Monthly archive: February 2008

Buon San Valentino!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Literally: 'Good Saint Valentine!'

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

People with a delicate stomach or sensitive to blood sugar imbalance, please turn away now.

Dr B. has been so good and generous to me lately, and I wanted to show him so much, how much I love him (so much), that I woke him up at 7 with this dozen of red roses and breakfast tray. Baking fresh bread meant I had to get up at 5 – but I am usually up that early anyway:

More details on the annotated picture at Flickr.

The month of February is quite unfair to poor Dr B.: our anniversary is on the 2nd, as well as his dad's 70th birthday on the same day, then my birthday on the 11th, and today this. Honestly, I feel a little bit of Hallmark fatigue myself.

I thought I'd get him a present (we usually don't), and I found him a breakfast set like the one in the picture above, from eBay (I also gave him the same one again last year, it's a bit of a running joke because he only wants to drink his tea from that one cup), but it arrived chipped and broken because it was badly packaged.

I therefore opted for a wireless keyboard and laser mouse instead (less cables = less clutter = a happier me), but the ergonomic keyboard will only prove to be successful once he has tried it tonight.

Il pane fatto in casa è più buono
Home-baked bread is better
Literally: 'The bread made in house/home is more good'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want to find out more

Good is translated with 'buono', but when it is part of a greeting or wish it is shortened to 'buon'. I suppose it slips off the tongue better: 'buongiorno' (good morning), 'buon compleanno' (happy birthday), 'buon viaggio' (have a good trip).

I think I have mentioned it already, there are no (OK, extremely rare) irregular forms of 'more + word' like in English (better, stronger, etc.): you always say 'più' and then the word. So 'better' is simply 'più buono'.

Belonging to or having the characteristics of both the male and the female.

Read more about epicene at Answers.com

I just keep a black pen, some sticky notes and a ream of printer paper next to my desk, and that's all I need for day-to-day needs.

However, we have a briefcase full of paper, envelopes, staplers, glue… and a few unidentified objects of the stationery kind:

I have simply removed everything that was double (or sextuple), or broken, or kept 'just in case' (Christmas-green cardboard, I am looking at you). It will be brought in to work, or thrown away, once Dr B. gives his approval.

The rest fit back into the briefcase – only this time we can actually see what we have got:

Ho mangiato troppo a pranzo
I ate too much at lunch
Literally: '(I) have eaten too-much at lunch'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

My lunch usually consists of some chicken (pre-cooked and packed from the shop, or steamed or oven-roasted at home, no skin) and some cherry tomatoes (straight from the packet, unwashed, I probably have enough pesticides in me to kill all those friendly bacteria). Day in, day out. I could not care less about food variety, and that, together with a bowl of porridge at breakfast and some fruits for snacks, fills me up and keeps me going until dinner.

Today I went out with some colleagues for lunch to Abu Zaad, our favourite Syrian restaurant in the area. I had some Baba Ganuji (aubergine, fresh pepper, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil) as a starter (with pita bread), and a Chicken Shawerma (roasted thin slices of marinated chicken) for my main course (with rice).

I had forgotten how big the portions are there, and then we were not going to have dessert, but the bill arrived with two plates of baclava and I did not say no.

And then I spent the afternoon with cold sweats, drowsiness and a splitting headache, unable to concentrate. How do people eat lunch out regularly and then work in the afternoon?

A cena mangerò solo un'insalata
At dinner I will only eat a salad
Literally: 'At dinner (I) will-eat only a salad'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want to find out more

All the verbs that end in -are in the infinitive (the equivalent of 'to + verb') form (camminare, mangiare, studiare, lavare, dare) form the 'I will + verb' future by changing the ending in -erò (camminerò, mangerò, studierò, darò).

To direct or impose with authority and emphasis. To prohibit or forbid.

Read more about enjoin at Answers.com

Ho un nuovo giocattolo
I have a new toy
Literally: '(I) have a new toy'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Last Friday Dr B. received a substantial bonus at work and decided to change his plans and go crazy for my birthday present.

As a consequence, I am now the happy owner of an iPod Touch 32GB. No, make that the very happy owner. And now please excuse me just one minute while I go and stroke its shiny black surface again.

Not only that, but he made me a birthday dinner, and got me a bottle of Bollinger champagne and a box of Charbonnel & Walker truffles, the most expensive chocolate he has ever bought (and the best I've ever eaten).

