I just found this interesting blog post listing a few winning entries from the results of the contest where you “take a well-known expression in a foreign language, change a single letter, and provide a definition for the new expression.”
Here they are…
------------
PARLEZ-VOUS FRANCAIS?
Do you speak French?
HARLEZ-VOUS FRANCAIS
Can you drive a French motorcycle?
------------
EX POST FACTO
Having retrospective effect - affecting things past (Latin)
EX POST FUCTO
Lost in the mail
------------
VENI, VIDI, VICI
I came, I saw, I conquered. (Latin)
VENI, VIPI, VICI
I came, I'm a very important person, I conquered
------------
RIGOR MORTIS
One of the recognizable signs of death caused by a chemical change in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff (Latin)
RIGOR MORRIS
The cat is dead
------------
RESPONDEZ S'IL VOUS PLAIT
Please reply (RSVP) - French
RESPONDEZ S'IL VOUS PLAID
Honk if you're Scottish
------------
LE ROI EST MORT, VIVE LE ROI!
"The King is Dead, Long Live the King!" (French)
LE ROI EST MORT. JIVE LE ROI
The king is dead. No kidding.
------------
PRO BONO PUBLICO
For the public good (Latin)
PRO BOZO PUBLICO
Support your local clown
------------
FELIZ NAVIDAD
Merry Christmas (Spanish)
FELIX NAVIDAD
Our cat has a boat
------------
E PLURIBUS UNUM
"Out of many, one", or loosely translated as one from many (Latin)
E PLURIBUS ANUM
Out of any group, there's always one asshole
------------
These are from a blog in which author David Crystal (yet to read his books or know him as a non-blogger) muses on amusing bits of language.
http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/
I just read a couple of his other posts and thought I’d share them.
There is one post on why people use these and many more commonplace remarks stating the obvious such as..
- It's as long as it's long.
- It takes what it takes.
- A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
- I'll be ready when I'm ready [and not before!]
And another one was on using a singular form when used as adjectives of multiple entities which was really interesting..
“A price list” where the list might include a number of prices
“A shoe box” wouldn’t be just for one shoe
“An armchair” - even though the chair has two arms
“A three-year-old child” would be a child of three years
Check ‘em out when you get a chance - amusing and informative!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Soccer Fun
A couple of months ago, when we were looking at the summer schedule of the city offered classes for toddlers, my husband was very excited to see soccer listed. He has been waiting for the past four years to watch the world cup with his son. And this class presented a great opportunity to get our little one through the basics so he wouldn't be bored watching the finals of his dad's favorite sport.
Since it was essentially the beginners parent-and-me class, there were a couple of coaches to direct the parents on when to get their kids pass the ball, dribble etc., and dads (or moms) were supposed to engage their kids and make them practice the basic lessons. And in the final session of the 6 week course, a game would be played with the kids divided into two teams.
I wasn't sure if I could get good pictures of my baby on the day of the game. So, as a precaution I wanted to get some decent ones in the practice session. Since I had missed his first two sessions, it was high time for me (as any mom) to get the pictures of my little sports star on the field. Armed with my camera, I accompanied them on the sunny Saturday morning the past week to the city's sports club and was all set to click away every minute of his half-hour class.
It was such a cute sight with a bunch of 3-4 year olds with their colorful jerseys running around learning to kick the ball and not to forget their dads following them trying hard to get their kids to listen J
Since my husband was doing the running after, my job was just to click and watch the antics of all the kids around. And I had such fun doing just that. Each little one had his/her own style. A couple of them were pretty good following the orders by doing the perfect kicks and passes. One of them ran in the opposite direction right into another team's practice and the poor dad followed his kid apologizing to the other interrupted parents. And there was one who held the ball to his chest going in circles laughing all the while. Imagine the dad behind! There was a little girl got tired just 10 minutes into the class and ran to her mom was watching. For the next 20 minutes, both the parents were busy trying to persuade their daughter to step on the field.
And our peanut was awesome for the first 15 minutes really listening to his dad and kicking and passing the ball perfectly. But then, for some reason he had enough of seriousness and started having fun by being our little drama-king.
