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Re: "Usefull languages"

From:Tristan <anstouh@...>
Date:Sunday, February 17, 2002, 2:35
On Sat, 16 Feb 2002, Padraic Brown wrote:

> Am 16.02.02, John Cowan yscrifef: > > > ObDigression: Normally the word "bee" refers to a cooperative > > activity, not a competitive one. (An American immigrant once puzzled > > his relatives back home in England by writing that his "house was > > raised by a bee in a single day".) I wonder how in "spelling bee" > > it came to mean "eliminative competition in spelling". > > Ironically, with the collapse of such activities in most parts of American > > society, "spelling bee" is the only usage of "bee" left. > > Then I guess you really can't say the cooperative sort is the > "normal" meaning... > > My mother used to host quilting bees here at the house. This > was about 15-20 years ago, though. That's the _only_ other > kind of bee I'm familliar with. That English fellow in your > example would puzzle _this_ Merkin every bit as much as his > rightpondian relations!
Here in Australia (or at least Australia), working bees are quite common. A lot more common than spelling bees, our closest equivalent of one would just be a spelling competiotn in class. Tristan