Words I Miss in English

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by 607, Oct 7, 2018.

?

Is English your first language?

Yes. 21 vote(s) 84.0%
No. 4 vote(s) 16.0%
  1. Hi, it's me again!

    This is just a quick post to list some Dutch words I wish existed in English... If anyone else has words to add, in either Dutch or another language, feel free to! :) I will add links to the English Wiktionary if available, but they often don't quite get it right because they prefer English synonyms above descriptions, and English synonyms sometimes don't exist - that's the idea of this thread. ;)

    lief (according to Wiktionary, this does exist in English, but I've never once read it, so it must be very archaic)
    gezellig
    heftig (in the emotional sense; in the other senses, English words do exist)
    overzichtelijk
    knutselen (I don't use this word a lot, but it's such a fun one!)
    boterham

    I might add more if I come across them!
  2. Definitely "overmorgen" and "eergisteren". Why oh why does English not have those... :p Overmorgen = the day after tomorrow, eergisteren = the day before yesterday.

    Also, a proper word for "kast". There are some words that cover part of it, but not one that really covers what a kast really is.

    I'm also not sure about the most used translations for "dorp": town and village. I don't think either really covers what a dorp actually is.

    And there are probably many more that I can't think of at the moment. :)

    Though English misses some words, I feel like in general it actually has many more words than for example Dutch - there are so many nice nuances in near synonyms available in the English language, that are hard or impossible to convey in Dutch - I actually personally prefer to write in English, and feel like I can usually get my point across better compared to writing it in Dutch. :p

    Oh, and Dutch misses siblings. >.<
    607 likes this.
  3. Just use 'overmorrow' and 'ereyesterday'. :p I can't even find those terms in Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary, though, so I suppose they really are quite archaic. :rolleyes:
    Ah, yes! I often have issues with that. This is a case where English has got too many nuances. Cupboard, wardrobe, closet, case... but none of them are as simple and versatile as 'kast'. :p
    I can see what you mean, but I disagree. Although... English might be easier to write in, but Dutch feels more proper to write in. ;) The main reason why I prefer Dutch is that it's got its own words for most things, instead of having copied Latin or French, as is often the case in English.
    That I certainly do agree with! It's also nice to be able to distinguish between cousins and nephews and nieces. But in English, you can't distinguish between female and male cousins, which is a drawback. :p (also note that while I doubted my 'or French' while writing the above part, I just realised that 'cousin', 'nephew' and 'niece' are all French words, altered just slightly <.<)

    Edit: Oh, and on the topic of family relations: it's 'vervelend' that English doesn't have diminutives. I want to be able to say a cousin or sibling is younger or older than me without adding 'little' or 'big', as that sounds strange, or their age, as that's often unnecessary.
    TomvanWijnen likes this.
  4. I still stand by that English has the North English slang word 'hefty', used in everyday life here, for this :(
    I concur.

    For A level history, I read a lot of laws and writings written in Old English. It took some getting used to, but everything made a bit more sense. It was closer to Frisian than modern English. It was a proper Germanic language, with some influence from Norse thanks to the English viking Kingdom of Jorvik being a thing. Once England gets its French influence from the Norman invaders who killed a bunch of English people and forced the French language on them, things got weird with Latin and French loanwords. Thankfully we fought a three-way decade long civil war to make them leave before things got weirder.

    There's also the Celtic influence on the language, which is weird, but I'll live with that. The English deserve to have their language butchered in that regard after stealing England from the Welsh 🤷‍♂️

    Edit: I wrote this on my phone and for some reason it cut my reply to Tom and replaced it with my first reply to 607. The Tom response was just saying about overmorrow and ereyesterday :p
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  5. I thought of another pretty important missing word: "laat".

    "Te laat" = "late". But what is "laat"..? >.< Usually I resort to literally (yes 607, actually literally :p) saying "the Dutch late", as I generally have no clue how to otherwise say it (and most of whomever I speak English to speaks Dutch too)... :p

    "laat" means "almost late"; "later than usual/comfortable, but not late"... For example: if a train is supposed to arrive at 8:00 and leave at 8:05, but the train only arrives at 8:04 and then still leaves at 8:05, train train would be "laat". Such a useful word that we use very often.

    Hahaha, they're probably too archaic to properly use. :p

    (1) What do you mean with "more proper"?

    (2) Hmm... I'm quite sure Dutch also uses an enormous amount of words derived from other languages. English does likely have more though, but this makes it all the more interesting in my opinion - multiple words meaning approximately the same from different origins, allow you to write more creatively, and in general many English words just sound very cool in my opinion. :p

    Oh yes that is so frustrating indeed. :/
  6. I think in this example and most others too, 'late' is fine. If the train arrived at 8:04 instead of 8 sharp, it's late.
    By the way, this is interesting: Dutch, as you've explained, has got extra nuance for being late: either 'laat' or 'te laat' (too late). However, with the opposite - being not late - it's the opposite. In English, you can either be in time, or on time. In Dutch, both are 'op tijd'. You can say 'precies op tijd' (exactly on time) to get the meaning of 'on time', but otherwise there's no distinction between 'in time' and 'on time'.

