US English Vs the World..(Split from Compo4all Discussion)

[moxie]

You should have "Smörgåsbord" and "Ombudsman" on that list too. And possibly "Surströmming"

 I'm familiar with the first two  but I've never heard of Surströmming before.  

*looks it up on wikipedia*

Hrm.. based on that article the closest thing that comes to mind is Bismarck Herring  (or Pickled Herring as it is usually referred to here)  but I get the impression there is a considerable difference between the two....

 Pickled Herring is excellent. It is part of almost every swedish traditional meal. Seriously - For Christmas, we have pickled herring. For Easter, we have pickled herring. For midsummer, we have pickled herring. The outlier is beginning of autumn, when we eat crayfish.

Surströmming is fermented pickled herring. Popularily derided as "rotting fish". It isn't rotting, really, it is just...um...Fermented. There are a bunch of videos on youtube of foreigners trying to eat it and gagging. Most of them are doing it wrong (you're not supposed to take a fish out of the can and eat it whole. It's not even gutted, ffs!), but the reaction to the smell is universal. There is this clip of Jamie Oliver, who is actually served Surströmming the proper way.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_5CUW4bXFH8?feature=oembed
You may note that they did put Jamie downwind of the can

And no, I'm not from the parts of Sweden where they usually eat this

 

[Monkfish]

what is Surströmming pickled in? and also YUM @ crayfish!

 

[moxie]

Surströmming is mostly pickled in brine (that is, just salt and water). The process of creating Surströmming is more focused on actually having the fish not spoil (well, not spoil in an unwanted way, anyway). And any more subtle flavours would be pretty lost in the fermentation process. So, for surströmming, the flavours that are not from the actual fermentation process comes from the stuff you eat with it - Chopped onions, sourcream, potatoes, thin bread.

If you want more flavourful herring, you go the "normal" pickled herring route (Bismarck herring?). There, you can get anything from onions or mustard to lingonberries, seafood och liquorice

 

[Kumaki]

1. Chinese* (937,132,000)
2. Spanish (332,000,000)
3. English (322,000,000)
4. Bengali (189,000,000)
5. Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)
6. Arabic* (174,950,000)
7. Portuguese (170,000,000)
8. Russian (170,000,000)
9. Japanese (125,000,000)
10. German (98,000,000)
11. French* (79,572,000)

Learn Mandarin

Hummm...don't see Swedish on that list, LOL!!

Hey, seriously...I can READ Spanish...and I can write in it...but I can't converse in it, because it goes too fast, spoken.

I can't THINK in Spanish.  So, in a conversation...I'm listening...mentally translating to English...formulating a response, mentally translating THAT into spanish...and by the time I've done that, the guy is four sentences ahead of me.

But READING Spanish is no problem, becuase I can do it at my own pace.  And even if I can't read every word, I can read enough to get the context.

This comes from living ten years in Texas.  Passive assimilation.

I lived for a lot of years in the barrios of South Austin, and was surrounded by a lot of Spanish.

 

[Kumaki]

My brother got pretty fluent in Arabic but of course he had the time to go to evening classes, i always wanted to improve my german and learn russian. I doubt either of those things are going to happen though i just dont have the time, so i'll stick with PROPER english. Maybe collectively we can teach Kumaki and perhaps we'll make her pass for an english lady. Tea and Crumpets anyone?

Me?

Are you kidding?

A woman, yes.  A lady...never!

LOL

I had an English lady friend once, when I lived in Kentucky.  We tried the tea party thing, because I thought it might be fun.

Can't do it.

The tea, crumpets and watercress sandwiches were very good, but I do not fit into that scene.  Too rough around the edges for that!

 

[WizardStan]

I propose a dress made of sandpaper to help smooth off the edges.

 

[moxie]

Nope, Swedish is not on that list. That makes it even better as a universal language! Nobody gets discriminated against, because everybody has equal difficulties in learning it

 

[Fzero]

Everyone should just still speak Proto Indo European and keep things simple

 

[Monkfish]

The tea, crumpets and watercress sandwiches were very good, but I do not fit into that scene.  Too rough around the edges for that!

Ok then, how about a pint of Real Ale some Chicken-Tikka-Masala (or Chicken Fhaal if you perfer) and Chips. Or maybe a plate of Jellied Eels and Mash.

