mea culpa

[YAMATO2201]

1) The president issued an insincere mea culpa for the absurd war.

2) The bereaved families couldn't find a shred of solace in his grudging mea culpa.

Are these sentences correct?

 

[Rover_KE]

In writing, I'd italicise mea culpa as the phrase is not English and is quoted.

 

[Tdol]

I'd use apology rather than mea culpa most of the time.

 

[YAMATO2201]

In writing, I'd italicise mea culpa as the phrase is not English and is quoted.

karaoke
tsunami
a priori
de facto
in vitro

Is it obligatory to italicize these words and phrases in writing?

Incidentally, have you ever heard/read the Japanese word kawaii?

 

[jutfrank]

karaoke
tsunami
a priori
de facto
in vitro

Is it obligatory to italicize these words/phrases in writing?

Incidentally, have you heard/read the Japanese word kawaii?

No and no.

 

[GoesStation]

karaoke
tsunami
a priori
de facto
in vitro

Is it obligatory to italicize these words/phrases in writing?

Incidentally, have you heard/read the Japanese word kawaii?

"Karaoke" and "tsunami" are both English words, despite their having been borrowed from Japanese. (We promise we'll return them later. )

Of the three Latin phrases, I think "a priori" would be most likely to be italicized. The other two are widely used in English and would often be set in plain text.

Kawaii is well known to American aficionados of manga, and to those of us who have been to Japan as visitors immersed in the culture, but is otherwise not widely used. It seemed to me that kawaii was one of the more common words I encountered in Japan. Although it's usually translated as "cute", that word does not convey anything like its full meaning.

 

[GoesStation]

Google's ngram viewer reveals that my assumption was wrong. Even in American English, where de facto​ was widely used during the fight for civil rights, that phrase comes in last.

 

[YAMATO2201]

Incidentally, have you heard/read the Japanese word kawaii?

I inadvertently dropped "ever". (Incidentally, have you ever heard/read the Japanese word kawaii?)

Although it's usually translated as "cute", that word does not convey anything like its full meaning.

I'm pretty sure kawaii has a broader meaning than "cute".

Google's ngram viewer

I have no idea to what extent Google Ngram Viewer is reliable. Does Google's text corpus for Ngram include non-native speakers' English?

 

[YAMATO2201]

"Karaoke" and "tsunami" are both English words, despite their having been borrowed from Japanese. (We promise we'll return them later. )

Of the three Latin phrases, I think "a priori" would be most likely to be italicized. The other two are widely used in English and would often be set in plain text.

Kawaii is well known to American aficionados of manga, and to those of us who have been to Japan as visitors immersed in the culture, but is otherwise not widely used. It seemed to me that kawaii was one of the more common words I encountered in Japan. Although it's usually translated as "cute", that word does not convey anything like its full meaning.

Could you please give me a tip on how to find out whether a loanword/loan phrase is well established in English?

 

[Tdol]

There's no clear rule for this. Karaoke, for instance, is a fairly recent adoption, but people took to the custom so it became a loan word very quickly.

 

[jutfrank]

Could you please give me a tip on how to find out whether a loanword/loan phrase is well established in English?

Search for it in a comprehensive dictionary.

 

[Tdol]

And look at the cultural adoption.