[Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

Forums › Off topic › [Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

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#2802226 27-Oct-2021 19:34

Rikkitic:
That there is no collective noun in the English language for nieces and nephews. Something like niephews. We have siblings. Why not their cousins?

Niblings.

Geektastic

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#2802259 27-Oct-2021 20:46

Rikkitic:
That there is no collective noun in the English language for nieces and nephews. Something like niephews. We have siblings. Why not their cousins? English is so lame.

The collective noun is "an irritation" I think😇

MadEngineer

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#2802344 27-Oct-2021 22:40

neb:
MadEngineer: The annoy is when they always answer “iCloud and nine more”. - I know they don’t mean they have nine more accounts but it irks me so.

For non-Apple people, could you explain the significance of this? Is it some play on Cloud9?

Not my image, but in this example they would answer "iCloud and 10 more".

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freitasm

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#2802353 28-Oct-2021 06:24

This is no different than Android.

floydbloke

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#2802369 28-Oct-2021 07:15

Rikkitic:

That there is no collective noun in the English language for nieces and nephews. Something like niephews. We have siblings. Why not their cousins? English is so lame.

...and why is there no gender differentiation for cousins? Every other type of relative seems to have it.

I actually quite like language quirks though.

In Dutch for instance, there is a different word for male and female cousin; 'neef' and nicht' respectively. However, nephew and niece also translate to neef and nicht. So when you're talking to someone about your 'nicht' it is not clear whether you're referring to your niece or your female cousin.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

eracode

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#2802382 28-Oct-2021 07:41

floydbloke:

I actually quite like language quirks though.

In Dutch for instance, there is a different word for male and female cousin; 'neef' and nicht' respectively. However, nephew and niece also translate to neef and nicht. So when you're talking to someone about your 'nicht' it is not clear whether you're referring to your niece or your female cousin.

I really enjoy such quirks too. I have recently started following The History of English podcast. It starts in pre-history with the original prototypical language, around 4,000 BC in Eastern Europe - outlining the cultural migrations that resulted in the splits into Greek, Latin, romance languages and then into Old English - and forward from there. Pretty detailed but if you're a detail freak like me, it's gold. Bit of a mission though with about 150 episodes so far - it's not finished yet. Truly fascinating.

My interest in all this started years ago when I realised that if you pronounce the 'k' in knife, it's almost the same as 'canif' - the French word for pocket knife. I thought that couldn't be a coincidence - and it's not. There's heaps of examples and explanations in the podcast for these types of links. I was amazed to learn that there's a lot of words in modern English that are virtually unchanged from the original progenitor language of 5,000+ years ago.

https://historyofenglishpodcast.com

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#2802389 28-Oct-2021 07:53

floydbloke:I actually quite like language quirks though.

In Dutch for instance, there is a different word for male and female cousin; 'neef' and nicht' respectively. However, nephew and niece also translate to neef and nicht. So when you're talking to someone about your 'nicht' it is not clear whether you're referring to your niece or your female cousin.

In Japanese, obasan is aunt, and obaasan (note the extra A) is grandmother (the equivalent male terms being ojisan/ojiisan). Except the person doesn't have to actually be an aunt or grandmother to receive those titles. So long as the person is old enough to be a grandmother, then they can be a complete stranger and you can legitimately refer to them as "obaasan".

Thinking about it, I suppose this is another quirk of English in that we don't have an equivalent word. Sure, there's "old woman" but that's a bit rude, whereas the Japanese term isn't.

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#2802398 28-Oct-2021 08:11

At least we don't have too many words spelt identically where the pronounciation alone changes the meaning.

I recall reading a Vietnamese phrase book and there were words that could have entirely different meanings (I think one was something like 'ghost' and 'grandmother'!) simply depending on the pronounciation alone - the difference in which was probably far too subtle for a non proficient speaker to discern!

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#2802407 28-Oct-2021 08:29

Behodar:
floydbloke:I actually quite like language quirks though.

In Dutch for instance, there is a different word for male and female cousin; 'neef' and nicht' respectively. However, nephew and niece also translate to neef and nicht. So when you're talking to someone about your 'nicht' it is not clear whether you're referring to your niece or your female cousin.

