yoko mesh, tit, magpie, readers are a fair dinkum clever bunch,

Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?
Bernard: Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits.
 Page Three (or Page 3) is a feature found in the Sun tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom, consisting of a large photograph of a topless female glamour model usually published on the newspaper's third page.

 "The extraordinary story of the making of the Oxford English
Dictionary is a subject perfectly suited to Winchester's magpie
mind....


The theme of the 2006 Rose Parade was ¡§It¡¦s Magical,¡¨ and the China Airlines float fit the theme perfectly. The 55 feet long float highlighted the ecological treasures of Taiwan, and the float depicted butterfly orchids, butterflies, and the Taiwan blue magpie. The float, 18 feet wide and 35 feet high, was covered with numerous of carnations, roses, orchid flower, chrysanthemums.



A pair of magpies has constructed a nest in a built-up part of Hong Kong using metal sticks apparently swiped from a nearby construction site, a report said.
一篇報導指出，一對喜鵲利用金屬棒，在香港一處新興區築了一個鳥巢，這些金屬棒顯然是竊取自附近的工地。


Tony：That's what you think. I've already got some good shots of a blackbird, a magpie, a couple of blue tits and a robin.
東尼：這只是你的印象。我已經拍了些很精采的照片，有一隻山烏，一隻鵲，兩隻藍山雀，還有一隻知更鳥。
東尼：這只是你的印象。我拍了些精采的照片，有山烏、鵲，兩隻藍山雀，還有知更鳥。

我請教劉仲庸 (2005/4/18) ：

“Many foreign languages are difficult for the Japanese to learn because
their language is written vertically. They have come up with the
phrase yoko (''horizontal'') meshi (''boiled rice''), meaning ''a meal
eaten sideways.'' Yoko meshi evokes the stress that comes from trying
to make oneself understood in a foreign language.
English prides itself on being the magpie language, freely picking up
foreign words to incorporate into its flexible vocabulary.”

仲庸回答：

「老鍾： 您好！
您老最近在玩些什麼遊戲？上封信都沒找到合適之答案呢？我才疏學淺，無法回答，會找人支援。
關於本封：
1.經查[橫飯]：緣自鹿兒島方言｛たて飯食うよっか　横飯食え｝:たて飯表示上司，橫飯表示同事友人，意指同事友人重於上司，有點像遠親不如近鄰之意。
2.另從「外資用語基礎知識」查出：橫飯表示一方面用餐一方面與外國人談話(英文)時，食之無味，無論多美食也食如嚼蠟。
以上！
ushi」

----
Literally, “horizontal rice” or “a meal eaten sideways.” This is how the Japanese define the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language: yoko is a humorous reference to the fact that Japanese is normally written vertically, whereas most foreign languages are written horizontally.
----

yoko meshi [yoh-koh mesh-ee] (noun)

"As an untranslatable, this one ranks high on my list of favorites. I could not improve on the background given by commentator Boye Lafayette de Mente about this beautiful word, yoko meshi. Taken literally, meshi means 'boiled rice' and yoko means 'horizontal,' so combined you get 'a meal eaten sideways.'This is how the Japanese define the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language: yoko is a humorous reference to the fact that Japanese is normally written vertically, whereas most foreign languages are written horizontally. How do English-speakers describe the headache of communicating in an alien tongue? I don't think we can, at least not with as much ease."

magpie
(măg'pī')
n.

1. Any of various birds of the family Corvidae found worldwide, having a long graduated tail and black, blue, or green plumage with white markings and noted for their chattering call. The species Pica pica, the black-billed magpie, is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere. Also called pie.
2. Any of various birds resembling the magpie, such as the Australian bell magpie of the family Cracticidae.
3. A person who chatters.
4. One who compulsively collects or hoards small objects.

[Mag, a name used in proverbs about chatterers (a nickname for Margaret) + PIE².]

• mǽgpài]

[名]

1 《鳥》カササギ

chatter like a magpie
（カササギのように）ぺちゃくちゃしゃべりまくる.

2 ((略式))おしゃべりな人；がらくた［つまらない物］を集める人.

3 ((英))（標的の）外から二番目の圏；そこに命中した弾丸.

