Meme Anarchy

[chester 1,253]

5 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

The English language has borrowed many French words, such as hotel, menu, and many others.  I don't think English has borrowed many, if any Slavic language words.  

The modern Polish novelist Jerzy Kosinski (Being There, The Painted Bird and other novels) came to the US via England as a displaced person after WWII.  He learned English and wrote all of his novels in his new language^*.

The film of Being There starring Peter Sellers as the central character, Chauncy Gardner, closely followed the book and is one of my favorite films ever.  And it isn't a comedy.

Kosinski was a good friend of fellow Pole Roman Polanski, and if he hadn't missed a flight, he would have been at Polanski's house the night of the infamous murders.

^*Some years after Kosinski killed himself, it came out that he might have had some help writing his novels, a fact he never disclosed while he was alive.  Some say that fact might have been a factor in his suicide.

I like to watch.

[Windward 673]

2 hours ago, hobot said:

The red door for sure.    
 

But would I be smooth enough for that substitute math teacher?    I’m thinking yes.  
 

How will I let you know if I meet with any success?

[Windward 673]

Ok.  I’m back now.  It was fantastic of course.   
 

I highly recommend the red door.

[PurpleOnion 300]

2 hours ago, hobot said:

These questions are tough on those with even minimal analytical skills.  $50M could quite possibly be a peasant's salary in 15 years and you could make much more than that just betting on Superbowls.

I could go on, but I've already been told to leave the room by anyone who is not overly analytical.

[Cal20sailor 3,482]

I went for the blue door, bought both doors, had the area rezoned, and razed the block.  Only fun I still have is slapping around 10yos that look at me like they're smarter.

 

[Grande Mastere Dreade 4,168]

37 minutes ago, PurpleOnion said:

These questions are tough on those with even minimal analytical skills.  $50M could quite possibly be a peasant's salary in 15 years and you could make much more than that just betting on Superbowls.

I could go on, but I've already been told to leave the room by anyone who is not overly analytical.

betting on superbowl , child's play...

gold =>  apple => microsoft => goolge amazon       you'd be richer than putin..

[Grande Mastere Dreade 4,168]

[valis 644]

3 hours ago, Cal20sailor said:

He was a bit twisted.  Ever read Cockpit?

[Jerzy Kosinski]

I read Painted Bird, and still shudder at some of the imagery and horror.  Then I read Steps.  While not as visceral as Painted Bird, it left me with no desire to subject myself to more of his work.

[Cal20sailor 3,482]

8 minutes ago, valis said:

[Jerzy Kosinski]

I read Painted Bird, and still shudder at some of the imagery and horror.  Then I read Steps.  While not as visceral as Painted Bird, it left me with no desire to subject myself to more of his work.

Was Steps the one where a woman had pissed his character off and he brought in a bunch of bums off the street to sexually abuse her?  Being There was his outlier.  It was light and whimsical, I never described any other of his works in that manner.  

[valis 644]

The only thing I recall from Steps was when a character was in a "car race" where they had to bumper-knock books that were taped to parked cars.  Some poor shmuck was stepping out of his car and the racing car hit the opening door and decapitated the guy.  The rest was probably equally awful, but fortunately I can't remember it.

About Painted Bird, I did use that book, and "The Book of the SubGenius -- The Sacred Teachings of 'Bob' Dobbs" as inspiration for a song my band used to play.  I called it "Normal".

[hobot 4,428]

[silent bob 1,279]

5 hours ago, hobot said:

[SloopJonB 12,618]

8 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

I wouldn't choose either door. If I had my life to live over I wouldn't do anything different. 

The idea of doing it again without having to learn everything the hard way has a certain appeal.

"I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger"

That would make a good song lyric.

[Cal20sailor 3,482]

Can you imagine knowing at 10 what you know now?  Guys, no shit, they put it in their mouth, and you kiss them where they piss.   Stop that, it's pretty cool after a while.  I'm not even going to mention anal until you're all at least 12.

No, I'll live out this life.

[SloopJonB 12,618]

1 minute ago, Cal20sailor said:

Can you imagine knowing at 10 what you know now?  Guys, no shit, they put it in their mouth, and you kiss them where they piss.   Stop that, it's pretty cool after a while.  I'm not even going to mention anal until you're all at least 12.

