Pseudo-anglicism

A pseudo-anglicism is a word in another language that is formed from English elements and may appear to be English, but that does not exist as an English word with the same meaning.Ilse Sørensen, English im deutschen Wortschatz, 1997, p. 18, as quoted in Onysko, 2007, p. 53: "words that look English, but which deviate from genuine English words either formally or semantically"

For example, English speakers traveling in France may be struck by the "number of anglicisms—or rather words that look English—which are used in a different sense than they have in English, or which do not exist in English (such as rallye-paper, shake-hand, baby-foot, or baby-parc)".Nicol Spence 1976, as quoted in Ayres-Bennett, 2014, p. 335

This is different from a false friend, which is a word with a cognate that has a different main meaning; in some cases, pseudo-anglicisms become false friends.Henrik Gottlieb, "Danish pseudo-Anglicisms: A corpus-based analysis", p. 65 in Furiassi 2015

Definition and terminology Pseudo-anglicisms are also called secondary anglicisms, false anglicisms, or pseudo-English.

Pseudo-anglicisms are a kind of lexical borrowing where the source or donor language is English, but where the borrowing is reworked in the receptor or recipient language.

The precise definition varies. Duckworth defines pseudo-anglicisms in German as "neologisms derived from English language material." Furiassi includes words that may exist in English with a "conspicuously different meaning".

Typology and mechanism Pseudo-anglicisms can be created in various ways, such as by archaism, (i.e. words that once had that meaning in English but have since been abandoned); semantic slide (where an English word is used to mean something different from its English meaning); conversion of existing words from one part of speech to another; or re-combinations by reshuffling English units.

Onysko speaks of two types: pseudo-anglicisms and hybrid anglicisms. The common factor is that each type represents a neologism in the receptor language resulting from a combination of borrowed lexical items from English. Using German as the receptor language, an example of the first type is Wellfit-Bar, a combination of two English lexical units to form a new term in German, which does not exist in English, and which carries the meaning, "a bar that caters to the needs of health-starved people." An example of the second type, is a hybrid based on a German compound word, Weitsprung (long jump), plus the English "coach", to create the new German word Weitsprung-Coach.

According to Filipović, pseudo-anglicisms can be formed through compounding, suffixation, or ellipsis. For example, the Serbo-Croatian word was created from the English word goal, which the word man was added to. Alternatively, suffixes such as or may be added to an English word to create a new word in Serbo-Croatian, such as or . Ellipsis may also occur, wherein a component of an English word is dropped, such as the suffix -ing; examples include from boxing, or from happy ending.

Another process of word formation that can result in a pseudo-anglicism is a blend word, consisting of portions of two words, like brunch or smog. Rey-Debove & Gagnon attest tansad in French in 1919, from English tan[dem] + sad[dle].

Scope

Pseudo-anglicisms can be found in many languages that have contact with English around the world, and are attested in nearly all European languages.

The equivalent of pseudo-anglicisms derived from languages other than English also exist. For example, the English-language phrase "double entendre", while often believed to be French and pronounced in a French fashion, is not actually used in French. For other examples, see dog Latin, list of pseudo-French words adapted to English, and list of pseudo-German words adapted to English.

Examples

Many languages

Some pseudo-anglicisms are found in many languages and have been characterized as "world-wide pseudo-English",Broder Carstensen, "Euro-English", in Linguistics across historical and geographical boundaries: in honour of Jacek Fisiak..., 2, in Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 32, 1986, p. 831 often borrowed via other languages such as French or Italian:e.g., Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής s.v. σμόκιν autostop – hitchhiking in French, Italian, Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Greek οτοστόπ,Georgios Babiniotis, Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, 1998, s.v. Russian автостоп, Spanish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, etc. basket – a shortening of basketball in French, Italian, Romanian baschet, Spanish básquet, Swedish, Turkish, etc. (may also refer to sneakers/trainers, e.g. in French and Romanian) camping – campsite or campground in French, Dutch, Greek κάμπινγκ, Bulgarian , Russian ке́мпинг, Czech and Polish kemping,'PONS Online Dictionary Portuguese, Spanish, etc. smoking – dinner jacket, tuxedo, or smoking jacket in Danish, French, Czech, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Greek σμόκιν, Russian, etc.Gorlach, 2001, s.v.

Korean

one shot – "bottoms up" (원샷 [wʌn.ɕjat̚]) hand phone – "cellphone" (핸드폰 [hɛn.dɯ.pon]) skinship – platonic hand-holding, hugging, etc. (스킨십; [sɯ.kʰin.ɕip̚])

Romance French French includes many pseudo-anglicisms, including novel compounds (baby-foot), specifically compounds in -man (tennisman), truncations (foot), places in -ing (dancing meaning dancing-place, not the act of dancing), and a large variety of meaning shifts.

