The questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread IV

[Mesousa]

How do you pronounce "zwei" and "fünf"?

TSVAI and FEWNF.

 

[gangleri2001]

So, are you taught both in school in spain? Or are you taught Spanish but the rest just speaks Spanish? I'm just wondering how you guys understand each other. I always thought it weird how my dad and grandparents said they couldn't understand Sicilian which I'm always told is just Italian.

We're taught only in Catalan (except the Spanish class), but we all can speak Spanish, so we understand each other (that's to say, among Catalans, Catilians, Basques and Galicians) in Spanish.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

How do you pronounce "zwei" and "fünf"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxwV1fLjy3I

 

[King of Town]

Are Caribou and Reindeer the same thing?

 

[Grisu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxwV1fLjy3I

arrgh....

although the guy seems to have a bit of a strange accent, though it's close enough as to make no matter.

Are Caribou and Reindeer the same thing?

caribou is usually used to refer to Reindeer in NA (the name being native american and all..) but they're essentially the same.

 

[Mad Man]

Is there any reason a helium ballon would growl at someone and chase them around the room other than it's demoniac?

 

[holy king]

where exactly is the region the romans called asia, sharwood and dachs?

got a map?

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Are Caribou and Reindeer the same thing?

Caribou are wild, reindeer are domesticated.

 

[holy king]

doesnt caribou only refer to the canadian version of the animal, and the scandinavian one is called reindeer?

 

[gangleri2001]

where exactly is the region the romans called asia, sharwood and dachs?

got a map?

I think it was Caucasus or maybe Turkey (Asia Minor)

 

[holy king]

i know turkey was asia minor, but the question is what was asia maior?

 

[gangleri2001]

i know turkey was asia minor, but the question is what was asia maior?

Easy: everything beyond asia minor.

 

[GoodGame]

doesnt caribou only refer to the canadian version of the animal, and the scandinavian one is called reindeer?

Caribou is a "frenchification"
of a native american word, so yes, for North America at least.
According to wikipedia, they're all the same species: Rangifer tarandus

 

[Ulyaoth]

Caribou are also called Elk in America aren't they? Where in Scandinavia Elk is moose, right?

 

[holy king]

hm... i always thought moose is an american word too, while elk refers to the scandinavian reindeer...

in german they're either called "elch" (from some scandinavian word resembling "elk"?)
or sometimes caribou when talking about canadian reindeers.

since it was pointed out that it's the same species from norway (move to the east now) to quebec, it's just a language issue anyway...

 

[Dachs]

where exactly is the region the romans called asia, sharwood and dachs?

got a map?

Everything on the other side of the Aegean, Bosporus, and Hellespont, for the Greeks; Herodotos calls the Persian Empire (minus Egypt and the Thracian bits) "Asia" in his historia, and actually notes that it's kind of funny how Asia, Europe, and "Libya" (Africa) are all part of the same landmass but have different names. For the Romans, it started out simply meaning the original territories in Asia Minor that were inherited by the Republic from the defunct Attalid kingdom at Pergamon, but then expanded to encompass, in a territorial sense, for a while, the territories of Egypt and the Levant as well as Asia Minor. Administratively the term seems to have fluctuated somewhat, and have been interchangeable with the vague term Oriens, but by the time of the Later Empire (in fact, as a result of Diocletian's reforms) was made to refer to Western Anatolia, as per this map.

So, basically: for general use, everything that it means nowadays, as far back as Herodotos; in administrative use, it varies, but the Romans eventually settled on their Diocese of Asia being "part of Anatolia".

 

[GoodGame]

Caribou are also called Elk in America aren't they? Where in Scandinavia Elk is moose, right?

hm... i always thought moose is an american word too, while elk refers to the scandinavian reindeer...

in german they're either called "elch" (from some scandinavian word resembling "elk"?)
or sometimes caribou when talking about canadian reindeers.

since it was pointed out that it's the same species from norway (move to the east now) to quebec, it's just a language issue anyway...

Moose-Elk are a separate species according to wikipedia: Alces alces
Moose is the N. American word though there are sub-specification.

Moose-Elk and Caribou-Reindeer are all of the deer family, but two separate genus.

But then there is a species called 'Elk' in N. America which is a completely different genus from what is called 'Elk' in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervus_canadensis

 

[holy king]

man, how did this linguistic mess get started?

 

[Rossiya]

I always thought it weird how my dad and grandparents said they couldn't understand Sicilian which I'm always told is just Italian.

Sicilain is not Italian!

Sicilian:

Patri nostru, ca siti ntrô celu,
Santificatu fussi lu Vostru nomu.
Viatu vinissi lu Vostru regnu.
Fatta fussi la Vostra Vuluntati
Comu ntrô celu accussì ntra terra.
Dàtini sta jurnata lu nostru panuzzu,
E pirdunàtini li nostri piccati
Accussì comu nuiàtri li pirdunemu ê nostri nìmici.
E nun lassàtini cascari ntrâ tintazzioni,
Ma scanzàtini dû mali.
Amen.

Italian:

Padre nostro, che sei nei cieli,
Sia santificato il tuo nome.
Venga il tuo regno.
Sia fatta la tua volontà
Come in cielo così in terra.
Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano,
E rimetti a noi i nostri debiti
Come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori.
E non ci indurre in tentazione,
Ma liberaci dal male.
Amen.

 

[salty mud]

So Sicilian is just a poor man's Italian?