Operation Vowel Drop

[Nik]

http://www.datatek.net/Humor/Humor.html


Operation Vowel Drop
CLINTON DEPLOYS VOWELS TO BOSNIA

Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients

Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President
Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn
region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American
history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters
A,E,I,O and U, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian names more
pronounceable.

"For six years, we have stood by while names like Ygrjvslhv and Tzlynhr
and Glrm have been horribly butchered by millions around the world,"
Clinton said. "Today, the United States must finally stand up and say
`Enough.' It is time the people of Bosnia finally had some vowels in
their incomprehensible words. The US is proud to lead the crusade in
this noble endeavour."

The deployment, dubbed Operation Vowel Movement by the State Department,
is set for early next week, with the Adriatic port cities of Sjlbvdnzv
and Grzny slated to be the first recipients. Two C-130 transport planes,
each carrying over 500 24-count boxes of "E's," will fly from Andrews
Air Force Base across the Atlantic and airdrop the letters over the cities.

Citizens of Grzny and Sjlbvdnzv eagerly await the arrival of the vowels.

"My God, I do not think we can last another day," Trszg Grzdnjkln, 44,
said. "I have six children and none of them has a name that is
understandable to me or to anyone else. Mr. Clinton, please send my
poor, wretched family just one `E.' Please."

Said Sjlbvdnzv resident Grg Hmphrs, 67: "With just a few key letters, I
could be George Humphries. This is my dream."

The airdrop represents the largest deployment of any letter to a foreign
country since 1984. During the summer of that year, the US shipped
92,000 consonants to Ethiopia, providing cities like Ouaouoaua,
Eaoiiuae, and Aao with vital, life-giving supplies of L's, S's and T's.

[Nik]

http://www.carniola.org/theglory/2004/03/faq.htm

This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions. ...

6. Speaking of which: How is your Slovene?

Catastrophic. Learning Slovene is a long, hard road into Hell. And it's
made worse by the fact that Slovenes rarely appreciate how difficult it
is. They'll tell you things like: "Yeah, it's hard, huh? Pronouncing the
ž and č and everything. That's tough."

No, no, my friend, saying "ch" is the least of my problems. I'll tell
you what's tough: six cases, endless gender declensions, formal and
informal divisions, the dual grammatical form -- all of it spoken in 32
dialects that are further divided into 76 sub-groups. That's my
definition of tough.

7. It can't be that bad.

Well, let me give you an idea. Imagine that you want to ask someone if
they've eaten something for lunch. In English, the phrase:

Did you eat anything?

pretty much covers every imaginable scenario. You can say that to a
woman, to a man, to your pet hamster, to your boss, to a group of circus
clowns, etc...

In a language like German (usually considered difficult to learn) you
have three possibilities to express the same idea. You would say:

1. Hast du was gegessen? (informal)
2. Haben Sie was gegessen? (formal)
3. Habt ihr was gegessen? (plural)

In other words, German requires triple the possiblities to express the
same idea. But note that the verb "to eat" (gegessen) remains the same
in all three cases. Now let's take a look at Slovene, in which
everything changes depending on the number of people you're asking, as
well as their gender AND if you're using formal or not. Behold the
possibilities: (Many thanks to Blaž and Bojan for their help with this
list!)

1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)
2. Si kaj jedla? (one female, informal)
3. Si kaj jedlo? (neuter form, informal)
4. Sta kaj jedla? (two males, informal or formal)
5. Sta kaj jedli? (two females, informal or formal)
6. Sta kaj jedla? (one male and one female, informal or formal)
7. Ste kaj jedli? (plural, as long as at least one male is present)
8. Ste kaj jedle? (plural, females only)
9. Ste kaj jedla? (plural, neuter form)
10. Ste kaj jedli? (formal, singular form, gender unimportant)

That's decuple the possibilities of the original English phrase. To be
fair, sometimes things work in favor of Slovene. For example, J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Two Towers can be expressed by a single word: Stolpa. But
basically, all words (nouns/verbs/adjectives) conjugate in a hellish
variety of possibilities, making the language a very tough nut to crack.

