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Re: soundalike phrases

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Friday, September 5, 2003, 17:07
Quoting michael poxon <m.poxon@...>:

> Just been listening to some Magma, which stirred a thought - when I first > heard some of their lyrics, part of one song sounded exactly like the English > phrase "Oh we don't get on" which prompts this question: can you think of any > words or phrases in your own langs that sound like a word or phrase in your > L1? (or indeed in any other realang) > Mike
Well, that happens to me know and then; a particular embarassing example was when I heard a really poor CD rip, on which they were "singing" something I first heard as "backstage". It turned out to be German; _Gleichschritt_. There's, somewhere, a site which has recordings of Arab pop supplied with video and Swedish lyrics that are chosen to sound vaguely like the Arabic. When you just hear the words, it's totally incomprehensible to non-arabophone me, but when seeing the lyrics simultaneously it's close to impossible not "hearing" it as the same words. Memorable text line; _Ansiktsburk, ansiktsburk, han fick vad han ville för hatt_ ("Face can, face can, he got what he wanted for hat", cans of the metal variety, not the verbal). Now someone try to figure out what the original Arabic said ... Andreas

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John Cowan <cowan@...>