The Daily Teaser — 19-12-2015: The World Service

Right … 

I’m assuming you’ve been reading me, for the past few days?

Well, BT — at least their phone rep — have managed to turn off the BT FON feature on my router: and tell me that’s having an effect.

They’ll be phoning back on Tuesday, to see how THAT’S going!

I’m hopeful.

Although, frankly … ?   The fact BT’s sent me another email, warning I’m going to go over my limit, this month, tells you something.

Quite WHAT, I don’t know!

But … ?

Well … 

We’ll have to see, won’t we?

~≈†≈~

But let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw both Olga* and Debbi† putting in their answers: with both scoring ten out of ten.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along the How To, License and video … 

Q1) The BBC World Service started broadcasting: on the 19th December, 1932.   How many languages, other than English, does it currently broadcast in: 27, 28 or 29?

Q2) It’s added to those services, this year: by announcing it will add two more languages to its broadcasting mix.   Name either.

Q3) The World Service broadcasts from — and is headquartered IN — the BBC’s headquarters in Portland Place, London.   What’s that HQ called?

Q4) David Austin, Sue Montgomery and Jerry Smit, all read what, on the BBC World Service?

Q5) Finally … The BBC World Service traditionally announces the time: using WHICH time zone?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 18th December is UN Arabic Language Day.   The modern standard version of the language is called what?

A1) Modern Standard Arabic.

Q2) That version is ALSO called what Arabic?

A2) Literary Arabic.

Q3) What — with an estimated 76 million speakers — is the most widely spoken version of Arabic?

A3) Egyptian Arabic.   (I based the number of speakers on THIS part of the article on Egyptian Arabic.)

Q4) Andalusian Arabic was — until about the 16th Century — spoken in two European counties.   Name one of them.

A4) Spain or Portugal.

Q5) The Arabic word for Arabic is ‘al …’ … what?

A5) al-arabiyyah.

Q6) Arabic is also called ‘al-fuṣḥá,’ in Arabic.   The phrase means what: most elegant, most eloquent or most elementary?

A6) Most Eloquent.

Q7) Arabic is written how: from right to left of the page, left to right or top to bottom?

A7) Right to left.   (I believe that writing in Arabic should — in theory — be easy for me, as a left hander: in a way that physically writing English isn’t.   As anyone reading this will know, the Latin scripts used in most European languages goes from left to right.)

Q8) How many letters are there, in the standard Arabic alphabet: 27, 28 or 29?

A8) 28.

Q9) Thuluth, Diwani and Riq’ah, are all styles of Arabic what?

A9) Calligraphy.   (As a pointless piece of information for you … A typeface is a family of fonts: Times New Roman, Hœfler, what have you.   A font, on the other hand, is a specific member of that typeface: 10 point Italic Times New Roman, 12 point Regular Hœfler, an so on.   We always manage to mis that up, don’t we … ?)

Q10) Finally … Of the UN’s six official languages, Arabic — in its Classical Arabic form — is the only one to be used by a religion.   Which religion?

A10) Islam.

I’ll leave you with this thought …

“The BBC World Service is one of the best no nonsense sources of information in a world crowded with sensationalism and cheap exploitation. It is serious without being dull and varied enough to keep one’s interest. It combines the best in traditions and innovations and with its FM broadcasts and web site it is more accessible than before. I look forward to listening to it in the 21st century.”

Mick Jagger.

This thought …

“I listen to the BBC every night at home in New York City. We get it every night broadcast on our public broadcasting station. Every single night, BBC World Service, with pleasure. I think it’s really important to because we have great NPR (National Public Radio) (but) it’s very important to hear how the rest of the world is covering not only our politics but our integration into other politics. The Global perspective is really interesting, especially in the Middle East relations…it’s very curious to hear how the BBC covers…I would say objective and preternaturally disposed towards certain points of view that are really good for us to hear. And while I was away for the last 7 weeks, the BBC on television was the only station I had in English (BBC World News)…I do love the BBC.”

Sarah Jessica Parker.

And this tune: which seemed appropriate … 

Enjoy your day.

*        I might just at that, Olga: we’ll have to see how things go.

†        Here’s hoping, Debbi!   (Oh, four days worth of themed teasers: I’m in high art mode!)