students funnies

students say funny things, so i think i'm going to start posting more of their malapropisms and their funny language-learning mistakes.
Today we were learning comparative phrases (he's nicer than she is; she is better than them, etc.)
Just like in English, you can't say "more good" (mais bom), instead saying a different word like better (melhor). I told my students that they should NEVER say "mais bom" because it was ugly. So one student took the "more" ending -er and added it to "bom" that's said like [bõ]--a really nasal vowel [o]. So what did he say? "Ele é bom-er de seu amigo." It sounded really bad, especially with the nasalized vowel: ele é bõ-er de seu amigo.
My back was to my students, as I was writing on the whiteboard. I lost it and started to laugh. I felt bad but it was funny.
Lesson #1, do not add English word endings to foreign words.

Thus begins the Christmas Wish List

Did I ever drool over this.

All-Purpose Rabbits

We were talking about hobbies in one of my classes last week. One student was discussing what she used to do as a kid: "Quando eu era mais jovem, eu gostava de andar de coelho." For the huge majority of you out there that no speak the Portuguese, "When I was younger, I used to ride rabbits." cavalo, I believe, is the word she was looking for, horse.

When my dad was on a mission in central California, he was translating for this Spanish-speaking couple during sacrament meeting. During the meeting my father translated Lamb of God (Cordero de Dios) as Conejo de Dios (Rabbit of God). He knew that he had done something wrong when the couple started to shake with laughter.

The other mistake from today I'm pretty sure that I can't post on my blog because it'd get flagged. Oops.

This play goes on forever, I mean, honestly!

How did this team pull it off?

Addictions fomented

I have an addiction to politics and political banter shows. Emily likes very much to do crosswords, something that I've started to appreciate more. These two combined in a scene from the documentary Wordplay, a film crossword puzzles and the people that do them (trailer). You won't believe what the NYTimes pulled off for election day, '96:

I heart new toothbrushes

I just want to point out that today (well yesterday as of about 35 minutes) was a new toothbrush day. I got a 2 for $5 deal. Brushing with a new toothbrush was a comforting way to end a pretty junky day. The new toothbrush was greatly overdue according to my excessive standards.






**Notice goofy shower doors partially hidden by curtains. The shower is directly off of my bedroom. What on earth were they thinking??

The Unfortunate Names

Sometimes parents aren't thinking or worse, they think they're so clever. But whatever it is, sometimes children end up with terrible names. The famous culprits are often celebrities with nothing better to do.
Names like Montana Sierra Sioux, Together, AnA, Kar-rizma-Keyra, Whizdom, Jane't, Ramiyahsuitofi, Ahonesty Ny'Kirra Amirr, Bishop, Ezq, Diezel, Quawntavious Ra'shun De'mone, Jay'Leiah Twy-emirah-n'Ava, Qchristopher, C'Tha, Schlock, Junnet Ph.

But the best name of someone that I personally know is Dakota Lynn Starblanket Wolfchild

But what the message of this post really comes down to is the importance of the Utah Baby Namer. I suggest clicking on the Cream of the Crop for all of your baby naming needs. I'm sure that you'll find something in the list that will suit you just fine.

Ice Cream or Pie??

mmmmmm...mint chocolate chip

my favorite pie is pumpkin (this is what gretchen tells me) but i do love that blueberry and strawberry...

You Are Pumpkin Pie

You're the perfect combo of uniqueness and quality Those who like you are looking for something (someone!) special

What Kind of Pie Are You?

And in another shocking announcement...

Dumbledore and Charles are brothers! Yes, Dumblydore is the wizard prince.

I'm sorry, i'm just not d'ac with this whole Dumbledore mess.
I admit it, I'm bugged. Now, after the end of the series she reveals this? And it was obvious? I honestly didn't see it coming. And what's the purpose? I don't think it was necessary in the story, meaning I think book 7 worked just fine without this as a backdrop. Anyone else agree?

Can you imagine how this is gonna fan the fire of all of that extreme "religious" criticism???
Duh, the books aren't satanic, but I don't wanna see this debate on the news again. It makes everyone stupider.

I'm a sinner?

I found a picture of this protester. I think it was taken in NY (??). I had no idea I was in such ignominious company. Ahhh, sports, my great vice!

P2 the movie!!

This will mean so much to some of you and absolutely nothing to the rest.
There's a movie called P2! I kid you not. I died laughing when I saw the commercial. Not that I support the watching of this movie. But, WOW!!!!
I can totally understand why, as I lived there, below P4...

Knighted

Who knew this was how it was done??

