Authors-Readers Connect discussion

Just now, I was sitting outside on the back balcony, sipping a glass of wine, and nearly laughed wine through my nose as I watched the antics of a big, loud, sulfur-crested cockatoo that was hanging upside-down in the giant gum tree across the little park behind our house.

He growked and screeched and rowched, all the while gnawing on a small branch until it had broken off. He then held the small branch for a while in his bill (still hanging upside-down, half-twirling goofily, and clinging to the larger branch above with one foot). A jogger was approaching along the path beneath, and I had this sinking feeling....

Sure enough, right as the jogger was directly below, the cockatoo dropped his little branch from about five meters up, very nearly hitting the jogger in the head. The jogger jumped, looking up in confusion, and the parrot rowched loudly. It was absolutely hilarious :-) As I said, I almost laughed wine through my nose.

Please excuse the randomness of this post. I just thought it might be useful to have an "off topic" discussion thread in this forum so that members can get to know each other by chatting about what's happening, what's new, whatever we're thinking about, whatever we feel like, etc.

However, David, this forum is your baby of course, so feel free to remove or alter this thread :-)

This is a good idea, Gaines. I was going to ask David if he could put up a discussion thread so members could talk about whatever.

Cute story about the cockatoo. There is no such thing as a Cockatoo in the south, unless you purchase one. So you really get to witness these beautiful birds in their natural habitat--that's good.

I bet the wine was good, too:)

It was yum ;-) A local merlot. Well, relatively local; from a few hours south of here. New South Wales is a pretty big state.
"...in the south" you say.. but I'm farther south than you are :-p hehehe

Way South:) Did you lose your US Southern accent?

Not sure I ever had one growing up in Nashvegas. I took on a bit of one when I lived in North Carolina for a couple of years, but that was because I was spending inordinate amounts of time with people who pronounced "shrimp" like "rrrryamp." Okay, it was mainly this one guy who said that particular word in that particular manner... but the general Shelby County lingo did rub off on me, lol.

I have always been a bit of a chameleon I suppose, subconsciously; I get on the phone and before I know it I'm talking a bit like the person on the other end of the line. Only a bit though. My brother and a mutual friend told me last year that I'm starting to "talk funny," having lived here for nearly a decade now. I think they're full of it :-p

Do you speaka da Tennessee? Or are you too much of an urbanite? Is your family from there?

Yes, I speak the lingo: y'all, ain't, fenna... but whether or not I have an accent, I don't know. Someone will have to tell me. I know I don't have the deep southern one, I really think I'm accent free:)

For generations, my entire family has lived in Franklin and Nashville. Never urbanites, pure countryside into suburbia...

Have a good weekend!!!

Franklin eh? That area sure has grown! I grew up in West Meade, but had friends all over.

I remember, in high school, driving down with a few friends to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time, at the little Franklin theater (not sure what it was called). Random memory.

You have a good weekend too :-)

I think it was called the Franklin Theater. We practically lived there:)

Back then it was about a half-hour drive to get there for us, if I recall correctly. These days it's probably more like an hour, or more in peak traffic, lol... *sigh* Nashvegas sure has sprawled.

If you think you don't have an accent, you probably have an accent :) Of course, having an accent is relative. I answer phones for a living, and only people from like, Michigan, New Hampshire, and California have mentioned me having a bit of a Southern accent. Everybody here (NC hills) knows I'm not from here, cause I "don't have an accent." (Spent the majority of my life in Raleigh, which is an accentless place.) I think I picked up the bit of accent I have from my wife, cause she has a 'country' accent from eastern NC. I thought it was cute when we first got together, but don't even notice anymore. I am, however, fluent in Southern! Anyway, just wanted to comment cause I like accents and regionalisms.

I hear you, Phil. I agree that if you think you don't have one, you do. I guess because I'm surrounded by Southerners, we don't have accents. But as I've mentioned, I know I don't have that deep Southern drawl, I notice those right away:)

I love accents, and regionalisms, too. I think it's amazing that we can live in different parts of the US and detect what part someone is from just from their accent--and what part of the world, too.

