Storms of one kind and another. Cranky beliefs. Language. Shopping.

For a while in the winter, quite a long while in fact, we seemed to have one named storm after another. At the moment we have strong winds and intermittent rain. The garden is strewn with bits of tree, not large branches but relatively large “twiggy” bits and lots of leaves, not to mention blossom of different kinds. Apparently it’s worse further north. Is this a storm? If so, does it merit a name?

A storm of another kind was going on for a while down south in Westminster. Dominic Cummings drove from London to Durham, where he has family, at the start of the lockdown. Looking back to scientist Neil Ferguson having been caught out having a lady visitor during lockdown and having to resign from the SAGE committee, lots of people started to declare that Dominic Cummings should also resign, or even be sacked.

But, no! That’s not happening. The storm has all been calmed down.

Downing Street has defended his decision to take his wife and four year old son to Durham while he and his wife had coronavirus symptoms, so that help would be on hand if needed. “His sister and nieces had volunteered to help so he went to a house near to but separate from his extended family in case their help was needed. His sister shopped for the family and left everything outside. At no stage was he or his family spoken to by the police about this matter, as is being reported. His actions were in line with coronavirus guidelines. Mr Cummings believes he behaved reasonably and legally."

So convinced is Mr Cummings of having done the right things that he told the press, “ It's a question of doing the right thing. It's not about what you guys think."

I’m rather surprised nobody has said that it’s all about the welfare of a child!!

So he appears to have weaselled his way out of that! Not for nothing do the most frequently printed photos of this government advisor make him look very weaselly!! But now we know where he disappeared to when we didn’t see him for a while.

Now, here’s an article by Afua Hirsch about how Ghana and Senegal have dealt, apparently very successfully, with the virus. As she points out, nobody seems to have taken much notice of this.

According to the London Economic, a study by the University of Oxford shows that the Uk also has its share of cranks and loonies:-

 “Conspiracy theories
The study shows that over 45 per cent of the population believe, to some extent or other, that Coronavirus is a bioweapon developed by China to destroy the West. More than 19 per cent, at some level, believe that COVID-19 was created by Jews in order to collapse the economy for financial gain, and almost 20 per cent consider it a possibility that Muslims are spreading the virus as an attack on Western values.”

There you go!

Here’s a bit of a break from virus stuff. A friend of mine drew my attention to the influence of Irish Gaelic on American English. In Irish Gaelic the expression “s lam é” means “it’s bleak”. From this we got the word “slums”, apparently because most of the residents of really poor areas of New York spoke Irish Gaelic.

Similarly, “gee willikins” (all right, nobody says it now but there it is) derives from “Dia Thailleachus”, which means “the will of God”. “Gee" is the approximate pronunciation of Dia, or the Irish word for God. "Holy cow" means Holy Cathú or Holy Cahoo or Holy Grief. "Darn" is another Gaelic exclamation. In Irish you say daithairne ort, which means, "darn on you" or "misfortune on you." Gee whiz comes from Dia Uas or Geeuh Woous which means "noble god."

If you want to gather people together you make a ballyhoo about the gathering, which in Irish is bailliú, and pronounced like ballyhoo. You might use a slogan in your ballyhoo to promote the gathering, as slogan comes from slua ghairm, the yell of a crowd or a battle-cry. Ballyhoo entered the language at the circus, where Irish people would use slogans to make ballyhoo about a new show everyone should come out and see.

Fascinating stuff! I listen to American English and see grammatical influences from other, mostly European languages. It”s no wonder it sometimes seems like a different language. Despite all these immigrant influences though there is still anti-immigrant feeling and even on occasion people being told that they don’t “look American”, whatever that means. I suppose it could be a reference to the First Nations but somehow I doubt it.

I ran around the village this morning, before the rain showers set in. I wanted to pick up a couple of things from the co-op. It’s the first time I have been in the store on a Saturday for a while. When I have called in during the week it has been very quiet but today there was a long queue to go in. Maybe the people still going to work are shopping in a Saturday. Maybe lots of people are still buying weekend papers. It was all well organised with a big notice in the doorway about restricted numbers of customers. However, I overheard one of the shop assistants talking about an occasion when she was the only person on duty and masses of people simply ignored the notice and barged in anyway!

Quarantine fatigue?

Phil and I are still being cautious. I won’t be shopping for a while and have just organised having our milk delivered to the house - just like the old days.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!