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You know you’re a language nerd when... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 665 of 3737 27 May 2010 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
You're in good company here...and by the way, yes, this is my relaxing study break. ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 666 of 3737 27 May 2010 at 10:03pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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| egill Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5694 days ago 418 posts - 791 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 667 of 3737 27 May 2010 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I've always personally parsed that second clause as saying all fruit flies through the air in the same manner that a banana does. That is, bananas are somehow exemplary of general fruit kinematics. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5565 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 668 of 3737 28 May 2010 at 5:59am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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...when you always have to check what language's keyboard layout is activated before you type anything.
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| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5565 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 669 of 3737 28 May 2010 at 6:55am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree. "Fruit flies like a banana" isn't a natural English sentence meaning "there are some fruit flies who are fond of a banana". "Fruit flies" without an article typically refers to fruit flies in general, and "a banana" refers to just one banana. It seems kind of odd that fruit flies in general would have a fondness for a single banana. "Fruit flies like bananas" is a perfectly natural sentence. As is "The fruit flies like this/that banana." "The fruit flies like a banana" is less natural, but I could imagine saying it ("What do the fruit flies prefer for breakfast every morning? The fruit flies like a banana.") But I would never say "Fruit flies like a banana". Edited by Levi on 28 May 2010 at 6:59am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Wise owl chick Senior Member Ecuador Joined 5316 days ago 122 posts - 137 votes Studies: English | Message 671 of 3737 28 May 2010 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
When your parents buy you a laptop, and say that it will be a Macbook Pro but for you it's not important which type as long as the keyboard's "American International" with all the possibilities for the languages' symbols. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Thaorius Diglot Groupie ArgentinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5541 days ago 40 posts - 58 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishB2 | Message 672 of 3737 28 May 2010 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
So true, I paid 120 USD for my current keyboard (the latin american model was half that)!!! Same applies to laptops, I would never buy a Dell at the local store (I get really good discounts) because they refuse to sell them with the proper keyboard. And then, they dare tell me "but you can change the layout in windows", as if the keys were in the same place!!! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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