09 Feb 10 A Cup Of Tea
It struck me as amusing when I stopped by Starbucks just now.
Now, as many of you know, I work from home a lot, and when I’m out I tend to take a mug of coffee with me from home.
There are a few coffee shops around town that I’ll use, if I have some work to do, but Starbucks isn’t usually one of them, as they don’t have the free wi-fi that the others do, and being honest, I prefer the coffee in the local independents.
So, today was my first visit to a Starbucks in some months. Also I didn’t feel like coffee, I wanted a cup of tea.
As an Englishman I wanted it the English way. Hot, with a little milk. (I gave up sugar many years ago).
I’ve gotten used to the many variations on a cup of coffee over the years, although I almost always have regular coffee, with milk or cream. $4 meals in a mug don’t appeal to me very much. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise really to find the same goes for tea at Starbucks. Now, this is not a criticism; it’s good to have choice.
I just couldn’t help but smile to myself, because back in England, I could walk into just about any café and ask for a cup of tea, and get just what I want without any further questions. Of course, if I did ask for green tea, or Orange Pekoe in the local Greasy Spoon, I’d probably be given a blank puzzled look, or told they didn’t do that ‘fancy stuff’
Still, just for a moment, while I stood at the Starbucks counter, and looked at the choices, I remembered simpler times in a land far away.
23 Jul 09 TENJOOBERRYMUDS
The English language is being mangled daily….there should be mandatory testing done in All SCHOOLS AT ALL AGE GROUPS. We are becoming a nation of illiterates and it’s a damn shame.
No wonder we have the problems in our lives that we do today.
"TENJOOBERRYMUDS"…
This is a hoot …. sad, because it is TRUE ….. but a hoot!!!!
By the time you read through this YOU WILL UNDERSTAND "TENJOOBERRYMUDS"…
In order to continue getting-by in America (our home land), we all need to learn the NEW English language! Practice by reading the following conversation until you are able to understand the term "TENJOOBERRYMUDS".
With a little patience, you’ll be able to fit right in.
Now, here goes…
The following is a telephone exchange between maybe you as a hotel guest and call room-service somewhere in the good old U S A today……
Room Service : "Morrin. Roon sirbees."
Guest : "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."
Room Service: " Rye. Roon sirbees…morrin! Joowish to oddor sunteen???"
Guest: "Uh….. Yes, I’d like to order bacon and eggs."
Room Service: "Ow July den?"
Guest: "…..What??"
Room Service: "Ow July den?!?… pryed, boyud, poochd?"
Guest: "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry.. scrambled, please."
Room Service: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"
Guest: "Crisp will be fine."
Room Service: "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"
Guest: "What?"
Room Service: "An toes. July Sahn toes?"
Guest: "I… don’t think so."
RoomService: "No? Judo wan sahn toes???"
Guest: "I feel really bad about this, but I don’t know what ‘judo wan sahn toes’ means."
RoomService: "Toes! Toes!…Why Joo don Juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"
Guest: "Oh, English muffin!!! I’ve got it! You were saying ‘toast’… Fine…Yes, an English muffin will be fine."
RoomService: "We bodder?"
Guest: "No, just put the bodder on the side."
RoomService: "Wad?!?"
Guest: "I mean butter… just put the butter on the side."
RoomService: "Copy?"
Guest: "Excuse me?"
RoomService: "Copy…tea..meel?"
Guest: "Yes. Coffee, please… and that’s everything."
RoomService: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin, we bodder on sigh and copy … rye??"
Guest: "Whatever you say."
RoomService: "Tenjooberrymuds."
Guest: "You’re welcome"
Remember I said "By the time you read through this YOU WILL UNDERSTAND ‘TENJOOBERRYMUDS’ "…..and you do, don’t you!
Tags: english, lanugage, TENJOOBERRYMUDS
09 Feb 08 Up!
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is ‘UP.’
It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP .
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP , so………. . it is time to shut UP…..!
Tags: appetite, definitions, desk, dictionary, earth, english, language, leftovers, letter word, little word, messes, sky, sun, trouble line, up, warmup
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