Semi serious question, (please do not ask "AI") I can do web searches just fine so please answer from your own experience:
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@afreytes In Spanish, there are many words that are considered rude and should not be used in polite conversation, but people do not refrain about using them when they want to use them like I've noticed Americans do when they say 'f-ing instead of... well, you know. They are not four-letter words either.
In some circles there are specific words that other groups not use, but I am guessing that's universal.
@tedel thanks, but the question is NOT about offensive words.
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@afreytes
in japanese you can use the word crap in a very disrespectful way, but you can also use the same word with your teacher. It's all about context.semi-related, but I've noticed that English swears follow similar sounds. they usually have either deep 'uh' sounds, sharp 'ih' sounds, or some kind of 'aa' sound.
@midnakrystal Thanks, but the question is NOT about offensive words per se, but about groups of words... Groups hopefully being more than two.
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@midnakrystal Thanks, but the question is NOT about offensive words per se, but about groups of words... Groups hopefully being more than two.
@afreytes
my bad lol i am terrible at reading aha -
@afreytes Norwegian: No arbitrary description like "Four Letter Word". There are descriptive words for the group, that would be like "cuss-words" "power-expressions" "unpolished language".
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Semi serious question, (please do not ask "AI") I can do web searches just fine so please answer from your own experience:
In English, you have "four letter words", these words have four letters but are perhaps not to be used in polite communication.
In OTHER languages: Are there any other "group of words constrained by arbitrary rules"?
Does NOT have to be an offensive group of words, but more like a grouping outside the traditional language syntax.
(no answer? please boost)
Someone once pointed out my use of " the isms" as in racism, sexism, theism, etc.
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Don't know of any similar arbitrary grouping in French or Arabic.
Similarly I wonder what other languages do about "teenagers", do they just say "adolescents" or do they also have an arbitrary group of ages based on prefixes or suffixes?
Tugging on the teenager thread, I found out that the Polish equivalent is 11-19 and the Hungarian one is 10-19 because of the way the words for those numbers are formed.
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@afreytes I'm not aware of any in Polish: I think more of groups of objects than words. But we have "cztery litery" ("four letters") as one of the euphemisms for buttocks, referencing two such four letter words.
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@CorvidCrone @afreytes Some call it legalese.
I've also heard of "psychobabble" and lately of therapy speak, especially in the context of weaponising it.
Also technobabble.
But all of them in English.
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Semi serious question, (please do not ask "AI") I can do web searches just fine so please answer from your own experience:
In English, you have "four letter words", these words have four letters but are perhaps not to be used in polite communication.
In OTHER languages: Are there any other "group of words constrained by arbitrary rules"?
Does NOT have to be an offensive group of words, but more like a grouping outside the traditional language syntax.
(no answer? please boost)
@afreytes I'm not sure this fits the bill, but your query made me think of reduplicatives in Tagolog, which indicate emphasis, intensity, speed, etc. For example, mabilis-mabilis (fast becomes very fast), araw-araw (day becomes every day), ganda-ganda (beauty to most beautiful).
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@afreytes I'm not sure this fits the bill, but your query made me think of reduplicatives in Tagolog, which indicate emphasis, intensity, speed, etc. For example, mabilis-mabilis (fast becomes very fast), araw-araw (day becomes every day), ganda-ganda (beauty to most beautiful).
@DrSaucy oh I think Hawaiian also has this? The wiki in wikipedia I think means fast but wiki-wiki means faster IIRC...
Yes I like3 this... I didnt know reduplicatives is the word for it. Thanks!
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@DrSaucy oh I think Hawaiian also has this? The wiki in wikipedia I think means fast but wiki-wiki means faster IIRC...
Yes I like3 this... I didnt know reduplicatives is the word for it. Thanks!
@afreytes I immediately thought of wikiwiki after I posted, but awaited your reply in case my example wasn't relevant to your request.
Other Hawaiian reduplicatives of which I'm aware, but quite likely lost in Hawaiian to Haole: holoholo (from stroll/amble to run around), mahimahi (strong to brute strength) makemake (like to desire).
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@oheso @afreytes At a faculty dinner, back when I was still working full time, the restaurant was tatami style, and at the shoe lockers I put mine in number "42," as I generally do when it's available. A European colleague much more obsessive about appearances and local trivia than I was looked on, scowled, and said, "That's a bad one: SHI [written as 四 for 'four' or as 死 for 'death'] NI [二 for 'two' or the particle に meaning roughly 'to' or 'toward' or 'at']."
