Most people would say that languages have equivalent meanings with stock phrases. Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad are two examples. Stock phrases are a type of idiom that people have just said for ages and not really stopped to think about their sense. They are not interchangeable with other ways of saying the same phrase either. For example, no one would say Happy Christmas or Glad Christmas even though happy and glad are synonyms of merry. And no one would change merry even though the term is archaic and not used in modern English. In Spanish, no one would say that Buen Navidad is a good substitute for Feliz Navidad, and no one would switch out Navidad for another word even though the term is archaic in modern Spanish.
Stock phrases are in all languages for the most routine or the most recurring events. They help us keep our psychological energy focused on other nuances in a sentence for the way things are being said with the other words. And, although stock phrases have the same function in any language, they are not very good at expressing equivalences. In the example above, the focus in English is on having a good day following a mass (or ceremony with a message) of Christ. The Spanish equivalent is not on the kind of day surrounding a ceremony about Christ so much as it is centered on the happy accident of a special birth in the world.
Whatever. People don't pay much attention to differences. And in this case, the date of the occasion is the same. Generally speaking, both phrases refer to the time of year when people are happy and festive for the same good cause. So, I'll just be merry and feliz and not worry about the semantics.
Joyeux Noel everybody! Regardless of what the focus of that is. (LOL)
Stock phrases are in all languages for the most routine or the most recurring events. They help us keep our psychological energy focused on other nuances in a sentence for the way things are being said with the other words. And, although stock phrases have the same function in any language, they are not very good at expressing equivalences. In the example above, the focus in English is on having a good day following a mass (or ceremony with a message) of Christ. The Spanish equivalent is not on the kind of day surrounding a ceremony about Christ so much as it is centered on the happy accident of a special birth in the world.
Whatever. People don't pay much attention to differences. And in this case, the date of the occasion is the same. Generally speaking, both phrases refer to the time of year when people are happy and festive for the same good cause. So, I'll just be merry and feliz and not worry about the semantics.
Joyeux Noel everybody! Regardless of what the focus of that is. (LOL)
No comments:
Post a Comment