How can I add an emotional undertone in English?
How can I add an emotional undertone in English?
Context: I'm missing a cutting board. So I wrote in our telegram family group: "Wo ist eigentlich unser zweites großes Schneidebrett hin?" (literally: "Where is actually our second big cuttingboard thither?").
By using the modal particle "eigentlich" I insinuate that something is oddly off and express an emotional state of curiousity and/or mild discontent.
By adding "hin", I notify that I ask because it is not where it is supposed to be and not because I don't know where it should be.
Now I ask myself, how would I express this additional information in English?
Edit: Thank you all for your answers! I learned a lot. Just our cutting board is still gone, and probably enjoying it's freedom somewhere ... I suppose.
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"It looks like the second cutting board has grown legs. Any ideas?"
The first sentence uses a sarcastic metaphor that indicates the correct placement is known but the item is not to be found there
The second sentence expresses an interest in knowing what others can tell the speaker about this situation - maybe not quite discontent, but definitely interest in it being located
In Germany, if something has grown legs, it's implied that someone took it without asking or it has been stolen. At least that is how I am using it, or how I grew up using it.
It can also mean that in English but generally not specifically, depending on context.
Yes we have that in English too. But we also have the use of “stolen” to mean “borrowed without checking first”.
It implies zero or only the tiniest possible wrongdoing on the part or the one who took it. The use of the strong word “stolen” is meant as a sort of disjunction to eliminate any interpretation of mild annoyance.
It’s sarcasm basically, but without the tone. It’s like when I say “Uh I took one of your french fries when you were away from the table” and someone else says “oh you’re going to jail Bud”. It’s a sarcastic escalation of the severity, to signal the opposite: “It’s totally okay”
The key for all the top answers is that they imply the chopping board has moved of its own volition. This is what adds the subtle emotion to “Where is the chopping board?” without the stronger anger, hostility or suspicion.
You’re communicating that it’s not where it’s expected to be and that you’re concerned about the reason that as well as finding it.
Also having grown legs is wrong for a cutting board. It’s literally an abomination, and that implies the cutting board being gone, as a state of affairs, is a wrong. That implies the place I’ve looked and not found it is the right place, which implies I know and have checked its home location.