Watch your language š¤¬
This edition: English is beautiful. Change my mind.
After hitting the beach on Sunday, Iām convinced I could live by the waves full-time (and actually brush up on my swimming). Now, if only getting a home by the water was affordable. A gal can dream.
Have a great week, folks!
āConnie
In so many words: the English language is beautiful
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In two separate instances over the weekend, I had conversations about the English languageāso naturally, I wanted to explore the question here: is English beautiful? I say: yes.
The beauty of English may not be inherent in the sound of the words themselves (which is maybe what makes Romantic languages beautiful) but in the limitless combination of words to convey meaning.
With English, thereās so much room for simplicity and creativity; itās like we have a bunch of smaller Lego pieces (borrowed from other [language] sets) that we can mix and match to generate novel phrases and sentences.
Think of all the idioms with meanings that say a lot without being literal. Iād say theyāre quite artful (saying nothing of the artfulness of the myriad of writers and poets writing in English):
āBurning the midnight oilā to say one is working late
āMaking a mountain out of a molehillā to say one is behaving excessively disproportionate to a minor issue (my momās favorite idiom even though this describes her to a T)
āLooking like a million bucksā to say one looks energetic, attractive, happy.
Letās also not forget that new words are always making their way into popular use, written into history by the Oxford English Dictionary team (except for fetch). We shape the English language as much as it shapes us. Aināt that beautiful?
Plus, fun fact: all pilots & air traffic controllers are required to communicate in English. Unlike some other languages like Korean, English can be spoken without regard to hierarchy, which means aviation folks can speak to each other clearly, regardless if the other person is their superior in other contexts.
Before keto coffee was a thing: Tibetan yak butter tea
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Just last week I finished reading Eating to Extinction. From heirloom wheat to lambic beer to cured meats, the book covers just some of the foods in danger of being lost forever. Yak butter tea is one of them.
The idea of adding butter in a caffeinated drink isnāt so weird these days; the concept of butter in coffee made its rounds in the keto world. Buttered coffee is meant to be a ālife hackā, of sorts.
But for nomadic Tibetans who live in higher altitudes, yak butter tea is a key staple to surviving and thriving in the thin and cold air. A mix of barley powder, yak butter, and milk curds go in oneās serving bowl before hot brewed pu-erh tea (fermented black tea) is poured to the rim. Give it a stir with chopsticks, and the resulting liquid is a savory, high-fat, high-calorie breakfast that warms the belly and soul.
Tibetans have been making and consuming this butter tea for ages, but the process of making yak butter is an intensive, manual one, and its knowledge is getting passed on to fewer and fewer people as time goes on. While Iām sure cowās butter works all right for butter tea, thereās something special about the idea of tasting the original yak versionāgetting a taste of a peopleās past and current culture.
Fun finds
Choco taco is gone but not forgotten. Though they just announced the discontinuation of these taco-shaped ice cream treats, how they came to be is pretty legendary. āIt was hot. I hadn't had anything to drink. And then I saw a mirage. An ice cream taco, rising out of the distance.ā
Sonicās Twitter be trollināāand itās amazing. I got such a laugh out of this! Itās so stupid and unexpected, but oh-so-good. When brands donāt take themselves too seriously and have a bit of fun online, magic happens.
Making good jello shots, but with science. If you want to unleash your inner gastronomer, try making cocktail jello shots (I would 100% try a moscow mule oneādonāt forget my invite). I can see these being a hit at a throwback party!