fashionista cat in a zero gravity shoe-store

So, where were we?

2008-01-14T21:54:00.000+01:00

As far as I'm concerned, I've been here. :) Just been busy.

What? You didn't know that?

2007-11-21T17:03:00.000+01:00

There are more cars than people in L.A.

When it gets cold, bees gather in their beehive and start to shiver collectively, thus heating up the beehive.

By a tradition dating from the 12th century AD, white swans in Britain are property of the Royal Family.

Mandarin is the mother tongue of 878 million people.

Karl Marx disapproved of Friedrich Engel's mistress as he considered her too common.

Humans move 43 muscles when they frown, but only 17 muscles when they smile.

Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were roommates during their first year at Harvard.

Only one in 20 children gets born on its due-date predicted by doctors.

Flies take off backwards.

Turkeys often stare into the sky during heavy rains – and drown.

Melbourne has the third-largest Greek population, ranking below Athens and Thessaloniki.

Male prostitutes in Ancient Rome would scratch their heads with their middle fingers to signalize their business.

Male camels – once hooked up – tend to jealously defend their 'relationships' for years.

The whistling language of the indigenous people of Las Gomeras could travel an acoustic distance of about five miles.

On the island of Korfu, more than 50 percent of all men are called 'Spiro'.

There's a breed of dogs on the Congo River that cannot bark; it yodels instead and cleans itself like a cat.

Goldfish can get seasick.

Oral consumption of heroin can lead to constipation.

There are more creatures living on the surface of an average human's skin than there are humans living on earth.

Snails kiss before mating.

There's a kind of worm residing under the eyelids of hippos and feeding on the hippos' tears.

99 percent of all creatures that have ever inhabited Earth are extinct.

Every human's got a unique tongue print.

King Louis XIV. bathed three times in his life.

Giraffes show their affection by rubbing their necks against each other.

Croissants originally aren't from France, but from Austria. (The ever food-loving Marie Antoinette took those pastries to France with her when she got married.)

Penguins can jump up to two metres into the air.

Male monkeys can bald just like men.

On average, every human contains two molecules of Julius Cesar's final breath.

Yukatan is called 'Yukatan' as that is the way natives there answered Europeans when asked for the name of their place. “What's your country called?” - “I can't understand you.”

It's not only the white shoes...

2007-10-31T21:02:00.000+01:00

Have you ever wondered what women see in 'Latin lovers'?

Boo

2007-10-31T15:01:00.000+01:00

Lurkers anybody?

2007-10-21T22:18:00.000+02:00

Hee, as I'm just waiting for time to pass till it's 10:30pm and I can take my cold meds before going to bed (not craving pity - yet), I checked how many times my profile had been viewed by now - the figure's somewhere over 800 now. I cannot tell whether that's a lot or not, but I can tell it's a lot more than people that have actually commented on here. So either my posts are really boring, or people would rather comment if they were able to do so anonymously.

The reason why I've disabled anonymous comments simply is that I've seen how some anonymous commentors have behaved on other blogs. Sorry, I won't bother with that. Don't say something online you wouldn't tell a person face-to-face.

The reason why I'm not putting a picture online is that I've seen people copy pictures of people and use them on other sites. (My sis only just yesterday found her picture from her homepage posted on the start page of a social networking site - they ascribed her a wrong last name though. One cannot confuse a punim like hers...) If you don't want your own picture on a profile, don't upload a picture. Anybody who'd like to see a picture of me may contact me on here or at dibbuk[at]web[dot]de.

Yiddish web resources

2007-10-15T20:46:00.000+02:00

This site's got a glossary of Yiddish words and expressions.

'Haynt'; the digitalisation of a Yiddish newspaper that was published from 1908 to 1939.

A poem in Yiddish (I can only view the transliteration; the original appears as gibberish by me).

Wi asoj di Chelmer hobn farukt dem Barg

Lyrics of Yiddish songs and their German translations (Click "Weitere Texte" on the bottom right-hand side to view more texts.)

An online Yiddish course including audio-documents of real native speakers to read along to (The navigation's in German.)

Synoptical view over the alphabet (print, handwritten, numeric value, sound)

Yiddish Dictionary Online (uses klal sprakh)

Yiddish / German / French / Hebrew / English / Russian (If necessary, activate active X-element and click on the speaker symbol to hear the word pronounced in Yiddish.)

Please spread the word

2007-10-14T23:46:00.000+02:00

Pete will get killed in two days from now. If nobody wants to adopt him by then.

