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Then there are the drummers' uniforms (the guys in the bicorne hats), they are red and green, Italian colors. How many of you knew that the Emperor Napoléon was also the King of Italy? Well, he was.
The Italian army of Napoléon's era wore uniforms identical in cut to French uniforms, green replaced the blue of the French. The Italian tricolor of today was essentially the same as the French tricolor of the later Napoleonic era. Again, green replacing the blue.
The Italians fought well for the Emperor, his stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Joséphine, was titled the Viceroy of Italy, meaning he ruled there in Napoléon's stead. Kid was a pretty competent general in his own right.
Anyhoo, that's the why of the photo, I found it interesting.
The search for a laptop continues, but the field is narrowing. I must pick one soon or I'll have to wait a few weeks. The Missus Herself is forward deployed for the first two weeks in March so there'll be no one home to sign for any high value packages. C'est dommage.
One thing I have noticed is that sans laptop, I am catching up on a lot of shows and movies across the various streaming venues I have access to. The latest True Detective series on Max (what used to be called HBO) was quite good, stars Jodie Foster and is set in Alaska during their very long night. Very freaky, very entertaining murder mystery.
A show I've watched clips of on YouTube is my latest addiction, Mr. Inbetween. Which has me watching two to three (okay, sometimes four) episodes a night. I have to admit though that I have to keep searching for some of the things said in the show, my Australian slang is seriously lacking. That being said, I like the accent they have Down Under. (The Nuke travels there for work a cuppla times a year, she's starting to pick up some of the lingo.)
One last thing before I take my leave, what's up with the seeming lack of visitors to the blog on Thursday? Have I worn out my welcome with the historical fiction? Bad title? Anyhoo, comments are welcome, help me improve my game.
Hooroo, mates.²
¹ Literally, "like this, like that," hand extended out, palm down, tipping the hand from side to side at a shallow angle. A very French thing to say when asked "How's it going?" The figurative meaning is "so so," neither good, nor bad. And to me, a lot of the world is so so right now.
² How they say "goodbye" Down Under.
Are we not enough, Sarge? We few, we happy few...
ReplyDeleteBG
As someone pointed out further on, I didn't know about the big AT&T crap out yesterday. No doubt that had an effect.
DeleteBut yes, we happy few are enough, more than enough.
You haven't worn out anything with me.
ReplyDeleteThat is good to know, and thanks.
DeleteSarge, yesterday's post was kind of an interlude. Wrapping things up in the West, with only the news of a move to the Eastern Front. Nicely written, but not much to comment/disagree/or annoy you with (almost) off topic comments. Enjoyed it & keep it up!
DeleteI often think that every stage in one's life is an interlude. There's always something next, until, well, I guess one day there isn't.
DeleteThanks, Don. You made me think.
More than once during a visit here something comes up that prevents leaving a comment.....you see....I am entertained.....I am entertained.....this is why I am here............:)
ReplyDeleteYes, computers, networks, all can be unreliable at times. Should be a lesson to we mortals.
DeleteLack of visitors might have been due to whichever provider was having issues yesterday.
ReplyDeleteNapoleonic uniforms are interesting. So much information in the color combinations. I was interested in the tabletop wargaming for a while and immersed myself in the uniformology. Used to be able to read the French and Russian uniforms almost like text.
Copy that on the network disruptions of Thursday. Leaned about that after I'd written the post (so my provider didn't have any issues).
DeleteLots of keys to who is who (what regiment, etc.) in those uniforms. Of course in the field they were often covered in greatcoats and mud!
My first glance at the photo took me to the French revolution and the guillotine....
ReplyDeleteVery similar uniforms to that timeframe.
DeleteHmm! I'd always thought "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" meant "a little of this, a little of that", so when I saw your definition I went to the source of all knowledge (AKA Google Translate). According to them it means "so-so; neither good nor bad", but that's just me, being pedantic.
