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The Off Topic Topic

Started by Korea, March 10, 2009, 06:24:26 AM

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Liep

What I really wanted to know how words got their gender before the Academy, OED, whatever decided on it. Selfie isn't in the retskrivningsordbog yet, so whether it's "en selfie" or "et selfie" is up to everyday use, journalists, etc.

Can you agree on these or is it open for debate?
"Af alle latterlige Ting forekommer det mig at være det allerlatterligste at have travlt" - Kierkegaard

"JamenajmenømahrmDÆ!DÆ! Æhvnårvaæhvadlelæh! Hvor er det crazy, det her, mand!" - Uffe Elbæk

Valmy

Ok then.  My perception is new French nouns like 'Selfie' (presuming that is a French word) are almost always Masculine.  Am I right on that one GF?
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

garbon

Quote from: Malthus on May 21, 2014, 02:26:53 PM
Quote from: The Brain on May 21, 2014, 02:18:29 PM
Quote from: Syt on May 21, 2014, 01:10:10 PM
I think in German it'd be neuter. Das Selfie sounds right. (Photo and Picture are also neuter in German.)

German should STFU ever since it introduced "Handy". Worst word ever.

Handy, or Mr. Hands?

When I learned das Handy in class, I assumed it must be a German joke. Unfortunately it wasn't. :(
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Admiral Yi

Quote from: Valmy on May 21, 2014, 02:31:09 PM
Ok then.  My perception is new French nouns like 'Selfie' (presuming that is a French word) are almost always Masculine.  Am I right on that one GF?

You are probably asking the wrong person.

Valmy

#39934
Well if Oex, Zoupa, Rex, Viper or whomever are lurking they should feel free to chime in.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Liep

Or one of the native Spaniards.
"Af alle latterlige Ting forekommer det mig at være det allerlatterligste at have travlt" - Kierkegaard

"JamenajmenømahrmDÆ!DÆ! Æhvnårvaæhvadlelæh! Hvor er det crazy, det her, mand!" - Uffe Elbæk

Syt

Quote from: The Brain on May 21, 2014, 02:18:29 PM
Quote from: Syt on May 21, 2014, 01:10:10 PM
I think in German it'd be neuter. Das Selfie sounds right. (Photo and Picture are also neuter in German.)

German should STFU ever since it introduced "Handy". Worst word ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39EPz2JsbUk
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

There's some theories where "Handy" comes from, but the most likely one for the current usage was a model brought out by Loewe when the mobile phone market started to tale off in the 90s: Handy Tel 100. Others say it may go back to CB shorthand for handheld sets, or Motorola's Handie-Talkie (a smaller version of the Walkie-Talkie).

The Handy Tel.

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Grey Fox

Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2014, 02:34:02 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 21, 2014, 02:31:09 PM
Ok then.  My perception is new French nouns like 'Selfie' (presuming that is a French word) are almost always Masculine.  Am I right on that one GF?

You are probably asking the wrong person.

No, I'm the right person.

You are right Valmy.  Most english words in french are masculine. I can't think of a feminine one.

btw, selfie is égoportrait around here.
Colonel Caliga is Awesome.

lustindarkness

As a 'rican that murders both spanish and english at the same time, for me it is "un selfie" (male). And the proper use would be "postear un selfie" as in post a selfie, great spanglish right?
Grand Duke of Lurkdom

Capetan Mihali

"The internet's completely over. [...] The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."
-- Prince, 2010. (R.I.P.)

11B4V

"there's a long tradition of insulting people we disagree with here, and I'll be damned if I listen to your entreaties otherwise."-OVB

"Obviously not a Berkut-commanded armored column.  They're not all brewing."- CdM

"We've reached one of our phase lines after the firefight and it smells bad—meaning it's a little bit suspicious... Could be an amb—".

Valmy

Quote from: 11B4V on May 21, 2014, 04:31:16 PM
http://www.newser.com/story/187244/non-frances-new-trains-dont-fit-on-platforms.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_topnews

Mistakes were made.

I love how officials will say they have taken responsibility.  The next statement out of their mouths better be how they are resigning or I call BS.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

The Larch

Quote from: lustindarkness on May 21, 2014, 03:10:05 PM
As a 'rican that murders both spanish and english at the same time, for me it is "un selfie" (male). And the proper use would be "postear un selfie" as in post a selfie, great spanglish right?

We'd also say "postear un selfie" in Spanish from Spain. :cheers:

Ideologue

Heh, "egoportrait."

Also, a great name for a band.
Kinemalogue
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