Hope

Despite what they're reporting in the news these days, hope is not dead. Reverse side of a tombstone, Arlington National Cemetery, July 2009. (For more Arlington tombstones, click the "Arlington" tag below or on the right side of this page.)

Paris: Landmarks, Monuments, Museums

More linguistically-interesting things I saw in Paris.

A monument to peace within view of the Eiffel Tower. I can't tell how well the word "peace" is rendered in all these languages but the Chinese (和平) is at least legible. Not the best execution but well-intentioned. (By the way, I didn't see English anywhere among these languages! Hmmm...)

Louis Braille, inventor of the raised system of dots for the blind, is entombed beneath the Panthéon. This is one of the rare monuments that actively encourages visitors to touch and interact with it: a  bust, electronically illuminated Braille inscriptions, and audio recordings.

A similar installment for the blind can be found in the Pompidou Center. Here the Braille inscription and a textured pattern allow the visitor to appreciate a work of visual art.

Inside the Louvre Museum there's a series of signs that lay down "les règles de l'art" [the rules of art], i.e. what you're forbidden to do inside (e.g. no touching artworks, no flash photography etc.). I like the humorous and non-verbal aspect of these signs:

And, finally, a trilingual notice in the Palace of Versailles:

Translingual Name Convergence

Arlington National Cemetery, July 2009. Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault (b. Commerce, TX) led the "Flying Tigers" division against the Japanese in WWII. He later adopted the Chinese name Chen Na-De (陳纳德), a phonetic approximation of "Chennault" which appears on the reverse of his tombstone (right-hand photo, above).

It just so happened Chennault married a Beijing-born woman named 陳香梅 (Chen Xiang-mei), who was later known as Anna Chen Chennault. In this case the wife took her husband's name (Chennault), but one could equally say that the husband took his wife's (陳 = Chen).

Arlington Tombstone

Did he support pork-barrel spending? Arlington National Cemetery, July 2009.

P.S. From The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition (1989): bacon, v. 1890 Congress. Rec. Aug. 8887/1 "We consumed or sold our own pork, and we baconed it ourselves." In case you are interested, here's this congressman's official biography.

Here Lie Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

This plaque in the National Cathedral indicates the spot where Helen Keller and her lifelong companion Anne Sullivan have their final resting place. The Braille inscription beneath the raised letters are well-worn. It's clear that many visitors have run their fingers over these lines. November 2009.

Happy Halloween!

Capitol Hill. Here's a bit of Halloween-themed topical humor. Most English speakers would interpret RIP as "rest in peace," but the abbreviation originally invoked the Latin requiescat in pace (may he/she rest in peace) or requiescant in pace (may they rest in peace).

P.S. The letters RIP could also work in Italian: riposa/riposino in pace.