No, I'll live out this life.

That's why I asked if they could make it 20.

[Cal20sailor 3,482]

1 minute ago, SloopJonB said:

That's why I asked if they could make it 20.

I think one ride is right, make room.  I don't believe there is an afterlife, but if there is, there's a four-seat table and the empty chair has my name inscribed on it.  My best friends have gone, and that makes it easier.  My brother and I have always been competitive, if he can do it, so can I.  I have feared death at times, but I don't anymore.  We all die, but it's our nature to fight the bright light.

Next up on the Sunshine Network:  The Home Alone Kid Dies 33 minutes in.

[bridhb 919]

7 hours ago, SloopJonB said:

The idea of doing it again without having to learn everything the hard way has a certain appeal.

"I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger"

That would make a good song lyric.

My problem is I know how dumb I am now.  When I was 10, I felt smart.  I would like to feel smart again!

[bridhb 919]

7 hours ago, Cal20sailor said:

Can you imagine knowing at 10 what you know now?  Guys, no shit, they put it in their mouth, and you kiss them where they piss.   Stop that, it's pretty cool after a while.  I'm not even going to mention anal until you're all at least 12.

No, I'll live out this life.

Yeah when my dad explained all that stuff to me on a fishing trip (didn't catch squat) when I was in 4th grade or something, that threw a big wrench in the cog of how I thought about religion.

[Ed Lada 5,128]

13 hours ago, Cal20sailor said:

Was Steps the one where a woman had pissed his character off and he brought in a bunch of bums off the street to sexually abuse her?  Being There was his outlier.  It was light and whimsical, I never described any other of his works in that manner.  

Kosinski's work was certainly dark.  

I think that Being There while quite funny at times was a biting satire about rich, powerful people who might not have been what they thought they were.  They took all of his innocent utterances as powerful metaphors of extreme wisdom.  The novel kind of gives those people the finger.  In a light and whimsical way.

 

 

[atoyot 174]

[dolphinmaster 166]

12 hours ago, silent bob said:

IF is inversely spelled backwards .

[Ed Lada 5,128]

[bmiller 1,152]

[Ishmael 10,649]

11 hours ago, SloopJonB said:

The idea of doing it again without having to learn everything the hard way has a certain appeal.

"I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger"

That would make a good song lyric.

"I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now".

 

[Snaggletooth 5,193]

2 hours ago, bmiller said:

Thast notte Mrs.Teakey is it?

[Autonomous 1,233]

[hobot 4,428]

[Ed Lada 5,128]

[Autonomous 1,233]

[Autonomous 1,233]

[warbird 939]

[DA-WOODY 1,284]

[Bump-n-Grind 2,673]

[Sea warrior 137]

[Grande Mastere Dreade 4,168]

[Grande Mastere Dreade 4,168]

[warbird 939]

[hobot 4,428]

For those of you wondering what your new year's resolution could be

[tane 157]

7 hours ago, DA-WOODY said:

...yeees, lucky nation...! When visiting I only saw fat women, no fat men....in the "USofA"....

[Black Sox 1,128]

On 12/27/2021 at 6:30 AM, SloopJonB said:

The idea of doing it again without having to learn everything the hard way has a certain appeal.

"I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger"

That would make a good song lyric.

“Poor old grandad.”

[Ed Lada 5,128]

[MauiPunter 1,395]

10 hours ago, tane said:

...yeees, lucky nation...! When visiting I only saw fat women, no fat men....in the "USofA"....

I think you missed it.  Look at the wood grain patterns.

[Grande Mastere Dreade 4,168]

[hobot 4,428]

[SloopJonB 12,618]

14 hours ago, Black Sox said:

“Poor old grandad.”

Enjoy your smug satisfaction while you can - it's coming for you faster than you can imagine.

[Sea warrior 137]

[Bump-n-Grind 2,673]

[Grande Mastere Dreade 4,168]

[bmiller 1,152]

16 hours ago, Black Sox said:

“Poor old grandad.”

Ooh la la

[herbie verstinx 158]

[d'ranger 4,345]

[00seven 430]

[hobot 4,428]

[Ed Lada 5,128]

7 hours ago, SloopJonB said:

Enjoy your smug satisfaction while you can - it's coming for you faster than you can imagine.

