Sinister: will it be a brilliant career?

[Youn J. Noh]

Dearest Sinister,

On Mon, 27 Sep 1999, E. A. Hostetter wrote:

> I have gotten my first permanent salaried job since leaving University
> in 1997 and earning that useless degree in Linguistics...
> Montreal will be my new home...I will be an online editor...

Congratulations!  But I must protest.  Linguistics is not useless.  It's
like working for the joy of giving.  You can use it to come up with
explanations for mishearings on the lyrics page, as in:

"I know we've had this thread before, but don't you think it's odd that
such a softly-spoken and not very raucous (rock beast Le Pastie de la
Bourgeoisie excepted) band as Belle And Sebastian should create such
confusion with their lyrics? On their theme tune Stuart Murdoch seems to
sing his F's like B's. As in:

'Bella you are ill, you'd better take a weight up off your mind'

and

'When I was young you were the only bun in town'"

/b/ and /f/ both labial ... (And phonology isn't even the interesting
part.)

Michael Jones wrote:

> It's all townies, upper-middlebrow TV quizzes and experimental syntax.

Who/what are townies?  If they get lumped together with experimental
syntax it must mean something pretty neat.  I used the new search feature,
but didn't find anything explanatory (only more questions - who/what are
neds?).  

the Narrow Wizard wrote:

> I accidentally insulted the poor bloke.

> We were talking about this list and I said how good it was and how
> unlike many other internet groups it wasn't full of freaks with no
> social skills whatsoever. He said that actually he was one of those
> sorts of people and then I got kind of embarassed and ran away.  

I think there would be no need for embarrassment if it was clearly
understood who insulted whom.  No, it was probably good intentions on both
sides.  What I like especially about the misfits in Belle & Sebastian
songs is that they have a sort of pride, relative to their own standards -
at least how I see it, or how I wish it to be.

I met a woman who said call me Arantxa.  (Her real name is Maria.)  She
said Arantxa was a name from the Basque region.  It made me think of
mountains and shepherding and white embroidered aprons, but I have no idea
if that's right.  It added romance to Lady Marian's past.

Bye for now,
Youn


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