"Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."

Saturday, November 28, 2009

to be dead live longer

very cute & funny German stud of mine...

A fellow passed along a German proverb "_Tote und Totgesagte_" with the literal translation: People said (or believed) to be dead live longer. In German, the meaning is clear: "a person who's been written off—say, a politician caught in a scandal—will return and progress even further in his or her field." In looking for English versions of this saying, he had come across three candidates: the condemned live longer; there's life in the old dog yet; and, there's no tonic like reading your own obituary.

Our correspondent asked if any of these expressions conveyed the same meaning as his German phrase. Does the condemned live longer suggest that the life of the condemned feels longer or that the condemned are invigorated by their death sentences? Does the reading of one's own obituary truly act as tonic, or is that comment a slap at poor journalism? And in the case of there being life in the old dog yet—we don't know that's the expression we'd use to talk about someone rising from the ashes. To us, it evokes a tired old hound who, when given the proper stimulus, can rouse himself.

What about that phrasing rising from the ashes? Mythology lovers know it originates in the story of the phoenix who, when it felt death approaching, would build a nest of wood and immolate itself, whereupon a new phoenix would arise from the ashes. It may not be the best translation, but it's a fine metaphor for resurrection.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Do you know? - Pukka

I am adding a new slot in to my blog , the so call "Do you know ?"


uhmm! naked chef doesn't look delicious lately, more like a season curry puff

"Pukka" tends to evoke the height of 18th- and 19th-century British imperialism in India, and, indeed, it was first used in English at the 1775 trial of Maha Rajah Nundocomar, who was accused of forgery and tried by a British court in Bengal.

The word is borrowed from Hindi and Urdu "pakkā," which means "solid." The English speakers who borrowed it applied the "sound and reliable" sense of "solid" and thus the word came to mean "genuine."

As the British Raj waned, "pukka" was occasionally appended to "sahib" (an Anglo-Indian word for a European of some social or official status). That expression is sometimes used as a compliment for an elegant and refined gentleman, but it can also imply that someone is overbearing and pretentious.

These days, "pukka" is also used as a British slang word meaning "excellent" or "cool". i wonder if i could start using pukka to substitute "darling" in Manhattan!!!

Library section
spelled = pukka; pronounced = PUCK-uh, is an adjective

meaning : genuine, authentic; also : first-class

I'll leggo my Eggo...for a price.

The ways people try to make money never cease to amaze me.

Recently, the Kellogg Co. announced there will be a nationwide shortage of Eggo frozen waffles until next summer because of production issues. According to a report by the Associated Press, the public is already noticing near-empty Eggo shelves on the freezer aisle at many grocery stores.

And you know what that means, folks? The opportunists are already trying to cash in. There's talk on Twitter and Facebook that people are trying to sell their boxes of Eggos on eBay. Sure enough they're a few people trying to profit from the shortage.

One person is auctioning off a box of waffles for $49.99, another for $65. If you are a bargain shopper, you can grab a box of blueberry Eggo waffles from one seller for 99 cents. Last I checked, there were no bids for any of the sellers.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Thanksgiving on 26 and Aidul Adha on 27 of November

The Pilgrims left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620. Their destination? The New World. Although filled with uncertainty and peril, it offered both civil and religious liberty. For over two months, the 102 passengers braved the harsh elements of a vast storm-tossed sea. Finally, with firm purpose and a reliance on Divine Providence, the cry of "Land!" was heard.

Arriving in Massachusetts in late November, the Pilgrims sought a suitable landing place. On December 11, just before disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they signed the "Mayflower Compact" - America's first document of civil government and the first to introduce self-government.

After a prayer service, the Pilgrims began building hasty shelters. However, unprepared for the starvation and sickness of a harsh New England winter, nearly half died before spring. Yet, persevering in prayer, and assisted by helpful Indians, they reaped a bountiful harvest the following summer.

Pumpkins. Photo copyrighted.

The grateful Pilgrims then declared a three-day feast, starting on December 13, 1621, to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends. While this was not the first Thanksgiving in America (thanksgiving services were held in Virginia as early as 1607), it was America's first Thanksgiving Festival.

