I worked for 16 years in a car factory in Luton, UK. Luton has a very diverse mix of ethnic groups: Irish, Indian, Pakistai, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Italian, West Indian, African… all make up significant fractions of the population, and the mix of work colleagues reflected this excellent variety.
Perhaps the most worthwhile thing to come out of those 16 years was the fact that some very patient friends taught me to speak, read and write Hindi and a little Punjabi. They also tried to teach me to read Urdu, but that was too difficult… After all, I’m English and we are crap at other languages. It’s a relic from our imperial past - we still expect everyone else to speak English. Either that or we expect foreigners to understand us if we shout loudly enough.
If anyone is looking for an enjoyable language to learn (with a very cool writing script) I heartily recommend Hindi. It’s easier than German!
Oh, man - I tried German when I was at school and couldn’t cope… the words were just too long, they scared the hell out of me! My wife speaks German, though. She’s obviously a tougher character than I am.
The rn part of it is well, cuz, I’m an rn. Which either stands for Registered Nurse or Regular Nuisance. You pick. The rebl part is from when I was a War Between the States re-enactor, and was a Confederate. It’s also my license plate, which is why its rebl insted of rebel, since when I first got the plates the state only allowed 6 letters. I don’t re-enact anymore, but I’ve kept the name and the plates. The license plates are always a good conversation starter.
Oh man, my boss does this. We have a large Spanish speaking population in our county, and my boss doesn’t speak a word of Spanish, and when she is trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak English she just repeats what she is saying and gets louder and louder. It’d be kinda funny if it wasn’t sad. And she even tends to speak louder when she’s using one of our interpreters. I don’t know why.
When I was born my mother decided she would find a name that no one in either family was named. Well, Ronald won the big search. So I am named after no one in my family. Kiley is a fine old surname from county Cork. The other reason is I guess I have no imagination to dream up some clever name.
Leemarsh is short for Lee Marsh. Which is the familiar name for one
Hugh Leroy Marsh, III.
Grandad was called Hugh
Dad was Roy
I was left with Lee.
I like being named after my Granddad because he was the wise old man I aspire to become someday.
Rough translation of the name is Intelectual Lion Like King of the Swamp.
With such a royal calling to murky worlds is it a wonder that anything that lifts a soul out of the daily muck garner’s my obsessive attention provoking me to continually herald the call to …
Many a time have I been told that I can be too serious for my own good and that i need to lighten up. So when I’m not intoxicated I like to be pixilated.
In the days of Coolboard lore the name ‘Pixy’ was already taken, so it made perfect sense to add the extra Y at the end. On the other hand I did not have the sense to remove it when choosing a name on our new board.
Now I am quite attached to that Y… PixyWhy?
Know Brennan on the Moor??? Well there you go.
Actually it’s my second handle, my first I typed my e-mail in wrong so I never could activate it, that was GOA Rover (Greater Ottawa Area Rover),
from a Great Big Sea concert “This song is dedicated to all the Rovers in the Greater Ottawa Area”
Notice a trend?
(Of course that doesn’t include the 20 years I was a nomad everywhere from Boston to San Jose, and from Rapid City to Lubbock (shudder)).
My maternal grandmother was born a Byrne in Essex county Ontario. My paternal grandfather was born a Byrne in Dublin. He change the name to Burns when he became a US citizen. I don’t know why.
Michael Patrick Mel Burns (Byrne)