Category: Wild Card

THANKS VERSUS MERCI OR GRACIAS … AS ONE, TWO, OR THREE SYLLABLES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments

I’ve heard that English is the international language for air traffic control, even at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (what happened to Orly?), because it’s shorter than the others. Spoken French, you see, is considered too slow for a jetliner’s pilots and the tower.

Wondering about that the other day, I looked at the multilingual instructions included with the supplies for our new shower-surround walls. Sure enough, the English was about 20 percent shorter than either the French or the Spanish.

Anyone else been pondering this efficiency issue? How do German or Russian, compare to English, for instance? Or Chinese or Japanese? Just for starters …

KIDDIE CORNER TREATS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 11 Comments

Having voiced my theory about adults-only food, let me now counter it with kids-only tastes. Things you loved to eat as a kid but would rather avoid now.

(Dirt doesn’t count. I’m serious.)

Velveeta would be on my list, now that I’ve discovered real cheese in all varieties.

Angel food cake would be another.

We were even given slices of raw potato sprinkled with salt as a treat while dinner was cooking.

You get the picture. Now it’s your turn to add to that list.