Favorite Words or Phrases

[eno2]

I love cognates in general and some cognates in particular. Like elucubrations.

Définitions : élucubration - Dictionnaire de français Larousse
www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/élucubration/28472
Vertaal deze pagina
Production déraisonnable, absurde, issue de recherches laborieuses ; divagation, extravagance : On ne peut pas prendre au sérieux ses élucubrations.

In English it has a very narrow definition. And is "obsolete"

Antiloquesea (Spanish). Sounds nice, Isn't nice.

παραλία
playa

p ...aa...aa

That's where the life is.

 

[velisarius]

Elucubrations? - That takes me back a bit. Good old Europe n° 1

παραλία and παρά θίν' αλός

 

[Red Arrow]

In Dutch:
kamperfoelie (honeysuckle)
flierefluiter (a careless person)
boompje (a little tree)

In Swedish:
fjord
två (two)
lögn (lie)
namn (name)

In English:
huge
human
bath (British pronunciation)

In Bulgarian:
флюс

In Icelandic:
fljótt (quickly)

I really like certain consonant combinations, in particular /mp/, /mn/, /ŋn/, /fl/, /fj/, /flj/ and /çj/
I also really like the voiceless th and the a-sound in father.

 

[ilocas2]

Serbian:

čedomorstvo - murder of new born baby after birth

 

[Kotlas]

Languages are very beautiful things, as we all know, and sometimes a phrase or word just strikes you as beautiful. So, post them here!

I like the way you can "juggle" words in English, creating meaningful sentences. I can't do this in my native language because it is highly inflected. But English is not, that's why it produces such neat phrases as this:

"If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail."

 

[eno2]

Elucubrations? - That takes me back a bit. Good old Europe n° 1

παραλία and παρά θίν' αλός

A bit late, I didn't get notice, but thank you for that. I'll use it in a thread elsewhere about elucuthings...

 

[Amapolas]

In Italian: dimenticare (forget). Love the combination of sounds and the cadence, the rhythm.
Luckily, it's something I've learnt to do over the years. Memory is good, but not too much of it.

 

[eno2]

Very musical

Non moi 'je ne regrette rien, rien de rien', mais j'oublie tout....

Dementicare makes me think of dementeren in Dutch = suffer (from) dementia in English.

The Italian word demente seems to be a true cognate
Dement (Dutch)
dément (French)
demente Spanish
Demented English
demente Portugees

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La Catalina for 'the moon' in Spanish. A friend uses that word, I don't know where it comes from....

 

[L'irlandais]

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La Catalina for 'the moon' in Spanish. A friend uses that word, I don't know where it comes from....

This has been discussed on WR previously, What are genders good for?

 

[eno2]

Thank you for that.

 

[Oddmania]

Very interesting thread! I would say my favourite words are encore ("Keep going..."), oublieux ("oblivious"), chérir ("cherish"), fantaisie ("fantasy") and météore ("meteor").

 

[tsoapm]

I’m a big fan of heteronyms, basically words which are written the same but have different meanings with different pronunciations (that is perhaps not a watertight definition, but that’s the way I like to think of them, the ones that I like anyway). There’s a list of them in that Wikipedia article, but I had a nice time with a colleague coming up with them without such assistance. The one that always comes to mind is ‘entrance’/‘entrance’, also because the second is just a lovely word.

 

[Red Arrow]

I see now that this is not only about words that sound nice, but also about words that have fun or beautiful meanings.

I find "Put a sock in it!" a fun expression in English. It gives me the image of a Brit actually putting a sock in his mouth

In Dutch I like "Wie de bal kaatst, kan hem terug verwachten!" = Those who bounce the ball can expect it to come back
Meaning: You reap what you sow

 

[eno2]

In het hol van Pluto (Dutch)

Used for: (living or being in) an isolated location. Hol=cave

In the cave of Pluto (=Cerberus, the Guardian of the Greek underworld at the southernmost tip of the European continent in Mani, Peloponnese)

But it sounds even nicer when you know that 'hol' also means 'ass'…

 

[Red Arrow]

But it sounds even nicer when you know that 'hol' also means 'ass'…

Oh yes, Holland = assland in Dutch.

 

[eno2]

-----

Martin Luther King: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” I have to believe that.

'I have to believe that' is from Emmilou Harris...

I also have to believe that...