And in this year 2009, Thanksgiving is coincidentally celebrate a day before The Second Islamic celebrated day in Islamic calender " Aidul Ahda" or The day we remember prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail for their scarification for Allah. So all eligible Muslim is require to perform Haj in Mekkah, Arab Saudi, as part of the very foundation of Islam.

May we all blessed by god for everything that He gives to all of us.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Life in the FAB LINE- its me babe

Dear friends

WTF!!!!!! i am done with myself and get approved with controversy, what more can i describe "FAB LIFE" . Wow! in the past 2 week i was devastated but than relief. those series of drama's has far done and i am back to my short ambition of "two years break" break my leg babe! i hope everything gonna be super fine.

Do i need to get approval for my resignation? will the president of the university ever think about me in a sec? in his 365 days minus 50 days of holiday in a year! the answer is absolute ZERO. Who am i.

Now is the time to execute the plan, got 2 here: either A(my way) or B(Steve way)..... whatever i chose i hope steve will be happy, our baby will be happy and i am very happy.

I will jeep blogging. will tell my 1st week experience, 1 month experience and so. love you folks

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Homemade bread day


Today is Homemade Bread Day, a time to look at breads from around the world. Not surprisingly, something that's been consumed by humans for so very long in so very many places goes by a variety of names. The Latin word for bread, panis, gave English both the noun paneity, meaning "the quality or state of being bread" and the adjective panary meaning "of or related to bread or breadmaking."

Now let's look at five varieties of bread. The flat Italian bread typically seasoned with herbs and olive oil is called foccacia(i practically can eat this and only this forever) after the Latin word for hearth.

Pan dulce
entered English from American Spanish (where it literally means "sweet bread"). But the Americanized pan dulce names not the edible organs of an animal but such sweetened breads as raisin buns.

Then there's pumpernickel, whose German ancestors translate roughly as "goblin who breaks wind" and which may have gotten its name from its indigestible.

If that's too coarse for you, try some Sally Lunn, slightly sweetened raised bread baked as a thin loaf or muffins and eaten hot with butter. The original Sally Lunn was an 18th century baker.

Finally, there's naan, flat leavened bread associated with the Indian subcontinent. The word naan comes from the Persian, Hindi and Urdu word for bread.

Monday, November 9, 2009

swine and pork

say" no no no to little piggy"

Today we look at the tale of the swine and the story of the pork. The words swine and pork don't resemble each other; they entered our lexicon hundreds of years apart, and yet the two words share similar definitions: pork names the "fresh or salted flesh of swine when dressed for food." Swine, of course, names the "omnivorous stout-bodied mammal with a long flexible snout."

The word swine, of Germanic ancestry, has been around as long as English itself. It entered modern English from Middle English, and a version of swine was familiar to speakers of Old English.

Then there's pork, which entered English from French in the 14th century. French is a Romance language, a language that developed from Latin. So if English speakers had been raising swine and consuming its flesh for a few hundred years, why, in the 14th century, did they begin using the term pork? As one word lover pointed out, it wasn't as if some 14th century peasant woke up one morning and picked out a Latin-based word to join the lexicon.

In fact, we can thank—or blame—the Norman invaders for the advent of pork. One result of the 11th century Normandy invasion was that French speakers became the ruling upper class. While the lower classes raised the swine, those to the manner born were served, at their request, pork.

Eli Whitney & the cotton gin


Today, on the anniversary of his birth in 1765, we remember Eli Whitney, Junior, the inventor whose cotton gin revolutionized cotton harvesting in the antebellum South. The cotton gin—which separates the detritus from the desirable parts of cotton far more efficiently than hand-sorting does—increased the demand for slaves and helped strengthen the regime of King Cotton.

Whitney's invention brought him fame, if not fortune. He hadn't intended on the widespread sale of his cotton gin (Whitney and his partner had planned on making money by cleaning cotton for a share of the profits), but the drum's simplicity and utility helped breed infringement issues, legal wrangling, and near bankruptcy for its inventor and manufacturer.

