Archive for Life - page 33

I confess to being a bit of a language snob.  That is, I may make a judgement of a person’s character or intelligence based on how they speak.  Even though I often habitually use language that is informal or incorrect – what would be called colloquialisms, slang or the dreaded jargon.  I actually prefer it in speaking and in writing.  I am, however, careful not to expose myself to the potential harsh judgement of other language snobs and am on My Best Behavior in situations where I am with other language snobs or unsure of the company.  Here at the blog you will frequently see me in my rhetorical underwear.  Language snobs – don’t look!

You talkin’ to me?

That’s why it was with interest that I read “In Defense of Talking Funny” by Kory Stamper at her blog Harmless Drudgery.  As a defender of talking funny she has some cred (see what I did there?) since she is a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster.  I may e-mail her and ask if she gets to carry a badge or something.  But I digress.  In reading her article she gave a name to the practice of changing how we speak in different situations.  In those instances what we are doing is changing dialects, a practice she refers to as “code-switching”.  But what is a dialect?  I will quote the lexicographer’s explanation of what makes a dialect:

To get technical, dialects are varieties of a language that have their own set of speakers with their own vocabulary, grammatical rules, and accent, and they can be regional, socioeconomic, ethnic,  tonal, and even a combination thereof. American English has eight major dialects–or 24, or hundreds, depending on who you ask and what they define as a “dialect.”

So languages are made up of dialects and English is no different, and the casual language I have adopted is a dialect.  I don’t know where it came from, I’d like to believe I invented it myself.  MikeSpeak.  Truth is it’s probably local and something I have learned.  Also, it turns out most of us don’t just speak a dialect, but switch between several depending on the situation, which frustrates language snobs everywhere who want to know why no one can speak english anymore.  Ms. Stamper tells us that Standard English, while being a dialect in and of itself, is the language used by people with power and prestige.  OK, I get that.  When I want to appear educated, influential or powerful I will break out the Standard English lest the powerful Standard English Speakers judge me.  

I am a practioner and also a victim of language snobbery.  Turns out that makes me normal.  Who would have guessed that?  Me being normal, I mean.  But it also makes me human.  It is human nature for us to judge those different from us – whether it is how we speak or how we look.  And it is human nature to try and fit in.  So we keep being human.  And if people are talkin’ funny it’s not the end of the world.  They’re just being people.  

Writing yesterday’s Saint Patrick’s Day post brought back fond memories of my 2009 trip to Ireland.  Though to be truthful the actual experience was somewhat stressful since we did not book a tour.  Rather we made our own reservations, rented cars and drove ourselves around.  So there was a fair amount of feeling a little “lost”.  At least they spoke English – sort of.  Going back through my pictures, I thought I would share a few more with you.  Again, you can click on the image to see a larger version.  If you’d like any more info, ask in the comments and I’ll answer.

Lismore Castle

Lismore Castle in County Waterford, once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh.  The site has been occupied since the 7th Century, but the current buildings were built in the mid-18th century.  We did not go inside as the grounds were closed at the time we were passing through the area.

The Town of Dungarvan in the distance

This is the view of the town of Dungarvan from one of the places we stayed in County Waterford, the Seaview B&B.  A very nice place reasonably priced – I recommend it.

A typical Irish town. I do not recall the name of this one where we made a rest stop.

Here is a main street of a typical Irish town.  I believe the pink building on the left is a pub.  There is always a pub.

Here’s a better shot

Yep..I was right.  It’s Danny O’Shea’s.  No google listing.  There is a D. O’Shea’s Hotel on google but this isn’t it.

OK, that’s all for now.  If you want to see more or know any more about the subject, please inquire in the comments.

Saint Patrick’s Day is not merely a commercial holiday designed to sell green beer, party goods and corned beef, it is a cultural and religious holiday commemorating the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.  Saint Patrick was a 5th Century Christian missionary, considered the primary Patron Saint of the island.  You may follow the links to learn more via wikipedia.  It was not my sole intention to give a history lesson, but to share my personal experience of walking some of the same ground walked by Pádraig.

