Posts tagged with "humor"

Good for a Laugh

Posted by Transparent Language 3 Comments
Jul 26 2009

A friend of mine, who happens to be a rabid fan of a certain science-fiction series, has often jested that his Klingon language would make a worthwhile hobby for me, since I seem to enjoy obscure languages! I can’t pretend I speak Klingon, but that same friend passed along this link to start me on the right trail. I’m amazed to see a page devoted to nia plej sxatata lingvo! It goes to show you how Esperanto helps to break down language barriers, huh?

In the meantime, for a series of far more helpful Esperanto links, check out the Esperanto Links section of Arion’s Home. I happened upon this page while searching for “Esperanto Humor.” Perhaps Google thinks it funny that I’d be searching for Esperanto subjects, and so gives me a helpful link?

Motivating My Cousins

Posted by Transparent Language 2 Comments
Jun 10 2009

Bonan tagon! I apologize for the delay in posting. My week has been rather hectic, to say the least. But, now I should remain on schedule, and with luck I’ll have a couple of new posts within the next two days. Thanks for your patience!

I recently talked to my younger cousins about Esperanto. They’re both on the much younger end of the age spectrum – both have recently begun to study Spanish in their middle schools, and neither of them knows who Custer is. I asked them if they had wanted to study any other languages alongside Spanish, or why they chose to study Spanish in the first place. They both cited a lack of options – and a firm desire not to study French!

Since it seemed appropriate, I brought up the topic of Esperanto. Neither of them had heard of it. They were mildly interested at first, but I found a way to encourage them to give it a try. I suggested it could be used as their own personal code. Much like you might have spoken Pig Latin with your siblings when you wanted to keep a verbal message private, my younger cousins now do with Esperanto and their growing vocabulary.

I may have created a monster, but I think the idea is solid. Maybe one way we could encourage the younger generation to study Esperanto is to inculcate the idea of their own coded language. It could make letter-writing a lot more fun. And, if they start passing notes in Esperanto during their classes, it will only motivate their teachers to learn the language for themselves!

Ni Prokrastu!

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
May 18 2009

Who says procrastination is a bad thing? It has the English prefix “pro-,” which usually connotes a good thing. We didn’t call it “concrastination” for a reason!

In Esperanto, we have the English cognate verb “prokrasti,” which means “to procrastinate.” (Don’t bother trying to break “prokrasti” into various parts – there is no word “krasti” yet, even if “pro-” is a valid Esperanto prefix.) For native English speakers, the use of “prokrasti” makes sense to us intuitively. But, for someone as lazy as myself, who considers procrastination a necessary part of life, I wonder if we could make an Esperanto word that means the same thing as “prokrasti” (to put off), but conveys all the “positive” aspects of the English verb.

So far, I’ve come up with these two possibilities:

“Bonatendi” – combining the adjective “bona,” meaning “good,” and the verb “atendi,” meaning “to wait.”

“Bonmalfruigxi” – here we have “bona” again, coupled with “fruigxi” (to become late, roughly), and the opposite-inducing “mal.”

How would you think to express the good side of procrastination?

Household Chores Gone Overboard

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
May 13 2009

Today my roommate, about to clean the carpet, said to me: “Donu a mi la vakuon.” I think he must have been using an Internet translation, but wasn’t as explicit as he ought to have been.

You see, “vakuo” in Esperanto means “vacuum.” In English, sometimes we associate the word “vacuum” with “vacuum cleaner,” the tool we use to help clean carpets. However, Esperanto has two distinct words for “vacuum” and “vacuum cleaner!” My roommate probably wanted to ask for a “polvosucxilo,” which would be the Esperanto word for “vacuum cleaner” (literally, “dust-suck-tool”). Instead, he asked me for an absence of matter.

Imagine how effective the mistaken cleaning would be! There wouldn’t be any more dirt, admittedly. There also wouldn’t be a room left to clean!

Jokes in Esperanto, Part II

Posted by Transparent Language 4 Comments
Apr 30 2009

VIR-UNU: Kiom da tempo vi estis lernanto Esperanton?

VIR-DU: Nu, mi estis lernanto pri kvar monatoj.

VIR-UNU: Vere! Kiom librojn de poezio vi skribis?

Roughly translated…

MAN ONE: How long have you been learning Esperanto?

MAN TWO: Well, I’ve been learning for four months.

MAN ONE: Really! How many books of poetry have you written?

(It seems, in the Esperanto community, that the first thing most students of Esperanto do upon learning enough of the language is to write a poetry book. You can find a LOT of Esperanto poetry on the Internet!)

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