×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Foreign phrases

Foreign phrases

Foreign phrases

(OP)
Given that the English language is a polyglot, what are some of the foreign phrases that you commonly use in writing or speaking?

Some of my favorites include:
[i]
affaire de coeur
c’est la vie
c’est la guerre
du jour
gesundheit
n’est-ce pas?
moolah
mañana
[/i]

RE: Foreign phrases

I find it interesting that the German über- (for "super-" has actully made it into SoCal slang.

RE: Foreign phrases

TheTick, you are uber-observant.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Foreign phrases

Some more:

ad extremum
apropos
comme ci, comme ça
laissez faire
lapsus linguae
par avion
quod erat demonstrandum
verbatim
wunderbar

RE: Foreign phrases

Parlavar is english slang for talking rubbish or for being in a mess, as in What a Parlavar! It comes from the portuguese.
Macho is also commonly used and is also portuguese, or maybe spanish.  

corus

RE: Foreign phrases

id est(but in abbreviated form)
et al
per se
modus operandi
viva voce

RE: Foreign phrases

Ipso facto
In situ
Deja vous

RE: Foreign phrases

I'm not sure which way the transfer went on this one.

In English a "skosh" is slang for a little bit.

In Japanese one of the words for "small" is pronounced "skoshi".

RE: Foreign phrases

If you've worked in the Middle East you will be familiar with the word (excuse phonetic spelling)
Bukhura

It's a bit similar to manana, but without the same sense of urgency

Me: Will this job be finished today?
Answer: Bukhura, Inshallah

Literal: Tomorrow, God willing
Idiomatic: Not a hope!

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Foreign phrases

MintJulep--"skosh" comes from "sukoshi", via military slang.

Cool.  I had no idea.

Hg

RE: Foreign phrases

johnwm

I am going to Egypt for a short job next week. I have been told about those words too. But with this explanation: They have "IBM time". I for Inshallah (if God so wishes), B for Bukra (tomorrow, or within a week or two, perhaps), M for Maalesh (don't worry, forget it). Very much mañana, I think. Mañana can also be extended forever since there's another mañana mañana.

RE: Foreign phrases

Quote:

It's a bit similar to manana, but without the same sense of urgency

Johnmw,

Stars don't count in this forum, but you're getting one for cracking me up on an otherwise dull Sunday.

RE: Foreign phrases

I second that emotion!


RE: Foreign phrases

rnd2

It's [i]deja vu [/i] not [i]deja vous[/i]!

To do it properly, there's an acute accent on the 'e' and a grave accent on the 'a' (don't know how to do it in HTML).

Literally means 'already seen' but is used in English when an unexplained feeling of 'I've been in this situation before, but I can't remember how or when' Happens to me more and more frequently as the years pile on.

John

RE: Foreign phrases

déjà vu
is done with the following TGML

[b]d[é]j[à] vu[/b]

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: Foreign phrases

vu jàdé
Feeling like you've never done this before.

RE: Foreign phrases

Thanks CajunCenturion

No day is without gain .....

RE: Foreign phrases

And thanks also harrisj

RE: Foreign phrases

déjà vous:  The feeling that you are early?

RE: Foreign phrases

How about "ad infinitum" and its half-brother "ad nauseum"?

RE: Foreign phrases

This thread reminds me of an old poster in a south american shop, which freely translated was: today we don't sell on credit, tomorrow we'll do (hoy no fiamos, manana si).

RE: Foreign phrases

Hello again. Back from Egypt.

I must say that the guys that I worked with were very little "bukra". Knowledgeable people and what they did not know, they found out. Worked late hours if necessary. So I am sorry about that IBM time mentioned before. It is something that simply isn't true - at least not in Egypt - and absolutely not in paper manufacturing.

RE: Foreign phrases

I've been told "mañana" doesn't mean "tomorrow"...it means "Later". And there is always later.

Hasta Mañana,
Rerig

RE: Foreign phrases

hmmm, I've always been told it means tomorrow or morning, depending on context.  "Manana por la manana" means tomorrow morning. (I don't know the tgml for the ~ over the n, but picture one over each of the middle Ns)

RE: Foreign phrases

mañaña

CODE

ma[ñ]a[ñ]a

Cehck for TGML Special Characters in Process TGML link below the message box.

Regards,

RE: Foreign phrases

To quark, as a Spanish speaker myself, allow me to advise you that the second ñ isn't needed in the word mañana.

This word has several meanings sometimes depending on the context: morning, tomorrow, later on, in the future, early in the day, etc.

