Quiz #7 answers

Q1. "Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare." John Major

Q2. "Diplomats were invented simply to waste time." David Lloyd George

Q3. "One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex." Margaret Thatcher

Q4. "We best avoid wars by taking even physical action to stop small ones." Anthony Eden

Q5. “Mr. President, with the greatest respect, I would prefer the American eagle's neck to be on a swivel so that it could face the olive branches or the arrows, as the occasion might demand.” Winston Churchill

Q6. "Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there." Harold MacMillan

Q7. "Thank you very much... doooo doooo doo doo, right.... good." David Cameron

Q8. "We spend more on cows than the poor." Gordon Brown

Accents

Research or research? Where does the emphasis lie? When I'm chatting with my friend Tony, I emphasise the second syllable; with others, i.e. normal people 😀 it's REsearch. Is one correct?

English is a funny language because there are no written accents to show correct syllabic (as distinct from syllabub)

(mm) emphasis.

Compare the French. Number one, they have the Académie Française, which tells the minions what to say and how to say it. It publishes the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française. Very bourgeois. We Brits have the BBC.

Number two, what the French do have is accents: acute, grave, circumflex and diarhesis or trema. And the occasional cedilla. The most interesting thing I could find out about the acute accent is that it can only be used with the letter e and changes its pronunciation from uh to eh. As in liberté, égalité, fraternité. Which, as it happens, emphasises that final syllable; so why not just say that?

However, the grave accent on the letter e also makes the eh sound, as in cusinière (for those without GCSE French that's a female cook; the French are definitely not gender-woke). So why the duplication? It's that Académie again; nothing better to do.

The other French accents are even more confusing. And not strictly about emphasis, which was my original point.

So let's move on to Spanish. There are two key points: (1) every Spanish word has one and only one stress (2) If a word ends with a consonant other than ‘s’ or ‘n’, the final syllable is stressed (oxytone words), otherwise the penultimate syllable is stressed (paroxytone words). Simples. Erm, unless a syllable has an acute accent, in which case it takes the stress - as in propósito (purpose).

I have an O Level in Spanish: good choice, Nigel.

We poor Brits have none. Is obfuscation a trait of the British? Perfidious Albion; say one thing, mean another: "Oh you didn't understand the emphasis, Michel. We were not combining Great Britain and Northern Ireland, we were talking about farmers and their combine harvesters." "Mais bien sûr [there's that circunflex], Boris. Nous vous croyons."

Imagine yourself as a three year old struggling with some early reading.

What to make of:

"I present you with a present"

"I am recording your speed records"

"I am going to subject you to the subject of heteronymity"

"I will relay the result of the relay race"

"I refuse to take out the refuse"?

Better:

"I presént you with a présent"

"I am recórding your speed récords"

"I am góing to subjéct you to the súbject of heteronýmity"

"I will reláy the resúlt of the rélay race"

"I refúse to take out the réfuse"

Símples.

I think I will form the Académie Nigelaise.

I know, you are disappöinted becäuse you thöught this post would be aböut régional Énglish áccents. So, as a sop to you. here's one: [I know, the system is a work in progress]

Gan canny or we'll dunsh summick

Your guess is a good as mine.

Weekly quiz #7

This week it's quotations - specifically by British Prime Ministers. Who said the following? Even if you don't recognise them, I hope you will find the quotes interesting and perhaps worthy of family debate - maybe at lockdown Christmas?

We have had 55 Prime Ministers but you'll be relieved to know there aren't 55 questions - although I might set myself that task one day.

The longest serving PM was Robert Walpole at 20 years, 314 days; the shortest George Canning at 119 days. Gladstone served four separate terms as PM, more than anyone else.

Q1. "Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare."

Q2. "Diplomats were invented simply to waste time."

Q3. "One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex."

Q4. "We best avoid wars by taking even physical action to stop small ones."

Q5. “Mr. President, with the greatest respect, I would prefer the American eagle's neck to be on a swivel so that it could face the olive branches or the arrows, as the occasion might demand.”

Q6. "Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there."

Q7. "Thank you very much... doooo doooo doo doo, right.... good"

Q8. "We spend more on cows than the poor."

Quiz #6 answers

Q1. What is the 9th letter of the Welsh alphabet?

ff

Q2. What area is designated by UK postcode IM?

Isle Of Man

Q3. ISO 3166-1 includes code SG for which country?

Singapore

Q4. Which British territory has the internet domain name io?

British Indian Ocean Territory

Q5. Name a two letter Japanese board game.

GO

Q6. What does the Spanish verb ir mean in English?

To go

Q7. Boris III of Bulgaria had a son Simeon with what regnal number?

II

Q8. In the periodic table of elements, which element is abbreviated as Hg?

Mercury

Raining cats and dogs

I wish I could say that this 1820 painting by George Cruikshank is the origin of the "raining cats and dogs" phrase. Actually I could say that; but it wouldn't be true.

Wikipedia describes Cruikshank as a "caricaturist and book illustrator". Not an artist? That's a bit rude. Poor George. In his time he collaborated with Charles Dickens, illustrating Oliver Twist. Whatever, it's a fun painting, one of which I would be happy to have a print on my wall.

