[despammed] Re: Technical terminology

H. S. Teoh wrote:
>
> But as far as inter-language lapses go... that's extremely common in my
> hometown. We speak a mixture of Hokkien, Mandarin, Malay, English, and
> possibly a sprinkling of Tamil as well. It's quite common to hear people
> switch between languages in the middle of a conversation without either
> party even noticing. Sometimes it's a word or two, sometimes it's a
> phrase, sometimes it's a complete switchover. And other times it's a
> blatantly mangled borrowing. Among some of the funnier manglings:
>
> (1) from English "I can": "can" has come to have boastful connotations,
> such as in the mangled perjorative "he always so can" = he always acts
> like a show-off.
>
> (2) wrong verbalization of "friend": "You always so can one, I don't
> friend you anymore" = you're such a show off, I don't want to be your
> friend anymore.
>
> (3) from an archaic Britishism, "I say!": [Oj"sE:] has become an
> interjection of admiration or exhiliration, usually directed towards a
> perceived hero or act of heroism, or a person who does something
> outrageous as an attention-getter. Sometimes can be used sarcastically as
> well.
Sounds like a bit of creolization.

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