21 Comments
I had my Latinate brain in when I read "pute" and wondered what kind of "bedroom" topic this really was...
I never really knew what "dyne" was in English before. My family just calls it a dyne. :D
My French brain just stopped. I don't think I'll ever be able to use "pute" seriously.
Ha ha ha, this reminds me of that scene from fightclub. 'Do you know what a duvet is... is it essential for our survival in the hunter gatherer sense of the word?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b32c2Woz0U
Be careful to say what something isn't or you might end up having to hide under the doona from shame. :P
Sometimes I really wonder though. So many words that we use in Australia have very similar words in Norwegian. How did that happen when we are on the other side of the world? Also an Australian will tell you that the extra vowels in norway sound identical to the Australian pronunciation of "ar" (in "car") "er" (in "her") and "or" (in... "or"). Makes it easy.
I think it could be because old english and old norwegian are very similar so maybe the Aussie language has kept some of those roots as the convicts were shipped off... Never thought about our pronunciation of the norwegians extra vowels though, good point :)
If you know what a duvet is then I think it is exactly the same thing.
It's the thing you have over you in bed to keep warm and it has a cover that you can remove and wash.
1524
We call those comforters in Oregon, I think. Or are those not the same thing?
You can't usually open a comforter and take the warm part out though. That is the biggest difference. A comforter is basically a fluffy blanket, but a duvet is a fluffy blanket inside of a cover.
I consider myself to have an advanced English knowledge. I have never heard duvet before. Is this a necessary word for us norsk learners? I thought beginners should learn the essentials first before moving to extremely rare words.
It's an item Norwegians use daily (or nightly, rather), so I'd say it's pretty essential.
You will often hear the word 'duvet' on British English TV. I'm Australian and we use the word 'doona', so I have no problem understanding 'dyne'. What I will struggle with is to remember to call it a 'duvet' when answering Duolingo questions. I guess this is the same for you.
As many others who are familiar with Romance languages have mentioned, "pute" tends to provoke a certain mental image (especially when the context is duvets and other bed items)- the same happened to me...However, after that initial thought, I of course told myself Norsk is not a Romance language, so my mind went to the other Germanic language (besides English) that I speak- German. In German, "Pute" means "turkey" (also "fool/idiot"), so that thought was almost just as funny...
