Wikipedia Trail: From Rama to a Greek Dish

Rama
As the main character of the Ramayana, and not having a single negative thing spoken about him throughout the story I've read so far, it seems Rama is a pretty stand up guy. He's blue, and I wanted to find out why, but the Wikipedia article doesn't say.

Javanese language
I thought this was a typo on "Japanese" but "Ramavijaya" didn't really sound Japanese so I clicked on it. Turns out, Java is an island in Indonesia, and Javanese is the language spoken there. The more you know.

Agglutination
Agglutination just sounds so...jiggly? But, from what I understand, it is the process of adding prefixes or suffixes to base words to change the tone/tense/meaning of the word. Like in German, suffixes can be packed on suffixes to create a really long word with a complex meaning. This results in Germans being able to create a word with a VERY specific meaning. For example, the word Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaf means "Association for Subordinate Officials of the Head Office Management of the Danube Steamboat Electrical Services."

(logo for the First Danube Steamboat Shipping Company, from their website)


λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων
Yeah, exactly why I also clicked on it. Another example of agglutination from an Ancient Greek comedy that makes fun of agglutination. It's a fictional dish that basically lists all its ingredients in its name.



I like this EC.

Smith

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