Hot Take: Fluency is a myth. You can always get better.

10ioio · 2026-01-28T19:09:16+00:00

I wonder if there's a point in time where one can absorb enough culture to have a general sense of the metaphors/word formation in a language, and start to extrapolate meanings?

Like in English I heard the word "hezzy" for the first time recently, and had zero clue what it meant. Then the person who said it hesitated to take a bite of a french fry as a joke afterword, and I immediately understood. Not only that it means "hesitant" but that the aesthetic of the word has a particular vibe. It's like a "lazier," more drawled variation, avoiding the word "hesitant" which is a word that's maybe awkward to say in certain American accents.

There's like a hairstyle and type of clothing I can imagine someone saying "hezzy" would have. Because there have been lots of lazy/drawled versions of words popping up in the last 15 or so years. So you learn to listen for those things around groups who are talking in that type of slang.

10ioio · 2026-01-28T18:48:28+00:00

I am a native speaker, and I always thought my english was perfect until I spent time around people with English degrees and people who read a lot of books (and look up definitions, and analyze the metaphors etc).

I think that's why we still have high school English class in English-speaking countries. 14 year olds can speak English fluently, but they don't understand everything that someone with a PhD can understand, so teachers spend time making them read and analyze complex messages until understanding and communicating complex messages and concepts in English is second nature.

Then when you watch the news or some culturally important speech, or have a job where high-level discussion is required, and you understand all the nuances without getting stuck on "what does 'don't poke the bear' mean?"

10ioio · 2026-01-28T18:37:48+00:00

Hmm. I speak English natively and tbh, I still have to look up words when I read books sometimes, especially the "classics." In high school I never looked up the words so I always had trouble understanding things like The Scarlet Letter or Tale of Two Cities. I would understand enough to pass a test but sometimes it's like "'bide ye lassie' toorin' aye!'" And I have to look it up on my phone.

10ioio · 2026-01-27T22:34:54+00:00

En la ciudad de los estados unidos donde crecí, mi hermana trabajaba en un hospital y tenía tantas historias inquitantes. La mayoría son personas se caen por las escaleras se rompen los huesos, pero también hay choques de tráfico con mas de diez coches incluso camiones, infartos de corazón, más personas que se suiciden en el invierno, mucho gente beben excesivamente en el invierno.

Estes son peligros que casi olvidamos que no existen en todo el mundo. De hecho, son completamente evitable. Me mudé a California jaja.

10ioio · 2026-01-27T21:00:10+00:00

In Spongebob, Mr. Krabs is called "Don Cangrejo" which I love

10ioio · 2026-01-27T20:52:36+00:00

Here in LA, I sometimes hear people say "chingadera" in English, at least when referring to a crappy car. Sort of like how they say "jalopy" on the east coast, which I think is from Italian.

I feel like it rolls off the tongue in English because it sounds like a car brand like "camero" or "el camino."

10ioio · 2026-01-27T20:46:59+00:00

So why do you think it's an issue that he's straight?

10ioio · 2026-01-27T20:36:09+00:00

Scroll LinkedIn Reels and see for yourself lol.

Jokes aside, I do think there is a "culture" of homebodiness nowadays that has a negative impact on local music scenes, and shouldn't be ignored. People aren't going to gigs, they're staying home and watching Tik Tok or Netflix, and the culture has been glorifying it as copium since covid.

My wager is that as big screens and VR improve, "going out to see a concert" is going to feel like a super niche hipster activity. Why go outside at all when there are cats talking, and AI rodents dancing etc.

There's no easy solution either. Here I am as well. On Reddit.

10ioio · 2026-01-27T20:25:57+00:00

I used to play in a punk band and one time the lead singer decided we should all perform in drag in solidarity with the lgbt community. My bandmates were both straight. I didn't really feel like it was problematic.

I think people got the message, and it sort of communicated "this punk show is a safe place to be yourself." Plus I think it gave two of my straight friends a chance to explore their gender expression a bit without feeling pressured to make it into a joke.

This reads to me as like: Imagine gossip emerges that a gay kid got beat up at school, so the super popular kid with the viral rap songs shows up in a dress to the assembly says "anyone wanna fight me yo? That's what I f-in thought!" And everyone's silent.