This is an example of 余計なお世話.
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not en español. it’s one of those anglicismos i have yet to find a proper way to translate.
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Semi serious question, (please do not ask "AI") I can do web searches just fine so please answer from your own experience:
In English, you have "four letter words", these words have four letters but are perhaps not to be used in polite communication.
In OTHER languages: Are there any other "group of words constrained by arbitrary rules"?
Does NOT have to be an offensive group of words, but more like a grouping outside the traditional language syntax.
(no answer? please boost)
@afreytes In French Canada (at least in the province of Québec) we have “mots d’église" (ie: church words). Basically swear words, often with adjusted spellings (ex: tabernacle = tabarnak!). They can be combined for effect.
Québec used to be a very religious place…
You’ll mostly hear such swears around you except for the occasional “marde” in combination with a church word or “merde” if not.
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@afreytes In French Canada (at least in the province of Québec) we have “mots d’église" (ie: church words). Basically swear words, often with adjusted spellings (ex: tabernacle = tabarnak!). They can be combined for effect.
Québec used to be a very religious place…
You’ll mostly hear such swears around you except for the occasional “marde” in combination with a church word or “merde” if not.
@thierry oh my! This made e remember in Puerto Rico we have "palabras de Domingo" i.e. "Sunday Words" which is almost like saying church words! And "palabras de Domingo" are multi-sillabic very long words which would usually be used by more well read people, often in church.
Thank you! I love that!
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@adriano
That would apply to anglicisms into any other language as well as calques (loan words or word for word phrases). I don’t think it’s what OP is looking for.Quebecois French authorities are always on the alert for ‘anglicismes’.
Even so, there are calques, as well as local idiomatic usage and expressions, that exist in both English and French where there is a high level of bilingualism. e.g. people in western Quebec and Eastern Ontario often use the verb ‘to close’ / ‘fermer’ rather than ‘shut down’ / ‘éteindre’ their computer. It’s not considered correct English or French but it’s what’s commonly used.
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Semi serious question, (please do not ask "AI") I can do web searches just fine so please answer from your own experience:
In English, you have "four letter words", these words have four letters but are perhaps not to be used in polite communication.
In OTHER languages: Are there any other "group of words constrained by arbitrary rules"?
Does NOT have to be an offensive group of words, but more like a grouping outside the traditional language syntax.
(no answer? please boost)
@afreytes outside of i.e. professional jargon, I can't think of any example
possibly certain sociolects, but that's not purely about words, it's also pronounciation, grammar, etc.Perhaps the closest thing is "Jugendwörter" ("youth words"), loosely referring to teenage slang and a ittle more closely referring especially to words nominated for the "Jugendwort des Jahres" ("youth word of the year") award? That's the only named collection of words I can think of that are connected not by genre (noun/verb/etc).
(All of this is German, btw)
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Semi serious question, (please do not ask "AI") I can do web searches just fine so please answer from your own experience:
In English, you have "four letter words", these words have four letters but are perhaps not to be used in polite communication.
In OTHER languages: Are there any other "group of words constrained by arbitrary rules"?
Does NOT have to be an offensive group of words, but more like a grouping outside the traditional language syntax.
(no answer? please boost)
@afreytes it’s not a rule, it’s a euphemism, which English is full of (presumably because lots of radical Christians)
it’s just a coincidence that there’s quite a few swear words with four letters
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@adriano
That would apply to anglicisms into any other language as well as calques (loan words or word for word phrases). I don’t think it’s what OP is looking for.Quebecois French authorities are always on the alert for ‘anglicismes’.
Even so, there are calques, as well as local idiomatic usage and expressions, that exist in both English and French where there is a high level of bilingualism. e.g. people in western Quebec and Eastern Ontario often use the verb ‘to close’ / ‘fermer’ rather than ‘shut down’ / ‘éteindre’ their computer. It’s not considered correct English or French but it’s what’s commonly used.
@AlsoPaisleyCat @adriano @blogdiva you are right that "loan words" is not what I was looking for.
But can you expand on "Quebecois French authorities are always on the alert for ‘anglicismes’."?
Does this mean entities get fined for using foreign words? I'm picturing a sort referee taking out a red card when someone misuses an English word!
🤭
(And I hasten to add that the offending European was not from Germany!)
