Simple explanation, innit?

199 points · 15 comments · view on lemmy.world

15 Comments

TabbsTheBat@pawb.social · 27 pts · 183d (7 replies)

In lithuanian we have "ane?" which is a shortening of "ar ne?" which is "or no?" so basically "isn't it?" as well :3

spinne@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 183d (5 replies)

TIL "isn't it" is the linguistic equivalent of fried dough

TabbsTheBat@pawb.social · 17 pts · 183d

The human need to ask for clarification strikes everyone lol

slothrop@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 183d (3 replies)

You mean elephant ears?
Or beaver tails?

spinne@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 183d (2 replies)

And doughnuts, zeppoles, gulab jamun, you tiao, beignets, funnel cakes... I would really love it if everybody would dogpile on here with their own fried dough traditions

TabbsTheBat@pawb.social · 3 pts · 183d (1 reply)

Just gonna throw in varškės spurgos, and žagarėliai, and skruzdėlynas.. and actually I could keep going for a bit with fried dough foods I think lol

spinne@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 183d

Don't hold back!

SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 183d

In Dutch some people often use “ofnie” which is short for “of niet?” Which means “or not?” so “isn’t it?” as well

I bet many languages have something similar.

nialv7@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 183d (5 replies)

Japanese speakers, is this accurate?

ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 183d (1 reply)

Mostly yes, but the Japanese already had it before the Portuguese came along.

Hoimo@ani.social · 1 pts · 183d

Yeah, I was just thinking there's no way that etymology is true. Ne is part of a whole class of these particles and appears in combinations to form even more specific "response-inviting" markers. A loanword for some traded good I'd believe, but not a grammatical feature like this, especially not because the Portuguese missionaries weren't all that popular in Japan.

TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 183d

Yes, it's a part of speech that's formally in the standard language. Japanase is full of these 'case markers', that don't exist in English. Japanese doesn't have articles or noun inflection, so you need them to determine what function words are in a sentence, or if it's a question.

In English it's slang. Hence you won't find it in a textbook.

Get_Off_My_WLAN@fedia.io · 2 pts · 183d (1 reply)

I wish it weren't

Cronization@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 183d

But that's what makes it fun ne?

callyral@pawb.social · 5 pts · 183d

Japan has né??? Wtf was Portugal doing over there? Side quests?