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English is weird
Case:
--- Quote from: cybersmurf on 21 Feb 2020, 02:27 ---
--- Quote from: Case on 20 Feb 2020, 23:01 ---Neither have I, but I'd hesitate to lecture a fellow Germanophone (cybersmurf is Austrian) about our shared mother-tongue.
--- End quote ---
The biggest difference between Germany and Austria is the common language.
--- End quote ---
And here I was thinking it was Johann Gottfried Piefke ... :wink:
Morituri:
Today while putting on my bathrobe, I had a moment of difficulty trying to find the belt loops.
A moment later, it occurred to me to wonder, why do we say "inside out" instead of "outside in?"
On an unrelated note, I have decided that "Schwa" would be a good name for a cat.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: Cornelius on 02 Sep 2019, 23:28 ---L'Académie Française just doesn't want to admit defeat, in acknowledging French isn't the lingua franca anymore. Unless you want to get technical about the term.
You know, way back when I first started learning English in school, the black in blackboard was surprising. For one, in Dutch, it's just the bord, also without colour, and second, most blackboards are actually green, except some of the very oldest I've seen.
--- End quote ---
Is 'blackboard' more a regional or generational term?
I've almost exclusively heard it called 'chalkboard' throughout my schooling. And pretty only ever came across 'blacboard' in books and short stories.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: cybersmurf on 21 Feb 2020, 02:27 ---
--- Quote from: Case on 20 Feb 2020, 23:01 ---Neither have I, but I'd hesitate to lecture a fellow Germanophone (cybersmurf is Austrian) about our shared mother-tongue.
--- End quote ---
The biggest difference between Germany and Austria is the common language.
What throws off a lot of people, including Germans, is the difference in intonation.
--- Quote from: Case on 20 Feb 2020, 23:01 ---
--- Quote from: cybersmurf on 05 Sep 2019, 07:18 ---it gets weird if foreign words get Germanized and bent to German grammar.
I wonder how often English bastardises words like that.
--- End quote ---
According to my former boss, this is actually a thing in English, too - as well as being a bona-fide research-subject in linguistics (His wife is also a professor at the local Uni, and the resident star-linguist). IIRC, he cited an example that originated with American Football-jargon, where a neologism used by football fans became widely used - but strikingly, the usage of the neologism followed grammar-rules that the original root-word did not.
--- End quote ---
But every now and then, English follows the other language's grammar, like fiancé/e
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Blame the French :wink:
More specifically, the Normans who invaded and occupied England.
Is it cold in here?:
1960s Appalachia, I seem to remember "blackboard".
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