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As an Italian now living abroad, every time I go back I am horrified by the way Italians mis-use all sorts of English words in many contexts of life... One exa

by raspo 4y ago

As an Italian now living abroad, every time I go back I am horrified by the way Italians mis-use all sorts of English words in many contexts of life... One example: "smart-working". At the beginning of the pandemic, when we all started to "work remotely" or "work from home", Italians decided to call it "Smart Working". The first time I heard this term from a relative I was very confused, I thought it was just young people trying to "be fancy" as usual, with their fancy english words, but no, it actually had become the official way to refer to "working from home"... people had it in their contracts. IMO this usage of the English language doesn't benefit anybody. Italians are not getting any better at English in general, language purists keep getting angrier and it's just adding a lot of confusion.

Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
They needed a word for this new thing so they took it from english. English itself steals words from all languages should it need a new word for thing. There's no governing body for language, people just use the words they think work best. You say this type of word use doesn't benefit anybody, but it does, it benefits the people who needed a word for a new thing and now have one. Words are just mouth noises after all, it doesn't really matter what it is, only that everyone agree what it means.
riffraff 4y ago
FWIW, "smart working" was not invented during the pandemic, it's been in use since the '00s. But yeah, pseudoanglicisms abound in Italian.
lolinder 4y ago
It sounds like this isn't so much a misuse of English as it is a perfectly decent Italian phrase built on borrowed English words. One of English's greatest strengths as a language is its willingness to borrow wholesale from other languages when it comes up short. It would be pretty ironic for English to take issue with the way in which other languages adapt and use its words.
mmarq 4y ago
It happens in all languages, I’ve never heard people talking about eating “al fresco” before moving to the UK. In theory “smart working” doesn’t mean just working remotely, but it implies flexible working patterns as well. Also, it has been used in British English (even though it didn’t become very popular): https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2016/01/21/smart-working-the-quiet-revolution/ https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2016/01/21/smart-working-th...
- deleted 4y ago
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- mercurialuser 4y ago
  Unfortunately smart is just a name, 90% of smart working contracts are standard wfh with fixed hours
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opportune 4y ago
In the US we call first course appetizers and the main course “entree”. We usually use “sushi” to refer to raw fish rather than rice dish style itself. And we invented the term “Latinx” Aside from that last one, people don’t generally seem to care
- nitwit005 4y ago
  I am forever baffled by "à la mode" meaning "served with ice cream".

by raspo 4y ago

Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago

They needed a word for this new thing so they took it from english. English itself steals words from all languages should it need a new word for thing. There's no governing body for language, people just use the words they think work best. You say this type of word use doesn't benefit anybody, but it does, it benefits the people who needed a word for a new thing and now have one. Words are just mouth noises after all, it doesn't really matter what it is, only that everyone agree what it means.

riffraff 4y ago

FWIW, "smart working" was not invented during the pandemic, it's been in use since the '00s. But yeah, pseudoanglicisms abound in Italian.

lolinder 4y ago

It sounds like this isn't so much a misuse of English as it is a perfectly decent Italian phrase built on borrowed English words. One of English's greatest strengths as a language is its willingness to borrow wholesale from other languages when it comes up short. It would be pretty ironic for English to take issue with the way in which other languages adapt and use its words.

mmarq 4y ago

It happens in all languages, I’ve never heard people talking about eating “al fresco” before moving to the UK. In theory “smart working” doesn’t mean just working remotely, but it implies flexible working patterns as well. Also, it has been used in British English (even though it didn’t become very popular): https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2016/01/21/smart-working-the-quiet-revolution/ https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2016/01/21/smart-working-th...

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mercurialuser 4y ago
Unfortunately smart is just a name, 90% of smart working contracts are standard wfh with fixed hours

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[deleted]

opportune 4y ago

In the US we call first course appetizers and the main course “entree”. We usually use “sushi” to refer to raw fish rather than rice dish style itself. And we invented the term “Latinx” Aside from that last one, people don’t generally seem to care

nitwit005 4y ago
I am forever baffled by "à la mode" meaning "served with ice cream".