Category: Online Language Resources for English

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Newsletter: 27 April, 2011

Who values life more than the French? Who else has an expression ingrained in the language which says:  “Il n’y a pas mort d’homme.”

Literally, this could be translated as ‘No one died from it.” but it is most usually applied to put a situation in perspective and show that whatever happened, though not the positive, desired result, isn’t catastrophic.

In a world where there seems to be an immature tendency towards sensationalism, where the minor masquerades as the major and in which we are shocked numb by the repetition of history, this little expression which says “OK, we’ll get over it – It could have been worse” puts everything in its right perspective.

“Yes, it could have been worse.”

“Could have been better… Could have been worse.”

In any case, it wasn’t so serious that someone lost what was most precious; his or her life; the life of a loved, cherished one.

We tried … We didn’t succeed … but … so what? You’re still here and kicking, aren’t you? And so am I!

“Ce n’est pas grave.” It’s just not so serious. No need to get upset over it. No need to fret, to worry, to pout, to complain, to cry, to weep. It’s not the end of the the world.

And certainly no cause for mourning.

In French, there’s another saying that says:

“Il faut appeler un chat un chat.”

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Newsletter: 17 April 2011

As some of you know,  I’ve developed a vey specific method to deal with a fundamental language issue: forgetfulness.

The method is simple enough. We start with a word or a concept that’s used in everyday speech. It can be an adjective like “hot,” a verb like “to sit down” or even an adverb like “forward” or a preposition like “on.” It could also be a noun like “ceiling” or “night” or a pronoun like “us” or “here.”

What we then do is explore our memories for the opposites of these words. Sometimes the contrary comes instantaneously while for others, it takes a moment or two and for some, we just can’t find them even though we … “know” them.

Where are these words we can’t find?

Assuming they’re not new, never-encountered words but merely inactive or latent, are they just lost in our memories – covered in dust, or rusty … like an old bicycle in the back of the garage or is there some other psycho-linguistic reason we can’t recall them? Do we know them … but ignore them?

It seems that most of the time, these words we “know” but can’t remember – or seem to have forgotten – have fallen asleep … and like Sleeping Beauty who wakes up with a kiss from her Prince Charming, only need their complementary partners, their “other halves” to wake them up and come back to life!

And when this waking up happens, we’re bringing something up from our unconscious to our consciousness. And what do you know? Recognition happens.

Déjà vu?

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Newsletter: April 5, 2011

I loved algebra. It was a lot of fun. Figuring out angles and working through theorems. Finding the logic which would take us from one hyothesis to a proven conclusion. And on top of that, we had a very pretty teacher who must have spent a good part of her salary on her wardrobe.

Fascinated I was by Venn diagrams. Those overlapping circles which showed an area in which two or three or more ideas intersected. And as she explained it all so well, we really paid attention!

Words are like that: first, in just one language and even moreso in two or more languages. They have common areas where they can be used synonomously or are in the same semantic field. The words I’m thinking about right now are passionate ones, too:  jealousy, envy, desire. These three overlap but each has its own identity, its own uses, its own connotations – often sharing some of those with other words.

  • Jealousy has to do with a feeling that you’re missing out on a privilege, an advantage, a favor that’s being enjoyed by someone else … and you deeply resent it. A fear of potential loss, perhaps.
  • Envy – a hungry feeling to possess something you don’t have … but something someone else does. Could lead to craving.
  • And then, desire, coming from within, a wanting, feeling, sensation. Primitive. Sensual. Animal. These are the English words.

Now if you open up an English-French bilingual dictionary, you just might see that jealousy is translated as jalousie … that envy is translated as envie … and that desire is translated as désir … Don’t be fooled! That’s just one part, maybe even one VERY SMALL part of the story … Beware of imitations. Misunderstanding comes lightning fast.

Because while the origins of these words might be the same … that started a few thousand years ago … over time our civilisations and our literature has enriched these with more precise meanings, uses and connotations. Today’s words are built on yesterday’s foundations. They may come from the same roots, the same concepts but they’ve evolved into different species.

