Open Thread – Strictly Prohibited
Anchorage Assemblyman Mike Guttierez is at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, that lucky duck. Don’t worry, he still phoned in to the Assembly meeting last Tuesday so he wouldn’t miss out on all the real excitement.
Here’s a picture he snapped of some of the prohibited things at the games.
All in all, not a bad list. And I love the fact that the Canadians allow exceptions to the liquid/gel rule, unlike certain others who shall remain nameless *cough cough TSA cough cough* that make you throw away baby formula, and tooth paste, and the bottle of water you just bought.
So Sarah Palin who be prohibited from attending based on 2 of the 4 things on the list.
Good call by the Canadians!!
Unfortunately, they misspelled “willful.” But, that’s something Sarah would understand!
Lots to read on the AK related blogs.
sunnyjane, the Canadians use English spelling to spell … English.
Sunnyjane, with all due respect, “wilful” is the variant spelling of the adjective, and is in common usage in Canada. Note that we also spell “colour” properly, and the last letter of the alphabet is “zed.”
Wilful | Define Wilful at Dictionary.com
1. deliberate, voluntary, or intentional: The coroner ruled the death willful murder. 2. unreasonably stubborn or headstrong; self-willed. Also, wilful. …
dictionary.reference.com/browse/wilful
It’s a spelling more widely expected in countries where British English is spoken and written, I’ll admit.
sledding sports, Canadians are being true to their ideals of being polite, and letting the guests come in first.
i watched a bit of the women’s downhill (big g) and am amazed at the fearlessness of these gals. breathtaking.
@Reelcanajun (#4)
We in Australia also spell ‘colour’ correctly and our alphabet also ends with a ‘zed’ not a ‘zee’.
Do you spell ‘theatre’ or ‘theater’ in Canada ?
Sarah can see the Olympics from her house. Too bad it’s not on FOX or she could have watched it in her bedroom, while she eats dinner and texts downstairs to see how Piper’s doing with the retarded one.
ENOUGH, I agree with you! I love to watch these athletes, all of them, from all over the world. They are committed to their sports, fearless, and want only to surpass their own “personal bests”. Back in my youth, as a ski racer, I knew that I’d never have the Olympic talent. I wasn’t fearless or hungry enough, and so knowing what it does take, I admire it all. I’m in my seventh decade, and still feel a tremendous thrill when each of these wonderful young people enters the starting gate. It’s beyond politics or country; it’s a celebration of what the human body and psyche can endure. Cheer on, fellow humans, and enjoy!
Zim, from Oz, It’s spelt “theatre”! Do you think we’re uncivilized here, north of 60?
grey=gray
colour-color
judgement=judgment
wilful=willful
Many spelling idiosyncrasies and variants between British-style and American-style “English.” Language is a living thing, constantly evolving, and I love to play with it and learn many tongues. Isn’t it grand? or maybe I’m just a word nerd…
The last time I flew on an airplane in the US, TSA confiscated my still-wrapped snack-pack of 6 Oreo cookies…because the filling was considered to be “gel.” !!!???!!! Really! Oh, my, watch out for thatcrowwoman, the Jewish-librarian-Union activist and her terrorist cookies! Imagine if they had been the Double-Stuff Oreos…I could still be in interrogation. Oy vey.
Bet the Canadians(=Canadiens ?) would have granted me an exception and let me travel with my cookies.
JCos, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: $P squanders her many blessings. Such a waste for her. Such a crying shame for her children and grandchildren. I have little sympathy for her, but my heart breaks for Piper and the little boys.
@Reelcanajun (#11)
Oh Yay ! You North of 60 are truly civilized. (I have a great friend in Canada)
It is past midnight here in Melbourne (Aus) so I bid you all ‘Good night’
I’ll catch up in the morrow.
Good morning all! I love words and spelling! And I love the Winter Olympics.
Much as I love Canada, they aren’t too swift with the security checkpoints. They let me through with a knife in my purse, and that was shortly after 9/11.
Trust me, it’ll all change the first time they get attacked. *knocks on wood*
I’ve actually never had a problem getting my contact lens solution though. I have hard lenses, so my bottles aren’t those ultra behemoth saline size bottles, but I think technically they’re too big.
I can’t believe they took away unopened Oreos. Musta been hungry.
Would you say this is the “Queen’s) English?
Good Morning, to all you language lovers! You just made my day, and it is still fairly early!
I agree, all languages are alive with not merely changes in spellings, but also generational changes in meanings. Those changes make visits to other regions difficult at times, but also entertaining. I have found that a sense of humo(u)r is essential when travel(l)ing if one is to avoid
judg(e)ment of other cultures’ terminologies within their own ever evolving traditions.
While this certainly applies to the almost worldwide use of English, many of the variations of the “Queen’s English” in foreign countries are easier to understand than the dialects spoken only few miles away from Buckingham Palace in East End London. Never mind Suffolk, Norfolk, and the rest of the British Isles. The same goes for Germany, where the common language is “Hochdeutsch” (high german), but where the local dialects vary enormously within a span of a few kilometers according to ancient tribal territories. Those of us from the North Sea coastal areas have absolutely no idea of what the local Bavarians who live in the Alps are talking about. Come to think of it, we do not even understand the “Friesen” dialects, which are split between East and North Fresians, and Helgoland Island a few miles off the coast, all of which are still capable of speaking their ancient tongues.
Most countries who have evolved from ancient tribal roots maintain a multitude of language variants in their personal discourse. English, in all its variations, is by necessity the new world language, for it is the language of technology, not merely the one of conquest of any single dominant nation. Though colonialism of course must be factored into the equation.
OK, enough of the rant. Thank you all for kicking my thoughts into gear!
Oh, here is an afterthought: My school french is rusty, but I have found that the “Quebeqouis” version is quite at variance from the officially taught french.
Not sure if this is merely a reflection of having forgotten too much of the old lessons… enlighten me!
Coolest NASA Photo Ever?
http://tinyurl.com/yeynyhs
TSA employees vary from airport to airport. I was amazed when all this started at how different airport security was from place to place. And, it still is.
Some airports seem to hire the surliest people they can find, and apparently they give rewards to those who outdo themselves on the grouch scale, as well as confiscating the oddest things.
Others are as nice as nice can be! Going out of their way to help you along and knowing their business! I have to say, the people at the Anchorage Airport were at the top of the nice scale, and I wrote a letter to the TSA and told them.
Oh, and about French? When we are in Paris I am okay. But, we have friends in the Way-South of France, and nobody but nobody there speaks the French I understand! I think it is neat. I bumble along, and seem to find someone who can help with whatever I need.
@WakeUpAmerica, I wouldn’t be too hard on the Canadian security. US security let me through 4 airports with my multipurpose tool (complete with good-sized knife) before catching it at the 5th, and then letting me keep it. (I had forgotten it was in my purse.)
I returned home from the last trip to find a note saying they had searched my checked bag, which would have been fine, except that I had very carefully packed my traveling computer printer with clothes on both sides and the ends to prevent damage, and they just threw it in on top when they were done. My small laptop bag won’t hold it, the big one won’t fit under the seat, there’s no roomy overhead compartment on the little planes, and they are complaining about how full they are on the big ones. Besides, it’s one less thing I have to cart through airports and unpack and repack at the checkpoints.
My observations of TSA’s operations have not made me feel the least bit safer, and it bothers me to think about what we pay to have them stand around doing nothing for good parts of the day at smaller airports. I have watched TSA do cursory searches of both my carry-on and checked baggage. I have waited at the gate at the front of the line for up to 10 minutes before they even noticed I was there, and could have gotten all the way through unnoticed. I’ve watched them leaving checked bags unattended within public reach with their backs to them and attention elsewhere. And yet, they would confiscate Oreos and a half-full 4 oz bottle of very expensive facial cream and tell us we’re somehow safer because of it. (The lady with the face cream was desperately trying to explain that half of 4 ounces was the 2 ounces allowed, but the TSA agent wasn’t having much luck with the math.) I miss the days of not having to be at the airport so long before flight time, and of being able to sit with loved ones while waiting, and am wondering what TSA has really caught in screening that makes all the inconvenience worthwhile.
The Canadians are wilful about their spelling. USers are willful. My Mac spellchecker says willful. But that doesn’t make it so across the border. Canada is not an extension of the US, and they get darned sick of being thought of that way. There are many other distinct differences. We know of Canadians who have retired to the Mediterranean and return to Canada in wintertime…for the love of hockey! Check out the Group of Seven artists. Notice how Canadian agriculture pushes right up to the southern border, while across the Great Lakes the northern states have forsaken that same land. And what about the joys of socialized medicine!
You can go into Appalachia and find early forms of “English” there, although not as strong as in the past. Actually, most of those settlers were not English themselves, but Scots, Scots/Irish, etc. Much of that dialect I’ve heard, even in the foothills of NC where I live now and where while standard English is taught, it’s not always observed orally. A lot of southerners talk this way, and are more influenced by Appalachian English than by Black English since there was very little of the slave trade in that area.
My own grandmother used a variety of these colloquialisms, such as “She is kindly skinny” (for “kind of”), usage of “h” in front of common words like “ain’t” (itself a form of “am not”), use of an intruding “R” as in “I’m going to get me a warsh up (wash)”, or in words like “piano” as “pianer”, etc. Other relatives spoke the same way. I expect I used them myself as a young child when we lived in Charlotte. Of course, I corrected myself mightily when my dad moved us to Buffalo, NY when I was 7 and I took a verbal beating from the other kids over my accent, which I quickly lost, and, during my HS years, took speaking “correct” English very seriously.
Spelling color vs colour correctly simply depends on where you live.But here in the US we spell “spelled “correctly.
Spelt is a grain.
I don’t think there is one single evangelical Conservative politician who isn’t filled with hate and anger. I’ve never seen Rep. Mike Pence before today on Meet the Press but the first second I saw his face I knew this guy was going to end up being one of them. His vibe is so flippin’ dark. Desert Mudpuppy @20 – that photo was a nice tonic after watching Pence and his nastiness.
