:: wikimiki.org ::

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

The Boy Who Cried Wolf, also known as The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf, is a fable by Aesop. The protagonist of the fable is a bored shepherd boy who entertained himself by calling out "wolf". Nearby villagers who came to his rescue would find the alarm a false one. When the boy was actually confronted by a wolf, the villagers did not believe his warnings and his flock perished. The moral is stated at the end of the fable as: :Even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed. The English idiom "to cry wolf", derived from the fable, refers to the act of persistently raising the alarm about a non-existent threat, with the implication that the person who cried wolf would not be taken seriously should a real emergency take place. A radically different view of this story is presented in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Elim Garak, a Cardassian, avers that the moral of the story is not "do not tell lies" but rather "do not tell the same lie twice." A cynical interpretation is also possible: Do not lie too often, and do not tell lies just for fun. Save lies for when they are needed.

Fable

:For other uses of the term, see fable (disambiguation). In its strict sense a fable is a short story or folk tale embodying a moral, which may be expressed explicitly at the end as a maxim. "Fable" comes from Latin fabula and shares a root with faber, "maker, artificer." Thus, though a fable may be conversational in tone, the understanding from the outset is that it is an invention, a fiction. A fable may be set in verse, though it is usually prose. In its pejorative sense, a fable is a deliberately invented or falsified account. A fable often, but not necessarily, makes metaphorical use of an animal as its central character. Medieval French fabliaux might feature Reynard the fox, a trickster figure, and offer a subtext that was mildly subversive of the feudal order of society. A familiar theme in Slavic fables is an encounter between a wily peasant and the Devil. In some usage, "fable" has been extended to include stories with mythical or legendary elements. The word fabulous strictly means "pertaining to fables", although in recent decades its metaphorical meanings have been taken to be literal meanings. An author of fables is called a fabulist.

History

Epicharmus of Kos and Phormis have been reported as having been among the first to invent comic fables.¹

Notable fabulists

- Aesop
- Vishnu Sarma
- Phaedrus
- Hyginus, author of Fabulae.
- Berechiah ha-Nakdan (Berechiah the Punctuator, Jewish author, 1200s).
- Marie de France
- Biernat of Lublin (Polish, 1465? – after 1529).
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Ignacy Krasicki (Polish, 1735 – 1801).
- Hans Christian Andersen
- Ivan Krylov
- "Uncle Remus" (Joel Chandler Harris)

Some modern fabulists

- George Ade
- James Thurber (1894-1961), Fables For Our Time.
- Damon Runyon
- Sholem Aleichem

Notable fables

- Stone Soup
- The Little Engine that Could
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull
- Watership Down
- The Lion King
- Emperor's New Clothes (fable)
- Fables and Parables by Ignacy Krasicki

References

- ¹ Philip Wentworth Buckham, Theatre of the Greeks, 1827.

External links

- [http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html The Dragon-Tyrant] Category:Fables ko:우화 ja:寓話

Aesop

:"Aesopus" redirects here: see also Clodius Aesopus. Clodius Aesopus German clothing, rather than traditional Greek garb.]] Aesop, or Æsop (from the Greek Aisopos), known only for his fables, was by tradition a slave of African descent who lived from about 620 to 560 BC in Ancient Greece. Aesop's Fables are still taught as moral lessons and used as subjects for various entertainments, especially children's plays and cartoons. Nothing was known about Aesop from credible records. The tradition was that he was at one point freed from slavery and that he eventually died at the hands of Delphians. In fact, the obscurity shrouding his life has led some scholars to deny his existence altogether.

Life

The place of Aesop's birth is uncertain – Thrace, Phrygia, Aethiopia, Samos, Athens and Sardis all claim the honour. Some scholars believe that he could have been African. His given name, Aesop, is the Ancient Greek word for "Ethiop", the archaic word for a dark-skinned person of African origin. According to the sparse information gathered about him from references to him in several Greek works (he was mentioned by Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle), Aesop was a slave of a Greek named Iadmon, who resided on the island of Samos. Aesop must have been freed, for he conducted the public defence of a certain Samian demagogue (Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 20). He subsequently lived at the court of Croesus, where he met Solon, and dined in the company of the Seven Sages of Greece with Periander at Corinth. During the reign of Peisistratus he was said to have visited Athens, where he told the fable of The Frogs Who Desired a King to dissuade the citizens from attempting to depose Peisistratus for another ruler. A contrary story, however, said that Aesop spoke up for the common people against tyranny through his fables, which incensed Peisistratus, who was against free speech. free speech According to the historian Herodotus, Aesop met with a violent death in the hands of the inhabitants of Delphi, though the cause was not stated. Various suggestions were made by later writers, such as his insulting sarcasms, the embezzlement of money entrusted to him by Croesus for distribution at Delphi, and his alleged sacrilege of a silver cup. A pestilence that ensued was blamed on his execution, and the Delphians declared their willingness to make compensation, which, in default of a nearer connection, was claimed by Iadmon, grandson of Aesop's former master. Popular stories surrounding, Aesop were assembled in a vita prefixed to a collection of fables under his name, compiled by Maximus Planudes, a 14th century monk. He was described as extremely ugly and deformed, which is how he was also represented in a marble figure in the Villa Albani in Rome. This biography had in fact been in existence a century before Planudes. It appeared in a 13th century manuscript found in Florence. However, according to another Greek historian Plutarch's account of the symposium of the Seven Sages, at which Aesop was a guest, there were many jests on his former servile status, but nothing derogatory was said about his personal appearance. Aesop's deformity was further disputed by the Athenians, who erected in his honour a noble statue by the sculptor Lysippus. Some suppose the sura, or "chapter," in the Qur'an titled Luqman to be referring to Aesop, a well-known figure in Arabia during the time of Muhammad.

Aesop's Fables

Muhammad propaganda poster to allude to German treachery in Operation Barbarossa]] Aesop's Fables or Aesopica refers to a collection of fables credited to Aesop. Aesop's Fables has also become a blanket term for collections of brief fables, usually involving personified animals. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today. Many stories included in Aesop's Fables, such as The Fox and the Grapes (from which the idiom "sour grapes" was derived), The Tortoise and the Hare and The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf (also known as The Boy Who Cried Wolf), are well-known throughout the world.

Sources

- Caxton, John, 1484. The history and fables of Aesop, Westminster. Modern reprint edited by Robert T. Lenaghan (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1967).
- [http://www.bartleby.com/39/7.html Caxton's famous Epilogue]
- Bentley, Richard, 1697. Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris... and the Fables of Æsop. London.
- Jacobs, Joseph, 1889. The Fables of Aesop: Selected, Told Anew, and Their History Traced, as first printed by William Caxton, 1484, from his French translation
- [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aesop/a3j/a3j_hist.html i. A short history of the Aesopic fable]
- ii. The Fables of Aesop
- Handford, S. A., 1954. Fables of Aesop. New York: Penguin.
- Perry, Ben E. (editor), 1965. Babrius and Phaedrus, (Loeb Classical Library) Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965. English translations of 143 Greek verse fables by Babrius, 126 Latin verse fables by Phaedrus, 328 Greek fables not extant in Babrius, and 128 Latin fables not extant in Phaedrus (including some medieval materials) for a total of 725 fables.
- Temple, Olivia and Robert (translators), 1998. Aesop, The Complete Fables, New York: Penguin Classics. (ISBN 0-14-044649-4)
- [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1998/98.5.16.html Bryn Mawr Classical Review, with Aesop bibliography]

External links

-
- [http://www.aesopfables.com AesopFables.com - Large collection of fables alongwith drawings, readings, and history]
- [http://quotesandpoem.com/literature/ListofLiteraryWorks/Aesop__ Searchable collection of Aesop’s Fables]
- [http://www.elook.org/literature/aesop/fables/ Aesop's Fables - Collection of over 500 fables]
- [http://www.greek-literature-online.com/aesop/ Aesop's Fables] from Greek Literature Online Category:620 BC births Category:560 BC deaths Category:Ancient Greeks Category:Slaves Category:Fabulists ko:아이소포스 ja:アイソポス

Shepherd

A shepherd is one who takes care of sheep, usually in flocks in the fields. Shepherding is one of the oldest professions, beginning some 10,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat, and especially their wool. Over the next millennia sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia. Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as pigs and chickens. To maintain a large herd, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture, this required the development of a profession separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from predators, such as wolves. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing. In ancient times shepherds also often milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk. In many societies shepherds were an important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. Still in other societies, each family would have a family member to shepherd its flock, often a child, youth or an elderly who couldn't help much with a harder work; these shepherds were fully integrated in society. youth, Montana, August 1942.]] Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds lived in covered wagons that traveled with their flocks. Shepherding developed only in certain areas. In the lowlands and river valleys, it was far more efficient to grow grains and cereals than to allow sheep to graze, thus the raising of sheep was confined to rugged and mountainous areas. In the pre-modern times shepherding was thus centred on regions such as Palestine, Greece, the Pyrenees, and Scotland. In modern times shepherding has changed dramatically. The abolition of common lands in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth century moved shepherding from independent nomads to employees of massive estates. European expansion spread sheep around the world, and shepherding became especially important in Australia and New Zealand. While originally shepherding in those countries was done on the wide and open frontiers, in modern times it has become dominated by agribusiness. Metaphorically, the term is used for God, especially in the Judeo-Christian tradition (e.g. Psalm 23), and in Christianity especially Christ. It may also be worth noting that many Biblical heroes were shepherds, among them the Old Testament prophet Amos, who was a shepherd in the rugged area around Tekoa, and King David. See also pashupati. The same metaphor is also applied to priests, with Roman Catholic bishops having the shepherd's crook among their insignia (see also Lycidas). In both cases, the implication is that the faithful are the "flock" who have to be tended.

Moral

:This article is about the use of the moral in children's literature. For other uses of the word "moral", see morality. A moral is a one sentence remark made at the end of many children's stories that expresses the intended meaning, or the moral message, of the tale. For example, at the end of Aesop's fable about the tortoise and the hare, in which the plodding and determined tortoise wins a race against the much-faster yet extremely arrogant hare, the moral is "slow and steady wins the race." Morals have long been included in children's literature, perhaps because many of the stories written for children have been written for the purpose of teaching and guiding children, as opposed to entertaining them. Many morals are even introduced with the phrase, "The moral of the story is..." to emphasize to the reader what the point of the episode was. Morals have grown increasingly out of fashion in modern storytelling, and are now usually only included for ironic purposes. Category:Literature

English language

English is a West Germanic language that is spoken in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and many other countries. English is now the third-most spoken native language worldwide (after Chinese and Hindi), with some 380 million speakers. It has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries and that of the United States from the 20th century to the present. Through the global influence of native English speakers in cinema, airlines, broadcasting, science, and the Internet in recent decades, English is now the most widely learned second language in the world. Many students worldwide are required to learn some English, and a working knowledge of English is required in many fields and occupations.

