Wind's in the East

Like "My Fair Lady", "Mary Poppins" was also my childhood favourite musical. Mary Poppins is a new nanny for the two children of the Banks family. She 'floats in' with her umbrella on the wind. She tells the children that she will 'stay until the wind changes.'

A day before her arrival, Bert, a jack-of-all-trades, feels the change of wind, and sings.

Wind's in the east
Mist comin' in
Like something's brewin'
About to begin
Can't put me finger on what lies in store
But I feel what's to happen
All happened before.

In the movie, the Banks family are trying to find a new nanny for their two children, but to the children's disappointment, only old sour-faced nannies come to apply for the job. Then, all of a sudden, a very strong wind (probably from the east) blows in and sweeps all the nannies queued up in front of their house. When all the nannies are gone, Mary Poppins gently flies in with her umbrella and lands in front of house of the Banks family. Later in the movie, when the wind changes from east to west, it was time for Mary Poppins to leave the family because her job was done there.

I felt and later learned from this song that when the wind lies in the east, there is something mysterious coming, not a really good sign, but something is going to change.

In the Nursery Rhymes, there is also a rhyme that teaches you about the winds from 4 directions.

When the wind lies in the east,
'Tis neither good for man nor beast;
When the wind lies in the north,
The skilful fisher goes not forth;
When the wind lies in the south,
It blows the bait in fishes' mouths;
When the wind lies in the west,
Then 'tis at the very best.

Here too, east wind is ominous, 'neither good for man nor beast.'
West wind is the gentle breeze that brings spring.
South wind is the hot dry wind in the summer.
North wind is the strong violent wind that brings winter.

In English, these meanings are connected to each direction of the winds, but it is a little different in Japanese, and here I had to take some time to think and understand.

東風(kochi) means east wind in Japanese, and it is a sign of coming of spring. The wind from the east is gentle, and it melts the ice of winter, and sometimes spring shower.

On the other hand, west wind usually means lonesome wind in autumn.

The east and west meanings are opposite in England and in Japan, but in both cultures, the sign of spring comes from the wind from the sea and the ominous wind come from the continent.

Touches of Sweet Henry Sweet 06

Still writing on with our formidable Henry Sweet.

You can see many resemblance between Henry Sweet and Henry Higgins from "Pygmalion". They both were eminent phoneticians, invented new writing systems, had overwhelming passion for their field of study which manifested as impertinent indelicacy towards others.

However, Shaw clearly says in the preface of the play that Higgins is not Sweet.

Pygmalion Higgins is not a portrait of Sweet, to whom the adventure of Eliza Doolittle would have been impossible; still, as will be seen, there are touches of Sweet in the play. With Higgins's physique and temperament Sweet might have set the Thames on fire. 
("Pygmalion" Bernard Shaw)

There are only touches of Sweet in the play.

As we saw in Touches of Sweet 04, he was intolerant to people who did not share with him the same respect and understanding for phonetics and treated them with disdain. Although he was a genius and celebrated scholar of phonetics in Europe in his days, the highest and the most important academe of his native country, Oxford University, did not do justice to his eminence, owing to his extreme character. Shaw cynically defends Oxford for this failure of underrating Sweet's genius.

I do not blame Oxford, because I think Oxford is quite right in demanding a certain social amenity from its nurslings (heaven knows it is not exorbitant in its requirements!): for although I well know how hard it is for a man of genius with a seriously underrated subject to maintain serene and kindly relation with the men who underrate it, and who keep all the best places for less important subjects which they profess without originality and sometimes without much capacity for them, still, if he overwhelms them with wrath and disdain, he cannot expect them to heap honors on him.  ("Pygmalion" Bernard Shaw)

Would his extreme character have been different if his genius was sincerely rated, I wonder.

Touches of Sweet -- Isaac Pitman and Henry Sweet 05

Among the many prominent phoneticians of 19th century, Issac Pitman was very successful business-wise. The Pitman shorthand which he invented in 1837 (Touches of Sweet 03) was the most widely used shorthand system in the United Kingdom until 1996, and the second most popular shorthand in the United States.

Pitman was a sharp businessman, and Shaw writes about Pitman's triumph of business organization in the preface of "Pygmalion".

There was a weekly paper to persuade you to learn Pitman, there were cheap textbooks and exercise books and transcripts of speeches for you to copy, and schools where experienced teachers coached you up to necessary proficiency. (Bernard Shaw, "Pygmalion")

Now, how was our not-so-sweet Henry Sweet?

Henry Sweet also invented a new writing system called the Current Shorthand in 1884. The Pitman Shorthand was then already very known and used in the country. Henry Sweet showed great contempt towards the popular Pitman system which he called the 'Pitfall' system. Although Shaw highly praises Sweet's Current Shorthand system, Sweet's disposition and his no interest in business were the fatal flaws to the diffusion of the system. Sweet had no interest in advertising the system, and it never became popular like the Pitman system.

Academic scholars, not just your zeal towards your subjects, but sweet disposition and a touch of business mind just might help you sail into a wider ocean.