Pseudo-anglicism

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Pseudo-anglicisms are words in languages other than English which were borrowed from English but are used in a way native English speakers would not readily recognize or understand. Pseudo-anglicisms often take the form of portmanteau words, combining elements of multiple English words to create a new word that appears to be English but is unrecognisable to a native speaker of English. It is also common for a genuine English word to be used to mean something completely different from its original meaning.

Pseudo-anglicisms are related to false friends or false cognates. Many speakers of a language which employs pseudo-anglicisms believe that the relevant words are genuine anglicisms and can be used in English.

When many English words are incorporated into many languages, language enthusiasts and purists often look down on this phenomenon, terming it (depending on the importing language) Denglisch, Franglais or similar neologisms.

Contents 1 Pseudo-anglicisms in various languages 1.1 Chinese 1.2 Czech 1.3 Danish 1.4 Dutch 1.5 Filipino languages 1.6 French 1.7 German 1.8 Hungarian 1.9 Israeli Hebrew 1.10 Italian 1.11 Japanese 1.12 Korean 1.13 Polish 1.14 Portuguese 1.15 Romanian 1.16 Russian 1.17 Spanish 1.18 Swedish 1.19 Turkish 1.20 Yiddish 2 Sources 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Pseudo-anglicisms in various languages

Chinese

• BB call — pager
• DM — flyer, brochure, junk mail (from "direct mail")
• kǎo — to photocopy (from the first syllable in "copy")

Czech

• server — website ("server" is also called "server")

Danish

• Babylift ([b̥eɪb̥ilifd̥]) — "carrycot".
• Butterfly - a bow tie
• A bøfsandwich ([b̥øːfsɑnʋitɕ]) is not a beef sandwich, but a beef patty on a bun (similar to a hamburger).
• A timemanager (originally from the registered trademark Time Manager) is a calendar or notebook in which you write down appointments

Dutch

• Beamer (also in German) — video projector
• Box — (large, toddler-sized) cot
• Camper (also in Italian) — recreational vehicle (RV) or campervan
• Camping (also in other European languages) — campsite
• Coffeeshop — a store selling cannabis (or, colloquially, other psychedelic drugs)
• Dumpstore meaning an army surplus store
• Fitness (also in many other European languages) — fitness training as a kind of gymnastics - also: gym, as indication of the place where you have your fitness training.
• Happy end (also in other European languages) — happy ending
• Hometrainer — low level consumer fitness machines especially for indoor rowing or cycling
• Junk — a drug addict (in English that would be Junkie)
• Occasion - bargain (especially a car sold at a favourable price), or even: second-hand car. Originally a French loanword with the meaning of "bargain" and pronounced as in French, it is now often pronounced as in English
• Oldtimer (also in German) — vintage car
• Panty (also in Spanish) — pantyhose
• Pocket for what is commonly known as a paperback
• Sheets — transparencies or computer presentation slides
• Smoking (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo
• String (also in French, German and Russian) refers exclusively to a G-string
• Topfit (also in German) — perfectly physically fit
• Touringcar - refers to a Coach (vehicle) and not a Touring car, which is both an automobile body shape and classification of racing car.

Filipino languages

• Bad shot - To get on someone's bad side or to make a bad impression.
• Bad trip - An unfortunate situation. May mean "bummer".
• Bold - May refer to nudity
• Bold movie - A movie with nude or sexually-explicit scenes
• Chancing - To make a sexual advance
• C.R. (Comfort Room) - Toilet, bathroom
• Gimmick or Gimik - A night out with friends. Also, any offering during evening hours by clubs, bars and restaurants to lure customers in.
• Slang - May refer to strong foreign accents and pronunciation.

