By ecky Thump!

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As you know, my darling White Stripes have decided to come back together, release an album, and do a little touring. I was seriously considering getting tickets to Bonaroo or a show that they are playing in Birmingham (???), AL, but I'm also seriously broke right now, so not only can I not pay for a ticket, forget about paying for the shots needed to visit each state. Naturally, I was very excited still for the album (see profile picture), and still even more excited to hear the first track "Icky Thump." When I found out, I txtd Feather, who I knew would be just as excited about the news as I was. As suspected, I was right and she also added, "Who comes up with their album names?" Obviously, they do, but still, where did this one come from? I immediately went wiki digging and found this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecky_thump

There, it explains three different possibilites, the third being the album "Icky Thump." First on the list was:

• A traditional phrase By ecky-thump! (an exclamation of surprise) in Lancashire dialect, described in the article Yorkshire dialect

From there, I followed the "Yorkshire dialect" link where I furthered my investigation and wiki told me: ecky is described as being Lancashire, not Yorkshire, slang equivalents of heck, itself slang for hell, in Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang, Penguin 1972, entry for Heck.

Why, thank you wiki. Still though, as many websites as I folloed, I was unable to find out where the "thump" came from, but it still sounds totally cool.

Also listed on the "Ecky Thump" Wiki page is this explaination:

• "Kung Fu Kapers", an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies involving a secret Lancashire martial art known as "Ecky-Thump", which mostly revolves around hitting unsuspecting people with black puddings

I don't know about anyone else, but that sure sounds "Monty Python"-ish to me, and I will now be looking for this episode. Laughs will ensue.

So this is definitely my new cool phrase that will make me look like a total dork, but I'm still using it.

Also on the player are covers that Damien Rice did. Very cool. Very cool indeed.

Feeling better and the French Manwich

I had not realized that it's been since July 13th that I actually updated, so... hey all! My name is Affable Olive. It's gotten to where I'm usually just Affie and... it's been a while. Hope you're still there.

I knew I was completely recovered today. It wasn't the doctor's visit where they tested me to make sure nothing else was wrong. No. It was the visit to Marshalls/TJ Maxx (I can't remember which one we have out here) where I found some totally awesome deals. When I feel sick, I can't shop. It's depressing, I know. Anyway, I got this cute light-weight jacket originally from Urban Outfitters (my almost favorite store), and it still had the original tags on it. Not only had I seen it in the catalog for $78, I had proof still attached since the tag had not been removed. It said $78 as well. Guess what I paid. Just guess. (Remember in this guess that I am an extreme form of Jewishness when it comes to money, which is why I'm relating all this.) I paid $7. The shirt I thought would look cute with it was only $5. Aren't deals just loverly? There were some KangaROOS (in my opinion, the most colorfulest, cutest, and comfortablest shoes) that were only $19, but I didn't get them. Also, I saw some Pumas and laughed very hard at what must have looked to be nothing at all since I got some awkward looks from the returning UGA students. I didn't care for once. I like being all better.

[Just incase you didn't know, although my goal is to learn Chinese to help out the Chinese group in Atlanta; I'm still learning French for school though. That's not something I'm stopping since I enjoy it. The biggest feat is remembering it. After all, trilingual/multilingual sounds way awesomer than just bilingual.] Now for the French Manwich. I have no clue what they call a sloppy joe in French, especially since Manwich is actually a brand. I suppose I could look it up...wait, I will. "Sloppy Joe" comes out joe trop liquide, but I would assume that's more like saying my friend joe is a messy eater. It's not really a BBQ sandwich so I'm not going to look that up, but onward to my point. My textbook is teaching me conversational French, so I'm not learning grammatical stuff or particulars. I'm learning how to tell people formal and informal ways I like things, don't like things, things I can do with other people, suggest things to do with other people, turn people down for invites (not put downs, which I would enjoy and employ), and of course, words for school subjects and supplies beside the basics like numbers and telling time. Not too much about verbs, etc., which is the stuff I would rather be learning instead of being able to order a glass of orange juice in Quebec in French. At least I won't go hungry (or thirsty) if I ever get somewhere that no one knows English, but everyone knows French. Today was food in my French lesson and it was telling me that a toasted ham and cheese was an un croque-monsieur. That's just about the manliest noun in the French language. Not only does it have a masculine article out front, it is trailed by monsieur, which everyone knows is Mister in French. I was quite intrigued by this. My book is kinda old (for a textbook), so I looked this up. Translated, this means a crunch-Mister, or a crusty-sun burned man. That's not appetizing at all. So I went and did a little translating and of course, you get something different depending on the place you use, but I was fond of this translation: sandwich grillé à jambon et à fromage. Very long, but it has sandwich, cheese, ham, and grilled in it and I feel it's a better choice than the crusty-sun burned man option. If I ever make it to somewhere that French is spoken, and I have this feeling to order a toasted ham and cheese, I'm ordering it the female way because I don't want a man sandwich.

Wow, that sounds like something Poly would have blogged about...Also, Affie's Book/Music Wednesday have both been postponed until the last Wednesday of this month...like you were wondering where it was and didn't know how life would go on without them.

...Chinese food is good take out

With there being over 3,000 languages in the world, I think I have finally reached a decision. I'm going to do Chinese. I may discuss it with EaselWeaselBeezit and see if she wants to join me in this venture since she is among the number of my friends leaving me in the other O.C. all alone next March to go to China. I feel so left out...I'll be lonely then. By that time, I'll be 18, hopefully graduated or very close. Maybe I'll plan my own trip somewhere else to get my mind off the fact that my two best friends (who have the same birthdate and were born in the same hospital, just two years apart--CREEPY!) are in China without me. Thing is though, I'll start this year learning the language, but will not be able to help the congregation for a year probably. Of course, once I get to where I understand, I'll go, but will not be able to switch. My first priority is pioneering, and I'm not switching over until the first year that we work all of our territory here in the other O.C. (I'm sure all of this is making total sense to my school friends. If you have any questions, just e-mail me and I'll be happy to explain.) I'm pretty sure Chinese is what I want to do. All morning I had these Mandarin news casts on. So I didn't understand, but I haven't heard constant Chinese since I was in Chinatown New York City in 2000-and that's been a while. Just wanted to make sure I could stand the sound of it because I know it's going to be an awful lot of hard work and I want to like what I'm doing. After looking at all this Chinese stuff this morning, I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with my choice. Just wanted to let you all know, especially someone who has been harassing me to get motivated since January, but I know it was all for the best. See now, I've picked something that I like better than what I wanted to do originally, and I had wanted to do that for a year and a half.

In other news, I nuked a bagel for breakfast, beans and RICE! for lunch, and I'm sure I'll delight in cooking my dinner in the microwave as well. We're best friends. Hear that you guys? I won't need you next March. The Maytag will keep me company. We'll microwave and I'll gain 10 lbs. while y'all are gone. It'll do wonders with El Nopal leftovers.

Also, I got two more classes today. Mom brought the box to me and I squealed with joy. She said that she had never seen anyone so happy to get school books and I had to remind her that I was the one that looked forward to starting school, not just for the new supplies either. I loved school- just going to high school. I got the Five Novels of Change class that I wanted, and I think all five of those books are on THE LIST!, and I also got Precalculus first semester. I'm not as excited about math naturally, but it looks easier than I thought it was going to be. Thank you Mrs. Keeney! So summer school...yeah. I can't wait to finish.