Learn French in 5 minutes and 36 seconds thanks to FwaB TV

On accents

Ms. Mac did it. Vivi did it. so, of course, I had to do it.
[odeo=//http://odeo.com/audio/3510643/view]

Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler

I’m back from Lisbon, I feel I should tell you about our trip there. But this was a city I liked so much that I just don’t know where to start. I’m extremely busy at work these days and don’t have much time to write anything. Plus, I’m turning into such a sociable monster, I mean check this out, all my evenings are booked up this week: theater, Scandiavian club, cocktail party and exhibition tonight, Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night, house-warming party on Saturday night and game-brunch on Sunday. By Sunday night I should be really tired of meeting people and will hopefully have had my dose of social contacts for a while. Since I don’t have much time to write about my trip + pictures + tell you about the fact that I totally fell in love with the 3 P’s: Portuguese People and Pastries,  in the meantime, let me treat you to some interesting anagrams I received by email today. The following anagrams are just too good to be true. Someone either has some time to waste or is a killer at Scrabble: Dormitory = Dirty Room Desperation = A Rope Ends It The Morse Code = Here come Dots Slot Machines = Cash Lost in ’em Animosity = Is No Amity Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler Snooze Alarms = Alas! No More Z’s Alec Guinness = Genuine Class Semolina = Is No Meal The Earthquakes = That Queer Shake Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one Contradiction = Accord not in it Astronomer = Moon Starer Princess Diana = End Is A Car Spin Year Two Thousand = A Year To Shut Down   This one’s amazing: [From Hamlet by Shakespeare] To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. =In one of the Bard’s best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.Politicians: ————— George Bush = He bugs Gore Ronald Reagan = A darn long era  Margaret Thatcher = That great charmer     (hmmm!!) The Conservative Party = Teacher in vast povertyAnd the grand finale: —————————– “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Neil A. Armstrong = A thin man ran; makes a large stride; left planet, pins flag on moon! On to Mars!

Today, I am…

… learning the language of several millions of my fellow citizens. People who live in my building, on my street, people I see and talk to everyday. I live in a country that has at least two cultures, let’s just get used to it. Yet one of these cultures is completely unknown to the other. I don’t know about you but I’m starting now, and I’m loving it…

Buffalo

Ok, sorry to those who knew this already, but this sentence got me thinking last night. (Don’t you have anything better to do Mickelino on a Friday night?) I know I’m a pathetic geek, but here you are:

Possibly the weirdest sentence in the English language is:
“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo”.
It takes a bit to understand this, so let’s build up from simple stuff. First, suppose that dogs chase cats, who then chase mice. Another way of saying this is:
“Cats that dogs chase, chase mice”
But the comma and the word “that” aren’t technically needed, so we can say:
“Cats dogs chase chase mice”.
But cats also chase other cats, so we could say:
“Cats dogs chase chase cats”.
And they can be chased by other cats too:
“Cats cats chase chase cats”.
Step back and look at this sentence for a moment. This is the basic structure of the buffalo sentence. Let’s think about buffalo chasing other buffalo:
“Buffalo buffalo chase chase buffalo”.
Now there’s a lesser-known English verb “to buffalo” meaning “to push around”. So instead of chasing, let’s make these buffalo push each other around:
“Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo”.
Remember that this means:
“Buffalo that buffalo push around, push buffalo around”.
For the final step, let’s just talk about a particular kind of buffalo – the kind that live in the zoo in Buffalo, New York. These, of course, are Buffalo buffalo – just as the lions are Buffalo lions.
“Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo Buffalo push around, push Buffalo buffalo around”
or more properly:
“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo”.Thank you Frog with a Blog for another great English lesson!

Proverbe vietnamien du jour

“Celui qui a le coeur brisé a toujours le cul intact”.