words

Tags

miscellaneous, random. thoughts, russ rymer, slang, words, writing

Words make thoughts reality especially when we say them out loud, form sentences that structure our ideas into plans, goals and strategies. But sometimes we just don’t have the words to describe what we feel, think or see. We struggle to communicate what is going on inside us and we are forced to create new words, invent terminology to describe what is happening.

Not only do we influence language, change it let it evolve, but language influences us. How we speak, what words we use and even what mother-tongue we grew up in makes us who we are and effects how we see the world. Words seem to be not only descriptions of the world around us but a vital part of our identities and culture.

In the latest National Geographic (July 2012) a feature titled: Vanishing Voices looks at remote languages that are vanishing from the world and what that means to society.  Sadly the loss of each word, each phrase and every story means humanity losses an insight into a world most of us do not know.

Accompanied by gorgeous photos by Lynn Johnson lecturer and author Russ Rymer gives a personal insight into meeting the last few remaining speakers of some native American tongues.

But even our everyday language loses words as people stop using them in everyday life, they become old fashioned, or their meanings get distorted, changed. For example gay means something entirely different now then it did in Jane Austins times.

So here are a few  words I found, loved and would enjoy seeing used more often again, maybe if we all use one or two today they may come back!

skimble-scamble : rambling; confused; nonsensical

Homerkin: an old liquid measure for beer.

Nameling:  persons bearing the same name

dekko: to take a quick look or glance

jalopy: a battered old motor vehicle

deevy, devey: delightful, charming

mondo: very much, extremly, huge, considerable

funk-hole: a place of safety into which one can retreat

playing in the park

Tags

blue sky grey, children, miscellaneous, old playground, outdoors, palying, photography, plato, playground, quotes, random, weather

After sulking around for a while I decided to pick up my camera and let the sun tempt me out into the park. As it is only across the road getting wet, when one of the inevitable showers turned the blue sky grey, wasn’t such a bad thing, after all a hop skip and a jump away was home and dry clothes.

Not sure of what kind of photos to take I wandered down the main path and let an old playground lure me over. Lucky for me the rain had kept most kids away and I didn’t have to maneuver around screaming toddlers and running kids.

As I stood, camera in hand, I just saw all the colours and shapes and decided to see what I could capture by going up close. Not sure if my artistic attempts are any good but some shoots turned out alright. And even though a big shower did interrupt my wanderings and forced me to wait under a tree, I did enjoy my little, wet trip to the playground.

Maybe I didn’t play on a the climbing-frames, took a swing or a slide,  but I did have fun experiment and playing around with my camera. As the oh so clever Plato put into words so well:

Life must be lived as play.

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rained in

Tags

domestic goddess, drops of rain, Dublin, miscellaneous, outdoors, play, random, thoughts, weatehr

I had plans today, I wanted to cycle down to the Botanic gardens and enjoy a stroll around the flowerbeds, camera in hand ready to be inspired. Sadly the sun only played peek-a-boo this morning and has made way for heavy drops of rain. Every now and then she may shine a few rays down on us to see if she can tease us to come out only to let rain enjoy a game of “lets soak them”.

I feel cheated out of my plans and want to stamp my foot in rage and yell “I hate you” while sulking with folded arms and a big frown on my face. I know it can’t be helped and I know the weatherman has no control over where the clouds go but somehow I really want to blame someone.

Having no one to blame and no one to entertain me I am at loss at what to do. Of course there are a multitude of things I could and even some I should do but I don’t want to (again a toddler strop is building up inside me). I should clean the house, wipe the floors, get out the duster and be a domestic goddess clad in a pinny and headscarf, I should start work on an article I have been avoiding and I should really do some filing. I could work on my novel, take out my paints and start on a few things I have been thinking about, I could read, watch TV or a film. I just don’t want to!

Sadly, as nothing tickles my fancy I am stuck with being annoyed about something I just can’t change. Not a happy place to be in nor a pleasant feeling to let fester inside. But like me, at least for now, it is stuck just there hoping the rain will pass and I can go out and play, even if it means getting my feet wet and dirty.

fernweh

Tags

distant place, feelings, fernweh, german word, miscellaneous, photography, random, Russia, St Petersburg, thoughts, travel, vacation

Everyone around me seems to be going on holidays, or have just been. Sadly this year I don’t have the money to fly away and enjoy an other world for a week or two, but I so long to. This feeling that has been bubbling up inside me for a while now can only be described with the the German word “Fernweh” which literally means “having an ache for a distant place”.

