# BCS:  šmek



## le_p'tit_lapin

Is the word šmek used in Croatian too, or is it more of a Serbian and Bosnian word?


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## sokol

Could you please explain the meaning of the word? Just out of curiousity. 
I suspect that this is a German loan, and quite possibly substandard in all varieties of BCS but probably more common in some than in others.


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## le_p'tit_lapin

I'm actually not clear on the meaning of the word.  I would guess "appeal" or something like that, but I could be wrong.


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## PajaritoSerbio

It's a colloquial word (jargon), which is often used to define something, giving it better qualities. 
For example "Ovaj parfem ima neki poseban šmek." So, šmek would be that certain_ something_ that makes a subject better and unique. It's probably a German loan.


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## Roxannah_

Like the french expression »* je ne sais quois*?


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## PajaritoSerbio

Exactly


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## le_p'tit_lapin

Thanks everyone.  This was very helpful


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## sokol

PajaritoSerbio said:


> It's a colloquial word (jargon), which is often used to define something, giving it better qualities.
> For example "Ovaj parfem ima neki poseban šmek." So, šmek would be that certain_ something_ that makes a subject better and unique. It's probably a German loan.



German "schmecken" means "to taste", so by this meaning you've given (I didn't want to post the German one before so that your judgements on meaning isn't coloured by it ) it is definitely a German loan; however, with both use and meaning changed - while "Schmeck" indeed theoretically would be a noun formed from "schmecken" such a noun does not exist in German, nor could you use it like you do in BCS.


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## PajaritoSerbio

sokol said:


> German "schmecken" means "to taste", so by this meaning you've given (I didn't want to post the German one before so that your judgements on meaning isn't coloured by it ) it is definitely a German loan; however, with both use and meaning changed - while "Schmeck" indeed theoretically would be a noun formed from "schmecken" such a noun does not exist in German, nor could you use it like you do in BCS.


But it's widely used in Serbian, so I don't understand how can someone tell me not to use it? We also loan lots of other words and change them to fit our "needs". I believe this happens in all languages. Language is a living thing and it changes all the time.


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## DenisBiH

sokol said:


> German "schmecken" means "to taste", so by this meaning you've given (I didn't want to post the German one before so that your judgements on meaning isn't coloured by it ) it is definitely a German loan; however, with both use and meaning changed - while "Schmeck" indeed theoretically would be a noun formed from "schmecken" such a noun does not exist in German, nor could you use it like you do in BCS.




Is there a theoretical possibility Schmeck existed in the local usage of Donauschwaben?


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## sokol

PajaritoSerbio said:


> But it's widely used in Serbian, so I don't understand how can someone tell me not to use it? We also loan lots of other words and change them to fit our "needs". I believe this happens in all languages. Language is a living thing and it changes all the time.


Oh, I didn't say that - or, I didn't intend to, sorry for the misunderstanding. 

Concerning language I'm very much a practical men - whatever is used by educated speakers of a language couldn't in all fairness be called "wrong" or "incorrect". 
I only commented on the fact that the word obviously changed its original meaning and that a back-translation to German wouldn't work anymore.


DenisBiH said:


> Is there a theoretical possibility Schmeck existed in the local usage of Donauschwaben?


Theoretically I cannot exclude this possibility - but if so then I guess the change of use and meaning (that is, use of a hypothetical noun "Schmeck" in this meaning) by the Donauschwaben might have been influenced by the fact that they've been isolated from the German area for so long, and/or that they've been influenced by non-German neighbours (Hungarians, BCS-speakers, and others).


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## natasha2000

This word has a very wide meaning. You can say for a perfume (as PajaritoSerbio said) that has šmek, but you also can say for a good-looking guy who knows to find his way with women that he has šmek. Also, there is a noun for such person - šmeker. Sometimes it has even a broader meaning - it means that he is not only good with women, but also with anybody...


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