History

English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Old Saxon language brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany. The original Old English language was subsequently influenced by two successive waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of languages in the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who colonised parts of Britain in the 8th and 9th centuries. The second wave was of the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke a variety of French. These two invasions caused English to become "creolised" to some degree (though it was never a full creole in the linguistic sense of the word); creolisation arises from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication. Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the Anglo-Friesian core of English; the later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core a more elaborate layer of words from the Romance branch of European languages; this new layer entered English through use in the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of considerable suppleness and huge vocabulary. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, around the year 449, Vortigern, King of the British Isles, invited the "Angle kin" (Angles led by Hengest and Horsa) to help him against the Picts. In return, the Angles were granted lands in the south-east. Further aid was sought, and in response "came men of Ald Seaxum of Anglum of Iotum" (Saxons, Angles, and Jutes). The Chronicle talks of a subsequent influx of settlers who eventually established seven kingdoms, known as the heptarchy. Modern scholarship considers most of this story to be legendary and politically motivated. These Germanic invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survived largely in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what would be called Old English, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now the Netherlands and north-west Germany. Later, it was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north-east (see Jorvik). The new and the earlier settlers spoke languages from different branches of the Germanic family; many of their lexical roots were the same or similar, although their grammars were more distant, including the prefixes, suffixes and inflections of many of their words. The Germanic language of these Old English inhabitants of Britain would be partly creolised by the contact with Norse invaders. This resulted in a stripping away of much of the grammar of Old English, including gender and case, with the notable exception of the pronouns; thus, the language became simpler and plainer. The most famous work from the Old English period is the epic poem "Beowulf", by an unknown poet. For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only a variety of French. A large number of Norman words were assimilated into Old English, with some words doubling for Old English words (for instance, ox/beef, sheep/mutton). The Norman influence reinforced the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English. Among the changes was a broadening in the use of a unique aspect of English grammar, the "continuous" tenses, with the suffix "-ing". During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare. The most well-known work from the Middle English period is Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Classification and related languages

The English language belongs to the western subbranch of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The closest living relative of English is Scots (Lallans), a West Germanic language spoken mostly in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland. Like English, Scots is a direct descendant of Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon. After Scots, the next closest relative is Frisian—spoken in the Netherlands and Germany. Other less closely related living languages include Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Plattdüütsch and the Scandinavian languages. Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (pronunciations are not always identical, of course), because English absorbed a tremendous amount of vocabulary from French, via the Norman language after the Norman conquest and directly from French in further centuries; as a result, a substantial share of English vocabulary is quite close to the French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings, etc.), as well as occasional differences in meaning.

Geographic distribution

Norman conquest English is the second or third most widely spoken language in the world today; a total of 600–700 million people use English regularly. About 377 million people use English as their mother tongue, and an equal number of people use it as their second or foreign language. It is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities. The current status of the English language compares with that of Latin in the past. English is the primary language in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia (Australian English), the Bahamas, Barbados (Caribbean English), Bermuda, Belize, Canada (Canadian English), the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Guyana, Ireland (Irish English), Isle of Man, Jamaica (Jamaican English), Jersey, Montserrat, New Zealand (New Zealand English), Saint Helena, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom (various forms of British English), the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States. English is also an important minority language of South Africa (South African English), and in several other former colonies and current dependent territories of the United Kingdom and the United States, for example Guam and Mauritius. In Hong Kong, English is an official language and is widely used in business activities. It is taught from kindergarten, and is the medium of instruction for a few primary schools, many secondary schools and all universities. Substantial numbers of students acquire native-speaker level. It is so widely used and spoken that it is inadequate to say it is merely a second or foreign language, though there are still many people in Hong Kong with poor or no command of English. The majority of English native speakers (67 to 70 per cent) live in the United States. Although the U.S. federal government has no official languages, it has been given official status by 27 of the 50 state governments, most of which have declared English their sole official language. Hawaii, Louisiana, and New Mexico have also designated Hawaiian, French, and Spanish, respectively, as official languages in conjunction with English. In many other countries where English is not a major first language, it is an official language; these countries include Cameroon, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Ghana, Gambia, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. English is the most widely learned and used foreign language in the world, and as such, many linguists believe it is no longer the exclusive cultural emblem of "native English speakers", but rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it grows in use. Others believe that there are limits to how far English can go in suiting everyone for communication purposes. It is the language most often studied as a foreign language in Europe (32.6 per cent), followed by French, German, and Spanish. It is also the most studied in Japan, South Korea and in the Republic of China (Taiwan), where it is compulsory for most high school students. See English as an additional language.

English as a global language

See also: English on the Internet Because English is so widely spoken, it has been referred to as a "global language". While English is not the official language in many countries, it is the language most often taught as a second language around the world. It is also, by international treaty, the official language for aircraft/airport communication. Its widespread acceptance as a first or second language is the main indication of its global status. There are numerous arguments for and against English as a global language. On one hand, having a global language aids in communication and in pooling information (for example, in the scientific community). On the other hand, it excludes those who, for one reason or another, are not fluent. It can also marginalise populations whose first language is not the global language, and lead to a cultural hegemony of the populations speaking the global language as a first language. Most of these arguments hold for any candidate for a global language, though the last two counter-arguments do not hold for languages not belonging to any ethnic group (like Esperanto). A secondary concern with respect to the spread of global languages (English, Spanish, etc.) is the resulting disappearance of minority languages, often along with the cultures and religions that are primarily transmitted in those languages. English has been implicated in a number of historical and ongoing so-called "language deaths" and "linguicides" around the world, many of which have also led to the loss of cultural heritage. In the Americas, Native American nations have been most strongly affected by this phenomenon.

Dialects and regional variants

The expansiveness of the British and the Americans has spread English throughout the globe. Because of its global spread, it has bred a variety of English dialects and English-based creoles and pidgins. The major varieties of English in most cases contain several subvarieties, such as Cockney within British English, Newfoundland English within Canadian English, and African American Vernacular English ("Ebonics") within American English. English is considered a pluricentric language, with no variety being clearly considered the only standard. Some consider Scots as an English dialect. Pronunciation, grammar and lexis differ, sometimes substantially. The Scottish dialect retains many German aspects including guttural pronunciations. Because of English's wide use as a second language, English speakers can have many different accents, which may identify the speaker's native dialect or language. For more distinctive characteristics of regional accents, see Regional accents of English speakers. For more distinctive characteristics of regional dialects, see List of dialects of the English language. Many countries around the world have blended English words and phrases into their everyday speech and refer to the result by a colloquial name that implies its bilingual origins, which parallels the English language's own addiction to loan words and borrowings. Named examples of these ad-hoc constructions, distinct from pidgin and creole languages, include Engrish, Wasei-eigo, Franglais and Spanglish. (See List of dialects of the English language for a complete list.) Europanto combines many languages but has an English core.

Constructed variants of English

- Basic English is simplified for easy international use. It is used by some aircraft manufacturers and other international businesses to write manuals and communicate. Some English schools in the Far East teach it as an initial practical subset of English.
- Special English is a simplified version of English used by the Voice of America. It uses a vocabulary of 1500 words.
- English reform is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language.
- Seaspeak and the related Airspeak and Policespeak, all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by Edward Johnson in the 1980s to aid international co-operation and communication in specific areas.
- European English is a new variant of the English language created to become the common language in Europe.

Sounds

Vowels

Notes: It is the vowels that differ most from region to region. Where symbols appear in pairs, the first corresponds to the sounds used in North American English, the second corresponds to English spoken elsewhere. #North American English lacks this sound; words with this sound are pronounced with or . According to The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (1998), this sound is present in Standard Canadian English. #Many dialects of North American English do not have this vowel. See cot-caught merger. #The North American variation of this sound is a rhotic vowel. #Many speakers of North American English do not distinguish between these two unstressed vowels. For them, roses and Rosa's are pronounced the same, and the symbol usually used is schwa . #This sound is often transcribed with or with . #The letter U can represent either /u/ or the iotated vowel /ju/.

Consonants

This is the English Consonantal System using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). #The velar nasal is a non-phonemic allophone of /n/ in some northerly British accents, appearing only before /g/. In all other dialects it is a separate phoneme, although it only occurs in syllable codas. #The alveolar flap is an allophone of /t/ and /d/ in unstressed syllables in North American English and increasingly in Australian English. This is the sound of "tt" or "dd" in the words latter and ladder, which are homophones in North American English. This is the same sound represented by single "r" in some varieties of Spanish. #In some dialects, such as Cockney, the interdentals /θ/ and /ð/ are usually merged with /f/ and /v/, and in others, like African American Vernacular English, /ð/ is merged with /d/. In some Irish varieties, /θ/ and /ð/ become the corresponding dental plosives, which then contrast with the usual alveolar plosives. #The sounds are labialised in some dialects. Labialisation is never contrastive in initial position and therefore is sometimes not transcribed. #The voiceless velar fricative /x/ is used only by Scottish or Welsh speakers of English for Scots/Gaelic words such as loch or by some speakers for loanwords from German and Hebrew like Bach or Chanukah /xanuka/, or in some dialects such as Scouse (Liverpool) where the affricate [kx] is used instead of /k/ in words such as docker . Most native speakers have a great deal of trouble pronouncing it correctly when learning a foreign language. Most speakers use the sounds [k] and [h] instead. #Voiceless w is found in Scottish, Irish, some upper-class British, some eastern United States, and New Zealand accents. In all other dialects it is merged with /w/.

Voicing and Aspiration

Voicing and aspiration of stop consonants in English depend on dialect and context, but a few general rules can be given:
- Voiceless plosives and affricates (//, //, //, and //) are aspirated when they are word-initial or begin a stressed syllable and are not part of a consonant cluster—compare pin [] and spin [].
- In some dialects, aspiration extends to unstressed syllables as well.
- In other dialects, such as Indian English, most or all voiceless stops may remain unaspirated.
- Word-initial voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects.
- Word-terminal voiceless plosives may be unreleased or accompanied by a glottal stop in some dialects (e.g. many varieties of American English)—examples: tap [], sack [].
- Word-terminal voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects (e.g. some varieties of American English)—examples: sad [], bag []. In other dialects they are fully voiced in final position, but only partially voiced in initial position.

