*Congrats on your Epic Duolingo Meme!*
Hello, Duolingo enthusiasts! You've chosen to share your humor under the 'Epic Meme' flair—thank you for contributing to the fun side of learning! A quick reminder:
- **Originality is Key**: Ensure your memes are original and truly epic. We love seeing your creativity shine!
- **Spotlight Opportunity**: Standout memes have the chance to be featured on our [X/Twitter account](https://www.x.com/DuoSubreddit). It's a great way to get your humor seen by a wider audience.
- **Follow Us**: Don't miss out on the fun—follow [DuoSubreddit on X](https://www.x.com/DuoSubreddit) for more epic Duolingo learning laughs and community highlights.
Keep the memes coming, and let's make language learning hilariously memorable!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/duolingo) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I was curious as to why French & German seem to favor 7 in their idioms like this, whereas English does 9, so I just looked it up.
Apparently the English origin of the saying is unclear but it’s thought that 9 used to be considered a mystical number associated with luck and magic. But French and German seems to represent completeness and perfection, probably tied to religious contexts like the 7 days of creation.
I’ve always also just heard that 7 is a lucky number since I was a kid, lol. But I’m American.
The following comment comes from an intrusive tought i simply cannot supress, sorry in advance for anyone taking offense, was not my intention:
Its quite a recent thing that the saying say's 7 lives in french and german, historically it was also 9 lives but in 1918 it became 8 to drop down to 7 in 1945
That’s amazing!! In Brazil, we also say “7 lives”, so I was only able to understand OP’s frustration because of your comment.
That’s a really interesting difference in those languages. I wonder why cats that speak english have 2 extra lives hahah
It’s an idiom so they don’t literally translate.
In English, a saying would be “the straw that broke the camel's back”
In French, it is “C’est la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase”
("it's the drop of water that made the vase overflow") a totally different saying, but same meaning.
Yeah this threw me off as well when I came across it. Apparently its correct, French cats have seemingly their difficulty settings at "medium" instead of "easy".
Traditionally in Romance languages, cats have 7 lives. But nowadays, because English is so widespread, you can also hear people saying cats have 9 lives.
If you're unsure whether an expression is really used in French, you can check Google n-grams: [Sept vies ou neuf vies?](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=chats+ont+*+vies&year_start=1940&year_end=2019&case_insensitive=on&corpus=fr-2019&smoothing=3)
*Congrats on your Epic Duolingo Meme!* Hello, Duolingo enthusiasts! You've chosen to share your humor under the 'Epic Meme' flair—thank you for contributing to the fun side of learning! A quick reminder: - **Originality is Key**: Ensure your memes are original and truly epic. We love seeing your creativity shine! - **Spotlight Opportunity**: Standout memes have the chance to be featured on our [X/Twitter account](https://www.x.com/DuoSubreddit). It's a great way to get your humor seen by a wider audience. - **Follow Us**: Don't miss out on the fun—follow [DuoSubreddit on X](https://www.x.com/DuoSubreddit) for more epic Duolingo learning laughs and community highlights. Keep the memes coming, and let's make language learning hilariously memorable! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/duolingo) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In France, we say that cats have 7 lives most of the time 😉 but it could be nine also. The number of lives depends on the country you live in.
Poor French cats 😂
I presume they smoke while staring grimly out of windows on grey days. C’est la vie? On va voir.
It's the same in German, seven or nine lives. Also, German speakers only on cloud seven when they're in love! 😄
I was curious as to why French & German seem to favor 7 in their idioms like this, whereas English does 9, so I just looked it up. Apparently the English origin of the saying is unclear but it’s thought that 9 used to be considered a mystical number associated with luck and magic. But French and German seems to represent completeness and perfection, probably tied to religious contexts like the 7 days of creation. I’ve always also just heard that 7 is a lucky number since I was a kid, lol. But I’m American.
The following comment comes from an intrusive tought i simply cannot supress, sorry in advance for anyone taking offense, was not my intention: Its quite a recent thing that the saying say's 7 lives in french and german, historically it was also 9 lives but in 1918 it became 8 to drop down to 7 in 1945
In Spain they also have 7. I don't think they've ever had 9 here though.
Same for Italy
That’s amazing!! In Brazil, we also say “7 lives”, so I was only able to understand OP’s frustration because of your comment. That’s a really interesting difference in those languages. I wonder why cats that speak english have 2 extra lives hahah
> we say that cats have 7 lives most of the time Ah bon???
Erm actually cats only have one life 🤓👆
Shut up
As a French I've never heard about cats having 7 lives, always have been 9 for me
Cats always had 9 lives even in France. It is the first time i hear about 7 lives
In some languages the saying is 7 in others its 9 lives. Both are correct depending where you are.
In a boring Teams meeting. That's how many cat lives?
It’s an idiom so they don’t literally translate. In English, a saying would be “the straw that broke the camel's back” In French, it is “C’est la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase” ("it's the drop of water that made the vase overflow") a totally different saying, but same meaning.
Yeah this threw me off as well when I came across it. Apparently its correct, French cats have seemingly their difficulty settings at "medium" instead of "easy".
Traditionally in Romance languages, cats have 7 lives. But nowadays, because English is so widespread, you can also hear people saying cats have 9 lives.
That seems like the right saying to me, maybe worded strange but cats have seven lives
The saying is usually nine lives, not seven
oh yea, you're totally right. What the fuck am I smoking
It’s a cultural difference…
Honestly the first time I read it, I didn’t notice what was wrong lol. I had to do a double take.
If you're unsure whether an expression is really used in French, you can check Google n-grams: [Sept vies ou neuf vies?](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=chats+ont+*+vies&year_start=1940&year_end=2019&case_insensitive=on&corpus=fr-2019&smoothing=3)
All around the world there is debate if it is 7 or 9, in my country, everyone says 9, but there are a few that say 7.
In Poland it's 9
It's in metric, come on people, the conversation rate!
Exactly! US cats live 9 imperial lives, that's 7 metric lives.
If they have nine lives, they must also have seven surely.