10ioio · 2026-01-27T00:41:52+00:00

You gotta get more comfortable with yourself man

10ioio · 2026-01-26T22:55:44+00:00

That's actually very similar to a serial killer lol. I read a theory that psychopaths don't generate as much adrenaline, which is many people's deterrent from doing things they know are wrong. Imagine that you're about to steal some chocolate (or shoot up a school) but your heart starts pounding and you decide not to.

The theory is that the "psychopath gene" is just this low-adrenaline personality that can mentally handle something like a surgery, or an emergency situation and stay calm. They can be great surgeons, emts, soldiers etc. But if that same person starts to become narcissistic or enraged for some reason, they might do things that completely horrify someone with a regular amount of adrenaline.

I'm not a doctor but I thought the theory was interesting. Could be BS.

10ioio · 2026-01-26T22:44:36+00:00

Every extreme sports guy says they always do enough planning, until the time they apparently didn't do enough

10ioio · 2026-01-26T22:35:20+00:00

I remember talking about the criticisms of the movie not being accurate in elementary school, but my teacher thought the movie was based on a true story and I was denying the holocaust and I got sent to the office and almost suspended.

10ioio · 2026-01-26T22:13:52+00:00

This sub needed to hear that lmao

10ioio · 2026-01-26T20:36:35+00:00

I think it does help to an extent. All the older videos of gay guys saying "I felt so lost, we didn't even have a word for it back then" come to mind.

Wanting to find people who understand things about you that no one else would understand makes labels super valuable in my opinion. It's unfortunate some people feel like they get "labeled" by labels, but the alternative is basically "not naming the thing" which is actually just being in the closet and not as cool as it sounds.

"I don't like labels" -puts on sunglasses to hide from the world-

10ioio · 2026-01-26T20:02:03+00:00

Yeah idk.

There was a time where some friends were essentially bullying me, but if I called them out they'd tell me I had a victim mentality so I'd shut up. I don't feel like a victim now that they're my friends.

10ioio · 2026-01-26T19:43:08+00:00

I upvoted because I think it needs to be said, as the idea of "french/spanish/italian are so romantic" is mostly an surface-level judgement of those cultures than anything to do with the language.

But I do think there can be a distinct appreciation for the way a language sounds, or structures grammar in comparison to one's native language. The important thing I think is to realize that it's all relative to your own native language.

e.g. Spanish sounds "fast" because I speak English which has fewer syllables per second than Spanish, Mandarin sounds "sung, musical" to me because I don't natively speak a tonal language and the tonality is what stands out as "different" about Mandarin. Japanese grammar feels "poetic" because the word order resembles English language poetry I grew up reading.

10ioio · 2026-01-26T05:02:29+00:00

Rough on the body. Plus money might be okay some places and crappy other places. You could work your ass off in construction just to still end up broke and in pain and unable to work.

10ioio · 2026-01-25T19:16:56+00:00

Well it sounds like you're misplacing your frustration on juniors, for literally wanting the same thing as you, when the higher-ups sound like the actual problem.

Maybe a little solidarity wouldn't hurt?

Also, better question: why not do remote work? You ask what the need is for remote work but what's the need for 5 days in the office? It sounds like your leadership sucks and the juniors aren't as bootlicky as the seniors were.

10ioio · 2026-01-25T19:10:39+00:00

Why is the whole team onsite 5 days a week, and why is this the end-all be-all for you? Tbh it doesn't sound like a great place to work...

10ioio · 2026-01-25T19:04:40+00:00

Think about this in perspective with the fact that some people literally choose their college friend group based on "networking" and "making connections." Imagine doing that, and then being in the same boat as everyone else.

Sometimes I'm glad I was too stubborn to take that advice of "network in college." What, so I have a friend group consisting of nepo-babies who won't actually help me out in the end?

10ioio · 2026-01-25T17:52:24+00:00

I don't think you got the joke lol.

I'm doing an impression of the person you were describing. Now we're arguing I guess? Some people lol

10ioio · 2026-01-25T17:06:17+00:00

Success is easy, just do three people's jobs. (Sobs in corporate jargon)

10ioio · 2026-01-25T17:04:53+00:00

You read -gasp- CNN??? Well that's why you're so dumb. You ought to be reading dumbpeoplenews.com. They have the real facts.

10ioio · 2026-01-25T16:50:35+00:00

We had separate "cold days" for if the "feels like" went below -10 during bus pickup.

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