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Language is hard (lemmy.world)
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[-] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 63 points 1 month ago

Merriam-Webster lists 7 adjective forms, 2 adverb forms, 3 noun forms, and 3 verb forms. That's definitely a lot of definitions for a word.

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 51 points 1 month ago

English is a fine language

[-] june@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 month ago

You say that, but I think it's rather thick

[-] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago

Thick like sexual?

"Damn English you thicker than a bowl of oatmeal" thick?

[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I'm trying to be a comprehensible language but my definitions are dummy thicc and keep making things convoluted

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[-] teft@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Try get, put, run, or go. Those in my second language I'm constantly translating wrong because of how many different definition for those words there are. 'Put' has to be over 100 different definitions.

[-] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 10 points 1 month ago

According to QI, "set" has the most definitions

[-] Mechanismatic@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Once you set up this set of objects on the set, we'll be all set for the Set festival and the band can play its set.

[-] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 month ago
[-] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 6 points 1 month ago

You were really set on correcting him

[-] Mechanismatic@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

It's been a pet peeve of mine that autocorrect defaults "its" to "it's." Someone should change its programming.

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Or at least something you could set.

[-] DMBFFF@lemmy.world 52 points 1 month ago

"But your honor, I parked my car there because the sign said 'fine for parking.' "

[-] elvith@feddit.org 13 points 1 month ago

That's why the police complimented you with "parking fine"

[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

English isn't a language, it's a mistake

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 20 points 1 month ago
[-] Zozano@lemy.lol 31 points 1 month ago

And you ask your girlfriend how she's feeling and she says "fine", buckle up.

[-] mwalimu@baraza.africa 21 points 1 month ago

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

James D. Nicoll

[-] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 18 points 1 month ago

Counterpoint: fine dining is labeled as such, because you pay a fine (needlessly higher prices) for average food.

[-] EnderWiggin@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

English is fucking weird. Take for example: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

This is a perfectly fine sentence,. I am not sure I am fine with it.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 6 points 1 month ago

A much quoted comment and yet I don't get it the only meaning for the word Buffalo that I know is of an animal.

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Buffalo = The city

buffalo = the animal, or the verb meaning "to bully"

The sentence is therefore roughly equivalent to "Buffalo animals that Buffalo animals bully, bully Buffalo animals."

[-] bamfic@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

That motherfucker's a motherfucker, motherfucker.

[-] jaschen@lemm.ee 12 points 1 month ago

You can also describe how a woman looks without even changing the words.

How does she look?

"She's fine"

SHE'S FINE!!!

[-] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

This is absolutely from a stand-up comedian. I've heard this before. Anyone remember who it was?

[-] The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago

It reminds me a lot of this Finnish comedian talking about learning the different uses of the word "ass" in English.

Ass Is the Most Complicated Word in the English Language

[-] TehBamski@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Dang. Beat me to the link.

I'm glad others know about Ismo though. =)

[-] Landless2029@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I instantly thought of this bit!

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I can't claim it was him, but I read it in Carlin's voice

[-] frosty99c@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

Either him or Seinfeld? Feels like the stand-up bit at the beginning of one of the early episodes.

[-] stardustpathsofglory@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

"Fine, I will pay that fine fine."

[-] Twinkletoes@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago

This is fine 🔥

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional.

[-] Telcontar@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

I used this for years without telling my wife it was from a movie. She was not happy with me when she eventually saw it for the first time

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[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 month ago

What a fine comment this is

[-] odium@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago
[-] killabeezio@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

Look at that fine woman with her fine hair. I wonder if she's feeling fine today. Maybe I should take her out for fine dining.

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[-] JASN_DE@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

The food aspect is mainly a problem of the US "awesomeness" bullshit. Nothing can ever simply be fine, it has to be awesome.

[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 month ago

This is by no means unique to the US. It's also a cliche of Bavaria in Germany but seriously, it's a common force in language change. I blanc the term but it's a cycle.

[-] JASN_DE@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

It's also a cliche of Bavaria in Germany

Sorry, what? Since when? That'd be news to me.

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[-] Johanno@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago

Well in Frankonian which is in Bavaria we have a running joke about the highest possible praise you can get for anything. "Bassd scho!" (in German passt schon) which is literally translated to alright.

[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

I was referring to "Baiern", not "Bayern". Donno how to make the difference in English

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[-] booly@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Are you trying to say that only American culture has fine dining?

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this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
906 points (98.5% liked)

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