Introductions and Welcomes Showing 351-400 of 2,568

[Tyler]

I dunno, but Norm was so great they named Normandy after him. He got all mad at England 'cause he thought he owned the place.

[Ken, Moderator]

I suppose that was the norm back then.

[Tyler]

Yet until 1066, English was an abNormal tongue.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

...and as for the Norman invasion (Relyt and NE....love you guys!!)..William the Bastard (later the Conqueror) believed he was the legitimate heir when Edward the Confessor died. According to him he was taking back his own. Some historians believe he was not far wrong!
In my humble opinion, the Norman invasion in 1066 was probably the best thing that ever happened to England and the English language.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

See?!!!

[Ken, Moderator]

"Methinks" was still linguistic currency in Shakespeare's day (April 11th, I believe).

Hey, nonny nonny...

[Cairnraiser]

Hello,

I promised that I would introduce myself, so here goes.

I'm a 37 years old dane, working as a sysadmin at a high school in Stockholm, Sweden. I studied business English and German before I moved to Sweden.

I read primarily fantasy and sci-fi, though I temper it with classics and other books from the should-have-read piles.

My nickname is from one of our dogs - a Cairn Terrier.

To pick up on something discussed earlier in this very thread; I have joined a couple of groups where I basically lurk. It's easier for me to follow the interesting discussions when I see the group name directly in "My Groups", rather than having to search for the group every time.

[Ken, Moderator]

Ah, talk of dogs and Danes reminds me of the breed named for that country, the Great Dane! In any event, welcome Cairnraiser (it all makes sense now!), and I hope you more than lurk in future months.

I wonder what a high school in Stockholm might look like. Does it face the troubles big city schools in America face? Or is it like a BIG version of suburban schools in the States -- generally peaceful and academic-minded, though with its troubles like all schools?

You see, we have this stereotype of everything being clean and efficient in Scandinavia...

[Cairnraiser]

If I remember correctly the Great Dane is actually a German breed, though now I see the Wikipedia page doesn't have a definitive answer.

High Schools in Sweden vary a lot from district to district, and also based on whether it's a "standard" school or a school with a specific direction. Though I have to say we have not had any large tragedies, that I know of, in Swedish HS. It's getting closer as Finland had its first school shooting a couple of months ago.

The school I work at has the basic curriculum of languages and science, but beyond that students choose one of two design-specific paths for the three years they are here. They can choose either "Industrial Design" or "Textile and Pattern-making".

[[deleted user]]

Ah! Is it "coat"? The version of "Jankin, the clerical seducer" that I saw online spelled it "I prayed for his cote," which I took to mean a cottage or small house. (I like the sound of the lines in the ME language, but they can sure be tricky to understand!) :)

[Thomas]

Greetings fellow book lovers,

My name as seen above is Tom. I'll put forth a little personal information first: I have always and am currently residing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in History. I am currently searching for a decent job, so I can make some loan payments before I start applying for graduate school. I studied Latin for two years in college and have a decent understanding of the language, but I am by no means fluent.

My literary interests include sci-fi, ancient literature, and history. For those wondering my historical interests are in ancient Rome (Late Republic to the period of the five good emperors), Ottoman history (15th to 18th century) and I read the occasional book on the American Revolution.

Well that's about it.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Hey! An expert on the history of the ottoman!!!!!! What happened to it before it landed up, firstly in the pond, and then the dumpster (see Kitchen Chat for clues!)

[Ken, Moderator]

Cairn -- Well, I wasn't alluding to anything as drastic as school shootings (gulp). I was more wondering about drop-outs, high absenteeism, vandalism, low homework compliance, little parental support, and other big city school problems. Granted, they aren't exclusive to the cities or certainly to our country, but I pictured Sweden as being super-efficient.

What a strange combination: "Industrial Design" or "Textile and Pattern-making," I mean. I'm not even sure what the first one means.

Welcome, Thomas! I suppose you've read The Mysteries of Pittsburg long ago (it's so un-sci-fi and un-Roman Empire). Any man from a Big East school is a friend of mine (hailing from one as well). Who are the "Good Emperors," I wonder? Caesar, Augustus, Marc Antony, Dewey, and Louie? Been a while, as you can see...

