Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

pollypenny

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Hmmm....food for thought Pollypenny re you singing the male part and LL re singing. I shall have to give that some consideration after Christmas. I am wondering whether part of the reason I think I can't sing is because I'm trying to "sing like a woman" and I can't. My voice is quite obviously that of a woman okay (though not of the high girlish type) and is a nice speaking voice - but singing :eek::eek:

Wonder if I'd do a bit better looking at it as possibly a male singing voice....:cool:

A friend of mine here is in one of the choirs and she keeps telling me people don't actually need to be able to sing to be in it. I wonder about it - because I've found one of the ways I can relate to this part of the country is as "the land of song" and I get into the music side of it here. A thing that's putting me off a bit is she tells me this particular choir does sing a few songs in Welsh - and I suspect I'd struggle with that on a variety of levels. Perhaps I should ask her what percentage are - whether it's 50/50 or just the occasional one, as I think I could possibly cope with the very occasional one and basically "hum along" and disguise bad pronunciation and no idea what the song was about by singing those at minimum volume in the background. I'll ask her the percentage - I'm meeting her for coffee later...must remember to ask whether the songs are song from songsheets (manageable) or from memory (not a hope in heck unless they're in English).

I should imagine that they'd be singing quite a lot of their pieces in Welsh. However, you could learn them phonetically as we all do if we sing an Italian or French song. The songs are likely to be from song sheets.

Doing that would let you show some appreciation of the language and culture.

moneyistooshorttomention

"Dong" sheets??? My friend was saying they are just learnt verbally and that's it.

I'd find it easier with French or Italian actually - as I learnt French at school and find I can still get the basic gist of what's being said. Italian is a language I've never learnt - but seem to understand some of anyway and can often get the basic gist. Can even pick out the odd word of Spanish and have been known to astonish someone by answering the question they'd just asked me in Arabic and give them the answer in English - and I don't speak that - so neither of us have any idea how I managed to do that.

I suspect I'd be quite good at languages if I tried - but Welsh is a total mystery to me etc and I know everything would land up "just going wrong".

Wednesday2000

I did the facial this morning as I didn't get around to it last night. I had a bath and shaved my legs and did facial wash, face scrub and a pore strip and then a face mask.

It's typical as I broke a nail this morning so I will have to cut the fingernails all short before I put nail varnish on or it will look weird!

I still haven't tried that facial brush thing yet. I was reading that you are supposed to clean it with alcohol or something strange and I wasn't sure of that was what you had to do?:D

lessonlearned wrote: »

Whilst I was there I also booked my ticket for the Andr! Rieu New Years cinema concert.

I would like to go to that. I've watched his concerts on the TV so many times. Drives my husband up the wall.:rotfl:

pollypenny

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

"Dong" sheets??? My friend was saying they are just learnt verbally and that's it.

I'd find it easier with French or Italian actually - as I learnt French at school and find I can still get the basic gist of what's being said. Italian is a language I've never learnt - but seem to understand some of anyway and can often get the basic gist. Can even pick out the odd word of Spanish and have been known to astonish someone by answering the question they'd just asked me in Arabic and give them the answer in English - and I don't speak that - so neither of us have any idea how I managed to do that.

I suspect I'd be quite good at languages if I tried - but Welsh is a total mystery to me etc and I know everything would land up "just going wrong".

I think you knew it was a fat finger, iPad typo, money. Or did you really want to take the opportunity to patronise a Welsh woman?

Open your mind and ears and you might see/ hear the links between Italian, French and Welsh.

I've just had an annoying phone call from an English friend, a good linguist, who nevertheless persists in mispronouncing the name of someone. Very strange.

lessonlearned

Wednesday ..... My facial brush thingy doesn't say about cleaning it with alcohol, although tbh it does make sense to avoid a build up of harmful bacteria. Once a week I just soak my brush heads in hot soapy water and a dash of bleach, then rinse very well. I do have some rubbing alcohol, I'll give it a go.

