Singapore and Safety: Building Sites, Roads, Buildings, Dogs

   In Singapore building sites carry signs about safety such as helmets must be worn, statistics on the safety of buildings sites, roads carry signs giving statistics on accidents. The same applies often in the USA and UK.
   Signs in monkey areas on walks around reservoirs warn you not to feed the animals. Most adults know why. But small children and unsupervised teenagers don't. the reason is that animals act like small children. They grab for things they want, such as food, food containers, and new, interesting items. They move towards people and containers who habitually give food.
   They hit or bite or attack anybody who tries to take away food, or appears to cheat with an empty container, refuses to hand over food, or tries to take away food and toys.
   Once you have grasped this principle, it's easy to understand that if you feed animals on a regular basis, whether you throw food from a bag in a park or piazza, or from a balcony, or from your back door, you will attract birds, animals and insects. If you throw sandwiches or sweets or food wrappers from a boat or a lake or riverbank in a hotel, home, or city, you will attract the local wildlife.
   Tourists may be unfamiliar with this concept, or unfamiliar with the local wildlife. We arrived in the USA from the UK. Our child walked from the restaurant with a leftover sandwich. He walked out of the back door of the hotel. I chased after. there he was, sandwich in hand. about to throw it into the water next to a sign warning: CROCODILES - DO NOT THROW FOOD WHICH ATTRACTS THEM!
  But what about dangerous animals? Where are the signs in zoos warning you not to drop hats, not to stand near netting for a photo with the animal.
   What about houses where child visitors are in the same room as an animal.
March 2014, yet another accident involving a child and a dog. The four-year-old girl is dead. The mother was injured trying to rescue the child.
    Another incident involved a child taking a bone from a dog. Dog-lovers say the dog was not to blame. The child was not to blame either. The fault was allowing the two to mix.
   If we cannot rely on owners, we must bring in legislation. While we wait for that to happen, how about a simple sign. A child doesn't understand 'beware of the dog'.
   Most visitors don't understand. Most owners don't understand.
   Signs could, or should, read: 'Dangerous dog. Must be contained. No children to be allowed on this property.' Copy Singapore building site signs and give the vital numbers to call when help is needed. 'Hospital tel: .... Vet tel: ....  Police tel: .... Insurance company tel: .... That way we might save lives of humans, and the animals which would otherwise end up being put down.

Travel Delights - City Nicknames - Cities In Metaphors

The Big Apple - New York city (as opposed to New York State)
The Big Smoke - Auckland, New Zealand; Belfast, Brisbane, Dublin, Johannesburg, London, Manchester, Melbourne, Mexico City, New York City, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver,
City of David - Jerusalem
City of Gold - Jerusalem
City of Peace - Jerusalem
Europe's Drawing Room - St Mark's Square (so called by Napoleon);
Granite City - Aberdeen
Jerusalem of the North - Vilnius (so called by Napoleon)
Lion City - Singapore (Malay from Sanskrit)
Little Italy
Little Paris
Little Venice
The Paris of the East
The Paris of the West
The Pearl of the Orient - Hong Kong; The Philippines
Porkopolis - Cincinnati; Chicago
The Venice of the East - Bangkok, Thailand
The Venice of the North
Windy City - Chicago

MORE INFORMATION
From Wikipedia
From tourist board websites and brochures - if you are in the travel business visit The World Travel Market in London in November.

Yes, you do speak YIDDISH !

Yiddish is a mixture of German and Hebrew, pronounced the way the Ashkenazis would say it in the good old days.

    Yiddish words have been common in the USA in New York and London's East End.
ManyYiddish words are now in the English dictionary. Pre-war (before the Second World War) American radio shows featured Yiddish songs.

Glossary:
Very common words

shalom - peach / hello / (same word root from Aramaic as the Arabic word salaam, sh for s)
chutzpah - cheek, effrontery, shameless demand
frum (adjective); frummer - religious person who keeps all rules, such as kosher food, not driving nor carrying anything on the sabbath
Goy - not Jewish, literally other but before it got into general usage often used derogatory
oy veh! - goodness gracious
mazel tov - good luck (mazel is luck; tov is good) - or congratulations
mitzvah - good deed (mitzvah day is a modern Jewish version of the boy scouts bob a job week, but for adults and communities, unpaid)
nu - so/so what/well/then what?/what next?
Shul - synagogue (from the German word for school)
Shtum - quiet
....
nosh - eat snack, guzzle, yummy food, munchies
shlap/schlep - traipse or drag (yourself and often weighty goods, on long, nuisance, time-wasting unnecessary journey - in short, you do not want to go there)

MENU/FOOD
Jewish Style / Kosher Restaurant Menu Items
blintz - pancake
chollah - plaited bread, white or yellow soft inside like a brioche, sold in delicatessens and supermarkets such as Tesco before the weekend as it is used by families and synagogues on Friday night and Saturday, occasionally a spiral, or three deck circular staircase like 2 or 3 donuts with a pompom dough on top, finished with egg glaze and sprinkled with poppyseed. - dumpling (usually in chicken soup)
kreplach - ravioli - think of it as a folded and sealed crepe or French pancake, meat filling
Lokshen pudding - noodle pudding, often with sultanas and a sweet topping, maybe with lemon juice, available from to eat in or take away from B & K Salt Beef Bar, Edgware and Hatch End
lokshen soup - noodle soup / vermicelli soup
lox - smoked salmon (spelling like gravad lax)

Words you may know:
    Often used in novels, jokes and by Jews and other who learned a little from their parents, grandparents, neighbours or boss and TV comedians and soap operas.

