Towse: views from the hill

July 23, 2008

Britishisms beyond zebra crossing

Filed under: wordstuff — Towse @ 6:48 pm

[1] BA in-flight magazine. July 2008

hoarding
From context, the meaning was relatively clear.

Merriam-Webster on hoarding:
1: a temporary board fence put about a building being erected or repaired —called also hoard
2: [British] billboard

[2] Independent. 18 Jul 2008

swingeing
“Neither candidate looks likely to balance the budget without swingeing cuts.” Context again clear, but etymology?

Merriam-Webster on swingeing:

Etymology: from present participle of swinge
Date: 1575

chiefly British : very large, high, or severe swingeing fines swingeing taxes

Which in turn brought me to Google Books and Hensleigh Wedgwood’s A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY, publ 1872:

Delightful.

e.g. swindle

Swindle G Schwindel swimming in the head dizziness giddiness In a figurative sense Schwindel is applied to dealings in which the parties seem to have lost their head as we say to have become dizzy over unfounded or unreasonable prospects of gain. ‘Als der Assignatenschwindel Assignat mania zu wüthen begann’ ‘Er hat bei dem Akticn schwin del Share mania viel geld verdient’ — Genz in Sanders The word may be translated madness delusion Then in a factitive sense schwindeler one who induces delusions in others Einem etwas abschwindeln to get something from another by inducing delusion to swindle him out of something The parallel form ON sundla to be dizzy connects G schwindeln through ON sund a swimming with svt ma svimma to swim svimra Da si tmlc to be dizzy Du swijmelen falsa imaginari instar dormientium vertigine laborari Kil Da svingel dizziness darnel from producing dizziness svingle to reel as a drunken man.

Delightful.

Festival of Sail kicks off with parade of ships at noon today

Filed under: photographs,ships — Tags: , , — Towse @ 5:22 pm

We live where we can see the water because his nibs wanted to see boats, boats, boats!

And we do.

The Festival of Sail kicks off at noon today with a parade of ships sailing in through the Golden Gate.

I’ll be downtown for lunch with his nibs and will miss the ship parade, but I’ve been enjoying some of the runup this morning.

 

 


 

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Shown:

[1] The fire boats serving San Francisco Fire Department from the Bay spray a welcome for an incoming military ship.

[2] Some masts over by the Ferry Building. And a ferry, and a docked dinner cruise ship. The Delta Queen, the largest of the dinner cruise ships on this side of the Bay, has been docked elsewhere to free up some room for the wooden ships to dock. The ships will open for tours starting tomorrow. We’ve been enjoying views of a two masted ship, docked at Pier 19 since we got back.

[3] Another smaller boat.

July 21, 2008

Back.

Filed under: photographs,travel — Towse @ 10:28 pm

 
 
 

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Working on pics.

I promised the PCV that I’d get my favorite photos pulled together in a more timely manner than norm.

Our guide had backed up a bit when he saw our visitor headed our way, backed up just enough that he cleared the path over to the right that the elephants used to cross the dirt road. Our visitor came within a foot of the hood and veered off to the right.

Our South African companion in the front seat is deathly afraid of elephants. She was not at all amused as the beast got nearer and nearer and nearer.

The First Today Show: January 14, 1952 with Dave Garroway

Filed under: history,news,video — Towse @ 6:41 pm

Brought to you on Hulu

[>>> Anna L. Conti’s journal]

June 27, 2008

Back in a few

Filed under: life,travel — Towse @ 3:56 pm

Article ideas/commentary plucked from the aether

Filed under: books,life — Towse @ 6:01 am

First Monday’s book for discussion in August, as I think I mentioned a while back, is Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA

I went over to Book Bay this afternoon looking for a copy, thinking I could take it with me when we’re away and read the book way ahead of time instead of during the last few days before First Monday.

I looked under /Marquez/ in the FIC section. Nada. I wandered over to the back of the store and got distracted by the $0.50/item table (3/$1) What is this? Gazillions of first edition mysteries, some in dust jackets, some in dust jackets with plastic covers.

Wah?

Science fiction classics too. Watty Piper’s THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD (with Sanrio stickers front and back and pencil scribbles inside but the ILLUSTRATIONS are there and I [heart] Watty Piper.

I stack stack here and stack stack there. …

(Excuse me. Could I stash these books somewhere? I haven’t finished shopping but there are too many for me to carry around with me. Oh, thanks.)

