"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Thursday 25 March 2010

Ersatz

 
Ersatz is a German word literally meaning inferior substitute or replacement. Ironically the word was popularised in the English language during the war with Germany when coffee was scarce and ersatz coffee (made with all sorts of things!) replaced the real thing becaue of rationing.
 
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1 comment:

  1. DawnTreader31 March 2010 at 17:08

    I knew the German word but I didn't know about its use in English. Interesting.

    ... oh, got a really good Word Verification here: "brain" !

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