Engrish
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Shock Trooper
Member # 3368
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written Thursday, August 18 2005 19:16
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The most hilarious article in my extensive travels in wikipedia EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engrish (link won't work) [ Thursday, August 18, 2005 19:18: Message edited by: Bender Bending Rodriguez ] -------------------- "Like most of life's problems, this one can be solved with bending" Posts: 287 | Registered: Tuesday, August 19 2003 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Thursday, August 18 2005 20:27
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Your first link doesn't work because it has an ectopic colon in it, just after the double slash. Check the URL carefully. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 6102
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written Thursday, August 18 2005 20:39
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Better yet, copy the URL address and put it in your post. It's faster and better than trying to manually type in the URL. As for the topic in question, if I'm not mistaken, has this article been mentioned before or was it something else? ...er, never mind. The second link works fine. PS: It appears that some members like to use that Wikipedia website a lot as some of the unusual posted articles I've seen recently seem to come from there... -------------------- "Truly, if there is evil in this world, it lies in the heart of mankind." -Edward D. Morrison Posts: 220 | Registered: Monday, July 11 2005 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Thursday, August 18 2005 20:46
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Wikipedia's an enormously useful informational resource, as long as you keep in mind that it's not always completely accurate. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Mongolian Barbeque
Member # 1528
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written Thursday, August 18 2005 20:57
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That's one of the funniest things I've ever read! Thanks for sharing that. I've been a long-time fan of garbled manuals from Chinese manufacturers and so on. I have a friend who works in the automobile replacement part business, and he often shares excerpts from the latest Chinese import manuals and catalogs his company receives on a regular basis. Here are some of his favorites: quote:His sister was in China for a while teaching English as a second language, so I'm sure she inadvertently treated her students to some hum-dingers in the other direction! And now my brother is over there teaching English too. I really pity anyone trying to learn English as a second language. It's hard enough as one's native tongue. I've studied the history and development of English in some depth so I have some idea of how it got to be such a mess. I really think more English teachers—for both American students and those learning it as a second language—should be more familiar with its history so they could explain to their students why the language has so many idiosyncracies. -------------------- The A.E. van Vogt Information Site My Tribute to the Greatest Writer of the Science Fiction Golden Age Posts: 907 | Registered: Monday, July 15 2002 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 3171
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written Thursday, August 18 2005 23:10
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Engrish Theres quite a few funny things on that site. Posts: 776 | Registered: Friday, July 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Friday, August 19 2005 00:24
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Currently, I use Wikipedia nearly as much as Google. And that's a lot. Accuracy has never been a problem - perhaps the information I need is so widely spread and requested so often that it is updated and checked regularly enough. As a matter of fact, the only mistake I have ever seen on Wikipedia was a typo. And the funniest Engrish phrase I have ever seen: "If passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, tootle him with vigour." [ Friday, August 19, 2005 00:42: Message edited by: Aranfoolcaytar ] -------------------- The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki! "Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft. "I single Aran out due to his nasty temperament, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5567
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written Friday, August 19 2005 05:26
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Aran, that is a rare phrase. It is one of the few that can make me laugh for a long time. EDIT: My, my ,my... Laughing can make too many typoes. :) EDIT2: Here is original post. Is too funny. I swear I didn't invent it. ;) quote::D ;) [ Friday, August 19, 2005 05:30: Message edited by: JadeWolf ] -------------------- How many shapers are there? Why is Drypeak controlled by Zakary? Why is Barzahl a Guardian? How does the Geneforge work? What's as small as nothing? Why am I asking stupid questions? -------------------------------- Shaper teacher : "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" BOOM!! apprentice :*little voice* "Sorry..." --------------------------- Visit CSM !!! And this site is just great! Wow! Did you know what the answer to the gretest question ever is ? Posts: 576 | Registered: Wednesday, March 2 2005 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5699
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written Friday, August 19 2005 10:05
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Learning english is not so hard. It's actually rather easy. And the grammar is not so complicated. And the vocabulary is huge, unlike my own languages. Posts: 54 | Registered: Monday, April 11 2005 07:00 |
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Mongolian Barbeque
Member # 1528
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written Friday, August 19 2005 10:43
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I think the main difficulty in learning English—for those born into it, and those learning it as a second language—is the unpredictable difference between how a word is pronounced and how it's spelt. My brother struggled with spelling for most of his elementary days, and well into high school. And he's a bright guy, one of the smartest I know. The auxiliary verbs are also troublesome—I'm still unsure of the corect way to express some ideas, since I get all the relative past tense subjunctive frellywhatever auxiliaries mixed up. -------------------- The A.E. van Vogt Information Site My Tribute to the Greatest Writer of the Science Fiction Golden Age Posts: 907 | Registered: Monday, July 15 2002 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 3368
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written Friday, August 19 2005 10:59
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But spelling errors are not quite as entertaining to read. Errors in tense and conjugation are one of the few things that can make me laugh out loud via text. -------------------- "Like most of life's problems, this one can be solved with bending" Posts: 287 | Registered: Tuesday, August 19 2003 07:00 |
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Master
Member # 1046
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written Friday, August 19 2005 14:37
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quote:English is my second language, and most of you can't tell that it is! :P -------------------- Polaris - Weather balloons, ninjas, and your big daddy Wise Man. What more could you want? Undead Theories - Don't Ask, Don't Tell Posts: 3323 | Registered: Thursday, April 25 2002 07:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Friday, August 19 2005 14:43
