this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
152 points (98.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26977 readers
1276 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

What are some (non-English) idioms, and what do they mean (both literally and in context)? Odd ones, your favorite ones - any and all are welcome. :)

For example, in English I might call someone a "good egg," meaning they're a nice person. Or, if it's raining heavily, I might say "it's raining cats and dogs."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 21 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

In most languages, "get well soon" is expressed as good wishes. In Russian, they use the imperative form, so it is like an order or a command. It's буд здоров(а), which is literally "be healthy" as a command. They also use it as "bless you" after sneezing. (For those whoe can't read Cyrillic, in Latin it's approximately said like "bud zdarov(a)". The -a suffix is the female version, without it is male.)

In French, the expression "du coup" (it means something like "therefore" or "so" or "thus") can be used in place of like 10 other expressions.

  • Ainsi
  • Donc
  • Alors
  • Tout à coup
  • Soudainement
  • En conclusion
  • Si je comprends bien
  • De ce fait
  • Ce qui fait que
  • En conséquence
  • Consequémment

Is all being replaced by "du coup".

In German, capitalisation matters. In contrast with many other languages, nouns must be capitalised, or it changes the meaning. For example:

  • Helft den Armen vögeln
  • Helft den armen Vögeln

Notice how only the capitalisation changed. The first sentence means "help the poor to fuck" while the second sentence means "help those poor birds".

[–] alquicksilver@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I didn't know that about German and capitalization. That's fascinating! How would that play out verbally? Would you just have to figure it out from context?

[–] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 3 points 8 months ago

Yes, from context

[–] Skyhighatrist@lemmy.ca 4 points 8 months ago

I took German classes in high school and have been struggling ever since not to automatically capitalize nouns when I write in English. It's been like 25 years.

[–] MadBob@feddit.nl 2 points 8 months ago

"Get well soon" is imperative!

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In French, the expression "du coup" (it means something like "therefore" or "so" or "thus") can be used in place of like 10 other expressions.

  • Ainsi
  • Donc
  • Alors
  • Tout à coup
  • Soudainement
  • En conclusion
  • Si je comprends bien
  • De ce fait
  • Ce qui fait que
  • En conséquence
  • Consequémment

But "consequently" and "so" and "in conclusion" can all be replaced by "therefore" in English as well as in French ... if one accepts a lack of nuance and depth.

There are subtle differences in all of them, and for instance switching "suddenly" for "if I understand well" would often confuse the listener.