8. Well, all Slavic languages are tough.

True. But not all Slavic languages have the brain-busting dual case,
which is the real killer. In fact, none of them do -- except for the
nearly-extinct Sorbian.


-----------------
The 5 Most Dangerous Slovenian Words
http://www.carniola.org/theglory/2004/06/the_5_most_dang.htm
-----------------
How to Learn Slovene
http://www.carniola.org/theglory/2004/03/how_to_learn_sl.htm
-----------------




Slovene Tongue Twisters

Pešci sčistite cestišče!
(Peshci schistite cestishche)
(Pedestrians, clean the roadway!)

Iz Ježce v Stožce čez cesto po rožce.
(Iz Jezhce v Stozhce chez cesto po rozhce.)
(From Ježca (a suburb) to Stožce (a suburb) across the road to get flowers.)




and in other languages

http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tongue-twisters
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8136/tonguetwisters.html



Slovene
*Čmrlj* ( /ʧmərlj/)

"A bumble bee" Pronounced as a single syllable, starting with "chm-",
followed by an "uh" vowel, and concluded with "rly", where r is rolled
and y is pronounced similarly as in the English word "yes". (not
considered a tonguetwister for native speakers)

(well, IMHO there is one vowel; the vocalic 'r' (R) from Sanskrit. But
it is also possible to pronounce it with schwa + r.)

*Čmrljščina* ( /ʧmərlj.'ʃʧi.na/}

"The bumble-bee language" This is a made-up word, but it is perfectly
understandable and pronounceable in Slovenian as "čmrlj" above, followed
by two syllables: "shchi-na".

Serbian
*Opskrbljen* (Опскрбљен)

Supplied (This is actually not a tongue-twister for speakers of Serbian
and similar languages, but is for speakers of languages which don't have
words with what looks like six consonants together.)

[eki]

Post by Nik
list!)
1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)

On the basis of Russian, I presume that's "yedel" rather than
"dzedel".

[Nik]

Post by eki

Post by Nik
1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)

On the basis of Russian, I presume that's "yedel" rather than
"dzedel".

Yes, of course.

[LawsonE]

Post by Nik
http://www.carniola.org/theglory/2004/03/faq.htm
This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions. ...
6. Speaking of which: How is your Slovene?
Catastrophic. Learning Slovene is a long, hard road into Hell. And it's
made worse by the fact that Slovenes rarely appreciate how difficult it
is. They'll tell you things like: "Yeah, it's hard, huh? Pronouncing the z
and c and everything. That's tough."
No, no, my friend, saying "ch" is the least of my problems. I'll tell you
what's tough: six cases, endless gender declensions, formal and informal
divisions, the dual grammatical form -- all of it spoken in 32 dialects
that are further divided into 76 sub-groups. That's my definition of
tough.
7. It can't be that bad.
Well, let me give you an idea. Imagine that you want to ask someone if
Did you eat anything?
pretty much covers every imaginable scenario. You can say that to a woman,
to a man, to your pet hamster, to your boss, to a group of circus clowns,
etc...
In a language like German (usually considered difficult to learn) you have
1. Hast du was gegessen? (informal)
2. Haben Sie was gegessen? (formal)
3. Habt ihr was gegessen? (plural)
In other words, German requires triple the possiblities to express the
same idea. But note that the verb "to eat" (gegessen) remains the same in
all three cases. Now let's take a look at Slovene, in which everything
changes depending on the number of people you're asking, as well as their
gender AND if you're using formal or not. Behold the possibilities: (Many
thanks to Blaz and Bojan for their help with this list!)
1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)
2. Si kaj jedla? (one female, informal)
3. Si kaj jedlo? (neuter form, informal)
4. Sta kaj jedla? (two males, informal or formal)
5. Sta kaj jedli? (two females, informal or formal)
6. Sta kaj jedla? (one male and one female, informal or formal)
7. Ste kaj jedli? (plural, as long as at least one male is present)
8. Ste kaj jedle? (plural, females only)
9. Ste kaj jedla? (plural, neuter form)
10. Ste kaj jedli? (formal, singular form, gender unimportant)
That's decuple the possibilities of the original English phrase. To be
fair, sometimes things work in favor of Slovene. For example, J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Two Towers can be expressed by a single word: Stolpa. But
basically, all words (nouns/verbs/adjectives) conjugate in a hellish
variety of possibilities, making the language a very tough nut to crack.
8. Well, all Slavic languages are tough.
True. But not all Slavic languages have the brain-busting dual case, which
is the real killer. In fact, none of them do -- except for the
nearly-extinct Sorbian.

