Death Threats for Plagiarising Poet

A Jordanian poet, Islam Samhan was sentenced on 21 June 2009, to one year in prison for incorporating verses of the Koran in his book of poetry in March 2008. He was prosecuted and detained in October 2008, accused of ridiculing the religion and divine doctrines, offending prophets and not registering his publication at the Jordanian department of printing and publishing.

Now, wouldn't that be a spot of plagiarism? Unfortunately I have been unable to source the actual poem (and don't read Arabic), so am not sure how many words or lines have been pilfered from the prose.

So, not only does he face a jail term, but there have been death threats in the form of a fatwa declared against him. And his book is banned. And he was fined Jordanian dinars 10,000. Now let that be a lesson to us all!

Islam Samhan is alleged to have said that "dim-witted" people have convinced the Arab ruler that they are as "senseless as a pile of lumber". Ouch!

Luckily and somewhat ironically, Jordan's Constitution (Article 15) does guarantee freedom of opinion in speech or writing (Article 37 excludes items harmful to religions and denominations which are also guaranteed freedom)...

Sources: http://www.hudsonny.org/2009/06/jihad-by-court-moderate-jordan-threatens-poet-eslam-samhan-with-death.php

http://www.ifex.org/jordan/2009/06/24/samhan_sentenced/

Shimming - a new word!

shim

[shim] noun, verb, shimmed,shim⋅ming.

–noun

1.	a thin slip or wedge of metal, wood, etc., for driving into crevices, as between machine parts to compensate for wear, or beneath bedplates, large stones, etc., to level them.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to fill out or bring to a level by inserting a shim or shims.

Origin:
1715–25; orig. uncert.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

Monkeys Can Learn Grammar?

So if monkeys can, why do humans get it wrong?

Because the monkeys are subjected to repetition and practice! The BBC ran a little story this week that tells us tamarind monkeys can recognise when words don't match a 'familiar' order or pattern! Amazing. The page this story is on also has links to other animal studies/stories that show human traits.

This research apparently gives clues as to how children learn language. I think the learning of the monkeys may be limited in some way, but it seems to me humans are trying to create or force evolution. If monkeys are trained, and they teach their own kind, will that become a new skill they will one day be born with? Hmm.

Photo courtesy of www.Copyright-free-photos.org.uk

English/French, French/English?

I'm fascinated by the history of our language especially where it comes from the French language. According to Wikipedia, more than half our words come from the French language or have a French cognate.

I had to look up cognate - again Wikipedia comes to the rescue "words that have a common origin, but which may not have the same meaning. An example would be night (Eng) & nuit (Fr) which have the same meaning.

In the 11th century the Normans invaded our motherland and their Old Norman (Normandy) language mixed in with the Old English, mainly through the courts and government. For about 300 years, the Norman kings and the nobility spoke only Anglo-Norman until Edward III addressed Parliament in English in 1362. The expansionist Normans also made their mark in Ireland in 1169 in the south east.

This language mix (which included other roots) gave rise to Middle English which held sway between 1066 and about 1470 when the printing press enabled the London-based Chancery Standard to become widespread during the reign of King Henry V.

Today, the Norman language is still spoken in the Channel Islands, the Cotentin Peninsula and Pays de Caux, the last two being areas of the Normandy region. The principle settlements or villages in these areas are Le Havre, Dieppe, Fecamp, Yvetot and Etretat. It has no official status, but is recognised as a regional language. It sounds like it bears no resemblance to what we speak as English today... and then there's Wales, Scotland, Ireland etc!

Thesaurus Project

Where else but Oxford would you find the largest Thesaurus in the world project?