It’s a pseudo-anglicism, like Oldtimer (antique car), Homeoffice (work from home) and Flipper (pinball machine).
Pseudo-anglicisms arise when a languages lexical composites are known in a non-native population without perfect knowledge of the actual vocabulary. All the words above are build out of perfectly fine english composites, just put together in a way that “feels” english to Germans.
There are also pseudo-germanicisms in english too by the way, the NYT had an article about “Freudenfreude” which was supposed to be a german word with the opposite meaning of Schadenfreude. But while it would be a logical german composite-word, it doesn’t exist as such. “Freudenfreude” is only ever found in english literature.
I prefer English words making it incorrectly into German. “Getting a handy from your buddy at a public viewing” is totally innocent in German.
Yeah, I brought the beamer in my body bag.
Beamer is a projector, right?
Yep.
It’s interesting, because there is a document class for presentations in LaTeX that is called beamer
I’m scared to ask, but what’s a body bag in German? I’ve never heard that one used before.
it’s a Rucksack, but with an english sounding name. 🙄
That sounds hilarious
For context: Germans call mobile phones “handys”
Yeah, I know. I wonder why, though. It sounds English.
It’s a pseudo-anglicism, like Oldtimer (antique car), Homeoffice (work from home) and Flipper (pinball machine).
Pseudo-anglicisms arise when a languages lexical composites are known in a non-native population without perfect knowledge of the actual vocabulary. All the words above are build out of perfectly fine english composites, just put together in a way that “feels” english to Germans.
There are also pseudo-germanicisms in english too by the way, the NYT had an article about “Freudenfreude” which was supposed to be a german word with the opposite meaning of Schadenfreude. But while it would be a logical german composite-word, it doesn’t exist as such. “Freudenfreude” is only ever found in english literature.
If Freudenfreude means what I think it does there’s no need for the word to exist in Germany
I think because they are handy to have and they fit perfectly into your hand.
Edit: Or maybe from “handset”.