"Foreign" language anomalies

[sluggo]

While dining at a Mexican restaurant this eve, my request for some sliced lime was met with quizzical looks. My companion ascribed the waitstaff's uncertainty to her belief that Hispanics (at least those from México and Puerto Rico) make no distinction between lemons and limes, and presumably I hadn't provided them with sufficient information (like, what colour limes?)

I find this hard to believe but stranger words have happened. Can anyone squeeze some light on this ?

[malachai]

I believe some cultures do not make the distinction. I noticed this in India as well, fwiw.

[Brazilian dude]

Lime = (la) lima
Lemon = (el) limón.

Brazilian dude

[frank]

I believe some cultures do not make the distinction. I noticed this in India as well, fwiw.

Can't say a lot about lemons and limes, but i noticed similar 'confusion' with regards to fruit and veggies. Every year in class -- my students come from all overthe world --, we have a short Babelonic discussion about 'peper' - 'paprika' and sometipes even about 'onion' and 'garlic'. Some people don't make the distinctions we make in Dutch.

F

[sluggo]

I believe some cultures do not make the distinction. I noticed this in India as well, fwiw.

Can't say a lot about lemons and limes, but i noticed similar 'confusion' with regards to fruit and veggies. Every year in class -- my students come from all overthe world --, we have a short Babelonic discussion about 'peper' - 'paprika' and sometipes even about 'onion' and 'garlic'. Some people don't make the distinctions we make in Dutch.

F

Frank, I love that word! Can I borrow it?

Reminds me once again of New Orléans, where you can go into the grocery store and look at scallions, which are labeled "shallots".

[sluggo]

Lime = (la) lima
Lemon = (el) limón.

Brazilian dude

Thanks BD. I suspected it was a brincadeira.

[Stargzer]

(Stargzer, who don't speech none too good en español, clicks up his favorite online translating service.)

Systranet.com turned this:

lemon

sliced lemon

slices of lemon



lime

sliced lime

slices of lime

into this:

limón

limón rebanado

rebanadas del limón



cal

cal rebanada

rebanadas de la cal

Stargzer could go for Tequila y cal con un cazador del Dos Equis but he'll gladly settle for a Fordham Copperhead Ale.

[malachai]

I think "cal" refers to the other kind of lime. As in calcium.

[Brazilian dude]

Malachai is right.

Brazilian dude

[Stargzer]

HAH! At least a small dose of cal might keep me from an upset stomach!

Hey, you get what you pay for! I guess I'll have to take this particular translation with enough grains of salt to go around the rim of my next Margarita.

[sluggo]

HAH! At least a small dose of cal might keep me from an upset stomach!

Hey, you get what you pay for! I guess I'll have to take this particular translation with enough grains of salt to go around the rim of my next Margarita.

Yo geezer! 999 posts? That's a lot of fencing.
One more to Panjandemonium.
Don't let them do it! Quit while you're ahead!

[Stargzer]

. . .
Yo geezer! 999 posts? That's a lot of fencing.
One more to Panjandemonium.
Don't let them do it! Quit while you're ahead!

Sorry, Sluggo, I wasn't really a Head back in the Sixties, and punchlines aside, I still have all my limbs and torso attached. In fact, I now have a rebuilt earlobe! But thanks for putting me over the line, as opposed to over the edge.

[frank]

...we have a short Babelonic discussion about 'peper' - 'paprika'

Frank, I love that word! Can I borrow it?

Be my guest . I was very surprised that the word doesn't exist in English. In Dutch we use it in connection with the Tower of Babel story (Babelonische spraakverwarring, lit. the "babelonic" confusion/diffusion of languages/speech).
The only instances of 'babelonic' I could find on line seem to be typos for Babylonic, related to Babylon.

F

[anders]

Babelonische spraakverwarring

In Swedish, babylonisk språkförbistring.

[Spiff]

According to my personal subjective notions and to Van Dale it's "Babylonische spraakverwarring" in Dutch too.