What is a little curious is that like with fractions in math, these words also have common denominators. And to find out just what those might be, you need only to open the newspaper. Because, from their ancient origins to their current contexts, they’re as alive as ever. Living history, so to speak.


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Newsletter: 28 March 2011

“Out of the blue” – “Out of a clear, blue, sky”

The unpredictable, unforeseen, sudden, unexpected.

Totally unsuspected. Not a cloud to be seen to warn of the thunderstorm to come or the manna to fall.

Just didn’t see it comin’ …

While wel know that it’s unwise to count on anything that doesn’t have a reasonable cause, we also relentlessly gamble in unlikely futures.

Whether sunny days or thunderstorms! Who can tell the future? Who can read the tea leaves? Who can consult a crystal ball?

And it’s understandable, “normal” as the French would say for the event is just that – an event, a happening,  a result of circumstance.

Humbly human. Even if we’re getting a little better at forecasting the weather, we’re ready for … surprises which have no discernable direct causes or are far beyond our understanding, far beyond the abilities of present-day science.

No matter what the circumstances are, we’re right to be optimistic.
Got that from my father. A man who preferred unrealistic optimism to realistic pessimism.

In fact, there is a pretty reliable way to predict the future. It’s in the history of our clear, blue sky.

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Newsletter: 20 March 2011

Just a little while ago, I was talking to my cousin Sherry. It was just after lunch there. And warm! Already in the upper 80s. Getting towards dinner time here.  Still cool. Among other things,  she told me about the Girl Scouts being probhibted from selling their traditional Girl Scout cookies in front of the Juliette Low House in Savannah because they hadn’t obtained a permit to do so. Juliette Low was the founder of the Girl Scouts. We got to talking about zero tolerance and … common sense.

Can Common Sense and Zero Tolerance get along?

In the name of obedience! Oh we have so many rules! So many that unless you’re careful, you might get caught, arrested, stopped, or otherwise interfered with for doing what your common sense, (pardon the verb but here goes… ) dictates!

Zero tolerance: strict discipline, absolute observance. There may be some cases in which this is appropriate though, I can’t think of one offhand but that must be because I live in a world in which exceptions are the rule. Language is like that. And isn’t language the reflection, expression of life?

Common sense is human. It’s the result not of applied theory, but of applied experience.  Sense=reason. You have to think a little, to choose, to make some sort of decision. You take the situation into consideration. You put things in perspective. There’s a context. You do what’s right.

Zero tolerance? It’s so easy just to follow, just to obey. And we all know where absolute obedience leads … There’s no choice, no decision, no difference, no exception, no circumstance. No doubt.  But there is dissuasion. That must be the key!

Common sense, on the other hand, seems to be appreciated by the vast majority of us. Bob Dylan wrote these words:  “To live outside the law, you must be honest.” Common sense. But maybe common sense isn’t so common, either.

Sherry told me that, in the end, there was such a protest that the rule was rescinded and the young ladies were allowed to sell their cookies …  Common sense wins.

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Newsletter: 11 March 2011

Eleven is one of my numbers and I can’t even tell you why. I don’t know if I was born with it and only realized it later in life or whether I adopted it because it just kept showing up the way a stray cat seems to wander close by until you finally give in and feed it …  Is it because it’s two ones put together? Because it’s neither the round ten nor the dozen of twelve? It is a recurrent number. Over and over again, I look at my watch, glance at a clock on the wall or my eyes happen to fall on the clock on the dashboad while I’m driving or I just “happen” to cast a glance at my phone …  and what do I see? This: 11:11. It’s happened so many times that I actually began writing down what was happening at that moment. Funny coincidences like getting an unexpected email message precisely at 11:11. Or the phone rings and the number 11 11 shows up. Other events. Open the mail. It’s the balance on my bank account. 1111 or even -1111.

