December 17th, 2009

alphabets

Not everyone uses our calendar but most have a word for December

Clarification / correction - when I ask "can you read" in the poll (which of course I cannot edit now) I meant "can you see the letters clearly", not "can you read and comprehend"!!!

Poll #1500085
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All. Participants: 111

Which of these various languages can you read? (The word in question is, I think, the word for December in the most widely spoken language using that alphabet - so no Farsi, Urdu, Marathi, Ukrainian or Yiddish I'm afraid)

View Answers
Amharic: ዲሴምበር
0(0.0%)
Arabic: ديسمبر
0(0.0%)
Aramaic: ܟܢܘܢ ܐ
0(0.0%)
Armenian: Դեկտեմբեր
0(0.0%)
Bangla: ডিসেম্বর
0(0.0%)
Burmese: ဒီဇင်ဘာ
0(0.0%)
Cherokee*: ᏓᏂᏍᏓᏲᎯᎲ
0(0.0%)
Chinese*: 聖誕節
2(1.8%)
Divehi: ޑިސެމްބަރު
0(0.0%)
Georgian: დეკემბერი
0(0.0%)
Greek: Δεκέμβριος
1(0.9%)
Gujarati: ડિસેમ્બર
0(0.0%)
Hebrew: דצמבר
0(0.0%)
Hindi: दिसंबर
0(0.0%)
Inuit: ᑎᓯᒻᐳᕆ
0(0.0%)
Japanese*: クリスマス
0(0.0%)
Kannada: ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್
0(0.0%)
Khmer*: បុណ្យណូអែល
0(0.0%)
Korean*: 크리스마스
0(0.0%)
Malayalam: ഡിസംബര്‍
0(0.0%)
Punjabi: ਦਸੰਬਰ
0(0.0%)
Russian: Декабрь
0(0.0%)
Sinhalese: දෙසැම්බර්
0(0.0%)
Tamil: டிசம்பர்
0(0.0%)
Telugu: డిసెంబర్
0(0.0%)
Thai: ธันวาคม
0(0.0%)

For those languages marked with asterisks, I couldn't find or didn't like the word for 'December' so used 'Christmas' instead.
tardis

December Books 5) Frayed, by 'Tara Samms'

Stephen Cole is one of the most consistently good Doctor Who writers, and I was glad to pick up this Telos novella when last in London - a range that has not always impressed me, but this is one of the good ones. It is a little odd - the old man and the girl who travels with them only decide at the end of the story that they will adopt the identities of "the Doctor" and "Susan", and the story combines the fairly standard base-under-siege-by-telepathic-horror story with a rather subtly done reflection on establishing and keeping identity. Worth looking out for.