Today marks the sixth anniversary of my disembarkation on the silver coast of Tuscany. First some early photos from then and next a poem.
Costa d’Argento is the real name of the area around me in the south of Tuscany and you know it’s a good place when you have to reduce the green in your photos.
This is what I saw on my first stroll to the sea six years ago, as yet without the dog because bestia came two months later. Imagine just having moved here.
That Canon, my first digital camera, from the recent poem was not so bad after all, was it. 😉
Today’s poem is about word confusions. English is complicated enough but mix it either with amore’s Italian or my Slovenian and you’ve got enough entertainment to last six years. Oh, bestia is fluent in all three, plus dog.
In the course of reading other people’s poems I came across the poem form Shadorma (six lines in a stanza with the syllables in meter of 3/5/3/3/7/5). I liked the idea so here is my first Shadorma chain.
Challenge 14: “Write a poem that incorporates homophones, homographs, and homonyms, or otherwise makes productive use of English’s ridiculously complex spelling rules and opportunities for mis-hearings and mis-readings.”
Six years of practice
Hard to know
what he means sometimes
if a word
starts with H.
In his language it’s silent.
And illarious.
So we eat
the furnace when cold
and heat fruit
and salad.
At hate o’clock he tells them:
“I eight mosquitoes.”
“I’m hangry.”
By now I can tell
which it is.
When ungry, he doesn’t speak.
Six years of practice.
What a cool poem. Loved it.
Happy anniversary and may you two grow old here. So much green. Like in a dream.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hehe. We’re old yet. 😀 Nahh, we shall! Thank you, Bojana. These Shadormas are fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m clapping with delight and laughing. I know this well. My Tennessee accent still gets remarks here in Pennsylvania 40 years later. Words! How they mix and mingle and sometimes are mangled. I love the affectionate humor of this poem.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Claudia. 🙂 Tell me, which movie or TV show or something would give me the best insight into Tennessee accent? I’m so curious now! 😉 The first association was this song (by Arrested Development):
LikeLike
Well, I can’t recommend a movie, etc., because I’ve never heard a Southern accent of any kind done by someone who’s not a native done with any authenticity. There are lots of subtleties, social class, education, rural vs urban and other variations that are clear to my ear but apparently TV/Hollywood don’t hear/don’t care. I found this site which records actual speakers and I recommend #4 and #10. As a note, I was born in Nashville, lived in Madison until age 6 and then we moved down the road to Hendersonville. These speakers sound very similar to what I remember from this area and also sound similar to my own voice and usage.
https://www.dialectsarchive.com/tennessee
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ohh, thank you for this link, Claudia, looks very pro. (Slovenia is missing from the list of countries though. Better this way because we all sound like Melanija, hahah.) The two voices that you point out barely have an accent if you ask me. 😀 But yes, I can hear a bit of singsong quality and I love it. Yes, Hollywood doesn’t care… Great resource, thanks again!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome. The singsong quality you picked out, it’s a characteristic I have read others use to describe the local speech I grew up with – another word being lilting. I think people here in the US would pick out the difference immediately, since our ears are tuned to English the way we speak it – but put us in England, say, and it all sounds the same to us (a British accent) but not to the British! I think there is no such thing as a monolithic accent for any language, but outsiders don’t pick out the details. Funny how that works. I think in another life I would love to study this phenomenon, along with the different word choices speakers make by region (I’ll never forget my midwestern grandmother calling a sofa a “davenport”). Words! Once again, intriguing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes. I’ve always been fascinated by accents and dialects and wished to study Slovenian ones. We have sooo many of them in such a small space spoken by mere 2 million people. Here is more about that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovene_dialects
LikeLike
It is amazing how language can so quickly get divided up by locality, it seems to be a feature of it, I guess we are influenced by our surroundings and those around us even if we don’t think we are. I think of words we used differently in Tennessee than here in Pennsylvania and they are in the same country, only 800 miles apart or so. A rich field for study and commentary.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Most amusing. Lovely fun wordplay.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Susanne! Good to see you around. Halfway through the poetry month and having fun.
LikeLike
Oh I loved the poem mix of language and accents! Well done!
Also, what beautiful countryside!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Joey. 🙂 I love wordplays and accents and languages and all this. I’m sorry now that I haven’t been writing down all the funny things our communication brings about.
