Sprachgefuhl

[Dave Monroe]

A.Word.A.Day--sprachgefuhl
Pronunciation RealAudio

http://wordsmith.org/words/sprachgefuhl.wav

This week's theme: words related to words, writing,
and language.

Sprachgefuhl (SHPRAKH-guh-fyool) noun

A feeling for language or a sensitivity for what is
correct language.

[From German Sprachgefuhl, from Sprache (language) and
Gefühl (feeling).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus.

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/?w1=sprachgefuhl

If you have Sprachgefuhl, you have an ear for
idiomatically appropriate language. The best
illustration of Sprachgefuhl, or the lack of it, was
an 1855 Portuguese-English phrase book intended to
help Portuguese speakers master the English language.

Titled "English As She Is Spoke", it was authored by
one Pedro Carolino. The only problem was that Pedro
didn't know any English. On the plus side, he did have
a Portuguese-French phrase book. Pedro simply picked
up a French-English dictionary and tried the
circuitous route: Portuguese to French to English. The
result was such gems as:

Names for body parts: "Of the Man: The inferior lip;
The superior lip; The fat of the leg."

Food: "Eatings: Some black pudding; A little mine; Hog
fat; Some wigs; Vegetables boiled to a pap."

Swimming instructions: "For to swim: I row upon the
belly on the back and between two waters."

Idioms: "Idiotism: Cat scalded fear the cold water."

This book was even used as a textbook in the
Portuguese colony of Macao. I regret to say they
eventually stopped using it. Imagine, in just a few
years, we could have witnessed a lovely new strain of
the English language take root.

Pedro was simply ahead of his time. Today anyone can
achieve the same results with computer translation.

-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)

"Despite this fecundity (perhaps because of it)
Avallone had major problems with his raw material:
words, and the uses to which they can be put. He was
not, in short, a man with an innate Sprachgefuhl."
Jack Adrian; Obituary: Michael Avallone; Independent
(London, UK); Mar 20, 1999.

X-Bonus
In all history there is no war which was not hatched
by the governments, the governments alone, independent
of the interests of the people, to whom war is always
pernicious even when successful. -Leo Tolstoy, author
(1828-1910)

http://wordsmith.org/words/sprachgefuhl.html

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