(m, pronounced ) – table football – playpen – drinks in privileged company before a party, a.k.a. "pregame" (opposite of ) – music quiz / "name that tune" – blow-dry and stylingCollins le Robert French Dictionary, 11th ed., 2020, s.v. (usage note) – high-rise building, tower blockCollins le Robert French Dictionary, 11th ed., 2020, s.v. – wifi router or parking space – dance hall (noun) – walk-in closet – a brief romance, flirtation, a boyfriend or girlfriend – jogging (though the real English word is also used in French with the same meaning) – dry cleaning shop, – a "fox-and-hounds" like game, except with paper scraps instead of foxes (m; pl: ; f:) – record holder, especially in sports (verb) to make over; also: (n; masc.) – a makeover (noun) – velcro

, (feminine) – radio or television announcer – a professional tennis player – a wheelie

Italian

autogrill () – rest area (used for any brand, not only for Autogrill chain) beauty farm () – spa The French borrowing bloc-notes () is sometimes written in the pseudo-English form block-notes () – notebook jolly – the joker in a pack of cardsCristiano Furiassi, "How jolly is the joker? Problemi di traducibilità dei falsi anglicismi" in the Atti del 5° congresso di studi dell’Associazione Italiana di Linguistica Applicata (AItLA). Bari, 17,18 febbraio 2005 pullman – a bus smart working – remote work, where "smart" is used referring to other devices with an Internet connection, such as smartphones and smartwatches. water () – flush toilet (from English water closet)

Portuguese

outdoor – billboard home office – work from home shopping – shopping mall integralization – Paid-in capital, subscription (finance)

Spanish puenting – bungee jumping balconing – balconing footing (through French) – jogging, running by the face – gratis; boldly (literal translation of "por la cara", with those meanings) autostop (through French) – hitchhiking tunear (v.), tuneo (n.), tuneado (adj.) – to customize mitin (from meeting) – political rally pressing catch (since 1990s) – freestyle wrestling renting – (initially car) rental friki, friqui (adj. and n.), frikada (n., "activity"), frikismo (n., "attitue") – nerd, geek trávelin (through French) – camera dolly videoclip – music video from lost to the river (humorous) – in for a penny, in for a pound; (once we reached this situation then there is) nothing to lose (literal translation of "de perdidos al río")

Germanic Danish babylift – baby transport/carrycot butterfly – bow tie cottoncoat – trench coat cowboytoast – minced meat sandwich monkeyclass – economy class speedmarker – a felt-tip pen stationcar – blend of station wagon (US) and estate car (UK) timemanager – a calendar or notebook in which one writes down appointments (from the registered trademark Time Manager)

Dutch

beamer – a video projector (via German pseudo-anglicism Beamer) box – a playpen or a music speaker coffeeshop – a shop selling cannabis keycord – a lanyard oldtimer – a classic car touringcar – a coach (bus) videoclip – a music video

German

German pseudo anglicisms often have multiple valid and common ways of writing them, generally either hyphenated (Home-Office) or in one word (Homeoffice).

Beamer – a video projector Bodybag – a messenger bag Dressman – a male model (Onysko calls this the "canonical example" of a pseudo-anglicism.) Flipper – a pinball machine Funsport – a sport played for amusement, such as skateboarding or frisbee Handy – a mobile phone Jobticket – a free pass for public transport provided by an employer for employees Mobbing – bullying Oldtimer – an antique car Shooting – a photoshoot trampen (verb) – hitchhiking

More examples:Falsche Freunde, false friends – Englisch englisch-hilfen.de, see bottom section Pseudoanglizismen im Deutschen.

Norwegian

hands – the offence of handball in association football sixpence – Flat cap

Swedish

afterski – après‐ski afterwork – a meeting for drinks after the workday is finished backslick – a wet, combed‐back hair style mail – e‐mail pocket – a paperback book public service – public broadcasting speaker – an announcer (such as at sporting events)

Slavic

Serbian

– a person who bets, especially on sports and other competitions – goalkeeper – happy ending – classic car – stretch fabric

Polish dres – tracksuit; sometimes also short for dresiarz (youth underclass subculture)

Russian

("Clip maker") – music video director ("meeting") – rally, demonstration ("records man") – record holder (cf. French pseudo-anglicism "recordman"recordman) ("strikeball")Шагалова, Е.Н.,Самый новейший толковый словарь русского языка ХХI века, 2011, p. 289 – airsoft Piar (), from PR for "public relations", came to mean all kind of promotion and related hype; extremely productive, see for derived words

Austronesian Malaysian Malay action – boast; boastful best – good cable – personal connection or insider power – great sound – scold spender – undergarment for lower body e.g. briefs and panties terror – great

Indonesian busway – TransJakarta bus; bus rapid transit cross boy/girl – delinquent person free sex – extramarital sex hand body – hand & body lotion handphone – mobile phone healing – going on a vacation to heal mentally magic com – multifunctional rice cooker outbound – outdoor education or recreational activities sorry-dorry-morry-strawberry – sorry not sorry; sorry sound – sound reinforcement system travel – inter-regional minibus service win-win solution – win-win situation; win-win conflict resolution

Other languages Maltese

goaler – goalkeeper

Pseudo-anglicism

Bron en licentie