First of all, thanks to all of you who responded. We had an unexpectedly
large number of responses, hurrah for technology! 

In answer to many of you: we are talking about maybe 75-100 books, perhaps
more.  In content they range from Arany and Jokai to Kosztolanyi and
Babits to art to travel to history to even some "dissertations"; in age
they range from 19th century to mostly 1900-1930 to some from the
Communist period. Most are in Hungarian, a few in English. Half or more
hard bound, the rest paperback. 

Since we did not think there would be so many interested parties, we now
have a little bit of a problem of deciding who to choose. 

We are making this self-selection easier by giving you a little more
detail about the books (see above) and also by asking you to cover the
cost of mailing. If you are still interested, please fire off another
brief e-mail message to the same address: 

			

Thanks again!

Addendum to Free books Update:

I forgot to say that we are asking you to explicitly state your e-mail
address inside the text of your message. In our mail reader the header is
often incomplete.

In article >,
Wally Keeler > wrote:
>
>"Don't bother to answer, your message will be sent back to you, unread!!!" You
>Mr or Ms V098TZ8T, seem to be a cyber-masturbator, a spineless jellyfish
>unable to dialogue, only able to monologue, too insecure and cowardly to open
>yourself up to debate, secure only to hide behind anonymity in the darkness
>with the worms. Coward!!!! COWARD!!!!!

Gee, Wally, now this one was REALLY poetic stuff!!!

Joe

>In article >, 
says:

>>A friend has a question:
>>
>>His father was born in Budapest, but he was born in a different
country.
>>
>>Can he apply for Hungarian Citizenship?

There is a home page on the Web by the Hungarian Honorary Consulate in
Boston.  That site has a full description of requirements and necessary
papers and procedures to claim Hungarian citizenship.  Through the HIX
home page, select information for Hungarians abroad.  Look for the
Honarary Consul's home page in Boston.

I'm planning to (hopefully) visit Hungary in late September or early 
October for about two weeks and was wondering if someone could give me a 
little information.

  How much trouble am I going to get myself into if all I can say is 
"yes", "no" and "do you sell cigarettes?"  I am *trying* to locate 
someone to give me a little education in conversational Magyar, but this 
is difficult!

  What sites do you think I should visit?  I plan on spending the 
majority of the time in Budapest, but would like to take in as much of 
the country as possible.

  Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Brett


-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Brett Jones                                                |
| Nobody can be exactly like me.  Even I have trouble doing it. [T.Bankhead] |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

In article > Denise noe,
 writes:
>Dear Tams, has this book been translated into English?

No, I don't think so. At least don't know about it.

>If not, would it be
>possible for you to give me the pages where the blood-drinking/bathing
>legend is debunked so I can have someone who knows Hungarian translate
>that part for me?

There is no debunking such legend because it is not necessary. The
writer only mentions in the preface that there are some legend
related to the case and one is the blood bathing. She just mentions
that the legends date from the 19 th. century.
The case is well documentated because an aristocrat was involved;
almost 300 wittness were questioned and the evidences were writ-
ten down; some in Hungarian, most of them in Latin.
The book deals with the case, the person of Ms. Bathory, with her
close family and with the historical circumstances. The story of
the legend is not the topic of this historical work.

Tamás

In article > , 
writes:
>I think I read about Prof. Olah, the Chemistry Nobel Prize winner that
>he inveneted something related to gasoline which should have a visible
>benefit for the motoring public very soon.  I think it was either
>something that would contribute to cleaner burning of gasoline, or lower
>its cost through some octane boosting technique. 
>
>Is anybody here who knows more about this?

As far as I know his work does not relate directly to the
motoring public. The superacids he discovered are useful
in the petrol industry. Some very important basic reactions
which previously only has taken place at 4-500 celsius and
very high pressure now works well on room temperature
and normal pressure with excellent yields.

Tamás the ex-organic chemist

Hello,

I would like to ask a similar question to the one posed by N.J.Dullaway
(ac941558). Except that I have 2400 modem in a laptop using a standard
North-American phonejack. Is there a place in Budapest, where I can 
purchase a wire with the proper end jacks? The rest of the posting is as 
if it came from my pen (errrr... keyboard ;-)  )

: I will be living in Hungary this summer (In Budapest). Can anyone
: tell me any problems I might encounter trying to connect my modem
: to the Hungarian telephone system?
: The modem is a PCMCIA V32bis type. It has a 'standard' telecoms
: connector plug as used in the UK (and many other countries, I think)
: Any info about modem settings would be appreciated, as would pointers
: to local internet dial-up accounts that offer e-mail, ftp and telnet.
: Please e-mail replies.

