Thursday, September 2, 2010

13 Ways to Say 13!


THURSDAY THIRTEEN
http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2010/09/13-ways-to-say-13.html

THIRTEEN WAYS TO SAY THIRTEEN!

From just one simple word and its foreign substitutes
It's very nearly possible to work out our language roots.
Take English, well, I say 'Thirteen', it seems a simple choice.
And other people say it in an almost similar voice.
'Trece' they say in Spanish; 'Tredici' Italians say.
In Swedish the word's 'Tretton', similar in a way.
    In Czech the word is Třináct with a lot of twiddly bits.
It's 'Trzynascie' in Polish! (Your tongue has to do the splits!)
Then there's the 'Trieze' we learned in school; that's what they say in France.
And the 'TR' that those start with hasn't merely been up to chance.
I guess (and I'm  no expert) that the 'TR' signifies ' 'THREE',
The languages must have had a link! It looks that way to me!
But take a look at Icelandic ; 'Pretan' they say, I think!
And it's 'On üç'  in Turkish! They definitely lack a link.
But go to the other ends of the earth, to an isolated place
And 'tekau mā toru' are the words of the Maori race.
In Romania it's 'Treisprezece'. Much too hard for me!
In Bulgaria they say 'Тринадесет ' ! (Well at least it starts with a T!)
But my favourite of all is Norwegian! 'Treten'! You read it here!
It looks exactly like 'Three Ten' ! It's all so very clear.
Thirteen ways of saying 'Thirteen!' Tongue-twisters I am sure!
(Please don't put in a request for me to find thirteen more!)
 *
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SUGARED ALMONDS!


A dull day, threatening rain.
A grim railway waiting-room threatening boredom.
A magical sugared-almond window to lift my spirits!
*

11 comments:

Jinksy said...

I'd like windows like that - at least thirteen of them!

geraldgee said...

One of your mad days BB? (o:

The Square Corner said...

You are quite clever. Glad I discovered your blog.

Forgetfulone said...

Very clever! Great 13!

Alice Audrey said...

I feel so international now.

Jo said...

Love both the poems. 13 ways is excellent. Thanks for my dose of inspiration, Brenda Have a wonderful day.

Anne said...

Brilliant Thursday 13! =) New words for my vocabulary especially "Tredici" because I want to learn Italian. =)

I am Harriet said...

Excellent!!! Loved your 13 about 13.

Have a great Thursday!
http://harrietandfriends.com/2010/09/earl-from-space-and-the-ruler-of-the-blogoverse/

Danielle said...

Great list!!

Unknown said...

Great idea! Love the windows as well.
Happy T13!

jillconyers said...

A theme I never would have thought of. Very clever idea!