 2013.3.18
 喜鵲在歐洲 多負面聯想

〔駐歐洲特派記者胡蕙寧、記者黃以敬、陳慧萍、陳怡靜、凌美雪／綜合報導〕馬總統出訪梵蒂岡，準備送給新教宗裝飾有喜鵲的「喜躍」法藍瓷瓶引發爭議，因為在華人世界視為好兆頭與幸運象徵的喜鵲，在歐洲卻被和竊賊、死亡或不幸等負面徵兆聯想在一起。
喜 鵲是華人世界傳統文化中的吉祥鳥。古代被稱為「神女」、民間稱為「喜鳥」，因其體態輕盈、鳴聲嘹亮，古來向有「靈鵲報喜」之說，每每看到喜鵲棲枝或鳴叫， 人們都以為是喜事臨近的徵兆。也因此，喜鵲常被視為吉祥幸福的象徵，常被廣泛應用於書畫、家具、器具中，表達喜慶之意。
與竊賊、死亡或不幸有關
但 歐洲的古傳說中卻認為，看到一隻孤單的喜鵲會帶來厄運；在法文當中，用喜鵲來形容聒噪的人，形象不是很正面。在中古世紀，喜鵲則代表了女巫，也延伸跟死亡 有關。在蘇格蘭，若有喜鵲接近窗戶，會被認為是預言死亡的徵兆；在德國及瑞典的民間傳說，也把喜鵲形容成像賊。基本上，歐洲各國的傳說習俗中，喜鵲代表的 象徵傾向負面，不同的迷信中更稱這類鳥與不幸跟麻煩相關聯。
中古世紀被認與巫術有關
在 中世紀及歐洲的政治迫害時期，喜鵲被認為跟魔法及巫術有關。英國古傳說中，形容當耶穌被釘在十字架上痛苦萬分時，全世界的鳥都為衪的受罪哭泣，並高聲唱歌 安慰衪，卻只有喜鵲例外，這鳥因此受到永生的詛咒。不過，在義大利跟部分的法國民間傳說中，也將喜鵲好撿閃亮之物認為是珍貴的象徵，一些喜劇就以這種傳說 為主題演出。
外界好奇，曾經長期旅歐的文化部長龍應台對歐洲喜鵲的傳說有無了解，但文化部昨天對此表示：「不回應這個問題。」
熟 悉歐盟文化的淡江大學歐洲研究所副教授林立則指出，因喜鵲聲音相當尖銳、很大聲吵鬧，英倫三島（英國、愛爾蘭、蘇格蘭）確實不太喜歡喜鵲，認為會帶來厄 運。在北歐、德國等處，也不是很好的象徵。至於義大利、教廷文化則較沒有類似顧忌，此事並沒有那麼嚴重。但林立也坦言，若出訪前可多研究一下，也能避免國 內外衍生不必要的爭議。

Quote:

"Diabetes can slow you down. It can make your life different. But it doesn't have to stop you." — Scott Verplank

Word of the Day:
dinkum (DING-kuhm)
, also dinky-di, fair dinkum, adjective
True; honest; genuine.

Etymology
Probably derived, like many other Australian words, from English dialect. The counties of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire had a word dinkum or dincum meaning "work; a fair share of work." The word was first recorded in Australia in Rolf Boldrewood's Robbery Under Arms (1888): "It took us an hour's hard dinkum to get near the peak."

Usage
"You TFF readers are a fair dinkum clever bunch, and you have responded magnificently to my request to send in your best 'I am so old' one-liners. Peter Meadowfair, for example, claims to be so old that, 'I can remember when England could play cricket. And I can remember when the English cared whether England could play cricket.'" — Peter FitzSimons; A Snapshot of Life in the Land of the Magpies; Sydney Morning Herald; Sep 27, 2003.

"A fair dinkum dictionary. Cobbers everywhere are saying send her down Hughie - but people outside of Australia have no idea what it means. A new book released by the National Museum of Australia today hopes to give overseas visitors an insight into the national lingo. Words such as cobber, and terms such as send her down Hughie and put the moz on are explained in the book." — A Fair Dinkum Dictionary; AAP Report in The Age, Melbourne, Australia; Jan 24, 2003.


bunch
n.

1. 1. A group of things growing close together; a cluster or clump: a bunch of grapes; grass growing in bunches.
   2. A group of like items or individuals gathered or placed together: a bunch of keys on a ring; people standing around in bunches.
2. Informal. A group of people usually having a common interest or association: My brother and his bunch are basketball fanatics.
3. Informal. A considerable number or amount; a lot: a bunch of trouble; a whole bunch of food.
4. A small lump or swelling; a bump.

v., bunched, bunch·ing, bunch·es. v.tr.

1. To gather or form into a cluster: bunched my fingers into a fist.
2. To gather together into a group.
3. To gather (fabric) into folds.

v.intr.

1. To form a cluster or group: runners bunching up at the starting line.
2. To be gathered together in folds, as fabric.
3. To swell; protrude.

[Middle English bonche, probably from Flemish bondje, diminutive of bont, bundle, from Middle Dutch. See bundle.]

tit

[名]1 ((卑))((〜s))乳房, おっぱい；乳首(teat).2 ((英俗))（機械操作用）ボタン.3 ((英俗))ばか者.get on a person's tit(s)((英俗))〈人...

tit

[名]1 （titmouseなど種々の）小鳥.2 ((古))小娘, 若い女；おてんば娘；小馬；やせ馬, 駄馬.

tit 2

Pronunciation: /tɪt/

Definition of tit

noun

• 1 vulgar slang a woman’s breast.
• British informal a foolish or ineffectual person.

• 2 military slang a button that is pushed to fire a gun or release a bomb.

Phrases

get on someone's tits

British vulgar slang irritate someone intensely.

tits and ass

(or chiefly British tits and bums)

vulgar slang, chiefly North American used in reference to the use of crudely sexual images of women.

Origin:

Old English tit 'teat, nipple', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch tit and German Zitze. The vulgar slang use was originally US and dates from the early 20th century