: Ko"szo"no"m (I hope to improve my Hungarian beyond this...)

: Neil Dullaway
: 

regards,

Tamas

In article >,
Peter Kang > wrote:
>I've always wanted to know what the Perfect Woman was, or if
>She truly exists and whether she is not the figment of 
>men's weak minds.
>
>If you are the Perfect Woman, please E-Mail me your divine
>essence- that I may die a happy man.

All right, all those perfect women out there!  Here is your chance to
meet the Perfect Man.  Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
But single file, please! 

Joe

I think I read about Prof. Olah, the Chemistry Nobel Prize winner that
he inveneted something related to gasoline which should have a visible
benefit for the motoring public very soon.  I think it was either
something that would contribute to cleaner burning of gasoline, or lower
its cost through some octane boosting technique. 

Is anybody here who knows more about this?  I've been wondering if this
new additive in Chevron/Standard gas, called Techron, is it.  After all
the phoney other additives I tried before to reduce engine knocking due
to carbon build-up, this Techron actually seems to be helping.  And the
engine efinitely runs smoother. 
I know that Prof. Olah was also working as a consultant for a large oil
company and it just occured to me that it may have been the So. Cal.
based Standard Oil, affiliated (parent?) of Chevron.

Let's hear from the organic chemists out there, shall we?

Joe

I'm not an organic chemist /;-)/, but as I recall - and as one could 
expect - Olah's work was much more fundamental: he invented powerful 
catalysts (called super-acids) which facilitate transforming molecules 
like the components of gasoline. That may enable processing the cruel oil 
inti a fuel that needs no additives to achieve the high 'octane-nymber' 
desired!

 Zoli  (note my old full address @bcuxs2 is retired)
"For my assured failures and derelictions, I ask pardon beforehand of my
betters and my equals in my calling." - Rudyard Kipling

Joe,
sorry, but I am not an organic chemist :-). Still, here is the information 
you requested. George Olah has received his Nobel Prize for his basic 
research on carbocations - a very unstable species, that, before him,
was impossible to isolate because of their high reactivity. 
When he first made them and even took their SPECTRA!!, nobody believed
the young Hungarian chemist, he was almost ridiculed :-)
Carbocations are positively charged molecules (ions), usu. the charge
localized on the carbon. e.g 
         
                  H     H
                   \(+)/
                     C
                     |
                     H

Super acids,catalysts and gasoline improvement are all closely related 
to them. He is also quite a good manager, and was able to turn the results
of his research into close to 100 valuable patents - a financial fortune .
 
--
Hungarian-American list, mailto:  
WWW,                       http://www.glue.umd.edu/~gotthard

In article > Nikolaj Nielsen 
csu.edu> writes:
>I'm constructing an analytical paper on the Hungarian language
>and how social issues are affecting it.

Interesting, please post about it when it is ready.

>How has the language changed
>from 10 years ago?  Do you think its changing right now and if so why?

This is sure: all languages change. When you see a movie from before WWII,
some particularities of an accent often seem a bit different from what it
is would be today. In Hungarian what comes to mind is the distinction
of a long vowel (except for a and e of course), or a long (double) consonant,
which is not so strong now at least in Budapest - but there might be better
example, perhaps linguists are reading and could give references.

-- Olivier

In article >  (Andre
i Dan Popovici) writes:
>I don't want to go into an argument about why I think it's not a good
>idea--it would take pages.  The short answer is:  because we're all in
>this together, and we should look at what we have in common, not at our
>differences. 

Yes, but for example in the European Union there can be neighbouring
regions or even villages, which know they have much in common, and still
a majority of people want as many things as possible organized and decided
locally, and not by some bigger or more central country/area/village.
In France there are many "communes" with, say, 30 inhabitants, polling
the electors for a local decision is quickly done, and they would be upset
to be included in a bigger "commune"...

>Autonomy was supposed to be a means to an end.  That end could perhaps be
>described as freedom (cultural and economic) from the inept government in
>Bucharest.  I think many Romanians could sympathize with that goal. 
>Unfortunately, autonomy has become an end in itself, a magical cure-all.

