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rico (she/him)@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Asklemmy@lemmy.mlEnglish · 5 months ago

what’s the weirdest word in your language?

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what’s the weirdest word in your language?

rico (she/him)@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Asklemmy@lemmy.mlEnglish · 5 months ago
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  • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.org
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    5 months ago

    Worcestershire

  • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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    5 months ago

    ‘Zuignapje’ -> a little suction cup to attach things to windows.

    • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
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      5 months ago

      Hey, using any Dutch word is cheating!

      • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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        5 months ago

        We can tie words together like you guys, but our consonant/vowel interaction is better

        • GB19@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          Learning Norwegian, det kan vi også 😜

        • pet1t@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          jemig!

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Fustigate and discombobulate are a couple of my faves.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    The word ‘weird’ is pretty weird.

    • davel@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      It has a weird & witchy history.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        I like the idea that Shakespeare was looking for some uncommon word and remembered hearing ‘weird’ and running with it.

        Thanks.

  • over_clox@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    This question has me bumfuzzled…

  • PandaDEV@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    „Chrüsimüsi“ belief me or not but it means chaos

    • cazssiew@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      We have tohu-bohu in french, same meaning

      • PandaDEV@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        Yeah I know it as „Thou-Wabohu“

  • DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone
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    5 months ago

    Syzygy

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    It’s not weird, and it’s not my first language, but “equivocado” is one of the funnest words to say in the world.

    • rico (she/him)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      5 months ago

      i always think of avocados when i see it

    • Mothra@mander.xyz
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      5 months ago

      … You’re wrong :)

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    Flammable, Imflammble, and Inflammable.

    • MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      Inflammable and flammable mean the same thing? What a country!

    • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      “imflammable” is not a word.

      • GB19@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        it is if you try hard enough

      • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        It is - though it may be fair to consider it jargon. It is a word that explicitly means “Can be set aflame” as chosen by people working with hazardous materials.

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Even jargon can be found in a dictionary.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Those burn me up!

      Ooops, time for my meds…

  • DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    In English, it has to be any of the Contronyms. We have so many, and it really makes it hard for newer speakers to understand some things.

    You dust a cake by added powder, you dust a table by removing powder.
    You seed a field by adding seeds, you seed a fruit by removing the seeds.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Cleave is my personal favorite

      • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        Almost as good as Greater Cleave

        • joelfromaus@aussie.zone
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          5 months ago

          I hear that when a greater cleave consumes enough souls it becomes a Cleave Lord.

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Seeded is, indeed, the most worthless of adjectives.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        Seeded is, indeed, the most worthless of adjectives.

        … until someone uses ‘literally’ as an adjective; and in that moment you are enlightened.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        My poppy seed bagel has entered the chat…

    • poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org
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      5 months ago

      Shelled and unshelled both also mean unshelled and shelled, respectively

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
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    5 months ago

    am seltsamsten

  • drathvedro@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    Some Russian ones:

    недоперепил: недо - not quite, пере - overdid, пил - drank. Sounds weird due to opposing suffixes, basically means “haven’t drunk enough to get completely wasted”, in my circles we use it to describe displeasure when the alcohol runs dry on events we’ve set to get wasted all along.

    опердень: Due to how it’s only used in professional circles and how language is structured, someone hearing it for the first time might think it’s a word rooted from “пердеть” (to fart), and based on the suffixes assume it relates to some kind of creature that farts (or get farted) all over. But it’s actually a shorthand for Операционный День (processing day) which is how finance guys call their banking software as it basically replaced said processing day in their work.

    Same for “опсос” - sounds like “someone who sucks all over something” but is just a shorthand for “оператор сотовой связи” - phone service provider.

  • Object@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    연패

    Can mean “to lose multiple times in a row” (連敗) or “to win multiple times in a row” (連霸).

    • msage@programming.dev
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      5 months ago

      So… ‘a streak’?

      • Object@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        No, not a mix of both. Either exclusively wins only, or losses only. Only way to tell these two apart is to see if this information is being celebrated or not…

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    skookum. It’s borrowed from, like, old Aboriginal trade language. It means “deal’s done” - with its own hand-brushing gesture - but it also means “strong” or “resilient”, I think.

    And now it’s almost a common ‘Canadianism’ – if your Newfie buddy says " 'At’s a skookum blow we gots, b’iys", you know there’s a sad BC Ferry-tale on the way, and you’re not getting Over tonight.

  • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    “Rævsnerk”

    Noun: That moist substance between your ass cheecks on a hot and humidity day when you haven’t showered for too long.

    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      In English this is called swamp ass.

    • rico (she/him)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      5 months ago

      what language is that? that’s so interesting that there’s some very specific words out there that can’t be explained in other languages.

      • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        Norwegian. Middle-north dialect, to be specific

        • rico (she/him)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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          5 months ago

          awesome to see more people speaking norwegian, im trying to learn it a little because my mom has some norwegian ancestry :)

          • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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            5 months ago

            There are dozens of us!

            Det er dusiner av oss! (Although that sounds a bit… off)

            • GB19@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              Jeg studerer norsk også :) Hei

            • rico (she/him)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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              5 months ago

              (lol, what would be a better way to say it?)

              det er så kult!

              • espentan@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                “Det finnes dusinvis av oss” would perhaps be a better translation, but it’s not really an expression commonly used in Norway, so it still feels a bit awkward to say.

        • joelfromaus@aussie.zone
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          5 months ago

          I’ll admit I read that as Middle-Earth dialect on first glance.

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