HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-11-06, Page 28Page 8A—Crossroads—Nov, 6, 1985
F1?ON
GREEN
Some years ago when my
youngest son was a not too
enthusiastic pipit in our
English language grade
school I was curious about
the grade his report card
gave him in French.
It was the lowest mark on
the list with the exception of
writing, and writing is one
subject where a growing boy
is not expected to excel any-
how. But the grade in French
made me raise my eyebrows
because when the lad enter-
ed school he had become so
thoroughly acquainted with
the French tongue that he
scarcely knew when he was
talking one or the other. His
normal day in fact, was one
in which French was the
language of his play and
English was what he had to
resort to at home.
"What's the reason for this
bad mark?" I asked him.
My offspring tugged
rather impatiently at the
card I was supposed to sign
and shrugged the question
aside. But when I asserted
my parental authority. and
insisted, I got an answer.
"Teacher says I don't talk it
right," he said. "And I don'ts
do the grammar very good."
Now why this scholarly
looking down on the accent
and inflection peculiar to
French as it is spoken in Ca-
nada? Why call it slang, or
patois, or pea soup, jargon?
Do we Anglais hold ourselves
to the accent of Buckingham
Palace in our own tongue?
But to get back to the own-
er of the report card, the
most significant news was
yet to come. At the gate one
morning shortly after sign-
ing my lad's report card, I
stopped the car to pick up a
schoolmate of his, another of
the many perfectly bilingual
youngsters who live in our
neighborhood. "How's your
grade in French?" I asked.
It wasn't even "fair" and I
was told this with something
perilously near to belliger-
ence. "Boy, do we ever make
fun of that teacher when she
comes out with some of her
funny French!" he said.
"You make fun of her? Out
loud? How can you get away.
with that?" I asked.
The answer was quite sur-
prising. "We just talk in
French," I was told. "And
she can't understand us!"
Which was worth a thought
or two before I handed the. .
card back to him.
It seems to me that the
perfect French which our
English speaking schools are
giving their inmates is a
fairly usable gadget when
one. wants to amuse himself
at the breakfast table by
puzzling out the text on the
opposite side of the cornflake
box. But when it comes time
for the young hopeful to tuck
his education under his arm
and to roll up his sleeves in
some part of our nation's
business where the meeting
Ceramics named
for area of Japan
'By James G. McCollam
Q. This Oriental -style vase
has been in my family for
Many years.
Please tell ane what you
can about its origin, vintage
and value.
A. This type of ceramics is
called Satsuma and is made.
in Japan. It derives its name
from an area of Japan famed
.for fine ceramics for over 300
years.
Most of, the Satsuma now
on the market .was made in
the late 19th and early 20th
century. Yours was made
around 1900 and would be
worth about $175 to $225.
Q. This drawing shows the
mark on the bottom of a pot-
tery Mug. The sides are also
decorated with rabbits.
i
would- apprecctate any in-
formation you can provide
regarding origin, vintage
and value.
A. This mark was used by
the Dedham Pottery Co.,
Dedham Mass....irom1895_to
1896. 1t should be worth
about $125.
A. W. Robertson estab-
lished the Chelsea Pottery in
1860. in 1895, he moved to.
Dedham and changed the
name of the company to
Dedham Pottery. The pot-
• tery closed in 1943.
Q. With the current anti -
cigarette sentiment, is there
also an increased interest in
collecting; items related to
smoking, ete.?
A. You are very percep-
tive. Before the • anti -
cigarette campaign began in
the early 1950s, there were
all kinds of advertising and.
gift novelties available that
would . he inappropriate to -
da v
Here are some examples:
Camels tin box, flat fifties,
$8: •('amels •calendar, 1963,
$t;. ('lock (batteries),
Vantage Cigarettes, $25;
Phillip Morris "Johnny"
doll, $100; Lighter t Chester-
). $10; Poster (Camels)
15x28 inches, $50; Counter
signs I any brand), $25-$50,
Thermometer ( Winston),
of the two tongues is an
every day necessity, he is
apt to find that the real
language of French Canada
is about as'intelligible to him
as Latin or Cherokee.
Back in the° not -so -good -
days when we were sweating
over the French text
authorized by our Depart-
ment of Education, we were
told that the pronunciation
we were trying so hard to roll
under our tongues was
French as it was properly
spoken in Paris: I cannot
vouch for that, but I can
vouch for the fact that it is
certainly not the pronuncia-
tion one will hear in Mon-
treal or Trois Rivieres or in
the backyard of my habitant
neighbors next farm down.
To this day, and after living
over 40 years in Quebec I
very often find myself hope-
lessly lost when trying to fol-
low the language as it is apt
to be spoken by a majority of
French Canadians. I can
read French. I can under-
stand CBC French, or the
language as spoken by Mon-
sieur le Cure; (after all,
I took French in university
as well as in high school) but
let some fast talking Jean
Baptist from St. Cuspidor-
de-trois-Spittoons drive up
the lane some day to buy cat-
tle, and I'm apt to call in one
of my progeny to translate.
Artificial leg
By Hugh Westrup
One of the less -known facts
about Terry Fox is that he
was an , amateur inventor
with a very clever idea.
Fox was continually frus-
trated by his inability to run
with a normal gait. In an at-
tem,pt to do something about'
this, he and a garage
mechanic in Vancouver al-
tered the design off his artifi-
cial leg. Fox's idea was to re-
place the metal shaft of the
leg with a pogo -stick.
Not many months after
Fox died, the War Amputa-
tions of Canada organization
seized on his idea and spon-
sored research on its
development. Two years
later, they are unveiling a
new artificial leg, based on
Fox's pogo -stick idea, that
will make it possible for
amputees to run with a
normal-looking gait and
without pain.
