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Osias wrote:I think lots of things I would say 'aquele negocinho'.
Ciarán12 wrote:Osias wrote:I think lots of things I would say 'aquele negocinho'.
This. Most used word in my Portuguese vocabulary: "negócio". Most used phrase "aquele...como se chama aquele negócio que se usa pra..." quickly followed by "ah tá, brigado, vou botar na minha lista..."
linguoboy wrote:Ciarán12 wrote:Osias wrote:I think lots of things I would say 'aquele negocinho'.
This. Most used word in my Portuguese vocabulary: "negócio". Most used phrase "aquele...como se chama aquele negócio que se usa pra..." quickly followed by "ah tá, brigado, vou botar na minha lista..."
Interesting! Louisiana French uses affaire in the sense of "thing" (which I found odd until I realised that the sense development of English thing is "legal assembly" > "issue discussed at an assembly; legal matter" > "issue, anything abstract" > "anything abstract or concrete").
linguoboy wrote:Ciarán12 wrote:Osias wrote:I think lots of things I would say 'aquele negocinho'.
This. Most used word in my Portuguese vocabulary: "negócio". Most used phrase "aquele...como se chama aquele negócio que se usa pra..." quickly followed by "ah tá, brigado, vou botar na minha lista..."
Interesting! Louisiana French uses affaire in the sense of "thing" (which I found odd until I realised that the sense development of English thing is "legal assembly" > "issue discussed at an assembly; legal matter" > "issue, anything abstract" > "anything abstract or concrete").
Ciarán12 wrote:Interesting also that "business" (the other meaning of negócio (and affaire, if my French hasn't failed me completely, which it could well have)) can also be used in a similar sense in English - "I'm not sure what this business about some party being held here is...", "What's all this business... [points at a bunch of stuff]". Even "affair" in English is used similarly enough.
linguoboy wrote:This might be a Leftpondian/Rightpondian difference. IMD I can't use "business" or "affair" generically to refer to concrete objects, only abstractions.
Ciarán12 wrote:Indeed. To be clear, "affair" can only be abstract for me also, and "business" referring to a concrete object (actually, only to a confused mass of concrete objects) is not common, but is possible IMD.
linguoboy wrote:Eat business and die!
Antea wrote:In Spanish, when we don’t know the name for a thing, we say “esa cosa”. In French, « ce truc / ce machin ». Dans certains contextes, on utilise aussi « le schmilblick »
vijayjohn wrote:linguoboy wrote:Eat business and die!
OldBoring wrote:In Mandarin nigga dong dong
linguoboy wrote:"Eat business and die!"
Vlürch wrote:Informally in Finnish (puhekieli), if you wanted to describe something in order to ask what it's called, you'd say something like "se juttu" and then describe what it's used for. For exampe, "se juttu millä putsataan korvia mut mitä ei oikeesti sais työntää korvaan" ("the thing that's used to clean ears but that shouldn't actually be put inside an ear") for vanupuikko (cotton swab).
No idea how you'd do that in kirjakieli... you probably wouldn't.
Naava's post about cows squirting milk at you (generic you).
Ciarán12 wrote:Antea wrote:In Spanish, when we don’t know the name for a thing, we say “esa cosa”. In French, « ce truc / ce machin ». Dans certains contextes, on utilise aussi « le schmilblick »
Hmm, in Portuguese the "standard" word for thing is coisa (obviously the cognate of "cosa"). Do you not have another word? I presume you can't use "negocio"?
OldBoring wrote:In Mandarin nigga dong dong
Caramba!
Ciarán12 wrote:Hmm, in Portuguese the "standard" word for thing is coisa (obviously the cognate of "cosa"). Do you not have another word? I presume you can't use "negocio"?
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