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For Elf's silver (tavern) anniversary
10/23/2021, 16:45:08
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The Elf writes:
Even though I didn't officially join as a TELPer until 1998, I spent several years lurking. I didn't know then whether the Tavern only dispensed "soft" liquors (beer, cider and wine,) or whether spirits were also served. That's when I started brewing my well-known Elf Ales--the magic brews that taste just how you like them, with never a hangover or blood-alcohol test failure. But I never told you this: since I knew that whisky (note absence of "e") was merely distilled beer without the hops, I also learned the art of distilling. So in honor of my (sneaky) silver anniversary in the Tavern, I present you all with a barrel of 25-year-old whisky, dubbed Might and Magic Single Malt. Since Papa Elf's forebears were all Speyside, my product tastes (to me) somewhere between Speyside and Islay, or Laphoaig and Balvenie. (To you it may even taste like Kentucky Bourbon, or lemonade, for that matter. Whatever you desire.)
After 25 years, the barrel is not so full, as you may well imagine. (The angels thank you for their share.) But as the barrel is self-refilling, there is plenty for all. And Bones, don't forget to set out the little pitchers of ice water, for those who wish to imbibe as true Scotsmen (and women) do. Slainte!
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Slainte! 
10/24/2021, 09:08:29
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Slàinte Mhath! Or as somebody once said, "Live long and prosper!"
10/24/2021, 11:14:33
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Peter2 writes:
Or best of all, as the Spanish saying goes "Salud, Dinero, Amor y El Tiempo para gozarlos"And on a different note, my sister and her husband were left a collection of whiskies by a friend who died, and among them was one that I'd never had before, called Mortlach. It was absolutely gorgeous.
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Muchas gracias, Peter2--sentimentos muy buenos.
10/24/2021, 12:13:28
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Mi Español. . .
10/25/2021, 13:22:16
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The Elf writes:
is a poco rusty. (I took classic Spanish the first time around at college--in 1955. I took conversational Spanish at night school in the 1990's) Here in California, conversational Spanish is considered to be of more value than classic, on the premise that we're far more apt to want to tell the waitress that we want the frijoles de ollo instead of frijoles refritos (beans cooked in a ceramic pot rather than refried beans,) than we are to read Don Quixote in the original Spanish. Also, that "tortillas" are thin, pancake-like discs (Mexican) rather than potato omelets (Castilian Spanish.)When Papa Elf and I were at the Sphinx in Egypt, we were hounded by souvenir salesmen, mostly young boys in their teens. I was particularly bothered by a very persistent boy of about 12. He was trying to sell me a T-shirt. Without thinking, I blurted out, "No me gustan." (They don't please me.) Without missing a beat, the boy answered, "¡O señora, tengro los otros!" (Oh, lady, I have others!) Thoroughly charmed, I bought a T with a pharaoh design on it. (I didn't read the label until I got home: "Souvenir of Michael Jackson tour of Egypt," from some years before. I suppose the boy got a lot of tourists from Spain, and I'd bet that he was also fluent in salesman's French, German, English (both British and American,) possibly even Japanese.) I also suppose he got a hefty discount on some years-old, unsold souvenirs.
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Great story! 
10/25/2021, 20:18:24
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I cannot speak Spanish or understand spoken Spanish.
10/26/2021, 05:51:52
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Peter2 writes:
But having learned Latin and French, I can usually get by with least some technical documents – well enough to get the gist of what they are saying, anyway, especially if they're in an area where I have some background. A decent dictionary would give me more, of course. The same applies to Portugese, Italian, and Romanian. However, I wouldn't be able to read a newspaper or a novel or anything like that.But unlike you, I don't live in a country where Spanish (or Mexican) is a common spoken language. Neither was it widely available when I was a schoolboy; French, German and Latin were the ones commonly taught, together with classical Greek in some schools. These days, however, you can get all sorts of languages, depending on the school. I gather Mandarin is becoming more common – although I have very little idea of how common.
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Mandarin vs. Cantonese
10/26/2021, 13:17:58
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The Elf writes:
Up until 1949, Mandarin was spoken by very few Chinese. Since most of the elder Chinese people in California were descendants of laborers literally shanghaied to work as coolies digging mines for Caucasian gold miners or building the transcontinental railroad, Papa Elf and I never knew any Chinese who didn't speak Cantonese. (Chop suey and chow mein are Cantonese--the former meaning "garbage".) When Papa Elf and I were planning our tour of China in about 2003, we assumed that everyone in China knew Cantonese. After all, didn't we learn in school (from books printed in the late 1930's) that about 85% of Chinese spoke Cantonese? So I carefully studied helpful phrases for travelers--in Cantonese. Completely useless.
Little did we know until we reached Shanghai, that everyone, without exception, spoke Mandarin--by law. Seems that "peerless leader" Chairman Mao spoke only Mandarin (How's that for irony? The reddest Communist leader of all was raised speaking the language of the old Imperial court of China!) In 1948, 85% of Chinese still spoke Cantonese, with the other 15% speaking one of 14 different dialects, including Mandarin. In 1949, when Mao took over, the official language became Mandarin overnight. All other languages were forbidden, except for English, which was a requirement for all children to learn. (So if you ever travel to China and need a translator, find a six-year-old. They're all fluent.) I did devise one valuable tip for travelers, though, which will work in any language:
If you can't find a restroom, open your mouth in a gritty grin, cross your legs, put both hands together--uh, below your waist--and dance up and down. When everyone stops laughing, they'll happily show you the way to the facilities.
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I can read stuff in Romance languages on similar grounds (extensive Latin training), but Romanian is really funky.
10/27/2021, 09:22:13
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Ramillies writes:
I'm not sure about its classification, but in essence, it is half Romance, half Slavic language.A little example that I stumbled upon somewhere is a sentence from a prayer: "Doamne miluieste", which translates to "Lord, have mercy." The first word clearly ties in with the Latin dominus, lord. The other no less clearly ties in with Slavic languages, e. g. in Czech there are words like milost (mercy) and milovat (to love, but it meant "to have mercy" a couple of hundreds years ago). In Russian, you have (in transliteration) "Gospodi pomiluj" (of the same meaning) even today.
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re: Elf's Anniversary
11/03/2021, 07:35:26
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Eric B writes:
I'd like to wish you a Happy Anniversary at the Tavern!I didn't start playing Might & Magic until 1998, with VI. My mom and aunt were into the earlier games; seems like my aunt had one on her Commodore 64 back in the day. But the story line and soundtrack pulled me right into VI. Sorry I didn't see this earlier; I've been dealing with some issues in my life. Needless to say, my fanfiction is on hold indefinitely while those get taken care of.
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Thank you, Eric B.
11/03/2021, 11:41:56
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The Elf writes:
It's good to hear from you.
Yes, sometimes RL does get in the way of our games. Hope everything stays all right for you.
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