"Long time no see" & "Many thanks"

[thedaffodils]

I suspect the following to two phrases originate from Chinglish, but now they generally are accepted by English world.

* Long time no see!

* Many thanks!

Could you please comment? Thanks!

[Anglika]

The first possibly, the second definitely no. Itis a shortened version of a sentence such as I offer you many thanks for your assistance.

[thedaffodils]

Hi Anglika,

Thank you for your answer.

[BobK]

The first possibly, the second definitely no. Itis a shortened version of a sentence such as I offer you many thanks for your assistance.

I read somewhere recently - but can't trace the quote - that 'long time no see' came from a pidgin; not sure whether it was Chinglish.

The second is just an abbreviation, as Anglika has said. It seems to me possible that that particular abbreviation became popular in Am E before Br E, because of German immigrants who already had the expression Vielen Danke.

b

[wace]

Actually, it's Vielen Dank ( singular form of a masculine word in the accusative)
'Danke schoen' (here 'Danke' is a verb: ich danke dir/Ihnen: (literally: I thank you / you, sir/madam)

Cheers

[BobK]

I toyed with Vielen Dank'. That would have been wrong too, but at least it shows my hearing's OK.

b

[BobK]

I read somewhere recently - but can't trace the quote - that 'long time no see' came from a pidgin; not sure whether it was Chinglish.
...

I've just been watching a DVD called The Adventure of English - by Melvyn Bragg. There was a 'book of the series' (about 5/6 years ago) that had the same name, though I haven't seen it.

In this he says that "long time no see" was a loan translation from a Native American language.

b

[Snowcake]

I toyed with Vielen Dank'. That would have been wrong too, but at least it shows my hearing's OK.

b

Absolutely ok.

It's Vielen Dank or simply Danke. Danke schön / sehr is comparable with Thank you very much, the politest form.

It seems that "long time no see" has already been discused elsewhere too.

See here

long time no see - WordReference Forums

Re: Long time no see