Maine Chinese Conference (Husson, 10/25 and 10/26)

Husson University is the host and one of the sponsors for the 2013 Maine Chinese Conference, an annual language and business conference. The theme this year is "Thinking Globally - Acting Locally," and speakers include Dr. Helena Curtain, a foreign language curriculum specialist with experience around the world, and Mr. Jianjun Cen, the education counselor of the Chinese Consulate in New York.

The conference runs on Friday, October 25, and Saturday, October 26, but you can register for either or both days. For more information, go to the conference webpage here, or contact the Chinese Language & Culture Center directly at (207) 990-0710, or at jingzhang@bangorchinese.com. If you go to the conference page, there are links to registration documents which can be mailed in.

The Foreign Policy Lecture Series

Robert Morrison will speak on "Thinking about Islam" on Tuesday, October 8, at 7:00 p.m. in the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson University.

Ron Jarvella will speak on "The Chinese Intelligence Network" on Tuesday, October 22, at 7:00 p.m. in the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson University.

Scott Erb will speak on "The Social Media Revolution" on Tuesday, October 29. in the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson University. (Time not yet confirmed, but likely 7:00.)

All lectures are FREE and open to the public.

Now, that's "a whole nother thing"

Imagine that Smoky and his neighbor Joe are talking about what's wrong in local politics, and Smokey says, "This city stinks. They keep passing foolish rules. I can't believe they passed an ordinance limiting the colors I can paint my house."

Joe answers, "They passed a law like that two towns over last year, but a judge ruled it's not legal."

Smoky replies, "Well, that's another thing. The city council never does their research. What a waste of time!"

When he uses the word "thing," Smoky is giving one more reason the city stinks. Another way to say the same thing is "that's a different reason," but that sounds too formal and academic for friendly conversation.

But that's not the interesting bit. What's interesting is that if Smoky wanted to add yet another complaint about the city, he just might say "That's a whole nother thing." This has the same meaning as "an entirely different thing," but did you notice what happened? If we take the phrase "a different thing," and we add the adverb"entirely" for emphasis, we change the "a" to "an" to create "an entirely different thing." No harm, no foul, right?

But with "Another thing," "Another" is a single word that came from the two words "an" + "other." Over time, it became one word. So, if you want to add the adverb"entirely," where would you put it? "That's entirely another thing," right? But more often than not, we use the word "whole" instead of the word "entirely." Well, "whole" is not an adverb, it's an adjective of sorts. Because adjectives usually follow articles, like "a" and "an," (a big truck), our natural instinct is to tuck it into the word "another," and in conversation, we usually follow our instincts. We say, "that's a whole nother thing," and old-fashioned English teachers wrinkle their noses for what they think is a violation of the rules of English grammar. However, grammar doesn't really rule the way we use language, it just describes it, so if enough people say "a whole nother," than it ain't really wrong, now, is it.

Now ya know!

Easy...

The word "easy" seems so easy to understand, but it has lots of uses beyond the ones that come to mind, well, rather easily, and quickly.

First, the central meaning is that it is no problem to do something. If I'm wicked impressed with a dish a friend cooked for me, and I ask her for the recipe, chances are she'll say "Oh, it's easy to make. You won't even need to write the recipe down." Well, this may be true, or it may be that she doesn't really want me to remember how to make a dish she thinks is her specialty.

It can also be a way to reassure someone who is trying to do something new, like carve a pumpkin, that they'll have no problem doing it, or perhaps to calm their nerves saying something "It's easy once you get the hang of it."

Next, if you say that Rob is easy, it means that it's easy for you to get Rob to do what you want him to do. Now, this is a polite blog, so I don't want to spend much time on this meaning, but usually, but not always, this term is used this way when talking about romance. It's a rude thing to say. I can also imagine grandchildren looking for some money to go shopping and deciding to go to Grandpa because "he's easy."

Fourth, when an alcoholic beverage is smooth and easy to drink, we might say "That goes down really easy." Similarly, bad news, or a shot from the doctor might be "easier to take than I expected" if it's not as painful as you'd thought.

Fifth, if you're teaching a dog a trick and you want it to move slowly, you might say "easy" very slowly and repeatedly, while also moving slowly to keep the dog from getting too excited. 