My wife told me about some study on accents and basically southerners are the most aware that they have an accent, people from like Wisconsin/Minnesota area don't think they have accents - though to me that's a really noticeable accent. Just thought that was interesting. It makes sense - the Southern accent is probably one of the most recognizable accents, and Southerners are quite aware of it as part of the culture. But I know what you mean - there's definitely degrees of it.

I'm interested in seeing if my kids (they're only 1 & 2 now) end up having the Western NC/Eastern TN accent around here. Because you don't get your accent from your parents, its from your peer group.

Language is endlessly fascinating.

Dang I missed a whole new thread. My Goodreads update emails must be pretty messed up.

Honestly, my favorite accent (since we were talking about that) would be British/Scottish/Irish. That area. Also New Jersey accents (but my girlfriend doesn't like those. Sigh).

There are four major "dialects" of Chinese, and each is as different from the other as Spanish is from Portuguese, or even Italian. Within each of these major "dialects," which might as well -- for very practical and realistic reasons -- be thought of separate languages, there are many further sub-dialects -- not to mention the myriad regional accents, slangs, etc. So next time you refer to "Chinese" as a language, take a moment realize that you might as well be referring to the collective tongues of western Europe as "European." Who speaks "European"? Who speaks "Chinese"?

The obvious difference, of course, is that most of those dialects and sub-groups in China are bound together by a single written language. Although for some of the languages in China that written system's application is like forcing a round peg into a square hole, it at least serves the population generally, and well enough, to make the nation a lot less illiterate than it otherwise would be.

"Language is endlessly fascinating."

I agree.

We used to say that people from the North US have proper accents because they would say things like, pop instead of soda or coke, or you guys instead of y'all, yes instead of yeah. And you can tell if someone is from the Eastern US because of the way they pronounce the "ar" in their speech; those are distinctive to me. And let's not leave out Canada, eh? My brother would have me laughing when he'd come back from a trip there where almost every sentence ends with that word, I love it!!

I don't know what part of the US where they say, "don't cha know?" (there was a movie call Fargo? I think)

My favorites are Britain, Australian, and all of the US.

To me, Chinese is the most difficult because as Gaines says, so many dialects...

Groovy wrote: "I don't know what part of the US where they say, "don't cha know?" (there was a movie call Fargo? I think)"

Minnesota, parts of North & South Dakota, parts of Wisconsin, as far as I know :-)

@Gaines - I learned some about the Chinese thing in school...like, Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking people can read the same newspaper but wouldn't be able to talk to each other.

@David - "Also New Jersey accents (but my girlfriend doesn't like those. Sigh). " Elaborate? lol - that just seems like a weird relationship issue

@Groovy - I honestly think TV and other media has a lot to do with why Northern US is more proper and Southern US is seen as 'redneck,' not correct, and even ignorant - just like black US english is "incorrect." The fact is, language is ever evolving and there's no right or wrong. Also, "y'all" is the South's gift to the english language. It's the best, most rational plural for "you" there we've got. The don'tcha know is like what I was talking about...Wisconsin over to the Dakotas. It's Fargo...ND.

If I had to pick a favorite accent...probably African. Ha, that's probably a broad spectrum, but to my untrained ear, Benin doesn't sound that much different than Malawi. Plus, all the Africans I've ever met are nice people.

Phil--- I agree with you on the niceness of Africans. Also Haitians. They're all nice.

And basically, I love Jersey accents, and my girlfriend hates them, so that causes some tiff in our spelunking. (I have my own dialect).

I agree, Phil. Hollywood has done its share of stereotyping one over the other in all cultures.

And that reminds me, I love the African and especially Jamaican accents, too.

Phil wrote: "language is ever evolving and there's no right or wrong."

Exactly!

David wrote: "...in our spelunking."

Spelunking? As in caving??

I've got my own language in my dialects.

Haha

How goes it folks :-)

Hi, Gaines

I've been having a very busy week. Not only am I working on two novels at once, and trying to get the word out on those I've already published, but it's spring time, and you know what that means...

I'll let you say it:) (but you're a man and you might not get it:)

Also, have you noticed so far how many in Hollywood have died in just the three months of this year? It's sad. I just heard about Gary Shandling--wow. I don't know if we've ever had a year where so many died in such little time!!

