CHAT anecdotage (was: Easy and Interesting Languages -- Website)
| From: | Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, May 27, 2004, 5:11 |
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On Wednesday, May 26, 2004, at 01:24 PM, Philippe Caquant wrote:
> Talking about "anecdots", I don't know the exact
> meaning of the word in English, but in French, it
> justs means a short unimportant story you might tell
> when chattering with friends. It doesn't have to be
> funny at all - might even be tragic.
Yep - 'anecdote' means much the same in English. I's often - tho by no
means always - associated with older people and their habit of beginning
"Now, when I was a boy....."/ "Now, when I was a girl....". Some people
humorously refer to this stage in one's ife as their "anecdotage" ;)
> But if you say to
> Russian people "Ja vam rasskazhu anekdot" (I'll tell
> you an anecdot), they will all expect eagerly the end,
> in order to burst of laughing. "Anekdot" HAS to be
> funny in Russian. Better to know it before.
I see - what we call a 'joke' in English :)
Ray
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"A mind which thinks at its own expense will always
interfere with language." J.G. Hamann, 1760
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