New CBB

Discuss constructed languages, cultures, worlds, related sciences and much more!
It is currently Mon 20 May 2013, 06:05

All times are UTC + 1 hour [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 65 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Wed 11 Apr 2012, 22:48 
sinic
sinic

Joined: Sat 11 Sep 2010, 15:02
Posts: 248
Leichtenstein, because I just learned of it for the first time just last year. I still know next to nothing about it.

_________________
Know phrases in more languages than can fit in this signature.
Speaks English and Spanish.
Reads Sumerian.
There is more.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 11 Apr 2012, 23:00 
puremetal
puremetal
User avatar

Joined: Fri 13 Aug 2010, 18:57
Posts: 3049
hadad wrote:
Leichtenstein, because I just learned of it for the first time just last year. I still know next to nothing about it.

It speaks German, and has one of the highest per capita incomes, and one of the lowest unemployment rates. Also, it's the only country to exist strictly within the Alps. And also, it is called Liechtenstein.

_________________
♀♥♀
Dotjen
Kotanese


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 11 Apr 2012, 23:05 
MVP
MVP
User avatar

Joined: Sun 22 Aug 2010, 18:46
Posts: 3788
Thakowsaizmu wrote:
It speaks German, and has one of the highest per capita incomes, and one of the lowest unemployment rates. Also, it's the only country to exist strictly within the Alps. And also, it is called Liechtenstein.


They also have a national football cup.

_________________
constructedlanguages.net


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 11 Apr 2012, 23:09 
light
light
User avatar

Joined: Fri 20 Aug 2010, 03:04
Posts: 666
xingoxa wrote:
Thakowsaizmu wrote:
It speaks German, and has one of the highest per capita incomes, and one of the lowest unemployment rates. Also, it's the only country to exist strictly within the Alps. And also, it is called Liechtenstein.


They also have a national football cup.

They are also ruled by a prince who is able to veto laws passed by the parliament.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 11 Apr 2012, 23:16 
puremetal
puremetal
User avatar

Joined: Fri 13 Aug 2010, 18:57
Posts: 3049
Avo wrote:
xingoxa wrote:
Thakowsaizmu wrote:
It speaks German, and has one of the highest per capita incomes, and one of the lowest unemployment rates. Also, it's the only country to exist strictly within the Alps. And also, it is called Liechtenstein.


They also have a national football cup.

They are also ruled by a prince who is able to veto laws passed by the parliament.

They are also aliens from space, what came here to mate with beautiful Earth women.

_________________
♀♥♀
Dotjen
Kotanese


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 11 Apr 2012, 23:20 
light
light
User avatar

Joined: Fri 20 Aug 2010, 03:04
Posts: 666
You win


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 12 Apr 2012, 09:10 
light
light
User avatar

Joined: Thu 12 Aug 2010, 20:33
Posts: 667
Location: Israel
I was really surprised to learn that there is a country called Eritrea, and that it's in Africa! By the name itself it more suits to be some fantasy elvish kingdom, than an African state :mrgreen:

_________________
UNUS•ET•UNICUS


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 12 Apr 2012, 16:44 
mayan
mayan

Joined: Mon 30 Aug 2010, 01:23
Posts: 1024
Maximillian wrote:
I was really surprised to learn that there is a country called Eritrea, and that it's in Africa! By the name itself it more suits to be some fantasy elvish kingdom, than an African state :mrgreen:

It also happens to be a scary, very repressive dictatorship. Some have called it the "North Korea of Africa".

_________________
"Wait for the starvation of glaciers, chicken hamburger Noel Weber Arthur."

:eng: = [:D] | :fra: = [:S] | :zaf: = [:'(]


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 12 Apr 2012, 18:25 
air
air
User avatar

Joined: Thu 12 Aug 2010, 04:26
Posts: 1154
CrazyEttin wrote:
Maximillian wrote:
CrazyEttin wrote:
I thought, until i was ~12 years old, that Moldova and Timbuktu were just some random made-up countries mentioned in comics or something.

I used to think the same about Timbuktu and Karaganda. In Russian, if you want to say that something is located in a distant, unknown, god-forsaken place, you say "Где? В Караганде!" ("Where? In Karaganda!"). :mrgreen:


Haha. [:D] In finnish you say "Huitsin Nevadassa" (I don't know how to translate "huitsi" and i have absolutely know idea why Nevada is used in this expression)

In Swedish we say "Långtbortistan". "Långt bort" means "far away", and "-istan" is pretty self-explanatory.

