|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Words that the English Language needs and vice versa
|
BalddudePeekskill
Shipmate
# 12152
|
Posted
Anyone else care to add to the list:
Retrotractive: Adj...appearing handsome or pretty from the rear
Telehotty: A person who appears extraordinarily handsome, from a distance. EG: Did you spot the telehotty? Distance lent enchantment to him!
(edited to change thread title)
[ 29. May 2012, 09:45: Message edited by: Firenze ]
--------------------
Christos Aneste
Posts: 308 | From: Peekskill, NY | Registered: Dec 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by BalddudeCrompond:
Telehotty: A person who appears extraordinarily handsome, from a distance. EG: Did you spot the telehotty? Distance lent enchantment to him!
I've always referred to such a person as a FLR: Fit at Long Range.
--------------------
Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Alaric the Goth
Shipmate
# 511
|
Posted
gruntled: adj.happy, content (opp. of 'disgruntled')
Posts: 3322 | From: West Thriding | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Loquacious beachcomber
Shipmate
# 8783
|
Posted
Asstrous: the opposite of disastrous; something amazing, such as:
A couple buying a new mattress and trying it out together for the first time would be an asstrous event.
--------------------
TODAY'S SPECIAL - AND SO ARE YOU (Sign on beachfront fish & chips shop)
Posts: 5954 | From: Southeast of Wawa, between the beach and the hiking trail.. | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
|
Posted
'ert', meaning the opposite of 'inert' and 'ertia' meaning the opposite of 'inertia'.
Moo
--------------------
Kerygmania host
---------------------
See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Edith
Shipmate
# 16978
|
Posted
My dyslexic son used to describe the dishwasher as the doshwisher. If only.
--------------------
Edith
Posts: 256 | From: UK | Registered: Mar 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by BalddudeCrompond:
Distance lent enchantment to him! [/i]
I read that as "Distance Lent enchantment" — i.e. an imperative call, with Lent as a noun.
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
|
Posted
Them furriners are way ahead of us in many regards: here is a list of 25 words that don't exist in English but do in other languages.
My favourite is no. 2, the Japanese Arigata-meiwaku: "An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude."
Posts: 761 | From: The Instrumentality of Man | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
Them furriners are way ahead of us in many regards: here is a list of 25 words that don't exist in English but do in other languages.
English is full of words from other languages and I think that defines English; A bucket of the most useful words from other languages. I do like #21: we should remember that when discussing Arabs, Muslims, the Middle East and all that. In the absence of a word for compromise in Arabic it's hardly surprising that it is difficult to reach one!
We could do worse than adopt more widely the German word Weltanschauung, which simply put, means 'World view' but actually means more than that.
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve H
Shipmate
# 17102
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
Them furriners are way ahead of us in many regards: here is a list of 25 words that don't exist in English but do in other languages.
My favourite is no. 2, the Japanese Arigata-meiwaku: "An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude."
The (approximate) Englsih equivalent of that is "do-goodery".
--------------------
Hold to Christ, and for the rest, be totally uncommitted.
Herbert Butterfield.
Posts: 439 | From: Hemel Hempstead, Herts | Registered: May 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve H
Shipmate
# 17102
|
Posted
My older son, when he was three or four, came up with a good word: "inside-bread", meaning a sandwich made by folding a single piece of bread in half.
--------------------
Hold to Christ, and for the rest, be totally uncommitted.
Herbert Butterfield.
Posts: 439 | From: Hemel Hempstead, Herts | Registered: May 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Steve H:
The (approximate) Englsih equivalent of that is "do-goodery".
Or "meddling".
--------------------
Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
|
Posted
Or "my mum"!
--------------------
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
|
Posted
What's the word for that mood where you feel like talking about your digestive system and bowel movement?
--------------------
Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
What's the word for that mood where you feel like talking about your digestive system and bowel movement?
Activiated. Also known as Jamie Lee Curtis syndrome.
--------------------
"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
|
Posted
I've often suffered from "staircase wit"
--------------------
"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Rosa Winkel
Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424
|
Posted
The German word "jain" (from ja and nein) is excellent in that it means both yes and no. "Was the concert good?", "Jain, good music, but too short a set". It's shorter to say than "yes and no".
"Doch" is another good German word, which doesn't really translate well, I think. It's used when you give a view and someone contradicts it, but you insist in being right, as in "I bought some butter", "No you didn't, it's not in the fridge", "Doch, it's on the table" (as in "No really"). Or it's also used when something is unexpected, like "Liverpool had a bad season but doch won a cup".
