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Quick example from starting to learn Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe : there different color-names for living things and non-living things. The brown fur of a squirrel
by meristohm 5y ago
Quick example from starting to learn Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe : there different color-names for living things and non-living things. The brown fur of a squirrel has a different quality to it than the brown of dirt, and the language reflects that more readily than English.
Gaeilge/Irish has more-specific terms for rain, at least according to The Blindboy Podcast (he wrote the forward to the recent edition of the Hiberno-English Dictionary). I try to describe in English the differences between the rain of the Midwest (big, cold drops that hit hard) and the Pacific Northwest (rain so light you don't need a raincoat), and can imagine cultures eventually making up easily-spoken words for common phenomena.
- el-salvador 5y ago> I try to describe in English the differences between the rain of the Midwest (big, cold drops that hit hard) and the Pacific Northwest (rain so light you don't need a raincoat), and can imagine cultures eventually making up easily-spoken words for common phenomena. We do in Spanish, some of the words used in my country are: Lloviznar: Very light drizzle Pringar: Drizzle Temporal: Rain that lasts for more than a day Llover: Tropical rain Elver (slang): Very strong rain, with dark clouds, strong winds, thunders and lightnings I once had a conversation with a European friend in which we briefly couldn't agree if it was raining or not, due to the difference in what each of us considered rain was. I was like "Look, but that's not even rain" and they said "of course it rains, look".
- homonculus1 5y agoSpitting, drizzling, showering, raining, pouring. What is it with ignoring English descriptives and then acting like other languages are superlatively rich?
- troon-lover 5y ago