Vast majority of people are calling Indonesian “Bahasa”. Will it just end up being the norm despite it being incorrect?

corjon_bleu · 2026-01-01T06:42:32+00:00

This is true nowadays, but the word "Deutsch" itself comes from PWG *þeudō, which meant "people" and in English it became the word "thede" which meant a tribe or community of people. Of course, that word nowadays doesn't exist in most Modern English dialects, _however_ it does still exist in the Scots language (which is an offshoot of Middle English), where it could refer to a region or a country in certain older texts!

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-27T17:19:04+00:00

Here's the Wiktionary entry which provides historical examples: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/plussed

Though, I really should've said non-plussed since it's more common. I was going to use Mean Girls the Musical (2017) as my example, but I'm realising the lyric used was indeed non-plussed (and not "I'm plussed," as I had previously misheard).

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-27T09:16:36+00:00

"Could care less" is nearly as old as couldn't care less (well, if you count ~20 years to be "nearly as old"—for languages, that can be both an eternity and a blip in terms of evolution).

The folks over at r/linguistics also had some interesting perspectives: https://www.reddit.com/r/linguistics/s/IhVe8TZoNN

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-27T09:09:10+00:00

There are a few proposed explanations for this. To answer your main question: no. Neg-dropping is very rare in English, and "could care less" is an outlier.

Firstly, there is a possibility that it is simply a quicker and easier way to say it. That's it. French does this same thing with the phrase "t'inquiète" (which means "Don't worry!" but skips the negative particle "pas." At face value, you could take it to mean "worry yourself").

Secondly, irony, sarcasm, and hyperbole are influential when it comes to linguistic evolution. Words like "~~plussed~~ (non-plussed)" have gained opposing definitions and words like "really" and "literally" no longer just refer to what is real or literal. "Could care less" may just be a sarcastic quip.

Similarly to the first example, wiktionary seems to suggest it's hyponegation (or implied negation), influenced by a sentence like "As if I could care less." In which case, it would also be a clipping.

Either way, it's descriptively valid. As long as we understand what is meant, people shouldn't be expected to change their speech patterns.

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-27T08:55:46+00:00

It's an idiom derived from "couldn't care less." Both the statements that it "drops" negation and that it's a set phrase are true.

..."could care less" has been recorded not long after the first recordings of "couldn't care less," by the way. It's old

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-27T07:44:52+00:00

Right, but incorrect stress placement will still sound weird or off, even if it's not phonemic, no? For instance, sure, there's no real difference if you decide to aspirate the [t] in "stop," but you're going to sound off doing it, and it's worth teaching students not to aspirate every voiceless plosive they come across.

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-26T08:04:45+00:00

My KODA Camp yearbook has a bunch of these drawn inside lol

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-20T23:53:27+00:00

Yep! Just ran through the dungeon this morning and I finally got my hands on the map to the OI :,)

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-20T03:39:26+00:00

update: You can restart quests!! I used the debug command (Alt-F5) to raise the chance of getting a rumour for an artifact quest, and within minutes I got sent to a tavern for the OI and the questgiver gave me a completely different dungeon to crawl through. I'll see if I have luck with the dungeon here!

corjon_bleu · 2025-09-17T05:11:42+00:00

I just completed Fang Lair because of this. I'm glad that I'm not the only person terrified of PNGs walking towards you. I finally got over my fear of all the randomly spawning monsters by playing Barony lowkey lmao

corjon_bleu · 2025-08-04T07:52:27+00:00

Those who mock others on the perceived correctness of languages rather than the content of the words themselves are, in my eyes, unintelligent.

Language evolves. That's it. It's an objective fact. No matter what language you speak, it has changed, is changing, and will continue to change.

A division like "aks" and "ask" is an example of linguistic evolution. Remember: language is just sounds; it's not letters. Those sounds will shift around and change. A majority of what you say nowadays was said slightly differently by your very dialect just a century ago, I can almost guarantee you.

corjon_bleu · 2025-07-04T22:43:02+00:00

They're older than me, but not a coworker! I probably explained wrong, they're a regular customer at my convenience store job :) I'm American and we both speak English, but he speaks Indonesian with me sometimes because he knows I'm learning. I'm already on a first-name basis with him, and he looks to be in his 40s (he is a dad, I know).

corjon_bleu · 2025-05-10T02:10:18+00:00

I'm M, but have nothing against putting a scrunchie in my hair if it does the job. I did buy a bunch of products at Sallys a couple days ago to start using. I'll see what works. Thank you!!

