h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there, GråSkrivebord

Ottox told me I might want to look at your name. I'm learning Danish because of him, and what he meant was:

it's "et bord", so it would have to be GråtSkrivebord

(They have "et" and "en" in Danish, a bit like "le" and "la" in French).


Which I'll take as an occasion to mention how much I like your user picture 'over there' at LibraryThing

Best wishes

sunny

Oh heck! I *knew* something like this would happen, and I'd get it all wrong

It's the problem of relying upon on-line translation tools and dictionaries for a language which you do not speak a single word.

It reminds me of the time during the Iraq war when I changed my name to what I though was French for "No war for oil". What I had in fact done was use the word for oil which would go in a nice salad dressing rather than the black stuff that come out of the ground

That error of mine gave Toy Box no end of amusement.

Anyway, name corrected and thanks

Why on earth do you want to be called GråtSkrivebord?
I'm Norwegian so it looks a bit awkward....(grå/grått=grey, gråt=cry in norwegian)

and you know "skrivebord" means "desk"?

I'm sure he knows!

Perfectly, maybe A614567 is something for you?


So.... sunny saw what I meant right away. What we didn't talk about is that in this situation GråSkrivebord might actually be completely fine!

Gramatically it is "et gråt skrivebord" (or grått if Norwegian ), but when the words are pulled together the t (always? often? too tired to remember/find out now) disappears: gråskæg (greybeard), gråvejr (grey-weather=cloudy).
(And also with other words than grå: blåbær (blueberry), bløddyr (mollusc), stormagasin (department store)...)

So sorry both, GD you can change the name back!

So you only told me to go and make a fool of myself?

Thank you, new things appear to me all the time here..

I don't think gråskrivebord is a word in the same way as blåbær..... And I still don't see the point in it, but feel free to use it..

The point in a GreyDesk? You're right, and I believe many people have wondered about that for years!

Sorry (again) sunny, but *I* am the fool for not thinking longer in the first place. (Good thing is that you'll probably remember it better now. )

I'll remember it as well as any of the other Danish language rules: it's like this unless when it's otherwise

Exactly!!!

*proud*