Fw: tarelki

[Andrew Jameson]

Andrew Jameson
Chair, Russian Committee, ALL
Languages and Professional Development
1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL UK
Tel: 01524 32371  (+44 1524 32371)

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> From: Daf <daf at meirionnydd.force9.co.uk>
> To: a.jameson at dial.pipex.com
> Subject: Re: tarelki
> Date: 14 April 1999 13:30
>
> I can well see why stavit might come into fashion for plates [putting the
> plate - not putting sth onto it]. I remember being puzzled for some time on
> learning 'stavit' tarelki as it seemed to me that this contradicted the
> idea of putting into a lying down position as opposed to standing a book
> etc. Forks etc. of course are laid down but so are plates if one thinks of
> them as flat. However, long, long ago the first plates were more bowls and
> these one would 'stand'. So perhaps even the natives are deciding not to
> stand their plates on edge.:-) But I doubt it. One doesn't usually have
> cause to question one's own language unless one has to try to explain its
> idiosyncrasies to others.
> I remember once during a Russian lesson the teacher, who was an emigre[from
> Latvia to England during the war] and had had to learn English at the age
> of about 12 I think, had just explained sth Russian. I said, 'But that's
> not logical.' He looked at me sadly and replied, 'You think English is
> logical?' To my unending embarrassment when I remember it I replied, 'Yes,
> of course.' Since then I long since embarked on a career of teaching the
> said English, and every time I accidentally dug a linguistic hole out of
> which I needed to dig both myself and my students, the memory came back to
> haunt me.
> Daf  [web page-http://www.meirionnydd.force9.co.uk]