Numbers are like that: They’re prices, they’re times, they’re serial numbers, they’re addresses, they’re page numbers too though I don’t think I’ve ever never gotten that far. The fact that this year is 2011 must be coincidence, I’m sure. Like all the others. Am I superstitious? Of course not!  You book a flight? What?!! 11 11 – Come on, you’ve got to be kidding! Check into a hotel … Room 11. Let’s go for a hike! How far? … 11 km. I give up! It’s too much. Why look for meaning where there is none?

Born in which month? November … ? Oh no! What’s this? 11 points in Scrabble???

This nonsense being said, there are a few things posted on the The Paris Savannah Connection right now which might strike your fancy.

The most recent is a geography quiz about the Middle East which came my way via Freda R.’s newsletter out of Tybee. Thank you, Freda! This is greatl! By the way, if you happen to be in India or China and say the “Middle East,” no one will know what you’re talking about … Over there, our trans-Atlantic view of the “Middle East”  is their … “Western Asia.”

There’s a link to a wonderful de-complexing article on varieties of American English by Jan Freeman; a few words about the word “coup” with a link to the Visual Thesaurus; A.O. Scotts’s look at the 1940 film classic  “The Shop Around the Corner”  as well as a beautifully written answer to this question: Can most people really say whatever they want, whenever they want, without even thinking about it

And more … like the reposting of say … tell… speak … and talk. And there’s a lot to be said about that!

Have a wonderful March weekend,

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Posted in Cross Cultural Comments Keywords Online Language Resources for English Reading

Bristol: A Quirky British Car Maker, Serving Quirky Customers Worldwide

I have to admit that I had never heard of the Bristol until today.

The Bristol

and here’s a “bilingual” link to the word … quirky!

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Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments Hear it, Say it, Write it ! Keywords Online Language Resources for English

saying … telling … speaking … talking …

Four verbs we “do” every day. Probably because we do these things a lot !! Four verbs describing one of our favorite activities. I’ll just leave it to each reader’s imagination for the others.

You might expect me to immediately go into the differences … but I’d like to touch on some common uses of “say” first.

“What can I say?”   (Que veux-tu que je te dise ?)

“Do you know what I’m saying?”

Tu me comprends?

“What would you say if . . .?”

Que diriez-vous si…       Que dirais-tu si …

“I can’t say for sure.”

Je ne peux rien affirmer. Je ne peux pas te le confirmer (avec certitude).

“Say when.”

“Arretez-moi.”

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Newsletter: 27 February 2011

Back in the 1950s, the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote a play called “Under Milkwood, a Play for Voices” for the radio. In a sense, it was rather like the stage play “Our Town,” written by the American playwright Thorton Wilder.

In the opening monologue to Thomas’ play, the narrator speaks these lines:

“… You can hear the dew falling, and the hushed town breathing …

“And you alone can hear the invisible starfall …

“Listen it is night moving in the streets …

“Time passes. Listen. Time passes.

“Come closer now. Only you can hear the houses sleeping in the streets …

“Only you can hear and see, behind the eyes of the sleepers …From where you are, you can hear their dreams…”

Poetry. Written to be heard.

Do you hear the sounds, both near and far?  A baby sleeping. Distant thunder.  Music coming from another room.  We hear the invisible. We just need to … listen … to make sense of it.

Language is like that. A Play for Voices. Waves in time. Welsh waves, Atlantic waves. Mediterranean waves … Voice waves. Listen … just for a moment … You’ve got all it takes … and in fact, all the time in the world.

Thanks for reading The Paris Savannah Connection! where you’ll find a link to a recording of “Under Milkwood,” narrated by the great Richard Burton.

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George Washington

Ms. Kalman’s creation:  And the Pursuit of Happiness !

And the Pursuit of Happiness … is of course, derived from the Constitution of the United States of America which guarantees citizens the rights to LIfe, Liberty … And the Pursuit of Happiness !

George … is of course, George Washington. Here’s his story as seen by Ms. Kalman!

Enjoy

And the Pursuit of Happiness !

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