Out of the three flavours in the box (Marc de Champagne, Bucks Fizz and Pink Marc de Champagne), the plain chocolate one were definitely the best.

After all this pampering, even if I get just a half-asleep "Good morning" while getting ready for work on Valentine's day I'll still consider myself a very lucky man.

Sono un uomo molto fortunato.
I am a very lucky man.
Literally: '(I) am a man very lucky'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern will always a special place in my heart.

It is probably the single venue I have visited most often since I moved to London in 2002, a place where I made new friends and met Dr B. too.

I started keeping the wristbands issued by the RVT (it's the kind of place where you can spend a lot of time outside sitting on wooden benches and tables, or on the grassy knoll behind it) and between my flatmate at the time and myself the collection grew very quickly.

When I moved in with Dr B. we put to use a neglected banana stand (on the left in the photo above).

When the RVT switched from the glossy plastic wristbands to a paper version, we kept those too (in the middle).

And when they changed again to machine-issued plastified paper, we started another collection (on the right).

But really, only the original vintage ones look good and remind us of the good times. So we are throwing the others away – and reclaiming a jar and a vase in the process.

One who has the power and position to rule over others; a monarch.

Read more about potentate at Answers.com

Oggi è il mio quarantunesimo compleanno
Today is my forty-first birthday
Literally: 'Today is the my forty-first birthday'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Oh poo, I'm forty-one today. Forty was not that much of a shock, but forty-one, man, that's ancient.

Sono vecchio, ma mi sento giovane
I am old, but I feel young
Literally: '(I) am old, but to-me (I) feel young'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here are the websites I bookmarked into my del.icio.us account over the past seven days:

• WMWifiRouter
  'The application simplifies enabling Windows Mobile devices to function as a Wi-Fi access point, giving internet to any other device with Wi-Fi capabilities.'
• Videora Free iPod touch Video Converter
  'The software [...] can convert all types of video files (avi, divx, xvid, flv, x264, vob, mpeg, DVD's, YouTube, etc.) into the proper video formats (MPEG-4, H.264) that play on the iPod touch.'
• Axure | wireframe, prototype, functional specification
  'create wireframes, flow diagrams, prototypes, and specifications for applications and web sites faster and easier than creating static mockups with their current tools'. Free tryal, then 589USD per license.
• knotler.com – your web and mobile shopping list
  'You create a shopping list at work – your spouse contributes from home – at the shop you read your list via cellphone.
• Kevin Kelly | Better Than Free
  In a world where copies are free and worthless, if you want to make money you must concentrate on and 'sell' qualities such as immediacy, personalisation, interpretation, authenticity, accessibility, embodiment, patronage and findability.
• Introducing Prologue « WordPress.com
  WordPress theme to produce a group weblog where each member can post Twitter-like short messages about what they are doing. All the usual WordPress goodies are included (gravatars, tags, RSS feeds, comments).
• Social Graph API – Google Code
  Google's Social Graph API finds publicly declared relationships between people's accounts and returns JSON data structures representing the social relationships discovered from all the XFN and FOAF.
• Declutter Your Desk
  How to mount all the things and cables that you do not need to keep on a desk underneath it using MDF pegboard and some wire.

Holding or expressing broad or tolerant views, especially in religious matters.

Read more about latitudinarian at Answers.com

Ho mal di testa
I have a headache
Literally: '(I) have bad of head'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I went out with a bunch of friends to The Two Brewers last night.

As it is my birthday tomorrow everyone gave me cards and bought me drinks. Many cards. And way too many drinks. Ouch.

Per favore, parla piano
Please, speak softly.
Literally: 'For favour, speak soft/low'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want to find out more

The structure of the phrase 'Ho mal di testa' can also be used for other conditions:

• Ho mal di denti (toothache)/li>
• Ho mal di gola (sore throat)
• Ho mal di stomaco (stomach ache)
• Ho mal di pancia (upset tummy)

Sullenly ill-humored; gruff. Threatening, as of weather conditions; ominous.