Pah. Try conjugating an adjective in Japanese.

Now, are you talking to a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, a child or your
boss's boss? Are you a male or female? Just how certain are you that it is
warm or whatever? Are you predicting warm? Is this for being written down or
just casually spoken?

If that doesn't bother you, learn to count 10 items:

Are they round, flat, small-4-legged or fish, people, bottles, number of
times, minutes, hours, days, months, years, machines, books, floors, years
old, or cupfuls?

[eki]

Post by LawsonE

Post by Nik
http://www.carniola.org/theglory/2004/03/faq.htm
This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions. ...
6. Speaking of which: How is your Slovene?
Catastrophic. Learning Slovene is a long, hard road into Hell. And it's
made worse by the fact that Slovenes rarely appreciate how difficult it
is. They'll tell you things like: "Yeah, it's hard, huh? Pronouncing the z
and c and everything. That's tough."
No, no, my friend, saying "ch" is the least of my problems. I'll tell you
what's tough: six cases, endless gender declensions, formal and informal
divisions, the dual grammatical form -- all of it spoken in 32 dialects
that are further divided into 76 sub-groups. That's my definition of
tough.
7. It can't be that bad.
Well, let me give you an idea. Imagine that you want to ask someone if
Did you eat anything?
pretty much covers every imaginable scenario. You can say that to a woman,
to a man, to your pet hamster, to your boss, to a group of circus clowns,
etc...
In a language like German (usually considered difficult to learn) you have
1. Hast du was gegessen? (informal)
2. Haben Sie was gegessen? (formal)
3. Habt ihr was gegessen? (plural)
In other words, German requires triple the possiblities to express the
same idea. But note that the verb "to eat" (gegessen) remains the same in
all three cases. Now let's take a look at Slovene, in which everything
changes depending on the number of people you're asking, as well as their
gender AND if you're using formal or not. Behold the possibilities: (Many
thanks to Blaz and Bojan for their help with this list!)
1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)
2. Si kaj jedla? (one female, informal)
3. Si kaj jedlo? (neuter form, informal)
4. Sta kaj jedla? (two males, informal or formal)
5. Sta kaj jedli? (two females, informal or formal)
6. Sta kaj jedla? (one male and one female, informal or formal)
7. Ste kaj jedli? (plural, as long as at least one male is present)
8. Ste kaj jedle? (plural, females only)
9. Ste kaj jedla? (plural, neuter form)
10. Ste kaj jedli? (formal, singular form, gender unimportant)
That's decuple the possibilities of the original English phrase. To be
fair, sometimes things work in favor of Slovene. For example, J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Two Towers can be expressed by a single word: Stolpa. But
basically, all words (nouns/verbs/adjectives) conjugate in a hellish
variety of possibilities, making the language a very tough nut to crack.
8. Well, all Slavic languages are tough.
True. But not all Slavic languages have the brain-busting dual case, which
is the real killer. In fact, none of them do -- except for the
nearly-extinct Sorbian.

Pah. Try conjugating an adjective in Japanese.
Now, are you talking to a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, a child or your
boss's boss? Are you a male or female? Just how certain are you that it is
warm or whatever? Are you predicting warm? Is this for being written down or
just casually spoken?
Are they round, flat, small-4-legged or fish, people, bottles, number of
times, minutes, hours, days, months, years, machines, books, floors, years
old, or cupfuls?

I'm not sure if I get that, but aren't there in Japanese "all-purpose"
numerals borrowed from Chinese?

[LawsonE]

[...]

