¡Pérez Sez! ~ Adventures in Philippine Philology

Elementary hacking for Australian scholars who use Google Books

2012-01-16T17:02:00.024+08:00

One of the great frustrations of Australian studies in the digital age is that some of the best resources in Google Books are only available in the US. In a cruel irony, these books—which were written printed, bound and distributed in Australia and are long out of copyright—cannot be released to Australian ISPs. Thankfully, a colleague has shown me that there's a way around the restrictions which

Is Munanga a placename?

2012-01-11T05:38:00.011+08:00

Click to enlargeThis image relates to the discussion and comments on David Nash's post on Munanga. It was prepared by Kay Dancey who searched the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA, formally NIMA) GEOnet Names Server for Indonesian placenames that resemble Munanga. If the Yolngu word munaŋa is from a placename, perhaps Munangge is a candidate. The trouble is that it's not directly on a

Best of Anthropology on iTunes-U

2011-12-05T05:25:00.004+08:00

These are my favourite anthropology podcasts on iTunes-U. I haven't included links to the store because they frequently don't work. Enjoy! I'll be updating this list. If you find anything else worth listening to, please drop me a line.COURSES Geography of world culturesMartin W Lewis, StanfordA tour through world cultures, languages and migration patterns.Anthropology 114Rosemary A Joyce,

Found poetry: forgotten

2011-07-06T15:25:00.006+08:00

This found poem comes from the Webster's thesaurus entry for 'forgotten'forgottenadjectiveVivaldi's opera's are largely forgotten UNREMEMBERED, out of mind, past recollection, beyond/past recall, consigned to oblivion; left behind; neglected, overlooked, ignored, disregarded, unrecognized.

Top 10 online resources for Philippine studies

2011-02-21T13:37:00.008+08:00

I have been meaning to post a list like this for a long time now. These are resources that I absolutely can't manage without: 1. University of Michigan: The United State and Its TerritoriesA treasure trove of searchable documents from the American period, and earlier. Note that the search algorithm is unreliable, not to mention the OCR, so you need to take a guerilla approach. The site includes

Best of Linguistics on iTunes-U

2011-01-24T07:36:00.001+08:00

These are my favourite linguistics lectures on iTunes-U. They all happen to have been broadcast by the University of Arizona and the full list is here. Let me know if you find anything else that's worth listening to in iTunes U. Exploring ERP Effects of Metaphor via CrowdsourcingVicky Lai, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, and Steve Bethard, University of LeuvenA Close Look at Writing Systems,

Bloggy blog

2009-07-31T12:20:00.002+08:00

My graduate students have a blog which is part of their assessment.Look it up, comment on it. Go on, do it. Do it now.

The 11th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, or How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the Alps

2009-07-14T07:06:00.008+08:00

ALS, LSA, IPRA and ICAL. It's conference season again and all over the world linguists are garlanding their mantlepieces with acronyms.11-ICAL is long over but my body clock has only now readjusted itself, giving the memory of the whole event the distant shimmer of a dream.AussoisMost visually spectacular: Fiona Hardy, 'Population size and language change: Do evolutionary laws hold for culture?'

Word sponsorship a-go-go

2009-06-03T07:32:00.005+08:00

Last year you may recall that Collins launched a celebrity-driven campaign to rescue obscure English words from oblivion. On the face it there's something raw-prawnian about the whole venture. After all, in any living language words will come in and out of general use with the natural regularity of breathing. When pressed on this point, Collins insisted that they made reference dictionaries (not

Oh my god

2009-05-01T09:51:00.002+08:00

Cesar Montano hot on going global By Marinel Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 20:49:00 04/29/2009 CESAR MONTANO, award-winning actor-director and TV host, recently went to the United States for a series of meetings with casting directors. “I’m doing a follow-up on several projects that I’m eyeing,” Cesar told the Inquirer

How to Script your own Magic-Realist Arthouse Bohollywood Movie

2009-04-01T10:54:00.006+08:00

Step 1: Leave Bohol to pursue a film career in ManilaStep 2: Wait till the end of a provincial election cycle then return to Bohol and run for Guv'norStep 3: Warm up the campaign by announcing plans to make a film about Dagohoy or the EskayaStep 4: Ignore any linguistic data that gets in the way of a crackin' yarnStep 5: Action!

