Sylbo, the whistling language

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Kizmet, Feb 17, 2018.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    because why not?

     
  2. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Any woman can become Whistler's mother.
     
  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I think whoever put this together should do better research. Its name is the Spanish word "silbo" (whistle) not "Sylbo." The language is called (in Spanish) el silbo gomero (The Gomeran whistle).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbo_Gomero
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2018
    Abner likes this.
  4. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I can see it now . . . Johann, the documentary film maker on lost languages
     
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Yeah - I'd really like that. Something I thought of in my youth, but never got around to. I'm pretty sure in my past lives (or future ones maybe - if you believe in any of that junk) I spoke quite a few languages.
    Which ones? We might find out in a few weeks. I sent the Ancestry people my money some time ago ago and I'm told my British-Canadian spit has now reached the lab in Ireland. (American spit goes to Utah.)

    I'm hoping the results will make me learn at least two new languages and I'm hoping for something other than being plain old British. Maybe 10% African via Texas would be good - I could then lie, perhaps convincingly, about kinship with my blues idols, Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker and Blind Lemon Jefferson. I'm adopted (found out when I was 47) so it's all a complete mystery so far. I occasionally get taken for Hungarian (by Hungarians) and Iranian - by Iranians. Can't speak Hungarian or Farsi - but I can learn...
     
  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I've been told that AncestryDNA is not so great for distinguishing specific Asian ancestries. Maybe because there isn't a big difference? I don't know, I've never done it but I've been somewhat interested because there are a large number of ethnicities in China. I've been told that the test done by 23andme is more accurate in that regard. Again, I don't know that's true but if you don't find what you're looking for then you might want to check that one out too.
     
  7. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I chose Ancestry because (they said) they checked for 5 times as many markers as their competition. I'm thinking now perhaps this is partly sales-talk. We'll see. I know (now) that Ancestry has been said, by some, not to make that many distinctions among the Native American or Native Canadian populations. I'm not sure if that's so or not, but it's important to me. My descendants likely have Native blood - my sons through their mother and one son's kids also through her and through their mother. If any of us - i.e. me or my sons, need to know more - about any aspect - I'll make sure other tests etc. bring the required info to light. We want to know everything.

    By the way, check my new avatar. It's from my old employee ID card, 35 years ago - not from the illustrated edition of the "No-fly list!" Those Iranians who mistook me for one of their own may have been right! We'll soon know. Today, I look more like the former Supreme Leader of Iran, the late Ruhollah Khomeini. Here's a pic of him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini In fact, years ago, I donned a black robe and turban and went to a Halloween party as (then) Ayatollah Khomeini. Back then, if I'd done that in Iran, I would probably have been beheaded! In fact, people are regularly punished in Iran today, for any deemed insults to the late ruler.

    Anyway - I wonder if I could weasel an inheritance out of some deceased rich Iranian's estate?
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2018
  8. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Very distinguished.
     
  9. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    New avatar - new theme song:

    "Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away
    If you can use some exotic booze
    There's a bar in far Bombay
    Come on and fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away..."

    Apologies to Jimmy van Heusen, Sammy Cahn -- and, of course, Frank Sinatra.
     
  10. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    se Ancestry because (they said) they checked for 5 times as many markers as their competition. I'm thinking now perhaps this is partly sales-talk. We'll see. I know (now) that Ancestry has been said, by some, not to make that many distinctions among the Native American or Native Canadian populations. I'm not sure if that's so or not, but it's important to me. My descendants likely have Native blood - my sons through their mother and one son's kids also through her and through their mother. If any of us - i.e. me or my sons, need to know more - about any aspect - I'll make sure other tests etc. bring the required info to light. We want to know everything.

    By the way, check my new avatar. It's from my old employee ID card, 35 years ago - not from the illustrated edition of the "No-fly list!" Those Iranians who mistook me for one of their own may have been right! We'll soon know. Today, I look more like the former Supreme Leader of Iran, the late Ruhollah Khomeini. Here's a pic of him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini In fact, years ago, I donned a black robe and turban and went to a Halloween party as (then) Ayatollah Khomeini. Back then, if I'd done that in Iran, I would probably have been beheaded! In fact, people are regularly punished in Iran today, for any deemed insults to the late ruler.

    Anyway - I wonder if I could weasel an inheritance out of some deceased rich Iranian's estate?[/QUOTE]
     
  11. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    How do I get an avatar?
     
