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Intensifier in Esperanto?

av ceigered, 22 december 2008

Meddelanden: 16

Språk: English

ceigered (Visa profilen) 22 december 2008 09:50:44

Those who speak either UK or Australian (maybe also South African) English will probably be familiar with the intensifier adjective 'bloody'. I know for a fact that in Australia we use this quite often, and it normally transcends the normal usage of so-called 'taboo' words (some may even remember the 'Where the bloody hell are you?' ad campaigns by the Australian Tourism industry which caused some controversy overseas).

The really good thing about this adjective is that it can 'intensify' just about anything, from "I bloody love that!" (I REALLY love that) to "You're a bloody legend!" (You're very much so a legend). As you can probably see, this is quite a useful little word. However, I'm curious if there is an Esperanto equivalent. There doesn't seem to be a suitable intensifier in other languages (apart from using the 'f' word) so does that mean Esperanto doesn't have an intensifier adjective?

Cheers,
Chrisso

mnlg (Visa profilen) 22 december 2008 14:29:55

Would "ja" be too moderate?

Polaris (Visa profilen) 23 december 2008 00:14:34

ceigered:Those who speak either UK or Australian (maybe also South African) English will probably be familiar with the intensifier adjective 'bloody'. I know for a fact that in Australia we use this quite often, and it normally transcends the normal usage of so-called 'taboo' words (some may even remember the 'Where the bloody hell are you?' ad campaigns by the Australian Tourism industry which caused some controversy overseas).

The really good thing about this adjective is that it can 'intensify' just about anything, from "I bloody love that!" (I REALLY love that) to "You're a bloody legend!" (You're very much so a legend). As you can probably see, this is quite a useful little word. However, I'm curious if there is an Esperanto equivalent. There doesn't seem to be a suitable intensifier in other languages (apart from using the 'f' word) so does that mean Esperanto doesn't have an intensifier adjective?

Cheers,
Chrisso
Hey, Chrisso--- I'm from the US, and we don't use that word in common parlance here. We have other intensifiers "big-time", "some kind of", "MAN!", etc. Of late, the word "freakin'" has become popular (though it is frowned on as a possible substitute for the F-word).

Is "bloody" an acceptable word in polite company? Are young people allowed to us it in front of their elders? I believe that in the UK (if I'm not mistaken), it's almost a swear word.

As to Esperanto, I'm curious, too. It's always great to be able to use colloquial speech.

Troy

ceigered (Visa profilen) 23 december 2008 01:06:26

@ Polaris/Troy:
That's actually something I don't really know. In Australia we don't really have as stricter sense of 'respect your elders' as you would in say Japan, but that said there are still times you wouldn't say 'bloody'. I guess talking to the checkout-chick (cashier?) you could use bloody provided it was in the right context... It more or less depends on that persons use of English rather than their age. I know that with my own grandparents I could use 'bloody' or with my friends parents/grandparents I could use it (or maybe even at the local RSL club (Veteran's clubs), maybe even with the mayor (though I would be cautious there, I would wait for a conversational cue), but with a quiet reserved stranger it wouldn't be the first word off the block lango.gif You sometimes need to be careful with the whole political correctness thing going around, but that said there are still people you can use it with that you wouldn't in other societies - like the police lango.gif.

So in summary I'd say it depends on how out and about that person is, after all, bloody is a colloquialism. We definitely don't have an proper age distinction thing though.

@ mnlg: I've never really encountered 'ja' much, it sounds good (it definitely is more moderate though), does 'Vi estas ja legendo!' make sense?

Taciturn_ (Visa profilen) 23 december 2008 04:03:42

does 'Vi estas ja legendo!' make sense?

................

It does and the good part is: it`s not a swear word anyway and you can use it at any audiance.

ceigered (Visa profilen) 23 december 2008 04:44:42

Taciturn_:does 'Vi estas ja legendo!' make sense?

................

It does and the good part is: it`s not a swear word anyway and you can use it at any audiance.
Dankon Taciturn_! Well, bloody's status as a swear word in Australia is debatable, but internationally I've heard it is ridulo.gif.

Can 'ja' be used with adjectives and as an adverb too? If so I think I might start making use/overuse of this word okulumo.gif

SuperMarc92 (Visa profilen) 24 december 2008 02:40:03

ja looks good. I like it.

Is this offcial or just a guess ?

BeRReGoN (Visa profilen) 24 december 2008 07:50:48

SuperMarc92:ja looks good. I like it.

Is this offcial or just a guess ?
I don't know if it's official but in my lernolibro de la metodo Assimil to learn esperanto, we see it in the first lesson.

An example (not from the book):
li estas ja mia amiko, sed mi ne sxatas kion li igis.

Sure he's my friend but i don't like what he did.

Taciturn_ (Visa profilen) 24 december 2008 08:08:49

"ja" can be used with nouns,verbs,adjectives,adverbs if you like it to be at them.

Also it`s quite fundamental.

ceigered (Visa profilen) 24 december 2008 08:14:31

Cheers Taciturn_ and BeRReGoN, it appears this particle is ja flexible, so I think it translates very well into the 'bloody' of English.

On a side note, I take it 'igi' can be used in conjunction with 'fari' to define the action of 'doing'?

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