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Can't get enough of them pickups! 😋 (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
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Inspired by:
https://sh.itjust.works/post/58949709

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[–] [S] 6 points 6 months ago (4 children)

This day's TIL, thanks!

I knew that "or so" is also a common expression in the English language, so assumed it to be used in the same way as in German.

As I just learned, this is only the case when dealing with numeric values (e.g. "five eggs or so" and not with uncertainties regarding more general things or distinctions between things.

So "Looks like a bug or so" apparently would be wrong.
As I now understand it you would say "Looks like a bug or something" instead?

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    You would also say it "five or so eggs". The "or so" gets tied directly to the number, not the eggs.

    But it's becoming more common to say "ish" for an uncertain quantity. How many eggs? Five-ish.

    And I have no idea why that's the case.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    You would also say it "five or so eggs". The "or so" gets tied directly to the number, not the eggs.

    I feel like that's context dependent. Or maybe regional.

    I'd certainly say "I need 30 or so feet of rope".

    But if asked "how much rope do you need?" My answer would be "30 feet or so".

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 6 months ago

    You would also say it “five or so eggs”. The “or so” gets tied directly to the number, not the eggs.

    Interestingly Gemini Pro that I asked to make sense of the topic told me all its examples in the other word order:

    „I’ll be there in 10 minutes or so.“
    „It costs 50 dollars or so.“
    „There were 20 people or so at the party.“

    So either there are additional circumstantial or regional differences, or the LLM was sycophantic again and fantasized a form more pleasing to a German chat partner.

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