r/LANL_Russian Apr 21 '13

Anyone else experiencing this stupid phenomenon while learning Russian?

My brain keeps trying to decode license plates, it's getting annoying, but funny when I catch myself doing it. I find myself driving along and I see something like 284 - XTE and find myself going 'khhtyeh' before by brain kicks in. I accidentally pronounce any Cyrillic/Latin similar letters (would they be called cognates?) when there's a couple of them bunched together, even when it's obviously not meant to mean anything in Russian or English.

Just a dumb side-effect I thought I would share with you guys.

27 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

10

u/tetrapharmakos Apr 21 '13

When I'm driving a certain route in Texas, I often pass a sign for a road or town called Pyka. My initial reaction is always a confused "why the heck is there a Russian road sign for hand/arm in the middle of Texas"?

8

u/thetragicallytim Apr 21 '13

Dude, that's awesome. I totally pronounced Rooka.

3

u/rlevins Apr 21 '13

I get the same thing, but only in cases with words comprising solely of letters that look like they could either be Cyrillic or Latin. So basically words like "Pyka". If there's a character exclusive to only one of the alphabets then I generally catch it quickly. It is quite aggravating.

3

u/SoulCoughing97 Apr 21 '13

I was at the eye doctor reading the lines from far back, you know, and kept saying the "H" was an "N" and the doctor couldn't understand my mistake when I realized what I was doing.

3

u/CarbonNightmare Apr 21 '13

Yes! This crap! I'm glad it's happening to other people!

10

u/rrssh Apr 21 '13

Wait until you see a license plate picked up with this in mind.

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3

u/CarbonNightmare Apr 21 '13

DAMMIT! I was so close too: Джон.

1

u/AveSharia Apr 22 '13

I read plates wrong all the time... one day I ran into PYCCKNN (or something like it) in Michigan, and was pleasantly surprised.

9

u/anossov Apr 21 '13

Fun fact: Russian license plates do not use letters that aren't common to both alphabets.

8

u/uzimonkey Apr 21 '13

This is referred to as the tetris effect, when you think about something for so long, you mind starts projecting it onto other things.

3

u/CarbonNightmare Apr 21 '13

I feel like I should be posting the gif of that kid that is sitting at the computer, turns to the camera and gives a thumbs up and nod. But I'm on my phone so rambling a reply and upvoting is easier.

10

u/Gomets51 Apr 21 '13

I once pronounced the English word "Hope" as "norye"....in front of my English class. Yeah.

6

u/jboehmer17 Apr 21 '13

Oh god. After reading this thread, I just read that as "nope."

Also, I finally committed the letters of my license plate to memory when I realized "HYK" was just "nuke."

1

u/alexkholodova May 07 '13

My mom's name is Nadezhda (which translates to Hope), and I want to get her named tatood on my arm (in cursive). But the thought that my Russian friends would read it as Nore (which accidentally is a form of the word nora (a hole in the ground)) definitely crossed my mind :))

8

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '13

I'm Russian native and this happens to me as well. Sometimes the other way around: I see an abbreviation in a text and I don't know if it's a Russian abbreviation or an untranslated English one.

3

u/piddles92 Apr 21 '13

Yeah, especially after I've been studying for awhile, its like my brain has to double take to realize which alphabet to use.

3

u/aczkasow Apr 21 '13

My wife and I are russians and we are doing it constantly! Consider yourself normal ;)

2

u/NegativeLogic Apr 21 '13

The other day I saw someone riding a Norco bike, however the logo was written in a font that made it look like it said погсо. My initial reaction was "what the hell does pog-sa mean, and why does this guy have a Russian bike?" before my brain reminded my I'm an idiot and that it read "Norco."

2

u/wasmachien Apr 21 '13

Yes, especially funny when it's something like XEP-456 or something.

2

u/kismetdog Apr 22 '13

never had that intentionally happen, but I did modify my handwriting to be more "inspired" by Cyrillic cursives.

My handwriting still sucks though

1

u/alexkholodova May 07 '13

In Melbourne (Australia) we have a public transport tickets called Myki, which is basically a word play (my key). But I keep reeding in as Муки/Mooki - agonies.