Re: Intergermansk - Pizza packaging text :D

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 22:27:07 +1100, Tristan McLeay
<conlang@...> wrote:

>On 31 Jan 2005, at 9.51 am, Doug Dee wrote:
>
>> In a message dated 1/30/2005 5:23:29 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>> ataltanie@OCEANFREE.NET writes:
>>
>>>> "Mushroom" is the general term, just like e.g. "tree" is general.
>>>> "Champignon" is a specific type of mushroom, just like an "oak" is a
>>>> specific type of tree.
>>
>>> Is this English we're talking about here...? If so, it's not right;
>>> "champignon" is not an English word.
>>
>> According to The American Heritage Dictionary, "champignon" _is_ an
>> English word, meaning "An edible mushroom, especially the much
>> cultivated species _Agaricus Bisporus_"
Indeed - if you say "champignon", you're generally referring to "Agraricus
Bisporus". As this is the most frequent edible mushroom, it probably got
that name stuck to it to differ it from the less common mushrooms.

>Hmm... that's another odd one, AFAIK, all mushrooms are edible, because
>if they're not, they're not mushrooms. Something seems fishy in the
>land of fungi.
Heh... technically speaking, you can of course eat all sorts of mushrooms -
it's just the question if it will do you any good ;)
I want you to go and eat a toadstool and then tell me if you don't think you
should change your definition :D

>> Obviously, it's a borrowing from French, but that doesn't stop it from
>> being an English word.
Even though it originated from French, it is by now quite commonly used in
English (and german as well, and in many other languages as well), generally
referring to "Agraricus Bisporus".

>I think I would say 'doesn't stop it from being used in English'. '(to)
>use' is clearly an English word, not because it comes from Old English
>(it doesn't) but because there's no debate about whether it's an
>English word. But about half the native speakers on this list seem to
>equate champignon more with French than with English.
Well, this debate about "English word or not" is really splitting hairs...
regardless if it's a French word or not, it's commonly used nowadays.

--
Pascal A. Kramm, author of:
Intergermansk: http://www.choton.org/ig/
Chatiga: http://www.choton.org/chatiga/
Choton: http://www.choton.org
Ichwara Prana: http://www.choton.org/ichwara/
Skälansk: http://www.choton.org/sk/
Advanced English: http://www.choton.org/ae/

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