"Nie" from Polish sounds stronger to me than the English "no", so I sometimes use it when speaking English.
--------------------
The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project
Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
|
Posted
German schon can be found in small dictionaries as "already", but it can mean a lot more than that and is often used as syntactic filler which only gives a sentence a certain general slant which is impossible to describe. Some larger dictionaries give a whole list of expressions each with its own translation. an equivalent word also exists in Yiddish, and I am told Jewish speakers in New York have adapted "already" to fulfil the same function. Wise move...
Conversely, there are a number of words in English that I struggle to render into German with anything short of a sentence. "Dodgy" is one example but there are more - which refuse to come to mind at the moment.
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
Conversely, there are a number of words in English that I struggle to render into German with anything short of a sentence. "Dodgy" is one example but
can do that one in 1 word: Politiker.
(means politician)
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by St. Gwladys:
I've often suffered from "staircase wit"
I just looked that up, St Gwladys, and it is a very useful expression!
--------------------
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
bib
Shipmate
# 13074
|
Posted
I'd love to have single words in English for the phrases 'the day before yesterday' and 'the day after tomorrow'. German has wonderful single words as I'm sure do other languages.
--------------------
"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Steve H:
My older son ... came up with "inside-bread" ...
That reminds me of my nephew's expression for lemonade - "buzzy juice" - which I thought was inspired.
Lager or beer was "Grandad's buzzy juice". ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve H
Shipmate
# 17102
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by bib:
I'd love to have single words in English for the phrases 'the day before yesterday' and 'the day after tomorrow'. German has wonderful single words as I'm sure do other languages.
How about "yesteryesterday" and "tomorrowmorrow"?
--------------------
Hold to Christ, and for the rest, be totally uncommitted.
Herbert Butterfield.
Posts: 439 | From: Hemel Hempstead, Herts | Registered: May 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve H
Shipmate
# 17102
|
Posted
Another phrase invented by one of my sons was for an unpleasant condition, possibly brought on by too many inside breads or buzzy juices: "squirty bottom".
--------------------
Hold to Christ, and for the rest, be totally uncommitted.
Herbert Butterfield.
Posts: 439 | From: Hemel Hempstead, Herts | Registered: May 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Edith
Shipmate
# 16978
|
Posted
In Luganda there are words to distinguish between the different sorts of aunts. Mother's sister, father's sister, mother's brother's wife and so on.
What I would really like is a friendly word to describe the parents of one's sons' or daughters' spouses parents. I've heard 'outlaws' used but I don't like that.
--------------------
Edith
Posts: 256 | From: UK | Registered: Mar 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
Part of my life's work is trying to save deserving words, or meanings, falling over the cliffs of oblivion. Many of these come from that linguistic deep freeze which is Irish English - 'forenenst' meaning 'in front of': 'throughother' - slovenly (I was so pleased when I discovered German has durcheinander), 'brave' to mean 'good, well, splendid'.
I am sure English has all the necessary words, just some of them may be down the back of the sofa.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Rosa Winkel
Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424
|
Posted
In considering the need for words to enter other languages, it is good to try to look at how many words exist in different languages, which is not an easy business due to things like diminutives and local slang. From online searching it seems that it is impossible to know how many words exist in different languages.
Regarding English, estimates range from 250,000 to a million, with most estimates being over 500,000.
For German estimates give 400,000 words, which includes compound words.
Polish gives a maximum of 160,000 words (though that excludes diminutives).
That many English words have entered into German (Computer, last but not least (!), Workshop, Energiser, Training) shows that various contexts bring out an international language. Same with Polish, where there are words like laptop and NGO.
Theoretically the English language is less likely to need loan words. On the other hand it is full of them, words like restaurant, cafe, pizza and bourgeois.
This long-winded answer, should anyone still be reading is to show that with determination words can enter other languages.
--------------------
The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project
Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
That many English words have entered into German (Computer, last but not least (!), Workshop, Energiser, Training) shows that various contexts bring out an international language. Same with Polish, where there are words like laptop and NGO.
I find it hard to believe that German had to borrow 'workshop' and 'training'! Is that because Germany industrialised after Britain or is 'Workshop' used here in the sense of a glorified meeting with artifacts as an end-product rather than minutes and an action list?
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
|
Posted
quote:
I find it hard to believe that German had to borrow 'workshop' and 'training'! Is that because Germany industrialised after Britain or is 'Workshop' used here in the sense of a glorified meeting with artifacts as an end-product rather than minutes and an action list?
