Forbidden Planet

In the not-productive-but-sidetrack-distraction-of-the-moment I spent some time (please don't ask how much) translating two sentences from Tacitus' Agricola from Latin into English using an online Latin-English dictionary and what Latin roots I can glean out of English words. It wasn't a completely blind translation since I already had a translation for the above line: To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. . However, I wasn't completely captivated by the English and it didn't quite seem to match the Latin. After some searches for alternate translations, I came up with a fuller quote, Raptores orbis, postquam cuncta vastantibus defuere terrae, mare scrutantur: si locuples hostis est, avari, si pauper, ambitiosi, quos non Oriens, non Occidens satiaverit: soli omnium opes atque inopiam pari adfectu concupiscunt. Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi sol...

For those who don't know, Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec (located in that northern country known as Canada). Quebec is a French province and Montreal is mostly French as well. On Sunday, as the kids and I were walking downtown, we passed a man begging with a sign. As we passed, Tania asked me, "Why does he say he's ugly?" I asked what she meant and she said, "His sign says, 'Je suis laid'" . She further explained that laid means ugly. I had seen the sign but did not understand the first part since I didn't know what laid meant and I assumed (incorrectly) the kids didn't either. The rest of the sign (which I did understand) said ... help me out and I can get a facial. (ok, it said it in French not English). The word came up again last night as Jason was reading to me Les Trois Boucs : "... un ogre tres laid et très méchant ..." ("... a very ugly and very mean ogre ...") . It is pronounced the s...

adj : very cold, icy. From the Latin gelidus which is from gelu meaning frost. I came across this word last night in Stephen King's short story I am the Doorway : ... the flesh was soft and gelid, like the flesh of an apple gone rotten ... . From the context, I guessed wrong at the meaning. My impression was it meant something akin to gelatinous - I was wrong. From a writing perspective, I wonder if the adjectives and the simile are both necessary. The simile amplifies the adjectives and repetition or amplification can be a good thing - it can also be wordy "... the flesh was soft and cold ..." "... the flesh was like an apple gone rotten ..." But who am I to tinker? Has anyone ever seen this word (and knew what it meant) before today? [As an aside, I notice I haven't been receiving e-mail notifications from blogger for the past few days, so I failed to notice that there were new comments. Yes, yes, I know, I can always check my own blog, rather than che...

Discovered over the weekend that le pingouin is not a penguin, but a type of auk known as a Razorbill . The French translation for penguin is manchot . Apparently, this is a common error. Not surprising since many languages clearly have some sort of agreement on penguin: pingüinos (Spanish), pinguine (German), pikkewyn (Afrikaans), pinguino (Italian), pingwiny (Polish), pingvinfélék (Hungarian), pingüim (Portugese). Images nabbed from here and here .

What a wonderful word. A languid, viscous word proceeding out from the pit of chest distending the throat and smothering the tongue as it oozes out. It is a word that begs for exaggerated pronunciation, loo-oo-oo-goo-oo-oo-bree-ee-ee-us, yet it has a serious short coming: The meaning is all wrong. It means sad, mournful, gloomy, miserable, melancholic. Yet ... that is not at all what it sounds like. To me, it sounds like it should mean something thick, heavy, slow moving, plodding. I want it to mean languid and viscous, but it doesn't. I feel cheated, deceived and betrayed. (There are other words that fit in this category, where the actual meaning is not what I intuitively feel they should be, such as condone or vicarious, their meaning and understanding is a conscious effort.) I want to use it in sentence like, "He had a lugubrious moustache." and I want it to mean he had a large, heavy, drooping walrus moustache. I want to be able to say, "He was feeling lugubrio...

it's just that I wanted to live; to enjoy life in all its fullness." Rowan Yew, age 43, a first class dilettante and entrepreneur, lay in his bed, covered up to his chin, in his darkened bedroom. Attending him were his friends, Dr. Jason Reselda, the eminent pathologist, and Gabriel Malachi, the no less distinguished geneticist. While all three were super-achievers, Rowan led the pack; his power, opulence and extravagance a testament to his ability to seize opportunities and profit from them. He did nothing by half measures and never considered failure as a possible outcome. "That's good to hear, because dying is just what you are doing", said Jason. "Are you sure?" "I see no other outcome. The last sample I examined continues to show an expanding infection. In fact, you are more pathogen than man. You should have been dead long ago." "Then perhaps I am not dying." "You're dying alright. Shortly you will cease to be a ...

I was listening to Dispatches (with Rick MacInnes-Rae) on CBC radio recently and there was a segment on slogans in China. Apparently China is very keen on slogans - short aphorisms to instil good social and moral values and behaviour. Although, they are so widespread that people pretty much ignore them. When a Chinese man was asked about the Olympic slogan for 2008, "One World, One Dream" , he said he didn't like it. Why should there be only one dream. Why couldn't he dream his own dream? I agree with him. Image nabbed from here .

I have noticed that Google translation is much better than it was in the past, surpassing BabelFish in capability. As evidence I present the following translations from Jules Verne's Five Weeks in a Ballooon . Original text Il y avait une grande affluence d’auditeurs, le 14 janvier 1862, à la séance de la Société royale géographique de Londres, Waterloo place, 3. Le président, sir Francis M..., faisait à ses honorables collègues une importante communication dans un discours fréquemment interrompu par les applaudissements. Ce rare morceau d’éloquence se terminait enfin par quelques phrases ronflantes dans lesquelles le patriotisme se déversait à pleines périodes: Google translation: There was a large crowd of listeners, January 14, 1862, at the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Waterloo place, 3. The chairman, Sir Francis M. .., made his honorable colleagues an important communication in a speech frequently interrupted by applause. This rare piece of eloquence fin...

