The year was 1998. The place was a humble living room in Keosauqua, Iowa. This was to be a unique moment in evolutionary history, when a lowly canine would make that singular leap to grasp the power of language, ushering his descendants into a brave new world rich in possibilities. Or at least it would have been, if Kevin hadn’t spoiled it. Jerk move, Kevin.
Sumitterated by Sharon H. via Pleated Jeans.
That was EPIC.
SOOOOO Epic!
NTMTOM, why, pray tell, did you choose KeosaUqua, Iowa??? It is a place very near and dear to my heart as my family owned a cabin on the Des Moines River there for 30 years. Van Buren County, represent!!!
Thank you for correcting my spelling error. One of my grandmothers moved to Keosauqua late in her life, so it keeps floating in my head, though misspelled.
I thought you were doing the “any similarity with a real place is purely coincidental” spelling 😛
Now, why would I do that? It’s not like an entire town is going to suddenly sue me or anyth — hold on, there’s someone at the door…
??
Babies are so heavy handed. Still trying to teach my 15 month old great nephew to pet my dog gently. The little guy is at that age where he just wants to flail his little arms around all willy-nilly and doggeh no like.
I dearly hope that poor puppers was given a treat after all that. He deserves one!
Poor pupster, he was trying so hard to please his human and get a treat, I do hope she gave it to him right after the video ended!
On a related note, in Austria there is a theory that boys named “Kevin” (which is definitely not an Austrian name) are problem children. See first entry on this (very entertaining) list! http://mentalfloss.com/article/61140/15-unique-illnesses-you-can-only-come-down-german
This is solid gold. I spent at least an hour today rewriting an answer in my FAQ that referred to Hochdeutsch, to make it more accurate. Among other things, I learned that using the term Standarddeutsch is considered more correct for what I was referring to—at least, it is now. Although apparently one can also say Schriftdeutsch. None of the articles I consulted was anywhere near as much fun as the Mental Floss list.
Ricky’s Mom, what sort of FAQ and what’s the connection with German? I’m interested because my Dad was a German professor and I probably should have been too!
I’m a dialect designer and dramaturge. (The dramaturgy is mostly an outgrowth of my work in accents and dialects.) Currently, I’m in the grueling (to me) process of shifting my website from Squarespace 5 to Squarespace 7, and while I’m mucking about with stuff, I’m finding typos and errors all over the darn place. Grrrr.
I’ve long used Hochdeutsch as an example in one of my FAQ answers. The question is “What’s the difference between an accent and a dialect?” While my basic answer itself is factually correct, I discovered today that I was not completely on target in my reference to Hochdeutsch as an example of a “standard dialect” or “standard language.” I had the right idea, but I made some errors of fact, and decided to try correcting them for the New! Improved! website (which has yet to be launched on an unsuspecting public).
Well, you know how it is. One thing leads to another. I learned a lot, but I also feel like I’ve been exposing my ignorance to the world. Fortunately for me, the world seems not to have noticed, nor cared. But I’m a recovering perfectionist. I was mortified. So your link was a welcome jolt of humor.
Sounds like a fascinating field of study. I love languages but I am terrible at identifying accents, much less reproducing them. I teach English as a native speaker to Austrian high school students, and expose them to what I call “standard Chicago English” – is thst really a thing? I always thought it referred to the English spoken by TV news reporters.
Hey Ricky’s Mom – is the mental floss article a joke or real?
I live in Austria and I can vouch for Föhnkrankheit and Kreislaufzusammenbruch as genuine health complaints by the native population. Funny though, the people here don’t believe in ice cream headaches (aka “brain freeze”)!
Thanks, N. Fritz!
So close! So close he could TASTE it!