Favorite Words or Phrases

[Jeremy Sharpe]

Languages are very beautiful things, as we all know, and sometimes a phrase or word just strikes you as beautiful. So, post them here! You can do it in any language you want.

French:
I don't know a lot of vocabulary in French, but I love the way 'Ce dont j'ai besoin...' rolls off the tongue (and rhymes too).

English:
I like the word 'annexation' right now... I can't really explain why. 'x's are good I guess.

 

[scandalously in love]

oooh ooh oooh!

pourrais-je tout simplement dire, que j'adore l'expression
"Franchement!" en français, (avec plusieurs sortes d'accents!)

(frééénchment, fronchmont, fronchméént... lol....)

En anglais, on n'a pas ni mot ni phrase tant copieuse que cela... c'est même mieux avec un bon "Ben" québécois avant....

Ben, franchement là!

je pourrais m'exprimer toutes mes émotions avec ce mot-là!

 

[Jeremy Sharpe]

oooh ooh oooh!

pourrais-je tout simplement dire, que j'adore l'expression
"Franchement!" en français, (avec plusieurs sortes d'accents!)

(frééénchment, fronchmont, fronchméént... lol....)

En anglais, on n'a pas ni mot ni phrase tant copieuse que cela... c'est même mieux avec un bon "Ben" québécois avant....

Ben, franchement là!

je pourrais m'exprimer toutes mes émotions avec ce mot-là!

Est-ce que le mot 'franchement' veut dire 'frankly' en Anglais? Comment y a-t-il tous ces sens differents?

 

[mirandolina]

One of my favourite German words is Gummihandschuh - it only means rubber glove, but I love the sound of it!

 

[Agnès E.]

When I used to speak German, I loved saying "wissenschaftlich". All these ssssssss and schhhhhhh !!

 

[garryknight]

I like the word 'annexation' right now... I can't really explain why. 'x's are good I guess.

You're not a remote descendant of the Schickelgruber family, are you?
Thought not. I'll get my coat...

 

[Artrella]

I love this " ... , though"
To tell the truth, I don't like this word, and it's been very difficult for me to understand.
But, the fact is that mi amiga mejor, mi unicornio, always says that, and I like the way she does it... so now it is my favourite phrase...

In German I like this "ich auch" because the sound is terrible. For instance you say "Ich liebe dich" and then the other person says "Ich auch", but the sound of these words is so sharp -it sounds like an order, hee hee, that is kind of contradictory...well... it's my opinion..(I hope this is well written, if not my friend Who will correct it, right Who...?)

In French I like "je ne sais pas" and "qu'est ce que vous cherchez?"... the sounds are mmmm....so smooth, so sweet...you put your lips in a certain position...

In Irish >>> Ble wyt ti isio mynd? I'r dafarn = Where are you going? To the pub...

and in my last acquisition...Italian... "cosa significa questa parola?"...

 

[Agnès E.]

Have you noticed there are many sssssss and shhhhhhh in the proposed words/phrases ? Very interesting, indeed.....

 

[belén]

In German I like the way this sentences sound:
Uber natürlich - But of course
Uberhaubt nicht - Absolutely no way
Ich bin entaucht - I am disappointed

In Spanish I like:
Encarecidamente - earnestly
Alcachofa - Artichoke

In English I am more into monosyllabes, my favorites being:
Few
Bib

In Portuguese I like mostly all words but I will chose these 2 today
Allem - Beyond
Foz - Falls (as in the Iguaçu Falls)

And in Catalan I like
Pastanaga - Carrot

Now, psychologists, please proceed...

Cheers,
Be

 

[Whodunit]

One of my favourite German words is Gummihandschuh - it only means rubber glove, but I love the sound of it!

Yes, it's funny. The same goes for 'Gummiball (rubber ball)' - also funny in English. The best German word is "Flummi" I don't even know how to translate it. Maybe someone can.