[Cairnraiser]

I probably overinterpreted your question, sorry, but this was so unusual and unexpected for Scandinavia that I think it's left a bigger mark than you are aware of (you in the general sense).

Sweden is hardly super-efficient, we have degrees of all the problems you mentioned. However, Swedish high schools come in two basic flavors; the standard purely state-owned schools with the basic languages, maths and science curriculum and then there are the privately owned (though funded by state and county) schools with additional specialized curricula(sp?). Generally the state-owned schools get the hard end of the deal when it comes to the kind of problems you mention as a rather large part of the student body are of the "I have no idea what I'm going to do once I finish school"-crowd, so they just choose to continue on to high school without having a game plan. The specialized curricula schools generally have it better as the students actively choose to apply there, so generally the students are more involved.

"Industrial Design" is basically design for commercial products. It's a way of blending aesthetics with commercially viable production.

[Nita]

Hi! I am delighted to have found this group.

My name is Nita and I work as an editor. I used to edit children's books at a publishing house. I now edit technical course material at a software firm.

Apart from the fact that I tinker with grammar and sentence structure every working day, I am a member of a local Scrabble club and love all word games.

I'm happy to be here.

Regards,
Nita

[[deleted user]]

Welcome Nita! Glad to see you here :)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Gidday Nita...good to have another tinker here! Only I don't tinker with words (much)....only the minds of children!

[Ken, Moderator]

Hi, Nita! Tinker (sailor, soldier, spy) away! It may seem like we play with words more than get serious about words, but really, we take language seriously here. Right, guys? Uh, guys? Gals? Hello...?

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Words are FUN!!!!

[Nita]

Thank you, Sarah, Debbie, and New England. :-)

[Kirsty]

Hi I'm Kirsty. I'm an administrator, but have loved reading for as long as I can remember.

I found the group whilst browsing and decided to join as the posts I read were pretty amusing!

I've always been fairly good at spelling and grammar, or at least I think I have. We'll soon find out!

Thanks for having me!

[Ken, Moderator]

Welcome, Kirsty. Good to have more of the King's (or Queen's) English in the house. Now you can join forces with our Kiwis and Aussies and Canadians to correct the Wayward Colonists' English.

Oh, and by the way, my son is a big fan of Manchester United. Maybe you're not, but he actually watches them on TV from a way out here. Me, the best I can do is say I'm a fan of ABBEY ROAD (the album, not the street). And I visited London once and have some amusing anecdotes about it that I STILL retell...

[Kirsty]

Manchester United is my team too... you're lucky, I could have been a Manchester City fan, and then you'd have been on my bad side for mentioning United lol.

I've only been to London once. Manchester is the 2nd biggest city in England, so I have everything I need right here, but London is great and I'd definitely like to go again.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

G'day Kirsty....you live in England and have been to London only once!!?? I visited London once too...and I live in NZ! I would love to go back one day too.

[Ken, Moderator]

I would say let's have a Language & Slamma-Gramma Get Together in London, but it'd be much easier on me (and my non-flying pact) to change it to NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT. Charming little town. You'll love it. No football, though.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I wrote a reply...I lost it....in essence it was ...'football is soccer and are all the same to me....LA, Dynasty and Dallas images of US suck, but NE States might be worth visiting one day...off to get Lotto ticket!'

[[deleted user]]

Hey, hey now ... don't diss the Texas until you visit. Dallas is actually pretty nice for a sprawling megalopolis. If you prefer more scenery than city lights, the Hill Country that makes up quite a bit of central Texas is GORGEOUS!

My family moved here when I was in 8th grade and I haven't left yet :) Kinda helps that I married a born and raised Texan :)

[[deleted user]]

AHHH! Well, still, one cannot judge Texas by "Dallas" :) Best be careful, JR might come back to haunt us all :)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Donna is right (again!). I didn't mean to cast nasturtiums(!) on Dallas the city...Dallas the soap was a real penny-dreadful, as was Dynasty. LA the city has spawned much that many in the rest of the world find shallow, offensive, annoying and sometimes downright obscene. If you you took images of LA and Las Vegas out of the global psyche, America would look far more desirable!
There are places here too that I would not venture into...South Manukau in Auckland is risky in daylight, let alone any other time! However, I have to say that the gangs there have modelled themselves on images from American TV and film and have also adopted the music styles. It has been like a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) infiltration over the last 40-50 years. I am not saying that everything American is rotten by any means...much that is good has emerged too, but sometimes you can't help but wonder how things might be now without that pervasive influence...if our own culture had been allowed to develop independently. It's certainly not about politics...it is about values and customs and it is like the US has invaded and changed many countries cultural values in a kind of bloodless coup.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

......and I hasten to say that we DID let it happen!! Hindsight is a great thing!!

