Yesterday I asked my co-worker Shawky where he's from. He was born in Cairo, he answered, and grew up in Greece---and he used to work on ships, visiting 89 countries and acquiring six languages. Apparently Home Depot doesn't have an "I speak Romanian" badge, because that's the only one he's missing. I joked that he probably … Continue reading Advice from a Polyglot
Tag: Language
On Vapors, and Vapers
Last week CBS This Morning hosted a lexicographer from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, talking about the malleability of language and the ongoing task of incorporating new words into the dictionary. Although prescriptive grammarians (unlike descriptive ones) would have you believe that our language and its rules are static, nothing could be further from the truth. (Sure, I … Continue reading On Vapors, and Vapers
Love Languages & Chocolate Sprinkles
There's a new key on my ring that I can't use just yet, but I'm carrying it anyway because I'm excited about this unexpected gift from my husband. I'm still sort of in a state of disbelief about it, to be honest. I can't quite believe I really have this key, let alone what it … Continue reading Love Languages & Chocolate Sprinkles
Entering the Lists
My notebook is bent, battered, and buckled, every kind of abused but bruised. The covers crease from frequent folding, and tags & stickies protrude from its pages. I've had it for all of three weeks. The notebook serves as a journal, but it its pages have also filled with sketches, blog-post brainstorms, A.A. Stepwork, notes from group sessions and church sermons, quotes and definitions … Continue reading Entering the Lists
Gypsying (OR: A Borderline Personality Working on Borders)
If you’re not familiar with poker, the thing to understand is that you start a hand with some cards of your own, and you don’t yet know what other cards will be available to you to use in that hand. You have to “sign up” to play that hand by putting some money in the … Continue reading Gypsying (OR: A Borderline Personality Working on Borders)
Once Upon a Restaurant
Once Upon a Time... Kana & Keoni owned a Hawai'ian barbecue restaurant. For more than a year, Kana Girl's Hawai'ian BBQ held UrbanSpoon's #1 spot for "Best BBQ restaurant" in the Treasure Valley (home to one-third of Idaho's population).... And we had a kick-ass time of it, building a unique atmosphere with our combined knowledge … Continue reading Once Upon a Restaurant
Superb Owl Sunday (OR… The Anthropology of Advertising)
So I hear the Super Bowl was last Sunday! Who knew? Well, okay---everybody else knew. This is one of the "social side-effects" of having no television channels. Last weekend's Super Bowl actually came to our attention accidentally a few days before the game, when a nursing assistant asked us which team we'd be rooting for. Long … Continue reading Superb Owl Sunday (OR… The Anthropology of Advertising)
Kana's Chronicles 