So

[Bob]

I was talking to my friend the other day when he asked me why ramen noodles are called ramen noodles, since ramen means noodle or something.

Anyone know why?

[caseylim]

base on on chinese , kown as la mien,

la- pull
mien- noodles,
there fore pulled noodles.
The noodles last time are made by pulling and streching the dough of flour. It still have now but not common.

[Bob]

But, i mean, theyre called ramen noodles in america

Not just ramen

[caseylim]

cause it's invented by the japs.

[Bob]

I know, but it translates to pulled noodles noodles

[mikormack]

and a lot of people say "SAT test", what's your point?

no one said english has to make sense.

(for those who are curious, the SAT is the Scholastic Aptitude Test)

[Henjin]

DC Comics.
NIC card.

It happens.

[Alphagirl]

Hmm... I always call it 'Ramen' instead of 'Ramen Noodles' and my boyfriend makes fun of me. :p

[nice gaijin]

I don't know anyone who calls them Ramen noodles... that sounds strange to me.

The word Ramen clearly doesn't sound like "noodles" to someone that doesn't understand the origins of the word, so the extra word in english helps to clarify, just like adding "test" after SAT helps clarify for people who don't know what SAT stands for. Moreover, "ramen noodles" might refer to just the noodles used in ramen, and not the dish itself.

as a side note, do you think you could be a little more descriptive in your thread titles? thanks.

[Mastiker]

Force o' habit. Tricky thing it is, that english language. Soo evil it is as well... evil english... I always refer to it as ramen anyways, without the noodle part, as in "ramen and shrimp" or "ramen and chicken" or "ramen and peanut butter and oreos."... yay cheap food! Anyways, yeah I kinda rambled there.

Further note: Topic titles need to be more specific. "So" kinda confused me when the first post was about ramen noodles and not um... whatever "so" would make into a topic...

[hapacheese]

Ramen != cheap, instant food :(

Top Ramen and all that other stuff is a mere facsimile of the real stuff.

[BigJDiesel20]

The reason people do it is because the Acronym or word losses meaning or has no meaning to the person reading it so they have to put a reminder word at the end to let people know what it means.


AC current - Alternating Current current
ATM machine - Automated Teller Machine machine
DC current - Direct Current current
HIV virus - Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus
IRA account - Individual Retirement Account account
LAN network - Local Area Network network
LCD display - Liquid Crystal Display display
PIN number - Personal Identification Number number
DOS system - Disk Operating System system
GIF format - Graphic Interchange Format format
IBM machines - International Business Machines machines
IRC chat - Internet Relay Chat chat
KFC chicken - Kentucky Fried Chicken chicken
MASH hospital - Mobile Army Surgical Hospital hospital
RAM memory - Random Access Memory memory
ROM memory - Read Only Memory memory
SAT test - Scholastic Assessment (Aptitude) Test test

[Ketay]

Yeah, there's quite a few of those... And then theres also Recursive Acronyms which are infinitely worse (literally).

For example:

PHP stands for "PHP Hypertext Preprocessor", and the PHP in that also stands for that so you end up with "PHP Hypertext Preprocessor Hypertext Preprocessor" and the PHP in that stands for... well... You get the picture.

Languages aren't perfect. ^^ (I want to come up with my own... That would be so much fun, as long as you had friends willing to do it too.)

[akitaka]

Go study marketing. It's all about making the acronym's context somewhat understandable. In this case, though, it's a 'foreign' product. If it was simply called "ramen", then your local Wal-Mart shoppers most likely wouldn't know what crazy stuff was in the package.

[BigJDiesel20]

When i was a kid we used to call Ramen Orental Noddles. I Remember watching Reading Ranbow at school on TV and they took you inside the Factory and showed you how the noddle were made.

Anyway american english tens to adopt words and give them different Connotations. Like when people think Ramen they don't think "pulled noddles". They think that ramen is a type of noddle.

Ex of word given different Connotations

Juggernaut

English Meaning

NOUN:

1.Something, such as a belief or institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion or to which people are ruthlessly sacrificed.
2.An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path: "It doesn't assume that people need necessarily remain passive when confronted by what appears to be the juggernaut of history" (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt).

Jaganntha

Sanskrit Meaning

ETYMOLOGY:
Hindi jagannth, title of Krishna, from Sanskrit jaganntha, lord of the world : jagat, moving, the world (from earlier present participle of jigti, he goes; see gw- in Indo-European roots) + ntha, lord (from nthate, he helps, protects). Senses 1 and 2, from the fact that worshipers have thrown themselves under the wheels of a huge car or wagon on which the idol of Krishna was drawn in an annual procession at Puri in east-central India

[Pierrot le Fou]

It's like when you add 'the' to precede 'la' or 'le' or 'el' something for French or Spanish. For instance, "The la chupacabra" or somesuch. It has to do with making the English seem 'right' even lacking the language skills in the language it comes from. And even in Japanese, the word 'Ramen' is written in Katakana, and while everyone knows it's noodles, they don't use the Kanji for it.

[Excel-2008]

base on on chinese , kown as la mien,

la- pull
mien- noodles,
there fore pulled noodles.
The noodles last time are made by pulling and streching the dough of flour. It still have now but not common.
Watch this ramen commercial and you'll see more behind this meaning.
http://rapidshare.de/files/5066842/Nissin.avi.html

By the way, that's a very educated avatar, Mastiker.