Be Inspired...Get Involved... Be a Pharos and light the way... Make a Difference...
The
lighthouse of Alexandra, called also the Pharos of Alexandra… was a haughty and
lofty tower built during the Plotemaic Kingdom circa 280-245 BC… it was a 450
ft about 137 m tall.
It was one of the tallest
man-made structure on Earth for many centuries… and was one of the seven wonders
of Ancient World… it was badly damaged by earthquakes and was abandoned…
Still
some ancient languages…Armenian and Greek use “pharos” as synonym to lighthouse…
It is called pharos after the island that it was built on...and lead to Alexandria...
The passage from ancient Greece to Egypt was safer because of the pharos...
Language is a
breathing and living entity... and evolves through time and space... technology
is revolutionizing many things... Globalization of the economy... Globalization
of culture and civilization... and now Globalization of language... technology
is introducing many terms and idioms which are being used in many languages all
over the world...
- Global economy... will smash the borders...
- Global civilization... will make nation states more and more redundant...
- Global culture... will bring nations closer to each other...
- Global language... will make the world youth communicate better... and understand each other more... May be it will lead to banning wars...
This father's advice to his son... in Hamlet has always fascinated me... !
How many of the thoughts and idioms we still use... Check it out and count...
Indeed learn from Polonius... learn from the best... Learn from Shakespeare...
beautifully said...and excellent advice...even today...
Yet here, Laertes!
aboard, aboard, for shame! 55
The wind sits in the
shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for.
There; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts
in thy memory
See thou character.
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned
thought his act. 60
Be thou familiar, but
by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou
hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy
soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy
palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d,
unfledged comrade. Beware 65
Of entrance to a
quarrel, but being in,
Bear’t that the opposed
may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear,
but few thy voice;
Take each man’s
censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy
purse can buy, 70
But not express’d in
fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft
proclaims the man,
And they in France of
the best rank and station
Are of a most select
and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor
a lender be; 75
For loan oft loses both
itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the
edge of husbandry.
This above all: to
thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as
the night the day,
Thou canst not then be
false to any man. 80
Farewell: my blessing
season this in thee!
Check the English idioms above... and check the Chinese below...
Both fascinating... both artfully articulated...
Beautiful stuff... is how Gods communicate... on Olympus...
Exquisitely said... that's how saints associate in heaven...
There is a poem from the Southern Song dynasty
that reads: “After endless mountains and rivers that leave doubt whether there
is a path out, suddenly one encounters the shade of a willow, bright flowers
and a lovely village.”
Figure of a rhinoceros, Zhou Dynasty, China
…and read this strange idiom… “Hearts With Magical Rhinoceros…” which is used by Chinese even today…
Rhinoceros horns are powerful, supernatural objects in old Chinese sayings. Check the lines below written by Li Shangyin… a poet from the Tang dynasty (7th-10th B.C.)
“Even though my body is not a colorful phoenix with two wings to fly [to my lover], we have hearts that understand each other immediately as though connected with a magical rhinoceros.”
A Red Apricot Blossom Peeks Over the Yard Fence…
Apricot tree is a pretty plant, but then it is so much more… and ye Shaoweng, a Song dynasty poet, wrote the lines that follow…in “On Visiting a Garden, When Its Master Is Absent.”
“[The] whole garden can no longer confine the lively energy of spring; a spray of red apricot blossom [already] peeks over the fence.”
Modern readers see this as symbolizing a infidelity to spouses. The “red apricot blossom” symbolizes a young and attractive woman, while “peeking over the fence” shows her sneaking out.
Even today, Chinese people will say, behind gossipy hands: “Behind her husband’s back, she [is like] ‘a red apricot blossom peeking over the yard fence.’”
...and also read the idiom coming of of another poem...
Reach a Higher Level on the Tower…
The idiom comes from the poem “On the Yellow Crane Tower” by Wang Zhihuan of the Tang dynasty. After climbing the famous tower, Zhihuan writes:
“[I] desire to see thousands of miles [from this tower], [so I need to] climb to a higher level.”
To see farther, you need to stand higher. This poem is often used to encourage students and workers alike to set higher goals.
Now you know why Chinese students work so hard. You would, too, if you had to memorize idioms like this from a young age.
It is difficult... It is unique... but open up your vision and visit a non-Latin culture... visit and taste the Chinese outlook... learn Chinese too... and realize that there are culture other than the Judeao-Christian one....
having a global vision is wonderfully refreshing... ghettos are confining and suffocating... get out of the narrow wedge and embrace the global culture... learn more... appreciate more... You will be happier for that...
Some languages are dying... and it is estimated that half of the languages in the world will be extinct in two decades...
What a pity... the world will be poorer for that... But yet we cannot do much... everything is in evolution... everything evolves... languages dye... and people disappear and get assimilated into others...
Tribes are absorbed into other bigger and larger, culturally more powerful groups...
and technology is opening up a whole new dimension of linguistic evolution...
The Globalization of Language...
...as we know it...
Technology is introducing new words that are used bu all cultures... Latin, Chinese, Hindi and African and Latin American...
Technology democratized communication... and now will try to Globalize language...
Open up to new cultures...
Open up to new technology...
Playing games is not enough... my neighbour, a judge, repeats on every opportunity... "Use it or lose it..." referring to the brain...
It is better to use... than to lose...
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