English is tricky per se…

Some girl (http://journals.aol.com/jackiebenice/blah/) who keeps her identity secret was complaining yesterday:

I need to go shopping. New shoes, new shirts, new pants. Nothing girly persay, just new stuff. Since I got my job, I haven't went clothes shopping. Which is odd, because before I got a job, all I thought about was ' Omg when I get a job I can buy all the clothes I want!!" However, because of the job, all I do wear is work clothes, or PJS and I don't have time to go buy anything.

I guess it is quite easy. But one word looks really strange. Have a look at the second sentence: „Nothing girly persay, just new stuff.“ What the heck is that word „persay“? I couldn't find it. Luckily, there's one amazing web site called Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/). I opened it and it didn't fail:

persay = an incorrect spelling of “per se”, something you say at the end of a sentence to sound intelligent.

per se = samo sebou, samo o sobě (from Latin, used meaning 'by itself' to show that you are referring to sth on its own, rather than in connection with other things)

The problem is that “per se” is pronounced the same way like “per say” and if someone doesn't know anything about its Latin origin then they spell it wrong.

English is tricky per se, and when some of native speakers can't spell properly one gets pretty confused.

Do you still miss the Czech translation? OK, here you are:

Musím jít nakupovat. Nové boty, nové sukně, nové kalhoty. Nic holčičího, samo sebou, prostě nové věci. Od té doby, co jsem dostala práci, jsem nebyla (nešla) nakupovat oblečení. Což je zvláštní, protože před tím, než jsem práci dostala, jediné, nač jsem myslela, bylo “O, můj Bože, když dostanu práci, budu si moct koupit všechny ty šaty, které chci!” Nicméně, kvůli té práci jediné, co opravdu nosím, jsou pracovní šaty nebo pyžamo, a nemám čas jít si cokoliv koupit.