• sik0fewl@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      I love a linguistics lesson, but this sentence is not actually that ambiguous.

      If the sentence was unclear, the speaker would likely clarify:

      • I saw a fox on its way to work
      • I saw a fox on my way to work
    • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Oh well, I guess its not for that market. I got it and that is really all that matters to me. I’ve heard quite a few jokes that translate badly in to English I just can accept that sometimes a joke can’t be readily translated without getting excited.

    • toynbee@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      You couldn’t construct a Chinese sentence with dual meanings? Maybe not this one, but any? I know literally no Chinese, so I can’t cite an example; but I thought completely unambiguous communication was why constructed languages like lojban exist.

      edit: In a question about grammar, I used redundant words, but I can’t think of a better replacement for “construct” in either case. I tried, though.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      I often see in manga Chinese/Korean/Japan jokes explained, because they don’t work in english. Don’t be butthurt.