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[despammed] Re: Technical terminology

From:Garth Wallace <gwalla@...>
Date:Tuesday, January 7, 2003, 2:47
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.

Reply

H. S. Teoh <hsteoh@...>