The "I just don't get it thread".

[thebish]

Foreigners assigning a gender to a word. When something new like the internet came along, who decides whether it should be Le internet or La internet?

The Academie Francaise is who! I want that job.

Also, for reasons I've never quite understood, whilst "internet" is masculine (obviously) you hardly ever see it with an article. It's just "internet".

Also, fyi, French for "WiFi" is still "WiFi", but it's pronounced "le wiffy". Always got a giggle from me.

and the welsh for microwave is...

popty ping!

[bobo the clown]

Foreigners assigning a gender to a word. When something new like the internet came along, who decides whether it should be Le internet or La internet?

The Academie Francaise is who! I want that job.

Also, for reasons I've never quite understood, whilst "internet" is masculine (obviously) you hardly ever see it with an article. It's just "internet".

Also, fyi, French for "WiFi" is still "WiFi", but it's pronounced "le wiffy". Always got a giggle from me.

and the welsh for microwave is...

popty ping!

Indeed it is. "Oven that goes 'ping'.

And for ironing board .... bwrd smoothio.

Makes you so proud.

[thebish]

^ and the french for "walkie talkie" is...

talkie walkie!

[Bruce Rioja]

Ah, but that's nothing when compared to to the legendary line from 20 Pints by the Macc Lads -

"Hey you, you poof, you fecking c*nt,
Get off that pint, it's mine."

[Always hopeful]

Foreigners assigning a gender to a word. When something new like the internet came along, who decides whether it should be Le internet or La internet?

The Academie Francaise is who! I want that job.

Also, for reasons I've never quite understood, whilst "internet" is masculine (obviously) you hardly ever see it with an article. It's just "internet".

Also, fyi, French for "WiFi" is still "WiFi", but it's pronounced "le wiffy". Always got a giggle from me.

and the welsh for microwave is...

popty ping!

Indeed it is. "Oven that goes 'ping'.

And for ironing board .... bwrd smoothio.

Makes you so proud.

Ambulance = Ambiwlans

That's just plain lazy that is.

[Enoch]

My youngest used to say underbrella, which seemed reasonable to me.

[TANGODANCER]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

[Beefheart]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

Isn't it confusing when like, water bottles, taps, sinks, swimming pools etc are all called paragua?

[Little Green Man]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

The para bit comes from the verb parar, to stop. Hence windscreen is parabrisas, literally stop-breeze.

[TANGODANCER]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

The para bit comes from the verb parar, to stop. Hence windscreen is parabrisas, literally stop-breeze.

Actually, L.G.M, I've always known "para" ( in order to) as an altaernative to por , the basic "for". Thus para in the umbrella form actually means in order to combat sun, rain etc. Spanish can be a bit baffling at times because, "Hay un banco por aqui" means "Is there a bank around here?" . You get used to it after a while.

[TANGODANCER]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

Isn't it confusing when like, water bottles, taps, sinks, swimming pools etc are all called paragua?

Tap..=grifo, sink =lavabo, swimming pool is piscina....

[Bruce Rioja]

I don't understand why people bother to learn Spanish just so that they can do stuff like ordering a table for four in Spanish. If I was a Spanish restaurant owner and four people walked in I reckon that I'd know what they were after whether they spoke the lingo or not.

[thebish]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

Isn't it confusing when like, water bottles, taps, sinks, swimming pools etc are all called paragua?

swimming pool is piscina....

a love spanish simplicity: swimming pool = piscina = (literally) "piss in it"

[clapton is god]

I don't understand why people bother to learn Spanish just so that they can do stuff like ordering a table for four in Spanish. If I was a Spanish restaurant owner and four people walked in I reckon that I'd know what they were after whether they spoke the lingo or not.

I once used every Spanish word I know in a cafe on Lanzarote in one sentence! I was pleased as punch.

"Uno vino tinto y dos cafe con leche, por favour."

[Worthy4England]

I'm not surprised you stopped using it - what a fck up that was. One wine and two coffees? Surely the wrong way round altogether?

[TANGODANCER]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

Isn't it confusing when like, water bottles, taps, sinks, swimming pools etc are all called paragua?

swimming pool is piscina....

a love spanish simplicity: swimming pool = piscina = (literally) "piss in it"

Quite so, except pisar means to tread or step. I'll admit that the first time a saw a sign saying "No pisa a la hieba" ( Don't walk on the grass) I got it totally wrong and had a good laugh.

[Bruce Rioja]

I don't understand why people bother to learn Spanish just so that they can do stuff like ordering a table for four in Spanish. If I was a Spanish restaurant owner and four people walked in I reckon that I'd know what they were after whether they spoke the lingo or not.

I once used every Spanish word I know in a cafe on Lanzarote in one sentence! I was pleased as punch.

"Uno vino tinto y dos cafe con leche, por favour."

Me too - "Dos cerveza por favor".

[Worthy4England]

I don't understand why people bother to learn Spanish just so that they can do stuff like ordering a table for four in Spanish. If I was a Spanish restaurant owner and four people walked in I reckon that I'd know what they were after whether they spoke the lingo or not.

I once used every Spanish word I know in a cafe on Lanzarote in one sentence! I was pleased as punch.

"Uno vino tinto y dos cafe con leche, por favour."

Me too - "Dos cerveza por favor".

Now that's the right way round - bravo, Brucie!

[TANGODANCER]

I doubt I'll ever get a better laugh at the Spanish language then the two international truckers who came into a cafe in Nerja one morning and ordered "Dos eggos and baconos Manuel" from a bemused waiter. I kid you not.

[Montreal Wanderer]

I like the simplicity of some Spanish descriptions. They say "Parasol" ( our sun umbrella) because it means, "for sun". and Paragua (umbrella) because it means "for water" . Simple.

The para bit comes from the verb parar, to stop. Hence windscreen is parabrisas, literally stop-breeze.

Actually, L.G.M, I've always known "para" ( in order to) as an altaernative to por , the basic "for". Thus para in the umbrella form actually means in order to combat sun, rain etc. Spanish can be a bit baffling at times because, "Hay un banco por aqui" means "Is there a bank around here?" . You get used to it after a while.

LGM is correct here - the Spanish and French took it from the Italian and Latin. The sense of the prefix 'para' is 'protection from' - so parachute is protection from falling (chute is French for fall). Parabrisas is protection from wind (in English we use screen as the protecting term). Por is a different root.