10:00 Lois går
ud i forhaven og luger lidt mellem brostenene og ved siden af stenvæggen.
Jeg bruger
formiddagen på at læse vers 31-79 af Havamal, et oldnorsk digt, der blev
skrevet af Odin, den berømte nordiske gud, fordi Scillas U3A oldnorsk gruppe
holder dens næste møde i eftermiddag kl 14 i byens bibliotek.
Selve Odin fik
faktisk nogle dårlige nyheder tidligere på året - han ramte overskrifterne igen
(for første gang siden 1654), da det blev rapporteret af theonion.com, den
indflydelsesrige amerikanske nyhedskilde, at den engang populære nordiske gud
nu kun havde 4 tilbedere tilbage.
Odin sagde i
en meddelelse, at hans kults tilbagegang startede i 1654, da tapper død gled ud
af mode. Han håbede imidlertid, at en kommende Playboy særnummer fokuserende på
Valhallas piger, ville øge medlemskabet og holde liv i kulten.
Jeg har ikke
selv set særnummeret endnu – jeg har bestilt det naturligvis, men jeg
mistænker, at det for det meste vil sætte fokus på Valhallas massive befolkning
af valkyrier og deres tjenestepiger. Det er valkyriernes normale praksis at gå
topløse eller nøgne rundt i Valhalla, så jeg er helt sikker på, at Playboys
fotograf ikke vil møde modstand fra pigernes side, når han går i gang med at
tage sine ”glamour” billeder, eller det håber jeg på i hvert fald.
tre typiske valkyrier: Hild, Thrud og Hløkk – det var valkyriernes
normale
praksis at gå topløse eller nøgne rundt i Valhalla,
så
jeg ikke forudser nogle problemer for Playboys fotograf.
12:00 Vi
spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur.
13:30 Vi kører
ind i byen og parkerer bilen i den store parkeringsplads bag biblioteket. Jeg
betaler ved hjælp af min smartphone og mit kreditkort , og føler mig som nogen,
der er meget moderne – hurra!
Lois har en
aftale hos vores optiker. Hun vil få sine nye briller, og optikeren skal
ajustere dem, hvis nødvendigt.
Jeg træder ind
i biblioteket og mødes med Scilla og hendes gruppes andre medlemmer på anden
sal. Vi læser vers 31-73 af Havamal og oversætte dem til engelsk.
Vi har alle lidt
ondt af Odin, den berømte nordiske gud, der skrev versene. Han var en socialt
akavet gud, der havde tendens til at ankomme enten for tidligt eller for sent til
fester. Når han ankom sent, fandt han at de allerede var løbet tør for øl, og
nå han ankom for tidligt, var det ikke klar til at drikke endnu. Det var
overraskende svært at vælge det rigtige tidspunkt, lader det til.
Vers
66: den originale oldnorske version
Vers
66 med mine glossarer og noter (i rød)
Odin var en socialt akavet gud, der nogle tider ankom sent til fester.
Det
irriterede ham i sær, at vikingerne havde tendens også til at invitere bjørne
til
fester, velkendte for deres store tørst. Ofte løb værterne tør for øl alt for
hurtigt – uha!
Odins triste
ord – ”öl var drukkit” – ”øllet var drukket” ekkoer ned gennem århundreder og vi kan stadig i dag føler dybt sin smerte.
Jeg tror, at
det er velkendt, at Odin endte ud med at grundlægge sit eget bryggeri, og han
plejede at tage en stor kasse med, når han blev inviteret til sociale
anledninger. Hans øl er stadig en best-seller i dag.
Odin blev frusteret med at vikingernes tendens til
at
løbe tidligt tør for øl og endte med at grundlægge sit egen bryggeri
16:00 Gruppens
møde slutter og jeg kører hjem. Lois er allerede hjemme – hun tog bussen efter
hun fik sine nye briller, og gjorde lidt havearbejde, eftersom solen skinnede.
Vi slapper af
med en kop te. Jeg snakker lidt med hende om den nordiske gud Odins bryggeri.