Read more about surly at Answers.com

1. Another expression for buttock cleavage is 'Dagenham smile'. Via kottke.org.
2. Before the 19th century picnics were held indoors.
3. Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter are not part of Lent.
4. 'In the past, children in deaf schools did not have personal name signs, but were given numbers'. Via The Linguistics of British Sign Language, page 235.
5. 'If you own a PC running Vista or a Mac with OS/X installed then you could already be using IPv6.' Via BBC News.
6. Google Docs lets you easily email a form to people who fill it in and the entries are automatically saved into a master spreadsheet.
7. I can use my mobile phone (a TYTN II) as a wi-fi access point: I installed WMWifiRouter and then went online with an iPod Touch using my mobile's wi-fi signal.

Quando vieni a casa?
When are you coming home?
Literally: 'When (you) come to house/home?'

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I love Saturdays. I love them even more when I get to do stuff with Dr B.

He is out now, so I sent him a text containing the phrase above, followed by the one below.

Mi manchi
I miss you
Literally: 'To-me (you) are-missing/lack'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want to find out more

'Mi manchi' is the same king of odd construction as 'Mi piaci' (I like you). 'Mancare' = to miss, to lack.

Last September I got rid of half of my clothes. So howcome today I managed to select another third of what was left, to be given away too?

I did the same with footwear yesterday: I thought that last September I had only kept a few pairs, but I ended up counting 21, of which I am keeping 12.

I was aware that I had kept some stuff because of sentimental value, clothes that reminded me of a particular circumstance or a person. Guess what? it's in the pile that is going to go. They are just clothes. I hesitated a little bit, put stuff on one pile and then another, until I knew that I was determined enough to part with some of the stuff. The memories are still there, stronger than ever.

All the clothes I had, minus shirts and coats

All the coats and shirts I had

The clothes that I am giving away

The clothes that I am keeping

To bring together; meld or fuse.

Read more about conflate at Answers.com

Ho troppe scarpe
I have too many shoes
Literally: '(I) have too-many shoes'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

See my post on decluttering my shoes.

Avevo troppe scarpe
I used to have too many shoes
Literally: '(I) used-to-have too-many shoes'.

If you want to find out more

'Avevo' is one of the past tenses of 'ho' (I have). It translates the English expression 'I used to…'.

The other past tense (the one that uses 'ho' followed by the verb ending in '-to', like 'ho mangiato') is used for one-off past actions.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This was an easy one. I'm keeping more recent, less tatty shoes (that fit) and getting rid of older stuff. Fron 21 pairs to 12. And they all fit in my three shoes drawers.

All the footwear I own

Click on the photo above to see an annotated version with date and place of purchase, and price.

The shoes I'm giving away

The shoes I'm keeping

The shoes I'm keeping, stored

Completely such; thoroughgoing: an arrant fool; the arrant luxury of the ocean liner.

Read more about arrant at Answers.com

This was a tough one, because I had very recently taken a lot of books to charity shops, so those that were left were probably there for a reason.

The reason was that they were gifts, and even if I had read them and was unlikely to read them again in the next ten years, I could not give them away.

So I entered all of them into my LibraryThing account, and tagged them with 'read', 'gifts' and 'donated'. Because I'd read them, they were gifts, and tomorrow they are going to the Oxfam Books and Records that is very conveniently located just opposite the Central London location where I am working today and tomorrow.

Dr B. joined me and got rid of all his outdated IT reference manuals. We only kept unread books, some reference material, recipe books and recent travel guides.

I have taken a few pictures of the volume of books 'before' and 'after':

• all our books (unsorted) before decluttering;
• all our books (sorted by type) before decluttering;
• all the books after decluttering.

And yes I know, books are not clutter per se, but when you are fighting for space and space does not come cheap, I am sorry but they have to go.

La lista della spesa
The shopping list
Literally: 'The list of-the shopping'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Today's phrases are each said twice in the audio files, first by Dr B. and then by me.

Now that Dr B. is getting better at guessing what Italian words might mean, I enjoy sending him emails every now and then in Italian. Today's said:

Ho comprato carta igienica, dentifricio e cetriolini sotto aceto
I have bought toilet paper, toothpaste and gherkins
Literally: '(I) have bought paper hygienic, toothpaste and little-cucumbers under vinegar'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I was thinking of giving up something for Lent but nothing came to mind.

Then suddenly I saw the clutter that I let into my life and that I am not happy with. Clutter that I cannot get down to reducing because it is too daunting a task. Clutter that is completely useless and bothers me.

I have decided that this Lent I am going to take something away every day. It can be something very little (like tidying up the outside pocket of my backpack – one does not need to carry sugar-free chewing-gum in four different flavours at all times!) or something big (like finally putting those two drawer units on craiglist and reclaim one cubic metre of spare room – after two years!).

