http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/index.htm

Gives tongue-twisters in many languages.

Bingley

This is the neatest thing--thank you! I like the 3 def.'s at the bottom of the opening page, too. Man--all you students/speakers of French--check out the Jersey list:
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/jersey.htm

And French Créole is almost unrecognizable as French:
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/cpf.htm

Speaking of unrecognisable, one of the tongue-twisters is listed as being in Bolognese dialect, and it doesn't look even remotely Italian, to my uninformed eyes.

I did appreciate the numerous Indonesian references to my grandfather's older sibling's toenail:

kuku kaki kakak kakekku

Bingley

Have the French adopted the English word for cat--or did some scribe leave out the haitch?

Probably some mad Brit from Nottingham was the scribe

Bolognese dialect ... it doesn't look even remotely Italian

Even given the fact that some Italian dialects are so different from others that they constitute separate languages, I'm with you on this one, Max. But what can you expect from people who misspell Piedmont?

Nottingham
No, no, Connie: Notting'am!

Notting'am

Knotting 'em?

Man--all you students/speakers of French--check out the Jersey list:

These are so NOT French Jackie. I don't know who translated these things for him but dang, I hope he didn't pay for it.

>So not French

Well, they are idebtifiably a form of French. The first one, in particular was easy to make sense of, and to see it's close relationship with French.

Ah, I see what they're doing. I went to the Créole page that Jackie gave to see if that French made sense.

These pages seem to have been written by someone who was not really at ease with the French language and who transcribed phonetically what they heard. But not very well!

Sèt tèt chat nan chak sak = Sept têtes de chat dans chaque sac.

There are a lot of Haitian immigrants in Québec (it’s a long story involving the separatists and the French language) and, from firsthand knowledge, I know they do not write like that and would not drop the “de” nor do they use "nan" for "dans." They do not speak badly like all those sentences imply. They just speak with a different accent.

This looks like those bad translations you get from translation sites.

Well, remember, the above is not French. It's Creole, one of the many creoles that exist in the world. The colonial language in this case was French. There's also the Creole spoken in New Orleans, sharing the same dominant language.

Creoles have many different names; these retain (or maybe originated) the linguistic term (I need to LIU). The Jersey expressions look like a creole to me too, but since I'm not even really sure where Jersey is (unless they talk that way in the land of Whitman O'Neill), I'll reserve further comment until I've had some coffee.

the above is not French

And when your Haitian friends are talking to you they are probably talking to you in French and not in Creole. They probably speak both.

Jersey is a channel island. Though it is technically part of the British Isles, it is 14 miles from France. Here is some more about their unique language, which dropped out of sight completely about 50 years ago.
http://snurl.com/2eyj

Ok, why Bergerac, please? But, man, what a great link--thank you! Look:
Ancient Norman French continued in use in Jersey until at least the 1800's. Although the official written language was French, Jèrriais was spoken.
I wonder if Jèrriais would translate to "Jersey-ese"?
And isn't this neat:
La Société Jersiaise was formed in 1873 - their resolution was to study the history of the language and the island.

In 1908 Jèrriais was introduced into the Eisteddfod
What's the Eisteddfod?

Ok, why Bergerac, please? Bergerac was a crime drama series that ran on the BBC for most of the 1980's, star John Nettles played recovering alcoholic detective sergeant Jim Bergerac. /end quote. There's an hotel there called Bergerac and everything.
What's the Eisteddfod? Eisteddfodau are grand gatherings of poets, musicians and storytellers-bards in other words. They have them all over Wales, and a few in Cornwall and other places, evidently, they have them in Jersey too. The biggest one is in Llangollen, it's a really huge deal, last time I sang there when I was a kid, Pavarotti was on after us. There's a thing called the national Eisteddfod too which is held every year in North and South Wales alternately. I don't think it's the same thing but it could be I spose. Hey, are there any Welsh tongue twisters or would that be just TOO difficult.

There's an hotel

Heh. She did it. Unbidden and everythang.
Pardon my crossthread. Please resume your normal activities.

that one wuz fer you anna

There's an hotel there Er...on Jersey?
And--do you-all normally say on the BBC? We don't use the article.

Dodyskin ommitted the vital information that the series Bergerac was set in Jersey (perhaps because it was supposed to be obvious).

Yes we do say 'the BBC' but just 'ITV'. I suppose because we are aware that BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation and ITV stands for Independent Television. Corporation in this sense is countable and needs an article while television in this sense is not countable and so does not need an article.

