LEGHORN : i'm sure it must have been the leghorn chickens that gave the city its name. never mind that the italians call it LIVORNO - i think the chickens know better - after all the chickens are brown and lay white eggs; that should count for something. (just in a funny/lazy saturday evening mood; not up to a serious discussion). hbg. ...... hope the italians won't get me for this
Andrew, your additions are always of value.
And I'd like the thread to keep going too.
Let it therefore be known, let the word go forth from this time and place, that we are hosting four folks from Koenigswinter (a town on the Rhine) this weekend and the McTag household is clamorous with English, German and a few strange mixtures of both- Germglish and Engman- but, we get by!
All quiet on the home front. They flew back last night, and I learned on the telephone this evening that there was a severe rainstorm in Koenigswinter early today, and the water was spurting 3 ft high out of the manholes in the street. More violent weather. We've all had some, I think. Expect the unexpected.
McT
We had almost constant rain and thunderstorms, and very high temperatures for the two weeks ending last weekend. There was very bad flooding in some parts of the state. We got a letter from NEBS today (New England Business Systems--we buy forms, business cards, etc. from them) saying that they would replace, at no cost, any of their materials damaged as a result of the storms, and, they offered a "help line" phone numbers for those whose losses in the storms put them in a financial bind--they were basically offering temporary, extended payment terms. We had no such problems, but i was impressed with the thoughtfulness of the company, and a genuine (for once) sensitivity by a business to the circumstances of their customers.
Had heaviest rain here as well, but better sewering than in Königswinter :wink:
THE ENGLISH SPEAKING WORLD ? ? ?
had a real gusher here about three weeks ago. as much rain in three hours as usually falls in the whole month of august. had no trouble in our part of the city since we are sitting on a bit of a hill, probably only about five to six feet higher than the old part of the city along lake ontario. the old/downtown area of the city was a mess : sewers backing up into basements, sewer-pumping-station could not handle the load and had to discharge 1000's of gallons of raw sewage into lake-ontario, what a mess ! city now talking of twinning sewers(to separate storm water run-off from sewerage in the old city - it's ok in the newer sections -), increasing capacity of pumping station ... PRELIMANARY cost ESTIMATE $ 25-40 million. with a city of just over 120,000 population it would amount to a HUGE property tax increase. some suggest, that this is an occurence that happens perhaps once every 50 years and not to panic ... but all that raw sewage flowing into the lake ... the cities downstrem from kingston are screaaming bloody murder(but thy have their own unresolved problems). sice then : not a drop of rain and no rain inthe forecast - trees turning brown and yellow - perhaps no autumn colours? hbg.
hbg, these 1-in-50 year occurrences are getting closer and closer together, as I know from personal experience. Very sorry to hear about Lake Ontario (and all these sewage-flooded basements).
These extreme weather events seem to be hitting all over, last year and this. Maybe we should start a weatherwatch thread.
Walter, glad you're dry, up in your eyrie there.
In doing this week's New York Time's crossword puzzle, I was amazed to find that "bloke", which was the clue, turned out to be "egg".
I looked it up and only saw "man" as a definition, but found that it came from Shelta, a secret jargon used by Romany in Britain and Ireland.
Letty, I think the compiler is off the rails a little.
I imagine he was thinking of the English expression, a "good egg", which is a bit Bertie Woosterish, and means an fine fellow, or a good bloke, but I think this is a bad clue, dependent as it is on an outmoded slang expression.
Nice to hear fron you, by the way.
Well, my goodness, McTag. First PBS and now The New York Times.
I thought about the expression "good egg" but that just didn't seem to fit. There's also the expression "egg head" which means someone who is quite studious and academically inclined.
Good to see you, too, buddy.
This topic deserves a bump up into the light again!
Goddamn Americans can't SPELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
teeeheheheheeheheeheeheheehe
Hey, the last post on this thread was the day I joined...
I gotta read to catch up...
it is a damn fine thread!!!
A thread to ravel up the worn sleeve of care . . .
It knitteth up the ravel'd sleave of care?
It DO!!!!!
What i relish in English is the ability to be clear, and still to use the language at "full stretch" . . .
It was many and many a year ago
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived, whom you may know
By the name of Annabelle Lee
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child
In this kingdom by the sea
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I and my Annabelle Lee
With a love that winged seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me
This was the reason that, long ago
In this kingdom by the sea
That the winds came out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabelle Lee
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea
The Angels, half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! That was the reason (as all men know
In this kingdom by the sea)
That a wind came out of a cloud by night
Chilling and killing my Annabelle Lee.
But our love, it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we,
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the Angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Could never dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabelle Lee.
For the moon never beams without giving me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabelle Lee
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of my beautiful Annabelle Lee.
And so, all the nighttide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling! My darling, my life and my bride.
In her sepulchre, there by the sea,
In her tomb, by the sounding sea.
That's our boy, Eddie, the most articulate drug addict we've ever produced . . .
I must not like the english language cuz I butcher the hell out of it...
