• @[email protected]
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    2814 days ago

    In Czech we call it “vrtulník” (propeller thing), which I find kinda hilarious now that I think about it.

    • @[email protected]
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      1514 days ago

      The german word for aeroplane is similar, “Flugzeug” directly translates to “flying thing”. Helicopter is also fun, “Hubschrauber” translates to “lifting screwer”.

        • @[email protected]
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          514 days ago

          I guess for “Flugzeug”, ‘device’ works better but I don’t think I have ever thought about it in that way. From my experience usage usually goes more like this: “Pack dein Zeug zusammen wir gehen weiter.” which I think best translates to ‘Stuff’ or ‘things’. Zeug is an interesting word though. It is also used for the harness of a draft animal (“sich ins Zeug legen”), it’s bridle (“Zaumzeug”), bed linen (“Bettzeug”), work tools (“Werkzeug”) , or as a word for nonsense (“red kein dummes Zeug”). I would say it started, as you said, as a word for device but became a slightly negative word for ‘Stuff’.

      • @[email protected]
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        13 days ago

        Now I am curious as to what the Chinese characters in their word for helicopter mean, since panda is “bear cat,” owl is “cat headed eagle,” and peacock is “thunder chicken,” IIRC.

    • @[email protected]
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      1014 days ago

      It’s actually a play on Latin: “arker” as a bastardization of “Arachne” meaning spider + “peterp” which roughly translates to “exceptional person”

  • Justas🇱🇹
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    1014 days ago

    In Lithuanian, we escaped the madness by making up our own name for it:

    Sraigtasparnis = sraigtas (cog) + sparnas (wing)

    Not to be confused with the word for autogyro:

    Malūnsparnis = malūnas (mill) + sparnas (wing)

    Which is not interesting unless you are writing some alternate history with aircraft in it and want to call them something with no Greek or Latin.

  • qevlarr
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    714 days ago

    This is my favorite fun fact to tell. Please don’t spread the word too far or it stops being amazing

  • @[email protected]
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    14 days ago

    I dont get it. Is this read from left to right or from right to left? Manga typically reads from right to left, but judging from her reaction neither makes sense… She is not making a “wha-” expression, which indicates that it came before, but she is already turning her head, which indicates that it it came after. WHAT.

      • @[email protected]
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        214 days ago

        Yes almost perfect, but she is already turning her head in 2nd panel, but in 3rd panel she is looking in front of her. Perhaps copy pasting the 4th panel onto the 3rd but removing the text bubble. But then again, how does the original even work? It’s flawed…incurable…better we stop now.

    • @[email protected]
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      414 days ago

      Yeah, the comic adds absolutely nothing to this very tired “fun fact”, it’s not a successful meme format at all imo.

      • @[email protected]
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        114 days ago

        But her reaction on the last big panel is more in line with her initial surprise to what she said, not the shocked reaction after having said wha-

        • @[email protected]
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          14 days ago

          I think the intended idea was that she freezes mid-sentence in shock after fully comprehending what was said. Shrunken iris, mouth half open… I personally think the reaction makes sense.

  • @[email protected]
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    212 days ago

    See also “ornitho” (relating to birds) and “pter” (wing) creating the term ornithopter for a heavier than air vehicle that flies by flapping its wings. Famously seen in Dune, but I think also back in the day people actually tried to make them, long before aircraft existed.