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What is the most obscure fact you know? (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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[โ€“] 17 points 11 months ago (1 child)

Newspeak was inspired by Esperanto, because George Orwell had an annoying Esperantist roommate. "bad" in Esperanto is "malbone," literally "un-good." "terrible" in Esperanto is "malbonege," literally "very ungood."

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  • [โ€“] 6 points 11 months ago* (1 child)

    Also Esperanto at the time was hoped to be the universal second language of the working class. That did not mean esperantists were any less annoying then though

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