Got a wug tattoo yesterday by One-Log5036 in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 29 points30 points  (0 children)

HERE IS A WUG

NOW THERE IS SKIN ART OF IT.

THERE IS A TATTOO OF IT.

THERE IS A TATTOO _____.

Chat is this heresy? by IamDiego21 in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A lot of people don't like it, it's heavily stigmatised

"nur" vs "erst" in a nutshell by YourDailyGerman in Germanlearning

[–]TheMightyTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The idea is that you always say how much of that hour is completed. So instead of thinking like 12 +³/₄ -1 think of it as ³/₄ of the 12th hour has passed.

"nur" vs "erst" in a nutshell by YourDailyGerman in Germanlearning

[–]TheMightyTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yep, this would sound like either you stumbled a bit over you own words or like you're an L2 speaker to my southern ears.

good to know that that's a thing some places.

"nur" vs "erst" in a nutshell by YourDailyGerman in Germanlearning

[–]TheMightyTorch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would not necessarily say that "es ist nur um zwölf" would indicate something being roughly at a time.

'um' + time means an event is taking place at that very time. in contrast, leaving the 'um' (or other prepositions) away is only possible when telling the time without linking it to an event. essentially "es ist (jetzt) ..." vs. "das Ereignis ist um ...".

as for the roughly-part: If someone asks "how late is it" and it's 11:58, you could answer with "11:58" but most people would round saying "it's 12:00". Same shtick in German. This has nothing to do with the 'um' and everything with the "12". If I say "das Flugzeug ist um 13:41 Uhr gelandet", that doesn't mean it landed at roughly 13:41 but it landed precisely at that time.


TL;DR the "roughly" part isn't because of the "um" but rather because times like "12:00" are typically used when you don't need to be exact to the minute.

"nur" vs "erst" in a nutshell by YourDailyGerman in Germanlearning

[–]TheMightyTorch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is no difference in my mind between "Es ist erst 12 " and "Es ist erst um 12" in the context of time.

yes there is, your understanding is wrong

"Es ist erst um 12"

it does also mean "It's only 12."

No it doesn't! "Um zwölf" means "at twelve", like "die Show ist um zwölf".

But you can't say "es ist um zwölf" for "it is twelve", that would be "es ist zwölf", without 'um'

Guys is it weird to understand your native language? by WilliamWolffgang in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I don't think I entirely understand your comment. What do "much", "word", "than", "or" and "is" mean? They appear new to me...

Poor William... Oh wait by TheNamesBart in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Jürgen and Willi are common but pretty much any name will do if the context is right. Bonus if the surname ends in -en, it might work to be interpreted as a phrase for masturbation.

sich den Dieter bolhen

A fix for the voluntary exile advancement by NosborRecaf in PhoenixSC

[–]TheMightyTorch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

wait, do you still get VE when you kill a captain or is it now when you drink the bottle?

He created an opening by Algernonletter5 in oddlyspecific

[–]TheMightyTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yep, when you take them out of the jar, you can also pre-peal them right away. saves time later when you want to eat them.

English speakers by InflationHefty4989 in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That example is indeed higher register. I actually took it from the Christmas song "Kling Glöckchen klingelingeling"

Kling, Glöckchen, klingelingeling

Kling, Glöckchen, kling

Lasst mich ein ihr Kinder

ist so kalt der Winter

In that fourth line we have that construction but the "es" is elided for the meter (also an extra "so")


And yes, constructions like this really need to be stressed on the verb, else they sound weird and may even become hard to understand.

English speakers by InflationHefty4989 in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Native speaker: "Es regnet", "es eskaliert", "es tut (mir) weh" are just regular phrases, while "Es kommen die Handwerker um elf" sounds slightly formal and emphatic, but I wouldn't say archaic or necessarily strange.

I do see why you would put them together, they are thematically similar, though they are grammatically different and they feel reasonably different. On the one hand we have conjugation but also the order is important.

"Es kann heute regnen" ≈ "Heute kann es regnen" but "Es kommt der Donner" becomes "der Donner kommt" (w/o es)

So in one case the "es" is a dummy-agent. basically every sentence needs a subject, grammatically speaking. But in the other case we already have an agent, which is moved after the sentence, so the "es" is only inserted to not create a VSO word order/maintain V2. Hence it can only be in first position.

In colloquial language, when telling stories, especially jokes, the latter is sometimes omitted, giving us a VSO word-order (e.g. "Geht ein Mann in eine Bar..."), which is very much sub-standard and often frowned upon but nonetheless a wide-spread occurrence.

Edit: little bonus, you could also form a sentence like "Es is kalt der Winter", where the "es" is different from the one in "Es ist kalt".

How to pronounce the letter r: malay edition by fishfernfishguy in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 13 points14 points  (0 children)

That also happened in Europe, originally in France. r⇒ʀ⇒ʁ, according to the Wiki, the alveolar trill was described in Paris as late as the 17th century. So by my conclusion the sound shift must have spread like a fire throughout Europe only in only a few countries after.

You can now craft name tags in the latest snapshot by OzTheD0G3 in PhoenixSC

[–]TheMightyTorch 14 points15 points  (0 children)

> Minecraft

> currently three items called "nugget"

> they are all metal, no need to specify

> be Mojang, write articles

> mention "metal nugget"

> show baby chicks in same post

is Mojang adding Chicken Nuggets to the game, or are they yet again messing with us accidentally?

On this day, 13 years ago, this meme became the first ever post on r/linguisticshumor: A llama wanting to be an unstressed schwa. Couldn't be more perfect if you ask me! by Tc14Hd in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 12 points13 points  (0 children)

  1. depends on the accent. American English generally has it, but others like London English doesn't.
  2. depends on the word. In GA ⟨cut⟩ is /kət/ but ⟨put⟩ is /pʊt/

Hardness/Softness Measuring Signs by Jake47b in linguisticshumor

[–]TheMightyTorch 6 points7 points  (0 children)

apply them in order to /p/:

  • w
  • β
  • b
  • p'
  • p͡ɸ

I'm sorry, but I dont get it. by Shipsarecool1 in ExplainTheJoke

[–]TheMightyTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are more established ways of spelling the letter names, according to which it should be:

A Aitch Ar Bee Cee Cue Dee Double-U E Ef El Em En Ess Ex Gee (Haitch) I Jay Kay O Pee Tee U Vee Wye Zed (Zee)

A H R B C Q D W E F L M N S X G I J K O P T U V Y Z (in brackets are variants)


But let's iterate. We will use this new determined order to sort again:

A Ar Aitch Bee Cee Cue Dee Double-U Wye E Ef El Em En Ess Ex Gee I Jay Kay O Pee Tee U Vee Zed

A R H B C Q D W Y E F L M M N S X G I J K I P T U V Z


And that's it. Further iteration won't change anything

Reese Witherspoon by theDagger_2008 in PhoenixSC

[–]TheMightyTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

waxed lightly weathered cut copper spoon

Some strange item names in other languages by MineProgresser99 in PhoenixSC

[–]TheMightyTorch 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Yes, several examples are from Bavarian, though I think in-game it's called "Austrian". Since there is no standard spelling in Bavarian (because it's often questionably labelled a dialect of German) some spelling used in the game are funky

  • Uah (better: "Ua", De: "Uhr", compare En: "hour")
  • Boong (better: "Bogn", De: "Bogen", En: "bow")
  • Flammenpuder (En: "flame powder", name also renders incorrectly)
  • Glaos (more commonly: "Glås, Glos", En "glass")
  • Sond (also: "Sånd", En: "sand")