My Favorite Waste of Time . . .

[rock soderstrom]

Kurzschwanzschildkröte, came a pet store, we needed to get his cat some food so while he looked for that I wandered around the isles and ran into live animals and these cool looking tortoise babies. I had a friend who was very into turtles, tortoise and captive breeding/conservation efforts etc. So I wanted to know the name of the tortoise (I was hoping for Genus and Species), I got Kurzschwanzschildkröte, and another common name relating to a boys anatomy. I think my response was "WTF!?!" My friend then explained what it meant in English which did not really match our common name I guess - dunno I am not a turtle guy. Fortunately, it was enough and my friend already knew about them and the German captive breeding program.

I'm not a turtle guy either, in fact I didn't know the word or the genus of these animals in question until this thread. Learned something again, thanks to groupdiy. Things get a little more special when your partner gives you this expression as a term of endearment, I just wanted to mention that.

Is this becoming the most derailed thread in all of human history?

We are all trying very hard, the chances are high.

Here is another contribution that is completely off-topic:

 

[13engrsapper]

The thread is titled "My Favorite Waste of Time" lol

 

[telewulf]

..... But he does not understand why the English find the German language so amusing.....

Sorry for being late in this conversation!

Well, I am German an I can see quite clearly, what is so funny about our language.
When I was at the Schule für Rundfunktechnik (there´s your first compound word already) I instantly realized that if there was a people even more prone to laughable compound words than the Germans, it is German engineers:
I was explicitely told that the W87 was a Stereodoppelkohleschichtflachbahnpegelsteller, whereas the W66 was a Monodoppelkohleschichtflachbahnpegelsteller.
That words wouldn´t even fit onto a scrabble board, would they?

The first non-German who is able to tell, what a W87 is, wins ...
... a W87!

(Sorry Rock, for excluding you)

best wishes from Bremen,
Wulf

 

[rock soderstrom]

(Sorry Rock, for excluding you)

Damn!

 

[Khron]

The first non-German who is able to tell, what a W87 is, wins ...
... a W87!

Stereo dual carbon track linear fader?

 

[telewulf]

AND THE WINNER IS:

Stereo dual carbon track linear fader?

Well, "Flachbahn" actually means that the carbon track isn´t circular, like in a potentiometer, ... but then again that does translate as "linear", doesn´t it?
Where shall I send your specimen to?

best wishes from Bremen,
Wulf

 

[Khron]

Where shall I send your specimen to?

Are you serious?

 

[telewulf]

Well ... yes, I was. ... I certainly wouldn´t want to break a promise!

 

[rogs]

.... And then there are some real German words that are almost as amusing as the fake 'comedy' ones.
The French word 'brassière' means 'a bodice' ... In English it refers to a specific item of ladies' clothing...
The comedy fake German word is 'stoppenfloppen'
The real German word is 'bustenhalter' which sounds almost as amusing to an English speaker..

I'm sure there are lots of examples in other languages, but having English as a first language tends to make people like me very lazy about languages!
I am in awe of how well many of you write in English, when it is not your first language....

( OK, I can see that this thread highjack is probably now getting really 'over the top' .... Sorry! )

 

[DFischer]

As an American and a native English speaker, I love the German language. It's so much more precise, consistent, and economical than ours. There is a cliche in the US that the Eskimos have 50 words for snow. My observation is that English speakers have 50 words for everything. I was recently watching a British TV show called "Rabbit" that takes place in Victorian London. Someone had just unveiled the brand new invention of the telephone. While discussing what it was and how it works, someone runs in and shouts "this just in, the Cockneys are calling it a blower!".

But my respect for German doesn't preclude my liking English as well. I love that we don't use gendered nouns, and I suppose the large vocabulary makes for good prose and poetry. Also, all the grammatical inconsistencies allow one in the know to demonstrate their intellectual superiority over the lesser classes. I experience this all the time when a non-native English speaker corrects my poor grammar.

 

[GeorgeToledo]

Sorry for being late in this conversation!

