Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Willzee]

Below is a sentence I wrote by myself and I included in it a term of which the exact meaning I cannot make out. Probably only native English speakers who know their French well can answer this.

"As is her forte, presto change-o, this actress is now already a mother of a few."

My question lies in the suffix "-o". What does the word "change-o" mean? And what is its difference from the word "changes" without this suffix ?

Many thanks to the one who can help me with this one~

[bud]

Willzee, as a technical matter, 'change-o ' would be an alteration of the singular, not the plural. There is no difference in meaning, and it is not really an English word. Even so, it works. We would call this 'poetic license.' It is an interesting way to write/say your thought, and even helps emphasize the quickness of the change from actress to mother. For some reason, English likes the use of two word phrases that rhyme. There are many, many examples.

Good job.

[Willzee]

Thank you, Bud !

Your explaination was very good and helped a lot.

[bud]

Thank you, Willzee!