Pseudo-anglicism
A pseudo-anglicism is a word in another language that is formed from English elements and may appear to be English, but that does not exist as an English word with the same meaning.
For example, English speakers traveling in France may be struck by the "number of anglicisms—or rather words that look English—which are used in a different sense than they have in English, or which do not exist in English ".
This is different from a false friend, which is a word with a cognate that has a different main meaning; in some cases, pseudo-anglicisms become false friends.
Definition and terminology
Pseudo-anglicisms are also called secondary anglicisms, false anglicisms, or pseudo-English.Pseudo-anglicisms are a kind of lexical borrowing where the source or donor language is English, but where the borrowing is reworked in the receptor or recipient language.
The precise definition varies. Duckworth defines pseudo-anglicisms in German as "neologisms derived from English language material." Furiassi includes words that may exist in English with a "conspicuously different meaning".
Typology and mechanism
Pseudo-anglicisms can be created in various ways, such as by archaism, i.e., words that once had that meaning in English but are since abandoned; semantic slide, where an English word is used to mean something different than its English meaning; conversion of existing words from one part of speech to another; or recombinations by reshuffling English units.Onysko speaks of two types: pseudo-anglicisms and hybrid anglicisms. The common factor is that each type represents a neologism in the receptor language resulting from a combination of borrowed lexical items from English. Using German as the receptor language, an example of the first type is Wellfit-Bar, a combination of two English lexical units to form a new term in German, which does not exist in English, and which carries the meaning, "a bar that caters to the needs of health-starved people." An example of the second type, is a hybrid based on a German compound word, Weitsprung, plus the English 'coach', to create the new German word Weitsprung-Coach.
According to Filipović, pseudo-anglicisms can be formed through compounding, suffixation, or ellipsis. For example, the Serbo-Croatian word was created from the English word goal, which the word man was added to. Alternatively, suffixes such as or may be added to an English word to create a new word in Serbo-Croatian, such as or. Ellipsis may also occur, wherein a component of an English word is dropped, such as the suffix -ing; examples include from boxing, or from happy ending.
Another process of word formation that can result in a pseudo-anglicism is a blend word, consisting of portions of two words, like brunch or smog. Rey-Debove & Gagnon attest tansad in French in 1919, from English tan + sad.
Scope
Pseudo-anglicisms can be found in many languages that have contact with English around the world, and are attested in nearly all European languages.The equivalent of pseudo-anglicisms derived from languages other than English also exist. For example, the English-language phrase "double entendre", while often believed to be French and pronounced in a French fashion, is not actually used in French. For other examples, see dog Latin, list of pseudo-French words adapted to English, and list of pseudo-German words adapted to English.
Examples
Many languages
Some pseudo-anglicisms are found in many languages and have been characterized as "world-wide pseudo-English", often borrowed via other languages such as French or Italian:autostop – hitchhiking in French, Italian, Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Greek οτοστόπ, Russian автостоп, Spanish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, etc.basket – a shortening of basketball in French, Italian, Romanian baschet, Spanish básquet, Swedish, Turkish, etc. camping – campsite or campground in French, Dutch, Greek κάμπινγκ, Bulgarian къмпинг, Russian ке́мпинг, Czech and Polish kemping, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.smoking – dinner jacket, tuxedo, or smoking jacket in Danish, French, Czech, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Greek σμόκιν, Russian, etc.Korean
one shot – "bottoms up" hand phone – "cellphone" skinship – platonic hand-holding, hugging, etc.Romance
French
French includes many pseudo-anglicisms, including novel compounds, specifically compounds in -man, truncations, places in -ing, and a large variety of meaning shifts.- baby-foot – table football
- baby-parc – playpen
- before – drinks in privileged company before a party, a.k.a. "pregame"
- blind test – music quiz / 'name that tune'
- brushing – blow-dry and styling
- building – high-rise building, tower block
- box – wifi router or parking space
- dancing – dance hall
- dressing - walk-in closet
- flirt – a brief romance, flirtation, a boyfriend or girlfriend
- footing – jogging
- pressing – dry cleaning shop,
- rallye-paper – a "fox-and-hounds" like game, except with paper scraps instead of foxes
- recordman – record holder, especially in sports
- relooker to make over; also: relooking – a makeover
- scratch - velcro
- shake-hand
- speaker, speakerine – radio or television announcer
- wheeling – a wheelie
Italian
autogrill – rest area beauty farm – spa- The French borrowing bloc-notes is sometimes written in the pseudo-English form block-notes – notebookjolly – the joker in a pack of cardspullman – a bussmart working – remote work, where "smart" is used referring to other devices with an Internet connection, such as smartphones and smartwatches.water - flush toilet
Portuguese
outdoor ''– billboardhome office -'' work from homeshopping ''-'' shopping mallGermanic
Danish
babylift – baby transport/carrycotbutterfly – bow tiecottoncoat – trench coatcowboytoast – minced meat sandwichdoorstep – a short and informal press conferencemonkeyclass – economy classspeedmarker – a felt-tip penstationcar – blend of station wagon and estate car timemanager – a calendar or notebook in which one writes down appointmentsDutch
beamer – a video projector box – a playpen or a music speakercoffeeshop - a shop selling cannabiskeycord – a lanyardoldtimer – a classic cartouringcar – a coach (bus)videoclip – a music videoGerman
German pseudo anglicisms often have multiple valid and common ways of writing them, generally either hyphenated ' or in one word '. Beamer – a video projectorBodybag – a messenger bagDressman – a male model Flipper – a pinball machineFunsport – a sport played for amusement, such as skateboarding or frisbeeHandy – a mobile phoneJobticket – a free pass for public transport provided by an employer for employeesOldtimer – an antique carShooting – a photoshoottrampen – hitchhikingmobbing – bullyingMore examples:
Norwegian
hands – the offence of handball in association footballsixpence – Flat capSwedish
after work – a meeting for drinks after the workday is finishedbackslick – a wet, combed-back hair stylemail – e‐mailpocket – a paper-back bookpublic service – public broadcastingspeaker – an announcerSlavic
Serbian
- – a person who bets, especially on sports and other competitions
- – goalkeeper
- – happy ending
- – classic car
- – stretch fabric
Polish
dres – tracksuit; sometimes also short for ''dresiarz''Russian
- Клипмейкер – music video director
- Митинг – rally, demonstration
- Рекордсмен – record holder
- Страйкбол – airsoft
- Фейсконтроль – the policy of screening people based on their appearance
- Piar, from PR for "public relations", came to mean all kind of promotion and related hype; extremely productive, see :ru:wikt:пиар for derived words