Yahoo!/AP report about a site called 'Dogs in danger!'. This site runs countdowns on the lives of dogs in animal shelters across the USA. Those dogs are due to be put to sleep within a few days' time if nobody wants to adopt them. Dogs in danger! does not ask you to buy a dog; it asks you to, if possible, adopt a dog that has been abandoned by its former human for whatever reasons. If you cannot keep a dog, maybe you could consider donating a bit to help save those dogs' lives.

I've got six pets myself. No animal deserves to die just because some §@!*%& human doesn't want to take care of it anymore.

Damn, I'm crying..

Wise Guys: Mad World cover

2007-09-21T15:51:00.000+02:00

The German a-capella band Wise Guys' coverversion of 'Mad World':

Let us ride to Camelot!

2007-09-18T21:09:00.000+02:00

Jack inspired me to post this . . .

Viasoi Choisek iz farloirn gevorn

2007-09-16T21:55:00.000+02:00

For Miriam to practise a little ;)

Choisek iz geven tsertrogn, nit gevust af voser velt er is. as er flegt ufstein inderfri, hot er keinmol nit gevust, vu zaine kleider lign, azoi as er hot poshet moire gehat zich oistsuton! hot men im an eitse gegebn: nem a blaier un farshraib af a tsetele: maine hoisn - afn shtul; maine shich - tsufusns bam bet, af der erd; main hitl - afn tish. un ich alein - lig in bet.

hot Choisek azoi geton.

inderfri derhert a shochn, az Choisek veint. hot der schochn ba im gefregt: vos veinstu?

macht Choisek: ich hob geton vi me hot mir gezogt. ich kuk in tsetele un ich ze: als iz do. ober dos bet alein is leidik. vu she bin ich? ich hob gezucht, gezucht un hob alein nit gekont gefinen.

Ieva's Polka

2007-09-16T20:52:00.000+02:00

More Joys of Yiddish

2007-09-16T18:30:00.000+02:00

It's been a long wait (mea culpa), but here we go now. Decide for yourself whether it's been worth the wait. Flattering comments are welcome.

dershtickenish - sticky / thick / bad air (in a room)
dorem-froi - woman from the south
drailing - triplet
dreiele - curlicue
dreml - nap
droisndik - outdoors
eilbert - olive
ekldik - disgusting, atrocious
erdglitsh - landslide
erdtsiternish - earthquake

Oh, BTW, I do feel compelled to comment on the word "eidel"; it's derived from the German "edel" (= noble, delicate) which is the adjective of "Adel" (= nobility). It is not synonymous to "shein" [Yiddish] / "schön" [German] (= beautiful) or "voil" [Yiddish] / "wohl (arch.) / nett" [German] (= nice). The word conotes high class (Class is not a facial cream; class is in a woman's way of conducting herself, not in her credit card bills.) paired with a delicate (as noblewomen did not usually do physical work or housework; they supervised ;) ) or at least in some way extraordinarily positive physical appearance (not necessarily beautiful, but attractive through distintctly delicate yet defined features).

News

2007-09-09T11:59:00.000+02:00

Various media report that the Lubavitcher rabbi Zalman Gurevitch of Frankfurt, Germany was stabbed on Friday night. He had to undergo surgery and is in IC, but his chances of recovery are good. The offenders were described as two Southern / Arabic / Moroccan looking youths. Police is investigating.

I'd like to wish Rabbi Gurevitch a speedy recovery.

Since I'm located in Germany, I will send a get-well card via snail mail. Anybody who wants to send their get-well wishes as well may email me at dibbuk [at] web [dot] de or put something up on their blog, and I'll print everything off and put it into one large envelope. This is a way of showing you care for Western values, regardless of what your faith might be.

In Memoriam Luciani

2007-09-06T20:27:00.000+02:00

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine,

Et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Requiescat in pace.

Amen.

Please bear with me...

2007-09-05T22:35:00.000+02:00

I'll apologize profusely to all those who have been waiting for certain posts that still aren't up yet. The reason behind that is that I simply haven't felt like it. School started again three weeks ago, and in addition I started teaching new classes (training a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig company's apprentices in English) in the afternoons / evenings. Some more good news is that I started a blog for those classes, on which I'll gradually post the contents of each lesson. The lessons and the blog are directed at EFL students, so you won't find much complicated vocabulary on there, but go and see for yourself. The contents of the first lesson are up, more is to follow on a weekly basis.

