Timeline for Original English expressions for "raison d’être" and "joie de vivre"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
27 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 3, 2023 at 22:21 | history | reopened |
Anton Heartspring KillingTime |
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| May 3, 2023 at 21:59 | comment | added | Anton | What a reflection of the Zeitgeist this discussion is! Leave it open; it is a reasonable question about English expression of concisely expressed concepts. | |
| S May 3, 2023 at 21:55 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| May 3, 2023 at 22:21 | |||||
| S May 3, 2023 at 21:55 | history | edited | Heartspring | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 6 characters in body; edited tags; edited title
Added to review
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| Jun 12, 2015 at 10:33 | history | closed |
Fattie Chenmunka Edwin Ashworth FumbleFingers Ellie K |
Opinion-based | |
| Jun 11, 2015 at 5:23 | answer | added | John | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 11, 2015 at 4:06 | history | edited | tchrist♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
edited body; edited title
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| Jun 11, 2015 at 3:55 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jun 12, 2015 at 10:33 | |||||
| Jun 11, 2015 at 0:55 | vote | accept | feetwet | ||
| Jun 10, 2015 at 21:59 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | They have been in the English lexicon longer than 'internet' and 'selfie'. Perhaps when they become fossilised, someone will ask 'Can't we borrow words from a different language to rekindle their zestiness?' | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 21:58 | answer | added | Mitch | timeline score: 15 | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 21:54 | comment | added | Hot Licks | (In other words, these phrases are not used because the associated concepts cannot be as efficiently expressed in English. Rather, they are used because French phrases sound high-brow.) | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 21:50 | comment | added | Hot Licks | English has "reason for existence" and "joy of living" -- perfectly fine phrases. It's just that the French terms have a certain je ne sais quoi. | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 20:38 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | “If not, doesn't that seem odd, or is it common enough for even borrowed phrases to supplant the development of a native term?” — Quite the contrary. The textbook situation where loan words are adopted is when there is no native word for the concept. So if there is no ‘Englisher’ word for these things, it doesn’t necessarily mean the French ones had supplanted the English ones; it might just as well mean that the lack of native English words is exactly why the French ones were borrowed to begin with. | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 20:33 | answer | added | ScotM | timeline score: 15 | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 19:32 | answer | added | dnagirl | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 19:11 | answer | added | Oldbag | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 18:52 | comment | added | abcd | @AlexW do you not have access to a dictionary? | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 18:50 | comment | added | Alex W | I simply meant to ask if you could explain, in English, a situation where these phrases would be used and what type of sentiment they convey. | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 18:47 | history | edited | feetwet | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 7 characters in body
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| Jun 10, 2015 at 18:45 | comment | added | feetwet | @AlexW: You beg the question! I thought these phrases were as English as other French "loan-words" like apropos, attache, etc.; and "loan-phrases" like au contraire, a la carte, carte blanche, etc. | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 17:33 | comment | added | kolossus | You're not likely to get much more than near-literal translations. I would be so bold as to posit that the reason why many of these frenchisms are popular en anglais, is that it just sounds better (or speakers want to be perceived thus) in french. English vernacular is full of stuff like this - Bon ami, Je ne sais quoi e.t.c. , all because they're just not as rich-sounding as similar expressions in English | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 17:31 | answer | added | Wladimir Mutel | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 17:20 | comment | added | Alex W | Can you try to explain what they each convey? A lot of us aren't native French speakers. | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 17:16 | answer | added | edmz | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 17:09 | answer | added | JohnH | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jun 10, 2015 at 17:05 | history | asked | feetwet | CC BY-SA 3.0 |