"Except for a small limp,
you can't tell that the wearer
is a person with an artificial
leg," says Guy Martel, head
of the prosthetics and ortho-
tics centre at Chedoke-Mc-
Master Medcial Centre in
Hamilton, and one of the two
designers of the improved
leg.
The old-style artificial leg
pivoted too slowly, thereby
requiring the runner to hop
twice on the good leg for
each step on the artificial
limb, Martel says. "It's like
using the leg 'as a pole to
vault , to the next step," he
adds.
Also, because the old leg
has no "give" it causes the
wearer a great deal of pain.
"When you run, you are sub-
jected to a large hack every
-time your fo t hits the
ground," says Martel.
Every running step carries
a pounding force four -and -
one -half times greater than
the runner's weight. When
an amputee runs, all this
force hits the stump of the
missing leg.
The new design is basical-
ly a pogo -stick and shock ab-
sorber inside a metal shaft.
Not only does it soften the
impact of each step as its
steel spring compresses on
impact, it also pushes the leg
forward as the spring un-
coils. Because the artificial
leg bends at the knee, it al-
lows the runner to move the
leg once for every step of the
good leg.
• Martel and his co -design-
er, Ted Iler, have been test-
ing the improved ,prosthesis
on Grant Darby, a 21 -year-
old engineering student at
McMaster University who,
like Fox and Steve Fonyo,
lost a leg to cancer.
Darby says that he could
barely run across a street
with his old artificial leg. To-
day, with a spring in his step,
he jogs and even .plays
basketball.
Martel says the new leg
takes considerable getting
used to. "It's like going from
being lefthanded to .right-
handed,': he says.
The one flaw in the new leg
is that it is too heavy. "It's
made of stainless steel, but
we're'going to switch to alu-
minum or titanium or car-
bon -fibre, which should cut
the weight in half," says
Martel.
"A light -weight leg should
be ready, for marketing in
twelve to eighteen months
and will cost about $3,500,"
he adds. Dozens of requests
have already come in for the
leg. Martel says he is looking
for physically -fit amputees
to test the leg. (Canadian
Science News).
YOUR FALL FASHION
&ACCESSORy STORE
Catvinpp
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By Gene Gary
Q. 1 would like to know the
best method for completely
repainting a shower stall. —
R.C.
A. You do not say what
material the shower walls
are made of.
If shower walls are con-
crete, paint them with a good
concrete paint, such as one
off the rubber resin enamels.
If they are wood, any
waterproof paint should
serve.
If they are slate, they
should not be painted at all
but given a coat of floor seal-
er.
If they are of any other
material, such as metal (ex-
cept stainless steel or alumi-
num), use any waterproof
enamel. There are even spe-
cial paints available today
for ceramic tile.
Stainless steel can be prp-
'tected with wax, while
aluminum can be protected
with lacquer or wax.
Q. In the upstairs hall we
have a dry, tightly covered
closet we'd like to line with
cedar and use for storing
winter clothes.
Is this a difficult job, and
where can the cedar be ob-
tained? — V.L.N.
A. Many lumber yards sell
tongue -and -groove cut cedar
boards for just this purpose.
No unusual skill is needed,
but, of course, the more skill
and care employed, the neat-
er the results.
Be sure to clean out all
dust from cracks in the floor,
corners, etc., before going
ahead. Moths like to lay their
eggs in dust, too.
Cedar -odor spray is an ex-
cellent (though somewhat
temporary) treatment for
any type of wood walls.
PAYROLL PLAN
More than a million
Canadians made use of the
Payroll Savings Plan last
year to buy Canada Savings
Bonds and have come to re-
gard it as a simple, safe, al-
most painless way to meet
their savings goals. More
than 10,000 companies and
institutions across Canada
offer this 'plan to their em-
ployees. They consider it an
important fringe benefit.
253 King St. N. , Waterloo 886-6770
-lunge never
wen am thing
like ie.
At tint enity.ANe. offree parking.
Oren duilat 9;,J0. Mtn, -wed. till 6
• Thur. & Fri. till 9. Sat. till 5.
ZEHRS PLAZA
975 Wallace Ave. N.
291-1777
Hours:
Wed. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Thurs. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Fri. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
SATSUMA VASE
... Made around 1900
$20; Tin tray (any brand),
.$10.•
0-0-0
Send your questions about
antiques with picture(s), a
detailed description, self-ad-
dressed envelope, and $2 per
item to James G. McCollam,
P. O. B.ox 720, Clifton Park,
NY 1-206f AB- questions- will-
be answered but published
pictures cannot be returned.
McCollam is a member of
the Antique Appraisers As-
sociation of America.
AANCHORS AWAY
'Orson Welre narrafes this
three-part series about a
vanishing breed of men who
go to sea under working sail
to make a living. Despite
their efforts, it isway of
life that is fast disajpearing.
Beautifully filmed. in the
Maldives, Bangladesh,
Egypt, and Bolivia, "The
Last Sailors" examines the
less than romantic lives of
men who still.fish, trade and
carry cargo on board dhows,
,junks and schooners. Left
behind in the wake of tech-
nology, the sailors, load and
unload their cargo by hand.
Their lives are a constant
battle..:with--the--ele>n'en-ts of
wind and waves. .A golden
sunset may conceal a storm;
a balmy breeze can turn into
a gale.
The sailors' demanding
life of cMiess chores, diffi-
cult working conditions, and
low pay does not attract new
recruits. Traditional sailing
ships bowing to the wind are
making way for modern
freighters. •
See Anchors Away Nov. 19
at 8:00 p.m. on TVOntario.
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ftimb°
homeland
furnitureMI ammo. cm
VISA
master charge
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