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> According to experts, it’s unlike any word, in any language. I introduce you to "kwan" (or "kuan") from Visayan, which serves the same purpose. https://www.

by tomrod 4y ago

> According to experts, it’s unlike any word, in any language. I introduce you to "kwan" (or "kuan") from Visayan, which serves the same purpose. https://www.reddit.com/r/DoesNotTranslate/comments/jmkvbd/filipino_visayan_kuan_is_our_way_of_saying_ummm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DoesNotTranslate/comments/jmkvbd/fi... Kwan is not just a time-filler word like "um." You can legit use it in a sentence as an object-filler word and people still understand. "I was surfing at the kwan and ate some kwan with hot sauce." "Was it good?" "Oh yeah!"

eunoia 4y ago
Sounds very similar to usage of “da kine” in Hawaiian Creole English (i.e Hawaiian pidgin).
- tomcam 4y ago
  That struck me immediately too.
tomcam 4y ago
From your reference it can also be used as a verb, which is dope. I kind of think that there must be a vast amount of Filipino culture I don't know about. Big population, but little penetration of the culture in mainland USA.
- tomrod 4y ago
  Filipino culture rocks. The food, the festivities, the languages, the zest for life. Absolutely loved getting the chance to participate in it here and there. I miss speaking to native speakers. The distinction of verbs and nouns in Austronesian languages generally are pretty lax. Also cool, Tongan and Samoan speakers found Visayan numbering mutually distinguishable -- "lima" for 5, for example.
  - anon_123g987 4y ago
    English has "verbing", too. > "[E]asy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English English." https://www.thoughtco.com/verbing-definition-1692587 https://www.thoughtco.com/verbing-definition-1692587 Just like "jawn" is not unique (not even within English), in my experience there's almost nothing really unique in any language.
    - tomcam 4y ago
      Verbing isn't unique, but I do like to explore etymological quirks.
orange_joe 4y ago
I don’t believe that it’s unique “thing” is pretty widely used in a similar way.
- tengwar2 4y ago
  Thingy, whatsit, whatchermacallit - there are loads of these words. “Jawn” may have slight differences in the way that it is used when compared with “whatsit”, but it doesn’t seem very different. “Dongle” used to be used this way (by the person who invented the copy-protection dongle, who then repurposed the word). And then there’a the old faithful Latin “re”.
- istjohn 4y ago
  "Thing" isn't used for people or places though.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    You never met my ex-boss
linschn 4y ago
Same as "smurf", then? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs
- tomrod 4y ago
  Yes! Very similar to my recollection (it was my not my first language, but lived there awhile).
- jonhohle 4y ago
  But “smurf” also has adjective, adverb, and verb forms in addition to being a noun.
- rufus_foreman 4y ago
  Smurf yeah!
lifthrasiir 4y ago
In Korean geosigi (거시기) fills this role, which can be used as any part of speech.
- yongjik 4y ago
  ...and is also used, unsurprisingly, as a euphemism for penis.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Is it usable in polite company?
    - lifthrasiir 4y ago
      Yes, the word came to be used as an euphemism because of its genericity, not the other way around. If the context doesn't suggest otherwise it is not considered impolite.
      - tomcam 4y ago
        Quite interesting to me, thanks.
choudharism 4y ago
Como "weón" en Chile // Like "weón" in Chile https://spanish.stackexchange.com/a/4839 https://spanish.stackexchange.com/a/4839 The "w" sound keeps repeating in the themes here, interesting.
- cryptonector 4y ago
  That comes from "huevón", which is... really hard to explain in English. The Argentine "boludo" and "pelotudo" are in the same vein, and mean roughly the same non-sensical thing. I'm not sure if the etymology is that an egg ("huevo") looks like a zero, so a dumb person or a loser is a "huevo" (an egg, meaning a zero) or "huevón" (huge zero), or if it has to do with testicles (because in Spanish it's common to call them eggs), so a "huevón" might someone who's "as dumb as a giant testicle". "Boludo" and "pelotudo" are more like the latter, for sure, though they could still derived from zero looking like a ball. > The "w" sound keeps repeating in the themes here, interesting. In weón it's really just a slight change from huevón, and mostly just dropping the 'v'.
anon_123g987 4y ago
In Hungarian it's "izé". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iz%C3%A9 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iz%C3%A9
xg15 4y ago
Germans are probably unimaginative here, but "dings" would definitely qualify.
- tomcam 4y ago
  The English word thing is derived from it! had no idea
andrewnc 4y ago
My favorite part here is that it's a noun and a verb "i-kwan mo yung kwan" -> "just thing the thing"

by tomrod 4y ago

eunoia 4y ago

Sounds very similar to usage of “da kine” in Hawaiian Creole English (i.e Hawaiian pidgin).

