Untranslatable Words

[zelda_pinwheel]

i used to know a british guy, his girlfriend was french and he told me the story of how he taught her cockney rhyming slang, and one day she made him laugh so hard by saying in a terrible french accent "these plates are killing my daisies" which somehow means "these shoes are killing my feet" if memory serves. i understand the concept of cockney rhyming slang but i can only remember a few mostly uninteresting examples... i think "apples and pears" means stairs for example. limited usefulness.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Someone more knowledgeable than I will have to explain how British Cockney rhyming slang works. (Or see this URL: http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk..._rhyming_slang)

Well, that site gives a great explanation. Take a phrase which rhymes with the word ....

So ... fish on a hook rhymes with e-book
Then replace the word with the phrase

I love to read my fish on a hook.

And, there you go. Of course the person you are talking to is going to have to have at least some idea of what you are talking about because unlike some slangs, the rules are not immediately evident.

[zelda_pinwheel]

actually i think the rules are very evident ; where it becomes complicated is that (in my understanding) often there were expressions which became standard usage (like "apples and pears" for stairs) ; since everyone knew them after a while they would either abbreviate them (just apples) or modify them somehow, so that the original rhyming correlation was lost (thus "plates" means shoes, but i don't know why, and "daisies" means feet, but again it's not immediately obvious). it's not quite so easy to understand then, if you don't already speak it.

just like originally when someone said "22" someone who had no connections to underground or criminal elements would not understand why the bar would suddenly empty. (quite a bit of slang originated so that criminals could communicate amongst themselves without being understood by the police or the "caves").

[nekokami]

Right, so then you have "I love to read my fish." And it only makes sense to those of us here in this exclusive community.

Sounds ok to me. I hearby move that we refer to ebook reading devices as "fish."

Edit: Or, to continue the confusion, and in honor of our multi-lingual community, as "poisson."

Edit again: "son-poi"?

[zelda_pinwheel]

aha !! i just glanced at that site, "plates of meat" is feet ! and "daisy roots" are boots. so it's "these daisies are killing my plates" not the other way around, and it means "these boots are killing my feet." (*obviously.* tch.)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Right, so then you have "I love to read my fish." And it only makes sense to those of us here in this exclusive community.

Sounds ok to me. I hearby move that we refer to ebook reading devices as "fish."

Edit: Or, to continue the confusion, and in honor of our multi-lingual community, as "poisson."

Edit again: "son-poi"?

oh brilliant. i'm in. (you'll see ; it'll be bigger than "liseuse").

[Taylor514ce]

You're taking things out of context.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

You're taking things out of context.

Isn't that the point?

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

You're taking things out of context.

i see what you did there... and if it weren't 2 in the morning i would find the link, but it is, so here is some eye rolling instead and also the official :iseewhatyoudidtherecat: text lolsmiley.

EDIT : there we go.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

We do.....

Yes we do but we're only less than 2 percent of MR readership. Those who can't get along simply choose to stay away. So, can we be certain that we all get along?

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Right, so then you have "I love to read my fish." And it only makes sense to those of us here in this exclusive community.

Funny thing is that in Russian community the Rocket Ebook aka REB is often called "рыба" (ryba), which means... "fish"

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Funny thing is that in Russian community the Rocket Ebook aka REB is often called "рыба" (ryba), which means... "fish"

so it really was meant to be....

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

actually i think the rules are very evident ; where it becomes complicated is that (in my understanding) often there were expressions which became standard usage (like "apples and pears" for stairs) ; since everyone knew them after a while they would either abbreviate them (just apples) or modify them somehow, so that the original rhyming correlation was lost (thus "plates" means shoes, but i don't know why, and "daisies" means feet, but again it's not immediately obvious). it's not quite so easy to understand then, if you don't already speak it.

just like originally when someone said "22" someone who had no connections to underground or criminal elements would not understand why the bar would suddenly empty. (quite a bit of slang originated so that criminals could communicate amongst themselves without being understood by the police or the "caves").

According to the article "plates" are the feet, which would mean "daisies" must be the shoes. I'm trying to think of any word or phrase containing the word daisies that rhymes with either feet or shoes ... and I'm drawing a huge blank.

[RickyMaveety]

Ah .... just read back a few posts and see that it's "daisy roots" that rhymes with boots.

Who would have guessed....

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Funny thing is that in Russian community the Rocket Ebook aka REB is often called "рыба" (ryba), which means... "fish"

Ah Haaaaaa .... see .... IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW .....