• @saltesc
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    -411 months ago

    I don’t get US spelling of “meter” for the metric system they don’t even use. My car dashboard is two meters wide. Speedometer and tachometer. It’s probably about half a metre wide.

    I dunno what a kilometer would be. A device that can measure anything in thousands of something; weight, volume, speed, etc.

    “The scale says you weigh 0.07 metric tonnes.”

    “Oh my god, I’m so fat.”

    “No, that’s only 70kg, it’s this stupid kilometer. Makes everything seem bigger than it is.”

      • @Viking_Hippie
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        1111 months ago

        Now that you have it open, could you find a funny compound noun or two? I love those!

        • @[email protected]
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          11 months ago

          I’m German, I don’t need a dictionary for that. We make them up on the fly. For example, Autowaschanlagenführer or Türöffnungsmechanismuswartung

          • @Viking_Hippie
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            11 months ago

            I remember a little German from it being mandatory in school here in Denmark where we also like compound nouns so imma give it a shot:

            “Car wash hose boss” and “door opening mechanism maintenance”?

            • @[email protected]
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              611 months ago

              “door opening mechanism maintenance”

              Yes

              “Car wash hose boss”

              Almost. „Car wash operator“ it is.

              • Psaldorn
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                611 months ago

                If I worked in a car wash I would demand to be called a hose boss

        • @[email protected]
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          1011 months ago

          How about Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung? That’s my personal favorite, though it lacks umlauts.

          • @Viking_Hippie
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            611 months ago

            I’m guessing that means speed limit? Nice 😂

            • @[email protected]
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              211 months ago

              Okay I’m curious. With Danish being a Germanic language, how much are you benefiting from cognates and the like when making your guesses?

              • @Viking_Hippie
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                111 months ago

                Some. Danish isn’t as closely related to German as it is to Norwegian or Swedish, but there are a lot of similarities such as similar words. Danmark is mostly an even weirder than Dutch combination of German and English 😁

                  • @Viking_Hippie
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                    211 months ago

                    I know it’s a tall order but I’m pretty sure it’s true. Danish is a really weird language 😄

    • @Viking_Hippie
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      1211 months ago

      I dunno what a kilometer would be. A device that can measure anything in thousands of something; weight, volume, speed, etc

      It’s the opposite. A kilometer is a thousand meters, a kilowatt is a thousand watts and a kilogram is a shitload of cocaine.

    • Nepenthe
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      11 months ago

      Because homonyms are the worst part of any language and Noah Webster agrees with me.

      for the metric system they don’t even use.

      British people will fund pirates to steal our measuring weights, only to convert themselves 200 years later and then act like the US doesn’t have a single STEM field. And then drive by the mile for a pint of milk.

    • @[email protected]
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      11 months ago

      Well you have me- from proto-european which means to measure.

      Then you have metrical (metricus/metrikos from Latin/Greek) that means to measure rhythm in poetry.

      Mētrum/Metron again from Latin/Greek meaning “measure, length, size, limit, proportion”

      Then “metre” which is originally a unit of length. Then you have a “metre stick” which is a stick used to measure a metre. You can blame the French for basically calling it a “measurement stick” but it refers to a very specific measurement.

      Then you have the -or suffix in Latin which means “to have to do with” or “to pertain to”. Then that turns in to -re and -er in Old English.

      And like everything else - Brittan used both for centuries before deciding one was “right” and everyone else is at fault for the other way (just like how “Soccer” is a British term). Famously Shakespeare used both -re and -er.

      Lastly, the US uses the metric system for its professions. It’s layman’s terms that don’t use metric.