Govs Rendell and Schwarzenegger are on This Week and are having a rational and mature discussion. There’s no yelling, no blathering talking points and they both have some good ideas. On top of that they seem to actually be listening to each other. Ahhhhh..
And we spell humour…well…and that was my point!
I thought that spelt was very humorous,LOL. I have always loved that word.
I never ‘tyre’ of word play. Or, is that spelling just used for those 4 round thingies on a car?
Years ago, I had a 6th grade student who would be in the U.S. for about a year. She was from the U.K.
I told her that when it came to spelling tests, I would accept either spelling. I figured that she could determine which version would work the best for her.
Have to laugh, should have known . . .
I looked up Wilfull before reading all the comments. I could have saved the time. So Theatre instead of Theater. Here in the Northeast of the US, we use both. So are we wilfully civilized?
Grandma68 -
I’ve spent some time in rural parts of Louisiana and had to politely ask , ” Could you repeat that please ” Along with the southern drawl , they have their own patois. And boy , do they know how to party !!
“laissez les bon temps rouler !”
ValleyIndependent Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 7:03 AM
__________
Is the TSA still largely privatized? That would explain a lot. How can they expect to find much more than warm bodies for little pay? Still, that doesn’t explain the poor supervision and training.
If I remember correctly,theour/or thing is accounted for by the fact that most of the words derived from French that use the silent “u”. in our have been reduced to “ur” in the US .But those that were derived from Scotland were not.Very strange.
I used to live in Appalachia.It may be that the school books are simply so old that they retain those spellings!!
I now live in Louisiana and I have to tell you the Cajun dialect is the most beautiful sound in the world . I don’t always know what was said,but who cares,its like some sort of soft,beautiful precious gems rolling off the tongue and being shared with you.
austintx Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 7:53 AM
There are several types of southerners in the south and accents do vary from region to region, just like up north and in other parts of the country. : )
And don’t forget, isn’t LA is largely a Catholic state, too, unlike the rigid Calvinists in other parts of the south?
Woops, typing too fast. : )
I find it amazing that many people here do not know that the French part of the Cajun patois comes from Canada,not France.
As long as everyone is trading flying-and-security stories, I will tell mine. I was returning to the US from Europe, via an airline owned and operated by a European country. (I really don’t want to identify them). Because of the underpants guy, we went through a very tough screening, no shoes, no jackets, no sweaters, which wasn’t the rule previously. Then, I was patted down (felt up) by a female attendant, every carry one bag was searched, including the purchases at duty-free which had been security sealed. There were also those usual questions about having the luggage in my possession at all times, and no, nobody gave me anything to carry on to the airplane.
I would have felt much relieved in my seat near the front of the plane (paid for with millage upgrades; I’m not that rich!). Then, I had to use the facilities, and I headed towards the toilet at the front of the plane. I was astounded to see the door to the cockpit open, and one of the uniformed guys was carrying on quite a conversation with the flight attendants in the galley right next to the open door. Well, we had all been just screened, so we had to be all right, right?
@19 from the diagonal
Quebecois French is creature all its own. So is Acadian French. The people came from different areas of France, but also came at different times. Remember, the French settlers were pretty much cut off from their home languages in the early days of difficult travel and little transatlantic communication. The languages simply evolved as needed, adding new words to describe the new world around them, but also preserved some words that did not survive in the Parisian dialect.
@35 mommom
Of course the Acadian “grand derangement” (translates to great expulsion) by the British is the source for Cajun French. That was another instance of the fracturing of the language as it is spoken in North America. ‘Cajuns’ still come “home” every year to celebrate their heritage at the Congres Acadien and enjoy family reunions.
I do love to play with languages: the words, the idioms, the dialects and accents. I’ve always had that keen crow hearing, and those mimicry skills, also, too. Very useful for this storyteller.
When Littlebird was very young, she didn’t like my Story Voices. “No, mama, no! Use your Regular Voice!” When her little friends asked me to tell them stories, she began to accept Mama’s Story Voices.
Most students respond quite favo(u)rably to my many voices, especially when I address them by name. I can almost guarantee a smile, even if it starts with that eye-roll-ey tongue-suck-ey heavy sigh-ey thing that teenagers are so good at. Laughter breaks down lots of barriers and opens the door to building relationships, building community.
rambling again…another flight of fancy
*snapping out of it*
Sunday morning in the forest and many chores await, so I wish you all a lovely day.
*muttering: laundry, dishes, putter around the forest (prune the deadwood from the Big Freeze), lunch!, check the calendar to plan the week ahead, Nap. Life is good.*
Salud, Mommom. How many know the famous Cajun (Acadian) classic, “Evangeline”?, or or the great migration from Acadia to Louisianna?
We share a great history with our neighbours to the south (as well as the longest undefended border in the world…almost!) Differences in spelling aside, and back to the basic premise of this thread, Canadians do welcome all to the Olympics, in spite of differences in spelling, and our concern with security is more about keeping too much liquid alcohol out of the venue than with explosives. Hence the fact that today many of the liquor stores in Vancouver have been ordered shut down prior to the USA/Canada hockey game tonight!
BuffaloGal
“… the first second I saw his face I knew this guy was going to end up being one of them. His vibe is so flippin’ dark.”
I’m relieved to hear someone else say that. I didn’t see Pence, but I share your sense of their dark energy in general. I’ve always been sensitive to those undercurrents, and have always felt repelled by the energy of Fundies. My first impression of The Grifter was that she was “a shining ray of darkness” – difficult even to look at her eyes. The Fundies are unconvincing ambassadors for the religion they follow – it is obviously not a religion that brings peace to its adherents.
Mommon, I might add that “spelt” is the past participle of the verb “spell.”
My mother uses it all the time. However, I do grind and use spelt in my own home made bread, as well.
We’ve hit on one of my favorite subjects…language (go figure, I’m a Spanish teacher). I work in one of the city neighborhoods here in Pittsburgh, and I love walking around listening to the different languages and accents. I never understand communities that pass “English only” laws. They don’t realize the richness that other languages contribute to a society. Not to mention what is to me the biggest bonus: by being exposed to other languages, you can ALWAYS learn something.
Randoms thoughts: 1) I always prefer “theatre”
2) growing up in Western PA we always said, “I need to RED up the house” !!!
3) I’ve had my yogurt taken by TSA. I really wouldn’t mind any of it, if it really meant we were safer. But taking cookies and yogurt seems like foolishness.
4) In Mexico they let you take water, pop, etc. through security to the gate. It makes so much more sense, since you’ll likely be sitting at the gate an hour or more. Of course you can’t take liquid on the plane, but at least you can have something to drink while you wait.
4 Reelcanajun Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 4:31 AM
Sunnyjane, with all due respect, “wilful” is the variant spelling of the adjective, and is in common usage in Canada. Note that we also spell “colour” properly, and the last letter of the alphabet is “zed.”
I grew up in Texas spelling colour and behaviour and such. My fingers still do but my spell check doesn’t.
@ Desert Mudpup Says:
Coolest NASA Photo Ever?
It cracks me up to see the same braided stainless plumbing lines that I have under the vanity, up there!
@ laprofesora Says:
2) growing up in Western PA we always said, “I need to RED up the house” !!!
I was just at a Pittsburghese site last night.
“Ask not wah yinzes country can do fer you n’at. Ask wah yinz can do fer yinzes country”
-JFK (translated)
I ♥ yinzers.
15 WakeUpAmerica Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 5:52 AM
Much as I love Canada, they aren’t too swift with the security checkpoints. They let me through with a knife in my purse, and that was shortly after 9/11.
But then nobody in the world hates Canada or Canadians the way so many hate the USA. So they really don’t have the same problem we do.
From the Diagonal-
The story on Quebecois French as I was told as a kid is that Quebec was settled as New France between 1534 and 1759 when they finally lost the 7 years war and became part of Canada. The core settlers became isolated from language evolution in France, so the roots of Quebois are archaic. (Fellow Canadians, if this is wrong, please correct it.) Simlarly pockets of settlement in the maritime provinces retained bits of Gaelic, etc.
I grew up in Alberta, which was settled in the 1900s by waves of immigration. The land was surveyed in bands across from east to west and progressing northward. Once the survey was in, immigrants would be recruited by an advertising campaign from a target country- one of the advertisers was the cross-country train that sometimes sold a bundle- family fare from the Atlantic coast, a quarter section of land and a small cabin dropped off a freight car for the new Canadian family.
My English maternal grandparents came in 1904 and homesteaded in the extreme south of the province. My Irish father’s family spent a genaration in Ontario before coming to Alberta in 1920 and homesteaded in the band about 200 miles further north, which was mostly mid-European German, Polish, etc.
200 miles further north began a Russian-Ukrainian band.
All of the bands had their language of origin as their primary language as well as different cultural and skill sets. Television is probably the biggest leveller of language here.
So the French in Quebec differs from “school French?” And Cajun French differs from school French and probably from French in Quebec, etc. Reelcanajun: where are you in Canada. Are you Cajun?
Oops- Quebecois.
Hi Problem Child- you covered it while I was looking up the date of the Plains of Abraham.
La Reine de protection sociale?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/granny-palin-overcomes-he_b_470297.html
sage: LOVE it! No translation needed!
laprofesora and Sage
___________________________________________________________________
And in all my 50 years in PA, I thought it was “spelt” “youns”!!!!
Actually, I think it does come North from the Southern Appalachians and there is was a contraction of “you ones”.
There used to be signs posted in pubs (beer parlous) and lounges that any discussion of religion and/or politics was strictly forbidden.
It is generally still a rule of thumb.
NEVER ask a person about their personal finances, politics, or religion.
Really, it’s NONE of your business, extremely rude and where there is alcohol involved or large crowds it only leads to violence.
#51 BigPete,
La Reine de protection sociale?
Nope.
La Reine de protection de hypocritical moosesh:t.
30 austintx Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 7:53 AM
Grandma68 -
I’ve spent some time in rural parts of Louisiana and had to politely ask , ” Could you repeat that please ” Along with the southern drawl , they have their own patois.
