Saturday, September 29, 2007

Saaremaa

From the Estonian Beer Guide:
MA VAATAN PAADIST KIIKRIGA

Ma vaatan paadist kiikriga,
Kui kaugel on see Saaremaa.
:,: Ei paremat ole kuskil maal,
Kui suisel ajal Saaremaal. :,:

Seal Saaremaal ei kasva muud,
Kui kadakad ja männipuud.
:,:

Mu pruut on valge nagu tui,
Ma nägin teda mullu sui.
:,:

Tal mustad juuksed, valge kael
Ja kaela ümber sametpael.
:,:

Tal roosipôôsas voodi ees
ja ööbik laulab selle sees.
:,:

Ma rüüpan merest soolast vett
Ja räägin armsamale tôtt:
:,:

Kui tahad naiseks tulla sa,
Pead Saaremaale sôudema!
:,:
Some of these verses differ from those I learned.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Pace

languagehat.com: PACE.:
I have always pronounced the preposition pace ('with due deference to' or 'despite,' from the ablative of Latin pax) in the traditional anglicized way, PAY-see, and assumed that was the universally accepted pronunciation. Now I discover, having seen the casual aside “Pace (that is to say, aloud, pa che)” in this Pepys Diary thread, that the Church Latin version, PAH-chay, is equally acceptable (the OED gives it second place for U.K. usage, first place for U.S.). So it's time for another Languagehat straw poll: if you use this slightly obnoxious Latinism, how do you say it?
You mean the right answer isn't "payss"? Good thing I've never pronounced it!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Civic Literacy Report - Civics Quiz

Yes, I took that Civics Quiz for American college students mentioned in the papers:
You answered 59 out of 60 correctly — 98.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 74.1%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 74.1%

You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.
Yes, I missed the bond question too.

Frankly, I found the test to be pretty hard. It had questions about some matters I didn't learn about until law school.

Monday, September 03, 2007

The Serendipity of a Sauce

I've always wondered how certain delicacies were devised in the first place. Here is the story of one from an article about the Roman garum, "Ancient ketchup":
The India-inspired English Worcestershire sauce is another. Worcestershire was invented quite by mistake in the 1830s, after a barrelful of an attempted anchovy sauce turned out too pungent and was left in a basement and forgotten. When it was finally opened years later, the liquid was discovered to be quite tasty, and Messrs Lea & Perrins (whose basement it was) marketed it very successfully.