French

• Baby Foot — Table football
• Basket (also in Italian) — basketball
• Baskets (also in Romanian) — sneakers, trainers (basketball shoes)
• Box (also in Italian) — garage
• Break — a station wagon (American English) or estate car (British English) - cf. shooting break
• Brushing — blow dry
• Caddie ([kadi]) — shopping trolley
• Camping (also in other European languages) — campsite
• Camping-car (also in Japanese) — Campervan or "recreational vehicle"
• Car (also in Swiss German) — coach, tour bus or inter-city bus
• Catch — professional wrestling.
• Dancing (also in Italian) — dance hall or dancing-house
• Dressing — dressing room
• Fashion - as an adjective rather than a noun
• Fitness (also in many other European languages) — fitness training as a kind of gymnastics
• Flipper (also in German and Italian) — pinball machine
• Foot — Football (soccer) (In Canadian French, this would refer to Canadian football, or sometimes in context to American football. Association football is le soccer.)
• Footing (also in Italian and Spanish) — jogging
• forcing as in faire le forcing - to pressure
• de grand standing - high class (of property)
• Jogging — Tracksuit (jogging suit)
• Just (adj.) ([dʒœst]) — tight
• Lifting (also in Italian, Romanian and Spanish) — facelift
• Living — living room
• Open Space — Open plan office
• Paper Board — Flip chart
• Parking (also in Italian, Spanish, Swiss German and Russian) — parking lot (car park)
• People (sometimes spelt pipeuls, pipols) — celebs, also used as adjective (ex. "Il est très people")
• Playback (also in other European languages) — lip-synch (in songs)
• Pressing — dry cleaning shop
• Pull — pullover
• Recordman, recordwoman (also in Italian) — record holder in sports
• Relooking — makeover
• Rugbyman — rugby player
• Scotch (also in Italian and Russian) — adhesive tape (any brand)
• Self — self-service restaurant
• Sig (in cartoons) — sigh
• Shampooing ([ʃɑ̃pwɛ̃]) — shampoo
• Smoking (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo
• Speaker or Speakerine — radio or TV news announcer
• String (also in Dutch, German and Russian) refers exclusively to a G-string
• Talkie-walkie — walkie-talkie
• Tennisman, tenniswoman - Tennis player (male or female)
• Ticket Restaurant (also in Italian) - meal ticket or Luncheon Voucher (in UK)
• Top (adj.) — brilliant, great
• Trench (also in Italian) — trench coat
• Volley ([vɔːle]) (also in Italian) — volleyball
• Zapping (also in Italian, Spanish and German) — channel surfing
• Zoning - industrial estate

German

• Air-Condition — abbreviated from Air conditioning
• Beamer (also in Dutch) — video projector
• Beautyfarm (also in Italian) — spa
• Body Bag — shoulder bag. The bag which is slung across the midriff in English is called cross-body bag. In Germany, Body Bag is a registered trademark.
• Castingshow — talent search television series
• Car (Switzerland only; also in French) — motor coach
• Dressman — male model
• Ego-Shooter — first-person shooter (derived from Latin "Ego" = "I")
• Flipper (also in French and Italian) — pinball machine
• Fotoshooting — photo session
• Funeralmaster — undertaker. The term is a creation of a public-relations manager of the German untertaker's federation to modernize their image.
• Funsport — a sport primarily practised in leisure time and for fun
• Handy — mobile phone
• Happy end (also in other European languages) — happy ending
• Highboard — a table-high cupboard
• Hometrainer — exercise bicycle
• Horrortrip — bad trip
• Inboard-Kamera — onboard camera
• Inliner — inline skates (shoes)
• Kicker — table football (ironically, variations on the German word "Fußball" (soccer), are used in English)
• Leader(innen)board — provisional ranking; in English leader board is only used in professional golf and for a collection of important rules and statements of a Christian sect^{[citation needed]}
• Logical — riddle/puzzle to be solved by logical thought
• Longseller — long-term (best)seller
• Messie — a "pack rat", a person engaging in compulsive hoarding
• Oldtimer (also in Dutch) — vintage car (or bike or aircraft or boat)
• Playback (also in other languages) — lip sync
• Pressing (in sport; also in Italian) — forcing
• Public viewing — showing of football matches on giant screens in public^[1]
• Pullunder, often Pollunder or Polunder — sweater vest
• Puzzle - jigsaw puzzle. German "Puzzle" can only be a jigsaw puzzle in English
• Rumpsteak — sirloin steak.
• Shootingstar — successful newcomer (sports, music, literature, business, politics...)
• Shorts — any short trousers but only when they are part of the outer garments; if underwear is meant this is indicated. Traditional or functional short trousers are never called Shorts.
• Slipper — lace-less shoes
• Smoking (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo
• Showmaster — show host
• Talkmaster — talk show host
• Topfit (also in Dutch) — perfectly physically fit
• Twen — anyone who is in his/her twenties, or the age itself