Most really rural areas do develope their own idiom.
I spent half my life in north central Texas and there were people from the more rural areas that I had great difficulty understanding. Presumably we had the same N. Tx accent and vocabulary, but only sort of.
I knew one family that had evolved their own language – kind of a N Tx-Pig Latin. It was amazing to listen to them talking with each other. Pig Latin with a nasal N Texas drawl! Couldn’t understand a word.
Was recently in Down East Maine for about 3 years. I was eating in a teriffic sandwich shop (there are lots of great eateries there that are part of the filling stations) and was hearing a grandmother and grand son type of couple having a conversation and could not understand one single word. It was obviously Down East speak but was way over my head.
Considering how dumbed down and expression less TeeVee has made our language, I am kind of glad there are pockets of much more colorful, and more descriptive idioms still hanging in.
I love the reverse inflection that both Jewish and southern self deprecating humor have. It makes their humor both more subtle and more fun, and they each have their own vocabulary.
Actually, a bit of everything. I’m from a Francophone community in north-eastern Alberta. Emphasis on Francophone. Don’t confuse me with a red-neck, pick-up drivin’, snow-mobilin’, oil-drillin’, Palin lovin’ conservative, please. Leave that to the rest of the oilfield trash! I’m certainly more Canajun than I am Albertan.
Here in Ireland we put colourful tyres on our grey cars cos we have a sense of humour. Also too, we love the theatre but we do not like wilfully ignorant fools who write “Hi Mom” on their palms…we write “Hi Mum.”
I hope I haven’t misspelt any words, been on the flats too long and it does get confusing.
Back in the early 80s I delivered motor homes all over the U.S. One trip took me to New Orleans, which down there is Nawlens. After crossing the big bridge over Lake (I can never spell this), so with me it’s Ponchatrain, I stopped at the first car lot I saw to get directions. The guy told me to go to Dahlman St.
I had to ask him 3 times, Dahmun? Dollman? Finally I asked him to spell it.
D-o-w-m-a-n St. Glad I asked, I’d have been wandering around Nawlens forever.
I had a nine hour wait to catch the first bus north. So jumped in a cab & headed to Bourbon St. What a great time.
The people were wonderful & so much fun. And yes, I also too love their accents. Even tho they made fun of me because down there, I was the one with an accent.
It looks as if Canada means to keep out American teabaggers, the entire GOP, and viewers of FauxNews. Good on the Canadians.
I am enjoying this OT language discussion! I didn’t consciously realize that my spelling quandaries often come from learning the Queen’s English in BC for 18 years and then learning the American English version of same word in the US (Colorado, California, Washington). While the two versions are similar, it wasn’t until I say the grey/gray comparison here that I realized that the difference in spelling is related to Canadian vs American English. I just kinda wondered why the word was spelled two ways in American English. Silly me!
I remember shopping with a girlfriend many years ago and I asked that she please get some serviettes. She was totally mystified and finally had to ask what I really wanted. I said that we need napkins – she went and got some feminine products
We still laugh about that incident. [note: serviettes are table napkins, as my husband often says, "rolled linen"].
I too, also, love words and language. Thanks for the fun start to the day.
Wow! I just caught the tail end of a paid program – something about the Coral Ridge Hour. It appears to be a hate fest against President Obama rolled into a religious program. How can this be on TV? Has anyone else seen this and have a better understanding than I as to what it purports to be?
Gave me the willies, the heebie jeebies.
Wow, check out the ass-kicking comments in this Juneau Empire article about Murkowski and Sealaska’s land selections:
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/021910/loc_565024374.shtml
Seems to be classic case of a corporation versus its own shareholders and the public, in collusion with elected representatives Albert Kookesh and Lisa Murkowski.
Al Kookesh as Luca Brasi – nice:
http://oneceltsview.blogspot.com/2010/01/senator-al-kookesh-luca-brasi-of.html
Yes, I also, too, love words & language. Back in school, many decades ago, I was a straight A English/ spelling girl. My best friend & I like to make up our own words, like gription, you know, when your car is stuck & you can’t get any gription?
gray = color
grey = colour
#62, Yes 1smart, The Coral Ridge Hour is on here every Sun. Yikes, I don’t have the stomach for it. Just as creepy is The James Kennedy Hour. Vomital.
Good one, Smooch!
59 sdragon Says: February 21st, 2010 at 9:46 AM Back in the early 80s I delivered motor homes all over the U.S. One trip took me to New Orleans, which down there is Nawlens. After crossing the big bridge over Lake (I can never spell this), so with me it’s Ponchatrain, I stopped at the first car lot I saw to get directions. The guy told me to go to Dahlman St. I had to ask him 3 times, Dahmun? Dollman? Finally I asked him to spell it.D-o-w-m-a-n St. Glad I asked, I’d have been wandering around Nawlens forever. I had a nine hour wait to catch the first bus north. So jumped in a cab & headed to Bourbon St. What a great time. The people were wonderful & so much fun. And yes, I also too love their accents. Even tho they made fun of me because down there, I was the one with an accent.
—-
I’m from CA and when I moved to NY, I had HUGE problems trying to understand the directions to get on the NJ Turnpike from the rental car agency at Newark to drive to Philadelphia. I swear I was talking to people from a different planet. Trying to get from the parking garage near the Philly Stock Exchange back to the NJ Turnpike was just as bad.
I’ve had better luck in the Basque area in France in getting directions, and I don’t know Basque!
On the TSA, having flown over 400 flights post 9/11, it’ll make you insane how ridiculous the whole process is. I also have been felt up by a woman, touching the underwires and hooks on my bra and asking what they were. WTF do you think they are?!?! You are wearing a bra! Should I take off my shirt?
I try not to fly any more after all the stupidity I’ve witnessed. I used to love to travel, but now it’s just become a way to irritate law-abiding people.
On a happy note, the Canadians are a class act, and the US would do well to learn from them.
For those of you with French heritage, I would like to share a bit of language trivia and common history that most people don’t know. I am an interpreter for the deaf and also teach American Sign Language (ASL) which, contrary to what most people would think, actually comes from French Sign Language (thank you very much!).
In the early 1800s, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, an American minister, brought Laurent Clerc, a young sign language teacher from Paris, to the US. The two of them developed what is now American Sign Language from the sign language used by the French. Prior to that, deaf people around the US had their own local languages and could not communicate with each other. In 1817, the first school for the deaf was established in Hartford, CT and used ASL. Students from this school spread throughout the country, bringing the new sign language with them.
British Sign Language is a completely different language and uses a two-handed alphabet instead of the one-handed alphabet used by French Sign Language and ASL. Interestingly, Irish Sign Language is also derived from French, not British (I have no idea why) so deaf people in Northern Ireland use a different language (BSL) than those in the Republic, although many know both. Deaf people from Great Britain brought their sign language to Australia but those in Canada use American Sign Language. I’ve been lucky enough to have deaf friends from Belfast and Waterford who taught me the Irish and British alphabets and they were excited to learn some ASL from me.
I also met a deaf woman from the Dominican Republic years ago. Although she spoke only Spanish, she signed in American Sign Language. It was quite interesting to have a conversation with her, with three languages (English, Spanish and ASL) happening simultaneously!
Although deaf people from different countries use different sign languages, most sign languages rely a great deal on gesture and facial expression, so deaf people often have a much easier time than hearing people making themselves understood to others, even if their sign languages are completely different.
This sign should be posted at all Anchorage assembly meetings. Especially those in which the public is invited to voice their opinions on various proposed ordinances.
Irishgirl,
You probably keep those coloured tyres in the boot, the engine under the bonnet, and tuck your cacks into your Wellies.
Unless you were mangled in the battle cruiser, down on your hunkers whilst gawkin’, you had your puss in the bog and dropped your fag. You then be left with a duck’s arse, which is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
It’d be enough to make you right narky!
Sláinte!
Gasman, you crack me up!
Irishgirl, I love to hear the Irish & Scots talk. I always giggle a little when I hear the word arse.
the Aussies also, too. It took me awhile, duh, to figure out that they use the long i in place of the long a, like mite insead of mate.
Newfies. If there is one dialect that Irishgirl would unnerstan, it’s that of the Newfies. Thave invaded nordernalberta, now dat the codfisherie’s been destroid, in serch of dablacgold. Ders more Newfies in Nordernalberta dan ther’s Nordernalberdan’s!!! Infac, der’s now more Nerfies in FtMac than there is Albertans!! Laird, t’hnernJesus, der’s more Newfies in FortMac than there is herrin’ inde’ bay!!
sdragon I had heard that term years ago in NewHampshire when i was logging. A co feller-who was also a fella, would say “if you aint got gription you got sliption and thats a grave wastisis puutneerz i kun tell”
1smartcanerican
From their website, this is typical of the books/DVDs available. The Christian radicals have really gone wild on the Socialist meme, and I think Max Blumenthal covered that in Republican Gomorrah. They know that socialism will lead to people being invested in their gov’t, and that is a direct obstacle to the power grab they have their sights set on. Basically, their aim is to destroy all but the core of gov’t (thus the small government meme) and empower the church by delegating all social services to it. The x-tian colleges, too, include indoctrination in the evils of socialism in the foundation of their curricula. My question is – How does a movement this blatantly political qualify as a church?
Radical Rulers And The Obama White House Radicals
Robert Knight And Coral Ridge Ministries
America has come under the rule of the most radical administration in our nation’s history. In this explosive new book, journalist Robert Knight identifies more than a dozen White House appointees (plus President Obama) who are all working to bring extreme change to America. The Obama team’s far left ideology means a government takeover of healthcare, soaring budget deficits, redistribution of wealth, forcing taxpayers to subsidize abortions, punitive energy and environmental rules, restrictions on free speech, a push to mainstream homosexuality, and much more.
And it’s only $40.
#67 nwsfm, Oh yea, the East speak. Again, on one of my trips, I was in a bar sitting next to a guy. I asked where his accent came from, as I always do. He told me Rhode Island. He really had that Eastern accent.
