[Peace-discuss] AWARE meeting...
"E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森"
ewj at pigsqq.org
Mon Aug 19 02:05:54 UTC 2013
Interestingly, Mandarin generally refers to the spoken official dialect
of China. They don't call it Mandarin here. They call it "hanyu" which
is the "language of the Han people". The same language in Taiwan is
more often called "guoyu", the "national language". The written
language is zhongwen, the literary language of the Central Kingdom.
Some people say that zhongwen is the spoken language. That might
be true to some extent because all dialects seem to be based upon
the written language in its modern styling.
There are an large number of local dialects with various modifications
of pronunciation and usage in the spoken language. Some of them
can be understood at least partially by most Chinese. One fellow
said of the local language of the place where he was working that it
was so strange that the people might as well be speaking English for
all of it he could understand (he speaks no English except maybe Hello).
Many of the local languages are said to be derived from Tang Dynasty
Chinese. It's really hard for me to find how they know that since there are
so few extant audio recordings from the 8th century. It is also said that
Cantonese and related dialects like Vietnamese are relics of the Tang
Dynasty language. I have noted that the language of Dr. Qiao's hometown
has some similarities to Cantonese also. Modern Mandarin Chinese is
said to have been heavily modified by the Manchu Qing Dynasty who were
from the
north.
Some Manchu place names in the North seem to have been assigned names in
Chinese
characters by some wise guy with a sense of humour, like the Yalu River
(Duck Green River) and town names like Hu-shi-ha which is nonsensical
in Chinese.
It has been said that the language changes every few kilometers. It seems
that TV and radio and education have done little to change that. People
still seem comfortable with their local dialects. Indeed even
different parts of Beijing have different dialects, but there is also
a general Beijing dialect that uses lots of "r" sounds and nasal tones.
Ge You, the famous actor/comic speaks a very classic and distinctive
strongly Beijing dialect. I should learn to talk like him. I suppose
he took some time to learn how to talk like that also.
But the written language in its modern form is understood by all.
There is a classic form of the language that is different in style
from the modern "clear speech" style of writing. The modern style
seems to save a lot of time.
Chinese grammar is very simple but like Greek it seems backwards
sometimes because
the subject and object seem misplaced relative to English.
There is one syllable for each character, and since there are many more
characters than there are syllables, there is much opportunity for
clever puns and Cockneyed phraseologies. The internet community
has its own language with Roman letters standing for certain syllables
and even numbers like "2" as a shorthand for "250" which means "stupid"
in Beijing dialect. (250 means the bottle is half full, typically
directed toward some mindless bureaucrat...[500ml being a full bottle])
The simpified forms of characters are at least as ancient as the complex
forms it seems. Some ancient texts use very simplified forms not seen
in use
today even with systematic simplification after by the '49ers.
The complex forms are generally more beautiful or at least
interesting but they take a lot of time to write and in informal writing
the complex parts of characters are summarized with various squiggles.
There are a lot of very obscure complex form characters. I have
undertaken to
learn some of those particularly those that apply to my work.
There are a lot of characters for various jargon pertaining
to ancient ideas in animal husbandry. There are characters
that mean a pig 2 weeks old, 1 month old, 3 years old, a sow, etc.,
that most people do not know and perhaps have never seen unless
they read some ancient texts or read the dictionary.
The Arabians traded with the ancient Chinese and it seems clear that
the Arabic numerals are derived from the Chinese number system as a
they became written in everyday shorthand. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are obvious
shorthand Chinese. 7 in Chinese is the crossed 7 used in math and
physics simply
inverted. Nine is a shorthand form of the Chinese nine sans tail. The
Chinese
quite irritatingly often write 9 backwards so it looks like a P. They
say it doesnt matter. I tell them it matters to me. The number 8 is a
bit more of a reach but it is a looped shorthand form of the Chinese 8,
a fat downpointing alpha.
*
On 08/19/13 8:31, Carl G. Estabrook wrote:
> How about this?
>
> ~ "virtually" is an adverb modifying "any-," a special sort of
> adjective (sometimes called a "determiner") modifying "-thing."
>
> So the sentence would indeed imply that some things could not be
> distributed but most things could.
