Language Is Conventional

I find language fascinating. It's fun to learn about other languages and the cultures that define them, but it is best to avoid google translator. The literal translation of words from one language to another might not be the litereal translation of the sentence as a whole. Here are some examples of that in real life. =)

Found in a Tokyo car rental shop: "When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor."

Majorcan shop: "English well talking. Here speeching American."

Bucharest hotel: "The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable."

Moscow hotel: "You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday."

In an East African newspaper: "A new swimming pool is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers."

In a Rhodes tailor shop: "Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation."

Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop: "Ladies may have a fit upstairs."

The Coca-Cola® name in China was first read as "Kekoukela," meaning "Bit the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax," depending upon the dialect. Coke® then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole," translating into "happiness in the mouth."

In a Copenhagen airline ticket office: "We take your bags and send them in all directions."

When KFC® entered the Chinese market, they discovered that their slogan "finger lickin' good" was translated as "eat your fingers off."

When Gerber® started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the United States, with the smiling baby on the label. Later, they learned that in Africa, companies put the pictures on the labels of what's inside since many people can't read.

Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan: "Stop: Drive sideways."

"Avengers assemble!"

We all ("all" meaning mom, dad, and we three girls) took a bunch of Avengers personality quizzes and found this one to be the most accurate. Our results, in no particular order, were: Hulk, Hawkeye, 2 Thors, and Capt. America. Can you guess who was who?
Take it yourself if you like, and if you do, comment with your results.
Which Avenger Are You?
Oh yeah, one question has an offensive word in it, just a warning for you. Otherwise, it's a great quiz.

You are most like the Hulk. On the outside, you are a reserved, soft spoken person who is a bit withdrawn and prefers solitary to socialization. But underneath you harbor some angry feelings that are prone to explode at any moment. Though struggling with self-control and self-confidence, you have a sharp mind and strong moral compass that usually leads you to doing the right thing.

 

You are most like Captain America. You have a strong "good guy" ethic, and hate injustice of any kind. Understanding what it's like to be pushed around helps you fight for the little guy. You are not one to give up too easily, and often get yourself into tricky situations just to prove your worth. Your high ideals and old fashioned manners set you apart from most of your peers.

You are most like Thor. You are strong, good looking, and ambitious. Though slightly immature at times, especially when you don't get what you want, you are loyal to the bone and will always stand for what's right. You are a family-centered person. You tend to take some things for granted, which leaves you hurt and confused when they're taken away. You have a high capacity for forgiveness.

You are most like Hawkeye. You are independent and "street-smart". You prefer to stay out of the spotlight and look at the big picture of things. Though you tend to follow others and are very trusting, you are also not intimidated by those who might be stronger or smarter. You are precise and methodical, and once you have something in your sites, there isn't a thing that will stop you from hitting your mark.

"You beautiful fish, you!"

Our friend, Rachel, sent us this video, and it is great. A modesty spoof on OneDirection's  "What Makes You Beautiful."
It's really nice to know there are at least a FEW guys [though these guys happen to be mormon, grrr >( ] out there who feel this way. Plus, it's funny.



Enjoy!
Sam

I love to laugh, loud and long and clear!

Isn't it good to laugh? The Bible says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine" and "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance"! (Proverbs 17:22a, Proverbs 15:13a)

Let's do something fun, let's play the who-done-it game! Only this will be the who-done-said-it game. I'll quote myself or one of my siblings and you guess the origin of the quote. Come on, it'll be fun! Try it! (Just as a heads up your comment will be counting for points toward an upcoming giveaway.) I knew you'd want to try!

Pick Jack, Goldilocks, SquiRe, Sam, Mari, or Risa; one per quote!

1. "Because de Bible says we hafta play town, we gonna play town! But really. Really yes!"

2. "All governments have assassins - especially the diplomatic ones."

3."This day is always gonna be in my heart. And in your heart. Because I put some of it in yours and some of it in mine!"

4. "Yeah, I'm cool! I'm so cool... I'm COLD!"

5. "Isn't it abominable when one uses a grandiloquent word where a diminuitive one would suffice?"

6. "Oh man, this takes forever to finish! I'm serious, last time it took me about . . . a week. Or a hundred days."

