tenshiko comments on A "Failure to Evaluate Return-on-Time" Fallacy - Less Wrong

47 Post author: lionhearted 07 September 2010 07:01PM

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Comment author: Alicorn 07 September 2010 09:51:36PM 2 points [-]

If I have the grammatical pattern and the loanword right (I probably don't), I think it might actually be "Kuku Naritai".

Comment author: tenshiko 22 October 2010 10:02:08PM 1 point [-]

I'm afraid you don't, sorry. The "-ku naritai" pattern only works for the "i-adjectives" (it goes like tsuoyi->tsuyoku, ureshii->ureshiku), and hardly any loanwords turn into those - at least, not while they're still recognizable as having originally been English. Otherwise it would be "XXXX ni naritai", as the commenter above you suggested. Also note that this only works for "[subject] wants to become X"; "[subject] wants Y to become X" is completely different (something like Y ni X(ku/ni) natte hoshii, correct me if I'm wrong).

Examples:

tadashiku naritai - I want to become right (in the sense of right answer on a test, right thing to do)

beisutsukai ni naritai - I want to become a Bayesian (Personally I've always thought that risei-ryokusha, "one with the powers of reason", would be way cooler, if only because it would then play well with "First off, I'm not interested in ordinary people. But if any of you are transumanists, Singularitarians, or Bayesians, please come see me! That is all.")