Friday, November 02, 2007

Snippets

* More brouhaha up here because the captain of Montreal's hockey team speaks English at games instead of French. (according to him because he's ashamed/embarrassed about it) While we were discussing this in class, I asked if we live in a free society where people can speak as they wish. One student felt that were this America and a player spoke no English, he would be just as vilified for it. I laughed and said, "No, nobody cares what language you speak as long as the team is winning."

* A terrible angst inducing thought occurred to me yesterday. Only 7 weeks til Christmas.

* I learned this week about the MK symbol on food packaging. This came up because some constituents up here purport that we pay more for goods with this symbol. The symbol designates Kosher and is on lots of things - peanut butter and coke for example.

* What's the difference between lust after and long for. As far as a I can tell, they both mean desire strongly.

* Here's the underside of the elevated highway 40 which cuts through Montreal. I was stuck at a light under it and coming from earthquake country, it made me nervous.

* The Canadian dollar is now worth $1.06 U.S. This means that if you had bought Canadian dollars with your U.S. money in 2002 and sold it back today, you would have realized a gain of 72%. I wish I'd known that then.

* I love the very hard Sudoku puzzles because you must make a leap of faith and "guess" at a number, and follow it through until you see if you guessed right or wrong. I try to intuitively guess, which works at least 3/4 of the time.

* Are they called slippers because they're slippery on the floor or because they slip onto your feet? And loafers? To loaf around, a loaf of bread...nope, I don't get it.

* We snagged another 4* hotel in Socal in January for $55 a night. Priceline is probably my favorite company these days.

* Why do we say fix dinner to mean make dinner? Do they say this in England and Australia, or is it just North America? Students are always flummoxed by this expression.

30 comments:

Snooze said...

I love your snippets.

I think lust after and long for are quite different. Lust has the sense of sex, whether or not it's used in a sexual context. You would never 'lust after' a time or day.

Chunks said...

Funny about the hockey team. So true though, they love you when you're number one and then you can do no wrong. Lose a few and then everybody's complaining about your mullet.

The fact that our dollar is worth so much is scary. A great time for online shopping through the states though!

Anonymous said...

As a hockey fan I can relate to that truth. French Canadian, Czech, Russian, Swede... who cares as long as the team is winning. Heck! half of the native-born American players can't put a complete English sentence together.

When we visited Toronto a few years ago, the bus driver told us we were on "the American plan". The $US = 1.5 $CA at the time as I recall. Everything was a bargain to us. Now it is your turn.

Unknown said...

"Fix dinner" isn't British English. Indeed, over here "fix" is often used to mean salvaging something that's going wrong: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So fixing dinner could well be taking over in the kitchen and still producing a nice meal after the chops had scorched, the pasta had boiled dry, etc.

dpaste said...

* I don't follow sports, but I'd assume that if a star player continued to not speak English, the US press and fans would start to grumble.

* I pay no attention to this.

* Yes, there is a small cost attached to products that are kosher, since a fee must be paid to the organization that sends a rep to determine if a product meets Jewish dietary laws. I also pay a small cost in my taxes for my municipality to put up Christmas decorations. I imagine it all balances out.

* Lust implies a coarser desire, as in a lust for sex, power, or blood. Longing refers to something beloved that is missing or deferred, as in longing for home, longing for the day one is free, etc.

* Yikes.

* Hindsight = 20/20

* Recipe for a headache.

* No idea.

* Sweet.

* No idea.

dantallion said...

Yeah, lust implies something sexual. You could long for a visit with your Mom. Lust for? Not so much. (Unless you're a member of the GOP, of course.)

Anonymous said...

Love the thought provoking Snippets. A person could long to see there parents or siblings. One only lusts after someone they want to have sex with. Well, I better go fix breakfast. Didn't know it was broken did you?

Snooze said...

Dantallion: Very clear explanation but EWWWWWWW

Polt said...

Lust after, I think, has a sexual conotation to it. Long for is of a more romantic nature...at least that's the way it sounds to me.

HUGS...

GayProf said...

$55 is great! It will be even less, really, given that you will be paying with Canadian $. Why were Americans so dumb to allow Bush to stay in office?

A Lewis said...

My head is spinning! All of these wide and varied snippets. AHHHH!!!

Patricia said...

i never say that i'm going to fix dinner. maybe it's not a midwest thing.

congrats on the hotel coup. socal in january. ahhhhh.... bliss.

Anonymous said...

Dantallion: Bwahahaha!

Gayprof: Because Americans are idiots.

Truthspew said...

I'm scared of the overpasses here in RI for a different reason. We're not geologically active here but the infrastructure is deteriorating so badly that one day it's all going to come crashing down.

I just don't want to be under one when it does so.

TJ said...

We make dinner here in Australia or better yet we make afternoon tea (Don't even get me started)

Mark in DE said...

Since the US dollar is in the toilet, it makes it much more expensive to travel overseas. Some friends who always take a 2-week overseas vacation every year told me that this year they were going to "visit some places in the US they'd always wanted to see".

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Mark

Miss Understanding said...

After you said 7 weeks until Christmas...I could hear no other thing.

GULP!

Cooper said...

All I can see is "7 weeks til Christmas" pulsing like a neon sign in my brain!

David said...

7 week's until Christmas. I work retail, I cannt wait until January 2.

Erica said...

To "fix" dinner ... As far as I know, this expression comes from a
Southern colloquialism, and it means, basically, "to prepare."

As in: "I'm fixin' to ..."

This is a first cousin of another phrase that sometimes sets non-Southern heads a-spinning: "Cut the engine on, willya?" That one means: "Turn it on, OK?"

Java said...

Hey, y'all, I'm fixin' to fix dinner. Dinner will be served right after church on Sunday. That's the way it is here in South Carolina.

Summer said...

Canada may have invented hockey but today it's played around the world. So the captain speaks English, how many players on the team speak French? In the NHL I'm sure many speak very little English and less French. It's sad that there are so few NHL teams left in Canada. I always root for one if they get near the playoffs.

RJ March said...

Weighing in on lust and longing:
It seems to me that lust is of the body and longing is something more cerebral. Either invokes a sort of ache, though.

(Do we "fix" dinner because it's broken?)

My adventures said...

i *heart* priceline too! and i never fix or make dinner, i prepare it, i learned that in culinary school... lol!!!

dirk.mancuso said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dirk.mancuso said...

When I think of "lust for", I usually associate it with the desire for another person, whereas "long for" is mentally connected to inanimate objects.

I have never been to priceline but have now added it to my "Bargains" folder. If Torn says it's good, that's all I need. :)

A Bear in the Woods said...

I actually solved my first Sudoku puzzle the other day. I was so proud of myself.
Never mind that I used to do the NY Times C'word puzzle in ink every day, Sudoku is hard.

A Bear in the Woods said...

Oh, and lusting is something young men do. Long for is something teenage girls on the cusp of menopause do.

jali said...

I love what I call :random posts! You cover a lot of ground and make me smile at the same time. I make dinner but I might fix a sandwich -well, if I have a sandwich for dinner I guess I fix what I make. I think we should just move on to the eating part.If it's a cake, I bake it. I've heard people say "cook a cake". Sounds weird.

dawn said...

I hate Sudoku. I don't like guessing, I like knowing.

Priceline is pretty sweet.

I don't say fix or make dinner, I say, go to restaurant.