this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2026
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Asking non-native English speakers.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Guten Appetit! (German term equivalent to "cheers" for drinking - but for eating.)

[–] VinegarChunks@lemmus.org 2 points 18 hours ago

Mahlzeit has no English translation

[–] JonnyRobbie@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

That one is really interesting, because a lot of languages has it, from guten apetit, through dobrou chuť to itadakimasu. But english was out of school that day I suppose.

[–] Nomecks@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

English stole 'Bon Apetit" from French fair and square!

[–] Mantzy81@aussie.zone 8 points 1 day ago (3 children)

As English often does - if it makes sense in another language and is easy for English speakers to understand the context it's used, they're quite happy stealing it. Especially French.

[–] Fluke@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's because English isn't a language, it's three other languages in a trenchcoat, stealing stuff from every other language.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Celtic, western Germanic (Angles, Saxons, Frisian), Latin, northern Germanic (Danish, Norse), and in 1066 finally French (which is a mixing bowl in its own right). The trenchcoat is way more crowded than you think.

[–] cattywampas@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Loanwords are a thing in every language, especially English loanwords.

[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 day ago
[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

itsdakomasu

Did you mean itadakimasu?

Because that is what you say in Japanese when you start eating but interestingly it doesn't mean "Guten Appetit" (basically "have a nice meal") but "I am (thankfully) going to receive (a nice meal)". While "Guten Appetit" is about others who are eating alongside you, "itadakimasu" is about the speaker.

[–] ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Wasn't itadakimasu religious in origin? Making it something more like the prayer before the food that English-speaking Christians do - "Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive..."?

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 points 16 hours ago

I wouldn't know. The verb is itadaku which is a humble form of the verb morau, meaning "to receive". The imasu part is basically just polite grammar. If there is anything religious about it, it's obscure.

[–] robador51@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

~~Good appetite?~~

Oh, looked it up, it's not used in the same manner as German, i never knew 😃

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 day ago