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Sunday: February 5, 2006

Etymological Stereotypes

Filed under: — site admin @ 7:18 PM GMT-0500

Wanting to make a big pot of Mulligatawny soup a few nights ago, I finally got around to unpacking my Christmas blender. Consulting the manual, I was amused to discover that the Spanish name is the macho and sinister ‘licuadora’, while the French name is the wimpy and over-educated ‘mélangeur’. I suppose the effect is partially offset by the Spanish liquidator being grammatically feminine (would that make it a ‘liquidatrix’ in English?), while the French melange-maker is grammatically masculine.

1 Comment

  1. Maybe Spanish females are more macho and sinister than French males… or French males are more wimpy and feminine than Spanish females… Oooo, is there any way that can be said without p___ing off two countries? :-)

    Comment by Lynn S — Monday: February 6, 2006 @ 4:54 PM GMT-0500

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