Hopping on the bandwagon alongside Rachel Fox, and Titus the dog, here's my list of ten random facts about me, one of which is a lie. Over to you to sort fact from fiction.
1. I once recieved a letter from George Bush Senior.
2. I was backing dancer for a scene in a Bollywood film.
3. I had a recurring dream about scary parrots as a child.
4. I was offered a job on the statue of liberty, but didn't take it.
5. I once had a job breeding fruit flies.
6. I once had a job making cardboard boxes.
7. My nickname as a child was Sid Vicious.
8. I once attended the Eurovision song contest.
9. I was a member of the "Caring and Sharing Association" in my teens.
10. I had a PE note for several years running which excused me from PE because of a fictional
verruca.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
If you're doing nothing else tonight
You should have a listen to RTE 1 at 7pm, there will be a live broadcast from the infamous Glór sessions from the international bar. It should be pretty cool... it usually is - whether or not the world is watching - more details of performers etc over on Uiscebot's blog.
If you are doing something else, let me know what it is.
If you are doing something else, let me know what it is.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Language as a window
The "go héasca" thing got me thinking, the confusion - and a word that seems to mean fast and slow at the same time, isn't all that surprising after all. Go héasca can mean easy and slow, but when you think about it, the easy way to do something can also be the short way and therefore the faster way.
Language and words are used and taken for granted as representing the real world, but they are not actually the real world themselves. They are just symbols invented, refined, over the years, tools of description. But it does make me wonder how much we take them for granted, and allow them to shape the way we think. Lately I have occasionally found myself "thinking in Irish" - which suggests that language does have a huge role in our thinking. The way we phrase things, seems to come naturally, but it's handed down and evolves from generation to generation, like a cultural DNA.
In his latest book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell relates how a Korean airline switched to training its staff in English, which it found had the effect of making staff more assertive, and more likely to persist when warning their bosses of safety issues; ie in Korean they might have said
"Boss, I think we're nearly out of fuel, we should land somewhere soon" and the boss would say
"No we'll be grand" and they'd say
"Ok then" - because of the huge respect for seniors inherent in the language they didn't challenge decisions, and lots of people died. Whereas in English they were more likely to say
"Eh, no I really think we need to land, have a look at the fuel tank dial there."
I suppose the point is that we need to be aware of the effect of our language on us, the restraints and freedoms of what it allows us to express, the things it allows us to see, and the things it might be hiding from us - things we mightn't be able to put into words but things we should still know.
Language and words are used and taken for granted as representing the real world, but they are not actually the real world themselves. They are just symbols invented, refined, over the years, tools of description. But it does make me wonder how much we take them for granted, and allow them to shape the way we think. Lately I have occasionally found myself "thinking in Irish" - which suggests that language does have a huge role in our thinking. The way we phrase things, seems to come naturally, but it's handed down and evolves from generation to generation, like a cultural DNA.
In his latest book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell relates how a Korean airline switched to training its staff in English, which it found had the effect of making staff more assertive, and more likely to persist when warning their bosses of safety issues; ie in Korean they might have said
"Boss, I think we're nearly out of fuel, we should land somewhere soon" and the boss would say
"No we'll be grand" and they'd say
"Ok then" - because of the huge respect for seniors inherent in the language they didn't challenge decisions, and lots of people died. Whereas in English they were more likely to say
"Eh, no I really think we need to land, have a look at the fuel tank dial there."
I suppose the point is that we need to be aware of the effect of our language on us, the restraints and freedoms of what it allows us to express, the things it allows us to see, and the things it might be hiding from us - things we mightn't be able to put into words but things we should still know.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Joan Power on the Radio
Joining me this week on the radio is the lovely Joan Power with a show on the theme of "Tales of Loss and Lunacy"
A member of St Muirin's writing group in Tallaght, Joan is a very entertaining writer, and will be reading some of her very funny stories for us. The usual time, 11 am on Sunday - link to Liffey sound on the right.
A member of St Muirin's writing group in Tallaght, Joan is a very entertaining writer, and will be reading some of her very funny stories for us. The usual time, 11 am on Sunday - link to Liffey sound on the right.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Various Things - some about words
The Irish word Póit is pronounced a little bit like poet - and means excessive drinking or hangover.
"go héasca" means fast to the Aran Islanders, and means easy and slow to the Connemara fishermen, so that when they go fishing together and one crew is shouting the instruction to let the nets out "go héasca go héasca", frantically urging them on, the other side is wondering how they could possibly go any slower.
