sheftali52

Oh polenta, you are fun! I believe you're talking about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? Those opening notes are famous.

Login

I think sheftali is right.

The tune was played frequently by the British during the second world war because those four notes, three short and one long, also represent the letter V in Morse Code ... and V represented victory.

Baldur

Here is an interesting site, click on any of the obscure, endangered words to get their meaning and usage

.http://savethewords.org/

enjoy,
your squiriferous host

Baldur

Baldur recommends turn the volume off on your computer when using the word site. The noises it makes are quite annoying

polenta

Baldur, it's a fun place. I learned people only use 7,000 words... well I can communicate with half this number. LOL But how interesting it is to know that people want to save words apart from whales or clean non-polluted air. Had never thought about it.

polenta

Sheftali and Login are the WINNERS.
And Login taught us something new. I only knew about the Victory Sign used by Churchill and others later consisting of separating the index and the middle finger.
Thanks.

Baldur

'All Baldur, Some of the Time'

Happy Birthday to:
Aubrey Beardsley, Hayden Panetierre, Kim Cattrall, Count Basey, Melvin Van Peebles, Wilt Chamberlain and Kenny Rogers

Baldur

Happy Birthday to:
Claude Debussy, Dorothy Parker, Deng XiaoPing, Ray Bradbury, John Lee Hooker, Norman Schwarzkopf, Valerie Harper, Carl Yastrzemski, Tori Amos and Cindy Williams

Baldur

Today Radio Baldur would like to extend Birthday greetings to:
Gene Kelly, Keith Moon, Barbara Eden, Rick Springfield, Shelley Long, River Phoenix and Kobe Bryant

Baldur

Baldur's son, and his lovely wife are flying in to Boughbreak tomorrow for a weeklong visit.
This entails massive housecleaning on my part, freshening up the guest room and restocking the larder. I'm tired already.
Next Sunday there will be a family cookout involving those few family members that Baldur has any contact with.
The menu will be:
New England steamed clams (bleccccch! but they're getting served anyway)
Grilled Hamburgers
Vegetarian Chili
Corn on the cob
Sangria
Assorted soft drinks
Watermelon
Pecan Bars with Brown Sugar Meringue
Chocolate chip/ Potato chip cookies

polenta

VEGETARIAN LUNCH! ENJOY IT THEN.

Baldur, I'm using your radio station to ask:
I know that in some card games there is a WILD CARD or JOKER. Can you use these words in another context. For example:
-They hired him at the supermarket.
-And what will he do?
- He's a WILD CARD. One day he will deliver goods, another he will run errands, yet another he will substitute a sick cashier. etc.
Is this word used well or maybe there is a better expression that you can use?
Thanks.

Baldur

Somebody please help Baldur with polenta's question. Here is my effort....

Where I live up here in New England, the use of a 'wild card' in that context would be understood but it is somewhat awkward.
A similar but not exact meaning could be gotten from 'jack of all trades'.
But that is more for use in describing a person having multiple skills, which is subtly different and difficult for me to explain.
Here is an example"
'Pierre built the cottage by himself, including the carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electrical work. He is certainly a jack of all trades.'

In your sentence polenta, he might be described as 'a floater' or even 'all-around help'.
Does anyone else have a better solution to this query?
Can anyone else please help

Baldur

?

polenta

Well, I guess your answer explains how difficult it is to translate. Today someone used this word "comodin" (wild card) and I was supposed to translate it but I certainly had a lot of doubts.
I do like this "all-around help". My intuition tells me it could be the one but I still have to look it up in the dictionary. A million and one thanks. LOL

Login

This link gives more than one use of the term 'wild card'.
For me, the first one is the one I am most familiar with ...
"The term wild card was originally used in card games, but the term has evolved to describe an unpredictable factor in any number of domains"
... 'domains' could be situations, people, things, etcetera.

Login

Oops ... forgot the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_card

polenta

Thanks for the link Login. I was thinking of the word all-purpose too but all-around or maybe in British all-round sounds so good. Thanks for the help Baldur and Login.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Yasser Arafat, Rupert Grint, Cal Ripken Jr., Steve Gutenberg and Vince McMahon.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Rachael Ray, Leonard Bernstein, Regis Philbin, Tim Burton, Billy Ray Cyrus, Gene Simmons, Monty Hall and Sean Connery.

matthew

Sean Connery is my hero... he just keeps getting sexier (like me)