See @, Say Worm?
Did you ever wonder where the site name www.rencsi.com came from? Rencsi (pronounced wrenchy) was my nickname when I was a business English trainer in Hungary. Hungary is a very interesting country and some say Hungarian is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn, but I learned that English can be difficult too.
For example, one entire business English lesson is needed to teach people learning English as a second (or third or fourth) language what to say in English when you see symbols like the ones we use everyday in email addresses. My email address
rencsi@rencsi.com
would be read by a Hungarian as
rencsi kukac rencsi pont com
(pronounced wrenchy coo-cots wrenchy poant comb).
That directly translates to
rencsi worm rencsi point com
This phrase would not be recognized as an email address in any English speaking nation!
I learned this the hard way. I was collecting my students email addresses verbally and realized with the first student, an IT professional, that he had probably seen the @ symbol a million times, but never had to say it out loud in English to anyone. We immediately stopped and collected a list of common email and internet symbols on the flip chart and labeled them how they should be read out loud in English.
@ is at
. is dot
_ is underscore
- is dash
: is colon
/ is slash
\ is backslash
At the same time, I learned that @ is kukac or worm in Hungarian (and some also say the sound a chicken or rooster makes). Living abroad was full of experiences like this. I think everyone should do it at least once in his or her life.
Filed under interests, training techniques | Tags: -, ., /, :, @, backslash, colon, dash, English, esl, Hungarian, Hungary, kukac, semicolon, slash, symbol, symbols, underscore, worm, \, _ | Comment (1)Watch Out for heartEcard and “When did you post your pictures on a home page known as” Facebook Viruses
If you get a Facebook wall post that says anything like,
- “When did you post your pictures on a home page known as singclick”
- “When did you post your pictures on a home page known as wagfloat”
- “When did you post your pictures on a home page known as whisperjump”
- “When did you post your pictures on a home page known as scramblepass”
do not agree to the terms to enter any of the web sites above. The whois listing says: “THE PIC IS A MONKEY – THIS IS JUST A PRANK SITE”
More recently the wall post has been:
- “hey I reserved a valentines ecard for you at HeartEcard.com”
Do not agree to the terms or click Submit. One of my Facebook friends has been plastering these types of posts all over her Facebook friends’ walls and it is most likely a virus or worm that is doing it.