_________________
そうだ。死んでいる人も勃起することが出来る。
俺はその証だ。
Spoiler: show
Ǧ Š Ȟ Ž Č

ǧ š ŋ ȟ ž č

:swe: [:D] :vgtl: [:D] :eng: [:)] :ita: [:|] :lkt: [:'(]


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 12 Apr 2012, 18:32 
air
air
User avatar

Joined: Thu 12 Aug 2010, 04:26
Posts: 1154
Maximillian wrote:
I was really surprised to learn that there is a country called Eritrea, and that it's in Africa! By the name itself it more suits to be some fantasy elvish kingdom, than an African state :mrgreen:

It's all over the Swedish newspapers, because they have a Swedish-Eritrean citizen imprisoned there. Dawit Isaak. He has never had a trial.

_________________
そうだ。死んでいる人も勃起することが出来る。
俺はその証だ。
Spoiler: show
Ǧ Š Ȟ Ž Č

ǧ š ŋ ȟ ž č

:swe: [:D] :vgtl: [:D] :eng: [:)] :ita: [:|] :lkt: [:'(]


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 12 Apr 2012, 19:35 
roman
roman
User avatar

Joined: Mon 28 Feb 2011, 20:43
Posts: 512
Location: Sol III
rickardspaghetti wrote:
CrazyEttin wrote:
Maximillian wrote:
CrazyEttin wrote:
I thought, until i was ~12 years old, that Moldova and Timbuktu were just some random made-up countries mentioned in comics or something.

I used to think the same about Timbuktu and Karaganda. In Russian, if you want to say that something is located in a distant, unknown, god-forsaken place, you say "Где? В Караганде!" ("Where? In Karaganda!"). :mrgreen:


Haha. [:D] In finnish you say "Huitsin Nevadassa" (I don't know how to translate "huitsi" and i have absolutely know idea why Nevada is used in this expression)

In Swedish we say "Långtbortistan". "Långt bort" means "far away", and "-istan" is pretty self-explanatory.


I actually knew that!
I always knew it was a good idea to read Moomin comics in swedish instead of finnish. [:D]

_________________
[:D] :fin: :eng: | [:)] :swe: | [:(] :fra: :lat: | [:'(] :jpn: :mex: (Nahuatl) | :idea: :kal: :hin: (Sanskrit & Pali) :chi: (Yaghan) | :con: Image (Antregabua)
CrazyEttin's Lair


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 12 Apr 2012, 21:53 
mayan
mayan
User avatar

Joined: Fri 27 Aug 2010, 08:17
Posts: 1172
Location: nowhere [naʊhɪɚ]
CrazyEttin wrote:
Maximillian wrote:
CrazyEttin wrote:
I thought, until i was ~12 years old, that Moldova and Timbuktu were just some random made-up countries mentioned in comics or something.

I used to think the same about Timbuktu and Karaganda. In Russian, if you want to say that something is located in a distant, unknown, god-forsaken place, you say "Где? В Караганде!" ("Where? In Karaganda!"). :mrgreen:


Haha. [:D] In finnish you say "Huitsin Nevadassa" (I don't know how to translate "huitsi" and i have absolutely know idea why Nevada is used in this expression)


Abolutely out of topic
Finnish has also a saying "Painu Helsinkiin!" 'Go to ?'
I know where the city is, but I really suppose that's so old a saying that Helsinki wasn't a very remarkable place.
Maybe it's a substitution of Hellheim > hell


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 12 Apr 2012, 22:12 
moderator
moderator
User avatar

Joined: Sun 16 May 2010, 00:25
Posts: 521
Omzinesý wrote:
Finnish has also a saying "Painu Helsinkiin!"

It does? I've never even heard that one... But then again, there might be a logical reason why such an expression would be missing from my dialect (namely, I live in Helsinki). [:P] In any case, it's quite obviously a G-rated version of painu helvettiin, which simply means 'go to hell'.

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon 16 Apr 2012, 21:49 
cuneiform
cuneiform
User avatar

Joined: Mon 02 Jan 2012, 20:10
Posts: 97
Xonen wrote:
Omzinesý wrote:
Finnish has also a saying "Painu Helsinkiin!"

It does? I've never even heard that one... But then again, there might be a logical reason why such an expression would be missing from my dialect (namely, I live in Helsinki). [:P] In any case, it's quite obviously a G-rated version of painu helvettiin, which simply means 'go to hell'.


Haha. In Czech, there's a very similar expression. You can substitute Prčice, a town in central Bohemia, for "prdel" (ass) in expressions like "Do prdele" ("Go into an ass", but it's similar to "Damn it").

