Til : Pterodacrylus and helicopter share a linguistic ancestry
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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Wait before you hear about the helicopterodactylus.
Ah yes, bane of the T-🦕
And so do mastodon and mastectomy (not a joke).
Son of a bitch...
ROFLPTER
In Czech we call it "vrtulník" (propeller thing), which I find kinda hilarious now that I think about it.
The german word for aeroplane is similar, "Flugzeug" directly translates to "flying thing". Helicopter is also fun, "Hubschrauber" translates to "lifting screwer".
I don't think it means "thing", but rather "Gerät" as in 2 c):
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Zeug
It evolved from a word for "pulling"
I guess for "Flugzeug", 'device' works better but I don't think I have ever thought about it in that way. From my experience usage usually goes more like this: "Pack dein Zeug zusammen wir gehen weiter." which I think best translates to 'Stuff' or 'things'. Zeug is an interesting word though. It is also used for the harness of a draft animal ("sich ins Zeug legen"), it's bridle ("Zaumzeug"), bed linen ("Bettzeug"), work tools ("Werkzeug") , or as a word for nonsense ("red kein dummes Zeug"). I would say it started, as you said, as a word for device but became a slightly negative word for 'Stuff'.
Now I am curious as to what the Chinese characters in their word for helicopter mean, since panda is "bear cat," owl is "cat headed eagle," and peacock is "thunder chicken," IIRC.
Pter Prker, the amazing Spderman
It's actually a play on Latin: "arker" as a bastardization of "Arachne" meaning spider + "peterp" which roughly translates to "exceptional person"
So it should be quadpter then
Considering pteron is greek and quad is latin, it should probably have been tetrapter. Which actually rolls off the tongue better.
Plus sounds like a dinosaur
Sounds like 4 dinosaurs
Tetraptor would sound like a dinosaur, but tetrapter doesn't.
Then the Pis silent and we've all been saying it wrong this whole time.
Helicotter
Helico-ter
Hello cooter
Helricotta
Nah, englishers just lack the skill.
In greek, the p is loud in pterodactyl and psychology.
Saiki for psyche, psh, that's 1/6 letters read correctly. Or with greek letters, that's 0/4 (ψυχή).
It's a more subtle P sound though, blended into the next consonant. Omitting it is the lesser of two evils compared to saying "putterodactyl"
It's possible in cleptomaniac, empty and top tier without adding an extra vowel.
I don't believe in silent letters!
Yeah like pterodactyl
Joyful types go helicopterodactyl.
Spiraling wind finger?
Is that from Naruto?
Nah, Sailor Moon had something like that
Or Archeopterix!
In Lithuanian, we escaped the madness by making up our own name for it:
Sraigtasparnis = sraigtas (cog) + sparnas (wing)
Not to be confused with the word for autogyro:
Malūnsparnis = malūnas (mill) + sparnas (wing)
Which is not interesting unless you are writing some alternate history with aircraft in it and want to call them something with no Greek or Latin.
Pter the horse is here.
Bottom text
This is my favorite fun fact to tell. Please don't spread the word too far or it stops being amazing
I dont get it. Is this read from left to right or from right to left? Manga typically reads from right to left, but judging from her reaction neither makes sense... She is not making a "wha-" expression, which indicates that it came before, but she is already turning her head, which indicates that it it came after. WHAT.
Yes almost perfect, but she is already turning her head in 2nd panel, but in 3rd panel she is looking in front of her. Perhaps copy pasting the 4th panel onto the 3rd but removing the text bubble. But then again, how does the original even work? It's flawed...incurable...better we stop now.
Left to right. The two big panels are the first and last panels respectively.
But her reaction on the last big panel is more in line with her initial surprise to what she said, not the shocked reaction after having said wha-
I think the intended idea was that she freezes mid-sentence in shock after fully comprehending what was said. Shrunken iris, mouth half open... I personally think the reaction makes sense.
Yeah, the comic adds absolutely nothing to this very tired "fun fact", it's not a successful meme format at all imo.
See also "ornitho" (relating to birds) and "pter" (wing) creating the term ornithopter for a heavier than air vehicle that flies by flapping its wings. Famously seen in Dune, but I think also back in the day people actually tried to make them, long before aircraft existed.
Yeah that's mad
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