I learned something today

[claymore]

Have long admired OVNI's
Have long admired UFO 34's

Was told today that OVNI when translated from the French is UFO

Apologies to all those of you who already knew that

 

[Kukri]

I did not know that.

Thank you; I have learned something today.

 

[Martin_J]

It was one of the first French abbreviations I learnt at school after SNCF.

Strangely throughout Europe, the English abbreviation is the odd one out!

OVNI	Objeto Volador No Identificado (Spanish: Unidentified Flying Object)
OVNI	Objet Volant Non-Identifié (French: Unidentified Flying Object)
OVNI	Oggetto Volante Non Identificato (Italian: Unidentified Flying Object)
OVNI	Objecto Voador Não Identificado (Portuguese: Unidentified Flying Object

 

[alan_d]

It was one of the first French abbreviations I learnt at school after SNCF.

Strangely throughout Europe, the English abbreviation is the odd one out!

OVNI	Objeto Volador No Identificado (Spanish: Unidentified Flying Object)
OVNI	Objet Volant Non-Identifié (French: Unidentified Flying Object)
OVNI	Oggetto Volante Non Identificato (Italian: Unidentified Flying Object)
OVNI	Objecto Voador Não Identificado (Portuguese: Unidentified Flying Object

I don't think you should say "throughout Europe" when you only quote the (closely related) Romance languages. UFO in German (for example) is unbekanntes Flugobjekt, in Swedish flygandetefat and in Greek ATIA.

 

[zoidberg]

I don't think you should say "throughout Europe" when you only quote the (closely related) Romance languages. UFO in German (for example) is unbekanntes Flugobjekt, in Swedish flygandetefat and in Greek ATIA.

I learned something today

I'm betting now you wished you hadn't....

 

[LittleSister]

I don't think you should say "throughout Europe" when you only quote the (closely related) Romance languages. UFO in German (for example) is unbekanntes Flugobjekt, in Swedish flygandetefat and in Greek ATIA.

Exactly so. You might also have mentioned that UFO is (apparently) 'identifikatu gabeko objektu hegalaria' in Basque, 'tanımlanamayan uçan cisim' in Turkish, and 'неопознанный летающий объект' in Russian.

These things are important, you know. (Now I think of it, though, maybe they would have been better posted over a period of of time, so that more people learned something on more days.)

I'll just finish by mentioning that it's 'tunnistamaton lentävä esine' in Finnish.

 

[Martin_J]

I don't think you should say "throughout Europe" when you only quote the (closely related) Romance languages.

I did wonder at the time but (a) was more taken back in time to school days and (b) could off the top of my head think of more countries using the OVNI abbreviation than the UFO abbreviation.

 

[Martin_J]

Back to the original post though. How did these boat brands names come about...

Unidentified Floating Object perhaps?

 

[Stemar]

When things are going well: Uniformly Fantastic Object

When they aren't: Uncontrollable F****ing Object

 

[johnalison]

I am inordinately grateful for the information. I now have to work out how to insert it into conversation.

 

[DanTribe]

Back to the original post though. How did these boat brands names come about...

Unidentified Floating Object perhaps?

About the time UFOs appeared there was a TV series called UFO, so it was a phrase in common usage.

 

[Blueboatman]

But the floating UFO and OVNI exist ?

“My ubiquitous floating object has recently been seen in the western approaches , Or Very Near Ireland” ?

 

[LittleSister]

I'm surprised to learn from Martin_J that the Italian for UFO is 'Oggetto Volante Non Identificato'. I would have thought it would be something like 'Oh guarda, dev'essere che Leonardo ha ricominciato a fare i suoi trucchi'.

I also wonder what Anglo-Saxons would have called UFOs.

 

[Stemar]

I also wonder what Anglo-Saxons would have called UFOs.

A WTFT? (What the feck's that, or something similar)

 

[Roberto]

Always in the marine field, in French there is also OFNI : Objet Flottant Non Identifié.
Something for example IMOCA break their foils against, or break their hulls, keels etc. Abandoned fishing gear, trunks, containers, etc.
If sufficiently destroyed an IMOCA may eventually become an OFNI.

 

[LittleSister]

A WTFT? (What the feck's that, or something similar)

I think not. My post was, albeit somewhat cryptically, alluding to the idea that it is only if one expects to be able to identify everything in the sky that the need for a term for things one can't identify arises.

Prior to the development of science and the proliferation of aircraft there would be many things seen in the sky that people didn't recognise, but wouldn't generally be surprised by their inability to identify. They wouldn't know, by and large, whether those things were 'flying', or just part of the sky, or something that lived in the sky. Presumably they would be often be considered gods, acts of gods, or just plain everyday common or garden unknowns.

In order to have the idea of a category of 'unidentified flying objects', one needs to think what one is seeing is an object, rather than a phenomenon or a personage; to believe that this object is flying rather than doing anything else; and have an expectation that one would normally be able to identify any flying object.

A deeper mystery is how it can be that it helps with the identification (branding) of a category of objects that can't fly to name them with the term for an individual object that isn't known and is flying.

 

[claymore]

Just beginning to wonder whether I should have posted in the first place....

 

[johnalison]

Just beginning to wonder whether I should have posted in the first place....

You are OK. This still a Godwin-free zone.

 

[Stemar]

I think not. My post was, albeit somewhat cryptically, alluding to the idea that it is only if one expects to be able to identify everything in the sky that the need for a term for things one can't identify arises.

Prior to the development of science and the proliferation of aircraft there would be many things seen in the sky that people didn't recognise, but wouldn't generally be surprised by their inability to identify. They wouldn't know, by and large, whether those things were 'flying', or just part of the sky, or something that lived in the sky. Presumably they would be often be considered gods, acts of gods, or just plain everyday common or garden unknowns.

In order to have the idea of a category of 'unidentified flying objects', one needs to think what one is seeing is an object, rather than a phenomenon or a personage; to believe that this object is flying rather than doing anything else; and have an expectation that one would normally be able to identify any flying object.

A deeper mystery is how it can be that it helps with the identification (branding) of a category of objects that can't fly to name them with the term for an individual object that isn't known and is flying.

You are, of course, quite right. An UFO would have become part of the stuff that shamans knew all about but mere mortals didn't, because it gave the shamans power and kept 'em in booze and women.

As for your deeper mystery, I'd guess that UFOs were well known for moving rapidly and changing course in an instant. Marketing, Innit . An even deeper mystery would be why you'd call a make of yacht Mystery. It's a mystery why any one would buy one? Unlikely, they seem quite good to me.

OTOH, this one may have a simple explanation - it's a mystery how he can run a yacht like that when his accountant says he's too poor to pay income tax...

 

[jimi]

Mar as trice is e taigeis ghrod a th ’ann an nì itealaich neo-aithnichte ann an gaelic