I would love to pack my bag and hurry away, dip my toes in waters uncharted by me, see sights my eyes have never seen before, taste new and exciting flavors, enjoy undiscovered alleys and woods, break away from my life for a little while.
But no matter how much I long, wish and crave I know I can’t make the impossible possible for now, but what I can do is relive past trips and this morning I have been wandering the streets of St.Petersburg in my mind. It was a short 4 day trip I took last year in September, making a livelong dream come true and visit the great City of Czars and Russian legends, a trip filled with awe, sun and an unforgettable time.

And in case you want to tag along as I wander down memory lane and enjoy a city filled with culture and clashing art here are  a few of the many photos I took:

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sunny afternoons

Tags

bangles eternal flame, blues, Burnning Ring of Fire, Eternal Flame, feelings, I'll tell my Ma, Jonny Cash, memories, miscellaneous, music, quotes, random, reading, The Bangles, thoughts

Yesterday afternoon I took a moment and sat outside in the sun with a mug of tea and a few magazines. As I relaxed on my purple chair outside my front door and watched the life on my street unfold, I flicked through the National Geographic and Psychologies reading about lost languages and how to be a better me.

I had my CD player on and as blues, jazz and chansons drifted through my open window my feet tapped in time and a smile settled on my lips. As serendipity would have it my eyes flitted across an article aptly named “Music to your ears”.

It told me all about the effect music has on the brain, particularity the reward-center, giving us joy and sometimes even making the hairs on the back of our necks stand up.  Music helps us access emotions, even ones that we keep buried deep within us. So it doesn’t really seem surprising that we prefer happy songs when we are in a good mood and sad ones when we are upset, especially because it takes more mental effort to listen to joyous songs when we feel a little blue. Surprisingly sad music triggers the production of prolactin in our brains, a chemical that we produce to give us a mental hug, so when we are feeling low the blues really does make us feel better.

Like smells and images,  music can remind us of the past, lets us relive moments and experiences in our lives. This is why we especially  love the music we listened to when we where in our teens and early twenties, the most formative time in our lives.

And then of course certain songs may remind us of people, like listening to Jonny Cash’s “Burnning Ring of Fire” reminds me of when I was 5-6, dancing around to the song and singing all the lyrics. with my sister.  Or  “I’ll tell my Ma” by the Dubliners makes me think of my daddy singing it to my baby brother making him giggle. Or  The Bangles “Eternal Flame” takes me back to kissing my first love with butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

But no matter what song makes you feel what emotion no one really knows why music does what is does, why it can make us react the way we do. Maybe that is the magic of music, we all have our own tunes that our hearts beat to and our own rhythm our feet dance to. As Leo Tolstoy said so wonderfully:

Music is the shorthand of emotion

walking through doors

Tags

forgetfulness, memories, miscellaneous, pint of milk, psychology, random, shopping, standing in a room, thoughts

Yesterday afternoon I wandered down to the corner shop to buy myself a pint of milk but as soon as I reached the store, walked through the door I had forgotten why I was really there in the first place. I did some shopping, picked up some bananas, yogurt and a few tomatoes but even though I passed by the milk display it didn’t trigger any memory of need.

After I had paid and left the shop, I strolled back home enjoying the warm sun on my skin and hoping the rays would turn my legs from a cheesy white to a more healthy beige when I passed by a new store selling bits-and-bobs and furniture. On a whim I wandered in and wasn’t really surprised to see not much of interest to me. But in the corner, tucked away behind a lamp and a chair I spied a wooden shelf, a perfect piece to hold a few CDs. Being my daddy’s daughter I haggled 10 euro off the price and with the semi-heavy shelf under my arm I left the store to only remember I still needed milk.

As I retraced my steps and bought the much-needed pint I couldn’t help but think about how odd it was I had forgotten about it in the first place. But then I remembered an article I had read about how walking through doors makes you forget and had to smile, after all I had walked through four doors on my way to the shop, seven if you count the return.

