What loan words say about a society

created by Ciab

(idea) by Ciab (10.1 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) 1 C! Wed Sep 20 2000 at 5:03:48

absence of a word indicates a lack of need or a failure to consider the subject.

when i first arrived in japan, i noticed a distinct usage of the english word zero. this conveyed to me that before interracial communications where established, the japanese had a very simplistic concept of mathematics. a zero is required for almost all math's more advanced than integer counting. i later discovered that my surprise was unjustified, they did have a zero (rei). the question of loan words was, however, raised. so i kept my ears open for examples.

nb: not all loan words are english based, but as i don't speak any other language, recognition of such is difficult.

nb2: this is a far from comprehensive list. further examples can be found around here. my point is to demonstrate what language use signifies of a society. not the brutalization of english by the japanese, that is covered in other nodes.

combini (convenience store) - given the overwhelming popularity of these franchises, it is safe to assume that japan was an incredibly inconvenient place to live prior to the 7-11.

terebi (television) - okay, this is a product of modern(?) technological advances, along with internet and even radio. these words where invented long after integration, and consequently honour the inventors by there (relatively) unchanged names. "thanks guys for the bubble economy, the 10 year recession, and the fact that we are still no. 2".

biiru/uisuki (beer/whiskey) - 2 of the more popular beverages that compete with the ever present sake.

shinguru madaa (single mother) - before americans popularized divorce and illegitimacy, i assume the closest equivalent was "yamome" meaning "widow". (i can almost hear the down votes)

keeki (cake) - "let them eat dango" would have gotten her burned instead of guillotined. an indication of the state of japanese desserts, regardless of the nice packaging.

all, but perhaps the last, show how the west has taught the japanese the christian concept of sin and degradation, along with a solution for successful single living. all alien ideas, wish i was there.

now lets consider loan words in english. the more recent ones, as nearly all of english can be derived from dead/other languages.

hors d'oeuvre - an essential part of all fine dinning. i suspect we were scooping gruel from the bucket before these.

champagne - goes well with every meal. a nice little sparkling white, gets you a little drunk too. an improvement on the mead we use scoop from the bucket next to the gruel.

karaoke - what you do after too much champagne. as opposed to brawling after too much mead. much more civilized.

karate/kung fu - a highly structured system of brawling, for when you have had far too much champagne, and are too civilized to brawl.

and finally....

menage a trois - thank you!

printable version
chaos

The Engrish and Japlish Game	Foreign Mistranslations	menage à trois	dango
Let them eat cake	Schadenfreude	Karaoke	What to do if you have bad credit
Spontaneous trash prose	stand up comedy	loan word	The Four Types of Activist
hors d'oeuvre	Capitalize, please	Half-caste	sake
Kung Fu	Japan	Mead	loanword
Yakka	Ranting in Various Languages	"WARNING! HELL is Waiting For YOU!"	Hell hath no furry

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