Use Personal names and family names to learn animals and other vocabulary

You can use first names and family names to learn vocabulary in foreign languages. You can also use the origin of the name to remind you of a person's name.

Remembering names is a handy trick. In England many Indians are called Patel. I once went to teach a girl whose family name was Patel. I found that several families in the same street in Wembley, North West London, were called Patel.

INDIAN NAMES IN THE UK

When I boarded to a plane to India, I got talking to a gentleman called Mr Patel. Several hours later, I said goodbye to him at the airport. I said, Goodbye Mr Patel. He was stunned and delighted that I remembered his name!

ENGLISH/JEWISH

In English and other languages many first names and surnames of family names indicate animals.
For example, from the animals of the twelve tribes of Israel amongst Jews certain animal names were handed down such as Hart, meaning deer.

Hogarth is a swineherd who looked after hogs or pigs. Shepherd was a man who looked after sheep.

CHINESE

Ma is Chinese for Horse. MA Chinese

From Chinese 马 (mǎ).

DANISH

Fisker is Danish for fisherman.

FRENCH

Chevalier, knight - who rode on horseback - from French cheval meaning horse. Lyon stands for lion.

GERMAN

In German the same applies. Adler is German for Eagle. Wolf.

Lowe (with two dots over the o) means lion in German.

Here are some more, which I have compiled, inspired by an enquiry on the Polyglot page in Facebook.

ICELAND

 In Icelandic and other Nordic languages, a common male name Björn means "bear".

INDIAN

Singh means lion.

RUSSIA

In Russian, Lev is a common male name and means "lion".

SERBO-CROAT

 in Serbo-Croatian, a common personal male name is Vuk, meaning "wolf". Very rare but still existing are male name Slavuj ("nightingale") and female name Srna ("female roe deer").

SPAIN

 In Spanish, a common female name Paloma means "dove".

SWEDEN

Falk means Falcon.

UKRAINE

The word for lion appears in many family names and city names. Lemberg in Ukraine, was originally the lion city.

Useful websites
https://surnames.behindthename.com/names/tag/animals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_epithet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English
https://context.reverso.net/translation/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polyglotcommunity
https://translate.google.com/

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am Immediate Past President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting on Zoom the first Wednesday of the month but  the third Saturday afternoon and occasionally on other Wednesdays our workshops are on app learncool.sg 

Incoming president Faith from July 1st 2020 could change dates and platforms so please contact the club.

learncool.sg

Or quicker to type and easier to remember: 

 tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

For language lovers:Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reduplicated_place_names

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reduplicated_Australian_place_names

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reduplicated_New_Zealand_place_names

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html Please share links to your favourite posts
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
translate.google.c

Recycled reindeer decoration from a Xmas cake

The gold colour of the reindeer is very festive. Again I made a support from a plastic bottle cap. I have been wondering what use I could make of the caps for ages.

The Rear of The Rhea Was Here - where can you see it now?

Photo of Rhea by Michael Palmer in Wikipedia.


The Rear Of The Rhea Is Here
by Angela Lansbury

What is a rhea?
First I must say
It's oddly spelled
R H E A

The rhea, like its name, is absurd
Because it's a large, but flightless bird
Some people won't hear one bad word,
Ok, let's say, delightful bird

At first, when that big bird was found
They called it rhea, that's Greek for ground
South America's rhea is taller
Thank God, our Darwin rhea, here, is smaller

Most people here have no idea
About the truth, about the rhea
Except of course, for me and you
Like emus, we've no work to do

We look up facts, so we are clear
In case we ever must confront
Bravely, without a tear, nor fear
That dear, but very dangerous rhea

Thousands write to support its cause
It doesn't have big teeth, lion's jaws
But don't shake hands, evade its paws!
It catches, clasps, kills - with long claws!

On good days it just eats long grass
So if you're bothered by too much grass
No time at down to mow the lawn
Just let your rhea march, munching, past

One lady thought it would be fun
To own a rhea, just start with one
It's lonely, so then you get two
But what d'you think two rheas do!

A year goes past, while drinking tea,
You look up, gasp, "Hey - I see three!"
They breed and breed, you've soon got four
Let's split them up. please shut that door

'We've not got room, what shall we do?
I'm sure they'd like some at the zoo
So take a picture. Shut that gate!'
'Sorry, one's gone - I was too late!'

Cute in National Geographic
Not fun, running round in traffic!
It's run, done something in the field
I hope that helps the farmer's yield

It's not good news, not a good day
It's dangerous - on a motorway!
They're lost, they're breeding, two, four, five
The good news is that they'll survive

It's like an ostrich, and will eat
All kinds of plants, but sometimes meat
Rodent, reptile. It's friends with deer
Stands calm by cows, if herds are near

An 'emu' was glimpsed far from home
Caught on camera, then mobile phone
Escaped rheas at first sound fun
Delays, expense, police - with guns

Although, from far, a rhea's cute
Shyly running, in its feather suit
Now it's escaped, they'll prosecute
Stop car crashes. Game keepers shoot

We should know more, we all agree
To talk this over, over tea
I'll go off to scan the media
Please read more in Wikipedia

Because there's lots more I could say
But we've not enough time today
Let's go out looking, all of us here
Before laws ban them and they disappear

Learn more about the backward rhea
See which facts we can muster
The prime use of its feathers
Is to make a feather duster

If you fly to Argentina
You'll find the rhea is no stranger
You see it on centavo coins
There they're not rare, nor endangered

Gouchos would trip up rheas with ropes
Eat eggs and meat, make leather cloaks.
Farmers are angry, rheas eat crops
Not bad, they're good! Here shooting's stopped!

If soon, the world's rheas disappear
Don't drown sorrow in tea or beer
Come to England, amigos, Hertfordshire
You'll see two rhea rears running here!
-ends-

copyright Angela Lansbury.
Inspired by controversy caused by escaped rheas by the English motorway, pursued by gunmen, eventually recaptured, or returned for lunch, instead of ending up as dinner.
Please share links to this post.
For the story about the escaped rheas causing trouble to motorway traffic, see
UK Escapes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/27050298
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/what-s-going-on-rhea-yorkshire-police-find-an-emu-on-patrol-1-9014419
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-warning-over-aggressive-escaped-rhea-bird-on-the-loose-in-nottinghamshire-10345553.html

Escapes in Germany
http://www.10000birds.com/greater-rheas-germanys-new-big-bird.htm

For info on rheas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_(bird)_

ENGLAND, UK
To see rheas go to Woburn Safari Park, England.
woburnsafari.co.uk
http://www.woburnsafari.co.uk/discover/meet-the-animals/birds/greater-rhea/

SCOTLAND
http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/animals-and-attractions/animals/darwins-rhea/

https://www.visitscotland.com

NORTHERN IRELAND
http://www.belfastzoo.co.uk/animals/darwins-rhea.aspx

vistibritainshop.com

CHILE, SOUTH AMERICA
Or Parc Nacional Pali Aike, Chile
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g2615237-d2461967-r346309803-Parque_Nacional_Pali_Aike-Magallanes_Region.html
https://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport
http://www.visitchile.com/en/

ARGENTINA, SOUTH AMERICA
https://www.audleytravel.com/argentina
https://wikitravel.org/en/Argentina

Bristol has Banksy, RLS and Treasure Island, The Suspension Bridge: what to see and do, where to go

Problem
I was looking at the Balloon Festival and wondering what else there is to see and do in Bristol. A lot has been added since last time I visited.

Answers
Firstly, if you are visiting the Balloon Festival, it is Thursday 9th August to Sunday 12the August. over a long weekend, the August bank holiday.

Ashton Court, Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9JN.

The 850-acre parkland estate includes a mansion and two pitch and putt golf courses, deer park, miniature railway, orienteering and nature trails. The Balloon event is free. You need to budget for the booked parking places, or for a ticket on the shuttle bus from Temple Mead station.

The historic places are:

1 Hardy's winery (you'd have to arrange to join a group tour). Famous for Bristol Cream Sherry.

2 Brunel's ship SS Great Britain by the harbour.

3 Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge. (The Avon Gorge Hotel alongside has a view. But you might prefer to stay and eat at a modern spa hotel of which there are several.) The open top bus tour takes you to the bridge.

Bristol Suspension Bridge. £1 to cross by car. Free to walk across.

4 Old Inn where Robert Louis Stevenson is supposed to have met Selkirk who inspired Robinson Crusoe; also characters from the story of Treasure Island. Being Kidnapped, then as now, was a possibility. I was told the inn, like others, had a spy hole so you could watch for people approaching. When I went there it was the highlight of my trip.

I'm sure somebody somewhere will deny everything about its connections with Stevenson. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. It's a fabulous story, the book treasure Island, and how he came to write are both full of tension, amazing characters. You could sit over drink talking about it for hours.

Long John Silver, the man with the missing leg, was based on Stevenson's good friend, whose leg was amputated, who wrote the inspiring poem Invicticus, 'I am the captain of my ship', or is it soul? Never mind. I'll look it up later.

Llandoger Row, King Street, Bristol, BS1 4ER.
Tel 0871 951 1000 (calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras)
Bristol Temple Meads station is 0.6 miles, Clifton Down 1.2 miles and Redland 1.3 miles. The chain is Brewers Fayre.

If alcohol is not your thing, the city also has a juice bar.

3 You could go to the Aerospace Bristol Museum and step inside Concorde.

4 On a fine day you might go on a Banksy walking tour. Several companies offer Banksy themes.

5 The city also has trips to the Cheddar Gorge. (If you are driving from London you might allow time to do this as a detour on the way down or the way back.)

6 Another trip is to the castle.

7 Bristol Museum is free.

The Bristol tourist board has one of the best websites I have seen. You can even list all the thing you want into a personalised list.

You could group together all the hotels with spas and indoor swimming pools, or the zoo and acquarium and other animal attractions. Or all the museums.

Catch the train to Bath (Jane Austen museum), only fifteen minutes, or drive there, 12 miles.

How could anybody not want to go there?

https://visitbristol.co.uk/things-to-do/banksy-walking-tour-p1354013
www.visitbristol.co.uk
Tel: 0333 321 0101.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

The Future of Food Production and Diets - What Would Benefit the world?

Travelling around the world you encounter different diets in different cultures. The Muslims and Jews don't eat pork. The Jews don't eat shellfish and won't mix meat and milk at the same meal. Hindus don't eat beef.

Animal lovers avoid battery farmed eggs and veal. Vegans avoid eggs and milk. Vegetarians eat vegetables and fruit and grains.

Health-conscious people aim for organic food.

Dieters go fro fruit juices and avoid starches. (Other diets avoid fats, or sugars.)

Americans avoid Malaysian vegetables, grown in 'night soil' - manure or sewage; whilst Malaysians avoid Australian vegetables 'grown in chemicals'.

Arab countries and poor countries admire the fat and wealthy, well-fed look.

Western countries like the thin and energetic look this century. (In the painter Titian's day fashions in female forms was obviously different. Maybe painters preferred patrons who were and looked wealthy.)

Shakespeare did not like the lean and hungry look. (But Shakespeare and Marlow also liked drinking in taverns.)

As for drink, Muslims and Hindus are against alcohol. But the Irish and British are fond of alcohol. In the last century it was safer to drink alcohol than polluted water.

What of the future? We hear and read a lot about global warming. The UK is now proving wines.
Foods from distant lands are imported.

If you were a visitor from Mars, what would you think would be the best solution?

Hindus who don't eat meat, to preserve cows and oxen, work animals which roam freely, eating wherever and whatever and belong to the ruling classes?

The Chinese and / or there view that you eat anything with four legs except a table? (That would include stray dogs.)

Certain African tribes which eat insects?

Eating game? This would include lions, birds of prey, and so on.

Eating domestic pets? Rabbits?

Licensing all animal owners.  Marking animals, not just sheep and cows, and dogs, but also cats and chickens.

Killing animals which eat or attack humans? This would include crocodiles, some elephants, lions, jaguars, leopards.

Killing animals which eat others? This would include killing lions and foxes. Large snakes. Crocodiles.

Killing animals which eat crops or damage trees. This would / could include d e e r, birds.

Introducing animals which eat others?

Moving animals which eat others' eggs? (Removing hedgehogs to new places when they eat birds' eggs.)

Allowing everybody to eat everything like the Chinese?

Making everybody vegetarian like the Hindus?

Having meat-free days, just as the Catholics used to eat fish on Fridays. Copying some Indian groups have vegetarian day? Giving up wheat food which was given up in Lent after using up the wheat leftover from last year in pancakes, to ensure no contamination by mould of the new crop?

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author and speaker.