[Further coverage on this topic was moved to its
own page on 08 Apr 2003.]
I propose to add little tidbits here and there on this page, such as limericks, tongue twisters, long words (especially German words), and so on. Who knows, I might even proof-read them carefully.
This is so wonderful (and awful) that I'm putting it first (adapted for non-railfans from my Railroad page, RR Miscellany:
FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) terminology took two giant steps backward, per a deliberately-unnamed Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey trainmaster; I mentioned to him evidence (grooved ties) of equipment going on the ground at the Garden City freight yard as the RBBBC circus* train was being assembled by the New York & Atlantic RR to pull to NYC. It seems that such things, also formerly known as derailments, are henceforth termed WHEEL RAIL RELATIONSHIP DISCREPANCIES! Worse yet, a stripped screw situation is now a FASTENER RELATIONSHIP DEBILITATION! I kid you not! Since I had the feeling that my leg was getting longer than an RBBBC elephant's trunk, I cautiously inquired about same of a NY&A (New York & Atlantic Railroad) freight trainmaster (also mercifully unnamed here) who confirmed it as gospel. This led to a disheartening discussion amongst both crews as to the sad state of our society and culture.
* - The word "circus" may have to be dropped because of the vociferous clamor of animal rights activists!
LIMERICKS {more will follow}:
I never saw the golden calf,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you here and now,
I'd rather smelt than free one!
- S.B.,III - 03 Jul 97 {with apologies to Ogden Nash - but NOT very sincere ones!}
TONGUE TWISTERS
Say 'em fast!
Classic:
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.*
[* - 26 Dec 98 - Peter van Broekhoven (e-mail: pvanb@canada.com) asks
if anyone knows the full-page-long version of this?]
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter piper picked?
[Thomas R. (back in Aug 97) said that Peter Piper was only one of a series of rhymes that
existed for each letter of the alphabet; does anyone out there know them all
(or any other of them)?]
Courtesy of S. Berliner, Jr.:
Around the rugged rocks, the ragged rascal ran!
Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter,
Sifted ten thousand thistles in sixty thousand seconds.
Courtesy of S. Berliner, III:
A skunk sat on a stump;
The stump thought the skunk stunk,
But the skunk thought the stump stunk.
and my own puny efforts:
Ten tiny tapping toes totter timidly toward Tinseltown. (S.B.,III - 23 May 97)
Five filthy fingers forced forwards for faucets. (S.B.,III - 23 May 97)
Fifty frightful frogs fight fiercely. (S.B.,III - 23 May 97)
Thirty thoroughly thrifty thinkers thinking thoughfully. (S.B.,III - 23 May 97, rev'd. 26 Dec 98)
Dried dirty dozens dutifully dunked daily. (S.B.,III - 23 May 97)
(I believe this had to do with filthy conditions in a NYC Dunkin' Donuts shop.)
[Thomas R. {???} sent me the first line of this one back in Aug 97 but
I forgot to add it (with my own unworthy continuation):
Richard's wretched ratchet wrench
Wrecked rather rotten Rolls Royces;
Rolls Royce reacted really rattily,
Rapidly reaching Richard's reserves.
How about Black Bugs Blood?
Or that really gross one the kids sing -
Great Green Gobs of Greasy Gopher Guts
(or something to that effect)?
Here's one from my grandaughter's Cracker Jacks box (Feb 00):
"Hopping hedgehogs have hideous hairdos."
but I prefer my own version (hedgehogs don't have hairdos!):
"Horrendous hedgehogs have hideous hides!"
which is certainly more accurate (if you've ever seen a hedgehog).
Sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick - toughest tongue twister in the English language? Try it!
Here's one from a staffer at the Nassau County Museums:
-
Once I knew a gnu that knew the news.
He knew the news like no gnu ever knew.
But now he's dead and, though I know another nosy gnu,
I never knew a gnu that knew the news like that gnu knew.
I thought of another oldie and promptly lost it; I HATE this!
How about:
Wonderful Württembergerisch words woefully worry wordsmiths. (S.B.,III - 04 Jul 97)
which leads naturally enough to:
GERMAN GEMS
die Hotentotenpotentaten - the kings of the Hottentots - BUT get this one:
Hotentotenpotentatenschwiegermutter, u.s.w. - MUCH more to follow on just this one incredible "word"!
C'mon, folks; some German out there must know this one!
I may have a lead!
Konstantinopelitanischerdudelsackspfeifergesell (courtesy of Gertrude Auerbach, May 97)
(technically, it's really two words, but try to say it quickly!)
Gottinhimmeldonnerwetter - {help! who remembers the rest?} - bimbam!
(from The Prince and the Showgirl, uttered by Laurence Olivier).
Well, no one volunteered but my Nürnbergersiche friend told me the actual German "word" from which it was taken:
HERRGOTTESKREUZKIESELDONNERWETTERNOCHEINMAL!
which, in Nürnbergerisch Deutsch, comes out as:
HERRGOTTESKREIZKIESELDONNERWETTERNOCHE'MAL!
which means (sort of): "Lord God's cross pebble thunder-weather yet again!"
