The Cyrillic Alphabet

Hello лангуаге нердс! Аманда here!

The Cyrillic alphabet is the alphabet used by many countries in Eastern Europe (and Asia). For a list of languages that use this alphabet and map of the countries, you can go here. I was first introduced to the Cyrillic alphabet by a friend who is from Bulgaria, who showed me how to convert my name. And because languages fascinate me, the Cyrillic alphabet caught my attention. It is fun and different. Which is why you can see me now using Аманда for my Blogger name (this is also good in avoiding confusion with other Amandas).

If you're interested in learning more about the Cyrillic alphabet, you can check out its Wikipedia page or to convert your name or other text check out this site.

Ok, now for something fun! What does your name look like in the Cyrillic alphabet? Convert your name (first name or nickname only), and post it here.

Word Buzz Friday: Hot For Words

Hey Everyone! Happy Friday, or maybe if you are reading this from Australia, it's already Saturday so you're one up on me.

Today for your weekly word buzz, I am posting two videos from the Youtube made famous Marina Orlova who appears scantily clad on her website and Youtube channel to teach people like us new vocab words. She even takes requests. Here are her definitions for swine flu and antidisestablishmentarianism.

Antidisestablishmentarianism:



Swine Flu:



Peace out language nerds!

The Foreigner Card: When to use a bad accent?

I was just browsing through some of my fellow gringo-in-Chile blogs and I read this post by Margaret. It's terrific. She brings up a good point. There are some people who will actually fake a bad accent, or horrible Spanish to get out of a tricky situation. I may have even done it on occasion when walking through a market place with a throng of annoying men pestering me to buy their fruits and vegetables. Generally their English is limited to "boo-ti-fuul gee-rul" so that's not a problem, or they just shout out all the random English words they know like "RabbitBatMonkeyApplePoop" (Thanks to Lydia for bringing that to my attention!)

Now, I take particular offense to people speaking to me in English. It's like they are insulting my Spanish (or German teehehehe). Hello, I didn't go for four years to a crazy liberal arts school and study abroad in three countries for this! So, I might be a tad arrogant, too.

Anyways, all bantering aside, when do you think it's best to fake a bad accent, or fake that you don't know what's going on when you really do?

I would maybe consider doing it to get out of a parking/speeding ticket or for some other such offense. I have once done it to avoid standing in the eternal line of bureaucracy hell that is otherwise known as where you have to go to return crap at a local department store. I simple smiled at the lady with my cutest, most convincing gringa smile, and said "NO.ENTENDER." She huffed off and returned my garment for me. Perfect.

But, is it fair to always play the foreigner card when traveling or living abroad? Have you ever done it in your own city? (I may have also done that once, but I'm not sure I want to brag about it here).

Word Buzz Friday: Learn A Language

Instead if the normal vocab today, I decided to try something new. I found these videos doing a simple search on YouTube. They are a bit slow, but the pronunciations are easy to follow. Here's you chance to try your tongue at a new language when you have nothing to do this Memorial Day Weekend!

German



Japanese



Italian



Portuguese





Spanish



Turkish

Bushisms

Whether you loved him or hated him, former President George W. Bush definitely had his own way of using the English language.




Are there any Bushisms that you remember that weren't in the video?

Word Buzz Friday

The language nerds, in words.

Tasha, for reasons that are probably obvious: wanderlust - a strong desire to wander or travel.

Miyaunna, for her film-making, website designing, and lovely songs posted on her blog: virtuoso - a person skilled in the techniques of an art, esp. playing a musical instrument; by extension, a person with a cultivated appreciation of artistry.

Kyle, because I know he does it: quaff - to drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.

Sara, for being one of the few blonds in Chile: recherche - uncommon; exotic; rare.

And myself, because I once used this word to describe myself and in some ways it is still true: fastidious - hard to please; extremely refined or critical.

(all definitions were taken from dictionary.com)

Bit of a mishap...

So it seems my luck hasn't been the best lately - my laptop screen shattered in my carryon bag, so sadly I can't upload the comic I promised. I have a replacement monitor when I get home, but its days as a laptop are over. At least it's lasted this long!

So instead you'll have to humour me by reading yet another odd story from my recent travels.
Do you think you can generally predict a persons next "line" when you're in a routine situation? I arrived in Finland a few days ago for my last trip within Europe, but I speak not a word of Finnish. I went to the grocery store to buy food to eat at my hostel, pulling out a €20 note to pay for 12.10 in groceries. At this point the cashier asks me something, I dig in my pocket and shake my head.

So take your best guess! If this were you, what would you assume he asked? I'll leave my answer in the comments, I can only guess that it's the right one, but who knows!

American vs. British Slang

Hey! I found this video on You Tube. If you are like me, maybe you have wondered at some point about the strange words in the British vocabulary (or American ?) then this is for you. It's Hugh Laurie from the popular TV show House. He's discussing slang with talk show host Ellen. Well... just watch it already!

It's Pop, Not Soda

In Minnesota, we use the word pop for what most people call soda. We often "go up" to see someone or vacation at our cabins, even if the direction we are headed has nothing to do with "up." And, if you go deep enough into Central Minnesota, where the Germans immigrants settled and flourished, you may even hear "yous guys" as the plural of you. In the south, you plural becomes, "Ya'll!" People in Wisconsin call drinking fountains "bubblers."

Every regional dialect has words that are unique to its speakers (and this is true for every language). And often times, using words like "pop" when one is not in Minnesota can result in confusion or good-natured teasing. So here are a couple things for you to share: What are some words that are only used in your city/state/region/country? And have you ever been in a situation where using a word that is unique to your regional dialect has caused confusion or misunderstanding?