ReplyDeleteWhich, by the way, means "someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise especially in some narrow or boring subject matter."
;-)
juvat
P.S. Good post.
Google translate gave you the translation of what it means in common usage, literally it is as I said. As to "a little of ...", that would be un peu de ci, un peu de cela. Comme is the French for "as," in the context of "similar to," or "like," if you will. At least that's what Madame Parsons taught me some years ago ... No Louis XVI was not on the throne at that time, might have been one of the earlier Louis.
Delete[Walks away grumbling in multiple languages ...]
Dunno as I would trust, much less cite, gulag for anything, but that's just me.
DeleteBoat Guy
Trust, but verify. Their translations are not bad, but every now and then they goon it up. I've provided corrections when I could.
Delete@ juvat
ReplyDelete"...but that's just me, being pedantic."
...but that's just me, being a good friend.
My Dad was one of those people who could listen to a language for five minutes and be speaking it comfortably in the sixth. He grew up speaking German, Hungarian, and Kashubian when he was a little kid, but English was his first love; he spoke it fluently, but not always idiomatically American. He said, "I always appreciate when someone takes the time to correct my English: whether out of kindness or a misplaced feeling of superiority, I still consider them a friend."
Being good with languages is a gift. I am blessed with that ability, not to your Dad's extent, but I have an ear for it. My French accent is horrible, my German sounds like I might be from Nordrhein-Westfalen, and what little Korean I speak these days sounds rather like that spoken in Chollapukdo Province.
DeleteI can say naughty things in French, German, Korean, Russian, Dutch, and a tiny bit of Italian. Keeps The Missus Herself from being too harsh with me when I, let's say, hit my thumb with a hammer, or smack a toe into furniture.
Her theory is that as long as the neighbors don't know what I'm bellowing about it's fine. (Which, living where I do, is why I have avoided learning how to say anything nasty in Portuguese.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteJB
😁
DeleteI can read foreign language, a little, but not speak or listen. A decade of shruggle is now explained; my brain is badly wired for learning and speaking audible languages (and why I listen poorly and speak better well rehearsed.) I had a high school teacher who struggled to teach me German, and then tried others, too. She was a gifted, multi-lingual, UN certified instantaneous translator, who had an evening business of doing that, in 1964 Aberdeen, SD.; first home I knew with five telephone lines (and seven audio tape recorders, most of them 4 track record.)
ReplyDeleteThose can translate instantaneously are amazing.
DeleteThe first truly multi-lingual person I met was a member of my athletics club in England. His family had left Poland in the 50's after a 'bit of difficulty' with the current regime. He was middle class Polish and therefore spoke fluent French because that was what they did. He had been educated at the Sorbonne. He was fluent in German and Russian because 'you had to deal with them at some time in your life'. His family business was in leather so he did a lot of work in Spain, Brazil and Argentina. He was fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and could get by in a number of other languages. As a typically monoglot brit I was astounded.
DeleteRetired
The Poles were highly valued by Napoléon not just for their fighting skills but for their command of language as well. It was said that in eastern Europe a Polish officer could pass himself off for any one of a dozen nationalities!
DeleteI am still here, curiously speechless.
ReplyDeleteNow that is curious. 😉
DeleteRegarding outages, though some people supposedly reported internet outages, from my perspective it was mostly cell phone, from about 3-4am to around 2-3pm. Very weird for a solar storm as it started in the darkness which should have shielded most of the nation from any radiative affects from Sol.
ReplyDeleteThough maybe it was due to people not being able to talk on their phones and actually working or doing other stuff. Maybe.
It's nice to see recreation units do it correctly. There's something about wool and linen that just hang correctly on people that make it look good.
What are you narrowing your picks to?
Well, a lot of folks access the blog through their phones.
DeleteHaven't really narrowed it down, I mean the choices have gone from hundreds to perhaps a few dozen.