German homeless people and sex workers get up early in the morning, and at least one walks around with her finger stuck in a book to keep her place in it.
No one in any American company is given any job below the level of Vice President, and most are CEOs.
The word yes is contained in the word eyes, the word no in the word nose.
In other news - here's an interesting article on how some great novels were written.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703740004574513463106012106.html
"go héasca" means fast to the Aran Islanders, and means easy and slow to the Connemara fishermen, so that when they go fishing together and one crew is shouting the instruction to let the nets out "go héasca go héasca", frantically urging them on, the other side is wondering how they could possibly go any slower.
German homeless people and sex workers get up early in the morning, and at least one walks around with her finger stuck in a book to keep her place in it.
No one in any American company is given any job below the level of Vice President, and most are CEOs.
The word yes is contained in the word eyes, the word no in the word nose.
In other news - here's an interesting article on how some great novels were written.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703740004574513463106012106.html
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Drama Queen
Remembering Joan,
The most encouraging, generous, funny and brilliant friend anyone could ever hope for. It was a huge privilege to know her and she will be most sadly missed.
here's one of her favourite songs.
The most encouraging, generous, funny and brilliant friend anyone could ever hope for. It was a huge privilege to know her and she will be most sadly missed.
here's one of her favourite songs.
Monday Poem
Who says it has to be a Monday to put up a Monday poem? This week, the week the world will remember for the day the earth stood still, I am bringing Monday forward 4 days, who needs squelchy Friday with all the casual clothes and feel good "What ya doin for the weekend?" vibe - let's go for it - straight back into the working week - Today is Monday. So here is the Monday poem. For the Monday poetry bus, that is no longer running.
I don't know if I like it (the poem I mean) - it came from a challenge that Matt Bolton set me - to make a poem out of a story. In other news, I'm rather tired of having blogposts with days of the week in the title, which is why I'm trying to work them all out of my system this week, so that I can go back to the unroutine business of putting up whatever I darn well feel like putting up, no matter what the day. Anyway...
I don't know if I like it (the poem I mean) - it came from a challenge that Matt Bolton set me - to make a poem out of a story. In other news, I'm rather tired of having blogposts with days of the week in the title, which is why I'm trying to work them all out of my system this week, so that I can go back to the unroutine business of putting up whatever I darn well feel like putting up, no matter what the day. Anyway...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Philosophical Question Tuesday
Can't believe it has the nerve to show it's face around here after standing us up yesterday, but here's tuesday now, and the question today is "What if the world stopped turning?"
First of all, would everyone, apart from those in padded cells die? Since we're moving fairly fast through space, when we'd shudder to a halt, I guess things would go flying and there'd be a huge breath taking wind. So maybe just people in airtight padded cells and deep sea divers would survive the slow up. Then what?
If you happen to be in one of those two categories, what would be your next step? Where would you live? Bearing in mind that the world would be frozen in place, you have a choice of season, and time of day to live at, and access to the world's best cars as well, but the roads would be probably full of debris so travelling regularly between day and night, or different temperatures wouldn't be an option. So, plan ahead, what would you do?
First of all, would everyone, apart from those in padded cells die? Since we're moving fairly fast through space, when we'd shudder to a halt, I guess things would go flying and there'd be a huge breath taking wind. So maybe just people in airtight padded cells and deep sea divers would survive the slow up. Then what?
If you happen to be in one of those two categories, what would be your next step? Where would you live? Bearing in mind that the world would be frozen in place, you have a choice of season, and time of day to live at, and access to the world's best cars as well, but the roads would be probably full of debris so travelling regularly between day and night, or different temperatures wouldn't be an option. So, plan ahead, what would you do?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Weekly Wednesday
This week it's a day early, yes after three weeks of faithful service, this week's Weekly Wednesday has taken us all by surprise, arriving immediately after monday instead of patiently awaiting it's turn, elbowing timid tuesday out of the way. In this uncertain world let this be a lesson to us all, we can't assume or count on anything. Go ahead, enjoy tomorrow today, say to people "Thank god we're half way through the week" show up for any wednesday meetings or appointments and call people up who should be there, it is Wednesday after all - you can refer them here for confirmation if they complain. (Of course you should ignore any Tuesday obligations you have as well, such as making up philosophical tuesday questions for your blog etc etc). Ring up RTE tonight demanding the midweek movie if they don't run it. I suspect they will though, it's well known that all RTE bosses read this blog and obey its suggestions religiously. Happy Weekly Wednesday everyone!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
