In the early days of indicating the electronic nature of a thing by prepending "e" to it, the "e" was usually set off by a hyphen. E-mail, an e-card, e-file your taxes, and so on. The hyphen has dropped off in a number of the most common uses, such as email. Evite, the nifty online service by which one can create a viewable profile for one's party and invite a large group of one's friends conveniently, uses no hyphen. The messages it sends out proclaim its name, evite, boldly and without interruption.
There is a small problem with this which certain readers may have noticed upon looking at that bolded word. In Spanish there exists a verb evitar, which is conjugated in the imperative as evite. It means "to avoid", and can be found conjugated thusly in various common warnings; I saw it yesterday on the plastic wrapping around a roll of toilet paper, suggesting that the reader avoid the risk of suffocation by not placing the plastic in the beds or cribs of sus hijos.
And you wonder why I never come to parties? It's because the invitations themselves suggest to me that I would be wise not to attend. I can take a hint, you know.
Posted by dianna at October 28, 2005 04:26 PMThis post forced (forced!) me to look up the Latin roots for these words. Apparently, the Latin word for "to avoid" is vito. The Latin word for "to invite" is invito. Hum. Looking up the prefix "in-" reveals that it can indicate a preposition (in, into, or on, not very helpful here) or a negation (as seen in "incredible" and "inconceivable").
So apparently the Romans decided the best way to express the concept of invitation was to negate the concept of avoidance. "Do not avoid this party!"
Posted by: Zach S. at October 28, 2005 05:26 PMThe Romans were a logical people. Also, they took very elaborate baths.
Posted by: Erik at October 28, 2005 09:22 PMThe Chevy Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries, as it literally translates to: Chevy Doesn't-Go.
There was also a poorly reserached ad campaign for pens that don't leak in your pocket and embarrass you ...
Except that embarrassar translates to "impregnate".
Finally! A pen that won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant!
Posted by: kati at October 28, 2005 11:38 PMThe Chevy Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries, as it literally translates to: Chevy Doesn't-Go.
There was also a poorly reserached ad campaign for pens that don't leak in your pocket and embarrass you ...
Except that embarrassar translates to "impregnate".
Finally! A pen that won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant!
Posted by: kati at October 28, 2005 11:42 PMFinally, someone in California has found a practical use for Spanish.
:-)
Posted by: poot at October 30, 2005 09:41 AMI've often thought that merely speaking it in daily life is a very impractical use.
Posted by: Dianna at October 30, 2005 10:52 AM