01-13-2024, 05:24 AM -
OKAY... This post is perhaps a little late in coming. I should have led off with something like this.
Ahhh... "Trés Interresant" - I'm sure you realize that "American English" is a cultural adaptation of the language spoken for many MANY years before it came to the U.S. As such, our 'English' contains a lot of 'bastardized' terminology, stolen from other languages. "Trés interessant" is an example of a word (saying) stolen from the French language. It means "very interesting". We (in the U.S.) steal a lot of 'language' from others. Another example = "C'est la vie" (pronounced "Say-la-vee"). It is another very common expression in English, but stolen from the French language. There are MANY more.... Our "English" is full of them. These words and sayings have become almost idiomatic in their widespread usage and understanding here in the U.S.
Examples:
From French: Deja Vu; C'est la vie; Fiance; Encore; Matineé; Mirage; Utensil; Modern. --- And of course, the VERY obvious, or maybe TOO obvious ones like: A' la carte; Bon Appétit; Hors 'd oeuvre; Maitre d' hotel; A la mode; Cul-de-sac; Au contraire; Paper mâché; Avant-garde; Art Nouveau....... And the list goes ON and ON
From Spanish: Fiesta; Siesta; Barrio; Patio; Cafeteria; Politico; Gusto; Aficionado; Macho; Sierra; etc., etc. As well as some phrases we all recognize: Mi casa es su casa; Hasta la vista, baby; Chili con carne; Hola, amigo(a) --- and many, MANY more.
These adaptations continue constantly and mark a general degradation in the specificity or boundaries between languages that share a common alphabet. As our languages merge, the world becomes smaller.
In the future, I'll try to remember to use the idiomatic English instead of the "borrowed" foreign terminology. It's probably best that way to prevent confusion.
Lets talk about "miasma" again for a minute.....
Did you know...
The 'emphasis' is mine...
Ahhh... "Trés Interresant" - I'm sure you realize that "American English" is a cultural adaptation of the language spoken for many MANY years before it came to the U.S. As such, our 'English' contains a lot of 'bastardized' terminology, stolen from other languages. "Trés interessant" is an example of a word (saying) stolen from the French language. It means "very interesting". We (in the U.S.) steal a lot of 'language' from others. Another example = "C'est la vie" (pronounced "Say-la-vee"). It is another very common expression in English, but stolen from the French language. There are MANY more.... Our "English" is full of them. These words and sayings have become almost idiomatic in their widespread usage and understanding here in the U.S.
Examples:
From French: Deja Vu; C'est la vie; Fiance; Encore; Matineé; Mirage; Utensil; Modern. --- And of course, the VERY obvious, or maybe TOO obvious ones like: A' la carte; Bon Appétit; Hors 'd oeuvre; Maitre d' hotel; A la mode; Cul-de-sac; Au contraire; Paper mâché; Avant-garde; Art Nouveau....... And the list goes ON and ON
From Spanish: Fiesta; Siesta; Barrio; Patio; Cafeteria; Politico; Gusto; Aficionado; Macho; Sierra; etc., etc. As well as some phrases we all recognize: Mi casa es su casa; Hasta la vista, baby; Chili con carne; Hola, amigo(a) --- and many, MANY more.
These adaptations continue constantly and mark a general degradation in the specificity or boundaries between languages that share a common alphabet. As our languages merge, the world becomes smaller.
In the future, I'll try to remember to use the idiomatic English instead of the "borrowed" foreign terminology. It's probably best that way to prevent confusion.
Lets talk about "miasma" again for a minute.....
Did you know...
Quote:In notes taken during a voyage to South America on the HMS Beagle in the 1830s, Charles Darwin described an illness that he believed was caused by "miasma" emanating from stagnant pools of water. For him, miasma had the same meaning that it did when it first appeared in English in the 1600s: an emanation of a vaporous disease-causing substance. (Miasma comes from Greek miainein, meaning "to pollute.") But while Darwin was at sea, broader applications of miasma were starting to spread. Nowadays, we know germs are the source of infection, so we're more likely to use the newer, more figurative sense of miasma, which refers to something destructive or demoralizing that surrounds or permeates.Courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com
The 'emphasis' is mine...
This post was last modified: 01-13-2024, 05:45 AM by Hobbit99.
"A Reasoned Response From A Reasonable Mind"