Learning the meaning of words

[WILF 46,811]

4 minutes ago, mushroom said:

The shear adaptability and willingness to assimilate words is the strength of the English language.

Spanish has a huge number of words that are Arabic in origin. Any Spanish word that begins with "AL" comes from the Moor invasion.

We have a few in English too... Algebra, Algorithm etc

I think writing played a massive part as well mate, pre Roman we never wrote anything…..it was all passed on and I can only assume that means language as well. 
Maybe that is where local dialects come from ?…..because a bloke in Devon’s word for Tree may have been completely different to a bloke in Northumberland ? Who knows ?

I love all that stuff anyway 

Once we started writing stuff down then space must have been created for common language.

 

[Neal 1,866]

There's a place somewhere in the UK which, if translated, means Hill Hill Hill!

Basically somebody came along, asked what it was called and was told "hill" in the original language. They then called it Hill Hill and so on. I can't remember the name of the place but it'd be something like Montfell Hill.

[Neal 1,866]

Also, while I was at art college, somebody told me that the "duck" in cotton duck canvas (which we used for painting on) translates as cotton, so it was actually cotton cotton canvas.

[mackem 26,444]

1 hour ago, Neal said:

There's a place somewhere in the UK which, if translated, means Hill Hill Hill!

Basically somebody came along, asked what it was called and was told "hill" in the original language. They then called it Hill Hill and so on. I can't remember the name of the place but it'd be something like Montfell Hill.

There’s a restaurant in Hong Kong called Ho Lee Fook (Chinese don’t do translations well).

[FLATTOP 4,448]

27 minutes ago, mackem said:

There’s a restaurant in Hong Kong called Ho Lee Fook (Chinese don’t do translations well).

There used to be one in Camden called O ta Fuk u Japanese I believe every time I drove past I used to laugh like an immature child lol.

[mackem 26,444]

There’s a fook yiu building in sham Shui po used to raise a smile when I passed it.

[chartpolski 23,525]

9 minutes ago, mackem said:

There’s a fook yiu building in sham Shui po used to raise a smile when I passed it.

There’s the Porn Hotel in Pattaya; Freudian Slip, perhaps ?

Cheers.

Edited May 14 by chartpolski

[mackem 26,444]

8 minutes ago, chartpolski said:

There’s the Porn Hotel in Pattaya; Freudian Slip, perhaps ?

Cheers.

Porn means blessing in Thai charts,I have met two different Thai ladies called Porn here in the UK,it’s a relatively common girls name in LOS.

[Daniel cain 45,356]

1 hour ago, mackem said:

There’s a restaurant in Hong Kong called Ho Lee Fook (Chinese don’t do translations well).

One by us called Chi- ki -wan..... Always makes me laugh

[jukel123 8,017]

6 hours ago, WILF said:

I think the English language is brilliant, it’s like a map of our history.

So many words derived from German, French, Danish/Norse and Latin.

German I find very similar but common words can be found right across Europe…..when you know how this pre dates actual country’s as we understand them today it just adds to the magic imho.

Gaelic I just have no idea but I’m sure people could point out Gaelic words or their derivatives to me that we use today. 
 

Strange but I can’t listen to Irish radio speaking English but I listen to the Gaelic speaking station, don’t understand a word, but it just feels right in the setting and has a relaxing, musical quality when coupled with the folk music. 
 

Our language is so much more than just words, it’s our history and it’s local dialects are distinctly who we are. 

The first thing I notice about people is their accent. It gives you lots of clues about them. 

I remember years ago I did a night class and the teacher said that accents developed because of geographical barriers between people, so a mountain or a piece of water isolated whole communities and accents developed because isolated communities were not exposed to different ways of pronouncing words.

I'm sure there's something in that, but it can't be the whole explanation. Kids these days hear accents from all over the country and beyond, and yes they pick up a certain amount of Americanese and so forth. But, by and large they still retain their local accent. Kids brought up in houses where nobody speaks English still learn and speak their local accent. Interesting stuff.

Edited May 14 by jukel123

[mackem 26,444]

13 minutes ago, jukel123 said:

 Kids brought up in houses where nobody speaks English still learn and speak their local accent. 

Indian/Pakistani blokes born in the UK to immigrant parents often have an accent of sorts you can pick up on,even on the phone when you can’t see them you have an inkling where their parents are from,I spoke to an Indian bloke once and asked him about it,he said his parents were Indian,his neighbours and community were Indian,he had his car serviced by an Indian mechanic and shopped in Indian owned stores.

[jukel123 8,017]

2 minutes ago, mackem said:

Indian/Pakistani blokes born in the UK to immigrant parents often have an accent of sorts you can pick up on,even on the phone when you can’t see them you have an inkling where their parents are from,I spoke to an Indian bloke once and asked him about it,he said his parents were Indian,his neighbours and community were Indian,he had his car serviced by an Indian mechanic and shopped in Indian owned stores.

You're right I've noticed that. You can detect second or third generation Asians or blacks on the telephone. One of my kids who was brought up in Scotland to northern English parents was sometimes asked if he was English because of our influence. But the other speaks 100% jock. So I guess I'm contradicting myself to a certain extent.

[Aled 481]

Nice thread all, no surprises i speak Welsh and English fluently, and i've enjoyed the comments about accents,  and other languages spoken. 

[mackem 26,444]

7 minutes ago, jukel123 said:

You're right I've noticed that. You can detect second or third generation Asians or blacks on the telephone. One of my kids who was brought up in Scotland to northern English parents was sometimes asked if he was English because of our influence. But the other speaks 100% jock. So I guess I'm contradicting myself to a certain extent.

Yep, mostly I can tell blokes with an Indian or Pakistani homelife even if they were born in the UK. My sons both have an odd English American accent. 

[chartpolski 23,525]

Both my children had what was known as “Mid-Atlantic” accents, but my daughters accent would change to the accent of wherever the accent of the person she was talking to was from; American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and even Geordie, but my sons accent never changed, I guess it may have been influenced by their jobs.

My grandson has a very neutral accent, but for some reason he’s the only member of both sides of his family that “rolls his R’s” . Haven’t got a clue why .

Cheers.