domingo, junio 27, 2004
SPAN 301: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
Wednesday night, the law firm of Robison, Curphey & O’Connell sponsored a “cruise” on the Maumee River in Toledo and neighboring areas. The event was open to all Toledo-area law clerks and new associates, and it was organized by the Toledo Bar Association.
The reason I place cruise in quotation marks is that, usually the term connotes notions of touring, beautiful scenery, and clean breathing air. Unfortunately, I think Toledo is marketing itself as the industrial powerhouse of the Midwest. As a result, instead of seeing green cliffs off the river, we saw huge soybean and corn factories, gigantic transporting ships, and manufacturing construction. Delicious.
Most of the fellow clerks were University of Toledo Law students, and they were great. I mean, whenever you throw free beer and wine at students in their 20s after eight hours of legal work, fun times will just occur. We discussed the struggles of first year life, we threw around some hypothetical Torts scenarios, and made fun of current marketing trends.
For example, what is the point of the Oral-B® individual finger brush? Who would really brush their teeth in the metro? “Oh, I’m waiting for the train – I’ll brush my teeth.” What is this? Yeah, not embarrassing at all.
Secondly, Ziploc’s® one snap lid? Who has only one finger to use? And wouldn’t you still seal all four corners just to make sure it was safe? I could understand an elbow slam snap lid, but a finger?
However, we also gave props to some invention breakthroughs. For instance, the Glad® Press ‘n Seal™ product was a big hit, as was the “showerhead” Saran Wrap® to snaps over bowls without it sticking to itself.
The funniest part of the night was when a few of us were practicing our Spanish and all of us refused to say Toledo, Ohio with a Spanish accent. Our reasoning was the same: Toledo, Ohio & Toledo, Spain, although technically “sister cities,” ought not to be given the same pronunciation. It would be geographically devaluing, culturally depriving, and linguistically cheapening. We said even when we speak to our Spanish-speaking clients about Toledo, Ohio, we totally anglicize it on purpose.
After the cruise, we headed over to this hip Jazz club downtown. The music was phenomenal and the group was hilarious, but my Beam & Coke was $7 – what is this, Manhattan?
Completely unrelated (great segway, I know), I was watching FOXNews Live earlier in the week, and I thank goodness for DVR. The guest was CIA operative Wayne Simmons. He was talking about the recent beheadings in Southwest Asia (Eurocentrically referred to as the Middle East). Amongst his ramble, he said and I quote, “Americans in the west are genetically good people.” For the love of . . . uhhhh . . . Toledo, someone please explain this to me.
The reason I place cruise in quotation marks is that, usually the term connotes notions of touring, beautiful scenery, and clean breathing air. Unfortunately, I think Toledo is marketing itself as the industrial powerhouse of the Midwest. As a result, instead of seeing green cliffs off the river, we saw huge soybean and corn factories, gigantic transporting ships, and manufacturing construction. Delicious.
Most of the fellow clerks were University of Toledo Law students, and they were great. I mean, whenever you throw free beer and wine at students in their 20s after eight hours of legal work, fun times will just occur. We discussed the struggles of first year life, we threw around some hypothetical Torts scenarios, and made fun of current marketing trends.
For example, what is the point of the Oral-B® individual finger brush? Who would really brush their teeth in the metro? “Oh, I’m waiting for the train – I’ll brush my teeth.” What is this? Yeah, not embarrassing at all.
Secondly, Ziploc’s® one snap lid? Who has only one finger to use? And wouldn’t you still seal all four corners just to make sure it was safe? I could understand an elbow slam snap lid, but a finger?
However, we also gave props to some invention breakthroughs. For instance, the Glad® Press ‘n Seal™ product was a big hit, as was the “showerhead” Saran Wrap® to snaps over bowls without it sticking to itself.
The funniest part of the night was when a few of us were practicing our Spanish and all of us refused to say Toledo, Ohio with a Spanish accent. Our reasoning was the same: Toledo, Ohio & Toledo, Spain, although technically “sister cities,” ought not to be given the same pronunciation. It would be geographically devaluing, culturally depriving, and linguistically cheapening. We said even when we speak to our Spanish-speaking clients about Toledo, Ohio, we totally anglicize it on purpose.
After the cruise, we headed over to this hip Jazz club downtown. The music was phenomenal and the group was hilarious, but my Beam & Coke was $7 – what is this, Manhattan?
Completely unrelated (great segway, I know), I was watching FOXNews Live earlier in the week, and I thank goodness for DVR. The guest was CIA operative Wayne Simmons. He was talking about the recent beheadings in Southwest Asia (Eurocentrically referred to as the Middle East). Amongst his ramble, he said and I quote, “Americans in the west are genetically good people.” For the love of . . . uhhhh . . . Toledo, someone please explain this to me.