Roxette's music is not "oldies"

No matter what the genre label might have said on iTunes, I put my foot down, well stamp it hard and declare "that, NO!, Roxette's music is far from Oldies!!!" Dadgummit!
The 80s are not Oldies. I mean, is this old?:

One reason why I like where I live

We live at the end of a cul-de-sac. And even though we live in Old Mill, it doesn't feel like it most times because we're so secluded. Every morning when I catch my bus and every time I come back from school, there are kids out playing. This morning there were two girls, about 4 and 2, playing make-believe, I think. One of them had on cowboy boots that were far from matching her cute outfit. Then as I was walking back after getting of the bus, a little girl who looked no more than 18 months teetered down the incline of a driveway. She was really short and had little pig tails sticking out of the side of her head. She was carefully holding on to a book, which seems like a delicate balance between actually being able to hold something and walk at the same time.
There are so many kids around that I have as of yet to really recognize them, because there are so many running around. It's great.

What American accent do you have?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Battle of Hastings

On this date in 1066 William the Conquerer gave it to the Brits and the English language was never the same: pig and pork, cow and beef, chief and chef, motive and motif, love and amour.
If it hadn't been for the invasion, all those romance languages would be so much harder for us to learn.
J'aime les français, tous les français, même les français que je n'aime pas!

Everybody wants to rule the world means getting a haircut

There was this two- or three-year period in my life when I was in elementary school where every single time I went to Susan's Hair Design on Spanish Fork's Main Street (which was about 4 times a year) to get either a hair cut or the twice-yearly perm, the song Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears would come on the radio. They listened to KISN 97.1 and that station never failed to play the song when I'd get my hair cut. Every time I'd go I'd think, "Nah, it won't come on this time. It's a fluke." But, nope, it always came on for like three years without fail. I told my mom about it and she thought I was crazy. But I'd report to her that in the 20 or 60 minutes that I was there, the song had come one. I think she thought it was weirder that I'd noticed or that I'd care to keep track.
Why did I write this? Because the song just came up on my iTunes and before I'd realized that it was playing I got this urge to get a hair cut and I smelled this crazy (nonexistent) whiff of hair permanent chemicals.



Oh, and just as an anecdote that possibly only I find funny/interesting: one of the phonetic books for my thesis makes clear that the [t] and [d] sounds in Portuguese are produced at the front teeth. What? Do we have back teeth?

Columbus Day** and gummy candy or "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem" and gummy candy

Yesterday was Columbus Day. I think my favorite thing about Columbus Day is the Leif Land First shirt that Sarah wears.
I have a friend from the Portuguese program who wanted (wants??) to do his thesis about the theory that Columbus was actually Portuguese. Who knew that there'd been all of these theories swirling around that Columbus might not actually be the son of a Genoese weaver? I guess Columbus kept his past pretty well hidden, so theories have cropped up. The New York Times had and article about it. But even better they had a condensed chart of the theories. Pretty interesting, but, you know, Occam's Razor, "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the right one," (the excessively long Wikipedia article). So what do you think is the simplest solution? Columbus never wrote in Italian, only Spanish, so... ???

Also, I've had a weird craving lately for a gummy candy. I can't quite put my finger on which kind I'm craving, so my dear blogger friends, do you mind helping me identify what on earth it is that I want? Merci, quoi.

But I am not in the market for gummy bacon, gummy steak, gummy road kill, gummy heart, gummy body parts, gummy hen and eggs, gummy thanksgiving meals, gummy cockroaches, gummy eyeballs, or Haribo bears.

But when diamonds aren't enough...

Wedding dresses and rings

Did you know that Target sells cheap wedding dresses? J.Crew has them too? Since I've never really looked at wedding dresses before, and have contemplated wearing a white lavalava instead of a dress, I had no idea the options that are out there. I wasn't doing this for any particular reason, but I hear that girls often like to look at wedding dresses.
Anyway, if you type in "Vanessa's wedding dress" on google images you get this.
But if you type in "Emily's wedding dress" you get this.
Em didn't find this particularly hysterical. I did.

And I can't believe that I'm admitting this to the blog world. But I've actually thought about what kind of ring I would want. I don't like gems at all. I never have. I really like bands and that's all that I'd want, something simple. So you know rose gold? I really like it with white gold. A whole lot actually. I want some type of band with the white and rose gold together, maybe have the two tones meet in the middle of the band, with colors something like this, only for girls.
Oh, man alive, this is getting too complicated for me. How about this? Simple.

Wait, someone explain to me why I blogged about this?

I feel like I've done something other than complain

Senator Hatch from Utah voted in favor of CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program). I was very happy to see that. But Senator Bennett and Representative Cannon voted against the bill that was just vetoed by the President.
It made me frustrated because I think that making sure than children are insured is worth my tax dollars--even if it means that I pay higher taxes. So I complained to Emily and got all in a fuss over it.
Then I saw an article saying that Senator Hatch voted "Aye." So I emailed him a thank-you note. Then I decided to email Senator Bennett and Rep. Cannon asking them to vote in favor of further legislation that would give children better health care.
I feel like I've done something more than complain. I feel a lot better now that I've acted and not just shot off my mouth.