First there was Franglais, a mangled combination of English and French. Then came Spanglish and subsequently Denglish, a mixure of German and English.
Don't fret. Just start getting used to Runglish -- the the English-laced argot of young Russians -- especially if you are planning a visit to the erstwhile Soviet Union.
Yes, the English language has finally invaded the land of Pushkin as much to the horror of their parents, Russia's 'Koka-Kola' generation has developed a vocabulary that has more to do with MTV, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph' reported today.
In fact, young Russians invite their "friendessi" (female friends) for a "drrink" at the "Pab" by cell phone text message or while chatting on the internet.
"The internet brought a lot of words from foreign languages. But the jargon is now moving into the press and advertising. This is the way language develops and it is a process that can't be stopped," Head of Google Russia Vladimir Dolgov was quoted as saying.
But, Runglish -- first coined by cosmonauts in 2000 to communicate with their American counterparts on International Space Station -- is increasingly viewed by nationalists as a Western assault on the purity of one of the world's great languages.
"Young people always develop fashionable ways of communicating. (But) it is Russian words used incorrectly that damages the purity of the language not the introduction of foreign words," Yuri Prokhorov, the head of the Russian State Institute of Foreign Luanguage, told the daily.
It may also be mentioned that concerned by the growing influence of English in Russia, the Kremlin had recently declared 2007 as the 'Year of the Russian Language'.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Rats damage 17 lakh tonne of food grain in Punjab annually
Rats have literally driven a hole in the foodgrain stock of Punjab, destroying over ten lakh tonne of crops on an annual basis.
"Rodents, which are a serious problem for the farming sector, damage 4 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 11 per cent of wheat, rice and sugarcane output respectively every year in Punjab," said H S Sehgal, Head, Department of Zoology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) at Ludhiana.
Rats destroy almost 5.87 lakh tonne of wheat, 3.86 lakh tonne of rice and 7.21 lakh tonne of sugarcane while contaminating the crop with their faeces, urine and fur, he said.
The worst hit regions are Ludhiana, Kapurthala and Nawanshahar where wheat crop is grown, he said, adding wheat crop was more vulnerable to the attack due to adoption of zero tillage technique by state farmers for wheat sowing.
"Ever since, farmers have switched over to zero tillage technique of wheat sowing, the attacks have compounded," he said.
"Rodents, which are a serious problem for the farming sector, damage 4 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 11 per cent of wheat, rice and sugarcane output respectively every year in Punjab," said H S Sehgal, Head, Department of Zoology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) at Ludhiana.
Rats destroy almost 5.87 lakh tonne of wheat, 3.86 lakh tonne of rice and 7.21 lakh tonne of sugarcane while contaminating the crop with their faeces, urine and fur, he said.
The worst hit regions are Ludhiana, Kapurthala and Nawanshahar where wheat crop is grown, he said, adding wheat crop was more vulnerable to the attack due to adoption of zero tillage technique by state farmers for wheat sowing.
"Ever since, farmers have switched over to zero tillage technique of wheat sowing, the attacks have compounded," he said.
Driver dead on papers after goof-up by authorities
A goof-up by authorities has left a retired driver of Himachal Road Transport Corporation dead on papers and his pension stopped, leaving him to make ends meets by working as a daily labourer.
Kartar Singh, who hails from Ban Karoli village in Nurpur tehsil of Himachal Pradesh, served in Pathankot depot and retired from service in 2001. He was getting pension since then.
All was going well till June 30 this year when his wife Sudershana Devi received a letter signed by Managing director of HRTC, Shimla and financial advisor of the corporation demanding the death certificate of her husband for their record.
The copy of the same was sent to the bank where his pension used to come and the bank stopped paying his pension.
"I was surprised to learn that they have declared a living man dead. I personally talked to the bank and HRTC officials to convince them that I am still alive but my pension has not been restored so far," Singh told PTI.
He said he even sent a legal notice to HRTC, but no no response has come so far.
When contacted, Managing Director of HRTC Trilok Chandra Janartha admitted the mistake.
"A departmental inquiry has been ordered into the incident and guilty officials will be taken to task," he said adding they were trying to restore the driver's pension.
Singh said he has acquired a certificate from gram panchayat, Larhoon, to prove that he is alive.
The retired HRTC driver, who has to look after his family comprising wife, two daughters and a son is facing financial problem because of the goof-up.
In order to make ends meet, he has been forced to work as daily labourer. "This is living ordeal of a man who has become victim of officials malfunctioning".
Kartar Singh, who hails from Ban Karoli village in Nurpur tehsil of Himachal Pradesh, served in Pathankot depot and retired from service in 2001. He was getting pension since then.
All was going well till June 30 this year when his wife Sudershana Devi received a letter signed by Managing director of HRTC, Shimla and financial advisor of the corporation demanding the death certificate of her husband for their record.
