Re: Capitalized bird names

On Aug 5, 8:25 pm, Jitze <coupe...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:43:17 -0400, tony cooper

<tony_cooper...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

However, I might enjoy reading that response if written by Mike Lyle
or Vinnie. I *know* I would enjoy reading that response if written by
Jitzie. He probably has had experience mistaking a male Mexican Duck
with a female Mallard. That guy's been around.

Well, well... This really is a coincidence that you should bring up
the subject of a Male duck. Yea verily, within the last 24 hours
I have been engaged in a discussion in another language forum anent
this very subject.

I was confronted with the Dutch word "draketanden" which was
unfamiliar to me. Given the propensity of the Dutch to concatenate
words, I was successfull in initialy parsing this into its two
constituent words, namely "drake" and "tanden". A drake is of
course a Male duck, and I know that "tanden" means teeth - so
at a first guess, the discussion appeared to be about male duck's
teeth.

Perhaps related to the English idiom involving "hen's teeth"?

Not a bit of it. It turns out that "drake" is a false friend here, and
in Dutch this word means "dragon" as opposed to "a male duck"
and is pronounced more like "draahk" than "drayke".

So wotinell is or are "dragons teeth"? Behold the following:

http://home.hetnet.nl/~julianadorp-info/jdorp-wo2/jd-39-45/1-draketan...

or if it folds, the the tinyURL is

http://tinyurl.com/2olp3r

For those unfamilar with this archtectural feature, these are small
concrete pyramids, usually arrayed in the dunes behind a beach, and
designed to make life difficult for any invading tanks that might want
to pass this way.

Obaue - what is the English name for these thingies? (A tank-trap
presumably being something more along the lines of a moat or a ditch)
I considered this as a candidate question for [=SDC=] but figured
it might be too easy - even though I didn't know the answer.



In English, they are Dragon's Teeth too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_teeth_%28fortification%29

For some other terms in use,see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_anti-invasion_preparations_of_World_War_II#Lines_and_islands

Errol Cavit | General Freyberg to the Minister of Defence, Aug 1940:
"I wish the people of New Zealand could know the wonderful effect the
presence of our men had upon the people at Home here. I also wish they
could have seen the fine sight of 6000 bronzed New Zealanders marching
across the Sussex Weald."

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Capitalized bird names
    ... He probably has had experience mistaking a male Mexican Duck ... and I know that "tanden" means teeth - so ... Perhaps related to the English idiom involving "hen's teeth"? ...
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