I'm watching Whose Line, and I noticed that when people kiss - even if it's making out type kissing - they don't move their lips at all. They just press their mouths together and use their other body language to communicate that they're supposed to be making out. At first I thought it was just because the boys didn't want to kiss each other too enthusiastically, but it happens in boy-girl kisses too.
Now I know that in film and TV and theatre when characters are kissing, the actors kiss properly. But I haven't seen that much improv outside of Whose Line and I've never paid much attention to kissing in sketch comedy etc. I wonder if this is some general rule of stage etiquette in improve and/or sketch comedy, or if it's just exclusive to American Whose Line?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
What I appreciate about Ugly Betty
One thing I really appreciate about Ugly Betty is that Betty has a sex life, and no one makes a big deal of the fact. Yes, some of the catty people at Mode have commented that they don't want that mental picture, but no one has ever said or implied "OMG, you get sex even though you're ugly?"
It was once mentioned that a certain night was Betty and Henry's first night together, but it was never implied that Betty was a virgin then, which means she's had at least one partner before. Yes, it was probably Walter, and yes, Walter is unappealing. But Henry is smart and kind and attractive and clearly loves and respects Betty. Yes, he is labelled as a dork and given ridiculous glasses, but he still is an appealing person. Plus he could get with Charlie (who is probably the prettiest non-plastic person on the show), but there is never even a hint of "You could have Charlie and you went for Betty????" or any mention that he's so good to be able to see beyond the superficial. It is simply presented as an unquestioned given that Betty has sex just like anyone else.
My adolescent self could really have benefited from seeing that - someone who looks like me and is presented as just as unattractive as I was (and who is/was bullied and belittled by the cool girls) gets to have sex with an appealing partner (and, at the age of 23, has had at least one other partner) and this isn't even unusual enough to be worth commenting on, overtly or tacitly.
It was once mentioned that a certain night was Betty and Henry's first night together, but it was never implied that Betty was a virgin then, which means she's had at least one partner before. Yes, it was probably Walter, and yes, Walter is unappealing. But Henry is smart and kind and attractive and clearly loves and respects Betty. Yes, he is labelled as a dork and given ridiculous glasses, but he still is an appealing person. Plus he could get with Charlie (who is probably the prettiest non-plastic person on the show), but there is never even a hint of "You could have Charlie and you went for Betty????" or any mention that he's so good to be able to see beyond the superficial. It is simply presented as an unquestioned given that Betty has sex just like anyone else.
My adolescent self could really have benefited from seeing that - someone who looks like me and is presented as just as unattractive as I was (and who is/was bullied and belittled by the cool girls) gets to have sex with an appealing partner (and, at the age of 23, has had at least one other partner) and this isn't even unusual enough to be worth commenting on, overtly or tacitly.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Best sleepwalk ever?
Last night I went to bed wearing black socks.
This morning I woke up wearing white socks.
I was alone in the apartment all night and have no memory of dreaming or waking up.
This morning I woke up wearing white socks.
I was alone in the apartment all night and have no memory of dreaming or waking up.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Stupidest rule ever of the day
So they're making a rule that men who've had sex with another man in the past five years can't be organ donors.
Okay, so here's the thing: you've got a braindead corpse being kept alive by machines until you can figure out whether any of his organs can be used.
How do you know who he's had sex with and how he had sex with them and when he had sex with them?
The only possible way you can find out is to ask other people.
Now if his next of kin is his same-sex partner, you've got your answer right there. But if his next of kin is a family member, he may or may not be out to them, depending on family dynamics. And it's also less likely they'll know when and with whom he has had sex. Do you know when and with whom your immediate family members have had sex? Do they know this about you? You can probably hazard a guess, but most likely don't know for sure.
But if he has had sex with men but not out to his family, you're not going to be able to get correct information. If he has had sex with men and his next of kin is his wife, you'll probably get information that's patently wrong. If he's highly closeted, on the downlow or going to sex workers (or being a sex worker), not only are his survivors not going to know about his activities, but it's more likely that he's engaging in riskier activities.
