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- Apropos of the telly tonight
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- I've got an iPhone!
- ISIHAC
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- They said it would never last! Etc.
- The Mystery Fondue Set
- One less thing to worry about
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Monday, February 27, 2006
Misread Blog Roundup 27-Feb-2006
Kris has an interesting piece on how to chuck a dog, which is of no use to Kat who's mourning the fact her foster dog has been taken away by Dogtanian. Speaking of pets, Siobhan wants someone to buy her a live monkey.
Karol's been having fun selling rakes and stuff at the National Weeding Show. Charlotte's going back into the water closet, but judging by this picture, Connie beat her there by a whole year.
On the technology myths front: the Pillow-Book relates the Saga of Stephanie versus Grendel, and Ian is continuing his crusade against the fallacy that Mac Owners don't get menswear.
There'll be another round-up of blogs that I've misunderstood, misread and misrepresented next week. Or when I get around to it. Whatever.
-
Jane Are you sure it's a fallacy Becky?
Have you seen how some Mac owners dress? ;-) - Kris I thought it was a definitive piece on why to chuck a dog.
- Siobhan Curran I'll need another infinity-1 of them, and a similar amount of typewriters please.
-
Becky Jane: yeah, but they'll deny it!
Kris: it was definitely definitive.
Siobhan: Unfortunately you'll still need an infinite number, what with infinity being infinite and all. However, if you do manage it, I've inherited a hotel they can all stay in off my uncle Hilbert. - Gillian OMG, Connies on the loo!!!
- Becky Surely I'm not the only one to have spotted that? :-D
- Siobhan Curran Speaking of misreading, I just crapped myself for a second there
-
Becky Thinks for a few seconds.
Ahhh... no different spelling hon! :-) -
Connie Cox Cheeky moo Gillian.
Cool idea Becky to do a roundup. xx
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Oooh...
Well, Flickr Sudoku did. It's appeared on their Ten Best Flickr Mashups article!
Thanks to Siobhan for giving me the heads-up. Here hon, have some extra sloppy seconds with my thanks. ;-)
- Tiffany Awesomeness, Bex. I've been inspired to play a little Sudoku myself now. (And I'm still bad, so I gave up.)
- Debbie Huggins This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
- Debbie Huggins Just when you think you've got it. Arg!
- Siobhan Curran I still say using the tag "forbecky" is the best way to play it ;-)
- Joanna Grats Becky.. and yeah Siobhan I prefer the "forbecky" numbers one too.. I just can't play it with hamsters or trannies
-
Karol Cross Well done you!
Now if only I had a clue how the dam game works! ;o)
Actually, must just mention that I was using your Hamster Sudoku game as an example the other day. I was trying to explain to some new friends how theres a point when being trans stops being about the clothes and starts being about the person. Yep, didn't make sense to them either, next time I must try when I'm sober! lol
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Really Big Things
I was reading an article today that described the new A380 passenger aircraft as "as long as seven Routemasters laid end-to-end". It also has a wingspan "wider than a football pitch", another favorite unit of measurement for the journalist.
In fact, they seem to have their own set of SI units, among others:
The Routemaster - for Really Long Things
The Football Pitch - for Really Wide Things (or Really Big Areas)
The Storey - for Really Tall Things
I used to think of it as an insult to my intelligence when they used these terms. I know how high 24 metres is. I don't need to be told it's "over 6 stories high!"
But then I realised that journalists are incapable of talking in normal weights and measures, due to some kind of mental re-conditioning they get at Journalist School.
Living with these people must be exceptionally hard.
"How far is it, Dad?"
"About a mile, or nearly 391 Routemaster buses placed end to end!"
"How much milk would you like in your coffee?"
"Ohh, just one 5 billionth of an Olympic Swimming Pool's worth, please."
"What size inside leg is Sir?"
"32 inches, that's the equivalent to a trip to the moon and back 0.00000000105659101 times!!"
-
Fairly-Odd You would love it here then. We tend to measure distances (specifically driving) in minutes instead of miles or km:
How far is it? - "About 10 minutes that way..."
...and lengths in football fields:
How long is that thing?? - "Nearly two football fields!" -
Jo Stories are very handy for measuring height cos some of them can be very tall.
And another thing...
Have you noticed how journalists like to lay things 'end to end? If all the Mars Bars produced in a week were laid end to end they'd stretch to Cardiff/Melbourne/ Saturn or Go Round the World 3/5/19 times etc etc? - Joanna They also are obsessed with the size of Wales I have found. Often when talking about how much of the rainforest is being cut down it will be X times the size of Wales every day/month/year/whatever...
