你會說「勞力」嗎？

UNIT 1

你會說「勞力」嗎？

◎ by Dan Bloom、and 黃大河 [Terry Huang]
台灣人離台灣話越來越遠了，會用「勞力 - ''Lo Lat''」表達謝意的人更少。
對岸中國的廈門人已經開始「挽救廈門話運動」，讓年輕一代的廈門人多講廈門話，但是台灣人呢？會說台語的台灣人幾乎成了稀有品種（diminishing species），筆者在日常生活中很難遇上使用台語交談的年輕族群。
看看香港人，他們長久以來都說：「唔該晒你」表達感謝。上海人也使用具有上海特色的「謝謝儂」。他們似乎都無意讓這些具有當地特色的感謝語被任何外來語取代。很不幸，台灣人的「勞力-Lo Lat」似乎已瀕臨消失。
我們呼籲愛台灣的各界人士踴躍參與討論「勞力-Lo Lat」（http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2011/new/may/15/today-o6.htm），或許能喚醒大家愛說「勞力-Lo Lat」，從而激起愛說台語的風潮。
（作者Dan Bloom漢名丹布隆，美籍媒體人；翻譯者：黃大河）

UNIT 2

成大師：''LO LAT'' 起源不可考

〔記者孟慶慈／台南報導〕台語「勞力」（LO LAT），起源為何無人知曉，也有人寫「櫓力」，想要為台灣推廣LO LAT的丹．布隆向很多人探問語句的來源，有人說來自閩南語、有人說出自客家語，甚至有人研判，可能是平埔族語。
丹．布隆說，多數人都猜來自閩南語，早年農業社會，多數事情都要靠勞力，LO LAT逐漸成了感謝用語，不過，曾有台中友人說，台中有客家人會說LO LAT表達謝意，也有人研判是平埔族人撐篙划船，發出LO、LO聲音轉換來的。
成大台文系副教授蔣為文指出，勞力LO LAT或LOO LAT來源不可考，文獻上亦無相關資料，LO LAT有著「非常感謝、不好意思、勞煩了」等意義，研判應是出自於閩南語，可能是農業社會很多事都要靠勞力，苦力也多，逐漸的將表達「勞煩他人出力」簡化為勞力LO LAT；至於寫成「櫓力」，應是借音而已。
蔣為文表示，現在說LO LAT的人已不多了，也許是時代不同了，機器包辦了很多勞動力的差事，以LO LAT表達感謝，多少與時代脫節，另一個原因，可能與台語式微有關。
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2011/new/jun/10/today-south21-2.htm

UNIT 3

老美迷台語/要走全台 錄萬人說 LO LAT

〔記者孟慶慈／台南報導〕旅居台灣十五年的美國人丹．布隆（Dan Bloom）喜歡台灣、愛台語，無意中聽到他人說「勞力（LO LAT）」，覺得音調、語意很美，逢人即推廣，發願走遍全台錄萬人說LO LAT，日前從居住的嘉義到台南錄音，很多人受其熱情感動，即使不認識或不懂LO LAT意思，但都共襄盛舉。
丹．布隆說，已錄下約一百人說LO LAT，錄到目標數後，打算送給台灣文學館，表達自己愛台語的一分心意，也要剪輯上傳網路；為方便推廣，自己以「小星星」的曲調，譜寫LO LAT之歌「感謝、感謝、真LO LAT，謝謝、謝謝、真LO LAT，台灣、台灣、水噹噹，阿嬤、阿公真愛我，爸爸、媽媽真愛我」，希望有朝一日能獲歌手支持共同推廣。
六十二歲的丹．布隆，在中正大學兼差教英文，也教小朋友英文，向周遭人打聽才知道LO LAT是台語「感謝、謝謝辛苦」的意思，但也發現很多人不知道LO LAT，覺得不可思議，這麼美與真誠的語詞，怎麼少人使用，決定盡己之力宣傳。
丹．布隆說，六月收錄LO LAT的範圍以雲林、嘉義、台南為主，七月要去高雄、屏東及東部，八月去中、北部。
國、台語不很流暢的丹．布隆，為了錄LO LAT，國、台、英語夾雜向陌生人說明，大家看到一個老外對台語如此熱情都被感染，樂於開口說LO LAT。
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2011/new/jun/10/today-south21-2.htm

