Language notes from the slopes of E-15.

[Jonathan Lighter]

Just got back from Iceland after two weeks in quest of the Great Auk. Though
limited funds prevented me from securing so-called "scientific" proof, I'm
now more convinced than ever that the beloved flightless birds are still out
there, just waiting for rediscovery. (Six or seven scurried round the corner
of a rocky islet just before I could snap the blurred photo that should win
me fame.)

But never mind that.  Crypto-ornithological pursuits did not prevent me from
noting six list-related items during my brief stay.

1. An elderly American lady wearing a T-shirt that reproduced the "outside
of a dog" jest, with attribution to Groucho Marx. The quote must be enjoying
a renaissance. I first encountered it on the list. Now you can walk into a
store and buy a shirt.

2. A sixtyish American physician who scorned the designation "American" as
misleading and exclusionary and consistently used "you-esser" instead.

3. The fact that Icelanders start learning English and Danish in third
grade.

4. Yet they insist on calling Donald Duck "Andres [O-umlaut]nd." _Walt
Disney's Andres [O-umlaut]nd_ comic books are sold at better bookstores.

5.  T-shirts offering the approximate IPA lowdown on
_Eyjafj[a-umlaut]llaj[o-umlaut]kull_.

6. English-language T-shirts warning "DON'T FUCK WITH ICELAND! We may not
have cash, but we've got ash!"

7. A big ad for 66^North fashions, prominently displayed at Keflavik
Airport, telling passengers everywhere that

      There are over 100 words for snow in Icelandic.
      Only one for what to wear.


JL
--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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