-
sim Your forgeting the other extreams they have here.
Large weights, measured in elephants.
Medium weights, measures in "average family cars"
Really long things measured as the number of times they would strech from Lands' End to John-)-Groats.
Small things measured in a postage stamps, (because they are all obviously all same size.)
Very small things designated by how many you can fit on a pin head.
The measuremant that annoys me most is one for the budget , "The adverage person". A measurement thet is normally 2 times higher than the "Normal person"
Good news though, we gave the system of emperical measures to the Americans & they still use them.
(No offence Kath & any other US Citizens). - hannaviolane ha ha this really amused me becky! you should write for top gear magazine or some re-hash monty python-esqe type tv prog, seriously its all true what you say , you should work in the film business as i used to....everythings measured in -impossible to work out- increments of feet (only!!) never inches and feet or god forbid anything as 'modern' as metres!
-
Cathii Scott As you might appreciate Australia is a pretty big country... so distance is measured in the "black stump" unit.
Short Distance (300-400km) - Half way to the black stump
Long distances (400-1200km) - 'bout as far as the black stump.
Really long distances (1200++km) - Wave to the black stump as you pass....
Intelligence is usually measured in the number of Collingwood Football Club Members.... "You're so dumb, bloody hell if the MCG was filled with Collingwood members, collectively they would almost be as smart as you." - suzihotgirl talking of really big things ( i love this sort of thing!) channel 4 new discribed winning the euro millions lottery as like - picking the correct number on a roulette wheel that is 5 times bigger then the M25!!!! gotta go elvis has just walked in!
-
Gillian If you laid all the economists in the word end to end they would still fail to reach a conclusion.
You never mentioned my personal favourite speed measure of furlongs /fortnight. - Steph Angel And guess how big this squid is?
-
Kath Adams I blame Dorothy Parker...
"If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end... I wouldn't be a bit surprised" - Kath Adams I just know I'm going to notice this obsesively now but today on the news it was all "windfarms, the size of Blackpool Tower" on different reports from a different reporter!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
The IT-Girl
I eventually got the card just before going on hols, which meant I was able to record the new Graham Linehan sitcom, The IT Crowd, set in a computer support department. I watched a couple of episodes last night.
I think it's the first ever sitcom where I've identified with every single main character. The slobbish but aimiable Roy, who doesn't really care that much about IT support beyond "turn it off and on again"; the socially inept computer nerd Moss, who gets excited by incredibly geeky gadgets; and their pretty line manager Jen whose obsession for nice shoes that are 2 sizes two small for her result in permanent foot injuries.
It's like someone gave me some dodgy Kryptonite* and split me into 3 people! :-)
*Pop quiz: what's the extra ingredient you need to make dodgy Kryptonite? You probably need to be over 30 to know this, or Richard Pryor.
- Kris I believe it's a rare chemical found only in Siobhan's lungs.
-
Steph Angel Yay...I was beginning to think that nobody liked this program as nobody had blogged about it.
I think it's great, and I don't work anywhere near an I.T. department... - Misty I work in IT and only today I used the "have you tried turning it off and back on again". It worked as always. We also have a "Moss" in our office who only talks in acronyms. I know that boss as well. Yay! for decent comedy.
-
Gus Gorman's synthetic kryptonite used nicotine, yes?
I get supah nerd points? - Becky I think it was actually tar, C.M., but I might be wrong!
- suzihotgirl i just knew you would like the "it" crowd! i have been reading your blog (and lots of your friends blogs) for quite a while now and i just wanted to say how much i enjoy it - on so many different levels. you are a complete star! suzi xx
- No, no, you're right. It was tar.
- Debbie Huggins I just finished watching 5 episodes of the IT Crowd. And they are funny.
- gina roberts nice to see that beckys web is getting a bit more european
- Debbie Huggins yes. yes. the answer is tobacco tar that is in synthetic kryptonite
- Miss K I'm actually the Goth in the cupboard in episode 4
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Travesty

Travestie means transvestite in Dutch, as well as a few other languages. This had always amused me, it sounding so much like the English word travesty, meaning "an exaggerated or grotesque imitation or parody". I'm not sure I like the idea of being a "grotesque imitation"!
The similarity between the words transvestite and travesty doesn't end there, though. The "vest" part is from the Latin vestis, meaning "clothing". We also use it in words like "vestment" and, or course, plain old "vest"!
