Languages, eggs and dogs.

English is the most common second language in the world. It's official, at least according to this website.  The site also tells us that Polish is the second language in England and Catalan is the second language is Spain. By second language I assume they mean the language with the most speakers in that country, rather than the second official language. I can think of some Galicians who would be a bit upset to think that Catalan was the second language of their country. 

I also discovered that second language of Portugal is something called Mirandese. I did not know such a language existed. This is not really a surprise. I am sure that there are lots of languages in the world that I have never heard of but I thought I had a pretty good idea about Romance languages. And Mirandese is in that family, originating, I have since found out, in the Leon region of Spain and still spoken in parts of Portugal. It's an old language. I wonder if it predates Galician for I know quite a lot of fanatical speakers of that language who tell me that it is just about the oldest language around in the Iberian peninsula, certainly more ancient than Castilian Spanish. It's always interesting to come across something new, even when it's really old. 

From reading my friend Colin's blog, I understand that Hallowe'en seems to have morphed into "Alowín" in Spanish. Strange, considering that today is Todos los Santos, All Saints' Day, the more traditional celebration in countries like Spain and Italy. 

Here in the North East of England, where we are staying at a friend's house, celebrating Hallowe'en has long been a tradition and many houses are decorated with broomsticks, spiders and goodness know what else. This did not prevent some of the houses in our friend's street having eggs thrown at them last night - another local tradition. They must have run out of eggs before they reached her house for her front door was spared. 

 Our friend Sharon has a dog. She looks like a very fierce dog and does have a very gruff bark. All of this is belied by her name: Mitzi. In fact, though, once she knows you she is very soft and sociable and just barks and rumbles at you when she wants some attention. Now, Mitzi really thinks she is human and when you sit down to eat she wants to join in, not just to beg food but to be around, sharing the experience. This is borne out by the fact that when she has her food she will push her bowl into the room where her people are, not really willing to share her food but to have you join in the conversation with her about how good it is. 

None of this, however, convinces me of the need to have a dog!