How to Write your own Philippine Legislation

2009-04-01T10:24:00.008+08:00

Step 1. Encrypt your legislation in a wikipedia article:Step 2. Wait for members of congress to Google itStep 3. Admire your finished House Resolution:[click images to see more]

Moving mountains

2008-12-13T15:45:00.009+08:00

Did anyone see this article in The Australian the other day?A few interesting excerpts:Ms Baird says the name came to her in a dream. "I reckon it was the spirits of the Jaithmathang mob telling me, 'Get it together, this is our place'," she says.***Accusing the Victorian Government of being "linguistically and culturally illiterate", he says the Jaithmathangs (a spelling of mystifying origin

Conspicuous Verbosity

2008-11-18T12:56:00.003+08:00

David Brooks, author of Bobos in Paradise, famously redefined social class as a factor of what you consume, rather than who you are, where you're from or how much you earn. For Brooks, wealth or its lack doesn't guarantee access to a given social groups and all classes develop shibboleths of consumption for guarding their gates.Perhaps this is why the nouveau riche are, historically and presently

Filipino proto-joke

2008-11-11T10:55:00.009+08:00

It is my contention that all humour in the Philippines is descended from one parent joke cracked some 6000 years ago somewhere in northern Luzon. I have reconstructed this joke in a lengthy process of categorising all present Filipino jokes into subgroups and predicting earlier forms via consistent changes. The ancient proto-joke runs thus:Dodong met Inday for the first time and was sure he

¿Wez Perez?: more signs of the times

2008-11-02T07:41:00.016+08:00

Come Back & Kiss (Cambaquiz, Get it?, Cabilao, Bohol)G.I. Joe says "Just say No" (Guindulman, Bohol)This shit is the 100% NATURAL snake oil. Not like that synthetic crap you get from fairground quacks. (Malate, Manila)The script translates as 'No entry for the...' (Panglao Island, Bohol)

¿Wez Perez?: signs of the times

2008-10-20T10:24:00.003+08:00

The Gospel according to Lucre. (Tablas Island)Placenta. Maybe she's born with it. (Cebu City)Narcotics have special needs, yo. (Dumaguete)Shitheads are kindly requested to refrain from smoking on the jeepney. (Negros north coast)

Back!

2008-10-15T12:59:00.008+08:00

It's been a long time between posts. I finished my chapter of Lonely Planet Philippines ed. 10 which proved to be a bigger monster than I ever expected. (To all those lovely people I met on the road who thought I had the best job in the world, I can suggest a few better ones: wine taster, cartoonist, model, bestselling author, sweatshop supervisor, chocolate manufacturer, guide-dog trainer,

Say it don't spray it

2008-08-11T16:39:00.009+08:00

OK, since I've been on the look out for this phenomenon I'm seeing it everywhere. I'm talking about a tendency to pronounce a given word in a way contrary to its common pronunciation but more or less consistently with its spelling (as interpreted in the most reasonable way possible). Thanks to Wikipedia I've discovered that there is a term for this. Rather unimaginatively it's called 'spelling

Philo logy

2008-07-07T08:27:00.008+08:00

Back in the 'ppines and it's like I never left. Zero culture shock. Everything is just as I left it except my Metrobank account where my P800 have disappeared into the mouth of a crocodile. Not to worry.The typhoon was intense and I'm very glad that I wasn't on board the ferry which sank just of the coast of the island where I was marooned for four days. Anyway, I won't bore you with typhoon

