Althouse: "And the Xhosa for 'tort' is ulwaphulomthetho (oo lwa poo loom twe to)."

January 27, 2013

"And the Xhosa for 'tort' is ulwaphulomthetho (oo lwa poo loom twe to)."

Questions, asked at Althouse, get answers.

16 comments:

rehajm said...: This needs an Ululating Umlungu tag. If only for knowing the tag is there...; 1/27/13, 8:49 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I'm guessing "tortfeasor" has 18 syllables.; 1/27/13, 9:00 AM
caplight45 said...: No "clicks" in it?; 1/27/13, 9:02 AM
ricpic said...: Am I the only one who does the Ooga Booga victory dance? Has that been outlawed by the perfect people?; 1/27/13, 9:04 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "This needs an Ululating Umlungu tag."

Thanks for the reminder.; 1/27/13, 9:05 AM
caplight45 said...: Here is the URL for a really funny bit that comedian Russell Peters does on African dialects and names with the "clicks" in them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Aw2OtoqS48; 1/27/13, 9:39 AM
caplight45 said...: Here is the rest of it. Really funny and un-PC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pzwpu9L9S0; 1/27/13, 9:42 AM
edutcher said...: You should see the word that's pronounced, "Gin Gin, I love you".; 1/27/13, 9:46 AM
rehajm said...: Descriptive language. Favorite: the Xhosa name for the hoopoe, a common African bird is Inhleka bafazi, which means 'cackling woman'.; 1/27/13, 9:56 AM
Wince said...: How do you say strict liability?

Are crocs indigenous to S Africa?

If they are indigenous, despite strict liability, one would still have to prove duty and causation (i.e., that the croc that did the harm is one of those that had escaped the farm).

How would you do that? Breed? DNA?; 1/27/13, 10:02 AM
Fritz said...: "If they are indigenous, despite strict liability, one would still have to prove duty and causation (i.e., that the croc that did the harm is one of those that had escaped the farm).

How would you do that? Breed? DNA?"

Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen can often be used to distinguish where the organism grew up. There's an interesting study where it was used on Australian crocs.; 1/27/13, 10:22 AM
Pettifogger said...: Fritz said: "Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen can often be used to distinguish where the organism grew up. There's an interesting study where it was used on Australian crocs."

Cool, but you have to catch the croc.; 1/27/13, 10:29 AM
William said...: How do we know he's not just lip syncing? You could be the victim of a Xhosa hoaxer.; 1/27/13, 10:52 AM
Wince said...: Talk about "questions answered" by Fritz.

Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen can often be used to distinguish where the organism grew up. There's an interesting study where it was used on Australian crocs.

You can also check your household supplies of brandy and eggs.

Ward and June Cleaver made a similar scientific deductions.; 1/27/13, 12:53 PM
Wince said...: Pettifogger said...
Cool, but you have to catch the croc.

"You know, the little fella didn't actually bite me; he kind of 'sawed' at me."; 1/27/13, 1:02 PM
Charlotte C said...: No "clicks" in it?
Caplight45, no, the letters x, q and c are the click sounding letters.; 1/27/13, 4:11 PM