this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2024
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"This wenche thikke" - Geoffrey Chaucer, the Father of English literature (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by PugJesus@lemmy.world to c/historymemes@lemmy.world
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[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 78 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I think "button nose" works better than "pug nose". But what do I know Ich am nōn-ọ̄ther ain languagæ scholar.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 54 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, literal translation vs meaning translation. Looking up the definition, I think it might be close to what we would now call a snub nose.

Also, looking up nose shapes is a confusing and upsetting blend of weird personality tests, archaic race stuff and sad body image posts.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 29 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Idiomatic translation is the second type. It's what you end up doing when you learn a second language well enough to stop translating word for word.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 months ago

Ah, cool. :) I knew there was a proper word for it but I didn't know what that word was.

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Also, looking up nose shapes is a confusing and upsetting blend of weird personality tests, archaic race stuff and sad body image posts.

Confusing? How did that journey happen when you did it?

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not like, super confusing, but more of a "uhhh, I'm pretty sure the only thing my nose tells you is that all the men in my family have bigish noses, and nothing about my personality" to "uhhh, I'm pretty sure 'arabid' is an antiquated phrase and that sketch makes me think you have opinions I won't care for" and "oh, honey, no, your nose is fine you don't need plastic surgery at 15, at all, ever. It's not 'too late' for you, random teen in a Google image search result".
I also forgot to mention the "gah, stop showing me guns, I just want to know what snub nose means about a face".

I was kind of expecting "what glasses to wear to complement your nose type" sorts of things. I also don't Google random parts of external human anatomy very often, so that may have just been on me for having the wrong expectations.

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

That really went more places than i thought it was going to. Daamn lol

Appreciate the heads up on googling parts of the body

[–] ghost@lemmy.today 3 points 2 months ago

Chaucer's Major Poetry, edited by Albert C. Baugh, glosses "kamus" like this: "According to a medieval treatise on physiognomy, a pug nose suggests a sensual person."

I guess nose shape personality tests have been with us for centuries.

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (3 children)

i think historically pugs back then were much more reasonable looking dogs than pugs today, i'm pretty sure nobody today would consider having a pug's nose a compliment

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

@PugJesus@lemmy.world

I hope you understand that by sharing this post, Lemmy has come to understand that you are in fact beautiful, when accounting for your Middle-English heritage.

[–] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Small upturned noses have long been considered attractive in women, just you are right, pugs haven't always been that extremely deformed.