The "trans" part is also from Latin, meaning "across" or "switched". In the word "travesty" it got shortened further to "tra", but the word literally refers to something pretending to be something else though "switched clothing". Presumably that originally meant someone pretending to be someone else, but now we use it to mean anything that's not what it's pretending to be. A travesty of justice is something that appears to be just, but just isn't! (Two different uses of the word "just", I told you English was strange!)
Travesty got into English via words like travestire, an Italian word which means to disguise by dressing up.
So the words "travesty" and "transvestite" share identical roots. Somewhere in the melting pot of Indo-European languages the word "transvestite" lost most of the negative connotations that "travesty" has; or maybe "travesty" gained them.
Either way, I'm glad I'm a transvestite and not a travesty, however you spell it!
Labels: transvestism
- Siobhan Curran Is it just me, or does that sign scream "Absolut Tranny"?
- Stephanie Rowe I see what you mean about travesty. I saw it used on a couple links to European tranny sites and thought that there's something odd going on.
- Tiffany And then there's en travesti in French. Randomly noticed it in my dictionnaire last Wednesday. Odd that you happen to be bringing it up, I almost wrote about the subject but you've beaten me.
-
The last part of this definition from the Concise Oxford Dictionary gives a curious insight into the origins of travesty.
travesty /"travIsti/
· n. (pl. travesties) an absurd or grotesque misrepresentation.
· v. (travesties, travestied) represent in such a way.
– ORIGIN C17 (as an adj. in the sense ‘dressed to appear ridiculous’): from Fr. travesti, travestir ‘disguise’.
So maybe being being a 'travestie' is not so bad after all as 'dressing ridiculously' is half the fun ;-) -
Zoe Bergstroem ...So the words "travesty" and "transvestite" share identical roots. Somewhere in the melting pot of Indo-European languages the word "transvestite" lost most of the negative connotations that "travesty" has; or maybe "travesty" gained them.?
maybe i mis understand this lines but do you say travesty has negative conntations and transvestite not?
In my opinion, (maybe in germany) it's others. The Word Transvestite has more negative conntations and tavesty less.
Anyone knows what travesty is. A man in the role of a women. A showgirl for the time of the show. (Maybe there's a different view, cause the famous Mary (Georg Preuße, since many many years the biggest Travesty-Star in germany http://www.mary-preusse.ch/index-n.htm ) comes at the end of every show back as man) So he shows, it's only the role of "Mary"
But "Transvestite" is a hard word, where noone knows, what behind it. Transvesite could be a hairy man with beard in a skirt or a great tranny. Is it sexuality or show, or pervert? Noone knows, but it's not only a role for a time.
I prefer the Term "tranny" - Siobhan Curran While we're on the subject, what's French for en femme?
-
Becky "In my opinion, (maybe in germany) it's others. The Word Transvestite has more negative conntations and travesty less."
That's the interesting thing, Zoe, I think it's only in English where travesty has a negative connotations. We don't use it in the sense of a female impersonator at all, only to describe things that are "an absurd or grotesque misrepresentation". - Becky I guess it would be "in woman", Siobhan. ;-)
- jessica_sweet_tv Interesting post, for each language may see a word different even if it has the same origin, or even country, In spanish we have words that mean something completely opposite in different countries, and yet are the same spelling.
-
Julie Budd "In spanish we have words that mean something completely opposite in different countries, and yet are the same spelling."
You mean like Ole in Spanish means wonderful but in English it means there is nothing where there used to be something ? - Debbie Huggins I agree with Zoe. I prefer the term "tranny". No matter the meaning, I believe we represent the good connotation in any language.
- wonderful
- Pandora Caitiff For more on the French, see Izzard's Dress to Circle in French. "je suis une Travesti executive..."
- Fairly-Odd What really bothers me is this damned obsession with karaoke...
Friday, February 17, 2006
Amsterdone
Amsterdam was cool. No correction, Amsterdam was cold. Seems like my predictions for Mart Weather were horribly accurate. We still had fun though. :-)
A quick summary of activities partaken in:
- Canals: lots
- Van Gogh paintings: 100+
- Fries with mayo: 3
- Spacecakes eaten and miscellaneous druggish activities: 0 (that ain't my bag, baby).
- Windmills: 1
- Anne Franks: 0
- Tulips: 0
- Diamonds (in total carats): lots
- Very nice evening meals: 3 (1 Italian, 1 Indonesian, 1 kinda Dutch).
- Dressing up activities: 0 (look it was cold okay?)
- Erwtensoeps: 1 (just the thing on a cold Dutch day!)
Seeya soon!
-
Debbie Huggins Super Duper Becky,
I am glad you had a great time in Amsterdam. Can't wait for the picture of the sights. -
Steph Angel "Dressing up activities: 0 (look it was cold okay?)"
