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Forums => English & Linguistics => Topic started by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 10:30:12 AM

Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 10:30:12 AM: link (http://my.netscape.com/corewidgets/news/story.psp?cat=50900&id=2006080708330002796490)

German is so cool. What other language would come up with a single compound word for "animal cadaver removal law" (Tierkoerperbeseitigungsgesetz)? (Okay, so the correct answer is "lots of other languages. I still think it's cool.)
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Brinestone on August 07, 2006, 10:49:35 AM: :cool:

I still think kleinkindergeschaeftigungsanstalt is a better word than kindergarten.

Out of curiousity, where'd you get the title for the thread?
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 10:52:01 AM: What's wrong with animal cadaver removal law?

Quote
The sad thing is, most people probably don’t even realize that they’re neglecting their native tongue; they’re too busy falling in love with silly words like defenestrate. Well, let me tell you something: there’s an English word for that, too, and it’s to throw out a window, which is what I’ll want to do next time someone tries to tell me that Latin is better than English.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 10:56:25 AM: Where did I say that there's something wrong with "animal cadaver removal law," or that we should use the German word instead?

Ruth: I mostly came up with it myself, but I used Babelfish to help me out with the German word for "some."
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 10:59:12 AM: Quote
Where did I say that there's something wrong with "animal cadaver removal law," or that we should use the German word instead?
Oh, I can read between the lines, bucko.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Sheila on August 07, 2006, 11:02:54 AM: I'm not well read enough to know what your first post on this thread is quoting.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 11:03:55 AM: It's from Jon Boy's blog. (http://www.galacticcactus.com/english/)
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 11:08:47 AM: Quote

Quote
Where did I say that there's something wrong with "animal cadaver removal law," or that we should use the German word instead?
Oh, I can read between the lines, bucko.
Um, okay. :unsure:
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: JT on August 07, 2006, 11:56:13 AM: You got a problem with defenestrate, you got a problem with me!
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 11:59:30 AM: Quote

Quote

Quote
Where did I say that there's something wrong with "animal cadaver removal law," or that we should use the German word instead?
Oh, I can read between the lines, bucko.
Um, okay. :unsure:
That's OK. You're just too busy falling in love with silly words like Tierkoerperbeseitigungsgesetz.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Patrick on August 07, 2006, 12:44:23 PM: Ich liebe dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht

Da Da Da.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: rivka on August 07, 2006, 12:47:48 PM: Quote
You got a problem with defenestrate, you got a problem with me!
And me!
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 01:02:34 PM: Quote
Ich liebe dich nicht, du liebst mich nicht

Da Da Da.
Hey, Pat. What's up? :)

I was so pleased with myself when I heard that on the radio several months back and finally realized what they were singing.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 01:04:11 PM: Quote
That's OK. You're just too busy falling in love with silly words like Tierkoerperbeseitigungsgesetz.
I'm honestly confused. Are you criticizing me for being inconsistent, or are you just giving me a bad time? 'Cause I really don't need to be given a bad time right now.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 01:08:20 PM: Quote
I'm honestly confused. Are you criticizing me for being inconsistent, or are you just giving me a bad time? 'Cause I really don't need to be given a bad time right now.
Sorry. :(
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 01:13:59 PM: I can understand why you find it awesome that they have a word for that. But I think the word defenestrate is awesome for very similar reasons
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 01:14:01 PM: No worries. It's not your responsibility to know when I'm not in the mood to be teased over something silly.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 01:19:22 PM: Quote
I can understand why you find it awesome that they have a word for that. But I think the word defenestrate is awesome for very similar reasons
More silly than awesome, to be honest. And interesting from the perspective of language typology. English and German are fairly closely related, but German is far more likely to throw a bunch of words together and make a new compound. I wonder at what point German developed that tendency.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 01:41:49 PM: That is an interesting question. When we do it in English, it's almost always when we're borrowing from Greek or Latin.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Porter on August 07, 2006, 01:56:16 PM: Quote
Deaddoginafreezer leadstoknowledgeof Germancompoundwords
This is the headline on fark.com for this article.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Jonathon on August 07, 2006, 01:58:58 PM: :lol:

The article I linked to really did seem to go out of its way to use that compound.
Title: Ich liebt mich etwas Deutsch
Post by: Brinestone on August 07, 2006, 02:21:02 PM: My guess as to why Germans lump compounds together in one word is that their strict modifier declension system doesn't allow for newly created modifiers.

For instance, animal is not usually an adjective, nor are body or removal. And they're not all just stringing up to modify law, either. Animal modifies body, and animal body modifies removal. Therefore it seems weird to give them all the gender ending of the final noun in the compound, law. Make them all into one word and you avoid the declension problem because none of those words have to have an ending now.