Category: English

The person on the till

By Simon

Last night at the French conversation group one of the things we talked about was shopping, particularly in supermarkets, and one of the words we weren’t sure of was till / cash register. I now know this is la caisse (enregistreuse) or le tiroir caisse and that someone who works on a till is possibly un caissier or une caissière.

This got me thinking what you call such a person in English. You might call them a shop assistant or maybe a cashier, but neither of these seems to fit the job very well.

What would you call such a person? Would the term you use depend on the kind of shop?

Yardarms

By Simon

Photo of a sailing ship's rigging showing the yards and yardarms

Last night there was some discussion of the phrase ‘when the sun is over the yardarm’ and none of us were sure what a yardarm or even a yard is. I suspected that there were part of the rigging of a sailing ship, but wasn’t sure which part.

I now know that a yard is a spar, or long piece of wood or metal attached to the mast of a sailing ship to which the sails are attached, and that a yardarm is the end of a yard (see photo).

The phrase ‘over the yardarm’ refers to the practise of officers on sailing ships of waiting until the sun appeared to above a particular yardarm before having their lunch or first alcoholic drink of the day. In summer in the north Atlantic this would be at about 11am. This became the time when the sailors received their first ration of rum, and the officers stuck to this time even when ashore. The expression spread to landlubbers and is still quite widely used, especially in North America. On land the sun appears over the proverbial yardarm at around 5pm. It first appeared in print in Rudyard Kipling’s From Sea to Sea in 1899. [from World Wide Words and Wikipedia].

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– apprenti(e) = apprentice = prentis = deskard
– apprentissage = apprenticeship = prentisiaeth = deskardelezh
– le porte-clefs/porte-clés = key ring / chain / fob = torch allwedd = doug alc’hwezoù
– l’anneaux porte-clefs = key ring = torch allwedd = (?)
– une clé/clef de rechange / une autre (clef) = spare key = allwedd sbâr = alc’hwez da drok (?)
– un roue de rechange/de secours = spare wheel = olwyn sbâr = rod-eskemm
– l’ouïe (f) = hearing = clyw = kleved / klev
– être dur(e) d’oreille = to be hard of hearing = bod yn drwm dy glyw = bezañ fall e gleved, bezañ teñvalglev
– la brasserie = brewery = bracty, bragdy = bierezh, breserezh
– (nez) camus = pug nose = trwyn smwt = fri-togn

Newspapers and magpies

By Simon

Magpie reading a newspaper

What’s the connection between newspapers and magpies?

Well, apparently the first newspapers published in Venice and were known as gazeta de la novità and cost one gazeta (Venetian) or gazzetta (Italian), a small coin which had a picture of a magpie on it. A magpie is gazza in Italian and the name of the coin is a diminutive form of that name. Another possibility is that the newspaper was named after the magpie, a bird renowned for chattering.

The word gazette was first used in English in 1665 for a newspaper published in Oxford [source].

New video

By Simon

Here’s the script for a new video I’m making in Russian. I got the Russian from my textbooks and phrase books and from Google Translate, so there may be some errors. If you speak Russian could you check it and let me know anything that needs correcting? Большое спасибо!

Здравствуйте.
Hello

Здравствуйте. Как дела?
Hello. How are you?

Спасибо, хорошо. А вы?
Fine thanks, and you?

Хорошо. Как вас зовут?
Fine. What’s your name?

Меня зовут Галина Михаиловна. А вы?
I’m Galina Mikhailovna, and you?

Меня зовут Игорь Максимович. Очень приятно.
I’m Ivan Maksimovich. Nice to meet you.

Очень приятно.
Nice to meet you.

Oткуда вы?
Where are you from?

Я из Алматы в Казахстан, но я живу в Международной космической станции полгода. А вы?
I’m from Almaty in Kazakhstan, but live half the year in the International Space Station. And you?

Я из Москвы, но я живу в Новосибирске. Вы космонавтом?
I’m from Moskow but live in Novosibirsk. Are you a cosmonaut?

Да. А вы? Какова ваша работа?
Yes. And you? What do you do?

Я ки́пер в Новосибирском зоопарке.
I’m a zookeeper in Novosibirsk Zoo.

