Meanwhile in English we just borrow things from other languages and forget what they mean. For example, porpoise, from old French porpois, from Latin porcus marinus, meaning... ah, yes: sea pig.
[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]
How did I not realize this earlier? "Nijlpaard" in Dutch literally means Nile horse, and the Nile is a river.
We got the word right from Latin. Also it looks like most Latin-based languages use some variation of that.
IIRC, most animal names in German end up being some kind of dog or some kind of pig.
"most" would be an exaggeration, but many are. Other animals commonly used in placeholder names are also horse, chicken and lion.
Pig was just the most common meat animal, so any unknown animal that you'd eat would he called an xyz pig. Apple was also used like this for all kinds of fruits and vegetables:
orange = Chinese apple
tomato = golden apple (?)
pomegranate = granate apple
potato = earth apple
jimsonweed = thorn apple
And so on
What about sea lion? 🤔
In Finnish we call poirpoises spinny things
Post memes here.
A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.
An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.
Laittakaa meemejä tänne.
