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Recently, the puzzles of @Racso and @PerpetualJ caught my attention and I had to make one myself. Check out The Babel Brotherhood - #1 and The Babel Brotherhood - #2 if you're unsure how this works.

Two members of the Babel Brotherhood, Cologne and Meatball were involved in a fight. Cologne gets badly injured and falls to the floor.

"Cologne!" Meatball exclaims. "Are you alright? Is there severe pain anywhere?" Cologne replies, but Meatball simply gives a sigh of relief and puts aside medical attention for later.

What did Cologne say to make Meatball think the injury was fine?

Hint 1:

Maybe Cologne wasn't the best codename, something closer to Boutique would make more sense.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm fine, and I feel alright? :P $\endgroup$
    – PotatoLatte
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 1:33
  • $\begingroup$ Ohhhh this one is harder because I don’t speak either language! Lol perhaps meatball is Italian? Hrmmm.. $\endgroup$
    – Taco
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 2:29

5 Answers 5

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I think Cologne says...

arm or in French bras

This would be interpreted by Meatball as...

Bra in Swedish or 'fine' in english

Language origins...

Cologne is from Cologne, Germany hence his nickname but he speaks Colognian or Kölsch which is a German French hybrid with many similarities to French? Meatball I am guessing is Swedish due to his love and pride of Swedish Meatballs.

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Maybe he said

schnell

Which means

"quickly" in Cologne's language, German.

But sounds like

snäll

which means

"nice" in Meatball's language, Swedish.

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  • $\begingroup$ +1 for the effort, but the interaction is more clear than that. $\endgroup$
    – Zimonze
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 15:04
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Cologne speaks German and said "Bein" because his leg was hurt, but it sounded like "fine" in Meatball's English.

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Based on the hint that

Cologne might be better named Boutique, I conclude that the Frenchman got bopped on the nose.

Cologne is

French, so when he was asked if anything hurt he indicated it was his nez (pronounced /ne/).

Meatball is

Swedish, so when he heard Boutique say nez he interpreted it as nej (pronounced /nɛj/), which is Swedish for no.

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  • $\begingroup$ Don't think there's a diphtong in the pronunciation of the first one. That said, it might still sound a bit like the second word for a native speaker. $\endgroup$
    – Jafe
    Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 18:05
  • $\begingroup$ @jafe I’ve always pronounced it -ay at the end, but I’ve also heard it with -eh as well. That’s the first thing that came to mind, anyway! $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 18:44
  • $\begingroup$ You got the basic idea, I'm sure you'll get the one I'm thinking of very soon. $\endgroup$
    – Zimonze
    Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 20:36
  • $\begingroup$ @Zimonze is either word correct? I’m not sure which one you mean. $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 20:37
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    $\begingroup$ “No” would certainly do so for “Is there severe pain anywhere?” I feel.... $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 21:24
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Cologne said-

Bein in his german, cause his leg was hurt (Thanks to @Rasco)

MeatBall thought-

Bene, which in italian means fine, meatball is obviously italian, i mean come on pasta and meatballs anyone? :P

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  • $\begingroup$ When pronounced, "bein" in German doesn't sound as "bene" at all. That's why I picked English as a more probable answer. $\endgroup$
    – Racso
    Commented Sep 27, 2018 at 16:21

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