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Re: Another Essentialist Explanation

From:John Vertical <johnvertical@...>
Date:Sunday, November 26, 2006, 13:27
>Weld S Carter, Jr. skrev: > > I wonder how relevant we might consider the following > > comparison: In English we say 'It's Greek to me', but in > > German: 'es ist mir Spanish". And, in France, one > > dismisses a speaker of imperfect French with the insult: > > 'you speak French like a Spanish cow!' I don't try here to > > render it in French, since my grasp of that language > > probably warrants that description. > > > > Weld > >In Sweden we say "It's Chinese to me!" There is also the >expression "Det &#65533;r rena rotv&#65533;lskan" -- literally 'it's real >mangled Romance' though the etymological meaning of >"rotv&#65533;lska" as 'a mangled Romance language' is unknown to >the average modern speaker. (Of course "v&#65533;lsk" is cognate >with 'Welsh'. The Anglo-Saxons distinguished between >"Rumwealas" 'Roman foreigners' and "Bretwealas" 'Celtic >foreigners'!) >-- > > >/BP 8^)>
Finnish uses "täyttä hepreaa", lit. "fully Hebrew". 0.02 € John Veretical _________________________________________________________________ Windows-työpöytähaun avulla löydät tiedot koneeltasi silmänräpäyksessä. http://toolbar.msn.fi