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  1. - Top - End - #181
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    Quote Originally Posted by Kobold-Bard View Post
    We're like language kleptomaniacs, we take them not because we need them, but because they're there and we just need to have them.
    Darn tootin'! English is bastard, both in the genealogical and epithetic sense.
    Quote Originally Posted by Calanon View Post
    Raven_Cry's comments often have the effects of a +5 Tome of Understanding

  2. - Top - End - #182
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    Their German equivalents have a more specific, more... existential feeling, which bog-standard English words don't convey
    It's statements like these that convince me that English-speaking peoples are secretly ashamed of their own language.
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  3. - Top - End - #183
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    It's statements like these that convince me that English-speaking peoples are secretly ashamed of their own language.
    Haha, I think it's more that foreign words sound exotic and interesting, no matter what language you are native in.

    Take the word 'nap', which conjures up the image of a short sleep, quite commonplace and dull - but the word 'siesta', which to a Spanish person means exactly the same as 'nap' to an anglophone, sounds to us all exotic and funky!

    'I've seen it already'. Ok, fine. 'Déjà vu'? OMGsodeep!

  4. - Top - End - #184
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    It's statements like these that convince me that English-speaking peoples are secretly ashamed of their own language.
    Nah, this extravagant melting pot commingling of tongues is English.
    Without it, it's just Anglo Saxon.
    Quote Originally Posted by Calanon View Post
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  5. - Top - End - #185
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    Goes both ways, by the way. German is full of English words. Everywhere.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ravens_cry View Post
    Pardon? I sprechen no Deutsch.
    Du kann nicht Deutsch sprechen?
    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    It's statements like these that convince me that English-speaking peoples are secretly ashamed of their own language.
    Everybody is to a certain point, ashamed of their own language.
    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    Haha, I think it's more that foreign words sound exotic and interesting, no matter what language you are native in.

    Take the word 'nap', which conjures up the image of a short sleep, quite commonplace and dull - but the word 'siesta', which to a Spanish person means exactly the same as 'nap' to an anglophone, sounds to us all exotic and funky!

    'I've seen it already'. Ok, fine. 'Déjà vu'? OMGsodeep!
    "Siesta" is the literal equivalent of nap. It's the exact word for nap, only in spanish. It doesn't even add any meaning, or context or anything, it's the exact equivalent, word in definition for word in definition.

    Probably even worse, Spanish at least has idiomatic regional variations to it to define different naps. Like the one after breakfast, or after lunch, or before lunch. And English took the word they already had.
    Last edited by AsteriskAmp; 2012-02-08 at 07:31 PM.
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  7. - Top - End - #187
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    Quote Originally Posted by araveugnitsuga View Post
    "Siesta" is the literal equivalent of nap. It's the exact word for nap, only in spanish. It doesn't even add any meaning, or context or anything, it's the exact equivalent, word in definition for word in definition.

    Probably even worse, Spanish at least has idiomatic regional variations to it to define different naps. Like the one after breakfast, or after lunch, or before lunch. And English took the word they already had.
    In Spain at least, while 'una siesta' is indeed the exact literal equivalent of 'a nap', 'la siesta' is more specific, and refers to the afternoon nap taken between 2pm and 5pm. By extension, it can also refer to that timeslot, when most shops close, and you can't get anything useful done

  8. - Top - End - #188
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    In Spain at least, while 'una siesta' is indeed the exact literal equivalent of 'a nap', 'la siesta' is more specific, and refers to the afternoon nap taken between 2pm and 5pm. By extension, it can also refer to that timeslot, when most shops close, and you can't get anything useful done
    Damn the RAE and it being Spain based!
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  9. - Top - End - #189
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    That's something else different about English - the lack of an institution like the RAE, or the Académie Française, which has official control over language usage. Is there such a thing in Germany?

    I guess it's another proof of our complete laissez-faire attitude to what enters our language. Or allez-prendre, or allez-voler, if you like
    Last edited by Goosefeather; 2012-02-08 at 07:52 PM.

  10. - Top - End - #190
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    Quote Originally Posted by araveugnitsuga View Post
    Du kann nicht Deutsch sprechen?
    Nein, ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen*.
    It is a language I hope to learn though.
    *No, I can not speak German.
    Last edited by Ravens_cry; 2012-02-08 at 07:55 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Calanon View Post
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  11. - Top - End - #191
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    That's something else different about English - the lack of an institution like the RAE, or the Académie Française.

    I guess it's another proof of our complete laissez-faire attitude to what enters our language. Or laissez-prendre, or laissez-voler, if you like
    The lack of those things is probably for the better.
    The RAE makes more issues than solves them, heck, overzealous Spanish teachers sometimes disagree with it despite overzealousness being the need for it to even exist.

