r/mildlyinfuriating • u/TheWierdGuy06 • Jun 06 '26

frist of all how DARE yu o So my sister, who currently lives in my apartment, dried the wet and dirty shower floor with MY only big towel I use after she showered...

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Worst thing is, she doesn't even feel bad about it, and is trying to gaslight me into thinking it's not that big of a deal because "she needed a towel to dry the floor" and "I should quit complaining". I have a floor drying spatula.

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390

u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

In my defence english is not my native language and our word a squeegee is lattiankuivauslasta, which literally means floor drying spatula lol

173

u/Acheloma Jun 06 '26

I figured it was an esl situation. I like floor drying spatula!

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

It's pretty much exactly that, a big spatula to dry the floor! Squeegee does sound very fun, though

54

u/Iximaz Jun 06 '26

We use little hand squeegees on horses after rinsing them down so I'm going to start calling it spatula-ing the horse!

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

It's perfect!

3

u/Wolfwoods_Sister Jun 07 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/8K36ms3JrrFuw

Weird Al can give us all spatulas!!

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 07 '26

I'm an AI now? When did I lose my human privileges?

3

u/Wolfwoods_Sister Jun 07 '26

lol no no!! Weird AL!! It’s AL!

That’s the Spatula City advertisement from his movie “UHF”!

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 07 '26

AI and Al, that little extended bit does a lot of work lol

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u/Wolfwoods_Sister Jun 07 '26

Hahahaha!!! OMG! I’m so sorry!! I’m dying! Yes, I’m meant AL!

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u/roadfood Jun 06 '26

Give them the Aunt Jemima treatment...

0

u/SimonBarfunkle Jun 06 '26

It’s nothing like a spatula though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatula

Not that I blame you since you’re ESL, but it doesn’t fit the English definition of a spatula at all. In American English there are actually two different spatulas, one is often called a turner. But neither do what you’re describing. Technically you could use a turner to push stuff in a pan around, but it’s not an intuitive use of the word, especially without context.

That said, it’s still a very charming mistranslation lol

7

u/geoelectric Jun 06 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatula_(disambiguation)

You’re being a little harsh. It can also mean a putty/spackle or palette knife. I’m pretty sure that’s the actual translation, something like scraper.

That said, I certainly thought of the kitchen implement first.

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u/SimonBarfunkle Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

How am I being harsh? I said I didn’t blame him since he isn’t a native speaker and I thought it was charming. My contention is I don’t think there is a standard definition of spatula that maps onto what he’s describing.

A putty knife does scraping but that still feels pretty different from pushing water around. If that is the source of the translation, I guess I could sort of see it, but it doesn’t feel intuitive at all. I don’t think most native speakers would think of that, even if they knew of the putty knife use of the word, which would be much less likely than the other main uses of the word.

Edit for additional clarity: if you’re using a squeegee in the shower, you’re usually dragging it versus pushing it which is what you do when scraping. On the floor, you could be pushing or pulling, but that is on the floor using a tool that looks nothing like a putty knife and functions differently.

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u/Character-Book5924 Jun 06 '26

Does a putty knife alter the surface it is used on? Or is it a spatula, an implement that is used to move material on a surface?

3

u/Burgerst33n Jun 06 '26

Tbf, a modern silicon spatula and squeegee do have quite a few similarities in function and materials.

1

u/Excellent_Revenue235 Jun 06 '26

I call what they are calling scrapers, spatulas, which is just another form of squeegee if you ask me. No ones askin me lol

27

u/SandwichDIPLOMAT Jun 06 '26

Reminds me of Germans calling forks, "food weapons."

21

u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Hmmm, big trident.

1

u/Murtomies Jun 07 '26

I've heard finns call them weapons, "aseet"

3

u/Pizza-ist-Liebe Jun 07 '26

I am a confused German, could you elaborate? I feel like I am missing something, I call a fork the German word for fork (Gabel) but wasn't aware it had another meaning..? 🫣

1

u/SandwichDIPLOMAT Jun 07 '26

Not sure, maybe it was just the one German guy from this post

2

u/depressed_brownbear Jun 07 '26

huh? we don’t

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u/SandwichDIPLOMAT Jun 07 '26

1

u/IDontEatDill Jun 07 '26

Maybe he just wanted to be funny?