Eli Whitney's cotton gin took its name from the gin that is short for engine; since 1796 (two years after Whitney's patent was granted), cotton gin has been used to name the machine that separates the seeds, hull, and foreign material from cotton.

But of course, that's not the only gin noun in our lexicon. The other gin, however, has a different derivation. The colorless alcoholic gin is a shortening and alteration of geneva, the term for a highly aromatic bitter gin originally made in the Netherlands. Geneva is itself a modification of the Dutch version of juniper, the berry which flavors gin.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Happy medium or happy median


the pic has no relation to what i want to write today...hehehe

A fellow asked if the usual and correct phrase is happy medium or happy median.

Happily enough, that's an easy question to answer. One early (and very old) sense of the word medium (which comes from the Latin medius meaning "middle") is "the middle way"; "compromise." A happy medium is a compromise that satisfies.

Median, meanwhile, which also counts that Latin medius as an ancestor, indicates a midpoint in position. When median isn't being used as shorthand for "median strip," it is used chiefly to indicate the point below which there are as many instances as there are above. For example, if the costs of five different lunches are $2, $2, $4, $20 and $25, the median meal costs $4.

Got that? Now let's look at a term whose meanings run the gamut: compromise. When compromise first appeared back in the 15th century, that term named "an agreement to refer matters in dispute to arbitrators." Compromise has an ancestor in a Middle English term meaning "mutual promise (from Latin com plus promittere) to abide by an arbiter's decision."

While a compromise can sometimes name a "happy medium"—the settlement of differences by consent reached by mutual concessionsit can also mean "a concession to something derogatory or prejudicial," such as a compromise of principles.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

My wish lists...

My hubby has bought me this

A Tag Heuer Grand Carrera Calibre. Love you hubby...


thank you

Monday, November 2, 2009

My so call life


Oh! life can be quite bored sometimes, i wish i am dear Audrey H, in the breakfast in tiffany. Party and dance every day and night. Just a dream.

Wish that i could fly like a bird, but where will i go? i maybe tired with chores and multiple of chores. i might need to quit for a while. Question is can i afford to do so?

Steve said that i am going through my phase? but what phase? am i in the right trail right now? i am not loss neither mad! but i feel so damn tired with life!not that i wanna die tough! but i feel i should take a break.

A one year break from whatsoever i am doing right now. having distressed myself with Steve darling and little baby Sophie, whom i love so much.

Have you ever thought of going for a longer break before? meaning secured life without having a single worried over the amounts of pennies in your bank account.

Right now! i am calculating my financial viable for one year break period. Not only for myself but for my entire family (all three of us). Its all sounds and look very promising, minus our Family Health Care. Yes i knows how important this to us.

So many possibility and suggestion. Whatever is! i just wanna have a break. Not in stated but maybe we choose Europe or i dunno where? where we could afford a living. Maybe going back to Malaysia is the answer. Since the exchange rate is more favorable in our side.

Whatever step we might decide, we need to be rationale and positives, that what Steve told me.

Guy Fawkes Day

From Ancora Imparo


November 05 is Guy Fawkes Day. British lads and lassies know the ditty: Remember, remember, the fifth of November/Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot/I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason/Should ever be forgot.

The story of Guy Fawkes Day traces back to a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the 5th of November, 1605, by means of gunpowder secretly stored in the cellar of the House of Lords. The plot was discovered on November 4th, and the conspirators—including explosives expert Guy Fawkes—were executed. The failed conspiracy is still celebrated with bonfires in England on November 5th. Traditionally, children burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, the fellow who would have overthrown the government of James the first. Also traditionally, children would beg passersby for a penny for the guy; the money was used for fireworks.

Over time, guy came to name any person of grotesque appearance. By the middle of the 19th century, that Briticism had crossed the Atlantic and lost its pejorative sense. Speakers of American English first used guy as a byword for "man" or "fellow"; by the late 20th century, guy had lost its gender-specific sense and was being applied—commonly in the plural form—to members of a group regardless of sex.