I’m with you, I won’t fly. We’re leaving for vacation on the 1st to St. George Island, we will be driving.
One thing I learned while delivering R.V.s is that you can get anywhere in the lower 48 in less than 24 hrs.
Of course, I’m not 28 now, so we will stop & sleep somewhere along the way.
#72 AKjah, sliption, I love it!
Oh, what fun! There are just too many funny, informative and thought provoking posts to which I would like to reply. You are the best! Instead
I shall just have to thank all of you once again for a wonderful time….
Acadian Driftwood by The Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXETByaIEXg
Jesus, Marianjosephanddedonkey!!!Doyehavenosensehuma?????
Gasman, that is so true! ROFL.
sdragon, I am all over the place language and accent-wise having spent my formative years in Australia. I was at the hairdressers the other day and a South African recognized my Aussie accent. I left Oz 36 yrs ago! Fair dinkum!
@Reelcanajun, I can unnerstan’ all dat.
Desert Mudpup,
I’m in White Rock. Where are you at?
Acadian Driftwood
with better sound + photos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AnIZsmmr0g&feature=related
Desert mudpup – thanks for the info. I have read Blumenthal’s book and found it scary fascinating.
I guess my surprise was seeing this type of program on my TV on a nice quiet Sunday morning. I didn’t realize that this type of religious program could be broadcast. But I suppose that it shouldn’t be surprising as all sorts of Sunday morning televangelists are available. I didn’t expect the dominionist type of religion to broadcast. Naive me!
And you are correct – how can such an organization be considered a church and get tax-free benefits for same? I’m all for taxing churches from here on out. It would be a great benefit to the whole country!
Gasman – as in White Rock BC? Guessing not if you are asking Desert Mudpup where s/he is – probably in the desert SW I’m thinking
Unfortunately, they misspelled “willful.” But, that’s something Sarah would understand!
____________________
Actually, only in the States do they spell it wilfull or willful – in the other english-speaking countries in the world (Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, etc), it is spelled the British way “wilful”. I think you’ll find that with many, many words. (favor, neighbor, flavor, etc – these are American spellings only.)
Irishgirl, d-inkum? Giggles! Translation? I had to write it that way, it wouldn’t pass the mods.
Regional accents are fascinating. I’ve traveled in Ireland enough to be able to tell a Cork man from a Galway man (though you can’t tell a Cork man anything!) The north and south Dublin accents are quite different. Back when I was acting, I was often cast in Irish dramas or comedies because I could “do the accent”, although the one I “do” is pure Ulster. (I passed it off as Donegal, which is really much the same thing.) My grandfather (the gran’da) was from Belfast, while me gran’mam was from a Gaeltacht region of County Kerry, but by the time I came to knew her, she had given up speaking much of English OR Irish.
What irritates me here in the States is how most of the network news programs have taken to running “English” subtitles while English-speakers from elsewhere are talking. These folks speak better English than some of our countrymen, but the producers must think that because they have accents, we “real” Amuracuns just won’t understand them. I suspect this is contributing to our national sense of isolation and xenophobia.
Down here in la frontera, I am fascinated by Spanglish. Necessito ir me a Safeway para hacer mi shopping.
Gasman – I’m in Tucson now, but grew up in northern Idaho – about 50 miles from the B.C. border. Close enough that beer runs to Creston for Kokanee were common.
I am originally from NJ-No not New Joisey like those from near New York,South Jersy where its a whole different accent in a tiny state.Our biggest claim to fame ia pronouncing “water” as “wooter”.After 20 years away ,DH still says “wooter”. I usually pick up local accents quickly,maybe just because I talk more than he does. Here in NW Louisiana its more of the North Texas sound than “Nawlins”. But that Cajun accent is smooth!! I remember Dennis Quaid in “The Big Easy”,I fell in love with his pretend accent,went absolutely head over heals with the accent of the first Cajun who walked up to my Blackjack table and said something about taking me for a ride in his Pirogue !
I see Don Young is calling global warming a scam. (climate change would be a better name for it) Well Don Young would certainly know a scam if he saw it, as he has perpetrated so many, but this looks more like Don pandering than anything. Heck, Alaska is already experiencing spring this year! What happened to “When It’s Springtime In Alaska, It’s 40 Below”?
Oh, here is an afterthought: My school french is rusty, but I have found that the “Quebeqouis” version is quite at variance from the officially taught french.
Not sure if this is merely a reflection of having forgotten too much of the old lessons… enlighten me!
-_____________________________
I just finished reading “Champlain’s Dream” and it re-iterates what I had heard before. The french in Quebec is truer to the original and old way of speaking french, brought over by Champlain, etc around in the very eaqrly 1600s (Quebec City celebrated its 400th birthday last year in 2009). The Quebec french has not evolved as has the continental french (this applies to the french in Acadia as well – the Maritimes – Acadian french dropped certann vowels at the beginning of certain words, so Acadian became Cadian. And the ‘di’ sounded like ‘j’ – hence Cajun which they became when they migrated down to the lower states. Anyway, the french is Quebec still has stronger ties to the old french and has had little ‘new’ input, so has evolved in different ways. I, too, find the study of languages and the idiosyncracies of them fascinating as well as telling.
1smart, I have to agree, tax these billion dollar empires that are so into preaching politics & hate.
Love “The Big Easy” It’s in my movie collection.
“And Cajun French differs from school French and probably from French in Quebec”
_________________
No, not from what is now Quebec, but from Acadia which was primarily Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the Maritimes (they took their modern day
‘English’ names after New France lost to England.
sdragon, here’s a translation.
To mean that something is truthful. Fair share of work, truth, or honesty. Not kidding. Not ‘taking the sh*t’, as it were.
Irishgirl, Thanks for the new word. I’ll try to use it often.
Irishgirl Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 9:29 AM
Here in Ireland we put colourful tyres on our grey cars cos we have a sense of humour. Also too, we love the theatre but we do not like wilfully ignorant fools who write “Hi Mom” on their palms…we write “Hi Mum.”
___________________
Lol @ Irishgirl – you have hit on one of my pet peeves. Mum (as in the Queen Mum) is what our boys were taught (rhymes with ‘sum’ or ‘some’) whereas doesn’t the American ‘mom’ rhyme with ‘prom’ and ‘bomb’?
To Desert Mudpup – the teabaggers are obviously not the sharpest knives in the drawer. Reading the post of yours about the books, dvds, etc they are shoving down their Stepford followers’ throats, one must surely wonder if these idiots don’t realize that their beloved “Medicare” is a government programme. Also, they keep saying that the government doesn’t know how to run things which I consider a HUGE insult to their military. It seems they are either poorly educated to the extreme (if at all) or wilfully, willfully, wilfuly, and willfuly just plain stupid.
AlaskaDisasta, I am sitting here saying prom, bomb and mom. I get the difference!!! Before, it was just the spelling that I thought was different.
Mag the Mick, *you can’t tell a Cork man anything* – yes, I know, I married one.
That reminds me of a new word, what are you saying if you call someone a langer? It is a Cork noun by the way.
http://www.allwords.com/word-Langer.html
I have enough Cornish Pasties to last me for a while.
Now I’m working on pea soup. I don’t like ham in my pea soup so it will be vegetarian pea soup. I’ll let you know when I’ve got something to tweak.
Right now it’s looking like:
sauté leeks (left over from pasties), carrots, potato, celery tops in olive oil. Add garlic, paprika. Add chicken broth and peas and sea salt. Simmer 90 min.
Then blend in blender until smooth.
It’s simmering now so I won’t know what I have for a while. But it looks like that’s the base I’ll be tweaking.
oh Irishgirl, LOL – I know Langer who fits the final definition with the ‘s’ added – langers. This Langers gets langers a lot
Guess it is not his fault, eh?
Grandma68
those hard r’s (warsh for wash) are definitely part of what we heard growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (“Merlin”):
“Imonna carry ma wife upta horshpil” was what smeone said when he meant “I’m going to take my wife to the hospital.”
it’s took a few yrs for me to drop the R’s — but those Bal-mer dipthongs are always recognizable and I love to hear them — there’s a great website for this dialect, will track it down
Mag the Mick: para hacer mi shopping…drives me nuts!!! I’m just afraid Spanish will become diluted with English and it will lose it’s uniqueness and beauty. Yours is but one example among many. But I know language is a living, breathing thing, and if “Spanglish” helps us communicate with each other, well, that’s really the point, isn’t it?
Fourth straight day of sunshine and the pussy willows are bursting out all along the beaches.
Trails are almost clear. Taking the studs off my hooves tomorrow.
ahhhhh!!! reading all of this has been a refreshing moment from doing taxes !! Thanks, all !! chuckle.. especially enjoyed all the UK bits !!
laprofesora Says:
But I know language is a living, breathing thing, and if “Spanglish” helps us communicate with each other, well, that’s really the point, isn’t it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stephen Fry (sp) said exactly the same thing about teenagers’ text-messaging. It is an evolving language and it should be embraced.
C u soon.
laprofesora: I know what you mean. There are so many lovely, gracious thoughts and exchanges in Spanish that we just don’t have in English, such as “mucho gusto” and “igualmente”. When I went into the Peace Corps in Honduras, right out of living a cowgirl life in rural Arizona, I was astonished to realize how many words that describe ranch and rodeo life (and life in much of the southwestern US) came from Spanish. Yet even here in Arizona, we have those who want to “ban” Spanish words from use. Ironically, the movement is big right next door in the town of Sierra Vista. I just laugh, thinking of my birthplace in “Ajo”, not Spanish at all, but a word from the Piman group of languages, “ah-ho-ak”, meaning where the painted rocks are, and “Arizona”, another Piman word, “Ali-shonak”, place of little springs. I love words and language, and feel very blessed to live in a place where Spanish, Englisn, and several Indian languages all mix and mingle freely.
Irishgirl: I’ve heard my friends from Dublin (Northsideers) use the word “langer”. I never do, as it seems it could mean anything from the simply disparaging to the mildly obscene. So when I’m inta slaggin’ someone, I just call him a feckin’ tosser.