Crusty Old TV Tech here. As to not commenting on the Thursday blog entry, work has absolutely slammed me here...keep those vignettes coming please! Today is not much better, but at least I can come up for air on occasion.
ReplyDeleteAh yes work, the thing that takes up loads of time but allows us to actually live, on occasion!
DeleteI am VERY happy with my ASUS Vivobook M1703QA 17" laptop. AMD cpu and graphics. "Upgraded" it to Windows 10 from Windows 11, and dual boot with Ubuntu. Do not like Intel nor NVidia, nor Microsoft as well, but the video editing software I use does not work in Ubuntu.
ReplyDeleteOne of my colleagues at work swears by his ASUS.
DeleteSarge - The drop in views yesterday is likely because I am on the road and not constantly checking to see if I got a response...
ReplyDeleteIf you are looking for a good (around 2.5 hour) watch, I recommend Helsreach. It is set in the Warhammer 40K universe. It is animated. Highly recommended.
Nice! I'll have a look.
DeleteDid you take the job?
I did indeed, sir. Start date is the middle of March. Now, the panic of laying down one life and starting another...
DeleteGood news, mate! Yes, the transition is rather "exciting," innit?
DeleteThe thought of leaving this job and retiring, sometimes keeps me awake at night.
By "exciting", if you mean "exhilarating and terrifying all once", then yes, all of that.
DeleteHelsreach Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2WGE1L6WKs
Getting this old is a change, hanging up the job for "Retirement" is a big one also. You've had a job your whole life.
DeleteIf you were to ask me about it I'd have to say that retiring while you can still do things is better that working until you die on the assembly line or in the field dealing with weeds.... like it was done not too many years back.
TB - "exhilarating and terrifying all once" - Why yes, exactly!
DeleteRob - Yeah, don't want to keel over at my desk and get wheeled out by the coroner ...
DeleteThat would suck.
I enjoy my work, but I have plenty to keep me busy when I do retire. I know many men that are even busier in retirement than they were in work, just differently so. I'm sure you can think of 5 things you love that you'll have more time to do when you retire, so hopefully dwelling on those will help you sleep.
DeleteI am officially looking forward to retirement. Much to do!
DeleteThis book might help you with understanding Aussie English, it dates to 1967 (and is very funny, the author also wrote a novel about an Italian immigrant coming to Sydney in the 1960's called "Their a weird mob", this was made into a film shortly after it was published, you might find it on Netflix) but a surprising amount of the words are still in general usage, anyone over the age of 50 would understand almost all of the words.
ReplyDeleteNapoleonic history is what got me started in black powder shooting 40 years ago! I painted a Prussian army C1813 as everyone wanted a French army due to the poncy uniforms! As an aside, I watched the footage of Waterloo from the recent movie Napoleon on Youtube, what can I say, it was absolute rubbish and was even worse than I could imagine!!!!! The French have spent the last 200 years telling us they lost Waterloo because Napoleon was sick and not on his best game but there he was leading a last ditch cavalry and infantry attack against the British!!
I shall track that book down, thanks mate!
DeleteAs to the Waterloo scene in that movie, yeah, ugh all the way around!
OOPs, tried to attach the book cover but failed, the book is called Aussie English by John O'Grady
ReplyDeleteI see that Amazon carries it. Love the cover!
DeleteCheers!, When you get the book look up the "Great Australian Adjective" (Hint, look under B). I have a good friend from our muzzle loading club name of Bill, he is 93 this year (and still a damn good shot) and a real knockabout bloke, he speaks exactly like the verse in the book. Been all over Australia in various Toyota Land Cruisers, across some of the deserts in the outback back in the 60's that had barely seen a whiteman yet.
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteHeck, the first thing I look for on here is the historical fiction!
ReplyDelete+1!
DeleteRonF - I shall endeavor to provide more of that. The Muse, she can be fickle.
DeleteRob - Essayons!/ (Let us try!)
Delete