On: Character amnesia in China

[djtango]

A better example than sneeze might be diarrhoea. In Chinese this is very easy - 拉肚子 - but I'm sure there are English speakers who might forget the spelling for diarrhoea if they're having a bad day.

[ralfd → djtango]

Does English not have a native word? It would be „Durchfall“ in German, and the Greek word only be used if one wanted to be fancy.

[umanwizard → ralfd]

English speakers perceive it as a native word, not a Greek one.

There are lots of examples of this, where English has a foreign-sounding word for something whereas German has a Germanic one. For example oxygen vs. Sauerstoff.

[jan_Inkepa → ralfd]

It just has, uh, diarroeha...yeah I can't spell it either