[Multilingual Monday] Faux English
It's a short one today. Yes, still doing card work, which means it'll be late. Again. :: laugh ::
I'm fascinated by not only the number of English worsd that have surfaced in multiple languages (hell, Hindi sentences can be mostly English held together by Hindi particles in Hindi word order!), but by "English" words and phrases that don't exist in any form of actual English, but are certainly inspired by English.
Japanese does this VERY frequently, and is known as 和製英語, wasei eigo, "English that's made in Japan", and examples include マイブーム, "my boom" (something that you obsess about for a bried period of time); コンセント, "consent" (an electric plug); フリーター, "freeter" (a permanent casual worker); ヘルス メーター , "health meter" (a bathroom scale); ハイ ミス, "high miss" (a spinster); サラリマン, "salaryman" (a male office worker); t バック, "t back" (a thong); ワイドショー, "wide show" (a variety show); and マイナス ドライバー, "minus driver" (a non-Phillips screwdriver). There words are all common in Japanese and are all based on English words, though again, using them in actual English with someone who is not Japanese nor familiar with Japanese will lead to a plethora of confusion.
It's easy to pick on Japanese, but several other languages. German, for example, has a Handy (a cell phone), a Hometrainer (an exercise bike), and a Kicker (table soccer); Hebrew has such oddities as טרמפ, "tramp" (hitchhiking -- no clue why this is) and און דה פייס, "on the face" (feeling very bad).
I'd love more examples of anglicisms in other languages!
I'm fascinated by not only the number of English worsd that have surfaced in multiple languages (hell, Hindi sentences can be mostly English held together by Hindi particles in Hindi word order!), but by "English" words and phrases that don't exist in any form of actual English, but are certainly inspired by English.
Japanese does this VERY frequently, and is known as 和製英語, wasei eigo, "English that's made in Japan", and examples include マイブーム, "my boom" (something that you obsess about for a bried period of time); コンセント, "consent" (an electric plug); フリーター, "freeter" (a permanent casual worker); ヘルス メーター , "health meter" (a bathroom scale); ハイ ミス, "high miss" (a spinster); サラリマン, "salaryman" (a male office worker); t バック, "t back" (a thong); ワイドショー, "wide show" (a variety show); and マイナス ドライバー, "minus driver" (a non-Phillips screwdriver). There words are all common in Japanese and are all based on English words, though again, using them in actual English with someone who is not Japanese nor familiar with Japanese will lead to a plethora of confusion.
It's easy to pick on Japanese, but several other languages. German, for example, has a Handy (a cell phone), a Hometrainer (an exercise bike), and a Kicker (table soccer); Hebrew has such oddities as טרמפ, "tramp" (hitchhiking -- no clue why this is) and און דה פייס, "on the face" (feeling very bad).
I'd love more examples of anglicisms in other languages!