RE: Foreign phrases

Some additional phrases starting with the letter a:

a deux
ad infinitum
ad libitum
aide-de-camp
aide-memoire
á la carte
amour propre
au courant
avant-garde

RE: Foreign phrases

"Horror show"  sounds like "good" in Russian.

Can't help but think that when someone describes a design as a "horror show."

RE: Foreign phrases

This thread is interesting and good fun, but really, there are not many of the examples given that are commonly used in technical English.

However, a few are. 'Aide-memoire' is commonly used in military technical publications (in UK anyway) for a small format booklet that the operator / driver / pilot etc can use as a real-time reference document.

'In situ' and 'verbatim' are good because they convey in a short phrase somrthing that is more clumsy to express in normal English.

Another one is 'reductio ad absurdam' which I like because it sounds like a Harry Potter curse - I'm sure we all recall it as a useful technique for understanding and formulating mathematical and scientific proofs.

There are lots of other foreign phrases which are useful in technical English but I personally deplore them unless the equivalent meaning is unclear or cumbersome when expressed in normal Anglo-Saxon. To me they tend to sound very pompous and contrived.

It's a case of chacun à son goût !

John

RE: Foreign phrases

A priori I think harrisj is right, although, a posteriori, it seems the subject is still sub judice.

RE: Foreign phrases

     It sounds funny like Latin phrases are widely used in English, more than Italian (language that comes almost directly from Latin...)!

     And what about Italian phrases in English? Can anyone mention some ones [apart from food names... ]?

Bye (Ciao!),       'NGL

RE: Foreign phrases

Some examples from French:

belle époque
bête noire
carte blanche
cause célèbre
cordon sanitaire
coupe de grâce
coup d'état
crime passionel
de rigueur
dernier cri
éminence grise
enfant terrible
en passant
entre nous
haute couture
haute cuisine
idée fixe
je ne sais quoi
joie de vivre
laissez-faire
laissez-passer
mot juste
noblesse oblige
nouveau riche
par excellence
pièce de résistance
plat du jour
raison d'être
sang-froid
tête-à-tête
tour de force
vis-à-vis
poste restante

From Italian, in music:

cantabile
con brio
con spirito
crescendo
grazioso
largo
legato
maestoso
molto vivace
non troppo
obbligato
piano
presto
ritardando
rubato
sforzando
tempo
tutti
vigoroso

RE: Foreign phrases

    How does a piece of music sound like when it is:
        "legato"   =   tied,
        "rubato"   =   stolen
    or played
        "sforzando"   =   making effort?



To harrisj:

    May an "Aide-Memoire" (French) be the same as a "Vademecum" (Latin, used in Italian)?

    Is the second used in English too?    


Thanks,    'NGL

RE: Foreign phrases


To anegri:

legato         smoothly and evenly
rubato        to be played with a varying tempo
sforzando   strogly accented

some more:
acciaccatura
adagio
agitato
allegretto
andante
animato
appassionato
arpeggio
cantata
capriccio
concerto
divertimento
lento
partita
scherzo
sonata
toccata

Some more Italian terms:

al fresco
che sarà sarà
ciao
dolce far niente
dolce vita
opera buffa
prima donna
sotto voce

By the way, I think French terms are quite predominant, when compared with other foreign languages, in various human activities: mode, clothes, sports and games, dances, food (menus, soups, wines, etc.), heraldry, literature, music, and others.  

a votre santé!

RE: Foreign phrases

Other (possible) Italian terms: cappucino, espresso.
I have also heard capisce.

RE: Foreign phrases

we, bunch of geeks... nobody mentioned:
french: menàge-à-trois
latin: fellatio
spanish: señorita

other...
survival:
otra cerveza, por favor (spanish)
noch ein bier, bitte (german)
nog ein bier, alstublieft (dutch)


politics:
you are so naïve (you are so gullible)

socially accepted derogatory expressions...
what a putz (yiddish)
he's a schmuck (yiddish)
kiss my tuchas (yiddish)
just a schlomazel (yiddish)
i'm a schlemiyel (yiddish)

glossary:
putz = schmuck = male sexual organ
tuchas = tushy = buttocks
schlomazel = a guy that carries a tray full of gefilte-fish and drops it.
shlemiyel = the guy that the schlomazel drops the tray on.

disgust:
vaffanculo!(italian) er... mmmhhh... i really don't give a damn?

other expressions:
mano-a-mano (which is hand-to-hand and not man-to-man, means  "we are even"
hombre-a-hombre: man-to-man
solo : by himself
nada : nothingness, the absence of all matter
this man has cojones: er... mmmhhh... this man has guts, although the spanish word hangs some inches below the guts...

some other thoughts about mañana...
mañana in a work context, like a request at 3:30 pm means: don't bust my cojones right now whith this...

in latin america, there is also a related word: ahora
ahora means literally: now

the urgency of the now depends where the word was uttered:
ahora means now in most spanish speaking countries...
althoug curiously the diminutive:

ahorita

means: may be, later... don't bother me now in most caribbean countries

in the southern countries: specially argentina, uruguay
ahorita (usually used as: ahorita mismo!) means: right now!

enjoy.








saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

To abeltio, some comments.

