6 ms·

If they wanted to find an example of a word with highest density of consonants, there is a Russian word “взбзднуть“ (“vzbzdnut’” meaning approximately “to fart

If they wanted to find an example of a word with highest density of consonants, there is a Russian word “взбзднуть“ (“vzbzdnut’” meaning approximately “to fart unexpectedly a tiny bit”) with one vowel, seven consonants and one letter that palatalizes the last consonant.

smcl 4y ago
That's a great word. You might enjoy the Czech word for "fart" - it also has no consonants and it's almost onomatopoeia: "prd" prrrrrrrrrd
- dvh 4y ago
  Chrt prv zhlt hrst zrn (grayhound first swallowed fistful of seeds)
  - Toutouxc 4y ago
    Nice, I first parsed that as Welsh or something, before realizing it was Czech. The word "prv" is archaic and could confuse some younger speakers, but the sentence works even without the word as "Chrt zhlt hrst zrn" and that's all valid modern Czech.
- CRConrad 4y ago
  A fart, to fart in Swedish: En prutt, att prutta.
Toutouxc 4y ago
I'm gonna strike right back with the Czech, perfectly valid, words "vchrstls" and "smrskls" (roughly "you have splashed/thrown/hurled" and "you have shrunk", respectively).
- smcl 4y ago
  Ha nice, I hadnt heard either before. These both rely on (I think) informal/slang way to contract past-tenses. Plus it seems (only after I looked them up on prirucka.ujc.cas.cz) the second one is a missing “se” as it’s reflective. So I think the verb “smrsknout se” would more correctly be used as “smrskl[a] jsi se”, and contracted as “smrskl[a]s se” - but then I’m a foreigner who repeatedly messes Czech up so I’m likely talking nonsense :-D
  - Toutouxc 4y ago
    > These both rely on (I think) informal/slang way to contract past-tenses. It's called "příklonné -s" and yes, it's mostly used in Common Czech (the informal dialect we use in day-to-day life). I wouldn't call Common Czech slang because basically everyone speaks it or some form of it, it's not restricted to members of a subculture, profession, etc. > would more correctly be used as “smrskl[a] jsi se” Even native speakers almost never get this right -- “smrskl[a] jsi se” is the formal-ish-sounding form, but it's actually incorrect. "smrskl[a] ses" is the correct (codified) form. And yes, the verb is reflective, although I can think of some reaaally relaxed Common Czech sentences where it wouldn't be. (Smrskls trochu ty minimální požadavky [pro ten software]?) BTW where do you come from? You seem to know your way around Czech grammar. Foreigners tend to struggle a LOT with the language.
    - smcl 4y ago
      This is actually great - I didn't know the proper name of that! I first encountered it when I was first learning Czech and one friend prompted me to ask another "srals?" when they returned from the bathroom after spending a while there (I didn't know what it meant at the time) so I always just assumed it was a sort of informal/slang thing :D And I've encountered "<verb> ses" before but never really picked up on why or how it should be applied, thx the example! I'm from Scotland, but in truth I'm only really fine with Czech when i have time to sit and think about it (like reading) or when I'm talking. I totally panic when listening and get all mixed up :)
    - troad 4y ago
      > everyone speaks [Common Czech] or some form of it disapproving noises in Moravian
      - smcl 4y ago
        looks nervously towards Silesia
- CRConrad 4y ago
  And here I thought the name of the island Krk (off the coast of Croatia) was the only totally vowel-less word.
  - Toutouxc 4y ago
    Unsurprisingly, "krk" is also a Czech word, meaning "neck". We do like our vowel-less words.
jmclnx 4y ago
For this I thing Welsh wins, I have seen some of their words and I cannot even begin to pronounce the words I have seen.
- hwntw 4y ago
  The main difference here is orthography as opposed to the actual pronunciation of the word - Welsh uses y and w as vowels, as well as multiple 2-letter clusters for a single sound (eg, dd is the same as one of the English th sounds, or rh and ll are both single sounds). So in that sense, a word that may look bad (eg bwyta, to eat) actually has no consonant clusters in it - actually being pronounced 'boy-ta'.
Koshkin 4y ago
Or the Polish chrząszcz [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrz%C4%85szcz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrz%C4%85szcz

