docoflove1974

Another reason to celebrate Godiva liqueur *mmmmm* PS: chocolate never spoils...it just is no longer chocolate at that point. All chocolate is good. Amen.

Really!? You wouldn't happen to have any sources on this? I ask because this is very similar to the Aztecan approach; when the Spaniards imposed Catholicism and moved the Aztecan 'day of rememberance' from the summer to All Souls' Day (2 November), it created this incredible mix of rituals, which in my opinion is quite beautiful. The main 'symbol' is a calavera ('skull') or esqueleto ('skeleton'), which is dancing around and making merry. The image is meant to represent the belief that life is no longer bad for these now defunct souls...so they're enjoying themselves now. It's also meant to laugh at the face of death, that it's not so bad.

Well, I think a lot of what we Westerners think about death, and in particular suicide, is shaped by the Christian church. As I recall, it was early on in the dogma that life is precious, and therefore one should not take one's own life needlessly. The question is, of course, what does "needlessly" really mean. The concept of honor is so intertwined with this subject--so much so that it is difficult anymore to tease out what's based on honor and what's based on religious teaching/dogma. A friend of mine also argued the 'macho' side of it, and that this element (which varies among cultures) is interlaced and often confused with honor. An example: soldiers being caught by the enemy. For some cultures, the 'macho'/honorable (you decide which) thing to do is to fall on the sword; for others, it's to ride things out (the "you can do what you like, but I'm strong enough to live through it" mentality). And who's to say that one is 'the better option' than the other? So often even this is completely contextual, and an individual issue. One recent favorite movie is "Mar Adentro" ("The Sea Inside"), a very interesting Spanish tale which stars Javier Bardem (who deserved every award he received for the role). He plays a man who, as an adult, had a diving accident that left him a quadriplegic. For something like 20 years he fought for the right for euthanasia--his argument being that he can't do anything anymore, and he's a burden to his family (who are his caretakers), and essentially his life is wasting away. His brother disagrees, and fights him all the way; he takes the side of the Catholic church...and in this movie, the local priest (bishop, perhaps?) is himself a quadriplegic. He gets his day in court...and well, I won't spoil the rest, but the central questions revolve the idea about the 'right to die', quality of life...and what is life itself. And while the movie never gives an answer, I think the perspective that is most argued in the movie is that it is an individual decision: what one person believes is not necessarily what the next believes. And I think this applies to this topic of death, too.

A note from American Academia : Podcasts are 'newer' technology, and universities are scrambling to get the servers up-to-date to handle more and more podcasts, as well as increasing their bandwidth for all the hits. It seems that this is a problem both for the small, liberal arts universities as well as the major research universities. So, that being said, it'll be interesting to see how this continues. I suspect that as distance education and similar concepts continue in popularity and growth, the more public and private podcasts will be available.

Well, toponyms are always a separate area of the lexicon. They often don't change radically, and are most often adapted into the dominant language. What they can tell us is not only the 'original' name of the topographic element, but the various peoples/languages which have stopped by. I often think of the southern region of Spain: what the Romans called Betica (and I never could find an explanation for this, as it was previously the region of the Turdetanos, an Iberian/Celt-Iberian group) was later called 'the land of the Vandals' (V

More like weighed down with data, Excel spreadsheets...and chicken fettuccine alfredo

Meh, I don't know that I would truly agree. Rumanian has heavy lexical influence from the various neighbors and intruders (various Slavic languages, Hungarian, and I believe there is a Turkish influence, too), and this must be entered into the equation. What can be said about the Romance vocabulary is that oftentimes the 'archaic' word for something is kept in Rumanian over a more 'modern' word, which is kept on in French/Italian and others. For example, it is often thought that comedere is an older word for 'eat' than manducare, which originally meant 'to chew', yet it is a version of comedere that is kept on in Rumanian (manca, if I'm reading my online site correctly...I'm sure Kosmo will help), Spanish and Portuguese (both comer), while a version of manducare that is continued on in French (manger) and Italian (mangiare). But this is common, and is often refered to in linguistics as the 'wake effect' (and it has other names): when one drops a rock in a pool of water, there are ripples or wakes that emminate out from the point of impact; as they go out, they get calmer and are more wide-spread, but the outer-most ring is the one which is the oldest. Same with language: when there is a change that spreads among a speech community, the first change tends to go out the furthest, but is also the oldest, and at the 'point of impact/change' there have been many other changes. In this case, this 'older' word for 'to eat' remains mostly in the outer-reaches of the former Empire, while the central parts have the more 'modern' word. (There is so much more to say on this, but that's for another thread.) As to the grammar of Rumanian: there are certainly 'archaic' aspects of Rumanian grammar (use of case-marking comes to mind quickly) which one tends to connect with Latin, and justifiably so. However, Rumanian has so many innovations (use of articles, post-posed articles, analytic verb forms for the future and conditional for a start) that one is hard pressed to say that it's 'close' to Latin. That being said, because of the case system (which is severely reduced) and that there is a third group of nouns (there are many grammarians which call it a 'neuter' so as to round out the gender system of masculine, feminine and 'neuter'; however I follow Graham Mallinson's (1984, 1986) distinction of calling it ambigeneric--more on this later, too, if you wish), then many say that Rumanian is 'more archaic' and 'closer to Latin'. I would argue that few, if any, of the modern Romance languages are truly 'close' to Latin; these aspects of Rumanian have been debated--are they archaic forms, to keep the connection with Latin? or have they been 'strengthened' by being surrounded by languages which have the same characteristics?--and I think that most Romance linguists have their own opinion.