Basically, the riskier the prospective donor's activities, the less likely it is that the transplant team will be able to get accurate information about them. So this rule isn't going to accomplish a damn thing.
What they should be doing instead is working on a way to test donated organs for HIV or whatever else, like how they test all the blood that's going into the blood bank.
Okay, so here's the thing: you've got a braindead corpse being kept alive by machines until you can figure out whether any of his organs can be used.
How do you know who he's had sex with and how he had sex with them and when he had sex with them?
The only possible way you can find out is to ask other people.
Now if his next of kin is his same-sex partner, you've got your answer right there. But if his next of kin is a family member, he may or may not be out to them, depending on family dynamics. And it's also less likely they'll know when and with whom he has had sex. Do you know when and with whom your immediate family members have had sex? Do they know this about you? You can probably hazard a guess, but most likely don't know for sure.
But if he has had sex with men but not out to his family, you're not going to be able to get correct information. If he has had sex with men and his next of kin is his wife, you'll probably get information that's patently wrong. If he's highly closeted, on the downlow or going to sex workers (or being a sex worker), not only are his survivors not going to know about his activities, but it's more likely that he's engaging in riskier activities.
Basically, the riskier the prospective donor's activities, the less likely it is that the transplant team will be able to get accurate information about them. So this rule isn't going to accomplish a damn thing.
What they should be doing instead is working on a way to test donated organs for HIV or whatever else, like how they test all the blood that's going into the blood bank.
Am I reading these numbers right?
Check out the chart at the bottom of this article. (I can't copy it here, the formatting won't hold.)
It looks like it's saying that 10,714,415 prescriptions for contraception were dispensed in Canada in the last year, 9,890,599 of which were for oral contraceptives.
Is that what it's saying? Because that is a shitload of contraception! Don't get me wrong, I love contraception, I'm just not sure if the numbers can work out.
The population of Canada is 33 million. So that means that nearly 1/3 of all Canadians are on some kind of contraception. But only women would be taking these prescriptions. So that means that 2/3 of all females are using contraception. But contraception is biologically unnecessary before adolescence and after the age of about fifty, not to mention women who are trying to conceive or pregnant or not sexually active or tubalized or using non-prescription contraception or whose partner is female or whose partner is vasectomized. Does this work out? Is there actually room in our population for 33 million for 10 million women who are in the market for contraception? Or am I missing something?
It looks like it's saying that 10,714,415 prescriptions for contraception were dispensed in Canada in the last year, 9,890,599 of which were for oral contraceptives.
Is that what it's saying? Because that is a shitload of contraception! Don't get me wrong, I love contraception, I'm just not sure if the numbers can work out.
The population of Canada is 33 million. So that means that nearly 1/3 of all Canadians are on some kind of contraception. But only women would be taking these prescriptions. So that means that 2/3 of all females are using contraception. But contraception is biologically unnecessary before adolescence and after the age of about fifty, not to mention women who are trying to conceive or pregnant or not sexually active or tubalized or using non-prescription contraception or whose partner is female or whose partner is vasectomized. Does this work out? Is there actually room in our population for 33 million for 10 million women who are in the market for contraception? Or am I missing something?
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Eddie Izzard gets political
Eddie-baby (a.k.a. Frank) gets political, gets a standing O from George Clooney, confuses Angelina Jolie, and manages to incorporate the words "toilet" and "poo."
(Aside: is it just me, or do at least two of those documentaries sound like made-up comedy descriptions?)
(Aside: is it just me, or do at least two of those documentaries sound like made-up comedy descriptions?)
Sibling rivalry
A writer in the Globe and Mail proposes that parents shouldn't mediate their kids' sibling conflicts, instead leaving the kids to work it out themselves.
