Things English lacks.

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: maziwanka
english is actually one of the most expressive languages out there. there's like 50 billion ways to say things

Indeed. it easily has the most words of any language, but it definitely lacks in certain descriptions found in other languages.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: thecrecarc

Originally posted by: Auryg
The whole 'eskimos have 20 different words for snow.

Quite confident that is a myth, although I'm not sure on the adjectives thing.

I believe you're right. I think they have 3 or 5 words.

Inkituk? (I think the Inuit language), is officially dead, though. The last native speaker died a year or two ago at 102 or so. There is this American linguist that was/is compiling the first dictionary of the language, however--mostly based on her knowledge.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: thecrecarc
Overall, I think English is a great language. However, I often notice that there is a strange lack of words when I want to say something.
One of the major ones I notice is a lack of the plural form of "you". It often seems incorrect to use "we" or "us" or "they". Instead, there is this awkward "You guys" or "Y'all" or some other strange stop-gap measure. I believe we as ATOT should finally formalize a form of "you plural" for English.
Another missing component is the lack of a genderless human pronoun. Sure, we have "it", but it symbolizes more of an inanimate object, a distant cold pronoun. However, if we are referring to an actual person, but one whose gender is unknown, it seems wrong to use "it.

Are there any other "missing" components of English?

Edited for grammar Nazis.

English used to have a plural form of "you". It only dropped out of common use about 200 years ago. I wonder why.

That's why southerners use "ya'll".

GAH!!! it's "Y'ALL."

wtf is "YA" supposed to be short for? Don't you people know how to use a fucking apostrophe??? GAhHHHHH!!!!!!

you + all = y'all

ya'll = ya.... + ll? .....wtf is that??????????????

i was thinking about responding to that as well.


in pittsburghese, the plural of you is "yinz" or "yinz guys".

example: "yinz guys goin' dahntahn ta see da stillers play da bungles, n'at?"

or "ima have anudder ahrn city. yinz want one?"

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
English needs umlauts.

ENGLISH SHOULD BE FUCKING METAL!

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: PottedMeat

Originally posted by: lxskllr
English needs umlauts.

ENGLISH SHOULD BE FUCKING METAL!

:^D

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: thecrecarc
Overall, I think English is a great language. However, I often notice that there is a strange lack of words when I want to say something.
One of the major ones I notice is a lack of the plural form of "you". It often seems incorrect to use "we" or "us" or "they". Instead, there is this awkward "You guys" or "Y'all" or some other strange stop-gap measure. I believe we as ATOT should finally formalize a form of "you plural" for English.
Another missing component is the lack of a genderless human pronoun. Sure, we have "it", but it symbolizes more of an inanimate object, a distant cold pronoun. However, if we are referring to an actual person, but one whose gender is unknown, it seems wrong to use "it.

Are there any other "missing" components of English?

Edited for grammar Nazis.

The word "you" can be either singular or plural depending on context; it can also be specific to a person or group or it can be general (as in the phrase, "if you were installing a ceiling fan, you would want to turn off the electricity first"). In essence, English does have a plural form of "you" and the plural form is also "you", much like the plural form of "fish" is also "fish".

Of course, if you're from Pittsburgh, the plural form of "you" is "yinz". 😉

Regarding a genderless pronoun, all proper English teachers will teach that when referring to a person of unknown or unspecified gender the masculine pronoun is used. There is no functional advantage to adding an additional word to play the role of a genderless singular pronoun which leaves political correctness as the only possible motivation for such a change. To my mind this is not in any way sufficient justification.

ZV

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
#2: They, what's wrong with that? If they is wrong, I don't want to be right.

"They" is plural, not singular, and should never, under any circumstances, be used to describe a singular person of unknown gender.

ZV

 

[surfsatwerk]

What English really lacks is one word to express, "If you don't like it you can git out!"

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: thecrecarc

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Having grown up in Minnesota, English is seriously lacking in words to describe different types of snow.

From Minnesota as well, and I agree with this completely.


Also, this is not a thread about grammar, but missing words and phrases. Take your pointless arbitrary and often forgotten rules elsewhere.

Double agree, I have noticed that we have different types of snow too, but no way to describe it.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: dbk
In Korean, you have a complete set of words to use when you're speaking to someone with respect (teachers, parents, police, older folk, etc) - goes beyond saying please, yes maam, etc. Hard for non-Koreans to understand.

they do this in German too.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: dbk
In Korean, you have a complete set of words to use when you're speaking to someone with respect (teachers, parents, police, older folk, etc) - goes beyond saying please, yes maam, etc. Hard for non-Koreans to understand.

they do this in German too.

