Four Somethings is loosely based on the idea of four gifts: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read. Or, my version of the weekly round-up!
Something you want:
Multilingualism as a superpower
We love the web series Chicken Shop Date in our house and really everything Amelia Dimoldenberg does. The Paul Mescal episode is the best but I have recently started to watch some of the other ones. If you are not familiar with her series, English comedian and presenter Dimoldenberg interviews celebrities in chicken shops around London and makes them feel super uncomfortable. (She also does this on red carpets and those clips are also the best!)
In one Chicken Shop Date episode, Jennifer Lawrence makes an appearance and it was something Dimoldenberg said to Lawrence I want to share. The two are discussing superpowers because of Lawrence’s role in X-Men when Dimoldenberg casually mentions she wishes she had the superpower of knowing all the languages in the world. The comment took my breath away because yes! that would be amazing and I am totally stealing it.
Multilingualism as a superpower reminded me of that (pretty awful) Gwyneth Paltrow movie, A Perfect Murder where she plays a character who works at the UN, knows many languages and casually starts speaking them when the need arises.
For your viewing pleasure, the Paul Mescal episode of Chicken Shop Date:
Something you need:
The Bear’s Richie, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, speaking Polish
Staying with the TV theme, let’s discuss Season 3 of The Bear. If you’ve seen it, did you love it? Hate it? I liked it but all the seasons sort of blend together and feel so similar I am no longer sure what happened when. No spoilers but I have read many articles on episode 8 of season 3 titled, “Ice Chips” about mothers and daughters, family trauma and motherhood. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments but one thing is certain: Jamie Lee Curtis is divine, as always. What I did notice more of this season is Richie’s fatherhood storyline and how he grappled with how to be present for his daughter while at the same time feeling like he was on the periphery of not only her life but his own.
If you are a speaker of a Slavic language, you may have noticed in the scene when he is tucking his daughter into bed, he calls her “żabka”, a diminutive of “żaba” (little frog). Richie Jerimovich is played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach and I wanted to mention two things. Richie the character is, according to some fan forums, Polish. He likes to pretend he is Italian like his “cousin” Carmy but is in fact Polish. (There is a huge Polish population in Chicago where the show takes place so it’s on brand.)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the actor, is in real life married to Ukrainian artist and photographer Yelena Yemchuk who immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine as a child. The couple have two teenage daughters. I am speculating but perhaps there was some Ukrainian in the family home even if the daughters are not fluent. So maybe, it is not only Richie adding in some Polish but Ebon, in a life imitates art or vice versa, saying something to his on-screen daughter he used to say to his own daughters when they were little. Many Slavic languages, including Ukrainian, have the same word for little frog so it is possible but this is all completely unverified information solely based on my own nostalgia and emotions! And yet, a really lovely thought to think of the father character and the real-life father coming together in a scene for a moment of tenderness with a young child.
This on The Bear’s kitchen lingo is also pretty great. It brings me back to my days of working in restaurants!
Something to Wear:
A (Mother) Voter Tee but more importantly, VOTE!
I recently voted in the UK General election and it felt so good to be a part of getting the awful Tories out of government. Everyone should have that feeling but it is only possible if you vote! See also what happened in France recently. My friends over at the awesome Mother Tongue Magazine have once again teamed up with I am a voter. , a non-profit, non-partisan organization and reissued their limited-edition t-shirt Mother/Voter, with 20% of proceeds going to IAAV to support their mission to rally voter turnout. As you all know, this U.S. election is critical beyond comprehension so we need to do all we can wherever we are in the world to help.
I also love some of the other styles from I am a voter:
Something to Read (or Listen to):
Language Policy at an Abortion Clinic
One of my favourite language podcasts had a fascinating episode recently, “Language Policy at an Abortion Clinic” . You can read the transcript or listen to the podcast. Dr. Ella van Hest discusses her linguistic ethnographic PhD research on language diversity at an abortion clinic in Belgium. It is a complicated and nuanced look at verbal communication and potential linguistic barriers in medical situations when patients are not physically present in front of a medical team as is the case sometimes with medical abortions versus surgical ones. It is also a reminder of the importance of access to professionally trained medical interpreters.
Okay, one more thing to add to the somethings because I loved this Cup of Jo post on the vocabulary people are using and loving! The comments are hilarious and I especially loved the one where the mom kept telling her daughter to “verbalize” when she was upset or crying and then one day, the mom was upset and the child looked at her mom and said “purple eyes.”
(I especially love this because I am very much against caregivers telling their children to “use their words” - something I cover in MTT so it made me so happy that this child turned this command into something so gentle and child-like because children cannot always “verbalize” their feelings.")
Thank you for reading and happy weekend.