Althouse: At the Pink Leaf Café...

May 17, 2012

At the Pink Leaf Café...

... You have a sly, equivocating vein.

39 comments:

MadisonMan said...: I was happy some years back to find the Perilla that doesn't fade in the Sun.

I think it's perilla.

I grew Himalayan Blue Poppies once too -- but they were more trouble than they're worth. A real pain to germinate.

My garden is very purple now -- lupine, mostly, some iris -- but it'll turn pinker as the bee balm starts to bloom.; 5/17/12, 10:49 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: MM, you should post pictures.; 5/17/12, 10:52 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: If you could teach your five year old any foreign language, it would be...?

Assume that same five year old could also take up additional languages later. Feel free to elaborate on what languages you would add and when. And why.

Also feel free to ignore this comment entirely.; 5/17/12, 10:55 PM
wyo sis said...: I have a weight of melancholy thoughts
And they forbode,
—but what can they forbode
Worse than I now endure?
It's petunias and marigolds (not yet in bloom, of course) in my unexciting Wyoming garden where we're glad if we get tulips before Memorial day.; 5/17/12, 11:00 PM
wyo sis said...: Freeman
Spanish. It's going to be essential in the years to come. In some places it's the difference between getting or not getting a job now.; 5/17/12, 11:02 PM
F said...: FH: I learned French as a youngster but waited until I was in my 20s 30s and 40s to learn Lao, Swahili and Spanish. Living in those countries helped, of course, but it was clear to me that knowing one foreign language made it easier to learn another. Assuming you're not going to teach your child an Asian language (and that is a real investment in time and money), I would suggest Spanish as a place to start. Easy to learn, easier even to read and write, yet still a stepping stone to other languages later on. AND, it is increasingly useful in the USA.; 5/17/12, 11:07 PM
chickelit said...: Freeman Hunt said...
If you could teach your five year old any foreign language, it would be...?

Narrow it down to one that you know, unless you want to learn with.

A Romance one and a Germanic one are a good combo. Feel free to ignore as I didn't begin foreign languages seriously until college, though I did learn to count in French and German as a child.; 5/17/12, 11:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Isn't this Coleus?; 5/17/12, 11:16 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Freeman:

Latin, written and spoken as best as the scholars can figure, because I'm Catholic, and also because I love scholastic history, and also because I studied Latin a little when I was young and it gives a word-loving person a whole new plane on which to grasp and appreciate modern Romance and Germanic languages.; 5/17/12, 11:27 PM
Henry said...: I was a wretched student of Spanish for two years in high school. I took a year of French in college with no success except a grade. I self-studied Italian for six months hoping to gain some cognizance before a trip to Florence.

The works of literature I most want to read in the original are War and Peace, Beowulf, and The Odyssey.

I want my five-year-old to learn to swim. I hope to find a teacher that can teach him classical guitar.

What was the question again?; 5/17/12, 11:44 PM
Seven Machos said...: Freeman -- I would choose Spanish or Chinese. Both because they will likely be useful.

I personally think Spanish is best. I do think it will prove most useful later on. It also does a lot of things that Latin can do in terms of helping see roots and things. It's also easy to learn.; 5/17/12, 11:46 PM
Meade said...: "Isn't this Coleus?"

Noleus.; 5/17/12, 11:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Then it's Perilla? Whatever it is, it's gorgeous.; 5/17/12, 11:58 PM
Ralph L said...: Looks like caladium to me, though I thought they had flatter leaves. I believe they fell out of fashion because they aren't hardy many places.; 5/18/12, 12:25 AM
Revenant said...: I would also say "Spanish", language-wise.

Learning Chinese is pointless, firstly because the Chinese learn English and secondly because who even knows if China will be a major economic force a generation from now?

On the other hand, Mexico and America will always be neighbors. :); 5/18/12, 12:41 AM
Anonymous said...: It's definitely caladium, a type called Red Ruffles (for obvious reasons.); 5/18/12, 1:10 AM
Palladian said...: If you could teach your five year old any foreign language, it would be...?

Proper English.; 5/18/12, 2:48 AM
Palladian said...: Of course, Spanish is good if you think your kid will work as a dishwasher or something.; 5/18/12, 2:49 AM
HT said...: Perilla? That doesn't look like any perilla I've seen. But then to me it looks like a poinsettia, but I guess I'll have to defer to those who say it's caladium. I have no idea.

I'd also second those who say Spanish. And yeah, Chinese. I took French in HS and it was very hard. So many letters you did not pronounce. And the pronouns, direct and indirect were difficult for me. Spanish was refreshingly easy in comparison which I taught myself.; 5/18/12, 5:10 AM
Lauderdale Vet said...: We have Caladium that looks like that growing down here. Hardy enough in Zone 10.; 5/18/12, 6:00 AM
edutcher said...: Very nice, Madame. you can get lost in that one.

Freeman Hunt said...

If you could teach your five year old any foreign language, it would be...?

Assume that same five year old could also take up additional languages later. Feel free to elaborate on what languages you would add and when. And why.

Have to agree with Seven (I know...). Chinese, Mandarin, to be specific, would be first and then, depending how assimilation and Deconquista goes, Spanish.

