Sunday morning thoughts – March 31, 2024

Who stole that hour?

I know most of my readers have already put their clocks forward one hour a few weeks ago. Not us in Europe or most of Europe or whatever – I lost track. And then there’s states like Arizona who don’t bother at all. In Switzerland it’s a long weekend because of Easter. We get Friday and Monday off. This also means that on Friday and Monday public transport runs on a Sunday schedule.

So, let’s say you want to go for an early hike and your train leaves Aarau at 5.50 but because it’s a public holiday your first bus to the station also leaves at 5.50. That’s not gonna work, is it? I needed to be on that first train though to get to Muri AG around the time of sunrise.

Yes, I could totally ride my bike to the station – not the point. And why are you using reason when I’m grumbling? Are you new here?

Anyway, since I didn’t really get to walk properly for World Water Run, I decided to walk Route 42 again. Well, sort of – parts of it I like. I ended up taking the regional train to Aarau. The first one of those leaves at 5.28 and it’s much faster than the bus, but that means an almost 20-minute wait at the station. And, because it’s a “Sunday” – everything is closed. To be fair, even on regular weekdays not much is open at the station before 6 AM.

In case you’re wondering why I don’t always take the train instead of the bus. That’s a fair question. The bus stop is 2 minutes away, even closer on the way back. The train stop is an 8-minute walk, about the same time the bus needs to get to the station (train: 1 stop; bus 4 stops) – convenience wins. Also, during peak times the buses run every 7/8 minutes while the trains can’t run more frequently than every 15 minutes, for logistical reasons (single track and not enough places to pass).

I do a lot of public transport math. For instance, if my train arrives at x.37 instead of x.35, making the x.39 bus is not guaranteed. However, I can easily make the x.40 train because it’s much closer to the track I arrive at. I know I’ve told you this before. Also, since the bus usually has to wait at a red light for the train to pass it’s totally possible to still catch the x.39 bus down the line. I usually just walk home when that happens though. That’s a better use of eight minutes than waiting for the next bus.

Why am I telling you this?

Oh yes, the particularities of public holidays and public transport in Switzerland. It’s easiest to just use the SBB app. Just don’t be surprised if your “regular” buses/trains don’t run on a public holiday. It’s usually that they start running later or that they run less frequently. The times stay mostly the same. Unless you live somewhere where bus timetables are adjusted to accommodate church goers on a Sunday.

Easter … well, I’ve been successfully avoiding any Easter-related activities for the past seven years. Much more peaceful that way. Also, I really can’t stand chocolate Easter bunnies. I used to get them for my birthday. The only thing I will buy are bunnies made from marzipan – basically anything “marzipan” is great. I’m totally not paying full price for them though. I went to check what was left at the supermarket yesterday (right before closing) so I know what I can go buy for half price when they re-open on Tuesday. Works like a charm.

Daylight saving time or whatever we’re calling it – not a fan. I mean, not a fan of messing around with the clocks. I actually don’t give a flying you know what either way, let’s just leave it alone. My inner clock will be off for what feels like forever. At least my current apartment has an oven clock that you don’t need an engineering degree to just adjust the time for.

March 31 – the deadline for filing last year’s tax return. I could still ask for an extension today, but I got it done already. Mine takes probably like a total of 15 minutes. I got all my documents online and can just upload them online as well. I need to enter a new employer, then a bunch of numbers and that’s that. My cousin’s is a bit more complicated. There might need to be an extension on that one. We’ll see.

I’m now picturing all those people getting their taxes done on Easter Sunday. Might actually be more relaxing than hanging out with family. At least in some cases.

Gosh, I had so many thoughts. Now they’re gone because – taxes.

Have you heard of Zurich? Zurich in Friesland in the Netherlands? Neither had I, until yesterday. A friend sent me a map of where they were, and I looked it up on my phone. That’s how I stumbled across Zurich. Another Dutch friend was nice enough to look up the history of Zurich (Friesland) and what the name might mean. I love that it could have originally meant something like southern corner or southern bank. The only part they are sure about is “southern”. Oh, and Swiss people go there a lot – for obvious reasons; and that’s why a vote to change its name from Zurich to Surch (Frisian) has been unsuccessful. Made me smile. Totally going there as well – obviously!

