Surreal Escapes

From Japanese:

1. あおシグナル　(ao-shigunaru) Green traffic signal, but literally translated as blue traffic signal
2. あおりんご　(ao-ringo) Green apple, but literally translated as blue apple

I asked for an explanation, but the only answer anyone had was that these were easier to pronounce that actually using the word for green, みどり (midori) instead of blue あお (ao). I don’t really agree that it’s easier to pronounce, but I can’t think of any other good reason. Traffic lights seem like too recent of an invention for the misnomer to have come from an old mistranslation or evolution of the Japanese language.

Words are fun. Too many at once though and they seem to lose their luster, at least when it comes to me writing them. It’s hard to motivate myself to write posts, even when I have plenty to write. It is just an agonizingly slow process for me when it comes to getting them down on paper. In an effort to post here more often, I’m starting a series called Fun with Words. Anytime I come across something funny or interesting in my constant studies of languages and words, I’ll post it in this series. This is entry 0000…I’m a computer scientist so I count from zero and hate when buffers overflow. 10,000 entries under this topic in a lifetime is doable, but would be quite a feat.

From Japanese:
りょうしん (ryoushin)

1. parents (両親)
2. conscience (良心)