Is it...gardening?

I'm working on a novel, too, that I'm trying to knock out pretty quickly (a feat I've never done, but seems to be working so far) - would it help anybody if we made a thread for like, brainstorming or feedback on plot ideas or anything like that?

Oh, that would be fun! We can see what David says. I haven't heard from him in a few days. I hope we would get a lot of participation, though.

And no, Phil (you man), it's not gardening, even though that's part of my spring chores. Good guess! I'm going to wait and see if Gaines can get it before I reveal the obvious. If you have wives, ask them what Spring entails:)

Well in this country, Spring lasts about three days, then it goes straight to summer. So that entails a lot of grumbling about the heat, especially from my wife :-p

Or were you trying to say something about all the frenzied birdies and bees flying around out there this time of year..?

Or are you talking about spring cleaning?

You impress me, Gaines. That's exactly it--it's Spring Cleaning time:) You asked your wife, didn't you?

I just want to let all of you know, that if you don't hear from me for a while, it's because my modem has all of a sudden become defected, so my internet keeps going out. I'm so angry at ATT. I've only had this modem for two years, the warranty ran out a year ago, and now they want me to pay $100 for a new one--and that's after raising my rates twice in one year!

So now I'm looking for a new internet provider, I am so done with ATT!

Spring cleaning *hides* please don't say those words Groovy. My momma goes into super-duper cleaning-roboto mode. Which makes me her little robot follower.

And I can't say much about internet providers, because we get ours through Time Warner Cable for free. We stopped getting the channels, but they were too lazy to cancel it so now we get it for free. *Thumbs up* so thank God for Netflix.

She and I have great minds, we think alike. My daughter reacts the same way you do, she's also my little robot follower.

Oh, my, Goodness! You actually get your internet free? And no one's the wiser? Good for you--stick it to the man:)

Lol it's not me. It's just the company's lazy. So it's pretty sweet

Groovy wrote: "You asked your wife, didn't you?"

Lol no, I didn't. I'm no stranger to housework. But I'm not a fan of it, either. Ugh.

So sorry to hear about your internet troubles. That sucks. When I was in the States I worked for Comcast for a while, and got my internet free through them. But back then I was a lot more out-going, so really didn't use it other than to check email before heading back out. I do remember hearing about the same thing happening with them, though; a guy I chatted with at Bongo Java one time told me he had moved into an apartment, and the previous tenant had cancelled her Comcast account, but three months later they still hadn't sent out a technician to shut it off, so he had cable & internet for free.

Correct me if I'm wrong, though, but hasn't the technology changed? Can't they just shut it off remotely now, with the click of a mouse?

I wish you luck in getting a new & better modem Groovy.

I had to clean up both raw smashed eggs and hard-boiled smashed eggs from the floor today. The boys had fun! Haha, that's easter, folks.

Wheeee. I miss dying eggs.

Thank you, Gaines.

Have a fun weekend, everyone. Behave, Gaines and David! Mine will not be so fun, my daughter came home sick, infecting everything around her, which means I'm probably next:(

Anyway, I'm her full-time maid now.

Aw, bummer. Sorry to hear she's sick. Hopefully she gets better soon and you are able to avoid whatever bug she's got.

Thanks, Gaines, but I might as well admit defeat and prepare myself.

Good luck Groovy on fighting the sickness battle *salute*

Thank you, David!

No problem! And if you ever find yourself to sick to walk, you're never too sick to read ;) Well... that's not true, but you get the point.

Thanks heaps for the book link David. Looks great. Congratulations and well done :-)

No problem Gaines :)

Look at this. A woman went snowboarding and had no idea she was being chased by a bear!

https://youtu.be/vT_PNKg3v7s

That's some intense stuff Groovy!

haha wow! Good thing she didn't turn around; she might have panicked and fallen over and become breakfast!

Or lunch ;) I've heard bears skip breakfast.

Well, just as I predicted, my daughter has infected me, and I am getting sicker by the hour. Gotta love those smoochie kids!!

If you don't hear from me in a while, you know why. So, good-bye for now. I'm going to bed with my Nyquil and throat lozenges...

And it's payback time for her. She's going to be waiting on me hand and foot!!!