Ask Mr. Language Person

[Marcel71]

Dutch is called the Pig language (because of pronounciation).

And who cares about mistakes in English writing, as long as it can be understood. And if people use 'their' or 'there', if you are a native speaker of english (american ;D), then u know (now ;)) what was ment to be in that sentence.

[Cyborg]

Am I the only norwegian guy here?

I know of around 2 others in fed2k that's norwegian, but they don't post much.

Norwegian:

Har alle her p

[nemafakei]

Nav, "who always incorrectly use "their" as an incorrect pronoun when the grammatically-correct word is "his" or "her"."

'Their' is a perfectly good genitive pronoun, just as is 'his' or 'her'. It just happens to be the plural or gender-nonspecific version.

[Nyarlathotep]

Norwegian:

Har alle her p

[Cyborg]

Wow Nyarlathotep!

How did you find that out?

I'm going to translate the sentence now, so oyu can see how right you were :)

Norwegian:

Har alle her p

[Nyarlathotep]

Wow Nyarlathotep!

How did you find that out?

I'm going to translate the sentence now, so oyu can see how right you were :)

Norwegian:

Har alle her p

[nemafakei]

He used simple linguistics: most of the words you used are the same roots in English and Norwegian, and presumably closer to Dutch than English...

Har alle her p

[Nyarlathotep]

He used simple linguistics: most of the words you used are the same roots in English and Norwegian, and presumably closer to Dutch than English...

Har alle her p

[nemafakei]

What is it in dutch?

[Cyborg]

Ask me something in dutch then so I can test my linguist skills. But please make it as easy as mine was ;D

Nema, as you are greek I suppose you know a few words?

Is this greek? "Veni, vidi, vaginales". I read it at some website.

[nampigai]

Nema I'm not so sure that it's Norwegian that have roots in English I think it's the opposite way arround many English words has roots in ancient scandinavian.

[Cyborg]

Nema I'm not so sure that it's Norwegian that have roots in English I think it's the opposite way arround many English words has roots in ancient scandinavian.

That's right.

Norwegian is a light blend between not ancient, but old scandinavian and danish. Danish has a little touch of german in it.

Btw... The lord of the rings got so many words which are old norwegian/scandinavian 8)

Just to mention one: Midgard.

Dune has also a word or two. To mention one: Landsraad.

[nampigai]

yea we'll get you back someday Cyborg you know that don't you?

as for the veni vidi vaginalis it's latin, I came, I saw and the last well I think I know what it might be but take a wild pick ;)

[Cyborg]

I realized that you couldn't use linguist skills on that language, although the last word, vaginales, reminded me of something( ::)), it didn't mean what it might look like.

I asked some guy and he said it meant:

I came, I saw, and it was crap.

He also translated it into dutch:

2Ik Kwam, ik Zag, en het vas Kut"

Nyarlathotep or anyone else that's dutch... Does that mean what It was supposed to mean?

The website was about a gaming clan that played operation flashpoint and close combat. I know that dutch guy but he might be pulling my leg as far as I know ;)

[nampigai]

Kut means the samething as I thought Vaginalis ment in danish hehe...

[Cyborg]

ok danish is like norwegian.

I didn't know that guy I know would have that strange sentence as his signature in the clan forum ???

He's one strange dutch ;D

[Anathema]

For Nema:

Heeft iedereen hier op fed2k een goede kerstmis en een gelukkig new jaar gehad?

Did everybody here at fed2k have a nice christmas and a good(happy) new year?

[Terror]

Damn your language is a piece of cake Cyborg :) I understood quite well :) Danish is not very hard either. When i visited Denmark i looked into a newspaper, and i knew quite a bit of words. Probably also cuz i know both english, dutch and german and danish has close ties with all 3 languages.

[nemafakei]

Hmmm. Ok, perhaps dutch is not as close to Norwegian as I thought, then. But it's still recognisable.

"Nema I'm not so sure that it's Norwegian that have roots in English I think it's the opposite way arround many English words has roots in ancient scandinavian"

Neither. Both come from 'Proto-Germanic' (the name given to the language commonly spoken before our languages diverged. It was dialected, but someone from Norway could make themselves understood in Normandy and England.) Now, English is more latinicised.

Veni vidi vici, as it should be, is not greek (nor am I). Caesar was supposed to have said these things (pronounced way knee weedy we key, translated as I came, I saw, I conquered) on taking (I think) Gaul.

As for the third word, it depends rather on the context...

And do remember that all languages so far mentioned are based on Proto-Indo-European. I think you can all guess what that means.

[Cyborg]

I thought you were greek because that phak thing of yours. Your name isn't the most commonly name around northern europe either.

Are you living in england or something?

[Vanguard3000]

I'm guessing "Veni, vidi, vaginales" is some... err... "artistic" rip-off of the famous quote "veni, vedi, vici" (I came; I saw; I conquered), said by the Roman emperor Hadrian (I think - I know he toured his Empire at one time during his reign) in reference to the conquest of what is now Germany, France, and the UK.

[nemafakei]

Cyborg, Nema Fakei isn't my real name, nor is Cyborg yours. I hope. I do indeed live in England, as you can tell from the 'Location' information on the left.

And it's definitely vidi, rather than vedi (sorry if typo)... Hadrian - interesting, not sure, though.

[Edric O]

I feel the need to correct some of the... historical inaccuracies. :)

"Veni, vidi, vici." (I came, I saw, I conquered) was indeed said by Iulius Caesar. But in fact, this was a "report" he sent the Roman Senate after crushing an uprising in the Roman province of Syria (roughly overlapping modern-day Lebanon and parts of Turkey, as well as the western part of modern-day Syria). As you can guess from the shortness of the "report", it was a gesture of defiance towards the Senators that had underestimated his capabilities.

[Vanguard3000]

Thanks, Edric, for clearing things up.

I thought Hadrian had a similar famous quote. Oh well.

[bob_fox]

I'd say what makes English unique is that it's one of the easiest languages to learn (as seen by the fact that so many people learn it so quickly), but one of the most difficult to master (as seen by the fact that most of them can't speak it properly). For example, South Africa is supposed to be an Engish-speaking nation (with 10 other official languages ::)), even though most of the people here can't speak it properly but think they can.