4.0466 Words: Dialects and Spellcheckers (2/28)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 10 Sep 90 17:48:23 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0466. Monday, 10 Sep 1990.
(1) Date: Sun, 9 Sep 90 14:47:44-020 (22 lines)
From: Ephraim Nissan <ONOMATA@BENGUS>
Subject: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks
(2) Date: Fri, 07 Sep 90 20:33:25 EDT (6 lines)
From: Frank Dane <FDANE@UGA>
Subject: Re: 4.0461 Words: ...
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Sep 90 14:47:44-020
From: Ephraim Nissan <ONOMATA@BENGUS>
Subject: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks
Concerning Boyarin's story, in Humanist 4.0458, on interdialectcal
confusion, that caused a husband to divrce hios wife because she had
brought him a candle instead of a pumpkin, I recall that in the 1960s,
the was a song, in Italy, sung by the Sicilian comic actor Franco
Franchi: "Non ci capiamo piu`" ("We no longer understand each other").
The husband, who is supposed to sing, complains because, for example, he
asked his Northern wife to put "due sciuri" (Sicilian for "two flowers")
near their bed, and, back from work, he found there "due signuri"
(Sicilians for "two sirs"). Milanese for sirs is "sciuri".
In Syrian Arabic, "basta" means "satisfaction". (Hence also Israeli
Hebrew, from Arabic: "mabsut" = "satisfied".) In Iraqi Arabic, "basta"
means "bastinado". (My family used to distinguish between the two senses
by specifying: "the Syrian `basta'" vs. "the Iraqi `basta'".) And
concluding, "basta" in Italian means "Enough!". (No perlocutionary act
involved here...)
Ephraim Nissan
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------14----
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 90 20:33:25 EDT
From: Frank Dane <FDANE@UGA>
Subject: Re: 4.0461 Words: ...
re: Bill Ball's spellchecker--French Dune
Frank Dane, Mercer University