I think what is needed is a round of Perfectly Patented Pertimaxuseseses, quite a bit of merry-making...and birthday hails to the one and only. May you have a great day, P!

Ah...

Well, it relaxes me...

What is it with you and blood-letting? I'm surprised you haven't sent him a gallon of leeches already!

Sex always works! *giggle* You might think about certain yoga classes (not necessarily pilates, but basic stretching/yoga); I know that with all of the commuting that I've been doing this semester, the increased tension in my shoulders and upper back, not to mention the lumbar area, have greatly been reduced thanks to a regular yoga routine. I do it at home, because the courses I want at my YMCA (gym) are offered at really odd times, but it might be something to look into. Another idea: oftentimes at gyms they have massage therapy, and if they have one called either Thai massage or stretch-massage, it might also work. Essentially, it's a type of massage that includes (and often features) stretching--as in, someone stretches you--to increase bloodflow and flexibility. Lastly...instead of a chiropractor, what about a good physical therapy center? They often have numerous exercises, stretches, and other goodies to help you out with skeletal-muscular issues. (And it's not just because I have a very critical eye towards chiropractic peoples.)

Oh geez...stop feeding Don Tomato's ego! It doesn't need to grow anymore...

The combining of words is not unique to Texas, or even to the Southwest/Central US; this happens everywhere, in all languages. As for the 'extra syllables', the thing to remember here is that the Texas/Oklahoma area (I can say for sure...I think there are areas of Kansas and Arkansas, too) speakers extend and twist vowel groups, producing the unique affectation of the vowels. (This makes teaching a foreign language with 'pure' vowels very difficult!)

When my friends and I did wine tasting/parties, we always had guidelines...and since I don't see them in your post, I'll ask! 1) price of the wine: is there a target that you're going for? 2) pairings: is there a food that you're centering on, or a series of courses?

Um, yeah...please translate into English, Don Tomato.

Well, I don't think he was a total flop...just that he's shellshocked (irreparably) and having such an atrocious line hasn't helped. The influence of Norv Turner cannot be understated, either; Smith was doing well under his tutelage, as well as the rest of the offense...and the Yorks just simply wouldn't offer anything to keep him here. *BLEEEP* morons.

Which would make the city of San Mateo, California quite pleased (cuz Tommy's our boy). It'd be better if he was playing for the Niners...but oh well. Perhaps not...he'd probably be smushed flatter than a pancake if he was here.

G-Man...don't even start to complain. My Niners haven't won since the 2nd week of the season...and our star RB is now gimpy. There are those who are calling the hangman's call for Coach Nolan. I say it's not completely his fault...but there's blame to go around. Starting with our Offensive Coordinator, who is truly offensive....

I would say that it's a complete fairy tale...from a linguistic approach. Cute story...but all fabrication. More likely, it's a combination of the speech patterns of the settlers and a general trend in English linguistics; however, I honestly haven't studied that part of the history of (American) English, so I can't quite go into detail.

Yep...although I'm in what we consider to be 'Northern California' (really, the SF Bay Area is about central, but we just don't want to be lumped in with LA). And we know that earthquakes are commonplace, which is why we practice drills often. Here are two other things to chew on: 1) Much of the area which are affected by quakes has mostly granite and clay, so it takes a decent sized shaker to get us noticing; 2) Earthquake technology, from detecting them to the engineering to make structures and infrastructure stronger, has been a crucial area of research here for over 100 years. We have very strict building codes, and have had for about the same amount of time. Honestly, we're more protected from earthquakes than we are floods...simply because we're more likely to have a quake than inundation. We are about as prepared as anyone could be...another reason why we natives are not really worried. We know 'the big one' is coming, but there's not much we can do about it, save for be prepared.

Ah, ok, that makes sense now. Same sort of idea still exists among the blue-bloods: the hired help is often out of sight, but their work is always up for show.

Here is a link to the University of Pennsylvania's Atlas of North American English, in which one can listen to the various dialects of North America as well as track their history. This is the study pioneered by Dr. William Labov, who is perhaps one of the foremost researchers on the American speech patterns. Think of it this way: the East Coast has very distinct accent 'boundaries', which correspond to the types of early migration (as PP mentioned, Dutch/German, German, Irish, as well as the various strata of socio-economic immigration) of this continent; as one goes west, the 'accent' boundaries are more and more blurred, so that once one goes west of the Rockies, there is little distinction. This is another great site: the University of Georgia's Linguistic Atlas Project, which combines work from other leading institutions and projects, as well as give a great introductions to the projects and to linguistics in general.

Excellent post, Caldrail...I do have one question. You state that Romano-British landowners didn't want the casual passer-by to know about slaves that they might have owned. This strikes me as being different than the attitudes on the Continent. Or am I misguided? I thought that owning slaves was one of many signs of prosperity, and therefore wouldn't be something to hide from public view?

I was trying not to go there, what with our previous thread on sacrifices and discussion on them being anything other than bbq's/community meals. Otherwise, I found the article to be a sound one.