"I am sad" doesn't at all mean that sadness is my defining characteristic. It usually means sadness is a temporary state.

Non-linguists trying themselves at linguistics always often come up with pseudo facts like this.

We need an "iam14andthisisdeep" on Lemmy.

Spanish is somewhat similar. Scared isn’t something you are, it’s something you have (tengo miedo, lit. ‘I have fear’). Emotions are also ‘put on you’ instead of making you a certain way. Ex: me puso feliz translates as ‘it made me happy,’ but literally is ‘it put happiness on me.’

| English | French | Literal French | Spanish | Literal Spanish | Japanese | (Sorta) Literal Japanese | |

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| | I'm hungry | J'ai faim | I have hunger | Tengo hambre O Estoy hambriento/a | I have hunger OR I am (temporarily) hungry | Onaka ga suita | Regarding stomach: empty | | I'm angry | Je suis fâché | I am angry | Estoy enojado/a | I am (temporarily) angry | Watashi wa okotte imasu | Regarding me: angry is | | I'm cold | J'ai froid | I have cold | Tengo frio | I have cold | Samui OR Samuidesu | Cold OR It's cold | | I'm scared | J'ai peur | I have fear | Estoy asustado/a | I am (temporarily) scared | Kowai OR Watashi wa kowaidesu | Scary OR Regarding me: scared/scary is | | I'm brave | Je suis courageux | I'm brave (courageous) | Soy valiente | I am (permanently) brave | Watashi wa yūkan'na | Regarding me: brave |

Languages are fun. French switches between "I have" and "I am" for these sorts of things. Spanish mostly uses "I am" but it has two versions of "I am", one that's used generally for more permanent states of things, one that's used for more temporary states. As a result, "I'm scared but I'm brave" uses one for the temporary condition of being scared, but one for the more permanent condition of being brave.

Japanese has its own whole system that is so different from English that it's hard to directly translate. In japanese "wa" marks the topic of a sentence, and can often be omitted if it's obvious. So you could just say "cold" or "brave" if it's obvious you're talking about yourself, or you can say "Watashi wa" which sort-of translates as "regarding me" or "about me". The particle "wa" is something used in Japanese to mark the topic of a sentence. Japanese doesn't have verb-person agreement, so there's no "I am", "you are", "he is". There's instead something vaguely like "regarding me: is" If you wanted to tell someone they were brave you'd change the topic of the sentence to them and say "Anata wa yūkan'na".

Japanese also uses the same word for "scary" and "scared" so you need contextual clues or other words to differentiate between "I am scared" vs. "I am scary". There's a different Japanese particle "ga" that is similar but has a narrower focus. Instead of the whole sentence being about something, it's just the previous word. So, I'm hungry becomes "my stomach is empty" but more literally: "specifically regarding stomach: empty".

None of this really makes any logical sense. Languages are weird, and the things that are the most commonly said are the weirdest. What does "I am hungry" really mean, that I am the very definition of hunger? That whole condition changes when you eat a sandwich? What does "I have fear" mean? I have it in a basket? Does "I feel fear" mean that I can sense its texture with my fingers? In English we mostly "are" things like hunger or fear. But, for some reason it's "I have a feeling" Now it's like the other European languages where feelings are something you have, not something you are.

Yeah we have that in English, too. We use the word “feel”. 🙄

In English it is usually stated as I feel lonely or sad. Most English speakers take this for granted. They don't think people are sad, but that they are feeling sad.

I like to use acting like when talking about negative behaviors to not define the person as a negative emotion. You are acting like a douche for instance as opposed to you are a douche.

This is a combination of how the Celtic languages do possessive sentences and the very common European metaphor for "having" a feeling

Basically Irish (among with many other languages) don't have a word for have, instead they use the phrasing "X is at Y", where X is the thing being had and Y is the haver. This ties in with the metaphor of "having" a feeling, which can be seen in the English "I have a desire to..." or the German "Ich habe Hunger"

Does "This car is fast" mean the car is the abstract concept of having higher velocity? Does it mean the car is permanently moving fast or it has not and will not stop?

This is one of those things where it's not that deep.

See, you start reading too much into grammar this way and then you learn about how Spanish uses their "to be" equivalent and have a massive existential crisis.

Even beyond just emotions, in Portuguese the "be" verb can be translated into two different verbs: "ser" and "estar". They are two complete separate things - so separate that English classes kinda turned the "to be" verb into a meme due to how long it takes to teach Portuguese speakers to use it and understand what it means in each sentence.

"Ser": to be someone who is something. Usually more permanent, but not necessarily.

"Estar": to be in the state of something. Usually more temporary, but also applies to permanent states.

Some examples showing how the meaning of some expressions change depending on which verb you use:

You are sick "Ser": you are a sick (twisted/evil) person. "Estar": you have caught some sickness.

You are sad "Ser": life has made you sad in general. "Estar": you're feeling sad right now.

You are beautiful: "Ser": you are a beautiful person. "Estar": you are looking great today.

You're good at this: "Ser": literal, you're good at this. "Estar": implies being good is not the default but you have reached the point of being good at this.

**you're funny drunk": "Ser": when you're drunk you are funny. "Estar": you are drunk now and this time you turned out to be funny while drunk. Or, in this point of your life you're funny when you're drunk.

it's cold there: "Ser": that is a cold place. "Estar": that place is cold right now.

it's cold there now "Ser": it's like saying that winters in that place used to be mild but nowadays winter there can get pretty cold "Estar": that place is cold right now.

So depression is on me as well?

We really need two more disparate words for those who are anxious and have anxiety disorder.

Anxious - (e.g. "world is falling apart and I could be laid off and be homeless anytime" or "I fear strangers who approach me, what kind of scam are they pulling?") which is a normal and accurate reaction to the world but if undesirable can be gaslit out of you via therapy. Likely very transient.

Vs.

Anxiety - a medical disorder due to neurotransmitter dysregulation treated by anti-psychotic or benzo medication. Unlikely to be solvable without professional psychiatric intervention or self-medication.

How do I get the sadness and anxiety offa me?!

Purge emotions, replace with a Dreadnaught level artillery cannon.

The same language rules are used for control/ownership of objects as well. A book is on you, (or with you), as is your car and your clothes.

That said, the concepts in english aren't foreign or lost in translation. When the language became more than a tool for people to communicate, miscommunications start happening.

If you're bipolar you definitely are your emotions.

lol no? we say "i am sad", not "i am sadness". that'd be weird.

The English word depressed comes from Latin roots and means pushed down. An old Norse term for the same condition was called hugsott, which translates directly into thought-sick. To me the latter term is more useful because the person suffering has the chance to change his own thoughts, while the former term implies that the condition is caused by factors outside the person's control.

sapir-whorf, annoyingly, strikes again