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PaperclipPerfector  12d ago (text post)   2338 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 6, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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If a English isn't your native language, are there any words that aren't in English that you miss?

As a Swedish speaker, glapp is one example. It means a loose connection somewhere in a circuit. E.g. if the sound intermediately cuts out in a livestream, you can say "the sound is glapping". A useful concept to be able to quickly express, but sadly lacking in English. Any others?

Very, very few. I believe I've noticed such, that is I remember doing so, but can't remember them. Both Czech and Slovak are far less rich languages.

English is worse in some ways, it's harder to be precise in English, you can't aliterate entire meaningful paragraphs, but vocabulary is pretty much unmatched.

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that the English language is as pure as a crib-house whore. It not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary.

James Nicoll (b. 1961), "The King's English", rec.arts.sf-lovers, 15 May 1990

Isn't that just glitching?

"Glitching" can be any error, really. It doesn't really convey the "you haven't plugged the cable in all the way" or the like that "glapp" does.

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