Quick exchange of messages with CG resulted in them saying I should try again. I almost couldn't find my way back. But you can trust an Argentinian poet in a time scramble.

BTW, I seem to recall at least one CG member was doing a thesis on Borges? Possibly not into worldly present hunts.

One down, with a glitch for added fun, bad craziness, adrenalin junkie stuff. Why we play chess and howl at the moon...

Who will be King this year? You, <mack>, <Switching Owls for Thugs>?

Will <TOUCHDOWN> score a touchdown? Will <thorski> win?

I saw the discussion on language and genocide on the <London Tournament Page>, which is as likely a place as any for such a discussion.

Really, it is.

Anyways, I threw in some info on <mountainary>.

In case you wanted to know, this word is in common usage among Korean English speakers, but only those who are really well educated.

Your average "Korean student in the street" won't know this word- but Korean English professors and top English teachers are under the impression this is a "British word" currently in common usage.

It isn't, of course.

The "national English of Korea" is rich- and humorous- and often beautiful.

Without putting value judgments on such phenemona, it's best perhaps to simply compare, enjoy, and learn.

Example- OK in Canada, businesses must appear to be "professional," or they will not garner punters.

So a place that offered <acupuncture therapy> would have a sign outside saying "Acupuncture Therapy," oddly enough.

But in Asia, the languages support a culture of more "poetic idioms" as a matter of course-

Consequently, in Korea, for example, the local acupuncture clinic in my village has a name.

The sign gives the name in <hangeul>, and then it has a literal English translation underneath:

"The Comforting Hand Oriental Place of Wellbeing"

HAHAHAHAHA

Ok you know what I would never, ever have walked in to this place unless I had seen that fine translation.

I <wanted> to be comforted by a hand, so I went in. Literally that's what happened. And you know what, the acupuncture therapy has reduced my chronic muscle strains, significantly- without using drugs such as muscle relaxants.

But that's off point-

My point is that the <hangeul> sign says the same thing- In Aisa, it is NOT considered "unprofessional" for a business to use poetic idiom in its name.

Far from it- this is the norm.

Nobody would think a business was "unprofessional" if it called itself the "Flamboyant Health Foods For You".

(That's another fine shoppe in my village).

To us native speakers, is this funny?

HAHAHAHAHAHAA

Yes of course it is.

Is it beautiful?

Very much so- both the idioms themselves, and the fact that the culture is more "poetic" in this one area at least, than a native English culture.

Well Ok then.

But some of us *like* this crazed state. We enjoy the surge of *entirely natural* chemicals rushing thru our brains. Since I got hit on the head and almost disqualified by a line of code, I see more clearly.

We are, of course, doomed. But so are *They*, and this is the beauty of the thing. Maholo.

PS. Some of our Western Professional storefronts and shop names verge on poetry too. The Body Shop, selling eco-cosmetics and 3rd world soap for rich people. There are many more.

When I 'retire' - or, professionally speaking, 'die' - I'll use the insurance money - if insurance and money are still legal next year - to open a small shop called 'Not if you were the last bookstore on Earth'.

Am *I* the one doing the advertising? It must be subliminal. I don't have a product for sale just now.

That will change.

It just shows how everything pays off in the end. I thought it was Saddam ... but Shakira's *mother*? Amazing. Well done.

Well i envy writers living "the life of the mind" as john goodman said in "barton fink"...i life the "life of the "joint compound pan" which is profoundly boring but good when one is overflowing with angry energy...

memememe me!!

and really, if you think about it, isn't baseball (between the pitcher and hitter) basically glorified RockPaperScissors? a sport of pure psychout!!

For the zillionth time I will be reminded that they want punctual more than they want brilliant. Both would be good, and neither is very bad indeed. Excuses don't work ... gone blind in one eye, use the other bleeding eye ...