• @[email protected]
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    4023 hours ago

    The Japanese word for cat, “neko”, apparently etymologically translates as “quadruped that goes ‘nyan’” (which is the Japanese equivalent of “meow”). The Mandarin word for cat, IIRC, is “mao”.

    • @[email protected]
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      52 minutes ago

      I read somewhere that there’s another story of origin (maybe folk etymology though) that “Neko” means something like “star-child” (nagareboshi no ko)

    • @CitizenKong
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      16 hours ago

      In German, children often call dogs “Wauwau” and “Mietze” is another word for cat that’s also onomatopoetic.

    • Fonzie!
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      2021 hours ago

      Also, small birds are “tori” in Japanese, likely after the sing-song sound they make (tri-tri-triii)

      Ducks are named after a quacking sound in English… And Indonesian&Malaysian; “bebek”!

      I could go on for a while but in general it’s not very uncommon for animals to be named like a Pokémon!

      • @NegativeInf
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        521 hours ago

        Wait until you find out why it’s called a Whippoorwill.

    • GingaNinga
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      622 hours ago

      hence nyancat but I don’t know where the poptart and rainbow come from.

      • SkaveRat
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        913 hours ago

        A rare breed that got hunted to extinction from meme overuse

        • @FantasmaNaCasca
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          10 hours ago

          I was there, 5000 thousand years ago, toiling in the mines for the memes. But we went too deep…something wake up…