John Lindal’s Blog

Rhyming

I found myself thinking about Disney’s clip show House of Mouse this morning. We saw the same show in Norway, dubbed with the title Muse Hus, which when pronounced correctly (moo-se hoos), still rhymes. At first, I thought it was simply clever that Disney managed to make the translation rhyme. But this morning, I realized that it could also rhyme in German: Maus Haus. And in Danish. And in Swedish. I don’t know the underlying cause, but it seems too far fetched to claim that it is pure coincidence that all these languages, which have been diverging for hundreds of years, would maintain such a strong connection between the two words!