I like the ones that go from specific to general and the other way round. Hund is dog, but a specific type of animal in English. Tier is animal, but specifically deer in English.
And another thing which is curious, given how close English and German are from the time they began to break apart, there are very few loan words in English from German. I used to know a few, but Schadenfreude is the one I always remember. >From all other languages, we have a ton. But German, very few. Why? Lindy -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of John Gilmore Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 5:51 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Parsing The notion that German contains no new words is incorrect. In particular, English words are being introduced into German---as they are into French and Italian---at a very rapid rate. Sometimes what results is an unholy mixture: both Penthouse and Penthaus are in current use. More often words of ultimately Greek and Latin origin are only naturalized: pessimism becomes Pessimismus. Colloquial terms are not even naturalized: junkie is Junkie. Often, the need being addressed is not urgent. German made do with Eskimo Hund for a very long time; now Husky has all but pushed it out. These changes are particularly obtrusive for foreigners. I have occasion to speak German often here in the United States, but if I return to Germany after an absence of only six months I often find that yet another anglicism has entered the language, displacing a perfectly serviceable German word. Some of this may be happening because many Germans now speak English well. This is the explanation most frequently advanced, but I am doubtful. -- John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA t. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