I was fortunate to be able to travel to Ireland in 2009 and one of the places I visited was The Rock of Cashel, a historic site in County Tipperary.

The Rock of Cashel

The site was the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster prior to the Norman Invasion and is reputed to be where the (then current) King of Munster was converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick in the 5th Century.  The oldest buildings remaining on the site date from ca. 1100, though there is a cross there they call Saint Patrick’s Cross and it is said to date from the King’s conversion in the 5th century.

Saint Patrick’s Cross

I found this to be truly a beautiful place, and it gave me pause to think how many lives have intersected here.

Their Domain as once viewed by Great Kings.  Looking out over County Tipperary

All photos are mine.  You can click on each image to see a larger version.

And so remember all who came before us and that Saint Patrick’s Day has been a long time in the making.

A little night-funny…..well sorta funny anyway.  Something to take our minds off air piracy and the invasion of Crimea.  Here is a 7 minute video of close calls – some of the luckiest idiots you will ever see.  Also, Russian dashcam video is epic.

Enjoy!

All bets are off now.

Reuters reports: Radar Data Suggests Missing Malaysia Plane Deliberately Flown Way Off Course: Sources

Associated Press:  1 US Theory Is Someone Diverted Missing Plane

New York Times: Satellite Firm Says Its Data From Jet Could Offer Location

How Can An Airliner Just Disappear?  The same way your Porsche disappears from your driveway.

Someone steals it.

Yeah, I thought so.

Mummified Michigan Woman Seemingly Voted In the Afterlife, Records Show.

Nothing to see here…move along.

Everyone is familiar with the word thanks as a courtesy that is proffered when a kindness or benefit transpires between one person and another, such as sending a thank you card for a gift or thanking a customer for their patronage.  And the convention is that you are appreciative of something nice done or given to you.  What I am talking about here is THANKS!  Which for me is existing (or attempting to exist) in a state of perpetual gratitude for everything God has made possible for me.  If you are an atheist or agnostic feel free to substitute “reality” or “the universe” or whatever you like for “God”.  He’ll forgive you 😉

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things in our lives – we all say that we have so much to be thankful for.  But were it not for the bad, the good would be meaningless.  Without winter would the spring feel as warm? If there were never sorrow could we be happy?  If there were no bad people in the world would we be able to appreciate the good?

For every kindness life has offered you then there is somewhere a slight to be thankful for.  

And for me that is the profound beauty of what I believe is God’s Creation – that it encompasses all.  And that is why I say THANKS! writ large – to encompass it all.

Well…mostly the return of baseball season.  People who know me know that I am not a big sports guy.  I express enough interest to keep my guy card current, but I am no fanatic by any means.  I am however, a big baseball guy.  And the reason I am a big baseball guy: to me baseball is more than a sport.

Defined strictly in terms of entertainment (wasn’t there a movie by that title?  No wait.  That was Terms of Endearment), for me it is the ultimate reality television.  Certainly there is a plot.  There is drama, conflict and resolution.

It is by turns a marathon, a soap opera or a science experiment.  It’s comedy, drama and tragedy.  It’s  biography, it’s fiction and truth that is stranger than fiction.  It is all of these every day from the end of March until October – dozens of episodes occurring all across America, the outcome of each individual contest having some effect on the others being played and on still others yet unplayed.  Dozens of possible outcomes that are decided on the random path of a hit or thrown ball.  Unscripted, and without a clock.  As Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”.  Managers and players can plan and strategize but once the ball is in play anything can happen.

Like I said, anything can happen

Some negatives.  There is the spitting….no one likes that.  But you can’t chew tobacco and not spit.  I suppose in another generation or so that will be a thing of the past.  And the crotch adjusting.  You must wear a cup to play baseball (if you don’t the ball WILL find “you”.  It’s like it knows) and it’s going to need adjustment from time to time.  The tight pants can be a plus – my wife likes looking at those.