Intonation

Tone groups

English is an Intonation language. This means that the pitch of the voice is used syntactically, for example, to convey surprise and irony, or to change a statement into a question. In English, intonation patterns are on groups of words, which are called tone groups, tone units, intonation groups or sense groups. Tone groups are said on a single breath and, as a consequence, are of limited length, more often being on average five words long or lasting roughly two seconds. The structure of tone groups can have a crucial impact on the meaning of what is said. For example: :- :- :-

Characteristics of intonation

Each tone group can be subdivided into syllables, which can either be stressed (strong) or unstressed (weak). There is always a strong syllable, which is stressed more than the others. This is called the nuclear syllable. For example: :That | was | the | best | thing | you | could | have | done! Here, all syllables are unstressed, except the syllables/words "best" and "done", which are stressed. "Best" is stressed harder and, therefore, is the nuclear syllable. The nuclear syllable carries the main point the speaker wishes to make. For example: :John had stolen that money. (... not I) :John had stolen that money. (... you said he hadn't) :John had stolen that money. (... he wasn't given it) :John had stolen that money. (... not this money) :John had stolen that money. (... not something else) The nuclear syllable is spoken louder than all the others and has a characteristic change of pitch. The changes of pitch most commonly encountered in English are the rising pitch and the falling pitch, although the fall-rising pitch and/or the rise-falling pitch are sometimes used. For example: :When do you want to be paid? :Nów? (rising pitch. In this case, it denotes a question: can I be paid now?) :Nòw (falling pitch. In this case, it denotes a statement: I choose to be paid now)

Grammar

English grammar is based on its Germanic roots, though some scholars during the 1700s and 1800s attempted to impose Latin grammar upon it, with little success. English is just slightly inflected, much less so than most Indo-European languages. It compensates for this by placing more grammatical information in auxiliary words and word order. Unlike most other Indo-European languages, modern nominal groups (nouns) in English do not carry gender, although an archaic form of gender is technically assigned as either masculine, feminine, neuter or common. Engendered nouns are only apparent in special cases, such as "I loved that ship as if she were my own", where the noun "ship" is referred to by its feminine pronoun.

Vocabulary

Almost without exception, Germanic words (which include all the basics such as pronouns and conjunctions) are shorter and more informal. Latinate words are often regarded as more elegant or educated. However, the excessive use of Latinate words is often mistaken for either pretentiousness (as in the stereotypical policeman's talk of "apprehending the suspect") or obfuscation (as in a military document which says "neutralise" when it means "kill"). George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language gives a thorough treatment of this feature of English. An English speaker is often able to choose between Germanic and Latinate synonyms: "come" or "arrive"; "sight" or "vision"; "freedom" or "liberty"—and sometimes also between a word inherited through French and a borrowing direct from Latin of the same root word: "oversee", "survey" or "supervise". The richness of the language is that such synonyms have slightly different meanings, enabling the language to be used in a very flexible way to express fine variations or shades of thought. List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents In everyday speech the majority of words will normally be Germanic. If a speaker wishes to make a forceful point in an argument in a very blunt way, Germanic words will usually be chosen. A majority of Latinate words (or at least a majority of content words) will normally be used in more formal speech and writing, such as a courtroom or an encyclopedia article. English is noted for the vast size of its active vocabulary and its fluidity. English easily accepts technical terms into common usage and imports new words which often come into common usage. In addition, slang provides new meanings for old words. In fact this fluidity is so pronounced that a distinction often needs to be made between formal forms of English and contemporary usage. See also sociolinguistics.

Number of words in English

As the General Explanations at the beginning of the Oxford English Dictionary state: :The Vocabulary of a widely diffused and highly cultivated living language is not a fixed quantity circumscribed by definite limits.... there is absolutely no defining line in any direction: the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre but no discernible circumference. The vocabulary of English is undoubtedly vast, but assigning a specific number to its size is more a matter of definition than of calculation. Unlike other languages, there is no Academy to define officially accepted words. Neologisms are coined regularly in medicine, science and technology—some enter wide usage; others remain restricted to small circles. Foreign words used in immigrant communities often make their way into wider English usage. Archaic, dialectal, and regional words might be considered "English" or not. The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) includes over 500,000 headwords, following a rather inclusive policy: :It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang (Supplement to the OED, 1933). The difficulty of defining the number of words is compounded by the emergence of new versions of English, such as Asian English.

Word origins

One of the consequences of the French influence is that the vocabulary of English is, to a certain extent, divided between those words which are Germanic (mostly Old English) and those which are "Latinate" (Latin-derived, mostly from Norman French but some borrowed directly from Latin). A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973) which estimated the origin of English words as follows:
- French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28.3%
- Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
- Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Dutch: 25%
- Greek: 5.32%
- No etymology given: 4.03%
- Derived from proper names: 3.28%
- All other languages contributed less than 1% James D. Nicoll made the oft-quoted observation: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle their pockets for new vocabulary." [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=1990May15.155309.8892%40watdragon.waterloo.edu&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain]

Writing system

English is written using the Latin alphabet. The spelling system or orthography of English is historical, not phonological. The spelling of words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken, and English spelling is often considered to be one of the most difficult to learn of any language that uses an alphabet. See English orthography.

Basic sound-letter correspondence

Written accents

English includes some words which can be written with accent marks. These words have mostly been imported from other languages, usually French. But it is increasingly rare for writers of English to actually use the accent marks for common words, even in very formal writing, to the point where actually writing the accent may be interpreted as a sign of pretension—though this view is counterbalanced by the view that fine typography should preserve accents, especially where it makes a distinction in pronunciation (compare façade vs. facade which would rhyme with cascade). The strongest tendency to retain the accent is in words that are atypical of English morphology and therefore still perceived as slightly foreign. For example, café has a pronounced final e, which would be silent by the normal English pronunciation rules. Some examples: ångström, appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, café, cliché, crème, crêpe, façade, fiancé(e), flambé, naïve, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, protégé, raison d'être, résumé, risqué, über-, vis-à-vis, voilà. For a more complete list, see List of English words with diacritics. Some words such as rôle and hôtel were first seen with accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accent is almost never used. The words were considered very French borrowings when first used in English, even accused by some of being foreign phrases used where English alternatives would suffice, but today their French origin is largely forgotten. The accent on "élite" has disappeared from most publications today, but Time magazine still uses it. For some words such as "soupçon" however, the only spelling found in English dictionaries (the OED and others) uses the diacritic. Italics, with appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly used in or have not been assimilated into English: for example, adiós, coup d'état, crème brûlée, pièce de résistance, raison d'être, über (übermensch), vis-à-vis. It is also possible to use a diaeresis to indicate a syllable break, but again this is often left out or a hyphen used instead. Examples: coöperate (or co-operate), daïs, naïve, noël, reëlect (or re-elect). One publication that still uses a diaeresis to indicate a syllable break is the New Yorker magazine. Written accents are also used occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a word should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the meter of the poetry. This use is frequently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic writings with the "-ed" suffix, to indicate that the "e" should be fully pronounced, as with cursèd. In certain older texts (typically in Commonwealth English), the use of ligatures is common in words such as archæology, œsophagus, and encyclopædia. Such words have Latin or Greek origin. Nowadays, the ligatures have been generally replaced in Commonwealth English by the separated letters "ae" and "oe" ("archaeology", "oesophagus") and in American English by "e" ("archeology", "esophagus"). However, the spellings "oeconomy" and "oecology" are now generally replaced by "economy" and "ecology" in Commonwealth English, making these spellings the same as in American English.
See also

- English literature
- Formal written English - regional differences
- List of languages
- Common phrases in various languages
Dialects

- American and British English differences
- English speaking Europe
- General American
- List of dialects of the English language
Pronunciation

- General American
- International Phonetic Alphabet for English
- List of words of disputed pronunciation
- Non-native pronunciations of English
- Phonemic differentiation in English
- Received Pronunciation
- Regional accents of English speakers
- Rhotic and non-rhotic accents
Social, cultural or political

- English as a lingua franca for Europe
- English as an additional language
- English on the Internet
- Foreign language influences in English
- Languages in the United States
- Lists of English words of international origin
- Anglosphere
- Anglo-Saxon
Grammar

- English declension
- English plural
- English verb conjugation
- Initial-stress-derived noun
- Present progressive tense
Usage

- Dictionary
- Like
- List of archaic English words and their modern equivalents
- List of unusual English words
- Longest word in English
- Misspelling
- Gender-neutral language
- Singular they
- Siamese twins (English language)
External links

- [http://www.abroadlanguages.com/al/english/ Learning English abroad] and online. With dictionaries, games, penpals, etc.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/routesofenglish/index.shtml BBC - Radio 4 - Routes of English]
- [http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com Short Discriptions of the English Tenses]
- [http://www.ego4u.com/ English Grammar Online] free exercises, explanations, games and teaching materials on English as a foreign language
- [http://www.eslbase.com/ TEFL] - Teaching English as a Foreign Language - information and advice
- http://www.teach-yourself-english.com/ Easy-going learning aid
- [http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en Learning English Online] grammar, vocabulary, exercises, exams - English as a second language.
- [http://www.english.hb.pl Pako's English Page - Articles and advice on learning English]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=eng Ethnologue report for English]
- [http://www.LanguageMonitor.com LanguageMonitor] - Watchdog on contemporary English usage
- [http://www.vec.ca/english/1/english.cfm Development of English]
- [http://www.esu.org English Speaking Union]
- [http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm The World's Most Widely Spoken Languages]
- [http://www.antimoon.com/ Antimoon - How to learn English] - Advice and inspiration for learners of English.
- [http://www.zozanga.com/ Zozanga ESL - Learn Online English] How to learn English.
- [http://www.quiz-tree.com/English_Spelling_main.html Free English spelling quizzes]
- [http://inenglishofcourse.pl Conversation and Resource Point for Learners of English]
- [http://www.globalenglishsalon.com Global English Salon] - Listen to English online free.
- [http://www.loecsen.com/travel/discover_pop.php?lang=en&to_lang=2&learn-English/ Learn and listen to useful expressions in English] Each expression is presented with an audio recording and an illustration
- [http://www.whatdoesthatmean.com What Does That Mean?] A wiki based lexicon of English idioms from around the world
- [http://www1.ku-eichstaett.de/SLF/EngluVglSW/ELiX/bge.pdf Basic Global English]
Dictionaries

