• AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    1 day ago

    The Japanese word for cat, “neko”, apparently etymologically translates as “quadruped that goes ‘nyan’” (which is the Japanese equivalent of “meow”). The Mandarin word for cat, IIRC, is “mao”.

    • gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 hours ago

      I read somewhere that there’s another story of origin (maybe folk etymology though) that “Neko” means something like “star-child” (nagareboshi no ko)

    • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      In German, children often call dogs “Wauwau” and “Mietze” is another word for cat that’s also onomatopoetic.

    • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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      1 day ago

      Also, small birds are “tori” in Japanese, likely after the sing-song sound they make (tri-tri-triii)

      Ducks are named after a quacking sound in English… And Indonesian&Malaysian; “bebek”!

      I could go on for a while but in general it’s not very uncommon for animals to be named like a Pokémon!

      • SkaveRat
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        16 hours ago

        A rare breed that got hunted to extinction from meme overuse

        • FantasmaNaCasca@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          I was there, 5000 thousand years ago, toiling in the mines for the memes. But we went too deep…something wake up…