The family that dines together, whines together - that's what they used to say, isn't it! It's better now, because the whining has stopped - have you noticed? And if you're eating dinner with your family, it's kind of a special time, especially if you do it in front of the TV, and especially if it's without anyone ruining mutual enjoyment of the plot by talking! [Lovely opener, Colin! - Ed]
It isn't exactly rocket science, though, is it!
One local family, right here in Hampshire UK, have strict rules on this subject, according to Onion News Local, and more power to their collective elbows - that's what my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I say!
[Getting better with every paragraph, Colin, today! Kudos! - Ed]
What a crazy world we live in !!!
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
What madness !!! [That's enough madness for today! - Ed]
this afternoon's online meeting of the local U3A "History of English"
My thesis today is that England was streets ahead of the Continent in several ways, not least in the establishment of a modern nation-state with a standard form of our language, a standard that dates from the 15th century.
And the relief is almost palpable, especially if it's a rather "racy" movie - you certainly don't want it spoilt by a lot of phone use, do you!
However, for today's parents, their pleasure in watching these movies and revelling in the films' sometimes 'salty' language (!) is currently being threatened by the religious revival, particularly among the youngsters - the so-called Generation Z, who are objecting to anything a bit saucy "on the box", and demanding that their parents change channels to something a bit more wholesome.
What madness, isn't it !!!
This rather sad story is what I learned today in an email from Steve, our American brother-in-law, quoting an article on the "Free Press" website, and here are the stats that back it up.
Yes, churchgoing in the 18-24 age-group has actually quadrupled in the last 6 years! And it's even tripled in the 25-34 group.
Don't get me wrong - Lois and I miss our 2 daughters dreadfully, but one consolation, in the 50 years that we've been officially "on our own", has been that we can watch as much "smut" as we like in the evenings, without fear of interruption [Latin: smuttus non interruptus], which is nice!
us, seen here in our walk today, living in each other's pockets 24/7
since the latter of our two lovely daughters got married in 2010,
and watching as much "smut" as we like on the "telly" in the evenings,
which is nice !!!
And during our daily four o'clock "tea-and-crumpet-on-the-sofa" ritual, we can also talk "smut" if we want to, which is also nice!
Today Lois reads out to me a saucy little snippet from her copy of "The Week" magazine, the "organ" that gives a digest of the week's news from home and abroad, and which was "poked" through our letterbox this afternoon, with a satisfying "thwack" (!).
Like us, Donald Trump, no less, is, I'm convinced, also a reader of "The Week" - he seems almost to take a delight in timing some of his surprise decisions, simply with the aim of "wrongfooting" the magazine by making its front page "splash" seem outdated. And this was what he did this week with his "pause" on tariffs or whatever the magazine's popular "Your Tariffs Tonight" page was too early to report on, this week: see page 94 (!).
Be that as it may (!), in the magazine's popular "What the scientists are saying" column (see page 94 (!)), it's revealed that straight men are "hardwired" to like women's breasts, and that isn't just because they're usually covered up. And the scientists went to the trouble of travelling to New Guinea to do a bit of research, because it's a society where traditionally everybody went around naked anyway.
In New Guinea today, however, women dress in more Western style and have abandoned the old topless "fashion". The scientists found, however, that the older New Guinea men, who grew up in the age of universal nudity aren't any less enthusiastic about women's "advantages" than the younger men who are accustomed to see women covered up in bras, blouses, sweaters, you name it.
Lois is a bit surprised by the findings, because, as she says, in Victorian Britain, men had to be satisfied with the occasional glimpse of a well-turned ankle, and as a result of that, women's ankles became something sexy in themselves, making straight men go weak at the knees etc etc.
Could these "Generation Z" youngsters even stop their parents seeing the sight of a well-turned ankle during their family viewing, as "Free Press" suggests? I think we should be told!
To be honest, I'm "out of it" on the sofa this afternoon, and I let Lois take the lead and do most of the "potty talk" as well (!), while I just 'lie back and think of England'!
I'm frankly exhausted after spending 90 minutes leading an online discussion on languages with fellow members of the local U3A "History of English" group, which Yours Truly, "for his sins (!)" allegedly leads (!). It's a rowdy group of old codgers, and difficult to keep them from digressing. However, luckily there are only 5 of us today, Hilary, John and Peter can't be with us, which makes my disciplining job a bit easier, and is a definite plus (+) (!).
[That's enough exclamation marks in brackets (!) - Ed]
this afternoon's online meeting of the local U3A "History of English"
group which I (top, centre) allegedly "lead", trying to keep order and stop
all the "old codger" digressions about grandchildren etc
What madness it is, isn't it !!!!!
Our standard was the English spoken in London and the eastern half of England, coincidentally the dialect most influenced by Scandinavia, due to its long history of being part of the separate Danelaw jurisdiction.
And I contrast the English situation with the case of Germany, which didn't become a nation-state till 1871, and didn't establish a standard form of the German language until well into the 20th century.
Steve, our American brother-in-law helps me out again with another article from the Free Press website, praising the achievements of England in the 17th century, despite it being a modest-sized country, "slightly smaller than the state of Alabama".
It's quite a "paean", all in all, and these are just the first two paragraphs
And in terms of language, my thesis to the "History of English" group this afternoon was that the English had the advantage of living on what was mostly an island, so having pretty obvious "borders", where you could hear (and see) the waves lapping around you, which was a bonus. The original Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united as early as 927 AD under King Athelstan. Modern, or what !!!!!
Whereas on the Continent it was hard to tell where one country ended and another one started, so naturally, language-wise, people didn't find it so easy to standardise on one local dialect rather than another maybe being used in the next field over. See?
England in medieval times - an "obvious" country
isn't it, with the sea going round it and all
- so not exactly rocket science is it !!!!
The downside to our relatively early standardised English, however, that it was established before pronunciation trends had really settled down, so we've been left with "rubbish" spelling: spelling that reflects pronunciation that soon became outdated: eg words like "night", featuring a "gh" element, that we don't need any more, if we're honest! Also, with the invention of the printing press, people got used to seeing the word 'night', for example spelt with a 'gh', and so they kept it in - it started to look funny without it.
What madness, wasn't it!
Let's face it - English has been saddled with "rubbish"
spelling, and it's too late to do much about that now,
to put it mildly!!!!
By contrast, the Germans have a sensible spelling, but a "rubbish" grammar - a standardised language had to be more or less "invented" for the new nation-state of Germany in 1871, and they made it unnecessarily complicated, just to look good, and just for the hell of it, which was weird.
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!
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