I think the interpretations of the yiddish words shlemazel (unlucky,unsuccesful) and shlumiel (good-for-nothing, ne'er-do-well, his fingers are all thumbs) were reversed.

Question: are the interesting examples you mentioned, actually expressions commonly used in written or spoken English ?

Hasta la próxima.

RE: Foreign phrases

25362
that is the version i have for shlemazel and shlumiel. i repeat what i learned... you may be right though...

the examples i mentioned are actually expressions in spoken english.
you may have heard in movies, tv those expressions.
e.g. in beverly hills cop they use the word putz
mano-a-mano is used in another movie that skips my mind now.
same as cojones...

nos vemos.

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

shlumiel and shlemazel was in the opening credits to a 70's TV sit-com Lavern and Shirley ABC Tuesday nights 8:30.
Hydrae

RE: Foreign phrases

Schlemiel is the uncoordinated one, the kind of person one might describe as "an accident waiting to happen".  Schlemazel is the unlucky one.  Compare "schlemazel" to "mazel tov", which idiomatically means "congratulations" but literally translates to "good luck".

I'm not sure why those became the standard spellings; "schlumiel" and "schlumazel" would be better.

Hg

RE: Foreign phrases


To abeltio, "mano a mano" is a famous song by Carlos Gardel (I hope you've heard of him), and I know he did some films in the States in the early 1930's. Are you sure this expression penetrated American english ?

Chau

RE: Foreign phrases

um, yeah, it definitely did.  It's used at least once in every macho dispute settled on television.

RE: Foreign phrases

25362,
mano a mano is one of my favorite tangos (not tangoes!!) ever.

was one of the first tangos with lyrics, written in 1918 and recorded by carlitos in 1933.

mano a mano has many "common places" which penetrated the argentine everyday speech. so much that it surprises people that grew up in argentina and listen to the lyrics for the first time.

i marked with "   " the most famous lines.
with """   """" the most famous lines of them all

Rechiflao en mi tristeza, hoy te evoco y veo que has sido
en "mi pobre vida paria" sólo una buena mujer.
Tu presencia de bacana puso calor en mi nido,
fuiste buena, consecuente, y yo sé que me has querido
como no quisiste a nadie, como no podrás querer.

Se dio el juego de remanye cuando vos, pobre percanta,
gambeteabas la pobreza en la casa de pensión.
Hoy sos toda una bacana, "la vida te ríe y canta",
"los morlacos del otario los tirás a la marchanta"
"""como juega el gato maula con el mísero ratón"""

Hoy tenés el mate lleno de infelices ilusiones,
te engrupieron los otarios, las amigas y el gavión;
la milonga, entre magnates, con sus locas tentaciones,
donde triunfan y claudican milongueras pretensiones,
se te han entrado muy adentro en el pobre corazón.

Nada debo agradecerte, "mano a mano hemos quedado";
no me importa lo que has hecho, lo que hacés ni lo que harás...
"Los favores recibidos creo habértelos pagado"
y, si alguna deuda chica sin querer se me ha olvidado,
"en la cuenta del otario que tenés se la cargás"

Mientras tanto, que tus triunfos, pobres triunfos pasajeros,
sean una larga fila de riquezas y placer;
que el bacán que te acamala tenga peso duradero,
que te abrace de las paradas con cafishos milongueros
y que digan los muchachos: Es una buena mujer.
Y mañana, "cuando seas descolado mueble viejo"
y no tengas esperanzas en el pobre corazón,
si precisás una ayuda, si te hace falta un consejo,
acordáte de este amigo que ha de jugarse el pellejo
"pa'ayudarte en lo que pueda cuando llegue la ocasión."

great tango...

gardel is an icon... his memory is revered by millions in argentina and... most curiously in medellín, colombia where he got killed in an aircraft accident.
as all those famous people who died young, he became a legend bigger than life...
in argentina he is called "carlitos" or "el mudo" (the mute)
is a reverse logic entendre (excuse my french)...
and it is said that: "el mudo... cada día canta mejor" (the mute, every day sings a bit better).

cheers.

