View Single Post
Old 06-01-2006, 10:45 AM   #7376
Jazhara7
Ale! And keep 'em coming!
 
Jazhara7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Beyond the Pattern of Reality...or Germany
Posts: 8,527
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by RLacey
Sie brachen Babelfish!

No, I didn't break Babelfisch.

It's a german wordgame kind of thing. The sentences "Ich habe zehn Finger. An jeder Hand fünf, und zwanzig an Händen und Füßen." ("I have ten fingers. Five on each Hand, and twenty on hands and feet [together]."), when pronouncing it in a different way than the one that is expected, sounds like "Ich habe zehn Finger an jeder Hand. Fünfundzwanzig an Händen und Füßen." ("I have ten fingers on each hand. Twenty-five on hands and feet [together]." Notice how "Fünf und Zwanzig" becomes "Fünfundzwanzig" - Twenty-five [It's literally "Five-and-Twenty"] - if you leave out the pause introduced by the comma.). It's a wordgame that sadly cannot be transferred into another knowledge without requiring some explanation. Also, it only works when being *said*, because when written down, you have to write either of the two possibilites, which of course defeats the wordgame's purpose.


-

P.s.: Yes, I realise that nobody actually has fingers on their feet, neither in German nor in English.
__________________
- "esc(x) cot(x) dx = -csc(x)!" Dennis added, and the wizard's robe caught on fire. "Gosh," Dennis said, "and some people say higher math isn't relevant."

>>>Inventor of the Mail order-Assassin<<<

And *This*...is a Black Hole - BYE!
Jazhara7 is offline