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quote:Oh, please. Who can mess up the past perfect continuous subjunctive passive? Had you been being given a hard time by this, you would have been foolish! Oddly enough, I've been writing a grammar handout for the past several hours. My eyes are crossing. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Master
Member # 4614
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written Friday, August 19 2005 17:30
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I've never had much trouble with spelling. You see a word, remember the spelling of a word, and get good approximations of words you don't know and later learn you were wrong. That said, I seems I need to do more Wikisurfing, seeing as I never have really. -------------------- -ben4808 For those who love to spam: CSM Forums RIFQ Posts: 3360 | Registered: Friday, June 25 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Friday, August 19 2005 17:38
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Part of the English problem is the fact that we don't seem to learn or think about things that are integral to other languages. Conjugation? That's something bacteria do. Auxiliary is a military thing. Subjunctive is like a juntive, but less so. But if I were to have attempted proper English, I would have to have realized that it's harder than it may first appear even when you split the infinitives. —Alorael, who isn't quite sure what he wrote is proper English. He edited it a few times, read it to himself a few more times, and realized that it became gibberish in his head whether or not it makes sense. Hwætever. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 618
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written Friday, August 19 2005 17:43
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Learning English standard is quite easy, once you get a hang of the fundamentals. It's usually simpler, having less tenses and so on, than other languages. On the other hand, English slang and some of the dialects can be very tricky to understand, sometimes having no etymological root, in the language. Take the word "bling" for example, which has about five different meanings, yet very little relation to most synonyms. -------------------- Aut Tace Aut Loquere Meliora Silencio Posts: 1487 | Registered: Sunday, February 10 2002 08:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Friday, August 19 2005 18:48
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Uh, English has quite a few more tenses than, say, the Slavic languages. And from what I understand, the time structure in non-Indo-European languages works entirely differently, so that the Chinese languages don't have what could really be called tense. But the auxiliary verbs make life simpler compared to, say, Ancient Greek, which had as many tenses but no auxiliary verbs and therefore was forced to conjugate based off of many different stems for the same verb. Our use of articles is anomalous; we're not as article-happy as the Romance languages or as lacking of them as the Slavic ones (or most others, for that matter). Our alphabet is probably the most heinous on Earth, although I have to admit that pictograms are probably worse, so East Asia has us beat there. Our sounds are actually somewhat worse than most languages — the short I (as in "infantry") and the short A (as in "apple") are both fairly peculiar. However, the Khoisan click languages of sub-Saharan Africa have us beat on that score by a long shot. But then, English isn't so much a language as it is the greatest hits of all the other languages. Virtually every language on Earth has donated some bit of vocabulary to English one way or another. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
Member # 919
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written Friday, August 19 2005 19:45
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Yay for English! And Engrish for give joy! Learning French, I have no idea what different tenses are called; I just figure out how to use them and leave it at that. What I love about English is there are so many different ways to say the same thing, and sometimes the wrong way is the most accurate. Thank you, Shakespeare, for authorizing the fabrication of useful words. -------------------- And though the musicians would die, the music would live on in the imaginations of all who heard it. -The Last Pendragon Polaris = joy. In case of emergency, break glass. Posts: 3351 | Registered: Saturday, April 6 2002 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 65
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written Saturday, August 20 2005 16:04
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:D So that's where 'All your Base..." thing comes from. I never knew until now. -------------------- "He's mine, go get your own human plaything!" Bernard Black (Black Books) Also look at my sitehere This is also a good site Posts: 650 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Skip to My Lou
Member # 40
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written Saturday, August 20 2005 17:55
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I like to think of English as the circus of language. It's full of all sorts of freaky things, but it sure can be fun! -------------------- Take the Personality Test! INTJ 100% 75% 100% 44% Huzzah for the Masterminds! www.Keirsey.com for personality information. The Sloganizer! "Swing your Archmage Alex." Deep down, you wish you were a stick figure. Posts: 1629 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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Master
Member # 1046
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written Sunday, August 21 2005 05:52
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It's fun because of the freaky things... :nods: -------------------- Polaris - Weather balloons, ninjas, and your big daddy Wise Man. What more could you want? Undead Theories - Don't Ask, Don't Tell Posts: 3323 | Registered: Thursday, April 25 2002 07:00 |
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Master
Member # 4614
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written Sunday, August 21 2005 12:04
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And English is obviously the best language. ;) -------------------- -ben4808 For those who love to spam: CSM Forums RIFQ Posts: 3360 | Registered: Friday, June 25 2004 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 5585
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written Sunday, August 21 2005 13:08
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The worst thing about the English language is that it has a much bigger capacity for puns than other languages. However, I could be mistaken. -------------------- Important Information about Stuff Posts: 258 | Registered: Wednesday, March 9 2005 08:00 |
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Shake Before Using
Member # 75
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written Sunday, August 21 2005 15:15
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Japanese also has many really horrible puns, certainly... Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Sunday, August 21 2005 20:30
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There's also the famous Chinese poem consisting entirely of different homophones of the word "shi". While I'm not sure that exactly counts as a pun, it's certainly an interesting and elaborate use of wordplay. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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