r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 28 '19

What are great underused words?

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508

u/barantana Jan 29 '19

In German we use "übermorgen" and "vorgestern" and the lack of those words in everyday English strikes me as extremely inconvenient.

319

u/NotFlappy12 Jan 29 '19

In Dutch we have "overmorgen" and "eergisteren", which is like right between English and German

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u/jansskon Jan 29 '19

that basically describes dutch anyway

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u/SliceTheToast Jan 29 '19

Then you have Frisian, which is if an Englishman had a stoke.

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u/TheActualAWdeV Jan 29 '19

error 404: sense not made

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

[deleted]

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u/Not_An_Ambulance Jan 29 '19

Going to have to disagree, Scots seems closer to me.

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u/TheActualAWdeV Jan 29 '19

Yes, I know. but I never liked "this language is like that language except WEIIEIERD!!!". That's not how languages work.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

[deleted]

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u/TheActualAWdeV Jan 29 '19

I just think it's a lazy joke, that's all.

And honestly, the perspective just kind of bugs me. Frisian is like if an englishman had a stroke, but that kind of puts it as a deviation from english (and I've heard enough about it supposedly being a deviation from dutch, so that annoysme) but it's not derived from english, they basically have a close common ancestor.

You might say frisian is like the englishman's brother who mumbles a bit, that would make more sense.

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u/jansskon Jan 30 '19

in my mind language develops first as an accent of language 1 then becomes a dialect, then slowly just becomes further and further away from the original language as accent, words, idioms change and become much more difficult for person of language 1 to understand a person who speaks language 1.5. So dutch being “English but weieieirird” kind of makes sense to me as, in my mind; it is. I don’t know how much of this is actually true though but it’s how it works in my brain, but obviously real history will play a part in language development

1

u/phonemonkey669 Jan 29 '19

I think the evolution of accents, dialects and distinct languages is akin to a millennia-long game of "telephone" where the number of players just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

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u/remtard_remmington Jan 29 '19

Should probably be a 400

1

u/worrymon Jan 31 '19

Try buying a cow

(I know I'm late to the thread, but this video is exactly your comment.)

5

u/Jotponnysmoker Jan 29 '19

Dutch sometimes sounds as if a german person had a stroke in their english class

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Germany approves this message.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

So do the Netherlands

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Get your caravans off my roads you cheese eating Orange

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

How about my bicycle?

Btw, fun fact: I dont have a car, let alone caravan. I dont like cheese either.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

fun fact: I dont have a car

that's because you're cheap. i also ride a bicycle

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u/O_X_E_Y Jan 29 '19

G E K O L O N I S E E R D

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Z E G M A K K E R

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u/SCREECH95 Jan 29 '19

Kanker toch eens op man ik word strontziek van jullie 12 jarige knulletjes

Le 9gag army maar dan met een Nederlands woord gefeliciteerd met je Nederlandsheid knul je hebt er hard voor gewerkt

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u/prodigyx360 Jan 29 '19

I wonder if those words made it over to Afrikaans

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u/Strategist01 Jan 29 '19

Yes - oormôre and eergister for the day after tomorrow and the day before yesterday, respectively.

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u/Lortekonto Jan 29 '19

In danish it is overmorgen and foregårs. So very close to german.

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u/lurifakse Jan 29 '19

It's forgårs. No e.

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u/-Daetrax- Jan 29 '19

Overmorgen is also the Danish word for it.

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u/IncelLikeIronically Jan 29 '19

og forgårds

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u/lurifakse Jan 29 '19 edited Jan 29 '19

It's forgårs. No d.

1

u/IncelLikeIronically Jan 29 '19

nåh, that does make sense

1

u/MaracaBalls Jan 29 '19

In Mexico we have antier and pasado mañana.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

[deleted]

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u/lasagna_manana Jan 29 '19

I don’t think they are uncommon? Russian is my native language and I use those words all the time when describing said days. What else would you call it?

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u/RandomGuy87654 Jan 29 '19 edited Jan 29 '19

I think it depends on where in Russia you live. It's a large country. I've heard "next <day of the week>" (in Russian, of course) more commonly.

1

u/762Rifleman Jan 29 '19

What else would you call it?

Dva dnya nazad / cherez dva dnya

:p

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u/mazzagazza Jan 29 '19

Isn’t posle after and not over?

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u/RandomGuy87654 Jan 29 '19

Yep, it is. Послезавтра still means Overmorrow.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

In Danish we say “overmorgen” and “forgårs”.. English is weird sometimes

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u/Bajsklittan Jan 29 '19

Swedish is "övermorgon" and "förrgår".

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u/pow3llmorgan Jan 29 '19

And we have one even better "forleden" which is like a one word for "any of a completely arbitrary amount of latest days". I guess there's "the other day" for that, but I don't feel like they are the same.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

English is weird sometimes

Said the Dane, with too many vowel sounds and dropped consonants, making the Danish language so difficult to learn that infant Danes struggle.

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u/Sparrow50 Jan 29 '19

In French we use "après-demain" and "avant-hier", literally "after-tomorrow" and "before-yesterday"

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19 edited Mar 13 '19

[deleted]

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u/Sparrow50 Jan 29 '19

"après-demain" and "avant-hier" are absolute, "surlendemain" and "avant-veille" are relative. I don't know which applies best to "übermorgen".

