Re: Adopting a plural

 --- John Cowan <jcowan@...> skrev:
> and rhinoceroses (or just rhinos).
>
> But I took the original examples like "virii" to be
> about *misapplied*
> foreign plural endings; other such words would be
> "agendae" and "hoodla".
>
In French, many people say "bliniss" instead of
"blini" (russian-style pancakes). Why ? Because it is
written "blinis" (the -s being the mark of plural in
French, added [but who knows it ?] to the -i which is
the mark of plural in Russian - in that case, anyway.

But to be logical, if we prounounce "bliniss" (which
is of course nonsensical), then we should write it
"blinisses", to comply with French orthograph.

But if we write it "blinisses", then people, still
aware that this is an exotic word, will probably
prounounce it "blinissezes" ?

But if we pronounce it "blinissezes", than... etc,
etc.

(Actually, the best solution would be to write "des
blines" and pronounce it like Russian "blin". But why
should we make it simple if we can make it complicated
?).

This reminds me the Alsacian story about a woman named
by the French (common) name of "Lagarde" (=guard).
- German invasion: all French names should be
translated. Madame Lagarde becomes Frau Wache.
- French coming back: all German names should be
written according to French orthographic rules. Madame
Wache becomes Madame Vache (=cow).
- New German invasion: Madame Vache becomes Frau Kuh.
- French coming back: Frau Kuh becomes Madame Cul (cul
= ass, backside).
- New German invasion: Madame Cul becomes Frau Arsch.

This is all very unpleasant indeed.









=====
Philippe Caquant


Ceterum censeo *vi* esse oblitterandum (Me).