Software developer by day, insomniac by night.

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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • Dojan@lemmy.worldto196@lemmy.blahaj.zoneloss rule
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    1 month ago

    Well, no. It wouldn’t be the first kanji of English. Kanji is the Japanese pronunciation of 漢字 (hanzi), where 漢 means han/China and 字 means character/letter. Ergo, it makes no sense to call it “the English language’s first and only Chinese character.”

    If you need to use a Japanese word to describe this, then 絵文字 (e mo ji; picture, character/symbol) fits better, but we already have several words for that, like pictogram or pictograph. One could argue that smileys fall into this category as well. So perhaps it’s a smiley.




  • This is an interesting read. English isn’t my native language, and while I’m quite proficient, I lack a lot of cultural context, particularly when it comes to American English. My partner is American, and through/with them I’ve learned a lot of problematic phrases and expressions. It’s baffling just how much language is used to dehumanise, other, and discriminate against people.

    That’s not to say it doesn’t happen in my native tongue, it definitely does, but I guess it’s more baffling when it’s something that’s unfamiliar to you.

    Marijuana obviously sounds like it’s rooted in Spanish, but I never thought much about it. If you’d asked me, I’d just wager a guess that it’s the Spanish term for it. I hate how oftentimes when I start poking at these preconceived notions, an uglier reality reveals itself. It’s never as benign as I initially believe.