Most of us have experienced standing in a room and trying to figure out why we went in there in the first place, we struggle to remember and mostly we can’t, , but nearly always we ask ourselves: “how could I have forgotten?”

The simple answer would be, we just weren’t really paying attention to what we were doing but the more ‘scientisty’ one is a phenomenon know as the “doorway effect“. Studies have shown that we remember things better if the setting we are in stays the same, this means that as soon as we stand up from our desk and leave the room we just can’t remember that we wanted to make a cup of tea because we changed our environment. The reason behind this is that our brain seems to optimizes certain kinds of memories to keep they “ready”, but then purges these memories when it believes they have expired, to make room for new ones. These kinds of memories are called “event models” and when you walk through a door you are changing venues, making your brain think that what ever happened in the old room is now no longer immediately important and it gets rid of the information. It’s a bit like that stack of papers you keep on your desk, you can’t have everything there as you’d never find the computer otherwise so every now and then you have to file away some stuff to make room for the more urgent paperwork at hand.

Of course it doesn’t have to be  a door that signals your brain it can purge the event models, walking up stairs, answering the phone, even finishing the task at hand can make you forget what you were doing or wanted to do next.

So the next time your standing in the kitchen staring into the fridge, don’t worry you don’t have early onset Alzheimer, you just purged your memory on the way there and maybe if you look  beside the kettle you’ll see a cup of tea waiting for that drop of milk.

Film review: Grabbers

Tags

80s horror movies, Bronagh Gallagher, comedy, David Pearse, entertainment, Erin Islands, Film Review, Films, Grabbers, horror movies, Lalor Roddy, Richard Coyle, Russell Tovel, Ruth Bradley

With the arrival of uptight Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) on the Erin Islands Garda Ciarán O’Shea’s (Richard Coyle) life is turned upside down, and not just because of the hipflask in his pocket.  But the real problems begin when several dead, mutilated pilot whales are washed up on shore and no one knows why, except possibly fisherman Paddy (Lalor Roddy) who is keeping an alien in his bathtub.

Soon it becomes clear that the aptly named Grabbers are after the islander’s blood. Oddly enough the only thing that seems to slow the evil invaders down is alcohol. So with a storm on the horizon the only protection for the locals is a pub lock-in and getting hammered. And yes, then a battle between our drunken Garda and the Grabbers ensues.

Not only does the unique storyline of Grabbers balance perfectly between humour and horror, but the characters are brilliantly cast and the dialogues are quick, funny and very Irish.  Coyle is very endearing as the drunken Guard O’Shea and his comic timing is perfect. Bradly is lovable and quirky especially when she becomes outrageously drunk.

The supporting cast are brilliant too, Roddy shines as fisherman Paddy, David Pearse is wonderful as the local GP and Bronagh Gallagher is excellent as the Landlords wife Una. Sadly talented Russell Tovel, as the marine biologist Dr Adam Smith, is more annoying than funny, even if he does have some very good scenes and one-liners. .

Unlike many horror films the monster isn’t a letdown when it is finally revealed, as it is a truly nasty looking beast with some awful teeth.  So even if Grabbers is a funny, entertaining film there are plenty of seat jumping scares, too.

Not only has director Jon Wright managed to create a beautifully shot film, with long sweeping areal shots and some picturesque scenes, he has created a welcome comeback of the 80s horror movies.

With its well-written script, superb actors and unique charm Grabbers is a definite one to watch this summer.

Film review: Brave

Tags

animation, Billy Thompson, Brave, disney, Emma Thompson, entertainment, film, film reviews, Kelly MacDonald, movies, Pixar, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, Walt Disney

Disney is back and this time around the Princess is Scottish and animated by Pixar. This not so typical fairytale is set in the Scottish Highlands and the heroine is the feisty redheaded and hot-tempered Merida (Kelly MacDonald).

Forced by her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), to learn everything a princess needs to know and how to act in a courtly manner, Merida sneaks out whenever she can to ride her horse and shoot her bow and arrow, with her flaming red hair always free flowing and wild.  King Fergus (Billy Thompson) loves his daughters wild nature but bows to his wife’s will and understands the importance of tradition.