Hungarian

• Autóstop (also in other European languages) — hitchhiking
• Drill — three of a kind in poker.
• Farmer means "denim" as well as "(blue) jeans" made of denim
• Happy end (also in other European languages) — happy ending
• Pendrive — USB flash drive
• Playback (also in many other European languages) — lip-synch (in songs)
• Póker means both the poker hand four of a kind and the game poker itself.
• Tréning (cf. "training") — jogging suit
• Wellness — feeling well by expensive means, especially in a chic hotel near a spa

Israeli Hebrew

• On de feys (און דה פייס)— ‘(feeling) very bad’, cf. the otherwise non-existent English *on the face.^[2]
• Golf (גולף) — turtleneck sweater
• Tréning (טריינינג) — 'tracksuit', cf. English training
• Tramp (טרמפ)— hitch-hiking
• Mammy (מאמי) — sweetheart
• Fan (פן) — blow drying

Italian

• Autogrill — motorway snack bar (used for any brand, not only for Autogrill chain)
• Baby killer — juvenile murderer
• Bar — café (the English "bar" is called "pub" in Italy)
• Basket (also in French) — basketball
• Beauty case or Beauty — vanity bag
• Beauty farm (also in German) — spa
• Body (for dancing) — leotard
• Body (for infants) (also in French and Spanish) — Infant bodysuit
• Body rental - temporary staffing firm
• Box (for vehicles) (also in French) — garage
• Box (for toddlers) — playpen
• Box (in motorsports) — place on a race track where pit stops are conducted
• Box doccia — shower cubicle
• Camper (also in Dutch) — recreational vehicle (RV) or campervan
• Camping (also in other European languages) — campsite
• Catch — professional wrestling, even though it is considered to be old-fashioned
• Cargo — cargo boat
• Charleston (instrument) — Hi-hat
• Custom — custom motorcycle
• Dancing (also in French) — dance hall or dancing-house
• Feeling — personal chemistry, common bond ^[3]
• Fiction — TV miniseries
• Fitness (also in many other European languages) — fitness training as a kind of gymnastics
• Flipper (also in other European languages) — pinball machine
• Footing (also in French and Spanish) — jogging
• Golf — sweater
• Gadgets — goodies
• Happy end (also in other European languages) — happy ending
• Hostess — female flight attendant, stewardess
• Jolly — joker or wild card (card games)
• K-Way — Windbreaker
• Killer (also in Russian) — hitman, contract killer
• Lifting (also in French, Romanian and Spanish) — facelift
• Luna park — funfair
• Mister (in football) — coach
• Montgomery — duffel coat
• Night — nightclub
• Parking (also in French, Spanish and Russian) — parking lot (car park)
• Playback (also in many other European languages) — lip-synch (in songs)
• Pressing (in sport, also in Swiss German) — forcing
• Pullman — motor coach, tour or inter-city bus, not a railway vehicle
• Recordman (also in French) — record holder in sports
• Scotch (also in French and Russian) — adhesive tape (any brand)
• Sexy shop — sex shop
• Skilift — platter lift
• Slip (also in French and Spanish) — briefs
• Smoking ([ˈzmɔkiɲɡ]) (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo
• Speaker — radio announcer
• Telefilm — TV series
• Ticket — cost associated to a service provided by national health care system
• Ticket Restaurant (also in French) — meal ticket or Luncheon Voucher (in UK)
• Tight — morning suit
• Toast ([ˈtɔst]) — toasted sandwich
• Trench (also in French) — trench coat
• Trolley— trolley case
• Tutor or Safety tutor — SPECS (speed camera)
• Volley ([ˈvɔllei]) (also in French) — volleyball
• Water ([ˈvater]) — water closet
• Zapping (also in French, Spanish and Italian) — channel surfing

Japanese

• Desk (デスク, desuku^?) — title for a person in office
• Famicom (ファミコン, famikon^?) — video game, portmanteau of "family" and "computer"
• Lolicon (ロリコン, rorikon^?) - portmanteau of "lolita" and "complex"
• Mansion (マンション, manshon^?) — a condominium apartment
• Smart (スマート, sumaato^?) — slim or skinny
• Style (スタイル, sutairu^?) — a woman's figure (particularly if slim or skinny)

Korean

• Apart (아파트) — This word is used to mean not only individual suites, but "apartment building" or "apartment complex".^[4]
• Fighting (파이팅 or 화이팅) — a Korean cheer that can roughly be translated as "Victory!" but can also be used as a word of encouragement (a la "Courage!").^[5][6]
• Handphone (also in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines etc, 핸드폰) — a mobile phone.
• Office-tel (오피스텔) — This word is a portmanteau of "office" and "hotel" and means office and hotel combined.
• One room (원룸) — a bachelor-style studio apartment.
• One shot (원샷) — a form of toast, roughly equivalent to "bottom's up". It challenges the drinker to finish his drink in one gulp.^[7]
• Sharp (also in Japanese, 샤프) — a mechanical pencil.
• Skin scuba (스킨스쿠버) — Scuba-diving.

