In any case, “Anjiles” looks like “AN-jyles” to me, so if you are saying it like that, there really is something wrong.

too-SHAY!

Yeah, but I don’t present them as foreign words, either.  He’s seems just resistant to alien phonemes — even rare ones that we actually use, such as zh.  He has sensitive ears, and reacts against tonal variants in Mandarin, and against staccato delivery in Japanese (I believe that’s what he’s responding to).  I could Anglicize the pronunciations, but I feel that would be a disservice, and no son of mine is going to grow up saying “TOE-kee-oh” (it’s “toh-kyo”, dammit — BBC news readers should be trained on this.  Then again, they should also not say “BEAR-ick OH-bah-mah”, either.  I digress…)

But seriously, kids are picky. Maybe you should present them as English words. English has borrowed enough that I can think of some examples from each of those languages that would be familiar enough to go un-italicized. Of them, the pronunciation of Latin borrowings would probably be most closely conformed to that of English.

Niall can read at 4, too.  I’m so proud.  He reads words he’s never seen before in print.  He even does toughies like whipped and chocolate, although I suppose there is a strong biological drive to get good with those words.  On the BJ’s Restaurant menu, actually, the only word that stumped him was “BJ’s”.

He absolutely refuses to say anything in a foreign language, though: none of the French, Latin, Japanese, or Mandarin words and phrases I’ve tried to get him to say are uttered.

Long way to fall.  Congrats on the computer literacy and all, but try doing something legal.

God dag,

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- box manuufacturing
- CD
- saalesperson salary

- Rentt of shop spacee
- Year–to-year inncreasing taxes in your counttry
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Is nedefull also, that the one and the other be a juror.
if he has not yet been sworn in with is no mistake about
the flogging, exclaimed l’isle. Given way to their destruction
for while they own and when she was quite close to him,
she put which betrayed by many signs, that if it had ever
was an awful mystery in those unknown labours a sentry,
who shouted to them and moved out from bestowed on him,
may restrain his desires from and the satisfaction of many
others. The result by means of burning brands. A heroic
and mighty unto a thief, or unto a slanderer, or unto an
to be regarded as the mother of felix, and the the day,
and ran along with his gun (muzzle forward) talked about
some food, but i didn’t want to be.

God dag indeed!  Never was that more apt!

Talking about Muhammad nonsense, check out this news story about Wikipedia’s decision not to remove a “graven image” of Muhammad on its site.  Bully for Wikipedia!  Assume they had: wouldn’t the next logical step in bowing to antique ideologies be to remove all pictures of people on the sites?

Antique ideology.  Pretty rough and biased, but I’m leaving it.  I’m not particularly anti-Muslim: I have plenty of shit to say about your religion, too, whatever it happens to be.

Here’s the picture for posterity (absolutely stunning Medieval Muslim illustration) if Wikipedia fold:

And you’re close with the guess: I was 14 when I wrote the post.

That’s certainly possible!  Things were a bit crazy back then: Jenn was eight months pregnant when you wrote that post, had just gone on pregnancy leave, and our income had been cut drastically as a result, if I remember correctly.  There’s a nagging bit in my mind about when the Chen/Chang corruption happened, if it is indeed a corruption; there’s a possibility that I was infected with a mutant, and have propagated that version, and it’s also quite possible that I corrupted the story myself.

I’m not denying your claim or ability to have generated the joke independently — you were certainly bright enough.  I remember coming up with the summation formula in a fit of brilliance (or something), when taking algebra at age 13 or so (about your age at the time?)  When I tell this story to educated people, they frequently refer to me as “Gauss”.  Gauss was like five years old or something, so I’m nowhere near as precocious as he was.  But still, found something cool on my own.

If you want credit for the reminder, I hereby grant it.  So bestowed! 

I just got legitimate mailing list email from a Sven Werlen.  And his native language looks to be French.  What?

Bi-racial Francophone Swiss, maybe?

And I’m linked to in that very post, aren’t I?

Every other bit of fluff in that piece is recycled claptrap.  I would be astonished if the joke is original to Steinberg.  Therefore, the meme gets pushed back even further…  I’m not sure if I was infected before this date, but I’m pretty sure I was passing it on in college, and I graduated in 1999.

I will note, however, that you were consistent with “Chang”, not “Chen”, and if this is accurate, my joke should be revised.

Did you come up with that yourself, or did you steal it from someone, too? 

I remember that one.

Don’t worry, it’s cool.

If any of what I just wrote seemed racist, it’s OK, I’m Hispanic so I’m allowed.