• TheLemming
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    1 year ago

    Didn’t know that. TIL, thanks

    Edit: how do you say it? “I can’t see the forest because of all the trees”? That would be the literal word by word translation coming from german

    • @lyam23
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      191 year ago

      “you can’t see the forest for the trees.”

      • SanguinePar
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        11 year ago

        Or sometimes “you can’t see the woods for the trees”

    • Dandroid
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      1 year ago

      I have heard it with that exact wording many times. Or maybe, “can’t see the forest through the trees”

      • @SARGEx117
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        131 year ago

        Lived from Virginia to Ohio, Indiana Illinois and Michigan, also heard “can’t see the forest FOR the trees” which I always figures was a more colloquial change.

        • Dandroid
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          31 year ago

          I haven’t heard that exact phrasing before, and as a native English speaker born and raised in California, that wording sounds a little awkward to me. It does kind of sound like something my mom, who is from the east coast, would say. 😆

          • @SARGEx117
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            21 year ago

            Don’t get me started on pop vs soda…

            I say soda, wife says pop. We have a little exchange of “correcting” each other a couple times a month.

            • @shalafi
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              31 year ago

              You’re both wrong. The generic word for a sweet, carbonated beverage is “coke”.

              • @SARGEx117
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                11 year ago

                Next you’ll tell me ALL tea is sweet tea!

            • Dandroid
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              1 year ago

              My mom grew up saying “tonic”…

              She also says “quarter of 8” when it is 7:45, which never made sense to me either. I usually hear quarter til 8 or quarter after 8 (for 8:15). Never quarter of. And whenever I point out that the phrase doesn’t really make much sense, she does this whole hand motion to explain it, which just confuses me even more.

              It’s those Bostonians, man. Gotta watch out for them. They say weird stuff.

              • @SARGEx117
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                31 year ago

                That made me physically recoil, “quarter of 8” just sounds so clunky.

                99% of the time here, it’s just directly stating the time. Sometimes a Gen x will say “half past” or “quarter past” but not often anymore. I’ve never heard “quarter OF”

                Your mom dun talk weird