Timeline for What is the logic behind "I am X years old"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 6, 2022 at 22:39 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | @zunojeef Of course anyone skilled in the art of conversation could tell you that the richest & most engaging dialogues entail an exchange of diverse & contrasting ideas and what has that to do with the "I am X years old" or the logic behind that? Again could you go back to the OQ and tell us what anything you've Posted helps to explain… this time at clear risk of being reported? | |
| Nov 3, 2022 at 19:04 | comment | added | zunojeef | @RobbieGoodwin Anyone skilled in the art of conversation could tell you that the richest & most engaging dialogues entail an exchange of diverse & contrasting ideas. Conversations are valuable because they promote the exploration of connections among subject matters that might at first seem unrelated. Conversations encourage people to discover new perspectives, challenge their existing knowledge & assumptions, & make unexpected realizations. If one’s goal were to stick to the narrow scope of a single topic, then something like a lecture or textbook chapter might be a more suitable format. | |
| Nov 1, 2022 at 21:14 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | @zunojeef Could you go back to the OQ and tell us what anything you've Posted helps to explain? | |
| Oct 30, 2022 at 14:10 | comment | added | zunojeef | @RobbieGoodwin You tell me. You brought it up. | |
| Oct 17, 2022 at 15:01 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | @zunojeef It's kind of you to remind me of the OE I haven't looked at for 50 years and how does any of this relate to age, or years, or being or having either? | |
| Oct 17, 2022 at 13:30 | comment | added | zunojeef | @RobbieGoodwin I'm not sure why you would doubt that "þone" means "the," since that is, in fact, what it means. Perhaps your skepticism is related to the use of the unfamiliar letter "þ" (which is called "thorn"). The OE letter "þ" is equivalent to ME "th," as in the words "the" or "those." With that in mind, perhaps it will be easier for you to accept "þone" as a determiner, alonside its ME relatives which include "the," "this" "that," "these," and "those." Side Note: Modern Icelandic still uses "þ" in its writing system, as in the words "þarna" (there) and "þorp" (village). | |
| Oct 17, 2022 at 13:07 | comment | added | zunojeef | @RobbieGoodwin However, in OE, there is more flexibility. We can translate ME "The dog bit the king" to OE using two different word orders: #1: "Se hund bit þone cyning" or #2: "þone cyning bit se hund." Sentences #1 and #2 mean the same thing, even though the word order of "se hund" (the dog) and "þone cyning" (the king) is opposite. This is because OE indicates subject vs object using grammatical case, not word order. In both #1 and #2, we know that "se hund" (the dog) is the subject due to the use of "se," and that "þone cyning" (the king) is the direct object, due to the use of "þone." | |
| Oct 17, 2022 at 12:46 | comment | added | zunojeef | @RobbieGoodwin In Old English (OE), "se" and "þone" are both definite articles for singular masculine nouns. "Se" is for the subject case. while "þone" is for the direct object case. They both translate to "the" in Modern English (ME). In the ME sentence "The dog bit the king," we know who did the biting (the dog) and who got bitten (the king) because, in ME syntax, the subject is BEFORE the verb while the object is AFTER the verb (in MOST cases). Thus, in ME "The dog bit the king," we don't have much flexibility in changing the word order without changing the meaning. (continued -->) | |
| Sep 20, 2022 at 21:49 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | @zunojeef I confess, I don't know the meaning of 'þone…' either here or in general. Logically, that would seem to mean 'the' yet somehow, I doubt that. What is the meaning of 'þone…' please? | |
| Sep 20, 2022 at 21:37 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | @zunojeef Further, how does any of that relate to the Question? | |
| Sep 20, 2022 at 20:27 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | @zunojeef If you're suggesting that in broad translation, 'se hund bit þone cyning' and 'þone cyning bit se hund' might express the same outcome "The dog bit the king…" that might work. If you're suggesting 'se hund bit þone cyning' and 'þone cyning bit se hund' are identical, then why not try to explain how, exactly? | |
| Sep 20, 2022 at 17:19 | comment | added | zunojeef | @RobbieGoodwin Old English was the language spoken in England from about 500-1100 AD. In Old English, "se hund bit þone cyning" and "þone cyning bit se hund" both meant "The dog bit the king," despite different word orders. The inflections on "se hund" ("the dog," marked as a subject) and "þone cyning" ("the king," marked as a direct object) made the meaning clear with either order, so word order was flexible. Modern English is less flexible: you can't switch the order from "The dog bit the king" to "The king bit the dog" without changing the meaning. Same for "Cats chase mice." | |
| Jul 18, 2022 at 20:44 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | @zunojeef That might depend on your definition of "Old English" and I suggest that generally, inflected languages are less, not more flexible… which is a major reason for inflection. How could "Cats chase mice" vs "Mice chase cats" ever come into this, particularly as an example of anything? If you can find any Germanic language as flexible as modern English, why not list it and provide three or four examples? | |
| Jul 17, 2022 at 23:11 | comment | added | zunojeef | Old English actually had a more flexible word order than Modern English does. Old English was much more inflected, and so (for example) the subject versus object of a verb would be indicated by the inflections on those nouns. Thus, various orders of subject, verb, and object were allowed, because the meaning was still clear. In contrast, Modern English has lost most of those inflections, so it relies much more on word order to indicate grammatical function (e.g., "Cats chase mice" vs. "Mice chase cats"). | |
| Jul 17, 2022 at 7:42 | comment | added | David Hammen | When it comes to cooking steaks, there is a vast difference between "that was done well" (typically meaning medium rare to medium) versus "that was well done" (cooked to the point of being overcooked). | |
| Jul 16, 2022 at 23:58 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | and there you go… | |
| Jul 16, 2022 at 23:43 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | French people can (and do) say e.g.'je suis agé de 21 ans'. | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 20:53 | history | answered | Robbie Goodwin | CC BY-SA 4.0 |