"We tend to regard other people's languages as we regard their cultures – with ill-hidden disdain. In Japanese, the word for foreigner means 'stinking of foreign hair'. To the Czechs a Hungarian is a 'pimple'. Germans call cockroaches 'Frenchman', while the French call lice 'Spaniards'. We in the English-speaking world take French leave, but Italians and Norwegians talk about departing like an Englishman, and Germans talk of running like a Dutchman. Italians call syphilis 'the French disease', while both French and Italians call con games 'American swindle'. Belgian taxi drivers call a poor tipper 'un Anglais'. To be bored to death in French is 'être de Birmingham', literally 'to be from Birmingham' (which is actually about right).
Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
I've just finished the audio book of Bryson's "Made In America". For the etymologist, his exposition of American-English provides a torrent of "screw me, I had no idea" moments.
ReplyDeleteHeh, absolutely. I did find that he copied his thoughts on Shakespeare in this book and pasted them into his book on Shakespeare though.
ReplyDeleteFavourite new fact: the guttural "gh" sound (as in loch) is called a voiceless palatal fricative. I'm inserting that into as many conversations as possible.
except theres one thing, germans actually call themselves deutsch and people from holland hollanders or nederlanders so calling someone a dutchman actually refers to themselves.
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