[lace-chat] Re: muslin/toile
At 08:56 AM 8/8/04 +0100, JENNIFER BARRON wrote: What is a bodice sloper? A sloper is basic pattern used to design patterns. The dictionary says that slop is from the same root as slip --- if you go way, way back --- but a slop was an overgarment where a slip is an undergarment. (Shared meaning: you slip into it.) Also came to mean cheap clothing and flimsy clothing, and slops are sailor's dirty-work clothes, but sloppy is from an old word meaning pool. But sloppe meaning pool also goes back to the root of slip. That was one busy little root! Webster doesn't say what root sloper is from -- except in the sense of an instrument for determining the slope (also from the root of slip) of a railway embankment. I'm betting sloper branched off from cheap garment. Sloper for a paper pattern has to be fairly recent, since flat-pattern design was invented in the very early 20th Century -- paper was too expensive to use that way until then -- but it could have meant tool for designing slops for a long time before that. Dictionary makers, alas, don't care about dressmaking terms -- and before the Internet, most dressmakers didn't leave written records of how they talked, so the dictionary makers couldn't do much if they did care. But I don't have an O.E.D. No telling what data you can mine out of the Oxford English Dictionary. -- Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where it's cool enough to leave the windows open. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Civics/Citizen education
First let me say I have no time for any politician of any party/country. I think they're all only interested in their own advancement. It's not compulsory to vote in the UK, but I've always thought how fortunate we were to be able to vote when so many in the world can't, so I've always voted - up until the last European elections this year. The new candidate at our last local elections proved that no matter how high his principles when he stood as a candidate, he sooned decided to toe one of the part lines in order to foster his own ambitions. So I'm not going to bother any more. The average turnout at elections nowadays seems to be between 35 and 40 per cent. As we have a first past the post system, ie most number of seats won by a party which doesn't necessarily mean more than 50 per cent of the vote, that means that Tony became prime minister with his party having been elected by about 47 per cent of the 37 per cent of the eligible population who voted. And now he speaks and decides for us all. When I was teaching - up to 1997 - there was 'Personal and Social Education' at ages 14-16 in the school I was at, which included politics and the practices of a variety of religions alongside how to use a condom. Citizenship as a subject is supposed to be going to be taught in schools, but I don't know how far that's got. Imigrants will have to pass a citizenship exam some time in the future, which it was proposed did include the ability to speak some English. There had been no ceremonies for those taking British citizenship until earlier this year, when they were introduced and the format of those shown on TV thought by many to be rather silly. Jean in Poole To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] Civics/Citizen education
Yes, Sue Ellen, voting is compulsory in Australia. When you go to the polling place, your name is taken, and marked off on an electoral list. After the election, the names of those who voted are checked against the master roll, and if you haven't voted, you get a letter asking you to explain why. If the excuse isn't a valid one, then you get fined. Travelling (at least within Australia) is not an excuse for not voting. If its a Federal election (i.e., right across Australia), then you have to go into a polling place wherever you are and lodge an absentee vote. If its a state election only, (i.e., there won't be polling places in other states,) you have to arrange to lodge a postal vote before polling day. Ruth Budge (Sydney, Australia) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:I am taking part in some classes and salons on the philosopher-citizen as a decision maker and it came up that citizenship is a concept in flux: that it has different meanings in other states or countries and that it was taught so very differently in the past. I would love to hear from all of you, particularly those in different states and countries (I'm in California) about what citizenship means to you and what citizenship education you received in school at all or various levels. (It would then help to know ages.) For instance, I have heard but don't know if it is true or how it would be enforced, that it is illegal to not vote in Australia. Thanks, Sue Ellen To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] Place Names
Maxine D a décidé d' écrire à Ò[lace-chat] Place NamesÓ. [2004/08/09 06:35] You Aussies haven't got the melodic place names that we have in New Zealand... try Waitomo, Te Kuiti, Rotorua, Taumaranui, Ruapehu etc etc. ;-) the maori language sounds very soft and flowing from what i heard in polynesian songs.. it seems to have only vowels ... dominique from paris, who 's sorry sweating doesn't make one slimmer .. i should look like a flagpole by now ... To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] RE: civics/citizenship
I know that my kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day at school - they're going into 3rd grade and 1st grade. They both had to learn the Pledge in preschool, to recite at their Pre-K graduation. I'm not sure that it makes you a better citizen, but it does make you aware of your responsibilities as a citizen. My kids are almost 9 and 6 1/2. I remember in Australia reciting the Pledge on Monday mornings at Assembly under the flag (this was in the early 1970's when I was between 6-10), and then in the 5th and 6th grades, we used to have 2 pairs at a time of students chosen to be the drummers, and you had to learn the rhythm and that was done daily at the beginning of school. You may want to see if there are local Optimist Clubs near you. I know that they have them here in Denver. My DH's grandfather was very active in his local Optimist Club, and they do a lot of wonderful work with kids encouraging good contributions as Citizens amongst the kids. I don't know much about it, but they would be rewarded for their efforts. I don't think you have to have proof of Citizenship to be a good Citizen - to me it's a 2 part thing. The Official Citizenship (ie passports/papers, etc), but it's the other part - what comes from within, and what you contribute to society in terms of teaching and obeying the laws of the society you live in, and your good work in the community - even if it's a couple of hours a month in your Kids' school or being a driver or companion to an elderly person or whatever. My kids' school has a programme for the first graders, that voluntary, for kids to go to a local retirement home/assisted living centre, and read and talk to some of the elderly residents. I signed my son up for it, as I thought it was a worthwhile thing to do - his GGrandmother is in a similar place, and she's lucky as we visit her regularly (I take her books on tape weekly), but I explained that there are many who aren't as fortunate as their family don't live nearby, or are all dead or just don't care. It wasn't his most favourite activity, but it was a good lesson in being part of the community, and giving back. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers, Helen, Aussie in Denver To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] SP Thanks