I can do that

2008-06-14T15:06:00.003+08:00

I'm outta here. First stop, the Bermuda Triangle that is the Romblon islands. I suspect that Lonely Planet authors are amongst the few outside visitors that Romblanons ever have to deal with. Tally ho, chaps!In other news, word on the street is that Monsieur Downer is casting about for a new job. Given his dexterous multilingualism he might consider taking inspiration from Catherine Tate:

Telling Whorfies

2008-06-09T22:05:00.011+08:00

I just noticed that the word for 'reputation' in Visayan is a nominalised form of the verb 'hear'. I promise I won't get all Whorfian on you but I can't help arching an eyebrow, especially in the light of early discussion on chismis and Filipino epistemologies.Obese children are all the rage in the Visayas and the nation at large. Want to sell magical breast milk formula that increases your

Found poetry: Ana is pretty. Ana is dumb.

2008-06-08T16:06:00.001+08:00

From example sentences in 'Cebuano Grammar Notes', Cebuano Language Packet. Peace Corps, Manila. 1993.Ana is pretty.Ana is dumb.Ana is pretty but dumb.How pretty you are today.Imelda is really very pretty.Helen is as beautiful as Lisa.Lisa is more beautiful than Dina.She is the most beautiful.My perfume may be used on children.She accidentally drank poison.Oh, how corny!....Have you ever seen a

This Asian is in danger of being swamped...

2008-06-03T15:42:00.003+08:00

So the odious John Pasquarelli is tying the knot with a Filipina! Does she have any idea what she is in for? For pity's sake, somebody put a stop to this at once!(Pauline?)Further, it appears that he has taken up painting. Perhaps this shows the more sensitive side of Big John or maybe he just wanted pastime fit for a Führer.

Out of Amazon

2008-05-31T07:46:00.025+08:00

Just as I was going out the door yesterday I heard a report on Radio National that an uncontacted tribe of the Amazon had just discovered the outside world. You can read the abc report here.The images of contact are more powerfully reminiscent of 1492 than 2008 and it's impossible not to be moved by them.Here's a clip from Al Jazeera:Some time in the 1990s I read a similar news item about a 'lost

The clash of epistemologies

2008-05-27T19:50:00.004+08:00

Cultural relativism as a concept is easily hijacked by ideologues. From the universalist idealism of navel gazers (“gravity is a cultural construct, dudes”) to the authoritarian logocentricity of Culture Warriors (“gravity is a uniquely Australian value, diggers”), the propaganda potential of relativism is exploited everywhere. Before you smugly point out that everything is always automatically

Motherfather

2008-05-19T10:18:00.004+08:00

Recently photographed in Warralong by Zabia C. An example of an expletive eggcorn?

Visayas: what's hot, what snot.

2008-05-14T12:35:00.006+08:00

Soon I'll be off to the Visayas to update a guidebook. I am covering: Cebu, Comotes, Bohol, Negros, Siquijor, Romblon, Iloilo City and Guimaras.I'll be doing a teeny-weeny bit of PhD stuff when I reach Tagbilaran and the southeast coast of Bohol but mostly it will be hotel, restaurant and activity reviews back-to-back.Suggestions for the new edition? Add 'em via the comments button.Can't promise

Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are Warned.

2008-05-11T08:49:00.008+08:00

Last Wednesday Mary G read on air a letter by Maria Malay, a Kija elder of the Kimberley. It regarded the illegal naming of a mining company after Maria Malay's deceased father and had originally been sent to the Broome Advertiser.On request Mary G sent me a copy, and Maria has granted me permission to reproduce the letter on this blog and to distribute it electronically. If anyone wants the

The Linguists

2008-05-02T15:50:00.010+08:00

My nyupa just sent me a link to the trailer for a film called The Linguists, a documentary featuring David Harrison and Gregory Anderson, better known in the lingoblogsophere as the guys from Enduring Voices.It looks like it could be a bit of fun although if the kerfuffle over Enduring Voices is anything to go by I predict the following criticisms from members linguist community (note: I