Finally, as a teacher, when students get a bit too excited, or perhaps curse inappropriately, I might just say "easy," or "take it easy, now" to calm them down, or at least draw attention to their behavior and let them know that someone isn't too happy with it. 

There, wasn't that easy?  Now ya know!

Don't be catty!

On any list of strange English expressions have to be a handful of idioms that relate to animals. Now, I'm not talking about expressions that take their meaning straight from the behavior of the animal, like "He eats like a pig." I'm talking about expressions like "Don't be catty!" Even if you know that a catty person is a person who gossips about someone in a negative way (as opposed to GOOD gossip, like, well, hmm... is it only gossip if it's bad news?), where does this expression come from? Do yowling cats sound like people gossiping? Heck, no! They sound like people telling it like it is for all the world to hear. Are cats deliberately insulting? I think not!

As for dogs, well, the expression "He's such a dog" should get the canine union, or perhaps the Kennel club, howling in the streets for being derogatory. "He's such a dog" means (Let's see, how can I put this for my students...), it means that he shamelessly pursues sexual encounters. Interestingly enough, this phrase is typically used for a man pursuing a woman or a man (or a mailbox, for that matter), but not for a woman pursuing anyone. We have other words for that, but they aren't based in the names of animals. Ahem. Now, I suppose you could say that dogs don't let social customs stop them from romance, and so this expression makes some sense, but it still hardly seems fair.

That brings us to "fishy." Where did that come from? "Fishy" simply means "suspicious," and other than the fact that most fish are UNDERwater where we can't see what they'r doing, I can't imagine the reason that they are associated with suspicious behavior.

Are there any I missed? There are lots, like "horsing around," "eating like a bird," etc., but they all seem pretty self explanatory. Even "worming your way into something" makes good sense if you know what a worm is.

Well, now ya know!

Hey, man, bro, GIRL?

If you're learning to speak any second language, you want to sound natural in conversation with friends and other people you meet. Nothing makes you sound out of place more than speaking textbook English, or textbook Farsi, or textbook whatever language it is that you're attempting to master. A lot of people try to sound natural by learning how to swear in a second language. Chances are, people who cheer when you swear a lot are people you should avoid, A-V-O-I-D. Typically, all cursing does is make a few people laugh and the rest uncomfortable at best.

Setting aside swearing, what are some of the other words or phrases that you can use to sound more natural in English? There are several ways we refer to other people that will help you to fit in if you use them in the right contexts. By far, the most common is the word "guys." "Hey you guuuuuys!" We use it all the time in the U.S., and it doesn't matter if we're talking to actual guys, or to girls (nobody says "gals" anymore). It's so common that, well, you all probably know how to use it already. It can be used in a neutral way to refer to, or talk to, a group of people, and it can also be used to show you're not happy with that group, particularly if you're a high school teacher trying to clear the halls after morning break. "Guys. Okay, that was the bell. Guys? Thank youuuu!"

Still fairly common, but a bit more generation-specific (read: for someone on his way to his midlife crisis, not already past it), are "bro," short for "brother," and it's Hawaiian equivalent "bra," short for "braddah," both of which are a bit more familiar than "guys." "Familiar" here means that you use it with people you know casually, not, say, just a student in your class. Actually, quite emphatically, NOT with a student in your class, our vice-versa. While a teacher might call his or her students "guys," calling them "bros" doesn't sound natural to me even though both are used for males, aka dudes.

"Bud," "buddy," and "bub" are for people in the second halves of their lives, more or less what "bro" is to people in their first halves, though there are also some regional preferences. "Bro," West Coast, and beaches all went together at one time, but as we become increasingly interconnected, those regional lines are getting blurry. These are also usually used with men/boys, but when I was a teen and twenty-something, a handful of friends even the girls greeted each other with a slow, drawn out "heeeey, bud!" I'm not sure where that came from.

