Original question by @Justathroughdaway@lemmy.world
I like to lean about words from around the world and use them in my speech. I have a particular love for British words. I just love words like spiv, nod, wasteman, barmy, slapper, bruv, shafted, nonce, junkie, bint, smackhead, slag, breve, chav, squiffy, slaphead, dosh, shafted
i used to import words from other countries before tariffs kicked in
I speak English. And, as James Nicoll said,
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.
I speak some Spanish and some Dutch, but I don’t know if I borrow many words from them that aren’t “normal” borrow-words.
Dutch is also great at mugging others for words.
Pure English should not use Latin Alphabet.
It’s back to celtic writing.
That’s a weird take when it’s not a Celtic language. It’s Germanic (with heavy Romantic old French influence), so you should really be talking about runes or something.
Latin letters are a terrible fit, though, you’re absolutely right about that. It gives you 4 vowels to work with and my spoken dialect has 17.
Moi?
Nein.
We use “no bueno” quite a bit in our house. Not sure how it crept in but I like it.
Plenty of borrowed words from other languages that don’t have an equal word in English. Shadenfruede. Je ne sai quoi. Cologne. Et cetera (literally).
From the States, I say Maccas instead of McDonald’s, and things like bellend and wanker occasionally. It’s fun picking up words and stuff from other cultures
I tend to use kanpai as my toast and cheers in place of thanks as an American
All the time.
There is no such thing as a (modern) language that is not assembled from borrowing from other languages. So even speaking a single language, one may already be ‘borrowing’ from quite a few more. Add to that many of us will speak at least two languages (native + English), or more.
So yeah, like many, I borrow words and expressions from any of the languages I speak, even more so with those words and expressions I have a sweet spot for ;)
Bone apple tea.
I’m Dutch, but often speak English as I’m fluent in it, so it sometimes mixes. Other words I often use are
- some German, Spanish and French phrases (secondary languages),
- various toasts, like lechajim, skål, depending on the people I’m with,
- some Arabic like shukran, habibi,
- Surinamese slang (kaolo is a fun one)
We often toast in the language of the liquid we’re drinking
lechajim
I’ve never seen that spelling before. Usually I see ‘L’chiam’
Since it’s from modern “Hebrew” it doesn’t really matter how you spell it since Hebrew is an abjat script
Along similar lines, I once saw a food review that talked about Peking duck and Beijing, China.
Surinamese slang (kaolo is a fun one)
I love people using it as a synonym for “very”, when in fact means “shit hole”.
That’s the idea of slang
Petrol > gas. Using the same word for gasoline and natural gas gets confusing as hell in any number of conversations.
I prefer the word biscuit, even as an American. I don’t like saying the word “cracker” because that sounds like its easily misunderstood as an insult to rural white people.
All the time! I say maccas for McDonalds.
it’s better than “MickyDs” or whatever the americans say 🤭
Do people still say that?
I saw someone in a large group chat I’m in use it just the other day, but I have no idea how popular it actually is in the States.
perekle,and ただいま
Okaerinasai