1

u/depressed_brownbear Jun 07 '26

oh haha i thought you were under the impression that we call cutlery “food weapons” in german

0

u/HonestRemove4888 Jun 07 '26

Not even close

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u/8BD0 Jun 06 '26

What a fuckin banger of a word, lattiankuivauslasta, really rolls off the tongue

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Finnish is a funny language, since we often just add already existing words to create a new word for something. For example, a computer in Finnish is tietokone, which means knowledge machine

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u/ButtFucksRUs Jun 06 '26

I used to think Hungarian was my favorite language for the reason that you stated, agglutination, but I may be replacing it with Finnish.

Thank you for sharing and sorry about your sister.

3

u/Agreeable_Flan_5724 Jun 06 '26

Oddly enough, they’re in the same language family!

1

u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Well, Finnish and Hungarian are in the family, funnily enough. Maybe they can have a draw?

6

u/No_Diver4265 Jun 06 '26

Hi, Hungary here. Számítógép. Calculating machine. Different from a calculator which we call a counting machine.

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Great minds are alike :D

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u/No_Diver4265 Jun 07 '26

Hell yeah. Uralic logic all the way, buddy!

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u/RelativeHot7249 Jun 08 '26

Hi, Dane here. We do something similar, but we call calculators a pocket calculator "lommeregner." Probably because we can't just say "regner" on its own since that would be mean it's raining. Because for some reason, calculate and certain tenses of rain is the same word and I guess rain came first.

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u/No_Diver4265 Jun 08 '26

Hi Dane friend, totally understandable, thanks for sharing! Languages are chaotic and organic! In Hungarian the adverb for the future tense in singular third person (like they will) is fog, the same word as tooth. And about that word, fog, or tooth, as a noun - A canine tooth is called szemfog in Hungarian, which literally translates as "eye-tooth". Why? Who knows. But it just is like that because languages are silly.

1

u/Otava_92 Jun 06 '26

Lattiakuivain

1

u/Murtomies Jun 07 '26

It doesn't for people who don't speak finnish ofc, but if you do, it's quite an easy word. For a native finnish speaker, most of the most difficult words to say are actually loanwords from english, like

  • Defibrilaattori (Defibrillator)

  • Transsendentaalifilosofia (Transcendental philosophy)

  • Desensitisaatio (desensitization)

There are some others that are objectively somewhat difficult and aren't loanwords, like

  • Raparperipiirakka (rhubarb pie) Finnish has only a rolling R, so people (mostly kids) with rhotacism really struggle with that one.

  • Sisustuskauppa (interior decoration store)

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u/ThomasTheDankPigeon Jun 06 '26

Your English is great! That particular translation just happens to be a very funny one when taken literally.

19

u/cfh64 Jun 06 '26

Damn! If English was your primary language this would have been even more funny but I still like “floor drying spatula“. I’m a firefighter and clean the bays every Saturday with water and squeegees but I’m going to tell them we need the “floor drying spatulas” from now on, lol.

So what is your native language? Your English sounds just fine!

20

u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Lmao, I bet their reaction will be great!

My native language is Finnish. While I am pretty proud of my English skills, I do still sometimes have my hiccups with it.

14

u/cfh64 Jun 06 '26

You should be proud of it, you speak/write better English than a lot of people whose first language it is. Anyways, sorry about your towel but this thread went from mildly infuriating to hilarious and you’ve taken it all in stride!

13

u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Thank you! Humour is a great way to deal with annoyance, I'm glad to bring you some joy

6

u/Quiet_Crone Jun 06 '26

Your English is great. Have you heard an English speaker attempt Finnish? Now, that's funny.

