Les Paul Jr. Tribute DC Reviews

[Ken]

It's that outlaw magnetism you have too, Jake, no worries. Gotta gas station up close for a little hold- .... errrm ...hook-up?

So are UK gas stations like US rest stops?

[uwe]

Jake is - Slavic roots momentarily ignored for sake of general argument - Canadian, that is English only in a roundabout "still subject of Her Majesty the Queen"-way and a general "we-don't-start-chucking-tea-bags-because-of-a-few-consumer-taxes"-outlook on life. But I've always held that Canada is a good mix of 1/3 England, 1/3 Scandinavia  and 1/3 that one nation under God and under Canada, name escapes me for a moment. Plus, in some parts of Canada - immediately recognizable by better food and, alors, more wild garbage dumps even to the untrained tongue/eye - a sprinkle of French,  n'est-ce pas?

[morrow]

Canada is enormous , and the various regions are quite different .
Even the regions within one province can be unique . Here in NS parts of the province are very German (South Shore) , and different degrees of the Irish/English/ Scottish mix .
There's even a couple French communities they missed in 1755 ...

[ajkula66]

So are UK gas stations like US rest stops?

That episode actually took place in Bratislava which is the capitol of Slovakia. Pretty mind-blowing, no pun intended...

[uwe]

I guess she was a law & oral type.

[Rob]

I guess she was a law & oral type.

[Granny Gremlin]

I don't know what just happened here.

How did Uwe fail to jump on the Slovak tip tho?  Like that's literally almost Poland, right down to the language.

[ajkula66]

I don't know what just happened here.

No one does. It's one of life's great mysteries.

Like that's literally almost Poland, right down to the language.

I don't know about the language part, though. I'm neither Slovak nor Polish but can pretty much figure out what's been written about in a Czech or Slovak newspaper. Polish...not even close.

[Granny Gremlin]

I don't know about the language part, though. I'm neither Slovak nor Polish but can pretty much figure out what's been written about in a Czech or Slovak newspaper. Polish...not even close.

The spelling (and phonetics in general - the sounds letters or combinations thereof make, the accents used on the vowels, like squiggle vs dot) are different, but the spoken language is very similar.  Though both Czech and Slovak lack nasal vowels (something Polish has in common only with French among Euro languages).  Like they were converted to a written language by 3 different Roman scholars with wildy different opinions regarding best practices.  I can totally understand both, and if I mix my Polish with some anglo phonetics, I can read Czech (don't think I've seen Slovak writing anywhere).  It's a bit like British vs American English, except with no fetishization back and forth.  When I went to Prague I was delighted to find I could get along easily (we crossed the boarder on the train from Frankfurt, and you immediately knew by the state of the farmhouse rooftops, but more importantly a young hipster dude with a confection cart came to our compartment, as opposed to the German Amazonian warrior that came a few minutes prior, and I could understand exactly what he said; immediately ordered a beer and a chicken sandwich). Czech sounds like a person with a speech impediment or brain damage speaking Polish.  It took a day to realise the feeling was mutual; it was the face I got from the barista after I said 'please' ordering some cofee the next morning that clued me in.  Slovak is even closer.

Ukranian or Russian, by contrast, is much harder, but I can mostly understand what Putin is saying if I really concentrate.

Incidentally, because I find this amusing to no end, Russian and American Rednecks have such a similar subcultures that they e independently developed the same idiomatic catchphrase.  "Giv'r," is exactly the same in both literal and contextual meaning in both cultures, though otherwise completely unrelated words (sound nothing alike).  From there it has crept into Polish (the word already existed, but this sort of colloquial usage).

So how is it you can read Slovak?

[Ken]

Though both Czech and Slovak lack nasal vowels (something Polish has in common only with French among Euro languages). 

If I understand you correctly here, Portuguese also has nasalized vowels.

I love your description of Czech vs Polish.

[ajkula66]

So how is it you can read Slovak?

It's a Western Slavic language. I'm a Southern Slav myself. As funny as it may sound, Slovak is the closest sounding language to my native language although it belongs to a different group. I used to commute to work with a Slovak couple and it was funny how many times we went communicating using our own languages and understanding each other perfectly. Better than I understood people speaking other some Southern Slavic languages for that fact.

I'm with you on understanding Russian/Ukranian/Belorussian. I can follow - even read - some of it. No speaking ability whatsoever.

[uwe]

Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, I have no preference, they're all within good strategic reach of our armoured units.

That was a nasty remark of course. Prague is a lovely city, but Warsaw, so scarred by the horrible things we did to it, moved me more. Near Prague I visited Lidice and Theresienstadt/Terezin, and those are of course places that make you gulp as a German too. I haven't been to Slovakia yet.

[Granny Gremlin]

If I understand you correctly here, Portuguese also has nasalized vowels.

I love your description of Czech vs Polish.

Nasal vowels in the technical linguistic sense (a softening, to use a music analogy, with a single slow wah/phaser swell to it), not the colloquial hard midrangy sense I suspect (but do not know, due to lack of familiarity) the case to be in Portugeuse because that's usually what it means when talking about music/singing.

[Ken]

Nasal vowels in the technical linguistic sense (a softening, to use a music analogy, with a single slow wah/phaser swell to it), not the colloquial hard midrangy sense I suspect (but do not know, due to lack of familiarity) the case to be in Portugeuse because that's usually what it means when talking about music/singing.

Yeah, Portuguese definitely has nasalized vowel sounds.  I speak it fluently, and I also studied Linguistics in college.   One common example would be the 'ã' in the city name of São Paulo.

[Granny Gremlin]

Yeah, Portuguese definitely has nasalized vowel sounds.  I speak it fluently, and I also studied Linguistics in college.   One common example would be the 'ã' in the city name of São Paulo.

I was just editting that because I googled it and so yeah.  [shakes fist at the linguist who told me it was just French and Polish]

Incidentally (I am trying to get better at this self promotion stuff) this song is now on Spotify:


Sorry about the intentional misspelling there; we were going for a risque Betelgeuse reference and were jamming in Little Portugal at the time.  All the jokes on the local music/arts message board were about sidewalk watering for a few months there.

It's a Western Slavic language. I'm a Southern Slav myself. As funny as it may sound, Slovak is the closest sounding language to my native language although it belongs to a different group. I used to commute to work with a Slovak couple and it was funny how many times we went communicating using our own languages and understanding each other perfectly. Better than I understood people speaking other some Southern Slavic languages for that fact.

I'm with you on understanding Russian/Ukranian/Belorussian. I can follow - even read - some of it. No speaking ability whatsoever.

So this is a game now?  Slovenian?