We last saw a Zippy with this trope in it ("we have no concept of war or private property") back in January. Here it comes again: (For an inventory of other Language Log postings on "no word for X" and related figures, look here.)
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Over the years, we've discussed many cross-cultural comparisons based on the "No Word for X" meme. In the most recent LL post on the subject ("No word for integrity?", 12/31/2008), I asserted that [W]hen someone makes a sociological point by saying that language L has no word for concept C, you'll rarely lose by betting […]
The television commercial asks: What happens if you take remote Chiang Mai villagers who have never seen a burger? Who don’t even have a word for burger? And ask them to compare a Whopper versus Big Mac? Imagine that: so isolated and primitive that they don't even have a word for burger! Yet another instance of […]
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