Well, I am German an I can see quite clearly, what is so funny about our language.
When I was at the Schule für Rundfunktechnik (there´s your first compound word already) I instantly realized that if there was a people even more prone to laughable compound words than the Germans, it is German engineers:
I was explicitely told that the W87 was a Stereodoppelkohleschichtflachbahnpegelsteller, whereas the W66 was a Monodoppelkohleschichtflachbahnpegelsteller.
That words wouldn´t even fit onto a scrabble board, would they?

The first non-German who is able to tell, what a W87 is, wins ...
... a W87!

(Sorry Rock, for excluding you)

best wishes from Bremen,
Wulf

Windscreen for U87.

 

[GeorgeToledo]

Is the title also a Marshall Crenshaw reference?

 

[Cqwet Dbdfte]

Anglophones are bewildered by long compound words because English orthography is a trainwreck.
Are there spelling contests in Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, and scandinavia?
Anglophones read letter combinations where elsewhere individual letters are read, with some compound letter combinations. Diacritical marks for vowel stresses are not used or understood in English.

 

[MicMaven]

What was the original topic of the thread again? Big apologies to the thread opener.

NO apologies needed !! It has been a swell conversation. My only regret is we are not all together conversing over a beer, fine bourbon, or the like!

James

[Imagine me toasting and wishing you all good health and vast wealth whist sipping a truly fine bourbon whisky: George T Stagg, Buffalo Trace Antique Collection - uncut, unfiltered, hand bottled straight from the barrel at 142.8 barrel proof - a truly manly tipple - complex character and strong enough to grow hair on your toenails! - Cheers to all! ] / JHR

 

[MicMaven]

Is the title also a Marshall Crenshaw reference?

YES - EXACTLY! DING! Score one for Mr. George! James

having English as a first language tends to make people like me very lazy about languages!

Traveling in the UK, I observed British English is brutal in its own way. Consider these examples one encounters touring London:

Leicestershire - pronounced Les-ter-shure
Marylebone - pronounced Mar-lee-bone

And there are plenty more odd ball pronunciations where those come from.

I am in awe of how well many of you write in English, when it is not your first language....

YES. Some group members are so good, I forget they are scattered all over the globe.

James - in balmy snowy Michigan!

 

[DFischer]

Leicestershire - pronounced Les-ter-shure
Marylebone - pronounced Mar-lee-bone

My favourite is Southwark, which sounds to my ear as subbok. But to be fair, we have lots of towns and areas in the US that don't sound like you would expect from the spelling. Palestine, PA is pronounced palace-teen, as opposed to the more conventional pronunciation for the middle-eastern region.

 

[pmfalcman]

There is no English language.
There are Englishes.
Lots of them. Heaps!

For a foreigner it looks like this:
"You think you learned English well.
And then you meet a Scot."

Or you go to Ireland. Or Wales...

One of funniest things (and a kind of relief) was realisation that a lot of native English speakers barely understand each other.

 

[emrr]

Oh yes, Scots. Deviously resembles English.

 

[MicMaven]

Hey! Here is a wild idea! What if I posted another example of what I make when I cannot sleep? What if it involved a microphone? So, here goes -- I hereby re-hijacking the thread back to the original topic . . . . .

I used to road test and write user reviews about microphones used with speech recognition software for both manufacturers and retail vendors. They got so crazy recommending super overkill expensive high margin microphones, like the then $400 Sennheiser MD431 II, that I up and quit the whole business because it had become such a Klondike land grab.

So, I herein present my personal revenge; my favorite low cost home-brewed microphone which is very comfortable to wear and works great with the software. Most important, it cost a mere $1.50 to build! The 9.5mm electret capsule cost fifty cents. The scrap bit of aluminum rod head band cost nothing. It was formed by bending it around a metal coffee can. I padded the rod with about fifty cents of 3:1 black shink tube. The 3.5mm TRS phone plug cost another fifty cents.
Voila! A good sounding, low cost head-worn microphone that does the job - my personal revenge against all the hype and BS promulgated by unscrupulous, avaricious microphone retailers overcharging poorly informed, unsuspecting consumers.

Great fun and so therapeutic! / James

(PS - It is not the complexity or cost of the project that counts - but the utility and value to the user that matters most!)

 

[DFischer]

Don't you need a more expensive mic though to understand a Scottish accent for speech recognition? See how I tied the different parts of the thread together? <ducking my head and running for cover now, apologizing to my Scottish friends...>