Fukin' kids think they'll never grow old.  Hah!

[Ed Lada 5,128]

3 hours ago, 00seven said:

You must have an extremely high IQ*

 

 

 

 

 

*Ignorance Quotient

[Black Sox 1,128]

10 hours ago, SloopJonB said:

Enjoy your smug satisfaction while you can - it's coming for you faster than you can imagine.

As Americans say, “Sheesh.”

I was merely quoting another line in the song.

7 hours ago, bmiller said:

Ooh la la

See? @bmillergets it.

[sshow bob 367]

6 hours ago, hobot said:

That kid is Italian in the same way I'm actually a golden retriever

[Snaggletooth 5,193]

16 minutes ago, sshow bob said:

That kid is Italian in the same way I'm actually a golden retriever

Faire skin and blonde haire is commone in northerne Italia.

[Ed Lada 5,128]

3 hours ago, Snaggletooth said:

Faire skin and blonde haire is commone in northerne Italia.

My Italian grandmother had red hair, she was born a little north of Rome.  My mother who came to the US after WWII looked very Italian, dark hair, skin, etc.  My fraternal twin brother looked exactly like a photo of my Italian grandfather in a photo taken when my grandfather was a young soldier in the Italian Army during WWI.  My brother has dark skin tone, dark brown eyes, had dark brown hair and tans easily.  I had red hair, dark brown eyes and northern European white skin and burn if I see the word sun.  My Polish wife also has dark brown hair, dark skin, dark brown eyes and looks more Italian than many pure Italians I know.

You might think you know what somebody's heritage is by their looks, but you probably will be wrong as often as you are right.  Europe is a relatively small place and people have been moving all over it, and fucking each other, for tens of thousands of years.

[Snaggletooth 5,193]

11 minutes ago, Ed Lada said:

Europe is a relatively small place and people have been moving all over it, and fucking each other, for tens of thousands of years.

Nice thouht......'eons of sexe'.  Orwerre you thickeng somthinge ealse?

[bmiller 1,152]

6 hours ago, Black Sox said:

As Americans say, “Sheesh.”

I was merely quoting another line in the song.

See? @bmillergets it.

Which version do you prefer, Rod or Ronnie?

 

[billy backstay 1,697]

On 12/26/2021 at 1:21 PM, Ed Lada said:

That sound like me.  I've lived in Poland for more than 13 years now but learning a difficult language like Polish is just too difficult for my old brain.  I can speak a little and understand a lot, but I have helped a lot of Polish people learn English!  

I always tell my students it's easy to learn simple, basic English, a young person can become good at it in a year often.  There is no such thing as simple Polish.  The grammar is so convoluted you either learn it all or you can't speak Polish.  

The other problem with languages like Polish is that very few non Polish people have a reason to learn Polish.  So Poles are not used to hear their language being abused by non native speakers, so the slightest mispronunciation or wrong grammar and they don't understand what I am saying.  Us native English speakers hear bad English all of the time.  So we are used to figuring out what people are trying to say.  I tell my students that my mother came to the US from Italy when she was 20 years old, and while she became fluent, she still had a heavy Italian accent and made mistakes on occasion.  I tell the I grew up hearing bad English, so I had no problem with their mistakes!

What is a "UC family?"

 

There are lot of ex-pat Poles working at Pratt & Whitey Aircraft, in Middletown, where I spent the last 9 and a half years, until Mid October.   One friend I made there told me of his Polish wife who had no interest in even trying to speak English.  I think the entire Cleaning Crew and many machine operators often spoke to one another in Polish.  Often heard more Polish being spoken than English!! 

There's a good ending to my retirement!!  I just found out I have 19,600 dollars in my retirement Fidelity account, that I thought I had liquidated in 2019, too make the down payment on our house!!  

[Ed Lada 5,128]

1 hour ago, Snaggletooth said:

Nice thouht......'eons of sexe'.  Orwerre you thickeng somthinge ealse?

A bit of both!

[Autonomous 1,233]

[Autonomous 1,233]

[Autonomous 1,233]

[Ed Lada 5,128]

[Point Break 4,417]

This is awesome…….I can’t wait!!!!

[Morgan Crewed 118]

45 minutes ago, Point Break said:

This is awesome…….I can’t wait!!!!

