Dumb question

[ikaros]

Uhm... does anybody know what the heck coin I have as my avatar? I picked it 'cause I like it (I use icarus symbology a lot); I don't actually own one.

[Saor Alba]

Looks French to me.

[hiho]

I see N, S, E and O (not W) on the coin or medal. It looks like a compass.

 

As the French spell west as ouest, I believe it is French.

 

I see a name under Icarus. I would use that as a starting point.

[Saor Alba]

I see N, S, E and O (not W) on the coin or medal. It looks like a compass.

 

I wonder what language spells West with an "O"?

 

 

Ouest is a French word meaning west.

[hiho]

Ouest is a French word meaning west.

 

You changed your avatar and replied before I could put on my thinking cap.

 

I took French for years in both High School and college and have clearly forgotten most of it. Egad.

[Mr B]

Hi , its a French Millinnium coin , part of a set of 6 struck to commemorate the sciences.

[Saor Alba]

You changed your avatar and replied before I could put on my thinking cap.

 

I took French for years in both High School and college and have clearly forgotten most of it. Egad.

 

 

I took about two years of French, and really cannot speak it conversationally as well anymore. About all I remember well are the pick-up lines pour les femmes fatales:)

[Mr B]

At school we were not given a choice , we had to learn at least one other language as part of the curriculum.French and German were the usual ones on offer,i took French which i hated but im glad i did now.Most BA flightcrews are French nowdays ..heh heh ..including the stewardesses.

Oddly perhaps it stuck with me as natural as speaking English,i assume because they started teaching it very early.

[Saor Alba]

I am guessing the French ladies are less costly and more agreeable than the British ladies for flight hostessing aye? Never flown a British aircraft, only Dutch, German, Austrian, Ukrainian(of course) and American.

[Mr B]

Its a good question Saor Alba , i dont know why most BA transatlantic crews seem to be French.The BA shuttle from London/Glasgow was staffed by UK personel.

Maybe they had to find placements for all the Concorde crews when the halted those flights,it would be my guess.

[frank]

My former college roommate is now in Georgia (former USSR), second to the ambassador in the embassy. He's been in the State Dept for years, has learned and spoken German, Russian, Ukranian, Thai, Urdu, and Kazakh. But when the international community gets together in Tblisi, the lingua franca is ... French, which he never learned. It's just not fair.

[Saor Alba]

French used to be the diplomatic language, but was largely taken over by English in the early 20th century. There are still some holdouts, but they are mostly former French colonies in Africa or Asia.

 

Curiously since learned rulers of countries such as Russia spoke English, they tended to use it for correspondence - most of Tsar Nicholas II's and Tsarevna Alexandra's correspondence is in English - not Russian.

[hiho]

Maybe they had to find placements for all the Concorde crews when they halted those flights, it would be my guess.

 

One of my only regrets in life is never having flown on the Concorde. My wife is a former TWA flight attendant and we used to pay $50 to fly First Class to Europe or $10 Coach. I prefer First Class for the comfy seats and the food, especially if you are returning home from Italy.

 

I believe the Concorde would have cost $200.

 

A friend who did fly it once described being able to see the curvature of the Earth. And the windows were very cold to the touch.

[Saor Alba]

One of my only regrets in life is never having flown on the Concorde. My wife is a former TWA flight attendant and we used to pay $50 to fly First Class to Europe or $10 Coach. I prefer First Class for the comfy seats and the food, especially if you are returning home from Italy.

 

I believe the Concorde would have cost $200.

 

A friend who did fly it once described being able to see the curvature of the Earth. And the windows were very cold to the touch.

 

 

It is one of those things that I regret also, having grown up an air force brat and sat in SR-71s etc, I would have loved to have flown in the Concorde also. I had an opportunity back in 1998 - but back then let's just say the dosh was quite a bit tighter than it is now. Several years ago when I was in Paris I went up to the Musee de Air et Space and they have one on display that you could walk through. Believe me, speed came at a price, the comfort level on there with the small seats and small cabin was minimalist.

[Mr B]

Theres a coincidence Saor Alba , my Dad was also Air Force and for a time was stationed at Beale AFB in the 60's.Home of the SR-71 Blackbird.It was a commen sight over Marysville.There were open days at the base where we were given model kits of the SR-71 , dunno if i got to sit in it though , its possible as we got to play in loads of planes.

[Saor Alba]

Theres a coincidence Saor Alba , my Dad was also Air Force and for a time was stationed at Beale AFB in the 60's.Home of the SR-71 Blackbird.It was a commen sight over Marysville.There were open days at the base where we were given model kits of the SR-71 , dunno if i got to sit in it though , its possible as we got to play in loads of planes.

 

Somewhere in all my stuff I have a box of slides from the airshows from back then, good stuff like F-102's B-52's etc. Yes I remember sitting in the cockpit, this was not an Airshow time, but some special tour for officer's families - where they tended to let you do the looky feely thing with the aircraft a bit more than they would the public. My father was working on the SR-71 from ca. 1967 or so until 1973 and did the Okinawa time in betwixt when the blackbirds were over there during 'Nam. Bringing this back on topic, sort of, his whole time over there in Japan, Australia, 'Nam is what started my whole coin collecting stuff, I still have my first coin - a Vietnamese dong coin from 1968. I also have quite a few pieces of Vietnamese paper money and of course those great MPC's that I think are the best.

[Mr B]

A small world right enough , those are the open days i refered to Saor Alba , it was military personel's familys day kinda thing.The B -52's were probably the most commen sight in the California sky , your fathers time there times in with my fathers time there.My Dad went to Guam for a while but his homebase was Beale.

[Saor Alba]

A small world right enough , those are the open days i refered to Saor Alba , it was military personel's familys day kinda thing.The B -52's were probably the most commen sight in the California sky , your fathers time there times in with my fathers time there.My Dad went to Guam for a while but his homebase was Beale.

 

 

Oh, yes, I can remember B-52's flying over in great waves. That has been quite a bird, to think, they are still very much flying today and are older than anyone flying them. They have been re-engined similarly to the way the KC-135s have and will fly on for at least another 10-15 years.

[Mr B]

It was only recently , in the last year that i found out Beale AFB was the top secret nuke silo base of its day.It didnt seem so ominous or unfriendly,just about everybody in Marysville was air force or had been.

A wonderful place to spend time as a kid , a huge contrast to Lanarkshire Scotland and no mistake.We went back to Scotland when i was still only 10 so you can perhaps imagine.

[Saor Alba]

I remember going and looking at the silos when I was about 8-9, and being rather scared $#!+less at the whole thought of a nuclear war. It is funny now that you describe that as top secret, because I knew about that stuff and the PAVEPAWS system even then. That base was one heck of a lot of fun when I was a kid.

[Mr B]

I was doing a bit of research on my old stomping grounds as it were , and had come across several sites concerning Beale , it was from one of those i got the top secret bit , i took it as fact , im not sure how secret it actually was.Certainly none of my family knew and we had been out there a long time.

Heres one you might enjoy Saor Alba Beale

[ikaros]

Hah! Crawled through Coins / Europe / France on eBay and found it -- in silver, it's a 10Fr issue from 2000 celebrating flight. Good direction from Mr. B there!

 

Now all I need is a job so I can buy one. XD