being bilingual

Question:
Englishman: "What is the name for a frog in Dutch?"
Answer:
Dutchwoman: "Kikvors"

Then the Englishman repeated: "Kikvorse, kickvorse, kick force". Ha, ha! Literally!"
Then the Dutchwoman said: "Yeah, the frog kicks with force and hops. Hop, hop, hop. Ha, ha, ha."

Today, 19th November 2013, saw a BBC-lead news focus on a new word named as "word of the year" by the Oxford Dictionary: selfie

The dictionary is regarded as a kind of 'bible' by many people. Somehow the definitions given in a dictionary are thought to be true and definitive. But of course they are only true in the sense that we as a society firstly create the definitions and secondly accept them, largely, to be so. 

So just a note of caution when you next refer to the dictionary and ask yourself: "Does this definition reflect my own experiences, my own examples?"

A Selfie

This entry relates to something that happened over a period of about 4 weeks. 

In July this year the number of seagulls in our town by the sea multiplied quite considerably. The weather had been good with plenty of sunshine to encourage the little seagull chicks to quickly grow into fledglings. 

One morning, whilst out on my terrace, I noticed a fledgling sitting in the corner and it seemed to have a broken wing. Maybe it had fallen from its nest on my roof. At first I didn't know what to do. But as the morning went on the fledgling was joined by what I thought must be the parents. I became quite concerned because the midday-sun was beating down on the little bird and the parents didn't seem to give it anything to eat or drink. So I took the decision to place a large bowl of water on my decking and result: the fledgling started to drink the water almost straight away. 

From that moment on the three seagulls were referred to as The Seagull-family! Over the following weeks the 'tag' seagull-family inspired visitors and friends to enquire about the little trio and it led to all kinds of comments and curiosities about them. I'm also glad to tell you that the fledgling grew strong and made a full recovery from its injury!  

the Great in Britain

Okay, either the funny comments have been a little sparse over the last few days or I'm becoming more discerning. But the problem is that I haven't had anything much worthwhile to report about lately. However this morning somebody did make a witty comment when I told her I needed to go and see another resident since he'd just phoned me to ask for help. She said:"Oh, you're off to see to Britain's Great are you?" 

Today I told everyone who wanted to listen about my new blog idea. The reactions were mixed and overall a little cool...

But I'm sure I'll get better at introducing and creating this. So my blog continuous with today's expression being a play with rhythm as well as being a metaphor. 

The setting where this expression was taking place was in the home of a lady who needs personal care. A colleague and I were helping a resident put on her dress when my colleague asked the lady who we were helping in a sing-songy sort of way "Lift your arms, like a s-o-u-l-d-i-e-r" (no spelling mistake). 

I thought this made the rather physically heavy task of dressing the lady, who had limited movement ability, less fraught with difficulties and it lifted our mood

Sunday 29th of September 2013

This morning I made breakfast for my son and since it is Sunday and he's home for a few days from London, I wanted to make him a full English breakfast. So I asked him: "Would you like the full Monty?" His reply was (without hesitation): "Yes, please"

The explanation for my son's immediate reply showed his implicit understanding and consequent transference of the phrase The full Monty (from the film titled The full Monty) with the meaning: "all the food traditionally associated with a full English breakfast".

In this example everyday English creates humour by reforming word patterns and making us look at a situation anew.

In my role as a careworker I asked my client (a Geordie) what he would like for breakfast and he replied: "One Weetabik please" (laughter). 

Since Weetabix ends in an /s/ sound it could be interpreted as a plural 's'. So the singular Weetabix is without the /s/ and therefore becomes Weetabik (more laughter).