>
> Or perhaps it's just another indication of the inadequacy of
> traditional English grammar.
>
> It was remarked long ago that English has no grammar, just a rhetoric.
> But I'm sure Chomskyans would disagree.
>
> I'd love to be able to consider a similar question in Mandarin...
>
> --CGE
>
> On Aug 18, 2013, at 5:42 PM, "E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森" <ewj at pigsqq.org
> <mailto:ewj at pigsqq.org>> wrote:
>
>> My English gets worse and worser.
>>
>>> we can distribute virtually anything we come up with
>>
>> Is virtually an adverb modifying anything "virtually anything",
>> implying that some things could not be distributed but most things could?
>>
>> or
>>
>> Is virtually an adverb modifying distribute "distribute virtually"
>> indicating use of an electronic medium for distribution?
>>
>>
>> On 08/19/13 2:34, Stuart Levy wrote:
>>> Hey Karen and everybody,
>>>
>>> We seem to be evenly split between meeting virtually vs meeting at
>>> 4. Karen (Medina) and I are game to show up at 4 today, at the
>>> usual White Horse, with whoever else would like to, for say not more
>>> than 45 minutes... and we can distribute virtually anything we come
>>> up with.
>>>
>>>
>>> Two important things I left out of the earlier note:
>>>
>>> 1) Right, *Quad Day: Sunday, **Aug. 25th, noon-4PM.*
>>> I haven't heard of any arrangements so far. I think David
>>> Green was asking SJP whether they'd let us join them, but don't know
>>> if we've heard back yet. The ISO also has a table, and perhaps we
>>> could ask them. Both are near the northwest corner of the quad, in
>>> a ghetto reserved for political groups, on a diagonal sidewalk just
>>> south of the western side of the Illini Union.
>>>
>>> A question for us: if we have the chance to, *how should we
>>> present ourselves* at Quad Day? We don't currently have a
>>> what-is-AWARE flyer; *would anyone be up for work on creating one?
>>> * In any case, we could bring some recent demonstration flyers, and
>>> possibly a demo sign if our host agrees to that. Carl liked one
>>> that we'd been using at the Farmer's Market, celebrating three great
>>> whistleblowers - Ellsberg, Manning, Snowden.
>>>
>>> In any case we'd want the signup clipboard. Gathering contact
>>> information for interested people will be important.
>>>
>>> 2) *March on Washington*, next *Sat, Aug 24th*.
>>> Next weekend is the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on
>>> Washington. A large demo is planned for the 24th.
>>>
>>> The NAACP (at least) is organizing buses from around Illinois,
>>> and trying to get people to DC. Several buses are planned from
>>> around the state - not sure whether one is passing through C-U, but
>>> it could be, and may depend on whether there's interest. The
>>> rally is Saturday morning and afternoon, so I imagine a bus might
>>> leave (here or Peoria or Kankakee) sometime Friday afternoon, and
>>> return some time Sunday.
>>>
>>> Patricia Avery, of the NAACP of Champaign County
>>> http://naacpcc.org <http://naacpcc.org/>, is I think coordinating:
>>> patricicavery {at} gmail.com <http://gmail.com>
>>> (yes, really patricicavery).
>>>
>>> There are buses from Kankakee and Chicago; there's also one
>>> from Springfield which could stop in C-U if there's enough
>>> interest. The Springfield bus plans to stay overnight in DC ($99
>>> hotel rooms), the others will drive back after the rally.
>>>
>>> What could people of the peace movement expect from this event?
>>> There's been some discussion of that on the UFPJ mailing list.
>>> Phyllis Bennis wrote:
>>>
>>>> If we look back at the October 2010 "One Nation Together" march,
>>>> the first re-connection of the labor and civil rights movement in
>>>> years, there was a similar challenge. Anti-war organizations,
>>>> especially UFPJ, were part of the organizing, but there were no
>>>> officially designated representatives of the peace movement among
>>>> the speakers. But when the UAW's Bob King and the great Harry
>>>> Belafonte took the stage, both wrapped powerful anti-war messages
>>>> into their speeches, and the huge crowd went wild.