Post by eki

Post by LawsonE
Pah. Try conjugating an adjective in Japanese.
Now, are you talking to a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, a child or your
boss's boss? Are you a male or female? Just how certain are you that it is
warm or whatever? Are you predicting warm? Is this for being written down or
just casually spoken?
Are they round, flat, small-4-legged or fish, people, bottles, number of
times, minutes, hours, days, months, years, machines, books, floors, years
old, or cupfuls?

I'm not sure if I get that, but aren't there in Japanese "all-purpose"
numerals borrowed from Chinese?

Yes, but for numbers 1-10, when counting items, the Japanese system is used.
Also, sometimes type-specific numbers are used for special times or numbers
over 10, like the 20th day of the month.

Each kind of object gets its own counter, and the number pronunciation can
change radically (at least to my ears) depending on counter. There are about
15-20 different counters. Also, 1, 2, 3, and/or 10 items often get their
own item-specific word. For instance,

flat things (easy)
1 flat:: ichimai
2 flat: nimai
3 flat:: sanmai
4 flat: yonmai
5 flat: gomai
6 flat: rokumai
7 flat: nanamai
8 flat: hachimai
9 flat: kyuumai
10 flat: juumai

round objects/generic counter
1 object: hitotsu
2 objects: futatsu
3 objects: mittsu
4 objects: yottsu
5 objects: itsutsu
6 objects: mittsu
7 objects: nanattsu
8 objects: yattsu
9 objects: kokonotsu
10 objects: too (doubled long O sound)

people:
1 person: hitori
2 people: futari
3 people: sannin
4 people: yonin
5 people: gonin
6 people: rokunin
7 people: shichinin
8 people: hachinin
9 people: kunin
10 people: juunin

bottles, cylindrical:
1 bottle: ippon
2 bottles: nihon
3 bottles: sanbon
4 bottles: yonhon
5 bottles: gohon
6 bottles: roppon
7 bottles: nanahon
8 bottles: happon
9 bottles: kyuuhon
10 bottles: juppon or jippon

books
1 book: issatsu
2 books nisatsu
5 books: gosatsu
10 books: juttsatsu

fish/ small animals
1 fish: ippiki
2 fish: nihiki
3 fish: sanbiki
5 fish: gohiki
10 fish: juuppiki

days
1 day: tsuitachi
2 days: futsuka
3 days: mikka
4 days: yokka
5 days: itsuka
10 days: tooka
20 days: hatsuka


etc.

[eki]

Post by LawsonE
1 bottle: ippon

Ippon seoi nage, in judo?

[LawsonE]

Post by eki

Post by LawsonE
1 bottle: ippon

Ippon seoi nage, in judo?

One-[cylindrical arm] shoulder throw?

[Nik]

Post by LawsonE

Post by Nik
Well, let me give you an idea. Imagine that you want to ask someone if
Did you eat anything?
pretty much covers every imaginable scenario. You can say that to a woman,
to a man, to your pet hamster, to your boss, to a group of circus clowns,
etc...
In a language like German (usually considered difficult to learn) you have
1. Hast du was gegessen? (informal)
2. Haben Sie was gegessen? (formal)
3. Habt ihr was gegessen? (plural)
In other words, German requires triple the possiblities to express the
same idea. But note that the verb "to eat" (gegessen) remains the same in
all three cases. Now let's take a look at Slovene, in which everything
changes depending on the number of people you're asking, as well as their
gender AND if you're using formal or not. Behold the possibilities: (Many
thanks to Blaz and Bojan for their help with this list!)
1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)
2. Si kaj jedla? (one female, informal)
3. Si kaj jedlo? (neuter form, informal)
4. Sta kaj jedla? (two males, informal or formal)
5. Sta kaj jedli? (two females, informal or formal)
6. Sta kaj jedla? (one male and one female, informal or formal)
7. Ste kaj jedli? (plural, as long as at least one male is present)
8. Ste kaj jedle? (plural, females only)
9. Ste kaj jedla? (plural, neuter form)
10. Ste kaj jedli? (formal, singular form, gender unimportant)

Pah. Try conjugating an adjective in Japanese.
Now, are you talking to a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, a child or your
boss's boss? Are you a male or female? Just how certain are you that it is
warm or whatever? Are you predicting warm? Is this for being written down or
just casually spoken?

