False friends can be real friends

How is your weekend going ?

I hope you will be enjoying it pretty much. Last week, I wrote an entry about false friends. This week I intend to write a more original post about false friends. As you can remember, false friends are words that have a similar or identical form with words from other languages, but a very different, unexpected meaning. 

However, false friends, as some friends, can have two sides: they have an unexpected meaning, and a similar expected meaning. This is what I am going to analyze today in my post. Some false friends that, in some restricted contents, have the meaning that we expect. 

From : http://www.safetysignsandppe.co.uk/product/temporary-road-sign-diversion-ahead/

Let's begin :

WORD	UNEXPECTED MEANING	SIMILAR MEANING	SENTENCES
Succeed	a) Triumph, get success.	b) To come after another thing in a series (suceder). c) To replace someone (suceder).	a) He succeeded in building a company from scratch (‘tener éxito’). b) The calm succeeded the rain (‘sucedió’). c) Felipe IV succeed king Juan Carlos in the throne of Spain (‘sucedió).
Realize / Realise	a) Notice, become aware of …	b) To make something real.	a) He realized he had forgotten his keys at home. (‘se dio cuenta’) b) He realized his dream of becoming a singer (‘realizó’, ‘cumplió’).
Camp	a) A place where a lot of people sleep together.	b) A place where people are imprisoned with inadequate facilities.	a) My son is in a summer camp (‘campamento’). b) During the War, a lot of Jews were held in concentration camps (‘campos de concentración).
Promotion	a) To improve one’s job, position or salary.	b) A special offer to get consumers to buy a product.	a) There’s a special promotion this week : 3 Kit-Kat for 1 euro (‘promoción’). b) He got the promotion he was waiting for. Now he earns more money a month and works for less hours (‘ascenso’).
Attend	a) To go to or be present in an event.	b) To take care of or look after someone. c) To pay attention.	a) He didn’t attend the meeting because he was sick (‘asistió a’) b)The nurse attended to her patient’s call (‘atendió’). c) You must attend when the teacher is speaking (‘atender’).
Chorus	a) Refrain, part of the song that is repeated.	b) Choir, a group of people singing together.	a) This song is fantastic. I can’t get its chorus out of my head (‘estribillo’) b) The chorus at the church is superb. They have heavenly voices (‘coro’).
Content	a) Substance, ingredients.	b) Happy, satisfied.	a) I like the content of this lasagna (‘contenido’) b) He is content today. His son has just been born (‘contento’)
Condition	a) Illness, health problems.	b) Circumstances. c) State.	a) He has a heart condition (‘illness’). b) I will accept the job only under my conditions (‘condiciones’). c) This house is in a terrible condition (‘condición’, ‘estado’)
Molest	a) To harass someone sexually.	b) To bother, upset of annoy someone.	a) The police caught him when he was molesting the girl (‘acosando sexualmente’). b) Bullies molest their victims at school (‘molestan’).
Support	a) To encourage, to give help.	b) To bear weight, to sustain.	a)  Jane supported Stephen when his mum passed away (‘apoyó’). b) The columns support the building (‘soportan’).
Relative	a) Member of the family.	b) Having to do with, connected with, associated with.	a) He is my relative. I think he is my grand uncle (‘familiar’). b) These were the facts relative to the aggression (‘relativos’).
Casual	a) Informal.	b) By coincidence.	a) He is wearing casual clothes. It’s an unimportant event (‘informal’). b) That was a casual encounter (‘casual’, ‘fortuito’).
Facility	a) A building prepared to provide a given service.	b) Ease, lack of difficulty.	a) The sports centre has great, outstanding facilities to do sport (‘instalaciones’). b) This computer can be used with great facility (‘facilidad’).
Public	a) Private (in education) .	b) Open to all people.	a) He must be rich because he goes to a public school where the tuition fees are outrageous (‘privado’). b) This event is public : everyone can attend (‘público’)
Diversion	a) Detour in a road or lane.	b) Enjoyment or pleasure.	a) This street is closed to traffic, but there’s a diversion on the right (‘desvío’) b) Video games are his favourite diversion (‘diversión’, ‘pasatiempo’).

Well, as you have seen, English can be difficult and contradictory some times. but this  is precisely what makes it a daunting and challenging language, don't you think ?