Ich would have bin ein Berliner
We’ve been nervously eyeing the air-travel situation in Europe the last couple of weeks. Last night, after an extended discussion, we decided to cancel our vacation to Germany and Switzerland, despite reports that the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. We were to leave for Berlin on Friday.
What kept us from going was more the prospect of being stranded in München for some unforeseeable length of time than not being able to get to Europe in the first place. (My LJ friend rm has firsthand experience of this, in brutally expensive London.) Our flight out was still scheduled to leave when we gave our vacation the axe. We wrangled a full refund for the airfare, and will get quite a bit of our money back for accommodations. (We booked our travel through AAA. I don’t know how much of our good fortune was a consequence of AAA’s kindheartedness, and how much from Kathy’s l33t haggling skillz.)
I’d even thought of the perfect sacrifice to appease Pele, the volcano goddess, and her offspring Eyjafjallajökull: a flaming baked Alaska, complete with whipped-cream glaciers, liberally doused with Pompeiian brand olive oil (Extra Virgin, of course*).
It also occurred to me this week that “Eyjafjallajökull” makes a perfect swear word. Most of our common curse words are too short: they’re out of your mouth and circulating among your co-workers before you can bite them back. By the time you get halfway through “Eyjafjallajökull”, you’ve had time to gauge your audience and reconsider. Hell, you’ve had time to calm down before you finish.
Ideally, though, you want something you can pronounce, for those occasions when you’re alone or with friends in whose company you feel free to cuss. (To me, at least, the last bit is redundant: that’s one reason they’re my friends.) I’ve seen a couple of videos on how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull (the Wikipedia example is completely useless), and this one is my fave. (Why it appeared on al-Jazeera is anyone’s guess.)
The cool part of Eyjafjallajökull is the final ll sound, very close to the Nahuatl (Aztec) tl, with perhaps a little more k in it.
______________________
*Thanks to samwibatt for the suggestion.
What kept us from going was more the prospect of being stranded in München for some unforeseeable length of time than not being able to get to Europe in the first place. (My LJ friend rm has firsthand experience of this, in brutally expensive London.) Our flight out was still scheduled to leave when we gave our vacation the axe. We wrangled a full refund for the airfare, and will get quite a bit of our money back for accommodations. (We booked our travel through AAA. I don’t know how much of our good fortune was a consequence of AAA’s kindheartedness, and how much from Kathy’s l33t haggling skillz.)
I’d even thought of the perfect sacrifice to appease Pele, the volcano goddess, and her offspring Eyjafjallajökull: a flaming baked Alaska, complete with whipped-cream glaciers, liberally doused with Pompeiian brand olive oil (Extra Virgin, of course*).
It also occurred to me this week that “Eyjafjallajökull” makes a perfect swear word. Most of our common curse words are too short: they’re out of your mouth and circulating among your co-workers before you can bite them back. By the time you get halfway through “Eyjafjallajökull”, you’ve had time to gauge your audience and reconsider. Hell, you’ve had time to calm down before you finish.
Ideally, though, you want something you can pronounce, for those occasions when you’re alone or with friends in whose company you feel free to cuss. (To me, at least, the last bit is redundant: that’s one reason they’re my friends.) I’ve seen a couple of videos on how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull (the Wikipedia example is completely useless), and this one is my fave. (Why it appeared on al-Jazeera is anyone’s guess.)
Click to viewThe cool part of Eyjafjallajökull is the final ll sound, very close to the Nahuatl (Aztec) tl, with perhaps a little more k in it.
______________________
*Thanks to samwibatt for the suggestion.