I was watching the Ingraham Angle last night, and in the introductory monologue, it was indicated that "transgender women" in sports would be discussed.
Now it may seem silly, but I feel that a review of basic English grammar is needed before I proceed.
English has nouns and adjectives. "Women" is a noun. "Transgender" is an adjective. "Transgender Women" are women that are transgender. People that are described as transgender are invariably confused about their gender. So "transgender women" means gender-confused women. In normal English, that is.
But when Laura Ingraham said that transgender women were a trouble in women's sports, I suspected that something was wrong, because I knew it was the transgender, that is, gender-confused men that were making trouble in women's sports. It soon became apparent that Laura was speaking in Gender-confused English.
In Gender-confused English, the word 'transgender' is a special adjective that triggers novel rules of grammar never seen before in the long history of the English language. It has the power to reverse the gender of any noun to which it is attached. Moreover, it has the power to not only modify the grammar of sentences, but even paragraphs, because the gender of all pronouns that refer to such a gender-reversed noun must likewise be reversed. In short, when you speak Gender-confused English, you sound like you are pretending to be as confused as the transgender people you are talking about.
The show became more interesting, astounding I thought, when Laura began to interview Martina Navratilova on the subject. Martina was speaking normal English while Laura spoke in Gender-confused English, one saying "men" and the other saying "transgender women" to refer to the same trouble-makers. They must have understood each other in spite of this, because they acted like they heartily agreed. It was quite a circus, more entertaining than the traditional bearded lady.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Thursday, February 14, 2019
How do you write "Jim Clark" in Chinese?
I have a funny story about a Chinese friend that I knew where I worked before I retired. I knew that Chinese writing is "ideographic", meaning that the symbols represent ideas, not sounds. For example, the symbols for 'sun' and 'moon' are combined to make the word for 'light'. So one day I asked him how do they write a name like "Jim Clark" in Chinese, because who knows what 'Jim' and 'Clark' mean?
He said that they find Chinese words that sound like the name, and combine them. He thought for a minute, and thought of Chinese words that sounded to me like 'jin', 'kar', and 'lok'. He told me what the words meant, but I forget, except that one meant a small dish used for offerings to idols. He wrote it on the blackboard, and I asked him to teach me how to write it.
He told me to first see each stroke in my head, then write it with a quick, chopping motion. I memorized it, practiced it, and wrote it on a small slip of paper so that I would not forget it.
About a week later, a couple of engineers were in my office, and we started talking about languages. I told them that I knew a few words of German, Greek, and Latin, and that I could write my name in Chinese. They said that they could believe me about the German, Greek, and Latin, but about the Chinese, I was a bragging liar.
I protested, "no, I really can". I wrote it on the blackboard with quick, confident strokes. They still did not believe me.
They said, "It LOOKS like Chinese, but it is fake. We can prove that you are a liar. We will go get an expert." They left the room, and a minute later came back with their 'expert'.
As they entered, I saw that the 'expert' was my Chinese friend. He gave me a quick smile when they were not looking.
"Don't say one word", they warned me. Then pointing to what I had written on the blackboard, they asked the expert, "What does that say?"
He answered, "It means Jim Clark", and their mouths dropped open. Then my Chinese friend and I laughed, and we explained how he had taught me a week ago.
Unfortunately, I have lost that small slip of paper with my name written in Chinese.
Does someone know Chinese well enough that they can tell what "Jim Clark" looks like, as my friend probably told me?
He said that they find Chinese words that sound like the name, and combine them. He thought for a minute, and thought of Chinese words that sounded to me like 'jin', 'kar', and 'lok'. He told me what the words meant, but I forget, except that one meant a small dish used for offerings to idols. He wrote it on the blackboard, and I asked him to teach me how to write it.
He told me to first see each stroke in my head, then write it with a quick, chopping motion. I memorized it, practiced it, and wrote it on a small slip of paper so that I would not forget it.
About a week later, a couple of engineers were in my office, and we started talking about languages. I told them that I knew a few words of German, Greek, and Latin, and that I could write my name in Chinese. They said that they could believe me about the German, Greek, and Latin, but about the Chinese, I was a bragging liar.
I protested, "no, I really can". I wrote it on the blackboard with quick, confident strokes. They still did not believe me.
They said, "It LOOKS like Chinese, but it is fake. We can prove that you are a liar. We will go get an expert." They left the room, and a minute later came back with their 'expert'.
As they entered, I saw that the 'expert' was my Chinese friend. He gave me a quick smile when they were not looking.
"Don't say one word", they warned me. Then pointing to what I had written on the blackboard, they asked the expert, "What does that say?"
He answered, "It means Jim Clark", and their mouths dropped open. Then my Chinese friend and I laughed, and we explained how he had taught me a week ago.
Unfortunately, I have lost that small slip of paper with my name written in Chinese.
Does someone know Chinese well enough that they can tell what "Jim Clark" looks like, as my friend probably told me?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
