#compoundWatch time, or maybe we are nearing the end of me thinking about compounds, because the German specimen below is killing me: "Kapsel-System" 'capsule system', ok, fine, but it is a "Kapsel-System ohne Kapsel" 'a capsule system without capsule'. I know I know, everything is allowed in the language of advertising, but still, the relation WITHOUT strikes me as a bit too unallowed. Now waiting for more revolutions, a paper bag without paper for example #semanticTransparency

What compound noun results from combining 'tea' and 'egg'? It depends, Mandarin Chinese going for 茶叶蛋 cháyèdàn ['tea' + 'leaf'] + 'egg' = 'egg infused in tea', German for Tee-Ei 'tea' + 'egg' = 'tea-infuser in egg form'
Both semantically transparent in their very own ways :)
#compoundWatch #semanticTransparency

Another compound that should not be: German "Freßfabrik" 'to eat' + factory with the meaning "person who eats like a machine". Unexpected because there is actually the compound "Freßmaschine" 'to eat' + machine with exactly that meaning, and because in general the G Fabrik/Eng factory compounds typically lead to 'factory that produces X' interpretations, e.g. "Batteriefabrik"/'battery factory'.
Source: Hoffmans Hunger by Leon de Winter [Unfortunately I don't know what is used in the Dutch original here :(]
#compoundWatch #semanticTransparency

Beautiful #languageAquisition example for motivated compound creation in #English :

D(2;7.1, in the bath, after father said: "You're making a cake?")):
It's a water-cake.

Father: Why do you call it water-cake?

D: I made it in the water.

Source (secondary): Clark, Eva V. (2016). First Language Acquistion, Third Edition, Cambridge University Press, p. 292. (referenced original source: Clark 1993 The lexicon in acquisition, CUP: 40-41)
#compoundWatch #semanticTransparency

When yes-means-no is so confusing that it needs to be spelled out explicitly: an example from German (#GermanAcademia, of course :))
#semantics #pragmatics #semanticTransparency

Saw the quiet and very moving 2022 movie "Return to Dust" on Friday. Even had a #compoundWatch moment:
The male lead had 熊猫血 xiong2mao1 + xue4 panda + blood --- turns out that this is a colloquial term for Rh-negative blood type. Why? Apparently because that blood type is so rare in Asian populations (according to Wikipedia 0.3% vs. 15% in European populations), and since Pandas are also rare, we get "panda blood", so a blood type as rare as Pandas. #semanticTransparency #morphology