One of the great things about meeting people, even if only virtually, is learning new things. For instance, I have learned that Singaporeans speak very good English, they all seem to have at least one blog (many have multiple) and they have a local dialect referred to as Singlish. Singlish tends to be characterized by its simplicity and directness. As the follwoing shamelessly cribbed from dandan 's site illustrates: WHEN GIVING A CUSTOMER BAD NEWS Britons: I'm sorry, Sir, but we don't seem to have the sweater you want in your size, but if you give me a moment, I can call the other outlets for you. S'pore: No Stock. RETURNING A CALL Britons: Hello, this is John Smith. Did anyone page for me a few moments ago? S'pore: Hello, who page? ASKING SOMEONE TO MAKE WAY . Britons: Excuse me, I'd like to get by. Would you please make way? S'pore: S-kew me WHEN SOMEONE OFFERS TO PAY Britons: Hey, put your wallet away, this drink is on me. S'pore: No-need, la...

Scientist commenting on the death of a 405 year clam killed in the name of science. It is the oldest known animal on record. Or should that be was the oldest known animal? Either way, it is little consolation to the clam. You can read the article here

"When Columbus returned from the new world and proclaimed the earth was round, almost everyone else went right on believing the world was flat. Then they died - and the next generation grew up believing the world was round. That's how people change their minds." Art & Fear : Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland This is a pretty good book if you are interested in thoughts and observations on artists and art making. It is a short book, but it has a number of interesting passages. "The poem in the head is always perfect. Resistance begins when you try to convert it into language" - Stanley Kunitz quoted in the above mentioned book. "... most artists don't daydream about making great art - they daydream about having made great art. What artist has not experienced the feverish euphoria of composing the perfect thumbnail sketch, first draft, negative, or melody - only to run headlong into a stone wall ...

When I was a kid, we used to call them firefighters (or firemen, for the non-gender inclusive). I heard this while listening to a news story on the radio about Ottawa not going ahead with a plan to fine people for false alarms. Apparently, there were 8000 false alarms last year, 33% of total calls, but the majority of them are first timers, so it was felt the effort and cost to enforce the Bylaw would not be worth it. (the online news article does not use this expression). Image nabbed from here .

About 9 months ago, my laser printer's low toner light started blinking. So I bought a new cartridge about 6 months ago. Well, many hundred pages later, I am still waiting for the toner to run out . Not that I am complaining (although ... I cannot remember where I put that new toner cartridge when this one eventually does run dry). Today's word is chiastic . chiasmus [ky-AZ-mus] (plural -mi), a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. This may involve a repetition of the same words ("Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure" --Byron) or just a reversed parallel between two corresponding pairs of ideas . . . . The figure is especially common in 18th century English poetry, but is also found in prose of all periods. It is named after the Greek letter chi (x) , indicating a "criss-cross" arrangement of terms. Adjective : chiastic . - The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literar...

In an episode of the British series Yes, Prime Minister , the Prime Minister was keen on reintroducing conscription (National Service) as a means of bolstering the armed forces, reducing unemployment and providing skills training to young people. For various reasons, the civil service and military are opposed to the idea, which the Prime Minister believes to be a vote winner. In this clip, Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Cabinet Secretary, explains to Bernard Woolley, the Principal Private Secretary of the Prime Minister, how to get the poll results desired. This is one of the techniques used in negotiating with someone or trying to persuade someone - consistency. People want to act in a way that is consistent. Psychologists Jonathan Freedman and Scott Fraser, published a study in the 1966 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology titled Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique showing just how consistent people will strive to be. The experiment was simple, people were...

If you enjoy languages and the beauty of the written word, I suggest you take a peek at Omniglot: writing systems and languages of the world . I could easily spend hours poring over the scripts. Dhives Akuru Mongolian Both images are taken from the website. [Update 27-July-2007 @ 00:13 to add better sample of Dhives Akuru script.]

That is what it sounded like when the New Zealand doctor said it on CBC radio and I went What!? . Fortunately, he repeated it a few times and I worked it was actually gesture . I consider myself pretty good at working out what people are saying in various accented English, but, man, that pronunciation was way off. The way I say it, it sounds something like: jess chure. Word of the day uxorial: adj relating to or characteristic of a wife. From the Latin uxor meaning wife. Got to love The Economist for using obscure snobbish words.

While I do not own a gaming console, nor have I ever owned one, I am aware of them. Nintendo's newest one is called Wii. The question is how to pronounce it? Given that there are two consecutive vowels, and the general rule is to make the first vowel long, along with the fact that the Wii features a novel wireless controller interface, I would assume it to be pronounced "Why". Lately, I noticed that articles on the Wii give the pronunciation as "wee". This makes sense, since, in Japanese, the "i" is pronounced as a long "e". We find this in words like sushi (sue shee) and sashimi (sah shee mee). As well as names like Megumi (meh goo mee) and Hitomi (hee toe mee).

Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. Normal grammar rules state these words are not to be capitalized (unless used at the beginning of a sentence, naturally). I think that is wrong. I love to capitalize the names of the seasons. So, I often, deliberately, break the rule when writing. Yesterday was a very warm Spring day. It got up to 25C (77F).

noun the raising of hairs on the skin as a result of cold, fear, etc; GOOSEFLESH. [late Latin horrilation-, horripilatio , from Latin horripilare to bristle, be shaggy, from horrēre to bristle, tremble + pilusa hair] Definition taken from the Penguin English Dictionary .