numerous translations of “Why can’t they just speak [my language]?”.
Sometimes I complain that no one ever gave me a nickname; now a couple of spammers have seemingly remedied the omission:
To: “Malik Riley” <bpotter@pobox.com>
Cc: “Bradly Fisher” <broker@pobox.com>, “Jaymie Tucker” <bronto@pobox.com>, “Kathlene Gardner” <bruce.metelerkamp@pobox.com>, “Sarai Little” <bugs@pobox.com>To: “Meritriona a’Hettinel” <bronto@pobox.com>, “Cylin aup’Gaveryou” <eric.loew@pobox.com>, “Jaiwenna aup’Qunnewur” <m-wild@pobox.com>
How do you suppose these handles were generated? (And by the way how do you efficiently write a hanging indent in HTML?)
Planned Obsolescence: Dictionaraoke. (Blogging this mainly to save the link. I may comment on it later.)
The other day I brought home from a Thai restaurant a wrapped piece of hard candy, looking forward with pleasure to the prospect of opening a swell book that Dad gave me a few years ago, to see whether AMIRA (in small type) is a fair transliteration of what appears to be the name of the candy or its maker.
My reference treats Thai and Lao scripts together, and to my initial surprise two of the letters (corresponding to ‘m’ and ‘r’) look more like Lao. The small print is like the Thai type in the book. I’m guessing that there is an informal mode of Thai script that retains more of the look of the common ancestor than is in the formal style.
The trouble with books of this sort, of course, is that they usually show only a formal style. Imagine that you are literate in Arabic and getting your first exposure to the Latin alphabet. You have a reference table showing the letters in Times Roman, and from it you have to decipher handwriting. How sure can you be what features are essential and which are decorative?
I do have one book that overcomes the problem somewhat by illustrating each of the major living scripts with a page of a newspaper, showing body type, headlines and a few decorative titles.
David Bernstein, of the Volokh Empire, reports on an appalling funeral in Israël mechanically presided over by a mandatory Ortho rabbi. (Title borrowed from Rasmusen.)
Kennita Watson has for ages been nudging members of our circle to try square-dancing with Stanford Quads, and this evening I went.
My feet gave out early; though I wore my comfy shoes, I’m evidently not accustomed to making so many turns. I’ll have to get better arch supports.
A startling treat: I was quickly recognized by June Genis, whom I hadn’t seen since (or before) she ran for Senate in 1992 against Barbara Boxer. We hit it off like old pals. She said “this is the most Libertarian square dance group in the county” — which surely ain’t saying much, but it was indeed pretty obvious for those in the know, with Mary Gingell and Joe Dehn also on hand.