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[-] Stillwater@sh.itjust.works 93 points 4 months ago

We "go" to lots of things that aren't places. Im going to prove it with this sentence.

[-] whimsy@lemmy.zip 38 points 4 months ago

Can you do it after we go to lunch?

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago
[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

I think I'm going to vomit.

[-] Goun@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 months ago
[-] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

No, my stomach is going to town with all this regurgitation.

[-] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 9 points 4 months ago

Planning to go into detail, or was that it?

[-] megane_kun@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 months ago

I've got to go think about it for a second, and then I get to realize what it meant.

[-] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 4 months ago

I'm going to go to sleep.

Double going!

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[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 21 points 4 months ago
[-] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 20 points 4 months ago

In Spanish, they talk about hunger and thirst as if they are physical objects.

[-] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 11 points 4 months ago

German too. Ich habe Hunger. Sie haben Durst.

[-] LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 months ago

Sie haben Durst

Durst

Heh, Fred Thirst

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

You can have feelings too.

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[-] teft@piefed.world 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I think that's more that tener (to have) doesn't always mean a physical thing.

As an example in spanish they use tener for age. As in tengo 20 años literally is "I have 20 years" but it means "I am 20"

Or ten cuidado means "take care" or "be careful" but literally is more like "have care". Both phrases use tener in a nonphysical sense in the same way as in english we use "to have". Like to have compassion or to have doubts.

[-] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

but it works because abstract concepts are things an individual can own.

Like "Tengo quidado" is "i own the the abstract concept of care".

it could work in English, but it just sounds strange or poetic, like "i have hunger"

[-] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I don't think so, it's not like you can have a monopoly on hunger or sleepiness. "Tener/to have" doesn't mean to own.

In English you can say "I have feelings" but not "I have sadness", because they don't consider emotions to be "things".

[-] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

yet you can have depression?

[-] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 3 points 4 months ago

English being inconsistent, who would've thought.

[-] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

sucks that English became the international language, that language is painfully inconsistent.

although preferable to french

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[-] moonburster@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

In Dutch “go” means to go do a thing as well and I use it English in a similar fashion. Never thought of it weird before

[-] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 4 points 4 months ago

Edit-preface: I am not a grammarian. I don’t know what the technical names for the different types of “to” are or if they are even recognized as distinct by experts in the field.

English is does indeed use “go” to mean “go do a thing”, but not with directional “to” (as in “go to the library”).

“Go run!”, “Go running”, “I’m going running”, and “I’m going to run” are all valid uses. (In that last case, the “to” is not a directional “to”, but is actually part of the infinitive verb “to run”, as in “I want to run”). However, you wouldn’t say “Go to run!” to tell someone to run.

"Go to run" could make sense with a causal “to” (“Go, in order that you might run”) but that separates “go” and “run” in to separate actions. Causal “to” is the “to” in “push to open” and “press F to pay respects” this is not the “to” in “go to sleep”

“Go to sleep” feels like it is in the directional sense, like "go to bed"

Edit: Now you’ve got me thinking. “Go to sleep” and “go to bed” are a little unusual . “Go to [location]“ without an article is usually reserved for proper nouns or pronouns (“Go to France”, “go to Curicó”, “go to Walmart”, “go to John“ “go to her”). When the location is a general noun, you usually use an article or a proper/pro-noun in the possessive form (“go to a restaurant”, “go to the party”, “go to Bob’s house”, “go to your room”). So what makes “bed” and “sleep” so special? The only other case I can think of at the moment is “go to ground” and that is different because it is an idiom, and the rule for idioms is “they mean what they mean”

Edit-edit: meals don’t use an article either: “to lunch”, “to dinner”, “to breakfast”.

Edit-edit-edit: AAAAAH! It applies to some other prepositions too: “in bed”, “at lunch”; but not “under the bed”. What is going on‽

Edit-edit-edit-edit: Causal “to” might be a use of the infinitive case?

Edit-edit-edit-edit-edit: “go to work” does not use an article either.

[-] moonburster@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Damn that’s a good write up!

Another thing we say often in Dutch is I go to bed. Which works in English too! “Ik ga naar bed”

[-] teft@piefed.world 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I think it's because the "to" in those phrases are part of "to sleep" not part of "go to". The "to" modifies the verb "sleep" to be an infinitive and the "go" is an imperative verb.

[-] Nemoder@lemmy.ml 14 points 4 months ago

If you have trouble going to sleep then try falling asleep instead.

[-] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago
[-] PineRune@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

I'd rather leave a piss.

[-] spongebue@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago
[-] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 12 points 4 months ago

I wish it was. I wish it was...

[-] Schwim@lemmy.zip 11 points 4 months ago

"It's time to achieve unconsciousness, kiddo."

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

The void calls ceaselessly, child.

[-] leadore@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

The word "go" has lots of meanings besides physically moving to a place. It also means to change state ("the milk went bad", "he'll go crazy when he finds out") and to indicate immediate future tense ("I'm going to read this book now"). Not to mention some other less relevant uses.

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

I'm going to go, to my bed, to sleep.

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

It's a state.

[-] hedge_lord@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

Yeah I think it's going to make me go insane

[-] neatchee@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

I'm 90% sure that it was originally in the form of "to go <there/place> and " and has just been shortened over time. A refined colloquialism, if you go for that sort of thing

[-] xep@fedia.io 6 points 4 months ago

Sleep is my go to when I'm tired!

[-] Bigfishbest@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago
[-] gilgameth@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Instructions unclear, summoned Cthulhu.

[-] davidgro@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

The Dreaming

[-] Goldholz 3 points 4 months ago

In german we say either say "go" or "laying to sleep/rest"

[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

Huh that's funny, "laying to rest" in English is an expression for burying someone after they have died

[-] Goldholz 5 points 4 months ago

Yeah we also say "they are not yet under the world of the living" if someone is still asleep

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[-] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 4 points 4 months ago

We also call the event of publicly watching soccer matches etc. "public viewing" so...

[-] GuyFawkes@midwest.social 2 points 4 months ago

Naw, just a state of mind.

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this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
183 points (100.0% liked)

Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

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