[[deleted user]]

Ah, the global community all made possible by a few little satellites orbiting the sphere we call Earth! If only it were a true global community ... and not the "infiltration" you describe Debbie. And to think if there is mimicry of our entertainment (fictional) shows-- taking them as a snapshot of "American" culture (sterotyped as it may be),
#1 Why can't we all mimic "Leave it to Beaver" type shows?
AND
#2 OMG, I hope you can't see all of the "reality" shows that originate and are broadcast here.

This is actually part of the reason I am here on Good Reads-- I love a good documentary, sitcoms are a hoot (though I haven't really kept up with one since "Friends"), and I even like Survivior (it's like going back to Psych 101)-- but I have had waaaayy toooooo much "reality" tv programming of late. So, I am proud and happy to report that 3 weeks into my summer vacation, we have had tv on a maximum of 2 hrs a day because we are READING!!!!! :)

OK- sorry if that got too tangential-- I tend to do that :)

Donna-- Austin would be GREAT, IF you took away the crazy people on the freeways and that awful university (what was the name of that school again? .... oh yes! UT). And before anybody gets their nose bent out of shape, I am joking :)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I hope I have not bent anyones noses out of shape either!
The reality genre is awful...and to tell the truth, I couldn't even stomach Survivor. There are excellent programmes from over your way...I enjoyed 6 Feet Under until it started to get too silly! We get the best (and worst) of all worlds down here though...I think we probably get more top quality BBC programming than you do? The only TV more cringe-making than American reality shows are the pathetic attempts (from time to time) to produce Kiwi soaps!!

[Ruth]

Loved 6 Feet Under and the Sopranos. But we find we use our TV to watch NPR news every night, and then it turns into a screen for Netflix films.

[Nikki]

Hello all. I am new to this group and thought I would introduce myself. I'm sorry I have not yet read through all 23 pages of comments on this topic yet, but I will get to it slowly...I promise!

My name is Nikki, I am a 31-year old part time legal assistant. I have a 20 month old son, who is the absolute apple of my eye. I live in Maryland, just outside of DC, but my husband and I are trying to sell and move to another, less expensive, area so that I can be a stay at home mom. Besides reading, I enjoy following sports, including Orioles baseball (yes, even now in their 10th straight losing season), DC United Soccer, US National Team Soccer. The fact that soccer is called soccer in the US and not football is one of the great disappointments in my life. Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration!

I'm not a perfect grammarian, but one of my pet peeves is overtly poor grammar. I'm always trying to improve my own grammar, so I hope this is the group for me. I apologize in advance if this post is not grammar-group worthy. I had just a few minutes to check my Goodreads account here at work.

[Tyler]

I'm not a perfect grammarian, but one of my pet peeves is overtly poor grammar.

Hi Nikki --

I'm relatively new here too, and I feel the same way. There's no need to be perfect, but to be better, now that's an attainable goal. I've found a few good threads to post to here, and I think you'll like the topics as well.

I'm more of a baseball fan, so I don't follow soc... uh, football, very much. But welcome anyway.

[Ken, Moderator]

I'm not a perfect grammarian, either, but at least I have a sense of humor about it. That's what grammar needs, I think. A little levity. And pause. And latitude (longitude will come later). So welcome, Nikki!

I know what you mean about the O's. I'm happy to say I am a Red Sox fan who better understands that term from a LOSING point of view than from a WINNING one. These new Sox fans (and young ones) are spoiled beyond words. All my life (until recently) they've been nothing but lovable losers and perennial bridesmaids. In any event, I hope we share a hatred of all things Yankees? And I hope you'll forgive the fact that Camden has become Fenway South. The fault lies not with us but with fair weather (unlike you) O's fans who fail to buy up the joint so Red Sox Nation can't find a ticket to cheer with.

As for sports nomenclature, I'm fine with calling soccer football, only then we need a name for football. "American football" sounds odd because Americans play soccer (er, football), too. You see the problem.