Souvenirs, gifts, and other atrocities

2007-08-30T20:28:00.000+02:00

My parents returned from their holiday. My siblings were brought the usual souvenirs (books, clothes, sweets etc.). For some reason I've received the following:

three badges saying (I'll keep the spelling and the punctuation as they are on there): a) god, you're ugly, b) IF I THROW A STICK WILL YOU LEAVE?, c) JESUS loves you EVERYONE ELSE THINKS YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE!;
five pairs of socks; two of them black donning skulls and crossbones, three of them fuzzy and blue (and somewhat creepy; I'm not quite convinced that those socks don't attack people in their sleep);
a mock bandana-style hairband (I've never worn a hairband to begin with) in black with skull and crossbones;
a metal pencil case and matching biro in skull and crossbones-design;
a nailfile on a keyring.

Should that make me think? In a way I feel I'd rather not been brought anything than the above. I suppose I'll start packing up a box of "beautiful" gifts; from memory, it'll contain that set of still unused make-up brushes (I use compact powder and eye-shadow if any, no lipstick and no blush); that clay gurdian-angel figurine with that eerie smirk; all those hedgehog figurines (apparently somebody once determined I'd have to collect hedgehog figurines; I don't); all those fancy bath accessories like chunks of dried loofah cucumber, a terrycloth beanie duck, bath salts; weird socks of different styles (that I wouldn't want to be caught dead being seen in, and I'm already rather inclined to fancy clothing); a lime green and white anorak that's at least three sizes too large for me; flipflops, all of them; orange and yellow tablecloths (in sizes that fit none of my tables).

Has anybody else out there ever received a gift that blinded their mental eye?

Cheesecakes

2007-08-23T19:50:00.000+02:00

Love's labours lost - all the sophisticated scribbling, and what ultimately catches people's attention are pastries . . .

So today I'm serving you two creamcheese cream cakes, one with pineapple, the other with lemon. The chocolate creatures are supposed to be camels, not dinosaurs.

Cookies

2007-08-18T10:52:00.000+02:00

Snippets from European Jewish History - 1

2007-08-17T00:02:00.000+02:00

Alright, those who know me a little better than through this medium know that this is a hobby of mine of sorts, so, for a start (more to follow if of anybody's interest) I'll share a brief summary of one of the most captivating yet saddest topics of European Jewish history. Please direct any questions you might have at me.

Communion Wafer Sacrileges, Blood Miracles, Well Poisonings:
Lies as a Structural Element of Anti-Judaism

Image Sacrilege Legends

Legends about image sacrileges accused chiefly Jews of having disgraced images of Jesus of Nazareth or of saints. The origin of those legends may be traced back to the Jewish custom of mocking an image of Haman on Purim. Already during late Antiquity that traditional mockery of Haman was perceived as a derision of Jesus and was thus abolished. The alleged happenings often were interpreted as conversion miracles: a Jew disgraced an image of Jesus or a saint, the image started shedding blood (or some other miraculous incident took place), the felonious Jew understood their err and converted to Christianity.

Well Poisonings

Legends about cases of suspicion that epidemics resulted from well poisonings are documented for as early eras as the Antiquity.

In 1321 lepers in Southern France were accused of having been bribed by Muslim rulers with the help of Jewish middlemen to contaminate wells for the purpose of eradicating Christians. The accusations resulted in massacres of lepers and Jews.

When in 1348 the plague was spreading, Jews were accused of well poisonings; world conspiracy theories developed in conjunction with accusations of ritual murders.

In the summer of 1348 Pope Clemens VI. came to the Jews' defence and prohibitted the persecutions.

Confirmation of well poisonings were achieved through extorted confessions in Savoy in the autumn of 1348. Protocols of the trials spread the news of an attempted extinction of Christians throughout the Alsace and Switzerland. Waves of persecutions followed in which the majority of Jewish congregations in Western and Central Europe got eradicated.

Later-on, other fringe groups were accused of well poisonings (French beggars, 1390; Waldensians in Arras, 1460; “witches”).

Communion Wafer Desecration / Communion Wafer Sacrileges

Narrations of bleeding communion wafers served as evidence for the transubstantiation of bread and wine into Jesus' flesh and blood from late Antiquity on.

From the ninth century CE on, blood miracles were traded on as conversion or punishment miracles after desecrations of communion wafers had alledgedly been committed by heretics, 'wizards' or thieves.