Here's what I want to know: how exactly does he think the kids are going to work out their conflicts? Because when I was a kid, I didn't have any secret conflict-resolution skills that I was lazily not using - I seriously had no idea whatsoever how to get my sister to leave me alone. In fact, even with my adult interpersonal skills, I still have no idea how I could have gotten her to leave me alone within the limitations placed on me as a kid.
As an example, let's look at the most annoying and pervasive sibling problem I had: my sister would keep opening the door when I was in my room with the door closed. It didn't matter what I was doing, it didn't matter if there was a risk that I was changing clothes, it didn't matter if I had just gone into my room and closed the door specifically to get away from her, she would keep trying to open the door. If I blockaded the door, she'd keep pushing at it trying to get in. Countless hours were wasted pitting my superior mass against her superior strength, trying to get her to leave me the fuck alone so I could have a moment's peace. (This also meant I could never let my guard down even when in my own room with the door closed because I never knew when she'd come by and open the door, so if I wanted real privacy I had to physically barricade the door, which was also difficult because I'm not strong enough to move the larger pieces of furniture single-handedly.
So how would Mr. Wolf have my adolescent self solve this problem?
My adult self can think of a number of approaches. The first thing I'd do if this happened to me today is say "Well, if you aren't going to respect my basic need for privacy, I'll just be going home then." Then I'd go home. But as a kid I didn't have my very own apartment in an access-controlled building, conveniently located in another city. If someone was trying to open the door to my apartment despite my attempts to keep them out, I'd call the police. I think I could even make an argument for calling the police if I had a housemate who was trying to open the door to my bedroom despite my attempts to keep them out. But calling the police because your little sister is bugging you is considered frivolous, and even if it was an option I didn't have a phone line in my room or a cellphone of my own. Another thing I could do as an adult is install some locks on the door to my room, but when I was a kid my parents wouldn't let me do this. I suppose as a last resort, my adult self would go and crash elsewhere, with a friend or at a hotel, but as a kid I couldn't do this either.
But even now, pushing 30, passing as a competent adult in a professional work environment on a daily basis, having even taken conflict resolution training, I still haven't the slightest idea how my adolescent self could have resolved that situation with all the restrictions placed on her, short of going "Moooom, make her leave me alone!" So I'd love to know how exactly Mr. Wolf thinks adolescents are going to resolve their own sibling rivalry.
Here's what I want to know: how exactly does he think the kids are going to work out their conflicts? Because when I was a kid, I didn't have any secret conflict-resolution skills that I was lazily not using - I seriously had no idea whatsoever how to get my sister to leave me alone. In fact, even with my adult interpersonal skills, I still have no idea how I could have gotten her to leave me alone within the limitations placed on me as a kid.
As an example, let's look at the most annoying and pervasive sibling problem I had: my sister would keep opening the door when I was in my room with the door closed. It didn't matter what I was doing, it didn't matter if there was a risk that I was changing clothes, it didn't matter if I had just gone into my room and closed the door specifically to get away from her, she would keep trying to open the door. If I blockaded the door, she'd keep pushing at it trying to get in. Countless hours were wasted pitting my superior mass against her superior strength, trying to get her to leave me the fuck alone so I could have a moment's peace. (This also meant I could never let my guard down even when in my own room with the door closed because I never knew when she'd come by and open the door, so if I wanted real privacy I had to physically barricade the door, which was also difficult because I'm not strong enough to move the larger pieces of furniture single-handedly.
So how would Mr. Wolf have my adolescent self solve this problem?
My adult self can think of a number of approaches. The first thing I'd do if this happened to me today is say "Well, if you aren't going to respect my basic need for privacy, I'll just be going home then." Then I'd go home. But as a kid I didn't have my very own apartment in an access-controlled building, conveniently located in another city. If someone was trying to open the door to my apartment despite my attempts to keep them out, I'd call the police. I think I could even make an argument for calling the police if I had a housemate who was trying to open the door to my bedroom despite my attempts to keep them out. But calling the police because your little sister is bugging you is considered frivolous, and even if it was an option I didn't have a phone line in my room or a cellphone of my own. Another thing I could do as an adult is install some locks on the door to my room, but when I was a kid my parents wouldn't let me do this. I suppose as a last resort, my adult self would go and crash elsewhere, with a friend or at a hotel, but as a kid I couldn't do this either.