- [http://www.oed.com Oxford English Dictionary] The definitive record of the English language
- [http://dicts.info/dictlist1.php All free English dictionaries] Collection of many free English dictionaries.
- [http://dictionary.cambridge.org Cambridge Dictionary]
- [http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/french.html Freelang - French-English Dictionary made by Bertrand Cornu]
Further reading

- Baugh AC and Cable T. A history of the English language (5th ed), Rouledge, 2002 (ISBN 0415280990_
- Crystal, D. The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language (2nd ed), Cambridge University Press, 2003 (ISBN 0521530334)
- Halliday, MAK. An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed), London, Edward Arnold, 1994 (ISBN 0340557826)
- McArthur, T (ed). The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press, 1992 (ISBN 019214183X)
- Robinson, Orrin, "Old English and Its Closest Relatives", Stanford Univ Press, 1992 (ISBN 0-8047-2221-8) English language Category:Languages of Fiji Category:Languages of Guam Category:Languages of Hong Kong Category:Languages of Singapore Category:Languages of the Philippines Category:Languages of the United Kingdom Category:Languages of the United States Category:Languages of Canada Category:Languages of New Zealand Category:Languages of India als:Englische Sprache ko:영어 ms:Bahasa Inggeris zh-min-nan:Eng-gí ja:英語 nb:Engelsk språk simple:English language th:ภาษาอังกฤษ

Idiom

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not compositional—that is, whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of the individual words of which it is composed. For example, the English phrase to kick the bucket means to die. A listener knowing the meaning of kick and bucket will not thereby be able to predict that the expression can mean to die. Idioms are often, though perhaps not universally, classified as figures of speech. Idioms typically admit two different interpretations: a literal one and a nonliteral (or figurative) one. Continuing with the previous example, the phrase to kick the bucket can, in fact, refer to the act of giving a kick to a bucket, but this interpretation is usually not the intended one when a native speaker uses the phrase. This aspect of idioms can be frustrating for students of a new language. Idioms are often colloquial metaphors. The most common ones can have deep roots, traceable across many languages. Many have translations in other languages, some of which are direct. For example, get lost! — which means go away or stop bothering me—is said to be a direct translation or calque from an older Yiddish idiom. While many idioms are clearly based in conceptual metaphors such as "time as a substance", "time as a path", "love as war" or "up is more", the idioms themselves are often not particularly essential, even when the metaphors themselves are. For example "spend time", "battle of the sexes", and "back in the day" are idiomatic and based in essential metaphors, but one can communicate perfectly well without them. In forms like "profits are up", the metaphor is carried by "up" itself. The phrase "profits are up" is not itself an idiom. Practically anything measurable can be used in place of "profits": "crime is up", "satisfaction is up", "complaints are up" etc. Truly essential idioms generally involve prepositions, for example "out of" or "turn into".

Common features

- Non-compositionality: The meaning of a collocation is not a straightforward composition of the meaning of its parts. For example, the meaning of kick the bucket has nothing to do with kicking buckets. (Kick the bucket means to die.)
- Non-substitutability: We cannot substitute a word in a collocation with a related word. For example, we cannot say kick the pail instead of kick the bucket although both bucket and pail are synonyms.
- Non-modifiability: We cannot modify a collocation or apply syntactic transformations. For example, John kicked the green bucket or the bucket was kicked has nothing to do with dying. It is likely that every human language has idioms, and very many of them; a typical English commercial idiom dictionary lists about 4,000. When a local dialect of a language contains many highly developed idioms it can be unintelligible to speakers of the parent language; a classic example is that of Cockney rhyming slang. But note that most examples of slang, jargon and catch phrases, while related to idioms, are not idioms in the sense discussed here. Also to be distinguished from idioms are proverbs, which take the form of statements such as, "He who hesitates is lost." Many idioms could be considered colloquialisms. In Spanish, the word idioma (= lengua) means language, and this is often reflected in their SL English—using idiom to refer to language.

Parlance

Parlance is a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language.

External links

- [http://www.goenglish.com Learn "Today's English Idioms" at GoEnglish.com]
- [http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/ Idiom page at Dave's ESL Café]
- [http://www.briggs13.fsnet.co.uk/idiomslist.htm List of idioms by James Briggs]
- [http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/idioms.html Self-study Idiom Quiz by The Internet TESL Journal]
- [http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/amerispeak.htm Amerispeak - expressions of our American ancestors]
- Idioms Quizzes - [http://www.kwiznet.com/p/takeQuiz.php?ChapterID=2228&CurriculumID=16 Idioms Quiz 1] [http://www.kwiznet.com/p/takeQuiz.php?ChapterID=2283&CurriculumID=16 Idioms Quiz 2] [http://www.kwiznet.com/p/takeQuiz.php?ChapterID=2262&CurriculumID=16 Idioms Quiz 3] [http://www.kwiznet.com/p/showCurriculum.php?curriculumID=16 More Quizzes]
- [http://www.globalenglishsalon.com/idioms.htm Idiom Examples] Listen to idioms and learn the meaning of idioms.
- [http://www.whatdoesthatmean.com/ What Does That Mean?] A wiki based lexicon of English idioms. Category:Linguistics ja:慣用句 simple:Idiom

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series that ran from 1993 to 1999. Based on Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, it was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and produced by Paramount Pictures. The main title is sometimes shortened to ST:DS9, or simply DS9. DS9 began while Star Trek: The Next Generation was still on the air, and there were several crossover episodes between the two series. Unlike its predecessor, DS9 was unabashedly original and often broke the rules laid down by Gene Roddenberry. In contrast with the other series, Deep Space Nine took place on a space station instead of a starship. It also relied heavily on continuing story arcs, many recurring characters, and darker themes. The main writers for DS9, in addition to creators Berman and Piller, included Ronald D. Moore, Peter Allen Fields, Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Joe Menosky, René Echevarria. Richard Manning, and Hans Beimler.

About the show

Originally conceived in 1991, shortly before Gene Roddenberry's death, DS9 chronicles the events surrounding space station Deep Space 9, a former Cardassian ore-processing station, which has recently been placed under joint control of the United Federation of Planets and Bajor, the planet it orbits. This unique premise makes it the first and so far only Trek series not to be set aboard a starship. According to co-creator Berman, he and Piller had considered setting the new series on a colony on an alien planet, but they felt a space station would both appeal more to viewers and save money due to the high cost of on-location shooting for a land-based show. However, they were certain that they did not want the show to be set aboard a starship because The Next Generation was still in production at the time and, in Berman's words, it "just seemed ridiculous to have two shows -- two casts of characters -- that were off going where no man has gone before." In the first episode, the crew discovers the presence of a nearby stable wormhole, which provides immediate transportation to and from the distant Gamma Quadrant; this makes the station an important strategic asset, as well as a vital center of commerce with a largely-unexplored area of space. Inside the wormhole live aliens who exist beyond time and do not understand the linear nature of other lifeforms. To the people of Bajor, these aliens are the Bajoran Prophets and the wormhole itself is the long-prophesied Celestial Temple. Commander Benjamin Sisko, who discovered the wormhole, becomes revered as the Emissary of the Prophets, a spiritual role with which he is not at all comfortable. spiritualDeep Space Nine was well received by critics, with TV Guide describing it as "the best acted, written, produced, and altogether finest" Trek series. However, some fans grew dissatisfied with the show's generally darker themes and objected to the notion of a series set on a space station. Fans of the series call themselves "Niners," after a baseball team of the same name, which appeared in the seventh-season episode "Take Me Out to the Holosuite". The show was never as successful in the ratings as its predecessor due to a variety of factors, not the least of which was the fact that, in its infancy, it was forced to compete with the well-established TNG for ratings in some markets. Nonetheless, it remained the top rated first-run syndicated drama series throughout most of its run and was successful enough that Paramount launched two more Trek series. It is best remembered for its well-developed characters and its original and complex plots.

Cast

Main characters

Paramount Featuring the most diverse cast in Trek history, DS9 was the first series to include non-Starfleet main characters; Kira Nerys and Odo are part of the Bajoran Militia, while Jake Sisko and Quark are both civilians. Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) was reportedly the first choice of the producers for a First Officer, but as Ms. Forbes did not wish to commit to a seven-year contract, Kira Nerys was created instead. Among Starfleet characters, Miles O'Brien is the first enlisted (non-com) main character, reprising a supporting role he played on several TNG episodes. Over the course of its seven-year run, DS9's cast changed twice. The first change, at the start of the fourth season, was the addition of Michael Dorn as Worf, who had recently spent seven years on TNG. The original reason for this addition was to boost ratings, but the Klingon soon became an integral part of the show and fit in well. Worf eventually married Jadzia Dax. The second change was the removal of Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax) and subsequent addition of Nicole de Boer (Ezri Dax). This was more of an abrupt change, and it came about because Farrell did not wish to renew her contract at the end of the sixth season, stating that she felt she would receive more screen time elsewhere due to the increasingly large cast of DS9. However, the writers did not want to lose Dax, so the Dax symbiont was saved when Gul Dukat killed Jadzia, and de Boer was brought on as its new host. Alexander Siddig (Julian Bashir) appeared in the opening credits by his birth name, Siddig el Fadil, for the first three seasons. He appeared as Alexander Siddig after he married co-star Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys), which placed their names together in the alphabetical cast credits. Siddig continued to be credited as Siddig el Fadil when he directed episodes.

Recurring characters

The very nature of DS9 (a space station rather than a starship) fostered a rich assortment of recurring characters, and it was not unheard of for "secondary" characters to play as much or more of a part in an episode as the regular cast. For example, "The Wire" focused almost entirely on Garak, while "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River" featured an A-story about Weyoun and a B-story about Nog. For a more complete list, as well as information about the characters, see List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters. Academy Award winner Louise Fletcher starred in a recurring role as the Bajoran spiritual leader Kai Winn. Other prominent celebrities seen in guest and recurring roles included Vanessa L. Williams, Lark Voorhies of Saved By The Bell, James Cromwell, Gabrielle Union, Iggy Pop, and James Darren. John Colicos reprised his TOS role as Kor on several occasions.

