A few weeks ago, my pal Màiri told me a brilliant thing, and since then, it's honestly no exaggeration to say that not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about it. And I live a life rich in meaning and purpose, hard though this may be to believe when you hear what you're about to hear.
The thing was this:
Try saying 'Space Ghettos' in an American accent.
Sure, you can say it out loud! But if you're in a public place, or are just one of life's natural cynics, you can imagine yourself saying it instead. No problem.
'Where is this going?' you might be wondering (and well within your rights)
'I've said Space Ghettos in an American accent, and - yes - it was fine, but nothing more.'
If that's your emotional stance right now, then all I can say is this: get ready.
Okay. Now say it again - just the same. Same inflection, same quizzical expression/defiant boldness if you're at work and just DGAF - same everything -
but this time, imagine that you're a Glaswegian person saying 'Spice Girls.'
And truly, that was it.
At this point, I'd be prepared to wager that you:
Have heard this before. If this is the case, then I must apologise for raising your hopes to a level I can only imagine as being sky-high, before dashing them, like a real dick.
Are as delighted as I was when I first heard it. If this is the case then your mirth genuinely knows no bounds. Mirth-wise, you are currently in a bounds-free zone. I think my reaction was something like/indistinguishable from this:
Remain thoroughly un-tickled, and found that whole process to be a massive waste of your time, actually. (See the latter part of the first bullet point.) But also, maybe try it again, just in case. Space Ghettos! Spice Girls!! If there's really nothing there then all I can surmise is that you are made of sterner stuff than me.
Since space/spice-day (which is tricky to say quickly) I've lost count of the number of times I've muttered 'Space Ghettos' under my breath, chuckling all the while. It's safe to say that the good people of the 57 bus route all think I've gone mad.
But if it's mad to unabashedly revel in a strangely satisfying quirk of the English language then... well, nothing. If I ever lose my love of brilliant & beautiful words, or cease to be tickled by an amusingly-placed homonym, then I would know I was losing my mind for sure.
What are your favourite words? This question may seem rhetorical, but it isn't. I'd be thrilled if you wanted to drop me a line! I love a good favourite words chat, as my housemates can wearily attest.
I know, I know. What a quixotic, impossible question. I mean, quixotic is a great word, and we've barely even started!
Before you start thinking about yours in earnest, if you're looking to re/ignite your love of brilliant words, I'd recommend this piece by Robert Macfarlane. It's about his word-hoard - an attempt to collect and cherish the language of the natural world, and it's a fantastic treasure trove of 'wonder-words'.
When it comes to my top words, I keep changing my mind, which I suppose can only be a good thing. There are some words which I can never resist muttering under my breath, like cobble (ahh, I just did it!), serendipity (and again!) or yoghurt.
A quick yoghurt-related digression (is there any other kind?) - after a brief conference with Màiri, we have come to the conclusion that the word yoghurt might be most pleasing when spoken in an English or Welsh accent. For evidence, I offer you Rhys Ifans at 1:48 in this video. The defence rests.
There are the words which are a joy to see written down, like skiing, woebegone or indivisibility - which apparently has the most i's of any word in the English language, with the exception of its plural.
If you enjoyed looking at the word 'skiing', it might please you to know that the German word for Snowy Owl is Schneeeule. Schneeeule! Yes, I just wanted to type it again, so sue me. In case you're wondering, die Schneeeule is pronounced dee shnay-oi-ler. Oh, my phonetic transcription is significantly less good than the original isn't it?
I won't embarrass myself with more phonetic spellings, but I am a big fan of German words which are untranslatable without remainder, so here are a couple more corkers:
Kummerspeck (grief-bacon) is the excess weight gained from emotional overeating.
Handschuhschneeballwerfer (glove-snowball-thrower) is a person who's willing to criticise only from a safe distance.
Kaffeeklatsch (coffee-gossip) means to gather over coffee for a gossip. Well.. I guess didn't need to explain that one.
I'm also partial to a good literal translation:
Schildkröte is the word for turtle - a shield-toad!
Glühbirne means lightbulb - a glow-pear!
If you didn't like space ghettos, and you remain stony-faced at glow-pear, then it's possible you might be an irredeemably grumpy gus. Ploughing on regardless, I'll try my luck with a few more of my old favourites, in the hope that you get as much pleasure from them as I'm going to get from forcibly wiggling each one into a sentence over the course of the coming week.
I've linked each one to its page on the Online Etymological Dictionary, because why not? It's a premium website.
