The end of El Bulli
I’m sorry to read that El Bulli will close down.
Given that it’s been rated the world’s best restaurant for several years, I’ve always had a desire to go there, but I had to contend myself with a book about it Phyllis gave me for Christmas two years ago.
I guess it was inevitable, though. That type of innovative cuisine can’t stay at the top forever, so they had to choose between slipping down the rankings at some point, or closing while they were still at the top.
Hopefully the academy they’re creating instead will eventually lead to even better restaurants.
Catford has died
John Wells blogged today that the Scottish phonetician Ian Catford has died. There’s a detailed obituary here.
I never met the man, but I love his Practical Introduction to Phonetics, which is a great introduction to articulatory phonetics, teaching you how to produce all sorts of speech sounds.
All high schools should teach all their students phonetics like this – I’m sure it would improve the pronunciation of foreign languages immensely!
In memoriam Michael Jackson
It’s being reported that Michael Jackson has just died.
I guess one of the things he’ll be remembered for is moonwalking, so here’s a tutorial:
Dönererfinder gestorben
Der Erfinder des Dönerkebaps, Mahmut Aygün, ist gestorben.
Er hat nicht das Dönerfleisch erfunden, nur das Fleisch mit der Joghurtsoße in eine Pita gefüllt, aber das allein ist ja auch eine hervorragende Erfindung!
Ich finde es übrigens interessant, wie der Döner verschiedene Namen in verschieden Sprachen hat: Deutsch Döner, französisch kebab (und es gilt da als griechisch, nicht türkisch), dänisch shawarma (arabisch statt türkisch).
Qongqothwane
I’ve come home from a long weekend in Denmark to the news that Miriam Makeba has died.
When I was a linguistics undergraduate, it was claimed that she made click sounds famous through her click song:
I had never heard about her before, nor about the click song, but I borrowed it from the library and enjoyed the clicks.
Hvil i fred, Rune!
Billede fra første møde for dk.kultur.sprog. Rune står yderst til højre.
Jeg kendte ham fra datalogi, fra TÅGEKAMMERET, og ikke mindst fra dk.kultur.sprog.
Jeg mistede kontakten med ham, da jeg flyttede til Skotland, men det gjorde alligevel ondt, da jeg hørte, han var død.
Bye, Mrs. Hughes!
John from the cornershop just told me that Mrs. Hughes, our neighbour in 0/2, passed away a week ago in the hospital where she was being treated for a chest infection. Because she had had her throat removed, I never managed to have a meaningful conversation with her, but I often saw her in the close.
Jørgen Rischel er død
Jeg så på Linguist List i dag, at Jørgen Rischel døde den 10. maj. Jeg har kun mødt ham en enkelt gang, da han holdt en gæsteforelæsning om mlabri på det daværende Institut for Lingvistik ved Aarhus Universitet. Jeg erindrer, han mente at være en af de få feltlingvister, der har arbejdet med sprog både i kolde og varme lande (Grønland og Thailand i hans tilfælde).
Det er trist, mlabrierne nu aldrig igen får besøg af den fine lingvist på hans motorcykel i junglen, og det er trist, han nu aldrig mere vil skrive mere om deres sprog og kultur.