The weekend got off to a great start with Shockheaded Peter (thanks Hanna and Cookie ;-) Kiloh was slightly concerned that every episode ended with death but it was a brilliant show with amazing puppetry, sets, music, acting and, of course, death. We were glad that Kiloh had given up thumbsucking before seeing what happened to suckathumb. The big downside was that Apoa lost her treasured watch on the way home. She decided to go back with me and look for it so we were very late home.

Then I went camping with Kiloh in a beautiful bluebell wood near Welwyn. As a tree pollen hay fever sufferer, this was perhaps not the best place to be on the weekend when every tree in the country decided to shed all its pollen in one swoop (I know, Kiloh, you've told me a million times not to exaggerate ;-)

Anyway, the doctor has changed my prescription now and thunder and lightning has driven the pollen away. Kiloh and Ohna showed symptoms for the first time this weekend so I guess there really was a lot of pollen around.

I just found out about a talk on allergies on The Lecture List

B-)

Very sad to hear of Larry Trask's death. I've read a few obituaries and will post links soon. Here's how the news was reported on the website at Sussex.

A paper by Dick Hudson

B-)

Here's what the linguists said:

Actually, I have just begun reading her book (Eats, Shoots and Leaves) and find it very entertaining. She makes some good points, with a great sense of humor, too.

I think it's a wonderful book, and felt comfortable (as a linguist) with virtually everything she said.

I haven't read it yet but will get round to it one day.

B-)

The two linguists responding to this message (on an educational linguistics mailing list) seem really happy with Lynne Truss's book:

FROM REUTERS:

Here Comes the Punctuation Vigilante Tue Mar 30, 2004 10:38 AM ET

By Paul Majendie LONDON (Reuters) - In the land of Shakespeare, punctuation faced extinction until writer Lynne Truss came to the rescue with a clutch of carefully placed commas and colons.

Taking a zero tolerance approach to grammatical lapses, she wrote a sprightly guide to punctuation, 'Eats, shoots and leaves,' that has sold more than half a million copies in Britain alone and soared to the top of bestseller lists.

Now, honing her crusading zeal over misplaced apostrophes, Truss is off to the United States to ensure transatlantic tidiness reigns supreme on the printed page.

See the full article here:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4701134

Helen ran the marathon yesterday:

Managed to do the marathon despite the pissing rain and my knees completely going at 20 miles (ran until then though). Had to walk last 5 miles but then found myself living out all my Chariots of Fire fantasies as I picked up speed again down the Mall.

Great experience despite my miserable time of about 5hrs 55mins and not managing to get past the two-man camel or bloke in the telephone box costume.

B-)

I've a feeling this isn't quite the thing we had in mind when we made The Lecture List

1,000 dollars a head is pretty impressive, though.

FROM THE STOP THE WAR COALITION:

Give George Bush Senior the Reception He Deserves

Tuesday May 18th 2004 4.30pm till 6.30pm

Landmark Hotel, 222 Marylebone Road, London NW1, (nearest tube Marylebone Road, Bakerloo Line)

George Bush Senior, the architect of the first Gulf war, is coming to London to raise money for his son's re-election campaign.

He will be the main guest at a dinner party hosted by Republicans Abroad on Tuesday 18th of May. Tickets for the event are $1000 each!

Stop The War Coalition will be calling a mass picket of the event. Let's give George Bush senior the reception he deserves and a night that the guests would wish they had not paid $1000 each to attend.

For further information please call 0207 053 2153/4/5/6 or e-mail office@stopwar.org.uk

Kim writes:

Strange but true

Kim Anderson (who went to Sievewrights dancing with Mike) and who now works with Jonathan and I, went out to her garden the other day to be confronted with a muckle great Heron stalking her goldfish, in her pond, in her garden just outside Fyvie and she had to run at it clapping her hands, it took off, somewhat reluctantly, circled a few times, but just came back when she went back inside - bold or hungry? - anyway no sign of her fish anymore.

So you can get close to them

How is Kiloh? They won't be told will they?