Not nearly to the extent that Asian languages do. German essentially just has "Sie" as the respectful pronoun whereas Asian languages will have specific pronouns for everyone from a police officer to a teacher to their great grandfather's employer's son's cousin (OK, I'm exaggerating a little on this last example, but the point remains valid).

ZV

 

[dullard]

This whole thread is wrong. There are plural forms of 'you'.

1) The singular form of 'you' is 'you'. As in, "I like you, Thecrecarc".
2) The plural form of the pronoun 'you' is 'you'. As in, "I like you, Anandtech posters".
3) The plural form of the noun 'you' is 'yous'. But, this really isn't used much by anyone.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: lyssword

Originally posted by: thecrecarc

Originally posted by: lyssword

Originally posted by: AreaCode707
My brother in law tells me we're missing a word for the color orange. "There's orange, and then there's THIS color." (He points at another, differently shaded orange object.) He's a Russian speaker and they are two distinct colors in Russian apparently.

Gold, darkorange? Peach? gold? Maybe he meant brown? I Don't remember different color for orange (I grew up speaking Russian) but there is for light-blue.

Many languages do not have a clear distinction between blue, green, and sometimes black.

Ok, I found something, the color is probably "rizhiy" which is the color of a fox or orange color cat. Here's a quote I googled about this color:

"There are adjectives in Russian that do not exist in English and vice versa. I couldn't tell you what color my dog is, because there is no word for "Rizhiy" in English. The best I can come up with is "rust" - which isn't a word for color - or "reddish-brown." The way we talk defines how we think on a basic level."

That's interesting because when I was in China, they didn't really have a word for the color orange at all. They just called it either yellow or red depending on how light or dark it was. Also found an interesting article on Everything2 describing this. Text

I also noticed when I was there that a lot of things are called "red" when we don't think of them that way. Brown sugar is called red sugar. Black tea is called red tea. I think China just has a very long history of the color red being the "best" color, and that's certainly encouraged by the Communist government as well.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: thecrecarc

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Having grown up in Minnesota, English is seriously lacking in words to describe different types of snow.

From Minnesota as well, and I agree with this completely.


Also, this is not a thread about grammar, but missing words and phrases. Take your pointless arbitrary and often forgotten rules elsewhere.

Double agree, I have noticed that we have different types of snow too, but no way to describe it.

So everything with a slight variation should have it's own word now? What about all the different kinds of sunshine? Sure, it could be clear, overcast, cloudy, but what about the mixture of sunshine and rain that's warm? What about sunshine and rain that's cold? What about sunshine with no breeze? What about sunshine with 100mph winds? What about sunshine with an eastern breeze? What about sunshine on a clear summer day versus sunshine on a clear winter day?

Just because you live in a place with snow doesn't mean it makes any sense to change the language or add new words. Just call it snow and get over it.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

english lacks words to express emotions. For instance how to describe different levels of love.

ALSO english lacks descriptions for various smells. Most of the ways we describe smell is in refrence to taste. The only one I can think of the that is not related to taste is "Putrid".

 

[JJ650]

Originally posted by: FuzzyDunlop
english lacks words to express emotions. For instance how to describe different levels of love.

ALSO english lacks descriptions for various smells. Most of the ways we describe smell is in refrence to taste. The only one I can think of the that is not related to taste is "Putrid".

????

Adulation, affection, sentiment, flame.....the list goes on.



Musty, Musky, dank, fishy, etc. Most of the time the sense and taste and smell go hand in hand so naturally smells and taste words would coincide.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: thecrecarc
Overall, I think English is a great language. However, I often notice that there is a strange lack of words when I want to say something.
One of the major ones I notice is a lack of the plural form of "you". It often seems incorrect to use "we" or "us" or "they". Instead, there is this awkward "You guys" or "Y'all" or some other strange stop-gap measure. I believe we as ATOT should finally formalize a form of "you plural" for English.
Another missing component is the lack of a genderless human pronoun. Sure, we have "it", but it symbolizes more of an inanimate object, a distant cold pronoun. However, if we are referring to an actual person, but one whose gender is unknown, it seems wrong to use "it.

Are there any other "missing" components of English?

Edited for grammar Nazis.

the second person plural was you. the singular was thou.

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: dbk
In Korean, you have a complete set of words to use when you're speaking to someone with respect (teachers, parents, police, older folk, etc) - goes beyond saying please, yes maam, etc. Hard for non-Koreans to understand.

they do this in German too.

Not nearly to the extent that Asian languages do. German essentially just has "Sie" as the respectful pronoun whereas Asian languages will have specific pronouns for everyone from a police officer to a teacher to their great grandfather's employer's son's cousin (OK, I'm exaggerating a little on this last example, but the point remains valid).