A common lament I hear from non-fans is that baseball is so boring.  I am here to tell you that if you’re bored, it’s because you’re not paying attention.  There is always something happening, and that applies to more than just baseball.  Like so many things, you’ve got to pay attention.  You see where I’m going, don’t you?  A baseball game is an experiment in life.  It begins, it endures and it ends.  And then another begins and ends and so on and so on……and the events along the timeline from beginning to end are often strange and unpredictable.

There’s more here than meets the eye, one must only look.

Let us stipulate that California is a lovely place to live.  And further let us agree that people are free to believe whatever they like.  But it gets harder and harder to stay here due to the fact that some of the people in power here believe some of the stupidest things.  Among the majorities in the city councils of our most populous cities, and in the Democratic majorities in both houses of our state legislature there are, in my opinion some seriously fuzzy headed thinkers.  Which in and of itself should not pose a problem, since as I stated earlier I believe they are free to believe what they wish.  The problem comes when they deign to impose their fallacies on everyone in the name of their utopian thinking.

There is a plan afoot to ban plastic shopping bags – First they came for the paper shopping bags and I said nothing, because I preferred plastic.  Now there is a bill in the state assembly that will impose a statewide ban on disposable plastic shopping bags.  Because they take up to much room in the landfill or something.  THERE IS NO GOOD REASON TO DO THIS (caps intended).  If you believe there is, you are wrong.  Never mind that environmentally friendly reusable shopping bags cause the spread of e. coli, norovirus and salmonella.  This constitutes a serious public health risk.

Public Enemy #1

Now their sights are set on plastic water bottles – the San Francisco city council has banned the sale of plastic water bottles on municipal property and will pursue a city wide ban.  For no reason other than some people don’t like these and so you shouldn’t either.  Oh, they have their reasons, but they are nonsensical.  Supervisor David Chiu’s reason is that it takes 1,000 years for 1 bottle to bio-degrade!!!!!!  That’s a long time!  I have an idea that makes just as much sense.  Just pass a law stating that a year will now be 365,000 days long.  Now those pesky bottles will degrade in only a single year.  That’s more like it!  Or we could recycle them.  I wonder how many years that takes….oh, never mind.

There is no aspect of your life that is too profound or too trivial that a do-gooder won’t step in and tell you how you must do it, or that you can’t do it.  And when their utopia is finally realized it is certain to be hell on earth.  Because every single person will be oppressed to one degree or another when all that is not forbidden is mandatory.

“However, it said unarmed”.  That is the google translation of this title which you may recognize as “gibberish” text that sometimes randomly fills text boxes when you are viewing theme examples in various publishing applications.  It is a real language, Latin,  the language of the Romans and it is often termed a “dead language”.  Yet it persists in many areas of our modern lives – science, law and medicine to name a few.  Some of our modern languages are derived from it.  Since wordpress autofilled it into a sample text box I thought it fitting to retain the title and use it for a blog post.  Inspiration is where you find it, am I right?

Guess I’ll play it by ear…

The title of this blog is also in Latin.  Ego Vero translates roughly to “I Seek Truth”.

Ideas and language go hand in hand.  Without language, ideas exist.  But without ideas, language serves no purpose.

I intend to use this platform to practice the expression of my thoughts and ideas regarding various topics of interest to me through the use of the written word.  I believe that Ideas are the puzzle pieces that make up our lives and make up the human experience.  As each idea is expressed another piece of the puzzle falls into place – another pixel is illuminated.  Eventually the truth emerges and God’s idea comes into focus.  If you should choose to look into my little world I hope you may be entertained, informed or perhaps stimulated toward an idea or thought of your own.  And since you may be walking around inside my head, please wipe your feet first.

So… off I go.  Please join me if you will.  However, it said unarmed.