But even now, pushing 30, passing as a competent adult in a professional work environment on a daily basis, having even taken conflict resolution training, I still haven't the slightest idea how my adolescent self could have resolved that situation with all the restrictions placed on her, short of going "Moooom, make her leave me alone!" So I'd love to know how exactly Mr. Wolf thinks adolescents are going to resolve their own sibling rivalry.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Talk shows
Some sources say that Leno, Stewart, Colbert, etc. aren't allowed to write their own material during the writers strike.
Thing is, they can't stop them. And I'm not trying to imply that talk show hosts are going to flaunt union rules. Even if everyone wants to obey the union rules to the letter and the consequences are as severe as humanly possible, they are still going to write material for themselves, whether they want to or not.
Why? Imagine this: you're going to be on TV tonight. There's no getting out of it. And no one is going to provide you with the script. Just you, the cameras, and thousands (millions?) of viewers.
You're mentally writing material already, aren't you?
It's humanly impossible not to write for yourself under these circumstances.
This whole situation also has me wondering how talk shows work. Under normal circumstances, do the shows seek out the guests, or do the guests seek out the shows? Because getting a really good guest is a coup for a talk show, but being on a talk show is a coup for an unknown. So who's chasing whom?
Thing is, they can't stop them. And I'm not trying to imply that talk show hosts are going to flaunt union rules. Even if everyone wants to obey the union rules to the letter and the consequences are as severe as humanly possible, they are still going to write material for themselves, whether they want to or not.
Why? Imagine this: you're going to be on TV tonight. There's no getting out of it. And no one is going to provide you with the script. Just you, the cameras, and thousands (millions?) of viewers.
You're mentally writing material already, aren't you?
It's humanly impossible not to write for yourself under these circumstances.
This whole situation also has me wondering how talk shows work. Under normal circumstances, do the shows seek out the guests, or do the guests seek out the shows? Because getting a really good guest is a coup for a talk show, but being on a talk show is a coup for an unknown. So who's chasing whom?
Sunday, January 06, 2008
What should I do with an unwanted lightbulb?
I bought a specialty lightbulb for this lamp I have that takes weird bulbs, but it turned out to be the wrong kind of lightbulb. I don't want to return it to the store because I bought it at a supermarket and it only cost a couple of bucks (and they don't have the kind of bulb I really need, so I'd be tying up the customer service line during rush hour for a refund that isn't even enough for paper money).
So now I just have this weird lightbulb that no one in the world uses. I don't and never will have any use for it, but I don't want to just throw a perfectly good lightbulb in the garbage. Any thoughts on what I can do with it?
So now I just have this weird lightbulb that no one in the world uses. I don't and never will have any use for it, but I don't want to just throw a perfectly good lightbulb in the garbage. Any thoughts on what I can do with it?
My new favourite lego animation
Okay, I was (and still am) impressed by the Lego Eddie Izzard sketches, but this is even better. A Lego version of Weird Al's White & Nerdy!
And if you're going WTF, this is the original.
And if you're going WTF, this is the original.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Things I Don't Understand: not posting prices or floorplans
I've been looking at condo websites lately, and some of them make no mention whatsoever of price, and/or don't provide floor plans for suites.
What on earth is their motivation in doing that? This is the most basic of information! Why wouldn't they want their website to answer "Should I even bother looking?" Why would they want people to come all the way to their sales centre just to find out that the building has nothing to offer them? Yes, granite countertops and a state-of-the-art fitness centre are nice, but they're meaningless if the whole building is out of your price range or if there isn't enough room in the suite layout for you to manoeuvre your wheelchair.
