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Words for “yes” in Romance languages

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Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#81

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

EB-Barrington wrote: post #61
davidgay wrote: post #32

My favourite on the yes/no front though is the border between Greece and Bulgaria where "Ne" (Не) means no in Bulgarian and, IIUC, yes in Greek. And then the Bulgarians also have approximately reversed vs Western Europe head movements for yes and no, to maximise confusion :)

Albanians (like Bulgaria, Albania shares a border with Greece) also nod up and down for no, and turn their heads left-to-right for yes. As in Bulgaria, this is not universal throughout the populace - making it all the more confusing when you come across it during conversation. Related: in Albanian, yes is "po", no is "jo".

French people also nod upwards to say "no". This is just one swift nod, not an up-and-down nod, and it's usually accompanied by a quick drawn-in breath. I've never seen that anywhere else. My friends who did that were Occitan btw. so maybe it's not all of France.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#82

Post by mrow84 »

gigogkggi wrote: post #74
mjfisher wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've become increasingly interested in how people become offended recently. Offence tends to be bound up in notions of identity, and I think the way people offend and become offended is increasingly a factor in a world becoming more polarised. Would you be able to expand a little on your feelings? Would you expect people from other cultures mentioned in the article to be similarly offended? I'm not asking you to just…

The tone is dismissive, duh. Let's try another version, some Mexican shit. Trump comes to mind? Yup! You got it.

It is only dismissive ironically - the author is not really belittling Slavic languages. Context and intent are important, and it is possible to be unduly sensitive.

I think it is worth expecting readers to expend a small amount of effort to try and assess a writer's intent, so that we might live in a world where people can use colourful language. Teasing someone is not the same as insulting them.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#83

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

make3 wrote: post #4

I really like profanity laced erudite articles, for some reason. Maybe it scratches a similar hitch that Rick does in Rick and Morty. Which makes me think, man I'd love to read a scientific paper written by Rick! :)

In Greece we had a writer called Nikos Tsiforos whose schtick was exactly that. He wrote entire history and mythology books in a Greek argot (the language of the "manges" and the rebetika, which you probably won't find about on the 'net). He used the slang of a criminal subculture that was full of profanity, sarcasm and disdain for authority and polite society to treat scholarly subjects like the Francocracy, the Conquistadores and the histories of Greece, France, Britain and the United States.

That was back in the '50s or so and his books were widely panned by the literary critics of his time but they were still popular several decades later when I was growing up.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#84

Post by gigogkggi »

mrow84 wrote: post #82
gigogkggi wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tone is dismissive, duh. Let's try another version, some Mexican shit. Trump comes to mind? Yup! You got it.

It is only dismissive ironically - the author is not really belittling Slavic languages. Context and intent are important, and it is possible to be unduly sensitive. I think it is worth expecting readers to expend a small amount of effort to try and assess a writer's intent, so that we might live in a world where people can use colourful language. Teasing someone is not the same as insulting them.

In a world where pointing out that pure facts such as that Chicago has already had 200 gun homicides this year with its strict gun control laws will get you labelled as a white supremacist, I'd definitely like people to chill out, but alas, no.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#85

Post by JetSpiegel »

mjfisher wrote: post #69
Slavic wrote: post #64

Stopped reading at "some slavic shit"

I've become increasingly interested in how people become offended recently. Offence tends to be bound up in notions of identity, and I think the way people offend and become offended is increasingly a factor in a world becoming more polarised. Would you be able to expand a little on your feelings? Would you expect people from other cultures mentioned in the article to be similarly offended? I'm not asking you to just…

New account with apropos username, smells like performance art aka trolling.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#86

Post by felipelemos »

hessart wrote: post #19
lbebber wrote: post #12

Interesting. In (Brazilian) Portuguese, "isso" and "isso aí" ("this", "this there") is used to confirm or agree with something, so it seems the expression survived the times.

Technically, “isso” translates to “that”, whereas “isto” translates to “this”. Good point, anyway.

Both translate to 'this'. Isso is a coloquial form of isto. Aquilo translate to 'that'.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#87

Post by kleiba »

I personally find the use of single word "This." in reply to a comment on forums (such as e.g. HN) really annoying. (But then again, I've reached an age where you tend to find everything new awful.) I guess the reason why it pisses me off is that it doesn't do anything that "Yes.", "Exactly.", "I agree" couldn't already do, but at the same time it has this overly sweet smell of kool-aid that just makes you sick.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#88

Post by kaoD »

jacquesm wrote: post #15
lbebber wrote: post #12

Interesting. In (Brazilian) Portuguese, "isso" and "isso aí" ("this", "this there") is used to confirm or agree with something, so it seems the expression survived the times.

Curious coincidence how that sounds like 'it's so' and 'itsso, eh'!

> "isso aí"

> 'itsso, eh'

Trivia: notice 'isso aí' has an acute accent on í which indicates the syllable is stressed. Doesn't sound much like 'eh' https://translate.google.com/#pt/en/a%C3%AD similar to 'itsso ah-E'.

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#89

Post by kaoD »

felipelemos wrote: post #86
hessart wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, “isso” translates to “that”, whereas “isto” translates to “this”. Good point, anyway.

Both translate to 'this'. Isso is a coloquial form of isto. Aquilo translate to 'that'.

That sounds similar to spanish' esto, eso, aquello so I guess their usage is similar?

Esto (isto) = this (at hand's reach)

Eso (isso) = that (close but out of reach)

Aquello (aquilo) = that (far away)

Isto and isso are both "close" but they're still different degrees of closeness. I would still translate 'eso' as 'that'.

EDIT: But I guess you speak Brazilian Portuguese:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isto#Portuguese

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isso#Portuguese

> isso: (demonstrative, informal, Brazil) this

Re: Words for “yes” in Romance languages

#90

Post by pjmlp »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #81
EB-Barrington wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Albanians (like Bulgaria, Albania shares a border with Greece) also nod up and down for no, and turn their heads left-to-right for yes. As in Bulgaria, this is not universal throughout the populace - making it all the more confusing when you come across it during conversation. Related: in Albanian, yes is "po", no is "jo".

French people also nod upwards to say "no". This is just one swift nod, not an up-and-down nod, and it's usually accompanied by a quick drawn-in breath. I've never seen that anywhere else. My friends who did that were Occitan btw. so maybe it's not all of France.

But in Greece a short nod up with some lip pressure is also no, right?

At least that is what I am used to from my Greek friends.

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