Words you commonly use that are from another language

There are loads I used to use and loads more that I still use.
common phrases in German or French and with my parents around, Spanish.

But there are also plenty of English-Australian words that we now use as well.
Many English-British words get changed in Australian.
Sandwiches are sarnie or sanga
vegetables are veggies
tuna is tunny
Cantaloupe is rockmelon
Avocado is avo
Eggs can be arse nuts or bum nuts (!)
Chicken is chook
Chocolate is chockie
Pub lunch is a counter lunch
Sandwiches can be a cut lunch or sarnos / sarnies
tinny and stubbo are a can of beer or a (375ml) bottle of beer respectively
tallie is a 750ml bottle of beer though here in NSW it is a long-neck.
Slab and block are 24 or 30 cans of beer
VB and XXXX are Brands of beer
I'll stop there but there a loads relating to alcohol and varying degrees of intoxication or throwing up.
a dingo's breakfast is a yawn, a leak and a good look round (i.e. no breakfast)
maggot bag and mystery bag are meat pie and sausages ! says everything really

just a few I have picked up in the 4 years since moving here from the UK.
 
I use knackered and peckish, words I picked up from too much Brit TV. Once, sitting in a meeting at work, I mentioned I was peckish, and my manager spoke to me afterwards about using vulgarities in meetings. No matter how much I explained that it wasn't a rude word, he wasn't convinced, because it contained "peck" which was too close to comfort, apparently, to "pecker," which is slang for penis here.

And food-related...morel mushrooms grow well in this area and are colloquially referred to locally as "peckerheads," for obvious reasons.
 
TastyReuben said:
to "pecker," which is slang for penis here.
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He would be confused going for a sarnie here.
45928
 
my grandmother - born in Transylvania, emigrated at 3 yrs but was always in&around a German community . . .
her phrase was "sangwich" - not sandwich...
now... d's and t's in German are real good friends,,, but how'd -g get in there?
then I bumped into people from Cleveland (where her family lived in the early years) who also used "sangwich"

anyone actually heard/seen the history of 'the sangwich?' usage?

btw - in USA the connection box on an electric motor is aka "peckerhead" - urban legend has it starting at "picker head" - which also makes little sense - and morphed into peckerhead.
 
In south Louisiana there are many dishes with French - French Acadian, Spanish and African names.
Gumbo - a west African word for Okra
Sauce Picante
Coubion - Court bouillon
I will think of more.
French words used in common conversation.
Pere - Father
Mere - Mother
Mon Cher - my dear
Petite Soeur - little sister
Petite Frere - little brother
In the extreme rural areas an outsider would not recognize the language as English.
 
CookieMonster said:
as I recall, Justin Wilson did the "ongion" thing very well . . .
[/QUOTE
:laugh:
I have never heard an Acadian use "ongion" for onion. Poor old Justin. He was a native of Amite, Louisiana. He had no Cajun heritage. The accent on his show was just that - show. He was a comedian disguised as a chef. Don't get me wrong - I loved watching his show.
Please don't confuse showmanship with reality.
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ElizabethB said:
In south Louisiana there are many dishes with French - French Acadian, Spanish and African names.
Gumbo - a west African word for Okra
Sauce Picante
Coubion - Court bouillon
I will think of more.
French words used in common conversation.
Pere - Father
Mere - Mother
Mon Cher - my dear
Petite Soeur - little sister
Petite Frere - little brother
In the extreme rural areas an outsider would not recognize the language as English.
Click to expand...

I did two years at high school studying German and French. I wasn't the best pupil and thought he'll I'm never gonna use this. In 98 we spent time in Paris, I was really surprised I could pretty much read the menus. Somehow I had retained names etc. also I was in a restaurant in Westport ( 3 hrs away) and some German tourists didn't understand the menu. I kinda translated to them. The human mind is amazing..

Russ
 
rascal said:
I did two years at high school studying German and French. I wasn't the best pupil and thought he'll I'm never gonna use this. In 98 we spent time in Paris, I was really surprised I could pretty much read the menus. Somehow I had retained names etc. also I was in a restaurant in Westport ( 3 hrs away) and some German tourists didn't understand the menu. I kinda translated to them. The human mind is amazing..

Russ
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I've had four years of German, and can speak it casually ok, like a step above tourist level. I can read it fairly well, but having a native speak it to me...that's the hardest.

We have (had?) an informal group in Cincy who get together every month or so for German language night, a group of native speakers and second-language speakers, and we'd meet at a particular restaurant in town, with the purpose of speaking German the entire night, just to improve it, but I haven't gotten any notices about it since just before all this crap started.
 
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