Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
January 28, 2021
November 26, 2020
La manzana o la poma no són un Mac a Barcelona
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Apple logo
For ten years I have wrestled with a question that popped into my mind while Tom and I were celebrating Thanksgiving in Barcelona in 2010 (link below) but none of my friends there or here have been able to answer it.
Why is a city block called a "manzana"?
While
searching for the cranberries (arándanos rojos) I needed for the feast,
I asked directions from people on the street and a couple of times I
was told, ". . . dos o tres manzanas". At first I was confused, why
were they talking to me about "apples'? Then I realized they meant,
"blocks". La
manzana is the Spanish word for "apple" and the Catalan word for
"apple"
is la poma so it made no sense to me what-so-ever. A couple of months
ago I finally found the
answer to my question on a tumbler website, the Spanish Skulduggery (link below) posted by LaDragonaria.
Spanish Skulduggery:
The origin behind this word is really vague old Spanish.The word it comes from in the context of “city block” is not “apple”… the word in older Spanish was mansana.
In Spanish today the word manso/a is typically an adjective and it means “meek” or “docile” and you see it when you talk about animals, or the Bible los mansos heredarán la tierra “the meek shall inherit the earth”.
But the term el manso means something very different in terms of feudal society. And it’s all about land terminology. In Spanish el feudo is “a fief” or “a fiefdom”, aka a land controlled by a feudal lord who was then subject to the baron/duke who was subject to a king and so on.
The aristocrats gave out los mansos to the peasants to work the field, a manso is best translated as “parcel (of land)”. The word manso here is related to the word “mansion” which is “the residence/domain of a lord”… so a manso is the land that a feudal lord would give out to be worked and people would live on the land and work it for them. Collections of mansos were called mansanas and the peasant farmers who worked the mansos earned money and provided services for the lord as subjects.
So the term mansana shifted over to manzana because S/Z are weird. The term had always had to do with a tenant farmer who deals with a land lord, and collections of their houses became manzanas “city blocks” which makes more sense if you assume that people were very much more agricultural before the Industrial era. Once the feudal system in Europe was more or less abolished, mansana became obsolete or linked with la manzana “apple” which comes from completely different etymology.
BTW manso/a meaning “meek” is the same word as el manso “parcel”; the two words came from an older Latin word meaning “to remain”. A docile animal would remain and not run away at the touch, and people built homes called “manses” and large ones were “mansions”, so they meant homes that were occupied by someone rather than an empty farm house. A “manse” is probably something similar to a “cottage” but very often became “abbeys” where a priest would live, and often farm communities had a priest nearby because Spain was ultra religious during the Medieval period especially during the rise of Isabel (and her husband Fernando, who were the Catholic Monarchs los reyes católicos) and leading into Spain becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire.That’s probably a lot of info but I had the same exact question for YEARS so I did so much research on this. But la manzana for “city block” is more Spain.
LaDragonaria ~ 2016
My sincerest thanks to LaDragonaria for finally giving me the answer to my question after all these years!
Viewfinder link:
Styrous® ~ Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, 2020
December 26, 2018
April 16, 2016
Sassy Siri
Well this iPhone has certainly been quite an experience so far. I've got an iPhone workshop coming up on Monday; I've learned a lot of stuff on my own at this point, so, perhaps I won't be overwhelmed with all the information that I get (think I've heard that before).
I had a bit of a surprise though, I was asking Siri to find some information for me about a couple of things. It brought up a lot of stuff, none of which had anything to do with what I was looking for. In frustration, I said, "You're stupid, Siri". It answered back,
"After all I've done for you!"
Styrous® ~ Saturday, April 16, 2016
March 11, 2016
Parsing* the iPhone
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*parsing
As of Monday of last week, the iPhone has become a part of my world (see link below). It's almost a couple of weeks since I've had it and I'm realizing how difficult it is to read my blog on a mobile phone. Now, most people are surfing the net with iPhones or Smart phones which means most of them are not checking out this blog for very long, if at all, because the basic format does not fit comfortably.
I have also realized that since I've always composed this blog on a computer, that is were it looks it's best. This leads me to the conclusion I am going to have to alter my format or something; I'm not sure what at this point.
*parsing
As of Monday of last week, the iPhone has become a part of my world (see link below). It's almost a couple of weeks since I've had it and I'm realizing how difficult it is to read my blog on a mobile phone. Now, most people are surfing the net with iPhones or Smart phones which means most of them are not checking out this blog for very long, if at all, because the basic format does not fit comfortably.
I have also realized that since I've always composed this blog on a computer, that is were it looks it's best. This leads me to the conclusion I am going to have to alter my format or something; I'm not sure what at this point.
Perhaps I will begin composting it on my iPhone. That's an idea I will have to try out; perhaps I'll even start a new blog geared specifically for the iPhone.
It's amazing how life keeps you on your toes, so to speak!
testing out the new eyePhones
Styrous® ~ Friday, March 11, 2016
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~
March 4, 2016
testing out the new eyePhones (#iPhone)
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