The Border Collie Chronicles Observations from (arguably) the World's Smartest Dogs; (but, without question, the bestest friends!) or, Life As We Understand It, as told from dad's shop. |
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Posted January 15, 2015 |
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Simple.
Right???? … By Bubba Well, maybe not!
Sometimes things are not quite as simple as one would like to
think, or believe. Take
for example … oh, I don’t know … maybe …
ordering a beer!!!
You see, the origin of
the word “beer” is not as simple as many folks might believe.
It’s origin is even (somewhat) hotly disputed in etymological
circles. Here’s one
possibility: O.E. beor, a word of
much-disputed and ambiguous origin, but probably a 6c. W.Ger.
monastic borrowing of V.L. biber “a drink, beverage” (from L.
infinitive bibere “to drink;” see imbibe).
Another suggestion is that it
comes from P.Gmc. *beuwoz-, from *beuwo- “barley.”
The native Germanic word for
the beverage was the one that yielded ale (q.v.). Beer was a common drink among most of the
European peoples, as well as in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but was known
to the Greeks and Romans only as an exotic product. They did have words for
it, however. Gk. brytos, used in reference to Thracian or Phrygian
brews, was related to O.E. breowan “brew;” L. zythum is from Gk.
zythos, first used of Egyptian beer and treated as an Egyptian word
but perhaps truly Greek and related to zyme “leaven.”
Sp. cerveza is from L.
cervesia “beer,” perhaps related to L. cremor “thick broth.” O.C.S.
pivo, source of the general Slavic word for “beer,” is originally “a
drink” (cf. O.C.S. piti “drink”). French
bière is a 16c. borrowing from German. U.S. slang beer goggles,
through which every potential romantic partner looks desirable, is
from 1986. In putting this little
dissertation together, I became even more interested in the
evolution of the word and how each language or culture expresses it.
So here’s a list of how to
say the word “beer” in a myriad of different languages and/or
cultures. If you know of one
that’s missing here or is wrong, and you feel the need to let us
know, please be so kind as to drop me a note
bc-chronicles@hotmail.com
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Beer In Other
Languages[i]:
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Hope you found this, at
least, mildly interesting … but I KNOW it’s gonna be
HELPFUL
at some point!!! (it might even help keep you from being
punched in the snout after someone has surgery or during a fishing
trip!!) This Pivo’s for you
Frank!!!!! Sincerely, Bubba Some random beer related quotes … All right,
brain, you don't like me, and I don't like you, but let's just get
me through this, and I can get back to killing you with beer.
Matt Groening,
The Simpsons
Women! Can't live with them ... pass the beer nuts.
Norm,
Cheers I have taken
more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
Sir Winston
Churchill
Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of
society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we
shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity,
ignorance, greed and love of power.
P.J. O'Rourke
[i]
Yeah, okay, so I ‘stoled’ all of this article, except
the quotes and reference to Frank, from this site -
http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/beer-in-other-languages/
(I DID add the Klingon word for beer – just consider that my
little ol’ contribution!), but … we still definitely wish
Frank a full and speedy recovery from his surgery.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Our readers may still not quite understand the relevance
of … no – make that
THE IMPORTANCE OF – this article that dear ol' sweet (but
FREAKISHLY huge) Bubba has penned, so please let me try
and clarify:
Frank is JCC’s father-in-law and he just had hip replacement
surgery.
Everything is well and fine
now, but as he was
coming out of surgery, he (jokingly??) asked his son-in-law
for a pivo. Now,
we know that JCC would have readily complied (heck, he even
offered to add a
hospital approved bendy, sippy straw), but his mother-in-law
and wife just wouldn’t hear of such atrocities, so Frank
went without – he did “finally” recover from his surgery
though. Now, I
was thinking about the series of texts that I received from
JCC during this ‘ordeal’ and was relating it to the BC’s
when it dawned on all of us at the same time that we had no
idea what in the world a “pivo” was – we all agreed that if
we were there, and Frank would have asked for it, we
would’ve done our best to comply!!!
Well, ultimately, I
relented and asked JCC just what in the heck a pivo was, and
he gently informed me it was the Czech word for beer – wow,
I feel extra bad now!
I would have had a feller ask me for a beer, and I
would have just given him the TV remote!
An underlying theme of this site is the importance of
communication … and when we use undefined or foreign words,
we are sometimes muddling the communication process that can (but not
always) lead to problems and issues.
I can only imagine what Frank would have said or done
to me if I would have responded to his request by handing
him the remote!
(Bet it would’ve been different if we were fishin
though!!!!!!)
Capisce? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Capisce
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate!”
A quotation from the 1967 film
Cool Hand Luke
We all wish you a full & speedy recovery
Frank!!!!
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