Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Dicebamus hesterna die....

And.... we're back!

Well, actually I was back a couple of days ago, but my Internet link was still being troublesome (and I thought I'd whinged enough on here about that now), and work has just been MAD so far this week (and I thought I'd better not start whingeing on here about that; it remains my earnest hope not to become quite so tediously self-indulgent, so dully diaristic as most bloggers....).

I am probably about to indulge in a bit of a whinge about the place I've just come back from (same shit, different city); so I thought I'd counter that with a brief (and uncharacteristic) burst of positivity. I do rather enjoy the quirks of the English language as practised by non-native speakers; and this country, my adopted home, is one of the world champions in this eccentric artform.

I mean, why just go to a 'carwash', when you could indulge instead in some 'automobile adornment'? Why wear boring old 'leisure clothes', when you could flaunt 'toggery of recreation'? Why shop for 'fancy goods', when you could go to the 'Elaborate Store'??

Yes, this deliberate - if misguided - phrasemaking is a constant source of delight.

Sometimes, however, a mere typographical error can tickle the funnybone even more. One reason I've been so busy lately is that I am spending every spare minute helping a friend to record an audiobook. Today we had to read a passage about differences in social attitudes between the East and the West.... in which we learned that the West is dominated by "the unclear family". Yes, yes, I know what they mean. That one caused watering eyes and sore ribs for several minutes, I can tell you.

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