Actually, legends about communion wafer sacrileges came into existence out of a combination of communion wafer sacrileges and image sacrileges. The culprits exclusively were Jews, who got accused of repeating the passion out of inappeasable hatred for Jesus. This combination of sources eventually constituted itself in the Paris communion wafer sacrilege trial: allegedly, a Jew bought a communion wafer and started torturing it with other Jews in attendance. The wafer started bleeding, the sacrilege got discovered, the Jews die on the stake as they refuse to accept baptism.

The legend quickly circulated in Western and Central Europe, pre-eminently in today's Germany, where it caused numerous persecutions ('Rintfleisch' / 'Rindfleisch' and 'Armleder' persecutions; named after impoverished noblemen that led angry mobs) and was used as an excuse for earlier persecutions.

A few parishes deliberately staged blood miracles to initiate lucrative pilgrimages.

Ritual Murder Accusations

From Antiquity on, minorities in many societies were accused of murder as an element of religious rituals. Accusations of ritual murders from Christians towards Jews were noted from the twelfth century CE on.

The background of such accusations often either was the discovery of a child's corpse or the disappearance of a child. Noteworthily, it was not uncommon during the Middle Ages to find corpses of children lying in the streets.

The primary motif behind blaming the deaths of those children on Jews was that the dead children would only qualify as martyrs if they had been murdered by Jews to reproduce Jesus' passion or for magical atonement. Martyrdom-cult became a new revenue for local parishes. The murders became a matter of joint guilt as they were blamed on all Jews in the light of world conspiracy theories.

A few earlier incidents of ritual murder accusations did not immediately result in persecutions of Jews (Norwich, 1144; Pontoise, 1163; Gloucester, 1168; Bury St Edmunds, 1181) while later cases led to massacres, mass executions and expulsions of Jews (Fulda, 1235; Lincoln, 1255; Bacharach, 1287; Trient, 1475).

Bibliography

Bätz, Kurt. Judentum. Wege und Stationen seiner Geschichte. Stuttgart 1984

Baitel, Esaias. Purim. Das jüdische Fest der Freude bei den Chassidim in Jerusalem. Vienna 1996

Beinart, Haim. Geschichte der Juden. Atlas der Verfolgung und Vertreibung im Mittelalter. Augsburg 1998

von Braun, Christina. Viertes Bild: »Blut und Blutschande«. Zur Bedeutung des Blutes in der antisemitischen Denkwelt, in: Schoeps, Julius H. & Schlör, Joachim (Eds). Bilder der Judenfeindschaft. Antisemitismus Vorurteile und Mythen. Augsburg 1999

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. A Selection. London 1969

Deutsch, David & Neumann, Joshua. The Big Book of Jewish Conspiracies. New York 2005

Eckert, Wilehad Paul. Das Verhältnis von Christen und Juden im Mittelalter und Humanismus. Ein Beitrag zur Geistes- und Kulturgeschichte, in: Schilling, Konrad (Ed.). Monumenta Judaica. 2000 Jahre Geschichte und Kultur der Juden am Rhein. Cologne 1963

Erb, Rainer. Drittes Bild: Der »Ritualmord«, in: Schoeps, Julius H. & Schlör, Joachim (Eds). Bilder der Judenfeindschaft. Antisemitismus Vorurteile und Mythen. Augsburg 1999

Graetz, Heinrich. Geschichte der Juden. Von den ältesten Zeiten bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Berlin N.N.

Graetz, Heinrich. Volkstümliche Geschichte der Juden in zwei Bänden. Von der jüdisch-spanischen Zeitepoche bis zur Epoche der Wiedergeburt. Volume II. Cologne 2000

Grossmann, A. Die Juden in Byzanz und im mittelalterlichen Europa, in: Kedourie, Elie (Ed.) . Die Jüdische Welt. Offenbarung, Prophetie und Geschichte. Munich 2002

Haverkamp, Alfred. „Concivilitas“ von Christen und Juden in Ashkenas im Mittelalter, in: Jütte, Robert & Kustermann, Abraham, P. (Ed.) Jüdische Gemeinden und Organisationsformen von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Wiesbaden 1998

Heine, Heinrich. Der Rabbi von Bacharach, in: Prinzessin Sabbat. Über Juden und Judentum. Bodenheim 1997

Hsia, R. Po-Chia. Trient 1475. Geschichte eines Ritualmordprozesses. Frankfurt 1997

de Lange, Nicholas. Atlas of the Jewish World. Oxford 1992

Limor, Ora. Das verworfene Volk, in: Nicholas de Lange (Ed.). Illustrierte Geschichte des Judentums. Frankfurt 2000