The copy of the same was sent to the bank where his pension used to come and the bank stopped paying his pension.
"I was surprised to learn that they have declared a living man dead. I personally talked to the bank and HRTC officials to convince them that I am still alive but my pension has not been restored so far," Singh told PTI.
He said he even sent a legal notice to HRTC, but no no response has come so far.
When contacted, Managing Director of HRTC Trilok Chandra Janartha admitted the mistake.
"A departmental inquiry has been ordered into the incident and guilty officials will be taken to task," he said adding they were trying to restore the driver's pension.
Singh said he has acquired a certificate from gram panchayat, Larhoon, to prove that he is alive.
The retired HRTC driver, who has to look after his family comprising wife, two daughters and a son is facing financial problem because of the goof-up.
In order to make ends meet, he has been forced to work as daily labourer. "This is living ordeal of a man who has become victim of officials malfunctioning".
Man gets 19 yrs jail for "unknowingly" stealing $1.7 million
A 21-year-old Chinese has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for holding a toy gun to a man's head and stealing his backpack unaware that it contained $1.7 million Hong Kong dollars (about $2,18,000) in cash.
Xie Wei carried out the robbery on January nine in a parking lot of a bank in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, and fled with the rucksack, Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court heard.
Xie told the court that he was oblivious to the amount of money stashed inside the backpack and said he would decide whether or not to appeal in the near future, Xinhua news agency reported.
The court also heard that Xie snatched a diamond ring and a platinum necklace - with a combined value of 129,550 yuan -from a shop in Guangzhou on September 14 last year.
Xie was arrested by police on January 25 this year and was discovered to be in possession of 1.61 million yuan, the backpack owner's mobile phone, a laptop, and a pair of diamond rings that were bought with the stolen money.
Xie's family paid 60,000 yuan (USD 7,978) in compensation to the victims.
The court said Xie was "treated with leniency" because he confessed to the crimes, most of the money had been retrieved and his family had offered compensation.
Xie Wei carried out the robbery on January nine in a parking lot of a bank in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, and fled with the rucksack, Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court heard.
Xie told the court that he was oblivious to the amount of money stashed inside the backpack and said he would decide whether or not to appeal in the near future, Xinhua news agency reported.
The court also heard that Xie snatched a diamond ring and a platinum necklace - with a combined value of 129,550 yuan -from a shop in Guangzhou on September 14 last year.
Xie was arrested by police on January 25 this year and was discovered to be in possession of 1.61 million yuan, the backpack owner's mobile phone, a laptop, and a pair of diamond rings that were bought with the stolen money.
Xie's family paid 60,000 yuan (USD 7,978) in compensation to the victims.
The court said Xie was "treated with leniency" because he confessed to the crimes, most of the money had been retrieved and his family had offered compensation.
British scientists invent world's first non-stick chewing gum
When it comes to true sticking power, nothing holds its ground like chewing gum -- not to mention clinging to the bottom of your shoe or even worse, your seat on the bus or inside the movie theatre.
But, scientists in Britain have found a solution: Easy-to-remove chewing gum. Yes, the world's first non-stick chewing gum will soon become a reality, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported here today.
"The advantage of our Clean Gum is that it has a great taste, it is easy to remove and has the potential to be environmentally degradable," the team leader, Prof Terence Cosgrove of University of Bristol, was quoted as saying.
In fact, Prof Terence Cosgrove is the Chief Scientific Officer of Revolymer, a spin-out company of the university, which would soon start large-scale production of the non-sticking gum.
Made of a mixture of synthetic rubber, chalk, wax, sugar and flavourings, the chewing gum's stickiness comes from an adhesive compound also used in car tyres.
The company has already completed the development of the gum that can be easily removed from shoes, clothes, pavements and hair. "Preliminary results also indicated that the gum would degrade naturally in water," he said.
But, scientists in Britain have found a solution: Easy-to-remove chewing gum. Yes, the world's first non-stick chewing gum will soon become a reality, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported here today.
"The advantage of our Clean Gum is that it has a great taste, it is easy to remove and has the potential to be environmentally degradable," the team leader, Prof Terence Cosgrove of University of Bristol, was quoted as saying.
In fact, Prof Terence Cosgrove is the Chief Scientific Officer of Revolymer, a spin-out company of the university, which would soon start large-scale production of the non-sticking gum.
Made of a mixture of synthetic rubber, chalk, wax, sugar and flavourings, the chewing gum's stickiness comes from an adhesive compound also used in car tyres.
The company has already completed the development of the gum that can be easily removed from shoes, clothes, pavements and hair. "Preliminary results also indicated that the gum would degrade naturally in water," he said.
