Monday, May 3, 2010

Istantidbits II

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Two interesting Turkish products I have encountered:
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1. RASH men’s briefs

2. DROP toilet paper
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During busy traffic times, sidewalk peddlers will venture into the stalled traffic lanes, hawking their products: roses, bottled water, facial tissue, candy, etc. My favorite was a man I saw last summer while I was still living on the Asian side. He was selling pigeons. The birds were contained in a large cage balanced atop his head. Above that were strapped small cages for the individual birds, should he find an interested buyer. I could not see what sort of cage liner, if any, protected his head.
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We live at a bus terminus, and our school is at another terminus. This is very convenient, because we do not need to watch for our stop. We just wait until we get to the end, which is very comforting in a land where you cannot ask a question because you will not understand the answer.
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There is a very strict anti-smoking campaign in Turkey. According to the ubiquitous posters, anyone caught smoking indoors will be fined 67 TL (Turkish Lira). Caught by whom? The cigarette police? (My proposed uniform: red shoes, long grey socks, white Capri pants, jacket and gloves, tall beige hat with lipstick stain.) Why 67 TL? Why not 65 or 70? My guess is inconvenience. There are no 1 TL bills, only heavy 1 TL coins. Once fined, the shamed and repentant offender must now lug around a pocket full of heavy change. Boy, that’d make me think twice before I smoked indoors again!
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Anyway, the bus drivers, having been denied their nicotine fix for the duration of their route, will start smoking one or two stops before the end of the line, depending upon the number of people still on the vehicle. Why not? There are only a few civilians left on the bus, and the driver can easily detect a cigarette cop by his distinctive uniform. So, it’s light up time! My advice: don’t sit behind the rider when the horse can smell the barn.
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More Fonetik Spelinj:
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Advantage = Avataj
Amateur = Amatö
Auto coach = Otokoç
Barrier = Baryer
Buffet = Büfe
Carriage = Karaj
Clarinet = Klarnet
Energy = Enerji
Gooey = Guy
Guarantee = Garanti
Gymnastic = Jimnastik
League = Lig
Lilac = Laylak
Maneuver = Manevra
Maniac = Manyak
Off side = Ofsayt

Option = Opsyon
Porcelain = Porselen
Season = Sezon
Social = Sosyal
Technology = Teknoloji