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The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

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Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#121

Post by Crisco »

The Dominican Republic (and I think other Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands) has a lot of words they use that come from English but have been modified over the years, or were brand names that are now used to describe something Generic.

SUV is "Jipeta" or "Yipeta" sounding like "Jeep-eta", Diaper is "Pampa" sounding a bit like "Pampers", Trash-can is "Zafacón" coming from the English "Safety-can", and my personal favorite is the word "boche" which is a bit like a scolding or reprimand but comes from "Bull shit."

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#122

Post by vidarh »

Norwegian has e.g. "light" instead of "diet" for diet products ("Diet Cokie" is "Coke Light" in Norway).

We also have e.g."vorspiel" and "nachspiel" for "pre party" (private party before going out, where you can get drunk cheaply...) and "after party" respectively.

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#123

Post by achamayou »

kalleboo wrote: post #73
bryanlarsen wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan had several cell phone networks using an alternative to GSM called the Personal Handy-phone System. This was an urban only network with extremely small cells that let them make ridiculously small and inexpensive phones.

One of the PHS networks is even still running! You can still get a PHS phone from Y!Mobile (yes, a Yahoo! brand) https://online-store.ymobile.jp/regi/?oid=WX01SH&plan=000K13 What's interesting is that in Europe, DECT was designed to work the same way, but it never caught on as anything aside from a home cordless phone standard. Wikipedia says there was even a public DECT network in Italy until 2001.

There was one in France in 91-97 (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-Bop), Apple even made a compatible PowerBook 180 with a special antenna (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerbop).

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#125

Post by guard-of-terra »

pandaman wrote: post #13

I don't think Russian "face control" is borrowed from English entirely. "Control" (контроль) is a proper Russian word, borrowed from French/German and in this context means "checking","verification".

On other hand, it's usually written in Latin. And it's not so much about your face than about your dress.

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#126

Post by funkyy »

allengeorge wrote: post #112
funkyy wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pendrive is common across whole English and the non-English speaking world.

Where? No one in my acquaintance (GTA/SV/NYC) has ever used the term "pen drive".

UK, Ireland, many customers from US/Australia. Many European customers.

Maybe you are talking about tech people. I am talking about mix.

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#127

Post by thesimon »

weinzierl wrote: post #120

My favourite German one is body bag for rucksack . I mean we have this wonderful German word rucksack , it is so nice it even has been imported into English, then instead of just using it we import the wrong word from English. Unsurprisingly the phenomenon also exits in English, for example Zeitgeist means something slightly different in German than in English and I wouldn't use in German in the same way I see it use…

Going to the public viewing with a bodybag sounds quite fun in German, not so much in English :)

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#128

Post by dorfsmay »

Camillo wrote: post #20
ScottBurson wrote: post #14

Let's not forget that entrée , in French, means "appetizer". ETA: I see this is mentioned in the article. Posted too hastily :-)

This confused me when I moved to America, because I thought it meant an appetizer. Then, when I visited France, it confused me again, because by that point I thought it meant a main course.

Same here, actually asked the waiter for the menu with the main dish. And same with "matinee", morning in french, but a daytime performance in english, which is typically taking place in the afternoon.

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#129

Post by rflrob »

brownbat wrote: post #119

These are called wasabi eigo in Japanese, and there are enough to fill a dictionary, they change all the time. My favorite are ones like "left over"... a baseball term for a hit that goes over the left-fielder's head, rather than uneaten food saved for later. English admits a ton of these as well. I'd be horrified if someone recommended a board to keep English pure from foreign influences though. It seems both futile…

Likely autocorrect "fixed" wasei eigo for you. Wasabi eigo would likely be pretty spicy language...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasei-eigo

Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't

#130

Post by rflrob »

vidarh wrote: post #122

Norwegian has e.g. "light" instead of "diet" for diet products ("Diet Cokie" is "Coke Light" in Norway). We also have e.g."vorspiel" and "nachspiel" for "pre party" (private party before going out, where you can get drunk cheaply...) and "after party" respectively.

To be fair, American English occasionally uses "lite" to mean "diet", so that likely is a direct borrowing.
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