Last on the list, not because it isn't a well-known appellation (name), but because it seems to be used in fewer contexts, is "girl," as in "ooh, giiirl, doesn't he look fiiiiine!" This came from parts of the Black American community, and when it is used with some intonation, it's considered "sassy", and is used primarily by women and gay men. It can also be used with less intonation to mean something like "bro." In general, the more intonation there is, the more familiar it is (in the sense used above), but that makes sense, right? We're usually more expressive with our friends and family. Still, I'm going to recommend that people learning English as a Second Language listen for it, but avoid using it until they have a strong sense of when and with whom it is used appropriately.

Now ya know, bub!

Gawjus, as in "Ain't she gawjus."

You say "potato," and I say "patata," is a famous line from a song about different ways of pronouncing the same word. When considering the "gorgeous" and "gawjus," you might be tempted to assume that they are also simply two different pronunciations, but you might be wrong.

Though "gawjus" did not evolve from a very different word like "cunnin'" (cute) did from "cunning" (clever), the meanings of "gorgeous" and "gawjus" are not identical. 

I suspect that while "ain't she gawjus," and "what a gawjus day" line up quite well with common English uses of the word "gorgeous," ("isn't she gorgeous" and "what a gorgeous day"), Mainers may use it in other ways that are unique to this part of the the world, like to refer to the way maple sap is running in sugaring season. I can't imagine people using the word "gorgeous" to refer to the flow of sap, but "gawjus?" Heck yes.

Of course, the word gorgeous itself emerged from the French "gorge," which means neck, which says a lot about what the French (and loads of other people) find beautiful.

Now ya know!

Cunnin', as in "Ain't she cunnin'"

While the word "cunning" usually means clever or tricky, it has another meaning that is used a lot here in Maine, "cute in a charming way, or adorable."

Typically, this word is used to describe small children, and the 'g' sound is dropped, as is often the case in Maine. "Isn't she cunning," is a common way of saying it, but even more common is "ain't she cunnin'." Lest you think that only people with poor grammar use the word "cunnin'," let me set you straight. The use of "ain't" is an older colloquial (conversational) form of "isn't" that ain't wrong; it's just different, and it's been preserved for generations in populations around the country. Thank goodness it has. The people who have held on to "ain't" are likely the same folks who have held on to "cunnin'."

So, is it only used to talk about cute kids? No, but because it is so often used in that way, when it is used with other objects, it tends to imply childishness, naivete, or other qualities we associate with a toddler, and so it can be used sarcastically to mean the opposite of cute. Imagine a friend who went out for a walk coming back covered in wet leaves and mud. It wouldn't be at all a stretch to laugh and say, "well, aren't you cunnin'!"

Now ya know!

Hey, Folks

The South has "y'all," Rhode Island has "you guys," other parts of the country have "people," and we have "folks."

To many Americans, "folks" are your parents, as in "Your folks will be so proud of you at graduation."

But to other Americans, particularly those of us in Maine and the rest of the northeast, the word "folks" refers to a group of people we're talking to, and we use it a lot. Here are a couple of examples: "Hey folks, I've got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?" and "The folks I'm supposed to meet are late."

What's the difference between all these ways of talking to a group? In my humble and biased opinion, "folks" and "y'all" sound charming and friendly. "You guys" sounds like something you say when you're trying to get people's attention as in "you guys, look at this," or "you guys shouldn't be doing that!" "People" sounds impersonal, like you're trying to maintain distance between you and the group. Other opinions?

Listen for it when someone's giving instructions to a group here, and as you become more comfortable with your English, look for appropriate opportunities to use it.

Now ya know!

A Mess A, as in "A Mess A Bugs"

Watch me explain what "a mess a bugs" means to a Mainer here,




or read about it below.

Picture this. You're visiting an old college friend for a week of rest and relaxation at her beautiful little harborside home. There's a wharf not too far from the house from which lobstermen and other fishermen leave early in the morning and return in the afternoon. A couple of days in, you've gotten quite used to the clear, golden sun filtering in through the curtains early in the morning--seriously, the sun rises early in Maine in the summer--and to the sound of the boats leaving the harbor at about the same time, then chug, chug, chugging back later in the day.

One particularly fine day, you finish your lunch and walk down to the wharf to watch them unload their catch, something you've never seen before. One of the fishermen arrives, and after she does what she does, she walks up to you and says, "I've got a mess a bugs if you're looking to buy."