They borrowed "workshop" in the sense of a training session that a company subjects its employees to. Like an anti-sexism workshop or the like. The physical place is "die Werkstatt." Before it borrowed "das Training" I don't think German had a distinction between "practice" and "training."
--------------------
Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
Conversely, there are a number of words in English that I struggle to render into German with anything short of a sentence. "Dodgy" is one example but
can do that one in 1 word: Politiker.
(means politician)
That is an illustrative example, not a definition
![[Biased]](wink.gif) ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
BTW, another one I haven't managed to adequately translate yet is "fuzzy"
[ 26. May 2012, 15:10: Message edited by: doubtingthomas ]
--------------------
'We are star-stuff. We are the Universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out'
Delenn (Babylon 5)
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
Zach's right. I do workshops about, say, conflict management and on history. Same with trainings. In German I am a Trainer. When I do tours I am occasionally called a Guide.
When I was young, "Training" (in German) was something you did in a sports facility, in business it was called "Ausbildung".
Some of these business-type borrowings happen because English is fashionable, not becasuse there is no existing word. No doubt some will stay, but many are likely to go away again...
[ 26. May 2012, 15:18: Message edited by: doubtingthomas ]
--------------------
'We are star-stuff. We are the Universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out'
Delenn (Babylon 5)
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
|
Posted
It seems vaguely relevant that Germans seemed especially perplexed by the American concept of "warming up" before a game for a newscast about American football. There were multiple, overlong clips of players riding stationary bikes. I imagine German "warming up" for games involves das Bier, oder?
--------------------
Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
I am told Jewish speakers in New York have adapted "already" to fulfil the same function.
It sort of means "Enough is enough!" as in "All right, already!" = "OK, so stop talking about it and let's get on with it."
--------------------
"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Rosa Winkel
Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
Zach's right. I do workshops about, say, conflict management and on history. Same with trainings. In German I am a Trainer. When I do tours I am occasionally called a Guide.
When I was young, "Training" (in German) was something you did in a sports facility, in business it was called "Ausbildung".
Some of these business-type borrowings happen because English is fashionable, not becasuse there is no existing word. No doubt some will stay, but many are likely to go away again...
Some words are simply contextual. Things like anti-racism work in Germany took their lead from places like America, and even if words could exist, the context is international. Like pizza. I mean, one could say "dough with cheese" or something, but we don't need to be so pure as to make new words. I've often found it strange that Germans will say happy or strange. Turns out that those words are not exactly like glücklich or komisch.
Words migrate all the time. Here in Poland we have the words szlafrok (from the German Schlafrock meaning dressing-gown), as well as granica from Grenze meaning border. There's even szijsegal from Scheissegal meaning "fuck all" (in the context of something having no worth).
English can be fashionable in Germany and Poland (though I know some in Germany who complain about English words being used), but for me it makes sense if words migrate. Like in non-lingual life, one cannot put borders around culture.
--------------------
The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project
Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
|
Posted
The French Academy keeps refusing to recognize the cognate "le Weekend," despite the fact that French has absolutely no other way of saying it. ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
--------------------
Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
leo
Shipmate
# 1458
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
Zach's right. I do workshops about, say, conflict management and on history. Same with trainings. In German I am a Trainer. When I do tours I am occasionally called a Guide.
When I was young, "Training" (in German) was something you did in a sports facility, in business it was called "Ausbildung".
Some of these business-type borrowings happen because English is fashionable, not becasuse there is no existing word. No doubt some will stay, but many are likely to go away again...
I hate the term 'workshop' being used about what is essentially a talking shop.
In English, a workshop is a place where they make things like cars.
--------------------
My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve H
Shipmate
# 17102
|
Posted
Alexei Sayle once defined pretentiousness as "using the word "workshop" in any context other than light ehgineering".
--------------------
Hold to Christ, and for the rest, be totally uncommitted.
Herbert Butterfield.
Posts: 439 | From: Hemel Hempstead, Herts | Registered: May 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
|
Posted
I think we should use the word "talkeeting" to describe a meeting that is just an opportunity for people to talk, and will serve no real purpose whatsoever.
--------------------
Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Steve H:
Alexei Sayle once defined pretentiousness as "using the word "workshop" in any context other than light ehgineering".
As one who facilitates workshops for a living I need an alternative that doesn't make my skin crawl. I know why the term is used, but it doesn't make me feel any better.
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
"Barkative" for dogs that won't shut up.
It would be useful to have words to describe family members like "maternal aunt" or "female cousin on the paternal side" but English doesn't work that way.
