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#1 2009-06-17 06:56:49

langserve
Member
Registered: 2009-06-16
Posts: 10

Not an Eggcorn but Clever

In Japanese there is a formulaic expression people always say just before eating a bit like grace. It literally means something like “I will take this food”

It sounds something like: ee ta da kee mass. Someboy’s parents were visiting him and they couldn’t remember it. He taught them to say “Eat a duck we must” which actually is close enough to achieve the object :-).

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#2 2009-06-17 07:08:53

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: Not an Eggcorn but Clever

I’ve run across discussions of this mnemonic before, but its form was always given as “eat a duck I must.” Your version seems like it’s probably a better approximation of “Itadakimasu.” So now I’m a bit puzzled as to why the “I” form gets so many more hits than the “we” form.

Probably the best place for this thread would be on the “Slips” page. Would you mind if I moved it?

Last edited by patschwieterman (2009-06-17 07:10:45)

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#3 2009-06-17 07:29:19

langserve
Member
Registered: 2009-06-16
Posts: 10

Re: Not an Eggcorn but Clever

No, of course not.

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#4 2009-06-18 12:02:29

nilep
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-03-21
Posts: 291

Re: Not an Eggcorn but Clever

patschwieterman wrote:

Your version seems like it’s probably a better approximation of “Itadakimasu.” So now I’m a bit puzzled as to why the “I” form gets so many more hits than the “we” form.

High vowels (/u/ and /i/) in unstressed positions can be devoiced in Japanese. This is part of what makes must a near-homophone of -masu. Although the /i/ is not necessarily fully devoiced in itadakimasu, it is probably at least reduced for most speakers. This makes the choice of I versus we less salient in strictly phonetic terms than it might otherwise be. I suspect that the semantics/pragmatics make I must a better choice for the mnemonic, since the target expression relates to one’s own eating, not to the behavior of a group.

[EDIT: On reflection, it occurs to me that the /i/ in itadakimasu and similar verbs (kakimasu “to write”, tsukimasu “to attach”) are never devoiced, though they are often reduced. Indeed, Tsujimura (1996) confirms that devoicing is not conditioned by stress, but by environment, between voiceless consonants.]

Last edited by nilep (2009-06-18 12:13:00)

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