Hispanofranglais

[Dennis R. Preston]

>When we cuss in English we often say "Pardon my French." Could the
>speker be joking?

dInIs





>My comment had to do with the French speaker's remark, "as we say in
>French." To me this implied she either did not know (was ignorant) that the
>word is Spanish in origin, or that it has been borrowed into English and
>thus needs no explanation to an English speaker, or both. My comment, while
>flip, was not pejorative, just factual.
>
>
>Steve
>
>  -----Original Message-----
>From:   Beverly Flanigan [mailto:flanigan at OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU]
>Sent:   Monday, March 05, 2001 2:20 PM
>To:     ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject:        Re: Hispanofranglais
>
>"Ignorance" is not the issue here.  Words are generally adapted to local or
>in-country pronunciation norms, no matter the country.  The French source
>clearly knows what the word means; she's simply changed the
>pronunciation--or borrowed the British pronunciation, as Robertson
>suggests.  We've discussed this phenomenon several times on the list, I
>believe.
>
>At 12:04 PM 3/5/01 -0500, you wrote:
>>This shows that it's not only Americans who are ignorant of the origins of
>>words.
>>
>>
>>Steve
>>
>>   -----Original Message-----
>>From:   David M. Robertson [mailto:dmsnake at usit.net]
>>Sent:   Sunday, March 04, 2001 11:46 AM
>>To:
>>Subject:        Hispanofranglais
>>
>>I saw a TV news segment last night on a new French law mandating that there
>>be
>>women candidates for certain elective offices. They interviewd a French
>>female
>>politician who (speaking English) said something like: Politics in France
>>has been
>>a male culture, or, as we say in French, a "macho" culture.
>>
>>She pronounced it in what I would consider the British fashion, as
>>"match-o." This
>>would make me think that it was adopted into French from British English,
>>rather
>>than directly from Spanish, or even from American English.
>>
>>     Snake
>
>
>_____________________________________________
>Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
>Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
>Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
>http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736