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submitted 10 months ago by BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[-] Hegar@kbin.social 134 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months 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@lemmy.world 56 points 10 months ago

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

[-] Hegar@kbin.social 33 points 10 months ago

Nope, vast hellscape.

[-] Cleverdawny@lemm.ee 16 points 10 months 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.

[-] Ricaz@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months 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.

[-] Cleverdawny@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months 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

[-] bleistift2@feddit.de 28 points 10 months ago

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

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Ahem. I'm still on my tiptoes, awaiting the meaning of the second character in "business."

[-] Hegar@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago

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

[-] irmoz@reddthat.com 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

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

[-] salty_mariner@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months 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.

[-] irmoz@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago

Ah, well that all makes sense then.

[-] Green_Bay_Guy@midwest.social 31 points 10 months ago

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

[-] enthusiasticamoeba@lemmy.ml 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months 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

[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 10 points 10 months 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@kbin.social 5 points 10 months 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?????

[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago

Correction: it's male leopard. It surprised me as well. It's ultimately from Indo-Iranian origin.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/pardus#Latin

[-] Haus@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

The Dutch are sneaky bastards (stiekemeklootzakken).

[-] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months 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.

[-] Pinklink@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months 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.

[-] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 10 months ago

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

[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 4 points 10 months 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@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Norwegian

Hedgehog: Needle Swine (pinnsvin/

[-] saltnotsugar@lemm.ee 8 points 10 months 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.

[-] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Sylvester agrees.

[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago

German has Killerwahl (killer whale) for orca

[-] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 4 points 10 months ago
[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 months ago

I didn't know. So the German might be a calque from the English

[-] HotDogFingies@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

That's adorable

[-] DrQuint@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months 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.

[-] roon@lemmy.ml 22 points 10 months ago

Enjoy some AI generated business goose

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I very much enjoyed this!

[-] Astrealix@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

It's more like "standing goose"

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

That's still wonderful though.

[-] bleistift2@feddit.de 12 points 10 months ago
[-] NotSkynet@lemmy.ca 16 points 10 months ago

Goose is literally just "I" and "Bird"

Bussiness iBird

Sounds like a new apple drone that spys on you

[-] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 1 points 10 months 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

[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 11 points 10 months ago

Tuxedo Scuba Bird

[-] saltnotsugar@lemm.ee 6 points 10 months ago

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

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

"Hello sir can I interest you in some flounder?"

[-] _number8_@lemmy.world -1 points 10 months ago

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

[-] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 17 points 10 months 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@kbin.social 3 points 10 months 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.

[-] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months 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.

this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
1154 points (97.5% liked)

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