"Foreign" language anomalies

A discussion of the peculiarities of languages and the differences between them.
Perry
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Postby Perry » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:03 am

In Hebrew (and remember that the original Tower of Babel story was written in Hebrew), both Babel and Babylon are the same term, i.e. Bavel (בבל).
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shacolourdes
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Postby shacolourdes » Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:47 pm

Lime = (la) lima
Lemon = (el) limón.

Brazilian dude
In Mexico, they flip it and lime is el limón while lemon is la lima.
Go figure, right? I learned that from food shopping in Ciudad Acuña... fun place if anyone is ever near the Del Rio, TX area.
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there's a recessive "ll" gene somewhere in our DNA.

sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:49 am

Lime = (la) lima
Lemon = (el) limón.

Brazilian dude
In Mexico, they flip it and lime is el limón while lemon is la lima.
Go figure, right? I learned that from food shopping in Ciudad Acuña... fun place if anyone is ever near the Del Rio, TX area.
So they take the proper Spanish and reverse it?
No wonder I got the quizzical looks.

Some psychologist really should look into this practice of opposite-speak. Mayhap it's along the lines of the infamous "could care less"? :x
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:36 pm

While I was living in Russia, the lime appeared for the first time. As the Russians didn't know much about them, they called them green lemons.

Most Russians I knew also couldn't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi, either.

DavidN
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Postby DavidN » Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:40 pm

Having lived in AZ most my life, I had always heard LIME & LIMON, for lime and lemon respectively. Now after reading through this topic. I think it's a free-for-all anywhere in the states.
Therefore I propose LEME.
I am going to try this next time out and I will let you know how it goes. :wink:

As for the Russians not being able to taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi, I can't either. What does that mean?
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