h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I´ve written your name in a false way, Whisky, and thank you for the recommendations. The truth is, that the entry does need some more explanations and I´ll try to add them.

I think after this entry I´ll make a little pause in writing and will read more. And anyway I should sleep more as my children are still too young and need their mother 24 hours a day. (It´s Hell who has brought me to h2g2 and it´s too interesting to stop participating)

Anna Banana

Hmm, of course you could always stay here reading and writing and get your other half to look after the children - He writes far too much anyway - makes the rest of us look lazy


Actually, I hadn't realised Hell was you other half before I posted that huge explanation... if I'd known that I'd have just said - give your husband a kick and get him to show you


whisky

Hey Anna, Don't Panic!

take your time... or go for it as much as you like, but h2g2 time is not like RL time...

it can often be up to you, but people will talk at *your* pace too.

anyway, the only danger with leaving this piece in PR is that it may be picked...

if you really want to work on it for a while, think about the writing workshop. If you think it's finished (or nearly), keep it here...

Hey... I *really* wanted my secret identity (being Anna's husband) to remain secret... Especially to avoid comments like. 'Yo! Anna you are way more fun than your husband, tell him to shut up and take care of the kids' ()

Anyways, I think that the best thing to do in this case is to go through the 'edit' entry procedure, I had a sneak-preview of the new Version yesterday, and it's still basically the same Entry with more substance.

See you all later.

HELL ('at work'... )

Hmm, so you wanted to keep this a secret...

Well, lets look at the facts here...
1) Male, Brazilian H2G2 researcher living in Germany currently learning Russian from his wife...
2) Female, Russian H2G2 researcher married to a Brazilian living in Germany...

This sort of starts alarm bells ringing...

But the icing on the cake has got to be this...

F48874?thread=214702&skip=40&show=20


As the great detective once said...

Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth...

And it's pretty improbable that someone as charming as Anna could be married to someone like you

ROTFL

Yeah, if you sneak through all conversations and user-spaces you'd probably be able to deduce that... (there's also a back-door entrance right here: A751079) However rare Brazilian-Russian couples are, we know another case right here in Munich. Seems to me that this combination works quite well...

And yes, she's way more charming than I am - Thanks BTW - maybe that is the very reason she ended up marrying me (anyone less charming would not stand it)

H

Me! sneaking through userspaces and conversations!!! Never!!!!


Ok then! Hardly ever...



Well, once or twice anyway....


Ok then, I'll admit it... I lurked, after seeing the other PR conversation I just couldn't help myself...

You don't think that means I'm addicted to h2g2 do you ?




whisky

French would have been the court/aristo language? Didn't Tolstoy write War and peace in chunks of French cos his aristo characters were supposed to be speaking that language mostly? I think there's a point where the uselessness of a (Russian) characters Russian was commented on?

German: well Catherine Great was German. Although she made an effort to learn Russian. Her husband preferred German, and Prussian styles and what have you especially for his soldiering games. German = military language? The kept the march. Wasn't Petersburg Petograd originally? That's exhausted my knowledge of the subject.

Isn't the Russian word for diamond 'brilliant'? I wasn't sure if you were giving the root Tarter word, or the modern Russian word in the article.

... which goes to show that you should always look out for the next LED of postings... I assume you are giving the root Tarter word.

Hallo, Whisky, hallo, Hell, shall I add anything to an exciting conversation between you two? NO! The only thing I would like to say is, I´ve thought Hell is researching for the University of Munich, Department of Physical Chemistry, meanwhile he is a researcher in h2g2. Hm-m-m

Anna Banana

PS The female part of the other Russian-Brazilian couple is also called Anna.

Hello, Solnushka, I am not quite sure if I´ve understood your comments correctly. Do you want me to add this info to the entry? As for the diamonds, you are right, it is a bit confusing, but there are two terms for diamonds: the raw stones themselves are called 'almaz' which is a Turkic word, meanwhile 'brilliant' is the denomination for jewellery and has a Latin origin.

Anna Banana

Well done for calling me on it, too. I do have a tendency to see something hit reply and burble to no appreciable purpose. No, I don't expect you to add it to the article. I was sort of replying to the discussion about how French/German words got into the language without Russia being ruled over by the French. Etc.

How interesting about the diamonds. I'm not sure it's particularly confusing, though, unless you are someone like me who knows a little Russian, but not enough

'Gubernatrix' is Latin for 'she who rules' or 'she who directs' - feminine version of the more common 'gubernator'.

Not that I'm a control freak or anything.....

hiya,

interesting about the two words for diamond (rough vs cut, if i understand rightly) - i suggest it would make an excellent illustration for this aspect of the Russian language, how words are of such different origins.

The older and (to my ear) gruffer sounding Turkic-derived word describing the 'rough' uncut shiny stone. The more recent and more elegant (again, to my west-european ear) 'brilliant' being attributed (presumably quite late on, historically - when did French become the international language of diplomacy???) to the intricate sculpted form of the jewel, dazzling as it shimmers in the light!

now, back to when French became such a widely used language in European diplomacy, and how? I think it would be helpful to include some info on this to make it clear *why* so many words in Russian are of specifically French origin, and indeed that this was a different process to the slow progression, say of Latin into French.

Russian seems to have the rare property of having accepted large chunks of vocab in relatively short 'spurts' of language change. Am i making any sense.

I feel i need to have a look on the web for some info on this and come back to you.

How do you feel about this piece as it stands - what do you have in mind for it? Do you feel it's nearly ready or are you after some input?

all very interesting, anyway.
spiff

Hi Anna! There's a lot of interesting information in this entry, but it very confusing. Instead of trying to cram it all into three paragraphs, spread it out a bit. Use a list for the three branches of slavic, with each branch on a separate line.

There seems to be something left out here:

"The main common feature of Slavonic languages is the lack of Some of these languages Russian, Ukranian and Bielorussian evolved from the ancient East-Slavic which had been spoken in the principality of Kiev (Kiyevskaya Rus') until the 13th Century."

You talk about 'the same Cyrillic alphabet', but you haven't mentioned it before.

Bizantine should be Byzantine.

Hi Gnomon,

There's an update on the way (I saw it on Anna's laptop and it looks a lot better that this one)... This Entry as it stands IS indeed confusing... We'll just wait a bit more.

HELL

Hello everybody, after many sleepless nights of searching, thinking and writing, I can proudly present the overworked entry about the evolution of the Russian language. I have tryed to consider your comments as far as it was possible. Please excuse me for entry having been unattended for such a long time.

Sincerely yours,

Anna Banana

Hello, what about some comments? Donot have any excuses more for staying online so much time.

Anna Banana

No comments from my side, but watch this space

That is, I *do* have a three word comment:



ex-cell-ent!