smcl 4y ago

That's a great word. You might enjoy the Czech word for "fart" - it also has no consonants and it's almost onomatopoeia: "prd" prrrrrrrrrd

dvh 4y ago
Chrt prv zhlt hrst zrn (grayhound first swallowed fistful of seeds)
- Toutouxc 4y ago
  Nice, I first parsed that as Welsh or something, before realizing it was Czech. The word "prv" is archaic and could confuse some younger speakers, but the sentence works even without the word as "Chrt zhlt hrst zrn" and that's all valid modern Czech.
CRConrad 4y ago
A fart, to fart in Swedish: En prutt, att prutta.

Toutouxc 4y ago

I'm gonna strike right back with the Czech, perfectly valid, words "vchrstls" and "smrskls" (roughly "you have splashed/thrown/hurled" and "you have shrunk", respectively).

smcl 4y ago
Ha nice, I hadnt heard either before. These both rely on (I think) informal/slang way to contract past-tenses. Plus it seems (only after I looked them up on prirucka.ujc.cas.cz) the second one is a missing “se” as it’s reflective. So I think the verb “smrsknout se” would more correctly be used as “smrskl[a] jsi se”, and contracted as “smrskl[a]s se” - but then I’m a foreigner who repeatedly messes Czech up so I’m likely talking nonsense :-D
- Toutouxc 4y ago
  > These both rely on (I think) informal/slang way to contract past-tenses. It's called "příklonné -s" and yes, it's mostly used in Common Czech (the informal dialect we use in day-to-day life). I wouldn't call Common Czech slang because basically everyone speaks it or some form of it, it's not restricted to members of a subculture, profession, etc. > would more correctly be used as “smrskl[a] jsi se” Even native speakers almost never get this right -- “smrskl[a] jsi se” is the formal-ish-sounding form, but it's actually incorrect. "smrskl[a] ses" is the correct (codified) form. And yes, the verb is reflective, although I can think of some reaaally relaxed Common Czech sentences where it wouldn't be. (Smrskls trochu ty minimální požadavky [pro ten software]?) BTW where do you come from? You seem to know your way around Czech grammar. Foreigners tend to struggle a LOT with the language.
  - smcl 4y ago
    This is actually great - I didn't know the proper name of that! I first encountered it when I was first learning Czech and one friend prompted me to ask another "srals?" when they returned from the bathroom after spending a while there (I didn't know what it meant at the time) so I always just assumed it was a sort of informal/slang thing :D And I've encountered "<verb> ses" before but never really picked up on why or how it should be applied, thx the example! I'm from Scotland, but in truth I'm only really fine with Czech when i have time to sit and think about it (like reading) or when I'm talking. I totally panic when listening and get all mixed up :)
  - troad 4y ago
    > everyone speaks [Common Czech] or some form of it disapproving noises in Moravian
    - smcl 4y ago
      looks nervously towards Silesia
CRConrad 4y ago
And here I thought the name of the island Krk (off the coast of Croatia) was the only totally vowel-less word.
- Toutouxc 4y ago
  Unsurprisingly, "krk" is also a Czech word, meaning "neck". We do like our vowel-less words.

jmclnx 4y ago

For this I thing Welsh wins, I have seen some of their words and I cannot even begin to pronounce the words I have seen.

hwntw 4y ago
The main difference here is orthography as opposed to the actual pronunciation of the word - Welsh uses y and w as vowels, as well as multiple 2-letter clusters for a single sound (eg, dd is the same as one of the English th sounds, or rh and ll are both single sounds). So in that sense, a word that may look bad (eg bwyta, to eat) actually has no consonant clusters in it - actually being pronounced 'boy-ta'.

Koshkin 4y ago

Or the Polish chrząszcz [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrz%C4%85szcz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrz%C4%85szcz