Card-holding Commentariat Member Scott Vaughan was sceptical about the timelessness of Amondawa in a recent post. He compared it to the work of Benjamin Lee Whorf (no relation to the Worf on Star Trek) on the Hopi notion of time, or lack thereof. No surprise that Whorf couldn’t find what he wasn’t looking for. “After long […]
Continue ReadingIt’s just not something people talk about in Amondawa. Time, that is. No days, no months or years to speak of. No ages among the Amondawa, they just keep changing their names to reflect different stages and status. This group was living up the Amazon with first contact just 25 years ago. BBC interviewed Chris […]
Continue ReadingNo one likes to see a language die, yet it happens every day. It’s really a growth industry. Academics are making careers and earning grant money by trolling the world’s remote spots and finding lost languages on the brink of extinction. Rescuing a dying language is a good thing, done in the name of science […]
Continue ReadingEverything Rick Aschmann knows about the pronunciation of English on this continent fits on a single webpage―a 26,000 word webpage packed full of text like Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap. Dense. Aschmann’s webpage includes links to 625 YouTube videos identifying particular local dialects, and an amazingly large map of English dialects spoken in North America, which requires pince-nez […]
Continue ReadingEnglish is widely spoken by rich people. Doesn’t matter where you go in the world―where there’s money, there’s English. They’ve got the time and the cash to get educated, and the opportunities to take advantage of it. There was a time, and I remember it well, when those fancy folks were happy to speak their […]
Continue ReadingNow, riding a bike, that’s something you don’t forget, no matter how long you’ve been off two wheels. A few years ago we rented some bikes in Amsterdam and, even after all those long years without two wheels between my legs, I found I could still push a pedal or two around and about the […]
Continue ReadingCertain countries are just better for ugly Americans than others. Whenever I don my touring togs (Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts and sandals over socks), I like the natives to speak my lingo, savvy? That’s what makes Legoland in Billund a must-see on my Euro-itinerary, since all Danes speak English. But at what price to the […]
Continue ReadingIn old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk. In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.My words will be beautiful. Among the Navajo, the Blessingway [Hózhójí] is used to bless the “one sung over,” to ensure good luck, good health and blessings for all […]
Continue ReadingIf native-speaking ability gets you treated like a native, would you consider acting like a foreigner if you thought you might be treated better? Sometimes identity sounds better in disguise. Today I present to you, the strange case of Dr. Kobayashi, who switches his ethnicity as others switch hats. Kobayashi-sensei, despite his name, is butter […]
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