Mag the Mick Says:
Irishgirl: I’ve heard my friends from Dublin (Northsideers) use the word “langer”. I never do, as it seems it could mean anything from the simply disparaging to the mildly obscene. So when I’m inta slaggin’ someone, I just call him a feckin’ tosser.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, indeed, you are right! I came across this little gem when I was searching for the definition of langer. I hesitated to post it, but I think you might enjoy this!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=95894
Aaaaieee!!! Laissez les bon temps rouler.
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY8bXh4OkjI
Used to listen to these guys on Prairie Home Companion
78 Reelcanajun Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Jesus, Marianjosephanddedonkey!!!Doyehavenosensehuma?????
If I translated correctly – Sarah doesn’t
@ Irishgirl Says:
Stephen Fry (sp) said exactly the same thing about teenagers’ text-messaging. It is an evolving language and it should be embraced.
———————-
There was a small study at University of Alberta that suggests as more and more teens get qwerty keyboard texting devices, their spelling and grammar is markedly improved.
It doesn’t really irk me to get textspeak from the youngsters but finding it from say, Becky Bleck or $’error ….. :::eyeroll::: communicate like an adult or s. t. h. up!
83 1smartcanerican Says:
And you are correct – how can such an organization be considered a church and get tax-free benefits for same? I’m all for taxing churches from here on out. It would be a great benefit to the whole country!
The reason churches build hospitals? They can afford to when often communities can’t. They pay no taxes on the profit they make. They can refuse service becasue they are private, even if they just bought the only community open access hospital.
Big churches are big business and they get to keep the profits and play politics when being protected by law in ways that private citizens often are not protected.
First Baptist in Dallas owns hundreds of millions of dollars of property in downtown Dallas, that it can lease, and owe no taxes on the profit.
Irishgirl Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 1:31 PM
Mag the Mick Says:
Irishgirl: I’ve heard my friends from Dublin (Northsideers) use the word “langer”. I never do, as it seems it could mean anything from the simply disparaging to the mildly obscene. So when I’m inta slaggin’ someone, I just call him a feckin’ tosser.
*******************************************************************************
yep yep. ‘fecking tosser’ is perfect around here in my neighborhood. we like new cuss words. ‘fecking tosser’ is like a kiss or a hug depending on how it is said and if a smile is there.
89 Rick Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 11:55 AM
I see Don Young is calling global warming a scam. (climate change would be a better name for it) Well Don Young would certainly know a scam if he saw it, as he has perpetrated so many, but this looks more like Don pandering than anything. Heck, Alaska is already experiencing spring this year! What happened to “When It’s Springtime In Alaska, It’s 40 Below”?
What effect does an el Nino year have as far north as Alaska is? There have been so many el Nino years in the last two decades I have to think those warm waters are reaching further and further toward the polls.
102 laprofesora Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 12:44 PM
Mag the Mick: para hacer mi shopping…drives me nuts!!! I’m just afraid Spanish will become diluted with English and it will lose it’s uniqueness and beauty. Yours is but one example among many. But I know language is a living, breathing thing, and if “Spanglish” helps us communicate with each other, well, that’s really the point, isn’t it?
I was a volunteer in the Texas State Library recording books for the reading impaired, when I was in Austin. We had a couple of Spanish readers. One was a true Spaniard, and college educated in Spain. She does not consider any language spoken in the Americas to be Spanish. And the language taught as Spanish in Texas schools is definately not Spanish.
On the one hand she is correct on the other hand its been a couple of hundred years since the first Spanish invasions and she doens’t speak the same Spanish as de Leon either. Its all changed.
Taking advantage of Open Thread, I’ve been spending some time researching my 2010 senate candidate Marco Rubio and I already knew I didn’t like what I saw from past experience.
But the linked report below suggests why that is – apparently because he is like Sarah Palin – only goes to ‘friendly’ news media.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2010/02/rubio-says-no-to-crist-debate-unless-its-with-fox-first.html#comments
What a freekin’ chicken-shit.
(My apologies to all good brave chickens out there.)
Thanks to Sunnyjane at #2 for introducing the variances in spelling. It has been a lovely blog today and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. It gave us all a break from “yer one.”
http://www.google.ie/search?q=define%3Ayer+one&btnG=Search&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=0XK&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&sa=2
This has been a fascinating and humourous thread today, dealing with languages, accents, etc. Having lived all over the US and traveled in Europe, I’ve been exposed to many variations and all were so interesting!
As a professional genealogist with my primary focus being on Canada and early Canadian records, it is a major task to translate some of the oldest ones. The reason being there were not just immigrants from France, but from many other countries as well – primarily German-related (i.e. Hessians, Prussians, etc.), Ireland, Greece, Poland, and on and on. The speech that developed in that first century of so of early Quebec (New France) was really a mix of many languages.
When we first retired here in Kentucky, a neighbor came by and asked if she could bum a cup of ERL. After asking several times and not understanding what she meant, we went into my kitchen and she pointed to my jug of Mazola corn OIL. From then on, I think she revelled in using terms that would confuse me.
Has anyone watched the Michelle Obama interview with Huckabee? I love our First Lady, but I had to stop listening. It’s on Huffpo. Give it a look & see what you think. I think the nasties are going to, well, get nasty.
You have two cows.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell the milk for a while, then sell a cow to buy a bull.
Socialism: You have two cows. You and your neighbors vote on who gets how much milk.
Communism: You have two cows. The government takes ownership of them, and forces you to milk them. All milk is distributed equally.
Anarchism: You have two cows. Your neighbor hits you over the head with a brick, steals your cows, and then shoots them for fun. You later discover he is a Nazi.
Spanish Conquistadors: You have two cows. I refuse to allow you to sacrifice your two cows; for such an act is immoral and against God! Also, All your Gold Are Belong to Us.
( made me laugh, and there’ more to the article at
http://www.sodahead.com/fun/you-have-two-cows/blog-3628/ )
Mag the Mick @ 86 -
During the 90s, I was involved in an exchange program for kids with disabilities from Ireland and coordinated the NY end of the program. We hosted kids from all over Ireland who came to NY every summer to compete. Several weeks later I would bring a group of kids from NY to Ireland and we would travel to various places from Belfast down to Waterford. Eventually, I was able to distinguish many of the different Irish accents and had to laugh one year when some of the kids from Dublin asked ME what a boy from the west coast was saying because they couldn’t understand him. He was a native Irish speaker and his English was exceedingly quiet and spoken at approximately 100 miles per hour. Needless to say, I wasn’t much help to them!
My friends were terribly impressed with my fake Irish accent which I achieved by imagining the voice of a woman from Wexford whom I knew quite well. All I did was imagine Fiona saying something and I’d copy the voice I heard in my head!
Irishgirl -
It gave us all a break from “yer one.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ahhh…you reminded me of a friend from Dublin who often said ‘yer man’
I also haven’t been called “pet” in faaaarrr too long!
GreatGranny2C, Snap!
I often remember when I was a child in Australia, my dad was trying to get five of of us to go to bed, and he used this phrase, “Will you get to bed itchy.”
I never understood why he called us itchy. Years later, having moved to Ireland, I realised that he was saying “let ye.”
leenie17 Says:
Irishgirl -
It gave us all a break from “yer one.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ahhh…you reminded me of a friend from Dublin who often said ‘yer man’
_______________________________________________________
Ah, when I first came to Ireland, I didn’t realise “yer one” referred to a female. I got into all sorts of trouble!
There MUST be global warming
‘cuz ever since I got back from a trip to the Caribbean last Sunday the weather here on the north Oregon coast has been sunny and cloudless and in the 60s. Tulips and daffodils are sprouting and blooming, periwinkles and primroses are blooming, and the blossoms of the plum trees are starting to fall off the trees! In mid-February!!
Just wait. We’ll probably have 60MPH winds and freezing temperatures on the 1st of March, like the saying goes, “March comes in like a Lion…”
My mother-in-law, bless her soul may she rest in peace, who grew up on a farm in Elmhurt, somewhat north of New York City usta say terlet and erl. And so did my uncle, who emigrated to Australia from Hungary as a young lad where he eventually owned a huge sheep station in Perth.
I went back to watch the rest because I do like to hear what she has to say. I think she’s great with the kids. She’s seems like such a nice woman. But I think she will take a few hits for all of the ‘you knows’. Big deal? Not really, but you know how some like to attack our First Lady.
That subtitles for English in America annoys me as well. The first time I was in the Basque region of France was after a conference in Bordeaux, where I and a guy from Montreal acted as English to English translators for a guy from Long Island and a woman from New Zealand who was originally from South Africa.
this has been a great Sunday. i have enjoyed all the posts here.
it is really nice getting to know more about many of the newer mudflatters.
i think one thing we all agree with is that we love words and language. we enjoy reading and some of us even like to write poetry {ah hem}. and AKM with her great gifts of wit, fine writing and beautiful photography is the lodestone which draws us all to her and to each other.
I read Shannyn’s post yesterday and Palingates follows up with a story tie-in showing that Tripp gets his health care taken care of through the
” FREE service ” available to the native people… who have earned it and ARE entitled to it.
I have a question to some of our Alaskan Mudpups.
( or know where this info could be found)
Your Typical or Average Native family that uses this Healthcare Service….
” What is THEIR Average Income?”.
Safe to say….. I am sure it is a mere fraction of what the Grifters earn.
That part of the story should be exposed to the public as well.
And if Grifter Granny takes Tripp down to the local Clinic…. does she still arrive with her standard ‘ plate of cookies ‘ to share.
Yes, bubbles I agree. However, I am now going to refer to that langer from Alaska as *yer one.*
Kajo…same thing with my plum tree and tulips.. bees are being beeesy, so not worrying about the blossoms falling now..will probably go set tomatoes this eek, and get my sunflower seeds started ( great bird food for winter months..)
nswfm.. there is ONE advantage tohaving english subtitles.. I can watch TV in bed and not keep the wife awake at nite !!
taxes done, taxes done… I’m Free at last !
