The official language thread

Off-topic
1126

I’d even say it’s all right now!
So let’s move before they raise the parking rate

:point_up: one of the best lines ever

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1127

Okay then, I´m gonna ride on, looking for a truck.

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1128

Take me home, country roads

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1129

Or hitch a ride on a river boat queen

1130

Learn German for 1 Dollar! Or Italian. Or Spanish. Or Frensh:

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1131

Or Englich? :innocent:

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1132

Yesh! :crazy_face:

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1133

Turns out my wife doesn’t like it when I speak “Spanish” by speaking French with a few minor changes, like /s/ where the French say /z/ and /e/ when they say /ə/. (E.g., quatorze = kah-tor-seh and imo the principle works reasonably well but of course it doesn’t take you very far.)

1134

You mean “too” :face_with_monocle:

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1135

Either way? :wink:

1136

Yes… even David Fox recommends it.
(By the way, I just checked with Google translator, and the sentence is correctly translated in Italian… what am I missing?)

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1137

Don’t trust Google? :thinking:

1138

Of course, I just checked after Sushi’s remark :grin:

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1139

The word either generally means something closer to or, but it can mean something like “both of the two” as well. It’s probably just related to the way certain idiomatic expressions are built up.

I don’t know either = you don’t know and neither do I. Both of us don’t know.

I don’t know too = not a thing you say. Sorry. :wink:

There’s an exception for either, that you use it in the negative where you might expect too. You could say:

  • David Fox doesn’t know it either.

And you can also say:

  • David Fox knows it too/as well.

But not:

  • David Fox knows it either.

What does work both ways:

  • David Fox also knows it.
  • David Fox also doesn’t know it.
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1140

Thank you very much for the clarification!

1141

Is more correct:

  • I’m smelling a perfume
  • I smell a perfume
    … or both are used?
1142

“I smell a perfume” is probably almost always correct.

It’s more difficult to think of a context where “smelling” would be appropriate. Perhaps:

“What are you doing?”
“I’m smelling a perfume. I’m detecting hints of cinnamon and citrus fruits.”

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1143

I was surprised that Google translated the German “konkret” with “concrete”. I’ve learned that “concrete” is the stuff you are building a house or a skyscraper from. But dict.cc says that “concrete” is also used in the meaning of “specific” and thus the German “konkret”.

So my question to all native speakers: Is “concrete” actually (often) used in the meaning of “specific/definite”?

1144

In italian, concreto is used in the meaning of definite, real, specific.
Rarely with the material used to build a house.

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1145

There is concrete evidence online. We get concrete results Googling ‘concrete’ plus another word that could be used with ‘real’ or ‘tangible’.

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