Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #100 – 2014-04-26, 17:42:05 I'll make sure to carry my sword.(Explanation for the uninitiated)
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #102 – 2014-05-12, 13:35:12 Just keep in mind that though the word was originally modelled upon yesterday, in modern English it doesn't usually mean "last year" (though it can, and this sense of the word may be growing more common), rather referring to the recent years.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #103 – 2014-05-12, 13:40:28 I could see that from the context, thanks.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #104 – 2014-05-12, 14:08:08 Quote from: jax on 2014-05-12, 13:35:12yesterdayThe Dutch (gisteren/gister) and German (gestern) cognates are independent, without a day attached. There's also eergister(en), something like yore-yester: the day before yesterday.You can say things like:gistermorgen (yesterday morning)gistermiddag (yesterday afternoon)gisteravond (yesterday evening/night)but not gisterdag or gisterjaar (except in poetry, one imagines).
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #105 – 2014-05-12, 14:36:30 Norwegian and Czech are structurally similar to each other in having about the same concepts, but the words are each unique, there isn't much of a patternNorwegian / Czech / Englishforgårs / předevčírem /day before yesterdayi går / včera / yesterdayi morgen / zítra / tomorrowoverimorgen / pozítří / day after tomorrowforifjor / předloni / year before last yeari fjor / loni / last yearNo particular phrase for next year (neste år, příští rok) or the year after.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #106 – 2014-05-12, 15:02:30 Quote from: jax on 2014-05-12, 14:36:30No particular phrase for next year (neste år, příští rok) or the year after.Because they've thought they were doomed.Looks like Slavic words are similar. In Russian we have "вчера" and "завтра" for "yesterday" and "tomorrow". The former seems to derive from "вечер" ("evening/night"), the latter - from "утро" ("morning"); looks like the English "tomorrow" originated a similar way.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #109 – 2014-05-21, 11:59:13 lose - /lu:z/ -- verb: not to win, or cease to have somethingloose - /lu:s/ -- adjective: not tight, lax
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #110 – 2014-05-31, 03:06:15 Quote from: http://mentalfloss.com/article/57032/25-words-are-their-own-opposites25 Words That Are Their Own OppositesQuoteHere’s an ambiguous sentence for you: “Because of the agency’s oversight, the corporation’s behavior was sanctioned.” Does that mean, 'Because the agency oversaw the company’s behavior, they imposed a penalty for some transgression' or does it mean, 'Because the agency was inattentive, they overlooked the misbehavior and gave it their approval by default'? We’ve stumbled into the looking-glass world of “contronyms”—words that are their own antonyms.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #111 – 2019-09-18, 19:06:53 Merriam-Webster dictionary adds 'they' as nonbinary pronounQuote from: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/sep/17/merriam-webster-they-nonbinary-pronounMerriam-Webster wrote a pre-emptive clapback on its blog. “We will note that ‘they’ has been in consistent use as a singular pronoun since the late 1300s; that the development of singular ‘they’ mirrors the development of the singular ‘you’ from the plural ‘you’, yet we don’t complain that singular ‘you’ is ungrammatical; and that regardless of what detractors say, nearly everyone uses the singular ‘they’ in casual conversation and often in formal writing.”[...]Branstetter [a media relations manager for the National Center for Transgender Equality] offers this example for anyone who might be confused: “If you are at a restaurant and you found a stranger’s phone at a table, you wouldn’t say, I found his or her phone. You would say, ‘I found their phone.’”Actually, when you find a completely strange phone, you are not finding his/her/their phone, but a phone.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #112 – 2019-09-19, 07:40:55 Quote from: ersi on 2019-09-18, 19:06:53Actually, when you find a completely strange phone, you are not finding his/her/their phone, but a phone.Agreed, that's at the very least an odd example, if not an outright usage error. You can only say that you found someone's phone. Their requires a specific referent, even if it can be as vague as: "That person whom I just saw driving off and didn't really see at all, just their car? I think I found their phone."
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #113 – 2019-09-24, 18:22:08 Incidentally (and off subject); Why isn't there an "I just found your phone" option in with the emergency call/contact feature?Shoots you an email, drops the phone's coordinates in... Textbox for the finder to enter contact info if applicable. Just a thought. Carry on.