Desert Mudpup,
I thought you might be in New Mexico. That is where my White Rock is, near Santa Fe. It’s actually part of Los Alamos county. Y’all get WAY too hot over there for my tastes. It’s much cooler up here amongst the clouds. I guess you do have Mt. Lemon, but who lives up there?
We do all realize of course that Sarah will hate us even more. We have just spent a whole day talking like intellectual elites. What will kill her is we have had fun, it is possible to be intellectual and have a sense of humor.
Pity a poor soul who has neither intellect or humor. No wonder she’s so grumpy.
Marnie, the poor soul will not have understood a word of it!
thatcrowwoman
I love it when you say your are “puttering.” My mother’s dad said that all the time. And it so remind me of him puttering around in the garden or shop or wherever.
My mother’s family was all from Southern Louisiana so I have always assumed that the usage was either southern or Cajan, as he spoke some and liked to use Cajan phrases.
I am curious as to where you picked up the word. (and there is another oddity “as to”)
Marnie Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 3:32 PM
We do all realize of course that Sarah will hate us even more. We have just spent a whole day talking like intellectual elites. What will kill her is we have had fun, it is possible to be intellectual and have a sense of humor.
not to worry. she’ll never get through it.
Alright — this is a Palin insurance question, and I’m certain I don’t have any or all of the right facts.
If Trip is getting medical coverage under the Indian Health Service’s, and his only native ancestor is Todd Palin’s grandmother, who was half Yup’ik, that makes him 1/32nd Native Alaskan. I’m told that each tribe has its own legal… countback… for eligibility.
IS Trip actually eligible for this insurance coverage?
I’m going to go read comments looking for the answer, but in the meantime — does anyone know the answer? I’m coming back, I swear!
Thanks.
And horror of horrors…..it was as good as the book thread!
Igualmente on all the rich and wonderful postings on language. I revel in the variety of languages, dialects, and idioms we have all been exposed to.
I’m sure Bubbles and other New Yorkians have heard “youse” used as the plural of “you”. That was brought over by the Irish. Irish Gaelic uses the second-person plural just as the Romance languages do (as in Spanish: usted/ustedes). The Irish usage stopped, but was adapted rignt into English” you/youse, or as the Northsiders say “yez”, as in “Yez are all grand entirely.”
I often refer to Palin as “yer woman” or “her nibs”. Using an Ulster accent lets me say it with a very satisfying sneer in my voice!
Just another POV on the subtitles for english here in the states. I’m hearing impaired, have been since I was a young child. I really appreciate having the subtitles because it’s very difficult for me to understand accents that I’m not familiar with even with the help of a hearing aid.
Grandparents on my Father’s side were from Poland and the Ukraine. Mom’s family, Canadian & Dutch. Grew up hearing a number of different languages but never learned. The only thing I picked up were accents but the weird thing is that there’s a melding of them. My Canadian “oots” mix with my “ayes” and Dutch leanings. Vowels for some words are the result of odd language inbreeding and I have real explanation. I’ve been asked by fellow Buffalonians , “So – where are you from in the US? ” When I say, ” ummm… South Buffalo , right near West Seneca” , they laugh and say, ” No. Really. Where? ”
Fun thread today. I spent most of the day with business things but have checked in a few times to enjoy the posts.
Speaking of Buffalo – Our Buffalo Sabres are representin’ in the Olympic hockey game tonight. WooHoo!!
Irishgirl – I LOVED your link to boards ie. I could just hear the Carhk accents, loike. My Belfast grandfather was somewhat of a terse, close-mouthed man averse to blasphemy (he was a Calvinist at heart, for all his being a trade-unionist and marrying a Papist), but he had some interesting turns of speech none the less. Any one who he considered as a manipulative schemer (like Eamon de Valera) he’d call a “clever whore”, pronounced “huur”. Then there were also the “cute c*nts”, having nothing to do with lady bits.
Mod Memphis NY is having a birthday today. Shout outs in any dialect is appreciated!!
Mag, I thought you would get a kick out of that!
I think are sounds better. Oh dear god. That is for 144.
When first arriving in Kentucky from New Mexico, we had the hardest time understanding what people were saying, usually directions. Got used to the standard speech around here. But my Dad, born and raised in San Francisco, talked as if he were from Boston. No body could figure that one out. Must be the Irish!
Buffalogal, we’ve got the game on, go Sabres!
I saw a movie a few years ago that had Aidan Quinn in a starring role. It’s called “Songcatcher”, about a woman professor who records songs and ballads in Applachia during the early part of the 20th century and recognizes the similarities between their dialects and those of Scotland and Ireland. A very good movie….heck, any movie with Aidan Quinn is a winner in my book.
The music is fabulous. Oh, another actress, can’t remember her name but she eveventually starred in Phantom of the Opera. A great voice!
#148 @TerryNY
I LOVE that film!!
Re” “puttering” I learned to speak English in Connecticut and we puttered all the time. We puttered in the kitchen and in the garden and we dawdled at the supper table except on Sundays when we had dinner at the dinner table.
I also must confess that I always turn on the subtitles for British films. Some of the Scottish and North Country dialects are really hard to follow as are some of the Irish. An old friend on mine came from Colchester. He would interject the phrase “I reckon” into his conversation a good deal.
I enjoyed the thread today very much. It’s such a joy to participate in great conversation.
I ♥ Mudpuppies
TerryNY
” recognizes the similarities between their dialects and those of Scotland and Ireland.”
There is some thought among linguists that the “southern accent” of the more rural areas of the Northern South is a hold over from Edwardian England. Mostly Scotish and Welsh moved into those areas and since it is so rural and often isolated, the accents and word usage have remained very little changed.
I doubt my paternal grandfather who grew up in a dogtrot in the hills of Tn would have thought of his accent as a bit of old England though.
bubbles @ 129 and Irishgirl @ 131
“… I am now going to refer to that langer from Alaska as *yer one.*”
Oh my aching sides!
Grandma Shorty (not teh Norwegian one, but the one who taught me that God is Love, of blessed memory), Grandma Shorty said, ” if it makes you laugh out loud, it’s a blessing.” Such an abundance of blessings here today!
Marnie @ 136
I learned “puttering” from my mama who was born in Wisconsin among the Scandinavian dairy farmers, eldest daughter of my Norwegian Grandmother (of blessed memory, who taught me the value of education and hard work, and bequeathed me her Nordic blues and sharp tongue).
Mama taught me to take care of the critters and young ones and elders and chores, my love of books and words and stories, the fine art of puttering, the therapeutic value of a long soak in a hot tub, and that just because it pops into my head, it doesn’t have to pop out of my mouth. Very wise woman, my mama. (Which I pronounce MAma, for what it’s worth, not maMA like some French, eh?)
Laila tov. Good night, all y’all.
Sweet dreams, my brothers and sisters,
and a safe, satisfying, laughter-filled, and productive week ahead.
(((((((((((((((((all y’all)))))))))))))))))))))))))
TerryNY – OF COURSE I say as I slap myself on the side of the head! It didn’t dawn on me that the use of subtitles with English speakers with strong accents is to assist people with hearing impairment. I can’t believe how dense I have been. Thank you very much for pointing this out to me, and I sincerely apologize for my lack of sensitivity.
Although “Songcatcher” was fiction, the idea behind it was sound (not to make a pun.) In the 1880′s, Harvard professor Francis Child traveled around England and Scotland collecting traditional ballads which he transcribed, annotated, and categorized into a work we now call the “Child Ballads”. At the same time, an English musicologist, Cecil Sharp, was traveling around Appalachia doing the exact same thing. I don’t think that the two ever met or compared notes, but the songs they “discovered” were identical.
I have always loved the old songs about Blackjack Davey, the Romany horsethief who runs off with the rich lord’s daughter. (These songs also go nder the titles of Gypsy Davy, the Whistling Gypsy, the Raggle-Taggle Gypsy, etc. Same songs.) A few years ago, at a party at a ranch outside Hatch New Mexico, my host sang a song about “Spanish Davy” a Mexican “hand” who ran off with the ranch boss’s wife. It was the same song, but put old Blackjack Davey thousands of miles away from his native land, riding the plains of New Mexico.
For those of you who are familiar with the saga of Evil Kitty –
( sigh ) I’m here to tell ya that a litter of ( hopefully not quite so evil) kittens are on their way.
We took it on word that she was fixed. Not the case. Now, she’s huge. She’s refusing all comfy boxes. We have boxes in closets and corners through the house. Suggestions ??
TerryNY @148 Songcatcher is one of my favorites. It’s on my ” have to buy” list. ( and do you not just love Aidan Quinn ??)
Re: closed captioning – An ex of mine is deaf and when we first met , she often said of my 100 mph chatter that it would be mighty helpful if we had a closed caption option for me . ( and I sort of wanted to see what that result would look like !)
My bed time. Really loved the chat. (((((mudpups)))) ROCK!!
thatcrowwoman, haha!
dear pups. growing up as i did in New York during the years immediately after the Second World War. i was extremely blessed to be surrounded by my own people and Irish and Scots and German Jews. i picked up many words and phrases as well many hugs, kisses and respect for all people. i went to Protestant churches, Catholic mass, and to Temple. as i think of those people who had a part in my upbringing, i am grateful to them all. may they rest in peace.
Thanks to all for a delightful read. I was late to join, but enjoyed it greatly. My English to English story: When I worked in Yellowstone in the sixties, we had some British girls who were traveling around the world by working for awhile here and there. Well, we western girls did fine with them, but we had to translate both ways for the Southern girls.
153 BuffaloGal Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 4:43 PM
For those of you who are familiar with the saga of Evil Kitty –
( sigh ) I’m here to tell ya that a litter of ( hopefully not quite so evil) kittens are on their way.
We took it on word that she was fixed. Not the case. Now, she’s huge. She’s refusing all comfy boxes. We have boxes in closets and corners through the house. Suggestions ??
**********************************************************************
Went through this years ago. Get ready to buy a new bedspread and sheets.
