so I ended up having to force a weird circumlocution
Sorry to derail this a little as I’m aware you’re a native speaker, but you did remind me of my interactions with ESL Germans online, where they’d say “Apologies if my English isn’t great; there are gaps in my vernacular” or something wonderfully eloquent like that, that which always comes off as such a casual flex 😆
I think it’s actually caused by the same thing- I have a broad English vocabulary, but don’t know what sounds most natural in this case.
For another derailment, I had a eureka moment several years ago when I wanted to say “time flies” in a German conversation, but didn’t know if you’d say it exactly the same or say “the time flies,” (it’s actually “time flees” in Latin and die Zeit flieht in German, so I would have been wrong either way), so I just said “tempus fugit” with a German accent and suddenly realized why so many nonnative but super advanced English speakers use the original versions of international phrases (mostly Latin, but also things like “qué será, será,” instead of the same without accents or even “whatever will be, will be,” or “hotelier/hôtelier,” instead of “front desk worker”).
I think it’s actually caused by the same thing- I have a broad English vocabulary, but don’t know what sounds most natural in this case.
For another derailment, I had a eureka moment several years ago when I wanted to say “time flies” in a German conversation, but didn’t know if you’d say it exactly the same or say “the time flies,” (it’s actually “time flees” in Latin and die Zeit flieht in German, so I would have been wrong either way), so I just said “tempus fugit” with a German accent and suddenly realized why so many nonnative but super advanced English speakers use the original versions of international phrases (mostly Latin, but also things like “qué será, será,” instead of the same without accents or even “whatever will be, will be,” or “hotelier/hôtelier,” instead of “front desk worker”).