Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval • Hacker News Board

Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval

#571

Post by SllX » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 2:25 PM UTC

ktosobcy wrote: post #568

SllX wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but we in the Anglosphere have this wonderful phrase for people that get too hung up on it: “get over it.” I honestly don’t care if someone uses “color” or “colour” or makes ghoti jokes at the English language’s expense.

> Yeah but we in the Anglosphere have this wonderful phrase for people that get too hung up on it: “get over it.” Unfortunately for the rest of the world outside of your beloved "anglosphere" using wrong spelling results in said "anglosphereian" being utterly butthurt. Maybe the whole world should adopt universal language with saner spelling and leave english to anglosphere?

> your beloved

Don’t put words in my mouth.

> Maybe the whole world should adopt universal language with saner spelling and leave english to anglosphere?

The rest of the world could. They won’t. But they could. You could use this as part of your spelling reforms: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=81 :)

Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval

#572

Post by aguaviva » Sat, Oct 12, 2024, 2:51 PM UTC

konart wrote: post #564

aguaviva wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not as much as you would think. Russian has terminal de-voicing; so /d/ softens to a /t/, hence сад = /sat/. (Sort of; actually it's something in between, but the shift is noticable). And /l/ palatizes (becomes /lj/) before both е and ё, as in самолёт. (Actually the /j/ is built into ё of course, but somehow it seems helpful to recognize the commonality of the sounds when realized after /l/ - basically е becomes more…

I mean I'm native, just expressing personal opinion.

I'll have to slow down and listen more carefully, then.

Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval

#573

Post by skissane » Sun, Oct 13, 2024, 7:23 AM UTC

physicsguy wrote: post #518

chromanoid wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say "Kati's Ecke" (urks) should look modern (and fails at that, looks like cargo cult to me) or is an unintentional error of the owner because they don't know better (maybe obligatory English lessons in school compromised the actual rules of German). I am sure it doesn't look exotic to most Germans. We actually use the apostrophe in cases where adding the possessive s is problematic. E.g. "Felix' Ecke" There…

There was a funny guide circulating a few years ago about "Euro-English" used in the European Union and it's institutions, that was completely incomprehensible to a native speaker.

> There was a funny guide circulating a few years ago about "Euro-English" used in the European Union and it's institutions, that was completely incomprehensible to a native speaker.

A lot of it is just (1) use of French loanwords to refer to EU-specific concepts (acquis is arguably the most famous), (2) use of genuine but rare English words – for example "subsidiarity", a word few English-speakers know, but the EU loves – but it isn't exclusive to the EU, Catholic theologians love it too (there is a whole section devoted to it in the Catholic Catechism), (3) the kind of common linguistic errors (false cognates, etc) which French speakers (and to a lesser degree, speakers of other EU languages) make when speaking English.

There are also some cases where it is hard to say if what is happening is (1) or (3), for example the use of the word "cabinet" (pronounced the French way) to refer to the office staff of a senior official

Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval

#574

Post by qingcharles » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 4:25 AM UTC

graypegg wrote: post #186

ktosobcy wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't mind for English to have "standardisation body" akin to French or German one (or RAE for Spanish) that could maybe get rid of backward, dumb spelling ;) (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_refo... )

There are specific subsets of English that are used in certain domains that have standards bodies behind them, like Simplified Technical English for aviation. It even has a working group! [0] VOA also have a Learning English spec for broadcast english [1] but that seems to be a lot looser of a spec. So it's definitely not impossible. The funny thing, is I remember being told in grade school that in English Canada, I…

It's interesting now to see more and more programming languages using an underscore as the thousands separator to allow for easier reading without trying to get into a mess of commas or full-stops as separators.

Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval

#575

Post by pronik » Sat, Oct 19, 2024, 8:58 PM UTC

bonoboTP wrote: post #452

pronik wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes, those rules just don't make any sense. I'm especially amused about the euro sign in German which by its whole design and intention is supposed to be written before the number (€50,00), but is instead written behind the number with a space included (50,00 €). The former looks way better and more concise for me, but maybe the reason is just a historical one, the Germans have been writing "50 DM" for decades…

€ is a unit. Would you write you're ft6 tall or weigh lbs170 or that it's °F77 outside? The weird and exceptional thing is rather that $ is put before the number, which is out of step with pronunciation.

And still, dollars, pound, yen and basically any currency with a "funny" symbol put it in front. Seems it's not about pronounciation anymore, but more about tradition.

Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval

#576

Post by yamazakiwi » Tue, Oct 22, 2024, 3:44 PM UTC

xandrius wrote: post #505

yamazakiwi wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course but it doesn't have to be. There are tons of fruits that make great tasting marmalades. After watching the Mexican episode of British Bake Off I don't care about their opinions on food authenticity.

It's not about authenticity, if it is not made out of citrus fruits it's generally called a jam.

That is incorrect.

The amount of fruit and consistency is more important to the outcome of a marmalade or jam then the use of citrus fruits. A lot of recipe sites are flat out wrong about this and state a marmalade has to contain citrus, or worse, Spanish Citrus. If I make orange Jam is it automatically Marmalade? If Korea puts corn on Pizza, is it not Pizza anymore? So as I stated, yes it is about how countries and people deem food authentic.

People who think any food has to be made one way because that's the way it was made "originally" are missing out on potential. Most food origin stories are also stretched truths, lies, or even historically selective for political reasons.