What on earth is their motivation in doing that? This is the most basic of information! Why wouldn't they want their website to answer "Should I even bother looking?" Why would they want people to come all the way to their sales centre just to find out that the building has nothing to offer them? Yes, granite countertops and a state-of-the-art fitness centre are nice, but they're meaningless if the whole building is out of your price range or if there isn't enough room in the suite layout for you to manoeuvre your wheelchair.
Things They Should Invent: transposable kareoke
You know how some songs are just in a bad key, so you either have to sing them uncomfortably high or uncomfortably low for your vocal range? They should make kareoke machines that can overcome this problem by transposing the songs at the touch of a button, so if your favourite song is in a bad key you can sing it half an octave higher.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Dispatch from behind the lines of the War on Christmas
I have a shocking confession to make. The allegations are true, there really is a War on Christmas, and I am one of its operatives. And I am here today to tell you all about our modus operandi.
I could get done for treason for confessing this, but it's a matter of conscience. Lately many innocent civilians have been accused of being our operatives, and given what happens to suspected enemy combattants these days I feel the need to protect these innocent civilians by disclosing our true methods.
Misconception: We say things like "Happy Holidays!" and "Season's Greetings!"
Fact: We say things like "Good morning!" and "Have a nice day!"
Misconception: We play music like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Jingle Bells"
Fact: We play music like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
Misconception: We decorate with pine trees and snowflakes
Fact: We decorate with throw pillows and area rugs
Misconception: We try to convince you to buy buy buy the most perfect present ever for every single person you've ever met.
Fact: We wish you'd stop it with the fucking shopping already because we just want to pick up a carton of milk and some toilet paper without waiting in all these fucking lines!
Misconception: We're the ones suggesting that the the office or the school or whatever have a "holiday party" or a "winter party" with potluck and gifts.
Fact: We're the ones suggesting that we all pool our money and order pizza since we're all going to be working through lunch and eating at our desks anyway.
Misconception: We think that Christmas is really a pagan holiday so everyone should celebrate it regardless of how religious they feel about it.
Fact: We think that Christmas is on a Tuesday so we should watch that DVD since there's nothing on TV anyway.
So remember: If someone greets you with "Happy Holidays" while buying plastic snowmen that sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" for their "seasonal celebration", they're just an innocent civilian with a questionable sense of taste. Our operatives are much more insidious than that. The people you really want to watch out for are the ones who say "Hi, how are you? How was your weekend?" while shopping for bread, eggs, and argyle socks and listening to Radiohead.
I could get done for treason for confessing this, but it's a matter of conscience. Lately many innocent civilians have been accused of being our operatives, and given what happens to suspected enemy combattants these days I feel the need to protect these innocent civilians by disclosing our true methods.
Misconception: We say things like "Happy Holidays!" and "Season's Greetings!"
Fact: We say things like "Good morning!" and "Have a nice day!"
Misconception: We play music like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Jingle Bells"
Fact: We play music like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
Misconception: We decorate with pine trees and snowflakes
Fact: We decorate with throw pillows and area rugs
Misconception: We try to convince you to buy buy buy the most perfect present ever for every single person you've ever met.
Fact: We wish you'd stop it with the fucking shopping already because we just want to pick up a carton of milk and some toilet paper without waiting in all these fucking lines!
Misconception: We're the ones suggesting that the the office or the school or whatever have a "holiday party" or a "winter party" with potluck and gifts.
Fact: We're the ones suggesting that we all pool our money and order pizza since we're all going to be working through lunch and eating at our desks anyway.
Misconception: We think that Christmas is really a pagan holiday so everyone should celebrate it regardless of how religious they feel about it.
Fact: We think that Christmas is on a Tuesday so we should watch that DVD since there's nothing on TV anyway.
