Raisin secs

[nq:1]I've noticed that English tends to have separate nouns for objects, such as, "grapes" and "raisins" whereas French only differentiates between "raisins" ans "raisims secs." Is there any reason for this?[/nq]
We needed special words because of our national motto: "No secs please we're British".
Matti

[nq:1]I've noticed that English tends to have separate nouns for objects, such as, "grapes" and "raisins" whereas French only differentiates between "raisins" ans "raisims secs." Is there any reason for this?[/nq]
There's no system or tendency to it, and it goes in both directions, regardless of the pair of languages. In the particular case of French and English, French has "pingouin" and "man

Yes.

[nq:2]I've noticed that English tends to have separate nouns for ... "raisins" ans "raisims secs." Is there any reason for this?[/nq]
[nq:1]There's no system or tendency to it, and it goes in both directions, regardless of the pair of languages. In ... non-technical speech. French breaks owls down into two categories, "hibou" and "chouette," where ordinary English makes no distinction at all.[

[nq:2]I've noticed that English tends to have separate nouns for ... "raisins" ans "raisims secs." Is there any reason for this?[/nq]
[nq:1]There's no system or tendency to it, and it goes in both directions, regardless of the pair of languages. In ... "emperor penguin", except that most people wouldn't make a point of distinguishing emperor penguins from the others in non-technical speech.[/n

[nq:1]I've noticed that English tends to have separate nouns for objects, such as, "grapes" and "raisins" whereas French only differentiates between "raisins" ans "raisims secs." Is there any reason for this?[/nq]
I don't know the answer to your question, but I do have one observation to make on the subject: English or at least, American English now has a "dried X" version which French does no

[nq:2]There's no system or tendency to it, and it goes ... of distinguishing emperor penguins from the others in non-technical speech.[/nq]
[nq:1]I doubt that any two French speakers will agree with this. My 1950s Petit Larousse says that "pingouin" refers to ... believe that colloquial French would have a special word for one species of penguin. Where did you get this from?[/nq]
Is "abusi

[nq:2]I've noticed that English tends to have separate nouns for ... "raisins" ans "raisims secs." Is there any reason for this?[/nq]
[nq:1]I don't know the answer to your question, but I do have one observation to make on the subject: English or ... attempt is going to be made to rename them in light of the renaming of American prunes as "dried plums."[/nq]
Nu, who's calling prunes "dried

[nq:1]Nu, who's calling prunes "dried plums"?[/nq]
Sunsweet, for example:
http://www.sunsweet.com/gifts.cfm?price=0%2C5
The page cited seems to use both "prunes" and "dried plums" for plain prunes, but prunes with another fruit flavor added are called only "dried plums".

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[nq:2]Another dictionary described the use of "pingouin" to refer to penguins as "abusif", so I guess some people do use it that way.[/nq]
[nq:1]Is "abusif" a faux ami?[/nq]
Apparently. The (oldish) bilingual that I use glosses it 'irregular, improper, contrary to rule or usage; excessive'.

Brian