# Eel sentences (I'm eel)



## kimko_379

Do you have "I'm eel(-orderer/eater/buyer/seller/catcher/etc.)."-kind of sentence in Arabic?


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## elroy

I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand what you mean. What is an “eel sentence”?


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## kimko_379

Excuse me.  It's a seemingly-typically-Japanese but universal construction of "I'm eel."  when we use in ordering eel at an eel-and-rice-dish restaurant or in various other meanings like "I sell eel." or "I caught an eel/eels." .
English has "I'm coffee."  French has "Vous e^tes golf. (You are golf.)"  German has "Ich bin Kaffee.  (I'm coffee.)"  Swahili has "Mimi ni kahawa/Nairobi-County."  Chinese has "Wo shi Beijin.  (I'm Beijin.)"  Russian has "Sivodniya dosht'.  (Today is rain.)"  Korean and Turkish have counterparts too.


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## elroy

I still don’t understand.  I’ve also never heard any of the sentences you say are equivalents in other languages.


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## lukebeadgcf

Hi Kimko! I'm afraid I'm also not understanding your question. "I'm coffee" doesn't make sense to me in English nor, for what it's worth, does "vous êtes golf" make sense to me in French. 

What are you saying these would mean? Could you elaborate a bit more on the eel-sentence concept? Are you saying that these are sentences where the main verb is omitted and is instead understood from context? So "I'm coffee" would mean "I'll have a coffee" if the person saying the phrase was a customer at a coffee shop?


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## Abbe

This might help

“Eel sentences” in Japanese


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## entangledbank

In linguistics in English these are known as ham sandwich sentences, if anything. Or at least they have the same transfer of meaning. A waiter in a café might say to another staff member, 'The ham sandwich is waiting for his coffee,' where the customer is known by their order. If there are two people at a table, a waiter might bring an order of tea and coffee and ask, 'Who's the coffee?' and a customer could reply, 'I'm the coffee.'


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## Ghabi

kimko_379 said:


> It's a seemingly-typically-Japanese but universal construction of "I'm eel."


The problem is, translating 私はうなぎです as "I'm eel" is very misleading. And it may not make sense to an English speaker. Cf. Who's the steak?

Traditional Arabic grammar acknowledges two types of sentences, one of which is sometimes referred to as "topic-comment" in Arabic grammar written in English, but it can be misleading to compare this type of Arabic sentence with a "topic-comment" sentence in Japanese.


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## kimko_379

Tokyo Univ. semanticist Prof Ikegami (a Longman dictionaries compilation advisor) heard the English grammarian Professor Sidney Greenbaum say to the wondering/hesitating waitress, "I'm fish." (meaning that he was the fish-dish orderer) and later explain that that is a sloppy expression.  Prof Ikegami also reports that he read "Vous ^etes golf." in a French novel and that his colleague German-linguist taught him the German sentence of "Ich bin SPD.  (I'm the Social-Democratic Party of Germany supporter.) "
A Chinese-language expert showed me "Wo shi Beijin."  A Korean revealed the like to me, too.  Turkish and Russian examples can be seen in some documents.  Swahili ones, you can net-search and find.
Also, please look at this: 
Eel-sentences


Ghabi said:


> Traditional Arabic grammar acknowledges two types of sentences, one of which is sometimes referred to as "topic-comment" in Arabic grammar written in English, but it can be misleading to compare this type of Arabic sentence with a "topic-comment" sentence in Japanese.


I was wondering if you could possibly give me some examples of Arabic topic-comment sentences.  But I must ask you to use Latin alphabet to write the words; I am a beginner.

1. Surely, every language has figures of speech.  Therefore, it logically follows that all languages should have eel-sentences; because the similes and metaphors are all eel-sentences:   shorthand expressions with the middle layers/strata- logical_subjects/topics/themes omitted.  Let me show some examples:

Boku wa/ga (chuumon_suru/katta/uru/tsutta mono wa/ga) unagi da.  = Moi, le commande/etc. est (un) anguille.
(The Tagalog speaker/answerer says the similar thing:
I'm pasta. = Me/I'm, the order is, pasta.)