    It's a feeling I have with things. :p I also sometimes describe it as "more mathematical". Latin feels like a more proper/mathematical language than ancient Greek. Ancient Greek is beautiful, especially for poetry, but I prefer Latin by far, because it's more consistent, and more predictable. The same is true for Dutch and English. I think English is a much better language for poetry than Dutch - but I don't really care, as poetry isn't my thing. Dutch is more consistent and feels more solidly defined - of course it still is a long way from mathematics, but it's not as unpredictable as English.
    You don't at all need to agree, this is a personal preference, but I hope you understand what I mean, now. :p
    There are actually many Dutch words that seem to come straight from 'Proto-Germanic', instead of any language still existent today.
    However, I don't mind English using words like 'cousin', 'niece' and 'nephew'. I prefer the Dutch 'nicht' and 'neef' because they aren't French, but that's not a big deal. The main thing I like about Dutch here instead of English is that in Dutch most words can be understood straight away, by looking at them, and seeing that they're made up of basic Dutch words. In English, on the other hand, you'll often have to know Latin to do this.
    Here are my favourite examples:
    oppress - onderdrukken
    impress - indruk maken
    admire - bewonderen
    Sure, the Latin words sound beautiful in English. But Dutch simply makes their own words out from what they've got already.
  7. why would we have words that looks like "irdakde ekdkefoeis" in our language?
    ESSELEM likes this.
  8. Yeah I realised myself that that wasn't a great example. Say I arrive in class at 08:29:50 (ever day :D), and the second bell goes at 08:30:00. Then I'm laat, but not te laat. Late means that I'm after 08:30:00, but I'm not.

    Even after coming up with many example sentences, I don't think I really understand what difference you mean... :p Could you elaborate? :)

    That made me realise that Dutch also misses "to elaborate". >.< :p

    Hmm, I think I somewhat understand what you mean, and disagree with it being more "proper". :D

    Interesting. :)

    That difference is quite noticeable in mathematics - many English terms are "seemingly completely random but they sound oh so cool" while many Dutch terms are "somewhat logical but they sound like wood". :p

    ?
  9. dutch words look weird
    JesusPower2 likes this.
  10. I can't imagine that. The only thing I can imagine is nouns seeming very long if you aren't used to compositions. In case you don't even know the concept: in languages like Frisian, German and Dutch, nouns for one thing are almost always made up of one word, instead of a string of words with space in between. Examples: womenclothing, machinegun, carkey.
    Say you've got an appointment at the hairdresser's at 11:00. If you arrive at 10:55, you're in time. If you arrive at 11:00, you're on time. In Dutch, there is no difference between the two, both are 'op tijd'. Unless you add the extra word of 'precies op tijd'.
    Kephras likes this.
  11. I've never heard that before. :p Personally I'd use both in and on for either case. Let's ask a native: Soul (or anyone else for that matter), what do you think? :)
  12. Also, I don't think we're talking about the aestethics of words here :p We're talking about the defenitions of them :p
    I do argree any langue that you don't know looks weird, jet that's only because you don't know it. Once you've learned it, you can still see some differences (like the longer words 607 expressed) but those usually are minimal.

    I would defenetly argree Dutch is a far more precies langue. When I'm looking through dictionairies I really feel like Dutch words genually are more preciesly defenied.
    Also, I know. The main thing I tned to notice is how Dutch has its own words for mathematical consepts such as "evenwijdig" and "loodrecht" English, and most other langues have coped the Latin ones. I also found out why that is: a certain Dutch mathematician was requested to learn people maths in the early 1600's. At the time, most people did mathematics (and any other science, for that regard) in Latin, jet no one really spoke latin at the time. So, in order to learn people mathematics, here translated everything to Dutch, including all those words.
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  13. How about English words that are not recognised in English
    Outwith - outside, opposite of within

    Outwith is a word that is used commonly in Scotland, however it is a word outwith the standard English. This isn't a Scots word that has been brought into Scottish English vocabulary but a word likely created subconsciously from it's English components. It is recognised as a word used in Scottish law, but wouldn't be used in English law.
    TomvanWijnen likes this.
  14. If there's 'outside' already and 'outwith' means the same, what's the added value of it, beyond it maybe rhyming in a poem you're writing? :p
    That's strange. :p It's not even something I learnt by looking it up. :p (but you can look it up; there's also a different definition around on the internet, by the way, but that's from StackExchange)
  15. Why have within when we also have inside?

    We Scots are often referred to as warrior poets
    jjhhgg100123 and TomvanWijnen like this.
  16. I wish English had a proper equivalent of the Welsh 'hiraeth'. Somehow English picked up a liiiiitle bit of Cymraeg but didn't get this. The closest English has is homesickness but 'hiraeth' really doesn't mean that.

    I also miss Lloegyr in English. It's the Welsh word for England - it means 'the lost land'. England means 'land of the Angles'. 'England' is a big oof.

    German has 'torschlusspanik', which is basically the feeling that your life is near to its end and you regret not taking open doors that could have led to something more, or missing major milestones in your life that other people might make. I wish English had a word for it, because it's easier to say than it is describing the meaning, which is what you'd do in an English sentence involving it lol
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  17. There are more German words enveloping interesting concepts missing from English. Wanderlust and Schadenfreude come to mind.
    I'll try to do this!
  18. Wanderlust and Schadenfreude are loaned from German into English though. That counts right? :p
    607 and Kephras like this.
  19. I see you're right! The capitals even got removed in the English versions.
    But then we might as well also loan Torschlusspanik. :p
  20. Reminds me of this joke.

    The European Commission has announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union, rather than German, which was the other contender. Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had room for improvement and has therefore accepted a five-year phasing in of "Euro-English".

    In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make sivil servants jump for joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k", Which should klear up some konfusion and allow one key less on keyboards.

    There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f", making words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.

    In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e" is disgrasful.

    By the fourth yer, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

    During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and everivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer. ZE DREM VIL FINALI COM TRU!
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