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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I came across this while reading user reviews of a wireless router. I found it quite humorous. The correct form is, of course, “buyer beware,” derived from the Latin expression caveat emptor, which translates to “let the buyer beware.” However, the alternative has a similar, albeit less forbidding, connotation.
Here is the link to the review:
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Here’s another usage from the NY Times (surprising):
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Is this really a difference, though? As CainEnabled suggests, “buyer beware” is a common translation of caveat emptor “let the buyer be warned.” Both beware and aware come from Middle English war “careful, aware, wary,” and both mean essentially the same thing. The main difference is that aware is an adjective, and beware is a verb.
A Google search for “buyer beware” returns about 2,190,000 raw results; “buyer be aware” about 18,000. I would suggest that the former is a more common, perhaps lexicalized, calque of the Latin, but both mean the same thing.
Note the use of “beware” in the URL and “be aware” (plus caveat emptor) in the text of the following:
Buyer – Be Aware! Know the Law! Montana is not Buyer Friendly. The principles of CAVEAT EMPTOR still apply in Montana when the purchase of a pre-owned residence is involved.
http://www.montanahereicome.com/beware.htm
Last edited by nilep (2008-03-12 11:25:40)
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nilep wrote:
Is this really a difference, though? As CainEnabled suggests, “buyer beware” is a common translation of caveat emptor “let the buyer be warned.” Both beware and aware come from Middle English war “careful, aware, wary,” and both mean essentially the same thing. The main difference is that aware is an adjective, and beware is a verb.
A Google search for “buyer beware” returns about 2,190,000 raw results; “buyer be aware” about 18,000. I would suggest that the former is a more common, perhaps lexicalized, calque of the Latin, but both mean the same thing.
Note the use of “beware” in the URL and “be aware” (plus caveat emptor) in the text of the following:
Buyer – Be Aware Know the Law Montana is not Buyer Friendly. The principles of CAVEAT EMPTOR still apply in Montana when the purchase of a pre-owned residence is involved.
http://www.montanahereicome.com/beware.htm
Good points, and I may be splitting hairs, however, I believe that being apprised of something (as in aware), operates differently than being warned (as in beware), both in the legal and contextual sense. By using the former a buyer is warned that there is risk inherent in a particular transaction, while the latter merely conveys that one should take note. I should hope that all buyers are aware of the transaction in which they are entering.
With respect to the Montana link, again I would submit that the two are not interchangeable as the author seems to indicate.
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