-----

Pame Gi Allou
George Dalaras

I've been going to the beach for the last 22 years, daily....

 

[Red Arrow]

I can't say the Hungarian word "hogy" without smiling. What a beautiful word

It means "that".

 

[Encolpius]

Red Arrow, I think you would like more the word "on women" in Hungarian. Do you know how you say "on women" in Hungarian?

 

[Red Arrow]

I can't speak Hungarian, sorry, but it's nőken, isn't it?

That reminds me of the Dutch expression "klaar is kees". Klaar is Dutch for ready, kész/kees is Hungarian for ready. Klaar is kees.

 

[Encolpius]

It is rather nőkön.

 

[King Crimson]

I’m a big fan of heteronyms, basically words which are written the same but have different meanings with different pronunciations (that is perhaps not a watertight definition, but that’s the way I like to think of them, the ones that I like anyway). There’s a list of them in that Wikipedia article, but I had a nice time with a colleague coming up with them without such assistance. The one that always comes to mind is ‘entrance’/‘entrance’, also because the second is just a lovely word.

One such nice example in Italian would be the pair àncora (anchor) - ancóra (again, still); we could even create a small sentence using both terms: ancóra all'àncora (still riding at anchor).

 

[Encolpius]

I've heard шушулка recently and fell in love wit it.

 

[eno2]

<Estoy aquí por estar
Y la nieve sigue cayendo>
Issa (maestro Zen)

 

[Amapolas]

I've fallen in love with this phrase that our friend Elcanario has chosen for his signature:

Belief is a weak force, when it comes to moving mountains, gravity wins every time.

By the great Terry Pratchett

 

[Elcanario]

I've fallen in love with this phrase that our friend Elcanario has chosen for his signature:

Belief is a weak force, when it comes to moving mountains, gravity wins every time.

By the great Terry Pratchett

Ahhh dear Amapolas, When I remember me reading Terry's books I always picture myself with an ear-to-ear grin and you know, the filthy lucre can't pay that bill. This thought makes me recall another memorable adage, poderoso caballero es Don Dinero, its author and the work that left me astonished, Gracias y desgracias del ojo del culo, dirigidas a Doña Juana Mucha, Montón de Carne, Mujer gorda por arrobas. Escribiolos Juan Lamas el del camisón cagado.
I know, I know, strange train of thought. Sometimes I can't help it.

Un saludo y felices fiestas.

 

[tsoapm]

I was just looking at the word ‘compliant’: I know that it’s really formed from the verb ‘comply’, but at a glance you might break it down as com- + ‘pliant’, which is semantically quite different, but ends up not being entirely unrelated all the same. That’s nice.

 

[Ballenero]

Hi there,
These are some of my favo(u)rites words in English:

Wavelength.
I love its sound. It be a cause of the elegance.
I have fun also because I have to stick my tongue out of my mouth to say it, same as:
Strength.

Temptress.
There is a smile in your face at the end.

Prompt.
I pronounce it and my head moves up and down.

Wolf.
Effective. Round.
King of animal names.
Atavistic.
'From a meet at night
The beast's howl and the human voice
Lost in the mists of time
Already the barking dog'

 

[eno2]

As I don't like creation beliefs, theories and myths, I was happy to discover the word 'abiogenese' (Dutch) a few years ago, which means
<het ontstaan van levende uit niet-levende substantie, spontane generatie= =autogenese, zelfwording..DVD>

Abiogenesis

, the idea that life arose from nonlife more than 3.5 billion years ago on Earth. Abiogenesis proposes that the first life-forms generated were very simple and through a gradual process became increasingly complex. Biogenesis, in which life is derived from the reproduction of other life, was presumably preceded by abiogenesis, which became impossible once Earth’s atmosphere assumed its present composition.

abiogenesis | Definition & Theory

Makes me think of Ancient Greek Spermatikos Logos and Latin Latin Generatio spontanea but that's not quite the same though:

Although many equate abiogenesis with the archaic theory of spontaneous generation, the two ideas are quite different. According to the latter, complex life (e.g., a maggot or mouse) was thought to arise spontaneously and continually from nonliving matter. While the hypothetical process of spontaneous generation was disproved as early as the 17th century and decisively rejected in the 19th century, abiogenesis has been neither proved nor disproved.

 

[eno2]

I've fallen in love with this phrase that our friend Elcanario has chosen for his signature:

Belief is a weak force, when it comes to moving mountains, gravity wins every time.

