Fun with Idioms: Halcyon Days

I thought I would pull out a golden oldie. When I was in High School, I had a teacher who loved this idiom. She used it to refer to summer vacation, Christmas break, or any opportunity to be away from the day to day grind and off enjoying some rest and relaxation.

According to Greek mythology, Halcyon was the daughter of the Ruler of the Wind. She married King Ceyx of Tachis. By all accounts, it was a true love match. Her husband was a sea-farer and as happens to sailors, he lost his life during a storm. Halcyon learned of his death through a dream, and cast herself upon the waves. In mercy, the gods turned her and her resurrected husband into kingfishers.
A kingfisher as spoken of in the Halcyon myth

A kingfisher.

Great story, right? Well, it does not end there. Zeus was a bit of a jerk. I cannot find what Halcyon and Ceyx did to irritate him, but the King of the Gods would only allow Halcyon to lay her eggs in winter and on the water near the shore where she found her husband's body. After losing several nestings and crying piteously, Zeus relented and asked Poseidon, the God of the Sea, to calm the waves for her. Thus, for a week to tend days every January, the seas calm and the kingfisher's eggs hatch. These days are still celebrated in Greece as "Alkionides Meres" - Halcyon days.

Although not as common as in the past, it is still a phrase one can use to remind others of restful and tranquil times to come, or of the past.

During snow storms where people are housebound for six to ten days, maybe it is a good time for a reminder.

New tip of the week

We have been home all week with an enforced staycation due to heavy snows in our area. The time off has reminded me of a tip that is easy to overlook.

Make the time to read. Read anything and everything you can tolerate.

There is an enormous amount of vocabulary available to one who reads. Novels can be the source of colloquialisms and new slang.

Non-fiction may provide register hints and vocabulary choices not used in every-day language.

Biographies provide insights into historical persons and events that can be the schema for a multitude of scenarios.

Even comic books, romance novels and adult literature will allow one to understand the interests of the people one interprets for.

As for me and my house - we are science fiction and horror addicts. You would be surprised at the number of physics classes now teaching theories I first learned in a science fiction novel. And horror novels can be great fodder for psychology, biology and anatomy classes.

May your days be filled with great stories.

Stay warm!

New tip of the week

One thing I have noticed about interpreting is we all take it rather seriously. Now I get - its a business and we influence people's lives so it must be taken seriously.

But it is also a language, and the best language learners are kids at least in part because they play with the languages they learn. I remember when the kids were little and at the pre-reading stage. They recognized landmarks like the "golden arches" and knew it was McDonald's. Then they would make up words that rhymed with McDonald's. Sometimes they were so silly the back seat would erupt with giggles. They were learning the rules of words.

In the same way, we need to update our language use on occasion by finding fun ways to learn new things. One that I came across yesterday is actually a memory game. I have always been a fan of "concentration" ever since I saw it on television. I loved trying to remember where the prizes were shown to match them up and then guess the picture underneath. Amazon has just such a game available in software form using ASL signs and meanings.

A website called "playkidsgames.com" has a cute memory game like concentration. Called "Musical Memory Turtle", players watch as the shell of the turtle lights up and plays music. Then the player has to remember the order exactly to advance the turtle in his "race." The easy and not so easy versions are really fun. The difficult level reminds me I am not as good at this as I used to be.

These are just two suggestions for ways to bring fun back into your learning process. You will enjoy the lessons, let off a little steam - and you just might remember something.

Have fun!

Fun with idioms: Back Seat Driver

Today's idiom is "back seat driver." Taken literally, it would mean someone driving from the back seat of a car. I guess that would be possible if you had a really special car, but usually the driver sits up front.

The term is derived from the experience of driving a car while someone who is not driving constantly tells the driver what to do. In other contexts, a back seat driver is someone who seizes control of a situation when they shouldn't.

A back seat driver is a control freak who needs to be in charge of every situation. They are usually kind of frantic about giving unsolicited but constant advice and suggestions. Needless to say, this idiom is not a term of endearment.

Idiom Resources

As I was perusing the internets to find idiomatic ideas today I came across a website that is a great quick resource. IdiomSite.com lists dozens of idioms alphabetically with short descriptions after each one. If you're interested in a quick and easy way to look up an idiom that you don't understand, this site should be able to help you out. Some of the entries are not exactly idioms, but they are common phrases that would be confusing if you didn't understand the stories behind them.

Tip of the week

Another visualization game:

Practice describing favorite people and places in English to a friend, then show that friend a photo of the person or place.

Negotiate how to improve the description.

When you are both satisfied, do it again in ASL. Again, negotiate until you are both satisfied.

The difficulty in description is finding any language satisfactory for the intangibles that accompany the description. By practicing first in our primary language, we increase our ability to quantify those feelings and emotions. This in turn will enhance our ability to use our secondary language to describe those same feelings and emotions.

Fun with Idioms: Son of a Gun

The phrase "son of a gun" has evolved as a descriptive way to say that someone has done something unexpected. Usually it is used for negative behavior, but in some cases it can be used as a sort of endearment. Many people believe that "son of a gun" is a cleaned up version of "son of a bitch," but the etymology shows that it is the other way around.

When the phrase was first used, it referred to children with questionable pedigrees. Old English military ships usually did not allow their sailors to go ashore when they stopped at a port during a voyage. The military would allow the wives of the sailors to come aboard and spend some time with the men, however. Since the ships had very little space, the men and women would sling hammocks between the guns on deck. Any child that was conceived beneath the guns was known as a "son of a gun" since there was no way to confirm that the couple were actually married, which meant that there was no way to prove which sailor was the real father of the child. A son of a gun was a bastard child conceived between the guns on the deck of a military sailing ship. A couple of centuries ago this term was an insufferable insult.

The modern phrase "son of a bitch" bears a closer meaning to the original insult of the phrase "son of a gun," though "son of a bitch" developed long after "son of a gun" had become part of common speech. Today, "son of a gun" is not used in an insulting manner very often since the more powerful "son of a bitch" is available for use.

New tip of the week

The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

Translated: Robert Burns, To a Mouse (Poem, November, 1785)

Scottish national poet (1759 - 1796)

Sometimes life happens at such a fast clip we are all left breathless. We do our best to stay on top of money, family, friends, business - and we forget to stay on top of our own physical and mental health.

It is important to schedule break time into the work day. Anyone who starts as soon as the day breaks and works until well after dark knows how exhausting it can be. The life of a private practice interpreter is often hit or miss, feast or famine. It is tempting to fill the schedule full while the work is available and promise oneself a good rest when the work slows.

The problem is the human body needs more recuperation time than that. Even six hours of sleep can restore the muscles that were stressed by a day of interpreting. A half an hour with one's eyes closed can help the mind process the linguistic overload of a long assignment. A short walk can stretch muscles cramped from long hours of sitting. Watching a silly something on You-tube or Hulu can lift the spirits after a hard job.

We have to learn to take care of ourselves. Most interpreters, as a care-giving profession, sacrifice themselves for their family or their community. The best and the healthiest know when to say "no." The world will still turn, the bills will still be there, the work will still come.

You will just be healthy enough to face whatever life throws at you.

Take care of you - you are the only "you" we've got.