April is late this year?

[Little Jack Horner]

Well I suppose April started, as is traditional, on the first day of the month but this was, in fact, one day later than last year because this year is a leap year — but we have to start somewhere.

Folks might like to listen to RobWords discussing Old English words which ought to be recovered:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0hV2q8aw6M

[Verbivore]

LJH: I also considered posting that RW piece, but thought that maybe folk here were bored with that. I misjudged.

[Verbivore]

I suppose we’ll need to be careful using nonce (as in nonce word). (p. 13)

Public attitudes towards offensive language on TV and Radio: Quick Reference Guide

It would have been handy if the guide included definitions for the terms, not all of which will be clear to everyone, especially this non-Brit.

[Dave Miller]

I agree, Vv: I could have learned a lot of new words, there, if I had but known what they mean!

I was mystified to find “uppity” listed at all. To me, it’s just a casual word meaning something like “snobby” or “too self-important”.
I had to search quite a while before finding an article that said it was difficult to believe people still thought the word meant “snobby”, when it had such a well-known racist history.

Well, not to me, it didn’t.

[Little Jack Horner]

That was very interesting essay on potentially offensive words. There are many of which I have never heard such as "nonce" in an offensive context – perhaps I was nicely brought up. I didn't notice the inclusion of "uppity" and, like Dave, I am mystified by its inclusion. It would have been interesting to have a read a similar guide written 50 years ago and to hang around a bit and see what a guide written 50 years from now would be like.

[Little Jack Horner]

I have spent a lot of time doing not very much recently and have come across this posting on YouTube. I think it is interesting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j18ZdlBSBs

The speaker comments that the author of the book was "refugeed", a usage which I have not previously encountered. Several of the expressions mentioned seem quite similar if not identical to current north country speech. I wouldn't say "Y'alright?" but I would certainly say "You alright?". And "How is it with you?" doesn't seem very strange to me. I don't myself use "thou" but "tha" Is commonly heard in the north country.

[Little Jack Horner]

And another thing. I am not sure whether this will adequately link to the posting in RobWotds but I will give it a try:

https://www.tiktok.com/@knoxstudy/video/7119538793887173893

[Verbivore]

Here is a brief discussion on uppity.

[Dave Miller]

Thanks for that, Vv.

I must say, I was previously wholly unaware of any racial connection and unaware, too, that “uppity” suggested any inappropriate acting above one’s social class.

To me, “uppity” is slang. A perhaps childish way of saying that someone (mistakenly!) thinks they are too good for something. Used when, say, someone hesitates when asked to help with the washing up, or doesn’t want to go to a birthday party because it’s being held at McDonalds. Low-level stuff.

[Verbivore]

The same word can mean different things across the Ditch (Tasman Sea) or the Pond.

Example: Fanny. – In US English it’s slang for backside; in AU slang it’s vagina. I learned this while attending a US-based seminary in AU back in the (very dim) ’60s. While playing badminton, an Aussie female fell; she was helped up by an American lad who said: “I hope you didn’t hurt your fanny”. The poor chap was rewarded with a slap to the face and a haughty walk-off.

Another: Bum. – In the US, bum is a tramp, a loser, a hobo … while in AU it’s one’s backside / arse.

[Little Jack Horner]

Here is a new RobWords blog about Celtic languages.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mroBpgBw0gU.

[Verbivore]

Sometimes acronyms just don’t translate across alphabets.

Here be a screenshot from Ep 4, ‘War of Words’, in the miniseries A Cold War of Spies (currently offered on an AU geoblocked public TV channel).



If one were to horizontally flip the picture, one has a police force of – the gods forbid! – HOMOs!*

* The symbol H in the Cyrillic alphabet represents the sound of Latin/English N. The Russian Special Purposes Unit of the Militia is a system of special police units within the National Guard of Russia. From its name, отряд мобильный особого назначения, we have the acronym OMOH (pronounced OMON).

Well, it has been a quiet month after all. 

[Verbivore]

Polliespeak


“The […] Redevelopment has reached a significant milestone with early works and demolition beginning last week, bringing the community one step closer to better integrated, coordinated healthcare services.”

So read the headline my small-town weekly desperate to fill column inches and no doubt grateful for the press release gifted them.

The redevelopment referred to has been ‘in the works’ (i.e. committee level) for more than a decade and has been a pork-barrel regular in at least five elections, local and state. The fact that the relevant government department was fed a rocket over its appalling inactivity may well have prompted the above ‘news’ item (read: media release).

Okay, they’ve knocked over the old fence, so that’s a start. How long till the job’s done and functioning? How many more committees?

I can’t be the only sceptic when I read ‘news’ of such import, can I?

Let’s give it a colour. To accompany whitewashing and greenwashing, perhaps we could go for … er …? Maybe brownwashing in reference to the relevant underling’s laundry list on the day of his rocketing?

Or just call it for what it is: bullsh!t. That’s brown, too.

‘News’ like the above is cheap (free) publicity designed for politicians and bureaucrats to appease The People; it almost makes me hanker for a tabloid tits’n’arse feature to fill the space if that’s what it takes to keep local newspapers alive.

[Little Jack Horner]

I can't think of anything useful to say in response to the last post by Vv except that it is typical of local newspapers. It is certainly better than the sort of local news you would be reading if you lived in Gaza or Ukraine so I think we should be grateful.
I had never previously heard the phrase "a pork-barrel regular" so thank you for that. I wonder about its etymology?

[Verbivore]

I couldn’t resist sharing this example of technical / promotional / speculative ‘literature’ written by a person (or AI?) patently of NESB (non-English-Speaking Background).

The Pros and Cons of Automatic Home Sweeping Robot
2021-04-19

In recent years, the sweeping robots are popular with amazing speed, and the market is developing very rapidly. In the early stage of development, the sweeping robots mainly improved sweeping performance. At this stage, the sweeping robot is guaranteed to provide better cleaning effect, turn to the development direction of intelligent core technology such as multi-sensor integration, navigation, path planning, today, this article is specifically described by Cleva to introduce the advantages and disadvantages of the automatic sweeping robot performance. 

Sweeping function
Advantages: Like the sofa, the area is not easy to clean under the bed, it is easy to clean, it can easily clean the hair, dust and other garbage.

Disadvantages: Early automatic sweeping robots are working in the furniture-intensive space, or they are alone between the table and dining chairs, or when they are fascinated by the table, don't turn out for ten minutes. Now some automatic sweeping robots have applied advanced technologies to sweeping function, achieving smart tipping of sweeping robots, intelligent monitoring around the surrounding environment, achieving better cleaning effects.

Cleaning function
Advantages: The cleaning effect of thin floating dust on the floor is better, and the home sweeping robot can easily clean up for garbage and smaller diaphragm.

Disadvantages: If the thicker dust layer effect is not satisfactory, there is also a large sheet of paper, and the robot is snapped in the channel to collect garbage, and must be cleared.

Avoid obstacles function
Advantages: Do not use manual operation, automatic avoidance of obstacles, can easily avoid large obstacles such as walls, furniture, basically no collision.

Disadvantages: Automatic sweeping robot  in the market, the smaller obstacles such as table legs, furniture legs, mineral water bottles, etc., are still more likely to hit, and cannot avoid the power cord in the living room.

The home sweeping robot market is in the continuous development of growth. In order to continuously improve the user experience and fit the practical function, the home automatic sweeping robot will evolve and improve, and performance will continue to improve.

Meanwhile … having tried my gifted robot micro-vac, I can foresee a return soon to regular broom, Dyson, and mop.