Allgemeinekriegsdepartmentverkehrswesensieben
[the name of the first German tank, the A7V of the First World War]
{actually, this is phoney; it's what I've remembered for some 45 years. The real name turns out to be FIVE words:
Allgemeine Kriegsdepartment 7, Abteilung Verkehrswesen,
and that stands for a War Ministry committee of automotive industry leaders
and the Commercial Testing Commission.
- from Tanks and Armored Vehicles, Lt. Col. Robert J. Icks, Duell, Sloan and Pierce, New York, 1945}
LONG WORDS:
The Germans have no monopoly on long words, we have:
ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM
1234567890123456789012345678
10 20 28
- which has something to do with opposing the disestablishment of the Arian heresy and is supposedly the longest word in the English language.
Peter van Broekhoven disagrees and suggests that this is the longest word in the English language:
"pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis"
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345
10 20 30 40 45
I respectfully suggested to him, rather, that "pneumo - - - (etc.)" is
1) not a word in the language but rather a term of art, and
2) not English at all, but rather medical "Latin" (thus a term of art).
Finally, at the railway museum in Darlington, England, as I walked over to see Locomotion #1, the world's first steam passenger locomotive, I found the full reference to that grand old Welsh town on the southeast coast of the isle of Anglesey off the north coast of Wales, hard by the Menai Bridge, named Llanfair P G for short (to fit railroad timetables and such), on an old (or reproduced) station sign, the full name of which is:
LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWRYNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH.
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678
10 20 30 40 50 58
For the pronounciation and translation, turn to Llanfair P G's own village page, which just may have the longest URL, as well!
According to Stuart Gough, the longest place name still in use belongs to a New Zealand hill called:
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu,
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 84
and (sez Stuart), according to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's longest place
name is the official name for Bangkok, (locally known as Krung Thep), which in its
scholarly transliteration has 175 letters.
Found it! Capitalized for phonetics, the romanization is:
(03 Jun 03)
KrungThepMahanakhonAmonRattanakosinMahintharaAyuthayaMahadilokPhopNoppharatRatchathaniBuriromUdomratchaniwetMahasathanAmonPimanAwatanSathitSakkathattiyaWitsanukamPrasit,
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 168
(that sure looks like "only" 168 to me)
which transliterates (filled with mythological references) as:
The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the
impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world
endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal
Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city
given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn {whew!}.
OXYMORONS:
This is new (26 Jun 99), so I'll just start with this gem from a U. S. Postal Service package
(there are those who think "Postal Service" itself oxymoronic, but I love the new Postal Service):
Special Standard Mail!
Anent "special standard", on my SS and Jaguars continuation page, I quote from a letter in which the initiation of the marque was described as the melding of a Swallow body with a
"special Standard chassis";
although it's quite legit (Standard was an automaker), it sure looks like an oxymoron and perhaps deserves "honorary oxymoron" status.
ARABIC NUMERALS.
The Arab world has given us so much in the way of culture and art and science but one of the most interesting to me is their system of numeration. Did you know that there is art in Arabic numerals? A Muslim travelled to India and found the concept of zero there and introduced it to Arab mathematicians; they used it to create modern numeration. Notice that each number is characterized by the number of angles in the symbol:
[Image adapted from Al-Haaj Ghazi Khankan, Director,
Islamic Center of Long Island, Westbury, New York]
The Arabic word for "zero" is "CIPHER". Note that each number, as drawn in the original Arabic, has one more angle than the previous one and the number of angles matches the value of the numeric symbol; cipher or zero being a circle has no angles.
" - - - ; but do good, for Allah loves those who do good."
[al Qur'an - II.191]
U. S. ASCII CHARACTERS
Since many of our European and Asiatic friends mostly
use their own special keyboards, it may help to know
what their unfortunate American colleagues use; the U.
S. ASCII Keyboard reads as shown (my Computer page is
almost full):
[The numbers are accessed by pressing the "ALT" key and the number to get the character.]