"Excuse me?" you say, wondering what the heck she's talking about. Well, there are two parts to this possible misunderstanding. Number 1. The word "bugs" is another word for lobsters, and 2. "a mess a" really means "a lot of." She's offering to sell you some lobsters straight from the cold waters of the Atlantic, and unless you're allergic, flat broke, or already have plans for supper, you should probably answer "You betcha." You'll get a better price from a lobsterman than from any dealer.

Most people use "a mess of" to mean disorder, or something that needs to be cleaned up, as in "Boy, you made a mess of your room. Clean it up before your mother gets home, or she's gonna be awful mad at you." In Maine, though, we use "a mess a" often to mean "a lot of," as in "You're gonna be in a mess a trouble if your father finds your room lookin' like this." or better still, "Barbara baked a mess a pies for Thanksgiving dinner: apple, blueberry, pumpkin, graham cracker, chocolate cream, lemon meringue. You'd better bring your appetite!"

Now ya know!

Apples to Oranges

The phrase "apples to oranges" is a very common phrase which means that two things are too different to be compared.

For example, you might compare two forms of transportation, say, a taxi and an airplane. The problem with the comparison is that these methods of transport are very different. Taxis will pick you up just about anywhere, but airplanes are flown between airports. Taxis will pick you up at almost any time of night or day, but airplanes fly on a fixed schedule and far less often. Is it clear that comparing taxis to airplanes is like comparing "apples to oranges?"

Comparing airplanes to trains is a better "apples to apples" comparison. That's right, you can say "apples to apples" to show that you think a comparison was a good one.

Now, I can understand if you're a bit confused about why we use apples and oranges in the saying. After all, they're both small fruits that grow on trees. They don't seem that different. I suppose the idea is that if you want to buy apples, you want to compare the apples at one shop with apples from a different so, or perhaps with a different variety of apples at the same fruit stand.

Now ya know!

Over the Top

Idioms are expressions the meanings of which are different from the meanings of the words that make up those expressions. Some make sense the first time you hear them, but others don't. Where does the expression "over the top" fit?

"Over the top" basically means "beyond what I expected."

Imagine that you and a friend decide to make and wear costumes to a Halloween party. You find some old clothes and put on some scary makeup so you'll look like a zombie. Your costume looks good, but not great. When you're friend sees you in your costume, she starts screaming in fear and runs away. You look at another friend and say, "Wow, that was over the top," referring to her reaction.

When she finally comes back, you see that she had dressed as the former French queen Marie Antoinette. She's wearing a long, beautiful dress with pearls and flowers attached to it. She had a tiara and a scepter with her. She had done her hair in an elaborate hairstyle that must have taken hours. She is pulling a guillotine behind her like she's getting ready to have her head chopped off, too. Clearly, she had made an extraordinary effort to create an amazing costume. You look at her and say, "wow, that costume is over the top."

A similar phrase is "off the hook," which also means "exceeding expectations," or perhaps "cool," but this phase had a different meaning to an older generation. It can also be used to express the idea that someone is being released from guilt or some other obligation. Imagine someone asks you to give them a ride to an appointment, and you agree, but maybe you don't really want to take her. She finds out later that another friend is already planning to drive there. When the friend sees you later, she says, "By the way, you're off the hook. Jamie can give me a ride."

Now ya know!

Would you mind?

As a child, I was often reminded to say the magic word, "please." Well, there are a few other magic words, too, in English, that will help you to get what you need from the person who has it especially if what you're asking is an inconvenience to the person from whom you're asking it.

One such polite phrase is "would you mind?" Use it and similar phrases often. Let's say you'd like to buy a bottle of water from a vending machine, but you have only a $20 bill. There's a stationery shop near the vending machine. While you might buy something small to break the $20 bill, you really don't need anything that they sell, and you're trying to hold on to your money for a dinner date later. Which of the following would you say?

"I need change for a $20 bill."

"Could you break this $20 bill?"

"Would you mind breaking this $20 bill?"

"I'm sorry. I need to buy a bottle of water from the vending machine, but I only have a $20 bill. Would you mind terribly breaking it for me?"