Word Buzz Friday

Bet you never heard of some of these ones before. Or, if I am underestimating your intelligence, let me know. My vocabulary has been sadly waning in Chile, maybe do to the fact that I speak either Spanish or my own version of Spanglish everyday. Suerte!

bivouac \BIV-wak, BIV-uh-wak\ , noun:

1. An encampment for the night, usually under little or no shelter.

intransitive verb:
1. To encamp for the night, usually under little or no shelter.

"Rob had made his emergency bivouac just below the South Summit."
-- David Breashears, "Death on the mountain", The Observer, March 30, 2003

coruscate \KOR-uh-skayt\
1. To give off or reflect bright beams or flashes of light; to sparkle.
2. To exhibit brilliant, sparkling technique or style.

"They pulled up at the farthest end of a loop path that looked out over the great basin of the Rio Grande under brilliant, coruscating stars."
-- Bill Roorbach, "Big Bend", The Atlantic, March 2001

thaumaturgy \THAW-muh-tuhr-jee\ , noun:
The performance of miracles or magic.

"Of course, none of these improbable meetings ever took place in reality. But within the realm of showbiz thaumaturgy, they're perfectly acceptable examples of latter-day digital compositing, wherein it's possible to have anything share a frame of film or video with practically anything else."
-- John Voland, "Prez presses tech buttons", Variety

umbrage \UHM-brij\ , noun:

1. Shade; shadow; hence, something that affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage.
2. a. A vague or indistinct indication or suggestion; a hint.
3. b. Reason for doubt; suspicion.
4. Suspicion of injury or wrong; offense; resentment.

Burr finally took umbrage, and challenged him to a duel.
-- Richard A. Samuelson, "Alexander Hamilton: American", Commentary, June 1999

The source for today's words is http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/.

Storytime!

No comic this week - I wrote one, but I decided to save it for next week since I'll be in Finland, and probably not too keen on writing one! So instead, you get a recent story that I just couldn't figure out how to turn into a comic, and a look into my other nerdy side...

Yesterday the new Star Trek movie came out in cinemas here in France. I love having bragging rights (haha, I got to see it two days before you all!) so of course I went to the first showing of the day. This is France, however, so that means the movie was dubbed into French.
Now my French is good enough by now that I have no trouble following a movie in French. I don't mind it too much, especially if I haven't yet seen the movie in English (that way I don't get nitpicky about the voice actors). Still, there are certain things I find horribly amusing, and this particular instance has to do with a certain character in the movie - this isn't really a spoiler in case you worry about those things. Now as you may or may not be aware, there is a character named Chekov, a Russian ensign that in the original series was known for his crediting all inventions to Russia, and of course his odd pronounciation of certain words.
And I was both amused and pleased to hear this preserved in French!
Yes, that's right, a stereotypical Russian accent perfectly preserved in French. I always wonder how different accents come through in certain languages, because often I can't hear it myself excepting in English. I've been told that I speak Italian with a French accent and Korean with a Japanese one, but honestly I can't hear that, and just attribute it to having studied the similar language first. But to hear this! It was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing in the theatre.

I'm just disappointed they didn't seem to do the same for Scotty. But then I'm told French people can't really distinguish between anglophone accents anyway - it's why they all assume I'm English!

How do you teach a bad word?

Last night I was out with my boyfriend L., who wanted to practice his English. We started talking and I was surprised that I didn't have to speak as slowly as I did in the past. Our conversation flowed normally, like I was talking to a friend back home.

He was explaining a project they are working on in his company. The project is abstracting uranium from a country in Africa. I wasn't paying too much attention, maybe I was watching the amber liquid in my glass vibrate as the people walked by, but all of the sudden I heard it. The N word.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Apparently they have lots of uranium," he went on without noticing my pause.

"No. Stop. What country did you say?" I asked again.

He looked confused. Then said it. There it was again. The N word.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. How do you spell it?"

He wrote out in his notebook n-i-g-e-r. (Note: pronounced /niːˈʒɛər/ or /ˈnaɪdʒər/)

"Oh! Niger! Okay... Whew... Now, I'm going to explain something to you."

I told him that the N word in English is right up there with some of the most offensive words ever. No one should use it. Sometimes rappers use it in songs, but besides that no one says it.

He looked confused again. I realized right away we were having a cultural misunderstanding because Chile is not the most pc country ever and while I may not have an emotional response to Chilean swear words like culiar, probably no one will look at me sideways if I all the sudden start saying it. However, in the case of the N word it is much different. People will not care where you are from. If you say it, it is offensive.

After a few minutes of my explanation he nodded in agreement, "Alright. I won't say it. But, I should probably tell my coworkers because they all say it too."

*****

Now, I ask myself, how do you teach bad words to someone who is learning ESL? What do you say to them? Do you give them a list of the words and say "You should never say these words, but in case you hear them, this is what they mean"? What would you say?

Word Buzz Friday: Swine Flu Edition

Hey all! I hope you are staying warm (for those of you here in the southern hemisphere) and staying cool for those of you in the northern hemisphere ;). Speaking of cold, and colds and well...flu (plural of flu=flus??). I hope you all have been avoiding the swine flu...or wait the "H1N1 Influenza A" (can't call it swine flu anymore according to the WHO). Who the h--- is going to call it that, I don't know. That brings me around to my new vocab today:

Ms. Piggy Flu:
A suggested name for the "swine" flu.

Dr. Google:
A person medically qualified by Google's search engine to diagnose symptoms of sickness.

Mrs. Smith: My son has the swine flu. I searched it on Google.

Dr. James: Really? That's what Google says? Send him to emergency immediately!

Dr. James: *note to self* Mrs. Smith's Son is fine. Mrs. Smith however has a case of Dr Google.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse here comes....

Swine Mono:
The mono you get from pigs.

Dude, Madelyn got swine mono from Chris.

Have a great weekend!!!