Early Risers.

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

There are many authors who could paint a picture with words, however outlandish or ridiculous. Tom Sharpe was one of many.

 

Joseph Hellers Catch 22 would be my pick.

 

"Good Knows", his less well known  novel about King David would be my second pick!

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Tony_S]

I decided today  that I really did need to tidy up my desk. The first thing to do was to finish off installing, nothing involving soldering, some loco decoders. This of course took longer than I thought it would. I didn’t notice until it started dripping that I had gouged a knuckle on my left hand. I don’t know how I could  end up bleeding after fitting a few 6 pin decoders. I did finish with a  21pin decoder but that went into a bright red vehicle.

Tony

 

[polybear]

It seems The Orange One has been a very naughty boy.....

[TheQ]

Soggy Evening Awl,

It's rained for at least 5 hours. Puddles are beyond maximum depth so  water is running down the roads. In one dip in the road it's 6 inches deep and right across it. Forecast for tomorrow...

Rain.

 

Just paddled back from the MRC, where I had the joyous task of counting the tea money tin.

I've extracted about £20 which will go in the reserve tin to act as part of the float for our next show. ( 28th May in Hoveton village hall).

 

After that much time was spent cutting out walls for Seco huts. I'm getting a lot of pain in my shoulders while hunched over muddling. I think I'll have to build something like a lectern to bring the working surface up to me..

 

Got home to find deliveries from the house of strong ladies. Only printable clear plastic is relevant to our hobby.

 

Muggachoccy gone

Goodnight Awl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

This morning, when I went shopping, I needed to buy some strawberries as we had a glut of rhubarb. So after dinner, instead of heading outside to the workshop, I made some rhubarb and strawberry jam, 5 jars n total. As I was doing so, the whole house was smelt of rhubarb and strawberries, thankfully Sheila doesn’t mind that smell, she thinks it’s heavenly.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Spent some time trying to re-assemble the drive of the locomotive but gave up as it requires more nimble fingers and younger eyes than I have. I suppose I should check to see if the chassis will fit the body that I have first.

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I like this guy's approach.

 

 

I added these US commercial links above. Not everyone says "carmel".

 

Probably like most things there, just see how  Ted Cruz says it and the opposite will be correct.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[jjb1970]

One of the interesting things about the English language is how it has evolved around the world. I am sure that would be true for any language with such reach (despite the efforts of an organisation like the French academy), my boy speaks Spanish and tells me that Spanish varies between countries.

 

English is the language of administration here, but the local dialect of 'singlish' can be very hard work at first. Indian English is similar in having evolved into something quite distinct. Some of it is importing words and expressions from local languages, but even if you put that aside things like syntax and use of shared English words can be different. And of course everywhere seems to develop unique profanities.

[AndyID]

14 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

One of the interesting things about the English language is how it has evolved around the world. I am sure that would be true for any language with such reach (despite the efforts of an organisation like the French academy), my boy speaks Spanish and tells me that Spanish varies between countries.

 

English is the language of administration here, but the local dialect of 'singlish' can be very hard work at first. Indian English is similar in having evolved into something quite distinct. Some of it is importing words and expressions from local languages, but even if you put that aside things like syntax and use of shared English words can be different. And of course everywhere seems to develop unique profanities.

 

English is no longer "English", and has been for many, many years. Depends on how you look at it.

 

(Personally I'd prefer everyone adopted the Glaswegian adaptation. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zhwt0

 

Give it a a few minutes.

 

[jjb1970]

29 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

English is no longer "English", and has been for many, many years. Depends on how you look at it.

 

(Personally I'd prefer everyone adopted the Glaswegian adaptation. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zhwt0

 

Give it a a few minutes.

 

 

I think it's true for any intellectual concept, it can be originated but how it is used, interpreted and evolves is outside the control of the originator. In science each scientific discovery is essentially a segue to further discoveries, in literature a writer can have an understanding of what their work should mean but how a reader interprets it is entirely down to them, ditto music, paintings etc. And identifying origin can be a rabbit hole as there are very few genuinely original ideas and concepts. English is like most languages in having roots in older languages and interactions with other modern languages. 

[pH]

A US public television series from almost 4 decades ago (!! I remember it well) about the English language and its developments :

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_English

 

and it will have developed further since then.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

... my boy speaks Spanish and tells me that Spanish varies between countries.

He is right. The Spanish in the former Spanish colonies is different from castellano (Castilian Spanish) - in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. (Plenty of links like this one.)

 

So is the language of the Québécois and French.

