Further up and Further in

It's time we say something more about the amusing language differences between American English and Indian English. We are back in India, by the way. We passed the border patrol. This morning ("today morning" in Indian English) Lisa and I rode the bus to Chennai, and as we approached our destination, I saw a billboard that said "Double View Hoarding, call 949..." I wasn't sure if you were supposed to call the number to report someone hoarding double views or to request double views to hoard, so I asked our friend Dr. Susan, who was traveling with us. She said she thought it was the name of the hoarding company. We looked confused, so she clarified: "I think that you call it billboard in the U.S. Here we call it hoarding." Oh. Not so exciting. I would've definitely reported anyone I saw hoarding double views. She also mentioned something that many Americans find amusing when they first get to India: the ubiquitous STD signs. I'm not sure what I thought when I first arrived...why would you want to advertise that? Or is it a warning? STD is actually a type of phone call here--STD stands for Subscriber Trunk Dialing. That's correct: subscriber trunk dialing. It's not special dialing for elephants or dialing from your luggage or dialing only using your stomach or in your swimming shorts or from a tree or any other such crazy notion. I've never really seized the opportunity to ponder on what a versatile word "trunk" is until this morning. Merriam-Webster Online lists 6 different definitions for the word "trunk," four of which I was familiar with. The fifth and sixth definitions, having to do with phone lines, rivers, and major passages, were completely unknown to me. How could I have missed out on the other aspects of "trunk" during all the time I spent reading the dictionary? No use crying over spilled milk...I'm going to try to persuade my brother to name his first son "Trunk." He's the only one I think I can persuade to do that. Trunk Hulet. It has a nice ring to it.

O, yes yes. I'm calling dibs on Trunk. Except I'm going to have to name my daughter Trunk. We think it's a girl due to the absence of a fifth appendage in the most recent sonogram.
In fact, your naming scheme is so ingenious that all my named progeny shall end in "-unk". Think of the possibilities! Junk, skunk, funk, crunk, dunk, plunk, drunk.....

You're funny, hound! How long did that take you to write? ;)

Don't paint the room pink yet...Lisa's brother and his wife were told their second child was a girl...but when he arrived, lo and behold...a fifth appendage. There may be a little Trunk Hulet after all...or perhaps Chunk if da baby's on the fat side. You might want to add the following to your baby names list: spunk, spelunk, bunk, shrunk, punk, thunk. Or name all of your children Trunk, each with one of the six unique definitions. You know, Trunk(merriam-webster,1), Trunk(merriam-webster,2), etc. Think Mom can embroider that on the back pocket of their pajamas?

Well, if it is a girl I guess that Annika could become Annikunk

Kaycee--I LOVE this blog. It's so funny. Trunk Hulet. Do--do persuade your brother to do that. I bet if you ask enough of your friends, we could round up enough money to make it worthwhile for your brother to take that challenge.