What do you think about 窶堋､窶堙遺?堋ｬ窶｢ﾂｶﾂ？

[WaterFox]

あなたの名前はなんですか？ 私はWaterFoxです。 I am WaterFox.
I don't think the whole-myself and WaterFox is completely equivalent.
What is equivalent to WaterFox should be my log-in name, not the whole-myself.

お仕事はなんですか？ (私は）エンジニアです。I'm an engineer.
I don't think that "I" and "an engineer" is completely equivalent.
Because I may have another life as "a husband" or "a volunteer worker at hospital when I'm off".
What is equivalent to "an engineer" should be "my occupation".

感想は？ 僕は怒っている。 I'm angry.
If the "whole-myself;I" and "angry" were completely equivalent, it must be a big problem. "My feeling (now)" and "angry" should be equivalent.

I don't think in English, the verb;be connects only things which are completely equivalent. It connects things which are "roughly" equivalent.

Yet,
あなたは何にする？ 僕はうなぎ。 I am eel.
"My choice" and "eel" are equivalent.

あなたはどっち？ 私はコーヒー。 I am coffee.
"My order" and "coffee" are equivalent.

誰が好き？ 僕はミッキーマウス。 I am Mickey Mouse.
"My favorite character" and "Mickey Mouse" is equivalent.

The bold sentences are of course not correct English sentences.
But in Japanese they are OK.
I think the difference interesting.
What do you think?

 

[Glenn]

Well, if the waiter's bringing the food or coffee, you can say "I'm the eel" or "I'm the coffee", provided they stand out from the rest of the orders as a way of saying what you ordered.

Actually there are a few write-ups on this topic from a few years ago.

窶堋､窶堙遺?堋ｬﾂ（窶愿ｺ窶怒ﾅ津ｪﾂ）
Deferred Reference: "I'm parked out back" (English)

I've got to say, "I wouldn't mind some quality time with the pancakes over at the next table" is a quality sentence. No matter how many times I read it, it still makes me laugh.

 

[WaterFox]

Thank you, for your reply and the references, Glenn.

Oh, I didn't know a quality sentence. And I didn't know うなぎ文 might be possible in some context in English too.

So, "I'm the eel" or "I'm the coffee" is correct English sentences in some contexts, right?

How about "I'm Mickey Mouse"? Is it also possible in some context?

Is this possible
" I want to eat the pancakes, though I don't want to eat them" ?

 

[Glenn]

Sorry, I should clarify what I meant by "quality sentence" there (I guess it is a fairly highly colloquial expression). "Quality" in this case is more like a seal of approval of the speaker, something that they find agreeable or likable, so I was pretty much just saying that I like that sentence, because I find it funny. I'm not sure if this is just American usage or not, though.

So, "I'm the eel" or "I'm the coffee" is correct English sentences in some contexts, right?

Right.

How about "I'm Mickey Mouse"? Is it also possible in some context?

As far as I can imagine right now, only in very special contexts, like if you're dressed like Mickey Mouse, you're acting like Mickey Mouse, or if you're using "Mickey Mouse" to mean "a fool" or something like that. Did you have something specific in mind?

Is this possible
" I want to eat the pancakes, though I don't want to eat them" ?

I don't think so. That just sounds like a contradiction without any further context. What did you want to say?

 

[WaterFox]

>>As far as I can imagine right now, only in very special contexts,
>>like if you're dressed like Mickey Mouse,
>>you're acting like Mickey Mouse, or if you're
>>using "Mickey Mouse" to mean "a fool" or something like that.
>>Did you have something specific in mind?

As I know that you're a big fan of Disney world, I would like to ask you, "what is your favorite character of the Disney's, Michey Mouse, Goofy, or something else?" "I'm Mickey".

>>I don't think so. That just sounds like a contradiction without any >>further context. What did you want to say?

" I want to eat (=do sexual intercourse with) one of the women in the next table who are eating pancakes,
though I don't want to eat the pancakes which they are now eating, because I don't like sweets and I'm not hungry."

 

[Glenn]

As I know that you're a big fan of Disney world, I would like to ask you, "what is your favorite character of the Disney's, Michey Mouse, Goofy, or something else?" "I'm Mickey".

No, you couldn't say that. You would just say "Mickey" in that case. If you say "I'm" you're setting yourself apart from other people, and that wouldn't make sense if someone directly asks you who your favorite character is. Even if someone else had been asked first and you were just chiming in, I'd find "I'm Mickey" to be a strange way to answer the question, personally. I'd probably say "Mickey's mine" or something like that.

" I want to eat (=do sexual intercourse with) one of the women in the next table who are eating pancakes,
though I don't want to eat the pancakes which they are now eating, because I don't like sweets and I'm not hungry."

No, I don't think we use "eat" like that (I don't, at least). I guess you could say "I'd like to do the pancakes," but I don't know about throwing "but I don't want to eat them" on there.

I'm not sure how common these types of sentences are in the first place. I can understand them, and I've heard sentences like them before, but I get the feeling they aren't all that common. At least not in my experience, anyway. But maybe that's because I'm kind of a smartass, and have this thing for joking about semantic (and syntactic) ambiguities.

 

[WaterFox]

I'm not sure how common these types of sentences are in the first place. I can understand them, and I've heard sentences like them before, but I get the feeling they aren't all that common. At least not in my experience, anyway. But maybe that's because I'm kind of a smartass, and have this thing for joking about semantic (and syntactic) ambiguities.

Thank you.
I got it.

Another one like this is
The Rolls Royce is the ham sandwich. (One waitress to the other in a deli, about a well-known regular customer who drives an identifiable car).

We say even odder things. Sometimes we can use a pronoun (like it) which refers back to the thing mentioned, even though that mention itself is really understood to stand for a person -

The filet mignon complained that it was overcooked.
The BMW shelled out $15 for valet parking fearing it would get broken into.
The Mercedes always insists on parking it himself, because he's afraid it will get stolen.

I thought that these sentences at your reference web site were used commonly in your (native-English speaking people's) daily conversation, so I thought I tried to compose such kind of sentence myself.

But I will stop to do such a stupid thing.
I will try to write my English as clear as I can, as I'm a non-native English speaker whose English is weird and ambiguous more or less.

Any correction of my English errors would be appreciated.
Thank you, and have a nice weekend!

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, sometimes when you look at example sentences that are used in linguistics studies you may get the sense that they're used all the time, when in fact they may not be all that common. The point of the studies is to show that you can say them and that they're attested. I've seen some Japanese sentences that native speakers have said were strange, too, like 雨に降られさせた (as in you made someone get rained on).