Uf. But, could you give us a list, similar to above. I guess
non-indoeuropean languages have their own things they emphasise. But
within the indo-european branch, I think the above is even richer than
in Sanskrit (which is a rare occurance).

How about a similar list for Sanskrit?

[LawsonE]

Post by Nik

Post by LawsonE

Post by Nik
Well, let me give you an idea. Imagine that you want to ask someone if
Did you eat anything?
pretty much covers every imaginable scenario. You can say that to a
woman, to a man, to your pet hamster, to your boss, to a group of circus
clowns, etc...
In a language like German (usually considered difficult to learn) you
1. Hast du was gegessen? (informal)
2. Haben Sie was gegessen? (formal)
3. Habt ihr was gegessen? (plural)
In other words, German requires triple the possiblities to express the
same idea. But note that the verb "to eat" (gegessen) remains the same in
all three cases. Now let's take a look at Slovene, in which everything
changes depending on the number of people you're asking, as well as their
gender AND if you're using formal or not. Behold the possibilities: (Many
thanks to Blaz and Bojan for their help with this list!)
1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)
2. Si kaj jedla? (one female, informal)
3. Si kaj jedlo? (neuter form, informal)
4. Sta kaj jedla? (two males, informal or formal)
5. Sta kaj jedli? (two females, informal or formal)
6. Sta kaj jedla? (one male and one female, informal or formal)
7. Ste kaj jedli? (plural, as long as at least one male is present)
8. Ste kaj jedle? (plural, females only)
9. Ste kaj jedla? (plural, neuter form)
10. Ste kaj jedli? (formal, singular form, gender unimportant)

Pah. Try conjugating an adjective in Japanese.
Now, are you talking to a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, a child or your
boss's boss? Are you a male or female? Just how certain are you that it
is warm or whatever? Are you predicting warm? Is this for being written
down or just casually spoken?

Uf. But, could you give us a list, similar to above. I guess
non-indoeuropean languages have their own things they emphasise. But
within the indo-european branch, I think the above is even richer than in
Sanskrit (which is a rare occurance).

The only ones I have listing for are in my elementary Japanese books. Male
vs female is an entire study in and of itself, as are the more extended
polite/vulgar forms.

I know that female talk is generally higher pitched then male talk,
especially when talking to males or higher-level females. There's also
sentence endings, changes in pro-nouns, and probably other stuff. It varies
by region, too.

Here's the standard adjective conjucation for warm, leaving aside any
hyperpolite, really plain, male vs female stuff that my books don't cover:

atatakai desu (polite) not past
atatakakuarimasen desu (polite) negative not past
atatakakunai desu (polite) negative not past
atatakakai (plain) not past
atatakakunai (plain) negative not past
atatakakuarimasen deshita (polite) past
atatakakatta desu (polite) past
atatakakatta (plain) past
atatakakuarimasen deshita
atatakakunakatta desu (polite) negative past
atatakakunakatta (plain) negative past
atatakakute conjunctive --and warm
atatakakunakute negative conjunctive --and not warm
atatakaku adverbial form
atatakakereba conditional form
atatakakunakereba negative conditional

These may or may not count as part of the conjugation of warm:

atatakain desu (weak confirmational) --isn't it warm?
atatakakunain desu (weak negative confirmational) it isn't warm, is it?
atatakanode weak why/because its warm
atatakakunainode weak why/because its not warm
etc
atatakara desu stronger why/because its warm
atatakunai desu stronger why/because its not warm
etc

inference (looks like [its going to be] warm/not warm)

atatakasoo (affirmative) (technically "soo" is an adjective, but it
combines with other adjectives & verbs)
atatakasoojanai (negative)
atatakasasoo (negative)

probably [will be] warm/not warm; was warm/was not warm

atatakaideshoo
atatakakunaideshoo
atatakakattadeshoo
atatakakunakattadeshoo

might be [will be] warm/not warm; etc

atatakaikamashoo
atatakakunaikamashoo
etc

I wonder if it is/will be warm/not warm; etc...

atatakaikana or atatakaikashira
atatakakunaikana or atatakakunaikashira
etc

You get the idea...

