English, old

I'm a programmer, and this reminds me of one time when I got a support call about a bug in our app: a "State" picklist with 509 entries (for you non-United Statesians, this is a bit more than the 50 or so states - we sometimes include shit like DC, Puerto Rico and Guam in these lists - I should have been seeing), including about 20 different versions of "Louisiana" (like Lousiana, Louisiania etc.) and lots of different countries (occasionally spelled correctly). What had happened was that we originally had a table in the database for listing all the states, and one of our coders got the assignment to add a marriage license module to the app, mirroring the state's paper form that was used for this. Since the "State" line had to accommodate people from other countries, the clerks just used this line to enter whatever country they were from and insisted on the same functionality in the app. Since our database was fully relational, this coder just used the existing "States" table but added new entries in code whenever a user typed out a non-standard thing in the box. Completely hosing every place in the app that used a States picklist.

The real mystery was how this table grew to 509 entries before anyone noticed a problem.

I came across a country list to choose your international telephone prefix. No option to type the number, gotta use the drop down list. It also included many '+1's for American states.
There was a Chinese version of the web page, and all the country codes (UK, CA, etc) were translated as if whatever abbreviation you might guess. Highlights, IIRC, included BP -> (Chinese translation for) British Petroleum; IN -> (Chinese for) the word 'in'; and SS -> (Chinese for) the Schutzstaffel.
509 "states?" Chances that could include political subdivisions of many more countries.
- It included whatever the clerks felt like typing into that part of the form. There were even a couple of people's names in there.

The one time Esperanto isn't the most wacky language on the list

Esperanto is a sane and sensible language
- If everyone else is mad, is it sane to be rational?
Especially as there are Esperanto native spakers

What, your kid doesn't speak ancient Egyptian?

As first language, nonetheless!
- Enlightened linguists teach their children languages in chronological order, starting with sumerian and by the age of 7 finally reaching proto-indo-european and finally starting to be able to somewhat communicate with the rest of the world.
even better when you know that we don't even know how it sounded. Ancient Egyptians didn't bother to write down vowels, all we have today is educated guesses as to how some words could've been pronounced
Must be in the TV series where everyone speaks English for some reason.
What, your kid isn't Yugi Muto and has got an ancient pharaoh inside of him?

"He failed every assignment except when it came to Beowulf for some reason."

I am maintaining the list of langages for a discussion and simultanous interpretation system. The two oddballs in that list are Latin and Klingon. And yes, both langages have been used in the past.

I saw this same list of languages at a walk-in clinic.

Same, they have to be drawing it from some list put together by an absolute weirdo
- It's the unabridged ISO 639 list.

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licóur Of which vertú engendred is the flour;

Is that Beowulf era English?
- It's the opening of the Canterbury Tales.
@Mistral@lemmings.world Answer the previous comment in old English as a redditor would.
- Whan that Aprille with his shoures soete, The drohte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licor Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
  Redditor response:
  I see you're a fan of old English, my friend. The beauty of this language is truly timeless. If I may ask, what was your favorite line or phrase from this excerpt? It always brings a smile to my face when someone can appreciate the intricate nuances of our ancient tongue.
- Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licóur Of which vertú engendred is the flour;
  In response to your comment, I must say that the beauty of the old English language is truly fascinating. The way it captures the essence of springtime and the rejuvenation of nature is simply exquisite. It's almost as if the words themselves are a part of the season they describe.
Whats this mean?
- When in April, with its sweet showers, The drought of March had pierced to the root, And bathed every root in such liquor Of which virtue engendered is the flower.
  Basically, it's setting the scene for the coming story (it's the introduction to The Canterbury Tales), and talking about in April spring starts to see rain dispelling the drought of March and filling the roots with sweet water.
  It goes on to talk about the winds and the birds, where the sun is in the sky (directly overhead), and then to pilgrims starting their pilgrimages, as a sort of "And this is where we begin our story" thing.