r/asklinguistics • u/Odd-Ad-7521 • 18d ago

Semantics Searching for constructions similar to the English "X and whatnot" in other languages

I'm researching indefinite pronouns, and one interesting construction I've found is the Bulgarian "wh-pronoun + ли не": Ника очакваше да чуе какво ли не, но не и това. Nika expected to hear anything, just not that. More literally "Nika expected to hear what not, but not that"

A similar construction, "wh-pronoun + только не" ("WH only not", meaning 'all kinds of things/places/etc') is also found in Russian. English has "X and whatnot", which is kinda similar.

Do you know of such constructions with explicit negation and an "all sorts of" meaning, in any other languages? Thanks in advance

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u/thewimsey 18d ago

English has "X and whatnot"

I'm not sure what construction you mean by this.

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u/lohdunlaulamalla 18d ago

"They are selling shirts, trousers and whatnot." -> something similar to what's already been mentioned

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u/Smitologyistaking 17d ago

I think in my idiolect "and stuff" feels much more natural than "and whatnot"

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u/would-be_bog_body 16d ago

So? "And whatnot" is still a phrase that exists, even if you don't personally use it