Infant gives a new lease of life to an ailing farmer
Even in death the infant son of an Army Major remained a hero. The 18-month-old toddler, aptly named as Shaurya, died in a tragic accident but brought smile to an ailing farmer who got a new lease of life after getting the baby's kidneys.
The benevolent act of the boy's father did not end there. Shaurya also donated his eyes.
The infant's kidneys were donated to a sick farmer in Andhra Pradesh, who had almost given up hope of survival.
His eyes were donated to the Hospital eye bank, to become the youngest donor in the country for a feat which is expected to be published in the next edition of the Limca book of Records.
The child died after a fatal fall from a balcony in Secunderabad, but his brave father though in deep grief, decided to donate his vital organs to bring joy of life for others.
Narrating his personal tragedy and ordeal that he went through on a December night last year, Major Siddarth Malik said it was a "heart wrenching decision. But I took it as I felt, it was in best interest of the child I was losing".
"My son made his death meaningful by giving life to someone else," Malik told reporters here. The young couple was blessed with a girl child ten days back.
Shauyra's selfless sacrifice is not an isolated case. Instances now are on the increase of Army Jawans, who are ready to sacrifice their life for the country in the line of duty, ready to do noble deeds while facing tragedies.
The benevolent act of the boy's father did not end there. Shaurya also donated his eyes.
The infant's kidneys were donated to a sick farmer in Andhra Pradesh, who had almost given up hope of survival.
His eyes were donated to the Hospital eye bank, to become the youngest donor in the country for a feat which is expected to be published in the next edition of the Limca book of Records.
The child died after a fatal fall from a balcony in Secunderabad, but his brave father though in deep grief, decided to donate his vital organs to bring joy of life for others.
Narrating his personal tragedy and ordeal that he went through on a December night last year, Major Siddarth Malik said it was a "heart wrenching decision. But I took it as I felt, it was in best interest of the child I was losing".
"My son made his death meaningful by giving life to someone else," Malik told reporters here. The young couple was blessed with a girl child ten days back.
Shauyra's selfless sacrifice is not an isolated case. Instances now are on the increase of Army Jawans, who are ready to sacrifice their life for the country in the line of duty, ready to do noble deeds while facing tragedies.
China creates 'man-made oasis' along its longest inland river
China has created a "man-made oasis" along its longest inland river by planting trees and grass and infusing lake water into the lower reaches of the river which had dried up 30 years ago.
In the past seven years, the Tarim River Administration has infused 2.3 billion cubic meters of water from lakes 300 kms away into the 1,321-km river that flows in the arid north-west along the rim of the barren Tarim Basin, a sparsely populated area about the size of Poland.
The waterway is the "mother river" feeding 43.5 square kilometres of oasis inhabited by at least eight million people, 80 per cent of whom are Uygurs.
"The infusion has resumed water flow in the lower reaches and saved the Euphrates poplars from extinction," Xinhua news agency quoted a local official as saying.
The Euphrates poplars with golden leaves of various shapes draw large crowds of tourists and photographers to the Tarim Basin every autumn.
The poplars used to cover 1,33,434 acres in the Tarim Basin in the 1950s. However, excessive cultivation and lack of water pushed the trees to the verge of extinction over the past three decades.
Ambitious land reclamation activities along the river over the past five decades also squandered too much water in irrigation, causing 320 kilometres of the Tarim River in its lower reaches to run dry in the early 1970s and the Taklimakan desert on its south to sprawl faster.
The eight water infusion projects conducted at a cost of over USD one billion since 2000 have expanded the water surface in the lower reaches of the Tarim River by 149 sq kms and 180 sq kms of vegetations have been restored.
In the past seven years, the Tarim River Administration has infused 2.3 billion cubic meters of water from lakes 300 kms away into the 1,321-km river that flows in the arid north-west along the rim of the barren Tarim Basin, a sparsely populated area about the size of Poland.
The waterway is the "mother river" feeding 43.5 square kilometres of oasis inhabited by at least eight million people, 80 per cent of whom are Uygurs.
"The infusion has resumed water flow in the lower reaches and saved the Euphrates poplars from extinction," Xinhua news agency quoted a local official as saying.
The Euphrates poplars with golden leaves of various shapes draw large crowds of tourists and photographers to the Tarim Basin every autumn.
The poplars used to cover 1,33,434 acres in the Tarim Basin in the 1950s. However, excessive cultivation and lack of water pushed the trees to the verge of extinction over the past three decades.
Ambitious land reclamation activities along the river over the past five decades also squandered too much water in irrigation, causing 320 kilometres of the Tarim River in its lower reaches to run dry in the early 1970s and the Taklimakan desert on its south to sprawl faster.
The eight water infusion projects conducted at a cost of over USD one billion since 2000 have expanded the water surface in the lower reaches of the Tarim River by 149 sq kms and 180 sq kms of vegetations have been restored.
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