Re: Terms of Endearment

Isn't it te quiero? You missed out the i. (infin querer, e -> ie).
Thanks for all your replies btw. One question I have.... everyone in the
UK knows the stereotypical image of french as the language of love, but
who do the french think are great lovers/have "a language of love" lol?
Just wondered... never asked. To be honest though, I would expect a
language of love to sound beautiful if that makes any sense, and french
just doesn't... I don't like the nasal vowels at all. Mind you, when I
listen to the actual sound of English instead of just speaking it I find
the sound a bit distasteful.
 That's another thing I read that I thought was amusing lol... someone
wrote on their web site that the french think english sounds nice
because we use tone as well as loudness to stress syllables, whereas the
french only use loudness. Don't know if that's true or not... do we
sound like the welsh to the french lol or is it a load of rubbish?

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Chris Bates" <christopher.bates@...>
>
>
>
>>I was thinking about terms of endearment, how many people have included
>>them in their conlangs so far?
>>
>>
>
>Moi, waving hand.  If you can stand a little hsakra ("sugar") here are some:
>
>    syta, "darling"
>    coy syta "sweet darling"
>    coy minka syta "sweet little darling"
>    minka hwendl, "little baby"
>    hwendlwet, "little baby"
>    deluanhar, "female sweetheart or lover"
>    amyeld, "male sweetheart or lover"
>    hamyeld, ol bocaf, "kiss me, darling" (pronounced /'butSaf/
>    coy bo:co, "sweet kiss"
>    etc.
>
>
>
>>There seem to be a surfeit in english:
>>
>>
>
>And in many many langs.
>
>
>
>>love, dear, darling etc. I don't know how many there are in other
>>languages, I think french has mon cher / ma cherie but I don't know if
>>it has many others
>>
>>
>
>What???  The language of love?
>minion, chou, petit chou, chou chou, mon amour, je t'embrasse, mon petit
>X... just to mention the ones that come to mind most obviously.  Where the
>heck is my French dictionary?
>
> (I have this dodgy horror story in which one of the
>
>
>>main male characters is a frenchman in america, and he consistantly
>>calls the woman he likes ma petite), and I looked up the spanish for
>>dear and got querido/a which I thought was really nice lol (unless I'm
>>wrong querido = wanted).
>>
>>
>
>Te quero, "I love you," in Spanish.
>
>
>
>> While I was thinking about that I got onto "to love" and "to like". Do
>>many natural languages distinguish between the two? French doesn't (je
>>t'aime = I like/love you),
>>
>>
>
>J'aime, and j'aime bien.  You can also say that something pleases you in
>French.  Ca me plait.  "I like that."
>
> but spanish does (amo = I love, me gusta(n) =
>
>
>>I like (lit it pleases me)), and a quick peruse of a dictionary suggests
>>that Latin didn't either. How many people have the distinction in their
>>conlang?
>>
>>
>
>Y ravve, "I love," ry garne, "I like/am pleased with."
>
>
>
>> And finally, adjectives used as nouns.
>>
>>
>
>Substantive adjectives.
>
>Do many conlangs/natlangs allow
>
>
>>free use of adjectives as nouns? English does but its restricted, there
>>are only a few adjectives that don't sound wrong when used as nouns (ie
>>the blond(e) the wise the old (the last two used only collectively)),
>>
>>
>
>The rich, the poor, as in: "he steals from the rich and gives to the poor";
>the indigent, the wealthy, the ignorant, the accused, the familiar, the
>unfamiliar, the unwanted, the great unwashed, the hated, the feared, the
>remaining, the deceased (lots of participles used as substantives), the
>grotesque, the horrible, the abject, the unbelievable... there are a HOST of
>English words that use the substantive adjective.  In modern English, they
>are almost all collectives, though.  In Old English, you could use them
>singularly: Se frod, se til, "the wise one, the good one."  The good, the
>bad, and the ugly; the blind, the deaf, and the dumb... and on and on.
>
>
>Sally Caves
>scaves@frontiernet.net
>Eskkoat ol ai sendran, rohsan nuehra celyil takrem bomai nakuo.
>"My shadow follows me, putting strange, new roses into the world."
>
>
>I'm coming along here slowly.   Hard to read, let alone answer all my mail.
>I'm sure this has been answered.
>Sal
>
>
>

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