Kim

From: Aidan Coveney Date: Wed Apr 7, 2004 10:42:01 Europe/London

Dear colleagues

'Sciences du Langage' (i.e Linguistics) departments are under threat in France. Please consider signing the petition mentioned below. (The petition has been launched by Grenoble University and Paris X-Nanterre, notably the phonologist Bernard Laks, a close collaborator of Jacques Durand, who is known to many of us in this country.) The French government's current political difficulties (severe defeats 2 weeks ago in regional elections) mean that they are more likely to respond to pressure from public opinion than at other times.

Yours Aidan Coveney French Department, Exeter

—- Begin Forwarded Message —- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 21:19:33 +0200 From: MS Subject: Sauvons les Sciences du Langage en France / Save Language Sciences in France

Dear colleagues, Marges Linguistiques expresses solidarity with a petition initiated by Universite Stendhal - Grenoble III (France) calling for support in defence of the teaching of graduate courses in Linguistics in French Universities.

We invite you to sign this petition online through the following link:

http://infolang.u-paris10.fr/sauvons-sdl

where you may read and complete the petition.

The text may also be read on the homepage of the website of Marges Linguistiques:

http://www.marges-linguistiques.com

(click on 'accueil' or 'welcome')

Thank you for your interest and for your participation in the defence of Linguistics

M. Santacroce Director, Marges Linguistiques In partnership with the French Association of Language Sciences

—- End Forwarded Message —-

——————————— Aidan Coveney University of Exeter

Neal Ascherson just wrote in the Guardian about how the nation turned to talk

He's impressed by how many people are keen to attend public talks and debates at the moment.

Hope they also turn to The Lecture List to find out where they're happening.

B-)

Kiloh and Anna have been playing at daredevils jumping from wall to wall outside the front of the house (and shouting at strangers, which I hope they've stopped now). Last night I told Kiloh that wall-jumping was not a good idea in the clogs she was wearing.

So then I spent 4 hours in the hospital with her. There doesn't seem to be a significant break so she's wearing a tubigrip, taking ibuprofen, feeling upset cos she can't play football this morning, and explaining how it wasn't really because of the shoes...

B-}

On 2 Apr 2004 at 14:46, Jed wrote from Devon to say:

The Heron you saw was actually a dummy heron used to scare the real birds away. Down here where the real birds are, I have never gotten closer than fifteen metres or so. Looking forward to seeing you all. I'll try to scare up some friendly herons for you. Cheers! Jed

OK, so it might have been 15 metres. I thought Jed of all people might apreciate a wee bit of exaggeration ;-)

The Lecture List has just gone public at:

http://www.lecturelist.org

We're now concentrating on building up the number of talks. So tell all of your friends, especially if they put on public talks.

B-)

Well, I finally made it onto the Gang of Four which was better than I'd remembered B-)

Now on to 'Typical Girls' by The Slits which is many happy memories and also enjoyable on its own terms (for me) in 2004 B-))

(Still keeping an ear out for Apoa, of course)

Well, I never made it as far as the Gang of Four.

Apoa has succumbed to a bug that's on the go around here and the puir wee craitur vommed all over her bed, her bedroom floor, her Beanos (tragedy), her pyjamas, the bathroom floor and the sink. The cats seemed a bit bemused as they watched me leap into action with my marigolds.

B-)

I'm enjoying the free CD with the week's nme

It's called 'Kurt's choice' and claims to be 'the 13 tracks that made Nirvana', but it's still fun. It's Iggy Pop's 'Louie Louie' right now and I'm remembering where I was when I heard the news that Kurt had died, driving down from Aberdeen to Edinburgh (just approaching Stonehaven at the time) to catch a Robbie show.

I remember my feelings were an echo of the outrage I'd felt when Sid Vicious died and the mainstream newsfolk were unbelievably callous about it. For Kurt, the issue was not so much that they were being callous about another human being's death as that they thought the main issue was whether it was OK to like his work or not.

It seems like a long time ago, now, but not as long as the days of the Butthole Surfers. I'm enjoying 'sweat loaf' now and looking forward to 'John Wayne was a Nazi' by MDC, which will be followed by the Gang of Four doing 'At Home He Feels Like A Tourist', which meant everything to me about a quarter of a century ago but which I've hardly heard since.

B-)