With another word: decentralisation. Of course, it is not the magical way
how everything will work better in the country, only a small possible step,
economical reorganisation is an intricate issue and two experts will always
have three different opinions, as the saying goes.

-- Olivier

In article >  () writes:
>Perhaps what Hungarians need is also
>an object of common loathing in order to be united.  Hmmm, let's start
>a contest to come up with one.

A suggestion that you will like: :-)
Unity about "how much these Hungarians outside the country, either
emigrates or neighbouring countries, do not understand we do not give
a damn about them: let they stop looking at us, we don't need them!"
-- Olivier

In article >  (Andre
i Dan Popovici) writes:
>The Romanian opposition hasn't been involved in Hungarian-bashing, they
>simply have let them know that autonomy on an ethnic basis isn't going to
>happen.

I just read a few articles from the Cluj/Kolozsvár paper "Szabadság" (Freedom)
at the URL http://hix.mit.edu/hhrf just given in HIX/TIPP (see scm FAQ), and
it seems these opposition politicians (I am not speaking of Funar who of
course uses his usual style) exaggerate a lot about "irredentism", "injure
to the Romanian people", "not taking into account the Constitution",
"ambiguity of the notion of autonomy", etc.

The newspaper gives much detail about the RMDSz/UDMR 4th Congress, the
discussions, the organization of the congress and of the party, but it
seems that concerning autonomy, what speakers (and also the congress
"decisions") always refer to, is the following in the "program" of the
party (a document which will probably give the RMDSz/UDMR policy at
least until its next congress, in two years):

| Szabadság, 1995. május 30., kedd
             May 30th 1995, Tuesday
| [...]
|        A programtervezet autonómiára vonatkozó szakasza végül a következő
         The part of the project of program concerning autonomy finally got the
| megfogalmazást kapta: "az RMDSZ az autonómia-formák - beleértve a területi
following wording: "The RMDSz/UDMR wishes to reach by legislative means the
| autonómiát - törvényhozás útján való érvényesítését kívánja elérni. E cél
accomplishment of forms of autonomy - including territorial autonomy. For this
| érdekében az erdélyi nemzetiségek együttélésének pozitív hagyományaiból,
aim, the positive traditions of coexistence of the Transylvanian minorities,
| valamint az Európában megvalósult példaértékűnek tekinthető önkormányzati
and the models of local administration realized in Europe, which can be
| modellekből indul ki, szorgalmazva az általános decentralizációt és a
considered with the value of examples, are the point to start from, by
| szubszidiaritás elvének következetes alkalmazását".
encouraging general decentralisation and coherent use of the principle of
subsidiarity."


So "autonomy on an ethnic basis isn't going to happen" seems, like these
politicians' reactions, to address something else, some unwarranted fear.

Because yes, it is going to happen: Romania will one day be part of
European Union (around 2010-2020 perhaps? - of course future is never sure)
and it seems reasonable that what is done in Italy, Spain, Great Britain
(not speaking of Belgium, Germany, Switzerland if we exclude "confederation"
type of States, though this is Western Europe too) will be done in Romania
too. (True, the bad example comes from France, say it is an exception, and
it might change.) I cannot imagine Romania staying alone (along with Bulgaria,
Turkey?) - its natural place as a Latin country is aside Italy and France,
in a wider EU.

They oppose it "on an ethnic basis" - which means nothing: the first areas
to get a higher autonomy are those with some difference, and in Romania
language is one such significant difference - "ethnicity", the link
of blood, should be left to the past where it belongs, among lots of
mixing of peoples and uncertainties of distant history. Denying autonomy
"on an ethnic basis" could only mean denying the right to be different
for those with a different language - obviously a stupid idea in the
present situation of freedom of language, just as impossible as going back
into Ceausescu-style communism. Autonomy already exists in practice, only
limited by Bucharest centralism, sooner or later it will also exist by law.