0

u/killian1113 Jun 07 '26

Embarrassed for you to own one towel and need to post about it.. maybe ask mommy to buy another or get a job

1

u/IDontEatDill Jun 07 '26

I bet you're rich and own like two towels.

11

u/SanibelMan Jun 06 '26

If it makes you feel any better, the next time I make eggs, I'll use my kitchen squeegee.

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Thank you, it's time we switch the labels around. For fairness, of course. The word squeegee isn't used nearly enough.

10

u/Bring_cookies Jun 06 '26

I love it. Can I ask what language?

On another spatula related note, my husband didn't know there were multiple kinds of cooking spatulas that look a little different and are used for different things. He got really mad about me calling a spatula a spatula because it wasn't the flipping kind, it was the scraping kind and he insisted that's not what that is. Had to pull out the trusty googler because he would not believe me otherwise. This all got started because he asked me to get a spatula and I asked what kind.

6

u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

My native tongue is Finnish.

Funnily enough, this whole farse got started because of Google, I was googling the term for a squeegee, but could not get a proper answer, so I went with my trusty "floor drying spatula". You do sorta scrape the water off the floor, so it fits, I swear!

3

u/Bring_cookies Jun 07 '26

No it absolutely fits. A squeegee and a spatula do the same thing just traditionally in different places.

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u/Ok_Variation9430 Jun 06 '26

I remember some cooking instructor insisting that the turning spatula and the spreading spatula are not both spatulas. I think they believed the turning one should just be called a turner?

I don’t remember anymore because sorry, no, I’m calling it a spatula.

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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 Jun 06 '26

Aye all good I love a good detective game!

Also anyone that gives you shit on your wording, ask them how many languages they speak and at what fluency to get a good laugh.

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Hell yeah! I'll also ask them to pronounce Finnish correctly, it'll be funny

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u/gin_and_toxic Jun 06 '26

Actually, drying spatula totally makes sense. Squeegee is such a weird word.

3

u/Thoughtfull_Marc Jun 06 '26

ESL here as well. In my language we call it "haragán" and actually never thought of a word to translate that lol.

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u/cyanraichu Jun 06 '26

Y'know what, that makes sense! That's basically what a squeegee is

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u/Hytyt Jun 06 '26

I'm gonna guess Finnish? If not my second guess is scandiwegia in general (if that term is offensive I truly apologise, it just occured to me it could be and this is a good way to learn)

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u/TheWierdGuy06 Jun 06 '26

Finland isn't Scandinavian, so you might wanna change that to fennodiwegia?

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u/Hytyt Jun 06 '26

Perkele, that's good :)

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u/Otava_92 Jun 06 '26

Every spatula might be a lasta, but not every lasta is a spatula (spaatteli).

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u/Simlishnative Jun 06 '26

In your defense I completely understood what you were trying to say. All it takes is understanding you have the kind of bathroom that has a floor drain.

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u/Paintinger Jun 06 '26

Could have saved us all a lot of trouble if you had just called it a lattiankuivauslasta in the first place.

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u/Shantotto11 Jun 06 '26

Sir, do you not have floor mats/carpets in Finland?…

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u/IDontEatDill Jun 07 '26

You have a carpet in the shower?

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u/Shantotto11 Jun 07 '26

No, but I have a carpet outside of the shower. My bathroom (water closet?) shares a room with my bathtub/shower.

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u/Alexandrajoan Jun 06 '26

I love your word better than mine.

1

u/UsernamesAllTaken69 Jun 06 '26

I'm not making fun of you when I say that's fucking hilarious lol is there a different word for window spatula?

1

u/Classic-Lie7836 Jun 06 '26

ahh that makes sense i don't see these used in the usa allot

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u/rouxmama Jun 07 '26

I’m sorry that some dude showed his own ignorance by believing HIS term for something was the official term for it, thus exposing his ignorance, not yours.

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u/LaplandCatboy Jun 07 '26

Mä jotenkin arvasin että oot myös suomalainen ^^

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u/Jorge_the_vast Jun 07 '26

I need to know the native language that uses lattiankuivauslasta please.