Friday, August 14, 2009

A Two-For-One

This blog post provides two good lessons from one simple example - a learning bargain. And it's multi-lingual, too.

Yesterday I was doing a bit of preparation for my upcoming canoe trip to the distant Canadian north, viz., looking up French words for some of the activities our group will be doing. This is a good way to improve one's vocabulary. One of the group has guaranteed that he will catch plenty of fish for food for a few meals. Another fellow seems skilled at fishing, too, as he speaks of various lures, etc., that should work. So I looked up the word for "fishing" in French. Lo and behold, I found that it's quite similar to the word for "sin". And for "peach", too. Here they are:

Le péché - noun - meaning "sin" and pronounced "payshay".
La pêche - noun - meaning "fishing" and pronounced "pesh" [The word for "peach" is identical, but I'll stick with fishing and sinning.]

Lots of derivative words exist, too: pécher - verb for "to sin", le pécheur - a male sinner; And pêcher - verb for "to fish", le pêcheur, a male fisherman.

So what does this mean ? Do the concepts of sin and fishing have some connection in French culture ?

Hmmm ... speculating lazily, one could wonder if the Christian religion that dominated French culture and society for centuries might have produced some connection, via the notion of Christ "fishing" for souls, or from St. Peter being a fisherman, or the ancient sign for Christians being a fish. That's what a slothful pundit or blogger would bloviate. Not your writer.

I decided to check the facts - French is a romance language and many words derive from Latin. As I am re-learning Latin, I looked up the Latin words for "sin" and "fish". And lo and behold, here is what I found.

Latin for "to sin" is "peccare", thus "I sin" is "pecco". this is pronounced "pekko".
Latin for "a fish" is "piscis", pronounced "piskis" with the 'i' as in "pin" and the 's' as in "sin".

The similarities in the classical Latin of 2000 years ago can be no accident.

Over the centuries, classical Latin became the vulgar Latin of the common man, then became 'fratin' in Gaul, then Old French and now modern French. The spelling and pronunciation changed. Voilá - the two words independently converged. Modern French uses the acute accent é and the circumflex ê to distinguish the now minor spelling difference and modest pronunciation difference.

What are the two lessons ?

1. Independent, unconnected events, characteristics and traits CAN and DO evolve into near identities. Even two nearly identical things or events do not necessarily have a causal connection.

2. Check your facts, or risk a blunder.

Actions

I am still doing nothing. Je ne fais encore rien.

Word of the Day

"Perchance" - adverb [$10]
Perchance means 1. by chance; 2. possibly, maybe.
Sentence: Similarity may be due to a connection, or perchance be a mere accident.

78 comments:

Spin-em said...

WOOOF WOOOOOF WOOOF.....yeah Donny..they have all the faith in the world in you.....I can here the philly scumbag fans booing by the second game.......loool

Spin-em said...

"more french...great Bunk....just get the wood ok?"....lol

Spin-em said...

NY Yankees 72 43 .626 --
Boston 65 49 .570 6.5
Tampa Bay 61 53 .535 10.5
Toronto 54 59 .478 17.0
Baltimore 47 67 .412 24.

it really cant feel good for some who were sooo loud and NOW are sooo quiet......

Bunkerman said...

I heard some stats that if the Yankees were in 1st place on Aug., 12, then the market went up 4% for the rest of the year. If not, flat.

What's good for the Yankees, is good for American !

Bunkerman said...

here's a multi-lingual wordplay:

Peccat cum pecker.

He sins with the pecker.

(Sorry for the minor vulgarities I could not resist - it even has the Latin 'cum')

Spin-em said...

loooooooool Bunk

Spin-em said...

"What's good for the Yankees, is good for American !"


I finer sight these eyes have never seen....snfff

Spin-em said...

poor Ivanka.."the grunt work"lmaooo stand on ur feet for 18 hours,serve Gmac some Cheese and gravy Fries..Ill show ya grunt work ya silver spooned bitch!!..lmaooooooooo

Spin-em said...

silver spoons????..Great idea for earings
DAAAAADDDDYY!!!!!!

Spin-em said...

Im done..lool tgif

mfl59 said...

Spin hard charging out the gate this morning....obviously excited that the Eagles just threw away all chances of success....Mike Vick now breathing over Donny's shoulder....pfffttt

maverick said...

oh yea everyone deserves a second chance.....pffffffffffft...shut the F up andy fat ass...you just hired a heartless dog killer that will fit like a glove with your scumbag felon fan base.

Bud said...

well well well Bman......from wsj today


U.S. Natural Gas Fund, the giant exchange-traded fund, is exploring ways to avoid regulators' crackdown on speculation.

