Ode to Forty-Six

-In December 2010, The Economist ran an article called “The Joy of Growing Old" (or why life begins at 46).

-46 is the natural number following 45 and preceding 47. 

-A typical human cell contains a total of 46 chromosomes.

-A large Disney Cars puzzle consists of 46 large pieces.

-Items that are 46 inches or larger require special shipping costs.

-US manufacturing still tops China's by nearly 46 percent.

-46% = 0.46

-46 is the largest even integer that can't be expressed as a sum of two abundant numbers.

-46 is the 13^th semiprime.

-46% of America's lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life

-46% of Facebookers are over 45.

-46% of Americans own a smartphone.

-Planters Cashew halves and pieces are usually shipped in 46 ounce tins.

-46 is the atomic number of Palladium.

-46 is the decimal value of the ASCII code for the period.

-The Adirondack mountain range has 46 peaks.

-The code for international direct calls to Sweden is 46.

-46 in Japanese can be pronounced as "yon roku", and "yoroshiku"（よろしく） means "my best regards" in Japanese, so people sometimes use 46 for greeting.

-46 is the number that unlocks the Destiny spaceship on the popular Sci-Fi TV show Stargate Universe.

46. Not so bad after all.

The Languages of Jersey

No, not that Jersey. The Balliwick of Jersey, a crown dependency of the English monarch and part of the Channel Islands that maintains a close proximity to the Norman region of French. The Jersey language is one of the many "patois romans" or “regional dialects” of France.

The two main languages spoken in Jersey are French and of course, English. However, there is a French variant called Jèrriais (also known as Jersey French or Jersey Norman French). Jèrriais is based on the ancient Norman language. Jèrriais is one of the langues d'oïl (languages of “yes”) and is related to Norman, Dgèrnésiais, Picard, Gallo and Walloon. Never heard of any of them? Neither have I.

There are now approximately 87,000 people living in Jersey, and 20% of them are of British descent. Most of the Norman-descended population now speaks English as well. English is spoken by 94.6% of the population.

Dgèrnésiais, similar to Jèrriais, is spoken in nearby Guernsey. The language spoken in Sark, called Sercquiais, is a descendant of the Jèrriais language brought by the Jersey colonists who settled Sark in the 16th century.

In Jersey today, the Section de la langue Jèrriaise works to promote study of the language and its literature. Jèrriais classes are very common in elementary schools.

Here is a sampling of the Jèrriais language (thanks to Omniglot). As anyone who speaks French can see, it is similar to Parisian French but the spelling is quite different.

 

English	Jèrriais
Welcome	Séyiz les beinv'nu(e)(s)!
Hello	Salut / Bouônjour
How are you? I'm fine, thanks. And you?	Coumme est qu'ous êtes? (frm/pl) Coumme est qu' tu'es? (inf) Comment va? (vinf)
	Jé sis d'charme, mèrcie, et té/vos?
What's your name? My name is ...	Tch'est qu'est vot' nom? (frm) Tch'est qu'est tan nom? (inf)
	Man nom est ... / Jé sis ... / Jé m'appelle ...
Good morning	Bouônjour (à matîn)
Good day Good afternoon	Bouônjour
Good evening	Bônsouair
Good night	Bouonne niet
Goodbye	À bétôt, À bi, À la préchaine, À tantôt
Good luck	Bouonne cache / dés crouaîsis (fingers crossed)
Cheers/Good health!	Bouonne santé!

 

 

 

In Asia, White is the new Red

On March 14 every year, “White Day” is celebrated in Japan (where it originated), Taiwan, Mainland China and South Korea.

As described in my Valentine’s Day blog, in Japan, women mostly give the chocolates to the men. On March 14, the opposite happens. Men who received honmei-choco (本命チョコ, "chocolate of love") or giri-choco (義理チョコ, "courtesy or obligation chocolate") on Valentine's Day are expected to return the favor by giving gifts back to the women. The term sanbai gaeshi (三倍返し, literally, "triple the return") is used to describe the generally recited rule that the return gift should be two to three times the cost of the Valentine's gift.

In 1978 in Japan, the National Confectionary Industry Association started a holiday as an “answer day” to Valentine’s Day. Before it was called "White Day", it was known as "Marshmallow" Day (マシュマロデ). The candy company called Ishimuramanseido marketed marshmallows for men to give as gifts on March 14.

Soon after, candy companies in Japan began marketing white chocolate. Men also give jewelry, white clothing (like lingerie) and other gifts to women who had given them chocolate on Valentine’s Day. However, if the man received the “obligation chocolate”, the man may give chocolate back but only out of obligation. Cookies are also another popular gift.

White Day “campaign” went into effect and became a holiday in 1981. That first year, White Day was very popular but the next four years went downhill. After one last ditch effort, in 1986, White Day became successful and has been celebrated ever since.

In South Korea, the celebration is a bit different. The men give the women candy instead of chocolate. Unmarried 20-somethings usually participate on this day in Korea. Unmarried 20-somethings who did receive a gift on February 14 usually celebrate together and eat black bean paste noodles at a Chinese restaurant in Korea. In Taiwan and Mainland China, the celebrations are similar.

It seems to me that men need to have a pretty good memory to remember who gave them what on February 14.

Next month, I will blog about "Black Day" in South Korea (April 14) and that is where things get really interesting…