By the great Terry Pratchett

On the other hand, they say the sky is the limit

 

[MrMuselk]

French: Chose, and cuisine
(The way they sound : Shos, and cwisiin)
English:
Blotto, mufti, thyme
(The number of times I’ve seen people mix up time and thyme)

 

[Amapolas]

(The number for times I’ve seen people mix up time and thyme)

And sometimes mix up for and of.

 

[Roxxxannne]

I like persiflage:

1. light, bantering talk or writing.
2. a frivolous or flippant style of treating a subject.

To me it sounds like a mixture of minced parsley, garlic and other green leafy herbs.

 

[Amapolas]

I like persiflage:

1. light, bantering talk or writing.
2. a frivolous or flippant style of treating a subject.

To me it sounds like a mixture of minced parsley, garlic and other green leafy herbs.

A sort of veggie camouflage.

 

[L'irlandais]

I like persiflage:

1. light, bantering talk or writing.
2. a frivolous or flippant style of treating a subject.

To me it sounds like a mixture of minced parsley, garlic and other green leafy herbs.

Ooh, I learnt a new word. The etymology is interesting : persiflage | Origin and meaning of persiflage by Online Etymology Dictionary

 

[MrMuselk]

And sometimes mix up for and of.

Oh, shoot! Now corrected. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[aldonzalorenzo]

La Catalina for 'the moon' in Spanish. A friend uses that word, I don't know where it comes from....

It's from a popular song: "Al sol le llaman Lore, Lorenzo, y a la luna, luna, Catalina, lina. Cuando Lorenzo se acuesta, cuesta, se levanta, vanta, Catalina, lina".

Popular meaning traditional, not well-known.
Yes, I know it should be 'lo' llaman.

 

[Penyafort]

I love words in general, so it's always hard for me to choose.

Only focusing on Catalan and on those which I like for more than a couple of reasons, I'd find hundreds of them. Just to name a few:

celístia 'starlight', regalim 'steady trickle', cantimplora 'canteen bottle', deixondir-se 'awake from drowsiness', capvespre 'dusk', tarannà 'frame of mind, mood', corfondre's '(lit., melt one's heart with) feel united/blended with', atzavara 'American aloe', xiuxiuejar 'whisper', eixerida 'clever', daina 'fallow deer', carena 'mountain ridge', basarda 'dread, awe', queixalada 'bite', onada 'wave',emmirallar-se 'see oneself mirrored/reflected', daltabaix 'disastrous setback', terrabastall 'hullabaloo', xerinola 'party noise, revelry', etc.​

 

[Welsh_Sion]

I like the different concepts involved in something which is supposed to be identical or at least very similar. Doubtless this list can be extended and maybe other variants applied.

Using English 'fortnight' as the base concept.

English: 'fortnight' = 4 + 10 night
Welsh: 'pythefnos' = 5 + 10 night
French: 'quinzejours' = 15 days
Spanish: 'dos semanas' = 2 weeks
Chinese: = half a moon* (*This is anecdotal and I have no proof if this is correct, nor how to write it).

 

[Amapolas]

Spanish: 'dos semanas' = 2 weeks

In one word: quincena (15 days).

 

[L'irlandais]

French: 'quinzejours' = 15 days

In French : Une quinzaine

Quinze jours is written as two separate words. Fortnight - English-French Dictionary WordReference.com

 

[L'irlandais]

I like the different concepts involved...
Chinese: = half a moon* (*This is anecdotal and I have no proof if this is correct, nor how to write it).

Hello again,
I took the liberty of checking on the Chinese forum;
半个月。Bàn gè yuè = half a month in Chinese. See here for details Fortnight

半月 (bàn yuè) means half-moon

For a similar concept, to fortnight, one member suggested 旬 - WordReference 汉-英词典
As in the first 10 days of a month.

 

[pacegiulia]

Some of my favourite words are:

In Italian:
- idraulici (although it only means "plumbers", I love the "au" sound - this is definitely my favourite word of all)
- asciugamano (this means "towel")

In French:
- écrire (which means "to write")

In Spanish:
- estrella (which means "star")

In Norwegian:
- sommerfugl (which means "butterfly")

And in English:
- petunia (which is a flowering plant)

It is very hard to choose, because there are so many nice words! 😊