Sunday, February 8, 2015

'Charlie Hebdo- semantics & pronunciation' by K.J.S.Chatrath


Charlie Hebdo first appeared in 1970 as a successor to the Hara-Kiri magazine, which was banned for mocking the death of former French President Charles de Gaulle. In 1981 publication ceased, but the magazine was resurrected in 1992. It  is published every Wednesday. 

 No, I am not going to talk about the controversy and sad happenings related to Charlie Hebdo. I just want to write a few sentences about its semantics and pronunciation.

While Charlie is a first name, Hebdo is the short form of  'hebdomidaire' meaning 'weekly' in French. So it is 'Charlie Weekly'.  Charlie Hebdo is pronounced as 'Sha(r)lie Ebdo'.

'Je suis Charlie', meaning 'I am Charlie' is intended to demonstrate solidarity with this Weekly.

By the way, there is another quite popular satirical weekly in France-  Le Canard Enchaine' . In English it could be translated as The Chained Duck or The Chained Paper ('canard' is French slang meaning 'newspaper'). It  is a satirical weekly  founded in 1915 during World War I.  It it features investigative journalism and 'leaks' from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as many jokes and humorous cartoons.

'One of my favourite books-Alice in Wonderland' by K.J.S.Chatrath


 Jessie Willcox Smith's illustration of Alice surrounded by the characters of Wonderland. (1923)

One of my favourite books is Alice in Wonderland. Click at the following link to access a new article on 150 years of this masterpiece. 'Alice in Wonderland' at 150, more than child's play and tea parties



O P Nayyar's made lilting tunes out of even the most banal lyrics...


I had put up a short post a few days back "Today is O P Nayyar's birthday. His music is incomparable and lives on.  More on him a little later.".

So as promised here is something more. Nayyar Sahib had the rare gift of making a lilting tune out of the most banal of lyrics. I had earlier mentioned about his song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhOEAFmTt5Q


Here is another song with the lyrics saying "Hongkong, China Mina Singapore...   ..." . And look what he made out of it. Compliments to Asha Bhosle ji too. Listen...   ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku59XpjUdmw