So remember: If someone greets you with "Happy Holidays" while buying plastic snowmen that sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" for their "seasonal celebration", they're just an innocent civilian with a questionable sense of taste. Our operatives are much more insidious than that. The people you really want to watch out for are the ones who say "Hi, how are you? How was your weekend?" while shopping for bread, eggs, and argyle socks and listening to Radiohead.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Another characteristic of the two solitudes
I've noticed that Francophones and Anglophones seem to have different relationships with their mother tongues. When I ask an Anglophone to read something and tell me about the meaning, they tell me the message they get from it first, and reach for a dictionary second. When I ask a Francophone the same thing, they reach for the Robert first and only give me the instinctive vibe they get from the text if I specifically ask them to do so. It's like Francophones are more prescriptive and Anglophones are more descriptive - for them, the language is more a set of rules that needs to be followed, and for us it's more a tool to make do what we want.
I always find it interesting when I see this characteristic manifested in the broader culture, outside my usual niche of the language professions. For example, I just saw an ad on TV for Desjardins, with the motto "conjuguer avoirs et êtres".
We could never have that in English! Could you imagine, a financial institution with a motto that's a play on words of grammatical rules? But in French, it's appropriate and decently witty!
My first thought is that this is a sign of anti-intellectualism in our culture - any mention of grammar would be seen as pretentious or elitist or ridiculously fussy - but I think it's more complicated than that. We seriously do have different relationships with our languages. Verb conjugation is more important in French because there are more things that need to happen there and more ways of getting it wrong (and, more importantly, of getting it wrong in a way that changes the meaning), while spelling is more important in English. That's why they have dictées while we have spelling bees.
That's an area for further research, if it hasn't been done yet (watch me once again fall into the trap of blogging without googling). Do the language mistakes that are most likely to change meaning affect/reflect the people's relationship with their language?
I always find it interesting when I see this characteristic manifested in the broader culture, outside my usual niche of the language professions. For example, I just saw an ad on TV for Desjardins, with the motto "conjuguer avoirs et êtres".
We could never have that in English! Could you imagine, a financial institution with a motto that's a play on words of grammatical rules? But in French, it's appropriate and decently witty!
My first thought is that this is a sign of anti-intellectualism in our culture - any mention of grammar would be seen as pretentious or elitist or ridiculously fussy - but I think it's more complicated than that. We seriously do have different relationships with our languages. Verb conjugation is more important in French because there are more things that need to happen there and more ways of getting it wrong (and, more importantly, of getting it wrong in a way that changes the meaning), while spelling is more important in English. That's why they have dictées while we have spelling bees.
That's an area for further research, if it hasn't been done yet (watch me once again fall into the trap of blogging without googling). Do the language mistakes that are most likely to change meaning affect/reflect the people's relationship with their language?
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Dark vs. Right?
In my post below, I mentioned the Darkness and the Demons. These are my names for complex emotions, not literal things I actually see (and completely different from what Dexter experiences). I find people either immediately identify with this and no further explanation is necessary, or they have no idea what I'm talking about and think perhaps I need some drugs (or have been taking some drugs).
The most right-wing person I know personally cannot identify with the Darkness. When presented with the Darkness depicted visually in the arts (Munch, Burton, Gorey), they say they cannot imagine how anyone could possibly ever think of such things.
This leads me to wonder if there's a correlation between a person's politics and whether they experience the Darkness. I haven't done any investigation into this at all, but it does occur to me that it would be far easier to be right-wing if you knew nothing of the Darkness.
The most right-wing person I know personally cannot identify with the Darkness. When presented with the Darkness depicted visually in the arts (Munch, Burton, Gorey), they say they cannot imagine how anyone could possibly ever think of such things.
This leads me to wonder if there's a correlation between a person's politics and whether they experience the Darkness. I haven't done any investigation into this at all, but it does occur to me that it would be far easier to be right-wing if you knew nothing of the Darkness.
