Posts by daleaway
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I don't watch the ads, because after Men in Black who is not frightened of the flashy thing/memory wipe?
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"Fans" is a local variant of UK "fainits". Possibly a very old word indeed.
There's a discussion on http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/MIDMARCH/2007-12/1199105278 .
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I'd rather, on the whole, that tradespeople or service people or anyone having business dealings with me "forced" themselves to be friendly. The effort would be appreciated.
I see no virtue in their displaying their unvarnished natural rudeness or antipathy or aggression, however genuine. Better a faked polite than an unforced impolite. And I'll do the same for them.
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RP is pretty well what I remember from my New Zealand youth - with a twang, but not the exaggerated air/ear/here confusion we hear today. Listen to the recordings of New Zealanders sending home greetings from World War II and you will hear how far our accent has travelled.
I call it the hairdresser vowel because it seemed to go on record in the 1970s when salons suddenly stopped being called Connor's Coiffure (and similar) and started being called Hair and There, Hairsay, Hairabouts, etc .
As for that pig-ugly final r you mention, it's endemic amongst certain TV presenters, Mark Sainsbury being one. "Now available" becomes "Nau Ravailable". They cannot pronounce a final W for money. Puckering practice needed.
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I daresay the point I am missing is why people bother writing "alternative" versions of history.
Things happened when they happened and the way they happened, nor all thy piety and wit... etc.
Unless it's to prove that they are clever dickies.
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Too early. We didn't start using that chant till LBJ, not JFK, was involved in Vietnam.
Or is there some other point that I am missing? -
I was not aware of Elvis C's disparagement of dancing about architecture, but I know very well that Goethe claimed that architecture is frozen music.
Which makes the dancing not unreasonable.
What tune do you think is sung by those public loos we were talking about, Kracklite? Cue Water Music puns.
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Danyl, self-discipline is only part of the necessary equipment to wind up with a comfortable retirement fund. Attitude is all.
If you don't mind a bit of homespun philosophy, I have found the best ways of saving to be as follows. Here's my four-step investment plan.
First, invest in infrastructure. Your own. That means basics before treats. Metaphorically speaking, eating your veges instead of going straight to the icecream.
Second, learn to distinguish "buyer's rush" from "contentment", and aim for the latter. It's curious that what makes most of us content tends to be good relationships, not good possessions - so invest in your relationships.
Third, avoid flashy friends. Envying other peoples' possessions gets us into stupidly competitive purchasing, trendiness, and having to add rooms onto our houses to put all our stuff in. Fashion is at best a con, at worst a form of slavery. That includes fashionable electronics and vehicles.
Last, slow and steady wins the race. Boring, yes, but as true as it ever was. Save little and often, and don't wait till you can afford it.
None of this is rocket salad; your Mum could have told you it and probably has. It's not bad advice for countries, either, as the Salon article indicates.
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Craig, Fran Lebowitz is on Wikipedia (good interview links) and IMDB.
Basically she's done a lot of mostly ephemeral TV work (including Law and Order), a swag of lecturing at US colleges, and has recently written a children's book, which seems a waste of her unique talents.
Also has been talking for years about her forthcoming novel Exterior Signs of Wealth, which should appear about the same time as Keri Hulme's Bait if I am not mistaken. Vanity Fair recently published an extract from her previously unheard of forthcoming book Progress (excerpt online dealing with separation of church and state). She's been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair for 10 years.
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"Clothes with pictures and writing on them are an unpleasant indication of the general state of things. I mean, be realistic. If people don't want to listen to you what makes you think they want to hear from your sweater?"
Fran Lebowitz