I think that you are making a mistake of which many people (incuding me) are occasionally guilty. The mistake is to assume that because the incomparably-rich English language has more than one word and the comparatively-poor non-English language (in this case, German) has only one, speakers of the latter conflate the identically-named concepts.
Balderdash. Take the English words "cunt" (female sexual organ vulg) and "cunt" (foolish or objectionable person, usually male vulg). Neither you nor I actually confuses the two, despite only having the one word.
But the French, of course, differentiate linguistically between "conne" and "con". This might tell us something about the French or - as with die Schuld and the Krauts - it might not.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 07:23 am (UTC)Balderdash. Take the English words "cunt" (female sexual organ vulg) and "cunt" (foolish or objectionable person, usually male vulg). Neither you nor I actually confuses the two, despite only having the one word.
But the French, of course, differentiate linguistically between "conne" and "con". This might tell us something about the French or - as with die Schuld and the Krauts - it might not.