He would purposefully fall every other minute trying to kick the ball and immediately checking for any bruises on his elbows/knees and of course there would be none. Else he would kick the ball and plonk himself on the ground sighing. My husband later commented that he was probably trying to mimic the theatrics of the Brazil team :-)
Well, guess it is okay as long as he is enjoying and hopefully learns something out of his 6 week-session.
As for me, it was great watching all these itty-bitty tots having fun with their very own sense of style and the dads well, just being dads J
Since it was essentially the beginners parent-and-me class, there were a couple of coaches to direct the parents on when to get their kids pass the ball, dribble etc., and dads (or moms) were supposed to engage their kids and make them practice the basic lessons. And in the final session of the 6 week course, a game would be played with the kids divided into two teams.
I wasn't sure if I could get good pictures of my baby on the day of the game. So, as a precaution I wanted to get some decent ones in the practice session. Since I had missed his first two sessions, it was high time for me (as any mom) to get the pictures of my little sports star on the field. Armed with my camera, I accompanied them on the sunny Saturday morning the past week to the city's sports club and was all set to click away every minute of his half-hour class.
It was such a cute sight with a bunch of 3-4 year olds with their colorful jerseys running around learning to kick the ball and not to forget their dads following them trying hard to get their kids to listen J
Since my husband was doing the running after, my job was just to click and watch the antics of all the kids around. And I had such fun doing just that. Each little one had his/her own style. A couple of them were pretty good following the orders by doing the perfect kicks and passes. One of them ran in the opposite direction right into another team's practice and the poor dad followed his kid apologizing to the other interrupted parents. And there was one who held the ball to his chest going in circles laughing all the while. Imagine the dad behind! There was a little girl got tired just 10 minutes into the class and ran to her mom was watching. For the next 20 minutes, both the parents were busy trying to persuade their daughter to step on the field.
And our peanut was awesome for the first 15 minutes really listening to his dad and kicking and passing the ball perfectly. But then, for some reason he had enough of seriousness and started having fun by being our little drama-king.
He would purposefully fall every other minute trying to kick the ball and immediately checking for any bruises on his elbows/knees and of course there would be none. Else he would kick the ball and plonk himself on the ground sighing. My husband later commented that he was probably trying to mimic the theatrics of the Brazil team :-)
Well, guess it is okay as long as he is enjoying and hopefully learns something out of his 6 week-session.
As for me, it was great watching all these itty-bitty tots having fun with their very own sense of style and the dads well, just being dads J
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
No Social Fear
A couple of days ago I came across an article about a genetic disorder called the Williams Syndrome.
It seems that people affected with this disorder along with other symptoms like developmental delays have absolutely no social fear - as the article said, "They are literally pathologically trusting..."
The probable cause of this very strange symptom is problem with their limbic system, the part of the brain that regulates emotion.
They are always happy, will go up to anyone and start a conversation. They are never suspicious. My first thought was, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be happy all the time and not have any fear?"
But as I read through the article, I realized how scary it is and how difficult it is to raise a kid who has no fear of strangers. Though we all wish it was, our world is definitely not a hundred percent safe place and unfortunately being gullible is not a great attribute to have.
We all teach our children not to talk to strangers and being careful in new surroundings and to watch out for themselves when we are not around. At the same time we also tell them to be polite. Essentially we are trying to inculcate a healthy balance of trust and distrust. As the mother of a girl who has Williams says in the article, "They don't have that early warning system" - which is so important to have in dealing with dangers. An initial reaction of a little anxiety is probably necessary to better assess the situations we come across everyday.
This got me to wondering - How do parents of the kids with all kinds of disorders deal with everyday? They must be incredibly courageous people with amazing mental strength dealing with their child's special circumstances as well as trying to prepare them for an independent adulthood that so many of us take for granted.
It seems that people affected with this disorder along with other symptoms like developmental delays have absolutely no social fear - as the article said, "They are literally pathologically trusting..."
The probable cause of this very strange symptom is problem with their limbic system, the part of the brain that regulates emotion.
They are always happy, will go up to anyone and start a conversation. They are never suspicious. My first thought was, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be happy all the time and not have any fear?"
But as I read through the article, I realized how scary it is and how difficult it is to raise a kid who has no fear of strangers. Though we all wish it was, our world is definitely not a hundred percent safe place and unfortunately being gullible is not a great attribute to have.
