First Friday in May is here - hurrah! And you know what that means, don't you!
Yes, today is the medium-to-much anticipated monthly U3A meeting of our local "Language and languages" group, where the subject is - short title - "Prescriptivism", a short-and-snappy title that promises a reasonably short-to-medium length online zoom meeting, after which we can all retire to somewhere more comfortable and have a cup of tea and a scone, which will be nice!
a man, wearied by a contentious online zoom meeting,
fantasises briefly about his wife bursting in and suggestively
thrusting a plate of temptingly delicious home-made scones in his direction
Unfortunately for us peaceable, "anything for a quiet life", tea-and-scone-loving group-members, however, today's meeting's long title is the somewhat more provocative: "What right have certain "busybodies" to lay down the law to me on what constitutes good English and what doesn't?"
Oh dear! That "long title" sounds like trouble, and it prefigures a possibly hot-tempered, protracted meeting - that's what I'm fearing. You know the kind of incendiary remarks that can people make about other people's grammar, don't you.
Happily, however, as it turns out, there's none of this feared violence at the meeting, and it all ends peaceably.
A big disincentive to violence, I should explain, is the fact that our group meetings are held online, so there's a bit of a safety margin. It would take time for the majority of group members, who live in Cheltenham, to travel 25 miles to Malvern, where I live, just to "punch me up the throat" before the meeting ended. And typically our meetings only last about 75 minutes from start to finish, so that's all right - I should be safe from the so-called "bruisers" among our members, which is a relief!
The downside to today's meeting, however, is, that, at the end, I get "fingered" to provide next month's presentation to the group.
I decide to choose a subject I can more or less do in my sleep: an overview of Hungarian, a language I studied for about 15 years or so, as well as visiting the country half a dozen times between 1993 and 2008 or thereabouts, so that's all right too haha!
I feel privileged to have experienced the country in those years, because it was largely a time of such optimism. When I first visited Hungary in 1993 and 1994, there was a palpable feeling that people were joyously throwing off the shackles of nearly 50 years of Soviet influence and communism, and that "the sun was finally coming out at last".
flashback to the early 1990's:me (centre) in a side-street in Pécs,
with my Hungarian friend István, and his son Marty
With my companion "Magyar" Mike, a Cotswold Warden from Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, I remember joining the crowds in the centre of the provincial city of Pécs to celebrate Hungarian National Day on March 15th, and visiting car-boot-style fairs and markets where the old "Excellent Worker" medals from the communist era were being sold-off by their former owners.
Happy days!
with my companion, "Magyar" Mike, I join the crowds
joyously celebrating Hungary's National Day (March 15th)
in a square in the centre of Pécs
me (left) with my companion, Cotswold Warden "Magyar" Mike,
showcasing our second-hand "Excellent Worker" medals from
the communist era
It was a time when nobody much in the UK had even heard of Vladimir Putin, who must, even then, have been grinding his teeth at the thought of a future Russia that foreigners wouldn't be afraid of any more, the in-Putin's-eyes "horrific" vision of a Russia that was content to live in peace with its neighbours and just trade with them to the mutual advantage of both sides.
Was that too much to ask for, Vladimir haha, eh eh ??? !!!! Was that really too much haha?!!!
I think we should be told, don't you!!!!
the young Vladimir Putin, with his wife and child -
Was he already seething inside about a threatened
future decline in Russian power and prestige, and
a "nightmare" image of a Russia living in peace
with its neighbours, a country where it would be okay
for people to protest and criticise the government, without
fears that their whole society was going to fall flat on its face ?
Oh but the memories from those optimistic times in the early 1990's ! The dreams of peace and reconciliation surely about to come true, we all thought!
Do you remember Billy Joel's "Leningrad" song comparing his own youth in Levittown, New York, "born in '49, a Cold War kid in McCarthy time, 'Stop 'em at the 38th Parallel', 'Blast those yellow reds to hell!" etc etc, with that of some poor young Russian guy growing up in Leningrad, who "learned to serve the state, followed the rules and drank his vodka straight, the only way to live was - drown the hate, and Russian life was very sad, and such was life in Leningrad".
Yes, all that malarkey - remember ????!!!!
Luckily the poor Russian guy became a circus clown after serving his time in the military, and later he made Billy Joel and wife Christie Brinkley's little daughter laugh at his circus antics during Billy Joel's visit to Leningrad, which was a nice ending to the song.
Awwwwwww !!!!!!
But back to reality! [Finally! - Ed]
I've now got to put together a presentation for (probably) June 7th, giving our U3A group members an overview of the Hungarian language, which, together with Finnish and Estonian, constitute a collection of languages, part of the so-called Finno-Ugric family, originating in the Ural Mountains of Russia, languages totally unlike all the other languages of Europe - English, French, German, Italian etc.
the Finno-Ugric group of languages
16:00 And, after today's meeting, as I get into bed with Lois for our medium-to-long-postponed "nap time", I try to concentrate, but already my head is buzzing with ideas about how to tackle this Finno-Ugric topic in about 45 minutes. I think I'll teach them Hungarian grammar itself in about the first 5-10 minutes of my so-called "talk", basing it on a limited vocabulary of, I'm thinking, about 6 words, to make it easier for them to absorb.
It's going to be a humdinger of a talk, I'm already beginning to feel that! Could it be that I finally turn out to be one of nature's "born presenters", the kind that typically spellbinds his audience with the sheer brilliance and quality of his style and communications skills?
[You can forget that idea, Colin, you obviously don't remember, but I've heard one of your so-called 'presentations'. Don't get carried away, or I'll have to "up" your medications again! - Ed]
21:00 After supper, Lois and I wind down again for bed with this week's edition of the comedy news quiz "Have I Got News For You".
Tonight, presenter Martin Clunes has a question for the teams all about the current best-seller lists.
Oh dear - poor Liz haha !!!!!!
And, it turns out, not only is "The Ultimate Air Fryer Cookbook" beating Liz in the best-seller lists, but also this "doozy" from Alexandra Potter....
Oh dear - poor Liz haha (again) !!!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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