09:00 After breakfast we drive over to Leckhampton. We
donate a bag of used women's clothing to the local Daisychain charity shop.
Afterwards, we swing by the Roots'n'Fruits greengrocer’s shop, and finally we pop
into CookShop to buy 6 low fat ready meals that we can store at home, now that
our freezer is working again (it is still very very empty - yikes!).
We have a cup of tea and toasted tea-cake in the CookShop
café, to recharge our batteries.
We have a cup of tea and a toasted tea-cake
in the Cook Shop's
"Daily Bean" café, to recharge our
batteries.
11:00 We come home. I start to prepare a Danish
vocabulary test for our U3A Danish group’s members. The group's next meeting
will take place here on Thursday next week.
The correct answers to the test spell out one of the
stand-up comedian Tim Vine's famous one-line jokes, "I've just been on a
once-in-a-lifetime holiday. But I'll tell you what - never again! ”.
Incidentally, the correct answers to the test are top
secret until Thursday 28th, 3 pm, needless to say ha ha ha !!!
12:30 We have lunch and afterwards we spend the afternoon
in bed. I read about 10 pages of my current bedtime book, "The Languages
of Scandinavia - the Seven Sisters of
the North" by Ruth H. Sanders, while Lois reads approx. 20 pages of her
bedtime book, Georgette Heyer's "Bath Tangle", a historical romance
that plays out in the city of Bath, a book she is currently reading for about the
600th time – my god, what madness !! !!!
16:00 We roll out of bed and relax with a cup of tea and
2 biscuits on the sofa. I read some more pages of my book about the
Scandinavian languages, the chapter about the Finnish language, to be precise.
For many centuries, the Finnish language was confined to
rural areas of Finland - Swedish was the language of most educated people in
the country. However, there was for the first time a bit of a revival of
Finnish in the 19th century, helped by the publication in 1835 of Elias
Lönnrot's "Kalevala", a collection of stories in Finnish about
Finnish pagan gods and heroes.
I did not know that Longfellow's long poem "The Song
of Hiawatha" (both the poem's content and its characteristic rhythms - the
so-called Trochian tetrameter) was inspired by Lönnrot's Finnish saga.
Coincidentally, Longfellow had spent the summer of 1835 in Sweden, the year
when "Kalevala" was published, and he had learned a little Finnish,
and he was struck by how much Kalevala's rhythms resembled the speech patterns
of Native Americans.
Longfellow's "The
Song of Hiawatha", partly inspired by
the content and rhythm of Lönnot's Finnish
saga "Kalevala" (1835)
Incidentally Kalevala was also a source of inspiration
for Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" (1937-1949).
Today, Finnish is the predominant language in Finland.
Swedish is also still an official language, but the number of Finns claiming
that Swedish is their mother tongue is gradually decreasing (only 5.5% in 2013,
compared to 15% in 1918 when Finland became independent from Russia).
Ruth H. Sanders, my book's author, compares the case of
Finland with that of Ireland. In the 19th century, most Finnish writers wrote
only in Swedish: "Kalevala" was an exception. Now it is overwhelmingly
the Finnish language that prevails.
In contrast to Finland, in Ireland it’s the
English language that is still dominant: approx. 90% of the population claims English as their mother tongue.
Why is there such a big difference between the experience
of the two countries, Finland and Ireland?
In the 1800's, Finland was part of Russia. The Russians
did not care whether Swedish or Finnish predominated, and the Russian tsar gave
the two languages, Finnish and Swedish, equal status in 1863.
Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking participants in the
country's growing independence movement supported the adoption of Finnish as
the country's national language.
Also, Finland’s Lutheran national church promoted the
use of Finnish in sermons and liturgy, etc. Protestant churches and sects are
always very eager for ordinary people to be able to read and understand the Bible in their
mother tongue.
In Ireland, unlike Finland, the Anglo-Irish establishment
had no interest in promoting the use of the Irish language. And Ireland, unlike
the rest of Britain, was overwhelmingly Catholic - and the Catholic Church also had no interest
in promoting the use of the Irish language. Latin was the language of the
church's rituals, and the responsibility for involvement in the details of the religion
was much more limited to the priest himself.
