See, you start reading too much into grammar this way and then you learn about how Spanish uses their “to be” equivalent and have a massive existential crisis.
I’d like to tell people “soy aquí” is perfectly grammatical and means you’re identifying with a place like “I’m the Earth”. It could be figurative language or science fiction.
Does “This car is fast” mean the car is the abstract concept of having higher velocity? Does it mean the car is permanently moving fast or it has not and will not stop?
absolutely.
yes it means that.
That’s really interesting!
This will put a lot of sadness on irish dads who cannot make the “I am dad” jokes
Purge emotions, replace with a Dreadnaught level artillery cannon.
In English it is usually stated as I feel lonely or sad. Most English speakers take this for granted. They don’t think people are sad, but that they are feeling sad.
I like to use acting like when talking about negative behaviors to not define the person as a negative emotion. You are acting like a douche for instance as opposed to you are a douche.
That’s a good technique. I’m gonna steal that.
If you’re bipolar you definitely are your emotions.
We need an “iam14andthisisdeep” on Lemmy.
I’m unfortunately closer to “iam40andthisisdeep”
Stay wholesome please
I’ve seen a recent uptick in deepish thoughts. This is a prime example of that.
But, hey, if it gets you through…
“I am sad” doesn’t at all mean that sadness is my defining characteristic. It usually means sadness is a temporary state.
Non-linguists trying themselves at linguistics always often come up with pseudo facts like this.
For normal people yes, for people who lack emotional regulation, “I am sad” can be an identity because you might get stuck in it for years at a time. Decades.
I think the author here is speaking to those people more than just your average joe who could care less about the distinction between state and characteristic because they understand the difference already.
But like my depression isn’t caused by thinking “I am depressed” is my identity itscauseed by uncontrollable environmental factors. It sounds good for normal people but it won’t help the people its meant to. If you think you can fix my sadness because of my experience w discrimination in pretty much every part of my life by js changing the way I identify with sadness go ahead but like good luck is all I’m saying.
Translating, conjugating and undestanding “To Be” is always fraught with peril. :)
You obviously know nothing about language. When I say “I’m here”, what I am saying is that I now and forever identify as the grocery store parking lot we decided to meet at. And when I say “I’m running”, I am saying that I have become the very concept of speed.
I. Am. Speed.
Du. Är. FART.
It would be more correct to say “I feel sad”, but colloquially “I am sad” is used for the same thing.
Can something be more correct? Is correct not a binary option?
Is correct not a binary option?
Not when we’re talking about the English language lol
I mostly agree with you, but I do find it interesting how some languages and therefore cultures account for things like this. I saw a Sunn M’Cheaux video about it and it was super interesting!
Language does shape how we think, so it’s possible that saying it that way has a subconscious effect. I guess.
Without a doubt.
Language and how we specifically say things are huge. It’s why we are big pushing to redefine a host of things now.
We are meant to use “I feel” statements instead of indirectly blaming others with you statements. Using more specific pronouns to avoid little harms that can build up. To say more specific and less derogatory things like unhoused or inclusive things like people of color. It all adds up.
This won’t be the solution or the cure for depression but every little bit helps. If you have depression and are stuck, the making a small differentiation that you FEEL sad instead of BEING sad can be just enough to get you in gear for that day at least. That can be huge.
I read 1984 as a teen, and there’s a huge (dry) section in the middle where Orwell basically does a treatise on language and how it affects behavior, and I remember thinking it was boring and far-fetched.
Nowadays, I understand that it’s the most important aspect of the control in the novel.
Exactly.
The way we speak is so important. Think about when people throw out something like “that movie was bad”, “that restaurant sucks”. That’s making it objective. It ends the conversation. There is no room for improvement or talk at all. In their minds those things are bad and that’s the end of it.
You see this a lot in online communities, especially gaming.
If they instead said “I didn’t like x”, a conversation can be had. Now there is a chance they could like that thing if something we’re adjusted. By changing how we say something we can be open others opinions, to differences we share.
Language is powerful.
I doubt it. I’m not depressed because I use the language “I am sad/depressed/” its uncontrollable environmental factors. I imagine its similar for anyone with lasting similar conditions like anxiety etc
I’m not depressed because I use the language “I am sad/depressed/”
I didn’t really say that though did I.
But if it shapes how I think subconsciously it would’ve had an effect.
Edit: if you think the effect is negligible why mention it without adding that?
Did you even read my comment? Where did I imply I had any certainty about it whatsoever?
I wasn’t trying to start a fight, just an interesting thought that I had. Language 100% does affect our thought, whether we know it or not.
So depression is on me as well?
and horny
Definitely horny on me right now.
Fuck dom daidí
Like tar, if we peel it off your skin will come off too.
Yeah, man. You just gotta take it off like a coat. No big deal.
We really need two more disparate words for those who are anxious and have anxiety disorder.