Bingley

Cardigan was the power base of Prince Rhys ap Gruffydd of the royal family of Deheubarth (South West Wales). Rhys was the last of the Welsh Princes of that lineage to rule an independent principality free of Anglo-Saxon or Norman control. It was at his castle here in Cardigan, in the year 1176, that Rhys hosted the very first truly "national" eisteddfod of Wales…

http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/croeso/ardal/abert.htm

Even the local rag gets in on the act…

http://www.thisistivyside.net/tivyside/shows_and_eisteddfodau/


edit: also see (but not hear, unfortunately!)...

http://www.cliveband.com/Recordings/Keep_a_Welcome/Counting%20The%20Goats.htm



2nd edit: also:

Oer yw eira ar Eryri.
Cold is the snow on Snowdon.

Llongyfarchiadau llanciau Llanelli.
Congratulations to the young men of Llanelli (a town in Wales).

Tivyside

I'm new here...1st post wahoo! anyway just want to say that I loved to this page and I'm emailing a link to all my friends!

"Better far than a metaphor could ever, ever be..."

In Him,
Elizabeth

Welcome to you, sincerely, but...you DO realize what your inevitable name-shortening will be, don't you??

Phone home?Ha! I got it!

great, here we go...

"Better far than a metaphor could ever, ever be..."

In Him,
Elizabeth

what is the label thingie underneath the username? is it possible to change it?

"Better far than a metaphor could ever, ever be..."

In Him,
Elizabeth

is it possible to change it?

only by posting...

the label thingie underneath the username

For now you're a stranger in a strange land. At 25 posts you graduate to newbie. Or something like that. Maybe somebody will post the link to Jo's handy dandy FAQ sheet.

Hi, Elizabeth (nice name! )

What does this mean (in a context)? I can't quite parse it:

"Better far than a metaphor could ever, ever be..."

Elizabeth, the answer to that question and many others (although sadly not the important ones, "why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings"), can be found on Jo's Hints page, currently on show, for a prolonged season, at http://maxqnz.com/Hints.html

and if you are like most of us, and don't have a 23 inch monitor, you might want to change your preferences to TOP in Profile preferences. (for post heading) default is side.

Most here take care not to include long links that cause the screen to 'go wide'--ie, be forced larger, so that you have scroll left to right to read, but by putting your name, and posting heading info on top of the post (as opposed to the left side,) you gain a dozen or so extra characters per line.. sheer heaven if you have a small monitor!

Well, I only have a 17-inch monitor, set to 1024*768, but I am perfectly comfortable with the default side setting. It looks so much cleaner and less cluttered than the top-setting, and my chosen font (default -1) is of a size that means I see enough of the screen without resorting to the aesthetic abomination of the top-setting.

13"; 1024*768; side

It's from the musical The Fantasticks...the song "Metaphor"...Matt is describing his love, Luisa. TI is honsetly THE BEST musical EVER!!!!! Longest running musical on Broadway, you know.

"Better far than a metaphor could ever, ever be..."

In Him,
Elizabeth

I see. Thanks. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't figure it out.

"Better far than a metaphor could ever, ever be..."

In Him,
Elizabeth

No need for embarrassment, ET. You're a stranger in a strange land but no doubt you'll grok us soon enough Feel free to private message me or anyone else you feel comfortable with if you have questions. Welcome aBoard.

>It's from the musical The Fantasticks...the song "Metaphor"...Matt is describing his love, Luisa. TI is honsetly THE BEST musical EVER!!!!! Longest running musical on Broadway, you know.

I've always liked the bit about beans in the ears.
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thefantasticks/neversayno.htm

What happens if you are considered far more stranger than when you first got here after posting 25 times?



"Greater indeed are pleasures that are shared."

What happens if you are considered far more stranger than when you first got here after posting 25 times?

Then you'll fit right in and not be considered strange at all.

I love the internet! I remembered this thread when I wanted to find a Hindi tongue-twister, and sure enough, the link had both the ones I was after.

From The Economic Times: The market for Hindi tongue twisters remains small but vital, according to recent reports.

>small but vital.

Yup, that's me, or will be once my morning caffeine transfusion's complete.

I thought Welsh was a tongue twister.

> twister

nah, it's not too bad once you realise it uses a different alphabet.

http://www.wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=weeklythemes&Number=122666