tomcam 4y ago
That struck me immediately too.

tomcam 4y ago

From your reference it can also be used as a verb, which is dope. I kind of think that there must be a vast amount of Filipino culture I don't know about. Big population, but little penetration of the culture in mainland USA.

tomrod 4y ago
Filipino culture rocks. The food, the festivities, the languages, the zest for life. Absolutely loved getting the chance to participate in it here and there. I miss speaking to native speakers. The distinction of verbs and nouns in Austronesian languages generally are pretty lax. Also cool, Tongan and Samoan speakers found Visayan numbering mutually distinguishable -- "lima" for 5, for example.
- anon_123g987 4y ago
  English has "verbing", too. > "[E]asy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English English." https://www.thoughtco.com/verbing-definition-1692587 https://www.thoughtco.com/verbing-definition-1692587 Just like "jawn" is not unique (not even within English), in my experience there's almost nothing really unique in any language.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Verbing isn't unique, but I do like to explore etymological quirks.

orange_joe 4y ago

I don’t believe that it’s unique “thing” is pretty widely used in a similar way.

tengwar2 4y ago
Thingy, whatsit, whatchermacallit - there are loads of these words. “Jawn” may have slight differences in the way that it is used when compared with “whatsit”, but it doesn’t seem very different. “Dongle” used to be used this way (by the person who invented the copy-protection dongle, who then repurposed the word). And then there’a the old faithful Latin “re”.
istjohn 4y ago
"Thing" isn't used for people or places though.
- tomcam 4y ago
  You never met my ex-boss

linschn 4y ago

Same as "smurf", then? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs

tomrod 4y ago
Yes! Very similar to my recollection (it was my not my first language, but lived there awhile).
jonhohle 4y ago
But “smurf” also has adjective, adverb, and verb forms in addition to being a noun.
rufus_foreman 4y ago
Smurf yeah!

lifthrasiir 4y ago

In Korean geosigi (거시기) fills this role, which can be used as any part of speech.

yongjik 4y ago
...and is also used, unsurprisingly, as a euphemism for penis.
- tomcam 4y ago
  Is it usable in polite company?
  - lifthrasiir 4y ago
    Yes, the word came to be used as an euphemism because of its genericity, not the other way around. If the context doesn't suggest otherwise it is not considered impolite.
    - tomcam 4y ago
      Quite interesting to me, thanks.

choudharism 4y ago

Como "weón" en Chile // Like "weón" in Chile https://spanish.stackexchange.com/a/4839 https://spanish.stackexchange.com/a/4839 The "w" sound keeps repeating in the themes here, interesting.

cryptonector 4y ago
That comes from "huevón", which is... really hard to explain in English. The Argentine "boludo" and "pelotudo" are in the same vein, and mean roughly the same non-sensical thing. I'm not sure if the etymology is that an egg ("huevo") looks like a zero, so a dumb person or a loser is a "huevo" (an egg, meaning a zero) or "huevón" (huge zero), or if it has to do with testicles (because in Spanish it's common to call them eggs), so a "huevón" might someone who's "as dumb as a giant testicle". "Boludo" and "pelotudo" are more like the latter, for sure, though they could still derived from zero looking like a ball. > The "w" sound keeps repeating in the themes here, interesting. In weón it's really just a slight change from huevón, and mostly just dropping the 'v'.

anon_123g987 4y ago

In Hungarian it's "izé". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iz%C3%A9 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iz%C3%A9

xg15 4y ago

Germans are probably unimaginative here, but "dings" would definitely qualify.

tomcam 4y ago
The English word thing is derived from it! had no idea

andrewnc 4y ago

My favorite part here is that it's a noun and a verb "i-kwan mo yung kwan" -> "just thing the thing"