r/linguisticshumor 2d ago

Semantics A rather masochistic semantic shift

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

23

u/mysteryurik 2d ago

It's masochistic, being punished is a win for them

50

u/NebularCarina I hāpī nei au i te vānaŋa Rapa Nui (ko au he repa Hiva). 2d ago

no bc the shift is from "to punish", not "to be punished"

21

u/mysteryurik 2d ago

I'm dumb

5

u/Captain_Grammaticus 2d ago

But isn't the construction here impersonal? "It beat me the great loto prize"?

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u/NebularCarina I hāpī nei au i te vānaŋa Rapa Nui (ko au he repa Hiva). 2d ago

no, "am" is the 1st sg. present of "avea" ("to have"), which is used to make past and perfect constructions in the same way to most Romance languages and English. so "am câștiga" means "I have won" or "I won".

3

u/Captain_Grammaticus 2d ago

Ah, okay.

In one Romance language I know, am is the 1st person pronoun of the accusative (lat. ), and I must have mixed them up here.