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Esperanto slang?

de WeekzGod, 2014-junio-09

Mesaĝoj: 40

Lingvo: English

WeekzGod (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-09 20:13:23

I was wondering if there are any universally slang words in Esperanto?

Like how would you say, dude or bro?
What about dirty/sexual terms?
Perhaps any slang between large esperanto communities?

nornen (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-09 20:23:29

Take a look here: http://mindprod.com/esperanto/dirty.html

WeekzGod:large esperanto communities?
Isn't this a contradiction in terms?

RiotNrrd (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-09 23:02:38

What would the point of slang be in Esperanto? Slang divides people - it creates groups of those who are "in-the-know", and those who aren't - whereas Esperanto was designed to counter linguistic division.

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-10 18:36:33

The slang is minimal. There are profane/dirty/impolite words that are avoided in polite company but used abundantly in settings where you expect to find that kind of language.

I often find that Esperanto-speaking couples have some "private language" between them - a loanword from another language they speak, a favorite expression translated from another language that doesn't make strict sense in Esperanto, etc. They wouldn't use these terms outside of their own private conversations, however. It's an interesting question to ask a long-established Esperanto couple, "Do you have any private vocabulary words or expressions between you, and if so, what is it and where does it come from?"

I've heard some interesting answers!

sudanglo (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-10 19:57:37

Words such as bro, dude, chap, bloke, fellow, type, character, mate are words belonging to different registers that can be contrasted with words like person or man (not as a form of address), which are less associated with any particular level of language use.

Largely, differences in register are a very undeveloped feature of Esperanto and that is likely to remain so. It would be a layer of complexity in the language which would conflict with the purpose of Esperanto (to be an easily acquired tool for international communication)

It is important to understand that Esperanto is not just another language. Its raison d'être means that certain (socio)linguistic features to be found in the national languages are absent from Esperanto.

In translations of dialogues, or conversations, you may come across a certain literary inventiveness in the application of the language in order to convey an atmosphere. However the expressions used are unlikely to enter, or to have been derived from, normal speech in Esperanto.

danielcg (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-12 01:51:08

erinja:The slang is minimal. There are profane/dirty/impolite words that are avoided in polite company but used abundantly in settings where you expect to find that kind of language.

I often find that Esperanto-speaking couples have some "private language" between them - a loanword from another language they speak, a favorite expression translated from another language that doesn't make strict sense in Esperanto, etc. They wouldn't use these terms outside of their own private conversations, however. It's an interesting question to ask a long-established Esperanto couple, "Do you have any private vocabulary words or expressions between you, and if so, what is it and where does it come from?"

I've heard some interesting answers!
Hi Erinja and all. Maybe induced by the upcoming of the UK in my land, I've come back to this site which I used to visit frequently a couple of years ago (sorry to dissapoint anyone who thought he or she had got rid of me.) ridulo.gif

As a man married to the same woman for the last quarter of a century, and taking into account conversations with other couples, I would say that, regardless of their languages, most couples have such expressions, not necessarily foreign to the dictionary, but with some special meaning for the partners.

For example, my wife often calls me (in Spanish) "bestia animal" which is an unnecessary repetition of two words with almost the same meaning ( "beast animal" ). What in other circumstances would be an insult, between us is a joke. It happens to be that I almost don't feel cold even when it is actually cold (perhaps because Mother Nature provided me with a good layer of protection between my skin and my bones), while she is exactly the opposite and very much feels low temperatures. One cold winter day, when I was walking out of our home with barely a shirt and a light coat, she spontaneusly coined that expression, and we both bursted into laughter. It seems as though she thought that one adjective alone was not enough and she felt compelled to recourse to two of them, even with the same meaning.

Regards to all.

Daniel

WeekzGod (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-13 05:53:32

There's something else I just thought of.

Take English for the analogy.
Within countries as large as the US or Canada to as small as the UK and Jamaica there are differences in lexicon.

In Jamaica, the "hood" of the car is called the "bonnet." Both are real words in the English language and yet different communities who speak the same language.

So I guess my question is could small groups of people who speak esperanto like a group of friends or a family have a different standard lexicon than another group of friends?

For example: could it be possible that one group for the word "possibility" says "eblo" and another group uses the word "ebleco"?

Both are synonymous in meaning and obviously it wouldnt take any brain power to recognize the word. I'm just using it as an example for a wider possible phenomena where different groups have a different standard lexicon.

Perhaps a group of friends might say "Li spiras rapide" and another group would say "Li hiperventas."
Both groups would mean "He is hyperventilating." but saying it differently.

See what I mean? Could it be possible for there to be different standard lexicons among the small groups of speakers?

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2014-junio-13 13:06:00

I hear people using a different word all the time. I call a gas/petrol station a "benzinejo" but I have friends who call it a "ĉerpejo". I call a suitcase a valizo, but I know people who call it a kofro (which to me is more of a trunk than a suitcase). Eblo and ebleco - you will find the same person using both of those! That's less of a vocabulary difference, I'd say.

ursego (Montri la profilon) 2019-marto-28 08:40:32

WeekzGod:I was wondering if there are any universally slang words in Esperanto?

Like how would you say, dude or bro?
What about dirty/sexual terms?
Perhaps any slang between large esperanto communities?
I am also looking for a way to say "dude." GoogleTranslate says "ulo" (person), which is sort of like "guy." But I am thinking that you need to form the (affectionate) diminutive of that word to get the proper sense of "dude." How to achieve this? How, also, to achieve diminutives of friends' names? We have "paĉjo" and "panjo" (from "patro" and "patrino") for "dad" and "mom," but how to turn "Robert" into "Bob," or "William" into "Bill," or even "friend" into "buddy," for example?

thyrolf (Montri la profilon) 2019-marto-28 17:39:33

uleto, ulĉjo

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