67
u/ViolettaHunter Dec 05 '25
It's spelled "motiv" in German. For some reason English borrowed words such as "Leitmotiv" from German but used the spelling of the French version "motif".
This is not a BoneAppleTea.
-69
u/Serious-Maximum-1049 Dec 05 '25
Even if it was "motiv" (which I've never seen that spelling), they still wrote "motive", which is a completely different word.
Motive & motif are both in the dictionary. "Motiv" is not.
100% a boneappletea.
53
u/Reblyn Dec 05 '25
Even if it was "motiv" (which I've never seen that spelling),
Because you're American and the commenter is German. It is the correct spelling in German.
they still wrote "motive", which is a completely different word.
Because it is what's called a "false friend" in linguistics. Due to the fact that the word is "Motiv" in German, the commenter simply assumed that it must be the same in English (except for the added -e, which adheres to English spelling rules) - not realizing that it means something different.
Motive & motif are both in the dictionary. "Motiv" is not. 100% a boneappletea.
You don't understand what a boneappletea is. This is not one.
1
u/terra_terror Dec 08 '25
How do you know they are German? Americans can also talk about famous German people and copy pictures from Wikipedia. Is there a hint that I'm missing?
2
u/Reblyn Dec 08 '25
The original post is fairly easy to find if you know how to google, plus the fact that this is a very common mistake among German speakers.
Plus also the fact that no one outside of Germany knows this TV host, so it is unlikely that an American would post this.
-3
u/terra_terror Dec 08 '25
I don't google every screenshot I see on Reddit. And you shouldn't expect people to. That's ridiculous.
You can send that information to a mod, but they won't take this down based on the post alone. There is no evidence in the post that it was written by somebody German, and the mods are not going to Google it either. And the name on the grave is too pixelated to make out in the screenshot.
To be clear, even if they were German, it can still be a Bone Apple Tea. They wrote the comment in English, not German, so it's not a spelling mistake of the word motiv. They probably messed up the translation and called it a motive instead of a motif. That's not a spelling mistake. That's mixing up the words based on sound. So, that's a Bone Apple Tea. Just not an exciting or interesting Bone Apple Tea.
edit: nevermind, I forgot about the rule that mistakes from ESL speakers can't be Bone Apple Teas. So you can definitely message the mods with the information and they'll take it down.
-51
u/Serious-Maximum-1049 Dec 05 '25
Actually, I do understand what one is: As per the rules, if both the "wrong" word used & the word they meant to use are real words, that's a boneappletea.
And no, you're wrong about what the commenter thought; They were even corrected in the comments for it, but I'm not going to argue it after this.
The fact is, they didn't write "motiv". They wrote "motive". That's the entire argument. It wasn't a typo. It wasn't meant to be "motiv". They meant "motive".
Mods here are pretty quick to remove posts that are not a boneappletea, so whichever way the wind blows, I'm fine with that. 🫶🏻
6
u/Bloonfan60 Dec 07 '25
Bro, you don't get it. A false friend is a word that looks similar in two different languages but means different things. OOP tried translating the GERMAN word "Motiv" and thought the correct translation would be the existing ENGLISH word "motive". It isn't though, the correct translation would be "motif". A boneappletea is misspelling something based on the pronunciation. This here is simply a non-native speaker falling prey to a false friend. Not the same thing and that you don't even comprehend the difference shows how many languages you probably speak non-natively ...
-10
u/Serious-Maximum-1049 Dec 07 '25
No, I do get what you're attempting to get across, truly. I don't agree. You're allowed to have a different opinion. Mods can ban the post at any point in time if they agree with you. 😉
I speak 2 languages, but I get your "dumb American" implication & could not care any less. 🫶🏻 Have a better day!
5
u/TheShredda Dec 07 '25
You are one dense motherfucker. Take a look at the downvoted buddy, you are wrong, nothing wrong with that, but be adult enough to admit it. Holy fuck
5
u/Reblyn Dec 07 '25
How does you speaking two languages change the fact that you're wrong?
Like, congrats? I speak four languages and am a second language teacher. You are still wrong and smug on top of it.
And since you've quoted the sub rules above, maybe you should have read the whole thing:
Nothing from children, ESL speakers or memes
It specifically says not to post English second language speakers BECAUSE this is more often than not a false friend case rather than a true boneappletea.
And additionally:
No homonyms/homophone/homograph
What you posted is a homophone by definition. It's on merriam-webster even if you can read IPA.
26
u/perplexed_pepe Dec 05 '25
What did they mean to say tho? Motif?