[PRCo] Re: Cleveland Operation

[Bob Dietrich]

I got nobody else here to whine to so Jerry it are you.  No way the Stillers
fall behind the Brownies this week.  We beat them twice already giving us
the tie-breaker.  Anyway I doubt they'll loose to the Jags.  Notice I'm not
guaranteeing it.  We'll be back in Foxboro and the next time we'll win.

Bob 

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
mtoytrain at bellsouth.net
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 4:44 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Cleveland Operation

Herb
Looks like your "Browns" are going to go ahead of the "Stillers" especially
if they lose
the my Jaguars this coming Sunday.    Question - what type of operating cars
are there
in Cleveland, if so, from where to where do they operate?
Jerry M
-------------- Original message from Herb Brannon <hrbran at sbcglobal.net>:
--------------


> Reading is much easier than listening to it. It is spoken usually with a
fast
> timbre and I many times have to say, "despacio, por favor", or, "slow,
please".
> I need to think a minute before I recite a sentence in Spanish to make
sure I
> have the words in the correct order or at least close to the correct order
so I
> will be understood. I guess I come close to being correct, everyone gets
on the
> right bus, goes down the right street and seems happy with my method of
> speaking. Of interest was what a co-operator in Orlando at Central Florida
> Regional Transit Authority, who was a young lady from Puerto Rico, said to
me.
> She said, "I know it is not polite for me to speak in Spanish so much, but
I can
> tell by your expressions that you understand what I am saying."
>
> Many of the words are similar to English therefore making it easier than
one
> would suppose. Also, both Spanish and English have many root words from
Latin.
> Many Spanish tech terms are the same as English, as there are no Spanish
> equivalents. Speaking of the "H" sound, in Spanish the letter "J" is
normally
> pronounced like the English 'H".As for first names, its hard to say how
they
> were made up. Maybe some unknown bunch of people, after world trade began,
sat
> down in kind a "pre United Nations" meeting, way back in the Year One and
> decided which names would match up in the international community. Unknown
how
> 'they' arrived at what words mean what but we must remember it all started
when
> each ethnic group was isolated from the others. The language developed
within
> each region and as trade on the planet began they had to figure out who
was
> saying what so all that saffron, rice, wheat, corn, cotton, silk, gun
powder,
> etc, etc could get traded and a profit made. We are on the
> tail end of all this so everything is pretty much "put together" for us.
Just
> go with the flow and don't worry about how it all got
started............do we
> really need to know how it all got started?
>
> Of course, as it is said, "practice makes perfect" or at least better than
> most, if not perfect. If I'm sitting on station-report at work and Jose
Ramos is
> also sitting there and I want to ask him a question I will ask in Spanish.
He
> will answer if I was correct or will get a funny look on his face if I was
> incorrect in the recital. I can then get the correct way to say it from
him.
> Same goes with another non-workplace buddy of mine, also named Jose. If
I'm at
> his place the television is usually on a Spanish language channel. If I
get lost
> in listening to the fast paced talk, he catches me up. His English is not
so hot
> either so when he's at my place I catch him up when he gets lost. He
learns and
> I learn. That word, "learn" is the key. Anyone who refuses to continue
with
> their "education" needs their ass kicked, especially in today's world.
> Education is not just a 12, 16, 18, or 20 year experience. It is actually
a
> never ending process.
>
> That's how it goes.........listen to it, use it, try speaking and
> understanding it and sooner or later you know it.
>
> Then, what with World War 2, the British Empire, and the American Empire
> English is the "World Language". I have been in England, Greece, Denmark,
> Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia and the place I had the hardest time
> understanding anyone was London, England. In the other countries it seemed
that
> everyone knew English. Even in Saudi Arabia signs are in both Arabic and
English
> and most of the people there know some English do to the American
influence over
> the past fifty or so years.
>
> Hey, I also heard the bell..............time for recess.
>
> Fred Schneider wrote:
> Do you feel you are fluent, Herb? Can you use it the same as
> English? Can you read a Spanish newspaper at the same speed as an
> English paper and understand it? I am not trying to be
> insulting ... I just recognize certain things where you have arrived
> with a language ... and I never have. One of those is the ability
> to make puns in a second language or to rapidly understand them.
>
> I appreciate the need for languages but for me they have always been
> a struggle. I have profound admiration for those who can speak more
> than one tongue.
>
> Perhaps if I were to be placed in a situation where I had to learn
> one such as being forced to live in a remote Mexican or Puerto Rican
> or German town for a year, where it would be impossible to use English.
>
> By the way, I recognized a strong resemblance between "Si, la pluma
> es con Enrique", and French as well as Latin which I have studied.
> I could easily fill in the blanks when I see it. But hearing it is
> totally different. I find it intriguing how languages evolve over
> time as man migrates over the land. Si in Spanish and Oui in French
> for yes have strong similarities. Even closer, la pluma in Spanish
> and la plume (also feminine) in French. With is con in Spanish, con
> in Italian, wasn't it cum in Latin but how in the dickens did it
> become avec in French????
>
> It makes sense to me that I open a window here, and in Germany I can
> point to the same object and call it "das Fenster" or in French "la
> fenêtre. It makes sense because it is something tangible that I
> can point to and point a tag on it with a name.
>
> With some of our last or surnames, I can even understand the
> connections. Mine is Schneider. The German verb "schneiden"
> translates "to cut". A Schneider in Germany is a tailor. Often
> the British anglicized the German Schneider to Taylor or Tailor.
> That makes a lot of sense to me ... or at least I can follow a line
> of logic. More so than the other Irish side of my family with the
> British tended to Anglicize from McGowan to Smith simply because it
> was so common. Maybe that in itself is logical?
>
> But I truly become confused by who decided that Henry and Enrico and
> Enrique are the same. Is it simply that there is no H sound in
> certain languages and there is in others? In French, Henry is
> spelled that way but pronounced something like On-ray. And why does
> my middle name William become Guillermo or something similar thereto
> in Romance languages ... what the heck is the connection. Are
> Frederick, Frederich, and Fredrico that similar in all languages or
> did I just get lucky enough to pick the right ones. And how about
> Herbert? What is it in other languages and does it make sense? And
> Richard? And Kenneth? And James? And does Boris translate into
> English?
>
> Of course this all leads to why do we translate someone's name?
> Isn't it a little rude? Like translating or Anglicizing a city
> because we don't want to pronounce it correctly?
>
> How many people did I stir up this time?
>
> Ah, time to go for the Indian lunch. You're all saved by the bell.
>
> On Dec 8, 2007, at 8:26 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>
>> I was able to really send "shock waves", albeit good shock waves,
>> through some Hispanic drivers a few years ago when I lived in
>> Austin, TX and worked for Capital Metro. We were all sitting in the
>> operators lounge, playing some silly game which required that
>> scores be kept for each player. I was the only "Anglo" in the
>> group. Bear in mind, however, all these guys were my good work
>> buddies. They would switch from English to Spanish, and back and
>> forth. At one point, one guy told a joke, in Spanish. When the
>> punch line came I laughed along with them. (The punch line was,
>> "And look, Henry has the pen.") So, thinking quickly, I figured I
>> better say the punch line to prove that I understood what was said,
>> and not just laughing along with them. So I said, "Si, la pluma es
>> con Enrique", or Yes, the pen is with Henry. I never saw four chins
>> drop to the floor so fast and such a look of surprise come over
>> four people at the same time. It was really priceless...........I
>> wish I would have had a camera to record the moment. At that time
>> I then knew that those years of taking Spanish were really worth
>> it. ;-)
>>
>>
>> Herb Brannon
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Herb Brannon
>
>

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