FOOD
blintz
chollent - Friday night or Saturday lunchtime stew or casserole left to cook on low light under lid, on hob or in oven or nowadays electric slow cooker, so food can be eaten without anybody having to prepare food during sabbath, often meat and potato

In Synagogue

MORE INFORMATION

See yiddishdictionaryonline.com
Many words of Yiddish are in modern dictionaries.
BOOKS

DICTIONARIES
A Dictionary of Yiddish Slang (paperback) by Fred Kogos
You can buy small and large Yiddish dictionaries online and at Jewish museums.

In Popular books:
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris, £8.99. I bought this from Amazon second hand in March 2014. Six and a bit pages of Yiddish glossary at the back.

You can study Yiddish at the University of Pennsylvania. Also e-courses are available.

AUTHOR'S NOTE by ANGELA LANSBURY
   This is being updated. Come back every week or month or send your suggestions.
   I am researching Yiddish (as well as Irish and other languages and dialects) for a novel giving the history of London and the world from 1880 to modern times. I aim to show adult and child readers the development of culture, movement of people, changing fashions, household items and music, wars and language.
   I am not merely getting music and language right for authenticity, but deliberately introducing items and language from every era to make the novel a fun history lesson.
   See my books on lulu.com

Rain in London, Singapore, Everywhere - Love Umbrellas!

I just found hear shape umbrellas and umbrellas with little heart motifs and butterfly motifs on love umbrellas.

loveumbrellas.co.uk

What to see in Borough Market, London

View of Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, and The Thames river from The Shard. Book at least a day in advance to save £5, bringing the charge per person down from about £30 to about £25.

Opposite The Shard is Borough Market

Notice the tromp l'oeil window in The Market Porter pub on the corner.

A quick coffee at Monmouth Coffee Company shop.

We stopped for a free taste of cheese at Neal's Yard Dairy.

A sign described their paid tasting sessions.

I also saw the sign of Vinopolis which is on my wish list.

The Shard

Monmouth Coffee Conpany Ltd, monmouthcoffee.co.uk Shop 2 Park Street, Borough Market, London SE1 9AB. (Also 27 Monmouth Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9EU)

Neal's Yard Dairy, 6 Park Street, (Borough Market), London SE1 9AB

www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/shops_borough.html‎

 Tel+44 (0)20 7367 0799. F+44 (0)20 7367 0798. Eboroughshop@nealsyarddairy.co.uk

London's RSJ Restaurant With Loire Valley Wines By The Glass

RSJ Restaurant is a short walk from the station, by a corner, with ground floor entrance. Three dining areas, the main room at the top upstairs, a small private room mid-level, a larger character basement for conference meetings, AGMs, Xmas parties and so on.

Small round or oblong tables. Jolly, friendly staff. Set meal was pork, vegetarian or mackerel, which suited one of our three diners but the other two chose off the main menu, duck and venison.

Bottle of wine, Vouvray demo-sec, was about £40, (would have been £25 bought outside a restaurant - our wine buff has found this place because he wanted Loire wines, which include demo-sec and sweet wines, and he thought the mark-up was reasonable. 

The pink organic wine which is bottled we had also seen sold at Borough Market.  You could also order a kir royale which I missed - it must have been on the main wine menu as I did not see it on the one sheet wine by the glass menu.

I was a bit perturbed by the way the jug was handled. Please everybody, remember to keep thumbs out of jugs even if they are heavy and carry them with one hand on the handle and if too heavy use another hand at the base for support.

Our starter of poultry and cashew nuts and citrus fruit pleased the birthday boy, though I found the cashews a bit tasteless - same goes for the ones at home from the supermarket - is it the wrong time of year for cashews or is it just me?

Main courses kept everybody happy. The high point was the desserts. We had told them we had two birthdays and they brought up the dessert with a candle. Five star enthusiasm for the toffee pudding. 

Other diners included those early diners dashing off to the Young or Old Vic theatres. Yes, We'll go back. We had corresponded with two people who must be office staff. In the evening those visible were Nigel, waiter Bob, and another. 

A brief flurry when the bill had not registered that one of the diners had the set menu. But soon sorted.

We were shown the multi-arched basement with pillars where the grooms used to sleep, then the yard next door where horses were kept. A fine finish to a satisfying evening.

Organic juice. Vouvray wine by the bottle.

Duck and mash with small onions.

Birthday candle on the delicious dessert.

Notice about tastings and special dinner events.

RSJ Restaurant,

33 Coin Street, London SE1 9NR

Tel: 020 7928 4554

rsj.uk.com

Read my other blogs, books and articles: Angela Lansbury author, travel, poet, public speaking, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Lulu.com books.  

Lost & Found People In The City

In an experiment a child is 'abandoned' in a shopping mall to see who stops to help. Hundreds pass before one stops.
1 Where is the mall security guard? In a USA shopping mall if you leave a child a guard rushes up to you and tells you to keep hold of your child.
2 Where is the Help Point?
3 Where is the Meeting Point for lost and found adults and children?

