this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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It must confuse English learners to hear phrases like, "I'm home", instead of "I am at home." We don't say I'm school, or I'm post office. (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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[–] mindlesscrollyparrot@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Yes, "home" and "zuhause" mean the same thing but they aren't exactly the same, zuhause is a compound word. English also has compound words, for example "aboard" and "abed". The English word isn't "ahouse"; it is simply "home".

[–] Treeniks@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

True. I was more going on the idea of OP that it must confuse english learners. I often feel people who only know one language tend to forget that most latin languages tend to have similar quirks, often making such quirks in a foreign language rather natural.

[–] wewbull 2 points 7 months ago

In this case, it's nothing to do with Latin. German is not a Latin language, and old (pre-Norman) English is closer to German than anything else. It's the shared Germanic heritage which gives us this quirk.

[–] mindlesscrollyparrot@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 7 months ago

Absolutely. The fundamental thing about the rules of grammar is that they're more like guidelines. In fact, I think OP's example is hardly the most confusing or inconsistent thing in English, which is not to say that the question isn't a really good one. The quirks, similarities and differences are one thing that makes language-learning really interesting.

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

"Ahouse" sounds so much like an actual archaic word, but I can't find evidence it was.