On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 20:49:00 -0400,
Somesappywriter <sappywriter@poetic.com> wrote:

Craig Chilton <

Somesappywriter <sappywriter@poetic.com> wrote:

Craig Chilton <

Somesappywriter <sappywriter@poetic.com> wrote:

Craig Chilton <

Somesappywriter <sappywriter@poetic.com> wrote:

Shawn Hearn <srhi@comcast.net> wrote:

J. Young <youngopinions@aol.com> wrote:

Anyone who plans to be in NYC on Mon. August 28 for the GOP
convention, I would like to extend an invitation to get together for
lunch, or just a cup of coffee. I don't care if you're pro or anti
Bush. It doesn't matter if we've traded barbs. Just no violent people
please. It is time now for a little sun and fun. Will return again in
a week or so. Until then, Peace.

I live in NJ, just outside of Philadelphia. When the Republicans held
their convention in Philly four years ago, I went away on vacation that
week to avoid the crowds and hassle. A friend of mine who lives in
Manhattan warned me to stay away during the week of the convention
because of all the crowds and security precautions. I plan to heed
my friend's advise so I will pass on your kind invitation.

Smart move. Though I had expected the DNC to wreak a little
more havoc. I still had to go to class tonight, and to my relief, extra
trains were being operated, an express run through North Station
and very little other passengers were on board made the trip a little
lighter, faster. The only inconvenience I experienced was the
mandatory bag searches at Community College and Haymarket
stations -- other than that, I got to Downtown Boston rather smoothly.
Heck, I even had a Chai Tea Latte in Chinatown before my class exam.

A "tea tea" latte? The Russian word for tea is... chai. :)

That's what they call it. "Chai Tea" latte.

Right. But that's why I said that, taking it all literally in
English, that would be "tea tea latte." Now -- I wonder if those
who are serving it know that that's what they literally are calling
it?

Perhaps not. But it won't affect them unless the person who
translates it literally and complains about it, might. :-)

A few weeks ago, a demonstrator in "Sam's Club" was giving
samples of a beverage called "Mystic Chai." I discovered that she
had no idea that the word, "Chai" is "tea" in a different language.

**chuckles**

Which didn't surprise me a bit. Since I doubt that I wouldn't have
known that either, except for my having travelled to Russia. We all
know a lot of Russian words (such as "tovarich" = "friend"), and some
of the words that we have totally in common are surprising. The word,
"stop," for example, is identical in both languages. But LOOKS
different in Russia, of course, because two of the 4 letters are
different in the Cyrillic alphabet. Making it look like a word that
would be pronounced (by English-speakers) as "CTON." But either
way, the word is pronounced, "stop." (So if you're ever in Moscow,
and someone shouts "Stop!" at you before you accidentally step in
front of a bus on Tverskaya Street -- he didn't translate into English
for you; he shouted his warning to you in Russian.)

Gotcha. ;-)

One more fun fact -- about the name of a former Russian leader.
In OUR alphapbet, "Krushchev" is 9 letters long. But in Cyrillic,
it's only 6 letters long. That's because that alphabet contains a
*single letter* that has the pronunciation, "shch."

I am learning more and more fun things, every day. :-))))))

(I am in the elementary learning of the spanish language.)

Then you're probably already ahead of me in that language -- from a
formal standpoint, at least. I went to college in Mexico City, and
lived in the home of a Mexican family. My American housemates and I
helped them to learn English, and that's where I learned almost all of
my Spanish. By immersion in a Spanish-speaking land. A year earlier,
I'd attempted to take a course in Spanish, and dropped it after a
couple of weeks. Spanish isn't bad to pick up in immersion, but for
ME, the *formal* learning of it was agonizing.

Yes, it is -- and I have a hard enough time mastering the English
language, never mind Spanish. ;-) However, I wrote a commentary in
Spanish, on two movies, and offered my commentaries on both:
"Faranheit 911" and "Super Size Me." The easiest for me to write
(though it was still a ***** paper to write) was the commentary for
Faranheit 9/11, because of the emotionality of the movie, and anything
emotionally moving always propels me to write, and write LOTS. On the
other hand, "Super Size Me" left me somewhat alarmed (though I have
always known that Big Macs and shakes are almost pure *****) and really
without a lot to say, other than I salivated every time I saw the
golden arches, and that my Coca Cola and double cheeseburger intake
have increased -- just being facetious, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, I managed to pull it off in Spanish AND in more than one
tense. Needless to say, based on my writing, I got the full credit for
each paper. :-)

You clearly are well beyond elementary Spanish, to be able
to do that.

(Oh -- BTW -- the courses at the University of the Americas are
taught in English, so that's how I was able to go to school there.)

I wish I had studied in South Africa -- but a legitimate school there
is VERY expensive and they didn't have what I wanted to study. I am
studying what I want, and in all places -- my home of Boston. :-)

Beats having to watch Charlie trying to catch a sandwich
each day from his wife, though, right?

The above was a fun memory "test." To ALL who happen
to read this post. Do you know what I'm referring to in that
sentence?

I wonder if anyone out there will come up with this...?

Obviously I haven't.

Hints:

-- It was a daily event.

-- The scene: YOUR current home town.

-- It was monetarily-driven.

-- It was an anti-starvation measure.

-- It begs two MAJOR questions.

-- Craig Chilton <