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Plant Slurs (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 year ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[-] stray@pawb.social 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In Swedish the prefix for bad stuff is the same as the prefix for not or un-. So a monster is a not-animal and a weed is ungrass. Which is especially interesting to me because that same prefix (o) is for better versions of things in Japanese.

e: This got me thinking about "plant," and I realized it's literally the verb to plant. In Swedish it's a growth, or thing that grew. Japanese and Chinese: planted thing. Spanish is also the same as the verb. I feel kinda bad we mostly talk about them in terms of farming them rather than giving them a proper name. Like if they get sentient someday, plant will probably be considered a slur.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 8 points 1 year ago

that same prefix (o) is for better versions of things in Japanese.

Puts on nerd glasses well ackshually it's used to elevate the status of something, such as with people, objects or other entities of social or religious significance (for example other people's family members in a polite situation). It's more honored than better.

[-] stray@pawb.social 6 points 1 year ago

I don't love the honor translation partially because it's been used in racist caricature, but also because it's often inaccurate. Like you might say ohana because you're in an extremely formal interaction, or because you want to sound poetic or whatever, but you're not actually saying "honorable flowers" usually. You can mean that though. I feel like it's too context-sensitive and culturally nuanced for simple translation.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 1 points 1 year ago

Like you might say ohana because you're in an extremely formal interaction, or because you want to sound poetic or whatever, but you're not actually saying "honorable flowers" usually.

I think the most common instance would be simply wanting to sound cute.

this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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