LL-L "Expressions" 2002.03.20 (01) [D/E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 20.MAR.2002 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: fr.andreas at juno.com
Subject: Hello.

     "Bon Appetit" in English is "Eat Hearty!"

+Fr Andreas Richard Turner.

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From: "W!M" <wkv at home.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Expressions" 2002.03.19 (04) [E]

Charge?

[Wim Verdoold]

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From: "Elsie Zinsser" <ezinsser at simpross.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Expressions" 2002.03.19 (04) [E]

Dag almal!

While reading Randy Elzinga" frisiancow at hotmail.com  question on
phrases in English for the French "bon appetit", I am reminded of one
of Ferdinand Deist's exquisite stories "Die Toring van Bawel" which I'll

paraphrase here:

Oom Van der Merwe was tasked to go and assist with the installation of a
million
Rand electrical relay station in the arid Karoo and as it is, a
French-speaking
engineer was amongst the foreign experts.

The first morning at breakfast Oom Van is seated with Pierre for
breakfast.
Neither knows the other's language, but to get the conversation flowing
Oom Van
pushes out his hand and says "Van der Merwe!" to which Pierre responds
with a
hearty "Bon appetit!" and they sit down and have their breakfast.

After a week, Oom Van gets bored with the non-conversation at table and
grumbles
to his foreman that he wants another seating partner for breakfast
because all the
Frenchman says every morning is 'Bon appetit' and then nothing.

So the foreman advises Oom Van that 'Bon appetit!' means "Lekker eet!"
and reminds
Oom Van to remain friendly and hospitable with the foreigner and perhaps
the conversation
might flow from there.

So the next day, Oom Van is in a more positive spirit and before sitting
down gives Pierre
a hearty "Bon appetit!" to which Pierre replies, "Van der Merwe!"

Regards,
Elsie Zinsser

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From: Georg.Deutsch at esa.int
Subject: LL-L "Expressions" 2002.03.19 (05) [E]

From: Georg Deutsch at ESA on 03/20/2002 09:53 AM

Randy Elzinga wrote:
>... Are there any phrases in English for French "bon appetit" other than
actually
>using the French?

Hello!

I am working in an European international organisation where English is
our
lingua franca, whereas the vast majority of staff does not have English
as
mothertongue.
Due to the non-English background (?) there is a widespread need to say
something starting the lunch  - a feeling which apparently is only to a
much lesser extend shared by the Brits.
Sometimes one can hear indeed the French "bon appetit", hardly the
(mainly
US-American?) "Enjoy your meal!" quoted by Kevin Browne.
Often the expression "Have a nice meal" is used here. However, as far I
understood, this is an internal "invention" only and not a standard
phrase in use outside my organisation.

regards
Georg Deutsch

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From: Harm Schoonekamp <harm_schoonekamp at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "How do you say ...?" 2002.03.14 (07) [E]

Hi Kevin,

In Dutch we say "hartelijk gefeliciteerd" (hearty
congratulations) of "van harte gefeliciteerd" meaning
roughly the same.

In the Low-Saxon variant spoken in the Achterhoek
where I live, we say "van hatte feelseteerd mit ow
verjoardag" (hearty congratulations with your
birthday)

Kind regards,
Harm Schoonekamp

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From: "Pepijn Hendriks" <pepijnh at gmx.net>
Subject: LL-L "Expressions" 2002.03.19 (05) [E]

"Browne, Kevin at Astronaut" <BrowneK at brevard.k12.fl.us> wrote:

> I have heard some other less flattering expressions, such as,
> "chow down", but I would never want to hear that at my dinner
> table. (Personally, I like "eet smakelijk")

This brings to mind that in certain well-to-do, upper class Dutch
circles, it is apparently not done to wish eachother _smakelijk eten_ or
_eet smakelijk_ before tucking in*. You're supposed to say nothing. The
other 99 percent of the population, however, think it no more than
polite to wish eachother this.

* See: <http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/t.htm>

See the following excerpt from
<http://www.nrc.nl/cultuur/1011340846211.html> (dealing with 'having to'
say _wc_, rather than _toilet_):

-----
"Ik betrap mezelf erop dat ik me op die manier wil distantiëren van de
burgerlijke keurigheid van de toilet-gebruikers, zoals ik er ook
genoegen in schep om een 'smakelijk eten' te beantwoorden met een
opvallend stilzwijgen."
-----

Another interesting topic would be what to say when you've finished.

My parents used to scorn us for saying _ik zit vol_, almost a literal
equivalent of the perfectly acceptable English _I'm full_. We had to say
something to the likes of _ik heb genoeg._ We would get similar frowns
for saying _ik kan niet meer_.

Expressing gratitude can be accomplished in several ways. A jocular way
to do it, is to say _Best binnen te houden_. Although I wouldn't say
this to my mother. When my mother asks how we liked the food, I can get
away with saying "you didn't hear me complain, did you?", provided that
there's a grin on my face.

-Pepijn

--
 pepijnh at bigfoot.com -- http://www.bigfoot.com/~pepijnh -- ICQ - 6033220

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