Say Cheese
When photographers attempt to bring out our smiling faces by asking us to "Say Cheese", many countries appear to follow suit with English equivalents. In Spanish however they say patata (potato), in Argentinian Spanish whisky, in French steak frites, in Serbia ptica (bird) and in Danish appelsin (orange). Do you know of any other varieties from around the world's languages?
posted by Adam Jacot de Boinod at 10:27 PM
34 Comments:
"In Spanish however they say papata (potatoes)"
I think you mean patata (potato).
In Chinese, you would say eggplant (qiezi).My mom always told me not to say the "zi" part because it made you look like you were frowning.
"In Spanish however they say patata (potatoes)"
Well, the change from p to t is a start, but we still need to lose a couple of letters: patata means potato, not potatoes.
In French we also sometime say "Ouistiti" which means marmoset.
In Portuguese, or at least in Brazil, we say "Olha o passarinho!", or "look at the bird!", but don't ask me why!
People used to say "look at the birdy" in the States also, but it has fallen out of practice.
I associate it with the time when a supplemental flash was held up high by the photographer.
In French, we also say "cerise" (cherry) which sounds very much like "cheese" and therefore produces the same kind of "smile"
In Finnish we sometimes say "muikku", which is a small fish (Coregonus albula)
In Croatian
pticica (meaning birdy)
In Brazil people say "X" (sounds almost like cheese). But my aunt usually ask everybody to say "penis" because people start to laugh in surprise and look happy in the picture.
In Korea, they say "Kimchi!"
Of course.
In Germany there are different phrases for this.
But one that is used very often nowadays is "Ameisenscheiße", which means something like shit of ants..
During my time in Brazil, I recall the word of choice for snapshot-taking being "abacaxi"....(or "pineapple")
I can't believe how dull this book is, endless list of words, worth five minutes of my time, and five more to be amazed at its popularity before binning it.
Hello I have recently written about "The Meaning of Tingo" on my language blog ( http://corcaighist.blogspot.com/2007/12/meaning-of-nabocklish.html ). I enjoyed it but I have to say there are a number of elements I found to be at fault. Here are the main ones:
I noticed on page 5 an Irish Gaelic phrase was given as nabocklish - don't meddle with it! which I assume is meant to be ná bac leis which means 'don't bother with it/ him' in the sense that it or him isn't worth the effort.
On page 162 you give jaaaarne as an Estonian lexeme meaning 'the edge of the ice'. This really should be jäääär. 'Jaaaarne' doesn't mean anything. 'The edge of the ice' used mainly as an adjective would be jäääärne.
Also on page 162 you give oueaiaaare as the Estonian for 'the edge of the fence surrounding a yard'. This should in fact be õueaiaäär.
Maybe you should have included Kuuuurijate töööö jäääärel, 'A moon researchers' work-night at the edge of the ice'. (http://www.einst.ee/publications/language/sound.html) here instead. :-)
Sometimes we say "spaghettiiiiiii!", in Dutch. It's pronounced differently, but that doesn't matter because it's about the i, which is pronounced the same as in English.
In Germany, it's also sometimes "Spaghettii" or "Cheese"
In Finland, the children are asked to say "Mikki Hiiri" (Mickey Mouse) in a school picture, because it looks like you're smiling.
In Bulgaria, we say "Zele" (zeh-leh), which means cabbage.
In Australia kids sometimes say
"Elephants Undies", "Smarties",or "Monkeys"
Hello, I apologize if someone's already made these comments but I just happened across them in your book:
1. er gibt seinen Senf dazu (p.48) - I'm not sure how the literal translation is "he brings his mustard along", it's more like "he gives his mustard on it". :)
2. así te tragues un pavo y todas las plumas se conviertan en cuchillas de afeitar (p.8) - you forgot the translate the first part; "may you swallow a turkey and have all the feathers turn into razor blades". ..ow
3. (p. 179) cattiva è quella lana che non si può [accent missing on the o here in the book] tingere. the translation is misleading if you don't understand Italian. Perhaps it would be better as: "that cloth is bad which can't be dyed" or as you had it "it is a bad cloth the one which takes no colour".
Bye for now.....
In Catalan we say Lluís (lluiiiiiis).
In Russian the camera operator says, "Скажите «изюм»!" (skažite izyum) which means "Say “raisin”!" Similar to "Say “cheese”!" it is basically an attempt to get those being photographed to show their teeth especially while pronouncing the з (z) part of the word.
My Trinidadian housemate tells me that people there say 'money' instead of 'cheese'. Nice!
In Catalan we say the male name Lluís (Lewis), which our the equivalent to cheese.
in romania we say "păsărica" (birdy), very similar to serbia or croatia! maybe because these countries are some kind of neighbours.
"whisky" in Mexico too.
In Bulgarian, it is "zele" (зеле), which means cabbage.
In Swedish: "Omelett!" (omelette)
In Brazil you say also "Penis"!
In Brazil we say "Alface" or "Lettuce" (usually the nutritionists) because cheese is very caloric.
In both Dutch and German *spaghetti* is the word that is often used in those cases. In Dutch, the English *cheese* is also used a lot. In Frisian, a minority language in the Netherlands, *tsiis* is used (similar to English *cheese*).
I went to Peru over the summer and the natives said something that sounded like "Whisky!" I never saw it written down, though, so I don't know how it's spelled or what it means.
On my trips to Georgia, it's always been "khachapuriiiiiiiiiii!" That's cheese-bread, the all-occasion staple of Georgian cuisine.
Post a Comment
<< Home