For ages, I thought that 消える meant ‘to turn on’ because WaniKani accepted that answer. The only thing which hints otherwise when I enter the answer is that is says ‘your answer was slightly off’, which I tend to ignore because it’s usually only because of a spelling mistake.
As you probably know, 消える means the complete opposite to what I’ve been putting: ‘to turn off’. I’ve struggled to get this incorrect answer out of my head, and the fact that WaniKani accepts it as a correct answer makes it a lot harder for me to remember.
Please stop WaniKani from allowing this answer, so that other people don’t get this mixed up too!
Are you referring to 消す? 消える is intransitive and is more like ‘to disappear’, which can be extended to fires and lights to mean ‘to go out’. I agree that ‘to turn on’ shouldn’t be accepted anyhow though.
Well, “to turn off” can be used the way 消える is. Just an intransitive turn off and not a transitive one. Perhaps sticklers might think it’s incorrect, but you hear it.
I’ve never heard it, and it’s not in the Oxford dictionary (which is what I usually use) either. However, if you say it exists, I can accept that. I asked for clarification because I was concerned there was some confusion (which is also why I specified ‘intransitive’, just in case there was some usage that would make my point unclear, like an intransitive ‘to turn off’). In Singlish, ‘off’ and ‘on’ are both adjective-verbs applied to lights and electrical appliances anyway (essentially both transitive and intransitive), so I’m hardly in a position to say I can’t accept usage that’s not in the dictionary.
Nope, definitely was 消える. The meanings on WaniKani for 消える are ‘to disappear’, ‘to go out’ and ‘to turn off’, at least that’s what it says on my account.
And yeah, like you said, ‘to turn on’ shouldn’t be accepted, because it means none of these things.
Contacting them directly by email or chat is probably the fastest way to get something on the blacklist. They don’t directly monitor the forums for this kind of thing (as noted in the pinned Feedback category thread).
Oh, I’m so sorry! I completely forgot about that. I’ll do that, thank you! And I’ll be sure to double check the category threads when I’m posting like this next time. Thank you again
Oh, wait, my bad, that specific thing is written in the pinned thread for Bugs and Errors, not the general feedback one. But it’s still fastest to email them.