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

Dwattedwabbit

it is "ad nauseam" and not "ad nauseum"... ad requires acusative declination in latin.

therefore nauseam, from nausea, nauseae

cheers.

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

Abeltio,

I grew up surrounded by people who worshiped Carlitos; Buenos Aires has now, even a subway station named after him.
Besides "Mano A Mano" among his famous songs, I can easily recall La Cumparsita, Sus Ojos Se Cerraron, Caminito, Melodía De Arrabal, La Canción de Buenos Aires, Volver, Adiós Muchachos, Esta Noche Me Emborracho, Caminito, Amores De Estudiante, El Día Que Me Quieras, Guitarra Mía, Tomo Y Obligo, Silencio, Cuesta Abajo, Yira Yira, Madreselva, Por Una Cabeza, Bandoneón Arrabalero, Leguisamo Solo, and many more.

Whenever I hear him singing, I cannot stop shedding a tear missing those "far away and long ago" childhood and youth days and places que no volverán...

RE: Foreign phrases

25362
i was born and raised in buenos aires.

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

abeltio

I am chaqueño.

Chau

RE: Foreign phrases

I can only notice how many French sentences you guys can use

And i thought you hate us  lol

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

RE: Foreign phrases

FrenchCAD - Most Americans don't hate French - but quit accusing Lance Armstrong of using performance-enhancing drugs, OK?   

RE: Foreign phrases

I don't follow much of cycling contests But Armstrong is damn good, for sure

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

RE: Foreign phrases

frenchcad...
hate the french?
i never discriminate!!! i hate everybody the same...

:oþ

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

The "freedom fries" fad seems to be over...but my question: weren't french fries actually invented in Belgium?

RE: Foreign phrases

To "abeltio": Thanks for the spelling correction.  I never had Latin in school and it may be a good thing that I don't often use even the more common Latin phrases.  (Although if I did use them more often, I might have paid more attention to their correct spelling - )  (What a concept!)

French fries - I've heard, too, that they originated in Belgium, but I know nothing of the veracity of that story.

I'm of French descent, but fairly distant now.  My ancestors left France in the 1630s and came to Acadia (what is now Nova Scotia), so I'm related to the Cajuns, too (an Anglicized version of the word "Acadians").  So I like to tease people by explaining that my French ancestors didn't like the French either and knew when to get out!  I read a book a few years ago in which each chapter was about the people of a different European country.  Fascinating explanation for why French are different from Germans, who are different from Italians, who are different from Spaniards, etc.  Whether we Americans (or anyone else) like or dislike the French, they are the way they are for a complex variety of reasons.

I do American Civil War reenacting, and it is interesting (when you do a bit of research) to note that in English-speaking armies of the 18th and 19th Centuries, commands and names for many military things are from the French.  Most of the structures built by the military engineers have French names or are derived from French (fraise, chevaux-de-frise, abatis, pontoon or ponton, gabion, etc.).  The meanings of these words in military use often are not related to their French meanings - for example, "fraise" is French for "strawberry," but to the military engineers, it means a line of pointed sticks fixed in rows in the ground as a passive defense against infantry.

In addition, the commands for the drill for use of the bayonet are all in French.

RE: Foreign phrases

Speaking of "freedom fries" - during that fad, I never heard talk of changing the name of French Toast.

Then last week I saw this trivia question:

Quote:

What did Americans call French toast prior to World War I?

Answer anyone?. . .

RE: Foreign phrases


MElam, the New Orleans side of my family always called it 'pain perdue'.  We didn't call it French toast.  Don't know any other names.

DwattedWabbit, if you can remember the name of the book, it sounds like something my brother would love. Post here if you come up with the title. Several of my relatives also like to do Civil War re-enactments and all of them are real history buffs.

And for some additonal military French, how about terreplein, bastion, glacis, palisade, and salle porte.



RE: Foreign phrases

Switching over to dancing expressions. What about

allemande
beguine
bolero
bossa nova
cha-cha
chaconne
cotillon
czardas
fandango
farandula
flamenco
galopade
gavotte
gigue
habanera
horah
hula
jive
kazatzka
limbo
malagueña
mambo
mazurka
merengue
minuet
paso doble
passacaglia
polonaise
rigadoon
rumba
samba
sarabande
tango
tarantella
waltz
zapateado

and others that I forgot ?

Abeltio, Carlitos was also called "el morocho" and "el zorzal criollo".

RE: Foreign phrases

MElam's
German toast?
i dunno... b4 WWI, which was with germany...

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

Yes, German toast.

We are so fickle.

RE: Foreign phrases

Haven't seen any German expressions yet. Is that because nobody can pronounce them?

