What is "body English" called in other countries?

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I was trying to explain the idea of body English to Mo today and he asked what it was called in countries that don't speak English and I had no idea.

Is there such a thing as "body Chinese" or do they call it body English?

Thanks!

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 1,460 • Replies: 14

[+3] - daveloyall - 04/20/2009It should be noted that even native English speakers use many different words to describe 'the spin of objects or the act of making them spin, in sports or other activities'. I'd call that concept...

@boomerang,

you mean, like, 'body language'?

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I've never heard "body English" expression. Only "body language" - - also in communication literature. Is that what you mean?

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@dagmaraka,

from answers.com --

body english
1. Bodily movement in a usually unconscious attempt to influence the movement of a propelled object, such as a ball.

2. The usually irregular movement or spin of a propelled object as if it were influenced by this twisting.

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@Region Philbis,

It sounds dangerous to me.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

I was trying to explain the idea of body English to Mo today and he asked what it was called in countries that don't speak English and I had no idea.

Is there such a thing as "body Chinese" or do they call it body English?

Thanks!

Have u thawt of inviting Mo to join us posting on A2K ?

or do u believe that fonetic spelling will corrupt his mind ?

David

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@Region Philbis,

uh, ok. thanks reg, that sounds different.

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@dagmaraka,

Yeah, body language and body enlish are two different things although I suppose body english is a form of body language.

An eay way to picture body english is thinking about bowlers -- how they'll twist their body in the direction they want the ball to go.

I imagine the movement is universal but I'm not sure what it might be called elsewhere.

David, Mo spells phonetically as do most 8 year olds. Unfortunately he spells in both Oregonian and Texan phoentics and it gets kind of confusing. I can't translate the Oregonian and his teacher can't translate the Texan so we often have to work together.

But he does come up with some interesting questions!

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Yeah, body language and body enlish are two different things although I suppose body english is a form of body language.

An eay way to picture body english is thinking about bowlers -- how they'll twist their body in the direction they want the ball to go.

I imagine the movement is universal but I'm not sure what it might be called elsewhere.

David, Mo spells phonetically as do most 8 year olds. Unfortunately he spells in both Oregonian and Texan phoentics and it gets kind of confusing. I can't translate the Oregonian and his teacher can't translate the Texan so we often have to work together.

But he does come up with some interesting questions!

U adopted him ?

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@OmSigDAVID,

Yes, he's adopted. Born and raised in Oregon where I have lived for the last 15 years.

But my husband and I are both fluent in Texan so that's what he hears at home.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Yes, he's adopted. Born and raised in Oregon where I have lived for the last 15 years.

But my husband and I are both fluent in Texan so that's what he hears at home.

I 've been to Texas, but not to Oregon.
Any thoughts on how thay speak in Oregon ?

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I was thinking today that "English" is also used in pool playing to describe a ball that spins or archs around another ball. Perhaps that's where the English in body English comes from.

David, I've lived here so long that I no longer hear the accent but it occurs mostly around short vowel sounds. I'll have to look through some of his writing to show you what I mean and that means I'll have to dig it out so that means I won't get to it today. (Side note: when I first moved here people thought I was from Australia so I guess Texan sounds a bit Aussie.)

Kid's phoentic spelling is much different than yours. "tr" sounds often translate into "ch" sounds so "truck" becomes "chruck" when written. "ed" as in the past tense often translates into "t" so "dressed" becomes "dresst". If you listen closely, you'll see that they're right.

No offense, but I hate phoentic spelling. It's an absolute chore to work through and so much clarity is lost. I have a really hard time holding my tongue when it comes to helping Mo with his homework. I'd much prefer that they just ask him to learn to spell things correctly in the first place.

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@boomerang,

i've heard basketball players described as putting 'english' or 'reverse-english' on the ball when shooting a lay-up...

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Quote:

I was thinking today that "English" is also used in pool playing to describe a ball that spins or archs around another ball. Perhaps that's where the English in body English comes from.

David, I've lived here so long that I no longer hear the accent but it occurs mostly around short vowel sounds. I'll have to look through some of his writing to show you what I mean and that means I'll have to dig it out so that means I won't get to it today. (Side note: when I first moved here people thought I was from Australia so I guess Texan sounds a bit Aussie.)

I 've been to Texas and Austrailia so I know
that thay do not sound alike. While walking thru a park,
I asked 2 teenage lovers for directions; as I left,
I heard the girl make fun of me for my failing to
pronounce "lake" as if it were a 5 letter word with an i in the middle of it.

Quote:

Kid's phoentic spelling is much different than yours.
"tr" sounds often translate into "ch" sounds so "truck"
becomes "chruck" when written. "ed" as in the past tense often
translates into "t" so "dressed" becomes "dresst". If you listen
closely, you'll see that they're right.

I 've noticed that mode of spelling in older writings; 1700s or 1800s "dresst".

Quote:

No offense, but I hate phoentic spelling. It's an absolute chore
to work through and so much clarity is lost.

I 'll try to curtail it somewhat, but it has come to gross me out
to spell F as if it were "ph"; I wish we all rejected that.
That was a linguistic malpractice that was inflicted on us, as kids.

Under some circumstances, in the real world, I must abandon
fonetic spelling entirely; e.g., if I 'm writing a formal letter.

The Metric System is better than the English System
of weights (wates) and measures, because it is based on ten.
There is no question about it.
It grates on my nerves when people give me the Metric System.
For distance: I wanna know MILES, not kilometers, etc,
but that is only because of how I was trained, because of what
I was accustomed to. To me, the Metric System is very annoying,
but I know that it behooves us to adopt a demonstrably better system.

The same is true of a purely fonetic system of spelling.

It is pernicious to carry the old mistakes of spelling
(e.g. putting Ls into woud coud or shoud) from one generation to the next.
At SOME point, we have to break the chain of abuse.
I am not and I shoud not be, the final arbiter of the correct
spelling of words. Specialists, fonetic lexicografers,
will write new dictionaries, but in the meantime:
lets join in tearing down the old form of spelling
insofar as it is anti-logical -- non-fonetic.

Its the right thing to do.
(I can't say "rite" because that already means a ceremony.)
The Spanish shoud not have a monopoly on logical spelling.

--end of rant--

Quote:

I have a really hard time holding my tongue when it comes to
helping Mo with his homework. I'd much prefer that they just ask
him to learn to spell things correctly in the first place.

From this, I infer that thay do not. That 's a change.
I seem to remember that long ago, thay used to do that.

David

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@Region Philbis,

It should be noted that even native English speakers use many different words to describe 'the spin of objects or the act of making them spin, in sports or other activities'. I'd call that concept 'English', but I've heard other words for it. (I wish I could remember some examples right now.)

If your goal is to be understood across cultural boundaries, I'd recommend using whatever local translation of 'spin' in place of 'English'. Everyone who uses the word 'English' in sports knows that it has to do with spin, but not everyone who knows how to spin a ball knows that doing so is called 'English' by some people. (Maybe they'd even tell you what they like to call it.)

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What is "body English" called in other countries?

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