This difference between Catholic and Protestant churches
is interesting, I think. Wales has always been a very Protestant country, and
many believe that the survival of the Welsh language is mostly the result of Welsh
churches and chapels’ widespread use of the Welsh language in worship services
and hymns.
18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening listening
to the radio, an interesting episode in the series "The Best Thing Since
Sliced Bread?", which carries out scientific studies of new fashions and
fashionable products, especially fashionable foods and other crazes.The programme’s
presenter is the charming Greg Foot.
Tonight, Greg is investigating two of the currently hottest
health crazes:
(1) kombucha, a fermented, slightly alcoholic, lightly
effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink, commonly intended as a
functional beverage for its presumed health benefits.
(2) the so-called
"turmeric latte": turmeric used in a hot drink called "turmeric
latte" or "golden milk" made with non-dairy milk, often coconut
milk.
It’s said of both products that they are good for the
gut, microbes in the gut, and all that crap. However, Greg and his researchers
come to the conclusion that the health benefits of these products are quite
marginal, to put it mildly. Both products also "detoxify us" according
to manufacturers, even though our livers can actually do this job perfectly well
without help, thank you very much!
The scenario is the usual one: carefully worded claims on
the bottle labels, etc., which seem to suggest health benefits without being
particularly specific.
Nowadays, manufacturers do not need to put a lot of focus
on scientific claims, thanks to the rise of influencer-marketing: people on the
social media, with thousands of followers, promoting the products with massive
enthusiasm and a complete lack of scientific evidence.
My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!!
Danish translation
09:00 Efter
morgenmad kører vi over til Leckhampton. Vi donerer en pose brugte kvindetøj
til den lokale Daisychain-velgørenhedsbutik. Bagefter kigger vi ind i
Roots’n’Fruits-grøntsaghandleren, og til sidst smutter vi ind i CookShop for at
købe 6 fedtfattige færdigretter, nu hvor vores fryser virker igen men er meget
meget tom – yikes!
Vi drikker en
kop te og spiser et stykke kage i CookShop-butikkens café for at genoplade
vores batterier.
Vi
drikker en kop te og spiser et stykke kage i Cook Shops
”Daily Bean” café, for
at genoplade vores batterier.
11:00 Vi
kommer hjem. Jeg går i gang med at udarbejde en dansk ordforrådtest til vores
U3A danske gruppes medlemmer. Gruppens næste møde skal finde stedt på torsdag
næste uge hos os.
De rigtige
svar til testen staver en af standup komikeren Tim Vines berømte én-linje
vittigheder, ”I’ve just been on a
once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again!”.
I øvrigt er de
rigtige svar på vores danske gruppes nye ordforrådtest tophemmelige indtil
torsdag kl 15, unødvendigt at sige ha ha ha!!!
12:30 Vi
spiser frokost og bagefter tilbringer vi eftermiddagen i sengen. Jeg læser ca.
10 sider af min nuværende sengetidbog, ”Skandinaviens sprog – nordens syv
søstre” af Ruth H. Sanders, mens Lois læser ca. 20 sider af sin sengtidbog,
Georgette Heyers ”Bath Tangle”, en historisk romantisk roman, der spiller sig
ud i byen Bath, en bog hun for tiden er i gang med at læse for 600. gang – du
godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!!!
16:00 Vi
vælter ud af sengen og slapper af med en kop te og 2 kiks i sofaen. Jeg læser
endnu flere sider af min bog om Skandinaviens sprog, den kapitel, der handler
om det finske sprog, for at være præcis.
I mange
århundrede var det finske sprog begrænset til landdistrikter af Finland –
svensk var sproget af de fleste uddannede folk i landet. Der var
imidlertid lidt af en genoplivelse af
finsk for første gang i 1800-tallet, ved hjælp af udgivelsen i 1835 af Elias
Lönnrots ”Kalevala”, en samling af finske fortællinger om finske hedenske guder
og helte.
Jeg vidste
ikke, at Longfellows lange digt ”Sangen af Hiawatha” (både digtets indhold og dets
karakteristiske rytme – den såkaldte trokæiske tetrameter) blev inspireret af
Lönnrots finske saga. Tilfældigvis havde Longfellow tilbragt sommeren 1835 i
Sverige, året, da ”Kalevala” blev udgivet, og han havde lært lidt finsk, og han
blev slået af, hvor Kavalas rytme lignede talemåderne af Amerikas oprindlige
folk.