My new year's resolution
When the darkness descends or the demons come out to play, I will not even try to work through it. Instead I will immediately reach for food, wine, music and comedy to get my mood back up, then regroup and try again. Virtuous though it may feel, ploughing through the darkness is never as efficient as preserving my energy until the light comes back, and I'm a better person when I've been laughing than when I've been crying.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
How to get me to use biodegradeable garbage bags
Mr. Hartmann said Toronto should simply require biodegradable bags instead of purchasing more costly hydropulpers to remove plastic. He said Toronto residents would be willing to convert to biodegradable bags if they knew it would help the environment.
Come on, does anyone not already know it helps the environment?
I've been through this before, but I'll say it again: what they really need to do is have all stores bag people's purchases in biodegradeable plastic bags instead of the regular kind. Then we will automatically have biodegradeable bags on hand to put our garbage and organics in.
Why not buy biodegradeable bags? First of all, I currently get bags for free with my purchases - buying them is additional expense and inconvenience. Secondly, they aren't readily available within my normal travels, and like hell I'm going to make a separate trip just for garbage bags.
Why not use reuseable shopping bags? Because then I'd have to plan my grocery shopping (which introduces a completely new chore to my routine) and carry big shopping bags around all day (which doubles the number of things I'm carrying - normally I just have a purse) or go home after work, pick up the bags, and go back to the grocery store (which nearly doubles my commute).
It's a completely different story for car people - they can put the reuseable bags in their trunks, and since they travel so widely normally they tend not to consider an extra stop an inconvenience. But for those of us who choose to incur greater expenses and sacrifice space and privacy for the massive convenience of living without a car and within walking distance of most amenities, having to carry extra things and buy extra things is a significant inconvenience. For a car person, it may only be a 5% inconvenience. For me, it's like a 25% inconvenience.
Having stores bag my purchases in biodegradeable bags will ensure that I never put another plastic bag down the garbage chute and that every garbage bag I use is biodegradeable. Anything else is very unlikely to work on me.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Things They Should Research: Does the morphology of numbers in different languages affect those cultures' perceptions of adolescence?
Q: Which ages are considered "teenagers"?
A: 13-19
Q: Why?
A: Because those are the numbers that have "teen" in them.
This has nothing to do with adolescent development, does it? It's just because that's how the numbers go. But the numbers don't do the same thing in every language. Here are the numbers 10-20 inclusive in a few languages. "Teens" (i.e. morphemes deriving from 10) are bolded.
English: ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
French: dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt
German: zehn, elf, zwölf, dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn, sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn, zwanzig
Spanish: diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince, dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, veinte
Polish: dziesięć, jedenaście, dwanaście, trzynaście, czternaście, piętnaście, szesnaście, siedemnaście, osiemnaście, dziewiętnaście, dwadzieścia (the numbers 11-19 all formulate the same, but it isn't a derivative of 10 as far as I can tell)
Russian: Десять, Одиннадцать, Двенадцать, Тринадцать, Четырнадцать, Пятнадцать, Шестнадцать, Семнадцать, Восемнадцать, Девятнадцать, Двадцать (text copy-pasted from the first appropriate website because I can't convince my keyboard to do cyrillic. Again, 11-19 all formulate the same, but it isn't a derivative of 10)
Portugese: dez, onze, doze, treze, catorze, quinze, dezasseis, dezassete, dezoito, dezanove, vinte (thank you Poodle)
Afrikaans: tien, elf, twaalf, dertien, veertien, vyftien, sestien, sewentien, agtien, neëntien, twintig(thank you Poodle)
Italian: Dieci, Undici, Dodici, Tredici, Quattordici, Quindici, Sedici, Diciassette, Diciotto, Diciannove, Venti (via Google translate)
Dutch: Tien, Elf, Twaalf, Dertien, Veertien, Vijftien, Zestien, Zeventien, Achttien, Negentien, Twintig (via Google translate)
Greek: δεκα, εντεκα, δωδεκα, δεκατρεις, δεκατεσσερα, δεκαπεντε, δεκαεξι, δεκαεπτα, δεκαοκτω, δεκαεννεα, εικοσι (via Google translate - I can't actually read Greek so I'm just identifying patterns visually)
If you have access to any other languages, please post in the comments! Google Translate also does Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, but I can't read those well enough to draw any conclusions - if you can, your contributions would be most welcome. (I know I should be using Google Translate and normally I don't but this is one of the most straightforward translations possible with no negative consequences of getting it wrong.)