Among the options, the fund is considering moving to offshore energy exchanges or further into unpoliced over-the-counter swaps markets to avoid Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules that would limit the size of its natural-gas positions





good job Bman.........this stupid soviet style CFTC was on commodity etf's will only succeed in 1 thing.........they will just go overseas


at a time when are losing millions of jobs.......just drive more business overseas



PS......didn't someone here predict that etf's wud just go overseas ??

Bud said...

well folks............the numbers are in......first 2 weeks of august ............best 2 weeks of the year ( of course barring a disaster today )


and how did i do it ?? well......i didn't do anything.......you know since i'm .....uhhhh......'not too bright'


sharkinvesting.com did it all.......they picked dozens and dozens of winners........no way i cud ever pick winners.......you know......since i'm ......uhhhh.....'ignorant'



danke vielmals jim !!!!!!!!




PS.......makin money never gets .......uhhhh......'tedious'

Bud said...

you shut the F up.............hope middletennesseestate woops the tiger ass........in fact........i hope death valley catches fire during the home opener..............and the stadium burns down........and the tiger fans start crying and screaming like the pussy fags they are


go EAGLES go

Bud said...

scumbag felon fan base ??? yeah........and the tiger fans are aristocracy


wife beating inbred orange dick fags

Frosty said...

yanks....yanks you a bunch...11-1 may I have another sir...lil help here Sal.

Bunkerman said...

uh Bud ... US Natural Gas Fund is regulated by the SEC as it issues shares in the US ... do you really this they'll let that loophole stay open.

They'd have to get SEC approval ... fat chance.

Bunkerman said...

that applies to all ETFs traded in the US. And somehow I expect the EU to crack down, too.

Spin-em said...

now hes his pal..when he was thinkin about hangin from a rope....he didnt give a rats azz...talked about .99 chicken

Bunkerman said...

Hong Kong's economy grew more strongly than expected in the second quarter compared with the previous three months, ending four quarters of contraction and prompting the government to raise its full-year forecast amid strength in the Chinese economy and an improved export market.

So teh recession is over in Germany, France, and Hnog Kong.

Hmmm Obama-led US is tail-end Charlie. Why ? A crappy stimulus plan.

Bud said...

Bman waht is your take on the dollar lately ??


what are the chances of a currency crisis ??

Bud said...

Bman are you a proponent of 'decoupling' ??

Bud said...

Bman is steve shwartzmann a beefer ?? he made a whopping 700million last year

Bunkerman said...

insutrial production up ... whither went the recession ?

Bunkerman said...

Bud, I wrote about decoupling a day or two ago. read it.

mfl59 said...

Bud have you ever considered a career in politics?

Knave indeed....

Bunkerman said...

Steve Schwartzman is a hog, a typical sleazy beefer manager.

Screws his own shareholders selligng watered stock.

Bunkerman said...

The dollar will stabilize when the economy starts growing fast later this year.

mfl59 said...

"when the economy starts growing fast later this year."


oh yes...up up and away...I hear the local windmill farms are hiring...

Spin-em said...

If Manny was still here...we'd still be champs!!..

ROFLMAOOOOOOO

Frosty said...

Bunky you must feel great shame...your heros in dc sure blew it compared to other fine leaders around the world...Mrs B had that nailed, she is the best.

Spin-em said...

Bud tops the market

Peccat cum pecker indeed..lmaoooooooo

mfl59 said...

"Record week" "I'm the greatest!"

tough to find a bigger douche....

Spin-em said...

MVP MVP MVP

Frosty said...

"I'm going to be taking some vacation time starting today and then next week. I'll be posting on a limited basis, but I'm going to try to shut the computers down, ignore the market a bit and clear my mind."...thx jim...just sit in cash, your time will come, sure to make his big move soon as he clears his head.

Bud said...

RTK


'nailed it' 'highfive'


remote control said buy.............i bought.......i don't even know what RTK does......you know .......since i'm ......uhhh.....'not too bright'




danke vielmals jim !!!!!!!!




PS.......makin money sure is......'tedious'

Bud said...

alright just checked what RTK does............they make jet fuel


lool......if i had to guess i wud have guessed biotech........man.......i really am.......uhh......'ignorant'

mfl59 said...

"Way to go Sal"

"You are the best"

"That 8 footer is good by me"

"No white stakes arent out of bounds...just drop one pal"

Spin-em said...

Golf school for azzheads instructor

"I really like how your swing is coming along STONE LEGS"

Frosty said...

Bunky...GS calling for a 40% decline in the REIT index into the end of the year...dave tice saying spiddy 400 coming...please post your panic sales from today...thanks in advance.

maverick said...

that was a nice tent andy wore to the press conference

Bunkerman said...

haha frosty ...

just got back from buying some blueberry pie & top quality sausages for the weekend.

No selling, no buying.

Je ne fais rien.

Bunkerman said...