To begin with, yesterday I said goodbye to three old email accounts I have not used in six years. I had a three-monthly recurrent reminders in Outlook to log on to them, check for messages (only one of them allowed redirection) and send a message out from each account to keep them active and open.

There was no option to actively close the accounts, so I simply said goodbye, removed the Outlook reminder and smiled at a simpler life.

A person who behaves in a childish, weak, or spoiled way.

Read more about milksop at Answers.com

Microsoft vuole comprare Yahoo!
Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo!
Literally: 'Microsoft wants to-buy Yahoo!'

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I am sure not many are not aware by now that Microsoft has placed a bid to buy Yahoo! for $44.6bn (£22.4bn).

Both Yahoo! and Google have announced this week enhanced versions of their web-based email services, and Microsoft could be trying to protect the very lucrative Outlook from the competition.

Google e Yahoo! vogliono competere con Outlook
Google and Yahoo! want to compete with Outlook
Literally: 'Google and Yahoo! want to-compete with Outlook'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want to find out more

Volere (to want) is a very common and very irregular verb. Today you can see the difference between 'he/she/it wants' (vuole) and 'they want' (vogliono).

The infinitive (the 'to + …' form) of all verbs in Italian ends in -re. No special word at the beginning (like the English 'to') needed. This is the form you will find listed in dictionaries.

A bully. To bully.

Read more about hector at Answers.com

Stamattina ho rotto il mio sito
This morning I broke my website
Literally: 'This-morning (I) have broken the my website'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This morning I upgraded WordPress (the software that manages Bitful) to v. 2.3.3 (security update) and, even following carefully the step by step detailed upgrade instructions I have written for myself, I managed to delete all the plugins.

So a few things might have been a bit wrong on this website during the day. I bet nobody noticed.

Stasera l'ho aggiustato
Tonight I have fixed it
Literally: 'Tonight it (I) have fixed'.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want to find out more

The past expressed with 'I broke' or 'I have broken' will almost always be translated with 'I have broken' in Italian. There is a form that matches 'I broke' but it is nowadays very rarely used.

The l' before 'ho' stands for 'lo'. It is used to translate 'it' when 'it' is the object of the action (I broke 'it').

Perception; understanding.

Read more about ken at Answers.com

Ho un nuovo collega
I have a new colleague
Literally: '(I) have a new colleague

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

A new guy started at work today. I had been interviewed for his job and was told I was very close to getting it, but lost out to him because he has a bit more experience.

My application was marked as 'equally suitable', so I should wish that he changes his mind and leaves the job so I can step in. It's also going to be hard handing over the position to him (I have been covering it temporarily for a couple of months now).

I am hoping it is going to go well. I just have a little over two weeks before holidays and I do not intend to get too affected by this until I come back sometime in mid-March.

Besides,

Sembra simpatico
He seems nice
Literally: '(He) seems nice/likeable/pleasant'

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want to find out more

'Simpatico' cannot be translated with a single word in English. It is very commonly used to describe people who are nice, amiable, likeable, pleasant, agreeable. Occasionally it can be used for objects (a dress, a film, a shop can all be 'simpatico' if they are fun, fresh, friendly).

Here are the websites I bookmarked into my del.icio.us account over the past seven days:

• Move My Data
  'Your content and data should be yours to manage and do with as you please. Your images, writing, tags, profile, blog entries, comments, testimonials, video, and music should be yours to download and move anyplace you want.'
• Brad Fitzpatrick on the Social Graph
  Brad Fitzpatrick has 'been thinking a lot about the social graph for awhile now: aggregating the graph, decentralization, social network portability, etc.'
• Microsoft-Yahoo: What Will Stay And What Will Go?
  Interesting analysis of what services should be kept, merged or sold should Yahoo accept Microsoft's offer.
• Skins | all the songs
  Thread in E4 Skins forum listing all the songs played in every Skins episode.
• GTD with ListPro : Getting Things Done
  How to implement GTD on a PDA using the ListPro software from Ilium.
• Sprout | Flash Widgets WYSIWYG editor
  Online WYSIWYG editor for Flash, easy to use to create, publish and track Flash widgets, websites and mashups.
• Website Baker
  Website Baker is a PHP-based Content Management System (CMS) designed with one goal in mind: to enable its users to produce websites with ease.