The official language thread

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864

: ). So is it much more popular in the last years or is it just my impression?

865

I think that would be the recency or the frequency illusion hard at work.

To me it’s a term from the '90s, common in English hacker/gamer talk before it came to Dutch.

Random Dutch attestation from '02: http://forum.fok.nl/topic/231470/1/999?token=3b47ba6e2ded13136d34757572825c3e&allowcookies=ACCEPTEER+ALLE+COOKIES

However, the verb “to game” has always (for a value of centuries) meant “playing games,” but mainly gambling style stuff.

866

Thanks, interesting, I wasn’t aware of this.

867

Correct me if I’m wrong, I believe there’s a trend to transform names in verb.
“I Google one thing” instead of “I make a search on Google”.
Maybe because English is concise by default?

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868

This is how you transform verbs into nouns.

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869

That’s correct - “I messaged her”, “she tweeted them”, etc.

It’s hard for me to imagine if that’s the case or not. Do you have any (other) examples?

870

The English language verbs a lot.

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871

Imagine a language (i.e.: italian :slight_smile:) where to say a simple sentence you can use an infinite number of words.
Then, imagine the english language, where everything is direct, concise.

We italians are used to be complicated, because we have tons of words.

We never say “I text you”, but “I send you an SMS message”.
We often use the passive form: “The apple was eaten by Steve”. Even if in english is possible to say a sentence in a passive form, it sounds better the active one: “Steve ate the apple”.

One of the most difficult things for us, is to abandon our complicated italian mental construction when talking in english.
We should not have in mind an italian sentence to translate word-by-word, otherwise the english result will be complicated.

disclaimer: Steve and apple are fictional names

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872

If we talk about famous product names then this is not a new phenomenon. If everybody is using something regularly it becomes quick part of the language. For example in German we say also “googeln” if we search something in the Internet. In British English there is (well, was at least :wink: ) “hoover” a synonym for a vacuum cleaner.

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873

We still use this! “I hoovered the floor.”

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874

Sounds more like you are levitating (as in hoovercraft)

If I were to use the brandname for vacuuming, I would have “nilfisked the floor” (in days of yore).

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875

But we also create verbs with -are in the end. Especially in the technical field… “mergiare”, “sortare”, “committare”, “pushare”, “fixare”, “debuggare”. Some give me shivers, but they’re faster than “perform a commit” and similar.

I like how some brand eponyms change from country to country, like in German you have a “Tempo” for a paper tissue but then it’s a “Kleenex” in English. And it’s a “Scottex” in Italian, but not for the nose.

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876

In Germany we do that with “-en”, for example “googeln” or “tweeten”.

But these are nouns - the verbs are more interesting IMHO. :wink:

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877

Isn’t that more American? I never say that – it’s always just a ‘tissue’ to me.

:laughing:

878

What are the “best” informal and formal phrases/valedictions to close a letter or an e-mail in English?

Best regards, … (This is more formal?)
Yours truly … (And this is more informal?)
Bye …
… ?

Which ones are you using?

879

Hugs & kisses!
:wink:

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880

I don’t wanna kiss some of my customers. :wink:

881

That’s correct.

I use “Kind regards” for all my emails at work, for both customers and colleagues. If I’m emailing a friend, I’ll sign off with a “From Katie”.

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882

(and a smiley face after, if I haven’t already used too many in the rest of the email)

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883

So “Kind regards” is a more “universal” form that fits most purposes/occasions?

Sounds like me. :wink: (One can never use too much smileys! :slight_smile: )

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