"rocambolesque" expressions

[vijayjohn]

On the day of on the day of today, you have mentioned the word today, but what is it that it is that it?

Just in case anyone has trouble figuring out wtf I just did: I'm attempting a literal translation from French au jour d'aujourd'hui, tu as mentionné le mot hui, mais qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?

[Osias]

Maintenant is a mild case, but I'll always read it like it's the main lieutenant of a Star Trek ship.

[IpseDixit]

Also, how about "qu'est-ce que (c'est)" and other examples of enchaînement in French?

Go big or go home! "Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?" for "What's that?"

Italian is not as famous as French is for this phenomenon but we use some convoluted phrases too (they just look less extreme because of the pro-drop quality of Italian), some examples:

Che cos'è* che è? - what is it? (lit. what is it that it is?)

Dov'è che è? - where is it? (lit. where is it that it is?)

Quand'è che è? - when is it? (lit. when is it that it is?)

Non è che è...? - could it be [add noun/adjective]? (lit. Is it not that it is [add noun/adjective]?)

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*The interrogative pronoun for "what" is already a bit convoluted on its own since it's "che cosa" (lit. what thing) [ok, you can also say only "che" or only "cosa", but "che cosa" remains very common too].

[Car]

*The interrogative pronoun for "what" is already a bit convoluted on its own since it's "che cosa" (lit. what thing) [ok, you can also say only "che" or only "cosa", but "che cosa" remains very common too].

Funny you should bring that up because I was wondering if there are any rules when to use "che", "cosa" or "che cosa" or if you're free to choose.

[IpseDixit]

*The interrogative pronoun for "what" is already a bit convoluted on its own since it's "che cosa" (lit. what thing) [ok, you can also say only "che" or only "cosa", but "che cosa" remains very common too].

Funny you should bring that up because I was wondering if there are any rules when to use "che", "cosa" or "che cosa" or if you're free to choose.

They're perfectly interchangeable, or at least I can't think of a single instance where one (or two) of them would be ok and the other one(s) would not.

[Luís]

Same thing in Portuguese:

O que é que é isso? (lit. the what it-is that it-is that?)

[france-eesti]

In French too
Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?
What is this of this is of that? => What's that? What have you done? (When addressed to a naughty child or dog).


My Hungarian teacher, who learns French, cries at this one!

In contrary I laughed a lot at this one:

Ezek között a fák között van egy szürke farkas:
These between a trees between there is a grey wolf.

I thought having to repeat "between" twice was a joke but as long as 2 Hungarians told me it wasn't, then I guess it's not...

[IpseDixit]

In French too
Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?
What is this of this is of that? => What's that? What have you done? (When addressed to a naughty child or dog).

Yeah, that's from where the conversation began.

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Some Ladin ones:

-zircumzirca (around, about, more or less) which quite clearly comes from circum (around) + circa meaning again, around.

-scichedonca (therefore) which is made up of schiche (therefore) + donca (therefore).

-ju per anter (through), literally "down along between".

[Car]

*The interrogative pronoun for "what" is already a bit convoluted on its own since it's "che cosa" (lit. what thing) [ok, you can also say only "che" or only "cosa", but "che cosa" remains very common too].

Funny you should bring that up because I was wondering if there are any rules when to use "che", "cosa" or "che cosa" or if you're free to choose.

They're perfectly interchangeable, or at least I can't think of a single instance where one (or two) of them would be ok and the other one(s) would not.

Grazie!

One from German:
klammheimlich = on the quiet, clandestine(ly)

heimlich already means secretly, with klamm probably coming from Latin clam which already means the same thing (and is the clan in clandestine).

[Ciarán12]

Maintenant is a mild case, but I'll always read it like it's the main lieutenant of a Star Trek ship.

Makes sense - main + tenente (lieutenant)...

Same thing in Portuguese:

O que é que é isso? (lit. the what it-is that it-is that?)

Yeah, but at least the spoken language usually sorts it out into a simpler form, e.g. "O que é que você quer?" > "kékseké?". Ditto the original phrase that kicked this post off - "Go raibh maith agat" > "gormad"

[vijayjohn]

Yeah, but at least the spoken language usually sorts it out into a simpler form, e.g. "O que é que você quer?" > "kékseké?". Ditto the original phrase that kicked this post off - "Go raibh maith agat" > "gormad"

Also French qu'est-ce que c'est? -> kèskecé?

[OldBoring]

I used to write it as kèsxè?

[linguoboy]

Anyways, something that has always struck me is that English has never felt the need to shorten the phrases "the day after tomorrow" and "the day before yesterday". I propose the coinage of the words "twice-tomorrow" and "twice-yesterday".

My native Russian-speaking coworker says "aftertomorrow", which I think is charming. "Aftermorrow" would be even shorter.

I miss gestern Abend when speaking English so much I've been known to use "yestere'en". But only in writing because no one would catch the meaning in speech.

I'm sure I've been mentioned before seeing an American film dubbed into German and in the scene where one character shouts, "We got a ride!" the German version is "Wir haben eine Mitfahrgelegenheit!" I nearly fell out of my chair. (The German is something like "ride-with opportunity".)

[Homine.Sardu]

Anyways, something that has always struck me is that English has never felt the need to shorten the phrases "the day after tomorrow" and "the day before yesterday". I propose the coinage of the words "twice-tomorrow" and "twice-yesterday".

My native Russian-speaking coworker says "aftertomorrow", which I think is charming. "Aftermorrow" would be even shorter.

In Sardinian we use the same formula : pùstis cras = after tomorrow

Speaking about "rocambolesque" expressions there is another word we use as synonymous of aftertomorrow, and it's more used than "pùstis cras".
We use the term "Barigadu" which is the past participle of Barigare, derived from Varicare = to cross, to traverse, to surpass. (it's the same root of the Varcare, Valicare = to cross, to traverse, to surpass).

Example :

I go there aftertomorrow
Bi ando pùstis cras
Bi ando barigadu

[linguoboy]

Catalan demà passat "passed/past tomorrow"

[vijayjohn]

In Malayalam, we say 'the other tomorrow'.

[Kenny]

Ezek között a fák között van egy szürke farkas:
These between a trees between there is a grey wolf.

I thought having to repeat "between" twice was a joke but as long as 2 Hungarians told me it wasn't, then I guess it's not...

To be fair you don't have to, but the alternatives sounds way too sophisticated/literary/contrived even.
(E fák között van egy szürke farkas. / Ezen fák között van egy szürke farkas. / Eme fák között van egy szürke farkas.)
So yeah, you should just stick with the duplicated variety.

[france-eesti]

Köszönöm Gábor!
But to me those two "között" also look very sophisticated/literary/contrived
(what is this "E" alone at the beginning of the sentence by the way? )

[vijayjohn]

That actually looks pretty neat. What better way to express that something is between two (or more) things than to stick those things between two 'between's?

[Osias]