The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by pluma » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:50 PM UTC

robocat wrote: post #180

adamzochowski wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it isn't "Bob" to "Robert". You skipped middle step, and one final step. First names were shortened. Robert to Rob Richard to Rich William to Will Then the shortened version had first letter replaced to make second diminutive form Rob to Bob Rich to Dick Will to Bill Finally you have third diminutive form, by adding ending Bob to Bobby Dick to Dicky Bill to Billy

Richard to Ric to Dick is mentioned here: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/04/how-dick-cam... Also says that dick didn't mean cock until a lot later.

I'm not sure what it says about the English language that common given names also refer to genitalia, money, prostitutes' clients and toilets (e.g. dick, willy, john and so on).

Probably nothing, but still pretty awkward as a foreigner. You'd think these names would fall out of style but apparently everybody tries their best to be mature about it.

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

#202

Post by pluma » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:52 PM UTC

villedespommes wrote: post #167

adamzochowski wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it isn't "Bob" to "Robert". You skipped middle step, and one final step. First names were shortened. Robert to Rob Richard to Rich William to Will Then the shortened version had first letter replaced to make second diminutive form Rob to Bob Rich to Dick Will to Bill Finally you have third diminutive form, by adding ending Bob to Bobby Dick to Dicky Bill to Billy

Russians do this to common nouns too. The short forms of the common nouns are less "common" (sorry for the tautology) in every day speech in English. Exceptions like mommy, daddy, granny, breakie, aside, of course.

Kinda like Dutch. I wonder if people from other related languages that don't do this think Russian sounds "cute" because of that (like how Germans often say everything sounds "cute" in Dutch).

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

#203

Post by kwhitefoot » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 8:07 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #179

spraak wrote: post #139

Hopefully someone interested will read this comment, since it might be buried at the bottom: there is a fun project called Anglish that works to make the English language free from any non-Germanic loan words, using old(er) English and even made up words inspired by German, Dutch etc when no others exist. It's not, as far as I can see, a militant effort, but more fun and an inspiring linguistic challenge. Check it ou…

Perhaps more interesting for a 5-minute distraction is "Uncleftish Beholding", a description of a well-known scientific theory written with no Romance-language words. https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=alt.language...

Thanks for reminding me of that. I've read it before but I enjoy it anew every time I see it.

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

#204

Post by Oletros » Tue, Oct 18, 2016, 9:44 AM UTC

jnbiche wrote: post #83

Oletros wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never heard calling Facebook as Face, I live in Barcelona

> I live in Barcelona Do you speak Spanish or Catalan with your friends and family when discussing things like Facebook?

Spanish and Catalan and I have not heard it in any of those languages

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

#205

Post by dotancohen » Sat, Oct 22, 2016, 7:02 PM UTC

vbezhenar wrote: post #102

dotancohen wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget businesswoman: "Businessmenka"

It could be used as a joke, but don't use that word seriously, it could offend. It's either businesswoman (with Russian pronunciation "бизнес-вумэн") or something like "предпренимательница" (enterpreneur-woman).

Thanks, I did not know that. My Russian is not very good, and this is a word that I've heard in a serious setting. I've never had opportunity or need to use it, though.