*sigh*
There’s a thread on another site, extolling the POV of an established doctor against HCR. He figured that American’s are so annoying as patients, they don’t deserve health care. He should know, right?
I’ve worked for three doctors, and every one of them was dismissive and contemptuous of anybody else’s health concerns. The doctor on that thread demonstrates the prevelant attitude perfectly.
In general, we can’t GET health care, with or without insurance. Wait weeks with an ulcerated body part for an appointment, or chest pains, and see a doctor for six minutes, who barely acknowledges you, tells you to use neosporin and a bandage (gee, never thought of that over the last six weeks) or that your numb limb or heart palpitations are all in your head.
I’m recounting friends’ experiences, since I don’t have health care and haven’t seen a doctor in more than ten years, despite having severe RA and all the attendant medical problems. I tried to get some — but hey, pre-existing conditions!
There were once people who took advantage of having medical care (another pet peeve of the anti-HCR doctor) but those days came to an end quite some time ago. About the time that insurance carriers began refusing to cover ordinary doctor’s visits and treatments, and raising rates on people who made too many appointments.
So why is this doctor pushing a POV that is reactionary in the extreme?
It has as much validity in this day and age as Limbaugh and Beck’s golden memories of ‘how it used to be, back when things were good.’ It is NOT true, and anybody with an older family member who does remember when they could just pop off to the doctor’s office can attest to that. We have to tell them, no, they cannot go to the doctor for that cough, or that bee sting, because the co-pay and meds will eat into the house payment. And besides, there’s every chance that coverage would be denied.
Doctors are not our friends in the HCR debate; their way of life would change drastically, and being a member of such an entrenched upper layer of our society, they DO NOT WANT change. They are comfortable as they are. They are conservatives. Entitled conservatives, with position and social standing they fear could be lost.
Please, don’t ask us to support a view of life — and of us ordinary mortals — that is comparable to the relationship between the CEOs of banks and the ordinary savings depositor. Because that is, very much, what our relationship with the medical profession is at the moment.
This doctor, with his absolute disdain of patients, was describing the past. It has nothing to do with the present, but he claims that it does — because he certainly does not want the future that we envision under HCR.
137 barbara Says:
I let “you not to worry” slide past. My life long Texan aunt brought that one back from Canada after a visit and it became a favorite phrase of hers.
Can’t remember any other person but her using it, but that’s limited to Texas.
Jimzmum @159 – Mama Evil Kitty has taken up to nesting within the blankets, sheets, etc at the end of my bed. I put a big ol’ birthing box right next to that area but she’s not taking to it. I’m beginning to accept the idea that somewhere in the middle of the night, new little critter kittens will arrive right by my feet.
I’m leaning towards naming the first one ” Buttercup” . Yes?
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Buffalo Gal and teh kitteh)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
160 oregonbird Says:
He figured that American’s are so annoying as patients, they don’t deserve health care. He should know, right?
Don’t they teach doctors, in med school, that they will be dealing with sick people?
Doctors need to remember they are seeing sick people. People who are ill are injured generally are not at the best. If they sense they are being viewed contemptiously they will propably get nervous and confused about how to approach communicating with the physician.
Yes there are occasional nuts cases but then some doctors as veeeeery pecular as well.
Doctors need to keep in mind that they are rarely called on to treat healthy people, or people who are ill or hurt and who do not run to a doctor, so of course they don’t figure them into their equation of Americans. They judge all by the minority.
Love the name!
Bubs @163 – Mid March – Watch for the Fed Ex delivery truck. Box o’ cute kitten will be arriving !
Mag the Mick @152, not to worry, I’m not offended in the least, unless one has traveled in another’s shoes, right?
I got a hearing aid about 5 years ago and the difference was immediate, I was amazed at all I had been missing but even then, hearing aids are not be-all, perfect contraptions and I still miss some sound. I’m a great lip reader though and that helps.
Thanks for the history on the similarities of Welsh/English/Scottish and the Appalachia regions, very interesting. When I first saw the movie I did some research into the background and premise of the movie but over the years my brain has locked it away apparently never to be seen again. LOL
I’m a sucker for that type of that music though. Years ago, my sister introduced my son to the mountain (lap) dulcimer, it’s such a beautiful instrument. It can be eeriely haunting or spiritually uplifting. They both used to play but not much anymore.
Another movie I think that has some basis on this type of music is “Wherefore Art Thou, Brother” with George Clooney. Amazing musical talent on that soundtrack.
BuffaloGal, too funny about your ex and the closed caption. It would come in handy! LOL
@BuffaloGal – Unless you’re a dead to the world sleeper you’ll know when she about to drop her litter. When my cat was ready to deliver her litter after the vet got done laughing at me hysterically because I didn’t know why she was so upset he told me to put a box in the bathtub with a towel so she’s comfy put her in it, close the door and let nature takes its course. She did have her litter in there but after a while she started moving them else where that ended in a tug of war. LOL Good Luck.
Off to get a nap just in case I have to play mid-wife tonight for the cat. I did a few google searches and came across references about possibly having to reach in to Kitty in order to assist the process.
I’m sorry but …. What????
Yep … I’ll need a nap before even thinking about that second time. Wish me luck !
Shadow’s World @ 173- Thanks for that ! Kitty has been crawling all around the bath tub rim the past 2 weeks. I’m going up to put a box in there right now.
Thanks again!
BuffaloGal – Miz Kitty will have her kittens any damn place she wants, thank you very much. Most animal moms know exactly what to do, and human intervention is rarely called for. Don’t freak out when she eats the afterbirth – it’s deep instinct for cats to clean up the remains. Give her privacy, quiet, and space, and leave plenty of clean water out for her. I hope you’ll remember to get her spayed about 5 weeks after the kittens are born. You won’t want any more…Good luck!
BuffaloGal Says:
February 21st, 2010 at 5:43 PM
Bubs @163 – Mid March – Watch for the Fed Ex delivery truck. Box o’ cute kitten will be arriving !
********************************************************************************
mid March you say?.. i prolly be in teh auld country lookin’up teh Collinses an’ teh Greers an’dem. also teh Bracegirdles, teh Proudfeets and teh Satterfields et.al. prolly be gone long time.
After a bunch of atta boyz to the Saints after their Super Bowl win 2 weeks ago, I think I can feel safe enough to post this here!
WAY TO GO TEAM USA HOCKEY! They beat up Canada 5-3 tonight at the Vancouver Olympics, after a scary last 5 minutes of constant Canadian attacks!
Woo Hoo! Go Team USA Hockey!!!!!!! 5-3!!! Against Canada!!!!!!!! (Sorry Canadian mudpups
Now to go back and read the last 4 days of stuff here. Just got home from a trip with no access to a computer. I missed the Mudflats.
Buffalogal… you might try blankets/box under the bed, …my Shepard had 10 pups that way… although we had to elevate the bed during the process so she had some room to work with !
Great GAME !! OMG, the shots were FLYING those last 3 minutes !
@174 BuffaloGal Says: … reach in …
Once at the stable, the vet told us “on my way” but gave directions for the “… reach in …”. An unfortunate member of our group blessed with a medical degree was coerced into scrubbing up for the process, but the mare realized we were all hopeless, got up, TROTTTED around, then came back and had the foal.
Good luck with the kitty.
Go USA! Sorry too Canadian Mudpups … please don’t go. We love Canada (heck, we may have to move there and share your healthcare). Reelcanajun: I know of the migration of the Acadians. I know Evangeline. I have been/danced/eaten all over the Lafayette Parish. And I have been to the Congres Mondial in Lafayette. Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Team USA played a good game with great goaltending. Actually, it’s the Canadian good manners thing of letting guests be first.
Daisydem, the good times definitely roll in Cajun country. This has been a really fun thread today, BTW. Interesting to learn all the quirky differences in one single language>
I have read through the whole thread and what a wonderful day it has been!
Peace to all. Later on.
@ #165 Oregonbird says:
“Doctors are not our friends in the HCR debate; their way of life would change drastically, and being a member of such an entrenched upper layer of our society, they DO NOT WANT change. They are comfortable as they are. They are conservatives. Entitled conservatives, with position and social standing they fear could be lost.”
—————————————————————
Okay. Now, here are the facts about physicians’ opinions on health care reform from a survey of US doctors published in the respected New England Journal of Medicine on 9/14/09:….73% of US physicians favor a mix of private and public plans while only 27% favor only private options. A majority also favor expanding Medicare for people aged 55 and older. These findings cut across all medical specialities including primary care:
“When given a three-way choice among private plans that use tax credits or subsidies to help the poor buy private insurance; a new public health insurance plan such as Medicare; or a mix of the two; 63 percent of doctors supported a mix, 27 percent said they only wanted private options, and just 10 percent said they exclusively wanted public options.
The survey of 2,130 U.S. doctors, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also found that more 55 percent, regardless of their medical specialty, would favor expanding Medicare so it covered people aged 55 and older”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE58D67120090914
http://open.salon.com/blog/steve_klingaman/2009/09/14/survey_73_of_doctors_favor_public_option
http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=1790&query=home
Bird, while it’s unfortunate that you have had negative personal experiences with physicians, there’s no intellectual legitimacy for extending a personal rancor into stereotyping a whole profession…..The majority of physicians are dedicated to their patients and are as frustrated as patients are with the flawed and broken US health care system.
Well, as they (used to?) say in England when they wanted a wake up call at a certain time in the morning, “Knock me up at 8 o’clock, please”
@thatcrowwoman: The Band. Greatest hillbilly blues folk art rock down-home group (and, of course, back-up band) of all time. And all Canadian, except for poor Levon.
Still just about my favorite musicians.
LOVED the thread today! I’ve been fascinated by word origins ever since I discovered that a word I thought was uniquely *one* language’s, turned out to be from *another.*
The word was “pan” (pahn)…meaning, “bread” in Japanese. I spoke Japanese interchangeably with English as a child. It wasn’t until I took Spanish in Jr. High that I realized the Spanish word for bread was identical to the one for it in Japanese. I must say, I was mightily confused! How could the two totally *different* languages have the *same* word for the *same* thing?? Duh! The Spanish missionaries/priests had introduced ‘bread’ to the islands! (Hate to admit it, but, even more DUH!, was that up to that point, I hadn’t a clue so many words [in different languages] came from *other* languages!) Of course(!) “pan” means “bread” in both Japanese *and* Spanish!