Anxious - (e.g. “world is falling apart and I could be laid off and be homeless anytime” or “I fear strangers who approach me, what kind of scam are they pulling?”) which is a normal and accurate reaction to the world but if undesirable can be gaslit out of you via therapy. Likely very transient.
Vs.
Anxiety - a medical disorder due to neurotransmitter dysregulation treated by anti-psychotic or benzo medication. Unlikely to be solvable without professional psychiatric intervention or self-medication.
This is a combination of how the Celtic languages do possessive sentences and the very common European metaphor for “having” a feeling
Basically Irish (among with many other languages) don’t have a word for have, instead they use the phrasing “X is at Y”, where X is the thing being had and Y is the haver. This ties in with the metaphor of “having” a feeling, which can be seen in the English “I have a desire to…” or the German “Ich habe Hunger”
How do I get the sadness and anxiety offa me?!
have you tried, like, not being sad?
Are there other attributes that share the English construction?
Am I male, or do I have maleness on me?
Am I old/young, or do I have oldness/youth on me?
Am I sleepy, or do I have sleepiness on me?
Am I tall, or do I have tallness on me?
English French Literal French Spanish Literal Spanish Japanese (Sorta) Literal Japanese I’m hungry J’ai faim I have hunger Tengo hambre O Estoy hambriento/a I have hunger OR I am (temporarily) hungry Onaka ga suita Regarding stomach: empty I’m angry Je suis fâché I am angry Estoy enojado/a I am (temporarily) angry Watashi wa okotte imasu Regarding me: angry is I’m cold J’ai froid I have cold Tengo frio I have cold Samui OR Samuidesu Cold OR It’s cold I’m scared J’ai peur I have fear Estoy asustado/a I am (temporarily) scared Kowai OR Watashi wa kowaidesu Scary OR Regarding me: scared/scary is I’m brave Je suis courageux I’m brave (courageous) Soy valiente I am (permanently) brave Watashi wa yūkan’na Regarding me: brave Languages are fun. French switches between “I have” and “I am” for these sorts of things. Spanish mostly uses “I am” but it has two versions of “I am”, one that’s used generally for more permanent states of things, one that’s used for more temporary states. As a result, “I’m scared but I’m brave” uses one for the temporary condition of being scared, but one for the more permanent condition of being brave.
Japanese has its own whole system that is so different from English that it’s hard to directly translate. In japanese “wa” marks the topic of a sentence, and can often be omitted if it’s obvious. So you could just say “cold” or “brave” if it’s obvious you’re talking about yourself, or you can say “Watashi wa” which sort-of translates as “regarding me” or “about me”. The particle “wa” is something used in Japanese to mark the topic of a sentence. Japanese doesn’t have verb-person agreement, so there’s no “I am”, “you are”, “he is”. There’s instead something vaguely like “regarding me: is” If you wanted to tell someone they were brave you’d change the topic of the sentence to them and say “Anata wa yūkan’na”.
Japanese also uses the same word for “scary” and “scared” so you need contextual clues or other words to differentiate between “I am scared” vs. “I am scary”. There’s a different Japanese particle “ga” that is similar but has a narrower focus. Instead of the whole sentence being about something, it’s just the previous word. So, I’m hungry becomes “my stomach is empty” but more literally: “specifically regarding stomach: empty”.
None of this really makes any logical sense. Languages are weird, and the things that are the most commonly said are the weirdest. What does “I am hungry” really mean, that I am the very definition of hunger? That whole condition changes when you eat a sandwich? What does “I have fear” mean? I have it in a basket? Does “I feel fear” mean that I can sense its texture with my fingers? In English we mostly “are” things like hunger or fear. But, for some reason it’s “I have a feeling” Now it’s like the other European languages where feelings are something you have, not something you are.
This guy languages.
Personally, I wouldn’t use “regarding” for “ga” as you did. I think that’s more for “wa.”
How about German? Being the other main language behind the drunk hodgepodge that is English, it’s worth looking into that
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Do you know German? The “I am cold” one is interesting to me. “Mir” is German for “me” or “to me” roughly, right? So, would a rough literal translation be something like “to me it is cold”?
I tried to learn some German at some point, but I didn’t manage to learn enough to get comfortable with the various cases.
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That’s really interesting, thanks for the detailed answer. I never learned Latin. Instead I learned French and Spanish. So, I only know the descendants of Latin.
Also cool how Latin has a verb for “to be angry”, etc. English has “to anger” but that’s to make someone else angry. I wonder why languages lost that form, because it seems really useful to have a single verb for those.
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I’m pretty sure it’s called the dative experiencer, and many other languages also do something similar (sometimes using prepositions in absence of case, but the point being that the same grammar used to denote the indirect object of verbs like “give” is also used here)
Yeah, I ran out of columns. I looked at it and it’s somewhere between English and one of the Romance languages.
I’m scared but I’m brave is “Ich habe Angst, aber ich bin mutig” -> I have fear but I am brave