GS ... ptui. pirahnas. hogs. boars.

Bud said...

i knew it !! frosty just can't control himself.........i knew he would go back to makin fun of Bman's trades


what a despicable lowlife scumbag.........do other traders mistakes give bob an erection ?? prolly so.......is it amusing to hear about traders losing money ????..........f'ng douchebag



pierdol sie bob !!!!!!




PS.....still wanna be friends ???

Bunkerman said...

I suppose "jim" doesn't give the visa skim a vacation.

Frosty said...

Bunky...how many "quality sausages" do you choke down a week...Mrs B grab the paddles....CLEAR.

mfl59 said...

Bud prefers one sausage a week...I'm not sure of the quality though...

Spin-em said...

Bud doesnt like sausage on the grill...he prefers sausage in the can..............

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Bunkerman said...

If I should ever do anything because GS says to, Mrs. B should have me tested for dementia.

Bunkerman said...

These are made in the authentic European style from highest quality ingredients. When fried, almost no fat comes out.

Unlike all US-style sausages that produce a pan of thick greasy fat.

I think I eat about six links per week on average, but it varies a lot - call it 4 to 10.

My favorites are the baurenwurst, smoked Polish sausage & the bratwurst.

Bunkerman said...

the same place sells marinated herring - very tasty. I ahd some for breakfast today.

mfl59 said...

Bunk may I suggest some shark sausage...try the 3 inch links...Bud seems to enjoy them....

Spin-em said...

MVP MVP MVP

Bunkerman said...

I've had bbq shark steaks - it's a lot like swordfish.

Bud said...

Bman when was the last time you checked your cholesterol ??

sausage spam butter eggs

Bud said...

Bman did you read the wsj editorial on ginnie mae and the FHA this week ??


seems like the no down payment no doc no job no income loan is only a matter of time again

Frosty said...

Bud when was the last time you were tested for AIDS.

Bud said...

Bman did you go to woodstock ??? did any of your friends go ?

Bud said...

Bman blackstone ( steve 'hog' schwartzmann ) starting a private equity fund in china


what wud you advise the chinese regulators on this matter ??

Bud said...

Bman.....you say you never invested with a beefer ............but were solicited


but......were you ever recruited by a beefer??.............surely a man of your qualifications and pedigree would be a great hire..........i find it very hard to believe you never interviewed with a beefer....or at least had a informal lunch with a beefer ceo trying to lure you

afterall you were a proud alumnus of Beefer University

Frosty said...

GRH spank it Spinny...nonono spit the bit back stretch...high five.

Bud said...

ha ha ha.....that's real funny bob


considering it's you who is the cock-sucking man-beaver licking fag


PS......still wanna be friends ???

Bud said...

" hey Sal..........why you gotta be so dirty ....filthy ......vulgar.....rude......nasty ? "



" cuz i'm a nasty motherfucker !!! "

Bunkerman said...

my cholesterol is checked every six months - it is fine as is the good/bad ratio, etc.

Frosty said...

"best week ever"...gesh...thought you be out early on the links...playing kickball in the woods.

Bunkerman said...

GNMA/FHA has always been low down payment - for decades. No big problems.

The homes are lower priced, so not in a bubble.

Bunkerman said...

I was going on to be a sophomore in high school when Woodstock occurred - way too young. And in my hometown, no one ever heard of it until later.

Bunkerman said...

I was an investment banker (raised money for corporations) - on the sell side. Beefers are on the buy side.

The two sides do not cross-pollinate, except in M&A when some guys go to private equity, etc..

Bunkerman said...

The Chinese Reds are smart - they'll let it grow, learn the angles, then take it over for their cronies.

mfl59 said...

uhh Bunkerman....the "sell-side"....come on sir...not exactly the ethical section of the neighborhood...

Bunkerman said...

Precisely, I created the investments for the corporations to issue to raise money for new plants, warehouses, stores, etc.

The firm's salesmen sold them to the institutions, such as pension funds, insurance companies, banks, etc.

Mostly private placements in $5-10 million blocks.

Bunkerman said...

very, very ethical. One had to keep going to the same buyers & corporations as clients for years.

Not this pirahna trader mentality.

Bunkerman said...

a gentleman's business.

Frosty said...

Bunky you and Mrs B have a fine weekend.

Bunkerman said...

Enjoy the weekend.

It's almost time for a bunktini.

Bud said...

omg...............what a colossal week........sharkinvesting.com totally nailed it !!!........the best place on the web for stock winners.........no doubt


hey bob ..... you want me to 'call off the dogs' ???

later Bman



go EAGLES go

Frosty said...

Bunky...did you stop FCX this morning..thought I saw a real seller in the mix, juice is impressive.

max pain Q's 38 DIA 90 SPY 98