (meaning to play, only because we use it in Yorkshire dialect, a linguistic relic of Scandanavian settlers centuries ago)

[Edited at 2008-03-01 19:05]
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Noni Gilbert Riley
Noni Gilbert Riley
España
Local time: 05:22
español al inglés
+ ...
Not so frequent? Mar 1, 2008

English: snicket, caterwaul, curmudgeon... I think they tend to be words you don't get a chance to relish very often.

Castillian: alféizar, aljibe, alcuza, aljonjolí (love those Arabic origin words, I can spend hours trawling through the first pages of the physical DRAE), patizambo, murciélago, carámbano (I like the esdrújulas too, including esdrújula itself!), patidifuso...

Galego: luar

Enjoying everyone else's contributions - I shall be muttering th
... See more
English: snicket, caterwaul, curmudgeon... I think they tend to be words you don't get a chance to relish very often.

Castillian: alféizar, aljibe, alcuza, aljonjolí (love those Arabic origin words, I can spend hours trawling through the first pages of the physical DRAE), patizambo, murciélago, carámbano (I like the esdrújulas too, including esdrújula itself!), patidifuso...

Galego: luar

Enjoying everyone else's contributions - I shall be muttering them for days to come.

And, yes, maybe we should then have a words we hate thread!
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Juliana Brown
Juliana Brown  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 23:22
Miembro 2007
español al inglés
+ ...
Esdrújula in Spanish Mar 1, 2008

as well. My kids think it's hysterical, and once drew a picture of a witch and named her that.

"Gur" in Hebrew, which means cub, or puppy, and sounds like a soft growl.

Also, mishmish- apricot (sounds like it's been left out in the sun too long, unlike the ones they sell in Toronto, which are hard and tasteless) and shesek- loquats (sounds juicy).


 
Nesrin
Nesrin  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 04:22
inglés al árabe
+ ...
(Egyptian) Arabic: Toz Mar 1, 2008

Ok, after a lot of thinking in order to come up with my favourite Arabic word, I've decided to nominate the Egyptian Arabic word "toz", which can be used in a variety of ways.
e.g: A says: "Don't you know who I am? I am the very important bla bla bla". B replies: "Toz." Which is a short way of saying "Whatever, doesn't mean anything to me. To hell with you" etc. It's much milder than the English "damn ..." or the f-word, yet it expresses more contempt than any English word I know. You can
... See more
Ok, after a lot of thinking in order to come up with my favourite Arabic word, I've decided to nominate the Egyptian Arabic word "toz", which can be used in a variety of ways.
e.g: A says: "Don't you know who I am? I am the very important bla bla bla". B replies: "Toz." Which is a short way of saying "Whatever, doesn't mean anything to me. To hell with you" etc. It's much milder than the English "damn ..." or the f-word, yet it expresses more contempt than any English word I know. You can adopt a Toz attitude against anything and anyone to show your contempt.

The word originally comes from the Turkish word for "salt", which during Ottoman reign was the only commodity exempt from taxes, so when a salt trader passed, the tax people would dismiss him with the word "toz".
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Özden Arıkan
Özden Arıkan  Identity Verified
Alemania
Local time: 05:22
inglés al turco
+ ...
:-) Mar 2, 2008

Nesrin wrote:

The word originally comes from the Turkish word for "salt", which during Ottoman reign was the only commodity exempt from taxes, so when a salt trader passed, the tax people would dismiss him with the word "toz".


We have so many words of Arabic origin that when I read your first lines, I thought, "aha, then this one comes from Arabic, too?" Because toz means "dust" in Turkish. And we have a rude expression used to dismiss someone in a not-so-friendly way: "Toz ol!" (Get lost! - "get blown away like dust"). Our version of "salt" is tuz, though.


Sorry for distracting - I love this poll, too

[Edited at 2008-03-02 00:19]


 
Nikki Graham
Nikki Graham  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 04:22
español al inglés
A few Mar 2, 2008

I like "asco" In Spanish. It can translate as disgusting and, to me at least, it conjures that idea up so wonderfully.

I also like "friolero". It means you feel the cold more than you should, but there isn't really a good translation for this. I am "friolera" myself and my non-Spanish speaking English husband has just had to learn this word so that he can understand what I'm talking about.

Although I know very little Italian, there are Italians in my family and I love t
... See more
I like "asco" In Spanish. It can translate as disgusting and, to me at least, it conjures that idea up so wonderfully.

I also like "friolero". It means you feel the cold more than you should, but there isn't really a good translation for this. I am "friolera" myself and my non-Spanish speaking English husband has just had to learn this word so that he can understand what I'm talking about.

Although I know very little Italian, there are Italians in my family and I love the word "ciao". I only use it when I am speaking Spanish, invariably to end a phone call, even to clients (the ones I know well) because "hasta luego" for goodbye just doesn't work for me, as it doesn't have that same friendly ring to it...

In my own language, at the moment its "gorgeousness", my current favourite nickname for my daughter.

And from my time in Germany, I adore the sound (and connotations) of "Kaffee und Kuchen" (coffee and cake) and "Kaffee kochen" (making coffee). Don't know why, perhaps I've just got a thing about the letter "k", which is why I put two of them in my name!
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Larry Salas
Larry Salas  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos
Local time: 23:22
neerlandés al inglés
+ ...
All the words of this classic poem - even though they don't exist Mar 2, 2008

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought–
So rested he
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'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought–
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
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María Eugenia Wachtendorff
María Eugenia Wachtendorff  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 23:22
inglés al español
+ ...
Mama Mar 2, 2008

Have you realized that "mama" is an almost universal word?

In my own language, the first sentence I ever wrote and read was "mi mamá me mima," and I made it a point of teaching it to my daughters very early in their lives, probably because I love my mama so much


 
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Poll: Do you have a favorite word in each of your languages? Please share!






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