August 7, 2006
From the desk of Jane Galt:Free the verbs!
One of my favourite things about the Spanish language is that practically nobody ever does anything bad. If your roommate breaks your hairdryer, she'll use the reflexive "Se rompio", which literally translates as "it broke itself". I'm sure the extensive use of the passive voice could function as some sort of meta cultural commentary . . . if I were cultured.
In Irish, the passive formulation are called "free verbs", and Language Log has a great post on them:
. . . the term "free verb" has a lot of potential. Almost all the common "free" terms have positive lexical associations, even when their referents are controversial: "free enterprise", "free jazz", "free love", "free market", "free software", "free speech", "freestyle", "free thinker", "free verse", "free will", "free world". The only (partial) exceptions that come to mind are "free loader", "free lunch", "free radical" and "free ride". And the trail to "free" renaming has been blazed by "liberty cabbage" and "freedom fries". The direct and vigorous free verb. Liberated from the accusative tyranny of the object. I like it.
Words just want to be free, man . . .
Posted by Jane Galt at August 7, 2006 3:26 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksI'll put up with the free verbs if we can stamp out the use of multi-word Latinate prepositions that force people to use bizzare noun phrases as prepositional objects when there are perfectly good single English words that are prepositions AND conjunctions and let you use verb phrases or even whole clauses.
Isn't "Freeverb!" what annoying people always shout at concerts?
"It's broken" is the cry of the perpetual child. "Oh bugger, I've broken it" is the call of the adult.
'If your roommate breaks your hairdryer, she'll use the reflexive "Se rompio"...'
Which I'd take to mean, 'it's broken'. You could fess up with lo rompi (accent on the 'i', ha ha).
But, thanks to many hours viewing Paz Vega movies, yeah, I've noticed some pretty funny phrases in Spanish.
Funny, I wouldn't have listed "free ride" in the partial exceptions category. And what about "free reign"?
"I'm sure the extensive use of the passive voice could function as some sort of meta cultural commentary . . . if I were cultured."
So....THAT's why my Chilean host dad always told me: "the biggest problem in the Chilean business class is the lack of taking personal responsibility for mistakes."
Free the verbs?! Why not?
I'm already dangling my participles.
No, it's se me rompio, "It broke itself at me!"
"No, it's se me rompio, "It broke itself at me!""
Or "Oops!" as explained to me "se me rompió" means that the breakage was accidental, while if you (in English terms) try to step up and take responsibility with "Lo rompí" (I broke it) it's understand that you did on purpose.
Se me rompió = It broke. or Oops I broke it (sorry about that).
Lo rompí = I broke it (part of my masterplan to make your life miserable) or (and it wasn't easy, I really had to whack that thing).
Similarly in Polish, "To nie moja wina" (literally, It's not my fault) really means something like "sorry, I didn't do it on purpose".
They have the same construction in Italian: Mi si e' rotto." But what's the big deal? We have exactly the same colliquialism in English:
"It broke on me."
In English, the passive voice is a primary tool of liars; I wouldn't be encouraging anyone to take it up.
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