In German I like this "ich auch" because the sound is terrible. For instance you say "Ich liebe dich" and then the other person says "Ich auch", but the sound of these words is so sharp -it sounds like an order, hee hee, that is kind of contradictory...well... it's my opinion..(I hope this is well written, if not my friend Who will correct it, right Who...?)

"Ich auch" is correct. I like to pronounce it, but as for "ich liebe dich - ich auch", I have to teach you it's not the best way to say it. We Germans do it better: We add one more a 'ch' to make a finer pronunciation:

Ich liebe dich, mein Schatz. — Ich dich auch.
I love you, darling. — I love you, too.

The best English word ever created is Mississippi. And the best German word is Rehabilitation. I don't manage its pronunciation. The best French one is "propriétaire", because that's almost the first word I learned and it's still hard to pronounce.

 

[Whodunit]

In German I like the way this sentences sound:
Aber natürlich - But of course
überhaubt nicht - Absolutely no way
Ich bin entäuscht - I am disappointed

Before some psychologists proceeds anything, I HAVE to correct your German examples.

 

[belén]

Before some psychologists proceeds anything, I HAVE to correct your German examples.

Thankssssssss!!!!!! Long time no study German

 

[Artrella]

whodunit
Ich auch" is correct. I like to pronounce it, but as for "ich liebe dich - ich auch", I have to teach you it's not the best way to say it. We Germans do it better: We add one more a 'ch' to make a finer pronunciation:

Ich liebe dich, mein Schatz. — Ich dich auch.
I love you, darling. — I love you, too.

Danke schön, mein Lehrer!!! I knew Who would have something to say!! I'm always expecting Who's corrections... thank you!!!!

PS: That's why it sounded odd... you don't have to say "ich auch" when someone says "Ich liebe dich".... uuuhhhh!!!... I used to say that... poor my love.....

 

[cuchuflete]

For sound and sense, the Portuguese word Saudade is a favorite.

In his book In Portugal of 1912, A.F.G Bell makes a few disquisitional remarks on the meaning of "saudade" given its intended context:

"The famous saudade of the Portuguese is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness."

http://www.saturation.org/saturationblog/archives/000824.html

saludos,
Cuchuflete

 

[Whodunit]

Danke schön, mein Lehrer!!! I knew Who would have something to say!! I'm always expecting Who's corrections... thank you!!!!

PS: That's why it sounded odd... you don't have to say "ich auch" when someone says "Ich liebe dich".... uuuhhhh!!!... I used to say that... poor my love.....

Not only that you DON'T HAVE to say it, you SHOULDN'T say it. It sounds really odd.

 

[cuchuflete]

Now that I see it in print,

disquisitional

is also nice, in a silly way.
The sound is like that of shsssssssing a rowdy person in a theatre or concert, and the word is so pompous as to be amusing.

 

[Artrella]

Not only that you DON'T HAVE to say it, you SHOULDN'T say it. It sounds really odd.

Danke vielmals Who!!! Ich verspreche "ich dich auch" fürder sagen !!

 

[lsp]

We have another collection of beautiful sounding words in this thread from a few months ago if anyone is interested in seeing some more contributions.

 

[Whodunit]

Danke vielmals Who!!! Ich verspreche "ich dich auch" fürder sagen !!

De nada, amiga. What does the underlined word mean? Say it in Spanish or English, please.

 

[scandalously in love]

Est-ce que le mot 'franchement' veut dire 'frankly' en Anglais? Comment y a-t-il tous ces sens differents?

Yes, its true, but the word goes much farther than that...

Think about it, how often do you say frankly? Besides, you can also say "Etre frânche" to get that meaning. You could use franchement to mean, frankly: ie. Franchement, je pense que le bleu ne va pas avec le rouge.

However, franchement is often said as an expression when you're surprised, confused, angry, etc, etc. The closest translations I can come up with, is a mixture of "for crying out loud", "what the heck" and "you can't be serious".... all rolled into one.

ie. "Il m'a dit que maintenant, il ne vient jusqu'a samedi... franchement!!"

