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Cultish (by Amanda Montell) is great. It also defines really well how Claude speaks currently---avant la lettre, of course. Language is a big part of the book:
by omsta 1mo ago
Cultish (by Amanda Montell) is great. It also defines really well how Claude speaks currently---avant la lettre, of course. Language is a big part of the book: one example is how Scientologists can recognize each other in the wild from the language they have unknowingly adopted even for everyday conversations.
- dgellow 1mo agoI’m native French speaker and do not understand what you mean with “avant la lettre”. That translates to “before the letter”, what do you mean?
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- mistersquid 1mo ago> I’m native French speaker and do not understand what you mean with “avant la lettre”. That translates to “before the letter”, what do you mean? Metaphorical language, of which French is a rich source, often prevents native speakers from understanding. Literal translations are of no avail. > avant la lettre : before the letter : before the (specified) word or concept existed [0] [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avant%20la%20lettre https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avant%20la%20lett...
- dgellow 1mo agoTIL, I should have just googled it, I assumed it was a bad auto complete Thanks!
- BuyMyBitcoins 1mo agoAs a non-French speaker, I had assumed a native speaker would suspect that this was another instance of English taking something from French and mangling it into something worse.
- klez 1mo agoI think they meant the same as the latin phrase "ante litteram"
- omsta 1mo agoHa. In my defense, it is a common phrase in Dutch culture!
- bondarchuk 1mo agoYou could say e.g. Spinoza was a punk avant-la-lettre, he was a punk before the word "punk" even existed. I think GP is using it exactly opposite to the normal usage.