Hi everybody! What makes you laugh?

28.07.05, 15:24
what makes you laugh here, in Poland? Maybe funny language mistakes,
situations, misunderstandings, people's reactions?
I don't mean laughing AT people, of course, just little bit of fun in our
everyday life.

    • nasza_maggie Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 28.07.05, 15:32
      I love the funny translations you get into English in hotels, shops etc.
      I can't recall any now - but found this :

      teksty.smieszne.pl/_teksty.php?name=Wyssane%20z%20palca&id=22
      Although I'm sure if anyone abroad tried translating things into Polish without
      knowing the language, the effct would be even more funnysmile)))
      • usenetposts Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 28.07.05, 22:51
        That cracked me up, Maggie.
      • waldek1610 please not you, miss Maggie 29.07.05, 23:26
        Oh no, didn't I tell you not to use your "In Her Majesty Service" when you're
        on Polish web site. You don't have any manners what ever happened to
        your "british ettiquette"?
        • usenetposts Re: please not you, miss Maggie 30.07.05, 00:46

          As a point of order, it is perfectly acceptable to use OHMS or OHMSS on this
          forum, except in the latter case it wouldn't be secret any more.
    • portulaco Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 08:59
      Hi!

      One the most funny things in Poland is the plasticity and flexibilty of the "K"
      word!

      Happy, sad, sober, drunk, mad or borred "K" word is always there, besides only
      Poles can say this word properly, it's the way they say the R and the W the
      melody of it in general.

      First I listen to the word I found it very funny because in Portuguese and
      Spanish (German too I think) means... curve tongue_out

      Another funny situation is the quantity of Fiat 126 beeing carried by people
      like normal trash,tranformed in chicken coops, barbecue grills etc.

      Once I saw a Maluch in some trash container together with debris from a
      construction site and domestic rubbish bags! Nobody gave a damn about it but I
      stood few minutes observing the square headlights of the little thing popping
      out of the container, like a cat in a window smile
      I recall I said very surprised to my wife: - Look! they've put a maluch in the
      trash!

      I would like to see in the USA a 5 meters long Cadillac in the trash smile


      • bluteau Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 10:55
        Apparently it's no accident that the "K" word comes from curve (or rather means
        curve). I heard somewhere that there's a connection between prostitutes, the
        middle ages and a curved (probably some kind of wheel) torturing device. After
        some time spent being stretched on that thing, these women were referred to as
        "curves". Who used the expression first is beyond me.

        I've heard a lot of funny language slips, but one I remember the most was the
        use of parrots instead of carrots in a recipe.
        • portulaco Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 11:16
          Hello bluteau!

          I must confess I never expect that about the origin of "K" word, thank you for
          your explanation I'm really surprised and it makes lot of sense.

          In Portugal we use the English word T-shirt for cloth but many people obviously
          don't know how to write so you can see like this in fairs and shops TESHORTES,
          TICHORTIS and even better T XIRTXS.

          I never had any contact with Canadians can I ask you some questions about
          Canada and Canadians? smile
          • bluteau Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 14:52
            Ask away smile
            • portulaco Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 15:32
              Okey Dokey! smile

              Canada is a bilingual country and I was always very curious how English and
              French speakers get togheter, is it like in Belgium with the Dutch-French? How
              do Canadians see americans? and how do Americans see Canada?

              I guess this is a lot so I will not ask more, thank you bluteau.
              • bluteau Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 17:23
                Well, to begin with, Canada is theoretically a bilingual country. Of course, my
                country does have two official languages, which are respected at government
                level, but in practice it looks very different. Francophones as a majority can
                only be found in the province of Quebec (81,4 % of the population). There is
                also a considerable number of French speaking people in New Brunswick and
                Ontario (especially Ottawa), but they don't form a majority in these places.
                Quebec is Canada's largest province and Montreal alone accounts for over 3
                million of Canada's (small) population. Despite their strength in numbers, there
                is a strict division between francophones and anglophones. In Quebec you speak
                French, in the rest of Canada you speak English. Montreal is really the only
                strong exception, but even that's very relative - it still really depends on
                what part of Montreal you're taking about. But for sure it is one of the very
                few places in Canada where you'll hear both languages frequently. You also
                (theoretically) have the choice of being educated in the French language or in
                English in Montreal. You will also find a large number of bilingual families,
                like mine (my father is French Canadian and my mother English Canadian). I had
                the luck of attending a French language primary school and an English language
                high-school (college was also English); that's unfortunately a rarity. In
                Quebec, you learn English in school starting from the age of about 10 (the same
                vice versa), but the level is quite poor. Most people end up with a passive
                knowledge of either language. There's a lot of hostility between francophones
                and anglophones in Quebec, but these bad relations are really only limited to
                that one province. I'm sure you've heard of Quebec's plight to gain
                independence. In the last 3 decades all has been quite diplomatic and civil, but
                there was a lot of political and social unrest in the early 70's which even lead
                to a state of Martial Law for several months. It's all a very long and
                complicated story. And a sad one too. So in conclusion, we can't really talk
                about Frech-English relations at a national level, because there's no such
                thing. Within Quebec, the French and the English just barely tolerate eachother,
                but they do. For more on Canada's languages in numbers, visit this page:

                www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/lang/provs.cfm
                As for the other question concerning Americans, I can say that the majority of
                Canadians dislike their neighbours. They see them as the ignorant, self-adoring,
                imposing-upon-others buffoons they unfortunately often are. And that excludes
                any differences in political views. The Americans, if they have an opinion,
                usually view us as "country cousins" - simple, quiet-life folk. But generally we
                get along.

                Hope this satisfies your curiosity smile Kathleen
                • burgeon Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 23:26
                  Generally speaking Americans think of Canada as a 52nd state of the USA. Tête-à-
                  tête we get along very well. I have not met a Canadian whom I disliked. They
                  are very friendly and talkative people. In Quebec it's a little bit different.
                  If you don't speak French, and if you have an American/Canadian accent they
                  will not tolerate you...restaurant staff ignore you or insist on speaking to
                  you in French even if you made it quiet clear that you don't understand them.
                  • bluteau Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 30.07.05, 08:51
                    Americans living alongside the boarder don't consider Canada as the 52nd state.
                    At least I never met any who did. But I have met Americans from other parts who
                    weren't exactly sure where Canada is smile
                    About the attitude you described of francophones in Quebec towards
                    English-speaking visitors - I have to admit, with shame, that that kind of thing
                    happens. And it's sad too because the word gets round and it's damaging tourism.
                    On the other hand, you have the other extreme: a francophone stepping into a
                    shop in downtown Montreal, being told in a sneering tone "we don't serve people
                    in French here". Let's not forget that that francophone shopper is in his own
                    city sad
                    • burgeon Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 01.08.05, 00:39
                      It's pure snobbery and arrogance. Will not put me off from visiting Canada. I
                      love it there and have nothing against Canadians or Quebecans smile Yes, I've met
                      with few people who didn't know where Canada or Mexico are! Beyond any
                      comprehension.
                • portulaco Canada 01.08.05, 08:51
                  Hello bluteau, I hope you had a nice weekend,

                  Thank you for your comments, your point of view and personal experience is
                  something one can't find in books or encyclopedias.

                  Once I saw an american movie where some American guys crossed the border to
                  Canada and after some time they commented between each other something more or
                  less like this: "Gee... are they speaking in English? I can't understand
                  them" smile

                  Shame on me I really didn't know about Quebec's pledge for independence sad
                  (shy smile) but now I will not forget and I will do some reserch about that.

                  I see that Canadians versus Americans is like Portuguese versus Spanish, we're
                  always believing they will buy our companies, steal our water (most part of
                  damns are in Spain)etc... and Spanish simply don't care about us "Portugal?
                  Uhmm... that small country next to us"

        • waldek1610 Mr.Perdue- that's what makes me laugh in the West 29.07.05, 23:48
          1.Perdue- sounds like "Pierdul" which is in polish is very demining
          2.Du Page- They call colleges, counties this way in US but in Polish it reminds
          me DUPA (rear end)
          3. The way English speaking people pronounce "Niagara" and "Viagra" why can't
          they just say it like the rest of the world does: (Nya-gaa-rah) and (Via- grah)
          • usenetposts Re: Mr.Perdue- that's what makes me laugh in the 30.07.05, 00:53
            How about Pierre de Launey or his sidekicks V. A. Banney and Ben Cartier?

            And the English speaking people are "the rest of the world" by the way. Since
            Esperanto folded up its deckchair, this is the default language, de facto.
      • bartis_ervin Re: Hi everybody! What makes you laugh? 29.07.05, 11:06

        When we were living in Romania, for my wife one of the funniest thing for my
        wife was the Romanian word "dupa" which in Romanian means "after". It is a quite
        often used word and at times when I was talking in Romanian hearing this word
        she would just burst out in a laughsmile

        Yes, the fexilibity of the K word is amazingsmile I remember Mrozek writing: "Hey,
        people, we should try to actually put some words between k...as" smile

        Ervin
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