Bagefter gør jeg lidt forskning på nettet. For 7 år siden, en abonnent på
Yahoo-webstedets svar-forum spurgte om, hvad sprog Odin talte på, et
interessant spørgsmål. Han talte uden tvivl oldnorsk, fordi hans store digt,
Havamal, blev skrevet på oldnorsk. Men det ville være interessant at vide, om
hun talte andre sprog, som for eksempel engelsk.
Heldigvis
svarede to sprogeksperter hurtigt på spørgsmålet på Yahoo!Answers.
En abonnent,
der hedder ”Hades”, som muligvis selv er pseudonymet af en græske gud, for at
dømme ud fra hans billede, svarede, at Odin talte på samme sprog, som den
pågældene tilbuder talte på: ”De fleste mennesker har en tendens til at
forestille sig guder, der taler på deres modersmål, sandsynligvis fordi de
forstår det", hvilket giver en masse mening – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl
om.
En anden
abonnent, der hedder ”lovepain666” svarede lidt efter, at Odin ”kunne
sandsynligvis tale på forskellige sprog, da han også var visdomens, runernes og
videns gud”, hvilket også er et meget interessant forslag.
Siden da er
nettet gået mærkeligt tavs om emnet. Måske udnyttede Odin sin indflydelse for
at mørkelægge det hele, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.
Jeg mistænker
at Odin har altid været meget dygtig til sprog. Jeg ved godt at Odin er en
entusiastisk øldrikker, og så længe han drikker
fornuftigt, vil dette uden tvivl forbedre hans mundtlige færdigheder.
Lidt alkohol kan få eksempelvis
éns tyske udtale til at hænge bedre sammen. Ifølge et nyt
studie faktisk viser det sig, at to-sprogede personer er bedre til at tale
fremmedsprog efter en drink eller to. Forskere fra University of LIverpool,
Maastricht Universitet og King's College London har studeret 50 tysktalende personer,
som studerede ved Maastricht Universitet i Holland og fornylig havde lært at
skrive, læse og tale hollandsk.
Deltagerne i
forskningsprojektet fik en alkoholisk eller en ikke-alkoholisk drik og blev
bedt om at føre en samtale på hollandsk i nogle minutter. Samtalerne blev
optaget og deres evner blev bedømt af hollændere, som ikke vidste, om
deltagerne havde drukket alkohol eller ej.
Forskerne fandt, at
deltagere, der havde indtaget alkohol, havde en bedre udtale end deres ædru
kolleger. Men de understreger også, at deltagerne indtog en meget lav dosis
alkohol. Et større indtag af alkohol har nok ikke positive effekter på udtalen.
Odin har altid lyst til at
slå sig på flasken, men på grund af ikke at vælge det rigtige tidspunkt at
ankommer til fester, betyder det, at han
har tendens til at forlade festen mens han stadig er forholdsvis ædru, hvilket
betyder at hans engelske udtale sandsynligvis vil være uden lige, eller det
håber jeg på i hvert fald.
Sikke en skør verden vi
lever i !!!!
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad
og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det seneste afsnit af ”Grand Designs”.
Programmets vært er den charmerende Kevin McCloud.
”Grand Designs” er programmet jeg først og fremmest elsker at hade fordi
jeg hader disse enorme grimme moderne huse med deres enorme ekkoende stuer,
enorme hvide vægge og ukomfortable sofaer, og jeg er fristet til at hade også
de par, der er så friske på at få disse slags huse bygget. Du godeste! Jeg er
sikke et pivehoved – ingen tvivl om det!!!!
Aftenens par, Joe og hans
dejlige svenske kæreste, Lina, får faktisk bygget et ganske grimt moderne hus(ingen overraskelse der!!), men det
springer jeg over.
