Sunday, 13 November 2011

The same 'English words' but with different meanings

Since English is spoken so widely across the world, its vocabulary is astonishingly varied. Many foods have different names, and many food names have different meanings in Britain and the United States. A good example is ‘Ciral which is apple juice in the United States while it is an alcoholic drink in Britain. Another good example is Corn’ which is maize in the United States and wheat in Britain. The spice called Turmeric’ in Britain and the United States is known in South Africa as borrie’ (a loan from Malay by way of Afrikaans). The European spice known in Britain ascoriander’ is called in Indian English dhunia or dhania ; in the United States the fruit is called coriander but the leaves are called cilantro, a word borrowed from Spanish. The Afghan spice known as hing’ in Indian English is asafoetidain Britain and the United States, while it is duivelsdrek in South African English: this is a loanword from Afrikaans meaning literally 'devil's dung' (because that is what asafoetida smells like). The spice called jeera ‘in Indian English is cumin or cummin in British and U.S. English. Indian English methi is British Englishfenugreek'’. Indian English aluis U.S. and British English potato. The fruit okra’ (this name is borrowed from the Akan language of Ghana) is also known regionally as gumbo (borrowed from Mbundu of Angola), 'bhindi' (borrowed from Marathi of India), and ladies' fingers. The chickpea is also known as chana(borrowed from Hindi) and garbanzo bean (borrowed from Spanish). Even where the English names derive ultimately from a single foreign word, they may have different forms and connotations in different regions, like U.S. English kabob for British English’ kebab (a word that is Turkish in origin).

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