tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post7434443247359547853..comments2023-12-18T17:32:03.325+00:00Comments on Kindred of the Quiet Way: Deep-sea trawler at workUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-80412815423614843642012-02-22T18:07:34.696+00:002012-02-22T18:07:34.696+00:00That's a really interesting observation, Elin,...That's a really interesting observation, Elin, that in the different languages you are somehow different people!Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-38021748887156812352012-02-22T10:10:49.779+00:002012-02-22T10:10:49.779+00:00Trust me, in this case it has nothing to do with l...Trust me, in this case it has nothing to do with language, it totally me being stupid. I would have fallen for the same thing in Swedish I think. I just read the passage with far too trusting eyes and believed every word you said... <br /><br />It is true that joking is hard in different languages although Swedish and English humour is often quite similiar. Humour can even be regional, I had a hard time at first when I moved to another part of Sweden to tell jokes because they simply didn't get that it was a joke. <br /><br />I love the kind of humour you refer to, words with double meaning, (and yes, I totally got the alien example without explanation) but I find it hard to tell jokes like that myself in English. I know a lot of words and I tend to get it when other people tell such jokes but my own brain is just not fast enough to tell them myself unless they are very obvious. It feels strange, in Swedish I am kind of known to tell that kind of jokes quite easily and sometimes that part of me is a bit stifled in English. I am not exactly the same person in English and in Swedish, for better and worse, I do not use as many curse words in English as in Swedish, I am more polite in English but I speak faster in Swedish, I can explain nuances much more easily in Swedish and many other things.Elinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06401440551873070129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-77687035418433495012012-02-21T21:00:57.579+00:002012-02-21T21:00:57.579+00:00No, not stupid at all, Elin. That's what I me...No, not stupid at all, Elin. That's what I mean about a sense of humour being hard to translate.<br />I was really intrigued when my Dutch friend Carien, who speaks the most excellent English, told me that the hardest thing of all to access in learning another language is its jokes.<br />I *think* an English person would have picked up that I was joking, though I confess it's beyond me to say why or identify what the cues are. If Buzzfloyd is reading this she might have a comment to make on it; she's really good at analysing this sort of thing because it interests her very much, she's got a very international friendship circle, and she's married to an alien.<br />That last remark is another example of my English sense of humour - here 'an alien' is the technical legal term for someone from overseas but in popular speech would always refer to a being from another planet. That's what I mean about another language's humour; the essence of verbal humour is that it's buried in the speech, so can be hard to spot if it's not your first language.<br />I hope this doesn't sound patronising! Your English is superb. xPen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-90068277372139961422012-02-21T20:14:16.416+00:002012-02-21T20:14:16.416+00:00Oh, I see I thought it was the actual brand-name o...Oh, I see I thought it was the actual brand-name of it!!! Silly me, I am so stupid! I thought is was all part of that humanisation of animals thing where they put clothes on them and give them human emotions like actually believing that cats have a sense of modesty. <br /><br />Although, some cats might, they seem to really prefer that kind of covered litter box.Elinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06401440551873070129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-36345717332264802132012-02-21T17:42:40.471+00:002012-02-21T17:42:40.471+00:00Good thought, Heidi!
Elin - they do say that the ...Good thought, Heidi!<br /><br />Elin - they do say that the trickiest thing to translate is a sense of humour! There is no such thing really as a Modest Cat Bathroom - they're built like that just to reduce odour and likelihood of toddler interaction with cat faeces. Calling it a Modest Cat Bathroom is just a small joke arising from all our talk about modest dress etc :0)Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-62815771308701859132012-02-21T16:45:42.676+00:002012-02-21T16:45:42.676+00:00I must say I find the name Modest Cat very amusing...I must say I find the name Modest Cat very amusing. Cats are cats, they are neither modest or immodest in my view so it feels so wrong to use that particular word to me. I see a cat wearing bloomers or something like that when I hear that word, bloomers and a cap...Elinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06401440551873070129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-192259001178914122012-02-21T15:52:32.142+00:002012-02-21T15:52:32.142+00:00I recently read an article about how the Internet ...I recently read an article about how the Internet is affecting the environment. It said that we can save trees by sharing information online, obviously, but the databases we use to store this information do use quite a bit of electricity, and that made me think differently about what e-mails to save etc.Heidihttp://erkjennelser.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-82405093627085773462012-02-21T12:14:25.238+00:002012-02-21T12:14:25.238+00:00Hooray! Well done you! xHooray! Well done you! xPen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-16186387609832338392012-02-21T12:02:28.741+00:002012-02-21T12:02:28.741+00:00I'm a sucker for wonderful little mementoes li...I'm a sucker for wonderful little mementoes like that...goodness knows what the family will think when the time comes!<br /><br />but I've stuck to the one out a day...ooops pride comes... and all that!Gerry Snapehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269492251928362799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-61464347164123491252012-02-21T11:28:38.293+00:002012-02-21T11:28:38.293+00:00Totally! Something I do a lot is obsessively savi...Totally! Something I do a lot is obsessively saving duplicates of work or images that are precious and I am afraid of losing. Why? Er . . . because I can . . .Pen Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13818227904371811230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55532501364780143.post-48692465414591918432012-02-21T11:05:23.966+00:002012-02-21T11:05:23.966+00:00It's extraordinary how it accumulates, isn'...It's extraordinary how it accumulates, isn't it? I am grateful that, at least, electronic files don't take up the physical space of paper files!Buzzfloydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10907833292561328868noreply@blogger.com