1 yr. ago • 88%

Languages without the letter U can't call it a U turn.

53 comments

In Germany we have the letter U but we call it by the real name "Kehrtwende"

48
- Just for context, the word Kehrtwende is not used often. Instead, the verb "wenden" is used the sense of "making a U-turn"
  
  15
- Is that the real name for the letter U? damn
  
  10
- The fuck did you just call me?
  
  6
  
  Beruhig dich...
  
  2
- What does that translate to?
  
  5
  
  kehrt -> return
  wende -> turn
  
  34
  
  Knowing the Germans, probably "extra long and bent letter I"
  
  10
- Why is kehrtwende the real name? Doesn't it basically just mean "turn around"?
  
  -3
  
  Yes it does, why make it more complicated?
  
  23
In Hebrew, it's a horseshoe turn.

29
- ...
  
  In countries without horses...
  
  19
  
  A U-turn
  
  9
The Romans must have called it a V-turn

28
- A five turn?
  
  17
- How is this not the top comment??
  
  1
We call it a 180.

As in 180 degrees turn.

28
- We call it something like 'half circle turn'.
  
  13
  
  In France we call it a half turn
  
  5
- Which language is that in?
  
  2
  
  Dutch. But the variant we speak in Flanders (Vlaams).
  
  5
  
  Yeah, infamousbelgian, which language is that in? /s
  
  Edits: How the hell do I mention a user in Lemmy?
  
  3
You should see the the folks in Beijing make a 欲-turn.

19
We call it a horseshoe turn

14
- Who is we?
  
  7
  
  The Jews!
  
  4
In French it's called a pin turn.

10
- I imagine that would be a hairpin which takes the shape of a U. In routing there is a hairpin NAT which redirects traffic exiting back into the local network.
  
  4
  
  In rally races in the US its also called a hairpin.
  
  2
Even though the letter U is definitely existing in the vocabulary, in Italian it is called "elbow turn" (curva a gomito)!

8
- Italian.... “elbow turn”
  
  I'd be willing to bet that when they say elbow they mean the pasta.
  
  4
  
  Thank you for making me discover elbow pasta! It deepens my conviction that everything in Italy is somehow related to pasta...
  
  2
- How do they not get it confused with elbow pasta?
  
  2
  
  Confusingly enough, in Italy I believe it is not quite a thing "elbow pasta". Personally I have never heard anyone refer to any kind of pasta as "gomiti", though Google showed me that they indeed exist. I have always heard the ones that looks like elbows in other names.
  
  1
- Letters aren't part of vocabulary though?
  
  1
My language doesn't has U, but we call it U turn anyway, even though we have a similar letter in our own language.

6
- Now that's odd.
  
  2
In Chinese doing an u-turn can be called 掉头 or 调头, literal translation would be lose head (or front) or change head (front). For whatever reason apparently both can be used.

6
But the symbol still makes sense

5
You don't need an alphabet to design what may as well be modern day hieroglyphics.

4
The name U turn itself is dumb anyways (alongside shit like T-shirt, I kid you not I tought my english teacher was trolling us because I refused to believe at 12 that people in any part of the world use a '-' in a regular word they use everyday).

1
hairpin-turn

1

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