Friday, September 9, 2011

Life's True Lessons I Learned in Kindergarten

Enjoy this real piece of wisdom.

All I ever needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten

from “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum


Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand box at nursery school.

These are the things I learned. Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are food for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw some and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday.

Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out in the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why. We are like that.

And then remember that book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK! Everything you need to know is there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology, and politics and the sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

So true. Peace.


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Pink Skink



THE PINK SKINK

By Philip Schanberger

Illustrated by Carol Carone

All rights reserved. © ApplePieBrasil



I once had a pet skink whose color was pink.

Now that’s quite unusual, wouldn’t you think?


He had a long tail that was bit by a mink,

so he dragged it around, complete with a kink.

Once when he was thirsty and needed a drink,

he climbed up the cupboards to the edge of the sink.


When he got to the rim, perched high on the brink,

he lost his balance and was gone in a blink.


He slid down the drain pipe, plated in zinc,

with his crooked tail going “clink, clink, clink.”


I grabbed my tools and loosened a link,

As he popped out his head, he gave me a wink.


Dirty and grimy, the color of ink,

I was happy to find my little pink skink.

Dedicated to my family:

Kaydon, John, James, Lucas and Momma too.

I love you all.

We're not so different, well kind a sort of......

Here is a list of words that we use in English that have some root (history) in Portuguese. This may help you learn your English a little quicker now that we already speak the same language. Well, in so many words we do.

This is a list of English words potentially borrowed or derived from Portuguese (or Galician-Portuguese). The list also includes words originally derived from other languages:

Albacore
from albacor from Arabic بكورة al-bukr (="the young camels")
Albino
from albino, with the same meaning, from Latin albus
Albatross
an alteration of albatroz, under influence of the Latin word albus ("white");
Alcatraz
(="gannet") from Arabic غطاس al-ġaţţās ("the diver")

Amah
from Portuguese ama, nurse, housemaid, from Medieval Latin amma, mother
Anil
from anil, through French, via Arabic النيل al-nili and Persian نیلا nila; ultimately from Sanskrit नीली nili (="indigo).
Auto-da-fé, a judicial 'act' or sentence of the Inquisition
from auto da fé (= "act/sentence of faith")
Banana
from Portuguese or Spanish (more probably from Portuguese, as the most widespread Spanish word is plátano); from Portuguese, of African origin; akin to Wolof banäna banana
Baroque
from barroco (adj. = "unshapely")
Breeze
(= "from Portuguese word brisa")
Bossa nova
(= "new trend" or "new wave")
Buccaneer
from Tupi mukém

Cachalot
from Portuguese cachalote (same meaning), probably via Spanish or French. The Portuguese word comes from cachola ("head" or "big head").
Carambola
Portuguese, perhaps from Marathi कराम्बल karambal
Caramel
from caramelo, caramel, from Late Latin calamellus
Caravel
from caravela
Carioca
from Tupi "carioca" (cari = white men, oca = house; house of the white men), via Portuguese carioca (native of Rio de Janeiro)
Carnauba
from carnaúba
Caste
from casta (="class")
Cashew
from caju (a tropical fruit)
Cobra
shortening of cobra-de-capelo, with the same meaning (literally, "snake with a hood").
Coconut
from coco (coconut)
Commando
from comando (="command")
Cougar
from French couguar, from Portuguese suçuarana, perhaps from Tupian sɨwasuarána or Guaraní guaçu ara.
Cow-tree
a tree abundant in a milk-like juice : from árvore, pau de vaca (="tree of cow")
Creole
French créole, from Castilian Spanish criollo, person native to a locality, from Portuguese crioulo, diminutive of cria, ("'person raised in one's house with no blood relation, a servant'"), < Portuguese criar ("'to rear, to raise, to bring up'") , from Latin creare, to beget; < Latin creo ("'to create'"), which came into English via French between 1595 and 1605. [same root as creature]
Dodo
According to Encarta Dictionary and Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, "dodo" comes from Portuguese doudo (currently, more often,doido) meaning "fool" or "crazy". The present Portuguese word dodô ("dodo") is of English origin. The Portuguese word doudo or doidomay itself be a loanword from Old English (cp. English "dolt").
Embarass
from Portuguese embaraçar (same meaning; also to tangle - string or rope ), from em + baraço (archaic for "rope")[1]
Emu
from ema (="rhea")

