Originally Posted by
elcraft
However, the American pronunciation of "garage" is actually closer to the original in French. English has been incorporating French ( or Norman French, really) since 1066. As the expert points out, the adoption of the term often spawns its own etymology in the language of the borrower. Spanish has incorporated Arabic terms since the days of the Moors. Some of those words ( "sofa" comes to mind, at the moment) have subsequently been borrowed by English, from the Spanish.
How soon before we wade into the quagmire with "derailleur ".
Ah, d'Israeli gears, derailleur is very closely related to derailment, while it's the French that borrowed 'rail' from the English. But now I'm wondering where quagmire could come from.
Borrowed words are often very interesting, because they become more specific in in the borrowing language, often because of the need to borrow a word. Someone who knows his scrap metal is hardly ever called a connaisseur, allthough it originally means just someone who knows his stuff. Or two languages hove both borrowed a word from another language, often Latin, but ended up with a related but very different meaning. These so called 'false friends' are responsible for a lot of funny or embarassing misunderstandings. Sometimes the word with the changed meaning is borrowed back by the language it originates from to add to the confusion.
Originally Posted by
Hokiedad4
Who knew peloton and platoon had similar etymology?
I did. In my native language (Dutch) it's still the word for a military unit of a certain size, same spelling different pronounciation, and it keeps showing up in the subtitles of Hollywood Vietnam movies like Platoon. When I first heard the title I thought it had something to do with platonic and had an association with lampoon, but when I saw the movie poster the penny dropped. As often with languages, it's just a matter of exposure.
Originally Posted by
MikeyMK
This thread is clearly an American problems thread. Anyone who can't pronnounce 'mirror' and thinks 'aluminium' rhymes with 'hooligan' is frankly a lost cause.
The yanks have worked hard to reduce syllables from their daily vocals, that much is clear to the billions of us foreigners who speak English. Including the English, like myself.
The English seem to think that they get it right because of some logic and consistency in how it's written and how it's pronounced. As someone who had to study to learn the language I can assure you there's not, not even close. It's a miracle people get it right so often, while 'right' just means how a relevant minority pronounces it, with all those dialects.