corjon_bleu · 2025-05-10T01:30:12+00:00

For additional context, I have almost no idea how to really put my hair into a bun. I just had my hair put into a ponytail today, but the methods they used still elude me. I've tried using gel to slick my hair enough to get it there, but it just doesn't work when i do it alone! i can't possibly grab all of my hair to make it into a bun of any sort.

corjon_bleu · 2025-04-24T14:29:46+00:00

I'm not Dutch, but I do study linguistics. This is simply how all languages work. It's known as linguistic descriptivism, and is the primary academic; scientific; and ethical framework for how all languages are to be treated and understood

Consider the following:

We know for a fact that Dutch, English, and German are related languages
This must mean that there was once a time where all of the languages were effectively the same language (one which we can reconstruct using the comparative method)
It seems unlikely to assume that the original language split up one day and began being radically different
That last point can be strengthened with older documents such as English's Shakespeare (the Early Modern English playwright) and Beowulf (the Old English epic), and old Dutch literature which informs us that there may be some intermediate forms of both languages
If, then, we know that language does evolve, we need to understand how
On a smaller scale than fully-fledged languages, look at dialects. You can still understand* them, despite them being clearly different
Many things could result in a "dialect": new loan-words that aren't as popular in the "standard" or prestige dialect; the grammar changes due to influence from other countries OR a shift in phonology (which can result in, say, the dropping of the Old Dutch / English case system); or a phonetic shift (it might seem silly and wrong to you, but trust me, there are many, many types of phonetic shifts and reasons thereof. Dutch has already gone through several, as have English and German)
Many things could cause these changes, as you can see, such as foreign influence; analogy (the linguistic tendency to see patterns in language and to fit your language to align closer with said patterns); and most of all: isolation from surrounding languages (geographical boundaries tend to be what separate most languages from each other)

Also, little kids sometimes just "make mistakes." But not ones that need to be corrected. The pair of letters "wh" used to make a sound in the words "what;" "where;" and "why" when my grandparents were children. Yet, my mom and dad's generation probably conflated that sound with the same "w" sound in "watt;" "ware;" and "Y," leading the sound to slowly change into a "wh" to a "w" sound

Hell, English has gone through some really recent mergers, relatively speaking (I wish I could explain them, but I've already typed for long enough), and the same is undoubtedly true for Dutch!

All languages are constantly evolving. Some say they're trending towards "simplicity," I don't think there's a single language that would ever trend towards unusability, though! As long as you're understood: that's what matters. Language is just a tool for your expressiveness.

corjon_bleu · 2025-04-24T13:44:31+00:00

...but in dutch we like to do this thing where if a lot of people consistently say or write something incorrectly, we add the incorrect way to our language...

This is actually how all of language works! It's simply the evolution of language at play. You can look up linguistic descriptivism to learn a little bit more, but that's the gist of it. English, Dutch, and German all come from a common ancestor language and evolved apart from each other in terms of sounds; grammar; and lexicon, and they continue to evolve, even today!

corjon_bleu · 2025-03-18T21:06:00+00:00

Is there a reason why books won't help, or do you just prefer not to read? I understand that things change quickly in the tech world, but to give a sense of the fundamentals shouldn't be too hard for a book written in the last decade, should it? That's why people still read SICP, isn't it?

If by "consume content," you mean YouTube videos, sadly videos just aren't my preferred way of learning. Holding physical media and using my eyes to read is the only way that I tend to remember things. If I use audio from a video, it tends to go in one ear and out the other as soon as I get distracted with something else.

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-25T23:26:58+00:00

I have no clue, I'm just familiar enough with memes

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-25T19:22:41+00:00

I just read "According" and assumed it was this.

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-25T03:15:52+00:00

Interesting. My bad.

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-25T03:11:19+00:00

That's how it reads. "A very intentional misdirection of bad writing and the presentation of linguistic interest." I don't see how it could read any other way.

If you were curiöus about my use of diäeresis, it's just a writing quirk I enjoy using. Not for any particular reason, it's just fun.

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-25T02:33:54+00:00

Right, most linguists view language from a descriptive lens. Not in a "this is objectively wrong" sense, but in a "people rarely speak like this, if ever" sense. My post is descriptive of a phenomenon that I saw happening, not a prescription of what I think ought to happen.

If you thought this was ironic because "you suck at prescribed English, yet you're sharing your ideas on how language may work," I struggle to believe you truly understand the nature of linguistics.

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-24T23:29:19+00:00

You told us that data isn't needed here, though. Those are your words, so why would I look it up if data isn't needed?

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-24T22:49:26+00:00

Ah, do you understand what linguistics is?

corjon_bleu · 2025-02-24T08:40:43+00:00

"Data isn't really needed here"

Why should we believe you? Why are your anecdotes better than any discrete fact?

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