Aftenens par: Joe
og hans dejlige svenske kæreste, Lina
Det grimme, moderne
hus, de får bygget
De unge par vi ser på denne
serie gør ofte dumme ting efter vores mening. Mange gør fejlen af at starte en
familie samtidigt med, at de strider med at kunne få råd til at betale for
bygningsarbejdet. Lois og jeg er altid friske på at vædde penge mellem hinanden på, om kvinden i løbet af
projektet kommer til at blive gravid eller ej.
I aften heldigvis
bruger manden, Joe, 15 timer om dagen på at hjælpe med at bygge huset og at
styre projektet, så han sandsynligvis ikke har en masse energi tilbage for
noget andet. Lois og jeg mistænker imidlertid, at Lina ved slutningen af projektet
er en lille smule gravid – hun har en kjole på, der skulle gemme hendes
tilstand – men intet bliver sagt, så det er juryen stadig ude om.
Lois og
jeg mistænker, at Lina ved slutningen af projektet
er en lille smule
gravid, men det er juryen stadig ude om – uha!!!
Det er også muligt, at Lina
savnede Joes selskab og opmuntrede sig med slik og kager, men det er vi ikke
helt sikre på.
22:00 Vi går i seng. Vi
læser hver ca. 10 sider af vores henholdsvise sengetidbøger, inden vi glider
over i søvnen – zzzzzzzz!!!!
English translation
10:00 Lois goes out into the front garden and does a
little weeding between the paving stones and next to the stone wall.
I spend the morning reading verses 31-79 of Havamal, an
Old Norse poem written by Odin, the famous Nordic god, because Scilla's U3A Old
Norse group is holding its next meeting this afternoon at 2pm in the town's
library.
Odin himself actually got some bad news earlier this year
- he hit the headlines again (for the first time since 1654) when it was
reported by theonion.com, the influential American news source, that the
once-popular Nordic god now only had 4 worshippers left.
Odin said in a statement that his cult's decline began in
1654, when valiant death fell out of fashion. However, he hoped that an
upcoming Playboy special issue focusing on Valhalla Girls would increase
membership and keep his cult alive.
I have not myself seen the special issue yet - I have
ordered it of course, but I suspect that it will mostly focus on Valhalla's
massive population of valkyries and their maidservants. It's normal practice
for valkyries to go around topless or naked in Valhalla, so I'm absolutely sure
that Playboy's photographer will not meet any opposition from 'les girls' when he
starts taking his "glamour" pictures, or that's what I hope at least.
three typical valkyries: Hild,
Thrud and Hløkk - it was the valkyries'
normal practice to go around topless or
naked in Valhalla,
so I do not predict any problems for
Playboy's photographer.
12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and have a
short afternoon nap.
13:30 We drive into town and park the car in the large
car park behind the library. I pay using my smartphone and my credit card, and
feel like someone who is very modern - hurrah!
Lois has an appointment with our optician. She is going to get
her new glasses, and the optician will adjust them if necessary.
I step into the library and meet with Scilla and her
group's other members on the second floor. We read verses 31-73 of Havamal and translate
them into English.
We all feel sorry for Odin, the famous Nordic god, who
wrote the verses. He was a socially awkward god who had a tendency to arrive
either too early or late for parties. When he arrived late, he found that they
had already run out of beer, and when he arrived early, it was not ready to
drink yet. It was surprisingly hard to hit the spot, it seems.
Verse 66: the original Old Norse version
Verse 66 with my glosses, workings and notes
(in red)
Odin was a socially awkward god,
who sometimes arrived late for parties.
It irritated him in particular that the
Vikings also tended to invite bears
to parties, well known for their great
thirst. Often the hosts ran out of beer too fast - oh dear!
Odin's sad words - "öl var drukkit" - "the
ale was [all] drunk" echo down through the centuries and we still can feel
his pain deeply today.
I think it's well known that Odin ended up founding his
own brewery, and he used to take a big case of ale along with him when invited
to social occasions. His ale is still a best seller today.
Odin was frustrated by the
tendency of the Vikings
to run out of ale early and he ended up
founding his own brewery
16:00 The group meeting ends and I drive home. Lois is
already at home - she took the bus after she got her new glasses and did some more gardening because the sun was shining.