  12. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    This is absolutely amazing. I'm curious to learn more about it and I really hope that the silbo "language" is well documented and preserved before it becomes lost to history. I put "language" in "quotes" because, as the video explains, the language is actually Spanish, and this another method of expressing it, like morse code. Except, of course, MUCH cooler!

    On a tangentially related note, I've found myself practicing Carny lately, and, honestly, for no good reason. Carny is a deliberately obfuscated form of the English language that used to be spoken commonly among traveling carnival folk to communicate private information, including trade secrets. There's not much to it, just an added syllable to the middle of each word, but with enough slant and quick execution, it can be very difficult for an unpracticed person to understand what's being said.

    Insteazed of meaze expleazaning heazow teazo deazo it, I'll seazee wheazich of yeazou ceazan feazind theaze peazattern.
     
  13. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Teazoo easeazy!

    First, store a copy of it on your computer. Then go to your profile, i.e. log on and then hit your name. Choices come up and Avatar is low in the left-hand column. Click it and you will be instructed to browse to the avatar image and load it. I think it takes most common image types, .jpg , .png etc. My image is a .jpg, that started life as an uncompressed bitmap, .bmp. Once I cropped, re-sized it etc., I converted it to .jpg as it takes up less space.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2018
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I'm sure it is, but also, 60 years ago when I was in High School, some girls used to speak this exact same dialect(?) so that boys (hopefully) wouldn't understand their conversations. I was one boy who could - almost instantly - and I didn't let on for the longest time. The girls sometimes used to add to the camouflage with abbreviations, e.g. "Is she preeaz (pregnant)?" Everything old is new again, I guess. Teenage linguistic voyeurism...
     
  15. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Maybe a couple of those girls in my school who spoke Carny ended up in the carnival. The Tattooed Lady and Little Egypt, the dancer - maybe.
    https://lyrics.elvispresley.com.au/little-egypt.html

    Always liked the lyrics to that song. I remember the Coasters singing it. They sang a lot of Leiber/Stoller songs. In case you're not old enough to remember, at the start of their careers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were two white teenagers in Los Angeles, who co-wrote R&B songs that got recorded by prominent Black singers and groups. All great talents - Leiber, Stoller and the artists they wrote songs for!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Leiber_and_Mike_Stoller
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2018
  16. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I almost forgot -- not long after High School, in the early 60s, I met up with a guy who was a real jazz fanatic - not a "fan," as I am, but a full-blown fanatic. I soon discovered he also spoke this same "carny" lingo - claimed he had learned it from jazz musicians. I still don't know whether to believe him or not. His info about jazz was always spot-on, but in every other area of life, he was a chronic, pathological liar! Haven't seen him in 50 years.
     
  17. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Carny is similar to other deliberate corruptions of English- think Pig Latin (ixnay! on'tda ellta imhay the uthtray!), or "izzle" slang (yo, my brizzle. what's up in the hizzle todizzle?). I wouldn't at all be surprised if it was the case that the exact same code was coincidentally invented by other subcultures or that Carny had directly diffused to other subcultures. An example of the latter is that Carny was often, and sometimes still is, spoken among professional wrestlers. Pro Wrestling had its origins in the old time travelling carnivals and the carny culture never completely went away, even as Pro Wrestling became its own entity entirely.
     
  18. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't have learned it if it were confined to carnivals and/or wrestlers. I'd have found it boring. But when the girls in high school spoke it --- far more interesting sometimes, to a teenage boy.

    Maniac, if you want an interesting language tied to a specific group - try Shelta, the language of Irish Travellers. You have some of them in the US. Mark Wahlberg starred in a 1997 movie about Irish Travellers in North Carolina, called "Travellers" - info here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120366/ Here's an article on Travellers, including their language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Travellers
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2018
  19. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snatch_(film)
     
  20. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Uh, yeah - that movie, "Snatch," does have something to do with Irish Travellers, I guess. Someone said it should win an award for the 10 worst Irish accents on film - ever. Directed by Madonna's ex-husband, Guy Ritchie. One track from Madonna herself included.

    I also notice a track by one of my favourite New Orleans musicians: Huey "Piano" Smith. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_"Piano"_Smith

    I have that song by Huey, so I think I'll save this movie for when I can't sleep at 3:30 a.m. - which isn't that often.
     

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