I took my stashes from the $0.50 or 3/$1 over and stacked them on the counter. I also had a “full price” $5 copy of Maupin’s TALES OF THE CITY. We already have a copy of TALES, but maybe I’d like to take a copy along with us on our next trip. (We are looking for lightweight books we can take along with us and abandon along the way. Our next trip requires us for a major portion of the trip to have a combined checked/carryon luggage weight of 26 lbs. …) Before then we have layovers in London and other long stretches.

I wander over to the “new additions” still looking for LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA. Nada. I do find another $5 book I want.

I check the shelves and displays. Surely there’s GGM somewhere in this room.

*FLICK* the light comes on.

I go back to FICTION and look for GARCIA MARQUEZ. Two copies of CHOLERA, one HB, one PB. I choose the PB for weight reasons. (That and the price of the HB, which is the first NAm edition. …) PB cost $5.

I go back to the front counter and start counting through my $0.50 or 3/$1 books three-by-three and discover I am one book shy of a number that divides by three. I go back to the tables and find an African travel book (how à propos, eh?).

Back to the front counter. The clerk, a volunteer, is counting. xx yy zz aa bb … and forty-seven. I hand over the African travel book, making it forty-eight. She rummages around with what that all may mean and I say, “$16 plus $5 for TALES OF THE CITY and $5 for LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA.”

She adds it all up.

AND! I tell her, I have a Friends of the Library card (10% off) and a one-time extra discount (25% off).

Forty-eight books plus this and that and my total (with tax) is sixteen dollars.

Plus … that Watty Piper LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD? I plan to sell a human interest/slice of life commentary about cleaning up the childhood classic to pass it on to my grandchildren.

Article ideas/commentary plucked from the aether.

June 26, 2008

Smoky haze

Filed under: life — Towse @ 9:43 pm

Woke up to the news station warning of smoky haze. Elderly, children, those with health problems should stay indoors. Set your A/C to “recirculate.” Do not exercise outdoors.

Yesterday as we were walking up the path I noticed that the neighbors who’ve been remodeling one of the older houses on this side of the hill had repainted their gazebo a soft butter cream color.

“Nice,” I said, pointing it out to his nibs. His nibs in turn pointed out to me that the gazebo was still as titanium white as ever but the smokey sunshine’s golden hue was making the gazebo seem a different color than it was.

Karolina Kurkova Labeled Too Fat (VIDEO)

Filed under: culture,life — Towse @ 6:43 am

Karolina Kurkova Labeled Too Fat

Her walk is at the 8: marker, mas o menos.

Fat?

Too fat?

Oh, puhleeze. No wonder we have Olsen twins and the girl next door worrying about their body images.

Yay hooray! Squirrel Nut Zippers return to town

Filed under: music — Towse @ 2:45 am

His nibs is over at his desk across from me, rummaging through online stuff. Turns out the US Air Guitar Regional Finals @ The Independent tonight are sold out, alas.

But THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS will be there on my bday! What an AWESOME coinkidink.

We’re there.

Ego is not a dirty word

Filed under: life,music — Towse @ 2:36 am

Retrieved a couple old Skyhooks cassettes this afternoon, including LIVING IN THE 70s.

I’ll have to get CD versions if I want to listen to them at the computer or on the BO, I suppose. We don’t have a cassette player here; I can only play the cassettes in the car.

Ego Is Not A Dirty Word

If I did not have an ego I would not be here tonight
If I did not have an ego I might not think that I was right
If you did not have an ego you might not care the way you dressed
If you did not have an ego you’d just be like the rest

Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Don’t you believe what you’ve seen or heard

If Jesus had an ego he’d still be alive today
And if Nixon had no ego he might not be in decay
If you did not have an ego you might not care too much who won
If I did not have an ego I might just use a gun

Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Ego is not a dirty word
Don’t you believe what you’ve seen or heard

Some people keep their egos in a bottom drawer
A fridge full of Leonard Cohen
Have to get drunk just to walk out the door
Stay drunk to keep on goin’
So if you got an ego
You better keep it in good shape
Exercise it daily
And get it down on tape

[...]

If you’ve never heard Skyhooks, “Ego,” “Horror Movie,” and a couple other cuts are available at their MySpace page

I probably haven’t listened to them for going on thirty years. Wish I could remember what made me decide I needed to rummage the cassettes out of the stash. Something that was going on online. …

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