• UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        They can speak, they just act like they can’t in front of foreigners. I am learning “Dutch” and am 100% convinced this whole language is a hoax

    • agavaa@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Cause they can’t!1!

      But for real, for those who are curious: the border between Germany and Poland is effectively the border between western and eastern Europe. So to Slav people Germans lived right over there, and yet spoke something incomprehensible; so we called them “mute” (in Poland at least). If I can’t understand you you are mute to me, basically. And the word for “Germans” is the same as for “Germany”, so we call the country itself mutes 😅

      • Demdaru@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        For fun with words:

        • Niemcy - polish for Germans
        • Niemcy - polish for Germany
        • Niemy - polish for mute
        • Jadę do Niemiec - “I am riding to Germany”
        • Jadę z niemcami - “I am riding with germans”
        • Jadę z niemcem - “I am riding with a german”
        • Jadę z Niemczech - “I am riding from Germany”
        • Jadę z niemym - “I am riding with a mute”

        I wonder how confusing these are for people not speaking polish xD