Re: Do you want a French "little" or a Dutch "little"? :))

> That's how I discovered that even quantifiers don't semantically overlap
> between languages (probably quite a problem for IALists I think,
> unless you
> oblige your language to always give an exact quantity and not only an
> indication :)) ), and that the actual value of quantifiers depend on the
> language (sometimes on the person who speaks it too, but the language
> dependence is strong). And as in the case of cooking, a
> misunderstanding can be
> deadly :)) . To solve the problem between my friend and me, I
> always ask him if
> he means a French "little" or a "Dutch" little, so that I don't
> make a mistake
> and the whole thing doesn't burn to ashes :)) .
Me and my girlfriend have issues with the word "almost"... (We are both from
california, native english speakers, english our only languages) I only feel
comfortable applying the word when about 5% of anything is remaining, like
time in the month or distance in a trip or something like that. She uses the
word when as much as 45% of something is left. Classic example: we've been
together for 7 months now, and she has actually said "We've almost been
together a year now!" Our concepts of orange are also different... things i
will call orange, she will call yellow. If we end up having kids, the poor
things will be all confused...

--
Garrett Jones
http://www.alkaline.org

Replies