But when Merida discovers that she is to be married off to one of the neighbouring clans to preserve the peace and fulfill a promise made long ago she breaks with tradition and enrages everyone in the process.  Not getting her way Merida runs away in true teenager style and finds a way to change the course of her life, with disastrous consequences.  Of course in true Walt Disney tradition there is always a way for those who believe.

This beautifully coloured and painted animation shows the true talent behind Pixar and although this is their first venture into the world of fairytales and also their first true female lead it is much more a Pixar than a Disney film.

This truly beautifully painted story about nonconformity, real relationships, emancipation and taking life into your own hands is another wonderful Pixar film and everyone in the family will enjoy the trip to the movies.

kicking the habit

Tags

banana pancakes, breaking habits, food, habits, half a pint, health, mental-health, miscellaneous, morning brew, psychology, quotes, random, thoughts

My milk was off again today so I had to take my tea black and a little bitter, sadly no drop of milk to change the taste. As I was sipping my morning brew I started to wonder if maybe I should just kick the habit of pouring that splash of white into my tea and save myself the heartbreak of missing it when I can’t have it.

Pondering this thought it occurred to me that I have quite a few habits I would like to break but sadly, like most people, I find it a little bit too hard. After all I still like that bit too much butter on my toast, taking the bus is so much easier than walking into town and thinking about doing things instead of actually doing them is so much less strenuous.

The reason why it is so hard to kick those bad or useless behaviors is that the brain forms patterns in a specific part of our brains (basal ganglia)and stores them there. So no matter how good the intentions if even the tiniest trigger shows up these patterns pick up the stimulus and we go into auto-pilot. The smell of freshly baked bread makes you forget about your “no carbs’ rule or the sight of a piece of chocolate overrules all your good intentions to maintain your diet and the bus pulling up convinces you that you can walk another day.

Of course we can kick any habit, no matter if the are good, bad, useless or just a tad annoying but it seems to take time, 28-66 days if you listen to psychologists. But besides being tenacious we need to be a bit stubborn, make up our minds and stick to it and reward ourselves to sticking to our guns. And when we have struggled through our period of testing and trying we come out the other end with a new pattern in our brains and possibly another bad one we picked up along the way.

For now I think I will stick with a splash of milk in my tea and to not be disappointed again tomorrow I will wander down to the corner shop and buy myself half a pint, or maybe a liter and make some banana pancakes.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

summer came

Tags

afternoon stroll, Dublin, endorphins, halo-effect, happy, miscellaneous, psychology, random, summer, sunshine, thoughts, warmth of the sun

I can’t believe it but for four days now the sun has not disappointed and shines down on beautiful Dublin. But as today is Monday my desk is calling and I have to leave the beautiful day outside and try and keep my head down and type.

Studies have shown that we become nicer when the sun is shining, we tend to be quicker to answer researchers, give directions more readily and we even reach further into our pockets and give larger tips. Even the stock-markets trade more and is three times more likely to go up when the sun shines. Yes, even traders and investors feel more positive on sunny days, but unlike us they don’t just buy an ice-cream cone but put their money into bonds.

This happiness and optimism that awakens in us when the sun comes out to play is called the “halo-effect”. Now the halo effect defines how we see things due to our knowledge of an other thing. So, if someone is good at say card games we assume they are good at dice games too, or if someone is bad at football we assume they are bad at basketball as well. And when the sun shines making endorphins bounce around in our brains we just assume everything is good, because we feel good.

Sadly the downside to summer frolicking is that the suicide rate goes up. The reason behind this is that someone who is feeling low sees lots of happy, jolly people and it makes them feel worse about themselves so they become more prone to seeking a permanent solution.

But with all that said I just think most of us love the luxury of letting the warmth of the sun caress our skins and enjoy wearing light summery clothes. Of course we have to be mindful to not burn but letting the sun tickle us helps produce Vitamin D and as our skin is highly efficient at doing just that only 15-30 minutes of sunshine creates the same amount as drinking 200 glasses of milk would.

But as I can’t resist much longer I’ll give in to the lure of the sun and wander down to the park for a mid-afternoon stroll. And as I am not a fan of milk myself I think I may just treat myself to an ice-cream, let my skin take care of the vitamin D production and let my endorphins run wild.