what is the attraction of anglicism?

Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:34 am GMT
Why do people just love anglicisms so much? What makes it so 'cool'?
guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:53 pm GMT
It's not just anglicisms, it's the tendency of people of one language to mimmick and adopt terms and expressions from others. It has happened and is happening everywhere and all the time. Just take for instance the immense number of words of French origin in English.

There's an old saying that sums this up quite nicely:
"Immitation is the highest form of flattery"
Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:01 pm GMT
i'll show you an example:
Pay per view : when this kind of payment was invented, at least in spain , we said 'pei-per-viu' more or less as it sounds in english but nowadays it is more known to say 'pago por vision' which,casually, has the same acronym as in english PPV.
Nowadays we say ‘vaqueros’ instead of ‘jeans’
Hora feliz Happy hour
Camarero Barman
And so on
Other times we don't have words or they don't have the same meaning in both languages so we accept them as 'prestamos' which is not a bad thing.
One thing I like of English is that it is easier to invent words in this language than in other languages.
and ,of course, other good point is that english has short words which doesn't sound bad.
As long as english-speaking countries continue ruling the world in areas such as culture(Hollywood movies..),science,military,etc people will use anglicisms in their language.
having said that, we accept words from other languages mainly french,italian.
So please, don't say barman if you're speking spanish say camareo/a, si no quieres que te consideren un esnob(¡VAYA, OTRO ANGLICISMO!)
Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:36 pm GMT
Okay, diré al "barman" entonces..
gracias : )
Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:05 pm GMT
The same thing happens with English, if I could count how many words Americans have borrowed from Spanish it'd be a big list.
Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:10 pm GMT
French and Italian are even more prone than Spanish to accept anglicisms. For example in France they say le weekend, or in Italian they use "mouse" (computer device).
Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:31 pm GMT
What makes it cool, is daily exposure to TV programs, films (movies) and music in English, all of them made to be "cool" in order to sell. It started (I think) some thirty years ago with Coca-cola commercials and now this "cool/windinourhair way of life" is everywhere in media. It's absolutely a world phenomenon, btw.
guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:14 pm GMT
<<The same thing happens with English, if I could count how many words Americans have borrowed from Spanish it'd be a big list. >>

I'd be interested to see this list. Or at least a small sampling of it.

To me, there is no Spanish influence in English. Sure, we use Spanish terms for strictly Spanish-related items, "sombrero" for sombrero, but we never use "sombrero" to mean "hat" in general.

Outside of words originally (at still somewhat) related to hispanic culture, like 'ranch' and 'stallion' I can't think of any.
Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:30 pm GMT
Guest   Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:44 pm GMT
Canyon, guerrilla, cafeteria, ...
Otro invitado   Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:11 am GMT
If you visit Southern California you will see how much the Spaniish language has influenced the English language. It's give a headache to those xenophobic idiots.
Domine   Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:59 am GMT
">French and Italian are even more prone than Spanish to accept anglicisms. For example in France they say le weekend, or in Italian they use "mouse" (computer device).<"

In Italy they do likewise. They use 'weekend' interchangeably with settimana. Spanish (from spain especially) is the only Romance language which tries its best to conserve itself - which I esteem them for doing so.
Guest   Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:23 pm GMT
Ask Japanese people. They use English all the time. They have a newsprogram "World Eye News" which sounds a little like "Wild Eye News"
when spoken with a Japanese accent. I find that rather funny.
guest   Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:43 pm GMT
<<">French and Italian are even more prone than Spanish to accept anglicisms. For example in France they say le weekend, or in Italian they use "mouse" (computer device).<"
>>

When I was in Italy last year, I was amazed at all the Anglcisms there. They even borrow the English word directly (same spelling, same meaning), where Spanish seems to 'Hispanify' it somewhat ("lider" for 'leader', etc.)
guest   Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:45 pm GMT
<<Canyon, guerrilla, cafeteria, ... >>

I'd hardly call this an "influence"