32 88 X 144 É 200
33 ! 89 Y 145 æ 201
34 " 90 Z 146 Æ 202
35 # 91 [ 147 ô 203
36 $ 92 \ 148 ö 204
37 % 93 ] 149 ò 205
38 & 94 ^ 150 û 206
39 ' 95 _ 151 ù 207
40 ( 96 ` 152 ÿ 208
41 ) 97 a 153 Ö 209
42 * 98 b 154 Ü 210
43 + 99 c 155 ¢ 211
44 , 100 d 156 £ 212
45 - 101 e 157 ¥ 213
46 . 102 f 158 214
47 / 103 g 159 ƒ 215
48 0 104 h 160 á 216
49 1 105 i 161 í 217
50 2 106 j 162 ó 218
51 3 107 k 163 ú 219
52 4 108 l 164 ñ 220
53 5 109 m 165 Ñ 221
54 6 110 n 166 ª 222
55 7 111 o 167 º 223
56 8 112 p 168 ¿ 224
57 9 113 q 169 225 ß
58 : 114 r 170 ¬ 226
59 ; 115 s 171 ½ 227
60 < 116 t 172 ¼ 228
61 = 117 u 173 ¡ 229
62 > 118 v 174 « 230 µ
63 ? 119 w 175 » 231
64 @ 120 x 176 232
65 A 121 y 177 233
66 B 122 z 178 234
67 C 123 { 179 235
68 D 124 | 180 236
69 E 125 } 181 237
70 F 126 ~ 182 238
71 G 127 183 239
72 H 128 Ç 184 240
73 I 129 ü 185 241 ±
74 J 130 é 186 242
75 K 131 â 187 243
76 L 132 ä 188 244
77 M 133 à 189 245
78 N 134 å 190 246 ÷
79 O 135 ç 191 247
80 P 136 ê 192 248
81 Q 137 ë 193 249
82 R 138 è 194 250 ·
83 S 139 ï 195 251
84 T 140 î 196 252
85 U 141 ì 197 253 ²
86 V 142 Ä 198 254
This obviously can not work! I had to make it a graphic image as a table:
From this, we can select those characters that are special, check them via e-mail, and tabulate them here:
128 - Ç - C w/cedille
129 - ü - u w/umlaut
130 - é - e w/aigue
131 - â - a w/circonflex
132 - ä - a w/umlaut
133 - à - a w/grave
134 - å - a w/ring
135 - ç - c w/cedille
136 - ê - e w/circonflex
137 - ë - e w/umlaut
138 - è - e w/grave
139 - ï - i w/umlaut
140 - î - i w/circonflex
141 - ì - I w/grave
142 - Ä - A w/umlaut
143 - Å - A w/ring
144 - É - E w/aigue
145 - æ - ae digraph
146 - Æ - AE digraph
147 - ô - o w/circonflex
148 - ö - o w/umlaut
149 - ò - o w/grave
150 - û - u w/circonflex
151 - ù - u w/grave
152 - ÿ - y w/umlaut
153 - Ö - O w/umlaut
154 - Ü - U w/umlaut
155 - ¢ - cent
156 - £ - pound/sterling
157 - ¥ - yen
159 - ƒ - florin/guilder
160 - á - a w/aigue
161 - í - i w/aigue
162 - ó - o w/aigue
163 - ú - u w/aigue
164 - ñ - n w/tilde (nuñez)
165 - Ñ - N w/tilde (Nuñez)
166 - ª - fem. ordinal
167 - º - masc. ordinal
168 - ¿ - inv. question
170 - ¬ - {what is this?}
171 - ½ - 1/2 - half
172 - ¼ - 1/4 - quarter
173 - ¡ - inv.exclamat'n
174 - « - 2xl. guillemet
175 - » - 2xr. guillemet
225 - ß - ss "s-zed"
227 - ¶ - paragraph
230 - µ - mu, micron
241 - ± - plus/minus
246 - ÷ - division
248 - ° - degree
249 - • - bullet
250 - · - small bullet
252 - n - power of "n"
253 - ² - power of "2"
{Well, I can't seem to get the table to print nor the selected list to align in two columns!}
For an equivalency chart of ISO 8859 equivalents, see my Computer U.S. ASCII section.
I have also made a stab (fairly unsuccessful) at tabulating all these plus the Alt 0***
characters on my Character Sets Page.
(03 Jun 03)
AMERICAN ENGLISH KEYBOARDS:
It occurred to me that our foreign friends may not even
know how the standard American English keyboard looks; here it is:
LINGUISTIC MISCELLANY:
It has been quite a pleasure and an hono(u)r for me to have had addenda and corrigenda accepted for inclusion in Webster's, Roget's, and Langenscheidt's.
OK, guys and gals, what's a PROPROPROFILEFILEPHILE?
A person who is in favor of being in favor of filing profiles, of course!
Oh, better -FAR BETTER! The Luftwaffe had one of the best
planes of WWII, the Dornier Do-335 Pfeil (Arrow), with props fore AND aft!
Several aviation sites feature photos of this unusual bird, including profile
shots; the site webmasters are thus
PROPROPROPFEILFILEFILEPHILEs, persons in favor of
being in favor of filing Pfeil profiles, of course!
PALINDROMES - Odd, I could have sworn I had some
palindromes up, like the most famous (about Napoleon) in English,
ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA, or, biblically,
MADAM, I'M ADAM.
How about another very short one:
LIVE EVIL?
This isn't a palindrome, but are you aware that "desserts" backwards is
"stressed"? I could fake it as:
I SAW DESSERTS; STRESSED WAS I!
May I recommend for your amusement Paul Jarvis and Garrett Thomson's pseudodictionary?
And there's always my own Zictionary, a glossary of wordZ in Z-scale (1:220).
This page is concerned with language only; please visit my
DENGLISH - Neutered or Degenderized English page, my
CULTURE page (so-called) for literature and such and my fun
page for humor (again, so-called).
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
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1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
2006
- All rights reserved.
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