Anyway, given that the change in number formulation can occur anywhere from 11 to 17 depending on the language, I'm wondering if this affects how various cultures perceive adolescence. Anyone in the market for a thesis project?
A: 13-19
Q: Why?
A: Because those are the numbers that have "teen" in them.
This has nothing to do with adolescent development, does it? It's just because that's how the numbers go. But the numbers don't do the same thing in every language. Here are the numbers 10-20 inclusive in a few languages. "Teens" (i.e. morphemes deriving from 10) are bolded.
English: ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
French: dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt
German: zehn, elf, zwölf, dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn, sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn, zwanzig
Spanish: diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince, dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, veinte
Polish: dziesięć, jedenaście, dwanaście, trzynaście, czternaście, piętnaście, szesnaście, siedemnaście, osiemnaście, dziewiętnaście, dwadzieścia (the numbers 11-19 all formulate the same, but it isn't a derivative of 10 as far as I can tell)
Russian: Десять, Одиннадцать, Двенадцать, Тринадцать, Четырнадцать, Пятнадцать, Шестнадцать, Семнадцать, Восемнадцать, Девятнадцать, Двадцать (text copy-pasted from the first appropriate website because I can't convince my keyboard to do cyrillic. Again, 11-19 all formulate the same, but it isn't a derivative of 10)
Portugese: dez, onze, doze, treze, catorze, quinze, dezasseis, dezassete, dezoito, dezanove, vinte (thank you Poodle)
Afrikaans: tien, elf, twaalf, dertien, veertien, vyftien, sestien, sewentien, agtien, neëntien, twintig(thank you Poodle)
Italian: Dieci, Undici, Dodici, Tredici, Quattordici, Quindici, Sedici, Diciassette, Diciotto, Diciannove, Venti (via Google translate)
Dutch: Tien, Elf, Twaalf, Dertien, Veertien, Vijftien, Zestien, Zeventien, Achttien, Negentien, Twintig (via Google translate)
Greek: δεκα, εντεκα, δωδεκα, δεκατρεις, δεκατεσσερα, δεκαπεντε, δεκαεξι, δεκαεπτα, δεκαοκτω, δεκαεννεα, εικοσι (via Google translate - I can't actually read Greek so I'm just identifying patterns visually)
If you have access to any other languages, please post in the comments! Google Translate also does Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, but I can't read those well enough to draw any conclusions - if you can, your contributions would be most welcome. (I know I should be using Google Translate and normally I don't but this is one of the most straightforward translations possible with no negative consequences of getting it wrong.)
Anyway, given that the change in number formulation can occur anywhere from 11 to 17 depending on the language, I'm wondering if this affects how various cultures perceive adolescence. Anyone in the market for a thesis project?
Etiquette puzzle
I'm in a conversation with two other people, A and B. A asks B a question. A and B have every reason to believe that B is the most qualified person to answer the question. However, I know at least as much as B, if not more, and have every reason to believe that I can explain it better than B.* Should I chime in, "Oh, I've translated about that! Here's how it works!"? Should I wait for an opening and then put in my two cents, if I have anything to add on top of what B says? Should I passive-aggressively ask B questions to lead them to providing the information that A needs? Or should I just shut up and let B be the expert?
*Really, this isn't ego. Something about how I learn things when translating about them seems to make me far better able to explain them to outsiders than insiders can. In other cases, I've experienced something firsthand and studied it academically, when B has done only one or the other.
*Really, this isn't ego. Something about how I learn things when translating about them seems to make me far better able to explain them to outsiders than insiders can. In other cases, I've experienced something firsthand and studied it academically, when B has done only one or the other.
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