We relax with a cup of tea. I chat with her a little
about the Nordic god Odin's brewery. Afterwards I do a little research online.
Seven years ago, a subscriber to the Yahoo website's answer forum asked about
what language Odin spoke in, an interesting question. He undoubtedly spoke Old
Norse because his great poem Havamal was written in Old Norse. But it would be
interesting to know if he spoke other languages, such as English.
Fortunately, two language experts responded quickly to
the question on Yahoo! Answers.
A subscriber called "Hades", which may be the
pseudonym of a Greek god to judge from his picture, replied that Odin always spoke in
the same language as his worshipper spoke in: "Most people tend to to
imagine gods speaking in their native language, probably because they
understand it ", which makes a lot of sense - that's something I have no
few doubts about.
Another subscriber named "lovepain666" responded
a little while later that Odin "could probably speak in different
languages, as he was also the god of wisdom, runes and knowledge," which
is also a very interesting suggestion.
Since then the web has gone strangely silent about the
subject. Perhaps Odin used his influence to hush the whole thing up, but that's
something I'm not entirely sure about.
I suspect that Odin has always been very proficient in
languages. I know Odin is an enthusiastic beer drinker and, as long as he
drinks sensibly, this will undoubtedly improve his oral skills.
A little alcohol can for example get one's German
pronunciation to hang togetherbetter. According to a new study, it turns out
that bilingual people are better at speaking foreign languages after a drink or
two. Researchers from the University of Liverpool, Maastricht University and
King's College London have studied 50 German-speaking people who studied at
Maastricht University in Holland and had recently learned to write, read and
speak Dutch.
The participants in the research project received an
alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink and were asked to conduct a conversation in
Dutch for a few minutes. The talks were recorded and their abilities were
judged by Dutchmen who did not know if the participants had been drinking
alcohol or not.
The researchers found that participants who had taken
alcohol had a better pronunciation than their sober colleagues. But they also
emphasize that the participants took a very low dose of alcohol. A larger
intake of alcohol may not have positive effects on pronunciation.
Odin is always looking to hit the bottle, but due to not
choosing the right time to arrive at parties, it means that he tends to leave
the party while still relatively sober, meaning for example that his English
pronunciation is likely to be first rate, or at least so I would hope.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening
watching television. The latest episode of "Grand Designs" is on. The
program's presenter is the charming Kevin McCloud.
"Grand Designs" is the program that I most of
all love to hate because I hate these huge ugly modern houses with their huge
living rooms, huge white walls and uncomfortable sofas, and I'm tempted to hate
the couples who are so keen to get these kinds of houses built. My Goodness!
I'm such a whinger - no doubt about that !!!!
Tonight's couple, Joe and his lovely Swedish girlfriend,
Lina, do in fact have a fairly ugly modern house built (no surprise there!), but I'm going to let that one
slide.
Joe and his lovely Swedish girlfriend,
Lina
The ugly, modern house they get built
The young couples we see in this series often do stupid
things in our opinion. Many make the mistake of starting a family at the same
time as they are struggling to be able to afford to pay for the building work.
Lois and I are always keen to bet money between ourselves as to whether the
woman is going to get pregnant during the project or not.
Tonight luckily, Joe, the man, spends 15 hours a day
helping to build the house and manage the project, so he probably does not have
much energy left for anything else. Lois and I suspect, however, that at the
end of the project Lina is a little bit pregnant - she is certainly wearing the kind of dress
that would hide her condition - but nothing is said about it, so the jury is
still out on that one.
GDP pregnant: Lois and I suspect that at the
end of the project Lina
is a little bit pregnant, but the jury is
still out on that one - oh dear!!!
It is also possible that Lina missed Joes's company and
cheered herself up with candy and cakes, but that's something we are not
entirely sure about.
22:00 We go to bed. We each read approx. 10 pages of our
respective bedtime books before we drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzz !!!!
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