söndag 5 oktober 2014

Badrumsdrömmar

Söndagsinlägget sköljer över er med ytterligare tre bokstäver ur "ee-alfabetet". Jag hoppas ni ger er tid att läsa hela inlägget. Sophie Hannah's långa dikt är beskt rolig och värd att läsas i sin helhet.

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J som i Jubilee - betyder helt enkelt, jubileum. Det är intressant ur språklig synvinkel att det är ett ord som finns i de flesta språk, med samma betydelse och snarlikt uttal. Ex. franska jubilé, latin jubilaeus, grekiska iabelaio och hebreiska yobhel. Det engelska jubilee har använts sedan sent 1300-tal. Källor: Norstedts ordbok och Etymology Online

The Jubilee girl, by William Thomas Goodge (1862-1909)
(From Hits! Skits! And Jingles! Sydney The Bulletin Newspaper Company, Limited, 1904.)

Oh, the Jubilee girl,
    With the Jubilee smile,
Wore a Jubilee dress
    In a Jubilee style!
And the Jubilee hair
    On her Jubilee head
Was a Jubilee kind
    Of a Jubilee red!

And her Jubilee shoes
    They were Jubilee neat
On the Jubilee toes
    Of her Jubilee feet,
And her Jubilee eyes
    Of a Jubilee hue
Were a Jubilee sort
    Of a Jubilee blue!

And the Jubilee nose
    On her Jubilee face
Had a Jubilee tilt
    With a Jubilee grace.
And the Jubilee miss
    Met her Jubilee boy
With a Jubilee kiss
    Full of Jubilee joy!

And the Jubilee flush
    On her Jubilee cheek
Was a Jubilee gush
    For the Jubilee week.
With her Jubilee brain
    In a Jubilee whirl,
It was Jubilee time
    With the Jubilee girl!


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K som i Keeper - kan stå för vårdare, vakt, väktare, uppsyningsman, intendent [vid museum] eller målvakt (sport). Det ingår som efterled i olika sammansättningar, såsom shopkeeper; bookkeeper; goalkeeper; time-keeper. Inledningsvis, under 1300-talet, var ordet ett efternamn och betydde "one who has charge of some person or thing". I sportsammanhang har ordet använts sedan 1744, ursprungligen inom cricketsporten. Däremot är användandet av ordet, med betydelsen att ha något (eller någon) som är värdefullt att behålla, "he is a keeper" (om den stora kärleken), relativt nytt. Det är daterat till 1999. Källor: NE och Etymology Online

The Dream Keeper, by Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
(From The dream keeper and other poems. Editor: J Brian Pinkney. New York : Knopf, 1994.)

Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

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L som i Leeds - är en stad i West Yorkshire, norra England, med närmare 500 000 invånare. Traditionellt har textilindustrin varit viktig i staden, men numera är det pappers- och maskinindustri samt kemisk och elektronisk industri som är betydelsefull. Leeds är dessutom ett av landets viktigaste finansiella centrum.
Stadens fotbollslag var grymt bra under 70-talet. Första ligatiteln togs 1969, den andra 1974. Den tredje och senaste togs 1992.
När det görs undersökningar bland britter om vilken brittisk stad som de gillar mest, hamnar Leeds oftast i topp-3.
Namnet Leeds kommer från Loidis, ett skogsområde som fanns i regionen under perioden 400-600 e.Kr. Källor: NE och Wikipedia

You won't find a bath in Leeds, by Sophie Hannah (f. 1971)
(From Poetry Review 90.1. Spring 2000.)


From the River Cam and the A14
To the Aire and the tall M1,
We left the place where home had been,
Still wondering what we'd done,
And we went to Yorkshire, undeterred
By the hearts we'd left down South
And we couldn't believe the words we heard
From the lettings agent's mouth.

He showed us a flat near an abbatoir
Then one where a man had died
Then one with nowhere to park our car
Then one with no bath inside.
With the undertone of cheering
Of a person who impedes,
He looked straight at us, sneeering,
'You won't find a bath in Leeds'.

'We have come to Leeds from Cambridge.
We have heard that Leeds is nice.
A bath is seen in Cambridge
As an integral device,
So don't tell me that a shower
Is sufficient to meet my needs,'
I said. I received a glower
And 'You won't find a bath in Leeds'.

He fingered a fraying curtain
And I said, 'You can't be sure.
Some things in life are uncertain
And that's what hope is for.
One day I might meet Robert Redford
At Bristol Temple Meads.
I've found baths in Bracknell and Bedford
And I might find a bath in Leeds.'

He replied with a refutation
Which served to increase our pain
But we didn't head for the station
Or run for a rescue train,
Though we felt like trampled flowers
Who'd been set upon by weeds.
We told him to stuff his showers
And we would find a bath in Leeds.

Some people are snide and scathing
And they try to undermine
Your favourite form of bathing
Or the way you write a line.
At night, while you're busy praying
That your every plan succeeds,
There are killjoys somewhere saying,
'You won't find a bath in Leeds'.

A better definition
Might be reading all of Proust,
But the concept of ambition
Has been radically reduced.
While the London wits are burning
Their cash in the Groucho club,
In Yorkshire we're simply yearning
To locate an enamel tub.

I win, Mr Bath Bad Tidings.
I have not one bath but two.
En-suite in the sweet West Ridings
And no bloody thanks to you.
I may never run fast, or tower
Over Wimbledon's top seeds
Or hit sixes like David Gower
But I have found a bath in Leeds.

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