November 5, 2011 – Listopad

When you learn a few foreign language, one of the things that will happen is that you end up with a set of favorite” words. This is a very subjective list of a handful of words that, for some reason, sound really amusing to you, and only you. For example I have a Swedish friend who used to find the English words mushroom and mashed potatoes hilarious. It’s a personal thing.

Listopad is one of my favorite words in the Polish Language. It’s the name for the month of November and literally translates as “leaf fall.” It is also the name for November in Czech. In Croatian, Listopad is the name for October (the leaves must fall earlier in Croatia). November, the eleventh month derives its name from the Latin novem (nine)– but it is no longer the ninth month. We might consider changing November to Listopad — it’s about falling leaves and reminds one a bit of the sound of the rain that start falling this month too.

October 10, 2011 – Autostrada

One might think the freeway was a California invention, but no, it was the Italians who first came up with them (and it should be noted it was under the fascists in the 1920’s). To my California ears, autostrada just sounds much more chic. I am tempted to say we should all start calling our freeways autostrada. Then again, there might be someone in Milan who has an image of the freeway being far more glamorous. Hollywood and all…. Foreign words are a good way to make things more interesting. Eating snacks behind the house on a slab of concrete can’t compare to dining al fresco on hors d’œuvres out on the patio behind the bungalow.

Are their examples of this in most cultures? I wonder if it is a universal phenomenon the way a culture uses a name from a foreign language so it will be perceived as better. Or should I say, has more cachet?