oy ... today started off with a (literal) bang. I fell on my way in - less than a block from the office - and landed face-down on the sidewalk. Hit my face and one boob. Cut the inside of my lower lip open on my teeth and hit my nose hard. Wrenched various joints, so it was all but impossible to get myself to my feet. Couldn't get anyone to help me up - construction workers, people cleaning the sidewalk, passersby - I guess they thought I was a homeless person begging. Finally got up, staggered into work. The security guard at the front desk was horrified - I was dripping blood from inside my mask. She offered to call 911 to get me to the emergency room, since there was so much blood. Got to the office, since it was close, mopped up the blood and I'm not applying ice to nose, mouth, knee, etc. Kind of wish I'd just gone home, but I have a couple things I need to get done. And the blood was all from my nose, which has mostly stopped bleeding. But OW.

Oh, no, Toddson! Glad you're all right, but OUCH.

Ouch, Toddson! I'm sorry. I hope your day will get much better after it.

And oh, Zen - first, thanks! - and the heavens thing - I think I figured it out sometime in the last five years after seeing a sentence that read really weird to me because it couldn't be heaven they were talking about.

"The heavens opened" could mean rain or a sudden burst of light through the clouds

I'm gonna make a suggestion on behalf of English as second, third, fourth language speakers and so on: If one already went on and bothered inventing new words to weather phenomena, how about using different words to clarify if it's light or rain? I mean, they're very different from one another. And some people live in climates where either can be a rare, so understanding that to get the metaphors right without googling to check the climate there first will be nice.

Shir, I'll bring it before the committee, but they'll probably just invent a new word for "clarifying local weather conditions".

English gobbles up new words/idioms/metaphors and incorporates them into the language as a whole. The idioms and such can be difficult - some come from poems, songs, etc. ... and even the internet ("all your base belong to me"), which means they're often hard to understand if you don't have the cultural context. But you know, you can try inventing something ... it might catch on. Otherwise, the Buffista grammarians will help.

I had a native Spanish speaker insist to me that English wasn't actually that difficult to learn because our verbs are so simple. Yes there are a lot of irregular things and spelling is a nightmare but the relative scarcity of verb tenses makes up for it.

Oh Todd! I am sorry for the awful start of your day. I hope the bloody show was the worst of it.

Happy birthday, Sheryl! May today be peaceful and calm.

One of my college professors - Classical Greek - was of the opinion that any language with regular verbs just wasn't worth her time.

Oh, Toddson, I'm so sorry! That sounds like a terrible experience. I hope the physical effects are not too bad or long lasting.

FWIW - I have no idea how any non-semetic language speakers are learning Hebrew and I have mad respect for them. I suspect the "because this is how it is in this language" answers to "why is this...?" questions begin in the 10th week of class.

Sheryl, happy birthday!

May today be peaceful and calm.

And with cake!