English has equivalents:
He is, like "It's gross!" = He/(As for)Him  ...   (, his_words/what he says) is, (something) like "It's gross!"

Simile and metaphor examples:
The life is (like) a journey. = La vie(, son image, elle) est (comme [celle d']) un voyage.
He is (like) a lion. = Lui(, son coeur, il) est (comme [celui d']) un lion.

2. THIS eel-construction, Arabic or any language must have, correct ? :  (As) for me, (it's) eel (that I order/etc.).
Truly, eel-sentences are not limited to "I'm/He's/etc.  ... ." but can also be  "Regarding/As_for/etc. me/him/etc., it is ... .";
Japanese omits the vague-situation "It" s:
Ame da! = It rains!    
Koko (wa) kurai! = (As for) Here, it is (too) dark!
(I hear Middle English had "Here(,) is dark!" without "it" too.)
"Wa/ga" only shows the theme-ness.  (Wa for presuppositions; ga for focuses.)


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## Mahaodeh

Abbe said:


> This might help
> 
> “Eel sentences” in Japanese



Based on this, and to answer the question, I would say that in Arabic it's like English, it doesn't make sense to say for example "I'm Shawarma!"

However, Arabic does have similar usages, just not in this context.


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## Abbe

I think that there are equivalents in most languages and that they are used in many professions. Doctors  and nurses sometimes uses the name of the disease when they talk about their patients (the diarrhea in room number 5 wanted to ask you something). It saves time but is not very respectful.


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## kimko_379

Mahaodeh said:


> However, Arabic does have similar usages, just not in this context.


Would you mind showing me the "similar usages" please?


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## kimko_379

Other English eel-sentence examples:

We are the same age/height.
We are seven (years old).
We Are Seven (Children)  (The title of a poem by Wordsworth)
I don't think size is the issue.  (Cartoon "Baby Blues")
Today is always a new opportunity for experiencing God's care.  ("Life Application Study Bible, Personal Edition," p.400)
The next year was  the biggest growth in my spiritual life -- I mean, huge!  (Lee Strobel:  "The Case for Grace, Student Edition")


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## Schlabberlatz

kimko_379 said:


> German has "Ich bin Kaffee. (I'm coffee.)"


You have forgotten the article:
Ich bin der Kaffee.
See here:
Imbissdeutsch: Sind Sie die Bratwurst?
Imbissdeutsch: "Ey nein, ich bin das Schaschlik und er ist die Pommes!"

Cf.:


entangledbank said:


> If there are two people at a table, a waiter might bring an order of tea and coffee and ask, 'Who's the coffee?' and a customer could reply, 'I'm the coffee.'


There's an article there, too.


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## mekman99

I'm from Algeria, and it's possible in colloquial Arabic to say: " Who's *that *(or rarely *the*)coffee?" meaning: who is the one who ordered coffee?


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## Xavierfr1

Hello Kimko!
In England people do often say things like that (but with an article 'the' or 'a'). A conversation might go something like:

Waiter: "Right, I've got two roast beefs, and a roast pork, who's the pork?"
Customer 1: "That's me, I'm the pork."
Customer 2: "I'm a roast beef"
Customer 3: "And I'm a roast beef n'all!"

I know it sounds funny, but I can assure you people do say that! It's probably because we misinterpret "whose is" as "who's".

Also we often give people nicknames by referring to just one item corresponding to them, for example in the series 'The Inbetweeners (UK)' Will is referred to as; "Oy, briefcase!". Following on from that one might then say: "where's _briefcase_ gone to?" 
Obviously that's a lot easier on the tongue than saying "the person with the briefcase", a lot snappier, and in the case of the waiter, it saves time whilst they are carrying heavy plates!