It would also be useful to have ways of describing faces. We can say someone looks intelligent or his eyes are too close together, but half the time you have to fall back on something like "she looks like
[celeb of choice]" to get across what exactly you mean. Saying "has brown eyes and short brown hair" could describe quite a lot of people.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve H
Shipmate
# 17102
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
quote:
Originally posted by Steve H:
Alexei Sayle once defined pretentiousness as "using the word "workshop" in any context other than light ehgineering".
As one who facilitates workshops for a living I need an alternative that doesn't make my skin crawl. I know why the term is used, but it doesn't make me feel any better.
How about the already-existing word "talking-shop"?
--------------------
Hold to Christ, and for the rest, be totally uncommitted.
Herbert Butterfield.
Posts: 439 | From: Hemel Hempstead, Herts | Registered: May 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve H
Shipmate
# 17102
|
Posted
Another word we need is one for adult offspring ("offspring" itself won't do, because it's not specifically for adults). "Child(ren)" suggests school or pre-school ones, the still-dependent kind, but if one of my adult sons (27 and 35) was a daughter, calling them my children would be possibly misleading
--------------------
Hold to Christ, and for the rest, be totally uncommitted.
Herbert Butterfield.
Posts: 439 | From: Hemel Hempstead, Herts | Registered: May 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
"Barkative" for dogs that won't shut up.
Not so much a new word, but could we restore "yappet"? I remember this from "Call my Bluff" many years ago - it means a small, yappy dog. It's a perfect description.
--------------------
"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
doubtingthomas
Shipmate
# 14498
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Steve H:
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
quote:
Originally posted by Steve H:
Alexei Sayle once defined pretentiousness as "using the word "workshop" in any context other than light ehgineering".
As one who facilitates workshops for a living I need an alternative that doesn't make my skin crawl. I know why the term is used, but it doesn't make me feel any better.
How about the already-existing word "talking-shop"?
Too many syllables
Posts: 266 | From: A Small Island | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
molopata
The Ship's jack
# 9933
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Steve H:
quote:
Originally posted by bib:
I'd love to have single words in English for the phrases 'the day before yesterday' and 'the day after tomorrow'. German has wonderful single words as I'm sure do other languages.
How about "yesteryesterday" and "tomorrowmorrow"?
Well, in West Africa I encountered a version which would certainly fix the future: the-day-after-tomorrow, was simply called "nexttomorrow". Meanwhile, "next week" was called "the upper week"!
--------------------
... The Respectable
Posts: 1718 | From: the abode of my w@ndering mind | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
molopata
The Ship's jack
# 9933
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by doubtingthomas:
quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
Zach's right. I do workshops about, say, conflict management and on history. Same with trainings. In German I am a Trainer. When I do tours I am occasionally called a Guide.
When I was young, "Training" (in German) was something you did in a sports facility, in business it was called "Ausbildung".
Some of these business-type borrowings happen because English is fashionable, not becasuse there is no existing word. No doubt some will stay, but many are likely to go away again...
Using English words conveys a flavour of it own in German-speaking contexts. I was at the after-chill of a trendy sporting event some years ago, when the announcer interrupted the blaring techno-beat to declare that people should not go away, because "es gibt Food, Drinks und Sound". Had he used "Essen", "Getränke" and "Musik", it would probably made people think of Bratwurst, Bavarian Beer and a group of yodellers.
[ 26. May 2012, 22:26: Message edited by: Molopata The Rebel ]
--------------------
... The Respectable
Posts: 1718 | From: the abode of my w@ndering mind | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
|
Posted
"Yesterseve" does the trick, even if it it somewhat ungrammatical. A case for an apostrophe mid-word? I can't think of a word for the day after tomorrow though.
Some years ago. there was an item in Punch on the language of another planet. There was a word for the feeling which a boy feels before he first kisses his first girl. We sadly miss such a word in English.
--------------------
Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
"Yesterseve" does the trick, even if it it somewhat ungrammatical.
'Yestreen' surely?
'I saw the new moon late yestreen,
Wi' the auld moon in her airm;
And if we gang to sea, master,
I fear we'll come to harm.'
Though the context suggests more 'yesterday evening' rather than 'the eve of yesterday'.
[ 26. May 2012, 22:39: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
Some years ago. there was an item in Punch on the language of another planet. There was a word for the feeling which a boy feels before he first kisses his first girl. We sadly miss such a word in English.
Terror. Followed by ecstasy. Followed by terror.
--------------------
Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Printer-friendly view
