6 ms·

The phrasebook I have from the 1950s is rather boring. Some parts were neat historical relics ("Where can I send a telegram?", "How much is it per word?") The

The phrasebook I have from the 1950s is rather boring. Some parts were neat historical relics ("Where can I send a telegram?", "How much is it per word?") The oddest was the part about social life, ending with "Will you marry me?"

mikestew 4y ago
My Italian phrasebook, printed much more recently than yours, has words and phrases for things one might say during sex. I've often wondered if I'm expected to remember in the heat of the moment, or if I'm allowed a quick glance.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Now I'm imagining a comedy sketch in which two people who insist on trying to speak the other's language while out on a date end up in bed, but both with their noses in phrasebooks.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Even better if they're both in Paris, say, trying to speak French, and in the end realizing they both speak perfect English.
    - bmacho 4y ago
      No that would be worse.
- philwelch 4y ago
  Yeah, I have a couple of phrase books that have an entire section of negotiating your way through an entire hookup, with phrases at the end like, “I have an early flight”.
- netsharc 4y ago
  Everything2 has a list of those: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=everything2+when+having+sex+in&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=everything2+when+having+sex+in&ia=... Hah, even in Latin
  - duskwuff 4y ago
    There's a bit of the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook alive in E2's phrasebooks. The Parisian French and Quebec French translations have a rather different character from each other, for example...
  - dredmorbius 4y ago
    Use a 'site:<domain>' restriction for a more precise search: <https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aeverything2.com+when+having+sex+in https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aeverything2.com+when+having...> Raw: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aeverything2.com+when+having+sex+in
myself248 4y ago
Somewhere around here I have, or possibly I gave to my weird uncle years ago, a copy of "the worst-case scenario survival handbook", which has mostly-genuine advice for all sorts of interesting situations like how to stop a runaway car, how to stop a runaway camel, how to survive an avalanche, etc. In the back is a phrasebook, with a few dozen common phrases translated into a handful of potentially-useful languages. It includes such gems as "I am sorry, I did not mean to offend you", "please take me to a hospital", "why is the water brown", "where is the embassy", and the last phrase is "you will never take me alive".
ThinkingGuy 4y ago
In the late 1980s I recall picking up a phrasebook for some southeast Asian language (Burmese, perhaps?) and seeing this cringeworthy phrase: "Muster the coolies by the bungalow."
insane_dreamer 4y ago
> "Will you marry me?" Probably written for GIs in Europe post-WW2

mikestew 4y ago

My Italian phrasebook, printed much more recently than yours, has words and phrases for things one might say during sex. I've often wondered if I'm expected to remember in the heat of the moment, or if I'm allowed a quick glance.

yamtaddle 4y ago
Now I'm imagining a comedy sketch in which two people who insist on trying to speak the other's language while out on a date end up in bed, but both with their noses in phrasebooks.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Even better if they're both in Paris, say, trying to speak French, and in the end realizing they both speak perfect English.
  - bmacho 4y ago
    No that would be worse.
philwelch 4y ago
Yeah, I have a couple of phrase books that have an entire section of negotiating your way through an entire hookup, with phrases at the end like, “I have an early flight”.
netsharc 4y ago
Everything2 has a list of those: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=everything2+when+having+sex+in&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=everything2+when+having+sex+in&ia=... Hah, even in Latin
- duskwuff 4y ago
  There's a bit of the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook alive in E2's phrasebooks. The Parisian French and Quebec French translations have a rather different character from each other, for example...
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  Use a 'site:<domain>' restriction for a more precise search: <https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aeverything2.com+when+having+sex+in https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aeverything2.com+when+having...> Raw: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aeverything2.com+when+having+sex+in

myself248 4y ago

Somewhere around here I have, or possibly I gave to my weird uncle years ago, a copy of "the worst-case scenario survival handbook", which has mostly-genuine advice for all sorts of interesting situations like how to stop a runaway car, how to stop a runaway camel, how to survive an avalanche, etc. In the back is a phrasebook, with a few dozen common phrases translated into a handful of potentially-useful languages. It includes such gems as "I am sorry, I did not mean to offend you", "please take me to a hospital", "why is the water brown", "where is the embassy", and the last phrase is "you will never take me alive".

ThinkingGuy 4y ago

In the late 1980s I recall picking up a phrasebook for some southeast Asian language (Burmese, perhaps?) and seeing this cringeworthy phrase: "Muster the coolies by the bungalow."

insane_dreamer 4y ago

> "Will you marry me?" Probably written for GIs in Europe post-WW2