Polish

• Fitness (also in many other European languages) — fitness training as a kind of gymnastics
• Happy end (also in other European languages) — happy ending
• Smoking (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo

Portuguese

• Cooper — To jog.
• Outdoor — Billboard, using the English adjective as a noun.
• Shopping — Shopping mall, using the English gerund as a noun.
• Smoking (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo. However in Brazilian Portuguese, its name is tuxedo /tu'ʃɛdu/.
• "Videogame" - (Brazilian Portuguese) Game console, although the term "console" is also used. The videogames themselves are simply called "games", "jogos" (the standard translation for "game") or less ambiguously "jogos de videogame" (Console games).

Romanian

• Camping (also in other European languages) — campsite
• Happy end (also in other European languages) — happy ending
• Lifting (also in Italian, French and Spanish) — facelift
• Playback (also in many other European languages) — lip-synch (in songs)

Russian

• Biker (байкер) — a member of a Motorcycle club rather than merely a motorcyclist
• Camping (кемпинг) (also in other European languages) — campsite
• Clipmaker (клипмейкер) — music video director
• Face control (фейс-контроль) — checking whether a person looks appropriate (a common practice at Russian night clubs)
• Happy end (хэппи-энд) (also in other European languages) — happy ending
• Killer (киллер) (also in Italian) — hitman, contract killer
• Parking (паркинг) (also in French and Spanish) — parking lot (car park)
• Safing (сейфинг) — providing safe deposit boxes
• Scotch (скотч) (also in French and Italian) — adhesive tape (any brand)
• Smoking (смокинг) (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo
• String (стринги) (also in Dutch, French and German) refers exclusively to a G-string

Spanish

• Basket - basketball
• Body – bodice
• Boxer — boxer shorts
• Camping (also in other European languages) — campsite
• Fitness (also in many other European languages) — fitness training as a kind of gymnastics
• Footing (also in French and Italian) — jogging
• Lifting (also in Italian, Romanian,French and Swiss German) — facelift
• un nuevo look — a makeover (hair etc.)
• Parking (common use but still not recognized by RAE, also in French and Russian) — parking lot (US) or car park (UK, Aus)
• Panty (also in Dutch) or panti — pantyhose
• Peeling (also in other European languages) — facial or body scrub
• Playback (also in many other European languages) — lip-synch (in songs)
• Puenting (from puente, bridge) — a sport that involves jumping from a bridge. It is similar to bungee jumping except for the fact that the cord is non-elastic and that the jump ends in a pendulum-like movement.
• Slip — briefs
• Smoking (Esmoquin) (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo
• Snow (common use but still not recognized by RAE) — an abbreviation for "snowboard" as sport. The board is called tabla de snow
• Zapping (also in French, Italian and German) — channel surfing

Swedish

• Smoking (also in many other European languages) is not a smoking jacket in the Edwardian sense, but a dinner jacket or tuxedo.
• Walkman (as in a small portable cassette player) is usually replaced with "freestyle", despite the fact that the word does not fit particularly well with Swedish phonotactics or grammar. Actually, Freestyle was the name chosen for marketing purposes in Sweden.

Turkish

• Basket - basketball
• Body – bodybuilding
• Fitness (also in many other European languages) – fitness training as a kind of gymnastics
• Flirt - generally used as dating
• Cola (derived from Coca-Cola) – refers to any soft drink
• Playback (also in many other European languages) – lip-synch (in songs)
• Smoking or smokin (also in many other European languages) - tuxedo
• String (also in other European languages) refers exclusively to a G-string

Yiddish

• cherry lights red headlights
• hitshn to hitchhike
• payday salary/payment

Sources

See also

• Anglicism
• Barbarism
• Calque
• Denglisch
• False friends
• Language transfer
• Loanword
• List of pseudo-German words adapted to English
• List of pseudo-French words adapted to English
• Phono-semantic matching

References

External links

• Examples of Japanese pseudo-anglicisms - sci.lang.japan Frequently Asked Questions