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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jan 14, 2020 9:15:35 GMT
It always amazes me that Australians who are accustomed to living with more dangerous creatures than most of the world continue to pretend that drop bears, which are quite common in densely forested areas in the Red Centre, are a joke. Reports like that in the video posted here are dangerous in that they perpetuate the myth that the myth is a myth and encourage a casual attitude to the danger. Vv should know better than call it “light entertainment”. It is well known that drop bears seek out American tourists and one has to assume that the joke myth was initiated by the Australian tourist authorities anxious not to discourage American visitors. What IS a myth, of course, is that putting Vegemite behind the ears is an effective preventative — only British made Marmite (as opposed to the Kiwi variety) will do. Whenever I visit Oz my family insist on my bringing a supply with me. I once had some in my carry-on luggage and had it confiscated in Singapore while I was changing planes.
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 14, 2020 10:08:47 GMT
LJH  |
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 15, 2020 6:54:20 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 16, 2020 22:24:40 GMT
While reading the news this morning I encountered this: 'As US baseball great Yogi Bera said: "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future". That set me to searching for Yogi Bera, which resulted in this Wikipedia entry. Note: Aunty ABC misspelled the chap’s surname, which was Berra. The man was reportedly famous for his impromptu pithy comments, malapropisms, and seemingly unintentional witticisms, known as "Yogi-isms". As I found them rather amusing, I share some here. • 90 percent of baseball is mental; the other half is physical. • On why he no longer went to Rigazzi's, a St Louis restaurant: Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded. • It ain't over till it's over. • When you come to a fork in the road, take it. • It's déjà vu all over again. • You can observe a lot by watching. • Always go to other people's funerals; otherwise they won't go to yours. • I really didn't say everything I said. • A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore. • If you can't imitate him, don't copy him. |
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 16, 2020 23:38:54 GMT
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jan 17, 2020 11:34:24 GMT
It’s a bit difficult to keep up with Vv’s postings since his retirement. But some brief comments: The pronunciation post was curious because it was amazingly easy to follow the ‘To be or not to be’ recital. But more so because it reminded me of the idea of producing Shakespeare’s plays using original pronunciation. David Crystal and his son Ben have been at the forefront of this and it is worth exploring “original pronunciation” in Google. Those interested should especially have a look at this originalpronunciation.com. The item on Yogi Berra’s “yogi-isms” recalled the verbal gaffes of some sports commentators. This article from The Guardian has a collection www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/21/david-coleman-s-best-colemanballs . One has to be sympathetic towards the perpetrators. We should smile but not sneer. Those who are inclined to sneer should try providing a commentary themselves — it is surprisingly difficult to combine knowledge, immediacy and interesting thoughts, especially when a producer is chattering in one’s earpiece. I was particularly delighted with the origin of the word “grotesque” in the article by Kelly Grovier. Thank you for those, Vv. |
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 17, 2020 21:50:02 GMT
It’s a bit difficult to keep up with Vv’s postings since his retirement. :-) Some might say that I need to get a life! Some days there's little I can do on my car-restoration/rebuild project and so, stuck at home in weather too hot for outdoors, I amuse myself with reading – screen and print (and I am still working on my memoirs, which never seem to end). But some brief comments: The pronunciation post was curious because it was amazingly easy to follow the ‘To be or not to be’ recital. But more so because it reminded me of the idea of producing Shakespeare’s plays using original pronunciation. Just so, LJH. My "Persevere till the second half, when it starts to make sense" was for that reason: I thought it reasonably comprehensible. When studying Linguistics at uni I was fortunate to have a great Chaucer scholar as tutor; he used to read / recite The Canterbury Tales in supposedly original pronunciation, and after a few minutes' adjustment of the gears between auricles and cortices the work was fairly readily understood. I found it quite delightful. Similarly, another academic had us read Shakespeare (Early Modern?) in what was supposedly period-correct style. Strangely, I found that more difficult than the Chaucer, but that may have been owing to the lecturer's particular pronunciation. Perhaps it was too close to today's English compared to the Chaucer. David Crystal and his son Ben have been at the forefront of this and it is worth exploring “original pronunciation” in Google. Those interested should especially have a look at this originalpronunciation.com. Very interesting! The Crystals are a wealth of fascinating information on our language. I first discovered DC through a preview copy of his Cambridge Encyclopedia* of Language (1987). * The title uses e rather than ash / æsc (æ).The item on Yogi Berra’s “yogi-isms” recalled the verbal gaffes of some sports commentators. This article from The Guardian has a collection www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/21/david-coleman-s-best-colemanballs . One has to be sympathetic towards the perpetrators. We should smile but not sneer. Those who are inclined to sneer should try providing a commentary themselves — it is surprisingly difficult to combine knowledge, immediacy and interesting thoughts, especially when a producer is chattering in one’s earpiece. No, one can't sneer. In a secondary-school production of Trial by Jury, in which I played / sang the judge, an audience titter (pubescent schoolboys!) at my line "Put your briefs upon the shelf" caused me to completely fluff my subsequent lines. Such distractions are unnerving, so kudos to sports commentators whose stuff-ups are brought on by the infernal earpiece. Similar things have happened to me while presenting radio programs and a knob twiddler in the next booth has given an instruction through my headphones. I was particularly delighted with the origin of the word “grotesque” in the article by Kelly Grovier. That had me wondering what a lad would be doing there, though given the historical (and ongoing) stories of lads in that place, perhaps not. One hopes that the arabesque patterns were the worst of his adventure before he died. |
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Post by Twoddle on Jan 17, 2020 23:10:34 GMT
… only British made Marmite (as opposed to the Kiwi variety) will do. Whenever I visit Oz my family insist on my bringing a supply with me. I once had some in my carry-on luggage and had it confiscated in Singapore while I was changing planes. Please take as much out of the UK as you possibly can, LJH. The less of that stuff that remains here, the happier I'll be.  |
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 17, 2020 23:20:59 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 17, 2020 23:25:28 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 17, 2020 23:35:31 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 18, 2020 2:40:01 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jan 18, 2020 3:33:09 GMT
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Post by Twoddle on Jan 18, 2020 11:59:12 GMT
We humans have truly f[ornicat]ed planet Earth! Indeed so. Yet governments around the World are trying to get their countries' birth-rates to increase for economic reasons. Will these dick-heads ever realise that the impending catastrophe to our planet has been caused solely by over-population? |
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jan 18, 2020 12:40:40 GMT
<< We humans have truly f[ornicat]ed planet Earth! >>
Why do most people refer to “planet Earth” but not planet Mars or planet Venus? Even if the context doesn’t make the meaning clear, Earth spelt with a capital can only be the name of the planet. Just asking!
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