Post by Nik
How about a similar list for Sanskrit?

[LawsonE]

Post by LawsonE
atatakakai (plain) not past

oops. atatakai

[Nik]

Post by LawsonE

Post by Nik

Post by LawsonE

Post by Nik
1. Si kaj jedel? (one male, informal)
2. Si kaj jedla? (one female, informal)
3. Si kaj jedlo? (neuter form, informal)
4. Sta kaj jedla? (two males, informal or formal)
5. Sta kaj jedli? (two females, informal or formal)
6. Sta kaj jedla? (one male and one female, informal or formal)
7. Ste kaj jedli? (plural, as long as at least one male is present)
8. Ste kaj jedle? (plural, females only)
9. Ste kaj jedla? (plural, neuter form)
10. Ste kaj jedli? (formal, singular form, gender unimportant)

Pah. Try conjugating an adjective in Japanese.
Now, are you talking to a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, a child or your
boss's boss? Are you a male or female? Just how certain are you that it
is warm or whatever? Are you predicting warm? Is this for being written
down or just casually spoken?

Uf. But, could you give us a list, similar to above. I guess
non-indoeuropean languages have their own things they emphasise. But
within the indo-european branch, I think the above is even richer than in
Sanskrit (which is a rare occurance).

The only ones I have listing for are in my elementary Japanese books. Male
vs female is an entire study in and of itself, as are the more extended
polite/vulgar forms.
I know that female talk is generally higher pitched then male talk,
especially when talking to males or higher-level females. There's also
sentence endings, changes in pro-nouns, and probably other stuff. It varies
by region, too.
Here's the standard adjective conjucation for warm, leaving aside any
atatakai desu (polite) not past
atatakakuarimasen desu (polite) negative not past
atatakakunai desu (polite) negative not past
atatakakai (plain) not past
atatakakunai (plain) negative not past
atatakakuarimasen deshita (polite) past
atatakakatta desu (polite) past
atatakakatta (plain) past
atatakakuarimasen deshita
atatakakunakatta desu (polite) negative past
atatakakunakatta (plain) negative past
atatakakute conjunctive --and warm
atatakakunakute negative conjunctive --and not warm
atatakaku adverbial form
atatakakereba conditional form
atatakakunakereba negative conditional
atatakain desu (weak confirmational) --isn't it warm?
atatakakunain desu (weak negative confirmational) it isn't warm, is it?
atatakanode weak why/because its warm
atatakakunainode weak why/because its not warm
etc
atatakara desu stronger why/because its warm
atatakunai desu stronger why/because its not warm
etc
inference (looks like [its going to be] warm/not warm)
atatakasoo (affirmative) (technically "soo" is an adjective, but it
combines with other adjectives & verbs)
atatakasoojanai (negative)
atatakasasoo (negative)
probably [will be] warm/not warm; was warm/was not warm
atatakaideshoo
atatakakunaideshoo
atatakakattadeshoo
atatakakunakattadeshoo
might be [will be] warm/not warm; etc
atatakaikamashoo
atatakakunaikamashoo
etc
I wonder if it is/will be warm/not warm; etc...
atatakaikana or atatakaikashira
atatakakunaikana or atatakakunaikashira
etc
You get the idea...

Cool, thanks! (but that is not: 'Did you eat anything?')

Anyway, the author of a blog is an American and I thought already that
he whines to much and that I would introduce him once to the Sanskrit
verb! But I would think that to him all these are just special regions
of hell :)

[LawsonE]

[...]

Post by Nik

Post by LawsonE
You get the idea...

Cool, thanks! (but that is not: 'Did you eat anything?')

To make a question of any (as far as I know) Japanese sentence, add "ka" to
the end.

Post by Nik
Anyway, the author of a blog is an American and I thought already that he
whines to much and that I would introduce him once to the Sanskrit verb!
But I would think that to him all these are just special regions of hell
:)