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Thursday, 11 December 2008 |
Tim Stapleton’s December selection:
two reflections and a good cause
“...it’s knowing they’re foreign...”
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
As George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” This site is a blog from American linguist, Dr Lynne Murphy, otherwise known as ‘Lynneguist’, an American professor at the University of Sussex in England which amply demonstrates the many ways in which English is such a tricky language. The blog consists of a delightful collection of essays and contributors’ comments on the peculiarities of English in both countries, with Canadian, Australian and New Zealand input as well as smatterings of other influences. Recent subjects included an interesting look at onomatopoeic words including the US donkey’s ‘hee haw’ compared to its UK equivalent ‘eeyore’ and the American cars which ‘honk’ while the British ones ‘hoot’, not forgetting the noise of French guns – ‘Pan!’ There is currently debate about the best words of 2008 with two categories: the best AmE to BrE import and vice versa. Last years winners were ‘cookie’ and ‘baby bump’ respectively – check the site to find out why. So if you’re an American who has followed one of those ‘Way Out’ signs in the London tube in hopes of discovering something psychedelic, or a Brit who has problems ordering water in a US restaurant, enjoy this engaging look at the richness, variety and oddities of the English language.
Playing Père Noël – for free
www.monbeausapin.org
The Red Cross organises a ‘Christmas Tree Operation’ each year to help buy presents for children from deprived backgrounds all over France. Monbeausapin.org is a site dedicated to raising money for this worthy cause. It is a sort of online comic book, which presents a different cartoon each day. The important thing is that all visits are recorded, and just before Christmas, with its partner Orange, Monbeausapin.org pays the French Red Cross an amount proportional to the number of total unique daily visitors (so there is no point coming back to the site ten times a day to raise more money). This money is used for the ‘Christmas trees’ operation of the Red Cross to deliver gifts to disadvantaged children at various mairies around the country. There is nothing to click, nothing to buy, surfers just need to come and look at the cartoons and talk to their friends about it. The site encourages visitors to pass on information on their sites and blogs, and a banner advertisement is also available. It costs nothing to visit, the cartoons are of good quality and quite funny (and help improve your French at the same time) so there is no excuse not to visit this site every day in the run up to les fêtes.
Keeping up to date with the Joneses
www.lifehacker.com
This widely-noted blog is renowned for digging up innovative approaches to make life, and particularly its technical side, easier to deal with. Some readers may find this compulsively readable blog a huge time-sink, but may easily find enough useful gems to justify checking in on a daily basis. The name Lifehacker comes from the recently coined phrase ‘life hack’. ‘Hack’ means here a clever shortcut or a lesser-known, faster way to get something done. The ‘life’ part comes in because while the hacks on this site focus mostly on technology, like how to automatically back up your hard drive, they also extend to things like how to make your own customised leather case for your gadgets, or a cheap air conditioner. With its legions of followers, many of whom add their own useful comments on the tips and tricks published daily, the site provides an endless variety of interesting material. From boosting a Wi-Fi signal with a colander, to an open source, Linux-based alternative to expensive cloning software, Lifehacker tries to cover as many bases as possible. Look at the science behind ‘ice cream’ headaches and how to prevent them, or discover Sharepod, the clever new alternative to iTunes software. Recent notes have included such diverse subjects as ten things to look forward to in ‘Windows 7’ and how to make your own DIY hot chilli sauce. Although Lifehacker has a lot of advertising, and some specifically American tips, there is nonetheless enough useful information to make it worth a visit.
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