 

[Cath.S.]

I love the way the word "perception" sounds in English. I don't like its equivalent in French, though. Maybe because one of its meaning is related to paying taxes!

 

[supercrom]

I really like these phrases:

Je nai sais pa.
because I can say that when someone says to me "Parlez-vous français?" (click)

Não falo português.
Idem

what's the matter?
I like this but especially with a British accent.

CROM

 

[ceirun]

In Irish >>> Ble wyt ti isio mynd? I'r dafarn = Where are you going? To the pub...

Hi Artrella, this isn't Irish but Welsh. (I like the sentence, though ).

One of my favourite words in English is "gobbledegook" ...just because it sounds so unusual.

 

[Whodunit]

Hi Artrella, this isn't Irish but Welsh. (I like the sentence, though ).

One of my favourite words in English is "gobbledegook" ...just because it sounds so unusual.

Is there a difference in usage to goobbledygook? Both of them sound funny, but what's the correct one?

 

[ceirun]

Hi whodunit,

It's funny you should ask that, because I actually had to check the spelling before writing it.

In my Oxford dictionary it says "gobbledegook", but looking in Google, there is at least one other variation. Take a look here: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gob1.htm

 

[Whodunit]

Thank you Ceirun,

I hope it's clear now.

 

[Cath.S.]

I really like these phrases:

Je nai ne sais pas.
because I can say that when someone says to me "Parlez-vous français?" (click)

Não falo português.
Idem

what's the matter?
I like this but especially with a British accent.

CROM

Maintenant, tu sais !

 

[mjscott]

I like the words:
albaricoque
and any word that is an esdrújula--for the musicality of it.

I like the word
esperanza
in Spanish. In English, hope can be quantified by the measure of hope the person hoping has in something. In Spanish, la esperanza means the waiting. It's as if hope has transcended hopelessness, and is now a matter of waiting for what you hope for to come to pass. It's a much stronger word than the English word hope.

 

[Artrella]

Hi Artrella, this isn't Irish but Welsh. (I like the sentence, though ).

One of my favourite words in English is "gobbledegook" ...just because it sounds so unusual.

Hi Ceirun... I knew Welsh and I wasn't aware of it.....
OOHHHH!!! OK, I will have to go to the pubs in Wales!!! ha ha ha !!! Maybe with the Prince of Wales...mmmmm...naawwww!!!!!!


But I will go to the pub in Dublin, and have some pints there..hic!! >>> Go dtí an teach tábhairne

 

[Artrella]

De nada, amiga. What does the underlined word mean? Say it in Spanish or English, please.

Ahhhh mein Freund!! Du weisst nicht?... Dieses Wort bedeutet "in future".
At least that is what my LEO dictionary says!!! Whooooo!!! Why cannot I have one ... only one... a single...sentence totally correct...uuuffaaaaa!!!

 

[Whodunit]

Ahhhh mein Freund!! Du weisst nicht?... Dieses Wort bedeutet "in future".
At least that is what my LEO dictionary says!!! Whooooo!!! Why cannot I have one ... only one... a single...sentence totally correct...uuuffaaaaa!!!

Nein, ich wusste nicht. What a word . Hm, LEO is wrong, I've never heard it, but it's also marked as obsolete/archaic. Nevertheless, I think you created a thread in the German forum right now.

 

[ceirun]

Hi Ceirun... I knew Welsh and I wasn't aware of it.....
OOHHHH!!! OK, I will have to go to the pubs in Wales!!! ha ha ha !!! Maybe with the Prince of Wales...mmmmm...naawwww!!!!!!

Hi Art. I can't blame you about not wanting to go to the pub with him ...but funnily enough, "The Prince of Wales" is actually quite a popular pub name in the UK (you can have a look at the 10 most popular ones here: http://www.camra.org.uk/SHWebClass.ASP?WCI=ShowDoc&DocID=3607), so at least you could go to a pub with that name, without having to share his company.