Lotter, Friedrich. Bildfrevellegende, in: Schoeps, Julius H. (Ed.). Neues Lexikon des Judentums. Gütersloh 2000

Lotter, Friedrich. Brunnenvergiftungslegende, in: Schoeps, Julius H. (Ed.). Neues Lexikon des Judentums. Gütersloh 2000

Lotter, Friedrich. Hostienfrevellegende, in: Schoeps, Julius H. (Ed.). Neues Lexikon des Judentums. Gütersloh 2000

Lotter, Friedrich: Hostienfrevelvorwurf und Blutwunderfälschung bei den Judenverfolgungen von 1298 („Rintfleisch“) und 1336-1338 („Armleder“), in: Monumenta Germania Historica (Ed.). Fälschungen im Mittelalter. Teil V. Fingierte Briefe Frömmigkeit und Fälschung Realienfälschungen. Hannover 1988

Lotter, Friedrich. Ritualmordvorwurf, in: Schoeps, Julius H. (Ed.). Neues Lexikon des Judentums. Gütersloh 2000

Wurmbrand, Max & Roth, Cecil. Das Volk der Juden. Eine Universalgeschichte. Frechen N.N.

Wanderlust 3 . . .

2007-08-13T00:15:00.000+02:00

If you copy these pics, the copyright-infringement monster will steal one of your socks from each pair out of your washing machine.

Raindrops keep falling on my head . . .

2007-08-10T15:03:00.000+02:00

. . . so I've decided to stay inside and to finally post a few fashion-/shopping links - for the ladies to enjoy and for the gentlemen to frown upon. (I'm not getting paid for these; the links just refer to stuff I like.)

Let's start with shoes, European brands to be exact. I'm not quite like the infamous Imelda, but I do own more than a hundred pairs of shoes, a rough 80% being high heels and another 10% medium heels. Apparently, I do enjoy shoe shopping, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Irregular Choice from Britain offers a wide range of seriously creative (and IMO sometimes even wacky) shoes. The quality's fantastic; the leather's buttery soft, the cut is comfortable. Those shoes are priced on the higher end of the scale though, particularly considering that many of the designs are not what you'd wear every day, but you may get lucky at outlet stores or on eBay / online outlets. My current summer favourite is a model called "Eclipse", which I purchased in the colour "nude" (a warm, peachy beige). BTW, I've just seen they've got a photography contest up at IC; the #1-winner will receive one pair of IC per month for a year. Get your cameras out, ladies!

Fly London Shoes are quality, funky shoes of more sturdy a style. If you like the 60's retro-chic, you'll enjoy the Fruit Tart, Level, and Quennie ranges.

Friis&Company is a Danish brand, that is best known for its handbags featuring the fleur-de-lys and a large crown emblem set with lots of quality rhinestones. F&C also produces handbags of other designs (I think I've bought some two dozen of them by now), that are always stylish, "different", but don't lack elegance. This posting is about shoes though, so, F&C also offers extremely nice shoes (the kind that makes you mumble "must-have-these-shoes" during your dreams after having seen them at a store). The quality of the shoes is high, so is the RRP (trust me, you wouldn't want your hubby / bf / mother etc. to see the receipt), but at least the heels come with extra heel-tips. They've got a separate range of men's shoes and accessories, too.

Another of my favourite brands is Bronx Shoes from the Netherlands. The styles are catchy, and you often see knock-offs by other (even pricy) brands the following year. They styles vary from chunky to elegant. The leather feels good, and even 4.5" heels are comfortable to walk in. Out of the current summer collection, I got a pair named "Beau", the colour is "shell" (off-white). They've also got a contest for a free pair of shoes; all you need to do is to tell them what shoe you like best and for what reason (the contest is open to anybody). There's an extra website for the US. My autumn favs include Florry, and Josie. (Yes, I love heeled boots.)

More to be added later . . .

Punctuation 1 - Commas

2007-07-23T21:52:00.000+02:00

Commas in written language are used to simplify the understanding for the reader; commas show the reader what idea belongs in what context.

The rules concerning commas in the English language are fairly easy.

