Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
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Amazing! Fun video - I love watching border collies work their magic! I always think " those pups are smarter than the average American student!" Then I see our rankings against other nations in academics, and I know they sre! Certainly better at following directions...
Do any of you think that Sourcebooks will mark down GH kindle books on August 16 for her 115 birthday?The last time (2 years ago???) the price was $2.99 from $9-13 and I went nuts.
There were still some titles that were not marked down--just a handful only.
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Do any of you think that Sourcebooks will mark down GH kindle books on August 16 for her 115 birthday?..."We sure can hope that they will! But we probably won't know until closer to the day. Like you, I still have holes to fill in my GH collection.
Kim wrote: "GH & I share same birthday. ;-)"My mom's birthday too! She turns 80 this year.
I'm hoping Amazon UK might be good to us for a change!
Susan, I think the birthday markdown is because of the publisher and Not Amazon.
Oh right - in that case I'll look out for actual booksellers here. Thanks Andrea!
Maybe we can use UK time & mark Gh's birthday - have some virtual cake or something? :)
Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Maybe we can use UK time & mark Gh's birthday - have some virtual cake or something? :)"Brilliant idea Carol - Earl grey tea or champagne?
Susan in Perthshire wrote: "Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Maybe we can use UK time & mark Gh's birthday - have some virtual cake or something? :)"Brilliant idea Carol - Earl grey tea or champagne?"
It should be GH's favourite tipple - a G&T!
If it's tea it's nettle for me but I'll go with the G&T any day :):):)
Does anyone know what tea GH favoured?
That one's beyond me. Probably Earl Grey. She was British to the core!
Teresa wrote: "That one's beyond me. Probably Earl Grey. She was British to the core!"I love a G&T myself - but not with cake! If we're having cake - then I say it has to be Earl Grey tea - or champagne - but I guess we can all do our own thing - as long as we do it at the same time?
Here's an article that gives background to aversion of cousin's marrying by people from the US.http://www.straightdope.com/columns/r...
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Here's an article that gives background to aversion of cousin's marrying by people from the US.http://www.straightdope.com/columns/r..."
Thanks for that Andrea. It was indeed an interesting read; an insight into why so many in the USA feel that cousin marriage is distasteful. The rest of the world certainly see it differently. Interesting also that the article alludes to the scepticism towards science found in certain areas.
I always have problems understanding the cousin distaste; but I know how I would feel reading about incestuous relationships so I guess it must be similar! It must make reading stuff written by European authors who include cousin marriage in their stories somewhat difficult. I am glad I don't have any such qualms.
Susan,I think a lot of people in the US don't realize that it's perfectly fine for cousins to marry everywhere else in the world.
It's interesting to me that the medical reasons were disproven and over here in the US they were discounted by lawmakers at the time.
Sheesh. People every where else in the world accepted this research and there is no harm in cousins marrying.
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Susan,I think a lot of people in the US don't realize that it's perfectly fine for cousins to marry everywhere else in the world.
It's interesting to me that the medical reasons were disproven a..."
Andrea - I agree with you totally! Not wanting to get into politics or offend anyone - I would just say that I am disturbed by the current attitude in certain quarters that 'experts' don't know what they are talking about!!
So are you for G&T, champagne or tea to celebrate GH's birthday?
I've never had G&T.I'm a lightweight where alcohol is concerned.
Anyone wanting cake with their G&Ts could always make this: ;)http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/foo...
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Here's an article that gives background to aversion of cousin's marrying by people from the US.http://www.straightdope.com/columns/r..."
Interesting article & I may also put it in the Really Useful Stuff folder.
First cousin marriage isn't illegal over here, but it is frowned on.
Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Anyone wanting cake with their G&Ts could always make this: ;)http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/foo..."
What is "caster" sugar?
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Anyone wanting cake with their G&Ts could always make this: ;)http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/foo..."
What is "caster" sugar?"
Ha! Another case of being divided by our common language. I had a quick google and found it is also called "superfine" sugar? Is that the term you use in the States?
I'm not much of cook or baker.I've never heard of superfine sugar. That's my ignorance about cooking in general.
Aside from normal sugar, I know confectioners sugar. Some call it powdered sugar.
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Aside from normal sugar, I know confectioners sugar. Some call it powdered sugar."
We call it icing sugar. Would definitely work differently in cooking.
I'm not much of a baker either. Until I got pregnant with my first child I didn't really have a sweet tooth, other than chocolate.
I often use regular white sugar instead of caster sugar. At my skill level it doesn't make much of a difference!
Superfine sugar is like granulated except that it has been ground more finely. The result is less air between the granules, so it has more intense sugar flavor per teaspoon. It also dissolves a bit more easily. (Sorry for the lecture, worked for Bon Appétit magazine for ten years.)I had a recipe for a lemon-lime cake—made with lemon verbena infused into the milk and lime geranium leaves pressed onto the bottom of the cake pans—that would be quite nice with a G&T, I imagine. Delicate flavor, more of the aroma of lemon and lime drifting in through the nose.
Abigail wrote: "Superfine sugar is like granulated except that it has been ground more finely. The result is less air between the granules, so it has more intense sugar flavor per teaspoon. It also dissolves a bit..."Thanks for clearing this up.
:)
Abigail wrote: "Superfine sugar is like granulated except that it has been ground more finely. The result is less air between the granules, so it has more intense sugar flavor per teaspoon. It also dissolves a bit..."That sounds beautiful. I will probably make the recipe I found though, as I have all the ingredients other than the lime.
Abigail wrote: "Superfine sugar is like granulated except that it has been ground more finely. The result is less air between the granules, so it has more intense sugar flavor per teaspoon. It also dissolves a bit..."Ah I think that is what we call caster sugar here in the UK
Cousin marrying tends to be frowned upon more with smaller populations, so it seems odd that we're talking about it being more unacceptable in the U.S. (Easter Island has a very strict and complicated definition of incest, forcing people to diversify their genetic stock). Maybe it is because we're a nation of immigrants who settled in tight communities (even back to the Pilgrims).
Howard wrote: "Cousin marrying tends to be frowned upon more with smaller populations, so it seems odd that we're talking about it being more unacceptable in the U.S. (Easter Island has a very strict and complica..."In Europe, we see the problem with cousins marrying mainly with Hapsburgs, and Egyptian royalty. But rules with Royalty are separate from rules with larger populations.
Interesting how attitudes to cousin marriage vary among different cultures. I live in a Middle Eastern country where cousin marriage is the traditional norm. But there is now widespread recognition of the high incidence of certain genetic disorders and young couples are encouraged to undergo testing before marriage to prevent them.
In my home country, India, on the other hand, most of our languages don't even have a word for 'cousin'. All one's male cousins are 'brothers' and female cousins are 'sisters'. I assume this comes from the ancient tradition of what we call 'joint families' (Hindu undivided families, in tax law) where several generations of an extended family live together under one roof. In such cases child rearing is often seen as a shared responsibility with parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents all having a role to play. Treating all the children as siblings ensures fairness and equality, I suppose. More and more people are now living in nuclear families but cultural attitudes haven't changed all that much. Which is why it would be, shall we say, odd, to marry one's cousin.
That's an interesting point - that different cultures have different kinship terms so of course that affects how you look at the idea of cousin marriage. And for groups that practice it - repeated cousin marriage over generations increases the risk higher than that of cousins in a population in which cousin marriage isn't that common. The topic interests me because I grew up in eastern Canada, an area with people who are almost all of UK ancestry, and which, although in North America, didn't have the American influences mentioned earlier as an explanation. And yet, there is extremely strong opposition to cousin marriage. I don't know anyone who married a first cousin, and when one of my cousins said that he really liked my sister, too bad it's incest - he was only half-joking. When we were all growing up, marrying a cousin would feel like marrying a sibling - the cultural push against it was that strong. When I first became aware that not everyone felt this way, I naturally asked why we had this custom. Some people told me that it was a religious rule but I, being inquisitive, checked that out and rapidly discovered that none of the major local Christian denominations, which accounted for some 90% of the population, had or had had (in recent history) any rule against the marriage of first cousins. Certainly, most people didn't know much about medieval Christian marriage customs, which in some times and places were more restrictive, or about the classic bad example of intermarriage, the Hapsburgs. So I don't really know where the idea came from and why it was so strong. Maybe there was some influence from the eugenics movement, but most of the people back then expressing these ideas would hardly have been up-to-date on eugenics or genetics.
Cheryl wrote: "That's an interesting point - that different cultures have different kinship terms so of course that affects how you look at the idea of cousin marriage. And for groups that practice it - repeated ..."It is totally fascinating Cheryl. I suspect many people grew up as Anjali described above:- in close knit communities where siblings and cousins were almost interchangeable and so would fall into the category of "too close to be sexually involved". The incest taboo is exceptionally strong across all cultures and societies throughout history. The tradition of Royal sibling marriage in Ancient Egypt was to prove the point that ordinary rules did not apply to them as they were Gods and a recognition that amongst their citizens - incest was not permitted. So I can totally understand that in the early days of the settlers where folk were cheek by jowl - cousin marriages would be seen in the same light as incest. However, in cultures where the relationships are more clearly separated and defined - the same perception did not exist. As has also been said, in some cultures - cousin marriage is seen as a way of keeping controL of the land, the wealth and the family. Too much intermarriage is clearly risky - but for the odd cousin marriage in a family - I don't think it's a big deal. It certainly raises some interesting discussions!
Interesting discussion. I live in a North African country, where cousin marriage is relatively common. What is prohibited is marrying one's "milk brother" or "milk sister", ie someone who as a baby was breastfed by your own mother - women would sometimes feed each other's babies, especially if the mother had to be away for some time, back in the days before formula milk when you couldn't just make up a bottle of milk to be given to the baby in your absence.On the subject of kinship terms: here there is no single word for cousin, instead you say daughter/son of my aunt/uncle. Since there are separate words for "maternal aunt", "maternal uncle", "paternal aunt", and "paternal uncle", that makes eight distinct expressions for cousin.
One advantage of cousin marriage for a woman in a society where people have traditionally grown up within large extended families but with little contact outside the family, is that she knows not only her spouse but also his mother and sisters and (assuming that they all get on) can probably expect better treatment from them than from an unknown mother- and sisters-in-law.
Alathea wrote: "Interesting discussion. I live in a North African country, where cousin marriage is relatively common. What is prohibited is marrying one's "milk brother" or "milk sister", ie someone who as a baby..."That's really amazing - those different words really delineate the relationship don't they? so there is no confusion. And I love the 'milk' brother or sister terminology - it also makes total sense. One can also see the attraction of maintaining those positive female relationships as opposed to risking unknown ones too. Thanks Alathea.
Alathea wrote: "Interesting discussion. I live in a North African country, where cousin marriage is relatively common. What is prohibited is marrying one's "milk brother" or "milk sister", ie someone who as a baby..."Exactly the same where I come from! :O
Alathea wrote: "Interesting discussion. I live in a North African country, where cousin marriage is relatively common. What is prohibited is marrying one's "milk brother" or "milk sister", ie someone who as a baby..."I can't help adding something to your comment about kinship terms. In my part of the world also there is a distinctive term for every single relationship.
For instance, each of one's aunts and uncles is designated differently - one's mother's sister, her brother and their spouses, one's father's sister and her husband, each has a distinctive title. On the paternal side, one's father's older brother and his younger brother are distinguished from each other by differing terms, along with their wives. There's one set of designations for a woman's in-laws and another for a man's. And so on.
Just like 'milk brother' or 'milk sister', these terms are a rough guide to the acceptable modes of behaviour within a given relationship. The word itself indicates the degree of formality or familiarity that is appropriate and even the responsibilities of the relatives to each other.
Carol,I just looked a a New York Times newspaper online recap of the total eclipse that took place in the US today, Monday, 8/21 and a couple traveled 36 hours from Auckland (I know you don't live in that city, but you go there all the time:)) to the US to see it. Unfortunately clouds interfered, but they were upbeat about this disappointment.
Yeah, I personally wouldn't do that but there would be so much to do in the States it won't be a big deal. I saw a news clip last night with some children waiting for the eclipse - it was adorable.
Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Yeah, I personally wouldn't do that but there would be so much to do in the States it won't be a big deal. I saw a news clip last night with some children waiting for the eclipse - it was adorable."
My coworker picked her 6/7 year old up from school and brought him to work. His school had given the kids eye-gear and went outside to look at it.
In my part of the world we just had 80% max of sun coverage.
There's an total eclipse forecasted for NZ in the future. I saw it on the web today.
In 2014, my home town (western New York State), is in the path for 100% sun coverage. If I'm alive and in decent health, I intend to go and see it.
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Yeah, I personally wouldn't do that but there would be so much to do in the States it won't be a big deal. I saw a news clip last night with some children waiting ..."
2014? ;)
Oops!I meant 2024!
It's about 8:30 pm in my neck o the woods and I'm such a lightweight that 8 o'clock at night by my body clock is "very" late!
Carol, In 2028 NZ and AUS will have a total eclipse.
We had about 87% totality here, and there were only a few clouds. It was nice to watch.
And my eyes still hurt, even with the approved eclipse glasses that you cannot see anything out of!
We were in Paris on August 11 1999 and witnessed a solar eclipse whilst we were at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. All the birds stopped singing - it was spooky and utterly amazing! Glad you got to see it yesterday! We didn't get anything at all here in Scotland but I saw some of the tv coverage - wonderful!
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Georgette Heyer Fans
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Hahahaha!
& from NZ.
We don't have the huge numbers of sheep over here that we used to.
When flying back into NZ I miss seeing the little white dots on the green NZ grass. Let me know I was home.