Marti-farti

2008-04-26T21:37:00.010+08:00

I recently arrived back from a ten-day artists’ workshop on Martu country where I was volunteering as a driver and general spare hand. An amazing journey. I now feel like I have far clearer appreciation of the giddy gulf that yawns between culture-as-theory and culture-as-experience and I’m grateful to all those patient enough to educate me. Avoidance relationships, for instance, are all very

Half Nelson

2008-03-23T14:30:00.009+08:00

A fairly obvious observation but I’ll make it anyway. Politicians are almost always referred to by their full names until they become the national leader at which point they are almost always referred to by their family names. So before Howard was PM he was John Howard, before Rudd was PM he was Kevin Rudd and even Kevin. Deputies and opposition leaders aren’t awarded this distinction. Julia

Colourless, green, ideas.

2008-03-14T12:20:00.003+08:00

Change your smoke alarm battery. Clean up before cyclone season. Put the bins out. Relaunch your blog.Note the return to a more humid green and the reclamation of 'Filipiniana'. Am still in red sand of the 'bara but dreaming of southeast Bohol. Furiously.Now that I've got my name on an office door somewhere in the Library of Babel I'm predicting that my bus-driving days are over, at least in the

It was time, stupid.

2007-11-27T11:30:00.000+08:00

If the real deal happens, and John Howard is replaced by a FEMALE, LABOR, ABC JOURNALIST, how could you not see, in her sparkling eyes, a reflection of the light on the hill?—Guy RundleClick on image to enlarge.We will all get the leader we deserved in Kevin Rudd, and sooner rather than later we will be disappointed in his government.But what makes me so immeasurably happy and excited about the

¿Wez Pérez? IX

2007-11-15T09:56:00.000+08:00

Adventure before dementia: the most exciting thing ever to happen at Sandfire Roadhouse has now been condensed as a wall poster. Get one for granddad... Children covet assault rifles at the Blackrock Stakes...Are you lookin' at me? Goddamn, are you lookin' at me?.. Dangerous "Danger" Dave keeps it real so that the rest of us don't have to...Jack the sleeping man and the cat who made him pregnant

Ruddisms

2007-11-07T12:22:00.000+08:00

From today's free-to air Crikey Lite.Ruddisms: A very Crikey glossary Jane Nethercote writes:What a delightful way Kevin Rudd has with words. John Howard may be stuck in the 1950s on policy, but it's Rudd who speaks like he's walked straight off the set of Dad and Dave. There are the rhetorical questions, the "hairy chested" sayings, not to mention a host of words plucked from obscurity by Rudd

A new quack at Quadrant

2007-10-24T16:03:00.001+08:00

If there's one thing that shits me to tears it's pompous political pamphlets trying to pass themselves off as academic periodicals of high scholarly rigour. Well, OK, just one in particular. I'm talking about Quadrant, and it turns out that Keith Windschuttle is now the editor. I'm not opposed to this for a couple o' reasons. First, it demonstrates the axiom that any crackpot – no matter how

Western Australianisms

2007-10-13T11:24:00.001+08:00

Below is a short list of Western Australianisms. I'll update this post as I think of more.Thanks to Eleonora Deak for helping me with this. There is always going to be difficulty in differentiating terms that are truly and uniquely West Australian from those that are shared by neighbouring states. Eleonora has pointed out that there's also the issue of Western Australian Aboriginal English versus

Don't tase me, bro!

2007-10-07T10:05:00.000+08:00

Click on image to enlarge.Click on image to enlarge. At last, an artificially generated catchphrase to rival "It's the economy, stupid". Strangely, neither Language Log nor Burgo have picked up on it yet. Perhaps it's already too unhip, even for Burgo.Since the "Don't tase me, bro" incident at the University of Florida, the phrase has indeed been used in both a Britney Spears diatribe and a

Hedland Comics Workshop (random plug)

2007-10-01T12:31:00.000+08:00

Ever wanted to write and draw your own comics?Learn how to come up with ideas, develop characters, build a narrative, work with frames, draw striking images. No talent necessary.7 & 14 October, Lotteries House, 2 Leake St, South Hedland, Western AustraliaBookings: 0422 980 680The Hedland Comics Workshop is generously funded by the Big Hairy People who put dirt in boats, and is presented by comic

