Ask Lemmy

27049 readers

1508 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

candyman337

[email protected]

How can I add an emotional undertone in English? (feddit.de)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

56 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Context: I'm missing a cutting board. So I wrote in our telegram family group: "Wo ist eigentlich unser zweites großes Schneidebrett hin?" (literally: "Where is actually our second big cuttingboard thither?").

By using the modal particle "eigentlich" I insinuate that something is oddly off and express an emotional state of curiousity and/or mild discontent.

By adding "hin", I notify that I ask because it is not where it is supposed to be and not because I don't know where it should be.

Now I ask myself, how would I express this additional information in English?

Edit: Thank you all for your answers! I learned a lot. Just our cutting board is still gone, and probably enjoying it's freedom somewhere ... I suppose.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] captain_aggravated 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Spoken verbally, intonation can get you there. You can imagine this question asked perfectly calmly and innocently, "Where's the cutting board?" "Oh it's over there on the kitchen table." "Ah." Or you could imagine Batman growl screaming it in the Joker's face. WHERE'S THE CUTTING BOARD?!?! TELL ME!!!

Now, in terms of phrasing, "Does anyone know where the cutting board is?" is probably fairly calm and innocent, "Who hid the cutting board?" is more accusatory/conspiratorial, "where'd the cutting board go?" implies you know where it was/should be, but it is not there, "What happened to the cutting board?" might mean it's gone, or it might mean it's damaged or in some adverse state, "Where the hell is the cutting board?" is probably getting a bit angry, "If I were a cutting board, where would I be?" means you're either in a new kitchen and don't know where the tools are stored, or it has been misplaced and you're still calm about it...there are lots of options.

"Where has it gone?" = avoiding assigning blame. "Where did you put it?" = assigning blame.