From: "Padraic Brown" <agricola@...>
> Am 28.11.01, Muke Tever yscrifef:
>
> > > Is it related to the word for "language"? -ese is not, of course, as
> > > it's simply an adjective forming suffix meaning "of".
> >
> > I wouldn't say it means "of". "From", maybe, or "after the style produced
in",
> > e.g. "Japanese table".
>
> OK. It means more than just "of". Sorry to take that for granted!
>
> > But as a productive *noun*forming suffix I think -ese pretty clearly does
mean
> > "language" or "manner of speech". Say "X-ese is a ____"...
>
> Could be argued, but is moot, as -ese still doesn't have anything
> to do with the words "language" or "tongue".
Well, true, in the sense that a suffix like "-ese" doesn't have anything to do
with any _word_ at all. But it's like saying "language" and "speech" don't have
anything to do with each other because the words aren't related. It seems
like -ese (n.) *does* mean 'language' now, as in constructions like
"bureaucratese" or "churchese".
*Muke!