No, it is a Wednesday

[Point Break 4,417]

19 minutes ago, Morgan Crewed said:

No, it is a Wednesday

[Grande Mastere Dreade 4,168]

[hobot 4,428]

[Ishmael 10,649]

3 hours ago, Autonomous said:

And the owner is inside the car. Must be a drummer.

[hobot 4,428]

There's one in every family.

[warbird 939]

11 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

My Italian grandmother had red hair, she was born a little north of Rome.  My mother who came to the US after WWII looked very Italian, dark hair, skin, etc.  My fraternal twin brother looked exactly like a photo of my Italian grandfather in a photo taken when my grandfather was a young soldier in the Italian Army during WWI.  My brother has dark skin tone, dark brown eyes, had dark brown hair and tans easily.  I had red hair, dark brown eyes and northern European white skin and burn if I see the word sun.  My Polish wife also has dark brown hair, dark skin, dark brown eyes and looks more Italian than many pure Italians I know.

You might think you know what somebody's heritage is by their looks, but you probably will be wrong as often as you are right.  Europe is a relatively small place and people have been moving all over it, and fucking each other, for tens of thousands of years.

My grandmother was proud of her Irish heritage.  From a genetic search,,, Seems her genes parked in Ireland only a generation or two on the trip from Scotland and Skandinavia!  Further, grandpa was also proud of his teutonic heritage but the genetic research suggests his genes resided in Germany only a generation or two on their trip from Greece and Turkey

[Ed Lada 5,128]

[dacapo 1,583]

18 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

My Italian grandmother had red hair, she was born a little north of Rome.  My mother who came to the US after WWII looked very Italian, dark hair, skin, etc.  My fraternal twin brother looked exactly like a photo of my Italian grandfather in a photo taken when my grandfather was a young soldier in the Italian Army during WWI.  My brother has dark skin tone, dark brown eyes, had dark brown hair and tans easily.  I had red hair, dark brown eyes and northern European white skin and burn if I see the word sun.  My Polish wife also has dark brown hair, dark skin, dark brown eyes and looks more Italian than many pure Italians I know.

You might think you know what somebody's heritage is by their looks, but you probably will be wrong as often as you are right.  Europe is a relatively small place and people have been moving all over it, and fucking each other, for tens of thousands of years.

My great grandmother who was Italian (as all my family is) didn’t speak Italian but German and A bit of Hungarian as she was was born and lived in the Autro/Hungarian /Italian boarder in a small alpine village. (She was born in 1899) 

[Black Sox 1,128]

18 hours ago, bmiller said:

Which version do you prefer, Rod or Ronnie?

 

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Ronnie Lane until you mentioned him. A read of his Wikipedia page is enlightening.

To your question of which, I think Rod’s is catchier but Ron’s is more “authentic”, if that makes sense.

You?

[Ed Lada 5,128]

1 hour ago, dacapo said:

My great grandmother who was Italian (as all my family is) didn’t speak Italian but German and A bit of Hungarian as she was was born and lived in the Autro/Hungarian /Italian boarder in a small alpine village. (She was born in 1899) 

Nationalism and firm borders are a 20th century thing.  Prior to that the borders were always moving as well as people moving between them.  

My fathers family is Polish.  His father was born in 1891 and lived in the Russian part of Poland.  In 1795 Poland was dived up between Russia in the east, Germany in the west and Austria in the south.  My grandfather emigrated to the US in 1907 and other family members followed including my great great grandfather, great grandfather and some others.  My father's mother's parents emigrated from the German part of Poland around the same time.  

My mother's ancestors emigrated from Spain to Naples in the 1500s. At the time Naples belonged to Spain and they needed people to run the government there.  

Nobody in Europe can claim that they are 100% anything, even of their family has been in the country for generations, their gene pool is mixed. 

My wife's maiden name is Weiser, hardly a Polish name  Her family came from Silesia in the southwest part of Poland and a lot of people there have German blood in them.  It helped her grandparents survive WWII because they could claim to be 'Volkdeutsch', which were people in other countries that could show they had German blood. They were treated better than the average Poles during the war. 

20% of the population of Poland died at the hands of the Nazis and the Soviets during WWII. Half of them were Jewish.  Very few Polish Jews survived the Holocaust, almost half of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis were Polish Jews.  In 1939, Poland had more Jewish citizens than any other country in Europe by far.  By contrast, in 1939 less than 3% of the German population was Jewish.