Are you ready for a bit of linguistics?

Now, Zurich Switzerland got its name from the Romans. They called it Turicum. I’m sure you’ve heard of Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law and the High German consonant shift. No? Well, here we go. Knowing about these shifts helps me learn languages fast or at least understand them fast. We’re talking Germanic languages here. There are patterns. For instance, English “pepper” or “apple” are “Pfeffer” and “Apfel” in German. When I said there were patterns, here are two. In step one /p/ became /f/ in certain contexts (cf. also ship/Schiff; sleep/schlafen). By “context” the linguist means it depends on what other sounds surround it. Spelling is less important, but that’s where we can usually see it too. That was step one, in step two certain /p/ sounds became /pf/ such as PFeffer or APFel. I’m doing this from memory, but I have linked a Wikipedia page below that looked reasonably well informed for those who want to dive in a bit deeper. I could talk consonant and also vowel shifts forever. I’ve told you about “mus, hus, lus”, “Maus, Haus, Laus” and “mouse, house, louse”, right? That would be a vowel shift.

Anyway, I wanted to mention that the T at the beginning of Turicum got changed to Z (the sound is /ts/) during the High German consonant shift. This is also when /c/ became /x/ (that’s that sound that hurts anybody who is not a Dutch or Swiss German speaker’s throat when they try to say it). And I don’t have to tell you that those old Latin endings got dropped at some point as well, right? In English it started after the Norman Conquest in 1066 when the French language took over in present day England. English used to have all those case endings we still have in German. As a matter of fact, Old English texts are much easier to read for German speakers than they are for English speakers.

Of course, what is passed off as Old English in movies and TV series is usually the English spoken during Shakespeare’s lifetime, which is technically Early Modern English. Look up the Lord’s Prayer in Old English to get an example.

I think I might actually be able to do part of it from memory. I did teach a couple of years’ worth of Old English tutorials. Hang on. “Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum […] gewurþe ðin willa; on eorðan swa swa on heofonum”. Only parts of it still there. It’s been almost 30 years. I could tell you about how the þ (thorn) is the voiced “th” sound in English (in the phonetic alphabet the thorn and eth are still used) and ð (eth) is the voiceless “th” sound. And how if an /f/ sound was between two vowels it later shifted to a /v/. This also has something to do with voiced/voiceless. All vowels are voiced and it’s much easier to have a voiced consonant among them – easier to pronounce that is. Put some fingers on your vocal cords and say e.g. “the thing” – you should feel a difference between the two /th/ sounds.

Isn’t language fascinating?

What have I missed? Oh yes, at some point the /i/ in Turicum (that had now become Zurich) created an umlaut and made modern day Zürich - French Zurich (as their “u” is pronounced as German “ü”); Italian Zurigo and in one of the Romansh dialects Zurich is called Turitg. I love that.

Singing along to an Italian song on the radio right now. So many memories linked to it. It’s called “Se bastasse una canzone” by Eros Ramazzotti. I just love that I grew up listening to Italian, German and English music. Not so much French back then, but also to a certain extent. And yes, you can totally sing along to a song without understanding what they are saying. It might even be more fun that way.

Almost forgot two crucial things!

First, I might have heard the best ever reason for why sexual orientation is not a choice: heterosexual women. I’m just gonna leave that here …

And then there’s this, I think I really need to start speaking up on education and make my voice heard. Too much expertise and lived experience not to. So, I’m totally applying to become a European Advisor for Education in Brussels. I don’t even think that’s a long shot. I have what it takes and moving to Brussels? Bring it on. Using all my languages in an international setting – total bonus. So many opportunities out there once you stop limiting yourself. It doesn’t have to be Brussels.

Watch this space – someone might be spreading her wings 😉. You know me, I got a picture for everything. It’s one of my superpowers. I’m calling this one I got places to go.

Walking along the River Reuss - I think this was near Jonen.

I’m in total writing mode today, this got longer than expected. I might publish something on “back to basics” (that’s a working title) and also why it’s not helpful to say “it’s okay, don’t cry” to a child - or an adult, for that matter.

And then there is the final Paris installment. PJ day today because I can.

Happy Easter Sunday everybody.

Notes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_consonant_shift