    At least Spanish countries don't have the no non-French words restrictions France has.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ravens_cry View Post
    Nein, ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen*.
    It is a language I hope to learn though.
    *No, I can not speak german.
    Gut, Deutsch ist ein wunderbar sprache.
    One day I'll finish my German lessons and take the Sprachdiplom
    Last edited by AsteriskAmp; 2012-02-08 at 08:03 PM.
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  12. - Top - End - #192
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    That's something else different about English - the lack of an institution like the RAE, or the Académie Française, which has official control over language usage. Is there such a thing in Germany?

    I guess it's another proof of our complete laissez-faire attitude to what enters our language. Or allez-prendre, or allez-voler, if you like
    We have the people from Duden who hand out the official spelling of words every so often. Of course, they have to bring out a different version of the dictionary for Switzerland because we have so called Helvetisms.

    Basically: Switzerland has its own family of weird and strange dialects. However, we also have our version of standard written German, which is very different from what we speak. It has the same rules as German standard German, except that we have official license to add a few handfuls of our own words to it. Mostly French words. One I remember is that the western cantons use the word "Camion" for "Lastwagen", a truck.

    Similarly, the Germans decided to Germanize the spelling of (Teutonize? Allemandize? Who knows) French and other foreign words. As French and Italian are some of thee languages spoken in Switzerland, we refused, so we are officially allowed to use the spellings "Mayonnaise" instead of "Majonäse" and "Spaghetti" instead of "Spagetti" as the Germans now spells those words. Those barbarians.

    Edit: There's also the Idioticon for Swiss German, which is weird, since, of course, Swiss German has no written version.
    Last edited by Eldan; 2012-02-08 at 08:06 PM.
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  13. - Top - End - #193
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    Quote Originally Posted by araveugnitsuga View Post
    The lack of those things is probably for the better.
    The RAE makes more issues than solves them, heck, overzealous Spanish teachers sometimes disagree with it despite overzealousness being the need for it to even exist.
    I'm still not quite over the whole recent tilde issue (points 4 and 5) I'm trying to learn the language here, please don't go changing it half-way through!

    Quote Originally Posted by araveugnitsuga View Post
    Gut, Deutsch ist ein wunderbar sprache.
    One day I'll finish my German lessons and take the Sprachdiplom
    I recently decided to pick up German again, after 5 years of not speaking it (put off by a terrible teacher). So far, my only progress has been to download lots of German music to listen to and pick up random vocab and structures!

  14. - Top - End - #194
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    I'm still not quite over the whole recent tilde issue (points 4 and 5) I'm trying to learn the language here, please don't go changing it half-way through!
    You've just experienced a minor change, ask Chileans about the Bello Grammar...

    But most of those changes were somewhat logical, and try to simplify the language, and it isn't like the tilde is completely unintuitive, it's got only 3 rules, and now that there are no monosyllabic exceptions, the only odd cases are those created by hiato and diptongo, both of which are easy to spot.

    Spanish really is annoying in terms of synonyms, paronyms, homonyms and homophones, where the vocab is simply too insanely mixed, big and strict to even make sense at times. Not made easy by the RAE's idea that changes should take decades and refuse to incorporate new meanings and drop outdated ones, or accept anything that is not from Spain. Or worse, when it does accept them and "blue jean" becomes "bluyin", a word not even overzealous Spanish teachers, pedants, or university entry exams use.

    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    I recently decided to pick up German again, after 5 years of not speaking it (put off by a terrible teacher). So far, my only progress has been to download lots of German music to listen to and pick up random vocab and structures!
    Most of a language is random vocab and structures though.
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  15. - Top - End - #195
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    Quote Originally Posted by araveugnitsuga View Post
    Or worse, when it does accept them and "blue jean" becomes "bluyin", a word not even overzealous Spanish teachers, pedants, or university entry exams use.
    'Bluyin' is just the tip of the iceberg, once you get into Spanglish and Llanito territory.

    I get endless amusement from Gibraltarian words like 'chakarau', which apparently means 'bouncer' (from 'chucker-out' in English), or the replacement of the word 'cachondeo' (possibly one of those words mainly used in Spain) with 'cachonfinga' - (dedo, finger... )

    I wish I were making this up!

    Quote Originally Posted by araveugnitsuga View Post
    Most of a language is random vocab and structures though.
    True, but right now I'm at a point where I can tell you all about how the shark hides in the ocean so no-one sees his tears, hence why it is salty, but I can't satisfactorily explain what my plans are for this evening!
    Last edited by Goosefeather; 2012-02-08 at 08:42 PM.

  16. - Top - End - #196
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    'Bluyin' is just the tip of the iceberg, once you get into Spanglish and Llanito territory.

    I get endless amusement from Gibraltarian words like 'chakarau', which apparently means 'bouncer' (from 'chucker-out' in English), or the replacement of the word 'cachondeo' (possibly one of those words mainly used in Spain) with 'cachonfinga' - (dedo, finger... )

    I wish I were making this up!
    Bluyín is academy approved though.
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    Quote Originally Posted by Goosefeather View Post
    That's something else different about English - the lack of an institution like the RAE, or the Académie Française, which has official control over language usage. Is there such a thing in Germany?

