Using Foreign Words Where English Ones Would Do

[Pick It Down]

What is the point? The two most pointless ones that seem popular at the moment are "sans" and "verboten" which could easily be replaced with "without" and "forbidden".

Where a word conveys something the English language doesn't have a word for it is understandable, eg schadenfreude. Otherwise it just seems snobbish "ooh I know a foreign word" kind of Guardianista posturing.

[Carabansity]

Nada, nowt, zilch replies, so say adiós, or even ciao Bella!

[erat_forte]

But don't you think people like to do it, because it has a certain je ne sais qua?

[Patfig]

What is the point? The two most pointless ones that seem popular at the moment are "sans" and "verboten" which could easily be replaced with "without" and "forbidden".

Where a word conveys something the English language doesn't have a word for it is understandable, eg schadenfreude. Otherwise it just seems snobbish "ooh I know a foreign word" kind of Guardianista posturing.

sacre bleu

[redwine]

What about the English who use French words that the French don't use !!

Cul-de-Sac or dead end is called an 'Impasse' in France

A Cul-de-Sac does not exist in France you will never find it on a French sign post

[R K]

C'est la vie

[redwine]

C'est la vie

C'est vrai,c'est comme ca,c'est la vie!!

[Guest X-QUORK]

Otherwise it just seems snobbish "ooh I know a foreign word" kind of Guardianista posturing.

Au contraire sir, it is de riguer amongst the suave racontuers of Kensington and Battersea alike, non?

[Guest happy?]

What is the point? The two most pointless ones that seem popular at the moment are "sans" and "verboten" which could easily be replaced with "without" and "forbidden".

Where a word conveys something the English language doesn't have a word for it is understandable, eg schadenfreude. Otherwise it just seems snobbish "ooh I know a foreign word" kind of Guardianista posturing.

Instead of a sneering neologism?

Pots and kettles dear boy, pots and kettles.

[Mancghirl]

What is worse is the massively exaggerated over pronunciation of any foreign name by presenters on TV and radio, particularly in sports commentary. French ones are the worst - Gerrrrrrard 'Oulilier, Da-veeed Zhin-o-la etc.

Also Radio 4/5live attempts at Dutch - Geert Willders etc, sounding like someone clearing their throat.

Do we think the French/Dutch are pronouncing the names of British people in any kind of British accent? Of course they're not - so cut it out newscasters and other media types. :angry:

[Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable]

moi?

[Mancghirl]

moi?

Bien sur.

[ccc]

I like the word 'Defunct'

No idea where it comes from. Who cares. Sounds good.

[Darkman]

Hasta la vista.... baby

[Darkman]

Btw, has anyone considered the word "extraordinary"? Break it down and you have the words "extra" and "ordinary", meaning even more ordinary than usual. But as we know, extraordinary has the opposite meaning.

[okaycuckoo]

English is a piss poor dialect of German. Without the fancy latin stuff we'd be communcating in grunts.

[Tiger Woods?]

What is the point? The two most pointless ones that seem popular at the moment are "sans" and "verboten" which could easily be replaced with "without" and "forbidden".

Where a word conveys something the English language doesn't have a word for it is understandable, eg schadenfreude. Otherwise it just seems snobbish "ooh I know a foreign word" kind of Guardianista posturing.

English is an historical amalgamation of foreign words. It is one of its strengths. We tend to have many synonyms or near synonyms and each has a slightly different flavour. It makes english a rich language. Forbidden and verboten are basically the same Germanic word, but cultural associations with German mentality colours verboten differently. I think it is great.

"Sans", by the way, has been in the English language since the Middle Ages. It's more or less the same generation as beef I suspect, and where would England be without roast beef? Would you rather have roast Kuh/cow?

I do draw the line at the Spanglish agua when water will suffice, as in "do you want agua with that?" which was tossed at me in a San Diego fast food restaurant. "Aqua" as an ingredient in beauty products just pisses me off as well.

[youthoftoday]

But don't you think people like to do it, because it has a certain je ne sais qua?

Quoi?

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

Where a word conveys something the English language doesn't have a word for it is understandable, eg schadenfreude. Otherwise it just seems snobbish "ooh I know a foreign word" kind of Guardianista posturing.

On the contrary, the Guardianistas would be your strongest supporters in outlawing the practice, on the grounds that understanding the nuances of such words requires the hard work of learning at least the rudiments of their source language, and thus elitist and discriminatory against the Little Britain-type chavs upon whom the Guardianistas depend to keep power.

Where do you stop? If you're proposing to advocate language policing that enforces vocabulary indigenous to the UK, then there are a whole load of US English expressions you'd have to ban as well. Is describing something fashionable or desirable as 'cool' Guardinista posturing, too?

We often borrow phrases from other languages (including US English) because they have nuances attached to them as well as literal meanings. In many uses, 'sans' has a 'less = more' subtext to it and 'verboten' implies the use of a bigger enforcement stick (and let's face it, connotations of Nazism) than 'forbidden'. The same applies to Latin phrases.

[evictee]

Btw, has anyone considered the word "extraordinary"? Break it down and you have the words "extra" and "ordinary", meaning even more ordinary than usual. But as we know, extraordinary has the opposite meaning.

This is because the prefix 'extra' has always meant outside of or beyond, as in extraterrestrial or extramarital. 'Extra' as a stand alone word only gets its 'more than' meaning because it is itself an abbreviation of the word 'extraordinary', i.e. beyond the ordinary. So it all makes sense really!

[Sibley's Love Child]

I do draw the line at the Spanglish agua when water will suffice, as in "do you want agua with that?" which was tossed at me in a San Diego fast food restaurant. "Aqua" as an ingredient in beauty products just pisses me off as well.

I agree, you'll often see it in moisturisers and other assorted beauty products; aqua....

'Aqua' for when water just doesn't sound exotic enough. More fool the ******wits that buy this shite.

[rolf]

Do we think the French/Dutch are pronouncing the names of British people in any kind of British accent? Of course they're not - so cut it out newscasters and other media types. :angry:

French I agree with you. But, on average, the Dutch speak better English than the.......English. Such is Broken Britain today.

[MrPin]

Btw, has anyone considered the word "extraordinary"? Break it down and you have the words "extra" and "ordinary", meaning even more ordinary than usual. But as we know, extraordinary has the opposite meaning.

Funny how meanings get changed! I read "Extra-Ordinary!" As beyond ordinary, as "extra-terrstrial!" is beyond earth!

I remember singing hymns at school about God being "awful" which meant beyond "awe". The new meaning of the word has changed!

[indirectapproach]

I think the "ex" here is likely to come from the latin "ex", which means out or out of so it makes logical sense as in "out of the ordinary".

That's consistent with the French expression "hors du commun", which I find most useful quando los cosas er muy miraculoso.

And anyone who thinks this is just selbstbefleckung, don't worry, it probably is.

[Frank Hovis]

The foreign phrase may have more meaning than its direct translation, so is useful shorthand, or is more readily recognisable in context than its English equivalent.

For example I use:

Pour encourager les autres

Its direct translation is to encourage the others, but it's meaning is that you punish somebody severely and seeing that punishment serves to frighten the rest into complying.

Other good ones:

de facto

dulce et decorum est

In text / proofing:

ibid

sic

stet