You can comment, put a number to a name, and then we'll post the answers after I think everyone's had a chance to guess!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We've been wanting to post this video on our blog for a while, but can't seem to figure out how to. Here is the direct link to a cute little video our friends made.

threemaidens.blogspot.com/2012/11/behold-undecided-band

Pretty funny, huh?

 And if you think you've had enough laughs today, you're wrong! That's right, you haven't laughed enough today! =) Here is my last laugh for you, a little story told in the inflationary language, by Victor Borge, a great comedian and piano player!
Any of you remember the days, good old days, when the dollar was worth 49¢? Since then, many things have changed. Inflation is coming closer and closer, everything has gone up, except one thing -- the language. I have invented what I call the "inflationary language," because I want to be prepared the day we really have the great inflation. And I have to explain it this way, that we will add one to each number in every word that contains a number -- for instance, number one in "wonderful," will be "twoderful," because we add one to it. In a sentence like, "I ate a tenderloin with my fork," it would be "I nine an elevenderloin with my fivek." Very simple.
Now, I should like to read to you out of this book just a short chapter…
Twice upon a time, there was a young captain in the army named Bob, and his sister, Anna, who lived in sunny Califivenia. They belonged to a fine old family, and they were proud of the fact that some of their fivefathers had been among the crenineders of the American constithreetion. Bob had been very close to his younger sister, ever since she saw the light of day for the second time. Not so long ago, on a threesday evening, they were sitting at a table in a supper club, commemornining the day of her engagement. To Don Two (you see, her fiance was of spanish descent, his name was Don Juan. In this book, it'll be "don two," of course. ) Who, on unfivetunately, had turned out to be an asiten egotist. He hadn't even shown up. The table was beautifully decorated with her favorite flowers, long-stemmed red threelips.
               "Anna," said Bob, eleventatively, "you look twoderful threenight. But you have three of saddest eyes. " Anna really looked twoderful, in spite of the illness from which she had not yet recupernineded. It was midnight -- a clock in the distance struck thirteen. There suddenly in the doorway stood Don Two, obviously intoxicnineded. Bob jumped to his feet -- but Anna, trying to avoid a scandal, said, "Anytwo for elevennis?" Don grabbed a piece of the marininded herring in front of them, and was about to throw it at Bob.
             "Be careful, Don," warned Bob, "Today I became third lieu-elevenant in the army air fiveces.”
             "Are you two? I'm two three," said Don Two. With these words he left, and when he was one-and-a-half way through the door, stopped and turned excitedly.
             "Anna," Don Two said, "I shall never marry. All my life I will remain double!"

I guess I'm in such a mood for humor because my wonderful sisters bought me Micheal Jr.'s DVD, Laughing On Purpose, for me! He is hilarious!!

"Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!" ~Psalm 68:19

Have a wonderful day,
Mari

What we do

True.
Sam.

Healthy Food (from kids' perspectives)

If you'd like a laugh, try this short. It's quite funny, especially if you like healthy eating. (Can you say kombucha?)





Note: We don't condone or attempt to encourage bad-mouthing mothers who valiantly promote a healthy diet for their families. You moms are amazing!

Give us chocolate

For those of you celebrating S.A.D., this ^ is for you.

For those of you in the mood for something a little more romantic this Valentine's Day, the video below is for you.



Enjoy.

Trick Questions, Anyone?

Sam was asking all of us the questions a little while ago. They are a lot of fun.  Our grandad got them all correct, but then he told us he had already been sent all of the questions in an e-mail. He said the first time he read them he didn't get any of them! See how many you can solve without looking at the answers!
1. Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child's name?

2. There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is five feet ten inches tall and he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?

3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

4. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?

5. What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?

6. Billy was born on December 28th, yet his birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible?

7. In California, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?

8. What was the President's Name in 1975?

9. If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?

10. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or "The yolk of the egg is white"?

11. If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in another field?









Here are the Answers:

1. Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What wasthe third child's name?

Answer: Johnny of course

2. There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is five feet ten inches tall, and he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?

Answer: Meat.

3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

Answer: Mt. Everest ; it just wasn't discovered yet.

4. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?

Answer: There is no dirt in a hole.

5. What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?

Answer: Incorrectly

6. Billy was born on December 28th, yet her birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible?

Answer: Billy lives in the Southern Hemisphere

7. In California , you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?

Answer: You can't take pictures with a wooden leg. You need a camera to take pictures.

8. What was the President's Name in 1975?

Answer: Same as is it now - Barack Obama


9. If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?

Answer: You would be in 2nd. Well, you passed the person in second place, not first.

10. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or "The yolk of the egg is white"?

Answer: Neither, the yolk of the egg is yellow

11. If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in another field?

Answer: One. If he combines all of his haystacks, they all become one big stack.

Best of 2011...

Celebrity look-a-likes.

OK, so this category was not intended to be in here but it's just so funny we have to post it =].

Jack...

 Buddy Hackett...

The best of 2011...

...Kids Comedy Comments! To wrap up this year we will be posting some of our "best" things of this last year. It might be a several things, it might be two. We'll see.

SquiRe: Dad, do men wear tights?
Dad: No, that's mostly girls.
SquiRe: Yeah. I've seen men wear tights before, but only when they ride bikes.

SquiRe: *sighs* I wish I was a honey badger!
Goldilocks: Yeah...I wish I was a princess...but wait! I am a princess!

Momo: *after finding Jack eating his new toy* Jack, are you eating your horse?!
Jack: *licks lips* Neigh.

So those are the little comedians of our house!

-RMS

Tucked In Magazine - the authority on homeschool fashion

Made by homeschoolers, for homeschoolers. Sometimes it's good to laugh at yourself.

We Caught Him!

I made a cake for my grandparents anniversary, so we had to buy some white sugar. Even though we only used the sugar for the cake, yesterday we noticed it was lower than it used to be! We had a sugar theif on our hands!

He even left evidence!

So, Jack, what do you have to say for yourself?

"I better wipe my hands off before I answer any questions!"

"Umm..."

"That's a big mess."

"Mom, please, help! I'm innocent!"

"C'mon! Does this face look guilty to you?"

"Okay, I did it! But it sure tastes good!"

Our Super Bible Memorizer!

Yeah, that's right! He's an amazing brother. Believe it or not he actually asks us to teach him verses. The other day I said, "SquiRe, do you want to play Stratego"(Stratego is his favorite game) "or finish memorizing the 23rd Psalm?"

His reply: "Oh, I wanna do verses that way I can learn about God."

He is too cute.

Would you like to know what it is like helping a super-smart and adorable brother memorize verses? Well, here is how it went as he memorized the last verse of Psalm 23:

Me: Okay, this is the last verse. Are you ready?

SquiRe: *squeals* Eeeeeeee! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

Me: Okay, okay! Calm down. Say 'Surely goodness and mercy'

SquiRe: Surely goo- wait. Daddy says I'm supposed to know what all the verses mean before I memorize them so that what I need to do first. What do all those words mean?

Me: Well, surely just means really, or for sure.

SquiRe: Oh, 'cause surely sounds like for sure except it's surely.

Me: That's right. And goodness just means good things, like blessings and -

SquiRe: And obedience.

Me: Well, good things come when you obey the Good Shepherd but goodness just means good things.

SquiRe: Isn't obedience a good thing?

Me: *sighs* (This boy is too smart) ...and mercy is like-

SquiRe: Love?

Me: Umm... No 

SquiRe: Like peace?

Me: SquiRe, mercy is like forgiveness. Mercy is being kind even when we don't deserve it.

SquiRe: Oh like that story. [SquiRe gets on his knees] The man is like, 'Show me mercy! Please!' So he does. But then he goes to his other servant, [his hands are on his hips now] and the other servant needs mercy too but he just, ugh, no respect!

[He was speaking of the parable in Matthew 18:23-35]

That's right, he's adorable. So now you know a little of what it's like to be blessed with a sweet little brother like SquiRe. Now, go ahead, watch the video again.

Kid Career Day pt3

Today we will be interviewing our third and final guest...SquiRe!

