cogito, ergo sum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes

is that how u say it in latin? everybody knows descartes' famous maxim: i think therefore i am.......

whether it has any meaning is another matter, but what's important is that if ur looking to learn how to speak spanish or you only know spanish and would like to learn english, a key lesson is that the spanish word, 'pienso' can mean:

a)  i think            (as a verb)
b) dog/cat feed   (biscuit form)

that's right, any kind of animal feed, in pellet or biscuit, dried form, is called 'pienso' in spanish, hences descartes phrase:  pienso, luego soy.... could be construed as:  dog food therefore i am......... so descartes actually makes even more sense in spanish than any other language, just ask that leader guy chavez from venezuela

anyway, in order to illustrate the scope of this linguistic point, we will re-cap a recent appearance ellen degeneris made on dr. phil to spill her guts about an obsessive disorder she had involving 'pienso'

dr phil:  (intro) - you know her as the host of a favorite television celebrity talk show, but how many of you knew ellen degeneris struggled for years with a form of obsessive compulsive disorder?

(cut to video)  first there is some footage of ellen hosting famous celebrities on her show.... doing shmaltzy stuff like that, nothing obsessive crazy

dr phil:  ladies and gentlemen, please welcome ellen degeneris (audience goes predictably apeshit)... so ellen, you've suffered with a rare form of obsessive compulsive disorder, is that right?

ellen: yes dr. phil, basically it's centred around things like doggy treats, dry cat food, any kind of animal feed in dry biscuit or pellet form.... what's known in spanish as 'pienso'

dr phil: ok and when did this start, how did you become obsessed with 'pienso'

ellen: well it started about 5 years ago, i was on a hiking trip to mount rushmore, i was walking near george washington's head and i discovered a trail of little pellets which turned out to be rabbit food produced in mexico by a dry animal food producer, i followed it and found it lead to some hunters who said they were hunting hare, they were waiting by thomas jefferson's left ear

dr phil: so you think it could have some psychological relevance to your perceptions of those two characters?

ellen: it's possible, but the thing is i tried eating one of the pellets and it was just gosh-darned delicious so i visited my local petfood store after that and before i knew it i was hooked, pretty soon i had a pantry full of dog, cat, rabbit, chicken 'pienso'

(photo of ellen's pantry shows up on bigscreen behind them, it has about 10 years worth of 'pienso')



(to be continued)