Dear Secret Pal, Your treasure trove package arrived today. Thank you so much for the tidy and cover cloth you made yourself. I really appreciate your work. The beads are very unusual and will brighten up several pairs of bobbins. How did you know that I would soon be spangling bobbins? I try to do it only once a year, and that time will soon be here. The portable electric scissors are a neat idea for fingers that don't always want to operate regular ones. Thanks for all the surprises that were tucked in the box! Have a great summer? Alice To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] SP Thanks -- addendum
Dear Secret Pal, I forgot to say that the earrings are great. I look forward to trying them out. Alice To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] Civics/Citizen education
I lived in Poland up to the end of high school. We did have citizenship education, but nobody took it seriously - that was the class we used to play games under the table or do homework for other classes. It was pretty boring, too. I'm not sure how true that really is, but it seems to me that in Poland there still isn't much concept of citizenship, because our goverments have been our enemies for so long. Most people I know, my age at least, don't regard the law as something very important (it's practically good to follow it sometimes, because bad things may happen if you get caught, but it often seems to have no particular ethical value). I think part of the reason (or maybe it's the effect...) for that is that we have lots of laws that aren't enforced - high school kids get drunk on a regular basis, bus ticket-checkers take bribes, etc. Here in the US I haven't developed much sense of citizenship yet (makes sense, given how I'm not a citizen g), but I might given time - I intend to stay, and I like a lot of things about the country. One thing that seems to me strange in terms of citizenship is how the voting system is set up so that in most states voting is pointless, since everyone knows what most people in the state will vote for anyway. The two-party system is sort of strange too. We don't have to take any citizenship education at Caltech (most people do take law or at least economics, but I'm trying to stick to psychology). Weronika On Sun, Aug 08, 2004 at 08:57:53PM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am taking part in some classes and salons on the philosopher-citizen as a decision maker and it came up that citizenship is a concept in flux: that it has different meanings in other states or countries and that it was taught so very differently in the past. I would love to hear from all of you, particularly those in different states and countries (I'm in California) about what citizenship means to you and what citizenship education you received in school at all or various levels. (It would then help to know ages.) For instance, I have heard but don't know if it is true or how it would be enforced, that it is illegal to not vote in Australia. Thanks, Sue Ellen To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] Civics/Citizen education
It is illegal not to vote in Australian elections, if your name is on the electoral role and is not crossed off at the election then you get fined. Someone tried to publicise some way of making a stand against the compulsory voting without the possibility of getting fined - they got fined for doing that. That's amazing... You can understand why they make it compulsory if you could see the ballot paper for the Senate (Upper house) it seems to get larger every year, last time I think it was about 3ft by 1 ft. The paper is divided into 2 sections you can put one cross in the upper section which is basically voting for a party. Or you put numbers 1 - 10 in the lower section which has the names of each candidate in the order of your preference. It seems like that would just make people vote randomly, since they didn't want to do it in the first place and it's so complicated... Maybe they should try to make it simpler instead of forcing people to do it. In the UK where I originally hail from voting is not compulsory - I think I only ever missed one local election. Citizenship is not taught at schools, as such, depends I suppose on what you mean by citizenship. Part of education, partly by school and mainly by parents is what it means to be a good citizen - I suppose I talking morality and ethics. I'm not sure how much that's related. It seems perfectly possible to be an ethical person and an anarchist... Then again, maybe that just shows my personal idea of citizenship g. But I really don't see countries as very important - both the people you interact with and people in general seem to be more important groups to be ethical towards. Weronika To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] RE: civics/citizenship
I know that my kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day at school - they're going into 3rd grade and 1st grade. They both had to learn the Pledge in preschool, to recite at their Pre-K graduation. I'm not sure that it makes you a better citizen, but it does make you aware of your responsibilities as a citizen. Or make you significantly more annoyed with your country, as it would probably do with me. I hate reciting things, even if they make sense. I don't think you have to have proof of Citizenship to be a good Citizen - to me it's a 2 part thing. The Official Citizenship (ie passports/papers, etc), but it's the other part - what comes from within, and what you contribute to society in terms of teaching and obeying the laws of the society you live in, and your good work in the community - even if it's a couple of hours a month in your Kids' school or being a driver or companion to an elderly person or whatever. But that seems like it's just being a good person, not necessarily a good citizen. My kids' school has a programme for the first graders, that voluntary, for kids to go to a local retirement home/assisted living centre, and read and talk to some of the elderly residents. I signed my son up for it, as I thought it was a worthwhile thing to do - his GGrandmother is in a similar place, and she's lucky as we visit her regularly (I take her books on tape weekly), but I explained that there are many who aren't as fortunate as their family don't live nearby, or are all dead or just don't care. It wasn't his most favourite activity, but it was a good lesson in being part of the community, and giving back. I definitely agree that's a good thing. Weronika To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