Fetish
from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço ("charm", "sorcery", "spell"), from Latin factitius or feticius ("artificial")
Flamingo
from Portuguese flamingo, from Spanish flamenco
Grouper
from garoupa
Guarana
from Portuguese guaraná, from Tupi warana
Jaguar
from Tupi or Guaraní jaguarete via Portuguese
Junk
from junco, from Javanese djong (Malay adjong).
Lambada
from lambada (="beating, lashing")
Macaque
from macaco, through French
Macaw
from macau; ultimately from Tupi macavuana.
Mandarin
from mandarim, from the Portuguese verb mandar (='to rule; to send') via the Dutch mandorijn, from the Malay mantri, from Hindi मंत्रीmatri, from Sanskrit मन्त्रिन् mantrin (="counsellor")
Mango
from manga, via Malay mangga, ultimately from Malayalam മാങ്ങ māṅṅa or from Tamil மாங்காய் mānkāy
Mangrove
probably from Portuguese mangue mangrove (from Spanish mangle, probably from Taino) + English grove
Manioc
from mandioca (="cassava") from Tupi mandioca.
Maraca
from maracá from Tupi
Marimba
from Portuguese, of Bantu origin; akin to Kimbundu ma-rimba : ma-, pl. n. pref. + rimba, xylophone, hand piano
Marmalade
from marmelada, a preserve made from marmelo (="quince")
Molasses
from melaço (="treacle")
Monsoon
from monção
Mosquito
from Mosquito meaning 'little fly'
Mulatto
Portuguese mulato. From mula (=mule) a cross between a horse and a donkey or from the Arabic term muwallad, which means "a person of mixed ancestry"
Negro
Negro means "black" in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, being from the Latin word niger (Dative nigro, Accusative nigrum) and the Greekword Νέγρος Negros both of the same meaning. It came to English through the Portuguese and Spanish slave trade. Prior to the 1970s, it was the dominant term for Black people of African origin; in most English language contexts (except its inclusion in the names of some organizations founded when the term had currency, e.g. the United Negro College Fund), it is now considered either archaic or a slur in most contexts.

Pagoda
from pagode; corruption of Persian بوتکاتا butkata (+"idol deity")
Palaver
a chat, from palavra (="word"), Portuguese palavra (word), parabola (parable), speech (current fala, discurso), chat (current bate-papo, papo {pronunc. : bahtchy papoo}, palavrinha, conversa and also Eng. chat) alteration of Late Latin parabola, speech, parable.
Palmyra
from palmeira (="palm")
Pickaninny
from pequenina (="little one") or pequeninha (="toddler")
Piranha
from piranha (=piranha), from Tupi pirá ("fish") + ánha ("cut")
potato
from "batata"
Sablefish
from sável (="shad," "whitefish")
Samba
from samba ; ultimately of Angolan origin, semba
Sargasso
from sargaço (="sargasso")
Savvy
from sabe he knows, from saber to know
Stevedore
from estivador (="stevedore")
Tank
from tanque
Tapioca
from tapioca
Teak
from teca
Tempura
Japanese 天麩羅, tenpura?, also written as "天ぷら", from Portuguese têmporas, (=Ember Days)
Verandah
from varanda (="balcony" or "railing"), from Hindi वरांडा varanda or Bengali baranda
Yam
from inhame or Spanish igname from West African nyama (="eat")
Zebra
from zebra (same meaning), which started as the feminine form of zebro (a kind of deer), from vulgar Latin eciferus, classical LatinEQUIFERVS.

[edit]