Comments on: Foreign Wife-isms

By: alan

alan — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:02:31 +0000

Greetings,
As to English language enriching, I want to deeply thank anyone feeling that: Thank you!
As to snafu, the common understanding is from military, Situation Normal All F#@& Up.
As used in, “I had another snafu with my MS OS.”

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:41:06 +0000

Good stuff. But the fun of living around hispanics, even if English is their primary language, yields some interesting language jumbling:

“Right now.” It can mean a LOT of things, but what it doesn’t mean, from an Anglo perspective is “right now.” It usually means “in a bit.” It can mean, especially when expressed with irritation “when I get around to it.” It does NOT mean “immediately,” I assure you.

“Barely.” It means “just now,” not “almost didn’t make it.” If a hispanic fluent in English says “We barely got here” it doesn’t mean they almost had an accident.

“Already.” It means “now.” If you’ve been waiting in line for an hour, and you’re next (finally) a hispanic fluent in English will say “We’re being helped, already.”

You “get off the car,” to “put gas” and then you “turn on” the engine.

I got a million of ‘em. All fun.

By: kd

kd — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:09:58 +0000

And another Danish uncle story:
He travels quite a bit and sometimes is very tired and sluggish the next day or so.
You and I would have “Jet lag” but he has….”Jet legs”…
Makes sense…sorta…

By: kd

kd — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:08:27 +0000

My Danish uncle has lived in the US for 30 years and speaks Danish, German and English. He comes up with the most hilarious sayings!
One night he and my aunt were arguing about something and he was adamant that she was fibbing, so he pointed at her and said loudly,
“You’re lying! You’re just like that guy…what’s his name? Peanuckle! You have a long nose!”
My aunt and I just about fell on the floor, we were in stitches almost crying! He couldn’t figure out what he’d said wrong, but certainly knew he said something not quite right.

By: kelli

kelli — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:14:57 +0000

awesome!!!

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:17:20 +0000

My mother is Filipino and though she has lived in America for almost 30 years she still manages to jumble up her fair share of idioms while using them out of context.

(Setting: My sister and I are debating with our mom concerning some trivial issue where mom happened to be wrong.)
Mom says, “Don’t bite my finger!”
After a second or two to sort it out, I started laughing and said, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you?”
“You know what I mean!” was her common reply.

By: Shannon Henson

Shannon Henson — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:51:00 +0000

This was so cute, I had a good ‘snicker’!

By: Lumilog

Lumilog — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:18:29 +0000

Ahh – those are terrific!
- Lumilog

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:02:36 +0000

My wife is from Spain, but she’s also been speaking English since grade school. She doesn’t have a real strong accent, but she frequently pulls the foreign wife-isms, much to my delight. Some examples:

“Honey, you better step up to the ball.” (Step up to the plate)
“This book is cat-eared.” (dog-eared).
“I’m so hungry I could kill a horse.” (eat a horse. Well, I guess you would have to kill it before eating it.)

By: MyBrazilianHusband

MyBrazilianHusband — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:46:34 +0000

My husband is from Brazil, and he uses phrases in humorous ways that make perfect sense if you’re not familiar with the colloquial meaning. For instance, when he notes that I’m in need of a nap, he says he’ll “put me to sleep.” Alarming yet cute.