9.8.11 Adam News and Info

I have to chime in on the US and UK English discussion.

The proper expression is "I couldn't care less."

The other expression -- "I could care less." -- is a US version of the expression. My opinion is that it is a Jewish American invention -- because it is parallel to many Yiddish expressions.

Here is a well-researched summary of the origin:

A bit of history first: the original expression, of course, was I couldn’t care less, meaning “it is impossible for me to have less interest or concern in this matter, since I am already utterly indifferent”. It is originally British. The first record of it in print I know of is in 1946, as the title of a book by Anthony Phelps, recording his experiences in Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II. By then it had clearly become sufficiently well known that he could rely on its being recognised. It seems to have reached the US some time in the 1950s and to have become popular in the latter part of that decade. The inverted form I could care less was coined in the US and is found only there. It may have begun to be used in the early 1960s, though it turns up in a written form only in 1966.

Why it lost its negative has been much discussed. It’s clear that the process is different from the shift in meaning that took place with cheap at half the price. In that case, the inversion was due to a mistaken interpretation of its meaning, as has happened, for example, with beg the question.

Link: www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ico1.htm

US English is filled with Yiddish influence and expressions that do not exist in British English. "Who knew!?"

These words are all Yiddish and all common in US English....

1. shlep
2. shlemiel
3. shlimazel
4. shmooze (what we do at ATop)
5. shmaltzy
6. schlock
7. spiel
8. schmuck
9. shalom
10. shtik

And because Adam loves fashion -- schmartas!!

This is what I always thought:

Shlemiel, Shlimazel
stephanie-thingsfallapart.blogspot.com/2007/12/shlemiel-shlimazel.html

Who knew that these were real words with real meanings? Not me. I remember them from Laverne and Shirley show that was on in the 70s. I thought they were nonsense words. Come to find out that they are Yiddish.

Here are the definitions:

shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup.

shlimazel
Someone with constant bad luck. When the shlemiel spills his soup, he probably spills it on the shlimazel.

This is one of my favorite Adam pictures. When I sent it to my friends in Switzerland and Holland, they were amazed this wasn't a picture of a young Elvis.

So, the waters have started to recede around my house and I now can get out of the neighborhood again...i.e. to go to the store should I need to. Houses in my neighborhood were never impacted, we are up on a hill, but everybody needs to go down to go anywhere around here, so we were kind of landlocked for about 24 hours.

Kids are out of school tomorrow. Drinking water needs to be boiled, but that is all, we still HAVE water, and so far it looks clear and not brown, lights are still on and water level in creek is going down...so I have every reason to be thankful.

Now down in Harrisburg the river will only crest Saturday morning and there are all kinds of evacuations.

Given that the town of Wilkes-Barre is dear and well-known to every Adam fan, I thought I include two videos from there. First one is Jim Cantore reporting today from Wilkes-Barre when the river was at 34 feet.

www.nbcphiladelphia.com/weather/stories/River_is_34_Feet_Above_Flood_Level_in_Wilkes-Barre_Philadelphia-129489093.html

He says in the video that it is supposed to reach 3-4 feet more by midnight, but we have already passed that, it was at 38 feet at 5 pm and is now expected to crest at 41.8 feet, another 3-4 feet higher. That is exactly the same height the river reached in 1972 and obviously this bridge will then be overflown. Many of you probably crossed that bridge on your visit.

Next video is of downtown and has the theater in it that all of you who were at the concert will recognize. You see the water lapping at the buildings there and most of you know how far from the river that was. Amazing that basements would take on water so far away.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hV2yOd0s0&feature=related

Since then the levies were increased to 41 feet, so things are not exactly like in 1972, but if the river goes higher than that tonight, these new levies will spill over too. They were built for the once in 400 year flood - per the local engineers. Mother nature did not get that memo I suppose, because here we are in 2011 and reaching that level again.

Every inch higher or lower will matter tonight for this town. The power and dimension of flood water is just mind-boggling. So perhaps we can send a few positive thoughts to Wilkes-Barre, they will need it tonight.

Got to now go back - have about 2 days worth of reading to catch up on, will see what all has been going on in Adamland meanwhile.