Multiligual Word Game
I'm not sure how challenging this would be, or how amusing to most, but I thought I'd throw this idea against the fridge and see if it stuck. We're all familiar with word association games where two words are similar enough to be spelled or pronounced the same, perhaps just pronounced differently depending upon the context. Or not. For an old example, what would you call a middle-of-the-road clairvoyant? A medium medium. How about a male atomizer? That would be a Mister mister.
Pretty basic stuff, right? Ah, but what about if we take the words from different languages that happen to be the "same" word as English? A basic example from German would be a frozen water frozen water: Ice eis. (Same word, essentially, so not much of a challenge, but a good example). What about optically detecting a yes? See sí (Spanish.)
After some consideration, I decided words from polytonal languages (like Chinese and Korean) would be too confusing. A friend in collage once barked "ma" at me with varying degrees of too-subtle and (for me) undetectable intensity and declared that he had just said, "Mother, dog, potato." So, polytonal languages, sorry, won't apply. I'm sure it would be a too rich a source, one impossible for non-speakers to repeat correctly at Shanghai bars.
I only speak English well, but I've traipsed across a few other languages and, for some reason, noted enough to start. Post answers in the comments, specifying the foreign language for the second word. What would you call:
Good luck to all!
Pretty basic stuff, right? Ah, but what about if we take the words from different languages that happen to be the "same" word as English? A basic example from German would be a frozen water frozen water: Ice eis. (Same word, essentially, so not much of a challenge, but a good example). What about optically detecting a yes? See sí (Spanish.)
After some consideration, I decided words from polytonal languages (like Chinese and Korean) would be too confusing. A friend in collage once barked "ma" at me with varying degrees of too-subtle and (for me) undetectable intensity and declared that he had just said, "Mother, dog, potato." So, polytonal languages, sorry, won't apply. I'm sure it would be a too rich a source, one impossible for non-speakers to repeat correctly at Shanghai bars.
I only speak English well, but I've traipsed across a few other languages and, for some reason, noted enough to start. Post answers in the comments, specifying the foreign language for the second word. What would you call:
- A heavy fog of crap?
- A two joint?
- Left chain segments?
- A Ballard bay bout of diarrhea? (That one is for the Seattle locals, obviously!)
- A poisonous present?
- A thick cock? (Can't forget the dirty stuff, can we?)
Good luck to all!