Quote:
Originally Posted by jj
hope your gigs went as smooth as the Guinness did, Ron 
speaking of Ottawa, i wonder if there were more workers killed during the CPR construction or during the building of the Rideau canal...or how about the many 'hushed' losses of modern day construction of those skyscrapers in Dubai?
i suppose the spelling is navvy for singular and navvies for plural references...i can see the logic of the double v in order to keep the 'a' soft...but since it's a slang/short form for navigator and the 'a' is already soft anyhow in it's traditional pronunciation, then it makes little sense ...as does most of the logic in the English language
i was telling my little one, there are 1) many words that are spelled the same or may sound the same but mean different things (lead as in the metal vs lead as in 'lead the way')....and 2) there are some things that have several names that all mean the same thing (graveyard, cemetery)
he said why don't they take some of the extra words from 2) and share them with 1)?...yes, even young males are logical |
Guinness & gigs, JJ! Wonderful combo and all went well.
And yes there were casualties during the building of both the canal and the CPR, the latter holding the most.
In Ottawa there is a celtic cross erected where the canal meets the Ottawa River and I remember when I was there in 2007 a memorial service was held by the cross. Many of the workers who died were Irish.
The CPR was built mainly by Chinese workers (navvies, as they were called) and they suffered greatly. Apart from construction accidents many died from disease and even starvation. The numbers ranged in the thousands on both projects.
No about that little guy of yours, and I have credibility here having raised two of them; well get ready for big changes when those teen years come along. However even though the times will be tumultuous, in the end it's all good.
A quote from the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran:
"We are the bows from which our children as living arrows are sent forth."
Stay loose, RJ.