I really like studying etymology and the origins of words, and I'm interested in the fairly omnivorous nature of English, which has a huge "borrowed" vocabulary. (Random fact: "bugger" is related to "Bulgaria".) So I thought every now and then I'd put up random lists of words English borrows from various languages - well, besides French, German, and Spanish, or I'll exhaust myself from typing. I thought I'd start with Malay, national language of Singapore. Wikipedia already has a partial list , but I thought I'd come up with a list that also included a few other loan words. The obvious ones are words for things that are indigenous to the region - plants (durian, rambutan, bamboo, sago, camphor ), animals (orang-utan, pangolin, cassowary), and cloth ( gingham , sarong). But there's a whole bunch that're less obvious, even to native English speakers from this region: amok . If you asked me to name one English loan word that'
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Actually the worst song is a live track that goes 'I just want to say....Merry Xmas Baby!...oh you sure treat me nice'.... etc.
I've heard that one so many times, it's probably damaging my immune system how angry I get. I'm gauled by how the vocalist keeps commenting on how well the band (the 'Boys') are playing - particularly as it is the kind of song the US army would use as a weapon to draw terrorists out of buildings.
Oh..Merry Xmas!
Merry Xmas Baby is a BB King song...
http://www.harptab.com/lyrics/ly3078.shtml