Little did ye know, bowling was actually an ancient Chinese pastime, called bao ling qiu. It was a great point of emperor contention, and for its infamy was whisked by Marco Polo back to the West, whereupon the qiu was dropped, words were Romanized, and the West was infatuated.

And if you didn’t know much about Tanzania, know that it’s the birthplace of pikapu, known in the US as “pick-up trucks”.

CMD fans, tell us more about your favorite words that are English in appearance yet foreign in parentage? Or admittedly, the other way around?

The headline reads:

Delco to look at prison security
Erroneous releases of prisoners prompts a “serious discussion,” the county executive says.

Well, I certainly am glad that the Delaware County powers that be will at least have a serious discussion about the potential problems that might arise from mistakenly letting people out of jail. That brings some comfort to all us, I should think.

So, here we go …

We hope we are not the only source of reliable information:

• what are the risk assessment for an escalator?
• a 737 plane
• escalator myth busters
• eyjafjallajökull

In the good/reasonable advice column:

• avoid big crotch

Looking for social advice/guidance:

• urinating in lifts in singapore

Questions for the commuter:

• camel is one hump more comfortable?

We can only guess for what they were really searching:

• dog and crotch and jump -smell -sniff -s
• the family pees together
• roman dog likes boys crotch
• rapeseed deer
• stuffed bactrian

It was a sign of protest. It was a call for freedom. It was a demand to let the Brake Retarders live their lives without the yoke of oppression around their necks.

We’re not entirely sure what they are trying to say, but one this is for sure, they have a lot of history when it comes to experience.

Now that’s a quirky suffix.

When it’s used, sometimes it just indicates a possibility…

Survivable = possible to survive it

Drinkable = possible to drink it

And other times it leaves no doubt…

Laughable = makes you laugh at it

Enjoyable = you enjoy it

No deep conclusion on this one, just an observation of this quirky linguistic back-flip.

And blow is the opposite of suck.

Yet that “that blows” and “that sucks” mean pretty much the same thing.

Anyone else out there that is kind of odd?

So I am wondering, is humor the “hardest” thing to learn in a new language or is there something that takes even more familiarity and understanding?

Watching World Cup Soccer reminded me of a question I’ve had about how teammates who do not share a common language communicate on the field.

When one team has players who do not share a common language, how do they communicate on the field? In the World Cup, I imagine it is less of an issue, since the players on each team are from the same country. However, in most professional leagues each team is made up of players from all over the world.

If David Beckham gets hired by AC Milan, does he need to take Italian language as part of his contract? Even if players do try to pick up the native tongue of the country where they are to play, in the heat of the game do they still have issues with using the newly learned language?  When you have more than a few different “native tongues” on one team, does the team try to use a common language? Is there some abbreviated set of terms that teams learn to simplify communication?

The possible solutions are endless, but do you know what solutions are actually used?

However, I guess now I can officially stop watching…

Hmm, wait, how about Alex on Wheel of Fortune?  He’s a smart one with great pronunciation, but can he spell?

N.B.: I learned how to pronounce “quotidian” from Jeopardy and how to spell it from Wheel of Fortune.

P.S.: I learned how to use “nota bene (N.B.)” from outside the U.S.