I still remember being taught the word 'incandescent' as a moon-eyed eight year old. (Thank you, Martha Close!) but a quick peruse of the etymological dictionary led me from incandescent to sparkler, and this description:
1713, "what sparkles" (often of gems, wits, or women), agent noun from sparkle (v.). In the modern hand-held fireworks sense, from 1905.
'(often of gems, wits, or women.)'
See what I mean? This website is the gift that keeps on giving.
Anyway, here they are - some sterling words for your delectation & delight:
(For the full effect, imagine me saying that like Hotep - at 1:00 - in The Prince of Egypt)
Pear
(of 'glow-pear' fame)
Palimpsest
I wish I had more opportunities to use the word palimpsest. I'm going to have to use all my cunning to slip it into conversation.
Nemesis
I wish I had fewer opportunities to use this word. I mean really, how can someone with barely enough cunning to sneak the word palimpsest into conversation have so many nemeses??
Ineffable
The plural noun ineffables was, for a time, a jocular euphemism for "trousers"! Meaning 'that which cannot be spoken'. Now I love that word even more.
Besmirch
This was one of Shakespeare's coinages. Check out this list if you share my boundless love of coinages (or Shakespeare, I guess) or are just in the mood to feel like a worthless slug. That's another Shakespeare coinage - worthless, that is, not slug. Although.. 'a shell-less land snail.' That's me alright.
Earthenware - I don't know why, I just like it.
Magnanimous
Maybe I'd have fewer nemeses if I was more magnanimous. And, um, spent less time besmirching stuff.
Okay, three down, eleven to go.
Ooh, elevenses. That's another one.
The Cameo
My guest this week is the Iraqi/Jordanian violinist and composer Layth Sidiq.
Layth was born in Baghdad, and raised in Amman. He and I met in Boston, but only after knowing each for about six months did we realise that we'd both gone to the same tiny boarding school in Manchester. This is cheesy but true: music makes the world feel smaller in the best possible way.
What’s your job title/profession?
Director of the Arab Music Ensemble at Tufts University and an active violinist, composer and educator, travelling the world.
What would you love for people to know about your work?
It’s very important for me that my work comes from a personal and honest place, so I try to always bring that and encourage people around me to do the same, whether they were my students or friends.
What do you wish people would stop asking about your work?
The more people ask about everything I do, the more I will know about myself and about them, so I don’t mind the questions.
What made you/helped you to choose what you do?
First and foremost my family, I come from a musical family, my father is a pianist, educator and composer and the current director of the National Music Conservatory in Amman/Jordan, and my mother is a violinist. They are my first inspiration and guided me towards my musical path.
What’s your perfect breakfast/lunch for a workday?
My utmost favourite breakfast meal is Zeit W Zaatar (Olive oil and Thyme) - A traditional breakfast meal in the middle east. As for lunch, anything that tastes good!
What’s your perfect time to wake up? (When do you actually wake up?)
Anytime after 9am.
What’s your alarm sound?
It changes a lot, but for the past months it’s been the Bombay theme by A.R. Rahman.
[Listen to/watch Layth playing A.R. Rahman's 'Jiya Jale' with the fantastic Berklee Indian Ensemble.]
Do you have a set morning routine?
Not really, I try to improvise not only with my instrument.
Do you have a dedicated/preferred space for practicing? If so, what does it look like?
I don’t have a dedicated space for practicing, I can practice anywhere, but if I had to choose it would be a small room with a wooden floor and a high ceiling, and maybe a small window.
How many hours are you usually holding your violin, per day?
Between 3-4 hours average, some days it can go up to 10 hours and others less than an hour.
Preferred tools of the trade? Essential work items?
A pencil, a piece of paper, my violin and humility.
What are your must-have items when you’re on the road? What are the first 5-10 things that go in your bag?
My violin, manuscript paper, bathroom accessories, more clothes and shoes than I need, a good playlist of music I like, my passport.
Do you ever work with fixed goals in mind or take it day by day depending on what comes up?
I have a few projects that I want to complete in the near future and am planning towards, however every day is different for me so plans change thus changing my timeline.
What inspires you?
My family and beautiful girlfriend. Courageous people who aspire for change in the communities despite the challenge. Time and the way it changes everything
What’s your favourite thing about your job?
That it’s different every day.
Least favourite?
Sometimes music and art are undervalued and not appreciated as much as other professions, however this is not something I dislike or is my least favourite, I see it as a challenge towards my success and it’s something that pushes me to do better always.
What do you do to get through days when you just don’t feel like it?
Go for a walk and listen to some Iraqi maqam to embrace my roots.
Do you have a go-to treat to get you out of a slump?
Going to the cinema or to watch a live show.
How you define a good/successful day?
