(Untitled)

[ceteranna]

Living with someone who's first language isn't English at the same time as I'm drowning myself in several different languages is totally fascinating. I love Eszter because she's magnificent in general, but apart from prevailing wonderfullness the things that have come up about languages and culture have been especially interesting.

Question #1:

Comments

[ceteranna]

Wow, good point about "howdy."

Okay, so shitsurei shimasu does actually mean more "Pardon me" than "hello, superior being." The way we were taught, the professor made it sound like it had multiple meanings, one of which was really just 'hi,' but from the way you describe its usage that's not really accurate

[prof_vencire]

Sensual: as you and screamflydream said. Generally, I think of it as something with fewer, but more pertinent, sensory details that evokes a sort of non-thought

[ceteranna]

I know several people who go to the opposite extreme of the 'howreyou' thing, like this girl you mentioned. It's pretty damn annoying. I always have to wonder exactly what's going on in their heads when they do this... do they really think of themselves as being that fascinating.

Of course, most people I know, I'm happy to listen to anything they want to say about how their live are going. But the odd distant acquaintance who DUMPS is pretty irritating.

[lokaichan]

I love you for this. It should not surprise you in the slightest that I read this over very carefully and with great interest, because of course I love talking about language, and it's easiest to pontificate on one's own native language

[ceteranna]

I think the word sensual is actually taking the opposite path from the one you describe, and is being destigmatized. I believe it started as a church-ish thing ("thou shalt not be sensual, you base and horny beast, you"), and has slowly come to be a compliment. At least, most time I hear people using it it seems to be complimentary, or fairly neutral.

And yes, Moreen mentioned above that 'howdy' started as 'how do you do' and has since come to mean 'hi!' And actually, 'how do you do' literally means 'how are you', but when NOT abbreviated into 'howdy' is just kind of a phrase you attach when meeting some one for the first time, without it being a question at all... At least, that's how I've used it. I'll be interested to see where 'howreyou' goes. Yay language evolution!

[utena1409]

Oh, language stuff *happily bounces

[ceteranna]

Ooh, thanks for the input on the German. I think you explained it very well, and I appreciate it.

Und wir haben Heute über 'sinnlich' (vs. 'sinnvoll') gesprochen! Wir studieren jetzt Romantishe Kunst (und da- un wo- Komposita, aber das ist nicht so interessant wie Malen und Märchen) und wir brauchen viel ausdrucksvoll Adjektive für Diskussion. "Sinnlich" macht mir Spaß... sinnnnlichhhhh. Mmmm. XD

[signorinakatina]

Well, they mean two different things if you look at the words themselves

[signorinakatina]

Also, in the verb form, since it's a verb, you can say:
Ich entschuldige mich (I excuse myself)
Entschuldigen Sie, bitte (Please excuse me)

and so on, which will have different meanings.

[signorinakatina]

Mmm, yes, I'd encountered most of these. But I was curious more about the cultural context of apology than the direct translations; translating a common phrase is easy enough, it's figuring out exactly how and when and with what inflection it's supposed to be used. For example, a French forum I read had someone complaining about how English people misuse apologies; while "j m'excuse" and "pardonnez" and "je suis desolé" do, in fact, mean "I'm sorry," they're just not used as frequently as they are in the U.S. Apologizing when you brush up against someone using any of these phrases would sound funny and exaggerated and foreign, even though they might translate directly into what we would say in English in that context. Kinda like someone brushing up against you and saying in English "Oh, I beg you to forgive me," instead of "Oops, 'scuse me." So yeah, my question was more about cultural context than translation.