Everyone should just still speak Proto Indo European and keep things simple

Instead we should all learn Esperanto just like Arnold Rimmer. 

 

[fusion_power]

Nope, Swedish is not on that list. That makes it even better as a universal language! Nobody gets discriminated against, because everybody has equal difficulties in learning it

I've heared the swedish original Version of ABBA's "Waterloo" and I actualy find the english version much better. ^^  So even if Sweden is a great country beacuse of famous stuff like ABBA, IKEA, Notch+Minecraft and especialy Köttbullar(!) I prefer english as international language. Swedish sounds complicated, even if it sometimes sounds a little bit like german (but then completely different of course ).

I actualy would like to read and understand japanese, so I finaly could read all of my japanese Hentai Mangas but that's another story... 

 

[Klumpen]

Sweden has "Pain of Salvation"/"Daniel Gildenlöw" and therefore has to be my favourite country.

Fortunately his songs are in English.

 

[moxie]

You mean, so that it won't be as embarrassing to say "Oh, but I read them for the plot!"

 

[Kumaki]

The tea, crumpets and watercress sandwiches were very good, but I do not fit into that scene.  Too rough around the edges for that!

Ok then, how about a pint of Real Ale some Chicken-Tikka-Masala (or Chicken Fhaal if you perfer) and Chips. Or maybe a plate of Jellied Eels and Mash.

>Everyone should just still speak Proto Indo European and keep things simple

Instead we should all learn Esperanto just like Arnold Rimmer. 

Better idea.  Everyone learn Klingon!

Do you know that Klingon is the most-spoken made-up language?

More Klingon speakers than Esperanto speakers.  True.

 

[Monkfish]

I know a little Klingon, but wierdly they have a word for the bridge of a ship but no word for a bridge over a river.

 

[Kumaki]

Well, unfortunately...Klingon is not yet a complete, full language, I guess...it was originally developed just for the Star Trek world, of course...and since...well...at any rate, a lot of words are missing.

Huch nobHa'boghverenganpue' yIvoqQo'.

Don't trust Ferengi who give back money.

 

[kojack]

Vegemite may be an acquired taste... but we acquire it young. (usually on sandwiches with cheese)

I've heard that the mistake most yanks make with vegemite is to slather it on thick as if it was peanut butter. You need to spread it thin, as a little goes a long way.


- Neelix

I'll keep that in mind, should I ever be brave enough to try it.

They DO say we are the home of the brave...just not sure I'm THAT brave...lol.

This thread is making me hungry.

(The vegemite bit, not the Surströmming)

I've never been a fan of cheese with vegemite. A lot of people like it that way, but I prefer it plain.

Many years ago vegemite jars used to have recipe ideas. One said to put a spoon of vegemite into a milkshake. DON"T BELIEVE THEM!

I've got some Ourmate too. That's the english Marmite, they had to rename it for import into Australia due to Sanitarium owning the rights to the product name Marmite in Australia and New Zealand. I usually go for Vegemite 90% of the time, but have english marmite occasionally for a bit of variety.

Anyway, back to language...

One of the things I enjoy about using the Ogre3D engine is that it was created by an english guy, so it's source uses words like colour and normalise. I die a little inside every time I need to call a function in other apis with a z instead of s spelling or missing u.

 

[Monkfish]

whats the difference i thought Marmite and vegemite were pretty much the same thing isnt it just yeast?

 

[milkshake]

Not alot the only reason vegemite exists is because they were import difficulties of marmite like in the world war or something so they made their own

 

[PokeParadox]

Anyway, back to language...

One of the things I enjoy about using the Ogre3D engine is that it was created by an english guy, so it's source uses words like colour and normalise. I die a little inside every time I need to call a function in other apis with a z instead of s spelling or missing u.

Indeed - at one point during my uni days I  created macros for openGL so that I could type glColour3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); etc.

But once I convinced myself that it was possible, I became bored and didn't continue with the effort. It was a nice feeling being able to code in English for a  change, however.

 

[kojack]

whats the difference i thought Marmite and vegemite were pretty much the same thing isnt it just yeast?

Different viscosity (marmite is like very thick honey, vegemite is like very thick peanut butter). Marmite has higher salt content and zero sugar. Vegemite has a little less salt, and a little bit of sugar. Taste is in the same general style, but noticably different (more so than something like coke vs pepsi).

It's like different brands of bbq sauce.