Solar liseuse charger (or: "Enjoyable descent into unutterable silliness.")

[Cthulhu]

I do not trust a Frenchman any farther than I can throw him. French women are, of course, women, and are thus never to be trusted.

There is this new-fangled notion of not hyphenating, even in places where once it was de rigeur. My own personal belief is that all the new uppity English teachers are hording them so that they can sell them on the political correctness blackmarket to all those ladyfolk who wish to amendify their surnames into one larger surname.

Will try your interweb widget. Hope that it is not a ruse, a false link that will turn whatever slimy, questionable foreign babble into an inane conversation about meteorology.


[words to that effect]

[Cthulhu]

Supercomputers?!
A 'circumflex?!'

My dear robot, if ever the subject of weather appeared in that vile exchange, it was to plot the creation of a 'Weather Dominator' to be used turn the lush, green fields of the Mighty US of A into a barren wasteland.

Think that I need to alert my congresspeople to the growing Red Maple Threat.....

[Taylor514ce]

You, the dread Cthulhu, unspeakable horror incarnate, the green, sticky spawn of space, intimidated by French-Canadians?

True - I've met quite a few Quebecois I'd not care to curse nor cross... then there was Solange, who could command me with a word, but I digress.

I can forgive your atrocious grammar, after all, I couldn't speak clearly with a squid in my mouth, much less a squid FOR a mouth, but this whinging, cringing, ink-my-diapers display is shameful.

[vivaldirules]

Yo, Mr. Squid Bucket, look up. It's already happening. I'm here in your Chicagoutlandishness and we are being snowed upon. I believe the Red (Read?) Maple Threat is upon us!

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

There are many places that I see apostrophes uses, and I find it odd. For example, in the book Eats Shoots & Leaves , the authress claims that the film "Two Weeks Notice" should have an apostrophe 'twixt 'k' & 's'. In my mind, this means that *I* am not telling my employer that I shall leave in two weeks time, but rather that my two weeks are giving their notice.

That's a twitchy case there. To phrase it more pedantically, you're telling your employer that you intend to stop working for him after a period of time measuring two weeks. It's a matter of the notice being expressed as a measure of time. It's the same as if you buy a dollar's worth of rice. It's the worth that makes it possessive, because you're not talking about the time itself, but the measure thereof, which only has meaning as an aspect of the measurement, thus the notice is technically part of, or "possessed" by the two weeks.

That explanation ought to be convoluted enough to please even a Great, Old One.

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

@Natch: Mr. Moderator Man, how/where do I request that the contents of a thread be published in a format whereby all good members (i.e. English reading ones) may know what is transpiring in said thread?

We have a special form for that very purpose, I use it myself. You can access it here. (I'd put a smiley there, but I know how you feel about them -- oops! That one slipped!)

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

would you prefer a sweet-smelling one ?

That would be fine, yes.

[yvanleterrible]

@ Zelda and balok

The thread of differences between Québécois and French phonetics going on between you has been adressed before by the International Phonetics movement years and years ago. It is a shame in this internet world where instant communications have become the norm that such a standard has not been put forth and foremost. Younger people's teletext jargon is adequate proof that the system is still needed. The phonetics system requires a long learning curve, especially since many phonems have no use in different languages. And how are we to maintain the definition difference between words of identical pronunciation? And what of the beauty and subtlety of style, should it be sacrificed for expediency of communication? Should an other standard be put forth? How about the invention of an internet language, there are many words we use that have been created for this virtual world.

@ Taylor514ce

I'm from Québec Province and don't know how to skate but I play soccer. What I mean is that similarly to language differences, cultural differences change to a more global format. In Québec more than many places in the world, being surrounded by 'Anglicity', language nuance translation is a necessary survival skill. Not to mean that we leave our French language roots but that we changed it over 20 or so generations so as to simplify exchanges with our immediate surroundings. Historically, when the British captured Québec, relations with France had been physically cut for over a hundred years; not a single boat had been allowed to land. I would never forget French but it is eroding. And so is the English language today as it is confronted to the onslaught of other cultures bringing in new words like 'liseuse' It has to be so because it is the way the world will start unification, what we need to secure this planet's survival.

[NatCh]

Language has never been a static thing, it always evolves. Frankly with rapid and mass communication we've managed to hold it remarkably static for some decades, but it'll move on: that's the nature of the beast and not really any cause for alarm. Besides, learning new stuff keeps your brain young.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

... I would never forget French but it is eroding. And so is the English language today ...(

Better that it is "evolving". To say that language is eroding implies that at some time in the past it was pristine & set in stone.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by NatCh

That's a twitchy case there. To phrase it more pedantically, you're telling your employer that you intend to stop working for him after a period of time measuring two weeks. It's a matter of the notice being expressed as a measure of time. It's the same as if you buy a dollar's worth of rice. It's the worth that makes it possessive, because you're not talking about the time itself, but the measure thereof, which only has meaning as an aspect of the measurement, thus the notice is technically part of, or "possessed" by the two weeks.