And, speaking of bread, you know those Japanese [specialized] bread ‘crumbs’ called for in so many recipes, nowadays? Panko? The name means, [in English] literally, “bread powder”. [I don't know if the symbols will 'take' on this site, but this is how panko is written in Japanese: パン粉. The first two characters are in katakana and say "bread" [pan], the last character is Kanji for “powder” [ko] …hence: panko – bread powder. The kanji character can also be read as “fun”… making panko ‘mean’: bread fun.]
Oooo-ooo [channeling, for those 'pups old enough to remember, Arnold Horshack from 'Welcome Back, Kotter'] and when you think also, too, about the writing system of Japan, its use of Kanji characters introduced by/borrowed from the Chinese system of writing, the whole language ‘share-y — use-y’ thingie, is pretty damn neat. Leastwise, I think so. beth.
(I could hear my mom..and me brogue-thick Gran, too…in so many of the words posted today! I grew up –to name just mere sprinkling– with “puttering” and “piddling” and “gloaming”; with fewer “l”s and more “u”s in words. And grey. My maternal grandmother was born and raised in Dunfirmline, Scotland; moving to BC, Canada at age 23. She returned to D at the start of WWI. My mother was born there, moving to BC [with Gran] when she was 2-yo. My parents became a US citizens 3-years after I [by birth] did. Yes, I’m the child of immigrants. If I were of Japanese descent, I’d be termed “Nisei” (second generation-born) in Japan’s language. Unfortunately, the English language doesn’t have that word equivalent… Our common tongue is the poorer for that, I think. b.)
This has been a wonderful thread, even if I have not yet figured out what a “langer” is. I tried reading a couple of the links, but found myself reading comments from people from Cork who couldn’t seem to agree on what words meant. For now, I’ll assume “feckin’ tosser” is a reasonable substitute — I know what that means.
Anyhow, all of this reminds me of a quotation from — I think — Winston Churchill, who remarked upon the United States and the United Kingdom (and, if you’ll permit, I would include Ireland) as being two (or three) great nations separated by a common language.
The japanese “pan” for bread is from Portuguese
パン (n) (1) (originally written 麺麭 or 麪包) bread (por: pao); pastries (e.g. croissants); pastry-based products
[With all due respect, AntiAnti, unless in the past (+/-) 500 hundred years the Portuguese word for "bread" (pão) has evolved/morphed from "pan" to "pão" AND the Japanese word for "bread" (pan) concurrently evolved/morphed from"pão" to "pan", I believe the Spanish, (where "pan"/bread was, *and has remained*, "pan"/bread) would be the accurate source of the word. The odds of a single word 'flip-flopping'/reversing/mirror-imaging identically within two distinct language(s) of two distinct, non-adjacent countries -- Portuguese: A to B and Japanese: B to A-- are beyond astronomical. b.]
Anti-anti is correct, pao (which has a tilde over the “a”) is pronounced in Portuguese with a very nasal sound. The Japanese language had no word for “thank you” until the Portuguese showed up in 1543; arrigato derived from obrigado. This was a delicious thread today. Bedtime (again)! Health and peace to all.
Morning pups!
My god, did you hear about “yer one’s” latest twitter, complete with photoshopped picture of Tr**?
http://twitpic.com/14ls25
“Trig’s a fan! Go IronDoggers – be safe, ride hard, have fun lovin’ Alaska’s great outdoors.”
Talk about a slap in the face to Andrea. Well, if we were waiting for an apology, I guess we were wrong.
Great conversation. Words matter. Thanks ‘flatters!
@Marnie #136
Oh my goodness, my dear — you just touched a genetic nerve!
I grew up in Wisconsin, a product of two Norwegian dairy-farmer parents and 100% Norwegian relatives before that.
EVERYTHING you said sounds like something I heard growing up!
Critters, kids, elders, chores, books, words, stories — that was just a given. That’s how we grew up. Thank goodness for our Moms and Grandmas — what a gift they were.
Puttering ……. I think I missed your previous post, but can just guess what you’re talking about. Yeah, I too think it is a fine art. Maybe it has something to do with coping with mental health during a long winter …….
AlaskaDiasta @ #186:
One more chuckle to this wonderful language/dialect exploration day:
You are absolutely right about the wake-up call request of the english, except that the colonists in India had an addition to that:
“Knock me up with bed tea”, meaning, serve me that pot of tea in the bedroom so that I can have it while getting dressed.
Well, knock me over with a feather when living there in the early sixties I heard the return query: “Knock you up at 6 with Betty?” Memories…
Bread in french is also pronounced ‘pan’ (not so heavy on the ‘n’ though), although it is spelled ‘pain’. I wonder where our word ‘bread’ came from. German is ‘brot’ and England was very teutonic and fighting all the time with France – so, where did ‘bread’ come from – a deviant of the german ‘brot’?
We could always start a thread on common ‘pet peeves’ in english. One of mine is “less” versus “fewer” (Less of a whole as in less bread, and Fewer of a plural as in fewer cookies). Also, the ‘general consensus’ – consensus means ‘general opinion’, so ‘general consensus’ is redundant. Don’t get me started!! Love this thread!
waving to yukonbushgrma, my Scandinavian sister,
and to Marnie who asked about puttering.
“….it is a fine art. Maybe it has something to do with coping with mental health during a long winter …….”
or Any Season, also, too….doing a Little Something, but with no particular plan or expectations…”as the Spirit moves you,” mama might say. Stirring about so as not to be a total slug, don’t you know?
The “knock you up” wake up call reminds me of when I learned, “Thank you. I’m stuffed,” doesn’t always translate, “Thank you for the wonderfully filling meal.”
Oy vey. A little humor, tolerance, and open-mindedness go a long way to bridging the language (and other) divides among us. What a wonderful thread!
Which makes me think of learning french re ‘being stuffed’ after a good or big meal. In french, one says “J’ai plein” (I have fullness) – of course we say “I am full” and translate it as such “Je suis plein” which means in french “I’m pregnant”. NOT something you want to say after a good meal with some lovely french people while leaning back in your chair and rubbing your stomach!
zyxomma@192 (and antiAnti): The phrase: “History is written by the victor” comes to mind. In this case (of Japan’s language) it would be more like “History is written by the west’s [first] recorder.” At times, the ‘west’s’ writing [and/or whatever the ‘fact’/truth’/’information’ is, that ‘goes viral’** first] makes its way *back* into the actual history, and, over time, *becomes* the ‘history.’
I had a univ professor who was driven up the wall by this phenomenon when it came to his mother tongue. I can’t, for the life of me, remember his name, now, but I can see him as plain as day: The quintessential elderly Japanese gentleman-scholar ~ in the US, teaching his language and culture to US univ students. (He’d been a linguistics prof in Japan but, when his wife passed, had moved to the US to be closer to his daughter and her family in the USs northwest.) I can still see Dr. ___ [gaaak! It’ll eventually come to me, I know…probably some time next week!] oh, so gently and politely, taking severe umbrage to the commonly-held ‘information’ that his language/peoples did *not* have a word/term for expressing gratitude *until* the arrival of [coincidently] priests/missionaries/adventurers who [again, coincidentally] introduced a word/term to the Japanese which just *happened to be* [equally coincidentally] one given a x-ian rite/ritual/article of their (read: non-heathen) faith.
That the Portuguese Priest, João Rodrigues, initiated/collected the [then-current] words/terms for the Japanese-Portuguese dictionary in the late 16th c., is historical fact; there is no dispute that he was the first to record *in* ‘western’/Romaji writing, Japanese words, expressions, and terms. I think one has to remember the reason behind the creation/compilation of the dictionary in the first place, though: for use *by* Portuguese missionaries to spread — better enable them *as* they spread — x-ianity throughout the islands/region. And, as Dr. ___ [it’ll probably come to me in the middle of the night, too, dang it!] ALSO pointed out to us, since Rodrigues’ J-P dictionary was *the first* and *only* of its kind, it is now used, by default!, as a *primary source* for ‘historical’ Japanese linguistics.
I wish I had a recording of the vehemence with which the good professor decried, continually, this practice; his contention was: if there is a glaring flaw/bias *in* the “primary source”, using it [the primary source] as THE definitive authority (in this case, as the definitive authority on historic Japanese language) dooms any subsequent study, to failure. (IOW: GIGO ~ garbage in; garbage out.)
Languages ever-evolve/change with use; ‘retrofitting’ a [living] language’s ‘history’ to ‘fit’ does NOT [automatically/necessarily] make that ‘history’ either accurate *or* true. Yes, I learned much from my decades-ago professor…chief among them was to *not* ‘accept’ what is ‘common wisdom’ as ‘gospel’ *just because* it’s the prevailing/most oft-repeated thought. His passion *against* the ‘common wisdom’ of his language’s/culture’s evolution *based on* Rodrigues’ work, was his prime example of the grave dangers of doing so. beth.
**in this day of intertubes, ‘going viral’ is exponentially quicker than it has ever been in civilization’s history…the results [‘history’ *becoming* history] are the same, though, as they’ve ever been. Do the googles on “Heard, Understood, Acknowledged” to see an example of this ~ a sound/word/term [in this case, Hua!/Hooah!] is backronymed to provide ‘a fit’. And, pretty true to human nature wanting to tie things up with a neat little bow, *even though* ‘a fit’ is totally illogical/debunked, it persists…gaining cache/‘legitimization’ with each retelling [do the googles of “Why is the US flag folded 13 times?” and/or “What do candy canes symbolize?” for a sampling.] b.
@BuffaloGal – That’s Shadows Heart not Shadow’s World named after my sweet pooch Shadow. But you are correct it is Shadow’s World and I am her mere servant. Just one question how did you know?? ☺