When I go back home and know that i’ve been changed people’s lives to the better, whether it is by inspiring them, performing for them, listening to their troubles, or just a passing smile.
Do you have any hobbies/passions outside of music?
Photography, writing poetry, playing football (not American football), traveling.
If so, how do you make time for them? Where do they fit into your day/week?
I haven’t played football in a while but photography, writing and traveling are always part of my day, I have been touring/traveling a lot in the past couple of years so I always have my journal and camera with me.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to do what you do?
Everything is possible if you believe in the power of what you do, and there are always people who are willing to listen and support, don’t be afraid to try the impossible even when many people try to convince you otherwise.
What’s the best piece of advice someone’s ever given you? (Or worst!)
My mother once told me: ‘Everything will always turn out okay, even if it’s not in your favour.’
What’s your top tip for getting shit done?
Show up early to everything you do.
Photo credit: Nathalie Botbol
Check out Layth's Soundcloud here.
His Facebook page is @laythsidiq, and the pictures and videos are always a treat.
This will also be a good way to keep your eyes and ears open for his upcoming album Son of Tigris.
Now, let's all gaze adoringly at this picture of baby Layth:
Some Music
This week's playlist is a selection of Arabic music, built from Layth's recommendations. You can listen to it on Spotify here.
A Poem
This week's poem is Streemin
by Roger McGough.
Im in the botom streme
Which meens Im not brigth
dont like reading
dont hardly write
but all these divishns
arnt reely fair
look at the cemtery
no streemin there
Streemin is from the collection In the Glassroom, published by Cape in 1976.
Links!
I'm writing this at the airport, waiting to fly home to London for the holidays.
This was the perfect time to read A.A. Gill's profile of the city: My London, and Welcome to It.
This seems like as good a time as any to read Zadie Smith’s words on optimism, despair, and wilful nostalgia. I know I’m biased, but I was especially moved by the musical metaphor at the end.
[…] I maintain that people who believe in fundamental and irreversible changes in human nature are themselves ahistorical and naive. If novelists know anything it’s that individual citizens are internally plural: they have within them the full range of behavioural possibilities.
A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of interviewing Patrick Kingsley, the Guardian's migration correspondent. (If you're a recent subscriber, you can read that here.) If you're looking for somewhere to send your money this week, Patrick recommended helprefugees.org.uk.
I wanted to seek Patrick’s advice directly, not only because he is both wise and well-informed, but because I find that the more options there are to choose from, the less likely I am to actually get my arse in gear.
If you're more resilient to feeling overwhelmed than I am, you can also read this concise, upsetting, useful list of ways to help.
And/or this one.
How I got rich beating men at their own game. This piece by Cat Hulbert, about her life at the top in the male-dominated world of professional blackjack and poker, is absolutely fascinating.
One day, this guru - who smelled like blue cheese - turned to where I was sitting, next to the dealer, and placed a bet about whether I would know who said: "I think therefore I am". When I answered correctly - I have a degree in philosophy - he said, "You're the smartest woman I've ever met."
This is the sort of nonsense I had to put up with throughout my whole career.The clever, talented & lovely Liam Dunachie arranged the music for this fantastic NHS video. Isn't the NHS brilliant? Yes. And so is Liam. Help them share it far and wide, to spread the word about staying well this winter. And you know, good cheer etc.
After watching a screening of Sign o’ the Times at the Brattle Theatre last week,* I absolutely devoured this collection of anecdotes from those who knew Prince best.
*This was my first time watching a Prince concert from beginning to end, and I will fully admit that I had no idea what I was missing.
He was starting to embrace technology, but he wasn't that great at it. Like, I saw him on a laptop, and the way that he'd work a mouse was…very interesting. He didn't know how to do it. And to see him on a laptop, he just kinda taps really hard.
Beethoven in Havana. My slack-jawed wonderment for the week.
Why it pays to be late (sometimes). I really enjoyed this piece about the value of slowing down in an increasingly frenetic world. I’ll admit that I read it over the course of four elevator rides at work, but I’m not proud of it, so I suppose that’s a start.
Ooh and speaking of work - MassGeneral Hospital for Children has just released a brand new video about music therapy!
I'd been starting to worry that my strong growing-out-a-shaved-head look wasn't going to be immortalised in film, so I'm sure you can imagine what a relief this was for me.
My friend Georgia sent me this video, which was an act of great kindness as she knew how much I'd love it, but also deep cruelty, as she knew I wouldn't be able to stop watching it.
And that's it! See you next week!
Love,
Katya
The Katch-Up's header illustration is by the brilliant Tamsin Baker.