WordNerding

[Blackjazz]

Yes. I agree wholeheartedly. Also "defenestrate," but I guess that has slightly less opportunity for use...

This just means that you aren't defenestrating enough things.

[ruth]

Pair of favourites: :norway: kringkasting and :germany: Rundfunk. Both meaning "broadcasting!"

[Solovei]

My favorite word in Swedish is probably mycket (which means "much" or "very"), though I'm not sure if I can explain why. It just feels really nice to say somehow.

[Fimbulvarg]

For Swedish I have to go with örngott (pillowcase, but sounds like something from the Swedish chef) and lilla gumman (some kind of affectionate term, like "darling").

[Solovei]

For Swedish I have to go with örngott (pillowcase, but sounds like something from the Swedish chef) and lilla gumman (some kind of affectionate term, like "darling").

Speaking of pillows though, how adorable is kudde?

[Fimbulvarg]

Speaking of pillows though, how adorable is kudde?

To a Norwegian it's anything but adorable (like so many other Swedish words) due to unfortunate near-homophones in the Norwegian language. An aquaintance of the family who is a nurse told us about a Swedish nurse who got herself into trouble for using that word with an elderly Norwegian patient.

[Laufey]

To a Norwegian it's anything but adorable (like so many other Swedish words) due to unfortunate near-homophones in the Norwegian language. An aquaintance of the family who is a nurse told us about a Swedish nurse who got herself into trouble for using that word with an elderly Norwegian patient.

You can't just leave it there, explain!

Between Icelandic and Finnish the tricky ones are indeed tricky. Ignore spelling, pronunciation is almost identical:

Oj barasta (ice) - oi, parasta (fin). Finns of the area I'm from say "oh, this is the best!" about f.ex. delicious food... so sad that in Icelandic it means "Ew disgusting".

[Fimbulvarg]

You can't just leave it there, explain!

Well then: The nurse offered to "rista upp kudden lite" (shake up the pillow a little). Because there is a word in Norwegian that sounds almost exactly like that, but refers to the male genitalia, the elderly man was all kinds of outraged by the apparent forwardness of Swedish nurses.

[DancingRanger]

Well then: The nurse offered to "rista upp kudden lite" (shake up the pillow a little). Because there is a word in Norwegian that sounds almost exactly like that, but refers to the male genitalia, the elderly man was all kinds of outraged by the apparent forwardness of Swedish nurses.

That's good to know. Be careful talking about pillows in Swedish with Norwegians.

[Laufey]

Well then: The nurse offered to "rista upp kudden lite" (shake up the pillow a little). Because there is a word in Norwegian that sounds almost exactly like that, but refers to the male genitalia, the elderly man was all kinds of outraged by the apparent forwardness of Swedish nurses.

...wow, that was actually about ten times worse than anything I was expecting.

[Fimbulvarg]

...wow, that was actually about ten times worse than anything I was expecting.

Well, y'know, when I said "unfortunate near-homophones" I meant exactly that.

I won't tell you about the other, more extreme, homophones though. I like pressing boundaries but not in a way that's sure to earn me a spanking by the banhammer.

[FinnishViking]

One lovely word play in Finnish is: Kokko kokoa koko kokko. Koko kokonko? Koko kokon. Kokositko Kokko koko kokon? Kokosin koko kokon.

Which can be translated to: "Kokko (name ) build the whole bonfire. The whole bonfire? The whole bonfire. Kokko did you build the whole bonfire? I built the whole bonfire."

Marvels of similiar words mixed with the fact that you can have so many prefixes.

[Stefanyeah]

That sentence rocks. I should learn Finnish. A language that can built sentences that consist of almost only 'ko' is most awesome.

[KicknRun]

oscillate
move or swing back and forth at a regular speed.

Pretty much every word that begins with 'o' is my favorite. But I like this one the most.

[Vafhudr]

Fernweh (German, I think) - An ache for distant places.
??? . . . ?? (Greek) (on the one hand, but on the other hand) Not really something I like, but it is a form that has invaded my speech and writing. It's contagious. D: