Mount Athos
16 Nov 2007 20:20![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iad58
Bear, and I'm a linguist. I'm also a gourmet. Once a year I visit the exhibitions МесоМания, Светът на млякото, Салон на виното, БулПек and Inter-Food&Drink at the InterExpoCentre. These exhibitions are primarily held for manufacturers and merchants, but they also try to hook rank-and-file consumers like you and me there. Without us retailers will have no business, and then what's production for?This isn't the story yet; it's the preface. The story is to come.
Some producers offer their products for sale. Some offer them for sampling.
You probably know that professional wine-tasters don't swallow the wine; they spit it out. There's a reason for that. But in my book spitting out wine (good wine, I mean) is the moral equivalent of shedding the same amount of innocent blood.
This isn't the story yet; it's the current mood. The story is to come.
I went to the exhibitions today, and having sampled feenty-eleven hams and sausages, umpteen cheeses and kens-how-many sweets and breads, I went on to the wines and brandies, and more wines; and then I moved over to the Sicilian pavillion for fish and biscuits, to neutralise the ethanol.
Thence I had a good sight of a booth with wines from the Holy Mount.
Now people in this country seldom go for foreign wines: they may be better than the local breeds, but they won't be as many times better as they will be dearer.… But why not give it a go?
I went to that booth, and asked to sample some wines. I said something in Greek to the fellow behind the counter.… (Alas, I can no longer speak Greek really. I wish I remembered as much as I've forgotten.)
‘What do you do? Do you teach languages?… Come over, I want to talk to you; I'll give you more wine.’
We went into the booth, and sat down, a half-full bottle of dry red wine from the Holy Mount between us. Wonderful stuff. Fantastic chaps, those monks.
The fellow wished me to confirm that the Bulgarian language was under heavy Greek and Latin influence.
‘Greek, yes. Turkish, too. But Latin? Not really.’ — ‘But look, Bulgarian съм is almost the same as Latin sum. [He cited some more examples of similar words.] And Bulgarian is a much younger language than Latin, so——’ — ‘Those are cognates. That's different from borrowing. Look, the Indo-European family——’ — ‘Who knows?…’
I couldn't get him to understand what historical and comparative linguistics was all about; it was getting on. But I learned a bundle of things about palatalisation in Cypriot Greek, and … most importantly, he gave me three half-bottles of wine as a gift! A Traminer, a Cabernet Sauvignon and that nameless enchantment from Mount Athos.
So the take-home story is this: It pays being a linguist. Ours may not look like a profitable trade, but it is. Really.
Вот только чего я не понимаю. На выставке я купил, помимо прочего, две банки меда. Точно помню. А когда пришел домой, я их не досчитался. Где и когда я мог их потерять, понятия не имею.
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no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2007 18:29 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2007 18:45 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2007 18:58 (UTC)Но мед - это очень уж странный предмет...
Всякая вещь - или есть, или нет, -
А мед (я никак не пойму, в чем секрет!)...
Мед - если есть, то его сразу нет!
(на всякий случай ссылка) (http://www.acapod.ru/3763.html)
no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2007 19:07 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Nov 2007 06:42 (UTC)Не там, где мед был, правда.… В мясных рядах это было.
no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2007 18:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2007 18:50 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2007 21:46 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Nov 2007 06:40 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Nov 2007 17:17 (UTC)ещё какое особое!
no subject
Date: 18 Nov 2007 11:24 (UTC)Глядя на фото, не скажешь, что такие уж длинные.…
no subject
Date: 18 Nov 2007 15:52 (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Nov 2007 17:05 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Nov 2007 09:18 (UTC)А то я вот недавно открыточку получила... на грузинском. Эх...
no subject
Date: 18 Nov 2007 11:26 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Nov 2007 12:23 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Nov 2007 12:39 (UTC)