We all teach our children not to talk to strangers and being careful in new surroundings and to watch out for themselves when we are not around. At the same time we also tell them to be polite. Essentially we are trying to inculcate a healthy balance of trust and distrust. As the mother of a girl who has Williams says in the article, "They don't have that early warning system" - which is so important to have in dealing with dangers. An initial reaction of a little anxiety is probably necessary to better assess the situations we come across everyday.
This got me to wondering - How do parents of the kids with all kinds of disorders deal with everyday? They must be incredibly courageous people with amazing mental strength dealing with their child's special circumstances as well as trying to prepare them for an independent adulthood that so many of us take for granted.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Ready?
So, it has been now almost a week that thousands of travelers are stranded in the European airports because of the volcanic ash erupting from under that unpronounceable name of a glacier (Eyjafjallajokull). Here is even a link to the blog-post on how to say that Icelandic tongue-twister - http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/04/iceland_volcano_eyjafjallajoku.html
And they find it hard to say our Indian names! :-)
My first thought after sympathizing with the grounded travelers of course, was the definite concern - what would I need to get through if I along with a toddler was stuck in an airport or any other place for that matter without much supplies. Do we need some rethinking on how we pack our carryon’, or are we one of those super-cool parents who know exactly what to pack taking into account the emergency situations as well. Sorry to say, but guess I belong to the first category and am still trying to come up with that final list of absolute essentials that can be crammed into a tiny carryon.
So people - especially the ones with kids and you single people as well - Be Prepared!
And they find it hard to say our Indian names! :-)
My first thought after sympathizing with the grounded travelers of course, was the definite concern - what would I need to get through if I along with a toddler was stuck in an airport or any other place for that matter without much supplies. Do we need some rethinking on how we pack our carryon’, or are we one of those super-cool parents who know exactly what to pack taking into account the emergency situations as well. Sorry to say, but guess I belong to the first category and am still trying to come up with that final list of absolute essentials that can be crammed into a tiny carryon.
So people - especially the ones with kids and you single people as well - Be Prepared!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I want to be..
Ever remember those days when we were asked "What do you want to be (when you grow up)?"
Here we are, all grown-up and now it amuses me when the little kids come up with their own cute and confident answers to this very grown-up question.
Until a few weeks ago, my 3-year old wanted to be a cowboy just like Woody when he grew up. It was Woody costume for Halloween, Woody jammies for Pajama day (both the times!) at school, and even now his belt is often a lasso or a holster :-)
But these days, the Woody-mania is slowly being replaced by 'super hero'. Currently, just about anyone with a prefix 'super' works but of course has to have some powers. I'm sure very soon, he'll pick one of the supers who is going to be his next 'I want to be..'
I remember the time when baby sister was about 4 or 5; she either wanted to be a truck driver or a lift-man. She was fascinated by concept having to push the elevator buttons all day :-) 20 years later, she is beginning on the path to carving her own career in a very different field, and yet in something she cares about.
So, between the super hero and a grown-up career, a long way to go for these little ones in figuring out their talents, their likes/dislikes, the trade-offs and striking a balance among them. And the hope is that they have the passion for their dream and will always give it their best...
Here we are, all grown-up and now it amuses me when the little kids come up with their own cute and confident answers to this very grown-up question.
Until a few weeks ago, my 3-year old wanted to be a cowboy just like Woody when he grew up. It was Woody costume for Halloween, Woody jammies for Pajama day (both the times!) at school, and even now his belt is often a lasso or a holster :-)
But these days, the Woody-mania is slowly being replaced by 'super hero'. Currently, just about anyone with a prefix 'super' works but of course has to have some powers. I'm sure very soon, he'll pick one of the supers who is going to be his next 'I want to be..'
I remember the time when baby sister was about 4 or 5; she either wanted to be a truck driver or a lift-man. She was fascinated by concept having to push the elevator buttons all day :-) 20 years later, she is beginning on the path to carving her own career in a very different field, and yet in something she cares about.
So, between the super hero and a grown-up career, a long way to go for these little ones in figuring out their talents, their likes/dislikes, the trade-offs and striking a balance among them. And the hope is that they have the passion for their dream and will always give it their best...
Sunday, January 3, 2010
New Year
Welcoming the next decade..
The first decade in the new century has seen a lot of changes.
The sum of changes that India has gone through from 70s to 90s does not even begin to compare to the slew of transitions that happened in the first decade of the 21st century.
