Dear Strange People

[la_rainette]

Dear Inhabitants of the New Continent,

Please bear in mind we are new to this place, and as such, occasionally struggling to understand what's going on around us.

Although I do believe my command of English is adequate in Real Life, I cannot deal, on top of that, with Internet linguae in all its intricacies and without a handbook, although I do my best.

Also, please remember that the French are great borrowers of English words, but may associate a slightly different meaning to them. Cultural differences, see. Should I include a full explanation of every word whenever I write anything? Or just go back to writing in French? Because, honestly, here I am writing in English and it is the same old song: whenever I see a keyboard, the tiny lecherous leprechaun waiting in a dark corner of my brain takes over and vrooom. I instantaneously become verbally incontinent. Point is, said leprechaun is also less competent in English than in French. But just as talktative. Bugger.

And please note that while I can yell "Hors jeu!" at any soccer game before the referee fumbles his whistle up to his mouth, I have no idea why everyone suddenly starts running on a baseball field after the guy who holds the bat (batter? bat-guy? batman? ooof, probably not) hits the ball.

Meilleures Salutations,

La Rainette.

PS: The word tennis is a good example of, well, tennis-like word exchange between France and England. It comes from the French jeu de paume, a long forgotten game, where you yelled: tenez!, went over to England where it became tennis (the sport), then back to France, as tennis (the sport).

Comments

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

i'm not sure what internet lingo things you're having trouble with, but you know you're always welcome to tap me on the shoulder and point to whatever you're confused by and say "whathefuh?" [g]

and everyone runs when the batter hits the ball because two guys can't be on base at the same time. ball in the air = time to move!

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

You're an angel of mercy, Fox. I'll bear that in mind. Will be making little list of terms as they come along, and send it over to you. Would be infinitely grateful if you could tell me WTF (I know this one, yay! Although I wonder if I should be proud of that?) ROFL means?

And, hum, in which direction do baseball players move? And why can't they move in slow-motion? I mean, they're between 4 and 6 years old, but the whole thing still moves way to fast for me to make any sense of it.

What frustrates me most is that Froglet, who is a natural athlete, doesn't enjoy baseball because she doesn't understand what she's supposed to do - and I am incapable of explaining it to her.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

ROFL stands for Rolling On the Floor Laughing (you may also see ROTFL, which gives "the" greater status). it is generally seen as an increment higher than LOL (Laughing Out Loud), but possibly not as high as LMAO (Laughing My Ass Off). ROFLMAO is a reaction to something funnier yet.

baseball players move counter-clockwise. the batter, when he hits the ball, runs toward first base, which if he's right-handed is directly in front of him. if there's a runner already on first, that runner has to hurry up and get to second, which is the point of the diamond, behind the pitcher. if there's a guy on second base, he has to hurry up and get to third (unless there wasn't anybody on first base -- the second-base runner might stay put if leaving the base, or "bag", would be dangerous). and if there's a guy on third base, and guys coming around behind him who are forced to run by guys coming around behind them, he has no choice but to run for home plate (which the batter has just left). they run as fast as they can, because when they're on base they're safe, but if a fielder holding the ball tags a runner between bases, the runner is out, and if the ball gets to the base (by which we mean, the ball is in possession of a player on the fielding team who is in contact with the base) before the runner does, the runner is out.

you can also go to first base if the pitcher throws four balls (which, confusingly i admit, means "bad pitches") before you accumulate three strikes (good pitches, i.e. things you should have swung for, or did swing for but didn't hit), or if a pitch hits you. in these cases, you don't have to run -- you get a free pass to the base. but the driving thing is still that only one runner can be on each base at a given time. so if you get a walk to first, the guy who's already on first gets a walk to second, and the guy on second walks to third, and the guy on third -- if the pitcher is very unfortunate and has managed to walk a batter with the bases loaded -- walks home. but if there's a guy on second and nobody on first, then when you walk to first base the guy on second stays put.

unless he's trying to steal third base -- but we can leave that for the advanced class. :-)

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

:D I love you.

This'll help me tremendously. I can't thank you enough. I'm going to memeorize this for Froglet's next practice (maybe even try to watch a little baseball on TV, and see if I can follow).

And, ahem, BNF? (Another big puzzlers of mine) Thanks!

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

BNF = Big Name Fan. sort of a fannish celebrity, whether by accident or by design. the sort of fan who has fans of her own.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

:o)

Thank you.