London Lingo

Hi all,

I thought I'd do an intro post to explain my blog. Apologies for any formatting issues -I'm new to this and clearly no tech whizz.

I'm Julia, a languages student with an interest in translation particularly: Spanish, Catalan and (Brazilian) Portuguese to (British) English.

My plan for this blog is to use is as a part portfolio, part diary of useful translation tips and maybe even part support groups.

Did you know that there’s an array of French terms that are still used in British academia. The following is a list of terms that I’ve collected throughout this semester’s university readings:

Bête noire = “a person or thing strongly detested or avoided”

Fin de seìcle = “of, relating to, or characteristic of the close of the 19th century and especially its literary and artistic climate of sophistication, world-weariness, and fashionable despair”

Vis-à-vis = “in relation to”

À propos = “being both relevant and opportune”

Avant-garde = “an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts”

Carte blanche = “full discretionary power”

Mise-en-scène = “the arrangement of actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical production”

En rapport = “in harmony : in a state of mutual accord and sympathetic understanding” 

Savoir-faire = “capacity for appropriate action”

I am sure you have come across an American website asking you to input the date but then doesn’t accept 20/03. Or you’ve come across an American website referring to an event on July 25th written as 07/25. Confusing right!

But did you know the US is not the only Anglophone country to do this? In the US they write the date as MM/DD/YEAR. For example, today’s date would be 01/10/2024 or Wednesday, January 10th. This is also the case in Canada. 

Here’s another list of English vocab that I’ve compiled during my day to day student life that I thought worth sharing with you all. 

Vitiated = “to make faulty or defective”

Samizdat = “a system in the Soviet Union and countries within its orbit by which government-suppressed literature was clandestinely printed and distributed”

Overtly = “ in a way that is open, straightforward, or obvious”

Bucolic = “relating to or typical of rural life”

Assiduously = “showing great care, attention, and effort”

Did you know…

I won't bother with … in Portuguese is não vou me dar ao trabalho de …

For example, “I won't bother repeating what this page says” in Portuguese is “Nem vou me dar ao trabalho de repetir o que essa página já diz”

Source: 

"A noite é uma criança"

In English, we use metonymy (a word related to a thing to represent the concept as whole) a lot in day to day speech. But can you work out what the following examples of metonymy refer to (and I promise it is not as hard as it seems)?

Examples:

“Most of the successful people in Hollywood are failures as human beings” (Marlon Brando)

“You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.” (Harry S Truman)

“I fought the law and the law won” (Sonny Curtis, the Crickets)

“As an actor, you’re pretty much a hired gun. You are reading other people’s words off of a page and doing what they want you to do.” (Corey Feldman)

Downing Street Dismisses Claims That Rishi Sunak's King's Speech Is "Empty" (Politics Home)

What is particularly interesting to see in these examples is how we like to use metonymy when talking about politics. We often use the term Washington as synonymous with US federal government because that is where it is based. The same is true of (10) Downing Streeting and UK politics. Similarly, the term “the White House” is also used to refer to the president of the US.

Answers:

Hollywood here is used to refer to the American film industry

Washington here is used to refer to US politics

The law here is used as a stand in for the law enforcement services

Hired gun is used to refer to the concept of a hired assassin

Downing Street refers to the Prime Minister of the UK (Although sometimes it means their office as opposed to the Prime Minister’s literal speech/actions/reactions etc.)

Sources:

Here’s a list of vocab that I picked up reading “Antologia de poetas jovens uruguyaos” by Luis Marcelo Pérez that I thought worth sharing:

Una cuentagotas -a dropper (the piece of scientific equipment)

Espejos-esperpentos(*) -monstrous mirrors

Departamentos -departments but also the regions of Uruguay

Peldaño - a step/stair/rung (of a ladder)

Enmudecer (enmudecido) -to silence/fall silent 

Pender (pende) -to hang

Un acertijo -a riddle

Un marcapaso -a pacemaker

Una celda -a cell

Obtuse “Someone who [...]  has difficulty understanding things, or makes no effort to understand them”

Outdoorsy “characteristic of, or taking part in activities relating to, the outdoors”

Pavilion “a building on the edge of a sports field”

Refreshments “portions of food or drink, esp. for a light meal”

Cutlery “the knives, forks, and spoons that you eat your food with”

Linked to my previous post, here are words that are translated literally (or adapted) in various languages.

Easter Island (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian)

Christmas Island (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian)

Ivory Coast (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian)

Seahorse (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian)

Honeymoon (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian)

Actor (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian)

Source(s): 

Individual pages of Wikipedia:

Jazz (English/French/German/Dutch/Spanish/Portuguese)

Café (English/French/)Spanish/Portuguese/Italian/German/Dutch)

Hotel (English/French/Spanish/Italian/German/Dutch)

Chef (English/French/German/Dutch/Spanish/Portuguese)

Sushi (English/Japanese/Spanish/Portuguese)

Some of these are cognates. Cognates are are words in two different languages that have similar meanings. This happens because they share the same root. Some of these are just coincidences. Some of these, e.g. sushi, are examples of borrowing i.e. when a language uses a word from another language. This often happens with newer phenonmena as when something is introduced to a culture it won't already have a name in the new culture.

