By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Wed, 03 Nov 2004 17:02:34 +0000

Thanks for the link, Harry. (Not that you’ll see this post now that this thread is so old, but never mind.) I gnashed my teeth every time I heard Michael Palin plug the show on Radio 4 in the past week, since I wouldn’t be there to hear it, and after gnashing I wondered if I would be able to Listen Again. So I will, so good. It’s really true about Palin – he really is a mensch. I’ll tell you how I know. He did a reading at a bookstore here a few years ago. There was a long line for signings afterward, which I was at the end of, so I just lounged at a table nearby (it’s one of those bookstore-coffeeshop-meeting place combinations, in fact its very name is Third Place, to reflect that fact) to wait until the line was shorter, so I had a lot of time to watch Palin work. I noticed that he gave every single person a good hit of eye contact. Then when it was my turn he did it to me. A good long look, a smile, hello, the whole bit. Not hasty or perfunctory or merely going through the motions; so all of us, even those who were at the end of a long line, got to feel we’d had our moment with dear Michael Palin. He didn’t have to do that, he didn’t have to be that thorough about it. I was really impressed. Funny as hell and a mensch besides.

By: Njorl

Njorl — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 20:18:20 +0000

Fortunately, there is a simple English-Finnish translation trick I learned from Umberto Eco (Foucault’s Pendulum). Simply load the text in a word processor, and do a ‘Replace’ of all ‘a’s with ‘akka’s and all ‘m’s with ‘umma’s. (Fortunakkately, there is akka siummaple English-Finnish trakkanslakkation trick I leakkarned froumma Uummaberto Eco (Foucakkault’s Penduluumma). Siummaply loakkad the text in akka word processor, akkand do akka ‘Replakkace’ of akkall ‘akka’s with ‘akkakkakka’s akkand akkall ‘umma’s with ‘uummaummaakka’s.)

Comments on: Light Relief

By: Ophelia Benson

By: Njorl