From a Wall Street Journal Article:
"He has compared a prominent opponent of the switch to a local "avaava" fish -- a sea creature that swims in shallow waters and eats garbage, an insult in Samoan culture."
You mean, calling someone a shallow garbage eater is an insult? Go figure.
Anyway, I like it. I think I'm going to have to add "avaava" to "troglodyte" and "fustilarian" on my list of "insults that are almost as much fun to say as they are to give."
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
You and me, and all that jazz
Okay, people, it's not that hard. You just ask yourself, "what would I say if I wasn't sharing this sentence with someone else?"
So, if you felt compelled to write the sentence:
"I don't think this will effect the work Lynn and myself are doing with that room."
You should simply remove Lynn and see how the sentence reads without her:
"I don't think this will effect the work myself am doing with that room."
Doesn't sound right, does it?
That's because it's WRONG. Really, really WRONG. So WRONG it almost eclipses the incorrect use of the word "effect" in that sentence. Almost, but not quite.
To the person who originally wrote that sentence, I say this:
"That's not quite right."
Oh, come on, like there's any point in correcting people these days. No one cares. No one listens. No one wants to know. No one wants to hang out with you afterwards...
Why don't you all just forget there's such a thing as case in the English language (yeah, you heard me, I said the English language has cases!) and just use whatever pronouns you feel like. We all know you will anyway.
So, if you felt compelled to write the sentence:
"I don't think this will effect the work Lynn and myself are doing with that room."
You should simply remove Lynn and see how the sentence reads without her:
"I don't think this will effect the work myself am doing with that room."
Doesn't sound right, does it?
That's because it's WRONG. Really, really WRONG. So WRONG it almost eclipses the incorrect use of the word "effect" in that sentence. Almost, but not quite.
To the person who originally wrote that sentence, I say this:
"That's not quite right."
Oh, come on, like there's any point in correcting people these days. No one cares. No one listens. No one wants to know. No one wants to hang out with you afterwards...
Why don't you all just forget there's such a thing as case in the English language (yeah, you heard me, I said the English language has cases!) and just use whatever pronouns you feel like. We all know you will anyway.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Fennecs and Pikas Alive Alive-O
I want one of these:
Anyone know where I can get a fennec?
Fennecs, by the way, start with the letter "f", not the letter "p". I mention this, because I was once involved in a ridiculously drawn out game of categories when someone said we had to come up with every animal we could think of starting with the letter "p".
There are a lot of them, and at one point the word "pika" came into my mind. Someone tried to challenge me on it, but I stuck to my guns. Sadly, I described it as a type of fox with really big ears. This not only sounded like something completely made up, but it was also quite incorrect.
A pika looks like this:
It is, as you can see, a type of lagomorph with relatively small ears, given the ear size of other lagomorphs like rabbits and hares.
"What in the Zharkian Empire is a lagomorph?" I hear you cry. "If it's some kind of rodent, why don't you just say so?"
Well, gentle readers, it turns out that rabbits, hares and pikas are not rodents at all. They belong to a completely different order of animal - lagomorpha. They bear but a superficial resemblance to members of the rodentia order. And yet, despite this, members of both orders are equally likely to pee in your hand. You get that.
So, while a pika may superficially resemble a degu:
Or, perhaps a chinchilla:
It is, in fact, nothing at all like a small fox with large ears. That would be a fennec:
That's "fennec" with an "f".
Anyone know where I can get a fennec?
Fennecs, by the way, start with the letter "f", not the letter "p". I mention this, because I was once involved in a ridiculously drawn out game of categories when someone said we had to come up with every animal we could think of starting with the letter "p".
There are a lot of them, and at one point the word "pika" came into my mind. Someone tried to challenge me on it, but I stuck to my guns. Sadly, I described it as a type of fox with really big ears. This not only sounded like something completely made up, but it was also quite incorrect.
A pika looks like this:
It is, as you can see, a type of lagomorph with relatively small ears, given the ear size of other lagomorphs like rabbits and hares.
"What in the Zharkian Empire is a lagomorph?" I hear you cry. "If it's some kind of rodent, why don't you just say so?"
Well, gentle readers, it turns out that rabbits, hares and pikas are not rodents at all. They belong to a completely different order of animal - lagomorpha. They bear but a superficial resemblance to members of the rodentia order. And yet, despite this, members of both orders are equally likely to pee in your hand. You get that.
So, while a pika may superficially resemble a degu:
Or, perhaps a chinchilla:
It is, in fact, nothing at all like a small fox with large ears. That would be a fennec:
That's "fennec" with an "f".
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Fury vs Glory and GC United
Oh. My God.
The Fury appear to be on a winning streak. I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself.
I meant to write a post last week about the match against Perth Glory, but I ran out of time. Let's see if I can sum it up:
"Hell, yeah!"
They gave us a show and a win. What more could you ask? a) a 2-1 win, b) second win of the series, c) first home win ever... I was so happy I bought a hat. It's now my "victory" hat, and I'll wear it whenever we win.
I briefly put it on yesterday when I read about our 2-0 win over Gold Coast. After our last match against GC United ended with a 5-0 loss, the 2-0 win was very sweet.
This is what I'm talking about, people. When you support the stuggling team, every win is "Yeah! We Won! Huzzah!", while a loss is just "eh, whatever". But if you're team is consistently at the top of the ladder, any win is just same-ol-same-ol, while any loss is devastating. It's always good when the wins mean more than the losses.
Meanwhile, the fact that the only games I can watch are the live matches totally sucks, dude. What happened to the days when at least some of the A League matches were televised free to air? I'm not going to pay for Fox Sport, dammit! SBS or Seven, get your gear into action and buy back some rights!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Talking about Cheese
Okay, so I needed some help with spelling "Jarlsberg" for the last post...
I managed to find my way to this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cheeses
I now have a strange desire to undertake some sort of "tour of the world" via cheese. Is it completely ridiculous to want to try all of the regional cheeses in the world?
Just a typical Jarlesburg Afternoon
Kirsty: "So, when will you be back?"
Helen: "I should be here on Tuesday."
Kirsty: "Feta!"
Sharon: "No, I'm reasonably sure she said 'Tuesday'..."
Kirsty: "Feta!"
Sharon: "Well, now that you mention it, that is more interesting. We should rename all the days of the week after cheese. Monday can be 'Colby', Tuesday is 'Feta'. Is Winchester a type of cheese?"
Helen: "Friday should be Halloumi."
Andrew: "Something should be Camembert. Or Brie."
Stephen: "What planet are you from?!?"
Helen: "I should be here on Tuesday."
Kirsty: "Feta!"
Sharon: "No, I'm reasonably sure she said 'Tuesday'..."
Kirsty: "Feta!"
Sharon: "Well, now that you mention it, that is more interesting. We should rename all the days of the week after cheese. Monday can be 'Colby', Tuesday is 'Feta'. Is Winchester a type of cheese?"
Helen: "Friday should be Halloumi."
Andrew: "Something should be Camembert. Or Brie."
Stephen: "What planet are you from?!?"
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