"Little hands can't manhandle. No. They can only minihandle. Oh, pity those little digits."
"Oh, tea me up, baby. I love a good cuppa char."
"You are the perfect candidate for post-natal abortion. Got it?"
__________
Karen's notes:
cup of char = cup of tea, Adam tells me.
I've put 8 new quotes up in the US t-shirt shop, including "can do attitude" and "that manatee is going down." I'll catch up on the UK t-shirts and mugs by tomorrow. Links to all in the left-hand column.
20100319
Mar 19 2010
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cha = tea in chinese!
ReplyDeleteI've always seen it spelt "char", although I was aware of the Chinese, and I believe "Chai" in India?
ReplyDeleteThe omission of "r" would be expected from an American, of course, because that consonant is too prominent to follow a vowel without changing the word sound. The most common example of this is the "hesitation word", which is written "er..." in the UK and "uh..." in the USA. To an American, "er" sounds too long ("errrr"), and to a Brit, "uh" sounds too short, like someone being punched in the stomach. :)
It's 茶, pronounced/romanized Cha.
ReplyDeleteAnother amazing Adam-isum.
ReplyDeleteHe probably got it from the japanese language. Cha is the japanese word for tea XD.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, among East Asian languages/dialects, "cha" is more prevalent than "tea" (pronounced like "te" in Spanish).
ReplyDelete"tea" is from Fujian dialect.
Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese etc use "cha".
Sleeping Adam is struggling with linguistics!
This is incredible and hilarious, but how do you ever get any sleep? This must really have taken some getting used to, not to mention freaked you out in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI strongly doubt he's taken this from any Asian words - although of course the word sounds similar - as 'char' is a very old fashioned English term which Adam is much more likely to be familiar with.
ReplyDeleteBased on how Adam explained it to me, I think it might be used here in the UK by some. People at my work are confirming that. But it does seem that I spelled it wrong. An accent issue. I'll fix that now. -Karen
ReplyDeletewould make sense, because many times a british accent pronounce an /r/ at the end of words ending in a vowel sound, especially at the end of a sentence or before a following vowel. Dunno why, but there you go. So he may well have said 'cha' and you *heard* /char/.
ReplyDeleteAhh, linguistic oddities.
Mrs. Doyle would be in heaven!!!
ReplyDeletenow... i wonder if sleepy adam had any thoughts on 'powerful strong and tough guy fighter worth his own weight, being the exception,
ReplyDeletedigitally speaking:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-Me
with all the tea c-c-ccups in china; will not take me away from this course...
"Oh, tea me up, baby. I love a good game"
...hava a hanky...
so in sleepspace, did you mean, to abort before having taken on the post nasal surgery...toooo late, i now have a nose for news and no time to sneeze about it, perfect candidate in my ear...
i smell a rat...gotta go...
any clue why I can't access the feed from this page anymore? I subscribed ages ago, but am no longer getting updates!
ReplyDeleteThis makes me sad.
dammit! I just ordered some shirts 2 days ago, and NOW you release the 'can-do attitude' shirt!!!AAARGH! Now I have to shake down some more peasants.
ReplyDelete"help, help, i'm being repressed! Witness the violence inherent in the system!"
"You are the perfect candidate for post-natal abortion. Got it?"
ReplyDeleteI couldn't stop laughing on this one! At report card time, my colleagues and I became a bit silly (lack of sleep and too much typing, I assume)and would suggest "candidate for retroactive birth control" as a comment for a few of our more challenging and interesting students! I really like Adam's take on it and will share it with those of my former colleagues who are still teaching.
The British adopted "Char/Cha" from their time in India being waited on by the "wallers" as in the following extract ......
ReplyDelete<< At the transit camp at Deolali there were a number of Indian 'wallers'. One would shave you, the Char-waller brought tea and cakes, the fruit-wallers had baskets of fruit and the dhobee waller did the laundry.>>
This also why we have/had "Cha ladies" who brough the tea round to the workers in offices & factories.
"You are the perfect candidate for post-natal abortion. Got it?"
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHA now I know what to say to people that talk about abortions...LMFAO!
What does Adams mum say? Did he sleep talk baby talk? (just imagine the swearing then)
ReplyDeleteI’m waiting for the “"Kisses and cuddles. Thank you. Get used to it." T-shirt!!!!
ReplyDeleteNo audio of the 'little hands'? Must sound like pure poetry....... 7@=e
ReplyDeleteLOL at the little hands one!!! Though I'd also love to hear "tea me up, baby."
