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The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

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Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#91

Post by cr1895 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #77
csydas wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I moved to Seattle about 6 years ago from the Midwest and was teased often by some Seattle natives for having an umbrella, which seemed to be fairly arbitrary to choose to pick on given that rubber rain boots were common enough to have fasionable variants made. Not everyone, of course, but quite a few of my colleagues would try to make it a point of pride. Tangentially, most Seattle-lites also didn't understand…

Seattle can get some bad soaking storms in October/November. Portland also! Umbrellas are taboo because you can't use them easily on your bike, so a nice rain coat (was gortex?) works better. If we did use an umbrella, it was usually the collapsible one that you could fit in your bag, full size British/Japanese style umbrellas were rare. Nothing as bad as my mom's hometown a bit further to the north (Ketchikan).

I don't see umbrellas on bikes too much in the Netherlands, but when I do they're often this type of aerodynamic shaped umbrella: http://www.tudelft.nl/en/current/dossiers/archive/senz-umbre...

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#92

Post by mc32 »

pif wrote: post #23
mc32 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's worse, that or not speaking a perfect Frankish language of when in the land of Franks? At least the English tolerate all kinds of foreign mangling pretty well.

I suppose you've been to Paris :-) I was there, too, and I got the same impression as you. What a surprise when I later discovered how warmly welcomed you'll be anywhere else in France!

Very true, once you get out of the island of France region, and specially the south, people are very welcoming.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#93

Post by LanceH »

f_allwein wrote: post #8

"In the minds of many Brits, umbrella usage was symptomatic of a weakness of character, particularly among men. Few people ever dared to be seen with such a detestable, effeminate contraption. To carry an umbrella when it rained was to incur public ridicule." This sentiment is very much alive today. I'm always surprised how I seem to be the only person carrying an umbrella in London when it rains. Especially bankers…

Along those lines, an umbrella is not to be used in (US) military uniform.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#94

Post by taco_emoji »

mattmanser wrote: post #31
BjoernKW wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no letter-to-sound correspondence in English. English probably - at least compared with other European language - is one of the most irregular languages in terms of pronunciation: http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english1.html This is simply due to the language having been heavily influenced by a host of other - quite different - languages over the centuries, Old Norse and French in particular. There's also the…

There's pidgin English in Nigeria. When you first hear it you think it's a different language.

There's all kinds of pidgin Englishes (and Frenches and cetera...)

In fact, it's almost impossible NOT to spontaneously invent a pidgin when there's a language barrier between two people or peoples. When I was in Vietnam, my friends and I adapted our English ad-hoc depending on who we were speaking to. With merchants with very little English, we'd speak only in numbers and yes/no, and maybe say please/thanks in each others' languages. With our tour guides who were much more fluent, we could speak in complete sentences, but still tried to keep things in present tense, and tended to ask questions by using a declarative word order with a rising tone ("we go to the hotel now?").

And we did this all instinctively--it's easy to see how well-defined pidgin languages can arise from this sort of linguistic adaptation between two or more populations.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#96

Post by arprocter »

nkrisc wrote: post #63
Synaesthesia wrote: post #3

"But the famous ‘insularity’ and ‘xenophobia’ of the English is far stronger in the working class than in the bourgeoisie. In all countries the poor are more national than the rich, but the English working class are outstanding in their abhorrence of foreign habits. Even when they are obliged to live abroad for years they refuse either to accustom themselves to foreign food or to learn foreign languages. Nearly every…

I love listening to the English butcher (assimilate?) loanwords. Sure, other English-speaking peoples do as well, but the English in particular do it with gusto. Even McDonalds gets 'filet' mostly right.

It's kind of strange how the US pronounces French words more correctly than us Brits - I assume it's partly due to our historical disdain for those on the other side of The Channel.

In the UK it's called a 'fillit of fish' and a car with 2 doors (coupe) is called a 'koop-ay' as if there was an accent on the e

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#97

Post by wylee »

Viper007Bond wrote: post #9
yodon wrote: post #4

Those of us who live in Seattle tend to feel the same way. If you see someone carrying an umbrella here you can bet they're a tourist.

Portland as well. It's seen as a sense of pride, probably because the rain here is light.

I think the reasons are more practical. It's rare that it rains very hard in Portland. Carrying an umbrella throughout six to eight months of the year just in case is inconvenient, and you'll probably end up losing it anyway. A light rain jacket is easier to deal with and also blocks the wind. I don't think pride has much to do with it.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#98

Post by CaptSpify »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #3

"But the famous ‘insularity’ and ‘xenophobia’ of the English is far stronger in the working class than in the bourgeoisie. In all countries the poor are more national than the rich, but the English working class are outstanding in their abhorrence of foreign habits. Even when they are obliged to live abroad for years they refuse either to accustom themselves to foreign food or to learn foreign languages. Nearly every…

Reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Taylor#First_visit_to_C...

Basically, missionaries were having a hard time converting Chinese to Christianity, as nobody would listen to them. He started wearing their clothes, and suddenly people started listening to him.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#99

Post by macintux »

clentaminator wrote: post #56
e12e wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you've lived long enough in Bergen, Norway you realize it rains very few other places in the world. It's just that locals around the world whine a lot ;-) I love this (presumably automatic) characterization from: https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-precipitatio... "A lot of rain (rainy season) falls in the months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November…

I love the rain, so I'm now considering moving to Bergen. Thanks :)

Driving in my naked Jeep in a warm summer rain is a delight. Sadly, I doubt Bergen has a lot of warm summer rains.

Re: The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

#100

Post by pessimizer »

DonaldFisk wrote: post #73
BjoernKW wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no letter-to-sound correspondence in English. English probably - at least compared with other European language - is one of the most irregular languages in terms of pronunciation: http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english1.html This is simply due to the language having been heavily influenced by a host of other - quite different - languages over the centuries, Old Norse and French in particular. There's also the…

> There's no letter-to-sound correspondence in English. There is, it's just very complicated (hundreds of rules), as well as accent-dependent, and there are lots of exceptions.

With only 56 somewhat complex rules, you can pronounce things correctly 85% of the time!

http://zompist.com/spell.html

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