Longfellows ”Sangen af
Hiawatha”,
delvis
inspireret af indholdet og rytmen af Lönnrots finske saga “Kalevala” (1835)
Kalevala var for
øvrigt også en kilde på inspiration for Tolkiens ”Ringenes Herre” (1937-1949).
Finsk er nu
til dags det fremherskende sprog i Finland. Svensk er også stadigvæk et
officielt sprog, men antallet af finnerne, der påstår, at svensk er deres
modersmål, daler gradvis (kun 5,5% i 2013 i sammenligning med 15% i 1918, da
Finland blev uafhængigt).
Ruth H.
Sanders, min bogs forfatter, sammenligner tilfældet af Finland med Irlands. I
det 19. århundrede skrev de fleste finske forfattere kun på svensk: ”Kalevala”
var en undtagelse. Nu er det overvældende det finske sprog, som fremhersker. I
modsætning til Finland dominerer det engelske sprog stadig i Irland, og ca. 90%
af befolkningen har engelsk som deres modersmål.
Hvorfor er der
denne så stor forskel mellem de to lande? I 1800-tallet var Finland en del af
Rusland. Russerne var ligeglade med, om svensk eller finsk dominerede, og den
russiske tsar gav de to sprog, finsk og svensk, lige status i 1863. Og både
finsktalende og svensktalende deltagere i landets uafhængighedsbevægelse
støttede vedtagelsen af finsk som landets nationale sprog. Også støttede landets lutheranske nationale kirke brugen af
finsk i prædikener og liturgi osv. Protestantsiske kirker og sekter er altid
meget ivrige efter, at almindelige mennesker kan læse og forstå bibelen på
deres modersmål.
I Irland, i
modsætning til Finland, havde myndighederne ingen interesse for at fremme
brugen af det irske sprog. Og Irland, ulig resten af Storbritannien, var
overvældende katolisk – og den katolske kirke også havde ingen interesse for at
fremme brugen af det irske sprog. Latinsk var sproget af kirkens ritualer, og
ansvaret for at interesse sig for detaljerne af religionen blev mere begrænset
til selve præsten.
Denne forskel
mellem katolske og protestantiske kirker
er interessant, synes jeg. Wales har altid været en meget protestantisk land, og
mange tror, at overlevelsen af det walesiske sprog er for det meste resultatet
af de walesiske kirkers omfattende brug af det walesiske sprog i gudstjenester.
18:00 Vi
spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio. For det
første et interessant afsnit i serien "The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread?”,
der udfører en videnskabelig undersøgelse af nye moder og moderigtige
produkter, især moderigtige fødevarer og andre diller. Programmets vært er den
charmerende Greg Foot.
SlicedBreadListing
I aften undersøger
Greg to af de hotteste sundhedsdiller:
(1) kombucha, en fermenteret, lidt alkoholisk,
letbruset, sødet sort eller grøn te-drink, der almindeligvis er beregnet som en
funktionel drikkevare for sine formodede sundhedsmæssige fordele.
(2) den såkaldte ” gurkemeje latte”: gurkemeje
bruges i en varm drikke kaldet "gurkemeje latte" eller "gylden
mælk", der er lavet med ikke mejeri-mælk, ofte kokosmælk.
Om begge
produkter bliver det sagt, at de er gode for tarmen, mikrober i tarmen, og alt
det der lort. Greg og hans forskere kommer imidlertid til den konklusion, at disse
produkters sundhedsmæssige fordele er helt marginale, for at sige mildt. Begge
produkter ”detokserer os” også ifølge producentere, selvom vores lever faktisk
kan gøre dette job helt godt uden hjælp, thank
you very much!
Scenariet er
det sædvanlige: forsigtigt udtrykkede påstander på flaskerne osv, der synes at
foreslå sundhedsmæssige fordele, uden at være særlig specifikt. Nu til dags har
producenterne ikke brug for at sætte en masse fokus på videnskabelige påstander
på grund af stigningen af influencer-marketing: folk på de sociale medier, med
tusindvis af følgere, der fremmer produkterne med massiv entusiasme og en total
mangel på videnskabelige beviser.
Du godeste,
sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!!
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