Let's share highly specific and unhelpful example sentences

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StringerBell
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Let's share highly specific and unhelpful example sentences

Postby StringerBell » Sat Nov 10, 2018 8:38 pm

When I'm reading, I occasionally use Reverso Context to look up an unfamiliar word or expression. It usually works pretty well, and as I scan through the sample sentences, sometimes I find some really useful ones that are fairly general, but sometimes I find ones that are so bizarrely specific that they make me laugh. They are sentences that I'm 99% sure I'd never have occasion to say, but who knows? Maybe one day I will really need to say:

The Rapporteur invites the Commission to draw up a European map of aboriginal sports and to support its dissemination.



word I looked up -> stilare: to draw up, to draft, to compile


Maybe this is a stupid thread idea, but I thought it could be fun to post similarly specific and "unhelpful" sentence examples.
Last edited by StringerBell on Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby Cainntear » Sat Nov 10, 2018 11:30 pm

Stupid? Certainly not! I fully expect this thread to rival "You know you're a language nerd when..." in a few years. ;)
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby Adrianslont » Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:16 am

I’ve subscribed!

I’ve only been using reverso and linguee lately for the first time and I can’t say I like them. The examples always seem to come from the kinds of texts I don’t really want to read - bureaucratic, very serious news etc. I’m more interested in seeing more “everyday” examples. It can be hard to understand a word if the context is complex.

I’m sure they are great resources if you are interested in that kind of text and I’m pretty confident they will yield some humour!
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StringerBell
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby StringerBell » Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:37 am

Maybe one day I will need to say:

If you're Alec Guinness and you've been in a box in a Japanese prison for six months, yes, you need to stretch your legs, but after 30 miles in a car, you don't.
Last edited by StringerBell on Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby Schadenfruede » Sun Nov 11, 2018 3:15 pm

This isn't a sentence, but while looking up some unfamilar words while extensively reading a German fantasy book I learned the words for:

High treason(useful for plot)
Dungeon(also good)
Swordfighting terms(check)
And...the term for "longitudinal axis"(don't see myself needing that one too often...)
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StringerBell
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby StringerBell » Sun Nov 11, 2018 6:29 pm

The thing is, constant warnings are unnerving for anyone aspiring to be an overlord.


Those poor aspiring overlords.
Last edited by StringerBell on Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby StringerBell » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:20 am

I seriously just came across this right now:

One of your piranhas in the lake is very rude.



*I'd really like to figure out where Reverso Context pulled this sentence from.
Last edited by StringerBell on Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby Xenops » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:31 am

StringerBell wrote:I seriously just came across this right now:

One of your piranhas in the lake is very rude.

Uno dei pirana del lago è stato molto sgarbato.

*I'd really like to figure out where Reverso Context pulled this sentence from.


Sounds like a Duolingo sentence to me. :lol:
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby dampingwire » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:40 am

StringerBell wrote:*I'd really like to figure out where Reverso Context pulled this sentence from.


Hotel Transylvania.
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Re: Don't know what to call this thread...highly specific and unhelpful sentences?

Postby tommus » Mon Nov 12, 2018 2:56 am

Web sites and services that provide Word of the Day language learning all too often use sentences to illustrate the word that do not provide useful context. For example, a very useful sentence to show a word in a context that can be remembered could be something like:

shovel: The man used a shovel to dig a hole in the ground.

But all too often, you see this sort of thing:

shovel: He saw the shovel.

I harvest a lot of sentences from my reading. I often edit and add to the sentence to ensure that, by itself, the sentence helps convey the meaning of the word. For example, I might read:

flashlight: It was a very dark and stormy night. The student used a flashlight to find his book.

My context sentence becomes: Because it was so dark, the student had to use a battery-powered flashlight to find his book.

With just a few extra words and/or a bit of editing, you can make context sentences much more self-explanatory, not needing a translation to your native language.
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