ZV

and we got rid of all that formalism when the kings were speaking french, because all that formalism sucked.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
What do you call the hated snow that sounds like breaking styrofoam when you walk on it?
What do you call the kind of snow that has a crust which resists breaking for a millisecond before you break through?
What do you call the type of frost that looks like individual crystals glued to whatever it stuck on?
What do you call the kind of snow stuck on vertical walls?

1. frozen snow
2. frozen ice on top of snow
3. deep frost
4. sticky/wet snow.

Also:
You can be either plural or singular.
"One" is the term used to refer to a genderless human.
Rust can be used as a color (#B7410E).

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
Yous guys

this

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: skace
"One" is the term used to refer to a genderless human.

Nitpicking here, but that only works in the second person (like "you"). There is no third-person, singular, gender-neutral personal pronoun in the English language. "One" is singular and gender-neutral, but it is second-person. "He" and "she" are third-person and singular but not gender-neutral. "They" is plural. And "it" is not personal.

EDIT: Nevermind, "one" is not second person, it is third person, but it is generally considered too formal to use in many circumstances. Then again, if it's informal, you may as well use "they" even though it's plural.

EDIT 2: Also, "one" isn't interchangeable with "he" or "she." It can't be used to refer to a specific person. If someone says to you, "I just got a new roommate," you can't say "What does one do for a living?" You also can't say "what does it do for a living?" So you're stuck. "What do they do for a living?" is plural, and "What does he or she do for a living?" is correct but clumsy.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: Auryg

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Having grown up in Minnesota, English is seriously lacking in words to describe different types of snow.

Snow
Heavy Snow
Light Snow
Flurries
Wet Snow
Snow that's good for making snowballs
Sleet
Slush
A lot other I'm not listing
We've got plenty, as I write from Duluth 😛


The whole 'eskimos have 20 different words for snow' thing is just because of the way their language is set up. Adjectives are sort of combined with the nouns, as far as I understand it (which isn't very far).

Actually, it's the Inuit, and they have over 50 phrases.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: thecrecarc

Another missing component is the lack of a genderless human pronoun. Sure, we have "it", but it symbolizes more of an inanimate object, a distant cold pronoun. However, if we are referring to an actual person, but one whose gender is unknown, it seems wrong to use "it.

That's why you would use "they." Are you new to English?

Incorrect. "They" is a collective term, referring to a group of people.

It is used as a genderless pronoun only because we do not have a proper genderless pronoun (and I agree, "it" is insufficient - you can't just objectify individuals).

 

[acheron]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
#2: They, what's wrong with that? If they is wrong, I don't want to be right.

"They" is plural, not singular, and should never, under any circumstances, be used to describe a singular person of unknown gender.

ZV

Unless you're Shakepeare, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, etc.

Singular "they" has been around a long time. Hell, frakking Chaucer used it. Saying it is wrong is, well, wrong.

http://motivatedgrammar.wordpr...asons-why-its-correct/

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: thecrecarc
Overall, I think English is a great language. However, I often notice that there is a strange lack of words when I want to say something.
One of the major ones I notice is a lack of the plural form of "you". It often seems incorrect to use "we" or "us" or "they". Instead, there is this awkward "You guys" or "Y'all" or some other strange stop-gap measure. I believe we as ATOT should finally formalize a form of "you plural" for English.
Another missing component is the lack of a genderless human pronoun. Sure, we have "it", but it symbolizes more of an inanimate object, a distant cold pronoun. However, if we are referring to an actual person, but one whose gender is unknown, it seems wrong to use "it.

Are there any other "missing" components of English?

Edited for grammar Nazis.

English used to have a plural form of "you". It only dropped out of common use about 200 years ago. I wonder why.

That's why southerners use "ya'll".

and joisey bois use "yous". if they are talking to a group they say yous, if its just a person its you. at least thats how ive noticed from the people i knew from jersey.

and there are very descriptive names for all shades of colors. just pop open a 96 crayon box and start reading. orange can range from burnt umber all the way to yellow-orange. they are very descriptive to me.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: blinky8225

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: dbk
In Korean, you have a complete set of words to use when you're speaking to someone with respect (teachers, parents, police, older folk, etc) - goes beyond saying please, yes maam, etc. Hard for non-Koreans to understand.

same with Spanish. Tú - Usted

Well it's probably more extensive than just two words in Korean. In Vietnamese you have several depending on the degree of respect, which usually is related to age.

Here are just a few for example: Em, Anh, Ch?, Cháu, Chú, Bác, Cô, C?u, Ông, Bà, B?n, etc.

Those are just some off the top of my head. Surely I'm missing some. To add to the confusion, many of them can be used as "I" as well as "You."

using the polite style changes every verb, not just adding an usted. its very subtle most of the time, but if people care and are listening for it, they will bash ya for it.