Below:  From left to right, my grandfather's grandfather, my grandfather and his father, sometime in the early 1920s.

[dacapo 1,583]

[chester 1,253]

33 minutes ago, Ed Lada said:

Nationalism and firm borders are a 20th century thing.  Prior to that the borders were always moving as well as people moving between them.  

My fathers family is Polish.  His father was born in 1891 and lived in the Russian part of Poland.  In 1795 Poland was dived up between Russia in the east, Germany in the west and Austria in the south.  My grandfather emigrated to the US in 1907 and other family members followed including my great great grandfather, great grandfather and some others.  My father's mother's parents emigrated from the German part of Poland around the same time.  

My mother's ancestors emigrated from Spain to Naples in the 1500s. At the time Naples belonged to Spain and they needed people to run the government there.  

Nobody in Europe can claim that they are 100% anything, even of their family has been in the country for generations, their gene pool is mixed. 

My wife's maiden name is Weiser, hardly a Polish name  Her family came from Silesia in the southwest part of Poland and a lot of people there have German blood in them.  It helped her grandparents survive WWII because they could claim to be 'Volkdeutsch', which were people in other countries that could show they had German blood. They were treated better than the average Poles during the war. 

20% of the population of Poland died at the hands of the Nazis and the Soviets during WWII. Half of them were Jewish.  Very few Polish Jews survived the Holocaust, almost half of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis were Polish Jews.  In 1939, Poland had more Jewish citizens than any other country in Europe by far.  By contrast, in 1939 less than 3% of the German population was Jewish.

Below:  From left to right, my grandfather's grandfather, my grandfather and his father, sometime in the early 1920s.

there was a large scale migration to western canada of people who identified as german but actually migrated from Ukraine.  Both sides of my wifes family were so.  the initial immigrants spoke german, they identifed as having german heritage and that they left Oddessa was never mentioned. 

[Ed Lada 5,128]

13 minutes ago, chester said:

there was a large scale migration to western canada of people who identified as german but actually migrated from Ukraine.  Both sides of my wifes family were so.  the initial immigrants spoke german, they identifed as having german heritage and that they left Oddessa was never mentioned. 

Germany as we know it today didn't even become a country until 1871.  It was the last country in pre WWI Europe to do so, Italy became unified in 1861.

[bmiller 1,152]

2 hours ago, Black Sox said:

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Ronnie Lane until you mentioned him. A read of his Wikipedia page is enlightening.

To your question of which, I think Rod’s is catchier but Ron’s is more “authentic”, if that makes sense.

You?

For what they are both, one is studio the other live. However Ronnie Lane's has a high kicking cabaret girl, so there's that.

[tane 157]

On 12/26/2021 at 7:21 PM, Ed Lada said:

... Us native English speakers hear bad English all of the time.  ...

...& WE Kraut native speakers (& Grammar Nazis) see uncorrect English written by English-native-speakers all the time...

[Ed Lada 5,128]

48 minutes ago, tane said:

...& WE Kraut native speakers (& Grammar Nazis) see uncorrect English written by English-native-speakers all the time...

I always tell my students, "Don't worry about making mistakes.  Language is a means to an end, not the end itself.  Language is a tool, communication is the goal."

Having lived in Germany for 11 years, and I've been  living on the Polish German border for 13 years now, I understand how you 'Krauts' are.  Alles in Ordnung!

And by the way, it's 'incorrect'.  Your linguistic pedantry supersedes your non-native speaker exemption! Just sayin'.   

[tane 157]

2 minutes ago, Ed Lada said:

I always tell my students, "Don't worry about making mistakes.  Language is a means to an end, not the end itself.  Language is a tool, communication is the goal."

Having lived in Germany for 11 years, and I've been  living on the Polish German border for 13 years now, I understand how you 'Krauts' are.  Alles in Ordnung!

And by the way, it's 'incorrect'.  Your linguistic pedantry supersedes your non-native speaker exemption! Just sayin'.   

I a Kraut? No sir, not by a long way! I live in "a forest city", "in the forest" - according to the GPOAT of the USofA :-)

("linguistic pedantry" - I like that one!)

[warbird 939]