Sunday, February 01, 2009

A Story of the Limeys, the Frogs, the Lusos, the Spanish Dogs, and the Gold of Victory

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13 comments:

Tecumseh said...

Great story, indeed, but who are the "Lusos" -- the Portuguese (as in Lusitania)? Never heard of that abbreviation. There must be something more pungent that that.

2/01/2009 1:44 PM
Tecumseh said...

Oh, I found this (in Spanish, with Portuguese translation): Vivam Lusos valorosos. Is that it?

2/01/2009 1:47 PM
Tecumseh said...

Oh, I found this (in Spanish, with Portuguese translation): Vivam Lusos valorosos. Is that it? By the way, from this (admittedly small) sample, Portuguese looks very much like Spanish, with 1-1 correspondence of the sort ção <-> ción. Who stole what from whom?

2/01/2009 1:51 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...

Sure, but it doesn't have the sonorous qualities of Frogs, Limeys, and Spanish Dogs.
There is "The Pork'n Cheese", thanks to the Limeys.
There is, perhaps, "Mon jardinier" to the Frogs.
There is, "Quien?" to the Spanish Dogs
In Yankland, for sometime, there was "Porigees" [and variant spellings], which I haven't hear for many many years, the last being from a Hawaiian in the late 80s.
Perhaps the most interesting is the characters the Chinese chose to capture their pronunciation of the country "Pu-tou-ia" [pronounced Poo-tao-ya]. The characters they chose translate into English as "Grape Tooth Country".
By the way "Lusos" is the one most heard from the English when trying for a hard used in a way similar to how "Limey" is used. It is more pungent than Tecumseh may realize. For example, it lends itself nicely to phrases like this: "That Luso, Jose' Mourinho". Entendes?

2/01/2009 1:55 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...

Portuguese is similar to Spanish, but not really 1-1 correspondences. [Closer than Romanian is to French, sure].

For example: "Os aristocratas franceses são cães do Islão"
vs.
"Los aristócratas franceses son perros del Islam"
is 1-1.

However, "A vida é um sonho dos homens feitos loucos"
vs "la vida es un sueño de los hombres hechos enojados"
takes some arguing to claim 1-1

and with,
"O Islão é às civilizações que hiv é à saúde humana, o annihilator de toda a resistência às patologias da conduta humana. Uma força aplicada diretamente à herança entre gerações que destrói a saúde e a mente da existência humana, e transforma a vida em um vazio assombrado morte."
vs.
"El Islam es a las civilizaciones qué HIV están a la salud humana, el destructor de toda la resistencia a las patologías de la conducta humana. Una fuerza se aplicó directamente a la herencia entre las generaciones que destruye la salud y la mente de la existencia humana, y da vuelta a vida en un vacío frecuentado muerte."
These are no closer to being "1-1" than it would be to the same passage in French, or Italian, [or Romanian?]
For example, Italian:
"L'Islam è alle civilizzazioni che hiv è alle sanità, il annihilator di tutta la resistenza alle patologie di comportamento umano. Una forza applicata direttamente all'eredità fra le generazioni che distrugge la salute e la mente dell'esistenza umana e trasforma la vita in un vuoto frequentato morte."

Had, of course, the Spanish been better local Conquistadores Portugal today would be mired in the Spanish muck, and the language of Lusitania would be in the same rough relation to the Castilian puerilities as Catalonian is.

2/01/2009 2:22 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...

Really, excepting some vocab due to local exposure to other influences, the Romance languages have kept a definite close affinity.
If you can read one, then [with a dictionary nearby for that differing 10% or so] you can read the other.
Not counting French, which schools began to slap us with when we were tots back in Portugal, I find that Spanish, Italian, Romanian are all languages I can read, the ease descending in that order. Italian is almost as easy to read as Spanish, Romanian is harder [spelling, quite a different source of loan words].

As for speaking Spanish, that's another story. The two languages, as spoken in say Seville versus Porto, sound surprisingly different.

2/01/2009 2:30 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...

Notice that the Lusos are Valorosos.
This would not apply to the Frogs.

2/01/2009 2:31 PM
Tecumseh said...

How about the Belgae? Fortissimi sunt, no?

2/01/2009 2:43 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...

True, but that was in the time of Caesar.
Today they are not evem as "Fortissimi" as the Ikea'd descendants of the Norsemen are.

2/01/2009 2:45 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...

Besides, the Belgae were Celts, and the Frogs are Frankly not.

2/01/2009 2:46 PM
Tecumseh said...

Comparing S&P.

2/01/2009 2:48 PM
Arelcao Akleos said...

Thanks for the link, Tecumseh. Inglancing through it that article seems competently done.

2/01/2009 2:55 PM
Mr roT said...

How would you know, flo-mop? You don't know enough Spanish.

2/01/2009 8:56 PM

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