Well Maman, I wish I had taken your advice about leggings this morning. I had my acupuncture appt and My legs were so cold......it's bitter here, a hard frost last night and although it's thawed it still feels very raw. Yellow warnings for snow and ice over the weekend. So definitely time to start layering up and trying my new thermals.

My knee is really bothering me and now my shoulder has started playing up again. I think I need to keep them warmer. I'll take some cbd oil for a couple of days too. Can't Overdo it though because it upsets my tummy.

:rotfl::rotfl: What a wreck.

Still we mustn't grumble really, it's been a mild winter so far.

And, I'm always reminded of the old maxim "there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes". :rotfl:

Winter draws on, ladies.

Wednesday2000

lessonlearned wrote: »

Wednesday ..... My facial brush thingy doesn't say about cleaning it with alcohol, although tbh it does make sense to avoid a build up of harmful bacteria. Once a week I just soak my brush heads in hot soapy water and a dash of bleach, then rinse very well.

Oh thanks for that. I was looking on the Amazon website but I couldn't see any comments about how to clean it. I will give it a try tomorrow when I'm at home.:)

moneyistooshorttomention

Polly - no patronising meant. I'm a trained personal secretary and so it can take me a while to realise someone has made a typing/spelling mistake - as I assume they meant what they put. So my first reaction was - "Is this something I've never heard of - but people who sing in choirs are familiar with?"

pollypenny

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Polly - no patronising meant. I'm a trained personal secretary and so it can take me a while to realise someone has made a typing/spelling mistake - as I assume they meant what they put. So my first reaction was - "Is this something I've never heard of - but people who sing in choirs are familiar with?"

Yes, well I'm a retired English teacher and always alert to spelling errors, but aware of the propensity for typos, especially on iPad.

maman

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Polly - no patronising meant. I'm a trained personal secretary and so it can take me a while to realise someone has made a typing/spelling mistake - as I assume they meant what they put. So my first reaction was - "Is this something I've never heard of - but people who sing in choirs are familiar with?"

pollypenny wrote: »

Yes, well I'm a retired English teacher and always alert to spelling errors, but aware of the propensity for typos, especially on iPad.

It's strange how we bring previous skills and practices to current issues, sometimes without even realising. I remember being surprised in the first programme of Mrs Wilson (do watch it, if you missed it) she was employed as a secretary in MI5 or similar and told categorically that she was to type up everything word for word. It made me think because I've always been in a position to correct errors for others. My DH writes articles for our local papers and always uses me as his proof reader. He says I can spot a spelling mistake at a 100 yards. :rotfl:

I love leggings LL . As well as being my go to for being comfortable around the house, they're brilliant as a layer for keeping warm. Not just in winter but when travelling. I used to wear jeans for flying but now if I'm coming back to the colder UK from somewhere hot I wear a skirt and then put my leggings on underneath mid flight. They're also great for relaxing in your hotel room and so light and easy to pack.

I've got a bit further with Christmas preparations today. I got my frozen turkey (I reckon they taste all the same once I've stuffed it and covered in bacon) and cheeses and pickles. It all helps cut down on what I need to do in Christmas week.

moneyistooshorttomention

You're right about that Maman for sure...

With some of the other jobs I worked in as well and the way I've been active in trade unions on the one hand in the past and wondered whether to re-train for a legal career at one point - and I am a "word watcher". I will turn round to people (usually tradespeople) and say "You said word x, word y, word z" or that I did when they haven't done what we agreed. I do like learning new words too and made quite a deliberate effort to expand my vocabulary a lot some years back - as I realised it was rather small.

There is one of the local Facebook pages I'm on where about "the" most prolific poster is just putting me off the whole group - as I'm dying to rewrite her posts with proper spelling etc and am extremely curious as to just why she is so appalling at spelling. I have been wondering how she would take it if I offered to re-write them for her - but have kept quiet in case she took it the wrong way.

I know I must have been looking very puzzled about someone's bad English the other day - as they have been in Britain for so many years by now. That realisation struck when someone had obviously noticed me looking puzzled and started explaining to me...