In Arabic (I'm not a native), at least in Iraq and the Gulf they have a short way achieving the 'eel-sentence' as you put it by saying "abu al-" or "um al-" to replace "the/a" in English. e.g. wayn-h abu-al gahwa? Where's the coffee-man gone? (or to make it an 'eel-sentence' we might say something like: Where's 'table-4' gone?)
e.g. minuwa dthaka abu al-kafsha? Who's _bushy-hair_ over there?


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## WannaBFluent

kimko_379 said:


> French has "Vous êtes golf. (You are golf.)"


This makes no sense.


kimko_379 said:


> Prof Ikegami also reports that he read "Vous êtes golf." in a French novel and that his colleague German-linguist taught him the German sentence of "Ich bin SPD. (I'm the Social-Democratic Party of Germany supporter.) "


I don't know if I understand what you mean, but a possibility is to say:
_La république, c'est moi_ = The republic, that's me!
It's an *arrogant way* to say you "rule" the Republic, the country. A famous French politician called Jean-Luc Mélenchon said this sentence when the police made a search in his party office. He yelled at the police officers: _La république, c'est moi!_ in a sense of 'you can't make search at my office, I'm the ruler, I'm above you and these laws'.

You could also say _Le golf, c'est moi_ or _Je... suis... le golf_ (with a very little pause after _je _and _suis _for better impact) meaning you're the best in golf as if you literally invented it.


kimko_379 said:


> Moi, le commande/etc. est (un) anguille.


No, in a restaurant, the shortest way to say to the waiter that you orderer an eel is:
Pour moi, c'était une anguille (if you ordered it earlier) or
Pour moi, ce sera une anguille (if you're ordering it right now).
You can't escape the preposition _pour _'for'.


kimko_379 said:


> La vie(, son image, elle) est (comme [celle d']) un voyage.


_La vie est un voyage_ makes sense.


kimko_379 said:


> Lui(, son coeur, il) est (comme [celui d']) un lion.


You can't say _Lui est lion_ but _Lui, il est lion_ or simply _Il est lion_ both work.
But the only context you can say this is talking about the *astrological sign*.


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## kimko_379

Thank you so much, everyone, for your kind answers including your corrections of my mis-conception of "the universality of some individual English metaphors".
But I still believe that "konjak-jellies sentences," esp. "eel sentences" using synecdoches or metonymies prevail in all (or at-least in all civilized/developed/"modern") languages because you have to use some clipped-style sentences or some other "abbreviated/short-hand" sentences when in a hurry.


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## kimko_379

Xavierfr1 said:


> Hello Kimko!
> In England people do often say things like that (but with an article 'the' or 'a'). A conversation might go something like:
> 
> Waiter: "Right, I've got two roast beefs, and a roast pork, who's the pork?"
> Customer 1: "That's me, I'm the pork."
> Customer 2: "I'm a roast beef"
> Customer 3: "And I'm a roast beef n'all!"
> 
> I know it sounds funny, but I can assure you people do say that! It's probably because we misinterpret "whose is" as "who's".
> 
> Also we often give people nicknames by referring to just one item corresponding to them, for example in the series 'The Inbetweeners (UK)' Will is referred to as; "Oy, briefcase!". Following on from that one might then say: "where's _briefcase_ gone to?"
> Obviously that's a lot easier on the tongue than saying "the person with the briefcase", a lot snappier, and in the case of the waiter, it saves time whilst they are carrying heavy plates!
> 
> In Arabic (I'm not a native), at least in Iraq and the Gulf they have a short way achieving the 'eel-sentence' as you put it by saying "abu al-" or "um al-" to replace "the/a" in English. e.g. wayn-h abu-al gahwa? Where's the coffee-man gone? (or to make it an 'eel-sentence' we might say something like: Where's 'table-4' gone?)
> e.g. minuwa dthaka abu al-kafsha? Who's _bushy-hair_ over there?


Would you mind telling me why you call The Inbetweners Will "briefcase"?  Is it a synecdoche or a metonymy or some other metaphor, I wonder?


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