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I have first seen this idea in the short piece "Uncleftish Beholding" (Atomic Theory) "For most of its being, mankind did not know what things are made of, but
by SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
I have first seen this idea in the short piece "Uncleftish Beholding" (Atomic Theory)
"For most of its being, mankind did not know what things are made of, but could only guess. With the growth of worldken, we began to learn, and today we have a beholding of stuff and work that watching bears out, both in the workstead and in daily life."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncleftish_Beholding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncleftish_Beholding
It makes some sense, e.g "sourstuff" for "oxygen" - which in German is "Sauerstoff", in Dutch "zuurstof".
- CommieBobDole 4y ago"Nor are stuff and work unakin. Rather, they are groundwise the same, and one can be shifted into the other. The kinship between them is that work is like unto weight manifolded by the fourside of the haste of light."
- culebron21 4y agoAlthough I know German and "Sauerstoff" and "Waßerstoff" seem normal, in English "sourstuff" or "waterstuff" sound just utterly hilarious! (English is not my native language.)
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y agoEnglish shifts up into this "academic register" for scientific or medical words, utilising Greek or Latin roots. Many other languages ... do not. So learning that e.g. "gums" - (i.e. the part of the mouth around the teeth) is in Dutch "tandvlees" (and German "zahnfleisch") - i.e. "tooth-flesh" - has that humorous quality when the expected shift up does not materialise. I mean, does not happen.