American English is a conglomeration of word used in other languages. An article in The Week magazine dated December 7, 2012 titled “Why we’re speaking British” caught my attention. The author pointed out that all of sudden we are using phrases like “spot on”, “ chattering classes”, and “going missing” that have recently been adopted by commentators and reporters.
We haven’t adopted all of the English expressions. “Way Out” is used on exit signs. You rarely see the word “exit.” Canadians have “washrooms” although they do know the word “restroom” and “toilet.”
Here is a list of some words commonly used in the United States. French, Spanish and Yiddish words are predominate in my vocabulary.
adios, Spanish – ‘adiós’ meaning “goodbye”
aficionado, French – ‘amateur’ “unprofessional person” or “affection” too.
à la carte, French – In restaurants it refers to ordering individual dishes rather than a fixed-price meal.
à la mode, French – the phrase is used to describe a dessert with an accompanying scoop of ice cream (example: apple pie à la mode).
amigo, Spanish and/or Portuguese –amigo, “friend”; from Latin amicus meaning “friend,” derived from amare (to love).
bagel, Yiddish – a ring-shaped bread roll made by boiling then baking the dough
ballet, French
barbecue, Chibcha – barbacoa (Chibcha , indigenous people of the eastern cordillera of the Andes of Colombia.)
bon voyage, French – literally “good journey”; have a good trip!
breeze, Spanish – brisa “cold northeast wind” or from Frisian briesen – to blow (wind)[
cafeteria, Spanish – cafetería, “coffee store”
cannibal, Spanish – caníbal, alteration of caríbal, from Caribe
canoe, Spanish – canoa, from Haitian canaoua
chaparral, Spanish – chaparro loosely meaning small evergreen oak, from Basque txapar, “small, short”
chocolate, Spanish – chocolate, from Nahuatl xocolatl meaning “hot water” or from a combination of the Mayan word chocol meaning “hot” and the Nahuatl word atl meaning “water.”
chutzpah, Yiddish – nerve, guts, daring, audacity, effrontery
cigarette, French – cigarette “little weed”, diminutive of French cigare “stogie”, from Spanish cigarro meaning “fag (UK), stogie, stogy.”
cockroach, Spanish – cucaracha
comrade, French – camarade meaning “friend”, from Spanish camarada, “pal, mate”
condor, Spanish – from Quechua cuntur
corral, Spanish – from corral meaning “pen, yard” from Portuguese
coyote, Spanish – coyote, from Nahuatl coyotl
crusade, blend of Middle French – croisade and Spanish cruzada; both ultimately from Latin cruc-, crux cross
cul-de-sac, French – A blind alley or dead end street
ganef or gonif, Yiddish – thief, scoundrel, rascal
glitch, Yiddish – a minor malfunction
klutz, Yiddish – clumsy person
kosher, Yiddish – correct according to Jewish law
kvetch, Yiddish – to complain habitually, gripe; as a noun, a person who always complains
lox, Yiddish – smoked salmon
macho, Spanish – from macho, male, brave, the property of being overtly masculine. In Spanish is masculinity
maven, Yiddish – expert
megillah, Yiddish – a lengthy document or discourse: Production: What are you making, a megillah?
mensch, Yiddish – an upright man or woman; a gentleman; a decent human being
meshuga, Yiddish – crazy
nosh, Yiddish – snack
nudnik, Yiddish – pest, “pain in the neck”, originally from Polish
oy, Yiddish – (exclamation) Oh!; Oy Gutt – Oh (my) God!
renegade, Spanish – from renegado, “turncoat, heretic, disowned”
schlep, Yiddish – to drag or haul
schlock, Yiddish – A poorly made product or poorly done work, usually quickly thrown together for the appearance of having been done properly; “this writing is schlock.” Something shoddy or inferior.
schmooze, Yiddish – to converse informally, to small talk or chat. Can also be a form of brown-noseing
schmuck, Yiddish – contemptible or foolish person; a jerk; literally means ‘penis’
schnook, Yiddish – an easily imposed-upon or cheated person, a pitifully meek person. a particularly gullible person.
shack, Mexican Spanish – jacal meaning “hut”, from Nahuatl xacalli
spritz, Yiddish – A sprinkling or spray of liquid
temblor, Spanish – for trembling, or earthquake; from temblar, to shake, from Vulgar Latin *tremulāre, from Latin tremulus
yenta, Yiddish – a talkative woman; a gossip; a blabbermouth; a scold. Used as the name of the matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof”, who personifies these qualities.
As to the Tour de France bike race. This is supposed to be an amateur race but clearly there is significant money to be earned. Besides the prizes that are as high as €450,000($601,000 USD) and there are the salaries for pro team riders that range as high as €190,000. The Seattle Times reported, “Amid a booming market for TV sports rights, the Tour could be worth as much as $1 billion, says Conor O’Shea, a media analyst in Paris at Kepler Capital Markets. Is it any wonder that Lance Armstrong would be taking drugs to win?”
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