Indeterminate subject Reply #114 – 2019-09-25, 01:02:58 In Portuguese, "they" has always been used as an indeterminate subject. It's OK to say "they stole my car" when I don't know who "they" are, or even how many "they" are. Actually, we use it all the time.Though, because of verb declination, we don't really have to spell "they" - the verb does it implicitly ("Roubaram meu carro"), giving a better idea of an indeterminate subject.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #115 – 2019-09-25, 06:27:24 Quote from: Barulheira on 2019-09-25, 01:02:58In Portuguese, "they" has always been used as an indeterminate subject. It's OK to say "they stole my car" when I don't know who "they" are, or even how many "they" are. Actually, we use it all the time.Though, because of verb declination, we don't really have to spell "they" - the verb does it implicitly ("Roubaram meu carro"), giving a better idea of an indeterminate subject.There is a famous Czech (a Slavic language) novel that begins "And so they've killed our Ferdinand," (Švejk by Hašek) where there is no emphasis felt on "they" or "who-did-it". Rather, the next piece of dialogue is "Which Ferdinand?" Similarly, when Russians say "They took away electricity" nobody begins inquiring "Who? Did you see them?" Rather, it is merely stating that there is a power outage.Whereas the same sentence is unworkable in Estonian and Finnish, because it feels hyperpersonal. The same statements would be more appropriately formulated something like "Electricity vanished" and "Oh dear, Ferdinand got killed." In Estonian and Finnish there is a special impersonal verb form in addition to the common six personal verb forms. The personal verb forms have their corresponding personal (non-compulsory/pro-drop) pronouns while there is no impersonal pronoun. And it is not an issue of grammatical gender in any way. The grammatical gender does not exist in these languages. As we say, "Finnish/Estonian is not sexy."In contrast, Russian, Lithuanian, and Latvian have a very strong presence of grammatical genders, but as far as I know, they ignore the political correctness issues that go along with it. 1 Likes
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #116 – 2019-09-25, 20:28:39 Quote from: Frenzie on 2019-09-19, 07:40:55You can only say that you found someone's phone.However, you could say that someone lost their phone.Quote from: ersi on 2019-09-25, 06:27:24Similarly, when Russians say "They took away electricity" nobody begins inquiring "Who? Did you see them?" Rather, it is merely stating that there is a power outage.So how would a Russian say that "they" (the Illuminati/Jewish conspiracy/Soviets/capitalists/etc.) took away the electricity? Would they have to be specific about who "they" are or are there different kinds of "they"?
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #117 – 2019-09-26, 04:27:40 Quote from: Frenzie on 2019-09-25, 20:28:39So how would a Russian say that "they" (the Illuminati/Jewish conspiracy/Soviets/capitalists/etc.) took away the electricity?How to imply Illuminati etc. without saying Illuminati etc. out loud? The difference is as follows:Электричество отключили translates formally "They turned off electricity" without any implication on them. The personal pronoun is preferably missing while the verb form is explicitly third pers. pl. Это они отключили электричество is like "It's them who turned off electricity." The personal pronoun они is there and strengthened with это "it (is)". But Russians like to blame monkeys rather than the Illuminati.Edit: I checked the beginning of Švejk by Hašek. In Russian it's "Убили, значит, Фердинанда-то нашего." I guess you could say the missing они makes some difference. In Czech it is also without the pronoun, "Tak nám zabili Ferdinanda." Last Edit: 2019-09-26, 05:21:00 by ersi 1 Likes
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #118 – 2019-09-26, 16:45:32 Yes, Czech can be largely pronoun-free as grammar (normally) gives you all the context you need. Plus they have several ways to express passive, that something has been done, usually to someone, possibly by someone. German has worst of both worlds. You have much of the grammar, but still need those pronouns. Ironically (?) that Hašek sentence has a pronoun, just not who did the killing. Literally "So our killed Ferdinand" or more English "So our Ferdinand was killed".
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #119 – 2020-03-15, 19:32:03 Not grammar, but somewhat grammar-adjacent. Some in Japan are saying that the word "virus" shouldn't be pronounced roughly vee-roos like the German loanword it apparently is, but roughly vai-rus like in English.https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/koronavairusu-or-koronauirusu-japan
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #120 – 2020-03-15, 20:02:53 The word "Virus" it's Latin and had the meaning of "poison". It was a Dutch, Martinus Beijerinck, that made revive the word because he used it for designing small creatures, smaller than bacteries, that were responsible for transmitting diseases.So, it's "virus" = "veerus", not "vairus".
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #121 – 2020-03-15, 20:25:51 Of course it's (neo-)Latin, but assuming the article is accurate it's a German loanword in Japanese.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #122 – 2020-03-16, 18:13:58 Given greater contact with Dutch and then English (both American and British) seems odd many German loanwords would show up much.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #123 – 2020-03-16, 19:12:43 Quote from: ensbb3 on 2020-03-16, 18:13:58Given greater contact with Dutch and then English (both American and British) seems odd many German loanwords would show up much.Quantity is not quality.
Re: Grammatical Mutterings Reply #124 – 2020-03-16, 19:15:20 Quote from: ensbb3 on 2020-03-16, 18:13:58seems odd many German loanwords would show up much.Back before WW2 it was a major language of science. I'm not sure if Japanese borrowed many scientific terms from Dutch actually, Indonesian did though. 1 Likes