Plots

Deep Space Nine also differs from previous Star Trek series in that it contains more story arcs which span several episodes and, indeed, seasons. Previous Star Trek series tend to restore the status quo ante at the end of an episode so that the episodes can be seen out-of-order without compromising their plot. Here, however, not only are events in one episode often referenced and built on in later episodes, but sometimes several episodes in a row would be cliffhangers. This trend is especially strong near the end of the series' run, by which time it had become very much a serial. One such story arc is that of Benjamin Sisko's role as a religious icon. He initially faces it with open discomfort and skepticism, referring to the Bajoran Prophets simply as "wormhole aliens" and striving to keep his role as commander of the station distinct from any obligations which the Bajoran people try to place on him. Later, he becomes more accepting of his role, and by the end of the series he appears to embrace it. serial The episode "Rules of Acquisition" introduces the Dominion, a ruthless empire in the Gamma Quadrant. It is led by "the Founders", comprised of a race of shapeshifters known as Changelings (the same race as station security chief Odo). They were once persecuted by non-shape shifters (whom they call "Solids") and they are now out to control any who are not like themselves. The Founders have created two races to serve them the Vorta, sly and subversive diplomats; and their vicious shock troops, the Jem'Hadar. These races worship the Founders as gods. The Dominion invades the Alpha Quadrant, forms an uneasy alliance with Cardassia, and eventually goes to war with the other major races. Throughout the series, loyalties and alliances change repeatedly: alliances with the Cardassians are made, broken, and remade; a short conflict with the Klingons flares, and the Federation finds an alliance with the Romulans. Amid all of this emerged a terrorist group known as the Maquis. Rooted in the events of TNG's "Journey's End," in which a group of Native American settlers refuse to leave when the world on which they live is given to Cardassia as part of a treaty, the Maquis are an example of the darker themes featured on DS9. They are Federation citizens who begin their own war against Cardassia, and many — such as Calvin Hudson, a close friend of Sisko's, and Michael Eddington, a former security officer aboard DS9 — are former Starfleet officers, which was unheard of previously. Another example of DS9's darker plot material is Section 31, a secret organization that exists apart from, but dedicated to the preservation of, the Federation. This undemocratic shadow organization justifies its unlawful, ethically questionable tactics by claiming that it is essential to the continued existence of the Federation. Section 31 is prominent in several episodes of the Dominion War plot. Such plot elements, as well as DS9's relative lack of exposure compared to its predecessor, garnered the show a reputation as the "black sheep" of the Trek family. Section 31 At the start of DS9's third season, with the threat of a Dominion attack looming on the other side of the wormhole, Commander Sisko returns from a trip to Earth with the USS Defiant a prototype starship. It remains stationed there throughout the end of the series, providing not only defense but also an avenue by which plotlines can progress without being limited by the stationary nature of DS9. At the time of its introduction, many fans objected to the Defiants presence, as they felt the series had finally begun to develop its own unique style; however, by the time of the Dominion War, it was clear that the Defiant was an inspired concept. After all, space stations rarely see the front lines in war. In DS9, the Ferengi are no longer an enemy of the Federation, but rather an economic power whose political neutrality is respected for the most part. Several episodes explore the capitalist nature of the Ferengi and these episodes are by far the series' most comedic. Ferengi are guided in their lives and in their business transactions by the Rules of Acquisition. Interpersonal conflict and even animosity between regular characters (e.g. Quark and Odo, Sisko and Kira), something previously forbidden by Roddenberry in Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, featured prominently on DS9. This was brought about at the suggestion of the TNG writers (many of whom also wrote for DS9), because they felt that the prohibition on interpersonal conflict between the main characters limited their ability to develop new and interesting stories. In the long run, this shift also helped give DS9 its unique charm. Several of the characters also have their own personal demons and stories that are rather specific to their character. The character of Jadzia Dax is a Trill; she is a young woman who has been joined with the Dax symbiont which is more than three hundred years old. This gives her the memories of seven previous lifetimes in which the symbiont was previously hosted by men and women. As such, Jadzia's behavior incorporates qualities from each gender. Because Commander Sisko was a good friend of Dax's previous host, Curzon, he often calls Jadzia "old man". Odo is a shape shifter who handles station security with a strong sense of justice and fairness. He is driven by a desire to find other shape shifters like himself and to find out where he came from. He eventually discovers that he is a changeling, the same species known to the Dominion as the Founders, and he is torn between a longing to reunite with his people, his duty to the station, and his love for Major Kira. Worf, even more so than on The Next Generation, struggles to balance his duties to the Federation with his Klingon heritage. He is forced to side with the Federation against his people when the Klingon Empire goes to war with Cardassia and withdraws from its peace treaty with the Federation. Later, he and Martok become a key part of the Klingon Empire's role in the Dominion War.
Themes
KlingonDeep Space Nine sheds some of the Utopian themes that embodied the previous versions of Star Trek. It focuses more on war, religion, political compromise, and other modern issues. The most prominent theme in the series is that of the deeply religious Bajoran people attempting to rebuild their world and their economy after years of oppression from Cardassia. The relationship between the Bajorans and the Cardassians is intentionally portrayed as a powerful Holocaust allegory, though there are also striking comparisons to be made with the Serbian occupation of Bosnia or the Japanese occupation of Korea. The Cardassians had put the Bajorans to work in forced slave labor camps under terrible conditions, killed them with impunity, and now refuse to acknowledge the atrocities that occurred during their reign. Deep Space Nine's first officer, Kira Nerys, was formerly an underground resistance leader responsible for many acts of sabotage and subversion and is required in her new role to learn diplomacy and patience. The relationship between the Cardassians and the Bajorans can also be regarded as colonial in nature. Much like in Kipling's "The White Man's Burden," the Cardassians believed themselves to be both technologically and culturally superior. According to Dukat, at the time of first contact, Cardassia was at least 400 years ahead of Bajor in every way. The Cardassians strip-mined Bajor and instituted forced labor camps under the guise of civilizing a lesser people. Guerrilla tactics by Bajoran fighters led to the removal of their colonial shackles in the same way that many colonies gained their independence in the 1960s and 1970s. The Star Trek universe portrayed in Deep Space Nine is one of power politics among the galaxy's great powers. Prior to the series, the Federation was showcased as a near utopian society guided by human rights. In contrast, the Federation in Deep Space Nine tries to balance its high ideals with the practical realities of galactic politics. This theme speaks to the current state of international affairs, a mixture of power politics among states and rapidly growing avenues of international cooperation brought about by globalization. Another theme DS9 visited on several occasions is the idea that the universe is not perfect and there is often no right or wrong answer to difficult situations. This theme is embodied by the Maquis storyline. Members of the Maquis were neither enemies nor criminals, but they take up arms against Cardassia in defense of their homes. Perhaps a quote from Sisko in the second-season episode "The Maquis, Part II" best describes not only the Maquis but also the stark contrast between DS9 and its predecessors: :"On Earth there's no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet headquarters and you see... paradise. Well, it's easy to be a saint in paradise. But the Maquis do not live in paradise. Out there in the Demilitarized Zone, all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints... just people. Angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive. Whether it meets with Federation approval or not."
Awards and distinctions
Despite arguably debuting in the shadow of Next Generation, DS9 maintained a high profile. According to a press release through the Newswire on 7 April 1999, it was the #1 syndicated show in the United States for adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 (NTI). Additionally, the series was nominated for Emmy Awards every year of its run, winning some of them. It also won several Hugo Awards as well. This [http://ds9.deblauwe.org/ds9.html link] has a list of awards. The characters of DS9 were also featured on the cover of TV Guide a total of ten times during its run, including several "special issue" editions in which a set of four different-covered versions of the issue were printed. Critically, the show has received much acclaim for its character and plot development. Even minor characters tended to be multi-faceted and compelling. In an [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/specials/article/1617.html an article about Star Treks greatest villains], STARTREK.com described Gul Dukat as "possibly the most complex and fully-developed bad guy in Star Trek history". Dukat in particular was the focus of several episodes, such as "Waltz", in which he has gone insane and begins to halleucinate, and "Covenant", in which he becomes a twisted Messianic figurehead for a group of Bajorans. The series was not without its detractors, but ultimately What You Leave Behind]]", "This is a grand, satisfying conclusion to this greatest of Trek series; [[J. Michael Straczynski [creator of Babylon 5; see below] can eat his heart out."

Controversy

Although there has been no official confirmation or denial, rumors hold that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was concerned about the concept behind the new series before his death in 1991. Given the nature of DS9 compared to that of its predecessors, the rumors are not unfounded, although whether Roddenberry would have been pleased with the outcome is open to interpretation. Many fans feel that Roddenberry would have approved of the evolution of the franchise, which could not continue with the same formula forever, but others feel that the series abandoned Roddenberry's vision of the future. Still others claim that DS9 would have been more successful and less controversial had it been released as a stand-alone series instead of part of the Trek franchise. Another contingent of fans believe that DS9 went too far in serializing its stories. They maintain that each Trek episode should be its own self-contained story because the strength of TOS was its social commentary. As with Roddenberry's take on the series, there is no consensus about the issue, but there is less evidence to support it. While DS9 exhibited many soap-like qualities, it still allowed for issue shows such as "Far Beyond the Stars," which was the first Trek episode to deal directly with racism, and "The Siege of AR-558," which had a powerful message about the effects of war. Further, one could argue that the heavier reliance on drama and action is less a product of DS9's individual contributions and more a general shift in all of Trek. Some fans of Babylon 5, another science-fiction show based on a space station, contend that DS9 plagiarized elements of Babylon 5s premise. There are indeed many similarities between the two shows, although later seasons of DS9 and particularly the introduction of the Defiant (introduced prior to a strikingly similar ship called the White Star on Babylon 5) took the show in a new, more original direction.
Taboos
:See also LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe. LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe DS9 is also notable for breaking several cultural taboos during its run. Most prominent among these is the issue of homosexuality. The episode "Rejoined" tackled this issue, with two female characters (Jadzia Dax and another Trill named Lenara Kahn) who are in love and at one point embrace in a passionate kiss. However, the context of the kiss is that a previous host of the Dax symbiont was male and in love with the previous host of the Kahn symbiont. The point was that, in the Star Trek universe, there was nothing controversial about lesbianism, but it was taboo for trill to continue a love relationship after changing hosts. The episode was widely praised for its message about bigotry, but it was controversial across-the-board: Traditionalist audiences objected to the episode's plot, and at least one television station reportedly edited the kissing scene out, but it was also criticized for skirting the issue. The episode first aired on October 30, 1995, a year and a half before the controversial "out of the closet" shift in the sitcom Ellen, thus upholding Star Treks tradition of being ahead of its time. (An earlier example is the TOS episode "Plato's Stepchildren," which featured the first interracial kiss to air on network television.) The next instance of homosexuality in the series, which arguably included it for gratuitous reasons, caused far less outcry and went largely unnoticed by comparison. The seventh-season episode, "The Emperor's New Cloak," features the Mirror Universe versions of Kira Nerys and Ezri Dax kiss in a clearly lesbian or bisexual context, but it went largely unnoticed. However, the episode "Profit and Lace," which revolved around a male (Quark) in drag for the sake of ridicule, is often criticized and has itself been the target of much ridicule. In addition to homosexuality, the episode "Far Beyond the Stars," much of which takes place in 1950s Earth, features two instances of potentially offensive language. In one scene, a character utters the phrase "For Christ's sake!" which is rarely allowed on American commercial television. In a later scene, Cirroc Lofton, as a 1950s African-American man, claims that blacks will never get to space except to "shine the shoes" of whites, to whom he felt blacks would always be niggers. Although not the first time the word had been used on American television (it was commonly used in dramas in the 1970s as well as the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family), by the late 1990s utterance of the word in any context in the mainstream media had all but vanished. Another instance of offensive language likely went unnoticed among American audiences. The episode "Time's Orphan" features the Irish Chief O'Brien exclaim the British swear word "bollocks." The word was edited out in daytime UK showings. In addition to these, the series spawned and used several racial epitaphs for alien races in the series, such as "spoon head" for Cardassians.

