Ask Lemmy

i used to import words from other countries before tariffs kicked in

I speak English. And, as James Nicoll said,

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

I speak some Spanish and some Dutch, but I don't know if I borrow many words from them that aren't "normal" borrow-words.

Nein.

Moi?

We use "no bueno" quite a bit in our house. Not sure how it crept in but I like it.

Plenty of borrowed words from other languages that don't have an equal word in English. Shadenfruede. Je ne sai quoi. Cologne. Et cetera (literally).

All the time.

There is no such thing as a (modern) language that is not assembled from borrowing from other languages. So even speaking a single language, one may already be 'borrowing' from quite a few more. Add to that many of us will speak at least two languages (native + English), or more.

So yeah, like many, I borrow words and expressions from any of the languages I speak, even more so with those words and expressions I have a sweet spot for ;)

I tend to use kanpai as my toast and cheers in place of thanks as an American

I'm Dutch, but often speak English as I'm fluent in it, so it sometimes mixes. Other words I often use are

• some German, Spanish and French phrases (secondary languages),
• various toasts, like lechajim, skål, depending on the people I'm with,
• some Arabic like shukran, habibi,
• Surinamese slang (kaolo is a fun one)

From the States, I say Maccas instead of McDonald's, and things like bellend and wanker occasionally. It's fun picking up words and stuff from other cultures

Petrol > gas. Using the same word for gasoline and natural gas gets confusing as hell in any number of conversations.

perekle,and ただいま

I use things like "excusé moi" for when I burp/belch and when alone and thinking out loud to myself will slip on random words I know from other languages if I end up on a random tangent. Otherwise, I tend not to.

All the time! I say maccas for McDonalds.

Words from different countries? That's cute. Kawaii, even.

I am from the US and have been referring to the dumb people around me as donuts recently. Still not exactly sure what this means to people in the UK, but it seems nicer than the words I was using previously.

As a non native english speaker I use quite a lot of Enhlish words in my language as well as some French words here and there.

I’ve picked up some words from colleagues, so I often say yalla yalla or acha.

Sometimes American words can be fun like “yo man wassup”.

I speak English natively and Spanish as a second language but most people I talk to speak English as a second language.

When I go back to my hometown I have a pretty noticeable accent and I tend to use a smaller vocabulary.

Depends on the person. My spouse and I, along with 5 or 6 friends, use a variety of key words from a couple shared languages to talk about things when we don't want other to understand. Mostly haggling or talking about sales stuff to discuss if we like something or think it's too expensive when a human is hovering right there. So I can give body language of disappointment while saying "this is great."

Oui!

I say Ciao rather often while living in an english speaking country. Rethinking this after getting roasted for this in the new show Stick. Never thought of it as being anything other than natural, having also spent time living in a few spanish speaking countries. Don't want to come across any type of way so thinking about rolling back my usage.

"Chingadera" and a smattering of other Spanish words/slang; "świnia", which means pig in Polish, because my Grandma says it, and "haiyaaaaaa", said with a long sigh, thanks Uncle Roger.

So desu ne

j'accuse and pamplemousse are pretty good and fun to say

Gesundheit

Kindergarten

Peckish

I am from germany and not sure if it counts ... But... Piwo - beer Lowine - money Motek - Hammer Koten - kids Bratan - brother (like bro) Fiets - bike

Altijd. Ich aime this mucho.

I've started learning Sinhala and sometimes I'll swap between English and the few Sinhala words I know when I'm talking with my girlfriend

I was thinking that I don't but then I realised, I say Hallo all the time instead of hola.