RE: verboten WAS: Insider #59: IDS Express

try_and_err@web.de wrote > > Interesting, i try to write halfway understandably english > and americans and canadians write german... > As an german i would write "forbidden" for "verboten", can > anybody me explain what is the difference ? > As a semi literate Briton, I will try and explain :-) Forbidden carries a harshness that means it is not often used except in very officious uses. Athough verboten has probably the exact meaning, its use in english carries a caricature of the Germans and softens the meaning through this implied humour. Over to Captain P for the official version. Colin Bull ======================================================================= This email may contain confidential and privileged information and is intended for the named or authorised recipients only. If you are not the named or authorised recipient of this email, please note that any copying, distribution, disclosure or use of its contents is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and then destroy it. The views expressed in this email are not necessarily those held by VNL, and VNL does not accept any liability for any action taken in reliance on the contents of this message. VNL does not guarantee that the integrity of this email has been maintained, nor that it is free of viruses, interceptions or interference. _______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned for all known viruses by the MessageLabs Email Security System. _______________________________________________________________________ sending to informix-list

Although a US citizen by birth, I was raised overseas and unfortunately learned English, along with a number of other languages. Upon my return to these great States, I was obliged to relearn the lingua franca of the dominant sub culture. Imagine my surprise upon discovering that Americans, most of whom will exert precisely no effort to learn a foreign language, are usually impressed by the casual use of foreign words or expressions. Technically, these are referred to as "foreignisms". As Kenneth G. Wilson wrote, in The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, "Never use foreignisms to impress others with your erudition," most Yanks simply do it to seem cool, since they don't know what erudition means, either. So, dropping a bon mot from a language you don't know is très chic. Of course, the French language (should that be "Freedom Language"?) is currently passé in these United States, but German is still über cool. Yiddish is always menschy, so if you can drop a "bubbele" in while sipping your grande chai latte, then everyone will know you're livin' la vida loca despite the fact that the closest you've come to an actual date was sweating on a Natalie Portman body double in full Naboo costume at the convention last year. But, hey, if some hasi questions your machismo, you just go kung foo on the little castrati tuchas (or at least DDOS his ISP). Frequently, the meaning (and/or spelling) varies significantly. Consider "verboten", for example. Somehow, using the German term for "forbidden" implies the prohibition can be gotten around. This, I understand, actually dates to an old television show called Hogan's Heroes which portrayed the officers of a Nazi prisoner of war camp as incompetent schmucks. If something is described as "strictly verboten", you can bet the person using the description is planning on doing what is by no means allowed. This is because, in the Hollywood version, everyone in the Great Escape got away. In reality, all but three were recaptured and most were executed. Of course, the British use foreign words, too, but Americans tend to be a little more proprietary. Once we take a word from your language, you may never recognise it, again. For that matter, the Brits can barely recognise what we've done with their entire language. It's 'cause we're like, totally über. Certainly, for those to whom all forms of English are foreign, this is highly confusing. Especially when the words are used entirely malapropriately. Sorry. Ita erat quando hic adveni. Sincerely, Christopher Coleman President Kansas City Informix Users Group www.iiug.org/kciug Database Analyst Medication Management Mediware Information Systems, Inc. PS. This entire post is due to my classical education rebelling against the fact I reside in Kansas.