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IT LOOKS LIKE ENGLISH BUT IT'S NOT-3

25 / 11 / 2022

IT LOOKS LIKE ENGLISH BUT IT'S NOT-3: meaning and examples

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a great day! Welcome back to the Daily Vitamin.  

I couldn't resist including just one more lesson with those words in Spanish/Catalan that look like correct English borrowings, but aren't.

Today's English-looking words and expressions in Spanish/Catalan, and their correct translations into English, are:

Span/Cat: Una top-model
English: A supermodel

Span/Cat: Un crack
English: A star, a superstar

Span/Cat: Basket
English: Basketball

Span/Cat: Alto standing
English: High-class

Span/Cat: Esnob (adjective)
English: Snobbish ("a snob" is a noun)

So, English speakers do not say "Messi is a crack" but rather "Messi is a superstar." And we might say "that high-class restaurant is a bit snobbish" but not "that high-standing restaurant is a bit esnob." Claudia Schiffer was a supermodel (not a top-model) and a basket is something you keep fruit in and not a game played by very tall people.

Enjoy your day and have a great weekend. I'll see you on Monday with another lesson.

All the best!