Month: April 2010
One reason for Savannah.
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One reason for Paris.
Even if winter days are often wet and the low grey skies prevent the sun from shining through, well, there’s plenty of light at night at the ice-slating rink in front of the city hall. That one reason. But there are many more.
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English: British English, American English.
(“There is the illusion that we speak the same language, but we really don’t.”)
Even in the most cosmopolitan cities, the vast majority of people we meet speak the language they grew up with: their native language. We naturally inherit the sounds, the pronunciations, the accents, the intonations as well as the words, the expressions, the culture of our environments. Radio and TV “feed” us daily with language … mostly originating in our home lands.
I suppose we could say that there are both national and local languages. As we move through time, passing from one year to the next, from one decade to the next, from one generation to the next, so our language habits change. The frequencies with which a word or expression … or proverb … is used change over time. What used to be is no longer and what is … is new. We adopt words. We discard them, too. Like clothes, we wear them … but, when they’re out of fashion, they stay in the closets until they’re given away, thrown out … or brought out again years later.
But what about the same “language” spoken by different cultures?
Here’s a link to an article written last April by Roger Cohen , columnist, called “On Loos and Language.” British … and American. Enjoy it.
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got any grass, guys?
Slang … Using one word or expression for another. Let me tell you a story … Many years ago, when I was a student in Toronto, my very best friend – and he still is – and I were working in the summer to earn our keep. We were both in our early twenties, long-haired and carefree. We cruised in Geoff’s old Pontiac convertible, top down through the hot summer streets.
One very sunny afternoon about half past 5, I believe we were up near Bayview and Mount Pleasant, we’d just passed the light when a cop pulled up to us and motioned us to pull over. He got out of his police car and looked us up and down: we were wearing shorts, old T-shirts and … maybe … sandals. We had to turn down the music. Whether it was Santana or Bob Dylan or Gordon Lightfoot I can’t remember.
The cop, a pretty big guy, took a minute looking at the car registration papers and Geoff’s driver’s licence. He handed them back and said: “You guys got any grass in this car?”
Geoff looked at him … paused, smiled … “Sure do, officer.” “Want some?”
“OK. Where is it, guys?” he asked us.
“In the trunk.”
“Get out and open that trunk.”
We did….
And there was grass in there all right … two 20 gallon bags full of it. Freshly cut grass, straight off the lawns … We’d just finished a day’s work gardening.
“Get outta here …” the cop muttered as he got back into his squad car. “You kids …” “Get outta here …”
Well, you see … grass … is slang … ( and cop, too!)
If you’re interested in slang … just subscribe to the Paris Savannah Connection!
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I’ll = isle = aisle
three words with the same pronunciation … so if you can pronounce one … you can pronounce all 3, can’t you?
[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/MF58195.mp3|titles=I’ll]
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“holes … when you’re in one, stop digging!”
Rules … what to do and what not to do. There’s a time for everything. That comes from King Solomon. There’s a time for peace. There’s a time for war. There’s a time to rejoice. There’s a time to cry. There’s a time to love and a time to refrain from loving. There’s … well, you can open the Book of Ecclesaistes, too!
In this morning’s New York Times, our friend Thomas Friedman reminds us of another rule. He wrote:
I’m no expert on American politics, but I do know something about holes. ((And watching the way the Republican Party is reacting to the passage of health care,)) it seems to me the G.O.P. is violating the first rule of holes: “When you’re in one, stop digging.”
Good style! Smart man.
PS. Shhh…. The past of the verb ‘to dig’ is … “dug“
[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/MF63504.mp3|titles=dug]
(not to be confused with the Texan pronunciation of man’s best friend: the dog)
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“first things first”
Doing things in the right order – first things first; last things last … is certainly a key to avoiding problems.
There’s an old, pre-automobile proverb telling us this – but it still works pretty well:
Don’t put the cart in front of the horse.
First things first.
[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex17084d1.mp3|titles=first things first]
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