Ronnie Haran

            On Monday morning I listened to the recording of "Sans blague" (No Joke) by Boris Vian and used it to organize the text of the lyrics in their proper order. Tomorrow I'll begin memorizing the song.

            I finished revising my translation of "Lavabo" (Wash Basin) by Serge Gainsbourg. I played and sang it to make sure everything fit and then I uploaded it to Christian's Translations. I began the editing process to prepare it for blog publication and I should have it posted tomorrow. 

            I weighed 84.7 kilos before breakfast. But as usual for a Monday I only had time for a bowl of grapes before leaving for class, despite the fact that I left five minutes later than I did last Monday.

            There is track renovation being done on College east of Spadina and so I had to walk to St George. I might as well go to Bloor and take the bike lane from now on to go south on St George on Mondays and Huron on Wednesdays. The bike lane might be faster anyway despite the detour. 

            I was there several minutes before the prior class let out. Chuanqi was already there, pacing nervously back and forth. Once we were in the classroom he sat next to me rather than a few seats away. He complained that the wifi was down and another student named Frank or Fred added that the wifi at U of T has been horrible this year. I asked Chuanqi if he needs wifi for class and he said, not really but he spends the whole day on campus. I inquired if he had wifi at home and he said he does but he has no life at home. His entire life is at the university. I commented that he's going to have a tough time when he graduates but he said he'll be going to post-graduate school. I added that he'll have to become a professor just so he can continue the only life that interests him and he agreed. I guess my situation is different since I had several lives before coming to U of T as a mature student. 

            We looked at screenshots of articles on outer circle circumstances. 

            Jamaica shows a weakness in Kachru's model because it doesn't fit as either an Inner or Outer circle country. 

            Hindi is more prominent as an educational language in its part of India than the mother tongues of other regions.

            Professor Percy says "Outer Circle" is a negative-sounding name. 

            The context of Kirk Patrick who coined the phrase. He thinks British English should be the standard but Kachru says all forms are valid. 

            English Today by Cambridge Press has a good reputation. They may return your work for editing but being asked to make changes is not a big deal. 

            English is still official in the outer circle and used. It changes and varies and norms reflect its use in social conventions such as apologies. Some apologies are not as distancing as here. 

            I ask if she thinks the term Outer Circle is negative because it gives a sense of being an outsider. She says yes. I ask, "What would you call it?" and she says, that would be a good question for an exam.

            There are various categories in the world. 

            Singapore is more friendly to English than Malaysia. 

            The domination of English affects culture. 

            Bangladesh is the only monolingual country in South Asia. 

            Expanding circle countries have not been collective. 

            Singapore - Singlish. 

            There are many official local languages in South Africa. 

            Look for inconsistencies and weird juxtapositions in articles. 

            Swahili is becoming a global language. 

            Colonial inertia in Malta. 

            State schools are under pressure to support local languages. 

            The Philippines is a destination for learning English. But English is displacing Filipino as a mother tongue. UNESCO said in 1953 that mother tongues are best for teaching literacy. But in 2003 it said that a balance between global and local languages is better. India has a three-language format for education. But state schools may not have prolific teachers in global English. 

            Ethnic relationship to English.

            The Chinese in Singapore are less interested in the use of English. 

            RP (Received Pronunciation) or standard English accent. 

            English is associated with science and math. 

            There are no countries in the EU with English as their official language. 

            EF used to mean "English first" but now it is just an acronym. 

            English as a global language has competition from Swahili and Mandarin. 

            We took a break. 

            Mulk Raj Anand. 

            How to pronounce E.M. Forster (Fawster?). I think the British people who pronounce his name just naturally soften the "R" with their accents as they would when saying "foregone". 

            Anand put the word "samosa" into the OED. 

            Of the opening of his story "Duty", I said it reminds me of the Noel Coward song, "Mad Dogs and Englishman". A native Indian would not traditionally be out there in that heat but because of colonialism introducing the police force, people take on British roles such as that of a police officer and have to suffer the sun. Noel Coward wrote "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" in 1931 and so there is little doubt that Anand would have heard the song before writing this story. I wonder if when he wrote the opening he was thinking of it: 

Mad Dogs and Englishmen 

In tropical climes there are certain times of day 

When all the citizens retire 

To tear their clothes off and perspire 

It's one of those rules that the greatest fools obey 

Because the sun is much too sultry 

And one must avoid its ultry-violet ray 

The native grieve when the white men leave their huts 

Because they're obviously definitely nuts! 

Mad dogs and Englishmen 

Go out in the midday sun 

The Japanese don't care to 

The Chinese wouldn't dare to 

Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one 

But Englishmen detest a siesta 

In the Philippines 

There are lovely screens 

To protect you from the glare 

In the Malay States 

There are hats like plates 

Which the Britishers won't wear 

At twelve noon 

The natives swoon 

And no further work is done 

But mad dogs and Englishmen 

Go out in the midday sun 

It's such a surprise for the Eastern eyes to see 

That though the English are effete 

They're quite impervious to heat 

When the white man rides every native hides in glee 

Because the simple creatures hope he 

will impale his solar topee on a tree 

It seems such a shame 

when the English claim 

the earth 

that they give rise to such hilarity and mirth 

Mad dogs and Englishmen 

Go out in the midday sun 

The toughest Burmese bandit 

Can never understand it 

In Rangoon the heat of noon 

Is just what the natives shun 

They put their Scotch or Rye down 

And lie down 

In a jungle town 

Where the sun beats down 

To the rage of man and beast 

The English garb 

Of the English sahib 

Merely gets a bit more creased 

In Bangkok 

At twelve o'clock 

They foam at the mouth and run 

But mad dogs and Englishmen 

Go out in the midday sun 

The smallest Malay rabbit 

Deplores this foolish habit 

In Hongkong 

They strike a gong 

And fire off a noonday gun 

To reprimand each inmate 

Who's in late 

In the mangrove swamps 

Where the python romps 

There is peace from twelve till two 

Even caribous 

Lie around and snooze 

For there's nothing else to do 

In Bengal 

To move at all 

Is seldom if ever done 

But mad dogs and Englishmen 

Go out in the midday 

Out in the midday 

Out in the midday 

Out in the midday 

Out in the midday 

Out in the midday 

Out in the midday sun 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPnJM3zWfUo 