I would think that if an apostrophe were required that it would be after the s in weeks since weeks is plural it that example. But what do I know. I grew up in rural Mississippi.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Am from Chicago. My friends and I have been ready for years. Those Nike missiles we had along LSD? Not gone, just better hidden. We can still take out Quebec City if the need arises. She is quite a jewel, but she will lie smoldering on the side of the Fleuve if the mighty USA is threatened. You have all ready successfully annexed Minnesota, and we might consider the U.P. a draw.
Aw heck.

54°50' or fight!
54°50' or Fight!






[words to that effect]

Hey maybe a Nuke would be a great idea to get rid of that 5 meter snow, read that 15 feet. Check out my brother in law's garage in Beauport near Québec. That's the black pipe sticking out of the stuff! Oh crap, you can't even see it anymore!

Originally Posted by slayda

Better that it is "evolving". To say that language is eroding implies that at some time in the past it was pristine & set in stone.

I really meant erosion. Out of the 60,000 existing French words, less than 10,000 are used and a lot of them are being replaced by English ones on a regular basis and I'm not mentionning the changes in definition.
Erosion might be a light word, we could even venture drastic meltdown.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Hello yvan ! nice of you to stop by this joyous chaos...

interesting you should bring up phonetic spelling, although i think that is more concerned with spelling than pronunciation (we started from a comparison of accents...). i'm not sure how i feel about phonetics. i am wary of it, because although some languages (*cough*french*cough*) can seem very hard to spell, full of arbitrary and nonsensical series of letters, it still did evolve from more ancient versions or other languages and usually there are rules behind the spelling which you can learn, and which help to understand the language better because then you can see relationships between different words, and deduce the meaning of a word you don't know based on parts of it or similarity with words you *do* know ; this is lost with phonetic spelling. also, i am always worried that simplifying the spelling will result in simplifying the language, and as you said, the last thing we would want would be to sacrifice "the beauty and subtlety of style, for expediency of communication." we have to do our best to avoid even more erosion !

but yes, languages do *evolve* constantly, that's why they are called "living languages" and it's a fascinating process. now if only the evolution could *always* be an enrichment, never a reduction...

as for your brother's house... are you sure it's still there ??? i hope spring comes soon, but not too quick, or his house will be underwater instead !

@ Cthulhu : ô ancient one, why do you want to throw french men ??? is this some sort of weird ancient cephalopod sport ??

@ Taylor : don't put squid in your mouth. aside from resulting in incomprehensible mumbling, you don't know where they've been.

[balok]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

500 cm de neige ???? cinq CENT centimètres ??? CINQ METRES DE NEIGE ???? mais comment vous faites genre pour circuler ?? pour *vivre* ?? est-ce que tu stockes de quoi bouffer pendant 6 mois chaque année vers octobre, au cas où ? et c'est seulement *maintenant* que tu te calfeutres chez toi, je rêve... genre, "499 cm ça va, mais 500 c'est trop" ? *soupir* et moi qui appelle chaque hiver de tous mes voeux quelques petits flocons qui blanchiraient le temps de quelques heures les toits de ma ville, et qui suis régulièrement déçue (car il neige quasi jamais à Paris, et même quand ça tombe ça dure pas longtemps...). tu pourrais pas partager un peu ? quant au français de votre province je suis contente de savoir qu'au moins il se défend, qu'il s'accroche, voire qu'il s'enrichit...

C'est 500cm pour toute la saison, jusqu'à présent, mais l'hiver n'a pas encore dit son dernier mot. Personnellement, j'adore toute cette neige parce que je voyage en bus, donc je suis pas obligé de dégager mon entrée le matin. Voici des photos de ma maison et de ma rue.

[zelda_pinwheel]

bon, bin si tu me *dis* que c'est ta maison.... sans blague, comment tu fais ? même pour la maison, c'est pas triste qu'elle soit enterrée comme ça (enfin, "enneigée", oui, d'accord ; mais je veux dire, vous voyez plus rien par les fenêtres là, c'est tout bouché) ? d'ailleurs, comment vous faîtes, pour en sortir / pour y rentrer ??

[Taylor514ce]

"omment vous faîtes, pour en sortir / pour y rentrer ??"

With snow chains, no doubt. Or even snowmobiles. When I was a child, my brothers and I loved to get snowed-in like that. No school! After especially heavy snows, we could tunnel from yard to yard, vast labyrinths of snow. Now I live where the slightest precipitation causes mass hysteria.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

"omment vous faîtes, pour en sortir / pour y rentrer ??"

With snow chains, no doubt. Or even snowmobiles. When I was a child, my brothers and I loved to get snowed-in like that. No school! After especially heavy snows, we could tunnel from yard to yard, vast labyrinths of snow. Now I live where the slightest precipitation causes mass hysteria.

but, practically speaking, *how* do you get out of the house when the snow is higher than the roof ? where do you put the snow you dig out of the tunnel ? do you have to carry buckets of snow from the door to the bathrub, and run hot water so it will melt ???

(yes, obviously, i have never lived in Canada, Siberia, or any mountain top.)