"blahaj" is pronounced "blo-hai" rule

::: spoiler CW: Reddit

Originally from https://old.reddit.com/r/polandball/comments/1gg2ifk/eurosummer/

:::

Shark is hai in German and haj (pronounced hai) in Swedish. blåhaj means blue shark.

274 points · 22 comments · view on lemmy.world

22 Comments

lugal@sopuli.xyz · 66 pts · 1y

"We are sinking! We are sinking!"
"What are you sinking about?"

mrmule@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 1y (8 replies)

This is for the Swedish interpretation of the spelling, blåhaj is also a popular child's song in Sweden.

The å is pronounced almost exactly like the English word 'awe'.

j in Swedish makes the sound of English’s y

Blå haj is then pronounced as - 'bloa high'

TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 1y

The å is pronounced almost exactly like the English word 'awe'.

Blå is then pronounced as - bloa

ಠ~ಠ

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 1y

the thing this misses (understandably because even swedes don't realize it) is the precise pitch (yup, swedish is basically a tonal language, like less complicated chinese
i really can't put it into words but if you listen to a swede saying it you'll hear the sing-song-y-ness, and that the end sounds of the words are.. stressed? and lengthened

there's also sort of a stop in blå, b'lå, i think we sort of eject the B more? at least i do

pmk@lemmy.sdf.org · 2 pts · 1y (3 replies)

The thing that my girlfriend struggled with when she moved to sweden was our swedish letter "y". She can do it now, but it still doesn't come naturally, she has to consciously move the right muscles to pronounce it.

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 1y (2 replies)

honestly i'd more say it's like the english E, just sliiiightly different.
swedish I and Y are basically identical

pmk@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

I wouldn't say identical. If you pronounce the name "My" it sounds different if you're actully saying "Mi"? Or "Fyra" vs "Fira", "By" vs "Bi" etc.

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 1y

i said basically identical, that's a qualifier to specify that it's not actually identical, just really really close with a minor difference.

it's the kind of thing where it's so close that you can alter what you hear by just showing someone saying the other word while playing the same audio.

kungen@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

The å is pronounced almost exactly like the English word 'awe'.

Maybe for the British. Å is pronounced like the beginning of "oar" or the middle of "four".

mrmule@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Exactly Four, oar, core,

Shock and awe! 😂

AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip · 19 pts · 1y

Blahaj is blaa-hai but its blåhaj which is pronounced as blo-hai

5714@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 15 pts · 1y

I'm not sure landlocked Nepal swims that well

pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 1y (2 replies)

But I like mispronouncing it

eighty@lemmy.one · 4 pts · 1y

Me too, always makes me keen for baja tacos and I subconsciously make a positive association with the instance/word.

FilthyShrooms@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

Real, there's something fun about saying "blaaahj"

TokenEffort@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 1y

blah hodge 🤣🤣🤣

PeachyMcPeachface@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 1y (4 replies)

Wait, "blo" as is "blow" or "blue"? English is stupid language...we have no accents to show which form of a vowel we're using. I'm assuming "blow", as that makes the most contextual sense, but again, English is dumb.

NickwithaC@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 1y

B-law

lime@feddit.nu · 9 pts · 1y

blow-high

Edit: well, kinda. the sound doesn't exist in English but the closest i can think of is the o-sound in "score". and there's no diphthong, which is why people tend to write "blo-". it's a flat sound, which English sort of doesn't do.

LordAmplifier@pawb.social · 6 pts · 1y (1 reply)

They don't have one for blåhaj, but Wiktionary has an audio file of someone pronouncing blå (blue) in Swedish. The second half of blåhaj sounds like English "Hi," and the phonemic transcription of the full word is /ˈbloːhaj/. The /bloː/ part is kinda like how someone from Glasgow or someone with a strong German accent might say "blow."

TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 1y

Sounds like "bloh" to me

nifty@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

Don’t know why I thought it was pronounced “blow ha”.