>>>>
>>>> Harry spoke of Dr. King's recognition in 1967 that the war in Viet
>>>> Nam was not only unconscionable, but also unwinnable. And then he said
>>>>
>>>> "Now today, almost half a century later, as we gather in this place
>>>> where Dr. King prayed for the soul of this great nation … the wars
>>>> that we wage today in far-away lands are unconscionable, immoral,
>>>> and unwinnable. …The president’ s decision to escalate the war, in
>>>> that region alone, costs the nation $33 billion. That sum of money
>>>> could not only create 600,000 jobs, but would even leave us a few
>>>> million to start rebuilding our schools, our roads, our hospitals
>>>> and affordable housing. It will also help to rebuild the lives of
>>>> our returning wounded veterans…. Peace is necessary for justice. It
>>>> is necessary for hope. It is necessary for our future.”
>>>>
>>>> The crowd roared. People there had largely been mobilized by the
>>>> labor movement and the civil rights movement, not the peace
>>>> movement. But their openness, eagerness, to take literature, engage
>>>> in conversations, talk about the costs of war, even buy t-shirts! -
>>>> was amazing. They - not the count of speaker affiliations - is
>>>> still why we go.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> There are plenty of limitations in how the leadership of next
>>>> week's march, 50 years after the 1963 march on Washington, is
>>>> framing the issues - and the lack of a specific focus on wars and
>>>> military spending is certainly top of my list of problems. But
>>>> that's precisely why a major presence of anti-war and peace voices
>>>> needs to be there. Big protests are never only about who's on the
>>>> stage and what they say - although that's important.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 8/18/13 10:28 AM, Karen Aram wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Stuart
>>>>
>>>> I am okay with 4:00pm. If you and Karen need a ride to the meeting,
>>>> let me know.
>>>>
>>>> Question: Do we share a table with a group at the Quad on Quad day?
>>>> Carl was going to ask David Green about that. If so, we need to
>>>> discuss.
>>>>
>>>> I am also interested in discussing support and assistance for David
>>>> Green's campaign.
>>>>
>>>> Sorry, I wasn't at last weeks meeting so I am uninformed.
>>>>
>>>> Karen A.
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 09:16:00 -0500
>>>> From: salevy at illinois.edu
>>>> To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net
>>>> CC: salevy at illinois.edu
>>>> Subject: [Peace-discuss] AWARE meeting - What do we need this week?
>>>> (re 5pm Sun showing of locally-made film)
>>>>
>>>> Peaceable people,
>>>>
>>>> What do we need to decide at our next meeting, normally today at 5pm?
>>>>
>>>> It's at the same time as the only showing of a locally made film
>>>> ("House of Thaddeus"
>>>> <http://smilepolitely.com/arts/enter_house_of_thaddeus/>, 5pm sharp
>>>> at the Art Theater, today, Sunday the 18th). I'd really like to
>>>> see this, maybe others would too. Can we do business by e-mail
>>>> today? Or, Karen suggests, we could meet earlier, say 4pm. Or
>>>> we could meet at 5 as usual.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Upcoming events:
>>>>
>>>> 10AM Tuesday, Aug 20th: Comprehensive Immigration Reform rally
>>>> at Rep. Rodney Davis' office, 2004 Fox Drive, Champaign.
>>>> The Immigration Forum group is encouraging anyone interested
>>>> in immigration reform to attend this rally, to help press Davis to
>>>> support the cause. (In Peoria, Illinois People's Action recently
>>>> got Aaron Schock, a right-wing Republican, to agree to support
>>>> having a path to citizenship.)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 8-noon, Saturday, Aug 24th: still not sure whether we'll have a
>>>> space at Farmer's Market next week. The spaces are full, though
>>>> they're checking whether we might be able to be on a waiting list.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 1:30PM Sunday, Sep 1st, Champaign Public Library: David Green
>>>> announces his candidacy for US Congress!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 2-4PM Saturday, Sep 7th, Main & Neil: monthly demonstration.
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss
>>>> mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Peace-discuss mailing list
>>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Peace-discuss mailing list
>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> <mailto:Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20130819/c1ae20c8/attachment-0001.html>
More information about the Peace-discuss
mailing list