[Ozexpatriate]

41 minutes ago, pH said:

A US public television series from almost 4 decades ago (!! I remember it well)

As do I. A really excellent program(me). 😉

 

Bits of it are on YouTube. This is the beginning.

 

Despite* his success on American television (PBS) in the MacNeil/Lehrer Report, the presenter, Robert (Robin) MacNeil, is Canadian.

 

* Perhaps contributory to. The late Peter Jennings (ABC Nightly News anchor for many years) was also Canadian.)

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
link

[pH]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

As do I. A really excellent program(me). 😉

 

Bits of it are on YouTube. This is the beginning.

 

Despite* his success on American television (PBS) in the MacNeil/Lehrer Report, the presenter, Robert (Robin) MacNeil, is Canadian.

 

* Perhaps contributory to. The late Peter Jennings (ABC Nightly News anchor for many years) was also Canadian.)

 

The whole series is there, though each episode is in multiple parts.

 

And there have been other fairly prominent Canadian people in US media - Hilary Brown and Morley Safer for example.

[AndyID]

2 minutes ago, pH said:

 

And there have been other fairly prominent Canadian people in US media

 

 

Eh?

 

🙂

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, pH said:

The whole series is there, though each episode is in multiple parts.

I saw the first episode in bits - and a complete second episode. I didn't check on all the others. Nice to know they are there.

[iL Dottore]

One could argue that the success of English is because, unlike the haughty aristocrat that is French - looking down her nose at anything vaguely improper, English is the original linguistic “Good Time Girl”, happy to hang out with even the most disreputable of argots on the chance of picking a shiny new word or two…

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente.  We should have been setting off to Limoges tomorrow to pick up Rachel and Emily.  Sadly they aren't coming as Rachel's platelets are still low.  Fortunately she now has a diagnosis and the cause is treatable.  Hopefully they wil be able tolcome over in the summer.  It doesn't help that Beth used to be secretary to a bowel surgeon and typed letters about such matters. 

 

Anyway we are off to Niort this morning for Beth have an MRI scan.  The upside is that I may get an hour on the station while I wait.  

 

Regards to all. 

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by jamie92208

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, pH said:

And there have been other fairly prominent Canadian people in US media

Beyond newspeople, it's a very long list - as varied as Alex Trebek, Mike Myers, Martin Short, and William Shatner from the top of my head.

 

Besides Myers and Short, just the Second City (Toronto) alumni (and SCTV) is a long list of successful comedians in the US including but not limited to John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara etc.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

English is the original linguistic “Good Time Girl”, happy to hang out with even the most disreputable of argots on the chance of picking a shiny new word or two…

A "magpie" language - it is often called. 

 

Specifically so in the book "May We Borrow Your Language?: How English Steals Words from All Over the World" by Phillip Gooden, subtitled "How English has stolen, snaffled, purloined, pilfered, appropriated and looted words from all four corners of the world".

[Ozexpatriate]

7 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Fortunately she now has a diagnosis and the cause is treatable.

I am glad to hear that Jamie.

[iL Dottore]

Regarding Len Deighton, I’ve always enjoyed his work - but with a preference for his unnamed spy books (aka “Harry Palmer”), such as Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin and his historical novels (such as City of Gold and Bomber) - especially because of the extensive historical research he did for those novels.

Tom Sharpe (Wilt, Porterhouse Blue etc.,) and Joseph Heller (Catch-22) have written some great books (and in the case of Catch-22 created a whole new meme, a new way of being cynical 🤨), but I haven’t reread their books until they fall apart - unlike with Terry Pratchett, Len Deighton or Larry Niven.

 

In regards to literary influences on the young iD (aka Cadet Cynical as he then was) two stand out: Ian Fleming’s Bond Books and his collected travel essays - which gave me an undying love of fine food, fine drink, beautiful women, exotic locales and expensive “toys” and Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in A Strange Land - which most definitely influenced my philosophy of life - if you can grok it…

 

Finally, three more Len Deighton quotes (the second two of which I think I’ve remembered correctly)

• I gave her a smile that I’d kept unused for a year or so
• You’re using a ten-foot voice for a six inch conversation.
• Charlotte Street ran north of Soho and few would blame it

[iL Dottore]

18 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A "magpie" language - it is often called. 

 

Specifically so in the book "May We Borrow Your Language?: How English Steals Words from All Over the World" by Phillip Gooden, subtitled "How English has stolen, snaffled, purloined, pilfered, appropriated and looted words from all four corners of the world".

Something to add to my next Amazon book order - thanks for the “heads up” Oz!