Multimedia

Music

On June 30, 1993, between seasons one and two, DS9 followed other Treks in releasing the original score from its pilot episode, "Emissary," on CD. The title theme was also made available as a CD single, although not in wide circulation. Another compilation entitled "Warped" was also released later in the series' run. Several episodes received awards for their scores, such as "Our Man Bashir," which received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Score. However, as with other post-TNG series, no further scores were made available on CD. Emmy Award Musically, the series is far better known for one of its most unique elements, the character Vic Fontaine, a holographic Las Vegas lounge lizard from the 1960s. Introduced in the sixth-season episode "His Way," Vic (played by 60s heart throb James Darren) was very popular with the crew of the station and performed many period songs, most notably Frank Sinatra tunes. Among the songs in Fontaine's repertoire were "The Best is Yet to Come" (performed in "Badda-Bing, Badda Bang"), "Come Fly with Me," and "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You" (both performed in "His Way"). In addition to providing a backdrop for some of the series' more memorable moments, such as a battle scene in "The Siege of AR-558," in which he sang "I'll Be Seeing You" during a battle scene, and the series finale "What You Leave Behind," in which "The Way You Look Tonight" played during a series of flashbacks, Darren's role as Fontaine allowed him to release a new album on August 24, 1999, entitled "This One's From the Heart."

VHS and DVD releases

Episodes of DS9 were made avalable on VHS cassettes, which generally contained one episode each (two-part episodes were combined on a single cassette). The first of these releases came on November 19, 1996 in the United States, but due to the inherent space-consuming nature of the cassettes, as well as the rise of DVD as the standard for home-video releases, the line was discontinued once all of DS9 had been released on DVD. The VHS covers can still be found on many review websites, which sometimes use them in place of a screen capture. DVD Following the DVD release of The Next Generation in 2002, DS9 was released on DVD beginning in late February 2003. As with other television shows, the DS9 was released in the form of boxed sets containing one season each and released approximately a month apart. On 26 October 2004, a compilation of all seven season sets was also released; however, for unexplained reasons (perhaps due to the unique packaging) the DS9 boxed set costs considerably more than other Star Trek series. The DVD release of DS9 contains more "special features" than that of TNG. Each season contains a Crew Dossier that gives a biographical look at one of the main characters, a section where make-up designer Michael Westmore details how the various aliens were created for the show, and numerous behind-the-scenes featurettes. These include original interviews with cast members, writers, and other members of the staff. Unique to the DS9 release are "Section 31" files (also known as easter eggs), which give a brief (two to five minute) look at something unique about the show. Each season contains between ten and fifteen Section 31 segments.

Books

easter egg :See also Deep Space Nine relaunch Pocket Books has published several dozen books based on DS9 since its premiere in 1993. Some of these were novelizations of memorable episodes, such as "Emissary," "The Search," and "What You Leave Behind," which were usually published a few days after the episode officially aired in the United States. Several novels were part of "crossover" series between the Trek franchises, while others were part of other franchises but dealt with events laid out in DS9. For example, The Battle of Betazed tells of how Deanna Troi attempted to resist the Dominion occupation of her world (Betazed had fallen to the Dominion in "In the Pale Moonlight") Most focus on the station and its crew, with a notable exception being Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe's Legends of the Ferengi. Of particular importance among the books published after DS9 concluded its run is Avatar, a two-part novel published on May 1, 2001, which continued DS9's legacy by picking up where the series left off. It began Season 8 of DS9, into which A Stitch in Time (a biographical look at the life of Elim Garak, written by Andrew Robinson) was incorporated retroactively. The events of "What You Leave Behind," DS9's series finale, caused some radical changes to occur in season 8. As Benjamin Sisko had entered the Celestial Temple, a new commander named Elias Vaughn took over his position, Garak became the leader of antebellum Cardassia, Odo (now a part of the Great Link) helped the Changelings rebuild, and Rom presided over the Ferengi Alliance, among other things. Outside its line of novels, DS9 has been the subject of several comic books and other publications. One comic is a spin-off of DS9, detailing Nog's experiences at Starfleet Academy. Another DS9 comic series became an exceptional example of licensed Star Trek works influencing each other, a major character from WildStorm Comics' N-Vector, Tiris Jast, appeared in the Avatar, Part I novel. Other publications, such as the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual and Deep Space Nine Companion, are common to all Trek series. DS9 series influences were included in role-playing game reference books from Last Unicorn Games and Decipher. Additionally, several novels have also been released in audio form, narrated by Rene Auberjonois (Odo).
Games
Several video games have been released over the years focusing on DS9, although they are relatively few in number compared to TNG. The first was Crossroads of Time, a side-scrolling platform game released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in 1995. The game takes place around the time of the series premiere, borrowing some stories from early episodes such as "Past Prologue" and creating others. A number of problems reportedly impeded the game's development process, and it met with mixed reactions. No further games were released outside the PC platform, although DS9's influence (particularly the presence of the Dominion) is present in many other games. The Fallen, Harbringer, and Dominion Wars. DS9's role-playing book was one of those that went unpublished when Decipher, publisher of the Star Trek role-playing game, discontinued its line.
Other merchandizing
Decipher Everything from action figures to models to chocolate bars of gold-pressed latinum and Quark masks. DS9 is also well represented at Star Trek: The Experience, where both Quark's Bar & Restaurant and the Promenade have been recreated faithfully. The former takes formal reservations or walk-ins, and is open daily from 11:30am-10:00pm (11 on Fridays). It serves Star Trek-style food and drinks, hosting gatherings such as conventions as well. The latter (called the Shopping Promenade) was the natural choice for a place to sell various souveniers and rarities; among the items for sale are Niners jerseys, official Starfleet uniforms and action figures.
References

General references

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Seasons 1-7 (DVD)
-
Notes
#This quote was taken from an interview conducted on June 7, 2002 and used in the featurette "A Bold New Beginning" for the DVD set, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete First Season. #Although it does not specify an issue or volume, the [http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/12878?book=Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine:_Unity publisher's description] for the DS9 relaunch novel Unity uses this quote to tout the book. #Writer/producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe said in an interview conducted on October 20, 2002 that the studio felt DS9's ratings were sagging at the end of the third season, and he and the other writers were asked to give viewers a new reason to watch. Their answer was to make Worf a part of the cast. The interview can be seen in "Charting New Territory," a featurette included with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Fourth Season. #More than likely, the Maquis were named for the French resistance group of the same name that fought against Nazi Germany in World War II. #The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette used this phrase in a November 30, 1999 editorial (which can be found [http://www.brannonbraga.com/1999/Articles/1999_november.htm#November%2030,%201999%20-%20Post-Gazette archived] on Brannon Braga's official website), as did Exclaim! magazine in a March 31, 2003 [http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=22&csid=774&csid1=1493 review]. (Despite the connotations associated with the phrase "black sheep," however, the writers of both articles spoke highly of the series.) #The claim about editing the kiss out has not been independently verfied, but the fan site [http://www.gayleague.com Gay League] states in its [http://www.gayleague.com/forums/display.php?id=76 Gay Star Trek Timeline], "Reaction to the episode was strong: some stations refused to air the episode, a Southern affiliate edited the kissing scene out. Mail and phone calls ran very negative, although some positive feedback emerged." Spike TV currently shows the episode as it was originally filmed. #The groundbreaking nature of the kiss, which occurred between William Shatner (James T. Kirk) and Nichelle Nichols (Nyota Uhura), is described in the [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005N5SF/ product description] for the VHS release, Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 34, which contains "Plato's Stepchildren" and "Wink of an Eye." It is worth noting that the kiss was technically forced by alien beings. #The fan website [http://www.agonybooth.com The Agony Booth] did a series called "The Worst of Trek," in which it polled members to choose the two worst episodes from each Trek series and then satirized the chosen episodes. The [http://www.agonybooth.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=963 poll] for DS9's first episode chose "Profit and Lace" by a wide margin; the "review" of the episode can be seen [http://www.agonybooth.com/extras/trek/profit_lace/ here]. (The decision was recently made to make "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." the second DS9 episode to receive this dubious honor.) #On his [http://www.mpmolyneaux.com/mm-ds9.htm personal website], lead designer Maurice Molyneaux provides behind-the-scenes information and personal reflections about the development of Crossroads of Time.
See also

- List of Star Trek: DS9 episodes
- Deep Space Nine relaunch
- Similarities between Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
External links

- [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/DS9/index.html Star Trek: Deep Space Nine] at StarTrek.com
-
-
- [http://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/s/st-ds9.season01.q.shtml Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVDs] at DVD Journal Category:1990s TV shows in the United States Category:Star Trek series Category:Television spin-offs
- Category:Syndicated shows Category:Sky One programmes ja:スタートレック:ディープ・スペース・ナイン

Garak

Elim Garak was a character in the fictional Star Trek: Deep Space Nine universe, played by Andrew Robinson. He was technically classified as a recurring character but many fans considered him to be a regular given his importance to the story arc and his presence in many episodes. Through the development of the character, viewers of the series became more familiar with the Cardassians, making them less of a stereotypical "villainous species" and more an accumulation of individuals with distinct personalities. Like many other Star Trek characters, Garak has a complicated good/evil duality. Although he is portrayed initially as a deceitful, unprincipled Machiavellian capable of torture and murder, he eventually becomes one of the series' heroes.

