Home | Classroom | Archive | Phrases | Countries | Languages |  Members can Click to Log ON    
 


Return to the ENGLISH ArchiveForward to the Current ENGLISH Forum

AnyaTuesday 21st of September 2004 01:12:15 PM
Modern Borrowing - Have you noticed how many more words are in circulation in the daily English conversations? It seems that at least when I converse with peers a lot of neologisms are popping into conversations. These new words are borrowed from various languages or come on the heels of evergrowing technology.
I can't imagine trying to explain what an emoticon is to my grandfather (who doesn't speak English), but at the same time when a native English speaker mentions "dacha" in the conversation, it would be immediately evident that the speaker is referring to a "countryside house."
Similar confusion or clarity comes from using words or truncations like "dling" or "upload," "pierogi" or "babushka." I can't think of any more concrete ones at the "mo," but maybe this is a common trend? They are so second nature, we don't notice their recent acquisition?