Singing Potatoes
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Tuesday, 1 July 2003
Foreign Interjections

Back when I was in high school, a friend of mine had a French foreign exchange student staying in her house. He was quite amused by our "ow" and "ouch" (if I remember correctly, the equivalent French pain noise was something like "aiee").

And just as we make fun of Canadians for saying "eh?", they make fun of our "huh?" — it sounds like a goose being rogered, according to my friend Monica.

Last night, there was a fellow from the Netherlands playing on my Armagetron server. He wrote in excellent English, but when he came out of a really tight race against one of the AI lightcycles, exclaimed "fjiew!" It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was the Dutch spelling of "phew!"

That's what's so neat about the Internet. Not only can you play games against people halfway around the world, you can actually learn trivial things while doing so.

Posted by godfrey (link)
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Comments
It's a small world, I just wouldn't want to have to paint it.
Posted by Lunchbox on 1 Jul 2003 11:06
I love the norwegian "jejejeje!"
Posted by jen on 1 Jul 2003 20:46
Trivial facts. Isn't that what life's all about?
Posted by Greg the Paladin on 2 Jul 2003 00:51
Man, the BEST thing about the Internet is the trivia. Where else could I learn that the jet pilots at the very end of 28 days later.... are apparently speaking Finnish?
Posted by M o I r A on 3 Jul 2003 01:38
Oh yes, and I remember from living in Italy you said "AIIIIEEE!" not "Ouch." Italian is not really suited for "Ouch," I think.
Posted by M o I r A on 3 Jul 2003 01:39