LikeLike
Smiling again! Many people here in NYC speak Spanglish, which is English and Spanish all mixed up. Some thoughts are better in one language, some in another. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, K. 🙂 Heard of Spanglish but not heard much of it in my life. That’s why it’s great to live in more than one language – always something interesting and fun occurs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great little poem. I really liked insight into a strong personality. Your photos of Tuscany are lovely. It looks like a beautiful place.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, thank you, Suzanne, for saying this. 🙂 As much insight as you wish. 😀 Yes, I’m lucky. The landscape alone is worth it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an idyllic spot, Manja. Love that you have a donkey neighbor. He/she is so adorable. Congratulations on the six years. No wonder you are happy. And you have given me a little more Italian to learn., LOL. hangry…. reminds me of mungry more/massively hungry – It has become an idiom here since it was on a TV ad.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Amanda! 🙂 Mungry is a new one for me. Will find the ad. No wonder I’m happy indeed. And even if I feel some distress, I just need to look around.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A great attitude, Manja.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I LOVE this!! Absolutely hilarious..Fun and original response to the prompt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahh, thanks, Judy! 🙂 I should mention that he made an amazing progress from the early days when we were unable to communicate (in speech, we did it just fine in writing for three years before meeting). He had never heard spoken English before my Slavic accent (I sound like Melanija!). He learned English online from reading it only and pronounced English words as if they were Italian. That was truly funny. I should have recorded him.
LikeLike
We need a poem about this. So you live in Tuscany now? Such a beautiful place. You travel so much that I’d never figured out which place you lived in. And you moved there from Slovania, he from Rome?
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀 “Slovania” is fun, a mix between Slovenia and Slovakia. Yes, I moved from Slovenia where I was born and lived all my life until I was 43, and he moved from Rome, and for the past six years we have been living here, in the south of Tuscany. Our home was his family’s summer residence. It’s between Rome to the south and Siena to the north, about an hour and a half from each.
LikeLike
I haven’t been to Siena but would like to see it. I’ve heard wonderful things about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, it’s something else. I don’t wish to visit it for the Palio race though, there are quite enough crowds on a regular day already.
LikeLike
i need to check where we are going in August an d pick your brain about what to see in each place. My expert buddy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I thought you were going on a cruise from Rome. So some inland Italy-hopping as well? Of course, be my guest. I’m glad to help.
LikeLike
Need to see what the itinerary is..There were so many options and I just let my sister do the arrangements.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And who is Melanija?? Tried to Google it to no avail. I’m a bit culture-shy buried away here in Mexico.
LikeLiked by 1 person
She is Slovenian too. 😀
LikeLike
Okay, I figured it out. Our elusive first lady, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hihih. Indeed. 😀
LikeLike
Great wordplay, Manja! And what a lovely area you live in….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sue. I just did a similar round. Less daisies this year, more poppies. Every year is different. I never lived in the country before.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love poppies!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the poem (and all word play)! My French friends do that with their Hs – remove them when they should be there and add them when they shouldn’t! Of course, I find it quite charming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, Lexi, yes, I hope that it comes across that I find it charming as well. And the Spanish speakers do it too, I suppose. Never a dull moment. 🙂 Thank you, I’m glad you like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was a clever, fun poem. Happy anniversary! Enjoy the green.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Barry. I am, I am, it IS greener on this side. 🙂
LikeLike
Happy Anniversary to you both!
Being part of a multilingual couple I can identify with the funny conversational glitches but in your case your main language of communication together is a second language for both of you. I guess it’s just that much more funny when the confusion starts 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Norm. 🙂 The confusion was quite big at the beginning, now it’s more rare. It’s still funny sometimes, though.
Oh, I have just been looking at your cookie photo… I think I might have to use it again in today’s post. The subject is Delicious. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such a fun poem and lovely pics too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Punam. 🙂 Usually it’s pretty funny and lovely around here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds great! 🙂
You are welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is my favourite response to the homonyms/homophones/mishearings/misreadings prompt. It’s cute and funny and has depth at the same time because it’s about people growing to understand each other. Lovely read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahh, thank you, Alana, means a lot! ❤ I think that for two people from different languages an understanding means something else entirely. It also makes it entertaining.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful words to memorialize your sixth year of diving head first into your new you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Lisa! 🙂 I suppose we must do this once in a while. 😉 Happy sea!
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘Hangry’ is a real word in our family vocabulary – the irrational bad temper that certain people are prone to when low on blood sugar!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, I know that feeling. 🙂 Thanks, Judith.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is lovely, Manja! And what beautiful pictures. Charming, idyllic and peaceful. I love the poem too:) I have never been to that side of the world and am waiting for that day to come soon! Congratulations on six years!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Moon! ❤ I really wish that you get over one day and see it for yourself. Living in the city again full time is hard to imagine!
LikeLike