Lebanese Takes on the English Language that Make Me Cringe!

We're all aware of how non-native English speakers localize the English language to fit their manners of speech and even the alphabet of their mother tongue. The Lebanese have many a toe-curling adaptation of English expressions that always send me wincing:
  1. "Thanks God": folks, it's either "Thanks be to God" or "Thank God."
  2. "Welcome" rather than "you're welcome": as if the expression were excessively long to begin with.
  3. "Kindly" rather than "please": it sounds so archaic and quaint.
  4. "Thomesing" rather than "something": whenever "s" and "th" appear in the same word, they invariably get reversed.
  5. "Wiz" rather than "with". Are they trying to imitate the French? Trust me, it ain't chic.
  6. "Open all the year" rather than "open year round".
  7. "We have all what you want" rather than "We have everything you want".
  8.  "Revert" rather than "reply": revert is the physical act of returning to a previous state. Reply means to respond!
  9. Starting a letter with "Dear" and then jumping directly into the body of the letter, as in "Dear, Kindly revert wiz..."! What happened to the object?
Can you think of any others?

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 5, 2013 at 10:28 PM

    Great list Danielle! Once a man approached me asking "Shoot me?" as he held out a camera while I stood there confused. I still don't know whether he got that from photoshoot but still "picture me" would have made more sense. Lol it still makes me laugh even to this day :P

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