Make Me
I'm not sure which I find more amusing: that someone in Egypt got to my site by searching for the words "make sex in Jordan" or that they actually stayed on my site for a good five minutes, probably scrambling in a horny fervor through old posts on swimming and library trips growing increasingly desperate to find some of that that good ole' "make sex."
Like any hot blooded person, this naturally leads me to think about...language. So it seems that the Egyptians have a grammar construction I have noticed in many other languages. I'll go with French since it's pretty much the only other one besides English that I can read or write a few sentences in. In French the verb "faire" means "to do/make."
In English, we have no "faire;"(except the kind paired with the word "Renaissance" which refers to a freakish event for which one must dress up in brocade gowns and butcher Elizabethan English in the service of getting drunk on "mead" and possibly to make some sex) "to do" and "to make" are two separate verbs. We make a knit scarf, but we do laundry (or should!). Make tends to be attached in America to creating/crafting something, or else as an expression of force: "make me." With The Sopranos in mind, I guess it also refers to finally getting that coveted "boss" job.
I think from now on, however, I'm going to behave like the French, or the Egyptians, in this case, and "make" my activities. No more doing around here, no siree.
JPR
posted by Jordan E. Rosenfeld @ 8:21 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
That's funny...I'm studying for an Italian test and one of the things is expressions with fare (to make), just like faire in French.
Also in Spanish there is only one verb for your two concepts of do/make: "hacer" and we, Spanish speakers, have a terribly hard time learning when we should use do or make in English, because that crafting idea behind has exceptions... as with every rule.
In Portuguese is the same as in Spanish, only "Fazer".
I find very interesting how different languages (and cultures)divide reality into different segments and one concept becomes two or three sometimes. And there is no speaker who doesn't feel that his language is the best.
Stephanie, yes most of the "romance languages" have that same expression.
Patricia: I agree with you about language. For instance, one of my favorite writers, David Sedaris, writes a hilarious series of essays about learning to speak French with this ruthless teacher who didn't care for Americans. I'll make a special post and quote some of it for you. But I want to make one thing clear; I don't think English is "the best" language by far. If I could choose I might speak French or Czech as my first language. Maybe even Russian!
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