Talk:Hobson-Jobson

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""Hobson-Jobson" is also used as a term for the modification of names and phrases in one language into the familiar sounds of another, a phenomenon of which "Hobson-Jobson" is itself an example."

This isn't quite true. A far as I know, Hobson-Jobson refers specifically to the words derived mainly from Hindi and used by the Anglo-Indians during the Indian colonial period. It does not refer to similar linguistical borrowings in general. I have changed the article, but if anyone disagrees with me, feel free to revert it.--Conwiktion 04:54, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * The only sourrce I have is the book "The Meaning of Everything", about the making of Oxford English Dictionary, which mentions in a footnote that the term "Hobson-Jobson" is used in such a way. I've never heard the term used this way myself, but I included the sentence because of that footnote. Quadell (talk) 13:55, Aug 21, 2004 (UTC)

Oops, I forgot to add- I have a copy of Hobson-Jobson myself. It is extremely interesting for anyone familiar with Indian culture and history. So many mainstream English words, Indian English words, and Indian names/titles have such surprisingly interesting histories behind them.--Conwiktion 06:04, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * My understanding is that it refers to the corruption of words/phrases from other languages into a form that fits the target language better, regardless of the source language. The book from which I heard of the term gives a few examples from French, including crayfish from écrevisse and Shotover from château vert. -- Smjg 15:15, 26 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Indeed, nearly all the OneLook listings give the meaning I understand by the term, without any stipulation of which language it came from. -- Smjg 11:05, 30 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Please change this article to be factual, as I was mistaken. Apparently, the term Hobson-Jobson is used in a more general sense than merely the creation of new English words using the sound patterns from words in the languages of the former British colonies.--Conwiktion 21:44, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

i have not gone back to look it up - but i seem to remember reading that "hobson-jobson" was an example of itself in H.L. Menkin, the English Languge, amd the original definition given above may also be found there. [grebnes, 10/9/06]


 * IGTI "hobson-jobson" comes from Arabic, not from an Indian language. But the corruption from "Ya Hasan! Ya Hosain!" is clearly an example of changing a word/phrase into a more English-sounding form, which is the basic essence of the phenomenon.  Thus the term "hobson-jobson" is self-describing purely on this basis. -- Smjg 18:17, 9 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Although Hobson-Jobson may derive "forlorn" from Arabic, it's actually Old English, past participle of 'forlose', according to the OED. Should there be a note to avoid giving the wrong impression? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.148.38.26 (talk) 15:12, 30 December 2007 (UTC)