Also, Karaganda is a great name. Like Timbuktu, it just sounds exotic and far away. When I visited Belgrade, I remember there were two buses that I always saw whose final destination was a place called "Karaburma", which was located in "Palilula". I really wanted to go there, because the names just sounded so amazing. Eventually I was talked out of it because they're apparently just ordinary suburban neighborhoods.

_________________
death to vowels
:eng: [:D] / :ces: [:D] / :slk: [:S] / :esp: [:'(] / :deu: :mrred:


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue 17 Apr 2012, 17:44 
mayan
mayan
User avatar

Joined: Sun 31 Jul 2011, 01:30
Posts: 897
Location: Menulis, Miestas, Pragaras
Altho since about 5 years I have memorized every country by heart, the one most people don't know about is Tuvalu.

For most of every country I know exists, I learned about them while reading The Onion's "Our Dumb World", except Fiji, Marshall Islands, Kosovo, South Sudan and that Tuvalu example above (which are missing for some reason).

_________________
:eng: [:D] | :con: [:|] | :esp: [:(] | :ell: [:(]| :jpn: [:(] | :heb: [:(] | :got: [:(] | :swe: [:(]| :mlt: [:(]

Áá Āā Ää Åå Ææ Ðđ Ēē Ĕĕ Éé Ëë Əə H́h́ Īī İi Iı Íí Ïï Łł Ññ Öö Øø Ōō Ŏŏ Óó Œœ Ŕŕ Śś Ŧŧ Üü Ūū Úú V̄v̄ Ÿÿ Źź Ξ Φ Ϙ Ϻ


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 18 Apr 2012, 08:28 
roman
roman
User avatar

Joined: Mon 28 Feb 2011, 20:43
Posts: 512
Location: Sol III
Helios wrote:
the one most people don't know about is Tuvalu.


People don't know about Tuvalu?.. [o.O]

_________________
[:D] :fin: :eng: | [:)] :swe: | [:(] :fra: :lat: | [:'(] :jpn: :mex: (Nahuatl) | :idea: :kal: :hin: (Sanskrit & Pali) :chi: (Yaghan) | :con: Image (Antregabua)
CrazyEttin's Lair


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 18 Apr 2012, 16:22 
MVP
MVP
User avatar

Joined: Thu 12 Aug 2010, 01:53
Posts: 288
Location: North Yorkshire, UK
CrazyEttin wrote:
Helios wrote:
the one most people don't know about is Tuvalu.


People don't know about Tuvalu?.. [o.O]


My wife merges /ð/ with /v/, and as a result she pronounces both "Tuvalu" and "too the loo" [tʰu:vəlu:] (or there abouts) which often leads to a few laughs.

_________________
You can tell the same lie a thousand times,
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 18 Apr 2012, 16:51 
MVP
MVP
User avatar

Joined: Sun 22 Aug 2010, 18:46
Posts: 3788
sangi39 wrote:

My wife merges /ð/ with /v/, and as a result she pronounces both "Tuvalu" and "too the loo" [tʰu:vəlu:] (or there abouts) which often leads to a few laughs.


What dialect does she speak? Isn't it quite common that word-initial [ð] becomes [d] or something, even for those with th-fronting in other environments?

_________________
constructedlanguages.net


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed 18 Apr 2012, 18:34 
MVP
MVP
User avatar

Joined: Thu 12 Aug 2010, 01:53
Posts: 288
Location: North Yorkshire, UK
xingoxa wrote:
sangi39 wrote:

My wife merges /ð/ with /v/, and as a result she pronounces both "Tuvalu" and "too the loo" [tʰu:vəlu:] (or there abouts) which often leads to a few laughs.


What dialect does she speak? Isn't it quite common that word-initial [ð] becomes [d] or something, even for those with th-fronting in other environments?


She's from around High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Unfortunately neither of her parents have th-fronting and the only own of her friends from around that area that I've met doesn't seem to have th-fronting either, but her accent's a bit more RP-esque. So I can't say whether the use of [və] in place of [ðə] is a feature common to that area or just something specific to her.

She also uses [v] in words like "that", "this", "than" and [f] in "thin", "thick", "thorn", etc.

_________________
You can tell the same lie a thousand times,
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu 19 Apr 2012, 07:11 
cuneiform
cuneiform
User avatar

Joined: Sun 29 Jan 2012, 11:22
Posts: 97
CrazyEttin wrote:
Helios wrote:
the one most people don't know about is Tuvalu.


People don't know about Tuvalu?.. [o.O]

Nobody watches .tv anymore.

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 65 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

All times are UTC + 1 hour [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group