India until the late 90s was a relatively slow paced (which I still miss!) until the explosion of
almost everything - internet, consumerism, outsourcing, traffic, cell phones; Seemed like country suddenly switched from 1st gear to 4th :-)
With its increasing exposure in the world stage, the shift in the perspective from snake-charmers' to 'job-snatchers' or rather from being regarded as a third-world to a developing
country is quite impressive.
Ofcourse, people in India probably know much better about the changes happening round them than my general overview :-)
As for me, the past decade has been pretty eventful as well. Graduation, job, love, marriage,
kid, house - all packed up in the past nine years.
Looking forward to another decade of positive changes and hopefully the next ten are going to be
as much fun..
A very happy and hopeful New Year to one and all.
The first decade in the new century has seen a lot of changes.
The sum of changes that India has gone through from 70s to 90s does not even begin to compare to the slew of transitions that happened in the first decade of the 21st century.
India until the late 90s was a relatively slow paced (which I still miss!) until the explosion of
almost everything - internet, consumerism, outsourcing, traffic, cell phones; Seemed like country suddenly switched from 1st gear to 4th :-)
With its increasing exposure in the world stage, the shift in the perspective from snake-charmers' to 'job-snatchers' or rather from being regarded as a third-world to a developing
country is quite impressive.
Ofcourse, people in India probably know much better about the changes happening round them than my general overview :-)
As for me, the past decade has been pretty eventful as well. Graduation, job, love, marriage,
kid, house - all packed up in the past nine years.
Looking forward to another decade of positive changes and hopefully the next ten are going to be
as much fun..
A very happy and hopeful New Year to one and all.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Time-Off
Parents esp. of smaller kids go through their days trying to adjust everyday to their new demanding lifestyle and at times yearning for the days of carefree pre-kid lifestyle.
We are no different - going through our day jobs and coming back to the busy kid-filled evenings ending in a sigh before sleep and then with a couple of deep breaths the next morning, the madness starting all over again!
Looking for a little break from our overloaded lives, a few days ago - we decided to take a day off from work. Sending our little one to the daycare, we ended up at a theater for a movie.
We did try this dinner/movie date a couple of times earlier this year, when my parents could baby-sit our son, but did end up talking about him all through the dinner :-) Even through the movie, my thoughts were going back to my baby - whether he had eaten or if he was throwing a fit. So, we came back feeling no different than if we had been home with him - not a very successful time-off for us.
I guess it is to be expected since our whole lives revolve around the kids these days and we find it hard to let-go even for a few hours.
Anyway, coming back to the present - for the first time in 3 and half years, we actually enjoyed the movie and our conversations were not about our little one. It was great, relaxed - almost like our pre-kid days :-) It was also a little surreal with a twinge of guilt but apart from that we had a wonderful time.
As we were driving back, we somehow got into an argument which ofcourse related to our little one. The irony of it was how comfortable I felt with just our mundane daily chatter - too prosaic for everyone else but I was almost happy to be back and remember thinking "I know this - its my world!" :-)
We are no different - going through our day jobs and coming back to the busy kid-filled evenings ending in a sigh before sleep and then with a couple of deep breaths the next morning, the madness starting all over again!
Looking for a little break from our overloaded lives, a few days ago - we decided to take a day off from work. Sending our little one to the daycare, we ended up at a theater for a movie.
We did try this dinner/movie date a couple of times earlier this year, when my parents could baby-sit our son, but did end up talking about him all through the dinner :-) Even through the movie, my thoughts were going back to my baby - whether he had eaten or if he was throwing a fit. So, we came back feeling no different than if we had been home with him - not a very successful time-off for us.
I guess it is to be expected since our whole lives revolve around the kids these days and we find it hard to let-go even for a few hours.
Anyway, coming back to the present - for the first time in 3 and half years, we actually enjoyed the movie and our conversations were not about our little one. It was great, relaxed - almost like our pre-kid days :-) It was also a little surreal with a twinge of guilt but apart from that we had a wonderful time.
As we were driving back, we somehow got into an argument which ofcourse related to our little one. The irony of it was how comfortable I felt with just our mundane daily chatter - too prosaic for everyone else but I was almost happy to be back and remember thinking "I know this - its my world!" :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
