LL-L "Idiomatica" 2007.09.30 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  30 September 2007 - Volume 01
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com >
Subject: Idiomatica

Dear Lowlanders,

As, no doubt, most of you are aware, there are some considerable idiomatic
differences between American English on the one hand and British English and
its other children on the other hand.  While English speakers elsewhere have
come to understand American expressions via the media, Americans are still
baffled by non-American expressions, unless they are sufficiently exposed to
foreign literature and media.

Today I was reminded of an idiomatic expression I soon "lost" after moving
to the United States from Australia: "to go potty" in the sense of "to go
soft in the head," "to head for dementia," "to go crazy." I remember the
raised eyebrows and giggles I cause by saying "OK. I'm going potty." In the
United States, "to go potty" is the child language equivalent of the
euphemism "to go to the bathroom (= toilet)" (which also directly denotes
the activities performed there).

Crossing over to "Etymology," let me ask you what the origin of "potty" is
in this sense.

Probably the most appropriate Northern Low Saxon equivalent of "crazy" is
verdrayd (verdreiht, from drayen (dreihen) 'to turn', 'to twist'), literally
"twisted."  Like "crazy," it can be applied to describing a demented person
(e.g. Hey is 'n verdraydten keyrl 'He's a crazy guy') as well as a thing or
situation that drives someone crazy (e.g. Dat is eyn verdraydten
kraam'That/this is crazy stuff/a crazy thing/situation').

While I don't like to help perpetuate idiomatic material that is based on
prejudices, I share with this more learned audience for the sake of
erudition that another idiomatic expression for "crazy" in Northern Low
Saxon is katoolsch (kathoolsch "(Roman) Catholic"). This is preserved in the
expression Daar kanst d' katoolsch by warden (Daar kannst kathoolsch bi
warrn, literally "You can turn Catholic with this" = "It makes you turn
Catholic") meaning something like "It drives you insane." I'm not totally
sure about the original meaning, if it implies that Catholics are crazy or
if it means to say that something makes you so confused that missionaries
could take advantage of you.  At any rate, it wasn't considered a good thing
in the old-time Protestant-dominated North.

Back to English ... Another idiomatic difference in American and
non-American English is that "mad" now means "angry" in the former and
mostly still original "insane" in the latter.  Obviously, this can lead to
between speakers of these varieties misunderstanding each other.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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