sholio: sun on winter trees (Default)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote 2019-05-23 07:06 pm (UTC)

Yeah, those differences between languages are so fascinating to me! I think sometimes it's significant (like how some languages have much finer-grained relationship words because it actually IS socially significant whether it's a relative on your mother's or father's side) and sometimes it's just random quirks.

Even in English, I think the "bread" thing (and what can be called that) is different between the UK and US. But yeah, where you draw the line between similar-ish objects in different languages or just in common usage is also interesting! I remember reading a thread awhile back, someplace like Metafilter or Tumblr, where the participants were trying to work out the exact definition of "soup" vs. "cereal" and it is really hard to figure out the exact line! (Some soups can be cold, some can have grains or milk in them, etc.) But we usually know exactly which one to call it when we see it.

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