That says it all, doesn't it? Overworked, and the Februaries have taken hold. Makes me want to make cookies, but no time for that, alas.
In other news, I'm not allowed to write about which rapper got eliminated on The Show That Shall Not Be Named--J was at a concert at Yale and missed it and doesn't want to hear what happened until she can see it. But since I think J & I might be the only ones in this crowd watching the show I'm sure that's not much of a hardship to the rest of ye!
Off to finish reading Language Shift, and then I must write a paper about it. Maybe I'll talk about how I learned to say "thanks a million" and "grand."
7 comments:
I think you should write about how you learned to tell wankers to feck off, meself. But that's just me. Yer man grading the paper may feel differently. But if he does, just tell the wanker to feck off, you won't be hearing that shite!
Which reminds me, have you ever heard Zan play his tune The Shite That Killed Elvis?
Ha!
I have heard that tune of Zan's--a classic, for sure.
Yeah, this is going to be an interesting paper. Somehow I need to make the leap from 2 communities in Papua New Guinea to a discussion of "fecking" things into pots, into the oven, etc. And what happens when, like, a valley girl goes to Cork, like.
Do Niall and Cillian have any sisters? If so, you could interview them on what it's like when a Vallely girl goes to Cork. Just a thought...
"language shift" says it all. not knowing much about the class, i'd imagine that it's based on cases where the shift HAS happened and how language HAS shifted. why be content to learn about those things? why not start a revolution and make a NEW shift?
Papua New Guineans (wtf?) may be floundering in their need for new words like "bangers and mash"....who doesn't love saying that, eh?
Actually, the book is about how the children of one group in New Guinea are suddenly not speaking the village's language, but have become nearly monolingual in Tok Pisin, a creole used throughout NG. Varying reasons behind this, but the short version is that Tok Pisin has come to stand for progress, while the village vernacular represents old, hidebound ways that need to be improved. So they may well feel a need for words like bangers and mash, at least metaphorically!
But the idea of starting a "new shift" isn't quite relevant here, as my understanding of 'language shift' is that it's a culture-wide phenomenon that involves changing from one language to another--not something that one person can accomplish on her own.
Hey, "Pleasure," are you who I think you are? A member of de loj?
Oh, and John--the prof is a woman. Just so you know :-) One of the most famous linguistic anthropologists ever...definitely an honor to be in her class, despite the staggering amount of work.
a culture-wide shift? is there a meeting at which all of the constituent members convene and take a vote and decide to shift? i know it's not like a crunchy vs. creamy sort of decision-making process but, despite my generally prevailing glass-half-full demeanor, i think the shift COULD start with one person. why not you?
spanish inquisition (comfy chair) aside, it all sounds very interesting :-)
I suppose it could start with one person, but at this stage the only culture I'm interested in shifting is that of TOO MUCH SCHOOLWORK! :-) That's academia--too busy thinking about things to have time to actually do anything.
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