Blurry once again.
I really don't know how to hold a camera steady.
Maybe I need a tripod.
Anyway- still life with cup of coffee, bottle of anoop, and tin of foul, 18"x16" I think

    THE ORIGINAL BENJI-B. My friend Benji-B says I waste too much time writing about people talking funny. However, I looked at Benji-B's internet blog-page and it's about "hanging out" and how he can't find a job. Thrilling stuff, Benjamin. Let the linguisists among us alone is all I have to say.
    But Mr Benji-B did have a piece of linguistic observation, which he shared with me the other night over burritos. He told me that he had a 'theory' that people from Washington state, tucked up in this little corner of these United States, pronounce windmill "win'meal". I tried it on myself- I say "win'mill". But Ben does have a point- I've heard people saying similar. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone say 'windmill' exactly, because we don't have any windmills that I'm aware of in Seattle; the only way it might come up is I guess if someone saw one on TV or a book or something. Not a very common word. I imagine too that 'mill' is not common at all; I don't know that I've ever had occasion to utter the word, whereas 'meal' is somewhat commoner and maybe tugs people that way. No matter what, I wouldn't pronounce the 'd', although Ben told me he "always does" and said "windmill" a few times for me.
    Thankyou, guest linguist Benji-B. Check out Benji-B's band, the Bow and Arrow. I saw them last week and Ben really pounds away at those drums. I was disappointed they didn't seem to have any vocals, but maybe I was in the wrong place or the P.A. sucked. Either way, you can hear them over the internet. Thankyou again, Benji-B!
    MORE FUNNY TALK. Sometimes I give a little listen to the BBC to see what new and innovative ways the British have come up with to torture our poor American language. It's always something. I listened to a programme the other day on fungi. Now, I pronounce the word /fun-gye/. As far as I was aware, that's the pronunciation. Hence the 'What did the girl mushroom say about the boy mushroom' joke. Yet the fellow on the radio- who I believe identified himself as a mycologist- said "fun-jye" over and over. Now what sense does that make? Why would 'g' turn to 'j' if you added an 'i'? Well, I looked in the dictionary, and what did I see- it showed "fun-jye"! No mention anywhere of 'fun-gye'! H'm! I learned the world in grade school in Los Angeles, and that's how everyone said it- can we all have been desperately confused?
    Then, on top of all this, the host came on, and he pronounced it "fungy" (or "fun-ghee" if you prefer). WHAT?!?!?!?!?!!?
    I also want to note that all the British on the programme pronounced 'us' as /əz/ (and that schwa is being generous; most of the time the British pronounce that 'u' with a sort of strangulated gurgle). Whoever told the British that "us" has a /z/ sound in it? Now, I say 'is' with a /z/ sound, but 'us'?! Then, to top it off, I heard a British woman pronounce 'is' /iss/- no /z/ at all. WHAT?!?!
    Finally, I was listening, again on the BBC, to a programme on the Indian economy (interesting programme, but slanted heavily neoliberal, which I was not too excited about). The host, an Indian speaking more or less in RP, talked about how he was in Bombay in a "shopping mal". Yes, he pronounced 'mall' as French mal. What sort of nonsense was this? He said it two or three times. I was willing to consider it an Indianism, but everything else he said was in pseudo-RP, so I began to wonder if the British really do call it a "mal" (I mean, they do  mispronounce 'salsa' in a similar way). I grew up in Britain but we didn't really have shopping malls back then so I don't recall anyone ever saying it.
    We just went "down the high street".