Note that the academie francaise is way flexible to accept english words in the official vocabulary. In Quebec they literally have a french word to replace all common english expressions and prevent borrowing.
The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
21–30 of 205 posts
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#22They forgot parking in french which is the word for car park. And japanese has so many of such words that are imported from English with a totally different meaning you d need a book to cover them.
> They forgot parking in french which is the word for car park.
In the US that would be a "parking lot" -- so the French term is pretty close.
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#23They forgot parking in french which is the word for car park. And japanese has so many of such words that are imported from English with a totally different meaning you d need a book to cover them.
Japanese even has an entire alphabet just for loanwords (katakana)
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#24Russians like taking plurals of English words, add a Russian ending that denotes plural and attach a specific meaning to the newly minted word. For example, бутсы. It's pronounced "boots-y" where 'y' denotes plural. The word referes to these things https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%82%D1%81%D1%....
Also, "le week-end" comes to mind although it's not different from its English original. "Naan bread" is also interesting.
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#25Note that the academie francaise is way flexible to accept english words in the official vocabulary. In Quebec they literally have a french word to replace all common english expressions and prevent borrowing.
'Courriel' for email was an Académie invention, not Québécois. It isn't as clear-cut as you describe.
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#26There are no double entredre's in France because they never say anything that could mean two things or because, "double entendre" (double hear), literally doesn't make sense?
Of course there are "double entendres" in French.
They can take the form of "sous-entendus" where the same sentence can be interpreted differently depending on the level of knowledge of the listeners for a particular context.
Play-on-words are also widespread, including the "contrepèterie" art form unique to French.
Various form of "argot" (slang) also use identical words bearing different meanings.
All of these are a big part of our second and third degree humour that elude so many foreigners.
This journalist from the BBC does not seem to be much aware of French culture at all.
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#27And then there's the whole business of Wasei-Eigo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasei-eigo .
My favorite is "anime"; things went full circle and we got our borrowed word back!
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#28I can't help but laugh at these—is there something the matter with me? "ofisuredii" is particularly humorous.
There's no reason to spell it that way unless you're being obnoxiously Orientalist.
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#29Russians like taking plurals of English words, add a Russian ending that denotes plural and attach a specific meaning to the newly minted word. For example, бутсы. It's pronounced "boots-y" where 'y' denotes plural. The word referes to these things https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%82%D1%81%D1%... . Also, "le week-end" comes to mind although it's not different from its English original. "Naan bread" is…
My personal favourite is sportsmenki which means female athletes. The corresponding word for male athletes is sportsmeny and the singular for a male athlete is sportsmen.
Re: The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
#30Japanese word for "blue" is apparently "boo-roo"
“The Japanese language has no exact word for the color blue. The term the Japanese use, ao, is ambiguous – best translated as blue-green. Ao has the connotations of immaturity and inexperience that the English word green has. When the Japanese wish to be exact – when describing the color of Siamese cats' eyes, for example – they will sometimes resort to the English word blue, which they pronounce "boo-roo."”