    I guess it's another proof of our complete laissez-faire attitude to what enters our language. Or allez-prendre, or allez-voler, if you like
    You made me cringe by saying Académie Française, I think their attitude of "WE decide which word is French or not" seems so wrong to me, especially when the youth is speaking something completely different.
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    Quote Originally Posted by GolemsVoice View Post
    Fair enough I guess

    Next question: do you think the US government, or any government for that matter, has plans for an alien attack? The thought really struck me while watching Battle: Los Angeles. Do they call their officers and say "We got an R-42, open envelopes labeled ET-57/C!"?
    I wouldn't be surprised if they do. Such things could make interesting training exercises for command officers, and once the plan's been made why not keep it on file?
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    True, but right now I'm at a point where I can tell you all about how the shark hides in the ocean so no-one sees his tears, hence why it is salty, but I can't satisfactorily explain what my plans are for this evening!
    Rammstein can help you there! Or, well, rather not, I'm afraid. Depends on the evening you want to have.

    But I think that's how I picked up many English words too, back when I was young. I also played a lot of videogames in English and read some Warhammer 40k novels (without properly understanding anything) so my vocabulary was very specific. But hey, eviscerate is a fun word!
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    Quote Originally Posted by GolemsVoice View Post
    Rammstein can help you there! Or, well, rather not, I'm afraid. Depends on the evening you want to have.

    But I think that's how I picked up many English words too, back when I was young. I also played a lot of videogames in English and read some Warhammer 40k novels (without properly understanding anything) so my vocabulary was very specific. But hey, eviscerate is a fun word!
    But English is so much easier to learn from videogames and music than German.
    Pretty much every game is in English and the only German music in my collection is an album of Peter Fox and '99 Luftballons'.
    I've heard of Rammstein... It's seems to be very popular among a particular group of people at my school. I don't really like them, so I probably won't like Rammstein, although I've never heard it.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matthias2207 View Post
    I've heard of Rammstein... It's seems to be very popular among a particular group of people at my school. I don't really like them, so I probably won't like Rammstein, although I've never heard it.
    They're quite...dramatic...and undeniably cynical.

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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    And the texts are surprisingly poetical, once you really listen to them. Quite a few double meanings and archaic words, too.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    And the texts are surprisingly poetical, once you really listen to them. Quite a few double meanings and archaic words, too.
    Hah yes I used to have a german teacher that loved Rammstein and had us translate and discuss their songs in class. That was awesome and it didn't hurt that Rammstein is one of my favorite bands
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    Heh. Also, the Shark Song is totally useful: you learn about three dozen possible uses of the verb "halten" in figures of speech.
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    Quote Originally Posted by Matthias2207 View Post
    But English is so much easier to learn from videogames and music than German.
    Pretty much every game is in English and the only German music in my collection is an album of Peter Fox and '99 Luftballons'.
    I've heard of Rammstein... It's seems to be very popular among a particular group of people at my school. I don't really like them, so I probably won't like Rammstein, although I've never heard it.
    Oh, for videogames in German, if you have TES4:Oblivion, get the Nehrim mod. It's fully voice-acted in German, but you can get a version that is sub-titles in English, and also changes 99% of the in-game literature to English, if you want.
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    There is a very good Call of Duty mod which makes the entire game into Star Wars, new maps and everything. It was designed by a German team and is probably available in German. Just google "cod star wars mod"

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    I'm only just really getting into Rammstein, but swiftly discovering how much more there is to them than just Du Hast and Amerika.

    They do seem to love their wordplay, which is always good when you're trying to learn a language. And yes, surprisingly poetical. Engel and Haifisch immediately spring to mind. They may be cynical, but that just leads to funkier ways of expressing their humour - Links-2-3-4 deserves a special mention for the way it handles its 'Germans aren't evil' message.

    Plus pyromania

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    Question: Has anyone ever tried to get to the center of a tootsie pop without biting, and if so, how many licks did it take?

    I remember trying this as a kid, but, much like the owl, I could never do it without biting.

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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    I wouldn't know. Being Australian, I've never had one. But, I'll try and find an answer. Perhaps an experiment should be set up?
    Wait... The University of Cambridge beat me to it.
    As did half a dozen different universities.

    Wow, that is a wide range of results...
    Here's a link:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tootsie...or_Tootsie_Pop

    In conclusion, I'm going to say it varies from person to person.
    Last edited by Elemental; 2012-02-10 at 12:55 AM.
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    Default Re: Questions of a weird mind

    They do seem to love their wordplay, which is always good when you're trying to learn a language. And yes, surprisingly poetical. Engel and Haifisch immediately spring to mind. They may be cynical, but that just leads to funkier ways of expressing their humour - Links-2-3-4 deserves a special mention for the way it handles its 'Germans aren't evil' message.
    The song "Los" is basically one huge play on words.
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