Spyke

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60 replies

I've seen tons of people over the years say japanese has dozens, perhaps hundreds, of counting systems, with the strong implication that it's this super exotic trait. Don't get me wrong that japanese doesn't have some super interesting features as a language, but english has literally the same system:

  • one, two, three, ...
  • twins, triplets, quadruplets, ...
  • bicycle, tricycle, quadrocycle, ...
  • first, second, third, ...
  • single, double, triple, ...
  • nullary, unary, binary, ternary, ...
  • primary, secondary, tertiary, ...
  • etc.
46

While correct about English, Japanese is still different in that you use different counters for different objects qs opposed to what you listed, which they do also have some analogues of as well. Different counter for flat things, cylindrical things, large things, small things, small animals... But at least they have the generic counter that I just use if I'm not 100% positive and it works well enough.

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lemmy.world

It blew my mind when I learned that "venidos" meant "come"... And bienvenidos literally meant "well come", like it is good that you have came here.

And then I finally realized what welcome meant. 🤯

45

Venir is come. Venidos is a cast form of the verb, something like a past these for the second person (you plural), it would be bienvenido for a single person. In any case yeah, the equivalence to Welcome is correct.

9

Funny about that.

Anyhow, apropos of nothing...

An entrepôt (English: /ˈɒntrəpoʊ/ ON-trə-poh; French: [ɑ̃tʁəpo] ⓘ) or transshipment port is a port, city, or trading post where merchandise may be imported, stored, or traded, usually to be exported again. Such cities often sprang up and such ports and trading posts often developed into commercial cities due to the growth and expansion of long-distance trade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrep%C3%B4t?wprov=sfla1

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SkunkWorkzreply
lemmy.world

Orange the color was named after the fruit. So they probably joking

15

In German the word for alone is Allein as in "all one". It blew my mind that it's the same in English.

In Ukrainian the word for Trident is Trizub, literally "three tooth". Again, it blew me away that it's the same in English.

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someguy3reply
lemmy.world

Redhead was from when red was used to describe both red and orange.

9
feddit.uk

“Everybody” is a weird way of saying all the people. The French say “all the world”, which is also weird.

11

"Monde" is both the word "world" and a synonym for "a group of persons". The second meaning is an older formula for people you are used to or people who work for you.
-> "Je connais mon monde" == "I know my people"

9

In Norwegian it's all together (alle sammen).

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lemmy.world

This came up in the latest episode of Tom Scott's Reverse Trivia: they got onto the topic of princes, and Tom had the sudden realisation of where "principality" comes from.

And Gary then dropped "duchy": region granted to a duke.

Words have histories, we often forget it.

9

it's great fun to take a place name and figuring out what it means

Stockholm: Lit. log islet, they used logs to protect the original settlement on a small island.
Exeter: From Escanceaster, the city has a castle and lies on the river Exe, the modern name might as well be Execastle

1
sh.itjust.works

My favorite is that in French, you don't ask "How old are you?" "I'm 50 years old," you ask "What age do you have?" "I have 50 years."

It's like you've aged like a fine wine, versus being old and past your prime.

8

Polish also does this:

Ile masz lat - How many years do you have? (lit. how-many you-have years)

Mam 50 lat - I have 50 years

It also uses "finish X years" instead of "turn X" to refer to becoming a particular age

Skończył 50 lat - they finished 50 years

2

Well, age is an attribute. Do you say "I have blue eyes" or "I am blue-eyed"? I guess both are technically valid.

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Psaldornreply
lemmy.world

Short for skibidibidibidibidoop.

Don't make me resurrect the skatman

14
zoutreply
fedia.io

Movie is short for "moving picture", film is the medium it used to be recorded on.

26
lemmy.ca

'Film' is a medium, and 'movie' is short for moving picture. A bit like 'talkie' was for non-silent movies

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Rustyreply
lemmy.ca

I think 'film' is used in British English and movie is used in American and Canadian.

2
programming.dev

Typically "film" has the implication of being art and "movie" has the implication of being entertainment, at least in american english. I don't know of a term that doesn't carry any implication.

6

To me, a Brit, movie and film are interchangeable at a basic level, though I suppose you're right in that I wouldn't necessarily refer to an art house film as a movie.

3

As a kid growing up in '80s/90s England, I feel like 'movies' didn't truly enter the vernacular over here until the early/mid 90s when stations like MTV became more accessible, and US culture was easier to get to.

I mean, I'm only 45, but still don't feel it's been that long since it wasn't unusual to say "I'm going to the pictures" which of course is just short for 'moving pictures'.

4
jlai.lu

English doesn't have a word for "saudades" (edit to specify it's Brazilian portuguese) and has to express missing someone as an action.

0
lemmyknowreply
lemmy.today

Afaik it's a word in Portuguese, not specific to Brazil, innit? Portugal had "Saudade", I think, for Eurovision one year

3

Ah okay, just not familiar with Portuguese from Portugal, that's why I specified.

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