fburton
Well-Known Member
What do you call that rectangular riding arena thingy? And does it matter?
There have been so many debates over this.
I don't understand what's to debate. Surely you just look in the dictionary and that's the end of the debate? :confused3: You can't argue a word's correct just because you and others used it wrongly for years.
I do so love you..............
There have been so many debates over this. I don't even know if it's been decided if the word is of Italian or French origin yet?
But language changes as it's used. I don't think that it's that unusual for the British to pinch a foreign word, alter it a bit over time and make it their own.
I do so love you..............
Who's Janet? :confused3:
My Dad used to call tack tackle as he misheard it once and wouldn't be corrected. It's a bit like that really.
There was a letter in the BHS magazine stating that it was of Italian origin.
IF there are three people riding at the same time, is it a manège a trois?
Ooh even better. I do quite a lot of off-pista riding. Mainly when my horse pistas off with me...
Hehe - for many years anglophones have called it a menage, in the same way as for many years Americans have called a coupe a coup.
I find it interesting that on this thread some of the people who are vehemently against the correct use of terms for colours in horses, based on the argument that 'we've always called it that so why change', think it is very wrong to use the incorrect term for an arena - oh and vice versa. Neither are that important in the grand scheme of things but I would argue that using the correct terms for a horse's genetic colouring is more important than using the correct term for an arena.
Just to confuse the issue further - A lot of my family are Swiss (in that they were born there and have lived there all their lives), and my one horsey aunt calls it a manege when sh'e speaking French and menage when she's speaking English. I asked her why once and she said it was because she had French and English speaking instructors when she was little and just figured that was how the British pronounced it.