strathspey@strathspey.org:44555

Sophie Rickebusch

Re: Emcee (off topic)

March 8, 2006, 10:16 a.m. (Message 44555)

Quoting Andrea Re <xxxxxx.xx@xxxxxx.xxx>:

> 1) The English language, on both sides of the Atlantic has an obsession 
> about shortening words and creating acronyms of compound words. The same 
> does not apply to, for example, romance languages. Certainly not to 
> Italian, nor, as far as I know, French or Spanish.

I beg to differ... I wouldn't know about Italian or Spanish, but the French are
notorious for it. Just one example: PAF ("paysage audio-visuel francais" -
french TV and radio "landscape") is pronounced as one word (like "paf!", french
equivalent to "thud!"), not pe-a-ef. Incidentally, this is particular to the
French, Swiss french-speakers at least do not use half as many acronyms and tend
to be rather annoyed by them (often because they don't understand what the
french newsreader or whoever is going on about).

Sophie
-- 
Sophie Rickebusch
CH - Wettswil a. A.