Travel Language

There is an interesting post on Language Log about the following image.

A Cache of Languages

Little did I know my new hobby has some relevance to linguistics...

I recently decided to try Geocaching because of my love for the outdoors and hiking. Right away I was introduced to the language of Geocaching through its Glossary of Terms (many initialisms).

It wasn't until I found this adorable fellow that I discovered there is more to Geocaching than meets the language-loving tongue.

Here are his tags -

In English:

In French:

And in German (his first language):

P.S. I will not mention the prescriptivist issue with Volker's tag.

An Example of Siri's French-Influenced, English Dialect

Plus de L’esprit de l'escalier

More on the wit of the staircase -

L'esprit de l'escalier (or l'esprit d'escalier) (staircase wit) is thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late. The phrase can be used to describe a riposte to an insult or any witty remark that comes to mind too late to be useful—after one has left the scene of the encounter. The phenomenon is usually accompanied by a feeling of regret at not having thought of it when it was most needed or suitable.
The German word Treppenwitz and the Yiddish word trepverter are used to express the same idea. One prominent example of the German term is W. Lewis Hertslet's 1882 book Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichte ("Staircase wit of world history").

From Wikipedia

Translation Dead Giveaway

Having read all three of the books in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, I found it surprising that it wasn't until page 424 of the hardcover edition of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest (the third book in the trilogy) that I noticed a dead giveaway that the book was translated from a different language (Swedish in this case).

"I won't make any promises. My marriage broke up because Erika and I couldn't keep away from each other," he said, and then he added in English, "Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt."






I wonder... do other countries really associate "Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt" with Americans as much as we associate "C'est la vie" with the French and "Que sera sera" with the Spanish?


C'est la vie. =That is life.

Que sera sera. = What will be will be.

Phonetics Lessons with Homer Simpson

Having previously posted about words that the television show The Simpsons has contributed to our lexicon I was thrilled to see a link on Fritinancy to an article about the Simpsons greatest language contribution. What I found most interesting in the article is the following:

"In the French version of the show Homer actually says 'T'oh!', instead of "D"oh!". This is because the French actor who dubs Homer"s voice misread the word the first time he played the role and has never got round to correcting himself."

I guess the actor must have been losing his voice that day.

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In phonetics /t/ is the voiceless counterpart of /d/.

Click here for more about voicing.