Australia and China are enjoying simultaneous orgasms

2007-09-26T10:21:00.000+08:00

Following on from the Downer vs Rudd language-off…On the most recent Lingua Franca, former diplomat Richard Woolcott reads from a chapter of his memoir Undiplomatic Activities (transcription is mine, you can listen to the whole thing here): Despite his command of French leaving something to be desired, one of our senior ambassadors had been posted to France. In one of his speeches he looked back

And my profit on't is I know how to curse

2007-09-24T12:10:00.000+08:00

Anti-Caliban language policy in the South Hedland centre.

A method for quantifying accuracy in old wordlists

2007-09-17T12:33:00.000+08:00

I've come up with a little system for quantifying accuracy rates in old wordlists of dubious quality, especially in the context of native title.Instead of saying "This Bandaloop wordlist, elicited by the Irish pastoralist Bert O'Riley in 1891, shows a 77.2% similarity to the Bandaloop spoken today", you end up with figures like this…[Bandaloop wordlist compared to latest Bandaloop dictionary Ed.

Le pauvre petit M. Downer

2007-09-11T10:47:00.000+08:00

Lit critic Hugh Kenner once observed that "to mock Dwight Eisenhower it was sufficient to quote him verbatim".Well, here's our very own satirist Alexander Downer commenting on Kevin Rudd's Mandarin skills at APEC: (from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald):Remember I am the foreign minister so whether I can speak French or not seems to be reasonably immaterial. It's not something that I can

3174 wants your postage stamp

2007-09-03T21:27:00.000+08:00

Members of TISM impersonating themselves.If you grew up in Melbourne in the ’90s you might be familiar with legend of the 3174 gang, immortalised by TISM in their song Mournington Ride:Don't get off the train at BroadiePetrol heads want your ToranaDon't get off the train at LavertonGorilla gang wants your bananaDon't get off the train at Box HillThe skaters, they want your rampDon't get off the

Go balloons—balloons?

2007-09-02T08:10:00.000+08:00

Go balloons, go balloons!Go balloons!I don't see anything happening.Go balloons! Go balloons! Go balloons!Standby confetti.Keep coming, balloons.More balloons.Bring it—balloons, balloons, balloons!We want balloons, tons of them.Bring them down.Let them all come.No confetti.No confetti yet.No confetti.All right, go balloons, go balloons.We need more balloons.All balloons! All balloons!Keep going!

Cultural heritage for the krazy warehouse guy

2007-08-28T07:17:00.000+08:00

This jolly little flier turned up in our letterbox last week. A google search of the phone number indicated that this person has also been operating in Newcastle, Sydney and Albany. Imagining myself to be in an episode of The Circuit I dropped the flier into the police station next to the office where I've temporarily set up. The police, baffled, suggested I call the number for consumer

Phoney Phigures

2007-08-23T20:58:00.000+08:00

An amusing excerpt from an otherwise unamusing investigative piece in the Sydney Morning Herald. Joel Gibson and Debra Jopson were reporting on the creative accounting in the oz government's indigenous spending, where services for the general public that are also used by indigenous people were counted in the indigenous budget (thereby masking the more serious cuts). These include such exclusive

Name that language

2007-08-20T18:52:00.000+08:00

The Broome museum has a strict No Photography policy which is somewhat odd because if you've been there you'll know that it's not so much a museum as a shed stuffed with all the left-over trinkets from a church fair. Resting broken against a tree in the backyard is a tombstone of the rough-edged Japanese cemetery variety, and on it is the following message:In memore3 de Desiembie de 1885

Found Poetry III: I'll find my frog/ who took my frog

2007-08-12T08:15:00.000+08:00

If I looking for froghim name is hopkin green frogI lost my frog329-3228Love, TerryP.S. I'll find my frogwho took my frogwho found my frog2012 15th AVE. S

