Why use the ugly American word "basketball" when you could use the beautiful German "Korbkugel"?

Why use the ugly American word "basketball" when you could use the beautiful German "Korbkugel"?

This is a takeoff on an old Danish saying decrying the use of the ugly German word "farve" in favour of the good Danish word "kulør". Conveniently forgetting the French root of the latter. Many, many language purist are guilty of such mistakes.

#kitchenlinguistics

Comments

  1. Lars Clausen14 May 2013 at 05:02

    But "Ball" is just the English word. Would there be a different term for ball in general that I know not of?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pam G14 May 2013 at 05:33

    I rather suspect English took "ball" from German, rather than the other way around.
    http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ball

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lars Clausen14 May 2013 at 05:49

    I guess I dropped the ball on that one. badum-tsching!

    ReplyDelete

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