So SquiRe, what do you want to be when you grow up?
A man!
Of course you'll be a man, but what else do you want to be?
A strong and wise husband.
But what do you want to do for money?
Probably be a wrestler, because I'll be strong. (One of our cousins is a highschool wrestler)
What kind of wife would you want to have?
A samaritan! And also an Indian!
Why do you want to be a wrestler?
Well, I changed my mind about that. I actually want to be a man who travels and tells people about God. But then I'd have to learn everybody's language! Well, I want to be both a wrestler and traveling man.
Where do you want to travel to?
India!
What's in India?
Indians!
What do you like about indians?
That they have bow and arrows and feathers! I like it so I could dress up as an Indian here when I come back.
And, actually, I would also like to travel to South America! Wait, is that where we live?
No.
Okay, then there. I think it's in Tucson, maybe.
How many kids do you want to have?
12 or 13. Boys. And one girl. Or two...yeah two girls...and five boys. Wow that would be a lot! I would need a bigger, big, big, big, b-b-big house! And, also, I would like to have...well, I'll wait for you to ask.
What?
I would also like 4 doggies.
So what do you want to be the most when you're a grown up?
A samaritan...like my wife...
What is a samaritan?
People who travel about the world and tell the word about God. Um, huh? Wait, is that...what?
I think you mean missionary, not Samaritan.
Yeah, probably.
What do you think will be the best part about being a grown up?
Being a husband. And...a husband.
Is there anything else you'd like to say about being an adult?
Let's see... I would like making a lot of boats ands riding in them.

Kid Career Day pt1

In starting of this three part series we will go from youngest to oldest. So, without further ado, I would like to introduce to you...Jack!

Ah, hello. I'm sorry, you caught me off guard. I was just chillin' with my friend from China, my grandpa got her for me. But nevermind that.

Welcome readers, to career day. As many of you know, I dabbled a bit in plumbing, but quickly changed mind about that. Mom said I would need suspenders, which would not work with my diaper.

Anyway, I have had a spin or two in multiple careers and I'm sure you'd be honored to hear about them. Let's begin.

In my younger days I had thought about becoming a performer. I would call myself "Jack Junior" (has a nice ring to it, no?). But my sisters quickly set me straight about that. Pfft. Sisters.

Then I set my sights on....hair stylist!

The Mohawk

Me, putting in some hair gel. A must, of course.

This is an option I made for bald men. You like?

Curly top.

 Having a perfect head of hair myself (not to mention a perfect head) I always experimented on yours truly. I thought I would call myself Jacques. Had a very hair-stylish sound to it. As you can see, I look very handsome. But I started thinking to myself one morning, "This really isn't the most manly career in the world is it?" So I moved on. Again.

And I found it. The perfect career (for now). Professor.  I realize it will take years of studying but I know it's right for me.

Sam

Happy Father's Day!

Last year we posted "The Dad Life", but because it was such a popular post we are posting it again this year.


We love you, Dad! Thank you for working so hard for us, for lovingly teaching and correcting us so that we might grow up in the Right Way.  There could never be found an equal to such a great Dad like you!

Happy Father's Day!

Check Out the Poll On the Side

This Thursday we are going to have a little Spring carnival in our backyard. We all ready have a lot of games planned, and the little kids are really looking forward to it!

One thing that we will be doing is a pie throw. Please vote on the side of the blog for whom you would like to see hit in the face with a pie!

~Momo

April Fool's Day

For April Fool's Day Risa, Sam and I turned lots of things in our house upside down.

Although Mom and Dad both walked through the hallway with our upside down pictures, they didn't seem to notice right away.

We also turned all the books on the bookshelf around.

Risa turned all the pictures on our fridge upside down as well!

You may be wondering why my beautiful sister, Sam, has a blue spot on her face. Well, I told everyone but SquiRe to put a spot somewhere on their face on April 1st. When SquiRe asked us about it we said we did not see any spot. He was completely bewildered!

Later that morning we put a spot on Goldilocks and Jack (who didn't have one at first) and a second spot on each of us.

"There's another one!" Squire said very loudly.

Goldilocks then shouted, "Jack do too!" (She didn't know we gave her a spot also.)

SquiRe walked over to see Jack and seeing the spot on Goldilocks his eyes open wide! "You have one too!"

We all shouted "April Fool!" and SquiRe laughed.

Throughout the day he tried to get us. He tried especially hard to get Risa! He kept saying things like "There's a baby crocodile on your head, Risa!" but she continually smiled and said, "I don't believe you!"

He succeeded in tricking her by saying, "Hey, Risa, why did Momo put that thing in the window?" When she turned to see what it was SquiRe shouted, "April Fool!"

I hope you had wonderful April Fool's day!

~Momo

Faces

Jack's debonair face ;]. As you can see, yes, he is bald.

Goldilocks' "feed the orphans" face

And SquiRe's "alien" face (which means Indian, which means Native American.) He calls them aliens, we don't know why.

And those are the faces of the day. Tune in next week to see our newest special, "Feet" =P.

SAM (again)

Laundry day!