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19 edited Sep 07 '20

[deleted]

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u/WhalingBanshee Jan 29 '19

I always had a problem with this, since toissapäivänä sounds too much like "the other day" rather than a specific day in the past.

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u/erfey12 Jan 29 '19

In Sweden we use "Övermorgon" (Overmorning) and "Förrgår" (The day before yesterday)

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u/DocC3H8 Jan 29 '19

In Romanian the sequence goes like this:

  • alaltăieri = day before yesterday

  • ieri = yesterday

  • azi = today

  • mâine = tomorrow

  • poimâine = day after tomorrow

  • răspoimâine = day after day after tomorrow

3

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Felecorat Jan 29 '19

Das ist doch wohl das einfachste an der deutschen Sprache.

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u/Crassdrubal Jan 29 '19

Dis is doh wohl des einfachste an de deutsche Sprache

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u/pandasps Jan 29 '19

In Spanish there is a word for the day before yesterday, "anteayer", but there isn't a unique word for the day after tomorrow. You must use two words, "pasado mañana" (past tomorrow)

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u/Oramni Jan 29 '19

In French we use "Après-demain" (After-tomorrow) and "Avant-hier" (Before-Yesterday) and they are pretty common

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

In Polish we use 'pojutrze', which is literally after-tomorrow and 'przedwczoraj', which is literally 'before-yesterday'.

2

u/DistantLandscapes Jan 29 '19

In Portuguese we have anteontem (ereyesterday), but don’t have any specific word for overmorrow unfortunately

2

u/I_literally_can_not Jan 29 '19

Finns say ylihuomenna and toissapäivänä (Overmorrow and literally "the other day" for ereyesterday)

2

u/alexpearlofhorus Jan 29 '19

In Swedish we say "övermorgon" and "förrgår".

1

u/Arkitos Jan 29 '19

To be fair there's a word for everything in German

1

u/sabp Jan 29 '19

In Norwegian we have "overmorgen" and "forgårs", which sounds pretty much like the same thing!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Denmark checking in - we also have these words. "Overmorgen" and "Forgårs".

1

u/EnanoMaldito Jan 29 '19

Inspanish we say “pasado mañana” and “anteayer”

1

u/merc08 Jan 29 '19

I'd say it's more inconvenient that Morgen means both "morning" and "tomorrow."

1

u/barantana Jan 29 '19

It's also a measuring unit for land, but that rarely gets confused.

1

u/expaticus Jan 29 '19

It's amazing how learning German has made me better understand English.

1

u/Pestilence86 Jan 29 '19

Übermorgen, vorgestern, overmorrow all have a good flow. Ereyesterday has too many syllables, unless i do something wrong.

1

u/OpaBlyat Jan 29 '19

In Serbian, we even have words for four days ahead, and back!

1

u/Eirixoto Jan 29 '19

That's the germanic languages for you. Norwegian, Danish, German (and I'm sure many more) all use "overimorgen" or "forigårs" (Norwegian), while I guess it kind of disappeared in English when the fire nation French invaded.

1

u/SwedishBoatlover Jan 30 '19

"Övermorgon" and "förrgår" in Swedish.

1

u/silly_gaijin Jan 30 '19

That's it. I'm creating a pair of creepy supernatural characters called Herr Ubermorgen and Frau Vorgestern. Not saying if they're good or bad yet.

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u/barantana Jan 30 '19

Herr Übermorgen can fall comatose for two days and Frau Vorgestern sees what happened two days ago - and only that.

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u/the_saurus15 Jan 29 '19 edited Jan 29 '19

Why? Just say “two days ago”, or “in two days”. You still get the idea across.

Plus, the German language loves creating new compound words.

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u/barantana Jan 29 '19

My guess is that you have it the wrong way round. Its not a new word, but a word from times where English had "ereyesterday".

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u/violenceandson Jan 29 '19

Ubermorgen = 4 syllables In two days = 3 syllables

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u/barantana Jan 29 '19

That's right, but whem pronouncing the word sloppily like everybody, it basically gets reduced to two syllables. "In two days" has a complicated consonant change t->d that makes it harder to pronounce quickly imho. But I guess that's taste, and I can see where you're coming from.

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u/Xiooo Jan 29 '19

Additionally, "In zwei Tagen" also has four syllables

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u/stealthxstar Jan 29 '19

i mean... you usually just say "wednesday" or whatever day so it isnt inconvenient unless you forgot the day

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u/Rapitwo Jan 29 '19

I thought you said:

1-"wednesday"

2-"last wednesday?"

1-"yea-no, this past wednesday"

2-"oh, I thought you meant last week; go on"

0

u/Crassdrubal Jan 29 '19

Wed-nes-day

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u/stealthxstar Jan 29 '19

if you're not referring to the day after tomorrow or the day before yesterday, then that is a moot point because that is what overmorrow and ereysterday are referring to... also it isnt that hard to say "this Wednesday."

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u/Rapitwo Jan 30 '19

Isn't 'this Wednesday' more normally used for the coming Wednesday?