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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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You're right, Myr. Thank you.
"hoosegow", used particlarly in western states bordering Mexico, is a slang term for "jail," derived from the Spanish "juzgado."
Thanks, Hugo, and welcome to you.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
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That would be a hard 'th' (dh) wouldn't it? As in 'the' not as in 'thing.' It is borrowing, whether or not it means the same thing. And in this case it does mean pretty much the same thing anyway. English borrows any word from any language that it thinks it can use in any way it sees fit. That's the genius of the language! We English speakers never let meaning get in the way of stealing a nice word. And even when it does mean exactly the same thing at the time it is borrowed, give it a generation or two and it will go the same way as other English words - its meaning will drift and/or expand with usage. Other Spanish loan words that have come to be used in ways other than their original meaning or context would include gusto, taco, gringo, and probably most other words ending in 'o' 
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
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Yes, Pook, the hard one, LOL! I'm too lazy even to look up the correct name, although I knew it once for a class in grad school...
Many other cultures liberally borrow from other languages, much of it from English as it is so widespread and many technology terms originated with English speakers. But lets be less sexist and say most other words ending in "a" also... he he he :0)
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
to look up the correct name
There are two kinds of alveolar fricatives in English: voiceless /þ/ as in thin and voiced /ð/ as in that. The name of the first character is thorn and that of the second one is edh. Voicing is a rather common distinctive feature in many languages. The stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ are voiceless, and /b/, /d/, and /g/ are their voiced counterparts. Usual the term hard is used to distinguish fricatives or affricates from stops: e.g., the g in gel from that in goat.
Many languages borrow words with no intention of paying back the loan. It's one of the ways that languages get new vocabulary.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
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old hand
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Yup, that looks familiar, zmjezhd! I say "familiar" because the course I took was taught in Spanish, so the nomenclature was such as "alveolar fricativo", "sordo", "sonoro" etc. It's been many moons since then, so I'd have to look it up, and I have too much to do these days! Thanks for the memories... ;0)
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Joined: May 2005
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: May 2005
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English-speaking South Africans frequently greet each other with "Howzit?"
Certain white New Orleanians (mainly from Lower 9th Ward) are referred to as Yats, after the greeting "Where y'at?"
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
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English-speaking South Africans frequently greet each other with "Howzit?" Hi, pedantman? "Howzit" looks like the English form of the Dutch (- Afrikaans) greeting : " Hoe is et?"
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Joined: May 2005
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: May 2005
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Wouldn't be surprised by the "Hoe is et?" derivation.
My South-African wife is not currently at home to verify, and you don't want to get her started talking about Afrikaans, sometimes described as "not a language, but a throat disease" (in stark contrast to the beautiful Dutch pronunciations):)
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes, Dutch would sound perfectly allright if only it would sound more like Brazilian Portuguese. 
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
English-speaking South Africans frequently greet each other with "Howzit?"
Certain white New Orleanians (mainly from Lower 9th Ward) are referred to as Yats, after the greeting "Where y'at?" In cricket, a shout of "'owzat?" (how's that?) is an appeal to the umpire to give the batsman out. In Australian idiom, a greeting often heard is "'owzit garn?" (how's it going?) or even "airzit garn."
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