Printable View
What's unacceptable about "enjoy your meal"? I guess it is, according to you, unacceptable because it's the equivalent of "dobrou chut".Quote:
Originally Posted by 5jj
Moderator's note: The discussion of 'Enjoy your meal' rather took over the PC thread, so I have moved discussion of this expression to a new thread. 5jj
I did not say that it was unacceptable. I didn't mention it - or any other expression in English, because there is simply not a commonly accepted standard expression.Quote:
Originally Posted by CarloSsS
You did not, I inferred it. You said:
I look forward to an acceptable English equivalent to 'monsieur/senor/pane/etc' and 'bon appetit/buen apetito/dobrou chut/etc'.
From that, I inferred that you actually said something like:
'I will be happy when there's an acceptable English equivalent to "dobrou chut"', which, I think, means something like "There are equivalents to "dobrou chut", but all of them are unacceptable to me." Is that so (slight nuances aside)?
P.S. I'm just trying to understand what unacceptable expressions you meant. In no case, am I trying to pick you up on words.
No. I meant simply that there is simply not a commonly accepted standard expression, as I said in post #21. If I sit down as a guest or host in a private home or in a restaurant in most countries in Europe, I know the polite formula. I don't know one in my own language.Quote:
Originally Posted by CarloSsS
I still don't understand. Let me put it like this:
Is the phrase "enjoy your meal" meaning "dobrou chut" a commonly accepted standard expression? If not, can you elaborate as to why that is?
No - and "enjoy your meal" does not 'mean' "dobrou chut". It is simply one expression that some English speakers use in some situations in which Czechs would use "dobrou chut".Quote:
Originally Posted by CarloSsS
For a start, it would not be appropriate for a guest to say to a host.Quote:
If not, can you elaborate as to why that is?
All right. Now, let's put the Czech "tranlation" of "enjoy your meal" aside. Is the phrase "enjoy your meal", in itself, a commonly accepted standard expression. If it is, then I think that I finally understand what you were trying to say.
Once again, NO. We haven't got one in English. I have said this several times in this thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by CarloSsS
Which means that if a native speaker of English uses it, they use something that's not a commonly accepted standard expression (whatever that means :)). Did I at least get that right?
Carlo, anything else I say will be merely repeating what I have said before.