Unlikely beacon

From the BBC News website, a story about replica whale jawbones that are to be put on top of North Berwick Law, as a replacement for the old whale jawbones that rotted away and were airlifted to Health & Safety in 2005:

David Berry, East Lothian Council's leader, said: "From originally being a beacon for homecoming sailors, the jawbones on top of the Law have come to be a symbol of North Berwick, recognised by visitors and locals alike."

A beacon, eh?

So imagine you're a sailor from North Berwick, sailing home. Oh look, there's Bass Rock, that iconic massive piece of volcanic rock infested with guano and covered in birds. Nope, no idea where I am in relation to North Berwick yet. Oh and see, there, on the shore, the perfectly conical hill that just must be North Berwick Law. A nice view, but am I anywhere close to North Berwick yet? Beats me. But wait! What's that on top of that unique conical hill exactly opposite the white rock? Give us the binoculars, will you? Ah, yes... I spy with my little eye... a set of incredibly ickle whale jawbones. Finally I know that we're getting close to North Berwick now!

Or am I being too cynical now?

Føroyar í globaliseringini

One of the recurring sketches in E elski Førjar, the Faroese version of Little Britain, is a spoof television show called Føroyar í globaliseringini (The Faroe Islands in Globalization), where a slightly-too-slick presenter played by Sjúrður Skaale interviews a Faroese person who has had a major role in some important global event. Such as the guy who shouted "Liverpool! Liverpool!" at the FA Cup final, or the girl who as-good-as-knows Brad Pitt because she lives in Seattle, which is quite close to where Brad lives. (Tveir tímar, tað er jú púrasta einki! says Skaale.)

But just like Vicky Pollard wouldn't have been funny if there weren't millions of real-life Vicky Pollards around, there must be a real-life version of The Faroe Islands in Globalization. And yes, they really do think they have a hand in global events. Did you know that Spain beat Italy in yesterday's Euro 2008 quarterfinals with Faroese help?


(Original article)

Book Blog: Purchases

The most recent purchases:

• Christopher Brookmore, Attack of the unsinkable rubber ducks


• Steven Pinker, The stuff of thought: language as a window into human nature


• John O' Farrell, An utterly impartial history of Britain: or 2000 years of upper-class idiots in charge


• Walter Moers, The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear: a novel

Particularly intrigued by the last one.

Less recent additions:

• Paul Torday, The irresistible inheritance of Wilberforce


• Alexander McCall Smith, The careful use of compliments


• Alexander McCall Smith, Love over Scotland


• Herman Pleij, Komt een vrouwtje bij de drukker: over gezichtsveranderingen van de literatuur uit de late Middeleeuwen

And for a re-read:

• Jean-Paul Sartre, Les jeux sont faits

The list of books still unread is getting to quite scary levels. I need more sunny Saturday and Sunday afternoons out in the Meadows, probably, or alternatively a lot of travel. Also, I need to actually make a blog post on the rare occasions that I've actually finished a book. (The fact that I've just finished the Wilberforce book and am not planning on writing a post on it just yet doesn't bode well...)

Down South

Native-speaker intuition from Scots and Scottish English speakers wanted.

What exactly is the meaning of "Down South"?
I have the impression that the general meaning is 'England', but I also have the impression that the picture is a little bit more complex than that.

• Is the default meaning 'London and surroundings', if no further information is specified?


• Does Northern England qualify as Down South? (Places like Manchester, Liverpool, etc.)


• Does the English Far North qualify as Down South? (Places like Newcastle, Berwick, Carlisle, etc.)
  
  
  • If people say they are going Down South, and it turns out they went to Manchester, Newcastle or Carlisle, would you think they had lied to you?
  
  


• Is Wales part of Down South?
  
  
  
  • If you were going to Wales by land (i.e. through England), are you going Down South?
  
  
  • If you were going to Wales by air (i.e. not through England), are you going Down South?
  
  
  • Is a conversation "How was your trip down south?" "I didn't go down south, I went to Wales" grammatical?
  
  


• Do even the Borders qualify as Down South? (I don't think they do, but if Berwick does, then where does it end?)

Perspective

Part One
Somewhere in the Haymarket area. This was a while ago already, but it's a bit of a faff getting photos off my phone onto my computer. (SonyEricsson don't like Macs, obviously.) I think this is a very nice example of how the English language doesn't quite make complete sense. If the road is open, it's closed, and if it's closed, it's open. Whichever way you look at it.



Part Two
Inside Appleton Tower, where you can't see Appleton Tower, but where you can see the new Linguistics and English Language computer teaching lab. Unlike the outside, which is falling to bits, or the view out, which is the netting that is supposed to keep the bits falling off the outside from hurting people, the inside is a true feast for the eye:



Apart from the Logitech keyboards and Microsoft mice, of course. Apart from the price, what's wrong with the proper stuff?

But then there was a little bit of cognitive dissonance here:



Oh dear.

Also: want! (But don't bother with the dual boot.)