In Japanese, obasan is aunt, and obaasan (note the extra A) is grandmother (the equivalent male terms being ojisan/ojiisan). Except the person doesn't have to actually be an aunt or grandmother to receive those titles. So long as the person is old enough to be a grandmother, then they can be a complete stranger and you can legitimately refer to them as "obaasan".

Thinking about it, I suppose this is another quirk of English in that we don't have an equivalent word. Sure, there's "old woman" but that's a bit rude, whereas the Japanese term isn't.

Greek has a similar usage Yaya is grandmother and Papu is grandfather and it is often used affectionately and respectfully for a stranger of an older age . In English it would be rude if you were not related.

I also really love the eloquent descriptions of the symbols in Chinese. Language is fascinating.

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#2802413 28-Oct-2021 08:37

Geektastic: At least we don't have too many words spelt identically where the pronounciation alone changes the meaning.

I recall reading a Vietnamese phrase book and there were words that could have entirely different meanings (I think one was something like 'ghost' and 'grandmother'!) simply depending on the pronounciation alone - the difference in which was probably far too subtle for a non proficient speaker to discern!

You have reminded me of my time in Vietnam trying to learn the language and being laughed at for that same word Ma which depending on the type of diacritical mark and your tone could also mean mother, ghost, horse, rice seedling or but. It's like learning to sing and if you got the wrong note, it meant something entirely different.

eracode

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#2802417 28-Oct-2021 08:40

Eva888:
Geektastic: At least we don't have too many words spelt identically where the pronounciation alone changes the meaning.

I recall reading a Vietnamese phrase book and there were words that could have entirely different meanings (I think one was something like 'ghost' and 'grandmother'!) simply depending on the pronounciation alone - the difference in which was probably far too subtle for a non proficient speaker to discern!

You have reminded me of my time in Vietnam trying to learn the language and being laughed at for that same word Ma which depending on the type of diacritical mark and your tone could also mean mother, ghost, horse, rice seedling or but. It's like learning to sing and if you got the wrong note, it meant something entirely different.

That sounds extremely difficult to learn - did you master it?

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floydbloke

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#2802424 28-Oct-2021 08:52

Geektastic: At least we don't have too many words spelt identically where the pronounciation alone changes the meaning.

...

When I read the word peruse am I doing it now or was i doing it some time ago? When you peruse this post are you looking at the detail or just skimming it?

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

Eva888

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#2802425 28-Oct-2021 08:53

So back on topic. My eyebrows and possibly my hackles were raised by a business email from a woman I know in an organisation who signed the email

Marianne Smith (She, Her)

I don't understand the need for this new level of wokeness and frankly I don't care which way any person identifies, it's their business.

(Not her real name of course).

Eva888

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#2802450 28-Oct-2021 09:15

@eracode No, I understood more than I could ever speak. The subtlety of the tones was very difficult to master and most words are only one or two syllables. I learned the word, pretty (dep) very fast because there was great admiration for my nose. They were obsessed with the Western nose and eyes, so as you walked you would hear them mutter the word. This was in the years that Western women were not yet a feature in society there. The opposite happened with babies and toddlers that would look at me and scream in horror if I tried to goo over them. Many of the more gentrified elderly also spoke French and they would often come up to me to strike a conversation. It was a most fascinating country.

Gurezaemon

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#2802557 28-Oct-2021 10:27

Behodar:

In Japanese, obasan is aunt, and obaasan (note the extra A) is grandmother (the equivalent male terms being ojisan/ojiisan). Except the person doesn't have to actually be an aunt or grandmother to receive those titles. So long as the person is old enough to be a grandmother, then they can be a complete stranger and you can legitimately refer to them as "obaasan".

Thinking about it, I suppose this is another quirk of English in that we don't have an equivalent word. Sure, there's "old woman" but that's a bit rude, whereas the Japanese term isn't.

Many years ago, in Japan, I sometimes got called "onii-san" which is like the above, meaning older brother, or by extension anyone of that sort of age. It was a bit of a sad realization after a while that people were calling me "oji-san" (uncle). Now I'm suspecting that with grey hair, I'll be getting "oji-san" (gramps).

On a similar note, good friends of ours from Malaysia always tell their kid "Say thank you to uncle" instead of using my name.

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