And now for something completely different...

[Chemiker]

Went to bed at 3am, after a two hour hardcore MSN session with my gf. Some sparkling wine, family, not even tipsy, that's it. My almost-had-a-rocket-stuck-in-my-head incident last year was enough. Besides, I don't like fireworks exploding in my backbag, just because some idiot thinks it's funny. New year's eve, the night when every "normal" idiot becomes a bloody mental retarded pyromaniac.

 

[drago]

My almost-had-a-rocket-stuck-in-my-head incident last year

your what

 

[Chemiker]

your what

Last year, some guys wanted to launch pyrotechnic missles, but instead of rocketing upwards the bottle they had placed in the snow fell over and the rocket propelled horizontally a couple of inches past my head. If I hadn't worn a hat and a scarf my hair would have probably been lit. That's the reason why I try to avoid mobs at new year.

 

[drago]

Spooky...

We had similar experiences as we lived on the 8th floor with my parents. That is 25-30 meters of the ground. Every New years eve the kids started rockets on the place before the house. Some of the rockets I could have caught with my hands.

 

[Riven]

Went to bed at 3am, after a two hour hardcore MSN session with my gf. Some sparkling wine, family, not even tipsy, that's it. My almost-had-a-rocket-stuck-in-my-head incident last year was enough. Besides, I don't like fireworks exploding in my backbag, just because some idiot thinks it's funny. New year's eve, the night when every "normal" idiot becomes a bloody mental retarded pyromaniac.

Yep, you allways get these retardet drunkards.... But launching rockets can be really fun too, when you launch them with a mobile tub from the shoulder, bazooka style. We built one a few years ago all along with a faceshield and so on. Then we picked some free space and had lots of fun^^, having someone working on stage lighting and pyrotechnical equipment is very usual

 

[Mobbelsche]

@Riven: You mean it's usefull?

@everybody: Happy new Year and my best wishes!

btw: I'm back

 

[drago]

And now for something completely different....

Anybody ever heard of "false friends"?

No, I don't mean the guys you always spend your evenings with, I'm talking about language. Now what the heck am I talking about again?

Everyone of us knows words that look or sound the same in different languages but don't mean the same.

Let's use an example for that

The german "sensibel" and english "sensible" look and sound very similar. But they are not translated into each other. The german "sensibel" in english is "sensitive", while the english word "sensible" means different things in german like "vernünftig".

Such words are called "false friends", because they look like friends but don't behave that way.


Now it's your turn: Show me a false friend

/Edit: welcome back, Mobbelsche

 

[Mobbelsche]

I remember one time back in my school years... Must have been 8th grade, so way back last millennium
We had to translate a small text passage about the pilgrim fathers. About 3/4 of us translated "freedom" as "Frieden" as both sound somehow similar... Our teacher was quite displeased^^

And did you know that "dog" is "Kalb" in arabic? That's funny from the german point of view

 

[drago]

So "Kalb" is a false friend for germans and arabs.

Another false friend is the denglish word "handy". In England those kind of telephones are called a "mobile" or "cell", not handy.

 

[Maschenka]

Now it's your turn: Show me a false friend

"Self-conscious" is not the same as "selbstbewusst", at least not in the traditional sense.

 

[Icega-PvP]

must not = a false friend also? At least I had huge problems in 7th grade with it ^^

 

[drago]

Maschenka: I need to think about that for a while.

Ice: That is one of the most misused words for germans, for "must" indead means "müssen" in german, but "must not" means "nicht dürfen". In english it is a true negation, in german it is very complicated to decide between "may, may not, must, must not, must avoid....."



I have another famous on: "become" is a danger for every german in restaurants.

guest: "Waiter, can I become a beefsteak?"
waiter: "I hope not, sir"

Because the english word "become" means "werden" in german, the german "bekommen" means "get" or "have".

 

[DeLaDragon]

The must not/may not thing is actually really interesting. Some people say that the german way with müssen/nicht dürfen is more logical. Of course that's not entirely true but you can discuss about that. The German way is the "rational" approach ("müssen" -> necessary, "nicht dürfen" -> necessary), the English way is based on language (linguistic negotian, as said). Had a long discussion about that with my linguistics lecturer and we ended it with "but my opinion is better" *g*


I'm pretty surprised that no-one named the most "popular" false friend which is "actual" (aktuell <-> tatsächlich/wirklich).

Edit: Yes Mr. Teacher

 

[drago]

I'm pretty surprised that no-one named the most "popular" false friend which is "actual" (aktuell <-> tatsächlich/wirklich).

But we have you to remember us

I know some more but I want to hear them from others

 

[ShooterInc.]

Does this count too?

Mörder=murderer!=murder

"murder" and "Mörder" sounds the same but "murder" means "Mord". "Mörder" means murderer.

 

[drago]

Of course that counts. Nice example.

 

[Maschenka]

"to search somebody" is not the same as "jemanden suchen", but instead "jemanden durchsuchen". And the German word "lose" is not equivalent to the English "lose", but to "loose".

Somehow I think though a listing here doesn't really make sense, there are a lot of lists like that floating around already.

 

[Riven]

Lets see if I have some "false friends too"

german "Pass" means passport, but is often misstaken with pass, which is "an jemanden vorbeigehen - to pass someone" oder "einen Test betehen - to pass a test"

maybe I can think of a few more today

 

[Chemiker]

Double negations accentuate a normal negation.

Many Germans have problems with the various meanings of "however, eventually, nevertheless, actually, yada yada blah blah".

 

[drago]

Somehow I think though a listing here doesn't really make sense, there are a lot of lists like that floating around already.

I won't make a list, I rather see this as a game where you have to think abut the languages.

The meaning of however and company don't fall under false friends, but the double negation indeed does.

Something that is always confusing is the word "net". The german word "Netz" actually has two meanings: net and network.