Language fun facts: WORDS

The world of translation and languages is filled with surprising, amusing, and thought-provoking fun facts.

And we’ve been collecting fun facts about language since World Translation was founded!

Here is a collection 10 fun facts for you, our fellow language enthusiast, to enjoy. This edition is called: WORDS. It’s all about funny words, peculiar words, unique words, and wordplay. Have fun!

#1 “hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia” is the fear of long words.

If you’re afraid of long words, then feel free to scroll to the next fun fact.
If you’re not, we dare you: say this word out loud three times in a row! 

#2 One of the longest words in Finnish is vaatimustenmukaisuusvakuutuksettomuudellansakaanko. It’s really a whole question (sort of) in one single word: "not even with its’ Declaration of Conformity?".

We’d be hard pressed to choose a "favourite" language, since there are so many beautiful, fun and fascinating ones in the world. But we must admit, Finnish is high on the list!
 

#3 Finns can say things in a very compact way as well:

“Tä?” (from “Mitä?”)

Meaning: I beg your pardon, sir, I did not quit catch what you said.

It’s a striking contrast to the veeeeery long Finnish word above. Evidently Finns don’t always overdo things linguistically. This is almost underdoing it 😉

#4 The world is full of unique words that don’t have exact equivalents in other languages. Words lost in translation, you could say. These tend to be single words that express a complex feeling, state of mind, or common experience.

Here are some of our favourites:

Prozvonit (Czech): to call someone's mobile from your own without the other person picking up with the intention of leaving your number in their phone's memory

Hiukaista (Finnish): to feel hungry for something salty (Of course the land of Salmiakki (salty licorice made with ammonium chloride) has a word for that specific craving!)

Salmiakki (salty licorice made with ammonium chloride) has a word for that specific craving!)

(Faire) chabrot (French): to put red wine in your soup when there is little soup leftCsókolgat (Hungarian): to smother with kisses (We all have that one relative, who does this, right?)Tsundoku (Japanese): leaving a new book unread after buying it and just letting it pile up with other unread booksTartle (Scottish): the act of hesitating to introduce someone because you’ve forgotten their name

Erbsenzähler (German): someone who is obsessed with details and a bit of a control freak

Iktsuarpok (Greenlandic): the act of repeatedly going outside to keep checking if someone (anyone) is coming

#5 Cryptophasia is a language phenomenon that only twins can understand.A secret language, so to speak, only spoken and understood by the pair of twins (identical or fraternal). 

#6 A pangram sentence is one that contains every letter of the alphabet. For example: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

How satisfying would it be to write a sentence like that by coincidence??

#7 Palindromes are words or phrases that read the same backward and forward, letter for letter, number for number, or word for word: " Was it a car or a cat I saw?"
#8A word that creates another when spelled backward (think: stop > pots) is a "semordnilap".

And where do you think the term “semordnilap” comes from? Well, it’s of course “palindromes” (see #7) spelled backward!

A "semordnilap" plays with reversing a text just like a palindrome, but the new, reversed word or phrase must turn into something different (that makes sense).
Furthermore, we think “semordnilap” is an excellent candidate for a name of a mythical creature (to all aspiring J. K. Rowling wannabes: you're welcome!) 

#9 Do you have any false friends? 
The term doesn't exactly sound positive, right?
But don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds.

A false friend in a linguistic context is a word or term that looks or sounds like a word you know from one language but has very a different meaning in another language.

So be careful when juggling words you know exist in several languages. 
They may cause serious confusion if you don't check their meaning twice.

Burro (Spanish) = donkey vs. Burro (Italian) = butter
Spanish and Italian are both Romance languages that look and sound a bit alike. But think again!

Pain (English) = pain vs. Pain (French) = bread
“I’m sorry, but are you asking me to call an ambulance, or to run to the nearest bakery?"

Rock (German) = skirt vs. rock (English) = rock
If a German woman says she’d like to wear a "Rock," don't mistake her for some sort of odd fan of the Stone Age. She just wants to put on a skirt.

Hose (German) = pants vs. Hose (English) = hose
Do you think that a German thinks of trousers for yardwork when he/she hears about a 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦?

#10 Speaking of words, we have a bunch of tongue twisters as well. Here a five for you to try – because all language nerds need a proper challenge from time to time:

“Zwei schwarze schleimige Schlangen sitzen zwischen zwei spitzen Steinen und zischen”
It’s German and means: „Two black slimy snakes sit between two pointy stones and hiss.”

“Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien”
It’s French and means: “A hunter who can hunt must be able to hunt without his dog.”

“Far, Får får får? Nej, inte får får får, får får lamm”
It’s Swedish (and almost the same in Danish) and means: “Father, do sheep have sheep? No, sheep don't have sheep, sheep have lambs.”

“Nie pieprz Pietrze wieprza pieprzem, bo przepieprzysz wieprza pieprzem.”
It’s Polish and means: “Peter, don’t put pepper on the boar because you may put too much pepper on it.” 

And finally, the longest one yet:
“She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure. So if she sells seashells on the seashore, then I'm sure she sells seashore shells.”  
Please do teach children to play with languages!

We will still be looking for language talents in 10-20 years - and beyond 😉