ReplyDeleteI love the language/linguistics stuff, thanks everyone.
Anon at 11:36 made me wonder, too, what the heck it was like in the very beginning, for both of you! Hope you write about that sometime, if you remember any of what you thought and felt.
Just got "gagsi" as my nonsense word, then "dachomb". Is that the gagging that goes with one who has little digits? And a German tomb for weiner dogs? Gad they crack me up sometimes.
char is indeed from the time the british spent in india, a lot of slang was taken up from that time, dhobi still being in use in the military, as a reference to anything laundry related.
ReplyDeleteThe 'Char' comment needs to be a t-shirt! So many brits would buy it!
ReplyDeleteChar is the Indian term for tea and a left over from the British Colonial time there. My Mom grew up in India and calls tea 'Char' and has worn off on me!
Have to say - I love the international feel to the STM - A brit, american wife - is great!
I am a Brit by way of Hong Kong and have a life in America - STM makes me laugh hard, the comments are just as entertaining with the 'Translation' from English to American English - always makes me laugh that we speak the same language, but how different it actually is!
Prof. ZzzMAN-ylizer: u need a better hobby. you truly suck at your attempts to be funny. give up.
ReplyDelete"You are the perfect candidate for post-natal abortion. Got it?"
ReplyDeleteOMG Karen, I've been saying stuff like this for years! I told a guy in my basic training cycle that he's the poster child for retroactive abortion: the 22 year rule. Yeah.. him and Paris Hilton
good thing i'm not a people pleaser, and humor is as humor be, not for everyone, and especially all the tiiiime, that would be a task for any comedian ---i'm not for sure,
ReplyDeletejust up in the airspace quips as others do just for doing; between the eyes, one's ears and wherelsewheres, those that take offence to feel it be real, kinda unreal to target yet,
could use a bit of IT to anonymousing it out themselves, funny how that works...mission aborted...tata...hava a better rest of the day i could only hope...
haar, harr, over tea and coffee?
ReplyDeletesailing ships and mini chips ahoy cha, char!
I am sure this word is taken from Asian dictionary, isnt it?
ReplyDeleteTo Anon 1:08
ReplyDeleteHint: Skip the parts you don't understand, enjoy the ones you do.
=D
To Anon at 1:08 - People don't have to toe some Humorously Correct line when posting. It's for... fun. :)
ReplyDeletePost-natal abortion! Love it! I'll have to file that one in the all-time best insults category!
ReplyDeletePost natal abortion t-shirt please?
ReplyDeleteDo people say "chár" 茶儿 in the north of china? I studied in Shanghai, where people were loathe to 儿 their words.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 1:08: YOU, apparently, fail completely at internet manners - and, of course, spelling.
ReplyDeleteOh....but those little hands most certainly do try to manhandle others...kind of strangely funny to watch a little kid trying to push a parent out of their way...
ReplyDeleteTo Anon 1.08 - I think the prof zzzman type is a spambot. Certainly I've never seen a comment from him/her/it that makes enough sense to think otherwise. It just randomly grabs text and dumps it in a comment. You learn to skip it after a while.
ReplyDeleteas a happenstance "professor" moniker to untimeliness in my other duties, i can only add with pleasure to be a part of this format, and flattered that one or more feels my input of fun writings is computer generated, thankyou nevertheless, it is, discovered human potential we all have if we apply it long enough to post positivity that we share, than negativity to draw into ones own corner, i am actually quite surprised that a fan who posts as anyone else has target potential and affects others so severely that i have decided to leave the building and retire for the time being, still worthy to choose to silent post and become a regular 'just reader' for those that have rallied in my neck of the woods, so appreciate the unusual support...i'm touched really...sharing can cause such distress to some and so far the opposite spectrum, joy and fun...really a tale of + and - in readership ideals...
ReplyDeletehow so we forgot what this blog was and is really about...adamtastical musings and sharing by choice to express a want or need by popularity and chance for doing so...to backtrack read, it just may be negativity is really the driving force to detraction and retraction, not by choice than the feel of intensity...professorizing it over and out, but not really...humanely written by a true person indeed, unreal to some, i cannot please for they can only please themselves.
Much Love to you's!...you can use...
and MUCH+MORE !!! to those of YOU's who know who you are...you're hearts in the right place and i adore that...so back to business...itZ all about Adam and his true fans...FANta-s!ZINGering it out...so LETS'ya'll'enjoyit...
Create YOURSELF a Greater Day,
creatively-thoughtly sent out too U'z, beit in May ...a brand new day, backtrack'd to presence.