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  • Hegar
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    1 year ago

    Alas, it does not.

    企鵝 is penguin. By itself, 企 means to stand on tiptoes, or to expect something. It’s also the first character in 企業, business. Sometimes business is abbreviated as just 企.

    But “commitment” in English doesn’t literally mean ‘commercial glove noun’ just because ‘com’ can be short for commercial, and mit means glove.

    • RQG
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      561 year ago

      Well at least the world is still a vast hellscape. Unless you got a good point to make against that too.

      • Hegar
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        331 year ago

        Nope, vast hellscape.

      • @[email protected]
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        151 year ago

        In spite of all of our problems, this is the first time in the history of modern civilization when we have gone 70 years without a major war between world powers. Every year, fewer people lack running water and electricity around the world. While climate change is a problem, emissions are projected to peak in the next few years and decline thereafter. Inflation is going back down, unemployment is still low in most places, and fears of a recession have cooled off.

        It ain’t heaven, but it’s better than it could be, and many things are trending in a positive manner.

        • @[email protected]
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          31 year ago

          I, too, am tired of the constant pessimism. Almost everything is improving all the time.

          On Lemmy it seems the biggest crisis is Google trying to make money off user data (as they always have been). Some people legitimately need to go outside and stop measuring world health by what mass media is currently telling them.

          • @[email protected]
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            21 year ago

            If you’re using a free product, you’re either working with a non profit that survives off of donations or YOU are the product that this company markets to businesses. Nature of the beast

        • @OrteilGenou
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          21 year ago

          I believed that we went from Napoleon to WW1 without a major conflict but holy crap I guess not

          • @[email protected]
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            41 year ago

            Yeah the Franco-Prussian, Crimean, and Russo-Ottoman wars stand out

            • @WhiskyTangoFoxtrot
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              11 year ago

              There was a bit of a kerfuffle on the other side of the Atlantic during that period, too.

    • @[email protected]
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      291 year ago

      Great analogy. I’ll admit I thought you had a stroke mid-sentence.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Ahem. I’m still on my tiptoes, awaiting the meaning of the second character in “business.”

      • Hegar
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        101 year ago

        Ugh… it’s business. Chinese does that sometimes. 業 means line of business, trade or occupation.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          And I’m still waiting on the second character of penguin. I’m guessing that’s Chinese doing its thing again?

          • @salty_mariner
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            101 year ago

            The second character, 鵝, means goose. So 企鵝 is literally something like, “standing on tiptoes goose”. But no one would look at it that closely, to everyone it’s just a penguin.

    • @OrteilGenou
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      51 year ago

      Tippytoe goose it is

  • @[email protected]
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    311 year ago

    You could do this all day with Vietnamese. Kangaroo is bag mouse. Orca is assassin fish, giraffe is a long-necked deer. Etc.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Dutch has a lot of good ones!

      Hippo: Nile Horse (nijlpaard)

      Leopard: Lazy Horse (luipaard)

      Sea urchin: Sea Hedgehog (zee egel)

      Seal: Sea Dog (zeehond)

      Skunk: Stink Animal (stinkdier)

      Turtle: Shield Toad (Schildpad)

      Slug: Naked Snail (Naaktslak)

      Porcupine: Spiky Pig (Stekelvarken)

      Edit: formatting

      • @[email protected]
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        101 year ago

        Leopard: Lazy Horse (luipaard)

        I’ve looked it up and apparently leo is lion and part is leopard or panther. So it’s a lion leopard. English and Dutch have the same etymology, and German too, all your examples are the same in German.

        • napalminjello
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          51 year ago

          Are you implying that the word for leopard is compounded from the word for leopard??? How did they get the first word for leopard if they didn’t have a word for leopard???

          • Haus
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            41 year ago

            The Dutch are sneaky bastards (stiekemeklootzakken).

            • @WhiskyTangoFoxtrot
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              51 year ago

              There are only two things I can’t stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures, and the Dutch.

      • Karyoplasma
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        51 year ago

        Hippopotamus comes from the Greek words hippos (horse) and potamos (river). So literally “river horse”.

      • @[email protected]
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        51 year ago

        While this is kind of fun, it’s also kind of frustrating. Like when Merriam Webster tries to define a word for me by using the word. Frustrating: having a quality or qualities that frustrates.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        So this is why Indonesian names for hippo, sea urchin and seal are weird af. They are actually direct translation from their dutch names!

      • @CurlyMoustache
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        1 year ago

        Norwegian

        Hedgehog: Needle Swine (pinnsvin/

    • @[email protected]
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      81 year ago

      Wow that’s a big bouncing animal! Kind of reminds me of-
      “A mouse. Like a big mouse with a bag.”
      …Good idea sir.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Somewhere, out there, there’s a language that does NOT have any funny details like this. Those who speak it have the maximum enjoyment potential when learning out.

    • @BonesOfTheMoonOP
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      21 year ago

      I very much enjoyed this!

  • @Astrealix
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    231 year ago

    It’s more like “standing goose”

    • @BonesOfTheMoonOP
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      31 year ago

      That’s still wonderful though.

    • @[email protected]
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      161 year ago

      Goose is literally just “I” and “Bird”

      Bussiness iBird

      Sounds like a new apple drone that spys on you

      • nudny ekscentryk
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        11 year ago

        That’s not how this works. 我 in 鹅 is a phonetic particle, implying yi, (y)e or wo pronunciation (like in 義/义, 俄 and 哦 respectively). 鸟 is a semantic particle, indicating a bird, like in 鳳/凤, 鷹/鹰 or 鴨/鸭

    • @OrteilGenou
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      31 year ago

      Cobra Chicken of Commerce

      • @CurlyMoustache
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        11 year ago

        CCCP = Cobra Chicken of Commerce Pending

  • @[email protected]
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    61 year ago

    Now I’m picturing penguins having nonstop business meetings about fish and vendor relations in Antarctica.

    • @BonesOfTheMoonOP
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      51 year ago

      “Hello sir can I interest you in some flounder?”

  • @_number8_
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    -11 year ago

    wtf do you mean ‘but remember’. i hate this stupid setup. that has nothing to do with anything

    • @[email protected]
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      161 year ago

      I think it does. World is a hell scape but at least there is this charming bit of logic to hold on to. Helped me get through the day.

      • HotDogFingies
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        31 year ago

        I agree with you. It’s important to find anything that can help you retain some sanity. I love animals, cute things, language, culture, and China. This is very endearing to me. This stops me from immediately walking into traffic.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          Until I scrolled down and saw it wasn’t even true. This truly is a hellscape. A Traffic walk sounds like a good idea.