   We recently went on a surprise birthday outing in London. I did not know either the first or second destination. Our two mobile phones were not connecting.
  I suggest that in the even of any 'surprise' the destination should be written inside a sealed envelope in case anybody gets lost en route. Children should carry the parent's contact number.
  In phones you can program in ICE, in case of emergency. But most phones are locked by a password so that only works if somebody in authority finds the phone and can unlock it (e.g. after you are dead!) Your ICE contact number should be on the outside of the phone. Ideally somebody in the same country to save on bills and not wake somebody in the middle of the night.
   Some places have designated meeting points. The easiest one is near a seat. So at Heathrow airport, look at the seats. Pick the end of row seat (to allow room for luggage).
   Other meeting points are under the station clock. (Waterloo.)
   Watch out for 'meeting by the exit barrier'. Some stations have two exits.
Others have dozens. (Waterloo.)

The View From The Shard, London, England

The Shard attracted our eyes as we left London Bridge station and walked to lively Borough Market. You pick a time slot in the day or evening and we had chosen just before sunset. Careful not to miss our time slot, we arrived early enough for a walk around Borough Market and a coffee at Monmouth Coffee Company. The Shard is an all-jumping tourist attraction with a huge indoor entrance hall with ticket windows.  

We passed through security, like an airport, where they confiscated our pen-knife and Xmas crackers (it was our double-birthday treat). Then stopped for a photo. We took only a few steps and saw our faces on a screen.

Next up in two zooming lifts and out on the lower and larger observation deck of the tower which gets smaller as you get nearer the top. The lower level has floor to ceiling glass windows on all four sides and silhouettes of what you see above head height.  The nearest and most easily identifiable feature is Tower bridge below. (London Bridge, left of it, looks very dull, but if you arrived at London Bridge underground station, it helps to orient you to where you are.)
   The most amazing thing for me was seeing the river Thames winding S shape the way it does on maps, whilst when you are on the ground walking along the banks you always see it ahead of you as a straight line.
   The height is just right. You can see well known landmarks clearly. Down below are the white topf of trains, zooming backwards and forward towards you, the way they do at the end of the classic comedy thriller film starring Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness.
   Even with timed entry it is quite crowded. You have to wait your turn to see out through each of the windows. People pose for photos. Champagne is for sale at about £8 a glass. We rushed from window to window to take sunset photos as couples posed against the sunset for a romantic photo and/or a kiss.

The staircase is beautifully designed, polished wooden steps and red walls and views of the level below.

The second level is quite different. Make sure you see it. Less crowded. Open to the air with a chill wind. Seems much higher. And much smaller. You really feel you are at the top. 

Back on the lower level, having seen the views already, we paid attention to the machines which are free and show you the scene below at different times of day, with the names of landmarks.

On the way back down to the descending lift we found ourselves on a platform with windows showing the different types of clouds and what kind of weather they predicted.

Finally, back at ground level, the shop offered us a range of goods, from pencils and pens at £2 to tee-shirts and maps of London. The gifts are suitable for children and adults, souvenirs for yourself or for tourists to take home.

The souvenir photos cost about £25 (various packages) so I opted for a pencil. A delightful double birthday celebration.

Book at lest a day in advance to save yourself five pounds per person.
Tickets about £25 in advance, just under £30 on the day.
theviewfromtheshard.com

On May 23rd the Shard was hit by lightning. Several online newspapers carried photos.

See my next blog on Borough Market.

See Suburban Trees In London

   Spring is the season for strolling the city, London, Washington DC, and all over England and the USA. Start, in the south, as the warm weather creeps north through the spring season. Check the weather, often on the back page of your national newspaper.
   You can walk along Hadrian's Wall which was built by the Romans to keep England and Scotland separate and prevent raids. From Easter time many Roman museums will be open.
    National Trust properties will be open to the public and you can choose a walk around the park of a stately home, starting and ending at the gift shop and tea room. Or choose an RSPB site and do some bird-watching.
   Pick a railway station in  a shopping centre and look for a walk from the station to another station or in a loop and back. London libraries have leaflets on local walks. Many walks are signposted.
   You can walk along the Thames river. Pick landmarks, statues to see and photograph, bridges to cross. A place such as a pub or tea room where you can end up for tea. For example, the Tate Gallery and the bouncing bridge.
   Take London's underground railway out to the suburbs. Go South to Kew Gardens (entry charge).

    London is surrounded by the 'Green Belt'. For example, going north, Pinner has a historic high street with the Victory pub turned into a restaurant. The Park has a pond and the Heath Robinson Museum where you can see the cartoonists drawings. Walk uphill from Harrow-on-the-hill on the Metropolitan Line to see the famous school.
   Over in Ruislip there's Ruislip lido. Walk around the Lido admiring the swans. Finish with a reasonably priced lunch or dinner in the Water's Edge carvery.
   Take the Euston line North towards Watford and get off at Hatch End station. A map on the station wall shows how you can walk along pre-historic Grim's Dyke via Grimsdyke Hotel, home of Gilbert who wrote the words for Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. In just one street, in Hatch End, I took these photos of trees in the gardens and along the verges.

Magnificent magnolia trees in bloom in white or the prized pink.

Beautiful pink magnolia blossom against a blue sky.

Looking up, even the white clouds and telephone polls and rooftops cannot spoil the view of the wonderful pink petals.

Delicate pink blossoms on prunus (cherry tree family).

Grey clouds warn of rain.

But trees like rain.

Silver birch with its elegant slim silver-white trunk and delicate branches.

Spring flowers - daffodils in London, cherry blossom California and Japan

In London we always have daffodils in March. Weather can vary and change quickly. A fortnight ago it was chilly with flooding. Now the flowers are out.
    When I was a teenager we were in the garden in March. In 1979 when I was pregnant I looked out of the hospital window and saw snow. The following week I was walking into a block of flats wearing slippers.
   This year in London in March you can see yellow daffodils, white and pink camellias, and yellow forsythia bushes, and pink cherry blossom on the trees.

UK garden flowers in the garden in March 2014.

UK garden flowers close up, cut and in a kitchen table vase in March 2014.

Forsythia bushes make a big splash of yellow in gardens.

 Camelias

   In the USA you will see lots of cherry trees because the Japanese sent cherry trees to Washington DC as a post-war peace offering.
On the other side of America the annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival® will be on Saturday and Sunday April 12-13 and April 19-20, 2014. Celebrate Japanese and Japanese American culture in San Francisco’s Japantown!

Travel and Diet - Fruit or Brownies?

Travel and diet - that's tricky. You know what you ought to eat. You et fruit at home, then pile on the pounds every time you eat out. Do you lose weight at home but put on weight when out at a buffet or travelling?
   When I'm travelling or just out at a conference or meeting, I sometimes deliberately grab the sugary chocolates and biscuits. That's because I need energy to run for a train, talk to an audience, stay awake to catch plane, or get off the train at the right stop.
   If you want to avoid the temptation of a buffet, what can you carry in your pocket or bag? A piece of chocolate or biscuit can turn up in your bag or pocket a week later with no problem. But a bag of fruit or vegetables has turned into a nasty mush.
   However, I am mulling over my choices when travelling after reading what psychologists in Dijon, France, have discovered, that smelling fruit in advance of choosing food. The University of Bourgogne's researchers showed that having smelled fruit in the waiting room, the subjects chose fruit rather than brownies for dessert. 

This is what we eat for breakfast at home. (If we need sustaining, followed by a boiled egg, if in a hurry. Plus lots of water.)

New Restaurant Melissa, and more to do in Canons Park, London

What is Ocakbasi? It is Turkish for grill. I met the owners just before they opened in the middle of March 2014l. When I made signs through the window the family rushed to the door to open up and greet me.
    They gave me their takeaway menu. I'm sure they will be delighted if I tell you about it.

• Lunch is served 12 noon until 4 pm.
• 5 vegetarian dishes,
• All the foreign terms are translated.
• Lunch wraps only £4.95.

    Several choices including Lamb shish, chicken shish, falafel, Hellim, Sucuk, all served with salad.
Two course meal £7.95, includes a mixed starter, vegetarian kebab, or adams kebab, etc.
   What about desserts? Baklava, at £2.50, tiramisu at £3.90 and chocolate fudge cake.
   If you want to treat your teeth to cheese, you can try chips and cheese, or healthier Turkish salad - £3.25 for a mixed salad with feta cheese.

2 Station Parade, Whitchurch Lane, Canons Park, Edgware HA8 6RW
Open 7 days a week 12.00 to 11.00 pm.

   I lived in this road as a child. This shopping parade is next to Canons Park Station. If you are diving from central London, it's en route to two Toastmasters International clubs, Harrovians and HOD which meet in Stanmore.
    Why would anybody else go to this area? To see Handel's organ in St Lawrence's church along the road, to visit North London Collegiate School, which has a swimming pool which members of the public can use at certain times.
  You might also go to Canons Park, as I have, to get pictures framed in the framing shop.
Picture Framing
www.deventerprise.co.uk
tel: 020 8951 1655
0800 975 4721

In the same parade there's an Indian restaurant which was good in the past. Cannons Tandoori.  I must go back.

So, to sum up, a new restaurant Melissa, an old favourite restaurant, Cannons Tandoori, a church with an interesting gravestone, Handel's organ and occasional tours, North London Collegiate school, and a picture framing shop.

The Empty Post - Reasons & Apologies

Apologies to anybody who clicked on this empty post. I used to find it hard to find my way around blogger.com
   I had to create a new post to get back to the dashboard.  

Hotel Receptionists' Language, English, or bilingual?

Singapore
   In Singapore I was inspecting hotels for a travel guide. I spoke to the manager of a hotel. She told me that she asked all her receptionists to speak only English both when dealing with the customer and when speaking with other staff. I asked why. She said that it reassured the customers. If I am an English speaker and the receptionists mutter to each other in Chinese (Mandarin) or Hokkien or another Chinese dialect, or Bahasa Malay or Hindi, I shall be listening anxiously, at first thinking I am losing my hearing, then on tenterhooks waiting for when they revert to English to address me.
   If you ask a receptionist whether she has a bedroom and she says she will check, then she turns to a colleague and speaks in a language you do not understand, you wonder what kind of secret coded message she is conveying.
   I've been in this situation. I'm sure you have, too. What goes through your mind? Is she insulting me? Is she saying that she doesn't want my business? Is she saying, 'give them that awful room nobody else wants - see if we can get away with it?' Is she saying, 'I can't be bothered to deal with this query - let's keep them waiting while we talk about our boyfriends.'
    The receptionist also loses rapport with the customer when turning away to speak in another language. If the customer hears the receptionist saying, 'Can you help me find two adjacent rooms for this couple who want to be next to their children?', the customers will listen for the answer.
   But if the receptionist seems to have lost interest, the customer may turn to their spouse or colleague and say, 'They are not doing anything for us here. We're losing time. Let's go to that other nice hotel next door.'
    By the time the receptionist has finished her conversation in another language, taking trouble to sort out a room at the budget of the customer, the customer has turned on his heels and walked out. Taking the business from the hotel. No wonder the hotel manager wants the receptionist to be smiling and helpful and talking to the customer in the common language, English.
   But are there times when it is helpful to be bilingual? Yes.
Ottawa, Canada
   In Canada government offices require employees to speak and write both English and French. Having bilingual staff and populations puts the Canadians ahead of others (who speak just once language) as employees when dealing with the public.
  I stood at reception in a hotel in Ottawa. I speak fluent French as a second language. I can converse in either French or English. But the bilingual receptionist at an Ottawa hotel amazed me by switching between French and English dealing with me in English, and the gentleman beside me in French. The conversation went like this. 'Yes, Madam, just a moment, please. Monsieur, voila, votre clee.' (Clee is French for key.' 'Je vous souhaite un bon sejour. Yes, Madam, we have your room. And here is your key. Have a pleasant stay.'
  What can one say? Formidable. Wonderful.  

Essential Communication in English

English is standard worldwide for pilots to avoid confusion of different languages. In March 2014 the plane MH370 went missing and the world's newspapers are reporting officials and members of the public discussing the last words of the pilot(s) to air traffic control. Somebody suggested that we have only a translation and the pilot and control tower might have been speaking in Malay. But English is standard for communication between pilots and the control tower.
   You can easily understand why. The Malaysian population is a mixture of the easy-going Malay majority speaking Bahasa Malay, the hard-working Chinese prominent in business will be speaking Chinese (Manadarin) language and probably one of two or three other dialects. The Indian minority speak yet another language. In addition Malaysia, like other Asian countries, has a small number of skilled expats and managers brought in from the USA, UK and Australia speaking English.
   The aircraft control tower is dealing with a different plane every three minutes. So messages being clear affects the safety of a plane - as in this case. The worldwide standard for aircraft communication to prevent mis-hearing and misunderstanding is in the same language, mandatory English. 

No matching thread for sewing holes on holiday? Darn with your own hair!

I used my hair to darn a hole in a favourite warm red wool vest, after I ran out of red thread. Seems to work. 
    My hair is so fine that it's hard to thread the needle. But the same as threading other threads through needles. Hold your needle against a white saucer. Keep trying two or three or four times and eventually it goes through.
    I found it hard to tie a knot in the end and just sewed back in the opposite direction along a nearby seam. Not ideal.  I wonder how long my sewing with hair will last? 
    I'd like to find somebody else who has done it. I can't yet find out if anybody else has done it - recently - have you? Do you know anybody who has?
    I'm sure I read this tip somewhere. I also remember reading about people using hair from themselves or a dog or pet for weaving. So I googled 'darn hair'

. But I found only people saying, 'Darn - my hair needs ... ' !
    So I googled 'sew my hair' which brings up hairdressing tips about sewing in extensions and braiding hair. 
   I must share this tip with other sewers. Sewers of the world unite. Sewers - meaning people who sew. Not underground sewers carrying waste water! 
    I must add this tip to my book How To Get Out of The Mess. (Which I shall republish with a positive title like Organise Your Life with Angela. Any suggestions on sewing tips? Or my book title?
   This would be really helpful on holiday when you need to sew and don't have thread, or you lose a button. 

Names In Other Countries

Names and nicknames. Every country has its own system. I've lived in the UK, the USA and Singapore.
 In Singapore in the Hash House Harriers people are given nicknames, some of which are insulting, whilst others are rude. This is traditional and dates back several years to the army.  Then the runners enjoying a paper-chase  were a leisure group to amuse the soldiers evening and weekends. It kept them fit, encouraged team-work, and kept them off the streets and out of trouble.
    I think it's time to move on. From the Americans we have learned a lot about physiology, morale and motivation. The Americans say what goes around comes around. The Indians and Asians say karma.
   The American army pioneered employee selection and job allocation, using psychological testing (Myers Briggs). These classifications are still used widely in the army and companies worldwide.  
  Given what we now know about psychology, we can use words to motivate. We need to encourage self-respect and respect for others. This prevents fights, arguments, insults, homicide and suicide.
    I am opposed to negative names. They belong to the bad old days. I like positive names.
    Naming for characteristics has been going on since biblical times. Originally people had one name.  Then sons were named after their parent, usually the father. John was called John like his father. When he was little he was simply called John's son. Later in his life, and in a later era, he would be called Johnson. In English we also have Williamson, Richardson, Timson, Wilson.
    I have been researching for my novel trilogy which starts in London's East End in the 1880s. That was at the time of when Queen Victoria ruled much of what became known as the Commonwealth or former Commonweal. Queen Victoria's favourite was The PM of England Disraeli, a man whose family converted to Christianity - necessary to be in government, but was of Jewish ancestry, of Italian-Mediterranean origin.  I started researching names, discovering that Jewish names followed two distinct groups. Disraeli was from the Sephardi or Spanish and Portuguese origin. His friends the Rothschild bankers were Ahskenazis, or North Europeans, whose names reflected their language, German mixed with Hebrew (Yiddish) and Russian names.
   From the time of Cromwell and the Quakers, and the Baptists, the Christians had taken 'Christian' names for Baptism and Confirmation, from the bible. They chose Old Testament names, New Testament names (Mathew, Mark Luke and John). Virtuous sounding names were popular, such as Faith, Hope and Charity.
   Governments needed names for a census to count the home population and those in countries they conquered. The armies needed family names to identify recruits and call up.

   In the UK public schools called boys by surnames, or Master (surname). Adults were Mister (surname).
   In the UK we have public schools which are fee-paying. Originally church schools were private and the first fee paying schools were known as public school. In the USA a school where pupils pay is called a public school. A free school paid for out of taxes is called a state school.
  If you name too many people, even two is too many, with the same name you need to add another name.
   The 'calculating' Chinese, always good with money, named their children by order of birth, number one son, and so on.
   Nowadays when texting we need to shorten time spent typing so we go back to one name. Another benefit of a nickname is that it gives anonymity where we are hiding our identity from hackers and ID theft on the internet.  
   A culture with a positive attitude names everybody with good qualities or qualities you wish them to have, such Hope, Charity, Good, Great, Honest. A nickname which is alliterative is easy to remember. One with a positive meaning attracts a smile and a happy outlook.
   That is why I call myself Angella, the Angel. I introduce myself to foreigners and strangers as Angela - like an angel. I like to think I am both angelic, cute and full of goodwill.
   The old meaning of angel was messenger. I am journalist and teacher, bringing knowledge, skills, and useful information and positive thinking and encouragement.
Angela Lansbury
Author of Quick Quotations. Speech writer. Speech Trainer. Immediate Past President Harrovian Speakers' Club, London, England. English tutor. Adult EFL worldwide on Skype. O and A level tutoring. (See books on Lulu.com. Also YouTube videos on speeches and English grammar. LinkedIn. Facebook.)

Singapore's Sporting And Intellectual Attractions - jogging and strolling, or speeches? Your choice!

If you are sporty you can enjoy running through the jungle on a paper chase with the Hash house harriers, if you are intellectual you can sit and listen to speeches at the dozens of branches of Toastmasters International, and if, like my friend Andrew, you are a good all-rounder, you can do both. The Hashers (a worldwide organisation) meet in Singapore every night of the week, different groups, men only, women only, families, people running with their dogs!
    Most of them make a very reasonable charge for the buffet meal which ends the evening. they were started by the army so expect the evening to end with beer drinking, rowdy songs and insulting nicknames - like 'Dirty D.... or Dim D.... . If you prefer polite and censored speeches with formal address, 'Mr President and honoured guests', go to Toastmasters.
    (Or you can hire a cycle and ride along the beachside on the East Coast. If you can't arrive on time and miss a meeting, your alternative is to go solo along the beachside jogging trails.)
    The current drought (March 2014) is good for some clubs and tourists. It's good weather for the runners or joggers on the hash because rain does not ruin their outing.
   But when you feel it's too hot to go out, it's good to sit indoors listening to speeches in an air conditioned building. Those Toastmasters groups which meet in the public Community Centres in every government -run housing complex will have either water fountains or crates of bottled iced water, or both.
   Some clubs offer local food made by members' families or brought in from a nearby take away. Sometimes food is free, sometimes there is a small charge (ask if price is important to you). The big meetings in hotels may make a charge for a buffet dinner which is before the meeting plus more snacks in the interval. Arrive early to get your share of food you've paid for and have time to network and make friends with the committee.
    Many of the meetings of the Toastmasters International (as the name suggests, most countries of the world) are free for at least one meeting to guests (VIP speakers, tourists and visitors from overseas), and supporters (family, friends and work colleagues of speakers and members).
 For more information on toastmasters groups worldwide google toastmasters international find a club.
    If you are going to a Toastmasters meeting, or if you are not but just want to sit at home and armchair enjoy, look at my blogs on speeches, my videos on YouTube, or the Facebook pages of my London clubs Harrovians and HOD, or the Facebook and LinkedIn pages of clubs showing speeches which have won competitions. If you are competing in the twice yearly autumn and spring competitions held worldwide, you will find workshops and competitions in larger venues, usually with a price for the audience which covers entry to the venue and any food included in the morning, afternoon, evening or whole day or weekend event.
    If you are looking for a quotation for a speech, get QUICK QUOTATIONS For Authors and Speakers by Angela Lansbury, which I published on lulu.com Or ask me to bring it to a Toastmasters Meeting. I have two editions, the latest at £10 (o.n.o. if you are out of work, have done me lots of favours, or I am carrying an older edition or a dog-eared edition). If you are going to a meeting and went to see or buy a copy, remind me to take one or two or three or more -  I went to a Toastmasters meeting yesterday and the demand for copies outstripped my supply.

Quick Quotations For Successful Speeches    Angela Lansbury (first edition 80 pages)
QUICK QUOTATIONS for authors and speakers Angela Lansbury (second edition 105 pages).

Yes, you do speak some RUSSIAN !

bolshevik - big party
bolshoi - (as in ballet) big ballet
menshevik - small party
niet - no (as in the song, Niet, niet, niet, niet, not any more - Goldie Hawn?)
sputnik -

Handy Words -
I suggest you find translations from google translate of words you will need on your journey

1-12
100

Yes
Please
Thank you
Hello
Goodbye
Water
wine
bread
sandwich
hotel
theatre
husband
lost
how much?
I would like
cheaper
dearer
bill
receipt
toilet (mens)
Toilet (ladies)
Railway station
train
taxi
what time?
where is (it)?
bus station
cinema
seat/chair
bigger
smaller
colour/another colour
adult
child
Just a moment
a phone
a meal
I'm lost
I'm tired
I'm hungry
I need
a doctor
help
it's missing
stolen
Please call
police
My name is
Who are you
I'll write it down
Do you have a pen
a paper
a dictionary
do you speak English/French/German/Spanish?

How Everest Got Its Name

Everest is named after the man who did the measuring for years across India.
His name was pronounced Eve - rest.
But it has become Ever-ist.
His home is being made into a museum. 

British English for visitors

Useful dictionaries:
Oxford Children's Dictionary
Oxford Dictionary for writers and editors.
Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss.
I recommend that you invest in an etymological dictionary. This gives the root or history of the word
which helps you remember the meaning.
Many post offices and stationery shops sell the key stage books on English for children. Some of them have answers at the back so you can read and test yourself. 

Visiting Portugal? Drinking Portuguese Wines? Reading Portuguese Names?

Portugal is a very popular country for visitors from the UK. The wines of Port and Mateus Rose have been popular in the UK for many years. The Portuguese are very friendly to people from the UK, because traditionally the British governments were allies or helpers of Portugal, especially at a time when England was fighting Spain at sea. So some of the goodwill to the British as business people and buyers as well as allies from years ago lingers on, reinforcing Portuguese politeness and friendliness to travellers and tourists.
 
Portuguese Wines
Portuguese Place Names
Bombay means beautiful bay.

Countries speaking Portuguese
Portuguese is spoken in Portugal and Brazil. Portuguese place names are likely to be found in places such as Macau and Goa.
You probably already know what to do, but if you are tired at the end of a long day, these reminders may help stir you into action:
Translate Portuguese by typing the words into Google Translate.
You can learn Portuguese from discs. Libraries have learning materials.
You can buy Portuguese dictionaries on Amazon.

Come back to this blog for updates.

   

Yes, you do speak HEBREW !

Shalom - peace or hello, same root in Aramaic as the Arabic salaam.  Do you know the names Bethlehem and Elizabeth, Benjamin, Reuben, Joseph and Joel, ?  And the words seraphim and cherubim? The plural in Hebrew is im.

Bible
cherubim seraphim

Placenames
Beth is house
Bethlehem is house of bread

Personal Names
Elizabeth - beth is a building or house. Modern Hebrew would be Beit. T or TH?
Ben is son of
Benjamin son of my right hand. You will find this noted in the small print at the bottom of the page in many annotated copies of The Bible. (Also known in the Jewish community as The Hebrew Bible, and to Christians as the Old Testament.)
Reuben - see - a son!

Ja or Jo is one of the old names of God. Hence Jaweh, and Jehovah, as in Jehova's witness.
Many names begin with Jo.
Another name is El (as in Allah)
So Joel combines both versions of the Lord.

Seeing, Translating and Learning Hebrew
Where can you hear modern Hebrew?
In Israel. Songs on discs and YouTube.

Where can you hear ancient Hebrew?
In synagogues worldwide.

Where can you see Hebrew?
 In prayerbooks in synagogues and libraries. On the walls of synagogues. For example, UK, Spain. On street signs in Israel. In Jewish cemeteries. On Jewish tours in cities in countries such as: Warsaw, Poland; Amsterdam in the Netherlands; Ireland; London, UK; New York, USA.

Where can you learn Hebrew?
Work on a kibbutz in Israel.
In the UK and USA Rabbis and other Teachers of Hebrew who coach Barmitzvah boys. Ask for group lessons or individual coaching at the nearest synagogue.

From the web.
Online teachers of Hebrew, based in Israel.
Jewish graves in Find a grave.
Websites about travel and monuments in Israel.
Note that the language is written from right to left, and books are reversed and start with the first page at 'the back'. The same applies to arabic. An Arabic speaking Moslem friend of mine was amazed and amused to find that Hebrew was 'just like Arabic'.

Related Names


Easy Placenames
Tel Aviv - tel is hill and Aviv is spring.
jerusalem - salem/shalom/salaam means peace - city of peace

Some more place names
Tel Aviv
Tel is hill. Aviv is spring.
Beer Sheba. Beer is well. Sheba or seba is seven. Seven wells.
Count 1-4: echad, shtaim, shalosh, arba.
If you ever learned Israeli dancing, the caller will count 1-4 in Hebrew.

Jerusalem
City of Peace. (If only!) Salem or Shalom, like the Arabic Salaam, means peace.
The author Sholom Aleichem - his name means Peace Be With you. You might know the song, Jerusalaim, shel bahav. Jerusalem, city of gold.
See my blog on Yiddish.

Wikipedia has the Hebrew alphabet.

Yes, you do speak GREEK ! + Two English Speeches Using Greek Words

   I studied philosophy at University College, London. In our first term we had a list of classic books to read, including Plato and Socrates. We were very proud of ourselves and thrilled that we had got to university, all determined to do well. Imagine our horror after our first lecture on hearing from one of the abashed students that we had all been outclassed, 'There's a boy in the front row reading Plato in Greek!'
    We were very relieved to hear later that the boy who was reading in Greek, was a boy from Greece.

   It is much easier to learn the Greek alphabet if you are familiar with mathematic signs.

   On my first day on a trip to Greece I could not read any of the words or road signs. Then we drove out of Athens and back again. I kept looking at the motorway signs. I was delighted when I recognised the word Athens written in Greek alongside the English. I could then take the TH in Athens, to help me to recognise the other letters and other place names.
   Our English speaking guide around Thessalonika told us that the Greek ambassador age a speech to the United Nations using almost entirely Greek words which everybody would know.  I found two speeches in Wikipedia.

'Xenophon Zolotas (Greek: Ξενοφών Ζολώτας, 26 March 1904 – 10 June 2004), was a Greek economist and served as an interim non-party Prime Minister of Greece.

'Early life and career[edit]

'Born in Athens in 1904, Zolotas studied economics at the University of Athens, and later studied in Leipzig and Paris. He came from a wealthy family of goldsmiths with roots in pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1928 he became Professor of Economics at Athens University and at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a post he held until 1968, when he resigned in protest at the military regime which had come to power in 1967. He was a member of the Board of Directors of UNRRA in 1946 and held senior posts in the International Monetary Fund and other international organisations in 1946 and 1981.

'Zolotas was director of the Bank of Greece in 1944–1945, 1955–1967 (when he resigned in protest at the regime), and 1974–1981. He published many works on Greek and international economic topics. He was a Keynesian, and was active in socialist circles with his close friend, Professor Angelos Angelopoulos. He is also famous for demonstrating the contribution of Greek language to the English vocabulary by making English speeches, as he said, "using with the exception of articles and prepositions only Greek words", to foreign audiences.

'When the elections of November 1989 failed to give a majority to either the PASOK party of Andreas Papandreou or the New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis, Zolotas, then aged 85, agreed to become Prime Minister at head of a non-party administration until fresh elections could be held. He stepped down after the election of April 1990 which gave Mitsotakis a narrow majority."

Speeches[edit]

'Two of his speeches in English are considered to be historic and notable because they contained mainly terms of Greek origin. Here are the texts:

1957[edit]

'I always wished to address this Assembly in Greek, but realized that it would have been indeed "Greek" to all present in this room. I found out, however, that I could make my address in Greek which would still be English to everybody. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, l shall do it now, using with the exception of articles and prepositions, only Greek words.

Kyrie, I eulogize the archons of the Panethnic Numismatic Thesaurus and the Ecumenical Trapeza for the orthodoxy of their axioms, methods and policies, although there is an episode of cacophony of the Trapeza with Hellas. With enthusiasm we dialogue and synagonize at the synods of our didymous organizations in which polymorphous economic ideas and dogmas are analyzed and synthesized. Our critical problems such as the numismatic plethora generate some agony and melancholy. This phenomenon is characteristic of our epoch. But, to my thesis, we have the dynamism to program therapeutic practices as a prophylaxis from chaos and catastrophe. In parallel, a Panethnic unhypocritical economic synergy and harmonization in a democratic climate is basic. I apologize for my eccentric monologue. I emphasize my euharistia to you, Kyrie to the eugenic and generous American Ethnos and to the organizers and protagonists of his Amphictyony and the gastronomic symposia."

1959[edit]

'Kyrie, it is Zeus' anathema on our epoch for the dynamism of our economies and the heresy of our economic methods and policies that we should agonize the Scylla of numismatic plethora and the Charybdis of economic anaemia. It is not my idiosyncrasy to be ironic or sarcastic, but my diagnosis would be that politicians are rather cryptoplethorists. Although they emphatically stigmatize numismatic plethora, they energize it through their tactics and practices. Our policies have to be based more on economic and less on political criteria. Our gnomon has to be a metron between political, strategic and philanthropic scopes. Political magic has always been anti-economic. 

'In an epoch characterized by monopolies, oligopolies, monopsonies, monopolistic antagonism and polymorphous inelasticities, our policies have to be more orthological. But this should not be metamorphosed into plethorophobia, which is endemic among academic economists. Numismatic symmetry should not hyper-antagonize economic acme. A greater harmonization between the practices of the economic and numismatic archons is basic. Parallel to this, we have to synchronize and harmonize more and more our economic and numismatic policies panethnically. These scopes are more practicable now, when the prognostics of the political and economic barometer are halcyon. 

'The history of our didymus organizations in this sphere has been didactic and their gnostic practices will always be a tonic to the polyonymous and idiomorphous ethnical economies. The genesis of the programmed organization will dynamize these policies. Therefore, I sympathize, although not without criticism on one or two themes, with the apostles and the hierarchy of our organs in their zeal to program orthodox economic and numismatic policies, although I have some logomachy with them. I apologize for having tyrannized you with my Hellenic phraseology. In my epilogue, I emphasize my eulogy to the philoxenous autochthons of this cosmopolitan metropolis and my encomium to you, Kyrie, and the stenographers.'

(I have put in bold some well-known words. Angela.)

Some Greek words you may use and recognise:

aer air
agora - marketplace (agoraphobia - fear of open spaces)
adelphos brother as in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love
anti opposite (antipathy, antiseptic)
aster star (asterisk)
auto self (automatic)
haemo blood (anaemic, haemorrhage)
stenographer

See wikipedia List of Greek words with English derivatives
Wikipedia has the Greek alphabet.
You can also look for other alphabets and symbols on your computer under fonts.