Nov. 30th, 2008

muckefuck: (Default)

Catalan

  • el llar (de foc) "hearth, fireplace"
  • el fogar "fireplace, hearth"
  • la xemeneia "chimney; fireplace; smokestack"
  • el fumeral, el canó "flue"
  • el registre "damper"
  • la campana de la xemeneia "chimney hood"
  • la lleixa de la xemeneia "mantlepiece"
  • la pantalla "fire screen"
  • el guardafoc "fireguard"
  • la graella "fire grate"
  • el rerefoc "hearth back"
  • el capfoguer "fire-dog, andiron"
  • la burxa(foc) "poker"
  • el manxó "bellows"
  • els molls "fire tongs"
  • la llenya "firewood"
  • el tió "log"
  • l'encenedor "firelighter"
  • el sutge "soot"
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[livejournal.com profile] febrile, I thought of you today. They predicted snow--up to two inches accumulation, in fact. This despite forecasting a high of 37°. Didn't the meteorologists have the same chemistry courses I did? What we got, of course, was drizzle mixed with very wet snow that melted immediately. Later, the flakes faded and we were left with very icy rain for our walk to the carpet store and back. You might call it a "wintry mix". Still miss our fair freezing city?

Speaking of the carpet store, let me tell you a tale of two runners. One we picked out three months ago from a handful of samples on the floor. The salesmen told us they'd get the pieces from their supplier, stitch them together, and have the whole thing done within a week. A week later, they still didn't have the pieces. Two weeks later, the salesman handling our account was out and no one else knew the story. Two weeks after that, he was back, but didn't know what was going on either; he told us he'd call when he had some intelligence on the missing pieces. Six weeks after that, having heard nothing at all, [livejournal.com profile] monshu went in and cancelled our order.

Yesterday, we went to another carpet store. We browsed a dozen rolls or so on the warehouse floor, picked a design we liked, and asked when they could have it ready. "Today...business is a little slow." We said tomorrow was fine. When we stopped in this afternoon, it was all rolled up and ready to be hefted into a cab. I was a little disappointed that they'd simply serged the edges, and with a thread slightly different in colour from the rest of the edging; the other store had told us they'd use scraps from the pieces to border on each end. Of course, that reminds me of an old Jewish joke about selling bagels for less when you're out of them. So the runner ain't perfect, but it's on our floor now--and for over a hundred dollars less that the competition charged us (before refunding it when they couldn't be arsed to make good).

Guess where we'll be taking our business in the future.

As long as we were out in the wet, we decided to hit a homewares store and stock up on some inexpensive decorations. We got two table runners (one of which will be pressed into service as a tree skirt for the Norfolk), some candles for the advent wreath, and some tiny red ornaments. Now all we need are a cloth to protect the table and some faerie lights (steady and white is all [livejournal.com profile] monshu will allow in the house) and we'll be ready to decorate the tree. Even Mr "Christmas Is Not My Holiday" is excited!
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बोटी / بوٿي / ਬੋਟੀ boTee (cf. Sanskrit वटक vaṭaka "small lump") "small piece of flesh"
The inspiration for today's word came from yesterday's lunch. So why didn't I post it yesterday? Because I had a more ambitious post planned that would discuss the systematic use of feminine gender to derive diminutives in NIA. Maybe next time. For now, all you need to know is that बोटी has a big brother बोटा boTaa which does not seem to be in common use nowadays, but which is more likely to be a direct descendant of वटक.

Another common morphological process in NIA is reduplication, as seen in the Panjabi expression ਬੋਟੀ ਬੋਟੀ ਕਰਣਾ boTee boTee karNaa "cut to pieces". Hindi equivalents include बोटियाँ काटना (काटना kaaTnaa "cut"), बोटियाँ उड़ाना (उड़ाना uRhaanaa "blow"), and टिक्का-बोटी करना tikkaa boTee karnaa where टिक्का is a near-synonym borrowed from Persian (تكه). (By the way, टिक्का tikkaa / تكه tikka provides a rare instance of a true morphological divergence between Hindi and Urdu. In Hindi, the common Persian suffix -ah is treated as -aa, whereas in Urdu, it is pronounced short.) Another less grisly verbal expression is बोटी चढ़ना boTee charRhnaa "become fat or plump".

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