Is there a right answer to the question? Perhaps not, but there is probably an appropriate answer depending on the person you're speaking with.

If your friend works at the shop, I would probably say the first, and maybe the second, but the third and fourth choices would seem overly polite. Is it wrong to be overly polite with a friend? Yes, it might be. Being overly polite with a friend in a situation like this could put distance between you and that friend, unless, perhaps, the store manager is standing nearby, and you want to give your friend a chance to look good. 

If the clerk is someone I don't know, but who looks kind and friendly, I might ask the second or third question. The fourth one is okay, too, but probably not necessary. The first? Too casual for a stranger. If you use the first, the clerk might do what you ask, but think you are rude.

If the clerk is someone I don't know, but who looks like he or she is having a bad day, then the first choice would definitely seem rude, and maybe the second. The third might be appropriate, but it's the fourth option that I'd take. I might even brighten that clerk's day.

Not long ago, I was in a major grocery store which is not well known for having polite clerks or customers, and I used polite language to ask for something from the deli case. When I finished, the young man thanked me for being polite and told me that it was a refreshing change of pace for him.

Remember, "you get more ants with sugar than with vinegar."

Now ya know!

Jeat? No, Joo?

Watch the video of me explaining "Jeat? No, Joo?" 

or read this!

Imagine you're on vacation in Maine sitting on a bench outside a local ice cream parlor enjoying two scoops of something good in a waffle cone when you see a man, let's call him Carl, walk up to a car another man has just parked. The second man, let's call him Dick, gets out of his car to speak to his friend, "Funny runnin' into you here."

"Imagine that," Carl answers. "Jeat?"

"No. Joo?" says Dick.

"Well, let's go," replies Carl, and the two walk off together.

This could be a confusing situation for anyone unfamiliar with how to talk like a Mainer. What did they mean?

Well, in any language, speakers quite naturally shorten what they say and speed up how they say it, especially when they know they're talking to a member of the same language group. By language group, I mean a group of people who use the language in the same way, not just who use the same language. If either if these men were speaking to someone he didn't know, he'd likely speak more clearly.

"Jeat" and "Joo" are examples of this kind of shortened, sped up speech. "Jeat" is simply a reduced form of "Did you eat?" and "joo" is part of the reply, "Did you?"

I'm not sure if this exchange is strictly a Mainerism, or if you'll hear this question and reply all over the English-speaking world, but I suspect you'll find it mostly closer to the woodlands and harbors where some locals have lived for generations.

This type of reduction is actually quite common, and is usually a lot easier to understand when the word which follows "did you" starts with a consonant instead of a vowel. Consider "Ja buy anything for me?" Is it clearer that this means "did ya buy?" The "did ya (you)" is a lot easier to perceive because it contrasts with the 'b' in "buy," whereas the 'e' in "eat" is a lot harder to distinguish from the preceding "ya."

So, if a friend comes up to you and asks, "jeat?", you'll know to answer, "you buying?"

Now ya know.

Ayuh, as in "Ayuh, that's right!"

Watch me talk about "ayuh" on my YouTube Channel...

or read the gist of it below!

Stand around anywhere Mainers tend to congregate, say at Dunkin Donuts, a public suppah, or a hardware store, and your liable to hear more than a few "ayuhs." The word "ayuh" means "yes" and is used for agreement,  and there's likely to be a lot of agreement at these places, especially if the conversation turns to the quality of the baked beans, or the biscuits.

For some unknown reason, "ayuh" is probably the most mispronounced Mainer word in the tourist lexicon, maybe because  it's made up of two syllables  instead of one: "a" and "yuh." The first syllbles is said just like the name of the letter 'a,' and the second syllable rhymes with "huh." Put it all together, and you get "ayuh."

Now, if you're really lucky at one of these public suppers, you'll hear a rare linguistic phenomenon: implosive speech. When old time Mainers say "ayuh," they sometimes say it while breathing in, not while breathing out, and this way of speaking is heard in very few languages. When we do, we also often drop the "a" syllable, and just say "yuh" a few times in a row, "Yuh, Yuh, Yuh." Listen for it.

It's pretty darned rare.

And now ya know.