Passing Airliner Triggers Wonder in Arctic

elaine: 26th Feb 2006 - 17:20 GMT

haha - brushing up on their italian - those c***ts. funny i couldn't quite manage to put that sweary in here - it is a normal enough word in the uk, but a bit more outrageous in us, as far as i remember. anyway... life is elsewhere, is it not?

Myke: 26th Feb 2006 - 18:08 GMT

That's an ugly, ugly word, Elaine. One I reserve for people are really, really don't like.

elaine: 26th Feb 2006 - 20:35 GMT

i know.
although, on the other hand, it is a beautiful beautiful word. meaning pocket or hiding place, etymologically. superceded, historically, by vagina, which is also rather lovely, being as it is the sheath for a sword. latin names tend to medicalisation and estrange, and the pall of the hospital is rather hard to shift. however, i do quite like the idea of a sword not being 'home' unless inside a vagina.
meanwhile, i think the cultural reason for the british being comfortable with certain rather harsh sounding swear words is that they merely represent working class language, being more germanic or local, leaving the latin and french for the posher end of the language. time was when the british peasant would talk a german in the field while the toffs in the big house would be talking the fashionable french. hence the coo/kuh/cow in the field becoming the boef/beef on the table.

end of sermon.

adam: 26th Feb 2006 - 20:47 GMT

no movie theater and no alcohol.. how could you live there? hehe

jack: 27th Feb 2006 - 16:18 GMT

first-elaine, that word i'm curious about. the astericks, there are 3 of them so it was hard to figure out the word. would the letters have been,'un', if so, it should have had only 2 astericks. and yes it is a rather rough word to come from such a sweet girl like yourself. its almost like hearing the word,'shit', from my wife's lips. she never curses and to hear that,'shit', word come out makes me laugh. as a matter of fact the whole family laughs as she apoligizes.
second-this was a remarkable story about your life, evil, i can almost feel the dispair in your words and yet there are so many people out there who would love to be in a place like that where they don't have to put up with the nonesence of city living, the anger, the lies and corruption. the filth and sickness of humans proaching on each other. its true , the grass is always greener, and yes it must be very lonely there, with the long cold nights. perhaps someone will build a center with a theatre in it and a night club and have some sort of entertainment. it could be a combination restaurant and bar with a dance floor. things change! also you need a good food co-op, and department store. sometimes the change has to take place in ourselves before we can change our living conditions. my grandfather came to america as a young man but always longed for his day's back in the sicilian hills of catania, sicily. the land, the quietness, being alone with his family, self sufficient, with plenty of food. no phones, no theatres, nothing but farm homes dotting the landscape. to be with a women you love and to spend all your time creating a life together is a once in a while thing. be contented with your memories of all your day's. the surety, the safety.

EvilGentleman: 27th Feb 2006 - 17:24 GMT

Thank you for your insight and your sharing. When I look back and reflect upon my time spent in the remote nothern areas of this country, I find that I generally loved it, but sometimes the feeling of isolation and the feeling that I was considered to be foreign to this land would wear me down, and it is those particular times when I would be longing for the familiar things that I missed which I was hoping to express in words here. The one treasure in life that cannot be replaced is those few souls who are your true friends. It was they whom I missed the most when I was up north for nine consecutive years. But life in the Arctic imposes demands upon all people, and one just learns to make do, and to enjoy what good things there are. I have discovered that as much as I love all the gadgets and luxuries available in life, none of them are really needed. Although I must say, much of my time up there was spent thinking of Tim Horton's and McDonald's and bookstores and so on. The local co-operative and the general store both had a number of things available, but many items were just not feasible due to the unpredictability of air transport. Bars are forbidden by law there, but alcohol, while usually tightly controlled, is permitted. To order a case of 24 will cost you about $150.00 and may take several days to arrive, assuming that you are not on the community's black list.

elaine: 27th Feb 2006 - 17:41 GMT

jack! pedantic!
(and believing me to be so sweet, as well)

grange: 27th Feb 2006 - 18:31 GMT

awww elaine . Your story reminds me of my younger days .As a we lad sitting at kitchen table listening to me mum an da talking ."Hey c$%t get me a cupa tea ."Ya ole C$%t "she would say "get ya own, ya lazy git."Git am I,"he would say ,come on ov'r here girly and I'll show you an ole c$5t" .And he would laugh ,she would laugh loudly ,and they would hug and kiss ...luvly growin up in such a house full of luv...
Now off for a pint me lovley ..cheers

GGP: 27th Feb 2006 - 20:23 GMT

evilG's description of isolation & longing at the sight of the airplane makes me think of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues"--the prisoner who watches the train go by from his prison cell and thinks:

"I bet there's rich folks eatin' in a fancy dining car--
They're probably drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigars--
I know I had it coming, I know I can't be free,
But those people keep a-movin', and that's what tortures me."

jack: 27th Feb 2006 - 21:30 GMT

what a word!!!!! pedantic, i never in my life would i think that anyone would consider me pedant. why i was the most likely to be expelled student in school. i excelled only in lunch room. i always thought of myself as a rebel, un-diciplined. well, perhaps you may be right. i dunno. once i was happy, but now im forlorn, like an old coat that is tettered and torn, left in this wide world to fret and to mourn, betrayed by a girl in her teens. this girl that i loved, she was handsome and i tried all i could her to please, but as much as i tried, not one-quarter as much as the man on the flying trapeeze.

EvilGentleman: 10th May 2007 - 00:16 GMT

maps.google.ca/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=&t=k&om=1&ll=61.59834,-71.959108&spn=0.002485,0.007231&z=17

A Girl From Wakeham Bay: 10th Dec 2007 - 18:17 GMT

it is very nice up here && there is a theatre now plus you can order alcohol and it takes 2 days to arrive but expensive. I am glad to live here it is very nice and quiet but sometimes not. to live is to live. living just day by day..good news for the inuit/beneficiaries that we have a discount for the air inuit airline.*75% off :P:O how lucky are we?? hehe......and for the ksb employees don't have to pay their cargo it is cheap for them and many people are working for the Kativik School Board.....We are lucky to live up here:P:Phahaha!!
anyway bye

EvilGentleman: 10th Dec 2007 - 18:22 GMT

There's a theatre? When did that open? Cool.

A Girl From Wakeham Bay: 10th Dec 2007 - 18:36 GMT

i dont remember maybe summer of 2007...but it does not open every night :D

Kevin_in_the_Uk: 16th Jun 2008 - 21:24 GMT

My oh my. There you are talking about the word c**t and with reference to it being a socially acceptable word in the Uk.

Trust me my friends, although it might be used quite often by the working and middle classes it should not be used in polite company and is hardly ever used in presence of the fairer sex(I say hardly ever, but it often is).

Personally I love it as a word. Among male friends it can be used as a greeting"Alright you old c**t". Plus, just pronouncing differently can alter it's meaning completely.

Anyhow, in the Uk the word "wanker" is considered quite an insult and would never be aired on Tv before 9pm. This did not stop it being included in an episode of the Simpsons that was accidentally aired on the BBC at 6pm. One of the band members of U2 uttered the word and so did Mr Burns. It made the major papers over here and the BBC were forced into a grovelling apology.

Fantastic site, I stumbled here a while back and just keep returning. So far my favorite is Freedom Tunnels.