After that, German because the Krauts will be running Europe one way or t'other.

But I also have to go along with Palladian - proper English, the Queen's English, if you will, without the uhs, ums, and y'knows (not to mention the swear words) is a rare skill these days when Barry Soetero is considered a great orator.; 5/18/12, 6:06 AM
HT said...: But I also have to go along with Palladian - proper English, the Queen's English, if you will

......

depending how assimilation and Deconquista goes,

Sorry, couldn't resist.; 5/18/12, 6:12 AM
edutcher said...: No problem.

Another language that would probably be useful for a child to learn would be Hindi, since increased contact with India is going to be a major development of this century.; 5/18/12, 6:25 AM
KCFleming said...: Demographically, Spanish, Chinese, or Hindi.

For the coming socialist state, a smattering of Newspeak or Esperanto.; 5/18/12, 7:01 AM
Rusty said...: Meade said...
"Isn't this Coleus?"

Noleus.

Would it kill ya to give the proper name?

Freeman.
Spanish. A lot of the people he/she will be dealing with in this country won't be speaking english.; 5/18/12, 7:02 AM
lemondog said...: If you could teach your five year old any foreign language, it would be...?

Definitely Chinese Mandarin.; 5/18/12, 7:14 AM
KCFleming said...: "At the Pink Leaf Café.."

Little pink sock!
Little pink sock!; 5/18/12, 7:27 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Happy FaceBook Day! How will you plan to celebrate the tenth anniversary?; 5/18/12, 7:48 AM
Curious George said...: Chinese. As a hedge. Better to be able to grovel with their future masters.; 5/18/12, 7:49 AM
ndspinelli said...: Pig Latin; 5/18/12, 8:09 AM
campy said...: Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
Norwegians learn Norwegian; the Greeks are taught their
Greek.
In France every Frenchman knows
his language from "A" to "Zed"
(The French never care what they do, actually, as long as they pronounce it properly.)
Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning.
And Hebrews learn it backwards,
which is absolutely frightening.
But use proper English you're regarded as a freak.
Why can't the English,
Why can't the English learn to speak?

Lyric by Alan Jay Lerner; 5/18/12, 8:40 AM
Meade said...: "Would it kill ya to give the proper name?"

Would it kill ya
if I told you
it isn't
perilla?

(Score 1 for Ralph L 12:25 AM); 5/18/12, 9:32 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: I do not have an answer but I find Hunt's question interesting. I was waiting for someone to say English and no one picked sign. *sads* That could be started with satisfying results before any other.

Where do you live? If N.O., then French is useful and Spanish always is.

Yesterday I was listening to Jambalaya. A guy said he had the song stuck in his head. He was writing about pico de gallo and rhyming the words incorrectly me oh my oh, it was funny.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file' gumbo
'Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou.

I must have heard this song 50 times. It's covered all over the place. It can only be listened to fast. The slow Western versions and the slow female versions totalmente chupa la iguana grande.

The French version is terrible French. Of course they do not say "son of a gun". Their son of gun turns out to be tonnerre m'ecrase. It is so brutally slap happy, smack out the words bad French. The attitude is amazing. The song shows what happens to French when it starts out in Canada and floats all the way down the Mississippi until it finally deposits and and pools.

The Spanish version is lively, or else why bother?, what else would the do, sing a triste?, and they do use the English phrase son of a gun as if it were a Spanish exclamation or intensifier so it sticks out amusingly.

I do not know which other language to teach a kid except the one that is the closest, or maybe all that you know in bits and pieces. My mother and her mother stopped using German in my presence when I asked, "was ist, die wände haben ohren?"
Didn't make sense. And then all that stopped. Too bad for me.

The same thing happened to Mexican kids I know. They're adults now. They told me their parents insisted on English at home for reasons of their own, and were denied easy access as a result. Then they took classes later to catch up. They had an advantage, yes, but it was not used, so too bad for them.; 5/18/12, 10:01 AM
ken in tx said...: I used to tell my less assiduous middle and high school students, that they needed to learn Spanish. They would need it to talk to their boss in his or her native language. 'Quidado, Piso Mojado'.; 5/18/12, 12:48 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Interesting, interesting. Thank you all for you thoughts.

Ponder, ponder.; 5/18/12, 1:15 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: A house in my hometown. Since childhood I have thought that I would someday like to buy that house. Doesn't look like I'll get the chance for a while.; 5/18/12, 1:26 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Maybe I'll buy it when I'm old and die in it. That would be nice.; 5/18/12, 1:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Chip Ahoy, you describe my family, also German. Yes the wall have ears! Lol. My father insisted that we as a family must learn English in a hurry after we came to this country in 1955. He was a barber and knew he needed to be able to converse with his customers.

He forbade the use of German in the household, until we were all fluent in Enflish. Of course we children learned much quicker than our parents. It was a mistake on his part, as we children became less comfortable speaking German, and as adults we struggle, although understand the spoken and written German with no problems.

Assimilation is necessary, but I encourage parents to make sure the children remain bilingual.; 5/18/12, 3:48 PM
Anonymous said...: English, that is, Enflish is spoken elsewhere.; 5/18/12, 3:51 PM