Cognates & false friends

Polyglottery
#41

I still remember when I was living in the Netherlands that a couple of Dutch words sounds off or even downright offensive to their Afrikaans counterpart and vice versa

  • amper = almost in Afrikaans and barely in Dutch (I believe Afrikaans amper was loaned from Malay hampir).

  • aardig = strange/curiously in Afrikaans (also pleasant but I seldom encounters it) and solely nice in Dutch.

  • sop = soup in Afrikaans but dishwater in Dutch

  • kopje = small hills in Afrikaans (archaic form of koppie) but a diminutive of cup in Dutch

  • lemoen = orange in Afrikaans, lime in Dutch

  • het = have/has in Afrikaans, a neuter article (the) in Dutch

  • na = could be both after and to while solely after in Dutch (the corresponding word for to is naar)

  • voor = before in Afrikaans but could be both before and for in Dutch (the corresponding word is vir in Afrikaans)

  • die = an article (the) in Afrikaans, that one/which/who in Dutch (the corresponding word would be diegene in Afrikaans)

    now moving on to the rather embarassing ones

  • snert = rubbish in Afrikaans, pea soup in Dutch

  • flikker = sparkle/flash in Afrikaans but a gay/queer in Dutch

  • neuk = hit/beat in Afrikaans but to copulate in Dutch

  • aftrek = to deduct in both languages but aftrek is also to depart/take leave in Afrikaans while it’s a slang for masturbate in Dutch

    which brings us to…

  • aftrekplek = rest area in Afrikaans but a place to masturbate in Dutch

  • doos = originally a box but it’s now mostly used for vagina in Afrikaans (boks is the preferred word for box) while it’s still a good innocent box in Dutch

  • mof/moffie = a derogatory slur for queers in Afrikaans but a derogatory slur for Germans in Dutch

  • poes = A rough expletive for vagina but it’s still used as a rather affectionate way to refer to a kit or tabby (pussycat) in Dutch

and… many more that I can’t seem to recount atm :grinning:

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#42

Hello y’all!
What a FUN forum!
Let me contribute with some cognates in Catalan and Spanish, my 2 mother tongues:
ESCOLTAR (Cat) - listen / ESCOLTAR (Sp) - escort
LLEVAR (Cat) - remove / LLEVAR (Sp) - carry or wear
JUEVES (Cat) - Jewish girls / JUEVES (Sp) - 4th day of the week
SOL (Cat) - alone / SOL (Sp) - sun
Enjoy!
Carmen

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#43

Hey all, the episode is finally out! Go check it out:

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#44

This was a delight to listen to. I was glad to hear all the fun false friends. I thought of three things that in English are always referred to as plural even though they are only one thing: glasses(a pair of glasses), scissors(a pair of scissors) and trousers/pants(a pair of trousers/pants). Thank you for sharing your podcast.

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#45

My Nahuatl is poor, but these are some words or phrases I know in Nahuatl wich most Spanish speakers do never forget.

Suffix pan = at / in / place of ≠ pan = bread, in spanish.
notoka = my name ≠ no toca = sth doesn’t touches or sth doesn’t reaches sth, in Spanish.
Cochi / Kochi = to sleep ≠ el o la cohi o cochin@ = the pig or Mx slang = filthy, in Mexican Spanish.
Huei / uei = big ≠ Wei / uei / guei = comrade / Mr. nobody / stupid (depending the context in Mexican slang).
Tomahuac = fat ≠ toma agua = drink water, in Spanish.

Joke: A pushes B being agressive, thus…

B- Hey!!! uei tomauak be careful!
A- What?, what for? Ew…
B extends his arms with irony and an angry face while A feels stupid…

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#46

pluralum tantum (nouns only existing in Plural) is a thing in a lot of Slavic languages indeed; listenning the podcast I was thinking to myself :sale & gift =3 possibilities =sale de un sale sale sale(Spanish for get out, exit) of a sale(French for dirty) sale(English for ventes); gift is a present in English, a poison in German but gift seg is to get married in Swedish if I remember correctly…

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