 

[beatrizg]

My contribution will be in Spanish and Greek, guys.

A very dear person of mine was called in her youth
"El alacran dorado".
I not only like the sound, but I also find it poetical.

The Greek language is very musical. I like the name of the island of Serifos... there is a small taverna there calle Kyklopas (Ciclope). The word for sea, Thalassa...

There are so many more I could think of...

 

[garryknight]

Spanish has a great many words which sounded very exotic when I first came across them. It was a bit of a let-down when I found out the meaning of one of my favourites, 'basura'. It means 'rubbish'.

 

[te gato]

Ohhh I have so many...

Yadda, yadda....of course..meaning..and so on..
Supercalafragalisticexpialidocious...from Mary Poppins..
Homonym...funny if you say it fast about ten times...
Zymurgy...or any word that starts with Z...

In German...
Das ist kaputt...

In Dutch..
Lieveling...means..darling...My mother calls me that (among other things )

In Spanish/Mexican...
Te Quiero..awww

One of my favorite sayings...
If wishes were horses...(aww..sounds so nice..until you say the rest of it)
I would ride the Hell out of here !!

te gato

 

[pinkpanter]

The most beautiful word ever...

CAXIGALINES

(Asturian)

 

[pinkpanter]

Spanish has a great many words which sounded very exotic when I first came across them. It was a bit of a let-down when I found out the meaning of one of my favourites, 'basura'. It means 'rubbish'.

Yes, basura is a very nice word if we forget its meaning

 

[Whodunit]

Another super English word: "whatchamacallit, what-d'ye-call-it, what-'em-call-it etc."

 

[pinkpanter]

Another super English word: "whatchamacallit, what-d'ye-call-it, what-'em-call-it etc."

Y thingamabob

 

[Whodunit]

Y thingamabob

Y thingumajig.

 

[cuchuflete]

One I haven't heard in years, but still brings back nice memories:

Monkeyshines

abrazos,
Cuchu

 

[Whodunit]

One I haven't heard in years, but still brings back nice memories:

Monkeyshines

abrazos,
Cuchu

Isn't it monkeyshines?

 

[supercrom]

I like the words:
albaricoque
and any word that is an esdrújula--for the musicality of it.

I like the word
esperanza

We should never lose even a bit of esperanza...

We can easily see that a word is esdrújula because it always holds an accent mark.

CROM

 

[garryknight]

Y thingumajig.

Not to mention doobry.

 

[pinkpanter]

Not to mention doobry.

Does "doobry" mean the same? I could not find it.

 

[pinkpanter]

One I haven't heard in years, but still brings back nice memories:

Monkeyshines

abrazos,
Cuchu

What is "monkeyshines" Cuchu?

 

[weird]

Hello, ¡que thread tan gracioso!

My favourite word is: WEIRD (for this reason it is my nickname)

I love: ache, almighty, always, ankle, awkward, because, cellar, chemistry, crimson, ice, lizard, luck, mistake, mortgage, necklace, nowhere, owl, purple, scare, shark, snake, swallow, tear, tiptoe, twice, wander, weather, winding, witch, wrinkle, yourself and zip.

¡me encanta el sonido de estas palabras! ¡para un "oido español", son bastante musicales!

En cuanto a las frases:

THE BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
LIKE THE CAT ON THE HOT TIN ROOF

Aunque para mi gusto, todo me suena bien en inglés

Saludos.-

 

[JLanguage]

I would say the following are my favorites:

callipygian
ass goblin: (Note: could be considered offensive)
posh
Amurica (emphasising pronunciation)

 

[garryknight]

Not to mention doobry.

Does "doobry" mean the same? I could not find it.

I told you not to mention doobry!

It means the same here in the UK, at least that's the only way I've heard it used. For example, "Pass me the doobry, will you?". I've even heard "doobry-whatsit" on a couple of occasions.

 

[pinkpanter]

Thank you Garry!