Fun fact which you probably already knew: "Hallo" isn't just German. It's also used as a greeting in Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Norwegian, and several other languages. If you can say "hallo," you already know your first word in over half a dozen languages! Look at you--already multilingual and making me cry! Not quite multilingual...but it's a start. It's probably a safe greeting to use if you have no idea what language someone speaks.
Remember that time you woke up in a strange country where everyone was wearing Liederhosen, dancing the Schuhplattler on tables, drinking vodka, eating croissants, and singing Rigoletto with a thick Aussie accent? If you had known this handy multicultural word, "hallo," you could have charmed them all into giving you free baklava and black forest cake (say "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte") with your knowledge of foreign greetings.
What are some other words you should know that are found in many languages?
"Tennis," a word for a popular game played on a green court with a green ball, is also the same across several languages including Dutch, Danish, French, German, Klingon, Norwegian, and Italian. Next time you go to another country and want to play tennis, you can express either your wishes or your insanity by running up to a random stranger, shouting "TENNIS," and wildly swinging an invisible racket in the air while singing about love and bagels...and how much you love bagels. This might not earn you any Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte as with "hallo," but it could earn you a free straitjacket, which otherwise would cost you "$279.00 + $24.85 shipping" on Amazon. Then you can go back to that strange Liederhosen-wearing-croissant-eating country you woke up in back in the second paragraph and join in dancing the Schuhplattler and singing Rigoletto in your new designer straitjacket!
There are many other words that are the same across several languages, but "hallo" and "tennis" are undoubtedly the two most important. You now know how to greet people, increasing your chances of being invited to Schuhplattler-Rigoletto parties and foreign-food-eating events, and how to earn a free straitjacket by loudly professing your undying love of tennis and bagels.
Now go eat some Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte while you are pondering what kind of blog post you just read and shaking your head at my bad tennis puns!
© 2015 Abby Danfora
Your bad "Tennis Puns", are what this world needs, and id actually love my Designer Stray jacket in "louis Vuitton", Do they have that size in large?
ReplyDeleteAlright, one bear strait jacket coming up ;)))
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