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Can't do anything about the connotations being different, then. xp
I noticed that the joke that involved "DRAG on Flyc ave." had your father as one of the "satisfied customers". And is "William Doors" a reference to his name?
No. You're thinking of my dad's website, which has always been at http://www.vilhjalmur.com, and was therefore sometimes stumbled upon by my visitors when the site's main URL was http://www.vilhjalmur.com/butterfree.
Wasn't there once a year when you redirected the site address into something beginning with V, and it was a (n Icelandic?) tribute to some bloke? Or am I dreaming this?
(Though the too-archaic point still stands and gives it different connotations than "Þér eruð fífl." "Ye" sounds mostly old, while "þér" is mostly way ultra-formal and secondarily old.)
Polymetric: Huh, you're right. My mistake. Should have thought to fact-check that, but for some reason I was really sure you and ye were the other way around (misguided by the vowels' parallel to thou/thee, I guess).
Lol, I thought it was hilarious that some people actually believed it. I'd sooner believe Ash dumped Pikachu XD
Actually, on second thought - are you sure you're correct about "ye suck" being grammatically equivalent to "me suck"? For all I know, I could be wrong - I haven't exactly studied the usage of "ye" and other such English pronouns that have fallen out of use - but I went to look up the pronouns and, unless I'm misreading that chart, ye seems to fall in line with "I" in terms of usage. Like if you were to say "I present to thee…" it's roughly equivalent to "I/[you] present to me…" (except with a different pronoun) as opposed to "I/[you] present to I…". And you might say "Thou are correct" about something which, when using a first-person pronoun, becomes "I am correct" rather than "Me am/are correct". If that's the case I would think that ye would follow the same usage as I/thou since the table has it in the same column (honestly I don't know what nominative/oblique actually mean, so) - so if that's the case wouldn't "I suck", "Thou suck" and "Ye suck" all be grammatically equivalent? Like I said I could be entirely wrong but… idk, something about you saying that "ye suck" was grammatically equivalent to "me suck" just struck me in an odd way.
Okay, that's fair. Man, if that doesn't work I wish there was some way to translate the idea into English :/
Polymetric: It's not the same. "Þér eruð fífl" is the grammatically correct way to use the respectful "you" in that sentence, as opposed to "ye suck" which is grammatically equivalent to "me suck" - the nonsense grammar takes away from the ultra-serious air the stuffy word usage is supposed to give it. Plus, it's not quite that archaic; there are people alive today who grew up addressing (for instance) teachers that way.
Looking at the Google Translate results, I think an Engrish easter egg would be fun.
Could always start using "Ye suck"/"Ye are an idiot" for the poll options. :p
The hypertext on the '04 prank (to the Oldie style) doesn't work. It just sends you to the homepage, not changing styles at all.
I'd never seen much Icelandic before, so I thought it was pretty cool - not that I understood anything. How long did it take to set up?
I was actually scared at first and had to look at the comments to find out it was just April Fools.
Cave dragon flight results. Wow. Also "front page and menu and calendar program". And it was interesting how there was sometimes an Icelandic word in the middle of an English text.
I was having a bad night, but now "peningaplokk your fireplace" has given me enough happy to last several years. Possibly even moreso than doors made of solid pine. Now to try not to die from laughing so hard.
The funny thing is that ninsheetmusic switching languages is even more ridiculous than TCoD switching languages because, while TCoD has actual information and content and it would be impossible for an English-speaking visitor to glean any sort of new knowledge from an Icelandic TCoD, whereas ninsheetmusic's purpose is to distribute, well, sheet music, and music is the same across every language so it could be in any language and still be usable by the majority of the world (even if non-Finnish-speakers would have to translate the names of certain pieces to figure out what they are). Though TCoD going Icelandic has definitely got to be one of the most amusing things I've seen in a while.
Giratwo: The Icelandic version of the poll actually makes sense. We don't really have a common-use phrase like "best thing ever", so I went with a similarly casual phrasing that directly translates to "___ of death" (but can be used as an intensifier, though generally in a negative way). The noun I used, "krútt", means something sweet and adorable. So I can see where Google Translate gets "sweet death". That only makes it better, mind you.
As for "You are idiots", I actually like the Icelandic version of that better than "You suck", because it means "You are an idiot" but uses the mostly-archaic "respectful" version of "you", which gives it a delightfully ridiculous tone. I wish you could do that in English.
Polymetric: Haha, I guess great minds think alike? I had no idea that site even existed.
Looks like you're not the only site to switch to a different language on us.
Pfff. Have you seen the latest Almighty Random Poll? The translated choices include "sweet death". And "I am unable to have an opinion on the matter". And "You are idiots". Not really as stinging as "you suck", 'm afraid. Who knows, maybe you SHOULD keep it like this!
