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Yeah EI, I've often wished for words like that as well, particularly a nominal form of "serious". The best I can think of is "seriosity"by analogy of "curious" -> "curiosity".

Haven't you ever heard "seriousness" used before?

I'm not speaking for him, but I hate the -ness suffix. It makes stuff seem awkward.

I'm not speaking for him, but I hate the -ness suffix. It makes stuff seem awkward.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Also, I thought the -ness suffix only occurred on nouns of native or near native origin rather than those from Latin.

Eccentric Iconoclast wrote:I wish English had a word for "ridiculousness" that didn't sound painfully awkward. My brain has gone and invented one out of the blue (ridiculum), but I imagine that sounds silly to everyone but me.

I've heard "ridiculosity" and "sensuosity". But the author who said them was going for ridiculosity in the first place.

I'm not speaking for him, but I hate the -ness suffix. It makes stuff seem awkward.

Well, I don't mind it. It helps create abstract nouns for words such as "seriousness" where a word with the desired meaning doesn't already exist. It's very usefull.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Also, I thought the -ness suffix only occurred on nouns of native or near native origin rather than those from Latin.

You must remember that the average person isn't a walking etymological dictionary that can tell the difference 'tween latin words and english words, as obvious as it is most of the time. Every word is a native word to them. And if -ness is a productive suffix like it is where I am, why shouldn't they use it to help create abstract nouns?

I do concede thoe that I would preffer "seriosity" over "seriousness" 'cuz I'd preffer english suffixes stick with english nouns, while latin suffixes stick with latin nouns, but I'm just a single person in the english-speaking world. If I want to convey an idea, I use the word that is most likely to relay that concept. If you google for "seriousness" and "seriosity", you'll see that "seriousness" overwhelmingly has more hits than the other. 12,100,000 vs 96,400. Thus, assuming that google hits are a reasonable counter of usage statistics, more people would be more familiar with the meaning of "seriousness" than "seriosity".

FinalZero wrote:

Yeah EI, I've often wished for words like that as well, particularly a nominal form of "serious". The best I can think of is "seriosity"by analogy of "curious" -> "curiosity".

Haven't you ever heard "seriousness" used before?

Or how about gravity? He was unaware of the gravity of his situation.

Or how about gravity? He was unaware of the gravity of his situation.

That works too, but also has to compete with the more common meaning of itself.

Eddy wrote:Yeah EI, I've often wished for words like that as well, particularly a nominal form of "serious". The best I can think of is "seriosity"by analogy of "curious" -> "curiosity".

English has a possesive pronoun for people-whose- but none for things, so we must say, "The skyscraper whose windows are blue." Maybe it could be something like, "The skyscraper whiches windows are blue."

dhokarena56 wrote:English has a possesive pronoun for people-whose- but none for things, so we must say, "The skyscraper whose windows are blue." Maybe it could be something like, "The skyscraper whiches windows are blue."

The skyscraper which the windows of are blue, mayhaps?

I think I've heard it this way before: "The skyscraper that's windows are blue."

Or just "the skyscraper that has blue windows." (Sounds the most natural to me...maybe I don't need an inanimate version of whose if I would never use it )

Gremlins wrote:

dhokarena56 wrote:English has a possesive pronoun for people-whose- but none for things, so we must say, "The skyscraper whose windows are blue." Maybe it could be something like, "The skyscraper whiches windows are blue."

The skyscraper which the windows of are blue, mayhaps?

Ugh, stylistic nightmare. If it were indefinite, I could say, "A skyscraper the windows of which are blue" but oddly this doesn't seem to work with "The skyscraper the windows...". So "The skyscraper with the blue windows" it is.

What's with all the mythology? "...whose windows are blue" is fine.

Nuntarin wrote:What's with all the mythology? "...whose windows are blue" is fine.

I agree.
Not as common, but "...which's windows are blue" also occurs and is also fine.

English has a possesive pronoun for people-whose- but none for things, so we must say, "The skyscraper whose windows are blue." Maybe it could be something like, "The skyscraper whiches windows are blue.

For several years, I've been using "the skyscraper which windows are blue", and I believe a lot of other Polish speakers do so, as more-or-less of an improper calque.

Quite often I hear things like this constructed "the skyscraper of which the windows are blue".

Prmysl wrote:Quite often I hear things like this constructed "the skyscraper of which the windows are blue".

While that's grammatical, it sounds a bit more natural to say the skyscraper the windows of which are blue. To me, at least.

Actually, I just use "whose" most of the time.

I miss a verb like the Norwegian å grue seg

It means something like "to be nervous (and think a lot) about something that is going to happen in the future to oneself" It's a verb which is used a lot! (at least when in school. You know - tests )

And of course the "Saudade" is a highly unique and incredible word

"The skyscraper with blue windows"? In writing I would maybe say "the skyscraper, the windows of which are blue", but I've never heard "that's" or "which" used in such a sentence. "Whose", yes, but I don't think it sounds right.

"The skyscraper which has blue windows." Or you could be all Pirate-y and say "The skyscraper what has blue windows."

Aleco wrote:I miss a verb like the Norwegian å grue seg

It means something like "to be nervous (and think a lot) about something that is going to happen in the future to oneself" It's a verb which is used a lot! (at least when in school. You know - tests )

"Worry".

I like the Spanish word ganas, meaning 'desire to do something', like a noun for 'want-to'.

'No tengo ganas' basically means 'I don't want to do it', but I like using the noun without sounding all hoity-toity like 'I have no desire to do it.'

Get some ganas!

"Get some ganas" sounds kinda like "Grow some balls".... ^_^;;; .

My Span teacher in high school explained "ganar" as "to have a strong desire to do/passion for something." I like this word, too .

Wycoval wrote:I like the Spanish word ganas, meaning 'desire to do something', like a noun for 'want-to'.

'No tengo ganas' basically means 'I don't want to do it', but I like using the noun without sounding all hoity-toity like 'I have no desire to do it.'

Get some ganas!

The same in Catalan: Tenir ganes de (Ct.) = Tener ganas de (Sp.)

And gana, in Catalan, means "hungry".