I remember reading my friends-of-friends list...

[conuly]

And one of your (vuestra) friends had posted about how people shouldn't borrow words from other languages when there's a perfectly good word in English. For example (and this is the example given), one shouldn't say manga because comic works just as well. Except comic doesn't work as well. Comic is the broad term for that sort of thing. Manga describes a specific type of comic.

Of course, I didn't say that. I just pointed out that manga is really not a Japanese word, it's an English word, magazine, which the Japanese borrowed from us first. We're just taking it back :)

It's funny how language works, isn't it?


_{And anyway, if she really dislikes borrowings, I suggest she purge her speech of all words whose origins are in the Norman invasion. Don't say you eat beef, you're really eating cow. Not pork, pig. Rich people live in big houses, not mansions. And so on.}

(edit) Okay, so maybe I was wrong when etymologizing manga. The point about borrowings not being evil still stands.

Comments

[feathered.livejournal.com]

How *is* chibi pronounced? I'd think it'd be a pretty difficult word to mispronounce..

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Cheebee. Like in cheese. That's the best example I can think up.

[feathered.livejournal.com]

That's what I always thought. Okay, now, how is it mispronounced? Chai-bai?

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

I most commonly hear it mispronounced as chih-beh.

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I hate it when people pronounce it like that! There was this senior girl at school who confused me when she said her favorite character was Sailor ChibiChibi. She doesn't look like a trendy fangirlish type though, I always thought she was more of a "real" fan..