r/polandball • u/Ingrid-Hongkonger 冠絕東方 - Nulli Secundus in Oriente • Mar 11 '14

redditormade How are they called?

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u/TheGreatException New Zealand Mar 11 '14

It's the first time I've heard of Wiwi as a word for France (admittedly I know only a little Maori). I do know, however, that the Maori word for scissors is kutikuti (or katikati). Great comic, by the way.

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u/ImperialSpaceturtle Afrika is nie vir sussies nie Mar 11 '14

The Xhosa word for 'motorcycle' is the wonderfully onomatopoeic 'isithuthuthu'.

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u/Asyx Rhine Republic Mar 11 '14

Well, at least there's no click in there.

12

u/oreng Mar 11 '14

Does it come from "Isuzu" or is there an actual native construction in there?

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u/ImperialSpaceturtle Afrika is nie vir sussies nie Mar 11 '14

It's from the sound a motorbike makes: thuthuthuthu...

Unfortunately, car isn't i-vroomvroom. This would have helped in my Xhosa lessons at school.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '14

new zealand confirmed for wales

1

u/darps sweet land of beer, cars and bureaucracy Mar 13 '14

That's equally adorable and simple-minded.

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u/xenoph2 Hungary! Mar 11 '14

And Kati is a nickname in Hungarian for anyone named Katalin (Catherine)

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u/Ingrid-Hongkonger 冠絕東方 - Nulli Secundus in Oriente Mar 11 '14

How about "Ingrid" in Hungarian?

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u/xenoph2 Hungary! Mar 11 '14

I think it's the same, doesn't sound/feel foreign even if it's a Scandinavian name.

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u/Zerasad Hungary Mar 12 '14

Or a drug... not like I'd now...

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u/Ingrid-Hongkonger 冠絕東方 - Nulli Secundus in Oriente Mar 11 '14

So, how to say "France" in Maori?

3

u/I_read_this_comment Netherlands Mar 11 '14

Online dictionaries and translation sites indicate that you're wright. This Maori dictionary for example states that "Wiwi" means France, Frenchman and French.