American Language (133 page)

It will be noted that in Finglish the noun remains invariable: the pronoun alone is felt to be a sufficient indicator of person, as it is in English. The conjugation of the verb is very complicated, involving a great many different endings. Here, for example, is the conjugation, in the indicative mood, of the loan-verb
kliinaan
(to clean), following precisely that of the proper Finnish verb,
puhdistan:

Nouns naturally constitute the majority of the English and American loan-words in Finglish. Finnish has a word of its own for
bootlegger
, to wit,
trokari
, but the Finns in the United States prefer
puutlekkeri
. Similarly, they prefer
pisnes
(business) to the correct
liiketoiminta, kaara
(car) to
vaunu, paarti
(party) to
kekkeri
, and
saitvookki
(sidewalk) to
jalkakäytävä
. Their common term for
housemaid
is
tiskari
, which comes from
dishwater
; the Finnish term is
palvelijatar
. There is a sentence, often heard, which contains only Finglish words,
viz: Pussaa peipipoki kitsistä petiruumaan
(Push the baby-buggy from the kitchen into the bedroom). In Finnish
pussaa
is a slang term for
kiss
. Here are some other loan-nouns, with the Finnish equivalents:

Most Finnish words end in vowels, so it is usual for the Finnish-Americans to add a vowel to every loan-word which lacks one. No Finnish word ever begins with two consonants, so loan-words which show them are frequently changed, especially by the more recent immigrants. Thus
steak
becomes either
steeki
or
teeki, truck
is either
troki
or
roki, stump
is either
stumppi
or
tumppi
, and
street
may be
striitti, triiti
or
riiti
. Since there is no
c
in the Finnish alphabet
crossing
becomes
kroosinki
or
roosinki
. Since there is no
f, drift
(mining) may become
drifti, rifti
or
rihti
. The differences in sound between the English
b
and
d
and the Finnish
p
and
t
, respectively, are very slight, so
bed
becomes
peti
. The hardest English sound for Finns is that of
th
, but its difficulties are as nothing compared to those presented by the English articles and prepositions, which have no equivalents in Finnish. The newcomer tends to use them when they are not called for, and to omit them when they are. Adjectives are taken into Finglish less often than nouns, but a few have been borrowed for daily use,
e.g., pisi
(busy) and
smartti
(smart). The correct Finnish equivalents are
touhukas
(or
kiire
) and
älykäs
, respectively. Among the loan-verbs in everyday use are
runnata
(to run, in the political sense),
pläännätä
(to plan),
skiimate
(to scheme),
titsata
(to teach) and
juusata
(to use). In the Finnish papers in the
United States the advertisements are commonly translated into Finglish rather than into Finnish. Done into the latter, a grocery or automobile advertisement would be unintelligible to a great many readers.
¹¹⁸

Hungarian, like Finnish, belongs to the Finno-Ugrian group of languages, and in its structure differs very widely from English. In 1930 there were 274,450 persons of Hungarian birth in the United States, and of them 250,393 gave Hungarian as their mother-tongue. In addition there were 272,704 persons of Hungarian parentage and 43,614 of mixed parentage, making 590,768 in all. The Hungarians are mainly concentrated in the Middle Atlantic and East North Central States, and support thirty-three periodicals, of which four are dailies.

American-Hungarian takes in loan-words in large number, and inflects them according to the pattern of the mother-tongue. Thus the verb is commonly outfitted with the usual Hungarian suffix, -
ol
or
-el
, and so to move becomes
muffol
, to catch
kecsol
, to stop
sztoppol
, to drive
drájvol
, to bum
bomol
, to treat
tretel
, to cash
kesel
or
bekesel
, to lunch
luncsol
, to finish
finishel
, and so on. The Hungarian suffixes for case are attached to all nouns, so that into the room becomes
room-ba
and from the room,
room-bol
. Verbs are outfitted in the same manner,
e.g., fixolni
(to fix),
muvolni
(to move),
shoppingolni
(to shop). The purest form of the infinitive suffix is
-ni, e.g., irni
(to write), but there are variations expressive of repetitions, abilities, etc. Hungarian is extraordinarily rich in inflectional forms, and ideas that would take a sentence in English are expressed by one word,
e.g., megfixolni
(to fix it),
megfixol-tatni
(to get it fixed),
megfixoltathatni
(to be able to get it fixed),
megfixoltathatnánk
(we could get it fixed). In making agent-nouns the agent-suffix,
-os
or
-es
, is usually added either to the borrowed word or to its stem,
e.g., burdos
(boarder),
groszeros
(grocer),
storos
(storekeeper),
bucseros
(butcher) and
szalónos
(saloonkeeper
), but sometimes it is omitted, as in
tícser
(teacher),
pénter
(painter),
feker
(faker),
koszcimer
(customer),
polisz
(policeman),
farmer
(farmer) and
oppretor
(operator). Other nouns are modified in other ways to accord with Hungarian analogues,
e.g., bokszi
(box),
farma
(farm),
majna
(mine),
kéki
(cake),
báré
(bar),
trubli
(trouble); yet others are little changed save in spelling,
e.g., groszeri
(grocery),
londri
(laundry),
dzsél
(jail),
ofisz
(office),
pádé
(party),
csenc
or
csensz
(chance),
szalon
(saloon),
ápsztész
(upstairs),
szvithárt
(sweetheart),
pikcser
(moving-picture),
szuer
(sewer),
piknik
(picnic),
aker
(acre),
bél
(bail),
bézment
(basement),
pléz
(place),
frend
(friend),
só
(show),
baket
(bucket),
páler
(parlor),
bajler
(boiler),
kontri
(country),
kvóder
(quarter),
biznesz
(business),
sztór
(store),
sop
(shop),
rum
(room),
kár
(car),
fíld
(field),
bász
(boss),
peda
(payday),
burdingház
or
burosház
(boarding-house),
jórman
(foreman),
bébi
(baby),
dáli
(dolly),
kendi
(candy).

Many of the common coins of idiom are adopted bodily,
e.g., súr
(sure),
radovéba
(right away),
vatsemetre?
(what’s the matter?),
ó kontri
(old country),
ne vorrizz
(don’t worry),
nevermajnd
(never mind),
ai donker
(I don’t care),
ne baderolj
(don’t bother me),
olrajt
(all right),
daczolrajt
(that’s all right). At other times the idioms are translated,
e.g., óhaza
(old country) and
vegye a vena-tot
(to take the train). Here is a sample conversation in American-Hungarian:

And here are some other specimens: