trinacriabob

My father had a completely different experience. Before emigrating, he moved from southern Italy to Bolzano to work. It was very clear that, up there near the border with Switzerland and Austria, a "terrone" (derogatory word for a southern Italian who was presumed to have working-class agrarian roots) was not welcomed. He lasted less than 1 year.

Well, notice that the Aryan-Nordic types come to Italy and Spain to vacation, buy condos, retire and some want so badly "to be" Italian or Spanish, but the people in those countries don't care to visit those places and really don't even like them very much.

Boston Legal

Hey Cadillac, I thought you might find this is funny. When I was in college in SoCal and we would road-trip to Yosemite, we would always grab breakfast at Bob's Big Boy (not there anymore) on Blackstone at some ridiculous early hour. We would ask ourselves what the acronym would be if the Fresno area got a rapid transit system, like BART....hmmmm Still, I think an icon showing some kind of "wind" motion could be good.

...and those Arabs would have largely been the Moors crossing over at, or near, Gibraltar. The Moorish influence in the architecture of Spanish Andalucia and the Portuguese Algarve is really interesting. In fact, a bunch of the area names down there, such as Algarve and Albufeira, have Moorish roots.

legal name change

That's what I've always heard - that it's a Teutonic/Latin hybrid. One question, though. What enabled us (via the English language) to escape the ridiculous "tu/usted, tu/vous, tu/lei?" I really resent this and have fouled up here a time or two, only to be reprimanded by some elitist $h! who was offended.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

That has beans in it, right ZL? Do we have an icon for "fart?"

Total Fitness (their annyoing renewal offers, with a hook, go into the circular file)

Yes, to some extent... but manicotti and cannoli...UNBELIEVABLE

Tennessee

Dolly Parton (mais nao e muito nova)

Well, in Guido-land, it's "vaffanculo" (literally, it means something WORSE, but idiomatically, it means "eff off" or "go to hell") - how do you say "eff off" in Portuguese? (I may need to know that this summer).

wet dream

One more thing: The "road map" on this chart would make Sardinian unintelligble to Italians. It sounds pretty weird. Heck, they are closer to Spain than they are to Italy. I couldn't believe how many Spanish surnames are found throughout Sardinia: Palmas, Torres, etc.. Sardinia and Sicily are the best places to go in Italy if you want beach, bar none.

Very cool. 3 questions/comments: (1) where is the actual "Italian" listed instead of "Italian dialects?" (2) I do not like Catalan...just don't like it. The funny thing is that textbook Spanish, as taught to American kids, is what is spoken in South America, and not in Spain. While I was visiting Spain, someone once said to me "usted habla un Espanol correcto, que no es el Castellano." I took that as a compliment. (3) Is proximity indicated by the chart? In other words, I know Italian is closer to Spanish, yet French shows up closer. You'll like this...you know that, because of its position and "colonizations," Sicilian has absorbed words from French (accatare instead of comprare, and on and on) but it is freakily similar to Portuguese in structure...that is, the articles and prepositions in Sicilian are just like those of Portuguese instead of those of the "Sienese/Florentine" mother tongue. I wonder how that happened? Bottom line: I picked the wrong major in college.

Iraq

Title was misleading. I was expecting a YouTube on Guidos acting/looking loke idiots, but this was a pleasant surprise. The red/red combination is killer. I am assuming it's a 5.7 liter V8 (as opposed to a 5.0) and still was all cast-iron construction in that day. Wow...in all aspects...but I think your head rules over your heart ($20K).

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing...is it an invite or the usual flaunting of culture and wealth...this place just wouldn't be the same without PCS? So, B, are we invited?

there are many of us here who DON'T want to do "ocean." That aside, I don't like hanging out in the sharks' living room.

I don't much care for: women who have octuplets on our government's money...

Sounds idealistic, and camino IS an idealist, but it's not workable. We are irrevocably intertwined with the rest of the world and, with more people in the US that can be categorized as "recent" immigrants, that's even less likely to happen. However, I like the idea. That's why I talk about Portugal and Uruguay so much...because I would love to hole up in a quiet corner of either of those two countries and just say "f@#k everybody and everything," but I have to work and can't afford that.

Mary Kay (pink Grand Prixs )

Have a great birthday! Is it cold up there? Any plans?