Though I disagree with it as a definition, I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment.
I learned something new today.
OMGG !
Oh la vache!
Yet so much of the essential parts of the language come from Germanic languages…the numbers, the “who, which, why, w-words”.
A lot of meat animals…the live animal is from German but the meat is from French.
Hand, heart, house…all from German.
English has the most Latin (Romance) influence of the Germanic languages and French is the most Germanic of the Romance languages.
Funnily, while today Germany is a science and technical powerhouse, most of our science and technology words come from romance and greek languages.
Is a TV called a fernsehen or a tele vision ?
A television is called a telly but a telephone is called a phone.
Some new definitions I hadn’t seen before.
Genuine lols, despite the seppo usage of ‘alternate’, which I notice is creeping in here.
Pretty sure I saw at least some of these from the WaPo at least as far back as the 1980’s
One that has intrigued me for a little while now is the difference in meaning of the term “just about” when said by poms vs what it seems to mean everywhere else.
I’d picked it up listening to a lot of cricket commentary over the years.
For instance, if a guy is diving in the outfield to save the ball from hitting the boundary rope and he is successful in doing so, the British commentators will often say “he’s just about dragged this back”.
Or if they were watching a defender in AFL football in a race back to the goal line to try to touch the footy before it crosses through for a goal and they were watching the slow-mo replay that shows the defender touch the footy a foot before the line and push it through they’d say “he’s just about got a hand on it”.
Or if you just had a lunch with a friend and you went into your pockets to dig out the cash to settle a $60 bill and you found you had $63 on you then you’d say “I’ve just about got enough”.
So in the UK the phrase “just about” seems to mean something that was narrowly achieved whereas over here (and probably everywhere else) we say “just about” when there’s a situation where someone tried to do something and came close to doing it but ultimately didn’t do it or couldn’t do it.
Does anyone know what this is all about?
@efc1robbo you’re a pom. Any idea?
I’ve just about had enough of your questions!
Tbh I have no idea
In either case, it’s a form of ‘close to’.
And maybe your example is right, but I think I’d hear Athers or whomever say something like that when it’s close but he’s not sure.
And I reckon a Pom who thought that was widely accepted might say “just about everyone agrees with me”, without implying that 100% of people do!