LL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.02.15 (06) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 15 February 2008 - Volume 06
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From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.02.15 (02) [E]

From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.

Thank you Mark & Wesley for reminding me of - Beyond the Black Stump ! Of
course!

And I've only just finished having a total Nevil Shute re-read including his
book of the same name: which has interesting overtones of "Not to be
tolerated" i.e. the intolerance of mid-west America towards free Aussie
spirits, as well as living in a place far far away.

Heather
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From: Hugo Zweep <Zweep at bigpond.com>
Subject: LLL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.02.15 (02) [E]

Dear Lowlanders
The real irony of being "beyond the Black Stump", and why it is so apt, is
that you never get there. In a country where settlers kept going west,
forever clearing forest and scrub, the larger tree stumps were left in the
ground and fired. This and natural bushfires would leave a landscaping where
there was a never ending succession of black stumps. You'd never get beyond
the black stump.

Hugo Zweep

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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica"

  > Just as one used to use Timbuctoo as an expression of a place 'far far
> away', I have been using OM as a language 'far far away'
>
> What is acceptable as a replacement without offending anyone?


Dutch uses the word "Verweggistan" to refer to a remote, imaginary country
at the back of beyond. Good thing is it's fictitious (nobody feels
offended), even though it does end in -stan.

Other names for an unsignificant faraway village:

Kleinkleckersdorf (G)
Podunk (E)
Cayenne (French)

Vriendelijke groeten,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Idiomatica

There's one in German that I've heard used in Low Saxon as well, one that is
likely to offend some:
 *Wallachei* [vala'xaɪ]. It connotes both "remote" and "desolate."

It's Wallachia (~ Walachia), Romanian *Ţara Românească*, Hungarian *
Havasalföld*, Serbian *Влашк**а** *(*Vlaška*), Bulgarian *Влашко *(*Vlaško*)
or *Влахия *(*Vlaxia*).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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