Personality

Forest, will you talk to God Louise? She has quite a bit of religious knowledge (obviously) and also knows a little about current events, literature, just about any common catch-all subject, and if she doesn't know it she can sort of fake it. You can also test her on trick questions or see how willing she is to explain her paradigm.

What she is rustiest at is plain old small talk. But, uh, I'm trying to get a decent transcript from somebody or another so I can enter her in the Loebner contest. All I can say is, have fun and see if you can stay on with her for a while. I'll try to do the same with Brianna.

I'm betting it's more along the lines of "child of a dog" or some less socially acceptable version of that. Okay, how about "mo anam"?

@ezzer
Same thing in German. "dog weather", "dog sick", "dog's life", "dog wretched", "dog cold", "dog tired", etc. But when you assign things to cats, they are usually meant in a positive way. (no such expressions like "cattish" or "cat's paw")

@Eugene
I would have guessed, that it's just an anagram for "No Ma'am". But Google tells me, it means "my soul".

Ok how about this one....
'Klaatu Barada Nikto'

Well, I may not know the translation, but I do know that you're in deep trouble, cos the second word is Verada, so the dead are going to rise and stuff. I'd better go dig up my boomstick.

Ummm...no....it's definitly barada *steps slowly away from Corwin*.....what are you talking about???

Well, 'mo' is 'my' according to my dictionary, but I'm not finding anything that looks like 'anam.' (It's a very limited dictionary, though. It might not have words like 'soul' in it)

As for 'Klaatu Barada Nikto', all I can say is it's not Gaelic; no 'k's in Gaelic.

Hmm. A web search says it comes from "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

ezzer - it's the same in Spanish.

"dog" can have a lot of negative connotations. (Hijo de perra, humor de perro, ponerse como perro, etc.)

Ezzer - My favourite French slang phrase is 'un capot anglais'. Just a gentle jibe at our love-hate relationship, I suppose.

Ulrike - I was very impressed, right up until I saw the words 'in my dictionary, it says...'
Ta me go mhaith, that's right.

Yes, 'Klaatu Barada Nikto' is from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Am I the only person here to have seen that??

No, I have, years ago

Here's my Brush With Greatness(tm) for today:

My dad took a course from Sam Herrick, the astrophysicist, when Herrick was a visiting professor at MIT. Herrick, my dad alleges, supplied Michael Rennie with the line, "Variation of parameters got us here," in response to the question about how they navigated interstellar space. The formulas on the chalkboard were also provided by Herrick.

Ta da! I'm only two degrees removed from sheer genius! One degree, if you count my dad, but I'm biased.

Your assignment, if you have not seen The Day the Earth Stood Still: Go rent it. Now. It is required viewing.