While I was at the National Gallery today taking in some fine arts I was struck by the fact that all of the signs said Slovene. Huh, that’s odd, I thought to myself, I had thought that it was Slovenian. As it turns out both are right I guess according to Wikipedia (which is not the end all be all information base, but does in a pinch).
The terms Slovene and Slovenian refer to anything related to Slovenes and Slovenia. Both terms have been used for a long time in English.
So that solved that…or did it. I decided that since I was here I was going to do some research and ask the Slovene(ians) if they preferred one over the other.
I’ll start shortly after this post. What I have found is no matter what they prefer to call themselves they are, as a group, extremely friendly. Everyone I have met has been happy to chat (except for angry Cherry Lady at the fruit market who was angry I didn’t speak Slovenian and that I wanted to buy cherries from her). All of the people working at the hostels have been chatty and/or given a nod hello and a smile. Even the guy who stopped me at the National Gallery (stating I must be Aussie by the hat) was happy to chat with me for 5 minutes about the benefit of looking Aussie while traveling (and being American) as well as some other things. His son was shy but still managed a ‘Hello, my name is Dominik…” and a “bye!” when we parted ways.
I’ve also found out they’re a talented bunch.
Since I was at the gallery I took some notes on some painters and paintings that I quite liked. I wasn’t supposed to take any photos (which doesn’t mean I didn’t with the iPhone) so I’ll just drop you a list of them here:
Marko Pernhart – painter – 1824-1871
- Marie Loretto Painting
Ivan Grohar – painter – 1867-1911
- The Sower, 1907
- Spring, 1903
Matija Jama 1872-1947
- Bridge over the Dobra River, 1907
- Willows, 1908
Hinko Smrekar
- Various Art Nouveau pieces which I can’t find online.
So that’s just a few examples of some of the great art I saw there today. So since the Slovenes are so friendly I’m going back out to wander amongst them. No matter if it’s Slovene, Slovenian or both, they all seem to be great people with open minds who are willing to strike up a chat at the drop (or wearing) of a hat.
While I go do that research on Slovene or Slovenian, check out these photos. OK, maybe not as the server doesn’t want to accept any photos right now and I’m tired of sitting in the hostel. So check out the Ljubljana gallery to date:
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I’ll get on the rest of the photos later.
UPDATE:
I spoke with a few of the locals and they weren’t even sure. One said “I am Slovene but I speak Slovenian? I don’t really know.”
So from what I gather thus far, when speaking about a person you use Slovene but when speaking about the culture or needing an adjective it’s Slovenian. I guess in the long run we’re all human and it’s not so important now is it?
Techno
ChrisRick