Re: English compared to other European languages

Seán O'Leathlóbhair wrote: 
Lee Sau Dan wrote:

"Seán" == Seán O'Leathlóbhair <jwlawler@xxxxxxxxx> writes: 

   Seán> "ing" is a rare ending in French except for loans from
   Seán> English.  I expect that it makes a word look foreign to a
   Seán> French speaker.  "Weekend" does not have "ing" but has its
   Seán> "w" which is also rare in French.

And that's why I was shocked when I read and heard "le weekend" 

"week end !!  ça y est c'est le week eeeend ! la lala la lala lala la la"
Lorie.

( sorry )

L'Acadamie does not totally ban English words, it is just very
selective.  The aspect that surprises me is that the ones that accept
often are the ones that look least like native French words.  "Weekend"
and "Football" are odd but I find the "ing" words even more odd.  They
often use "ing" words for concrete nouns:

    shampooing    shampoo (the substance)

    parking        a parking space or lot

smoking a smoking jacket / tuxedo 


another two horrible ing-words :

faire le pressing ( football jargon, to put pressure on someone )
faire du ramping ( horrible military jargon, heard it on tv lately, = ramper ( to crawl )


I think that the French can easily pronounce a close approximation to
English weekend.  The final "nd" is the tricky bit but the "d" may be
dropped in rapid English speech as well. It is just that the spelling
gives them little help.  How would pronounce "ouiquenne"?


In the south, we pronounce the d at the end
.