![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gravityeyelidsvia http://ift.tt/2A0QuqL:
hufflepuff-the-magic-dragon:
hiranyaksha:
squidpop:
thejazzykittykat:
verbivore8642:
brigwife:
kidouyuuto:
how did they learn to translate languages into other languages how did they know which words meant what HOW DID TH
English Person: *Points at an apple* Apple
French Person: Non c’est une fucking pomme
*800 years of war*
Fun fact: There are a lot of rivers in the UK named “avon” because the Romans arrived and asked the Celts what the rivers were called. The Celts answered “avon.”
“Avon” is just the Celtic word for river.
Fan Fact #2: When Spanish conquistadors landed in the Yucatán peninsula, they asked the natives what their land was called and they responded “Yucatán”. In 2015, it was discovered that in those mesoamerican languages, “Yucatán” meant “I don’t understand what you are saying”
W H E E Z E
Can I add onto this? omg
So in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India there’s a bridge that’s currently known as the “Barber’s Bridge.” However, when the Portuguese had first built it, it was referred to as “Hamilton Bridge.” The local Tamil people, who couldn’t pronounce “Hamilton,” called it the closest-sounding word they could think of, “Ambattan,” which is the Tamil word for hairdresser. When the British came and took over India, they saw this “Ambattan Bridge” and gave it a direct translation, bc god-forbid a bridge without an English name, right? And so they called it, “Barber’s Bridge.”
And that’s how Hamilton Bridge became Barber’s Bridge. The end.
“The reason for this is regrettably all too common. When the first explorers from the warm lands around the Circle Sea travelled into the chilly hinterland they filled in the blank spaces on their maps by grabbing the nearest native, pointing at some distant landmark, speaking very clearly in a loud voice, and writing down whatever the bemused man told them. Thus were immortalised in generations of atlases such geographical oddities as Just A Mountain, I Don’t Know, What? and, of course, Your Finger You Fool.” - The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett
(Your picture was not posted)
hufflepuff-the-magic-dragon:
hiranyaksha:
squidpop:
thejazzykittykat:
verbivore8642:
brigwife:
kidouyuuto:
how did they learn to translate languages into other languages how did they know which words meant what HOW DID TH
English Person: *Points at an apple* Apple
French Person: Non c’est une fucking pomme
*800 years of war*
Fun fact: There are a lot of rivers in the UK named “avon” because the Romans arrived and asked the Celts what the rivers were called. The Celts answered “avon.”
“Avon” is just the Celtic word for river.
Fan Fact #2: When Spanish conquistadors landed in the Yucatán peninsula, they asked the natives what their land was called and they responded “Yucatán”. In 2015, it was discovered that in those mesoamerican languages, “Yucatán” meant “I don’t understand what you are saying”
W H E E Z E
Can I add onto this? omg
So in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India there’s a bridge that’s currently known as the “Barber’s Bridge.” However, when the Portuguese had first built it, it was referred to as “Hamilton Bridge.” The local Tamil people, who couldn’t pronounce “Hamilton,” called it the closest-sounding word they could think of, “Ambattan,” which is the Tamil word for hairdresser. When the British came and took over India, they saw this “Ambattan Bridge” and gave it a direct translation, bc god-forbid a bridge without an English name, right? And so they called it, “Barber’s Bridge.”
And that’s how Hamilton Bridge became Barber’s Bridge. The end.
“The reason for this is regrettably all too common. When the first explorers from the warm lands around the Circle Sea travelled into the chilly hinterland they filled in the blank spaces on their maps by grabbing the nearest native, pointing at some distant landmark, speaking very clearly in a loud voice, and writing down whatever the bemused man told them. Thus were immortalised in generations of atlases such geographical oddities as Just A Mountain, I Don’t Know, What? and, of course, Your Finger You Fool.” - The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett
(Your picture was not posted)