-- Olivier

In article ,  (IMRE BOKOR) writes:
> Gyula Szokoly ) wrote:
> : In article >,
> : Gotthard Saghi-Szabo  > wrote:
> : >Which brings me the question - how popular are these guys in Hungary.
> : >I remember years  and years ago there was only one Monty Python movie 
> : >around -
> : >Gyalog Galopp : Monty Python and the Holy Grail
> : 
> :   Wrong. Brazil was around quite a while (which is a MP movie -- took
> : me a while to find it in blockbuster video). I don't know the exact date,
> : but it was about a year before 1984 showed up on a British film week in 
> : Kossuth cinema (it was under K. Grosz -- probably in his last year).
> : 
> : Gyula
> : -- 
> : Gyula P. Szokoly ) -----------------------------
--\
> 
> 
> "Brazil" was *not* a Monty Python movie. It was one of a trilogy of
> "phantasy movies" made by Michael Pallin (I think) and included some
> other members of he Monty Python, but it was not a Monty Python movie.
> One of the others in the trilogy was the Baron Muenchhausen film. I
> don't recall what the third one was.
> 

No, it is a movie made by Terry Gilliam and isn't really part of a cohesive tri
logy.
You could group it with Time Bandits and The Adeventures Of Baron Muenchausen a
s
fantasy movies but their topics and structures were different.
Terry Gilliam was behind all the wacky animations on the old Monty Python
show but the only Python movie he flat-out directed was Monty Python and The Ho
ly Grail.

Time Bandits (1981)
Brazil (1985)
The Adeventures Of Baron Muenchausen (1989 - this may be off by a year)

Other films by Gilliam :

The Fisher King and the currently shooting Twelve Monkeys.

Cheers,

--SG

In article > Adrian > 
writes:
>in the situation of the two counties, Harghita and Covasna, where the
>Secui are in majority.
>My personal experience as well as all the relatives or friends that I 
>talked to who have been there recall at least one incident in the past 
>20 years when they were refused service by local Secui when addressed
>in Romanian.

Only one in 20 years? a very low figure as compared to the % of extremist
voices in all ethnic groups of the society... :-)
Seriously, I believe many such cases may be felt so when they were not so,
because the more such stories exist in the Romanian "urban legends", the
more people think they are being "refused service" when really the difference
of language just created some misunderstanding... Let me, too, relate such
a story.

In Harghita waiting for bread, with also some kinds of simple pastries
available - from what I hear all those waiting are young ethnic Hungarians.
The girl speaks little, in Hungarian, she is not too kind with clients.
Suddenly louder speech, in Romanian - I do not understand, there is some
argument with the girl, the guy seems really angry, something like she did
it on purpose not to understand, the girls answers in Romanian on the same
tone, finally he seems to get what he wants, making loud remarks to the
woman who has come in and they go away together. I am a bit surprised and I
would expect people to speak about it, but no, this does not seem to be too
interesting so they do not care. I get the last pastries ;-) and I go out.
I am almost sure they were not really refused something, but they may think
they have been.

The only similar situation I have experienced in France was in the Basque
area near the Spanish border, in the bar of a remote village where they
were speaking Basque. Basque people have a reputation of getting quickly
angry, I was somewhat cautious. I asked some information from the young
girl behind the bar, there was a silence and the men drinking said something
to me, perhaps a reproach that why not in Basque? I said I am sorry I do
not know any Basque, I turned to the girl and repeated my question. She
answered, shortly. I thanked and went out.

Perhaps I could not describe it well, but what I wanted to say is that the
difference between the two cases is probably in some attitude, some human
relationship. It is a pity that over there in Romania, propaganda and fears
create unnecessary arguments and perpetuate mistrust.

-- Olivier (in a descriptive mood, while waiting)

In article >,  () writ
es:
> I think I read about Prof. Olah, the Chemistry Nobel Prize winner that
> he invented something related to gasoline which should have a visible
> benefit for the motoring public very soon.  I think it was either
> something that would contribute to cleaner burning of gasoline, or lower
> its cost through some octane boosting technique. 
> 
> Is anybody here who knows more about this?  I've been wondering if this
> new additive in Chevron/Standard gas, called Techron, is it.  After all
> the phoney other additives I tried before to reduce engine knocking due
> to carbon build-up, this Techron actually seems to be helping.  And the
> engine efinitely runs smoother. 
> I know that Prof. Olah was also working as a consultant for a large oil
> company and it just occured to me that it may have been the So. Cal.
> based Standard Oil, affiliated (parent?) of Chevron.
> 
> Let's hear from the organic chemists out there, shall we?
> 
> Joe

I wonder whether the Nobel winner's name, Olah, doesn't actually mean 
"Romanian".

Constantin Donea