In1651 the English poet Henry Vaughan referred to a roof that was secure against “dogs and cats rained in shower.” I couldn't find any earlier reference than that but there are many speculative notions about its origins in Norse mythology, classical Greek words, Old English words and much more. It's the kind of thing that classical scholars love to discuss over a pint of ale. Not after 10pm though.

It's possible I suppose that prehistoric cats and dogs had hind legs with large, stretchy tendons and a counterbalancing tail, enabling them to bounce around over the top of cavemen.

Like kangaroos.

Or that cats and dogs on Mars, due to the low gravity, bounce about in a similar way, and native Martians, well known for having poor eyesight, introduced the phrase to visiting earthlings.

I'm going with that.

Clearly Cruikshank got the idea from somewhere so maybe it was a popular phrase in Victorian Britain. Nowadays he'd have been excoriated by the animal rights movement, with claims that his painting would encourage people to go up in planes and drop animals onto the heads of the unbelieving public. Spoilsports.

T S Eliot wrote 15 cat poems in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats but none about them in the rain. And none about dogs. This seems a bit remiss really, Tom. [That's Tom Eliot not tomcat]

Ryan Reynolds

The Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds (star of Deadpool, Deadpool 2, etc. and one of the X-Men films)  is thinking of buying Wrexham Football Club. Apparently.

Reynolds is reported to have a net worth of $77 million. Now the footy crazies amongst you will know that you could get a mid-range, young and promising Premier League striker for that. Or a pretty decent goalkeeper or defender. Or one of Lionel Messi's toes. But not a top of the range club. transfermarkt.co.uk estimates Manchester United's first team squad (25 players) value as £720 million. The club itself: £4 billion.

Wrexham AFC is in the National League in England. That's not the Premier League, not the Championship, not League One, not League Two; the National League. What my friend Tony and my brother in arms Trevor would call the Fifth Division. The highest Wrexham has ever been was in 2003/4 when they were in League One (although it was called the Second Division at the time - keep up, Trevor and Tony!)

For context, the average attendance at National League matches in 2018/19 was just under 2,000. To be fair, Wrexham's is the second highest at just over 5,000. Stadium capacity is 15,500, although they don't own the stadium. The population of Wrexham is 136,000.

We are definitely not talking about a big club. So why would Reynolds and his actor pal Rob McElhenny want to buy Wrexham? Can you make money out of owning a football club? If you are the Glazers, owners of Manchester United, yes. Pretty much everyone else, no. Do you want to launder money? If you are the owners of .............................. (sorry, I don't want to end up in court), yes. In fact throwing money at a loss making entity is classic money laundering territory but there are such things as the "fit and proper owners" tests before anyone is allowed to take ownership of a professional football club. But we all know of clubs where that hasn't worked [please be careful when you comment on this, people; we could all end up in court].

Are you a sovereign nation looking to promote your country and overcome the stigma of a dodgy human rights record? If you are Manchester City, yes. Otherwise, no. Are you so rich that you don't know what to do with your money? If you are Chelsea, yes. Most others, no. Were you born in the club's town or region? Stockport County, yes. There was a famous businessman, Jack Walker, born in Blackburn, who bought Blackburn Rovers in 1991 when they were in the relegation zone of the Second Division, splashed the cash on stadium, facilities and players (notably Alan Shearer) and they won the Premier League in 1995.

These are all possible - if not reasonable or legitimate - reasons for owning a football club but Ryan Reynolds doesn't seem to qualify; he was born in Vancouver, Canada.

I play a classic computer game called Championship Manager and I get the greatest pleasure from taking over a lower league club and taking them all the way to the Champions League; it's a great feeling and if Reynolds simply wants to do that, good luck to him. He wants to put £2 million into the club which, in these times where spectators are not allowed (and therefore no income), might pay the running costs for a season with a bit to spare for some signings maybe. But I don't imagine a new owner (I hesitate to use the word investor because that implies the expectation of a return on investment) wants the money to be used on running costs. Usually they want to buy a striker! Maybe a 35 year old ex Premier League striker with dodgy knees on a one year contract to get us promotion. Readers of my "free agency" posts will know that Mario Balotelli is available.

The key to progression up the leagues is (a) ability to increase your wage bill (because wage bill has been identified as the key indicator of league position) and (b) ability to expand the stadium if you get promoted (which will probably result in higher attendances). It's not clear that the latter is possible, given the stadium is owned by Wrexham Glyndwr University and leased by the football club on a 99 year lease. And used by the Wales national team for some matches. Yes people, Wrexham is in Wales but the team plays in England.

Now there's an interesting thought: If Wrexham switched to the Welsh Premier league - the Cymru Premier - the champions of that league qualify for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Win a few qualifying games and end up playing at home to Barcelona.

I have read various articles speculating about Reynolds' reasons for this. None of them have a clue, basically, except for one quoting a Wrexham Supporters' Club director suggesting that the guys want to make a movie and were attracted by the fact that it is the "third oldest professional club in the world that plays in the oldest international stadium anywhere in the world". Maybe a superhero movie Deadfoot starring Mario Balotelli? In the Champions League.

Until proved otherwise I'm sticking to my Championship Manager thesis: he just wants to  have fun and has a spare two mil sitting around. I look forward to further Wrexham news; if I find anything substantial, I'll share it with you. I bet you can't wait.