RE: Fun: English spelling

From: Figge, Donald (Donald.Figge@usa.xerox.com)
Date: Mon Jan 10 2000 - 10:56:17 EST


Becker, Joseph wrote:
Subject: RE: Fun: English spelling

> A stolen Russian document
> ... was full of cases where the same string represented different
> words at different times

English and Russian, of course, do not have a monopoly on this phenomenon.
In Danish, "under," depending on context, can mean "under" or "wonder."
"uret" can mean "the clock" or "wrong." "Kost" can mean either "diet" or
"broom." "Sigte" can be either "take aim" or "sieve. "Trækvinden," if the
syllable break is between the "k" and the "v," means "the draft." If the
syllable break is between the "æ" and the "k," then it means "the wooden
woman." "Mågerne" means "the seagulls." If a word space is inserted before
the "g" ("må gerne"), then it means "may," as in "may I be confused?" No
doubt other languages have similar oddities.

Don
//



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