You have a coat :) - Connie Cox No red light district visit?
- Michelle Faith welcome back!
- Becky Oops, yep Connie, one trip through the Red Light District.
- Julie Budd You took part in Van Gogh's paintings? Which one are you ? The one with the earache? Oh no, that would be one of your friends.:)
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Gezellig

A perfectly Dutch word which sort of means 'cosily convivial'. It describes exactly all of the best bars and restaurants that the city has to offer.
This italian place is nothing special to look at, basic furniture and plain tiled walls. But the food is stunningly good and the atmosphere is fantastic.
Very gezellig.
-
MichaelTGO the German for cozy is Gemultlicheit so my Deutche-dyke freund tells me..
hope you are having a super time Becky - Love your love of words. You have to appreciate someone who uses words like coruscating (working on my repartee blog). Look forward to vicariously reveling in more eloquent erudite eclectic revelations.
-
For those who don't speak Nederlands, the 'G' at the start and end of 'Gezellig' are pronounced by clearing phlegm from the back of your mouth, hence rendering the word sounding something like... 'kkkkkhhhzellekkkkkhhh' (the 'i' obviously being pronounced like an 'e'). Not quite as 'cosy' as might first appear.
Other great Dutch words include:
* Gracht (pron 'kkkkhhhrakkkkkkkhhhhht') meaning 'canal'
* Groningen (pron 'kkkkhhhhrowningen'), a town in the north east of the country, and
* negenenachtig (pron 'neykkkkhhhhenenakkkkkkgggggtikkkkhhhhh') meaning eighty nine...
Yours helpfully,
Kkkkkhhhhijkwindsing Lijkworpsnerd -
Stephanie Rowe Glad your having a great holiday Becky.
I've love Italian food. What's Dutch food like?
I would love to go to The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark or Norway but the Parents fancy going to Italy again this year. which is ok, I love Italy, but we've been there 3 times already.
oh yeah and how can I forget wanting to go to the states or Australia? -
Charlotte I did wonder how long it would be before you couldn't resist the temptation to Blog!!
Well I suppose it is cheaper than a postcard and more likely to get there! - Debbie Huggins Hope you are having a blast.
-
Zoe Bergstroem Yeah cozy means in german "gemütlich" thats right. But gemütlich is not the same as "gesellig". "Gemütlich" could be very much. a sofy, a bed oryour favourite trousers - or a bar, but "gesellig" means anytime that there more people involved.
People which comes together in a smooth way are "gesellig" and a bar in which people could come together in a smooth way to talk, drink and diskuss is "gesellig", too. -
Becky That's funny, Kkkkkhhhhijkwindsing Lijkworpsnerd sounds a lot like someone I know...
But she'd be too busy to comment on blogs on Valentine's day. ;-) -
Gezellig Canada
The word gezellig means so much to the Dutch that even 4th and 5th generation American Dutch and Canadian Dutch immigrants use it.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
- jessica_sweet_tv Congratulation, Happy Birthday
- Clair Hippy Skippy Burpday!
- Freiya ooh! happy birthday! that pressie looks fantastic! (to be said in a Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor type way) :)
- Debbie Huggins happy birthday! i am new to your blog. but my best wishes to you and have lots of fun.
- Connie Cox Happy Birthday Becky. Cool boxset
- Gillian err happy birthday, you got a cardboard Tardis? err.... cool.
- Michelle Faith Happy birthday
- Karol Cross Happy birthday hon! Hope you have the best of times.
- MichaelTGO Very Very Happy Birthday Becky!
-
happy birthday to a fabulous gal.
you rock. -
Julie Budd Happy birthday Becky !!
Er.. so it's your birthday, you are spending it in a police cell in Amsterdam with a certain doctor...I gotta read your next blog when you get out. - jadis i become a prezzie MONSTER when my bday rolls around. happy birthday bex!
-
Stegbeetle Many Happy Returns! Enjoy holiday. I was going to say "don't overdo it" but what the hell! Overdo it! Overdo the living daylights out of it!
It's raining in Lynn at the moment by the way. *sigh* - Clarissa Happy birthday! Judging by the weather here you've chosen the right time to go away but is Amsterdam going to be any drier? Have fun regardless.
- Tiffany Wishing the happiest birthday ever to ya. :D The "going to Amsterdam" thing might help on that front.
Friday, February 10, 2006
When it's spring again, I'll sing again...
Actually, chances are it's not going to be spring-like at all.
In my home town we have something called "Mart Weather".
