[Or are never used]
Somehow I doubt Native American chiefs/medicine men ever said “Many moons ago…”. There a number of alledgedly Italian catchphrases which I doubt any Italian speaker ever uses, such as “Mama Mia!” as an expletive. What are your favorite (or least-) examples?
I’d be surprised to hear a Frenchperson say Sacre bleu! or a German say Ach du lieber!
In fact, I have heard Italians use “Mamma mia!” I’d say, without knowing for sure, that it’s a little corny or old-fashioned but perfectly normal Italian. Maybe like “jeez” or “jeepers” in English (i.e. somewhere in the continuum between the two in terms of corniness).
I had a french guy explain that “Sacre bleu!” was an expression common waaaay back in the 1600s, and hence when Dumas was writing “The Three Musketeers”, it was appropriate for his characters to use it. However, it hasn’t been in common use in France for hundreds of years.
I have also heard a German say Ach, Du shiese! (I think). Not Ach du leiber, but it similar.
Also, English speakers might say “many months ago”. If I’m not mistaken “month” is related to “moon” and therefore the phrase “many months ago” might well mean “many moons ago”.
Whether Indians used a similar phrase I’m not sure, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t use the cycle of the moon to help them measure time and I’d further be surprised if no native american language used their word for moon to describe time.
While walking down the street in Paris, I did hear a man say “ooh la la” in the general direction of myself and my friends. I nearly fell over, because I was sure that was just an American cliche of the French. Go figure.
I believe that should be Ach, Du scheisse!. Similar to Merde!
The French do not use RSVP (Répondez s’il-vous-plaît) on invitations.
An example from German would be stein (which means “stone” or “rock” in German).
Ach as a free-standing interjection is used by German speakers as often as alas by English-speakers, i.e. almost never.
Lederhosen are, for some reason, often rendered as Leiderhosen (unfortunately-pants) or as Liederhosen (songs-pants) in English texts.
By far the most frequent use of nonexistent German phrases in English has a grammatical reason, though - resulting from the notion that there is one German word that’s the translation of the English word “the”. (usually, it seems, der is assumed, but the definitive article can be der, die, das, des, dem, den depending on gender, number and case)
This is interesting - I understand German is very sympathetic to the formation of new words by just linking existing ones together - would you say that this means there’s a greater likelihood of spelling errors meaning something, but the wrong thing, as opposed to just looking wrongly spelt?
To some degree, yes - e.g. in this example from Spiegel Online’s language blooper column Zwiebelfisch.
Warnanlage (what the writer intended to write on the junction box) = alarm system
Wahnanlage (what the writer did write) = delusional system
But it seems easy to hit an existing English word, too - see this price list of a German stand with bagels on offer.
Mistakes in German grammar can also be dangerous.
e.g: Die Leiter (noun, f) = the ladder, Der Leiter (noun, m) = the boss, director, supervisor etc.
Hence:
Bitte stellen Sie die Leiter an die Wand = Please put the ladder against the wall.
Bitte stellen Sie den Leiter an die Wand = Please execute the boss by firing squad.
We were taught this in French class, that it’s more “oh la la” as you said, and not the stereotypical “oo la la”.
Actually “Oh là là”, and yes it is surprisingly common in spoken French even now.
But the meaning is different. “Oo-la-la” is typically used in American cartoons and other stereotypes as a catcall or wolf howl, an expression of sexual “appreciation”. The authentic French use, from what I understand, is more along the lines of “Oy vey” or “oh boy” or other mild expression of frustration or surprise.
I’ve never been to the UK, but I’ve always presumed that
a) Most Brits don’t start a conversation by saying, “I say. . . .”
b) Most Brits don’t say 'Pip, Pip, Cheerio!" when departing your company.
Moola (or moolah) is an English slang word of unknown origin. Although it sounds as if it may be Spanish, it’s not – not only does the phrase “mucho moolah” not exist en español, it would more likely be spelled “mucha mula” if it did, as mula is of feminine gender (and already exists as the word for “mule”), and thus takes the feminine forms of adjectives. Moola would be pronounced “moe-oh-la” were it a Spanish word.
Also, something that’s inexpensive would not be describved as “el cheapo”, but rather by a form of the word barato, as in “el coche barato” (the cheap car).
I’ll bet Chinerse people don’t say “Ah! Soooooo,”
i was very surprised, on reading the play Stalag 17 9and seeing the movie) to find Sergeant Schultz saying “Ach! So!” in the same way (and at the same time) legend would have a Chinese person use it. Apparently, it’s really a german expression.
Another phrase that you would think is a cliche, but isn’t. When my family was eating together at a restaurant once, the waitress overfilled my brother’s tea glass and gasped:
“Ay Caramba!”
When the waitress was out of earshot, my brother and I cracked up.
No – but that is a common idiom in Japanese, meaning pretty well exactly the same as in English. (A longer form would be “Aa so desu ka?”, meaning, “Is that so?”)
I was trying to check when LA Opera would be performing The Ring of the Nibelung and of course had to look it up in german. I regularly get confused with the placement of the der and the des.