this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2025
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Pick-up line for Ancient Egyptians (media.piefed.social)
submitted 4 months ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to c/historymemes@piefed.social
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[โ€“] Lumidaub@feddit.org 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Vaguely related thought because I was reminded of this earlier: legend has it that German chancellor Helmut Kohl once told a foreign dignitary from an English-speaking country, in English: "You can say you to me." Which is at least weird in English but the German equivalent is perfectly cromulent because we have two words for "you": he was trying to signal friendship by offering the more familiar, friendly one.

Absurdly, a "correct" translation for what he was trying to say would've been: "Thou canst say thou to me."

(Worth noting that the story is apocryphal - although there's a cherished tradition of German politicians failing miserably at English)

[โ€“] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

(although there's a cherished tradition of German politicians failing miserably at English)

"Ich bin ein Berliner"