When you're done yelling, would you maybe like to go out for a drink sometime?

[earlofgrey]

It came to my attention on Saint Patrick's Day that my grandmother and some of my aunts and uncles were under the impression that I don't drink. As they've seen me do so at most family gatherings, it is apparent that their definition of abstinence ignores the consumption of three drinks or less. My dear family, I'm terribly sorry. I was not aware

Comments

[marnanel]

In my experience one of the advantages of living in the wrong country is that people assume you're going to be weird to being with, and you can continue to gratify their expectations from there on if you so please.

Do you not run into problems with the US/UK difference in the pronunciation of "fillet"? It occurs at least once a month in this house.

[earlofgrey]

Ha! True. I look forward to it.

For some reason it never has. It's only poor turbot. Except today one of my coworkers asked me why you lot pronounce fillet as you do, which is a delightfully absurd question, and also leads me to wonder how I became your cultural ambassador at Whole Foods when most of you seem to want to see me strung up from our complicated lighting system.

[marnanel]

I have noticed that two-syllable French loanwords are usually stressed on the first syllable in UK English and the second in US English. "Turbot" is not at all a recent loanword, though: we've had it for six hundred years, and "fillet" almost as long. Note that the French spell the word "filet", as in "filet mignon", and if you spell it "fillet" I think people should pronounce it as such. I have no wish to see you get strung up from the lighting system except perhaps as some exotic and glowing form of shibari.

[earlofgrey]

I'll begin the reforms immediately.

The shibari idea is marvellous, and I'll suggest it. Perhaps our demo team could arrange something?

[marnanel]

You have a demo team?

[earlofgrey]

Usually if free samples are just sitting on a tray somewhere, one of us did it. If someone is cooking or otherwise handing out the free samples and possibly yelling a lot, that's our demo team. They're wonderful, and not just because they feed me.

[marnanel]

They have made my life a better life many times, then, but until now I didn't know their name. They join the programmers, the angels, and the sewage workers.

[earlofgrey]

An effective sewage system is my favourite thing about modernity.