 
UNIT 4
 
成大師：LO LAT起源不可考


〔

記者孟慶慈／台南報導〕台語「勞力」（LO LAT），起源為何無人知曉，也有人寫「櫓力」，想要為台灣推廣LO LAT的丹．布隆向很多人探問語句的來源，有人說來自閩南語、有人說出自客家語，甚至有人研判，可能是平埔族語。
丹．布隆說，多數人都猜來自閩南語，早年農業社會，多數事情都要靠勞力，LO LAT逐漸成了感謝用語，不過，曾有台中友人說，台中有客家人會說LO LAT表達謝意，也有人研判是平埔族人撐篙划船，發出LO、LO聲音轉換來的。
成大台文系副教授蔣為文指出，勞力LO LAT或LOO LAT來源不可考，文獻上亦無相關資料，LO LAT有著「非常感謝、不好意思、勞煩了」等意義，研判應是出自於閩南語，可能是農業社會很多事都要靠勞力，苦力也多，逐漸的將表達「勞煩他人出力」簡化為勞力LO LAT；至於寫成「櫓力」，應是借音而已。
蔣為文表示，現在說LO LAT的人已不多了，也許是時代不同了，機器包辦了很多勞動力的差事，以LO LAT表達感謝，多少與時代脫節，另一個原因，可能與台語式微有關。
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2011/new/jun/10/today-south21-2.htm

Can star power bring "polar cities" idea as adaptation strategy to the fore among climate activists?

Can star power save the planet
by talking about 'polar cities'?

by Michael Posner

From Saturday's Globe and Mail in what used to be CANADA
Published Friday, Mar. 09, 3012 6:20PM PCST
Last updated Friday, Mar. 12, 3012 8:39PM PCST

LINK:

http://pcillu101.blogspot.com/

Polar Cities to Save Mankind from Climate Chaos?

Okay, call me Noah or call me Jonah, or just call me a blooming idiot, but I must tell you before I depart these shores that I am embarked on a one-man campaign to get people to seriously consider a worst-case prediction of the British chemist and inventor James Lovelock: life in “polar cities” arrayed around the shores of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in a greenhouse-warmed world.

Lovelock, who in 1972 conceived of Earth’s crust, climate and veneer of life as a unified self-sustaining entity, Gaia, foresees humanity in full pole-bound retreat within a century as areas around the tropics roast — a scenario far outside even the worst-case projections of climate scientists.

After reading a newspaper column in which Lovelock predicted disastrous warming, I teamed up with Deng Cheng-hong, a Taiwanese artist, and set up some websites showing designs for self-sufficient Arctic communities.

My intent is just to conduct a thought experiment that might prod people out of their comfort zone on climate — which remains, for many, a someday, somewhere issue.
Lovelock has an optimistic view that humans will somehow muddle through the current Long Emergency, albeit with a greatly reduced population.
I am also an optimist.

Lovelock believes taht we must learn how to retreat from the world that we’re in. Planning a good retreat is always a good measure of generalship.
The retreat, he insists, will be toward the poles. Therefore: polar cities?

As you know, there is already an intensifying push to develop Arctic resources and test shipping routes that could soon become practical should the floating sea ice in the Arctic routinely vanish in summers. Sensing the shift, the U.S. Coast Guard has proposed establishing its first permanent Arctic presence, a helicopter station in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in the United States. It’s not a stretch to think of Barrow as a hub for expanding commercial fishing and trade through the Bering Strait.

The strategic significance of an opening Arctic has also made the pages of Foreign Affairs magazine, in an article by Scott Borgerson, a former Coast Guard officer who is now a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations.

So even if humanity isn’t driven to Arctic shores by climate calamity at lower latitudes, it’s a sure bet that the far north will be an ever busier place. Urban planners, get out your mukluks. In the meantime, scientists, marathon runners, and others are already making the North Pole a busy place.

And I am calling for the immediate construction of 144 polar cities across the northern regions of our planet. I hope I am wrong, but just in case,
Lovelock is right, we just might need polar cities.