            In "Duty" Mangal quotes "I go for a pice worth of salt. Bring me a palanquin" but is it a literary quote? I'm guessing not. 

            A second meaning of duty is tax. 

            I point out that Mangal "congratulated himself on his lucky position as a member of the much-feared police service" and thought the truncheon was nice. He begins beating a peasant like an animal worse than the way the man beat his donkeys. 

            Contextualized colonization. 

            The professor apologized to me after class for not spending a lot of time on the article that I posted for homework. I asked if she had time to talk because I wanted to discuss the essay but she had office hours. She will have time on Wednesday. 

            I weighed 84 kilos before lunch. 

            I weighed 84.2 kilos at 17:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:50. 

            I wrote today's Exit Slip survey for my English in the World course. 

            I started bookmarking websites for my research on Chiac for the essay that I hope to write. 

            I found a Chiac dubbed video of the song "Let It Go" from "Frozen". The title was translated to "Worry Pas". 

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of pork while watching episode 26 of Ben Casey. 

            In this story Casey has decided to moonlight for one day as an OMR (Outside Medical Relief) doctor. The job only pays $22.50 for the day and so back at the hospital, everyone thinks Casey is having financial difficulties. Nick takes up a successful charity drive to raise money for Casey. 

            Casey's first stop is a family of hillbillies named the Hopewells. Dallas Hopewell's son Boise is sick. Casey thinks it might be his appendix but he wants him in the hospital for tests. Dallas refuses to let him go. Casey heads for the door to call an ambulance but Dallas's daughter Abilene points a shotgun at him. They tell Casey he has to fix Boise today because they have to leave. They are just here for the harvest and now they have to get home so Abilene can get married before the man she wants is grabbed by somebody else. Casey gives Boise a shot of penicillin and moves on. But Abilene follows him in the family's old truck. She explains that's so she can fetch him if Boise goes sour. 

            His next stop is the home of Berle Mitchell, who is an alcoholic but she can't drink because she is allergic. She asks Casey to hold her but he says he can't do anything for her. 

            Next is a comical retirement home where one patient named Timothy has no appetite. Casey says he'll eat when he's hungry enough to forget why he isn't eating. 

            Next, in an upscale hotel, Mr. Foster is sick in bed. The manager wants to pay for an ambulance to get him out of there. Foster explains that the manager is afraid of him dying there. Foster has emphysema but doesn't want to go to the hospital because his newly married son is coming and he doesn't want to greet his daughter-in-law from a hospital bed. Casey gives him a shot. The manager tries to bribe Casey to force Foster to leave but Casey threatens to punch him in the teeth. 

            At the Ormsby residence, Casey is greeted by a man who directs him to his mother's bedroom. Casey finds the old woman's skin is raw from having been scoured from head to toe with lye by her son, who is psychotic. When Casey tries to open her bedroom door from inside to get her out of there, it's locked. The son begins ranting about a pestilence then pours gasoline over everything and sets the house on fire. Casey breaks the door but the son forces him back inside. Then Abilene Hopewell hits the son over the head and knocks him out. Everyone gets out. Casey thanks Abilene but she is indifferent. She says her pa would've tanned her hide if she'd let him die before Boise is fixed. 

            Casey is called back to the retirement home where he is told Timothy is dying. Casey tells Mrs. Castle the manager she is losing Timothy. Castle forbids him from dying because she can't afford it. Then it comes to light that he isn't really dying. He's just heart sick because Castle won't let him and his elderly girlfriend Ingrid get married. Castle gives in and suddenly Timothy is fine. 

            Casey goes back to where the Hopewells had been staying and finds them gone. The preacher who owns the house says Boise got better. Abilene has left Casey a ham. 

            At the hospital, it is discovered that Casey had only needed the $22.50 to order a set of medical books and so Nick has to give back all the money to the donors. 

            Abilene was played by Ronnie Haran, who had supporting roles in a few movies and TV series in the late 1950s and early 1960s. When she was in her twenties she became the manager and talent agent for The Whiskey Go-Go. She saw The Doors perform at The London Fog and made them the house band for the Whiskey after she got them in the musician's union and bought them some clothes. She brought the president of Elektra Records to see them and that's how they were signed. It is possible that we would never have heard of Jim Morrison if not for her. She was also the unofficial manager of the band Love. She arranged for Van Morrison and Them to come to LA and managed them while they were in town. She says one magical night Van Morrison and Jim Morrison performed on stage together. She and her husband now have a location booking company for events and movies. 

            I made it for a week without finding any bedbugs. If I make it two more days I will have broken a record that has stood for several months. 

            I did some more research on Chiac and found that some Acadian musicians are referred to as Chiac speakers when they are actually speakers of another hybrid Acadian dialect called Acadjonne.