Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Cat or furry toy?



No, it's all right; the girl in the previous story wasn't in one of our most academic classes. Scotland does have some young people with sense. The story was genuine, but I translated her comment slightly. I wasn't there at the time, but she more likely said something like, "I cannae dae mair than yin essay, so I'm waiting till it's time to dae the yin I can dae." I decided to make it more refined for you people who live south of Edinburgh.

This is Daughter 2 and Sirius. He's such a cuddly boy.

I'm so sorry I haven't been visiting blogs much. I've been so busy doing work stuff. I'll be back. And I might some day get around to doing Molly's "I'm from... " meme, if I ever have half an hour to call my own. Meanwhile, it's midnight 10 and I have things to do. It's all very well for you ladies of leisure.

14 comments:

  1. Oh Isabelle, you're just too darn funny! Loved the scottish accent AND the lovely pic of the male catlet with daughter.

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  2. My daughter is teacher trainng at Aberdeen Uni having spent 4 years studying for her degree there. She has us in kinks relaying experiences with a good Aberdeen accent. She did student work in a chip shop and that gives her lots of material for her tales. I can imagine the young lady in her confusion. Love the photo.

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  3. Dear Isabelle - Thank you for dropping by my blog. I feel we have some things in common. Well, I've taught English and love blue poppies. But my move to France is obviously foreign (!) to you. I'll think about how to explain my choice in another blog post sometime. Briefly, I like to feel we have wings as well as roots. And yes, metaphors can cramp our thinking!

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  4. "Animated cuddly toy" is the category we've put our cats into. They seem to be happy there, most mornings I wake up hugging Marble like a teddy bear, she starts to purr when I wake up enough to also scratch her chin.

    I'll have you know I'm not a lady of leisure, I'm a time waster on lunch/study breaks! *sniff*

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  5. Wow, the accent was astonishing! And I've always been a lover of accents, it's one of my weirder qualities, LOL! I've a yearning to really hear one now, though, LOL ...

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  6. Sirius is a very lucky young cat!

    We will wait for the pressure to come off!

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  7. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones - you've left some nice comments on my blog! Cuddly pussy cat indeed; if we picked Topsy up like that, we'd have instant claw marks on our hands and face!
    Ladies of leisure? Who?? I've come to the conclusion that most Bloggers are very busy people who sit up at midnight to read and write blogs because there is no time during the day to do it!

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  8. Ahhh... I still remember a time when you refused to contemplate cats....!! Great photo, Isabelle. I am also pushed for time to comment, but I try to read what I can.

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  9. Filled with admiration for you blogging at all...
    I too might one day write about how and why we ended up in France, but I'm not sure it's interesting enough.
    Just keep up the catblogging to keep us all happy!

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  10. I wouldn't go so far as to say Rise and I "speak" Gaelic, or plain old Irish, as we call it [well ok Rise, if you insist, Gaelige.]We were, however, subjected to daily lessons in school from the ages of five to eighteen. We couldn't get our Leaving Certificate [high school diploma] without passing the final exam, so like it or not, something made it into the brain and stayed.
    Based even on all those years of Gaelige, I'd be hard pressed to understand the young lady in your story---picture a quizzical MB, cocking an eyebrow and intoning "Say WHAT?"[There's a 20 yr old living in a cave at the back of the house---some of HIS lingo has made it into the brain and stayed!
    Eagerly awaiting your "Where I'm From!" No pressure---whenever the stars are properly aligned....

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  11. Wonderful rendition of the local patois, Isabelle. Could you get any more "y"s into that sentence do you think? If I had a quibble, it would be that you missed out the traditional Embra punctuation mark at the end of the sentence, namely "eh?"

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  12. ... Actually, there was probably the odd "ken" in the girl in my post's remark. And it's likely to have been even more Edinburgh. Such as, "Ken, ah cannae dae mair'n yin essay, so ah'm waitin' tae dae the yin ah kin dae, ken." But I thought this transliteration might be a bit bewildering.

    Sorry to any non-Scot who reads this.

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  13. Or indeed, as Loth suggests, it might end, "... ken, eh?"

    My name's not Ken, by the way.

    Enough.

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  14. Oh, this has just made me laugh! You must have heard the story about the Scottish person (I think the way I heard it they were giving evidence in court?) who managed to produce a whole sentence with NO audible consonants?

    She was asked what she had done with some item of foodstuff which had been in her possession but which had disappeared. Her answer: "Ah e' i' aw!" You have to be from the Scottish central belt to be able to understand that, I suspect.

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