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Beamer

Language Log 2024-11-28

Someone recently wrote to tell me that he had:

…constructed a linguistic theoretical framework based on the principle of "one-to-one correspondence between Chinese characters or symbols and their semantics", aiming to explore the mathematical basis of language symbol structure, semantic relationships, and context adaptation.

It was a longish communication and all in Chinese except for one word.  He said that he had a 50-page "Beamer" presentation that he wanted to show me to convince me of the worthiness of his project.  "Beamer" was the only word in his message that I couldn't understand.  So I google it, and AIO instantaneously returned the following:

The word beamer has multiple meanings, including:

Cricket: A dangerous type of delivery where the ball is bowled over the batsman's waist without bouncing. This can injure the batsman, and the bowler is penalized with a no-ball and a free hit in some matches. Data projector: A device that projects a person's images in a circle around them.

BMW nickname: A nickname for the BMW automobile. BMWs are also known as "Bimmers" or "Beemers". In China, BMWs are also called "bao-ma", which translates to "precious horse".

LaTeX class: A class for creating presentations and slides in LaTeX. Beamer presentations support features like incremental content, 2-column layouts, and customizable column layouts.

Machine: A machine that winds yarn or cloth on a beam.

Operator: The operator of a machine that winds yarn or cloth on a beam.

Leather worker: A leather worker who uses a beaming knife to remove flesh and hair from wet hides.

Bone implement: A bone implement with cutting and scraping edges that is found in Mississippi sites and in later cultural stages of the southwestern U.S.

I followed up on AIO's suggestions by googling on La/TeX, and this is what I found:

Beamer is a LaTeX document class for creating presentation slides, with a wide range of templates and a set of features for making slideshow effects.

It supports pdfLaTeX, LaTeX + dvips, LuaLaTeX and XeLaTeX. The name is taken from the German word "Beamer" as a pseudo-anglicism for "video projector".

(Wikipedia)

I love the word "Beamer", and all such German-English words, e.g., "handy" for cell-phone.

Again, AIO:

The German word for "cell phone" is handy. The word is related to the German word for "hand", die Hand, as you hold a cell phone in your hand. To ask someone for their phone number, you would say "Gib mir bitte deine Handynummer". The term handy is not unique to German, and is also used in other languages, including Japanese and in some parts of continental Europe. The term may have originated from the Motorola HT 220 Handie Talkie, a walkie-talkie used during World War II.

German "Beamer" and "handy" remind me of Japanese wasei-eigo, not to be confused with gairaigo ("loanwords", i.e., "words from abroad"):

Wasei-eigo (和製英語, meaning "Japanese-made English", from "wasei" (Japanese made) and "eigo" (English), in other words, "English words coined in Japan") are Japanese-language expressions that are based on English words, or on parts of English phrases, but do not exist in standard English, or do not have the meanings that they have in standard English. In linguistics, they are classified as pseudo-loanwords or pseudo-anglicisms.

Definition and examples

Wasei-eigo words, compound words and portmanteaus are constructed by Japanese speakers on the basis of loanwords derived from English and embedded into the Japanese lexicon with refashioned, novel meanings diverging significantly from the originals.[1]: 124 

An example is handorukīpā (ハンドルキーパー, "handle-keeper"), derived from "handle" with the meaning of "steering wheel", with the full phrase meaning designated driver.[2] Some wasei-eigo terms are not recognizable as English words in English-speaking countries; one example is sukinshippu (スキンシップ, "skinship"), which refers to physical contact between close friends or loved ones and appears to be a portmanteau of skin and kinship . In other cases, a word may simply have gained a slightly different meaning; for instance, kanningu (カンニング) does not mean "cunning", but "cheating" (on an academic test). Some wasei-eigo are subsequently borrowed from Japanese into other languages, including English itself.

(Wikipedia)

Americans are fond of making up our own Denglish and Wasei-eigo style words, e.g., "walkie-talkie".

 

Selected readings