A contest, then, to rename football? Pigskin, maybe?

[Ken, Moderator]

Bisonball would make the Buffalo Bills happy, anyway.

[Ken, Moderator]

I think they're named after the FAMOUS Buffalo Bill (of Wild West yore). ee cummings wrote a poem about him, too:


Buffalo Bill's

defunct

who used to

ride a watersmooth-silver

stallion

and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat

Jesus



he was a handsome man

and what i want to know is

how do you like your blueeyed boy

Mister Death

[[deleted user]]

Are we the only country that calls it soccer? Kinda like the way we're one of the few (if not only) still using customary units of measurement?

I really liked "Pointy at both ends ball"-- we could shorten it to PABEB ... hmmm. Wouldn't that be cool if we introduced that and it became everyday wordage like radar and sonar? "Hey, you gonna watch the PABEB game tonight?" or "Let's play a game of touch (or flag) PABEB."

Or how about we call it Pass, Catch, Carry & Touchdown?

Welcome to our group Nikki! We're glad you're here!

[Ruth]

Pointy at both ends ball


Ah. Now that has a nice ring to it.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Hi Nikki.
Pointy at both ends ball is rugby (when played without padding as the he-men downunder do). If it is played with padding and helmets by scaredy cats it is American football, or gridiron. Round ball with black spots (a la David Beckham) is soccer everywhere but England, where it is football. The All Blacks are from NZ and no pointy-at-both-ends-ball team is better....so THERE!!!!

[Nikki]

I'm all for 'pointy at both ends brown ball.' Let's try to start the trend, shall we? First up, Goodreads, next up, ESPN!

Yes, NE we do share a common hatred of the Yankees. I'm quite happy to see them, and especially Mike Mussina tanking this year. You are absolutely right about Camden Yards becoming Fenway South. Our little club has had a bad decade much in contrast with the Red Sox quite excellent decade. I think some flakey O's fans jumped ship to root for a winning, non-Angelos owned team. I hate the bandwagoneers, but I can't always blame them.

Thanks for the warm welcomes!

[Terence]

Okay, I was smoked out by Debbie on the Word Association string so here it goes:

I and my cats live quiet, unassuming lives in nearly always sunny & increasingly dry Southern California. By trade, I'm a copy editor for a media relations firm, where we wage a constant (and sometimes losing) battle to make our clients' press releases sound reasonably coherent.

I've been a reader since age 7(?), if not earlier, and as I've aged I've only become more and more enthralled by the English language.

I enjoy grammar/language debates (even if I often don't feel competent enough to contribute).

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Smoked out!!! I stopped smoking over a year ago!
None of us are experts...but we are all 'users' and therefore qualify to comment (even if we correct each other from time to time). Anyway, you make a living 'putting it right' so the more you contribute the better.
By the way....shouldn't that be "My cats and I....."??!!!!

WELCOME!!!

[Nina]

I am a lifelong reader and one who loves grammar, syntax, vocabulary and even diagraming sentences. I recently joined GoodReads and am enjoying exploring it. Since getting my Amazon Kindle, I've been reading more than ever and this site is a good source of, well, good reads.

[Terence]

See, now here we go: "I and my cats," "My cats and I."

At least I didn't write "Me and my cats" :-)

[Terence]

My "children" are very humble and unassuming critters and would be horrified to know that I even mentioned them on a public post :-)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Terence...you ARE one of us!! Donna is right.....I have not yet met any cat that is humble and unassuming!!!

[Terence]

Okay, upon reflection I'm willing to retract "humble" but I'm sticking with "unassuming."

We don't often get visitors to the manse; and when we do "the clan" tends to fade into the woodwork.

[Ken, Moderator]

Welcome, Terence (smelling of smoke from Deb's old habit, apparently). It's great that you're a copy editor, but I need a book publishing editor who's willing to read (then publish to loud hosannas) my literary efforts. See what you can do with your "network," can you? Oh, wait a minute. You and everyone else are aspiring writers, too. Been there, done that (the network thing, I mean).

Anyway, glad you're aboard. I will be posting on good days (when this *$#*@#* dial-up internet is moving somewhat normally) and swearing on bad days (when it takes so long to switch pages I could go buy milk and bread and be back for the next look).