Вау, это круто!
Wow, that’s cool!

Что? Даже круче, чем быть космонавтом?
What? Even cooler than being a cosmonaut?

Да, абсолютно. Я всегда хотел работать с животными, но отец настоял, чтобы я стал космонавтом.
Yes, absolutely. I always wanted to work with animals, but my father insisted that I become a cosmonaut.

Не будучи в пространстве захватывающим?
Isn’t being in space exciting?

Ну, это было в первый, и виды невероятным, но это может быть довольно скучной застряли в маленькой космической станции с теми же людьми все время.
Well it was at first, and the views are incredible, but it can be rather boring stuck in a small space station with the same people all the time.

О, я никогда не думал об этом так. Что вы делаете в Международной космической станции?
Oh, I never thought about it like that. What do you do on the International Space Station?

Мы делаем эксперименты, петь песни, писать стихи и смотреть на вид.
We do experiments, sing songs, write poetry and look at the view.

Каково это быть невесомым?
What’s it like being weightless?

Сначала это было странно и я заболела, но я привык к его сейчас.
At first it was weird and I was sick, but I’m used to it now.

Ну, я должен идти. До свидания.
Well, I have to go now. Goodbye.

До свидания.
Goodbye.

Pixelated v Pixilated

By Simon

When something is pixelated it is divided into pixels; enlarged so that individual pixels are visible; made up of a small number of large pixels to disguise someone’s identity (used on TV) [source].

When someone is pixilated they are behaving in an eccentric manner, as though led by pixies; whimsical or drunk [source].

The two words are easily and often confused.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– l’appareil auditif/acoustique (m) = hearing aid = teclyn clywed = adskouarn / klevosod
– la piste = track, tracks, trail; lead, course = llwbyr, ôl, trywydd = hent, roudenn
– la piste cyclable = cycle track = llwybr beic = roudenn belo (?)
– bégayer = to stammer = siarad ag atal = gagiñ
– l’accompagnement (m) la garniture = trimmings = trimins = ambroug, gwarnitur
– les nouvelles = news = newyddion = news
– le bulletin d’informations = news broadcast/bulletin = bwletin/darllediad newyddion = lizher kelaouiñ
– la conférence de presse = press/news conference = cynhadledd newyddion = emvod kelaouiñ
– la marine = navy = llynges = marin, mordeadurezh
– une fin heureuse = a happy ending = diwedd hapus = echuiñ eürus (?)
– la noces = wedding = priodas = dimez
– le voyage de noces (voyage), la lune de miel (période) = honeymoon = mis mêl = miz mel

Штурмовщина

By Simon

Штурмовщина (Šturmovščina / Shturmovshchina) is a useful Russian word I came across in Mark Forsyth’s The Horologicon – A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Word of the English Language, which I got for Christmas. It means last-minute rush and refers to the practice of working frantically to fulfill production targets in factories at the end of each month when materials finally arrived, or if they didn’t arrive people used whatever was to hand to produce the required goods. This often resulted in shoddy products and was apparently a common practice in the Soviet Union. Similar practises were common in construction.

The word штурм (šturm) means storm or conquest, and штурмовать (šturmovat’) means to storm or conquer, so штурмовщина is all about storming and conquering those deadlines. It is also defined as “short bursts of extremely intense work after procrastination”, and possibly results from the relatively short growing season in Russia, which meant that most of the agricultural work had to be done quickly and intensively over the summer. The rest of the time the peasants could idle, contemplate and philosophise [source].

More interesting words are discussed in the book, and on the blog Inky Fool.

Do you leave everything to the last minute and then attack it in a fit of shturmovshchina, or are you more organised?

I have been known to leave things until the last minute, though try not to do it too often.

New song – Everyday Adventures

By Simon

Here’s a song that came to me a few weeks ago and which sounds a bit like it comes from a musical – maybe I should write one 🙂

Everyday Adventures
Wherever you go, whatever you do,
There are adventures waiting round the corner for you.
So open your eyes, your ears and your mind,
And you might be surprised by what you find.

Watch the birds, bees and flowers,
Not the minutes and hours
And take time to think and wander and dream.
Let go your regrets and worries and frets
And let your heart fill with joy.

Here’s a recording: