Re: Off-list: English as She is Spoke

["Robert H. Kubie" rhkubie@xxxxxxxx]

Quite a while ago, before world War II in fact, I was a high school
student, wandering around Times Square with a classmate on a Saturday
night. In one of the stores that sells (or then sold) plastic wrapped
packets of dirty pictures and plastic intaglio faces of Jesus the eyes of
which seemed to follow you around the room, I bought a Japanese abacus.

The Japanese word for the skill of operating an abacus is "soruban."
I never really learned to use the abacus, but it came with a user's manual,
the final sentence of which has lived with me, and delighted me, ever
since. The enthusiastic closing sentence of the owner's manual read:

"Learn soruban, and make happy on your life!" Voila!

I say to all my colleagues: Learn soruban and make happy on your lives!

--Bob Kubie



At 02:22 PM 4/27/2004, Harry Binswanger wrote:
> Since so many XyWriters are linguophiles, I thought I'd recommend "English
> as She is Spoke." It's an 1883 Portugese-English phrase-book, but the
> Portugese gentleman who wrote it didn't know English. Knowing French, they
> used a French-English dictionary to get the "English."
>
> Some samples:
>
> The walk.
>
> Will you and take a walk with me?
> Wait for that the warm be out.
> It seems me that corn does push alredy
> You hear the bird's gurgling?
> Which pleasure! which charm!"
>
> With a hair dresser.
>
> Your razors, are them well?
> Comb-me quickly; don't put me so much pomatum. What news tell me? all
> hairs dresser are newsmonger.
>
> Under "Familiar Phrases":
>
> He do the devil at four.
> They fight one's selfs together
>
> And the ever-popular: "We are in the canicule."
> I know what you are thinking, "One's can to believe you?" Yes, it's real.
> And exists in several editions you can find cheaply on the web. E.g.,
> www.abebooks.com.
>
> I leave you with the closing thought of the author's preface:
> "We expect, then, who the little book (for the care what we wrote him, and
> for her typographical correction) that may be worth the acceptation of the
> studious persons, and especialy of the Youth, at which we dedicate him
> particularly."
>
> Harry Binswanger
> hb@xxxxxxxx

Robert H. Kubie
Attorney at Law
6315 Waterman Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63130-4708
Voice: 314-725-9990
Fax: 314-725-8579
Email: rhkubie@xxxxxxxx
Mobile: 314-757-9990