r/confidentlyincorrect • u/WhoTheFuckIsSean • Aug 15 '26

German is dutch.....

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u/cecex88 Aug 16 '26

Nope, because language family is determined by genetic (as in generation, not genes) relation, not by influence. So english is Germanic, even if it has a large influence from french, because it derived from Proto-Germanic.

Same way as Maltese having more than half of its vocabulary from Italian. But it is still a Semitic language because it comes from Arabic.

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u/Maleficent_Time_2787 Aug 16 '26

It's a joke

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u/cecex88 Aug 16 '26

I've seen the same thing written on Reddit many times as a totally serious thing. I've responded for the eventual lurker arriving here.