Latvian vista means chicken, a tidy example of a false friend, a word that looks familiar in another language but means something else. Carlos says his Latvian family background makes phrases such as Vista Computing Systems, Vista Vision, and Vista Overlook sound as if they involve chickens. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Latvian False Friend “Vista” Means Chicken”
A few weeks ago on the show we were talking about linguistic false friends.
Those words in other languages that look like English words but mean something completely different.
You know, like the word mist in German means dung or manure.
So you don’t want to be drinking Canadian mist there.
We got over on our Facebook page, Wayword Radio on Facebook, we got a message from Carlos who says,
My family is from Latvia, and I always think it funny when I see Vista Computing Systems or Vista Vision or Vista Overlook and others,
Because in Latvian, Vista means chicken.
The chicken overlook.
I love that.
If you’d like to share a linguistic false friend, call us 1-877-929-9673 or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
