49 points

And then there’s Zangendeutsch, where germans replace every single loanword with a calque. It doesn’t matter how much sense it makes, all that matters is that it’s technically correct.

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17 points

SPRICH

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16 points

DEUTSCH

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9 points

I kinda love that about German though. In Dutch we don’t do that and I feel like it’s approaching silly levels with the English words we just take over as is, even if there is or could be a much better Dutch alternative. With how much we want to be America and how badly we want to be relevant it just seems very try-hard, while Chad Germany is confident in its language and culture and doesn’t need to bend to Angelsaksisch gebrabbel.

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2 points

I also very much love to translate things literally, I mean word by word instead of the meaning. My friends very, very much hate it. It’s glorious.

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7 points

Orca is a much better name for killer whales

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51 points

Post about linguistics, but they used i.e. when they meant e.g.

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32 points

Anyone looking to remember the difference: “id est” (that is) vs “exemplī grātiā” (for the sake of an example). You use the first to clarify meaning, and the second to begin a non-exhaustive list of examples.

What matters is ultimately if you can convey your ideas, so using the wrong term is fine when people can still figure out what you meant. But it’s still a good idea to learn the difference, because there will be times when mixing up “i.e.” and “e.g.” will create ambiguity or misunderstanding.

The best idea is maybe to use “for example” or “that is to say”. The former could be abbreviated to “f.ex.” like in Norwegian, and the latter could be abbreviated “t.i.t.s.”

…Alright, on second thought maybe don’t abbreviate that one.

In any case, the Wikipedia Manual of Style recommends avoiding use of “e.g.” and “i.e.” in regular running text altogether, saying that these abbreviations are better fit for parentheticals, quotations, citations, tables, and lists. This is because there is no word or character limit on Wikipedia, nor is there on Tumblr, and so the language is more clear when abbreviations are avoided. Even when someone is using “i.e.” and “e.g.” in the prescribed way, that doesn’t guarantee that the reader knows the distinction.

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4 points

what is the point of the distinction even? ‘that is’ make sense to introduce an example and vice versa

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10 points
*

I guess another way to put it is that “i.e.” is more specific while “e.g.” is more general. So “i.e.” carries an energy of “I am referring very specifically to the following” while “e.g.” means “there are other things that I’m not mentioning”. So the use of “i.e.” in the Tumblr post would imply that “tattoo”, “sushi”, and “guillotine” are the only loanwords in the English language.

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6 points

One gives a definition or clarification and the other is a set of examples. If you do that with a word that your listener has never seen or heard before, you will miscommunicate.

Here watch when I use made up words:

I enjoy multifacetous martialific numbrate (i.e., chess).

If I selected carelessly, does this mean I like games or that I specifically like chess? Maybe here it doesn’t matter, but what if I’m describing a category of things I’m allergic to vs a specific example? It’s worth being able to articulate either case distinctly no?

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11 points

To add to the explanations, here are some examples that might help:
There are various transportation methods, e.g. cars

There are various transportation methods, i.e. ways for a person to move from one location to another

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14 points

I remember “eg” as “example given” and “ie” as “in explanation”. Nice mnemonic ways imho

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2 points

I remember it as eg-zample.

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-10 points

ie and eg are colloquially synonyms like literally and figuratively

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11 points

Which are literally not synonyms though.

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0 points
*

Correct. Literally, and literally all of its synonyms, really, truly, actually, honestly, etc, have been used as intensifiers for hundreds of years. Both for factually true and hyperbolic statements. The real irony is that a real purist against evolving usage of words should stop and look at the word a little harder, it originally was used in regards to literature. Specifically letters, as in correspondence, IIRC. Using it to mean something that is precisely true is just as much a perversion as any meaning that came after that.

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4 points

Is a post about linguistics colloquial?

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4 points

Ugh, you’re one of THOSE…

The colloquial use is only better when it enhances understanding of what you’re trying to say. Mixing up eg and ie does the opposite and every time you mean figuratively but say literally, an angel is waterboarded.

In conclusion: stop torturing angels.

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15 points

Does guillotine count as a loanword when it’s actually named after someone? That’s like saying pasteurise is a loanword because Louis Pasteur was French, even though the word is clearly just his name

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9 points

Fun fact about the guillotine, it’s not named after the person who ‘invented’ it (there were other iterations outside of France). Or well, it was briefly, it was called the louisette after Antoine Louis, but the guy named Guillotin was just the person who proposed using it as a more humane way to carry out the death penalty instead of the more brutal breaking wheel at the very beginning of the French Revolution.

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4 points

While I’d say no in English, the word is at least a loan word in Spanish

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20 points

curated tumblr is the best sub on reddit and lemmy

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7 points

curated lemmy is the best blog in tumblr

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7 points

It will be a memorable day when I see on Lemmy a screenshot of a Twitter, Tumblr or Reddit post screenshotting Lemmy.

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2 points

A facebook post screenshot of a tumblr post of a twitter screenshot of a reddit screenshot of a threads screenshot of a lemmy post. Also known as the social media singularity.

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Curated Tumblr

!curatedtumblr@sh.itjust.works

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For preserving the least toxic and most culturally relevant Tumblr heritage posts.

Image descriptions and plain text captions of written content are expected of all screenshots. Here are some image text extractors (I looked these up quick and will gladly take FOSS recommendations):

-web

-iOS

-android

Please begin copied raw text posts (lacking a screenshot that makes it apparent it is from Tumblr) with:

# This has been reposted here to Lemmy as part of the “Curated Tumblr Project.”

I made the icon using multiple creative commons svg resources, the banner is this.

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