Formative Years

Elim Garak was born on Cardassia Prime to parents Enabran Tain and Mila. He was raised by his mother Mila and did not know the true identity of his father until much later on. A quick learner and an excellent student, Garak attended the prestigious military training school of Bamarren as a child. Most of the skills and traits associated with Garak can be said to have been picked up at Bamarren. He rose through the ranks and gained the respect of his peers and teachers, though he was ultimately betrayed by his one true love, Palandine. These events were formative to his character and general disposition. Garak was often punished as a child by being locked in a cupboard. It is believed this is the root of his later claustrophobia. After Bamarren, Garak began his career at the Obsidian Order, one of the premiere intelligence agencies of the Alpha Quadrant. Always a quick learner, he proved exceptional at his job and rapidly increased in rank and influence, becoming the right hand man of Enabran Tain, head of the Obsidian Order.

Exile

At the peak of his power and career, Garak was perceived to have succumbed to sentimentality and tried to meet with Palandine. He was caught and, because of his family's important role in Cardassian society, was exiled from Cardassia Prime. He chose to locate to Deep Space 9, then still Cardassian and called Terok Nor. During the withdrawal of Bajor by the Cardassians, Garak was deceived and left to the mercy of the Bajorans. He soon after tried in vain to win the favour of his government by spying on the Bajor-Federation negotiations. Garak has since made use of his extensive knowledge and abilities in aiding the Federation on numerous occasions. On Deep Space 9, Garak went into business as a tailor. Several other characters suspected that his tailor's shop was a mere front and he was still working for the Obsidian Order. Garak denied having ever been involved with espionage, claiming he was just "plain, simple Garak" and that his difficulties with the Cardassian government were a result of tax evasion. Garak was frequently at odds with Gul Dukat, the station's former commander. This was due to the fact that, as a member of the Obsidian Order, Garak was responsible for the execution of Dukat's father. After the Federation started administering the station, Garak struck up a friendship with Dr. Julian Bashir. While his exact motives for choosing Bashir are unknown, it is known that Garak wanted a Federation officer with whom he could regularly exchange "back channel" information with the Federation while keeping in communication with his contacts in the Cardassian Empire. Captain Sisko encouraged Bashir to pursue the relationship, although warning Bashir that Garak was probably not to be trusted. Bashir was most likely chosen because of his naïveté, intelligence, and trusting nature. However, despite the nature of their clandestine relationship, Garak and Bashir grew to be good friends despite their cultural and personality differences.

The Dominion War

Garak provided essential intelligence on Cardassia to the Federation during the Dominion War. His unique abilities can be said to have influenced the outcome of the war in the episode "In the Pale Moonlight" by getting the Romulans to abandon their neutrality and fight alongside the Federation by making his assassination of a pro-Dominion senator look like the work of the Cardassians. He also assisted the Federation victory at the Chintoka system in the episode "Tears of the Prophets". The extensive help given to the Federation against his own people led to his mental breakdown, though he believed he was ultimately helping Cardassia by assisting the Federation in defeating the Dominion. He later directly participated in fomenting an anti-Dominion revolution on Cardassia alongside Kira and Damar. Despite the efforts of Gul Dukat, Garak pursued a relationship with Dukat's daughter Tora Ziyal when she sought refuge on DS9 after her rescue from the Breen. When they were separated during the Dominion occupation of DS9, they realized they loved each other. Ziyal's eventual rejection of her father's wishes led to her death at the hands of Dukat's aide Corat Damar when the Federation was on the verge of re-occupying the station.

Post-War Involvement

The Federation-led alliance won the war and Garak returned to his people. What was supposed to be his moment of triumph turned into a pyrrhic victory given the death of 1 billion Cardassians and the destruction of much of Cardassia Prime's infrastructure. Garak has since assisted in the rebuilding and recovery of Cardassia, while also supporting democratic reforms for its government. He believes that the Dominion War and destruction of Cardassia was partially caused by its military-led government. The post-war Garak is a wholly different person in this respect, given his extensive ties to the military. The Deep Space Nine novel A Stitch In Time, written by Robinson, is supposedly Garak's memoir, and gives a great deal of information about his past and current circumstances. While the novels are not officially considered part of the Star Trek canon, this book can, given its author, be considered a fairly definitive portrait of the character. As such, much of this information was obtained from his book.

Memorable quotes

From "Past Prologue"
Doctor Julian Bashir: You're Mister Garak, aren't you?
Garak: No, please, just plain, simple, Garak.
From "Profit and Loss"
Bashir: Assuming you're not a spy...
Garak: Assuming?
Bashir: ...Then you might be an outcast.
Garak: Or maybe I'm an outcast spy.
Bashir: How could you be both?
Garak: I never said I was either.
From "The Way of the Warrior" Garak (Shooting attacking Klingons with phaser): I find this hand to hand combat really quite distasteful.
Dukat (Fighting two Klingons with bat'leth): I suppose you would prefer the simplicity of an interrogation chamber.
Garak: You have to admit, it's much more civilized!
From "By Inferno's Light"
Garak: I only wish I were still a member of the Obsidian Order. This would make a wonderful interrogation chamber. Tight quarters, no air, bad lighting, random electric shocks, it's perfect.
From "Purgatory's Shadow"
Garak: Lying is a skill like any other, and if you want to maintain a level of excellence, you have to practice constantly.

Appearances

Garak appeared in the following episodes: Season 1
- Past Prologue Season 2
- Cardassians
- Profit and Loss
- The Wire
- Crossover Season 3
- The Search, part II
- Second Skin
- Civil Defense
- Distant Voices
- Through the Looking Glass
- Improbable Cause
- The Die Is Cast Season 4
- The Way of the Warrior, part I
- The Way of the Warrior, part II
- Our Man Bashir
- Shattered Mirror
- For the Cause
- Body Parts
- Broken Link Season 5
- Things Past
- In Purgatory's Shadow
- By Inferno's Light
- Empok Nor
- Call to Arms Season 6
- A Time to Stand
- Rocks and Shoals
- Favor the Bold
- Sacrifice of Angels
- In the Pale Moonlight
- Tears of the Prophets Season 7
- Afterimage
- The Emperor's New Cloak
- Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
- When it Rains...
- Tacking into the Wind
- Extreme Measures
- The Dogs of War
- What You Leave Behind, part I
- What You Leave Behind, part II

External link

-
- A list of 10 [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/specials/article/1664.html "Great Garak Episodes"] at [http://www.startrek.com StarTrek.com]
- A brief [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/characters/DS9/bio/1071389.html Elim Garak Biography] at [http://www.startrek.com StarTrek.com] Category:Cardassian characters Category:Fictional secret agents and spies Category:Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters

Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables or Aesopica refers to a collection of fables credited to Aesop (circa 620 BC – 560 BC), a slave and story-teller living in Ancient Greece. Aesop's Fables has also become a blanket term for collections of brief fables, usually involving personified animals. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today. Many stories included in Aesop's Fables, such as The Fox and the Grapes (from which the idiom "sour grapes" was derived), The Tortoise and the Hare and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, are well-known throughout the world.

Aesop

The Boy Who Cried Wolf in Rome showing him as an ugly and misshapen man.]] Aesop (from the Greek Aisopos), famous for his fables, was arguably a slave of African descent who had lived from about 620 to 560 B.C. in Ancient Greece. Little was known about him from credible records, except that he was at one point freed from slavery and that he eventually died in the hands of Delphians. In fact, the obscurity shrouding his life has led some scholars to deny his existence altogether.

Origins

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the fables were invented by a slave named Aesop who lived in Ancient Greece during the 6th century BC. While some suggested that Aesop did not actually exist, and that the fables attributed to him are folktales of unknown origins, Aesop was indeed mentioned in several other Ancient Greek works – Aristophanes, in his comedy The Wasps, represented the protagonist Philocleon as having learnt the "absurdities" of Aesop from conversation at banquets; Plato wrote in Phaedo that Socrates whiled away his jail time turning some of Aesop's fables "which he knew" into verses; and Demetrius of Phalerum compiled the fables into a set of ten books (Lopson Aisopeion sunagogai) for the use of orators, which had been lost. There was also an edition in elegiac verse by an anonymous author, which was often cited in the Suda. The first extensive translation of Aesop into Latin was done by Phaedrus, a freedman of Augustus in this first century AD, although at least one fable had already been translated by the poet Ennius. Avianus also translated forty two of the fables into Latin elegiacs, probably in the 4th century AD. The collection under the name of Aesop's Fables evolved from the late Greek version of Babrius, who turned them into choliambic verses, at an uncertain time between 3rd century BC and 3rd century AD. In about 100 BC, Indian philosopher Syntipas translated Babrius into Syriac, from where Andreopulos translated back to Greek, since original Greek scripts had all been lost. In the 9th century, Ignatius Diaconus, created a version of fifty-five fables in choliambic tetrameters, into which stories from Oriental sources were added. From these collections the 14th-century monk Maximus Planudes compiled the collection which has come down under the name of Aesop. In 1484, William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, printed a version of Aesop's Fables, which was brought up to date by Sir Roger L'Estrange in 1692. An example of the fables in Caxton's collection follows: :Men ought not to leue that thynge whiche is sure & certayne / for hope to haue the vncertayn / as to vs reherceth this fable of a fyssher whiche with his lyne toke a lytyll fysshe whiche sayd to hym / My frend I pray the / doo to me none euylle / ne putte me not to dethe / For now I am nought / for to be eten / but whanne I shalle be grete / yf thow come ageyne hyther / of me shalt thow mowe haue grete auaylle / For thenne I shalle goo with the a good whyle / And the Fyssher sayd to the fysshe Syn I hold the now / thou shalt not scape fro me / For grete foly hit were to me for to seke the here another tyme. The most reproduced modern English translations were made by Rev. George Fyler Townsend (1814 – 1900). Ben E. Perry, the editor of Aesopic fables of Babrius and Phaedrus for the Loeb Classical Library, compiled a numbered index by type. The edition by Olivia Temple and Robert Temple, titled The Complete Fables by Aesop, is presented as the most complete, unexpurgated version, though more fables are available in the Loeb Classical Library volumes.