Commas are put:

between two or more main clauses even if the main clauses are connected by a conjunction;
He bought a car, she bought shoes, they both were happy.
in between the individual items listed in enumerations. If the last item in the enumeration gets connected to the preceding items by the conjunctions 'and' or 'or', it is optional to put a comma before the conjunction if the items are of the same 'quality';
Paul cleaned the bathroom, the living-room, the bedroom, the kitchen(,) and the hall.
after an introductory sub clause;
While we were living in Sweden, we made a lot of friends.
in between sub clauses even if they are connected by conjunctions, and the subject of the sub clauses changes;
Peter needed to put down the shopping bags to unlock the door, because he was fully packed, and Susan was fully packed as well.
preferably in between a main clause and a sub clause if the subject of the main clause differs from that of the sub clause. A comma in that position prevents ambiguities, thus misunderstandings;
Peter is going to work by bus today, because / as / since Susan needs the car to run a few important errands this morning.
after the salutation and the closure in a letter or an email;
Dear Lucy,
[. . .]
Kind regards,
Peter
in front of a non-defining relative clause, i.e. a sub clause in which the subject or an object of the preceding main clause gets described in more detail, and that sub clause is not needed for the understanding of the sentence;
We would like to travel to Rome, which is an interesting city with lots of Ancient sights.
after an introductory adverb that refers to the entire succeeding sentence;
Actually, I've never liked you to begin with.
after the following introductory phrases when they are not used as conjunctions but to connect the idea of the succeeding sub clause to an idea from the previous sentence:
of course, however, indeed, therefore, nevertheless, nonetheless, moreover, as a matter of fact, besides, for example, for instance, in fact, on the contrary, though, what is more important. If those phrases are inserted into a sentence, you use commas to set them off;
Nevertheless, he managed to get her an anniversary gift before the stores closed.
He, nevertheless, managed to get her an anniversary gift before the stores closed.
to indicate an omission of words;
His car is black, mine, white. = His car is black, and mine is white.
Susan had forgotten to make a dessert, so she couldn't offer her guests any homemade sweet treats, hence store-bought ice-cream.
to set off gerund and participle clauses;
Having worked all day, Susan was really beat when she got home that night.
in direct speech to set off the introductory clause;
Susan asked, “When will you be back?”
in a, somewhat outdated, way of writing the date in which the 'day' precedes the 'year'.
Today is July 23, 2007.

It used to be common practice to set off the final 'too' with a comma. Lately, this comma has become optional in everyday practice, it seems.
I packed my swimsuit, my towels, my flipflops, and I should pack the sunscreen(,) too.

Commas are not put:

in front of any sub clause that gets introduced with 'that';
I know that you called me, but could I be bothered to pick up the phone?
in front of infinitive clauses;
I know it won't be easy to find the solution.
Paul didn't know what today but [to] wait.
in front of defining relative clauses;
The gift which I got you for your birthday was well-meant.
(= There is more than one gift given in course of the year. Note the difference of meaning in the following sentence:
The gift, which I got you for you birthday, was well-meant.
In the above sentence with a non-defining relative clause the speaker says that only one gift is given and adds the additional information that it is a birthday gift.)
in front of if-clauses if the main clause precedes the if clause;
I'll call you later if I have the time.
in front of indirect questions;
I cannot tell you when his birthday is.
Paul wants to know whether you'll visit us for dinner tomorrow.
in front of adverbial clauses. Commas are optional after adverbial clauses.
Call me after you

get home.
After you get home(,) call me.

Wanderlust 2 . . .

2007-07-20T10:53:00.001+02:00

If you copy these pictures, the copyright-infringement monster will put slugs in your slippers.

Wanderlust 1 . . .

2007-07-19T22:00:00.000+02:00

. . . or at least a little urge to get away for a bit. It's my summer break, and I'm stuck here for now, so I'll just upload a few vacation pictures I've taken on various trips (don't copy them, or the copyright-infringement monster will eat unsoaked cornflakes in your bed, and let's face it, it's a messy eater) and indulge in the memories.

The Joys of Yiddish

2007-07-06T19:32:00.000+02:00

Ok, first of all, anybody's welcome to contribute to this. I've been gathering words / sayings from Yiddish literature that, as far as I know, aren't commonly used anymore, but that I consider simply adorable and, och, just love. This is just a start, not a complete list yet (if there'll ever be such a thing as a complete list), but I should love to read anybody's additions. So here we go:

lebn vi got in odes - to live in clover (lit. to live like god in Odessa)
aerodrom - airport
ainchazern - to mess oneself up
ainreidenish - delusion
ainshtubikn - to domesticate
aroisfaler - drop-out
ariberglitshn - to slide over
arumshlavendren - to aimlessly stroll around
artsbiskup - archbishop
babnik - womanizer
berloge - bear cave

More is to follow if anybody's interested :)

FYI

2007-07-02T16:08:00.000+02:00

scio nescio