Words, names

It was a dark and stormy night.

Okay, it wasn't really a dark and stormy night, but it was raining that day. Cos I was feeling kinda bored, so I dug out some of my old spelling books (as well as my brother's). And I perked up instantly! Some of the misspellings were really hilarious.

Excerpts from my brother's spelling book

Panch bolce - Phone booth

Soldrens - Soldiers

Rossted - Roasted

Enmy - Enemy

Anbulce- Ambulance

Ulgy - Ugly

And the most hilarious one.... Wotter botter- Water bottle

Excerpts from my spelling book

Balooon -Balloon

Brike - Brick

Foood centre - Food centre

juicecy - juicy

suddy - suddenly (OMG)

exaxarate - exaggerate

Andandand..... nessssessarry - necessary (I was laughing like crazy, how could I make such a mistake? I mean one look at it and it is obviously wrong, lols)

P.s. Guess what? The word inclement means

1) Tempestuous (as in stormy, like inclement weather)

2) Unmerciful, harsh, opposite of clemency

Anyway, Clement is an adjective, someone who is inclined to be merciful. Hahaha. Hows that for nice :D Was the name of many saints.

So then I went on to find the meaning of names in 2F (English only) :D Read on!

Eve- (French, Biblical)

Hebrew meaning of 'to live' or 'to breathe'. Has negative connotations as a result of the Garden of Eden incident, (yada yada... -.-lll Like that was my fault!) Hence rarely used. Revived the usage only in late 20th century. Negative form of Evangeline and Eva, etc etc.

Chantal- (French, Dutch)

'Stony', commonly associated with 'song'

Frederica- (Pourtugese)

Feminine form of Frederick, meaning peaceful ruler o.O

Astrid- (Scandinavian, German, French)

Derived from some word I cannot type out here -.- Meaning: 'god' and 'beautiful'

Pearlyn's name had no definition -.- But it's supposedly an extension of Pearl, which means 'health' and 'wealth' AND is also a masculine name heehee

Phoebe- (Greek, Biblical, Latin)

Means 'bright and pure'. Was a Titan in greek mythology. Phoebe is also one of Saturn's moons.

Noelle- (French)

Feminine form of Noel. Means 'Christmas' in French. In Middle Ages was used for children born on Xmas Day.

Stiffany- Nothing found. Combination of Stephanie and Tiffany?

Jasmine- (French)

Derived from Persian name Yasmin. From the english word for the climbing plant, with fragrant flowers. No real meaning.

Aeres- Not found, probably related to Aries(Roman) or Ares(Greek) Both have violent associations ._.

Amanda- (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Scandinavian, Dutch, German, Finnish, Late Roman)

Surprising not used during Middle Ages. Means 'lovable, worthy of love'. Came into regular use only in 19th Century and female form of Amandus.

Clement- (English) Above.

Paul- (French, Biblical, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Romanian)

Means 'small' or 'humble' in Latin. Wrote much of the New Testament. Many artists, saints and philosophers have this name.

Joseph- (French, Biblical, German)

Means 'he will add'. Was a popular name in Spain and Italy as it was associated with Saint Joseph. This was the name of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Portugal. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin also shared this name (gulp! that sounds familiar... who is Stalin? Smth to do with Russia?)

Richie- (English)

Diminutive of Richard, meaning 'brave power' and 'rule'

Jonathan- (Biblical, German, Dutch, Scandinavian)

Hebrew meaning of 'Yahweh has given' Anyway, Yahweh is a name of a hebrew god. Because it was considered blasphemous to utter the name of God it was only written and never spoken. This resulted to it being lost over time (Yahweh, not Jonathan). Also means 'to become'

'Kay that's it :D

Yay... School (tests, tests, tests... T-T)

Miss 2F!

I have just realised what the teachers meant when they said Years 1 and 2 were 'Honeymoon' years. And to think I complained about the workload in Year 2! On hindsight, that was nothing compared to the truckloads of worksheets I have to complete sitting in my file.

And so many colour-coded files! White plastic for Math(whatever you say, it's NOT maths)! Black ringed for LA! 2 pale-pinkish ones for Chemistry (for what exactly I've forgotten). Pale blue plastic one (oops, TWO plastic files) for Chinese, one for composition i guess and the other for everything else. And I have no idea what the purple and green ring files are for. I suppose one is for Geography and the other for Physics, since those are the only subjects without files. Why does Geog need such a big one -.-lll

Physics is mentally, physically and emotionally draining. Just take a look at our class... If you're not groaning at the super-long string of numbers that make absolutely no sense at all except to the boring teacher, you're probably lolling on the table in effort to stay awake (unsuccessfully) or you're asleep already. Maybe, just maybe, if you're one of those hardworking types you could be sitting upright (not without effort, of course) and feverishly copying down now so the teacher won't call on you later. And I bet Jun Jie is inwardly cursing now for ending up sitting with me again. And righhhht at the front! Some people have all the luck (or not, as in our case). Better not to sit in the front row at all.

I have came to a conclusion: For the good of their children's mental well-being, parents should make their child's name as typical and un-interesting as possible. If your name is one of those atypical types, good for you. You have creative parents. But if you wish to keep a low profile in school, I'd advise you to have those chinese names. Teachers just skim over those. Of course, if your name is in the middle, you have a higher chance of being the 'lucky' one to answer the question. I don't know why, but they just love people in the middle. Okay, so remember to name your child accordingly next time. It would save them a lot of stress if you give them a boring name like Tom, Dick or Harry.... Waaaait. Actually, you'd better not. Those names are so uncommon now. Name your child Edward- it's the most popular name now, apparently.

P.s. If your name is Jonathan, you don't stand a chance. You are most likely to be called up. It's true- studies has shown that people named Jonathan are more likely to be called up than any other name, even though it is one of the most common names in the world (my contact list can prove it, I know SIX Jonathans, and three of them have the surname Ong). Weird, eh? So whatever you do, don't name your child Jonathan.

P.s.s. I thought the reunion on Friday was an epic failure, even though I was happy to see everyone again. No offense, but I think everyone thought so too.

Chalet

Chalet was really tiring. Been reaching home at like, 11+?

I think the only part I enjoyed was bowling. (67 points T-T) Other than that I think we were more or less separated into our various cliques (for girls). Can't stand how all the guys manage to have so much fun and stay bonded. The girls are always promising to become more bonded but... (flops as usual) In this aspect really 佩服 them.

Hopefully there will be a 2F '09 chalet for next year. :D