A Call For Humor!

[Count Arthur]

When People Speak English, but with German Syntax

Here's a question for those of you that speak languages that ascribe a gender to inanimate objects, like French, and I believe German and several others.

When a new thing, comes into existence, or to the market, as must happen from time to time, like the television, microchip, mobile phone, etc., who decides on the gender of the new item?

Also, are these genders consistent across languages? A table is feminine in French, but appears to be masculine in German, so it would seem not.

 

[digitalfrost]

When a new thing, comes into existence, or to the market, as must happen from time to time, like the television, microchip, mobile phone, etc., who decides in the gender of the new item?

There are no rules in german (yes I know haha), native speakers just 'get' the gender automatically. There are some guidelines: https://blog.duolingo.com/german-gender-der-das/

With made-up or foreign words there can be controversy, for example is it der/die/das Nutella? Generally using das since it's unspecified/neutral is the safest bet here, but the -ella ending also kinda indicates Nutella is female. I don't mind (das/die) Nutella either way. Der Nutella seems wrong to me. On the hand it's "der Computer" with no discussion at all. Maybe because it's "der Rechner" in german, so there is an equivalent you can know the gender from. New words are funny in this way. Is it "der Blog" or "das Blog". Personally I would use der, but the Duden says "das" is correct. Both work for me. For sure it's not "die Blog".

E-Mail is feminine in germany, but in Austria and Switzerland they also say "das E-Mail".

 

[Waxx]

It depends all on the speakers and the local variation of it. The gender becomes clear after the new word is used a while (at least in Dutch) and the native speakers feel what gender is natural. After that a commission takes what is most popular and declare it standard. But nobody speaks standard dutch, everyone speaks it's local variation of it, be it a dialect or a related local language.

I speak westflemish (a local language close related to dutch), dutch, french and english and understand german and for a big part also itlalian and spanish, and no the gender is not everywhere the same, nor the importance of it. Even in dutch dialects it's not like that. English is very simple compared to dutch or german (the two closest related languages), and dutch and german, altough decending from the same language not so long ago (only a few hundred years), are very different in this. In german the gender can even depend on the contaxt so a word can have two genders, and you need to use the right one for the right context.

 

[Elgrosso]

When People Speak English, but with German Syntax

Fascinating, really great illustration of how the language drives the mindset, the culture.
I believe Korean too is built the same way like latin, might be wrong.

I could imagine so many situations impacted by the fact that the verb is at the end.
And see why latin people are great at arguing, with the first few words you get the idea and can quickly cut the other before he can even finish.


Edit: for the genders in french I don't really know. Most of the new words are built on old ones so we keep the same I guess.
We have a group of old dudes defining this (the academy) but usually just too late, I suspect the streets has a stronger say.

 

[diablo]

Also, are these genders consistent across languages? A table is feminine in French, but appears to be masculine in German, so it would seem not.

It seems, according to Gemini anyway, that the difference in genders in the various languages which created modern English was one of the reasons that they largely disappeared.

"The grammatical gender system of Old English gradually broke down during the Middle English period, influenced by various factors, including the Norman Conquest and contact with Old Norse, which also had grammatical gender but with some different assignments. By the time Modern English emerged, grammatical gender for nouns had been almost entirely lost."

 

[Count Arthur]

Is it "der Blog" or "das Blog". Personally I would use der, but the Duden says "das" is correct. Both work for me. For sure it's not "die Blog".

I think the English speaking world dodged a bullet on this one.

The notion that a blog, might have a gender is quite odd and the fact that you think it could be neutral, or male, but definitely not female is quite funny.

 

[digitalfrost]

I think the English speaking world dodged a bullet on this one.

The notion that a blog, might have a gender is quite odd and the fact that you think it could be neutral, or male, but definitely not female is quite funny.

Here's a another one:

the boy, der Junge is male. Obviously. But the girl is das Mädchen, so neutral. So what if you have multiple boys/girls? The girls are die Mädchen, so there comes the female, but the boys are also die Jungen.

 

[JohnnyNG]

View attachment 450362

After that he cured a ham.

 

[MatrixS2000]

Surprised at the strength of the sign.

 

[respice finem]

Here's a question for those of you that speak languages that ascribe a gender to inanimate objects, like French, and I believe German and several others.

When a new thing, comes into existence, or to the market, as must happen from time to time, like the television, microchip, mobile phone, etc., who decides in the gender of the new item?

Also, are these genders consistent across languages? A table is feminine in French, but appears to be masculine in German, so it would seem not.

BTW, some objects are "gendered" in English too, like a ship - for any sailor, it is a "she".
Generally, when I compare German and my native Polish, it is sometimes the same, sometimes different.
So, in both probably random in the beginning, before one form dominates.

 

[MatrixS2000]

 

[Boris Badinov]

 

[Keith_W]

Chinese is a non-gendered language. There are no gendered pronouns, and inanimate objects are referred to as things. If a gender must be referred to, it is explicitly stated, e.g. "female dog" rather than "bitch". The lack of gendered pronouns can cause problems with people who are native Chinese speakers who learn English, e.g. my grandfather referred to my sister as "him" or me as "her".

 

[Holmz]

Chinese is a non-gendered language. There are no gendered pronouns, and inanimate objects are referred to as things. If a gender must be referred to, it is explicitly stated, e.g. "female dog" rather than "bitch". The lack of gendered pronouns can cause problems with people who are native Chinese speakers who learn English, e.g. my grandfather referred to my sister as "him" or me as "her".

What do they do for woke signalling then?

 

[Timcognito]

What do they do for woke signalling then?

Woke is made up term to hide racism, bigotry and embarrassment for such feelings, degrading others and being intolerant personal views of unaligned others without having to reveal ones own views. It is code for I can't stand people that don't think like me and are liberal, whatever liberal is. It puts one on a side that they are embarrassed to confront with their beliefs, eliminates gray area and constructive dialog about real issues.

Sorry, lost it there. Woke is name calling and has no real meaning.

 

[RayDunzl]

Uh huh.

 

[Audionaut]

Sorry
Is this the humor thread or the language research thread?

 

[Holmz]

Woke is made up term to hide racism, bigotry and embarrassment for such feelings, degrading others and being intolerant personal views of unaligned others without having to reveal ones own views. It is code for I can't stand people that don't think like me and are liberal, whatever liberal is. It puts one on a side that they are embarrassed to confront with their beliefs, eliminates gray area and constructive dialog about real issues.

Sorry, lost it there. Woke is name calling and has no real meaning.

I guess your sense of him got over ridden by a trigger.

I’ll make it easier for you…
How would one use pronouns as a woke signalling mechanism in the Chinese language… If they have no pronounces for he/she nor him/her?

 

[snakedctr]

 

[snakedctr]