Cat Calque; Or, The Case Of A Missing Idiom
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MP3Today, in my life long pursuit of mastery of english, I’ve learned about “calques”,
or loan translations, in context of linguistics.
The world loan signifies,
a word that is on a loan from some other part of the world.
So we are referring to a loaned word,
in “loan translation”.
And then the word translation,
refers to just translating words between languages.
In english, the word Cafe, is a loanword,
but without translation.
I love English in ways that I can’t describe,
that English will never-ever have a word for.
My first word was “Tea”,
we had an Earl Grey tea tin when I was a baby.
And my mom, for no reason at all,
turned to me and said “Tea means Herbata in English”.
Then when I was trying to figure out how to play a computer text game,
which was crushing for me, as I had to translate every word with dictionary.
I actually, did something, my player was standing by a door,
and in a burst of pure genius, that never repeated, I typed in “KNOCK”.
And a new screenful of text appeared,
now, I wasn’t about to translate all of that – as far I was concerned I won.
It is of note that three more words swiftly followed,
PRINT, LOOP, and PLOT.
Print allowed me to print text on my computer screen, back then a TV,
Simon’s Basic PLOT helped me to experience the joy of putting a pixel on a TV.
And the concept of a LOOP and an INFINITE LOOP, accomplished with the keyword FOR,
has been holding me by the button since – I freaking love infinite.
But, there is a but,
and it is complicates.
English is missing an important idiomatic phrase,
“having a cat”, which where I come from means losing ones mind.
But, it is said in a silly way,
not exactly a negative way, though it is not a positive thing to say.
Lets use a upset lady as example, in Poland,
you could say “One ma kota”, which just means she has a cat.
And there are layers of complexity here,
that are hard to describe.
The phrase has to be said in context of someone acting in an irrational way,
and not as a factual statement, but as if casting the phrase into the wind.
(give example)
It appears,
that this phrase is most strongly used in Poland.
Russians have a “acting like a cat in a bag”,
meaning acting chaotic.
And the French just have “to have a cat in the throat”,
“avoir un chat dans la gorge" which just means croaky voice.
I don’t even know where to start with this,
I just know that it is necessary, and awesome.
Because a new idiom is also stepping stone,
a launch pad for variations.
"Skocila sie", as in "She Catted her self",
means she had a melt down, but again in a mild way.
Where if the lady overheard those words,
she woudn't be upset.
Perhaps a better example would be calling somone an old cat,
in American english that may signify experience or being tired.
In polish, an Old Cat,
has a hint of madnes to it, but again in a way that is not upsetting to people.
It almost means,
Old Fox, but withut the strict emphasis on cleverness that "fox" tends to carry
Transferring an idiom,
is a natural, emergent process, bringing it over seems impossible.
And as an English speaker now,
it just seems that “she has a cat” has no room for another meaning.
But it is such a gentle and innocent way of calling someone ,
permanently irrational or crazy, that English could use it.
Saying she is nuts, is way too harsh,
it is an insult.
She has a cat,
could really soften that, but it sounds so odd, it will probably never transfer.
Though, taking about idiom,
is a start.
It is such a strange thing, when an idiom is taken from you,
I have a permanent emptiness in my English language.
It is such a bizarre thing that I can’t just say someone has a cat,
and I just, don’t know how to fix it.
The english just does not have the right equivalent,
and certainly not with a creature as cute.
I am lost,
for words.
I am getting a cat,
dostaje kota.