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The Right Reason

23 November, 2014
Posted in: Reading etc.

Someone pointed out to me that in the romance languages, when you want to say that you are right, you say you have reason -j’ai raison, ho ragione – but that in the Germanic languages you say that you are/have right – ich habe rechts, I’m right.

I was charmed by this insight into how language makes our world view different, so, of course, I decided to tell the internet.

Can you believe how much NaBloPoMo is still left?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ken says

    26 November, 2014 at 19:44

    I always like thinking about different ways of casually saying goodbye in different cultures.
    The Americans say ‘take it easy’
    The British might say ‘take care’
    The Germans say ‘Mach’s gut’ (Do it well)
    I think we need a group of people who say ‘Don’t fuck up!’

  2. belgianwaffle says

    26 November, 2014 at 21:51

    Could the Irish fill that role?

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