Crackpot Quiz

2007-07-29T19:35:00.000+08:00

Below are four quotations and four crackpots. Who wrote what? Match the words to the whacko and you could be eligible to win… my esteem.i."Although it seems absurd to consider, even as a last possibility, the Australian origin of tartaruga and its spread to Europe during the Great Peoples’ Migration by returning Roman, Greek or Teutonic seafarers, it should at least be mentioned. In this

Some estimable but probably prosaic gentleman

2007-07-19T20:32:00.000+08:00

Here we are approaching the ascent of Jarndunmunha (above), formerly and formally Mt Nameless.This statement from Yinhawangka elder Lola Young is printed on one of the walls of the Karijini visitors centre:You know the non-Aboriginal people named the biggest hill around here, at Tom Price, Mount Nameless. They didn't ask the Aboriginal people here if that place had a name already. And it had. Its

Ngarla dude, or what to wear at this year's native title consent determinations

2007-06-25T16:47:00.000+08:00

The Ngarla determination, on the Banks of the De Grey River, was the most fun I've had in court ever. Can't wait for the next one…but what to wear?When consent determinations finally happen it's so exciting that lawyers dress like characters from a Dickens novel.Whitefella pollies get an opportunity to don their costume cowboy hats and pose with genuine old-school ringers.Traditional owners dress

In the desert, you can't remember your name

2007-06-25T16:25:00.000+08:00

Perhaps one morning you wake up with the taste of dust in your mouth and wonder where you are. A sudden onset of amnesia has left you in a State of Bewilderment but you don't recall ever having seen Bewilderment on a map. A sign outside the local pub advertises STATE OF OREGAN 5.30pm. Where is Oregan? Is it somewhere near Alobama? As you get to your feet you disturb a Ta Ta Lizard that ta tas off

Pronunciation of Western Australian place names

2007-02-01T10:51:00.002+08:00

At first it's just irritating, then it becomes weirdly unnerving and finally it makes you scream, ‘Why do West Aussies insist on pronouncing their place names as they are spelt and not as they are traditionally pronounced by everyone else in the universe? Why is Albany pronounced ['ælbəni] and not ['ɔːlbəni]? Why does Exmouth become ['ɛks'maʊθ] rather than ['ɛksməθ]?’Ok, deep breaths. Let us be

Precisely how one sez ‘Pérez’

2007-02-01T08:51:00.000+08:00

Somebody recently reached this site by typing the following into Google: “How to pronounce the last name Pérez”. The IP address indicated that the searcher was in Mexico.Pronunciation Perez, pronounce Perez, Spanish name Perez.Well, this might be a bit like closing the gate after the burro has bolted but for the record, Pérez should be pronounced peh-rez with the empahsis on the first syllable.

Phishing for compliments

2006-12-14T08:52:00.000+08:00

Good afternoon, I got your resume from SEEK Australia job-site and it suites our company requirements. My name is Roger Longbotham, I represent Georgemetway Incorp company located in Europe. Our company is seekeing for a representatives in Australia for full and part-time jobs. No relocation is needed, job duties include mail and payments processing, standart office duties and everyday

¿Wez Perez? VIII: Back-o-Burke's backyard

2006-11-14T14:34:00.000+08:00

A behind-the-scenes look at life on the frontlines of Ozzie linguistics.NASA has announced plans to send a space probe to the surface of South Hedland in late 2009.The arid Pilbara landscape is embellished with a number of tastefully ornamental water features.Cowgirl Jodi gets the blues contemplating the rugged Pilbara plains. Germans boast that their nation can fit into the Pilbara 23 times but

Found poetry II: It lives the elephant

2006-11-14T10:03:00.000+08:00

I asked a machine to translate sections of a human-interest article in the Der Tagesspiegel, and instead she was moved to write a poem about it. The elephant should become part of a sculpture park,in the backyard of Enis earlier studio in white lake.The park was only furnished never, instead to have it there a playground built.The artist felt deceived.