Sources:

Knowing when and where to place an accent on a word in Spanish can be difficult. Did you know there’s a rule that can help. 

All words in Spanish are assigned one of three categories based on the last three syllables of the word. 

If the last syllable is the stressed one:

-and it ends with a vowel or a vowel followed by a “n” or “s” it will have an accent. (This is called agudas)

For example:

Take the word holandés

Break it into its syllables: ho-lan-dés

The stressed syllable is the last one and it ends in an “s” so it has an accent.

A second example of agudas is the word mandar. It has two syllables: man-dar and the last syllable is the stressed one. Since the word ends with “r” it doesn’t have an accent.

If the penultimate syllable is the stressed one:

-and it ends in a consonant other than “n” or “s” (OR if the “s” follows a consonant) it will have an accent. (This is called llanas)

For example, the word álbum is in the llanas group and since its last letter is “m” it has an accent on its stressed syllable, therefore, álbum.

A second example is bíceps, (also part of the llanas group) and its last two letters are “ps” therefore it has an accent on its stressed syllable, hence bíceps.

One last example is abanico. The stressed syllable is “ni” but the word ends in a vowel so it does not have an accent.

If the third from last syllable is the stressed one:

-then it will always have an accent. (This is called esdrújulas)

Did you know that in French a high up window is sometimes referred to as “un vasistas”.

-Break 

Break off = “to stop abruptly”

Break down = “a failure to function”

Break in/into = “to force entry into”

-Check 

Check for = “to inspect, examine, or look at appraisingly or appreciatively” this is used when your searching for something

Check on = “to look at or examine” this is used in instances where you are updating your knowledge

Check over = “a thorough examination or investigation”* or to review/approve

Check in = “to report one's presence or arrival” e.g. at a hotel

Check out = “the action of examining and testing something for performance, suitability, or readiness” or “to vacate and pay for one's lodging (as at a hotel)”. Also, informally it means to “look at appraisingly or appreciatively”

Check off = “to mark with a check as examined, verified, or satisfactory” i.e. to complete a planned action

-Speak

Speak to = “If something speaks to an issue or question, it is relevant to it”*

Speak out = “to speak boldly: express an opinion frankly”

Speak for = “to express the thoughts or opinions of (someone)”

Speak of = “to talk or write about (someone or something) : to mention (a subject) in speech or writing”

Speak up = “to express an opinion freely”

-Play

Play with = “to move or handle (something) with one's hands or fingers often without thinking” or “to handle, change, or deal with (something) in a careless way”

Play out = “to perform to the end” or “to unreel, unfold” 

Play at = this is a bit of a special one and is only really used in one instance: “to say in an annoyed way that one does not know the reason for someone's behaviour” e.g. “What is he playing at?”

All definitions provided by Merriam Webster unless stated otherwise.

*this definition is sourced from Collins Dictionary https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/check-over 

The difference between less and fewer is simple but can take a bit of practice -even some native English speakers confuse the two.

Fewer:

-goes with countable nouns 

-means not as many

Less:

-goes with adjectives +uncountable nouns

-means not as much 

Practice questions:

I have [fewer/less] books than she does. 

He needed to use [fewer/less] salt in the recipe to make it taste good

. It costs [fewer/less] money to travel during the off-season. 

I promised to eat [fewer/less] pancakes at breakfast. 

[fewer/less] students take public transportation during the summer

Answers:

Fewer

Less 

Less

Fewer

Here’s a list of words in various languages that refer to different members of your family that don’t exist/we don’t use in English:

La pubilla (Catalan) = the eldest daughter

O/A caçula (Portuguese) = the youngest child

O primogenito/ a primogenita (Portuguese) = the eldest child

Avunculus (Latin) = the maternal uncle

Matertera (Latin) = the maternal aunt

Patruus (Latin) = the paternal uncle

Amita (Latin) = the paternal aunt

Also various cultures call people older than yourself as uncle/aunt as a sign of respect/kindness. For example, kids in Brazil will often call adults tio/tia even though they are not related.

Have you heard of this phenomenon? Originating in the east end of London in the 19th century, this practice sees people use a pair of words as slang for another term (which rhymes).

Key examples:

Apples and pears refers to stairs

Bees and honey refers to money

Dog and bone refers to telephone

Over time some of this word pairs were shorten to just the first word. For example:

Rabbit and pork (which means talks) became just rabbit

OR

Boat race (which means face) became just boat

OR

Ruby Murray* (which means curry) became just Ruby

*popular singer in the 1950s born in Belfast

Rhyming slang is not that often used nowadays. That said, remnants remain in pop culture but it’s mainly used in caricaturistic portrayals of Londoners. Sometimes people will refer to the degree classifications (i.e. grades) of a 2:1 as an Attila the Hun and a 2:2 as a Desmond Tutu.

Personally, the example that springs to mind is that of Sweeney Todd (which refers to Flying Squad, a branch of the London metropolitan police,) because I grew up watching my dad watch the TV show ‘the Sweeney’.

Sources: