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Average TS developer (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/programmerhumor@lemmy.ml
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[–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

We got diff'ernt words fer lightbulb and pear though, I tell ya hwat.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    German has different words, too. Even multiple one depending on accuracy

    • die Birne -> the pear
    • die Glühbirne -> "glowing pear", the light bulb, coming from the shape of the bulb, common, but even Germans see that its dumb
    • die Glühlampe -> "the glowing lamp", coming from the literally glowing filament that is used to produce light, the usual term
    • das Leuchtmittel -> "the thing that shines", no direct translation, closest would be "lamp", to describe, well, a thing that shines, independent of what is used to produce the light, usually used in technical documentation/environment

    German also has multiple other terms to describe a lot of different light bulb shapes and types. Germans can even make up completely new types of light bulbs due to the heavy use of compound words, and every other German can understand that on the fly without further explanation.

    Let me just imagine some.

    • das Bootshausseitenflutlicht -> a floodlight at the side of a boat house
    • die Dreiecksleuchte -> a lamp or light bulb in the shape of a triangle
    • das Hinterhausnachtlicht -> a night light for a part of a tenement house accessible only through a courtyard
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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    That's really cool. For whatever it's worth I was joking. I've always admired German and almost elected to learn it in highschool, but socio-geographically(an off the cuff word combination in English), learning Spanish made more sense, as there are many Spanish speakers. But I digress; thank you for explaining such a neat feature of your language to me. I also must admit that the English word is not totally dissimilar in origin; a light-bulb glows in a lamp, but an onion is a bulb in the ground, so it isn't too different from glowpears.

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