Increase your vocabulary

At last we have a thread that tempts Platini back again. :)

Boonies : the sticks. A rural area without much going on.

One of those Tagalog words (contraction of boondocks)

'circumnutation'

In this article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/aug/30/secrets-climbing-plants-tendrils

Oh Google, you are a card...

ha google repped

which reminds me "googol" was a word i didn't know before Google became a household name

I'm still convinced that it's actually a pun on 'go ogle'.

I learnt 'Salubrious' from Calvin and Hobbes. Funny and educational!

I'm still convinced that it's actually a pun on 'go ogle'.

Nowadays I use it as a referencing tool. Bored of porn...

Gastarbeiters
Another word from JG's book (see op)
german word

It's 'repartee', FFS...

Let's get this repartie started.

You think I typed that, or cut and paste?

cheongsam isn't really an english word, is it?

Gastarbeiters
Another word from JG's book (see op)
german word

We use it as well. 'Coz we are arbeiting a lot as guests.

cheongsam isn't really an english word, is it?

Is ping pong then?

I must say, I'm a bit concerned about the title of this thread, particularly given its subject.

Wouldn't it be better to name it 'Expand your vocabulary' or 'Improve your vocabulary'?

theres always one.

I must say, I'm a bit concerned about the title of this thread, particularly given its subject.

Wouldn't it be better to name it 'Expand your vocabulary' or 'Improve your vocabulary'?

Yes.

Wouldn't it be better to name it
aggrandize
beef up
bolster
broaden
develop
embellish
enlarge
expand
increase
widen your vocabulary?

ftfy

Gastarbeiters
Another word from JG's book (see op)
german word

The correct plural is the same as the singular: "Gastarbeiter"

ftfy

No, you're a thesaurus.

cheongsam isn't really an english word, is it?

Loan words are permitted.

Just heard this on the radio: Schnookums

As in "Darling , you're my sweet schnookums and I'm so in love with you".

Calling me schnookums, however, would sound the death knell of a relationship.

The correct plural is the same as the singular: "Gastarbeiter"

Not in JG Ballard book.
Perhaps when Anglicized it behaves like an English plural
(Or perhaps Ballard didn't wish to follow the herd like sheeps)

Well, it's not a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/calque. It's calques which are Anglicised (or, in other languages, adapted to that language). Loan words retain the morphology of the other language, as in our Tagalog examples above (although some got corrupted and subtly changed), whereas calques of, usually, compound expressions, get translated bit by bit, e.g. in this example the result would be 'guest worker'.

Ballard simply gave the loan word an English plural. This isn't mandatory (e.g., see some loan words in the list here) and by itself doesn't Anglicise the term. I would say it's probably more common in German to have words whose singular and plural are identical, although that's just a hunch. There just don't seem to be as many in English, and it is quite natural for Ballard to follow the convention he does follow. Still, given that it's perfectly possible to retain the original plural in English, it jars a bit.

Out of interest, does Ballard retain the initial capital?

Some Gastarbeiter the other day.

I'll check re the capital after work, pet.

Thanks, Haustier. :)