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From: deeb@blackhole.camb.inmet.com (Stephen Humble)
Subject: Re: Scots and English (was: Re: Flemish and Dutch)
In-Reply-To: deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu's message of Wed, 24 May 1995 05:03:41 GMT
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Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 17:35:11 GMT
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deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff) sez:
> Andrew Buisson <llyiab@ccn4.nott.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> >For example, puerile readers like me would be interested to know that when a Finn says
> >"look at the lake/sea" (katso mertae) he is saying "dick shit" to an Italian.
> 
> What kind of Italian?  Standard Italian has "anitra" (initial stress)
> for "duck."

I think it's "dick" (penis) - not "duck".  An Esperanto cognate (if I
dare mention Esperanto and the possibility of cognates with a
constructed language!) is "kaco merda", which means "shitty dick".

If nothing else, Esperanto seems tailor-made for obscenities and puns.
Maybe it's just because one of my first books in Esperanto was "Kruko
kaj Baniko el Bervalo". :-)

Stephen
