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  • --- I object to the word &quot;Germanic&quot;. ---
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-01-03 17:44 ID:9x13F4Yq )
  • English has dominated the world for centuries and has become the most succesful language in history. So why are Germanic languages called that? Germany is a shithole that had maybe 50 good years as an empire (60 if you count Hitler). Nobody even knows the etymology of German. I propose that the word Engloid replaces Germanic in all meanings from now on. \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-01-04 03:19 ID:nOdZerUP )
  • my Teutonic Knights are gonna kick your ass \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-01-07 11:08 ID:HSRMYEjB )
  • England is like Byzantium in the 1300s now. I propose the word Americoid replaces Germanic. Since most English spoken throughout the world has been Americanized. \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-01-10 13:40 ID:nOdZerUP )
  • For a more serious answer (to what's probably not a very serious thread): while English does fall under the header of "Germanic languages" it's sort of a weird outlier in that group with heavy influences from other groups (particularly Romance languages thanks in part due to domination of England by French nobility for a while). Even as a Germanic/Romance hybrid it has some weird features like a de-emphasis of linguistic gender that's still ongoing (the adjectives blond/blonde used to be a gendered distinction and that's why there are two spellings, but few English speakers nowadays seem to know or care). \n\n I don't know the exact justifications linguists use for the breakdown into the groupings that are used, but most "Germanic" languages are more similar to German than they are to English, so reclassifying them as some category of English-like would generally not be as accurate. \n\n If you want to say that English is weird enough to be in its own category then eh, sure, I'm not going to be the one to stop you there but I'm also not a professional linguist. \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-11-14 19:23 ID:HIvJQGDq )
  • >>4
  • For a more serious reply to your serious answer (to what's definitely not a very serious thread): German has a lot of changes that differentiates itself from a more typical Germanic language. It's not representative and I'm certain most Germanic language speakers would find more in common with each other than they would with German. It has both very conservative features it retains from its past (4 grammatical cases) and more radical sound changes (mainly switching around consonant partners) that you won't find combined in other Germanic languages. \n\n It's not very accurate at all to call the linguistic family tree "Germanic" if we wanted to name it after something that generally represents the languages. If it was up to me I'd revive some disused word like Gothic, Teutonic, Kraut, or Almain and make that the name of the linguistic family. \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-12-01 13:46 ID:5kto/ILi )
  • > > Gothic, Teutonic, Kraut, or Almain"Teutonic" sounds like the best one of those to me, as when I see it used it's generally in a sense of "vaguely German-ish yet I don't want to outright call it German" sort of thing. "Gothic" has picked up too many other meanings already; "Kraut" is rude. I guess "Almain" could be okay. \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-12-18 02:22 ID:o2puu2HZ )
  • >>6
  • Krautic or Krautoid are perfect. \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2025-12-20 12:14 ID:CzTWkXSQ )
  • >>7
  • Du sollst meiner Wurst schlucken. \n\n
  • Anonymous Linguist (2026-01-02 20:52 ID:D1MMcuYO )
  • It needs to be noted that the Germans do not call themselves or their language "Germanisch" but Deutsch, so this apparent issue really just exists from an English perspective. \n\n
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