Aesop's Fables in other languages

- Towards the end of the 17th century, the French poet Jean de la Fontaine recasted the fables into French verses.
- At around 1800, The fables were adapted and translated into Russian by the Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov.
- The first translation of Aesop's Fables into Chinese were done in 1625. It included thirty-one fables conveyed orally by a Belgian Jesuit missionary to China named Nicolas Trigault and penned down by a Chinese academic named Zhang Geng. In modern days, various translations have also been made by Zhou Zuoren and others.

Adaptations

- Jean de la Fontaine, the French poet, took his inspiration from the Aesop's Fables to write his Fables Choisies (1668).
- American cartoonist, Paul Terry began his own series of cartoons called Aesop's Film Fables in 1921. In 1928, the Van Beuren Studio took hold of the series. It ended in 1933.
- Brazilian dramatist Guilherme Figueiredo wrote a play The Fox and the Grapes (A raposa e as uvas) (1953) about Aesop's life. It was staged many times in the world's best theaters.
- The Smothers Brothers, an American musical-comedy team, released a comedy album titled Aesop's Fables The Smothers Brothers Way in 1965. Seven of Aesop's more famous fables and morals are related in the album.

List of some fables by Aesop

1965 propaganda poster to allude to German treachery in Operation Barbarossa.]] Aesop's most famous fables include:
- The Ant and the Grasshopper
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Dog and the Bone
- The Fox and the Crow
- The Fox and the Grapes
- The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
- The Lion and the Mouse
- The North Wind and the Sun
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
- The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
- The Frogs Who Desired a King
- The Frog and the Ox
- The Crow and the Pitcher

Sources

External links

- [http://www.aesopfables.com/ An online collection of over 650 fables attributed to Aesop]
- [http://www.elook.org/literature/aesop/fables/ Aesop's Fables - Collection of over 500 fables]
- [http://www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica/index.htm Laura Gibbs, Aesopica on-line]: using Perry's typological index, with a content index as well.
- [http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/aesop/aesop1.html Aesop's Fables] See also [http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/cgi/aesop1.cgi?1&Preface Preface to Aesop's Fables]
- [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21 Aesop's Fables] translated by George Fyler Townsend at Project Gutenberg. Category:Fables ko:이솝 우화 ja:イソップ寓話

Cassandra

] In Greek mythology, Cassandra ("she who entangles men") (also known as Alexandra) was a daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen Hecuba, who captured the eye of Apollo and so was given the ability to see the future. However, when she did not return his love, he placed a curse on her so that no one would ever believe her predictions. Thus Cassandra foresees the destruction of Troy (she warns the Trojans about the Trojan Horse, the death of Agamemnon, and her own demise), but is unable to do anything about them. Coroebus and Othronus came to the aid of Troy out of love for Cassandra. Cassandra was the first to see the body of her brother Hector being brought back to the city. After the Trojan War and after being raped by Ajax, Cassandra is taken as a concubine and sex slave by King Agamemnon of Mycenae. Unbeknownst to Agamemnon, while he was away at war, his wife, Clytemnestra, had begun an affair with Aegisthus. Upon Agamemnon and Cassandra's arrival in Mycenae, Clytemnestra asked her husband to walk across a purple carpet; he initially refused then gave in and entered, not believing Cassandra's warnings. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus then murdered Agamemnon, and then Cassandra. Some information says that Cassandra and Agamemnon have twin boys Teledamus and Pelops, who are killed by Aegisthus. Homer. Iliad XXIV, 697-706; Homer. Odyssey XI, 405-434; Aeschylus. Agamemnon; Euripides. Trojan Women; Euripides. Electra; Apollodorus. Bibliotheke III, xii, 5; Apollodorus. Epitome V, 17-22; VI, 23; Virgil. Aeneid II, 246-49. In more modern literature, Cassandra has served as a very popular subject for tragedy and romance. In the Bible, the Prophet Jonah is the exact reverse of Cassandra: His prophecy is believed by everyone, but does not come true because the Ninevites repented, and thus God chose not to implement the judgement that the prophecy was about, as Jonah had feared. The fictional character Dr. Kathryn Railly, from the film Twelve Monkeys is an expert on people who suffer from Cassandra Syndrome - the belief in one's knowledge of the future but not having the power to do anything about it. Category:Greek mythological people ja:カッサンドラ

Stephan Pastis

Stephan Pastis (born January 16, 1968) is the creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. He was raised in San Marino, California. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and UCLA Law School. Before working as a cartoonist he was a lawyer, practicing insurance law. He lives in Northern California with his wife and children. Pastis won the National Cartoonists Society best newspaper comic strip award for 2003. One of his favorite painters is Edward Hopper. Influences can be seen in the October 13, 2002 Sunday Pearls Before Swine strip which is based on the painting Rooms by the Sea, and the cover of the comic strip collection Nighthogs which is based on the painting Nighthawks.

External links

- [http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/pearls/html/about_author.html Biography from the official Pearls Before Swine website]
- [http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/biogs/pastis.asp Short bio] (with picture) at The National Cartoonists Society Pastis, Stephan Pastis, Stephan

Category:English phrases

Phrases Category:Phrases

Teodolinda

Teodolinda (?-628), regina Longobarda. Bavara per parte di padre e discendente dal capostipite del popolo longobardo per parte di madre, scende in Italia nel 598 in quanto promessa sposa di Autari, fondatore del regno longobardo in Italia e feroce guerriero.
Fu di fede cattolica tricapitolina. Rimasta vedova, Teodolinda rimane regina e sposa il successore Agilulfo, la cui politica di conquiste territoriali interessa tutta l'Italia. La storia di Teodolinda si intreccia con la storia di Monza, infatti elegge questa città come sede della residenza estiva della sua corte, vi fa costruire un palazzo e, secondo la tradizione, guidata dall'indicazione divina trasmessale da una colomba bianca, una cappella palatina.
L'oraculum dedicato a San Giovanni Battista diventerà un centro cattolico nel mondo longobardo ariano. La regina intratterrà contatti diplomatici con il papa Gregorio Magno, preoccupato che i longobardi attachino le mura di Roma ed in seguito sarà riconoscente della riuscita intercessione della regina presso Agilulfo, che ritira il suo esercito. Alla morte del marito, Teodolinda rimane al vertice del potere accanto al figlio Adaloaldo nato proprio nel palazzo monzese e battezzato con rito cattolico. La regina muore nel 628 e viene sepolta, accanto al marito, all'interno della chiesa da lei voluta.
Con la sua morte il periodo monzese dei longobardi finisce per sempre. Categoria:Biografie Categoria:Santi Categoria:Longobardi

samsung true tone gry doda sylwester na s�owacji milan italy hotels

:: RELATED NEWS ::

Keoma – Melodie des Sterbens
Keoma – Melodie des Sterbens ist ein 1976 veröffentlichter Italo-Western des Regisseurs Enzo G. Castellari. Keoma tritt gegen zwei Gruppen von Bösewichten an, einerseits die Banditen um Caldwell, andererseits seine 3 Halbbrüder. Die Banditen kontrollieren ein Lager von Pockenkranken, denen sie keine Hilfe zukommen lassen. Keoma ist verbittert ("Die Welt ist schlecht"), aber im Gegensatz zu anderen Helden des Genres ein Altruist und möchte den Menschen helfen, obwohl

Maison Ikkoku
Maison Ikkoku (jap. めぞん一刻 Mezon Ikkoku) ist eine Mangaserie von Rumiko Takahashi, die in Europa vor allem durch Ranma ½ und InuYasha bekannt wurde. Der Manga wurde später auch als Animeserie für das japanische Fernsehen verfilmt. Das Maison Ikkoku ist ein Apartmenthaus in dem die

Etablissement Ronacher
Das Etablissement Ronacher ist ein Theater im 1. Wiener Gemeindebezirk (Innere Stadt), gelegen zwischen Himmelpfortgasse, Seilerstätte und Schellinggasse. Es wurde als Wiener Stadttheater ab 1871-1872 von den Architekten Ferdinand Fellner d. Ä. und Ferdinand Fellner

Gletscherkraftwerk
Ein Gletscherkraftwerk ist ein Wasserkraftwerk und wird zur Stromerzeugung verwendet. Dabei wird ein Schmelzwassersee an seiner tiefsten Stelle angebohrt. Das Wasser wird durch eine Druckleitung zur Küste geleitet, wo die Wasserkraft mittels Turbinen und Generatoren in Hussiten ausgebildet, sprach gebrochen Latein, dafür fand er sich in politischen und verwalterischen Angelegenheiten schnell zurecht. Grund dürfte auch darin sein, dass sein Vater Jan z Cimbuka ihm schon von Klein auf zu Sitzungen der Adelsgerichte und deren Versammlungen mitnahm. Ctibor war einer der Vertrauten des Königs

Frédéric Godet
Frédéric Godet (
- 25. Oktober 1812 in Neuenburg; † 29. Oktober 1900 ebenda) war ein Schweizer Theologe. Theologe Nach seinem Studium in Neuenburg, 4. März 1840 in Berlin, † 19. Februar 1910 das.) war ein deutscher Politiker.

Leben

Graf Udo wurde als ältester Sohn von Graf Conrad zu Stolberg-Wernigerode und dessen Ehefrau Marianne Freiin vom Romberg geboren. Er wurde Major à la suite der Armee und im Jahr der Reichsgründung Read More...

Widerspruchsregelung
Die Widerspruchsregelung bezeichnet eine Regelung, welche die Organspende rechtlich regelt: jeder kann Organspender werden, der sich nicht ausdrücklich dagegen ausgesprochen hat. Sinnvollerweise sollte dieser Widerspruch in schriftlicher Form bei sich getragen werden, oder in einem zentralen Widerspruchsregister vermerkt sein. Die Widerspruchslösung gilt in Luxemburg, Österreich, Polen,