The Mart, or "Valentines Fair", is an old-fashioned travelling fair that takes over the centre of King's Lynn every February. It marks the start of the season for the Showman's guild, who's members take their travelling attractions from town to town throughout the year.
King's Lynn has a long association with fairgrounds, being the home of Frederick Savage, the inventor and manufacturer of the "platform gallopers", merry-go-round horses that actually galloped. And as a town we're rather proud of the fact that the annual fair season always starts here first.
Of course, we forget that this means we always get it during one of the coldest months of the year! In fact the arrival of the Mart nearly always marks the beginning of a particularly cold snap. Hence the term "Mart Weather". When I was growing up, my birthday (February 12th, fact fans!) was often spent snowed-in. Great if I had a new toboggan to test-drive, crap if I had WHSmiths vouchers that needed spending.
Maybe Amsterdam will fare better than King's Lynn, weather-wise. I don't really care, I just need to get away from the fens and dykes and get a change of scenery!
Er, they have mountains in Amsterdam, right?
- Jessica We had "Mart Weather" too, when it was really cold we'd lock my brother (Mart) outside, and laugh at him while his lips went blue, and he'd start to go sleepy and collapse on the ground. Then my mum would catch us and she'd laugh too! (Not really, she got angry)
-
Julie Budd happy birthday sweet sixteen (ish) !!!
I hear they have a lot of molehills in Amsterdam.And from your recent rants,I would have thought that someone like you would easily be able to make those molehills into........ -
Debbie Huggins Becky, Happy Birthday. Great webpage, I visit often and have been clicking away at the ads (grins)
Have fun in Amsterdam. - jessica_sweet_tv_mx Hey Happy Birthday Becky.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Ben Rooney has the easiest job in the world
This is what I imagine his working day consists of:
10:00AM Get up.
10:30AM Read the papers. Find some semi-interesting person or story in the news.
11:00AM Type it into Technorati. Probably Google Blogsearch it these days too. Maybe check to see who's back-linked to stories on the Guardian site.
11:30AM Spend a few minutes cutting-and-pasting what he finds into a template.
12:00PM Send finished template to editor. Have lunch.
So...
Abu Hamza Obesity Bird Flu Sion Jenkins U2 Chip and Pin Child Maintenance Evo Morales IT Crowd
Did you get that Rooney? My little Buzz-word Bomb has brought you here! We're on to you Rooney! No longer are the bloggers of the world going to put up with you growing fat from the hand-crafted content you've stolen from our sites! I dare you to quote from this blog post! I dare you!!
- Ben Rooney nurrrr
-
Jane I wonder if that is really Ben Rooney.
I'm sure I had a similar rant about the Guardian and blogs a few months back, but as always Bex, you phrase it better than I -
Gordon Ha!
Excellent, I was wondering that...
Wowsers trousers!
Keep up the ad-clicking and we'll be well on track to donating a huge wodge of cash to this year's Sparkle.
(Although don't overdo it. I don't want Google getting suspicious and accusing me of faking ad traffic. One of two judicial clicks a day per person should be enough!)
- Jessica Mine was more like the least ever! Oh well, I tried.
- Rachel Yikes! One of the rules of adwords is not to ask, on your web page where the adwords are, for folk to click on them. Ooops. :)
- Becky Well I won't tell them if you don't, Rachel.
- Rachel I won't say a thing if the cheque doesn't bounce. ;)
Have you outsourced your brain?
Me: Hello, could I talk to your IT department please?
Woman: I'm sorry, we outsource all our IT functions.
Me: Okay, in that case could you give the number of the people who look after your email server?
Woman: I don't have a number, it's all outsourced.
Me: Ooookaaaay.... so how do you contact them if you have a problem?
Woman: We email them.
- Stephanie Rowe That's just plain Stupid.


Still have nightmares about that
What's also rather scary, is the ineffectual optimism of the advice...
"If you are outdoors, lie in a ditch, then brush the fallout off your clothes"
...or at least that that was the best anyone could think of suggesting at the time.
And what scares kids today... Well if my 14 year old is anything to go by... bird flu...
But when you think back to the late 70's and early 80's, it was a pretty bleak and dangerous world.
My personal bete noire when it came to public service announcemens and advertisements was the AIDS "Don't die of ignorance" campaign. Ghastly. That tombstone.
http://users.ultinet.net/~kfo/fair.ram
Those curly tailed monkeys on Wizard of Oz was freaky as well. I think that clowns and curly tailed monkeys should be banned. Oh yeah, and playing HOTEL CALIFORNIA backwards on an LP. I swear it said, "Smoke Marijuana." It was skeerryyyyy.
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