What is the difference between the following three statements?
He erred.
He made a false statement.
He lied.
They all may mean the same thing. The classy might say he erred and the undiplomatic might say he lied.
I can use a similar example in Amharic and Afan Oromo.
አማርኛ
ሃሰት ተናገረ።
ስህተት ተናገረ።
ዋሸ።
አፋን ኦሮሞ
ዸረ ዱበቴ።
ዶጎጎሬ።
ሶቤ።
These are very simple examples that highlight why people choose to use different expressions to mean the same thing. Of particular interest to me here are the expressions he erred and ዸረ (dhera) ዱበቴ. Err and dhera don't seem to be very different.
If you tell someone you lied, the conversation after that could be adversarial. If you instead tell him that he erred, it could lead to a cordial conversation.
From what I recall, our country folks more often than not say to each other ዸረ ዱበቴ instead of ህን ሶብዴ whenever one observes another make a false statement.
I don't mean to be lecturing here but wanted to start with these simple examples in all these three languages to get to what led me to start this thread. I will be switching between these languages just to get to the expressions.
I came up with this title in reaction to an expression that I heard from one of Ethiopia's popular private media. I had never expected to hear that expression from any Ethiopian. The other various expressions are used by various activists that I respect. So, I hope this to be a constructive criticism. Some of the words are those that I would never use in any household. I am writing them here just to highlight how repulsive they are among many.
Here is the repulsive expression that I heard during a newscast: ሰዉ ታረደ።
የሚታረድ ከብት ነዉ። ያዉም በስመኣብ ወይም ብስምላሂ ተብሎ።
ሰዉ ኣረፋ፣ ተሰዋ፣ ሞተ፣ ኣለፈ፣ ተቀሰፋ ነዉ የሚባለዉ።
ኣእምሮ እና ጭንቅላት መሃከል ምን ልዩነት ቢኖር ነዉ ኣንዱ ኣእምሮ ሲል ሌላዉ ጭንቅላት የሚለዉ?
እብድ ለማለት የተነካ ይባላል። እብደት ከማለት ቅሌት ኣይመረጥም?
ባርያ ከማለት ኣገልጋይ ይባላል፣ ድሮ።
ሰገራ ለማለት ቆሻሻ ይባላል።
አፋን ኦሮሞ
ዲነ ኛነ።
ነምን ዸንጋ ምት ከን ኛተሙ። ዲነ ሞነ፣ ዲነ ጎብነ፣ ዲነን ሎለ ጄዸመ።
ጉርባ ጄቹን አከ chap ጄቹዸ። ስርባፍ ተአ ነት ህንፈካቱ።
ጄች እንተሎ ጄዹስ ስርባፍ ተአ ነት ህንፈካቱ።
I will add more when I remember them or come across more in the future.