RE: Foreign phrases


epoisses here's a start, I'm sure there's more (especially in psycology)

rucksack (backpack)
schadenfreude (taking pleasure in another's misery)
gesundheit (to your health)
nabelschaubetreiben (to contemplate your navel)

My favorite idiomatic German expression (which I will ask for forgivness ahead of time for misspellings),

"Hast du bauchnabel saucen und Arsch verklemmung?"  Which roughly translates to "do you have navel fizzing and ass-blockage?"

It's said to someone who is not feeling right or uncharacteristically  clumsy.  My German ex used to say it to me occasionally and I'm going by his explanation.  If there are any native German speakers, I'd love to know if this is close to the truth.  My ex said it to try to embarrass me, but the translation is too funny.  First time I heard it and figured out all the words I fell out of my chair laughing.  

RE: Foreign phrases

Ach, Scheiße! yes... oh, sh*t!

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases


Hey 25362,

You know so much about dance and music.  Are you secretly a dancer or musician or both?

And yes there are many additional dance terms, but I won't list them here.  I love this website, though.  It has common ballet terms and you can watch a quicktime clip of the step.

http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/terms.html



RE: Foreign phrases

Casseopeia.

I used to play violin in my youth. Now I don't even have a violin, but have good reading material.

RE: Foreign phrases

just to be a pain... epoisses and casseopeia... the first posting has a german expression: gesundheit.
cheers

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases

spanish words and expressions that made it to english...
matador
señor
amigo
si
padre (as in priest)

saludos.
a.

RE: Foreign phrases


sorry, wasn't paying attention I guess.

To make it up, how about some additional German phrases you might hear around the office;

Gestalt "hey Fred, didn't you say you were in Gestalt therapy in the 70's?"

angst (worry, fear) "the current government milage reimbursement of $0.37 per mile and the rising gasoline prices is causing me a lot of angst.

Zeitgeist (the mood of the times) "Company-sponsored luncheons and social events was the Zeitgeist of the 80's.  NO, we're not having a cruise of the Bay this year!"

verboten (forbidden)  "buying a client lunch, even if it's Denny's, is strictly verboten."

RE: Foreign phrases

Anschluss: annexation of Austria (1938). Auf wiedersehen: farewell. Ersatz: artificial. Gesundheit!: Bless you! Kaiser: emperor. Kaput: broken, out of order, useless. Kitsch: bad taste, or sentimentality in the arts. Lebensraum: living space for an expanding population. Putch: attempt to overthrow a government by a sudden rebellion. Realpolitik: harsh policy of national self-interest. Reich: empire or republic. Schmaltz: excessive sentimentality. Stalag: POW camp. Weltschmerz: romantic sadness or pessimusm, world-weariness.

RE: Foreign phrases

Some more Latin expressions:

a fortiori, a priori, ad hoc, ad nauseam, alma mater, alumnus, annus mirabilis, bona fide, casus belli, caveat emptor, cum laude, curriculum vitae, de facto, de jure, deus ex machina, ex gratia, in toto, inter alia, ipso facto, mea culpa, modus operandi, mutatis mutandis, ne plus ultra, non sequitur, per capita, per se, persona non grata, prima facie, pro rata, quid pro quo, rara avis, sine qua non, status quo, sub rosa, sui generis, vox populi.

Some more Spanish terms appearing in English:

alcalde, bodega, caballero, cantina, caudillo, fiesta, hacienda, hidalgo, plaza, posada, siesta.

RE: Foreign phrases

          This list of Latin expressions recalls me about a song fully built on them (it was the signature tune of a popular TV show in Italy in the middle of the '60s...). Here you can find the lyrics:
                              http://it.geocities.com/marconoce/Vademecumtango.html    

          For lovers of Latin language [not for... Latin-lovers ] I also have to signal the following web-sites:
                              http://www.discipulus.it/
                              http://www.radiobremen.de/nachrichten/latein/

VALETE,      'NGL

RE: Foreign phrases

One of my favorite German words, and one that one does not hear very often (as opposed to the subject of this thread) is Lebensgefährlich.

I guess I just like the rhythm better than Danger, and it is much stronger (danger to life).

RE: Foreign phrases

After all these postings I can only conclude that English speakers are more polyglot than I thought...

It almost seems like you guys use more foreign words than foreigers use English words. Or maybe you're more aware of it... this morning one of my French colleagues asked me the English translation of "routing", and was pleasantly surprised when I told him that as far as I know the word is already English.

RE: Foreign phrases

Rich2001, thanks, do you know of any other link dealing with foreign phrases, not just words ?

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources