Have you ever wondered why magicians say "abracadabra" or why there are seven days in a week? Let Dr Brasch share with you his thoughts about the origins of hundreds of sayings, superstitions, and customs from all over the world.
\IMaterial from works by Dr. R Brasch have been included with the permission of Dr. R. Brasch and HarperCollins Publishers Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia.\i
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"A1",2,0,0,0
To be "A.1." is the most succinct description of anything being in top condition. After all, there could hardly be a better symbol for topping the list and coming first than the combination of the first letter in the alphabet with number one.
The choice of A.1. for first rate was not the result of a merely popular consideration. Very business-like, it was deliberately selected. To begin with, it was solely applied to shipping.
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping gave every vessel listed its specific designation, determined by the ship's state of seaworthiness. For this, two important features had to be ascertained: the condition of its hull and that of its equipment, i.e., the chain, the anchor and the rudder. These were indicated by a letter of the alphabet (for the hull) and a figure (for the gear).
A ship listed A.1. was in excellent condition. The company would take little risk to insure it. Such a simple system for appraising values was soon adopted generally and A.1. came to stand for anything that was "tops."
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"Abbatoir - a French Camouflage",3,0,0,0
A slaughterhouse says exactly what it means. Its name is very much to the point, though it may offend sensitive ears. Hence to make it more attractive, a French word, \Iabattoir,\i was adopted in its stead.
No one nowadays is really aware of the original meaning of this substitute. But as restaurateurs have learned to call very ordinary dishes by French names to make them more exotic, attractive, (and expensive), so the novel French abattoir gave the old slaughterhouse a new image.
Speaking of an abattoir literally refers merely to the fact that something or somebody has been "knocked off" or "beaten down," which is the \Jetymology\j of the word.
As everywhere, costs have risen at abattoirs. This made their name a very paradoxical term, as its linguistic root, \Iabate,\i is generally used as well for the reduction of prices!
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"Aboriginal Art: Namatjira School",4,0,0,0
The indigenous art of Australian \JAborigines\j is not only of great beauty, but profoundly religious in spirit and content. In a most unexpected and different way, religion came to play its part in a totally new development and unique expression of the Aboriginal talent.
The Namatjira school of Australian \JAboriginal art\j is an interesting phenomenon. It owes its existence to the religious faith of a Lutheran pastor, the Rev. F. W. Albrecht. As the superintendent of a mission station at Hermannsburg, near \JAlice Springs\j, at the "dead heart" of \JAustralia\j, he had tried to teach some saleable craft or skill to the \JAborigines\j in his care, mostly members of the Aranda tribe. He wanted to enable them to earn their living and not to depend on charity or government hand-outs which, he felt, was degrading to any man. But all his attempts proved futile. In spite of it, Albrecht persevered. He was convinced that God had endowed every human being with a special gift in which to excel.
In 1934, Rex Battarbee and John A. Gardner, two Melbourne painters, went on a caravan painting trip to Central \JAustralia\j to capture on canvas its awe-inspiring beauty. Having completed a sizeable number of pictures, they exhibited them at \JAlice Springs\j. When Pastor Albrecht saw the collection, an idea suddenly struck him. Once the show was over, why not take all the pictures into the desert, to put them on display for the \JAborigines\j. Perhaps they, too, might enjoy them.
The result exceeded his expectations. The Arandas were enthralled. It astonished them to see the countryside they knew so well, reproduced in representational paintings. Their own art was very different. For the two days of the exhibition, scores of \JAborigines\j came. One, Albert Namatjira, fascinated by what he saw, came on both days, just to sit and to look at the pictures. Subsequently, he approached Rex, expressing the wish to try himself to produce something like it. Would Rex be good enough to provide him with the necessary equipment and then teach him the rudiments of his art?
Delighted, Rex did so. Soon other members of the tribe followed Albert's example, and a popular school of painting was born that found a ready market among white Australians. All this was the result of the devotion of a missionary. It gave a people long ignored, if not humiliated, unexpected fame, and presented art galleries and collectors with much treasured exhibits.
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"Aboriginal Burials",5,0,0,0
Aborigines cherish their own burial grounds. All the more conspicuous are Aboriginal graves in ordinary cemeteries, or by the roadside, reminders of the part \JAborigines\j have played in modern Australian history.
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"Aboriginal Who Sold Thousands of Shirts",6,0,0,0
"Mulga Fred" sold thousands of Pelaco shirts. He did not do so as a salesman, but as the model for the smiling Aborigine whose face appeared on all the advertisements promoting the product, which made it renowned nationwide. The advertisement shows Mulga, immaculately dressed in a white shirt, and quotes him saying, in \Jpidgin\j English, "Mine tinkit it fit," words which became a memorable slogan.
The manufacturers paid him for his "appearances," both in money and in kind. He received a fee of ú100 ($200) and, to his dying day, was given annually four new shirts.
Mulga's real name was Freddy Wilson. He was born in Port Hedland, in the Kimberleys, Western \JAustralia\j; the exact year of his birth is not certain and is quoted to have been either 1874 or 1884.
Reports differ as to the cause of his death. Some say that, whilst waiting for a connection to Dimboola, he was run over by a train at Horsham station. Others have it that he was hit by a train when asleep on the tracks.
Mulga, in spite of his broken English in the Pelaco advertisements, spoke perfect English. He became a popular figure first through his feats with the whip and the \Jboomerang\j. He was the last full-blooded Aborigine to visit the Wimmera Show and, in acknowledgment of his prowess, a cup awarded at the annual whip-cracking competition is called after him. Unforgettable too were his performances in rough riding at side shows, rodeos, and circuses.
Fred is buried in the Horsham Cemetery and the headstone on his grave has three distinctions. It makes no mention of the role he played in publicizing Pelaco shirts. However, recalling his excellence in throwing the \Jboomerang\j and cracking the whip, both items are engraved on it in a stylized manner. Lastly, the words of the epitaph are kept to a very minimum. All they say is:
\IMULGA FRED
2-11-1948
R.I.P.\i
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"Above Board",7,0,0,0
For anything to be "above board" suggests complete honesty. There is no subterfuge. Nothing is concealed and therefore open to doubt or suspicion. Yet, so incongruously, the origin of the phrase is uncertain and two possible, totally unconnected explanations have been given.
All that is "above board" may have started at sea - on board ship. Not stowed (or hidden) away in the holds under hatches, it is on deck, for all to see.
The nefarious practice of cardsharpers has equally been linked, though in a negative way, with the saying. To cheat their opponents, surreptitiously they would exchange cards under the gaming table with their accomplices. The honest player - to avoid even the slightest suspicion of foul play - would always keep his hands "above [the] board."
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"Abracadabra",8,0,0,0
Magicians and conjurers traditionally use \Iabracadabra\i as a mystical formula which they pronounce solemnly to achieve their greatly admired tricks. Those watching their art, of course, "know" deep down that it is all mere showmanship and that abracadabra is a word that makes no sense and certainly has neither meaning nor power.
Their assumption, however, is completely erroneous. In abracadabra survives an age-old mystical formula and tradition which through centuries has played a serious role in thousands of lives: it was thought to ward off evil and to cure disease.
The first record of abracadabra dates back to Serenus Sammonicus, a second-century Roman author and the physician to Emperor Caracalla. He stated (in his only surviving work) that abracadabra could serve as a potent antidote to sickness, if applied according to strict rules. There are numerous explanations as to what the strict rules were, how the abracadabra worked and, not least, what its name signified.
It has been frequently suggested that the abracadabra was a combination or abbreviation of several slightly mutilated \JHebrew\j words. But, again, there was a multitude of confusing claims as to what the words were. Some authorities traced in the term the \JHebrew\j \Ib'racha\i which was a "blessing." Abracadabra, they said, really meant: "pronounce the blessing." Blessing, however, was not used here in its traditional benedictory sense alone, but specifically referred to God. By speaking of him, the abracadabra immediately would cause all evil spirits to depart, as they were most allergic to hearing the divine name uttered!
A second interpretation found in the abracadabra the linking of the \JHebrew\j "blessing" - \Ib'racha\i - with the (mystical) "word" - \Idavar.\i The word of blessing was sure to destroy any curse - magically.
Yet another suggestion was that abracadabra was a contracted quotation from the Psalmist's call on God (Psalm 144,6) to "cast forth \Jlightning\j" (in \JHebrew\j, \Ib'rok barak)\i to scatter the evil forces. No doubt, this theory was also based on the similarity of sound.
Another view was no longer associated with Jewish tradition but reflected Christian \Jtheology\j. Nevertheless, it still discovered the Jews' \JHebrew\j and \JAramaic\j tongues in the obscure word which it regarded as an appeal to the trinity. In the name of the father \I(ab),\i the son \I(bar),\i and the \Jholy spirit\j \I(ru'ach ha-kodesh),\i the formula tried to expel demons. It was a well-known method in the ritual of exorcism.
None of these opinions was correct according to another expert on the occult: abracadabra contained nothing godly, nor did it quote from the \JBible\j however fragmentarily or misconstrued. On the contrary, abracadabra was the actual (\JAramaic\j or Greek) name of a powerful demon which could affect people in different ways. It could make them terribly sick - with ague or fever - or inflict on them general misfortune.
Once the demon had taken hold of a person, only immediate remedial action to drive out the malevolent spirit could save the afflicted. And in the world of magic, you had to fight fire with fire, like with like. And that is why, by using Abracadabra's own name, you expelled it from the victim. Hearing its name, the demon could not resist answering "the call" and left the possessed person who at once was restored to his former state of normalcy. This explanation makes special sense if it is realized that, according to magic belief, one who knows the name of a being can control it.
Others, however, have denied any legitimate, inherent value of the abracadabra. It only existed, they said, by confusion and was derived by corrupting the name of Abraxas, a powerful Gnostic deity who originally played a significant medical role in the Basilidian heretic sect of the Gnostics.
This sect was called after its founder, Basilides of Alexandria, who had claimed that by esoteric means he had gained knowledge of the existence of this mighty god. Abraxas' Greek name was explained to mean: "Hurt me not." It could work wonders, as once uttered, it magically removed the sting from any attack by demonic forces.
Going far beyond its literal meaning, Abraxas' mystical power was mostly based on the Oriental and Greek tradition which doubled up letters for figures. As each individual letter of the alphabet had also a numerical value, the seven-lettered Abraxas added up to the significant figure of 365. This stood not just for the 365 days of the solar year, but for the number of spirits that had emanated from the god and that, subject to him, ruled the entire world. Indeed, they represented individual virtues, each allotted to one of the 365 days. The authority of Abraxas - abracadabra thus was both infinite and eternal.
Going back even further and more to the East, it is said that the Persian people used to worship 365 different deities. To be totally blessed, they had to invoke each one of them. In terms of time alone this was a most difficult and extended task, but because of the multiplicity of names it was also subject to grievous error. To omit just one god's name might play havoc with a man's life. He therefore contrived to combine the "365" in one word which, by the numerical value of its letters, represented the entire pantheon. This rendered the original abracadabra a fantastic, error-proof capsule, ready for use by the faithful. Without any waste of time or fear of mistake, it cast out evil spirits in man's ceaseless battle against dark forces. Man had all his gods at his disposal in the one word: their combined power could not be surpassed and was irresistible.
Certainly, there are few words in any tongue that can have caused more speculation and diversity of interpretations. But no matter what abracadabra really meant, people were most concerned with its application in life. And this as well was distinguished by a variety of methods which, in turn, depended on how it was thought the abracadabra worked.
The most widely adopted practice was based on sympathetic magic. By manipulating the abracadabra, it was believed, you could have a similar effect on the sickness or the evil spirit that inflicted a person. The very working of the charm was achieved by the systematic reduction of the abracadabra, letter by letter. And just like the abracadabra, the harmful influence would grow ever smaller till it reached "vanishing point." Gradually, but inevitably, it would disappear.
The usual form of the charm was that of a document. Of small size, it consisted of paper or parchment, a thin metal sheet or even an (engraved) gemstone. The magic formula followed a fixed pattern. The top line contained the whole word, abracadabra. On each following line, the last letter was dropped until, finally, at the very bottom, one single letter was left!
The occult power of the amulet was further strengthened by arranging the text in the shape of an inverted triangle.
The choice of the triangle was not accidental. It was a holy figure, the symbol of trinity and hence a powerful opponent of devilish forces.
The "abracadabra" was worn either suspended from the neck or fixed at whatever was regarded as its most effective place. Usually it was dispensed with after nine days. Before sunrise it was thrown backward over the left shoulder, if possible into a stream that flowed in an easterly direction. Each of these rituals had a significant meaning. Nine, of course, was a sacred figure, three times three. The left side was the sinister side - that of the devil. The East was linked with the rising sun which would dispel all darkness.
There were patients however who, going beyond "external use only", actually swallowed the script and by doing so made it part of their system. Yet another group of people used the abracadabra "orally" - in the literal sense of the word. Instead of having the formula written down in its ever diminishing size, line following line, they uttered it repeatedly, on each occasion dropping one letter, until in the end nothing was left.
A common occurrence in life is that the original purpose of a custom is completely forgotten with the passing of time. And exactly that happened to the abracadabra. Eventually people no longer realized its original meaning and were ever more mystified by its strange-sounding name, which only added to its mystic and occult efficacy. This was particularly true for those who sought it out to combat their fears and their not rarely psychosomatically caused ailments.
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"Abram Louis Buvelot",9,0,0,0
Like all great artists, Australian painters of renown are distinguished by their individual style. And yet after their death most of them share one feature: almost all their headstones are among the plainest in cemeteries. Inconspicuous and without ornamentation, even their inscriptions modestly refer only to who they were and perhaps to the specific category of art to which they devoted their lives. With a few exceptions, they say nothing more.
Swiss-born Abram Louis Buvelot is regarded as the grandfather of Australian \Jlandscape painting\j. The inscription on his grave in the Kew Cemetery is in French, his mother tongue.
The dates of his birth (3 March 1814) and death (30 May 1888), are followed by a quotation the painter had liked so much that he had copied it onto a piece of paper and carried with him in his wallet. It was therefore only fitting that the words should accompany him to the grave. Rendered into English they read:
\IThose whom we have loved
and whom we have lost
are no longer where they were
but they are always and everywhere
where we are.\i
Indicative of the high regard in which Buvelot was held, the monument - "in memory of the dearly beloved artist" - was paid for by public subscription. Simultaneously with its dedication a large retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Melbourne National Gallery, opened by the Governor of Victoria.
Buvelot was already 51 years old and an accomplished painter when he came to Melbourne in 1865. He had decided to migrate to \JAustralia\j because, having lived some considerable time in \JBrazil\j, he could no longer tolerate the harsh Swiss winters.
Buvelot never learned to speak English. His wife not only acted as his interpreter and business manager but, by giving French lessons, earned a living for both of them. This enabled Buvelot to devote all his time to what he knew and loved best - painting.
Until that time, Australian artists had followed conventional English and European traditions. Buvelot succeeded in giving his paintings a new Australian quality, which was to inspire all those who came after him, not least the famous "Heidelberg School."
Sometimes, people unaware of Buvelot's novel Australian style, naively questioned it. A story tells of a woman who criticized him for not showing any kangaroos in his pictures. With a twinkle in his eyes, Buvelot replied, "They are in my paintings all right, but they are hiding behind the trees!"
Age did not exist for him. He believed that one "remained young as long as one's heart could feel the wonders of nature." He not only felt them but conveyed them on canvas. Tragically, four years before his death, failing eyesight and arthritic hands forced him to abandon painting.
Nearly all of Buvelot's pictures are characterized by the inclusion of a \Jgum tree\j. "It is so beautiful, it can take so many shapes," he said. Indeed, he was the first to open Australians' eyes to the eucalypt's magnificence. When his powers were waning, he wrote to a friend, "I am like my old gum trees on the right of my picture, ready to fall into the creek."
Landscapes change, and so does taste. To a new generation, Buvelot's pictures lost their appeal to a great degree, possibly because they seemed too idyllic. However, Buvelot occupies a permanent place in the history of Australian art. Even if he was not among the most outstanding painters, he was a great pioneer.
One hundred years after his death he was not forgotten; in 1988 a special memorial service was held at his gravesite and a Buvelot Centenary Exhibition held at the Bendigo Art Gallery, the largest and most comprehensive exhibition ever held of his work. "It seemed a good time to attempt to revive interest in this 19th century master," wrote the director of the Gallery in the catalog published on the occasion.
Among Buvelot's pupils and admirers was Arthur Streeton.
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"Absolute Justice",10,0,0,0
The ideal of absolute justice is based on the biblical injunction that "you shall not pervert justice in measurement of length, weight or quantity" but "you shall have true scales, true weights and true measures" (Lev. 19.35-36). Early religious authorities expanded this law, to apply not merely to the world of commerce but to every aspect of judicial practice. Justice must be meted out objectively and in equity, without discrimination or differentiation, without fear or favor.
The very same passage suggested the well-known allegorical "figure of Justice" crowning the \JOld Bailey\j, the \JCentral Criminal Court\j in London. Blind-folded, she holds evenly balanced scales in her hands.
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"Academic Hood",11,0,0,0
The academic hood had a very practical origin, far removed from its present-day scholarly distinction. It can be traced to a shoulder covering worn in the \JMiddle Ages\j by begging friars. Apart from keeping the itinerant monks warm on cold days, it served as a cloth receptacle and carrier bag for gifts presented to them by the pious.
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"Accident on the Tramline",12,0,0,0
Even Port Douglas, in once isolated Northern \JQueensland\j, has had its toll of fatal "traffic" accidents and as early as the first decade of this century. Buried in its local cemetery is John M. Cole "who died 8.12.1909 after an accident on the Mobray Tramline aged 23 years 7 months."
Men looking for waterholes accidentally came across some strange colored stone. A Cornish woman living in the area, when shown their find, immediately identified it as copper, the ore she knew so well from back home. Such were the beginnings of the Great Cobar Copper Mine. Cobar's name, so folk \Jetymology\j has it, was the \JAborigines\j' way of pronouncing "copper."
Cobar was soon to develop into a significant mining town and source of Australian wealth. It did so not without paying in human lives, however, as is shown by the victims of accidents, buried in the local cemetery.
Patrick Hannan was 38 years old, when he was "accidentally killed in the Great Cobar Mine on 3 October 1918." Reassuringly, the inscription on his headstone quotes St Ambrose's words that those "who have loved him in life will not forget him in death."
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"Accidental Shooting and Drowning",13,0,0,0
Beautifully sculptured, a descending dove and angel's wings make up almost half of the memorial on the grave of 20 year old George Brabham. The victim of a gun accident more than a century ago, he was "accidentally shot to death in 1875."
A great number of monuments recall death by drowning. One such stone at Goulburn marks the grave of Elizabeth Duce, a child of eight years and six months. She "was drounded on 23 January 1848." Her passing evoked this "farewell:"
\IGo spotless honor and
unsullied truth
Go smiling innocence
and blooming youth
Go modesty that never
wore a frown
Go Virtue and receive
thy heavenly crown
Not from a stranger comes
this heart felt verse
The friend inscribes thy
tomb whose tears bedew
thy hearse\i
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"Accidentally Drowned",14,0,0,0
A headstone at \JOphir\j, "In memory of Samuel, the second son of John and Sarah McConnell," recalls his death at the age of 20. He "was accidentally drowned in the Macquarie River [on] September 23rd 1890."
The epitaph adds to a simple eulogy words of solace, expressed as if they were spoken by the youth himself:
\IA dutiful son, an affectionate brother
And a never to be forgotten friend
ln the midst of life we are in death
So parents dear grieve not for me
For ..... be always sad
The fewer years I lived on earth
The fewer faults I had.\i
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"Ace",15,0,0,0
The simple "spot" both on dice and cards is known as the \Iace.\i But in spite of its apparent simplicity, its \Jgenealogy\j is quite considerable and its ancestry rather dubious.
An ancient tradition has it that the \JCelts\j invented the ace which they called \Ias,\i because in their tongue this word described the first of all things, the source of being, the origin.
More plausible is the explanation that the ace came from the Romans. In their Latin they referred to it as the \Iunit,\i the "one" - \Iunus.\i Greeks corrupted this numeral into \Ionos\i and German adapted it into \IAss,\i which eventually deteriorated into \Iace.\i
Most likely is a third suggestion - that ace originated from the Roman coin called the \Ias,\i which also served as a unit of weight.
A French writer was convinced that the ace of cards and on dice was so called because it pointed directly to an ass - a fool.
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"Achilles Heel",16,0,0,0
When speaking of a person's \JAchilles\j heel, we refer to their only vulnerable spot.
The figure of speech is based on a Greek myth which tells how \JAchilles\j' mother, to make her son's body unassailable and safe from the infliction of a mortal wound, dipped the baby into the river \JStyx\j. She did not realize then that though the waters covered his entire body, not so the one heel by which she held him. It was an omission for which he had to pay with his life!
Paris, his arch-enemy in the \JTrojan War\j, was aware of \JAchilles\j' unprotected heel. By piercing it with an arrow, he slew the principal hero of the Iliad.
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"Acting Origins",17,0,0,0
Anything funny is "humorous." So simple a word, nevertheless, like the early actor's mask, it covers up an entirely different world. The first "humor" had nothing to do with a joke or the wish to make people laugh, it was a liquid in the body.
Ancient physiological theory taught, and medieval medical practice believed, that four "humors" (or "fluids") controlled man's health and general attitude. They were phlegm, blood \I(sanguis\i in Latin), \Jbile\j \I(chole),\i and (a non-existent) black \Jbile\j. The proportion in which they were combined determined a person's temperament, a term literally referring to this "mixture." His or her "temper" was dependent on which of the four humors preponderated. Accordingly, a person would be phlegmatic, sanguine, choleric (i.e. short-tempered), or melancholic ("black-biled").
No doubt, an imbalance in humors made a man act peculiarly, and people have always laughed at the eccentric. They did so originally to force him to conform. A nail that stuck out had to be hammered in, lest it caused damage, and that is how humor came on to the stage. A misdiagnosis of sickness, it derived from a condition that was anything but a laughing matter.
It has been rightly asked why Dante entitled his masterpiece \IThe Divine Comedy.\i A most serious work, it presents a world view of beauty, light, and song. Its aim most certainly was not to amuse people, but morally to edify them. To understand the apparent paradox, it must be realized that in former days the term comedy could be used as well for the portrayal of truth without horror, lacking a tragic ending. This is exactly what Dante did in the Divine Comedy and the reason why he so called it.
Without stealing the thunder of great art, it is thus good to have a look behind the scenes of the world of make-believe and of music. As in the examples of "humor" and Dante's "Comedy," it will reveal un-expected beginnings and explain many a mystery. It will show, as well, good reason for actors to be superstitious and how, to ensure the success of the role they are playing, they perform, off stage, their private magic rituals and exorcisms. They well know the truth of the Chinese proverb that "those who have free seats at the play, are the first to hiss."
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"Adam's Ale",18,0,0,0
Water has been called \IAdam's aIe.\i And for an obvious reason: there was nothing stronger for him to drink in paradise. That, in spite of this deficiency, the garden of Eden has been portrayed as so beautiful and heavenly a place, might supply much food for thought.
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"Adam's Apple: Origin of the Name",19,0,0,0
The Adam's apple is the little projection in the neck which is formed by the thyroid cartilage. It seems to move up and down the throat. When early anatomists were legally permitted to dissect corpses, they were greatly perplexed in identifying it. In spite of their scientific outlook they had to go on calling this firm but elastic tissue the Adam's apple.
Ancient \Jfolklore\j said that when Adam committed his "original sin" and, at Eve's invitation, ate of the forbidden fruit, a piece of the apple stuck in his throat. Some assert that this happened when he swallowed his first bite. It is a claim which, from a psychological point of view, is most feasible. Ever since, all of Adam's descendants, but especially the males, have been born with that lump in the throat as a constant reminder of man's first sin and a warning to resist any future temptations.
Adding insult to injury, it is now realized that Holy Scripture never identified the forbidden fruit. Nowhere in the \JBible\j are we told that it was an apple. Most of the authorities now agree that probably it was an apricot. Being so much softer than an apple, an apricot is less likely to get stuck in one's throat, so that the "Adam's apple" has fallen to the ground.
Yet an unscientific name, based on an erroneous notion about a fruit that was not eaten and did not even exist at the time and place in question, got stuck in speech!
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"Added Flavor",20,0,0,0
To add special spices or herbs to food is thought to enhance its taste. The introduction of the practices however, was far removed from any such consideration. A variety of reasons has been suggested. When refrigeration was unknown, meat often deteriorated, and to cover up the smell and off-taste, it was seasoned. In addition, meals were heavy and, not rarely, caused \Jindigestion\j. It was imagined that spices would prevent such ill effects. Finally in the days when stimulants now served after dinner, such as \Jcoffee\j, tea, liqueurs, brandy, and cigars, were still unknown, spices took their place.
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"Adding Insult to Injury",21,0,0,0
Not satisfied with having inflicted \Jbodily harm\j, some people aggravate the damage they have done by further hurting their victim with wounding words. They "add insult to injury," as the saying goes.
Unfortunately, it must have been a human failing from early on, as the descriptive phrase goes back to one of Aesop's Fables, quoted by Phaedrus, the first-century Roman author.
The \Jfable\j tells of a fly biting a bald man on his head. Trying to kill it, he not only missed the insect but hit himself. Highly amused and happy to have escaped the blow, the fly now addressed the man. "You intended to kill me for a mere touch," it said. "What will you do to yourself, now that you have added insult to injury!" The legendary fly's words are the source of the so modern-sounding phrase!
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"Admiral: History of the Name",22,0,0,0
Even those of highest rank are not exempt from error. This applies to an Admiral as well. His title, of Arab stock, contains a letter which does not belong there and, altogether, is jumbled.
A \JMoslem\j ruler, prince or commander is known as Amir or Emir. \JArabs\j thus referred (at least as early as the twelfth century) to those in charge of their Mediterranean navy as \IAmir-al-bahr\i - "ruler of the sea." Crusaders possibly brought the title to Europe, where it was finally adopted by the British. Though a maritime nation, they strangely dropped the "sea" \I(bahr),\i so that all that was left was Amir-al. Ignorant of Arabic, they further confused the already truncated name with the Latin for "admirable," resulting in Admiral.
Later generations tried to rationalize the error. They explained that, as a seafaring people, the British admired their navy and wanted to pay special respect to its chief. This led them to imagine that the description of his rank was not derived from the Moslems but expressed (from Roman roots) all that was "admirable."
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"Advent Meanings",23,0,0,0
Advent is four weeks before Christmas. It starts either on St Andrew's Day or the Sunday nearest to it - known as Advent Sunday - and it ends on Christmas Eve.
The name Advent, from the Latin \Iadventus,\i means the "coming" or advent of Jesus Christ. This is most obviously the occasion of His birth, which is remembered and celebrated on Christmas Day. However, it can also refer to His "second coming" when He is expected to judge the world on its "Judgement Day."
Advent was once a solemn time, a period of penitence. It has now totally changed in character. Young children in particular look forward to the "coming" of Christmas. They are given colorful Advent calendars which they use to eagerly count the days until Christmas Day. Advent has become a happy and exciting adventure.
Fixing wreaths to the outside of the front door is a well-known custom during Advent, and is an expression of joyful anticipation.
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"Advice on what an Epitaph should Say",24,0,0,0
\BSarah Wife of Frederick Newbery\b
This memorial is in the Goulburn Historical Cemetery:
\ISacred
to
The Memory of
Sarah Wife of Frederick M
Newbery died Novr. 24 1847
Aged 31 Years\i
It gives no personal information or eulogy. However, as if to explain such brevity, a verse reminds the reader that:
\IPraises on Tombs are
Vanly [sic] Spent Womans
Good Deeds are the
Best Monument.\i
One is left to wonder why the principle is restricted to females.
#
"Aeroplane Jelly",25,0,0,0
Aeroplane Jelly is yet another Australian product. Its success was the result of the enterprise and imaginative mind of one man - Adolphus Herbert Appleroth. He first manufactured the jelly and chose the name that was to make it popular nationwide.
Adolphus had learnt how to make jelly crystals whilst working for Lipton Teas in the late 1920s. Determined to produce them himself, he gave up his job to start his own firm, in a rented shed. Whilst establishing himself and making his new venture a payable proposition, he earned his living as a tram conductor and sold his goods by hawking them from door to door.
At the time, civil air races were the vogue, and Adolphus decided to cash in on the craze and call his product "Aeroplane Jelly."
A true pioneer, he was the first to broadcast commercials, almost saturating the airwaves with his advertisements. Even in this he showed himself an innovator; his commercials took the form not of spoken words, but of a catchy, now famous jingle, "I like Aeroplane Jelly," sung by a five-year-old-girl, Joy King.
Soon known and sold nationwide, Aeroplane Jelly lived up to its name, being delivered by charter Tiger Moth planes!
The company Adolphus started in 1927 has become a family dynasty, now run by the third generation. Adolphus is buried in the Anglican section of the Rookwood Cemetery. The inscription on his beautifully kept grave does not refer to his place in Australian history as a pioneer merchant, but shows him as the family man:
\IIn
Loving Memory of
A Dear Husband and Father
ADOLPHUS HERBERT APPLEROTH
Who departed this life 17th July 1952
Aged 65 Years
Too dearly loved to be forgotten\i
#
"Afghan Cameleers",26,0,0,0
The grave sites of Afghans, whether in the \JMoslem\j sections of cemeteries or at isolated spots, can be found from the Kimberleys to Broken Hill and all over the \JNorthern Territory\j. They recall the significant part Afghans played in the building of \JAustralia\j.
Afghans came to this country as camel drivers, and soon proved their worth. Indeed, they became so much identified with the role of cameleer that even Indians, brought from the Punjab to fulfill the same function, often were referred to as "Afghans."
The value of the camel in \JAustralia\j, particularly in the outback and the many desert areas, was realized by \JAustralia\j's early pioneers. Horses needed grass and water daily. Though bullocks could subsist on all kinds of fodder, they, too, had to have water every day.
Not so the camel - this four-wheel-drive of its day. It could pull wagons over vast distances of arid land and carry heavy loads, often in "camel trains," without having to be watered for days on end.
With foresight, men like Sir Thomas Elder and J. A. Horrocks imported camels, together with their drivers. Some communities in the outback would have been completely isolated without the camel.
The work of the cameleers was hard. They often started at four o'clock in the morning and went on without stopping till sunset, at times thus moving continuously for up to 20 hours a day.
As devout Muslims, Afghans refused to carry pork or bacon. Should they discover that these had been surreptitiously loaded onto their animals, they removed and burnt them! Conscientiously they abstained from drinking hard liquor and never went to rest without first having had a ritual ablution and saying their prayers.
The majority of the cameleers were exceedingly poor and in some parts of the country had to work for starvation wages. The \IBourke Banner\i quoted the wage paid by Afghan companies in the late 1890s at ú24 ($48) per annum. Contractually, the cameleers had to serve for six years. Almost half of their promised wage was withheld to pay for their passage, which left them with two shillings and three pence (23 cents) per week.
On one occasion two Afghans were found so emaciated that, to save their lives, they were put into the local prison to feed them, certainly a unique kind of protective custody. The leaders and managers of the camel companies fared very well, and became wealthy and respected entrepreneurs.
The different status and conditions of the cameleers is reflected by the way they were buried. Many of them are interred in unidentified graves. Others' last resting places are marked by monuments of various kinds.
Two Afghan graves in the Broken Hill Cemetery have small tiled gabled roofs. Buried in the same cemetery is Gunny Khan. He died on 1 June 1905 at the age of 50. His headstone is especially significant because it was erected, as its inscription says, by Dost Mahomet.
Dost was the Afghan cameleer who became famous through his association with the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61. He had been brought to \JAustralia\j with his 24 charges especially to accompany the explorers, which he did as far as Cooper Creek.
There he died and was buried, a short distance from the present road, three kilometers south of Menindee.
After the expiration of their contract, many Afghans stayed in \JAustralia\j, which became their permanent home. Their descendants were greatly to enrich and serve \JAustralia\j, both in peace and in war.
A. Aziz's grave, also in the Muslim section of the Broken Hill Cemetery, is marked with the traditional simple stone of Australian servicemen. Headed by the Australian Army Badge its inscription, in both English and Arabic, tells that he was a private in the 24th Infantry Battalion of the Australian Forces and had died, on 19 October 1951, at the young age of 28.
Conspicuously placed within an enclosure in the Bourke Cemetery is the well-preserved monument on the grave of another Afghan, clearly identifying the deceased as such. A voluminous Arabic inscription covers two-thirds of the headstone, which is decorated with ivy leaves and carries an added inscription in English that it was the resting place of:
\IZERIPH KHAN [AFGHAN]
Born in \JAfghanistan\j 1871
Died 23rd March 1903, Aged 32 Years\i
Outstanding in a different way is the last resting place of Bye Khan, also in the Bourke Cemetery. He died on 9 June 1947 - "Aged 107 Years."
He passed away in the Bourke \JHospital\j. His phenomenal age is not substantiated by any document. The figure had been arrived at by calculation, as he was known to have served in the Afghan War, which had ended in 1880. According to newspaper reports of the time, to perform his interment service, "a Mohammedan priest specially came from Sydney to Bourke."
Traditionally, Muslims are buried orientated towards Mecca. But as the graves in the Bourke Cemetery are aligned from south to north, Bye Khan was laid to rest on his side, so that his face was turned towards the holy Muslim city.
Like many of his countrymen, Bye Khan had come to \JAustralia\j, "temporarily," to manage nine strings of camels and their 50 drivers. He had left his wife behind in \JAfghanistan\j. But when some of his men, who had returned with their savings to their homeland, informed Bye that his wife had died, he had no incentive to go back. He stayed on in \JAustralia\j and, working hard, invested his savings in real estate, finally to die in Bourke.
\JAlice Springs\j once served as one of the most significant centres for cameleers. This explains the great number of Afghans buried in the Muslim section of its cemetery.
Among the graves is that of Sallay Mahomet. His father arrived in \JAustralia\j from \JAfghanistan\j in 1897, and he was born in \JKalgoorlie\j in 1911. First assisting his father as a camel handler, he eventually settled in \JAlice Springs\j. Though busy with \Jcattle\j and sheep, he also took up the breeding of camels and the making of saddles for these ships of the desert.
Highly respected, he became the spiritual leader of the Muslim community. He looked after the religious education of the children and conducted all the practices Muslim faith required, including the ritual slaughtering of animals.
The highlight of Mahomet's life, no doubt, was when, in 1975, Jim Cairns, the then Minister for Overseas Trade, asked him to provide Australian camels, to be sent as a gift to King Khalid of Saudi \JArabia\j. He not only caught and trained four such camels, but subsequently was delegated to deliver them personally to the royal recipient.
The best known of all his enterprises, perhaps, was the part he played in the annual Lions "Camel Cup." In importance and excitement, for the people of the Center, it equaled the \JMelbourne Cup\j.
Sallay passed away in July 1983, 71 years old. His grave, paved with small tiles, is marked by a simple plaque. This displays the Muslim emblem and, in its superscription, calls on the name of Allah.
Gool Mahomed, who died on 28 May 1985, aged 77 years, "Beloved Husband of Beth [and] Loved Father to All His Children," was, as a special tablet on his memorial tells:
\I'The Last of the Original
Cameleers'\i
#
"Aftermath",27,0,0,0
In spite of modern urbanization, many terms of everyday life recall the rural roots of civilization and society's original close contact with nature. Thus to call the follow-up of an event its inevitable consequence (mainly when this is of an unfortunate nature, as in the case of disaster and war) goes back to the soil and farm life.
"Math" from the Old English meath, originally referred to "mowing," the harvesting of the grass, then done with a scythe or a sickle. Once this crop, which provided the best sort of hay, had been gathered, new shoots came up. They were public property and therefore welcomed by landless people. It was their chance to reap for themselves (like the biblical gleaning) the new growth. This, very much to the point, came to be known as the "aftermowing" - the aftermath.
#
"Ahoy",28,0,0,0
Ahoy, now used as a call to hail a ship or to attract attention, began much more awesomely. The war cry of the Vikings, it was meant to put fear into the hearts of their enemies.
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"Air Crash Victims Last Resting Place",29,0,0,0
\JAustralia\j happily has been spared many major air disasters. The first was shrouded for many years in mystery. On 21 March 1931, the \ISouthern Cloud,\i a three-engined Avro 10 passenger \Jaircraft\j, vanished whilst on its regular flight from Sydney to Melbourne. An extensive air and ground search for survivors or wreckage failed to come across a single trace.
Twenty-seven years later, on 26 October 1958, the wreckage was discovered - by mere chance. Whilst on a Sunday afternoon walk, taking photographs near "World End," a young workman employed by a contractor to the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Authority, came across it.
The cause of the crash was never fully ascertained. Most likely, it was linked with unexpected severe cyclonic weather conditions: continuous rain, low cloud, exceptionally strong winds, and poor visibility.
The victims' remains were buried in the Cooma Cemetery. The inscription on the headstone on their common grave records the dates of both the loss of the \Jaircraft\j at "Deep Creek" and its ultimate recovery. The names of the two pilots and of the six passengers are listed in separate columns.
An additional plaque has been fixed to the memorial on this grave. Its first short line expresses a traditional prayerful wish in a most personal way: "Rest in Peace Shorty." Added to this petition is the quotation of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's opinion on the crash: "Whatever the circumstances of the disaster I feel that they were beyond human control." The great aviator's words were meant to exonerate both the pilot and co-pilot from having in any way been responsible for what happened.
#
"Air Pockets",30,0,0,0
It is wrong to assume that all misnomers are carry-overs from non-scientific days. We have our share in creating them.
One such common error concerns the so-called "air pockets" blamed for a plane being tossed about. They do not exist. The unpleasant experience is due to a totally different circumstance. It occurs when a plane, mostly while flying through a cloud (particularly of the cumulus type) is caught by a very strong up or down current. This, and not an air pocket or vacuum, causes the very uncomfortable sudden drop or lift.
#
"Meat Origins",31,0,0,0
A cut of beef from the rump used to provide a comparatively inexpensive meal. No wonder that among the English it became the "poor man's sirloin." In the nomenclature of meat cuts, it came to be known as "aitch-bone," a somewhat puzzling description. How did the letter "h" find its way there? In fact, its presence is not justified and due only to a confusion of sound. The original "aitch-bone" was the "edge-bone."
#
"Akubra Hat",32,0,0,0
A grave in the Randwick Cemetery and a niche in one of the walls of the Sydney Northern Suburbs Crematorium hold the remains of the two men who jointly created the Akubra hat. They were Benjamin Dunkerley and Stephen Keir.
It would be hard to find a product more Australian than the Akubra. It is manufactured by a wholly Australian-owned firm employing Australian workers, and uses exclusively Australian \Jrabbit\j skins, 60,000 to 70,000 per week.
Akubra (registered as a product name in 1911) is the Aboriginal word for "headgear." Their range includes designs named "Aussie Gold," "Snowy River," "Squatter," "Stockman," "Drover," "Cloncurry," and "Down Under."
Benjamin Dunkerley was born in Cheshire, England, in 1840 and was a hatter by trade. In 1872, he visited \JTasmania\j to explore prospects there, and found them so promising that he stayed on, with his wife and five children soon joining him. (Ultimately, the couple was to have ten children.) But Benjamin was not to remain in \JTasmania\j. He moved on to Sydney where, in Surry Hills, he established himself as a hatmaker.
Until then, the fur used for hats was manually cut from the \Jrabbit\j skins. With his innate gift of gadgetry, Benjamin invented a machine to do the task.
Stephen Keir, who was also English-born and a hatter by occupation, was working at that time for Anderson's, renowned Sydney hat-makers.
Attracted by Dunkerley's drive and ingenuity, he joined his firm. Their partnership was to prove fruitful in more senses than one. Not only did the two men's combined efforts show quick results in a profitable manufacturing business, but young Steve fell in love with one of his associate's daughters and married her.
A third man now came into the picture. He was Arthur Pringle Stewart, a local merchant and distributor of a great variety of goods. After seeing the success of the enterprising hat-makers, in 1911 he approached Keir and offered to take over the marketing of their products. Keir agreed, and the enterprise grew to be so profitable that Stewart gave up all his other lines to concentrate solely on the Akubra hats. It was he who first suggested the brand name!
Dunkerley was a generous man and money meant little to him. When still struggling to make ends meet, he thought nothing of lending to others of the few savings he had or, when there was hardly enough food for his large family, to invite guests home to dinner. He did not mind spending all he had. He used to say, "Money in the bank is money wasted!"
Dunkerley was also remembered for his practice of smoothing a hat with his hands and, when approving of it, to say, "That's a good piece of work!" Each well-made hat gave him a personal sense of achievement.
Akubra was a family business and each generation of Keirs took its place in the management. But each had to learn the trade first, starting at the very bottom on leaving school at the age of 15. The tradition was changed in the case of the founder's grandson, another Stephen Keir. His father did not let him join the hat mills until he had qualified as an accountant.
Working in the mercantile section of Dalgety's, Stephen met a young man who, always short of money, kept on borrowing small amounts from his mates. It did not take long for him to approach young Stephen, who gave him a loan of ú5 ($10). The fellow then left the firm without making an effort to repay the money. He migrated to the United States, where he made good.
Hearing of his success, Stephen wrote to him, reminding him of the ú5 still owing to him. His letter was duly answered. But instead of the money, he sent an autographed photograph. The young man was Errol Flynn!
Dunkerley worked until late in his life. When eventually he retired, it was not in his nature to do nothing. So he started all over again, opening another small factory. He fell ill and died on 20 February 1918, at the age of 78. His body was interred in the Methodist section of the Randwick Cemetery.
Stephen Keir passed away, almost 40 years later on 11 November 1957. He was cremated and his ashes were placed in a wall in the grounds of the Sydney Northern Suburbs Crematorium.
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"Alabaster and Cat Worshiping",33,0,0,0
It was not without reason that the cat was worshiped in ancient \JEgypt\j. Egyptians then were deeply indebted to the feline which helped to keep their vast silos of grain free from rats and mice. The goddess linked with the cat was Bast or Bastet, and she was therefore always represented as cat-headed.
No wonder that sacred cats were kept in Bastet's temple, there to be ritually fed and cared for. When a cat died, as the goddess' \Jincarnation\j, it was given a special burial. Its often mummified body was solemnly placed into a coffin. Made of the finest type of grained \Jgypsum\j, the casket became known as \Ia-la-Baste,\i "the vessel of Bastet." This was the divine (and funereal) origin of our \Ialabaster\i in which, as it were, the cat goddess still hides.
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"Alarm",34,0,0,0
The background of all "alarm" is an imminent fight. A warning call, it reminds all concerned to get ready for combat by taking up "arms." This is the literal meaning of the word, derived from the Old Italian \Iall'arme,\i "To arms!"
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"Albatross and Sailors",35,0,0,0
The \Jalbatross\j has been the companion of sailors on the high seas far back into history. When all other birds had left off following a ship, this largest of web-footed birds kept on circling it, now and then alighting on the ocean, perhaps dropping back for a while, but always reappearing. In a sense, it became part of a crew who regarded it with superstitious fondness.
Anxiously they looked out for its presence. This fact alone could explain the objection to killing it, such a steady and loyal friend, whose company helped to relieve the monotony of sailing.
Imagination runs high on the lonely watches at sea. We do not know who the sailor was who first began to fancy that there was something mysterious about the way the \Jalbatross\j clung to the company of a ship and showed such stupendous power, flying long distances against the wind, apparently without ever using its wings as a means of propulsion. From his musing there sprang the haunting legend that the bird embodied the soul of a drowned sailor, clinging close to his own kind.
Once that was accepted, it was only a logical step to believe that the killing of an \Jalbatross\j was unlucky.
Samuel Coleridge's great poem, "The Ancient Mariner," which tells the tragedy of a sailor who deliberately shoots down one of the great birds, reinforced the spread of the old \Jsuperstition\j.
As late as 1959, the belief was the cause of a sit-down strike of some 50 sailors on board the cargo boat \ICalpean Star.\i After an unlucky voyage in the Antarctic, she was tied up in the port of Liverpool, England, because of engine trouble.
The sailors had attributed all their misfortunes on the trip to the presence on board of an \Jalbatross\j, consigned to a German zoo. When, on the day after arrival in port, the bird was found dead in its cage, even the sturdiest of the crew refused to continue the voyage.
Perhaps, after all, mere self-preservation could account for the \Jsuperstition\j among sailors. The bird was so strong that tales soon were current that it had lifted up ship-wrecked sailors out of the sea and brought them to safety. To kill a potential rescuer was tantamount to suicide.
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"Albert Namatjira",36,0,0,0
Albert Namatjira's paintings are now priceless and his establishment of a school for the Aranda, his tribe, is a proud chapter of Australian history. He is the most famous full-blooded native of central \JAustralia\j and his works occupy a prominent place in national galleries.
\JAlice Springs\j has a suburb named after him, and the headstone on his grave in the \JAlice Springs\j Cemetery is as unusual as the monument put up in his honor and memory near the Hermannsburg Mission, where he was born, grew up, and first discovered the love of painting.
Namatjira's headstone is four feet (1.2 metres) high and weighs about two tonnes. It is roughly hewn from a granite boulder from Mount Gillen, a conspicuous landmark near \JAlice Springs\j and a favorite subject in his paintings.
The plaque on the stone, under the sign of the cross, quotes a passage from St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (I Cor.15,10), "By the Grace of God I am what I am." lt does so not in English but in Aranda, the language of his tribe. The words express Albert's deep religious faith, imbibed at the mission station, and his conviction that his talent was God's gift to him.
\IALTJIRAKA NGUANGIBERANTAMA JINGA NAMA NANA
JINGA NAMANGA I. Cor. 15. 10A
Artist
ALBERT NAMATJIRA
Born at Hermannsburg July 28th. 1902
Died at \JAlice Springs\j August 8th 1959.\i
The monument cost ú103 ($206), which was collected by author Frank Clune, one of Namatjira's admirers and patrons. In fact, the contributions received exceeded by far the amount needed. The surplus was spent on the erection of the monument, in the form of a cairn, near Hermannsburg Mission. Of natural stone, it is six metres high and 1.2 metres square and overlooks both Mount Hermannsburg and Mount Sonder. The inscription on its plaque says:
\IIn Memory
of
ALBERT NAMATJIRA
1902 - 1959
'This is the Landscape which Inspired the Artist'\i
After Albert had learnt painting from Rex Battarbee, it became his world. He never forgot the proud day he sold his first painting for five shillings (50 cents). And just as Rex had taught him, he became a teacher himself, forming his own school of art. He trained almost 20 of his tribesmen, many of whom soon copied their master's style.
In 1938 Rex arranged Albert's first one-man exhibition. Held at the Fine Arts Society's Gallery in Melbourne, it was opened by the Victorian governor's wife. All the 41 pictures shown were sold within three days. Indeed, Albert was to become the best-seller among Australian artists.
People came from far and wide to meet him. And when in 1953 the Queen visited \JAustralia\j, Namatjira was flown to \JCanberra\j to be presented to her.
Namatjira's phenomenal success unhappily led to his undoing as well. With the unending demand for his and his pupils' works, they began to turn out paintings as if on an assembly line.
During the 23 years of his painting career, Albert earned thousands of dollars ($160,000 altogether, it is estimated). In true Aboriginal custom, to start with, he shared much of the money with his tribe. The rest however, he spent none too wisely.
In spite of his fame, as an Aborigine, Albert was still a charge of the State and restricted in his rights. He was not even allowed to own a house in \JAlice Springs\j. In protest, and not afraid to make his voice heard, he made it known that "his people were tired of living like animals."
Eventually, in 1957, Namatjira was given full citizen's rights, and could share all the white man's advantages and temptations, including alcohol. He took to drink, with which he could not cope. When one day he was caught supplying liquor to an Aboriginal ward, he was arrested, tried, found guilty, and given a prison sentence. Though this was eventually reduced, then changed into a mere token punishment, Albert never forgot or forgave it. He felt humiliated and embittered.
He lost his zest for painting and often merely sat and stared. He contracted \Jpneumonia\j, and was taken to the \JAlice Springs\j \Jhospital\j, where he died on the evening of 8 August 1959. Shortly before his passing, he knelt at his bedside, saying the \JLord's Prayer\j in his native tongue.
Pastor Albrecht, whose friendship he had cherished for so many years and who had been instrumental in starting him on his career, even helping him obtain his first paints and brushes, took the funeral service. He chose as the text of his eulogy the words from the Epistles which now head Albert's epitaph. He stressed how, in spite of all the honors bestowed on him and the publicity he had received as a public figure, Albert had never forgotten his roots. To his very death, "Albert remained a member of the Aranda tribe of Central \JAustralia\j [and] he was given every encouragement by us to remain a true Aboriginal."
Namatjira will always be remembered as the first Aboriginal painter to gain world fame and by the eminent place he occupies in the annals of Australian art.
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"Albie Hounslow and his Reel",37,0,0,0
A monument of white marble marks the grave of "Albie" Hounslow, a surf lifesaver buried in the Karrakatta Cemetery. He passed away in 1964 at the early age of 33. The services he rendered are recalled by a miniature replica of a lifesaver with his reel, wrought in metal and placed at the base of the memorial.
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"Alcohol Warms",38,0,0,0
Almost paradoxical is the assumption that alcohol has a warming effect on a cold day. On the contrary, the spirit dilates small blood vessels and thereby causes warmth to leave the body. It is the ensuing sensation which creates the illusion. In actual fact, liquor lowers body temperature.
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"Alimony Meaning",39,0,0,0
Cynics have suggested that alimony stood for "all his money." Linguistically, there is no mention of money at all in the legal term. Nor is this allowance to a divorced wife regarded as "alms," as dissatisfied parties have been led to believe. The \Imony\i of the word has merely grammatical significance. It is a common \Jsuffix\j without pecuniary meaning and occurs in such diverse conditions and occasions as matrimony, acrimony, and ceremony. The decisive part of alimony is contained in \Iali,\i its first half. From the Latin for "nourishment" and "sustenance," it is also found in the \Jalimentary canal\j. Alimony thus speaks of ensuring that the divorced spouse will not go hungry.
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"Allergies",40,0,0,0
One of the earliest recorded cases of \Jallergy\j was that of a sixteenth century \JArchbishop\j of St Andrew's who suffered from \Jasthma\j. His physician, a Dr Cardano, diagnosed his complaint as an \Jallergy\j. Taking into account his hypersensitiveness, he made the ecclesiastic remove his feather pillow.
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"Alpha and Omega",41,0,0,0
A well-known figure of speech in the Book of Revelation (first written in Greek), was intended to express God's and, in a later passage, Christ's eternity (1,8 and 22,13): "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End." Alpha, of course, was the first and Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
Though Greek was no longer the spoken tongue, the old \Jsymbolism\j was adopted in the graveyard. The two letters, displayed on either side of an open book (representing the book of life), affirm God's presence - from beginning to end - in the life of the deceased.
Additionally, the Alpha and Omega are meant to remind all Christians visiting the grave, that God is "the beginning and the end" of all things.
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"Alphabet Origins",42,0,0,0
All alphabets - and there are more than 200 of them - derived from one original alphabet. This came, as so many other benefits of Western civilization, from the Orient. Just as the Ten Commandments were revealed on the \JSinai\j Peninsula, so - as discoveries of inscriptions in our century have suggested - one of the earliest alphabets, if not the very first one, was conceived in that very region as well!
There is no doubt that the desert land between \JEgypt\j and \JBabylonia\j, between the home of \Jhieroglyphics\j and cuneiform, gave mankind its alphabet. The approximate date of its birth is the second half of the 2nd millennium B.C.
The alphabet's very name reflects its Semitic parents, \IAleph\i and \IBeth\i being the first two letters of the \JHebrew\j alphabet. It was adopted through the Phoenicians by the Greeks, who spread it throughout Europe.
All letters developed from pictures. The prototype of our present-day writing are drawings of some common object, such as a fence, a camel, a hand, a head, a fish or a spear. In Oriental languages, the letters are still called by their names, whose initial sounds represent the letters of the alphabet in most tongues to this day.
"A" originally depicted the head of an ox \I(A\ileph in \JHebrew\j); "B" was the simplified drawing of a house \I(B\ieth in \JHebrew\j); "G" derived from a camel \I(G\iamal in \JHebrew\j); in the "M" we can still recognize water, shown by one of its waves \I(M\ia'yim in \JHebrew\j), and in the "O" the shape of an eye. The "T," most obviously, is a cross.
The number of the letters in the alphabet differs slightly from nation to nation. Whilst the English alphabet, for instance, counts 26 letters, that of the Russians has 36, of the Spanish 27 and of the \JHebrew\j language 22 characters.
The reason for this fluctuation is easy to discover. The general rule of the alphabet is "one sound - one letter." People vary not only in the language they speak but in the kind of sounds they are able to produce. \JArabs\j are even more guttural than the Germans. The Greek tongue could not make any use of our "C" and "V," whilst the letter "J" was "unpalatable" to the Romans.
The sounds represented in the earliest alphabet completely lacked any vowels. Originally, this consisted of consonants only, which complicated interpretation. The most simple text would thus baffle the reader, who had to decide for himself where a vowel was intended and which one was needed.
Take, for example, one of our best-known \Jnursery rhymes\j. Written in the ancient manner it would appear thus-
\IMR HD LTTL LMB\i
Even if it were suggested what this line of consonants represented, it would still take some considerable time to read into it that-
\IMaRy HaD a LiTTLe LaMB.\i
But this is exactly how, in earliest times and for almost 2,000 years, people wrote. A simple three-letter word, for instance, made up of the consonants BRD thus presented a choice of many meanings. It could be read as-
\IBeaRD, BaRD, BiRD, BReaD, BReeD, BRoaD, or BRooD\i
-to mention the most obvious possibilities.
It is not surprising, therefore, that this lack of vowels became a frequent source of misunderstanding and error, as actually ""reading" was merely "guessing." When, finally, vowel signs were introduced, they were simple in form - Morse-like dots and dashes.
Other obvious features of present-day script are equally the result of thousands of years of evolution. Originally, only capital letters were known; small or lower case letters were not developed until the \JMiddle Ages\j. At first, all writing moved from right to left, as \JHebrew\j and Arabic still do to this day. To unravel the above nursery rhyme would thus be an even greater problem-
\IBML LTTL DH RM\i
Another later development was punctuation, which for centuries was non-existent. A further difficulty of early writing was that all words were strung together without spaces, in order not to waste precious writing material like \Jpapyrus\j and parchment. Applying the original way of writing, from right to left and without vowels and spacing, the verse would have been this short line of consonants-
\IBMLLTTLDHRM\i
No wonder that the reading of documents was confined to a small circle of experts!
It was one of the great innovations in the history of civilization when, for the first time, an unknown genius comprised the idea "literally" to pause between words and to separate them not only on his tongue but on whatever then took the place of paper.
The alphabet is one of the most revolutionary inventions made by man in his cultural development. It came into existence not suddenly but, as has been shown, as the result of continuous growth and many stages of trial and error. We owe our letters to the brilliant minds of men whose names and identities we shall never know.
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"Altar, Urn, Shroud, and Altar Cloth",43,0,0,0
A combination of four symbols on a tombstone, one reinforcing the other, shows a cloth-draped urn standing on an altar which is covered with the traditional altar cloth.
The altar, the most sacred part of a church until the days of the Reformation, was mostly made of stone and to add to its sanctity the body of a saint was sometimes buried under it. Its intense holiness came to denote the very presence of Christ.
Even the cloth covering the altar had a deeply religious meaning, also associated with death. Of pure linen and often richly ornamented, it was not, as many assume, a mere embellishment of the holy table to which the faithful proceeded during the Holy Communion service. Actually, the altar cloth is meant to represent the shroud that once covered the body of crucified Christ.
The urn is emblematic of the dust into which the dead body will change, whilst the spirit of the departed eternally rests with God.
The cloth draping the urn symbolically guarded the ashes. It also served as an expression of grief and, as the replica of a shroud, as a reminder of death.
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"Ambulance",44,0,0,0
Ambulance (as a name) contains neither the injured nor the sick. All it says is that it is "moving." It goes back to early, temporary field hospitals which served and moved with the army and in their French description were known as \Ih⌠pital ambulant.\i
With the introduction of base hospitals, the "ambulant" one became redundant, to take on as its new function the transporting of the wounded and sick. On the way, in a manner of speaking, it lost the "\Jhospital\j" part and thus survives as the modern ambulance.
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"Ambush",45,0,0,0
The ambush is so well camouflaged (as a word) that its original situation is no longer realized. Any ambush - no matter where - goes back to the woods where those lying in wait were hiding. There is only a slight difference between the Italian and French roots of the ambush.
Whilst the French speak of "going into the woods" \I(embucher),\i the Italians refer to the actual being "concealed in the woods" \I(emboscata).\i
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"Amen Origins",46,0,0,0
\IAmen\i is the most widely known and frequently used of all religious words. Jews, Christians, and Moslems have made it a significant part of their worship. It concludes hymns, prayers, creeds, and the recital of the first Sura of the Mohammedan \JBible\j the Koran. Marking their ends, it is like a seal, affirming what has been said or sung before, promised or threatened.
The word Amen is found 13 times in the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j and strangely, occurs there first in the case of a jealous husband suspecting his wife of adultery.
An ancient ritual test demanded of her to drink "bitter waters." While she was doing so, a priest pronounced a curse to the effect that should she be guilty, her belly would swell and her thigh sag. Whereupon the woman, still protesting her innocence, had to affirm the curse by uttering Amen twice.
The \JNew Testament\j mentions Amen 119 times. Whenever Jesus wished to emphasize the significance and solemnity of what He said, He prefaced His words with an Amen.
Amen is a \JHebrew\j word. Though commonly explained to mean "so be it," and hence to express simultaneously assent, agreement, and a supplication, it is derived from a root that signifies "truth." Therefore anyone saying Amen confirms all that has gone before in speech or song as being true, trustworthy, and reliable.
But some think that even the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j is not the original source of this affirmation and that the Amen actually goes back to \IAmun,\i the name of an Egyptian deity of highest rank, indeed their "king of gods," who at one time was worshiped all through the \JMiddle East\j. His name meant "the hidden one."
So Amen might have originated in polytheistic faith, when Egyptian pagan believers (just as Greeks and Romans did later on, as we still recall in our own "By Jove") invoked their god in the form of an oath, saying "By \JAmun\j." Perhaps it was from those early Egyptian sources that the Hebrews adopted the Amen. Wisely, however, they gave it a new interpretation by linking it with all that was "true" and "established." Naturally both the Church and the Mosque, as children of Israel, continued the use of the Amen which, nevertheless, carries concealed, within itself the ancient Egyptian god.
Such a simple and common word as the Amen "affirms" the mystery and paradox that make up human life. We endorse our faith in spiritual divinity by a word that once described a pagan deity.
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"America: Origin of the Name",47,0,0,0
America is called after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator who least deserved to be so honored. A combination of circumstances by-passed Columbus whose name, if any man's, should thus have been perpetuated.
Vespucci was a somewhat enigmatic figure. He made himself widely known by accounts he published of voyages he had undertaken to the newly-discovered regions across the Atlantic and which he - cleverly - sent to people of renown and influence. Though his claim roused controversy and doubt on the part of experts, they gained wide currency among the general public. All that people seemed to remember of Columbus was that he had been mistaken in assuming that he had merely reached India.
In a pamphlet Vespucci published in 1503, entitled "New World," he was the first to suggest that this should be the very name of the land across the Atlantic, "There was no knowledge of it among our ancestors, and it is a totally new thing to all who hear of it."
No wonder that he became more identified with the new territory. This prompted Martin Waldseemⁿller, a young German cartographer, on a global map he prepared for a work printed at St DiΘ in Lorraine, to "label" the new continent Amerigo, Vespucci's Christian name. He justified his choice by the fallacious belief that "since Amerigo Vespucci has discovered a fourth part of the world, I do not see any reason why anyone should rightfully object to calling this part after him."
Latinized, Amerigo became Americus. However, as other continents of the world were called after women, Vespucci's name underwent a change of sex as it were, and - in consonance with Africa and Asia - in its Latin feminine form, was rendered America.
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"American Fall",48,0,0,0
"Fall" is taken to be typically American, for the English "autumn." Descriptively, it pictures falling of the leaves during that season.
However, "fall" is not an American word at all. It is traditionally English, frequently occurring in the works of the great Elizabethan writers. British settlers brought it with them to the American colony and, whilst the word died out in the Old Country, it was preserved as an English heirloom in the New World, never to fall by the way.
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"American GI",49,0,0,0
The American G.I. is a product of World War II. As everything he wore or ate was supplied to him by the American nation, he himself was regarded as a Government Issue, in short, a G.I.
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"American Horse Racing",50,0,0,0
A miniature three-toed horse, the \JHipparion\j, existed in America more than a million years ago, then completely vanished at the close of the Pliocene from the whole of the vast continent. The modern horse was introduced by the Spanish Conquistadores and colonizers only in the sixteenth century. A great number of the horses (the majority were Arabians) that the Spaniards had brought with them managed to escape. Roaming the country, they bred and multiplied, to be joined by other horses that had escaped from French settlers in the north. Together they established the wild American breeds.
\JHorse racing\j on American soil has the distinction of being the country's oldest organized sport. It was practiced in colonial times. Certainly, Americans owe the introduction of \Jhorse racing\j to the British, who established the first race course soon after having captured New \JAmsterdam\j from the Dutch. In fact, this was one of the first actions - in 1655 - of Richard Nicolls, first Royal Governor of New York. At a public meeting he convened for the purpose in February of that year, he declared that he did so not so much "for the divertissement of youth as for encouraging the bettering of the breed of horses which, through neglect, has been impaired."
The two-mile-long course, laid out on Long Island, Nicolls called Newmarket, after England's most famous track. To promote the venture, he also offered a silver cup to be won by the fastest horse at a race to be run each spring and fall.
Governor Frank Lovelace, Colonel Nicoll's successor, was responsible for America's first sweepstake. In 1669 he sponsored at Newmarket a race run for two silver cups, with a subscription of "one crown each or its equivalent in goode wheate."
The next most significant date in the evolution of American racing was the arrival of the first thoroughbred sire. Generally it is believed that the first stallion - Bulle Rock, a son of Darley Arabian - was imported from England to Virginia around 1730. Further purchases of numerous English thoroughbreds gave American breeding its foundation. The better horses became, the faster they ran and the more they attracted the masses.
Indicative of the popularity racing had gained was an event in 1823 on the Union Race Course, Long Island, which drew an estimated 60,000 people - the first large crowd ever to watch an American sporting function. Spectators came from all over the country to see the exciting match, not least perhaps because it also presented a contest between the North and the South. The North ran its fabulous, unbeaten American Eclipse. The South said they had many horses to offer that could eclipse, and finally chose Sir Henry. Eclipse won.
The first recorded race between American and British thoroughbreds took place in 1829, when the American horse Rattler was the victor.
Even the \JCivil War\j could not stop racing altogether, at least in the North. A race run at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 1863, was such an outstanding success that, within a few years, more and more tracks were opened all over the country. One of them was Churchill Downs, \JLouisville\j, which in 1875 was the venue for the first Kentucky Derby, named after "the blue ribbon of the [English] turf." At the time, no one could guess that it was to become the most famous of all American stake races.
Americans gave to the world of racing the short stirrups and the "monkey crouch" that replaced everywhere the traditional English seat. (It is only fair to state that Australians claim to have pioneered the "monkey seat" almost simultaneously and, certainly, independently.) In 1936, at Hialeah, the photo-finish was introduced.
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"American Preference for Coffee",51,0,0,0
Legend tells that man acquired the habit of drinking \Jcoffee\j as a stimulant by mere accident. Thousands of years ago, Arab shepherds noticed the exhilaration of their sheep after having eaten berries from a certain bush. The animals frolicked around all night. It did not take the shepherds long to follow their sheep's example, with almost identical results. The rest is history.
That Americans prefer \Jcoffee\j to tea has nothing to do with taste. It goes back to the night of 16 December 1773 and the history-making \JBoston Tea Party\j. Until then the British colonists in the New World had continued their tea-drinking habit from back home. In protest against the British tax on tea, fifty men disguised as Indians then boarded a British vessel and emptied 342 tea chests into the harbor. It is well known how this was one of the events leading up to the War of Independence.
Five hundred \JBoston\j women were determined to show how strongly they felt about the iniquitous English tax.
With this purpose in mind, they resolved henceforth not to use any more tea but to drink \Jcoffee\j instead. (A first consignment of \Jcoffee\j had reached New England in 1660.) Their patriotic action was one of the main factors in making Americans a \Jcoffee\j-drinking nation.
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"Amino Acids: Origin of the Name",52,0,0,0
Described as the building blocks of the human body, amino acids play an all-important role in life and in preserving good health. Through \Iamino,\i a part of the name of the substance, these "building blocks" partake of divinity - not only symbolically speaking, because they are vital - but because the name enshrines \JAmun\j, the Egyptian god who - during the eighteenth dynasty (in the sixteenth century B.C.) - became the state god of all \JEgypt\j.
\IAmmonia,\i which suggested the term of amino acid, has a story of its own, also based on religion. When Greek culture flooded the North African region and \JMiddle East\j, the Greeks identified \JAmun\j with their own god Zeus. Joining their names, they dedicated a Lybian temple to Zeus-Ammon.
Salt-like crystals discovered in or near the sanctuary were linked with, if not ascribed to, the god. The substance was called "the salt of Ammon" - \Isal ammoniac\i - and from it ammonia was derived. The crystals had formed in the soot, rising from burning camel dung, that covered the walls and ceiling of the sanctuary. (Dung was the only available fuel.)
A modern discovery of a fundamental fact of life thus is linked with religion of thousands of years ago.
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"Ammunition",53,0,0,0
Fusion has played an unexpected role in the creation of modern ammunition. It has changed its total meaning. However, it did so not in the realm of explosives but in the world of mistakes.
Originally, a city's "fortification" was known by the French \Ila munition.\i Derived from the Latin \Imunitio,\i the description referred to the "building" of a defensive wall. Those not acquainted with French, mistook and misspelled the word. They detached the "a" from (the French article) \Ila,\i to link it with the (French) "wall," thereby transforming \Ila munition\i into l'ammunition. This produced (in English) the world's first "ammunition." At the beginning, it continued to denote a mere rampart, only subsequently to take on its explosive connotation.
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"Amulet",54,0,0,0
The considerations that prompted man to produce amulets were varied. The ancient assumption that "like cures like" is reflected in the phrase "hair of the dog." It was believed that a person bitten by a (mad) dog could be saved from \Jhydrophobia\j by the application of "a hair of the dog that bit him." In modern times this very principle is actually used in the case of an (alcoholic) hangover. It is imagined that a man "the worse for drink" would at once feel good again by having another drink!
The use of the \Jcowrie\j shell for an amulet goes back to the identical reasoning. Closely resembling the female private parts, it was thought to possess as well their life-giving power. Wearing it would increase one's sexual potency. Placed on graves, the shells would ensure the immortality of the dead buried below.
The forms amulets could take were as varied as their purpose. They could be a precious stone, a sacred inscription, or a magic symbol. They could represent part of a human or animal body: for instance a foot, a hand, a paw, or a tail. A flower, a root, or a herb could be adopted as an amulet. A five, six, or seven-pointed star symbol was another magic protection.
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"Amulets in Judaism and Islam",55,0,0,0
The position in which amulets were placed was often closely related to the specific task allotted to them. Fixed outside a home, obviously an amulet was meant to keep out the devil or any other evil-bringer. That is the purpose, of course, of the horseshoe, the hex sign and the original meaning of the \IMezuzzah,\i the small scroll Jews still \Jaffix\j to the right hand doorpost of their homes. Apart from containing a sacred text (a \JHebrew\j quotation from the \JBible\j), the Mezuzzah conspicuously carries on its outside one of God's "powerful" names: \Ishaddai - \i"the Almighty."
Yet another type of amulet was "a script." To carry a sacred text on one's person has been a universal custom from primitive times. The wearer was sure that evil forces would catch sight of it and immediately take to flight.
Jews thus "fortified" themselves with \JHebrew\j quotations from the \JBible\j. Written on minute scrolls and placed in two boxes, they were bound by means of leather straps on the left arm ("opposite the heart") and on the center of the forehead ("between the eyes"). Referred to in \JHebrew\j as \ITefillin\i (for "prayers"), they were called in Greek \Iphylacteries.\i This term, which the \JNew Testament\j uses, stems from a root which very appropriately explains their function as a "guardian" and a "protector." Nowadays they are put on only by orthodox Jews while saying their (week-day) morning prayers, but originally, and at the time of Jesus, they were worn throughout the day.
Moslems adopted the Jewish custom but improved on it. In fact, they went to extremes. They used to carry on them not just excerpts from, but an entire copy of, the \IKoran.\i They did so not only to have an opportunity of studying its text at all times but also to be magically protected by it wherever they went.
They tied the book to their body by means of a cord, known by the Arabic \Ihimalah.\i And, according to some authorities, it was this very word which originated the term amulet in the sense we now use it! If so, it is a telling example of how, by constant association, we acquire the qualities of a close "contact."
\IHimalah\i simply referred to the fact that the book was "bound" to the person or "carried" by him by means of a cord. But by the amulet's "attachment" to the holy book, the \IKoran's\i sanctity rubbed off on the \Ihimalah;\i eventually, in people's minds, it gained equal efficacy to guard and protect. And that is how a mere string assumed the new meaningful and magic role of "amulet."
The very description of the amulet certainly has puzzled men and not least the philologist who is always anxious to trace the \Jetymology\j of a word. The controversy the amulet roused could only add to its mystery.
An unsubstantiated claim traced the word amulet back to a Greek sacramental vessel known as \Iamay.\i Another source often quoted is the \Iamuletum\i to which Pliny refers in his \INatural History,\i in which he gives many of its possible applications. It could preserve man from trouble, he writes, and act as an effective prophylactic against sickness; in fact, it could be taken as a medicine. Not least, Pliny adds, it could guard man against magic, evil spells, and incantations.
Apart from such general observations, the Roman writer cites many individual cases and examples. For instance, anyone could keep evil beings out of his home and render any poisonous drugs harmless by planting \Jcyclamen\j in his garden. Pliny goes on to relate that it was for this reason that people in his time colloquially called that plant \Iamuletum!\i
The snout of a wolf fixed on a door was thought to ward off evil. Spitting into the right shoe would immunize its wearer from being "hurt" by demons. A piece of amber tied to an infant of delicate health would give it extra resistance. Pliny's mention of the \Iamuletum\i proves the popularity it had gained in his time. Still, he does not supply its \Jetymology\j. A widely accepted suggestion is that the Latin root of \Iamuletum\i was \Iamolior.\i This spoke of "driving away," "repelling" danger, and "baffling" evil forces. This would account for the amulet being truly "an instrument of defense."
Since many amulets were actually worn on or tied to the body, in \JHebrew\j they were - very appropriately - known as \Ikamea.\i This word is derived from a root meaning "to bind" or "to knot." However, to see the English "cameo" as an heirloom of the \JHebrew\j \Ikamea,\i as has been frequently done, is incorrect.
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"Amulets in the Bible",56,0,0,0
The \JBible\j contains numerous references to the use of amulets. Most of them are obvious. For instance, there is the report of how the \Jpatriarch\j Jacob collected, from members of his own household, treasured divine images and earrings they had worn or carried with them "for luck," and buried them "out of the way" under a tree. His purpose, of course, was to wean the household from idolatrous \Jsuperstition\j.
One case is most intriguing because of the way it has been misinterpreted and is being misunderstood to this very day. It concerns Cain. When he had killed Abel, so Scripture tells (Gen. 4,15), God had marked him with a special "sign." This passage led people to speak of "the brand of Cain" and see in it a symbol of punishment and contempt. But though widespread and generally adopted, this idea completely misses the point.
Cain received the tattoo from God "lest any[one] finding him, should smite him." It was not meant as a token of disgrace but, on the contrary (and paradoxically), as a protective charm - to safeguard the murderer's life.
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"An Aborigine's Grave in Britain",57,0,0,0
Governor Phillip, anxious to introduce \JAborigines\j to the British, had two natives brought to England in 1792. Bennelong was one of them. Somehow he must have enjoyed the visit, the admiration paid him by London society, and his presentation to King \JGeorge III\j.
Yemmerrawanyea Kebbarah, his companion, fared badly however. He just could not take the English climate or adjust himself to the new surroundings, which overpowered him. He died in London (from tuberculosis or some other chest complaint), a young man of 18, and was buried in the Eltham Parish Church, St John the Baptist. His gravestone is inscribed:
\IIn
Memory of
YEMMERRAWANYEA
a Native of
NEW SOUTH WALES
who died the 18th May
1794
In the l9th Year of his
AGE\i
The epitaph omits his second name, which appears in the burial register of the church. The register also records that he died "at the house of Mr Edward Kent," who, it is generally assumed, ran a lodging place at the time.
Present-day Aboriginal activists are trying to have the remains of Yemmerrawanyea exhumed and brought back to \JAustralia\j, to be interred among the people of his tribe at Port Jackson.
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"An Act of God",58,0,0,0
It is indeed strange that, while good luck and success are taken for granted as natural phenomena or assumed to be merited, yet, for the purposes of insurance, natural disasters - such as floods, earthquakes and tidal waves - are defined, in a quaint legal phrase, as "acts of God." For many people, it is the only time that God's presence and power are recognized.
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"An Eye for an Eye",59,0,0,0
"An eye for an eye" has often been condemned as a principle of revenge. This completely misinterprets the intention of the \JHebrew\j axiom, taking it out of its historical context. The law aimed not at ruthless retaliation, but at establishing a system of dispassionate justice in a world of blood feuds, vendettas, and wild vengeance.
When the law was first promulgated, society was divided into classes and punishment meted out according to the status of both victim and culprit. For instance, if anyone considered inferior had inflicted \Jbodily harm\j on a man of superior standing, the punishment never fitted, but by far exceeded the crime.
The principle of "an eye for an eye" therefore for the first time ever introduced one type of justice for all, irrespective of the individual's social position. More significantly, it limited punishment to its right proportions, was equitable and removed from hatred.
To make the new kind of advanced justice clear to everyone, the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j used not general terms but telling examples. They could easily be understood by everyone. That is why it ruled, "one eye for an eye, one tooth for a tooth, one hand for a hand ..." When Augustine, one of the early Fathers of the Church discussed the passage, he remarked on this notable development in which the pagans' unbounded lust for revenge was replaced by the \JHebrew\j concept of, righteous world, "One eye, not two, for an eye; one tooth not ten, for a tooth; one life, not the whole family, for a Iife; and the tooth of a poor man must be regarded as precious as that of the rich."
Actually, the injunction was never literally applied which, in any case, would have been a practical impossibility. From early days, Jewish authorities interpreted the passage to refer to monetary compensation, in which the guilty party had "to pay for the crime," the amount of the fine carefully to be determined by an impartial judge.
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"Anagrams and Monograms",60,0,0,0
Letters embossed on headstones, singly or combined, have their individual \Jsymbolism\j. Using either English or Greek characters, they may be the initials of a word too sacred to be spelled out in full, or serve as an \Jacrostic\j for a religious concept, a declaration of faith or a petition too lengthy to be given in full in the space available.
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"Anatomy in the Early Days",61,0,0,0
Babylonian and Egyptian priests were the early pioneers of anatomy, but they made their studies independently of one another and for different reasons.
A main concern of Babylonian religion was foretelling the future. It was believed that this could be done by a detailed study of the condition of the intestines, and particularly of the liver, of sacrificed animals. Soothsaying became a major function of Babylonian priests, and they were conscientiously trained for their role. As a result, they were among the first to acquire an intimate knowledge of the internal organs and the ability to recognize their slightest abnormality.
Egyptian priests, on the other hand, became anatomists because of their belief in immortality. This included the conviction that, at some future point in time, the soul would re-enter the body to resume life after death. To make this possible, it was essential to preserve the body and its individual organs. To do so, the priests developed the art of embalming and the skill to carefully remove the various organs, which they then stored separately in jars. The practice necessitated a precise knowledge of their exact position and characteristics.
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"Ancestor of Robert the Bruce",62,0,0,0
Lieutenant-Colonel John Bruce, buried in the East Perth Cemetery, was a direct descendant of Robert Bruce of Scotland, the legendary figure of Scottish history who won independence for his country. But this is not the only reason that the colonel's grave historically is so significant. John Bruce, "late of H.M's 16th and 18th Foot, 62 years old when he passed away on 5 November 1870," had also served for "20 years [as] Staff Officer of Pensioners and Commandant in WA."
The reference to a "Pensioners Force," found only on headstones in Western \JAustralia\j, is puzzling. The term might easily be misunderstood and imagined to apply to a company of old soldiers who, having retired, are enjoying their leisure recounting and reliving ancient battles.
However, the "Pensioners Force" in which Bruce played his part and which was peculiar to Western \JAustralia\j, was something totally different.
An active military unit in existence from 1850 to 1880, it could be joined only by men who had served in the British army for a minimum of 21 years and who had been involved in military action in a war zone. Theirs was the task of guarding convicts in the colony. They took over the duty from members of the regular army, who could no longer cope with this additional burden, originally included in their many and varied assignments.
The Pensioners' term of service and payment was strictly regulated. The convicts were under their charge during their voyage out to \JAustralia\j, and until the arrival of the next contingent. "Demobbed," the pensioners, as free settlers, were given a grant of land valued at ú10 ($20), and could make use of convict labor.
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"Anchor on a Headstone",63,0,0,0
An anchor on a headstone may simply identify a grave as that of a sailor. However, much more frequently, the anchor is used symbolically, either to convey a religious message or to refer to an outstanding character trait of the deceased.
As an anchor is designed to prevent a ship from drifting, it became an emblem of steadfastness.
St Paul, who on his missionary journeys frequently had to cross the seas, no doubt was well acquainted with the important function of an anchor, as were those he addressed. He therefore made use of it as a \Jmetaphor\j. He knew that his message would easily be understood and remembered. This made him in his "Epistle to the Hebrews," (6, 19) write "that the hope for salvation was like an anchor for our lives, an anchor safe and sure."
The anchor became a religious symbol, expressing the hope for salvation. With this in mind, early Christians in ancient \JRome\j carved its picture on jewels and gems, and on the walls of the \Jcatacombs\j.
An anchor on a headstone expresses the conviction that the deceased was certain of salvation. He would not drift into nothingness, indeed, his immortality and ultimate \Jresurrection\j were assured.
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"Ancient Forms of Basketball",64,0,0,0
There is no doubt that \Jbasketball\j owes its existence to James Naismith. However, it is possible that he was influenced by an indigenous game played thousands of years earlier on American soil by Mayan and Toltec races.
As a student of religion, Naismith must have been aware of the exciting discoveries of Mayan and Toltec ballcourts at excavations in Mexico. They had been buried for more than 1,500 years under thick jungle. They varied in size. One of the largest is at Chichen Itza. It is in a state of almost perfect preservation.
These ancient races did not play ball to amuse themselves or for the sake of physical culture. For them it was a most serious and solemn fertility rite. The result of the game, they were convinced, determined the life of future generations and the continuation of the cycle of nature - whether there would be rain or \Jdrought\j, fecundity, or barrenness.
The playing field was huge - 480 feet by 120 feet (144 m by 36 m) - and surrounded by temples. Two long, high walls flanked it on either side, and, protruding from them, high up at their very center, were two huge, vertical, stone rings. These were the ancestors of the modern hoops in the game of \Jbasketball\j. The \Jacoustics\j were so perfect that anyone speaking in an ordinary tone of voice at one end of the court could be heard clearly at the other.
When playing, two teams passed a solid, rubber ball to and fro between them, thereby scoring points. The players, however, were not permitted to touch the ball with their hands. They had to strike it either with the knee, elbow, or hip, for which protectors were worn.
The object was to get the ball through one of the rings. This was most difficult to achieve. When accomplished, it marked the end of the game and of the losing side's captain. Immediately afterwards, he was beheaded by the captain of the winning team!
The spectators did not go scot-free, either. Fortunately, they were apt to lose only their belongings: clothes and jewelry which they forfeited to the player who had shot the winning goal. No wonder that they tried to escape the moment this happened. But friends of the goal-shooter pursued them to exact the tribute due to him.
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"Ancient Legends of Swimming",65,0,0,0
Most animals are born swimmers, but man has had to learn to swim. He possibly did so in earliest times by watching animals in the water and his most primitive style was thus that of "animal paddling" or the "dog paddle" stroke. To begin with, he might have held on to a floating log, trying to propel himself by movements with his legs as if he were walking or running.
Ancient monuments and records uncovered by archaeologists depict him moving along or beneath the water. These prove that swimming was practiced by many races in that early period of civilization.
Obviously, swimming at first was not a sport or a health-giving exercise, but a life saver and part of warfare. Man took to the water of necessity. He swam to take his foes by surprise, to make his escape (from man or beast), or to save himself from drowning. Swimming was part of early military training.
Its technique imitated the animals' movements. The swimmers thrashed the water with hands, arms, and legs, and though their speed was slow they were able to reach the shore if the distance was not too great. Man, however, swam "with the strength of fear rather than with his own." It was inevitable that he soon experienced the exhilaration of swimming and adopted it as a healthy pastime. Once he had mastered the art of staying afloat, his competitive instinct led him to develop the sport, step by step.
Hieroglyphic symbols, ancient Assyrian sculptures, Greek legend, Roman documents, and the \JBible\j, all testify to the early existence of swimming. Thousands of years ago man had learned to use inflated animal bladders as an aid to keep himself afloat.
In Egyptian writing, the sign for "swim" shows a man's head and one arm forward and the other back, a position anticipating the Trudgen stroke. The British Museum treasures Assyrian stone carvings depicting men swimming, upheld by inflated bladders. Three warriors can be seen crossing a stream in flight from their foe, trying to reach their fortress. Two of them make use of blown-up skins, while the third, wounded by an arrow, is struggling against the current, apparently having lost his support. The portrayal carries the telling legend: "They fled - like fishes crossed the river."
Well known is the Greek myth of young Leander, who fell in love with beautiful Hero, priestess of \JAphrodite\j. As such she could not marry and the two lovers had to meet secretly. That is how Leander was forced to pursue his courtship in most uncommon ways and difficult circumstances.
They were separated by the waters of the \JHellespont\j (later to be known as the Dardanelles). Secretly, every night, Leander swam across to his lady love, to spend at least a few hours with her and to return home before dawn.
Leander had to cover a considerable distance (of at least two miles - 3.20 km) each night and his feat may be considered the earliest marathon swim. He must have been a great athlete, and we may well wonder how he was able each day to conceal his fatigue from the previous night's swim.
Hero, anxiously waiting for Leander's arrival, guided him to the shore with a lamp. One night when a storm put out the light, Leander lost his bearings and was drowned. When Hero eventually saw his body floating in the surf, heart-broken she threw herself into the \JHellespont\j.
Through the centuries, many had doubted the possibility of Leander's achievement. After all, they said, the story was a mere myth. Lord Byron, however, an expert swimmer himself, on his visit to the Dardanelles in 1810, was determined to test the feasibility of such a swim. He decided to cross the \JHellespont\j, as he later wrote to his mother from \JAthens\j, "in imitation of Leander, though without his lady." Lieutenant Ekenhead joined him in the adventure.
They succeeded, and that same day (3 May), proud of his deed and in great exhilaration, Byron wrote to Henry Drury from aboard the \Jfrigate\j \ISalsette:
This morning I swam from Sestos to Abydos. The immediate distance is not above a mile, but the current renders it hazardous, so much so that I doubt whether Leander's conjugal affection must have been a little chilled in his passage to Paradise. I attempted it a week ago, and failed - owing to the north wind, and the wonderful rapidity of the tide - though I have been from my childhood a strong swimmer. But this morning, I succeeded and crossed the "broad \JHellespont\j" in an hour and ten minutes.\i
Six days after the event, while the \Jfrigate\j was still lying at anchor at the historic site, he recalled his exploit. With poetic license he claimed that his verses had been penned immediately after the swim:
\IWritten After Swimming From Sestos To Abydos
If, in the month of dark December,
Leander, who was nightly wont
(What maid will not the tale remember?)
To cross thy stream, broad \JHellespont\j!
If, when the wintry tempest roar'd,
He sped to Hero, nothing loth,
And thus of old thy current pour'd,
Fair Venus! how I pity both!
For me, degenerate modern wretch,
Though in the genial month of May,
My dripping limbs I faintly stretch,
And think I've done a feat today.\i
A note which he added to the poem, stated: "The only thing that surprised me was that, as doubts have been entertained of the truth of Leander's story, no traveler had ever endeavored to ascertain its practicability." In a controversy, roused by this claim, he was forced to admit that, after all, he had not been the first to re-enact Leander's swim. He had been preceded by four others. In the years to follow, his example was emulated by more than a hundred swimmers who embarked not as Leander "for love," but as Byron, "for glory."
Romans were renowned for their mastery of the water. Horatius, holding back the \JEtruscans\j from a wooden bridge until it could be demolished, is said to have dived into the Tiber to swim across it to safety in spite of his wounds and his armor. Even his foes had to admire his prowess.
No less, Julius Caesar was a superb swimmer. Whenever on his campaigns rivers obstructed his advance, it is said he was the first, ahead of his legions, to have dived into the water and to have crossed them with a powerful stroke. Well known is the tradition that, when ship-wrecked off Alexandria, Caesar jumped overboard to swim ashore. Carrying his sword between his teeth he held his \ICommentaries\i with this left hand above the water while beating it with his right.
Shakespeare makes Cassius in \IJulius Caesar\i relate:
\ICaesar said to me, "Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,
And bade him follow; so indeed, he did.\i
Romans regarded swimming as part of their education. A Latin definition could say of an uncultured person that "he learnt neither to read nor to swim."
Just as the Assyrians had done earlier, so the Romans too used animal bladders to support learner-swimmers. When Horace in his \ISatires\i in 35 BC discussed hard and easy ways of training, he referred to the use of animal bladders which he called water wings. "It is one method," Bacon wrote, "to practice swimming with bladders and another to practice dancing with heavy shoes."
Northern races, such as the Scandinavians, also knew how to swim.
Swimming, certainly, was well known in biblical days and taken for granted. The \Jprophet\j Isaiah employed a graphic picture of a swimmer's powerful arm stroke. He could not have done so without assuming that his listeners were acquainted with it and, hence, immediately grasped the meaning of his \Jmetaphor\j. The Hebrews had mastered the art, and used it in war and peace.
Jonathan, one of the Maccabean heroes, swam the Jordan to evade his pursuers, and Josephus, first-century Jewish military leader and historian, tells in his \Jautobiography\j how after he and a group of priests had been shipwrecked on their way to \JRome\j, they swam all through the night until another ship picked them up. Rabbi Akiba, second-century luminary of the \Jsynagogue\j, ruled that it was a father's sacred duty to teach his sons to swim.
Other evidence comes from the \JNew Testament\j. St John's Gospel (Chapter XXI) contains the story of how Peter, while fishing with friends on the lake of \JTiberias\j, saw Christ manifesting himself on the shore. He jumped into the water and swam the hundred yards (91 m) or so that separated their boat from land.
When St Paul's ship was wrecked off the Maltese coast, the centurion commanded that, to save their lives, all men able to swim should do so. The fact that the whole company, including Paul, safely reached the shore proves they were efficient swimmers.
#
"And Yet it Does Move",66,0,0,0
"And yet, it does move!" are the famous words with which \JGalileo\j is said to have defiantly recanted his submission to the Court of the Inquisition. He had uttered them after he had been forced into recognizing as "true" the teaching of the Church that the earth was the immovable center of the universe, something he knew to be incorrect.
There are two versions of the incident. One tells that \JGalileo\j had only whispered the words to a friend after having put his signature to the ignominious document. The other claims that loudly and daringly he had called out his denial when rising from his knees.
The fact is that no contemporaneous source records the event. The earliest known account of the alleged words appeared 128 years after his repudiation, in \IQuerelles litteraires,\i published by AbbΘ Trailh in Paris in 1761. It might well be that \JGalileo\j's admirers invented the incident to save his scientific integrity.
#
"Andrews Salt",67,0,0,0
The oddest situations may be responsible for enduring products and the most extraordinary namings. One such coincidence associated a renowned saint with a laxative. Andrews Salt was so called and patented by the name (in 1909) because the offices of the manufacturer in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, were situated in close proximity to St Andrew's Church.
As has been wryly noted, the proverbial saying that "cleanliness is next to Godliness" may have had something to do with the odd and, to some people, perhaps even blasphemous choice of name.
#
"Anecdote",68,0,0,0
In Greek \Ian\i is a prefix meaning "not." It indicates a lack. Anyone who is anonymous is without a name, he is "not" known. Anemia describes a deficiency of red blood cells. Few would suspect such negative message in an anecdote.
Anecdotes are considered entertaining accounts of incidents from someone's life. They make most popular reading. However, their description as an anecdote implies the exact opposite. Taken literally, they should be a closely guarded secret and told, if at all, only in strictest confidence. The term combined the Greek negative \Ian\i with \Iekdotos,\i "published." It is something unpublished, a secret history.
This, in fact, is the very sense in which \IAnecdotes\i were first used in the literature, as the title of a collection of stories attributed to \JProcopius\j, sixth-century Byzantine historian and prefect of Constantinople. He had chosen if for a very good reason. The anecdotes were scandalous accounts from the lives of his most prominent comtemporaries, many of whom filled the highest offices. Their public circulation would have had serious consequences. Hence, he "published" them "privately," as a hidden supplement, so to speak, to his official and renowned \IHistories.\i The name he gave them was therefore well chosen and appropriate, meaning what it said.
#
"Angels",69,0,0,0
For a long time, angels used to be a popular feature on graves, depicted or sculpted in many sizes and forms. At times, only the head and wings were shown. Angels might appear as solitary figures and in giant size, sometimes holding the anchor of hope, or in pairs flanking a tablet or an open book.
Literally, "angel" - from the Greek - refers to a "messenger." He was God's envoy to man, a divine link with the world of the spirit. His presence on a grave intimated that, just as he had protected the deceased during his lifetime, so he did now in death. Truly, he was a guardian angel.
The winged angel can also be interpreted as symbolic of the soul winging its way heavenwards.
#
"Animal Liberation",70,0,0,0
"Animal liberation" may be a modern slogan (popularized in 1975 by Peter Singer's book of that title). But as a philosophy and policy it has its roots in ancient religious tradition.
The \JBible\j observes that "the righteous knows the soul of his beast" (Prov. 12.10). Not a mere theoretical maxim, it was enforced by detailed priestly legislation. No farmer, for instance, was permitted to muzzle an ox when it was treading corn (Deut. 25.4). The animal could not be expected to perform the task while having food before its eyes without being able to eat some of it. To be unfeeling towards an animal was considered a sin. The Jewish religion permitted the catching of fish only by netting them. Significantly, the word "hook" occurs in the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j solely as a \Jmetaphor\j for cruelty.
The rabbis based God's choice of Moses as the Israelites' leader on a single incident relating to a small animal. God regarded him as qualified for the position, because he had felt pity for a lost lamb. He had traced and then carried it home to its mother. Jewish law forbade anyone to sit down for a meal until he had fed his pet.
Two millennia ago, a Jewish sage put the rhetorical question, why had God created a \Jflea\j before humans. It was, he pointed out, to remind man that even the smallest of creatures had preceded him and was treasured by God.
St Francis of Assisi (b. 1181) was renowned for his unparallelled concern for animals. He addressed them as his brothers and sisters and preached to the birds. He included all creatures in the family of man. No wonder that Catholicism regards him as the patron saint of \Jecology\j.
In incredible variety and actuality, religion thus blazed the trail for animal liberation. It was the first to campaign to make people realize the enduring value of animals, that they have rights of their own and are entitled to be treated with kindness and consideration in the same way that humans are.
#
"Animals in our Language",71,0,0,0
Animals are among man's best friends. Once worshiped and considered sacred, they have fulfilled a significant task in his daily life for thousands of years.
Even where technological advance has supplanted animals, we remember them as faithful servants who have left their mark in civilization and culture. That is why, for instance, we still reckon the force of our cars in horse-power. No wonder, therefore, that our language is rich in references to animals, used as similes and analogies.
Many superstitions attach also to the animal kingdom. The origins of these phrases and beliefs are sometimes much more complex than they appear on the surface.
Animals have the habit of creeping into many places. But no creature excelled in this more than the cat. And perhaps not without reason. After all, it is renowned for its curiosity; we all know of the nosey cat.
The cat has found its way even into the loom of language and left its traces there in most diverse ways, to discover which is almost a game of "cat and mouse." Everyone likes to be thought the cat's whiskers, and lucky are those able to indulge in a catnap. Though we must beware of cat-burglars and of being used as a cat's paw.
It is also good for us to appreciate that often we have been misled. There are cases when what appears as (part of) an animal is only something else in disguise. Catgut comes from horses or sheep, and the cat o'nine tails is a frightening instrument of flogging, far removed from our purring friend. A dogwatch has nothing to do with the canine species. Elephants do not have a good memory, and bees are not as busy as we may think. They spend most of their time doing nothing.
Man prides himself in having tamed wild beasts and having taught animals many a lesson. He forgets, however, that he himself could learn from his dumb friends, who excel him in numerous ways.
An owl's eyes, for instance, are sensitive to infra-red radiation. A bat in flight has been using its own system of radar for thousands of years. Dogs pick up sound waves of a frequency up to 100,000 vibrations a second, as compared with man's limit of a mere 30,000.
Animals, indeed, have been sacrificed numberless times to serve man, for better or worse, on altars, on menus and for the sake of medicine and civilization.
All this should make man humble if not ashamed. "Why was man created only on the sixth day and as the very last of all creatures?," an ancient sage asked. He himself gave the answer, which is still valid. He said: "To be able to tell man, whenever he becomes overbearing or is swollen with pride, 'Even a \Jflea\j preceded you in creation!'"
#
"Animals in the Chinese Calendar",72,0,0,0
Each year has its individual name, called after one of the twelve animals that make up the Chinese zodiac.
A \Jfable\j about an event in \JBuddha\j's life explains their choice. He had extended an invitation to all living creatures, but only twelve of them answered his call. They were the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the \JRabbit\j, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Sheep, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog and the Pig. As a reward, \JBuddha\j commemorated their visit by naming a year after each of them.
The sequence of the years, so a legend tells, was determined by a cross-country race between these very animals, and is the order in which they reached the finish.
#
"Anointment",73,0,0,0
Christ - from the Greek - means "the anointed" and is the literal translation of the \JHebrew\j word, \JMessiah\j. It was an obvious choice of a name for Jesus by those who considered Him "The King," just as the Roman executioners superscribed His cross by the telling words, "Jesus, the \IKing\i of the Jews."
From earliest days, anointment has been an essential feature of a coronation. At times, British monarchs themselves wondered what was the purpose of anointment, apart from its \Jsymbolism\j. In 1246, for instance, King Henry III, in a letter to the Bishop of Lincoln, asked for an explanation of the rite. He was told that the sacrament of unction conferred on a king the seven-fold gift of the \JHoly Spirit\j, the better to help him serve his people. The Bishop wrote:
\I"To His Most Excellent Lord, Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland... His Devoted Robe," by Divine Mercy the humble servant of the Church of Lincoln, greeting:... As to that which you have commanded..., to wit, that we should inform you in what manner the \Bsacrament of unction\b increased the royal dignity; our modesty is unable to satisfy it, as there are many kings who are in no way adorned with the gift of unction. But of this we are not ignorant, that the \Broyal anointing\b is the sign of the privilege of receiving the \Bsevenfold gift\b of the most \BHoly Spirit,\b and by this sevenfold gift the anointed King is bound in more especial manner than those kings who are not anointed, to carefulness in all his royal actions and those of his government; that is to say, by the gift of \Bfear\b he is not by ordinary means, but with vigour and courage, to restrain from all illegal acts, in the first instant himself, and secondly, those subject to his government. By the gift of true \Bgodliness\b he must defend, help, and cause to be helped widows, orphans, and in general all who are distressed; by the gift of \Bknowledge\b he must make, observe, and cause to be observed, righteous laws made for the just government of his realm, and abolish those that are evil; by the gift of \Bmight\b he must repel all the attacks of the enemies of his country, and must not be fearful of death for the good of the State.
In addition to these duties, which he is specially to perform, he must be adorned with the spirit of \Bcounsel\b by which the rational order of this world is taught with art and knowledge; also, with the spirit of \Bunderstanding\b by which the order of the company of angels can be discerned; and lastly, by the gift of \Bwisdom\b by which we attain a clear knowledge of \BGod,\b so that he may be a pattern to the order of the world and the order of the angels; and at last, following the eternal laws, written according to the eternal purpose of God, by which He rules the whole creation, may rule in order the State subject to him."\i
In reality, the anointment of a king was the result of several deeply rooted beliefs and practices which, by many years, anticipated even the anointment of Saul, the first Jewish king, by Samuel, the \Jprophet\j, who took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him and said, "Is it not that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over His inheritance."
The primary, motivating force in anointment can be traced to the tradition that kings were divine. The sacred unction ceremoniously bestowed on them not merely symbolically, but actually, that distinction.
Primitive races imagined that certain types of organic matter were charged with mystical power and divine spirit. Potency varied according to the substance.
It was believed that man, particularly the elect, could absorb this sacred essence into his body by actually eating (the flesh) or drinking (the blood), which thus became a sacramental rite.
More than anything else, fat was regarded as saturated with the divine. It was thought, also, to be the very seat of life. But fat was too holy, and hence too dangerous, to be eaten. Therefore it was externally applied. Because of its highly potent sanctity, mere contact was sufficient to transfer its gift of \Jsupernatural\j power. At first, the king's whole body was rubbed with fat. Subsequently fat was replaced by oil, in which the king was bathed. Finally oil was poured on his head only.
Among the famous Tell el-Amarna Letters (stemming from the 14th century B.C.) has been discovered a "note" that once accompanied the gift of "a flask of good oil," sent by the King of Cyprus to the King of \JEgypt\j, advising that the oil was "to pour on you head, now that you have ascended the throne of your kingdom."
It also was believed formerly that the sacred unguent permanently immunized the king from the influence of harmful spirits. It served as a magical, protective armor against any kind of evil forces. \JHedging\j the king with an invisible fence of sanctity, it rendered him invulnerable in the execution of his so dangerous office.
Lastly, it must be remembered that anointment was practised generally by the noble and rich of ancient races, especially on festive occasions. It was part of their toilet and a mark of honor. It refreshed the body, creating a feeling of comfort and personal well-being. But, most of all, by the extra sheen it gave to the skin, it lent that air of distinction and shining presence to the anointed which is so fitting to the supreme moment of a monarch's enthronement.
#
"Answer the Door",74,0,0,0
Whenever we "answer the door," we do not know what we are talking about. It is not the door that is answered, but the caller who knocks or rings the bell.
#
"Ant: Origin of the Name",75,0,0,0
The ant, as it were, crawled straight out of the \JBible\j into our vocabulary. We even know the exact date of its first appearance. Prior to this time, the insect was mostly known by the Old English \Iaemete,\i "the cutter," a word still popular in crossword puzzles, though spelled there \Iemmet.\i The modern name for the tireless little creature was first used in the King James version of Scripture, published in 1611. It occurs in Proverbs (6. 6-7) in the well-known passage exhorting those shirking work to "go to the ant" and follow its example of industry and forethought.
No doubt, the frequent quotation of the maxim popularized this new version of the name in no time, until it came to replace all older forms.
#
"Antagonism Perpetuated",76,0,0,0
Mount Gambier's cemetery has a profusion of the most varied inscriptions. Some are strange indeed. One of the most striking, though no longer in existence, is well remembered:
\IHere lies the mother of children five,
Of whom two are dead and three alive;
Those that are dead preferring rather
To die with mother than live with father.\i
#
"Anticoagulants: the Discovery",77,0,0,0
Thousands of people who have suffered a coronary occlusion which once would have proved fatal, now survive and can lead normal lives. They do so because of a mere accident.
In the state of \JWisconsin\j, USA, \Jcattle\j had mysteriously died. Investigation traced their death to contaminated hay, on which they had fed. Further research (by Dr Karl P. Link of the University of \JWisconsin\j in 1941) was able to identify "dicumarin" as the substance that had brought about their death. Unaccountably, it had thinned the animals' blood with fatal effect. There is no ill wind that does not blow someone some good. The discovery led to the development of \Janticoagulants\j which proved such extraordinary life savers.
#
"ANZAC Origins",78,0,0,0
\JANZAC\j is one of \JAustralia\j's most sacred words, expressing a spirit of heroic values and sacrifice. Yet few of the very men who landed on \JGallipoli\j had ever heard the word, which their action was to immortalize. According to one claim, it was not even an Australian, but an Englishman, who coined it.
There was no emotional quality or military glory attached to the expression when it was first introduced. It was born as a mere code-word to replace the cumbersome title of the \IAustralian and \JNew Zealand\j Army Corps.\i
Soon after the outbreak of World War I, \JAustralia\j's special volunteer army for overseas service was formed and named the Australian Imperial Force by General Bridges. It is best known by its initials as the (First) A.I.F.
It was sent to \JEgypt\j where Poona-born General Birdwood was appointed to establish and command a joint Army Corps of Australian and \JNew Zealand\j troops. He intended to call it the A.A.C., standing for Australian Army Corps, but then agreed, as was only fair, to include \JNew Zealand\j's name. Thus the title Australian and \JNew Zealand\j Army Corps came into existence.
Stationery headed \IA & N.Z. Army Corps\i was printed. The new name became even more familiar to those who frequented headquarters at \JCairo\j's famous Shepheard's Hotel, as numerous boxes stored outside the clerks' room carried the Corps' title.
Those in charge of communications soon realized how tedious it was to use the long string of words. To register correspondence, therefore, two sergeants cut out a rubber stamp bearing just the initials A. & N.Z.A.C. In no time the clerks started referring to it as their \JANZAC\j stamp.
One morning, Major Wagstaff called at the office and asked the men whether they could think of a suitable abbreviation for the extended title of the Corps. Sergeant K. M. Little, trying to recollect in later years what happened, asserted: "We all had a shot and \II\i suggested \JANZAC\j."
His claim was contradicted by Lt. A. T. White, a member of the English Army Service Corps. With equal sincerity he alleged that it was he, also a clerk in the office when Major Wagstaff made his request, who - with the rubber stamp in his mind - had called out: "How about \JANZAC\j?"
No matter to whom the merit really belongs, New Zealander or Englishman, Sergeant or Lieutenant, the fact is that the Major immediately took a liking to the new word. He duly passed it on, in January 1915, to his superior, General Birdwood, who approved of its choice, and \JANZAC\j was thus adopted as the Corps' official code-name, though no one at the time could guess the part it was going to play in the destiny and history of the Australian people.
#
"Appendicitis Fallacy",79,0,0,0
People fear that to swallow the stone of a cherry or plum or any other fruit-seed may give appendicitis. In the majority of such accidents, the stone will not get stuck, but in the usual way will pass harmlessly through the body, without causing \Jinflammation\j of the appendix.
#
"Applause",80,0,0,0
A modern audience shows its appreciation of a performance by clapping hands. In the classical theater, the "applause" did not follow, but preceded the show. It was not a spontaneous reaction, but contrived. Actually, it was initiated and directed by one of the actors! Facing the audience from the stage, he instructed them to "Clap your hands!." In Latin he said, \IPlaudite!,\i the source of all "applause." The purpose of the practice was to ensure the play's success.
If a play failed, it was superstitiously believed (or cleverly rationalized), bad acting or a poor script was not at fault, but the devil. He delighted in spoiling success and possibly was present in the theater to do his nefarious work with the play about to be enacted. The first thing to be done, therefore, before the performance even started, was to get rid of the devil. Traditionally, he was thought to be allergic to noise. Hence the clapping of hands would drive him out and the show could begin without fear of interference on his part.
#
"Apple of the Eye",81,0,0,0
It is a strange phenomenon that even the most fervent atheist cannot get away from the \JBible\j. Its text has become so interwoven with western culture that without our knowing we quote from Scripture at least as much as from Shakespeare. To cherish anyone like "the apple of the eye" is a biblical \Jmetaphor\j, though, unfortunately, the result of yet another of its mistranslations. It is quoted as a simile to describe God's care for Israel who was as precious to him "as the apple of the eye."
The original \JHebrew\j text however does not mention the apple at all. Instead, it simply speaks of the "pupil" of the eye (Dt. 32:10). It was a well-chosen comparison, as this most treasured part of the organ of vision, if damaged, could cause \Jblindness\j. Hence, it needed special care.
In the early days, it was erroneously assumed that the pupil was a solid, spherical body, very much like an infinitesimally small "apple." This misconception introduced the "apple of the eye," a mistake that has never been discarded.
#
"Apple Pie Order",82,0,0,0
Some believe that the expression "apple-pie order" recalls an early practice of American housewives, particularly in New England. Working ahead, they used to bake an entire week's supply of apple-pies. These were then placed on a shelf in the pantry. They did so not haphazardly but in orderly fashion. Each pie was allotted its place, according to the day of the week on which it was meant to be eaten. Not surprisingly, their "apple-pie order" became proverbial.
Another explanation disregards the individual days, but recalls that early larders were restricted in space. Hence, the American women learned carefully to stack the many pies they had baked. Their neat arrangement, with one pie sitting on top of the other, was duly admired and their "apple-pie order" became a general figure of speech for anything that was neat and tidy.
However, convincing these theories sound, the original apple-pie order contained neither a pie nor an apple. It was a French phrase mispronounced and then misunderstood by the English.
Fashionable Frenchmen used to refer to their napkins as "folded linen" \I(nappe pliee),\i stressing the neat manner in which it was placed in front of the diner. It showed a sense of orderliness and elegance.
The English, reading the word in their own way, changed the French \Inappe pliee\i to something sounding very much like an apple-pie. And that is how most likely the apple-pie order came into being. This, too, would explain the "apple-pie bed." That is bed linen so folded that the bottom part of the sheet did not permit the sleeper to stretch out his (or her) legs.
Another derivation - from the Old French - sees in the apple-pie (order) a French military remnant, entirely misunderstood. The French phrase spoke of a knight who was fully armed from "head to foot" as \Icap a pied.\i At least in the case of the apple-pie thus, a confusion of tongues whether around the dining table or on the battlefield, had a tasteful result.
#
"Apples on Gravestones",83,0,0,0
It is generally, though wrongly, believed that "the forbidden fruit" in Paradise was an apple, which made it a symbol of sin. That the sound of \Imalum,\i the Latin for "apple" and of \Imalus,\i "evil," was almost identical, reinforced the idea.
The erroneous belief that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in Paradise was an apple is another reason for its portrayal on some gravestones. The deceased, who had now entered Paradise, was sure to partake of the fruit and therefore share divine wisdom, a privilege \JAdam and Eve\j were not granted.
When, according to Christian belief, Jesus by his death on the cross redeemed man from sin, the apple lost its original \Jsymbolism\j. It came to denote salvation, the redemption from sin by Christ. This explains the tradition of some early artists depicting Jesus - as the Christ-child or the Savior - holding an apple in his hand. In this new sense, the apple became part of sepulchral \Jsymbolism\j. It was meant to imply that the deceased was now free from sin.
To those acquainted with Scripture, the apple conveyed yet a third significant message. In the Song of Songs (2, 3) the young girl, using highly imaginative metaphors, compares her lover with an apple tree, standing out among all other trees: "under its shadows I delighted to sit and its fruit was sweet to my taste." Like a delicious and fragrant apple, so the deceased excelled, surpassing many others.
#
"April",84,0,0,0
Nature and romance have given us the month of April and may have done so in one of two ways.
In the northern hemisphere it is the time when the buds of flowers and trees begin to open up, to blossom. Highlighting this delicate stage of natural growth, the month was identified with it. April is derived from the Latin \Iaperio,\i meaning I open.
On the other hand, recognizing the significant part played by the reproductive forces in this month, the Greeks may have dedicated it to \JAphrodite\j, their goddess of fertility, beauty and life. April is, perhaps, merely a shortened form of her name.
#
"April 1",85,0,0,0
\BApril Fools' Day\b
On 1 April people play practical jokes on each other.
It all started long ago - with Noah, according to one tradition. Having spent months in the Ark, he anxiously waited for the Flood to subside. When he thought that at long last this had happened, he sent out a dove, hopeful that it might find some firm ground. He was mistaken. It was much too soon and the dove, "having found no rest for the sole of her foot," returned to the Ark. It had been a fool's errand.
The date of the failed mission was said to have been 1 April which, because of Noah's folly, was called the "Old Fool's Day." Eventually, however, either the circumstances were forgotten or, more kindly, it was considered unfair that so decent, righteous and blameless a man as Noah should be remembered as the Old Fool. So the "Old Fool's Day" was changed into "\JAll Fools' Day\j," which it has remained ever since.
Another explanation has much greater historical validity. It relates to the adoption of the modern calendar and the fact that, until the sixteenth century, \JNew Year's Day\j was celebrated on 25 March. It frequently happened that this very day, so jolly and happy, fell during Passion Week, and sometimes even coincided with \JGood Friday\j itself. To avoid such an unfortunate circumstance, the authorities postponed the traditional New Year celebrations to 1 April.
Old habits die hard. When the calendar was reformed and \JNew Year's Day\j was moved back to 1 January, some people did not keep up with the times! They forgot all about the new New Year. Taking advantage of their confusion, jokers made fun of them. They paid them ceremonial (mock) visits and asked them for presents, making real fools of their hosts, who took them seriously.
It has also been suggested that the custom is a relic of the once prevalent practice of unlocking the gates of mental institutions and allowing the insane to roam at large on 1 April. Released from the asylum for this one day, they became the unfortunate victims of heartless pranksters who asked them to perform acts which obviously were beyond them. In every sense, they sent them on fools' errands.
Whatever the reason, 1 April has become a day licenced for mischief, though of an innocuous kind. It is a day reserved for laughter. But tradition also demands that all hoaxing must cease at noon. Anyone extending the time limit makes a fool of himself.
#
"April 23",86,0,0,0
\BSt George's Day: The Feast of England's Patron Saint\b
How St George killed the dragon to save the life of a beautiful girl is a well-known legend that has had a significant influence on historical events.
Although it all happened in \JLibya\j, it was far-off England that made the hero her patron saint. English warriors adopted St George's name as their rallying call, and the banner of St George used to be carried into battle before the kings of England.
Hardly any facts are known about St George. Even the dates of his birth and of his martyr's death (in C. 303) are the subject of conjecture.
A soldier in the Roman army, and a pagan, George abandoned his military career when, in the pursuit of his duties, he was ordered to imprison converts to the Christian faith. He adopted \JChristianity\j and promised henceforth to dedicate his entire life to doing good and to spreading the Christian message wherever he went.
On his arrival in Silene, in \JLibya\j, he was told of a fearsome dragon that was terrorizing the city by demanding a daily offering of two sheep. When the town ran out of animals, the monster insisted on a human sacrifice in their stead. Sadly, the people submitted, choosing by lot the daily victim.
On the day of George's visit, the king's daughter had been picked. Trembling and sobbing, the beautiful girl awaited the gruesome fate of being devoured by the beast. George fearlessly confronted the dragon. He badly wounded it with his lance and then used the princess' belt to lead the now powerless creature into the city!
After returning the girl to her royal father, he killed the dragon. He explained to the king and the people that his Christian faith had given him the \Jsupernatural\j strength needed to achieve the feat. As a result, the entire population, of well over 15,000 people, converted to \JChristianity\j.
George then continued on his travels till he was beheaded at the order of the Roman emperor Diocletian, at Lydda in Palestine on 23 April. His martyrdom was in punishment for having reprimanded Diocletian for his cruel and inhumane acts.
The story of George's life and heroic deeds grew in the telling. People were convinced, moreover, that, as well as his fabled exploits, he had performed many other good works that were "known only to God."
English Crusaders first heard of St George, his feats and his fate while they were in the Holy Land. Greatly inspired, they carried his story home to England, where it was soon to capture the imagination of their countrymen. The English came to feel St George's presence in their midst, so much so that eventually they made him their patron saint.
Mystery still surrounds the details of his adoption for this role. Officially, St George became England's patron saint during the reign of King Edward III when, in C. 1348, he founded the famous Most Noble Order of the Garter and placed it under the Saint's patronage. St George's badge - a red cross on white background - became the symbol of England. It was emblazoned on the standards of the army and on the English flag, and the date of his death was celebrated as St George's Day.
By a strange coincidence, Shakespeare, England's greatest dramatist, is believed to have been born (in 1564), and to have died (in 1616), on St George's Day.
#
"April 25",87,0,0,0
\BAnzac Day\b
\JAnzac\j Day is a national holiday in \JAustralia\j. It is considered by many to commemorate the occasion on which \JAustralia\j came of age as a nation. Historically it recalls not a victory, but what ultimately amounted to a military defeat. On that day in 1915, the second year of World War I, the joint forces of the Australian and \JNew Zealand\j Army Corps (known by their initials as \JANZAC\j) landed at \JGallipoli\j on the Turkish peninsula, at what is now called \JAnzac\j Cove.
Lacking support, outnumbered and with inadequate munitions, they were eventually forced to withdraw. In spite of this, many people believe that their experiences and sacrifices gave Australians a sense of national identity. General Sir John Monash, reflecting on the campaign in later years, spoke of its far-reaching results. The evacuation had shown the true value of Australian character and discipline. If there had been one man on the peninsula who had disobeyed orders, the withdrawal would have become a disaster. It depended for its success upon the absolute and rigid obedience of every man.
\JAnzac\j Day is now a memorial to all those who have fought and fallen in every conflict in which Australians served. Solemn "dawn services," held in all parts of the country, start the day, and these are followed by a march. The rest of the day is devoted to reunions of former service personnel.
#
"April 30",88,0,0,0
\BWalpurgisnight: An Annual Witches' Convention\b
Walpurgisnight is a significant date in the occult calendar of the German people, but has attained world renown through Goethe's Faust. It falls on the eve of May Day, on 30 April. On that night, witches, warlocks, and demons are believed to be abroad, riotously and lasciviously celebrating a tryst with the devil. Their convention is held on some lofty summit, usually on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains. In actual fact, the occasion presents a combination of pagan and Christian traditions.
Originally the festival paid homage to the god Wodan and the goddess Freya who had given birth to Spring. To celebrate it so it was credulously assumed, witches from far and wide joined in festive gatherings. They made their way there, riding through the air on broomsticks, pitchforks, goats, and cats.
Women who attended those "get-togethers" genuinely believed themselves to be witches. In preparation for the night, they would rub their skin with a special ointment, which was made by mixing a variety of substances obtained mainly from poppies and \Jdeadly nightshade\j. Investigation has shown that the ointment had hallucinogenic qualities. It produced vivid, weird hallucinations in which the self-styled witches imagined themselves to fly up in the air and to engage in wild orgies with the devil.
Unaware that there was a scientific explanation, people believed in the myth. Terrified, they used every means at their disposal to counteract and nullify any possible evil effects of the witches' rendezvous. They lit bonfires, sprinkled herbs on the ground or nailed them to their barns. They made loud noises, notably by ringing the church bells, convinced that the devilish spirits could not tolerate the din and would turn tail! The Christian Church tried its very best to stop the ghostly "goings-on" and to rid the people of their fears and superstitious rites. A strange coincidence came to their aid.
It so happened that the night of 30 April was also sacred to St Walpurga. An English nun, she had been sent as a missionary to \JGermany\j where, in A.D. 761, she became abbess of the monastery at Heidenheim in \JFranconia\j. Many miracles were attributed to her during her lifetime and even after her death. Oil that exuded from the rock of her tomb, it was said, possessed miraculous healing powers. No wonder that she was made a saint!
The Church, therefore, had no difficulty in appropriating the night of the devil and in dedicating it to St Walpurga. It explains why, with a slight change in the spelling of the abbess' name, it has become known as Walpurgisnight. It is still celebrated as such - now with innocuous rites, lances, songs and bonfires - particularly in the area around the Brocken.
#
"Aquarius - the Water-carrier",89,0,0,0
The name of \JAquarius\j - the eleventh house of the Zodiac - is easily identified even by those not very conversant with classical languages. Everyone knows, from the aquarium, if nothing else, that \JAquarius\j, an almost identical word, is linked with \Iaqua,\i the Latin for "water."
Earliest civilizations already recognized the very basis of life in water, whether in the form of rain, or the inundation of a river. Its absence or scarcity could spell death. Cosmologies of old thus told how God or the gods created the waters first of all, or at least simultaneously with the earth. It has been suggested that the story of Genesis in the \JBible\j likewise really first had said that "in the beginning God created water and earth" (and not as the Authorized Version has it, "heaven and earth"). "The heaven" \I(shamayim\i in \JHebrew\j) took the place of "the waters" \I(mayim\i in \JHebrew\j) merely by a scribe's error caused by words so similar in sound and spelling.
Water was so much a part of man's existence that when inventing his first alphabet, he made it one of its elements: he could not even write without water. The letter "M" of our present-day alphabet actually stems from the original picture portraying water in the stylized form of a wave. It is still discernible in the \JHebrew\j character \Imem\i (the ancestor of the "M") the very name of which means "water" as well.
People soon realized that water poured down from heaven or (equally miraculous) came up from the river at specific times of the year. They also recognized that these fixed seasons always coincided with the passing of the sun through the identical part of the Zodiac. And using the experience and imagery of daily life on earth, they felt that there existed a celestial water carrier. Stationed at that very spot of the imagined band of stars, he was responsible for the supply of the power which fructified their fields and thereby saved man and his \Jcattle\j from \Jdrought\j and consequent \Jfamine\j.
That is how almost all cultures fancied they saw in that zodiacal house a man with a pitcher or a vase, pouring water downward towards the earth. The only difference in the choice of presentation was whether the receptacle was carried, stored, or emptied. The Chinese adopted "the filled vase" for the \Jconstellation\j. Chaldeans saw it as "a watering can." To the Greeks and Romans it became a "water pourer" or "water carrier," eventually called \JAquarius\j.
As in almost every part of the Zodiac, the Greeks were determined to personify and identify the so far general figure. They were not satisfied to see in it a "faceless" water carrier. Thus they discovered in \JAquarius\j the famous youth Ganymedes, whose ravishing beauty had taken the fancy of Zeus. The chief of gods had become so enamored with the lad that he had carried him off, away from his father with whom he left in his stead exquisite horses - a rather odd kind of compensation!
Zeus jealously kept Ganymedes for himself and installed him as his personal cup bearer. This was a very ancient and coveted office at royal courts, recalled in the biblical story of Joseph.
In his new profession, Ganymedes was responsible for the ample supply of intoxicating liquid. But it was also his duty to look after and ensure the annual flooding of the Nile.
His divine "connection" and well carried out obligations gained Ganymedes the highest award. He was given permanent occupancy of the celestial "house" known as \JAquarius\j.
#
"Arab Numerals: Indian Origins",90,0,0,0
There is nothing Arab in Arab figures. They stem from India. Arab traders visiting the country brought them to North Africa. Because it was from there that Arab Moors (in the tenth century) introduced them into \JSpain\j, they were thought to be Arabic. As so often in the naming of things, once again, not the originator but the importer is remembered.
Europeans did not take long to realize how superior the simple "Arab" numerals were to the commonly used, rather complicated Roman "figures," particularly so in calculations. Nevertheless, it took another six centuries before the "Arab" ciphers completely superseded them.
#
"Arabesques",91,0,0,0
An arabesque is a beautiful tracery, whether in script, dance or music. Decorative or highly ornamental, it gives extra beauty to a manuscript, a ballet, or a melody. It has its origin in \JIslam\j, which not only adopted, but applied even more strictly, the Jewish tradition which forbade the making of any image in the likeness of a figure: irrespective of whether it was the representation of a divine being, a human or any of God's creatures.
Rigidly obeying the law, but endowed with a keen sense of beauty, Moslems used their artistic gift, to create instead fanciful and ornate compositions of flowing lines, interlacings and scroll-work. Their abstract style was the Oriental counterpart of the representational art of the West.
As Moslems were \JArabs\j, their art form was called after them, in the French form \Iarabesque.\i
#
"Archery: Legends and Biblical Era",92,0,0,0
Greek legend refers to \Jarchery\j many times, and Homer's Odysseus used it most skillfully. Well known is the story of his return home after 20 years' absence to find his wife Penelope besieged by a hundred suitors, eating and drinking at his expense. In the guise of a beggar, he cleverly planned the things to come.
Penelope had just decided that she could no longer wait for her husband's return, and was ready to wed one of the men. All that remained was to select the right spouse. She would make her choice by means of a trial.
Odysseus's bow had lain idle for 20 years. She would choose for her husband the man able to string it and shoot an arrow at a target through the eyes of 12 axe-heads, set up in a row, just as her husband used to do.
One by one, the suitors tried the feat, but could not even string the bow. When all had failed, Odysseus, still in rags, was handed the bow, over the violent protest of the other men. Without effort, he strung the great bow, took a sharp arrow which lay on a table before him, and shot it through the tops of all the axes to the target. Then, stripping off his rags, he revealed himself, took aim at his wife's suitors, and struck them down one by one.
However, neither the Greeks nor the Romans were notable archers. They made frequent use of skilled bowmen from \JCrete\j and Asia, whom they enlisted as mercenaries in their armies. In fact, the \JParthians\j so excelled in \Jarchery\j that they defeated the Roman legions.
It was only toward the decline of their empire that the Romans themselves became adept in the art, and even kings took it up with zeal and, at times, sadistic enjoyment. It is told of Emperor Commodus that he shot ostriches with a special type of arrow and how, at gladiatorial combats, he sat in his royal box equipped with a bow and arrows. From there he watched the cruel spectacle of men being chased by lions and leopards, and at the very moment when a beast was about to spring on its prey, he took aim and killed it.
Archery occupies a prominent place in the \JBible\j and in the history of the early Hebrews. It is said of Ishmael, Abraham's son and the ancestor of the \JArabs\j, that "God was with the lad and he grew. . . and became an archer."
Prince Jonathan, King Saul's son, engaged in the sport and, on one occasion, used it to convey a message to his friend David, the future king. To tell him that his life was threatened and that he should make his escape, Jonathan shot arrows far beyond the usual target, calling out to the boy who stood ready at the customary distance to retrieve them, that they were much farther afield. This was a pre-arranged signal for David that he, too, had to go far beyond, out of King Saul's reach.
Much later, after the fatal battle of Gilboa, David lamented the deaths of Saul and Jonathan in a dirge that became known as "The Song of the Bow."
\JArchery\j was so common in biblical times that frequently the bow, arrow, and quiver were used as figures of speech by the poets and prophets of Israel. The Psalmist thus spoke of the armed might of the wicked, "who have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slay such as are upright," but whose "bows shall be broken."
In powerful realism, suffering Job pictured himself as the target of archers who compassed him round about. God shoots at him, first letting His arrows whistle all about him, keeping him in fearful suspense, dreading that every shaft would strike the mark. Eventually, his apprehension comes true and each arrow hits his very vitals.
In \JJapan\j, \Jarchery\j became closely linked with the metaphysical system of Zen \JBuddhism\j. It became part of the education of the noble \JSamurai\j and was practiced not for such purposes as the hunt or war, or purely aesthetic enjoyment, but to discipline the mind. \JArchery\j was considered a lesson in effortless self-control, perfect equanimity, and the attainment of utter detachment.
#
"Aries - the Ram",93,0,0,0
It is not an accident that the ram - in its Latin form \JAries\j - is the first in the order of constellations. Rams were among the very first animals man worshiped - even in prehistoric times. The great number of ram-gods in existence in many parts of the world in early times testifies to the importance of the sheep in ancient cultures. The replica of a mummified ram was featured on artifacts in the first Egyptian dynasty! The \JBible\j tells how Isaac's life was saved by a ram which got caught by its horns in the thicket to take the place of the young boy as a sacrifice.
If the ram has thus occupied an eminent place in the life, thought and worship of man, it is not surprising that it was given a commensurate position up in the skies. Earliest astronomers gave it priority over all other constellations by choosing the ram as the name of the group of stars through which the sun passed at the vernal \Jequinox\j: the beginning of spring, when the renewed power of life asserted itself and the days began to grow longer.
And when the Greeks adopted the celestial (and zodiacal) ram, they immediately linked its lofty existence with one of their own myths. This presented a ready-made and most feasible explanation as to why the ram was so honored.
Greek legend told that the ram had been placed in the skies by Zeus himself, for weighty reasons. It was indeed not an ordinary sort of ram but the most famous ram of all: the winged ram renowned for its precious, \Jgolden fleece\j. And this was its well-known story: the ram, at the bidding of Hermes, had saved Phrixus and his sister Helle from the altar when (in consequence of a vicious intrigue) they were about to be offered to Zeus as a sacrifice.
The ram carried them away through the air to Colchis. But on that flight, while crossing the waters separating Asia and Europe, Helle had slipped off the ram's back and drowned in the straights, which ever since have been called after her - the \JHellespont\j.
However, the ram succeeded in taking Phrixus safely to his destination. After landing at Colchis, Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus, which to us appears a rather ungrateful action. He presented the ram's \Jgolden fleece\j to his new father-in-law who fastened it to an oak tree and had it guarded day and night by a dragon that never slept until, in spite of the precaution taken, the \JArgonauts\j were able to retrieve it.
Zeus was so deeply moved by the sacrifice of the ram that he bestowed on it the highest distinction and elevated it to the heavens. There it has stayed ever since as the gateway of the sun in spring and constitutes a group of stars that is easily recognized and continues to this day to honor that primal ram!
Apart from giving its name to the first sign of the Zodiac, the ram has been perpetuated in the language of warfare: both in the Roman nomenclature as \JAries\j and in English as the battering ram. In its primitive form this was a long heavy beam spiked at its end with an iron head. Obviously it received the name in recognition of the irresistible force of a charging ram that could knock down solid walls.
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"Armageddon Origins",94,0,0,0
Armageddon has become a figure of speech for a cataclysmic clash between opposing powers, representing irreconcilable ideologies and interests. The resulting most frightful devastation and slaughter would lead to the end of the world.
Actually, the term now synonymous with the horrendous prophecy is the corrupt rendering of the name of a geographical site. Situated in the north of the Holy Land, 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of Haifa, it was known in the \JHebrew\j tongue as Har \JMegiddo\j (the mountain of \JMegiddo\j) or Ir \JMegiddo\j (the city of \JMegiddo\j). Transposed into Greek, the name was disfigured into \JArmageddon\j and first appears as such in the \JNew Testament\j.
Strategically positioned on the crossroads between east and west, "the mountain of \JMegiddo\j" repeatedly - from the most ancient days to modern times - has been the scene of decisive battles, sometimes so momentous that they changed the course of history.
It was at \JMegiddo\j - in 609 BC - that Josiah, a most revered king of Judah, fell in battle. As an ally of the Babylonians, he had tried to stop their Egyptian enemy joining the Syrian forces. In the ensuing action, he was slain.
His loss was regarded as so disastrous for the nation that people came to identify the name of \JMegiddo\j, already linked with so many battles, bloodshed, and defeats, with a shattering catastrophe.
This, no doubt, prompted Christian tradition, as recorded in the Book of Revelation (16:16-21), to make Har \JMegiddo\j, \JArmageddon\j in its new spelling, the site of the final great battle of the world. A confrontation between the forces of good and evil, its scope would not only be of global but of cosmic proportions:
\I...and there were thunders and lightnings; and there was a great \Jearthquake\j, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an \Jearthquake\j, and so great...and every island vanished, and the mountains were not found...and a great hail...fell down out of heaven upon men...\i
Significantly, \JMegiddo\j came to play an historic role once again in modern times. General Allenby of Britain launched his offensive against the Turks from there on September 18, 1918, resulting in their ultimate defeat. When, on September 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender in \JTokyo\j Bay, he remembered the ancient city's place in its eschatological context. He used it as a warning. Mankind, he said, had had its last chance to determine the future of the world by means of war. Indeed, if no other peaceful solution was found, "\JArmageddon\j will be at our door."
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"Arrowroot: Origin of the Name",95,0,0,0
The arrow in \Jarrowroot\j is deceptive. It has nothing to do with the pointed weapon. Nevertheless, it has been assumed to be so real that most convincing explanations have been given for its presence in the name of this starch-yielding plant. This was so called, people believed, because Red Indians had discovered the healing property of the sap of its tuber in the treatment of wounds inflicted by poison arrows. The sap was supposed to absorb the venom.
The arrow in (the name of) the plant is derived from the American Indian word \Iaru-aru\i for "flour" or "meal of meals." There was a good reason for this. The starch obtained from its roots proved most nutritious and easy to digest, so much so that gruel made from it was given to children and invalids.
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"Arteries: Origin of the Name",96,0,0,0
Arteries are vessels which convey the blood from the heart to the various parts of the body. But their very name - literally - empties them out and, strange to believe, suggests that they contain nothing but "air" \I(aer\i in Greek).
The reason for this error and misnomer shows how misleading partial observation can be. Early anatomists dissecting the dead found that, whilst the veins contained blood, the arteries seemed "empty." Puzzled they came to believe that the arteries were airducts which served the vital "spirit" dwelling in man. In this context, it is interesting to note that \JHippocrates\j very appropriately called the \Jwindpipe\j an \Iarteria.\i
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"Artillery's Meaning",97,0,0,0
The range of artillery, as a term, has varied to a surprising degree. To start with, it vastly surpassed its present-day meaning. From the French \Iartiller,\i the artillery then encompassed all military "equipment," and not only guns. But then, in the 16th century, the word was restricted to refer solely to them. Two hundred years later, the artillery expanded again to include also the men serving the guns.
#
"Ash Wednesday Custom",98,0,0,0
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It received its name from a custom that is still practiced on this day, when the priest marks worshipers foreheads with the sign of the cross - in ashes! It is a symbol of penitence as well as a reminder to the faithful, who show their grief for the pain Jesus suffered and for their sins, that "thou art dust and unto dust shalt thou return."
The ritual is all that remains of an earlier tradition in which ashes were emptied all over the heads of penitents, who used to present themselves to the priest clad in sackcloth. This followed the ancient mourning custom of expressing sorrow symbolically by putting on sackcloth and sprinkling ashes on one's head.
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"Ashes",99,0,0,0
Most famous of all cricket terms is "the Ashes." Its origin goes back to an historical match between England and \JAustralia\j played at the Oval in London in 1882. The Englishmen were thoroughly beaten and, in fact, the test had been so exciting that one of the spectators dropped dead. On the following morning the \ISporting Times\i published an obituary note: not on the victim but on English cricket. It read:
\IIN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE
of ENGLISH CRICKET,
Which died at the Oval
29th August 1882.
Deeply lamented by a large circle
of Sorrowing Friends and
Acquaintances.
RIP
NB - The body will be cremated,
and the ashes taken to \JAustralia\j.\i
When, in the following year, an English team went to \JAustralia\j, its captain, the Hon. Ivo Bligh, was asked to bring back "the ashes." Taking the request literally, the Australians, when beaten, burned a bail and put its ashes into an urn which they presented to their victorious visitors. This urn, "the Ashes," now rests as a treasured possession at Lord's, and Australians and Englishmen have battled - in the traditional phrase - for them ever since.
#
"ASPRO",100,0,0,0
A stylized \Jsundial\j decorates the square stone that marks the last resting place of George Nicholas in the Ficus section of the Springvale Crematorium Park.
In a graveyard the symbol can have several meanings and convey a diversity of messages. As one of the earliest instruments for measuring time, it may serve as a reminder of the brevity of life and of how swiftly and inexorably its hours pass. Equally, as it is only effective when the sun is shining, the \Jsundial\j may admonish the living to appreciate the sunny hours, of which there may be only few.
On the other hand, its choice for ornamenting a gravesite may be most personal. Its presence may pay special tribute to the deceased for the brightness he or she bestowed on other people's lives, lighting up their hours of darkness and distress. This, indeed, would be the most fitting interpretation and meaning of the \Jsundial\j set up in memory of George Nicholas - who created Aspro.
Aspro is not merely a brand name, but a household word. Not many medicine chests in \JAustralia\j would be without a packet of this remedy for so many ills.
However, it is little realized that Aspro is an Australian product and that George Nicholas was its creator. Now exported worldwide, its beginnings were as humble as its inventor.
Born on 19 May 1884, George started his career as a small-time pharmaceutical chemist with a little iron-roofed shop in St Kilda, Melbourne. At his death on 20 September 1960, at the age of 76, he had become the founder of an "empire" and was renowned as one of Victoria's most prominent philanthropists, with many benefactions to his credit.
Apart from giving large donations, often anonymously, to numerous charities, Nicholas was responsible for the rebuilding of both the Wesley and Methodist Ladies' colleges in Melbourne. A lover of horses, he founded the Shirley Park Stud near Mt Macedon and served as a member of the Victorian Racing Club.
\JAustralia\j owes Aspro to World War I, when aspirin could no longer be obtained. Bayer, the giant German company that had the world monopoly, had cut off all supplies. The Australian government offered the license and the use of the trade name to any local manufacturer who was able to produce a tablet of equal standard and potency.
George Nicholas, helped by Harry Woolf Shmith, another oft-forgotten chemist, succeeded in doing so. In fact, as the then federal attorney general (and later prime minister) Billy Hughes assured the nation, Nicholas' aspirin exceeded the German product in purity.
When first marketing it in 1917, Nicholas retained its original German name. In his enthusiasm, he did not anticipate the damage this would cause. Identifying Aspirin with the German foe, people refused to purchase it, a typical symptom of war \Jhysteria\j, welcomed and fostered by jealous competitors, who had failed to win the prize.
Everything seemed to collapse around Nicholas. His tablet certainly gave him a headache that even his product could not relieve. In 1917 he changed its name. It was a Nichol\Ias pro\iduct; and joining the last two letters of his name with the first three of the tablet, he created ASPRO. It immediately caught on and, though now "dinkum" Australian, the brand name retained some echo of its German ancestor and, with it, references to its quality - which was all for the good.
Success did not change Nicholas' lifestyle; as the Rev Benson said on the occasion of Nicholas' passing, he "was unspoilt by any of the glittering successes he had." It is also reflected by the very position of his last resting place and the wording on his memorial. Located in a small clearing and shaded by overhanging tree branches, his epitaph merely gives his name and the dates of his birth and death.
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"Assassin",101,0,0,0
Assassination is a word born in the context of a religious fanaticism of the most violent kind. Its root has nothing to do with murder, but is a linguistic corruption of the Arabic word for \Jhashish\j.
In 1090 Hassan ibn al-Sabbah founded in \JPersia\j a sect of semi-military religious extremists. His teachings and practices combined features of the most varied traditions, principally selected from \JIslam\j. After a short sojourn in \JEgypt\j, he established himself and his order in a fortress on Mount \JLebanon\j. There he trained a corps of supporters, numbering at times thousands of men, whom he sent out far and wide to make converts, if necessary by ruthless intimidation. Anyone who opposed his teachings faced death. His, indeed, was a rule by terror.
Al-Sabbah was concerned that his emissaries should not weaken or be overcome by pity but pursue their brutal task fearlessly and with unbounded zeal. For this reason he not only brain-washed them, before sending them on such missions, but drugged them with \Jhashish\j. The ensuing experience of euphoria, he told them, equalled the joys of paradise sure to be theirs, should they be killed while carrying out their sacred task.
Many a Crusader fell victim to these drugged terrorist zealots. Soon they were identified with the very hallucinogen supplied to them. They became known as assassins, from the Arabic word for the drug, \Jhashish\j.
The gang did not disband with Hassan's death in 1124, but carried on its nefarious work until the late thirteenth century. With the circumstances of its coining and the narcotic root of the name forgotten, the modern word remains the horrendous heirloom of religion gone astray in one of its most fanatic aberrations.
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"Astrology in Myth and History",102,0,0,0
Myth and history tell many stories of how scanning the skies paid high dividends to all parties concerned. Taking due note of all they saw above and making their calculations, the astrologer-priests of ancient times seemed to prove the validity of the astral religion which they guarded and guided so faithfully.
King Sargon of Akkad, ruler of the third millennium B.C., was one of the earliest world conquerors. His rich kingdom, situated in the fertile two-river valley, \JMesopotamia\j, seemed a valuable prize to neighboring tribes and nomads. They were anxious to share the wealth and happy existence of a country so favored by nature. Well aware of the threat to his land and rule, Sargon was determined, once and for all, to destroy those adversaries and to put an end to their constant menace.
To do so, he planned - as other "great" leaders did after him - to extend his rule over the entire known world. He would make all people like "one flock under one shepherd." Anticipating dreams of our modern age which are still unfulfilled, he also intended to unify the language of all those countries. Their people should speak with one tongue and the entire earth thus become one large dominion.
And his well-laid plans succeeded. With the battles won, he established the hoped-for peace and introduced a universal tongue over the vast area he now ruled. Alas, the situation was not permanent. But the significant feature in this stupendous undertaking was the fact that Sargon had not timed the complicated operation according to advice given by his generals or military experts. Instead he had consulted and listened to the royal astrologers, who had watched out for the most propitious constellations of the stars to embark on the venture! And the time-table they had suggested had led him to victory.
A totally different example comes from China and the reign of Emperor Tehuen-Hio. The official astrologer of his court could have been regarded as the minister of agriculture as well. It was his duty to inform the people of the most favorable moment to commence planting the seeds. And his calculations were based on the situation of the stellar bodies.
In the Himalayan mountain kingdoms, rulers were crowned and the dates of marriages were fixed on the advice of those who scanned the skies. Their word was law and no one would have dared to ignore their bidding and prognostications.
Greek legend tells that when Olympias was about to give birth to her son, she was carefully watched by \JNeoptolemus\j, her father, the king of Epirus. He was steeped in the arts of the occult and particularly in \Jastrology\j. Having cast the horoscope of his grandson to be, he knew that should he be born at a given hour, he would be destined to become the master of the world. And thus, he caused his daughter artificially to delay the birth till the propitious moment had come. And the child born was the future Alexander the Great!
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"Asylums",103,0,0,0
\IAsylum,\i a Greek word, described a divinely protected "shelter," a place of safety from violence and persecution. All holy places, such as temples, altars and sacred groves (and, later still, churches) served as such sanctuaries.
This historical background eventually led to the same word being applied to hospitals reserved for the care of those with \Jmental disorders\j. They were conceived as refuges in the spirit of the sacred connotation of \Iasylum.\i
Regrettably, man's cruelty and lack of understanding tainted it so badly, that the word has long since been discarded and replaced as the name for an institution caring for the mentally ill or intellectually handicapped.
#
"At Loggerheads",104,0,0,0
A loggerhead was used in medieval sea battles. A long handled implement, it had a cup at one end. This was filled with heated tar or pitch, in close combat to be poured on the assailants, with devastating results. To be "at loggerheads" thus may recall those fierce encounters with, at times, scarring effects.
There was yet another loggerhead. This was part of whaling vessels when whales were still caught with hand-thrown harpoons. This loggerhead was a round wooden post, the bitt, in the stem of the whaling boat. Its function was to control the speed of the harpoon line, as it ran out. At times this moved so fast that the friction threatened to ignite the timber. To prevent this from happening, water had to be poured on to it. The emergency was announced by the shout, "At loggerheads!" No wonder that people so incensed that sparks fly, are described to be "at loggerheads," too. After all, their confrontation could easily become a conflagration.
A third derivation discovers in the "logger" the dialectical term for "timber." A loggerhead, therefore, was a person as hard-headed as wood. Nothing could change his mind. If two such people collided, each determined to get his own way, figuratively speaking, they knocked their (wooden) heads together. In short, they were at loggerheads.
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"At Sixes and Sevens",105,0,0,0
Those experiencing a state of confusion or unable to come to an agreement are said to be "at sixes and sevens." The odd \Ifigure\i of speech has been traced to pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Chaucer tells how they whiled away their long journey by games of dice. These were said to have included higher numbers than those used nowadays. To roll for a six or a seven was most hazardous. Only someone who lacked self-discipline and was of an irresponsible disposition would venture "at sixes and sevens."
To confuse the issue further, another claim suggests that it all started in the City of London and one of its auspicious events. In the annual procession of \JGuilds\j, an unpleasant dispute arose between the Skinners and Master Tailors. Each claimed the right to precede the other and, as the sixth in line (and in status), immediately to follow the goldsmiths. They were truly "at sixes and sevens." In 1484, a typical British compromise finally resolved the acrimonious rivalry. The then Lord Mayor decreed that the two \JGuilds\j were to take precedence in alternate years.
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"At the Drop of a Hat",106,0,0,0
"At the drop of a hat" means instantly, right away. The phrase goes back to the days of the American frontier when fights between men were common. But in spite of their belligerence and adventurous spirit, they still obeyed rules. Two men ready to fight each other waited for the signal to start, given by a bystander "by the drop of a hat."
In later years, when people had settled down in every sense of the word, they transferred their passions to the sporting arena in which they adopted the gesture. A downward wave of a hat now signaled the beginning of a race or a contest. To delay the start by even a second, might well spell defeat.
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"At the Eleventh Hour",107,0,0,0
Something that happens in the nick of time, with hardly a moment to spare, is said to occur "at the eleventh hour." The puzzling expression for such lateness comes from the \Jparable\j of the laborers in the vineyard in the Gospels (Matth. 20. 1-16). This speaks of those men arriving almost at the very end of the working day as being hired "at the eleventh hour." However perplexing now, at the time the choice of words made good sense.
A working day then extended from dawn to dusk. This period was divided into twelve sections or "hours." The twelfth of them, obviously, was nearest to sunset and, hence, the end of the working day. A laborer starting his job only at the eleventh hour (of sunlight) therefore was truly late, with hardly any time left to do anything.
The system of keeping time was then changed. Hours were now counted throughout the day and night - irrespective of the rising or setting of the sun. Standardised, they were of equal duration in summer and winter. On the new, modified clock, 12 o'clock no longer coincided with nightfall but indicated either noon or midnight.
In spite of these changes, the influence of the Gospel story was so lasting that "the eleventh hour," though no longer in terms of modern time-telling, is still used in the now obsolete meaning of the \Jparable\j, as a figure of speech for the last possible moment.
It is a strange coincidence, and food for thought, that at the end of World War I, Armistice came into force at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
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"Atlantic Ocean and Atlas Mountains",108,0,0,0
If any ocean is divine, the \JAtlantic Ocean\j is doubly so, as it joins the name of the god, \JOceanus\j, with that of the Titan, Atlas. Indeed, in geographical terms, Atlas went from one extreme to the other. Whilst perpetuated in the waters of the \JAtlantic Ocean\j, he became petrified in North West Africa in the rocky \JAtlas Mountains\j. In fact, it was because of their proximity that the \JAtlantic Ocean\j was so called, first by the ancient Greeks.
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"Atlas",109,0,0,0
The fact that a collection of maps, usually in a volume, is called an Atlas, is based on Greek myth and an error.
Atlas was the mythological giant who led the Titans' rebellion against Zeus, the chief god. When the attempt proved abortive, Atlas was duly punished. He was condemned forthwith and forever to carry the heavens on his shoulders. To ease the burden, he was permitted to use his hands and head for support.
Artists must have misunderstood the tradition or used a garbled version of it because, when portraying Atlas, they showed him as holding up not the heavens, but the globe of the earth.
Mistakes are not always corrected, and this one was certainly not. When Rumold Mercator published his father's maps in 1595, he illustrated the title page and decorated the outside cover with the image of Atlas carrying the world on his back. This chance circumstance identified the giant's name with a book of maps ever after.
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"Atropine and Mythology",110,0,0,0
The name \Ibelladonna\i given to a drug obtained from the leaves and roots of the \Jdeadly nightshade\j is Italian for "fair lady." Most probably it was chosen because Italian beauties had learned to give luster to their eyes by dilating the pupils with the substance.
As \Jatropine\j (first isolated from the plant in 1831), the drug proved its medicinal value. Used prior to surgery, as a pre-anesthetic medication, it inhibits the flow of \Jsaliva\j. In ophthamology it dilates the pupils to allow easier examination and treatment of the eyes.
In his classification of plants, Linnaeus was the first to call the species of belladonna \Iatropa.\i He did so after Atropos, one of the three Fates of Greek \Jmythology\j. Hers was the tragic mission of cutting the thread of life. This explains why she is traditionally shown in the act of severing a cord with a pair of shears.
It is a strange paradox that a drug found, in modern times, to be so beneficial, should be associated with a \Jsupernatural\j figure dedicated to ending life. Linnaeus, no doubt, named it so because the substance could be fatally poisonous.
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"Auburn Hair",111,0,0,0
A person's hair color might not always be the original one. Individual taste, fads and modern dyes may be the root cause of the change. However, long before people ever thought of altering what nature had given them, error achieved the same - playing the trick by a simple mix-up.
It happened in the case of very fair-haired people. Their hair looked "rather white," \Ialburnus\i in the original Latin. (The word is related to albus for "white," which is still present in the albino and even in the "white" of an egg, the albumen.)
Romans thus called a fair-haired person \Ialburnus,\i a description which was adopted in Old French as \Ialborne,\i sometimes pronounced abron. The word then struck trouble. To English ears it sounded very much like their own "brown," \Ibroune\i at the time, and soon the two colors were mixed (up).
Misunderstanding what was being said, many people erroneously believed that "auburn" (the ultimate form of the new word) was not "rather white" but (reddish) brown! What modern chemistry still cannot do, incorrect hearing had achieved, at least linguistically: to dye hair permanently!
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"Auguries",112,0,0,0
When a new scheme is "inaugurated," when a meeting is held "under the auspices" of a certain society, or when we feel that the time is specially "auspicious" to introduce a new policy, we do not realize that on each of these occasions we use words which reflect occult belief. They are based on the conviction that unless we choose the right moment, our venture will fail. In each case, as well, the choice was originally determined not by logical or psychological considerations but by a \Jsupernatural\j message obtained from birds: one of the most ancient forms of \Jdivination\j. Looking into the future by aid of birds was the source from which the "inauguration," "auspices," and all that is "auspicious" have come!
Early man must have wondered what caused birds to soar high up into the air - far beyond his reach. He was equally mystified by the unpredictability of their flight, its direction, its various speeds, turns, and twists. What made birds suddenly, and for no apparent reason, take off or come down to earth? The peculiar formation in which they flew and veered when in a group, or the manner in which, all on their own, they hovered high up in the sky surveying a vast area of the earth, were other features that added to man's awe of them and to his puzzlement.
More intriguing still were the sounds birds made. What did they try to say with their cries, croaks, songs, calls, and twittering? Man was convinced that the wish to convey some message was behind it all. And because birds moved at all times between heaven and earth, they belonged to both those two dimensions and people came to regard them as divine messengers. They rose into the skies, man believed, to receive instructions from the gods.
Therefore, for the sake of his own life and his future, man had to find the key to understanding what the birds were telling so expressively, but in a language and in movements beyond the comprehension of ordinary human beings.
That is why, already in antiquity, special functionaries were appointed whose responsibility was to watch the flight of the birds carefully and then rightly to interpret the omens. They came to be known as "augurs" and very appropriately so. Their name clearly defined their professional duties: the divining by the flight of the birds. Augur is a contraction of the original Latin word for "bird" \I(auger,\i which preceded \Iavis)\i and either the verb \Igerere\i for "to manage" and "to perform" or the verb \Igarrio\i for "to talk" and "to chatter."
There were so many "signs" for the augur to observe. They ranged from the direction of the flight and the quarter of the sky in which the birds appeared, to the type of bird it was and the grain, worm, or meat on which it fed.
The augur fulfilled a most responsible function in the national life of the Romans. No government would embark on an important venture of any kind without having first consulted the appointed official. His considered opinion and "view" of the birds would determine the course of action. And this ancient "augur" is still part of our modern inauguration. Likewise, "auspices" speak of the "bird" \I(avis)\i being "watched" \I(specio)!\i This also explains why we always wait for the "auspicious" moment to ensure success. What was really meant by the term was the approval given by the gods and duly conveyed by their messenger birds.
Systems of augury naturally varied in different cultures and epochs. The Druids - as is one of the explanations of their very name - paid special attention to the "wren." The \JCelts\j selected their new settlements by watching where the crow "touched down." And Aztec legend claims that the site of the \JAztecs\j' capital city Tenochtitlan (the present-day \JMexico City\j) was "chosen" in the identical way. It was the spot where an eagle with a snake in its beak was seen to alight on a \Jcactus\j! The modern Mexican state recalls the incident in its coat of arms which is embossed on its coins and incorporated in its flag.
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"August",113,0,0,0
August is named after Augustus, Julius Caesar's nephew and successor as ruler of \JRome\j. He was originally called Octavian but, in acknowledgment of his distinguished services to the state, the Roman Senate conferred on him the honorific title "Augustus" - "The Majestic." And it is this epithet by which he became known and is remembered. August merely omits its Latin ending.
The month was not chosen, as July was in Caesar's case, because it marked Augustus' birthday (which fell in September), but because the month had proved lucky for him politically.
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"Australia's Contributions to Sport",114,0,0,0
\JAustralia\j is one of the most sports-minded countries in the world. Her contributions to sport are manifold and almost unparalleled. They include the life-savers' movement and the "Australian crawl." Australians gave the totalizator to the world of \Jhorse racing\j and made \JAustralian Rules Football\j a sport all of its own. Australians created \Jmotorcycle\j speedway racing and introduced the Fairbairn style into rowing.
\JAustralia\j, indeed, became the home of almost every sport, taking it up, sooner or later, with fervor and enthusiasm, and not rarely excelling in it. Australians became world champions in running, tennis, cricket, and rackets, to mention just a few examples. That \JAustralia\j, too, of all nations was the first to wrest the \JAmerica's Cup\j from the Americans, merely was another symptomatic event.
Alone among all primitive people of the world, the Australian \JAborigines\j, because of their superior \Jboomerang\j, never knew the bow and arrow as a means of hunting or fighting. Europeans introduced them towards the middle of last century and Wilbraham Liardet, a London-born publican who had opened a hotel at the future site of Port Melbourne, inaugurated \Barchery\b contests for the entertainment of his guests. From 1840 onward, he even provided those interested with the necessary equipment.
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"Australia's First White Child - Rebecca Oakes",115,0,0,0
In early records, figures and dates often differ. This makes it difficult to substantiate claims, particularly when they refer to "firsts."
A gravestone, kept in good condition in the Rookwood Cemetery, is said to be that of the first Australian-born white woman, Rebecca Oakes, nee Small. The daughter of a convict couple who had arrived with the \JFirst Fleet\j, she was born on 22 September 1788. At the age of 16, she married Francis Oakes, the Chief Constable of Parramatta.
Hers must have been a most sturdy constitution. Not only did she survive childhood at a time when infant mortality was extremely high, but she gave birth to twelve (some say fourteen) children. And she lived to the age of 94! When she passed away on 13 February 1883, she had certainly seen Australian history in the making. In fact, the year of her death was of special significance to women, as it just preceded the graduation of the first woman from an Australian university.
There is yet another credit often given to Rebecca, but it is possibly spurious. It asserts that Rebecca was the first (or second) "Anglo-Australian" to be married in the colony.
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"Australia's History in Surfing",116,0,0,0
With the ever increasing popularity and growth of surfing over the years, many lurking dangers became apparent. To safeguard against these was one of the reasons for the creation of the first Life Saving Association - in \JAustralia\j, where the sport had been introduced first by a South Sea Islander in the 1880s.
The actual circumstances have been related by a pioneer of surfing in \JAustralia\j, George Blackmore Philip (in his \ISixty Years Recollections of Swimming and Surfing in the [Sydney] Eastern Suburbs).\i He wrote:
\IThe Sunday morning came when the greatest tragedy of the beach occurred, and brought home to us that some practical use must be made of the friendship that had generated from our surfbathing association, when one of my greatest friends, Mr. G. Banks was drowned. . . That was the foundation of the Surf and Life Saving Association - and at the cost of his life untold numbers of lives would be saved in the future.\i
Lyster Ormsby, foundation captain of Sydney's Bondi Club, was most instrumental in working out the earliest methods of rescue. The club's first report could proudly state that "though started rather late in the year . . . it is now recognized by surf bathers as a body that cannot be dispensed with. Several rescues have been effected by members of the club since their advent to the beach and there have been no accidents from drowning."
Due to this movement, whose motto was "vigilance and service," surfing in \JAustralia\j grew to its present dimensions and the highest standards of surfing and lifesaving were developed.
These are demonstrated in the annual surf \Jcarnival\j (inaugurated in Manly, Sydney, in 1908), with competitions and exhibitions in swimming, surfing, and, not least, life-saving skill.
To the young and strong, of top physical fitness, continually practicing, and giving many hours of duty, life-saving became a highly prized and voluntary service. It has been said of the Surf Life Saving Association of \JAustralia\j that "no one man made it, but it has made thousands of men." A story all its own is the development of its methods of rescue and resuscitation and \JAustralia\j's example has set the standard for the whole world.
The first life line was a human chain, with men interlocked by their hands, the best swimmer forming the seaward end and the sturdiest the \Janchorage\j in the sands. Then a pole was set up at the center of the beach to which was attached a rope with a life-buoy, used to bring back the swimmer in distress. Feats of endurance and dramatic rescues were performed by life-savers, battling their way through towering waters to people in difficulty.
Cork jackets were tried out - and discarded. Life lines of sisal \Jhemp\j were replaced in 1914 by cotton. But something more than a line was needed, and the greatest advance was the introduction of the reel, displayed first on Bondi Beach in 1906.
The claim that Lyster Ormsby and Percy Flynn, of the Bondi Club, were its inventors, making the initial miniature scale model out of two bent hairpins and an empty cotton reel, was challenged by G. H. Olding, a coach-maker and the manufacturer of the first life-line reels who asserted that he was the real inventor of this mobile and revolving life-saving "machine." To add to the confusion, George B. Philip made an identical claim.
An early method of resuscitation was that advised by the English physician and physiologist Dr Marshall Hall. He suggested the promotion of breathing by exciting the nostrils with snuff, hartshorn or volatile salts, or by tickling the throat with a feather. This was soon rejected as ineffective and for more than 40 years Australian life-savers adopted Edinburgh Professor Schafer's pressure method, in which the patient was placed face downwards in a prone position with the head lower than the body. By the application of systematic pressure, the water was drained from the lungs and \Jstomach\j. Eventually, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was introduced.
This procedure actually was not as novel as most people imagine. The \JBible\j gives an account of the identical treatment in a desperate and successful effort to restore life, when the \Jprophet\j Elisha stretched himself over the body of a dead boy and "put his mouth upon his mouth . . . and the flesh of the child waxed warm."
In the papers of James Boswell dealing with the period of his life when he practiced law (1769-1774), there is an interesting reference to the same method of restoring life. When all his advocacy had failed to have the sentence of hanging commuted for his client, John Reid (a sheep stealer), Boswell determined to rescue the unfortunate man's body from the gallows: and revive him by mouth-to-mouth breathing. (Death in those days was brought about by strangulation.)
Ignoring his friends' urging to let the law take its course, he hired a room near the gallows and went ahead with all necessary preparations for his clandestine plan. However, in the end he had to abandon the idea.
The Australian lifesavers' solicitude for victims of the surf is epitomized by the story of a candidate for the club who in reply to the examiner's question of how long he would continue his attempts at resuscitation of an apparently hopeless case answered: "Until a doctor pronounced the man dead - and for two hours afterwards!"
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"Australia's only Female Mine Owner and Worker",117,0,0,0
\B"Tess" Alfonzi\b
"Tess" is buried in the new section of the Broken Hill Cemetery. The inscription on her gravestone tells that Teresa Vera Alfonzi passed away at the age of 77 on 24 April 1986. The additional remark, that she is "remembered by Domenic, her husband and her relatives" is an understatement; Tess is a legend all over and beyond Broken Hill.
Italian by birth, she came to \JAustralia\j with her parents as a child of six, and grew into one of the most robust of women. Though short in stature (148 cm), she was larger than life.
She was the only member of her sex in \JAustralia\j to own and, for many years, to operate a mine, called "Triple Chance." Working it herself, she did a man's job and was not afraid of taking chances.
Typical was her instruction that whenever a problem occurred, such as the failure of an explosive charge to detonate, she was to be the first to enter the mine to investigate the "hitch."
On one such occasion the \Jgelignite\j ignited whilst Tess was inside the mine, causing huge rocks to fall all around her. No one expected her to escape alive. But she not only survived, but was happy to relate to the men anxiously waiting outside that "not a pebble touched me."
Tess had not had an easy life. At 19 she married a miner, but soon realized that he had a drinking problem. To get him away from the pubs, especially on weekends, she took him into the bush to fossick for minerals. Camping in the open, she would prepare their meals in a pit. If there was no water nearby, she would fetch it, at times having to carry it in two big drums on a yoke over a distance of six kilometers.
One day whilst camping in the Thackaringa Hills, some 35 kilometers southwest of Broken Hill, she was preparing a meal, when a shiny substance at the bottom of her cooking pit caught her attention. Her curiosity was roused and not knowing what she had discovered, she asked friends to identify the mysterious silvery flakes. They were mica.
Tess lost no time in starting operations. With a pick she was able to unearth more precious minerals, feldspar, and beryl; it was the beginning of her mine! (It is interesting to note that the Americans used some of her beryl for the rockets that took the astronauts to the moon.)
Tess certainly proved the maxim that hard work never killed anyone. At the age of 66 she was still actively working her mine. A fighter all her life and, no matter what the circumstances, always determined to make a success, she endured incredible hardships.
On one occasion, men tried to oust her from her mine. They gave up the attempt when they found themselves staring into the wrong end of a shotgun Tess was aiming at them.
Tess died in the Wilcannia \JHospital\j. She was unique in Australian mining history, and truly deserved the Australian Order of Merit awarded to her in 1980.
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"Australia's Original Name",118,0,0,0
The original full name of \JAustralia\j was \ITerra Australis del Espirito Santo:\i "the Southland of the \JHoly Spirit\j." The present national name derives from the least significant part of it - that which indicated the continent's "southern" position on the globe. With God left out, only the "down under" remained.
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"Australia's War Artist and Sculptor",119,0,0,0
\BGeorge Washington Lambert\b
George Lambert, one of \JAustralia\j's most renowned and well-remembered artists, was both a painter and a sculptor. He is buried in the South Head Cemetery. His memorial is distinguished by its simplicity and the modest brevity of its inscription. A single line on the epitaph sums up his character as an artist and a human being:
\IGEORGE W. LAMBERT
1873 - 1930
Painter and Sculptor
Single in Purpose\i
Lambert was 56 years old when he passed away, after having suffered from heart trouble for some time. His condition had been aggravated by his work on sculptures. In fact, it was shortly after he had completed a statue of Henry Lawson, for Mrs Macquarie's Chair in the Sydney Domain, that he collapsed and died - on 29 May 1930.
Lambert's had been a full and eventful life from its very beginning. He was born in St Petersburg (later \JLeningrad\j) on 13 September 1873, just after the death of his father, an American engineer who at the time was employed on railway construction in \JRussia\j. Although George never knew his father, Washington, his own middle name, was a constant reminder of his American origins.
The family, bereft of their breadwinner, spent six years in \JGermany\j, where Mrs Lambert's father lived, and then returned to England, her native country. But the Lamberts did not stay in Britain either. They then migrated to \JAustralia\j, where they joined an uncle who owned a sheep station near Warren, \JNew South Wales\j. In his early teens then and very unsettled, George moved to Sydney to work as a junior clerk. At 18 he had had enough of the city and went back to live in the country.
Meanwhile he had found his real niche. As a young boy in England, where he had received his schooling, he had discovered his love of drawing and been awarded a prize in an "Under Twelve" competition, the first of the many prizes to come.
In \JAustralia\j, whilst earning his living in commerce, he used every spare moment to make sketches, to paint and to study art. Inspired by the Australian bush, he put down on canvas what his eyes and mind saw.
His talent did not go unnoticed. In 1894, the Royal Art Society exhibited his first picture, of a horse and cart. The \IBulletin,\i recognizing his gift, began to publish his black and white sketches. His painting "Across the Blacksoil Plains" caught the public's attention and admiration. It was so large that, unable to complete it in a studio, he used instead an outhouse in his mother's garden. The National Gallery purchased the painting in 1899 for 100 guineas, and he was awarded for it the coveted Wynne Prize.
In the same year, the Society of Artists gave George the first ever Traveling Art Scholarship. Lambert was then ready to give up everything else to devote his entire life to art. In London and Paris he made his name as a portrait painter.
During World War I he was appointed official war artist for the AIF, to create as such two of his most famous and popular paintings, the "JBeersheba Charge" and the "Sergeant of the Light Horse." The \JCanberra\j War Museum treasures some 250 of his pictures from the \JMiddle East\j war zone.
Returning to \JAustralia\j in 1921, Lambert took up sculpture, and soon many significant commissions came his way. These included a War Memorial for Geelong \JGrammar School\j, the "Unknown Soldier" for St Mary's Cathedral, and - his very last sculpture - the statue of Henry Lawson.
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"Australia: a Cultural Melting Pot",120,0,0,0
Apart from the \JAborigines\j, all Australians are immigrants, of multiple ancestral roots. Even of the convicts the British transported to the Antipodes, more than 3,000 were "foreign-born" and not of \JAnglo-Saxon\j stock!
The Australian population is thus a mixture of the most diverse groups. People came to the country as convicts, settlers, forced laborers, or seekers after freedom and a new start in life.
\JAustralia\j, like America, has been likened to a melting pot. Perhaps the simile of a mosaic would be more appropriate, with each of its numerous parts adding some specific value and color. A lasting testimony to Australian multiculturalism, since the very beginnings of European settlement, are its graveyards.
#
"Australian Flag",121,0,0,0
When the first navigators reached the Southern Hemisphere, they felt greatly bewildered. A completely different world seemed to encompass them. There were strange beasts and birds. Instead of the familiar stars, totally unknown constellations looked down on them. But among them they recognized a cross, with great rejoicing.
They were now convinced they were still sailing under the guidance of their faith, whose very symbol was watching over them. They had nothing to fear. A sign from Heaven had shown them that, however far they proceeded, they could never leave the realm of divine care. That is how the Southern Cross assumed a significance far beyond that of a new \Jconstellation\j. It stood for promise and assurance.
We often see what we are looking for. Perhaps it was not an accident either that those early pioneers, scanning the alien skies, came to recognize in them the sign of the cross.
From earliest times \JAustralia\j was thus linked with a group of stars apparently proclaiming the Christian faith, and it was a foregone conclusion that if Australians were to choose a national emblem, the Southern Cross would be part of it.
Moreover, was not \JAustralia\j's very name coupled with the religion symbolized by the cross? When in 1606, in search of "another Indies," de Quiros thought he had sighted the country, he called it Tierra \JAustralia\j del Espiritu Santo, the Southern (\JAustralia\j) Land of the \JHoly Spirit\j. To select a cross for the flag of such territory, from this point of view also, was appropriate.
On several occasions, long before the need of a national flag, Australians made use of the Southern Cross to symbolize ideals for which they were fighting. It was included in the flag of the Anti-transportation League, which proudly displayed it for the first time in Hobart in July, 1851. Again, the cross was conspicuous in the crudely designed banner flown at the \JEureka Stockade\j at the time of the miners' rising on the Ballarat goldfields in December, 1854.
When Cook landed at \JBotany Bay\j in 1770, he naturally raised the British flag. The original penal settlement grew under its colors into a nation. But with the establishment of the Commonwealth of \JAustralia\j, the need of a new, national flag was felt. A number of private firms, supported by the Federal Government, invited suggestions for its design.
Thirty thousand entries were received. They were displayed at a special exhibition in Melbourne in September, 1901. Five of them were considered of equal merit and, therefore, the first prize was shared by five people, among them three youths, living in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, and - Auckland, \JNew Zealand\j. A huge flag, incorporating all the features suggested by the five winners, was hoisted over the Melbourne Exhibition Building on the day the awards were announced.
This was the birth of the Australian flag which, with slight adjustments, has remained the same ever since. As a symbol of a British settlement, it made use of the Union Jack, in the form of the British Blue Ensign. But most conspicuously it displayed the five stars of the Southern Cross! An additional large, white star was placed in the hoist. This corresponds to nothing in the sky. It is purely symbolic of the Australian Commonwealth, its seven points representing the six States and the Territories.
It is wrong, therefore, to say that \JAustralia\j owes her flag to one individual. Like so much in her life, it is the result of a joint effort, of co-operative competition and, in no small measure, the work of young people who, in the years to come, were to play an ever greater part in the building up of the nation.
#
"Australian Helen Keller",122,0,0,0
\B"Tilly" Aston\b
Matilda Ann Aston was the Australian Helen Keller. Tilly, by which name she was best known, is buried in St Kilda Cemetery. It is difficult to locate her last resting place, on which her headstone simply states:
\ITILLY ASTON
Blind Poetess and Philanthropist
Died 1st November 1947, Aged 74
Resurgam\i
Tilly was not born blind, but lost her eyesight at the age of seven. She was never to forget all the beauty of nature she had seen as a young child, and was to recall it vividly in her later writings.
A Victorian bootmaker's daughter, she was the eighth and youngest child in the family. Taught at a school for the blind, she chose teaching the blind as her career, determined to help those who shared her fate. For many years she worked for the State Education Department, till a fall and a slight stroke forced her to give up the profession she loved so much.
A woman of courage and inner strength, she then concentrated on writing, to become the author of nine books, of both poetry and prose. "I am defiant of difficulties," she wrote. Tilly was convinced that "most of us have more than one current in the stream of our daily existence, sometimes with several flowing at the same time." One of those multiple "currents" within her, no doubt, was her determination to triumph over adversity and to improve the lives of those without sight.
In 1895, she founded the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, of which she was the president at the time of her death. She also established a correspondence circle for the blind, anticipating the \JBraille\j Library. To foster \JEsperanto\j as an international language, was yet another of her interests and she actually corresponded in that tongue with people all over the world.
Tilly's is now an almost forgotten grave. But her vision lives on. Out of the darkness of her \Jblindness\j, she wrote in her \ISongs of Light\i what could be considered her epitaph:
\IIf life on Earth were all, Love,
And death the end of man,
If God were not on high, Love,
And Heaven an empty span;
Had duty never made a claim,
And had I never heard love's name,
Since you have not a thought to give,
'Twere better far to die than live.
But life is not our all, Love,
This little life on Earth;
And death is but a throw, Love,
Of higher, nobler birth!
And God has set a task for me,
A schooling for eternity;
So I must answer duty's claim,
And serve all men for love's dear name.\i
#
"Australian Industrial Disputes",123,0,0,0
\JAustralia\j has seen many industrial disputes, with workers and employers in fierce confrontation. The growth of Australian unionism, at times stronger than anywhere else in the world, is a significant part of Australian history.
It produced militant agitators and dedicated idealists. They all played their part in the building of "the road for the bannered march of Crowned Humanity." Headstones in cemeteries and in front of specified homes-mark the milestones in the evolution of trade unionism.
#
"Australian Shout",124,0,0,0
Australians love to "shout" a drink. Their practice of thus treating friends or even total strangers may have had a very practical origin in the days of the goldrush. Lucky diggers had every reason to celebrate their good fortune and did so by sharing beers with their mates. Usually the crowd surrounding the bar was boisterous and noisy. For the order of drinks to be heard, whoever wanted to treat his friends had to shout. Eventually, their "shout" became identified with its object.
Actually, the expression is not indigenously Australian. It was well known in the "old country," where Englishmen, to treat their guests in an inn, "shouted" for a waiter to serve them drinks.
Etymologically, this shout may be derived from an original "shot," used in the sense of a (monetary) "charge." To "stand shot" was "to pay the bill," for all.
#
"Automatic Totalizator",125,0,0,0
The automatic totalizator which revolutionized racing throughout the world was invented in \JAustralia\j by Sir George Alfred Julius, the son of an \JArchbishop\j and Primate of \JNew Zealand\j. He himself never became a racing fan. The only times he went to the races, were to see his betting machine in action, and to test its efficiency. That the "tote" was an aid to the making and winning (or losing) of bets on the relative value of horse indeed, was never a matter of great interest to the inventor.
George was born in Norwich, England, in 1873. His father, a devout Anglican clergyman, loved gadgetry and was most adept in making tools. He constructed all types of mechanical devices. No wonder that he instilled in his son, from earliest childhood, a special love of tinkering. Julius himself liked to relate how, at the age of five, he worked the \Jlathe\j treadle for his father in the hobby shed of their Norwich home.
In 1889, the Rev Julius accepted the post of \Jarchdeacon\j to Ballarat, Victoria, and with his family - and his tools - emigrated there. Soon afterwards he was pointed \JArchbishop\j of \JChristchurch\j and Primate of Zealand. Conscientious about his ministerial duties, he nevertheless continued his hobby, often making gadgets out of knitting needles and hairpins. Most of all, however, he enjoyed repairing clocks, and he became a real expert in clock mechanics. When people saw him going to church, they could not always tell whether he did so to conduct a service or to repair the clock high up in the tower. Similarly, on his calls to the vicars of his diocese, he not merely discussed their work but improved the working of their watches as well. Many a clergyman anxiously waited for his bishop to put his timepiece right, free of charge.
George inherited his father's delight in gadgetry. After graduation in science at Canterbury College, \JChristchurch\j, he accepted an appointment as assistant engineer in the \Jlocomotive\j department of the Western Australian Government Railways. It did not take people long to recognize his brilliant mind. He was promoted to the position of chief draughtsman and then became the engineer in charge of the department's tests. Racing, however, was still the furthest thing from his mind.
Any mechanical problem attracted Julius and, in a peculiar way, it was a dispute on the votes cast at a Western Australian election which became the basis of his future horse-racing fame. He considered that any acrimony and controversy could be avoided by mechanizing both the counting of votes and of preferences. For this purpose he designed a machine which, being far too expensive to construct, has never gone beyond the blueprint stage. After all, elections are not held frequently and no government was prepared to spend the enormous sum it would cost to build the machine.
It was disappointing to the young engineer that apparently all his work and ingenuity (as well as precious time) had been wasted. That is why Julius looked around to find some other application for his invention. It was while discussing his problem with friends that they suggested the "tote" to him. "What is a tote?" Julius is to have innocently asked.
Eventually, he resigned from the Western Australian Railways and, moving to Sydney, established himself there as a consultant engineer. Not forgetting his friends' proposition, he now seriously considered the construction of an electrically operated, fully automatic machine that would record bets and compute dividends.
In his research, he took note of previous attempts, such as had been made in \JFrance\j and \JNew Zealand\j but had proved of no great merit. The machines had been hand-operated, too cumbersome, and too long in obtaining results, which were not always correct.
For five long years he struggled with all the difficulties that presented themselves, till in 1912 he gave the world the first totalizator. This was still a huge contraption, with a tangle of \Jpiano\j wires and heavy, leaden weights. Within a year, he sold it to the Auckland Racing Club which installed it, with phenomenal success, at Ellerslie course.
Some people never believed that the invention was really his. They were convinced that his father, the \JArchbishop\j, had thought it up but, for obvious reasons, had given the credit to his son who was not encumbered by ecclesiastical proprieties. In fact, the story was told how one day, when the new machine had broken down, race-goers observed their beloved \JArchbishop\j rush into the building. They even imagined that he had turned up his coat collar - to hide his clerical garb. Soon afterwards the wheels were turning again. Some pious onlookers suggested that their Primate had blessed the machine. But those of a more prosaic nature bluntly stated that the "Arch" had repaired his brainchild.
Once the success of the new invention was apparent, Julius established the firm which, though under a different name, continues to supply the world market with the totalizator. Its basic principles, first worked out by Sir George, have remained virtually unchanged. \JAustralia\j exported the machine to 29 countries which, in addition to the United Kingdom and the United Sates, included \JNigeria\j, \JMalaysia\j, Eire, India, and \JBrazil\j. The automatic totalizator, it is well to remember, was not merely a betting machine. It exerted altogether a lasting effect on the sport of racing.
In recognition of his many outstanding services to the cause of science, Julius was knighted in 1929. Of all his many achievements, none has won him greater fame than his totalizator, one of \JAustralia\j's great contributions to the world of sport.
#
"Aversion to Red Hair",126,0,0,0
In some parts of the world there is still a \Jprejudice\j against red-haired people. It may be that one of its causes is the psychological law of the dislike by the like, for the unlike. Certainly, red-haired men and women almost everywhere are in a minority. But the unjustified, irrational attitude has other significant foundations as well.
It has its historic roots. \JAnglo-Saxons\j dreaded their red-haired, Danish foes. In the \Jsubconscious\j memories of many English people, the otherwise long-forgotten association of hostile invaders with red hair lingered on.
Even nature itself has played a part in rendering red an ominous color. Red-yellowish sand was found in the desert which spelled \Jdrought\j, thirst and disaster to many. That is how Egyptians first came to depict one of their evil gods in a red-yellowish sandy color.
A medical fallacy has equally been quoted as the virus which poisoned people against red-haired neighbors. Doctors used to diagnose illness by the patient's color and, at some time, a red complexion was considered a symptom of a "gross humor" and ill blood. Possibly scared of infection and because illness as regarded as the result of sin, people shunned and despised those with red hair.
It has been suggested that neither fear of sickness nor horror of sin created the \Jprejudice\j, but pure envy. Red hair, this much more pleasant fallacy claimed, was an indication of the purest blood, a most clarified spirit and, consequently, the finest of intellects. Red hair showed the best balanced constitution, poised exactly halfway between the blond (phlegmatic) and the black (melancholic), the fickle and the authoritarian.
It was for this reason that other people, lacking such a gift, jealously derided and abused those who by the very color of their hair, could not disguise their superiority. An Italian proverb asserted that "face without color, either a liar or a traitor."
There are biblical sources as well. Scarlet was the color of sin, and artists therefore painted evil men with yellowish-red hair. The best examples are those of murderous Cain and treacherous \JJudas Iscariot\j. And it may have been their portrayal most of all that was responsible for the antipathy toward red-haired people.
#
"Awful",127,0,0,0
There are some words which, unique in one language, have no equivalent in any other vocabulary. This confronts translators with a problem. All they can do is to find some approximation or, failing this, to create a totally new term.
Translators of the \JBible\j from the original \JHebrew\j encountered this difficulty in the description of God's grandeur and majesty. In \JHebrew\j this is expressed as \Inora\i (Dt. 10.17). There just was no word in any other tongue adequate to describe this divine attribute. To make up for this lack, translators coined a new word: \Iawe-ful,\i full of that which inspires awe, reverence and respect.
Like so many other biblical terms, aweful found its way into our everyday speech. However, in the process it depreciated in meaning: it came to carry the connotation, "terrible, dreadful" and was applied to that which elicited terror and repugnance.
As if to compensate for this degradation, a further development of the word's meaning occurred. People, and particularly Englishmen, started using "awful" colloquially, often affectedly so, as a simple intensifier: they were "awfully glad," something was "awfully nice," and they were "awfully keen to come." In reality, their affirmations were a contradiction in terms.
#
"Azazel",128,0,0,0
Who was Azazel, to whom the \Jgoat\j was actually sent or was meant to escape? The name Azazel occurs only in this one passage in the entire \JBible\j (Lev. 16:8,10,26) and in no other literature of the world. This has given ample room for speculation and controversy.
Those who were anxious to maintain the belief in an originally strict \Jmonotheism\j even in the very early stages of the \JHebrew\j religion, have tried laboriously to see in Azazel no extraordinary or \Jsupernatural\j being. They presumed that Azazel was merely a geographical site, the name of some inaccessible, mountainous rocky region in the desert to which the \Jgoat\j was sent.
For the same reason, others have suggested that Azazel was not even a proper name but the odd combination of two innocuous words. These portrayed the "rugged" \I(azaz)\i and "hard" \I(el)\i nature of the mountain in the wilderness from which the \Jgoat\j was to be cast down.
The Greek and Latin translations of the \JBible\j with the same intention and belief explained the name of Azazel as the fusion of a \JHebrew\j and an \JAramaic\j word, describing the animal as "the \Jgoat\j \I(ayz)\i which goes \I(azal)"\i - into the desert. This differentiated it from the \Jgoat\j that stayed on to be sacrificed on the altar.
However, none of these various attempts to explain the true nature of Azazel seems satisfactory. Each in its turn was motivated by the wish to exclude any suggestion of the existence of any other power worshiped besides God. But that is where, once again, even in the \JBible\j the world of the occult is represented.
No doubt, Azazel was the name of a powerful desert demon, a being of the \Jsatyr\j family, possibly a \Jgoat\j deity, and to those who worshiped him he was a being as real as God himself. As the source of evil and its personification, Azazel was therefore the most appropriate figure to which to dispatch and banish all the evil that had become attached to the people during the year. Indeed, by this ritual, all the sins were returned to their original and rightful owner with whom they would be at home and therefore "get stuck."
Representing the dark side of life, the forces of evil and night, Azazel was the original counterpart to God, the ruler of light and of all that was good. And it is well to note that this reflected the once powerful Zoroastrian view of the innate \Jdualism\j in life. This Persian faith taught that two contending forces of good and evil, light and darkness, were coexistent in the universe, each fighting for supremacy.
That is how, in later traditions and significantly in the apocryphal book of Enoch, Azazel was described as the leader of the fallen angels and the author of all sin. He had taught man the art of warfare and with it the making of every type of weapon. Women, on the other hand, had learned from him the art of seduction: how to entice the male by painting their faces, dyeing their hair, artificially shaping their eyebrows, and how to drive him to distraction with perfume.
Azazel was in reality Satan, the great adversary of goodness. He was the first to corrupt man's style and quality of life by revealing the secrets of witchcraft. The \Jgoat\j was offered to Azazel by way of a bribe. It was hoped that, in accepting it, he might be prompted to act as a friend and in silent connivance to refrain from accusing men before God of the sins they had committed.
Finally, there might well be a connection between the \JHebrew\j Azazel and Aziz, a god worshiped by the ancient Canaanites in the very territory the Israelites came to occupy.
#
"Back to Square One",129,0,0,0
Having unsuccessfully pursued a course of action, it is often necessary to start all over again. Such reversion is remindful of some \Jboard games\j, like Snakes and Ladders, in which by an unlucky cast of the dice, a player is forced to return to the beginning. The player has to move the piece "back to square [numbered] one." The simile well-fitted the description of a like situation in life.
The phrase has also been linked with the children's game hopscotch, in which the unlucky participant has to go back to the starter square.
It has been claimed as well that the expression, if not actually created, was popularized in the early days of British radio. To help football fans follow the broadcast commentaries on matches, the BBC journal used to publish a ground plan of the field, divided into numbered "squares." All that was needed for the ardent listener to keep up with the game, was to look at the specific number referred to at that moment by the commentator.
The English, fond of the sport and glued to their wireless sets, soon acquired this terminology, and applied it to many other occasions, and in the case of "back to square no. 1," retained it long after the diagram had ceased to appear.
#
"Backgammon Origins",130,0,0,0
One of the significant (and frustrating) features of \Jbackgammon\j has been responsible for the present name of this dice game, one of the oldest of its kind. Because in certain circumstances a player must return a piece to its starting place to begin moving it forward all over again, the pastime (originally and until the 17th century known in England as "Tables") came to be called the "back-game," \Jbackgammon\j. \IGamen\i is the Old English for "game."
#
"Background on Medicine",131,0,0,0
Man has always been deeply concerned with the well-being of his body. Medicine, therefore, has played an eminent part in even the earliest-known civilizations. When \JHammurabi\j of \JBabylon\j (1792-50 B.C.) published his famous \ICode,\i he included a special section dealing with doctors and their patients.
The fees charged were legally fixed and varied according to the social status of the sick. If, by the negligence of a surgeon, a man died or even merely lost one of his eyes, the doctor's hands were amputated. (It makes one wonder who, with such risks, would have ever taken up the profession.)
In biblical times, the priests acted as doctors and much of scriptural legislation deals with keeping man well. Of the 613 commandments in the \JPentateuch\j, 213 are of a medical nature. The only operation mentioned is that of \Jcircumcision\j. The \JBible\j already stresses the importance of social hygiene and preventative medicine. It knows of midwives and pharmacists.
With such background, it is not surprising that man's body, its health and its sickness, has contributed many telling figures of speech to daily life. Their range extends from "a festering wound" to "a cancer in society," from a "rickety" chair to a "fever of expectation."
#
"Bad Luck on Ships",132,0,0,0
\BClergymen are bad (to) sailors\b
Sailors used to regard it as most unlucky for a priest or any man of the cloth to join their ship. They were convinced that he could bring them only misfortune.
The unhappy tradition goes back to the \JBible\j, which tells how Jonah, one of the twelve minor prophets, trying to shirk his duty to visit \JNineveh\j (in the East), joined a boat that was just then sailing from Joppa (the modern Jaffa) towards the West. In fact, its destination was Tarshish in the south-west of \JSpain\j at the extreme other end of the Mediterranean. Certainly, it was as far in the opposite direction from his supposed destination as Jonah could possibly voyage in the then known world.
To catch up with the fugitive, to punish him and to force his hand, so the \JBible\j tells us, God raised a storm. This greatly endangered the ship which would have been wrecked with all hands lost, had not the sailors thrown Jonah overboard (which they did at his own request). The moment they had done so, the storm abated and they could continue their voyage safely.
This biblical example gave sailors every reason (and excuse) to shun clergymen and to prefer not to see any man of the cloth among those boarding their ship. He would only add extra hazard to their already perilous livelihood.
A later tradition intensified this dislike and apprehension. It was a foregone conclusion that the devil hated clergymen. For after all, a servant of God was by nature his arch-enemy. To get hold of a parson and possibly to drown him would be the devil's chief joy. So he would be prepared to join a ship where, surrounded by the sea, the man of God was as good as caught and unable to escape from his clutches!
Sailors had enough trouble without asking for more by inviting the presence of the devil by permitting a clergyman to be on board. Once the "evil one" had disposed of the parson, his original prey, he might well embark on other mischievous schemes. Therefore to avoid adding to the many dangers they already had to face on a voyage, it was best for all parties concerned for a clergyman to be conspicuous by his absence.
There is also a suggestion that a parson was kept away out of deference to and fear of the ancient (pagan) sea-gods. After all, who really knew whether they, who (in the minds of people) once had ruled the waves had actually been swept off the ocean? But if they were still present, they would resent a clergyman as their natural foe. This fear of sea-gods would be as truly submerged in the unconscious mind of the sailor just as the gods were in the depth of the ocean.
\BWomen not welcomed\b
A sailor is said to have a wife in every port. Once on firm ground, he soon finds his way to her dwelling and, surely, would not miss her loving embrace. But "at sea" he views a woman as "\Jtaboo\j."
Those experienced with the havoc one female can cause among an all-male company would recognize good common sense in the \Jsuperstition\j. A ship's crew could raise a hurricane of jealousy in competing for her favors and the morale (and morals) onboard ship would be wrecked.
The real origin of the \Jsuperstition\j is however, once again, much more deeply rooted and belongs to the world of the occult. Sailors feared that the apparently female passenger might in reality be a witch, and to have such a creature on board might prove disastrous. This apprehension caused their \Jphobia\j and the rejection of an otherwise welcome female in their midst.
#
"Badminton Beginnings",133,0,0,0
Uniquely among all sports, \Jbadminton\j is named after a country seat of nobility. \JBadminton\j was the residence and estate of the Duke of Beaufort, situated in the southern part of the county of \JGloucestershire\j, England. Because the Duke and his friends (all sports lovers) played the game in its precincts during a weekend house party around 1870, it has ever since been called after the Duke's domicile. This also gave the name to a famous collection of sporting books, the \IBadminton Library.\i
Its association with the game and sport generally made the village and the manor world-renowned and beloved in the hearts of many.
The Duke of Beaufort did not invent the game; he merely put it on the map, as it were, by introducing it into society. The game itself was an adaptation of an earlier pastime which, in turn, has its roots in an ancient \Jdivination\j ritual: to hit an object into the air as often as possible with the hand or some sort of bat, the number of throws achieved without a miss indicated the length of one's life. A maximum score of "catches" was viewed as a happy omen of longevity. No wonder that people tried to attain record performances. Magical formulas were sung to accompany the rite, and eventually the "ball game" (to which it amounted), and the chant, were believed not simply to reveal the future but, by sympathetic magic, to influence it.
The secularization of this magical rite created the game of battledore and shuttlecock. Its principle, if played individually, was to hit a shuttle with some sort of racket into the air as many times as possible, without letting it drop to the ground. Played by two persons, the shuttle was hit backwards and forwards between them, a point being scored for each miss on the part of the opponent.
In one version or another, the pastime became popular in many parts of the world, in Europe and Asia, from England to China. It was played by the noble as much as by the common man, by adults as enthusiastically as by boys and girls. No doubt people at first used the outstretched palm as a racket. (Of course, to close the hand around the missile when catching it was counted a miss.) The palm was replaced by a small bat, initially made of wood, then of skin, and finally of catgut strings, stretched over a frame. The name battledore is derived from the bat used in washing laundry.
The shuttlecock was originally a rounded piece of cork, with feathers stuck around its flattened top. Probably the early use of cocks' feathers, responsible for its name, was a survival of the bird's employment for purposes of \Jdivination\j. To begin with, shuttles were not uniform but varied greatly in size, weight, and characteristics of flight.
The game was first mentioned in England in the fourteenth century. It had become a most fashionable pastime during the reign of James I, so much so that in 1609, a writer could say, "to play Shuttlecok methinkes is the game now." A story tells of an unfortunate mishap when the king's son, Prince Henry, playing the game "with one farr taller than himself," accidentally hit him with the shuttlecock upon the forehead. A pastime suitable for confined spaces, it must have brought some solace to the Earl of \JNorthumberland\j while held prisoner in the \JTower of London\j for his alleged complicity in the \Jgunpowder plot\j. Among moneys paid on his behalf was one amount for the purchase of shuttlecocks.
Children especially enjoyed the "toy," particularly so on Shrove Tuesday. Playing became so popular that in Leicester, the day came to be known as "shuttlecock day." The streets were crowded with people of all ages batting their feathered corks into the air and toward each other.
Typical of the rhymes chanted as an accompaniment to the game was the verse:
\IShuttlecock, shuttlecock, tell me true
How many years have I to go through?
One, two, three . . .\i
Counting ended, of course, when the player missed a catch - an obvious indication of the toy's roots in the ancient practice of \Jdivination\j.
Divinatory rhymes (identical with those that were sung during similar games with cherry stones, balls made of daisy petals or cowslip) dealt with the year of one's marriage, the social position of one's future spouse, or the site of one's family-to-be:
\IGrandmother, grandmother
Tell me no lie,
How many children
Before I die?
One, two, three . . .\i
An adaptation of this simple amusement gave birth to a new game that - with progressive elaboration - came to differ in essential features from its predecessor. In the older pastime, two persons playing together were stationary and protected a target area within reach of the outstretched arm in which they held the battledore. In the new and improved version, however, the playing field was extended to the size of a court, divided by a cord or some sort of net to enforce a fair return of the shuttle.
English army officers, serving in India in the 1860s, were very much taken by a game which was similar, and yet far superior, to battledore and shuttlecock, known as Poona. (It has been suggested that possibly the sport reached the subcontinent by earlier English expeditionary forces.) They enjoyed it so much that they took it home, together with some of the Indian equipment, chiefly shuttlecocks.
Some of the officers on leave were friends of the Duke of Beaufort, who invited them to play the game at \JBadminton\j. (One tradition says that the guests played in the manor's picture gallery, very much to the hurt of the paintings.) Thus \Jbadminton\j got its name.
Yet another version of the origin of the sport exists, linking it to an even greater degree with the Duke of Beaufort and his weekend party. According to this tradition, wet weather forced the guests indoors where, at a loss as to how to pass the time, someone fetched battledores and shuttlecocks from the nursery. Stretching a cord across the width of the drawing room, they improvised the new game, proposing there and then to call it by the estate's name, which was the obvious thing to do.
The army officers then took the sport to India (thus reversing direction), where they played it first in \JKarachi\j. One of the earliest games they organized was played in a hall the size of which was little more than that of a court. A peculiar feature of the hall was that its doors were centrally situated on the longer walls, and opened inward. People entering inevitably had to trespass on the playing area and thereby disturbed any game in progress. To remedy this situation, some unknown person put up a semi-circular barricade around the doors on either side. This resulted in creating the most unusual hourglass shape of the court.
It was from \JKarachi\j and the \Jbadminton\j played there on a court of the oddest shape because of fortuitous architectural circumstances, that Major Wingfield derived the initial, wasp-waisted shape of his tennis court. Another version, however, asserts that all this happened not in far-off India but in the Duke's own drawing room, in which the doors were built in that fashion.
Whichever the true facts, no longer ascertainable, the sport assumed wide popularity in India, where its first rules were printed in \JKarachi\j in 1877. Also, there is no doubt that English army personnel were largely responsible (whether first in India or England really does not matter) for the adoption of the sport and the formation of the earliest English clubs in seaside resorts such as Southsea and Bath, where they spent their leave and retirement.
To achieve uniformity in the game, particularly in the shape and size of the court, the \JBadminton\j Association of England was formed in 1893. Its 14 foundation members, meeting at Southsea, laid down the first rules which they based on those drawn up at \JKarachi\j. As late as 1901, the association decided that courts must be rectangular. From England, touring players and teams pioneered and fostered \Jbadminton\j throughout the \JBritish Commonwealth\j and carried enthusiasm for it to Denmark and the United States. The International \JBadminton\j Federation dates back to 1934.
The missile used in \Jbadminton\j was not at first exclusively the shuttlecock, but frequently a woollen ball. It was soon realized that the shuttle (which then completely superseded the ball) and, at first was a piece of cork into which an unspecified number of feathers were stuck, was most unpredictable in its flight. With good reason it was referred to by some as a wobbler. Around 1900 it was replaced by a barrel-shaped shuttle, still made of cork but with chicken feathers in their natural curve inserted around the flattened top which gave it its distinctive appearance.
The straight-feather shuttle was introduced in 1909. The number of suitable feathers which could be obtained from the wings of the goose ranged from 14 to 16. As a whole army of geese would be needed to supply the required raw material, this was not only impracticable but uneconomic, even if the remainder of the bird could be sold for mattresses and the dining table.
Inevitably, the need arose for a substitute, non-feather shuttle, and this led to numerous experiments and inventions: from fabric and papier mΓchΘ, to the modern plastic "bird" first made of \Jpolythene\j and then of nylon.
Of course, each material, because of its different properties of texture, smoothness, and weight, to mention merely a few, and the essential consideration of trajectory, length of flight, and wind resistance, demanded painstaking research to attain an ideal shape and construction of the shuttle. The many patents taken out in the course of the years in many countries reflect the \Jmetamorphosis\j of the shuttle in the short history of the sport.
The unique flight of the shuttle (often called a bird in the United States) has given the game perhaps its greatest appeal. Its range of possible speeds excels that of almost any other missile. Gently tapped, the shuttle merely floats. Hit hard, it can travel at a terrific pace, with an initial velocity exceeding 100 mph (160 km) though, because of its peculiar make-up, this speed is quickly spent.
#
"Badminton Library",134,0,0,0
\JBadminton\j also became the name of a famous series of sports books, the first of its kind in the world. Oddly enough, this does not include the very game that bears the identical name.
The story of the origin of the \JBadminton\j Library testifies to the Duke's fame as a sportsman of most diverse tastes. Early in the spring of 1882, Longmans, Green & Co., the old established publishing firm in London, was considering a new edition of Blaine's \IEncyclopedia of Sports,\i then out of print. However, while discussing the project, it became apparent that the text as it then existed, was largely out of date and required revision. New sports had arisen and others had changed considerably.
On further examination, Mr C. J. Longman suggested it was evident that to do justice to the subject it would be preferable to publish a number of separate volumes, each devoted to an individual sport and written by an expert.
This was decided on. The next question was who would be best qualified to edit the new works. A thorough knowledge of many sports was essential. It did not take long for it to be realized that "of all English sportsmen none fulfilled every essential condition so fully as the Duke of Beaufort." He was "the hereditary master of one of the most famous packs of hounds in England, a member of the Jockey Club, a keen lover of the turf, a coachman of unequaled skill, an admirable shot, and a most expert fisherman."
All agreed that, "if only his Grace could be induced to lend his invaluable aid, success was assured." Moreover, "a peculiarly attractive and appropriate title for the library, \IThe \JBadminton\j,\i naturally followed."
Wisely, a member of the firm who was also a friend of the Duke undertook to place the project before him. He agreed at once and, enthusiastic from the beginning, called at Longman's offices at Paternoster Row, London, to discuss the details. He himself promised to write the hunting volume, which was to appear first - in May 1885.
\IThe Library of Sports and Pastimes\i was dedicated to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and in a foreword the editor-in-chief explained its objective in these words:
\IThere is no modern encyclopedia to which the inexperienced man, who seeks guidance in the practice of the various . . sports and pastimes, can turn for information. The \JBadminton\j Library is offered to supply the want . . . written by men who are in every case adepts at the sport or pastime of which they write.\i
For some time \JBadminton\j was also the name of a pleasant, iced drink, a concoction of claret, soda, spices, and sugar. This used to be served at the Ducal parties on the Beaufort estate, no doubt at first to refresh players. Benjamin Disraeli wrote of those fragrant cups of \JBadminton\j which "soothed and stimulated." They are now of the past. But not so their namesake, the sport, the ultimate result of an ancient, magical rite of \Jdivination\j.
#
"Bag of Nails",135,0,0,0
To be called "The Bag of Nails" seems a peculiar choice of name for an inn. It has been linked with the early period, when nails were still handmade and hence costly. Nail makers who favored this specific "pub," it is said, used to pay for their drinks not in cash but in kind - with a bag of nails. Their method of settling accounts took people's fancy, who soon identified the inn with its special customers and their "bag of nails."
The story, however plausible, is far from the truth. The original (and real) name of the inn was "The Bacchanals," the English rendering of \JBacchanalia\j. This was a Roman feast celebrated in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine, with plenty of drink! When the Romans invaded Britain, they brought with them the practice. Its exuberant drinking bouts were remembered long after the Romans' departure and nostalgically led to the use of the Bacchanals as a favorite name for inns.
To the general public, enjoying their pints, Bacchanals, of course, meant nothing. So they misunderstood the word and, interpreting it their way, believed that it spoke of a "bag of nails." This became the accepted version, now even depicted on the inn-sign.
#
"Bagpipes' History",136,0,0,0
With their shrill music, \Jbagpipes\j make Scotsmen's hearts beat faster, and all the world associates the pipes with the land of thistle. As a military instrument, they inspired the Highlanders in their fight so much that after the battle of Culloden, they were banned altogether with the Highland dress.
Nevertheless, \Jbagpipes\j are not Scottish. They go back almost to the beginning of civilization and to far-off lands. \JBagpipes\j are mentioned in the book of Daniel in the \JBible\j, and shown on Hittite carvings dated 1000 B.C. They were known as well in \JPersia\j, India, and even China. A favorite instrument in classical \JGreece\j and \JRome\j, \Jbagpipes\j' rhythm paced the Roman foot soldiers' march. Nero himself is said to have played the pipes. According to tradition, it was the Romans who brought the first \Jbagpipes\j to Britain, where the English are said to have preceded the Scots in adopting them. Pipes appear on fourteenth and fifteenth century English illustrations of missals and on English church carvings.
At the time, people even made fun of the pipes. One of the carvings shows pigs playing them, no doubt to suggest that the animals' squeals sounded very much like the noise made by the pipes! To add insult to injury, Irishmen claimed that one of their people had sold the first bagpipe to the Scots.
#
"Baked Beans",137,0,0,0
Baked beans became popular not because of their taste or high protein content - not even as the result of business promotion - but for religious reasons.
Sunday used to be strictly observed as the Lord's day. As such it was exclusively reserved for prayer, \Jmeditation\j and spiritual pursuits. Did not one of the Ten Commandments specifically state that "you shall not labor on this day?" Just as God is said to have rested on the seventh day from his work of creation, so man too was meant to refrain, on this day, from any work, a practice which the Puritans took to its extremes.
To cook a meal, as many a housewife knows, can be an arduous task. It, too, constitutes work and would desecrate true Sabbath observance. Bostonian women, brought up in strict adherence to their faith, therefore prepared the Sabbath meal on the preceding day.
With beans as their staple food and available in great quantity, they "baked" them throughout Saturday, doing so on an open fire and possibly using an Indian recipe. Some of the beans they served hot for supper that same night. But the major part they kept for Sunday morning's breakfast, to be eaten cold, replacing the usual cooked meal.
That is how "baked beans" came on the market and why, having lost their original religious motivation, they are now part of our cuisine.
#
"Baker's Dozen",138,0,0,0
Present-day business methods subject us to all kinds of temptations to buy certain goods. Most common is the promise of a free gift for the purchaser of an article thus advertised.
It might be assumed that it was also a wish to foster trade that caused bakers to give any customer buying 12 loaves of bread a 13th loaf free of charge. However, the baker's dozen is not the result of ancient trade-promotion. It is a survival of an early type of price-control.
Bread was the staple diet of the people who purchased it in the form of either cut pieces or whole loaves. Anticipating modern strict regulations, loaves not only were counted but had to be of a certain weight. Heavy penalties threatened any baker selling short weight.
As bread loses weight after it has become dry and shrunk, the baker wisely started adding an extra loaf or piece of bread to every dozen sold. This was called the in-bread and what the baker thus lost on the swings, he got back on the round-about. The gift of some extra dough in the proportion of one to twelve saved him from the loss of more precious "dough."
There is a suspicion that self-interest of another kind might have accounted for the baker's dozen. People were afraid of evil forces, ever ready to spoil their luck unless they were given "protection money." To propitiate them, the baker, anxious to prosper in his trade, may have added the extra loaf. This gave rise to the saying "Twelve for the baker and one for the Devil."
#
"Bald Eagle as a National Emblem",139,0,0,0
Several reasons made Americans adopt the \Jbald eagle\j as their national emblem. A majestic bird, it symbolized strength. Early colonists took special note of a feature that distinguished it from the eagle they knew "back home." However, in identifying it, they committed an error, which they perpetuated in its name. The eagle is white-headed and not bald!
#
"Balderdash",140,0,0,0
"Balderdash," the gibberish talk, full of pretence but lacking any sense, has distinctive features. The story of its past gives meaning to its meaningless words. To begin with, "balderdash" was something real, though unsubstantial - mere froth. Its earliest use can be traced to the end of the sixteenth century. Thomas Nash, the famous English satirist, refers to it in his Lenten Stuffe (1599), the last work he wrote, a \Jburlesque\j on red herring! He spoke of people who did not want their heads washed with "this bubbly spume of barbers balderdash."
A century later the \Jfoam\j, as it were, had liquefied, and balderdash had become a term applied to odd mixtures of drinks. These were either adulterated or concocted of such bizarre cocktails as buttermilk with beer or beer with wine! From this liquid source balderdash emerged to become a term ultimately applied to a jumble of words, incongruous, silly talk - gobbledegook.
#
"Ball and the Ballet",141,0,0,0
Few people would imagine that both a ball (a formal social event involving dancing) and a ballet (the spectacle of graceful dancing as an art form) had their beginnings within the precincts of the Church and are named after an actual round ball.
The association of word and idea can be traced to \JItaly\j during the celebration of the Feast of Fools, once a mock-religious, not to say sacrilegious festival. It was widely observed during the \JMiddle Ages\j, just prior to Easter.
On the occasion, the Dean of the cathedral of Naples was directing a boys' choir, doing so in a completely novel manner. He asked the boys to dance solemnly around him as they sang. While they were thus circling him, simultaneously chanting at the top of their voices, they were to catch and return a ball thrown by him. This not only added to the exuberance of the celebration but, rhythmically done, greatly improved the artful rendition of the songs, with proper beats and timing.
That a ball should play such a conspicuous role in the singing of a choir, was so strange a circumstance that the ball was caught in the loom of language. Though the original ball and its purpose is now totally forgotten, its name survives on the dance floor at every ball and on the stage in every ballet.
#
"Ballyhoo",142,0,0,0
Ballyhoo is a lot of noise - signifying nothing. It refers to the extraordinary and often ludicrous ways used to attract people's attention, exploiting their gullibility, for example, to make them buy goods they did not need, or to come to a show.
The racket ballyhoo stands for has created its own problem. It concerns not its blatant method of promotion and salesmanship, but the very origin of the expression.
Some authorities claim that the word derives from Ballyhooly, a small Irish village in the County of Cork. Even for Irish ears, it was said, its people had been particularly boisterous, noisy and full of blarney.
Others have traced the term to the United States where, from the 1890s onward, it was used in show business: by circus people, in music halls, and by traveling theatrical groups. Many of them were run by Irish migrants, who still among themselves used \JGaelic\j and spoke with a strong brogue. To attract the attention of the public and make them come to the "show" was the specific task allotted to one member of the company. For obvious reasons, this person became known as "the barker." With a stentorian voice, they gave a colorful (and highly exaggerated) account of the entertainment offered, which no one could afford to miss. To be seen by all, they took their stand on a platform. This was known as a bally, soon to be identified with the barkers' blatant talk - all their hoo-ha. The association of the two created the ballyhoo.
The barkers had yet another job. During the interval, they had to "pass round the hat," a no less important function. Making their voice heard above the din of the crowd, they announced (in their native tongue), "Collection now!" To American ears, the Irish words sounded very much like "ballyhoo."
Ballyhoo has been given an international flavor as well. It has been seen as the corrupted version of an Arab formula, acknowledging God's omnipotence and submitting to His will - B'Allah hoo (through God it is). It is said to have been the cry of dervishes who appeared at the World Fair in \JChicago\j in 1893. Their call did not go unheeded. The public took it up and, as "ballyhoo," made it part of the English language, though in a totally different sense.
Going still further afield, out to sea in fact, one etymologist has linked the term with seamen's contempt for a certain type of two-masted sailing ship they encountered in the West Indies. Noting its inadequate, odd, and bad riggings, they decried it by using the Central American word for the wood from which the craft was made, bally. As ballyhoo it became a term of abuse others soon applied to any vessel they felt was not seaworthy, referring to it as "ballyhoo of blazes." Eventually, the word was used as much on land as at sea.
There is no doubt, however, that ballyhoo contains more than people want to admit. Bally once served as a swear word - among the most effective of all at the time. It was a euphemism for "bloody."
A favorite expression on the stage of late nineteenth-century music halls was the saying "the whole bloody truth." Anticipating Shaw's famous expletive in \JPygmalion\j, it would bring down the house. But to use the phrase explicitly was impossible. Actors therefore camouflaged the "offensive" words by changing them into the respectable "ballyhooly truth." Finally, cut down in size, it left us with the present-day ballyhoo which, like all make-believe, is far from true.
#
"Banished from Paradise",143,0,0,0
According to the \JBible\j, \JAdam and Eve\j were not expelled from the Garden of Eden, as is generally believed, in punishment for their having eaten of the forbidden fruit. The book of Genesis (3:17-24) clearly states that the reason was not of a punitive nature, but a precautionary measure. \JAdam and Eve\j had to leave Paradise to prevent them from eating the fruit of yet another tree "out of bounds" to them, the tree of life, as then they would live on forever, which did not fit in with the divine scheme of things.
#
"Banking",144,0,0,0
Though religion strongly disapproved of the love of money, describing it in the Gospels as the root of all evil, it was responsible for a number of monetary terms and institutions. The earliest banks, history tells, belonged to temples, where the gifts of the faithful were kept.
Babylonian priests, so facile with figures, were also the first bankers, as long ago as four millennia. They accepted valuables for safe keeping, storing them in the sanctuary's vaults. Their transactions included the granting of credit and the giving of mortgages, for which they charged a fee and interest. A special service given by those temple banks was their loan of seeds.
#
"Bankruptcy in the Early Days",145,0,0,0
In modern parlance, money merchants who had no cash left to repay creditors would have to close their bank. In the days when they transacted their business on a counter in the open, the original "bank," this "bench" was broken up. That is how they became "bank-rupt," which created the now merely figurative expression of "going bankrupt." At the time their broken bench indicated their insolvency. The practice also survives in people's colloquial description of those without money as "broke."
Seventeenth-century Britain required bankrupts to walk about in special clothing. It was easy thus to recognize a person who was not credit-worthy. This had a dual purpose: it made him pay off his debt as quickly as possible and saved tradesmen from suffering a loss.
Public outcry against the custom made authorities discontinue it generally in 1688. For some time however, it continued to be enforced on those convicted of fraudulent \Jbankruptcy\j.
#
"Banns of Marriage",146,0,0,0
It used to be the law, prior to a wedding, to have "the banns" read out in church. This was done to give anyone who had a valid reason to object to the forthcoming union the opportunity of registering his protest. If justified, the marriage did not take place. (Actually, when first introduced, the practice was meant to ensure that the couple were not too closely blood-related, thereby avoiding incest.)
The circumstances and similarity of sound led people to assume that the banns referred to the (possible) "banning" of the union. This is incorrect. In the early use of the term, the banns did not have a negative meaning. They solely stood for a "proclamation," in this case the public announcement of intention of marriage.
#
"Banquets",147,0,0,0
Communal eating was once the fashion. Dining privately was just not done! Long benches then served the diners both for their meals and the inevitable sleep afterwards. And that is how the bench, from the Italian \Ibanco,\i created the modern banquet. Odd indeed, to call such a sumptuous affair by such a wooden name.
#
"Banshee",148,0,0,0
Death has haunted man through the ages. Recognizing it as the all-powerful "final master and lord," people assumed that it would not arrive unannounced but would, as it were, cast its shadow before it.
Death could announce itself in various ways. Most common were premonitions, when men and women felt that the angel of death was hovering around, ready to claim them. Queer apparitions of one's ethereal double (called by the untranslatable German \IDoppelgΣnger)\i and mysterious knocks on window or door were significant forebodings. They were either imagined by a vivid fantasy or, it was claimed, clearly revealed to those endowed with the gift of \Jclairvoyance\j. In Irish and Scottish lore the harbinger of death took the form of the mystical and mysterious banshee.
During the last war, when Britain was preparing to withstand massive air-raid attacks, considerable thought was given to an efficient warning system. The final choice of the signals worried some of those in authority. They were afraid that the wailing sound of the air-raid siren that had been chosen to warn the population of an imminent air attack would remind superstitious people of the wailing of a banshee. And this, according to Irish tradition, foretold certain death! Therefore, it was debated and argued, it might be a mistake to choose the very sound that might prove inimical to the morale of a large section of the population.
Indeed, the banshee has been a herald of death to Irish people for countless centuries. In the paradox of Irish lore however, in spite of its foreboding mission, the banshee was not an old hag but the surviving spirit of a woman or a wraith-like woman of beautiful appearance. She was part of the rich \Jfolklore\j of their nation. As a word - from the \JGaelic\j of course - the banshee spoke of a "woman of the fairies," linking the two words \Ibean\i and \Isidhe.\i
The execution of her special task could take various forms. She might appear "in person" as it were, to convey by her presence the message of doom. Or, invisible, she could make her voice heard in a mournful tune - like the melancholy moaning of the wind. Again, she might disclose the bad news to the family of the person about to die. More specifically, she could actually sound her warning notes under the very window of the person whose death warrant had already been signed.
Among the Irish and Scottish people, the banshee was not a completely "unattached" female figure. According to the belief of many, she had a special tie with certain families with whose fate therefore she was deeply concerned. It was to them particularly (and according to some tradition, exclusively) that she appeared when death was about to strike one of their members. Actually, only the truly noble, of ancient and pure descent, were said to "own" such a fairy. Once again, in the paradox way of the Irish, this very belief led to acrimonious social distinction even when it related to the coming of death. In spite of the ominous message she carried, to be visited by the banshee was regarded an honor!
Any bereavement without her prior warning was a sure indication of that family's lack of distinction. A banshee's association with the clan would last as long as the family lived and certainly never depended on the state of its wealth. Even if a member had fallen on bad times, the banshee would stay on as a loyal "friend" to the very end!
An Irish elegy records with glee how once "upstart" merchants were misled at the Irish port of Dingle which at the time belonged to the noble Knights of Kerry. When one of their order was about to die, the banshee gave due warning in her mournful song which could be heard all over the seaport. The merchants mistakenly believed that the message was addressed to one of them and consequently were thrown into panic. But, sarcastically, a good friend comforted them - putting their minds at ease and them into their place. They had no need to worry, he explained, as certainly the voice of the banshee could never be meant for them!
Thus, the banshee was a close friend; it was suggested that her wailing was really meant not to distress but to help. Her song was like a tender call, almost an encouragement to the dying, by telling him that his ancestral group was anxiously awaiting him on the other side to join it in happy reunion. The call was equally intended to comfort those left behind.
On the other hand, it was also believed that a banshee who for some reason had become hostile to a family, announced the forthcoming death in a totally different tune. A shrill and howling sound then, it almost voiced joyous anticipation and delight about the loss and grief to come.
The banshee, whether heard in dread of doom or in comforting reconciliation, linked the occult with the aristocratic world. This fairy - and a woman at that - cherished true values and not cheap money.
#
"Barak and his Meandering Gravestone",149,0,0,0
Barak was the last chief of the Aboriginal Yarra Yarra tribe. His life was as eventful as the story of the monument marking his final resting place in the small cemetery at Coranderrk, a former Aboriginal mission station just outside Healesville.
Coranderrk - the name is the Aboriginal word for the Christmas bush - had been established in 1860, to serve as a refuge for the remnants of scattered tribes in the area. After leaving the Bons' estate, Barak went to live there. Soon his many qualities were recognized and, as a most reliable member of the mission station, he was entrusted with the most responsible tasks. For instance, he was asked to go to Melbourne to cash cheques. He went on foot all the way, a distance of 120 kilometers, and returned with the money "intact."
A veritable storehouse of native lore, Barak became a much sought-after source of valuable information. A welcome guest to many homes, he was invited to Government House where, for many years, one of his paintings of a \Jcorroboree\j was highly treasured.
Barak's personal life was far from happy, however. His first wife died childless. Very lonely, he remarried, a bride who was 22 years his junior. (Theirs was the first Christian wedding ceremony held at Coranderrk.)
Conditions on the station deteriorated. With food and clothing scarce, Barak called on Mrs Bon, whom he knew to be a compassionate woman. Deeply concerned with the \JAborigines\j' fate, she did not let him down.
Then tragedy struck again. Barak lost his second wife, who died of tuberculosis. Not long after, David, their son, took ill. Afraid that he would lose him as well, Barak took him to the Melbourne \JHospital\j, which refused to admit the boy as a patient as - so they informed the despondent father - he had not been "booked in."
A determined man, Barak stood his ground and, overcoming bureaucratic obstructionism, saw his son hospitalized. However, to his own distress and the child's trauma, he was not permitted to stay with the boy.
Despondent once again, Barak went to see Mrs Bon, his old friend, who let him stay overnight at her Kew home. When, next morning, both rushed to the \Jhospital\j, they were told that David had passed away during the night!
Barak remarried, but it was not "third time lucky." An unhappy union, it was cut short when, after a mere four years, this third wife, too, died.
Seventy-two years old then, Barak looked after the few remaining \JAborigines\j at Coranderrk until one day he seriously injured his hand. Instead of following the doctor's advice, he preferred his own race's traditional cure, applying to the wound the red gum of the \JEucalyptus\j tree. Maybe because of this treatment, or just through old age, Barak died soon after the accident.
The occasion of his death recalled claims he had previously made of possessing psychic power. His father had passed away just when the wattles were blooming. And not long before his own death, Barak had told friends that he felt that he was not to live much longer and would die - like his father - "when the wattles bloom again." This is exactly what happened. Shirley Wiencke, when writing his life story, entitled it with those very words.
Barak was laid to rest in the little bush graveyard of the mission, joining his fellow tribesmen. A plaque put up in the cemetery lists all the burials recorded since 1863, giving special mention to the various tribes of the deceased. It also quotes Kath Walker's words: "We belong here, we are of the old ways."
A large and impressive stone on his grave, located just beyond the entrance gate, carries a voluminous inscription, telling that it was put up:
\ITo the Glory of God
And the Memory of
BARAK
Last Chief of the Yarra Yarra Tribe
of \JAborigines\j and his race\i
After giving the details of his death - at Coranderrk on 15 August 1903, aged 85 - and recalling him as "A sincere Christian," the text makes special mention of the various circumstances linked with the monument. The stone itself was the gift of both Mrs Anne Fraser Bon, late of Wappan Estate Bonnie Doon, and the Shire of Healesville.
First erected in Healesville by public subscription in 1934, 21 years later it was "re-erected here over his grave, surrounded by 300 of his race." The information given raises several questions relating to the change of site and the donors.
The Bons used to own a \Jcattle\j station at Wappan and Barak worked for them. Greatly liked, he was treated and paid in the same way as all the other, European employees.
Unfortunately, Mr Bon died. As was the custom at the time, he was buried on the property. His wife put up on his grave an impressive monument of Italian marble, as she hoped - permanently. But this was not to be. When the building of the Eildon Weir threatened to submerge the grave, Mrs Bon decided to have her late husband's body reinterred in the Eildon Cemetery, marking his grave there with a new headstone.
Meanwhile, to her regret, Barak who had proved such a loyal worker also had passed away. Mrs Bon, who had grown very fond of him, felt that he should not be forgotten and deserved a special memorial. Her husband's former headstone gave her the opportunity.
Anonymously, and merely indicating that it was the gift of "one who knew and admired the old King," she donated it, stipulating that it should be put up to commemorate and pay tribute to Barak. The site chosen was most conspicuous - at the end of the main street of the small township of Healesville. A newspaper appeal raised the necessary funds ($120) "to defray the cost of transporting, erecting, and [re]lettering the stone."
It was not to be the memorial's final move. Some of the local citizens strongly objected to its location. So conspicuously placed, they said, it was a morbid sight for those living in its vicinity. The local council removed the stone once again and, instead of replacing it, stored it in the municipal yard.
It would have stayed there for ever, had not news spread that the wooden marker on Barak's grave at Coranderrk had rotted away. Thus, Mr Bon's original memorial, after its temporary storage, was moved for the third time, to be re-erected on its present site.
#
"Barbecue Origins",150,0,0,0
There is an odd but innocuous link between voodoo worship and the modern barbecue. Both came from \JHaiti\j in the West Indies!
Natives there lived on \Jcattle\j and pigs that roamed the island. As salt was scarce and costly, they devised their own method of preserving the meat. They smoked it over an open fire on a wooden framework or grid called a \Iboucan\i or \Iberbekot.\i
When Spaniards first arrived they were very much taken by this simple method of cooking meat and pronounced the name of the platform \Ibarbacoa.\i Both the word and the grid were taken to the North American continent. There, the word barbecue was oddly applied both to a wooden bedstead and a gridiron on which Americans roasted an entire ox.
With the passing of time the barbecue-bed was lost but the barbecue roaster became so popular that it was universally adopted. Instead of describing merely a primitive grill, it is now applied to outdoor parties as well as the meats cooked there.
#
"Barber's Pole",151,0,0,0
The barber's pole with its red and white stripes originated in England, and is a relic from the early days when barbers not only cut hair and trimmed beards, but were also surgeons. Actually, until 1745, they were members of the Barbers' and Surgeons' Company. They practised blood-letting, tooth-pulling, and many other kinds of rough and ready surgery.
During the process of blood-letting, which was considered most beneficial, it was customary for the patient to hold a pole tightly in his hand, so that the veins would swell and the blood flow freely. It was inevitable that the pole became blood-stained, which did not encourage squeamish patients. Therefore barbers soon painted it bright red.
When not in use, the pole was hung outside the shop and the barber wound around it one of the bandages used for tying up the arm. Eventually, one brainy member of the fraternity hit on the idea of replacing the real pole and bandage with a dummy one, painted red with white stripes. This then became a fixture and the barber's trade mark.
The gilt knob at the end of the pole represents the brass basin used for the dual purpose of catching the blood and the lather.
#
"Barber-Surgeons",152,0,0,0
The first "modern" surgeons were barbers, who also specialized in blood-letting. Both their existence and their name are due to a religious ban. Barbers (from the Latin \Ibarba,\i "beard") were "beard-cutters." They began to practice their art as the result of a decree issued in 1092 by which the ecclesiastical authorities forbade monks to grow beards.
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"Barge in",153,0,0,0
Special types of barges - flat-bottomed boats - have been used in England to ply the shallow waters of rivers and canals to transport freight. Lacking power of their own, the vessels were either propelled by poles or pulled by men or horses, walking alongside on a narrow tow-path.
The navigation of such a vessel had its hazards. Once in motion, its own impetus and lack of maneuverability carried it straight ahead, making it exceedingly hard to avoid obstacles in its way. By "barging in," it caused collisions and not a few accidents. People soon adopted the phrase for other situations. They applied it to those who in conversations gave their own advice or opinion uninvited or, physically, bumped into a person or an object.
At times, the barge poles used, of necessity, were extremely long. This gave rise to yet another contribution to phraseology. It was said of people (or objects), regarded as obnoxious and repugnant, that one would not touch them with a barge pole.
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"Barracking",154,0,0,0
To the sports-minded Australian, barracking certainly is not a strange word. Nowadays it is mostly a vivid description of the vociferous demonstration of one's partisanship, particularly so in football.
To start with, however, spectators "barracked" not so much to cheer the team they supported as to jeer at, and hurl abuse at the opposing side. People have wondered whether this was not a cunning manoeuvre to unsettle and ruffle its players, to make them lose control of themselves and thereby the match. Such interpretation has been strongly denied as not being in the English tradition of "playing the game."
The \Jetymology\j of the term itself is uncertain. Some authorities believe that it was a cockney word migrants brought from England. It described "a jumble of sounds" and "inarticulate chatter." Others traced barracking, at least partially, to a French source in which \Ibaragouin\i meant 'gibberish'. A third team (of scholars) credits the Irish with the introduction of barracking. In fact, "barking" had been the original word used for the loud bragging of men about their strength and verve. But pronounced in the Irish brogue, the barking sounded very much like barracking. Truly indigenous is the further suggestion that the term came from the Aboriginal-derived Australian slang phrase in which the making of fun of anyone was expressed as "poking \Iborak\i at him."
Least complicated and far-fetched is yet another explanation which links the Australians' barracking with the early history of white settlement. In Melbourne (some believe in Sydney as well) football games were then played on a field that was adjacent to the military barracks. It was only natural for the soldiers stationed there to enjoy taking part in this type of battle. If they did not actually join in the match as part of a team, they participated in it vocally by raucously voicing their approval or displeasure.
Soon they and their shouts became identified with the barracks from which - like from a grandstand - they watched the game. These quarters were demolished long ago. Nevertheless, they survive in the peculiar and expressive term of barracking.
Such is the multitude of views on the origin of the simple term. It is up to the reader finally to decide for which of them to barrack.
#
"Barrister's Gown Pocket",155,0,0,0
A close look at the small pocket at the back of a \Jbarrister\j's gown will reveal that it is sewn up.
At one time barristers were not permitted to charge a fee. It was regarded below their professional dignity. But to be able to exist, they needed money. To enable clients to pay them surreptitiously, the little back-pocket was provided into which the money was put when no one was watching. However, to make sure that the \Jbarrister\j was aware of the secretive transfer of the "honorarium," the client pulled the streamers hanging down from the gown.
Professional standards and practices changed. Barristers were now entitled to proper fees. The back pocket thus became redundant. But instead of removing it, it was stitched up! Its retention like that of the wig was typical of the traditionalism in the British legal system.
#
"Bars and Barristers",156,0,0,0
That people go to the bar for a drink is really self explanatory. It refers to the "barrier" or counter across which drink is being served. It shares its origin with that of a \Jbarrister\j's title who is so named because he is called to the bar of a court. The drinking bar is first mentioned in 1592, and Shakespeare was well acquainted with it.
#
"Baseball Origins",157,0,0,0
\JBaseball\j, America's national game (at first spelled base ball), is second to none in the fame it enjoys, the millions of its loyal fans, and the confusion that surrounded claims about its origin.
A commission appointed to trace its beginnings gave a report that was proved to be completely erroneous. Nevertheless, as the result of its "findings" Americans erected - at the wrong place - a shrine to commemorate in perpetuity the birth of the game, and honored the wrong man as its inventor, at a date which was equally unauthentic.
It all started when American \Jbaseball\j lovers conjectured how, where and when it all began, and, in patriotic zeal, some enthusiasts claimed that \Jbaseball\j was undoubtedly an indigenous American game which owed nothing to foreign lands. This assertion was made as early as 1889 at a public dinner at Delmonico's, New York City, arranged to welcome back from a world-tour America's star players and attended by some 300 guests, including Mark Twain. The claim, made by Abraham G. Mills (President of the National League), one of the speakers, was greatly applauded.
On the other hand, Henry Chadwick, a former cricketer and America's first English-born \Jbaseball\j reporter, and a veritable walking encyclopedia on the sport, contributed an article to \IBaseball Guide\i in 1903 in which he expressed the view that the game was derived from the English "rounders," which he himself had played "back home" as a schoolboy. "After school time we boys would proceed (with balls and sticks) to the nearest field, select a smooth portion of it, and lay out the ground for a contest. This was easily done by placing four stones or posts in position as base stations, and by digging a hole in the ground where the batsman had to stand."
A heated controversy was the inevitable result of the contradictory claims supported with ardour (and often emotion) by the two schools of thought. To settle the question for all time, Mr Albert G. Spalding, one of the famous nineteenth-century players and co-founder of the sporting goods manufacturing company bearing his name, suggested the appointment of a committee "to search anywhere that is possible and thus learn the real facts concerning the origin and development of the game."
The members of the commission chosen were seven men of "high repute and undoubted knowledge of \Jbaseball\j, including two US senators." Abraham G. Mills was the chairman. Their report, published in 1907, certainly bore the signatures of the whole committee (excepting one member who had meanwhile died), but actually it was the sole work of Mills. It clearly stated that \Jbaseball\j was an indigenous American game and had no connection with foreign sports, particularly not the English rounders, and that it was devised by Abner Doubleday, the renowned soldier, as a youth in Cooperstown, NY, in 1839.
Mills wrote: "In the days when Abner Doubleday attended school in Cooperstown, it was a common thing for two dozen or more of schoolboys to join in a game of ball." Doubtless collisions between players trying to catch the batted ball were a frequent occurrence, and together with the practice of putting out the runner by hitting him with the ball, injured the players. He could therefore well understand "how the orderly mind of the embryo West Pointer would devise a scheme for limiting the contestants on each side and allotting them to field positions each with a certain amount of territory; also substituting the existing method of putting out the base runner for the old one of plugging him with the ball."
Mills said that Abner had played the first game of this type in Cooperstown on a summer's day in 1839. Arranging it, he had invented the diamond, indicating the positions for the players. However, Mills' only proof was "a circumstantial statement by a reputable gentleman" - Abner Graves, a one-time resident of Cooperstown - who claimed that he could recollect the fact, 68 years after the event!
Perhaps it is of more than casual interest that Doubleday had been a close friend of Mills. As a Major General, he had been in command of the Union Army at the close of the first day's fight in the battle of Gettysburg, and his remains were interred at Arlington. A famous soldier thus had been made by Mills an idol of sport as well.
Even Spalding himself, as the initiator of the search, was far from satisfied. Nowhere could he trace data that substantiated Mill's story. (And yet, when in 1910 he published a book called \IThe National Game,\i out of loyalty to the commission, he still refrained from reopening the case and thereby rousing new controversy.) Nothing further happened in the sifting of the evidence, which was considered factual and final.
No one could have been happier with the report than the people of Cooperstown. Sincere in their belief that its version of events was correct, they grasped its implications for their own village and acted upon them. Those discovered "facts" could change their bucolic hamlet into a very focus of American pride - a sanctuary of their country's national game.
Obviously, the first thing to do was to seek out the original field (then a mere cow pasture) and give it proper status. They leased it in 1919 and, in the following year, established it as a permanent national monument, naming it "The Doubleday Field." (A New York Supreme Court Order in 1923 made the field the property of the village.) As time passed, the project was ever further advanced until eventually the former grazing paddock had become an exhibition field for Major League matches, with flawless turf, and a steel and concrete stadium.
An accidental discovery in 1935 led to a significant development in the \Jbaseball\j saga. In a garret of a home at Fly Creek, a ball was found in a trunk. It was believed this ball had belonged to Abner Graves and no doubt had therefore been handled by Doubleday himself. As soon as the news reached Cooperstown, one of its people rushed to Fly Creek to acquire this relic (for $5).
By now, Cooperstown people were most anxious to promote in any way possible their town's \Jbaseball\j attraction. They were not unmindful, of course, that this would improve business. Could there be anything better than the "original" ball, a relic linked with the very beginning of the national game, to lure thousands of visitors? The "find" prompted Cooperstonians to start a \Jbaseball\j museum "for the purpose of collecting and preserving pictures and relics reflecting the development of the National Game from the time of its inception, through the ingenuity of Major General Abner Doubleday, in 1839, to the present."
The idea caught on at once, and prized possessions were gathered from all over the country to be displayed at the new shrine. Babe Ruth sent his bat, uniform, and home run balls. Earliest newspaper articles on the sport, pictures of the first games, and cups won by the most famous players were among hundreds of treasured exhibits in the museum. The wide publicity given to the venture really put Cooperstown on the map and made an unknown site, "way up there in the woods," one of America's most beloved landmarks.
Certainly, no one interested in \Jbaseball\j and its promotion could ignore the opportunity which now offered itself: the approaching centenary of the game - at least according to Mills' chronology due in 1939. Its nationwide celebration, if properly organized on a grand scale, would make history. All efforts of Cooperstown (and of other interested parties) now centered on this event.
To the national \JBaseball\j Museum was added The Hall of Fame, solemnly dedicated on 12 June 1939. Bronze plaques on its walls paid homage to the immortals of the game, while above a fireplace an \Joil painting\j of Doubleday was hung. The climax of the anniversary celebrations was a pageant portraying the historical highlights of the game, and an all-star contest between teams composed of the greatest players, on the original Doubleday Field.
Everything went according to plan. President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself gave official sanction to the celebration, and thereby recognition to the myth. In a message, he clearly stated that "we should all be grateful to Abner Doubleday. Little did he or the group that was with him in Cooperstown, NY, in 1839, realize the boon they were giving the nation in devising \Jbaseball\j." The State of New York placed an official marker at the entrance to the original field to indicate for all time "the birthplace of \Jbaseball\j." The US government issued a \Jbaseball\j centenary postage stamp, but wisely omitted Doubleday's picture.
#
"Batiste",158,0,0,0
After a child had been christened, it often happened that some of the baptismal water clung to its head. To wipe it off with an ordinary cloth seemed inappropriate in the circumstances. Much more fitting would be a fabric specially woven for the occasion and of finest texture. To indicate its particular (and then sole) function, it was called after the sacramental rite it served, \Ibaptiste.\i
When people realized the usefulness of the material for other, mundane purposes, such as for making a baby's garment, the cloth retained its original name, though its reference to \Jbaptism\j had become meaningless. Losing one of its (telling) letters, it survives as \Ibatiste,\i its religious source now unrecognizable in its present form.
The fine French fabric, another explanation claims, was first produced by a Cambrai weaver by the name of Jean Baptiste. As was only fair, it was called after him, however, in the process, it was carelessly misspelled.
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"Baton",159,0,0,0
Several traditions together account for the officer's baton. Today, it is a symbol of authority, but practical considerations were responsible for its use first of all.
The baton was an aid to the good manners expected in army leaders. Carrying the stick prevented the officer from putting his hands into his pockets. To point with the finger is impolite, especially for an officer. To do so with a stick was deemed more refined. In addition, grasping the baton prevented him from fidgeting with his hands - a habit common to most of us. Just as in some countries modern policemen may carry truncheons for use at close range, so the baton served also as a weapon of defense.
All these explanations are of comparatively recent date. The baton actually recalls much earlier times, when it was an ever-present means of enforcing discipline. A General Order of 1702 prescribed "swagger sticks" for the British officer. Equipped with the baton, he could administer on-the-spot punishment to any recalcitrant soldier. Up to 12 strokes were inflicted for minor offenses, which included such violations of regulations as "giving officers a cross look," "sneezing in the ranks" or "scratching one's head."
Authorities agree that the baton itself developed from an ordinary bludgeon, carried by Teutonic races and that, going back even further, it is a survival of the sacrificial axe of prehistoric man.
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"Batting an Eye(lid)",160,0,0,0
Those showing no surprise and remaining calm in the most trying circumstances are said to "not bat an eyelid." They are so unconcerned and steady that not even their eyelids flicker.
The phrase comes from \Jfalconry\j, one of the oldest sports in the world. Hawks, employed to hunt wild quarry, prior to being let loose for their chase, were secured by a leash and made to sit on a perch, often the falconer's wrist. Struggling wildly to escape, they were said to "bate." Their vigorous struggle is recalled in the "batting of an eyelid."
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"Baubles and Apples",161,0,0,0
The use of apples in some parts of the world to decorate Christmas trees stems from the apple's early associations with the Tree of Life in Paradise. According to popular belief, though the \JBible\j never actually says so, this was an apple tree.
Baubles might be replicas of the fruit. Mainly, however, they are just colorful ornaments which contribute to the festive spirit in a home. They also reflect light, thus multiplying the effect of candles and lights.
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"Bawdy",162,0,0,0
Prostitutes have been described as members of the oldest profession. It is no wonder therefore that terms linked with their trade are numerous. Though the occupation has remained the same, the names under which they work have been updated many times.
The madam running a brothel was known in Elizabethan times as a bawdy and, accordingly, her establishment became a bawdy house. The background of the term is uncertain. Both the \JOld High German\j for "bold" and the French for "merry" have been quoted as its source. Some even believed that "bawd" is all that is left of the original "ribald," from the Old French ribauld. Persons were so called because of their delight in the crude and licentious.
With time, the term has mellowed and, less concerned with the sale of sex, it merely continues to be employed for references and remarks that are obscene, erotic or lewd.
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"Be a Brick",163,0,0,0
In his \INicomachean Ethics,\i Aristotle defined a happy man as "a faultless cube." In similar vein, a reliable person who proves himself a true friend has been described as "being a brick." The comparison conjures up some of the characteristic qualities of the brick. Of one piece, it is solid. However, its use as a \Jmetaphor\j can be traced to antiquity and words first spoken by Lycurgus, the famous 9th-century B.C. Spartan law-giver. There are two versions.
According to \JPlutarch\j, Lycurgus had been asked whether it would not be a wise precaution against possible enemy attacks to encircle Sparta with a wall. He strongly refuted the idea. There was no need for it, he said, because that city was well fortified "which has a wall of men instead of bricks."
The other tradition tells the incident slightly differently. An ambassador from another state had expressed his surprise that Sparta lacked a defensive wall. "But we have walls," Lycurgus had replied, inviting his visitor to view them. Lycurgus then took him to an army camp where Spartan soldiers were being trained. Pointing to them, Lycurgus said, "These are the walls of Sparta, and every man is a brick."
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"Be Flat Out",164,0,0,0
Harassed modern man, sparing no effort to go places, is "flat out." The description stems from car racing. To achieve maximum speed, the accelerator pedal has to be pushed all the way down, so that it is "flat out" on the floor.
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"Bear Hug",165,0,0,0
A tight embrace is called a bear hug. Wrestlers apply the term to a hold in which a fighter's arms are tightly locked around his opponents chest and arms. The \Jmetaphor\j does injustice to the animal which has never been known thus to hug friend or foe and certainly does not squeeze anyone to death. A bear kills by striking the victim with its front paws. At times, it might use its teeth in support, though possibly only to prevent the prey from escaping.
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"Bear Market: Origin of the Name",166,0,0,0
In a \Jbear market\j people expect a slump. To make a profit they sell shares, hoping later on to repurchase them at the lowest possible price. The origin of this name is almost as uncertain as the result of the speculation. It might well have been suggested by a once well-known English proverb (first documented in 1580) that spoke of "selling the bearskin before the bear has been caught."
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"Beauty Culture",167,0,0,0
Among the many treasures exhibited by the British Museum in London is the mummified body of an Egyptian woman, at least 5,000 years old. Conspicuously it displays an astonishing feature. It shows that her finger and toe nails had been painted dark red.
Women have used make-up as long as it can be remembered. None of our so-called modern cosmetics is new. They were applied in like manner in ancient \JEgypt\j, \JBabylonia\j, and China.
Actually, women today are still lagging behind and have either forgotten or not yet taken up other old-established beauty aids. Apart from shaving off unwanted hairs using rouge, beautifying their eyes and coloring the lips, women of antiquity stained the soles of the feet with henna and touched up the nipples of the breasts with a purple dye.
Make-up has been used on all kinds of occasions. Queen Jezebel of Israel painted her face before looking out of the window to confront Jehu. Pepys proudly wrote in his diary of the black patches worn on her face by his wife.
Throughout history men have tried repeatedly, but with little success, to stop women using cosmetics. Apart from moral or religious reasons, they have done so in self-defense. Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century A.D. thus encouraged the proclamation of a law to prevent women from tricking husbands into marriage by means of cosmetics. Some 200 years later, John Chrysostomos wrote: "If anyone were painting the ideal body to house the soul of an ideal woman, he would not dream of showing a face that had bloody lips like the mouth of a bear, or sooty eyebrows that look as though they came from a dirty kitchen pot."
In 1770 a Bill was introduced into the British Parliament (but subsequently defeated) which demanded:
\I"That all women of whatever age, rank, degree or profession, whether virgins, maids or widows, who shall from and after such an act impose upon, seduce or betray into matrimony any of His Majesty's subjects, by the scents, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, bolstered hips, shall incur the penalty of the law in force against witchcraft and like misdemeanors, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void."\i
A century later a disappointed husband sued his father-in-law for the depreciation in his wife's looks after her make-up had been removed. He claimed "compensation suitable to her real, and not her assumed, countenance." He pointed out that he had never realized, until the morning after the wedding, what a hag he had chosen to be his spouse.
Millions of pounds are being spent annually on cosmetics. Fortunately, their ingredients no longer include such obnoxious elements as dog's urine, once used by Italian nobility as a tincture against thinning of hair.
Next to the beautifying benefit of cosmetics is their psychological effect. Dry skin, dull eyes and pale lips have depressed many a woman and given her feelings of inferiority. To remedy them, and also any suggestion of ageing, make-up proved a wonderful medicine. Its application led to a cheerful mind, a happy disposition and a sense of well-being. In hospitals the use of the lipstick has proved itself a tonic.
Cosmetics have had a place even in the fostering of democracy and the removal of class distinctions. They gave every girl a fair chance to shine and be equal.
Make-up thus covers an enormous field. Its range extends to economics, \Jpsychology\j, and social living. Women have always found it useful to hide blemishes and to improve natural beauty. They applied it for the attraction of the masculine sex and the envy of their own.
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"Bedlam",168,0,0,0
Hard to imagine it may be, but \Ibedlam\i is a disfigured version of "\JBethlehem\j'. It came about by a peculiar chain of events which started in 1247 in London, when in the East End of the city a priory was established. Its main function was to offer hospitality to visiting dignatories from abroad. A religious establishment, it was called in honor of the sacred virgin, 'St Mary of \JBethlehem\j."
As guests were few and far between, those in charge felt that the priory could serve other purposes as well and opened its doors to the care of the sick. At least from 1400 onward, the priory also looked after those who were mentally ill, or, as they were then called, "the distracted," so that it was one of the first institutions of its kind in Europe.
When in 1536 \JHenry VIII\j broke with the Papacy and dissolved all monasteries, the \Jhospice\j of St Mary of \JBethlehem\j was equally affected. Closed down as a priory and secularized, it was taken over by the Corporation of London, henceforth to serve exclusively as an asylum for the insane.
It is a sad comment on human perversity that it did not take long for it to become a tourist attraction, a favorite site for people's amusement. Paying an entrance fee of twopence each, sightseers thronged the place. Unbelievable now, the visitors were not only highly amused by the poor people's antics, but teased and baited them into "\Jfuries\j of rage."
To speak of the "\JHospital\j of St Mary of \JBethlehem\j" was rather cumbersome. Londoners thus shortened it to "Bethl'em." No longer recognized as a contraction of \IBethlehem,\i it was further corrupted to become \IBedlam.\i That is how the name of \IBethlehem,\i the holy city, distorted beyond recognition as bedlam, became synonymous with a situation of noise, confusion, if not lunacy.,\i it was further corrupted to become \IBedlam.\i That is how the name of \IBethlehem,\i the holy city, distorted beyond recognition as bedlam, became synonymous with a situation of noise, confusion, if not lunacy.
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"Beefeater: Origin of the Name",169,0,0,0
Visitors to the \JTower of London\j admire the Beefeaters, once the king's bodyguards. They were selected for their valor and stamina; their name certainly paid tribute to the strength-giving qualities of eating beef!
Yet some have claimed wrongly that the name beefeaters is a mistake. Originally, one of their duties was to help serve food at banquets. For this purpose, they stood near the loaded sideboard that was generally called by the French term \Ibuffet.\i Hence they were referred to as "buffetiers." The cockney accent soon changed this into the more plausible \Jbeefeater\j!
In fact, their name can be taken literally. An "eater" in medieval England was a servant. If he belonged to the lowest class he had to look after his superior colleagues and as a servants' servant, his main ration was bread and some \Joffal\j. Therefore he was known as a loafeater.
The fighting man, on the other hand, belonged to the upper class of servants. He was responsible for the defense of the country and, in the case of the \Jyeomen of the guard\j, the king's safety. To acknowledge his status and keep him fighting-fit, he was fed on the finest of meats. This distinction was duly recognized by calling him, appropriately, a \Jbeefeater\j.
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"Beelzebub as the Devil",170,0,0,0
Confusion certainly reigns, it seems, wherever the devil appears. This applies to \JBeelzebub\j, one of his disguises. At first glance, the meaning of his name is apparently clear to any student of \JHebrew\j. As \Ibaal zebub,\i literally, he is "the lord of flies." And as such he made his first debut in the Books of Kings (II Kings 1,3) as a god whom the \JPhilistines\j worshiped in Ekron, the most northerly of their five principal cities at the time of King Ahaziah.
The king had suffered grave injuries from a fall. Anxious to know his fate, he had sent messengers to the shrine of \Jbaal\j zebub to inquire whether he would recover from the accident. Elijah strongly reprimanded him for doing so, as it was blasphemous for a \JHebrew\j to acknowledge pagan wisdom.
To have a special deity ascribed to flies might not be far-fetched. Even in ancient times, flies had been recognized as the cause of fatal epidemics. It is also likely, however, that in this case the "fly" is mere fiction and has been put in its (divine) place on purpose. The Israelites wanted to make fun of the pagan god and compared him with the dirty insect to show their contempt, to stress his insignificance and to say that he really counted for nothing.
Authorities, of course, have wondered what the real and original name of the god was. Using as their basis newly discovered inscriptions as well as the Greek translation of the \JBible\j, they suggested \JBaal\j Zebul. Indeed, another ancient tradition claims that the Hebrews expressed their disdain and ridicule in a play on words by referring to the pagan deity of that name as \Jbaal\j zebel - the god of filth and of dung.
The true meaning of zebul is still uncertain. According to some it spoke of the heavenly "mansion." This was reason enough for the Israelites to feel greatly affronted as, in their minds, only their God was worthy to occupy that exalted position. No matter what its literal meaning, \JBeelzebub\j became an obscenity for the Jews.
What really happened was that the Hebrews, by the change of name, had tried to emphasize the insignificant smallness (like a fly) of the pagan lord, as compared with the majesty of the true God who was the Lord of all. And the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j's slanted view was then accepted by Jesus and, fully developed, became a completely new concept in the Gospels. They now identified the "fly god" with the evil force. They made him the "prince of devils," if not Satan himself (Mark, 3, 23). Indeed, at the time both Jews and Christians shared the view that all pagan gods were really demons.
That is how, ever since, \JBeelzebub\j (or Beelzebul in a different spelling) has appeared as Satan himself or, at least, as in Milton's \IParadise Lost\i (I, 79) nearest to him in crime and rank.
#
"Before You Can Say 'Jack Robinson'",171,0,0,0
Jack Robinson was a most erratic sort of person. He always changed his mind. He was so capricious that no one could ever be certain or even guess what he was going to do next. Jack might set out on one mission and, without any apparent reason, suddenly abandon it to do something completely different. Typical of his behavior was the occurrence at an official, formal function at which all guests were announced by name. At the very moment when his name was about to be called out, before the butler could even say "Jack Robinson," Jack turned around and left.
Another French, derivation of the phrase links it not with a person at all but an object: an umbrella. This was known at the time as "the Robinson Crusoe" and, as a fad carried by those who wanted to be "with it." Trying to show off, they used every opportunity and the slightest pretext to call to their servant (usually known by the popular name of Jack, in French, Jacques), "Jack! Robinson!" It was the rather abbreviated request, "Jack! Let me have the umbrella!" This became so frequent a practice that "to say Jack Robinson" was expressive of swiftness.
These are amusing anecdotes to explain the odd phrase. Possibly it started much more simply. Jack Robinson used to be so common a name that it seemed to roll off the tongue, and doing anything "even before you could say Jack Robinson" implied the acme of speed.
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"Beggars",172,0,0,0
It was frequently the case that the wives and children of Crusaders who had been killed were left destitute. Lambert le BΦgue, a twelfth-century Flemish priest, was deeply perturbed by the ensuing social problem, and made it his special mission to assist such homeless widows and orphans. To house them, he established \Jcloisters\j all over the area.
The inmates of these establishments lived communally, pooling all money and using the common fund to support other poor and disadvantaged people. They themselves led an existence of deprivation. Dressed austerely, they even restricted the amount of food they ate. Learning to do with what they had, however little it was, they never went out to beg.
It did not take long for them to be called after the priest who had inspired them to take up their new way of life, and to be referred to as a \IBΦghard\i which became an almost honorific title. That a similarly sounding Flemish word meant "prayer," no doubt, contributed to the choice of name.
That is how \Ibeggar\i came into the world, as a word for someone impoverished. We use it in this sense still in the phrase "beggars can't be choosers."
Throughout the years, the word deteriorated in meaning to assume its present-day sense of "mendicant." Nevertheless, its pious ancestry is undeniable.
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"Beginnings of Writing",173,0,0,0
People have always wondered how writing first came into existence. From earliest times, myth and legend have tried to give an answer.
Egyptians believed that only a god could have revealed the art of writing, and they called their script \Ihieroglyphics,\i meaning "sacred carvings." They worshiped Toth as the giver of script and, for this reason, always presented this bird-headed deity as holding a reed brush and ink \Jpalette\j in his hands.
The Chinese attributed the invention of the alphabet to the four-eyed, dragon-faced god T'sang Chien and said he took the pattern of his symbols from nature - the footprints of birds, the marks on the back of a turtle, and so on.
According to Hindu myth, the god \JBrahma\j created the letters. He wished to write down his teachings on leaves of gold. But as there was no alphabet in existence, he had to invent it. He did so mostly by copying some of the peculiar tracings formed by the seams in the human skull.
The known facts about writing are, of course, less exciting, though still fascinating.
Clearly, a \Imanuscript\i literally means "written by hand," though nowadays it is mostly typed. However, many other terms and implements of writing do not disclose their background and story so easily. To understand their past, enlightens their present.
A \Ipen,\i in any shape, recalls the original quill. The word is derived from a Latin root, meaning "feather." Any \Itext\i is words "woven" together to display some pattern of thought.
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"Behind the Eight Ball",174,0,0,0
Whoever is said to be "behind the 8 ball" is in a fix. The expression comes from a certain type of pool game which is played with 15 numbered vari-colored balls. These have to be pocketed in the sequence of their number - except the (black) 8 ball, which must come last. A player is in real trouble, when the ball next to be "dropped" is "behind the 8 ball." From pool the phrase found its way as a telling \Jmetaphor\j for an awkward situation into the game of life.
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"Being Catty",175,0,0,0
To call anyone who speaks spitefully of another person "catty" defames a creature that is anything but "catty." It is a regrettable example of character assassination in the "beastly" world. A cat is most "outspoken," even if only in its gestures and silent meows. It will never disguise its feelings. Openly, it will show indifference or even contempt to whoever - according to its judgment - merits such disapproval.
A cat can never be bribed nor its affection bought, no matter with how many saucers of cream. Inscrutable and incorruptible, the feline would despise anyone who is catty.
An occasional inexplicable practice on the cat's part may account for the derogatory use of its name. It sometimes happens that a cat which has contentedly been purring on its owner's lap, will suddenly strike out and scratch him or her, the very person to whom it showed so much affection an instant earlier.
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"Being Overlooked",176,0,0,0
We still do not like being "overlooked." But our present resentment, based possibly on false pride, is innocuous. The original technique of "overlooking," however, expressed the exact opposite of the meaning it now implies. Anyone "overlooked" had in fact become the focus of attention though, alas, by the evil eye.
There is a variety of reasons for suspecting a certain individual of having an evil eye. The cause may be a very natural one. It all might be simply the way he "looks." A fixed stare, for instance, particularly if accompanied by a frown or scowl, has always been interpreted as an aggressive act. On the other hand, if a person's presence coincided with some unfortunate event, people were led to believe that this happening was actually the result of his evil eye. Some of the most famous of personalities have thus been "renowned," and subsequently reviled.
Among those so maligned were Lord Byron, \JNapoleon III\j, Alfonso XIII, King of \JSpain\j, and (of all people) Pope \JPius IX\j of first Vatican Council fame. Napoleon, well aware of his occult power, used to wear an amulet attached to his watch for his own protection.
The many disasters that accompanied King Alfonso's public appearances prompted Italians to "welcome" him on a state visit in a manner no other monarch has ever experienced, before or since. They "greeted" him by wildly rattling their keys! This was not meant as applause but was their way of warding off misfortune and the devil (who was supposed to be allergic to both iron and noise).
Pope Pius was said to be one of the worst cases of \Ijettatura,\i the Italian version of a man possessed by the power of the evil eye. Anything he blessed was a "fiasco" and to receive his benediction was regarded fatal! (He was anti-modernist and this reputation was probably given him by his political adversaries.)
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"Bell-bottom Trousers",177,0,0,0
Bell-bottom trousers sailors wear were not introduced - like the flared trousers of modern times - as a mere fanciful fashion. They had a practical purpose. Sailors' duties included the scrubbing of the decks and the pulling of boats on to the shore which necessitated their wading in shallow waters. Almost inevitably then, their trouser bottoms would get wet to spoil the spick-and-span look of their uniform. To prevent this, they rolled them up which could be done so much more easily, if the trousers were bell-bottomed.
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"Bells",178,0,0,0
The jubilant ringing of church bells on Christmas morning celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
Legend has it that bells were rung for the hour before midnight on that first Christmas eve, warning the forces of darkness of the Savior's imminent birth. At the stroke of midnight, their solemn knells changed into joyous pealing.
The sounding of bells served another purpose as well. Just as bells were tolled to announce the death of someone in the community, so they were rung to tell of the "death" of the Devil brought about by the coming of Jesus Christ. The church bell was, therefore, also known as "the Old Lad's Passing Bell," "Old Lad" being a euphemism for Satan. The pealing of bells has also been assumed to chase away evil spirits, which are repelled by noise of any kind - even the clinking of glasses.
Bells of many types are a feature of the Christmas season. They can be heard on Christmas morning, and they are also used to decorate Christmas cards and the \JChristmas tree\j. Wassailers used to announce their presence by ringing a bell; so did Father Christmas, with jingling bells accompanying his sleigh's progress.
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"Beloved Doctor",179,0,0,0
\BDr Harrie Cox\b
A beautifully carved headstone in the Warren Cemetery pays tribute to a doctor who must have been particularly popular with his female patients. Why otherwise would the inscription record that the "stone and railing was erected by the lady friends of Dr Harrie Cox who died at Warren 9th May 1908 . . . as a mark of affection and esteem. 'Gone but not forgotten.'" Dr Cox died at the young age of 30 of tetanus.
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"Bends Killed him",180,0,0,0
Long before Cook had sighted \JAustralia\j, Malays used to visit its northern waters to dive for pearls. For modern \JAustralia\j, commercial pearling has become an industry supplying a great part of the world with precious shell. By 1939, a fleet of 25 pearl luggers was operating off Darwin alone.
Mainly employed in gathering pearl-shell were Torres Strait Islanders, Indonesians from \JTimor\j, \JAborigines\j, and Malays. Theirs was an exciting and, at times, gainful pursuit. But it did not lack danger and tragedy. Many a diver struck misfortune, not least from "the bends."
A vivid reminder of such fate is a Muslim's grave in the Garden Cemetery of Darwin. Its headstone, unusual in design, is a slender, square pillar, crowned by a dome. Below the motif of the star and crescent is the victim's name in Arabic letters. The inscription on the pillar itself is in English. Spaced out in 20 - mostly one-worded-lines, it reads: "R.I.P. In Memory of Our Loving Friend YUSOFF BIN MOHAMED who Passed Away During Diving Paralysis 7th July 1938 - Aged 25 Years."
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"Benedictine",181,0,0,0
If for nothing else, the Benedictines are known worldwide by the drink bearing their name. It does so, because a member of their Order, Dom Bernardo Vincelli, first distilled it in about 1510 in the monastery at FΘcamp on the Normandy coast. Surprisingly, at the time he never thought of creating a liqueur.
Vincelli was a fervent botanist who collected the plants and herbs which grew in profusion all over the district. Some of the specimens he used for medications, which he prepared for the infirmary that was part of FΘcamp Abbey. And one of these concoctions, made from the juice of twenty-eight different plants, was to become \Ithe\i Benedictine. When Dom Bernardo first tasted it with his brethren, he immediately remarked on its "refreshing and recuperative" qualities.
His words were borne out by the many who soon clamoured for the drink. In 1534, King Francois I made a special trip to FΘcamp to sample the Benedictine at its very source.
An \Jarchbishop\j of \JRouen\j praised Vincelli for his "inspiration" in the most laudatory terms any ecclesiastic could choose. His contribution, he said, made him as important to man as any saint!
When French revolutionaries destroyed the monastery, the monks succeeded in saving the formula of the drink. This enabled M. Alexandre le Grand, on opening a family distillery on the former site of the famous Abbey in 1863, to resume the making of the Benedictine. Apparently a monk had entrusted him with its secret formula. Significantly, he labelled each bottle with the capital letters \ID.O.M.\i Puzzling to the uninitiated, their message is one of faith and truly God-centered. Representing the initials of the Latin \IDeo Optimo Maximo,\i they dedicated what has been called the king of liqueurs "To God, the Best, the Greatest."
Paradoxes, so much part of life, also apply to the Benedictine. St Benedict, the founder of the Order and commemorated in its name, has as one of his symbols a bizarre combination: a broken cup containing poison, is carried away by a raven at his command. It recalled the poisoned wine once offered him in an attempt on his life.
The rules of the monastery St Benedict established in 529 at Monte Cassino became the prototype of Western monasticism. When defining the characteristics that should distinguish any Abbot as the superior of an Abbey of monks, he ruled that, apart from being wise, discreet, flexible, and learned in God, he should be a spiritual father to the community. He little realized then that, many centuries later, one member of his Rule would enrich humanity with quite a different kind of "spirit."
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"Bert Hinkler",182,0,0,0
Buried in Florence, \JItaly\j, is one of \JAustralia\j's great pioneer aviators - "Bert" Hinkler. He rests in the city's Protestant cemetery of Degli Allori. His grave, a grass plot outlined in cement, is marked by a simple cross, with its base thus inscribed:
\IIn
Loving Memory of
Squadron Leader
HERBERT JOHN LOUIS HINKLER
Who died at the age of 40
on the 7th of January 1933
Whilst on a flight
From England to Australia\i
It took 100 days before his body and the wreck of his plane were located, on 28 April 1933, after the snows of winter had thawed, but the circumstances of his death are now well-known.
On 7 January Hinkler had taken off in a Puss Moth from Harmondsworth Airport, UK, bound for \JAustralia\j. It is thought that he intended to regain an England-\JAustralia\j record he had established in 1928, but had lost four years later.
After flying non-stop for almost 16 hours and, according to his diary, having passed over Paris Mont Cenis, Spezia, and Florence, his plane crashed in the Pratomagno Alps. Several theories have been advanced as to the cause. Most likely, he had lost a propeller blade and was attempting an emergency landing. It is assumed that Bert dragged himself from the wreck, as his body was found about 40 meters away from it. A serious head wound no doubt had resulted in his death.
He was taken to the nearest village, where women covered his body with a Union Jack. The local band quickly learning the British National Anthem then shared by \JAustralia\j, played it when the vehicle carrying Hinkler's remains set out for Florence. On their arrival, these were placed in the headquarters of the Aero Club, with guards of honor standing to attention all through the night.
At the time controversy raged - with messages going to and from London - as to where Hinkler should finally be laid to rest. It was the specific wish of his widow that it be in \JAustralia\j, if possible in the family grave in Bundaberg, \JQueensland\j, the city of his birth.
Others suggested that, in tribute to his achievements, Brisbane or even \JCanberra\j should become his burial site. J. A. Lyons, the then Australian Prime Minister, informed the press that, should it be decided to take Hinklers' body home, the commonwealth was prepared to defray all expenses.
However, none of the mooted plans eventuated. Hinkler was buried in Florence. The inspiring story of his exploits and tragic death had caught the imagination of the Italian nation and, by order of Mussolini, he was given a state funeral with full military honors.
On 1 May 1933, the solemn procession, led by a band and a detachment of carabineers, proceeded in slow step from the Aero Club along the ancient streets of the city to the cemetery. Eight huge floral wreaths, each carried by two men, were tributes from the British Ambassador in \JRome\j, the Italian Minister of Air, the British Colony in Florence, and other authorities.
Italian air officers flanked the tall-canopied hearse pulled by two plumed black horses. A traditional ceremony took place on the final stretch. At the Porta Romana the cortege halted, and Hinkler's name was called out aloud. Everyone in the large crowd joined in answering, on his behalf, that he was "Present."
Later attempts to have Hinkler's body moved were unsuccessful. This was to be his final grave, at times adorned by visitors with a bunch of roses. In its obituary note of 29 April 1933, the London \ITimes\i spoke of Hinkler as a man who:
\Iwas proud of his ideas and of his ability to carry things through, but he got all the pleasure he wanted out of satisfying himself and of winning the approval of those friends and relations who were closest to him. He hardly ever posed for public approbation...\i
Hinkler was born in 1892 and, early on in life become an \Javiation\j enthusiast. Admiring the ibises in the air, he tried to emulate them. As did \JLeonardo da Vinci\j, he carefully studied the bodily structure of the birds, then built and experimented with his own models. There was no holding him back.
He joined the \JQueensland\j Aero Club, built two gliders and finally went to England, where he worked in an \Jaircraft\j factory. In World War I he served in the Royal Air Service, first as an observer gunner and then as a pilot, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
At the end of hostilities, he continued his career and achieved many an unprecedented feat. In 1920, in an Avro Baby, he flew non-stop from Croydon in England across the Alps to Turin, in nine and a half hours, celebrated at the time as the "most meritorious performance of \Javiation\j."
Returning to \JAustralia\j, Hinkler soon established further records. One day, in 1921, he flew his Avro Baby non-stop 1,000 kilometers from Sydney to Bundaberg, where he landed on the Recreation Reserve, then to taxi to his family's home. They were delighted for their illustrious son thus to "drop in." He arrived even before the telegram to his mother, in which he had announced his forthcoming visit. The flight established a world record for a light plane and an Australian record for any plane.
In 1928 Hinkler made the first solo flight in a light plane from England to \JAustralia\j. He covered the 18,320 kilometers in 129 flying hours over 16 days. This beat the previous record of 28 days!
Made an honorary squadron leader of the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve, he once again returned to Britain. In no time he was recognized as the country's most outstanding aviator. It was in the Puss Moth he then acquired to win new trophies that tragedy struck.
In 1933, the Arezzo Aero Club put up in Hinkler's honor an additional monument, far from the Florence Cemetery, on the mountain spur overlooking the site where he had crashed. The dedication on its plaque simply says:
\ITo the Long-distance aviator
HERBERT JOHN HINKLER
Who died on Pratomagno\i
Thirty-five years later, in 1968, a new memorial was to take its place, this time unveiled by the Ambassador of \JAustralia\j.
It was not for the last time that Hinkler's life and death were remembered. In 1987, he received further recognition. A wing-piece from \IChallenger,\i the ill-fated United States \Jspace shuttle\j raised from the floor of the \JAtlantic Ocean\j, was presented to "Hinkler House" in Bundaberg by Dr June Scobee, the widow of the commander. It was to serve as a lasting tribute to the role Hinkler had played in the evolution of \Javiation\j.
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"Beside Oneself",183,0,0,0
We speak of someone who is overwrought by some emotion or worry as being "beside himself" or "beside herself." The peculiar phrase is based on the belief that every individual possesses a body and a spirit (or soul).
Experiencing a traumatic upheaval, it was imagined, resulted in the spirit leaving the body. Having done so, it would not vanish, but remain standing next to the person - beside them - hopeful that they would regain their composure and, with it, create the right condition for the spirit to return to the body and make it " whole again."
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"Beside the Mark",184,0,0,0
Anything irrelevant and not to the point is judged to be "beside the mark." The phrase originated in \Jarchery\j.
Now merely a sport, it once played an important part in English life, in the defense of the country. Citizens then practised \Jarchery\j not as a pastime, but as an obligatory pursuit of military importance. No village was without its highly-trained bowmen ready for any national emergency.
In their practice, bowmen competed with each other to score a maximum number of hits. A piece of cloth or leather attached to a tree served as their improvized target. Obviously, those who missed it hit the tree "beside the mark." Their failure left its imprint on everyday language. Anything that was irrelevant and therefore did not count - like those misses in \Jarchery\j - became known as "beside the mark."
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"Best Man",185,0,0,0
The Best Man has always been the bridegroom's best friend, but for different reasons. Originally, his duties were neither pleasant nor particularly safe.
At the beginning of history, a bridegroom's Best Man had to excel in many qualities which are now completely unnecessary and even forgotten. Then he was chosen for being strong, brave and a good fighter. He accompanied his friend as an armed escort to help him in capturing a bride! No wonder, therefore, that he was called the \Ibest\i man. For such a purpose only the best was good enough.
In some parts of the world warriors considered it undignified to woo a woman themselves. They let others do the job for them. When all was ready for the marriage, they set out with their companions - to wrest the bride from her original groom. That is why the actual wooer surrounded himself with an armed guard, his "best men." They were there to repel any attacks and defend the goods, so richly deserved and already paid for.
Times changed. Men no longer captured their brides, either from their homes or their rightful "owners." And yet, on the day of the actual wedding, they needed extra protection and support. There still was the danger of a rival who, at the last moment, might carry off the bride. To avoid this, the Best Man was in attendance, armed and on the alert.
It was for this reason, too, that Scandinavians used to hold their weddings under the cover of night. Behind the High Altar of one of the Swedish churches, so it was said, were kept lances with sockets for torches. These served the Best Men in their hazardous task as weapons and sources of illumination, to detect and repel possible abductors.
At first, as is only logical, the Best Man accompanied not the groom, but the bride, whom obviously he was there to guard and retain. Only when rough times increased vulgarity on the part of the men, and brides seemed even less safe under their protection, a separation of sexes proved advisable. From then onward the Best Man was always near the groom, whilst bridesmaids closed their ranks around the bride.
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"Better Mousetrap",186,0,0,0
The observation, "If a man makes a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door," is popularly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. However, none of his works contains the quotation.
It has been suggested that the minister of a New York church had been the first to use the "better mousetrap" as an illustration in one of his sermons. He had done so, not least, to please a prominent member of his congregation, a Mr Jay Gould, who had actually invented a new and "better" mousetrap!
That Emerson was given the credit might have a possible explanation. For his many lectures, he made use of thoughts he had jotted down in his \IJournals.\i These contain a somewhat lengthy reflection on the circumstances of fame. This expressed the view that "If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard beaten road to his house though it be in the woods." The words obviously express the same idea as the much more concise reference to the better mousetrap. The New York preacher might have paraphrased the passage, adapting it to his purpose.
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"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea",187,0,0,0
The devil might well sail under false colors. On occasions, however, his presence may be suspected at places where he is not. This applies to the mention of his name in the phrase "between the devil and the deep blue sea."
A sailor's duty was not only to man the ship, but to keep it seaworthy. This necessitated constant overhauling and repairs, at times in very awkward, hard-to-reach places. The garboard which was the first plank on the outer hull of a wooden vessel was one such spot. To caulk this seam, the boat had to be careened, i.e. keeled over to one side. But even then it was difficult to keep the seam above water. It was such a devil of a job for the caulker that he "christened" the garboard seam "the devil." Positioned so hazardously when undertaking this task, he found himself "between the devil and the deep blue sea." His precarious situation became a popular \Jmetaphor\j to describe anyone's experience when awkwardly placed between two equally undesirable alternatives.
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"Beyond the Black Stump",188,0,0,0
Anything beyond the last outpost of civilization is considered to be "on the other side of (or beyond) the black stump." The location of the authentic black stump has been a subject of controversy. Strange to relate, the town of Coolah can substantiate its claim by two death certificates, issued for two children whose graves are still in existence.
Their headstones confirm what the documents say. In fact, the very graveyard in which they were laid to rest was known as "the Black Stump Cemetery." Now on private property, it is almost impossible to find without the help of local residents.
Fenced off by iron railings, it holds the two graves. Almost illegible now is the inscription on the stone of little Samuel Edward Bolger. According to the death certificate, he died at the Black Stump Inn on 22 October 1873. The cause of his death is given as "teething and cold." He was only one year and nine months old at the time and was attended by a Dr Morris. The child's father, John Bolger, was a publican, and owned and lived in the inn.
The second Black Stump grave is that of George Richard Buckley. The son of a sheep overseer, he died of \Jcroup\j at the age of four years and four months and was buried on 20 September 1874.
The site of the original black stump is well preserved and has become a popular landmark. On the Gunnedah road, just ten kilometres outside of Coolah, it is marked by a replica. Though no longer indicating where man's conquest of the bush ended, it is an historical monument to the Australian past - and speech.
\JAborigines\j used to call the area \Iweetalabahie\i - "the place where the fire went out." Obviously, this referred to a particularly memorable bushfire. The early settlers did not remove the remaining black stumps, and so they became characteristic of the site.
It was no wonder therefore that the first selector who established his property there, named it "The Black Stump Run," which explains why the inn, subsequently built on that plot, inevitably became known as the Black Stump Wine Saloon. Soon it became a popular meeting place for the locals, the ringbarkers, and squatters.
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"Big Apple",189,0,0,0
Apples have always been a favored fruit, and not least so in the United States. A traditional gift of pupils to their teacher, it became part of most diverse expressions. People spoke of "upsetting the applecart," things being in "apple-pie order" or as "sure as God made little apples." Sycophants were nicknamed "apple polishers" and wiseacres "small apples."
Taking up a conspicuous place in the cornucopia, the horn of plenty, the apple symbolized the exquisite, tasty and enjoyable. Was it any wonder then that New York, so rich, full of promise and opportunity, became known not just as an apple, but as the "Big Apple" - as it were, putting all other cities in the shade?
There was much more to it. In fact, this apple is not even a home-grown fruit. So typically American now, it is rooted in the Spanish tongue and can be traced not to an apple at all, but a dance!
New Orleans is the home of jazz. A vibrant and vital center of the city is known as Manzana, the Spanish word for an apple, no doubt because it once was the site of an apple orchard. And right in its midst is the very block where jazz was born, enthusiastically played there and enjoyed. Proudly the jazz players referred to it as Manzana Principal, the "main apple."
From Louisiana the novel style of \Jragtime\j was then taken to New York, where a Harlem nightclub became the center for jazz musicians. No doubt recalling the district in their home-town, they named it the "Big Apple." They were largely responsible for the spread of the name which, in mid-1953, was also adopted for the jitterbug dance. In no time, this caught on like wildfire among the people to become a veritable New York craze, soon to be identified with the city. Not slow in realizing the promotional value of being described as the "Big Apple," New York adopted it as its slogan. One of the jazz players has been credited with being the actual source of the description. He is quoted to have remarked one day that there were many apples on a tree, but to be able to perform in New York City, indeed, was the "Big Apple."
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"Bigot",190,0,0,0
Hypocrites are wont to create the impression of being "religious" and like to publicize their spuriously claimed faith in God. Self-opinionated and dogmatic, they imagine that only they are right and that all their views and actions are motivated "by God." Such people once gave expression to their pretended reliance on God by frequently interspersing their conversation with an appeal to him, saying - again and again - "By God!"
It did not take long for people to see through them and to use their avowal and refrain as a suitably contemptuous nickname for them. They scornfully called them the "by Gods." Ultimately, the name contracted to \Ibigot,\i still part of our life and language. Though unrecognizable, God is therefore even inside every bigot, if only linguistically.
This interpretation, however plausible, is generally regarded as spurious. The bigot is said to come from the French but to be of "unknown origin."
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"Bill of Divorce",191,0,0,0
Divorce among primitive and pagan people was free and easy, lacking any kind of documentation. It was devoid of all formalities and purely a private matter, with which tribal and "state" authorities were unconcerned.
In \JTonga\j, for instance, a man divorced his wife by just telling her to go. \JArabs\j did not leave the actual choice of words for her dismissal to private initiative. But the formula they prescribed was so simple that no husband could err. It consisted of only one word, to be repeated three times: \Iittalak.\i Its meaning amounted to the wish that she should "go to the devil." Eskimos merely moved into another igloo. Altogether, there was at first no necessity of explaining or giving reasons.
\JAnglo-Saxons\j, on the other hand, demanded grounds for divorce. But it was not too difficult for a husband to find an excuse. He had the right to dismiss his wife for good and all if she was barren, passionate, luxurious, rude, habitually drunk, quarrelsome, or abusive.
Early Romans considered a spouse's dislike of his partner reason enough to terminate their union. Later \JRoman law\j continued to view divorce, just like marriage, as a private affair between two parties. All that had to be done was for the one spouse to send a letter to the other, through a messenger or in the presence of seven witnesses. This private "writ" had both to express the intention to terminate the marriage and to state that in future the other may keep his or her own property. A judicial inquiry took place only when the parties disagreed regarding the future of their children or the division of their assets.
Not so with the Hebrews. Certainly, they permitted divorce. But a merely private or oral declaration, however formal, was insufficient. A written official statement was essential for them.
The \JBible\j itself mentions the writing of a Bill of Divorcement, which is all the more surprising as it does not do so regarding a marriage certificate. A husband who wished to dismiss his wife had to place the document into her hands. We are not told its actual text. Since those early biblical days, a divorce certificate has become an established condition. Still, no public trial was then necessary. The sole formality consisted of the presentation of the "bill" to the wife, who had to accept it.
Post-biblical Jewish ecclesiastical authorities soon felt the need to make divorce proceedings more difficult and to lay down the precise wording of the writ. They issued minute instructions on procedure and the writing of the bill.
Divorce could take place only before a Court of three judges and in the presence of two witnesses. The document had to be written by an expert-scribe during the Court session. The names of the parties as well as the place where the Court met had to be identified beyond any possibility of mistake. The bill had to be written legibly and could not be corrected. Any mistake made necessitated the destruction of the copy and the writing of a new one.
Once the document had been drawn up, the two witnesses had to examine and then to sign it. No signature of either divorcee was demanded.
With the bill thus having been duly read and attested, the chairman of the Court presented it to the husband who, in the presence of a witness, had to place it into the hands of his wife. Simultaneously, he had to repeat the traditional divorce formula: "Here is your Bill of Divorcement. Take it. From now onward be divorced from me and free to marry any man."
However, the wife did not keep the document. She had to return it to the judge in charge of the case who retained it but, first of all, tore it partly across, lest it be used again for fraudulent purposes.
This earliest divorce decree - still used among Orthodox Jewish people - thus read:
\I"On the.... day of the week, the.... day of the month.... in the year.... in the city of.... situated on the river.... I.... the son of.... with the surname of.... who today am resident at.... do hereby consent of my \Jfree will\j and without any restraint, to release, set free and put away my wife.... who at present resides at.....
"Up to this moment you have been my wife. But now you are released, set free and put away, so that you may be your own mistress, and may marry any man you may desire. No one may hinder you from doing this, as from this day forth you are free to marry any man.
"Thus you received from me this Bill of Divorcement, a document of release, a Bill of freedom according to the Law of Moses and Israel."\i
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"Billy Tea",192,0,0,0
Inglis' Billy Tea certainly made use of a typical Australian word. Its "billy" is not a derivative from the French \Ibouilli\i ("cooked"), as some have wrongly suggested. It does not come from the Scottish \Ibally\i (a milkpail), either. Much more likely, it perpetuates \Ibilla,\i the Aboriginal word for "creek" or "river," also found in \Ibillabong,\i but best known through the Australianism for making a cup of tea - "boiling the billy."
Billy tea became so closely linked with its originator, hard-working and never-resting James Inglis, that people believed that Jimmy's real given name was Billy. The inscription on the unassuming grey granite \Jobelisk\j on his grave in the Rookwood Cemetery confirms and perpetuates James as his Christian name, however.
A Scotsman by birth, like so many of his countrymen he traveled far and worked hard wherever he went. After two years in \JNew Zealand\j, he accepted an invitation from his brother Alexander to join him in \JCalcutta\j, India, where the family had established themselves as tea merchants.
But, suffering from bad \Jrheumatism\j and experiencing generally poor health, Jimmy decided to leave the subcontinent, to move east, to \JAustralia\j. A shrewd Scotsman, he did so with a special assignment; at his instigation the Alahabad \IPioneer Mail\i commissioned him to investigate and report on the Australian colonies as "A [potential] field for Anglo-Indian capital."
Enterprising and ambitious, Inglis arrived in \JAustralia\j with a second string to his bow. He was to be the Australian representative of the \JCalcutta\j Tea Syndicate and make their product known at the 1880 Sydney International Exhibition. The secondary task became his primary occupation, to be crowned with spectacular success and result in his imprint being left on Australian life.
Choosing the "billy" as his trademark, Inglis made Billy Tea a byword throughout the country. With a penchant for publicity, he could be regarded as another pioneer of the modern advertising jingle. He had \JBanjo\j Paterson's poem \IWaltzing Matilda\i set to music by Marie Cowan, his accountant's wife.
In 1903 he distributed as a gift a copy of the new song wrapped around every packet of Billy Tea. There is a suggestion that, in fact, "Waltzing Matilda" was popularized by the Scotsman's business acumen and his tea!
A pictorial advertisement further promoted the product. It shows a man leaning against a \Jgum tree\j and a tall \Jkangaroo\j, which has a swag slung around its right shoulder and is holding a billy in its left paw. A caption under the picture has the "Aussie" saying to the \Jmarsupial\j: "Hallo Mate! I always thought you were only a Billy Tea advertisement."
Multi-talented James Inglis was busy in many other fields. He became known as an author, a newspaper editor, business executive and entrepreneur. Entering politics in 1887, he served in Henry Parkes' cabinet as Minister of Instruction. But there is no doubt that it was his "Billy Tea" that gave him lasting fame.
Twice married, Inglis had no children. When, on 15 December 1908 - at the age of 63 - he died from kidney disease, he could look back on a life crowded with achievements and exciting adventures.
#
"Bingo Origins",193,0,0,0
A priest of unknown identity has been given the credit for the universal popularity of Bingo, by which name the game is now known.
It happened almost by chance - very appropriate in the circumstances. On a visit to \JAtlanta\j in Georgia, USA, in 1929, Edwin S. Lowe, a Polish-born New York toy manufacturer, was watching a game of Beano at a \Jcarnival\j. He was intrigued by its simplicity and its appeal to man's gambling instinct. All that the players had to do was to place beans (accounting for the name of the game) on sheets, each of which carried a different selection of hand-printed numbers. The man in charge of the game called out the numbers, which he picked out of a box. Whoever completed his card first was the winner and could collect the kitty.
At the end of the game, Lowe purchased some of the cards and a box of numbers and took them home, where he introduced the game to his friends. They came to enjoy it hugely. On one occasion, a young lady who had joined their circle, became so excited on hearing the last number on her card being called out, that, as she placed the final bean on it, to announce her "full house" she shouted at the top of her voice, "Bingo!," mispronouncing the usual "Beano."
Lowe, being an astute businessman, immediately grasped the promotional value of a game called by the erroneously uttered \IBingo.\i Not deliberately or consciously devised, but arising from a mere slip of the tongue, it was a winning proposition. The name was short, crisp in sound, easily pronounced and remembered. It had all the qualifications needed for a best seller. In no time Lowe marketed, at $2.00 each, games of Bingo comprising complete sets of twenty-four cards.
Many church functions nowadays run Bingo nights, and so it is not surprising that it was a priest who first realized how the new game could help him in raising badly-needed funds. But he also soon learned that Lowe's set of twenty-four cards was impracticable. There were too many winners to each game. He called to explain the problem to Mr Lowe, who, seeing the point at once, set about producing an improved version of Bingo which, by reducing the number of winners, increased the profit.
Leaving nothing to chance in this game of chance, he engaged a professor of \Jmathematics\j to provide him with 6,000 different combinations. Alas, the professor's success was also his undoing as, in finding the right number of figures, he is said to have lost his mind. But, whatever this expert's contribution, the fact remains that it was a minister of religion whose concern led to the final refinement of the game and, with it, its universal appeal.
#
"Bird Droppings",194,0,0,0
Superstitions are irrational. It is not surprising therefore that frequently they are the result of confusion. This applies to the widespread belief that bird droppings on a person or on some of his belongings, even his car, meant good luck.
It all started on Easter Day which - in the Northern Hemisphere - is springtime. Recalling the \JResurrection\j of Christ, it was an occasion of festive rejoicing appropriately expressed by wearing new clothes to church on Easter morning. By sympathetic magic, the clothes were hoped to rejuvenate the wearer.
Those too mean to acquire new garments were despised. It was said that even the birds, regarded as God's messengers, looked down on them. To show their displeasure, they dropped excreta on the clothes of those parsimonious worshipers when they were going home from the service.
With the passing of time, people no longer remembered the exact details. All they knew was that the bird droppings had "some" meaning. Perplexed and possibly influenced by wishful thinking, they interpreted such untoward incidents the opposite way: to be thus "decorated" meant good luck!
Early conservationists rationalized the \Jsuperstition\j. It was specially invented, they claimed, to protect a bird that had forgotten itself on someone's head. With the promise of good luck, not even an angered victim would think of killing the offender.
#
"Bird Sleeping Habits",195,0,0,0
Many misconceptions relating to bird life and behavior are due to negligence in bird-watching. This applies even to a bird's sleeping habits and the belief that a bird goes to rest in its nest. Principally, the nest serves it for the laying and hatching of eggs. Occasionally, the bird might doze off for a mere "forty winks." For the night, however, the bird likes to settle down outside its nest on a tree branch.
Whilst asleep, a bird does not - as is also often thought - tuck its head under its wing to keep warm. What it actually does is to turn its head to rest it, like on a pillow, on its back, sticking its beak under its feathery coat.
#
"Bird-brained",196,0,0,0
To call anyone "bird-brained" is not as insulting as it is intended. In reality, it reveals ignorance on the part of the slanderer. Relatively speaking, the description is tantamount to a compliment. Whilst the human brain constitutes 2.5 per cent of the body weight, a bird's brain makes up almost twice that proportion, 4.2 per cent.
#
"Birdie",197,0,0,0
The first "birdie" was a mere fluke, in a manner of speaking. It appeared, as it were, out of the air; metaphorically, quite unexpectedly.
It all happened on a beautiful day in 1903 in \JAtlantic City\j, USA. A. B. ("Ab") Smith enjoyed a good game of golf, but he also knew that there was room for improvement. Therefore, when on that morning he made a shot that enabled him to sink his ball into the hole with a score of "one under par," he was rightly overjoyed.
Giving expression to his feelings, spontaneously he called out at the top of his voice, "That's a \Ibird\i of a shot!" And the bird caught on. In the course of time, players learned fondly to refer to it as a "birdie."
The eagle and the \Jalbatross\j were an almost logical sequence. To attain "two under par," of course, is much less frequent, just as to see an eagle is not so common. To encounter an \Jalbatross\j on land was as rare an event as scoring "three under par."
#
"Birds and Bees",198,0,0,0
To speak of "birds and bees" once was a euphemism for discussing the sex act. If used at all nowadays, it is done in a light-hearted, jocular way. But the very phrase presents a problem. Why, of all creatures, should birds and bees be singled out to describe the process of procreation?
Some authorities have suggested that it goes back to the days when sex instruction was a \Jtaboo\j subject. To teach children "the facts of life," nature study took its place. Children were told how birds hatched eggs and bees pollinated flowers. The rest was (hopefully) left to the children's imagination.
It is a rather unconvincing explanation. After all, there were so many better examples near at hand. Children, always observant, were well aware of the sex play and copulation of pets and other domestic animals, which could have served as a much more suitable "lesson." There was no reason therefore to seek out "the birds and the bees."
The strange combination might well be the result of a misheard word from a once popular hymn for evensong. This had been written by Sabine Baring-Gould, clergyman-author of the well-known hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers," and was particularly loved by children. It portrayed the arrival of night:
\INow the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky
\IBirds and beasts\i and flowers
Soon will be asleep.\i
Somehow - perhaps through slovenly enunciation - the beasts came to sound like bees, and thus misheard (and contracted) contributed to the creation of the proverbial "birds and bees."
That the phrase may be traced to the Rev. Baring-Gould is especially fascinating, if it is realized that he was not only the prolific author of 159 books, but also father of fourteen children.
#
"Birds Flying Into Window",199,0,0,0
Birds have always mystified man. Their annual flight to warmer climates without losing the way and their subsequent safe return could only be the result of some \Jsupernatural\j gift. Their soaring skywards made them early on a link between the divine realm and man. Augurs tried to interpret their message from above. As heaven was believed to be the abode of all spirits, not least those of the departed, the bird ultimately was regarded as the embodiment of a soul.
No wonder, therefore, that the \Jalbatross\j which so persistently follows a boat, even far from land, was thought to be the \Jreincarnation\j of a drowned sailor anxious to keep "in touch." A bird, in the form of a dove, came to symbolize the "\Jholy spirit\j" in \JChristianity\j.
A bird flying against the window or actually into a home was not thought to have lost its way. It was seen as the harbinger of death! Spirit was calling spirit. The bird, in fact, had come from the world above with a message from a departed relative's spirit calling on the soul of someone dear and near to join him in death.
Daniel Defoe recorded a belief once current in Sussex, England, that when a bishop was about to die, a heron perched on the cathedral.
#
"Birth and its Customs",200,0,0,0
Birthday celebrations are rather a paradox. Who but a child would be happy because a calendar date reminds him that another year of his life has gone?
Originally, birthdays looked into the future and their celebration was regarded as ensuring continuation of life. It was held that life was renewed on that day, which was thought magically to repeat one's actual birth. If properly observed, the birthday ritual meant life, health, and prosperity for the next 12 months. This is why the birthday wish is for "many happy returns of the day."
#
"Birth of Christ",201,0,0,0
Most scholars agree that the dating of Christ's birth on which our present-day chronology is based, is out by several years. Paradoxically, Jesus was born at least four years "Before Christ" (B.C.)! The general adoption of the erroneous date is attributed to sixth century Roman Abbot Dionysius Exiguus who was among the first to "fix" Jesus' birth on 25 December A.D. 1.
There is no indication in the Gospels as to the exact date of Christ's birth. Actually, St Luke's account of shepherds at the time "abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" makes it most unlikely that it was 25 December. During this wet and cold season in the Holy Land, the shepherds would have sought shelter for their sheep. It is therefore not surprising that Clement of Alexandria, the third century theologian, suggested 20 May as the correct date for the celebration of Jesus' birth.
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"Birth of New York",202,0,0,0
Peter Minuit, who in 1626 purchased Manhattan Island (which was to become the core of present-day New York) from the Indians for trinkets valued at sixty guilders, was a Dean in the Dutch Reformed Church.
#
"Birthday Cake and Candles",203,0,0,0
The purpose of birthday candles is to honor the birthday child and to bring him good fortune for the ensuing year.
The custom goes back to the ancient Greeks. According to the writings of Philochorus, worshipers of \JArtemis\j, goddess of the moon and hunting, used to put honey-cakes on the altars of her temple on the sixth day of every month, which was her birthday. The cakes were round like the full moon and lighted with tapers.
No further record of this custom exists between the days of those Greek moon-worshipers and its re-appearance among German peasants in the \JMiddle Ages\j, who again used to light candles on birthday cakes. This was done at the moment the child wakened. The candles were kept burning until the cake was eaten at the family meal. If necessary, they were replaced by new ones. The number of candles indicated the age of the child. An extra taper representing the light of life was always added.
Like sacrificial fires, burning tapers were endowed from earliest days with a mystical significance and it was believed that the birthday \Jcandle\j had the power to grant a wish and ensure a happy year for the child. However, the wish, which had to remain secret, would only come true if all the candles were blown out with one puff. The \Jcandle\j lost its magical power if the wish was uttered aloud.
The old belief that the \Jcandle\j symbolized life is retained in many sayings. Thus we warn people of not "burning the \Jcandle\j at both ends" and Macbeth spoke of life as a "brief \Jcandle\j."
#
"Birthday Cards",204,0,0,0
Birthday cards are of comparatively recent origin. They were introduced in the latter half of the nineteenth century, soon after the first Christmas cards.
Their text was simple and to the point; it briefly wished the recipient a "Happy Birthday" or merely conveyed "Birthday Greetings." In every sense of the word, they were prosaic. Though they were illustrated, the pictures they showed were unrelated to birthdays and were frequently the same as the pictures shown on Christmas cards.
To make them more attractive, some cards were embossed and ornamented with silk fringes around the edges. For some reason, however, the novel cards did not catch on and, indeed, were in so little demand that stationers did not feel it worth their while to display them. They stored them in boxes and customers had to ask for them.
In spite of these unpromising beginnings, birthday cards experienced a rebirth in the twentieth century. Specially designed now, and illustrated for the purpose, they carry voluminous wordings, both in verse and in prose. They range in tone from the sentimental and thoughtful to the frivolous and humorous and are decorated with appropriate pictures and good luck symbols.
Of the early cards only the name remained. The modern "card" is really a folder, often personalized and specialized and catering for all ages.
#
"Birthday Celebrations",205,0,0,0
Birthday celebrations date back to antiquity, when they often took elaborate forms. The \JBible\j tells how Pharaoh celebrated his birthday by giving a feast for all his servants, reviewing appointments and releasing prisoners.
There was a time when birthdays, far from being times of celebration, were considered occasions of crucial significance fraught with peril. They were thought likely to attract the attention of mischievous spirits, particularly prone to interfere at moments of transition or change. A birthday, then, was a time when one needed the support of all one's family and friends. And this was one of the major reasons for the development of the tradition of the birthday party.
To protect the "birthday child," people came and conveyed their good wishes. These were not mere stereotyped and conventional words. They were a magic formula and were intended to guard the celebrant from untoward attacks.
A birthday, too, was a new beginning, an opportunity to start afresh, and to eliminate all that had stained the past. Games played on the day were not meant primarily to amuse and entertain the visitors, but to make them participate in a magic ritual designed to ward off the evil spirits. Enjoyment, however, did have some importance. The more the guests enjoyed themselves, the more they would be prepared to support their host.
The modern party, characterized by the joyful sharing of special food, harks back to communal meals of earlier times, which were arranged to strengthen the bond between the individual and the community.
#
"Bistro",206,0,0,0
The present-day bistro is a leftover from the Napoleonic era and its wars. It goes back to the occupation of Paris by the allied forces after the emperor's defeat in 1814 and owes its existence - as a name - to a misunderstanding.
Russian \JCossacks\j, who were among these troops, particularly enjoyed Parisian life. They proved good customers of its many cheap cafΘs whose enterprising owners, like modern touts, to solicit business, took up position in front of their establishments. Whenever a Russian passed by, they stopped him and, unable to speak his tongue, made use of the language of gestures. Mimicking the act of eating, they invited him in for a good feed.
As the men always seemed in a hurry, they wanted to assure them that they would not have to wait long to be served. To do so they had specially learned the Russian word for "quick" which, in their French accent, sounded like veestra.
Nevertheless, the restaurateurs did not succeed in making themselves properly understood and in this respect their effort misfired. Failing to recognize the mispronounced word as one of their own, the \JCossacks\j imagined that the often repeated veestra was the French name of a fast-food restaurant and adopted it as such. Thus, with yet another slight variation, the bistro came into existence. It not only survived Napoleon, but achieved what he could never do. It conquered the world to become a meeting place offering relaxation and congenial company.
A varied version of the circumstances depicts the Russians less pleasantly. Displaying their status as victors, they are said to have rushed into the small restaurants, arrogantly demanding to be served a cheap meal - instantly. With a strident voice, they commanded the owner to move "quickly" - which in their tongue was veestra.
Not worrying about, or even aware of, the actual meaning of the Russian word, the cafΘ owners adopted it as their name. It was to become the (thus mispronounced) "bistro."
Both derivations have been questioned. The bistro, yet a further explanation claims, had nothing to do with the occupation of Paris by foreign troops or the Russian language, however distorted. It merely recalled a cheap drink, known as bistouille, served in those bars.
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"Bite the Bullet",207,0,0,0
A person who bites the bullet, without any sign of fear, acts with great courage in the face of adversity.
The phrase recollects a dangerous army practice in the 1850s. Soldiers were then equipped with the British Enfield rifle. Prior to using it, they had to bite off the head of the cartridge to expose the explosive to the spark which would ignite it. The procedure was fraught with peril, particularly so in the heat of battle. It needed firmness and courage, as even the slightest deviation or hesitancy would endanger the soldier. Most likely, Kipling's use of the phrase in \IThe Light That Failed\i popularized it: "Bite the bullet, old man, and don't let them think you're afraid."
The very practice is said to have been responsible for the Indian mutiny in 1857. The British had enlisted the Sepoys in their forces. These belonged to the Hindu and \JMoslem\j faiths and were renowned for their courage and fortitude. Given the then still novel Enfield rifle, each time when using it they had to bite the bullet. However, they refused to do so - and for a deeply religious reason.
The cartridges were greased, and rumor soon spread that the substances used were tallow and lard, both shunned by devout Hindus and Moslems. Nobody could force them to put those ritually defiled cartridges near their lips! Hindus worship the cow, the source of tallow, and no \JMoslem\j would touch lard, obtained from the pig.
Out of loyalty to their religion, the Sepoys therefore disobeyed orders, for which reason they were imprisoned by the British. The action caused not only upheaval but, ultimately, resulted in rebellion. Liberated by their fellow religionists, the Sepoys joined forces with them to throw off the foreign yoke. They massacred Europeans and marched to Delhi, to proclaim there the \JMogul\j emperor. The rest is history.
Military in origin as well, but totally different in association, is another derivation of the phrase. This links the "biting of the bullet" with the attempt to save the lives of seriously wounded soldiers. Realizing the necessity to amputate one of their limbs, and with anaesthetics unavailable on the battlefield, the surgeon made the injured man bite on a bullet. It helped him to give vent to his anguish and to withstand pain almost beyond endurance.
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"Biting Remarks",208,0,0,0
A "biting remark" might hurt, though no one would take it literally. An actual incident in classical times has been quoted as the source of the expression. It links it with Zeno, a Greek philosopher of the fifth century BC, who also was a political activist.
Having failed in a conspiracy to depose the local tyrant, he was arrested and condemned to a torturous end. He was to be pounded to death in a mortar.
The execution was carried out in the very presence of the man whom, for the good of the community, he had sought to destroy. While suffering the protracted agony of his death, as it were with his dying breath, Zeno told the tyrant that he was now willing, and anxious indeed, to reveal to him some secret, significant piece of information.
The dictator could not resist. To make sure he was able to hear what Zeno had to say, he bent over to listen to what now had become a mere whisper, and put his ear close to the philosopher's mouth. This was exactly what Zeno had expected. With his last strength, he bit off the tyrant's ear!
Zeno's "biting remark" not only left its mark on this enemy of the people, but has survived the millennia, even if only as a \Jmetaphor\j used for sarcasm.
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"Bitter End",209,0,0,0
Everyone agrees that to stick to something "to the bitter end" shows character. However, not so unanimous is the opinion as to the beginning of the phrase. It may well be a combination of strands.
Undoubtedly, it brings to mind \JSocrates\j" end. Determined to abide by the laws of his country, though strongly disagreeing with them, he emptied the cup of hemlock to its bitter end.
Those acquainted with the \JBible\j will recall the passage in the book of Proverbs (5,4) which cites a father's warning to his son, "Beware of the honeyed words of a seductive woman," whose own end was "as bitter as wormwood." Knowing the scriptural influence on western tongues, the simile must have greatly contributed to the popularization of the phrase which, however, like much of life itself, goes back to the sea.
Bitt is the nautical name of a post (one of a pair) on the deck of a ship to which a cable is attached. When the cable is played out completely, it certainly is at the \Ibit\iter('s) end. It has reached the point beyond which it cannot go. Except in language. Sailors brought the bitter end home from the sea, where it became the telling phrase of finality it is now.
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"Black Art",210,0,0,0
A mistranslation gave us "'black art" which, to make it even more absurd, came from the dead. It all started in the ancient belief that the future could be revealed to man by his communicating with those who had passed away. From beyond the grave, they could see - and tell - what lay ahead. Among the Greeks this occult pursuit became known as necromancy, joining their words for "dead" \I(nekros)\i and "prophecy" \I(manteia).\i
In later years and foreign climes, the term was much too learned and complex to be understood by the ordinary people, still anxious to know what was going to happen to them. So they confused the Greek for "dead" - \Inekros\i - with the Latin for "black" - \Iniger\i - as to their untutored minds the two sounded almost alike. This made them mistranslate necromancy as "black art."
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"Black Book Or Blacklisted",211,0,0,0
Black has always been a forbidding color, darkening people's character and life. Negative in its connotation, it is inseparably linked with the \JBlack Death\j, the blackguard, the black sheep, and \Jblackbirding\j. Melancholy was once thought to be the result of black \Jbile\j, and English judges used to don a black cap when passing a death sentence. It is no wonder therefore that people under suspicion, known to have a criminal record, or having failed to pay their debts were "blacklisted."
Black books then superseded the black list and, in keeping with their name (or being responsible for it, according to some authorities), were bound in black leather covers.
Among the earliest black lists were those compiled by order of King \JHenry VIII\j (in the 1530s). In his fight against the church, he issued instructions to have a record made of all religious institutions, described as centers of "manifest sin, vicious, carnal, and abominable living." When the compilation was completed, it was bound in black covers, for which reason it became known as the "black book." The king cleverly used it to have a bill passed in parliament (in March 1536) which decreed the closure of all monasteries and the confiscation of their property, for "His Majesty [to] have and enjoy" all their possessions.
Thus the "black book," most likely, became part of the English vocabulary, as it were by royal decree. It did not die with the dissolution of the monasteries, but was found useful in many ways.
Another historic black list goes back to Charles II who, on his ascendance to the throne (in 1661), recorded the names of the men held most responsible for his late father's execution, to have them apprehended and duly punished.
Other well-known examples of black lists belong to illustrious institutions of learning, such as the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Students who had disgraced their college by some misdemeanor had their names entered in them, with the result that they were barred from taking a degree. Soldiers who had disobeyed orders equally had their names so listed.
The records are now merely a matter of history or exhibits in \Jarchives\j and museums. But we still speak of a person to be shunned or even to be kept out of a society or company as being "blacklisted." Not so long ago, prior to the introduction of computers, \Jimmigration\j officers at ports of entry of many a country would look up a large book bound in black covers to check whether the traveler's name was in it. If so, they were refused admission.
From its literal application in varied circumstances, the black book left its mark in idiomatic language. Anyone in one's black book, figuratively speaking, is out of favor, in disgrace.
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"Black Cat",212,0,0,0
It is not accidental that of all cats the one that is totally black is most popularly associated with witches.
Black was the color of the powers of darkness. Without making a sound, a black cat could move invisibly through a moonless night, which made its unknown mission all the more awesome, weird, and puzzling.
In \JEgypt\j, where some millennia ago cats were deified, they were mostly of a sandy color. An all-black cat was a rarity which immediately rendered it all the more uncanny and sinister. Although merely fiction, a further assumption that black cats could see best in the dark, added to their notoriety.
Once again, legends did their part to increase the occult stature of the black cat. The Greek goddess \JHecate\j and the Scandinavian deity Hel (who were both linked with death) had black cats as their feline aids. No wonder that by this association black cats appeared to people as omens of misfortune and death.
With this background, it was not surprising that suspected witches indicted the black cat in their torture-induced confessions. They "admitted" that it was not only their most loyal servant in all the nefarious work they had pursued, but that the black cat actually carried within it an evil spirit.
Finally, was it not almost a foregone conclusion to use black cats for black magic?
#
"Black Days",213,0,0,0
A "black day" owes its description to its lack of anything to brighten it up. It is a day that has been spoiled by bad luck or by some disastrous event. History records many such days, some of them commemorating financial disasters such as the devastating stock market crash that preceded the \JGreat Depression\j.
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"Black for Mourning",214,0,0,0
To wear black for mourning in Western countries is a custom that dates back to pagan days. Its origin had nothing to do with piety or a wish to show grief. On the contrary, it expressed fear. It arose not out of respect for but dread of the dead.
People put on black as a disguise, so that the ghost of the deceased might not recognize and then start haunting them. The same purpose, it is thought, applied to the mark of Cain, which was put on him after his brother's death, lest he be recognized by his victim's spirit.
The wearing of black, and sometimes even the veiling of one's face, was also believed to act as a protection against one's own death, since it was designed to confuse any demon still hovering around and bent on snatching more lives. Among some races, the painting of the face white or black was supposed to trick the dead into the belief that the mourners themselves were \Jghosts\j and not living creatures to be envied.
Indeed, there is no real difference in intention between the wearing of black and the even more primitive custom of gashing the flesh and tearing the clothes.
The modern explanation of the use of black for mourning is a superb example of man's way to spiritualize and rationalize ancient superstitions. Black is symbolic of the night, and the absence of color seemed best suited to express a person's abandonment to grief. The color of mourning also served as a constant reminder of the loss one had suffered. To the people one met, it indicated one's state of mind, making them in turn considerate, and reminding them to refrain from saying anything that might hurt or offend. The dark color itself not only reflected the sorrow of the bereaved but created inward tranquility and serenity.
Black has never been the universal color of mourning. \JHenry VIII\j wore white when "mourning" \JAnne Boleyn\j, just as many Chinese do. Burmese chose yellow and Turks violet. Ethiopians preferred a greyish-brown and the South Sea Islanders a combination of white and black stripes perhaps to symbolize how joy and grief, darkness and light, are always intermingled in life.
In some parts of China, however, the traditional mourning color was purple. This influenced American trade in a most unexpected way. When one U.S. manufacturer of chewing gum changed its wrappers from green to purple, its export sales to China dropped alarmingly. It was subsequently discovered that the Chinese believed that the gum was meant to be chewed at funerals only!
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"Black Sea: Origins of the Name",215,0,0,0
In classical Greek times, Iranians populated the area surrounding the large body of water now known as the \JBlack Sea\j. They could not fail but notice that its color was considerably darker than that of the inland rivers. This made them refer to the sea as "dark" - \Iaxsaena.\i Other people, unaware of the reason for the description, further "blackened" the sea and that is how, in many tongues, it became wrongly known as the \JBlack Sea\j.
This was not the only misnomer. It seemed as if that vast expanse of water attracted mistakes. To Greek ears, the Iranian \Iaxsaena\i sounded very much like their own \Iaxeinos\i - "inhospitable."
This is understandable, as the entire region was renowned and feared for its violent storms, impenetrable fogs and thick cloud cover that obscured the sun. The prevailing atmosphere was one of oppressive darkness - dismal, foreboding, and forbidding.
The similarity of sound made the Greeks shun the name altogether. To them is spelled evil - and if voiced, might even evoke it. Instead, they used a euphemism, called the "inhospitable sea" - \IPontos Aximos,\i the "friendly sea" - \IPontos Euximos.\i In doing so, they hoped to placate and flatter the evil forces and buy their good will.
The "friendly sea" has long been forgotten. The equally erroneous "\Jblack sea\j," however, survives, misguiding those who take its name literally.
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"Blackball",216,0,0,0
Anyone "blackballed" is excluded from a club, a society or a Masonic Lodge. The description can be taken very literally. It originated in a simple democratic way of voting.
Those entitled to participate in the decision indicated their approval or rejection by means of a ball they placed into a box. A white ball signified their affirmation, and a black one their disapproval. It was an unmistakable way of saying yes or no.
Generally, the color of the maximum number of balls cast, determined the preferred candidate or agreed upon policy. Anyone not wanted by the majority and thus rejected was therefore "blackballed." In some societies and lodges, the presence of even a single black ball was sufficient to deny admittance.
The use of black balls can be traced to ancient \JRome\j. The first-century BC poet, \JOvid\j, in his Metamorphoses (XV,41), recalls the custom as it was then applied in the judicial system. An accused person was condemned by black balls, but acquitted by white ones.
Though modern methods of casting votes no longer make use of an actual ball, it is still retained - literally - in the ballot, in spite of the ball now taking the form of a sheet of paper.
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"Blackmail Origins",217,0,0,0
Blackmail has a very sad history indeed. It has come down from most respectable circles, eventually to become mixed up with illegal extortion. It started in Scotland hundreds of years ago and involved hard-working but poverty-stricken farmers.
Most of the land there was then owned by the English. They charged high rents to the Scots who farmed the soil. This "tribute" paid to the absentee landlord was known as \Imail,\i at one time a Scottish term for rent and taxes.
One of the conditions stipulated was that all payment should be made in silver. This was referred to as \Iwhite\i mail.
But life was hard and the farmers often could not raise the money for the mail. The English landlords then agreed to take produce in lieu of silver. The goods became known as \Iblack\i mail but they were quite legal and no opprobrium was at first attached to the term.
However, dishonest creditors began to take advantage of the farmers' distress. They demanded goods far in excess in value of the money owed and they backed their demands with threats. The term black mail deteriorated into meaning payments extorted from persons by intimidation.
Another explanation also associates the origin of the present-day use of the term with the Scots, however, dating it back to the boundary warfare between England and Scotland. According to this interpretation, "\Jblackmail\j" was the protection money paid, in the form of produce, by the border farmers to freebooters. These promised, in return, to guard them against plunder by rapacious chiefs on either side of the frontier.
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"Blarney Legend",218,0,0,0
Meaningless, flattering talk is "blarney." It is one of the few words royalty has added to ordinary people's vocabulary. Its birthplace is the famous Irish castle of that name.
Situated 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Cork, it was built in 1446 by Cormac MacCarthy, the Earl of Blarney. A bastion, its walls extend to a height of 26 meters (28 yards) and are almost four meters thick at their base.
Legend tells that when in 1602 the English had encircled the castle after a prolonged siege its lord agreed to hand it over "presently." In a personal letter to Queen Elizabeth I, in the most flowery language, he vowed his future allegiance to the English crown, reiterating the promise of his immediate evacuation of the stronghold. However, when the date agreed upon arrived, he found an excuse to delay it. This happened not merely once but many a time. When the queen heard of yet another such postponement, worded as before in a long rambling letter, she remarked, "This is Blarney. What he says he never means." It was the birth of the word.
Traditionally, the earl had acquired his eloquence and the ability to say sweet nothing in ever so many words - supernaturally. Kissing one specific stone which has been incorporated in the parapet of the castle miraculously had bestowed on him the gift and - still identified - has been known worldwide ever since as the "Blarney Stone."
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"Blaze a Trail",219,0,0,0
A trailblazer derives this laudatory name from those who preceded as pioneers in the field of exploration. Now a mere \Jmetaphor\j, initially it referred to an actual practice of earlier pathfinders. To enable those following them to find their way in the still uncharted wooded territory, they marked the trees along their trail. They did so by chipping off some of the bark. The lighter patches this created served as signposts and were known as "blazes."
The word "blaze" is derived from the German Blesse, used for a "white marking." Originally, it was applied to a white spot on an animal's forehead and in its \Jetymology\j goes back to a root that meant "to shine."
A wealth of tradition is thus contained in an explorer's "blazing of a trail."
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"Blazer",220,0,0,0
Those wearing a blazer mostly do so to identify themselves as members of a specific school or sporting club. However "with it" their lifestyle and opinions may be, they are old-fashioned, in fact out of date, in the name of their garment.
A fire blazes away, and a blazer - literally - goes back to a "torch."
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Englishmen's clothes - very typical of the then prevailing British social climate - were somber and subdued. The only exception were university students who proudly displayed their college "colors." Even these, to begin with, in gentlemanly fashion, were rather inconspicuous. It was not surprising therefore that people were stunned, when one day they saw the crew rowing for the Lady Margaret, St John's College, Cambridge Boating Club, wear scarlet flannel jackets. The sight was so unusual, the story goes, that it made even horses shy. Seen from afar, the men seemed "ablaze," and it is no wonder that their jackets were dubbed "blazers." The name stuck and is now applied to all similar jackets no matter of which color.
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"Blessing Hands on a Headstone",221,0,0,0
The sculpted gesture of blessing hands on a headstone refers to the priestly descent of the deceased. His ancestors belonged to the Aaronites who once, until its destruction in 70 A.D., ministered at the Temple in \JJerusalem\j. Theirs had been a hereditary appointment.
One of their significant functions was the bestowal of the divine benediction on the people; the gesture of blessing hands became a symbol of their priesthood, and of anyone who could trace his ancestry back to them. The \JHebrew\j title of a "priest" was \ICohen,\i still retained as a family name by many a descendant of Aaron, the first High Priest.
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"Blind as a Bat",222,0,0,0
Anyone not seeing the obvious is called "as blind as a bat." A bat is not blind. A nocturnal animal that hunts at night, its eyes are so adjusted that it sees better in the dusk and the dark than in the full light of day.
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"Bloody Mary: the Drink",223,0,0,0
It is only occasionally that we reflect on the hidden significance of what we are saying or even enjoying. Sometimes, in the most trivial practice may be found the echoes of a gruesome event. However, as we no longer know of it, we give it no thought.
A typical example is the mixed drink served as "Bloody Mary." It was so called for two reasons. The addition of \Jtomato\j juice to the vodka-based seasoned mixture gave it a reddish, blood-like color. Over and above that, the blood-red concoction originally was meant to remind people of Queen Mary I of England, \JHenry VIII\j's daughter. She was nicknamed Bloody Mary because of her ruthless attempt to re-establish \JRoman Catholicism\j in the country in 1555. In this pursuit, she pitilessly persecuted those of the Protestant faith, of whom at least 300 died as martyrs. Rather strange to think that such tragic interregnum in British history should be perpetuated in a drink.
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"Bloomers",224,0,0,0
Bloomers were not created by Mrs Amelia Bloomer (d. 1894), the American pioneer in social reform and fighter for women's rights. All she did was to advocate dress reform and, while doing so, particularly to recommend the new "rational" costume which was actually designed by Mrs Elizabeth Miller, daughter of a New York congressman. At the time, it consisted of a jacket, a skirt, and Turkish-style trousers.
Mrs Bloomer gave the dress widest publicity in the women's magazine she published (the first of its kind in America), and started wearing the costume herself. It caught on and other women, following her example, donned the "manly" trousers. This created heated controversy. Women thus clothed were barred from churches and threatened with excommunication, which gave Mrs Bloomer yet another opportunity to resume her fight for the novel fashion. Did not the \JBible\j tell that \JAdam and Eve\j wore "unisex attire," the same type of leaf?
All these factors combined to make people wrongly believe that Mrs Bloomer had invented the dress which they therefore called after her. All denials on her part went unheeded. Elizabeth Miller was forgotten and the name of (Mrs) Bloomer stuck, to become eventually identified with women's loose baggy knickers.
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"Blotting Paper",225,0,0,0
Blotting paper was discovered by accident. It was the result of a workman's forgetfulness. He was in charge of the mixing vats at a paper mill in Berkshire, England. One day he forgot to put in sizing, one of the essential ingredients in the making of paper, and the finished product was useless.
There was a large quantity of it and the factory proprietor, a thrifty man, was reluctant to throw it away. If it was not saleable as paper, he thought, at least he would make use of it himself for rough notes. However, he found that was not possible either. The ink spread all over the sheets and was completely absorbed.
Suddenly he got the idea that this peculiar fault might be the beginning of a novel line with a considerable market.
For hundreds of years people had used sand to dry ink. This was a long and cumbersome process. Now the factory owner advertised the spoilt goods as "blotting paper." In no time he disposed of the complete stock. A thriving new industry had been born.
Originally, most blotting paper was produced in a pink or red color because of a wish to utilize matter which otherwise would have been of hardly any value. Red was a fast color and difficult to bleach. In paper-making red rags certainly were not a paying proposition. But for blotting paper, any color would do and red was as satisfactory as the purest white. Thus the law of economics determined the original color of blotting paper as well.
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"Blow a Raspberry",226,0,0,0
To "give (or blow) a raspberry" leaves no doubt that the person so treated is held in contempt and not wanted. As it were, they are hissed off the stage or, in American terminology, given the Bronx cheer. A rude sound, it is easily produced by putting the tongue between closed lips and then forcibly expelling air through the mouth. No one could mistake it, and nothing could be more effective in showing disapproval.
Obviously, the sound imitates the breaking of wind. Its description as a raspberry has nothing to do with the fruit but rather comes from \Jrhyming slang\j. \JRhyming slang\j, according to some authorities, did not originate, as sometimes suggested, merely as a light-hearted entertainment among the lower classes. English cockneys are said to have invented it to mystify and annoy Irish migrants who, working alongside them, were employed in the building of English railways and canals.
In typical \Jrhyming slang\j a word or name is replaced by another one or a phrase with which it rhymes. By such method, the speaker avoids mentioning what or whom they really have in mind. To make it still more difficult, if not impossible for those ignorant of the code, even to guess it, they use merely the first part of the phrase chosen as a substitute.
"Apples and pears" thus stands for "stairs;" "four by twos" referred to "Jews;" and "elephant's trunk" spoke of someone as being "drunk."
The alert Irish were not slow in catching on and created their own type of \Jrhyming slang\j. Criminals, too, soon realized the usefulness of such code and created a jargon all of their own.
This ingenious method was responsible for the raspberry as well. The common and unmentionable "fart" was substituted with "raspberry tart." Dropping eventually the second rhyming giveaway word, all that was left was the fruity part. Consequently, the raspberry, on its own, most respectably took the place of the objectionable and vulgar allusion to people's loss of control at one end of their anatomy.
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"Blow Hot and Cold",227,0,0,0
People who vacillate in their opinions and quickly change from being enthusiastic to showing disinterest are said to "blow hot and cold."
The saying can be traced to one of Aesop's Fables. This tells of an encounter between a wayfarer and a \Jsatyr\j, the Greek woodland deity portrayed as a human with animal features.
It was a cold winter's day, and the freezing traveler was blowing on his stiff fingers. Mystified, the \Jsatyr\j wanted to know what he was doing. The man explained to him that with his breath he was warming his chilled fingers.
Taking pity on him, the \Jsatyr\j invited the man to his home for a hot meal. This time, he watched him blowing on the food, which intrigued him all the more. Inquiring why he did so, his guest explained that he was blowing on the stew to cool it down.
The \Jsatyr\j told the traveler to leave at once. He was not prepared to entertain or ever mix with anyone who could "blow hot and cold from the same mouth."
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"Blow One's Top",228,0,0,0
Anyone "blowing their top" does much more than just letting off steam. They almost explode in their frustration and anger, releasing pent-up feelings. A most apposite phrase, it comes straight from nature and the frightening experience of a \Jvolcano\j, which erupts through pressure built up inside by gases and steam, literally blowing its top - sometimes with devastating effect.
A phrase borrowed from vulcanology, it has been applied to many other and varied situations of life and death. It has been linked with a raging storm at sea causing the loss - the "blowing out" - of a topsail. Jazz music, and modern drug culture, too, have made use of the idiom.
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"Bludger",229,0,0,0
Those who would rather live on the dole than work, in Australian English are contemptuously called "bludgers." The term was first applied to pimps who, shirking work, lived from prostitute's earnings, documented as early as 1882.
The name is not original but comes from the bludgeoners who, to get their own way and obtain all they wanted, knocked down people with a bludgeon, a short stout club. In modern usage, the bludger has changed into a much more gentle sort of person, suffering from an \Jallergy\j to work.
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"Blue Chip Stock",230,0,0,0
Those wishing to invest safely choose "blue chip stock." Its colorful description has been associated with a blue rim that at one time bordered stock certificates of great value. The reason for the color may well go back to gambling! The value of chips used in poker was indicated by their color. Those worth least were red, whilst the blue were the most expensive.
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"Blue Danube is not Blue",231,0,0,0
Johann Strauss' waltz, the "Blue Danube," has never lost its charm. It has outlived many other, once-popular tunes. Unfortunately, however, it has also been responsible for a misconception which, when discovered, is very disappointing. There is no beautiful "blue" Danube. Far from being blue, the river is muddy!
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"Blue for Boys and Pink for Girls",232,0,0,0
An explanation of the custom of dressing boys and girls in different colors is linked with their sex. Babies all look alike, and what better means of identifying them readily than by colors - blue for boys and pink for girls? This color scheme has been adopted all over the world. But who would ever suspect that in the blue ribbon is tied up a terror-crazed past and a haunting fear of anxious parents, deeply concerned with their baby's future?
From the days of antiquity it was believed that evil spirits hovered menacingly over the nursery. It was thought further that the evil ones were allergic to certain colors, of which the most potent was blue. It was considered that the association of blue with the heavenly sky rendered satanic forces powerless and drove them away. Even in our own time \JArabs\j in the \JMiddle East\j continue to paint the doors of their homes blue to frighten away demons. Thus, the display of blue on a young child was not merely an adornment but a necessary precaution. Girl babies were regarded as vastly inferior to boy babies and it was assumed that evil spirits would not be interested in them. That is why blue was reserved for boys. Any distinctive color for girls was deemed unnecessary.
Possibly later generations, unaware of the original cause of "blue for boys" but very much conscious of the neglect of girls, introduced for them the new pink-look.
European legendary tradition suggests another beautiful explanation of the color scheme for babies. This tells that baby boys are found under cabbages whose color - on the Continent of Europe - was mostly blue. Baby girls, on the other hand, were born inside a pink rose.
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"Blue for the First Prize",233,0,0,0
The blue ribbon is the most ancient distinguishing mark of merit. The sky was the highest man could see and it was blue; therefore its color was chosen as a symbol of distinction.
Ribbons are the traditional badge of an Order of Knighthood. That is why those honored by the Order of the Garter, the most noble and famous decoration awarded by the British Crown and established by King Edward III in 1348, wear the broad dark blue ribbon.
Eventually, the blue ribbon was used to express outstanding achievements in many other spheres of life as well. The expression "blue ribbon of the turf" to describe the famous English race, the Derby, is said to have been coined by Benjamin Disraeli.
One of his friends, Lord George Bentinck, was complaining to him that a horse he had sold had subsequently won the Derby. Since Disraeli seemed unsympathetic, Bentinck accused him of not even knowing what the Derby was. Prime Minister Disraeli promptly replied: "Indeed I do. It is 'the blue ribbon of the turf'."
The same tradition is responsible for the award of a blue ribbon to the liner fastest in crossing the \JAtlantic Ocean\j, and the first prize in shows.
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"Blue Joke and Movie",234,0,0,0
"The Blue Boar" was the name of a popular 18th century London tavern, the haunt of prostitutes. Many a man picked up from there a bout of venereal disease. No wonder that this soon became identified with the inn's name. In fact, anything risque and "off color" came to be described as blue. That is how, according to one tradition, people still speak of the blue joke and the blue movie.
A different theory derived the application of this color to anything sexually "off-side" from the stage, from an earlier period of permissiveness. Whenever an indecent scene was enacted, the spotlight was dimmed which was mostly done by adding to it a blue filter. In no time, in the minds of people, blue thus became associated with the sexually tainted.
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"Blue Laws",235,0,0,0
Blue laws are those that restrict man's pleasure. They go back to the determination of some religious sects to make people take life seriously to the extreme and for this purpose to exclude from it all tawdry enjoyments. Especially, they wished to see Sunday observed as a holy day, not to be desecrated by mundane thoughts or occupations. All activities which were not specifically religious were therefore banned on this day. Church attendance was obligatory. Reading matter had to be confined to texts of Holy Scripture. For a child to play with toys or use a swing on the Lord's day was condemned as sacrilegious.
When, in the seventeenth century, English Puritans migrated to America, they introduced these laws in their new home of New England as well. And, since the regulations enforcing this lifestyle were printed on blue paper or, at least, kept in a blue folder, they became known, it is said, as \Iblue laws.\i
Another tradition traces the color identified with the killjoy legislation to the early Puritans' preference for blue clothing. By association, the color came to be applied to the grim laws they enforced so strictly.
A third explanation derives the "colorful" name for such laws to the color of the bruises caused by the severe punishment meted out to those failing to observe them.
The earliest record of the term "blue law" can be traced to the publication (in 1781) of \IA General History of Connecticut\i by Samuel Peters, a Loyalist clergyman. He wrote it after fleeing the colonies, and it drew a vivid, if somewhat exaggerated picture of the joylessness and rigidity of those extreme Sunday laws.
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"Blue Monday",236,0,0,0
A busy weekend, with all the enjoyment that goes with it, is frequently followed by its anticlimax, the "blue Monday."
The choice of blue was not accidental. It is based on the old misconception that those who overindulged in drink saw, apart from the proverbial "pink elephants," blue devils as well. They imagined everything to be "discolored" by a bluish tint. Even after they had sobered up, the blue devils seemed to stay on, coloring the person's mood and giving rise to the expression "the blues."
Historically, the blue Monday may go back to one particular day of the year - the Monday preceding the abstemious season of Lent. Aware that a prolonged period of deprivation lay ahead, people, as it were, had a last fling. The \Jclergy\j approved of this and, to mark the day, had the churches decorated with blue drapes. Very appropriately, then, the day was designated as "blue Monday."
As worshipers were exempted from certain tasks on that day, its color became identified as well with a general reluctance to work. When, however, people became too unruly, as a result of excessive drinking and fasting, the church authorities abolished the holiday. But memories of its celebration preserved "blue Monday" in our vocabulary.
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"Blue Peter",237,0,0,0
The Blue Peter is a blue flag with a white central square. It is hoisted as a signal that a ship is about to sail.
Of the many and diverse explanations given as to its origin, only one - the most unlikely of all - assumes that Peter actually represents the name of a person.
This recalls that between 1793 and 1799 Admiral Sir \IPeter\i Parker was Chief of Command of the British Navy. Convoys used to sail from St. Helens. But they were not given the order to leave until the wind was fair. It was only then that, from Portsmouth, the Admiralty gave the signal. And as it was known that Sir Peter himself issued the command for the hoisting of the blue flag, his name was coupled with it and the sailors referred to it as the Blue Peter. And ever since his name has stuck to the flag.
Others, however, detect in the Blue Peter a corrupted French word and a telling example of how the British always assimilate foreign words to their own way of speaking. According to this tradition, Peter is not a name but the Anglicized form of the French \Ipartir,\i "to leave."
A further interpretation discovered in the flag a relic of the old English word for a cloak bag, portmanteau. The signal was hoisted to inform all naval personnel that, as the sailing of their ship was imminent, they should get aboard at once with all their baggage - their \Iportmanteaus.\i
Slovenly speech among sailors is yet another reason cited for the creation (perhaps it should be said in this connection, malformation) of the Blue Peter. It did not refer to Admirals, ancient obsolete English words or mispronounced French expressions, but was a commonly used good English phrase. The signal of departure, once it had been given by the Admiral, had to be repeated by all the ships under sailing orders. Actually, this was a procedure which applied to every kind of naval signal. By swallowing just a small syllable, the Blue Repeater soon came to sound like Blue Peter.
The most likely explanation, however, belongs to the 1750s. On taking command, Admirals used to issue instructions for their captains, detailing the various signals and flags to be employed. A flag book published by Sir Edward Hawke in 1756 listed a blue flag with six white balls.
Practical experience soon showed that this was a very unsatisfactory arrangement. It was impossible to distinguish the six balls from a distance and Hawke had the flag replaced by one which he described as "blue \Ipierced\i with white."
Once again, lack of clear enunciation on the part of the naval men, it was said, led to the corruption of the Blue Pierced into Blue Peter.
Some authorities assume there was an intermediate stage, when the Blue Pierced was briefly referred to as the Blue P. Some sailors, ignorant of the real identity of the letter P, imagined it stood for Peter, which they spelled out.
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"Blue-blooded",238,0,0,0
To describe members of the aristocracy as blue-blooded is not a mere colorful figure of speech, but based on historical circumstances and an optical illusion. It goes back to medieval times, when Spanish noblemen looked down on the moorish invaders and their descendants. The two races differed in the pigmentation of their skin. This made the blue veins on the hands and forehead of the indigenous, fair-skinned stand out conspicuously, whilst the blood vessels of identical color hardly showed up on the swarthy North African Moors.
Prompted by racial \Jprejudice\j, the haughty Spanish noblemen actually believed that the color of their blood differed and that God, in selecting them, had indicated their superior status by filling their veins with blue blood! The optical illusion was never corrected and, as a linguistic monument of early discrimination, created a peculiarly tainted nobility.
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"Blunt Knife",239,0,0,0
Table knives used to be pointed. That they became rounded at the tip was not the result of an early fight between guests using their cutlery as daggers! It all started at a banquet given by the famous French statesman Cardinal Richelieu.
When he observed one of his noble guests using the point of his knife to clean his teeth, he was so disgusted that at the end of the dinner he instructed his staff to blunt the points of all knives. From this ecclesiastical and aristocratic table, the refinement spread all over the world, even into the most humble cottages. The blunt-pointed table knife has never been abandoned.
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"Boar Hunting",240,0,0,0
Hunting the wild boar was an early pursuit of man. In Greek days, the boar was feared almost as much as the wild bull. \JHeracles\j' third labor was the capture of the Erymanthian boar which he had been ordered to take on his own. According to one tradition, he caught it in a net and then carried it on his shoulders to Eurystheus. It caused such fright that from then onward he was commanded to announce the successful completion of his tasks from outside the city walls.
Some authorities believe that the phrase "to beat about the bush," which undoubtedly is of hunting origin, was born specifically in relation to the chase of the boar. This ferocious animal often hid in the undergrowth and beaters employed were ordered to go straight in to chase it out. But very much aware - and afraid - of the animal's sharp tusks, they much preferred merely "to beat about the bush," a practice strongly disapproved of by their masters. Boars no longer threaten us and today are chased only in a few parts of the world, but they survive, if this derivation of the phrase is correct, in every English-speaking country, in the description or reprimand of those who do not come straight to the point.
Many are the phrases and idioms used in present-day conversation that, although now completely divorced from hunting, originated in the employment of animals to track, catch, or retrieve prey. This applies not least to the canines. That is why, up to this day, we speak of "barking up the wrong tree." Dogs used in the chase of racoons, chiefly undertaken at night, were trained to indicate the tree in which the animal, running for its life, had taken refuge, by barking at it. But, of course, even dogs can err and at times barked up the wrong tree.
A riot now refers to a crowd's lawlessness and the disturbance of the peace. Those who run riot have thrown off all restraint. In its root meaning, a riot described "a quarrel," and the word was used first by hunters in reference to a pack of hounds which had become unruly and insubordinate to its leader, or which instead of following the prey on which it had been set, raced off madly - like Lord Ronald's horse, according to Leacock - in all directions.
The modern sleuth in his detective work owes his name to man's love of hunting. Without derogatory implications, he has been honored with the shortened description of a canine forebear. \ISleuth,\i an Old Norse word, originally referred to the track or trail of an animal. The English, as keen hunters, adopted it from the Normans. Animals which they bred (mostly bloodhounds), and trained to follow the quarry by scent, they appropriately called sleuth hounds. And was not the detective, in ferreting out evasive criminals, equal to the animal that had perfected the art of tracking? Thus, in admiration, people came to speak of him as a sleuth, wisely and kindly dropping the hound.
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"Bob's Your Uncle",241,0,0,0
"Bob's your uncle" is an assurance that all will be well and that there is no need to worry. Someone of influence or authority will look after you.
Several figures have been suggested as the original Bob. Pride of place, no doubt, belongs to Sir Robert Peel's "bobbies." Parents assured their children that there was no cause for them ever to be scared when alone in the street. They could always go up to a policeman, known in England as a bobby. He was like one of the family. In fact, "Bob's your uncle!"
Less flattering is another derivation. It links the phrase with the appointment in 1887 of Arthur Balfour as chief secretary for Ireland. Balfour was chosen for the position by the prime minister at the time, Robert Gascoyne, the Marquis of Salisbury. This "Bob" was Balfour's uncle! The appointment was a case of nepotism, and was apparently a profitable relationship.
It may also be possible that no person was involved at all in the creation of the phrase, but that it developed from an old slang expression in which "all is bob" was used for "all is safe."
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"Bobby-calf",242,0,0,0
To call a calf which is a few days old a bobby-calf is not in the way of endearment, using the diminutive of the name Robert. The custom goes back to Britain and money. A few days after its birth, English dairy farmers would sell a bull calf, generally being paid for it one shilling, and it was the slang for one shilling - a "bob" - which created the term bobby-calf.
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"Bon Festival",243,0,0,0
\BWhen the Dead Visit the Living\b
The fifteenth of July is the Japanese "Memorial Day," known as the Bon Festival. Services in honor of ancestors, dead relatives and friends are held at temples and in private homes. The souls of the dead are believed to revisit their former abode on that day. Everything possible is done to extend to them a worthy welcome. To help them find their way more easily, ornate lanterns, made of white paper, are hung up.
Food prepared for the nourishment of the souls is placed on special trays which are kept for this purpose. The food is reserved for the dead alone. Even if, after the soul's departure, it appears undiminished, it is still believed that - invisibly and unnoticed - the dead have partaken of it. At the conclusion of the feast, the food, untouched by the living, will be tossed into the river or sea.
The origin of the festival and its custom are explained by a legend. A man, anxious to find out how his dead parents were faring in the world beyond, was granted a vision. He was horrified to see his mother suffering agonies of hunger. To stop her anguish, he immediately prepared a large bowl of food for her. But each time she was about to eat from it, the food turned into flames. Desperate, the son consulted a priest. He was told that his mother was being punished for sins she had committed while on earth.
Divine mercy alone could save her, and this could be obtained only by an intense effort of prayer, undertaken by a gathering of sacred men. The son lost no time in contacting numerous priests. Providing them with a large quantity of food, he implored them, for his mother's salvation, to hold a joint prayer meeting. They did so. His mother's trespasses were forgiven and she no longer had to suffer starvation.
The date of the worship and of the mother's release from hunger, was the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Ever since, it has been remembered by the Bon Festival with its welcome to the visiting spirits and the special food offered them.
\IBon\i is the Japanese word for a "tray" or "bowl" (as used in \Ibonsai\i which means "tray planting"). Obviously, the festival was so named because of the trays filled with food, which are its most conspicuous feature.
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"Bone to Pick",244,0,0,0
A bone of contention, no doubt, stems from the canine world, where dogs fight over a bone. From the same kennel, as it were, also comes anyone who has "a bone to pick."
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"Bonfires",245,0,0,0
For early man, winter time was the most frightening period. The sun sank ever lower and became so weak that it seemed just a matter of time for it to burn out altogether. It needed help to nourish its dying fire and to renew its strength. It was obvious that only other fires lit on earth could magically achieve this aim and cause the sun to rise again, reinvigorated and, as it were, reborn. And it was these considerations which instituted the first (fire) festivals all over the world. They were not joyous celebrations but thoughtful ceremonies to provide the sun with its essential fuel. And that, of course, explains as well the origin of the bonfire.
The bonfire was lit at first as a most serious and significant magical act not (as children and those young in heart were made to believe in later years) as a source of enjoyment and festivity. When the sun was at its lowest and weakest in the eyes of man, it needed some extra food to ensure its return to full glory: not only for its own sake but for the sake of man. Therefore, everywhere on earth and quite independently, around the winter \Jsolstice\j, people lit huge fires.
The term "bonfire," later applied to them, is derived from the bones that were burned. All the present-day cheerful associations vanish when it is realized that, originally, it referred to the pyres heaped and nourished with humans burned to death - whether as sacrifice, heretic, or criminal is not really significant in this connection - their bones were the last to be consumed by the flames. No doubt, the choice of bones to begin with had an additional magical reason. But when King \JHenry VIII\j in his battle against the Roman Church burned its worshiped relics, including the bones of its saints, bonfires truly lived up to their name.
This grim and gruesome birth of the bonfire has now completely been forgotten. Out of its embers rose the cheerfully dancing flames of happy gatherings. Perhaps it is all for the "good" that the "e" of the bone was picked and that now speaking of a bonfire no one recalls the bone but merely thinks of the (French for) "good" - \Ibon.\i
Hard to believe but nevertheless true is the fact that the bonfires lit all over England on Guy Fawkes Day - with so much enthusiasm and childish glee - have very little to do with the celebration of the abortive \Jgunpowder plot\j in 1605 and the preservation of Parliament. The blazing fires of the night of 5 November had anticipated that historical date by many centuries and had been lit long before the existence of any English monarchy and Parliamentary system. These fires too belong to the ancient sun ritual. They stem from the \JCelts\j' celebration of Samhain which marked the end of summer (and, indeed, the very word describing the festival, as we have seen, means just that).
Lit every night for the first week of the new month which inaugurated the winter, they were meant to ward off evil spirits, to burn all the anxieties of the past and, above all, once again to serve the sun by their magic.
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"Bonkers",246,0,0,0
Originally, anyone "bonkers," in the language of slang, was slightly "drunk." No doubt, their strange demeanor eventually led people to think they were crazy. Eric Partridge, in fact, suggested that the word might be derived from a knock on a person's head. The "bonk" on the "bonce," colloquially speaking, had affected the brain.
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"Bookmaker and Horse Phrases",247,0,0,0
Early bets on horses caused no problem. Races were run among friends and each trusted the other to fulfill his promise. Later, when strangers joined in the gamble, they began to deposit the money wagered with some trustworthy person who eventually came to be known by the obvious description of a "stake-holder."
A multiplicity of races, and an ever greater number of competing steeds, made his task so onerous that he could no longer afford the time entailed without compensation. As by then his duties had become an indispensable part of racing, horsemen agreed to pay him five per cent of all takings, an amount he duly deducted when paying winning wagers.
When the public also took up betting, the keeping of accounts became even more complicated. Stakeholders now needed a book to note down the many wagers and the odds, as well as the final settlement. That is how the "bookmaker" was born as a professional betting man. Familiarity and perhaps his friendliness made people speak of him colloquially as "the bookie."
No animal in the world has served man as long and as much as the horse. With its own flesh it has nourished him. Its blood, and not only in the cases of \Jdiphtheria\j and tetanus, helped him to fight disease. In earliest days, its hide clothed him and through thousands of years the horse bore man's burden, fought his battles, chased his quarry, and delivered his messages between far-off places. But the thrills it provided him in the sport of kings surpass all else. Small wonder then that the horse has left numerous marks in man's thoughts and speech.
A "dark horse" has not revealed its qualities (or their lack) to the general public. Disraeli was the first to use the phrase in this sense in \IThe Young Duke.\i An American anecdote tells about a coal-black horse which looked a very ordinary sort of nag but won its \JTennessee\j owner countless races and bets. His usual procedure was to ride his "Dusky Pete" into a strange town and create the impression that it was a saddle horse. Local people, not guessing its true quality and past history, were glad to arrange a race to their later cost.
All horses share the celebration of their birthdays on one day of the year. This may differ between various countries, according to the breeding season. It is 1 January in America and 1 August in \JAustralia\j. A horse born a single day before the official birthday, within 24 hours will already be one year old!
To ascertain the true age of a horse, as almost everyone knows, an examination of its teeth is sufficient. Anyone wishing to gain authentic information, welcomes it, therefore, "straight from the horse's mouth." Hence it is not fair to look a gift horse in the mouth, a rule of etiquette suggested by the Romans as early as AD 400.
The exuberance of a horse caused men to describe boisterous behavior among his own kind as 'horse-play', while the animal's frisky neighing created the "horse-laugh."
Self-explanatory are other idioms and sayings shared by many nations and expressed in their various tongues. They ranged from the advice to 'hold your horses' to the lesson, dearly learned, how useless it is to "lock the stable door after the horse has bolted." That "you can take a horse to the water but you cannot make it drink" is as correct an observation as that it is pointless to "flog a dead horse."
Horse chestnuts, certainly, are peculiarly named and many people have conjectured on the origin of their equine association. On the loom of language the word "horse" at times has been used to imply inferior value. One theory thus suggests that horse chestnuts were the most common kind. However, there is also a 1597 veterinary claim that the \Jhorse chestnut\j received its name because of the curative properties of its fruit in treating a horse's cough.
The lauded "horse sense" possibly has its basis in the physiological fact that, except for the \Jostrich\j, no other animal has larger eyes. These are positioned so strategically that, with its head held up, the animal has an all-round view. In fact, the horse need not turn its head (as the jockey might do) to find out what is happening in the rear.
Horse-racing, no doubt, has produced the greatest complex of sporting activities. The world owes to it a maximum of adventure and excitement - whether as riders, spectators, or punters. It has developed industries of the most diverse kind. Enormous amounts of money have been and are gained or lost on the track. The horse itself, however temperamental, knows only good or bad, riders, solicitous, or neglectful owners. No respecter of person, as Ben Johnson said, "he will throw a Prince as soon as his groom." Throughout the millennia and in every clime, from \JStone Age\j man to twentieth-century affluent society, the horse indeed has proved itself both a servant and a friend of man. It has helped to make man what he is today and the "sport of kings," at least in the eyes of many, is the "king of sports."
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"Books on Tombstones",248,0,0,0
An open book on a headstone may decoratively provide the space to record the personal data of the deceased - from birth to death.
Frequently, however, the "volume" represents THE book - Holy Scripture. The \JBible\j, which was a constant guide to the departed, will stay with him even after death as a permanent companion.
Regarded as "the word of God," it also indicates the continued divine presence as a protector and guardian. On the other hand, it may be the Book of Judgment, opened up by the divine tribunal for the sentence to be read out, in reward or punishment for earthly deeds.
In some specific cases, however, the portrayal or replica of a book on a gravestone may refer to the book - learning of the departed, his knowledge or love of literature, or his having been an author himself.
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"Boomerang - Joe Timbery",249,0,0,0
Appropriate is the \Jboomerang\j flanking the right side of the inscription on the memorial tablet to Joe Timbery, in the lawn section of the Botany Cemetery. Joe, an Aborigine, was a world champion \Jboomerang\j thrower.
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"Bootlegger",250,0,0,0
The bootlegger's name goes back to the days of American Prohibition. With the sale of liquor being illegal, it was a profitable pursuit of racketeers. To transport their contraband unseen, they hid the flasks in the legs of their boots. This made them bootleggers!
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"Boots and Saddles",251,0,0,0
By its very nature - to avoid any delay or misunderstanding - a military command has to be short, to the point and, not least, clear. All the more puzzling and confusing then, is the old United States cavalry call, "Boots and Saddles," summoning soldiers to mount their charges. Its boots are completely out of place. Originally and correctly, it was an order expressed in French, bidding the riders to "put on the saddle" - \Iboute celle.\i Misunderstood, it became "boots and saddles."
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"Boozer",252,0,0,0
Efforts to discover where the boozer comes from have had conflicting results. Some have traced him to an actual person, an American. E. S. Booze, a distiller of whisky, he had marketed his product around the 1840s under his name. The location of his distillery is unknown and even his initials have been queried.
More definite is another derivation of the boozer. The name is an English adaptation of the Dutch \Ibusen,\i a simple reference to someone "drinking deeply."
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"Born with a Silver Spoon",253,0,0,0
A spoon was once commonly a godparent's gift to a child on the occasion of its christening. Customarily, the spoon was dedicated to a patron saint with his image embossed on it. The spoon therefore not only served a practical purpose but, by its sacred association, was believed to invoke the saint's protection for the child.
At a time when everything was still hand-carved and the spoons of ordinary people were made of wood or horn, to be given a silver spoon was especially appreciated. It was not only a useful gift, but a precious one.
Wealthy people really had no need for the present. Metaphorically speaking, their offspring was born "with a silver spoon in its mouth" already.
The silver spoon got stuck in everyday phraseology. It continues to serve us, though in a secular way, to point to those lucky enough to have been born of rich parents without a care in the world.
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"Bottle Corks",254,0,0,0
The French monk Dom Perignon, the father of Champagne, is credited with making an even more significant though less conspicuous contribution to the world of drink. He invented the bottle cork. Made of the outer bark of an oak tree, previously it had been used by Spaniards to seal their wine skins.
Until Dom Perignon's time, bottles had been closed - very imperfectly - by a wooden stopper, a piece of rag or merely by topping the liquid with olive oil. In fact, Champagne could not exist without the ingenious innovations of this monk who for half a century (from 1668 on) served as the wine master of the Abbey of Hautevillers.
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"Bottle Sizes",255,0,0,0
English legislation to control the proper measures of beer, wine and spirits dates back to the \JMagna Carta\j of 1215. Gradually, an extensive catalogue of a great variety of bottle sizes evolved, in which each was identified by a specific name. Oddly, in this nomenclature most of the outsized bottles perpetuated the names of \JHebrew\j and Babylonian kings mentioned in Scriptures.
A bottle holding four times the volume of the standard measure was called the Jeroboam, after the founder of the ancient kingdom of Israel. The Rehoboam, containing six times as much, bore the name of Jeroboam's rival, King Solomon's son. \JMethuselah\j had no royal connection. His fame was of a different kind. The \JBible\j tells that the lived up to the age of 969. This extraordinary number of years well qualified him to give his name to a wine bottle holding the equivalent of eight normal bottles.
The fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel recounts how, at the sumptuous banquet King Belshazzar of \JBabylon\j gave for a thousand of his nobles and concubines, the guests drank an enormous amount of wine, served them in the vessels of gold and silver that he had plundered from the Temple in \JJerusalem\j. There is no doubt that this scriptural account suggested the choice of Babylonian kings' names for the designation of truly enormous bottles.
The Salmanazar had the bulk of twelve ordinary bottles. The Belshazzar (also rendered \IBalthazar)\i was sixteen times larger than the standard bottle. It was topped by the Nebuchadnezzar, scoring a record volume. Its capacity equalled the amount of twenty normal bottles, a gigantic volume. Most probably, it was called after this king because he was the most powerful ruler in his time. It was he who, in 586 B.C., destroyed \JJerusalem\j and led the Jewish people into exile.
For those consuming alcoholic drinks in such magnitude, even to pronounce the names of the "king-sized" measures must have presented some difficulty.
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"Bottled Water",256,0,0,0
Tourists to certain foreign countries wisely avoid drinking water straight from the tap. They order bottled water instead. Neither is safe! In fact, bottled water can be more contaminated, depending on whether the bottles have been sterilized or been refilled time and again. Moreover, those bottling the water unhygienically might have added their own germs. There is the further possibility that the so-called "safe" water bought in a bottle, comes from the very tap so carefully shunned. It is wisest in such circumstances to keep away from water altogether, including ice cubes which, after all, are only frozen water.
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"Bottom Button on the Waistcoat",257,0,0,0
Custom decrees that a man should leave the bottom button of his waistcoat undone.
One explanation dates this strange fashion back to a member of the British Royal Family who appeared at a public function with his bottom button unfastened. Possibly he had dressed in too much of a hurry, or one of his aides had been neglectful in fulfilling his duty. No one could know (or would dare to guess) the reason. So that he should not be embarrassed, all the other men followed "suit" and the fad caught on. Royalty had set the fashion.
Another theory traces the undone button habit back to the stage where the dandies were wearing not one waistcoat but two, each of extremely precious and gaudy material, a scarlet one underneath, for instance, and a canary-yellow one on top. By leaving the bottom button of the top waistcoat undone, the wearer was able to show the fact that he had another beautiful and expensive garment on underneath.
Much less glamorous but more practical is a third explanation. Waistcoats were tight, especially so around the waist. Therefore some leader of fashion undid the last button in the interests of comfort and everyone followed his lead.
Waistcoats have lost their original close fitting. Tailors remedied the defect of tightness by inserting some extra cloth into the sides. But, as always in life, customs once introduced for definite reasons, are accepted to be right for all times and, therefore, they are thoughtlessly continued, even when they have become redundant.
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"Bourbon Origins",258,0,0,0
A strange combination of circumstances is linked with the story of Bourbon, this "distinctive produce of the United States," as an \JAct of Congress\j defines it. Only "Coke" could rival it as a typical American drink.
The first to distil Bourbon was a Baptist minister, the Rev. Elijah Craig. He did so in 1789, the very year George Washington became the first president of the United States.
Bourbon, the name of the drink, recalls the county in which the clergyman had his parish. It had been so called in honor of the French Royal house of that name, in acknowledgment of the part \JFrance\j had played in helping Americans gain their independence.
The early settlers in the region were Scottish-Irish immigrants, well acquainted from home with the making of whisky from rye. When one year the rye crop failed, luckily \Jmaize\j continued to grow plentifully. It seemed as if fate had pointed the way. The farmers ingeniously substituted \Jmaize\j for rye in the making of their whisky.
It so happened that the Rev. Craig's distillery was located next to a creek that had burrowed its way though \Jlimestone\j rocks. No doubt the creek served as his source of water and gave the drink its special taste and quality. At first, Craig offered his produce as "Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey." In his choice of name, he combined memories of French friendship, the beauty of the \Jblue grass\j country and Irish tradition (in the revealing \Ie).\i
The drink soon captured the American market, leading to a further distillation - this time of its name, which was shortened to \IBourbon.\i What a Baptist clergyman had started, ultimately was legislated upon by the nation. Almost two centuries later, in 1964, an \JAct of Congress\j decreed that the name \IBourbon\i could only be used for whiskey distilled in the United States and, to indicate that it was the genuine product, had to be spelled with a capital \IB.\i
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"Bowler and the Derby",259,0,0,0
Fashionable Englishmen at the Derby wore a stiff felt hat known as a bowler. Its origin has been - at least by some - associated also with riding.
It is told that around 1850 a Norfolk horseman had experienced great annoyance while wearing the then customary tall hat, as this was apt to be swept off the head by overhanging branches. Anxious to keep his hat on, he had contacted his personal hatter, a Mr Beaulieu (the most outstanding representative of the trade at the time), and asked him to design a more practical model. The result was a lower-crowned, hard felt hat, called after its manufacturer, in the Anglicized version of his name, a "bowler."
Another theory traces this hat to a more English-sounding William Bowler, a specialist in riding outfits. He first fashioned the hat for clients who were steeplechase riders and often suffered head injuries when, in making a jump, they not only lost their hat but fell to the ground. Obviously, the hard crown and stiff brim would afford them at least some protection.
Other authorities quote an item from the London \IDaily News\i (of 8 August 1868) which related that a "Mr Bowler, of 15 St Swithin's Lane, has, by a very simple contrivance, invented a hat that is completely ventilated whilst, at the same time, the head is relieved of the pressure experienced in wearing hats of the ordinary description."
A fourth claim associates the word not with the name of a hatter (whether French or English-sounding) but with a simple basin - a bowl. Being of round shape and stiff construction, it could easily be "bowled" along.
Going even further, in both space and time, others have seen in the bowler a resemblance to a Persian, melon-shaped hat, known as \Ikolah\i which, as early as the fifteenth century, was favored by sportsmen. Somehow, if this hypothesis be correct, English lips must have transformed the k into a b.
The bowler also proved a safe head cover, yet other writers assert, not merely for those riding horses but also for those riding in English stage coaches at a time when highway robberies were quite common. To frighten travelers, bandits often hit them on the head. To wear some stiff cover was therefore a wise precaution!
Certainly, a source of wonderment are the many genealogies attached to such a comparatively simple hat as the bowler. Whichever its true origin, the fact remains that riders adopted it and soon those who came to watch them did likewise. In the usual way of fashion, the novel style became the vogue, particularly among those who attended the English Derby, that annual red letter day of racing. And from there it spread to the United States.
Traditions again vary and no one really knows whether American horse-lovers attending the English Derby or newspaper reports appearing in the United States made the New World first take notice of the English bowler. No matter how, Americans adopted and adapted the hat for their own use and, in honor of the English, called it the Derby hat.
According to one report, James H. Knapp of South Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1850 manufactured the first consignment of three dozen Americanized bowlers that were sold in a New York store. There, this story also says, one of the clerks actually had first suggested their new name. By 1875 the Derby hat had become fashionable at the Kentucky Derby, modeled on the English event. Thus man owes to equestrian origin not only his pants but even two kinds of hat.
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"Box Office",260,0,0,0
It is a common practice now to buy tickets for a show at the box office. It is wrong to imagine that this is so named because the ticket seller is ensconced in an office as small as a box.
At one time, spectators did not share seats in rows, but had their individual boxes which nowadays are merely reserved for special visitors and the wealthy. It was only logical thus to call the office at which one obtained tickets for the performance a "box" office.
Another theory advanced for the peculiar choice of the name goes back to the early days, when admission tickets were still non-existent. Those wanting to see a show took their seats in the pit (or the orchestra stall, as Americans came to call it). A member of the company then came around to collect contributions and did so not on a plate, as is done in church, but in a box! When the theater had become more organized, the procedure was changed. The collection "box" was left outside the auditorium in an office and people paid prior to taking their seats. This avoided unnecessary disturbance and lent dignity to the show.
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"Boxing Day Origins",261,0,0,0
The day after Christmas is St Stephen's Day, named in honor of \JChristianity\j's first martyr. In Britain and the Commonwealth countries, however, it is known as \JBoxing Day\j. This name has nothing to do with prize fights or pugilism - it actually does refer to a box.
Traditionally, a box containing a gift, or cash, was handed to postmen and tradesmen on this day, in recognition of "services rendered" throughout the year. Like so many of our customs, this one started in ancient \JRome\j where people exchanged presents during the festival of Saturnalia. The Church was unable to eradicate this custom, so they gave it a new, religious, meaning, saying that any material gift received had to be used for the spiritual benefit of the donor: to pay for special prayers or Masses offered on their behalf.
For instance, before a ship left port a priest would put an empty box on board, which was dedicated to the saint under whose protection the ship sailed. As a penance for any misdemeanors, seamen were expected to place contributions in the box, which was opened on the ship's homecoming. In return for the money collected, the priest then said Mass for the men. It was a kind of early "Christ's Mass", and the box into which the offerings had been placed became known as the Christ's Mass Box. The money itself was distributed by the Church among the poor.
The box went on to become a symbol of charity and was given a permanent place in every church sanctuary. It was traditionally opened straight after the morning service on Christmas Day. The parish priest then distributed the money it contained among the needy on the following day. So, the day became known as \JBoxing Day\j. Most of these boxes were earthenware, in order to deter thieves. To open them, you had to break them.
This custom eventually became secularized. At one stage, apprentices were sent to call on their master's clients the day after Christmas, with boxes at the ready to collect tips! The boxes have been discarded, but the gifts are expected just as before - and not only by apprentices. Oddly enough, any such gratuity is still sometimes referred to as a "Christmas box."
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"Boxing Gloves - Tom Laming",262,0,0,0
The grave of Tom Laming, who used to be an ardent boxer, now "In God's Care," shows a pair of boxing gloves engraved on his stone - a reminder of his love of the sport.
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"Brand New",263,0,0,0
If an object is described as brand new, people might wrongly assume that it is so called because it is entirely new on the market, something not produced before. On the other hand, they might imagine that it is meant to indicate that the article has never been used and consequently still clearly displays the brand name of the maker.
Though feasible, these suggestions do not explain the origin of the term. In Old English, a brand was a torch or a flame responsible for the "fire brand." Anything brand new therefore referred to an object, mostly of metal, that had just come out of the fiery furnace. In this sense Shakespeare spoke of "fire-new fortune," "a man of fire-new words" and fire-new from the mint."
The brand, as it were, plucked out of the fire, has long been extinguished. Nonetheless, it is still being used for anything that is absolutely new, which is praised and promoted as "brand new."
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"Brave Officer",264,0,0,0
A monument in the shape of an \Jobelisk\j flanks the main road of Collector. It was erected:
\IIn Memory of
A Brave Officer\i
His name and the circumstances of his death are recorded on the section facing the street:
\IConstable Samuel Nelson
Who was shot Dead on the Spot
Whilst in the Execution of his Duty
By the Outlaw John Dunn
On 26th January 1865\i
Nelson is buried in the local cemetery, not far from the \Jobelisk\j. A concrete slab covers his grave. The small cross marking it carries the briefest possible inscription, with his first name misspelled:
\IConstable
Samual Nelson
1865\i
The \JNew South Wales\j Branch of the Wild Colonial Days Society and the Goulburn and District Historical Society decided to supplement this scanty information with a plaque erected adjacent to the grave on the centenary of the constable's brutal killing. It relates how:
\ION 26th JAN. 1865, THE \JBUSHRANGERS\j
BEN HALL, JOHN GILBERT & JOHN DUNN
BAILED UP KIMBERLEY'S INN AT COLLECTOR.
CONSTABLE SAMUEL NELSON
THE LOCK-UP KEEPER, COURAGEOUSLY
CHALLENGED THE \JBUSHRANGERS\j
AND WAS SHOT DEAD BY DUNN.\i
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"Bread's Origins",265,0,0,0
Our bread, prepared with sour dough or yeast, was unknown till about 2600 B.C. Like so many vital things, it was the result of an accident. Originally, bread was unleavened and therefore flat. An Egyptian slave entrusted with the task of baking bread, as usual, had mixed water and flour into a dough which he had put into the oven. Perhaps it was a very hot day or he had worked too hard, but he fell asleep. . . On waking, to his consternation, he found that not only had the fire gone out, but the wafers had "risen" to double their usual size.
Whilst he had been asleep, the warmth of the oven had fermented the mixture! Terrified of what his master would do to him, he tried to salvage the dough. He relit the fire, hoping that the heat would return the now large loaves to their former flat shape. Instead, they further increased in size and baked to a crusty golden brown.
Having no alternative, he served the "spoiled" bread to his master who - against all expectation and fear - relished it! In fact, he praised the slave for his culinary art and ordered him henceforth to serve him the same type of bread daily.
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"Break a Leg",266,0,0,0
To wish an actor prior to his going on stage to "break a leg" is a well-known practice. Germans enlarge on the malediction, wishing him to break his neck as well! Rather a strange wish, actually it is meant magically to bring him luck and make sure that his performance will be a success.
Jealous forces, always present, are only too anxious to spoil any venture. A good luck wish would alert and provoke them to do their nefarious work. However, a curse will make them turn their attention elsewhere. The underlying principle is the belief that if you wish evil, then good will come.
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"Breakfast",267,0,0,0
Breakfast has become so much part of our daily life that we give no second thought to why this first meal of the day should be so called. Few people would guess its religious roots. Prior to taking communion, Christians were expected to abstain from food. They had to fast from midnight. Only after the service were they permitted to eat and thereby to "break [their] fast."
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"Breakfast Foods",268,0,0,0
If the breakfast has a religious origin, it is a strange coincidence that some of its popular foods share this distinction. Some - in their name at least - go back to pagan worship. Others have their religious roots in modern times.
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"Breaking of a Mirror",269,0,0,0
The \Jsuperstition\j that the breaking of a mirror means bad luck is so old that it leads back to times when mirrors could not be broken because they were made of metal or - even earlier still - were of water.
The first mirrors were the still water of lakes and pools. When people looked into them they did so, not out of vanity, but to view their fate. The way their image appeared on the surface was interpreted as an indication of what the future held for them. If the face seemed distorted, broken into many pieces, as it were, it was taken as a definite portent of evil, of the forthcoming disintegration of the viewer's life. Unfortunately foes could easily disturb a calm and pleasant reflection by throwing pebbles maliciously into the pond.
Other beliefs were soon added that made the breaking of a mirror even more ominous. Mirrors were used for \Jdivination\j just as today people gaze into crystal balls. Primitive man imagined that the picture he saw was not the reflection of his personal image but of the soul which, he was convinced, had an independent existence, could detach itself from the body and thus actually be in the mirror. If this were broken, the soul, too, was shattered, and thus the very substance of existence destroyed. By losing his soul through the shattered glass, the man or woman was bound to die.
Belief in magic further increased the unfortunate associations with the breaking of mirrors. It was assumed that any injury done to the reflection would affect the person whose likeness it bore, just as people believed that by piercing the eyes of a foe in his picture, they would cause him to go blind.
There was yet another fear that the breaking of the mirror would anger the spirit dwelling in it so much (because it had been hurt), that it would seek vengeance on the offender, or one of his family.
Also, as mirrors were used to foretell a man's future, their being broken was interpreted as intentional, and not just an accident. It was an act deliberately committed by the gods themselves, who wished to prevent a man from being informed (and forewarned) of coming disaster.
Chinese people used to fix mirrors over idols they kept in their homes. The mirrors, so they firmly believed, were a potent power against evil spirits which, seeing themselves in the mirror, were scared away. Thus, if a mirror was broken, the only defense against malevolent powers was lost, and the home was wide open for them to take possession.
Though nowadays we decorate the home with numerous kinds of mirrors both to beautify it and to see ourselves, when broken, they still reflect our ancient superstitious past and out of the shattered pieces the spirit of old rises again. As Bernard Shaw has said, one of the laws still ruling even our modern age is the conservation of credulity.
It may be that beyond those many irrational fears and phobias, a very mundane consideration has made people afraid of breaking a mirror - it is costly to replace and the risk is great of injury by the glass splinters.
#
"Breast Cancer Fallacy",270,0,0,0
Many women are worried that a hard blow on their breast can cause cancer at that spot. This, too, is an old wives' tale.
Most likely the notion was brought about by the prudishness of Victorian women who were loath to have a doctor routinely examine their breast. If by knocking their bosom accidentally, they felt the bruised spot and chanced upon a lump, they would assume that the blow had caused the cancer, which had in fact already been festering.
#
"Bribery",271,0,0,0
Originally, a bribe had nothing to do with an offer, particularly of money, in expectation of a special favor. It referred simply to a lump of bread given to a beggar, with no strings attached. But the practice, and the word, degenerated, and we now understand bribe to mean "corrupt inducement."
During the \JMiddle Ages\j, wandering friars depended on alms for their sustenance. They would call on homes to ask for food. Acknowledging the gift, the mendicants (by which name they became known) promised, in return, to say a special prayer for the provider.
Many times, no doubt, the donor acceded to the request not out of compassion and charity but for selfish reasons. He hoped to gain God's blessings through the \Jfriar\j's supplication. After all, he had paid for it. This is how the modern bribe came into being.
#
"Bridal Bouquet",272,0,0,0
The original bridal bouquet was not decorative but protective. It was made up not of flowers, but of a potent combination of plants which included \Jgarlic\j, bay leaves and other strong-smelling herbs. Their function was to repel any malevolent forces, which were allergic to them and their odor, eager to spoil the occasion.
When flowers came to replace the "devil-repellent" plants, they, too, were not chosen further to embellish an already beautiful bride. They were regarded as a magic source of fertility to carry which a bride about to consummate her marriage would treasure.
#
"Bride Crying at Wedding",273,0,0,0
It is not unusual for a bride to shed tears at her wedding. Generally, it is thought to be due to her excitement and supreme happiness. Overcome by deep emotion, she cries, thereby relieving the tension of the moment.
However plausible this assumption might seem, it is fictitious. The tears can be traced to ancient superstitious fear. In her bliss, the bride was afraid of malevolent \Jsupernatural\j powers which, out of jealousy, would do anything to spoil her happiness. To delude them she shammed sorrow! Her artificial tears as it were, served as an artificial sacrifice to the forces of evil, to avoid the shedding of real tears later on.
#
"Bride on Left Side of Groom",274,0,0,0
Procedure at a wedding follows definite rules. Its processions and paraphernalia are therefore carefully studied and rehearsed by all parties concerned.
The bride and groom stand and walk together in a way that is traditional. At the altar, the bride takes her place at the left hand of the groom. After the ceremony, her husband places her hand within his left arm to follow the clergyman into the vestry to sign the register. Finally, on the way out, the bride passes down the aisle, once again on the \Ileft\i arm of the bridegroom.
That on each of these three occasions the groom offers his left arm and hand to the bride is not just a matter of meaningless etiquette. It is the result of ancient and most anxious considerations. Once, be did so purposely and not merely because it was "the right thing" to do. He placed her on his left not to honor but to secure her. It enabled him to keep his right (and sword) hand free: to be ready to defend her (and himself) from attack and capture by jealous rivals.
#
"Bride's Veil",275,0,0,0
A complexity of old traditions, fears, and obsolete social conditions are interwoven in the bridal veil.
The bridal veil is also a relic of the early custom of capturing a wife. Naturally the newly acquired "goods" were safely wrapped up before being taken away. What now consists of a thin lace or net covering was once a large sheet big enough to envelop the body.
As the times grew more polite, the veil began to assume more subtle and psychological meanings. It indicated a woman's original complete submission to her husband. She should not even be seen. Hidden goods tend to appear more precious and attractive than those openly on display. That is why in ancient times (and still today in some primitive groups) the bridegroom was not permitted to set eyes on his bride until the very moment when they were about to consummate their marriage.
The veil used to express also humility on the part of the bride. It certainly retains the ancient biblical tradition of Rebecca who, when she first met Isaac, her future husband, shyly "took a veil and covered herself with it."
Man is most superstitious at moments when great happiness is about to be his. Fear of jealous demons who might carry off a lovely bride led to the custom of disguising her identity and hiding her face behind a "curtain." This was also thought to be effective against the "evil eye," once considered to be an ubiquitous and potent malevolent force.
It is for that reason, too, that Moroccan brides are expected to shut their eyes throughout the wedding ceremony and that in Korea they used to cover their faces with the wide sleeves of their garments. This same fear made couples in primitive societies wear specially dirty clothes just before their nuptials - a disguise to foil evil spirits.
Yet another interpretation points to due use of a veil not only at weddings but on all occasions when a person assumed a new identity. Thus initiates into religious communities are veiled, and even the dead as they, too, enter a totally new group of associates.
The bride, likewise, by the fact of man and woman becoming "one flesh," was considered to change completely her personality. The veil "shut out" magically her old former being. She was now to be a new person altogether - "for better or worse."
Finally, the veil might be the last relic of the "care-cloth," as it was called among \JAnglo-Saxons\j. This enveloped both bride and groom. Aware and afraid of higher powers, the couple thus acknowledged their presence and, even more so, tried to protect themselves from them.
#
"Bridle",276,0,0,0
The word bridle is derived from an Old English root, meaning "to pull," and the most primitive contrivance to pull or direct the horse the right way goes back to earliest times and to the East. Man then used a raw hide strap or a thong which he pulled through the animal's mouth and tied up under its jaw. Its loose ends served as reins to restrain and guide the horse. Archaeological finds have proved the existence of the method in 2000 BC. Bones, horn, wood, and eventually metal replaced the thong. To start with, a single bar was used to which was fixed at either end a ring to hold the reins.
Medieval knights attached sharp spikes to the bit. They did so not to hurt their steed and perhaps thereby spur it to obey commands, but to prevent the foe in man to man combat from grasping his opponent's mount by means of the bridle.
#
"Bring Down the House",277,0,0,0
Tumultuous applause is described as "bringing down the house." This present-day \Jmetaphor\j, in its original setting, applied very literally. It goes back to the time when traveling theater companies staged their shows in ramshackle buildings, barns or makeshift tents. The boisterous acclamation of an overenthusiastic audience could result in the collapse of the wonky structure.
#
"Bring Home the Bacon",278,0,0,0
The state of matrimony has always had its ups and downs. To encourage couples to care for each other and not to quarrel, a strange custom developed in Great Dunmow, one of the many attractive towns in East Anglia, England.
Every four years this became the scene of a mock trial, at which a flitch of bacon was presented to any couple "who have not had a brawl in their home nor wished to be unmarried for the last twelve months and a day." Whoever received the award, was privileged to "bring home the bacon." This is the origin of the phrase. Fourteenth-century Chaucer refers to the tradition as firmly established. Over a period of more than five centuries (between 1244 and 1772), the flitch was won, it is said, only eight times.
In later years, the phrase was applied as well to the winner in a contest at country fairs. The competitors vied with each other to catch a greased pig then to take it home as the prize.
#
"Broads",279,0,0,0
The broad's existence may solely be due to people's ignorance and carelessness in their talk. A broad was a bawd improperly enunciated and possibly derived from the Old French \Ibaude,\i for "merry." (The Madam in charge of a "bawdy house" was the first bawd.) When the word had become obsolete, people confused it with the well-known broad, on which they transferred the bawd's meaning.
Some etymologists have suggested however, that the broad is all that remains of the Elizabethans' use of the "road" which to them described not only a public thoroughfare but also the prostitute who was (a)broad.
It was merely a play on words to imply that the broad was so called because compared with a man, this woman was broad-lipped, broad-hipped and broad-minded.
#
"Broken Chain",280,0,0,0
Nothing exceeds the happiness of sharing. Precious therefore is the link that binds together man and wife, parents and children. Death severs this tie, and a broken chain on a tombstone strikingly portrays this tragic separation.
#
"Broken Column",281,0,0,0
In classical \Jarchitecture\j, columns fulfilled an essential function: they held up the roof. Even if only one of them was damaged, the entire structure was threatened with collapse. A broken column on a grave symbolizes a shattered existence, often a life cut short. But it also speaks of the mourners' irreplaceable loss of someone who was their support and, like a pillar, helped them carry life's burden.
#
"Broken Mirror and Seven Years Bad Luck",282,0,0,0
The \Jsuperstition\j that the breaking of a mirror would result in seven years of bad luck is related to a myth.
It was believed that a mirror magically absorbed a person's very essence. Therefore whoever broke a mirror destroyed part of themselves. It was further assumed that it would take seven years to repair the damage done and to restore the individual's shattered wholeness.
This specific period of time was not haphazardly chosen. Seven was a sacred number, ever since Babylonian and Assyrian days. As there were seven planets in the heavens, worshiped as divine, so everything in the cosmos moved in cycles of seven. Roman anatomists thus imagined that it took the human body seven years to renew itself, which they accepted as an anatomical fact. Once the damage had been done, with its subsequent bad luck, this could not be eliminated until seven years had elapsed, the period necessary for the human body to regain complete good health, vigor, and good fortune.
#
"Broomstick",283,0,0,0
The broomstick is such a simple object, used for hundreds of years in every home to sweep it clean. But the moment it was attached to a witch, a strange \Jmetamorphosis\j happened to it and the household item changed into a complex and puzzling article.
Did witches really ride it? And why, of all things, did they choose it and not some other, more suitable carrier? How did the entire idea of a witch's broomstick arise first? The answer to these questions certainly belongs to the lore of witchcraft but also relates to such diverse topics as camouflage, \Jdefamation\j, walking aids and, last but not least, the ubiquitous sex.
Anything done by a woman (or for that matter, a man) who was assumed to be a witch, immediately was subject to suspicion and the strangest interpretations.
In times gone by, broomsticks served not only to sweep the house and yard; when going out, people (and especially so older women) would take their broom to help them cross streams or vault over hedges and ditches and other obstacles which would have otherwise considerably slowed them down. Thus broomsticks also performed the part of a vaulting pole.
Naturally, their progress was much faster with the aid of the stick. Therefore in a manner of speaking, they seemed (almost), to fly on the stick. And it was only a short step to see the hag not grasping the stick in her hands but actually straddling and riding on it.
Sticks have always played an important part in the practice of magic. Modern magicians would be incomplete without their wand. Like the "pointing finger" from which it evolved, the wand was thought to be endowed with \Jsupernatural\j power which could work wonders or play havoc. The stick was very much like the mysterious snake (yet another prototype of the wand) that, instead of remaining coiled up could suddenly become as stiff as a poker and, striking out, inflict a fatal bite.
Witches certainly would need the stick for their type of work. But they lived dangerously and any object in their home that could give them away, was carefully hidden. To discover an actual wand there, would have led to their inevitable arrest, prosecution, torture, and death. Hence a broomstick was the ideal substitute and an obvious and clever choice. It belonged to everyone's household and would never arouse suspicion. Most of all, it was always ready for instant use. Without a moment's notice a witch could get hold of it, not to sweep the floor this time but to sweep through the air.
It goes without saying that everyone realized that the broomstick in itself had no inherent propelling power. This was supplied, it was thought, by the ointment which the witch rubbed on herself and on to the stick prior to take-off. And it was the mixture (kept secret) which served as the fuel.
No doubt, all that was told and believed about witches riding a stick was reinforced by the recollection of ancient myths. These told of demigods or other \Jsupernatural\j beings that used to travel through the air miraculously on the back of beasts. And thus carried aloft, they pursued their divine or diabolic mission.
The flight itself had its hazards just as modern planes have. Both witch and broom could easily be brought down by the ringing of church bells which took the place of the modern ground-to-air missile. In the imagination of people, witches worked out special routes to avoid passing over churches. Nevertheless, they were always alert to take immediate evasive action during flight should they inadvertently pass over an uncharted church. They knew that otherwise they would crash.
People at times obsessed with witch \Jhysteria\j, were afraid of "witchy" air attack, and rang church bells all night long! It was a noise that lulled them to sleep, sure that this earliest anti-missile cover would serve to protect their bodies and souls.
#
"Browbeat",284,0,0,0
Some people are easily intimidated. They can be discouraged even without a single word being spoken. A mere gesture can make them conform or stop them from doing something. Using \Jbody language\j, the dominant party merely has to frown - to wrinkle the brow, to "browbeat" the victim into submission.
#
"Browned Off",285,0,0,0
To be browned off uses a somewhat colorful phrase in a somber \Jhue\j to express one's being totally fed up and disheartened.
London cockneys are said to have been responsible for it. They used to call a penny (the later "copper") a "brown." They were "browned off" when people gave them a penny to go away and stop bothering them.
A popular slang expression in the British army during the Second World War, it is sometimes said to have originated among the soldiers themselves. Bored by their endless routine marches, it seemed to them that their mind had become rusty, the rust figuratively staining them with its brown color. Truly, they were "browned off."
An apocryphal story traces the origin of the idiom to a member of the Suffolk Regiment when stationed in \JSingapore\j in 1927. During a route march, the commanding officer, dissatisfied with the soldier's performance, strongly reprimanded them. One of the men, with typical British humor, though under his breath still very audibly, remarked to his comrades, "He is blacked-off, but we are all browned-off."
His colorful aside had been suggested by the tan of their faces acquired during their ceaseless marches in the hot tropical sun. With their home in England, they were not used to being exposed to it.
The private's comment did not no unheard or unheeded. In fact, it has never been forgotten, as it has become part of the English language.
#
"Brumby",286,0,0,0
There are two explanations as to how the brumby, the Australian wild horse, received its name.
One explanation is that it is from an Aboriginal root, being derived from booramby, meaning "wild."
Others assert that the horse is named after Major James Brumby, a member of the \JNew South Wales\j Corps in the 1790s. He arrived in the colony as a private soldier and became a wealthy pastoralist. Even while still serving in the army, he took up breeding horses on a grant of land which extended over an area of 100 acres (40 ha). Unable to dispose of the animals when transferred to \JTasmania\j (then \JVan Diemen's Land\j), he turned them loose to fend for themselves. Running wild, they were soon referred to by the people as Brumby's horses, eventually to be dubbed briefly as brumbies.
Their name was popularized, indeed perpetuated, by one of \JBanjo\j Paterson's poems. An incident which occurred at a trial at the Supreme Court of \JNew South Wales\j prompted him to write it. During the proceedings, reference was made to a "brumby horse," a description which baffled the presiding judge. He was anxious to know "Who is Brumby, and where is his run?"
His inspiration fired, Paterson - poetically - gave his explanation in "Brumby's Run." He portrayed Brumby as the owner of a "station" in the vast area of the still unsettled outback "beyond the Western Pines" with wild horses - his only stock - roaming about free.
#
"Buckley's Chance",287,0,0,0
It must surprise many to learn that some Australian idioms are closely associated with graveyards. Typical examples are the name of a cemetery and the last resting place of the man who gave birth to a popular Australianism.
Having "Buckley's chance" means having little or no chance at all. Obviously, the Buckley referred to must have been quite an individual.
One tradition identifies him with William Buckley, an escaped convict who, in 1803, made his way to freedom from the Port Phillip camp. No one gave him a chance of survival. Nevertheless, for 32 years he could not be apprehended. He lived safely with \JAborigines\j as "a wild white man."
Much more likely, however, is another explanation, supported by the first popular usage of the phrase. This traces the idiom to Mars Buckley, who in 1851, together with Crumpton Nunn, established the Melbourne firm (and later department store) Buckley & Nunn. Australians came to express the hopelessness of a case by saying that there were just two chances, "Buckley's and none."
Buckley is buried in the Kew Cemetery. His epitaph does not indicate his (possible) place in Australians' everyday speech. All it says is:
\ISacred
to
the Memory of
MARS BUCKLEY
Died 9th October 1905
In his 79th Year.\i
#
"Buddhist New Year",288,0,0,0
The celebration of the Buddhist New Year is an occasion of great joy. As Hindus do during \JHoli\j, people in their exuberance squirt water on whomever they meet in the streets, regardless of whether it is a friend or a stranger. Homage is paid to the various statues of the \JBuddha\j, which are ceremoniously bathed.
#
"Budget: Origin of the Name",289,0,0,0
Etymologically, a budget has nothing to do with money. All it means is a "pocket" or a "bag," from the French \Ibougette.\i Its present-day use perpetuates an old British parliamentary custom, no longer practised. When annually, the Chancellor of the Exchequer put before the members of Parliament the estimates of revenue and expenditure for the ensuing financial year, the documents containing the figures were "brought down" to the House (of Commons) in a leather bag, the "budget." Ceremoniously, this was put "on the table" for the Chancellor to take out the papers from which he read the relevant data.
The leather bag is a matter of the past. Nevertheless, in parliamentary terminology, every year the Chancellor continues to "bring down the budget," to make his "budget speech." The (French) bag, in fact, has become the property of everyone's financial planning. In the general way of speaking, even a housewife budgets, not realizing that the bag is missing.
#
"Bugs and Bugging",290,0,0,0
Hidden microphones used in modern spying colloquially are referred to as "bugs" as, in their early stage, the models of this electronic device, with their protruding aerials, looked very much like insects.
Possibly, the bug may even go back to the world of the occult. \JGhosts\j haunting and harming people were known as bugs, a name derived from the Welsh \Ibwg\i for an evil and mischievous spirit. Invisible to the ordinary eye, it watched and followed its victims, waiting for its moment to prey upon them.
The "bug" interfering with modern computers is said to have received its description from this ghostly being as well. However, a natural derivation claims that it recalls the early days of computers when insects crawling into them created havoc.
#
"Bull Market: Origin of the Name",291,0,0,0
A "bull" market is one in which people purchase stocks and shares in anticipation that they will rise in price. Optimistically such speculators recall the bull's practice to toss things up into the air. They ought to remember that what goes up must come down.
#
"Bulli",292,0,0,0
The graveyard of St Augustine's Church in Bulli bears witness to one of the worst mining disasters in Australian history. It occurred on 23 March 1887 in the Bulli mine and was caused by a gas explosion. Eighty-one men and boys were killed, everyone present in the mine at the time, except one boy. His life was saved by a fluke. The violence of the explosion had blown him out of the mine - to safety!
The tragedy robbed 180 children (of whom 30 were still unborn babies) of their fathers, 50 women of their husbands, and many parents of their young sons. The victims' burial was a haunting sight. The minister of the church, about to go on an overseas trip, had already departed and had to be rushed back from Parramatta. He conducted the funeral services for most of the victims, one after the other, almost non-stop, all day long.
Though 80 men joined in digging the graves, they could not keep up with the stream of bodies; at times ten coffins were waiting to be interred. Fathers were buried with their sons, brothers with brothers, and those whose bodies had been so mutilated that they could no longer be identified were laid to rest, side by side, in one common plot.
The old cemetery is no longer in use, and most of its headstones are uprooted or broken, their text having become illegible. Yet some of those preserved vividly recall the disaster. One of the epitaphs tries to offer some comfort to a victim's mourning family:
\IJOSEPH CROMPTON
The beloved Husband of
Martha Louisa Crompton
Who was killed by a gas explosion
In the Bulli-Mine
March 23rd 1887
Aged 29 Years
Grieve not dear wife for I'm at rest,
Grieve not dear children for I'm blest,
Grieve not dear friends I've left a world of care,
To meet my God - to follow me prepare.\i
The circumstances that led to the disaster made it all the more horrendous. For six months the miners had been on strike and only very recently had returned to work. The confrontation between labor and management had been particularly bitter, and on the reopening of the mine many of the miners were not re-employed.
"Blacklegs" were given preference - a privilege that cost them their lives. When the explosion occurred, all differences and grudges were forgotten and even those left unemployed joined the rescuers without hesitation, trying to save unionists and blacklegs alike.
In 1888 the Government of \JNew South Wales\j erected a granite \Jobelisk\j just outside St Augustine's Church. Listing their names, it was to serve as a monument to all those who had perished. Originally, its site was to be elsewhere. However, the surviving workmates insisted that it be close to the graves of the victims.
#
"Bully Beef",293,0,0,0
Whatever the taste of bully beef, its name is rather spoiled. The canned meat, indeed, is beef, but its "bully" part has nothing to do with \Jcattle\j. It merely tells that the meat is boiled. The bully is all that remains of the French \Ibouilli\i for "boiled."
#
"Bunkum",294,0,0,0
All bunkum, in the way it is now understood, started in the U.S. Congress. Felix Walker was the Representative of Buncombe County, \JNorth Carolina\j. As the spokesman of his \Jconstituency\j, he wanted to make his voice heard. He did not really care what he was saying, so long as people "back home" realized that he spoke for them. So he kept on speaking uncontrolled. He just rambled on. Whatever he said made no sense. The other representatives became very weary. They started coughing and getting up. Not unaware of the commotion and unrest, he nevertheless carried on. But wishing his colleagues to know that he did not resent their behavior he said, "Gentlemen, don't think I'm annoyed. After all I'm not talking to you, but I'm talking for the folks back home." And as it was all about Buncombe, bunkum became proverbial for all senseless and stupid talk.
#
"Buried at Crossroads",295,0,0,0
Even in quite recent times, suicides and excuted criminals were refused burial in consecrated ground. Their actions were regarded as so heinous and contrary to the will of God, who alone had the right to give and take life, that he would not welcome them in territory set aside in his name. To entomb a man who had defied the divine prerogative in the very soil dedicated to God was tantamount to sacrilege.
This consideration led to the custom of burying such people far away from a cemetery - at crossroads. The choice of that spot was motivated and reinforced by a much more significant tradition. From ancient times crossroads had been regarded as belonging to the devil (which made them an appropriate meeting place for witches)! Consequently, to Christians it became the most debased and abandoned site, a very focus of pagan abomination and hence the best place for the disposal of those who had denied God his right and assumed his monopoly.
The fact that crossroads were the traditional venue for witches goes back thousands of years to the ancient Greeks and Romans. In their \Jmythology\j, crossroads were dedicated to the moon goddess, \JArtemis\j - Diana, identified (and often confused) with \JHecate\j. As the divinity of witchcraft, \JArtemis\j was invoked in magic rites and linked with the uncanny and the world of \Jghosts\j. Statues to both \JArtemis\j and Diana, in fact, were put up by the Greeks and Romans wherever three or more roads met. Frequently the figure had three faces and occasionally three bodies. Such a site was almost preselected for the witches to gather and was seen as an area reserved for the dead.
Long afterwards and far away in the Pacific region, natives of Bali also regarded crossroads as the location of evil spirits and hence placed there offerings to the demons. In certain parts of Scandinavia, bonfires were lit on St John's eve at crossroads to counteract and drive away the dark forces of trolls and other demons that were thought not only to be abroad on that night, but to be especially active at a junction!
Thus it hangs all together very logically. Crossroads, specially sacred in pagan nature worship, became the obvious meeting place of those engaged in the black arts. In turn, this made them an abominable place to Christians who consequently chose them as the "resting" place for those who by their very life and death had become disqualified from any claim to Christian burial.
Later on, when people no longer realized the original reason for the choice of crossroads for this purpose, another explanation was advanced. This suggested that the spot was selected to confuse the earthbound soul of the dead buried there and to make it difficult for it to find its way back "home" where, in its desperate loneliness and abandonment, it would start haunting the living. This fear led to a further gruesome custom practised for a long period. Suicides and those executed were not only buried at crossroads, but a stake was driven through their hearts to "fix" them permanently to the spot.
Crossroads have thus played an important part in man's thought, belief, and practice for thousands of years. How strange then that they have also given us all that is "trivial." This commonplace word literally recalls (from the original Latin \Itri\i for "three" and \Ivia\i for "way") the meeting of "three ways."
Maybe it was all started by women who on their return home from markets and fairs met there and gossiped - exchanging the latest "trivial" information.
#
"Buried by his Rescuer",296,0,0,0
Mystery surrounds the nameless remains of a native youth buried in the Manly Cemetery. All the plaque put up on his grave reveals is the district from which he came, his age and the year of his death. One is left to wonder how it was possible to know exactly how old he was and yet to be ignorant of his name. The plaque thus reads:
\ITRINITY BAY
ABORIGINAL
AGED 17
1891.\i
A local man is said to have found him lying on Manly Beach, badly injured. Taking him to his own home, he cared for him, but was not able to save his life, as his wounds proved too severe. The young man then was buried by his rescuer.
#
"Buried in a Bed of Cement",297,0,0,0
Memorable and enigmatic is the voluminous inscription in prose and verse on the tall headstone "erected by public subscription" on the grave of Emily Lydia Mather, in the Melbourne General Cemetery. It tells that she was the "Beloved Daughter of John and Dove Mather of Rainhill, England" and was "Murdered [on] 24 December 1891 at Windsor, Melbourne, Aged 26 Years."
In the form of two verses, the epitaph eulogizes the deceased and admonishes the living. It speaks of Emily as a woman:
\IWho all her days while yet alive
To live in honor she did strive.
Till he she trusted as her guide
Without cause or warning her life denied.\i
The obituary is followed by the:
\IADVICE
To those hereafter come reflecting
Upon this text of her sad ending;
To warn her sex of their intending
For marrying in haste, is depending
On such a fate, too tate for amending.\i
The author does not forget to mention that the poetic tribute and warning were composed "by her friend E. THUNDERBOLT." One is left to wonder whether the friend was a man or a woman.
Much more mysterious however, are the circumstances of Emily's death, merely hinted at in the epitaph.
Frederick Bayley Deeming, her husband, had been known by many other assumed names, including Albert Williams, "Mr Ward" and "Baron Swanson," to mention a few. Emily was the last of his many victims. He had committed his brutal crimes in many parts of the world, mercilessly and without qualms of conscience.
However, when this heartless man himself had to face death on the scaffold, he was so terrified that, as newspaper reports of the time recorded, his eyes bulged with fear, and he was shaking so violently that he had to be helped to the place of execution and be fortified by a large brandy.
Other bizarre and ghoulish features distinguished his final day. When asked whether he had a last request, he expressed the wish to see the woman to whom he had proposed marriage after the murder of his wife. He had given her the very rings he had removed from Emily's fingers prior to entombing her body in a bed of cement.
As a boy, Fred had shown the traits of cruelty and a love of high living. Born in Liverpool, England, in 1853, he became a gas fitter. At the age of 28, he joined his brothers in business and married for the first time.
Shortly afterwards, restive and looking for greener pastures, he migrated to \JAustralia\j. Caught stealing, he served a prison sentence in Sydney's Darlinghurst Prison. On his release, after a short stay in Melbourne, he accepted a job in \JQueensland\j.
But not for long. Dismissed as a liar and cheat, he returned to Sydney, where he opened up his own business, which - conveniently - went up in flames. After yet another spell in prison, he proceeded to Adelaide, to be joined there by his wife and their two children. However, he was soon to depart again.
Under the name of Ward, he introduced himself as a speculator and prospector to two brothers whom he conned into accompanying him to South Africa, where, he assured them, they would make a fortune in the diamond fields.
Though changing his domicile, he did not alter his way of life, except to add two gruesome murders to his chain of crimes. The two unidentified bodies of his victims were probably those of his trusting partners. One he had buried under his own name, which enabled him to make his way back to England with a new identity. His family by then had grown to three children, and eight years had passed since he first left Britain.
Posing as Albert Oliver Williams, a wealthy sheep farmer, he rented a villa from Emily Mather. Pretending to be passionately in love with her, he married her and, towards the end of September 1891, left for \JAustralia\j. Prior to their departure, to sever all previous ties as it were, he murdered his first wife and their children, burying their bodies in cement in their home! It could be cynically said that at least he could no longer be accused of \Jbigamy\j!
Early in March 1892, the tenant of a villa at Windsor in Victoria, was nauseated by a stench coming from the hearth. Investigating its source, he discovered under the hearthstone - in a bed of cement - the disintegrating body of a woman. She had been brutally murdered and was identified as Emily Mather. As was soon realized, she had become yet another of Deeming's victims.
Arrested in far away Perth, under the alias "Baron Swanson," Deeming was taken to Melbourne, to be tried and convicted of Emily's murder. He was hanged on 22 May 1892. It proved a lucky escape for the third woman he had ensnared, whose wedding day could have proved her doomsday.
By a strange coincidence, she arrived in Melbourne - with her white dress, veil and trousseau all ready for the wedding - on the very day the police were informed of her fiancΘ's apprehension in Perth. Instead of walking down the aisle as a happy bride, she was to take the witness stand in court to bring a multiple murderer and con-man to justice.
#
"Bury the Hatchet",298,0,0,0
To bury the hatchet means peace. With hostilities at an end, the hatchet is no longer needed and, therefore, can be disposed of.
Now a mere figurative expression, the phrase is based on an actual practice of North \JAmerican Indians\j. When negotiating peace, they buried all weapons, their tomahawks, scalping knives and clubs. It showed their good faith, at the same time making it impossible to go on fighting.
#
"Busby",299,0,0,0
A high fur cap of cylindrical shape, with a bag of colored cloth hanging from the top and often coming down to the right shoulder, made up the original busby which is now reserved purely for military wear. Its early beginnings lead back to much less martial associations.
No one really knows the derivation of its name, which has been linked with various people and places.
A village in Yorkshire, England, is called Busby and people were led to assume that the famous hat was bore there. On the other hand, a Dr Richard Busby, Master at Westminster School from 1638-95, has been credited with the invention of the hat. Also, there was a family named Busby, renowned as hatters about the time the conspicuous headdress was first introduced.
Actually, the busby is Hungarian by birth. In \JHungary\j it was originally a peasant's cap made almost exclusively of red cloth. Then, its only furry part was a band around the edge. In time, the furry rim became wider and bigger, until it reached the height of the modern busby. Simultaneously, the cloth was forced to retreat, until there was no room left for it except as a covering of the top, a last reminder of the original busby.
The Hungarian army adopted the peasant's cap, but reserved it for its most illustrious forces. It became the badge of \JHungary\j's cavalry regiments, known as the \JHussars\j. From them the British took over the busby.
The little flap which hangs from it is not, as might appear, merely decorative. Formerly it was attached to the Hussar's right shoulder and padded with cotton. It was meant to act as an effective buffer against sword cuts.
#
"Bushranger's Signposted Grave",300,0,0,0
\JBushrangers\j' graves have become a special attraction. That of Johnny Gilbert, located in a former police paddock just outside the township of Binalong in \JNew South Wales\j, is well signposted, and steps from the road lead up to it.
The grave is now surrounded by typical Australian bush, covered with large stones and protected by a white painted picket fence. At its foot end a roughly hewn and rather weather-worn rock serves as his memorial.
\IIn
Memory
JOHN
GILBERT
Died
1864\i
To all appearances, the headstone has been restored. It is whitewashed and the lettering - originally chiseled into the stone - has been painted black. Oddly, the "R.I.P." of the bottom line has been left untouched and hence is hardly visible.
A more recent plaque near Gilbert's grave gives a brief account of the bushranger's character and death:
\I John Gilbert - Bushranger was shot dead by Constable John Bright in a battle with police near Binalong on Saturday, 13th May 1865. Only 25 years old at the time of his death he had followed a life of crime for twelve years and was the most reckless villain of the Gardiner - Hall gangs of \Jbushrangers\j. On the credit side it can be said that he was a splendid horseman, a deadly shot, game with fists and gun, always polite to women and of irrepressible good humor and witty speech. On Tuesday, 16th May, 1865, the body of "Flash" Johnny Gilbert was buried in the police paddock near Binalong township.\i
According to the plaque, Gilbert died a year later than is recorded on his "footstone."
Canadian-born Johnny came to \JAustralia\j with his family in 1852, just 12 years old. For a short while he worked as a stableboy; then he made his way to the goldfields, where thieves and gamblers became his companions and mentors.
In 1864, he teamed up with \Jbushrangers\j, soon to play a prominent part in some of their notorious holdups and in "no less than 68 (gazetted) robberies under arms." During a clash with the police, he killed one Sergeant Parry. He was declared an outlaw and a substantial sum of money was promised as a reward for his capture - dead or alive. Ultimately cornered with John Dunn, he was shot dead whilst trying to help his companion to escape.
A report on Gilbert's funeral in the \IYass Courier\i of 17 May 1865, contains references to some people's odd tastes. After relating that "an excellent cast of his face was taken by an inhabitant of Binalong" it quotes rumors that a number of persons secured a lock of his deceased bushranger's hair, "for what reason we cannot imagine." It goes on to say that tastes differ, "and whether these mementoes were secured out of respect and admiration of Gilbert's conduct while in life, or because of his notoriety, the parties are best able to state."
Roy Mendham, in his \IDictionary of Australian \JBushrangers\j,\i suggests that Gilbert was really Joseph Roberts. He had only taken on Gilbert's name after having narrowly escaped from being - wrongly - sentenced for the "cold-blooded murder" of John Davis, the owner of the "Waverley Arms," a bush shanty in Bondi Junction. Davis had been found dead on 14 January 1854 in grim circumstances. The left side of his head carried "a terrible gash extending from eye to the ear" and his bed and bedding were saturated with blood, whilst a blood-stained axe was found under the bed.
An immediate suspect was Roberts, "a mild looking youth" of 17 years. He had worked for Davis but had disappeared. However, when caught at Collector, on his way to the goldfields, no evidence could be produced as to his having been involved in the murder.
On the contrary, people who knew him well testified to his good character. Even the murdered publican's wife, though describing her late husband as "an unworthy and habitual drunkard," could say nothing against Roberts.
Consequently he was acquitted. When shortly afterwards he was arrested again, it was not for killing, but merely for stealing a horse. His experiences might well have prompted him to abandon his former identity, to assume the name of Johnny Gilbert. The mystery is buried with whoever is in the Binalong police paddock, under the roughly hewn monument.
#
"Busman's Holiday",301,0,0,0
Anyone is taking a "busman's holiday" when, though off work, he cannot get away from it.
The phrase originated in London in the days of the horse-drawn bus. A bus driver then became very fond of the animals pulling his vehicle. He would do everything to protect them. He therefore was worried on his day off that whoever took his place might not treat his horses well and upset them. That is why, in many a case, a bus driver on his restday would not stay at home but turn up at the stables, at least to see the horses off and pet them reassuringly. Most of all, he would make sure that his replacement would look after the animals.
If in any way he was not satisfied and had the slightest doubt in entrusting his charges to the relief driver, he would, as a passenger, ride on the bus to see to it that the horses were not maltreated. This concern for an animal at the expense of his much needed rest, created the busman's holiday.
#
"Butcher on Jury",302,0,0,0
There is no doubt that a man's daily occupation must have some effect on his outlook, if not character. At times however, professions and trades create their own myths. A widespread fallacy applies to the butcher. His constant contact with killing and blood, it was said, made him hard feeling and insensitive to suffering. For this reason, he was disqualified from serving on a jury. This was never the case, not even when, prior to the advent of abattoirs, butchers had to do the slaughtering themselves. No documentary evidence exists of such legal restriction having been imposed at any time.
#
"Butcher Selling Beef",303,0,0,0
That butchers sell beef is rather surprising and a complete paradox. If they were to take their occupational title literally, they should really offer only \Jgoat\j's meat. Etymologically speaking, a butcher is a slaughterer and dealer of "goats," from the French \Iboc.\i
#
"Butcher's Apron",304,0,0,0
Sometimes original practical reasons are forgotten. This applies to the choice of color for the butcher's apron, once the uniform of his guild, with the white stripes indicating his standing in the trade.
Once, the butcher used to do the killing himself. It was unavoidable that in the process the animal's blood would stain his clothing. That is why he came to wear a blue apron, as its color did not show up blood.
The fact that blood stains do not show on blue created the once popular saying that "true blue will never stain." The noble and "blue-blooded" would never do anything that would disgrace or dishonor him.
#
"Butter Would Not Melt in his Mouth",305,0,0,0
Nothing is easier than for butter to dissolve in the warmth of the mouth. Therefore, to say of anyone that "even butter would not melt in his mouth" suggests a person who is cold, haughty and offish. But traditionally it is taken to speak of someone who seems so prim and proper that he could never do anything wrong.
Significantly, the phrase is exclusively used in a negative sense. It is applied to someone suspiciously mild and meek. His appearance of being so innocent is misleading. The original context of the words justifies this interpretation.
The phrase, as now used, is incomplete and almost reverses the meaning it carried in its early, fuller wording. This referred to a man who, though he looked as even butter would not melt in his mouth, was so tough that "not even cheese would choke him." Not soft at all, he was as hard as nails. His apparent harmlessness was a fake, a mere front.
#
"Butter's Origins",306,0,0,0
It has been suggested that the first butter in the world was a chance - product man owes to the camel.
Camel riders covering vast distances, used to carry their milk supply with them. This they kept in leather containers which they loaded on the animals. The camels' rolling gait along the desert stretches churned the milk which had become sour, transforming it into butter.
#
"Buttonhole",307,0,0,0
To "buttonhole" someone means to detain them, in most cases as an involuntary listener. The term makes little sense. It has no connection with a buttonhole - whether the actual hole in a coat lapel or the flower pinned to it. It is all a mistake and the result of one wrong letter, the buttonhole's final "e." Whoever corners the unlucky person gets hold of one of their buttons. Not to let them go, they button hol\Id\i them.
#
"Buttonhole Worn at a Wedding",308,0,0,0
Grooms and groomsmen traditionally wear a "buttonhole," also known by the French boutonniΦre. It contributes to their festive appearance. What they do not usually realize is that the flower pinned to their lapels is a relic of the early days of men's dress and used to have a magic purpose.
In \JAnglo-Saxon\j times buttons were unknown. Instead of "buttoning up" their coats, men fastened them by means of a ribbon which they pulled through holes in the lapel introduced for this very purpose.
At weddings, the knot they tied was believed to play an additional magical role. Apart from securing the garment around the neck, much more significantly it was thought to act as a love charm. Supernaturally, it tied the knot of the marriage bond, for husband and wife to stay together for the rest of their lives.
Jackets have buttons now and therefore no longer need ribbons. Though redundant, the "buttonhole" and its ribbon have been retained, transformed into a flower. Taking the place of the original love knot, unbeknown to the wedding party, the "buttonhole" casts its own spell with all the other magic paraphernalia of the nuptials.
#
"Buttons on Sleeve",309,0,0,0
The obvious purpose of a button is to secure a dress for reasons of fit, or warmth and decency. None of these motives, however, seems to explain the small buttons on the cuffs of man's present-day jackets.
These buttons are really useless now. But when they were first sewn on sleeves, they served a definite purpose. Their origin was linked with the early long sleeves. The buttons were a simple and ingenious means of preventing them from hanging down and impeding movement.
In the 17th century, much money was spent on men's coats and naturally people tried to avoid anything that would ruin them. Most vulnerable, of course, were the cuffs. To keep them out of harm's way, they were turned back. And lest they slip down again, they were fastened with buttons.
Also the buttons could help a man to adjust his dress to suit the climate. If it was cold and windy, the wide sleeve could be tightened and closed around the wrist.
In centuries past, man was not as drab in his dress as in later years. Like his female partner he, too, liked to adorn himself and if possible to display his wealth by means of his costume. Buttons could serve just that purpose. They were hand-made in beautiful shapes and colors. They were both costly and decorative.
Buttons no longer were used to fasten sleeves to keep them out of the wind or dirt, but to boost the ego and attract attention. John Brandon, for example, who died in 1384, was shown with 40 buttons on the sleeve of his undervest alone.
The distinctive buttons on military uniforms are said to have found their way there for totally different reasons. At least that is the story usually told. They started as the result of a king's displeasure when he saw some of his men wiping their noses on their sleeves. To make such behavior impossible, he decreed the fixing of cuff-buttons. Any soldier who forgot to use his sneeze-rag and tried to wipe his nose on his sleeves, soon desisted in pain.
#
"By and Large",310,0,0,0
Public speakers and, not least so, politicians, when explaining a theory or a policy, frequently use the expression "by and large" instead of the much more intelligible "on the whole" or "generally speaking." They are unaware that their choice of words, admitting that their statement is imprecise, originally was a naval term. Appropriately, those using "by and large" should thus be described as being "at sea."
In the days of sailing, the man at the helm had to pay careful attention whether to sail the vessel on or close to (off) the wind. The order "full and by" directed him to sail as close to the wind as was possible, keeping the sails full of wind. On the other hand, asked to do so merely "by and large" meant that he was to sail near to (in fact, slightly off) the wind, but not fully on it. It was a much easier maneuver.
Now totally divorced from the sea, "by and large" continues to suggest a lack of exactitude. It is a mere approximation.
#
"By Hook or By Crook",311,0,0,0
There may be a variety of reasons why the achievement of a goal with determination, by fair means or foul, is described as getting things done "by hook or by crook."
Messrs Hook and Crook were said to have been two renowned lawyers. To be represented in court by either of them would ensure winning one's case.
By hook or by crook did not refer to names of people at all, another explanation says, but to the primitive instruments used by petty thieves. Burglars employed hook, pushed through the window, to lift jewelry from a bedside table, and pilferers removed washing from a line by means of a crook. They thus obtained the object of their thievery "by hook or by crook."
The most likely origin of the phrase, however, is linked with an early British practice, at a time when forests were still royally owned. For any unauthorized commoner then to gather firewood in them was a crime, with one exception; poor people were exempted. Though they were not permitted to cut or saw off branches, they could remove withered timber from the ground or even a tree by means of either a hook or a crook.
#
"By Rule of Thumb",312,0,0,0
When we use the phrase "by rule of thumb," we mean to say that we apply a very rough and ready method and certainly not an accurate and scientifically dependable procedure. There are several conjectures on the origin of the expression.
In the early days, the thumb, like the foot, was an always-available instrument of measure. The last joint of the thumb was taken as approximately equal to an inch. (It became a widely established custom, reminiscent of the baker's dozen, to allow "a thumb" as an extra to every yard when measuring cloth.) And precisely because this was a very rough calculation, the rule of thumb came to signify that.
Another possible explanation leads back to Southern \JFrance\j, to \JBordeaux\j, and 1814. French contractors were then paid in Spanish dollars. To calculate their worth in francs, their own money, they often made notes on the thumb nail. The military gentlemen were highly amused by this method. They were convinced that it was all pretence, and that it was impossible by such "rule of thumb" accurately to assess the correct exchange of francs for dollars.
A third interpretation relates to the brewing of beer and has its birthplace in Yorkshire, England. To ascertain whether the infusion of malt had reached the right degree of fermentation, it was necessary to check the temperature of the mixture. As no scientific instruments were available for the purpose, the thumb was dipped in the liquid. Thus by rule of the thumb, it was known more or less, whether or not the brew was ready.
#
"By the Skin of his Teeth",313,0,0,0
It was as recent as the last century that a Scottish scientist proved the existence of a skin on man's teeth. Visible only under the \Jmicroscope\j, it easily wears off. All the more surprising is the fact that, thousands of years earlier, the book of Job assumed its existence, using it as one of its forceful expressions.
When Job tried to convey to his friends how only the smallest margin had separated him from death, he said to them (Job 19:20), "I escaped with the skin of my teeth." Universally now, the passage is rendered as saying, "l escaped by the skin of my teeth."
#
"By the Sweat of his Brow",314,0,0,0
"By the sweat of his brow" is a phrase the majority of people wrongly believe to be a literal quotation from the \JBible\j. The relevant passage (Gen. 3:19) however, reads, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread." No one has been able to trace who first misquoted the \JBible\j, as it were lifting (the sweat from) the "face" to the "brow."
#
"By-laws",315,0,0,0
By-laws are laws issued by local authorities. The word literally says so, as "by" (or "bye") perpetuates the Old Norse word for "dwelling place" or a "town." By-laws therefore, as distinct from the general laws which applied to the entire country or realm, concerned the smaller communities. They were regulations issued and enacted by the city council, the corporation, or the borough.
Many an English town originally established by the Danes retains its founder's language in the final ending of its name. Rugby, Whitby, and Derby are typical examples. They all preserve the original Norse "town." Derby, for instance, means the "town on the (river) Derwent."
Later generations, unaware of the significance of the "by," misinterpreted it. They believed it not to be a noun but a mere adverb, stating that something was just "by" the way. It was like a by-pass, in its origin a subsidiary, secondary road.
#
"Cab",316,0,0,0
The cab is a shortened "\Jgoat\j" - as a word at least.
First built in \JItaly\j, in the late eighteenth century, originally it was a horse-drawn two-wheeled vehicle, light in weight and well sprung. With roads still uneven and rough, it enabled passengers to have a comparatively smooth ride, no longer being jolted about by so many bumps. Imaginatively, the inventors therefore compared their novel vehicle's run with the capering of a young \Jgoat\j. In fact, they called their carriage after it - capri-ola. (Caper in Latin is a \Jgoat\j.)
It did not take long for the French to adopt the new carriage. Adapting its name to their tongue, it became known as a cabriole, a word replaced by its diminutive, cabriolet.
Realizing the great advantage of the coach, the British took it over from the French. They officially introduced the cabriolet as a public vehicle on 23 April 1823. The date was specially chosen. It was the king's birthday and the launching of the new service provided a unique opportunity of celebrating the occasion. Cleverly, fares charged were one-third less than those by the hackney coaches. Indeed, it was like a royal birthday present to the people.
Always practical, the English soon cut down the name of the cabriolet, changing it into the modern "cab."
Cynics have been less kind in explaining the description. They suggested the passengers chose it because the new contraption bounced and knocked them about so much that they could well imagine being carried along not in a coach, but on the back of a wild, frisky \Jgoat\j!
#
"Cabal or Kabbalah",317,0,0,0
It is very odd indeed that the Jewish Kabbalah should have gone over into the English language as "cabal." Cabal has become part of politics, and was linked with people least interested in matters of the spirit and the mind, nor at all concerned with ethical conduct. Those secretly plotting to undermine authority are now said to form or join a \Icabal.\i
An explanation given at times sees in the cabal an historical \Jacrostic\j and associates it with events that occurred during the reign of King Charles II. Five members of the ministry then connived in political schemes which they pursued without parliamentary knowledge of approval, among them a secret treaty of alliance with \JFrance\j in 1672 which resulted in war with Holland.
The intriguing group became known, it was said, as \Icabal\i by a combination of the initials of their five names: Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. Their underhanded and clandestine perfidy justified making cabal a totally despised word which led Thomas Macauley, the renowned British author of \IThe History of England,\i to say rightly that "these ministers . . . soon made the appellation so infamous that it has never since their time been used except as a term of reproach."
However, though the story of the five men is correct, the \Jacrostic\j interpretation of their cabal is apocryphal. Actually, the word reached England from \JFrance\j long before the five ministers had joined together in their scheming. The French had derived the "cabal" straight from the \JHebrew\j Kabbalah. Because of the secret nature of Kabbalah and its effective use of occult practice, they applied the new word first to groups in their country that were known to be engaged in intrigues and conspiracies. Nevertheless, it was through the British junta of the 1670s that the cabal was "popularized" and became a word included in all dictionaries as the strangest scion of the Kabbalah.
To make things stranger still, a hypothesis has it that the modern political "Cabinet" evolved out of this cabal or "committee for foreign affairs" of 1672.
#
"Calculator Origins",318,0,0,0
The calculating machine was invented and patented by Blaise Pascal, the profound seventeenth-century French philosopher, theologian and mathematician. Worked by clocks and wheels, his calculator could add and subtract. Curiously, it was the wish to make it easier to assess taxes that prompted him to construct the gadget.
Pascal's contributions to religion and life were thought-provoking and diverse: well-known is his observation that "had Cleopatra's nose been shorter, the whole aspect of the world would have been altered." To vindicate the truth of religious faith he wrote his famous \IThoughts.\i He was convinced that the "heart has its reasons of which reason knows not."
The founder of \Jhydrodynamics\j, he discovered (in conjunction with Fermat) the theory of mathematical probability and, in 1662, established in Paris the world's first bus company, stipulating that all its profits had to go to charity.
#
"Calendar Origins",319,0,0,0
At first the term calendar did not relate to anything written down (there were originally no lists of dates), but to a herald's announcement!
Actually, the \Icalendar\i is derived from the Latin, meaning "to call out." The beginning of each month was proclaimed by the head-priest or another appointed official.
No one knew beforehand when exactly the new month would start. It had to coincide with the appearance of the new moon and only when this had been duly observed could the official declaration be made. That is how at first the \Icalend\i merely referred to the first day of each month.
The development of commerce and financial transactions led to the writing down of these significant dates which by then, through the ever-growing knowledge of the movements of the sun, the moon and the stars, could be determined far in advance.
Merchants and money-lenders thus began to keep their own calendar-tables listing the initial dates of each month which enabled them to know when accounts had to be settled and interests became due. Out of these early account-books of the Romans grew the now indispensable tabulation of the passing of time, whether fixed on the wall, put on the desk, or carried, in the form of a diary, in our pockets.
#
"Call from Beyond",320,0,0,0
\BPat McGann\b
A lush \Jrainforest\j surrounds the "Boulders," a favorite beauty spot near Babinda in the Mulgrave Shire in Northern \JQueensland\j. The Boulders are huge rocks over which a mountain stream of clear water cascades in great torrents.
Along the path leading to the Boulders, a plaque set in concrete catches the visitor's attention. It asks him to
\IPRAY FOR THE SOUL OF
PAT McGANN
He came for a visit
22.6.1979
And stayed forever.\i
Whoever reads the words - whether acting upon them or ignoring their plea - will wonder who Pat McGann was and why this plaque was put up for him.
On reaching the Boulders, another poster cautions people not to swim in the dangerous waters, a warning ignored by many. In fact, swimmers seem to have been attracted by the swiftly flowing current and the adventure of shooting the rapids. Many drownings have been the result, all the victims being young bachelors. One survivor was a middle-aged married man, who, when he became wedged between two boulders, managed to free himself before being sucked under.
Soon fact mingled with \Jfolklore\j and created a legend explaining the tragedies.
Once upon a time, the Babinda Valley was the home of the Yidinji tribe. Two of its most revered members were Oolana, a beautiful young girl, and Waroonoo, a tribal elder of great wisdom. The tribe decreed that they should be joined in marriage, thereby combining their qualities of exquisite loveliness and supreme knowledge.
All went well for a while and the couple were exceedingly happy. But disaster struck, when the Yidinjis invited a roaming tribe to stay with them. One of its members, Dyga, a handsome young man, and Oolana instantly fell in love with each other.
Realizing that their mutual feelings would never be approved by their elders, they decided to run away. When their tribes became aware of their elopement, they immediately pursued the young lovers, catching up with them close to the then still gently flowing river. They berated them and spoke of the great shame they had brought on their people and the tribes' determination to separate them once and for all.
The Yidinjis then took hold of Oolana, trying to drag her away. Struggling hard, she managed to break free. She jumped into the water, calling on her lover to follow her. At that very moment, the earth began to shake violently. Great cracks opened up, with enormous boulders forming at the site at which Oolana had thrown herself in, to vanish forever. She had changed into one of the boulders, but her cries could still be heard at times, as her spirit keeps on yearning and looking for her lost lover. Young men, therefore, should beware, lest they, too, were lured into the depths by her passionate calls.
Pat McGann is believed to have been an American visitor who met his death at the Boulders.
#
"Call Girl",321,0,0,0
The call girl now is generally taken to be a prostitute of a higher class who, well connected, can be reached by phone, then in a dignified manner make her way to wherever she is "called." However, this was not the original meaning of her description which has become obsolete. To start with, a call girl was so called because, as a member of the world's oldest profession, she was constantly "on call" at her communal "residence," the brothel, then very appositely dubbed the "call house."
#
"Cambridge: Origin of the Name",322,0,0,0
Cambridge, so famous a university city, shows by its very name how even a center of learning can become a victim of mistakes.
Obviously, Cambridge refers to a settlement established at a site where a bridge spanned the river Cam. However, it is not the Cam on which the Cambridge is situated but the Gronte (the Celtic for "bog")! A stream recorded as early as A.D. 745, its name was corrupted into Granta. A bridge built across it, almost inevitably became known as Gantebricde. It was a name the Normans found difficult to pronounce.
Accommodating it to their tongue, they changed it into Cantebridge. Eventually, further "streamlined," this became Cambridge, resulting in the mistaken assumption that the city was on the Cam and not the Gronte which, to add insult to injury, is now one of the Cam's tributaries.
#
"Camel's Hoofs",323,0,0,0
Even the \JBible\j contains not only a striking example of wrong observation, but legislated accordingly. To protect the feet of the camel from the hot desert sand, nature provided them with pads. They cover up the animal's cloven hoofs, which thus cannot be seen at a glance. This led the ancient Hebrews to imagine that the camel, though chewing the cud, did not fulfill the second essential qualification for being counted among the "clean" animals which would make its flesh "fit" \I(\Jkosher\j)\i for consumption - having split hoofs.
Consequently, the \JBible\j (erroneously) included camel meat in the list of forbidden foods. It is a case in which not seeing things properly proved (for the camel) a lifesaver!
#
"Camel's Hump",324,0,0,0
The camel's hump has intrigued man. The animal's power of endurance enables it to exist without a drink of water for extended periods of time. This has led to the wrong notion that the hump serves as a built-in reservoir, replenished each time the animal drinks.
The hump does not hoard water, but fat, held in reserve as an essential source of energy for a rainy day. It can be compared to the extra fat stored by some breeds of sheep in their tails.
That this "ship of the desert" can go without drinking for as long as ten days, is due to an ingenious control system with which nature has provided the animal. As it were, a thermostat automatically changes its body temperature to keep \Jperspiration\j to a minimum. This checks the camel's loss of fluid to a degree unequaled in any other creature, which considerably reduces its need to drink.
#
"Camel: Origin of the Name",325,0,0,0
It is well-known that a camel can travel many kilometers without any need of food or drink. Not so well publicized, however, is the origin of its name, which goes back a vast distance in time - to the \JHebrew\j of the \JBible\j. In the holy tongue the camel was called \Igamal.\i It has never changed its name, which (pronounced slightly differently) still survives almost universally in the Western world. It is the English \Icamel,\i the Greek \Ikamelos\i and the German \IKamel!\i
A useful animal altogether, the initial letter of its \JHebrew\j name is the source of the letter "g" of the alphabet. Indeed, at first this was a stylized drawing of a camel; "g" is merely its scriptural remnant, as it were.
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"Camelhair Brush",326,0,0,0
The soft camelhair brush painters use is made from the long hair of a \Jsquirrel\j.
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"Camellia: Origin of the Name",327,0,0,0
George Joseph Kamel (b. 1661) was a Moravian Jesuit who, on joining the Order, changed his name to the Latin \ICamellus.\i Sent to the \JPhilippines\j as a missionary, he served the islanders with devotion and compassion. To help the sick, he opened up a pharmacy in which he supplied a great variety of curative herbs. These he grew in a garden he had specially planted for that purpose.
In the pursuit of his religious duties, he thus became more generally interested in the country's indigenous plants, and developed into a most erudite amateur botanist. Conscientiously talking notes of his observations, he wrote up his findings and sent detailed descriptions of shrubs, plants, and herbs, until then unknown in the west, to the Royal Society in London. On many occasions, his dispatches were supplemented by actual specimens, the first of their kind ever to reach Britain from the \JPhilippines\j. Whether he included, as has been suggested, the beautiful flower now known as \Icamellia,\i has never been definitely established.
However, when Linnaeus classified all plants, naming those so far unknown, he regarded it only right to acknowledge Kamel's achievements by calling one flower in honor of this Jesuit missionary.
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"Camouflage",328,0,0,0
Camouflage is both a natural phenomenon and a military expedient.
Nature has endowed certain species with colors or features that make them blend in with their environment. It prevents predators from spotting them. Some creatures - like the \Jchameleon\j - for the purpose of self-protection, are even able to change color.
Man, as in so many ways, has imitated nature and applied its wisdom to situations he has to confront, not least so, in warfare. To conceal his presence from the enemy, he learned to disguise his encampments, engines of war, and himself, by adopting the coloration and conspicuous features of the territory he occupied or had to traverse in the circumstances.
Referred to as camouflage, the term is derived from the French camouflet, "a puff of smoke." Obviously, and no matter what form it takes nowadays, it recalls the use of a smoke screen to be invisible from hostile forces.
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"Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It Too",329,0,0,0
That "you can't have your cake and eat it too," at first seems a plausible reflection on life. You either spend your money or save it. You can't have it both ways.
The sequence of the phrase is illogical and reverses the order. Of necessity, you must first have your cake in order to be able to eat it. Hence, properly put, it should say, "you cannot eat your cake and (still) have it."
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"Can't See the Wood for the Trees",330,0,0,0
The well-known phrase that "you can't see the wood for the trees" has been traced to an English proverb first recorded in 1546. Obviously, it applied to a person who, by paying too much attention to a mass of details, fails to appreciate the true value and meaning of an object or situation. They lose sight of the real issue by concentrating too much on non-essential minutiae.
Another interpretation suggests that you can't see the wood (i.e. the forest - the total view) because you are preoccupied with a single tree close at hand.
The observation was popularized by Christoph Martin Wieland, an eighteenth-century German writer. He used it in one of his works in 1768, more than a century after it had been quoted in Britain. He based the simile on a French story of 1682, which had appeared in several German versions. It related the experience of a young gentleman on his first visit to Paris. He had been told that he would see a large and beautiful city. However, to his great disappointment he saw nothing of it. The many houses had obscured his view!
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"Canada's National Sport: Lacrosse",331,0,0,0
\JLacrosse\j, the national sport of Canada, is the fastest game on foot. In a peculiar way it links \JAmerican Indians\j with Jesuit missionaries, and an ancient war game with a bishop's insignia.
The game's name - obviously French - was chosen by an early cleric who went from \JFrance\j to Canada to convert the natives to \JChristianity\j. Some authorities say it all happened in 1705 when Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix arrived in Quebec and saw Algonquin Indians playing the game.
He named it after the hooked stick with which the Indians tried to catch and propel a ball toward a goal. Because, to his clerically trained mind, the stick looked very much like a bishop's crosier, he called the sport \I"la crosse."\i Quite correctly, the name was spelled at first in two words. Later, these were joined.
It was a rather strange choice of name, as the game called by the symbol of a faith which preached peace and goodwill toward man was practiced originally as an exercise for war and training in close combat.
It has been suggested that the game was adopted from early Norse settlers who brought it to Canada from their home in \JIceland\j. There it was a popular pastime in the ninth century and called \IKnattleikr.\i The few features known of it through writings certainly show a striking resemblance to the Indian's game.
Among the North \JAmerican Indians\j \Jlacrosse\j was known as \Ibaggataway.\i It was a roving battle between up to 500 warriors on either side. Indeed, whoever wished to join in the fray was welcome, though the chiefs tried to keep the rival groups at a roughly equal number. Frequently, whole villages pitted their strength against each other. On some occasions it was a bloody encounter between hostile tribes. The men were almost naked. To get them into a frenzy, squaws followed them up and down the lines, hitting them with stout switches.
At times, the men appeared in full regalia, with feathers adorning the head, and paint, the face and body. Goals are said to have been 20 feet (6 m) high and the contest extended over many miles. Though each goal counted only one point, the total of goals scored in one game might exceed one hundred!
The occasion was a solemn religious feature of Indian life, with medicine men taking an active part. They lined up as a living goal and when the spirit moved them, wandered around the field. The goal could thus shift in one game by as much as ten miles.
Each side tried to obtain possession of the ball with a stick, and then to hold the ball and carry it across the goal line. The stick had a loop on one end and, to retain the ball, had also a carved hollow or (at a later date) a rawhide bag or sack.
In the beginning, baggataway was a savage chase, men being seriously injured or even killed. Tripping and fouling were quite common. Men jumped over each other's heads and dashed among the opponents with loud war cries. In fact, anything was permitted to score a goal.
The stick was used not only to catch and propel the ball, which then was made of deerskin stuffed with hair, grass, or plant fibres, but as a weapon with which the players belabored each other, trying to knock out as many opponents as they could.
On the eve of a match, the men gathered and, throughout the night, engaged in a wild, ceremonial dance. This was a ritual invocation to the Great Spirit - for victory. Meanwhile, four medicine men, chosen to act as umpires, sat apart. They prayed, asking for the gift of impartiality but also tried to foretell the outcome of the contest.
Play usually began at 9 o'clock the next day, when young girls covered the men with tokens of affection, such as beads.
Thousands of spectators crowded along the sidelines, well aware that even they were far from safe. When, in the heat of battle, the ball fell among them, the players, without any qualms, carried the combat among the onlookers, not caring what happened to them. Once the game was over, no one bore a grudge.
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"Canadian Influence on Ice Hockey",332,0,0,0
It is natural enough for the origin of a game that has its roots in the ancient past to be a subject of heated controversy. However, it is more than surprising that a modern, late nineteenth-century sport should fare similarly. But that is precisely what happened in the case of ice \Jhockey\j. Obviously, the game is a combination of field \Jhockey\j and skating, played according to rules adapted from football. No one knows who first joined the three together.
Official commissions were appointed and investigations were conducted, but the assertions they made and the findings at which they arrived differed greatly. Maybe their deductions were influenced (even unconsciously) by what they were looking for, and local pride might have led them in the selection of data, thereby rendering the result of their research almost a foregone conclusion.
Certainly, ice \Jhockey\j originated in Canada. However, when was it first played, where, and by whom? These are the questions. Whoever was its true father must have known shinny, originally a children's game in which youngsters with broomsticks pushed stones along an icy surface.
According to some, English soldiers serving with the Royal Canadian Rifles at Kingston, \JOntario\j, were the first to put \Jhockey\j on ice. They improvised the game at the rear of their barracks at TΩte du Pont, on the iced-up harbor, at Christmas 1855. It seems to have been a veritable potpourri of sports. After sweeping the snow from the ice, the soldiers tied "runners" to their boots and, with borrowed \Jhockey\j sticks, played a match with an old \Jlacrosse\j ball.
Supporters of "the Kingston claim" brought forward a further argument. The city had once been the site of shinny games, undoubtedly a close relative of ice \Jhockey\j which indeed was only its modern and adult form. Was it not perfectly clear therefore, that only at Kingston could ice \Jhockey\j have been evolved - out of shinty?
Another tradition maintains that G. F. Robertson, of McGill University, Montreal, first thought of ice \Jhockey\j. On a visit to Britain in 1879 he had watched a (field) \Jhockey\j match and had been greatly intrigued by it. Himself a skilled ice skater, he had wondered if it was possible somehow to combine the two different sports and thereby to create one that was completely new and exciting. On his return home, the story continues, he discussed the idea with a friend. Together, they worked out a synthesis of \Jhockey\j and skating, adding, for good measure, some football rules. Enjoyment of the game proved so great that, from an initial experimental venture, it soon graduated at their college into an invigorating sport of tremendous speed, leading eventually (in 1880) to the foundation of the McGill University \JHockey\j Club.
However convincing McGill's claim may have sounded, an ex-McGill man is said to have destroyed it. In one of the investigations he was quoted as having said many years earlier that the original idea of the game at McGill had been proposed by J. G. A. Creighton, a student from \JHalifax\j! He had also obtained the necessary sticks for the occasion - on loan - from his home town. Therefore, it was contended, \JHalifax\j must have preceded Montreal in the sport.
Thus no one knows for certain the originator of the game - whether it was Kingston, Montreal, or \JHalifax\j. Maybe it just happened to be played "first" at various places almost simultaneously, a phenomenon not uncommon in other spheres of life where novel ideas were conceived independently when their time was ripe.
The earliest recorded use of the term ice \Jhockey\j for a match is linked with a game that took place at the Victoria Skating Rink, Montreal, in 1875.
Canadians' love of \Jice skating\j and a knowledge of shinny provided the proper conditions for ice \Jhockey\j to evolve. Experience of the thrills of field \Jhockey\j must have been the final spark that fired some sportsman's imagination to think of transferring \Jhockey\j from turf to ice. Quite conceivably, too, English troops stationed in Canada, anxious to find some pastime to amuse themselves during the long winter months, adapted for this purpose sports they knew from home (namely, \Jhockey\j, \Jice skating\j, and shinny) to the climate and special conditions of Canada. So they became the pioneers of ice \Jhockey\j.
In the first games - played on frozen ponds, lakes or rivers, in fact on any icy surface that offered itself - the traditional \Jhockey\j sticks and a hard rubber ball were used. There was no fixed number of players, as long as each team was of approximately equal size. The goal was a simple line.
It did not take long for keen players to realize how much room there was for improvement. Use of the rubber ball on the slippery ice proved impractical. Propelled with vigor, it was much too erratic and traveled too far, thereby holding up the game. Teams were too unwieldy. The kind of goal used was also unsatisfactory. Most of all, enthusiasts who were anxious to arrange matches with other teams could not do so, because uniform rules were lacking, and each group and center played ice \Jhockey\j differently.
Solution of each of these problems led to the final establishment of ice \Jhockey\j as a sport. McGill University deserves most of the credit for standardizing the game. It fostered the game in its early days and has properly been called "the cradle of ice \Jhockey\j." To promote competition, it produced the first code of rules in 1879.
Gradually, the number of players on each side was reduced, eventually to be fixed at six. The goal line was replaced by a net and the evasive rubber ball scrapped. It was superseded by the "puck," a flat rubber disk which is said to have been first cut out by McGill players from the original ball.
Once the "McGill Rules" had been adopted, matches between the various centers were held and ice \Jhockey\j quickly gained an ever wider appeal. One of its enthusiastic sponsors was Lord Stanley of Preston, then the Governor General. To encourage further growth of the game, he donated in 1893 a trophy which was called after him. A sterling silver bowl, it was to be awarded annually to the most outstanding team.
Unfortunately, even this prize, like the claims for fatherhood of the game, became a topic of heated controversy. To attract bigger crowds, clubs felt the need to offer spectators the best of ice \Jhockey\j and for this purpose began to hire players. Immediately opposition arose, debarring a winning team employing "professionals" from the \JStanley Cup\j. In the ensuing dispute, supporters of the professionals pointed out that the Vice-Regal donor had promised the trophy for award to those best in the game, without discrimination and certainly without regard to their status. Professionals were as such entitled to it as amateurs.
They were right of course in their argument - as far as it went. However, they did not wish to remember that when Lord Stanley created the prize, there were only amateurs and therefore there was no need on his part (or thought in his mind) to qualify the type of player who could compete for the trophy. Eventually, the \JStanley Cup\j became the symbol of world professional supremacy and in compensation as it were, a corresponding trophy presented by Sir Montagu Allen in 1909 was reserved for amateur teams.
Not without initial protest from Montreal and \JHalifax\j, the \JHockey\j Hall of Fame at Kingston became the shrine of the sport and paid homage to the "immortals" of ice \Jhockey\j, the world's fastest team game, as much a child of Canada as \Jlacrosse\j (the latter is Canada's national sport). As in the case of \Jice skating\j, technical invention greatly advanced ice \Jhockey\j, and the introduction of artificial ice rinks made this young sport independent of the seasons and weather conditions.
Ice \Jhockey\j reached the United States in the early 1890s, and became so popular that North Americans came to speak of it simply as \Jhockey\j.
The International Ice \JHockey\j Federation was organized in 1908 and, \JGreat Britain\j, where the sport was also first popularized by Canadian teams, formed its national Ice \JHockey\j Association in 1914.
Ice \Jhockey\j became so popular that North Americans came to speak of it simply as \Jhockey\j. Consequently, the original \Jhockey\j needed some distinguishing term, and so it was called field \Jhockey\j. Players of both versions are participants in a most ancient game that has been brought to a peak of perfection and that is still played with the hooked stick bearing the very name of both sports.
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"Canals on Mars",333,0,0,0
Modern space research has destroyed the long-held view of the existence of artificially created canals on Mars. The pictures taken by \IMariner IV\i in 1964, and subsequent probes, proved and confirmed the fallacy of the sensational claim. The canals "seen," did not exist.
When (in 1877) the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli first observed fissures and rifts on the red planet, he was greatly intrigued and his imagination fired. Their regular pattern and straightness suggested to him that only intelligent (Martians) beings could have designed and constructed them. He named them \Icanali\i "channels." A rather ambiguous term, it was subject to various interpretations. Translated into English, it was rendered "canals." This led to the assumption that they were "waterways." It has been conjectured that the optical illusion, not least, was the result of a defect in the human eye.
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"Cancer - the Crab",334,0,0,0
The names by which the various constellations were called link them not only with ancient myths, but show the migration of ideas from one country to another and from one period to the next. They also bear witness to man's early powers of imagination and observation. This applies particularly to the "cancer" and the story of how its name, now chiefly associated with malignancy, reached its celestial heights.
Cancer is the Latin rendering of the Greek word for "crab" - \Igrapsias.\i The Greeks, in turn, had adopted this \Jcrustacean\j description of the \Jconstellation\j from the Chaldean star-gazers. It is interesting to note that in German one word is used for the animal, the disease, and the \Jconstellation\j. They all are known as \IKrebs.\i
The choice of the crab to represent this group of stars goes back to earliest maps of the sky. This \Jconstellation\j formed the background for the sun when this luminary reached the summer \Jsolstice\j. This was the moment when the sun, having attained its most northerly position, reversed its direction to begin its journey southward. And it was its (apparent) going "backward" that suggested the movement of "the crab." In the case of the "cancer," therefore it was not an imagined likeness with the figure, but a movement that gave birth to the \Jconstellation\j's name.
But the ancient Greeks, always anxious to link the heavenly lights with their myths, supplied an additional "relevant" story to explain why the crab had climbed up all the way to the skies.
One of Hercules' twelve labors was to kill a monstrous dragon, the many-headed Hydra. The task was formidable, as the moment one of the creature's nine heads had been severed, two new ones immediately took its place.
But as Hercules had proved himself master of the most impossible situations, the goddess Hera was much concerned for the dragon. Therefore she sent a huge crab to its aid which nipped Hercules' foot while he was fighting the monster. The hero, undaunted and hardly taking note, just crushed the crab to death. In reward for the crab's valiant and suicidal deed, Hera raised it to eternal life and gave it an appropriate place - among the stars of heaven.
It is an interesting observation how - quite coincidentally - cancer has thus been linked from antiquity onward and in completely different spheres, with death.
The Egyptians represented this stellar sign with the figure of a scarab. According to their myth, this beetle possessed the power of perpetual renewal of life. Therefore it became their symbol of eternity and of \Jresurrection\j. Anticipating the modern custom of bestowing a decoration on people of distinction, the ancient Egyptians presented a special scarab medal to those they wished to honor. No doubt, the purpose of the badge went far beyond a mere decoration and was meant as a magical means to give the person "a long life." (And this is the real and \Jsupernatural\j - but long forgotten - origin of any medal or "decoration.") Likewise, to ensure their \Jresurrection\j, Egyptian dead were entombed with a valuable scarab ornament, often enclosed in the mummy wrappings.
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"Candles and Death",335,0,0,0
Ingeniously, and in every possible way, man has tried to defeat his last and greatest enemy - death. With that aim, Egyptians first built their majestic pyramids, learned to mummify bodies, and composed the "\JBook of the Dead\j," which has been called "Everyman's Guide to Immortality."
Jews and Christians alike believe that burial in consecrated ground helps to ensure \Jresurrection\j. The washing of the corpses was not entirely a reflection of cleanliness: hygiene even after death. It was based on the \Jsuperstition\j that demons and witches had an aversion to water. Therefore, by its application to the bodies of the deceased, they were kept at bay.
The vocabulary associated with death has its own story to tell. A \Isarcophagus\i originally consisted of a type of stone which, the Greeks believed, consumed the flesh and bones of the dead, with the exception of the teeth, within 40 days. Thus they called the coffins made of stone by the Greek word meaning "flesh-eaters."
A \Icenotaph\i now is a monument, erected to honor the dead fallen in battle. Its name, too, is derived from the Greek and signifies an "empty tomb." However, originally, a cenotaph was any monument that did not contain actual human remains or marked their final resting-place. It was built in memory of any person whose bones had been lost, or had been buried elsewhere, or who had drowned at sea.
Different people and faiths have chosen their own terminology to describe the special site where they buried the dead. The original Greek \Icemetery\i described man's "dormitory" or "sleeping place." Germans call it \IFriedhof\i - a "courtyard of peace." Among Hebrews, the cemetery is known as "the house of eternity."
The undertaker is of recent date. He owes his existence to modern man's dislike of the unpleasant. It was in search of an innocuous title that those concerned with the removal of bodies assumed the name. As it was their task to \Iundertake\i funerals, they chose "undertaker" as their so dignified-sounding description, ignoring the fact that many other and much more pleasant things may be "undertaken." However, today even undertaker has lost its original value as a term of dignity and is being replaced by funeral director and, among Americans, grief therapist.
The burning of candles or lights has been linked with death and the dead from primitive times. They still used to light a bier and give special expression to grief.
Catholics light votive candles on \JAll Souls' Day\j in memory of the faithful departed. Jews burn a lamp for 24 hours every year on the actual anniversary of the death of a loved one. Japanese celebrate the Feast of Lanterns.
A perpetual light burns on Christ's tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at \JJerusalem\j. When, in the 16th century, the tomb of Tullia, Cicero's daughter, was discovered in the Via Appia outside \JRome\j, it was said that a light had been burning inside it for nearly 1,500 years. This was not necessarily an incredible, miraculous tale, but could have been accounted for by a supply of \Jnatural gas\j or oil.
The word \Ifuneral\i itself has been derived from the Latin \Ifunus,\i meaning "torch." It was believed that torches and lights at a funeral could guide the departed soul to its eternal abode. Lamps, it was considered, aided the dead to find their way through the darkness.
Later times rationalized the flickering light of a \Jcandle\j as a simile of human life and saw in its steady glow a symbol of the soul, itself a spark from the never-dying flame of the divine.
Originally, however, candles, torches and lights near a corpse or grave served a completely different purpose.
Above all, they were a relic from the days when fires were lit around the dead to frighten away \Jsupernatural\j evil beings anxious to reanimate the corpse and take possession of it. Their domain was darkness and they were afraid of light.
The same considerations accounted for the rite of demon-repulsion, practised at the birth of a child. The ancient Romans lit tapers to keep evil spirits away from a woman in labor. For the same reason, Parsees and Hindus burned fires in the room where a child was born.
As with a newborn child, so too with the departing spirit, the powers of evil were ready to take their toll. But as they could operate only under cover of darkness, a simple light rendered them harmless.
The ghost of the departed itself was believed to be afraid of light and thus, by the burning of candles, was prevented from returning to haunt the survivors.
Another early source of illumination at funerals was the wish of primitive man to provide the dead with the very comforts they had enjoyed in life. Among these was light.
Fear of the dead themselves also was responsible for the use of tapers. The burning flame was to show the deceased that he was well remembered by members of his family and therefore he had no reason to attack them for any forgetfulness. On the contrary, the light, kindled in his honor, should remind him to guard them in reward for their loyalty.
Also it was thought that the dead loved to re-visit their old haunts, especially on certain days, not least the anniversary of their passing. To guide them home and light their way, candles were lit.
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"Candles at Christmas",336,0,0,0
The custom of lighting candles at Christmas originates far back in time. Lighting candles was part of early sun worship: like bonfires, candles were lit in the depths of winter in an attempt to magically strengthen the weakened sun.
When the Church could not stamp out this ancient custom, it invested the lighting of candles with a new, and Christian, meaning. The candles were lit, so the Church taught, to symbolize the divine light that was believed to illuminate the world. According to another Christian tradition, candles were meant to recall the lights people lit in their windows at the time of Jesus Christ's birth, to let Joseph and Mary know that they would be welcome in their homes.
The lighting of candles has also been associated with that period in Irish history when the Catholic religion was banned. A Catholic family would signal when it was safe for a priest to come into their home to celebrate a clandestine Mass by placing a lighted \Jcandle\j in one window. In this way Christmas candles also pay silent tribute to people of all faiths who, in the face of persecution, remain loyal to their beliefs.
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"Candy",337,0,0,0
Strange to say, it was bitter religious conflict that introduced \Icandy\i - both word and food - to the Western world. Crusaders returning from the Holy Land, brought the first samples to Europe, yet another unsolicited gift of religion - alas, in this case, of its wars.
In the \JMiddle Ages\j, Moslems living in the Holy Land used to grow sugar cane which they then milled and boiled in large open vats. Leaving the pulp to cool and to harden, the ultimate products were flat cakes. Breaking off bits, they described them, literally, as "sugar pieces" - in their Arab tongue \Isukkar qandi.\i They used them either to sweeten their meals and drinks or to chew them for enjoyment like lollies.
When the Crusaders took both the sweet and its Arab name back home (where, until then, honey had served as the major sweetener), the "pieces" further fragmented, as it were, by dropping the \Isukkar.\i The left over \Iqandi\i assumed the English spelling that we use today. Strangely, this \Icandy\i did not find a permanent home in Britain. It was taken even further west, to the United States, where to this day sweets are marketed and enjoyed under this name.
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"Cannibals",338,0,0,0
Understandably, cannibals are regarded with horror, as they eat human flesh. However, they are condemned for the wrong reason. Their practice is not the result of a murderous trait, innate cruelty, or a perverse appetite. They do not follow the habit either to show contempt for their enemy. On the contrary, their cannibalism is based on the primitive religious conviction believing that in eating, man did not merely strengthen his body but partook of the "spirit" of whatever he consumed. Eating the flesh of a foe, the cannibal was convinced, he would absorb his qualities of prowess and heroism, adding them to his own. The practice almost amounted to paying tribute to the victim!
The cannibals' name is an error as well. It is a corruption of the name of the Caribes, meaning "brave and daring," a native tribe of \JCentral America\j, still recalled in the \JCaribbean Sea\j. When the Spaniards first encountered them, probably unable to pronounce the names they changed the Caribes into Cannibals. The new name sounded very much like that of a dog - Icano\i in Spanish - and, naturally, the people's dreadful custom of eating human flesh was so loathsome that contemptuously the Spaniards compared them to dogs and, as it were, changed a "brave and daring" name into a canine one. All this is part of the cannibals.
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"Cannon",339,0,0,0
Rather puzzling, if not intriguing, is the term used in \Jbilliards\j, when the cue ball hits two balls in succession. Called a cannon, people have wondered why.
The most obvious explanations coming first to mind, are incorrect. This cannon has nothing to do with shooting straight or otherwise. Another wrong suggestion made was that a member of the church, a Canon, was the first to accomplish this feat. In reality, the term derives from the French for the "red ball," \Icarram bule.\i This contracted into \Icarombole,\i finally to be distorted into the present-day cannon.
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"Cant",340,0,0,0
A variety of circumstances has been suggested in which cant first joined our vocabulary to dub the insincere speech and pious platitudes of hypocrites.
It might have been mere resentment towards the Puritans, those sixteenth-century seceders from the Reformed Church who went to no end to "purify" faith, recognizing as their sole authority the "pure Word of God." Allegedly, they spoke with a whining, nasal sing-song tone of voice. Their detractors referred derisively to this style of speech as the Puritans' \Icant.\i The term was derived from \Icantare,\i the Latin for "singing" (also the source of \Ichant).\i
One tradition traces the origin of the word to the names of the brothers Alexander and Andrew Cant. Both ministers of the Presbyterian Church and Covenanters, they were said to have been real bigots. Whilst ferociously persecuting those who did not share their religious views, they piously prayed for anyone suffering on account of his faith - behavior that certainly qualified them to be the fathers of \Icant.\i
On the other hand, the word might well have been the result of the sincerity and undaunted courage of yet another Rev. Cant.
The Rev. Andrew Cant (b. 1590) was the minister of the Presbyterian church in \JAberdeen\j, Scotland. As a man of strong conviction and outspokenness, he was bound to ruffle feathers and make enemies. These opponents, contemptuously using his name, denigrated it so much that eventually it became the byword it has remained ever since.
A specific incident is said to have started the abuse of his name. Rev. Cant also served as a chaplain in the Scottish army. A service he conducted in 1640 was attended by a large contingent of English officers. Possibly because of their presence, he gave voice to his strong royalist sentiments.
Supporters of Oliver Cromwell, also at the service, deeply resented this and surrounded the pulpit, where with their swords drawn, they threatened the minister. Undaunted, Cant stood his ground. In fact, he is supposed to have dramatically bared his breast inviting anyone who dared to kill him on the spot. None did. However those too cowardly to attack him bodily, began to besmirch his name. They succeeded to such an extent that their vilification survives in the present-day disreputable meaning of \Icant.\i
In 1711, more than fifty years after his death, \IThe Spectator\i published a special feature, highlighting his achievements, his courage and fate. Rather intriguingly, it also related that the Rev. Cant delivered his sermons "in such a \Jdialect\j that it's said he was understood by none but his own Congregation, and not by all of them."
Indeed, there are plenty of versions of the origin of cant. Nevertheless, a comparison of dates shows that the use of the word preceded by many years the life-span of all those clergymen associated with it. It is quite possible, however, that, even if their names were not the basis for the original coining of the term, their stories gave the old word a new lease of life which has not yet expired.
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"Cantaloupe",341,0,0,0
Popes have left their mark in unexpected ways - and not merely on members of their faith. They were responsible for the naming of the musk-melon!
Originally cultivated in \JPersia\j, its seeds were imported to Europe from Armenia in the sixteenth century. They were planted, and the fruit successfully grown for the first time in the Western world in the gardens of Cantalupo, the papal summer residence, near \JRome\j. Recalling this fact, they have been known ever since - worldwide - by the name of the pontifical retreat.
#
"Capella Origin",342,0,0,0
Obviously of church origin is the Italian-derived term \Ia cappella\i "according to [the style of] the chapel." It recalls the days when priests and church choirs used to chant the prayers and hymns without being accompanied by an organ or other musical instrument. Embodying this old religious reference, \Ia capella\i now generally refers to voices singing unaccompanied, no matter where and what.
#
"Capital",343,0,0,0
When man first accumulated wealth, he reckoned his fortune by the head of \Jcattle\j he owned, which was his initial "capital," from the Latin description of "head," \Icaput.\i In fact, all pecuniary matters go back to the land. Primitive societies, not knowing hard cash, paid their debt with head of \Jcattle\j as well. The modern world continues to do so, at least in the way of speaking, as "pecuniary" is derived from the Latin, \Ipecus,\i also meaning "\Jcattle\j."
#
"Cappuccino",344,0,0,0
The special type of espresso \Jcoffee\j known as \Icappuccino\i is called after the Capuchin monks, though the reason for this has been disputed. Some claim that the monks were the first to brew it. Others imaginatively discovered in the way the \Jcoffee\j was served some resemblance with the habit worn by the friars. Capuchin monks are identified by their pointed hood. Did not the frothed-up milk, topping the \Jcoffee\j, form such a "hood?"
#
"Capricorn - the Goat",345,0,0,0
To "get one's \Jgoat\j" - in a manner of speaking - is most annoying; though why is rather mysterious. The presence of the \Jgoat\j in the sky, in the Latin guise of Capricorn - "the horned \Jgoat\j" - is no less puzzling. Why should it be chosen next to the ram, the bull, the lion, and the crab to constitute part of the Zodiac and why was it selected as early as by Chaldean star-gazers?
The obvious explanation lies in its "position:" not in the animal world but up in the sky. Its "house" is situated in that part of the Zodiac which was the place occupied by the sun at the winter \Jsolstice\j. Having traveled farthest south from the equator, the solar body then began its climb up. And was not the \Jgoat\j renowned as a climber? It therefore served so well to symbolize the very \Jconstellation\j through which the sun passed at the moment it reached its lowest point on its downward course and, turning around, had to start its laborious ascent.
And, once again, when the Greeks got hold of the climbing \Jgoat\j from the so much older and alien tradition, they lost no time in making it their own, tethering it, as it were, to the story of their past.
The "apparent" \Jgoat\j, they suggested in their myth, was not really an animal but Pan, the god. Only he had taken on the animal's shape to save his life. And as such Zeus had placed him into the sky. Astrologers and astronomers well remembered its presence and continue to do so in their nomenclature of the Zodiac.
Pan was the god of the countryside, the patron of shepherds and goatherds. His influence spread so far and became so powerful that people saw in him the very personification of nature and the entire universe. That is why his name came to mean - in Greek - "all" and "everything." On countless occasions we recall Pan in his comprehensive connotation. We do so when we speak of \Jpantheism\j, panacea, and panorama to describe a god who is in everything, a remedy that is all-healing and an all-embracing, unbroken view.
In spite of Pan's grandeur and all his love of nymphs and music (the reed pipe was his invention, it is claimed, and therefore called after him - the panpipe), there came a moment when even he panicked and feared for his life.
While enjoying himself in the company of other gods on the banks of a river, Typhon attacked them. This hundred-headed monster was not afraid to fight those of highest rank. To save their lives the entire group of divine revellers jumped into the water and, to make sure their escape, took on other shapes.
Pan disguised himself as a dual being: in his lower part he became a fish and for the rest of his body he was a \Jgoat\j. And that is how Pan was the first ever to "act the \Jgoat\j," though his actions in doing so were completely different from what we mean by the phrase.
Another myth claims that Pan actually had his goatish features from the very beginning. He was born with horns, a beard, a tail, and \Jgoat\j's legs.
#
"Captain",346,0,0,0
A captain would greatly resent anyone mistaking him for a corporal. Certainly, the two differ considerably in rank. But, surprisingly, both mean the same.
Their common source is \Icaput,\i the Latin for "head" which also was responsible for the capital of every country, of every column and every financier. To serve as the "head," the "chief" of a company - sized army unit was the office of the captain. As if to add insult to injury, one theory even claims that the captain's title is the (English) linguistic corruption of the corporal who alone grew straight out of the Latin "head."
#
"Captain and Pilot",347,0,0,0
It is incorrect to believe that the moment a pilot comes on board ship, he assumes the captain's responsibility. The captain is in charge of his ship at all times. There is only one exception. This applies to a ship passing through the \JPanama Canal\j. Even then, technically, the captain has the final "say."
#
"Captain James Banks' Grave",348,0,0,0
Appropriate indeed, is the ornamentation on the grave of a sea captain buried in the Waverley Cemetery; it is a ship's steering wheel, beautifully rendered in white marble. The words inscribed around its rim are equally apt and moving: "He sees his pilot face to face. Now he has crossed the bar."
Captain James Banks, whose tomb it is, was born in the Orkney Islands on 16 May 1838 and "fell asleep [on] 27th November 1905."
#
"Capuchin Monkey",349,0,0,0
Capuchin friars are identified by the pointed hood (the French \Icapuche)\i they wear. When, in 1529, Matteo di Bassi established the Order, he wanted its members to adopt a habit similar to that of St Francis, and the conspicuous headcovering was part of it.
The outstanding cowl of thick hair on top of a little agile monkey's head reminded people of the monastic cowl of Capuchin friars. Thus, almost inevitably, and without irreverence, they called the animal after them. Attractive, playful and fascinating, with their prehensile tails, Capuchin monkeys became the favorite companions of organ grinders, once a popular sight in the streets of European cities.
#
"Car Bonnet and Boot",350,0,0,0
The bonnet of a car is so called because - like a hat - it protects the engine. In order to stand out and attract attention, car manufacturers used to decorate their bonnet by some distinctive feature. The boot, belonging to the other end of both the body and the car, can be traced to two different sources.
To begin with, it was a simple box containing luggage and other items, which was placed at the back of the car. A box is boεte in French. The English appropriated the custom and the word, Anglicizing the latter into "boot."
In the days of horse-drawn vehicles, members of the English upper class employed footmen known as "boots," so called because their many domestic duties included the polishing of their master's boots. They accompanied their masters on trips. It was their job then to assist them to get in and out of the coach which, with the passenger's cabin high above the ground, necessitated some stepping up and down.
During the journey, the footmen took their place at the rear of the carriage, standing on a platform provided for them. It did not take long for this to be called by their "title" - "boot."
Though this former place of the "boot" (of either kind) is now covered and occupied by luggage and other paraphernalia, it retains its original, though now no longer applicable, name. Once created in English class society, it persists as a moving memorial of the now obsolete footmen.
Americans, always to the point, have updated the terms by calling the bonnet a hood and the boot a trunk.
#
"Cardinal Red",351,0,0,0
Cardinals, of so elevated a rank in the hierarchy of the Church, have the responsibility of acting as chief papal counsellors and, should the need arise, of electing a new Pope.
Because so much "hinged" on their decisions, both in the affairs of the Church, and in the world beyond, they were named cardinal from the Latin \Icardo,\i "a hinge." Their high position was reflected by their dress, the red hat, the scarlet biretta and mantle they wore. So conspicuously vested, it is no wonder that their name entered the spectrum of hues, and \Icardinal,\i apart from being the title of their ecclesiastical office, was also used as the name of a deep, rich color, cardinal red.
#
"Carnage",352,0,0,0
\ICarnage\i - now meaning the cruel slaughter of human beings - has its origins, like \Ivictim,\i in the practice of animal sacrifice. Sacrifice was a central feature of early worship, belonging to the period when people sincerely believed that they owed their god, as his rightful due, the life of a valued animal. The root of \Icarnage,\i the same as that for \Icarnal\i (Latin \Icaro, carnis),\i means "flesh" - in this case that of animals slaughtered in the religious act.
#
"Carol Singing",353,0,0,0
The idea of singing at Christmas time stems from the thought that the angels sang when they appeared to the shepherds at \JBethlehem\j to announce Jesus Christ's birth.
The present-day meaning of a carol, however, is far removed from its original one. A carol was once a secular dance which was performed at any time of the year. People held hands and formed a ring and, as they circled around, they joined in song. The configuration of the participants in this "ring-dance" reminded onlookers of a coronet - \Icorolla\i in Latin - so they called it a "carol." The name was later transferred from the dance to the song itself. By the 16th century, carols were sung only at Christmas time. The subject of the songs also came to relate exclusively to Christmas.
Another development followed. For some time Christmas carols were sung only in church, and only by the bishop and the \Jclergy\j. But carols rapidly became popular amongst the general public and were soon sung in the streets and other public places. They dealt with the theme of Christmas, not just with the subject of Jesus Christ's birth, in the most varied of ways.
#
"Carrying the Bride Over the Threshold",354,0,0,0
The custom of carrying the bride across the threshold has been found among the ancient Romans, the Redskins of Canada, the Chinese, and the Abyssinians.
Several reasons could account for it. All of them date back to a superstitious past or do not reflect favorably on the beginnings of matrimony. This custom, too, might be a recollection of the days when wives were captured. They did not come willingly but had to be taken by force into the man's house.
Psychologists may even think that it is a wise and not-so-romantic way to make the woman realize who runs the house and who determines where to go. On the other hand, it is a common experience that even a sham opposition creates greater desire, and perhaps the bride loved to appear as if she entered the new home under compulsion.
A \Jsuperstition\j, dating back to almost prehistoric times, makes people afraid of stumbling. It was thought to be a sign of ill luck, especially if you fell over your own doorstep. To avoid any possibility of such an ominous accident, that might doom the marriage from its very beginning, the cautious bridegroom carried his bride across.
In ancient \JRome\j the threshold was sacred to Vesta, the virgin goddess. Therefore, it was considered not merely bad taste, but sacrilegious, for a woman, who was about to leave her maiden status, to touch the threshold.
Indeed an ancient belief in the sanctity and evil properties of the threshold may account most of all for the custom. People assumed that demons dwelt there and to avoid touching it they jumped over it. To propitiate those evil forces, they buried stillborn babies under the door or smeared blood on its lintels. To save his wife from any possible contact with the demons lurking under the doorstep, the young husband carried her across.
#
"Cartomancy",355,0,0,0
To play cards in any of its many forms - such as bridge, \Jcanasta\j, or poker - may be an innocuous pastime. Yet if used for gambling, it can make or break a person, gain or lose him a fortune. But from the days of their invention many centuries ago, \Jplaying cards\j have fulfilled a much more ominous role, in the literal sense of the word "omen." It was claimed that as the universal language of \Jsymbolism\j was used in a pack of cards, this "book without words," if rightly interpreted, could tell volumes about man's fate and future. However, only those highly skilled and endowed with psychic power were able to discern the message.
"It's in the cards" is a remark made occasionally. Used generally to express a belief in fate, fundamentally the phrase reflects one of the most favorite forms of \Jdivination\j - cartomancy. People have rightly asked why cards came to play such a significant role in such diverse spheres as gambling and fortune telling. The answer is really simple. Both contain the element of chance, appeal to man's love of risk, and cater for his fascination for the mysterious.
Views differ as to which came first: amusement or \Jdivination\j. There is no doubt that man has always been anxious to pierce the veil of illusion and to penetrate the mystery of the future. "\JPlaying cards\j" thus must have served the purpose of fortune telling almost from the very beginning. In Europe, cards were used for fortune telling, nevertheless they were called "\Jplaying cards\j," not ignorantly but deliberately. It was by way of camouflage: to keep away the uninitiated, the unenlightened and, most of all, those dangerous to anyone engaged in the pursuit of the occult.
Of all decks used for \Jdivination\j, none excels the \Jtarot\j cards in significance and complexity. To "read" them has produced countless elaborate treatises and altogether raised numerous questions on life and its psychic exploration.
The discovery of the message contained in the cards, to begin with, could be compared with the deciphering of a cuneiform inscription. Each of its individual picture graphs may have several meanings. They may differ on each occasion and depend on the context in which the figure appears. Only those steeped in ancient Babylonic-Assyrian culture and lore and gifted with special skill could ever attempt to read even a simple cuneiform text.
Thus the adept in tarotology must first of all be fully cognisant of what each card might represent, and then how its meaning is changed by the sequence in which it is picked and in the way it is laid out on the table. This task calls for a tremendous amount of study and is easily subject to error and misinterpretation.
But cartomancy goes far beyond a decoding of symbols, since it concerns the psychic world. Man has often been led to wonder whether there is such a thing as chance. No one can deny that those who know how to "grasp" it can change it into providence. May it not also be that an occurrence we call chance, actually is the result of a causal chain of factors still unknown to us? We are so used to taking things at their face value. Many of us are as ignorant of and insensitive to the subliminal world, as tone-deaf and color-blind persons are to a great part of reality which, though it exists, they miss.
Churchill once gave the telling example of a man leaving his home and then turning to the right. In so doing, he met on his way the very woman who was to change his entire life. The man then gratefully thought how lucky he had been. He could have just as well turned to the left and thereby would have missed the fortunate "chance encounter."
In discussing the case, Churchill pointed out the fallacy of the argument. It only had relevance with "all other things being equal." But how did the man know? Could it not have happened that if actually he had turned the other way - to the left - the young woman would have come from that side?
There are no chance coincidences according to occult belief. Those who "pick" specific cards by what is termed "mere chance," may not do so "accidentally" after all, as the average person might assume. There may well be some (still unknown) factor that determines the selection of a particular card as distinct from all others. The apparent random choice might not be random at all.
It is a known fact, for instance, that people trying to get hold of an object in the dark without really knowing its position, may nevertheless direct their hand straight towards it. They do so by some mysterious, instinctive sense of direction. Likewise, there are cases in which people "accidentally" opened a book which they had never consulted before, at the very spot that contained the information they needed.
Events are never independent. There is always a connection between past, present and future. Interaction is a universal and cosmic law. Pascal's reflection that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter, "the whole aspect of the world would have been altered," was not an entirely fanciful observation.
Invariably we react to one another and are susceptible to our surroundings. In different company we become a different person. Almost like a \Jchameleon\j we take on the color of our environment.
Just as the letters of the alphabet, when arranged in different sequence spell out diverse and no doubt at times contradictory words, so do cards vary in the message they convey, if anything still more so. On each separate occasion this depends on the particular card that is picked, how and when it is selected, and the pattern into which it eventually falls. Of course, not everyone would be able to decipher what each card tries to say, not individually, but in the sequence in which it is "chosen."
To complicate matters yet further, methods of \Jdivination\j vary according to the several schools of the occult that are being followed. The most common way is to ask the "consulter" to shuffle the pack and then to pick a card, and to repeat this procedure several times. The tarotologist then arranges the selected cards in a definite pattern. But the pattern he applies is due to the tradition he has adopted, making things even more complex. It may take the shape of the \JHebrew\j tree of life, of a pyramid, or of King \JSolomon's seal\j. The practitioner then reads out of the cards (or into them) the answers to the questions put by his "client."
Other problems arise. Did some mysterious power emanate from the inquirer that determined the choice of cards? Are those claiming the gift of "reading" cards influenced by some spiritual contact which goes far beyond telepathic communication?
Furthermore, the actual pictures and even the way in which they follow each other in their "chance" sequence may have little significance as such. Their paramount purpose could well be to serve as a stimulus, to rouse a latent psychic gift and open up in the tarotologist, as it were, a sixth sense of viewing a world that is hidden to the ordinary mortal.
By concentrating on the various pictures on the cards and their combination, his power of recognition may be activated. As in crystal gazing, they may create a hypersensitive state in his mind, receptive to ideas which would normally escape others. It is exactly like the case of sounds and colors which, though existing, are inaudible and invisible to the ordinary human senses, because their decibels and wavelengths are beyond reach. Looking at the \Jtarot\j symbols may unlock memories long forgotten (perhaps even of previous lives) and fire a chain of thought buried in the \Jsubconscious\j.
Reading the past, the future, and fortune from \Jtarot\j cards thus is not the mere decoding of a message by mechanically following certain rules and traditions. The revelation received depends on a psychic rapport going far beyond man's ordinary senses.
Considering the countless and diverse factors that relate to the practice of \Jdivination\j and the possibilities contained in a pack of \Jtarot\j cards, a famous retort seems so applicable. A viewer at an exhibition of \Jmodern art\j could not make out what a picture represented. The artist, when asked what it meant, replied: "It means whatever you find in it."
#
"Carving",356,0,0,0
A great variety of meat cuts are named very descriptively. In many instances their original location can be pictured. Thus we speak of the rump, the rib, and the (shoulder) blade.
Carving, on the other hand, was once a very expert and complex duty; so much so, that eventually it was not left to the master of the house but was delegated to a professional. Each species of animal required its own treatment. The official carver not only mastered the art but, being very erudite, knew how to apply the most specialized vocabulary. He "unlaced" a \Jrabbit\j, "spoiled" a hen, and "disfigured" a peacock.
#
"Casino's Meaning",357,0,0,0
Universally, a public place for gambling is known as a casino. And yet, its designation makes no mention of its function. From the Italian, casino solely means "a little house," the diminutive of casa.
#
"Cast Iron Lamp Posts - First Made by Henry Langlands",358,0,0,0
The inscription on a \Jsandstone\j \Jobelisk\j in the Melbourne General Cemetery reflects the gratitude of the workmen of the Port Phillip Foundry towards their employer, "Henry Langlands Esq." When he passed away on 21 June 1863 at the age of 69, they paid for the monument for their London-born boss, and on it summed up his life and death with the Psalmist's words (37,37), "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace."
Langlands had not only looked after them well, but had been responsible for a diversity of "firsts," all linked with his foundry. His was the first boiler to be cast for the first train to run in \JAustralia\j. He launched the first cast iron vessel - 32.7 meters long - and made the first cast iron bell and lamp post. Much of the cast iron lacework on homes all over \JAustralia\j came from his foundry.
#
"Cat and Fiddle",359,0,0,0
Some public houses are known as "The Cat and Fiddle" and, accordingly, display on their signpost, a cat playing the violin. The strange combination is due to a misunderstanding, going back to an historic encounter.
Caton is said to have been a Knight of renown who had distinguished himself at \JCalais\j. In recognition of his bravery, he was dubbed \ICaton le FidΦle\i - "Caton, the Faithful." To honor him, the British called an inn in his (French) name. Fame is fickle and French to most of the English, a foreign tongue. \ICaton le FidΦle\i thus sounded to them like a "Cat and Fiddle."
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"Cat Bringing Home Prey",360,0,0,0
When a cat brings to its owners a dead bird or mouse, it does so not as a gift, to express its affection, or gratitude. The more likely reason is its wish to teach the human what it has learned to do so well, to hunt successfully.
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"Cat Hunting Instinct",361,0,0,0
Feeding a cat well does not stop it from hunting. A well-nourished cat will continue to chase birds, mice and rats, though, once having caught and killed its prey, will refrain from devouring it. A fat cat thus has not lost its hunting instinct. However, its \Jobesity\j may well be of advantage to any potential quarry, as the cat might feel too lethargic to bother or, even if taking up the chase, prove much too slow.
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"Cat Myths",362,0,0,0
From \JEgypt\j the cat spread everywhere. And the myths and legends of many countries added to its fame and involved it more and more in the world of the occult.
The Greeks were among the first in one of their myths to make the cat a creature that had a special bond with the netherworld and with death. However, it started not in the subterranean region but among the gods and was the ultimate result of yet another of Zeus' escapades, this time with Alcmene. She had become pregnant by him and was bearing in her womb the future \JHeracles\j. In her fury and envy, his wife Hera was determined (if unable to prevent the birth) at least to delay it and thereby to prolong Alcmene's labor pains.
For this purpose Hera stationed Eileithya and the Moirai outside the adulteress' home. Holding their knees together and clasping their hands, they were able by sympathetic magic to keep the child back in the womb for nine days after the delivery had actually been due.
But Alcmene had a faithful servant, Galinthias, who made use of a lie to end her mistress' suffering. Rejoicingly she announced to the divine magicians holding their watch that there was no need for them to go on doing so. Their magic had been unsuccessful, as Alcmene had just given birth to a lusty child. Apparently frustrated in their effort and deeply disappointed, the goddesses jumped up in surprise. Of course, this immediately broke the spell. Alcmene's womb opened and she gave birth to \JHeracles\j.
All Hera could do was to give vent to her anger. As her plans had been cunningly sabotaged by Galinthias, Hera was resolved to punish her. To do so she transformed her into a cat which she banished into the underworld. There Galinthias became the priestess of \JHecate\j, the queen of the witches and the goddess of death. And that is how ever since cats, wherever they are, remain loyal to witches. They keep in close touch with them and with all that is ghostly and uncanny.
Another Greek tradition tells of how \JHecate\j herself - at least temporarily - had become a cat to save her own life. The incident related to the monster Typhon's bid to take over the world and rule both heaven and earth. To escape him, \JHecate\j had taken on feline features. But once Zeus had put down the rebellion and slain Typhon, \JHecate\j had resumed her original, "natural" shape.
However, she never forgot that she had been able to survive by taking on the disguise of a cat. She never lost her deep feeling of affection towards the feline which was passed on to the cat's countless descendants. They became \JHecate\j's favorite creatures to whom she extended special treatment. They could count on her at all times and in all circumstances. But they could do so particularly in matters which concerned her special sphere of influence: witchcraft and all that is related to the realm of the \Jsupernatural\j. And \JHecate\j feasted on dog's flesh once a year, which would endear her to the pussies!
Norse \Jmythology\j contributed its share to the tying of a cat to the witch. It pictured Freya, the goddess of marriage, fruitfulness, and fertility, as sitting in a chariot that was drawn by cats! No doubt, they had been specially chosen for the task because of their own prolific faculties.
When in its conquest of paganism, \JChristianity\j in order to eradicate deeply rooted heathen beliefs decried them as the works of the devil, it branded Freya as a witch. And, as once cats had pulled her along, she in turn now pulled the cat with her into darkness. . . And Christians, remembering the Norse myth, saw in the feline creature an ominous companion of all witches.
This presents yet another of the paradoxes so frequent in life. Without qualms, Christian nations continue to honor the goddess Freya weekly, on every Friday, the day named to pay homage to her. But they decried the cat as an evil being which served the powers of darkness and therefore was a harbinger of bad luck because it had once faithfully worked for that goddess.
It was however not those myths alone to which the cat owes its uncanny reputation. Personal experiences of people confirmed and reinforced the traditional attitude and the cat's occult stature. The cat, in its own right and for its strange ways, truly deserved to occupy a prominent status. Everything known of a cat places it in this choice position.
A cat has always seemed to be "psychic" and endowed with gifts no ordinary being possessed. It seems to "sense" the invisible presence of \Jsupernatural\j forces. Some people believe that its unexplained purring at times was due to it seeing a ghost. Individuals who are allergic to cats, or suffer from ailurophobia, also "sense" a cat's presence even if they have not seen it yet. They do so most probably, it has been said, because a cat transmits (by radiation or its aura) some psychic message which precedes its physical arrival.
Night has traditionally been the time of the devil, under whichever guise he might choose to appear. And the cat is a nocturnal creature. It can see in the dark, its eyes are so moonlike. They shine like mysterious green luminaries. And its caterwauling is so eerie. It goes on its hunting expeditions when the shades of night have enveloped the earth. Its arched back, its fur that can bristle, and emits sparks if stroked, are all features which add to its mystery and its (assumed) occult propensities.
Hardly any other creature is so enigmatic, inscrutable, and independent. A cat will do what suits it best and no power on earth can persuade it to change its mind. It has its own apparently "irrational" likes and antipathies.
The cat excels in fecundity. And if witches really continued the ancient fertility rites, a cat certainly would serve them as the finest aid and symbol, not least by sympathetic and imitative magic.
Cats love to curl up in front of a fire. And the hearth used to be the sacred center of all homes. Once again thus, the feline had chosen the company of a god! While lying there, it assumed the form of the magic circle and all that it implied.
Only a cat is able to speak - silently - with its tail, which has a vocabulary all of its own, so much so that in Greek a cat was literally called "the tail waver." But this same tail also reminded the ancients of the wriggling serpent that was so closely linked with the underworld and its dark pursuits.
The cat's proverbial "nine lives" (three times the sacred figure three) are based on its fantastic power of resilience and recuperation. Does not a cat always fall on its feet? However, here too, the cat had an association with the moon, and was worshiped as a lunar being. The moon was also symbolic of constant renewal: though it wanes, inevitably it will wax again.
The cat's habit and gift to lie motionlessly in wait for hours on end is fearsome. Watching its victim, apparently unconcerned, suddenly it will pounce on it and not let it go! And there is its devilish and death-dealing play with a mouse or a bird.
Thus no other animal was better suited, almost "preselected," to be attached to a witch, the priestess of black magic. And as witches were alleged to possess the gift of shape-changing, cats were thought to serve as the most appropriate form for a witch to assume.
There was yet another significant reason which made a witch choose the cat of all animals. Cats were pets in almost every home. And no one could really ever know for certain whether a specific cat was just the ordinary feline creature kept to catch mice, whether it engaged in the dark craft of the occult or was - much more sinister still - a transformed witch!
This explains as well that, in the traditional picture of a witch, she retains the cat's claws in her long nails and the cat's green eyes.
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"Cat Rubbing Against Owner",363,0,0,0
Cat owners feel highly flattered, when their cat rubs itself against them. They are under an illusion if they imagine that it is meant to show affection. The cat does so selfishly, as the friction gives it a sensuous feeling of gratification.
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"Cat's Attachment to Home",364,0,0,0
Though cats have been known to return great distances to their former home, they do so only if their love for their human "friends" who have moved away was not strong enough. Most cats are much attached to their owners and will happily settle down with them wherever they go.
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"Cat's Falling on Feet",365,0,0,0
A cat does not automatically fall on its feet. As a tree climber, it is endowed with a highly developed \Jcerebellum\j, the organ in the inner ear responsible for maintaining bodily equilibrium. At times however, this is congenitally defective. A drop from any considerable height might endanger the cat, as it is unlikely then for "puss" to land on its four padded paws.
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"Cat's Lick",366,0,0,0
Cat lovers like to think that when their cat licks their hand or any other bare part of their body, it does so to show affection. However, to see in a cat's lick a kind of feline kiss misinterprets its reason which is far removed from any expression of love. Like humans, at times cats need salt and having discovered its presence on their owner's skin, try to lick it off. Their own well-being, and not love, is the motive.
#
"Cat's Night-sight",367,0,0,0
The commonly-held belief that cats can see in complete darkness is not correct. However, nature has added to the black of feline eyes an extra, reflective layer of cells, known as \Itapedum.\i This facilitates the animal's night hunting and enables it to see when visibility has become too dim for ordinary human eyes.
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"Cat's Nine Lives",368,0,0,0
The first reference to a domestic cat stems from the year 2100 B.C. and, naturally, from Egyptian lands, where also, soon afterwards, the mother of a Pharaoh's courtier was nicknamed "Pussy."
The tradition that a cat has nine lives goes back equally far into the distant past and to the river Nile. It is linked with both mystical thoughts and very realistic observations.
A cat is strong, hardy and a good fighter. No wonder, therefore, that the legend arose about Kilkenny cats which - very Irish - fought until nothing was left of them except their tails.
A cat always seems to fall on its feet, whose paws are well-padded and shock-absorbing, a feature which protects the body from injury.
The cat is one of the most tenacious of creatures, taking good care to guard itself. Suspicious in nature and taught to be cautious, the cat watches its steps and looks out before leaping. It takes no risks and approaches unidentified objects and persons gingerly and with great deliberation. Whilst an expert in catching mice and rats, it certainly knows how to look after itself and to avoid being caught by others.
All these many and varied facts, physiological and psychological in nature, have combined to preserve and lengthen the cat's life. But to express its longevity and tenacity by assuming that a cat lived not just once, but nine times, has its source in ancient religious belief.
Nine is a mystical number. It is composed of three threes, a trinity of trinities. Thought to possess \Jsupernatural\j power and to work as a charm, this figure has featured prominently in the myths and traditions of many parts of the world.
Egyptian astronomers taught the existence of nine spheres. The Greek lunar year counted not 12 but 9 months, and the river \JStyx\j was thought to encircle (the Greek) hell nine-fold. Odin, the Teutonic god, gave power to Freya, the goddess of love, over nine worlds. Even \JChristianity\j followed this numerical tradition; according to the Gospels, Christ died in the ninth hour.
It is not surprising, therefore, that to express the cat's mystical power of life, use was made of that very figure as well. Bast, the cat-headed goddess of \JEgypt\j, where our feline friends were divine, was said to possess nine lives, and this no doubt is an important factor in the legend of cats' longevity.
As it were, to add further protection to our cats, lest the full span of nine lives be diminished, humans have been warned (no one knows by whom first) that they should never attempt to take even one of its lives. If they did so - from the beyond - the cat would haunt them and devise a particularly nasty revenge. It is one of the most useful cat superstitions - to the cat.
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"Cat-o'-nine-tails",369,0,0,0
The cat-o'-nine-tails was the whip used for the punishment of offenders in the army and navy and (as recently as 1948) in British justice in cases of crimes of violence.
The number of its "tails" (which were actually knotted cords attached to the handle of the whip) was not accidental. The original purpose was magic. The number 9 was thought to ensure that the flogging would be effective and "reform" the guilty party for the rest of his life. (The choice of the cat's name for this cruel instrument was due to the fact that injuries suffered by the flogging looked very much like scratches a cat would inflict.)
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"Catch-22 was Catch-18",370,0,0,0
Modern times and literature have given us "Catch-22" as a most concise description of the paradoxical situation in which whoever is caught in it, has no way out.
The American author Joseph Heller vividly described such a dilemma and gave it its name, using it as the title of a satirical novel, first published in 1961. A best-seller, its title and very problem soon caught the attention of the public and "Catch-22," a predicament well understood, became part of our language.
After having participated in numerous bombing missions, an American airman in the Second World War felt the need to be relieved from further duties. However, when asking not to be rostered for more flights, he was informed that, according to regulations, permission to stop flying could only be granted if he could prove insanity. The mere fact that he asked to be excused from going on any more dangerous flights proved that, far from being crazy, he was very sane indeed! He had reached a deadlock.
Actually, to call the excruciating predicament "Catch-22" was merely a second choice. Originally, Heller had referred to it as "Catch-18." However, as Leon Uri's book \IMila 18\i had just come on to the market, the publishers felt it wise to change Heller's title at the last moment. To use the identical number would have led to confusion and served neither author. Luckily, to solve this problem presented no extra hitch!
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"Catching a Cold",371,0,0,0
A cold is so common that people have created numerous myths as to how they can catch it. Wrongly thus, wet feet have been blamed. No matter how wet the feet are, they will not infect the respiratory tract. What might happen is that by chilling the body, a person's resistance is lowered, thereby making him more susceptible to picking up the (still unidentified) cold virus. Standing in a draft in itself does not result in a cold either. Catching it under such circumstances could only be due to the unfortunate coincidence that the air blown into one's face carried a cold germ.
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"Caterwauling",372,0,0,0
Caterwauling - a term of onomatopoeic origin, i.e. imitating the sound made - is usually linked with a cat in heat or on a sexual pursuit. This is not exclusively the case. The raucous yowling noise may be made by two tom cats when confronting each other, to intimidate the opponent.
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"Catgut: the Misnomer",373,0,0,0
Cat lovers will be happy with this misnomer. There is nothing from inside the feline on string instruments. The so-called catgut comes from the intestines of sheep.
How the cat crept into this error has been variously explained.
"Kit" used to be the name for a small fiddle, especially favored by dancing masters. It was easy to confuse that (little-known) "kit" with the ubiquitous "kitten" and to imagine that violin strings were its posthumous contribution.
Another derivation suggests that the error was due to fast speaking. Slurring the words "\Jcattle\j gut" was contracted, resulting in a linguistic shape-change from \Jcattle\j to cat.
People who listened to a learner practising the violin, not very kindly compared the sound to caterwauling. This made them think that only a cat's gut could produce such noise.
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"Catherine Wheel",374,0,0,0
Catherine of Alexandria, a beautiful girl of noble birth, was a devout third-century Christian. Unafraid, she raised her voice against the Romans' persecution of her fellow believers. Many were the stories (some of them apocryphal and of a much later date) that told of her courage and missionary zeal.
Her final confrontation with the authorities led to her arrest. Condemned to die (in A.D. 307), her execution was to be of the most horrendous kind. She was to be broken publicly, on a spiked wheel.
Miraculously, however, legend tells, the wheel disintegrated at the moment her body touched it, its flying splinters killing bystanders instead. Catherine, nevertheless, did not escape her fate. After this first abortive attempt at carrying out the sentence, she was axed to death. Legend also tells that angels then carried her body to the top of \JMount Sinai\j. There a monastery was erected in her honor and named after her. She had, meanwhile, been canonized.
It was not St Catherine's only monument. One of the highlights of public celebrations is the "Catherine wheel," which sends out sparks of colored fire and flames. A pyrotechnical spectacle, it is not only called after the martyr, but shaped like the torturous instrument intended for her execution. Strange to think that man's early cruelty has contributed an idea for a device that augments our fun. Once a symbol of religious martyrdom, the Catherine wheel has become a conspicuous feature of festive fireworks.
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"Caught Red-handed",375,0,0,0
Though now applied to any breach of law or conduct, to begin with the phrase to be "caught red-handed" referred exclusively to the instant apprehension of someone who had seriously injured or killed a person. The criminal was caught so quickly that he had not even had time to wash the victim's blood from his hands.
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"Caught with One's Pants Down",376,0,0,0
A person who is caught with their pants down is taken completely by surprise. The result depends on the circumstances. Whichever way, they expose themselves and are placed in an awkward and unenviable position - risking life or, at the very least, reputation.
The saying is of doubtful parentage. According to one suggestion, it stems from the American wild west and frontier days. It so happened that an American Indian caught sight of a white man just when he was relieving himself. With his trousers down, he did not have his firearm at the ready and, therefore, totally unprepared for the encounter, became an easy target.
More general and up-to-date is another explanation. It relates the phrase to the compromising situation - when a wife catches her husband with his pants off - enjoying the company of another woman!
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"Cause of Birthmarks",377,0,0,0
Mystified by birthmarks, people have rightly wondered what caused them. Some genuinely believed that they were the result of a fright experienced by the mother whilst pregnant. They even imagined to recognize in the mark the very object that had been responsible for the emotional upset.
The notion created the custom for pregnant women to gaze at beautiful paintings and listen to good music. They were convinced that in so doing, they would be spared the excitement and their child would be endowed with artistic gifts.
Shocks do not cause birthmarks nor do they leave any physical traces on the fetus. It has rightly been pointed out that, if it were so, many a baby would look like a speckled hen. Generally, a \Jbirthmark\j is a malformation of a blood vessel.
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"Celebration",378,0,0,0
To a happily married couple, no date is more joyous than the anniversary of their wedding day, no matter how many years have passed since they were handed that certificate which pronounced them husband and wife. The wedding anniversary date should always be kept free for celebrating and it should be the first date to be entered into one's diary at the beginning of each year.
Apart from a gift, which may be linked with the designation of the day, the wedding anniversary may be celebrated in a variety of other ways. Some couples may send each other greeting cards, their text and ornamentation thoughtfully chosen to suit the partner's taste. Others might actually make or draw their own very personal cards to express their special feelings in simple and genuine language - though perhaps words may prove inadequate.
To confine the celebration to a card or a note, however, would be the very least to be expected! An anniversary is a special occasion and should be marked by something additional. Some couples prefer to celebrate their anniversary on their own, while others may enjoy doing so in the midst of family and friends. A festive dinner at home or at a favorite restaurant could become an annual tradition. For the music lover, how about a visit to a concert? Or, for those who appreciate theater, perhaps a show could highlight the day. Revisiting some place from their courting days will give a couple precious time for happy remembrances and may also serve as an opportunity for jointly planning the year ahead. And, to the religiously motivated, a joint prayer of thanksgiving or attending worship may be most appropriate.
Life has its ups and downs. When a couple reminisce on their anniversary, they recall both trivial and difficult times. This might include moments when harsh words were spoken or when a disagreement spoilt a day. However, recalling even the unhappy times need not interfere with the enjoyment of the celebration: on the contrary, it will make the couple realize that such upsets, in retrospect, were really insignificant. Now that they are relegated to the past, those incidents can be seen to have deepened their relationship, making it firmer and more mature.
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"Centipedes",379,0,0,0
Exaggeration is not the sole property of advertising. Thus the literal meaning of the \Jcentipede\j is that it has 100 legs, which is a vast miscount. In spite of what it "says," the ordinary \Jcentipede\j possesses a maximum of a mere twenty pairs of legs!
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"Cereals and Ceres",380,0,0,0
All \Jcereals\j pay tribute to Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Literally, she was "the sower," as her name derives from the Latin \Iserere.\i
One special occasion, not only linked but identified the deity, for all time, with food made from grain. A severe \Jdrought\j in 496 B.C. caused Roman farmers' fields to stay barren. In their plight, they prayed to Ceres, asking her to send rain. As she controlled the growing of their produce, they believed that she would also be able to come to their aid in this matter.
Their petition was answered. In gratitude, they dedicated the grain to Ceres. The association was never lost, though the circumstances were forgotten. That is how, eventually, all cereal crops were called after the goddess.
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"Chairperson Origins",381,0,0,0
With women's liberation, the chairperson has replaced the now obsolete chairman. Paradoxically, the title - even in its gender neutralized version - has been outdated for many years.
Totally meaningless nowadays, if taken literally, the term made good sense centuries ago when it was first applied. Chairs then were still uncommon. Being rare, they were expensive. Those attending meetings were seated on rough benches. Only the person presiding, out of respect to the office and position, occupied a chair. Possibly, it was the only one available. That made that person (and very conspicuously so) the "chairman," and anyone who spoke of or to them could not be misunderstood when addressing (or referring to) "the chair," by calling them "Mr Chairman." When women eventually came to hold the office as well, they were addressed as "Madam Chairman," a contradictory combination.
Everyone now sits on a chair and so, logically, all those attending a meeting should be called chairpersons. But this would defeat the purpose of the choice of title. Habits of the past, even when they have become obsolete and meaningless, are not discarded, nor do terms and practices they created. Retained as a relic of the past, the chairperson, as it were, has become a fixture.
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"Chamber",382,0,0,0
A 14th century chapel, which was destroyed by fire in 1834, was the earliest Chamber. It still is the prototype of British Houses of Parliament throughout the world. They continue its original rectangular shape, but the altar has been replaced by the canopied Speaker's Chair. The ancient pews survive in the members' benches. This explains why, up to this day, those sitting in Parliament do not occupy individual seats.
The comparative smallness of the Chamber gives all debates dignity and intimacy. It also creates an atmosphere of friendship even among opponents who, though far removed in political views, sit close together. Furthermore, as was pointed out at the rebuilding of the \JHouse of Commons\j in London in 1941, after its destruction by enemy action, a crowded small Chamber is so much more advantageous than a large one, depressing by its being mostly half empty.
The arrangement of benches along two sides, following the example of the ancient church, fostered the two-party system. British tradition taught members to respect their opponents' opinion. Thus the Opposition is officially known as "Her Majesty's Opposition," with its implied suggestion that the "Opposition" is as much a part of "Her Majesty" as is the Government. In remuneration its leader is not far behind the Prime Minister. To pay someone to oppose you is a telling example of British democracy.
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"Chamois Leather",383,0,0,0
There is nothing of the \Jchamois\j, that \Jgoat\j - like \Jalpine\j animal, in \Jchamois\j leather. It is made from the underside of the sheepskin.
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"Champagne Glass",384,0,0,0
It is said that the saucer-shape of a champagne glass, commonly used nowadays, is the result of a love affair. It was modeled on a woman's breast - that of Madame Pompadour, mistress of King \JLouis XV\j of \JFrance\j.
The shape, in spite of its alleged romantic association, is the least suitable for the full enjoyment of the drink, in no small measure due to its bubbles. The extended width of the glass contributes to their rapid dissipation and thereby greatly reduces the pleasure. No wonder that the original champagne glass was narrow-brimmed, which gave the bubbles a much longer time to rise!
Another of its conspicuous early features was its hollow stem. It, too, had a practical reason, though now obsolete. When wine was not as refined as it is today, it allowed the dregs to settle in the hollow stem and for people to enjoy a pure drink.
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"Champagne to Christen a Ship",385,0,0,0
In the early ritual of christening a ship, red wine was used. It took the place of the blood of the human sacrifice once offered at the launching, a gruesome custom deemed necessary then to pay off in advance the gods of the sea for protecting the boat and ensuring its safe passage.
The substitution of the wine by champagne was not due to any wish to wipe out memories of that murderous practice. Champagne, being so much more expensive, was regarded more appropriate for such an auspicious occasion.
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"Champion of Many Causes",386,0,0,0
\BDame Mary Gilmore\b
When Professor Colin Roderick gave the oration at the funeral service of Dame Mary Gilmore at St Stephen's Church, Sydney, he was not exaggerating when he described her as the most outstanding figure in the country's literary, social, and political life. "Compassionate and charitable, of motive pure, indomitable in will, in moral fibre strong, Dame Mary Gilmore set a noble example," he said her work assured her a life beyond death. Generations to come undoubtedly would turn to the epic of her life for enrichment and inspiration.
Dame Mary died in Sydney at 97 years of age, on 3 December 1962. The tributes paid to her on the occasion demonstrated the high regard in which she was held by everyone. Both federal (Liberal) and state (NSW Labor) governments joined in giving her a state funeral. This was attended by parliamentarians, trade unionists, churchmen, and prominent figures not only of literature, but of every walk of life.
After the service, hundreds of people stood in silence to watch the cortege, with a police escort, pass along Macquarie Street on its way to the Northern Suburbs Crematorium.
Dame Mary's ashes then were taken to the Cloncurry Cemetery (located near the property her family owned), to be interred next to the remains of her husband and son. They had predeceased her within a few months of each other. At the time, Mary had been so deeply distressed that in a letter to a friend she confessed that she did not know what life still held for her. In spite of this, she felt that she must try to get on with the work. It would be the monument "to all of us."
The inscription on the headstone she shares with her husband and son is brief, though its very words say much.
\IIn family record of
WILLIAM ALEXANDER GILMORE
Born Victoria 20.3.1866.
His Wife MARY (O.B.E.)
Born NSW 16.8.1865.
And their Son
WILLIAM DYSART CAMERON GILMORE
Born \JParaguay\j 21.8.1898.\i
Notably, though the epitaph gives the exact dates of birth, it omits the dates of death. In Dame Mary's case it was symbolic; she really never died, but lives on in the pattern of Australian life she so much helped to shape.
Dame Mary's achievements are so diverse and numerous that only a few examples can be given. All through her life she stood up for the neglected, deprived, or exploited. For some time she lived with an Aboriginal tribe, to show her respect for these most ancient Australians.
Mary qualified as a teacher and was appointed to a school in Silverton. There she learned of the injustices suffered by the miners, a lesson she never forgot, which made her the ardent socialist she was to remain for the rest of her life. In pursuit of her ideals, she even went to \JParaguay\j to help in the abortive attempt to establish an Australian utopia, a perfect socialist state. Her presence there explains the birthplace of her son.
Dame Mary was among the first and most vehement to campaign for institutions and attitudes which are now taken for granted: women's rights, old age, and invalid pensions, baby health centres and the general social acceptance of illegitimate children. She wanted Australians to learn of their past (which inspired many of her poems) and to be proud of it. She strongly advocated the establishment of a chair of Australian literature at universities, and she wanted every community to become interested in its local history.
On the other hand, she foresaw and looked forward to the time when floods of immigrants would enrich Australian life with their own cultures. No issue was too small or too great for her, if she felt the need to support and to fight for it. In whatever she said, wrote or did, she observed her own code of integrity and honesty. Passionately she believed in truth. "Truth to me," she said, "is more than powers and principalities and the applause of rogues and fools."
In one of her poems Dame Mary tells how she herself wishes to be remembered:
\IWHEN IN THE DUST I LIE
When in the dust my light is hid,
Tell if you must the things I did,
But let no word betray
Truth from its narrow way.
I shall not ask to be as one
Whom death must mask when all is done;
Mine be the light, although
Ragged and patched I go
Pity I take not of any-
Few to forsake me, or many;
Only I ask that you
Tell that my heart was true.\i
#
"Champs ElysΘes",387,0,0,0
The Champs ElysΘes, the monumental Paris avenue leading to the Arc de Triomphe, was called after the Elysium, the Greeks' mystical land of perfect happiness.
Classical traditions differ as to who was qualified to enter this ancient paradise. Homer believed that only favorite heroes were admitted who, once inside, would gain immortality. For \JHesiod\j it was an abode set aside solely for those dead who had proved their value in life.
All agree that to enter Elysium was an honor reserved for the truly good. When the French chose its name for the Paris thoroughfare they were well aware of the traditions. The avenue, like Elysium, was to be the center of the world, a site "where life is easiest to man," offering unequaled bliss.
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"Chanukah: Feast of Lights",388,0,0,0
\BThe Feast of Lights\b
Chanukah, the Feast of Lights, usually falls some time in December. It lasts eight days. Though regarded a "minor" festival, on which Jews are permitted to carry out their normal daily work, its message is major and universal. It speaks of the supremacy of spiritual values over material forces and commemorates the survival of \Jmonotheism\j when a despotic pagan empire tried to destroy it.
\IChanukah\i means "consecration." The feast celebrates the rededication (in 165 B.C.) by the \JMaccabees\j of the Temple in \JJerusalem\j after it had been desecrated by three years of pagan worship. Its story is told in the Book of the \JMaccabees\j in the Apocrypha.
Though greatly outnumbered, the small band of \JMaccabees\j were able, by the strength of their faith, to oust the invader who had tried to force his pagan philosophy and way of life on all the countries he conquered.
Nightly during this festival, Jews light the \IMenorah,\i an eight-branched candelabrum. They do so in their synagogues and in their homes. On the first evening a single \Jcandle\j is lit and the number is increased by one on each evening until, on the last night, all lights shine forth.
The candelabrum is named and fashioned after the original \JMenorah\j, a seven-branched candlestick that once stood in the Temple and has become the symbol of the Jewish faith.
A legend explains the practice of lighting it on eight consecutive nights. When at long last, the \JMaccabees\j had expelled the invader and cleansed the Temple, they were about to rekindle its perpetual lamp, which was the symbol of God's continuous care and which had been extinguished by the foe. But all they could find was a single jar of undefiled oil, sufficient to last only one day. Miraculously, it burnt for a full eight days, the time it took to prepare new oil for the sacred lamp.
Each of the eight nights offers its own excitement. Children receive gifts. \JPotato\j pancakes, known as "Latkes," specially prepared for the occasion, are shared by the family, who also join in an innocent gamble with "Dreidels." These are small spinning tops, marked on each of their four sides with a \JHebrew\j letter which indicates how much the player has won or lost.
But the big event is the kindling of the \JMenorah\j and the joint chanting of the Chanukah hymn, which praises God as the "Rock of Ages." The candelabrum is then placed near a window to "publicize the miracle" and as a symbol of the light of freedom that must shine for all races and peoples of the world.
Chanukah, indeed, is a happy festival, looked forward to each year by young and old.
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"Chaperon",389,0,0,0
The redundancy of groups of workers is not only a modern phenomenon, the result of the introduction of advanced technology to the workplace. It occurred in the past as well, when social changes made once established institutions and occupations superfluous. The case of the chaperon is a typical example.
Only a few generations ago, a young girl or a courting couple were not permitted to venture out alone. They had to be accompanied by a female guardian. It was her duty to watch over them, making sure that nothing unseemly happened, according to the strict mores of the time. That the lady employed for the purpose came to be called "a chaperon," links her with ecclesiastics, though it does so in a roundabout way.
\IChaperon\i was the French name for a hooded mantle, originally worn by priests, later adopted by French knights. When the Normans crossed the English Channel, they introduced it into Britain, where it became the fashion, particularly among noblemen. Members of the Order of the Garter then appropriated the chaperon as a conspicuous part of their Knightly full-dress costume. And as one of their duties was to act as royal guards at Court, the once priestly hood became closely associated with the serving as an escort.
So far restricted to men, women came to wear the chaperon as well, making it a unisex garment. Like all fashions, eventually the chaperon became outmoded. However, elderly ladies continued to dress in it.
At the time, a male-dominated society offered little opportunity for a respectable woman to earn a living, or at least to supplement her income by some worthy occupation. Those matronly ladies therefore quite often took a position in families, who engaged them to protect the young girls in the home. It did not take long for them to be identified with, and then even to be called after their conspicuous, but by then generally discarded dress - the chaperon.
Finally, even these guardians of propriety shed the chaperon. Yet its name stuck to them, to become the description of anyone entrusted with the task of looking after the proper demeanour of young people.
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"Charisma",390,0,0,0
Believers in the occult are convinced that people have an aura. Invisible to all but the psychic, it surrounds and emanates from everyone and can have a most potent effect. But extraordinary people are endowed with an even more powerful radiation. Like a magic spell, this can exert a supreme influence on large crowds, if not entire nations. And a term, long forgotten, has been dug up in modern days to describe that very condition and to explain recent events in the world of politics and its most evil manifestation, demagogy.
Charisma spoke literally of a (divine) "favor", a free "gift" or grace, granted by a \Jsupernatural\j power to a specially selected individual. The present-day popularity of the term, so some authorities think, may be due to Max Weber, the well-known German sociologist. In his writings he was the first to apply the word again in modern days; he used it to describe the phenomenon of "charismatic leaders." This phrase caught on and was soon applied to national figures throughout the world whose appeal - for the best or the worst - hypnotized the masses.
Both as a word and a concept, charisma goes back to ancient \JGreece\j, where it referred to the showing of favor and grace. Personified as the Charites (mythologically the three daughters of Zeus), these "Graces" (in their Latinized form, \Igratiae)\i were believed to vouchsafe their free gift to certain favored people who with this inspiration, became distinguished by extraordinary personality which could be expressed by physical beauty, intellectual, artistic and moral stature, or the ability to divine the future.
St Paul, who was deeply influenced by Greek thought, took over its charismatic tradition. Adapting it to the new faith, he taught (Romans 12,6; I Cor. 12,4-11) that the gift-granted by God - was not meant to enrich the person so favored but to enable him to bestow good on others. However, to be thus honored was not the result of personal sanctity. Nor was it a reward for good deeds. It was undeserved and unmerited, in the later theological phraseology, "Graces gratuitously given."
St Paul enumerates nine different such gifts which included the art of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, and the talent of "speaking with tongues." Modern religious groups of various churches have gone back to St Paul's description and definition of the divine Graces. Their members claim to have acquired the ancient gift in a charismatic renewal and strongly experienced awakening "to the life of the \Jholy spirit\j within us."
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"Charity Begins at Home",391,0,0,0
That "charity begins at home" is a specific type of misquotation. The words are exact and correct. Nothing has been added or left out. But there has been a significant change of meaning in the concept of charity.
As understood now, charity refers to material help. The phrase thus would confirm as man's right, first and foremost to look after "number one" - himself. The quotation, indeed, has frequently served as a welcome excuse not to contribute or subscribe to outside causes. Such interpretation, however, is far from the original meaning of the phrase. Chanty then expressed love in the highest and purest sense. It was the gift of unselfish qualities: compassion, empathy, and magnanimity joined with humility. The proper training ground for these traits - once regarded essential for a fulfilling life - was the home, and that was the original implication of "charity begins at home."
#
"Charlatan",392,0,0,0
Even the charlatan can be traced to religion. He originated in a practice that eventually was not only strongly condemned but, in no small measure, contributed to the Reformation.
Sinners, conscious of their guilt and feeling burdened by it, were anxious to obtain divine forgiveness. At one period, they were led to believe that they could do so by literally "paying for their sin," by buying what were known as "indulgences." It was a transaction easily made but, often a costly one, frequently exploited by the unscrupulous. Convincingly, they led transgressors to think that a substantial monetary contribution given to them (and through them to the church funds) would wipe out their sins.
Italians came to call this type of ecclesiastical pressure - salesman a "cerretano." They are said to have taken the name from Cerreto, a village situated north of \JRome\j and famous for its quacks and frauds, self-styled traveling doctors and dispensers of nostrums. Endowed with the gift of the gab, they easily succeeded in taking people in.
It so happened that in the Italian language, \Icerretano\i was very similar in sound to \Iciarlare,\i meaning "to chatter." It did not take long for both words to become confused and then fused, to create the \Iciarlatano,\i as a description of the "agent" for forgiveness of sins.
When the Italian term reached England, like so many other foreign words, it changed shape and sound to become \Icharlatan.\i Even its meaning shifted: it no longer referred to a salesman of divine pardons, but to one whose glib talk allowed him to dispose of very mundane, but equally suspect, goods. A charlatan is now simply any imposter professing knowledge he does not have and offering services he is not qualified to give.
#
"Charms",393,0,0,0
Everything in life is relative and depends on the circumstance of time and place. That one person's meat is another's poison is much more than just an adage. Monogamy and \Jpolygamy\j have both been declared moral and essential: but by different peoples and religions. Whether the black cat that crosses your path presages good or ill fortune, again depends on whether you find yourself in an \JAnglo-Saxon\j country or on the European continent.
To be called a charming person nowadays certainly is a compliment and flatters people. But in the fourteenth century no one would have welcomed being regarded as such; anyone who was found "charming" could well have been destined to be led to the torture chamber, if not to the gallows or the stake.
To begin with, charm was magic power which could "take in" and bewitch people. The very history of the word tells that charm consisted of neither looks nor demeanor. Derived from the Latin \Icarmen,\i "charm" was a "song" and specifically referred to the magical chant and incantation used to bewitch people or to render a solemn rite truly effective.
That also explains Bizet's choice of Carmen as the name of the central figure of his opera. She was the alluring gypsy girl who knew how to "fascinate" men so that, forgetting their duty, they would help her escape the forces of law and order.
The story of the \ILorelei,\i made famous by Heine's poem and the music to which it was set, tells of a siren who, from a rock on the right bank of the river Rhine, enchanted and lured boatmen to their death by her "song."
But even charms of that type did not last. And eventually the original song or recited formula would, as it were, solidify and take on the form of an object. The once verbal spell, transmitted orally, was made permanent by misappropriating the original magical "song" to designate objects which, worn or carried by people, would ensure their good luck or their protection against evil, disease, defeat, or disaster.
The tinkling sound made by the many charms hanging from a woman's bangle thus is a feeble echo of the early enchanting song. However, by its very noise it is also thought (even if not realized by the average person) to drive away devils.
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"Chartreuse",394,0,0,0
Chartreuse is yet another monastic legacy to the world of drinks. Its name recalls La Grand Chartreuse, the Carthusian monastery, situated north of \JGrenoble\j in \JFrance\j, where the liqueur was originally made.
The formula of the drink is still a strictly-kept secret and the subject of much mystery and legend. It all started, so the story goes, in 1605. In that year, A. F. d'EstrΘes, Marshal of \JFrance\j, had presented a manuscript to Carthusian monks in Paris. Allegedly it contained the prescription for an elixir for a long life, once the treasured property of alchemists. Unfortunately, however, the document was indecipherable.
It took almost 150 years before - in 1762 - Brother JΘr⌠me Maubec, another Carthusian, succeeded in unravelling the text and with it the complicated instructions. Alas, he did so only at the very end of his life. On his death bed, and no longer able himself to apply these instructions, he dictated their contents to one of his brethren.
The monk lost no time in distilling the elixir which, during a local \Jcholera\j epidemic in 1832, proved its salutary value, at least as a tonic. It led people to refer to it as "the liquid of health."
The ingredients of the chartreuse and the method of its production continued to be a guarded secret. Tradition claims that the brandy-based liqueur was flavored with 130 different types of herbs and plants, all growing in profusion in the mountainous, wooded, sub-\Jalpine\j region in which the monastery was situated. No doubt, they gave the drink its pale yellow-greenish apple color, a \Jhue\j itself now called \Ichartreuse,\i after the drink and the monastery. It conforms with Oscar Wilde's recollection that, when visiting the monastery, he was told that the beatific expression on the monks' faces was the result of "one-third green and two-thirds yellow."
#
"Chateaubriand",395,0,0,0
Chateaubriand was a man of many parts. A French Viscount and an opponent of Napoleon, he served as a soldier and as Ambassador Extraordinary to Britain. He also became a famous author. To try to re-Christianize \JFrance\j and in defense of the Church of \JRome\j, he wrote his most notable work.
After its publication in 1802, so the story goes, he dined with a friend in a Paris restaurant. To honor his famous guest and in recognition of Chateaubriand's book, the owner served a most luscious steak, the like of which he had never previously cooked. He grilled a thick slice of beef between two other pieces of meat. When the latter were almost burned to charcoal, he discarded them to present Chateaubriand with the center piece, a truly succulent steak. The Viscount relished both the meat and the attention.
The arrangement of the three pieces was prompted by the writer's Christian fervor! The outer two burned pieces were meant to represent the two thieves crucified on either side of Christ who was symbolized by the rare center steak!
In spite of his preoccupation with religion, Chateaubriand was a vain man and loved to be the center of conversation. When, eventually, people lost interest in him and no longer talked about him, he refused to accept the fact. He explained it by imagining that he had gone deaf and could not hear people mentioning his name.
Chateaubriand would be happy to know that his name has become immortalized and linked with the pleasure experienced by the palate of discriminate diners of all religions.
A more prosaic tradition claims that it was not in Paris, but in London, that the steak had first been cooked, and that its creation was linked not with religious, but political, circumstances. Famous Montmirel, Chateaubriand's chef, had invented it to be served at ambassadorial dinners. To please his master he had called it Beefsteak Chateaubriand.
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"Chauffeur",396,0,0,0
To have a chauffeur driving a car is outdated, not only economically, but in his designation. From the French, his title speaks of a "stoker," recalling the early days when automobiles were steam-driven. It was his duty, as his name still indicates, to "heat up" \I(chauffer)\i the engine. Thoughtlessly, we continue to speak of a chauffeur, though he may drive an air-conditioned (internal combustion) car.
#
"Check/Cheque Origins",397,0,0,0
The earliest checks were bills of exchange. First used in \JItaly\j in the thirteenth century, they were then adopted by the Dutch, reaching England in the seventeenth century. The original check was payable to the nominated person alone and could not be transferred. The new practice greatly simplified trade, as it no longer necessitated the movement of bullion or other moneys, often over great distances. It enabled the seller even if living in a far-off district to collect the money owed from a local trader.
Typical is one of the earliest English checks still in existence. It is in the way of a letter dated August 16, 1675 and addressed to a Mr Thomas Fowles, a goldsmith in Fleet Street, London. It instructed him "to pay unto Mr Samuel Howard or order upon receipt hereof the sum of nine pounds thirteene shillings and sixpence."
The bill of exchange could take many other forms. It could simply be written on a scrap of paper, a piece of cloth, or other material or, as is said to have happened at least once, on the hide of a live cow.
Originally spelled "check," it was named after the counterfoil of a bill used to check the validity of the transaction and to serve as a safeguard against alterations or forgeries. It was only later that the name was transferred to the entire "document." The Americans retained its original spelling, whilst the British adopted the French version, cheque.
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"Checkered Black and White Flag",398,0,0,0
Motor racing presents its own thrills and dangers. To avoid fatal accidents and collisions, it necessitates careful supervision and meticulous organization. For this purpose, the FΘdΘration Internationale de l'\JAutomobile\j, as the controlling body of the sport, has introduced a worldwide system of (altogether) eighteen signals. In the form of flags, these are designed in patterns that can easily be memorized and recognized by the drivers. Proceeding at record speeds, and hence catching only a glimpse of the signal when approaching it, they must be able to identify it in a split second and against any background. A mistake made in "reading" the message can cost them the race, if not their life!
Each flag relates to a specific circumstance or emergency. The variety of situations includes the need to stop instantly (obviously conveyed by a red flag), the approach of some dangerous stretch (yellow), information that oil covers the course further along the track (yellow with red stripes), or that an ambulance is ahead (a white flag). But nothing is more significant to those taking part than the end of the race, hopefully the "winning post." To make the flag indicating it truly outstanding and distinct from all the others, it is the only one which is checkered, with black-and-white squares. So different, no one could ever mistake it. Traditionally, it should only be waved for the winning car, while it is held steady for all the rest.
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"Cheerful Farewell",399,0,0,0
\BLouis Fraser\b
Worldly is the inscription on the stone marking the grave of Louis Fraser who passed away at 83 years of age in 1987. The "Round Plain" Cemetery in which he is buried was dedicated in 1870. Situated half-way between Cooma and Kiandra, it can be reached by a side road only. Far from mournful, his epitaph reads like a cheery farewell, appreciating past mateship:
\IThere old friends I must leave you
I know you will understand
It was a wonderful thrill to meet you
And to feel the grip of your hand\i
#
"Cheerio",400,0,0,0
To bid each other "farewell" is not always easy, particularly so if there was a communion of spirit, a sharing of joys and of thoughts. People may say goodbye in several ways. Each has its own background and explanation.
"Au revoir," the German \IAuf Wiedersehen,\i says in French what friends really hope for: to see one another again. To some, the English "ta-ta" may sound rather childish, while many a person, who calls out "see you later" well knows (and hopes) that the two may never meet again. Cheerio, however, with its happy sound taking leave and yet looking into the future to a reunion, may have diverse explanations.
First of all, it recalls early days of transportation. One way to move about then was by being carried in a sedan chair. To start with, this was privately owned and reserved for the wealthy and noble. But with the passing of time, the sedan chair became a public vehicle, plying as a taxi for all and sundry.
Without personal transport at their disposal, people have become accustomed to stand at the curb and call out to a passing cab, "Taxi!" Earlier generations did the same. They stood on the road, outside a home or a tavern, waiting for a sedan chair to pass by. Seeing it approaching, to attract the carriers' attention, they called out, "Chair-oh!"
A polite host always waits till his guests have departed, making sure that they have transport. And as this was mostly the case after they had called out "chair-oh," this hailing of their cab doubled up as a farewell greeting, eventually slightly changed into "cheerio" which thus still carries inside, though hard to see, the original sedan chair.
Cheerio, however, may come from a completely different source. Parting is sorrow to many. The French proverb observed that "to part is to die a little," \Ipartir c'est mourir un peu.\i It was to encourage both the person who went away and the one who stayed behind, not to take the parting too sadly that they said to each other, cheerio. It was a reminder to "cheer up" and consider their separation only temporary.
This would conform with yet another derivation of all "cheer" which sees in it (the Latin root for) the "face," \Icara.\i Cheerio, as a parting greeting expressed concern even at a time of farewell to remain of "good cheer" showing a happy "face."
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"Cheshire Cat",401,0,0,0
Cheshire, one of England's old counties, was noted for its cheese and its independence. Out of these sprang one of the versions of the origin of the grinning Cheshire cat.
For almost 500 years after the \JNorman conquest\j of England, Cheshire kept politically independent. It prided itself on its own Parliament, courts of law and taxes. Judges, appointed by the king of England, had no authority or \Jjurisdiction\j over that part of the land, whose ruling Count possessed royal privileges.
This distinction, so her people imagined, amused even their cats and made them so proud that they grinned from ear to ear. Even though the cat's grin was merely imaginary on the part of its owner, he soon found a way to materialise it: if not on the pet's own face but in the form of cheese!
Cheshire has always produced some of the finest of cheeses, that staple food of high nutritional value. It was enjoyed far beyond the county's borders. Cheshiremen thought: why not use this product to tell the world of our proud tradition of freedom, recognized and treasured alike by man and beast!
That is how, according to this tradition, the people of Cheshire came to sell their cheese in the shape of a cat - with the cat invariably grinning.
Another explanation sees in the smiling cat the remnant of a feared man - one Caterling of Chester. The fact that Cheshire was sparsely populated outside its few cities, and lacked England's power, attracted fugitives from justice. Soon the large Delamere Forest became a haunt for highwaymen and other criminals. The county itself just had neither means nor men to enforce the law.
Things thus got out of hand until, under the reign of King Richard III, Caterling became the Forest Warden of Cheshire, determined to stamp out the evil.
His zeal knew no bounds and within three years of taking the office he was responsible for the apprehension and hanging of at least 100 offenders.
Proud of this achievement, Caterling attended himself each of the executions, sadistically grinning from ear to ear. And it was his sneer at the hangings that people remembered. In no time it became proverbial all over England. And when people saw a smirk on a face they could not but help immediately to be reminded of the Caterling sneer and accused their friend of grinning "like the Cheshire Caterling."
As time went on, the identity of the man was forgotten and all the horrible circumstances that had given rise to the phrase. And as, after all, cats were so much more common than Caterlings, eventually Mr Caterling's grin was shortened into the much more pleasant (but non-existent) grin of a Cheshire cat.
All this certainly would not make Mr Caterling a very nice sort of person, in spite of his desire to see justice done. Therefore, and if for nothing else, another story is so much more acceptable. This relates that Caterling himself took up the sword against the many brigands who were roaming his territory. And it was his terrifying facial contortions during the duels that became famous and were misinterpreted as a grin.
There is a third view, given by Eric Partridge in his "Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English." This recalls that a cat, very fond of cheese, was called a "cheeser cat." Hence, when speaking of the grin of a Cheshire cat, people tried to say that they were as pleased as a cheeser cat that had just eaten cheese.
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"Chess Origins",402,0,0,0
Today chess is considered a game for the most peaceful of men. Actually, monastic orders introduced it to break the monotony of their life. However, it was invented in India in the 7th century A.D. as a game of war: to illustrate and rehearse army movements. It is thus not surprising that in modern times the playing of chess was a valuable part of the training of Russian soldiers.
Even the name of the game retains its martial beginnings. The word is derived from the Indian \IChaturanga,\i meaning "consisting of four divisions." These referred to the four kinds of troops that made up the traditional Indian army; infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants. Added to them, as a matter of course, was the Supreme Commander in the person of the King and his Minister.
The names of the pieces, as they are known now, hardly remind us of the field of battle. This is not the result of intentional camouflage of the soldiers but due to the development of language and the moves of chess through many lands.
Persia adopted the game from India, and when the \JArabs\j conquered \JIran\j, they made chess part of their life and carried it wherever they went. That is how, with the spread of \JIslam\j, chess also extended as far West as \JSpain\j, as far North as Turkestan, as far East as the Malayan Islands, and as far South as Zanzibar. It did not take long to penetrate from the \JMoslem\j countries into those of Christian Europe.
Italians, Frenchmen and Englishmen adopted many of the original terms for the pieces. Whenever they knew what the words really meant, they simply translated them into their own tongue. But if the meaning was obscure to them, they retained the foreign words, which might still baffle the uninitiated.
The piece of smallest size and value, the pawn, without our realizing it perhaps, represents the infantry. It is the medieval French word for the foot-soldier, derived from the Hindu description of an attendant. Rooks, on the other hand, literally recall the ancient Persian armed chariots.
It was the Italian people who determined to change the battlefield into a model state. For that purpose they did not even desist from changing sex - at least on the chessboard. The Minister was made by them the Queen of today. Then, perhaps remembering how thick-skinned politicians must be, they converted the original Oriental elephant into an Elder of State, not inappropriately in ecclesiastical \JItaly\j, represented by a Bishop.
Of all terms of the chessboard, \Icheckmate\i - the declaration of final victory - is the most interesting. It has become part of our everyday speech, expressing the thwarting of effort and the foiling or outwitting of others.
Checkmate is the traditional exclamation by which a player announces he has put his opponent's King into such a position that it cannot escape capture. The word could not be more explicit, if it is realized that it retains (though in Anglicized form) the original Arab victory cry "The King Is Dead," check being the corrupted Arab title for a king - \IShah\i - and \Imate\i the Arab's description of all that is "dead" \I(mat).\i
There are other, and much earlier, claims about the invention of chess. Some give the credit to the ancient Egyptians, and base this on an interpretation of early wall paintings from the time of one of the Pharaohs called \JRamses\j.
Others believe that, as in so many other things, the Chinese first enriched the world with this game of skill, which they designed to help their soldiers pass the time in their winter quarters in the county of Shen, from the name of which the word chess, so it is said, is derived.
King Solomon, perhaps because of his proverbial wisdom, is asserted to have been the first chess player, just as Aristotle, Greek luminary in the field of philosophy, has been called the father of chess.
#
"Chestnut",403,0,0,0
The description of a stale joke as a "chestnut" came about quite by accident. It is the only word now remembered from William Dimond's \Jmelodrama\j "The Broken Sword," a stage hit at Covent Garden, London, in 1816. One of its characters was an old eccentric captain. A real bore, he told the same story innumerable times, only with minor variations.
When, once again, he had started relating it, this time he mentioned a cork tree instead of the usual chestnut. Immediately, Pablo, another character in the play, interrupted him to point out that it was not at all a cork tree but a chestnut. "I have heard you tell the joke twenty-seven times, and I am sure it was a chestnut!"
A \JBoston\j actor watching the performance was so fascinated by this particular incident that he adopted it himself. His own repetition of the joke's joke took the fancy of his audience. They loved the "chestnut" so much that it became the talk of the town, to spread nationwide. It has been the proverbial description of a story repeated too often ever since.
Rather fitting to this chestnut story, there are equally variations concerning its authorship and the circumstances of its first use. According to one version it was a painter, Edward Abbey, who liked to tell the same story to all and sundry. This spoke of a man who, for a living, cultivated chestnut trees, but being very generous he never sold any but gave them away, with the result that he earned nothing.
Knowing well that people would not listen to him again if they knew that they were going to hear the old, old story, he always started it differently. But it did not take them over-long to realize that it was yet another variation of his favorite (and only) tale. So they stopped him by calling out the one word, "Chestnut!"
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"Chi-Rho",404,0,0,0
"Buried under Christ," in a metaphorical sense, are those whose tombstones bear his monogram in which the Greek characters "X" \I(Chi)\i and "P" \I(Rho)\i are superimposed. They are the first two letters of \IChristos,\i the Greek for "Christ." Early Christians already used them as their emblem.
Traditionally, they were also the "sign" Emperor Constantine saw in the vision which led to his conversion. For this reason, he made it part of the Roman Imperial standard.
A previous use of the two letters, no doubt, contributed to their adoption by \JChristianity\j. To the ancient Greeks the \IChi-Rho\i was an abbreviation of \Ichrestos,\i their description of anything that was "favorable" and "propitious." Thus the \Janagram\j was also recognized as a symbol of good omen.
Others identified the two Greek letters with the Latin characters of "P" and "X," used as an abbreviation of \IPaX,\i the Latin for "peace." It was a most apt choice of a symbol on a headstone; the beloved whose grave it marked, was now resting in eternal sleep and was truly "at peace."
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"Chicken α la King",405,0,0,0
Chicken may be served in many ways. Obviously, the pride of place should go to chicken α la King.
However, any royal connection of this chicken is fictitious. No king - ruling or dethroned - was responsible for it. Some say that actually the chicken α la King was conceived in republican America. At the beginning of this century, anxious to please his boss, a Mr E. Clarke King II, the chef of the Brighton Beach Hotel, Long Island, NY, had called the dish after him.
Much more likely is the suggestion that the "King" was the misheard name of a Mr Keene who patronized the famous Delmonico Restaurant in New York.
Englishmen claim that the chicken was first "cooked up" in their country. The chef of world-renowned Claridge's, London, was also a keen racing man. He had chosen the name to honor the owner of the prize-winning horse at the Grand Prix in 1881, a Mr J. R. Keene, a regular guest at the establishment.
People have short memories, and soon no one - whether in Britain or in the United States - recalled Mr Keene. Chicken α la Keene made no sense. Thus the name was misunderstood and changed into the royal title, for once making ignorance (a culinary) bliss.
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"Chinese Book of Changes",406,0,0,0
Magic rods certainly have ruled the world in many spheres (see Power of the Rod.) Their role extends from space to time. Apart from discovering what was underground, they have been used to reveal what was still to come.
Metaphorically speaking, with the aid of a stick, man has tried to "dig up" not just the past, but the future as well. Like most methods of \Jdivination\j, this type also has been called by a Greek name which renders it all the more mysterious. The psychic application of rods in this context is known as rhabdomancy, from the Greek \Irhabdos\i for "stick."
As a well known method practised and popular in the East to this very day, it goes back to the far distant past and earliest Chinese civilization. Sticks (or in their place spills or coins) are tossed to the ground. And the anxiously sought information is gained from the pattern they form there. One way this might be done is very much like fortune telling from the random shape formed by tea leaves in a cup. In the clairvoyant's mind it conjures up a meaningful picture. This is almost an anticipation of the modern psychological ink-blot test.
It seems all so simple, so primitive and misleading, like food for the gullible. And yet, it is not really the sticks (or whatever is used in their stead) which by themselves, or even by the way in which they fall, supply the source of revelation.
It has been suggested that the individual "casting" them may possibly have \Jsubconscious\j control over the manner in which they fall by the amount of force he uses and the way he tosses them. It can be compared to someone throwing a dart. He will direct it in such a way that it hits the target desired. Only in this case, it is not the result of dexterity (or ruse) but by the strange operation of some psychic gift and its involuntary manipulation.
It was equally thought that the erratic pattern that the dropped spills form on the ground was not accidental and meaningless, a mere chance fall. The configuration indicated the answer to the question put. The real problem was to spell it out, to know its correct interpretation. To the psychic person the pattern that appeared on the ground, however, was not the actual message. It merely acted like a spark plug, firing their gift of \Jdivination\j, parallel to the cases of crystal gazing and cartomancy.
And that is most possibly the way in which the "looking into the future" worked. It all happened in the mind of the person who did the forecasting and had little to do with the spills. Nevertheless (and this is unfortunate), people soon imagined that they could apply the interpretation of the various patterns in some generalized manner and hence divorced it from the person of the "medium" who had hitherto been the intermediary to catch the message. They believed that all they needed was some kind of guide book that would give them the key to the meaning of the various forms.
It was therefore assumed that the shape displayed had an independent significance and did not need a special clairvoyant individual for its explanation. And it was this opinion that gave birth to "dictionaries" in which you could "look up" as it were what "fate" or "the \Jsupernatural\j" was trying to convey, by the way it had arranged the sticks for you. And among the works used for that purpose, the most ancient and famous, and oddly enough a favorite again in our time, is \IThe Book of Changes,\i the \II Ching.\i
Perhaps one of the oldest surviving Chinese classics, the work is said to date back to at least 1000 B.C. and is attributed to Wen Wang, the founder of the Chou dynasty. Numerous commentaries have been written on it, one of them allegedly even by \JConfucius\j. Greatly venerated, they are but little understood. The very antiquity of the work and the obscurity of its style gave ample room for diversity of opinions. This made the type of rhabdomancy on which \IThe Book of Changes\i was based even more difficult and more dependent on the individual interpreter.
The author of the book is said to have based its entire content on speculations made by Emperor Fu Hsi. He reigned at the beginning of the third millennium B.C. and, significantly, had invented a tool to split wood (thereby easily producing the sticks needed). Studying the markings on the back of a \Jtortoise\j, he had discovered eight diagrams which supplied him with a complete philosophy of life.
\IThe Book of Changes\i in its simplest (and oldest) form consisted of sixty-four oracles based on those eight \Jtortoise\j diagrams. According to the author, two primary and \Jfundamental forces\j exist in the world: "Light" and "Darkness" - \IYang and Yin.\i But differing from the Zoroastrian view, they did not represent an ethical \Jdualism\j of good and evil. Their distinction related to the solar and lunar aspects of life, the male and the female principles.
The graphs in the book (which it adopted from Fu Hsi's system as well) use the simplest possible method. An unbroken line represents \IYang\i - the sunny side. \IYin,\i the dark, lunar quality, is indicated by a line split in the middle. Each diagram or oracle is a combination of six lines: a hexagram of oblong shape.
Altogether there are, therefore, sixty-four different possibilities of joining both the divided and the continuous lines into a hexagram. To start with, their sum total was seen as a complete cosmological system, the sixty-four basic universal principles and fundamental conditions of life. With the passing of time however, the original \Jsymbolism\j with its depth of speculation got lost. People became more concerned with their own personal future than with ethical and philosophical contemplations. They employed the graphs now for purposes of \Jdivination\j alone. And thus \IThe Book of Changes\i became a favorite "key" in the realm of fortune telling, used solely to interpret the kind of life allegedly forecast by the pattern the spills or coins cast to the ground seemed to predict.
The "magic rod" of ancient days survived not only in the hands of the water diviner and fortune teller, in \IThe Book of Changes,\i and as the medical emblem in the staff of Aesculapius. Its occult power was responsible also for the creation of the royal scepter, the officer's baton, the mace, and (in part) the conjurer's wand! Even if nowadays looked upon as mere symbols, originally they were believed to invest those holding and keeping them with \Jsupernatural\j, occult power: to reign, to command, and to perform their magic art.
It shows how truly all our life - whether we know or admit to it or not - is deeply influenced, if not determined, by the occult. Whether it is so for better or worse depends on many factors: the circumstances of the situation and the individual. Whichever way, the first essential for anyone who is concerned and not merely intellectually curious is to find out how it all started and to what purpose.
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"Chinese Boy Who Made Good - Quong Tart",407,0,0,0
In a modest grave in the Rookwood Cemetery rests a Chinese entrepreneur whose name had become a legend during his lifetime: Quong Tart. His early death at the age of 53, on 26 July 1903, was the result of injuries sustained in the previous year, when a robber had brutally assaulted and almost killed him at his office in the Queen Victoria Building, the site of one of his numerous luxurious tearooms.
Two thousand mourners came to his funeral. They wanted to pay their respects to "Mac Tart" as he loved to be known, "a fine Australian gentleman of Chinese ancestry."
Police mingled with the mourners because at the time it was feared that, with so many Chinese people gathered, the Tong War once again might flare up. But no incident disturbed the laying to rest of one of Sydney's most beloved and admired achievers.
Born in Canton, Quong was nine years old when in 1859, accompanying his uncle, he came to \JAustralia\j, heading straight for the Braidwood goldfields. Quong soon found employment at the local store. Owned by a Scotsman, it sold everything from provisions to hardware.
An astute boy, he was a fast learner and, being able to read and write, had a great advantage over the mostly illiterate Chinese miners. Always alert, obliging and pleasant, he was also endowed with a vivid sense of fun.
He endeared himself to a wealthy family, who not only took him into their home, but treated him as if he were their own son. They instilled in him a love of all things English, not least cricket. They also gave him their Scottish accent which he never lost; cartoonists in later days depicted him as a Scottish Highlander. Certainly, he had come a long way from his Chinese home.
Quong became a favorite figure on the Braidwood social scene. His standing in the community grew greater when he acquired part of a mine, which proved most profitable. One of his greatest assets, however, was his ability to settle disputes among the Chinese community.
As country life no longer satisfied him, he moved to Sydney, where in no time, he became an equally well-known and respected figure - both in the Chinese and the general community.
An entrepreneur par excellence, Quong Tart was the first to import China tea into \JAustralia\j, and opened a chain of luxurious tearooms at wisely selected sites, near theaters, in the Queen Victoria Building, and in the zoo. A pioneer in public relations and advertising, he offered free cups of tea to any passer-by.
Tart's policy was that his tearooms were to provide every possible comfort, something totally novel in the city. Only the best was good enough for his guests. The rooms were decorated with beautiful Chinese carvings. Marble tanks had large \Jcarp\j swimming in them. There were separate smoking rooms for gentlemen and "retreats" for the ladies. Even the appointment of the toilets differed from anything seen before. Not only were there many of them, a wise move for an establishment dealing in cups of tea, but they were also possibly the first in \JAustralia\j to be equipped with both hot and cold water.
Quong's pursuits proved lucrative. But he had a social conscience as well; he showed his concern for those not as lucky as he had been, and his love for \JAustralia\j, in many ways. One Saturday, for instance, he invited more than 250 Sydney newsboys to be his guests. Their tables were laden with food, and the moment any plate was empty, it was replenished, until even the most hungry youngster had to give up. Aware of the trials of an alien in a foreign land, he took special care of his newcomer employees, for whom he established a school and a church.
Above all, he knew the dangers of a great city and the damage opium could do. He had seen, as a boy, its evil effect in his native China. So he took up the fight against the introduction of the vice into \JAustralia\j and tried to make people realize the tragedies it could create.
Many were the stories told all over Sydney about this fabulous Australian Chinaman. Perhaps the most popular was the one of the lady who ordered a cup of tea and a Quong tart!
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"Chinese Footbinding",408,0,0,0
A peculiar Chinese custom was the binding of women's feet. (It was discontinued as late as 1911, at the establishment of the republic.)
Practised in infancy when the feet were pliable, it had a crippling effect. Totally alien to western man, he misunderstood the practice and interpreted it as a shameful endeavor to keep woman in her place. Unable to move fast and, as it were, to step it out, she was forced submissively to accept her inferior status. Whilst man could stride along, all she was able to do was to hobble after him.
To the Chinese mind however, the binding of feet far from humiliated and disfigured a woman. On the contrary, it made her all the more attractive. The (artificially created) daintiness of her feet gave her special sex appeal. Were not a woman's mincing steps - even in biblical days-sensuously tempting and so seductive that a man watching her was bound to stumble - sexually?
A Chinese tradition believes that footbinding was introduced through the whim of Li Yu, king of southern T'ang. Watching one of his favorite palace dancers, he suddenly had the idea that her performance would be even more enchanting, if her feet were bound. She gladly obliged and justified Li Yu's expectations. Other dancers soon emulated her and to bind women's feet became a fashion throughout the region. It attracted men from far and wide who, by merely looking at the girls' feet, experienced an intense sexual arousal. If it was exciting to watch the bound feet, to hold them in their hands seemed to surpass any previous pleasure. Far from deforming a woman, the manipulation was thought to improve her figure, making her waist smaller and her bust fuller.
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"Chinese Grave Puzzle",409,0,0,0
A Chinaman's grave in the cemetery at Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula poses a puzzle. Why is it so far away, indeed completely isolated, from all other graves? Tucked away in a hollow, it is out of sight and only the few people aware of its existence will find it.
All that is revealed about the deceased - on a narrow board on one side of the white picket fence enclosing the grave - is that his name was Charles A. Foo and that he died on 8 January 1894. The mystery deepens on consulting the cemetery records. According to them, Foo was buried on 3 June 1887, seven years prior to the date given on the epitaph. (Either year suggests that Mr Foo's was the oldest burial!)
The records also mention that his was a pauper's funeral. This raises another question as to who then erected the fence around his grave, something quite unusual in such circumstances.
There might be an explanation, at least for the position of Foo's grave. The cemetery was divided up into four distinct sections, allocated to members of the \JChurch of England\j, Presbyterians, Catholics, and Chinese. In fact, originally, three other people of his race were interred near Foo, though their graves no longer exist. If he was a pauper, why then was his grave preserved? Truly, it all seems like a Chinese puzzle.
#
"Chinese New Year",410,0,0,0
Though modern China has adopted the Gregorian solar calendar and hence, officially, begins the New Year on 1 January, it continues to celebrate the traditional Chinese lunar year, which has been renamed the Spring Festival. It falls on the first new moon after the sun has entered the \Jconstellation\j of \JAquarius\j, which may be any time in late January or early February.
The most popular features in the celebrations are the lion and dragon dances. Youths don strange and bizarre disguises, made of different types of cloth, to represent and operate the animal bodies. With monstrous heads and often breathing fire, dragons weave through the streets, which are ablaze with lights. To the amusement of the crowds of onlookers, they wriggle in grotesque patterns, imitating and exaggerating the movements of living creatures.
Now enjoyed as pure entertainment, the dragons and lions recall totems that were worshiped in former times. The dance survives from an ancient magic rite of exorcism. It was practiced to drive away the evil spirits that threatened the rebirth of nature and, therefore, people's wealth and prosperity.
The dragons, indeed, merit a special place in the festivities of the day. Though they are \Jsupernatural\j beings, they also symbolized the reproductive energies of nature. Fearsome in appearance, they were renowned for their vigilance, and were therefore welcomed as protectors. They would guard the people and the nation throughout the year which was about to begin.
The celebration of the New Year, which may extend well over three days, is observed by family reunions, with sumptuous banquets and special dishes, and visits to friends. It is a time of renewal of all bonds. It is also an occasion of general reconciliation when quarrels of the past must be forgotten and all debts settled. In fact, it is considered unlucky to start the New Year with unpaid accounts.
Ancient customs and superstitions, though now rationalized, are still conscientiously carried out. They include the thorough spring cleaning of the house in preparation for the day. Originally carried out to sweep away all past misfortune, it is now explained as a hygienic measure. All damage is repaired and the home repainted to symbolize the renewal of life.
Tradition demands that no knives, scissors or other cutting implements be used at home on New Year. To use them could result in the magical severing of precious links. Accordingly, all food is prepared on the preceding days.
Presents are thoughtfully chosen, not only for their usefulness but also for their \Jsymbolism\j. Chinese tradition requires that the recipient returns at least a portion of the gift, thereby expressing his unworthiness to receive it.
The day's festive atmosphere is further enhanced by the decoration of homes and streets with yellow-tasselled lanterns, by the letting off of fireworks and the explosion of countless crackers which, by their noise, are believed to frighten away the evil spirits. Red, the color of good omens and happiness, predominates everywhere. Streamers embellish the streets and houses. People wish each other wealth and prosperity in the year ahead, success in all undertakings and a long line of descendants - "ten thousand generations," according to the ancient formula.
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"Chinese Presence",411,0,0,0
Of the many ethnic groups that now make up the Australian population, the Chinese can claim to have been among the earliest. They were brought to this country soon after the cessation of transportation, to take the place of convicts as cheap labor.
The discovery of gold attracted many more of their countrymen. Their presence on the goldfields became a noticeable feature and, regrettably, at times a cause of resentment and even riots.
Large Chinese camps and settlements existed in various parts of the country and relics of the early Chinese presence and reminders of the part the Chinese played in Australian history can be found in not a few cemeteries, often tucked away in the bush.
Many of their gravestones are now in a state of decay. However, one of the largest Chinese burial grounds, kept in excellent condition, is part of the Beechworth Cemetery. Of the two thousand Chinese entombed there, a great number rest in multiple graves. All the memorials are of the same type of stone and of equal size.
The first Chinese arrived in the area during the gold rush days, in 1857; two ceremonial burning towers in the Beechworth Cemetery go back to that time. A typical feature of Chinese burial places, they were part of the Chinese funeral ritual, though their function is often misunderstood. They served not to cremate bodies, but to burn paper tokens representing money and prayers.
The ashes, together with offerings of pork, fruit and wine, were placed on an altar (the Beechworth altar is still in existence). These funeral gifts, real or symbolic, were believed to accompany and nourish the departed spirit of the deceased on its way heavenwards. To frighten away any evil spirits present, firecrackers were let off during the solemn ceremonial.
With the passing of time, the towers and altar fell into disrepair. However, out of respect for \JAustralia\j's Chinese heritage, the Beechworth Lions Club has restored these sacred remnants, so close to Chinese graves and Chinese hearts.
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"Chip Off the Old Block",412,0,0,0
Contagious magic has had a specific place in the realm of charms. Anything that once had been in contact with an object or person endowed with sanctity, was imagined to have caught some of its qualities.
Idol worshipers treasured chips of the \IAshera,\i the sacred pole and branchless tree-trunk that they adored as a symbol of vegetation. They believed that even to own one of its splinters would magically bestow fertility on them.
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"Chip on One's Shoulder",413,0,0,0
Man has always loved to fight. He would do so at the slightest provocation, "at the drop of a hat." Not least, those who have a chip on their shoulder, are oversensitive, will easily pick a quarrel.
When homes were still heated by log fires, plenty of wood chips were about, free for the taking. It became the practice for a person who was out for a fight to place one on his shoulder and challenge a fellow to dare to knock it off. That is how "a chip on the shoulder" started a brawl.
The expression may also go back to the American frontier days. Its pioneers were sturdy men, constantly ready to test their mettle against the forces of nature, and against each other. Perhaps it was also the need for entertainment to relieve a harsh existence that made them pick a fight. A man would put a chip, which abounded in the timbered country, on his shoulder and ask another defiantly to knock it off. To refuse to do so would have made him look like a coward in the eyes of all. A "chip on the shoulder" thus was bound to start a fight.
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"Chips are Down",414,0,0,0
Life has been likened to a gamble and, indeed, not a few metaphors applying to its various situations have come from the gaming room. Just as on occasions one has to "go back to square one" or is "checkmated," so it is said of a moment of crisis or testing that "the chips are down." The chips represent the money bets at poker. When all the chips have been placed, the players have to reveal their cards and, at this exciting moment, the winning hand is discovered.
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"Chock-a-block",415,0,0,0
Nautical terminology and experience are the basis of calling anything crammed to capacity, with no empty space left, "chock-a-block" full. It relates to a situation when the running and standing blocks of a tackle are so close together that they cannot be moved. Quite literally, they are "blocked."
The chock in the phrase is a "block of wood" or a "wedge." Etymologically it can be traced back to at least the fourteenth century and a root that described the "jaw bone." Chock-full has been explained as "full to the chops," so much so that it was choking one.
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"Chocolate and Religion",416,0,0,0
Although chocolate was first brewed in Mexico, and for mundane reasons, it owes its modern popularity to religion.
During the period of Lent, Christians used to be very concerned correctly to obey the rules of abstention. On occasions, they were not quite sure of what they were permitted to partake during this time of solemn fast, and not least so, when thirsty. (During their month of fasting, Moslems for instance, must not even swallow their own spittle!)
When a sixteenth-century Pope ruled that the drinking of chocolate was permissible, it did not take long for people to acquire a taste for the drink. In fact, they came to enjoy it so much that, no longer restricting its consumption to the period of the fast, they took to drinking it all through the year.
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"Chocolate's Meaning",417,0,0,0
No one realizes the true meaning of chocolate. In spite of its sweetness, its name - from the Aztec \Ixococ\i and \Iatl\i - means "bitter water." It was a drink brewed and popularized by the Mayas and \JAztecs\j, who in its preparation, mixed crushed \Jcocoa\j beans and ground \Jmaize\j - corn with a little water. They then flavored the "potion" with honey, fragrant herbs, and \Jchili\j. It was the latter that gave the drink its bitter taste, so completely different from that of our present-day chocolate, and responsible for its now so inappropriate name.
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"Chop Suey Origins",418,0,0,0
Chop suey is served in Chinese restaurants all over the world outside China. It shows how gullible men can be. They swallow almost anything, if the cook knows how to serve it up.
Chop suey is as Chinese as the turkey is Turkish. This odd mixture of bits of several ingredients, such as steamed or fried chicken, pork, rice, noodles, and vegetables, was invented (though concocted would be the better word) in the United States!
There are several claims as to who first devised it sometime during the last century. It is too far gone (in time) to be quite certain. The great variety of so-called originators includes a Chinese cook in a Brooklyn restaurant and another in a mining camp, a dishwasher in \JSan Francisco\j, and the chef of a Chinese ambassador in New York.
Even the name of chop suey is an odd mixture: joining the English "chop" - for anything that is "cut off" or "cut up" - with Chinese "bits," spelled phonetically \Isuey.\i
The diplomatic version gives the exact name, date and occasion. A newly-appointed Chinese ambassador to the United States, Li Hung-Chang, arrived in New York on August 28, 1896. His large staff was made up of 22 household servants, a personal barber, five valets, and three cooks.
From the outset, he was determined to impress the American people with the values of Chinese culture and cuisine. Losing no time, he gave a dinner party the following night to which he invited prominent members of both the American and Chinese communities.
To make the event memorable, he instructed his chefs to include in the menu an entirely new course which had equally to please western and eastern palates. The result was a mixture of many ingredients, all finely cut up and served under the mysterious name of chop suey.
It became the talk of the town and, in no time, the name and the dish spread far and wide. Not realizing that its birthplace was New York, people imagined that the strange concoction had come all the way from the Orient.
Another story links chop suey with the construction of the American Transcontinental Railroad. To help in the vast undertaking, thousands of coolies were brought from southern China. Used to hard work, they demanded little. They were satisfied with simple food, so long as it did not differ overmuch from what they were accustomed to at home.
To make sure that the meals were to their liking, the Americans wisely asked some of the migrant workers to do the cooking themselves. Not properly trained for the job, the best these men could offer was a stew: a mixture of all sorts of "cut up" things with rice.
When the railroad was completed, many of the Chinese workers chose to stay on. Among them were some of the "cooks." They regarded themselves now fully qualified to go into the catering business and opened up restaurants for their Chinese countrymen. The speciality on their menu was the novel chop suey. Soon westerners were attracted by it. Its name sounded so exotic but, above all, chop suey was so tasty, so filling, and so cheap.
Very late one night, a Chinese cook working for miners, yet another assertion claims, was asked to serve a meal. Pressed for time and without a sufficient quantity of fresh ingredients at his disposal, he used up all the leftovers....
The credit of inventing the chop suey has also been given to an Irish dishwasher, working in a \JSan Francisco\j restaurant. One evening, just when he was about to lock up the place, a large party arrived. All the chefs had gone, but anxious not to lose business for his boss, he went into the kitchen himself to prepare the ordered dinner. Finding nothing ready, he made up a concoction from all the rests in the pots. Ingeniously he served it up as "chop suey," making up the name on the spur of the moment.
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"Chosen People",419,0,0,0
The description of the Jews as the "chosen people" has been gravely and ominously misunderstood. It was (wrongly) thought to proclaim the Jews as God's favorites, and superior to others. The concept of the "chosen people" has a totally different meaning.
The Jews were "chosen" by God, the \JBible\j tells, solely to be his witnesses, "My servant," in the words of the \Jprophet\j Isaiah (43:10). As a people of religion, they were to spread God's message worldwide. It was their mission not to be above other men but to serve them.
This did not confer on, or entitle the Jews to any extra privilege. On the contrary, it imposed on them special responsibilities and obligations. If they failed to observe these, according to Amos' words (3:2), they would incur God's punishment.
A modern \Jepigram\j expressed wonderment of God's choice:
\IHow odd
Of God
To choose
The Jews!
Much thought is in the retort:
It's not
So odd.
The Jews
Chose God!\i
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"Christ's Mass",420,0,0,0
The word Christmas is derived from "Christ's Mass", the first religious celebrations which honored Jesus Christ's birth.
Interestingly, the Gospels do not indicate an actual date for this birth. In fact, to start with, "Christ's Mass" was celebrated some time in April or May. There was an obvious clue for this choice. Remember St Luke's report that, at the time, shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night "in the fields" (Luke 2:8)? This would have been most unlikely during winter, as sheep were kept indoors.
It was not until AD 350 that Pope Julius I designated December 25 as Christmas Day. He did so mainly to counteract the effect of the popular feast held in honor of Saturn - Saturnalia - which occurred at the time of the winter \Jsolstice\j. Many of the customs of Christmas merrymaking were similarly adopted from early pagan practices, and Christianized.
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"Christening of Ships",421,0,0,0
In spite of its apparent Christian association, the christening of a ship dates back to pre-Christian centuries and a pagan way of life. It is a relic of a rite of propitiation, when anxious sailors, afraid of the vagaries of the sea, tried to influence divine powers controlling the ocean, to protect their ship and keep them safe. To buy their good will, so to speak, the mariners bought the gods a drink.
In ancient days when a ship was completed, she was garlanded with flowers and the sailors wore floral crowns. And then, accompanied by loud acclamation to the gods, a pagan priest officiated at a ceremony. Equipped with a lighted torch, an egg and brimstone, he poured wine and oil on an altar, erected on the ship, and dedicated her to the goddess whose carved image she was to carry.
We no longer believe in idols, and divine figureheads have ceased to adorn and protect our ships, but we still carry on the ancient libations in the form of the christening ceremony. Some researchers have suggested that the modern way of shattering a bottle of champagne over the bows of a new ship has a link with the days when the Vikings and South Sea races invoked the protection of the sea gods on launching war galleys.
They did this making a human sacrifice! Victims were bound to rollers over which the ship was launched, and blood from the broken bodies of the sacrificed sprinkled the ship. In civilized times, blood-red wine preceded champagne as the christening beverage.
Modern authorities have vehemently decried as obnoxious and offensive the custom to call the naming of a ship her christening. After all, to christen implied to make Christian, and the use of a bottle of wine for this purpose appeared like a \Jparody\j of baptismal water.
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"Christmas Cake",422,0,0,0
The Christmas cake is a relatively recent addition to Christmas festivities, dating back only to the middle of the 19th century. It developed from the plum pudding; the contents were merely modified so that it would set solid.
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"Christmas Cards",423,0,0,0
The Christmas card was invented by Sir Henry Cole in 1843. He was a well-known London art dealer who aspired to improve the general public's taste.
Nothing was too small or too trifling for Cole's aesthetic attention. He firmly believed that everyday things should be beautiful as well as useful. He came up with the idea of the first Christmas card, a simple yet attractive token of friendship which, he felt, would further enhance this special day.
Two factors are thought to have inspired Cole's endeavor. Firstly, he had the example of Valentine cards, which had been popular in England for almost a century. Also, towards the end of the winter term it was customary for pupils in English schools to produce "Christmas pieces." These were large sheets of paper which the pupils decorated with colorful borders and headings, and then inscribed with Christmas greetings in their best copperplate. As well as being a charming expression of affection to the parents and teachers, such a piece also indicated a pupil's progress in the art of writing.
Cole commissioned a well-known artist, J. C. Horsley, a member of the Royal Academy, to design the picture for his first card, specimens of which can still be seen in museums and galleries. The picture was based on the common medieval artistic device of a \Jtriptych\j, a set of three illustrations. The central one depicted a jolly party of adults and children with plenty of food and drink - a subject that aroused severe criticism from the \JTemperance Movement\j at the time! Underneath the picture ran the seasonal greeting: "Wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you." Each side panel represented good works - the clothing of the naked and the feeding of the hungry.
Cole was well versed in the art of publicity and he did his utmost to popularize the new cards. However, for some unknown reason, his idea just did not catch on until 20 years later. By the 1860s, big stationery firms were producing thousands of Christmas cards and Cole's initial failure had become a tremendous success. During the next three decades, British printers supplied 163,000 varieties of Christmas cards. These are now collected in 700 volumes, which weigh almost seven tonnes!
Cole was knighted in acknowledgment of his many services to the nation. He died in 1882, having lived to see and enjoy the enormous success of his original idea.
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"Christmas Gifts",424,0,0,0
The exchanging of Christmas presents can be traced back to an ancient Roman custom of gift-giving which was practiced at Saturnalia, which also fell at this time of the year.
When this tradition was Christianized, it was said to relate to the gifts of gold, \Jfrankincense\j and \Jmyrrh\j that the Magi had carried with them from the East when they traveled to pay homage to the newborn Jesus Christ.
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"Christmas Parties and Party Hats",425,0,0,0
Strangely, the custom of wearing colorful paper hats at Christmas parties and festive meals originated years ago. In those days many superstitions surrounded the sun, especially in relation to saving the sun - and, therefore, human life - from \Jextinction\j. In early times, it was believed that evil forces constantly threatened the sun's survival. As evil could only be fought with evil, assuming the guise of the devil was therefore thought to drive away any real devils. Bizarre masks and hats were an essential part of such "devil disguises."
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"Christmas Tree Origins",426,0,0,0
The \JChristmas tree\j, with its green foliage, has its origins in very ancient beliefs in magic. At the time of the winter \Jsolstice\j, when all nature seemed dead, evergreen branches were thought to ensure the return of vegetation and new life. According to Norse \Jmythology\j, evergreen trees represented the World Tree, whose branches and roots joined together heaven, earth and hell.
Trees figure in many cultures as symbols of enduring and renewed life, since the color green is a universal emblem of immortality. For instance, the Egyptians used palm branches with 12 shoots as sacred expressions of the completion of the year. Palm branches were also carried during their funeral processions as symbols of life after death.
The Romans decorated their homes, temples and statues with foliage during the December festival of Saturnalia. This was a season of great goodwill towards all. Schools were closed. No battles could be fought. Punishment could not be inflicted on any criminal and distinctions of rank and class were put aside. The Jews also had a celebration that fell during this time - the Feast of Lights. For eight consecutive days an eight-branched candlestick would be lit in every Jewish home.
The early Christians realized it would be impossible to abolish all the old traditions, and so, wisely, retained the green tree and the burning lights - but gave them a new interpretation. In justification, they quoted the \Jprophet\j Isaiah who had spoken of the "righteous branch" and foreseen the day when "the glory of \JLebanon\j shall come unto you: the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree, to beautify the place of My Sanctuary."
How the first modern \JChristmas tree\j came into being is related in numerous legends.
A Scandinavian story tells of the violent deaths of two lovers and a consequent occult occurrence: a beautiful tree grew out of the blood-soaked soil at the spot where the murder took place. Flaming lights miraculously appeared on it at Christmas time every year, and nothing could put them out.
For Germans, the tradition of the \JChristmas tree\j began with an incident that is said to have occurred when St Boniface arrived from England in AD 718 to convert the pagans. He was determined to root out all that was heathen and, to this end, he cut down a sacred oak in the city of Geismar. To pacify the angry worshippers he planted a fir tree in its stead, and declared this to be the symbol of their new faith. It so happened that this event took place on Christmas Eve.
Martin Luther, the father of the German Reformation, has also been credited with the introduction of the modern \JChristmas tree\j. Returning home on a snowy Christmas Eve in 1517, he was deeply moved by the beauty of the glittering stars overhead. Wishing to describe this inspiring spectacle to his wife and children, he dug up a small fir tree and put it into the nursery. He then lit up its branches with candles, just as the starlit trees outside had appeared to him that cold winter night.
It took a long time for the tree to become part of Christmas celebrations in English-speaking countries. The first \JChristmas tree\j recorded in the USA was put up by Hessian soldiers in 1776. They were mercenaries hired from \JPrussia\j (now \JGermany\j) by King \JGeorge III\j of England to fight in the Revolutionary War. The first English \JChristmas tree\j appeared at a children's party held at Queen Caroline's Court in 1821. German merchants based in Manchester had just introduced trees to that region, thus starting the trend.
Royalty was responsible for popularizing the \JChristmas tree\j throughout the UK. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's German-born husband, had a \JChristmas tree\j erected in Windsor Castle in nostalgic remembrance of his homeland. This royal example was soon copied by the general public, and the custom then spread throughout the world.
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"Chronic Disease",427,0,0,0
Traditionally, divine power has been worshiped as a source of help and healing in sickness. And yet, if one significant medical term is to be taken as evidence, it may sometimes not only prolong illness, but make it permanent.
A "chronic disease" - a term first used by \JHippocrates\j - is one that lasts a very long time. The derivation of the word \Ichronic\i links such conditions with Cronos, the celestial figure of Greek myth, associated with the destructive power of time. The god's realm now extends from \Ichronology\i and \Ianachronism\i to chronic disease which lasts such a long "time."
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"Church Bells",428,0,0,0
Church bells were unknown to Christians for at least the first five centuries - and for obvious reasons. \JChristianity\j at first was declared illegal by pagan authorities and its worship was punished. The devout had to gather clandestinely, in the \Jcatacombs\j and at night.
When \JChristianity\j became a recognized faith, it was even then a blast of trumpets, and not a peal of bells, that summoned the faithful to worship. Bells came into general use in the church after the 8th century only.
Bells developed out of small pieces of concave metal. That is why the word bell is derived from the Latin term for a foot-pan or basin. The original purpose of all bells was to make a loud, but not necessarily musical, sound to drive off evil spirits. It was for this reason that they were first introduced everywhere and could be found in Hindu temples, the \JHebrew\j sanctuary and Christian churches. Still in the year 1280 A.D. a theological work dealing with the Christian ritual records that "bells are rung in processions that demons may fear and flee. For when they hear the trumpets of the Church militant, that is the bells, they are afraid."
And this first and most important function of bells survived for centuries in many customs. The "passing bell," tolled at funerals, for instance, is known today as the herald of death and draws attention to the fact that a soul is "passing" from this world to the next and asks for our prayers on its behalf. Originally, however, its sound was meant to drive away evil spirits hovering around the dying man, ready to pounce on his soul.
Bells, likewise, were struck at times of sickness and natural disaster. Both were ascribed to the presence of fiends which only loud noise could scare away. That is why a blessing of church bells, suggested by Egbert, the \JArchbishop\j of York in the 8th century and included in his Pontifical, read: "Wherever this bell sounds, let the power of enemies retreat, so also the shadow of phantoms, the assault of whirlwinds, the stroke of \Jlightning\j, the harm of thunders... and every spirit of the storm winds." In modern times, French Church authorities have had the bells rung to ward off the effect of \Jlightning\j, and in 1852, the Bishop of Malta ordered the tolling of bells to "lay a gale of wind."
Roger Bacon, often quoted as the inventor of \Jgunpowder\j, recorded the prevalent belief of the demon-chasing quality of the sound of bells, saying that "the great ringing of bells in popular cities charmed away thunder and also dissipated pestilential air." Being however of a scientific bend of mind, he tried to rationalize the ancient \Jsuperstition\j. He claimed that it was not really the sound of the bells, but the \Jconcussion\j of air, caused by their tolling, which purified the atmosphere, driving away pestilence and turbulence.
It was firmly believed that the bigger the bell and the louder its sound, the farther the spirits were compelled to flee. Thus ever bigger church bells were used to guard God's sanctuaries and to keep them unsullied and at peace.
The tolling of bells as a call to prayer is a comparatively late development. Many other functions of bells have been added down the centuries. They make up a colorful list and have been subject to fascinating and sometimes even amusing interpretations.
In pre-Reformation days "church-going bells" were rung, not to make people leave their homes right away, but as an invitation to a preparatory prayer there that would put them in the right frame of mind for divine service. Later on, bells were sounded not so much as a call for spiritual preparation but as a reminder that people should get ready and dress for service, due to commence only an hour later.
On the other hand, it was also a custom at one time to ring bells at the conclusion of the sermon or end of the service. This has been variously explained. Some said that it was a procedure introduced to announce to those who had stayed away from worship that another sermon was to be preached, or service to be held, that same night which gave them a chance to make up for their lost opportunity. But then it was also interpreted as of special (and non-spiritual) benefit to the \Jclergy\j, who were said to like a hot Sunday dinner. It was to warn their cooks that the priest was about to leave church and that they had to hurry to be ready with the meal. Hence this particular tolling came to be known as "the pudding bell."
In \JWestmorland\j, bells were chimed during the service, immediately after the recitation of the Creed. This was done so that \Jdissenters\j should know that now they could join the congregation in worship - without any qualms of conscience.
At St. Michael's in York, bells were rung every morning at 6 o'clock. This was the result of an early incident, when people wandering in the nearby forest got lost and spent a terrifying night in the wood. They discovered their whereabouts only next morning, when they heard the chiming of the bells of St. Michael's. Out of gratitude and to help any future lost travelers, they endowed a fund which provided for the tolling of bells as a "homing beacon" at the same hour each day.
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"Cider and the Shicker",429,0,0,0
In modern slang, anyone "shickered" is drunk. He would not realize that this colloquial name for his state of intoxication comes from the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j. In fact, its source also gave us the word \Icider,\i once an excessively strong drink, already relished as such by the Britons when, in 55 B.C., Julius Caesar landed on their shores. Somehow, over the years, it seems to have lost some of its alcoholic content, for the word is also now applied to specifically unfermented apple juice (spelled almost universally \Icyder\i until the nineteenth century).
Both \Ishicker\i and \Icider\i are derivations of the \JHebrew\j word for strong drink, \Ishekar.\i It occurs early in the \JBible\j (Lev. 10.9) in a passage telling how the priests on duty at the sanctuary were commanded to drink neither wine nor "strong drink," lest they become intoxicated.
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"Cinch",430,0,0,0
To say of something easily accomplished that "it's a cinch" uses the Spanish word \Icincha,\i for a saddle-strap. Two versions explain its choice.
On their conquest of Mexico in 1519, the conquistadors introduced into the country their Spanish horses. In no time these multiplied and ran wild. Mexicans found it very difficult to round them up, which demanded great skill. To make sure that their saddle would not slip and throw them, they ingeniously fastened it with a belly strap, the cincha. It gave them a firm grip and thereby facilitated their task which they could now execute without much difficulty or peril to themselves. This "cinch" thus became synonymous with anything requiring little effort.
Of much later date is a second explanation. This traces the phrase to the Californian gold rush of 1849. Adventurers arriving from the east, even if unsuccessful in digging up gold, picked up a most useful new practice in securing their saddles. Often on horseback all day long in search of the elusive glittering substance, and still using the traditional English type of saddle, theirs was not a smooth ride. Frequently, they had to stop and dismount to tighten the slipping saddle girth. They noticed that Mexican and Indian riders had solved the problem by using their own kind of belly band; a rope they made of twisted horse hair. This not only stayed in place, but was not difficult to adjust. Keeping the saddle in position throughout, it made the ride an "easy thing." Cincha, the Spanish word for this equine girth, thus became part of the language used to describe anything that was as "easy and sure" as being secured by a cinch.
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"Cinderella's Glass Slipper",431,0,0,0
Cinderella's glass slipper has become so much part of the fairy tale that to change it in any way would spoil its charm. After all, it was by means of the glass slipper dropped by Cinderella on leaving the ball that the prince, who had fallen in love with her, was able to find her again.
However, with a little thought, it becomes apparent that glass slippers fit neither into the story nor on Cinderella's feet! No one would wear them on a cold winter's night. Moreover, to dance in them would prove very difficult.
And, in fact, the earliest French version of the tale does not speak of glass slippers but slippers made of fur, much more in character with the story, the season and the occasion. Comfortable to dance in, fur slippers would keep Cinderella's feet warm in the coldest of nights. They would have been of white ermine, fit for a princess!
The French for "fur" is \Ivair\i and for "glass," \Iverre.\i Differently spelled, the two words are almost identical in sound. It was quite easy to mistake one for the other. (It must be remembered that, at the time, stories were mostly not read from a book, but related by word of mouth.) Not magic therefore, but an error changed the fur into glass!
For once the perpetrator of the mistake can be identified. It was the French poet and critic (!) Charles Perrault, who in 1697 published the story in a collection of popular \Jfairy tales\j. He selected it from several versions of "Cinderella" then in circulation and at his disposal. Each one spoke of a fur slipper which he - erroneously - turned into glass. As all later editions and translations of the fairy tale were based on his text, they copied his mistake, which has never been corrected.
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"Circles of Magic",432,0,0,0
With all his sophistication, modern enlightened man little realizes how much even he continues to practise (though unknowingly) ancient magic.
When a groom places the wedding ring on his bride's finger, he may see in it a beautiful custom, expressive of love and lasting affection. Likewise, paying the last tribute to a deceased, his friends may put wreaths on his grave and thereby "honor" his memory.
But in reality, on both occasions the true and original reason is neither love nor deference. It is crude fear and, as it were, a protection-racket!
\IThe Wedding Ring\i
To make quite sure that the marital union will stay happy and that love will remain strong, the man placed a magic circle on his new property. In early cultures, in fact, the groom used to tie a rope around the bride! The magic of the circle thus would ensure the perpetuity of the bond, just as its lines were unending. By putting the ring on his bride's finger, the groom "surrounded" his good luck and thereby (magically) prevented it from leaking out.
\IThe Wreath\i
Nothing was more scary and fearsome than being haunted by the spirit of the dead. To make sure that the ghost of the interred relative or close friend would stay underground and not come up to do mischief, man devised numerous precautions which he now "explains" and rationalizes as hygienic and respectful, if not pious.
That is why the corpse is enclosed in a coffin with its lid firmly screwed down, the grave is filled in with heavy soil and, to top it all, a weighty, massive stone is put on top - as a "memorial!" But far superior to all those measures was magic: the power of the circular wreath which, more than any other "material" practice, would tether the spirit to the body.
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"Circuit Courts",433,0,0,0
Modern circuit courts emulate ancient \JHebrew\j judicial practice, introduced by Samuel, the Judge. Apart from trying cases regularly at the permanent central court that met at the sanctuary at Ramah, he "went from year to year on circuit."
His annual visits to Bethel, Gilgal and Mitzpah "to dispense justice at all these places" were the first of their kind, and served as the ultimate model for the modern circuit \Jcourt of law\j. The very term, \Icircuit,\i in its legal sense, is derived from these journeys and the wording of the biblical account of them (I Sam 7.16).
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"Circulation of the Blood",434,0,0,0
Michael Harvey is credited with having been the very first to demonstrate (in 1628) the circulation of the blood. But, actually, the phenomenon was first described seventy years earlier - in 1553 - in a theological work entitled \IChristanismi Restitutio.\i
Published, at first anonymously, by Michael Servetus, a Spanish scholar in \Jtheology\j, \JHebrew\j and medicine, the book proved fatal for its author. Its theological contents was severely censored and condemned by the Inquisition, and Servetus was arrested, tried and executed. As a heretic who refused to recant the doctrines he had expounded, he was burned at the stake.
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"Claddagh Ring",435,0,0,0
The claddagh ring, symbol of love and of Ireland, is named for Claddagh, an Irish fishing village on \JGalway\j Bay. The word refers to the flat stony shore or beach there, known as the \Icladdagh\i in \JGaelic\j.
Claddagh was established in 1232, and the settlement of thatched mud houses existed until 1934. It was a closed community, its residents being very proud of their past and jealous of their independence. Claddagh was always ruled by an elected head who, during the seven centuries of this mini-state's history, was known by a variety of titles. At times, he was referred to simply as the "mayor" or "the admiral" of \JGalway\j Bay, at others, more majestically, as "the King." His boat had white sails, distinct from those of all other vessels of the fishing fleet which were made from either black or brown cloth. The last ruler passed away in 1954, at 90 years of age.
Claddagh people preferred to choose their spouses from among themselves. They were equally anxious to preserve their local customs: one of them - and probably the most outstanding - was the wearing of the claddagh ring. Though its prototype is thought to go back to Roman days, Claddagh citizens made this ring their very own. Early specimens, wrought in gold, silver and bronze, are masterpieces of jewelry design. They are now treasured exhibits in the National Museum of Ireland and the \JVictoria and Albert Museum\j in London.
Traditionally, the claddagh ring is shaped in the form of two hands holding a heart, which is surmounted by a crown. The heart stood for love, whilst the crown expressed unswerving loyalty. These rings were valued heirlooms, and were lovingly handed down from mother to daughter. The claddagh ring served a threefold romantic purpose: as a friendship ring, an engagement ring, and a wedding ring. Whichever of the three purposes it was chosen for was cleverly indicated by the way in which it was worn. Placed on the right hand with the crown nearest the wrist, it signified that one's heart was still to be conquered.
When engaged or married, one wore the ring on the left hand. If betrothed, the heart was made to point towards the fingertip; turned inwards, it intimated that one was married.
Traditions differ as to the origin of the claddagh ring. Though separated in time by a century, two of the most popular explanations are linked with members of the Joyce family (also spelled Ioyce), who were natives of \JGalway\j.
The earlier sixteenth-century legend claims that the first claddagh ring was a well-deserved and miraculous gift to Margaret Joyce. Domingo de Rona, a wealthy Spanish merchant whose business brought him frequently to \JGalway\j, met Margaret on one of his visits. He fell in love with her and she became his wife. Unfortunately, however, their happiness was short-lived. Soon after their marriage Domingo died, with Margaret inheriting his vast fortune.
In 1596, Margaret remarried, her second husband being Oliver Og French, the mayor of \JGalway\j. He certainly did not wed her because of her wealth - in fact, he left the use and administration of Margaret's large legacy entirely up to her. She did not spend any of the money on herself. Instead, she donated it to municipal improvement, paying for the construction of numerous bridges.
One day, so the story goes, an eagle dropped a golden ring into her lap - the very first claddagh ring. This was regarded not just as a mere fortunate accident but as a divine reward for her selfless generosity. The ring had been sent "from on high," in every sense of the word.
Much more down-to-earth is the second tradition. This tells us how, during the second half of the seventeenth century, \JGalway\j citizen Richard Joyce was captured by pirates whilst on his way to the West Indies. They sold him as a slave to a wealthy Moorish goldsmith in \JAlgiers\j; this goldsmith trained Richard in his craft, and he soon excelled in it.
In 1689, King William III of England succeeded in obtaining the release of all captured English subjects, including Joyce. By that time his Moorish master had grown fond of him. He implored him to stay on, promising him the hand of his daughter in marriage and half of all his possessions. However, Joyce was not tempted. He was adamant in wanting to return to his native village in far-off \JGalway\j. He carried all the knowledge and craftsmanship he had acquired during his captivity with him and, not least, the very idea of the claddagh ring. According to tradition, Joyce made the first of these rings as a token of his gratitude to the king to whom he owed his freedom.
Some specimens of the claddagh ring still in existence actually carry the initials "R.I." and have consequently been attributed to Richard. They also show an anchor, which has puzzled people. One explanation is that Joyce made the first claddagh ring whilst still a slave in Africa. The anchor was, therefore, meant to symbolize how deeply he was still attached to his distant homeland and his hope that one day he would return there.
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"Claret: Origin of the Name",436,0,0,0
Red wines coming from the \JBordeaux\j region became known among the English as claret. Their name obviously reflected on their "clarity," from the Latin \Iclarus\i for "clear."
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"Clasped Hands",437,0,0,0
In the solemnization of a marriage, the practice of clasping hands affirms the union between bride and groom - till death will part them. But the symbol of clasped hands, when used on a grave, goes beyond their span of life. It speaks of their unbreakable bond, which even death cannot sever.
The clasped hands also represent both a final farewell from one's beloved here on earth and the anticipation of a happy reunion in the world to come. Some have read into the symbol a welcoming handshake into heaven!
Mostly the clasped hands are those of a man and a woman. The man's hand, always on the right, can be identified by the shirt cuff and links, that of the woman by a frilled sleeve.
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"Clean as a Whistle",438,0,0,0
To make a pure sound, a whistle has to be completely clean. No dirt or \Jsaliva\j must block it. For anything to be "as clean as [such] a whistle" became a favorite \Jmetaphor\j among writers. Instead of speaking of it as being clean, they might refer to it as being clear, pure and dry, or as Robert Burns did, as "empty."
Definite and clear in its sound, it is no wonder that "clean as a whistle" became a simile for anything that was unsullied and so intelligible that no one could mistake it.
There are other interpretations as well. It has been claimed that originally the saying did not mention a whistle at all. It referred to a piece of wood that had been carefully shaved or whittled, which gave it an immaculate, spotless look. This made people speak of anything "as clean as a whittle." Unfortunately, by slovenly speech the word itself became soiled and that is how the whittle was changed into a whistle!
A further suggestion gives the phrase a martial origin. It recalls the clear whistling sound made by a sword. Wielded fast, it cuts the air in one clean swoop, inflicting an equally "clean" wound.
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"Clergymen and Their Resting Places",439,0,0,0
Some ministers' graves in Australian cemeteries are a vivid reminder of how, apart from serving their denomination and the spiritual life of the nation, individual clergymen, by their specific interest or initiative, have enriched the country in diverse and, at times, unexpected ways.
Tasmanian-born Rev Henry Atkinson, whose remains now rest in the \Jchancel\j of the Launceston Holy Trinity Church, died at the age of 86. Active to the very end, he had preached in the last week of his life. He was an expert on orchids, classifying 20 new species, one of which is called after him - \ICalandenia atkinsonii.\i
Buried in the Sydney North Shore Cemetery is William Clarke. An Anglican clergyman, he also proved himself a proficient geologist, with many achievements to his credit. Not least among them was his discovery of significant data relating to coal deposits in \JNew South Wales\j.
Charles Owen Leaver Riley, the first \JArchbishop\j of Western \JAustralia\j, whose body rests in the Karrakatta Cemetery, was a keen philatelist. His was the largest collection of the rare \JBlack Swan\j stamps.
Numerous were the attainments of Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls who, at his passing in Shepparton, Victoria, in 1988 was given a state funeral in Melbourne. He had excelled both as a footballer and a runner. He was also the first Aborigine and in fact the first Australian minister of religion, ever to be appointed a governor. He held this position in South \JAustralia\j from 1976 to 1977 and resigned before his term of office was complete only because of ill health.
These are but a few of the prominent clergymen who have left their imprint and legacy in the Australian pattern of life. A common and odd bond exists between two others, buried far away from each other, in Rookwood and in Herberton. Their epitaphs - in directly opposite ways - have established records. One inscription consists of just two words, whilst the other, enormous in length, completely covers the large headstone, with hardly any space left in between the lines.
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"Clink",440,0,0,0
To refer to prison as "clink" goes back to at least the sixteenth century and a jail so called in the London borough of Southwark. John Stow, the famous English chronicler living at the time, was the first to mention it. He relates how it served to incarcerate "such as should brabble, frey, or break the peace on the said Bank(side), or in the brothel-houses."
Burned down in 1780 by the "No Popery" rioters, it has never been rebuilt. Nevertheless, the street in which it once was situated is still called after it, and its very name survives whenever people speak of the clink.
No doubt its name recalled the sharp loud noise made whenever the cell doors were slammed shut and the rattling of the iron chains with which the prisoners were shackled.
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"Clinking of Glasses",441,0,0,0
The clinking of glasses at toasts nowadays is considered a sign of conviviality and friendship. But this has not always been the case.
The custom itself dates back thousands of years to our superstitious past. People were afraid that with the drink the Devil might enter their body. It was a thought which was not particularly far-fetched, considering the effects of intoxication. That is why, before actually indulging in the drink, they made a loud noise first. The sound was meant to frighten away the evil spirit.
It is for the same reason that Congolese natives and other primitive races, before emptying their cup, used to ring a bell, and Bulgarians make the sign of the cross.
A modern rationalization of the custom explains it differently and so much more pleasantly. To enjoy our drink to the utmost, it is not sufficient merely to drink it. All our senses must join in the pleasure. We must not only taste the drink, touch, smell and see it, but hear it as well. And it is for this purpose that we clink our glasses.
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"Clock Origins",442,0,0,0
The alternation of day and night offered the earliest means of keeping time. But just to say "We'll meet when it's dark (or light)" was insufficient. In search of something to assist him in being more specific, man looked up into the sky and duly noted the movement of the sun. He observed that it traveled westward as the day advanced.
Man's first clock thus was God-made - the sun. The day was divided according to its position - whether it was high or low in the sky, in the East or the West, rising or setting. That is how man began to speak of dawn, morning, noon, and evening. Actually, \IOrient\i still means (the) \Irising\i (sun) and in many languages the word for \Ievening\i is derived from a term denoting the \IWest.\i
Man soon felt the need to become more exact and to divide the time of day into much smaller and more definite units. From the sky, he turned his eyes to the ground and discovered the shadow. He watched it with fear and trembling as some kind of mysterious being which followed on his heels as long as the sun shone.
He also observed that the shadow's length and direction changed continuously throughout the day. When the sun was high, the shadow was short; when the sun was low, the shadow was long. During the first half of the day, when the sun was in the east, the shadow pointed to the west, and vice versa.
Most likely, the Babylonians first took note of these significant facts and began to use the moving shadow in telling the time much more accurately than had ever been done before by merely watching the sun.
That led to their invention - in the second millennium B.C. - of the first man-made clock, the sun-dial. It was one of the simplest instruments ever devised, consisting of a stick, stuck vertically in the ground. As the sun advanced, the stake's shadow told the time.
Dial comes from the Latin word for day. That is how the shadow-clock, as an instrument telling the time of \Iday\i by means of the \Isun,\i came to be called a \Isun-dial.\i
The movement of the stake's shadow described a curve. It did not take man long to realize that, for practical purposes, this curve could be divided into various parts. To identify these, the obvious thing to do was to allot them numbers. Each section was called an \Ihour,\i which is a Greek word meaning "the time of day." Thus we owe our hours to man's earliest clock and the Greek people.
Another important question still had to be settled - the number of segments most suitable for the division of time. Immediately, the figure 12 had suggested itself to the Babylonians for both religious and practical reasons; to them, it was a mystical number. Also, they found it most convenient to use it as it could be divided evenly by 2, 3, 4, or 6. That is how the twelve-hour day started.
Sundials were very useful. Yet they had obvious disadvantages. They worked only when due sun was shining but in the dark or on a cloudy day the hours vanished. Furthermore, the speed of the traveling shadow was most irregular and hence the length of the hours varied. Some hours were short and others long, according to the season of the year and the \Jsundial\j's geographical location.
What man needed was a time-piece to make him independent of the sun and assure the division of time into regular hours. The Egyptians led the way in achieving that aim. They did so by inventing the water-clock. In its simplest form, it consisted of a pot with a hole in the bottom. As it always took the same time to empty the vessel, people could easily tell the hour of day and night by merely watching the water's level in the bowl.
From \JEgypt\j, the new clock spread all over the Mediterranean world. In the course of time man learned to improve its design. A floater was put on the water, now gathered in a vessel beneath, and linked to a gear which moved a pointer that turned in a circle. Behind this "hand" was placed a dial marked off all around and at regular intervals with the old \Jsundial\j's figures from 1 to 12. The face of the modern clock had made its appearance.
Yet water-clocks, just like their predecessor, the \Jsundial\j, still suffered from a disadvantage: they depended on the elements of nature. In a cold climate they were apt to freeze in winter and, once again, time stood still!
Further progress was made in the search for a more reliable time-recorder by the invention of the hour glass about the year 250 B.C. This replaced water by pure, dry sand. The quantity passing through a narrow neck between two bulbs determined the time.
Opinions differ as to where, and for which purpose, the sand-clock was first devised. Some say that it originated on sailing ships. Others assert that the Roman army first introduced it to measure "watches" in the night. A monk at Chatres, skilled in glass-blowing, is credited with having created its final shape in the 8th century A.D.
The sand-clock was retained for thousands of years and served man in diverse ways. It timed his tournaments in the \JMiddle Ages\j, helped housewives in boiling their eggs and congregations in restricting the time of their parson's sermon. They placed an hour glass conspicuously on the pulpit.
But again, even sand had its drawbacks. Its enemy was damp weather, in which it either got stuck or flowed so slowly that time began to drag.
Where water and sand failed, the burning of a light (or, as among the Chinese, of incense) succeeded. Thus, a burning \Jcandle\j was used as yet another way of measuring time. The \Jcandle\j became shorter at a steady rate. All that was necessary was to mark the taper, before it was lit, according to the passing of hours. It was a simple and effective (yet more expensive) way of telling the time.
Thus through the early history of man, the \Jsundial\j, water-clock, hour glass, and burning \Jcandle\j either displaced or supplemented each other. However, all of them were crude devices of poor accuracy which gave only a very rough estimate of the passage of time. There was still much room for improvement. Yet it was not until the \JMiddle Ages\j that a further advance was made and the first mechanical clock designed.
This applied the principle of the water-clock, but instead of using water to move the hand it employed weights. The invention of the \Jpendulum\j, the escapement, and the spring completed the development of the clock which had extended over almost 5,000 years.
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"Closing Eyes to Wish",443,0,0,0
The custom of closing one's eyes when making a wish goes back to ancient sunworship. People asking for a favor turned towards the sun which, as the giver of warmth and light, they imagined to have occult power. Being unable to look into the sun because of its glare, they instinctively closed their eyes simply to prevent \Jblindness\j.
Later generations forgot the original circumstances and the physiological reason. Without knowing why, people assumed that the gesture had magic potency. They were thus convinced that unless they closed their eyes when making a wish, it would not come true.
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"Clue",444,0,0,0
The clue that helps to unravel a problem, solve a puzzle or crime, goes back to an early mythological guide-line! The original "clue" (spelled \Iclew)\i was an enchanted "ball" of yarn that helped Theseus, the Greek hero, to find his way in and out of the labyrinth on the island of \JCrete\j.
The ball of thread was given him by \JAriadne\j, the Cretan king's daughter who had fallen in love with him and was determined to save him from being devoured by the \JMinotaur\j. He fastened one end of the yarn to the door lintel. Another version, more romantically, claims that in fact \JAriadne\j herself held it in her hand, anxiously waiting for her hero's safe return, after having slain the dreaded monster instead of being devoured by it.
Unwinding the ball, Theseus was magically led through the twists and turns of the maze to reach its very center, to confront there and kill the \JMinotaur\j. To find his way out again, all he had to do now was to rewind the clue.
Clues continue to show us the way, though in less lethal circumstances they do so in a variety of puzzling and perplexing situations. Literally, we "thread" our way through difficulties.
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"Coaches as Early Transport",445,0,0,0
The coach perpetuates the village of Kocs, situated in northwestern \JHungary\j, in which the first vehicle of its kind was built. Unmatched in comfort and mobility at the time, it was soon adopted all over Europe where, in acknowledgment of the site of its origin, it was referred to as "the wagon of Kocs." Anglicized, it became the (modern) coach.
One of the most illustrious Hungarian kings, Matthias Corvinus (1458-90), is said to have been responsible for its construction. Fighting many wars, he had vanquished the Turks, conquered \JBohemia\j and captured Vienna. His, indeed, had become the most powerful kingdom of Europe. Not only a soldier, he equally excelled in the pursuit of culture. A patron of the arts and sciences, he founded the University of Budapest and established a library which became renowned as the finest in Europe.
Visiting many parts of his empire, he was shaken about in the vehicles put at his disposal. Apart from being totally unsatisfactory in their performance, he felt, they were completely unworthy of his status.
Aware of the craftsmanship of the people of Kocs, he commanded them to construct an up-to-date carriage which embodied every feature to ensure a fast ride in comfort.
When the finished product was presented to him, the four-wheeled vehicle exceeded all his expectations. Nothing like it existed at the time. Its passenger cabin, suspended by leather straps, provided a ride so smooth that even on the roughest of roads the traveler would not be jolted. Sitting in an enclosed compartment, he was protected against weather and wind.
In every place it called, people admired the novel, luxurious carriage. Soon the noble and rich, always anxious to emulate the royal example, had like vehicles built for themselves. Wherever they traveled, they carried the name of the village of its birth. Thus, "the carriage of Kocs" conquered the roads and made the name of a formerly unknown township world-famous - in its English pronunciation - as "coach."
Once a luxury item, it became the generally adopted vehicle and its name was retained in the motorized carriage, to be adopted also as a term for the individual carriages of a train.
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"Coaches in Sport",446,0,0,0
To get to a chosen destination as fast as possible, people used to take a coach, and that is exactly what students and sportsmen do as well. Only in their case, the goal is not a locality but a diploma or a medal. It explains and justifies the choice of the identical name for both the wheeled vehicle and the two-legged trainer.
It is not difficult to follow the road the coach took from its use in transportation via the academic field to the sports arena. It all started at English universities, and Oxford stakes the claim to have been the first, in 1848. Private tutors who prepared undergraduates for their examinations had not always an easy task. To guide their charges called for skill, alertness and constant attention. Was not indeed their "driving" them like driving a coach along bumpy roads, with frisky horses that needed much control? In no time, the new type of "coach" became university slang, and as such, entered the English vocabulary as a colloquialism.
The university boat races were a highlight in the academic year. Students spent much time and energy to prepare themselves for this event. It was almost a foregone conclusion that, eventually, the name of the coach which had become an accepted title of the tutor in the academic field should be adopted for the trainer of the crews manning the boats. This happened around 1885. It was but a small step for the (name of the) coach to be employed in almost every field of athletic contest.
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"Coat of Arms History",447,0,0,0
Originally, the coat of arms served as a means of recognition that often spelled the difference between life and death, and can be traced back to the twelfth century - particularly to the \Jcrusades\j.
The knights going out to conquer the Holy Land were encased in armor which protected their bodies from head to toe and unless they raised their visor, not even their faces could be seen. As uniforms were still unknown, this made them all look alike, and no one could tell friend from foe.
To distinguish knights in combat, they needed some mark of identification, a device which was their very own. The knight's symbol usually had some link with their family and its past, the service they had rendered to their country or lord, or some individual quality or incident in their life. Conspicuously, they displayed this symbol on the armor they wore, which explains why the design soon became identified with, and known as, their "arms." It was shown, too, on the shield and the crest of their helmets.
The burning sun in the Holy Land heated the armor so much that it caused great discomfort to the wearers who, feeling totally exhausted, found it hard to fight. Wisely, they therefore covered their armor with a long flowing cloak of linen or silk, paradoxically, to keep themselves cool (and back home in Europe to protect the armor from rust and dirt). But this, of course, concealed their individual "armorial bearings" and, still to be recognized, they had these embroidered on their coat which thus became known as their "coat of arms."
Modern pursuit of \Jgenealogy\j has renewed interest in a family's coat of arms. After all, if genuine, it bestows special status to its ancestry. Some families, indeed, proudly display their insignia on the gate posts of their homes, their cutlery, and even on their stationery.
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"Coat of Many Colors",448,0,0,0
Joseph's "coat of many colors" (Gen. 37:3) has puzzled people. It just did not make sense that a garment, merely because of its colorfulness, should have aroused such envy in Joseph's brothers that they "could not speak a friendly word to him."
The fact is that the "many colors" are not mentioned in the original text. They, too, are based on a mistranslation of a single word, the \JHebrew\j \Ipassim.\i This did not refer to any multiplicity of colors, but to the coat's extraordinary length: both in hemline and sleeves. Such a garment was not worn by the working man. The "long tunic with sleeves" indicated authority. Conspicuously it placed its wearer among the leisured and ruling class. It was no wonder therefore that Joseph's brothers showed deep resentment when their father thus singled out young Joseph and thereby elevated him above them.
What happened is obvious. When the \JBible\j was first rendered into \JAramaic\j and Greek, the translators were not certain what the word \Ipassim\i meant. They merely guessed that it referred to some "variation:" a "special" coat which was either multicolored or made up of strips of cloth of many hues. Subsequent translators of the \JBible\j did not query this interpretation but adopted it, which made the "coat of many colors" part of our linguistic heritage and biblical lore. And all this is due to a mistake!
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"Cobwebs Stop Bleeding",449,0,0,0
Cobwebs must have intrigued man early on. It seemed that some \Jsupernatural\j power gave the intricate texture woven by a \Jspider\j the ability to trap insects of considerable size and stop them from escaping. The belief in the occult gift of the web made people attribute a magical medicinal property to the cobweb, that of stopping wounds from bleeding.
Shakespeare not only accepted the fallacy, but further spread it when, in \IA Midsummer Night's Dream\i (Act III, scene 1), he made Bottom say, "I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you."
Cobwebs do not stop bleeding but can create additional trouble. Often spun in dark corners, they catch dirty flies and harbor microbes. Applied to wounds, instead of stopping the bleeding, they thus might easily infect them.
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"Cock and Bull Story",450,0,0,0
A typical feature of most fables is that all the characters are animals who act and speak like humans. It was first popularized in classical times by the sixth-century B.C. collection of Aesop. They do not represent real life, but literally are cock-and-bull stories, highly imaginative but incredible. This most likely contributed to the description of any unbelievable tale.
Another possible source of the expression were the inns, once a popular center of social life, each known by a distinctive name, conspicuously displayed on a sign outside. Among the names favored by the English were "The Cock" and "The Bull." In a jovial mood and high-spirited from their drinks, and not least, to boost their egos, the patrons told all kinds of "tall tales." Most of them were of things that had never happened. No wonder that people soon called any fantastic claim, obviously totally untrue, "a cock-and-bull story."
#
"Cockfighting Methods",451,0,0,0
For the actual combat, the birds were dropped into a pit, and "pitted" together, fought their bloody battle. And so we still speak of teams and opponents being "pitted" against each other.
The fact that cockpits were restricted in space made people apply the term figuratively to other small enclosures. Seventeenth-century warships used the word to describe the quarters of junior officers. To call these "cockpits" was the more appropriate because they served also as first-aid posts for those wounded in combat and, therefore, at times presented a bloody spectacle. Airmen in World War I, adopting naval tradition, feeling rather confined in their flying cabin, began to call this a cockpit, as well. From its initial, temporary, improvised stage of a mere hollow in the ground, the real cockpit developed as a permanent feature. Circular in shape, to give all the spectators the best possible chance to watch the fight "in the round," the matted stage was guarded by a barrier to prevent birds from falling off. And just as "cockpits" became the site for England's performances of dramatic art, present-day theaters still recall this early "stage" by describing the lowest part of the auditorium as "a pit."
The effect of \Jcockfighting\j also extends to terms relating to weapons and to concepts such as cowardice and bravery. "Crestfallen," indeed, was the bird that gave up fighting. Standing listlessly with its crest drooping, it waited for the death blow. When a game cock was so intimidated by its opponent that it decided to give up the fight, it announced the fact by lifting its hackle and, in doing so, revealed white feathers under the hackle. To "show the white feather" thus became identified with faint-heartedness and proving oneself a coward.
Patriotic women during World War I presented men staying away from the fighting front with a white feather - and everyone knew what it meant. Another theory suggests a different origin of the "white feather." The best fighting cocks were of a pure breed and had coats of black and red feathers. Inferior birds, which lacked courage, were of mixed blood. This could be recognized by a white feather in the tail. No matter which explanation is right, both agree that the white feather was a symbol of weakness and lack of daring comes from the cockpit.
The bird's self-assurance created the term "cocksure." Its courage, pugnaciousness, and (in most cases) determination to fight to the death became a symbol of valor and aggression. This has left its trace in the history of the gun. In its earlier forms, the powder, placed in the pan, was fired by dropping into it a lighted match (a cord impregnated with saltpeter), held in the hand. In the late fifteenth century, a movable arm was invented into which the burning match (or wick) was placed and by means of a trigger, released into the firing pan situated below. Appropriate to its "aggressive" function, the novel match lock was shaped like a cock. Even when flint and hammer had supplanted the cock, people continued to "cock" their weapon (in the manner of speaking) when readying it for discharge.
A study in itself are the pros and cons regarding \Jcockfighting\j. They are revealing of human nature and the devious working of the human mind. Those stressing the cruelty of the sport nevertheless sometimes admitted that, at least, it diverted men from slaughtering each other. Sponsors of the contests (like lovers of bullfights) gave numerous reasons for holding the fights. They claimed that they promoted bravery in man, and selflessness, by the birds' example of carrying on the combat against any odds to complete exhaustion and the bitter end. Cocks could not be enticed to fight but did so only by their own "\Jfree will\j." It was their inherent disposition, and therefore no cockfight could ever be arranged without the birds' cooperation. All that a cocker did was to let the rooster live (and die) according to the plans of nature.
The very motive-power of the fight was the cocks' innate pugnacity, and not any feelings of fear. In fact, they relished the battle and, after all, prior to it they led a "luxurious" kind of life in which everything was done to keep them happy and in comfort. The excitement of the actual combat was so immense that the contestants certainly were unaware of any injuries or pain inflicted. Death came so quickly that the mortally wounded bird was spared agony. As for the use of artificial spurs, often in the form of razor-sharp knives, these were far from cruel. On the contrary, they expedited the final, mortal blow and thereby prevented drawn-out battles, with possible unnecessary suffering.
\JCockfighting\j was also seen as greatly fostering the breeding of the best of birds, which profited not only nature lovers but - very substantially - the poultry farmer and through him the diner's table!
Those opposing \Jcockfighting\j pointed out how most of the "pro" arguments proffered were spurious and mere rationalizations. Was it not obvious, they asked, that even admitting the birds' innate pugnacity, the cockers greatly fostered it by providing circumstances that brought out something merely latent that otherwise might never be manifested?
The betting associated with all fights, opponents declared, was demoralizing. It was not merely cruelty towards the birds that had to be prevented. Worse was the fights' brutalizing effect on the spectators, in whom they roused the lowest and ugliest traits of human nature. Finally, to amuse oneself at the expense of any creature was unworthy of people calling themselves civilized.
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"Cockneys",452,0,0,0
Correctly applied, "cockney" refers to a Londoner who was born "within the sounds of the Bow-bells." They were the bells of St Mary-le-Bow, the church situated in the very center of the city. Like most of the buildings, they were destroyed in 1941 by German bombs, but like the sanctuary, have been restored since.
Much thought has been given to the origin of the nickname, first used in the seventeenth century. Many an explanation proffered is fictitious. This applies to the fanciful claim that it was the result of the cockney's cheekiness. They were "cocky" people. And for the cocky to become (a) cockney was not too far to go. It has equally been asserted that this designation grew out of country folk's contempt for the city dweller. Divorced from the soil, they had lost all contact with nature. They knew nothing about animals, crops, and hard work. Pampered by the soft life, it could truly be said that they were cockered. A word now rarely used, it described anyone who was spoiled like a child. It may well have been suggested by the cockerel, kept and treated as a pet.
A seventeenth-century anecdote gives yet another reason for the cockney's existence. It illustrates the disdain in which they were held at the time in the Lexicon published in 1617 by John Minshew, a "Ductor in Linguas." (An extraordinary work, it gives the equivalent of the words listed in eleven languages.) Accompanying his (derogatory) explanation of the cockney, Minshew relates an incident typical of the ignorance of city people.
He tells how "a citizen's sonne riding with his father in the country, asked when he heard a horse neigh, what the horse did. His father answered, 'Neigh.' Riding further, he heard a cock crow and said 'Does the cock neigh, too?'" And that is how, according to Minshew, the cockney was born!
In reality, the cockney evolved from a "cock's egg." In medieval times this was known as cokeney. A malformed egg, it was the very first or last laid by a hen. Very small in size, it might even lack the yolk. Compared with a real egg, it was truly odd, without substance, just as the (London) cockney was a mere \Jcaricature\j of a real (country) person.
In their own inimitable way, the cockneys then changed the term intended to abuse and debase into a name of pride.
#
"Cocksure",453,0,0,0
A cock struts among the hens, letting them know, as it were, that he is their master. Would it be any wonder then that people who are very self-assured and dogmatically self-confident to an almost overwhelming degree, are described as cocky? Nevertheless, the word cocksure owes nothing to the rooster.
This cock does not belong to the farmyard at all but is part of a cask of liquor. It is the tap or turnkey that opens it up and lets the precious liquid flow. But it has to be so perfect, so sure, that no drop leaks out. "Cocksure" therefore describes a situation of absolute certainty. This \Jgenealogy\j and real meaning of cocksure, a term so easily traced wrongly to the chicken-run, teaches not to be too sure about anything.
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"Cockswain",454,0,0,0
A cockswain combines in his name remnants of the distant Saxon tongue. A "cock" described a small boat, and a "swain" was a lad or a servant. Originally thus, a cockswain was a junior member of the crew who, in the absence of the superior officer, was put in charge of a boat.
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"Cocktail",455,0,0,0
America is the home of the cocktail, but no one is sure about the first concoction - either of its name or ingredients. Cocktail parties have become a social institution the world over, with plenty of people standing all the time, talking inanities and leaving none the wiser but richer in some kind of spirit.
The earliest reference to the cocktail appears in 1806 in an American periodical, inappropriately called \IThe Balance,\i which defined the drink as "a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind." Indeed, the cocktail may be a mixture of many things and there is as great variety of ingredients as there is of explanations as to the origin of this drink.
First of all people sought for a solution of the mystery of the cocktail in its literal meaning. They tried to fathom any connection (real or imagined) between the cock's tail and the drink. However, the plumage of the rooster in itself did not supply the answer.
It was the dictionary which revealed that a certain type of horse, used mostly for hunting and drawing stagecoaches, at some time had been referred to as a "cocktail." And for an obvious reason. The horse's tail was generally cut so short, that it stuck up like a cock's tail. Those horses were never thoroughbreds, but a mixture, just as the drink:
\I"Perhaps it's made of whisky, and perhaps it's made of gin:
Perhaps there's orange bitters and a lemon peel within..."\i
More likely than horsebreeding as the source of the cocktail are certain historical events associated with the ancient \JAztecs\j, Mexicans, and American forces of the Southern states.
The ancient Aztec civilization is renowned for many of its achievements and, not surprisingly, it has been given the distinction of having made the first cocktail as well. An Aztec nobleman, so the story goes, brewed a drink out of the sap of the \Jcactus\j plant. This he sent as a gift to the emperor by the hand of his daughter, Zochitl, a fact which - no doubt - made it all the more intoxicating.
The emperor tried it, and liked the drink and the daughter so much, that he acquired both! As it was Zochitl, his newlywed wife, who first introduced him to the world of intoxication, he thought it only fair to call the beverage by her name. Pronounced with the royal Aztec accent, it came to sound like Octel.
All this took place generations before the establishment of the United States and gave the drink time to take root. When, many years later, the American army, under General Scott, invaded Mexico, they were impressed not only by the country's brave warriors but by their spirit, which soon conquered the would-be conquerors.
They carried it back to the States as their most potent and lasting booty, assimilating its name into their own tongue by changing Octel into cocktail. Thus a relic of the \JMexican war\j still fights many a battle inside numerous men all over the world.
Another explanation also links the birth of the drink with American soldiery but relates it to the time of the War of Independence. A young widow named Betsy Flanagan then kept a popular tavern close to New York. She called it "The Four Corners" and not without reason, as both French and Americans, and coming from all directions, made it their haunt. They were attracted by the friendliness of the inn and the charm of its hostess but - most of all - by its drinks.
Patrons spent many hours there \Jplaying cards\j and gulping the sparkling liquor, which Betsy herself mixed according to a formula she jealously kept secret. Mrs Flanagan's "bracers" became known far and wide, and no other tavern had a chance to compete with them.
It happened that adjacent to the inn was the property of an Englishman, a loyalist and the soldiers' inveterate foe. He excelled in farming chickens, and his fowls, like Betsy's drinks, had no equal. What a pity that they could not meet - at least inside her guests!
Betsy was a good hostess and a good sport and loved to join in the fun of the soldiers. Soon it became her habit, when the spirit in the tavern reached intoxicating heights, to promise that one day she would serve her guests, free-of-charge, a meal of fried chicken, stolen from the finest coop in the country - next door.
This became a standing joke but eventually it was taken seriously. Officers, visiting the inn, began to inquire when they could expect the promised meal. Then, one day, Betsy made good her promise. To celebrate the occasion (and the theft), Betsy decorated the inn's jars and bottles with the feathers of the roasted roosters.
One of the soldiers, who craved a bracer, noted the decorated bottles and asked for a glass "of those cocktails." His call soon was taken up by others and the trophy of a theft became perpetuated for all time by being linked with Mrs Flanagan's drink.
That same night, a further tradition says, one of the soldiers, surfeited pleasantly with fowl and drink, remarked: "We are drinking the beverage that offers the palate the same charming sensation as the feathers of the cock's tail offer the eye." At once, it is said, a Frenchman proposed a toast: "Long live the cocktail!"
That is how from "The Four Corners," from a theft, a war, and an early antagonism between British and Americans, spread a new name and concoction to the four corners of the earth. At that early stage it showed how British and Americans, though they may differ in some things, by joining forces around the table, can create an invincible spirit.
There is yet another interpretation which associates the first cocktail with the American-\JMexican war\j. But this time with its final phase.
A truce had been called, and both the commanding general of the Southern armies and King \JAxolotl\j VIII had agreed to meet. The negotiations took place in the royal palace. The two men, accompanied by their officers, were seated ready to commence the talks when the king, in a convivial mood, suggested as one man to another they first should join in a drink.
The American guest gladly agreed and the king ordered that a drink should be served at once. A girl of striking beauty appeared, carrying a magnificent golden goblet, which contained a potion of her own brewing.
What had been meant as a friendly gesture now assumed a critical aspect. A hushed silence fell over the party and it seemed that the fate of the war was in the balance. There was only one cup. Who should drink of it first? Whoever it was, his precedence was bound to insult the other. It was a delicate situation.
The girl quickly assessed the implications of the single cup. With a smile she bowed to her king and the general, and then drained the cup herself. Her presence of mind and female intuition had saved the situation.
Before leaving, the general asked the king who the tactful young lady was, whose beauty equaled her wisdom. In reality, \JAxolotl\j had not the slightest idea. He had never seen her before. Nevertheless, he told the American that she was his daughter Coctel. On hearing this, the general replied: "I shall see to it, your Majesty, that your daughter's name will be honored by my army for all times." The general not only kept his promise, but through the American forces "Coctel," now spelled "cocktail," conquered most of the world.
Some people who indulge in drink explain that they do so for medicinal purposes only. In the case of the cocktail, so yet a further claim asserts, it was actually the medical profession that was responsible for its invention. An American "ancient print," quoted by a New York paper, stated that doctors used to treat certain diseases of the throat with a "pleasant liquid" which they applied by means of the tip of a long feather, plucked from a cock's tail. Patients soon referred to the treatment as that of "the cocktail."
At first only used for painting the throat, the liquid was later prescribed as a gargle, with its original name still clinging to it. Possibly to make its taste more pleasant still, several "appetizers" were added. No wonder that soon the sick swallowed the gargle! Eventually, the cocktail became completely divorced from sore throats and assumed its social function.
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"Codswallop",456,0,0,0
The contents of a cod's \Jstomach\j, it is said, made British naval personnel refer to worthless rubbish as codswallop. Therefore credit goes to those seamen to have added the word to English slang as a description of nonsense.
The "wallop" part of the fish has meant different things at various times. Now obsolete, it once was used for "gallop." Subsequently, as it were, running away from its early beginnings, it took on the meaning of a thrashing. One of the (apocryphal) reasons given for the change once again is linked with the British navy and one of its successful actions in which it thoroughly defeated the French. The name of the admiral in charge of the attack was Wallop. In admiration, people came to say that he "walloped" the French, making his name synonymous with a sound beating.
Ultimately, as late as the 1930s, wallop became an English colloquialism for "beer." Codswallop would come up in taste to its name - as undrinkable as a cod's brew.
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"Coffee and Alcohol",457,0,0,0
It is wishful thinking and a fallacy to assume that \Jcoffee\j has a sobering effect of inebriates. As a stimulant, the \Jcoffee\j may exhilarate them and lead them to think that they are less "under the influence." \JCoffee\j does not reduce the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream nor does it accelerate its elimination.
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"Coffee Beans",458,0,0,0
Coffee beans are not beans but seeds. The misnomer was the result of their beanlike shape.
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"Coffee's Popularity",459,0,0,0
Whilst \JBuddhism\j played its significant role in promoting the drinking of tea, \JMoslem\j faith greatly contributed to the popularization of \Jcoffee\j.
Islam prohibits the drinking of alcohol. At times, however, man needs some stimulant. Not least so did the Moslems, since they had to keep awake and alert during periods of prolonged worship, and particularly so when undertaking their once arduous pilgrimage to Mecca. For this reason, they substituted, for the forbidden alcoholic drinks, a brew made from the seeds of the \Jcoffee\j plant. This explains the odd fact that the word \Icoffee,\i derived from the Arab \Iquahwah,\i etymologically has the root - meaning of "wine!"
Europeans adopted the drinking of \Jcoffee\j from Moslems, though religious antagonism almost prevented them from doing so. An unconfirmed tradition tells that, after their defeat by the Austrians at Vienna in 1529, soldiers of the \JMoslem\j (Ottoman) army, in their hasty retreat, left behind several bags of \Jcoffee\j beans. These were picked up by their victorious foes. Initially, however, the Austrians actually refused to make use of the loot. After all, they were Christians and \Jcoffee\j was the infidels' drink.
However, when Pope Clement had tasted of it, he found it so delicious "that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive enjoyment of it."
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"Cognac",460,0,0,0
"One cannot improve upon perfection" say the brandy makers. And cognac, this world-famous grape brandy - so Frenchmen claim - was the result of their countrymen's contempt for the inferior, and of pure chance.
Peasants who lived near the river Charente, on which the town of Cognac is situated, had an overabundance of white wine. It was of such poor quality that to sell it locally was out of the question. They decided to send it to markets further away, less discriminating in taste. However, as transport was costly, to do so would not have been worth the expense. Shrewdly they solved the problem. They reduced the large volume of the consignment by boiling down the wine. The result was most unexpected: the cheap wine had turned into the first cognac thus created by accident.
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"Coin in the Pudding",461,0,0,0
An exciting moment during the Christmas dinner is finding out who the lucky person is whose portion of the pudding contains the coin. Children especially treasure this custom, even though the coin itself has little value.
The coin in the pudding might well be a remnant of the exuberant festivities once held on the very last day of the Christmas period, Twelfth Night. In memory of the three kings who are said to have arrived in \JBethlehem\j at that time, a special mock "king" would be chosen for that day only. Their rule was distinguished by turning everything topsy-turvy, and reversing every social and moral tradition. Servants were to be served by their masters and sexual indulgence abounded. Very appropriately, this person's title was "the King of Misrule."
An alternate name for this "king for a day" was "King of the Bean," a name based on the method by which he or she was chosen. A bean was included in the mixture of a cake baked for the occasion. When the cake was broken up and its pieces distributed among the company, whoever found the hidden bean was crowned the "King of the Bean." This ancient ritual might well be the origin of our modern coin in the pudding.
Going much further back in time, a gruesome ceremony belonging to the pagan Saturnalia celebration could also be responsible for the custom. Then, the finding of the coin brought not pleasure but death. It was part of a barbaric lottery in which the "winner" lost his life. The people back then believed that they needed the gods' aid to save themselves and the world from freezing to death - but the "price" of this was a human life. This sacrifice would ensure the gods' help in preventing the sun "standing still," the literal meaning of "\Jsolstice\j." At the same time, the sacrificed person's blood would magically fertilize the soil on which it fell to ensure its ability to produce crops in spite of the freezing conditions.
The only problem was how to decide who would be sacrificed! To this end, a lottery was devised so the gods themselves could choose. A coin was hidden in a pudding, and whoever found it was considered to be the divine choice for the sacrifice. Thankfully, all that remains of this original draw for death is the idea of the coin.
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"Coin Under Mast",462,0,0,0
The custom of putting a coin under the mast of a boat may well go back to the ancient Roman practice of placing a coin in the mouth of the dead. This was to pay Charon, the ferryman, for his carrying them across the river \JStyx\j to the realm of \JHades\j.
Should shipwreck cause sailors to drown, there was no one to pay for their transportation across the mythological river. Never reaching its other bank, they truly would become lost souls. To avoid this, a coin was deposited under the mast to be used in such eventuality. It paid for their passage across in advance.
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"Coins and a New Moon",463,0,0,0
When seeing the new moon, people superstitiously jingle coins in their pockets. They imagine that this will make their money grow, though they do not know why.
The moon has contributed much to life both in true and false notions. Wrongly, it has been believed to control a woman's \Jmenstruation\j. On the other hand, everyone knows the pull the moon has on the ocean causing its tides. Therefore, it was not so far-fetched, after all, to think that it could equally affect the money in one's pockets.
Just as the thin crescent of the moon inevitably grew to ever larger dimensions, eventually to assume its full size, so magically, it was thought, it would make one's money increase simultaneously. However, this could never happen automatically. Only by turning a coin in the pocket, would it be completely exposed (with both its sides) to the lunar radiation. Better still, by jingling coins, their sound would immediately trigger the magical growing process.
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"Cold Duck",464,0,0,0
The story goes that waiters in German restaurants used to have a peculiar custom. After guests had departed, they did not pour away what was left in their bottles of wine and beer. Instead, they mixed the left-overs and drank the concoction themselves! The waiters referred to it as "the cold end" - in German, \Idas kalte Ende.\i This sounded very much like the German for a cold duck - \Ikalte Ente.\i Enjoying the pun and much preferring the animated name, they humorously now called their freely-obtained "drink" just that - the cold duck.
The name became so popular that it was regarded unworthy to be applied to mere residues. Thus it was transferred to a new alcoholic drink, also a mixture, not of left-overs but made of equal amounts of burgundy and champagne. When the British took a liking to it, they adopted its German name, translating it into English. And that is the origin of the cold duck.
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"Cold Enough to Freeze the Balls Off a Brass Monkey",465,0,0,0
To describe icy weather as "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is not obscene, as some might imagine.
It is straight naval talk. "Monkey" used to be the nickname for a young cadet, assigned with the duty to fetch the ammunition. His description was then transferred to the large brass plate on which the cannon balls were placed, accordingly called a brass monkey.
The practice created a problem. As the rate of contraction of the brass plate differed from that of the iron cannon balls, it so happened that in extremely cold weather the balls would roll off the much faster shrinking plate. Quite correctly, therefore, on such occasions the sailors could observe that it was "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."
Another derivation has the same basic interpretation. However, it recognizes in the "brass monkey" a seventeenth-century sailor's nickname for the ship's cannon. When the temperature dropped far below freezing point, the iron balls, contracting at a different rate from the brass cannon, put it out of action!
Whichever way, the words were ambiguous. To avoid any misinterpretation, those anxious not to endanger their reputation slightly changed the saying, remarking that it was "cold enough to freeze the ears off a brass monkey."
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"Collations",466,0,0,0
A collation of food is a light informal meal, mostly eaten at odd hours. At first, however, the term did not refer to any consumption of food, not even the least formal, but to a religious practice of Benedictine monks: the reading out aloud of religious lore, followed by its discussion.
Some people love to read whilst eating. Simultaneously they thus partake of food for their body, and food for their mind. They are not the first to combine the two, but were preceded long ago by "learner" monks who, by their practice, added a new word to the dictionary of eating habits.
In the fourth century, a young man, Romanian - born Johannes Cassianus, joined a monastery in \JBethlehem\j. Indeed, he was one of the very early monks in the history of the Church. He did not stay long with his brethren in the Holy Land, but moved on into the Egyptian desert, to make a special study of the hermits who had settled there, those early Christian recluses who had retired into a solitary life.
From \JEgypt\j he returned to Europe, to southern \JFrance\j and, at a time when monasticism was hardly known in the Western world, founded two monasteries near Marseilles, between A.D. 419 and 429.
Obviously, those joining him and taking the monastic vow knew little of what was expected of them. For their instruction, Cassianus wrote a special guide, entitling it "Conferences of the Fathers" \I(Collationes patrum).\i The book contained a record of his conversations with the hermits in the Egyptian desert. The practice developed for Cassianus nightly to read to the gathered novice monks sections from his "Collations," subsequently to discuss any point they might raise. While doing so, all present shared refreshments, so that what could be called a seminar was accompanied by the serving of snacks.
Readings and food became so closely linked in the monks' minds that the word \Icollation\i (an abbreviation of the title of Cassianus' tract) soon came to refer to any minor repast. This explains why even the light meal served on fast days instead of the usual full dinner was so designated.
With the passing of time, the term was applied to light spreads of any kind, irrespective of their location and circumstances. Nothing was remembered of its literary source and monastic beginnings. No wonder that Samuel Pepys could record in his \IDiary\i how much he had enjoyed a collation - of anchovies and bacon.
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"Colonel",467,0,0,0
There is a reason for everything, including for the peculiar pronunciation of some words. Many may rightly wonder why it is that people speak of a colonel, as if he were a kernel.
It is not the only problem he presents, as even the origin of his title may be traced to two entirely different sources. The colonel may have his root in a "crown," the Latin \Icorona.\i After all, he served his king, "the Crown." On the other hand, as an "outstanding" leader he was entitled to be called after the very "column" \I(colomna\i in Latin) he led, and this could explain his name.
Somehow in the way of a British compromise, even adopted by his American cousin, the colonel is still spelled the "column" way, but pronounced as if there was no doubt of his former "crown" which he thus retains, vocally, both in a monarchy and in a republic.
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"Colony's First 'Principal Commissary'",468,0,0,0
\BJohn Palmer\b
The Rev Samuel Marsden conducted the funeral service for John Palmer, who is buried in the historical cemetery of St John's, Parramatta. Palmer's death certificate gives his "quality of profession" as a "Gentleman," with no indication of the many offices he held and the part he played in the very early days of the colony.
Born in England in 1760, John went to sea as a boy of ten. As the purser on the \ISirius\i he sailed with the \JFirst Fleet\j to \JAustralia\j. In 1791, Governor Phillip appointed him the first Commissary-General of the colony.
Prior to his coming to \JAustralia\j, Palmer had fought in the American War of Independence and been taken prisoner by the French. Whilst in New York, he had married an American girl. Eventful, indeed, were Palmer's 73 years of life - he made many friends and foes in the highest places, with consequent assignments and dismissals.
Granted an extensive plot of land on the shores of Sydney Harbor (at Woolloomooloo), he built himself a grandiose house. He acquired his own vessels which plied as far as \JBass Strait\j, and built a large stone mill at the back of the Government House Domain, much to Governor Macquarie's displeasure. Taking Captain Bligh's part during the mutiny, he was relieved of his duties and imprisoned, eventually to be reinstated.
Made a magistrate, a quarrel once again put him into disfavor, resulting in his temporary removal from the bench.
Through grants and his many ventures, Palmer amassed great wealth and much property, employing more than a hundred people. But then, through floods and other misfortunes, he fell on hard times. He had to dispose of all he had gained and suffered deprivation.
At his death - on 27 September 1833 - he could have well prided himself on yet another achievement: to have survived all his fellow officers of the \JFirst Fleet\j. He now rests in a family \Jcrypt\j next to his wife, who had predeceased him by one year and to whom he had been married for half a century.
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"Colorblindness",469,0,0,0
It is a mistake to speak of colorblindness. The description suggests that people suffering from this defect cannot recognize any color, their visual world being altogether gray, which is exceedingly rare. In the majority of cases, those afflicted with colorblindness cannot differentiate between certain colors, mostly red and/or green while all others can be distinguished by them, only less vividly.
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"Colors of Eggshells",470,0,0,0
The color of an eggshell depends on the breed of the hen that laid the egg. It is no indication of its nutritional value. This is not related to whether the shell is white or brown.
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"Come a Cropper",471,0,0,0
If someone fails completely, they "come a cropper." They do not fall on their feet but on their head, and "crop" was an old description of it. The word comes from English riding slang, in which "neck and crop" referred to the entire body of a horse. Someone who experienced total ruin is like a rider who tumbles off their mount head-over-heels, or a horse which falls to the ground.
Derived from a word for a swollen protuberance, in Old English (and still in the eighth century) "crop" was specifically applied to the "head" of herbs, shrubs, and flowers. Farmers then used it for the "heads" of vegetables they had planted and, as it was those alone they gathered at harvest time, they became known as their "crop."
Animal's preference to eat merely the succulent tops of grass made people say that they cropped it. In its multiple use and long history, crop, both as a noun and a verb, always ended up with the head - of the rider, the horse and the unlucky person whose misfortune, too, had come to a head, making them come a cropper.
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"Come to a Head",472,0,0,0
For something to "come to a head" is the climax of a development. The phrase has two interesting, but completely diverse explanations.
The expression has been traced to fifteenth-century England, when cabbage was the staple food. On maturing, the plant's leaves came together, making the vegetable look like a head. This is the reason why people still ask for "a head of cabbage."
Naturally, the process of ripening took time, and one can well imagine how anxious people were for the cabbage to mature, as well as their disappointment when being told by the grower that they would still have to wait for it "to come to a head."
Totally different is a derivation which links the phrase with boils and carbuncles. Before they could be lanced by the doctor, they had to "come to a head" - meaning that the pus had to ripen.
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"Commemorative Origins",473,0,0,0
A remarkable number of names on the map recall specific dogma or significant figures and events in the history of religion. Trinidad, for instance, might well refer to the Trinity, though some authorities have suggested that Columbus merely called it so after the three peaks he had seen when approaching the island.
\JMedina\j in Saudi \JArabia\j stands for \IMedinet-an-Nabi,\i "the town of the \JProphet\j." Originally known as Yathrib, it was the city to which Mohammed fled from Mecca and where he died in 632. To Moslems it is the birthplace of their religion.
The name of \JIstanbul\j in Turkey has been explained as the combination, \IIslam-bul,\i "the city of \JIslam\j," while \JBaghdad\j, the capital of \JIraq\j, derives its name from the Persian for "God's gift."
Recognition of the divine protection which had guarded him and his faithful adherents led Roger Williams, the clergyman - founder of the colony of \JRhode Island\j, to call the first settlement, established in 1636, "Providence." He explained that "God's merciful providence" had aided him to survive and overcome all hostilities experienced at the time.
\JDunkirk\j, the historic site of the successful evacuation of hundreds of thousands of troops from the Continent of Europe to Britain during World War II, recalls in its Flemish-derived name a simple, seventh-century "church on the dunes."
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"Communion Service",474,0,0,0
The Holy Communion service, with its bread and wine, began within the \JSynagogue\j. It is derived from the ancient \JHebrew\j custom of offering special thanks to God at the beginning of every Sabbath and festival, which was always on their eve. The head of the family praised God at the festive table, before the actual meal. He did so over wine and bread, which symbolized the bounty of the vineyard and the field. All present partook of the bread he broke and the cup of wine he blessed.
According to the \JSynoptic Gospels\j, Jesus' "Last Supper," His final meal on the night before the Crucifixion, took place on the eve of the Jewish Passover and was, therefore, the traditional Passover celebration. This was held in every home all over \JJerusalem\j and the Holy Land. Its ritual included the blessing of wine and bread. But instead of ordinary loaves, unleavened bread (known as \IMatsah)\i was broken, in memory of the Israelites' affliction and their exodus from \JEgypt\j.
As a Jew, Jesus followed meticulously the ancient practice of breaking the bread and blessing the wine and den sharing both with His 12 disciples. But while doing so, the Gospel account relates, He referred mysteriously to the bread as His body and the wine as His blood.
Tremendous conflicts were joined over these words and their interpretation. Their very brevity and obscurity laid them open to various explanations. Critical scholars were reminded of pagan sacramental rites in which, by means of a joint participation of sacred food, the eaters were knit to the god and to one another. Did Jesus intend, it was asked, to introduce similarly a mystical and sacramental idea into the Jewish practice, linking it with His forthcoming sacrificial death?
Or, conscious of the forgetfulness of man, was He concerned about giving His disciples and those who followed them some way of remembering Him and of holding them together when He had gone? An association of thought could serve as the best reminder. The substance of bread would suggest to them His body and the red color of wine would bring to mind His blood.
No matter what Jesus really meant when He uttered the words, the fact is that the \JEucharist\j, which became a central act of Christian worship, is the perpetuation of Christ's last Passover supper and of the Jewish practice of thanking God by breaking bread and blessing wine, still carried on in every Jewish home.
Indeed, its Jewish tradition survives in the very name of Holy Communion, the \JEucharist\j, meaning "to give thanks." The term itself is not found in the \JNew Testament\j and stems from the Greek. That the thin wafer, used as the Host, must be unleavened, equally recalls its \JHebrew\j origin: the unleavened bread of the Jewish Passover feast.
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"Company: Origin of the Name",475,0,0,0
Common interests or shared duties make people dine together. This is the origin of any company: social, commercial, or martial. The name of the "company," from the Latin \Icum pane,\i "with bread," speaks of the sharing of bread. A company ate together or, in military terminology, were mess mates.
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"Concentrating on the Negative",476,0,0,0
\BThomas Treacy\b
Just outside the township of Barridale are the remnants of an early settlement, Gegedzerick. Its name, of Aboriginal origin, is difficult to pronounce. Still standing is its early, now renovated church.
Opened in 1860, it was dedicated only eight years later, most likely because of its remoteness. Significantly, the ancient churchyard adjacent to it contains graves of even earlier times, of which no other records exist. The church register lists as the first burial that of James Harvey, an infant of seven weeks, who had died on 17 August 1856.
Some of the inscriptions on still older graves do not eulogize the deceased, but are concerned with their fate in the hereafter. The words on the headstone for Thomas Treacy are typical: "A Native of C \JTipperary\j, Ireland, who died January 9. 1846, Aged 54 Years." The reader is asked "in charity" to pray for his soul as "it is . . . a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins."
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"Confidence",477,0,0,0
The real meaning of confidence suggests that it once named a religious virtue. One who lives "with confidence" does so "with faith," \Icon-fides\i in Latin. Thus Daniel Webster observed that confidence could never be attained by compulsion. Man cannot be forced to trust, to have faith.
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"Conjugal Rights",478,0,0,0
Conjugal rights are now taken to speak specifically of the mutual obligation of a husband and wife - mostly in a sexual sense. This, however, is the result of a misspelling. Originally, the term referred to the rites of the Church. Not a slip of the tongue, but a clerical error changed a religious ceremony that wedded a man and a woman into a legal "affair."
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"Conquest of Beriberi",479,0,0,0
For centuries beriberi was a sickness that haunted people, particularly in Asian countries where rice was the staple food. Medical research just could not trace the organism suspected to cause the debilitating disease. An accidental occurrence (in 1896) then led to the cure, finding it in an entirely unexpected direction.
Dr Christiaan Eijkman, a Dutch physician who was engaged in pathological research at the Medical School of Batavia (the present-day \JDjakarta\j), used chickens for his experiments. All of a sudden these showed the very symptoms of the evasive disease. Attempts on his part to discover the cause and identify the mysterious germ proved abortive. And then, as quickly and unexpectedly as the disease had started, it disappeared.
The conscientious and scientifically trained doctor, however, was determined not to give up his quest. His zeal paid off. He discovered a strange coincidence of dates. It was linked with the hiring of a new \Jhospital\j cook. Very economically-minded, he had discontinued his predecessor's practice to feed the chicken "guinea-pigs" with unpolished rice, specifically purchased for the patients. Scraps, he felt, were good enough for the fowl. The outbreak of beriberi occurred soon after the change of diet.
Experimentation confirmed his suspicion. Thus, by mere chance as it were, beriberi was conquered, and the entirely new concept of dietary deficiencies added to medical knowledge.
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"Conservatorium",480,0,0,0
Conservation has become a significant preoccupation today. This makes one wonder why a school for musical instruction is called a \Iconservatorium\i (or \Iconservatoire).\i The name certainly has no connection whatsoever with music, except that perhaps a college of its kind helps in "preserving" the art.
Its application in this peculiar sense is due to Antonio Vivaldi, the brilliant violinist and composer of 700 pieces of music. In 1693, at the young age of fifteen, he had taken \Jholy orders\j. Ten years later he was ordained a priest. In 1703, he was appointed Director of Instrumental Music at a Venetian church-sponsored home for foundling girls, known in Italian as a "\Jconservatory\j of orphans." With a few interruptions, he occupied this position for thirty-seven years. During that time, he made the teaching and practice of music a paramount part of the orphans' education and life, with the result that the institution's very name became identified with a school of music, an association it has never lost.
A letter written from Venice in 1739 and still preserved, vividly described the circumstances as witnessed at the time. It tells how the orphans' "sole training is to excel in music. Thus they sing like angels, and play the violin, flute, organ, oboe, violin cello, and \Jbassoon\j - in fact there is no instrument so big as to intimidate them. They are cloistered like nuns. They perform without outside help, and at each concert forty girls take part. I swear there is nothing prettier in the world than to see a young and charming nun, in a white frock, with a spray of \Jpomegranate\j flowers over her ear, conducting the orchestra and give the beat with all the exactness imaginable."
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"Contemplation",481,0,0,0
Whenever we "contemplate" a situation or some future action, figuratively we enter a temple! A temple was a space "marked out" (Greek \Itemnein)\i by priests, from "within" (Greek \Icon)\i which they communicated with the divine to gain insight into the future.
In the same way, Roman priests would forecast events to come. Inside the hallowed enclosure (Latinised as \Itemplum),\i they examined the entrails of sacrificed animals to read the message thus conveyed. The chief augur, on the other hand, used to ascend an observation tower on top of the Capitol, and there "mark out" with a wand a section of the sky, referred to by the identical \Itemplum.\i He studied the flight of birds within this air-space and interpreted their movements prophetically.
Our word \Icontemplation,\i then, harks back to the ancient practices of priests and seers who, inside the temples, tried to divine the future.
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"Contemporary Art",482,0,0,0
Much modern abstract art, both in sculpture and painting, appears to reflect the influence of "primitive" tribal religion and imitate native ritual objects of dynamic force. Whether this happened fortuitously or whether modern painters have actually copied tribal man's religious expressions, a striking affinity between works from each source is often apparent.
It is no mere coincident that renowned modernists were enthusiastic collectors of religious artifacts, such as masks, imagery and ceremonial reliquaries of tribal societies in Africa, \JOceania\j and the Americas. Even the distortion of bodily proportions, so conspicuous, for instance, in Picasso's work, bears an uncanny resemblance to tribal figures and fetishes.
The surrealists' assemblages, bringing together most disparate objects, among them nails, nuts, string and bolts, equally reveal a startling likeness to figurations used in the religious life of primitive man, the structures based on tribal myth and \Jcosmology\j.
A sculpture of the god, A'a, from the \JAustral Islands\j, for instance, is covered with tiny crawling figures, upside-down, right-side-up and Iying on their sides. They represent the god's eyes, ears and mouth. This icon formidably illustrates the fundamentally religious purpose of native art.
Conscious of an awesome force not easily to be deflected, tribal artists were motivated by the anxious desire to avert evil, to relieve anxiety and to coax unknown, potentially threatening spirits. And it was this primitive religious art, with its disregard for physical verisimilitude, which had such an impact on the style of twentieth-century western art that it became the very heart of \Jmodernism\j.
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"Continents of Europe and Asia",483,0,0,0
To count Europe and Asia as separate "continents" is a mistake. The Latin-derived term was coined to describe a continuous mass (of land) which is "held together" \I(contenere)\i and not divided by an ocean. As Europe and Asia are joined over a distance of thousands of miles, they are not individual continents. Correctly, both should carry one name, as suggested by the rarely used Eurasia.
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"Cooee Corner",484,0,0,0
A burial plot in the Camperdown Historical Cemetery is known as the "Cooee Corner." It contains the graves of Mogo, Berry Tommy, and Wandalina, three \JAborigines\j who were among the first of their race to be buried according to Christian rites.
The peculiar designation is most apt. Cooee was the typical Aboriginal call used to attract attention of people far away, as the sound carried a long distance. Here in the cemetery, the cooee comes from the world beyond.
Cooee is also the \JAborigines\j' vocal invitation to a "get-together." They might well have copied the koel cuckoo, known as the cooee bird. Cooee then would be an onomatopoetic word the white settlers adopted, first as a cry for help or a rallying call.
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"Cook One's Goose",485,0,0,0
Whoever spoils his chances, "cooks his goose." The \Jmetaphor\j has been explained by an apocryphal story told about King Eric of Sweden. With a comparatively small band of soldiers, he was besieging a town. Seeing that Eric's troops were only few in number, the inhabitants did not feel threatened at all.
On the contrary, they imagined themselves to be so superior and safe that, looking down from the ramparts, they laughed at the king and to ridicule him, hung down a goose from the city's walls. They did so for a twofold reason. Mockingly it suggested that all he was able to do was to shoot at the bird. But it was also meant as a personal insult. European tradition regards the goose a brainless creature and the act suggested the king equaled it in stupidity.
Their action misfired. Greatly angered, the king was now determined to teach the citizens a lesson. He not only victoriously assaulted the town but burned it down. In the conflagration the goose was cooked.
Another version relates that, after having suspended the goose from the wall, the citizens sent a message to the king, asking him what he wanted. "To cook your goose," was his reply, instantly followed by his attack.
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"Cool One's Heels",486,0,0,0
Anyone forced to wait cools their heels. This odd figure of speech originated at the time when the horse served as the principal means of transportation, either as a mount or in pulling a coach. When, on long trips, its hoofs became heated, the rider or driver had to stop and interrupt the journey to let them cool down. Though, as the saying goes, horses are (now only) for courses, in the manner of speaking, people still cool their heels when kept waiting.
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"Cooling Fan",487,0,0,0
A fan does not lower room temperature. It merely swirls the hot air around. The movement of air helps to dry \Jperspiration\j faster which makes people feel more comfortable. Drawing the wrong conclusion, they imagine that the fan has actually cooled the atmosphere.
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"Copernicus' World View",488,0,0,0
Copernicus was not the first to teach the heliocentric world view that the sun and not the earth was the center of the universe around which the planets (including the earth) revolved. His theory \IConcerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies\i was published in 1543, the very year of his death. (The reason was his justified fear of public reaction to his "revolutionary" work, which was bound to lead to his prosecution.)
However, more than 1,800 years before him, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of \JSamos\j (d. 230 B.C.) had propounded the identical notion. At that early date, he had also taught that not only the earth revolved in a circle around the sun but that, simultaneously, it rotated on its own axis.
His view, just like that of Copernicus later on, caused consternation and opposition, particularly so on the part of the established religion. \JPlutarch\j quotes a Greek opinion voiced at the time, suggesting that the people should indict Aristarchus on the charge of impiety for putting "in motion the hearth of the universe."
Copernicus knew of his predecessor and is believed to have actually referred to his concept in support of his own. However, he is said to have removed the passage again later on, to make people think that he was the very first to have expressed the theory.
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"Coppers",489,0,0,0
For policemen to be nicknamed "coppers" may reflect the fact that one of their main duties was to "cop" criminals. One hypothesis, in fact, traces the description to ancient Roman days in which a similar-sounding Latin word - \Icapere\i - referred to the "catching" of thieves.
A conspicuous feature on the London policeman's early uniform jacket was its shiny copper buttons. These caught people's eyes and ultimately were identified with the guardian of the law, who became "the copper." The nickname has stuck, though the original buttons have long been removed.
As in England police officers are often known as constables, it has also been suggested that the "cop" is really an \Jacronym\j, combining the first letters of a constable on patrol.
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"Cordon Bleu",490,0,0,0
The finest cuisine cannot be surpassed - which is the literal reason for its being referred to as "cordon bleu." It is heavenly food, so to speak. This explanation is not a flowery praise, but the exact meaning of the term.
God was thought to dwell in heaven; heaven was believed to be up in the sky. As the sky was blue, this became the divine color. Linked with the Supreme Being, it was applied to anything exquisite that could not be surpassed.
The Most Noble Order of the Garter - the oldest surviving badge of chivalry in Europe - is of royal blue, embroidered with gold. Animals awarded the first prize at agricultural shows are decorated with a blue ribbon. A blue ribbon was the coveted trophy in trans-Atlantic shipping as well, when huge ocean liners were still competing with each other for the fastest crossing. It was in the same tradition that the French Knights of the \JHoly Spirit\j wore their insignia suspended from a blue ribbon around their neck.
Like all Frenchmen, the knights were fond of good food. It was not surprising therefore that the club at which they met became renowned for its excellent cuisine.
Anyone who had enjoyed a really outstanding meal compared it with the food served for the knights of the "blue ribbon" - \Icordon bleu\i - saying that it was worthy of them, \I"C'est un vrai repas de cordon bleu."\i That is how the "blue ribbon" in its original French became synonymous with the finest of cooking.
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"Corduroy",491,0,0,0
Sales promotion possibly was responsible, if not for the naming, for the spelling of corduroy. This hard-wearing, rough-ribbed fabric was first manufactured by the English firm of Corderoy. But, well aware that people preferred French fashion and were attracted by anything that bore some regal mark, the owner of the firm simply changed one letter in his name, replacing the "e" with a "u," he called his product corduroy.
It now fulfilled the two conditions to make the cloth sell: it sounded French and suggested some royal association.
Other suggestions, also linked with the French, are rather unconvincing. Some see in the corduroy a combination of the French \Icorde du roi,\i meaning "the cord of the king." However, they could not explain why it should be so called. The general claim that originally it referred to fine silk cloth manufactured in \JFrance\j and used for the royal hunting dress has been rejected, as no actual examples could be traced. Equally unsubstantiated is the assertion that its original name was \Icouleur du roi,\i "the king's color" as it was first dyed purple.
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"Corn Spirit and Lammas",492,0,0,0
Lammas falls on 1 August. Its name is hardly known nowadays to the average person. Yet once, as the beginning of the harvesting season, Lammas dominated life. So much so indeed that its observance and celebration continues in almost every land, though in forms so different that no one would guess the connection.
Only witches preserved the original name and did so as that of one of their four annual (Sabbat) conventions based on the ancient Celtic agricultural calendar. Significantly, the day survives in new guises in Britain's August Bank Holiday and America's "Thanksgiving!"
It all started thousands of years ago when man, aware of his dependence on the soil, recognized that corn did not grow of its own accord. There was so much more to it than the seed, the sunshine, the rain, and his own ploughing of the field. Just as he himself had a soul, so, he was sure, the grain had an indwelling spirit. And at the time of harvest when man cut down the corn, the spirit had to move on to take refuge in the ever smaller portion that remained standing on the field. In the end, the spirit was confined to a last, tiny "retreat." Indeed, it was literally "cornered."
No one would dare by himself to cut down that corner and thereby make completely homeless the spirit on whose good will his daily bread, and therefore his very existence, depended. Only collective action would wipe out any personal feelings of responsibility and of guilt as well as fears of punishment and reprisal. It is a psychological phenomenon well known in modern persecutions.
Therefore, reapers jointly, or in turn, threw their sickle at the spot where, as it were, the spirit had taken its last stand. Some primitive races actually felt that they had to make proper \Jrestitution\j to pacify the corn spirit whose rightful home they had destroyed. To do so they brought sacrifices to it as recompense. Among the \JAztecs\j, who were used to offering human beings to their gods, this took the form of the ritual murder of a young girl! They thought she would be the right price to make up for the loss of home suffered by the corn spirit.
Other races, less cruelly, adopted different methods. Though cutting down the "corner," they would not destroy this last refuge of the spirit by "processing" the corn. The moment they had reaped the last corn stalks, they would bind them together into a sheaf, often plaiting it into a female figure. Thus personified, the "corn doll" or "great mother," as it was called, solemnly and joyously was carried away. At the ensuing harvest thanksgiving feast it was given a place of honor. The reapers might then take it home, to their barn or to a sacred shrine, where they paid homage to it as a divine being.
They kept the corn spirit, caught in the last sheaf, in safe custody throughout the winter. But when the time for sowing came in the following year, they took it back to their field, for it to re-enter the soil, to bless and fructify it.
There was another way in early times to evade possible retribution from the corn spirit for having cut down its last refuge. None of the local and indigenous people would ever try to undertake the ominous operation. They themselves left the corners standing, so that others - the hungry and needy - might do the work for them and at their own peril!
This, in fact, is the long forgotten basis of the significant social legislation found in the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j which actually commanded "at the harvesting of your land" not totally to reap the corner (Lev. 19,9;23,22). It should be left for the poor and the stranger . . . Originally, the law was not as well-meaning as it now appears. To start with, it had cleverly shifted a dangerous and thankless job to those who had little to lose and all to gain.
Nothing could give greater joy to a man than the safe gathering of a plentiful harvest. After all, it meant that he would not go hungry in the year to come. And gratefully he acknowledged the divine gift of "food." Apart from verbal expressions, he did so by giving something he greatly treasured to the deity in the form of offerings and sacrifices.
No doubt it was this recognition of \Jsupernatural\j help that gave Lammas its name. However, its true meaning has mystified people and led to various derivations. Once again, those steeped in and enthused by the lore of the ancient Druids, recognized in Lammas, one of their festivals. This was celebrated to pay homage to Lugh, the Celtic sun god whom they also worshiped as the bountiful giver of harvest.
Early in August, nature began to show the first signs of autumn. The sun had spent itself and seemed to die. And very much concerned with its fate, the Druids introduced the festival to honor the "memory" of the god. Appropriately, they called the day dedicated to him Lughnasadh, a word which referred to the "commemoration of Lugh." But when later generations could no longer make any sense of the rather cumbrous name, they shortened it into the much more easily pronounced Lammas.
Even if the memory of an early Celtic god had originally its place in the Lammas, he did not stay there permanently. As it were, man in his "progress" evicted the deity to replace him with his own "bread" (and butter).
Having ground the first corn they had gathered, people baked it into loaves which they took to their shrines and dedicated to their gods.
Christians adopted the pagan custom. In the Old English tongue, a "loaf" was \Ilam,\i from the Saxon \Ihlaf.\i Consequently, the day of thanksgiving on which the faithful brought their loaves to the service came to be known as the "loaf's mass." And in its later shortened and unidentifiable form this became Lammas!
Eventually people forgot the early tongue. Many communities did not live solely on the soil but raised sheep, just as their ancestors once had done. And when Lammas came along, its name no longer reminded them of the original "loaf" baked from the first corn but, by its very sound, of their "lambs." So they took their lambs to the service!
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"Corny",493,0,0,0
Townspeople have often regarded themselves superior in intellect and culture. Rural districts, to their minds, reared "peasants!" This \Jprejudice\j created the yokel and the boor as descriptions of the simpleton and the fool. The yokel derived his name from the yoke of the oxen he drove. The boor comes from the German and Dutch words for a peasant, \IBauer\i and \IBoer.\i
Jews, who always treasured education which they had made compulsory two millennia ago, equally described an ignoramus, colloquially, as an \Iam ha-aretz.\i A \JHebrew\j term, literally and originally it referred to "the people of the soil," to peasants.
A very similar bias was responsible in modern show business for anything that is "corny." In the American theater world, Broadway reigned supreme. For a long time its audiences alone were considered to have discriminating taste, refinement, and intellectual depth. Outside New York, in the country so to speak, people lacked their sophistication. There the humor was earthy and crude and, consequently, subtlety in a play would be lost. The audience, figuratively speaking, was described as "corn-fed." Only "corn-fed" humor would be understood. This rural characterization soon contracted into the one-worded "corny." Eventually, completely divorced from its rustic surroundings, it became the slang expression for anything that was banal and trite.
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"Coronation Stone",494,0,0,0
A king is one of his kin (and kind) and therefore blood-related to the people he rules. The \IKaiser\i and \ITzar\i recall Julius \ICaesar.\i
The splendor of royal regalia and the solemnity of the ceremonial of coronation are rooted in most ancient and sacred traditions, going back to pre-Christian days and the rim of a hat, the branch of a tree, a magical potion and a stone, said to have been used as a pillow.
Stones have played a significant part in the history of religion, not least those which seemed to have descended from heaven and which we now recognize as meteorites. These were held to be sacred and regarded as the abode of \Jsupernatural\j forces which could act as a safeguard from evil.
In his flight from Esau's wrath, Jacob "by chance" had chosen such a stone for a pillow. His subsequent dream of the ladder linking heaven and earth convinced him of the sanctity of the site and the stone, which he thus set up as a pillar and anointed with oil. There is no doubt that it became the most sacred object in the later Sanctuary. If not divine itself, the stone was "the House of God," or, as the original \JHebrew\j has it, a \IBeth El.\i
Had not the stone proved itself, as it were, to be heaven's gate, admitting the divine here on earth as well? As a king was God's anointed, he, most of all, was in need of this stone, which could act as a special protector and continuous source of divine power.
That is how the Coronation Chair, made by order of King Edward I and still in use at Westminster Abbey, was specially designed to enclose this very stone, believed to be Jacob's pillow. The story of how the stone finally found its place in the chair is full of mystery and associated with strange legends that proliferated through the centuries.
When Nebuchadnezzar of \JBabylon\j had destroyed the ancient Temple in 586 B.C., Israelite refugees are said to have carried the stone with them to Ireland. Recognized as the Stone of Destiny, the Irish used it at the coronation of their chieftains, initially when one of them married an Israelite princess.
More than a thousand years later (about 850 A.D.) the stone reached Scotland. There, at Scone, two miles north of Perth, it was enclosed in a wooden chair which served at the coronation of Scottish kings.
Still, its destiny was not settled yet. Once again, in 1296, Jacob's (alleged) pillow was carried away, as the Stone of Scone, by Edward I. Ever since, it has formed part of the throne in England, though from time to time Scottish patriots have tried, either by force or an Act of Parliament, to remove it to what they consider its rightful place.
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"Corporal",495,0,0,0
Traditionally, military companies were split up into tactical "squares." Each was led by an expert veteran who appropriately was referred to as "the head of the square." The French \Icaporal,\i meaning a "head" or "leader," created the English title of corporal.
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"Corryong's First Grave",496,0,0,0
A peculiar feature of the Corryong Cemetery is that one row of its graves - in the \JChurch of England\j section - runs diagonally across the others. This is a result of the first burials at the site.
The cemetery is located on lofty ground, overlooking the town. When its site was first mooted, it was strongly opposed. The municipal authorities were afraid that because of its elevated position, seepage might create a health hazard.
Before the final decision had been made, in 1889, Albert Gerecke, a young child of nine, unexpectedly died. Without further consultation, the boy's father had him buried on the site. And, according to tradition, the grave faced from west to east. When new graves were dug, the diggers followed suit, and soon an entire row of graves was orientated in this way.
When, years later, the health department agreed on a plan for the cemetery, they decided on a geometrical pattern, in conformity with the ground. But now a problem confronted them. The Gerecke grave and those which had followed it did not fit into the framework. They solved the dilemma very simply. They left the existing row of graves where it was, but dug all the new ones around it orientated in a different direction. This created the conspicuous pattern, unique of its kind.
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"Cortisone: the Discovery",497,0,0,0
Not a few benefits to mankind were the by-products of major wars. One such boon is the synthetic hormone cortisone, used so effectively in the treatment of rheumatoid \Jarthritis\j and skin diseases. Its production was due to an unfounded rumor!
During the Second World War, intelligence reports reached the United States claiming that to enable German pilots to fly for extended periods at altitudes of 40,000 feet (approximately 13,000 meters), they were given a special substance extracted from the adrenal \Jgland\j of \Jcattle\j.
Though it turned out that the information was incorrect, it was the incentive to make Dr Edward C. Kendall, a biochemist at the famous Mayo Clinic, speed up his research. For some time he had suspected \Jhormones\j to possess healing qualities, particularly a substance known as Compound E. So far, this could be obtained only in minute quantities. If it could be produced in large amounts, it would be of tremendous therapeutic value.
Urged on by the government and assisted by several colleagues, he continued his research, culminating in 1946 in the synthesizing of the hormone which they named cortisone. Kendall compared its discovery with the finding of a pearl of great beauty in the murky depth of the sea.
#
"Cotton on",498,0,0,0
Those who "cotton on" quickly get the meaning of something explained to them. But this was not the original connotation of the phrase. Initially, those who "cottoned on" had taken a fancy or a liking to a person or an idea. They clung to them. They did so just as bits of cotton did in eighteenth-century English weaving mills. Floating about, the fibres got stuck in the machinery or on the worker's hair and garments.
#
"Count Sheep",499,0,0,0
Those suffering from \Jinsomnia\j are often told to count sheep. It can do no harm. It costs nothing and will have no unpleasant side-effects.
The sleep-inducing effect of the "count-down" is not the result of the sheep, but of autosuggestion. One may as well count cats and dogs, or well-nigh anything so long as it empties the mind of other thoughts which keep one awake. Certainly, the steady and repetitive counting is soporific. The best advice to insomniacs is to make themselves so tired that they will not have even the inclination or time to count anything before dropping off.
#
"Countermeasures Against the Evil Eye",500,0,0,0
Believing that exposure to the malignant rays of an evil eye could do untold damage to him, his animals and his crop, man felt the paramount need to guard and protect himself and all he cherished by taking immediate and strong countermeasures.
Possibly no other fear has been so worldwide; there is a multitude of defensive precautions to deceive or avoid the evil eye. These include an imaginative variety of remedies, amulets, charms, spells, and gestures. They extended from the simplest measures to quite complicated procedures.
People wore around their neck a piece of \Jgarlic\j - renowned as a devil repellent. They attached to (or sewed into) the clothing worn by their children a bag containing bread and salt. At times they would put these "God-blessed" ingredients into the child's pocket. Bracelets, brooches, and bangles were worn to avert the glance of the evil eye and thereby avoid the malignancy it could create which would be beyond repair. Sometimes the amulets were suspended between the eyes.
Inevitably magic played a significant part in man's unceasing fight against the demonic evil eye. He confronted the person suspected to be endowed with it with the potent symbol of the devil's horns which he made with two fingers of his hand. It was the application of "like to like" magic.
Many a custom, attitude and expression now common and regarded as completely innocuous, originated in man's dread of the evil eye and his consuming concern to defy and defeat it.
\IEye-shadow\i
Modern women might be horrified to realize that the eye-shadow they use was first introduced for reasons that had nothing to do with beauty culture. A women darkened her lids as one of the precautions against the pernicious influence of an evil eye.
\IBlue for Boys\i
"Blue for boys" seems such an innocent, lovely custom. But it did not begin as a proud display of his male sex. Very seriously it was "put on" the still weak infant to protect him from any harm that could be done to him by the evil eye of someone jealous of his masculinity. This, too, was the purpose (particularly in the Orient) for people to "ornament" both children and livestock with strings of blue beads. Their "divine" color was meant to act as a guard against devilish glances. The colored balls often attached to a baby's cot or pram go back to this identical, original fear. They provided the infant not with an innocuous toy, but with a protection against the spell of the evil eye.
\IPrecious Stones and Painted Eyes\i
Once again, the belief that like can cure (or beat) like has been applied here. It was thought that you can outstare malevolent glances! That is why some specially polished precious stones came to be worn. They, too, were not ornaments but magical eyes for protection.
More conspicuous still was the use of huge eyes painted on both sides of the prow of a ship. Certainly they were not merely decorative either nor a magic means to enhance the vision of the skipper. As outsized eyes, they would outshine the death rays of evil eyes.
\IThe Fig\i
Latin Americans still use the obscene gesture of "the fig" to avert the influence of the evil eye. The thumb thrust out between the first and second fingers symbolizes the genitals. Their vital generative potency was regarded as strong enough to overpower the evil glance.
\ISpitting\i
People spat, if possible three times, at anyone thought to possess the evil eye. This was not done out of contempt. Spittle used to be regarded as a holy substance, as part of man's soul power. And this divine ingredient therefore would be inimical to evil forces.
\IHorse Brasses\i
Horse brasses now are merely part of history and, possibly, exhibits in museums. Once they were thought to be necessary to the animal, but they were not (as people might imagine) to provide the horse with a shining and attractive ornament. They were to give protection against the evil eye!
A popular pattern used was that of the disc: the shape of the sun, which renowned for its \Jsupernatural\j power, was able to outshine the forces of darkness. The highly polished brass was meant by its dazzling effect to deflect the injurious glance from the vulnerable animal.
\IThe Nurse's Belt Buckle\i
Knots were yet another safeguard. They were considered to entangle the evil force and thereby keep it at bay. This is the origin of the buckle once worn on nurses' belts, a custom still observed in some parts of the world. The nurse's constant proximity to the spirit of sickness was her professional hazard. To be safe from infection by its radiation, she needed an extra "shield" that immunized her from being "overlooked."
\IBridegroom Breaks Glass\i
A peculiar custom at a Jewish wedding occurs at the very end of the ceremony when the bridegroom breaks a glass and does so rather noisily. The glass itself originally had to be a valuable one, not of the cheap kind. The material loss and the "racket" were thought to divert the attention of the potentially evil force from the happiness experienced by the couple at that very moment. Otherwise, the evil spirit might be so roused in its envy that it would be determined to spoil the good luck, and the marriage would never "take." That, too, is the reason why the assembled congregation accompanies the breaking of the glass by shouting loudly \I"mazzal tov"\i "good luck."
\IBritish Understatement\i
The less you talked about your good health and the more you hid your good fortune, the safer you were and the surer to keep them. During the Second World War the airforce dropped metal strips from planes to make radar-directed missiles aimed at them veer off course; similarly, primitive man already knew how to use deception to distract or neutralize the lethal rays of the evil eye.
This is the origin of the so "typical" British way of understatement. This traditional national "trait" was due not to a sense of modesty or to gentlemanly restraint, because to boast was just "not the done thing." On the contrary, its basic source was selfish fear and concern to preserve one's good luck. Speaking too much of one's blessings would rouse the envious agencies of the evil eye.
Therefore it was not advisable, nor even a sign of friendship, to praise others or overly express admiration of them. Such acknowledgment of their merits would be tantamount to endangering them by drawing them to the attention of the evil eye.
That is why people learned carefully to qualify any compliment they paid; the person concerned well understood why and appreciated it. And if no restraint was shown, the recipient of the praise did not feel flattered but frightened. He well realized that the "praise" could act adversely. (It is not accidental that in ancient \JHebrew\j, the identical word expressed both "blessing" and "curse.")
Those exposed to too much praise would show no gratitude for the "kind" remarks made. Instead they would immediately appeal to higher powers to help them against the sudden threat (activated by their so-called friend) to their good luck. A common exclamation on such an occasion used to be the \JHebrew\j for "glory be to God," i.e., hallelujah. This was not voiced to thank divine power for all the good given. God's name was used as a bogey to frighten off the envious evil forces.
Those who were lucky enough to have good fortune, whether in wealth, good health, good looks, or happiness, were well advised to camouflage it. To keep it they had to do everything within their power to avoid drawing attention to it (which for many would spoil most of the pleasure). Beautiful children were given ugly names or wrapped in rags. You did not boast of your wealth or advertise it by showy display. And you certainly did not provoke the jealousy of these mysterious powers by talking of any success you might have had.
\IA Verbal Counter Spell\i
Jews who were afraid of the evil eye felt its threat particularly when discussing something happy or somebody (especially a child) who was good looking. As a countermeasure, they followed the remark at once with a word-charm. This consisted of a telling \JYiddish\j-\JHebrew\j phrase that implied "May there be no evil eye!" - \Ikayn ayn ha'rah.\i Slightly mispronounced and shortened, the words are usually rendered \Ikaynahorah\i which sounds very much like \Ikayn\i (the \JYiddish\j for "no") horror!
\IOn the Loom of Language\i
The evil eye had its lasting effect on the way we talk. Just as it was responsible for the word "illness" and was said to be activated by jealousy, the evil eye has actually created "envy."
This word is the one case in which jealousy, instead of splitting up a unity, has joined "two into one." Etymologically, "envy" is the combination and contraction of the Latin words for to "look" \I(videre)\i "against" \I(in)\i - a person. It is the same "ill will" that gave birth to all that is "invidious."
These many customs, taboos and words were not coined or created accidentally. They were devised and designed with deep thought and anxious concern. Each of them was the result of man's constant obsession with the destructive potentialities of the evil eye.
#
"Counting and Accounting",501,0,0,0
Man has always felt the need to take the measure of things, and anything that could assist him to do so he gladly employed. That is why he first of all used parts of his body, such as the feet, for a measure, and the fingers for counting. The power of a horse and the weight of a stone were other aids. The sun, moon and star helped him as ready reckoners of the passing of time.
Coins are unrivaled story tellers and an important source of historical data. Payment by money replaced the more primitive method of barter, a term that not accidentally also meant cheating.
The earliest currency did not consist of coins, but of objects such as knives, just as Roman soldiers were paid in salt, essential for life and still ingrained in our present-day "salary." The original type of money was not counted but weighed, which explains the English \Ipound,\i at first describing a "load" of 7,680 well-dried grains of wheat.
It is often said that "money is the root of all evil." This is a misquotation from the \JNew Testament\j, which says that it is the love of money that is the source of wickedness, and not money itself. Boldly, Mark Twain amended this passage by stating that not love, but lack of money, was the root of all evil. Though it is good to remember that sometimes you can pay too much for money.
#
"Covering of Head in Synagogue",502,0,0,0
For a man to cover his head in a \Jsynagogue\j and generally at prayer is now accepted as a Jewish religious custom. It is followed throughout the world, except by Reform congregations in the United States and Britain. Anyone entering a \Jsynagogue\j, Jew and Gentile alike, is expected to keep his hat on, or, if without one, to use a skull cap.
The fact that Christian Church dignitaries, including the Pope, wear the same type of skull cap, and that \JMoslem\j worshipers also cover their heads, shows not only the ubiquity of the custom, but how it has spread from \JJudaism\j to its daughter religions.
In its origin, the covering of the head had no religious implication. The earliest Hebrews did not know the practice, and it is not mentioned anywhere in the \JOld Testament\j. The custom entered \JJudaism\j at a later date from the outside world and possibly, first of all, for health reasons.
People in the East suffered from the frequent and considerable changes of temperature and felt the need to protect the head. Long before the establishment of the first synagogues, the Hebrews prayed in the open. In the Temple of old, the altar on which the sacrifices were offered stood in a courtyard and those participating in the ceremonial were exposed to the sun. To cover the head, for that reason as weIl, became a wise precaution.
The original, practical purpose was soon forgotten. The custom became a gesture of humility and submission. Bareheadedness, on the other hand, was considered obscene and a demonstration of defiance. Thus, pious mourners put ashes on their heads. By that act they tried to proclaim visually their resignation to God's inscrutable will. Eventually, anyone standing before his God began to cover his head.
At first, only the priestly class were appointed to serve God. They did this on behalf of the people and mainly by the sacrificial \Jcult\j. They were distinguished by their head-dress, the High Priest wearing a miter, a cloth of fine linen, coiled around his head like a turban. But after the Romans had destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., the offering of sacrifices became impossible. Consequently, the chief office of priesthood lost its justification and ceased to exist.
Prayer came to take the place of animal sacrifice, and the whole of the Jewish people took over the task of the ancient priesthood. At long last they were able to fulfill the biblical injunction that not just a selected class, but all the Israelites, should be "a kingdom of priests and a holy people." To indicate their assumption of priestly duties, they adopted the custom of covering the head, formerly reserved for the High Priest and the ministering \Jclergy\j.
While Western man raises his hat as a courtesy, Eastern tradition demanded the opposite. When entering a home, you had to take off your shoes, but keep your head covered. A host, similarly, did not dare appear before his guests bareheaded, as that would be considered a breach of good manners. Eventually, the hat, or whatever took its place, acquired an almost sacred significance.
Western man swears by his \JBible\j, the Arab by his headcover. By a natural process of assimilation, the Jews of the Orient adopted the custom of their environment, probably first in \JBabylonia\j, and covered their heads as a general symbol of deference and a simple act of civility.
But, if you covered your head to pay respect to your fellow man, was it not more essential to do so when standing before your God and addressing Him? That is how the custom became part of \Jsynagogue\j worship. When the Jews migrated to Western lands, they continued to cover their heads, carrying with them the Eastern style though, in their new homes with their different code of etiquette, its original purpose had lost its meaning. They were no longer aware of its roots and it was given new interpretations and considered as a hallowed tradition. It had become one of the most striking, yet least significant, features of Jewish worship!
#
"Crackers",503,0,0,0
These are comparatively recent, dating back to the middle of the 19th century, and are said to be of French origin.
In their earliest form, in \JFrance\j, crackers were sweets or bon-bons enclosed in twists of colored paper. An English pastrycook named Tom Smith saw these bon-bons while visiting Paris. On his return home, he copied the idea of a wrapper, but added other small gifts, as well as slips of paper inscribed with jokes, wise sayings, or imaginative advice concerning the future. Small toys and paper hats were other surprise inclusions.
Smith's novel idea did not catch on at first. Then, on Christmas night 1846, as he sat in front of his fireplace with its crackling logs, he got the idea of imitating this sound. He did this by inserting a small explosive in the paper tube, which was set off with a bang by pulling from either side. This saw the birth of the popular and appropriately-named "cracker."
#
"Cranky",504,0,0,0
Anyone who is cranky owes the description of their bad-tempered condition to the same source responsible for the naming of the mechanical crank, the handle which is "bent" or "twisted."
Though, to start with, chiefly an Americanism, applied to an eccentric person full of quirks and mentally "twisted," no doubt \Ikrank,\i the German word for being "sick" consolidated the term's meaning. After all, many Americans were of German stock and therefore well acquainted with the language.
The crank owed its final acceptance - in 1881 - (as a word, not a person) to one man who gave it widest currency. He was Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield. On numerous occasions he used it, either for himself or for others. He did so in newspaper interviews he gave in prison and when speaking to the prosecutor during his trial. The subsequent reports, conspicuously featuring the "crank," gave him his permanent place in its twisted sense.
#
"Cravat Origins",505,0,0,0
National armies often made use of foreign troops. Croat soldiers thus served with the French in King \JLouis XIV\j's Royal Regiment. As was their custom in their own country, they wore a scarf around their neck as part of their uniform. Completely unknown in \JFrance\j, it became their distinguishing feature, so much so that Frenchmen came to identify the scarf with the wearer. They called it after him: a "croat." In fact, the French took a liking to it. They adopted it and to wear the croat became the fashion. It did not take long for the Croat's scarf to lose its national identity and for its name to be changed beyond recognition. The French misprounced the "croat" \Icravate.\i In this shape it reached Britain, where, shedding its final letter, the croat survives in the cravat.
#
"Crayfish Not a Fish",506,0,0,0
The \Jcrayfish\j is not a fish but a \Jcrustacean\j - a crab. Resembling a small lobster, its favorite habitat is beneath rocks in the water.
#
"Cream",507,0,0,0
Prior to modern \Jcholesterol\j avoidance, cream used to be thought of as the best part of the milk. Its elevated status was well-deserved, as the Greek word, \Ikhrisma,\i from which it comes, was applied to divinity. Transformed into the Latin \Ichrisma,\i it came to designate the consecrated oil - the unguent - used at \Jbaptism\j, confirmation and supreme unction, just as in the early days of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j, it had been applied in the ordination of priests. Rather come down in the world, the original sacred \Ichrisma\i now tops the milk in the (linguistic) form of "cream."
#
"Creation of the Lapel",508,0,0,0
The lapel has been adopted from a military uniform. A stand-up collar was part of the tunic of Prussian soldiers. Tightly-fitting, it constricted their throat and chest. Not surprisingly, thus, when off duty to make themselves more comfortable, the soldiers unbuttoned the top part of the tunic. Turned back, it formed two elongated narrow triangular strips. Looking rather attractive they caught people's attention and took their fancy. It was the creation of the modern lapel.
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"Creation of the Nocturne",509,0,0,0
A composition of a tranquil, lyric nature, specifically relating to the romantic beauty of the night, became known as a \Jnocturne\j. The first to create and so call it was John Field (b. 1782), the famous Irish composer and pianist. His example was then adopted by Chopin (b. 1810). Some explain the choice of name by the early practice to play a musical composition of its style in the evening.
Whatever the true explanation, the name suggests the divine source of the form, as the very term (like anything described as "nocturnal") honors Nyx (the Latin \INox),\i the ancient Roman goddess of the night. Endowed with a force for good and evil, Nyx was regarded as so powerful that she could bestow sleep and rest, or darkness and death.
#
"Credit",510,0,0,0
To be given credit is to be trusted, to have one's word believed. And this applies not only to what one says or does, but also to what one owes. Thus, like the creed of religion, \Icredit\i in its financial sense, is derived from the Latin \Icredo,\i "I believe."
#
"Crescent Moon",511,0,0,0
"Crescent," from the Latin \Icrescere,\i means "growing." That is why in music when the volume of tone increases we speak of a crescendo. However, we thoughtlessly describe the lunar sickle in the night sky as a crescent moon, irrespective of whether it is in its increasing or decreasing phase, the first or the last quarter. Correctly, the term should be applied exclusively to the waxing moon.
#
"Cretinism and Christians",512,0,0,0
Of all of the names bestowed on diseases, be they scientific or popular, many are meaningful at least to the initiated. Others are puzzling. None, however, is as curious as that applied to certain unfortunate people who are mentally retarded and physically deformed: \Icretins,\i from the Swiss-French \Icrestin,\i "Christian."
The lack of \Jiodine\j in the drinking water in one \JAlpine\j region caused the local population to suffer from a \Jthyroid hormone\j deficiency that caused this mental and physical deformity. These unfortunate people were despised, because, dwarfed and retarded, they seemed so different from ordinary men and women. Indeed, they were regarded as barely human, almost animal. Others, however, had understanding and compassion. To stress that, in spite of their defects, these deprived people had not lost their dignity but, like every man, possessed a God-given soul, they called them "Christians."
It must be realized that the name \IChristian\i was once commonly used, even in Shakespearean times, to designate not only members of the Christian faith, but to describe any person, as distinct from the animal.
There is an additional explanation why those victims of environmental circumstances were referred to as "Christians." Childlike, they were truly innocent, incapable of doing wrong or hurting anyone, and thus ideal Christians, or \Icrestins\i in the local tongue.
A name given in good faith and out of sympathy was soon debased. Visitors from other regions, ignorant of the facts, used the word for any extremely stupid person, an idiot. In the vocabulary of disease, however, \Icretinism\i now denotes a precisely defined medical condition.
#
"Crew",513,0,0,0
Crews (on the seas) and recruits (on land) share a common root. Both go back to a Norman source that spoke of that which "accrues," i.e. increases in number. Crews augmented the naval and military power of a nation.
#
"Criticism As Negative",514,0,0,0
Criticism is wrongly associated, if not identified with fault-finding or, put the Australian way, with "knocking." Such destructive interpretation does not reflect the original meaning of the term and is merely symptomatic of modern negativity.
"Critical" - from the Greek \Ikritikos\i - referred to objective "judging." A critical review can express praise as much as disapproval.
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"Crocodile Tears",515,0,0,0
We say of the hypocrite displaying grief that he sheds \Jcrocodile\j tears. This picturesque phrase dates back thousands of years to ancient \Jfable\j and a sort of archaic science-fiction. It was believed then that crocodiles used guile to trap their prey. Lying camouflaged in slimy water or mud, they spat mouthfuls or water on to the soil near the lair, to make it so slippery that people or animals approaching would miss their footing and fall. Unable to get back onto their feet quickly enough, they would be caught by the \Jcrocodile\j and duly devoured.
Another interpretation discovered in the (non-existent) \Jcrocodile\j tears an ingenious ingredient which the \Jreptile\j itself supplied to add to its daily diet, to make otherwise indigestible parts of its victim soft and palatable! It was thought that the \Jcrocodile\j spurted its tears to soak the skull of its prey, macerating the hard substance and preparing it for a tasty meal.
This piece of \Jfolklore\j was soon embroidered upon. People attributed to the beast the most evil cunning, believing that it attracted its daily "bread" with bait of a most unethical kind. The myth-makers now alleged that when hungry, the creature deliberately sobbed and sighed, simulating a human in distress and so luring prey to the slippery river-bank. From sobbing and moaning it was only a short step to dreaming up real tears.
To add insult to injury, it was further assumed, that whilst eating its victim, the \Jcrocodile\j continued shedding tears. But now it did so out of pity for the unfortunate fool.
The fact is that crocodiles never shed tears, but they do make peculiar groaning noises. Once upon a time, the \Jcrocodile\j's tears were a traveler's yarn. But credulous people eagerly lapped them up and believed in them. Though nowadays crocodiles no longer cry, even fictitiously, before or during meals, their tears have not completely dried up. They survive even among the most civilized people: in their conversation, especially when they talk of the humbug and hypocrite.
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"Croissant",516,0,0,0
Memorials of significant victories exist in a variety of forms. Unique is the edible monument, created to celebrate one of the decisive battles in world-history.
In the seventeenth century, the \JMoslem\j Ottoman (Turkish) army was victoriously advancing from the East and had succeeded in conquering a vast expanse of territory - most of what is now \JGreece\j, Yugoslavia and \JHungary\j. In 1683, it reached the outskirts of Vienna, the Austrian capital, the last outpost of Christendom. If this city fell to the Moslems, the gates would be open for \JIslam\j to overrun the rest of Europe. When Prince Eugene, in command of the Austrian army, stemmed the flood by defeating the Turks, he saved not only Vienna but, with it, the Western world. It was a most momentous event in the confrontation of the two faiths. Its outcome determined the course of history.
A Viennese baker, tradition tells, joined the jubilant population in their celebration. He did so in his own gastronomic way, not slow in commercialising the occasion. The crescent was the emblem of \JIslam\j and, as such, had become part of the national flag carried by the Ottoman army. To highlight its defeat, the baker produced - as a totally novel line - a roll of flaky pastry shaped in the form of the crescent! It enabled the rejoicing Viennese literally to devour with relish the very symbol of their foe!
Though the Turks were forced to retreat, the edible crescent advanced further west, to take \JFrance\j by storm and to become known by the French rendering of its name, as \Icroissant.\i Eventually, this \JMoslem\j emblem was to conquer the entire world, however in a way the Turks would never have believed - as a much favored breakfast roll.
There is another, slightly different version of how the croissant was first baked. Though still closely linked with the clash between the \JMoslem\j East and the Christian West, this story claims that it all happened in 1686 in Budapest when, on their retreat from Vienna, the Turks besieged the city. One dark night they decided to conquer it by tunnelling their way inside. However, their construction of the underground passages did not go undetected. All-night bakers, catching them in the act, immediately sounded the alarm. Thus alerted, the defenders successfully frustrated the attackers. To reward the bakers' watchfulness, they were given permission to commemorate for all time the valiant part they had played in saving Budapest. They could do so by making use of the \JMoslem\j emblem of the defeated Ottoman army, and do so in whichever way they deemed best. The tasty, crisp croissant was the result.
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"Croquet in the US",517,0,0,0
When croquet reached the United States during the second half of the 1800s, it was taken up in many centers. These groups combined in Philadelphia in 1880 to form the National Croquet League. The 18 assembled clubs then standardized the game, reducing the size of both ball and hoop. The first president was George Washington Johnson, of the Lemon Hill Club.
At a tournament meeting in New York City in 1889, Samuel Crosby created a variation of the game. It was more scientific but adhered to the essential features of the original croquet. To indicate both its difference and affinity, Crosby eliminated the "c" and the "t" of the old game, thereby coining Roque.
Organized croquet itself then almost vanished. It was revived only in 1950 at \JOklahoma City\j, Oklahoma. Though rules, dimensions, lay-out, and even terminology (a hoop is called a wicket and pegs are stakes) differ in the American version, exciting tournaments took place between players of both the American and English traditions.
Croquet enthusiasts say that the game has enriched English idiom. They contend that the expression "to ring a bell" to recall some faint memory - comes straight from the croquet lawn of former days. At one time, a player in making the winning stroke actually caused a bell to ring. The game was completed when the winner hit, not the stick used now, but a combination of two hoops which crossed each other at right angles forming a dome from which a bell was suspended. The game was over when the player drove the ball through the hoops and thereby rang the bell.
The bell eventually was replaced by two sticks, officially called pegs. Then, in 1922, to make the game more difficult, one of the pegs was removed from the play and the other moved into the center, a practice claimed first to have been introduced in \JAustralia\j. The winning hit had to touch the peg. The game was finished, and one "pegged out." The term was then transferred (so croquet lovers assert) from their lawn to life (or rather death). When the "game" is over, you "peg out."
#
"Cross My Heart",518,0,0,0
"Cross my heart," in fact, was an oath. It combined a sacred (Christian) symbol with a physiological misconception. No one, at least no practising Christian, would make the sign of the cross and tell a lie.
For thousands of years, the heart and not the brain was erroneously regarded as the seat of all knowledge and thought. That is why the memorizing of a text or a poem is still referred to as learning it "by heart."
All thought is formulated in words, even if these are only silently spoken. Therefore, anything said comes "from the heart" not emotionally, but cerebrally, so to speak. To make the sign of the cross above the very source of one's thoughts gave sanctity to one's words and affirmed their truth.
#
"Cross One's Fingers",519,0,0,0
Keeping one's fingers crossed is believed to help in making a wish come true.
To start with, what is now often merely a figure of speech, was a solemn action expecting a twofold result. It would ward off evil forces and attract good luck. This would make certain the fulfillment of a wish.
The two crossed fingers symbolized St Andrew's cross. A sacred sign, it protected not only the present but, as it were, things to come, by keeping away the devil always so eager and ready to destroy hope.
There was magic in the gesture as well which, at the meeting point at the two crossed fingers, "nailed" good luck. Thus secured tightly, it could not escape and thereby ensured that whatever was wanted would eventuate.
#
"Crossing of Knife and Fork",520,0,0,0
The custom of putting knife and fork side by side on the plate on finishing a meal has practical and religious explanations.
The position of the knife and fork gives a message to those waiting on us that "we have finished eating and you can take away the plate." Crossed cutlery indicates, very quietly and politely, that "there is still room for more."
Crossed knives and forks can easily fall off when the plate is removed. That is not so when they are placed next to each other, a position which also facilitates picking up the cutlery and stacking the dishes.
The sign of the cross is a sacred symbol which should be reserved to its proper place, which is certainly not a dirty plate. Nor would anyone wish to see as the constituent parts of the cross such menial instruments of eating as a dirty knife and fork.
However, there are always exceptions, and Browning mentioned people who specially crossed their knife and fork as a pious act.
#
"Crossing the Line",521,0,0,0
"Crossing the Line" offers the modern tourist plenty of fun. A (mock) \Jbaptism\j, unique of its kind, awaits those who cross the Equator for the first time. The ceremonial includes a Court, held by Neptune, the ruler of the seas, and the victim's lathering, shaving and ducking. When all is over, a "baptismal certificate" records that the person in question has been duly initiated and, therefore, never again need undergo the ordeal.
Everything appertaining to the event is now part of the social program, arranged on board ship to keep passengers busy and amused. And yet, it all started - centuries ago - as a most serious occasion.
Crossing the Line was an auspicious event, not for passengers but for the crew. The first description of the ceremony belongs to French sources and the year 1529, when the brothers Parmentier crossed the Equator in a French ship.
Many important factors contributed to the introduction of the ceremony and its paraphernalia.
Sailing was not safe at the time. Storm and calms alike were a constant threat to the lives and health of those manning ships. Sailing south of the Equator presented additional hazards caused by the tropical climate, scarcity of drinking water and stale food.
It was a big event for any sailor who had never traveled so far before. First of all, therefore, the occasion was marked by a service. Solemnly the men asked for divine protection in those insecure and still little-known regions. And then, at the conclusion of the voyage, they thanked God for having guarded them.
Though invisible in the ocean, the "line" was conspicuously marked on all maps. Hence in the mind of a sailor it played an important role, showing where he entered the Southern Hemisphere.
The fact that the Equator could not be seen in the water, but was an imaginary line, gave the occasion of its crossing a mysterious and mystical meaning. \JSuperstition\j and fear, always present in a sailor's life, soon attached themselves to the event. Somehow the Equator's spirit had to be placated. To achieve that, sailors were ready to suffer ignominy, ridicule, and even pain. They paid with them, as it were, for their safe passage.
Passing from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere was like entering a new world. Therefore, it was considered a sailor's graduation and attainment of maturity. Small wonder that he adopted a kind of initiation rite, practised in other trades and crafts as well. The \Jbaptism\j, like the christening of a child, signified his being admitted into the company of fully qualified seamen.
The rough and sometimes merciless play that accompanied \Jbaptism\j belonged to all \Jinitiation rites\j. It was a test. The young and inexperienced sailor was "on trial" and had to prove his power of endurance, his courage, and his indifference to physical and mental pain.
That is why, in early days, apart from the shaving and general humiliation, the ritual also included corporal punishment and the throwing of the sailor from the deck into the sea. Having passed the ordeal, this test of manhood, he was presented with a certificate, stating that "it gives the god of the ocean particular pleasure to be able to say that during \Jbaptism\j he bore himself as a brave tar should."
The initiation soon came to serve other purposes. Voyages were protracted and could become boring, which did not exactly improve the morale of the crew. The rites of the crossing offered a welcome break from monotony and served, too, as a safety valve for the sailors to let off steam.
Discipline was rigid. The cat o'nine tails was not just a figure of speech. It left its deep marks on many a sailor's body and mind. It was good, therefore, to create a temporary make-belief world where things were topsy-turvy and members of the crew could imagine for once that they were the masters and ruled the waves.
Paradoxically, the ceremony reinforced discipline. Every member of the crew had to conform. However ridiculous or meaningless the ritual appeared to him, he was not permitted to exclude himself from it. Whether he liked it or not, he could not break the tradition of the group to which he belonged.
Travelers entering a new country have to obey strict health regulations in order to keep out disease and infection. Before entering the Southern Hemisphere, sailors equally had to cross an - invisible - border, the Equator. But, first of all, they had to be cleansed of all impurities, both physical and spiritual, and from the dirt of the North. Only then were they allowed to proceed.
Even the shaving part of the ceremony originally was not meant to be hilarious. To remove all of one's hair has always been part of \Jinitiation rites\j on land and at sea. But then there was another significant factor. A youth who started sprouting a beard, and therefore needed a shave, had "grown up," just as a sailor who had crossed the Line.
Neptune with his Trident (or a fishing spear), now belongs to the festive occasion. Yet actually he is a comparatively recent (English) newcomer. He was preceded by a French figure whose duties he first shared and in later times appropriated.
Neptune was the ancient Roman god of the water, identified with the older Poseidon, the Greek deity of the sea. He was, therefore a most fitting figure to participate in the event. Yet his first appearance was the result of man's need to personify the invisible line of the Equator. People just cannot live with an abstract idea. They need its symbolic expression in something tangible, such as a picture, an icon or, as here, a figure of flesh and blood.
The presentation of a certificate, also, had a practical purpose. To undergo the whole treatment certainly was not pleasant. Once was enough. But how could anyone prove that he had been baptized before? He could do so only by producing documentary evidence. Hence sailors treasured and always carried with them their baptismal form. The document's frequent use wore out the paper and therefore only a few of the original copies have survived.
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"Crossword Puzzle Origins",522,0,0,0
The crossword puzzle is of comparatively recent origin and to solve the mystery of its first appearance is therefore not so difficult. The credit belongs to America. The puzzle was invented by Arthur Winn and published for the first time in the "New York World" on December 21st, 1913.
Actually, it was a development of the old word-square. This consisted of a set of words of the identical number of letters which had to be found and so arranged in a square that they read the same horizontally and vertically.
The new and ingenious kind of puzzle in the supplement of the Sunday edition of the \INew York World\i was welcomed so enthusiastically that it was retained as a weekly feature. Eleven years later, the first book of crossword puzzles appeared on the market. Its impact was tremendous. Almost overnight a craze for the new brain-teaser swept America and then spread throughout the world. Newspapers everywhere adopted the crossword puzzle as a standard feature.
Britain succumbed to it in 1925 and soon developed her own style, pattern, and definitions. Crosswords now exist in almost every language except those, like Chinese, which do not lend themselves to this kind of up and down manipulation of words.
It was only in 1930 that crossword was included in dictionaries as a legitimate word. It was a deserved recognition of what had become an institution. After all, it was those very puzzles that had boosted the sale of dictionaries in unprecedented measure.
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"Crow's Nest",523,0,0,0
Prior to modern navigation systems with their technology and electronic aids, sailors very much depended on their eyes to find their way across the wide expanses of the ocean. For this purpose, one of the sailors kept constant watch from a lookout. To have an unobstructed view, he took his place in a basket fixed at the highest possible point of the vessel, the very head of the mast. No wonder his perch reminded people of a bird's nest, and as the crow was well-known to them as the largest roosting bird, they called the lookout after it, a crow's nest.
Historically, it is thought that the earliest such observation post, in the form of a barrel, was used by whaling vessels. It enabled the whalers to discover from afar their prey, by the creature's spouts. It also helped them in wintry seasons safely to traverse ice-bound stretches of water.
An alternate suggestion claims that the name of the crow's nest was based on a much more realistic former practice. Boats used to carry in a basket or cage a number of birds, including crows. If lost at sea and unable to find their way back to dry land, the crew released the birds who instinctively flew towards the land, thereby acting as invaluable guides.
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"Crowbar",524,0,0,0
The association of the crowbar, that useful tool, with the bird is one of mere appearance. The grappling, wedge-shaped beak at one end reminded people of a crow's foot. This, as it were, got stuck in the tool for all time.
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"Crucial",525,0,0,0
Crucial moments in life are critical times when man stands at the crossroads. Wrong decisions then taken may have disastrous effects. This possibility is clearly implied by the word. Based on the Latin for "cross" \I(crux),\i initially it was intended to remind those involved of Christ's agony on the cross.
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"Crying Out Loud",526,0,0,0
The apparently innocuous exclamation of amazement or resentment, "for crying out loud," like many other oaths, is a euphemism for something that once was regarded too blasphemous to be voiced in so many words. "For crying out loud" was used instead of "for Christ's sake" first in the United States in 1924. To avoid profaning Christ's name, it was camouflaged beyond recognition.
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"Crystal Gazing",527,0,0,0
Crystal gazing goes back to the far-distant past and has been practised in many parts of the world. It is a variety of the many applications of the same principle of penetrating the veil. This practice assumed that a man's clairvoyant gift could be activated by his fixing his gaze for a prolonged period at a shining surface. Thus "entranced," the viewer could see what was hidden from ordinary mortal sight.
Early Babylonians already knew that staring at a glistening surface could reveal secrets. Hidden objects could thereby be discovered, stolen articles retrieved and other desired information gained (which included, for instance, the identity of unknown thieves).
A great variety of so-called \Ispecula\i (the Latin for "mirrors") serving the identical purpose, preceded the modern crystal ball. Any kind of polished, shining, light-reflecting article might be employed. This included the nail of one's thumb, a man's shiny bald pate, an animal's liver, the flashing surface of a pool, a blot of ink, the sharpened iron edge of an arrow-tip, or a bowl filled with oil or treacle.
The "demon of cup or thumb" (as the Jewish tradition called him) was thought to reveal to the spellbound visionary the information sought. The "magician" himself was often a young boy placed within a magic circle.
Those claiming the gift of crystal gazing do not actually "see" what they find out about the future or relate as the answer to the question inside the object on which they fix their eyes so intently. It does not "appear" as such, for instance, inside the ball of solid, polished glass crystal. Focusing their mind on it and its light refractions is merely a method of concentration which "switches on," as it were, their \Jclairvoyance\j. It enables them to discover in their mind, and not in the actual glass, the knowledge they seek.
This explains why centuries ago the term "scrying" was chosen to describe crystal gazing or some related pursuit in the realm of fortune telling. Like "descry" the word referred to the act of "catching sight of" and "discerning." The word "crystal" itself is derived from the Greek \Ikrystallos.\i The Greeks gave this name to the natural mineral because it looked to them like "clear eyes." Crystal was a very apposite choice for its later application in the occult, to "clear up" mysteries and to penetrate a hitherto opaque situation.
Crystal gazing evolved through the years to become a complicated affair in which every aspect had carefully to be considered. Each feature associated with the practice was intended to create the right type of atmosphere and to bring about the proper conditions in order to assure success in the occult pursuit which thus became a very solemn procedure.
As it was believed that the information gained came from a spirit, the spirit had to be invoked in a manner that would prompt it to divulge the secret. The crystal gazer himself had to be a person known for his integral and pure character, and dedication to the occult. Prior to commencing his task he had to cleanse himself. And to do so both physically and spiritually he underwent ritual ablutions, abstained from food, and spent considerable time in \Jmeditation\j and invocation of invisible co-operators.
The very site chosen for the consultation had to be a secluded spot where there was least likelihood of interference from any disturbing noise. Equally important was the timing. The operation had to take place at the most propitious moment and therefore meticulous observation of the planets was essential. Their \Jconstellation\j had to be "just right" and the procedure had to be initiated at the time of the waxing moon.
Finally, of course, there was the crystal itself (or whatever took its place). If possible, it should be inscribed with sacred magical symbols and it had to be positioned firmly, preferably on a stand. Such elaborate systems of crystal gazing did not last. They became ever less complicated. Some authorities, like \JParacelsus\j, felt that all that was needed to obtain the desired result was "magnetic" power in the man himself.
It was further realized that the effect of crystal gazing was not due to the work of a demon (as the ancients had thought) or the gift of a benevolent spirit (as medieval society had assumed). It was a psychic communication received in a state of trance attained by the prolonged gazing at a shining object.
The eventual choice of the crystal glass had several reasons. First of all, there was the psychological consideration. Crystal was a very precious substance which added to the "value" of the entire affair that could not be regarded as something cheap. The boundless spherical shape of the crystal ball gave it extra mystical and cosmic significance. The endless lines, it was thought, brought man into contact with the infinite. For the identical reason at times the egg, too, was used for \Jdivination\j and, in fact, some of the crystals were egg or pear-shaped.
In the majority of cases however, fortune tellers came to substitute the real crystal by common glass. And they did not do this on account of any monetary reason. Men and women already under suspicion of having contact with the occult world, especially so-called witches, would rarely own a crystal. For one to be found in their home would be taken as irrefutable proof of their nefarious work with all the dire consequences this implied to loss of their property and their lives.
Therefore they made use instead, of other everyday objects which would draw no attention. Among them were fishing floats made of glass. They fixed their gaze on these.
Crystal gazing was not reserved for fairs or for odd people and the unenlightened. It was a highly regarded art. Queen Elizabeth I had on her staff her personal occultist, the famous Dr John Dee. It was according to his astrological advice that she fixed the date of her coronation! Dee frequently made use of his crystal ball to which he referred as his "shewstone." His detailed description of it as a flat circular black stone with a highly polished surface is still in existence. When not being used, he safely stowed it away in a leather case.
A scryer staring at a crystal might imagine to visualize the appearance of a substance which initially is foggy and blurred. Soon however, he would recognize in it an actual picture or symbolic pattern. Each case demanded careful individual interpretation, which rendered crystal gazing highly specialized and in no small measure subject to the scryer's way of thinking and looking at the world.
Modern science offers several possibilities for the revelations experienced by crystal gazing: they may be the result of mind-reading or of telepathic communication; or a state of visionary \Jhallucination\j or self-induced \Jhypnosis\j. No matter which it is, they all are the ultimate product of the prolonged gazing at a selected object, just as a Buddhist monk achieves his aim of spiritual enlightenment by focusing his eyes on his navel.
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"Cue",528,0,0,0
The cue given to an actor is really (the name of) a single letter, the "Q." Drama scripts contained not only the text of a play, but stage directions. They indicated to each actor when to come in with the initial of this very word which in Latin was \Iquando.\i It was the birth of the "q" as cue.
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"Cunningham Brothers",529,0,0,0
The brothers Allan and Richard Cunningham had much in common. Born in Wimbledon, Surrey, both became botanists and explorers and held the same position of Colonial Botanist of \JNew South Wales\j. Neither ever married. They also shared the fate of an early death.
Allan died when he was 48 years old and Richard at the age of 42. Here, however, their parallel paths end. One brother died a natural death and the other was murdered. Their graves in Australian soil are hundreds of kilometers apart.
Allan, the elder of the two (he was born on 13 July 1791) was the first to come to \JAustralia\j, in 1816. An accomplished botanist, within a year he joined one of Oxley's expeditions, collecting the first of his many treasures of plant specimens, of about 450 different species.
In 1831, at the death of the then Colonial Botanist, he was offered the position. He declined in favor of his younger brother Richard, (born on 12 February 1793) who at the time was working in London, at \JKew Gardens\j.
Taking up the new appointment in Sydney, Richard fulfilled his duties with zeal and enthusiasm. He greatly improved the Botanic Gardens, introducing a wide range of new plants, many of them exotic and from remote regions.
In 1835, two years after his arrival in \JAustralia\j, he joined Major Thomas Mitchell's expedition to the Bogan River. Five weeks after setting out, despite warnings not to wander from the party, Richard became hopelessly lost in hostile terrain whilst looking for new plant specimens.
When he failed to return, Mitchell sent out rescue parties, but four days later he had to record that "we explored every open space, and we looked into many bushes, but in vain." Nevertheless, he did not abandon the search, and eventually, discovered "Cunningham's saddle and bridle, whip, one glove, two straps, and a piece of paper folded like a letter."
On being informed that Cunningham was missing, the Colonial Secretary instructed Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the mounted police to go into the interior "for the purpose of ascertaining his fate." On this mission, Zouch met two blacks who told him of "a white man having been murdered on the Bogan."
They took him to the very spot, an Aboriginal camp site. There Zouch was able to identify some of Richard's belongings, such as a small portion of a coat and a Manilla hat. Most gruesome of all, as he reported to his superiors, "the man showed me some bones which he said were those of a white man they [had] killed."
It was not difficult for Zouch to reconstruct the tragic chain of events. Cunningham, having lost his way, was befriended by the blacks, who gave him food and shelter.
During the night, however, they became greatly perturbed when they observed Cunningham acting strangely. Actually, they did not imagine it, as most likely he was delirious at the time. Out of fear and to protect themselves, they killed him.
Zouch buried Richard's remains and, in order to be able to relocate the site again, ringbarked some nearby trees. On the western side of the Bogan River, about 26 kilometers south of Dandaloo, a memorial tablet now marks his grave. Put up by the Parliament of \JNew South Wales\j, the plaque reads:
\IRICHARD CUNNINGHAM
Government Botanist of the Colony,
attached to an explorative expedition
into the interior, under command of Major Mitchell Surveyor
General;
wandered in his enthusiasm for botanical investigation,
From his companions and losing himself in the desert country
on the Bogan River fell into the hands of one of the native
tribes
by whom he was unfortunately killed
about the 25th of April 1835, in the forty-second year of his
age.\i
The wording is a copy of the text on the memorial tablet of Carrara marble that his brother Allan had put up in St Andrew's Scots Church in Kent Street, "as a lasting and affectionate tribute to his memory."
The natives, duly apprehended, admitted their guilt and were taken into custody. Subsequently, two of them escaped, whilst the third was released for lack of evidence.
On Richard's death, Allan once again was asked to take on the position of Colonial Botanist. This time he accepted it, arriving in Sydney in 1837. But he was greatly disappointed; he had not been told of all the additional duties he was expected to undertake, such as gardening, the laying out of paths along the foreshore and, worst of all, the growing of vegetables for the government officials' private use!
He felt that he was wasting his life; and within two years he tendered his resignation, much to the dismay of Sir George Gipps, the governor. Gipps admired Cunningham and was loath to lose his services. He asked some of his notable friends to form a committee to explore ways and means of retaining him.
Allan left them in no doubt as to what he wanted. The "Government Cabbage Garden" had to be abolished and his responsibilities as the Government Botanist should not include the supervision of the Botanic Gardens. He expected to be paid a greatly increased salary and all traveling expenses incurred on exploration trips, for himself, and his entire party.
Surprisingly all his demands were agreed to. However, the committee refused his further stipulation, that he have a free hand in disposing of his time. It would establish a bad precedent, they felt. Instead, he would be promised an annual leave of six months which time he was to spend on explorations.
It was an extraordinarily generous offer of unprecedented privileges. No wonder Governor Gipps, in spite of being his friend and patron, vetoed the recommendations. Yet he did so only because of the annual leave clause; expressed in money terms, it would have amounted to an additional payment of ú850 ($1,700), an enormous sum at the time.
Cunningham remained unbending. With his demands not met "in toto," he "finally washed his hands of the gardens." He went to \JNew Zealand\j, to engage in further botanical research, but things did not go his way. He took seriously ill and returned to Sydney, initially staying in a lodging house. He expected to recover swiftly and even made plans for a trip to England. When his health did not improve satisfactorily, he took up residence in his old official cottage in the grounds of the Botanic Gardens, hoping that the change of scene and air would prove beneficial.
He had resigned himself to whatever was going to happen to him. Thus he said to a visiting clergyman, "If it be the will of God that I recover, I will go to England; but if not, I submit myself with patience and resignation to the divine will."
Cunningham died of consumption on 27 June 1839, in the cottage, "in the arms of a friend," his successor as superintendent of the gardens. He was buried in the Old Devonshire Street Cemetery with the headstone on his grave merely recording his name, the date of death, and his age.
To honor the great botanist and to perpetuate his memory at the most appropriate site, in 1844 an \Jobelisk\j was put up on a small island in the Botanic Gardens, and a grove of Bangalow palms \IArchontophoenix cunninghamia\i was planted nearby.
Still fate did not let Cunningham rest. When the Old Devonshire Street Cemetery had to give way to Central Station, the little that was left of Cunningham's remains was exhumed and in a small leaden casket reverently removed to the Botanic Gardens.
In the presence of a few of his former friends, the casket was placed, on 25 May 1901, in a cavity of the \Jobelisk\j! The headstone, too, was taken to the gardens. It was cemented into the wall of the National Herbarium, near its entrance. Further, as a living memorial, the institution named its official journal \ICunninghamia.\i
Though the headstone says little, very explicit was the text on a marble tablet put up in St Andrew's Scots Church in Kent Street, adjacent to the plaque Cunningham had dedicated to the memory of his only brother and near the spot on which his own coffin had rested prior to its committal. The inscription was drafted by Captain King, his long-cherished friend and companion. One of its conspicuous features is its odd punctuation:
\IALLAN CUNNINGHAM, F.L.S.M.R.G.S.
Associated in the pursuit of Botanical Discovery,
with Oxley, in exploring the interior of New Holland.
With King, in four times circumnavigating its coasts.
And by subsequent personal research, having more
fully developed the \JGeography\j, and Flora, of the
northern districts of this Colony, and of Norfolk
Island, and \JNew Zealand\j, he has, left enduring
monuments of devotion to the cause of science. And
eminence in those branches, which he most assiduously
cultivated.
Frank, unaffected, firm in principle, with warm
feelings, tempered by a most kind and benevolent
heart, deservedly beloved by his friends, some of
them, in the foremost rank of science in England,
\JFrance\j, and \JGermany\j, he died, in unrepining
submission to the will of God: and in a calm
dependance, on the merits of his adorable Redeemer.
27th June 1839. Aged 48.\i
Even this memorial was not to stay at its original place. When Kent Street was widened and the congregation dwindled, it was decided to demolish the church and to re-erect it (in 1913) in Rose Bay. To the new sanctuary were transferred some significant items once part of the old "Kirk." They included the \Jcedar\j pews, the timber roof, and both Cunninghams' plaques. They can still be found on one of the inside walls.
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"Cup and Saucer",530,0,0,0
The cup is much more poetic than it now sounds. From a Sanskrit root, it described a (little) well, though one of limited flow, it appears.
A saucer originally meant what it said. It contained sauce and recalls the Norman practice of serving it on individual plates to each diner, who dipped his food to enhance the flavor. Only in modern days the saucer was emptied out, so to speak, to become a mini-tray for a cup to stand on.
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"Cupboard",531,0,0,0
Nowadays a closed cabinet contains all sorts of things, at times locked up; the original cupboard was nothing of the kind. Just as its name says, a cup-board was a simple shelf on which crockery was kept. That is how it all started. In the 15th century, it was thought that the empty space underneath could well serve for the storage of food and for this purpose it was enclosed. Aware of its separate function, it was given a name of its own to become known as an \Iaumbry.\i However, the cupboard above predominated for its name eventually to be transferred to the cabinet underneath which has been called (very inappropriately) a cupboard ever since.
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"Cupidity",532,0,0,0
The best of things, supplied in excess, lose value; names that once spelled unsullied happiness may become tainted and ugly. This happened to \JCupid\j, the Roman god of love, well known as a cherubic, winged figure with his ability to make people fall deeply in love by "piercing" them with one of his arrows.
No wonder that \JCupid\j's name expressed "passionate desire." But then mere amorous craving grew all out of proportion into excessive, inordinate desires of any kind, particularly an insatiable greed for wealth. Little \JCupid\j with his chubby face, the boy-god of love, changed into the ugly monster of cupidity.
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"Curfew Origins",533,0,0,0
Curfews nowadays are imposed on towns, cities, and districts to subdue or contain trouble. A military or police measure, it restricts people's movement in specified areas or at certain periods of time, mainly after dark. Those affected have to remain indoors.
The \Jetymology\j of the term reveals its original use in totally different circumstances and far removed from tumultuous times.
From the French, curfew spoke of "covering [up the] fire" - \Icouvre feu.\i During the \JMiddle Ages\j, when the majority of homes were built of timber or other easily combustible material, fire hazards were a constant threat. A single house on fire in no time could start a devastating conflagration, easily spreading through and destroying an entire village. It could be started by just one spark from an unattended open grate.
A wise precaution, therefore, was the enforcement of a regulation compelling every householder to cover up the fire in their grate during the night. This had to be done at a fixed time, publicly announced by the ringing of a bell which, accordingly, became known as the curfew bell. It served as a reminder to everyone and marked the birth of the modern curfew.
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"Curling Broom and Tee",534,0,0,0
An important item in \Jcurling\j, and one which has given rise to controversy as to its usefulness and real purpose, is the broom or \Ibesom.\i While one member of the team delivers his stone, his team mates are poised with their brooms ready to sweep \I(soop)\i or scrub the ice ahead of the moving stone until it reaches its target, should the skip (the name of the captain) consider the stone is moving too slowly.
The broom's first use, obviously, was merely to clear the surface of the frozen loch, or pond, of leaves and refuse blown on to the ice by the wind, or of newly fallen snow that might obstruct the path of the stones. Players quickly realized that proper sweeping smoothed the ice, and it became a practice for partners, "before beginning to play," to use the broom. Laws were made and then rescinded, to be replaced again by others, as to who should undertake the sweeping, at what stage of the game, and in what manner.
The earliest reason for the practice eventually was forgotten and sweeping the ice became a solemn and even exciting part of the game. Players firmly believed that no one who had not learned to smooth the ice could excel in \Jcurling\j.
Opinions still differ as to the present purpose of sweeping. Some think that, by removing dust, ice, or snow, sweeping adds to the distance a stone will travel. Tests proved, in fact, that proper and effective sweeping made a stone move up to 15 feet (4.50 m) further. Others believe that sweeping in front of the stone produces a partial vacuum that gives the stone extra power. A third explanation assumes that vigorous "sooping" melts the ice slightly and thereby lessens friction. Those unconvinced that there is any direct purpose in sweeping have to admit that in cold weather it offers good exercise and that energetic sweeping keeps the players warm (and awake!). Sweeping, too, has a psychological effect on both players and the game. Indeed, to observe curlers keenly "sooping," with grace and rhythm of movement, is like watching a unique ballet on ice.
Almost a mystical quality came to adhere to the "besom" and it was not surprising that players, joined in contest, called themselves "the brethren of the broom."
The broom itself, once merely a long-stemmed bush, came to be manufactured in definite measurements, suited to the individual player. Lighter in weight than an ordinary broom, its bristles were longer, but its handle thicker, and it was made of soft wood. Curlers became truly fond of the broom. A poem by W. A. Peterkin, published in the \IAnnual\i of the Grand Caledonian \JCurling\j Club more than a hundred years ago, reflected this affection towards "My Bonny Broomy Kowe," of which this stanza is typical:
\IYou've been my friend at ilka spiel,
You've polished up the howe,
You've mony a stane brocht owre the hog,
My bonny broomy kowe.
As mem'ry noo recalls the past,
My heart is set alowe,
Wi' moistened e'en I gaze on thee,
My bonny broomy kowe.\i
Players used the broom for other purposes also. Some curlers, instead of tossing a coin to determine which side should play first, placed their hands alternately along the stick. The last player able to find room to do so would be the first to curl.
The broom also served to convey the skip's instructions, and saved him from having to bawl them out. The signal of a horizontally held broom, for instance reminded the player to restrict his speed, and thereby the distance curled. Held in a vertical position, it indicated a stone belonging to one's team. Inverted, it pointed to an opponent's rock.
The aim of the game also passed through several stages of evolution. At first, players simply tried to slide the heavy stone farthest. Then a target was placed on the ice (rules up to this day do not specify its actual nature). The mark was initially known as a \Itoesee,\i or \Icock,\i later to become the modern tee. Most probably it originally was just another stone put on the ice. This was replaced by a wooden pin, standing a foot (30 cm) high, so as to be clearly seen from the other side of the "rink." Then, going to the other extreme, some curlers preferred to use as their aim a small coin or a button. The tee may also be a small iron plate, fixed by a protruding spike underneath, or merely a depression cut into the ice.
Eventually, the tee was surrounded by a circle scratched into the ice and its area referred to as "the house." Its purpose was to help players in determining the exact distance of shots from the tee.
Each team, consisting of four men, is known as a rink. This term has been derived either from the ancient Saxon \Ihrink,\i meaning "a strong man" or more probably from the \JAnglo-Saxon\j \Ihring,\i describing a circle and ring. The rink is captained by a skip, who gives detailed instructions to the player about to cast the stone. Nothing excels in importance the right way of "delivering" or throwing it. What the golf swing is to the golfer, the "delivery swing" is to the curler. In achieving it, the proper grip of the handle is an essential factor, but no one can curl successfully without a firm stance and to ensure this, curlers created another, minor accessory. In its oldest form this was known as the \Icrampit.\i It was a thin plate of iron or steel with small spikes underneath to grip the ice, and straps on top to fasten it to the curler's feet.
"Almost barbarous," according to famous Dr Cairnie, was its "improved" version, the Currie crampit, which employed screwbolts to hold the feet tightly. He invented foot irons which in time were called after him and eventually took the place of the crampit. A modern development was the hack, consisting of a brass or cast-iron frame with a central ridge. It is called after the original "hack" (or groove) in the ice, into which the curler used to put his foot to stand firm. The invention of felt and rubber-soled boots rendered all these types obsolete.
#
"Curling Clubs",535,0,0,0
The Scots' love of \Jcurling\j was freely expressed. Hundreds of songs and poems have been written in its honor, and clubs, becoming close fraternities, developed their "courts," with mystical \Jinitiation rites\j, secret "grips," and whispered passwords. Scotsmen came to believe in a mystical, unseen queen of \Jcurling\j on whom they called for guidance. No one really knows whether it was mere fun, or a sacred, religious pursuit. Certainly, even sermons have been preached on \Jcurling\j, praising it as "a splendid sport for man to indulge."
There is a tradition of the existence of a \Jcurling\j club as far back as 1668 and one of the earliest recorded clubs was that of Muthill, of Perth, founded in 1739. Apart from the fact that only one stone was then played by each man, little is known of the club's actual methods of play. However, regulations were very definite as to proper behavior "during the time of game:" "that there shall be no wagers, cursing, or swearing." Those contravening the regulations had to pay a penalty of two shillings Scots per oath, while wagers were declared null and void.
The most famous and oldest club in existence is The Duddingston, named after a small loch. It was founded in 1795. Members were renowned for "their scientific knowledge, wealth, respectability, and worth." In a special resolution they stipulated that "the sole object of this institution is the enjoyment of the game of \Jcurling\j which, while it adds vigor to the body, contributes to vivacity of mind and the promotion of the social and generous feelings," in short, to \Ibonhomie.\i
Each parish, however, evolved its own methods of play, which differed as much as the size, weight, and condition of the stones. That was all right as long as the clubs did not meet. But when that inevitable moment came with the increasing popularity of this "auld Scottish game," much difficulty was experienced and there were heated arguments over arrangements. A general wish to standardize the game resulted, in 1834, in the formation of the Amateur \JCurling\j Club of Scotland. It ceased to function four years later.
In the same year, an advertisement in the \INorth British Advertiser\i of 26 May 1838, addressed "To Curlers" in Scotland, invited them to meet in the Edinburgh Waterloo Hotel on a Wednesday of the following month at eleven o'clock "for the purpose of making the mysteries more uniform in future, and if requisite to form a Grand Court to which all provincial ones are subject, and to elect a Grand President with other office bearers."
Adding to the "mysteries," the announcement was not signed, and when a couple of interested players called at the newspaper office to identify the advertiser, the only information available was that a gentleman had handed in the notice and paid ten shillings and six pence for it in advance but had given neither his name nor address.
Nevertheless, on the specified date, 20 June, about a dozen curlers gathered at the hotel. It soon became evident that the anonymous author of the advertisement was not among them. They waited for some considerable time, not knowing what to do. Suddenly the door opened and a stranger entered, carrying some books under his arm. Throwing them on the table, he introduced himself as "Mr Cairnie of \JCurling\j Hall." The volumes he had brought were copies of his work on \Jcurling\j. No doubt he was the anonymous convener of the meeting. It was almost a foregone conclusion that those present elected him, by acclamation, president of the new Society which was officially established (with an initial membership of 28 clubs) at a subsequent meeting. Known as the Grand Caledonian \JCurling\j Club, it duly drew up rules and regulations and fixed the maximum weight of the stone, including handle and bolt at 44 lbs (19.80 kg).
When, four years after the formation of the club, Queen Victoria and her Consort, Prince Albert, visited Scotland, members took due advantage of the occasion. They invited the royal couple to a contest, which the Queen highly praised, and presented Prince Albert with a pair of exquisite \Jcurling\j stones. Subsequently the club was honored with the Royal Patronage and received permission to change its name to the Royal Caledonian \JCurling\j Club (RCCC). Ever since, it has been the ruling body of the sport throughout the world.
John Cairnie occupies the most illustrious place in the history of \Jcurling\j. Born in Renfrewshire, Scotland, in 1769, he graduated as a surgeon from Edinburgh University. After visiting China and serving in India, he settled at Largs, 43 miles (68.80 km) from Glasgow, where he introduced \Jcurling\j. In his passionate love of the game he called the home he built there "\JCurling\j Hall."
Determined to pursue the game as soon as possible, even when the ice on lochs and streams was of insufficient thickness to support the players and heavy stones, he pioneered the artificial rink. Its idea, he related, was based on a boyhood memory when, with other lads and to everyone else's annoyance and peril, he used to pour water on pavements that soon became covered with ice.
He himself began to construct the first artificial pond at Largs. However, as curlers were few in number in this part of the country and none of these was willing to help him meet the comparatively high cost, Cairnie did not complete his project. Instead, he passed the plan on to the famous Duddingston \JCurling\j Club.
Yet he was not prepared to see his own dream unrealized and in 1828 - this time at his own expense - he completed a clay pond for \Jcurling\j. After a good frost he and a party of eight friends inaugurated this new stepping stone in the sport. He was highly gratified to find that the first artificial \Jcurling\j rink in the world was equal to the best nature provided.
As soon as the ice was suitable, Cairnie hoisted a flag at \JCurling\j Hall to summon his friends to a game. When he died in 1842 (at 73 years of age), the world mourned not only the founder of the ruling body, but the greatest curler. An elegy written by his close friend, Captain Paterson, expressed the sorrow of all at his passing:
\IWhy droops the banner half-mast high,
And curlers heave the bitter sigh?
Why throughout Largs the tearful eye,
So blear'd and red?
Oh! Listen to the pour man's cry!
John Cairnie's dead!
Cairnie! Thy name by land or seas
Shall never die.\i
From Scotland, \Jcurling\j reached Canada and the United States and spread to other parts of the world: to Sweden \JNorway\j, \JSwitzerland\j, \JNew Zealand\j, and even \JRussia\j.
#
"Curling Stones",536,0,0,0
The earliest \Jcurling\j stones were natural boulders, taken from a stream. They were irregular and square-edged. A very primitive type was the loofie. It was as flat as the human hand, which gave it its name - from the Scottish \Iloof\i for a hand. However, players soon realized that to fling the stone efficiently they needed a firmer hold on it so they cut into it, on opposite sides, holds or hollows in which they could insert the fingers and thumb. This innovation is thought to have been made around 1500.
After a period of approximately 150 years, these kuting stones, as they were called, were replaced by channel stanes. They received their name from the rock-strewn channels of rivers or brooks from which they were taken. Nature had smoothed them through the centuries with water and ice. An iron handle wedged or pounded into the rock provided the curler with a much firmer grip and enabled him to lift and throw the missile more easily. To fix the handle properly, a thicker stone was needed to furnish the essential depth and, this, in turn, led to an increase in weight. At this stage the handle was fitted permanently and the stones certainly were of all sizes, weights, and shapes: triangular, square, oval, and round.
An early description refers to "some three-cornered [stones] like those equilateral cocked hats which our divines wore . . . others like ducks, others flat as a frying pan." The handles, also, were "clumsy and unelegant, being malconstructed resemblances of that hook-necked bird, the goose."
Individual stones became famous and a few are still treasured by the Royal Caledonian Club. They bore distinctive names, often linked with some conspicuous (or imagined) feature, such as "The Horse," "The Hen," "The Saddle," "The Barn," and "The Kirk." Opinions differed as to the reason for the naming of yet another stone "The \JBible\j." Some pointed to its square appearance as being 'bookish' and, of course, to the pious Scot, "the Book" was the \JBible\j. Others felt that a stone so named would have extra, mysterious power, since it was called after Holy Scripture.
Those early stones were individually marked, which helped to prove the antiquity of the game and gave special encouragement to those engaged in digging up the past. Specimens of giant stones, weighing 117 lbs (52.65 kg) have been discovered. One, of blue whinstone bears the inscription "A GIFT" in Roman capitals and the date - 1511 - and is considered the oldest preserved \Jcurling\j stone in the world so far unearthed.
The stone with its fixed handle was not the ultimate product. Other stones evolved. No longer rough boulders, as supplied and moulded by nature, they were the result of skilled handiwork. By 1800 stones were both round and polished.
A problem that beset \Jcurling\j enthusiasts arriving in far-off settlements was the absence of the right kind of stone. Reluctant to forgo their pastime, they searched for a substitute for granite, which was far too costly to import. The Royal Montreal Club, for instance, (established in 1807 and the earliest recorded in Canada) curled with "irons."
The story is told that after Quebec had been captured by Wolfe's army, soldiers (most probably the convalescent, wounded, and sick) were keen to curl, but were unable to obtain granite. So an ingenious infantry man melted down iron cannon balls and forged copies of the genuine \Jcurling\j stones. There was no limit to the weight of the "irons," which ranged from 45 to 115 lbs (20.25 kg to 51.75 kg). In \JOntario\j, however, where Scottish settlers were able to obtain granite from river beds, players soon realized that the poor-quality local stone made it unfit for the game. They thus began to mould their own hardwood "stones" which they ringed with iron to make them heavy enough.
For many years the game was played in different parts of the world with a great variety of stones - granite, timber, and iron - until finally the modern, standard \Jcurling\j stone was adopted everywhere. It weighed 44 lbs (19.80 kg) and was completely circular and had a detachable handle. Yet it introduced another feature it could be used either side up, one side being rough and the other smooth, and the player chose the side which best suited to the condition of the ice.
The rock island of Ailsa Craig, at the mouth of the Firth of Clyde, was the most famous source of the best granite, which was exported across the seas for making \Jcurling\j stones. A legend told that whenever the last of Ailsa Craig's granite had been used up, the end of the world would have come. However, even legends have a way of becoming obsolete and the manufacture of synthetic, composite stones, with all the properties essential for \Jcurling\j, assures that life will go on - just as \Jcurling\j will - even when Ailsa Craig is no more.
#
"Curling Terminology",537,0,0,0
\JCurling\j has been described (to the indignation of curlers themselves) as "lawn bowling on ice." Some authorities claim that it arose out of that summer game which had already been popular for centuries among the Scots. Undoubtedly, man's need of exercise in cold weather led to the sport's inception. The sight of thick layers of ice, his innate love of hurling stones and pleasure in seeing them slide along a smooth surface were all contributing factors.
\JCurling\j is the Scots' national game and wherever they went - climate permitting - they introduced the pastime. However, their anger has been aroused by a suggestion that \Jcurling\j was not indigenous to their country but imported either from the north (\JIceland\j) or from the south (the Netherlands), where 450 years ago games very similar to the earliest forms of \Jcurling\j (which were akin to quoit - pitching) did exist. It was asserted that either Flemish migrants had brought it to Scotland sometime during the sixteenth century or Scottish travelers themselves had brought it back on their return from visits to the Low Countries (or \JIceland\j).
The only testimony offered in support was the vocabulary of the sport. The majority of its terms, it was pointed out, were foreign - mostly Dutch or German. The word curl itself, it was claimed, was derived from the German \IKurzweil,\i denoting a pastime and amusement. Therefore, \Jcurling\j merely meant - very generally - to play for pleasure. Equally, kuting (also spelled coiting or quoiting), an early alternative term for the sport in Scotland, came, it was said, from the Teutonic \Ikluyten\i and referred to a contest with \Jquoits\j (lumps or balls) on a frozen plain. The word \IBonspiel,\i describing a \Jcurling\j match, was obviously foreign and made up of the French \Ibon\i (good) and the German \ISpiel\i (play).
Some critics were adamant that the solitary fact of the existence of foreign words proved nothing, and that such etymological evidence was as slippery a game as \Jcurling\j itself. Although in fact similar kinds of ice sports were played in the Low Countries four and a half centuries ago (in \JIceland\j, people then enjoyed a game played on ice with "bowls"), there was no proof whatsoever, these critics said, that either was the father of the game which for at least 400 years had been played in Scotland. However, they acceded that only during the middle of the eighteenth century did it become the country's truly national game.
To make an effective shot, curlers learned to deliver the stone with a certain twist which made it rotate, swerve, and curl. It was this twisting, undulating motion of the stone which most probably was responsible for the sport's name.
James IV (1473-1513) was the first Scottish king linked with the sport but no literary mention appears of the game in that country before 1600. Tradition relates that he had ordered a silver \Jcurling\j stone for which men were to play annually. Although there is no historical evidence to support the assertion, a toast proposed in 1844 at a meeting of the Jacobite Society in honor of the then Prince of Wales suggests that James Vl of Scotland (who became James I of England) was "a keen, keen curler who knew how to keep his own side of the rink and to sweep."
The proposer of the toast suggested that the Royal Grand Club should take the young prince in hand to make him follow his illustrious ancestor's example and "thoroughly initiate him into all the mysteries of that health-giving, strength-renovating, nerve-bracing, blue-devil-expelling, incomparable game of \Jcurling\j." To neglect this responsibility would certainly contribute to royal degeneracy and entirely 'bungle the Prince's education."
There are no historical facts to prove that James VI really was proficient in the game. Nevertheless, the toast highlights the place \Jcurling\j had come to occupy in Scotland's life in the middle of the last century.
Clergymen, particularly, must have enjoyed \Jcurling\j from earliest days. They were even accused of \Jcurling\j on the sacred Sabbath. Presbyterians at the Glasgow assembly in 1638 indicted the Bishop of Orkney of the Episcopal church of the offense, though the charge was dismissed. Clergymen were the authors of classical treatises on the sport. The earliest historical account of it in existence is that of the Rev. John Ramsay. It was published in Edinburgh in 1811. The most monumental work on \Jcurling\j was written by the Rev. John Kerr in 1890.
William Guthrie, another minister of the same century, was such an expert curler, that his admirers expressed the prayerful wish that "his memory live forever among us, for a worthier than he never lifted the channel stane." A further reference to the game at that time was made by J. Wallace, also a clergyman, at Kirkwell. He gave his flock helpful information about sites where "excellent stones for the game . . . could be found in great plentie."
Through the centuries \Jcurling\j conquered more and more Scottish hearts, helping to lighten Scotland's grim winter and warming frozen limbs.
The Highlanders have always been renowned for their love of feats of strength. As they knew how to throw the hammer and toss the caber, so they learned to curl. In winter it was only natural for them to transfer their contests of strength and skill to the icy surface of tarns and lochs.
Moreover, \Jcurling\j was democratic and excluded professionalism. It was played solely for the love of the game. Its excitement and exhilaration were sufficient to ban nefarious practices often associated with other games. Gambling and betting were strictly outlawed. A modern guide to the game, issued from \JWinnipeg\j, its Canadian center, affirms an ancient tradition when it declares that "the heart of \Jcurling\j is its incomparable spirit. Without that spirit, \Jcurling\j is just another pastime. Played in that spirit, it is the king of all games. The spirit of \Jcurling\j is reflected in its most cherished traditions. Curlers play the games to win, but not to humble their opponents. Every \Jcurling\j game ends with a hearty handclasp of friendship and good will to both teammates and opponents."
#
"Curry Favor",538,0,0,0
Whoever seeks to gain special advantage by excessively flattering an influential person is said "to curry favor." Though the meaning of the phrase is clear, its origin has been misunderstood. It is rarely realized that the expression was born in the stable!
The "favor" in this case is the corrupted name of Favel (or Fauvel), a legendary chestnut mare and subject of a fourteenth century French satire. Highly prized, she was well looked after. To curry, a term also derived from the French and in no way connected with Indian curry, described the grooming and rubbing down of a horse, a meaning still recalled in the curry comb used for this purpose. "To curry Favel" therefore expressed the special care and concern shown to the horse.
When, eventually, the English adopted the phrase, they misunderstood and distorted the French, rendering it in their tongue "to curry favor." Thus the \Jmetaphor\j became totally divorced from its original equestrian context.
#
"Curtsy",539,0,0,0
The curtsy in our time is a slight bend of the knee and lowering of the body. It is a custom reserved for women only.
It is the last remnant of the days, not so long ago, when woman was considered inferior to man and was expected to bow down in his presence as a sign of subservience. The curtsy, as practised now, is the last relic of complete genuflection.
Curtsy and courtesy seem such near relatives. They almost sound alike. But in reality they are worlds apart. A curtsy belongs much more to the shameful history of female degradation than to books on etiquette. Perhaps Lewis Carroll was not just being funny when, seeing "Through the Looking Glass," he explained that a woman, while curtsying, may think what to say, which would save time.
#
"Curvature of the Eye's Lenses",540,0,0,0
A seventeenth-century German Jesuit, Christopher Scheiner, was the first to recognize the curvature of the eye's lens. The peculiar facility of the lens to accommodate itself to focus clearly on objects at different distances was his discovery as well. To demonstrate his findings, he devised a "pin hole" test which, in acknowledgment of his work, was called after him, the \IScheiner test.\i
The priest was indeed one of the great pioneers in physiological \Joptics\j.
#
"Cut and Dried",541,0,0,0
Things arranged and finalized without a chance of change are said to be "cut and dried." The phrase originated in the processing of timber. Once cut and dried, it was ready for use.
Another suggestion, giving the words a completely different slant, links them with the practice of seventeenth-century herbalists. They sold their remedies not in the form of freshly-picked plants, but prepared for immediate consumption or application: cut and dried.
#
"Cutting the Wedding Cake",542,0,0,0
The cutting of the wedding cake follows a prescribed ritual. Whilst the bride holds the knife, the groom places his hand on hers, slightly pressing it down, so that jointly they make the cut. The action expresses their new unity and their complete sharing of everything that is to come. Magically, it is thought to ensure their togetherness for life.
The cake, once cut, is shared with all the guests. Even absent friends will receive their mini-slice by mail. This is not a mere act of courtesy. Its origin is the belief in the magic sharing of happiness by association. No matter how tiny, the piece as an integral part of the cake had participated in the fulfillment of love. Good luck therefore was now attached to it. That is why unmarried girls used to take home their piece, to put it under their pillow to sleep on it. They were convinced that endowed with occult power, it would send them the man of their dreams.
#
"Cycle Racing Evolution",543,0,0,0
Almost from the very beginning of \Jcycling\j, people in many countries realized the cycle's great potentialities for racing. Early competitions were very informal and, naturally, aimed at covering a distance in record time. The formation of clubs stimulated the sport. In \JFrance\j, for instance, contests were held every Sunday.
The first official \Jcycling\j race on record took place at Hendon, England, in 1868. \JFrance\j did not lag far behind. In the same year, a French manufacturer organized a 1,200 meter race. In 1869, an International Road Race, open to all, extended from Paris to \JRouen\j, starting at the Arc de Triomphe. Its rules make interesting reading: riders were not permitted to change machines during the race, but could employ any type - with rubber tyres, crank or gears, and wheels of all dimensions. However, competitors were not permitted "to be trailed by a dog or use sails!"
A rider's credential was an officially signed map, which he had to collect between 6 and 7 am on the day of the race, at the sponsoring firm's office. The first prize was 1,000 francs. Of 323 cyclists who entered, 200 started in the race which was staggered, because of the great number of competitors. The English cyclist James Moore (pronounced by the French as Jimmie Meere) was the winner. His machine had been manufactured in a French jail just outside Paris!
In 1883, H. L. Cortis of the United States set the first \Jbicycle\j record in the United States. Riding continuously for 24 hours, he covered 200 miles, 300 yards at a speed of just over 8 mph.
In the same year the first American road race was run - "for the championship." Within less than twelve months, Thomas Steven decided to "ride around the world" on the high wheeler. He pursued his task for two years and, on his return to the States, claimed to have cycled "everywhere where there was land."
The introduction of the pneumatic tire gave the sport its greatest impetus. Clubs grew up in many places, and races enthralled huge crowds. Astute promoters of the sport in the United States supplied - for a fee - chairs for the comfort of spectators who gathered at the finishing line. Proper stands soon replaced those improvised seats. Those who came to watch the races were soon dissatisfied with merely seeing its finish. This led to the building of special arenas with saucer-like tracks. At first, these were of level grass or cinders. With the advent of the "safety" and pneumatic tyres, tracks were constructed of cement.
Two types of competition had come into being: the encircling of the arena tracks, and road races. The latter provoked much anguish and opposition, as frequently pedestrians were knocked down and seriously injured, if not killed. Thus, authorities took strong measures, restricting races to certain hours and prohibiting the riding of a cycle on footpaths or lanes used mainly by pedestrians.
It was to promote the sport even further and to add to its excitement (as well as to make it a more profitable source of income) that the famous six-day race was devised. lt was inaugurated at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1891. It was run over 142 hours, with "Pugger Bill" the winner.
In England, the National Cyclists' Union (established in 1878, under the name of the \JBicycle\j Union) was the first association to put up danger boards and issue regulations to control cycle traffic. It held annual championships and became the controlling body of all forms of cycle racing, including record breaking on the roads and the tracks. Eventually, it was recognized by the lnternational \JCycling\j Union, the world body of the sport. This had been formed in 1900 with its headquarters in Paris, to become generally known by the abbreviation of its French name as the UCI.
That is how, through the years, the various types of racing evolved, with men either riding against the clock or against each other.
#
"Cycling History",544,0,0,0
Man has always sought to cover distance at a pace faster than walking. Once he had invented the wheel, he thought of rolling his weight along, instead of carrying it on his own two feet. The idea of propelling himself by means of wheels must have entered man's mind early. In fact, \Jcycling\j enthusiasts of last century were convinced that some crude form of "\Jcycling\j" existed in ancient days, and in 1895 Luther H. Porter wrote:
\IWhen we consider the inferior means of locomotion possessed by man, the dissatisfaction he has always felt with the limitations of his own gait, the vast importance to him of means of rapid progression . . . it is impossible not to believe that he long ago endeavored to discover means of propelling himself rapidly by the aid of some simple mechanical contrivance.\i
Early Babylonian and Egyptian representations as well as frescoes excavated at \JPompeii\j, seemed to confirm this opinion. Most frequently referred to is a \Jstained glass\j window, dated 1642, in a church at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, England (20 miles - 32 km - from London), the village immortalized by its churchyard, which had suggested to the poet Thomas Gray his famous "Elegy." This "cycle window," as it came to be called, depicts a cherub seated on a two-wheeled chariot! How it moved about was left to the viewers' imagination by the Italian artist who made it. It may be that the cherub used some \Jsupernatural\j motive power, or, as others have claimed, advanced by the rider pushing his feet against the ground.
The first really known attempt to ride a sort of cycle dates to 1690, when a Frenchman, the Chevalier M. de Sivrac, contrived a machine consisting of two wooden wheels with upright posts on their sides, which were connected by a backbone. The people of Paris could well stare. The \IcΘlΘrifΦre,\i as it was called, could not be steered, and hence had to follow a straight course with the rider sitting very uncomfortably astride the crossbar, pushing himself along with his feet striking the ground alternately, in a manner somewhat akin to skating. No wonder, this "bike' was doomed to failure and soon disappeared.
After others had made several attempts at improvement, all of them short-lived, a Frenchman and a German both became renowned as the true fathers of the modern \Jbicycle\j. Each claimed "the child" as his very own and there was an acrimonious controversy between their two nations. Quite likely, it was all a matter of coincidence. It is not uncommon in the history of invention that two men, unknown to each other, have conceived the same idea, on occasion at the same time.
The Frenchman's claim goes back to 1816. M. Niepce was a pioneer of photography. Possibly with Sivrac's contraption in mind, he built a machine that, because of its speed, he called a celeripede. It was a simple device of two equal-sized wooden wheels connected by a bar upon which the rider sat and pushed himself forward by "walking." The new machine differed from Sivrac's significantly: it could be steered! In the artistic tradition of \JFrance\j and in keeping with her people's love of ornamentation, the inventor carved on the connecting bar of his machine likenesses of animals and snakes. Frequently, he chose the figure of a horse, and thus, this early model of the cycle became known as a \Ihobby horse.\i
In \JGermany\j, Baron Karl von Drais, almost simultaneously constructed a cycle which also could be steered by means of a handle and a pivot incorporated in the front wheel.
Drais was a forest warden, employed by the Duke of \JBaden\j. His hobby was making all kinds of gadgets, which led his friends to nickname him the "professor of mechanics." His chief duty, of course, was to inspect the woods, a task which, because of their extent, became tedious. As he had not the means to own a horse, his love of gadgetry and his fertile mind combined to move in mysterious ways in a quest for mechanical transport. He asked himself whether it was not possible to accelerate, and thereby shorten, his patrols by inventing a man-made "horse" - some wheeled contraption suitable for bridle paths. That is how, tradition says, he came to build his steerable "hobby horse."
He joined two small carriage wheels in tandem to a wooden spine, adding a saddle with a back-rest for comfort. His system of locomotion broke no new ground - he struck his feet alternately forward, but, in between, he was able to "coast" along. His scientific bent soon impelled him to publish comparative figures, pointing out, for instance, that whereas it might take four hours to cover a certain distance on foot, he could complete the journey on his machine in one hour.
Drais' chubby figure was frequently seen on his machine in the streets. He wore a green, military coat with gold buttons, and \Jperspiration\j often ran down his red face as he pushed his bike. People were greatly intrigued by the invention, but it did not take them long to raise objections. In fact, they demanded its removal from the thoroughfares of their city, pointing out that events had unfortunately proved that the new-fangled monstrosity threatened them in life and limb. The machine subsequently entered the history of the cycle as the draisine, being called after its inventor.
The Baron was no fool and knew its value, for all that the people resented it at the time. On 12 January 1818, he obtained from his ducal lord and master a patent protecting his rights. This read:
\IWe, by the Grace of God, Grand Duke of \JBaden\j ... grant to Karl, Baron von Drais, for his invention of the tread machine an invention patent for ten years' duration: that nobody may copy or have copied in the land of the Grand Duchy, or shall use this on public streets or places without having first agreed on it with the inventor and to have received proof of this transaction from him.\i
In the very year that Drais took out his patent in \JGermany\j, Dennis Johnson, a coachmaker of Long Acre, introduced the \Jbicycle\j from \JFrance\j into England. In London, he established a school to teach people how to ride the new "pedestrian curricle." The cost of the machine was far beyond the reach of ordinary men and women. Dandies, however, took great delight in showing off their "hobby horse," which led to pedestrians calling it a \Idandy horse.\i Eventually riding one became almost a mania and Johnson's business began to flourish.
Then, suddenly, it flagged. There were two reasons for this. It was thought that the continuous pushing action caused varicose veins! However, it was public ridicule that really "punctured" the new sport. But not for long. Cyclists again were awheel, although they had no reason to take pleasure in the tiring "scooting" method of propulsion. They sought something better. One of the first devices to mechanize the \Jbicycle\j's movement was a type of gear attached to the front wheel and pulled by a rope. This system was in fact cumbersome and exhausting and often led to the rider falling off the bike. Some completely different idea was needed. It was the ingenious Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a Scottish blacksmith of Dumfries, who supplied the solution, and he was the first to adopt crank-driving.
In 1840 Kirkpatrick Macmillan built a cycle with pedals, for the first time enabling cyclists to ride with both their feet continuously off the ground. Another new feature of his machine was a kind of mudguard, though most probably the inventor designed it to safeguard the rider against getting dangerously involved with the driving wheel.
Macmillan rode his machine to Glasgow in two days - a distance of 80 miles (128 km). Its prototype can be seen at the South Kensington Museum in London. He was able to attain speeds up to 14 mph (22.40 km/h) and, to the dismay of drivers and passengers, on many occasions he overtook the local stage-coach. Enthralled by his invention, he indulged in all sorts of tricks, such as coasting downhill, standing in the saddle, and while steering with one hand, holding a girl on his shoulder with the other.
Not infrequently, his many experimental and promotional rides led him into conflict with the police, who prosecuted him for "furious driving on the road." Once he knocked down a girl, was duly arrested and fined five shillings. On another occasion he was stopped by a constable for riding on the footpath. Being a canny Scot, he won the policeman over by treating him to a display of fancy riding, with the result that he was let off and got away - scot-free!
Further advance in the evolution of the cycle was made, once again, in \JFrance\j, when E. Michaux, of Paris began to construct the original "boneshaker" in 1865. This was designed by Pierre Lallement, a mechanic employed by Michaux's firm. Its main feature was that the front wheel (larger than the rear wheel) was driven by a crank, fixed on its axle. The wheels themselves were still made of wood, but had iron tyres. When Lallement migrated to the United States, he patented his model there.
In England at about this time, the Coventry Sewing Machine Company began to manufacture the Michaux type of machine. Most of their products were exported to \JFrance\j, but when the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War made further delivery impossible, and in fact, stopped all orders, the firm, then trading under the name of the Swift Cycle Company Ltd, was forced to seek a home market. These circumstances established the industry in Britain and the English became truly \Jbicycle\j-conscious.
Further improvements in the machine were to come. These included the introduction of wire-spoked wheels and the substitution of India rubber for the iron tyres. The remaining wooden parts were dispensed with and the entire frame, wheels, and spokes were made of iron. Tubular frames were adopted to reduce the weight of the machine. For the first time a chain and gears made their appearance. However, they were fixed to the front wheel.
To gain greater velocity without increasing the pedaling speed, the front wheel was gradually enlarged, with the size of the back wheel diminishing proportionally. This difference in circumferences eventually reached record dimensions. One rider, it is said, even suggested that the front wheel should be 52 inches high, while the rear one should be as low as six inches! This type of bike has always been known as the penny-\Jfarthing\j.
#
"Cyclone Tracy",545,0,0,0
Forty-seven men, women and children were killed by \JCyclone\j Tracy which, very early on Christmas Day in 1974, almost totally devastated Darwin. Half of its population was made homeless, with 90 per cent of its buildings being damaged or destroyed.
The \Jcyclone\j hit the town at 10 o'clock on Christmas Eve, and lasted for four hours with wind gusts reaching 259 kilometers per hour, the highest ever recorded on the Australian mainland. It was one of the worst natural disasters to have struck an Australian town.
More evocative of the loss suffered and grief caused than any memorial set up in a public square could be, is the simple stone on the grave of a young girl, one of the \Jcyclone\j's victims, in the McMillan Road Cemetery:
\IPORTMAN
To the Memory of
Our loved Daughter & Sister
SUZANNE MARY
Died During \JCyclone\j Tracy
25th Dec. 1974
Aged 8 Years
R I.P.\i
#
"D.O.M",546,0,0,0
Unmistakably, Benedictine liqueur carries a religious flavor. Everyone knows of the Benedictine monks. They merited thus to be honored, as it was a member of their Order who, at the French Abbey of Fecamp in 1510, first blended the drink. It contains a mixture of various herbs, fruit peels, aromatic plants, and a fine cognac. The exact formula however, has never been revealed. Closely guarded, its secret is confined to a maximum of three initiates.
The initials D.O.M. appearing on the Benedictine label are so well known that people mistake them for a trademark. In reality, theirs is not a commercial but a religious meaning. They dedicate the product "To God, Most Good, Most High." In its original Latin, the language of the Christian Church then, it is \IDeo Optimo Maximo.\i
#
"Dago",547,0,0,0
Nicknames are labels stuck on people, difficult to remove, whose effect may therefore be potent.
In the realm of nicknames, St James, \JSpain\j's patron saint, experienced a fate totally different from that of St Patrick and St David. Whilst \IPaddy\i and \ITaffy\i are always used affectionately, not so \IDago\i (the corrupted form of \IDiego,\i the Spanish for \IJames),\i which was applied contemptuously, at first to Spaniards, later also to Italians.
St James' association with \JSpain\j derives from a tradition that this first \JApostle\j to die for the Christian faith, had visited the country to preach the Gospel there. Additionally, there is a legend that, after his death in the Holy Land, his remains had miraculously reached \JSpain\j and been buried at Compostela, around which arose a city called after him, Santiago (from \JSan Diego\j).
Through the saint's fame, it became a center of pilgrimage for the whole of western Europe. Crowded by the faithful from many lands, it was called the Mecca of \JSpain\j.
No wonder that Spaniards came to favor the saint's name for their sons. Soon there were so many Diegos about, that foreigners identified their name generally with any Spaniard. Its sacred roots forgotten, the name, in its corrupted form, \IDago,\i ultimately found its present place in the category of derogatory nicknames.
#
"Damask and Gauze",548,0,0,0
Damask and gauze are typical examples of the many and varied products called after the location either where they were first manufactured or from which they were initially exported.
During the \JCrusades\j, fighting frequently extended to Damascus. And it was from there that the Crusaders brought home to Europe a new type of cloth. In reference to its place of origin, it became known as \Idamask.\i
Gauze, on the other hand, owes its name to the city of Gaza, situated on the southern coastal plain of the Holy Land. This light and thinly woven fabric proved most suitable for clothing worn in the hot climate of that region. The texture of the material also ideal for the dressing of wounds.
Two biblical towns thus continue to play a significant role not only in modern history but in clothing and bandaging.
#
"Danger of a Little Knowledge",549,0,0,0
The well-known \Jepigram\j that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" misquotes Alexander Pope, its author. What he actually wrote (in 1711) in his \IEssay on Criticism\i was that "a little learning is a dangerous thing."
#
"Danger of Being Counted",550,0,0,0
That people nowadays, and particularly women getting on in years, are loathe to reveal their age, is easily understood. Everyone likes to stay young.
But no immediate, satisfactory explanation is apparent for the odd biblical account of the disastrous effect of the \Jcensus\j taken by King David to establish the exact number of his men of war. He did so against the advice of Joab, his chief in command (II Sam. 24 and I Chron. 21).
The \JBible\j very factually reports that the moment the "counting of heads" had been completed, a plague broke out which killed 70,000 men within three days. It further significantly mentions that David had embarked on the entire venture because Satan had enticed him "to count the people."
This "motivation" is the key which helps to understand the true and original reason for people's general resistance throughout the ages against "taking stock" of any kind. They were most reticent to reveal or even take count themselves of their "vital" statistics, whether this concerned their age, their fortune, or the population of their country.
Even in our modern "enlightened" era, a custom prevails among some Jewish people who, if asking a person's age, preface their inquiry by saying, "up to 120." This odd sort of remark is really meant as a kind of countermagic to annul any possible harm caused by revealing the number of years one had lived so far.
By giving away the number - of your years, your fortune, or your population - just like once upon a time by revealing your "real" name, you delivered yourself (or the people) into the power of the devil. Knowing the "right number," one gained power over the person to whom the figure not only referred but who it actually represented.
Figures were not just a matter of mental calculation or cold statistics. They were identified with the individual to whom they belonged. Whoever discovered the numbers "possessed" the person and could manipulate his fate, for better or - mostly - for worse.
#
"Daphne and the Laurel Bush",551,0,0,0
Greek \Jmythology\j pictures the gods as being very human, particularly in romance, and not least so Apollo. He fell in love with Daphne, a river god's daughter, who was a nymph of great beauty. He pursued her passionately. Daphne, determined to remain a virgin, tried to escape his advances - without success. Desperate, she called for help from her father, who arrived at the very moment when the great god was about to seduce her. To save his daughter, he transformed her into a laurel bush. This has been known ever since by her name - \IDaphne,\i the Greek for "laurel."
#
"Darwin and Atheism",552,0,0,0
Darwin was not an atheist as has been suggested. The many violent and scurrilous attacks he experienced must have embittered him against established religion as he encountered it at the time. This may explain why, in spite of his many irrefutable declarations of a sincere religious faith, he expressed views which reflected \Jagnosticism\j and that, on not a few occasions, his wife had to restrain him from speaking harshly against religion. It should give much food for thought that notwithstanding the outrage and controversy his theory of evolution had caused among the orthodoxy of science and religion, at his death, Darwin was buried in the sanctified precincts of Westminster Abbey, Britain's holy shrine.
Theologians of old had proved the existence of God from the design of the world. Nothing in it was haphazard or casual. Its very construction revealed a plan and an elaborate pattern which showed it to be the work of a creator. Darwin expressed the identical thought, recognizing the awe-inspiring unity of the universe. The only difference was that he did so in terms of nature.
In many passages dispersed through his writings, Darwin affirmed his faith, his belief in God, and his practice of religion. There are many examples in his 1831-36 \IJournal of Researches into the Natural History and \JGeology\j of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World.\i Thanking the Almighty for the progress of the expedition, he looks forward to entering the \JPacific Ocean\j "where a blue sky tells one there is a heaven - a something beyond the clouds above our heads." When he recalls a Tahitian's prayer before going to sleep, he does so admiringly because the native prayed, "as a Christian should do, with fitting reverence, and without the fear of ridicule or any ostentation of piety." Speaking of his own crew, he records approvingly how none of them would ever sit down for a meal and start eating "without saying beforehand a short grace."
Darwin disagreed with the critics of Christian missionaries. He reminded them of "the march of improvement, consequent on the introduction of \JChristianity\j" in far off places which had greatly reduced "dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness." Darwin said "It was all the more striking when we remember that only sixty years since, Cook, whose excellent judgment no one will dispute, could foresee no prospect of change."
When in 1835 Darwin spent Christmas in Pahia, \JNew Zealand\j, he attended church, joining the natives in their prayers. An atheist could have never written that, "no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body."
Darwin, who as a young man had wanted to become an Anglican priest, could not understand the antagonism his thoughts created. In the final chapter of his \IOrigin of Species\i he thus wrote that he saw no good reason why the views "given in this volume should shock the religious feelings of anyone." There was nothing in his teachings to undermine the miracle of creation. Charles Kingsley, the renowned English clergyman and chaplain to Queen Victoria, in fact welcomed Darwin's theory as it gave new grandeur to the universe - "a new understanding of its mysterious law." As if to confirm his deep faith, Darwin spoke in the \IDescent of Man\i of the "ennobling belief in God."
#
"Dave of Radio Fame",553,0,0,0
\BFrederick MacDonald\b
For many years, Frederick MacDonald played the part of "Dave" in the popular radio series of Steele \JRudd\j's \IDad and Dave.\i He died on 5 October 1968 and was cremated at the Wollongong Crematorium. His remains now rest in one of its walls. The plaque covering the niche, though limited in space, does not omit to recall the role he had played so well on the air:
\IFrederick W. MacDonald
'Dave' of Stage Screen & Radio\i
#
"Days of the Week",554,0,0,0
While the years and months are the result of the observation of natural phenomena, the week owes its origin to early astrological and superstitious beliefs. There was nothing in the order of nature that suggested it but merely man's vivid imagination, his limited knowledge, and his assumption that his fate depended on the stars.
The figure 7 has always been considered holy and magical. It stood for completeness and was thought to bring luck. The seven-day week undoubtedly goes back to ancient Babylonian \Jastrology\j which linked each day with one of the seven known planets.
This scheme of dividing time into units of seven days was then adopted by the Hebrews. They did so probably during their \JBabylonian exile\j in the 6th century B.C. and purified it - temporarily - from its astrological associations.
They, in turn, brought it to \JEgypt\j. There, it is claimed, priests were the first actually to name the seven days after the planets. They assumed that the heavenly body which was in charge of the first hour of a particular day controlled the day as a whole. Thus they obtained the following list of "regents" and days: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus.
From \JEgypt\j the week found its way to the Romans, to whom it had been unknown in pre-Christian days. From them it spread all over Europe and then to England.
But in a strange kind of selection "up North" only some of the Roman names were retained. Others were replaced by their Nordic equivalent. Thus throughout every week we recall, in a peculiar mixture, pagan deities both of Roman and Teutonic lineage.
\BSaturday\b was \ISaturn's\i day. It was the planet associated with the Roman god of that name who had taken the place of the Greek god of Time. Saturn is said to have devoured all his children except three. It was imagined for a long time that people born under his star were unlucky, as they had entered the world under an evil omen.
It is perhaps more than a strange coincidence that many Sabbatical prohibitions are paralleled by regulations concerning the Roman festival of Saturn. During it law courts had to be closed, no public business could be transacted, schools went on holiday, no war could begin, and even criminals could not be punished.
\BSunday\b obviously is the day of the \Isun,\i which controls all its events. It was only in the 4th century that the Church declared it a holy day, in commemoration of the \JResurrection\j of Christ and replacing the observance of the Jewish Sabbath.
The \Imoon's\i day became \BMonday.\b
Then, suddenly and for no known reason, the English changed their system and, for the remaining four days of the week, made use not of Roman, but Norse \Jmythology\j.
\BTuesday\b was so called in honor of the Scandinavian god of war - \ITiw.\i Formerly, he had been a daring Norse hero who had lost his hand in a fight.
\BWednesday\b recalls the god \IWoden,\i which is the \JAnglo-Saxon\j for the better-known Odin. He was the god of storms who welcomed brave warriers to \JValhalla\j and treated them there to the delights they had most desired on earth.
His dominion extended to the realms of wisdom, poetry, and agriculture. The latter accounts for the widespread belief for many centuries, that Wednesday was specially favorable for sowing the crops.
\BThursday\b belongs to \IThor,\i god of thunder and Woden's son. Strong, brutal, and greedy, these very qualities endeared him to the people. He was famous for his hammer, which typified \Jlightning\j and thunder, his belt of strength and his iron glove with the aid of which he threw the hammer.
\BFriday\b is \IFrigga's\i day. She was Woden's wife and chief goddess and patroness of love, marriage, and fertility. Originally a moon goddess, she traveled in a chariot, drawn by two cats.
Thus every week without realizing it, we continue to honor the planet Saturn and worship the sun and the moon and pay homage to war, storm, brute force, and love.
#
"Dead As a Doornail",555,0,0,0
Originally there were no bells or buzzers on doors. To be let in to a home, people announced their arrival by hitting a large doornail with a knocker attached to the door for this purpose. Generally it is believed that this early method of seeking entry was responsible for the morbid expression "dead as a doornail." After all, a nail knocked so hard and so often, had little chance of surviving.
Much more likely, however, the phrase stems from the carpenters' craft. To make the door really sturdy to withstand the wear and tear, carpenters reinforced the wooden doorframe by hammering into it nails so deeply that these left holes above their sunken heads. To hide these, they filled them with putty. When painted over, no trace was left of the "buried" nails, just as those "dead as (those) doornails" would not be noticed.
#
"Dead Men Tell Tales",556,0,0,0
Death always has haunted man. To cope with its dread, he devised all types of precautionary measures. Many of them we continue to practice under the guise of so-called mourning customs.
The power of the dead, however, was thought to go far beyond the ability to send their spirits back from the grave to harm those who neglected to look after them properly. It was believed that the dead were specially gifted to foresee future events. No longer constrained by the limits of mortal existence, the horizon of their vision included the things to come. That is why from earliest days, man has tried to make contact with the dead to get the information he so deeply desired.
Ancient \JMesopotamia\j already practised the art, and the Assyrian magicians who engaged in it were known by the title of "raiser of the departed spirit." The famous Babylonian \IEpic of Gilgamesh\i (which influenced, if not suggested, the biblical story of Noah and the Flood) tells how the hero, aided by god, summoned Ea-bani, his dead companion. In Greek legend, Odysseus goes to \JHades\j to have his future told by Tiresias, the blind Theban seer who by then had joined the spirits of the underworld.
Greeks esteemed this pursuit so highly that according to their tradition a goddess, \JHecate\j, looked after it. No wonder that \JEuripides\j, the great Greek dramatist of the fourth century B.C. referred to her as "the queen of the phantom world."
Necromancy became almost a permanent feature, practised in every generation of man. The term itself means literally in Greek "prophecy" \I(manteia)\i by the "dead" \I(nekros).\i With its roots in antiquity, it survives in the ritual of the sΘance in which the medium claims to commune with the spirits on "the other side."
A well-known example of necromancy is in the \JBible\j. Unfortunately, like other of biblical stories and records, it has come down to us rather slanted and inaccurate. And certainly not accidentally so! The incident, of course, is that which tells of King Saul on the eve of the battle of Gilboa - the decisive confrontation of the Israelite forces with the powerful Philistine foe. Saul was greatly perturbed and worried about the final outcome. Disguised as an ordinary man, he called on a woman who he had been told was able to contact the dead. He hoped that by her occult gift she would gain for him (from dead Samuel) the information he sought.
The \JHebrew\j text refers to her simply as "a master of \Iov."\i \IOv,\i from the Hittite, is a very appropriate term in the circumstances. Originally, it described the "pit" out of which the spirits of the dead were thought to rise. Eventually, \Iov\i became the description of those very spirits. Thus, literally, the passage spoke of the woman as "a master of the spirits" or, as we would say in modern parlance - a medium.
The Authorized Version of the \JBible\j of 1611, however, (mis)translated the phrase and called the woman "a witch!" And as such, as "the witch of Endor," she has survived in people's minds ever since, though the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j, of course, never said so.
Certainly, the translators did not choose the term deliberately to falsify Scripture. But at the same time a person gifted with psychic power was regarded as being in league with the devil and therefore considered (and condemned) as a witch. And that is how, without compunction, the translators submitted to the prevalent opinion and rendered the text accordingly. They changed its meaning and did so without even indicating that what was presumed to convey the literal wording, was in fact a paraphrase which fitted in so well with the attitude (and \Jprejudice\j) of the age!
The Revised Version somehow mitigated the calumniation. Yet even its rendering of the passage remains inexact. It changed the (non-existent) "witch" of 1611 into "a woman that has a familiar spirit."
No doubt, the woman of Endor was a medium who practised necromancy. The \JBible\j further relates how she actually succeeded in contacting Samuel's spirit. He foretold - accurately - the imminent total defeat of the Israelite forces and the death in battle of Saul himself and his sons.
(Mis)translations, indeed, can play havoc. And it was not only the non-existent witchy part of the original \JHebrew\j text that has left its permanent imprint. Necromancy seemed to be fated. When the Greek term eventually was expressed in Italian, it appeared there as \Inigramancia\i which became known as "the black art."
Undoubtedly, many of the features that accompanied attempts to contact the dead appear obnoxious and terrifying to the healthy mind. They included the desecration of graves and exhumation of bodies, preferably of people recently buried. Murders were actually committed to use the corpse, in all its freshness (and possibly youth) to reach the realm of the dead, to gain from there a knowledge of the future.
Through the ages, a vast and exacting ritual was developed to summon the dead, and it was applied by the sorcerers who became experts in necromancy. They made use of magic circles, special bells, an altar and tripod, magnetized iron, the sign of the pentagram, and mystical incantations - to mention just a few!
#
"Dead Reckoning",557,0,0,0
Death - so ubiquitous - has even intruded spheres where it does not belong. Its presence in naval terminology is merely fictitious. There is nothing fatal in "dead reckoning."
A system of measuring at sea, its deadly association has been totally misunderstood. For many centuries, when still lacking modern navigational aids, boats far away from land charted their course by purely theoretical calculations. They established their position by taking into account the distance and direction they had traveled, making due allowance for currents and tidal streams. For at least 400 years, this system was described as "deduced reckoning." As this was a rather lengthy and learned term, sailors shortened it. Both in speech and in their logbook entry, they referred to it as "ded. reckoning," a description which to ordinary people made no sense. Not realizing that \Ided\i was an abbreviation, they wrongly took it to stand for "dead."
Others believe that "dead" reckoning went back much further, to the very days when large parts of the ocean were still uncharted. Not knowing how far the waters reached, sailors then referred to the "unknown sea" as "dead."
#
"Deadline",558,0,0,0
To meet a "deadline" is a somewhat gruesome description for the urgency of a task, oddly employed nowadays by authors, journalists, and many others.
Originally, however, the phrase was not a mere \Jmetaphor\j, but very real. It goes back to the \JAmerican Civil War\j and to Andersonville in Georgia (some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Macon), the site of the notorious prisoner-of-war camp established by the Confederate forces.
It covered an area of less than 16 acres (6.6 ha) and lacked proper sanitation. At times, 30,000 men were jammed into the stockade - without sufficient food. Between February 1864 and its closure in April 1865 more than 45,000 members of the Union army were confined in it. Thirteen thousand captives perished from disease, overcrowding, exposure, \Jmalnutrition\j, or other unidentified causes.
The agonies suffered generated enormous bitterness and anger. Captain Henry Wirz, its commandant, a Swiss mercenary, was described as a vicious sadist, a monster, and a beast. At the abandonment of the camp, he was arrested and, once hostilities had ceased, was tried by a military court. Found guilty, he was executed for his war crimes. Later historians have attempted to exonerate him, attributing the horrible conditions of his camp to circumstances beyond his control.
The prison was surrounded by an almost impregnable palisade. Sentry boxes, nicknamed "pigeon roosts," were positioned all along its top. It was said that they afforded the guards "a comfortable place in which to stand and watch what was going on inside the camp."
Parallel to the stockade, wooden stakes, driven into the ground at intervals formed an imaginary line, beyond which no prisoner was permitted to proceed. Whoever did so nevertheless, in an unsuccessful bid to make a run for freedom, was shot dead on sight. No wonder that the imaginary boundary became known as the deadline - the first in history.
#
"Death and Mourning",559,0,0,0
Life is a continuous progress toward death. The latest drug may extend man's life-span by many years, but it cannot remove the inevitability of his passing. Thus, Victor Hugo could comfort the condemned criminal, standing in the shadow of the \Jguillotine\j, by saying that "all men are condemned to death - only the date of execution is uncertain."
The mystery of death puzzled and haunted the primitive savage as much as modern man. Was death merely a portal to a further existence, a gate through which man had to pass, or complete \Jextinction\j?
Mourning is a universal reaction to death, but the way we express our grief varies widely. Likewise, several factors account for man's sorrow which is not just, as we believe, the result of piety and loving remembrance of the departed.
There are psychological reasons. These include an unconscious but healthy desire to externalize sorrow which otherwise might cause serious harm to the bereaved.
People are sorry for themselves. They have lost a companion and are all the poorer for it. Ashamed to admit that it is for their own selves and their loneliness that they mourn, they rationalize their grief.
Many of our present mourning customs, however, are a legacy of obsolete fears of the dead and of their power to haunt and harass the living.
#
"Decades and Centuries",560,0,0,0
A miscalculation advances the beginning of a new century or decade by an entire year. The twentieth century did not start, as commonly assumed, on January 1, 1900, nor did the decade of the 90s begin on January 1, 1990.
A century, as its name suggests, lasts a full 100 years. As the first century started on January 1 A.D. 1, the cycle of a hundred years was completed on December 31, 100.
Consequently, the second century could not begin until January 1, 101. All subsequent centuries, to run their full time, must follow suit. To conform, the same reckoning must apply to decades. Just as the twentieth century started on January 1, 1901, the 90s began in 1991.
#
"Decaf Coffee and Sleep",561,0,0,0
Decaffeinated \Jcoffee\j, really a contradiction in terms, has most of the \Jcaffeine\j removed. Nevertheless, it still retains a minute amount of the stimulant. Even this smallest of quantity might prevent those highly susceptible to \Jcaffeine\j from going to sleep.
#
"December",562,0,0,0
Derived from \Idecem,\i the Latin for ten, the name December referring to the last, and twelfth, month of the year, is as inappropriate in its modern context as are the names of the preceding three months.
#
"December 10",563,0,0,0
\BThe Nobel Prize Awards: An Anniversary of Death as a Day of Celebration\b
The annual award of the \JNobel Prizes\j takes place on 10 December. It is the day on which, in 1896, Alfred Nobel died in his villa at San Remo, \JItaly\j, at the age of 63. The first distribution of awards did not take place till 1901.
Nobel's legacy amounted to nine million dollars. Invested in safe securities, the accruing interest was to provide money for awards "to five persons, regardless of nationality, for valuable contributions to the welfare of humanity."
The actual ceremonies for the presentation of the awards are subject to special provisions. Those winning the prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine (which includes \JPhysiology\j) and Literature are honored at a brilliant ceremony in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is bestowed separately, in Oslo. There is a valid reason for this. \JNorway\j was respected throughout the world for its impartiality and no nation would doubt that the five representatives appointed by its parliament would make a fair and unbiased selection of the person who had done most in the service of peace during the preceding year. Each prize winner (both in Stockholm and Oslo) receives a gold medal, an illuminated diploma and an envelope containing a \Jpromissory note\j for the prize money.
Some extraordinary features distinguish Alfred Nobel's life, death and bequest. Nobel's invention of dynamite gave new impetus to the war industry and was responsible for the deaths of countless people. It has, therefore, been suggested that he established the peace award principally to salve his conscience and in expiation of the evil that his inventive genius had bequeathed to the world.
Paradoxically, Nobel himself had never thought much about the giving of any prize. In fact, he denigrated those he received himself. They had not been awarded to him, he maintained, for true merit, but merely because he had the right kind of connections with the people that mattered, or had entertained them lavishly.
A wealthy man, Nobel was determined that none of his family should benefit from his fortune. This was not out of personal acrimony, but because of his conviction that unearned money never brought happiness: "Inherited wealth is a misfortune which merely dulls man's faculties." His family's loss became mankind's gain.
Nobel drew up his final will a mere two weeks before his death. He did so, not in a solicitor's office in a formal document, but on a torn half-sheet of paper at a \Jcoffee\j table in a Parisian cafe. No one else was aware of its contents until four days after his death! His own family had no knowledge that any will existed, and therefore no inkling of its provisions.
#
"December 31",564,0,0,0
\BNew Year's Eve\b
An atmosphere of hilarity distinguishes the New Year's eve celebrations. Farewelling the old year, people welcome the new year boisterously, feasting and drinking until the revelries reach their climax at the stroke of midnight.
What is no longer understood is that all the fun and noise originated in fear. People believed that on the night of the last day of the year all evil spirits were let loose and devilish forces were all around. From very early times, then, they used every possible means to drive the evil spirits away, so that they could start the New Year unharmed and unimpeded.
Those evil spirits, as the servants of the forces of darkness, were, it was thought, afraid of light. To scare them away, people set off fireworks. The demons were thought to be equally averse to noise. It made them turn tail! At midnight, then, the most critical moment of all, people combined to produce a deafening racket.
The practice survives in the present New Year custom of ringing church bells, blowing horns, sounding sirens and exploding fire crackers on the stroke of midnight.
The New Year's eve celebrations thus started as an anti-demonic ritual, designed to ensure that the beginning of the New Year would be totally free from evil. The way the year started magically determined the rest of its course.
#
"December 31: 'Auld Lang Syne'",565,0,0,0
At the very end of the old year people gather to celebrate the occasion and join in singing "\JAuld Lang Syne\j." They do so standing up, crossing their arms in front of them and simultaneously clasping the hands of their neighbors on either side. Rhythmically they swing their arms in time with the nostalgic, sentimental song.
Robert Burns, who is usually credited with the words, admitted that he was not their author, but that he had first heard them sung by an old man. Deeply moved, he had adopted them for the poem he wrote in 1788. He not only entitled it "\JAuld Lang Syne\j" (meaning literally "old long since" but more freely translated as "the good old days") but he ended each verse with these words.
The melody of the song is not his either. In a letter, Burns once explained that "untill I am compleat master of a tune, in my own singing (such as it is) I never can compose for it." The melody is attributed to William Shield, a well-known composer at the time, who based it on a folk tune. Part of the \Joverture\j to his opera \IRosina,\i it was first performed in 1783 in London's Covent Garden. Shield specially stipulated that the orchestra should play it in a manner that simulated the sound of Scottish \Jbagpipes\j.
The air, the words, and the ritual all combine to make "\JAuld Lang Syne\j" a fitting and moving conclusion to the year.
#
"Decoy for a Chinese Bushranger",566,0,0,0
When in 1865 rumors of a Chinese bushranger roaming the countryside around the Tambaroora fields - between Bathurst and Mudgee - were first heard, people just laughed. How could such an outcast become an outlaw? But they were mistaken. The man was Sam Poo, \JAustralia\j's only Chinese bushranger.
A loner, Sam was shunned by other members of his race. "Him no good. Him bad man - no like," they said. Knowledge of his people's customs helped him on his first exploit when holding up ten of his own countrymen on the Mudgee road. After many months of back-breaking labor in the goldfields, they were returning to their homes. The small fortune they had gathered they kept concealed (as they would do with anything precious) under their pigtails. Sam, well aware of the hiding place, swiftly relieved them of their burden.
His initial success encouraged him to continue his career as a bushranger. Luck was with him and in a short time he was able to collect plenty of loot, both from Chinese and European victims.
To start with, the authorities did not take much notice of him. Their attitude drastically changed when Poo raped a white woman.To catch him, the police set a trap. John Ward, senior constable of the Coonabarabran police, dressed as a civilian, set himself up as a decoy. The ruse seemed to work, as on 5 February 1865, Poo too bailed him up. But in the ensuing exchange of shots, Ward was fatally wounded!
A settler who lived at Talbragar found him and took him to his house. In his later submission to the court he related how Ward, fully conscious, realized that he was dying. Deeply concerned with his family's fate, he had repeatedly asked, "What is to become of my wife and children?" - At 4 o'clock in the afternoon he passed away.
Born in Surrey, England, Ward had joined the police force in 1858 and had been in \JNew South Wales\j for 16 years.
Further details of his last moments were given by Mr Innes, who had witnessed the death and, at the request of the judge, was later to defend the murderer:
\IConstable Ward . . . asked us to pray for him. The prayers we offered up were those of the prayers of the \JChurch of England\j for the sick and dying. I read the whole service. I sent for a doctor who was 40 miles [60 km] away . . . The doctor came and remained after Ward was dead. His family were, at his request, also sent for, but they did not arrive till he was buried.\i
Ward was buried on Birriwa Station, a private property near Mudgee. The 1.5 meter high headstone on his grave, it is believed, was paid for by his widow from moneys collected for her and her five children by the people of Coonabarabran. The minister's home was close to the cemetery; to fulfill the widow's fervent wish to stay near to her husband even in death, he let her move into his house with all her family. There had been no need for dying Ward to worry about his dear one's fate.
Poo was at large for another 15 days. When he was finally caught, with the aid of a black tracker, he did not surrender without a fight. In the encounter he was seriously wounded in the head. He was taken to the Mudgee \Jhospital\j, and it took nine months for him to recover sufficiently to stand trial at Bathurst. Found guilty of murder, he was hanged in the prison on 19 December 1865. He was then 35 years of age.
Though a clergyman and the undertaker witnessed the burial of Poo's body, the site of his grave is unknown. So is the hiding place of his loot of gold. No doubt, he must have stashed it away somewhere between Gulgong and Mudgee. There it is still waiting to be discovered and recovered.
#
"Delayed Acknowledgment of a Prospector",567,0,0,0
\BRichard Greaves\b
Recognition of achievement often comes late, if ever. It took over a hundred years for one of Western \JAustralia\j's great gold discoverers to be "remembered." It was only in September 1987 that a memorial stone was erected, by the Historical Societies of Western \JAustralia\j and the Mining and Exploration Industries, on the grave of Richard Greaves in the Karrakatta Cemetery. Now at last, it records for posterity how he was:
\IThe First to Find Gold
In the Southern Cross District
1887
Pegged the First Lease
on the Eastern Goldfields\i
Those present at the unveiling of the monument on the 70 year old gravesite included surviving members of this pioneer prospector's family.
Early in life, Richard had joined his father in the gold rushes on the Victorian fields. In 1886 he had proceeded to Western \JAustralia\j. With a Perth boatbuilder, he then followed up rumors of gold deposits at Toodyay, and eventually formed a syndicate with others, to set out on a venture that was to locate a reef with the first payable gold in the eastern goldfields. Greaves died suddenly, at 62 years of age, on 17 March 1916.
#
"Dentures",568,0,0,0
Vanity has often led man astray. Dentures - from the French \Ident\i - merely refer to (a set of) "teeth." However, those in need of false teeth, not wanting to draw undue attention to the loss of their own, call the replacement dentures. The misleading term has become so much accepted that, though the owner of artificial teeth may remove them every night, his denture is firmly stuck in man's dictionary, if not in his mouth.
#
"Derivation of 'Noel'",569,0,0,0
NoΦl, the French word for Christmas, is derived from the Latin \Idies natalis,\i meaning "birthday." It became established in the English language through the popular carol, "The First NoΦl."
The word NoΦl has been the subject of fanciful folk \Jetymology\j - interpretations that go far beyond the Latin root have been ascribed to it. For instance, NoΦl was said to derive from \Inouvelles,\i the French word for the (good) "news," because this is what the birth of Jesus Christ brought to the world. Others recognized in NoΦl a corrupted rendering of the joyful claim that, with the savior's coming, everything was "now well." A third interpretation suggests that Christmas was called NoΦl because, for those who accepted Jesus Christ as the \JMessiah\j, there would be "no hell."
#
"Derrick",570,0,0,0
A whole gallery of men and women of all ages is hidden away in everyday talk and the dictionaries of all nations. Usage has so camouflaged many words that no one would expect to find behind them someone who, in some way, has enriched the language. This process was without design or intention. The mass of the people, impressed or revolted by a person's behavior, ingenuity or mode of living, seized his or her name and retained it.
Thus, Amelia Bloomer's fashion, though shrunk to shorts, survives, the fourth Earl of Sandwich's hasty meal is still popular, and Adolphe Sax's name is heard whenever the \Isax\iophone is played.
Similarly, Tsar recalls Caesar, the Count of Sade's sexual degeneration survives in sadism, and Quisling's name has become a byword. Shakespeare, once again, was so right when he said that "the evil that men do lives after them."
The ship's derrick owes its name to Thomas Derrick, of London, executioner during Queen Elizabeth's reign. His most renowned "case" was that of the Earl of Essex.
Derrick did not like the old-fashioned rope-method of hanging. He felt that there was much room for improvement. He certainly did not lack material on which to experiment. That is how eventually, he developed his new "killing machine," the device which bears his name.
Not long after his death, a hoisting apparatus was introduced. Its appearance closely resembled Derrick's gallows, and inevitably people called it a derrick, as well.
That is how innocuously a hangman's name lives on. Once used to describe a gadget applied to transport men from this world to the next, it now identifies a much less gruesome machine, a crane moving merely goods into and out of the holds of a vessel.
Derrick served in Earl of Essex's expedition against Cadiz where he was sentenced to death for rape. However, possibly aware of the man's usefulness in his peculiar trade, the Earl pardoned him, and Derrick for a long time afterwards was able to continue his grim profession.
This would have been a suitable finish to any story. But unfortunately it did not end there. However grateful Derrick had cause to be to the Earl for saving his life, the day came when he was called upon to take the life of his own benefactor. When Essex committed \Jtreason\j and Queen Elizabeth condemned him to death, Derrick himself had to execute the sentence.
But the noble blood of the traitor excluded the usual method of hanging, and beheading with an axe was considered more appropriate for his status. Derrick certainly did not like the job or the occasion. Politely he apologized to his former friend for what he was about to do: he was merely obeying orders. But then things went wrong. Inexperienced in this type of execution, Derrick had to apply the axe three times.
As a result, the huge crowd of the Earl's admirers who had come to witness his sad departure became enraged, seized Derrick, and would have killed him had not soldiers come to his rescue. Thus, for the second time, his life was preserved in order to end the lives of many others. He became notorious as "the hang man of Tyburn" and in people's minds his name became synonymous with the gallows. Thus are linked a man, a gibbet, and a crane.
#
"Dessert",571,0,0,0
That the last course on the menu closely resembles (in its spelling) a desert, might not be a mere coincidence after all. In former days, once the main course had been served and eaten, the table was completely cleared, to make room for the sweets, and that is what the dessert, from the French \Idesservier,\i says. It refers to the "removal" of all plates and dishes from the table.
#
"Deuce Meanings",572,0,0,0
Deuce, derived from the French deux, for "two," has found its way into the scoring of tennis, the playing of cards and even into American criminal slang for a two-year prison sentence. Best-known, however, is its use as a mild expletive.
"Deuce" is the gambler's exclamation at their lowest throw of dice, the "two." For them it is the most unfortunate number, spelling bad luck. This gave the figure altogether, mispronounced as "deuce," an evil connotation, soon to be identified with the devil.
This came in handy for those too afraid to call the devil by his real name, and thus added yet another word to the long list of euphemisms used for him. It was a precautionary measure, based on the widespread belief that literally to speak of the devil was dangerous. Hearing his name, it would conjure him up and make him cause mischief. That is how "What the deuce!" became a curse, blurted out not merely when unfortunate in playing dice but, generally, when frustrated or in anger.
There is also the assumption that in common speech "deuce" came to take the place of the devil for the simple fact that the word shared with him and all things damned, the initial.
The deuce of the outcry has been seen as well as all that is left of the name of a giant of ancient German myth and of a Celtic phantom figure.
One suggestion - going to the other extreme - recognizes in the deuce of the exclamation not a call on the devil but on God. However, not to offend the divinity by the profane use of his name, people express it in this context in Latin as deus and, to camouflage it even further, changed the deus into deuce.
#
"Development of Baseball Rules",573,0,0,0
The earliest stages of \Jbaseball\j's forerunner (no matter which it was) can easily be imagined. A boy would pass his time with a ball and a bat. (The ball, perhaps, was a cast-off cricket ball, or one made by the lad himself of tightly wound yarn without any covering. The bat was a stout, round stick or a discarded cricket bat.) A friend joined him and the two improvised a game with a ball, a bat, and a base (in the form of a stake or a stone). The batter tried to hit the ball far enough to give himself time to run to the stake (or stone) and back, without being hit ("plugged" or "soaked"). As other boys joined in the fun, they added more bases, until eventually the field of play had assumed a square shape, with a base at each corner.
Gradually other features demanding greater skill were added. Once the batter had hit the ball, he ran the bases as far as he could get at first, and until 1839, in a clockwise direction. He was "out" if he missed the ball three times, if the ball was caught in flight or after the first bounce, or if he was hit while trying to reach a base. When each player of one side had been put out, the other took over.
Sometimes the runners collided heavily with the stakes and injured themselves. To avoid this, the stakes were eventually replaced by flat stones. However, when these proved far from an ideal solution, they were superseded by sacks filled with sand. To prevent them from being moved, either accidentally in the heat of a game or deliberately so as to increase the distance the runner had to cover, they were secured to a small peg. The type of game thus arrived at revealed the features of rudimentary cricket and of rounders. Following this evolution of bases, terminology changed and, instead of "running to the stakes," the players began to speak of "running to the base." As a natural consequence, it became customary also to describe the game as base ball, eventually to be fused into one word.
Undoubtedly all these games were improvised, and "rules" were agreed upon on the spur of the moment, depending on the lie of the ground and the number and type of players. A significant difference from later \Jbaseball\j was that a batter was "out" when hit by a thrown ball. This necessitated the use of a ball that was not too hard. It was made, therefore, of cotton or wool. Its texture, of course, restricted the distance it would travel and its bounce.
All these popular games with bat and ball were merely variations on the same theme. They were really recreations, and not organized sports. Most prominent among them were "one old cat," "two old cat" etc., rounders, and town ball. They differed only in minor ways.
In its most primitive form, the game of "old cat," as played in England, at first used a wooden cat in the shape of a spindle, which was hit by a stick. It then grew into a pastime with a batter, a pitcher, and two bases. A boy, after batting the ball from one base, ran to the other and back. He was "out" if a rival caught the ball either while it was in flight or after it had bounced. The number of boys taking part in the game determined the number of bases, and according to their number, the game was called "one old cat," or "two old cat," and so on.
In rounders, played by schoolboys in medieval England, the field was marked by posts or stones. As in old cat, the number of players was not fixed and any number of lads could take part. They divided themselves into two teams of equal size. There was no specified position for those taking the field, except for the pitcher (known as the packer or feeder) and the batter (referred to as the striker).
Town ball actually was only another name for rounders, and possibly it was introduced through games played by village boys on the occasion of town meetings.
Out of those diverse versions of a game with a bat and a ball evolved \Jbaseball\j. It was not born suddenly, but grew slowly and steadily. \JBaseball\j, indeed, is the American adaptation of the much older English rounders, though it differs from it as much as draughts from chess. Both are played on a checkered board, yet they are worlds apart in intricacy and the skill they require.
In search of references to some earliest types of American \Jbaseball\j, some significant dates have been found in journals and autobiographical works. Pride of place belongs to the diary of a revolutionary soldier. It recorded a game of "base" in which he had taken part at \JValley Forge\j in 1778. A Princeton student in his journal referred to a game of "baste ball" he had played on his university campus in 1786. Another source, an \Jautobiography\j, speaks of an actual \Jbaseball\j club that existed in Rochester, NY, in 1825. It counted 50 members whose ages ranged from 18 to 40 years.
In the 1820s, a rudimentary form of \Jbaseball\j (under various names) had become an enjoyable pastime for groups of people in several places. Yet it experienced no dramatic growth and the game was pursued rather haphazardly. Town ball was an early, popular pursuit in New England and certainly was modeled on rounders. It was introduced into \JPennsylvania\j in 1831, and the Olympic Town Ball Club was established in Philadelphia in 1833. The "New York Game" first came under notice only in 1842.
There was no uniformity of rules. Rival captains merely agreed on each occasion on the size of the field, the distance between bases, and the number of players. In the 1830s it had become customary to limit a team to 11 or 12 men, as the batsman rightly felt that to drive a ball through a larger number was hardly possible. There was a continuous exchange of ideas and all the time players improved their game by adopting better features from others. Still, there were marked differences between various cities, though all versions of the game had taken over from rounders the four post base stations and the rule that base runners were put out by being hit with the ball.
In 1842, a group of young men in New York, keen on promoting "health, recreation, and social enjoyment," began to meet in Lower Manhattan. On Sunday afternoons they played \Jbaseball\j on a vacant lot there, the future site of the original Madison Square Garden. To start with, everything was informal. In 1845, they organized themselves into a social and \Jbaseball\j club, which they called the Knickerbockers. One of its charter members, Alexander Joy Cartwright, then pointed out that the time had come to organize and standardize the game, and for this purpose he was asked by Duncan F. Curry, the president, to chair a committee. When they had drawn up rules, they submitted them to the club for due consideration. \JBaseball\j owes its modern, significant features to their proposals. In fact, the committee established the fundamental rules that still prevail.
A team was limited to nine men. Each player was allotted a definite place (almost identical with the present-day practice). The committee did not forget, either, to position the scorer and umpire. For the first time it was ruled "that in no instance is a ball to be thrown at a player." This was the final break with rounders. The ball was now thrown to a baseman, but no longer at a base runner.
Most importantly, Cartwright himself drew up the blueprint of the diamond, fixing the distance between the bases at 90 feet (27 m). Its modern version is an exact replica of his design. The adoption of the diamond was due to a practical consideration. Players on the home run experienced difficulties in turning the corners of the square, and to streamline their progress the diamond shape was chosen. This enabled them to move almost in a circle.
The Knickerbockers were the very first regular \Jbaseball\j team to be formed. Another similar group started at the same time called the New York Club. It was a foregone conclusion that the Knickerbockers, who so far had only played among themselves, would challenge the new club. This happened on 19 June 1846 - an historic date in the history of \Jbaseball\j. The Knicks invited the New Yorks to a match at their new home at Elysian Field, Hoboken, NJ, "one of the most picturesque and delightful places imaginable," fronting on the \JHudson River\j. The five-acre (2 hectares) property was easily accessible from New York by ferry. The match took place on the Knickerbockers' permanent playing field there, on which they had laid out the first regulation diamond. (A plaque erected in 1946 on its very site commemorates the auspicious occasion, adding to the legend that "it is generally conceded that until this time the game was not seriously regarded." Of course, the implication here was a protest against the fictitious claims of Cooperstown, and an intention to put history right.)
It did not really matter that the challenger, the Knickerbockers, were slaughtered by 23 to 1 "aces" (the original term for runs). Another historic "first" of the occasion was the fine (of six cents) one of the Knickerbockers had to pay for swearing. Unfortunately, his actual words (and what caused them) have not been recorded, though the name of the offender (J. W. Davis) is preserved. In fact, this very first club worked out a whole schedule of penalties. This fixed a fine of 50 cents for disobeying the instructions of one's captain, and of half the amount for disputing the umpire's decision or even anticipating it by voicing one's own opinion.
A few years later (in 1849), Cartwright's group pioneered the earliest \Jbaseball\j uniform: straw hats, white flannel shirts, and blue woollen trousers.
\JBaseball\j, indeed, had arrived. All that was to follow merely evolved what the Knickerbockers had started. They certainly could not restrict its practice to any exclusive class. All amateur clubs in the New York district, which were created soon afterwards, adopted their rules. New and exciting techniques were added and the first stars appeared.
#
"Development of Rubber Tires",574,0,0,0
In 1871, Harry J. Lawson, of Brighton, made the first rear-chain-driven "safety" cycle. The pedal moved the back wheel by means of a chain on sprockets.
It would not have been surprising if, of all names for their machines, the early cyclists considered that of "boneshaker" most appropriate. A ride certainly shook them up. Even the solid-rubber tire was not a sufficient cushion on the rough, ill-made roads. It was his own experience of such bone shakings, as well as his ten-year-old son's complaints at the discomfort, that led John Boyd Dunlop to develop the pneumatic tire. He himself was the first to apply the word pneumatic, in this new sense, adding it to the world's vocabulary. The word is derived from \Ipneuma,\i the Greek for "wind" and "air."
Dunlop also was a Scot. He practiced as a veterinary surgeon in \JBelfast\j, Ireland. Of medium height and with a full beard, he moved about rather ponderously. He was somewhat of a hypochondriac. Ever since he had been told that his mother had given birth to him two months prematurely, he imagined that this had impaired his health, with the result that he always avoided unnecessary exertion. However, it should be noted that when he died in 1921, he was aged 82!
His son, Johnnie, loved riding his bike, although it was not always a pleasure on the cobbled streets of the city. The boy told his father that he had set his heart on outdistancing his friends, all of whom were \Jcycling\j enthusiasts. To help his son get both a smoother ride and greater speed, Dunlop (then aged 48 years), set to work in his back yard. He was convinced that a hollow tube filled with air under pressure, and attached to the rim of the wheel, would act as a cushion and achieve both his aims at the same time. There are two versions of the story of how he did so.
One tells how he went straight to a chemist to purchase a rubber tube. He filled this with air and then, with strips of canvas, fixed it round a wooden wheel. Trained in exact research, he now felt compelled to test his idea by comparing the two types of tyre. He did so in a simple experiment. He sent a wheel with the inflated tire and another with a solid tire spinning across the yard of his home. The result confirmed all he had thought. The solid-tired wheel toppled over half-way across. The newly "attired" wheel went not only all the way but bounded wonderfully on striking the wall!
More anecdotal is the second report. This relates how Dunlop, deep in thought, was pacing his garden. While doing so, he suddenly caught sight of a length of water hose. At once he grasped its import for the problem he wished to solve. Picking it up, he inflated and fixed it to Johnnie's cycle, with remarkable results. He patented his invention in 1881. So it was that an inventive father's love for his son, and desire to please him, gave the world of locomotion one of its great advances, still recalled by the trademark of "Dunlop." One of the original wheels with the Dunlop tyre is in the Royal \JScience Museum\j in Edinburgh. It is said that it had covered 3,000 miles (4,800 km) before being "retired."
Just as in the case of "Niepce vs. Drais," Dunlop also was accused of plagiarism. It was said that ten years before his invention, a one-time \Jcycling\j champion had conceived the idea, but lack of money had prevented his implementing and patenting it.
At all events, in principle the modern \Jbicycle\j had now arrived. All innovations that were to be added were mere refinements, such as the free wheel and variable-speed gears.
#
"Development of Sails",575,0,0,0
Paintings, drawings, and actual models of ancient boats have been discovered at many excavation sites, including Egyptian tombs. Some most primitive vessels are still employed in isolated parts of the world: for instance, in Polynesian waters, on the Euphrates, and, 13,000 feet (3,900 m) above sea level, on the huge South American inland sea, Lake Titicaca in \JPeru\j.
The earliest way to propel and steer a boat was by means of a tree branch. From it evolved the punting pole (when the water was shallow), the paddle (for greater depths), and eventually the oar. For a long time no one ever thought to make use of the wind.
Again, it can only be conjectured how the first sail was rigged and what it was that led man to discover that he could harness the wind to carry him across the water. No one knows when and where this happened. Certainly, it took several thousands of years to reach this stage. Most likely, of course, it was not by design but accident that the discovery was made. Possibly, a hide or some reeds joined together, after having been used to catch fish, were hung up on a pole to dry out on the return trip. To his amazement man might then have noticed how, caught in the wind, this primitive "sail" helped him to propel the boat.
Ingeniously man learned to make sails out of skin, \Jpapyrus\j, and cloth. He hoisted them first on one pole, and then on two or three. These were the original masts. Once he knew how to take advantage of the wind, he realized how this saved him much arduous toil in punting, paddling, and rowing.
We know that Egyptians used sails at least in 4000 BC. Similarly, sails were rigged on Chinese junks and Viking boats in very early years. It was a development, it can be assumed, that occurred not at one place alone, but wherever man ventured on the surface of the water. The first sails were rectangular. Next came the triangular, lateen shape (introduced in the Mediterranean by eighth-century \JArabs\j), to be surpassed by the fore and aft rig, greatly improved by the Dutch. Norsemen poetically called their sail "the cloak of the wind" and "the tapestry of the masthead."
Out of the pursuit of sailing as a means of fishing, commuting, commerce, and warfare, the sport was born naturally. Experiencing the challenge of the wind and the water and all this meant in adventure, excitement, and exhilaration, man must have acquired a love for sailing for its own sake. Boats once used solely for utilitarian purposes, began to serve man for pleasure.
To begin with, and for many centuries, only the high and mighty, royalty and nobility, were able to sail for enjoyment. The ships they used were of the traditional type but reserved (and possibly more luxuriously equipped) for the pastime. These pleasure boats were the forerunners of the yacht.
The Egyptian Pharaohs enjoyed cruising on the waters of the Nile. Its navigation became so important to the country that nautical terms even entered their language. "To go south" was thus expressed by "to go upstream." Most famous of all was Cleopatra's barge, from which the queen watched the battle at Actium. Its sails were of purple silk and its poop was covered with gold. The Viking kings also are thought to have kept pleasure boats.
Sailing as a pastime certainly was known in the \JBritish isles\j before the advent of the yacht. A "vessel with purple sails" was the regal gift bestowed in AD 925 by the king of \JNorway\j to Athelstan, England's Saxon ruler. King Robert of Scotland is said to have owned his own pleasure craft (in 1326) while Queen Elizabeth I had hers, called the \IRat of Wight,\i built at \JCowes\j in 1588.
In 1604, Phineas Pett (of the family of renowned English naval architects) constructed at Chatham "a miniature pleasure ship" for Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I. "Garnished with painting and carving," the royal family cherished it although inexplicably it bore the ominous name \IDisdain.\i
Such craft were rare and differed completely from the kind that introduced yachting. These were born in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. The Dutch were an outstanding maritime nation, a true sailing race. By the very nature of their country - many of its thoroughfares are waterways - the Dutch had become an amphibious people. They excelled in "boating" and 'sailing," whether in their own country, on its canals and the \JZuider Zee\j, or in the service of the East India Company. Boats (whether large or small) were not only their most customary means of commuting and transportation, but almost a way of life for them.
#
"Development of Skiing as a Sport",576,0,0,0
An early chronicler tells of Austrian peasant skiers crossing the countryside on skis of a mere five-foot length: "No mountain is too steep, or too overgrown with big trees to prevent them \Jskiing\j down it; they wind and twist about like a snake. But if the terrain is open they run straight, leaning back on their sticks, firmly and stiffly as if they had no limbs or joints in their bodies."
However, the real start of \Jskiing\j as an independent competitive sport dates only from the late 1850s, in \JNorway\j, when in the valley of Telemark farmers inaugurated an annual "meet."
The first ski jump took place at Huseby Hill, near Christiania, in 1879. A description, given by Crichton Somerville, recalls the occasion:
\IThe Huseby slope was one which, only a few years previously, had been described as highly dangerous and impossible to descend when snow was fast and in good condition. The leaping competition proved most highly interesting, though in some respects quite comical. Every man, except the Telemarkings, carried a long, stout staff, and on that, so they thought, their lives depended. Starting from the summit, riding their poles, as in former times, like witches on broomsticks, checking the speed with frantic efforts, they slipped downwards to the dreaded platform or "hop," from which they were supposed to leap, but over which they but trickled, as it were, and landing softly beneath, finally reached the bottom somehow, thankful for their safe escape from the dreaded slide.
But then came the Telemark boys, erect at starting, pliant, confident, without anything but a fir branch in their hands, swooping downwards with ever-increasing impetus, until, with a bound, they were in the air, and 76 feet of space was cleared ere, with a resounding smack, their ski touched the slippery slope beneath and they shot onwards to the plain, where suddenly they turned, stopped in a smother of snow-dust and faced the hill they had just descended! That was a sight worth seeing, and one never to be forgotten, even if in after years such performances have been, in a way, totally eclipsed.\i
No individual has done more to foster the sport than Fridtjof Nansen, the polar explorer. His feat of crossing the frozen wastes of \JGreenland\j on skis in 1888 and its description in a book he published subsequently (in 1890) thrilled the world and popularized \Jskiing\j far and wide.
He wrote: "Nothing hardens the muscles and makes the body so strong and elastic; nothing steels the will-power and freshens the mind as \Jskiing\j. This is something that develops not only the body but also the soul . . . "
The patronage of the Norwegian royal family gave further impetus to the sport and led, in 1892, to the inauguration of the world's most famous \Jskiing\j "Derbys" - an annual tournament at Holmenkollen, a site distinguished by its exquisite ski run. A small museum just below the ski jump-off treasures some five hundred historic pairs of skis.
All through the decades, Norwegians spread the new and exciting sport into almost every country where it could be practiced. Small wonder that its best-known terms are in their language.
The \IChristiania\i (a swing used to turn or stop short) perpetuates the former name of \JNorway\j's capital city. The \ITelemark\i recalls that region of \JNorway\j in which the earliest competitive ski games took place. It denotes an expert manoeuvre in changing direction or stopping short.
Although, like many other ski features, the \Islalom\i was greatly developed by the British (its modern type is the invention of Arnold Lunn), its name is Scandinavian. It was adopted from the Telemarken \Jdialect\j into the Norwegian tongue about 1890 and is a combination of two words: \Isla,\i meaning "a little slope" and \Ilom,\i describing the track left by something that has been dragged.
Throughout the ages, skis have differed in many ways. The world's first skis were probably of bones from large animals. There are remnants of \JNeolithic\j, \JBronze Age\j, and \JIron Age\j skis. To begin with, the woods most favored were pine and spruce. The ski itself was cut from the outer curve of a tree.
It took a long time for skis to become standardized. In the eleventh century, skiers considered that their speed would be greatly increased if the length of the two snow shoes was not the same. They thus made the "kicking ski," worn on the right foot, much shorter than the "running ski," on the left foot. However, this differentiation, with a few exceptions, was eventually abandoned.
From early times, man's artistic instinct led him to decorate his skis. Carved ornaments on the upper surface of skis proved of great value to the modern researcher in dating their origin.
Generally, the ski was strapped on with leather thongs. Primitive types had a footrest, hollowed out of the wood, with two wooden tongues holding the foot in position from either side. The thong itself was threaded through holes in those side pieces. Other skis employed a contraption held to the board by a thong fastened through holes bored vertically into the ski. Yet a third kind had those holes driven horizontally through the footrest, which, for the purpose, was raised.
The earliest skis were made smooth on the running surface. But here, too, necessity was the mother of invention. Soft snow got stuck to these "wooden runners", which greatly impeded the skiers' progress. They therefore began to cover the boards with skin from the elk, \Jreindeer\j, and seal. This gave the ski the necessary grip.
Toward the end of the \JBronze Age\j, grooves (approximately two inches wide) were made in the snow shoe, and filled with hairy skin. This was then secured by wooden borders. When skiers realized that this arrangement greatly assisted them in keeping a straight course, many abandoned the inlaid skin but retained the raised borders.
Skiers learned the advantage of using a stick that, for many centuries, was simply a sturdy branch. Bone points were then fixed to its lower end and a hoop to its top. It was only in 1615 that mention (from northern \JFinland\j) was made of the use of two sticks. But there were skiers who never adopted any. They secured themselves by a rope that they tied to the point of each of the skis.
All this demonstrates the great variety of experimentation that took place and how experience continually taught skiers to improve their "wooden horses." In modern days, Germans and Americans introduced special alloys and plastics to take the place of the hard woods, such as as ash and hickory, that, centuries earlier, had been subsituted for spruce and pine.
Few people realize that \JAustralia\j introduced \Jskiing\j as a sport long before it was taken up by \JSwitzerland\j and \JAustria\j. Its birthplace was Kiandra, in the \JAustralian Alps\j, where the snowfields, in extent, equal those of \JSwitzerland\j. lt was started early in the 1860s by Norwegian gold miners, who, no doubt, had brought their skis with them from their homeland. Locals soon emulated their example by rushing to the nearest fence and requisitioning palings to serve as skis.
Waxes were homemade and known as \Imoko,\i a typical Australian abbreviation derived from the expressive "more go." The word was adopted in other countries and is \JAustralia\j's contribution, in the form of a word, to the world of \Jskiing\j.
#
"Devil to Pay",577,0,0,0
When we say that we'll "have the devil to pay," we might in fact recall early traditions which referred to such hellish debt. To gain an object or enjoy a pleasure, people were believed to have made a bargain with the devil. He would procure their desire at the price of their soul. If ever they regretted the deal or tried to cancel it, they would have to pay the devil an amount which was almost impossible for them to raise.
However, it may be misleading to link this phrase with this tradition. There are certainly many times when witchcraft might be so well camouflaged that its presence and practice would not be recognized or even suspected. But there are also cases in which its "apparent" presence is not real. And this could well apply to the payment of the devil. In fact, the origin of the phrase much more likely belongs to the realm of nautical life and its specialized terminology.
The devil on a ship does not refer to the "evil one" but - very prosaically and technically - to a seam in her hulk which is most difficult to reach. And even the "payment" in this connection does not speak of money - in its nautical sense it describes the laborious procedure of tipping the ship on to her side and smearing her with tar to make her waterproof.
The two types of "payment," though derived both from Latin, come from two totally different sources. The monetary reward - rather appropriately and psychologically apt - is rooted in the Latin word (and wish) to "appease" and "pacify" \I(pacare).\i The caulking version of "pay" applied to the nautical "devil" is rooted in the Latin description of "pitch" \I(picem).\i The complete and accurate quotation says "the devil to pay and no pitch hot."
Almost like a postscript and final bill is the claim that the outstanding debt to the devil was related to an entirely different type of "spirit." Certainly, this time it was linked with "The Devil." But in this case it was the name of a well-known tavern in Fleet Street, London. For reasons that can only be surmised, it had been given this extraordinary name. Close to the Law Courts, it soon became a favorite haunt of legal men who, in between cases or waiting for a brief, spent their time (and credit) at "The Devil."
It sometimes happened that a client calling on a \Jbarrister\j would not find him at his chambers. But he was told that he should "go to the Devil," where no doubt he would find him. It was also a common experience that barristers, fond of their beer but in want of necessary funds to pay for it, would accept small briefs and other odd legal jobs to enable them "to pay The Devil," where their bill had run up to quite a substantial amount.
#
"Devil's Advocate",578,0,0,0
The official decision by the Church to exalt an individual to sainthood carried tremendous responsibility. Enthusiasm, human error or misinformation could mistakenly ascribe to the candidate the necessary qualities of extraordinary worthiness. Everything possible therefore was done to avoid the slightest chance of such error.
The nominee had his (or her) merits and character examined in the most minute detail. To make doubly sure, the papal court appointed a special officer whose duty it was to contest the candidate's claim. He was to raise every conceivable objection and scrupulously to examine all evidence put forward by those recommending him, and the case was allowed to proceed only after every one of his objections had been answered.
Called "the promoter of the faith," popularly he became known by the telling title of "the devil's advocate," \Iadvocatus diaboli\i in Latin. It was a name well chosen as, after all, no one could resent sainthood more than the devil, and presumably he would do everything in his power to prevent yet another saint from being added to their already considerable number.
The original purpose of his office was then forgotten and, with it, its religious context. To act as the devil's advocate took on a totally different meaning and function. He argues for the unpopular side of an issue, a cause or a controversy.
#
"Devil's Mark",579,0,0,0
Passports nowadays record "distinctive marks" of an individual as an identification aid. But thousands of years before the introduction of this modern practice, many a man was distinguished from his fellows - for good or ill - by being "branded" in some way.
Cain's mark is the earliest such example from the \JBible\j. Of whatever the Cain mark consisted, it served a dual purpose: both to identify him as his brother's murderer and to protect him.
A slave who refused to accept his automatic release after seven years and who thereby showed deliberate contempt for freedom was permanently marked. We recall this practice whenever we use the word "earmark." Now a mere \Jmetaphor\j, in biblical times it was literally applied to the man who did not treasure his liberty. He had his ear pierced with an awl at the doorpost, the threshold of his master's house.
Tattoos were etched into a sailor's skin not for adornment but to ward off the demons of the sea and - in the unfortunate eventuality of his drowning - to make identification of his body easier.
Hitler, too, made use of the ancient method, to indelibly mark and permanently identify both those serving him and those he was determined to humiliate and exterminate. His S.S. guards were thus tattooed in the arm pit and his \Jconcentration camp\j victims were branded on their wrist. And in odd anticipation of such diabolic application, the devil worshiper was also said to be "marked." His brand, too, could take on two meanings. It could serve as a sign of shame or be regarded as a proud distinction of a servant dedicated to the forces of evil.
It was firmly believed that the devil bestowed his insignia on those who joined his ranks. In fact, the initiation of witches (who after all served the devil) included their being branded with his mark.
However, as it concerned the realm of darkness, the "decoration" was kept dark as well. Often it was stamped on the most private and concealed part of the anatomy: it might be hidden under the pubic hair, in the anus, under the eyelid, or in the armpit. It was thought that a clever camouflage was to disguise this devil's mark so that it appeared to be a "benign" and quite common blemish of the skin, such as a \Jbirthmark\j, a pimple, or a mole. Lacking this, a mere discoloration of the skin might be taken as irrefutable evidence of that person's allegiance to the powers of darkness.
The belief that the devil marked his disciple at the time of initiation gave witch-hunters the excuse to prosecute and condemn practically anyone, as there is certainly hardly a human body that has not some slight blemish or other.
One of the first procedures, therefore, in the examination of a man or woman alleged to be a witch, was to shave the entire body and thereby to remove any possible hairy "cover up." If the examiner failed to reveal any mark, he did not give up his search. He devised a new fiendish scheme to convict those he wished to brand as a witch: the view was spread that at times the devil's mark (so sure an indication of a witch) could actually be completely invisible. Nevertheless, it was claimed, it still could be discovered because the "spot" would prove insensitive to any sensation of pain and if pierced would not bleed. Hence all one had to do was to examine a suspect's entire body by systematically pricking his skin with large needles or a spike. The moment the person thus "tried" gave no indication of pain or did not bleed, the purpose had been achieved.
The "pricker" became a new occupation at the time of devil \Jhysteria\j (and money-hunting at the cost of happiness and countless lives). And as he was paid a good fee for each "mark" he discovered, the pricker left no stone unturned (or part of the body untouched) until in his cruel, sadistic, and lustful quest, he had "caught" his quarry.
And all this was done in the name of religion! It does not take much imagination to realize how the search mission specially catered for the lewdness and sadism in man. It presented him with a legal and sanctified excuse to give vent to all his lusts and, on top of it all, to amass a fortune for himself.
A simple - real or imagined - mark thus belongs not alone to the occult world, but has in very fact diabolically branded man in his most evil and wicked genius.
#
"Dick Whittington's Cat",580,0,0,0
The story of Dick Whittington and his cat, though most appealing, is unhistoric. He never was the poor orphan who, thanks to his cat, advanced in life from rags to riches, three times to become the Lord Mayor of London. The earliest reference to his cat, in fact, goes back to a play performed in 1605, almost 200 years after his death!
Richard Whittington (1358-1423) was not born poor. He was the youngest son of a nobleman, the Lord of the Manor of Pauntley in \JGloucestershire\j and, to add to his (good) fortune, married a rich heiress, a knight's daughter. Dealing in textiles as well as engaged in the lucrative coal trade, he increased his wealth to such an extent that Kings Richard II, Henry IV, and \JHenry V\j borrowed money from him!
The office of a Lord Mayor did not exist at his time. It was established only after Dick's death. However, he served as the Mayor of the city, filling the position not three but four times. Dick's fictitious association with a cat has variously been explained. A once popular legend related that a cat had served as a guide to great and good fortune. For people to link it with Whittington would romantically account for his fabulous wealth.
The sailing vessels which at the time carried coal from Newcastle to London were known as cats. The name was possibly suggested by their blackness. As a prosperous coal merchant, Whittington owned his personal "cat." Therefore it was quite correct to say that a cat brought him fortune. Later generations, no longer aware of this alternate meaning of cats, mistook it to be of the feline kind.
Another hypothesis derives the "cat" from the (fifteenth century) French description of profitable trade transactions as \Iachat.\i On English tongues this could easily have sounded like a - cat leading to the confusion.
#
"Diddle",581,0,0,0
The London stage has made many a lasting contribution to culture. It has even enriched the English vocabulary with all those who "diddle." The word used for petty swindling was adopted from the name of the chief character in a \Jfarce\j. Written by James Kenney, it was first performed in 1803.
A small-time crook, Jeremy Diddler, made his living by constantly obtaining small loans. He did so from every possible source and on any pretext - without ever repaying them. His method of raising finance gave Kenney the idea to call his \Jfarce\j \IRaising the Wind.\i
The play caught on, and with it, popularized Diddler's name and people described malpractices of his kind as "diddling." The new word gained even wider currency from an Edgar Allan Poe essay dedicated to Diddler's pursuit - "Diddling considered as One of the Exact Sciences."
Most likely, Kenney created his character's name from "duddle," a sixteenth-century \Jdialect\j word used for cheating and tricking.
#
"Die with One's Boots on",582,0,0,0
"Dying with one's boots on," as a modern phrase, reflects heroism and determination. Whoever does so, has carried on to the very end. Dying in harness, one never retired or surrendered. That "they died with their boots on" was the highest praise that could be given to soldiers. The saying gained popularity in an Errol Flynn movie based on General George Custer's last stand with his 700 troops of the US Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn. The film was entitled \IThey Died with Their Boots On.\i
Initially though, the phrase - of American origin - had no laudatory connotation. Criminals, guilty of heinous crimes and condemned to die on the gallows, were hanged still wearing their boots! Unfortunately, so did the victims of violent death. Neither had the comfort to pass away peacefully in their beds.
#
"Died of Sunstroke",583,0,0,0
One grave at Goulburn Historical Cemetery is that of Horace, the beloved son of Thomas and Jane Fuljames, "who died of \Jsunstroke\j after 24 hours illness, on September 8th, 1889." He was a mere two years and eight months old at the time, which explains the moving verse on his epitaph:
\ILet us go for night is falling, leave our
Darling with his flowers,
Other hands will come and tend them,
Other friends in other hours,
'Suffer little children to come unto me'.\i
#
"Difference Between Tea and Coffee Pots",584,0,0,0
The present-day shapes of tea and \Jcoffee\j pots seem designed to produce the best brews. A low, wide pot provides for the maximum expansion of the tea leaves which, being light, tend to rise in hot water. On the other hand, soon after boiling water has been poured on \Jcoffee\j, the grounds sink to the bottom and pure clean \Jcoffee\j is left in the rest of the pot. Its narrow, high shape thus serves it best.
Originally, however, there was no difference between \Jcoffee\j and tea pots. When first introduced in England, each was circular and tapered towards the top. It was only several years later that the tea pot diminished in height and increased in diameter. This actually resulted from a wish to get a Chinese atmosphere. It became fashionable to copy the wide and bulky Chinese \Jporcelain\j tea pots. Their shape has been maintained since.
#
"Different as Chalk and Cheese",585,0,0,0
To underscore the unlikeness of two people, situations or substances, it is said that they are as different as \Jchalk\j and cheese. To differentiate between \Jchalk\j and cheese seems so easy. Not even the most ignorant could confuse the two. It is easy to imagine that their so obvious contrast was responsible for the analogy.
Nevertheless, there is much more to the original phrase. It recalls former fraudulent trade practices!
In the process of modern cheese making a coloring agent is used. It distinguishes the cheese not only in appearance but in taste. Centuries ago, however, cheese was "naturally" white - as white as \Jchalk\j. Tricksters took advantage of this similarity by selling to unsuspecting housewives pieces of suitably-shaped \Jchalk\j, as cheese! This malpractice was responsible for the popular simile to stress the striking contrast.
#
"Different Way of Buttoning for Men and Women",586,0,0,0
How to secure one's dress has been a problem ever since man has worn clothes, which means from the beginning of human existence. Even \JAdam and Eve\j must have wondered at first how to fasten their fig leaves!
The bulk of early clothing used merely to hang down from the shoulders, but later the folds were secured by laces and braces. A later development was the button.
This was adopted as early as the 13th century, about which time it first appeared on man's dress either hidden, visible or conspicuous. Man used buttons either practically, decoratively or rather shamefacedly, as in the case of man's fly, introduced into the breeches in the days of King Charles I.
It might be thought that even though men and women wore different types of garments, at least they would share the same method of fastening it. But, as everyone knows, this is not so.
Men button their clothes from pajamas to everyday jackets from left to right, while women do exactly the opposite.
The origin of this peculiar fashion and its variation in the case of women is not due, as cynics have sometimes suggested, to a woman's stubbornness and her traditional way of being just contrary - but to the fact that most men and women are right-handed.
It was practical, but now forgotten and obsolete, considerations that led to this little - noticed but nevertheless marked distinction in buttoning a garment.
Men were always independent. At least, in their manner of dressing, which they did themselves and mostly without any assistance. But women, and noble ladies especially, were dressed by their maids.
Therefore, in the case of women it was a convenient process to reverse the sides of the garment on which the buttons were secured because the maid, who faced her mistress during dressing operations, used her right hand and so found it easier to button the garment from right to left.
Another possible reason is that medieval man always had to be prepared for a fight and, therefore, walked about armed. So that he could readily grasp and effectively use his sword, it was essential for him to have his right hand ready for combat and not stiff from cold. To ensure this, he thrust it into his coat to keep it warm. But to be able to do so, his coat had to open from left to right.
In the early days, men also wore a loose cloak which they grasped with their left hand, throwing the left side over the right so as to keep the right hand free. This, too, contributed to the introduction of overlapping from left to right for men's clothes.
Women had to carry a baby, usually supporting it with their left arm. When it became necessary to breast-feed a child in public - and it quite often did, among the masses, anyway - the left breast was used as being most convenient.
To shelter the infant from wind and cold while it was feeding, they covered it with the right side of the dress or coat and thus designers of those days made women's clothes so that they would button-up from right to left.
All these motives no longer apply. Yet habits do not die easily, and men and women still carry on the now apparently senseless fashion of buttoning-up their garments in opposite ways.
#
"Digger",587,0,0,0
It is surprising how the origin of even modern traditions and usages is sometimes doubtful and shrouded in mystery. That applies to the Australian term "digger."
It is commonly accepted that it first referred to the miner on the goldfields of the 50s of last century. English people then generally regarded all Australians as diggers for gold and rolling in wealth. But how did the word become the description of the Australian soldier?
Some date this custom back to the South African War, though no record confirms their claim. Much more feasible and widely accepted now is the claim by Charles Everitt of Birdgrove (NSW), that he introduced the term in its modern connotation. But gold diggers were then furthest from his mind.
He was stationed with the 17th Battalion at Gundagai Post on the \JSinai\j Peninsula. "All we did," he recalled, "was dig trenches." Drifting sand made the work almost futile and again and again they had to dig the same trenches. "We aren't soldiers, we're \Idiggers!"\i he complained. Use of the term soon became common throughout the \JMiddle East\j and the soldiers of the A.I.F. adopted it as the proud title now emblazoned in the annals of Australian history.
#
"Diplomatic Immunity and Parliamentary Privilege",588,0,0,0
Even before entering the Holy Land, the Israelites were commanded to set aside "cities of refuge." These were to provide shelter to anyone who had committed unpremeditated \Jmanslaughter\j. There he could lead a normal life, unafraid of anyone seeking blood-vengeance, then still an accepted custom all over the Orient.
To enable the fugitive to reach safety soonest, the assigned cities (of which there were six) were strategically located, so that no part of the country was too far from such a place. Later, the roads leading to those sanctuaries were specially signposted, lest the party concerned lost his way. Equal protection was extended to slaves who had fled from a master who had ill-treated them.
The tradition survived the conquest of \JJudea\j by the Romans in A.D. 70, to be adopted and adapted by \JChristianity\j. It was now any church building that was to act as such a sanctuary. Once inside, fugitives from the law were safe from arrest. Eventually, this function of places of worship lapsed but not so the Mosaic tradition, from which evolved the modern ideas of diplomatic protection and parliamentary immunity.
The early "cities of refuge" of biblical days live on in both: the internationally recognized right of foreign embassies to offer asylum to political fugitives, and the guaranteed freedom of speech (without the possibility of a libel action) and freedom from arrest inside Parliament, this "sanctuary" of democracy.
#
"Dirge",589,0,0,0
Wondrous indeed are the ways of language. At times a word no longer means what it actually says. It has absorbed its environment so intensely that it has taken over an originally completely alien "sound effect." This happened to the once innocuous \Idirge.\i Derived from the Latin, it shares its linguistic root with the \Idirector\i of a company and the \Idirigible\i ("\Jairship\j") once known as the Zeppelin. Grammatically, the word is the remnant of the imperative form of the Latin word \Idirigere.\i All it expresses is the petition or request to "Direct!" or "Lead!"
That a dirge is now exclusively a mournful song, a threnody, is due to religion, to the medieval \JRequiem\j Mass. The Catholic funeral prayer, known as the Office of the Dead, begins with the plea, "Direct, O Lord my God, my way in Thy sight." In the Latin text, used until recently, this was rendered \IDirige, dominus meus...\i
The mere fact that, quite by chance, \Idirige\i was the first word in the prayer, has associated it for all time ever since with sorrow, even when the rest of the funeral chant was generally forgotten. The company this one word had kept for so long had left its permanent trace. Unconsciously as it were, people could not forget its link with death.
That is how finally, contracted and pronounced the English way, the imperative \Idirige\i became the mournful \Idirge.\i As such it is now listed in every dictionary and solely used in its specifically doleful sense.
#
"Dirty Pig",590,0,0,0
Undoubtedly, the pig tops the list of animals that have been maligned and "verbally" abused.
To call someone a dirty pig or to speak of people as "living in a pigsty" are accusations based on entirely false premises.
Pigs are quite fastidious animals. If provided with a clean sty and plenty of straw, they will make sure that one corner stays unsoiled, enabling them to keep their bodies clean. Pigs that are dirty are a reflection on their owner who often locates the animals' pen at the worst possible site of his farm, on muddy ground.
That pigs enjoy wallowing in mud because they love dirt also is a false accusation, due to a wrong deduction. The pig's skin is provided with very few sweat glands. In hot weather therefore the animal suffers and, to relieve its discomfort, to cool off, it cleverly rolls in wet mud, just as humans will jump into a swimming pool. Actually, pigs have an advantage over dogs and cats: they have no fleas.
#
"Discovery of America",591,0,0,0
For millennia man imagined that the earth was a circular flat plate. Anyone who dared to sail beyond its rim would therefore fall off into an endless abyss. In Columbus' day this view had been disproved. The world was round! Columbus thus rightly reasoned that, even when sailing westward, by encircling the world he was bound to reach India in the East and do so long before those traveling the traditional land route. (It was not mere adventurous spirit that prompted him, but economic motives. Proving the feasibility of such voyage, he would greatly expedite the import of the highly-prized Indian spices!)
That is how, by accident, he discovered the New World! Nevertheless, we continue to speak of Red Indians and the (West) Indies. They are a living monument to the fruitfulness of mistakes.
#
"Diva",592,0,0,0
The operatic diva who acts like a \Iprima donna\i ("first lady"), likes to be worshiped like a goddess. And perhaps she is entitled to be, since, after all, the honorific name often applied to her, \Idiva\i (from the Latin for "divine") means "a goddess."
#
"Divan",593,0,0,0
A divan may now serve as a comfortable couch in a home. Those reclining on it do not realize how, far from being a piece of furniture, the divan once fulfilled an entirely different purpose and was reserved for the highly educated. In Persian and Arabic cultures, "divan" described a collection of poems written on individual leaves which were bound together.
The deterioration of such intellectual delight into a backless sofa is hard to understand. It happened gradually. To begin with, people thought that such a "brochure" could equally serve to register accounts, and it became a kind of ledger. Subsequently, its name was transferred to the office in which the ledger was "kept." In Turkey, this was the Council Chamber, where the judicial body met, to record their code of law. Finally, the Council members became known by the name of their meeting place as the divan.
European visitors were intrigued by the cushioned bench on which the councillors and judges took their seat and which ran along the chamber's walls. Mixing up names, they wrongly assumed that this was a divan! That is how the original "collection of poetry" - a volume of leaves - became a mere sofa. Introduced into Europe as a fashionable and, at times, most elaborate adaptation of Oriental comfort, people were unaware of the confusion wrought.
#
"Diwali Festival",594,0,0,0
\BThe Festival of Lights\b
The Hindu festival of \JDiwali\j occurs in October or November. Based on an enchanting story, this festival of lights has a ceremonial that literally spreads light all over the country. It celebrates the return of a prince to his country after fourteen years of unjust banishment. His people jubilantly welcomed him and made him their king. To mark the occasion and express their joy, they lit lamps everywhere. This is exactly how the festival is now celebrated, with thousands of clay oil lamps illuminating the homes and streets.
Also worshiped during this feast is Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Her ritual has very practical aspects. To welcome her, homes are spring-cleaned, all damage is repaired, the walls are whitewashed and fireworks set off to scare away evil spirits. It is a special festival for business people. They open up new account books and also the goddess to bless them with plenty of profit and much success in all their undertakings.
#
"Dixson Library",595,0,0,0
The Dixson Library is located right next to the Mitchell Library in the same building, and most appropriately so. Their position reflects their complementary purposes as collections of some of the most precious treasures of Australiana.
William Dixson (later knighted, in recognition of his gifts and services to \JAustralia\j), was born in Sydney on 18 April 1870. Educated at All Saints' College, Bathurst, at the age of 19 he went to Scotland, where he worked as an engineer. On his return to Sydney in 1899, he joined the family business of Dixson & Son.
William's father was a bibliophile who had acquired a copy of almost every book on Australiana ever published. His son, who caught the passion from him, gave it his individual angle. For nearly 50 years, for his own historical researches, he purchased whatever he could find in the way of pictures, portraits, prints, charts, maps, coins, stamps, and manuscripts of Australian interest.
Inheriting his father's generosity and noting that Mitchell's legacy excluded all the objects he had gathered, he offered his precious collection to the State - with the same stipulations Mitchell had made. And in 1929 the Dixson Gallery was opened.
Dixson was able to make his vast benefaction through the wealth he had inherited and accumulated from his family's involvement in the \Jtobacco\j business. William himself was for five years director of the British-Australasian \JTobacco\j Company.
Dixson linked his name with Mitchell yet in other ways. In honor of the man he tried to emulate, he presented the library with its large, heavy bronze doors, ornamented with Australian motifs. To add beauty to the reading room, he provided it with three large stained-glass windows.
Dixson died on 17 August 1952 at the age of 82, still a bachelor. After a service at the Anglican Church of St Martin's in Woollahra, he was cremated. His ashes were then placed in the family grave in the Presbyterian section of the Rookwood Cemetery.
The burial place, a truly monumental plot surrounded by a low iron fence, is marked by an ornate large square pillar, with individual memorial tablets on its side. The pillar is surmounted by two huge figures, exquisitely sculptured. The larger one portrays an angel poised on a marble cloud, with wings outstretched. One of its hands points heavenwards, guiding the soul on its way, whilst the other holds a trumpet, ready to announce the time of \JResurrection\j.
On the occasion of Dixson's committal, Dr H. V. Evatt, the then president of the Public Library of \JNew South Wales\j, paid tribute to this benefactor whose gifts were "of the utmost national importance." According to his wish, at his death, the remainder of Dixson's books and manuscripts were transferred from his home to the library, to make up what has been described as an "unrivalled collection of national and international interest" by a man once acclaimed as "the greatest living collector of Australiana."
#
"Do Re Mi Fa So....",596,0,0,0
All early song was to worship God (or to enchant - in the magical sense of the word). People learned the tunes by ear, transmitting them orally from generation to generation. That is why the invention of scales proved such a history-making development in music. For the first time, it enabled man to write down the exact melody, to record it literally. The system still used today (with only a few minor alterations) was introduced by Guido d'Arezzo, an eleventh century monk. Even more surprising is the fact that the well-known naming of the notes, \Ido, re, me, fa, so, la, si, do\i - the very basis of \Jmusical notation\j - comes from an early Latin hymn.
Guido was born in Paris (c. 995). For some time he lived in Arezzo, which explains the name by which he became known. A learned ecclesiastic and the author of numerous volumes on musical themes, his influence on music was profound. He felt the need of some easy way to teach the scale.
Tradition tells that one day whilst practicing with choristers a certain hymn (in honor of St John the Baptist), he was overjoyed to find that this very song seemed to provide the answer. In its first three verses, the initial syllable of each successive section opened up with a sound that represented a stage in the ascent of the scale. All that was necessary to do was to detach those syllables from the rest of the Latin text and use them independently to make up the scales, so that they could easily be used for teaching sight-singing. \IRe,\i for instance, was the first syllable of \Iresonare, fa\i of \Ifamuli,\i and \Ila\i of \Ilabii.\i
His new method of teaching, he was convinced, would enable boys "to sing an unknown melody before the third day, which by other methods would not have been possible in many weeks." And his assumption proved correct. A dismembered hymn, then, with some slight amendments and additions, still provides the skeleton of the modern scale.
#
"Dock in a Court",597,0,0,0
The enclosure occupied by the defendant in a \Jcourt of law\j is known as the "dock." A strange choice of word, it is reminiscent of naval dockyards. However, there is no connection between the two.
The judicial dock can be traced to the Flemish tongue in which the word initially described a type of cage, particularly a pigsty, a chicken coop, or a \Jrabbit\j hutch. Charles Dickens popularized the word in its modern connotation which led to its general adoption. It shows the influence an author can have on his native tongue.
The nautical dock, on the other hand, goes back to the end of the fifteenth century, when (in 1495) the term was first applied to the Royal Dock at Portsmouth, England, and adopted from its earlier use for the groove a boat left in the mud or sand after having been beached for repairs or pulled up at high tide.
Though of such diverse backgrounds and, linguistically, of such different parentage, one having been born on the waterfront and the other coming out of a cage, both "docks" share, after all, a common purpose. They secure or prevent from drifting or escaping whatever or whomever they hold.
#
"Doctor's Red Lamp",598,0,0,0
The red lamp which indicates a doctors surgery also recalls the early practice of blood letting, so popular in former days as an imagined, and apparently effective, cure of many ills.
We need little imagination to see in the red globe evidence of a flourishing practice. The sign represents a vessel brimful with patients' blood. "Here is the place where you can get relief!," was the unspoken but once unmistakable message.
The red lamp was introduced in 1745, the very year when the Barbers' and Surgeons' Company was dissolved and surgery became an independent profession, practised by "specialists" - properly qualified doctors. There was need for them, too, now to display their presence, in spite of all later adverse opinions on advertising. They wanted people to know where they could be found. The obvious choice was the bloody globe.
That the red color is easily seen from a distance and is therefore a good guide for the distressed, added to the importance of the doctor's red lamp.
Perhaps an ancient survival of the belief in the curative power of the actual color may also be responsible subconsciously for its retention. Centuries ago, for instance, people suffering from smallpox were treated not merely with drugs but with the color red. When John, one of the sons of King Edward II, was treated for the disease, his bed was surrounded with red drapings, his body was covered with red blankets and he was prescribed a gargle of red \Jmulberry\j wine and a diet of the red juice of pomegranates.
Times have changed. Ancient cures are outdated and patients and doctors alike frown on the primitive method of letting blood. Yet the red globe remains. It is a symbol of the advance of medicine, a monument to the birth of an independent medical profession and, at the same time, another vivid example of the \Jconservatism\j of our customs which linger on even when their original, and then logical, meaning and reason no longer apply.
#
"Dog in the Manger",599,0,0,0
Whoever begrudges another's pleasure of something which is useless to himself, and stops them from enjoying it, is contemptuously called "a dog in the manger." This designation is based on yet another of Aesop's fables.
The \Jfable\j tells of a dog who took up position near a manger full of hay. It did so viciously to prevent \Jcattle\j and horses from getting near it. As the dog did not eat hay, it did not want others to enjoy it either.
#
"Dog on the Tuckerbox",600,0,0,0
Almost every Australian has heard of the "dog on the tuckerbox," sitting next to the Hume Highway, just outside Gundagai on the Sydney side. But hardly anyone is aware of the burial place of Jack Moses, whose \Jballad\j, "Nine Miles from Gundagai," inspired the statue.
And even those who know that he is buried in the South Head Cemetery will have difficulty identifying his grave. When Moses passed away in Sydney on 10 July 1945 at the ripe old age of 85, he was laid to rest next to Florence Lucy, his wife, who had died 13 years before him.
The stone marking their double grave bears her name only. Though cemetery records confirm his interment by her side, the place on the plaque which was reserved for his epitaph has remained blank.
An eerie incident is said to have occurred at the gravesite during Moses' funeral. From nowhere, so it seemed, a small \Jfox terrier\j came along and sat down among the mourners. At the end of the service, it vanished as mysteriously as it had come.
Other puzzles and even controversy are linked with Moses' famous \Jballad\j. Obviously, it referred to a drovers' camp, formerly located at Five Mile Creek outside Gundagai, where, on their way from Melbourne to Sydney, teamsters used to make a halt. Why did Moses, in his poem, increase the distance to nine miles?
There is supposed to have been a change in the wording of the \Jballad\j as well. Originally, so it is said, the dog did not just sit on the tuckerbox but, being very naughty, did something unmentionable on top of it! Later on, for refined ears, the verse was amended, and the obscene word replaced by a euphemism.
The dog, so the story goes, belonged to a teamster or drover who, whenever he had to leave the camp, would tell him to guard his tuckerbox. Obediently the dog would jump on to the box, and would stay there, keeping watch, till his master returned and told him to get off. Nothing and nobody else could make him climb down.
Jack Moses described himself as "the last of the bush \Jtroubadours\j." Almost to the day of his death, he loved writing his special kind of poetry. As a traveling wine salesman, for 60 out of the 86 years of his life he had roamed the countryside. He loved to spend much of his time with the men in the bush and on the land. He felt closest to them and took up their causes ardently. Just as he fought for the improvement of their living conditions, so he helped in the promotion of their produce, wherever and whenever he could.
To honor their district's early pioneers, the people of Gundagai put up the statue, which has become a tourist attraction.
According to most accounts, the "dog on the tuckerbox" monument was the work of Francis Philip Rusconi of Gundagai, at the time renowned as an outstanding artist and sculptor. However, his widow refutes this claim: "Frank merely made the marble pedestal of the bronze statue, but not the dog," she says. He never worked in bronze, nor did he design the monument. He merely erected it.
Frank Rusconi was three months short of 90 when he passed away on 21 May 1964. He is buried in the Gundagai Cemetery. An unassuming headstone marks his grave, most surprising, given that Rusconi excelled as a monumental mason with his outstanding marble monuments adorning many a graveyard in \JNew South Wales\j.
There was a reason for this paradox. "When I die," he had told his wife, "I don't want any tombstone. The 'Masterpiece' is my monument." And, indeed it is. Made of all-Australian marble, of every color, it took him 28 years to complete.
Every night he was awake for many hours, planning what he could add to it the following day. His wife wanted him to call it "The Marble Marvel." The government intended to acquire it, but was forestalled by the Shire Council. It is now displayed in a special room at the Gundagai Information Centre.
A tradition tells that, knowing the lack of stonemasons in his district, Rusconi had sculptured his headstone himself long before his death, leaving blanks for the date and age to be added when his time had come.
#
"Dog Racing Clubs",601,0,0,0
Modern coursing owes its sound organization to the history-making establishment by the then Duke of Norfolk, Lord Orford, of the first known club at Swaffham in 1776. He was not only a patron of the sport and its zealous promoter, but the owner and breeder of racing dogs. His experimentation in crossing breeds led to a further improvement of the \Jgreyhound\j's stamina.
The club itself was distinguished by several odd features. The number of its members was limited to that of the letters in the alphabet - 26. Each member was given a letter, in addition to a separate color. Of course, the chief activity of the club was the holding of races, for which each dog owner appointed a judge. Jointly, they chose a referee to act as an arbitrator in any conflict of opinion.
Lord Orford's death has even been linked to his insatiable enjoyment of coursing. Although sick, he was determined to watch his favorite bitch, Czarina, win yet another race (for the 47th time "running"). Straight from his sickbed, he followed the greyhounds on horseback. When, as expected, Czarina once again proved the winner, Orford's excitement was too much. He collapsed, fell from his horse, and died. There is another version of his death in 1791. It was due, the story goes, to a broken heart over the sudden passing of the girl he loved.
Other clubs were soon formed throughout the \JBritish Isles\j and some of them made valuable contributions to the further advance of the sport. The Ashdown Park Meeting first introduced the idea of a proper enclosure for the coursing field. Not the first in time, but the first in social importance and in its influence on the sport was the Altcar Club, founded by the Earl of Sefton near Liverpool in 1825. To be elected a member of this amounted almost to an accolade. However nothing surpassed the prestige of the \JWaterloo Cup\j, which became the "Derby" of coursing. It was named after the Waterloo Hotel at Liverpool as its proprietor, Mr Lynn, had first suggested the race. Himself a lover of greyhounds, in 1836 he submitted to Lord Molyneux a plan to run a contest of an eight-dog stake (at a sovereign each), also asking permission to use the grounds of the Altcar Club.
The nobleman agreed to both propositions and, enthusiastic about the idea, entered one of his own dogs, Milanie, which, rather deservedly so, won the race. In addition to the stake, the winner was presented with a trophy, a silver snuff box.
The sweepstake's success was so great that another meeting was arranged the following year, when nominations of dogs were increased to 16. On the next occasion, a year later again, this number was doubled, and from then the race became the most important annual event in the world of dog-racing. Since 1857 64 dogs have participated in each race and the \JWaterloo Cup\j has come to be regarded as "the blue ribbon of the leash."
All that was further required was a generally accepted code of rules and a strict supervision of the greyhounds entered to prevent substitutions. The establishment of the National Coursing Club in 1858 met both needs. It became the controlling body and from 1882 onward published a \IGreyhound Stud Book\i for the registration of the dogs, their pedigree, and history.
A principal feature of coursing eventually led to its decline and to the creation of the modern sport of \Jgreyhound\j-racing. People no longer approved of creatures suffering for the sake of their own enjoyment, not even the \Jrabbit\j, however much it was considered a pest as it is in \JAustralia\j. Coursing came to a dead end as it were.
A drastic change was clearly needed to revive it. The problem was to find a satisfactory substitute for a hare. In seeking one, enthusiasts well remembered that, fortunately, greyhounds pursued their quarry by sight and sound, and not by scent. It was reasoned that an inanimate dummy, moving along noisily, would therefore excite the dogs as much as a live bunny. English sportsmen conceived the idea of using an object that was mechanically propelled but, nevertheless, would make greyhounds chase after it as if it were a living quarry.
A first attempt was made in 1876 on a field near the Welsh Harp, Hendon. The promoters of the race for the first time used a mechanical hare. Mounted on a rail, it was pulled along by means of a rope wound around a wheel.
The experiment failed for two reasons. The course was the traditional straight track of 450 yards (409.50 m). Chased hares, or rabbits, moved erratically, taxing a \Jgreyhound\j's agility and sagacity. A mechanical hare mounted on a rail never wavered. It progressed in a \Jstraight line\j. Knowing the individual \Jgreyhound\j's approximate speed, and the fact that it almost invariably runs true to form, the result of the race could be accurately forecast and bets were no longer exciting or profitable. Secondly, on the traditional straight track, it was impossible to see the start and finish of a race equally well, which greatly reduced its appeal.
These faults could only be remedied by changing the shape of the course and providing a circular or oval track so that the race not only could be followed easily from beginning to end but no longer would it go merely to the fastest runner. The dog which knew best how to negotiate the curves and take advantage of opportunities in running would be the winner. And so the modern dog-racing track came into being. First envisaged by an Englishman in 1890, its construction died prematurely through lack of funds. Where the English failed, the Americans succeeded. Modern \Jgreyhound\j racing was born in the United States.
The first races were held in \JMassachusetts\j in the eighteenth century. The dogs were released from the arms of "slippers" on a gunshot. They raced towards a cloth waved by a "handler" who stood approximately 20 feet (6 m) beyond the finishing line. A live hare released into a circular arena replaced the waved cloth, and the winner was the dog who caught it.
However it did not take long for animal lovers to condemn the sport as inhumane and it was prohibited.
Owen Patrick Smith of Oklahoma, prosecuted for ignoring the ban, felt that an efficient replacement for the live \Jrabbit\j was all that was needed. After years of trial and error he was able to produce an ideal mechanical hare which was run along an electrified rail around an oval track. It was a resounding success and the mechanical hare was eventually adopted all over the world.
In 1925, Charles Munn, an American sportsman and lover of \Jgreyhound\j racing, took the idea to Britain. The conservative British at first gave him the cold shoulder but, undaunted, Munn persisted, to succeed at last in rousing interest and in getting support from General A. C. Critchley. Together, they organised the first experimental track at Belle Vue, Manchester, in 1926. The choice of that Lancashire town had its special reason. The men were convinced, it is said, that if Manchester liked \Jgreyhound\j racing, the whole of England would too. At all events, the new sport caught on and the two men founded the \JGreyhound\j Racing Association of Britain.
\JGreyhound\j racing, streamlined as the \Jgreyhound\j itself, has thus become the dignified and humanized heir of coursing.
#
"Dog Watch",602,0,0,0
A sailor welcomes cats on board ship, as their diet of mice and rats suits both parties concerned. But dogs really have no place at sea. Yet we speak of a "dog watch."
However, there is nothing canine about the expression. The dog crept into it only by linguistic corruption.
Members of the crew were divided into two watches - the star board and the port. They went on duty alternately for four hours each. But soon it was realized that this division of time and service was neither practical nor fair. It could easily happen that the same men had the identical four-hour period every day.
To avoid this, the watch from four to eight in the late afternoon and early evening was halved into two short watches of two hours each, one from four to six and the other from six to eight. Thus the number of daily watches was increased from six to seven, an uneven number, which ensured a just rotation of duties.
For men to be called upon to do the same duty at the same time on the following day was now impossible. And as each watch would \Idodge\i a watch, it was called the dodge watch. Somehow its original purpose and meaning were forgotten, and the men came to speak of it as the dog watch.
No one likes to be associated, even in a manner of speaking, with dodging work. Sailors on guard might have found an affinity, and not merely a play on words, between a watch dog, in which capacity they really served, and a dog watch.
#
"Dog's Loyalty",603,0,0,0
Proverbial is a dog's loyalty to its master. However, at times this is vastly exaggerated and generalized. Dogs have been known, without provocation, to attack their masters or, ungratefully, to run away from a home which lovingly cared for them.
A dog's repute, most likely, is based on the Greek myth of Argus, Odysseus' faithful old dog. For 20 years it anxiously waited for its masters return and when, at long last, Odysseus came home, Argus immediately recognized him, in spite of his disguise in beggar's rags. It was a most moving reunion. In welcoming his beloved master, Argus was so overjoyed that he died from the excitement.
#
"Dog's Role in History",604,0,0,0
There is no doubt that from prehistoric times dogs proved their value in helping man chase his quarry and provide him with food. All over the world, man came to appreciate the dog, to utilize and even to venerate it. Myths of dogs belong to the lore of numerous races in every continent.
Cerberus, with its many heads, was believed to guard the gate to the infernal region of \JHades\j, while in \JBorneo\j a fiery dog was thought to watch the entrance to paradise.
Many ancient monuments, some dating back to 5000 BC, have been unearthed, telling in picture or word the story of man's love for his dog, and the part it already played in his life in that early period.
Long before the building of the pyramids, Egyptians had adopted the dog. They called it by individual names, and early hieroglyphic signs refer to it by the syllables \Ib\i and \Iw\i which anticipated by thousands of years the children's custom of speaking of the dog as a \Ibow wow.\i Egyptian beliefs portrayed dogs as companions of their master at home and in the field. Mummified bodies of dogs were found in Egyptian graves, showing how, at the dawn of history, man venerated the canine species.
Dogs were also pictured on the friezes of Assyrian kings, on Greek terra cotta vases, and on numerous artifacts of the Romans. Mayan civilization lacked all domestic animals - except the dog. The Incas kept it, both as a pet and a scavenger, while the Mochica race raised dogs that had no bark, and their artists immortalized the dog's shape in exquisite, unrivalled pottery.
Andean tribes around \JPeru\j used to eat dogs, a custom that was condemned by the royal Incas. \JAztecs\j sacrificed dogs, particularly so on the passing of a king, to accompany his body across a mystical river. On the other hand, Persians loved the animal so much that anyone killing a dog was severely punished.
Never throughout history did the dog lose its prominent place. Loyally he guarded his master's property and his flocks. When, in the 23rd Psalm (which compared God's care for man with that of a shepherd for his sheep) the last verse speaks of "goodness and mercy" that "shall follow me all the days of my life," some commentators have pointed out that, in fact, "Goodness" and "Mercy" were the names of two sheepdogs.
The dog served as a scavenger not only among the Incas but all over the ancient world - as it continues to do in some Eastern lands. It could be trained as guide and carrier in peace and war. Its sensitivity in hearing and smelling proved far superior to that of man. Many lost people and wounded soldiers owed their survival solely to a dog. Moving and beautiful were the words of a blind man who, so truly, could say of his guide - dog that "my eyes have a cold nose." In \JArctic\j zones, to this very day, dogs pull man's burdens.
Above all, dogs have proved themselves effective in the hunt. Their pursuit of game, including gazelles, deer, and hares, dates back to antiquity. The dog most favored in coursing almost from the very beginning was the \Jgreyhound\j. It is remarkable that its breed has hardly changed any of its main features for the last 7,000 years. Its characteristics have always been a slender body and long legs but, above all, superlative vision, an acute sense of hearing, and swiftness. These attributes made the \Jgreyhound\j the ideal hunter, unsurpassed in ability to track game and catch up with it. The \Jgreyhound\j followed the quarry not by scent but by sight, which differentiates it from most other dogs.
The meaning of its name is not certain and has been explained variously, though all agree that the prefix "grey" (of which the \Jetymology\j is doubtful) does not refer to the dog's color. Hound, of course, is an ancient description of a dog preserved in the German \IHund.\i Some saw in the word \Jgreyhound\j a corruption of "Greek hound."
Dr Cayus, Queen Elizabeth's court physician, in his book on dogs, suggested that the syllable "grey" had evolved from a word signifying "degree," as this breed was of "the highest degree." His book was the first ever to be written exclusively on the subject in England, though in Latin. His opinion, even if incorrect, certainly must have been influenced by the royal bearing, proud stance, and beautiful lines of the breed. No wonder that the \Jgreyhound\j became a living symbol of grace and nobility.
#
"Dog-collar",605,0,0,0
The clergyman's badge of office - his collar worn back to front - is of comparatively recent origin and far from being ecclesiastical. To wear it is really contrary to the early wishes of Church authorities, who were strongly opposed to a priest putting on any distinctive kind of dress. Indeed, Pope Celestinus, in 428 A.D., reprimanded those bishops who dared to wear a costume that distinguished them from other people. This was considered a denial of the original democratic and non-professional character of \JChristianity\j.
When, despite these views and directions, priests eventually appeared dressed differently from the laity, their clothes were not a new ecclesiastical type of uniform. On the contrary, they were a continuation of a pagan mode of attire! It did not originate in biblical teachings or traditions, but in old Roman custom.
When in the 6th century fashions changed and people abandoned the traditional Roman kind of apparel, the \Jclergy\j, conservative in all things, did not follow suit. They refused to adopt the "modern" garment and continued to use the now outmoded dress.
Whilst laymen got used to putting on the new short tunics, trousers, and cloaks, priests persisted in wearing the Roman toga and long type of tunic, still surviving today in the surplice, cassock, and frock. Indeed, Pope Gregory the Great, determined to obstruct any change, decried the new fashion as barbarian and decreed retention of the Roman garb by his priests.
It was only in the 9th century that Christian authorities tried to add to this Roman way of secular dress some likeness to the ancient priestly \Jvestments\j, worn by the Aaronites in King Solomon's Temple.
The clerical collar itself is a development, or more accurately a relic, of that part of medieval "priestly" garb which was known as the Amice. This was a square of white linen worn in the 11th century by priests celebrating Mass. Tied both at back and front with a series of strings, it formed a triangular type of scarf. This was modified in Tudor times to become a white neck cloth with long tag ends which, eventually, were dropped.
The original purpose of this "dog-collar" had no religious association but was most utilitarian. It was a sort of scarf (worn already by Roman public orators) to protect the throat and neck of speakers against cold and a very practical way of preventing the rest of the garment from being stained by \Jperspiration\j.
The cloth is attached to a white collar. This is merely the old white neck band which was worn by everybody from the 16th century onward until the introduction of our modern collar late last century.
#
"Dog-eared",606,0,0,0
Dog-eared pages are so called because the reader, lacking a proper book mark, has turned down the corner which thus looks much like a dog's ear, flopping over.
#
"Doghouse",607,0,0,0
Those in disgrace are said to be in the doghouse. It is a drastic way to show one's displeasure. Often applied to a wife punishing her husband for things done (or left undone), in no uncertain terms it tells her (not so) "better half" that he is not fit to share her bed. His proper place is to sleep with the dog. To spend the night in a kennel is not exactly the most comfortable way for a human, particularly in inclement weather, not to mention the fleas...
In his famous story \IPeter Pan,\i Sir James Barrie tells how Nana, the Darling children's Newfoundland pet dog which served them as nursemaid as well, had been shabbily treated by their father. Realizing how unkind he had been to the animal and feeling ashamed of it, in self-inflicted punishment he went to live in the doghouse! When the tale of Peter Pan captured people's imagination, it perpetuated the "doghouse."
There is the suggestion that gruesome reality rather than fiction was responsible for the idiom. It was linked with the African \Jslave trade\j and the ships which carried their unhappy cargo across the Atlantic. During the night the victims were shackled in the holds. Afraid that they might break their chains and rebel, to ensure their own safety their guards and captors improvised sleeping places on deck, above the hatches covering the floating prison. To protect themselves against the cold and wind, they used small cubicles which, because of their uncomfortable constricted space, were soon nicknamed doghouses.
#
"Doll",608,0,0,0
Toys seem to belong so exclusively to a child's world as to be far removed from religious matters. And yet, this is not the case. If taken apart, as many youngsters love doing - but this time etymologically - a doll will reveal the very presence of God.
That \IDorothy\i is a divine name is obvious to those acquainted with elementary Greek. The name plainly tells (in that classic tongue) that one bearing it is "the gift of God." \I(Theodore\i is the male equivalent.) However little it may be apparent, the word \Idoll\i shares their origin and meaning.
Early in the sixteenth century, Dorothy became a fashionable name in Britain, to remain so for almost 200 years. Its popularity led people to shorten it to \IDolly\i or \IDoll.\i It was not surprising that eventually children's playthings were also called by this well-liked name. The first documented instance is found as early as 1700.
Thus, not only in the eyes of the children who receive them, but also in name, these toys are truly a "gift of God."
#
"Dollar",609,0,0,0
Tracing the dollar to its original source, the name paid homage to a saint, Joachim, the father of the virgin Mary. That is where all dollars come from.
A small mining town in \JBohemia\j (later to become part of \JCzechoslovakia\j) was called in honor of the saint. As it was situated in a valley or dale, the German \IThal\i or \ITal,\i its name became \ISankt\i (Saint) \IJoachim's Thal,\i eventually contracted into one word, Joachimsthal.
The Counts of Schlick owned the town, as part of their vast estate, and with it, a rich silver mine. From the silver extracted, they struck their own (one-ounce) coins, first in 1519. They embossed on them the image of St Joachim. Soon the coin became popularly known by its place of birth, in German, as Joachim's Thaler. This was too long a name. Thus people dropped the saint and all that was left was the reference to the valley or dale, the Thaler. This was pronounced in Low German, Dutch and Danish as Dahler, eventually to change on English tongues into the dollar.
#
"Dollar Symbol ($)",610,0,0,0
The dollar symbol, as known today, originated in the United States. It is derived from the Spanish dollar sign. To avoid any confusion between the two, it was slightly modified and Americanized. The way this was done is told in different versions.
When President Jefferson adopted the Spanish unit as American currency, this was generally known as a "piece of eight," because it was valued at eight Spanish Reals. What now looks like an "S" actually was a disfigured "8," it is claimed, and to differentiate it from the "S" on the Spanish prototype, two vertical lines were put through the figure. To make them more meaningful, they were said to portray the two pillars of Hercules.
Another claim stresses that the pillars of Hercules, separating the \JAtlantic Ocean\j from the \JMediterranean Sea\j, had already been part of the Spanish coin. They had been stylized by the Americans who reduced them to two vertical lines representing a fragmented "U." A ribbon that used to entwine the pillars and originally ran from the upper left to the lower right, was reversed to look like an "S," thereby incorporating in the new symbol the U.S. of the United States. With this adaptation, the U.S. Congress officially adopted the Spanish dollar as American currency on 6 July 1785.
Yet a third version asserts that, in the Spanish model, a "P" (for Peso) was combined with the "8." Later on, the letter was omitted to leave only the figure between two sloping lines. The two strokes eventually were transferred on to the "8" which by careless writing came to look very much like an "S," so that, to the imaginative, patriotic American, the symbol appeared like the letters "U.S." interwoven.
#
"Don't Give a Jot",611,0,0,0
Those who just could not care less may express their contemptuous lack of concern by saying that they "don't give a jot." They might not realize that the phrase derives from the \JBible\j. In the \JHebrew\j alphabet, the letter \Ijot\i is conspicuous (!) for its tiny size. Like a small hook or comma, it hangs down from the upper line. The jot thus came to typify something trifling and diminutive.
The Gospels tell (Matth. 5.18) how Jesus, when discussing his attitude towards Jewish tradition, emphasized that he had not come to destroy it. On the contrary, he assured his listeners that not "one jot or one tittle" of it would pass away.
Jesus - like all Jews at the time - spoke \JAramaic\j, and most likely used an \JAramaic\j transcript of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j in which, as in the closely related \JHebrew\j, the letter jot was the smallest of all characters and could easily serve as a figure of speech for anything that was minute.
#
"Donkey's Years",612,0,0,0
For things to last "for donkey's years" is obviously a misunderstanding. Donkeys, after all, do not live all that long. However, they are distinguished by their extra long ears which were stretched into donkey's years. As if to add insult to injury it was all due to being misheard.
#
"Door Knocker",613,0,0,0
A knocker on a door seems such an innocuous object used for a caller to gain entry. However, its introduction and early use had an additional and significant magical function. The magic (of its) sound was meant to dispel all evil forces lurking around the door, to prevent them from entering with the caller.
Even the devil and all those serving him, it was believed, have a chink in their armor. Loud noise scared them off.
#
"Dot on the 'i'",614,0,0,0
A mere \Jmetaphor\j now, to be meticulous and exact, people are reminded to "dot the i's (and cross the t's)." Originally, however, the saying was taken very literally. The dot was added only later on, around the eleventh century, and for a pertinent reason.
In early \Jcalligraphy\j, two i's following each other in a text could easily be confused with the letter "u." To avoid such error, scribes felt the need to identify the letter so distinctly that it became unmistakable. For this purpose, they crowned it with a dot!
Etymologically, the dot itself has an intriguing past. Prior to topping the letter "i," the dot referred to the head of a boil and a nipple.
#
"Double Dutch",615,0,0,0
The English, loathing the Dutch for many centuries as dangerous rivals, certainly made no effort to speak or understand their language. If Dutch therefore was unintelligible to them, "double Dutch" was so in the extreme. Totally beyond their comprehension, it was gibberish. That the English created the term to use it for anything that did not make sense was intentionally done, further to insult the Dutch and to show their contempt for them.
The slander did not escape the Dutch. Cleverly they outwitted the English. As they could not alter the English vocabulary and remove the obnoxious idiom, they did the next best thing. They ordered all officials to discontinue altogether the use of the word Dutch and to replace it with "Netherland."
#
"Double Talk",616,0,0,0
Some people repeat themselves, saying things all over again, though they might do so with different words. We decry such repetition as a waste of time and as boring. We do not realize that, frequently and without knowing it, we ourselves commit the same offense. It has become an integral part of ordinary speech, technically known as tautology, from the Greek \Itauto\i for "the same" and \Ilogo\i for "saying."
The phenomenon has a valid reason. Language, like everything that lives, changes. Words and expressions that once were part of everyday speech, age and become obsolete. However, instead of replacing the archaic term with its modern \Jsynonym\j, possibly introduced from abroad, language adds the one to the other, thereby duplicating whatever is said. Numerous examples can be found in almost every aspect of life.
#
"Double-cross",617,0,0,0
Religious relics used to be so highly treasured and venerated that monasteries and churches vied with each other to obtain them.
Most prized were splinters believed to come from the cross of Christ. (To touch the wood, indeed, was considered lucky, which belief explains the well-known \Jsuperstition\j and phrase.) Rogues soon took advantage of the demand to bring on to the religious market worthless pieces of wood which, they alleged, were such sacred relics.
The malpractice became so widespread that, in the slang of thieves, "to give the cross" came to mean "to deceive a person by engaging in a dishonest deal." Though it is said that there is honor among thieves, it nevertheless happened that these fellows were not above cheating each other. So they "double-crossed."
Fragments of Christ's cross are no longer offered for sale, even fraudulently. However, they survive whenever someone betrays you. He double-crosses you.
#
"Doughnuts",618,0,0,0
Doughnuts are so called because originally they were fried sweetened dough, in the shape of solid balls, called nuts.
Though now typically American, they were introduced by the Pilgrim Fathers who had acquired a liking for them during their stay in the Netherlands on their way to New England. They picked up the recipe, as it were, from the Dutch who, frying the dough in hog's fat, referred to the pastry as "oily cakes."
The modern doughnut is ring-shaped. Wits suggest that the best recipe for making a doughnut was to take a hole and surround it with dough!
Hanson Crocket Gregory, a 15-year-old American youth, is credited with inventing it in 1847. He lived at Rockport in the state of Maine. Although he very much enjoyed eating his mother's fried round pastries, he had one complaint. While they were crisp on the outside, their centers were always soggy.
Speaking to his mother about it, she explained to him that she was well aware of it, but that it was not her fault. In fact, to overcome the problem, several times she had kept the cakes longer on the fire - with the result that they were burned. Hanson accepted her answer, but did not take it as final. He felt that there had to be a solution and, ingeniously, he found it in the simplest possible way. Using a knife, he removed the center of the round pastry before his mother fried it. This gave it the novel shape of a ring which was neither burned nor soggy.
Making a hole in the story itself, as it were, is another version. This claims that Hanson Gregory was not a schoolboy, but a sea captain. He had invented the hole in the doughnut for a practical reason. He realized that a helmsman, whilst on duty for long periods then, must get hungry. He needed some refreshment, which a cake or bun could well provide. However, there was the problem of how to keep these within easy reach and ready for the eating without interfering with his task. It was so simple, Gregory found. By making a hole in the cakes, they could easily be slipped on the spokes of the wheel from which the helmsman could serve himself whenever he felt hungry and could do so without leaving his post.
There is even a tradition that an American Indian was responsible for the hole. Watching one of the Pilgrim women frying the traditional (Dutch) cakes, he shot an arrow through it. Too late to reshape the half-cooked doughnut and too poor to dispose of it, she finished frying it. The hole left at its center made it all the more crisp and delicious. It caught people's fancy and made the hole a fixture in all the doughnuts cooked since.
#
"Doves on Gravestones",619,0,0,0
The Gospels tell (Matth 3, 16) that after Jesus' \Jbaptism\j the heavens opened for the \JHoly Spirit\j to descend, "in a body shaped like a dove." The dove, in Christian tradition came to represent the third person in the trinity, and as such it appears as a motif on tombstones. It is intended to convey the consoling message that the \JHoly Spirit\j was watching over the deceased.
Tenderness is said to be one of the dove's characteristics. Portrayed on a monument, a dove thus is also meant to recall the gentle nature of the departed and, if the bird is white, his or her purity in thought and in life.
Turtledoves, particularly, are renowned for their affection and constancy in love (alluded to in the phrase "billing and cooing," used to describe lovers' amorous play). A turtledove depicted or sculpted on a stone commemorates conjugal loyalty and mutual trust.
Like all birds, the dove represented spirituality in its deepest sense. A winged creature effortlessly could rise to celestial heights, leaving behind the mundane world. A myth told that a dove carried the soul of the dead into heaven.
A dove with an olive branch in its beak betokens the end of life's struggle, with all its worries and anxieties. It brings the good tidings of a new and secure existence in the shelter of God.
The \Jsymbolism\j is based on the biblical story of the Flood. After the horrendous catastrophe, Noah and his family, the only human survivors, were anxiously waiting in the Ark for the waters to subside, to be able to disembark and start a new life on earth. To ascertain how far the waters had receded, Noah cleverly made use of birds. When, at his third attempt, a dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak, Noah realized that at long last the waters had subsided sufficiently for vegetation to reappear, and God had made peace with man.
The dove with an olive branch thus became the symbol of a world at peace. Whenever shown on a headstone, it refers to the eternal peace now experienced by the soul of the departed.
#
"Dowry",620,0,0,0
The dowry once brought into marriage by the bride-like the trousseau - goes back to the early days, when the groom's parents had to pay for their son's spouse. At least partially to compensate for the money spent for her purchase, she repaid, so to speak, in kind. Dowry, trousseau and bride price thus are closely related.
#
"Draconian",621,0,0,0
To speak of anything as Draconian emphasizes its harshness. It is one of the many expressions called after an historic figure.
Draco was an Athenian legislator and the first to codify the laws of \JAthens\j (in 621 BC). The penalties he introduced were most severe. Draco showed little pity even for the most minor offenses. Relieving oneself in public was thus regarded a grievous misdemeanor and accordingly punished. Creditors were entitled to enslave a debtor who was unable to repay the money owed. On the mere suspicion of having committed \Jmanslaughter\j while abroad, a traveler was refused re-entry into the country until he had been cleared of the charges. In fact, the majority of crimes (which included the stealing of a head of cabbage) carried the death sentence.
No wonder that, traditionally, it was said that Draco had written his laws in blood - both metaphorically and literally. His name became synonymous with the merciless and ruthless execution of justice.
When challenged about why he had made his penalties so savage, he replied that it was his opinion that small offenses merited death, while he could think of no harsher penalty for greater crimes.
Nevertheless, to regard "Draconian law" merely as something negative is unfair. It ignores Draco's significant place in legal history. He has the credit to have been the first in \JGreece\j to abolish the practice of taking personal revenge, and to replace it with a strictly controlled system of objective justice, at least as it was understood in his day.
His legislation was not to last for long. Within 27 years, Solon, one of the "seven sages" of \JGreece\j, repealed Draco's entire code, with only one exception, the law dealing with \Jhomicide\j. In spite of it, "draconian" as a description of anything "cruel" and "severe" has survived to the present day.
#
"Dragon Boat Festival",622,0,0,0
The Dragon Boat Festival is the biggest summer event in the Chinese calendar. It is celebrated by boat races. The boats, painted in bright red, are decorated at their prow with a dragon's head, which explains the name of the festival.
A tragic incident in the third century BC. is said to have been responsible for the introduction of the festival. In 285 BC. Chu Yuan, a member of a noble family and a great poet and patriot of the Chu dynasty, roused his king's anger by fearlessly denouncing him for his injustice and corruption. As a punishment, he was exiled to Hunan.
As the years passed he longed more and more for his home and loved ones. Utterly depressed, he decided to end his life. On the fifth day of the fifth moon in 278 BC, he threw himself into the Milo River. Fishermen who witnessed his suicide attempt immediately tried to save him from drowning or being devoured by man-eating fish that infested the waters. They raced their boats towards him and, to divert the fish from the drowning man, tossed bits of food to them. However, they did not succeed.
Their vain attempts are re-enacted annually by the dragon boat races and the throwing of rice into the water. Yet another feature of the festival now so far removed from the harrowing event is the eating of rice dumplings!
Because it is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month - supposedly the anniversary of Chu Yuan's death - the day is also known as the "Double Five Festival."
#
"Drama and Greek Religion",623,0,0,0
Drama as entertainment emerged from religious ritual and its dramatization. It was an integral part of early \JGreek religion\j, dedicated to a deity. It grew out of the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, and was performed at the festival celebrated in his honor. Those attending were therefore filled with awe. They came, not to be entertained, but to be uplifted - to be inspired and "possessed" by the divine spirit.
#
"Draw the Line",624,0,0,0
People may tolerate certain behavior and permit things to happen - up to a point. But then they refuse to go any further. That is when they "draw the line."
At first thought, it might be imagined that the line employed in the figure of speech referred to a rope stretched across to stop anyone from going beyond it. However, the phrase, taken very literally, might speak of a geometrical line. Drawn on the ground, it indicated a limit in a game, a sport or a fight. Opinions differ as from which of these the phrase was first derived.
Chief contender is tennis. A line drawn on either side of the improvised court indicated how far the ball could be hit before it was "out." Boxing also has been cited. A line scratched in the sand of the boxing ring showed the limit to which a contestant could advance.
Totally different is yet a third suggestion. It traces this idiomatic line to medieval peasants' fields. Cut by ploughshares, it clearly designated the boundary of their property, beyond which they were not allowed to harvest.
#
"Dressed (Up) to the Nines",625,0,0,0
Anyone clothed very elegantly is colloquially "dressed (up) to the nines." The choice of the number has been related to the significant part it has played in \Jmythology\j, \Jmysticism\j, and reckoning. In the traditional scale of values, rising from one to ten, nine was closest to perfection. Hence, those dressed up to the nines had almost reached it.
In classical times, it was believed that the world of art, literature, and science was controlled by the nine \Jmuses\j. Their number represented the total sum of everything that attracted and inspired the mind, just as would a person conspicuous by the smartness of dress.
Nine was three times three, the figure Pythagoras had already regarded as "the perfect number." Therefore it trebled its supreme value.
Ninepins once was a popular pastime. Those spending an evening out playing the game were said to have gone "to the nines." Properly dressed for the occasion, they were "dressed (up) to the nines."
Many of these explanations, obviously, are far-fetched. No wonder doubts have been raised regarding the use of the nine altogether and it is thought that it might not be part of the phrase in any figurative sense at all. What now appears as a "nine" is the remnant of an Old English word, misunderstood and, subsequently, wrongly divided.
People exquisitely attired were said to be dressed "up to the eyes." Their smartness extended all over, from the feet up to their very eyes. "To the eyes" in Old English was to then eyne. When grammar and words changed, it was no longer realized that eyne was the plural of an eye. This led people to make the wrong connection, linking the final "n" of the preceding and by then obsolete article "then" to the archaic eyes, in "the nines."
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"Dressing Down",626,0,0,0
To put someone in their place by giving them a "dressing down" has nothing to do with clothes. It might merely perpetuate the once common use of the word "dressing" for the "scolding" of a person, setting them right. Equally possible is the crossover of the term from the meat trade. A butcher is said to "dress down" a carcass when cutting it up. And whoever is being given a severe reprimand (a "dressing down"), metaphorically, is cut into pieces.
Probably though, the figure of speech is not a survival of outdated English nor borrowed from butcher's terminology, but comes from the early mining of ore. When rock containing the metal had been dug out of the ground, prior to being crushed in the mill or going to the smelter, it was broken up into small pieces, a process termed "dressing down." Anyone being severely told off must have felt crushed or broken up - as were those pieces.
#
"Drink Like a Fish",627,0,0,0
To say of anyone intemperate that he drinks like a fish, is based on an optical illusion. In fact, if taken literally, it would mean that he is drinking very little indeed. Because fish appear to be constantly swallowing water, it only seems that they are drinking it. In reality, the water never enters their \Jstomach\j. It passes through their gills which extract from it necessary oxygen. Any liquid the fish require is absorbed from their food.
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"Drinking Customs",628,0,0,0
Of the "isms" that threaten the world, one of the most dangerous is \Jalcoholism\j. Yet spirits, ever since their first appearance, have not only haunted man but helped him to relax, to rejoice and to instill good will. Drink makes some people jolly and others depressed. It can sharpen the appetite, help digestion, or act as a tranquilizer.
Drink has been used from earliest times as part of communion with gods. Alcohol is mentioned in the \JBible\j 165 times and, it is well to note, in most cases favorably. Wine was served at the Last Supper. Indeed, the ancient Hebrews used to bless and thank God for having created the fruit of the vine. On the other hand, some ancients and moderns have decried it as the worst of all evils, a gift of the Devil.
Alcohol is one of the most volatile spirits that have roused human passions. In America, bootleggers fought the police and prohibitionists fought governments. The teetotaller fought himself. Scots and Irish still fight each other if, for nothing else, for the credit of having invented whisky, whose name derives from \JGaelic\j, meaning so aptly "the water of life." Rum used to be called the motive power of the British navy, but in \JAustralia\j it became the earliest currency.
Whether drink is good or evil is a matter of degree. It has been pointed out rightly that first the man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, and finally the drink takes the man.
A legend relates that when God created the first grapes, He was assisted by three members of the animal kingdom, the lion, the ape, and the pig - who, each in turn, sprinkled some of their own spirit on the young plant. That is why, up to the present day, anyone who drinks just a little grows in strength like a lion; he who imbibes several glasses starts resembling strongly his simian ancestor; and he who does not know when to stop, eventually lies under the table like a pig.
#
"Driving on the Right and Left Sides",629,0,0,0
In the early days traffic was sporadic. Although roads, if they existed at all, were narrow, no one had to worry about colliding with a rider or vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. Traffic rules then dealt only with specific situations. These included the breaking down of a loaded wagon; the procedure to be followed when a faster vehicle wanted to overtake a slower one; and which of two vehicles traveling in opposite directions had to give way by drawing up by the roadside.
In some parts of the world traffic laws reflected the class-consciousness of the time. The number of horses permitted to pull a person's carriage was determined by his social standing. A mere count of the horses thus would reveal the importance of their owner and with it, who had the "right" of the road. The practice certainly anticipated the modern \Jcult\j of high-powered cars with a maximum of horse(!)-power as a status symbol.
\IChoosing Sides\i
Once traffic had become relatively heavy, moving almost continually both ways, to avoid accidents and, not least, head-on collisions, its flow had to be controlled. The obvious thing to do was to widen the roads and then to legislate that traffic had to keep to one definite side for each direction. The question now was to which one.
It is a rather intriguing, if not puzzling fact that to this day countries are divided into two groups: those who keep to the left and those who prefer the right. Certainly this choice of the right or the left does not reflect the politics of a nation. It was the result of a combination of many factors: practical considerations; man's innate wish to do things the easy way; national and religious antagonism; exigencies of war; plain logic and road safety of a particular kind.
\IThe English Left\i
The English and those who follow their example such as \JAustralia\j, \JNew Zealand\j, \JJapan\j and \JThailand\j keep to the left. Their persistence, there is no doubt, is due not least to English \Jconservatism\j. They preserve regulations which, when introduced, made good sense, though their motivation has long become redundant.
It all goes back to the days when the horse dominated the road. For thousands of years it served man as his only means of fast transport. Riders everywhere mount a horse from the left. It was the natural way for a right-handed man to grasp its mane and the reins with his left hand and then to swing his right leg across. Therefore it became a universal practice.
This was the first step along the road. The next followed almost inevitably. By mounting his horse from the left side, a rider would naturally keep to that side of the road. That is how the horse first "pointed the way" and taught man how to travel. Accordingly, special mounting posts provided for riders on early English roads were always on the left. The introduction of the coach did not change matters. In fact, it reinforced the rule of the left.
\ILashing the Whip\i
Good horses certainly made good miles. At times they needed some prodding. As mere vocal exhortation proved insufficient, coachmen and postillions used a whip. But to do so they needed ample room. Heavy transports and some of the carriages were pulled by several teams of horses. To reach those in front, the driver had to have still more freedom of movement for his whip.
Thus it was really the whip that drove man to keep to the left. Urban and rural conditions, in their separate ways, underscored the selection. If coachmen had been driving on the right of the narrow city streets, the walls of houses would have impeded the use of the whip.
Worse still, they could easily have hit and injured pedestrians on that side of the road. On country lanes, the whip would have been caught in the hedges and trees flanking them. The adoption of left-hand travel was the logical choice, and for many years it remained the universal European custom.
The earliest known official "keep left" regulation was issued in 1756 for vehicles crossing \JLondon Bridge\j. Scotland was the first country - in 1772 - to make left-hand travel a national law, applying to all city traffic. (Offenders were fined 20 shillings - $2 - a substantial amount then.) England and Wales followed suit in 1835.
Coaches and traffic could thus run as smoothly as could be expected at the time. An apparent contradiction did not go unobserved. Henry Erskine put it in rhyme, when he wrote:
\I"The rule of the road is a paradox quite,
Both in riding and driving along;
If you keep to the left, you are sure to be right.
If you keep to the right, you are wrong."\i
\IGoing to the Right\i
Views still differ why this general and practical rule of the road was altered, leading to the present world confusion between the right and the left - traffic - wise.
One theory credits warfare for the change in sides. Traditionally, a battle was started by an attack on the enemy forces from the left. For this purpose the troops advanced along that side of the road. But Napoleon shrewdly reversed the sides. He foresaw that the enemy army trained in the standard way would thus be completely taken by surprise. Unable quickly to switch, from the outset of battle they would be at a great disadvantage.
His new strategy of launching attacks from the right necessitated that his marching columns should proceed to their battle stations on that side of the road as well and therefore no longer from the left. Napoleon carried his new "order of march" wherever he went in his conquest of Europe. Inevitably, all other traffic had to adjust itself to his way.
This military explanation of right-hand driving is greatly supported by the fact that two countries Napoleon did not reach - Britain and Sweden - kept to the left. (Sweden switched to the right in 1967.)
\IReligious Antagonism\i
Another theory attributes the reversal of sides to religious antagonism. For centuries, Papal authority felt that the well-being of the entire man and not merely his soul was its responsibility. Thus it regulated everyday life over the vast area of Catholic Europe and road-safety was part of the Pope's concern. He made it mandatory for all traffic to move along the left side of the road.
Robespierre, the French revolutionary and atheist, was determined to break the power of the Church and \JRome\j. He set out to display the new freedom and independence from the Church and the Pope who represented it, wherever he could. For no reason other than to be contrary and to show his contempt, he reversed the order of things. That is how, it is suggested, he abolished the Papal traffic law and made the French people change sides on the road. Later, with Robespierre gone, traffic in \JFrance\j continued to move in the new direction. It became the state law in 1835, the same year in which England legislated for the "left." When it became fashionable to copy all that was French, many other countries adopted their rule of the road as well!
\IThe American Way\i
Americans chose the right side. Some have wondered why. After all, America is a former British colony. It was certainly not done as a gesture of defiance or expression of independence, nor in imitation of the French. The most likely reason is linked to the postillion who usually was in charge of the many horses necessary to pull large transports. To have maximum control over them, he had to be mounted on the left horse in the rear. There he could freely lash out with his whip and was able to reach each of the horses without much difficulty. Thus mounted, his left leg was slightly sticking out, easily to be caught by a tree or hedge or even to be squashed by a wall, if he kept on the left side of the road. (At the time sidewalks for pedestrians, which could have acted as a buffer zone, did not exist.) And so, for the protection of the postillion, traffic in America kept to the right.
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"Drop a Clanger",630,0,0,0
A clang is a resounding noise, like that made by a struck bell. To "drop a clanger" is to say something so embarrassing or to blunder so badly that it cannot go unnoticed. As it were, it reverberates in people's mind like - in modern parlance - a \Jsonic boom\j.
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"Drowned Crossing the Bar",631,0,0,0
For a boat to cross a bar (a ridge of accumulated sand and mud across the mouth of a river or harbor) has often proved a dangerous, if not fatal, operation. Three victims are buried together in a lonely grave in a paddock not far from an oyster lease on the shores of the small port of Laurieton, just outside Dunbogen.
Their tragic fate is recalled on the memorial erected on their joint resting place, of which the inscription mentions merely the name of one:
\IJAMES STUART
Chief Engineer of the Prince of Wales
And two seamen of the Diamantina.
Who were drowned from a boat
In crossing the bar in 1862
R.I.P.\i
Another memorial next to the seamen's burial place on this isolated spot is totally unrelated to them and their fate. It covers the remains of a Mrs Francis Williams "who departed this life 26 January 1868," at the early age of 27. The choice of her gravesite is not, as many have assumed, because she drowned; in fact, she died in childbirth. But as the area was flooded at the time, her body could not be taken to the cemetery at Laurieton, so she was buried next to the sailors.
Two wooden crosses set in concrete now mark the graves, which are also surrounded by broken iron railings. The crosses, obviously, are not the original ones, which time and weather had eroded, but replacements, put up by local citizens, concerned to see the graves preserved.
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"Druidic Survivals and Legacies",632,0,0,0
Numerous examples can be quoted from almost every sphere of life of the survival of Druidic thought and practice.
Many of the later witches may have been "defrocked" Druidic priestesses. In those far-off days, Druid women had their own rights and - as distinct from other cultures and religions of that time - had an acknowledged place in the pattern of society. They not only participated but, like the men, led the religious \Jcult\j - they acted as priestesses. But when the Druids' faith was eventually outlawed and suppressed by the Christian Church, those Druidesses might well have continued their duties but, under new management, as it were, in the profession of a witch; they thus made a lasting contribution in the field of the occult.
It cannot be by mere accident either that \IWalpurgisnacht,\i Lammas, \JHallowe'en\j, and Candlemas - the four great Sabbats of the witches - coincide with the four great annual feasts of the Druids.
\IThe Tonsure\i
Druid priests shaved part of the hair of their head. It was a peculiar custom which led J. Rhys to suggest that the Catholic priest's \Jtonsure\j was actually also "a Druidic survival."
\I"Touch Wood"\i
If people "touch wood" for luck, it is a modern \Jsuperstition\j that also might well go back to the Druids' ancient worship of trees. They touched (or knocked on) the wood of the oak, to summon its spirit for help, to pay homage to it, and to ensure their own good fortune.
\IThe Star of David\i
Some authorities have claimed that even the so-called \JStar of David\j was originally a Druidic magic seal. This hexagram, they said, was first employed by those Celtic priests in their \Jsupernatural\j rites.
Only later ignorance and the erroneous rendering of its name came to link "the star" with King David. In reality, it should be called - as the earliest spelling is said to have been - the Star of the Druid. And in \JHebrew\j lettering, in fact, this would imply a minute change in just one letter by lengthening its upper bar and rounding its corner. This would make the "V" (the \JHebrew\j \Ivav)\i of David into the "R" (the \JHebrew\j \Iresh)\i of Druid and it must be remembered that early \JHebrew\j was written without vocalization, using consonants only.
\IKissing Under the Mistletoe\i
To kiss under the \Jmistletoe\j is a welcome custom at Christmas time which few people would ever realize is derived as well from the ancient Druids. Its original purpose was not just to steal a kiss and do so "duly authorized" by an established tradition. On the contrary, it is a relic of the Druidic belief in the fertility-promoting qualities of this divine "golden bough," which they might have looked upon as the oak's genitalia.
The \Jmistletoe\j, a \Jparasitic plant\j, grows in bunches entangled with branches of the (holy) oak, so by mere association it was made sacred too. Its seed had been carried there by birds. The magic potency of the branch, according to the Druids' belief, extended far beyond the realm of fecundity. Thought to cure almost any disease, the \Jmistletoe\j frequently was referred to by the name "all-healing." Sprigs fixed above doorways of homes were said to keep away \Jlightning\j and evils of many kinds.
No wonder therefore that the Druids treated the \Jmistletoe\j with utmost awe and venerated it in solemn rites. Clad in white robes, they cut it off with a golden sickle, then distributed its bunches among the members of their congregation!
There is a striking parallel - if not a causal chain - between this ceremonial and sacred \Jcult\j concerning the severing of the branch and the partaking of the holy \Jeucharist\j in the Christian Church. Just as only gold was regarded pure enough to touch the sacred plant, so the inside of the chalice serving the consecrated wine (said either to represent or actually to have changed into Christ's blood) had to be of pure gold.
\IGuy Fawkes Day\i
Guy Fawkes Day in Britain for hundreds of years has been a jolly occasion with children lighting bonfires all over the country to burn effigies of the wicked "Guy." This custom is said to celebrate the discovery (on 5 November 1605) of the political plot which had intended to blow up both king and Parliament.
However, a theory strongly suggests that the political circumstances and a national anniversary were not the true origin of the custom. To start with, the burning of the effigy did not have any connection with the plotter of the rebellion, but was a survival of an ancient Druid rite. And when children, on 5 November, light bonfires to burn on them figures, they are told represent the evil Guy Fawkes, they actually re-enact one of the gruesome rituals of the Druids.
Druids believed in the immortality of the spirit and its indestructibility. They also were convinced that it migrated after death from one body into another. Such view gave life a deeper meaning and, simultaneously, took fear out of death. However, a horrifying aspect of early Druid cults was their original offering of human sacrifice. It was so repugnant a custom that the Romans duly prohibited it (and made it their main reason to ban the faith). Probably then, Druids discontinuing the actual sacrifice, symbolically offered effigies in its stead. They enclosed these in huge baskets which they burned in honor of their gods.
Astonishing indeed are the varied and many facets of life in which Druidic tradition thus has survived.
The training of Druids was very intense and extended over a period of many years. Yet their traditions were never entrusted to writing, but were handed down orally. This was done for the obvious reason, so Caesar maintained, that no unqualified person should ever be able to come into possession of their secrets and work their magic. This, of course, makes it all the more difficult to assess completely the Druids' place in the history of man.
More than a thousand years after being outlawed, the Druids experienced a revival. In 1717 the Most Ancient Order of Druids was established. Its members claimed to take up and carry on the noble practices of the Druids. They regarded and called themselves their legitimate heirs. Among their most publicized ceremony nowadays is the annual celebration of the summer \Jsolstice\j at \JStonehenge\j.
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"Druids' Name",633,0,0,0
The Druids have presented many a mystery and been subject to misunderstanding. But the influence they exerted and the legacy they have left cannot be disregarded. Their beliefs and practices have made a lasting mark in the history of religion and magic, and the world of the occult owes them a tremendous debt.
Two millennia ago, the Druids were so powerful that wherever they had made their homes - in pre-Roman Gaul, Britain, and Ireland - they could not be ignored. Out of their midst came the Celtic priesthood so adept in magic.
Many opinions have been voiced as to the true meaning of the Druids' name which, there is no doubt, originally was not (as is now generally assumed) a term for "a master of knowledge" and "a wise man." The name has been linked with several significant features of Druidic tradition. And, true or false, the derivations themselves have much to tell of the Druids' fundamental beliefs and customs.
Their worship primarily took place in ancient oak groves and, indeed, the oak tree occupied a central place in their \Jcult\j. It was regarded as sacred, believed to enshrine a living spirit and to work wonders. Why this was so is easily understood if it is realized that, at the time, oaks grew all over Europe in vast numbers and man was fully aware of how his very life depended on the tree. Its fruit, the \Jacorn\j, nourished his \Jcattle\j. Its wood provided him with shelter, warmth and the means of transportation across waters. The viscous berries of its parasite, \Jmistletoe\j, in their white waxen color reminded him of his own semen which led him to believe that they contained the gods' life-giving sperms. And as the oak rooted deep in the soil, with its branches reaching out towards heaven, it was seen as well as a powerful link between earth and sky.
Thus, the Druids looked upon the tree with awe, conscious of the blessings it could bestow. In devout prayer they acknowledged its power, and with sacrifices they implored the tree to supply them with its abundant bounty. So it is no wonder that it has been suggested that the Druids' very name echoed the "oak" and was derived from the Sanskrit for "wood" - \Idrus.\i The same linguistic root was also responsible for the \JGaelic\j "oak" \I(darach)\i and even the English "tree."
Another conspicuous phenomenon of the Druids' \Jcult\j was its association with the wren and the role this bird played in their preoccupation with the occult. They hunted the wren to catch and to keep it for their solemn ritual of \Jdivination\j. By interpreting its twittering, the Druids claimed, they were able to foretell the future. They partook of its flesh, eating the wren sacramentally, as the Christian does the host. They believed that by doing so, they absorbed the bird's mysterious gift of divine power into their own bodies. And that is why they became like the wren and took on its name.
In fact, this theory claims that "Druid" goes back to the Welsh word for wren - \Idryw.\i This root, it is interesting to know, also gave birth to the English "true" and the German \Itreu.\i Hence, a Druid acquired from the wren not only his name but, literally speaking, its deeper meaning as well as a "truth-teller." It was a very appropriate choice of title for men who claimed the privilege of being able to contact the divinity to learn from it what the future held.
No matter whether the Druids' name spoke of the (divining) bird or the (sacred) oak, they were renowned for their magic art in foretelling things to come. They did so not only from the singing of a bird but from the sneeze of a man and the babbling of a brook. Yet another of their methods in pursuit of this quest was to enshroud themselves in the hide of a newly slain bull. This, they believed, would transfer to them all its strength. Lying down in the hide near a site which they regarded to be inhabited by a spirit, they imagined they could commune with it, gaining the information they sought.
Most descriptive perhaps of their manner in foretelling the future was \Ibaile,\i a \JGaelic\j term applied to them. Very similar to the biblical \JHebrew\j \Inabi\i for "\Jprophet\j," it actually described utterances of an uncontrolled frenzied nature.
Druids claimed not only to have the power to look into the future but actually believed they were able to influence it by their charms and spells. This they did on varied occasions. For instance, they accompanied armies in wars so that with their spells they could create confusion among the foe and cause him thereby to suffer defeat.
Their "appointment" anticipated that of modern army chaplains who, originally, must have served a similar purpose. Otherwise what could account for their presence on the field of battle among the opposing forces? Any religion - at its best - taught peace and not war, and decried any killing as murder. But as "men of God" on both sides led soldiers in prayer for victory - to whose voice should God listen? It amounted to blasphemy: to a competitive spiritual tug of war with the deity at the center.
No wonder that Druids were in great demand even by royalty who made them their most trusted counselors and whose advice they did not dare to ignore. The Druids' secret knowledge was regarded as so precious that, so the story goes, Scottish kings sent their sons to be trained on the \JIsle of Man\j, one of the strongholds of Druidism. And Druidic magic was employed in the rivalry between kings who hoped, by means of it, to gain supremacy.
The bards of Wales and Ireland may well be authentic successors of Druid singers. Their poetry was intended not merely ecstatically to celebrate the feats of national heroes of the past, but prophetically to foretell the future.
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"Druids' Origin",634,0,0,0
Who the Druids really were, whence they came and when, is an unsolved mystery. All that can be given is a short summary of some of the suggestions put forward. T. D. Kendrick proffered the hypothesis that they had been a priestly class created by Celtic settlers in Gaul, around the fourth century B.C. These "original" Druids had then mixed their own Celtic traditions with those they found among the native Gauls. Later on, they spread out yet further afield, this time to Britain, and they added to their already enriched lore elements of the \Jcult\j and culture they encountered in their new domicile.
After intensive research, Sir John Rhys came to another conclusion. In his \ICeltic Britain\i he traced Druidism back to a much earlier age. They had been a pre-Celtic aboriginal race whose home had been both Gaul and Britain.
Lewis Spencer, in \IHistory and Origin of Druidism,\i voiced the view that the Druids dated as far back as the year 2000 B.C. They had their beginnings in the food-gathering age, when oak forests first began to cover great parts of the European continent. Other authorities saw in the Druids non-Aryans who had come all the way from ancient \JEgypt\j!
Wherever their original home had been, Druids finally had become firmly established in both Britain and Gaul where the Romans, in their conquest of the north, clashed with them. The Romans were so appalled by their practices which then included human sacrifice, that they were determined once and for all to put an end to a faith which, in their eyes, was unenlightened, primitive, and inhuman. However, there is no doubt that, as always happens in similar circumstances, they could not really eradicate beliefs that dwelt deep down in the soul and the mind of people and molded their hopes and fears.
Druidism thus never completely died out. It merely went underground. As was only natural, its clandestine existence caused many of its former notions, if not to disappear, at times to take on new features and change almost beyond recognition. Essentials were forgotten and incidentals assumed an unjustified, central role.
In the countries where it flourished, Druidism preceded \JChristianity\j by many centuries; it can be taken for granted that, when former Druid priests adopted the new faith, they occupied similar positions in the new hierarchy. Thus in their new office they could preserve or cleverly adapt their previously Druidic beliefs and customs.
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"Drum-Major's Staff",635,0,0,0
Bands have accompanied armies for many years. Their music meant to rouse the men's spirit and to make them march all the better and always in step.
Though music has been used from earliest times in the service of war and soldiers, it was only in the 17th and 18th centuries that military bands were properly organized. This was due most of all to the music-loving warriors King \JLouis XIV\j and Frederick the Great.
The drum-major's staff is an old institution. People have always admired the deft way it is whirled, tossed into the air and caught.
This ornate staff, too, goes back at least to the 18th century. Napoleon's drum-majors especially were renowned for spectacular use of it. No one would imagine, however, that it was employed merely to give a grandiose display to onlookers. It came into being for important, practical considerations.
The band had to be properly conducted, but to do so in the usual way was out of the question. On the march, the men had to see the conductor's directions. He certainly could not move along with them raised on a platform or march backwards in order to face the musicians. Thus the staff originated as a sort of extended baton, whose flights and air-acrobatics were essential to guide the band's playing.
Its traveling through the air was not haphazard, but followed well thought-out courses. It controlled starts, halts and stops, and the rhythm and volume of the music.
But then, an even more significant purpose was responsible for the introduction of the staff. The loud music made it impossible for the men to hear any given command. A shouted "right wheel," for instance, would go unheard and unheeded. Therefore, the staff's second reason was to convey all marching orders visually.
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"Drunk as Blazes",636,0,0,0
The fourth century Armenian Bishop Blaise (or Blazey, as his name is also spelled in some English documents) died as a martyr. Believed to have been tortured with woolcombs before being beheaded, he became the patron saint of woolcombers and was remembered as such annually. Special celebrations were held in his honor. In some places (as in Leicester, England) the commemoration included a great variety of features, such as marches, sporting events, games and, not least, the drinking of plenty of grog.
Soon those participating in the fun were identified with the saint and referred to as Blaisers. As not a few of them were the worse for drink, it was not surprising that people came to describe inebriates as "drunk as Blaisers." The comparison became a popular - and well understood - saying, far and wide.
With the passing of time, the circumstances and the saint were forgotten and no one knew what the phrase meant. No wonder that eventually it was corrupted into "as drunk as blazes."
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"Dry Wine",637,0,0,0
To speak of dry wine at first seems a contradiction in terms. How could a drink ever be dry? Apart from its use in describing a lack of wetness, however, "dry" has other meanings as well, all of which relate to some deficiency or absence. Dry bread is not buttered. A dry greeting is without warmth, and dry wine is light in flavor: without sweetness.
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"Dry-cleaning's Origins",638,0,0,0
Many a beautiful dress has been ruined by an accident! But it was an accident as well that led to the discovery of its remedy - the process of dry-cleaning. Traditions vary as to the nature of the mishap.
According to one story, the unfortunate (but eventually lucky) victim was a tailor who fell into a vat of turpentine. When retrieved and having recovered from the shock, he looked at himself, and was most pleasantly surprised. His previously grubby clothes miraculously had turned perfectly clean.
A second account links the "discovery" with a dinner party, at which a guest had spilled some of his drink on the tablecloth. Embarrassed, he apologized to the hostess, who told him that there was no need for him to worry. In fact, she was greatly indebted to him. An observant lady, she had noticed that the spirit of the spilled drink had removed a stain on the cloth, no previous attempt on her part had succeeded in getting out. This set the stage for a new industry.
More definite in every detail is a third version. In 1849, during his wife's absence, Monsieur M. Jolly-Bellin, a Paris tailor, knocked over a spirit lamp. Fortunately it was not lit at the time. Nevertheless, he was greatly upset because, in the process it had spilled all its contents on his wife's favorite and freshly ironed tablecloth. Apprehensive of her return he carefully examined the cloth, to find out what the accident had done to it. He could not believe his eyes when he saw that, instead of leaving a large dirty stain, the turpentine spirit having been soaked up by the cloth, made that very spot look so much cleaner. Greatly relieved, he did not leave it at that. An adventurous man, he started experimenting with the accidentally discovered properties of the spilled spirit to develop the first dry-cleaning establishment which became a most lucrative adjunct to his tailoring business.
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"Ducks in Cricket",639,0,0,0
Cricket players who have not scored at all, have a "0" placed next to their name on the board. The figure is reminiscent of a duck's egg. Hence we continue to speak (in the case of any failure) of "laying an egg" and cricketers still use the shortened form of "a duck" for nil.
Americans seem to prefer geese, and in their game a no score thus appears as a "goose egg."
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"Dunbar",640,0,0,0
The story of the \IDunbar\i is well known and documented. The clipper foundered near Sydney Heads in 1857, with the loss of 121 lives and only one survivor.
Victims of this tragedy were laid to rest in the Camperdown Cemetery. Many of the bodies could no longer be identified and they share a common grave. Their funeral procession left the morgue at around five o'clock in the afternoon and reaching the cemetery after much delay, their committal service was held by moonlight!
Others, whose names are known, have their individual graves, with at times a most explicit inscription as to their fate. Typical of them is the monument for a Tasmanian couple:
\IBoth
HANNAH MARIA
and her husband
KILNER WALLER
(Who perished with her and his entire family in the 'Dunbar') were members of the Baptist Church at Launceston, \JTasmania\j under the Pastorate of her father the Rev. Henry Dowling. They were found on the shore of Middle Harbour having been washed up and drifted there from the wreck of the Dunbar which occurred immediately under the signal staff at the South Head on the night of the 20th August 1857.\i
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"Dunce",641,0,0,0
That a stupid person is called "a dunce" is a telling example of how people's antagonism can influence not only their attitudes, but also their vocabulary.
The word originates in the middle name of John Duns Scotus, a once famous theologian and philosopher of the thirteenth century. \I(Duns\i recalled Dunse, his Scottish birthplace.)
During his life, and for many years afterwards, Scotus' writings were highly esteemed and influential. But times changed and, in the sixteenth century, writers and thinkers scorned Scotus' work as that of a hair-splitting philosopher, who had lacked imagination and intelligence.
That is how-slightly misspelled, as if it were adding insult to injury - part of the theologian's once renowned name entered our vocabulary of contemptuous words. From now on \Idunce\i was used to denigrate people considered to be blockheads. At one time, inept pupils were obliged to wear a "dunce cap," inviting ridicule and causing embarrassment.
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"Dussehra",642,0,0,0
\BThe Festival of Victory\b
Dussehra, celebrated around September or October, is one of the most important Indian festivals. It honors the Divine Mother, the ten-armed goddess Durga, and pays homage to the creative force of the universe. The variety of ways in which this holiday is observed in the various parts of the country is a reflection of the colorful diversity of \JHinduism\j.
The name \IDussehra\i merely represents the numeral "10." This was chosen because it is a ten-day festival. Its main theme is the conquest of evil with the aid of the goddess, who is portrayed in many forms. In \JWest Bengal\j, for instance, she is represented as destroying a buffalo-healed demon.
According to tradition, the feast originated in a fearsome battle in which Rama, with the help of Durga, annihilated Ravana, the demon king. Throughout the ten days of the festival, effigies of Ravana and his evil associates are paraded through the streets. Packed with crackers and explosives, they are finally blown up - just as goodness will in the end vanquish evil.
Dancing, week-long fairs, the sounding of large horns and festive decoration of houses with images of gods, dolls and toys, are some of the many other ways worshipers celebrate. A conspicuous element in the procession held in \JMysore\j is the inclusion of elephants and beautifully ornamented horses.
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"Dutch Courage",643,0,0,0
Tradition tells that when the Dutch ruled the waves, Cornelius van Tromp and de Ruyter, as chiefs in command, issued the order that prior to going into battle, sailors should be served plenty of gin. They felt that thus fortified, the sailors would fight all the better. It did not take long for the English to become aware of the custom and take advantage of it to denigrate their formidable foe. His "Dutch courage" was not real but merely artificially created by the "spirit" infused into those otherwise "gutless" sailors.
Another version slightly differs. In the many wars fought by the Dutch, the soldiers at times did not know what they were fighting for. To have to go to battle for something that meant nothing to them and against an enemy they had no reason to hate, was rather difficult, all the more so in the days when a slight wound could cause death.
That is why they encouraged themselves prior to joining in battle by downing many drinks. And certainly, the Dutch, as past masters in distilling, were heavy drinkers as well. Thus the expression of "Dutch courage" came into being.
Of course, it does not speak kindly of the Netherlander, renowned as a valiant fighter. In fact, the British popularized the phrase at a period when the two nations vied with each other for dominion over the sea. Englishmen (very ungentlemanly-like) articulated their antagonism by speaking deprecatingly of their adversary's bravery as the effect of alcohol and not of strength of character.
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"Dutch Treat",644,0,0,0
History in large measure is a record of mighty nations fighting to gain or retain supremacy over each other. Their rivalries have left many traces: not only on the map of the world but in people's manner of speaking.
During the 17th century, the Dutch and the English vied with each other to rule the oceans and to monopolize world trade. At the time the Netherlands came very close to defeating the British. It was a clash of interests and of weapons that embittered the English. They took every opportunity to belittle and mock the Dutch. Disparaging idioms then created have never been discarded.
Sharing a meal but doing so on the understanding that each person pays for himself was thus referred to as "going Dutch" or a "Dutch treat." That was no treat at all, but showed up a belief in the Dutchman's avarice.
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"Dutch Tulips",645,0,0,0
Tulips are grown in such abundance in Holland that the flower is generally believed to be indigenously Dutch. This is not so. The tulip originated in Turkey, on the banks of the Bosphorus, which explains its name. From the Turkish tuliband, it means "turban." The Turks called it so because they recognized a close resemblance between their turban and the flower. Tulips were introduced into Holland - from Turkey - in the sixteenth century. The Dutch then took such a fancy to them that they planted tulips all over the country, developing a wealth of new varieties. This led to the misconception that the tulip is Dutch.
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"Dybbuk",646,0,0,0
At death only the body was thought to perish. The soul or spirit survived. But now man was concerned with the disembodied soul's destiny. Where was it to go?
Beginning perhaps with ancient India, mystic thought evolved the idea of the transmigration of souls. Only those sufficiently purified could re-enter heaven or merge into nirvana. But often too contaminated with earthly \Jpollution\j, burdened by sin and a waste of life's opportunities, they could no longer proceed. They had to work their passage back by passing through other beings. They had to re-enter the cycle of life at some lower rung of life's ladder, and stage by stage, step by step, to move upward. This belief in the transmigration of souls, well known in the East, became a popular notion in seventeenth-century central and eastern European Jewish \Jmysticism\j.
The spirits of sinful dead people that could not find rest, in their homelessness, changed into demons. Laden with unpardoned guilt and not admitted into the heavenly realm, they sought refuge in some person. They tried to force entry into some living body, to attach themselves to its soul.
But here another difficulty presented itself. Spirits could meet with resistance; only certain categories of people were vulnerable to such a homeless "denuded spirit:" people who had committed some secret sin. But once the spirit had taken hold of such a person, it was not easy to dislodge it; in fact, it acted as a source of further evil. Methods of exorcism were devised which entailed a meticulous ritual that could be performed only by those highly proficient in this art.
If successful, the exorcist obtained a double result. First he liberated the invaded person from the malignancy that had brought him or her untold harm, from his "evil \Jpregnancy\j" as one of the Jewish authorities termed the "demon." Simultaneously, however, the exorcist sent the luckless soul back on its lonely way: either to continue slowly working its passage by transmigrations to its eventual bliss or, if beyond such redemption, to go straight to hell and thus no longer be able to threaten the living.
This is the background and very root of the phenomenon which came to be known as "the Dybbuk." This implied that an evil spirit had entered a human being and cleaving to his soul, "hanging on," "possessed" him. The term Dybbuk was completely unknown in the \JBible\j, the Gospels, the Talmud, and the Kabbalah. It first appeared in seventeenth-century middle and eastern Europe. But even then to start with, Dybbuk was not a proper name. It was merely a word used in the lengthy description of the terrifying experience: when people believed in the "attachment of an evil spirit" to an unfortunate individual. The terms "attachment," "adhesion," and "cleaving" in \JHebrew\j are \Idybbuk.\i
Then a phenomenon occurred which is not uncommon in the growth of language. Man loathes long phrases and is always anxious to economize in his speech (if not in his speeches) and to reduce a long string of words to a minimum number. He might do so in several ways. He could combine the initials of the complicated and lengthy term and thereby create a totally new word. This method is referred to as (the use of) an \Jacronym\j. A typical example is the modern laser. This term is not an original word, in its own right, but an \Jacronym\j standing for l(ight) a(mplification by) s(timulated) e(mission of) r(adiation). Other well-known acronyms are the Australian Anzacs (Australian and \JNew Zealand\j Army Corps) and the British Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service).
On the other hand, one can drop all but the first word of the compound phrase and use this alone-and instead. The \IIndex\i of prohibited books \I(Index Librorum Prohibitorum)\i is a case in hand. This official "list," first compiled by the Inquisition in 1557 and abolished only as recently as 1966, contained all the books the "faithful" were prohibited by the Roman \JCatholic Church\j from reading. People and authorities soon got tired of quoting the full title of this prohibitive list, and referred quite briefly to "the Index." Everyone immediately knew which list was meant.
The same principle applies to the (intoxicating) \Ilager\i which, taken by itself - as a word - makes little sense. From the German, \Ilager\i merely refers to a "storehouse." The full (and sense-making) term is \Ilager beer.\i This indicated that the alcoholic beverage had been in "store" \I(lager)\i till it had matured. But, once again, economics of language "saved" the beer and all that was left of the lager.
That is exactly what happened to the \JHebrew\j phrase which spoke of the "cleaving of an evil spirit" \I(dybbuk me-ru'ach ra'ah)\i to the soul of another being. People got tired of using the long string of words and began to refer to this occult phenomenon by just its first word - \Idybbuk.\i
But with the passing of time it was forgotten that dybbuk was merely a grammatical form of the verb "to cleave" and the first word of a long phrase. Thus it was personified and given a life of its own. Suddenly dybbuk was used as if it were the actual name of the spirit whose action was described in the phrase. That is the bizarre birth of the "Dybbuk." What devilish tricks language can play by man's ignorance and indolence.
It was almost inevitable that the dramatic possibilities of possession and exorcism should attract writers who saw in the phenomenon most promising material for the stage. The "Dybbuk" certainly gained worldfame by (and for) S. An-ski, the pseudonym for the Russian-born \JYiddish\j author and folklorist Solomon Z. Rapaport. "Between Two Worlds" was the telling title that he had first given to the play, which in itself was to experience an odd fate.
As early as 1918 Chaim Nachman Bialik, the most outstanding figure of modern \JHebrew literature\j, translated the play into \JHebrew\j. And then, while moving from \JRussia\j to Vilna, An-ski lost his original \JYiddish\j manuscript! No copy of it existed. He had to retranslate the play into \JYiddish\j from Bialik's \JHebrew\j version, calling it now "The Dybbuk." Soon, under its new name, the play became world-renowned. Produced in numerous languages, it was also set to music and was later made into a successful film. Its theme, thus popularized, captured people's imagination and revived in almost every country the ancient traditions about demon possession.
When the occult came to preoccupy present-day society, a new Christian version was written on "possession." William Peter Blatty's novel on \IThe Exorcist\i became a best seller almost overnight.
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"Dyed-in-the-wool",647,0,0,0
A dyed-in-the-wool member of a party or association is thoroughly imbued with its ideas. Their opinions are so deep-seated and have become so much part of them, that nothing can change them.
Cloth woven out of wool which has been dyed before is colorfast. It is "dyed in the wool" and can be washed without the color bleeding. This makes it very different from cloth dyed only after it has been woven.
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"Dynamite's Discovery",648,0,0,0
Dynamite was discovered not with a bang, but through a leak! \JNitroglycerine\j, which had first been produced (in 1847) by the Italian Ascanio Sobrero, proved extremely dangerous to handle. When subjected to the slightest shock, it could wreak havoc. The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel was determined to find a method to keep the devastating powers of the explosive under control. For this purpose he carried out numerous experiments.
The Swedish authorities did not welcome his work, as it had caused serious accidents and even death. His own brother had been killed when (in 1864) Nobel's workshop blew up! Not surprisingly, the government refused him permission to rebuild it on its former site. However, anxious to continue his tests, Nobel decided to do so away from populated areas, on a barge anchored at the center of a lake. He did not realize then that he had set the stage for his - accidental - invention of dynamite.
On 14 July 1866, he became aware that one of the containers storing \Jnitroglycerine\j had sprung a leak. Oddly however, the heavy oily liquid had been absorbed by the Kieselguhr box in which the containers were kept. (Kieselguhr was a sort of clay, formed from the remains of minute plants, which had already shown its value in chemistry by its absorbent porous qualities.)
Nobel noticed that in the process the Kieselguhr had stayed dry. The implication of the phenomenon did not escape him. What elaborate experimentation had failed to find, an accident, as it were, had thrown into his lap! By pure chance - a leakage - he had found the very substance that would make the volatile explosive safe. Without losing or diminishing any of its explosive power, combined with Kieselguhr, \Jnitroglycerine\j could be harnessed. Thus kept in check, only the application of a \Jdetonator\j could set it off.
All that was left to do was to give "Nobel's Safety Powder" a telling name. Nobel coined it himself (in 1867). He called it "dynamite" - from the Greek \Idunamis\i - to highlight the enormous innate "force" of the substance.
A widespread popular misconception linked with the discovery asserts that Nobel established (what was to become known as) the "Nobel Prize for Peace" as an act of atonement for the horrendous suffering his invention was to bring when used in warfare. Nothing could be further from the truth. To start with, his invention proved of great benefit in various fields of human endeavor, particularly so in mining and construction. It was not penitence that prompted him to make the endowment, but his genuine and intense hatred of war.
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"Earliest Observatories and their Priests",649,0,0,0
Astrology was one of the earliest universal faiths. The belief in astral religion was so strong that 6,000 years ago rulers spent fortunes to have their fortune told from the course of the stars.
All over the world (whether independently or radiating from Chaldea is really of no consequence), \Jastrology\j became a venerated and essential pursuit. No cost was spared to construct observatories. In some notable cases these bear witness to very advanced mathematical and astronomical knowledge in the remote past.
In Chichen Itza, Mexico, for instance, the early Mayas had constructed an observatory with such erudite care that its openings were accurately aligned with certain constellations at a given time. One such "window" was focused precisely on the setting sun on 21 March, the vernal \Jequinox\j.
Star-gazers belonged to the government service and were officially appointed. Their task was certainly not an easy one. As they of course worked without the help of the \Jtelescope\j, their full-time profession demanded advanced mathematical knowledge and unending patience.
The expert astrologer was fully aware of his responsibility in guiding those in authority. But he was equally conscious of the power he wielded. In his hands lay the destiny of men and nations. His "ruling" determined the planting of seeds, the embarking on an important mission and the making of peace and war.
The astrologer's profession was one of the first specialized vocations in the world. It created its own closed circle of initiates and, at times in some parts of the world, was hereditary.
Astrological tablets and texts belong to some of the oldest excavated documents. Translated from the ancient Akkadian into Egyptian, \JHebrew\j, Greek, Arabic, and Latin, they eventually reached the Western world and the Orient. Apart from the \JBible\j, no other "scriptures" have had a stronger hold on people. From Sargon to Hitler, would-be conquerors of the world believed in "the stars." Even C. G. Jung, the world renowned psychologist of modern times, used to study his patients' horoscopes. He did so not to predict their future, but because he imagined that it would help him all the better to understand the patients' character and possibly the underlying cause of their \Jneurosis\j.
No wonder that ordinary people as well sought guidance and assurance from the stars. Most of all, it is at times of insecurity and uncertainty - like the present - that the semi-educated tend to place their faith in \Jastrology\j. In their gullibility they may easily then become victims, if not slaves, of its far-fetched predictions.
#
"Earliest Origins of Football",650,0,0,0
Most people finding a pebble or stone in front of them are tempted to nudge or kick it. So even if there were no records, we could assume that some kind of football was part of man's life in primitive days. A gruesome tradition has it that in historical times some races used their enemies' severed heads as footballs. An early record from Britain relates how the head of a captured Danish invader was used thus.
We know from numerous sources the ancient popularity of the game. Even the \JBible\j takes it for granted. The \Jprophet\j Isaiah (XXII:18) speaks of God who will turn and toss a state official to whose obnoxious policy he objected, "like a ball into a large city." \JClassical literature\j also contains explicit references to the sport and detailed accounts of how it was played. Among the early Greeks, for instance, there was a game in which the players tried to carry a small ball, similar to the modern football, across a line defended by the other side.
A game very much like it was played in \JRome\j. Its aim was to drop the ball behind the opposition's base line. It appears that players passed the ball to one another but did not kick it. There was, however, plenty of "tackling," running, and throwing of the ball. This was confirmed by \JGalen\j, a second-century physician and philosophical writer and much-sought-after doctor in \JRome\j. He pointed out how the various functions of the players increased stamina and contributed to their health.
The Romans are said to have fostered football as part of their military training. It is generally assumed that Roman soldiers brought the game to Britain. Indeed there are (unauthenticated) reports that relate that the people of Derby played football in AD 217 to celebrate a victory against those very Romans.
Football was enjoyed in China in the second century. The Chinese cleverly used both their feet and their bodies to propel the ball but never handled it. An aristocratic version was known as kick ball, which became a feature in the celebration of the ruler's birthday. In front of his palace players erected a unique kind of goal. It consisted of a silken net with a central circular hole (of approximately one foot - 30 cm - in diameter), which they fixed between two long \Jbamboo\j sticks, adorned with streamers. Teams vied with one another to score goals by kicking the ball through the opening. The prize was a silver cup, filled to the brim with either fruit or wine. The losing team did not get off scot-free. It was "awarded" a thorough beating of the most literal kind.
Balls once owned and used by the Pharaohs were preserved in Egyptian graves thousands of years old. The British Museum in London has such specimens. Made of soft leather or fine linen, they were stuffed with cut reed or straw. Other similar balls of man's earliest civilizations, in which two hemispherically shaped skins were sewn together, were filled with earth, grain, plant fibres, corn husks, or even pieces of metal. The Mayas, on the other hand, had balls of solid rubber.
#
"Early Astrology",651,0,0,0
There was a significant observation man made early in his watching of the stars. Indubitably, the coming of the various seasons coincided with the recurrence of specific positions of the sun, moon, and stars. He could read in the skies what happened on earth, as spring, summer, autumn, and winter occurred at the same time that the celestial bodies took up those "stations."
And as, of course, seasons were related to and, in fact indicated the times of sowing and reaping, they also determined the cycle of life. In \JEgypt\j, for instance, the rising of the \Jdog star\j \JSirius\j coincided with the anxiously-awaited inundation of the Nile valley. This flood was essential to their life, since if it did not happen the land would lie barren and the people go hungry.
It was almost inevitable, therefore, for this parallelism and juxtaposition to be recognized not merely as a fortuitous event or a coincidence, but rather a causal chain. Man assumed that the stars, in their courses, were responsible for his very life. That is why he worshiped them as living gods, in order to influence their right position at the proper time to ensure the return of spring or whatever else was expected and needed.
Surely, man reasoned, the sovereignty of the sky was not concerned only with the grand scale of natural phenomena of the earth. It must have equal influence on each individual human being. And in his eternal quest to know and to learn of his future, man was anxious to ascertain what the stars had to tell about himself.
After all, why should small man be exempted from the iron rule apparently governing the upper regions? Terrestrial phenomena ought to be as predictably calculable as those of celestial heights. More so, for was it not logical that the latter caused the former? If only he were able to discern and rightly interpret the meaning of the heavenly signs, he would be able to know their earthly consequence and equivalent. Indeed, what happened "above" was bound to be reflected "below."
Astrologers also gradually realized that the movements of the celestial bodies followed fixed paths and were governed by a definite law. There was an orderly system of regular stellar recurrence. This was perhaps the earliest concept of a universe in which one law ruled the entire world.
Altogether it seemed - in the words of the nineteenth Psalm - that "the heavens declare the glory of God." And, certainly, their orderly arrangement and pattern gave man confidence, trust, and faith.
But there were occasions when extraordinary things happened which did not fit the accepted rules. People, who had been lulled into a feeling of security by the apparent sameness and repetitiveness of stellar movements, were filled with awe, terror, and foreboding. A \Jcomet\j flashed across the sky. Stars seemed to fall from heaven. And, perhaps most frightening of all, there occurred what we now call an eclipse of the sun or moon, when one of them appeared to be swallowed up....Was it any wonder that man saw in these events not natural phenomena, but a dramatic announcement of some stupendous event, maybe an impending disaster?
Astrology therefore originated not as \Jsuperstition\j and a fancy on the part of the uneducated and unenlightened; on the contrary, it owes its existence to the instructed and most learned. By exact observation and intricate calculations they had become convinced of a causal chain between the events above and those below. And \Jastrology\j was their unceasing endeavor to discover the import and implications of this significant link.
At first, society was strictly divided between those who wielded power and their subjects, the common man. Only the former "counted." Hence, to begin with, astrologers were merely concerned with seeking out the fate of kings, princes, and other important leaders. But with the emancipation of slaves and the growth of democratic ideas, it was realized that the stars did not differentiate between people and classes; they mattered for each and every one. Astrological predictions now extended to each individual. But apart from trying to perceive their future, they claimed as well to recognize character.
It was not surprising that those representing religion were greatly perplexed by the implicit \Jfatalism\j of \Jastrology\j. If the stars actually determined fate, then all that religion taught of man's responsibility did not apply. Nevertheless, Augustine, the fourth-century Christian theologian and most famous of the Latin Fathers of the Church, still accepted in his \IDe Civitate Dei\i the existence of planetary influences on the world as a whole. However, he maintained - rather paradoxically - that this did not impair man's freedom of action and will!
#
"Early Banks",652,0,0,0
The earliest bankers of modern Europe were the Lombards of Venice, then a great international trading center. They conducted their transactions not inside a building but on an "open market," in the famous Square of St Mark. There they sat under awnings in front of a bench, \Ibanco\i in Italian, on which the money was deposited. That is the origin of the present-day "bank."
#
"Early Bicycle Terminology",653,0,0,0
The history of \Jcycling\j as a sport reflects the story of the cycle itself. A \Jbicycle\j is a fusion of parts, just as its name joins Latin and Greek. It is a "two-wheeler," from the Latin prefix \Ibi,\i meaning "two," and the Greek word \Ikyklos,\i a "circle."
Before the adoption of this simple term, pointing to its main feature, the "two-wheeler" was known by a variety of descriptions, derived from the experience of the rider his "super-pedestrian" speed, and other aspects of \Jcycling\j. It is an impressive and thought-provoking list, not lacking in humor.
In one part of the world the \Jbicycle\j became known as a \Idraisine,\i clearly referring to one of its early inventors, the Baron Drais. It is an example of the many occasions when a name became a word to honor the person who first introduced or designed the object it came to describe.
A pedestrian \Icurricle,\i another early name, had its root in the Latin verb \Icurrere,\i "to run;" the same root can be found in a current of water and even the \Icurriculum\i of a school.
\ICeleripede\i and \Ivelocipede\i (abbreviated often into \Ivelo),\i both stressed 'swiftness of foot'.
The \Iboneshaker\i recalled what early riders must have felt while traveling along uneven, bumpy, and stony streets on their unsprung, uncushioned machines.
The \Ipenny-farthing\i emphasized the conspicuous difference in size of front and rear wheels of later models which were popular for a time.
These words, and others, are part of the history of the cycle. They show the long way it has traveled in a relatively short time to its modern design whose name colloquially contracts its two wheels into the bike.
#
"Early Calendars",654,0,0,0
The Hebrews dated their calendar back to the creation of the world. This, they calculated, had taken place 3,760 years and three months B.C. To this day they follow this early (fictitious) scheme.
The sports-minded Greeks reckoned their time from the first \JOlympic Games\j in 776 B.C. The Romans chose the foundation of \JRome\j in 753 B.C as the start of their chronology. Julius Caesar revised it in 48 B.C and brought it "up-to-date." As this "\JJulian calendar\j" was in use when \JChristianity\j arose, the Church followed it and continued to do so for five centuries. Caesar revised it in 48 B.C and brought it "up-to-date." As this "\JJulian calendar\j" was in use when \JChristianity\j arose, the Church followed it and continued to do so for five centuries.
The calendar of the modern Christian era, which counts the years from the date of the \JIncarnation\j of Christ, was adopted only in 530 A.D. Its introduction was due to a learned monk in \JRome\j, named Dionysius Exiguus. He based the starting point of the new epoch on the tradition that Jesus was born "in the 28th year of the reign of Augustus."
The new style of numbering the years took hold very slowly. In England, the Christian era was inaugurated more than a hundred years later at the Synod of Whitby in 664 A.D.
#
"Early Dice",655,0,0,0
One of the root causes of man's gambling is his innate love of taking a chance. The modern poker-machine is the latest robot to serve an urge that has possessed man from the beginning of history. Even the \JBible\j tells of the drawing of lots to determine human fate.
People gamble not merely to acquire money but as an escape. They need stimulus and nothing spurs on man more than an opportunity of getting something for nothing.
Modern society, with its streamlined life and \Jmechanization\j, has created boredom in unprecedented measure. People gamble to relieve their tensions, trying to give some taste to a dull existence of everyday routine. Gambling is the artificial adventure for those unable to find the real adventure of life.
Dice-throwing is one of the most ancient of games. It was even enjoyed by our savage ancestors. In effect, apart from a few refinements, it has changed little for more than 5,000 years. The earliest dice were in the simple form of knucklebones and pebbles.
The antiquity of the game is documented by countless finds all over the world in graves, on inscriptions and in historical records. Cheating at dice is almost as old as the game itself. Ancient loaded dice have been found more than once.
Homer relates how in a quarrel over dice, the young \JPatroclus\j killed a friend. Antique vases, excavated in modern times, show pictures of fighters in the \JTrojan war\j bent over gaming boards, eagerly watching the fall of dice. Frequently, the imperial palace of the Roman emperors had a dicing room.
Paintings on ancient Roman tombs depicted the dead enjoying the game, which suggests that dice-throwing was considered worthwhile even in after-life. The six-sided cube became an oft-recurring motif on graves, symbolizing the uncertainty of human existence.
Sacred Indian lore made special mention of dice and in an early Indian administration a "Superintendent of Dicing" was appointed.
German tribes adopted the game from their civilized Roman neighbors and became so addicted to it that, as Tacitus records, they were sometimes prepared to lose even their freedom for the sake of continuing a game. They would then sell themselves into \Jslavery\j to the Romans.
The earliest dice were of two kinds and accordingly marked - those that meant good fortune and those that brought ill luck. Ancient Egyptians stamped their dice with small circles, each representing a unit.
One of the most popular Greek games, especially among women, was played with five knucklebones. These were simultaneously thrown into the air. The player tried to catch all of them with the back of one hand. If any dropped, he had to make an attempt to pick them up with the same hand, without dislodging those already caught.
Soon the four sides of the knucklebone were marked by four faces, so that there was no possibility of confusing them. The first face was convex, the second concave, the third almost flat, and the fourth a profile. Eventually, other materials replaced the rather gruesome bone and primitive pebble. The substitutes were of stone, wood, ivory, bronze, lead and sometimes amber.
Dice were invented, it is claimed, during the siege of Troy, when the heroes played the game in their tents in between battles. The historian Herodotus, however, credits the Lydians with the invention. During a \Jfamine\j, he asserts, they had supplied their people with dice. As they had not enough food to eat daily, men and women were given dice to throw every other day. In the excitement of gambling, they forgot about their hunger; one day they ate and the other they played.
Yet, in reality, originally the game of dice was not just a kind of amusement or a subtle means to fight hunger. It was believed that dice revealed the will of the gods! The way they fell showed their favor or disapproval, predicted success or failure. African tribes used to throw dice on the eve of battle for those reasons. Their fall indicated whether they would be victorious or defeated.
#
"Early Football Clubs",656,0,0,0
\JSoccer\j, as played today, could be considered the final offshoot and the purest modern form of man's primitive kicking games. In turn, it became the basic source of Rugby, \JAmerican football\j, and Australian Rules, all of which could be classed as its derivatives.
From 1820 onward clubs were formed. Apprentices played football in city streets and young farming lads did so in the fields or on the village common. Of necessity, through the diversity of their playgrounds, their methods differed. As a result, several kinds of football slowly developed. When the game eventually was introduced into the public schools, it received a new social standing. These schools naturally created their own style which depended much on the size and shape of the playing ground. In country schools with wide, open spaces, "handling" and "hacking" became the rule; players in the city of London, restricted in territory, had to play on cobblestones between walls and soon favored "dribbling" and "passing" the ball.
When pupils of the various schools entered university, they had their separate ideas of how football was to be played. In the end, however, this proved a blessing as it led to the first attempt, at Cambridge in 1848, to unify the game by drawing up a general code of rules. Though the draft of the laws then suggested has been lost, a letter of one of the men who participated in drawing them up, survives. Written by N. C. Malden of Godalming, it vividly recalls the occasion:
\II went up to Trinity College, Cambridge. In the following year an attempt was made to get up some football in preference to the \Jhockey\j then in vogue. I remember how the \JEton\j men howled at the Rugby men for handling the ball. So it was agreed that two men should be chosen to represent each of the public schools, and two who were not public school men, for the varsity. I wish I could remember the others.
We were 14 in all, I believe Harrow, \JEton\j, Rugby, Winchester, and \JShrewsbury\j were represented. We met in my rooms after Hall, which in those day was at 4 pm, anticipating a long meeting. I cleared the tables and provided pens, ink and paper. Several asked me on coming in whether an exam was on! Every man brought a copy of his school rules, or knew them by heart, and our progress in framing new rules was slow.
On several occasions Salt and I, being unprejudiced, carried or struck out a rule when voting was equal. We broke up five minutes before midnight.
The new rule was printed as "Cambridge Rules," copies were distributed and pasted up on Parker's Piece, and very satisfactorily they worked, for it is right to add that they were loyally kept and I never heard of any public school man who gave up playing from not liking the rules.\i
Nevertheless, this first effort to unify the game proved abortive. Many years later, in 1862, it was Cambridge once again which started the ball rolling in the battle for a generally accepted code. J. C. Thring then published "Ten Rules" for what he called "The Simplest Game." This led, within a year, to the "Cambridge University Football Rules."
By this time various clubs had been established and they were experiencing a real boom. The oldest among them was the Sheffield Club. Its founder members were mostly graduates of Harrow, who brought with them their old school's football traditions. These strictly banned handling the ball. To ensure the adoption of their code by other players, they sometimes used an ingenious method. When playing a team of villages, for example, they presented to each of them a pair of white gloves and a silver \Jflorin\j which, throughout the game, they were made to hold tightly. This, of course, prevented the men from using their hands.
And yet, other footballers relished catching, handling, and carrying the ball and no one could deny the urgent need somehow to combine the various forms of football. For this purpose a meeting was convened at the Old Freemasons' Tavern in London, in October 1863, a date every footballer should cherish. Those taking part came from eleven London and suburban clubs, one public school, and the rest represented no one in particular. A motion to form "The Football Association" was adopted and any club of at least a year's standing was invited to join at an annual subscription of one guinea.
This was the birth of modern football and its unified code. Its further development and growth was the result of many years of debates, trial and error experiments, and the eventual resolution of conflicts and controversies by typical British compromise.
That is how \JAssociation Football\j came into existence in its final form. From the term Association, students' slang created the modern term \Jsoccer\j, using the letters S, O, and C as a base.
Wherever Englishmen went, whether as soldiers, traders, teachers, or even as missionaries, they took football with them. It never took long for the new country to adopt enthusiastically the game which now is played all over the world.
#
"Early Horse Racing in England",657,0,0,0
Racing among the English evolved by an almost natural, inevitable chain of events. Royalty heard of the exquisite Arabian horses which could travel at such great speeds. Soon they wished to own some themselves, and \JHenry I\j is known to have bought a stallion in 1110 to mate with native mares. Other Moroccan and Arabian horses were acquired and proudly designated "royal horses." It did not take long for noblemen to copy the king's example and crossbreds of the finest quality gave the English a new type of horse.
The various owners praised their mounts and their own ability to master them. To demonstrate the truth of their claims and to show their superiority, they arranged friendly contests. Thus, the first races were run. For the purpose, the riders chose any ground which seemed suitable for the occasion. They fixed the distance of the race at four miles (6.40 km), once the standard route of the chariot race at the \JOlympic Games\j. Of course, these were purely private meetings; the first public races on English soil were part of horse fairs.
The earliest description of such an English horse-race goes back to the time of Henry II. It was run in 1174 at Smithfield, outside the gates of London during the weekly (Friday) horse fair, where the gentry used to purchase their steeds. A field was cleared for the occasion and "a multitude of citizens" watched the exciting event, generally regarded as the first organized racing of its kind. The example soon caught on and holders of fairs elsewhere included races as a main feature of their program.
Race meetings continued to be held sporadically. However, during the reign of Richard I they became a favorite pastime of knights. It is known that one Whitsuntide, knights held a contest (the first formal race for a money prize) over a three-mile (4.80 km) course for a purse of ú40 in "ready gold." King John, who ascended the throne after Richard, was the first king to keep "running horses" in his stables.
For a long time, those participating in the contests did so mostly for the love of it, and for no specific awards. The knowledge of being first was enough. The first racing trophy was offered in 1512 by the promoters of the Chester Fair who presented the fastest racer with a wooden ball adorned with flowers. This rather inexpensive trophy was replaced, in following years, first by a silver ball and then by a golden shell.
The practice of presenting three prizes for a race owes its origin to the unsatisfactory workmanship of a silversmith and thus, like so many of our institutions, started accidentally.
The Sheriff of Chester generously had agreed to donate the trophy (in the form of a silver ball) for the 1609 race in his city. Accordingly, he asked a local craftsman to make it. On its delivery, the sheriff found it was not up to expectation. The artisan thereupon produced a second ball. However, this did not please the customer either. "Third time lucky," at last the silversmith was able to "deliver the goods." On race day the sheriff thus had not one but three prizes. To use just one - the best - would be a waste. He therefore decided to present all three in their proper order, according to merit and value. That is how our present-day first, second, and third prizes came into existence.
Charles I established regular meetings at Newmarket, where the Gold Cup was first run in 1634. After a temporary banning of the sport during the time of the Commonwealth, it soon flourished again after the Restoration, when Charles II made Newmarket the headquarters of the turf, which it has remained ever since. The king himself rode his own horse to the winning post on 14 October 1671. His favorite mount, "Old Rowley," became so famous that people began to call the king by its name. Odd names, indeed, were given then to race-horses. Typical were "Tickle-me-quickly," "\JLouse\j," and "Kill-'em-and-Eat-'em."
During his reign, too, England's greatest contribution to the sport - the breeding of the thoroughbred - began. Today, every race-horse in the world can trace its line back on the male side to those early sires. The word "thoroughbred," sometimes misunderstood, really means carefully and scientifically bred, and not, as is often mistakenly assumed (and adopted in its French and Italian translations), pure-blooded.
To improve the native breed, England imported oriental horses, mainly Arabian, Barbs, Turks, and Persians. The earliest record in existence dates back to 1685, when, for the purpose of better breeding, the stallion "Byerly Turk" was brought to England. Opinions differ as to whether it was captured from the Turks or purchased in the east.
It was one of the three great "foundation" stallions. The second, also a Syrian or Turkish sire, was imported as a four-year-old by Thomas Darley and, therefore, is referred to as Darley Arabian. The Earl of Godolphin acquired the "Godolphin Arabian" which, the story goes, was saved from the menial task of pulling a water cart in the streets of Paris.
Continued royal patronage made racing the "sport of kings." Monarchs, of course, included queens as well. In fact, Queen Anne of England was one of the sport's greatest promoters. She introduced proper methods in the breeding of horses which up to her time had still been rather haphazard. She also originated the first sweepstake in 1714 when, apart from donating a gold cup (as she had done several times before), she stipulated that the owners of each of the 11 starters put up a fee of 10 guineas, the winner to take all. And it was only fitting that Star, her own horse, won the first cash prize ever awarded in a race.
A favorite of the queen was Tregonwell Frampton who has been called "the father of the English turf." Already under William III he had been appointed "Keeper of the Running Horses of His Sacred Majesty," a position he continued to hold under Queen Anne and the first two Georges. For a period of almost 50 years he dominated the Newmarket scene and from 1700 onward received an annual stipend of ú1000, which he drew until his death, to look after the 10 royal horses. Frampton, no doubt, could be described as the first professional horse-trainer in the world.
He was an odd sort of man who, in spite of his friendship with the queen, hated women. He was always dressed the same way and had a shabby, unwashed appearance. But he had a tremendous love for the horse and was addicted to racing. The steeds he bred he sold at an enormous price. Because in one of the races in which he had an interest, vast sums of money changed hands, Parliament passed an Act prohibiting the recovery of bets in excess of ú10, "in order to put a stop to such ruinous proceedings."
Around 1750 enthusiasts of the sport and owners of horses began to meet - very informally - at Newmarket. At first it was little more than a dining club for gentlemen keen on horses. They discussed future races and the rules and conduct that should govern the sport. Eventually, they agreed to form themselves into a group, which they called The Jockey Club. (This was to grow into the most powerful organization controlling horse-racing. It became the arbiter in all disputes and was not afraid to interfere. In 1791 it even demanded of the Prince Regent that he dismiss his favorite jockey who was suspected of having rigged races. "Their actions became precedents, their advice grew into law.")
#
"Early Medicine",658,0,0,0
There is romance in medical terms. A doctor means "someone who instructs;" a nurse "nourishes," and a \Jhospital\j is a "guest house." But a patient is called so because he "suffers."
Endless in its application and interest is the art of healing. According to biblical writings, the first operation ever performed was the excision of Adam's rib by God. Even then surgery was done under an anaesthetic. God first of all "caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man."
The Sumerians called their doctors "those who know water" - an early recognition of the diagnostic value of urine. The ancient Romans already realized the power of man's mind over the body. "It is part of the cure to wish to be cured," wrote Seneca almost 2,000 years ago.
Even as objective a craft as that of healing has not remained unstained by national \Jprejudice\j. A telling example concerns \Jsyphilis\j and the way it has been described by different people. Early English writers used to call it "French pox." The French, in turn, spoke of it as "the Italian disease," whilst Japanese doctors linked it with the Portuguese.
Napoleon liked neither doctors nor medicines. He preferred by far fresh air, water and cleanliness. And yet, a physician is man's best friend. The Chinese were wise when they used to pay their doctors for keeping them well but stopped the fee at once, when they became sick.
All this is indicative of medicine's long standing. There is further and perhaps more interesting evidence in the terms and symbols that have been connected with medicine from earliest times.
#
"Early Olympic Rituals",659,0,0,0
Many interesting features belong to the early story of the Olympics. To begin with, the Games were confined to one day - the day of the first full moon after the summer \Jsolstice\j. During the first 13 Games recorded, the footrace was the sole event. It was won in 776 BC by Coroebus, a cook by calling.
Even the origin of the footraces leads back to religion in the far-distant past. Then they were not run for the sake of running. They had another purpose. They were part of a solemn religious rite, performed in honor of the god Zeus. To worship him, and thereby to gain his aid, animals were sacrificed and then burned, together with fruit. The ascending smoke, as in biblical lore, was considered sweet odor to the lord of heaven.
The rite was prepared meticulously. Priests heaped the slain beasts and the fruit on Zeus' altar, adding wood ready to be lit. Meanwhile, chosen youths aligned themselves at a specified distance (approximately 200 yards - 182 m - away) and, at a given signal, raced towards the altar. The first to reach it was handed a flaming torch by the priest, with which he set fire to the pyre. The torch itself, tradition relates, was lit not by human hand, but by priests focusing the sun's rays into a polished metal bowl.
It was believed that thus the sun-god himself had been the source of the flame. It is a long way indeed that the race and the torch have traveled to become a modern sporting event and a symbolic torch linking the present world Olympics with ancient \JGreece\j . . .
For many centuries, the festival was for free Greek men only. Slaves, though not eligible for competition, nevertheless could come as spectators. Women (except on certain days) were forbidden even to watch the games! An early law ruled that any woman apprehended in the arena should be thrown to her death from a nearby mountain.
Competing athletes at first wore loin cloths. But one day, so the story goes, a youth lost his. However, unashamed and unperturbed, he carried on and, being unimpeded, excelled all his rivals. As a result of his superlative performance, from then on all participants in the games competed in the nude. (This is still recalled by our word gymnast, in which \Igumnos\i means "naked.")
This practice also ensured that women could not take part disguised as men. This original discrimination against the female sex led later to the formation of the Greek Women's Games, known as Heraea. They were held in honor of Hera, the great woman divinity of Olympus and queen of heaven.
Athletes chosen for the contests had to restrict their diet and in a certain period could partake only of cheese and wine, though later meat was added. For at least ten months before the Olympics they had to undergo strenuous training. They well realized that they were to participate in a sacred rite and that is why, in their individual prayer for victory, they specified their petition that this should be theirs "only if I am best."
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"Early Olympics",660,0,0,0
Early Greek civilization had taught men to sharpen their wits in rhetorical bouts, to create outstanding beauty in the form of sculptures, and to compose music that would lend grace and health to body and soul. Hence, to please the disembodied spirit, it was only proper and wise to hold rhetorical contests, exhibit new sculptures, write and recite poetry, and vie with each other in the performance of musical compositions.
Surpassing everything else, of course, was the Greeks' love of \Jathletics\j and it was small wonder that the various branches known then - running, jumping, wrestling, and throwing - became a major part of the program. There was no doubt in the Greek mind that the better the performance, the more graciously it would be received by the spirits. To serve them was the sole object of the forerunner of the Olympics.
According to this explanation, the Games were therefore held first of all to honor an ancestor hero, or god, and to please and appease his spirit. Neglect to do so might have most unpleasant consequences for the survivors. That is why, too, as those sharing this view have pointed out, the earliest Games took place beside the actual tomb of a national figure of renown, or a monument to him.
Studying ancient traditions and myths, scholars have suggested other sources which, they argued, were the more likely origin of the Games.
Some still linked those earliest sporting events with death. However, the researchers reasoned that it was not the purpose of the athletes to gain the good will of otherwise dangerous spirits, but to cheer the hearts of the mourners.
Just as in an Irish wake in modern times the bereaved drink whisky to lighten the burden of their sorrow, so, in olden times, they indulged in sporting competitions, and from the excitement of the contests learned to sublimate (if not to forget) their grief. The Games could thus be regarded as akin to an ancient method of mental hygiene and grief therapy, a psychological cure for one's distraught mind, particularly when honoring the passing of a national hero.
Another suggestion is that the Games evolved out of a fertility rite in which the winner of a footrace represented the spirit of fruitfulness and, subsequently, the sun. A further theory, advanced with fervor, if not convincing proof, is that the Olympics originally and essentially were a religious New Year's ritual in the ancient chronology of the Greeks, performed to promote the prospects of the vintage and olive harvest.
It has been claimed by Sir James Frazer, in \IThe Golden Bough,\i that the purpose of the first footrace that started off the \JOlympic Games\j was the selection of 'the king of the year'. This was a sacred contest for the throne. The regal head periodically had to defend his position against "suitors" who claimed his daughter's hand, and his crown. Out of this primitive racing rite - "run for no less a prize than a kingdom" - developed the elaborate system of the \JOlympic Games\j, according to Frazer.
Much more realistic to the modern mind is another conjecture. Hellas, as \JGreece\j was first known, was not then a united country but a conglomeration of many city - states and tribes, with their own rulers and ambitions. Each guarded its independence jealously and many a time clashed in battle with its neighbor. There were constant wars.
The country's sages realized that their land would be doomed, and that civilization would vanish, unless they could join the various groups together. The problem was how to achieve such a bond.
There was one interest all of them passionately shared: sport and their wish to excel in it. Why not approach the separate rulers and infuse them with the idea of a mammoth contest, in which all could take part, sending their finest champions to prove their worth?
That is how, this hypothesis claims, the Panhellenic Games were born, to become the Olympics. As had been hoped, they created one people out of the many splinter groups and changed men's warring instinct into a contest of exhilarating sporting events.
In fact, early Greek tradition and historical documents express an identical notion, linking it, however, with \Jsupernatural\j agency and only a later revival of the original Games. These authorities say that the final site, Olympia, was once the shrine of an ancient oracle, and that the Games there were held as far back as the second millennium BC. But in the early days, they took place also at many other centers throughout \JGreece\j, in honor of local heroes and deities. However, gradually they grew into the one festival at Olympia, in worship of Zeus, the father of all gods and men. Then they lapsed altogether until, in the ninth century BC, Iphitus became king of Elis.
Greatly perturbed by constant wars, it is said, he anxiously sought counsel from the oracle at Delphi. This oracle told him that the only way to stop the fights and to bring unity to the people was to re-establish the former Games. And so, this claim asserts, they were revived. From that period certainly dates the "sacred truce" introduced for the purpose of promoting goodwill and peace. At first, the truce merely guaranteed safe conduct to all contestants going to the Games. Eventually, it was extended to last an entire "holy month," during which warfare and even the presence of armed men were forbidden.
#
"Early Polo in America",661,0,0,0
There is no uncertainty about the introduction of polo to the United States. In 1876, James Gordon Bennett, a wealthy publisher and sportsman, imported polo balls and mallets from England, where he had first seen the game played. He also had ponies brought to New York from \JTexas\j and sold them at $20 each to friends whom he had interested in the game.
Bennett then staged the first polo match played on American soil at Dickel's Riding Academy, on Fifth Avenue, New York. The next year polo was transferred out of doors to a racing track north of New York, and soon the game was adopted all over the country.
As there was no world governing body, several types of polo developed. Americans, instead of following the British and Indian practice of close marking, dribbling, and short, accurate passing, played a much faster game distinguished by long hitting. Just before the outbreak of World War II, England and the United States agreed to unify the polo code and an International Rules Committee was set up for the purpose.
Originally, British officers had seen Indian players ride their small, native horses. Introducing the game into England, the officers had continued the practice of using mounts limited to a height of 14 hands. As the play grew ever faster, bigger horses with greater stamina were needed. In 1919 the rule restricting their size was abolished. Today, mounts are full-sized thoroughbreds of great value and yet we continue to speak of them as ponies!
With the growth of the game it became evident that there had to be a true partnership between horse and rider, and rules were drawn up covering the treatment of mounts, even in the stables. Grooms were reminded that "a pony hates noise and being shouted at," that the pony always objected to a "bad-tempered master but will appreciate the good attentions of someone who is considerate and understanding."
Polo balls underwent little change. They continued to be made from willow wood.
#
"Early Popularity of Wrestling",662,0,0,0
Wrestling became a popular feature of almost all Greek feasts and sporting events, particularly of the \JOlympic Games\j. Greek poets, such as \JPindar\j, claimed that actually the Olympic Festival came into existence in 776 BC as the direct result of a wrestling match between the gods Zeus and Cronos.
Historically, however, wrestling was introduced into the \JOlympic Games\j only in the eighteenth Olympiad in 704 BC as part of the \JPentathlon\j. A competition in five events, it was devised to suit the all-round athlete. Probably only those who proved themselves superior in running, jumping, throwing of the javelin, and the discus were permitted to wrestle.
A special feature was known as the Pancratium, from the Greek, meaning "all strength." This contest combined wrestling and boxing. The fighters were naked and their struggle was brutal. The bout ended only when one of the contestants yielded or, as was frequently the case, with his death.
Milon of Croton, who lived in the sixth century BC, was the most renowned of all Greek wrestlers. An athlete of extraordinary strength, he was six times victor in wrestling at the Olympic, and six times at the \JPythian Games\j.
The widespread practice of wrestling is confirmed by the \JBible\j. Perhaps it was mastery of the art that enabled Samson, the biblical Hercules, to subdue with his bare hands the lion in the vineyards of Timnah.
The best-known reference of all is the passage that relates to "wrestling Jacob." Indeed, his combat with the mysterious being has been cited as the explanation of the very name Israel, thought to mean "a wrestler with God."
Jacob was returning home after many years of self-imposed exile, having fled from Esau's wrath. He was still not certain whether, even after that long absence, his brother had forgiven him for stealing their father's blessing. Then, one night, before crossing the river Jabbok "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day."
The match seemed to go on indefinitely, with neither contestant gaining the upper hand. When at the breaking of dawn, Jacob finally managed to hold his adversary in a grip so firm that escape seemed impossible, the unidentified foe suddenly grasped his thigh, and dislocated it. The fight was ended. Apparently, Jacob was still the winner. But he could be seen, with his thighbone out of joint, walking with a distinct limp.
In memory of this wrestling injury, as related in the \JBible\j, observant Jews to this day abstain from eating the part of an animal's body containing the thigh vein, traditionally explained as the sciatic nerve. Only when this has been completely removed is that portion of the animal ritually permitted for human consumption. It is a millennia-old perpetuation of the memory of a biblical wrestling match!
Probably all wrestling referred to in the \JBible\j took the form of belt-wrestling. Its principle was to make a hold on a special belt worn by the contestants. All men of rank owned it as treasured, personal property showing individual marks of distinction. That is why, for instance, it served Judah, with his staff and signet, as a means of unmistakable identification.
A knowledge of belt-wrestling is even an aid to the proper understanding of the imagery used in some biblical phrases. A typical example is Isaiah's picture of the Davidic king in the Messianic Age. His belt (or girdle, as other translations render the \JHebrew\j word) would be that of righteousness.
"To gird one's loins" is yet another \JHebrew\j phrase which, through the \JBible\j, has become part of English idioms in the sense of preparing oneself for vigorous action. According to some, it, too, might be a linguistic survival of ancient belt-wrestling.
The \JNew Testament\j, in the Epistle to the Ephesians (VI:10) speaks of the spiritual warrior who, in face of the Devil's wiles, strong in the Lord is equipped with God's armor. This fight, too, is dramatically pictured as a wrestling match: "our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but . . . against the world-rulers of this darkness . . . Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth."
When the Romans had conquered \JGreece\j, they continued her wrestling matches but adapted them to their own traditions. They refined the sport and barred some of its most cruel features. Their new style became known as Graeco-Roman.
With the fall of the Roman Empire, wrestling lost much of its popularity and for some time at least, was looked upon with disdain. It was the spiritual and mental part of man that mattered and not his body.
Meanwhile, wrestling had spread all over Europe where eventually once again it became a noble sport and a royal pastime. Rulers prided themselves on their champion wrestlers. Matches were popular and international tournaments noteworthy events. For a medieval king to count among his subjects a victorious wrestler was deemed irrefutable proof of his people's superiority. From the \JMiddle Ages\j on, the sport was practiced ever more systematically.
Nations adopted their own systems and rules. These even differed in essential details in the countries themselves, just as they had done in ancient \JGreece\j.
#
"Early Sport in Australia",663,0,0,0
\BBadminton\b was a late-comer in \JAustralia\j. The first club was formed in Perth, Western \JAustralia\j, around the turn of the century. However, only in the late 1920s did the game gain popularity.
\BBaseball\b was first played by American gold miners in 1856 who, in search of wealth, had come to the fields of Ballarat. Australians themselves took up playing the game three decades later.
Victoria was the first State - in 1930 - to establish a \Bbasketball\b association, though 30 years earlier a rudimentary sort of the game was first played in the YMCA in Melbourne.
Lack of the necessary implements gave \Bbilliards\b a late start in \JAustralia\j. Thomas Spencer was the first to open - in 1851 - a saloon in Sydney, with one imported table and one which he had made locally. It was the Lindrum family, dominating the game for four generations and well over 120 years - an all-time record in any sport - that put \JAustralia\j on the map of \Jbilliards\j. Walter Lindrum became the world's greatest \Jbilliards\j exponent: "a wizard at the billiard cue." His skill won him altogether 57 world records. On one occasion he scored 4,819 points in four hours. He gave exhibitions at \JBuckingham Palace\j before King \JGeorge V\j and Queen Mary.
During the 1880s, members of the Indian army brought \Bsnooker\b to \JAustralia\j, with the manager of the billiard room of the Sydney Hotel \JAustralia\j becoming the game's ardent pioneer.
\BBoxing\b was popular from the early days of the colonization. The first recorded boxing match dates back to 1814, to a two-hour fight over 56 rounds at the Sydney Race Course. A peculiar feature of the match was that, before it, both men had to run half a mile (0.80 km).
Though \Bbullfights\b never took place in \JAustralia\j, there were at least two Australian bullfighters. The first was Alan Brown, though his career was exceedingly brief. After learning the art in England (!) in 1959, he went to \JSpain\j for his first - and last - corrida, on a village green near Madrid. On the first pass he was badly gored and never again attempted to master a bull.
Christopher D. Meagher, a Sydney solicitor, fared much better. He had visited \JSpain\j as a tourist towards the end of 1959. While in the country, \Jbullfighting\j caught his imagination. He stayed on and became a member of the Syndicate of Toreros. Earning his living as a teacher in English and as an interpreter, he acquired the art of \Jbullfighting\j in his spare time. He appeared in various \Jbullfighting\j centers throughout \JSpain\j and, altogether, he confronted 30 bulls and on each occasion "dispatched" them. Appropriately he was billed as \IEl Australiano,\i the only matador in the world ever to have been called thus.
\BCockfighting\b found its place early in the life of the Australian settlement, where it gained wide popularity. According to a report of 1810, published in the \ISydney Gazette,\i "a number of good battles" were fought then in Parramatta. \JAustralia\j bred its own game cock which, it was claimed, was the result of judicious crossing of the blood of the Malay, the Aseel, and British fighting fowl.
There is no doubt that even members of the \JFirst Fleet\j played \Bcricket.\b If they did not bring their bats with them from England, they improvised them as soon became the custom, from local timber that was strong enough to withstand hitting the ball. Soldiers were the first players. Cricket was then a crude game with gloves and pads unknown. But no one minded. All that mattered was the game itself. The earliest organized match in \JAustralia\j took place in 1803. It was arranged by the officers of HMS \ICalcutta\i at the present-day Hyde Park, Sydney, which soon was to become the venue for many sports.
\JAustralia\j was the first country to conceive the idea of international \Bcroquet\b contests, early described as test matches. The first club had been formed in South \JAustralia\j, at Kapunda, in 1868. Australians became so proficient in the game that a visit of one of its teams to England was at the season's conclusion praised by the commentary that "we all have something to learn from the Australians, if it is only how to win quickly if one is fated to win, and to lose good-honoredly if it is one's lot to lose."
Because betting on cycle races had been illegal throughout the Commonwealth except in Victoria, its pioneering State and chief promoter, it has been explained, Australians were late in becoming enthusiastic on \Bcycling.\b
Melbourne's Boneshaker Club organized \JAustralia\j's first \Jcycling\j race in 1869, which was only within one year of the first race of its kind to be held anywhere (at Hendon, England). A crowd of 12,000 spectators watched the historic occasion. \JAustralia\j has had many "firsts" in world \Jcycling\j. What is believed to have been the first women's \Jcycling\j race ever held was the two-mile title event conducted in 1888 at Ashfield, NSW.
A \Jwallaby\j, so the story goes, was responsible for the introduction of \Bdog racing.\b It did so quite inadvertently, when it crossed the path of a party which was on its way home after a full day's "enjoyment" hunting kangaroos around Mayhall, South \JAustralia\j. When the \Jwallaby\j suddenly appeared out of the bush, the pack of eleven hounds at once gave chase. But the \Jwallaby\j proved itself superior by far and, one by one, the dogs dropped out. One of the hunters witnessing the spectacle, within a year (in 1868) organized \JAustralia\j's first \JWaterloo Cup\j. During the early period, not hares, but wallabies and \Jkangaroo\j rats were used for coursing.
Though, no doubt, British army personnel were the first to practice \Bfencing\b in \JAustralia\j, the first proper fencing instructions were given only at the beginning of the twentieth century by the German-trained Albert Schuch. A former member of the German army, he worked as a masseur in Sydney, on the site of the future Salvation Army headquarters.
\BFootball\b of a kind dates back to a very early period in \JAustralia\j's history. A Sydney newspaper report of 1829 recorded how "the privates in the barracks are in the habit of amusing themselves with the game and... the ball can be daily descried repeatedly mounting higher or lower, according to the skill and energy of the bold military kickers thereof."
\BSoccer\b was brought to \JAustralia\j by J. W. Fletcher, an English schoolmaster, who had made his home in Sydney and who, with a friend, convened a meeting in 1880 "to consider and promote the introduction of the English Association Game into \JNew South Wales\j," founding the Wanderers' Club.
\BRugby Union\b began in NSW in 1864 and in less than ten years was played by at least 100 clubs. It started at the University of Sydney, with matches arranged among the students themselves, or against visiting war ships. \BRugby League\b began only in 1907, the year in which Rugby Union had reached its height.
Tradition has it that \Bgolf\b was introduced by Scottish migrants from Fifeshire. A club must have been in existence in 1847, as James Graham, himself a Fifeshire-man, made an entry in one of his ledgers showing that he had paid ú2 as his annual subscription "to the [Melbourne] Golf Club." The democratization of golf popularized the game so much that it was to become no longer the hobby of a few rich but the pastime of many. Proportionately \JAustralia\j has more public golf courses than any other nation.
The forerunner of \Jhockey\j in \JAustralia\j was \Bhurley.\b Irish goldminers brought it to Victoria where by 1880 they had established several clubs. Only gradually was hurley replaced by \Bhockey,\b which was first played on Australian soil by members of the Royal Navy, while their ships were in port.
Love of horses and horsemanship have belonged to the Australian people from the very inception of the colony. In January 1788, the \JFirst Fleet\j, with its convicts and soldiers, brought also the first horses: one stallion, three mares, and three colts. Most \Bhorse races\b were run along the Windsor and Parramatta roads, at times over a distance of 16 miles (25.60 km).
The first specific race meeting was held in 1810 at what was to become Hyde Park, Sydney. It has been suggested that the immediate reason was not only the wish to soften the harsh life of the penal settlement, but the hope that the event would cause people to forget all their antagonism and tensions engendered by the \JRum Rebellion\j.
The first \JMelbourne Cup\j was run on 7 November 1861. A fearful accident almost marred the occasion. As the horses rounded the turn, coming into the straight, three fell. Two of them were killed on the spot and their riders were badly injured. Nevertheless, the day ended on a happy note with the spectators attending spectacular shows, specially put on for the occasion in Melbourne's theaters. Among the performances was a Chinese drama, performed by "dinkum" Chinese actors.
Aborigines had perfected the art of \Bhunting\b which was so essential for their survival. In its pursuit, they dexterously employed boomerangs, throwing clubs and most of all, special hunting spears. If for no other reason, it was to supplement their sparse food supply that the early European colonists took up hunting, in which many a convict excelled. In fact, in the early days of the colony, hunting became one of the principal sporting amusements, greatly fostered by the arrival of the 73rd Regiment in 1810 whose officers brought their own packs of hounds to assist them in the hunting of both the \Jkangaroo\j and the \Jdingo\j. The earliest account of a hunt with hounds goes back to January 1811. A \Jkangaroo\j hunted on forest ground at the Nepean was killed "after an exciting run of two hours."
\BIce hockey\b was first played in 1908, in the Melbourne and Sydney Glaciariums.
Dunbar Poole, a Scotsman from Glasgow, and at the time one of the world's finest \Bice skating\b promoters, was instrumental in establishing the sport in \JAustralia\j when visiting Adelaide in 1904.
\BJudo\b was first practiced in \JQueensland\j, where the visit of Rugora Shima greatly fostered it. Dr A. J. Ross claimed to have founded the first judo club in 1928, doing so also in \JQueensland\j. \JNew South Wales\j was the first State to establish - in 1956 - an Australian Society of Jujitsuans.
\BKarate\b came to \JAustralia\j as late as 1962. It found its place very slowly and without any definite, preconceived plan, taking advantage of the advice and tuition by occasional Japanese visitors.
\BLacrosse\b was introduced in 1872 when L. L. Mount brought some sticks from Canada to Victoria.
#
"Early Squash",664,0,0,0
The Greeks were the first to assert that sport moulded character. They were convinced that only regular exercise could produce a well-rounded personality. It trained them in self-control, promoted a strong physique and physical courage. To the Greeks, \Jathletics\j was an integral part of the "good life," and visits to the gymnasium became a daily habit of Greek youths.
Early Greek sculptors portrayed this ideal man of athletic features. The philosopher \JPlato\j taught that the ideal state ought to begin in the body of man, which must be made strong by sport. The Greek tradition was succinctly expressed by the Roman adage that spoke of "the healthy mind in the healthy body" \I(mens sana in corpore sano).\i
Nineteenth-century England revived and adapted this ancient philosophy of the art of living in its great, exclusive institutions of learning, the public schools. (Their name, of course, was rather odd, as in reality these were closed to the general public and reserved for the privileged classes.)
Compulsory organized games became an important feature in their curriculum, which encouraged athleticism as an instrument of education. This aimed at cultivating true "gentlemen" who had learned to give of their best but to do so unselfishly, in selfmastery and knowing what was "cricket." They were trained by sport in the true team spirit. They played for their side, never for themselves. Not winning, but "playing the game" was all that mattered.
A headmaster of Winchester is quoted as having said: "Give me a boy who is a cricketer. I can make something of him." Expressive of the very spirit and atmosphere in the life of the English public school is a verse written by Sir Henry Newbolt, English man of letters and one-time Professor of Poetry at \JOxford University\j:
\IThere's a breathless hush in the close tonight-
Ten to make and the match to win-
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned wat,
Or the selfilsh hope of a season's fame,
But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote-
'Play up, play up, and play the game!'\i
Undoubtedly, the public schools, with their love of sport, gave British character some of its distinctive features and social qualities, including the instinct for fair play and sporting demeanor. This explains why it could be said that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of \JEton\j. Probably recollecting this observation, Adolf Hitler declared during World War II (though with a mocking insinuation) that the fight was between those who had been through the Adolf Hitler schools and those who had been at \JEton\j. It was a challenge Sir Winston Churchill took up when addressing his own former school at Harrow (in December 1940), defiantly saying: "Hitler has forgotten Harrow."
Harrow, indeed, was, and is, one of the famous English public schools, endowed by a charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. Among other men who had received their schooling there were Sir Robert Peel (the British Prime Minister who inaugurated \Jfree trade\j in England), Lord Byron, and Oliver Goldsmith, the author of \IThe Vicar of Wakefeld.\i Racquets was one of the many games played (and, in fact, pioneered) at Harrow in the nineteenth century.
Rackets required a somewhat outsize court and as only one existed at the school it proved inadequate for all the boys anxious to play. Around 1850, a game was thought out that, though still very similar to racquets, needed much less room. And that is how according to one tradition, squash racquets came into being.
Another version claims that Harrow boys devised squash to gain more proficiency in racquets. As it were, they invented the new game as a preliminary "exercise," in which they could practice the basic strokes on miniature racquets courts. These they easily improvised in the boarding houses in which the boys were billeted, as well as in some of their masters' homes. All that was needed was a wall (and there were plenty of those) and the laying of a sheet of \Jasphalt\j (which preceded the later wooden floor). Of course, there were many hazards in the form of windows, doors, and pipes but, in reality, this made the game all the more exciting.
Harrow School itself, when building a new racquets court in 1864, recognized squash by constructing four separate courts for it. That their number was further increased in later years (by converting, for instance, three old Fives Courts for squash) testified to how much the game had caught on.
Instead of the traditional, hard rackets ball, the boys used one made of soft India rubber. This, by comparison, appeared rather "squashy" - in feel and in the sound it made when hitting the wall - and it was this impression which gave the new (practice) game its descriptive name squash. In fact, it has been suggested that squash is one of the two sports in the world that owe their name to the phenomenon known as echoism or \Jonomatopoeia\j ("name-making") - the creation of words or names by imitating a sound associated with the object or action to be named, such as "cuckoo," "\Jpeewit\j," "puff-puff," "sizzle," "splash," and "croak." Squash, in like manner, imitated the sound so typical of the game when its hollow ball hits the wall.
Once the boys had learned their squash, they were ready to master rackets. It did not take long for the new game to become popular on its own merit, particularly as it could be arranged so easily and played at so little cost. Soon other public schools took it up and squash grew into an independent game for adults as well, "squashing" rackets, which had become much too expensive as a sport, as the building of its courts a lost art.
The fact that the Prince of Wales became an enthusiastic player made the English people follow his example, and thus through royalty, squash gained ever more widespread popularity.
It was given additional impetus because its pursuit offered magnificent training to champions of diverse sports. For instance, there is no doubt that it helps to speed up footwork and volleying in tennis. A report claimed that in a handicap lawn tennis match played in Cambridge in June 1875, H. Leaf, Esq., a former Harrow boy, had won as the result of practice at soft (squash) ball rackets at that school. It was possibly the first, but by no means the last, success in other sports owed to proficiency in squash.
In more recent times, Harry Hopman, as captain of the Australian \JDavis Cup\j team, three times became the Australian squash amateur champion, while training for tennis titles. Peerless batsman Sir Donald Bradman took up squash to keep fit for cricket and in his very first year as a squash player he carried off the South Australian squash championship.
The circumstances of the birth of the new game influenced its early evolution. At first, obviously, it was taken up only by those schools that practiced rackets, and at some of their pupils' homes. After graduation, the "Old Boys" introduced the game into the clubs they joined. Since to begin with, squash was merely a means to an end, no one really cared what the courts were like. These greatly differed in shape, size, and construction, according to the space available.
The greatest handicap in the growth of the sport was its total lack of a unified code, a situation the Tennis and Rackets Association - established in 1907 - tried to overcome by the appointment of a special committee at its very first meeting. This initial governing body was then superseded by the Squash Rackets Association inaugurated at a gathering held at the Royal \JAutomobile\j Club, London, in 1928. At long last, squash rackets was standardized and the possibility of inter-club matches and competitions greatly fostered the sport.
British soldiers and sailors spread the game overseas, wherever they went to serve - in Canada, the Mediterranean, India, the Middle, and the Far East.
Squash rackets first reached the United States in the 1880s. A master of St Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, the story goes, had specially visited Montreal to bring back from there all necessary information about the "English game," which subsquently was organized for the first time in his school in 1882.
It was another 50 years, however, before it took proper hold. Developing independently, it also presented a diversity of rules and many types of courts. Thus, the Americans keenly felt the need of a worldwide standardization and consequently approached British players to come to an agreement. But the English (perhaps because of an innate \Jconservatism\j that likes to hasten slowly) tarried too long for the Americans' liking. Losing patience, they eventually went ahead on their own to lay down final rules. These they based on squash tennis, which meanwhile had grown up in the States as a separate sport. And so it is that squash is still being played differently on either side of the Atlantic.
Yet, no matter what its individual rules of scoring and placing the ball, and the measurements of the ball, racket, and court, wherever it is played it results in the speeding up of reflexes, requires a good eye and strong wrist, and achieves all-round fitness and stamina.
Squash tennis has its own history. It is told that the pupils of St Paul's who early had taken up squash rackets, though liking the game, nevertheless felt that it was not lively enough. To speed it up, while still adhering to its general principles and playing it on the same type of wooden court, the pupils substituted a lawn tennis ball for the more sluggish squash ball and also used different bats, much more similar to the lawn tennis rackets. The new version soon gained its followers and became known, appropriately, as squash tennis.
#
"Early Surgery",665,0,0,0
Humorously, it has been suggested that God performed the first surgical operation when he removed one of Adam's ribs to create Eve.
The practice of surgery has its origins in customs based on the religious beliefs of early man. In primitive cultures, priests diagnosed certain abnormal states of mind, as well as excruciating headaches, as the effects of a demon trapped inside the skull. The only possible cure was to release him. For this purpose the priest - doctors learned to use a flint knife to perform what was, in effect, the first brain surgery.
Their technique became later known as trephination, from the Greek word for "drill." Frequently, with the pressure relieved, the pain ceased and, the patient was cured, firmly convinced that this was due to the departure, through the aperture bored by the priests, of the evil spirit.
Archaeologists have unearthed a great number of skulls on which this surgery had been performed. They belonged to both adults and children and, in some cases, showed that the operation had been repeated several times. The excised piece of bone was not thrown away. It was given to the patient who kept it as a potent talisman. Worn around the neck, it was imagined to keep away evil spirits in future and avoid any recurrence of the affliction.
#
"Early Ten-Pin Bowling",666,0,0,0
The sport of ten-pin bowling was the result of a move to circumvent a law on gambling. Like lawn bowling it had its roots in man's innate wish to throw or roll an object toward a target, and the story of its evolution is colorful and complex.
Nine-pin bowling or, as it is sometimes called, skittles, was the immediate forerunner of ten-pin bowling. Today an innocuous game enjoyed by young and old, centuries ago it was banned as inimical to national defense and as the cause of hooliganism and gambling. On the other hand, it was greatly developed by the Christian Church and especially Martin Luther, founder of German \JProtestantism\j.
Throughout many centuries, skittles was referred to merely as bowling, a word used equally for lawn bowling at a jack. Thus, in old documents dealing with bowling, it is often uncertain which type is meant.
Even \JStone Age\j man must have enjoyed a very crude version of the game. Probably all he did was aim stones at other stones to pass his time. Historically, it is known that a kind of pin bowling was practiced 7,000 years ago in \JEgypt\j. When Sir Flinders Petrie excavated an Egyptian child's grave dating back to 5200 BC, he discovered among the objects, entombed items that undoubtedly had belonged to a game very similar to modern, ten-pin bowling. Other archaeological finds in turn brought to light big skittles of pottery and stone.
The South Sea Islands have some evidence of the same game, called by the natives \Iula maika.\i Polynesians have been known to join in a game with elliptical balls and round, flat, stone discs. This game was not only very much like skittles, but it demanded that stones be bowled a distance of 60 feet (18 m), the stipulation of modern, ten-pin bowling.
Bowling of one kind or another became a popular pursuit and even a vogue in Europe, especially so in \JGermany\j. There the game was known as \IKegeln,\i a term which was adopted also, at least for a time, in other parts of the world. Literally, it referred to the "pin."
A \IKegel\i was an almost all-purpose utensil. Germans used it as a cudgel to defend themselves, as a tool (instead of a hammer), and as a gadget in physical exercise to strengthen the muscles of their hands, wrists, and arms. No wonder that they carried it with them (like knights did their swords) wherever they went, even to church.
Priests, always ready to reinforce their message, soon discovered in their congregants' \IKegels\i a wonderful means to dramatize man's constant struggle against the Devil and evil. Indeed, it has been claimed that ecclesiastics had first introduced bowling at pins, an assertion supported by an ancient chronicle of the German cathedral city of Paderborn.
The \Jclergy\j personified the \IKegel\i as standing for the pagan adversary and wickedness, calling it by the German word \IHeide\i - "heathen." In the way modern ministers of religion might use gimmicks and "visuals" to attract and impress their flock, German priests invited them to play "nine-pins" within the church precincts - but not for entertainment. The game was intended to illustrate their fight against sinfulness, how they must knock down the Devil within and without. It was an extraordinary type of participatory worship, with the congregation learning their "lesson" by play.
Eventually, it was regarded as a test of a man's innocence and pure life. If he was able to hit the target placed at the end of the "runway" (whether an aisle - or much more likely - a cloister) he had struck down, as it were, the heathen and thereby proved that he was a God-fearing man. If he failed to do so, it was taken as irrefutable proof of guilt and a sinful life.
Only regular attendance at services could remedy his offense and he was requested to appear again for further trials until eventually, it was hoped, he would succeed in knocking down the pin. It was a peculiar enforcement of practice at pin-bowling, certainly pursued with religious fervor in every sense of the word.
The long \Jcloisters\j of the monasteries and churches provided an ideal runway, not very unlike the modern alley, a later term derived from the French \Ialler,\i meaning "to go."
Once the tests were concluded, those who had scored a hit were congratulated and joined in a thanksgiving dinner.
With the passing of time, the clerics themselves must have realized that, apart from serving as a religious test, the practice was rather enjoyable for its own sake. They too began to throw the ball, to pass leisure time pleasantly. Their students were not slow in acquiring skill and love of the game. That is how the first real bowling contests took place within the church.
It was not surprising that those who had succeeded in hitting the pin in the cloister wished to try their skill outside the supervision and precincts of the church. The game became secular and popular far and wide and developed many local traditions. The pin had several shapes and sizes before it could be defined as "a piece of wood like a sugar loaf." It did not take players long to find out that the game would be all the more exciting if, instead of using a single pin, each \IKegler\i (player) put up his own so that there were as many pins as players, each of whom tried to knock down all the pins with one throw.
There were variations in the pattern in which the pins were arranged, and in the system of scoring. The pebble first used for a ball was replaced by large, round stones, and then by the modern, wooden ball. At first, the ball could be either rolled or thrown, according to the surface of the skittle alley which consisted, to begin with, of baked clay or of slate blocks and, finally, of wood.
#
"Early Welsh Phrases",667,0,0,0
The Welsh have always been looked down upon by the English. Their poverty was proverbial. It did not permit them even to eat the common \Jrabbit\j. All they could afford was toasted cheese which became the "Welsh \Jrabbit\j." Worse still was the use of their name for those leaving the gambling table with their debts unpaid. They were said "to welsh."
#
"Early Wrestling in Different Countries",668,0,0,0
Wrestling caught on in Britain from the earliest days. The Saxons and \JCelts\j were partial to it.
The historic bout between King \JHenry VIII\j and Francis I of \JFrance\j, said to have taken place in 1520, has been variously described. One tradition tells, how, from their royal box, both kings watched their men engaged in a fight. When the English easily gained the upper hand, Henry gloated over their victory and light-heartedly made fun of their French opponents. This enraged the French king so much that he jumped from his seat and, in full view of the crowd, grappled with Henry. Fortunately, onlookers stopped the bout, which could have had disastrous results.
Another version relates that during the month-long festival of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Henry challenged his royal colleague, saying: "Brother, we wolle wrestle." Francis could not refuse without loss of face. Soon the English king's superior strength became apparent. The Frenchman was well aware that his opponent had a bad leg. Suddenly he grasped it, and pinned Henry. The French rejoiced at their king's unfair victory, while Henry's followers sat in glum silence.
Accounts of the time mysteriously add that "the blackened face of His Grace was turned to the Queen." We are left to wonder why. Was it in search of a word of comfort or perhaps to use her as a \Jscapegoat\j . . . maybe as an excuse for her later execution? Whatever the answer, many feared that the wrestling match might precipitate a war.
The English developed many local styles. Most distinct among them were those of the west country (Cornwall and Devon), Lancashire, and, best-known of all, Cumberland and Westmoreland. Almost every public holiday was marked by matches attended by the noble and great.
In the Cumberland and Westmoreland style a firm hold is taken at the very beginning of the contest. Whoever loses the grip first, or touches the ground with any part of his body, is declared defeated. Should both contestants fall and it is not possible to judge who touched the ground first, such a "dog fall," as it is termed, necessitates a repetition of the bout.
Lancashiremen, on the other hand, employed a technique which is the forerunner of the modern catch-as-catch-can, already known among Indians, Chinese, and Greeks. There is almost no limit to what fighters can do. They may grasp any part of each other's body. Tripping is permitted, but deliberate kicking, scratching, or biting, and all dangerous holds and strangleholds are fouls. A bout ends when one wrestler succeeds in forcing his opponent's two shoulder-blades on the mat simultaneously.
In Cornish and Devon wrestling, fighters had to throw their opponent in such manner that he would touch the ground with three "points," for instance with his two shoulders and a hip.
Sir Thomas Parkyns (d. 1741) was a famous protagonist of Cornish wrestling. An author and an able athlete himself, he established an annual wrestling match in the park of his ancestral estate at Bunny Park, \JNottinghamshire\j, England. The prizes he offered were a gold-laced hat, valued at 22 shillings, for the winner, and three shillings for the second best. Though the amounts were small, it was said, the glory was great.
Sir Thomas admonished wrestlers to be sober men. "Whoever would be a complete wrestler," he wrote, "must avoid being overtaken in drink, which very much enervates, or, being in a passion at the sight of his adversary, or having received a fall, in such cases he is bereaved of his senses, not being master of himself is less of his art, but sheweth too much play, or none at all, or rather pulleth, kicketh, and ventureth beyond all reason and his judgment when himself."
\IThat man's a fool, that hopes for good,
From flowing bowls and feverish blood.'\i
One of the queer habits of the noble lord, certainly unique of its kind, was collecting stone coffins. These were to be a reminder of mortality, teaching his champion wrestlers that, no matter what happened, the great wrestler, Death, would be the final victor.
Prizes awarded in the early 1820s were of three types. Most common was a leather belt, inscribed with the winner's name and where and when the match had taken place. Another, rather odd, trophy was a length of cloth or buckskin out of which the winner could make himself a pair of breeches. On occasions, a silver cup was presented.
\JAmerican Indians\j were acquainted with wrestling long before the advent of the white man. It became popular among America's early pioneers and accounts abound of their matches with Indians. Many years before Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States, he was famed for his wrestling ability.
Wrestling was always most popular in Asia. The Mongolians and Chinese made it part of religious celebrations. Continuous practice gave their hands extraordinary power and included a simple daily exercise, repeated innumerable times: closing the fingers as tightly as possible around a handful of wet sand.
The Japanese excelled in the sport and developed their own indigenous style known as Sumo. An ancient myth tells that the Japanese people were given their homeland as the result of a Sumo match in which a \JShinto\j god defeated an aborigine.
The earliest fights were to the death. The first recorded match dates back to 23 BC and Sukune, its winner, has been revered ever since as the patron of wrestlers. In AD 858, succession to the Japanese throne is said to have been determined by a Sumo contest between two princes.
Wrestlers engaged in the fight almost completely in the nude; all they wore was a silken girdle. They learned to observe a strict and solemn ritual before actually joining in combat. To drive away evil spirits, they stamped with their feet the ground which they sanctified with handfuls of salt. To purify themselves they washed their mouths, and to assure all that they were hiding no weapon, they stretched out their hands and their arms. Only after the completion of these various acts was the sign given for the contest to begin. As was only to be expected, Sumo became part of the training of the \JSamurai\j.
Japanese wrestlers always prided themselves on their weight, often tipping the scales at 450 lbs. (202.50 kg). For centuries they chose their wives from their own circle, as they were convinced that only by inbreeding would they maintain their strong physique.
As practiced today, wrestling can be divided into several main categories. There are the Cumberland and Westmoreland style and catch-as-catch-can, the immediate successor of the Lancashire technique. The modern Graeco-Roman style is not, as the name suggests, the original classical wrestling. In fact, it little resembles it. Extensively used in European countries, its holds are limited to the body above the waist, and neither legs nor feet may be used to bring about a fall, in which both shoulders must touch the ground.
All-in wrestling combines the greatest variety of features, including the painful and dangerous holds barred in all other types. Added to them are some prominent forms of \Jjujitsu\j as well. In short, almost anything is legitimate to bring about defeat. The bout ends when an adversary is held in such a position that he cannot disengage himself. Apparently savage, this is the most spectacular type of wrestling, which has come to rely frequently more on showmanship than sportsmanship.
Wrestling is a combative sport and a manly art, a game of wits and rapid thinking. Misapplied, it can lead to brutality or commercialized entertainment, where money comes first and the sport second. Performed with skill and a determined spirit, it can rate not only as one of the oldest but also as one of the most dramatic sports.
#
"Earrings",669,0,0,0
Originally earrings were exactly what they are called - plain rings. They were worn both by men and women, and for several reasons.
Haunted by the belief that malevolent forces were constantly surrounding them, people had to protect themselves. What better means was there than to use the magic circle in the form of the ring. Symbolic of the (round) sun, it would drive away the servants of the world of darkness. These were further intimidated by the ring being a shiny object, reflecting light. The ring thus became a powerful charm twice over.
So that it would not be lost, the ring was firmly attached to some part of the body, one of the lips, the nose or, not least, the ears, for which purpose the lobes were pierced. The choice of the ears had other weighty motives, also going back to early superstitions. Members of many varied races took particular care to guard all the orifices of their body because it was through them, they believed, that evil spirits could easily enter and possess them. Though it was possible to close one's eyes, one could not close one's ears which, therefore, were most vulnerable and needed safeguarding.
In their many hostile encounters, native tribes had difficulty in differentiating between friend and foe. Without uniforms and only wearing a loincloth, they had no specific means of identification. This was yet another reason for the wearing of earrings. The objects used, of varied material and color, served as a means of recognition. Unlike the modern identity card, the rings never wore out nor could be hidden away. Conspicuously, they stuck out.
Other potent and useful faculties were attributed to the rings. They were thought to ward off disease and to have curative powers. In more modern days, they were worn as well to serve as a highly valued reminder. Sailors, especially prone to \Jsuperstition\j because of the vagaries of the sea, not only believed in the efficacy of the earring as a charm, but that the piercing of their lobes would improve their eyesight. This enabled them to see further at sea, which added to their safety, particularly so prior to the introduction of the \Jtelescope\j.
It was a British custom for a sailor's wife to present her husband with one of her earrings whenever he went to sea. Carefully, she retained the other. She did so not merely superstitiously, for good luck, but magically to ensure his safe return. Not least, it was also to remind him of her constant love, however far and long he was away at sea.
Far from being just an ornament and a piece of jewelry, the earring has thus played a significant role in humankind's perpetual struggle for survival and striving for security and happiness, and reflects the deep-rooted conviction that it could affect the wearer's health and fortune.
#
"Earthquake Victims",670,0,0,0
Rare indeed must have been the tragic death of a husband and wife, both of whom were killed by a natural disaster far away from home. Their bodies now rest in the South Head Cemetery in Sydney. The headstone on their joint grave is in the form of an open book. Its left page gives the name and the date of birth of the husband and the right, those of his spouse. A brief and moving "epilogue" sums up their togetherness, in life as in death:
\ICHARLES
Born 24th June
1857
SUSAN EMILY MARKELL
Born 23rd January
1860
They died as they lived
Together
Perished \JYokohama\j \JEarthquake\j
1st September 1923\i
#
"East Perth Error",671,0,0,0
Whoever carved the inscription on the epitaph for Caroline Clifton in the East Perth Cemetery, erroneously spelt her name CAOOLINE. As the wrong letter was too deeply cut into the stone to be erased, the stonemason merely superimposed the "R." However, the damage was done, and the amendment immediately catches the eye.
#
"Easter Bunny",672,0,0,0
Bunnies jumping about are a vivid illustration of the joys of spring. Yet, originally, the Easter bunny was no bunny at all, but a hare. It was the animal sacred to the goddess Eostre. Born with its round eyes open, the animal was chosen as representing the full moon, which was so closely linked with this goddess' feast.
As both rabbits and hares are prolific breeders, they symbolized fertility and abundance of life. No wonder, therefore, that both became associated with the festival that celebrated spring and the \Jresurrection\j of Christ. The popularity of rabbits with children also helped to spread the tradition of the lucky Easter bunny.
How the bunny got its name is a "tale of a tail." "Bun" originally was another word for a tail, and "bunny" is its diminutive. A \Jrabbit\j was so called because of its "little tail."
#
"Easter Celebrations",673,0,0,0
Easter, which commemorates the \Jresurrection\j of Christ, is the oldest and greatest feast of the Christian faith. Its name is derived from Eostre, the \JAnglo-Saxon\j goddess of spring, whose festival was celebrated at this time of the year.
The date varies from year to year because in A.D. 325, the Council of Nicaea decided that Easter was always to be observed on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal \Jequinox\j. The date may fall any time between 21 March and 25 April. The Eastern Orthodox Church further stipulates that it must be held after the Jewish Passover.
#
"Easter Egg",674,0,0,0
The Easter egg is the emblem of renewed life after death, and of \Jresurrection\j.
To all appearances an egg is lifeless, and yet out of it can come a new creature. Just as the chick is entombed, as it were, in the egg, and brought to life in due course, so out of the grave the dead will rise to a new existence. That is why, from earliest times and in many cultures, the egg became a symbol of fertility and immortality.
The ancient Greeks and Romans buried eggs, or their replicas, with their dead and left baskets of eggs on their graves. Maoris used to put an egg in the hand of a deceased person before burial. As a gesture of consolation, eggs are traditionally served to Jewish mourners on their return from the funeral of a loved one.
In the northern hemisphere, Easter coincides with spring, the season of the renewal of nature, when out of the dead earth new life is about to arise. It is a time of creation and recreation. Already, in pagan days, the egg represented this rebirth of nature at the time of the solar new year. The egg has a further, cosmic, significance, because its shape is seen as resembling that of the earth.
\JChristianity\j adopted the ancient \Jsymbolism\j of the egg and applied it to Christ's \Jresurrection\j. Its display and use at Easter popularized and dramatized the joyousness of the event. The fact that all through the fast of Lent the eating of eggs was prohibited made them all the more welcome on Easter day!
#
"Eat Crow",675,0,0,0
To make someone "eat crow" is one way to describe the humiliation experienced by people forced to admit their error. Certainly, a crow is not an attractive bird and to have to eat of its flesh might well be as distasteful as to have to eat one's words.
However, originally, the phrase spoke more fully of "eating boiled crow." Its earliest known use goes back to the United States and the 1870s. Nevertheless, generally it is linked with an incident on Canadian territory during the \JWar of 1812\j.
Soon after a truce had been declared between the American and British forces, an English officer watched an American soldier shoot a crow. Having done so on Canadian soil, he arrested the man, made him hand over his gun and then forced him to eat a piece of the crow he had just killed. But being a gentleman, so the story continues, having taught the American a lesson, he not only released him but returned to him his weapon. Swiftly, the American reversed the situation. Pointing the gun at his former captor, he now forced him to eat all that was left of the crow!
#
"Eat Humble Pie",676,0,0,0
No one likes "to eat humble pie." The phrase goes back to the early days of a very class-conscious society, though it actually does not mean what it appears to say.
There was no humility in that pie. Usually, the uneducated are said to drop their "h's." But the case of the humble pie is a telling example in which an "h" was added-out of ignorance.
"Umbles" was once a common description of \Joffal\j: the heart, the liver, and the \Jstomach\j of an animal. As umbles were not credited with much culinary merit, they were reserved to feed servants and the poor and made into a pie for them. Very appropriately and logically, this was known as an umbles' pie.
When umbles became an obsolete term and people no longer knew what it meant, they began to speak of "eating humble pie," which has now become an expression relating to humility. Yet, in the way of speaking, it still contains left-overs from those early \Joffal\j days.
#
"Eat Like a Bird",677,0,0,0
Whoever describes someone who takes very little food as "eating like a bird," has little knowledge of bird-life. A bird eats almost constantly. The only time it stops is when it goes to sleep. In reality therefore, to use the comparison would imply that the person referred to never leaves off eating and truly gorges himself.
#
"Eat One's Hat",678,0,0,0
Hunger and curiosity have driven men to eat almost anything. Cannibals ate human flesh. They did so however, not, as most people think, for the sake of eating. Feeding on man, they imagined, did not only nourish their bodies but, much more so, their souls! By eating another human being, they believed, they also magically acquired his strength, brains and courage. That was the chief reason for their choice of the inhuman human diet.
Aborigines delight in witchetty grubs, whose taste - if raw - is like cream, or - if cooked, rolled in warm ashes - like pork rind.
Frenchmen love horse-meat and those of us who loathe even the thought of it should know that there is nothing really wrong with it. Our distaste stems from forgotten days when the horse was worshiped and, because of its sanctity, people were afraid to kill and eat it.
But in spite of those various and exotic tastes, whoever would think of eating his hat, whether of straw or felt? And rightly so, because the kind of hat of which we speak, when trying to impress on others our incredibility and amazement, was never the sort of hat we know. It is just a confusion between millinery and gastronomy.
Its place has always been in the cookery book and not on our head. This is testified by one of the earliest publications of recipes. It relates that \I"Hattes\i are made of eggs, veal, dates, saffron, salt, and so forth." The ingredients suggested leave no doubt that a dish of that type would hardly be palatable. Most likely to eat such a hat, or even the wearable kind, would be beyond one's digestive capacity.
#
"Eat One's Words",679,0,0,0
Of those who have to retract an opinion and admit that what they had previously stated was wrong, it is said that they have "to eat their words."
The gastronomical figure of speech stems from the \JBible\j, but is used there in a totally different sense. At a moment of depression caused by the apparent failure of his mission, the \Jprophet\j Jeremiah recalled the days when he had joyfully welcomed God's message. Just as one has pleasure in eating something tasty, so - metaphorically speaking - did he then eat the divine words (Jer. 15:16).
A second and even more explicit source of the phrase is a passage in the writings of the \Jprophet\j Ezekiel. It tells (Ez. 3:1-2) how he was asked by God to eat a scroll, inscribed with divine words of lamentations, mourning and woe, addressed to the people. Carrying the \Jsymbolism\j further, he was urged to devour the entire contents of the scroll and, in spite of its ominous meaning, to do so as eagerly as a famished man would eat a meal.
The \JBible\j continues to relate how Ezekiel ate the awesome words which were in his mouth "as honey for sweetness." Authorities have tried to explain such extraordinary paradox. For a servant of God it was "sweet" to be privileged to execute the divine will and to be entrusted by the Almighty with any task, no matter what it was.
To "eat one's words" was so striking a figure of speech that it stuck in the mind. However, the circumstances and context were forgotten. Totally divorced from the biblical source, it acquired the almost opposite meaning of recanting, the taking back of something one had said.
#
"Eating Grass and Tobogganing",680,0,0,0
It is not true that pets eat grass for medicinal purposes, either to rid themselves of worms and as an emetic. The animals might just fancy or need it, as part of their diet.
Equally fallacious is the assumption that the reason for dogs or cats sliding along the ground on their posteriors, is to rid themselves of worms. They toboggan to relieve an irritation caused by a glandular discharge.
#
"Eating More in Winter",681,0,0,0
Those who believe that it is necessary to eat more in winter than in summer, to "keep up their energy," are mistaken. Modern heating and warmer clothing adjust the body to the change in temperature, so that there is no need to increase the \Jcalorie\j intake.
#
"Eating Red Meat",682,0,0,0
It is merely a matter of taste whether to eat meat well-done or rare. It has no effect on health either way. That red meat was especially beneficial to anemic people is a fallacy.
#
"Eating the American Way",683,0,0,0
Americans particularly appreciate the value of time. Masters in the study of time and motion, they have learned to streamline life in many ways. Incongruously though, they waste time whenever they sit down for a meal. Conspicuous to outsiders, they then follow a peculiar custom. First, they cut up the meat - holding the fork in their left hand and the knife in their right. They then put down the knife and change the fork over to their right hand to pick up the individual pieces and the vegetables. An involved procedure, it makes Americans "stand out" in any crowd.
The origin of the American way of eating shows how traditions of the past are perpetuated, even if their once useful reason no longer holds true.
In the early pioneering days, knives were in short supply and it often happened that a family possessed only one knife. It was therefore only natural that, when sitting down for a meal, the head of the house was privileged to use the knife first. After having cut up his food, he passed the knife on to the next member of the family who, in turn, after having used it, handed it on. With the knife thus making the round, each individual had only a fork left. Obviously, this was now held in the right hand. The habit became so ingrained that even when knives became plentiful, the early mode of eating was never abandoned.
#
"Eating the Proper Way",684,0,0,0
"Fast food" and rushed meals are symptomatic of the pressure of modern life. Nevertheless, it is beyond dispute that the atmosphere in which we eat our food has a significant effect, and not merely on its proper digestion. That a relaxed and happy frame of mind should be an essential ingredient of every meal is not a modern concept of nutritionists and medical authorities. It, too, is embedded in religious tradition. Lycurgus, the Greek statesman, renowned for his oratory and outstanding honesty, is said to have had a statue of the god of laughter specially put up in his dining hall.
#
"Eau De Cologne 4711",685,0,0,0
The gratitude of a Carthusian monk, expressed by a unique gift, was responsible for the production of Eau de Cologne - or so the story goes.
When French forces had invaded the German city of Cologne in 1794, they closed down the local Carthusian monastery to use it as a military \Jhospital\j. Homeless, one of the monks, Franz Carl Maria Farina, was given temporary shelter in the house of Wilhelm Mⁿhlens, a Cologne banker.
On his departure, in appreciation of all the kindness extended to him, the monk handed to his host a secret script that he had treasured. It contained the ingredients needed (and their amounts) to distill a "miracle water" - \Iaqua mirabilis.\i
Another more detailed version differs somewhat. This relates that Farina had presented the formula to Mⁿhlens as a wedding gift on the occasion of the banker's marriage on 8 October 1792.
Whichever way Herr Mⁿhlens received the formula, as a man of imagination, business acumen and initiative, he immediately recognized its value and economic potentialities. In the laboratory that he established for the purpose, he embarked producing the fragrant spirit exactly as prescribed. To start with, he called it "Water of Cologne," which in German is \IK÷lnisches Wasser\i or, in the more fashionable French, \IEau de Cologne.\i
How it obtained its additional world-renowned brand-name, "4711," has been variously explained as well. Some say that the figure was part of the secret formula. On the other hand, history tells that when the French army occupied Cologne, the soldiers, not knowing German, had difficulty in locating their various billets. To help them, their commander introduced a simple system. All houses in the city were numbered consecutively. It so happened that the banker Mⁿhlens' house (in the Glockengasse) was given the number 4711, eventually to be identified with his Eau de Cologne.
#
"Eavesdrop",686,0,0,0
Eaves used to project over the edge of a roof. With guttering still unknown, they made sure that rainwater did not run down the walls, but dripped on to the ground at a safe distance.
Saxon law stipulated that anyone building a house could not do so to the very boundary of the land he owned. He had to leave sufficient room for the eaves. This space became known as \Iyfes drype.\i
People taking shelter, or for no special reason at all, standing under the "eavesdrip" could easily overhear a conversation taking place inside a house. Architectural style has changed. The introduction of guttering has made the eavesdrips redundant. But people continue to eavesdrop, doing so mostly intentionally.
#
"Echo and Mythology",687,0,0,0
Every echo recalls a Greek mountain nymph who played a significant role in the love life of Zeus, the greatest of the Olympian gods. Determined to stop her husband's frequent philandering, Hera followed him wherever he went. Her very presence, she felt, would stop him from starting yet another affair with one of the many females he fancied. But Zeus tried to outwit his wife. Whenever he had arranged a tryst, he asked Echo, the nymph, to intercept Hera and, by engaging her in conversation, keep her away.
The god's ruse, however, did not work for long. Hers perceived Zeus' scheming, his \Jengineering\j of the many "accidental" encounters with chattering Echo. In her wrath, she punished the nymph. Henceforth and forever, Echo was to wander all over the earth without being able to say anything, unless someone else had first spoken to her. Even then, the words would never be her own, but only repeat the very ending of whatever had been voiced. That is how her name eventually came to mean what it does today - a disembodied sound that imitates the vocalizations of a human speaker.
#
"Echoes of a Golden Past",688,0,0,0
The lure of gold was one reason which, as early as the 1860s brought men of diverse ethnic origin to a different part of the Snowy Mountains, \JAustralia\j.
In 1859 gold was discovered at Kiandra. The news soon spread, and in no time, a settlement of 50,000 people had mushroomed on this highest most arduous and often snowbound goldfield.
The el dorado was not to last for long. Within four years most of its deposits had been extracted. The few men who stayed on had to battle for their existence. A small cemetery on the wind-swept slopes of Kiandra, located very close to the Monaro Highway (halfway between Cooma and Tumut) and dating back to the 1860s, continues to bear witness to this early period of Australian multiculturalism.
The burial ground is divided into two sections, separating the Europeans from the Chinese. As was customary, the latter were not to remain permanently buried in Australian soil. Eventually exhumed, their remains were taken back to China.
The exact number of people interred in this early gold rush cemetery is not known. A poster now erected at the site, regretfully records how the "Ravages of time and interference by vandals have left only remnants of the cemetery."
#
"Echoes of Trafalgar",689,0,0,0
One of the decisive events in Western history, the sea battle of Trafalgar, is remembered in the most personal way in the St Kilda Cemetery by the grave of Lt Crawford Atchison Denman Pascoe, RN, who died on 18 February 1898.
Crawford was the son of Rear-Admiral Pascoe who, as Nelson's flag officer on HMS \IVictory\i at Trafalgar, had hoisted the famous signal "England expects every man will do his duty."
Crawford Pascoe's had been a changeful career. His diverse appointments included those of magistrate and officer-in-charge of the water police. He recorded his many naval exploits in his autobiographical \IRoving Commission.\i
Many members of his family originally were buried at Point Gellibrand, from where their remains were removed, on 30 March 1900, to a common grave in the Williamstown Cemetery. Among those reinterred were one of his two mothers-in-law (he had been married twice), and four of his children, two of whom - a boy and a girl - were twin infants.
#
"Economy in the Graveyard",690,0,0,0
To have been married and widowed twice is not so rare. But to remember both wives jointly and lovingly on one stone, certainly is rather unusual. One monument in the Mount Gambier Cemetery records the passing and; character of "two good wives:"
\IELISABETH GOODING
Wife of
JOHN CROSS
Who died 45 Years of age in 1868
And rests in the Old Cemetery and also
CATHERINE GRAY\i
the "second wife of the above" who died, aged 69 years on 9 September 1905. Added is the verse:
\ISo in the grave be two good wives,
Both have passed away to rest
Until that day.\i
#
"Effects of Jaundiced Eye",691,0,0,0
Because \Jjaundice\j made the whites of people's eyes (and their skin) turn yellow, it was believed that those suffering from the sickness saw everything tinged in that color. Their entire outlook on life was changed, becoming morose and bitter. Though this view has long been discarded as erroneous and unscientific, we continue to describe such a state of mind as "jaundiced!" (The word \Jjaundice\j is derived from the Old French for "yellow.")
#
"Effects of Mistranslations",692,0,0,0
The vocabulary of any language has its difficulty. The same word may describe completely different ideas because various roots have become blended in it. Specific local circumstances may have given a phrase or term emotional associations, which just cannot be felt in any other tongue. For the proper understanding of a passage therefore, the mere use of a dictionary is insufficient. This explains why official translators are known as interpreters. All they can do is to try to interpret the meaning of what has been said or written in another language. Their translations are approximations.
The occurrence of mistranslations thus is not a surprising phenomenon. Not necessarily because of any inadequacy on the part of the translator, it may well be the result of the lack of equivalent terms in the other tongue. There are cases however, in which the mistranslation was not an innocuous error but purposely done: to please, to avoid unpleasant consequences, or to defame and denigrate. Mistranslations have played a significant and, at times, tragic role in the history of man.
#
"Effects of Ornamentation",693,0,0,0
Dead men do tell tales. And just as a book becomes more expressive by being illustrated, so does a headstone. A picture can give special emphasis to some feature, pursuit or trait of the deceased. At times, it is able to convey a message more effectively and memorably than words would. Certainly, gravestones so ornamented immediately attract attention.
#
"Egg on",694,0,0,0
To "egg on" seems an odd way of prodding. But it has nothing to do with (the throwing of) eggs or anything ovular. This egg is a now obsolete Old English word which once spoke of a cutting "edge."
A typical case of people thus being "egged on" related to men who, having been taken prisoners, lagged behind; or at least in the eyes of their captors did not move along fast enough. They therefore urged them on by sticking into them the point (the \Iecg)\i of their spear.
#
"Egghead",695,0,0,0
It is absurd to think that a high forehead indicates superior intellect. Nevertheless, this wrong notion has given rise to the modern "highbrow."
Equally erroneous is the belief that a brainy person has a large-sized brain. No \Jcorrelation\j exists between the dimensions of the brain and intelligence.
That to eat plenty of fish was good for the mind is yet another old wives' tale. No extra nourishment for the brain is contained in fish.
The description of a highbrow as an "egghead" is based on a fallacy. Bald people's heads look somewhat like an egg, and loss of hair was once - wrongly - considered the effect of excessive study and intelligence.
#
"Eggs and Arrows",696,0,0,0
An egg seems to be lifeless matter. And yet, out of it a new creature can arise. Thus, from earliest days and in many cultures, the egg became a symbol of creation and, after death, of re-creation, or \Jresurrection\j. The arrow, on the other hand, as a lethal missile, even in Roman times, was used as an emblem of death.
Classical friezes combined both, alternating eggs and downward-pointing arrows. The same pattern can be seen on the narrow sculpted band around the edge of sarcophagus lids and the rim of gravestones. In either case the relief is not decorative, as might be thought, but significant. Its potent message speaks of life after death and \Jresurrection\j. Even if the arrow has struck, it does not mean final \Jextinction\j. Rebirth follows death, like the new creature emerging from an egg.
#
"Eighteen Holes",697,0,0,0
Much care is given to the laying out and keeping up of golf courses. During the earlier periods of the game the players chose the most suitable grass-covered stretches of land, which were called links. This explains the application of that term for a golf course ever since.
Gullies and shrubs were the earliest hazards, and nature itself looked after the course. Rabbits cropped the grass, birds' droppings fertilized the ground, while sheep and other stray animals contributed their part in \Jmanure\j as well as the creation of bunkers.
The course the players followed was not predetermined but selected each time rather haphazardly. There were no fixed tees. Golfers simply picked the most convenient clear patch from which to drive the ball toward one of five or six holes. With the development of the game these became more numerous. Sometimes there were as many as 20 holes.
Even the present traditional number of 18 holes is completely accidental and certainly not the result of a deliberate choice. It merely shows the power of fashion and man's imitative urge.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, established in 1744, was soon regarded the top club, and anything it chose to do set a fashion. All clubs were proud when they could point out that they were following Edinburgh's example. At first, its course had a mere five holes and each fairway was between 400 and 500 yards (364 m and 455 m) long. The official round then consisted of playing the holes three times, 15 holes all told.
When the links of Blackheath were established, it was not surprising that they adopted the identical number and kind of play. Significantly, as soon as Edinburgh extended its course to seven holes, Blackheath did likewise. Had Edinburgh preserved its leading place in the world of golf, probably no one would ever have dreamed of 18 holes.
Yet a mere name, however famous, is not sufficient to retain leadership. Because Edinburgh's links were not the best, slowly but surely St Andrews took over leadership, and eventually clubs everywhere based their rules on those of St Andrews.
Originally St Andrews had 12 holes. These were arranged not as nowadays to cause the player to return to the "club house" but leading ever farther away from it. Furthermore, he hit off his first ball from a tee that was next to the home hole.
Keen golfers did the obvious thing: after having played all of the (remaining) 11 holes on the way out, they repeated the performance on the way back, merely reversing the direction of play. This added up to 22 holes. But when in 1764 the members of St Andrews reduced the first four holes to two (probably to increase the distance), the first 18-hole golf course had come into existence. What had been done at St Andrews was soon noted, and the playing of 18 holes became the fashion and later the standard.
Of course, the actual number of holes was still only nine. Much later St Andrews realized that playing in opposite directions over the same nine holes for a "round" of 18 holes was far from satisfactory. Thus it introduced separate fairways and greens for the second nine holes and removed much danger, inconvenience, and waste of time in waiting.
"Bunkers," too, were created accidentally. They were the result of wear and tear assisted by the forces of nature. Even expert golfers could not help but damage the turf with their old-fashioned lifting irons. The continuous trampling by players caused bald patches. The wind blew away the light soil and left a sandy depression which increased in size. This process was specially noticeable on links near the sea. Eventually, golfers tried to confine these hollows with discarded railway sleepers and other timber, to which they nailed planks for shoring.
Contestants quickly discovered that the damaged parts of the link made the game more exciting by adding new challenges. The "bunkers," at first deplored, were now heartily welcomed.
Clubs with courses laid out on firmer ground and away from the windswept dune country along the sea, began to imitate the bunker and to build it artificially. When Tom Dunn, famous golf course architect, adopted the novel hazard, it became so popular that ever since the artificial bunker has been a standard feature of every course.
#
"Eighth Anniversary",698,0,0,0
\BThe Rubber, Bronze, Salt or Electrical Appliances Anniversary\b
No matter which type of gift is chosen, each carries with it a special message, highlighting a particular aspect of a truly successful and fulfilling marriage.
Bronze, which has given its name to an entire period of history, well merits being linked with an anniversary. An alloy, bronze derives its quality from this very combination of a diversity of metals. Two people, with their individualities joined together, become a couple with a fortitude to face life which, singly, they would never possess.
With such a variety of themes for this anniversary, there are many possible gift choices.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Rubber kitchen gloves, apron, or bathmat
ò Bronze ornament, platter, or wall plaque
ò Different varieties of salt - choose from \Jrock salt\j, sea salt, and \Jgarlic\j salt, for instance - packed into attractive glass jars
ò An electric power tool or shaver for the husband, a hair dryer or heated rollers for the wife, or a toaster, electric blanket, or toothbrushes for both of them to enjoy
ò An electric can opener, blender or food processor, \Jmicrowave oven\j, or pressure cooker
#
"El Al",699,0,0,0
\IEl Al,\i the name of the Israeli airline, literally and aptly means "towards the heights," an allusion to the flight of its airplanes. But there is more to the name than at first appears. Chosen as a national carrier based in the Holy Land, its name is biblical.
When, in November 1948, the first minister of transport of the newly established nation launched the first Israeli plane, he culled the name from a passage in Hosea (11.7). The \Jprophet\j, however, used \Iel Al\i to refer to a God-orientated life, literally a life directed "to the Most High." Taken out of context and applied to \Javiation\j, it now applied to the airline's upward flight paths.
#
"Elementary My Dear Watson",700,0,0,0
Everyone believes that the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" was a favorite of Sherlock Holmes, used by him on countless occasions. Whenever crimes baffled others, he knew the obvious solution which, though overlooked by them, was so "elementary" to his astute mind.
Actually, the phrase does not appear anywhere in Conan Doyle's books on Holmes. Only once (in \IThe Crooked Man)\i does the detective voice the opinion of something as being "elementary," doing so in reply to Watson's amazement at his power of deduction. Even in this one instance Holmes did not add the now so familiar "my dear Watson."
#
"Elephant Ornaments",701,0,0,0
Figures of elephants kept in homes were placed there not merely for decoration but for protection!
Powerful creatures in nature, they are thought to serve as magic guardians against evil forces entering the home or the evil eye crossing its threshold. To be effective, the elephant ornaments must always face the door, with their trunks pointing upwards to hold up the good luck.
#
"Elephant's Trunk",702,0,0,0
The elephant's trunk has no (linguistic) connection with the trunk once used to pack personal effects when going on a trip. Like the American trunk of a car, its root goes back to a tree-trunk which, hollowed out, served as the early suitcase or strongbox.
The elephant's trunk comes from the Old English \Itrump,\i for "trumpet!" This follows the ancient Romans' description of the animal's elongated nasal part. They had called it after the musical instrument because - as Livy, the famous Roman author, explained - "The elephant can make a noise like a trumpet." The English eventually garbled the sound of the trump(et) to produce the elephant's trunk.
#
"Elephant's Use of its Trunk",703,0,0,0
An elephant makes good use of it trunk with which it can move exceedingly heavy loads. However, in spite of the general belief, it never drinks with the trunk. What it does is to suck up water with which it then spurts into its mouth. Even the elephant baby, when breast-feeding, sucks up its mother's milk with its mouth and not its trunk.
#
"Elephants Afraid of Mice",704,0,0,0
Almost an insult to the elephant is the myth that a small mouse frightens it. To save the \Jpachyderm\j's dignity, as it were, some people have suggested that its fear was well-founded, as a mouse could easily get lodged in the opening of the trunk and choke the animal.
There is no truth in this. An elephant has relatively poor vision and probably cannot even see a mouse, though it might smell it. And should a mouse, by remote chance, ever enter his "nostrils," a good blow of its nose would eject the rodent fast and far.
#
"Elephants Never Forget",705,0,0,0
That "elephants never forget" is a fallacy that has given rise to numerous stories, frequently told but never substantiated. Elephants do forget. Though some have a comparatively good memory, to describe the extent of its capacity as being phenomenal, is highly exaggerated.
#
"Burial Grounds of Elephants",706,0,0,0
It is a legend that elephants have their own communal burial grounds to which they retreat when they sense that they are about to die. No such cemetery has ever been discovered.
One of the reasons for the myth is the fact that elephant remains have rarely been unearthed. This can easily be explained. To protect itself against possible attacks from predators, weak and sick elephants will seek shelter in a hide-away deep in the jungle, impenetrable for humans. Also, scavengers may devour its carcass, with the bones and tusks eventually sinking into the ground or being covered up by foliage and the growth of the jungle.
#
"Eleventh Anniversary",707,0,0,0
\BThe Steel Anniversary\b
Steel is one of the most resistant and unyielding of alloys. Steel cables hold up heavy bridges and steel's strength is proverbial. Combined with other elements, it never rusts and defies any attacks of acid.
How appropriate then was the choice of steel for the naming of this anniversary. In eleven years of close togetherness a couple will have acquired indomitable strength against the many vagaries life, with its tensions and irritations, presents.
\IAs your days, so shall be your strength.
Deuteronomy 33, 25\i
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Stainless steel cutlery
ò Tea or \Jcoffee\j pot, or milk jug
ò Saucepans
ò Trays
ò Butter dish, salt and pepper \Jshakers\j
#
"Emblem of Staff and Serpent",708,0,0,0
The staff and serpent, a doctor's symbol all over the world, leads back to Greek \Jmythology\j and Aesculapius, god of healing, and father of physicians. In his most famous statues he is represented with his hand resting on a staff around which a serpent is coiled.
The staff itself might have been merely a support, though it is much more likely that it symbolized the tree of life. A further tradition saw in it an early emblem of solar divinity, which could act like a magic wand.
Homer described such a rod of gold which alternately "charmed the eyes of men and called them from their slumber." It could lure the dead to \JHades\j but equally was able to bring them back to the light of day.
As for the serpent, various and even contradictory explanations may account for its association with Aesculapius, who was born the son of the divine Apollo and a mortal woman, and whose art of healing roused Jupiter's anger so much that he had Aesculapius killed.
The serpent has always figured as an emblem of all that was evil and harmful. This was the inevitable result of man's frequent experience of the deadliness of a snake's bite.
The fact that Aesculapius is shown with his right hand so near the serpent's head implied either that he knew all the antidotes to cure its bite or that, because of his \Jsupernatural\j power, even the worst of poisons became ineffective. The staff and serpent thus told of the doctor's ability to combat sickness and to help preserve life.
The serpent also became the symbol of renewal and regeneration. A person restored to health, as it were, has shed his body of sickness and taken on a garment of new life. The image of a snake was the most appropriate picture of such a change. Did not the serpent itself, once every year, cast off its skin and thereby acquire a new existence?
There is yet another tradition, equally old but completely different. This held that the serpent was the most cunning of creatures; not the \Jincarnation\j of evil but of wisdom. It had magical powers of prophecy, dreams, and healing. For that reason sacred serpents were kept in the many temples dedicated to Aesculapius all over \JGreece\j and beyond.
More than coincidental is the fact that even the \JBible\j contains a reference to the healing qualities of a rod and a snake. When the Israelites were bitten by poisonous snakes while on their desert trek, Moses instructed them to have a copper snake made and held high above their heads on a pole. And "everyone that was bitten, when he looked upon it, was healed."
#
"Emblem of the Rising Sun",709,0,0,0
It is an interesting fact that the Rising Sun, symbol of the Australian Forces, originally had nothing to do with either the rising or, as some disgruntled soldiers would have it, the setting sun. This eliminates the otherwise surprising paradox that Australians should have chosen as their military symbol a motif traditionally Japanese.
The customary interpretation that the badge was meant to represent the young nation as rising out of the Southern Seas, however beautiful and patriotic, is equally incorrect. In reality, the apparent rays of the sun are the blades of swords and bayonets, and the solar body originally was a stained piece of wood.
When the first Commonwealth contingent was about to be formed in 1902, for service in South Africa, the military commander, General Sir Edward Hutton, felt that a distinctive badge should be chosen for the battalion.
He invited his staff to submit ideas. Most of the suggestions made use of Australian flora and fauna. But Sir Edward deemed the proposed emus and kangaroos, waratahs and wattles unsuitable, as they lacked martial significance. Rejecting the designs, he pointed to a trophy of arms over the doorway of his office in Melbourne's Victoria Barracks. This consisted of a semicircular board of red, which carried a crown and half - circle of bayonets and swords. "Something like that would be much better," he said.
His advice was regarded as an order and a Melbourne engraver was commissioned to design an emblem embodying the General's suggestion. This was duly delivered, approved by the military authorities, and produced in sufficient number for all the men of the First Battalion. The emblem has become a motif of Australian valor, though under an erroneous name.
#
"Embroidered the Bag for 'The Ashes'",710,0,0,0
Trivia can assume an importance all their own. A simple bag is treasured because of the purpose it once served. It was made and used to carry the urn containing "the Ashes" which the victorious English cricket team took with them back to England in 1883.
Though the story of "the Ashes" is well known, hardly anyone is aware of the bag.
The defeat of the English team by the Australian cricketers at the Oval in London in 1882 caused consternation in Britain. On the morning after the debacle, the London \ISporting Times\i published a (spurious) "obituary note," which informed the mourning public that the body of English cricket that had died at the Oval would be cremated. The ashes were to be taken to \JAustralia\j by the victorious team.
This dramatic portrayal of the dismal defeat certainly had not been forgotten when, in the following year, an English team was about to visit \JAustralia\j. Consequently, its captain, the Hon Ivo Bligh (the later Lord Darnley) was asked to bring back "the Ashes" from the Test.
This time the Australians were beaten. Aware of the request, they took it literally. Burning a bail, they presented its ashes to Ivo, as a memento of his triumphant tour.
Mrs Ann Marion Fletcher, of Woollahra, was an embroiderer of the finest silk needlework. When her husband, an enthusiastic follower of cricket, discussed with her the strange trophy, it struck her that she could provide the right type of container for the Ashes.
She immediately set to work. From a design by an artist friend - William Blamire Young, a one-time critic for the Melbourne \IHerald\i - she made and embroidered in silk a velvet bag that she forwarded to Ivo Bligh, who gratefully accepted the gift. His letter of acceptance, still treasured, expressed his "many thanks for the pretty little bag you have so kindly sent me" and promised that "The Ashes shall be consigned to it forthwith and always kept there in memory of the great match."
Ivo kept his promise, placed the Ashes into the bag, and took them to Melbourne. However, whilst he was there, some Australian "young ladies" felt that a mere bag was inadequate and inappropriate to hold the significant trophy. They purchased an urn and presented it to Ivo, who took the Ashes back to Britain in the urn, carried in Mrs Fletcher's bag. He kept them as a cherished memento in his home.
At Ivo's death in 1927, his Australian-born wife donated the urn and the bag to the MMC, who have displayed them side by side ever since in the Cricket Museum of Lord's.
Ann Fletcher died at the ripe old age of 83, on 5 June 1935. She is buried next to her husband in the Anglican section of the Gore Hill Cemetery, and a simple, three-tiered cross marks their last resting place. Its inscription dates the year of her passing - incorrectly - as 1936.
Mrs Fletcher is said to have had other associations with the world of sport. Her father, a schoolmaster and magistrate, so a family rumor had it, was not only the illegitimate son of the Attorney General of England but also had been the first to build a lawn tennis court in \JAustralia\j.
Fifty-three years after Ann's death, on the occasion of the celebration of the Australian Bicentenary, her famous bag and the urn were brought back to \JAustralia\j. On loan, they were exhibited at the National Bank in Sydney. When Mrs Fletcher's grand-daughter went to see them, she discovered to her dismay that the bag was displayed back to front, thereby not showing its most significant part, her grandmother's embroidery.
#
"Engagement Ring",711,0,0,0
Legend tells us that the diamond's sparkle originated in a magician's spell for "Fires of love." This, above all, made it the most fitting choice to adorn an engagement ring. It was a promise of the couple's enduring love and an assurance that their married life would sparkle with happiness, just as the brilliant stone did. This is the origin of the sentiments expressed in the "diamond" wedding anniversary.
The presentation of an engagement ring is a romantic occasion, full of joy and promise. Paradoxically, however, its original use in ancient Roman society, from where it spread to other parts of the world, was as a legally binding commercial transaction. The engagement ring was not only a token of betrothal, it was also a secular pledge to confirm the arrangement of the future marriage. Conspicuously displayed for all to see, it meant that the girl had been "acquired" and was no longer "available."
The custom was also a survival of the general practice in early cultures to ratify a deal by a contract which had to be signed by both parties. This they did by means of a signet ring, impressing its seal on the relevant document; in ancient \JMesopotamia\j, for instance, this was a clay tablet with cuneiform characters.
To start with, \JRoman law\j restricted the use of golden rings to the privileged upper class, senators and magistrates. Ordinary people had to be satisfied with a simple iron hoop devoid of any kind of ornamentation, and certainly without a jewel. The passage of time, however, altered circumstances. When the empire became more affluent and wealth spread to other members of the community, love was able to overrule law and the original humiliating prohibition was forgotten. Those who could afford it replaced their iron ring with one made from gold or some other precious metal. Frequently, the band was adorned with a telling motif, such as a lovers' knot or clasped hands. Not least, it was enriched by some gem or even a combination of precious stones.
#
"English Tommy",712,0,0,0
That a British soldier is popularly called a Tommy, is based on an official form of 1815. In that year the British War Office introduced a new service record book, which every soldier had to carry. This was to contain all his personal data, including any wounds he had sustained or decorations received. To make it easier for the men to fill in the details, a specimen form was attached, fully completed for an imaginary soldier. Leaving no blank, he was even given a fictitious name - Thomas Atkins. This was retained for several further editions. The alias became so proverbial that when eventually it was omitted, it was not forgotten. "Tommy" had become so well known that it survived his existence in the specimen form.
Almost eighty years later, in 1892, Rudyard Kipling made "Tommy" the subject and title of a \Jballad\j which, widely-read, further popularized this description of an English soldier.
The question remains why of all names, the War Office chose that of Tommy Atkins. Most probably it was quite arbitrary, a name as good as any. An apocryphal story, however, claims that it was personally selected by the Duke of Wellington. He wanted to perpetuate the memory of a soldier of that name who, while delivering a dispatch during the battle of Waterloo, had dropped dead in front of him, from wounds received.
#
"Enthusiasm",713,0,0,0
According to the root meaning of the word, all "enthusiasm" is God-inspired, and the enthusiast is "God-possessed." From the Greek, it combines \Ien\i for "in the power of" and \Itheos,\i for "God." An \Ienthusiast\i is one with "God within." An atheistic enthusiast, then, is a contradiction in terms. How can anyone having "God within" deny God?
#
"Epaulettes",714,0,0,0
Epaulettes, the French for "shoulders," became the description of two small pieces of cloth ornamenting the shoulders of some military uniforms to indicate the rank of the wearer. To begin with, however, theirs was a very practical purpose. Not made of cloth then, but of metal, the epaulettes protected the soldiers' shoulders from sword cuts.
In the 16th-century armor, the epaulettes assumed the additional role to serve as a loop to stop the "bandolier" from slipping off. This was an essential part of a soldier's equipment. A broad shoulder strap or band, usually made of leather, it was worn over the shoulder and passed under the opposite arm. It had small pockets or loops for cartridges.
The French army was the first (in 1759) to introduce distinctive shoulder knots - indicating ranks - the origin of the modern epaulettes.
Though the British army discarded epaulettes at the end of the \JCrimean War\j in 1856, the Royal navy continued their use on full-dress uniforms to the end of World War II in 1945.
#
"Equipment of the Matador",715,0,0,0
On each of \Jbullfighting\j's features hangs a tale. An example is the muleta, now a small piece of red cloth attached to a stick and used by the matador during the final stages of a bullfight. Originally, the muleta was white. Then, because matadors imagined that each bull had its favorite \Jhue\j (at that time no one realized that the animal was actually color-blind and short-sighted), they equipped themselves with an assortment of colored muletas. There were at least three - red, yellow, and blue. During their first passes they changed cloths to discover the bull's preference. Only in 1870 were the muleta's shape and red color finally standardized. The phrase "as a red rag to a bull" is completely unreal. It is not the color, but the cloth's movement that enrages the beast. A bull will always rather charge at a moving object than a still one.
The earliest fighters wore ordinary clothes. They could ill afford anything else. It did not take them long to appreciate the need to protect the body and, at the same time, create their own kind of uniform. For this purpose, they wound a long sash around their body (sometimes three times). Thus equipped they confronted their opponent well padded! Through the centuries the original "armor" grew smaller, eventually becoming the present-day narrow ribbon, worn merely as an adornment. The matador's suit of lights, his proud costume, very largely retains a style suggested by the conspicuous dress of eighteenth-century dandies, further embellished by later additions, such as the frilled shirt and the tassels.
The \Icoleta\i (pigtail) is considered the matador's emblem, which goes back to the time when he grew his hair shoulder-length and, during the combat, held it back in a net. Next, he used a ring to secure it. Then he plaited his hair into a pigtail. Eventually, he tied this into a small bun behind his head to protect it should the bull toss him. Nowadays, the pigtail is artificial. Yet it is still part of the language of every matador who, when retiring from fighting, says he is "cutting the pigtail."
Actions with the heavy cape, the way it is held and swung, are known as passes. They are calculated to guide the animal's charge and bring it into the desired position. The manoeuvring can be done in numerous ways and through the years has developed into a graceful art. No other excitement is said to equal that of making a bull pass by. Outstanding matadors invented new moves in this most dangerous art, whose stylized movements have been likened to a ballet. Critics laud or deplore the matador on the basis of his passes.
Each type of pass has its name. The \IVeronica,\i for instance, recalls the Gospel story of the woman who held a cloth to Christ to wipe the sweat off his brow, in the very same manner as the matador holds his cape to the bull.
With the passing of time, \Jbullfighting\j became ever more standardized and controlled. Early in the nineteenth century, \Icorridas,\i which once had taken all day, were limited to the afternoon. To supervise the training of matadors, a royal \Jbullfighting\j school was opened in Seville in 1838. The king, at his own request, appointed Pedro Romero as its director. He was then 26 years old and had been retired from the ring for 30 years. In eight maxims he summed up the philosophy of \Jbullfighting\j. These he had painted in large letters on the walls of the school. They told the pupil that a coward was not a man and that only a man could fight bulls. They reminded him that more tosses were caused by fear than by the bull. They impressed on him that a matador's honor was upheld by never running away from a bull, but, with the sword and the muleta in his hands, to stand his ground.
When in 1930 the Spanish Government legislated that the picador's horse had to be properly protected against goring with a heavy mattress (of thick cloth stuffed with cotton), another of the cruel elements of the sport was eliminated. However, so far, it is only in \JPortugal\j that the bull is not killed.
Step by step, thus, \Jbullfighting\j grew from early mystery cults and propitiation rites into today's mass entertainment and the art of \Itauromachy.\i lt has never lost its appeal to the Latin people, and continues to draw enormous crowds. It also remains one of the most controversial of all public spectacles.
Spaniards consider it an essential part of a gentleman's life. One of their proverbs says that to begin to be a whole person, a man must write a book, have a son, plant a tree, and - fight a bull.
It may be that even the apotheosis of the steak among men is a vestige from the bullfight.
#
"Errors Carved in Stone",716,0,0,0
A stonemason's craft is exacting and mistakes once made by him, chiseled in stone, are difficult to correct. In \JAustralia\j's early days, in remote areas, those untrained in the art had to repair epitaphs. Inexperienced, their chisel could easily slip or their spelling go wrong. To discard the faulty stone was out of the question. There was no time to start all over again, and good stones were costly. The only alternative was to rectify the error. Such corrections, however, could rarely be covered up or disguised.
When stones suitable as memorials proved too expensive for the bereaved or were difficult to obtain, second-hand headstones were used. The new inscription was superimposed on the original one, though the old one could not be completely erased. To trace such mistakes or replacements is an intriguing study.
#
"Eternity Ring",717,0,0,0
One of the favorite forms of the eternity ring - especially during the nineteenth century - was that of a snake, with the snake swallowing its tail: a traditional symbol of permanence. To render the ring even more precious, diamonds were chosen to represent the snake's eyes and to adorn its head.
It used to be customary for a husband to present his wife with an additional ring on the occasion of their first wedding anniversary. It was meant to express the everlasting nature of their bond, and so was called an eternity ring. More recently, it has become common to give an "eternity ring" later on in the marriage, on the occasion of a special anniversary; thus, they are also sometimes known as "Anniversary rings."
Traditionally, the eternity ring is placed on the ring finger, as the last of the now three bands. Usually, it is in the form of a wedding ring. However, it is not a plain hoop nor does it carry a single diamond or gemstone, like an "engagement ring." Instead, it is adorned with \Jgemstones\j, often set all around it in an unending circle and so symbolizing the "eternal" continuity of the couple's affection.
The eternity ring often serves as a gift on the birth of the first child - in which case "maternity ring" would probably be a more appropriate designation!
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"Etiquette",718,0,0,0
\IEtiquette\i is a French word, signifying label or card, which gave birth to the English "ticket."
Centuries ago, guests at royal receptions were handed little notes, giving detailed instructions on conduct. These tickets were known as etiquettes. A widening of their application led to the word's modern use.
Another explanation is that officers in the French forces used to publish their daily orders on small sheets posted around the camp. They were called etiquettes.
A Scot, who had served in the French army, became the chief gardener of King \JLouis XIV\j at the Palace of Versailles. In his efforts to lay out a beautiful park, he was continually frustrated by the carelessness of visitors, who walked across new lawns and flower beds, destroying young plants before they had a chance to take root.
Remembering the "etiquettes" of his army days, he had notices put up all over the grounds directing visitors where to walk and where to keep off the grass. From these small posters at Versailles, it is said, the word found its way into the English language and described the right kind of behavior everywhere.
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"Eton Playing Fields and Waterloo",719,0,0,0
The statement that "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of \JEton\j" is generally ascribed to the Duke of Wellington. Knowing the role he had played in the history-making defeat of Napoleon in 1815, his assessment has been quoted as authoritative and wellfounded.
Wellington did not say anything of the sort. There is an apocryphal story that, almost ten years after the victory, he had paid a visit to \JEton\j, and while watching a cricket match there had been overheard to say, "The battle of Waterloo was won here." The exact date of his alleged remark and to whom he addressed it is not mentioned. It is all very vague and it would have been rather odd if Wellington had waited so long to make the acknowledgment.
It is now assumed that the words were first used by the Comte de Montalembert, a French journalist and politician, in a book he published three years after Wellington's death. In actual fact, only a very few men educated at \JEton\j belonged to Wellington's army.
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"Etrog and Lulav",720,0,0,0
Part of the prayer ritual on Succot is the symbolic use of a combination of plants and fruit referred to as "the four species." They comprise a \Jcitron\j, known as \IEtrog,\i and the \ILulav,\i which consists of a palmtree shoot, some myrtle twigs and willow branches tied together.
Held ceremoniously aloft at certain parts of the service, they are waved in all directions, thereby proclaiming that God is everywhere. At the same time the diversity of the plants and fruit that make up the \IEtrog\i and \ILulav\i expresses appreciation for the multiplicity of vegetation with which God has blessed the universe for man to enjoy, and not to destroy.
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"Etymology in the Cemetery",721,0,0,0
\BJohn Connell\b
The tracing of the origin of family names is a fascinating pursuit, and genealogical research has recently increased its popularity. To find \Jetymology\j in a graveyard, however, is most unexpected, but it can be done in the historical cemetery of Camperdown.
The epitaph on the headstone marking the grave of John Connell, who died on 18 August 1849 at the age of 90, recalls that he was:
\IA resident of Sydney for 50 years
He received a grant of land in 1835 in
The vicinity of where Captain Cook landed
At (Kurnell) \JBotany Bay\j.\i
It then goes on to say that "the name Kurnell is a corruption by the \JAborigines\j of the name Connell!"
Though this claim is chiseled in stone, etymologists have doubted it, suggesting that Kurnell is a distortion of the \JAborigines\j' description of wild carrots. Connell, according to one tradition, had a part in naming the Sydney suburb of Cronulla; this, too, is said to have been the natives' mispronunciation of his name. It is much more likely, however, that white settlers slurred and contracted the Aboriginal word \IKurranulla,\i meaning "small pink shells."
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"Every Dog Has its Day",722,0,0,0
History has shown that even those most discriminated against and maltreated have reason to hope. The time will come (however far distant and shortlived) when they will gain recognition and, at least for one day, fortune will smile on them.
Proverbially, their fate has been compared with that of a canine: "every dog has its day." Though it is not known who coined the \Jmetaphor\j, the first mention can be traced back to 1545. Fifty-five years later, Shakespeare made Hamlet say: "The cat will mew and dog will have his day." Making the observation more embracing, Carlyle added (in 1837) that it applied even to rabid dogs.
No doubt, of all creatures dogs have had the most miserable past. In some parts of the world they were true outcasts. Considered unclean, they were kicked and chased away. Harassed all their life, nonetheless, the moment came when they could show their mettle and prevail for at least a short while.
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"Everyday Courtesies",723,0,0,0
Courtesy is derived from the courtier's customs and used to define a way of living and manners befitting a prince. But this explanation is only partly true.
Politeness is not as civil as at first it appears. Behind it is a history of discrimination and terror, of people living in constant mutual suspicion, afraid of attack and assassination. Most customs of courtesy are thus the product of a defense mechanism. Their original purpose was to fortify oneself against attack either from men or \Jsupernatural\j forces.
Codes of etiquette have varied from time to time and nation to nation. They are geographically conditioned and the outcome of a specific climate of nature and thought.
Anyone belching after a good meal, for instance, would horrify us. We would rightly call such a person's behavior rude and crude. But when one dines as the guest of an Arab, it would insult the host if a hearty belch were not given in approval of the meal.
Courtesy has been described as a \Jlubricant\j which smoothes human relationships and prevents friction. In fact, however, good manners are survivals of evil times, as an inquiry into their origin soon reveals.
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"Evil Eye",724,0,0,0
Referring to a person's hate-filled glance, we might still say, "if looks could kill," and, of course, would mean so merely in a figure of speech. But there was a time when people were convinced that looks did kill! It all goes back to the ancient days when man believed in the existence and the powerful effect of "the evil eye."
The eye has always fascinated man. Of all his senses, sight was the most powerful and could embrace an enormous vista: ranging from the nearest object to the far distant horizon. And merely by closing his lids, he could in a flash curtain off everything outside yet still "see" (with his inner eye) an entire world of its own.
There were many additional features of the eye which gave it truly "magic" qualities. The color of the iris mystified man. He guessed that there must be some reason - beyond his ken - why it varied between different people. And if it so happened that a person had eyes of a different \Jhue\j or had a squint, he was "predestined" for suspicion.
There was even more magic in the way in which the pupil could grow or contract in size which, to ancient man, appeared as a \Jsupernatural\j phenomenon. Looking another person in the eye, we might often recognize the reflection of our own image, but in miniature. This, of course, was responsible for the choice of its description which - from the Latin \Ipupilla\i - referred to a "tiny doll." In \JHebrew\j, likewise, the pupil is known as \Ieeshon\i - "a little man." la\i - referred to a "tiny doll." In \JHebrew\j, likewise, the pupil is known as \Ieeshon\i - "a little man."
The eye was thus seen as the most wondrous part of any man - and even the gods. Ancient Egyptian myth told how Ptah, the creator of the universe, produced all other, fellow gods out of his eye. The sun god Ra gave his powerful eye to the goddess Isis who, treasuring it, applied it magically.
Man learned that the eye was endowed with supreme power. By its vision it could absorb all it saw. But was it not able to do so much more, man wondered? And soon he imagined that from the eye also emanated mysterious, invisible rays which could influence people and the world, for better or worse. Man underwent or heard of many experiences which confirmed him in this belief. He had been frightened many a time by the glaring luminous eyes of beasts staring at him out of the dark of night. And the terror that seized him then was not without reason: it often preceded the animal's attacking and mauling him.
Numerous stories were told of how snakes, for instance, had completely paralyzed a victim by staring at it prior to swallowing it. Of course, we might easily say that, scared "stiff" by the fear of imminent attack, the threatened creature had been helplessly transfixed to the spot out of fright - and not through any mystic power of the eye.
Modern, so-called enlightened man still feels uncomfortable when a person stares at him. It is a well-known fact that people can "sense" a gaze aimed at them from behind their back so that they turn around. No doubt, it was experiences of that kind which gave rise to the universal belief in the evil eye.
Almost 2,000 years ago, rabbinical scholars in the Holy Land debated what constituted the worst feature in a man. Rabbi Eliezer expressed his opinion that it was an "evil eye." Symbolically, later generations took it to refer to jealousy and ill will. At its foundation however, no doubt, the old \Jsuperstition\j still lingered, along with the fear of the actual existence of an evil eye that has haunted man from prehistoric times till today and which has left its trace in all cultures.
"Magic eyes" now open doors, but for thousands of years they have closed minds and made people shudder. The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j (in the book of Proverbs, 23,6) warns man not to eat the bread nor desire the dainty meats of him "who has an evil eye." The Gospels, while calling the eye "the lamp of the body," went on to say that if the eye was bad, the whole body was "full of darkness" (Matt. 6,22). Greek legend spoke of the curse of Medusa. Anyone looking at her severed head and - no doubt, her eyes - was turned into stone.
\IThe Witches' Hammerer (Malleus Maleficarum),\i the infamous guide book for witch hunters first published in \JGermany\j in 1486 (only fifty years after the invention of the printing press!), reflected the common belief that certain individuals "by a mere look or glance from their eyes" could betwitch (even) their judges. Numerous men and women were burned to death all over medieval Europe because they were accused of possessing "the evil eye" with which they were alleged to have pursued (and often succeeded in) their nefarious mission.
Sickness in both man and in beast, has been diagnosed in not a few cases as the result of an infection caused by the rays focused on the victim by an "evil eye!" This early notion actually survives in our calling a sick person "ill." The word ill is the linguistic contraction of the "evil" eye which was thought to be responsible for the loss of good health.
Even today people feel uneasy if they are exposed to a spiteful or venomous glance. They may rationalize their reaction by expressing contempt for the person thus glaring at them. Deep down, however, they are afraid of the "spectator" - or rather his evil eye. And many people, no matter how enlightened and "up-to-date," would not keep in their home a peacock feather because of its many "eyes" - with their evil potential.
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"Executions at Dawn",725,0,0,0
Capital punishment is rarely enforced in Western countries nowadays. However, when executions were still a common practice, they were traditionally scheduled for the early hours of morning, at dawn.
Several reasons for this have been given. One is that, as all other prisoners were then still in their cells, the carrying out of the death sentence would cause least stir and not interfere with prison routine. Another, that it would restrict the number of people gathering in morbid curiosity, at the prison gates.
All these explanations, however, were merely rationalisations, obscuring the real origin of the practice. This is rooted in ancient sun worship. Human sacrifices were once offered to the divine solar body at the very moment it first appeared in the East - at dawn.
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"Exorcism",726,0,0,0
The Greek term exorcism refers to one of its chief features which was the use of a sacred "oath" - \Iorkos\i in Greek. The exorcist thus "swore" the evil spirit "out" \I(ex)\i of a man. He did so by the use of magic incantations and the ineffable miracle-working name of the god-head. Earliest texts of the kind were recovered on clay vessels in the \JMiddle East\j and stem from Babylonian times.
Josephus, who lived at the beginning of the Christian era, in his \IAntiquities\i (VII, 2) gave a detailed account of an exorcism which he himself had watched taking place in the presence of \JVespasian\j and a large group of soldiers. Josephus described the exorcist (whose name was Eleazar) as an expert in "releasing people that were demon-possessed." He drew the evil spirit out through the victim's nostrils by means of a ring and of magical roots. The moment it had become separated, Eleazar adjured it "to return into this person no more," accompanying his oath with incantations.
To impress still sceptical onlookers and publicly to prove that the demon was now actually "abroad," he called on the spirit to overturn a water-filled basin that had been placed for this purpose at some distance. When the water spilled, Eleazar's skill and wisdom had become manifest to all.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, who also lived at that time, told of a different type of exorcism. In his case the evil spirit was evicted from its (unwilling) host by use of smoke produced by burning specified magical herbs. Once again, to make sure that the departure was permanent, water was sprinkled on the spirit.
Just as modern medicine tries to cure disease in diverse ways and at times still applies the experimental method of trial and error, so did exorcism thousands of years ago. The early "therapy" alternated between cajoling and coercing the spirit to depart.
Members of the Essene sect, most active at Jesus' time, were specially gifted in helping those "possessed" and bringing about their cure. And, no doubt, it was their impact which has left its traces on similar stories that feature prominently in the \JNew Testament\j, in which the demons are referred to mostly as "unclean spirits."
Jesus' casting out demons thus is a recurring theme. The Gospels also tell (Mark 6,7) how he gave his twelve disciples power over demons and how, magically and supernaturally, they were able by the mere use of Jesus' name to expel the demons and cure their victims. Best-known of all is the story of the Gadarene swine. Jesus, meeting a violent madman, helped him by freeing him of the "unclean spirits" that had occupied him. Dispossessed of their chosen home, the spirits opted to enter a herd of swine which, in a suicidal rush, stampeded down a cliff to drown with the spirits - in a lake.
But nothing was thought to produce a better result in exorcism than the magical use of the divine name. No wonder that in Chassidism, the mystical Jewish movement which originated in the eighteenth century and which was preoccupied with the occult, this tradition came to play a significant role. The "pious" \I(Chassidim)\i consulted in cases of "possession" were renowned as (and actually called) "Master of the Divine Name." In \JHebrew\j this is \Ibaal \Jshem\j tov\i which in abbreviated form (joining the initials of the three words) created Besht as the new name of the founder of Chassidism.
Christianity throughout the ages continued the practice of casting out evil spirits and did so by calling on the names of God and Christ. Further evolving this evocation, it built around it a special ceremonial, provided in \JRoman Catholicism\j in the \IRituale Romanum.\i
Exorcism still forms a part of the rite of \Jbaptism\j by the use of salt. Though referred to now as "the salt of wisdom" and explained as the symbol of heavenly nourishment, its earliest application, no doubt, was as a devil-repellent.
Of course, "possession" might be the result of what modern medicine diagnoses as "psychosomatic causes." In such case, any treatment - sooner or later - would assure success. The speed of the cure and how long it lasts depends on individual circumstances and the patient's mind and attitude.
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"Expedite Matters",727,0,0,0
Whenever we try to "expedite" matters, we call on the help of St Expeditus - a saint who never existed. Nevertheless, for many centuries his name was honored and an item in some church calendars and martyrologies. People used to invoke him at times of frustration when urgent action was required.
While many of our words perpetuate the names of people or something linked with their lives, here is a curious case of the reverse process: a common word has given birth to a figure of renown and created a non-existent saint.
The ancient Romans picturesquely spoke of those caught up in a difficult situation that restricted them, as being anxious to "get the foot \I(pedis)\i out \I(ex)"\i of their entanglement so that they could proceed unimpeded. It was this figurative expression that gave us our word, expedition. Later generations, unaware of the Latin background, personified and sanctified the telling phrase.
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"Experts on the Future",728,0,0,0
Those claiming to have the gift to see the future have been known by many names. Each name has its own story to tell and - paradoxically - reveals much of its past which is not only very enlighening but, at times, surprising. Not least, the \Jetymology\j of the names shows the trust those prophets (or those listening to them) had in their powers of prediction. None of the terms left any doubt as to the veracity of the pronouncements made.
One of the most misunderstood - and then misapplied - names is that of the "\Jprophet\j." Everyone now takes it for granted that he knew and foretold the future. But this assumption is wrong.
His calling (and the Greek \Jetymology\j of the word) has nothing to do with prediction. A \Jprophet\j merely says that he is a "speaker" (the Greek \Iphetes)\i who voices a message "for" \I(pro)\i or "on behalf" of another. (The prefix "pro" certainly in this context is not temporal!) He is a spokesman and the mouthpiece of God. Therefore the correct rendering of the \Jprophet\j in English should not be a foreteller but a forthteller.
In actual fact the \JHebrew\j word traditionally translated by "\Jprophet\j" - \Inabi\i - means "announcer." How odd that such a simple and straight-forward concept as that of the \Jprophet\j completely changed its original meaning and - in the sense now used - its entire function.
The soothsayer has traveled the opposite way from that taken by the \Jprophet\j. His title began as a forceful assertion but then deteriorated into a mistrusted occupation that was not taken very seriously. The soothsayer literally told "the truth" which is the root meaning of \Isooth.\i (This original sense of the word was maintained in the now rarely used \Iforsooth,\i "in truth.")
A soothsayer therefore was a man (or a woman) who "said" what was "true." Eventually this was applied specifically to matters concerning the future alone. Maybe because people do not like hearing the truth or, more likely still, because crooks took advantage of people's gullibility and shammed the profession of the soothsayer, his once honorific title assumed its present tarnished connotation.
One type of seer, renowned in classical \JGreece\j as in primitive societies, received his knowledge of things to come in a state of frenzied ecstasy. This condition enabled him to make contact with mysterious sources of information "beyond," to interpret oracles, and discover what was hidden from the ordinary, normal mortal. As it were, he was then "out of his mind" or, as the literal meaning of ecstasy says, "standing beside himself." His violent, uncontrolled emotions caused people to look at him with tremendous awe. To them he was "possessed" by a \Jsupernatural\j power.
Madness then was not regarded as sickness but seen as a privileged state of those endowed with the precious talent. And the Greek term for this abnormal condition was mania. A person experiencing it was called after it a \Imantis\i which is the Greek for "\Jprophet\j." It was from him that we still call the many types of "looking into the future," as practised through the ages, by Greek terms which all end with \Imancy.\i It stems from that ancient sacred "madness" which, of course, has also given us the "maniac."
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"Eye Above the Pyramid",729,0,0,0
American dollar bills carry a picture of an eye above a pyramid. Both items are symbolic. The pyramid represents the strength and permanence of the nation. The thirteen steps leading up to it recall the initial union of thirteen states. That the pyramid appears unfinished was to remind all Americans that the progress of their country was an ongoing process, something to which they had unceasingly to apply themselves.
The eye above the pyramid is the all-seeing Eternal Eye of God who, as the picture's Latin superscription, \IAnnuit Coeptis,\i proclaims "has favored our undertaking." The symbol thus complements the motto, "In God we Trust," expressing even on money Americans' religious belief and fervor.
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"Eye Fatigue",730,0,0,0
What is ordinarily described as eye fatigue is not fatigue of the eye (ball) at all, but of its muscles. These may have been used too much by such diverse factors as insufficient illumination of the object looked at or a bad position in which the "viewer" or reader is placed.
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"Eye Mistakes",731,0,0,0
Eyesight is one of man's most precious gifts, and \Jblindness\j is a terrible affliction. This has made him pay close attention to anything related to his eyes, resulting in many observations that were correct and helpful but also in numerous illusions, fallacies, and abstruse notions.
The visual organ was seen as a give-away revealing a person's character or certain psychological dispositions. Anyone therefore who averted his eyes, stared or peeped gave away something of himself. It was part of his \Jbody language\j.
Preoccupation with the eye extended from the imagined possession of an "evil eye" to the voyeur who has become a sex-obsessed "seer." Man is so concerned with the eye, it is no wonder he has searched everywhere for some means to protect and increase his vision. He was equally anxious to shield himself from being "overlooked" which, in occult language, meant to be exposed to the evil eye of another person. So prominent in life, it is no wonder that the eye has become part of the alphabet, in which its picture created the letter "o." The eye has been responsible as well for countless expressions in everyday vocabulary, from the short-sighted to the far-sighted, from people who have clear views to those who are jaundiced or are possessed by the green-eyed monster.
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"Eyes on Tombstones",732,0,0,0
The eye is the all-seeing eye of God, from whose sight nothing is hidden. It also symbolizes divine providence, God's "foreseeing" protection. In its metaphorical language, the \JBible\j relates how the eyes of the Lord watch over the righteous, preserve knowledge, and bring to naught evildoers' intentions.
An equilateral triangle occasionally surrounding the eye, represents the trinity. Rays of light radiating from the eye, depict the revelation of divine glory.
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"Eyesight and Pierced Ears",733,0,0,0
In some parts of the world people are still convinced that the piercing of the ears improves eyesight. They are wrong. The fallacy might go back hundreds of years to a then popular minor operation, imagined to cure any diseased part of the body. Using a sharp needle, a wound was artificially created in the patient's earlobe, and then made to fester. To prevent it from healing prematurely and to cause it to produce a maximum amount of pus, twine threaded through the hole was repeatedly pulled to and fro. The exuding pus was believed to carry with it the sick substance responsible for the disease. As the earlobe was so close to the eye, people further "reasoned," the treatment would be especially beneficial to vision!
Eventually, the pus was forgotten and its supposed healing role transferred to the hole itself. To keep it from closing up, earrings were inserted. These were thought not only to maintain good health, but to improve eyesight. Moreover, being of shining metal, they would act as a devil-repellent, as evil forces were afraid of anything that reflects light.
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"Eyeteeth",734,0,0,0
Eyeteeth have nothing to do with eyes, nor does their extraction have an effect on vision.
A much more appropriate name would be their alternate, canine teeth. They help dogs and other carnivorous animals to tear the flesh from their prey.
The reason for the misnomer is not far to seek. The teeth are situated under the eyes, with their roots extending towards them. In fact, both eyes and teeth are served by a common network of nerves, which explains why at times a "referred" toothache may be felt in the eye.
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"Face the Music",735,0,0,0
Whoever has done something wrong, must be prepared to be reprimanded and to accept the consequences of his (mis)demeanor. In short, he has "to face the music."
This strange figure of speech may be the result of various circumstances. It may well be associated with a military practice in connection with the cashiering of a soldier. His dishonorable dismissal took the form of a public spectacle, possibly as a warning to others. He had to face the military band which drummed him out. To the very last, even in his disgrace, he had to show military bearing.
There was nothing discreditable in the facing of the music in the way it started, according to another claim. It was part of the training of army horses. These had to learn to stay calm under all conditions. No noise, whether it was the booming of guns, battle cries, or the striking up of the band, must upset them. To make them resistant, they had "to face the music."
Completely divorced from the army is a third theory. This places the origin of the phrase not on the battlefield or the parade ground, but the stage. No matter how nervous an actor is, he must not show it to the audience. He must play his part without the slightest sign of stagefright. In his performance he has to face the music of the orchestra (situated in front of him, just below the stage), intrepidly.
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"Fair Dinkum",736,0,0,0
The Australian saying "fair dinkum" describes something as really genuine. Yet research shows it goes back to English colloquial speech where, in provincial \Jdialect\j, it meant "fair play."
Intriguing, though not so factual, is an explanation that links the origin of the term with \JAustralia\j's gold digging days and an early influx of foreigners.
Australians in those times, even as now, always liked to drink and to gamble, especially after a day's hard work in search of gold.
On the goldfields around Ballarat, they persuaded their newcomer friends from abroad to join them in their pastime. These "diggers" from overseas soon realized that a mind befuddled by strong liquor was no good for keen gambling and that to keep sober, at least until the game was over, meant also to keep one's money, or even add to it. So they refrained from drinking till afterward.
The locals, faced with heavy losses, were not slow in finding out what was happening. They demanded "fair play," which, to them, implied "fair drinking" as well. That is why eventually, to show their good intentions, the foreign diggers assured their Australian partners that there would be "fair drinking" all round: not only after, but before, the game.
Somehow (so the story goes), by their accent, they made their promise sound like "fair dinkum." The "Aussies," highly amused at their mispronunciation, took a liking to it and adopted it themselves. So, fair dinkum, a foreign contribution to the Australian language, came to be known as a dinkum Australian word.
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"Fairies, Flying Saucers, or Fungus",737,0,0,0
People were greatly mystified when odd wide rings were discovered in the grass of clearings deep in forests. What had caused them? The grass which formed such circles was a different color and seemed to be trodden down. In early times, man imagined that fairies who dwelt in the forest had met there and, dancing around and around, had left the imprint of their gambols.
Twentieth-century man, when coming across the identical odd phenomenon, is equally puzzled. Some people even believe that the rings have been made by interplanetary flying saucers which landed there and, in due course, took off again.
These "magic" rings stem neither from subterranean fairies nor from creatures from outer space. They are much more likely the result of a \Jfungus\j growth that is known to spread in a circular shape.
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"Fall Guy",738,0,0,0
Sport but not sportsmanship has created the fall guy. He started in wrestling. However, he did so during a period (in the nineteenth century) when contests had sadly deteriorated into mere shows - with their outcome "fixed" in advance!
The fall guy's name literally described his role. For the aggrandisement of his opponent, the preselected champion, he was the guy who had to fall to the ground and to do so most convincingly. It was all arranged and rigged, and he was paid for the performance, which it really was. What at first was mere play-acting changed into a much less enjoyable job. His adversary in the sham encounter began to enjoy knocking him down and to treat him ruthlessly.
That is how, eventually, from pure showmanship and the wrestling stage the fall guy entered everyday life to become the description of any loser and dupe, particularly of people who are the victims of confidence tricksters or who are given the blame for things they have never done and crimes they have not committed.
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"Fallopian Tubes' Discovery",739,0,0,0
Gabriello Fallopio is now remembered as the great Italian anatomist who discovered the human oviduct, called after him the \IFallopian tubes.\i Hardly known is the fact that Gabriello had also been a student of \Jtheology\j, who served as a Canon of the Cathedral of Modena, the city in which he was born (in 1523).
Anatomy owes him the names of the hard and soft palates, and the terms \Ivagina\i and \Iplacenta\i were coined by him. His studies of the inner ear led the facial canal to be named the \IFallopian aquaduct.\i The ex-Canon is said to have also devised an early type of condom made from linen!
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"Fame in Cemeteries",740,0,0,0
To have someone famous in the family has always been regarded as a special privilege and something to boast about. This applies no less if the person in question has been dead for a long time; in fact, a cynic has remarked that the best part of some families is underground.
Such vanity survives even in the cemetery. Inscriptions on some headstones proudly record the illustrious figure of whom the deceased is a descendant.
But surprisingly great indeed is the number of descendants of prominent historical figures from all over the world who rest in Australian cemeteries, with their epitaphs giving no indication of their notable relationship.
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"Familiars",741,0,0,0
Familiars described the constant and loyal companions of a witch. They were indeed part of her family. But few people would guess the real depth and antiquity of their association and that the witch's "familiar" preserved the original type of "family."
To speak of "family life" nowadays suggests a loving relationship, even though people might complain of a present vast decline, if not its total lack. However, the surprising thing is that there was little love lost in the "family" as it existed at first. There was no affectionate bond at all, but only bondage by which one party was completely subservient to the other.
"Family," from the Latin \Ifamulus,\i referred not to a blood relation but to a "servant" employed in the household, who had to be at its head's beck and call. And that is the sense still maintained in the use of a witch's familiar.
In whichever form - it, he, or she - justified its existence by doing the bidding of the master as an obedient "familiar," a servant. In most cases the order given commanded the familiar to undertake some malicious errand or other on behalf of the witch. At times, however, like any faithful old butler, a familiar might even venture to give some wise counsel to its employer.
The first instance of the use of the word in this occult sense is found in Reginald Scot's \IDiscovery of Witchcraft,\i published in 1584.
There were different types of familiars and each in its way fulfilled a significant role. It was thought that a familiar most commonly took on the shape of a cat. This, in turn, at times created dangerous situations for ordinary people who, without cause, could be victimized as witches. This applied especially to a woman who, for one reason or another, was disliked by or had annoyed her neighbors. The pet she owned or loved was "recognized" as her "familiar" and was taken as irrefutable proof of her being a witch, though she herself had never in her life shown any interest in the occult. Without any further need of investigation, the pet's presence would lead to the poor woman's prosecution, condemnation, and death. Therefore in such periods and circumstances, keeping a pet carried an enormous risk.
As familiars were deemed such an essential tool of trade, it was very important for a witch to own one. The question was, how to acquire it. Its very nature excluded an open market, offering as it were, "familiars for sale."
There were cases in which a witch might be given her familiar at the outset: on the occasion of her initiation, and thus it would work for her from the moment she started operations. After all, if she were ready to take up her profession, she could do so all the better with a proper "assistant." On the other hand, there were witches who specialized as experts in the training of familiars. They would supply the most valuable of specimens.
As in the case of ordinary pets, if not even more so, a familiar might take a liking to a certain witch and attach itself to her permanently of its own volition. Perhaps oddest of all in the history of heirlooms is the fact that a familiar could be left as a legacy. No government would ever dare to raise death duties, \Jinheritance tax\j, or probate (to use the varied terminology for the same thing in different countries) on such bequest!
In the main, however, the familiar was a ghost: a witch could take possession of it by going into a trance and offering her own "vacated" body for occupation. And having "moved in," the spirit would henceforth work through the witch. This phenomenon is similar to the claim of a medium that a spirit from the "other world" had entered her body and was speaking through her as her "guide."
If the familiar was a pet, it was well looked after. It was given its own name. To be properly fed it received its own special kind of diet. There was a tradition that to keep a familiar in good working condition, a witch would do well to add to its ration from time to time some drops of her own blood or - if she was lactating - of her own milk.
#
"Fanatics and Fans",742,0,0,0
Frenzied ecstasy and orgiastic dances characterized the worship of certain Roman deities, particularly so in the case of the goddesses Bellona and Cybele, whose sanctuaries became the centers of the wild rituals.
Those participating were believed to be "ravished by a prophetic spirit" engendered in the temples by the deities. Their condition of passionate and ungoverned agitation became identified with the site of veneration, and, as the Latin for temple was \Ifanum,\i they were called "fanatics." Eventually, the term was applied to anyone possessed by a zeal going beyond reasonable limits.
\IFan\i in the sense of an enthusiastic follower (usually of some highly promoted entertainer) is a word of much more recent date; it is very likely an abbreviated form of \Ifanatic.\i Certainly, the wild behavior of some young fans may be taken as evidence of their link with the ancient religious fanatic.
However, another theory suggests that fan is all that is left of the mutilated "fancy" of nineteenth-century English sporting enthusiasts, especially followers of the prize-ring.
#
"Fans",743,0,0,0
Show people thrive on having fans. They love fan mail. To the inquiring mind this type of fan poses a problem, linguistically. Certainly, the fan in the glittering world of the stage has nothing to do with the fan that cools. He is a left-over from something bigger, which explains the name, though opinions differ as to the source. Some believe that these idol worshipers were \Ifan\iatics who became fans by a process of contraction. Others find in the fan the remnant of a fancier.
#
"Farce and Comedy",744,0,0,0
An odd custom that intruded into medieval worship was for some participants to repeat aloud passages from Scripture or, more strangely still, to interrupt the recital of a formal prayer by uttering impromptu words or exclamations. Frequently, this distracting practice occurred during the \IKyrie eleison,\i the solemn invocation for divine mercy at Mass. The disrespectful habit was referred to as "farcing," a word derived from the Latin \Ifarcio,\i "to fill in" or "to stuff."
In the years that followed (but still in the \JMiddle Ages\j), strolling actors performed mystery and miracle plays inside and outside the churches. To give the players sufficient time in between scenes to change their costumes without the audience becoming restive, local talent was only too happy to "fill in" the gap between scenes. Their padding of the performance became known as "\Jfarce\j," adopting the term by then well-known in a religious context. As these interludes were mainly of a comical nature, the word eventually became identified with that type of slapstick, until at last the \Jfarce\j assumed a completely separate and secularized existence, an "art form" all of its own. No longer a mere "stuffing," it was "produced" to make people laugh.
#
"Fata Morgana",745,0,0,0
The most famous of all optical illusions - observed from antiquity to our own days - is the \IFata Morgana.\i We see something that is not there. Scientifically, the phenomenon has been explained as the result of irregular reflection and refraction of light rays passing through layers of air of varied density and temperature. Its description of \IFata Morgana\i goes back to Arthurian legend and mirages that occurred in southern \JItaly\j, in the Strait of Messina. Nearby in Calabria - just across the water - so myth believed, was the home of the fairy Morgan \I(Fata Morgana\i in Italian), half-sister of King Arthur. The miraculous mirage of the fabulous city, seen by an eighteenth-century Dominican \Jfriar\j, was attributed to her sorcery and became known by her name. A figure of \Jfable\j thus lives on in every mirage we see.
#
"Father of the Modern Soft Drink Industry",746,0,0,0
Joseph Priestley is most famous for his discovery of oxygen and his naming of rubber. Hardly known is the fact that he started his career in a totally different field - as a Unitarian minister. As a mere hobby and as "a relaxation from other studies", he embarked on experiments in a laboratory.
When he was serving a congregation in the Yorkshire of Leeds, England, chance willed it that his parsonage should be adjacent to a brewery. The beer mattered little to him, but his curiosity was roused by the fumes diffused by the ferment grain. In search of their source, he was led along the very track that caused him, in 1772, to give soda water to the world. As the first to create the carbonated drink, he has rightly been called "the father of the modern soft drink industry."
#
"Father's Day Origins",747,0,0,0
\JFather's Day\j, significantly, was born during the celebration of \JMother's Day\j - and in church.
In May 1909, Mrs John Dodd was attending a \JMother's Day\j service in \JSpokane\j in the state of Washington. While listening to the sermon praising the virtues of mothers, she wondered why no day in the year paid tribute to fathers.
Her thoughts were stimulated by personal memories. She recalled the time when her own father had made every possible sacrifice for his family. His wife had died young, leaving him to raise six children single-handed, and he had done so uncomplainingly, unrecognized, and unsung. Surely, she thought, there must be thousands of fathers like him, battling to eke out a living for wife and children, without ever getting even a pat on the back.
After the service, Mrs Dodd went up to the minister and told him of her thoughts. He agreed with her and lost no time in helping her to draft a letter to the president of the \JSpokane\j Ministerial Association, setting out her proposal for a \JFather's Day\j.
The association enthusiastically approved the suggestion and forwarded it to the \JSpokane\j YMCA, an organization they believed best suited to realize the idea. \JSpokane\j became the first city in the world - in 1910 - to hold \JFather's Day\j.
The choice of the actual date was the result of personal considerations on Mrs Dodd's part. She wanted to perpetuate her father's June 5 birthday, but it was too close to \JMother's Day\j - the second Sunday in May. So \JFather's Day\j was postponed by two weeks to June 19, the third Sunday of the month. Mrs Dodd had another suggestion: as mothers were honored by carnations, so people should show respect for their fathers by wearing roses.
\JSpokane\j remained paramount in fostering the idea, widely publicized by the media, and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson pressed a button in the \JWhite House\j and a flag unfurled in far away \JSpokane\j to inaugurate that year's celebration of \JFather's Day\j.
Yet the fight to gain official recognition had not been won. Several attempts failed. On February 18, 1957, Senator Margaret Chase Smith accused Congress of discrimination against fathers. In an emotional address she spoke of its members' guilt. She condemned their conduct which ought to make them hide their faces in shame. "Either we honor both our parents, mother and father," she said, "or none."
It took another fifteen years until, in 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a Congressional Resolution putting \JFather's Day\j on equal footing with \JMother's Day\j. It had become legally and nationally recognized.
For many years \JFather's Day\j had remained a purely American observation. Eventually, as in the case of \JMother's Day\j, other countries took it up, finally \JAustralia\j as well, where it is celebrated in September.
Mrs Dodd had the satisfaction to see her brainchild become a worldwide institution. When, in 1978, she died at the age of 96 in a \JSpokane\j nursing home, she could go to rest knowing that she had not battled in vain.
As in the case of many an innovation, others have claimed as well to have been the originator of \JFather's Day\j - at least on a national basis. Prominent among them is Harry C. Meek, a past President of the \JChicago\j Uptown Lions Club. He had mooted the idea first in 1915, inspiring members of his and other \JChicago\j clubs to celebrate a \JFather's Day\j. This had started it all, it is claimed, and made the Lions the real pioneers of this red letter day. The third Sunday of June had been chosen for it because it was a date closest to Meek's birthday.
#
"Fathom",748,0,0,0
It was natural that when man began to take the measure of things, he used his own body for comparison. With his foot he could step out any distance. The \Iinch\i simply referred to the twelfth part of his foot's length. A \Icubit\i equaled the distance between his elbow and the tip of his middle finger.
These units of measurement are factual and unexciting. It was left to the sailors to bring romance into the field of calculations.
The fathom is the nautical measure of depth, now ruled to be exactly 1.83 m. The well-known term comes from the old-English \Ifaethm,\i meaning "to embrace." Since an embrace of his sweetheart involved the whole length of a sailor's arms, averaging 1.83 m (6 ft), an Act of Parliament decreed that this fathom should become the standard measure for gauging the depth of the ocean.
A further development took place. As the extension of "a swain's arms around the object of his affections" (the actual words of the early statute) was now used to assess the depth of the sea, "to fathom" came to express a desire to get to the bottom of things.
#
"Fauna",749,0,0,0
It was said of Linnaeus, this famous eighteenth-century Swedish naturalist, that "what God created, Linnaeus set in order." Certainly, no one can deny that he chose names, and classifications, for more things than any other man has ever done. He was well aware of his achievements and proud of them.
Truthfully, but very immodestly, he ventured to express the opinion in a family prayer that "God provided me with the greatest herbarium in the world" and "bestowed on me the greatest insight into the knowledge of Nature, more than anyone has hitherto enjoyed." Indexer of all its phenomena, the categories he devised and the names he gave - according to class, order, \Jgenus\j and species - were adopted universally.
It was Linnaeus, too, who chose, in 1746, the name of an ancient goddess, Fauna, as the generic term for all animal life, transforming a mythological figure into a scientific designation.
Just as the flora, so all fauna was once thought to be divine. Alternately known as \IBona Dea,\i "the good goddess," Fauna was a Roman rural deity. Exclusively worshiped by women, she revealed her oracles to them alone. In turn, they sacrificed a sow to her. No doubt, it was her close link (whether as sister, daughter or wife) with Faunus that gave her the fame which made Linnaeus choose her for his history-making nomenclature.
Literally, \Ifauna\i means "the kindly one." It was a flattering euphemism used by her early adherents, to avoid offending and to propitiate this awesome nature goddess.
Though now firmly established as a scientific term, \Ifauna\i cannot disguise its origin in early \Jmythology\j.
#
"Feast of Lanterns - a Chinese Festival",750,0,0,0
Ranking in importance and splendor next to - and following in the calendar soon after - the celebration of the New Year, is the Feast of Lanterns. It is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the "First Full Moon."
Originally a seasonal event, it was concerned with the rebirth of nature after the cold of winter. The ritual of the lanterns was intended to increase the light and warmth of the sun!
Soon people discovered the beauty of the lanterns, apart from any cosmic influence they might exert. So they added ever more lamps and the festival assumed a most lavish scale. Lanterns are hung up both inside and outside the homes, in the streets and all public places - brightly illuminating the night. Fire crackers are set off and, as at all Chinese festivals, the people consume an abundance of food and drink.
#
"Feast of the Epiphany",751,0,0,0
On January 6 - the Twelfth Day after Christmas - Christians observe the Feast of the Epiphany.
On this day the Magi, the three wise men from the East, are said to have arrived at \JBethlehem\j with their gifts for the infant Jesus Christ. This was the first time that He was shown to the world, and this is what is commemorated at Epiphany. The name comes from the Greek \Iepiphania,\i which means "manifestation" or "showing."
It is commonly believed that the three Magi followed a star, and came to pay homage to the baby Jesus Christ. In fact, the original Gospels give no indication of the names or the numbers of the visitors; nor do they say, as is often claimed, that they were kings. These fanciful details were added much later on.
Tertullian, a Roman patrician who was converted to \JChristianity\j in AD 190 and who became a famous supporter of the early Church, said that the Magi were "almost kings" (he used the Latin words \Ifere reges).\i It was at least another 300 years before the Magi's royal status was claimed by the Psalmist who spoke in Psalm 72:10, of far-off kings "who shall bring presents" and "offer gifts."
\JOrigen\j, a 3rd century Father of the Church and eminent biblical scholar, was the first to assert that the Magi were three in number. This was indicated in the Gospels, he claimed, by the three different gifts they carried - the gold, the \Jfrankincense\j and the \Jmyrrh\j. The claim that their names were Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar comes from an even later date - in fact, it cannot be traced back any earlier than the 8th century.
According to a legend related by the 8th century English historian St Bede, Gaspar was a young man with a ruddy complexion, while Melchior was of a venerable age, white-haired and with a beard. Balthasar is described as dark-skinned and with a thick beard. Each of the three presents was given a symbolic meaning in terms of the life and death of Jesus Christ. Gold was a tribute to His royal status, \Jfrankincense\j symbolized His divinity as the son of God, and \Jmyrrh\j alluded to His death, being the chief ingredient used in the embalming of the dead.
Epiphany traditionally concludes the Christmas season. This is why it is still considered correct to leave Christmas decorations in place until then.
#
"Feather in One's Cap",752,0,0,0
To have "a feather in one's cap" nowadays is a mere \Jmetaphor\j and may be the result of some very peaceful achievement. In the beginning, however, it was meant literally. The feather indicated a fighter's supremacy. Just as soldiers made a notch in their gun for every enemy they had killed and airmen marked on their planes their individual successes, so all over the world primitive fighters used to put a feather into their headdress for every foe they had slain. It was an early (self-bestowed) military decoration. Announcing the prowess of its wearer, simultaneously it put fear into his adversary's heart.
Less belligerent, but still linked with killing, is another derivation. This claims that the phrase recalls hunters' custom after having killed the first bird of the season, to stick one of its feathers into their cap as a conspicuous trophy of their success.
#
"February",753,0,0,0
February means "purification" - from the Latin \Ifebruare.\i It derives its name from an ancient fertility rite, which was part of a Roman festival celebrated during this month.
Its ceremonial took a peculiar form. Youths were provided with thongs cut from the hides of sacrificed goats - animals reputed for their virility and fecundity. Thus equipped, they ran through the streets of \JRome\j, seeking out women known to have proven barren and whose \Jinfertility\j was thought to be the result of some "uncleanliness." By whipping them with their thongs, so it was believed, the youths "purified" the women's bodies which, thus cleansed, would be able to conceive.
#
"February 14",754,0,0,0
\BSt Valentine's Day\b
\JSt Valentine's Day\j, on 14 February, is a day of romance and love on which we send anonymous messages or cards that express our affection to those for whom we care deeply. Once, such Valentine cards were individually written. Nowadays, like Christmas cards, they can be purchased ready-made.
The celebration of this day goes back thousands of years, to ancient \JRome\j. Falling during the season of spring, it was considered a time particularly propitious for love. It was believed that birds started to mate on this day and that, therefore, it would be only natural for humans to pair off as well.
The fourteenth of February became the lovers' festival. Known as \JLupercalia\j it was dedicated to the Roman goddess Juno, who was worshiped as the guardian of women and marriage. Special lotteries were held in her honor. The prizes to be won were not valuable objects or sums of money, but lovers. Girls wrote their names on slips of paper. These they placed into a large drum, from which the young men drew their "lot." There were no blanks. The girls thus "allotted" became the ticket holder's sweetheart until the next draw, held in the following year, once again on Juno's feast.
Christians tried hard to uproot the pagan festival. Failing to do so, they renamed Juno's feast, calling it after Valentine, one of the Christian saints. The choice was the result of a peculiar coincidence of dates.
The Roman Emperor Claudius believed that husbands did not make good soldiers. Anxious to get back to their wives, they easily neglected their martial duties. For this reason he decided to abolish the institution of marriage and, with utmost rigor, tried to enforce his policy.
Valentine, who was a Roman bishop at the time, felt that the edict contradicted the will of God and was against human nature. He therefore continued - though now secretly - to marry young lovers. But he could not do so for long. His clandestine solemnizations were discovered. Arrested, he was thrown into prison, scourged and eventually beheaded in A.D. 269. It is supposed that he suffered martyrdom on 14 February, the very day dedicated to Juno. Ever since, it was kept as \JSt Valentine's Day\j and was considered, even by the Church, a date most appropriate for declarations of love.
Tradition tells that, while in prison, Valentine had fallen in love with the jailer's daughter, whose \Jblindness\j he had miraculously cured. In a letter, he declared his passionate feelings towards her, signing it "From your Valentine." And it was his signature that gave us the Valentine card!
However successful the Church had been in substituting the pagan feast with \JSt Valentine's Day\j, it was unable to wean the people from the lottery of love. So it altered the prizes! It replaced the girls' names by those of saints. Now the "lucky" winner was expected in the ensuing year to match his life to that of the saint whose name he had drawn. The scheme misfired. No one liked the new type of lottery. In no time, girls regained possession of the drum and the ancient love play resumed.
It was not to last, however. People came to resent the practice of having their sweethearts chosen for them - by chance. They felt that their own choice should take the place of luck. On 14 February they thus began to send cards, sets of verses or even gifts to the ones they admired. They often did so anonymously, and it was left to the recipient to guess the author or donor. Those unable to find their own words, selected them from special handbooks, published for the purpose. Some of these, such as the \IYoung Man's Valentine Writer,\i date back to 1797.
Eventually, the printed Valentine card came into existence. The introduction of cheap postal rates added greatly to their popularity, already assured by the intriguing mystery of the unnamed sender's identity.
#
"February 6",755,0,0,0
\BWaitangi Day: \JNew Zealand\j 's National Day\b
New Zealand's national day is unique of its kind. Known as Waitangi Day, it is named after the town on the Bay of Islands where, in 1840, a treaty was signed by the English settlers - represented by Captain William Hobson, who was later to become the first Governor of New Zealand - and some fifty \JMaori\j chiefs on behalf of their nation. The Treaty of Waitangi decreed that, henceforth, both peoples would live in peace!
Missionaries and officials then took the document to other parts of the country, giving more Maories, mainly chiefs, an opportunity to add their marks. Eventually, thus, the treaty contained 512 signatures.
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"Feed a Cold",756,0,0,0
The proverbial advice to "feed a cold and starve a fever" has misguided many a credulous patient. He genuinely imagined that it was logical to eat plenty of food when suffering from a cold, as this would strengthen his power of resistance, enabling him to shake off the infection quickly. The opposite "treatment" in the case of a fever was to reduce it.
Neither counsel is medically sound. Overeating is never beneficial, particularly so when in bed. On the other hand, a fever dehydrates the body which therefore requires lots of fluids.
Though at first sight the adage seems clear and simple, it is deceptive in its ambiguity. It has been questioned whether it exorted a patient "to feed a cold and to starve a fever" or, rightly understood, warned him that if he ate too much while having a cold, he would subsequently run a temperature which then he had to starve!
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"Feel Out of Sorts",757,0,0,0
To feel not one's usual self and to describe it as being "out of sorts" employs in everyday speech an 18th century printers' complaint. The technical term for the individual characters making up a font of type was "sorts." A printer who was running short of it, certainly was "out of sorts" which did not make him feel very good.
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"Feet First",758,0,0,0
That a corpse should be carried feet first out of the house was the result of thoughtful considerations. In homes with two storys, the bedroom was on the upper floor. Hence the body had to be carried down the stairs.
Whether this was done on a bier or in a coffin, unless its feet came first this would have meant for the deceased to stand on his or her head, which certainly would have been utterly tasteless and showing disrespect. Furthermore, carried feet first the weight of the body is better distributed and less heavy for whoever is at the foot end of the coffin.
Eventually, the reason for the custom was forgotten and \Jsuperstition\j took hold, regarding it as unlucky not to carry a dead body out of the house feet first. It might keep the disembodied spirit within the house to haunt it. Once again - like a contagious disease - the \Jsuperstition\j spread to the living who now imagined to sleep with one's feet towards the door would invite death. Bullfighters, particularly, will never occupy a bed pointing that way. Should a hotel offer them such accommodation, they will either move the bed or, should this prove impossible, move out.
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"Fell to his Death on a Ship",759,0,0,0
In 1899, 220 bodies originally interred in the Old Burying Ground at Point Gellibrand near Melbourne were transferred to the Williamstown Cemetery, there jointly to be laid to rest in a vast vault. Most of their original headstones no longer exist. Among those preserved is that of Joseph Ritchie of Saltgoat, Ayrshire in Scotland. He had met his death at the age of 47. Master of Glasgow - based vessel \IJanet Mitchell,\i he was accidentally killed on board of the "said ship in Hobson Bay" by a fall from the main deck to the lower hold.
#
"Fence",760,0,0,0
In criminal terminology and slang, whoever trades in stolen property is a fence. This name was well-chosen. It alluded to the precaution of keeping certain activities under cover and goods bought and sold hidden away - "fenced off." To be known as a fence recalls their "defense" against discovery. The fence, then, has surrounded themselves with a special guard. Of equal linguistic derivation is the fender which, when attached to a car or a railway engine thrusts away any obstruction, and when placed in front of a fireplace, prevents any of its contents from spilling on to the floor and, when alight, possibly setting the house on fire.
They all have a common Latin root - \Ifendere,\i shared by any type of defense and the sport of fencing as well, which the modern fence has misappropriated.
#
"Ferns",761,0,0,0
Ferns grow in the shadowy parts of forests and glens, shunning the light. This led to the adoption of the plant as a symbol of reticence and humility. It was particularly chosen for gravestones as an emblem for people who had led a solitary and withdrawn existence, hardly noticed by others.
#
"Festival of Bonten",762,0,0,0
\BThe Story of a Divine Conductor\b
The Festival of Bonten celebrated by the Japanese is held early in the year - in the middle of February - when harsh winter prevails in the northern region. It received its name from the huge heavy wooden poles which play a central role in its ritual.
The basis of the celebration is the desire that heavenly blessing should descend to earth to help people overcome the hardships of winter and to bring a rich harvest and prosperity to the land.
In an ancient ritual the god was provided, at least symbolically, with a ladder that linked heaven and earth and that made it easier for him to descend from his celestial heights. This was the function of a huge pole, the Bonten, set up in the god's shrine. It was like a conductor attracting and guiding divine power.
Groups of up to 20 young men select and fashion their individual pole. They decorate it with colorful bunting and a crown of highly artistic design. In exciting competition, the teams then race to the shrine each carrying its Bonten. Whoever arrives first has the privilege of having it erected in the sanctuary!
Not surprisingly, this contest makes for a joyful and exuberant festival rendering a religious occasion a truly enjoyable and vital experience.
#
"Festival of the Hungry Ghosts",763,0,0,0
Living people who are neglected are usually powerless to make others remember and help them. But not so, according to Chinese belief, the souls of the dead, particularly during the seventh lunar month when, temporarily released from the netherworld, they wander the earth in search of affection. They are known as the hungry \Jghosts\j because of their hunger for recognition and care.
Their number is increased by the souls of people who died unnatural deaths - who were drowned or murdered, or just disappeared from the earth without being given a proper burial place which their families could visit in order to pay them respect.
Other such "hungry \Jghosts\j" that are abroad during this month are the spirits of people whose families had either died out or who showed no concern for their welfare in the beyond. Bereft of comfort, they feel abandoned and, lacking ancestral worship, may turn malignant and become powerful threats to the living.
The Festival of the Hungry \JGhosts\j, held on the fifteenth day of this fateful month, is particularly dedicated to these earthbound spirits. Its purpose is to make them feel welcome and to satisfy their spiritual hunger. This will placate any possible anger they might have and gain their gratitude.
In the sacred ritual of that day, the spirits are offered joss sticks, food, and gifts. The gifts, made of paper, represent objects with which they were familiar while on earth and are intended to make them feel at home. Paper money is burned on their behalf, to pay for their expenses in the netherworld. Fires, lit during the night on roadsides, street corners and in temples, serve both as a guide to the hungry \Jghosts\j, and as a gesture of welcome.
In some regions, special performances are staged for the entertainment of the \Jghosts\j on their eerie visit, in the hope that these will make them forget their grudges and encourage them to return to their abode with a feeling of acceptance. Their hunger allayed, at last they will have found peace and rest.
#
"Fez",764,0,0,0
The Oriental fez is called after Fez, the Moroccan city, once a notable center of \JIslam\j. The conspicuous tassle attached to the top of this brimless headcover, now apparently solely decorative, had a religious significance. It symbolized the lock of hair by which, according to tradition, Allah would pull the faithful into paradise.
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"Fiasco",765,0,0,0
The origin of the fiasco is the Italian's description of a failure as "making a bottle." Not a mere figure of speech, it is based on what is claimed to have been a practice of Venetian glass-blowers. It sometimes happened that in the process of making one of their beautiful creations, things went wrong and the intended intricate design was spoiled. Not to waste the precious glass, they made it into a bottle - fiasco in Italian.
Also Italian in origin, but belonging to the stage, is another derivation of this internationally-recognized designation of a flop in the form of a flask. It tells how a comedian, unable to raise a laugh, loudly blamed the failure on the flask (fiasco) which was part of the (misfired) performance.
The Italian fiasco, it has been pointed out, was not an ordinary sort of bottle. Long-necked, it had a rounded base and therefore, unless specially provided with a support, could not stand upright on its own. A fiasco, according to this interpretation, suggested an effort or enterprise undertaken lacking an essential feature, which made it collapse.
#
"Fifteenth Anniversary",766,0,0,0
\BThe Crystal or Glass Anniversary\b
A couple will cherish many an object of glass not merely because of its beauty but for the memory it recalls of some special moment during the 15 years of their union. They may think of the glasses of wine they shared and the toasts that they drank to each other.
Crystal is one of the most valuable types of glass. When tapped, it gives beautiful resonant tones like the sound of true happiness that reverberates in the hearts of a happy couple. May this day be as sparkling as the many-faceted crystal.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Vases and glasses
ò Jugs or bowls
ò Paperweights
ò Bottles (preferably not empty!)
#
"Fifth Anniversary",767,0,0,0
\BThe Wooden Anniversary\b
Through the ages, wood has provided us with shelter, warmth and comfort - all practical considerations in the happy home. The \Jsymbolism\j of wood is important, too. Firstly, it comes from a tree, whose roots are reaching ever deeper into the ground, making it secure enough to endure the stormiest of weather. A tree is also a symbol of growth, each year putting forth blossom and then fruit.
Five years of marriage represent endurance and stability. Also, by the fifth anniversary, many marriages will have been enriched by the birth of at least one child. This event will have completely changed the couple's lives, giving them a new focus and a most rewarding task to be jointly undertaken. Following the birth of children, all subsequent anniversaries will have an added meaning. The growth of the couple's offspring symbolizes how their own love story has not come to a standstill, but is an ongoing, exciting process, making their lives ever more worthwhile.
\IA successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.\i
AndrΘ Maurois
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Garden furniture
ò Occasional tables
ò For the booklover, shelving, or a newspaper rack
ò Photo frames
ò Kitchen utensils, such as a set of wooden spoons, or a chopping board
#
"Fifth Column and the Spanish Civil War",768,0,0,0
The description of organized subversive forces inside a country as a fifth column, goes back to the Spanish \JCivil War\j (1936-39) when it was first used by General Mola who commanded Franco's Fascist forces.
Leading the assault on Madrid, then still under the Loyalist Republican government, he approached the city from four different directions, in four columns. But in an announcement he declared that, in actual fact, he was in charge of five columns, "the fifth is within the city." His was not an empty boast, as events soon proved. Falangist symphathizers inside Madrid were only waiting for the right moment to join the insurgents.
That the phrase fifth column was adopted worldwide, no doubt, in no small measure was due to Ernest Hemingway. During the \JCivil War\j he served as a special correspondent. In 1938, he wrote a play based on his experiences there, entitling it "The Fifth Column." His fame, not least, popularized the term.
#
"Fiftieth Anniversary",769,0,0,0
\BThe Golden Anniversary\b
As with the silver anniversary, this one's name harks back to the time when a husband would honor his wife of 50 years with a wreath, this time a gold one.
Gold has long been prized as the most precious of metals. From time immemorial, people have searched for El Dorado, that legendary city said to have been filled with golden treasure. On the occasion of their golden anniversary, a happily married couple can also say that they have found "treasure." Think of all the people who, for centuries, have tried to turn base metal into gold. In parallel, a couple who have passed through the "crucible of life" for 50 years, can take pride in having created "gold" together.
In Biblical times, a 50th anniversary was described as a jubilee, and was publicly proclaimed with a trumpet fanfare. It is indeed a jubilant event, worthy of celebration with an ever-expanding family of children, grandchildren, and perhaps even great-grandchildren.
This anniversary's main sentiment is one of gratitude for the many blessings which have been enjoyed together. That "book of happiness" referred to in the "paper" anniversary should now contain many pages, filled with a multitude of moods and events. The couple's continuous striving to make life worthwhile for each other has been successful. Fortunate indeed is the woman whose husband still tells her, on their golden wedding anniversary: "Darling, you are beautiful!"
\IOn the occasion of his 50th wedding anniversary, Henry Ford was asked for his formula for a successful marriage. It was the same principle which had ensured the success of his cars, he explained: "Stick to the one model!"\i
\BGift Suggestions\b
Any type of golden ornament or jewelry would be appropriate.
#
"Fifty-fifth Anniversary",770,0,0,0
\BThe Emerald Anniversary\b
The emerald was known thousands of years ago and treasured by almost all faiths. Its green color was a reminder of fertility. According to Pliny, the green of the emerald "outgreened" even the verdure of nature.
A Muslim tradition serves as perhaps the most apt analogy for the 55th wedding anniversary. It states that the first of the seven heavens was made up of emeralds. Its restful green - the color of nature - suggested a feeling of perfect relaxation, similar to that attained after these many years of companionship.
\BGift Suggestions\b
If affordable, an emerald eternity ring and tie pin or tie - tack would be an excellent choice.
#
"Fight Like Kilkenny Cats",771,0,0,0
The Irish town of Kilkenny has a colorful past with a rich history. It has become world-famous through its cats. "To fight like Kilkenny cats" means to battle ferociously to the bitter end.
Until 1844, the city was divided into two parts, segregating the native Irish from the Anglo-Normans. Constantly at loggerheads, they often came to blows. They fought like cats, people said. The observation survived the struggle but, forgetting its merely metaphorical sense, it was misinterpreted. Imagining that it referred particularly to the town's felines, these were misrepresented as being exceptionally belligerent.
Gruesome are two other traditions. Each of them traces the phrase to a specific incident in the city's history.
Hessian soldiers who had served as mercenaries in the British army against the Americans were billeted for some time on their way home in County Kilkenny. After all the excitement of battle, they soon were bored. To pass away the time and amuse themselves, they caught stray cats. After tying their tails together, they threw them across a clothes line, and watched the unfortunate creatures struggle to get down.
Hearing their yowling, the commanding officer rushed from his quarters to investigate the cause of the rumpus. Afraid of disciplinary action for their cruel pastime, the men quickly tried to cover it up. They freed the cats by cutting off their tails with a sword. The poor animals ran away as fast as they could. There was no time left, however, for the soldiers to remove the knotted tails from the line. On being questioned about them, they explained that the Kilkenny cats, renowned fighters, had engaged once again in so fierce a battle that all that was left of them were their tails!
(A slightly different version relates the occurrence to the occupation of the town by Cromwell and his rampaging troops.)
Another derivation of the saying links it with sportsmen. They had heard a rumor that Kilkenny cats excelled all others in fighting prowess. To verify the story, they caught 1000 "ordinary" cats from all the other counties, to pit them against 1000 Kilkenny felines. The latter lived up to their reputation. In no time they confronted the intruders, attacking them viciously. The battle raged all night. At sunrise, all that remained of the 1000 intruders were their badly-mauled bodies. The 1000 Kilkenny cats had survived the fight. Though looking the worse for it, their fighting spirit was undiminished. "To fight like Kilkenny cats" is thus the remnant of the unsportsmanlike sporting event.
Without reducing their fighting quality, a popular verse limits it to two cats:
\IThere once were two cats in Kilkenny,
Each thought there was one cat too many,
So they fought and they fit
And they scratched and they bit
Until instead of two cats there weren't any.\i
#
"Fighting Fire with Fire",772,0,0,0
"Fighting fire with fire" is both an effective practice to confine a blaze, and a figure of speech for a drastic response to an act of aggression.
In some regions, during the heat of summer, forest and bush fires are a constant threat. They can engulf entire woods or tracts of land and burn homes built in clearings.
To extinguish or even merely to contain such conflagrations is a very difficult task. At times, the only option left is to burn firebreaks, literally therefore "fighting fire with fire." An emergency measure thus taken in a desperate situation was responsible for the saying.
It is often the case that to overcome a threat, kind words and mild actions prove insufficient. The menace has to be met by measures of equal strength, magnitude, and, if need be, identical but regrettable tactics. This, too, is the meaning of "fighting fire with fire" and an alternate source of the \Jmetaphor\j.
#
"Figure of Much Controversy",773,0,0,0
\BNorman Lindsay\b
The wording of tombstone inscriptions reveals much, however short they may be. All that the headstone of black marble on Norman Lindsay's last resting place in the Springwood Cemetery says is:
\IIn Memory of
(The Artist)
NORMAN LINDSAY
1879-1969\i
Significantly, he is called \I"The\i Artist" because as such he made his name nationwide. His art was all that mattered to him. This might well be the reason why on his memorial - just as in his life - "The Artist" came first, even preceding his own name.
During his lifetime Lindsay frequently caused heated controversy and was the target of vociferous criticism. His art was decried as scandalous and pornographic, and some of his books were thought to be so shocking that they were banned by the Australian censor. Public attitudes have changed and Lindsay is now recognized as one of \JAustralia\j's most illustrious authors and artists.
Born at Creswick, a small Victorian town near Ballarat, Norman was one of ten children. His father was the local doctor and his mother the daughter of a well-known South Seas missionary.
Norman started to draw because of ill health. As a little boy, he suffered from a blood disorder, and his mother kept him at home. To while away his time, he taught himself to copy drawings from magazines. Soon he expanded his field and began to depict anything that caught his eye. And then there was no stopping him.
He became the \IBulletin's\i chief cartoonist, a position he was to fill for many years. Highly gifted, he was able to express himself in the most varied spheres of art. He did pen drawings, engravings, and etchings as well as watercolours and oils. Norman was equally productive (and often iconoclastic) as a writer.
Lindsay never cared what people said. He kept on writing, drawing and painting the way he felt, with a passion for truth as he saw it and a contempt for hypocrisy, pretence, and out-dated taboos. Even his critics (of which there were many) could not deny the brilliance of this "intellectual dynamo," as he was once described.
Controversial but clear-minded to the very end, Norman died at the age of 90 at Springwood, on 21 November 1969. He left a comparatively small estate, but a veritable treasure of pictures and writings. \IThe Magic Pudding,\i the children's book he illustrated himself, has become one of the Australian classics.
At his death, Rose, his second wife and the model for many of his paintings, spoke of him as a wonderful artist who had been too big for his time, with his work too great for [his contemporary] Australians fully to appreciate it.
#
"Figuring it Out",774,0,0,0
If \Jmysticism\j has made use of numbers, it certainly must have been greatly influenced by the vast amount of varied ways in which numbers figured throughout the history of civilization (often in a way that was very confusing).
For instance, why do we abbreviate in English a "number" by the two letters "No." and not, as would be expected, by "Nr.?" Of course, there is a reason for everything. The peculiar contraction goes back to the Italian way of counting, in which a number was known as numero.
Only the use of numbers made it easy for people to study huge volumes. Their pagination - the numbering of the various pages - allowed readers to know the right sequence of the thoughts presented and to follow them.
"Arabic" numerals are not Arabian at all. They stem from India. But the fallacious designation was attached to them because (in the tenth century) they were introduced into Europe by the Moors, who were \JArabs\j.
Equally bewildering is the division of a minute into sixty "seconds." What made people choose this odd description? It was due to man's having become more time-conscious. He had learned to treasure each moment and, as it were, to count it, added to the dial of his clocks an additional, "second" minute hand to indicate the passing of these (then) shortest units of time. And they took their name after that \Isecond\i pointer!
In their democratic constitution of society, Greeks would "cast" their votes by dropping pebbles into the urn of the candidate they wished to elect. All "calculation" goes back to the counting of "pebbles," which in Latin were called \Icalculi.\i Zero, though starting from naught, came only much later.
The influence that figures exert on man by leading him to create ever more words and notions never ceases. It has even found a place on golf links. There are some golfers who refuse to play with a ball that carries a high number. They imagine that (no doubt by sympathetic magic) this would influence them to take an equal number of strokes to reach the hole and thereby lose them the game.
Numbers thus have figured continuously. Man still has not finished his counting and accounting (for life) which truly led him from the original source of all figures: the unique, indivisible, cardinal number 1, the cause of everything, to the opposite extreme, to intimations of "infinity."
#
"Filthy Lucre",775,0,0,0
The common contemptuous reference to money as "filthy lucre" is based on an early misinterpretation of a scriptural passage.
Originally, the word \Ilucre\i carried no derogatory connotation, but was used to mean "well-earned remuneration," "reward," or "wages." Thus, we still speak of some business activity being lucrative, and the German word \ILohn,\i for "wages," is derived from the same positive application of the term. "Filthy lucre," on the other hand, referred to funds acquired dishonestly.
It was this type of tainted money and sordid gain which Paul had in mind when, in his Epistle to Titus, in discussing some of the qualities essential required of a bishop, he stressed that, as God's steward, a bishop must be of unimpeachable character and "not greedy of filthy lucre" (1.7). It is obvious what Paul meant. A religious leader had to be beyond reproach and in no circumstances should obtain money by shady means. Paul did not condemn money as such. He used the term "filthy" not in the modern sense of "unclean," but to mean "not straight."
Unfortunately, when Tyndale translated the Epistle from Greek into English, he was unacquainted with the original and exact meaning of "filthy lucre." Erroneously, he took it to apply to all money. His mistake was never corrected. On the contrary, succeeding translators copied it, perpetuating the suggestion that Paul had considered money in general, whichever way it had been acquired, as something objectionable, and this meaning of the term gained universal currency.
#
"Final Prayer",776,0,0,0
The last line of the inscription on Jewish headstones traditionally displays five \JHebrew\j characters: the letters TNZBH. Like the Christian RIP, they are the initials of a supplication, in \JHebrew\j. Translated into English, this asks God to bless the deceased with immortality. "May His [or Her] Soul Be Bound Up In The Bond Of Eternal Life."
#
"Fink",777,0,0,0
"Fink" is an exclusively American term, born in the country's labor movement. It was first used to brand those who harmed the cause of working people in their fight for their rights and better labor conditions.
This unsubtle put-down has been associated with the famous Pinkerton National Detective Agency, because of the part some of its officers took in helping employers against their employees. They used every possible means to break up strikes. They acted as informers or spies, posing as workers to report on the clandestine activities of union members. Most notorious was the unsuccessful attempt in 1892 of 300 of its detectives - who were armed - to stop the industrial action taken by the workers of the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, \JPennsylvania\j.
No wonder that laborers all over the country soon transferred their hatred to all the Pinkerton men and, in their mind, the name of the agency became synonymous with acts of infamy. Contemptuously, they cut down its name to Pink which they then further changed to fink, as the derogatory designation for a strikebreaker and a stool pigeon.
It is a somewhat involved derivation and therefore gives greater credibility to other suggestions, not necessitating any change of name!
One such claim quotes Albert Fink as the "original" fink. German-born (in 1827), he migrated to the United States in 1849. Working for the railroads, eventually he was put in charge of its team of detectives. In pursuit of his duties, he incurred the wrath of the men, who decried him as a squealer and a police informer. This made his name a byword, synonymous with those who degrade themselves by ignominiously interfering with the lives of other people.
There is yet another theory. As many Americans came from \JGermany\j, they might well have brought with them the "fink" as a typical name of contempt. It was used in their native land, specifically in the academic world. Undergraduates were expected to join student's associations. Highly organized, these demanded of their members to adhere to a strict code of behavior at all times. They were to show discipline and to wear with pride the colors of their particular "union."
There were students, however, of independent minds. They preferred to do things their own way and refused to abide by the union's inhibiting rules and regulations. They much rather followed a permissive lifestyle, of lax and loose morals. Naturally, the unions looked askance at them and showed their displeasure by calling any such outsider a Fink (first in Jena in c. 1740). At the time, this was a popular name given to people of lowest standing and ill-repute. Its choice goes back to nature. A finch was called in German a fink. The bird was notorious for its obnoxious custom of picking its feed out of horse's \Jmanure\j. To be called after a creature of such dirty habits was regarded as just the right thing for those whose behavior seemed to ask for it.
#
"Firefly Not a Fly",778,0,0,0
The \Jfirefly\j does not belong to any \Jgenus\j of fly but to the beetle family. Americans refer to it much more appropriately as a \Jlightning bug\j. Its flashes are produced by light organs located on the \Jabdomen\j. Apart from conveying sexual messages, they also serve as a warning to predators, reminding them of this luminous insect's bitter taste. Nonetheless, some frogs, ignoring the signal, devour so many fireflies that they themselves start glowing.
#
"Firewater and Whisky",779,0,0,0
That Indians called whisky firewater, was not because of any burning sensation they had when drinking it. The reason was much more literal and recalls an important feature in the early sale of whisky to Indians. They did not trust the white trader, as many a bad experience had taught them to be wary of him. To prove to the Indians the liquid's alcoholic content, he poured some of it onto a fire. If it was the real stuff, it would burn. Truly, it was firewater!
#
"Firing the Pudding",780,0,0,0
Lighting up the Christmas pudding with brandy-fed flames gives extra zest to both the pudding and the celebration. This fire is also pre-Christian in origin, recalling the fervent prayers and magic rituals aimed at helping the "dying" sun in its fight for survival during the dark northern winter.
#
"First Anniversary",781,0,0,0
\BThe Paper or Plastic Anniversary\b
Of all the anniversaries, the one marking the completion of that first year of marriage is probably the most significant. Though only 12 months have passed, the couple's entire lives have changed. They will have shared both good and bad times, and will have gained a new dimension of sharing in all that they do and experience.
The first year of marriage is one of great enrichment, where the couple can gratefully acknowledge the benefits their union has brought them. It is also a memorable "milestone" for recognizing how they have dealt with the realities of life together. The excitement of the wedding day, with all its glamor, gifts, and promises, is inevitably followed by the cares of everyday life. Each partner should now feel as though they can confront these cares with a devoted helpmate, rather than alone.
The first year will also prove a period of adjustment. After all, bride and groom were used to living independently and, in the majority of cases, to deciding issues on their own. For the first time, they will have learnt to appreciate the value of shared decisions, and to do so in a process of give-and-take. They will also have realized that many tasks, which would have been impossible to achieve alone, can be actioned together.
Some couples might have had to deal with that very common mistake in early married life, of one of the partners trying to change the other to his or her ways! Hopefully, the pair will have come to respect each other's individuality.
This is most often known as the "paper" anniversary because, on their marriage day, the bride and groom are said to have started a jointly authored book, being given a blank sheet of paper for that first page, as it were. They will have filled it with the story of the very beginning of their shared adventure. May your "paper" anniversary prove to be merely the introduction to a vast volume about your life together, telling what love can do and accomplish.
Paper might be relatively inexpensive, but we can make it very precious by the way we make use of it. A young married couple may have little wealth, but they can be very rich in their contribution to each other's lives - and that is an "investment" that will gain in value as the years go by.
\IA good marriage is like a handshake.
There is no upper hand.\i
\BGift Suggestions\b
Traditionally, a husband's gift to his wife on their first anniversary was an eternity ring.
Other ideas include:
ò A perpetual calendar or diary
ò A scrapbook or photo album
ò Personalized notepaper, printed letterheads, or visiting cards
ò Drawings or sketches
ò A book or a book voucher
ò A subscription to a magazine or journal
ò A collection of recipes
ò Tickets for a theater performance, the ballet, or a concert
ò Monogrammed serviettes, or kitchen or guest towels
ò Paper sewing patterns
Anything from the vast range of plastic goods available may also be suitable, such as:
ò \JPlaying cards\j or table games
ò Buttons
ò A garden hose
ò Kitchen containers
ò Floral arrangements
#
"First Australian Soldiers Killed Overseas",782,0,0,0
Though Australians fought against the Maoris in \JNew Zealand\j (1860-1) and assisted the British in the \JSudan\j (in 1885), the first Australians known to have been killed in action overseas died during the Boer War in South Africa (1899-1901). The graves of two of the 217 men "killed in action or missing presumed dead" are now in Kimberley, the city famous for its diamonds.
Troopers Victor Jones and David McCleod were members of the First (\JQueensland\j) Mounted Infantry contingent. They fell in the battle fought on the farm "Sunnyside" on 1 January 1900.
Originally, they were buried at the site of their deaths, 4.5 kilometers from each other. At the armistice in 1902, Victor Jones' family sent a money order from Rockhampton to pay for a headstone on his grave. As the amount did not fully cover the cost of the marble cross selected, the population of Douglas, the nearest village to the farm, collected the rest of the money and sufficient extra funds to have railings put up around the grave.
At the suggestion of his family, the following inscription was put on the stone:
\IIn Loving Memory of
TROOPER VICTOR S. J0NES, Q.M.I.,
of
ROCKHAMPTON, \JQUEENSLAND\j
Killed January 1st 1900
Aged 27 Years
THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN
TO FALL IN ACTION IN S.A.\i
At the time, it was hoped equally to mark and honor David McCleod's last resting place. Unfortunately, lack of funds made this impossible. Instead, the Guild of Loyal Women of South Africa erected on his grave a metal cross.
In 1961, the South African War Graves Board, as it was then known, realized that proper maintenance of the graves was no longer possible. It therefore decided to exhume the remains of the two troopers and reinter them in a Garden of Remembrance in the city of Kimberley.
By the special request of the municipality of Douglas, they were to retain Jones's original headstone. Renovated, it was re-erected in front of the Douglas Public Library, with a new granite base carrying the inscription:
\IThe remains of this soldier were removed from Sunnyside, and re-interred in the Garden of Remembrance, West End Cemetery, Kimberley.\i
The grave of a third Australian soldier, Private I. S. Jones, was added to the last resting place of his two comrades. No records exist as to the cause of his death, though it is assumed that he died from disease.
The Garden of Remembrance was consecrated on Remembrance Day (14 November) in 1965 and opened by Harry Oppenheimer, the millionaire and diamond king. The names of the three Australian troopers, inscribed on the Central Monument, serve as a perpetual reminder of the more than 100,000 Australians who gave their lives in battles they fought in ten different wars, and who are buried in many parts of the world.
McLeod and Jones were among the very first. The site of their deaths is marked by a slab on a cairn on top of a hill at "Sunnyside." It is the first Australian memorial erected on a battlefield, and carries the crest and motto of the \JQueensland\j Mounted Infantry, under which are engraved the words:
\IOn this spot was fought
The Engagement of Sunnyside
January 1st 1900
This cairn is erected
By Their Comrades
In Memory of
No 91 Private D C MacLeod
No 219 Private V S Jones
Both of the \JQueensland\j Mounted Infantry
Who were killed in action on that day.\i
#
"First Beards",783,0,0,0
Nature has provided men and women with hair, first of all, as a means of protection. It can soften blows and, as a nonconductor, insulate the part of the body on which it grows against changes of temperature.
Eyelashes screen the eyes from dust and foreign matter, as well as from too much sun. The eyebrows, at least partially, prevent \Jperspiration\j from running down the face, while the hair in the nose acts as a filter.
Hair is one of man's distinctive features and has given him many problems and opportunities. Undoubtedly, it has been a significant factor in the growth of civilization. There was something dangerous about the hair, so people believed in almost every part of the world in early days.
To grow a beard was the natural thing to do. But to cut or shave it off was abnormal. No wonder that, early on, the beard became an object of man's anxious concern.
Men first cherished a beard for religious reasons. Primitive races were convinced that as hair grew out of man's body, it was saturated with his personality. Hence it had to be carefully guarded from possible foes.
It was firmly believed that a sympathetic link existed between a man and every part of his body, and that this continued even after the physical connection was broken. Thus, the man himself would suffer from any harm done to the clippings of his hair (or the parings of his nails, or his severed foreskin). This accounts for the centuries-old custom of burning cut hair (and nails), thereby preventing them from falling into the hands of an enemy who could use them for nefarious purposes.
The best course was not to cut the hair at all, which was soon looked upon as actually sacred and the seat of a god's spirit. If the hair was shorn, he would lose his abode and seek revenge. This explains why priests especially, and those dedicated to gods, never cut their hair. The sanctity of the hair made people swear by their beard as we do now by the \JBible\j.
Primitive man considered that even more sacred than his hair was his head. Merely to touch it was dangerous. Hence, the cutting of hair was a most perilous operation. It might inconvenience, if not injure, the in-dwelling spirit which, once its anger was roused, could do untold harm.
Thus man's earliest beard was faith-conditioned. But there were other aspects which further increased its importance and value. Women could not grow a beard (if they did, they were reckoned witches). Consequently, the beard was regarded as the special sign, privilege, and ornament of manhood. Indeed, it was explained as God's gift to man to distinguish him from woman.
Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian monuments display men with full, well-groomed beards. The men tended these with meticulous care, using tongs, \Jcurling\j - irons, and dyes. On festive occasions, they added scented, yellow starch and sprinkled it with gold dust to give the beard a golden sheen.
Shaving was then looked upon as perverted - it was against nature. If the gods had created man to sprout a beard, surely, to cut it off was against their will. To do so would not only antagonize them, but deprive the man of his dignity and male beauty.
That is why the cutting-off of beards was reserved for the defeated enemy, the dangerously sick and the bereaved. In the treatment of the foe, it was a sign of disgrace - he was thus branded. In the case of a leper, it called public attention to his dreaded disease and kept others away from infection. The mourner who shaved his hair originally did so to sacrifice it, as a vital and sacred part of himself, to the dead.
The growth of civilization soon restricted and regulated the beard's length. A long beard, and not a knighthood, was used to distinguish members of the aristocracy. That is why in early \JHebrew\j, for instance, an elder was called "the bearded one." To grasp a man by the beard showed intimate friendship. In the second millennium B.C., beards more than crowns were the sign of royalty, and for that reason kings (and queens!) wore false beards. These were made of metal and held in place by ribbons or chin-straps.
Continuously growing hair was regarded also, like the blood, as an expression of vitality. The beard certainly was an indication of mature manhood.
Eunuchs and young boys were beardless. It was therefore inevitable that primitive man further reasoned that a beard was not only an indication of virility, but its very source. It was actually the seat of man's strength. That is why a Samson (and others like him in the \Jmythology\j of many races) once bereft of his hair lost all his vigor. It was for that reason (and not later considerations of vanity) that men cherished the beard and lavished the greatest care on it.
"May God pluck your beard!" is still one of the most fearsome curses among some primitive \JBedouin\j tribes.
Apart from these earliest superstitions and concepts that lent special meaning and value to a man's beard, its fate often depended on particular circumstances of time and place, and its history is marked by the vanities and vicissitudes of human life.
Pagans used to round the hair of the head ceremoniously to dedicate its clippings to the gods. It was to combat this idolatrous practice that \JHebrew\j Scripture proscribed the cutting of "the corners of the beard." Eventually, a beardless man was thought to offend good taste and the Creator.
Alexander the Great, on the other hand, ordered his soldiers to shave off their beards because they presented convenient handles by which their enemies could grasp them.
In the time of Queen Elizabeth I, the English discovered a welcome source of revenue in beards. Anyone sprouting a beard of more than a fortnight's growth was taxed. The assessment was graded according to the man's social standing. The lowest rate was 3/4d. a beard per annum. This must certainly have prompted many a man to start shaving.
Frenchmen changed the fashion almost periodically. They did so not haphazardly, but out of respect to various kings. They grew beards under Francis I because he did so - in his case to hide an ugly scar on the chin. A hundred years later, they considered it proper to go around clean-shaven, as \JLouis XIII\j was beardless. Eighteenth-century Spaniards did not wear a beard because of their king's inability to grow one.
Beards became most popular among troops fighting in the \JCrimean War\j. They felt that a beard guarded against cold and \Jneuralgia\j. In a book published in 1860 by one "Theologos" and entitled "Shaving a breach of the Sabbath and a hindrance to the spread of the Gospels," it was stated that "the beard was a divinely provided chest-protector."
Its lack certainly was an impediment for young 19th century doctors, as a beard was then viewed as the trademark of an experienced physician. Without a beard, a doctor was without patients.
#
"First Bikini",784,0,0,0
The first bikini was shown in Paris on 5 July 1946 by Micheline Bernardini, a French model. It was called after the small \Jatoll\j in the North Pacific and part of the \JMarshall Islands\j which had been the scene of American atomic tests, detonations carried out shortly before with devastating effect. Bikini seemed an apt name for the scanty two-piece swim suit first known in \JFrance\j as \Ile minimum.\i The emotion it roused in men could be compared to the explosive result of the experiments on the \Jcoral\j reef. And did not the women thus clad look as denuded as the Bikini Island after the atomic explosion?
#
"First British Subject Buried in Australia - Forby Sutherland",785,0,0,0
Forby Sutherland was the first British subject buried in Australian soil and the first white man entombed on the east coast. A Scottish seaman, he was a member of Captain Cook's crew on HMS \IEndeavour.\i Suffering from tuberculosis, he had succumbed to the disease when the ship was anchored at \JBotany Bay\j.
Captain Cook, after having set foot on the Australian shore and claimed the land for King \JGeorge III\j, as his second duty attended to the sailor's burial. He had the body ferried ashore and put into a grave dug just above the high-water mark. To perpetuate the memory of the unfortunate seaman, he named part of this headland Point Sutherland.
A gravestone now marks the tomb, situated at the birthplace of the Australian nation, Kurnell. It was put up by the Royal Australian Historical Society in 1924, after an Aborigine had pointed out the site. Surrounded by large paving stones, the monument reads:
\IFORBY SUTHERLAND
A Seaman on the Endeavour
Under Captain Cook.
The First British Subject
To Die in \JAustralia\j.
Was Buried Here.
1st May (Log Date).
2nd May (Calendar Date). 1770.
R.A.H.S.\i
This sad event in the history of white people in \JAustralia\j is remembered by a live monument as well: a Sydney suburb and an entire shire, were called after Forby-Sutherland.
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"First Caesarean",786,0,0,0
The delivery of a child by cutting through the walls of the \Jabdomen\j is generally known as a Caesarean section. First-century Roman author Pliny was one of the earliest writers to refer to it by that name, listing "those (children) who have been cut out of the womb."
It is one of the oldest operations known and is mentioned in the \Jmythology\j of the ancient Romans, Indians, and Persians.
The first legendary "Caesarean" section was Apollo's removal of the babe Asklepios (the Greek rendering of Aesculapius) from the womb of the dead Koronis.
Bacchus, the Romans' god of wine and fertility, also is said to have been brought into the world in this manner.
Persian tradition tells of the lovely, moon-faced wife of King Sal. Being with child, her womb had grown to such enormous dimensions that she almost died. Then a Zoroastrian priest gave her a hypnotic drug so that she fell into a deep sleep. He cut open her body "to deliver a great, lusty son" - Rustam - who was to become the Persian Hercules. When the operation was over, the priest tidily sewed up the incision, which soon healed.
Oldest \JRoman law\j required that all women dying in an advanced stage of \Jpregnancy\j should be cut open to save the child. Numa Pompilius, first ruler of \JRome\j, had thus decreed (in the 8th century B.C.) that "if any woman died while she was pregnant, the child was to be cut out of her womb." It was one of the few operations which was whole-heartedly supported by the early Church.
Originally (and for almost 2,000 years), all Caesarean sections were performed on the mother's dead body. That is why the usual explanation - first introduced by Pliny - that we speak of a Caesarean because Julius Caesar himself was "from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd," is unhistorical and incorrect. We know through Caesar's own letters to his mother Aurelia that she must have survived his birth by many years.
Much more likely is the suggestion that the term was first coined simply because, in the Latin way of speaking, it was an exact description of what was being done. The Latin word for "to cut out" is \Icaedere.\i And because the earliest member of Caesar's family, Scipio Africanus, was born by excising him from his dead mother's body, he was given the name \ICaesar.\i To celebrate and commemorate his miraculous, unnatural way of birth, his father called him "the cut out one" - Caesar.
The first printed illustration of a Caesarean operation appeared not in a medical but in a biographical work, "The Lives of the First 12 Caesars," by Suetonius. Written in the 2nd century A.D., its first printed edition appeared in 1506 and included a drawing of the actual surgical delivery. This was used as the frontispiece of the book in its second printing.
The first account of a Caesarean operation which the mother survived is dramatic. It was performed (about 1500 A.D.) not by a doctor or midwife, but by a husband, to save his wife's life. He was Jacob Nufer of Sigershaufen. In great distress he watched his wife's labor going from bad to worse, without her being able to deliver the child. He knew nothing about \Jobstetrics\j but he was an efficient sow-gelder. On the spur of the moment he took a razor and with it cut out the child.
Where 13 midwives had failed, he succeeded. In later years his wife gave birth to six other children. The "Caesarean boy" lived to the age of 77.
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"First Cat's Eyes",787,0,0,0
Motorists who blame cats as a traffic hazard ought to realize and recognize how much they owe to the cat! A cat's eyes proved a life-saver, and not merely metaphorically so.
It all happened not so long ago, in 1933, in England. Percy Shaw, a Yorkshire motorist, was driving along a road which led him from his \JHalifax\j home to Bradford. Thick fog made it hard to see anything. In fact, Percy would have crashed through a fence down a steep embankment, had it not been for a cat sitting at that very spot. His headlights reflecting in its eyes made him stop instantly, avoiding a possibly fatal accident.
It was an experience Percy could not easily forget. After all, a cat's eyes may have saved his life. With business acumen and concern for other motorists, he capitalized on his narrow escape. Why not produce artificial cats' eyes, he thought. Losing no time in realizing the idea, he manufactured the first light reflecting studs. To test them, he selected cross roads near Bradford, noted for their high accident rate.
His "eyes" must have caught on, as in the following year Shaw established his own company. Appropriately he called it, "Reflecting Road Studs Ltd." It did not take long for the studs to circle the globe.
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"First Court Reporter",788,0,0,0
Moses has been cited as the first law reporter. The case of which he left an account concerned the inheritance rights of five orphaned daughters.
In the absence of male heirs, they petitioned the court that they should be allowed to inherit their father Zelophehad's estate. It was a request without precedent at the time. After due recess of the court, judgment was delivered in favor of the applicants. With it, a new law of intestate succession was enacted.
Objectively and in considerable detail, Moses gave account of the proceedings, quoted in Scripture (Num. 27.1-11).
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"First Diet",789,0,0,0
Modern man is diet-conscious. Fundamentally, the keeping of a diet is a restriction of one's food-intake. To preserve good health and thereby to prevent premature death, it excludes certain items. The very beginning of the \JBible\j prescribes such a diet, even warning of the consequences should it not be followed. Whilst still in the garden of Eden and living on a vegetarian diet, Scripture tells, Adam was informed by God that he could freely eat of the fruit of every tree - except one; "for on the day you eat of it, you will surely die" (Gen. 2.17).
It is interesting to note that according to biblical tradition therefore the first regulation issued to man concerned the preservation of life and was a dietary law. Modern sects, the \JMormons\j in particular, actually suggest that "the forbidden fruit" was food unfit for man, and that by disregarding the divinely ordained diet, he became vulnerable to disease and death.
Indeed, many early food laws had ritual significance, rather than nutritional import.
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"First Dozen",790,0,0,0
Twelve completed the original counting and the galaxy of figures. It stemmed from the ancient Sumerians who, it is thought, first introduced the sexagesimal system which is at its basis - and sixty, of course, is five times twelve.
The twelve signs of the Zodiac and the subsequent division of the year into twelve months gave the number its special status. But there were even more significant reasons which account for the prominent place the 12 came to occupy in the minds and lives of men. They were fascinated by the multiple divisibility of the figure - by 2, 3, and 4 - and were awed by the realization that it combined the qualities of the mystic 5 and the magic 7 which added up to make 12. To top it all, the sum of the digits of 12 led back to the holy trinity.
It is no wonder therefore that a figure invested with such value came to dominate so much in life. There were the twelve tribes in the \JOld Testament\j and the twelve Apostles in the New. Hercules had to execute twelve labors and a jury is constituted of "twelve men good and true."
The twelfth night - 5 January - had its own mystic significance far back in pre-Christian Roman times. Shakespeare's play of that name made the \ITwelfth Night\i especially famous. He had called it that because he had written it to be performed as part of the celebrations on that night.
Prior to the introduction of the \Jdecimal system\j, Englishmen and countries which adopted their monetary system, used to count their pennies in lots of twelve. A dozen of them made up one shilling.
The figure 12 was so distinguished that it was hard to beat. Anything following it was like an anti-climax, which caused 13 to become so unlucky.
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"First Father Christmas",791,0,0,0
The picture of a pot-bellied, bearded and bell-ringing Father Christmas we know is of even more recent origin than \JSanta Claus\j. He was created by Thomas Nast, a North American cartoonist, in drawings he made for \IHarper's Weekly\i during a period of 20 years from 1863 onwards. He based the pictures on Clement Clarke Moore's poem, gradually developing Moore's small, fat, elf-like creature into the Father Christmas now known to all.
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"First Fire Chief",792,0,0,0
\BAndrew Torning\b
Dwellers in \JAustralia\j's early cities, like people living in the bush, had to depend on volunteer fire fighters. To have one's home burn down was an ever-present danger when buildings were made of timber and roofed with shingles.
For many years, insurance companies provided the service. They did so, however, exclusively for those who had taken out a policy with them. For this purpose, they identified the clients' homes with their company's badge.
It was only from the 1850s onward that voluntary brigades were established. At times several existed side by side in the same city, vying with each other to arrive first at the scene of conflagration, as payment went to those who brought "the first water."
Sydney's first fire chief, Andrew Torning, is buried in the independent section of the Rookwood Cemetery. By trade a decorator, he founded the Old Royal Alfred Volunteer Fire Brigade No 1 which was to extinguish many a city fire. His headstone makes no mention of his historical "first." It merely states:
\IANDREW TORNING
Who died on Good Friday
morning April 13th 1900
Aged 85 Years\i
He was born in the East End of London. According to his death certificate, at the time of his passing he had resided for "about fifty years" in \JNew South Wales\j. His last home had been in Manly.
Torning's rarely remembered distinction was his pioneer work in the cause of fire fighting. He was the founder and first president of the Volunteer Firemen's Association. As such, he represented the association on the board of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
Torning died from congestion of the lungs at his grand-daughter's home. From Manly, his body was ferried by steamer to Circular Quay, to be met there by members of his old company. They placed the coffin on his old fire engine, which they drove to the mortuary station, there to entrain for Rookwood.
On arrival there, Torning's coffin was carried to the grave on the old "Rookwood Manual," with a large procession following this unique and historical hearse. The mourners included 90 members of the Western Suburbs Volunteer Firemen's Association and 19 of Torning's great-grandchildren. It had been 45 years since he had founded his volunteer brigade.
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"First Fleeter",793,0,0,0
\BPeter Hibbs\b
The Laughtondale Cemetery on the south bank of the Hawkesbury River near Wiseman's Ferry, \JNew South Wales\j, is not only beautifully situated, but is also historic ground. Among its early graves is that of Peter Hibbs who, according to a plaque on his memorial, affixed in 1985 by the Fellowship of First Fleeters, arrived with the \JFirst Fleet\j on 26 January 1788.
The epitaph itself, more than 140 years old now and kept in excellent condition, is specially valuable by its choice of words and their spelling:
\ISacred
to
the Memory of
Peter Hibbs Who
Departed This Life
12 Sepr 1847 Eged 90 Yrs
Pass a Few Swiftly Fleeting
Yrs
And All That Now in Bodies Live
Shall Quit Like Me the Vale of
Tears Their Righteous
Sentence to Receive\i
Hibbs claimed to have been the second Englishman to set foot on (eastern) Australian soil. One of the crew of the \IEndeavour,\i he had been among the men Captain Cook sent off in a boat at \JBotany Bay\j on the memorable day of 28 April 1770, to accompany Joseph Banks in his search for water and to explore the coast. According to the \IAustralian\i of 30 April 1890, Hibbs was privileged to be "the next man to jump ashore after the distinguished naturalist."
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"First Footer",794,0,0,0
The most famous New Year custom is "first footing." It originated in Scotland and is still observed. It goes back to the old tradition that whoever first "set foot" into a home after the new year had started, decided the family's luck for the rest of the year. This is based on man's early belief in the magic power of beginnings. The start of the new year controlled its future course.
Most welcome as a "first footer" was a tall, dark-haired man, especially if he carried a gift. He was a harbinger of good things to come. Magically, his handsome features would make the year a pleasant one and his gift of an essential item - such as a loaf of bread or, in earlier days, a shovel of coal would ensure that there would be no lack of food or warmth in the house.
A woman, anyone fair-haired or, worst of all, a man who was short and cross-eyed, would prove disastrous, presaging bad days to come. It was not surprising, therefore, that people sometimes, subtly arranged for the right kind of visitor to arrive.
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"First Frozen Food",795,0,0,0
Meat shipped from \JAustralia\j unexpectedly froze and on arrival was discovered to have kept so well that the "accident" was adopted as a method, giving birth to modern refrigeration.
A patent for the new freezing process was taken out by the Australian engineer Eugene D. Nicolle in 1861. The first refrigerated cargo despatched from Sydney to London reached its destination unspoiled and in a most satisfactory condition on the Strathleven in 1880. It was one of \JAustralia\j's gifts to the world bestowed quite by chance.
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"First Game of Hazard",796,0,0,0
The military expeditions of European Christian powers of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, undertaken in an attempt to recapture the Holy Land from the Moslems, had the most unexpected side-effects in enriching the life of the West. The range of customs and products introduced from the East at this time extends even to games and sports.
In one campaign, Crusaders had encircled \JMoslem\j fighters in the fortress of Ain Zarba. For a long time neither side seemed to gain the upper hand, and the besieged warriors, to pass the time, invented a game of dice. Lacking a name, they just called it "the dice," in Arabic \Ial-zahr.\i When eventually the fortress was conquered, with many of the Moslems slain, their game survived. Taken back to Europe, with its name slightly altered, it became known as \Ihasart\i in Old French. In England this became \Ihazard,\i a form of the word applied in a variety of games and sports, including "real" tennis, \Jbilliards\j and golf. It never lost its original gambling connotation from Crusader days and thus still refers to taking a risk.
William of Tyre, who lived at the time of the \JCrusades\j, suggested another \Jetymology\j, still linked with the religious struggle between East and West and that same fortress. \IHazard,\i he guessed, was a corruption of the name of the castle, Ain Zarba.
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"First Hearing Aid",797,0,0,0
Concerned with those hard of hearing, PΦre Sebastian (Jean Truchet), a Carmelite monk (b. 1657), invented the ear trumpet. A long horn, it had a large opening at one end, to face the source of sound, and a narrow aperture at the other, to fit into the ear.
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"First Horse Racing Tracks",798,0,0,0
To foster horse-racing the Greeks built hippodromes. These were 600 yards long, (546 m), rectangular structures, with pillars at either end around which the chariots had to turn. These were light, two-wheeled carts with a platform for the driver, who was protected from falling off by rails in front and on the sides. He was dressed in a long, white tunic which he fastened around his waist. In one hand he held the whip and in the other the reins. Sometimes as many as 40 teams competed in a run over a distance of almost nine miles (14.40 km).
The Romans inherited the Greek races which they continued to hold, chiefly with chariots drawn by two to four horses. At the very center of the city the Romans built a vast race-course at which a day's full program comprised 24 events. The driver now doomed a short tunic, had the reins tied around his body and, to be able to cut them in an emergency, carried a knife in his girdle.
Promoters of racing formed companies ("syndicates"). These had their own stables whose horses and charioteers vied with each other on the course. They identified themselves and their property by certain colours which also were worn by the drivers. Originally there were four syndicates, eventually to be reduced to two - "blue" and "green." Spectators (who in the fourth century AD numbered up to 200,000) displayed their favorite color on which they put their wagers. Races roused tremendous enthusiasm which at times deteriorated into riots. Successful riders were idolized.
The Romans carried horse-racing with them in their conquests and introduced their best stock into the invaded countries. The building of hippodromes also was part of Roman world civilization.
Modern organized horse-racing is primarily of English origin. When, in 55 BC, Caesar invaded Britain, his forces encountered among the tribes highly trained charioteers using native horses. During the Roman occupation, Queen Boadicea and her people, the tribe of \JIceni\j, resided on Newmarket Heath (the future famous site of horse-racing). Significantly, their coins of gold and silver carried on the reverse side the effigy of a horse.
The earliest horse-race recorded in England took place at Netherby, Yorkshire, in AD 210. Organized by the Roman soldiers, it was a contest between Arabian steeds, imported into the country by Emperor Severus Septimus.
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"First Hospitals",799,0,0,0
From the fifth century, the Church was concerned with the welfare of travelers. Those who ventured beyond the confines of their own country, needed protection and shelter. To offer them hospitality, the Church founded "guest houses." Appropriately these became known as \Ihospices,\i from the Latin for "guest."
The need for such hostels was multiplied during the \JCrusades\j, when thousands of men made their way from all over Europe to the Holy Land. It necessitated, not only the enlargement of those already in existence, but the addition of many others. This, in turn, created a vastly increased demand for dedicated people who would look after the hospices and their guests.
To solve the problem, special religious orders were founded, of which that of the Knights \JHospitallers\j was the most prominent. Their headquarters, established in the eleventh century, became a "\Jhospital\j" in \JJerusalem\j. \I(\JHospital\j,\i after all, from the Latin \Ihospitalis,\i merely meant "relating to a guest.")
Eventually, the members of the Order added to their original duties of providing hospitality, the care of the sick. It was an almost inevitable development, for pilgrims and Crusaders frequently took ill or were wounded on their arduous journeys and needed special attention.
In the fifteenth century, hospitals ceased to serve as guest houses. This function was taken over by "private enterprise," forerunners of the modern hotel, its name merely a corruption of \Ihospital.\i Hospitals, on the other hand, made it their particular task to look after the wounded, the infirm and the aged. Ultimately, totally specialized, they confined their work to the function of the modern \Jhospital\j, the treatment of the sick and injured.
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"First Ink",800,0,0,0
An ancient Greek word for a branding iron is the base of the modern word \Iink.\i Literally this means "burnt in" and refers to the custom of sealing by heat both wounds - cauterizing them - and colors- fixing them more durably. The Greek \Ienkauston\i and Latin \Iincaustum\i became the names reserved for the (Tyrian) purple fluid with which Greek and Roman emperors signed official documents.
The earliest use of ink dates back to \JEgypt\j and the 4th millennium B.C. Then it was not a liquid but a dry substance, made chiefly from soot scraped from cooking pots or, in the form of carbon, from charcoal. This ink was kept in small cakes and was made liquid by mixing it with either water or gum.
Independently, the Chinese began to use carbon ink about 2000 B.C. According to tradition, the inventor was T'ien Chu. In both China and \JJapan\j, pine soot and lamp black served as a base.
The \JOld Testament\j mentions the use of ink only once. Baruch, Jeremiah's secretary, relates how he recorded what the \Jprophet\j dictated to him: "He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book."
Carbon ink of that early type could easily be washed off. Additives of vinegar and wormwood were thought to make it more durable and to repel mice. But drawbacks soon became apparent. Once mixed, the ink thickened in no time and clogged the pen. With the introduction of parchment as a writing material, the carbon-liquid proved even less satisfactory. Something more fluid and more permanent was needed.
Scribes realized that ink with a mineral mixture had the advantage of penetrating the material, although sometimes it also gradually destroyed it. This resulted in the introduction of an iron-gall liquid. It was known to the Hebrews as early as the 6th century B.C. and is still retained in principle.
Even colored inks were produced in most remote times. However, except for red, they were applied only to drawing. The Egyptians made their red ink from cinnabar and used it for several purposes. It indicated the final sum in their accounts, and marked the beginning of paragraphs in their writings. Not least, they wrote the names of evil creatures in red, for this was the color of hostile powers.
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"First Juries",801,0,0,0
Juries had their beginnings in ancient Greek days and among Teutonic tribes. Many theories have been advanced as to their origin. Equally, there has been much controversy as to whence and how the jury-system found its way to England.
Trial by jury is now a proud part of the British judicial system. It is democracy at its best (at least in the opinion of many), as the people themselves are given an opportunity to determine the facts of a trial. Though, as is proper, questions of law and punishment are left to the judge.
Formerly, however, a jury served a completely different purpose. It was used not to foster democracy but to ensure the rights of the king and to enforce his rule.
It is now generally agreed that the jury system reached England by way of the Norman-French kings. Anxious to establish their power, they used to summon a body of neighbors - the original jury. These were compelled to "take an oath," which is the literal meaning of "jury," stemming from the French, that the would tell the truth and never mislead their royal master.
Through their appointment, the king was able to obtain all essential information for the administration of the district in which they resided.
When William I came to England he, too, was concerned, first of all, to establish the supremacy of the crown and therefore made equal use of a system of jurors. Summoned by the king's representative, the royal judge, they had to supply him with the correct facts concerning their county. They were obliged to do so by oath.
Later, a jury - to be known as a "Grand Jury" - assumed another significant role, although still completely divorced from it modern asks. In 1166, a statute issued by Henry II ordained that 12 lawful men from each 100 should be sworn to accuse criminals so that they might be presented for the ordeal. In 1215, as a direct result of the elimination of the ordeal, the jury itself was called upon to try the accused.
It was not until the 17th century that the present-day principle, that jurors are merely judges of fact, was firmly established. They no longer took part in the verdict nor could they act as witnesses.
Originally, juries consisted of a considerable number of men. Eventually this proved too cumbersome for practical purposes. What was needed was a convenient number of jurors, not too big to become unmanageable, but still large enough to present a good cross-section of the public.
Why 12 men came to be chosen has been explained in various ways. Sources cited were the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 officers appointed by King Solomon (as recorded in I Kings IV) and the 12 Apostles. However, the last claim is rather unfortunate. It would imply that there was a Judas on every jury.
\JSubconscious\j memories of the significance of the figure 12 may have contributed to its selection. \JAnglo-Saxons\j appear always to have had an abhorrence of the \Jdecimal system\j and therefore shunned the number 10. Eleven or 13, being indivisible, somehow did not seem right, either. But the dozen was favorably received. Just as the shilling had 12 pennies, "12 good men and true" were considered to make up the right value.
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"First Man to Keep Tame Platypus",802,0,0,0
On the way to the popular Sir Colin MacKenzie wildlife sanctuary is the Healesville Cemetery. Few of the thousands of people passing it realize that buried in its grounds is Robert Eadie, the first man to tame a \Jplatypus\j. The inscription on the simple slab covering his grave does not mention it, though its words suggest a colorful life.
Born at Sunbury, Victoria, on 10 June 1863, Eadie spent much of his working life in South Africa. A coalmining engineer, he became a colliery owner and was elected the Mayor of Witbank in the \JTransvaal\j. During the Boer War, he helped to hide Winston Churchill and to ensure his safe return to the British lines. Not least, Eadie was instrumental in persuading President Kruger to establish the renowned \JKruger National Park\j.
Eadie returned to \JAustralia\j in his late fifties, to become the first (honorary) curator of the Healesville Sanctuary. Indeed, he built some of its enclosures himself. He was anxious to see reservations established throughout \JAustralia\j "for the education and enjoyment of the people and to save for those who are to follow us, the world's most interesting animals." One of \JAustralia\j's earliest conservationists, he wanted people to urge the government "to set aside areas where the fauna of the country could live and multiply without molestation," before the enemy - man - destroyed them.
Whilst in charge of the sanctuary, Eadie succeeded in catching a \Jplatypus\j. He built the first "platypussary" in the world, to serve as a happy home for his precious acquisition.
Eadie and "Splash," as he came to call his pet, established a rare and trusting relationship. The \Jplatypus\j enjoyed a life of luxury, of true animal liberation. Concerned to keep Splash happy, Eadie invented numerous games to play with his charge. Its favorite toy was a kitchen mop, pulled along in the water by Eadie. Splash would chase it, eventually to cling to it and be lifted out of the water.
Splash died of old age. Records show that during the four and a half years of its sojourn in the sanctuary, the \Jplatypus\j had consumed a total of three-quarters of a tonne of food. The fare consisted of a mixture of prawns, beetlegrub, eggs and - the most expensive item - earthworms. Throughout its stay, Splash had entertained 12,000 visitors.
Splash was the first \Jplatypus\j to be observed by humans, and Eadie was able to collect much new data on this \Jmammal\j. He recorded them in his \IThe Life and Habits of the \JPlatypus\j,\i yet another of Eadie's "firsts" in scientific literature.
Eadie, who was decorated with an MBE, died at the age of 86 at his home "Glen Eadie" in Healesville on 10 June 1949. Many prominent leaders of the Australian community came to his funeral to pay him the last respects he so much deserved.
#
"First Monday in September",803,0,0,0
\BAmerican Labor Day\b
Work ethics have always been a distinguishing feature of the American people. In keeping with this tradition, the United States came to select a special day with the dignity of labor as its major theme. It was to be different and separate from the European May Day and to express the special contribution that hard work had made to the nation. It was, indeed, a public tribute to American workers. Labor Day was introduced by a law passed by Congress in 1894. It was proclaimed a public holiday, to be celebrated on the first Monday in September.
Its early champion was Peter J. McGuire, General Secretary of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. As early as 1882 he had drawn the attention of his countrymen to the fact that, though there were holidays of religious, civil and military significance, none was "representative of the industrial spirit - the great vital force of every nation." It was McGuire, indeed, who suggested the date. It had no historic meaning but "would come at the most pleasant season of the year, nearly midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, and would fill a wide gap in the chronology of legal holidays."
Labor Day involves the entire American nation, and not exclusively the worker. Ultimately, it became a holiday for families. As it falls at the very end of summer, and just before the start of the new school year, families spend it on outings and picnics.
#
"First Mountaineers",804,0,0,0
The earliest attempts at climbing mountains certainly were far removed from sport.
The Greek philosopher Empedocles, a follower of Pythagoras, is said to have ascended Mount Etna (10,880 feet - 3,264 m) in 433 BC merely to throw himself into its crater, so that by his sudden disappearance people would think he was a god. But his plan went awry. The Elery mountain spewed out one of his bronzed sandals, thereby showing that he had been swallowed up and had not been raised to divine status! Another version of the legend tells that Empedocles actually had hoped to survive and thereby prove his immortality. However, in anger, the gods had punished him by causing the \Jvolcano\j's flames to consume his body.
The Roman Emperor Trajan and the Macedonian King \JPhilip V\j climbed mountains. They did so solely for national and military reasons: to survey territory and devise strategy.
When, many centuries later (in 1335), the Italian poet \JPetrarch\j read of Philip's \Jmountaineering\j, he was so inspired by the account that he decided, out of curiosity, to repeat the feat near his retreat at Vaucluse in the French Maritime Alps. The breathtaking view and the rarity of the air (on a 6,430 - foot - high - 1,929 m - peak) dazed him, and in sublime elation he related how the experience made him raise his soul, "as I had done my body," to higher planes.
Immediately on his return he wrote to his spiritual adviser in a mood of exaltation: "I have this day ascended the highest mountain in this district for the purpose of seeing the remarkable altitude of the place." He also spoke of the moral lesson the climb had taught him: "How steadily must we labor to put under our feet, not a speck of elevated earth but the appetites of our terrestial impulses." To him, the ascent indeed had proved to be, as it were, a sermon in mountains.
Another difficult climb was the first ascent of Mt Aiguille, near \JGrenoble\j, carried out in 1492 by order of King Charles VIII. The very fact that it was done not voluntarily but by royal command disqualifies it from being considered sport.
Apart from these occasional feats of \Jmountaineering\j, for many centuries people continued to shun mountains and did so out of fear or mere indifference. Some still regarded the forbidding heights as realms of \Jsupernatural\j danger, shrouded not only in clouds but in mystery. God (or the gods) had created them, it was firmly believed, not to be ascended by man, but to be left alone as a divine domain.
However, a more enlightened faith eventually made man take up climbing. He did so not yet for its own sake but to challenge and destroy the taboos and outdated notions as well as to foster research and to experience the beauty of nature in its most sublime and unspoiled form.
The first such ascent of a mountain - in the Swiss Alps - was made in 1387 by six clergymen. A legend told how, by condemning and crucifying Christ, Pontius Pilate had angered the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar. Recalled to \JRome\j, Pilate was imprisoned and sentenced to death. But he anticipated the execution by taking his own life.
This, of course, greatly displeased the emperor who, to save face, pointed out that suicide was the most humiliating kind of death. To show his contempt for Pilate even posthumously, he had his body, weighted down with heavy stones, thrown into the river Tiber. However, this scheme too did not go according to Caesar's plan. The evil spirits living in the river were so exuberant at gaining the company of so bad a man that they stirred up a tempest.
Panic-stricken, the emperor commanded that the body be immediately removed from the Tiber, this time to be cast into the Rhone far away, but with almost identical result. The local demons' boisterous celebration at having Pilate in their midst frightened the population so much that, before any harm could be done, they retrieved his body from the water and sent it on to \JLausanne\j.
Aware of previous happenings, the \JLausanne\j citizens apprehending trouble for themselves, had the unwelcome body carried all the way up a steep mountain, to be dropped, near its summit, into a marshy lake.
Ever since, people were warned against climbing this mountain which, appropriately, was called after Pilate himself - Pilatus. (In reality, the name has no connection with Pontius Pilate but is derived from \Imons pileatus\i - "the cloud-capped mountain.")
Tradition further relates that once every year Pilate was permitted to leave the lake and, wrapped in a scarlet cloak, to relax on a rock. Anyone unfortunate enough to catch sight of him on the occasion was doomed to die within the year. As no one knew the exact date of Pilate's annual \Jresurrection\j from his watery grave, it was wise to shun the mountain at all times. If, nevertheless, people dared to climb it, they were never to throw a stone into the lake, as this would rouse Pilate's anger who, in revenge, would stir up tempestuous winds and appear in the neighboring city of \JLucerne\j on the next \JGood Friday\j.
People firmly believed this story. Even the local government acted on the \Jsuperstition\j and, to avoid any possible disaster, banned all ascents under threat of punishment.
In spite of it, six ecclesiastics defied the order. They were determined once and for all to destroy the superstitious fear that had kept people in dread for so long a time. They climbed Mt Pilatus and, as they had expected, their venture caused neither tempests nor an avalanche, but only their own imprisonment by the orthodox government of \JLucerne\j. It was a price well worth paying as, after all, they had succeeded in their fight against obscurantism. In their mission, they also became pioneers of \Jmountaineering\j.
Almost 150 years later (in 1518) yet another minister of religion (of the Reformed Church) and three friends repeated the feat. They even hurled stones into the lake. Apart from temporary ripples, their action roused neither Pilate nor demons. However, the stones killed the last vestiges of \Jsuperstition\j linked with the mountain.
#
"First Olympic 'Medals'",805,0,0,0
Victors were looked upon with awe as men whom the gods had favoured with invincibility. They were crowned with a garland of twigs from the wild olive tree. This wreath - the forerunner of all our modern medals - was not merely decorative and symbolic of victory.
Greeks firmly believed in the myth that it had been plucked from a sacred tree \JHeracles\j himself had brought from the land of the Hyperboreans, a country of perpetual sunshine, free from disease, violence, and war. He had planted it in the sacred grove near the temple of Zeus at Olympia. It possessed magical qualities, imparting some of its sanctity to the wearer. As in the case of a king, the crown bestowed on the recipient divine honor and "likened him to the great god Zeus himself, whose glorious image at Olympia wore a similar wreath."
As the years passed, winners of the contests were awarded additional privileges, including tax-exemption for life and a permanent seat of honor in the local theater. At the expense of his native city, a life-sized statue of each victor could be erected in the sacred grove of the plain of Elis. Nothing equaled the triumphant homecoming of a victor. The most famous poets praised him in odes and all joined in hymns exalting him. He was driven in a chariot drawn by white horses to the temple of the chief deity of his city. There he placed on the altar, as a thanksgiving, the wreath he had won.
For many centuries the Olympics prospered and grew ever more in importance and extent. In 708 BC the \JPentathlon\j (from the Greek meaning "five-contest") was introduced. It consisted of five \I(pente)\i separate events: the footrace, leaping, spear-throwing, discus-hurling, and wrestling. Then (in 688 BC) boxing and (in 680 BC) chariot races became part of the Games as well, and eventually they included 24 different competitions. This indeed was a majestic growth out of small, obscure beginnings.
#
"First Olympics",806,0,0,0
Early in the history of \JGreece\j, the practice of \Jathletics\j and \Jgymnastics\j became a national pursuit. Second to none was the importance the Greeks attached to seeking a healthy mind in a healthy body, and they glorified sporting champions in their epics and poems, as the writings of Homer testify.
They believed that contests of strength not only invigorated the body but moulded the mind; that they were not simply peaceful preparations for winning wars (of which there were plenty), but that they helped to renew the spirit of the departed and to win the aid of the gods.
No wonder, therefore, that the \JOlympic Games\j, once they had been regularly established, began to dominate Greek life, so much so indeed that the Greeks counted their years according to the Olympiads. In a nation that made even its calendar subject to sport, it was not surprising that traditions arose that regarded the Games not only as a national institution, but being of divine origin, or linked at least with the earliest national heroes. Greek \Jmythology\j contains many legends which trace the beginnings of the Games into the distant past. This in itself could explain the sacred character with which they were invested.
Linked with the very mist of legend is the tradition that Zeus himself was the creator of the Games. He and Cronos were then the most powerful gods and in a \Jtitanic\j struggle wrestled with each other on the lofty peaks for possession of the Earth. Zeus won the combat and to celebrate his victory, and commemorate it for all time, the Games were held in the valley below.
Best known is the myth that associates the birth of the Olympics with the cleaning of a cowshed - the saga of Augeas, King of Elis and owner of a herd of 3,000 oxen. His rule extended over the very district in which Olympia is situated. Rich pasture land had enabled a multitude of \Jcattle\j and horses to flourish, resulting in such an enormous amount of filth that the countryside, as well as the stables, were overflowing with it. In fact, Augeas' stables had not been cleaned for 30 years.
It seemed that only someone endowed with superhuman power could carry out the task. The hero \JHeracles\j, who had just completed yet another (the fourth) of his famous feats, undertook to clean the stables in a single day. Augeas agreed to pay him one tenth of his herds, if he did so in that period.
\JHeracles\j gladly accepted the challenge and carried out his contract in a most unexpected manner. He diverted the rivers Alpheus and Peneus so that they ran straight through the "Augean stables," flushing out all the filth and dung.
Augeas certainly did not like the way \JHeracles\j had won his prize, and outwitted him. In anger, he gathered a force to attack and kill \JHeracles\j. However, he himself was slain. To perpetuate his victory, \JHeracles\j consecrated the grove of Olympia and inaugurated the Games which ever since have been called by its name.
Two generations further back in the Greek mystical past is another legend which links the \JOlympic Games\j with \JPelops\j, the grandfather of \JHeracles\j, whose name is recalled by the Peloponese peninsula in the south of \JGreece\j. \JPelops\j had fallen in love with Hippodameia and asked Oenomaus, her father, for her hand. This was refused. Some suggest that an oracle had warned Oenomaus that he would be killed by his son-in-law or his offspring. Others claim that he himself was in love with his daughter. Who then could blame him if, on either count, he raised strong objections to any suitor?
Yet to do so without giving a feasible reason, was out of the question. So, cunningly, he contrived a scheme which he was sure would work to his advantage. A champion charioteer and owning the swiftest horses, he challenged each suitor to a chariot race extending from Olympia to the Isthmus of \JCorinth\j. The prize was Hippodameia, the penalty of defeat for the suitor, death. To appear more than fair, he gave the prospective son-in-law a head start, while he offered a sacrifice at the mountain. In 13 contests the race was his and on each occasion he slew the luckless suitor when overtaking him.
In \JPelops\j, however, he found his match, if not in racing the chariot, in cunning. Before the race, \JPelops\j succeeded in bribing Oenomaus' groom, who substituted wax pins in the axles of his regal master's chariot with the result that it crashed during the race, and Oenomaus was killed.
\JPelops\j wed Hippodameia, and on the hallowed ground of Olympia, established the Games in celebration and as a thanksgiving for his treble triumph: his victory, his marriage, and his father-in-law's death. It was rather a homicidal beginning of a contest pursued now for peace.
Another myth, recorded by the Greek writer Pausanias, credits a different \JHeracles\j with the inauguration of the Games. He was the eldest of the five Dactyl brothers who had protected the infant Zeus on Mount Ida, in \JCrete\j. The five had gone to Elis to pay homage to Cronos, who had been the lord of the universe before the time of the Olympic gods. \JHeracles\j had then organized a footrace at Olympia with his brothers and crowned the winner with a wreath of wild olive branches he had brought from a far-off land. Thus the Games and the beautiful custom of awarding the victor a crown of wild olives originated. Because the brothers were five ("the five fingers of Ida"), the Games were held every fifth year.
(This apparently differs from our tradition that the Games take place every fourth year. It must be realized, however, that the ancient Greeks determined the date of the festival by the passage of four full years from the previous celebration, so that actually the next Games were scheduled in the fifth year. A carving of five interlocked rings on an altar in the stadium of Delphi symbolized this five-year cycle. In fact, this very design has become the modern symbol of the \JOlympic Games\j. Reinterpreted, it is now understood to represent the five continents and a contest in which men and women of the most diverse races and nations meet and compete.)
Surely, as Strabo, the Greek historian, noted two thousand years ago, all of these myths must be discounted as unreal. Yet they indicate the veneration that was paid to the \JOlympic Games\j in those distant days. Also, there is no doubt that out of the mystery and obscurity of the \Jmythology\j that surrounds their inception, many a grain of truth can be gathered as to how it all began.
The choice of Olympia for the site of the Games had its manifold reasons: theological, political, and practical. So closely linked with the gods, it was a most sacred region, ensuring the gods' presence and protection. It also was, at it were, politically neutral territory and therefore would not arouse feelings of jealousy as would have happened had the Games been held in any of the participants' own cities. Finally, the vastness of the plain bounded by the rivers Alpheus and Cladeus made it possible for large crowds to assemble.
When the "first" \JOlympic Games\j were held in 776 BC, they were not truly the first of their kind but are only described as such because the oldest records of winners stem from that time. The Games were patterned on much more ancients sacred rites, tracing back thousands of years, to the Asian steppes, to funeral games to honor and propitiate the departed. It is quite probable that Indo-European races, when eventually they invaded \JGreece\j from the north, brought with them the strange tradition.
The ancient Greeks already believed that man's death did not mean his complete \Jextinction\j. His spirit survived in some "shady" form and he continued to dwell near his former abode. Thus, honoring the dead still so near, and thereby keeping their goodwill, was not just piety but an anxious concern for self-preservation.
For this purpose, early Greek chieftains appointed certain days or seasons during which, they were convinced, the spirits of the dead would join them and, though invisible themselves, watch them closely.
The living therefore considered it their solemn duty to entertain the dead as living persons by taking part in what had been the favorite pursuit of the departed on earth. The setting aside of a special day for this would give the dead greatest pleasure, and reinforce their waning strength. Chieftains, or their delegates, went around anxiously collecting data on essential items for the program, whose range grew very wide indeed.
#
"First Orchestra",807,0,0,0
A significant feature of the early Greek drama, the forerunner of all theater, was a series of odes. These were sung and danced by a chorus, placed directly in front of the stage. The assigned area was called by the Greek word for "to dance" - \Iorkhestra.\i
When in Roman times stagecraft lost its sacred character, the "dancing chorus" was disbanded. Their space was taken over by the musicians who previously had been located aloft on a balcony.
However progressive they may be, people do not abandon ancient customs and expressions, even if these are based on notions that have become outdated and no longer make sense. The musicians now sitting where once the solemn dance took place are still known as "the orchestra," but they, and we, are largely unaware of the meaning of their name and its religious roots - according to which they should still perform a sacred dance.
#
"First Ouija Boards",808,0,0,0
From earliest beginnings, man has used "natural" means to catch a glance beyond the curtain that hid the future from him, and to get into contact with the \Jsupernatural\j. But in modern times he also devised artificial aids to help him in his endeavors. One of the more popular ones in spiritualist circles became the \Jouija board\j.
Manufactured in various forms and designs, the board is generally made of polished wood or a plastic substitute. It carried the letters of the alphabet, the numbers zero to nine and significant one-word "answers," like "yes," "no," or "maybe," arranged in a diverse pattern.
The board in itself only "works" in conjunction with the marker or pointer which is technically known as a planchette. This, indeed, is the most important instrumental part in the entire procedure. Actually, it existed before the board and, as its name indicates, originated in \JFrance\j.
Planchette is the diminutive of \Iplanche,\i the French for "plank" and therefore refers to a small piece of timber. The French then came to apply it to a specific gadget which they invented to facilitate "spirit communication." It was a little board of wood, mounted on casters, that held a pencil. By lightly resting the fingertips on it, the medium would put it into motion without actually (or noticeably) directing it. The planchette then would trace out on paper (with its pencil) written "messages" or "spirit pictures."
The addition of the board merely further mechanized and accelerated the process. The message received was now no longer written out or drawn, but "pointed out" by the marker which did so by moving on the board from one symbol to another.
Like a modern telex machine, it spelled out information reaching us "here" from "there," only the "there" was assumed to be the "beyond."
"Communications" of course, could only be received by an operator - at the "mechanical" end of the line - who was psychic. Highly sensitive to the invisible impulses produced by the power beyond, his action very much resembled "automatic writing." However he did so not with a pencil on paper but, much more streamlined, by means of the planchette which moved from one character to another on the board. He was thus able to "spell out" quite literally and immediately, the "replies" given to the questions put.
Obviously, explanations of this phenomenon differ according to the individual's point of view. Spiritualists recognize in the entire procedure a genuine communication from the other world. Another interpretation sees it not as a message from the \Jsupernatural\j, but the articulation of \Jsubconscious\j thoughts and wishes. A third group "explains" the operation with the \Jouija board\j as the fraudulent manipulation of both the planchette and of gullible humans.
The name of the \Jouija board\j, which was patented in the United States, is actually a hybrid. It is a very odd double affirmation of the positive in two languages. In one word it says "yes" twice; first in the French \Ioui\i and then in the German \Ija.\i Some cynics have taken this as an indication that the answers given by the board are exactly what the inquirer wants to hear.
However modern the \Jouija board\j is, truly there is nothing new under the sun. Its origin goes back to a technique of \Jdivination\j practised in many parts of the world - from \JJapan\j to \JGreece\j - thousands of years ago.
In the sixth century B.C., Greek augurs traced a circle on the ground, dividing it into twenty-four sections, each of which they marked with a letter of the alphabet and covered with a grain of corn. A cock then was let loose. Due note was taken of the pattern (the sequence of characters) in which he selected and ate the individual grains. Just as in the case of the \Jouija board\j, the cock was thought to spell out the answers to the questions put. The name given to this type of \Jdivination\j was \Ialectryomancy\i - called after the Greek rooster, \Ialektryon.\i
#
"First Panacea",809,0,0,0
Man has always tried to find a remedy that heals all ills. At the same time, he must also have been conscious that this might be beyond human ken. Such a sense of his human limitations led him to believe that divine power alone could succeed in this quest.
\JGreek religion\j endowed one of Asclepius' daughters with the gift. Fittingly, she was called Panacea, "the all-healer." The divine name has been adopted throughout the world for an apocryphal wonder drug capable of curing all disease.
#
"First Pantomimes",810,0,0,0
Pantomimes are now part of English Christmas celebrations. They are spectacular productions with lots of fun, jests, songs and commentaries on current affairs. Paradoxically, their noisy performance continues to bear the (Greek) name that describes complete silence!
Pantomime, literally and explicitly, tells that "all" \I(pan)\i is "mime" and, in fact, for thousands of years, not a single word was spoken or sung in a \Jpantomime\j.
Everything was expressed in gestures, by dance and mime.
The modern version of the (now misnamed) \Jpantomime\j is only 200 years old. So different from its prototype, it nevertheless perpetuates one significant feature of pagan times: the reversal of roles. Men are dressed as women, and women as men, and the chief characters are represented by the opposite sex.
#
"First Photography",811,0,0,0
It has always been man's desire to capture a fleeting moment, to keep it, if possible, not only for himself, but for generations to come.
The invention of the camera seemed to fulfill his wish. However, as soon as the "photographs" (imprinted on glass plates coated with silver and sensitized by \Jiodine\j vapor) were exposed to light, they vanished. He just could not "fix" them - till one day (in 1837) an accident happened and a French painter - Louis Daguerre - stumbled on the secret of photography.
He used a \Jcamera obscura\j as an aid for his painting, but was greatly handicapped by the brief lifespan of the photographs. To hold their image permanently, he embarked on countless experiments, but one after the other proved a failure. To clear the desk, he deposited the exposed plates from his abortive tests into a chest, together with chemicals he intended to use later on to clean the plates for re-use.
When one day he opened the chest, he found to his surprise that one of the photographic plates showed a distinct picture, previously not visible. He was certain that one of the chemicals must have been responsible for it. Systematically he tested each in turn. But to no avail. Disappointed he was about to give up, when he noticed that some mercury had spilled into the chest. He immediately guessed that its vapor had "developed" the photograph. His conjesture proved right and, in co-operation with Joseph Niepce, led to the invention of "permanent" photography.
#
"First Radio Broadcast",812,0,0,0
The first program ever broadcast on air was of a completely religious nature. Transmitted from Brant Rock, \JMassachusetts\j, USA, on Christmas Eve 1906, it was produced and presented by Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, a Canadian-born physicist and radio technician. Suiting the occasion, each of its features related to the festive season.
A violin recital of Gounod's \IO, Holy Night\i rendered by Fessenden himself, introduced the broadcast. This was followed by a reading from the Gospels and a recording of Handel's \ILargo.\i The historic transmission concluded with a few words spoken by the professor, expressing Christmas wishes to all who - within the small radius of the "station" - had been able to listen in.
#
"First Rowing Races",813,0,0,0
Thomas Doggett, a Dublin-born actor (d. 1721), was the first to make an annual event of boat-racing. Tradition has it that he decided to do so on the spur of the moment. He used to enjoy watching impromptu matches between the various oarsmen from the vantage point of the Swan Tavern, an inn on the Thames. One evening, when ready to go home, he could find no bargeman prepared to row him across the river. The tide was too strong, the watermen said as an excuse. However, one young fellow at last came forward and Doggett gladly engaged him. During the trip Doggett learned from the lad that he had only just served his apprenticeship.
Doggett took a liking to this youngest member of the Union and showed his appreciation in the form of a big tip. He also resolved that to encourage such men, he would establish a race for all those "just out of their time." On the morning of 1 August of that year (assumed to have been 1715), he put up a poster on \JLondon Bridge\j that announced:
\IThis being the day of His Majesty's happy accession to the throne, there will be given by Mr Doggett an Orange Color Liberty with a Badge representing Liberty to be rowed for by six watermen that are out of their time within the year past. They are to row from \JLondon Bridge\j to Chelsea [a distance of 41/2 miles]. It will be continued annually on the same day for ever.\i
The establishment of this historic race for scullers antedates the Oxford and Cambridge Universities' annual eight-oared event by more than a hundred years.
Doggett has been described as "a little, lively and spract man," creative in whatever he did - "one who borrowed from none, though he was imitated by many." Nothing is remembered of his stagecraft but his name is immortalized in the history of sport by his bequest to those fond of rowing: the Red Ribbon of the River, as it has been called.
In his Last Will and Testament he provided a fund to ensure the regular holding of the race which, ever since, has borne his name, the oldest rowing race in the world still in existence. His wish was that the "Doggett's Coat and Badge" race should be held annually on 1 August "for ever," and it has been honored.
Curiously, he appointed as trustees not the Watermen's Union, which would have seemed the obvious thing to do, but the Fishmongers' Company. At that time the prize to be awarded, apart from the coat and badge, was a sum of money: ú10 for the winner and ú11 to be shared between those finishing second and third.
Rowing matches for a long time were restricted to "watermen and persons of the more humble walks of life." Eventually the great English public schools took it up, at first despite the strong disapproval of the authorities. Only at the beginning of the nineteenth century university students conceived the idea of rowing carnivals. They held inter-class regattas, and records show that the earliest college - rowing took place in 1815. The boats were very broad with a gangway along the center.
It was a foregone conclusion that eventually Oxford and Cambridge would meet. They did so in 1829, at Henley, inaugurating the famous boat-race which almost without interruption has been held annually ever since.
Charles Wordsworth, nephew of the poet, originated the races while a student at Oxford. Previously (in 1827) he had been responsible for the first inter-university cricket match. After having taken up rowing also, and encouraged by the success of the cricket event, he visualized the possibility of arranging a similar competition in rowing. A subsequent correspondence between the two universities resulted, in March 1829, in Cambridge's challenging Oxford "to row a match at or near London, each in an eight-oared boat during the ensuing Easter vacation."
The race, the first of its kind, duly took place. The course chosen on the Thames extended from the Hambledon lock to Henley bridge, a distance of two and a quarter miles (3.6 km) against the stream. Oxford won by a hundred yards (91 m) in 14 and a half minutes.
At first the crews had difficulty in choosing a color, as the representatives of the various colleges making up each team naturally wished to use their own college colors. Oxford eventually selected dark blue. Cambridge rowed the first race with pink (or scarlet) ties and sashes. However, at the next race they changed their color to light blue. Why they did so is told in different versions. Some say that it was out of \Jsuperstition\j. At the very moment the crews were about to start, a Cambridge man had rushed off and purchased a piece of light blue ribbon in a store nearby. This he attached for luck to the Cambridge boat.
Most famous of all regattas is that at Henley, which started in 1839. It was a colorful occasion, with gay, brightly-colored uniforms worn by the oarsmen. Henley soon developed into a fashionable social event. The word regatta itself stems from the Italian and was first applied to gondola-races held on the \JGrand Canal\j in Venice. It means "a struggle for mastery."
The earliest aquatic sport group was the Leander Club. Its actual foundation date is unknown, but it had been firmly established by 1820. It is said to have revived the activities of two earlier clubs, "The Star" and "The Arrow."
All the innovations which led to the advent of the modern racing craft were made in the nineteenth century. The original boats were heavily built and inrigged, meaning that their rowlocks were built into the side of the boat, thereby greatly restricting and impeding the oarsmen's stroke. The first important change was the introduction of the outrigger, which mounted the rowlocks on brackets. Known as early as 1828, it was not until 1844 that Henry Clasper, a well-known Newcastle-on-Tyne boatbuilder, perfected it. The first "out-rigged" eight in the university race appeared in 1846.
The invention gave a great impetus to racing as it set in motion a whole chain of improvements. A new rowing style was developed. As the outrigger gave oarsmen all the leverage they wanted, it permitted the building of narrow boats. These were lighter, encountered less water resistance, and so were faster. To enable them to carry weight and at the same time maintain \Jbuoyancy\j, the boats had to be lengthened. This gave more room to each man, who had no longer to keep his feet next to or below the seat of the man in front, or come up against his back when reaching forward. All the oarsmen now could use an uninterrupted swing.
The next significant step in the growth of the racing boat was the building by Clasper of the first keelless craft. This had a wholly smooth hull of polished \Jcedar\j. Oxford used this carvel-built boat for the first time in 1841, instead of the traditional clinker-built (that is with the external planks overlapping like the tiles of a roof). Possibly because of their inexperience with this new type, they lost the race. Certainly, they blamed the new boat for their failure, and in the following year again used the clinker design.
Nevertheless, the carvel-boat soon proved its tremendous superiority, it was light and it also greatly reduced friction between water and craft.
Rowing methods were further changed for the better after Matt Taylor's boat had competed at Henley in 1856. Not only did it have the sole keelless hull for its eight rowers, but its length had been shortened to 56 feet and the broadest beam (or master section) placed well forward, instead of almost midship, as in the older, larger models.
#
"First Saturday in June",814,0,0,0
\BDerby Day\b
Derby Day, held annually on the first Saturday in June, is named after the five-minute race over one and a half miles (2.4 km) that is run on that day at Epsom Downs, Surrey, England. It has been described as "the blue ribbon of the turf" and is regarded as the principal horse race of the year in all Britain, if not the world.
First run in 1780, the race was given its name, so the story goes, by mere chance. At a dinner party at his home, the twelfth Earl of Derby was discussing the inauguration of a race, which should be open to three-year-old horses of both sexes, with his friend Sir Charles Bunbury.
Both men had conceived the idea and, having resolved that the race should go ahead, were still wondering what to call it.
The obvious thing was to use one of their names. But whose? Neither wanted to give offence to the other, so they tossed a coin. Derby won the toss and the race has been called the Derby ever since!
#
"First Savings Bank",815,0,0,0
The distinction of having opened the first modern savings bank also goes to men of religion. Their intention in doing so was to teach people to economise and not to spend all they earned, however little.
In 1798, for instance, the Rev. Joseph Smith, Vicar of an English country church in the County of Buckinghamshire, invited the poor of his parish to deposit money with him. It could be any sum, so long as it was not less than twopence. He promised to take good care of their money, to keep it safe and return it to them at Christmas time with a special bonus amounting to one third of the saved total.
#
"First Solicitor to Become Qualified in New South Wales",816,0,0,0
\BGeorge Allen\b
George Allen was the first solicitor to be trained and to obtain his qualifications in \JNew South Wales\j and his was the first firm of solicitors in the colony. It still exists and, quite recently, has introduced an annual celebration of the day of Allen's admission as "the Founder's Day." The staff marks the occasion by wearing something grey of their own choice - the firm's color, in which even its letterheads are printed.
This legal pioneer of \JAustralia\j is buried in the Rookwood Cemetery, in the family vault. Of vast dimensions, it holds the remains of numerous members of the Allens. After all, George, who had married a local schoolmaster's daughter, himself had 14 children!
London-born, George arrived in \JAustralia\j in 1816 at the age of 16. He came with his mother, five brothers and sisters. Strange circumstances had been responsible for their migration.
George's father, a doctor, had died young. An enterprising man, he had not only treated patients, but had also sold medicines. Three years after the doctor's death, Mrs Allen married the manager he had put in charge of this part of his practice.
Unfortunately, three years later, he was transported to \JNew South Wales\j for having neglected to put revenue stamps on the medicine bottles, possibly an early case of tax evasion! And it was to join her unfortunate husband in his Australian exile that the former Mrs Allen, with the children of both her marriages, made her way to the colony.
In spite of - or perhaps because of - his stepfather's sad experience with the law, young George chose \Jjurisprudence\j as his profession. He became articled to a solicitor and, when barely 22 years old (in 1822) was enrolled as a lawyer.
Though, to start with, many shunned him as the stepson of an ex-convict, George not only made good but did good in many ways. He was to become an eminent legal figure in the colony - with many other "firsts" to his credit.
Allen was the founder-director of the Gas Light Company, and its solicitor. He was elected an alderman on the Sydney Municipal Council, and later became mayor of the city. Nominated to the Legislative Council, he served as a life member. Greatly concerned with education, he joined the Senate of the University of Sydney. He was a deeply religious man, and for 50 years he served the Methodist Church in many capacities.
In November 1877 he took ill and died. In its obituary the \ISydney Morning Herald\i spoke of him as "one of the foremost public citizens who overcame the temptation of successful men to live a life of easy self-indulgence." Comparisons are odious, but one is left to wonder what was behind the peculiar wording of this eulogy.
Prior to Allen's funeral at Rookwood, his body was taken to the chapel he himself had built, many years earlier, on his property in Glebe. The number of mourners was so enormous that the great majority had to stay outside.
Present were the \Jarchbishop\j, ministers of the Crown, judges of the Supreme Court and members of the legal profession representing each of the branches. More than 150 carriages formed the cortege to the mortuary station. Once again, on the train there was insufficient room for all those anxious to accompany the body to Rookwood. Twenty ministers of the Wesleyan Church alone attended his funeral. In the city, all shops stayed closed as a tribute to this pioneer lawyer, a man who had given and done so much.
#
"First Speakers",817,0,0,0
The Speaker is one of the most important persons in Parliament. His word is law and those who dare act against it are duly punished. Presiding over the House, he controls its debates.
Tradition demands that he be nominated and selected by back-benchers. This is done to stress his duty to protect minorities, and to express his complete impartiality.
Invested with royal prerogatives, in Parliament itself, the Speaker ranks superior to the Crown. Anyone who wishes to approach or address him must pay due deference to his standing. Like a king, he is distinguished by regalia: the Mace is his scepter, the Chair his throne, and the wig his crown.
Today a coveted position of the highest honor, the Speaker's office at first was least desired. Its duties, at times, were perilous and unrewarding. His very title preserves his original function. The Speaker spoke up on behalf of the Commons, expressing their majority view to the king.
This all goes back to the time when Parliament, in the literal sense of its name, "talked" (from the French \Iparler)\i about matters of state to ascertain the wish and opinion of the greatest number of its members. At first these discussions were held in unofficial meetings behind closed doors. The only right of the "Commons" then was not to direct the king, but to address humble petitions to him. The man chosen to convey to the Crown the wish and desire of the House, thus acted as their mouthpiece - their "Speaker."
It was an unenviable task, especially when the views of king and people clashed. Then the Speaker had to bear the brunt of the sovereign's wrath and, at times, to pay with his life. At least nine Speakers are known to have died a violent death.
Sir Peter de la Mare is said to have been one of the first to be called upon to act as the Speaker of the House, and his thankless mission illustrates the origin of the office.
Dame Alice Perrers was a "lady to the bedchamber" to Philippa, the Queen of Edward III. However, far from being satisfied with her appointed duties, she showed much greater interest in the king himself, who reciprocated her feelings. It was a most remunerative relationship for Alice. She amassed a truly royal fortune, which included a grant of land, jewelry worth hundreds of pounds, and the guardianship of wealthy orphans. When Queen Philippa died in 1373, her death further enriched Alice.
But her appetite grew all the time on what it was feeding on, whilst the king, certainly, was eating out of her hand. Wealth alone no longer satisfied her. She wished to wield power as well, and started to meddle in affairs of state.
Becoming ever more arrogant in her demeanor, Alice, in 1376, dared to enter Westminster Hall and tried to instruct Parliament's presiding judge how he should act.
For a long time the Commons had watched with anxiety and exasperation Alice's mischievous influence on the king. But now she had gone to the very limit. Something had to be done and done quickly. Somebody had to be sent to the king, telling him how they felt and that, once and for all, he had to break up the affair and to put Alice into her place.
Sir Peter de la Mare was elected to go and \Ispeak up\i on their behalf. That is how he became the Commons' first Speaker, an office whose birth, at least according to this tradition, is due to a woman of doubtful morals and scandalous behavior. However, the actual title of Speaker was bestowed first, in 1377, on Sir Thomas Hungerford, who was officially appointed to that office.
#
"First Stadium",818,0,0,0
\IStadion,\i a Greek word, once was a standard measure of length. It was a distance of 184 meters (613 ft), covered in footraces run at Delphi, Olympia and \JAthens\j and other notable sporting sites.
Subsequently, the racing track itself was called after it. This was the beginning of the modern stadium. Its location was chosen mainly in a natural depression, so that it was flanked by upward sloping ground or embankments on either end of the course. This enabled the spectators to watch the runner's progress from an elevated position. To start with, the visitors just squatted down on the ground. Eventually, they were provided with seats. In a further development, the whole area was enclosed by a wall, for the entire complex to be called by the measure - \Istadion.\i
The Romans took over both the idea and the term, Latinizing the latter into stadium, a name that has been adopted and retained universally. Its function, however, has expanded greatly. No longer reserved for footraces alone, the stadium became the arena for a great number of sporting events.
The once naturally shaped and utilitarian meeting place was then converted into amphitheaters, some so exquisite that they were described as architectural extravaganzas. One stadium in \JRome\j accommodated 50,000 spectators. Its seats were of marble. It was elaborately decorated and displayed spectacular statuary. At \JAthens\j, at enormous cost, Herodes Atticus built (in AD 177) a stadium of equal splendor as his gift to the city.
#
"First Tea Bags",819,0,0,0
Tea bags are American-born. They came into existence through both the economic prudency of a tea merchant and a misunderstanding on the part of the public.
In 1904, an enterprising businessman selling tea had the idea to advertise his merchandise by sending free samples to potential customers. To present each with a tin container then generally used would have proved much too costly. He therefore decided to have instead some loose tea sewn into small silk bags.
His would-be clients misinterpreted the promotion. Lacking any printed explanation, they did not realize that the bags were mini-pockets from which the tea was meant to be emptied out into a pot. They thought that they were expected to brew it by pouring boiling water on to those - not to be opened - advertising bags.
Doing so, they found that it was a much faster method to prepare a cup of tea. It also enabled them to dispose of the used tea leaves so much more easily.
When orders for the novel tea bags "poured" in, the astute tea merchant began to manufacture the filter paper tea bags which, nowadays, are taken for granted, but had never really been intended to become a permanent feature.
#
"First Text Book",820,0,0,0
When, during the \JDark Ages\j, Western civilization seemed in danger of dying, ecclesiastical scholars and monastic orders played a major part in trying to save and preserve the heritage of former days, not least so the medical achievements of the past.
Prominent among the clerics engaged in the task was a seventh century \Jarchbishop\j, Isidore of Seville, also known as Isidorus Hispalensis. He was considered the most learned man of his time and a father of the Western Church. He produced an encyclopaedic work of vast dimensions, which he entitled \IEtymologies and Origins.\i
Embracing all areas of available knowledge, the history-making reference book contained a large and most popular section specifically devoted to medicine. In fact, it became the first textbook of its kind, serving many generations of doctors as a source of information and a guide to diagnosis. The variety of topics discussed included disorders of the skin, masturbation and \Jalcoholism\j. The \Jarchbishop\j - at that early date - even dealt with the symptoms of \Jangina\j pectoris, describing the symptoms of sharp pains in the anterior chest accompanied by extreme apprehension.
#
"First to Introduce Gas Light - James Bryan",821,0,0,0
As can only be expected, memorials to creators of "firsts" can be found in the Pioneer Park at Botany. The text on one such headstone, originally on a grave in the Devonshire Street Cemetery records:
\IErected to the Memory of
JAMES BRYAN
who departed this life
15th January 1845
Aged 35 Years
He was the first to introduce gas light into this part of the world having arrived here in the year 1839 under an Engagement with the company in whose service he died and we in common with his many friends deeply deplore the premature decease of so aimiable and estimable a man.
This stone
was erected by Ann Bryan relict of
JABEZ BUSHBY, and JAMES BRYAN
A tribute to the just memory of two affectionate husbands
A.D. 1845\i
James had been the second of Ann's husbands to die young. She must have been a thrifty woman, to use his memorial to pay tribute to both men. One is left to wonder whether Ann tried her luck a third time, wedding a husband who lived to a ripe old age.
#
"First to Measure Blood Pressure",822,0,0,0
The first person to measure blood pressure was an Anglican clergyman, Stephen Hale (b. 1677).
In 1709 he was appointed permanent \JCurate\j of Teddington, Middlesex, England, a position he held until his death fifty-two years later. During that period he devoted much of his time to scientific studies with results that represented historic advances for science.
Gifted with acute powers of observation and the curiosity and inventiveness of a born experimenter, he early discovered the effect of the warmth of the sun on raising the sap in trees. He also recognized how the nature of the soil and the moisture in the air influenced the growth of plants. His research established the science of plant \Jphysiology\j. A work he published in 1727 under the unassuming title of \IVegetable Staticks\i laid its foundation.
Meanwhile, he had turned his attention from plant life to animals, to embark on extensive experiments concerning blood pressure. Almost twenty years later he recalled how "I made several haemostatical experiments on Dogs," afterwards repeating the same "on Horses and other Animals, in order to find out the force of the blood." He did this by inserting glass tubes into their veins and arteries, and summarised his findings, in 1733, in his second book, \IHaemostaticks.\i This work pioneered the all-important practice of taking the blood pressure and observing its rise and fall.
Medicine owes the \Jcurate\j other "firsts," among them a knowledge of the working of the heart and its ability to adjust itself to prevailing conditions. Another of Hale's treatises dealt with the dissolving of stones in the bladder, and in his \IPhilosophical Transactions\i he discussed the importance of ventilation.
#
"First Tragedy",823,0,0,0
The theater, as it is now known, grew out of a popular celebration held in \JAthens\j 2,500 years ago. It took place once a year in honor of Dionysus, the god of nature and wine. This, in turn, was an adaptation of an even more ancient Egyptian festival whose theme was the death and rebirth of nature.
Thousands of people, from all over \JGreece\j, flocked to \JAthens\j to participate in this event. The festival was meant to celebrate and propitiate procreative powers and all its ritual centered on fertility. The people then joined in the singing of obscene songs and a greatly enlarged replica of the phallus was carried around in processions.
The educated class soon rebelled against the low level of those celebrations. They demanded restraint, decency, and a ritual altogether more fitting for the occasion. As a result lyric choruses were introduced. They were sung by a choir of 50 men and boys and the stage was set for the future theater.
The tragedy, as the first dramatic form to come into existence, developed from that earliest choral lyric performed at the festival of Dionysus. \ITragedy\i literally means a "\Jgoat\j-song." The origin of this peculiar term for a play of a serious nature with a disastrous or fatal ending is obscure and has given rise to many and varied interpretations.
It has been pointed out that the men and boys in the choir were disguised as Satyrs and dressed in \Jgoat\j skins. Hence their song and performance were referred to as a "\Jgoat\j-song."
A second opinion is that the odd name derived from the fact that the original, religious festival included as one of its main features the sacrifice of a \Jgoat\j to Dionysus, and that the chorus was sung over the \Jgoat\j's dead body.
Finally, it has been suggested that the tragedy, as a \Jgoat\j-song, received its name because of the prize offered at the annual "art festival" of classical \JGreece\j. This trophy was not in the form of a shield, a cup, or a wreath but of a \Itragos\i - a \Jgoat\j! The winner had the privilege of offering it as a sacrifice to Dionysus. Its slaying was the climax of the play. Therefore it is not so far-fetched that any theater performance that ends with the death of the hero is linked with that ancient \Jgoat\j sacrifice and still called a tragedy.
What a world of difference there is between this early \Jgoat\j-song of the tragedy and our own "acting the \Jgoat\j."
#
"First Tuesday in November",824,0,0,0
\BMelbourne Cup Day\b
Australians certainly love their leisure. They also worship sport. Though renowned for their \Jegalitarianism\j, they are fond of "the sport of kings." And one race every year stops the entire nation from working. Even if they are not actually present - instead glued to their \Jtelevision\j screens or their transistors - Australians all over the country, of every age and from every walk of life, follow the horses running in the \JMelbourne Cup\j.
\JMelbourne Cup\j Day is fixed for the first Tuesday in November. The race is recognized as one of the world's greatest handicap races. It is held at Flemington, a Melbourne suburb which is called after a butcher who once lived there.
The first Cup was run in 1861. There were 17 starters and, paradoxically, the prize - apart from the money (170 pounds) - was not a cup at all, but a hand-beaten gold watch. Archer, the winning horse, had walked to Melbourne from its stable in Nowra, \JNew South Wales\j, a distance of 500 miles (800 km).
#
"First Water Polo Matches",825,0,0,0
The first International Match was played between England and Scotland in 1890, the Scots winning by four goals to none. Five years later, the biennial match between England and Ireland came into being. Meanwhile, the sport had spread to the United States where two types of \Jwater polo\j developed. One was "soft ball polo," appropriately and better known also as "American \Jwater polo\j." But because of the extreme roughness of play in this version, it soon declined and gave way to the second type, known as "hard ball polo." This was the original European game with a fully inflated, leather-covered ball. Its final adoption in the \JOlympic Games\j (for the first time in Paris in 1900) gave it world prestige.
From 1893 onward, \Jwater polo\j was gradually adopted all over Europe: first in \JGermany\j and \JAustria\j and next in \JHungary\j. It was in Eastern European countries especially that the game enjoyed its greatest boom. There the sport was fostered at tremendous expense and most ambitious training programs were drawn up. Players from \JHungary\j, Yugoslavia, \JRumania\j, and the \JSoviet Union\j became among the finest in the world. Their intense practice was pursued almost continuously for many hours each day.
The first European \Jwater polo\j championship tournament took place in Budapest in 1926. The year 1950 saw the establishment of the International \JWater Polo\j Board, responsible for a unified draft of rules on a worldwide scale, thereby stopping, once and for all, the haphazard growth, with rules and play differing from country to country.
It was in the same year that a new regulation drastically changed the sport and basically divided its history into two definite periods. Until then, all play stopped when a foul occurred and the referee blew his whistle. All players had to remain stationary until the ball had been thrown back into play. This, naturally, caused periods of inaction and tended to render the game uninteresting, especially from the spectators' viewpoint. The new code however, allowed all, except the man taking the free throw, to keep moving. This speeded up the game considerably and changed its style completely.
\JWater polo\j is really still a young sport. Its rules continue to be amended periodically with the aim of emphasizing the importance of tactical play and of adding to the game's popular appeal.
#
"First White Settlers in Manly",826,0,0,0
\BGeorge and Martha Pickering\b
No matter what the circumstances, "firsts" invariably attract attention. In the Manly Cemetery, the epitaph on the grave of George and Martha Pickering tells that they were the first white people to settle in Manly in March 1814.
As if to make sure that neither the years nor the weather should ever destroy the record, the lettering is deeply carved into the stone. The couple themselves showed their own power of endurance. George was 84 years old when he died, and his wife passed away at the age of 90.
#
"First Windows",827,0,0,0
Man's housing problem has always existed. Yet it continuously changed according to the level of civilization, people's peculiar way of life, as well as climatic and geographical circumstances. From earliest times, man showed great ingenuity in devising his dwelling.
A simple wind-break of trees and branches was the most primitive house. And, as is obvious by its very name, the window, too, is linked with the wind. When glass was unknown, windows were mere holes in a wall, covered by shutters or some kind of curtain. The hole served a two-fold purpose. Like an \Ieye,\i it enabled people inside the house to look out. It also helped to ventilate the interior. Thus window, a combination of \JAnglo-Saxon\j words, means "wind's eye." ow, too, is linked with the wind. When glass was unknown, windows were mere holes in a wall, covered by shutters or some kind of curtain. The hole served a two-fold purpose. Like an \Ieye,\i it enabled people inside the house to look out. It also helped to ventilate the interior. Thus window, a combination of \JAnglo-Saxon\j words, means "wind's eye."
#
"First-footer",828,0,0,0
In some regions of the world people are still concerned as to who enters the house first on \JNew Year's Day\j. They anxiously hope, or at times even subtly arrange, that it will be a tall, dark-haired man, carrying a gift. To make sure that no one else would precede him - such as a blond person, a woman or, at its worst, a man who is short and cross-eyed - some homes bar their doors till the right "first-footer" comes along.
Indeed, everything happening on New Year is believed magically to set the pattern for the ensuing twelve months. The \Jsuperstition\j about the luck-bringing "first-footer" onginated in man's early belief in the magic power of "beginnings." Whoever entered the home first determined its fate for the rest of the year. Magically, his good looks would make it a pleasant one and his gift - of some essential product, such as a loaf of bread or, in earlier days, a shovel of coal - would ensure that there would be no lack of food or warmth. Certainly, coming events cast their shadows before.
#
"Fish on Friday",829,0,0,0
Paganism considered Friday the luckiest day of the week. It was ruled by the planet Venus, whose influence was thought to be most fortunate. Named in honor of Freya, goddess of Love, it was a day most propitious for marriage.
But in Christian lands Friday has always had a gloomy association, brought about by traditions of both the Old and the New Testaments. It was on a Friday that \JAdam and Eve\j were said to have eaten of the forbidden fruit, thus bringing sin into the world. And on a Friday they died. Jesus suffered and was crucified on a Friday. Hence, every Friday became a memorial of \JGood Friday\j, as every Sunday was a little Easter.
That is how it was thought to be unprofitable, even inviting disaster, to start a new task or journey on a Friday. For centuries sailors refused to leave port on that ominous day, and even at the beginning of this century statistics showed that in \JFrance\j, bus takings were lowest and train travelers fewest on Fridays.
The story is told that when the reluctance of seamen to sail on a Friday had reached such proportions that it interfered with naval operations, the British Admiralty decided to prove once and for all the fallacy of the belief. The keel of a new vessel was laid on a Friday, she was launched on a Friday, and she was named H.M.S. \IFriday.\i On her first voyage, beginning on a Friday, she was commanded by Captain James Friday. Everything had gone according to plan up to that moment. The ship sailed. Nothing has since been heard of her or her crew. That the identical story has found its place also in American lore speaks for itself.
In memory of the Crucifixion, Catholicism made Friday a fast day and a day of abstinence. All over, the age of seven had to fast (i.e. to limit the intake of food) and abstain from meat. In recent times, the decree was modified. In some measure it was now left to the individual to choose which form his penance would take. In reality, there is no passage in the \JNew Testament\j that commands a fast. In fact, St. Paul, in I Timothy IV, 3, alludes to the abstention from meats as a mark of apostasy and a sign of weak faith in that it attaches importance to such comparatively trifling matters. The Kingdom of God, he said, was not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the \JHoly Spirit\j.
The idea of a fast has been understood differently by various faiths. Jews fast for 24 hours on their Day of Atonement, the only fast day expressly ordained in the \JOld Testament\j. During that period they do not eat, drink, or smoke.
Moslems keep a whole month - Ramadan - as a fast. They are not even allowed to swallow their own spittle or enjoy the fragrance of perfume. However, they observe the fast only during daylight and partake of food during the night.
There are various reasons why Catholics consider a meatless day as a fast. Some of them are completely divorced from religious considerations.
It was a Jewish tradition to abstain from meat on days of sorrow and as a sign of penitence. Thus Daniel (X, 2.3) refrained from all pleasant food for three weeks: "I ate no... bread neither came flesh... in my mouth." Ever since the destruction of the second Temple in 70 A.D., pious men refused to eat meat at any time because they felt that, as there was no longer an altar on which animals could be offered to God, no man should enjoy their flesh. Abstention from meat was to them a symbol of grief and a constant reminder of the tragedy that had befallen their people.
It was not difficult for \JChristianity\j to adopt this tradition, reserving it for one day a week only and linking it with the tragic death of Christ instead of with the burning of the Temple.
There is a possibility that the (now discarded) custom of eating fish on a Friday (and during Lent) entered the Christian faith not from Jewish sources alone, but from the pagan world as well, and that it was entirely independent of ascetic motives or ideas. Greek philosophers believed that a vegetarian diet was helpful to their faculties and contributed to clarity of thought.
It might well be that eating fish on Friday also continued an old pagan practice. Fish was said to be sacred to \JAphrodite\j, the \Jfoam\j-born goddess of beauty and fertility, who was also worshiped as the goddess of the sea. The Romans identified her with Venus, to whom they dedicated Friday. It was in her honor that fish was then eaten, most probably in the belief that it promoted fruitfulness.
To refrain from eating meat expressed grief and reverence to Christ. His passion and death were thus remembered one day every week, not merely in one's thoughts, but in one's very way of life.
In ancient days it was believed that the eating of meat stimulated man's passions. Hence, a meatless diet made chastity easier. To conquer his fleshly lusts and enable him to concentrate on spiritual exercises, abstention from meat appeared as a most helpful means.
In much later years, political and economic reasons reinforced the peculiar kind of fast on Friday. These were purely mundane - to restrict the eating of meat and foster consumption of fish. This achieved several aims. A fish diet once a week was cheap and aided the poor without making them feel inferior. It helped to protect a valuable breed of \Jcattle\j and controlled the meal price, keeping it at a moderate level.
On the other hand, it ensured an increase in the sale of fish, thus boosting the fishing trade, the building of boats and the number of men going to sea. All these factors, it was realized, combined to further the strength of the British navy.
It was with those thoughts in mind, and "not to put holiness in one kind of meat and drink more than another," that in 1548, the second year of the reign of King Edward VI, an Act of Parliament ordered abstention from meat on the fast day and that, similarly, during the Elizabethan era, a proclamation commanded the keeping of "fish days."
#
"Fish Symbol",830,0,0,0
The sign of the fish was the original Christian symbol. It preceded that of the cross by many years.
The first Christians, ostracized and persecuted by the Romans, needed a badge for recognizing each other and proclaiming their faith in Christ, the Redeemer of man. Their creed was then still banned, and to spread its message was considered high \Jtreason\j. Where there was no time for words, a simple sign quickly drawn and easily identified, spoke for itself.
The choice of the fish was thus, first of all, the result of political circumstances. It could be traced in no time. It immediately caught the eye and its message could be understood at once.
From the earliest days of \JChristianity\j there was a close association, literally and figuratively, between the new faith and sea creatures.
Christ's first disciples were fishermen and it was natural that they should be described as fishers of men, spreading their net to gather in followers from the surging ocean of a pagan world.
The story of the miracle of the fish, how a few nourished thousands of hungry men, was well known. Thus the fish was expressive of a faith that worked wonders.
Finally, the fish was not only a picture but a word with a mystical meaning. In its Greek form, the language in which the \JNew Testament\j originally was written, it contained a summary of Christian faith in the form of an \Jacrostic\j. The Greek word for fish, \Iichthus,\i spelled out the initial letters of the new revolutionary creed, speaking (in its English rendition) of \IJesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of man.\i
Thus the fish, both in its image and name, became the perfect symbol of a new religion that challenged the world.
#
"Fishy Business",831,0,0,0
Fish are slippery and therefore difficult to hold in one's hand. No wonder that this experience created all "fishy business," in the way of speaking. A fishy customer cannot be trusted.
#
"Fit as a Fiddle",832,0,0,0
To be as fit as a fiddle sounds rather odd and out of tune. It has been explained by saying that the phrase spoke of a person who always lived at concert pitch. Highly strung, he was able to produce the very best.
Originally, however, there was no fiddle at all in the saying. Instead, it spoke of someone "as fit as a fiddler," which immediately makes much more sense. Whoever first made the comparison must have thought of some specific fiddler whose task was particularly strenuous and who therefore had to be in prime condition. Two possibilities offer themselves.
At Irish feasts a fiddler served as the sole source of entertainment. He led the dance which, almost without a break, extended into the early hours of the morning. To provide such uninterrupted fun amounted to a veritable endurance test. Admiring his stamina, people came to speak of being "as fit as a fiddler."
The second type of fiddler who might have suggested the phrase, lived in a different world. He was a sparring partner in the boxing ring. His aim was to wear out his opponent. He did so by engaging him ceaselessly, without respite. The constant movement reminded people of a Fiddler playing the violin. Requiring staying power, they could well refer to him as being "as fit as a fiddler."
#
"Fit to a T",833,0,0,0
The phrase, "to a \IT,"\i expresses perfect appropriateness and minute exactness. Just as a coat may fit the wearer "to a \IT,"\i so may a job suit an applicant. Commonly the phrase is thought to have been suggested by the T-square draftsmen used to ensure accuracy in drawing parallel lines, for instance. It is much more likely, however, that the \Jmetaphor\j is based on a passage in the Gospels.
When Jesus discussed his attitude towards \JJudaism\j and the question of whether his teachings would abolish or even modify Jewish tradition, he emphatically denied any such possibility. He had not come to destroy, but to fulfil the Jewish law in its entirety.
To make his message completely clear, as on so many other occasions, he employed a \Jmetaphor\j drawn from everyday life, making use of something familiar to all his listeners - in this case a well - known feature of \JHebrew\j writing.
Some \JHebrew\j letters - like the \IK\i and \IB,\i and \IR\i and \ID\i and the \IH\i and guttural \ICH\i - look so similar that they could easily be confused. All that distinguishes between them is a minute mark or hook. As this usually projected from the particular letter, it had the appearance of a small "horn" and was so called.
A good scribe would take meticulous care to render those letters precisely - complete "to a horn." And it was this peculiarity of \JHebrew\j lettering that Jesus employed in his figure of speech on this occasion. Nothing, not even one \Ijot\i (the smallest \JHebrew\j letter) or one small ;horn' sticking out from a letter, would be dropped or changed (Matth. 5.18).
When, in 1382, Wycliffe produced his English translation of the Gospels, he rendered this "horn" \I(keraia\i in Greek) as \Ititil,\i later spelled "tittle." It is to this tittle that we still refer whenever speaking of something "fitting to a \IT,"\i a reference to the initial letter of the name of this minute feature of \JHebrew\j \Jcalligraphy\j.
#
"Flag Origins",834,0,0,0
Opinions differ on how the flag originated. Many trace its beginnings to a carved pole carried by primitive races in battle or before chiefs. The pole displayed the tribal \Jtotem\j at the top.
The ancient Egyptians are said to have topped a staff or spear with the figure of the animal they held most sacred. The Greeks carried a pole on the end of which were pieces of armor or a single letter. \JAmerican Indians\j had pikes bedecked with feathers from eagles' wings. The Vikings made use of a raven and the Saxons of a white horse. Romans had shafts ornamented with circles and discs and surmounted at first by holy beasts and then, from 100 B.C., by the figure of an eagle.
The purpose of this original kind of "flag" is explained by totemism, one of man's earliest forms of religion. The pole symbolized and, it was believed, actually carried into battle the people's ancestral spirit, their \Jtotem\j and god, just as the ancient Israelites had done with the Ark, the seat of their God. Its presence was a source of power and an aid to victory. It gave courage to the warriors who fought under it and put fear into the enemy. Therefore it was viewed with awe and considered sacred.
Held aloft, the staff identified the forces, marked the position of their leader and served as a rallying point. Gradually it developed into a banner or standard. But its role remained the same. It did so merely in a more elaborate manner, and colors were added to the \Jtotem\j figure.
Thus, when the Israelites had escaped from \JEgypt\j, each of their tribes identified itself by an ensign, as referred to in the Book of Numbers. Though the \JBible\j does not give a detailed description, allusions suggest that, for instance, Judah's sign was sky-blue with the emblem of a lion, Zebulun's white with a ship, and Manasseh's jet-black with the figure of a \Junicorn\j.
Finally, streamers or tassels were tied to the banner. This was done, not as may be imagined, as an ornament but, fluttering in the wind, they were meant to indicate and enforce divine will in battle. It is thought that from this bunting the present-day flag developed.
The story of how a piece of colored cloth came to represent a nation begins with the ancient belief in omens and magical practice. The wind mystified primitive man. Its power evaded his grasp in every sense. Those who dared the open sea in their light craft learned to fear its force which could either hasten their advance or spell disaster. Anxiously, therefore, man watched the wind and tried to detect in its direction an omen for good or evil.
But as the wind was invisible, this was an almost impossible task - until he realized that the smoke of fire could expose it to view.
Man began to observe the smoke with awe and to imagine that the way it moved indicated, and then actually effected, the will of the gods. If the smoke blew towards the foe, it was an augury of his imminent flight and defeat. Significantly, the Welsh word for a bonfire means "sure omens."
Some ingenious mind then realized that far superior to smoke was a piece of cloth, fluttering in the breeze from a pole, to show which way the wind was blowing. After a time, the cloth was regarded as a magical means of determining the outcome of a battle. Activated by the wind, it symbolized and could bring victory. For that reason it was carefully guarded and became the first target of attack. Its capture or fall caused confusion, if not defeat.
Flags in their present form were invented by the Chinese. It is known that the founder of the Chou dynasty in the 12th century B.C. had a white flag carried in front of him. Yet national flags did not appear in Europe till the 12th century A.D. They were introduced by the Crusaders on their return from the Holy Land, where they probably had adopted them from their Saracen foes who, in turn, had copied them from the Indians. No doubt, these had appropriated them from China.
As one huge Christian army, the Crusaders found a banner most useful in identifying themselves from their heathen opponents. Fighting in the name of Christ, their choice of the cross as an emblem was a foregone conclusion. But coming from every country of Christendom, they also had need to distinguish themselves from each other. For that purpose the Knights employed the various forms of the cross, linked with their individual patron saint, and a combination of contrasting colors.
From the Knights who had fought in the Holy War, their countries took over and developed the flag as a national emblem.
#
"Flash in the Pan",835,0,0,0
It often happens that innovations, enterprises, and novel ideas lauded as revolutionary and likely to change an entire way of life soon come to naught and are forgotten altogether. Anything thus showing much promise but disappointingly petering out in no time has been compared to a "flash in the pan."
The figure of speech does not come from the frying pan in the kitchen but from the battlefield. It goes back to the days of weaponry when the charge of a flintlock gun was fired by igniting powder in its pan. This was done by means of a spark produced by pulling the trigger which made a steel hammer strike a flint.
At times, it failed to set off the desired explosion. All it achieved was a momentary flash in the pan. Possibly the powder had not been kept dry enough or the gun was not properly cleaned.
Though the flint gun has been discarded long ago and now is only seen in museums, its abortive flash still lingers on, permanently to serve as an (outdated) \Jmetaphor\j for fleeting fame and shortlived success.
#
"Flat Spin",836,0,0,0
A common situation in a society of ruthless competition, in which work under pressure has become part of the lifestyle, is to be in a "flat spin."
The expression, generally figuratively for a state of confusion, dates back to the 1920s when it described an actual phenomenon experienced in the early history of \Javiation\j. It was linked with the test flights of new-model airplanes.
To prove the airworthiness of a machine, the pilot made it go into a spiraling descent. If the pilot lost control, the nose of the plane would lift up and start to spin "flatly." It was a perilous maneuver because, if the pilot couldn't bring the craft out of the spin, it was bound to crash.
#
"Flea Market",837,0,0,0
It is generally claimed that the first \Jflea\j market was held in Paris. The choice of its name (the French \ImarchΘ aux puces)\i was well founded. Offering a multitude of the most varied kinds of second-hand goods, not surprisingly many of the items were infested with fleas.
Improved hygiene and the use of modern insecticides have removed the fleas from the merchandise, but not from the name of the market, now adopted worldwide.
A most credible explanation, it has nevertheless been disputed. The credit, it is said, should go to the Americans, of Dutch colonial days. They were the real creators of the modern \Jflea\j market, by many years preceding the French! More so, proudly they could also claim that their "original" \Jflea\j market was not named because of any vermin found in the wares sold. The name was the result of a mistake and - literally - a misunderstanding.
The open-air market was held in present-day New York City, then still the Dutch New \JAmsterdam\j. Its site was at the foot of Maiden Lane in Manhattan, popularly known as "the valley." It was only natural that people came to refer to it by its location as the "valley" (or vallie) market, a name they soon shortened into (the Dutch-sounding) "vlie" market. As in Dutch the "v" is pronounced as "f." Anglicized this was rendered as the fly market or, most frequently, the \Jflea\j market - without flies or fleas ever having played a role or plagued its customers!
#
"Fleur-de-lis",838,0,0,0
The \Ifleur-de-lis,\i famous emblem of \JFrance\j and, until 1801, also part of the royal arms of England, has been the victim of much confusion. Not surprisingly, authorities have questioned its very meaning. Though obviously speaking of a flower (the French \Ifleur),\i even this has been doubted by some who claimed that the symbol was not floral at all, but represented the top of a scepter, lance, or battle-axe. However, it is now assumed that it depicted a species of iris, botanically classified as \Iiris florentina.\i
The \Ilis\i part in its name created a further problem. It seemed to make no sense. And rightly so as, in fact, it is the result of an early misunderstanding.
Soon after setting forth on his \ICrusade\i to the Holy Land in 1146, King Louis Vll of \JFrance\j adopted the iris as the royal ensign. Thus it became known as "the flower of (King) Louis," \Ifleur de Louis.\i With the passing of time (and the king), the royal association of the emblem was forgotten and, no doubt, slovenly speech caused the "de Louis" to sound like "de lis." The \Ifleur de Louis\i had become the \I"fleur de lis!"\i The new description mystified and misled people. (No wonder that even Shakespeare used a corrupted version current at the time, speaking of the "flower-de-luce.")
This was not the end of misunderstandings. The iris was now imagined to be a lily, a fallacy suggested not only by its appearance, but by the sound of \Ilis.\i It is a sad tale of what faulty hearing can do to a beautiful flower and a royal heraldic emblem.
#
"Flood Victim",839,0,0,0
Not far from Bathurst are Sofala and Hill End, two early goldfields that attracted miners and prospectors and their families in their thousands. Not a few of them died young and of a diversity of unnatural causes.
Henry Robinson's gravestone is among the oldest at Sofala. He was drowned - at the age of 54 - on 18 December 1851, by the "sudden rising of the waters of Oakley Creek."
Though going back many years, his memorial is still in such good condition that a poem inscribed on it can easily be deciphered:
\IOur brother the haven hath gain'd
Out flying the tempest and wind.
His rest he hath sooner obtain'd
And left his companions behind.\i
#
"Flowers in Hospital",840,0,0,0
If healthy people were exposed to dangers by darkness and forced to take due precautions, it followed that anyone sick was even more vulnerable to attacks by evil spirits at night. Already greatly weakened, the patient could only offer a minimum of resistance to intruders who would surely take every advantage of his condition.
Well aware that entry during the night would be very difficult because the windows would be shut, the fairy spirits used a devious means to have access to the room prior to "closing time" (before the sun set) even though they were still powerless at that time of day.
Flowers, according to another ancient belief, were not only beautiful plants but could also serve as the hiding place or general abode of spirits. The demons who were so anxious to get near the sick thus had a ready-made opportunity. People visiting the sick would often bring flowers to cheer them up and show concern. Visitors did not realize that unawares their gift carried with it not only germs (as yet unknown) but equally harmful and dangerous entities - those malevolent beings.
Once night had come and the lights were out, the evil spirits would not wait long to pounce on the sick person, trying their utmost to take possession of him and inflict all the harm they could.
That is the background of the custom of removing all flowers from a sickroom or \Jhospital\j ward before nightfall. The usual explanation given that this was done because during the dark the flowers would use up oxygen so essential for the patient, is not only fallacious, but a mere rationalization of the ancient and original occult belief in fairies and their potentially lethal attack during the dark of night.
#
"Flu",841,0,0,0
The first recorded outbreak of flu was in Florence, \JItaly\j, in 1347. Unscrupulous doctors took undue advantage of its spread, making many unnecessary housecalls. To curtail such an unprofessional lucrative "practice," the municipal authorities issued an order restricting visits to a maximum of three per patient.
The name of the flu, shortened from in\Iflu\ienza, reveals an early belief in \Jastrology\j! Its choice was based on the erroneous notion that the cause of the sickness was the evil in\Iflu\ience of an unusual conjunction of the stars.
#
"Fly in the Ointment",842,0,0,0
We owe "the fly in the ointment" to King Solomon. It paraphrases the observation ascribed to him in the Book of Ecclesiastes (10.1) that dead flies made the perfumer's sweet ointment turn rancid and ferment.
Solomon is said to have written this book in his old age when, frustrated and disappointed, he had become melancholic and pessimistic, and, in his negativism, concentrated on life's failures. There seemed in every apparent success and hoped-for enjoyment some "fly in the ointment," spoiling it.
His \Jmetaphor\j was based on pharmacists' experience. A fly caught in a perfumed ointment, unable to free itself, died and, decomposing, turned the sweet-smelling cream into a reeking mixture. Likewise, Solomon pointed out, a little folly can render wisdom worthless and destroy a good man's reputation.
#
"Fly Off the Handle",843,0,0,0
Those flying off the handle by losing their temper can cause more than unpleasantness, they become a threat. They create as dangerous a situation as when an axe head flies off its handle. This was often the case in the 1800s, the very time American pioneers first used the phrase in its modern sense. It was based on their own experience. Axe handles then were improvised and crudely made. They could suddenly get detached and the axe, flying off, could hit anyone nearby, causing serious injury.
#
"Flying Doctor Service Inventor",844,0,0,0
The Flying Doctor Service is one of \JAustralia\j's notable contributions to health services. Instituted to help the sick and injured living in isolation in the "outback," it was the brainchild of the Rev. John Flynn. A Presbyterian minister and missionary, he became the superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission. While serving in this position, he conceived the idea of providing what he called "a mantle of safety" for those living in remote areas. His enthusiasm for this idea led, in 1928, to the initiation of the aerial medical service, now adopted worldwide.
Flynn also pioneered the pedal radio receiver by which people living in areas beyond the reach of ordinary communications and lacking any power supply, could nevertheless keep in contact with base stations and, in an emergency, call for help.
#
"Flying Fish Don't Fly",845,0,0,0
Fish never fly. They glide. The misnomer is due to inaccurate observation. They propel themselves at such accelerated speed that they are able to leap out of the water. Their extended fins then help them, not to fly, but to keep aloft, skimming the surface for considerable distances.
#
"Flying Witch",846,0,0,0
The airborne witch anticipated man's mastery of the air by many centuries. What now is regarded as the result of the genius of science and, (unless prostituted by warfare) as a beneficent gift, was then condemned as a malevolent talent and part of the evil craft of a witch. It is the old story of how a myth can become a reality.
That witches could fly through the air at unimaginable speed became a firmly established belief. No matter for what purpose - whether to join a coven, to attend a Sabbat, or just in pursuit of a single evil mission - witches took to the air.
Of course, gullible people asked no further questions. According to their belief a witch could do anything, so they were not surprised that she could also fly as it were by self-propulsion and unaided.
Others, however, looked around for some satisfactory explanation. They reasoned that, in spite of all her demonic power, a witch could never become airborne "of her own accord." Taking the example of terrestrial traffic, they thus imagined that a witch rode in the air on some creature: a \Jgoat\j, a dog - or best of all in her case - a demon.
But even these natural and \Jsupernatural\j mounts were finally discarded. Being witches, so people reasoned, magic was at their disposal. This enabled them to transform a common and inanimate object into a fantastic conveyance. That is how the legend grew and witches were assumed to ride through the air on cigar-shaped, elongated missiles, three-pronged pitch forks and, eventually, on the streamlined broomstick, the ordinary common or garden birch broom.
Another most important question in looking for origins is how the notion of flying witches came about. Several factors and traditions combined in creating the idea. First of all, biblical tradition was remembered which supported the possibility of miraculous flights. Had not Enoch gone up to heaven? Did not everyone know of Elijah's fiery ascent? Beyond these divine miracles concerning God's servants, there was equal scriptural "evidence" that the powers of darkness were not subject to gravitational force. Did not the Gospel tell of how Satan had carried Christ to the top of a high mountain?
And as witches were regarded to possess demonic power, they would be capable of similar feats. The world of demons was at their disposal. They would carry out any task a witch commanded, even to elevate and propel her through the air. When the world was full of witch-mania, people suspected their presence everywhere. Any "unidentifiable flying object" therefore might have easily been explained as a flying witch. We who have been so puzzled by flying saucers should be the last to ridicule such an assumption.
People were deeply perturbed when the same type of misfortune struck at places far distant from each other and yet within the shortest possible interval. They were convinced that one witch was responsible for both disasters. But they also realized that an ordinary human could never have moved so far and so fast. The only possible explanation was that the witch must have traversed the distance in some \Jsupernatural\j manner - by flying through the air.
In order to increase their power and hold over men, some evil women did not deny the fantastic claim. Others, who were completely innocent victims of mass \Jhysteria\j and ecclesiastical prosecution, "confessed" their nocturnal flight under torture. They knew very well that it had never taken place. But, they confessed if not to save their lives, to shorten the suffering they had to undergo which in any event would end with their execution.
Some of the accused witches, if not actually giving currency to the belief, fostered it. But they did so not to deceive people and to gain dominance, but in good faith. They themselves firmly believed in the truth of their assertion, and what prompted them is linked with the interpretation of dreams and the effect of drugs.
Modern theories have much to say about "flying" dreams. While sleeping, people often imagine themselves to be lifted up and to soar into the air. One school of thought explains this rather peculiar sensation as the attempt of man's unconscious mind to encourage the person to proceed with a task ahead. Long before Freud, Adler, and Jung, people thus had been aware of "flying dreams" in which they found themselves at some site far away. When waking up, they were still very conscious of the odd sensation and vividly remembered the content of their dream. They really imagined that in fact they must have been "up in the air" and in the far off place.
But there is an even more significant explanation. So-called witches used to anoint their bodies with salves made up of ingredients such as aconite and belladonna that had hallucinatory properties. These would have produced in their minds those very flying sensations and a vivid "experience" of something that actually never happened. Using a term of our own drug society, their "trip" had been very real.
A contemporary report supports this view. It tells of a certain Mr Porter who had watched a witch. After she had taken off her clothes and rubbed her body with an ointment, she had fallen into a trance. He had not moved away but kept her under constant observation from his hidden vantage point. When, eventually, the woman came to and got dressed, she told Mr Porter that she had just returned from a flight which had carried her across seas and high mountains to a remote region. She would not believe that she had never moved even one inch from the spot where she fell asleep. She insisted that her (drug-induced illusion of the) flight had really taken place.
The flight of witches thus is not such a far-fetched myth. Multiple factors, of religious thought, fertile imagination, the effect of drugs and dreams, combined to make it a "valid" claim.
#
"Food Alters Characters",847,0,0,0
It is a fallacy that the eating of meats makes people belligerent, whilst a vegetarian diet results in a peaceful disposition. Both Hitler and Mussolini were vegetarians.
#
"Food Wonderful Food",848,0,0,0
There is much food for thought in eating. Cooking certainly is an art. Toast might be burned at times, but that is exactly what its name says! A gourmet really was a "groom" for horses, while pumpernickel, according to some, was bread Napoleon thought fit only for his horse Nicole \I(bon pour Nicole).\i
Chicken α la king, on the other hand, is nothing royal but a corruption of the name of Mr Keene, a favorite guest at Claridge's, London. This is just a small example of the mixture of gastronomical terms.
Eating is universal. It is no wonder therefore that descriptions of food items come from many parts of the world, most obviously so in the case of the German hamburgers and frankfurters, the English cheddar and the Italian gorgonzola.
Some food, however, is so well camouflaged that one has to take the names given to it with more than "a grain of salt." A turkey does not come from Turkey. The Salisbury steak is not called after any city (in Africa, England, or the USA). Its name honors a 19th century doctor.
Tastes and food fads have differed throughout the ages. Pythagoras advised his followers not to eat beans. He did so not because they would bloat, but oversex them, as the shape of beans resembled that of testicles! \JGarlic\j was a favorite food in the medieval world for occult reasons. Its strong smell was regarded a devil-repellent, as the "evil one" was believed to be allergic to it. Bully beef is so called not because it comes from an (old) bull, but because it is "cooked," from the French \Ibouilli\i for "boiled."
Unending thus is the list of fare that food supplies in the raising of questions and the rousing of an appetite for knowing more. Countless, indeed, are the everyday phrases "cooked up" in the process of preparing a meal and eating it.
#
"Foolscap",849,0,0,0
An old watermark and a corrupted Italian term have both been cited as the origin of "foolscap" paper, which now measures 206 mm by 337 mm. The earliest known specimen dates from 1540. For many years, until the 17th century, the head of a jester with cap and bells was used in Britain as the watermark of paper of this special size. Most probably people began to refer to the paper as that of the fool's cap.
Opinions differ on how the watermark was introduced. The suggestion that a German resident in Britain started it is least probable. His name was Herr Spielmann (later Sir John Spilman). He was jeweler to Queen Elizabeth's court and established a paper mill at Dartford in 1580. It was the second in England.
Anxious to mark his product, he made use of his name. A \ISpielmann\i in German is a person who acts or plays. Why could it not be a man who played the fool, he reasoned. It must be remembered that, between the 13th and 17th centuries, jesters were a privileged class, employed by courtiers and the nobility. Their emblem was a cap and bells. Spielmann decided to choose this sign as trademark for his paper.
Another unlikely explanation links the introduction of the fool's cap as a watermark with history. The story is told that when King Charles I found his coffers empty, he explored every means of raising funds, including the granting of privileges to certain people prepared to pay a high premium.
The monopoly of making paper was thus sold. At the time it bore the royal arms as its exclusive watermark. With the defeat of the Royalists, Oliver Cromwell, and the Rump Parliament were determined to express their break with the past in every possible way. They ordered the removal of the royal sign wherever they found it, even from note-paper, but especially from the large-sized pages of the \IParliamentary Journal,\i where it was used as a watermark.
It is said that to ridicule the former king and add further indignity to his memory, Cromwell substituted a fool's cap for the royal arms. However, with the prorogation of the Rump Parliament, this mark of contempt was again removed. Yet, ever since, paper of the Journal's size has been referred to as foolscap.
Others believe that the description of paper as foolscap is based on a misunderstanding, that it is a corruption of the Italian \Ifoglia capa,\i meaning a "first-sized sheet," a chief or large page. Like the English word foliage, the Italian \Ifoglia\i is derived from the leaf of a tree, used as an early writing material and still remembered as such when we speak of the leaves of a book.
Eventually, Britain replaced the watermark of the fool's cap with the figure of Britannia or that of a lion rampant, supporting the cap of liberty, or a pole. But the original fool's cap survives, if not as a watermark, as a term for the paper it once distinguished.
#
"Foot the Bill",850,0,0,0
It was the custom for anyone presented with a bill not to settle it on the spot, but rather sign their name below the totaled - up amount - at its "foot." This signature was their promise to pay the account in due course. Its specific placement thus created the phrase "to foot the bill," and eventually expanded to the settlement of any debt.
#
"For Whom the Bell Did Not Toll",851,0,0,0
\BDr Francis Bond\b
Dublin-born Dr J. Francis Bond is buried in the St Stephen's Old Penrith Cemetery. Apart from alleviating suffering by his practice as a doctor, he dedicated his life to various other causes. To see justice done, he became a magistrate. To make the young grow up with a sense of responsibility, jointly with a friend he founded the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society. The Masonic symbol on his gravestone indicates his humanitarian services in this ancient order.
Even after his death his concern for the feelings of his fellow men was shown in a most unusual way.
Throughout his life, he had opposed the custom of tolling the church bells at the passing of a parishioner, as he felt it was bound to upset the sick and the aged by reminding them of their own, not so remote death!
Accordingly, when the doctor passed away, his widow, honoring and sharing her late husband's considerations, did not permit the tolling of bells for him.
#
"Fore",852,0,0,0
"Fore" is the warning call of a golfer to those playing in front - be\Ifore\i him - that his ball might hit them.
Though sounding the same, this "fore" has nothing whatsoever to do with the numeral "4" (four). It was chosen as a warning cry because its sound could be quickly and loudly produced. It carried far and could not be ignored or mistaken by those "in front," to the fore.
#
"Foreboding Nuns",853,0,0,0
The belief that to meet nuns is unlucky is based on an unfortunate misunderstanding. Certainly, it does not reflect any religious antagonism. In fact, the \Jsuperstition\j is linked with the well-known charitable work of nuns. At the time of the plague, they acted as nurses to the victims of the scourge. To see them passing could easily mean that they were on their way to yet another outbreak of the \JBlack Death\j. With circumstances forgotten, the appearance of a nun continued to suggest in people's mind (some) disaster.
#
"Formation of Mountaineering Clubs",854,0,0,0
The foundation of the \JAlpine\j Club in London in 1857 was the beginning of modern, organized \Jmountaineering\j. The club's expressed aim was "the promotion of good fellowship among mountaineers, of mountain climbing and exploration throughout the world, and of better knowledge of mountains through literature, science, and art."
It is an interesting observation that the name (like British postage stamps to this day) omits any mention of the country where the club was formed and had its home. To its (English) founders, there was no need to identify its locality. British mountaineers' world renown made, in their mind, such qualification unnecessary. Everyone would know where and whose the \JAlpine\j Club was!
An early controversy concerned conditions for joining the club. At first it was proposed that only candidates who could prove to have climbed to the top of a mountain of a minimum height of 13,000 feet (3,900 m) were eligible. Other foundation members strongly objected. They reasoned (and had their view adopted) that the most important feature of \Jmountaineering\j was not the reaching of certain heights, but the effort expended and the difficulties overcome.
The club's first dinner was held on 3 February 1858 at the Thatched House Tavern, St James Street, London, and was attended by fewer than a dozen members. No one then guessed the eminent part the club was to play in the development of the sport. In the words of William Longman, whose publishing firm was to print almost all of the earliest \JAlpine\j Club books, "it certainly never entered the mind of any of its founders to conceive that it would be the parent of fruitful children, some of them more prolific than itself."
The English example was soon copied in other countries. The Austrian \JAlpine\j Club was formed in 1862; the Swiss \JAlpine\j Club came into existence in 1863; and in 1878 the Appalachian Mountain Club became the first \JAlpine\j Club to be established across the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, the original club had made a decision that was to have a great effect on \Jmountaineering\j. It was agreed upon "that members should be invited to send . . . a written account of any of their principal expeditions, with a view to the collection of an interesting set of such documents for the general information of the club." Within less than a year (in 1859) a first volume was published under the title of \IPeaks, Passes, and Glaciers.\i It proved such a success that reprints became necessary almost at once.
An interesting phenomenon is the prominent part played by clergymen in the creation of \Jmountaineering\j as a sport, and not just to dispel superstitious notions, as the clerics on Mount Pilatus had done. Many of the scientists who climbed the peaks, such as Professor Simler, had taken \Jholy orders\j. Clerics comprised more than one quarter of the men who enthusiastically answered the circular that suggested the establishment of the \JAlpine\j Club. Ministers of religion eagerly made the climbing of mountains their chief recreation. It has been pointed out that, in fact, hardly any of the classical \Jmountaineering\j feats in the Victorian Age was without some Christian \Jclergy\j's support or participation.
All this was not accidental but the result of the clash of science and religion at the time, and the very effect of \Jmountaineering\j. If anything, the scaling of lofty heights produced even greater satisfaction of the mind than the body. It was a spiritual experience that seemed to give a heightened sense of God and thereby to justify the theologians' belief.
Religious men felt that "the more immediate presence of Him who had reared this tremendous pinnacle." That is why \Jmountaineering\j, they were convinced, by its very nature, disproved those who with the new scientific claims tried to eliminate God from the pattern of life and the evolution of the world. It could make man, once again, realize his puniness, putting him - suddenly so self-assured and almost arrogant - back into his proper place, with a deep sense of humility and moral obligation.
One of the pioneer mountaineers thus could write that "the deeper we penetrate into the \Iarcana\i of nature, so as to discern 'the law within the law,' the more clearly do we perceive that above and beyond all law rises the supreme will of the Almighty lawgiver." No wonder, therefore, that clergymen became enthusiastic and devoted mountaineers and contributed an eminent part to the growth of the new craft.
Mountains that had once terrified man had become a powerful magnet, and \Jmountaineering\j a recognized sport, the severest test of man's courage, endurance, and resourcefulness.
Remarkable feats were performed, and to many a man, to conquer some of the world's highest peaks became a consuming passion. In 1865, Edward Whymper, then 25 years old, on his ninth attempt succeeded, with six companions, in assailing the 14,690-foot-high (4,407 m) Swiss Matterhorn. Only a few years earlier it had been pronounced unscalable. However, his victory ended in tragedy when, on the descent, the party's rope broke and four of the seven men fell to their death. The disaster brought the Golden Age of mountain climbing to a sudden close.
Inevitably there was a flood of criticism of the new sport which led Queen Victoria to suggest that it should be prohibited by law. But nothing - and no one - could halt its progress in every part of the world.
In 1868, D. W. Freshfield led a first expedition to the Caucasus. In 1880, E. Whymper climbed the \JChimborazo\j in the South American \JAndes\j. The Rev. W. S. Green with two Swiss guides made a first attack on the \JNew Zealand\j Alps in 1882, reaching the top of Mount Cook. In the following year W. W. Graham made a first successful attempt on the heights of the \JHimalayas\j, climbing to an altitude of 24,000 feet (7,200 m), a record not to be surpassed for 26 years. Mt McKinley in \JAlaska\j was climbed in 1913.
Their own fear and nature itself were the climbers' opponents; the lonely, wild mountains their arena. Many a time they failed, but never gave up hope that one day they would succeed. During each try the world followed their progress from afar and jubilantly acclaimed the final victory.
The conquest of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest (29,028 feet 8708.40 m), at 11.30 a.m. on 29 May 1953 by Edmund P. Hillary of \JNew Zealand\j and his Sherpa guide Tensing, presented the culmination of man's quest to prove himself master against apparently insuperable odds. Hillary and his team's achievement was duly acknowledged by Queen Elizabeth II who made its leader a knight.
\JMountaineering\j has been described as the purest example of a conquest sport. It gave the successful climber a sense of overcoming and a feeling of unsurpassed gratification. He was convinced, in the words of the very title of a \Jmountaineering\j account, that \IWhere There's a Will There's a Way.\i
George L. Mallory, who lost his life on Everest in 1924, had stated after a successful, earlier climb: "Have we vanquished an enemy? None but ourselves. Have we gained a success? That word means nothing here . . . We have achieved an ultimate satisfaction."
To the mountaineer, no risk involved was too great. On the contrary, its very existence was the greatest challenge to him and his love of adventure.
People have wondered frequently about the fundamental motivation of climbing - what it was that made man endure almost unbearable hardships and dangers merely to reach a barren peak. Classical is the answer Mallory gave: "Because it is there."
Though it began as an independent sport comparatively late and only incidentally, as a byproduct of other pursuits, \Jmountaineering\j fulfilled one of man's great cravings: to prove himself master and to subdue the earth. With undaunted courage and restless energy, the mountaineer learned to assault and conquer, across frightening chasms, peaks of dizzying height.
How different is such pursuit from that of modern, worried man who burdens his life and mind by \Jmountaineering\j over molehills.
#
"Formation of Yachting Clubs",855,0,0,0
The first yacht club in the world was established at Cork, Ireland, in 1720. Originally known as the Water Club of the Harbor of Cork, it was to become the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
Some of its rules make odd reading. Apart from introducing fortnightly meetings for sailing and dining during the season, and limiting the number of members to 25, they bestowed on the official steward, who also acted as secretary, the grandiose title of "The Knight of the Island of Haulbowline," which served as the headquarters of the club. The bylaws further stipulated that no Admiral "do bring more than two dishes of meat for the members' entertainment" or "more than two dozen of wine to his treat." Another rule, initially, banned the wearing of long-tail wigs, large sleeves, or ruffles. Even the talking of shop was restricted; any club member who continued to discuss sailing matters after dinner was liable to be fined, the penalty being a bumper of wine.
A memorable parade of the club's yachting vessels is featured in a 1748 account of \IA Tour Through Ireland,\i published in London by J. Roberts. It tells of a ceremony "they have at Cork, very much like that of the Doge of Venice:"
\IA set of worthy gentlemen, who have formed themselves into a body which they call the "Water Club," proceed a few leagues out to sea once a year in a number of small vessels, which for painting and \Jgilding\j exceed the King's yacht at Greenwich and Deptford. Their admiral, who is elected annually and hoists his flag on board his little vessel, leads the van and receives the honors of the flag. The rest of the fleet fall in their proper stations and keep their line in the same manner as the King's ships. The fleet is attended with a prodigious number of boats with their colors flying, drums beating, and trumpets sounding, and forms one of the most agreeable and splendid sights.\i
Obviously, it was a continuation of the early Dutch tradition, with all its pomp and circumstance.
During the second half of the eighteenth century, races began to be sailed frequently in English waters, notably in the Thames estuary. England's first yacht club came into being in 1775, and in honor of its founder and patron, the Duke of Cumberland, was known at first as the Cumberland Fleet. Later it assumed as its new name, The Royal Thames Yacht Club.
A notice inserted in the \IAdvertiser\i on 6 June of that year informed the readers that "a silver cup, the gift of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland" was to be sailed for from Westminster Bridge to Putney Bridge and back "by Pleasure Sailing Boats, from 2 to 5 tons burthen..." Interested gentlemen were invited to apply for further information.
The inaugural race, the date of which had to be postponed because of bad weather, proved a resounding success. All of the 18 to 20 contestants agreed to don an aquatic uniform (it was its introduction into yachting). The Duke himself ceremoniously presented the winner, a Mr Parkes, in the \IAurora,\i with the trophy which was worth 20 guineas. Earlier, the Duke had drunk Parkes' health in claret from the cup. Mr Parkes duly responded, proposing the health of the Duke and the Duchess to the accompaniment of loud cheers, raucous music, and the booming of guns.
Obviously, yachting at the time was still very much restricted to court circles and the wealthy. It was of great social importance, as the Cork event showed, and linked with much ritual. This was reflected in the early use of a yacht when not engaged in racing. It was defined in a 1771 \IMarine Dictionary\i as "a vessel of State, normally employed to convey princes, ambassadors or other great personages from one Kingdom to another."
However, it was merely a matter of time till yachting as a recreation and sport, and without any frills, became the property of all classes and, in cruising and racing, emerged as a truly democratic "pursuit" in which everything was kept "shipshape." No wonder that in modern days Joseph Wechsberg included yachtsmanship in \IThe Best Things in Life\i and regarded a boat as the perfect answer for the man who has everything and wants to get away from everything.
Those tied to the land may see in the sea a great division between people, nations, and continents. To any sailor, inspired by the call of the sea, it is a uniting link, a bond of friendship, a challenge.
America owes yachting to the Dutch. Early Dutch settlers introduced it into the New World. Tradition credits Adrian Block, a Dutch merchant, with having built America's first yacht, as a replacement for a boat that had been destroyed by fire in 1613. Though many craft were used for pleasure, a history of the time records that "racing [them] was not much in fashion."
The earliest yachts in American waters were either of the sloop or schooner type and, significantly, both names stem from the Dutch. Sloop recalls the \Isloepe\i rig of seventeenth-century Dutch boats. \ISchoon\i (like the German \Isch÷n)\i described anything that was lovely and beautiful.
Another school claims that the schooner obtained its name from the word \Iscoon,\i meaning "to skim" (along the water). The story is told that when the first vessel of its king had been built by Andrew Robinson at \JGloucester\j, \JMassachusetts\j, in 1713, one of the men watching her being launched called out in admiration: "Oh, how she scoons." Whereupon Robinson, hearing the remark, decided on the spur of the moment, thus to call the vessel - "a scooner let her be."
None fostered the advance of American yachting more than the three Stevens brothers, widely regarded as the country's real yachting pioneers. Most prominent among them was the eldest, John C. Stevens. The brothers resided in Hoboken and, dissatisfied with the rather unreliable ferry that plied across the Hudson to New York, they acquired great skill in using their own boats for the purpose.
They built various kinds and each was an improvement on the former. These included the \IDiver\i (in 1809, 20 feet long); the \ITrouble\i (in 1816, a pirogue), and the \IGimcrack\i (in 1844, a name explained to mean "a showy, useless trifle" rather an odd description of this schooner of 51 feet in length). It was on her that, on 30 July of that year, at 5:30 pm, the New York Yacht Club was founded off the Battery in New York Harbor. A meeting convened in her small cabin resolved to form a club, the gentlemen present to comprise its original members. They fixed the first cruise (to Newport, \JRhode Island\j) for Friday, 2 August, at 9 am.
This was the first permanent yacht club in the States. There had been three, short-lived, earlier attempts to form clubs - the Knickerbocker Boat Club in New York in 1811 (probably the first aquatic club in the United States), a yacht club in \JBoston\j in 1835, and the Hoboken Model Yacht Club in 1840.
#
"Fortieth Anniversary",856,0,0,0
\BThe Ruby Anniversary\b
There are several reasons to explain the selection of this stone for such an auspicious day. A ruby is, literally, symbolic of a "red letter day," which an anniversary of 40 years of marriage surely is!
The ruby has been treasured since very ancient times. One legend tells us that it was the ruby which contained the original spark of life. Another \Jsuperstition\j was that the ruby was thought to render humans invulnerable. To this end, people actually cut their flesh and inserted rubies, before sewing over the wound. By association, after 40 years of marriage, a husband and wife have become almost one, and they also serve to protect each other.
Rubies were once thought to bestow on their wearer the \Jsupernatural\j gift of being able to sense the unspoken and invisible. Again, this parallels the situation of a husband and wife who, having shared their lives for so long, intuitively understand each other. Another \Jsuperstition\j held that an inextinguishable fire burned inside a ruby which nothing could subdue, making this gem an apt symbol for a shared love which has brightened a couple's lives for so long.
The length of time - 40 years - is of interest in itself. From very ancient times, 40 has been considered a magic numeral, and has been associated with many historic events and religious traditions, and even with the preservation of health. It was believed to confer protection explaining the derivation of our modern word "quarantine," from the Italian for "forty," referring in this case to a period of exactly 40 days.
\ITo be happy and lasting, marriage requires not only finding the right partner but being the right partner.\i
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Ruby glasses
ò Ruby glass bowl
ò Jewelry - brooch, pendant, bracelet, or ring
ò Tie pin, or tie-tack
#
"Forty-fifth Anniversary",857,0,0,0
\BThe Sapphire Anniversary\b
The Persians called the sapphire the celestial stone and not without reason, as its pure blue color made people link it with the heavens.
Symbolically the stone is said to represent truth and sincerity, the very qualities which ensure lasting and rewarding love.
\ILife is a succession of lessons
which must be lived to be understood.\i
Emerson
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Jewelry - ring, earrings, brooch, necklace, or pendant
ò Tie pin, or tie-tack
#
"Fought in the American Civil War",858,0,0,0
Surprisingly, even veterans of the \JAmerican Civil War\j are buried in Australian cemeteries. Among them is George Robert Scott thought to have been the only one who was Australian-born. He served in the Union Army, in which he had enlisted as a young boy of 16 on 5 July 1862.
After his discharge, he returned home to Kempsey, his birthplace, where he died at the age of 44 on 13 October 1890. He was buried in the Presbyterian section of the Kempsey Cemetery, though the actual site of his grave can no longer be identified.
On American "Memorial Day," a special ceremony is held in the Waverley Cemetery at the gravesite of the Solomon-Thompsons, situated not far away from the Irish Memorial. Three of their sons fought in the \JCivil War\j.
The Thompsons had come a long way. In the 1850s, as London Jews known by the name of Solomon, they had migrated to the States, where Samuel, together with his five sons, established a cigar business. At the outbreak of the \JCivil War\j, three of them - Henry, Phineas, and John - joined the Union Army.
The Solomons did not stay in America either, but came to settle in \JAustralia\j. Joseph, another of the sons, was the first to do so, rumor tells, by jumping ship whilst it was docking in Melbourne. It has been suggested that it was then that Joseph adopted Thompson for his surname. The family hiding him were called Thompson, and to avoid his arrest, they passed him off as their brother!
Two of the Solomon-Thompson \JCivil War\j veterans rest in the Waverley vault. They are Private John Solomon-Thompson, member of Company K of 10th Regiment, \JMassachusetts\j, Volunteer Infantry, who passed away in Sydney on 13 April 1890, and Captain Phineas Solomon-Thompson, who served in the 178th New York Infantry Regiment and died in Sydney on 4 July 1900.
Henry, the third son to fight in the \JCivil War\j, like his brother John had served in the \JMassachusetts\j Infantry. Of tall stature, he had been made a Color Sergeant. As the title indicates, it was his duty to carry the regimental Colors or the National Flag, which was an honor and yet a disadvantage. Literally standing out from the rest, he became the prime target of the enemy. Badly wounded in his head, he was discharged.
He joined his family in \JAustralia\j in 1876, settling in Melbourne, where he married. He did not enjoy life in the new country. Possibly as a result of his injuries, he finally had to be confined in a mental institution, where he passed away on 5 October 1890, just three months after his brother Phineas' death.
He was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery, and for a long time his grave remained unmarked, and his service in the \JAmerican Civil War\j forgotten. It was only in July 1985 that a bronze tablet was attached to his grave, identifying his last resting place and acknowledging the part he had played in the clash between the American North and South.
The plaque had been obtained from Washington, DC, through the efforts of Roy W. Parker. Interested in \JAmerican Civil War\j veterans, he has made it his special task to trace their graves in \JAustralia\j, as some of them are still unknown or unidentified.
Nearly 80 people attended the ceremony at which the tablet was affixed. They included consular officials and representatives of every ex-servicemen's association. Conspicuous among them were the members of the "\JCivil War\j Table of \JAustralia\j" who, wearing \JCivil War\j uniforms, solemnly enacted the traditional American flag ritual. Folding the "Star and Stripes" into the shape of a cocked hat, they reverently placed it on the veteran's grave.
In the Waverley Cemetery rests yet a third \JCivil War\j veteran. The strangely worded inscription on the headstone of his well-kept grave tells that:
\IJAMES GUNN JEFFRESS
Native of Virginia, U.S.A.
Commenced life everlasting 20th September 1884
Aged 62 Years.\i
#
"Foundation Stone",859,0,0,0
To speak of a foundation stone is a misnomer. Inconsistent with its name, its position is far removed from the actual foundation of a building. Certainly, it does not support the structure. Nowadays its purpose is confined to preserve, for future generations, relevant data associated with the time of its laying. The information is contained in the inscription outside and, not rarely, in items enclosed within.
In reality, the foundation stone covers up a gruesome past. Its prototype was not of the architectural kind but belongs to the realm of primitive religion. It could be said that it was a gravestone under which was buried a human being, killed as a sacrifice to the spirit dwelling at that very site. It was an offering brought to pacify the spirit and to purchase - at the highest price a man could ever pay - the spirit's good will. That way, the spirit would not resent man's intrusion on its territory but protect the new building which thus would stand on safe ground.
When people became more civilized, they replaced the human sacrifice by that of an animal or its \Jfoetus\j. Eventually, even this practice was discontinued as too cruel and inhumane, to be substituted by an offering of cash. That is why today coins are often enclosed in the stone. The reason is not, as erroneously assumed, to provide samples of contemporary currency to historians in the days to come.
#
"Founder of Mitchell Library",860,0,0,0
\BDavid Scott Mitchell\b
The Mitchell Library, ever since its establishment, has been a Sydney landmark. Holding the most complete collection of books of Australiana in the world, it owes its existence to a man whose name it perpetuates, but whose grave in the Rookwood Cemetery was left unmarked for 80 years. He was buried in the family plot, with his late father and mother, but not even his name had been added on their headstone.
It was only in 1987 that concerned people realized the omission and resolved to have it rectified. The gravesite was refurbished and Mitchell's missing name added to his parents' memorial, paying due tribute to him as the "Founder and Benefactor of the Mitchell Library, Sydney." Exactly 80 years to the day after Mitchell's passing, on 24 July 1987, Bob Carr, the then \JNew South Wales\j Minister for Planning, Environment and Heritage, unveiled the amended memorial.
David Scott Mitchell, son of Dr James Mitchell, was born on 19 March 1836 in the surgeon's quarters of Sydney \JHospital\j. He was to become one of the first undergraduates of Sydney University. Though admitted to the Bar, he never practiced law. When invited to become Attorney General, he refused to accept the position. He rarely mixed with people, disliked politicians, and did not trust doctors. Romance came his way only once, but his proposal of marriage was turned down.
Mitchell made books his companions. Inheriting his father's vast fortune, he could afford to purchase any published work he fancied. Though at first he concentrated on English literature, George Robertson of Angus & Robertson roused his interest in Australiana, which soon was to become his all-consuming passion. Soon his library exceeded 10,000 volumes, all stacked in his Darlinghurst home.
As a bachelor, with no close relatives sharing his "bibliophilism," in 1898 he intimated to the Government of \JNew South Wales\j his willingness to present his by then even more voluminous library to the people of \JAustralia\j. A memorandum, made by the then Minister for Public Instruction, records the memorable occasion:
\IMr David S. Mitchell, of Darlinghurst, has generously offered to the librarian of the Free Public Library as well as to myself personally . . . to bequeath to the Government his valuable private library, numbering some 30,000 volumes, on condition that he receives some assurance that the Government will make proper and adequate provision for the reception and placing of the works in a separate wing of a national library and that the collection is to be known as the Mitchell Library, to be kept intact and distinct. I desire to place on record my high appreciation of the patriotic spirit that has prompted so noble an offer . . . and the assurance can be given him that the Government is willing to make the necessary provision . . . in accordance with his expressed wishes.\i
The grateful acceptance of his offer and the promise to comply with his wishes were duly conveyed to Mitchell and a special Act was passed ensuring the ultimate fulfillment of his stipulations. To show his earnest intention, Mitchell presented the 10,000 volumes making up his general collection, supplementing his gift with 50 pictures.
But then things seemed to come to a halt. Nothing further was done to provide the necessary and promised accommodation for the new library. When, in 1901, Mitchell made his Will, he reiterated his conditions, but also added an endowment of a large sum of money. Having watched the procrastination of the authorities, Mitchell set a time limit: the transaction had to be completed within one year of his death. Should this period prove insufficient, it could be extended, but only by agreement with the executors.
When at long last, the foundation stone was laid in 1906, Mitchell refused to participate in the ceremony. He was not even present. However, from his sickbed in Darlinghurst, he watched the walls of his library slowly rising. At the time of his death, on 24 July 1907, the building was not finished.
The \IGovernment Gazette,\i informing the public of his passing, stated:
\IHis Excellency, the Governor, with feelings of deep regret announces to the public the decease of David Scott Mitchell . . . an old and worthy colonist . . . to his memory is due an everlasting debt of gratitude for the noble work he had undertaken in gathering together all available literature associated with \JAustralia\j, and especially with NSW and in making provision that the magnificent collection should for all time on his death become the property of the people of his native State.\i
Mitchell's funeral was inauspicious, with surprisingly few people present. Their small number, so the reports said, gave no indication "of the wide esteem in which [Mitchell] was held," but possibly was due to the fact that the funeral left the deceased's late residence at an early hour in the morning!
Though baptized an Anglican, Mitchell had become an agnostic. No doubt it was for this reason that the manager of the \JChurch of England\j section of Rookwood, rather than a minister of religion, gave the eulogy at the gravesite. On the occasion, this was embellished with an abundance of camellia blooms and wattles, and many floral tributes were sent, including a wreath "From the Government of the people of his own State in memory of a large-hearted public benefactor."
Mitchell's library of 61,000 volumes of Australiana, including numerous manuscripts, charts and maps, was temporarily stored in bank vaults, to be taken, lot by lot, to their new address. The official opening of the Mitchell Library took place three years after Mitchell's death, on 8 March 1910.
#
"Founders of Kalgoorlie",861,0,0,0
Patrick ("Paddy") Hannan was 19 years old when, in 1862, he arrived in \JAustralia\j from County Clare. Traveling far and wide, he worked in mines and on goldfields. Hearing of gold finds in \JNew Zealand\j, he crossed the \JTasman Sea\j. But he did not strike it lucky, and he returned to \JAustralia\j six years later, to resume his rounds of prospecting, finally reaching Western \JAustralia\j.
He and his two friends, Dan Shea and Thomas Flanagan, decided "to form a separate party.....as we wanted to be free to travel how and when we liked." Three days after leaving Coolgardie, on 10 June 1893, they reached what was to become \JKalgoorlie\j. It was to prove a red-letter day in their lives and in the annals of Australian gold-mining.
Their discovery of \JAustralia\j's richest goldfield, with its famous "golden mile," created one of the greatest stampedes of gold seekers. No wonder that the city that grew up around the diggings initially was called Hannan's Town, only later to be changed to \JKalgoorlie\j.
Paddy himself never amassed a fortune. Soon after he had started the gold rush, he retired. On a modest government pension he spent the final years of his life with relatives in Melbourne, where he died. This explains why he was buried so far away from the site which gave him fame.
Hannan's grave, in the Catholic section of the Melbourne General Cemetery, is marked by an ornate cross. Each of its four arms is embellished with the shamrock, the emblem of his native country, whilst its center is ornamented with Christ's monogram, IHS, symbolic of his faith. The inscription states:
\IIn
Loving Memory of
PATRICK HANNAN
Discoverer of the
\JKalgoorlie\j Mining Field, W.A.
Who died 4th November 1925.
Aged 83 years.\i
The city of \JKalgoorlie\j honors its founder's memory in several ways. Its main street bears his name. His life-sized statue, put up near the Town Hall, depicts him with pick and waterbag.
The monument soon became the target of pranksters. They "borrowed" it overnight, and often, when it was returned next morning, some of its parts, such as the bag or pick, were missing. To prevent any further disappearances, the authorities decided to weigh down the hollow statue by filling it with cement.
People claim that Paddy's monument was so positioned that they could see from it more than a dozen hotels. It became a tradition annually to commemorate his discovery of gold by drinking a toast to him - in water obtained from the bag of his statue.
\BDan O'Shea\b
Dan Shea (whose name appears as O'Shea as well), does not rest in \JKalgoorlie\j. Neither is he buried near his friend, Paddy Hannan, in Melbourne. His grave is in the Perth Karrakatta Cemetery. His headstone, erected by the Government of Western \JAustralia\j, bears the inscription:
\IDAN SHEA
Prospector
A Discoverer of Hannans (\JKalgoorlie\j)
1893
Born County Cork, Ireland
Died 9th Septr 1908
Perth W.A.\i
It is interesting to note that the stone correctly refers to Shea as "A Discoverer of Hannans." Certainly, he could not have been called "the" discoverer, a tribute often paid erroneously to Paddy Hannan. Though, surprisingly, neither his nor "Paddy's" memorial refer to either man as "one of the discoverers" which would have been the obvious thing to do.
#
"Four-poster Bed",862,0,0,0
The four-poster bed with thick curtains enclosing it for many centuries had very practical reasons. An imposing piece of furniture, it was not merely a status symbol, but solved several problems. It originated at a time when hallways were non-existent and, failing a separate access to the various rooms, everyone had to pass through the bedroom. To ensure privacy for the occupant(s) of the bed, its curtains were drawn.
The four-poster had another advantage. In the northern winter, at a time when homes were badly insulated against the freezing air outside and poorly heated by open fires, it protected the sleepers against the cold and kept them warm.
#
"Fourteenth Anniversary",863,0,0,0
\BThe Jewelry Anniversary\b
From its very beginning, human existence has been enriched by many types of jewelry. Jewelry was valued universally for a vast range of uses.
Whether fashioned by early peoples in the worship of their gods and as a safeguard for their bodies and spirits, or designed by modern superior craftsmanship for personal adornment, throughout the ages and the world, jewelry and \Jgemstones\j have been treasured as a most precious possession.
\BGift Suggestions\b
Naturally for this anniversary jewelry of any kind, from costume jewelry to precious gems, would be appropriate.
#
"Fourth Anniversary",864,0,0,0
\BThe Silk, or Fruit and Flower Anniversary\b
Four years of married life combines a multiplicity of experiences which may explain how this anniversary came to be called by two different names.
Silk expresses elegance and is a fabric that caresses the wearer. We speak of the fruit of one's labor, implying that nothing in life is achieved without effort. One must put into marriage as much as one hopes to get out of it. Flowers have been called love's truest language. "To say it with flowers" is appropriate at all times, not least so when celebrating four years of a happy marriage.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò A silk scarf
ò Blouse or shirt
ò Tie or cravat
ò Lingerie or nightwear
ò Dress or dress material
ò Basket of fruit or flowers
ò Plants for the house or garden
#
"Fourth Thursday in November",865,0,0,0
\BThanksgiving Day\b
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November and was instituted to express gratitude to God for his favors during the preceding year.
The day is highlighted by family reunions, traditional meals of turkey served with \Jcranberry\j sauce and pumpkin pie, and grand processions, as they were initially called. A special spectacle and attraction is Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, with its giant floats and countless marching bands.
The earliest Thanksgiving was celebrated in mid-October 1621, ten months after the Pilgrim Fathers had landed in New England. They gathered to give thanks to God for their first harvest, after a most trying time of deprivation, "general sickness" and numerous deaths. The surviving Pilgrims had every reason to feel relief and to rejoice when their efforts to grow their first Indian corn had proved successful.
The Pilgrims were joined by neighboring friendly Indians, who soon outnumbered them, and what had been intended to be primarily a solemn and religious occasion grew into a joyous feast, with games, sporting events, the firing of guns and the sounding of bugles. And the planned one-day celebration extended to at least three days.
To start with, Thanksgiving Day was observed only intermittently. In 1863, however, President Lincoln in a "Thanksgiving Day Proclamation" made it a regular annual national holiday. He invited all fellow citizens - "in every part of the United States and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands" - to set it apart and to observe it "as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."
#
"Foxglove's Unusual Name",866,0,0,0
Intriguing, indeed, is the name of the \Jfoxglove\j. Its shape does not show the slightest resemblance to a fox, nor do foxes feed on the flower. Its description is a typical case of confusion of sound.
Botanically known as \Idigitalis purpurea,\i the plant has helped millions of people suffering from \Jheart disease\j. Appropriately, the drug obtained from it is called after the flower - \Idigitalis.\i
Early on, it was believed that the plant had received its mysterious pharmaceutical power from \Jsupernatural\j beings, the "little folks." It was their flower and because of their proprietary rights, it was called the (little) "folks" glove. Obviously the "glove" part of the name was suggested by the shape of the flower's bell-like blossoms.
Misheard, the folks-glove changed into the \Jfoxglove\j. This was in keeping with a society which had lost faith in the existence of those little folk of the occult world.
#
"Francis Edward de Groot",867,0,0,0
\BThe Man Who Prematurely Opened The Sydney Harbor Bridge\b
Francis Edward de Groot, a former army officer, an antique dealer in Sydney, and a member of the \JNew Guard\j, caused a sensation on 19 March 1932, when the Sydney Harbor Bridge was about to be opened. He anticipated J. T. Lang, the then Premier, whose policy he loathed and who was to cut the ribbon with a gold-plated, opal-encrusted pair of scissors.
Riding up on horseback, de Groot cut the ribbon with his sword before the ceremony had started. Whilst doing so, he loudly proclaimed, "On behalf of decent loyal citizens of \JNew South Wales\j, I now declare the bridge open."
De Groot is remembered for this single act. He did not die in \JAustralia\j, but (at 80 years of age) in a nursing home in Dublin, on 1 April 1969. After a mass in St Joseph's Church, he was laid to rest in the gravesite of his parents in the Prospect Cemetery, Glasnevin.
No obituary appeared in any paper, in Ireland, England, or \JAustralia\j. The \IIrish Times\i of 2 April merely announced his death, with the additional request, "No letters please. Australian papers, please copy." No such notice can be traced in any of the Australian papers of the time.
#
"Frankfurter",868,0,0,0
Germans are experts in \IWurst\i - their word for "sausage." The world has duly acknowledged this fact in the names of its many varieties. The \IBraunschweiger\i (spiced liver sausage), for instance, honors an entire former German State, where it was first produced.
Best-known of all, of course, are the frankfurters, sometimes now cut very short, if not in their actual size, in their name, as franks! They recall the city of Frankfurt where they are said to have originated in the 12th century.
#
"Free as a Bird",869,0,0,0
To be "as free as a bird" is the wish of many. If only they realized that what they covet is a very confined sort of life. Birds observe strictly controlled territorial rights and would not dare go beyond their own area. Any trespassing into other birds' "airspace" would result in immediate retaliatory action. The freedom of a bird (and its movements) therefore are rather limited.
A bird's struggle for life, indeed, starts early. At the end of the breeding season, its parents evict the nestling from the home. Henceforth it has to fend for itself, an existence that is not as chirpy as the bird sounds.
#
"Freemasonry and Religion",870,0,0,0
A duty specially entrusted to the Senior Warden of a Masonic Lodge is to ensure that no member should depart discontented, and that harmony should be preserved. Harmony, indeed, was seen as the strength and support of all well-regulated institutions and, not least, the workings of a Lodge.
Although historians of the Masonic Craft have differed in their opinion as to how and when the institution of Freemasonry came into existence, they all agree on its religious source. This is the reason why King Solomon's Temple plays such an important part in Masonic ritual, just as its philosophy and "workings" are based on the common ground of all religions and the indispensable belief in a divine being, the "Great (or Grand) Architect of the Universe." His worship was said to have been "the first and cornerstone" on which Masonry was founded.
#
"French and English Origins of Tennis",871,0,0,0
Court tennis, no doubt, started in \JFrance\j, introduced into the country by French knights. But, to begin with, it was played by monks. Many features of its walled outsize court - its openings, projections, and "corridors" - are derived from the \Jarchitecture\j of the monastery. The sloping roofs on three of its walls (making up the so-called penthouse), its galleries, the tambour of its columns, and the "grille" - these are all vestiges of the monastery: its \Jcloisters\j, flying buttresses, cowsheds, and buttery hatch!
Literary evidence supports the ecclesiastical claim of the source of tennis and indicates the popularity of the game among churchmen. Twelfth-century records tell of bishops joining in the game at Christmas and Easter time and evolving a ball ceremonial.
One cleric, indeed, enjoyed volleying the ball so much that he did not turn up at worship. It is not surprising therefore that the priests' indulgence in tennis (not rarely leading to the neglect of their duties) was resented, with the result that, finally, they were asked to abstain from the game. In 1245, the \JArchbishop\j of \JRouen\j issued an edict forbidding all \Jclergy\j to play tennis.
By then the love of the game had spread to the nobility and the royal court. It had become a favorite sport of kings and as such, in one case at least, had proved fatal. Louis X of \JFrance\j died at the age of 27 from a chill he had caught while playing tennis. Because of the enthusiasm with which kings and their courts pursued the game, the sport came to be called "royal tennis," a description which somehow, by usage or misunderstanding, was corrupted into "real" tennis! However, there is also a suggestion that the word stems from the Italian \Ireale,\i for "royal."
It was inevitable that the general population as well took up the game. Among the masses it deteriorated into a gambling pursuit, eventually becoming so unruly that Charles V of \JFrance\j banned tennis in Paris, at least for some time.
The Frenchness of tennis is reflected in Shakespeare's \IHenry V\i (Act I, scene 2), based on the famous incident in 1414 when the French Dauphin Lewis sent tennis balls to the English king. This insulting gift suggested that Henry should forego dukedoms in lieu of a "tun of treasure" - tennis balls. Recalling the occasion, Shakespeare makes \JHenry V\j reply to the French ambassador:
\IHis present, and your pains, we thank you for:
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will, in \JFrance\j, by God's grace, play a set,
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
Tell him, he hath made a match with such a wrangler,
That all the courts of \JFrance\j will be disturb'd
With chases.\i
The sport was established in the \JBritish Isles\j, about the fourteenth century, possibly reaching England via Scotland. And if the French were the fathers of court tennis, the English were their most apt pupils.
Tennis was first mentioned in English literature by Geoffrey Chaucer. An edict of 1389 prohibited play in order to promote \Jarchery\j, but it was impossible to suppress the game permanently. In 1530, \JHenry VIII\j built a court at his \JHampton Court\j Palace. His keenness for the sport was equaled by that of Charles II a hundred years later. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in fact saw tennis rise to its greatest popularity. The first generally accepted rules were laid down by Forret, a Frenchman, in 1592.
After 1800, court tennis began to experience a decline. Its place was to be taken by lawn tennis, its modern adaptation and developed not only because its courts were so much cheaper to build but, even more so, by men's wish to pursue a game out of doors that was lively and exciting. Of course, there was croquet. This, however, appeared much too tame, sedate, and leisurely.
Several claims have been made as to who invented lawn tennis. Undoubtedly, it is an evolution of rackets and court tennis. It can easily be imagined how on a balmy summer's day, players moved from the indoor court out into the open air to continue their game there.
Various records exist both in \JFrance\j and England of some such sort of game being played and described as Long, Open, or Field Tennis. It is also known that in 1868, Major T. H. Gem and J. B. Pereira played some game of a similar kind at Edgbaston. But the man who truly popularized (if not invented) the game, and patented it as a "garden party," was Walter C. Wingfield, an English major.
A well-seasoned soldier who had commanded a cavalry troop in China, he was aware that the people longed for a good outdoor sport and felt that perhaps he could provide it, with no little advantage to himself. The easiest way, he considered, was to make use of court tennis which then was played only on the lawns of great country estates. However, to make the new game profitable to himself, it was essential to add something new.
Though Wingfield's game embodied many of the elements of traditional tennis, such as the bat, the ball, and the net, he gave each different specifications. The court had always been rectangular. Wingfield's court provided the novel touch he had sought. It was in the shape of an hourglass and thus was narrower at the net than at the ends. (This peculiar contour of the court, it has been suggested, Wingfield adopted from one of the early games of \JBadminton\j, played either in the drawing-room of the Duke of Beaufort's estate in Britain or in a hall in far-off \JKarachi\j, India.) To make the new design even more conspicuous, the major added a couple of sidewings, though they really served no practical purpose.
Finally, there was the need of an attractive name. Wingfield had heard of an ancient Greek outdoor sport called \Isphairistike\i (from \Isphaira,\i Greek for "ball"). No one knew how it was played and Wingfield rightly reasoned that the very strangeness of the word and the general ignorance of the game's nature would prove an advantage. So he called his new sport sphairistike.
The story of how, eventually, this Greek word was changed into "lawn tennis" has been told by the fifth Marquis of Landsdowne. He related how in 1869, the young artillery captain (as Wingfield was then) had approached him and, telling him all about his invention, had expressed the wish to demonstrate it in front of his house at Berkeley Square, London. Landsdowne, very interested in the proposition, had invited two friends - Walter Long and Arthur Balfour - for the following afternoon (with himself and the captain) to make up a foursome to play the first game on his lawn. He recalled that "we found it good exercise and quite interesting, even with the crooked racket and plain uncovered balls of that day." They liked the game so much indeed that they met on many other occasions during that summer, and the more they played the more they enjoyed it.
The Marquis and his two friends also soon realized that the Greek name was far too ponderous, too difficult to remember, let alone to pronounce. So Walter Long said one day: "Look here, if you want your game to catch on, you must find a more reasonable name for it." All agreed but were at a loss for a suitable substitute till Arthur Balfour suggested: "Why not call the game lawn tennis?" And that is how, at least according to this version, the game acquired its new name. It was a vivid and simple description of a sport played with a plain rubber ball and an oval-shaped racket on a grass court. Wingfield applied for a patent in February 1874 for this "New and Improved Court for Playing the Ancient Game of Tennis," which was granted in July of that year.
Meanwhile, he had ordered the manufacture of sufficient balls and rackets to meet any demand. The boxes in which they were sold were conspicuously labeled with both the old and the new names of the game.
The major had not miscalculated. People's love of novelty combined with their longing for an outdoor sport made lawn tennis an instant success. In no time, it became the most fashionable game in England, and the fact that society adopted it made it the more popular.
Within two years, the All England Croquet Club introduced lawn tennis at Wimbledon, where the first championship, won by A. W. Gore, was held in 1877. Twenty-two competitors took part and the finals were watched by 200 spectators who each paid one shilling entrance fee. Enthusiasm for the game was such that in the same year the name of the club was extended to include the new vogue, lawn tennis.
The alcove-like side courts, as was only to be expected, proved of no practical value, and were dropped, as was also an original service crease. The court's hourglass shape and the game's unpronounceable Greek name also disappeared. In the third edition of his book, Wingfield just omitted the Greek title, and it has been lawn tennis ever since. The sport had no need for gimmicks. It flourished on its merits. From its early days, the game has been linked with Wimbeldon, from where it spread all over the world.
Lawn tennis reached America from \JBermuda\j, where English army officers had introduced it soon after its invention by Wingfield. Chance willed it that an American girl, Mary Ewing Outerbridge, of \JStaten Island\j, New York, was vacationing on the island at the time and was invited by some of the garrison's members to join their game. She took an immediate liking to it and was determined to take it back to her own country. With the necessary implements of net, rackets, and balls (obtained from the regimental store), she reached home, at first experiencing some difficulty in passing it through the customs. The officials could not imagine the purpose of her strange assortment of paraphernalia.
Through her zeal the first court on American soil was established within a week of her return (in the spring of 1874) on the grounds of the \JStaten Island\j Cricket and \JBaseball\j Club, of which one of her brothers was a director. Though, initially, her male friends considered the game effeminate (fostered perhaps by the occasional score of "love" being shouted across the net), they could not resist it for long. The US Lawn Tennis Association was formed in 1881, when the first US championships were held.
In fact, lawn tennis spread throughout the States almost faster than any other game had done previously. In 1900, it enthused Dwight Davis so much that he presented the Cup which ever since has been the symbol of world tennis supremacy - the \JDavis Cup\j.
#
"French Beans",872,0,0,0
Though \JFrance\j has been the master of cuisine, French beans do not come from there. Their home is \JLatin America\j.
#
"French Influence on Fencing",873,0,0,0
In 1599, George Silver published \IParadoxes of Defense,\i the first book of its kind in English. Writing with an unmistakable anti-ltalian bias, he called on his countrymen not to be inveigled into replacing their trustworthy, traditional broadsword (so much more natural for Englishmen), with the new-fangled, unreliable, Italian-fostered rapier: "I George Silver, hauing the perfect knowledge of all manner of weapons, and being experienced in all manner of fights . . . admonish the noble ancient, victorious, valiant, and most braue nation of Englishmen to take heed how they submit themselves into the hands of Italian teachers of defense . . ." In spite of Silver's strongly worded advocacy, he fought a hopeless battle, and his book could not stem the adoption of the fashionable rapier.
A change in men's fashion during the reign of King \JLouis XIV\j of \JFrance\j was responsible for the creation of the French fencing style, which revolutionized the art. The new elegance of the Sun King's era, with its novel form of dress, no longer permitted the carrying of the long, trailing rapier. A short, light court sword took its place. Gentlemen were expected to carry it in constant readiness for the defense of their honor. More significant than its stylishness were its many advantages. Not only could it be handled with much greater ease, but it was effective both for offense (by the thrust of its point) and defense (by the employment of its blade). Consequently, the use of the dagger, gauntlet, and cloak became obsolete, and the swordsman's left arm was freed.
From this French weapon the modern fencing foil and the \IΘpΘe de combat\i were derived. \I╔pΘe,\i of course, is the French for "sword." The origin of the word foil is uncertain. It has been suggested that it conveys the fact that the point of the sword was foiled, or blunted, as was its edge. Another explanation is that the term stems from the use of the foil to "foil," i.e., to beat off an attack - in short, to parry.
Until the late eighteenth century, the only real protection for practicing fencers was to have the swords buttoned. Odd to note is the fact that although in the earliest Egyptian pictures of a fencing bout, the fighters wore a mask, its use apparently had been completely forgotten. It was reintroduced by the French fencing master La Boessiere who, in 1780, recommended it as a wise safeguard.
Initially however, fencers disregarded it as unmanly and undignified. ln addition, the first modern masks made of solid metal did not guard what needed most protection - the eyes. These were exposed to attack through a horizontal slit. As if to highlight this omission, George Robert Fitzgerald (nicknamed "Fighting Fitzgerald"), a famous but villainous fencer, is said to have poked out one eye of an opponent, not by accident but by design.
The eventual adoption, around 1800, of the wire-mesh mask changed the whole pattern of fencing. With the face now fully protected, completely new methods of defense and attack could be employed.
The sabre, with its slightly curved, wide blade, was introduced in the mid-nineteenth century. Its ancestor is the Asian, crescent-shaped sword, known as the scimitar. It was brought into Europe by the Hungarian cavalry. Horsemen of other armies adopted it and from the martial field it found its way into fencing.
Single combats with the sword now belonged to the far-distant past of primitive warfare, and not duels but courts of law determined the right or wrong of a case. But fencing has survived and, through the centuries of its evolution and the ingenuity of fencing enthusiasts, has become a highly disciplined, scientific sport and an accomplished art. Notwithstanding the \Jetymology\j of its name with its defensive implication (and no matter whether using the foil, the \IΘpΘe,\i or the sabre), its main principle still is to hit, and not to be hit.
When the \JOlympic Games\j were revived in 1896, their first agenda included fencing as a recognized sporting event. A once deadly method of combat had grown a highly organized sport of civilized man, "a conversation with foils," demanding supreme mental and physical fitness, an alert mind and a supple, controlled body. Is it not the wish of all people to see one day a comparable \Jmetamorphosis\j of all warfare into a peaceful and happy pursuit in which men seek not to destroy each other but to add to the thrills of life, sublimating aggressive instinct into constructive aspirations and activities that bring out the best in man?
#
"French Leave",874,0,0,0
The military practice of taking "French leave" is a telling example of how language reflects \Jprejudice\j and how national antagonism can linger, even when former foes have become close friends.
The British and the French, renowned allies in World Wars I and II, used to fight each other previously, on and off, during a period of more than 800 years, ever since 1066. Englishmen thus (just as in the case of the Dutch) chose to describe as "French" practices and phenomena they wanted to denigrate. \JSyphilis\j was known in England as "the French pox" and a condom was called "a French letter." For the same reason, Englishmen came to refer to soldiers' unauthorized absence from the army as "taking French leave." Certainly, this was not typical of the French, and most unfair. Frenchmen, to retaliate, did so in kind and called such conduct "to leave like an Englishman."
However, it is generally believed that "French leave" did not originate in the army and therefore, initially, was not a military colloquialism. It was a reflection by the English on 17th-century French "etiquette." Guests on leaving a party were then not expected formally to say goodbye to their host. They just made their exit. Englishmen aware of the custom, regarded it utterly rude and, certainly, unbecoming to a gentleman. Contemptuously they decried it as "taking French leave."
#
"French Pastry",875,0,0,0
Surprisingly, on occasions carelessness and lack of attention have enriched the world and added to its pleasures. Our culinary delights thus owe something to the negligence of an unknown French pastry cook!
Preparing a short pastry, a French cook forgot to put butter into the dough. Becoming aware of his omission, he cut butter into small pieces, placing them on top of the rolled out mixture, which he then folded, rolled out again and refolded. Repeating the process several times, he was sure that the butter had thoroughly blended with the dough. This he then baked.
When removing the pastry from the oven, he discovered that it had turned flaky. It was the birth of French pastry!
#
"French Presence in Australia",876,0,0,0
\BPΦre Louis Receveur\b
At La Perouse, on the northern shore of \JBotany Bay\j, is the grave of \JAustralia\j's first Roman Catholic priest, Father Receveur. It is a permanent reminder of the early French presence in \JAustralia\j.
PΦre Louis Receveur was both chaplain and scientist on the Comte de La PΘrouse's expedition, which arrived in \JBotany Bay\j six days after Governor Phillip, in January 1788.
After a stay of six weeks, La PΘrouse's two ships departed for home. They never reached it. They were shipwrecked in the New \JHebrides\j, with all hands lost, and nothing was known of their fate for 36 years.
However, they left behind, buried in Australian soil, the body of their priest. He had died at \JBotany Bay\j on 17 February 1788. The cause of his death is not definitely known, but it has been assumed that he died from wounds received two months earlier at \JSamoa\j. This, however, would contradict a report by La PΘrouse himself (who Ieft his diaries and the crew's mail in the care of the British, Phillip having offered to send them on) that his two ships - the \IBoussole\i and the \IAstrolabe\i - had arrived in \JAustralia\j "without a single person being sick."
Little is known about Receveur. A Franciscan, he looked after the spiritual welfare of the crew on the \IAstrolabe.\i In addition, he had been enlisted as a scientist, being renowned for his work in botany, \Jgeology\j, and \Jmeteorology\j.
Few graves in \JAustralia\j have undergone more changes than Receveur's. He was buried near a tree (said to have been a red gum) which, for more than 35 years, served as his only memorial. The tree still existed in 1842, when Oswald Brierly sketched it. To the tree, his fellow-sailors had nailed a simple board, on which was inscribed, in Latin, his epitaph.
A few months later, Governor Phillip had it replaced by a "permanent" copper plate bearing more or less the identical Latin text. One day, the plate disappeared and it has never been retrieved.
In 1824, the master of a visiting French ship was perturbed by the lack of identification on his countryman's grave. He had an inscription carved into the tree that had served for so long as a signpost to Receveur's burial place. And for the ensuing 30 years, this was Receveur's monument. Then the Commissioner of Crown Lands had the part of the tree containing the memorial cut out, to be sent to the French Marine Museum in Paris, an act of historical vandalism that roused much agitation at the time. Ultimately, an altar monument was erected on the grave, with the epitaph once again in Latin.
The \JNew South Wales\j Government then surrounded the entire grave site with an iron railing, renewed at the expense of the French Government in 1906. As the padre had been a member of their order, the \JFranciscans\j then took over the care of the grave.
History presents many might-have-beens. Receveur's burial place is a reminder of how easily \JAustralia\j could have become French, if only La Perouse's expedition had arrived just a few days earlier.
No doubt because of its historical significance, on the occasion of the bicentenary, the monument was restored and given a new coat of paint.
#
"Fresh as a Daisy",877,0,0,0
Daisy is the contracted form of the Saxons" designation of the flower as the "day's eye." It was a beautiful and apt choice of name for so common a field plant. It revealed how observant and imaginative this early race was.
No doubt the Saxons were fascinated by the golden disk at the center of the flower, so much like a glowing sun, and the petals radiating from it, like wide shiny rays. They equally took note how at sunset the flower closed its petals over its yellow center, its "eye," to unfold them again at dawn, as if it were reopening the eye. To their mind the flower then appeared refreshed after what seemed its night's sleep. This made them describe someone who had enjoyed a good rest as feeling "as fresh as a daisy."
#
"Fresh Flowers on Stage",878,0,0,0
The presence of real flowers on stage is thought to be unlucky. This is not a mere \Jsuperstition\j, but based on practical considerations.
Gas lamps, once used to light up the theater, generated heat which made flowers wilt quickly, with the result that their petals and leaves dropped to the ground, presenting a hazard to unwary actors. To be kept fresh, cut flowers had to be placed into a vase of water. This could easily be upset and the water spilled, causing actors to slip. Some players, allergic to fresh flowers, could suffer a bout of hayfever, spoiling the performance. Also, as fresh flowers had constantly to be replaced, an unnecessary expense would be added to an already tight budget. All these factors combined, were responsible for the not so superstitious "\Jsuperstition\j."
#
"Freud and Dreams",879,0,0,0
The revolutionary discovery of the unconscious mind by Sigmund Freud opened up an entirely new world. Equally exciting were his dream interpretations. Nothing however exceeded the popularity of his uninhibited discussion of sex and of the prominent role it played in everyone's life.
For the first time to talk freely about a topic so far tabooed, had its built-in dangers. Sex, which for generations had been swept under the carpet as it were, suddenly was worn on the sleeve, eventually to be given an importance completely out of proportion to reality. This created the wrong notion that Freud had taught that all dreams were a fulfillment of repressed sexual desires (if not explicitly so, in a disguised, camouflaged form), something he had never meant or taught. Aware of this misrepresentation and to rectify it, he clearly stated in his \INew Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis\i (published in 1933) that at no time had he put forward the idea "that all dreams are of a sexual nature."
#
"Freudian Slips",880,0,0,0
Modern \Jpsychology\j has shown an important aspect of many mistakes which so far had been overlooked. Errors are not always as innocent and insignificant as at first they appear. They may well be the unconscious confession of concealed feelings, suppressed desires, and hidden intentions. The mistake that gives them away can take a diversity of forms and be in the nature of a forgotten date, a mispronounced word or a simple misspelling. As it were, one single letter omitted, might speak volumes.
Professor Sigmund Freud in his \IPsychopathology of Everyday Life\i was among the very first to point to the revealing nature of errors. Not a mere accident caused a slip of the tongue or the lapse of mind. They had some underlying reason.
Examples abound and occur in almost every sphere of life. There was the young student of \Jtheology\j who, taking a service, loudly and distinctly praised God as "the source of immorality."
ò In a discussion on the meaning of \Jadolescence\j, a youth who, at the time, himself was passing through that very phase, defined it as "the stage between puberty and adultery."
ò A lady secretary typing the draft of a new magazine to be called \IThe Progressive Mail,\i misspelled its title to read \IThe Progressive Male.\i
ò A signwriter, commissioned to paint a warning post to trespassers, "slipped." The board threatened that "Violators will be prostituted."
ò A story is told of Lord Curzon who, when \JSecretary of State\j for Foreign Affairs in the British Cabinet, had received a communication from \JGreece\j complaining that the monks at \JMount Athos\j were violating their vows. In the transcript, the vows had been misspelled as cows. With his tongue in cheek, Curzon is said to have annotated the message by instructing his office to "send them a Papal bull."
ò Acknowledging the generous donation by a member of the municipality, the secretary of the Council informed the donor that it was proposed to use the money to purchase "new wenches (benches) for our park, as the present old ones are in a very dilapidated state."
Freud himself has provided an abundance of examples illustrating the phenomenon. At his own expense, he recalled an incident in his practice. After the consultation, a patient asked for the amount of the fee (which, in fact, he had already ascertained from the analyst's secretary). He did not like to owe any money, he said, especially not to a doctor, adding, "I prefer to play right away." According to Freud's theory, the underlying motive of his slip of the tongue - changing the "pay" into "play" - was only too obvious. Nevertheless and contrary to expectation, the patient took out his wallet to "pay" the stipulated sum. After having put down ú2 however, he stopped, explaining that he must have left the rest of the money at home. He promised to mail it the moment he had returned to his office. There is no need to complete the story. The money never arrived. The case well supported a psychiatrist's observation that it was not accidental that we are more apt to mislay letters containing accounts than checks.
Freud quotes the self-revealing remark of a domineering wife whose husband was recovering from sickness. She told her friends that he had not to follow any specific diet and could eat "what \II\i want."
To the same type of Freudian slips belonged a henpecked husband's request to his wife. On a Sunday morning at the breakfast table she had accused him of shirking his duties. Instead of helping her in washing the dishes and tidying up the house after the previous night's party, all he thought about was his game of golf! Assuring her that nothing was farther from his mind, he asked her with almost the same breath, "Please, pass me the putter."
Mistakes thus can reveal our unconscious thoughts. That forgotten appointment, the overlooked birthday, the anniversary we just did not remember "because l was so busy" might, after all, be a confession of lost interest and waned affection.
#
"Friday the 13th",881,0,0,0
Friday the 13th has become an ominous day because of its association, both in legend and in history, with great misfortune. Jesus was crucified on Friday. Tradition has it, too, that \JAdam and Eve\j ate of the forbidden fruit and were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday. Other disastrous biblical events alleged to have occurred on Friday were Cain's murder of Abel and the confusion of tongues at Babel, which resulted in people's being scattered all over the world.
Jesus' death on a Friday also made people think that on that day the powers of evil were at their very height. It was, therefore, the most sinister day of the week, on which people were exposed to greater risks than on any other day.
That thirteen is an unlucky number is a deeply rooted notion, or \Jsuperstition\j, that goes back to early classical times. Greek philosophers taught that numbers dominated life. They gave each number a specific property that could bring good fortune, or bad luck.
Of all numbers, thirteen stood out as the most ominous. Indivisible, it stood all on its own, seemingly shunning other numbers and being shunned by them.
Traditionally, indeed, thirteen has proved an unlucky number. At the Last Supper, Jesus and the twelve Apostles made up a company of thirteen, a fact that was interpreted as influencing the subsequent course of events and to have resulted in the crucifixion.
If it happens that the thirteenth day of the month falls on a Friday, the evil associated with both the number and the day is compounded.
#
"Frog in the Throat",882,0,0,0
Those speaking with a croaking voice are said to have a frog in the throat. Though, apparently, an appropriate and innocuous figure of speech, its origin might not be so harmless.
Its most common explanation recalls the days when, to quench their thirst, people drank from the nearest pond or well. In the process, they could easily swallow a frog or its spawn and it was truly believed that such an unfortunate occurrence accounted for the loss of voice. Gruesomely, it was further imagined that the frog in the throat had eventually moved down into the victim's \Jstomach\j and was slowly devouring its host!
The expression might also be derived from a practice of medieval folk medicine. Its prescribed cure for what is now diagnosed as a throat infection or thrush in the throat was the application of a live frog. The patient was asked, without eating or swallowing it, to keep it inside the mouth, where the frog was thought to extract and, with its breath, exhale the disease from the human throat. Its healing function could be compared to an exhaust pipe!
The treatment has long been abandoned and people have learned to drink only water that is unpolluted. Nevertheless, the "frog in the throat" survives in everyday speech, whenever people refer to a croaky voice.
#
"From Hollywood to St Helena",883,0,0,0
Not surprisingly, as the symbol of the Christian faith, the cross has played a prominent part in the naming of landmarks on the map of the world. Some of its traces can be found at the most unexpected places - from \JHollywood\j to St Helena.
Hollywood has become more than just a name. It stands, in the popular mind, for the entire film industry. How it received its name, however, is a story rarely told.
It all started in 1883, when a Mr and Mrs Wilcox, attracted by the natural beauty of this then still totally unpopulated area, made their home there. Soon others joined them, and it became necessary to give the so far nameless place an identity. As was only fair, it was left to the Wilcox family to choose the name. It was Mrs Wilcox's suggestion to call it \JHollywood\j. She had been inspired by a story of an old wooden cross that Spanish missionaries had once erected in the hills. Indians, converted by them to \JChristianity\j, had referred to it as "the holy wood of the cross." From this was derived \IHollywood.\i
Ever since the fourth century, St Helena has been associated in Christian tradition with the finding of "the true cross," on which Jesus had been crucified. No one at the time knew its whereabouts.
Helena was Emperor Constantine's mother who had been converted to \JChristianity\j in 326. At the age of eighty, she went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where, it is said, she succeeded in finding the cross buried close to the hillock of \JCalvary\j. No wonder that she was venerated as a saint.
When, on her feast day in 1502, the Portuguese navigator de Nova, voyaging home from India, discovered a lonely island in the South Atlantic, he called it after St Helena. He could not guess the role it was to play in modern history, when almost three centuries later, in 1815, the British exiled Napoleon to St Helena, where he died six years later.
#
"From Iceland to Greenland",884,0,0,0
Paradoxes abound in life. Therefore it is not surprising that the traditional color of bad luck nevertheless was used in at least one case to attract people to a country - in fact, to the largest island in the world.
Situated high up in the \Jarctic\j zone beyond northern Europe, this island is covered with ice and snow throughout the greater part of the year. Certainly, its general features were less than inviting to any settler. But, as related in the Scandinavian saga, Eric the Red was determined to induce Icelanders to migrate to this vast island which he and his men had explored for three years (982-5).
The Norse navigator must surely have been at the same time a master in public relations and an excellent salesman. To make it sound attractive to migrants and thus establish the colony he planned, he named it, however inappropriately, \JGreenland\j.
We who have become accustomed to modern methods of developers and real estate advertisers can appreciate the Norseman's ruse, though it is hard to swallow. But it did not work! \JGreenland\j is still underpopulated and iced up. And yet it continues to be known by that name.
#
"From Laundry Machine to Packaged Seeds",885,0,0,0
Religion has enriched everyday life in the most unexpected ways and in many directions. Its influence is hard to measure, just because it is so great. Some of our simplest gadgets and household items, now taken for granted, owe their existence to a group of dedicated, devout people, a sect of puritanical Protestants.
Popularly known as \JShakers\j, they were so called because of their emotional manner of worship. In their spiritual fervor and exaltation they literally seemed to shake. In fact, they believed that "the agitation of the body" would generate a gift of prophecy. They were an off-shoot of the Quakers, and their name is a contraction of "shaking Quakers."
Originating in England in 1747, they migrated twenty-seven years later to America. There they settled in small, self-contained groups, which they called "families," of no more than ninety members each. They shared their possessions and all work. Abstaining from alcohol, they also discouraged smoking.
In pursuit of their special lifestyle, they introduced several ingenious innovations, many of them now commonplace in our lives, though their origin has been forgotten. The vast list of their "firsts" includes the hand-powered washing machine (known at first as the Shaker washer), the apple-parer, the clothes-peg, the one-horse buggy and the rotary harrow.
They conceived an improved sewing-machine needle, a trivial but important innovation. They grew culinary herbs, which they dried and then packed into appropriately labelIed envelopes for sale - the prototypes of our modern seed packets.
#
"From Mazel Tov to Schlimazel",886,0,0,0
Jewish \Jmysticism\j, particularly Kabbalah, incorporated \Jastrology\j in their systems and made no secrets of their belief in the stars. But generally, like all other "enlightened" men, Jews came to deny its validity. And yet in one significant feature, the ancient astrological belief survives and - unknowingly - is literally reiterated on each happy occasion of Jewish life.
Jews congratulate other Jews by wishing them \I"mazel tov."\i In fact, they call out the words at the top of their voice at the conclusion of a marriage ceremony when, as the grand finale, the bridegroom has broken a glass by stamping it underfoot. Mazel tov is generally assumed to mean "good luck." However, the wish goes much deeper or one should say, much higher. It reflects firm belief in the influence of the stars and thus testifies to an astrological world view.
\IMazal\i (which is the correct pronunciation) originally did not stand for "luck" at all. It was the \JHebrew\j technical term for "a \Jconstellation\j of stars." Hence, to wish a person or a couple mazel tov actually expresses the hope that the occasion should coincide with a favorable \I(tov\i for "good") \Jconstellation\j of the stars.
(Certainly, the majority of people are totally ignorant of this fact and were they aware of it they would strongly disagree with the notion.)
That, too, is the true background of \Ishlimazel.\i As a \JYiddish\j term describing misfortune, it has found a place in the dictionaries of all western peoples often spelled shlemozzle or shemozzle. Actually, it is a hybrid, a fusing of two words: the German \Ischlimm\i (for "evil" or "bad") and again the \JHebrew\j "\Jconstellation\j" \I(mazal).\i
Shlimazel in its meaning of bad luck therefore actually supplies simultaneously its source, indicating that it is not the fault of the people experiencing it, but the result of the unfavorable \Jconstellation\j of stars!
#
"From Memphis to Melbourne",887,0,0,0
\BElvis Presley\b
Modern idol worship has even extended to the cemetery, and has done so in extraordinary circumstances. A memorial has been put up in the Melbourne General Cemetery for a body which is buried thousands of kilometers away, in Memphis, USA.
Odder still, the deceased was not even Australian, and the spurious "headstone" is merely included as a postscript to this chapter, as an eccentricity, showing the extent to which a generation can be obsessed in their adulation of an idol. The exquisite and no doubt very costly black marble monument is dedicated to Elvis Presley, one of the great rock 'n' roll stars.
The words chosen for the inscription reflect passionate emotion:
\IIn Evergreen Memory
of
ELVIS ARON PRESLEY
Born \JTupelo\j, Mississippi 8.1.1935
Died Memphis, \JTennessee\j 16.8.1977
In gratitude, from the millions
To whom you gave so much.\i
Not just one, but two enlarged photographs of Elvis, one above the other, are incorporated in the monument. Four vases of flowers, constantly renewed, further adorn the memorial which, like a shrine, is conspicuously located on a corner, in the recess of a stone grotto.
#
"From the Frying Pan Into the Fire",888,0,0,0
Those who try to extricate themselves from a predicament may aggravate matters instead of actually improving things. This is said to be jumping "from the frying pan into the fire." The \Jmetaphor\j could easily be assumed to reflect some unfortunate incident in the kitchen. In reality, it is borrowed from a heated religious controversy between two notable churchmen - William Tyndale and Sir Thomas More. Tyndale is renowned as the translator of the \JBible\j into English and More as the author of \IUtopia,\i the famous portrayal of an ideal community, whose title, in fact, he contributed to the languages of the world.
More strongly disagreed with Tyndale's views, which he bitterly attacked in a treatise usually quoted as\I A Dialoge Concerning Heresyes.\i Tyndale, not lost for words, responded three years later in \IAn Answere unto Syr Thomas More's Dyaloge.\i This did not silence More. Within two years, he wrote \IThe Confutacyon [Confutation] of Tyndale's Answere.\i
It was in this literary ding-dong battle, that in 1528 More introduced the vivid \Jmetaphor\j into the English language. He applied it to Tyndale's abortive attempt to maintain and confirm his originally expressed opinion. More asserted that Tyndale, in fact, instead of strengthening his argument, had only further invalidated it. It was "like a \Jflounder\j which leaped out of a frying pan into the fire." No doubt, he adopted the words from Tertullian, the second-century African church father and first Christian theologian to write in Latin, who had used the simile, without the \Jflounder\j, in that ancient tongue.
#
"From Time to Eternity",889,0,0,0
Eternity is one of the most misunderstood concepts. Usually people think that it refers to an infinitely long period. Thus they speak of being "eternally grateful" and, when discussing someone who has passed away, they say that "he has gone to eternity," believing that he will live on "for ever and ever." It is a mistake to regard eternity as unending, everlasting time - a perpetual continuity as it were, a quantity of years so vast that it cannot be measured.
Eternity is not a quantity but a quality of existence, so different from worldly experience, that no words can describe nor mind gauge it.
#
"Fuchsia and Begonia",890,0,0,0
At the early age of sixteen, Charles Plumier had joined the religious Order of the Minims. Its name expressed their resolve to foster the practice of humility as their major virtue. They saw themselves as "the least" \I(minimi)\i of all the religious groups. Their particular way of life might explain why so little is remembered of Plumier's achievements in the study of nature.
Little known is the fact that the world owes him the first description of the \Jfuchsia\j. He included it in a botanical work he published in 1703, after having undertaken three expeditions to the West Indies. His discovery was never recognized. This may be the reason why the flower was not called after him, as it ought to have been, but honors Dr Leonhard \IFuchs,\i a German physician and botanist.
Plumier's next contribution corrected a widely-held fallacy. Until his time, it was believed that the crimson \Jcochineal\j dye was the product of the \Jcactus\j. He identified, as its real source, the insect feeding on the plant.
Plumier made sketches of well over 4,000 different plants. He named more than fifty new genera. Some of these names were subsequently adopted by Linnaeus and still belong to our present-day botanical nomenclature.
Among them was the \Jbegonia\j. Plumier called it so out of personal gratitude to Michel \IBΘgon.\i Famed for his patronage of science, when serving as the French governor of the colony of \JSanto Domingo\j, \JHaiti\j, BΘgon had greatly supported the \Jfriar\j's work in the field of botany. He also was instrumental in enabling Plumier to go on some of his history-making expeditions by interesting \JLouis XIV\j, the French Sun King, in the work of this cleric-botanist.
Just when about to embark for \JPeru\j on yet another fact - finding research mission, Plumier died from \Jpleurisy\j in 1704.
#
"Fuddy-Duddy",891,0,0,0
A "fuddy-duddy" is an unbending, old-fashioned "stick-in-the-mud," particularly an elderly person with fixed ideas.
At first thought, this description may suggest an old daddy, muddled - befuddled - by drink. As a fuddy-duddy, this person may represent another, linguistic, kind of blend: a fussy sort of fogey. The name may also be remindful of a dud. Like a shell that does not explode, it proves totally ineffective. To stress this person's utter uselessness this type of human dud is presented doubled-up - reduplicated, as a fuddy-duddy.
Unreal but amusing is an anecdote which tells how an American congregation created the fuddy-duddy - synthetically. Its minister was a very staid and narrow-minded clergyman. On the other hand, he was highly educated, with doctoral degrees both in philosophy and divinity. Proudly, he displayed these in their traditional abbreviation of PhD and DD behind his name. It did not take his parishioners long to give those characters a new meaning which, they felt, was most appropriate in his case. They stood, they said, for Phuddy-duddy.
#
"Funeral Procession",892,0,0,0
There is an old belief that a corpse must proceed to its grave without stopping or hindrance. The smooth and unhampered progress of a funeral cortΦge is much in keeping with the solemn occasion. Even modern traffic authorities suspend some of the regulations in the case of a burial.
A funeral procession must in no circumstances be split up. Once the hearse has passed an intersection, even if the traffic lights have changed to red, the rest of the cars may follow through. Similarly, it is considered an offense for other vehicles to cut in. Equal care is taken for a cortege to move at the slowest possible speed.
All this expresses unwillingness, as it were, to part from the loved one, and pays due respect to his mortal remains. Yet, even those sentiments are rationalizations.
Reluctance to impede a funeral procession goes back to ancient \Jsuperstition\j. People feared that some dissatisfied spirit, averse to leave this world, might take advantage of the halt. Seizing the opportunity, it might escape from the body and start haunting and harming the living.
The slow pace of the cortΦge is not just a mark of respect. It recalls those earlier days when the dead person was carried by friends on a bier and a cross-bearer headed the solemn procession. The rate of progress was controlled by the mourners' strides, and it is this pedestrian pace that still restricts the hearse's speed.
#
"Funny Bone",893,0,0,0
There is nothing funny in the funny bone. Anatomically it describes the upper bone of the arm. The ulnar nerve running along it is unprotected near the elbow and so close to the skin that when struck causes sharp pain. Whoever experiences it, certainly has no reason to laugh.
The scientific Latin name of the bone is \Ihumerus.\i Because of the similarity of sound, people confused the term with "humorous." This created the "funny bone."
#
"Furphy",894,0,0,0
Furphy, an Australianism for an unfounded rumor, originated in army camps during the First World War. From there it made its way into popular speech.
Furphy was the name of a Victorian foundry, called after John Furphy who had established it in Shepparton in 1874. It manufactured the carts used to supply water and the sanitary trucks used to remove sewage. These carts and trucks were seen daily in Victorian military camps, with the firm's name conspicuously displayed on them. Soon they became a popular meeting place for the men. Standing around them, they exchanged the latest gossip. In no time, "Furphy" became synonymous with the (often latrine) rumors they spread, not least because of the contents of some of the vehicles.
#
"Future in Your Hand",895,0,0,0
Much of what a man does or possesses has been used to gauge his character and to gain information as to his past and future. His gait and facial expression, the way he talks, the quality and pitch of his voice, its softness or loudness - all these characteristics have been carefully noted and assessed. But of all his features, manners, and physiognomy, none has played a more "telling" role than his hands. How often do people jump to a conclusion about a person by merely shaking hands and observing whether his grip is hearty and firm, or limp and casual?
Man's hand seems to embrace an entire world. Without it civilization could not exist. The Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, who lived in the fifth century B.C. and possibly taught \JSocrates\j, was convinced that man owed his supremacy to his hand. It became his matchless tool because of its "outstanding" thumb.
We could not even talk without our hands - and this is not meant in the sense of gesticulation but very literally. People in love "hold hands." If generous, they are said to have an "open hand," but they conspire together "hand in glove." Effortlessly they might achieve their goal "hands down" or be forced to live and work with a "handicap." Some must be satisfied to accept things already used, that is "second hand." Those greatly disappointed, "wash their hands" of a responsibility they previously cherished. They might "hand it over" to someone else. Others, however, showing great interest in a cause, "take a hand in it" and likewise acknowledge the merit of a person by admitting that they have to "hand it to him." When things "get out of hand," one must take "a firm hand" or lose one's grasp.
Going beyond the realm of conversation and its countless "handy" idioms, man could not have spelled all his words - again meant very literally - without the aid of the hand. The letter "j" owes its very existence to the hand which it portrayed, when characters were still pictures. In fact, \Iyod,\i the \JHebrew\j name of this letter (the tenth in line in its alphabet) recalls the original presentation of the now stylized picture of "the hand." Used as a number, \Iyod\i signifies 10, i.e. the fingers of two hands.
Equally near "at hand" is all that is strong or weak, good or evil. The word "dexterous" is rooted in the Latin for "right," \Idexter,\i because the majority of people do things best with the hand on that side. Consequently, it was their strong side. Anyone who deviously tried to attack a man would do so therefore from his left. This, in turn, was responsible for the once very objective Latin description of the "left" - \Isinister\i - only to become with time so corrupt, ominous and evil in the sense that we now use the word. People throw salt over their left shoulder, after having spilled it on the table, just because it was once believed that the cunning devil would pounce on them not only from behind their back but from the very side he knew to be the weakest: the left, the sinister one!
A thinking person has many questions which concern the hand. He wonders, for instance, why at moments of great anxiety people's hands get so clammy. This physical reaction to an emotional situation most likely goes back to the dawn of history. Humans then - like their simian relations - still lived up in trees. To fall off would endanger their lives, as in the jungle or dense forest beneath the tree they could easily become the prey of the wild beasts roaming around, always ready for a meal.
Therefore, if a man should slip, he needed some extra safety device to help him stay up and survive. To enable him to grip a branch and to hold on to it firmly, nature provided him with glands that secreted moisture as an ingenious immediate reaction. And thus his instantly clammy hands would save his life. Now regarded unpleasant and uncomfortable if not embarrassing, the clammy hand is a vestige of our early tree-dwelling ancestors and man's eternal quest to hold on to life at all costs.
Another puzzling question is why the right hand has become superior to the left. Out of the various theories given, perhaps the most intriguing associates it with the heart. Primitive man must have felt the heart beating on his left side. And as dead people's hearts had stopped beating, he reasoned that the heart must be the very source of life. Consequently, to pierce it would kill a person; and experience showed that this was so. It followed that in a world so full of hostility and aggressiveness, anyone keen on preserving his life first of all had to protect this most vulnerable part of his body. He did so by holding a shield (or before that perhaps a flat stone) in front of the heart. And as this was on his left side, he naturally used his left hand. This freed the right hand to do the actual fighting. By constant practice in handling the sword (or whichever form of weapon he employed), the right inevitably became the stronger hand which, with hindsight, was a foregone conclusion.
#
"Fuzz",896,0,0,0
Fuzz is one of the many and not always complimentary names given to the police. It was early cockney slang for anyone who was resented or disliked. How Londoners came to use it first in this sense has been given a variety of explanations.
Some believe that generally it reflected their contempt for those who were fussing (or fuzzing) around in matters that were really not their concern. Surely, no one did so more than a "copper." Overparticular in his demands and hard to please, he well deserved to be called a "fuzz."
On the other hand, fuzz might be all that remained from a hostile encounter of the British with Sudanese tribesmen. In Kipling's words, those "pore benighted "eathen" fighting men were given the nickname of fuzzy-wuzzies because of their curly hair. Shortened to "fuzzy," it became the description of anyone to be avoided, as a policeman was by criminals.
Others have claimed that fuzz was an American term, though of doubtful origin. It has been seen as a corrupted version of "feds," the nickname given to the federal narcotic agents by those engaged in early drug traffic. For reasons unknown, they transferred the description to policemen. Also American is yet another derivation. Over-zealous policemen who were hard to please were referred to as "fussytails." And it did not take long to change the fussytail into a fuzz.
#
"G-String",897,0,0,0
The G-string, this scantiest cover of the pubic zone, derives its name from the lowest of the four strings of a violin. Because of the rich tone of the G-string, composers directed violinists to play certain passages on it alone. Best-known is Bach's "Air on the G-string."
#
"Gabardine",898,0,0,0
When medieval pilgrims made their way to the shrines of the Holy Land, they experienced much hardship from the strain and the stress of the journey. To protect themselves against the harsh conditions and their clothes from wear and tear, they wore a cloak of strong coarse cloth. No one could mistake them thus garbed.
It did not take long for people to associate the material with the pilgrims and to refer to any cloak or attire made of it as a "pilgrims garment" - \Igauvardine\i in French. Through the processes of linguistic change, \Igauvardine\i became at last the modern \Igabardine.\i
#
"Gag Origins",899,0,0,0
The first gag was not meant to make an audience laugh. Its purpose was to embarrass a fellow actor. Therefore whoever used the gag did not intend for it to sound funny, but merely to achieve its aim.
Actors can be very temperamental. After all, this is part of their make-up. Always in the limelight, they have to mind their words and actions. Nevertheless, like other people, they have their feuds, on and off the stage. Their profession made it possible to vent their \Jspleen\j against a colleague even during a performance. All they had to do was to throw the actor against whom they had a grudge off balance. This they easily managed by speaking words that were not in the script. Confused and missing his cue, the poor fellow was struck dumb. It was as if a "gag" had been put into his mouth.
But then, in the evolution of the term, the gag came to express the opposite: actors' mutual helpfulness. In doing so it became the cause of laughter it is now. When an actor realized that a fellow player had missed his entry or forgotten his line, he immediately came to his aid by covering up. He filled in the sudden gap by improvising a joke. This made not only the audience laugh but kept his colleague happy. It proved such an outstanding success that the originally unrehearsed and unintended "interruption" created the modern gag. No longer an impromptu performance, it is now part of the act, frequently the work of a professional (gag-)writer.
#
"Galled",900,0,0,0
Antiquated medical concepts continue to burden man. At some time, it was seriously believed that fluids secreted by certain organs in excess, changed a person's behavior pattern. Those, for instance, whose liver produced too much \Jbile\j, were thought to become rude and aggressive. The notion has been proved fallacious. A pugnacious personality is not the result of any malfunction of the liver. Nevertheless, we are still "galled" - as an obsolete survival of the misdiagnosis.
#
"Gallery",901,0,0,0
The gallery in the modern theater, situated nearer to the ceiling than to the stage, derives its name from \Jgeography\j. It is called after \JGalilee\j, the northernmost region of the Holy Land. Once populated by a mixture of races, the Gospels tell that, at the time of Jesus, its people were regarded by some to be of low status, little likely ever to produce a \Jprophet\j (John 7.41).
To "play to the gallery," therefore, was to try to gain popularity by pleasing the unintelligent section of the population, who could easily be taken in by flattery and false promises.
#
"Gangster's Moll",902,0,0,0
When people favored biblical names for their children, \IMary\i - the Greek for the \JHebrew\j \IMiriam\i - was the most popular for girls. In its "pet" form it became \IMolly.\i If familiarity breeds contempt, the frequency with which girls were named "Molly" had even worse effects. It vulgarised the name which now contracted to \IMoll,\i became so common that no respectable family would choose it. Its use was restricted to the criminal class.
As no one was interested to know (or would dare to ask) the name of a gangster's girl, she was assumed to be a Mary or, in its debased, common form, a Moll. Losing its capital letter, the word was soon applied, as a common name, to any female member of the underworld, with no one having the slightest awareness of its original, sacred root.
#
"Gangway",903,0,0,0
Originally, the gangway of a ship did not give access to a vessel. It ran along the center of the medieval galley, to enable oarsmen easily to move from stern to stem. In fact, "gang" was then an alternate word for "alley." Whilst the ship was in port, the gangway doubled up its function as a storeplace for the mast the boats then also carried.
#
"Gathering Nuts in May",904,0,0,0
May is springtime in Britain and therefore the season for sowing and, certainly, not for harvesting. Hence, "nuts in May" make no sense. In fact, the "nuts" are misheard "knots!"
Reference to them goes back to the ancient Roman celebration of May Day. This lasted not just one, but six days. Flowers played a significant part in its ritual, which explains the Roman description of the festival as \IFloralia.\i
When the observance of May Day became universal, the classical practice of gathering \Iknots\i of flowers was continued, to decorate homes, to make posies or, intertwined, to form chains and garlands with which to go "a-Maying." Later generations, unacquainted with "knots," mistook them for "nuts." The error was perpetuated by the author of the well-known children's song, "Here we go gathering nuts in May."
#
"Gay",905,0,0,0
The term "gay" has an intriguing story in the way it was once used and ultimately became the generally accepted term for homosexual. It has covered a long distance between its early connotation of a carefree person with a happy disposition to its present-day sexual application. At one time, it served even as a description of religious significance. In the 1680s in the American colonies, Quakers and the Pennsylvanian Dutch, while describing themselves as "the plain people," referred to the more worldly-minded Lutherans as "gay."
It was only in Victorian times that the word became associated with sex. To be gay then meant to take liberties, and people so called were either living promiscuously or engaged in prostitution. A "gay house" was a common name for a brothel, and people amorously inclined used to say that they "felt gay."
In its specific homosexual meaning, it is claimed, gay was first publicly mentioned in London in 1889, in the so called "Cleveland Street scandal." This concerned a homosexual brothel in the West End of the city, frequented by men in high office and serviced by post office boys.
When cross-examined by the police, John Saul, a male prostitute working in the house, described himself and his associates as "gays," in the modern sense.
From Britain, the "gay," in its new connotation, crossed the Atlantic to become an American euphemism for homosexuals, eventually to be proudly adopted by the Gay Liberation Movement.
Though there is an opinion that Australian slang used "gay boy" for homosexuals already in the mid-1920s, generally the term gay in its new meaning took some time to be adopted "down under." This caused considerable embarrassment on President Johnson's visit to Sydney. Large banners suspended across the streets along which his motorcade was to proceed, welcomed him with the words, "Let's Go Gay with LBJ!"
When the American advance party arrived and saw those banners, they were horrified. They pointed out the diplomatic implications of the Australian linguistic backwardness. As it was too late to remove the offending banners, American TV cameras televising the President's procession along the route to the "folks back home" not accidentally always went out of focus when showing the gay banners.
#
"Gazebo",906,0,0,0
A gazebo is a pavilion or some kind of lookout placed in an elevated position, to give people the opportunity to gaze out on the surrounding countryside. Gazebo thus really meant a "gaze-about."
Another suggestion asserts that it was not the actual "gaze" that gave the structure its unusual name. This was artificially created by using the mock Latin \Ividebo\i for "I shall see." Obviously, it referred to the spectacular view obtained from its windows.
#
"Gehinnom",907,0,0,0
The Jewish faith never included "hell" in its fundamental pattern of belief. Nevertheless, at times it came to play a significant role even in the life of the Jew. He first assimilated the idea from neighboring nations or, during his exile, from the Babylonians. He then gave it his own personal interpretation and with it the world of the occult \IGehinnom\i - a very special term for hell.
The way Gehinnom came into being has its own story. To begin with, it was solely a geographical site in the south and south-west of \JJerusalem\j. This was known as the "valley of Hinnom" (in \JHebrew\j \Ige-Hinnom).\i It was then still, in the words of Milton (Paradise Lost I,103), a "pleasant" place.
However, the valley became associated with a horrible \Jcult\j, dedicated to the god Moloch. To serve him and obtain his favor, parents were said there to have "passed [their] sons and daughters through fire," an atrocious religious practice of child sacrifice based on ancient mythological tradition. This certainly made the valley a most hellish sort of place to the \JHebrew\j mind. It so incensed Jeremiah that he prophesied (19,6) that because of the evil deeds committed there, the murderous place would be renamed "the valley of slaughter."
It has been suggested that in reality children there were passed through the fire not to burn them to death as a sacrifice, but to refine their souls in an initiation rite.
Whatever happened, as the valley was linked with pagan rites, it became so notorious that it was regarded as defiled. To show their contempt, the citizens of \JJerusalem\j came to use it as a refuse pit for burning rubbish and animals' carcasses. Gehinnom became the site for executions and for the burial of criminals or of those ritually unclean. That is how Gehinnom became a name, the very sound of which struck horror in the hearts of people, just as murderous Belsen did in modern days. But in the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j, it was never used in the actual meaning of hell.
The clouds of smoke rising out of the valley (whether from the burning of children or refuse), seen from afar, intensified the macabre note of Gehinnom and gave it an entirely new dimension. From earliest days, it was believed that God (or the gods) meted out punishment to the souls of sinners by means of fire. And by fusing the ancient tradition with the actual site, Gehinnom eventually became synonymous with the fiery pit in which the wicked dead had to pay for their sinful life.
The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j thus merely gave us the name of Gehinnom and its association with abomination, death, and fire. All other (horrifying) details ascribed to it stem from later days. They arose from the writings of the \JNew Testament\j and of those books which the rabbis had excluded from the official canon of \JHebrew\j Scriptures as being "uninspired." For this reason, they had been "concealed," which accounts for their later name of Apocrypha, literally meaning "hidden writings."
When the Gospels adopted the \JHebrew\j "valley of Hinnom" (Gehinnom) they used its Greek transcription, calling it \JGehenna\j. And it was the view of the \JNew Testament\j that created the popular idea of what \JGehenna\j meant in all its (imagined) tribulations and anguish, changing it into the modern hell as the place of eternal punishment.
Although many of the Gospels' vivid and terrifying descriptions of hell were used metaphorically, they were soon taken literally. Thus people came to believe that the souls of the sinners with "weeping and gnashing of teeth" would actually be cast into "outer darkness," into a "lake which burned with fire and brimstone."
Man's imagination ran riot in its description of hell. Speculations as to it extent, situation, and nature became boundless. The "valley of Hinnom" seemed much too small for a place of its kind and therefore it was seen merely as one of the gates to hell.
Hell itself was imagined to be of enormous size, located deep down under the ground. Its fires, which burned continuously, were at least sixty times as hot as any fire on earth. Their smell was that of sulfur. Yet, in spite of the ever-burning flames, mysteriously, hell stayed as dark as the darkest of nights.
#
"Gefilte Fish",908,0,0,0
"Gefilte fish" is certainly a linguistic mixture. It combines words from two languages: the German-Yiddish for "stuffed" \I(gefilte)\i and the English "fish." The \JYiddish\j component immediately indicates its origin in Jewish life and, in fact, to start with, the dish was closely associated with the celebration of the Sabbath. It was served as the main course at the festive Sabbath meal with which each family commenced (on Friday night) this day of rest and of spiritual dedication.
The origin of gefilte fish is a story in itself. Most Eastern European Jews were very poor and could ill afford to eat meat. As fish was a particularly expensive item, and therefore for them a luxury, it was reserved for the menu of sanctified days, such as the weekly Sabbath.
However, to buy fish in sufficient quantity to feed a large family, was well beyond the ordinary home's means. The ingenious Jewish housewife thus learned to spread the fare and to make a little go a long way. She did so by scraping out the fishmeat from its skin, then mincing it and mixing it with plenty of bread. Next, it was flavored with onions and spices. She then returned this "stuffing" into the skin to create the gefilte fish.
The addition of the bread greatly increased the amount of fish meat (though in an adulterated form), with the result that, after having restuffed the skin, plenty of the mixture was left over. Shaped separately into balls, it provided supplementary helpings, oddly also referred to as "gefilte fish," assuring that none of the family went hungry.
Times changed. A great part of Eastern Jewry migrated West. And, as all migrants do, they carried with them to the new country customs and food items from back home. That is how gefilte fish came to be known worldwide. In the process another change took place, responsible for a great paradox. This food, once invented by the poorest of Jews to hallow their Sabbath day, is now relished by everyone and sold in supermarkets, to be served as a delicacy at parties. On the other hand, once a main dish, if not \Ithe\i Sabbath dinner, gefilte fish has become a mere hors d'oeuvre.
#
"Gem Lore",909,0,0,0
Far from being worn merely as ornaments, gems have been supposed to be endowed with mystical power from earliest days. Their mysterious lustre and color were believed to indicate some \Jsupernatural\j quality and potency, different in each type of stone. Modern times have revived the memory of such beliefs which man seemed to have discarded long ago.
The conviction that each month had its particular stone, bestowing on those born then specific virtues and abilities can be traced backs in \JJudaism\j, to the first-century writer Josephus; and, in \JChristianity\j, to fifth-century St Jerome.
However, long before them, the \JBible\j had allocated individual precious stones to groups of people sharing a common ancestor. Each of the twelve gems adorning the high priest's breastplate, thus was linked (in Ex. 28.17-20) with one of the twelve tribes, whose name was actually engraved on it. Mystical writers in later years engaged in speculation as to the significance of the individual stones. The emerald representing the tribe of Levi, for instance, they said, increased the wisdom of whoever wore it. The \Jtopaz\j, Simon's stone, on the other hand, was useful in affairs of the heart and effective in chilling the body, if not its passions.
#
"Gemini - the Twins",910,0,0,0
The values of loyalty and deep affection are highlighted in the skies by the \Jconstellation\j known as "the twins," or in their Latin rendering, Gemini. Greek legend identifies them with Castor and Pollux, two brothers who were so attached to each other that they not only lived but wanted to die together.
When Castor was slain in battle, Pollux was so overcome by grief that he entreated Zeus either to revive his brother or to make him share the same fate. Life held no meaning for him without his beloved twin. Zeus would have been only too happy to fulfill the request so expressive of brotherly love. However, even with the best will in the world (and in heaven), he could not do so. While Castor was a mortal and hence subject to death, Pollux, as Zeus' own son, was immortal!
Nevertheless, Zeus was determined to do whatever was in his power, even if it was by the way of a compromise. His action is described in two versions. One tradition tells how in answer to Pollux's prayer, Zeus had permitted him to divide his time. He was to spend his days alternately: one with his brother in \JHades\j and the next with the gods in Olympus.
The more popular version believed that, to honor the wish and acknowledge the twins' mutual devotion, Zeus had placed both their images into the sky. There they have stayed together as shining lights to the world, now as \Jheavenly twins\j, just as they had lived with each other on earth.
That is how Gemini, the \Jconstellation\j of twins, came into being. It tells men in every age not only the story of Castor and Pollux, those two noble youths, but how nothing excels true, unselfish brotherly love. Indeed, the two shining stars must have caught people's attention from earliest days and caused them to wonder what had created their outstanding brightness and strange link.
Before the invention of the compass, the twins helped sailors in navigation, as they could take their sights by the twin stars.
Though so highly elevated, it was not the end of the honors bestowed on the twins. Poseidon, the god of the seas, for instance, is said to have rewarded them by putting them in control of the waves and the winds. And, aware of their power, sailors duly made them their patrons. Their help was specially invoked at perilous moments of unexplained phenomena or of danger to sailors' lives such as shipwreck or the vision of a mysterious flame around the masthead of their ship, later referred to as \JSt Elmo's fire\j.
There is a suggestion that the mild oath and exclamation of surprise "by Jiminy" stems from the twins as well. Sailors particularly had used it when appealing to their patrons on all kinds of occasions. If so, the expletive should really and correctly be spelled "by Gemini." It is much more likely, however, that the invocation was not at all addressed to those two figures of pagan myth but to "Jesus Domine"-Jesus, the Master. But fearful that the call might be resented as being blasphemous, the words were changed beyond recognition and thus camouflaged.
The twins of so long ago gained new fame in modern times with the conquest of the skies and of outer space. When the Americans launched the first space craft ever to carry two men into orbit towards the stars, they called it imaginatively - Gemini!
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"Genealogy of the Demon",911,0,0,0
Belief in the existence of evil spirits has dominated the mind of man much longer and more deeply than belief in benevolent forces. And understandably so. The countless frustrations, losses and sufferings man experienced must have created in him from early times feelings of dread and awe, even in a world still unpampered, i.e., a world accustomed to a rough and cruel life. And thus, also from prehistoric days onward, man sought for the cause of his misfortune and "blamed" demons. He used any means he could think of to stop them and thereby make life livable.
He might try to pay them off with gifts and sacrifices, as it were, by giving them protection money. Or, going to the other extreme, he contrived and applied magical spells and charms to keep the malevolent powers under his control.
And it was the latter effort which led man (instead of turning his back on demons) to make every effort to engage them for his own nefarious purposes. \JDemonology\j thus deals with almost contradictory topics. On the one hand it speaks of the rule by devils and on the other of their being employed in black magic!
The very description of the "demon" is significant, as is the way the word changed in meaning with time. It shows how man's evil intention or self-interest can besmirch or calumniate even the best of names. To start with, a "demon" was not necessarily evil at all. On frequent occasions, he was highly respected as a divine and protective spirit. He could be a guardian angel, for instance.
The Greek "demon" \I(daiomai)\i originally referred to a divine power which "imparted" fate and destiny. It was a good genius and a source of spiritual inspiration. \JSocrates\j claimed that a \Idaimon\i was the guide in his thoughts and philosophy who also warned him whenever he was about to make a wrong decision. Commentators differed in the way they interpreted the sense in which \JSocrates\j used the term. Some said that he saw in the \Idaimon\i the voice of his conscience. Others felt that he used the term for the \Jsupernatural\j experience he underwent in his cataleptic trances. Nevertheless, they all agree that the \Idaimon\i \JSocrates\j knew was of a beneficent nature.
For centuries then the demon occupied a respected place. His crisis and change of personality came with the advent of the Christian faith. It adopted the well-known name, but began to use it exclusively for "unclean spirits." Ever since, demons have been satellites of Satan, whether in the form of fallen angels, decried pagan gods or, generally, spirits of evil.
All the positive values the "demon" had treasured hitherto were now completely forgotten. The final blow was struck by King James VI of Scotland (James I of England). He gave the royal approval for the diabolic connotation of all demons when in 1597 he created the term \Jdemonology\j, using it as the title of his treatise on witchcraft.
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"German Churchyard at Bethany",912,0,0,0
Bethany, South \JAustralia\j, was largely settled by German migrants who were members of the Lutheran Church. They have preserved their German tongue even in the cemetery. On the headstone on the grave of a Frau Charlotte Meyer, nee Kunze, the mason originally spelled her Christian name CHRLOTTE. Unable to squeeze the missing character into its proper place, he added it, slightly smaller, above the line!
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"German Influence on Ten-Pin Bowling",913,0,0,0
Ten-pin bowling became part of German social life and was enjoyed on almost every festive occasion, whether in celebration of a \Jbaptism\j or at a country fair. Wealthy citizens built private alleys to entertain guests.
Individual cities did much to foster the game. They arranged public contests and provided good prizes. Gamblers, however. bet heavily on games and gambling reached such proportions that some cities felt the need to restrict bets.
No wonder a game that belonged so much to German life contributed its fair share to German phrases and ideas as well. Some of them, of course, are difficult to translate. A boor was compared to someone who could not hit a pin. To have neither kith nor kin was expressed by saying that he had neither children nor pins \I(Kind oder Kegel),\i while to move with \IKind und Kegel\i (child and pin) came to mean with one's entire family and belongings. \IKegel\i was also a \Jmetaphor\j for an illegitimate child. On the other hand, the noise of a \Jthunderstorm\j was due, the young were told, to St Peter (or the angels) bowling.
With all its ecclesiastical background, it does not seem strange that Martin Luther, the great German reformer, took a liking to the game himself. At the time, the number of pins was not yet generally fixed, but differed from city to city, irrespective of the number of players. Some used as many as 16 pins and others as few as three. Methodically, Luther began to investigate possibilities of improving the game, searching for the ideal number of pins. This, eventually, he found to be nine which - one claim suggests - led to the birth of nine-pin bowling. Luther thus left his mark not only on the religious movements throughout the world, but on its playing fields as well, though that kind of fame was soon forgotten.
From \JGermany\j, bowling spread to adjacent countries. In England the game was known at first (in the thirteenth century) as \Ikayles\i (or \Ikeels).\i The Scots called it \Ikyles.\i Those in authority repeatedly tried to outlaw the game as a cause of gambling and hooliganism, and a potential danger to the practice of \Jarchery\j. They described it as something "dishonorable, useless, and unprofitable."
Nevertheless, kings and nobles sponsored pin bowling. Henry IV had an alley built in the gardens of Old \JNorthumberland\j House, London, and \JHenry VIII\j at \JWhitehall\j Palace. Indeed, John Aylmer, Bishop of London in 1576, enjoyed bowls so much that he played it on Sunday afternoons! No wonder that the English tongue, too, has been enriched by the game. We still speak, and paradoxically so in the age of ten-pin bowling, of someone "going down like a nine-pin," and call the pivot of anything the "king-pin" after the tallest central pin.
Originally, all bowling took place in the open. The obvious next step was the erection of some kind of shelter, to protect players and spectators at one end of the alley and the pin boy at the other. The first indoor bowling alley was built as early as 1455, in London not surprisingly, considering the vagaries of the English climate. Of course, at that time the halls were very crudely constructed-mere shacks. To expedite play, the ball was returned to the player by means of a sloping lane parallel with the alley.
From Europe, bowling found its way to the New World. In 1626, the Dutch first introduced it to Manhattan Island, though all agree that it was then the lawn variety.
Early Puritan settlers objected to the game and tried their utmost to have it banned. Nevertheless, even some of their own kin could not resist its lure. In 1658, a Puritan felt compelled to confess:
\ITo those concerned, I hereby say, I should not make confessions which are likely to be read from this page at some future time by public eyes but my conscience is troubling me, so I seek this way to ease it.
The weather is tantalizing warm, but I was tempted to do what I have refrained from doing before. This game of bowls has bewitched me, I fear. For I played it today and for funds. Yet, I was fortunate, for the bet was ú10. Woe unto me! My fellow Puritans will be shocked if they hear of this, but the more reason for my confession.
I like the game, my own ability to win, and the fine folks I meet on the greens. May this confession do my soul good.\i
#
"Get Fired",914,0,0,0
Those who are fired, obviously are "discharged" - like a gun. Their dismissal from the job is as fast as a speeding bullet. Unfortunately, the effect may be equally wounding.
That a gun is "fired" has its reasons. It goes back to the early days when to shoot a weapon, a flaming torch was used to ignite the explosive that propelled the bullet. Later this was replaced by a slow-burning wick, and then with a pan containing the \Jgunpowder\j. In every stage of its evolution, a gun literally thus had to be "fired."
The first cannon likewise (known as a "bombard") justified the expression. Finely-ground powder - made up of a mixture of \Jsaltpetre\j, sulfur, and charcoal - was rammed into the gun to form there what amounted to a solid cake. When this was ignited, it did not go off in an instantaneous flash, but merely caught fire at one end, to burn through to the other, eventually generating sufficient gas pressure to propel the projectile out of the bore.
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"Get One's Back Up",915,0,0,0
Even the animal world has learned the power of intimidation. Mere bluff or sham can frighten away an adversary. In confrontation with a dog or some other foe, to appear most fearsome, a cat will make itself bigger by putting its back up. It was not difficult to misinterpret its gesture as a sign of roused anger and as such it has been adopted in daily speech.
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"Get One's Goat",916,0,0,0
To get one's \Jgoat\j is irritating, especially if the \Jgoat\j is not really a \Jgoat\j but a beard. At one time it was fashionable for men to grow hair on their chin in a tuft-like outcrop. As it reminded people of a billygoat's beard, they called it a goatee. To have one's \Jgoat\j(ee) pulled was aggravating and annoying.
The phrase has also been linked with \Jhorse racing\j . A \Jracehorse\j was often highly strung and hard to manage when kept in a stall on its own. It seemed to need company. To have it share its quarters with a second horse, however, did not work. To have another stallion as a companion only challenged and upset the racer all the more. A mare, on the other hand, was even less advisable. It could sexually excite the stallion and often at the most unsuitable moment.
It was discovered that, of all animals, a \Jgoat\j proved an ideal mate. Somehow, its presence calmed down the horse, particularly important prior to a race.
Well aware of this fact, dishonest rivals used to sneak into the stable during the night preceding the race to "get the \Jgoat\j." Having lost its stablemate, the horse became unsettled and agitated and could not win its race. And that is how "to get one's \Jgoat\j," it was said, became synonymous with causing annoyance and irritation.
Originally, there was no \Jgoat\j at all in the phrase, is yet another suggestion. It found its way there merely by mistake and by people not properly enunciating words. The idiom referred to a goad, the sharp instrument once used to prod animals. The spur got stuck in people's slovenly speech, thus changing goad into \Jgoat\j.
#
"Get Something Off One's Chest",917,0,0,0
There is a valid reason, though buried in the past, for describing persons who confess a guilt or express a feeling or secret they had so far kept to themselves, as "making a clean breast of it" or "getting it off their chest."
These go back to the time when offender's chests were branded with the initial of the crime or sin they had committed. For adulterers to get the "A" off their chests, for instance, was something greatly desired. Those guilty of an offense were factually described as having a "stained breast." To admit their failings and rid themselves of the burden that lay heavily on their conscience therefore, very appropriately, was referred to as "making a clean breast."
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"Get the Sack",918,0,0,0
To speak of a person as "getting the sack" may have several explanations. Originally, a workman taking on a job had to provide his own tools. He brought them along in a sack, which he then left at his place of work. When his employer wanted to dismiss him, there was no need on his part to say even a single word. All he had to do was to give the worker the sack to put in his tools and go home.
Another account recalls the practice of men doing overtime. They took their work home with them in a sack. But when they were no longer needed, all they were given was their (empty) sack.
A rather gruesome interpretation of the phrase links it with a certain Turkish Sultan. He was said to have used a sack to get rid of an unwanted wife or concubine. When fed up with her, he ordered his servants to put the woman into a sack which they were to drop into the waters of the Bosphorus.
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"Get Under One's Skin",919,0,0,0
To get under one's skin, metaphorically, recalls an actual unpleasant physical experience of the past. Noxious insects and certain species of worms used to deposit their larvae under a person's skin. In the process of developing, they caused painful discomfort to their unwilling host.
More common still was the aggravating sensation felt by people who were stung by nettles. Subsequently they were irritated by the barbs which remained sticking under the skin!
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"Getting Out of Bed on the Wrong Side",920,0,0,0
We say of people whom we find suddenly ill-tempered that they must have got out of bed "on the wrong side." But when we do so, we have not the slightest inkling that the phrase has any deeper meaning or ominous sense. We use it merely in the way of picturesque speaking. But in reality, and originally, it was meant quite literally. People firmly believed that the way they rose in the morning affected their mood and dealings throughout the ensuing day. The simple act of getting up was therefore of almost magic significance.
Matters were aggravated further by the fact that the most important question was left unanswered. If there was a wrong side from which to get out of bed, which was it? From long ago two different interpretations were given.
First, people assumed that it was inviting disaster to get up the same way as they retired. They must complete the "magic circle" and rise from the opposite side of the bed.
A more deeply rooted belief was that, no matter which way we had gone to bed, in the case of rising, the left side was always the wrong side. Getting out of bed we must put down our right foot first.
In all ages the left has been linked with evil and, therefore, with superstitious fear. This might have been caused by people's experience that the average person's left hand was less powerful than the right, and even clumsy.
For centuries left-handedness has been associated with debility of mind. Even a criminologist of the standing of the Italian Cesare Lombroso claimed that left-handedness was a common occurrence among the insane and criminal.
The ancient Romans already had identified the left side with the "evil one." Therefore they considered it unlucky to enter a house with their left foot first. To avoid any such possibility, noble families employed a servant whose sole duty it was to ensure that guests entered his master's home right foot first. Appropriately, this slave's office became known as that of a \Ifootman.\i We still retain the title but have forgotten its original meaning.
Our own word \Isinister,\i likewise, dates from Roman civilization and the identical \Jsuperstition\j. It was the Latin word for the \Ileft\i side. Its very association with evil caused it to become, in our vocabulary, a term denoting what is underhand, base, and bad.
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"Ghettos",921,0,0,0
\IGhetto\i is now applied to a dilapidated district of a city, densely populated by a disadvantaged minority group. However, it has its origin in religion - or, rather, in religious discrimination.
The first ghetto in the world was in Venice, established in 1516. Jews residing or arriving in the city at the time were compelled to settle separately from the general - Christian - population. The area assigned to them was the worst part of Venice, its industrial section, where the gunfoundry was situated.
The Italian word for gunfoundry was \Igeto\i and it did not take long for the Jews' quarters to become identified with the foundry and thus to be referred to as the \Igeto.\i
At night the Jews were not permitted to leave the district. To make sure, the two access passages were closed by gates (their hinges can still be seen) and Christian guards patrolled the surrounding canals all through the hours of darkness.
Subsequently, the term, erroneously spelled \Ighetto\i (and slightly mispronounced), was extended worldwide, to be applied to wherever Jews lived together, whether they did so voluntarily or in coerced isolation. Today the word is no longer exclusively applied to a Jewish quarter, but to an area inhabited by any minority group.
#
"Ghost of the Princess Theater",922,0,0,0
\BFrederick Baker\b
Frederick Baker once held the center of the stage of the Melbourne Princess Theater. The only reminder of his former fame on his epitaph is the mention of "Federici," his stage name, and even this is only added in square brackets. The inscription on his stone, in the Melbourne General Cemetery, reads:
\ISacred
to
The Memory of
My beloved Husband
FREDERICK BAKER
[Federici]
Born at Florence, \JItaly\j 22nd April 1850
Died 3rd March 1888
Rest in Peace\i
Federici's death was as dramatic as the roles he played in operatic performances. On the night of 3 March 1888, he appeared as Mephistopheles in Gounodis \IFaust.\i He was at his very best until the last scene. Then things suddenly got out of hand. Not taking his cue, he started his recital one and a half bars behind.
Somehow, however, he managed to get through, though obviously with difficulty. But when, finally, standing with Faust on the trapdoor which was to slowly descend into the Underworld, he was singing his last notes, he was seen to cover his eyes with his arms. He subsequently collapsed.
A doctor for more than an hour tried to revive him, as the papers of the time reported, even by applying a "galvanic battery." It was in vain. He did not respond to the treatment and died, still dressed in his red costume of Mephistopheles. The inquest showed that he had suffered a fatal heart attack.
Federici's funeral seemed destined to have its own drama. Rev J. H. Goodwin, whilst conducting the service at the gravesite, suddenly collapsed and had to be carried away! Fortunately, he soon recovered, though meanwhile a layman had concluded the prayers.
Federici's burial did not end his connection with the stage. He now began to haunt the theater, at least, so people said. Shortly after his passing, members of the audience claimed to have seen a mysterious figure in a flowing cape wandering about in the dress circle. It had occupied various seats. In fact, the apparition was witnessed by most level-headed people.
Actors, well known for being superstitious, soon refused to use the trapdoor that had taken Mephistopheles to the "nether region," and beyond.
Eventually, the gossip and rumors began to interfere with the proper running of the theater; its manager decided to stop the nuisance once and for all. He would prove that it was all an illusion. He placed himself on the trapdoor and had it lowered. But something happened in the process, though no one knew what it was, and the manager's leg was badly hurt. This only reinforced the story of Federici's ghost, which everyone was convinced must have caused the accident.
With the passing of time, the ghost's visits lessened in frequency, then stopped altogether. An explanation which gained currency was rather unkind to modern players. Federici had the on-stage habit of watching the faces of the critics in the audience. He shared their contempt for bad acting. It was the deterioration in the quality of stagecraft, it was said, that had disgusted his ghost so much that it decided to stay away from the theater altogether. Federici's phantom much preferred remaining underground to watching bad performances.
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"Giddiness",923,0,0,0
Whoever is giddy is not merely dizzy but (if we take into consideration the meaning of the \JAnglo-Saxon\j word from which it probably derives) "possessed by God."
Agitated and puzzled by so uncommon a sensation, people no doubt imagined that it could not be the result of natural causes, but that the only possible explanation for the strange, unbalancing experience was the action of divine power. Anyone giddy had God within himself, leading to the prophetic frenzy of giddiness.
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"Gilding the Lily",924,0,0,0
"To gild the lily" has become an accepted "Shakespearean" phrase, speaking of the unnecessary further adornment of something that is already beautiful. Shakespeare never used the simile in these words. What he spoke of (in \IKing John,\i Act IV, scene 2) was the "wasteful and ridiculous excess" involved "to gild refined gold, to paint the lily." It was like throwing perfume on the violet.
The context is historically significant. King John, who had usurped the throne after his brother's death, realized his ever-growing unpopularity. Anxious to gain the people's esteem and affection, he imagined that a second crowning would do so. But his scheme was rejected by the Earl of Salisbury as utterly futile. He was already king and to have yet another coronation would be like "painting the lily."
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"Gin: Origin of the Name",925,0,0,0
The name of gin is a real mix-up. Though popularly derived from Geneva, it has nothing to do with the Swiss city. It is called after the \Jjuniper\j shrub, the source of one of its major ingredients and flavoring agents, which was called in French \Igenievre\i and in Dutch \Igenever.\i Franciscus Sylvius, a 16th century Dutch physician, in fact, is credited with having developed the drink and doing so in pursuit of his medical practice. He used it in the treatment of kidney ailments.
When the spirit was subsequently introduced into Britain, its name had not only been shortened, losing all but its first syllable, but was mispronounced by the English to become gin.
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"Give Quarters",926,0,0,0
An officer captured during the Spanish-Dutch War could buy his freedom. He had to pay for it in cash. The amount of the ransom was fixed to a quarter of his annual pay. Now entirely divorced from warfare and monetary demands, people continue to "give quarters" to a person guilty of an offense, treating leniently someone who deserves worse.
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"Give Short Shrift",927,0,0,0
To give short shrift to anyone does not let him have much time. It cuts very short whatever there is left for him to do or, originally even, to live.
"Shriving" was the archaic term for the Church rite of confession and absolution. It is still recalled in the name of Shrove Tuesday. Being the last day before the long fast of Lent, the faithful went to confession; they were "shriven."
To give short shrift refers to this very religious act, but in the most morbid of circumstances. Prior to their execution, men condemned to death were given the opportunity of confessing their sins to a priest. Since in medieval times even minor offenses carried \Jcapital punishment\j, the axe and the gallows were kept busy, and with it the executioner.
More concerned with himself than the felons' fate and last moments, he was anxious to get through his work fast. Resenting the slightest delay, he did not leave much time for a man's last confession. Hurried on his way to eternity, the condemned was urged to make haste in telling the priest of his evil ways and asking God for His forgiveness. Indeed, he was given (a) "short shrift."
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"Give the Cold Shoulder",928,0,0,0
To "give (a person) the cold shoulder" means to show him contempt. Like all phrases, it has its own story to tell. People loved their roast piping hot. When guests had outstayed their welcome, or visitors came uninvited, all they were offered were unsavory scraps from the leftover cold shoulder or joint. The message, though unspoken, was loud and clear. It was hardly worth their while to stay and be insulted by that kind of hospitality, so "cold shouldered," they made their exit.
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"Given Names",929,0,0,0
Given names need not be "Christian names," a term which, if properly applied, should be reserved for those who have been christened. A Jew, a \JMoslem\j or a Hindu cannot have a Christian name. Nevertheless, in everyday usage the misapplication of the term persists.
It is equally true that a vast number of popular names, chosen for their children even by parents indifferent to, if not totally divorced from religion, are biblical or rooted in faith. To list them here is superfluous, as their source is so obvious.
John has always been a favorite. The story is told that Samuel Goldwyn, when informed by one of his associates of the birth of a son, had asked the man what name the parents had given the child. Hearing that it was "John," Goldwyn reprimanded the friend, "Now why did you call him John." Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named John! However, not everyone recognizes in John the \JHebrew\j for "God is gracious."
Danny is the diminutive of Daniel, for "God is my judge," and Malcolm the \JGaelic\j for "a servant of St Columbia."
There are still many clergymen about, if not professionally, well-camouflaged in proper names. McMillan is Celtic for "son of the tonsured man," that is, a religious servant; McPherson stands for "the son of a parson," and even Charlie Chaplin recalled (in his surname) a prominent ancestor of his who had been a chaplain.
Anne proclaims that "God has favored" the bearer of the name, while Debbie is a small "bee," a diminutive of the \JHebrew\j Deborah, the name of the female judge of early \JHebrew\j history.
Elizabeth is pure \JHebrew\j for "the oath of God;" Jodie, given to a girl of any religion or none, asserts that she is "a Jewess," and is derived from the biblical Judith. Maureen is merely another form of the name of the Virgin Mary. Michelle, the feminine version of Michael, means "who is like God."
In some names, now apparently quite unconnected with religion, can be found the echoes of the names of saints - names that have been contracted beyond all recognition. Sinclair pays homage to St Clair, and Sydney (whichever way spelled), to St Denis, the patron saint of \JFrance\j.
On the other hand, it was solely their religious association which popularized names which otherwise parents would have shunned to give to their children. Paul became fashionable because it was the \JApostle\j's name, though all the name means is that whoever (first) bore it was "of small stature."
The Jewish roots of the name Sarah are unmistakable, though its aristocratic meaning might not be widely known. Even staunch republicans would not mind thus calling their daughter "a princess." There is no doubt, in name-giving, \Jetymology\j just does not count.
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"Giving the Bride Away",930,0,0,0
The phrase "to give the bride away" actually recalls the early days, when the bride was sold. The wedlock was the final settlement, of which the "wed" referred to the purchase money - or, more frequently, its equivalent in kind, such as \Jcattle\j, horses or property - which the groom or his father paid to the girl's owner, her father.
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"Gladstone Bag",931,0,0,0
Britain has had many an outstanding prime minister. Nineteenth-century William Gladstone (d. 1898) had a unique distinction. No other statesman in the world could boast that, of all things, a traveling case was named after him. The Gladstone bag was not so called because this great leader either invented or favored it.
Gladstone loved hearing his own voice, and to make speeches was his delight. He seized every opportunity to deliver yet another address, no matter how far away from London. It took him all over the country and the traveling bag became symbolic of his numerous trips. This gave birth to the "Gladstone bag."
Gladstone was an extraordinary man with a record in serving his country. Four times prime minister, he finished his last term of office at the age of 85, and for 63 years - with only one break of 18 months - sat in parliament. A bag known by his name immediately therefore also conjured up the quality of durability-like the man himself, it would not wear out.
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"Glamor of Grammar",932,0,0,0
\BKnowledge is (magic) power\b
The unknown is always the mysterious. For a considerable period of time, and even during the \JMiddle Ages\j, to read and to write was a closed book, a dark, hidden secret from the illiterate, from all but the experts. And these experts, originally mainly priests, wisely kept the knowledge to themselves. With it they could wield power and keep the masses under control. In the eyes of all others, the secrets of their literary mastery endowed them with magical, \Jsupernatural\j gifts.
For many centuries in Europe, Latin was the language used in the exchange and transmission of ideas among those cherishing and carefully guarding this monopoly. Those who mastered the tongue were not only revered but looked upon by the "untutored" with great awe. Their power of words seemed to have also given them occult power over the lives of the people. By their knowledge, so the masses believed, they were indeed able to cast spells, work magic, and be adept in witchcraft.
To master any language properly implies the knowledge of its grammar. The very term grammar described such an "enchanted" gift in the realm of the occult. And it was by a small change of one consonant, a phenomenon not uncommon in speech, that grammar gave birth to glamor, initially spelled \Iglamer.\i All that had happened was that an "l" had taken the place of the "r" (akin to the Chinese tongue's natural conversion).
The original meaning of the "new" word truly reflected all the awe shown to those learned, instructed men who, by their wisdom, could use a tongue of the remote past to make thoughts live, to cast spells, and "charm" people.
What glamor-girl (or \JHollywood\j star) would ever guess that in their tempting description - or P.R. release - was truly buried not only a belief in black magic but what the average person regards as the most boring part of any language - its dry-as-dust grammar?
The "enchantment" given by glamorous persons thus goes much deeper than their apparently only skin-deep beauty. Originally it was really meant to be "bewitching." The entry of "glamor" into the modern vocabulary is due to the Scots and, among them not least, to one of their great sons, the novelist Sir Walter Scott.
#
"Glowing Eyes",933,0,0,0
It is fallacious to believe that some animals' eyes glow in the dark. Their apparent \Jluminescence\j is merely a reflection of light from another source. It is due to the same crystalline substance in the eye which gives the animal better night-sight.
#
"Go Berserk and Run Amok",934,0,0,0
People are often identified with what they wear, which is one of the reasons for the uniform. Scandinavian warriors, feared and renowned for their extraordinary valor, used to clothe themselves in a bearskin, known as \Iberserk\i in the Old Norse tongue.
Anyone who "went berserk" was compared with those fighting men who, past masters in the art of war, confronted their foe with what appeared as almost superhuman strength. Though "to go beserk" nowadays implies losing control of oneself, it still denotes showing unrestrainable fury in a most violent way. It is very similar to anyone "running amok," a description derived from a Malay word speaking of the "frenzy" driving him on.
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"Go in One Ear and Out the Other",935,0,0,0
Nothing could express the ineffectiveness of a reprimand or admonition more clearly than the statement that its words "go in one ear and out of the other." But the choice of this \Jmetaphor\j has risky implications. Would it not suggest that whoever thus, contemptuously, pays no attention to whatever has been said, might do so because nothing-in the way of brains-separates his one ear from the other?
#
"Go the Whole Hog",936,0,0,0
Not all hogs are swine. In the late 13th century a hog referred also to a young sheep that was as yet unshorn.
Wool has always been a precious commodity. When there was plenty of supply elsewhere those early "hogs" were left alone. Their fleece was so short that to shear it was quite difficult, and not really worth the trouble. Therefore most farmers used to clip their hogs only superficially, haphazardly and without much care. But there were some who felt that a lot of a little makes much and therefore they "went the whole hog," shearing the lamb closely and all over.
It was this practice by economical herdsmen - changing a hog into a sheep - that eventually was applied, in everyday speech to anything we do thoroughly, without compromise or reservation, going all they way, seeing a thing through to the very end.
#
"Go West",937,0,0,0
The saying "he has gone west" became especially popular during World War I. However, the origin of the phrase goes back to most ancient days. Its obvious reference is to the setting sun, which "goes west" to expire there.
There are various other claims as to the origin of the saying.
The Egyptians of old considered the West as the home of departed spirits. Thus, mourners standing on the banks of the Nile, as if to speed and guide the dead in the right direction, used to call out to them: "To the West...."
Another suggestion links the phrase with early American history. First, so it is told, the Red Indians used it. They said that a man who had died had "gone west" to meet the setting sun.
Then, in later years, bitter experience of the white pioneers gave the phrase a tragic meaning. Prospectors, advancing westward beyond the Mississippi, often failed to return because Indians, anxious to keep their territory for themselves, had murdered them. Thus, to the friends of anyone who was reported missing, the words "gone west" soon became synonymous with his having lost his life out there.
According to an English claim, the phrase was first introduced in London in totally different circumstances. It was used by criminals who went on their last trip - to the gallows. West was the actual direction of their final journey.
\JNewgate\j Prison, built in the 13th century, was situated near the New (western) Gate in the wall surrounding the City of London. Just outside that gate, at the site of the present Marble Arch, was the famous Tyburn Tree, London's execution place for 600 years.
Men and women sentenced to death accordingly were led out of the prison to the gallows, due West. Hence to "go west" assumed its lethal meaning. Somehow the term became so general that by the year 1592 it was applied to all who had died and it lost completely its ignominious significance.
#
"Goats Eating Tin Cans",938,0,0,0
Though goats are not particular in what they eat, tin cans are not part of their menu. People who watch (or hear) a \Jgoat\j noisily manipulate a discarded tin can, jumping to the wrong conclusions might imagine that the animal does so whilst eating it.
A \Jgoat\j is not as stupid as that nor is its \Jstomach\j so tough. Most likely, the \Jgoat\j has found some left-overs inside the tin, and is trying its utmost to get at them. On the other hand, goats like to nibble at anything and, in the process, accidentally discover that labels on tins taste good and give them a sense of well-being. No doubt, this is due to the salt content in the paper (salt being essential in the animals' diet), and the glue which makes them "high." Goats had discovered the euphoriant property of the glue long before humans started to sniff it.
#
"Gobbledegook",939,0,0,0
Gobbledegook has been defined as pretentious, involved, verbose, and incomprehensible jargon. A mere fog of words. It is used by people and government departments to be looked upon with awe and deference or as euphemisms and evasions, intended to blur unpleasant and damaging facts.
An American congressman, the Texan Maury Maverick (1895-1954), claimed to have invented the word. Attending a committee meeting of the Smaller War Plant Corporation, held in 1944 (during the Second World War), he had been aggravated by some of its member's pomposity. This was the case not least, when the chairman had spoken at length of "maladjustments co-extensive with problem areas...alternative but nevertheless meaningful minimae" and the "utilization of factors which in a dynamic democracy can be channelized into both quantitive and qualitive phases."
Giving vent to his feelings, Maverick subsequently sent out a memo castigating the practice of such unintelligible, obnoxious verbosity. He wrote, "When concrete nouns are replaced by abstractions, simple terms by pseudo-technical jargon, the result is gobbledegook."
He further gave instructions that henceforth such "gobbledegook should be avoided at all costs." He requested, "Be short and say what you're talking about."
Maverick was not certain how he came to choose the new word. In fact, at one time he felt that it must have come to him in a vision. On the other hand, much more down to earth, he explained to the New York \ITimes Magazine\i on May 21, 1944 that he might have been thinking of the old bearded turkey gobbler back home in \JTexas\j. Strutting with ludicrous pomposity, this had always been gobbledy-gobbling and at the end of this gobble being a sort of gook-muck.
Disregarding Maverick's explanations, it has been suggested that, etymologically, his gobbledegook combined an Old French word for "mouth" with "gook," the latter reminiscent of "goo," something sticky and murky. Gobbledegook therefore was something as unpleasant as muck coming out of the mouth of some people.
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"Gobelin Tapestries and Goblins",940,0,0,0
The \JBelgium\j-born brothers, Gilles and Jehan Gobelin, who had settled in Paris in about 1450, soon made their reputation there as eminent dyers. They excelled in producing exquisite fabrics of brilliant scarlet color. These they sold in the form of tapestries which, highly-prized, in no time became the vogue. Only the very rich could afford a Gobelin tapestry.
So extraordinarily beautiful and popular was the cloth that malicious rumors about it began to spread all over Paris, started, perhaps, by jealous competitors. It was said, for instance, that the brothers could never have created this wonderful material by themselves. They must therefore be in league with the devil, who had provided them with the secret formula for the miraculous dye - in return for their souls!
It did not take long for the superstitious and credulous masses to believe the tale and the mere mention of the Gobelins conjured images in their minds of evil spirits. Eventually, people omitted the central "e" in their name, creating the "goblin," the small mischievous, malevolent sprite, said to delight in causing confusion and mishaps. Among those believing in the occult, this creature has survived to this day, even if the Gobelin tapestry has gone out of fashion.
#
"God Bless You When Sneezing",941,0,0,0
A sneeze nowadays is considered merely a symptom of a common cold and nothing to be specially scared of (except as the possible spreader of germs). That was not always so. To primitive man, and in biblical and Greek times, a sneeze was regarded as a sign of great personal danger.
Possibly because sneezing had been a frequent occurrence during the great Athenian plague, people assumed it was the first indication that a person had a dreaded disease.
Actually, fear once associated with the sneeze was worldwide. Romans saw in it an evil omen. Parsees felt that the sneeze indicated the threatening presence of evil spirits.
The ancient Hebrews believed that when a man sneezed, he was nearest to death. The fear was based on an erroneous but widely held notion. Man's soul was considered to be the essence of life. The fact that dead men never breathed led to the fallacious deduction that his soul must be breath. This was supported by the biblical tale that God, when creating man, fashioned his body out of the dust of the earth but "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," which made him a living soul.
No one could deny that a sneeze expelled a considerable amount of air. And if air were the substance of the soul and so much of it left so suddenly, was it not understandable that people became afraid that, deprived of this essence of life, death might be inevitable?
Soon other ideas enforced the belief. One was that, originally, after the Creation, God decreed that every man should sneeze only once, and at that very moment his soul should expire. Indeed, it was said that Jacob the \JPatriarch\j died by his first sneeze.
It is thus not surprising that from the earliest days people learned to respond to a sneeze with apprehension and the fervent wish to the sneezer that God may help and bless him and preserve his life.
Somehow in medieval times, this early origin of the custom must have been forgotten, because it was Pope Gregory the Great who was credited with having introduced the saying "God bless you," to anyone who sneezed. During his reign, the Roman population was decimated by a plague believed to have been caused by contamination of the air. This, it was thought, made people who sneezed "give up the ghost" immediately. It was then that the Pope prescribed a special form of prayer and the wish for all sneezers that God may keep from them any evil effect.
Yet another explanation of seeking God's help for sneezers is founded in Irish lore. It tells the story of a brother and sister who lived in Erin at the time of a Black Plague. Being observant people, the two soon noticed that victims of the scourge were first attacked by a bout of sneezing. Therefore, whenever they themselves had to sneeze, they uttered a prayer, "God help me." Because of this supplication, the story continues, they were allowed to live - the sole survivors in the district.
#
"God Save the Queen",942,0,0,0
Mystery and romance surround Britain's National Anthem. It was never written or composed as such. It just grew out of the people. It is first mentioned in the 16th century. But its text (first in Latin) has frequently been changed and added to.
Britons express loyalty to their country not with an exciting marching song or a martial hymn, but a humble prayer for the health, long life and prosperity of their King or Queen. No wonder that the National Anthem's most essential words stem from the \JBible\j. Three times in Holy Scripture occurs the phrase "God save the King."
Nobody is certain who composed the anthem and wrote its final words. By 1545, "God save the King" had become a watchword of the British navy, to be responded to by "Long to reign over us."
An old prayer, appointed by the Church for the anniversary of the Gun Powder Plot (November 5th, 1605), may well be the original source of part of its second verse. This ancient supplication contains the lines: "Scatter our enemies... assuage their malice and confound their devices."
No doubt, the anthem is a combination of such loyal phrases brought together at a moment of grave national crisis-though which is still a matter of controversy.
Obviously, for the people to ask God to save their king implied that his life was endangered. That is why one tradition ascribes the origin of the hymn to 1688, "when the Prince of Orange was hovering over the coast," threatening the ruling dynasty. This claim says it was written as a Latin Chorus for the private Catholic Chapel of James II. Concerned with their monarch's fate, soon people sang it in London's playhouses and the streets.
Various composers have been credited with its original tune. It belonged to a Christmas carol, for instance, first published in 1611.
Best-known (and least likely) claim to authorship of the British anthem is that of the man who wrote the original "Sally in our Alley," Henry Carey, son of the Marquis of \JHalifax\j. This unfortunate man, who ended his life by his own hand, is said to have written and sung it first at a London tavern dinner-party he gave in 1740 to celebrate Admiral Vernon's victory at Portobello the year before.
Others attribute both words and music to a Dr John Bull, once a choirboy at the Chapel Royal of Elizabeth I and later its organist. Indeed, his tune, still preserved in the early manuscript of a copyist dating back to 1619, is similar to our present "God save the Queen." It certainly would be a pleasing coincidence if a man whose name was to become a symbol of Britain would be the author of the nation's anthem.
It seems we owe the modern "God save the Queen" to no one man or composer. Its music is the development of airs extant long before the actual song. It had become a popular folk tune by the 17th century.
Our first concrete record of its actual use belongs to the stage and 1745, when it was sung at two concerts in London's Drury Lane and Covent Garden theaters. Again it was in a national crisis.
Scotland had risen in favor of \JBonnie Prince Charlie\j. Marshal Wade was in the North to put down the rebellion. "God save the King," appropriately expressed the English people's fervor, imploring divine help for their reigning monarch. A special verse, added and later discarded, went:
\ILord, grant that Marshal Wade
May by Thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition crush
And like a torrent rush
Rebellious Scots to crush!
God save the King.\i
From this emergency on, the anthem became the nation's most patriotic song, whose simplicity and sincerity took it to people's hearts. Soon it was sung on all patriotic occasions.
It did not take long for other nations to appropriate the tune. This typical and original English air was used, at some time or other, by at least 12 other countries, including the United States and \JGermany\j. It is certainly the world's best-known melody.
The story is told that when, during World War I on the Western front, English Tommies, on the spur of the moment, sang the anthem, American and German soldiers came out of their trenches and joined in with their own words. Each group recognized in it a hymn of their own: hailing the Kaiser in his "garland of victory" or "America."
Composers, too, admired the tune enough to incorporate it in their own works - in Haydn's "Emperor's Hymn" and Brahms' "Triumphal Song." Beethoven was so deeply moved by it that he published seven variations on its theme and wrote in his diary: "I must show the English what a blessing they have in "JGod save the King."
The song's cosmopolitan character led to some confusion at a concert at a European resort attended by many English visitors. In Weber's "Jubilee \JOverture\j," they recognized the National Anthem, and many immediately stood up - to the bewilderment of their continental hosts. As the tune wove in and out they bobbed up and sat down, puzzled and unsure of what to think and to do.
The mechanical reproduction of music, so popular in the later years of the 19th century, led to all kinds of peculiar gadgets. Queen Victoria was delighted, when, it is said, on her Jubilee in 1887, an ingenious inventor presented her with a bustle. It contained an automatic music box which played the National Anthem whenever the wearer sat down!
#
"God's own Children and Devil Worshipers",943,0,0,0
In the \JRomany\j language, God is \Idel\i or \Idevel.\i Of Sanskrit root, it means "a shining one." Yet who could fail to notice the similarity of these words with the "devil" and hence identify gypsies with devil worshipers. And, to make matters worse, gypsies reached Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which although the time of Shakespeare, was also the period of the worst of witch trials! Both witches and gypsies shared the common fate of being suspected, decried, and persecuted. Was it any wonder then that they joined forces!
It was only natural that the mystery of the gypsies' life and their fate as wanderers caused people to ask what actually had made gypsies what they were. Of course, there were those only too anxious to defame them. All that the gypsies now had to suffer, these said, was in punishment of a terrible crime which their ancestors had once committed. People only differed in their identification of this "original sin."
Some said that gypsies were the direct descendants of Cain, who had murdered his brother. Others claimed that a gypsy had forged three of the nails with which Christ was crucified. Yet others believed that all gypsies were despised because their (Egyptian) forebears had met the Virgin Mary on her flight to \JEgypt\j, but had denied her and her family the hospitality and help they so much needed.
Another legend in a much happier vein relates that gypsies were truly "God's own children" and the most perfect he ever made. Not surprisingly, this one originated among the \JRomany\j people themselves. A story tells that in his early efforts to make man, God had not been successful at once. He had shaped him all right out of \Jchalk\j and then put him into an oven.
But, preoccupied at the time with so many things of creation, God forgot all about him and came too late to remove the "finished" product which was burned. And so the black man came into existence. God was very concerned not to spoil man for a second time. But in his anxiety, he removed him too early from the oven and, being completely underbaked, he lacked color. And thus, white man appeared on this earth.
"Third time lucky," God carefully watched the oven and took out "man" at the very moment he was properly "browned." This was the perfect product: the gypsy who, ever since, as the faultless divine creation, has wandered the earth which, after all, belongs to God.
#
"Gods",944,0,0,0
The reason that the upper gallery was nicknamed \Ithe gods\i goes back to 1752 and the famous Theater Royal in Drury Lane, London. Its ceiling was decorated with figures of Greek and Roman gods. The proximity of those occupying this topmost part of the auditorium to the mythological divinities suggested the name, soon adopted by other theaters as well, even though they lacked that type of painted ceiling. Certainly, the name was not chosen because the spectators placed so high up, seemed to be nearest to heaven.
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"Going Aboard",945,0,0,0
Going aboard a ship is a study in itself, a mini-history of the beginning of sailing. The earliest boat was a dugout-in a very literal sense. It was a log hollowed out by burning and scraping which left a curved "board" on either side. To get into the boat thus was going a-board, a very appropriate description then. Ships now are built of steel but, in the way of speaking, people continue to "board" them as if they were still made of timber.
The word "board" itself is derived from the Old English \Ibord\i which combined two roots of identical spelling: the Old Frisian word for a "plank" and the Old Saxon for "a ship's side," obviously made of a plank.
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"Going for a Song",946,0,0,0
Anything sold at a price far below its true value is described as "going for a song." The choice of words is based on an actual incident in the life of Edmund Spenser, who has been called the poet of poets of England.
Living during the reign of Elizabeth I, he dedicated his most famous work, The Faerie Queene, to her. He had composed it as an \Jallegory\j in her praise. This so delighted the queen that she instructed her treasurer, William Cecil, the first Baron of Burleigh, to reward Spenser with a gift of ú500. The baron, who was not kindly disposed towards Spenser, regarded the amount as exorbitant. It was much too large to be paid for just "a song." Accordingly, he reduced the suggested sum to ú100.
His unilateral action, born out of spite, has been forgotten. However, "going for a song," the phrase to which it gave birth, has survived his squalid deed.
Spenser died almost a pauper, having experienced much tragedy. But his place in the life of the nation and the world of literature was duly recognized. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to Chaucer, another of Britain's truly great figures of literature.
#
"Going Gaga",947,0,0,0
Those becoming mentally unbalanced are said to be "going gaga." The word "gaga" itself has been explained as the result of a linguistic deterioration, though of which kind is not certain.
Some have traced it to gΓteau, the French term for a senile person, no longer fully in control of body and mind. This distorted description may well have been the source of "gaga."
Rather unconvincing, though frequently repeated, is the claim that "gaga" was first created in artistic circles by those who, unable to appreciate his new style, ridiculed Paul Gauguin, the (posthumously famous) painter. His was an unhappy life, particularly towards its end, and his demeanor then might have reflected the agony of his mind. Anything abnormal was said to be like Gauguin and his primitive, absurd and even "barbaric" paintings. In its deplorable abuse, his name was eventually changed beyond recognition and, no longer identifiable with the man, became the present-day "gaga."
Perhaps none of these derivations is correct and "gaga" neither (mis)represents a remarkable painter nor makes fun of the misery of \Jgeriatrics\j. An onomatopoeic word, it merely tries to imitate the sound of the idiotic laugh made by unfortunate people unkindly decried as imbeciles.
#
"Going Places",948,0,0,0
Jonah tried to run away from God. But he did not succeed.
In a discussion on the existence of a divine power, an atheist challenged a believer, asking him where he could find God. "I shall tell you where God is," replied the man of faith, "if you can tell me where He is not."
Even an atheist cannot get away from God: every part of the world bears the imprint of His presence; it is studded with the footprints of faith. At times, this may be quite obvious to all; on other occasions, only the well-informed can recognize the signs. But, recognized or not, every place is touched by the effect of religion and the lives of men motivated by a belief in some "higher power," however primitive this might now appear. Each of the many townships, cities and countries, whose names are echoes of ancient beliefs, has its own story to tell.
\JBabylon\j was "the gate of the gods." It is so no longer.
Many a city now reached from the airways has itself descended, so to speak, from the clouds, from celestial heights: the early deities survive in their names.
Jordan's capital, \JAmman\j, perpetuates the Egyptian god \JAmun\j, once unrivaled in the pantheon of ancient deities and revered as "the king of the gods."
\JCairo\j, on the other hand, is called in honor of Mars, the god of war. Arab conquerors chose his name for the city because, on the very night, in 969, on which they founded it, the planet bearing the god's name was visible in the skies. Acknowledging his presence (and his imagined aid), they called it "Mars the Victorious," in Arabic \IMisr-al-Kahiro.\i Later, the British anglicized the "victorious" part, creating the present-day \JCairo\j (and dropping Mars altogether).
The moon goddess Tanit lives on in \JTunis\j.
\JAthens\j' name proclaims it as the abode of Athena. Greek \Jmythology\j tells how she was born out of the head of Zeus, so that she excelled in wisdom, and made her city the fountainhead of all philosophical speculation.
Fashionable Nice, the famous resort on the French Riviera and birthplace of the Italian patriot Garibaldi, was originally a Greek colony, named in honor of Nike, the goddess of victory.
The name of the principality of Monaco-also of Greek coinage-recalls an ancient Roman temple erected there to honor a pagan hermit. This explains the meaning of its name, derived from \Imonoikos,\i the Greek for "monk."
\JBombay\j (in its name) honors the goddess Mumbadevi, also known as Mumbei. She was \JShiva\j's wife and venerated at the site of the city in a temple. Portuguese explorers, not conversant with Indian religion, misspelled Mumbei's name and their error has been perpetuated to this day, though recently the local population have reverted to call the city by the ancient and correct name.
The name of the Hindu goddess Kali is the basis of \JCalcutta\j, and the city is the home to calico, and the source of the word.
Hawaii is Polynesian for "the place of the gods." The choice of name was not due to the island's paradisal lifestyle and exquisite climate, but to the presence of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, two of the most majestic volcanoes in the world. Should the ocean ever recede to reveal the full extent of these two giant mountains, from the seabed upward, their monumental height would exceed that of Mount Everest. Is it any wonder then that, with their thunder, \Jlava\j and smoke, these two Hawaiian mountains inspired such awe that early man imagined the entire island to be the seat of divine beings?
The name of the South Pacific island of \JTonga\j is a truncated version of its original name \ITongatabu,\i meaning "the sacred island."
The Canadian province of \JManitoba\j, commemorates, in its name, "the Great Spirit" once worshiped in its territory by an Indian tribe and called in their tongue Mana Tuapa.
Modern people, sure of the superiority of their intellect and knowledge may regard all these divine traces merely as exotic pagan traditions, not worthy of Western man. And yet, these, properly understood, reveal the pervasiveness of God.
An eighteenth-century Jewish mystic, Rabbi Levi Isaac of Berditshev, expressed this experience of God's omnipresence in simple lines:
"For wherever I go - You
And wherever I stand - You
Always You, Only You, Forever You."
#
"Gold Escort's Accidental Death",949,0,0,0
\BConstable Michael Dwyer\b
Without the aid of one of the park rangers, it would be very difficult to locate the forsaken grave of Constable Michael Dwyer, situated on the right bank of the Barren River, 1.5 kilometers from the Township of Stratford.
Waist-high tropical growth covers the headstone, placed on the grave in 1877 and now worn and tilted. The Mulgrave Shire Council has set up in front of it another, smaller stone with a plaque reading:
\ISacred to the Memory of
MICHAEL DWYER
Constable of Escort
Accidently Shot by his own Hand
on the 19th July 1877.\i
Dwyer served as gold escort for the transports from the Hodgkinson goldfields and was buried at the very spot where the fatal accident occurred.
#
"Golem",950,0,0,0
Man's greatest ambitions have really never changed. His almost constant aim and dream has been to find the elixir of life that would give him perpetual youth, and the gift to change base metal into gold. Last but not least, he wanted to create for himself a "new man" who would always be at his service and command.
Homunculus was "the little man" whom, particularly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, alchemists sought to concoct. (Homunculus uses the Latin \Ihomo\i for "man.") Their plan was to create the creature, not by sexual union, but by "mixing" semen and blood in their flask. It would have indeed been the first \Jtest-tube baby\j! The idea was especially popularized by the Swiss physician-rebel \JParacelsus\j, whose real name was Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim.
Of course, the ultimate object was the creation of a fully automated being, a human computer par excellence-a robot. This modern description of such a mechanical creature was coined by Karel Capek, Czech dramatist and journalist and one of the pioneers of twentieth-century \Jscience fiction\j. He introduced the term in 1920 in his play \IR.U.R.-Rossum's Universal Robots.\i He derived the name from the old Czech word \Irobotnik\i for "slave" and "forced laborer." In his drama, a gang of such man-made monsters eventually rose against their own creators!
Capek himself had only updated an idea first "written up" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, wife of the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. In her novel, published in 1818 and entitled \IFrankenstein,\i or the \IModern \JPrometheus\j,\i she described the work of a young Swiss student who dabbled in the \Jsupernatural\j. While attending university, \JFrankenstein\j had succeeded in constructing an artificial human being from material he obtained from tombs and dissecting rooms, endowing it with life by means of galvanism. However, it proved a veritable monster. When \JFrankenstein\j refused to make a mate for it, the creature, frantic with its unsatisfied cravings, committed the most atrocious crimes. It murdered the bride of \JFrankenstein\j and his dearest friend.
Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, Mary Shelley had not given the monster a name. And her neglect added yet another error to the many mistakes which abound in life and our everyday speech. People who were not very conversant with her book soon transferred the name of the student, \JFrankenstein\j, to the (unnamed) monster. This creature, ever since and wrongly so, has been referred to as \JFrankenstein\j. \JFrankenstein\j thus became a real misnomer for any power agency causing havoc, suffering, and destruction.
Homunculus, \JFrankenstein\j, and robot can be traced back to the Golem-the most famous of all automata designed by man. Whether it ever really existed has been the subject of controversy. Some were convinced that it had been merely the product of a fertile imagination. However, others actually believed, and did so with fervor, that the Golem had been a living creature - the first-ever computerized pseudo-human being!
The name of the Golem is a \JHebrew\j word which even occurs in the \JBible\j, though it is there only once-in the 139th Psalm, which depicts God as the omnipotent and omniscient being who knew man already in the form of a "golem" (verse 16). And of course, translators and interpretors of the \JBible\j wondered what the word meant in this context. The usual explanation given suggests that God's knowledge of man preceded his birth: God knew every individual in his unfinished state, as "unformed substance," in short, as an "embryo."
In post-biblical literature, the Golem was used as a term to describe anything that was unfinished and incomplete, as it were, in the process of making. Thus, in the way of a simile, a needle still without its eye was called a "golem." So was an unmarried woman: without a mate her life was still unfulfilled and she was "incomplete." In fact, even Adam had been a Golem prior to being endowed with a soul.
But this was not the end in the evolution of the Golem as a significant term and phenomenon. As the years passed, the word took on an altogether new meaning. No longer used to designate something unfinished and imperfect, Golem became the description of an artificially-created human figure. By a magic ritual, dead matter was infused with the force of life and the mechanical ability to obey any orders given.
It was thus told how initiates in the occult had molded a human figure out of virgin soil. While circling it "as in a dream," they had uttered magical formulas consisting of a powerful combination of \JHebrew\j letters and God's hidden name. And having done so numerous times, the figure had suddenly come to life and risen as a Golem. Anticipating later practices of black magic, it was said that those who had made the Golem could cause it to disintegrate again. They would do so by walking around it in anti-clockwise direction and reversing the magic spell by reciting it back to front.
Yet another method alleged to have been used to animate the figure was to inscribe its forehead with the \JHebrew\j word for "truth" - \Iemet.\i From Talmudic times onward, this had been regarded as "the seal of God" and Jewish mystics appropriated it for their working of magic in secret rites.
If for any reason it was thought advisable or became essential to take the life out of this type of Golem, all that had to be done was to remove the first letter from \Iemet.\i By this simple elimination of the one letter, the \JHebrew\j word for "truth" - \Iemet\i - was changed into the \JHebrew\j word for "death" - \Imet.\i Simultaneously this also magically changed the Golem into a formless, lifeless clod of clay.
There was yet a further method believed to achieve such transformation of a lifeless doll into an animate being. A piece of parchment or paper was inscribed with the magical formula and then slipped under the tongue or into the head of the figure. And, obviously, removal of the paper would instantly switch off its life-force and immobilize the Golem.
However, there was always the danger that in case of emergency, it would not be easy to get hold of the Golem. It was imagined that he could assume superhuman strength and resist any attempt to remove his source of energy.
#
"Golf Bag",951,0,0,0
At first, golf clubs were carried loosely under the arm. The introduction of the golf bag goes back to the 1870s and the thoughtfulness of a retired sail maker who was employed at the famous links of the Royal North Devon Club at Westward Ho, England. Still endowed with memories of his former trade and, no doubt, also with some of its raw materials, it occurred to him (most probably on a rainy day) that a piece of canvas would keep the sticks' grips dry. From his protective covering the modern bag evolved.
#
"Golf Ball",952,0,0,0
Golf's most important accoutrement is the ball. So small in itself, the number of rules that govern its treatment by far exceed those relating to any other feature of the game. The ball's dimensions have even drawn a dividing line between the English-speaking peoples: its American girth is slightly, though noticeably, larger than that of its British counterpart. The official English ball measures 1.62 inches (4.11 cm) in diameter and the American 1.68 inches (4.26 cm).
Keeping our eye on the history of the ball we can follow an interesting development. There is no doubt that, as in similar sports of those days, at an early date balls were made of turned boxwood. This is confirmed by a document of 1363 which describes a game of "a crooked stick or curved club or playing mallet with which a small wooden ball was propelled forward." However, the most popular ball then, like its Roman prototype, was made of feathers. Its production demanded much care and time.
Small thin segments of leather (usually three in number) were sewn together to form a bag. Its opening was used to invert the "ball" so that the stitches would not be outside. Then boiled goose feathers were pushed through the hole tightly into the bag. This done, the hole was stitched up and the finished ball rubbed with paint. Meanwhile, the feathers expanded (originally the amount required per ball was sufficient to fill the crown of a beaver hat!) and thereby created a pressure that added to the ball's liveliness.
Obviously its quality much depended on how tightly the feathers had been packed. Altogether making a ball was a job for experts, and those early hand-made missiles were greatly treasured and highly priced.
It was soon realized that the \Ifeatherie,\i as the ball was called, was far from perfect. In rainy weather it quickly became sodden and heavy. It rarely retained its round shape and repeated hits with the iron caused it to burst. Worst of all, it would not travel any great distance.
Players began to experiment with other types, aiming at finding a ball that was weather-resistant, could take punishment, and, not least, was cheaper. Success came in 1848. A solid ball was moulded from \Igutta-percha,\i that rubbery juice of Malayan trees, at that time used mainly for purposes of \Jinsulation\j. The story is told that the first such ball was made by a clergyman who used wrappings of a statue of the Indian god \JVishnu\j.
This \Iguttie\i soon showed several faults. Its flight was unpredictable and after it had traveled some distance it dropped like a dead bird. No wonder that the featherie-makers, feeling their livelihood threatened, took hold of such incidents to ridicule the novel ball and point out that after all their product was still much superior.
They did not laugh for long. A professional player, disappointed with the new balls, gave them to his caddie. One day, watching him at play, he was more than surprised to note that the balls, although by then well battered, could be hit much more efficiently than his own featheries. It seemed that the more hacked the gutties were, the better they flew. The fact was that the dents and cuts, either from the club or the impact of stones and trees, had improved the guttie's flight. No longer erratic, it followed its predestined course much more reliably.
Damaged balls, so to speak, were thus at a premium. But why wait for a ball to become battered to be able to play a good game? Would it not be far easier to produce a ball without a smooth surface by artificially notching it? Such a ball was then made, a guttie systematically nicked by hand. It was the birth of the modern pattern of our golf ball. Eventually, in 1880, someone got the idea of \Jstreamlining\j the whole process, and instead of hand-hammering each individual ball, put the pitted markings on its surface by means of a "pock-marked mould."
The early guttie broke up after rough handling, but the various pieces could easily be melted down and remoulded into a completely new ball.
The invention of the guttie revolutionized the game. Whereas the featherie was costly and took a long time to make, the new ball could be fabricated cheaply in vast quantities. Golf was thereby no longer restricted to the wealthy classes. Until the coming of the guttie no definite rules existed about the weight and size of the ball. The new manufacturing process changed that as well and led to the standardization of the ball's measurements. Gutties were used until the turn of the century, when the rubber-core ball, invented by Americans, replaced it.
#
"Golf Beginnings",953,0,0,0
No one knows for certain how golf began. Most scholars assume that the name came from the German or Dutch word for club, \IKolbe\i or \IKolf,\i and that some form of the game was played in prehistoric times with a branch and a pebble. Hitting stones with a stick seems to be instinctive to man, and that, it is thought, is what shepherds did in ancient days.
Sir W. G. Simpson has similarly explained the beginnings of golf in Scotland. On a sheep pasture in Fifeshire, later to become the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, a shepherd, to pass the time, was idly sending pebbles flying through the air with his crook until one fell by chance into a \Jrabbit\j hole. When he tried to repeat the shot, a friend who was watching challenged him; the first golf match in the land of the heather resulted, each player trying to sink his pebble in the \Jrabbit\j hole.
It is an historical fact that a sport popular among the ancient Romans, known as \Ipaganica,\i was a forerunner of modern golf. This "game of the countrymen" was played with a bent stick and a leather ball stuffed with feathers. lt is most likely that as the Roman legions marched across Europe they carried the game with them, and it was adopted by the conquered nations.
There are many other suggestions about the introduction of golf to Scotland. Through similarities, some also trace it to \Ihurley,\i that ancient Celtic ancestor of \Jhockey\j.
Most frequently, the Dutch have been credited with being the ancestors of golf. Their game of \IKolvena\i certainly had some of golf's features. It was played either on the ice of frozen lakes or canals, or on a court. This latter was mostly paved and was known as \IKolf Bann.\i Contestants tried to hit, with a minimum of strokes, two sticks placed at opposite ends of the court. However, the ball used was the size of a \Jgrapefruit\j and weighed 2 lbs (0.90 kg), and the many paintings (among them an etching by Rembrandt) on which the claim is based, stem from a time at least 200 years after golf had definitely been established in Scotland.
Yet another theory sees in golf an adaptation of the Flemish game of \IChole,\i known to have been played as early as 1353. This was a cross-country pursuit, in which both sides played the same ball with a mallet, taking turns to make three strokes each. The goal, sometimes as far as a mile away, was some conspicuous landmark, such as a tree or a gateway.
Though all these games resembled golf in some ways, they obviously were not exactly like it. Golf is unique and, no doubt, the result of a natural evolution of some of these early sports. Records show that a kind of golf was played in Scotland during the fifteenth century; and it has been pointed out many times that the game reveals characteristics in keeping with the Scots' reserve, caution, and meticulous care. Only a Scot, it has been contended, could have created a contest that combined such features as hitting a small ball across rough country to a hole in the ground, without his opponent having the right to interfere in any way.
The earliest existing reference to the game speaks mainly against it. In 1457, the Scottish Parliament voiced the opinion that the playing of golf was interfering with the more important pursuit of \Jarchery\j and ordained that golf be "utterly cryit doun, and nocht usit." When, instead of training for their country's defense, men wasted their time in hitting small balls for their own pleasure, the government had to step in and declare the game illegal. James II of Scotland forbade it entirely.
Apparently such prohibitions were only for a limited period. At all events golf became increasingly popular and, eventually, royalty not only gave the sport their blessing but began to enjoy it themselves. Records to the Lord Treasurer for 1503-06 show use of the Crown's money for golf balls.
Both Charles I and James II of England loved the game. Mary, Queen of Scots, the first woman golfer, played several rounds only a few days after the murder of her husband. During her reign (about 1552), St Andrews of Scotland was established - the most famous of all golf courses. No wonder that the Scotsman could speak of "the Royal and Ancient Game of Golf."
Inevitably the game spread to England, where the first clubs were formed in the eighteenth century. These made use of public land, meeting at inns before and after their rounds. The world's first golf tournament took place in 1860 at Prestwick, Scotland. The winner received a belt for his trophy and this remained his permanent property. In 1882 the first rules were laid down, as was only to be expected, by the St Andrews Club. They were intended to be adopted universally.
#
"Golf Club",954,0,0,0
Golf actually means a club. At first, the sticks were sturdy branches cut from a tree or a bush and, of course, they had no separate heads. They were all of one piece. Their striking end was slightly curved and, at times, studded with flints. Such clubs were crude and clumsy, and the need for improvement urged on man's inventive spirit, and step followed step in the creation of our modern clubs.
Separate wooden heads were introduced, spliced or bound to the shaft. Their original size, extending to six inches (15 cm) in length, was then reduced and the first truly lofted clubs made (known as spoons or baffies). The replacement of the wooden head by an iron one came next. This was fixed to a hickory shaft. And then a whole variety of clubs were produced, differing in loft, weight, and extent of the striking surface.
A shortage of hickory wood and an ever greater public demand for golf equipment created new problems. Manufacturers experimented with other materials, such as \Jbamboo\j and steel. In the 1920s, American golfers chose tubular steel for their shafts instead of hickory. At first this shaft was outlawed, as it was felt it would increase greatly the distance of a drive thereby necessitating expensive lengthening of most courses.
However, in 1926, the new metal club was officially accepted. There was an ample supply of steel, and steel sticks could be produced much more quickly and in far greater numbers. The new type of club soon became so popular that, in spite of initial objections from Scotland's conservative St Andrews which considered the introduction of the steel shaft "detrimental to the professional trade in the country," it was adopted all over the world within ten years.
#
"Golf Cup",955,0,0,0
At first in golf, holes had no standard measure. Their diameter of 41/4 inches (10.79 cm) was introduced quite by chance. Two golfers on the St Andrews links found that one hole was so badly worn that they could not use it. Much of its sand had been removed by previous players for building tees. Anxious to repair the damage and continue their game, they looked around and discovered part of an old drain pipe nearby. They inserted this in the hole. It was the first "cup," and because it happened to measure 41/4 inches (10.79 cm) across, all cups are now that size.
#
"Golf Tee",956,0,0,0
The aim of golf passed through several stages of evolution. At first, players simply tried to slide the heavy stone farthest. Then a target was placed on the ice (rules up to this day do not specify its actual nature). The mark was initially known as a \Itoesee,\i or \Icock,\i later to become the modern tee. Most probably it originally was just another stone put on the ice. This was replaced by a wooden pin, standing a foot (30 cm) high, so as to be clearly seen from the other side of the "rink." Then, going to the other extreme, some curlers preferred to use as their aim a small coin or a button. The tee may also be a small iron plate, fixed by a protruding spike underneath, or merely a depression cut into the ice.
Eventually, the tee was surrounded by a circle scratched into the ice and its area referred to as "the house." Its purpose was to help players in determining the exact distance of shots from the tee.
#
"Gondola",957,0,0,0
The name gondola, as could be expected, is Venetian. A sixteenth-century \Jdialect\j word, very appropriately, it is derived from an Italian root describing an early kind of rock and roll. It referred to the soothing motion experienced by travelers along the canals.
Puzzling is the fact that gondolas are painted black. Several reasons have been proffered. The original choice of the cheerless color, one explanation has it, was far from dismal. It was pragmatic, selected by lovers who were very much concerned to keep their tryst in the dark! They seemed to be well camouflaged in a vessel so obscured.
Unfaithful husbands on their escapades during the night, it has been said, obviously wished to stay inconspicuous and incognito, lest their adultery be discovered and create a scandal. Therefore they had the gondolas in which they met their amour, literally, blacked out. It enabled them to float along unhurried, unharassed and - hopefully - undetected.
Far from happy, and even morbid, are other reasons given. They trace the black color of the gondolas to the time when the plague reached Venice, and many of its citizens had fallen victim to the dreaded disease. The gondolas then served as much-needed hearses. In deference to the dead they carried and their mourners, they were painted black.
Still related to death is yet another claim. At the passing of a much beloved Doge, Venetians decided publicly to display their grief by painting all their boats black. And these have remained so ever since.
Whichever way, the puzzling black color is a perpetual memorial, whether to loves long gone or lives lost.
#
"Gone to Pot",958,0,0,0
"Gone to pot" seems rather an odd description of the degeneration of the mind, eventually responsible as well for all those unkindly dubbed "potty."
Man liked his meat roasted. For this purpose he sliced huge pieces of steak from the joint, leaving only the bone with its few remaining adhesions to his servants. They welcomed anything coming their way, even those odds and ends. Carefully they scraped them from the bone to "go to pot" and make up a stew.
The morsels that thus had "gone to pot" soon became symbolic of impoverishment, to be transferred from the material world to that of the mind. Lacking substance, it, too, was described as having gone to pot.
One feels sorry for anyone who has gone to pot. He is all cut up and truly in a stew. The figurative phrase plainly recalls the common practice of chopping up meat and stewing it in a pot. It is a telling example of how food has enriched not only man's body but also his everyday vocabulary.
"Gone to pot" can also be traced to a gruesome source - to cannibals and their unlucky victims who helped them celebrate their banquets.
Still linked with death, but now far removed from the dining table (whether of civilized man or savage), others assert that the phrase goes back to the custom, in classical times, of placing the ashes of a cremated beloved in an urn. Thus those "gone to pot" have no chance to return to a normal existence.
#
"Gone to the Dogs",959,0,0,0
Throughout history and all over the world, the dog has been man's constant companion. Loyal and brave, it has contributed to human welfare in the most varied ways - as a guard, a lifesaver, hunter, and pet. Nevertheless and surprisingly, its influence on everyday phrases mainly reflects the seamy side of its life - and death.
In some countries and at various times dogs have been feared and shunned. And not without reason. Because dogs often carried \Jrabies\j and tetanus, their bite could prove fatal. Starved, the poor creatures attacked the unwary. Reproducing fast, they were considered a nuisance, if not a threat. Chased away, they began to roam the outskirts of villages and settlements seeking food wherever they could find it, in dumps and among refuse. Not looked after like treasured pets, their life was a constant struggle.
In their desperate struggle to survive, they became bedraggled, diseased, and ferocious. It was this existence of travail which - paradoxically - enriched the vocabulary in a number of metaphors. The depraved were called "dirty dogs." Those who had fallen on bad times were said to "lead a dog's life" or, worse still, to have "gone to the dogs."
Reminiscent of the ultimate fate of such an abandoned canine, the most destitute and forgotten of persons was said to "die like a dog."
#
"Good Footing",960,0,0,0
A pleasant relationship with other people, not least those in a superior position, is portrayed as being "on a good footing" with them. It is a peculiar way of describing a close association. However, there seems to have been a good reason for doing so.
According to some, the phrase goes back to a practice of early apprenticeships. It was the custom on the first day at work for an apprentice to invite all their workmates for drinks. The new apprentice "footed the bill." If proved a generous host, the apprentice made friends for keeps. The hospitality would never be forgotten. Recalling how much it had cost, it was said the novice gained "a good footing." Indeed, as it were, the apprentice had paid for entry into the craft. It gave them permission to put their foot into the workshop to learn the trade.
A second derivation links the phrase with an early and bizarre interpretation of human anatomy, the importance given to the length of one of man's digits! At one time, the dimension of the middle toes determined a person's "standing" in the community. Thus, the measurement of their foot decided their status in the eyes of others. Those whom nature and genes had endowed with large feet were lucky to be "on a good footing." They were welcome and looked up to. How odd that people judged a person's rank by the size of their foot.
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"Good Friday's Name",961,0,0,0
\JGood Friday\j is the anniversary of Christ's death. People have rightly asked how such a tragic day in the Christian calendar could come to be called \JGood Friday\j. Perhaps the name was adopted, because of its particular holiness, merely to distinguish it from all other Fridays.
There is, as well, a theological explanation of the name. According to Christian dogma, Jesus' crucifixion brought about salvation, as his death had atoned for man's "original sin." To emphasize the great good which had thus come out of evil, this day of gloom was designated - not so paradoxically after all - as \JGood Friday\j.
Another explanation that has been suggested is that the day's original name was "God's Friday," and that "\JGood Friday\j" is simply a corruption of this.
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"Good Guy",962,0,0,0
Familiarly, we might refer to a fellow as a "guy" and, approvingly, call him "a good guy." We do not realize its inappropriateness.
All guys go back to the name of infamous Guy Fawkes, one of the rebels who tried-unsuccessfully-on November 5, 1605 to blow up the British Houses of Parliament. Known as "the \Jgunpowder plot\j," the abortive attempt is still annually commemorated in Britain with bonfires and the burning of Guy's effigy.
To use his hated name for a decent sort of person is therefore more than surprising. It adds to the other mistakes which have been associated with the event. Though Guy was only one of the group of conspirators (and not even its leader), traditionally he is made to bear the sole blame. The burning of his effigy, equally, makes no sense. Guy was never burned at the stake. He was hanged for his crime. Indeed, a vast distance separates the original, historic Guy Fawkes from the modern "Guys (and Dolls)."
#
"Good King Wenceslas",963,0,0,0
This popular Christmas carol was written by John Mason Neale, a 19th century Anglican theologian and renowned hymnologist.
He "borrowed" its catchy tune - which is chiefly responsible for its extraordinary popularity throughout the English-speaking world - from a 13th century secular spring dance! The "King Wenceslas" to whom he dedicated the carol was actually a 10th century Bohemian prince who was hardly remembered in his own country, and had certainly never been heard of in Britain. For the carol's story, Neale made use of a medieval tale he had come across which told of Wenceslas' kindness. Little is otherwise known about this royal figure; he was killed in AD 929 as part of a plot to put his own brother in power.
In spite of the antiquity of both the tune and the tale, the carol's social message could not be more up to date. It speaks of the duty of the well off to show concern and compassion for the needy, to look after the poor and dispossessed:
\ITherefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.\i
#
"Good Wine Needs No Bush",964,0,0,0
Inn signs are now an accepted feature. They differ from one inn to the next and each has its own story. But in days gone by, all inns displayed the identical symbol. It was like a signpost to make thirsty travelers easily find their way. Just as doctors in some countries indicate their place of practice, their office or surgery, by a red lamp, so did saloon keepers by a bush. Their choice was religiously motivated. In Greek \Jmythology\j, the bush was sacred to Bacchus, worshiped as the god of wine.
A tavern serving the finest of drinks was so popular that everyone knew its whereabouts. It really needed no sign. Hence, "good wine needs no bush." Quality is its own advertisement.
#
"Gorilla: Origin of the Name",965,0,0,0
Gorillas were first discovered in the pre-Christian sixth century by a Carthaginian expedition making its way down the coast of West Africa. When the sailors, led by Admiral Hanno, encountered the animals, they thought them to be savage human beings! As all attempts to capture any of the hairy creatures failed, they killed a number of them, to take their hirsute skins back to \JCarthage\j as trophies and proof of their discovery.
Hanno recorded his adventures, in \JPhoenician\j, on a tablet which was displayed on a temple wall in his city. Greek visitors reading the account were fascinated by it. They translated its text into Greek, rendering the name of those mysterious hairy creatures \Igorilla.\i
History does repeat itself-at least sometimes. More than 2,000 years later, in 1836, the Rev. Thomas S. Savage of \JBoston\j, USA, was sent to Africa, as the first minister of the Episcopal Church to visit that part of the world. He was to establish a mission station in \JLiberia\j. While there, he too came face to face with this largest and strongest of all primates. On his return to America in 1847, he wrote a paper, in which he gave a detailed account of this shy vegetarian. Searching for a name, he revived its old Greek name and the greatest of great apes has been known by it ever since.
#
"Gossamer",966,0,0,0
A thin but complex thread links the word \Igossamer\i to a fourth-century French saint.
Martin of Tours, a priest of strong religious conviction, was a humble man. He therefore did not welcome the news, reaching him some time in 370, that he had been elected a bishop. Reluctant to assume the office, he hid in a barn so that the emissaries on their way to convey the message officially would not be able to find him. Unluckily for him, a goose had sought shelter there as well, and seeing him, started to cackle at the top of its voice, giving away his whereabouts. So he was consecrated a bishop after all, and after his death, canonized.
Legend has it that it was this accidental association between Martin and the bird, that led the faithful in much later days to celebrate the saint's day (11 November) by eating goose! After all, without the goose, Martin might never have been located.
In the northern hemisphere, St Martin's Day coincides with the beginning of winter. And yet, it often happened that, very unseasonably, the weather at that moment turned warm and fine again. Remembering the story of St Martin and the goose, people came to call this Indian summer "goose summer." By usage, this was soon contracted into one word, creating-\Igossamer.\i
But this was not the end of its strange evolution on the loom of language. Also at that time of year, flimsy cobwebs were to be seen floating through the air, finally to cover the ground. In search of a name for this phenomenon, the combination of circumstances immediately suggested it be called by the colloquialism for the season. So it happens that \Igossamer\i is now applied to gauze or delicately spun fabric.
There is another suggested derivation of the word, also linking it with a religious legend. However, this story goes even further back than St Martin's Day or the false summer associated with the saint. It traces gossamer to the entangled threads of the winding sheet in which the Virgin Mary was wrapped before her ascent to heaven. Falling down to earth, it became known as "God's seam" or (in the later French) \Igaze α Marie,\i "gauze of Mary." Eventually contracted into \Igossamer,\i it became the name applied to all material of similar kind.
#
"Gossip",967,0,0,0
Gossip is the result of a close relationship. Few would suspect God's presence in such idle talk. But that is how all gossip started. The word is a misspelling of \IGod-sib,\i the ancient Saxon for a "kinsman of God." This was the name given to whoever acted as the sponsor of a child at \Jbaptism\j. (The God-sib developed into the modern Godparent.)
Eventually, the range of those described as God-sib was extended to include near relatives and intimate friends. When meeting, it was only human for them to discuss other people and their affairs (of any kind), with the result that their name, now corrupted into gossip, became synonymous with tittle-tattle.
#
"Gothic: Origin of the Name",968,0,0,0
The name Gothic suggests an architectural style of great splendor and beauty. But it is a complete misnomer.
The \JGoths\j themselves never employed it. They were a Teutonic tribe (of the 3rd to 5th century), and have long since vanished. With the Vandals, they destroyed Roman civilization and large parts of Southern Europe. Therefore they were looked upon as barbarians, insensitive to beauty and culture. The story of their misdeeds lived on in peoples' memory, to whom their name became synonymous with all things that were uncouth and lacking in refinement.
When the generation of the Renaissance revived the classical style, it sneered at the "modern" manner of building, as being crude and ugly - "Gothic." That is how the name came first into being: to throw scorn on an \Jarchitecture\j that was misunderstood and abhorred.
Yet in this case, too, a description intended to be abusive, because of the inherent value of \JGothic art\j, assumed the contrary meaning, and Gothic changed into a term descriptive of priceless, awe-inspiring beauty. Paradoxically thus the name, derived from a barbarian, pagan people, was identified with the loftiest style of Christian \Jarchitecture\j - "the most beautiful of all, and by far the most in harmony with the mysteries of religion." A Gothic Cathedral therefore was no longer a contradiction in terms.
Apart from constructional and ornamental considerations, it was religious fervor which, in the 12th century, really called Gothic \Jarchitecture\j into being. Its soaring style, typified by the pointed arch, expressed in stone man's yearning for the divine. Dissatisfied with the old way of building, which seemed so heavy and gloomy, the new shapes reflected the people's lofty ideals and sacred aspirations. As it were, like their own souls, their churches and cathedrals flung themselves heavenwards.
#
"Gourmet",969,0,0,0
A person referred to as a gourmet earns that distinction through his knowledge and appreciation of cuisine. However, this was not always so. Originally the gourmet was the groumet. He sat not at the table, but stayed in the stable - grooming horses!
Possibly lack of sufficient work caused him to be employed in other menial tasks. It was not long before his name was applied to all inferior servants, one of their duties being to act as wine-tasters. With their palates thus highly developed, it was inevitable that they would become discriminatory connoisseurs of exquisite foods and wines. Their \Jtaste buds\j certainly had no traces left of the stables!
#
"Governor King's Headstone - 180 Years Later",970,0,0,0
The Kings have played an eminent part in Australian history since the very early days of the colony. Many of them became closely linked with the district around St Marys. It is no wonder, therefore that some of their most distinguished family members, who included the Lethbridges and the Goldfinches, are buried in the graveyard of St Mary Magdalene's Anglican Church.
The church itself owes its very existence to the Kings. Dating back to 1840, it bears the name, and is a replica of the sanctuary that was the Kings' family church at Launceston, in Cornwall. One of the very early Kings, Admiral Phillip Parker King, R.N., the Governor's son, presented the land. He did so to honor his mother's wish to see the family church rebuilt on Australian soil.
Launceston-born Philip Gidley King was the third Governor of \JNew South Wales\j (1800-1806). He had come to \JAustralia\j with the \JFirst Fleet\j. Appointed superintendent and commandant of the newly-established settlement of \JNorfolk Island\j, he fathered two sons, Norfolk and Sydney. Their mother was Ann Inett, a convict.
On a visit to England in 1791, King married Anna Josepha Coombes, who returned with him to \JNew South Wales\j. She must have been a person of sterling qualities, a "faithful and courageous woman." Without hesitation, she adopted her husband's two sons, whom she treated as if they had been her own. When they were old enough to be educated, King sent them to England, where they are said to have joined the navy, gaining commissions. King never lost contact with them. Their mother married a free man.
After completing his term of office, King returned to England. He died in Tooting (near London) on 3 September 1808. After her husband's death, Anna Josepha, with her family, went back to \JAustralia\j. When, 36 years later, in 1844, she passed away, she was buried at St Marys.
In 1988-180 years after his passing and burial - on the occasion of the bicentennial celebrations, the memorial slab covering King's grave in the old country was shipped all the way to \JAustralia\j, to be set in concrete next to the enclosure surrounding his wife's grave. It is a stone without a tomb, though its text still reads:
\IHere Iyeth the body of
PHILIP GIDLEY KING
Captain R.N. and late
Governor of his Majesty
Territory New South Wales
Died Septr. 3rd. Aged 49 Years
1808\i
When the idea of transferring the memorial was first mooted, it was suggested that the former governor's remains be exhumed, and also taken to \JAustralia\j, but this proposal was rejected. Indeed, even to move the stone roused opposition on the part of some clergymen, and permission was only granted when it was agreed that another memorial would be erected in its stead. It was further stipulated that this had to contain the identical inscription with the additional words that "The original stone was moved to St Marys \JAustralia\j in 1988."
Once the original stone had been placed at its new Australian site a consecration service was held, on 31 January 1988, attended by almost 300 of King's descendants. It was an auspicious occasion, recalling the early history of the colony in a most personal way.
#
"Graham Crackers",971,0,0,0
For a minister of religion to be remembered almost daily at breakfast is certainly a rare distinction. And it becomes even odder, if his name has become a trademark for a favorite cereal. Yet this is the story behind Graham Crackers, widely eaten and very popular in America.
They were introduced by the Rev. Sylvester Graham (b. 1794), a Presbyterian clergyman. He did so not by design, but almost accidentally, as the result of a bout of sickness he had suffered.
On his recovery, he gave much thought to the influence of diet on man's state of health. In fact, he became so obsessed with the idea that he could be regarded as one of the very early nutritionists and food faddists, enthusiastically advocating eating the right type of food. A protagonist of temperance and vegetarianism, he also strongly recommended the reduction, if not total exclusion, of fats from one's daily diet.
Far ahead of his time, Graham stressed the advantage of eating a sufficient amount of roughage. In 1835 he embarked on a campaign to induce people to eat \Jcereals\j and bread baked from coarse grain. Preferably, he suggested, the bread should be stale, as this would aid digestion. Above all, as a clergyman, he was deeply convinced that such diet would bring man nearer to God.
Though the religious content of his doctrine has been discarded, Graham Crackers, Graham Flour and Graham Bread, dedicated to him, perpetuate his other beliefs. The Rev. Graham also pioneered ready-packaged cold breakfast \Jcereals\j.
#
"Grand-nephew of Robert Burns",972,0,0,0
John Begg, a grand-nephew of Robert Burns, is buried in Rye Park, a small township not far from Yass. The stone on his grave in the old cemetery, near the Uniting Church, is well preserved. Indeed, it is listed as a Burns Memorial. Its inscription makes special mention of Begg's relationship to Scotland's national poet:
\IIn Memory of
JOHN BEGG
Builder, late of Sydney
Born at Hamilton Scotland
Grand-nephew of Burns Poet
Died Rye Park
Oct. 16th 1885 Aged 64 Years\i
John Begg, with his wife Christina, migrated to \JAustralia\j in the early 1830s, first to settle in Sydney, where their daughter Janet was born. Then tragedy struck; Christina died. After her burial in the Devonshire Street Cemetery, John was lucky to find a kind-hearted \JMaori\j couple to look after the little girl. They cared well for her, not only physically, but spiritually. To the end of her days, Janet could recite the \JLord's prayer\j - in \JMaori\j!
A friendship with a brother of the famous explorer Hamilton Hume made John ultimately (c.1855) settle in Rye Park. There he remarried and spent the rest of his life.
#
"Granny Smith Apples",973,0,0,0
"Granny Smith" apples are an Australian gift to the world. They also came about by accident, in every sense of the word. There are several versions as to how they were first "cultivated" in a now densely-populated Sydney suburb.
In the 1860s, the Smith family migrants from England had settled in Eastwood. To make a living, they grew vegetables and fruit. Maria Ann, Thomas Smith's wife, (affectionately known as Granny Smith) used to sell the produce on the Sydney markets.
One day (in 1868) she brought home some empty fruit cases of which one still contained a few rotting Tasmanian French Crab apples. She tipped them out on to the rubbish heap in the corner of their orchard. (One account locates the site near the creek that ran past their property.)
When some time later, "Granny Smith" saw a small tree growing out of the "dump," she transplanted it. In due course it bore fruit, apples that not only differed completely from any known so far, but surpassed them in taste.
According to another story, the first "Granny Smith" apple tree grew and bore fruit quite unnoticed, till one day a small boy passing by, picked one of its apples. It was the best apple he had ever eaten. He shared his discovery with Granny Smith. An astute woman, she lost no time in transplanting and grafting the new, fortuitously created "variety" of apple-tree and commercialized it.
There is yet a third tradition of how it all happened. This claims that a fruit agent had provided Granny Smith with samples of some green-colored apples, known as the Tasmanian French Crab. He suggested to her that they might make good cooking apples. She took up his idea and, while preparing them for the cooking pot, carelessly threw their cores and peels out of the window, where they fell on to a flowerbed. Her thoughtless action led to the growth of the first tree to bear the apples.
The cases in which the apples were packed, were labeled "Apples from Granny Smith." Soon people everywhere asked for "the Granny Smith," an apple and a name that grew into world fame.
#
"Grapevine: Origins of the Saying",974,0,0,0
If a journalist receives information over the "\Jgrapevine\j," on the "bush telegraph" or (in recent jargon) by it having "fallen off the back of a truck," it is mostly from sources he does not wish to disclose.
To begin with, however, hearing something on the \Jgrapevine\j meant for a rumor to travel at great speed - often from remote areas - as if along telegraph wires. It was in fact these very telegraph wires which, most likely, were responsible for the saying. In the early days, badly sagging, they reminded people of trailing grapevines.
The \Jgrapevine\j as a \Jmetaphor\j goes back to the \JAmerican Civil War\j. It was then applied to unconfirmed news or mere rumors, exchanged between prisoners of war and their families or army groups. Frequently the information was of a secret nature. Therefore special efforts were made for it not to be discovered or intercepted. Illegal telegraph lines strung between the various points were accordingly camouflaged and, at times, made to look like vines. This, too, may account for the expression.
#
"Grass Widow",975,0,0,0
In his famous Dictionary, Dr. Samuel Johnson explained that a grass widow is a corrupted form of a grace widow. But this theory has now been discarded. Certainly, a wife temporarily parted from her husband may be a widow by grace or courtesy but, literally, the term goes down to the grass roots, either of the Indian highlands or the Californian hills.
According to one version, grass widows made their first appearance among Anglo-Indians about the middle of the past century. British forces were stationed in the coastal plains of India. But the sweltering heat during the summer made life there well-nigh unbearable for people who were unaccustomed to such a tropical climate.
To spare their womenfolk unnecessary hardship, the soldiers sent them during that season to the hills. There, cool breezes prevailed and, by contrast with the plain's parched earth, the grass was green. This, indeed, was the most noticeable feature of the hill country at that time of the year. The men began jokingly to refer to sending their wives "to the grass," and that is how a spouse separated from her husband came to be known as a grass widow.
Another less kind and gracious explanation links the grass widow with the Californian gold rushes that took place almost at the same period, though on the other side of the world. Possessed by gold fever, many prospectors felt that their families were an encumbrance. Therefore they boarded their wives in other people's homes.
Rather crudely they compared their action to that of a farmer who put a horse out to graze, when it was not wanted or useful for work. "I have put my wife to grass!" they laughingly remarked to their mates.
Even though those fortune hunters kept everything they found to themselves, they still, unknowingly, presented a word as a free gift to the English-speaking world.
#
"Grave of a Figure of Fiction",976,0,0,0
Mystery surrounds the figure of Rufus Dawes, "this solitary man" in Marcus Clarke's \IFor the Term of his Natural Life.\i His name is assumed to have been merely a pseudonym for a transportee who had escaped from \JTasmania\j and whom the writer of this Australian classic had used as a model.
In fact, there is a tradition that Dawes' remains, whatever his real name was, are buried "somewhere" in the cemetery of the small Victorian town of Ararat. A local historian claims to have identified his grave.
However, still lacking historical verification, he does not want to divulge its location yet, thereby adding further to the enigma.
Ararat, indeed, would be an appropriate resting place for a hunted man. After all, the town was so named by an early settler because ". . . Iike the Ark, we rested there." Well versed in Scriptures, he remembered the first "Ararat," mentioned in the biblical story of the Flood.
#
"Grave Saved from Drowning",977,0,0,0
\BMrs Napper\b
Like so many women at the time, "Mrs Napper" - no mention is made of her first name -died during childbirth, in or around 1860. She lived at "Barmera," a \Jcattle\j station close to the \JMurray River\j, near what is now the small South Australian town of Cobdogla.
She and her husband had settled there soon after their arrival in this part of the country. Almost penniless, by hard work and ingenuity they had been able to establish a home, proving themselves true pioneers.
Mr Napper not only cut the red-gum sleepers for the railway line to Port Adelaide, but he was also the first to irrigate the Upper Murray area, using a \Jsteam engine\j to pump water from the river on to his land.
At his wife's premature passing, as no cemetery was then in existence nearby, he placed her body into a disused sawpit and marked her improvised grave with a red-gum slab. It was a strange resting place for the first white woman to be buried in the district.
Time passed. Mr Napper remarried, twice or, as some have it, three times. Meanwhile, the highway authorities embarked on building a new road. This necessitated the construction of a lock for the \JMurray River\j, raising its water level and thereby inundating the late Mrs Napper's grave. It was a regretful chain of events.
Only the determination of a local resident, Mr Whitmore, saved the sawpit grave. Relentlessly fighting obstructive bureaucracy, he eventually succeeded in obtaining permission from the South Australian Attorney General to have Mrs Napper's grave removed to a higher level. It was through his initiative and persistence as well that subsequently the Country Women's Association erected a cairn to mark this last resting place of Mrs Napper. In spite of the registration of deaths having been obligatory since 1842, no official record of her passing exists.
In fact, some even doubt whether the spelling of her name is correct.
#
"Grave Unmarked for 80 Years",978,0,0,0
Ion Idriess, author of well over forty books, biographies, and novels, was one of \JAustralia\j's best known and most popular writers. Mystery surrounds his mother's grave in the Broken Hill Cemetery.
For many years its location in the Anglican section was unknown. Unmarked by a stone, it was only through the efforts of a local citizen, aided by the cemetery's curator, that it was found.
Why had the grave of Juliette Windeyer Idriess, mother of the renowned writer, not even the simplest of headstones? The story behind her death (on 13 January 1908 at the age of 38) may suggest an explanation. She died from typhoid fever at the very time when lon, then 19 years old, was recovering from the infection. In fact, to begin with, she had nursed him herself, at first at home, as she had refused to have him taken to the \Jhospital\j.
As was customary during epidemics, Juliette Idriess was buried the same afternoon.
For three months, Ion was not told that his mother had died. He missed her visits to the \Jhospital\j and asked why she was staying away, but it was explained to him that she was afraid of infecting other members of the family with the disease.
When eventually he heard the sad news that his mother was dead, it proved a traumatic experience. He was convinced that he was responsible for her death. Whilst lovingly looking after him, she must have caught the fever that proved fatal to her.
Idriess vividly recalls this tragic period of his life in his book \ILightning Ridge.\i He relates how he blamed himself and, at the time, did not want to go on living.
Except for two occasions, he never returned to the city where his mother is buried. In 1950 he visited Broken Hill on what he described as "a journey of nostalgia," to gather material for a book on the history of the town to which his family had moved in 1901 and where, for several years, he had worked in the mines. The second time was six years later, to launch the book, which he entitled \IThe Silver City,\i and of which, in the course of his two days' stay, he signed 2,000 copies.
#
"Graves Located Next to a Kindergarten",979,0,0,0
Two graves on a vacant plot in the township of Dimboola, are located next to a \Jkindergarten\j, the least expected site for burials. The well preserved headstones give ample information as to the deceased buried there.
James Little, a native of the Irish county of Armagh, was an amateur jockey. At the annual local races, his horse ran him into a tree and broke his leg. \JGangrene\j set in.
In spite of the amputation of the injured limb, Little's life could not be saved. He died on 5 April 1863, 64 years old. The personal data on the epitaph are followed by a verse, expressing the family's affectionate farewell and their hope of reunion:
\ISilent grave, to thee I trust
This precious pile of worthy dust.
Keep it safe, O sacred Tomb,
Till wife or children ask for room.\i
Plans go awry and neither the widow nor the orphans could avail themselves of this "reservation." Within less than three weeks of Little's passing it was taken up by a total stranger.
On 24 April 1863, Mathew Joseph Edward Ternan, another Irishman, suddenly died at the young age of 32. With an empty grave readily available, it was only natural in the circumstances to make use of it-and not to wait for the death of another Little. A poem on Ternan's headstone draws a lesson from the suddenness of his demise, voicing a timely reminder:
\IA sudden change, he in a moment fell,
No time allowed to bid his friends farewell;
'Tis nothing strange, Death's summons comes to all,
Reader, prepare! Tomorrow thou mayst fall.\i
There is a simple explanation for the unusual and puzzling position of the two graves. They used to be part of the burial grounds of a Presbyterian church which once, with its manse, occupied that site.
#
"Graves Located on Golf Courses",980,0,0,0
Gravestones embedded in a golf course are unexpected finds. The Cobar links present just such an extraordinary relic, hazard, and puzzle.
Not far from the 14th hole stand two headstones. They are not worse for wear and are apparently untouched by balls gone astray, with their inscription clearly legible.
Put up "in affectionate remembrance" by the inhabitants of the city is the monument to Thomas Rogers of Cornwall, England. He had died on 20 April 1878, as a young man of 31. The verse on the stone suggests that the deceased was respected as an amiable person who bore no grudge, even for his early passing, and who was concerned beyond the grave for the happiness and well-being of the friends he had left behind:
\II leave the world without a tear,
Save for the friends I held so dear.
To heal their sorrow Lord descend
And to the friendless prove a friend.\i
A high iron fence surrounds and guards the second headstone erected in memory of Thomas Prisk. It records that he was "the beloved husband of Elizabeth . . . of Callington, South \JAustralia\j" and, no doubt by accident, "departed this life at the Great Cobar [Copper] Mine [on] September 23rd 1877, aged 63 years." A quotation from the book of Revelation (14, 13) "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord"-is followed by a poem, particularly addressed to his family:
\IWeep not for me my wife and children dear
I am not dead but sleeping here
Let reason dry the falling tear
And cease my loves to mourn
I was not yours but God's alone
He loved me best,
And took me home
What says the happy dead
He bids us bear our load
With silent step proceed
And follow him to God.\i
#
"Graves of Australian Men and Women in War",981,0,0,0
Australians have always traveled and served in many countries. In cemeteries, thousands of kilometers from their homes, the graves of Australians can be found. Some of the dead were once well-known figures back home, without it even being realized that they died abroad.
Most memorable, of course, are those thousands of Australian men and women who, whilst fighting for causes and in wars they hoped would save the world from catastrophe, or at least make it a better place, made the supreme sacrifice. They lie in war graves in many parts of the world, tenderly cared for and unforgotten.
#
"Gravestone in a Hospital",982,0,0,0
\BDr Barbazon Newcomen Casement\b
It is most unusual to find a tombstone in the grounds of a \Jhospital\j. It becomes even more bizarre if the body of the deceased is buried in an unmarked grave in the adjacent cemetery.
These peculiar circumstances apply to Dr Barbazon Newcomen Casement's remains and memorial. Casement was a highly respected doctor at the Kempsey \JHospital\j. One of the wards, in fact, is still officially called after him. A bronze plaque, also in the \Jhospital\j, to his "everlasting memory" and "subscribed in public appreciation," recalls how:
\IKindness of heart, gentleness of manner, brotherhood to man, were his guideposts on the footpath of life. \i
The inscription further records Casement's Irish birthplace - Macherntemple, Ballycastle, in the County of Antrim - and that he was "Accidentally killed near Wollombi, on 24 February 1910, Aged 57 years and six months."
Casement has another distinction, not of his making and acquired posthumously. He was closely related to Sir Roger Casement, the Irish nationalist hanged by the British as a traitor in 1916. According to some reports, Barbazon was his brother; others say they were cousins. Whichever, neither politics nor the struggle for Irish independence were Barbazon Casement's concern.
A compassionate man, the tribute paid to him on the \Jhospital\j plaque is no exaggeration. He waived fees for patients who had not the money to pay, of whom there were plenty. At his passing he was owed the sum of ú60,000 ($120,000), a considerable amount even nowadays.
Casement graduated in 1878 from Trinity College in Dublin. He opened his first surgery in a small Irish village and celebrated the occasion by getting married. Alas, his happiness was not to last. After a mere 18 months of marital bliss, his wife died, leaving him with a little girl. Devastated by the tragedy, he decided to go to England, where he took up a position in Liverpool.
Casement still could not settle down and did not stay in England either. As a ship's surgeon, he sailed for \JAustralia\j, to assume the position of traveling medical officer with an insurance company in 1882. And it was in this capacity that he first visited Kempsey.
Several factors combined to make him stay there. A new \Jhospital\j had just been opened, which was in urgent need of a doctor with exactly his qualifications. A young lady, Islet Scott, also attracted his attention, and in 1885 became his wife. Within a year, she gave birth to a son. Everything seemed to be going Casement's way and it appeared that he would settle down permanently at long last.
Once again, fate willed it otherwise. The baby was frail and the couple felt that a change of climate would do it good. For this reason, Casement accepted an appointment as resident surgeon at the newly opened prison at Trial Bay. However, it made no difference to their ailing baby, who soon died. The Casements returned to Kempsey.
A man of many interests, Casement loved botany. It was a subject in which he became an expert, if not an addict. The story is told of how one day he was called to the home of a lady who was thought to have been taken seriously ill. Her husband and family were anxiously waiting in the front garden, to hear his diagnosis. But instead of giving them his "verdict," Dr Casement asked the husband whether he realized that six different kinds of grasses were growing in his lawn. And only then, almost as an afterthought, did he inform him that they had no need to worry; the patient was not dangerously ill, and would soon recover.
When Casement reached the age of 55, he began to prepare for retirement. He bought a property near Boggabri, hoping to grow wheat and breed sheep there. When, two years later, he was ready to take possession of his "station," a tragic accident cut short his life.
On reaching Wollombi, the harness of the leading horses of the mailcoach in which he was traveling snapped. It pulled the driver down from his seat, entangling him in the reins. Though the doctor, and a fellow passenger who had been sitting next to him, were able to save him, the coach jolted so badly that Casement was thrown off. Falling on his head, he suffered seven fractures and a punctured lung. He was never to recover. Two days later, he passed away.
Many hundreds of people, of all creeds and both black and white, attended his funeral on 25 February 1910. They followed the hearse on foot, on horseback and in vehicles. In fact, as the \IChronicle\i reported ". . . long before the hour fixed for starting, the streets in the vicinity were blocked with various descriptions of vehicles and horsemen and as the hearse moved away there was some difficulty in getting the vehicles into procession . . ."
Dr Casement had been a man beloved by all. Words he himself wrote and entitled "Philosophy in Verse," aptly sum up his attitude to life:
\IThe mountains crumble, the big trees fall,
And the earth shall fade away,
But what the devil does it matter at all-
We all must die some day.
The parsons preach, the sinners swear,
Each as it suits him best;
But an honest man will work while he can,
And then lie down and rest.\i
It was at a friend's suggestion that his memorial in the \Jhospital\j grounds, a black marble \Jobelisk\j, carries two quotations. The first, from the Epistle to the Philippians (1,3 though the stonemason has mistakenly rendered chapter and verse as "1&3"), reads: "I thank my God for every remembrance of you." The second verse is from the Psalms (37, 23): "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way."
#
"Grease One's Palm",983,0,0,0
Now a mere figure of speech for the giving of a bribe, the phrase "to grease the palm" goes back to a practice that involved actual grease. In the age of chivalry, men as well as women, used to apply cosmetics even to their hands.
With soap unknown, they needed to cover up unpleasant smells, a necessity that accounts for the development of perfume. One of the "deodorants" used to grease the hands, was made up of spiced or scented goose fat. To add some color and to make it all the more attractive, the grease was sometimes darkened by charcoal.
Just as a bottle of perfume nowadays, so the grease then was highly prized and its gift appreciated. Those trying to buy a favor often did so by presenting the person with the precious "grease" and "to grease one's palm" became synonymous with bribery.
#
"Greek 'T' on a Headstone",984,0,0,0
The \JNew Testament\j was originally written in Greek. A number of present-day religious symbols used on gravestones are in that language. As the shape of some Greek letters resembles, or is even identical with, characters of our own alphabet, at times people have been confused and misunderstood or misinterpreted their meaning.
A typical example is the capital "T," standing all on its own. It is not our "T" at all, but the Greek letter \ITau,\i the initial of \ITheos,\i the Greek for "God." Carved on a monument, it reassures those left behind that the deceased now is with God.
The Greek "T" actually developed out of the Egyptian hieroglyph for "life" in which sense the "T" on a headstone has the additional \Jsymbolism\j that, for those of faith, there is life even in death.
#
"Greek Hades",985,0,0,0
The Greek \JHades\j has been greatly misunderstood. The original, classical \JHades\j was not a locale but a (divine) person, one of the twelve Olympian gods. A son of Kronos, he was the lord of the underworld. Not evil himself, he was the most impartial of judges, determined to punish with unpitying sternness anyone who had done wrong. He took great pride in his "underground" work, and jealously guarded its population, always concerned to see an increase in its numbers.
A god of his kind, it is not to be wondered, was not worshiped by the living. There were no temples or celebrations in his honor. At best, some people offered him black sheep, but they carefully looked away from the altar while doing so. Most men preferred to forget all about \JHades\j since, sooner or later and whether they liked it or not, they would come under his rule. At death, their soul was bound to enter what should properly have been called "the house of \JHades\j" but was erroneously shortened to \JHades\j.
Like most descriptions of the underworld, Greek \Jmythology\j also gave detailed accounts of some of its topographical features and the type of existence it offered. Some said that, appropriately, \JHades\j was located in the west - where the sun went down. Souls of the buried entered the subterranean district by the river \JStyx\j, and were ferried across by Charon who charged for this service an obolus, which thoughtful relatives had placed in the corpse's mouth.
There was a strict division between the souls of the righteous and the wicked. Both were allowed to carry on a shadowy type of life, very similar to that which they had led "above." The good, however, had the special bonus of gaining entry to the joys of Elysium, the Isles of the Blest. The wicked were forced to suffer the torments of Tartarus. To make escape impossible, \JHades\j had appointed Cerberus, the fierce many-headed dog, to be chief warden and guardian of this underground prison.
#
"Green Apples",986,0,0,0
From the beginning it seems, apples have played a part in leading man astray. Most people believe that the \JBible\j tells that \JAdam and Eve\j were expelled from Paradise because against God's bidding, they had eaten an apple. The \JBible\j never specifies the type of "forbidden fruit." This might just as well - and much more likely - have been a peach or a \Jpomegranate\j.
Equally fallacious is the common assumption that the eating of green apples causes \Jstomach\j ache. Neither the color nor the ripeness of an apple affects the digestive process. So long as the apple is chewed well, it will make no difference whether it is ripe or green.
#
"Green Fingers and Green Thumb",987,0,0,0
Those who have a knack for gardening and growing things are said to have green fingers or a green thumb. Their appraisal might quite easily be explained by natural causes, as the result of their preoccupation with verdure. Frequent handling of green plants has rubbed off the color onto their hands, thus the description of having green fingers or a green thumb.
Even as a \Jmetaphor\j, it was well chosen and very much down to earth. Experienced gardeners when planting shoots press down the surrounding soil with their thumb or fingers, which helps young plants grow all the better.
A legend about an Italian monk reinforced what has become a figure of speech. Fra Antonio was admired by his brethren for the beauty of the garden he had planted. In spite of all possible efforts on their part, they could not equal it. Asking him for the secret, he was lost for an answer. Maybe, he humbly suggested, the reason was the special love he felt for the flowers.
Unconvinced, and without Antonio being aware of it, they watched him at work to discover that, indeed, he had a green thumb. Steeped in the \Jsupernatural\j, the monks firmly believed that his green thumb was a divine gift which mysteriously made Fra Antonio's plants and flowers thrive. Ever since, those like him, specially successful in making things grow and flourish, are thought to possess a God-given green thumb or green fingers.
#
"Green-room",988,0,0,0
Superstition flourishes most profusely among those people whose occupations or professions make them face a life of danger and uncertainty. That is why sailors and miners are so superstitious, and equally actors. No one can ever foretell whether a new play will prove a roaring success or a dismal failure. Therefore actors are very careful to observe certain rules, lest they offend mischievous spirits always ready to spoil their performance. And, no doubt, they were well aware of the curse attached to green.
Oddly enough though, during intervals of a play, actors traditionally retire to what is generally known as - and actually called by them as well - "the green-room." And, in fact, it is painted and decorated in that very color. This paradoxical attitude may have one of a number of reasons, and none has any connection with the occult. The variety of plays staged may justify an equal wealth of explanations offered, which may be based more on fiction than on fact!
Van den Hoff, (in his \ILeaves from an Actor's Notebook),\i advanced the theory that it had been called the green-room because its upholstery, seats, divan, and carpet were all green. Another, though generally refuted suggestion was that it had originally been the storeroom for the green cloth used in productions of tragedies.
A third view links the green-room with the actors' need to recuperate from the glaring limelight to which they were exposed on the stage. Though little realized by spectators enjoying the well-lit faces on stage, the limelight proved a tremendous strain on the actors. And it was thought that a room decorated in green would enable the actors to relax and rest their eyes during the breaks. The physiological need was strong enough to expel all other psychological considerations of green as a depressing color.
Yet another alternative possibility illustrates how accidents have played a significant role in the growth of traditions and institutions. The \JDorset\j Garden Theater was one of the early-seventeenth-century-London playhouses. It happened that by mere chance the room in which the actors prepared themselves for their appearance on stage was painted green. When the "\JDorset\j Garden" was eventually superseded by "Drury Lane", actors well remembered - and actually missed their "make-up" room. Frequently they voiced the wish to have "something like it" in the new establishment. The management duly obliged and provided them with a replica of the original "green-room." As in many of its other features, world-renowned Drury Lane set the fashion. Other theaters "of worth" would have felt inferior had they not adopted the example. Accordingly they, too, included a green-room in the backstage amenities offered to the men and women on whose good mood and performance, after all, depended the good luck of the venture.
And since those times, so long ago, the color has not faded - though many an actor would not wear anything green on his person, he would nevertheless feel much at ease and regain his composure when relaxing in the room so colored and named.
A further claim is that it was all due to a royal example. The Prince Regent, later \JGeorge IV\j, was an ardent theater-goer who enjoyed spending some time "back-stage" joining the actors in their "withdrawingroom." While with them, he used to smoke the green cigars he so much favored. Associating the room with these cigars, he himself started to call it "the green-room." According to this version, royal words, which were stronger than \Jsuperstition\j, had started the odd tradition.
Clear enunciation by the actors is of great importance on any stage. It would be rather paradoxical if the green-room really came into being because of a misunderstanding caused by slovenly speech. Maybe, an original "scene room" was understood as a "green room" and it was the wrong sound that produced the unusual color!
#
"Greenland and Iceland: Origins of their Names",989,0,0,0
Greenland is far from Green. It is an island of ice and snow. Indeed, a great part of it is \Jarctic\j wasteland, very much like Europe used to be during the \JIce Age\j. In parts, the thickness of the ice covering the land exceeds 1,500 meters. Only its coastal "rim" (certainly itself making up a vast area) is ice-free.
Eric the Red purposely chose its misleading name. Banished from \JIceland\j for three years for killing two men in a feud, he arrived in (the future) \JGreenland\j. As a resourceful Viking navigator, he explored the island and decided to colonize it.
Like any good promoter and developer nowadays, he was convinced that if a place is given an attractive name, people will come to it. For this purpose he called (in about A.D. 985) the inhospitable island "Green Land." His plan worked and resulted in the arrival of 25 migrant ships. (From this icy \JGreenland\j, Vikings sailed forth to discover \JNorth America\j, many centuries before Columbus set foot on American soil. They were led by Leif Ericsson, Eric's son.)
Iceland is not nearly as cold as its name suggests. It abounds in hot springs, volcanoes, and geysers. The very name "\Jgeyser\j" is Icelandic. Some 150 volcanoes have erupted on the island since the \JIce Age\j, 30 of them since the country was settled. During the past 500 years, one third of the world's \Jlava\j spurted forth in \JIceland\j.
The enormous thermal activity of the country, duly harnessed, supplies the population with heat and constant hot water, which is piped into people's homes. The natural heat is also utilized for greenhouses enabling them to grow flowers and fruit, including grapes and even bananas, all through the year. It is intriguing to know that during the \JMiddle Ages\j it was believed that the very gateway to hell was situated in one of the volcanic craters of this country, notwithstanding the island's name which conjures up the bitter cold.
#
"Greyhound Racing Origins",990,0,0,0
All over the world, the \Jgreyhound\j has been employed as the most reliable and efficient chaser among dogs. \JNeolithic\j man used it as such. A species of the \Jgreyhound\j - the \Jsaluki\j - is clearly distinguishable on Egyptian friezes portraying hunting scenes. It appears too in Mesopotamian art, being depicted straining at the leash or racing after the quarry. Excavated artifacts from the Greek world, now displayed in the British Museum, London, also picture the \Jgreyhound\j, identical in all its features with the modern breed.
A stone relief which has survived from Thessaly in the fourth century BC shows a \Jgreyhound\j watching the goddess \JHecate\j, whose sacred animal he was, crowning a horse. The occasion can only be guessed but, most probably, it was the winning of a race. Conspicuous is the \Jgreyhound\j's almost haughty expression. This has been interpreted as the artist's attempt to convey its proud awareness of being an even faster runner than the horse.
The Latin poet \JOvid\j (first century BC), a descendant of an ancient equestrian family, in a vivid description, of the chase of Daphne by Apollo, compares it to the pursuit of a hare by a \Jgreyhound\j.
Dogs rate regrettably low in most of the some 40 places in which the \JBible\j mentions them. In the \JMiddle East\j, a dog was not a domestic pet but ran wild in the streets and was feared for its bite, most likely because of \Jrabies\j. Contempt for it became so great that the very word dog was used as a term of abuse.
Nevertheless, in one passage (in the book of Proverbs, XXX:31) - according to most translations of the \JHebrew\j original, a tradition also adopted by the Revised Version - the \Jgreyhound\j is praised as one of four stately beings, majestic as "makers good of step." Literally, the \JHebrew\j term means "girt of loins" and it is only fair to record that other renderings of the phrase saw in it a reference not to the dog, but to the cock, or the war horse.
An Arab saying vividly pictured the \Jgreyhound\j's superlative speed by stating that it was so swift that seeing from afar a \Jgazelle\j biting off a blade of grass, it would reach it even before it had time to swallow it.
The first extensive treatise on coursing was written as early as the middle of the second century by the Greek historian and philosopher Arrian who, on adopting Roman citizenship, called himself Flavius. By its description of coursing as it was practiced then, the work shows this sport to be one of the few in the world that has not changed in its principal elements through the millennia. The rules and views set out by Arrian are almost identical with those of modern times.
He wrote that the object of the sport was not the catching of the animal but the enjoyment of a contest in swiftness. Coursers, in fact, he pointed out, were glad if the hare made its escape. Should the animal hide in a thicket, or be found trembling with fear, coursers should call off their dogs, because to continue the chase then was no longer "sport."
Arrian relates how, when following a course on horseback, he himself frequently had ridden up to the hare as soon as it was caught and, to save its life, had taken away his dog and tied it up, so that the hare could gain its freedom.
When dogs were no longer used to catch prey to supply their owner with food, coursing came into its own as an independent, legitimate sport. The means to an end had become an end in itself.
Only two dogs at a time were permitted to chase the animal, which had to be given a fair start. Arrian also advises the courser to pet his dog after the chase and to praise it so that it will feel its owner's appreciation.
That sports-loving England would adopt and cherish coursing was a foregone conclusion. It is believed that the \Jgreyhound\j was imported to the country by the Cretans around 500 BC. A perfect specimen became a prized possession in the \JMiddle Ages\j. Popular was a rhyme (often quoted in after years) attributed to Juliana Berners, who was said to have been the Abbess of Sopwell nunnery. It appears in \IThe Book of St Albans,\i a tract on hunting, reputedly written by her in 1486:
\IIf you will have a good sike,
Of which there are few like,
He must be headed like a snake,
Necked like a drake,
Backed like a beam,
Sided like a bream,
Tailed like a rat,
And footed like a cat.\i
English monarchs and the nobility patronized coursing and maintained large kennels of greyhounds. King John treasured the animal so much that he gladly agreed to accept greyhounds instead of money in the payment of fines or the renewal of grants. \JHenry VIII\j expressed the view that the acquiring of proper skill in every aspect of coursing was part of the education of a gentleman. An intriguing appointment by the Crown under his reign was that of a "Keeper Chaste of the King's Grey Houndes." As the title suggests, his duty implied the preservation of the pure, thoroughbred breed.
Queen Elizabeth I liked coursing so much that she commanded Thomas, the fourth Duke of Norfolk, to formulate the first code of rules. She was thus responsible for the beginning of properly regulated coursing in England.
No doubt adopting Arrian's ideas, the rules forbade the coursing of the hare by more than a brace of greyhounds; the hare had to be given a headstart of 240 yards (218.40 m). The code also made the important point that the race was not necessarily won by the dog that made the kill, but by the one most instrumental in achieving it.
Even Oliver Cromwell, who otherwise certainly did not favor amusements, was a lover of greyhounds and showed a keen interest in coursing events. From a pursuit in private, coursing grew into a national sport. The first public trials took place at the time of King Charles I.
Its popularity increased ever more and all classes of people were attracted to it. Those who could not afford to own a \Jgreyhound\j used their fastest mongrel. On the other hand, class-conscious England at times strictly confined the possession of greyhounds, and even the practice of the sport, to society's upper strata.
#
"Groovy",991,0,0,0
Groovy is a word of modern coinage, meaning that something is "with it," up-to-date and very exciting. It is the ultimate in enjoyment.
The word, though revived in the 1960s, goes back to the days of the early talking machine, the \Jphonograph\j. This reproduced sound from a track indented into tin foil wrapped around a brass pipe, to be superseded by wax cylinders. Finally, these were replaced by grooved records. If the needle or stylus did not jump out of its track, it ran smoothly, literally it was "in the groove" - groovy.
#
"Growth of Hair After Cutting",992,0,0,0
The frequency of cutting or shaving of one's hair has no effect on its regrowth. However, cutting it could make it denser by activating sluggish hair follicles.
Likewise, it is wrong to imagine that singeing the hair promotes its good health. The misconception is based on the erroneous belief that the hollow (tubular) hair contained elements essential for its health which thus sealed off could not escape.
#
"Guerillas",993,0,0,0
Guerillas means war, almost literally so. Their name is the diminutive of the Spanish \Iguerra.\i It speaks of "a little war" and that is what guerillas wage, though often with unsurpassed bravery and decisive results.
The term goes back to the early part of the 19th century when, during the \JNapoleonic wars\j, French forces invaded \JSpain\j. To defend their country, Spanish peasants then banded themselves together and, though untrained militarily, successfully harassed the foe. Their sorties proved most effective, particularly by their tactics of surprise. The guerillas became so famous that their name spread all over the world to be adopted internationally.
#
"Guide to Good Health",994,0,0,0
Surprising in number are the rules for good health propounded by Spanish-born thirteenth-century Rabbi Moses Maimonides, many of which anticipate present-day medical knowledge.
Almost 800 years ago, the rabbi-physician stressed the importance of \Jpreventive medicine\j. The doctor should not only be called when sickness strikes, he should be consulted at regular intervals to keep a check on the physical condition of the patient. Sunshine and fresh air were essential safeguards of good health, and every home also needed adequate ventilation.
To keep well, man must observe a balanced diet. Food should always be properly chewed and a meal be concluded before a feeling of fullness sets in. Regular exercise is necessary but should never be pursued to the point where the body is exhausted. Sufficient rest was equally indispensable and should average eight hours a night.
Doctors must be concerned with the "total" patient: with both his body and mind. They should never neglect the emotional aspect of disease.
Maimonides has rightly been called "the medieval modern." The Physicians Prayer, attributed to him, is famous. In the wealth of wisdom it contains, it also asks God:
\I "Do not allow thirst for profit, ambition for renown and admiration, to interfere with my profession, for these are the enemies of truth and of love for mankind, and they can lead one astray in the great task of attending to the welfare of your creatures."\i
#
"Guillotine Invention",995,0,0,0
The \JFrench Revolution\j, with its thousands of executions, inherited from the monarchy a carefully graded system of death. Different methods were used, according to the condemned man's crime, and also to his position.
Under King \JLouis XVI\j, heretics were burned, traitors quartered, and assassins and highwaymen broken on the wheel. Others who had committed any of 115 capital offenses were treated with class distinction. If they were of the common people, their fate was hanging. But if they belonged to the aristocracy, they had the privilege of being beheaded, which was a method less cruel and not so prolonged in its agony.
Dr Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a true son of the Revolution, did not question the actual putting to death. But he was horrified at the differentiation in the means of execution. He demanded that the new spirit of fraternity and equality should reach to the scaffold and that decapitation should be extended to the masses!
Therefore, on humane grounds and with a passion for equality, he took up his cause in the French Chamber. Eloquently he pleaded it, demanding a gadget which was more merciful. It should be applied to all and sundry, "whatever the rank and status of the guilty party."
The Press enthusiastically echoed his feelings and recommended "the humane sentiments which breathed in the Guillotin proposal." Commentators referred to the need for some machine which would be "worthy of the new order into which we are about to enter."
However, although Guillotin had urged the necessity of a device, he did not invent it himself. Another medical practitioner, a Dr Louis, adapted earlier mechanisms of similar type and constructed the first modern beheading machine, which was soon introduced all over \JFrance\j. Because its adoption was due solely to Dr Guillotin's indefatigable agitation, people gave it his name, and not that of Dr Louis, and despite Guillotin's strong objection, his name stuck.
A story says that he himself died by means of his "invention." Actually, Guillotin died at the age of 76 from a \Jcarbuncle\j in a shoulder. After his death, his children petitioned the government, out of deference to their father and for their own sake, to change the name of the \Jguillotine\j. Their request was rejected, but they were permitted to change their own name instead!
Psychologists have been at pains to explain why Guillotin devoted so much time to the question of humane execution. Some of them have felt that the reason was Guillotin's own premature birth. While she was pregnant with the future Joseph Ignace, his mother unexpectedly witnessed a criminal being tortured to death on a wheel. The experience so shocked her that she gave birth to her son prematurely. Thus the \Jguillotine\j may have been envisaged through pre-natal influence.
#
"Guinea Pig: Origin of the Name",996,0,0,0
The early Incas of \JPeru\j had domesticated a species of \Jcavy\j. They kept it as a pet and ate its flesh. The conquering Spaniards took a liking to the rodent and introduced it to Europe where it became known as a guinea pig.
Puzzling is this choice of name, as it had nothing to do with either the pig or the guinea, a once well-known English coin valued at twenty-one shillings. The animal's name is the result of intriguing factors. Some are based on man's greed and others on man's inhumanity towards man.
English slave-traders sailed from Britain to Guinea, situated on the west coast of Africa. There they sold British-manufactured goods, to take aboard their human cargo. They now went on all the way to \JLatin America\j and, having unloaded and sold the slaves, embarked from there on the voyage home. With them they carried from that part of the world the little animal. The English, knowing that the boat had traveled to Guinea and finding some similarity in the \Jcavy\j's snout with that of the pig, called the newcomer a Guinea pig. The small creature, indeed, had traveled a vast distance, but it could never shed its erroneously bestowed description.
Eventually, the guinea pig proved of great value in medical and scientific research, so much so that its name became synonymous with an experimental animal.
#
"Gun Salute",997,0,0,0
A gun salute was meant to shoot off all ammunition. It conveyed the message that the peaceable nature of a person so greeted was well understood. Hence, there was no need for the guns to remain charged. More so, by rendering them thus useless, one placed oneself at the mercy of the person saluted. It must be realized that in the early history of the gun it took some considerable time to reload it. During the reign of King \JHenry VII\j, for instance, a gun could be fired not more than twice every hour.
The number of shots fired - three, seven or the Royal (three times seven) twenty-one guns - had occult significance! Three and seven were sacred figures, based on the Christian belief in the holy trinity and the ancient Babylonian astrological notion of the divine seven planets. The combination of the noise of the booming guns and the hallowed figures was imagined to act as a powerful magic screen against malevolent forces. This made the gun salute not only an expression of trust but, simultaneously protected the person honored by scaring away evil spirits.
The firing of 101 guns is said to have originated on one historical occasion. When, after his second successful campaign, King Maximilian returned to \JGermany\j, the town of Augsburg prepared a triumphant welcome for him. This was to include a salute of 100 guns. The officer in charge of this part of the celebrations lost count and, not sure whether the full number of shots had been fired, added an extra round for good measure. But as there had been no mistake, the actual number of shots heard amounted to 101.
Other cities, not wanting to appear less respectful, followed Augsburg's example in welcoming the emperor with a 101-gun salute, and anything done, even in error, several times, creates a tradition and becomes a general rule. This was the case with the 101 guns.
#
"Gung Ho",998,0,0,0
Gung ho is \Jpidgin\j English for "to work together." It is now used to express unbounded and, at times, excessive enthusiasm. The phrase is derived from the Mandarin Chinese \Ikeng ho,\i literally meaning "more fiery." That it was adopted into everyday language paradoxically was due both to religious leaders and a military commander.
Christian missionaries to China first chose the words (in the 1830s) as a most appropriate slogan for the industrial cooperatives they had established in the country. It seemed apt to inspire the people joining in the work to devote their efforts for the good of all, irrespective of their political views. Gung ho - "to work together" - was indeed the best assurance of success.
Whilst being assigned as an observer to the Chinese army, Lieutenant Colonel (later General) Evans F. Carlson picked up the slogan. He immediately was impressed by it, so much so that when he was appointed head of the American Marines, he made it their motto. Most likely, it contributed to the successful outcome of a significant mission he led during the Second World War. The division had been given orders to destroy the radio station on the then Japanese-occupied Makin, an \Jatoll\j situated at the northern end of Gilbert Island in the west of the \JPacific Ocean\j. Carlson completed his mission within 48 hours (on 18-19 August 1942), rendering the island militarily useless for the rest of the war.
No doubt Carlson had inspired his marines by the slogan he had made their own. Gung ho soon became known far beyond the war zone. Popularized in the following year by a film called after it, gung ho found its lasting place in the English language meaning fiery enthusiasm.
#
"Gypsies",999,0,0,0
Through the centuries, gypsies have been among the most maligned and rejected people. Shunned and hunted from one place to another, theirs has been a homeless existence. In spite of it, they faithfully maintained their own culture and traditions.
Their real home was the north-west of India, where they lived as members of a low caste. They left India between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, to migrate to the west. It was eventually from \JEgypt\j that they reached northern European countries where they were therefore mistaken for Egyptians and so called. But usage (or contempt) made people corrupt their Egyptian description which survives fragmentally as gypsies.
#
"Gypsies' Births and Deaths",1000,0,0,0
Like most primitive races, gypsies regard \Jpregnancy\j as a period of great danger and ritual impurity to which a strict \Jtaboo\j is attached. A mother giving birth must never do so "at home" - in the wagon or tent. If she did so, it would be defiled and would have to be burned with all it contained. For a month and a day after giving birth to a child, she must not touch - let alone cook - any food, except that which she will eat herself.
The mystery of "bread and salt" has its special significance at the marriage ritual. A loaf is broken on this occasion and a portion of it - with a pinch of salt - is given to both bride and groom. The couple thereupon solemnly exchange their portions, eating them like a sacramental rite. The celebrant (usually a renowned member of the group) then reminds them that if they ever became tired of bread and salt, they would tire of each other.
Death - like birth - must never take place inside the home. For any gypsy to die is regarded not as merely a personal loss but as a bereavement suffered by the entire group. Consequently, grief is expressed openly in common, and given much conspicuous publicity.
Most gypsies will never return to the grave in which they have buried one of their people. Yet another tradition makes them dispose of all personal effects of the deceased. Thus heirlooms, which are often a bone of contention among Western people, are unknown to the Roms. At times, gypsies even break up or burn the wagon of the dead. They do so not least to make it impossible for anyone else to occupy the caravan. This might be resented by the departed gypsy's spirit who would come back to haunt the living.
#
"Gypsies' Origins",1001,0,0,0
Gypsies have virtually always been misunderstood. Even the name given to them is a misnomer. It is all that is left of "\JEgypt\j." When - around the year 1000 A.D. - they migrated from their homeland in India, they stayed for a while in \JEgypt\j - or so they claimed. And people, indifferent to their true origin, called them, as it were, after their last port of call - Egyptians. Soon this name became corrupted, or wore down, to gypsies.
The gypsies arrived in England in the sixteenth century, Shakespeare's time. It is well to remember that in his \IAntony and Cleopatra,\i he referred to the Egyptian queen, who really was Greek, as a "gypsy." He did so for two reasons: not only did Cleopatra rule \JEgypt\j but - and more so - because she had deceived Antony "like a right gypsy."
People have always looked down on gypsies. They saw in them rootless vagabonds roaming the countryside who could never be trusted. Their low reputation is reflected in the fact that in English "to gyp" became synonymous with "to cheat." (As if to save the face of the gypsies, other derivations of the ugly word "gyp" have been suggested, though all of them are spurious. The verb was traced to "gee-up," a local English \Jdialect\j for "to treat roughly." Another rescuing attempt linked the cheating "gyp" with "gippo." This was the name of a seventeenth-century jacket worn as the uniform of servants who looked after Oxford undergraduates. Eventually, it was identified with the valets themselves who were renowned for their dishonesty and thefts!)
Gypsies themselves, of course, never recognize (and in fact shun) the name given to them that expresses only contempt and dislike. They call themselves Roms or the \JRomany\j people - after their native language. This actually is a \JHindi\j \Jdialect\j related to ancient Sanskrit. But, just as in the case of \JYiddish\j, it contains numerous words picked up from the tongues of the people through whose countries they passed on their wanderings. \JRomany\j is derived from the \JHindi\j word \Irom,\i meaning "man."
Dark-skinned nomads, gypsies have shining white teeth, jet black hair, and dark eyes. They love their freedom and therefore never settle down. Moving about all the time, their wagons are their castles. But the very fact of their being so "unlike," strange, and withdrawn, added to the mystery of their existence and to the suspicion with which they were viewed and treated. Romanies are proud people and - where still unassimilated - will exclude permanently from their midst anyone who has married a person not of their race. Such banishment is regarded as the most severe penalty in their unwritten code of law.
A non-Rom they call a \Igaujo.\i This word, very much like our "barbarian," described an uneducated "rough peasant." (Is there any connection perhaps between this gaujo and the \Igaucho,\i the Argentinian cowboy?) Thus they paid back in like coin the feeling of condescension and contempt shown to them.
#
"Gypsy Corner in the Cemetery",1002,0,0,0
Most cemeteries have allotted separate plots to the various national groups according to their religious affiliation. Few visitors to Rookwood Cemetery, however, would expect to find a gypsy corner there!
Its site is reserved for the graves of notable members of the Sterio family. It is beautifully kept and almost all the memorials in it are of the same design. The graves include the last resting place of Mary, a gypsy queen and Costa, her son, the "Prince of the Gypsies." Mary died on 6 July 1947, 75 years old, whilst Costa, who had predeceased her, passed away at the age of 30 on 5 November 1943. Others of her race and name (and a second queen) are buried in adjacent graves.
A gypsy burial has its distinctive features. Mary's funeral, for instance, was accompanied by the playing of a band, and before the grave was filled in, the mourners threw money into it.
Even a gypsy grave varies from all others - in both size and preparation. Larger than the ordinary grave, after it has been dug, a mason lines its sides with bricks. The casket used is of the American style, more substantial in price and measurements: 2.1m x 1.1m as against the usual 1.8m x .5m. Once the coffin has been lowered into the ground, the grave is sealed up with a solid concrete slab.
On visiting the last resting place of their departed, gypsies bring drinks with them. This explains the many empty \Jcoca\j-cola and whisky bottles left on and around the graves. They are deposited there not as litter but as a token of deference to the deceased.
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"Gypsy Fortune Telling and Music",1003,0,0,0
From the East, no doubt, gypsies carried with them a gift of the psychic and a predisposition for the occult. They claimed special magic powers of "glamor" and "fascination." Their amulets and talismans were thought to be effective in warding off evil and attracting good luck. Their special trade became "telling fortunes," which they usually did from the lines in a person's hand or by means of cards.
The gypsies' renown in the realm of magic and witchcraft was unsurpassed. So it is no wonder that a Scottish Act of Parliament in 1579 spoke of "the idle people calling themselves Egyptians [!] . . . that fancy themselves to have knowledge of prophecy, charming, or other abused sciences." One medieval tradition oddly asserted that the magi who had come to \JBethlehem\j from the East had actually been gypsies who had told the fortunes of the holy family by palmistry!
It was their very way of life that created special aptitudes in the gypsy. Moving about in wagons, they came to know all about horses. Horse-dealing thus became one of their occupations, especially at fairs. But above all, by constant outdoor living, they acquired a closeness to nature now lost to other men. The earth was their "divine mother," their supreme deity. And because they were in touch with the soil, roaming among trees and plants, they had an intimate knowledge of things beyond the ken of ordinary people. This applied particularly to their discernment of the medicinal qualities of herbs and berries that they used in healing the sick. Their acute sense of observation, there is no doubt, intensified their unique faculties in fortune telling and magic.
It was not only their heritage from the East, however, but also the treatment they had experienced from the West which gave their faces an inscrutable look which, at the same time, appeared uncanny. Even back in their original home, more than a thousand years earlier, they had already been downtrodden by their own countrymen and compelled to belong to the lowest caste of untouchables.
Mostly illiterate, they passed on all their traditions by word of mouth (which made them even more mysterious). Lacking an alphabet, they invented secret signs of their own which deepened the suspicion that surrounded them. In their code of secret markings, they made use of any material or natural growth at their disposal. It could be a simple piece of rag (of a definite color), leaves, a wisp of grass (arranged in a certain shape), or branches (again placed in a special way).
Even more expressive than their sign language was the message of their music, their songs, and their dances, which they handed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. However, there has been much controversy as to the authenticity of modern so-called "gypsy music."
The gypsies' violin has its own occult story. It was said to have been Satan's gift, especially created by him in a proper transaction in which he fulfilled the desire of a gypsy girl who had fallen deeply in love. But unfortunately, the man she wanted so much was not of her race. And he did not return her feelings. Desperate, the love-sick girl turned to the devil invoking his help. He promised to arrange the match, if she would pay for his services with the souls of her own family.
Nothing was too dear for her to gain the object of her love. And thus the bargain was made. Duly the devil used the souls of her nearest kin to create the first violin ever. The father he turned into the soundbox; the four brothers into four strings, and the mother into the bow.
Finally, the devil presented the finished product to the girl. With the souls of her people, as it were, she produced the most divine (!) soul-stirring music on her devilish instrument and thereby was able to ensnare the alien youth who so far had ignored her.
No sooner had the two become united than the devil reappeared to carry them off into hell. He left behind the violin, which had served its purpose. It fell into the hands of a gypsy boy who made it his own. And ever since, gypsies have been masters in bewitching the world with the music of their violins.
As constant wanderers, gypsies learned to make do when others would have starved to death, and to live by their wits. On the other hand, they did not regard begging as shameful but considered free gifts almost their "due." This might well go back to their native India where the "begging monk" was a holy man who, by receiving alms, bestowed special grace on the donor.
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"Gypsy's Names",1004,0,0,0
Steeped in mystical lore and possessed by the magical, it is no wonder that a gypsy's entire life was "so different."
Every gypsy has three names. The first one is heard only once. The mother says it so softly at the moment of her child's birth that no one else can hear it. And she will never entrust this name to anyone. It is the gypsy's "real" name. So that the devil may never learn it and thereby gain power over the person, it is kept secret.
The second name is that by which gypsies call each other. They will never reveal it to strangers or use it in their presence. The last and third name is one of many aliases. Gypsies make use of it only for "public relations" and "the authorities."
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"Hadaka Matsuri",1005,0,0,0
\BThe "Naked Festival"\b
Celebrated by the Japanese around the time of the (old lunar) New Year is Hadaka Matsuri, the "Naked Festival." It is so called because the young men who participate in its rituals do so almost naked. All they wear are white loin cloths and white or colored headbands.
They wrestle with each other according to rules which may differ from district to district. The ritual "match" is not an ordinary sporting event, nor is it intended as entertainment. It has deep religious significance. It is believed magically to rid the participants, and the country, of all bad luck, ill health, and impurity, thereby ensuring a year of good fortune.
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"Hair and Nail Growth After Death",1006,0,0,0
Macabre and mistaken is the belief that the hair of a dead person keeps on growing. At death all enzymes are destroyed and, with it, all growth ceases.
The wrong impression is due to faulty observation. After death, the flesh shrinks and the skin, by contracting towards the hair roots, makes the hair stand out more conspicuously. This creates the illusion that it has grown. Equally fanciful is a similar assumption concerning a deceased person's nails. They do not grow after death either.
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"Hair of the Dog That Bit You",1007,0,0,0
To fight fire with fire has been an age-old practice. The ancient Romans already believed that "like cures like." Applying this rule, people imagined that the best treatment for a hangover was to have another drink.
In his diary, Samuel Pepys relates how he himself, though disbelieving in it, tried out this cure and found it effective. On 3 August 1661 his head had been aching all morning as the result of the previous night's debauchery. When at noon, he dined with friends, they made him drink from the same wine that had caused the condition, promising him that it would help him, "which I thought strange, but I think find true."
To call this treatment "a hair of the dog that bit you," is an apposite \Jmetaphor\j. It recalls an imagined cure once applied to people bitten by a dog that had \Jrabies\j. To avoid \Jhydrophobia\j, they ate a burnt hair of the mad dog.
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"Hair Standing on End",1008,0,0,0
An obsolete defense mechanism, inherited from the animal kingdom, and a gruesome relic of American-Indian warfare, account for all that is "hair-raising" in our speech.
At the first scent of fight, cats and dogs bristle. Their raised hair is meant to frighten the foe, to soften his blows, and to resist his bites. A porcupine's use of its quills is perhaps an even better illustration.
Man, descended from the beast, has retained its protective instinct, though in his "civilized" way of fighting, this now serves no purpose. Nevertheless, on sudden fright, his hair still stands on end. It is this immediate reaction to danger by a built-in defense mechanism which, by contracting the scalp to erect the hair, creates the sensation of gooseflesh and "tingling of the scalp."
The \Jmicroscope\j enabled man to detect the muscular tissue attached to the hair that caused it to rise. The only function now left to the \Iarrector pili,\i as it is called, is to keep the shaft of hair in its place.
The scalping of enemies by Red Indians at first horrified early American soldiers and pioneers. But, unfortunately, people mostly assimilate downwards and adopt the worst features of those whom they fight or with whom they mix. They imagine that they must fight fire with fire.
That is how the white man retaliated in like manner and, imitating the worst, began to bring home as trophies the scalps of slain Indians. Indeed, soon he learned to cash in by their possession, as some authorities paid special bounties, according to the number of scalps presented.
At that time, it is claimed, Indians began to refer to scalping as "lifting the hair" and "hair-raising." The vivid expression stuck to the language.
#
"Hair Turning White",1009,0,0,0
That a sudden fright or profound shock can turn a person's hair white "overnight" is a widespread but mistaken belief. Studies of the structure of hair and scalp proved this to be impossible.
It is true that emotional and bodily upsets may result in hair turning white. This may occur comparatively quickly but never instantly. The sudden shock to one's system may contract the vessels supplying essential \Jnutrients\j to the hair papillae. Thus deprived, the process of pigmentation of new hair-growth is halted. However, existing hair color remains as it is. It cannot change all of a sudden.
In the majority of cases, premature graying is due to an inherited trait, though it can be caused by lack of certain \Jnutrients\j.
#
"Hairy Man's Virility",1010,0,0,0
As with a woman's bosom, a man's hair has been misjudged as a sexual "give-away." Hairy men are believed to be especially virile, particularly so if they have a hairy chest. No evidence supports this claim. Sick and weakly men have been known to show a thick growth of hair all over their body. On the other hand, the famous Japanese Sumo wrestlers have no hair on their chests at all.
The fallacy, no doubt, goes back to (a misinterpretation of) the biblical story of Samson who, a man of superhuman strength, lost it when, through Delilah's wiles, his hair was cut off! It is interesting to note that even the usual explanation given to the episode does not tally with traditional belief. This did not assume that Samson's power actually resided in his hair. The hair by itself gave no strength. His downfall was attributed to different circumstances. As a man who had dedicated himself to God, thus "set apart" no knife was permitted to touch his hair which he had to let grow wild. With his loss of hair, however, so it was reasoned, he lost his divine status and, with it, his power.
The fallacy is also linked with the animal world. Men's hairy chests reminded people of the gorilla, that largest of apes. A most powerful animal, it has a thick coat of coarse, dark hair. However, it is forgotten that the huge "hairy" ape has no hair on its chest!
#
"Halcyon Days",1011,0,0,0
Halcyon days are happy, calm, and peaceful days. Originally, they referred specifically to the seven days that preceded and followed the shortest day of the year. According to ancient \Jfable\j, during that period the seas are calm and safest for navigation. Even the birds knew this, especially the kingfisher, known in Greek as halcyon. Wisely taking advantage of the tranquil sea and its unruffled waters, it built a floating nest on the swells in which it could safely lay and hatch its eggs.
In fact, the bird's very name recalls the legend, though in an abbreviated form. It combines the Greek \Ihals,\i for "the sea," with \Ikuon,\i to "brood on" or to "conceive."
#
"Half-Mast",1012,0,0,0
The flying of a flag at half-mast is an international sign of mourning. Tradition demands that the flag should first be hoisted to the top of the mast, stay there for a moment, and then be lowered.
The custom had its origin in early naval battles. At first it was possibly not just the defeated vessel's flag which had to be lowered, but its top sail.
The beaten foe had to haul down his flag (halfway) so that the victor's colors could take its place and show his superiority.
It was with this background that in later years the lowered flag became a mark of respect, especially to one of superior station. The practice developed, also, of passing ships dipping the ensign as a gesture of courtesy. The original practical purpose to make room for another flag above was completely forgotten.
That is how, finally and far removed from its first martial context and naval warfare, the flying of a flag at half-mast became a token of respect to the dead, expressing the homage people wished to pay to a worthy departed.
#
"Halibut: the Holy Flat Fish",1013,0,0,0
In medieval times, the calendar of the Church counted almost seventy fast days on which practicing Christians had to refrain from eating meat. As a substitute, they chose fish. The most popular was a type of \Jflounder\j, known for centuries to the English - like all flat fish - as \Ibutt.\i
Highly prized, this was reserved for the sacred days of the year, an association which made people eventually refer to it as the "holy flat fish," the \Ihali-butt.\i
Circumstances changed. Few, if any, fast days were still observed, and the \Jhalibut\j became part of man's daily fare. Nevertheless, it continues to be called by the once well-merited name of "the holy flat fish," \Ihali-butt\i or, in its modern form, \Ihalibut.\i
#
"Hallelujah Chorus",1014,0,0,0
An accidental incident was responsible for a tradition now observed at every performance of Handel's \IMessiah.\i The entire audience stands up for the Hallelujah chorus.
It is generally believed that the custom can be traced to the impact of Handel's \Joratorio\j, when first heard in London in 1743. Those present were so deeply affected by the glorious passage that, spontaneously, they had risen from their seats and had remained standing to the end of the chorus.
The story is apocryphal. The actual reason is said to be very mundane and it has several versions.
On one occasion, King \JGeorge II\j and his family had been late for the performance, entering the royal box at the very moment the \IHallelujah\i was about to be sung. Their arrival did not go unnoticed and, in deference to the royal visitors, all present immediately rose to their feet. They remained standing till the king and his party were seated. By mere chance, this coincided with the conclusion of the chorus.
Another explanation, very much less reverently, asserts that it all started with "a king" (often identified with George I) falling asleep during a performance of Handel's work. Possibly roused by the chorus, he woke up. He was so startled that, without even realizing what he was doing, he rose to his feet. Naturally, everyone present though not knowing why, followed the royal example.
Somehow, the reason (whichever it was) was forgotten and, ever since, audiences consider it proper to rise when the \IHallelujah\i is sung.
#
"Hallmark",1015,0,0,0
In its present-day usage, a hallmark emphasizes the authenticity and high quality of an article or even a person. In its original sense, however, it was a literal reference to official marks stamped on objects of gold or silver, to guarantee their purity, antiquity and other significant data. Very appropriately, the authority issuing the "marks" was the Goldsmiths Company. It was located in London's Goldsmiths' \IHall,\i still recalled in every hallmark.
#
"Hallowe'en Origins",1016,0,0,0
Many a feature of modern religion and secular celebration is a mere take-over of old occult customs. And it is often only very thinly disguised at that. This applies to all the great festivals and celebrations, and not least among them to \JHallowe'en\j. Though as a public holiday hardly known nowadays outside the United States, modern "witches" continue to observe it universally and they do so as one of their major conventions.
It all began more than 2,000 years ago, among the Druids, as a holy communion with spirits. The Druids' New Year was on 1 November. It marked the beginning of winter and therefore was a date on which people were deeply concerned with the dying and rebirth of nature. The harsh cold and the weakening strength of the sun had to be counteracted. Man had to make sure that life would not end by freezing to death. And to attain this cosmic task, he made use of every means at his disposal and all the powers he could summon.
At this juncture of summer and winter the entire world seemed agitated. The spirits of the dead, and witches and \Jghosts\j of every description, were at large on that night. They roamed the earth, tried to make contact with the mortals and, possibly, to do them harm. That is why huge fires were lit on the eve of that day. First of all, they were meant to warm and reinvigorate the sun. But, additionally, they were intended to act as a powerful deterrent to all the malevolent forces, warlocks, witches, and devils, threatening man but known to be scared of the blaze.
In their preoccupation with the occult, the Druids took special note of the occasion. They solemnly observed this day and its eve as Samhain. Though the term has been interpreted later on as merely identifying the calendar date with the "summer's end," it really recalls the "lord of death" and 1 November was his feast. On that day, so the Druids believed, he summoned the spirits of the departed to judge them and determine the type of existence they were to lead thenceforth.
It would be the wrong thing for people to go to bed during that night. There was strength in numbers and thus, gathering in groups, men and women tried to reassure each other in (what they knew to be) the invisible presence of the \Jghosts\j.
To start with, they lit fires to frighten the spooks away. But worried that by doing so they might only rouse (or aggravate) ill will, they also sacrificed a black sheep to the dead and poured libations to the spirits of those who had died during the year that had just ended.
However, their major concern on that night was the sun. They had to make sure that the divine luminary would return in full strength in spring. For this purpose they not only worshiped it but offered it the most precious gift of all: man himself. And that is how they burned the human sacrifice in huge wicker baskets. When the Romans outlawed the custom, they not only replaced the live being by an effigy, but began to offer a horse. And, there is no doubt that because the horse assumed this sacrificial role at that early period of time, horseflesh became \Jtaboo\j. And, forgetting the reason, \JAnglo-Saxon\j races continue to shun it to this very day.
Eventually, witchcraft took over the Celtic tradition and made Samhain one of its four great Sabbats.
The mysterious has always fascinated man. Therefore people just could not help being deeply impressed and almost overwrought by the atmosphere of a night in which huge fires were blazing and it was believed that all the spirits and \Jghosts\j were abroad. With awe and devotion and not a little anxiety, they took part in the occult rites to safeguard their future.
Was it any wonder then that \JChristianity\j became greatly perturbed by the attraction exerted by these pagan practices. In spite of all its efforts and threats, it was unable to suppress what it condemned as heinous heathen customs. And "if you cannot beat them, join them," is not only a modern political slogan and practice. Religion has also recognized its practical wisdom.
That is how \JChristianity\j adopted and adapted the very festival it had so strongly condemned. In 834 it made Samhain its own, christening it "\JAll Saints' Day\j." The faithful were told that on this day they should honor and pray for the souls of the departed. But they should do so most of all for those saints of the Church who had never been identified and hence had never been allotted an individual day in the Christian calendar. It was only logical to assume that through the ages there must have been thousands of men and women who lived the most exemplary holy lives, but who had been completely unrecognized and therefore were known to God alone. And it was to them that \JAll Saints' Day\j was to be specially dedicated.
An alternate name for "saint" was "hallow." The day thus became known as well as "All Hallows." Subsequently, the celebration of its eve was called "All Hallows' Eve," which was eventually shortened into \JHallowe'en\j.
Once people had embarked on the ghostly venture, they used all their ingenuity to improve on it. And that is how they contributed their home-grown lanterns! At that time of year pumpkins ripened and it was soon realized that they would make excellent lamps. All that had to be done was to hollow out the fruit, cut into its peel a few "windows" and then put a lit \Jcandle\j inside. Some people discovered that they could do even better. By just a little more artistry with the knife, they could give the lantern the shape and look of a grinning face, perhaps of a pixie or an elf. And with those lanterns, the night of \JHallowe'en\j became all the more eerie and spooky.
The lanterns themselves (like the ancient bonfires) were not only meant to light up the scene of the mystic gatherings. Simultaneously, they were believed to scare off the uninitiated, the uninvited, and those who had evil intentions. As has happened so often, a solemn ritual created out of fear eventually changed its entire demeanor and took on a connotation of jollification and revelling. The fires, once lit to renew the sun and drive away evil spirits, became happy bonfires. The pumpkin-lanterns no longer were seen as an evil-repelling lit-up grimace, but assumed the role of masks used by people either as fanciful decoration or to scare each other in a mischievous playful game.
The once awesome Druid feast of death, and the holy day reserved by the Church for its unnamed saints had become completely secularized.
#
"Halo",1017,0,0,0
The halo is pagan, practical, and completely un-Christian in origin.
Centuries before Christ, natives used to ornament their head with a circle of feathers. They did so to symbolize their relationship with the sun-god: their own "halo" of feathers representing the circle of light that distinguished the shining divinity in the sky. Indeed, people came to believe that by adopting such a "nimbus" men turned into a kind of sun themselves and into a divine being.
The circle of light eventually lost its obvious link with the sun and became symbolic of any god and not only of that identified with the solar body. Soon it expressed the essence of divine power generally.
That is how, in painting and sculpture, Greek and Roman deities were represented with a halo and in Indian art \JBuddha\j, too, was shown with the celestial aura of light surrounding his head.
The development did not end there. When Roman emperors began to imagine themselves as divine beings, they often appeared in public with a crown, which was meant to imitate the orb of light of the sun. It was a foregone conclusion that artists, when creating the emperor's image, likewise would surmount his head with the celestial ornamentation.
The practice of placing a shield behind the head of a victorious emperor on his triumphal procession was a further contributory cause in the creation of the halo. In the minds of the people it became a distinguishing mark of power and glory.
And yet, perhaps more than anything else, utilitarian considerations were responsible for the general introduction of that peculiar kind of disc. Statues were kept not in museums but in the open. Therefore they were subject to deterioration through various causes. To protect them from the droppings of birds, the rain and the snow, a circular plate - either of wood or brass - was fixed upon their heads!
Thus pagan worship of the sun and artistic concern for the preservation of objects of art combined in the creation of the halo. It is a fact that the early Christian Church, well aware of the original pagan association, at first carefully avoided the use of the halo altogether. And when finally - and only in the 6th century - ecclesiastical authorities adopted it, they did so, first of all, not in its interpretation as a spiritual symbol, but merely for its usefulness as a kind of umbrella.
In the \JMiddle Ages\j, the round halo was used only for angels and saints. When attached to Christ, it had to bear in addition a cross or the monogram of \IAlpha\i and \IOmega.\i Modern Catholic regulation permits a halo only for persons who have been canonized or beatified, or whose worship has otherwise been authorized by the Church.
Just as the halo's sacred significance is of a late date, so even its very name, now descriptive of celestial glory, once was most earthbound. Literally the halo was born on the threshing floor of the old Greeks!
Many centuries before Christ, they used, as was only to be expected, very primitive methods in threshing their grain. They heaped the sheaves of corn they had gathered on hard but level ground, over which they drove round and round a team of oxen. Their numerous circuits eventually created a round track, and it was this which the Greeks called a "halo!" In the 16th century, astronomers resurrected the word, applying it to the luminous orb around celestial bodies. And it was hence, quite appropriately, that theologians adopted it for the crowning of the heads of their saints!
Such is the most unexpected and fantastic story of the halo. In its simple shape it combines traditions of Greek farming, the Roman deification of megalomaniac rulers, medieval \Jastronomy\j, and an early protective measure against dirt and inclement weather.
#
"Ham Actor",1018,0,0,0
Traditionally, actors in minstrel shows blackened their faces. They used to do so by putting on ham fat, which they then darkened with burned cork. It made people refer to them as "ham-fatters." A popular song thus spoke of "The Ham-fat Man." A minstrel had a very low rating among other actors and that is how the "ham," his shortened nickname, was eventually applied to the poor, amateurish performers of any kind.
Others, however, believe that the ham is all that is left of \IHamlet.\i It was a role any aspiring actor wished to play, but not being up to it, often did so very poorly.
#
"Hamburger",1019,0,0,0
"Hamburger" in German would solely describe an inhabitant of that largest of German ports, just as one speaks of a Londoner or a Sydneyite. But outside \JGermany\j, the hamburger has taken on an exclusively meaty connotation as the name of the well-known steak of ground beef. The hamburger thus recalls and pays tribute to the city of \JHamburg\j.
Raw, minced meat was a favorite food in medieval \JRussia\j, still remembered in the steak \Jtartar\j. It reached the Germans from the east and, cooked, became the minced-beef steak. In the 1850s, seamen and migrants sailing from \JHamburg\j, brought it with them to America, where it was called after its port of embarkation, so to speak, to become known as the hamburger.
That of all food they chose these meat patties was not accidental either. \JHamburg\j cooks, using prime beef, had learned that the patties, when slightly salted and smoked, were ideal to carry on long sea trips. Though without refrigeration at the time, they did not deteriorate, even on as long a voyage as from \JHamburg\j to New York.
#
"Hamlet at Elsinore",1020,0,0,0
Shakespeare erred when in \IHamlet\i he made the king's ghost appear on the ramparts of Kronborg Castle at Elsinore. Hamlet lived before the twelfth century, whilst the castle had not started to be built (by Frederik II) until 1574. This makes Shakespeare's "encounter" a fantastic anachronism. Even the king's name is incorrect. It was Amlet and not Hamlet!
#
"Hand as an Amulet",1021,0,0,0
The use of the protective hand as an amulet is widespread (perhaps particularly so in North Africa). Its choice was very logical. If threatened, a man instinctively puts his hand in front of his face, especially his eyes. And what worked in the physical realm of life, would surely be effective - (only probably more so) in the world of the occult. It is not surprising, therefore, that in ancient magic the hand already played a significant role as a means of warding off evil. This might explain the existence of numerous "hand prints" among the most primitive wall paintings discovered in caves, a design much favored by Australian \JAborigines\j.
If the hand so used represented that of a figure of renown, its magic potency certainly was multiplied. And most famous of all such hands was that of Mohammed's daughter, Fatima. Its facsimile in various forms became popular in all \JMoslem\j countries and in regions under \JMoslem\j influence.
Yet another hand became a desired object, but in circumstances both weird and thievish. Its name would never let one guess its purpose nor its gruesome source. "The hand of glory" was highly treasured by thieves. They firmly believed that if they used it, their \Jfelony\j would not be discovered. This hand of glory was actually that of a hanged criminal, severed from his body at the gallows. It had to be duly processed by being pickled in an earthenware jar with salt, saltpeter, and long, spindly, finger-like peppers for two weeks, and then dried in the sun.
Once "ready," the hand served as the holder of a \Jcandle\j. This \Jcandle\j too, could not be of the ordinary type. It had to be specially made out of virgin bees-wax, a hanged man's kidney tallow, and some sesame seed. If burglars used this combination of the ghoulish \Jcandle\j and gruesome hand candlestick while ransacking a property, this ghastly torch would bring them luck. The light it shed would send into a deep trance all occupants present at the time.
#
"Hand in Front of Mouth When Yawning",1022,0,0,0
It is sometimes very difficult to suppress a yawn. However, it can be concealed behind the hand and failure to do this is decried as uncouth and rude.
The fact that people feel so strongly about it indicates that there must be a much more deeply rooted significance in the custom than so-called good manners - a wish to cover up the unpleasant-looking cavern of the mouth and to shut off possibly bad breath.
Primitive man was convinced that an unguarded yawn could make all the difference between life and death, for two reasons.
Man's spirit was identified with his breath. The mouth was its most obvious place of entry and exit. Primitive races assumed that the soul actually departed via the lips, with the last breath. This was responsible for the biblical custom of kissing the mouth of a dying person, so catching the departing spirit to transmit it to future generations. People of some races used to hold the mouth and nose of a dying friend. By doing so, they imagined, they prevented the ghost from escaping and thereby preserved the man's life.
Thus, covering the mouth while yawning was, first of all, a safeguard against the soul's issuing prematurely.
Equally, however, a gaping mouth gave access to unwelcome guests. It was, as it were, an open invitation to lurking evil spirits and demons. Moslems regarded the very wish to yawn as the work of the Devil, anxious to take possession of a man's body. To chase away the "evil one," Hindus snapped their fingers loudly in front of their open mouths. In some parts of \JSpain\j and \JFrance\j, Christians make the sign of the cross for the same reason.
#
"Hand Out of Cloud",1023,0,0,0
Usually, we identify a person by the face. But there was no possibility of indicating God's presence by showing his face, no matter how this was imagined or depicted. Did not the \JBible\j say (Exodus 33, 20) that no man could see it and stay alive? Even a Moses was not granted such vision.
However, as Scripture frequently attributes an action or event to "the hand of God," the hand became symbolic of divine power and nearness, manifesting itself as much in death as in life.
That, at times, the hand is shown as reaching out of a cloud, emphasizes the mystery enveloping the divine being who, in so many of his ways, is beyond human understanding as it were, hidden behind clouds.
Some gravestones display the hand, emerging from a cloud, holding an unfurled scroll which, covering almost the entire monument, is inscribed with the traditional information about the deceased.
Far from being merely decorative, the composition contains an implied message. It speaks of God's inscrutable power, which guided the life of the departed. He had been "in God's hand" from birth to death. An outstretched hand, on occasion, dramatically portrays God reaching out to receive the soul.
#
"Hand Salute",1024,0,0,0
To show that no weapon was concealed in the hand is one of the principal reasons given for the origin of the hand salute. It would explain the British tradition, whilst giving the salute to have the palm of the hand turned outward - for all to see. At one time, in fact, the gesture was rendered not merely with one hand but both. That made it well nigh impossible to pull a gun or a knife.
Less bellicose reasons may also account for the birth of the hand salute. To show deference to superior officers is part of the discipline of an army without which it could hardly function. Once, it was the military custom for a subordinate in the presence of a superior to remove his head gear. This, eventually, became so heavy and cumbersome that to take it off could prove awkward. Expediency thus replaced the actual removal of the helmet, the busby or the bearskin, by a symbolic gesture: the grasping or merely touching of their rim with the fingertips.
According to another version, it was Queen Victoria who decreed that the removal of the head covering should be replaced by the hand salute. When in 1890 she took the parade, and in deference to Her Majesty, the troops bared their heads, she found the sight most unbecoming. Subsequently, she issued the order introducing the novel salute which, ever since, has become the "proper" way.
Knights, fully clad in mail, protected their face with a visor. But when they wanted to show friendship and trust, they raised it, exposing their face. A remnant of this amicable gesture, it is said, is the hand salute, now given in the absence of a visor with no guard to lift from the face. The identical reason has often been quoted as the origin of the once common courtesy for a man to raise his hat to a lady.
A rather romantic tradition, linked as well with the age of chivalry, tells that the hand salute can be traced to the tournaments. Knights paid their respect to the Queen of Beauty by raising a hand to the brow. It was a symbolic gesture meant to convey that they had to shade their eyes because of her dazzling beauty.
#
"Hangar",1025,0,0,0
The modern \Jaircraft\j hangar - as a word - existed centuries before the construction of the first plane. Its origin goes back to medieval times, though it is not certain to which language. Some believe that the hangar is derived from the Dutch \Iham-gaerd,\i describing an enclosed space. Others trace it to medieval Latin, \Iangarium,\i for a shed in which horses were shod. The "hang" (part) may recall the practice to suspend the animals for easier shoeing.
The use of the word hangar for a covered space, particularly to garage carriages, was known as early as 1852, as a quotation from Thackeray's works testifies. In his novel \IThe History of Henry Esmond, Esquire\i (III, 13), he makes one of the characters say, "Mademoiselle, may we take your coach to town, I saw it in the hangar."
All the more surprising is a modern version of the origin of the "hangar" as told by a close friend of the \JWright brothers\j who (in 1960 in the \IMonterey Peninsula Herald)\i attributed the creation of the name to their ingenuity. To start with, they kept their flying machine in what they referred to simply as "the shed." When not in use, the wheelless plane was hung up in it, which gave them the idea to call the shed the "hanging garage." It seemed a very apt description, but too long to prove practical. So they shortened it to "hang-gar." However, when they tried to paint the novel word on a board to serve as a "signpost" (using for it the side of an applebox), they could not get it on to the limited space. They thus simply left out one "g" and contracted the two words into one, which gave the world the hangar.
#
"Hanged Bushranger's Headstone",1026,0,0,0
Gruesome indeed are the details recorded on John Dunn's headstone, relocated in the Botany Pioneer Park:
\IJOHN DUNN
Died
19th March 1866
Aged 19 Years
Bushranger Hung at
Darlinghurst Jail
19th March 1866\i
Rather odd is the separate mention of the dates of his hanging and death which, fortunately, coincide. Was it meant to suggest that on some horrific occasion, death on the gallows was not instantaneous?
No doubt, after his execution, his body was interred in the Old Devonshire Street Cemetery, the burial place of the majority of the dead whose gravestones have been reassembled in this memorial garden.
Perhaps the positioning of the stone is indicative of Australian \Jegalitarianism\j. Though Dunn was guilty of murder, his headstone was not put up in a corner or remote from others. Democratically, it was re-erected "in line," joining the row of memorials to ordinary, law-abiding Australians.
Dunn, who had been trained as a jockey, was a superb rider. When just 17 years old, he joined Ben Hall, to embark on his short-lived bushranging career, during which, in 1865, he killed Constable Nelson at Collector.
On Ben Hall's disbanding his gang, Dunn teamed up with Johnny Gilbert, another of its members. Both men then made their way to Binalong, where they hoped to hide at the home of Dunn's uncle, John Kelly. In his case, however, blood was not thicker than water. No doubt anxious for the reward of ú1,000 ($2,000) promised for the men's apprehension, he informed the police of their whereabouts, and made Gilbert's rifle inoperable.
The police, thus alerted, did not take long in coming. Though they were not able immediately to arrest the \Jbushrangers\j, they soon caught up with Gilbert, whom they shot dead. Dunn was more lucky - at least for the time being. He was captured a year later, and his fate is inscribed on his headstone.
It is said that there is honor among thieves. \JBushrangers\j certainly, had their own code of ethics. This was exemplified by an incident linked with Gilbert's and Dunn's abortive run for safety. When their horses had become exhausted and needed replacement; following the usual routine, they could easily have "borrowed" new ones from the Stricklands' property, which they were passing on their way to Binalong. But remembering an instruction Ben Hall had once given never to harm this family, they refrained from taking their horses.
Ben Hall's directive went back to the days when, working for the Stricklands, he had fallen off a horse and broken his leg. On the occasion, the "Missus" had looked after him well. He never forgot her kindness and help. Whatever the consequences for them, neither Dunn nor Gilbert would let him down and ignore his request.
#
"Hangman for Three Decades",1027,0,0,0
It is rare to find the grave of a hangman. This is not merely because few practiced this gruesome profession, but also because those who did, operated anonymously or under an assumed name.
There was an official schedule of fees. From the 1910s to the 1940s, a hangman was paid an annual retainer of ú100 ($200), with an additional ú10 ($20) for every execution. He was allowed to accept other employment as well. This, of course, made it all the more necessary for him to use an alias. If he so desired, he could engage an assistant who received ú7 ($14) for each hanging.
Just beyond the entrance gate to the Waverley Cemetery is the unassuming grave of Robert Rice Howard. The inscription on his simple headstone, put up "In Loving Memory," apart from his name merely states that he "Died 3rd Feb. 1908, Aged 73 Years." The words give no indication that, for 29 years, Howard had served as the "state's hangman."
It was not a career of his own choosing, but the result of unfortunate circumstances. Howard used to drive a horse-drawn cab, plying his trade in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and near Government House. In the majority, he took his fares from the "aristocracy" and, in one case even royalty. During a visit to \JAustralia\j in 1868, the Duke of Edinburgh made use of his services.
Then misfortune struck. One of his horses kicked Howard so hard in the face that his nose was severed. Totally disfigured, he presented a grotesque sight and was nicknamed "Nosey Bob." Worse was to come. Former clients shunned him, and he suffered ruin.
In 1876 he accepted the position of "state hangman." For almost three decades he "executed" this dismal task in a dignified manner. Indeed, he prided himself on the way in which he carried out his 66 executions. His was a new nickname now, "The Gentleman Hangman." It was an apt description.
Apart from performing his ghastly duty as efficiently and compassionately as was possible, he proved himself a friend to all those in trouble and in distress. He did so, not least, to the families of those imprisoned or executed. Twelve months after relinquishing his position, he passed away.
#
"Happy as Larry",1028,0,0,0
Obviously, to be as "happy as Larry" referred to some popular figure, renowned for his blissful cheerfulness.
"Larry" (Laurence) Foley (1849-1917), an Australian champion boxer, is thought to have been this very person. One of the best-known sportsmen in the country in the 1870s, he also ran a Sydney hotel and a boxing school. His exhibitions and prize fights attracted vast crowds.
On a visit to Sydney, a famous English pugilist, after a memorable encounter with Larry, proclaimed him publicly as the best man in the world for his weight (185 kilograms (410 pounds) at the time). Everyone knew and admired Larry, not least his zest for life and his pleasant disposition.
During his time, he followed (and attempted) many other pursuits. Early on, in fact, he had been the leader of a notorious gang in the Sydney slums.
He had worked as a builder's laborer and been appointed the official demolition contractor of \JNew South Wales\j. At one time he even considered standing for parliament. No wonder that to be "as happy as Larry" became a phrase that outlived the boxer.
It is only proper to add that sceptics have doubted the identification. They say that, though Larry Foley seemed so ideal to fill the bill, most likely the "happy Larry" had never been a real person, but was merely a figment of imagination.
#
"Happy Birthday to You",1029,0,0,0
"Happy Birthday to You" is one of the most frequently sung songs of all time, and has become part of almost every birthday celebration - once even in space!
The story of its creation is linked with the advanced teaching methods of a young American pioneer of modern pedagogics. Patty Hill was twenty-one years old when, in 1889, she graduated from the \JKindergarten\j Teachers Training College in \JLouisville\j, Kentucky. Her great abilities and progressive views on education had not gone unnoticed by the principal. He felt that it would be of great advantage to the College to retain her services. Patty gladly accepted his offer to become head of the College infants school, knowing that she would be given every support in implementing some of her novel ideas. On her appointment, she was joined at the school by her sister Mildred, a music teacher.
Patty was convinced that for a school to be truly successful, it had to be a cheerful place. Only a joyful and relaxed atmosphere could bring out the best from teachers and pupils. Most of all, Patty believed in teaching by song.
To put her idea into practice, she published, jointly with her sister, \ISong Stories for the \JKindergarten\j and Primary Schools.\i Patty wrote the words and Mildred set them to music. Of all the songs in the collection, their favorite was "Good Morning to All." It was intended to be sung at the beginning of every school day:
\IGood morning to you
Good morning to you,
Good morning, dear children
Good morning to all.\i
While retaining the melody, Patty one day changed the lyrics! She replaced them with the now well-known words of "Happy Birthday to You!" They were to be sung on the birthday of every pupil.
An instant success, the song soon spread beyond the confines of the school. Its very simplicity and directness appealed to people of all ages. The song became the property of the world. In fact, it was only in 1934 that a publisher persuaded the sisters to copyright it.
"Happy Birthday to You" has yet another distinction. It became the first song to be sung in space. On March 8, 1969, the astronauts on \IApollo IX\i sang it to celebrate the birthday of Christopher Kraft, at that time director of NASA space operations.
#
"Hard Work Rewarded - Sir William Charles Angliss",1030,0,0,0
Truly conspicuous is the memorial to Sir William Charles Angliss in the Box Hill Cemetery. It is a wide stone wall, from which projects a pergola-like awning held up by columns on either side. In contrast, the words on his epitaph, summing up his most remarkable career; are limited to two short lines:
\IHis life upright,
His end untroubled peace.\i
Angliss was 92 years old when, on 15 June 1957, he passed away. In spite of his age, he had never retired; to the very end he had kept to a busy schedule, working in his office, where he arrived promptly at 9.30 each morning. To be idle had always been alien to him. It would have been a waste of precious time, and he hated waste of any kind.
He was determined to fill every moment with constructive work. Noteworthy achievements were his reward. The fortune he made was the result of his indefatigable industry, his vision and his alert, never-resting mind.
A tailor's son and a native of the English county of Worcestershire, he had started out as a butcher's boy. At the age of 19, after short working spells in London and New York, he migrated to \JAustralia\j. Within two years he had opened his own butcher shop in Melbourne and from then on he never looked back.
Branching out, he acquired vast pastoral properties and even joined Sir Sidney Kidman in some of his enterprises. He established his own freezing works and exported his meat worldwide. Nothing could stop him, and he became a magnate in the trade, ultimately heading the largest personally managed meat company in the \JBritish Empire\j. He was 64 years old when in 1934, Bestes of Britain acquired (for one and a half million pounds) the entirety of his meat interests.
The moment Angliss had concluded the deal, he was ready to embark on new ventures, doing so with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. He became the chairman of an insurance company, of steel and cement works, and of a large firm of brick and tile manufacturers. By then he was regarded as the wealthiest man in the country.
Politically, Angliss had no ambitions. Nevertheless, anxious to serve his country in that sphere as well, he became a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, which he remained, hardly ever opposed, for 40 years. He had married at the age of 54, a woman who was 32 years his junior and, productive even at home, fathered a daughter.
Of his large estate of eight million dollars (in 1957!), he left a quarter to a charitable trust.
#
"Harebell's Misspelling",1031,0,0,0
The hare in the \Jharebell\j is out of place. Its presence is due to a mistake.
The plant's bell-shaped flowers are suspended from stalks of almost hair-like thinness. This made botanists name the wild \Jhyacinth\j (also known as the \Jbluebell\j of Scotland) a hairbell. Misunderstood, the hair was interpreted as a hare.
#
"Harmony and Harmonia",1032,0,0,0
The word \Iharmony\i conjures up images of a happy world, a society in which men have learned to "fit together" - which is the actual meaning of this Greek-based word if we consider its root.
Its source is Harmonia, a figure of Greek myth. A daughter of Mars and Venus, her wedding was a truly spectacular affair, attended by all gods as heavenly guests. Among their gifts was a necklace, which (according to one tradition) would magically bestow exquisite beauty on whoever owned it. And what could be more beautiful than to live in harmony?
#
"Harping",1033,0,0,0
To dwell on a topic unendingly or to refer to it so often that to listen to it becomes tedious is described as "harping."
It seems an unkind use of the instrument that from very early days has added so much beauty to the world of music and whose play, as the \JBible\j tells, soothed King Saul during his bouts of melancholy.
The derogatory idiom recalls a practice of Victorian times. To entertain guests, the daughter of the house was called upon to display her (at times very mediocre) musical talents in giving a recital on the harp. Her very limited repertoire was confined to well-known tunes. It often became an ordeal for the captive audience who had politely to endure her "harping."
It has also been said that the phrase was prompted by thinking of someone harping the same string "again and again."
#
"Hat on Bed Unlucky",1034,0,0,0
That a hat should not be placed on the bed is a well known \Jsuperstition\j. It is not the hat in itself that might create misfortune but what it (invisibly) contains. Having been in close contact with a person's hair, the hat might have absorbed from it dangerous entities. Without difficulty, it could transfer them to the bed, to be picked up later by whoever would rest on it.
Obvious explanation might see in the warning practical, hygienic precaution. The hat could easily transmit some disease-carrying vermin or contagious illness. Nevertheless, the \Jtaboo\j is rooted in the occult.
Once hair was regarded as the seat of \Jsupernatural\j powers, and for a valid reason. Ignorant of the scientific cause, people were mystified by phenomena now explained as the effect of \Jstatic electricity\j.
At times, the hair crackled. More frightening still was the sight of sparks flying from it, especially when it occurred in the dark of night. Man imagined that mischievous evil forces, entangled in the hair, were the cause. They made the crackling noise and created the flashes. It was easy for them to attach themselves to a person's hat, looking out for an opportunity of possessing a new victim. For this a bed was the most likely place. People slept in it very scantily dressed, thereby exposing their entire bodies.
#
"Hat Trick",1035,0,0,0
For a bowler to take three wickets with three successive balls is known as a "hat trick." Meaningless now, the expression goes back to the days of elegance, when a player who achieved this feat was entitled to receive from his club a new top-hat!
#
"Haul Over the Coals",1036,0,0,0
Methods to ascertain the guilt or innocence of a suspect have taken many forms. At one time it was torture, believing that being subjected to excruciating pain, a person would be forced to tell the truth. An accused was thus tried by water or fire. In the trial by fire, the suspect was compelled to walk barefoot across either a row of ploughshares that had been heated red hot or a bed of glowing coals. He was truly "hauled over the coals." This ordeal survives in the description of those severely reprimanded.
#
"Have a Hunch",1037,0,0,0
At some time or other almost everyone has "a hunch" and correctly guesses some future event. He rarely bothers to investigate what gave him this gift of premonition, and why it was so called. And yet, to begin with, the "hunch" was highly regarded as an extraordinary power closely associated with the occult.
In fact, it all started with the hunchback, in far-distant days. His peculiar shape made him then not an object of pity or derision as one might suppose, but a person especially selected by the gods to carry "on him" gifts denied to others. Therefore a hunchback was greatly desired as a valuable asset to one's company. The comparative rarity of hunchbacks added to their worth. Only the rich and ruling classes could afford to keep them. Figures representing hunchbacks were made for those who were unable to acquire a live one. As good luck charms, they were thought to be especially effective against demonic powers and, not least, the evil eye.
The Egyptian Pharaohs worshiped as a god, the dwarf \JBes\j, for the luck-bringing virtues of his hunch. Many \JPhoenician\j sailors would not set forth on their trading missions without first having placed the figure of a hunchback god into their ship to guard them. Ancient Romans, likewise, carried with (and on) them, hunchback amulets wherever they went.
The hunchbacks' supposed power to avert evil and thereby to ensure the continuation of good luck may have had various roots. First of all, of course, there was the fundamental awe (and fear) of what we now call the grotesque, that is to say of an unusual and unaccountable phenomenon. The very mystery of the odd growth caused other men to look at the ugly being with wonder and reverence. It made them treat any hunchback with deferential respect.
Just as man is attracted by beauty, ugliness repels and horrifies him. The twisted figure of a hunchback thus, he felt, would act as a most powerful force even against demonic beings who, unable to bear the sight of him, would turn tail at once. Hence to have a hunchback (or his replica) nearby, would serve as a sure means to keep demons far away.
Jokes are not only made for fun. They can have serious results and serve to defuse a tense situation. More so, uncontrollable laughter can shake a man so much that he forgets everything else and certainly becomes unable to continue a job on which he has already embarked. It was thought that the image of a hunchback produced so much hilarity in anyone, including those who belonged to the occult world, that if they saw one, all they could do was to laugh. This completely nullified their original intention to inflict harm.
Hunchbacks, indeed, were bogies of a unique kind. They did not paralyze people by fear but rather they made them break forth in such fits of laughter so that they forgot all about the original (possibly adverse) mission which had brought them to the place. Hunchbacks thus were like a divine gift. And that is the initial reason for their presence at royal courts. Kings did not engage them as resident jesters, though they fulfilled this occupation as well. Their main purpose was to be a living human mascot, employed to protect his royal highness and those near and dear to him!
People are no longer in awe of hunchbacks. We now know the scientific, medical explanation of their spinal deformity. Kings, too, have become rare. And those who still rule (or rather reign) can ill afford the luxury or \Jsuperstition\j of keeping a hunchback on their staff.
Nevertheless, his ancient magic has not died. The notion of the hunchback's \Jsupernatural\j gifts survives in numerous people. That is why they touch a hunchback - "just for luck." Some men afflicted with a hunch, learned how to capitalize on their misfortune through man's ancient and still \Jsubconscious\j belief in their psychic power. Stationing themselves outside gambling casinos, for instance, they allow visitors "for a touch" to touch them - for luck.
And even that is not the end of the story. The hunchback's imagined link with the spirit world (through his hump), caused the hunch to become "detached" from the rest of his body and, as it were, to be abstracted. Ever since, it has found a separate existence in man's life and vocabulary. Every time we have "a hunch," our flash of insight and glimpse into the future is derived, quite literally, from the original hunchback.
#
"Have a Lot of Gall",1038,0,0,0
An early medical misdiagnosis might well be responsible for speaking of people who are of a pushy, arrogant, and outright insolent nature as having "a lot of gall."
Gall, an alternate name for \Jbile\j, originally described its yellow color. Medieval anatomists wrongly assumed that if produced in too great a quantity by the liver, it would affect a person's entire character. Those suffering from such excess of \Jbile\j, by absorbing it into their body, would acquire an equally sour temperament. Through no fault of their own, therefore, for mere physical reasons, they became cantankerous, ill-humored, and aggressive. It was all the result of their overactive liver.
#
"Have Buckley's Chance",1039,0,0,0
Having Buckley's chance, a typical Australianism, means to have little or no chance at all. It is a phrase mainly used in a negative sense. Several suggestions have been made as to who this (unlucky) individual was.
One tradition identifies him with William Buckley, a convict. Accused of having received a roll of cloth he knew to have been stolen, he had been transported from England "for life." However, in 1803, he succeeded in escaping from Port Phillip.
No one believed that he would be able to stay free for long and survive. He just had no chance. But Buckley proved otherwise. For 32 years he lived in the bush, where \JAborigines\j adopted this "wild white man" in the belief that he was the \Jreincarnation\j of their dead tribal chief.
Several times people claimed to have caught sight of this giant of a man (he was 6 feet, 6 inches tall - 1.95 meters), long-bearded and wrapped in \Jkangaroo\j skins. It was only in 1835 that Buckley surrendered to a party led by the surveyor and explorer John Wedge, who recommended (and obtained) his pardon. So long separated from his countrymen, Buckley could no longer converse in English, which it took him some time to master again.
Another contestant for being "the" Buckley was Richard Buckley, a murderer. While holding up - in the 1890s - the Glenferry Bank in Victoria, he shot dead its manager, Mr Berriman. Though for some considerable time he succeeded in eluding the law, he had no chance to do so indefinitely. Run down eventually, he was arrested. Almost miraculously for this period, he was not hanged. Kept in custody, he was released only when an old man.
The third Mr Buckley possibly recalled in the phrase was a totally different sort of a person, a business magnate in his time. He was Mars Buckley. In 1851, he established a Melbourne firm with Crumpton Nunn as his partner. The business which developed into one of the earliest department stores of \JAustralia\j became known as "Buckley & Nunn."
Australians, loving \Jrhyming slang\j, welcomed the new business venture as a wonderful opportunity to enrich the store of their language. Soon they referred to the hopelessness of a case by a pun on the firm's name. "There are just two chances, Buckley's and none," they said.
#
"Have Kittens",1040,0,0,0
For anyone to confess "nearly to have had kittens" is a dramatic way of admitting how anxious and scared he had been. For us it is just a \Jmetaphor\j, and no one would dream of taking it literally. Yet the phrase itself goes back to times when women were really worried that, instead of giving birth to a child, they would bring forth kittens.
It was an age when people believed in witches and the mysterious influence of cats, which extended even to their sex life. A black cat, for example, that turned up at a wedding, was taken as an omen of good luck and of a fruitful union.
A \Jsuperstition\j, once prevalent among Scottish people, may be directly responsible for the phrase. This assumed that a woman would conceive kittens, if - unknowingly - she ate any food on which cats had ejected their semen.
In medieval times women, suffering agonizing pain in \Jpregnancy\j, were assured by witches that its cause was not the growing child, but kittens inside their womb, and that only a magical potion could destroy the brood and thereby alleviate their suffering. As late as 1654, a woman tried in a Scottish court for attempting to procure an \Jabortion\j, pleaded in excuse that she had done so because she had "cats in her bellie..."
The association of cats with man's reproductive power can be traced to ancient Egyptian days, when the cat was considered not only divine but to have an occult influence on the fertility of both the earth and human beings. It was known as a passionate creature whose couplings and conceptions abounded especially at periods of the full moon. No wonder that it was thus linked with both \JOsiris\j and Bast - the lunar deities.
Apart from its sexual propensities, a cat was equally renowned as a good mother. It was not difficult for people, aware of the animal's strong sexual and maternal instincts, to believe that the cat truly dominated man and ruled his sex life.
#
"Have Something Up One's Sleeve",1041,0,0,0
Those who have a surprise in store are said to "have something up their sleeve." The figure of speech may recall the popular conjurer's trick to produce "out of the air" a \Jrabbit\j and all kinds of objects. Obviously, they had them hidden up their sleeve.
More likely and making even better sense, the phrase might go back to the early days of men's fashion, when the sleeves of their coats were wide and long, as they still are on an academic gown. When so desired or needed, for instance in windy and rainy weather, the sleeves could be fastened around the wrist by means of buttons specially provided for the purpose. Though still retained on men's jackets these buttons are useless now. With pockets rare or non-existent at the time, it was so easy to have something hidden up one's sleeve.
#
"Having a Temperature",1042,0,0,0
"I've got a temperature," is a common complaint of patients with a fever. They really do not mean what they say. Everyone must have some temperature, whether measured in \JCelsius\j or Fahrenheit.
What the sick person actually wants to express is that his or her temperature is raised above normal. This indeed, is a - sick - misnomer.
#
"Having Blood Pressure",1043,0,0,0
Man has been victim of many diseases. He has equally suffered from misconceptions as to their causes and cures and the right way to preserve his good health. Someone who says that he has "blood pressure," really confirms that he is alive. No one could live without it. What he wants to convey is that his blood pressure is elevated. There is no fixed "normal" blood pressure either. It varies according to circumstances and many individual factors.
#
"Hawker",1044,0,0,0
The hawker's name describes a feature of the early way of trade. Going from place to place, they often carried wares on their backs, which would become bent by the load. Or the trader might squat down to sell his goods.
Derived from the German \Ihocken,\i the hawker portrays either practice. In German the word was used both for "bending down" \I(niederhocken)\i and the description of old people who walked with a stoop.
There is no truth in the suggestion also made that, originally, a hawker was an itinerant dealer in foreign hawks, making their way from castle to castle.
#
"Haywire",1045,0,0,0
Cowboys in America's "wild west" were concerned with the well-being of their herds and did everything possible to protect them. Hay bales were held together with wire which, when discarded, could cause serious harm to the animals. \JCattle\j could become entangled in it and, trying to free themselves, become badly injured. Worse still, they might swallow a piece, with dire consequences. Before throwing away the wire they had removed from the bales, the men therefore bunched it up. To "go haywire" thus pictured up anything entirely out of shape.
#
"He Died at Gallipoli",1046,0,0,0
The Anzacs who landed at \JGallipoli\j have given rise to an Australian epic, full of glory and tragedy. When on 20 December 1915 the last Australians were evacuated from the area, the casualties suffered during the abortive campaign amounted to 8,700 dead, 19,000 wounded, and 700 missing.
Deeply moving is the headstone in the Waverley Cemetery of one of those many thousands. Its very brevity dramatically recalls the heart-rending trauma:
\IIn Memory
of
GEOFFREY LEWIS HARGRAVE
Killed in Action
Gallipoli May 1915
Aged 23.\i
#
"Head of the Northern Territory Mounted Police",1047,0,0,0
\BPaul Heinrich Matthias Foelsche\b
One monument in Darwin's Palmerston Cemetery is an ornate marble \JCalvary\j cross. Its entire surface is covered with an exquisite relief of trailing ivy. At its centre, as if growing out of the plant, is the traditional Christian emblem, IHS, the letters artistically intertwined.
In contrast, the inscription on (the base of) the monument, divided into three parts, each for one step, is simple and factual:
\IIn Loving Memory
of
PAUL FOELSCHE
Died 31st January 1914
Aged 83 Years
Father in Thy Gracious Keeping
Leave we now Thy Servant Sleeping\i
The well-kept gravesite, enclosed by a metal fence, is the last resting place of an extraordinary man.
Paul Foelsche was born near the German city of \JHamburg\j on 30 March 1831. After serving with the \JHussars\j, he migrated to South \JAustralia\j when he was about 23 years old, there to join the police force. His outstanding qualities were soon recognized and he was posted as a mounted trooper to Strathalbyn. As such he surpassed all expectations, executing his duties with thoroughness, intelligence, and resourcefulness.
It was not surprising, therefore, that when a new police force was established in the \JNorthern Territory\j, in 1870, Foelsche was chosen to serve as its first inspector, and eventually rose to the rank of colonel.
Foelsche was to spend the rest of his life "up north," entirely new territory, in every sense of the word. It was a wonderful challenge to him. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge and as an alert observer, he amassed a valuable fund of information on anything concerning this then still remote part of \JAustralia\j.
Inevitably, his police duties brought him into close contact with the \JAborigines\j. It did not take him long to realize and appreciate their very different culture. He studied their dialects and their customs and became their friend. It was an achievement made easier for him by one of his "out of the way" hobbies; Foelsche was an amateur dentist, and even the \JAborigines\j, in spite of their generally splendid teeth, occasionally suffered from toothache. Learning of Foelsche's gift, they were happy to call on him to relieve their pain.
A botanist as well, Foelsche studied the rich plant life of the \JNorthern Territory\j. Of the many specimens he collected, he sent some to Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, the government botanist of Victoria who, like himself, was of German birth. Recognizing Foelsche's contribution to the science, he was to name a \JNorthern Territory\j tree after him - \IEucalyptus foelscheana.\i
As a superb photographer, Foelsche made yet another lasting contribution to the country of his adoption. The many pictures he took became an irreplaceable historical record of the life and nature "up north," and the negatives are still treasured in \Jarchives\j. They are masterpieces of photography, and, as he sent many of them overseas, they promoted \JAustralia\j in a way never attempted before. Foelsche presented some of his photographs to the Kaiser, who, in acknowledgment of the gift, awarded him a "magnificent gold hunting watch" and an enlarged signed photograph of himself.
It must be realized under what great difficulties Foelsche worked. Photography was an arduous undertaking in those early days, with the primitive materials available and in the adverse tropical conditions. But, whatever the problem, the ingenious Foelsche overcame it. He proved himself one of \JAustralia\j's great pioneers in many fields, and did so, as an official report stated on the occasion of his retirement from the service in 1904, "far away from Head Quarters and amid very trying conditions."
#
"Heads",1048,0,0,0
Naval terminology refers to the lavatory as "the heads." The choice of name goes back to the old sailing days, when the men used the forward part of the ship as their latrine. Its description was not a mere \Jmetaphor\j for the front of the boat, but a survival from the time when it carried on her prow the figure\Ihead\i of a goddess as a divine protection against the vagaries of the sea.
The use of heads, always in the plural, is not accidental and has its special meaning as well. It was to remind seamen that the forward part of their ship had two sides: the weather and the sheltered (lee) side. It was for their own good to use the one not facing the wind, for reasons that should be obvious, as anyone who has ever tried to empty his bladder into the wind will confirm.
#
"Headstone Left When Joining his Father",1049,0,0,0
\BGeorge Dunmore Lang\b
The original grave in the Gulgong Cemetery of George Lang, the famous Rev John Dunmore Lang's eldest son, is empty. But his headstone indicates its former site.
The fate of George's body recalls one of the many dramatic incidents in the Lang saga. George had caused and experienced much anguish. Manager of the Ballarat branch of the Bank of \JNew South Wales\j, he had been accused of \Jembezzlement\j. Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years' hard labor.
His father, however, was convinced that George was innocent. As the fearless man he was known to be, and well aware of the possible consequences, he accused the court of a \Jmiscarriage of justice\j. As expected, the authorities charged the reverend with criminal libel.
Undaunted, he continued his fight to see his son exonerated. And later findings revealed circumstances which did throw doubt on George's guilt, and led to his early release from prison.
At his death, George was buried in Gulgong. But after some years, it was felt that it was only right for him to rest near his late father, to whose life's burden he had further added, but to whom he owed his eventual freedom and vindication. So his body was exhumed, to be taken to Rookwood and reburied in his father's plot.
#
"Healing Royal Touch",1050,0,0,0
When royalty was still looked upon as divine, kings were believed to be endowed with exclusive curative powers. Their "royal touch" was imagined to cure diseases which were beyond the ordinary doctor's ken. This applied particularly to scrofula, dubbed "the \Jking's evil\j."
Those thus royally "treated" were given specially stamped gold coins. (Records show that their presentation cost the Royal Exchequer an annual amount of ú3,000, a vast sum at the time.) It was a peculiar form of medication supplied by the king. His patients treasured the "touch stones," by which name the gold coins became known, often wearing them as an amulet.
Shakespeare recalls the royal "practice" in \IMacbeth,\i in which Malcolm refers to it as "most miraculous work.... I've seen [the king] do:" how he cured "strangely-visited people. All swoll'n and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye. The mere despair of surgery..... hanging a gold stamp about their necks, put on with holy prayers."
The administering of the "royal touch" can be traced back in England to King Edward the Confessor (d. 1066). (In \JFrance\j it was known even earlier.) Dr Samuel Johnson was "touched" by Queen Anne in 1745.
The "royal touch" was imagined to be so potent that its magical power was thought to be transferable to objects in the king's possession. The mere touching of anything he had touched would provide the cure! A typical example relates to a certain Mrs. Brathwayt who had suffered from "the \Jking's evil\j." She had been cured by touching a torn and dirty handkerchief, used by young King Charles after the battle of Worcester, when suffering from bouts of nose-bleeding.
Scrofula was a glandular disease, now diagnosed as a tubercular infection of the \Jlymph\j glands. Its symptoms were a lumpy swelling along the sides of the neck and above the collarbone. The name is derived from the Middle English for a "breeding sow" \I(scrofa),\i presumed to be most vulnerable to the sickness. Its popular description as "the \Jking's evil\j" has an unfortunate ambiguity, subject to understanding. It did not infer, as its name might suggest, that the disease was caused by the king who, therefore, alone could take it away again. All it wanted to emphasize was that only royalty - by its mysterious divine power - had the ability (and, later on, the prerogative) to cure the affliction.
#
"Health Benefits of Cycling",1051,0,0,0
\JCycling\j certainly revolutionized road transport, but it was quickly discovered to be an invigorating and exciting recreation as well. First, there was the joy of touring the country. Manufacturers stressed the democratic, economical, and healthy nature of \Jcycling\j, which was taken up by royalty, cabinet ministers, and ordinary men and women alike. Class distinctions on the bike just did not exist.
Verses in a magazine in 1887, point to the popularity of going awheel:
\IThough some perhaps will me despise,
Others my charms will highly prize,
Yet, nevertheless, think themselves wise.
Sometimes, 'tis true, I am a toy,
Contrived to please some active boy:
But I amuse each Jack O'Dandy;
E'en great men sometimes have me handy.
Who, when on me they get astride,
Think that on Pegasus they ride.\i
On numerous occasions, enthusiasts of \Jcycling\j (supported by medical testimony) stressed its many physiological and psychological benefits. Fat people took to the cycle to lose weight, and lean men to increase their appetite. In 1895, Luther H. Porter expounded the many advantages of \Jcycling\j in a book he entitled \ICycling for Health and Pleasure.\i A representative of the \JNew Jersey\j League of Wheelmen, he had owned and ridden both the "old-fashioned" two-wheeled velocipede and, what he called, "the modern high \Jbicycle\j." He did not ride simply for pleasure, he explained, but because \Jcycling\j had proved to him that it was "the only means of maintaining health." He was further convinced that it was not too much to claim that \Jcycling\j meets all the conditions of a perfect exercise in a degree approached by nothing else."
\JCycling\j laid up in the rider a store of health-giving oxygen, and stimulated circulation of the blood. It did not overdevelop one set of muscles (as other sports did) but many, "simultaneously, gently, and beneficently." The constant change of scenery seen by the cyclist on tour avoided the monotony of indoor exercise and stimulated the mind, thereby creating a happy and vigorous disposition. Indeed, \Jcycling\j was a boon for people of every station in life.
The Pickwick \JBicycle\j Club of London, founded in 1870, was the first cyclists' club in the world. The League of American Wheelmen was established ten years later.
Meanwhile, a \Jbicycle\j touring club had been formed in England in 1878 and its membership soon embraced many countries in Europe, and the New World. It aimed at improving facilities for cyclists and defending their rights on the road, which were then still widely denied. Among its various publications were a monthly gazette and numerous handbooks and guides. The club also protected cyclists in the case of collisions, injuries, and damage.
\JCycling\j made an impact on everyday life in most unexpected ways. In 1897, Gilbert Floyd drew his readers' attention to the multiple "Humor of \JCycling\j." It had introduced totally new terms and topics in conversation. Table-talk now frequently was preoccupied with "punctures, handlebars, and speed gears." According to one cycle enthusiast who quoted statistics, the sport had even been responsible for stopping the declining marriage rate in Britain! It had led to friendships, courtships, and subsequently, weddings.
People interested in the occult and "outside" influences discovered a new magic possessed by objects in or near the path of the cyclist. They seemed to hold an irresistible, magnetic force of attraction!
Many cashed in on the new cycle mania - by fair means and foul. Manufacturers rightly collected their due. Dishonest men, ready to take advantage of any situation, learned to use riders for their own enrichment.
A story was told by one cyclist that, when riding through a certain hamlet in England, a duck suddenly got in his way. He tried hard to take evasive action, but was unable to do so. He was stopped by an irate owner who displayed a flattened bird and permitted him to proceed only after having paid damages.
About a week later, the cyclist again passed that way. Strangely he was involved in an identical accident, at the same spot. The man who not long before had proffered a dead duck as evidence of negligent driving showed the cyclist an exhibit that he quickly noted had a striking resemblance to the bird, but a well-prepared fake victim that had served many times over!
#
"Health Insurance and Funeral Funds",1052,0,0,0
Religious societies and clubs in classical \JGreece\j and \JRome\j were the forerunners of modern health and funeral insurance schemes. The history of their development is well-documented and fascinating.
As Homer tells it, a number of Greek men regularly met for a meal, each contributing his share. This "dining club" grew into a group of friends who, primarily gathering for religious functions, would also give interest-free loans to any member in financial need. Further expanding the range of their charitable work, these early religious fraternities introduced the first insurance for prolonged illness.
The Roman clubs were also established on a religious basis. Often called after a god, they usually held their meetings in temples. The "colleges" (by which description the clubs became known) fostered friendship, generosity and good will among members. But they also served as funeral societies, assuring the dignified religious burial of members.
#
"Heap of Rocks",1053,0,0,0
Once upon a time, a grave was simply marked by a heap of shapeless rocks. They had the additional function of protecting the body from being dug up by animals. There was no inscription. At the very most, the initials of the deceased's name were carved on one of the rocks.
Eventually, those primitive cairns were replaced by headstones, but people continued to associate a heap of rocks with death. It may still appear on, or even entirely comprise, a monument.
With the passing of time, other interpretations were added. The rocks were said to represent traits of steadfastness and firmness that had distinguished the departed. They symbolized his strong beliefs, a faith which was built on a rock, and a character of such strength that it had withstood all temptation. Finally, the stones on the grave denoted durability, the very antithesis of dust.
#
"Hear! Hear!",1054,0,0,0
The common way of applauding a speech or performance is to clap hands. This goes back to the Roman stage. Actors then did not take any chances. At the end of a play, they asked their audience to voice their gratitude and approval in "the usual manner." "Clap your hands!," they commanded. And, in most cases, the audience obliged.
This Roman custom of "giving a hand" spread all over the world and, from the theater, to other occasions which demanded an audible sign of compliment and acclaim. Though others, and especially university students, devised a different way. Possibly to keep their hands free to take down notes uninterruptedly, they started to stamp their feet instead. Others again neither clap nor stamp but just rap the desk.
British Parliamentary institutions, however, created a totally different type of applause. This was not directed to the speaker himself, but to those who ought to listen to what he was saying. "Hear him! Hear him!" became the traditional call. It was meant to underline a statement, and to draw all members' attention (and especially that of those whose mind had wandered elsewhere) to a voiced opinion.
It was a procedure so much more dignified and appropriate in "the House." Altogether it was a logical way of showing acclaim. Eventually, possibly for the sake of brevity and so as not to interrupt the speech for too long, the "him" was dropped and "Hear! Hear!" became the traditional way of showing approbation.
Yet this method of voicing consent goes back to even earlier times, when to make oneself heard was not as easy as nowadays. Present-day rules require a proper decorum in Parliament, commensurate with the dignity of the nation's representative body. Technically a member must not leave his place or wander about in the Chamber while a debate is in progress. He is not permitted to read a book or newspaper or to carry on a private conversation.
Anyone who catches the Speaker's eye is not only given a chance to say his piece but, no less essential, to be heard as well. And if, at times, tempers run high and there is a commotion, it is the Speaker's duty to call the House to order and anyone disobeying can be removed.
Thus debates today usually take place in an atmosphere of respectful quiet. That has not always been the case. In former times, Parliament was a rowdy place with much noise and lack of attention. The voices of speakers frequently were drowned in uproar. Gladstone and Disraeli used even to write letters to the Queen while the House was in session and a member was making a speech.
Contemporaneous reports speak of "a sound of \Jdrone\j-like humming, having almost the sound of a distant hand-organ or \Jbagpipes\j, coughing, sneezing and ingeniously extended yawning." If members considered a speaker boring or uninteresting, they made so much noise "that the speaker scarcely could distinguish his own words."
It was not surprising, therefore, that friends who wished people to listen to what he was saying, tried to stop the noise by calling out to others, "Hear him! Hear him!" As it was assumed that silence was demanded for a statement of special significance and value, this call soon came to be associated with actual applause. That, most likely, is how the call of "Hear! Hear!" became the Parliamentary type of applauding.
#
"Heartburn Not from the Heart",1055,0,0,0
Heartburn is not connected with the heart. The burning sensation in the chest comes from the \Jstomach\j. When suffering from a bout of \Jindigestion\j, acid is regurgitated into the \Jesophagus\j, which is located behind the heart.
#
"Hearts on Tombstones",1056,0,0,0
The heart has been regarded from earliest days as the seat of deepest emotion. Even early medical science believed that it was not only an ordinary organ, a strong muscle, but contained the very essence of man, his true, though often hidden, self. God therefore probed people's hearts, so the \JBible\j says (I Sam.16,7), unlike human beings, who merely look at and are impressed by a man's stature and outward appearance. The heart thus became, almost universally, the most popular pictorial symbol of love and devotion.
Shown aflame, it depicts extreme ardour. Two hearts together recollect the deep and lasting affection that existed between a husband and his wife, which even death cannot destroy.
#
"Heat and Horse Racing",1057,0,0,0
Heats now are the preliminary contests to a sporting event, to eliminate competitors. The term goes back to the horse track. Prior to a race a horse was exercised to heat it up. A record of 1577 suggests, "walke him to chafe him, and put him in a heate."
#
"Heather Not Scottish",1058,0,0,0
The heather is not exclusively Scottish. This low-growing, evergreen shrub equally covers wide stretches of heath (hence its name \Iheather)\i in northern England, Europe, and elevated parts of \JAsia Minor\j. Because Scotsmen popularized their heather, identifying it with their country, it became "recognized" as their very own. Sir Harry Lauder's composition thus sang of "Wee Hoose amang the Heather," confirming as it were, the Scotman's ownership of the plant.
#
"Hebrew Bible and Astrology",1059,0,0,0
The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j has little to say on \Jastrology\j. Certainly it does not express any definite and explicit view. However, the \Jprophet\j Isaiah scoffingly spoke of the Babylonians' "astrologers, star gazers" and compilers of the monthly calendars of lucky and unlucky days (47, 13). Their magical arts would prove powerless to avert their country's destruction. Jeremiah reminded his people (10, 2) not to be "dismayed at the signs of heaven" as other nations were, no doubt especially the Babylonians again, among whom this passage was probably written.
It was only to be expected that \Jastrology\j would somehow feature in the book of Daniel whose story took place in Chaldea. It tells how Nebuchadnezzar called on his astrologers to interpret his dreams and how Belshazzar asked them to explain the mysterious writing on the wall.
One passage of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j has often been quoted to prove that even the early Israelites believed in the stars. When, in the battle by the waters of \JMegiddo\j, Deborah had defeated "the kings of Canaan," she broke forth in a triumphal song. She referred in it to the fact that the fighting had been so fierce and bloody that even "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," who had led the Canaanite army. Yet, as commentators were quick to note, this phrase did not reflect an astrological view but was a powerful \Jmetaphor\j to express the vast extent of the fight which had taken on cosmic proportions.
Opinions in the rights and wrongs of \Jastrology\j greatly differ in Jewish post-biblical literature. Some books of the Apocrypha and several rabbis of the Talmud completely denied the possibility that stars had any influence on our control over man. Others qualified that idea: though generally believing that stars determined human fate, they oddly excluded the Jewish people from their sphere of influence.
On the other hand, a great number of Jewish authorities accepted \Jastrology\j as an undeniable fact. They taught that the destiny of individual men and nations depended on the movements and positions of the celestial bodies. They attributed King Solomon's wisdom in no small measure to his capacity to interpret the constellations rightly. The Midrash, that library of collected Jewish sermons preached over several centuries around the beginning of the Christian era, quotes one case that carries astrological belief to its very extreme. There was not even a blade of grass, it was said, which had not its own star in the sky, responsible for its growth.
Nevertheless, it was equally believed that man was so limited in his understanding that he was unable to read the signs correctly and therefore to predict the future.
Josephus, the famous first-century soldier-historian in \IThe Jewish War\i recorded that astrological belief was widespread among the Jews of his time. However, he claimed that their misinterpretation or ignoring of significant celestial signs was partially to blame for the - wrongly-timed - outbreak of their rebellion against the Roman invader with its consequent fatal end, the destruction of the Temple, \JJerusalem\j, and the entire Jewish state in 70 A.D. The people (especially those in authority) "did not attend, nor give credit, to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation. But, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or mind to consider, [they] did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a \Jcomet\j, that continued an entire year..." (VI,3)
#
"Hebrew Letters",1060,0,0,0
Present-day so-called \JHebrew\j letters, in reality, are Syrian square script! This differs considerably from the original \JHebrew\j still found on ancient inscriptions.
The Syrian script replaced the \JHebrew\j around the fourth century B.C., when the Jews began to use it in \JBabylonia\j. From there is was introduced into \JJudea\j. The new alphabet was then officially adopted and all biblical writing in existence at the time were transcribed from the old alphabet into the new.
#
"Helen Keller",1061,0,0,0
In spite of popular belief to the contrary, Helen Keller was born (in 1880) a normal child, with all her faculties intact. She could see, hear and was far from dumb. However, at the age of eighteen months she contracted \Jscarlet fever\j which left her blind, deaf, dumb, and without a sense of smell.
#
"Helped the Sick and Distressed",1062,0,0,0
\BSarah Claydon\b
Sarah Claydon was only 48 years old when she died on 23 December 1876. Yet throughout her comparatively short life, she had done much good for people, particularly for mothers and children. She is a typical example of that great number of Australian men and women who, without glamor or glory, served their country. Even in their anonymity, they were true benefactors.
Sarah's grave is almost completely hidden. She rests, next to her husband, in the abandoned churchyard of the former Milton Wesleyan chapel, itself now converted into a house.
Her gravesite, surrounded by a protective railing, is marked by a tall, square pillar, which was "erected by the inhabitants of Ulladulla in grateful recognition of her benevolent services to the sick and distressed." Aptly chosen, indeed, is the quotation, added on the stone, "I was sick and ye visited me."
At the time, sickness of many kinds was prevalent in the region and many women died in childbirth. Sarah not only acted as a midwife, but also nursed all the sick and looked after the children. Shunning no task, she even laid out the dead. She refused to accept payment for whatever she did and, in fact, rejected any token of gratitude.
Her husband, an ex-convict, had been transported to \JAustralia\j for robbery. As the couple themselves were childless, they adopted two Aboriginal children, caring for and loving them as if they had been their own.
After giving so much of her life to help the sick, Sarah herself became a victim of disease. For 12 months she lingered on, dying from "uterine affection," most likely cancer. Her death notice in the \ISydney Morning Herald\i spoke of her having passed away after "a long and painful affliction which she bore with Christian fortitude and resignation."
Sarah was not forgotten, in spite of her now so out of the way grave. A century after her death, a fund was established to build a Retirement Home for the Aged of the district. Bearing her name, it was opened by the Governor of \JNew South Wales\j in 1984.
#
"Helpmate",1063,0,0,0
The first "helpmate" arrived by mistake. When God created woman, the \JBible\j tells, he did so because he felt that it was not good for man to be alone. Obviously, any companion he was to provide, had to be "suitable." When the \JHebrew\j text was translated into English, in the idiom of the time, God is quoted to have said that "I will make him a help \Imeet\i ("suitable") for him." Later generations, unaware of the original sense of \Imeet,\i misunderstood the quotation, changing help meet into "helpmate," and woman, meant from the very beginning as it were to be on par with man - through a linguistic error - was demoted, to become a mere auxiliary and supporter.
#
"Hen Laying Eggs",1064,0,0,0
A hen never lays an egg. She drops it! The misnomer possibly is once again due to incorrect observation. The fowl may sit on the nest before "laying" the egg or, afterwards, to incubate it. However, she stands up in order to eject it.
#
"Henpecked",1065,0,0,0
The way man treats his animals has, at times, left much room for improvement. This applies likewise to how he regards them, characterwise. To call any woman "catty" is an insult, if not to the female, certainly to the feline. Nothing could be further from a cat than to be catty, in the human connotation. It is the one creature that never hides its true feelings.
Equally unfounded, and therefore ill-chosen, is the description of a husband as being "henpecked." It is true, hens peck a lot. However, they would never dare attack their masculine mate. The rooster is the acknowledged master and it is he who calls the tune in the coop.
#
"Heroine of Lizard Island - Mary Watson",1066,0,0,0
Mary Watson was one of \JAustralia\j's outstanding pioneers whose life ended in a triple tragedy. She suffered a cruel and gruesome fate. Trying to seek safety from hostile natives by crossing the sea in a tub, she died of thirst, as did her four-month-old infant, whom she was holding in her arms at the time, and the loyal Chinese servant accompanying them.
In the Cooktown Cemetery, Mary's gravesite is colorfully and richly ornamented, in dramatic contrast to the privation and trauma she endured. A large crucifix, taking the place of a headstone, is inlaid and totally covered with countless shells of every kind. The center of the cross is adorned with a brightly-hued pietα, the Virgin Mary tenderly holding in her arms her dead son. No doubt, the choice was suggested by Mary's own fate.
The grave itself is paved with more colored shells. Embedded in it and made up of white shells are two large hearts and a cross. A small marble tablet is at the foot of the cross. Its inscription says:
\IIn Memory of
MRS. WATSON
Heroine of
Lizard Island Tragedy of 1881
And her Infant Son Ferrier\i
The last line was added later by the Historical Society of Cairns.
Mary had migrated to \JAustralia\j from Cornwall with her parents at the age of 17. In Cooktown, where she worked as a teacher, she met and married Robert ("Bob") Watson. A Scotsman by birth, he operated a fishing business, catching bΩche-de-mer.
The Watsons settled on Lizard Island, about 25 kilometers from the mainland, inside the \JGreat Barrier Reef\j. It was a wild and lonely place. They took with them from Cooktown two Chinese servants: Ah Sam, a houseboy and Ah Leong, who looked after the vegetable garden. Their happiness was complete when Mary gave birth to Ferrier.
After some time, the old fishing ground became depleted. To establish a new base, Robert left the island, whilst Mary, with her baby and the two servants, stayed behind. None of them expected trouble.
A few days later, however, hostile natives from the mainland landed on Lizard Island. They killed (and probably ate) Leong. Sam, badly wounded, barely managed to get back to the house. When, after some time, the attackers left, Mary was sure that they would return and decided to escape with her child and Sam. They had no boat; she used instead a large tank that had served them for the boiling of the bΩche-de-mer.
Her apprehensions were justified, as even before their departure the natives were back, brandishing their spears. Standing her ground, Mary fearlessly faced them, and by firing a gun above their heads succeeded in temporarily driving them off. But there was no time to lose, and with her two charges, Mary set off to sea, crammed into the narrow space of the improvised "vessel."
For many days they drifted, finally to perish from thirst. To the last day, Mary kept a record of their ordeal, penciled on loose sheets of paper. Her "diary," now in Brisbane's Oxley Library, makes sad reading.
It tells how they left Lizard Island on a Sunday afternoon (2 October 1881), failed to reach a sandbank (on 4 October) but got on to a reef, where they "remained . . . all day (5 October) on lookout for a boat, but saw nothing." Island-hopping, they stayed all night on land (7 October), but "could not find any water." Seeing a steamer north-bound, Mary hoisted her little son's pink and white wrap to attract attention, to no avail. Conditions did not improve. Looking out for a boat (on 8 October), she "did not see any. Very cold night; blowing very hard. No water."
Things went from bad to worse. On 10 October, the infant suffered badly from \Jinflammation\j and Mary records how "very alarmed" she was. "No fresh water, and no more milk, but condensed. Self very weak; really thought I would have died last night."
Next day things looked much more hopeful. Heavy clouds promised rain. They would not die from thirst after all! But the rain came too late. By then all three were dead.
The victims' bodies were discovered three months later, on 19 January 1882. Their remains were taken to Cooktown, where, at the inquest, the horrendous details of their deaths were revealed.
Bob related how he had identified his wife. In spite of her body's state of \Jdecomposition\j, he had recognized her by her clothing, her hair, a leather belt around her waist, and the ring on her finger, which he himself had placed there on the day of their wedding. All three were given a public funeral, attended by a huge crowd of both Europeans and Chinese, of every age and station in life.
The first service, for Mary and her son, was held in the Cooktown Town Hall. School children occupied the centre of the stage, flanked by the local Town Band and Fire Brigade. A wreath on the coffin that jointly held mother and child carried the Cornish motto "One for All." Most unusual at the time, even women and children joined in the long procession to the cemetery.
A separate burial service, conducted according to Chinese rites, followed for Ah Sam. It was equally well attended by citizens and children of both races.
Robert survived his wife and son by a mere 11 months. Their loss and the protracted search for them had devastated him. He abandoned the fishing business. To be as far away as possible from the ocean, and from anything that reminded him of the tragedy, he went to the Palmer goldfields, to work as a miner.
He was not to build up a new life. He contracted tuberculosis, and was taken back to Cooktown to the \Jhospital\j. There he died and was buried in the cemetery where both his wife and child rested.
A monument erected in 1886 in the main street of Cooktown perpetuates Mary's heroism. Vividly it recalls:
\IFIVE FEARFUL DAYS BENEATH
THE SCORCHING GLARE
HER BABE SHE NURSED
GOD KNOWS THE PANGS THAT
WOMAN HAD TO BEAR,
WHOSE LAST SAD ENTRY SHOWED
A MOTHER'S CARE,
THEN - 'NEAR DEAD WITH THIRST'.\i
As a last irony, the monument incorporates a drinking fountain!
#
"Heroism of a Little Girl",1067,0,0,0
Fame is mostly short-lived and even acts of valor that at one time stirred people's imagination, ultimately are forgotten. But not so the heroism of a small Horsham girl.
It was still recalled when, almost 70 years later, the former heroine, by then a great-grandmother, passed away. The simple headstone on her grave was paid for by pennies and three-pennies collected among Victorian schoolchildren who wanted to show their admiration for a wonderful woman. Its inscription records:
\IIn Sacred Memory
of
JANE DUFF
Bush Heroine
Who Succored her Brothers
Isaac and Frank
Nine Days and Eight Nights
In Nurcoung Scrub in August 1864
Died 20th Jan. 1932. Aged 75 Years.\i
In the 1860s, Horsham was still a far western frontier village, without a church or a hotel. Jane's family lived even further away - in the bush at Spring Hill. Theirs was a happy family. Everyone pulled their weight, with even the youngest members doing some job.
Thus, early in the morning of 12 August 1864, Jane was sent out by her mother, together with Isaac and Frank, her younger brothers, to gather some broom. It was a task the children always enjoyed. They loved the scrub with its wild flowers, its possums and kangaroos. To them it was all a game and an adventure.
After having collected their bundles of broom, they started for home. However, in their exuberance, they turned the wrong way. Eventually they realized that they were lost. Their repeated calls for help went unanswered. The sun set, and hungry, tired and by now frightened, the children spent the night in the bush, huddled together for warmth.
When they had not returned home at the expected time, their parents naturally became worried. They went out to look for them in vain. A search party they organized had no luck either and there was nothing further they could do that night.
On the following day, many more men joined in the search. Though it extended from dawn to sunset, it proved equally fruitless. On the third day, they seemed to be lucky and were able to pick up some tracks. After following them for some distance, however, they lost them again in pouring rain.
By then the situation had become desperate. They now called on a black tracker to come to their aid. He found some clues and, on the ninth day after the children had disappeared - it seemed like a miracle - they found them. The girl and the boys were lying under a small tree, with Jane's dress covering their bodies. However, as they did not move, the searchers feared the worst.
Nothing could exceed their joy, therefore, when they realized that the children were still alive, though extremely distressed and suffering from exposure. Jane was so weak that she could not utter a single word.
It took them several weeks to recover, then to relate the dramatic story of their nine days' ordeal. But for the courage and ingenuity of Jane, no doubt, they all would have perished. She had sustained and comforted them and given them hope. At night, she had stripped off her little lilac frock to serve as a cover against the cold. She made them eat wild berries for food and, to ease their thirst, suck the dew off the leaves.
Jane's heroism did not remain a local story. Told far and wide, it came to inspire people all over the world. In England, an artist made a statuette which he sent to Jane. Its inscription recorded that it was presented "by one whose eye never saw her but who by this memorial would express his heartfelt admiration of the self-sacrificing love and devoted care evinced by her towards her little brothers during their woeful wandering for nine long days and nights when lost in the Australian bush, without a guide, without a guard, except their God."
A Horsham street was called after the young heroine and her epic story became part of school curricula. Funds were collected to ensure her future. Her dress became a cherished family heirloom.
Jane married when still in her teens. She had eleven children of whom - to her great grief - five predeceased her. The bush heroine's funeral was a public event. Seventeen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren followed her coffin. The service was attended by councilors of both the Borough of Horsham and the Shire of Wimmera.
Most noteworthy however, were the children of the Horsham State School who formed a guard of honor outside the church. It was a fitting tribute to a grand old lady who, when still a child like themselves, had become a legend, celebrated as the heroine of the Australian "Babes in the Wood."
#
"Hex",1068,0,0,0
To bewitch a person is to (put a) hex (on) him. Hex really is what remains of the German witch - \Idie Hexe.\i She always appears as a female. And all that happened to her in this \Jmetamorphosis\j was the dropping of her final "e."
She has left her mark as well in the very sign called "hex." This once was favored among the Pennsylvanian Dutch. Mostly farmers, they used to mark their barns with the symbol, not for any artistic reason of trying to add more beauty to the already colorful building. They used the hex sign as what has been called "a painted prayer." This, they were convinced, would keep at bay evil spirits that were out to harm their buildings and \Jcattle\j.
On the other hand, it has also been suggested that this painted charm may have received its name because it frequently took the form of a six-pointed star, known as the hexagram. And, of course, hex, coming from the Greek, stood for the figure 6.
The German \IHexe\i shared a common root with the English hag. This is now exclusively used rather unkindly in a contemptuous sense and speaks of an old and ugly woman. However, originally, the hag described a witch and a sorceress. Shakespeare thus used it when in Macbeth he addressed those "secret, black, and midnight hags."
#
"Hexagram - the Star of David",1069,0,0,0
In 1905, when, at Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of \JGalilee\j, a \Jsynagogue\j was excavated that had been built in the third or fourth century, an astounding discovery was made. Its \Jfrieze\j displayed the six-pointed star. But it was not conspicuously singled out, for next to it were the pentacle and the \Jswastika\j. No specific Jewish quality was then attached to what has in recent times come to be known (though erroneously) as "the \JStar of David\j."
The hexagram, indeed, was a well known sign in almost every part of the world and occurs as early as the \JBronze Age\j. In spite of its frequent later decorative purpose, to begin with the hexagram was employed as a powerful magic sign. Perhaps as a stylized star it was thought to transfer celestial power from the skies to the earth, to serve man in his continuous fight against the forces of darkness.
Certainly in medieval days its magic use was widespread and took a variety of forms. Alchemists saw in the star a fusion of their two symbols for the antagonistic elements of fire and water. A triangle with its apex pointing upward stood for "fire;" reversed, the triangle signified "water." The combination of the two represented and magically achieved harmony!
Others recognized in the star the footprint of the demon of the night. They claimed that displaying the star would not only summon the evil spirit, but give man the power to subdue it. The double triangle was also seen as the representation of the universe. The six corners stood for the four points of the compass plus the lower and upper regions. The sign therefore "contained" in essence the entire cosmos. This gave its user supreme magical power. The number of its six points, in fact, symbolized the perfect figure and thereby rendered the "star" a potent magical instrument.
In \JPersia\j, Zoroastrian tradition used triangles to symbolize the two supreme forces battling with each other for supremacy in the world. The triangle with its apex pointing upward, stood for the forces of light and goodness. Darkness and evil - opposing them - were symbolized by a triangle that was reversed: its apex pointed downward. Interlaced, however, the two triangles became the hexagram which fettered, as it were, the world of darkness to the world of light, thus leading to the triumph of good over evil, of spirit over matter.
The hexagram has been subject to numerous misconceptions. Even its description has been misleading. In early times, it was referred to as the seal of Solomon, a name which (to add to the confusion) was also applied to the pentacle. Paradoxically, this name was adopted not from the Jews but from the Moslems. The identical legend that accounted for the pentacle was cited for the hexagram. It had been engraved on the seal or ring God gave Solomon to control the demons.
Most commonly, however, the hexagram was called the \JStar of David\j. But the original \JHebrew\j - \IMagen David\i - does not refer to a star at all. Literally, it speaks of the shield of David. And as the shape of the sign certainly does not resemble a warrior's guard, the correct translation of the term points to the original magic potency \Ishielding\i man from \Jsupernatural\j evil agencies.
The shield of David was coined rather recently. Completely unknown until the fourteenth century, it appeared then for the first time in a mystical \JHebrew\j manuscript. Therefore "the shield of David" (always now wrongly described as "the \Jstar of David\j") is not an indigenous symbol of \JJudaism\j. Many centuries before its adoption as such a symbol, Jews had used the \IMenorah,\i the seven-branched candlestick, as their emblem, just as Christians had used the fish prior to their adoption of the cross. In fact, it was only in the seventeenth century that the hexagram became a symbol of \JJudaism\j. And possibly this came about by one single incident.
In 1354, King Charles IV gave the Jews of \JPrague\j the right to have a flag of their own. And they chose - for reasons unknown - the six-pointed star! From \JPrague\j, the star's association with the Jews spread all over the world in the centuries that followed.
A suggestion proffered by M. Guedemann discovers in the \Jstar of David\j the perpetuation of yet another error. Actually, the star had no link with the ancient \JHebrew\j king but was part of Celtic magic. Correctly it should be called the star of the Druids, who used it in their magic fight against the Drudes, the \Jghosts\j of the night. Hence, King David had no place at all in the symbol now called after him!
The term hexagram, on the other hand, did not, as one might have imagined, obtain its name from the "hex," that bewitching power of magic lore. \IHex\i here is the Greek for "six." The name thus speaks accurately of the outstanding "six" points of two intertwined equilateral triangles.
Rarely has one sign stood for so many and varied ideas and been subject to so much diversity of opinion and error. But nothing could surpass the tragic paradox of its application in modern days. Used for millennia as a life-preserving, luck-bringing magic sign, it was changed into a badge of shame and of horror by the Nazis. They used it to brand millions of Jews destined to suffer most cruel persecution and horrible death.
#
"Hibernating Bears",1070,0,0,0
Bears go to sleep during the cold winter months, but their state of rest cannot accurately be described as \Jhibernation\j because the essential elements are lacking. During the period, bears keep on breathing at almost the normal rate and their body temperature is not lowered by any considerable degree. In fact, whenever the weather warms up, bears might well consider, temporarily, to leave their winter quarters to enjoy a spell of sunshine.
Erroneous as well is the notion that prior to its winter "sleep," the animal, especially so the brown bear, looked wisely after the "lower end" of its \Jalimentary canal\j. It is a mere \Jfable\j that, in doing so, it cleverly emptied out its intestines by eating a "laxative" plant and then used a wad of grass to plug its anus.
The fallacy is based on the wrong interpretation of a correct observation. On occasion, natural fecal matter stops up the bear's anus. It occurs without any deliberate participation on the animal's part.
#
"Hidden Under a Bush",1071,0,0,0
Nature has provided a beautiful memorial at a lonely grave in what is now a paddock, about 30 kilometers outside Cairns.
Originally, the field was the site of the first cemetery to be gazetted in the Smithfield District of Northern \JQueensland\j. This grave is the only one still preserved. A large bush of \Jhibiscus\j hides it now, with its bright yellow flowers creating a feeling of peacefulness and thoughts of life after death. All that is known is that the deceased was a woman.
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"Hidden Value of Meat",1072,0,0,0
Even the money market cannot ignore \Jcattle\j. Primitive societies, not having currency for business transactions, paid their debts with \Jcattle\j. Any matters today relating to financial transactions are termed "pecuniary" from the Latin \Ipecus\i meaning "\Jcattle\j."
#
"High Heels",1073,0,0,0
Strangely, high heels in Europe became the fashion not through a woman but a man. And, as so often in the world of fashion, \JFrance\j set the trend.
With all his grandeur, \JLouis XIV\j, the sun king, had been bereft by nature of physical stature, being merely 1.57 meters (5.2 feet) tall. A vain man, he was very conscious of his lack of height. He became specially aware of it on state occasions, when mingling with his subjects and dignatories. They were able to look down on him, something which he felt was not only most inappropriate, but humiliating. For this reason he had high heels made for his shoes, which he wore at all such functions.
Royalty has always set the fashion, and once women learned of the king's elevation (of his shoes), they lost no time in having high heels made for themselves, which even the men adopted, at least for some time. They abandoned them when, no longer riding on horseback, they were too uncomfortable to walk in. Women, however, retained them. In their pursuit to be deemed fashionable, they were prepared to suffer or even to do harm to their feet and back.
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"High-Handed",1074,0,0,0
If we speak of people with an arrogant and overbearing manner as being "high-handed," we quote the \JBible\j, though we use the expression in a sense different from its biblical one. The relevant passage (Ex. 14.8) relates how the Israelites, when escaping from Pharaoh's bondage, "went forth with a high hand." In the context, lacking any implication of presumptuousness, it indicated confidence, fearlessness, and trust in God's protection.
The biblical phrase then deteriorated in meaning and came to describe those keeping an upper hand, literally or figuratively flaunting their power. A gesture of faith and courage degenerated into an expression of insolent militancy, adopted as salute by modern totalitarian rulers.
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"Highways",1075,0,0,0
Highways are now very clearly marked, but in the origin of their name are obscure. Some say that they were so called because they were major roads. Their "high" part, they claim, was derived from a root generally describing something or somebody that was "tall" or "chief." Another explanation traces their description to a structural feature. Often crossing swampy and uneven ground, it had been necessary to build up the roads on stones and rocks. Thus being raised above the surrounding level of the land made them highways.
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"Hijacking",1076,0,0,0
Hijacking, a term now used to describe the "kidnapping" of a vehicle in transit, originally was confined to individuals.
There is honor among thieves, it is said. But during the American prohibition days, the opposite was equally true. It was common then on the highways for one bootlegger to rob another. With liquor banned and therefore only illegally distilled, it was at a premium. Frequently, thus, whoever transported the contraband was waylaid. On his being stopped, to prevent him from defending himself, he was told to raise his hands with the command, "High, Jack!" And this, so one theory asserts, created hijacking.
Other conjectures concern innocent victims. There is a story of the robber who used to "hold up" an unsuspecting, lone traveler by stopping him with the jovial greeting, "Hi! Jack!" Jack was so common a name that, like Tom, Dick and Harry, it was used for any man. Not knowing the identity of the robber following his pursuit on the highways, made him, briefly, a "high-Jack(er)."
Those hunting by night often did so with the aid of a "jack" light, and highway men, attacking their quarry in the dark, could easily be described as highway "jackers," eventually shortened to highjackers.
Whatever the origin, the modern hijacker preserves in his name memories of a criminal past.
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"Hills Hoist",1077,0,0,0
The Hills Hoist is not only an Australian invention but an institution. It bears the name of South Australian Lance Hill, who first designed it. Oddly, he did so because of a lemon tree and his wife's complaints!
An automotive engineer by profession, Hill showed interest in anything mechanical and enjoyed racing motorbikes. In 1945, soon after Lance's return from World War II, he was still looking for a permanent job.
One day, on coming home, he found his wife, Sherry, upset. It was her weekly washday and, as did every other housewife then, she had been drying the laundry on the conventional clothes line propped up by wooden sticks. These had not only snapped once again, but her washing had become snared and torn in the branches of a large lemon tree growing in their backyard.
Sherry suggested that he either chop down the tree or devise some kind of hoist that would spare her such annoyances.
Lance immediately set to work, and in their laundry, which also served him as his workshop, designed, and made the first steel rotary hoist.
When their neighbors saw it, they realized its advantages and asked Lance to make hoists for them. He gladly obliged. In no time, news of his invention spread, with ever more people wanting one of his "contraptions."
Hill no longer needed to look for a job. He opened his own factory in his laundry-workshop. Throughout the week he made the hoists. During the weekends, whilst his wife did the washing, he would go out with his father, pushing a handcart which carried his weekly output of hoists. He sold them from door to door, instantly installing them.
It was the foundation of Hills Industries Ltd, which was to grow and expand into one of \JAustralia\j's biggest homeware manufacturers, a giant, multi-million-dollar industrial complex.
A third man who had a significant part in the launching of the venture and in making it such an outstanding success also was a member of the family. Harold Ling, Hill's brother-in-law, was the business brain and the organizer.
In 1956, whilst in \JNew Zealand\j to promote his hoist there, Hill suffered a heart attack that forced him to retire. However, he lived for another 30 years. He died of cancer on 7 March 1986 and was cremated at the Adelaide Centennial Park Crematorium, where his ashes now rest. A large crowd attended his funeral.
Among the mourners who came to pay a last tribute to him were many old-timers, men who had once worked for him and to whom he had been not just the boss but a mate with a sense of humor, much kindness, and generosity.
A death notice published in one of the Adelaide newspapers spoke not of Hill as the inventor of the Hills Hoist but, much more personally, of the way he lived and died:
\INot once did I hear him complain.
He reflects the essential good of humanity.
He led by example.
He found happiness by being his own man.
He knew the profit in self-denial.
He made life seem so simple.
And in the finality of death,
He became dignity.
And dignity became him.\i
#
"Hippocratic Oath Origin",1078,0,0,0
Throughout the western world, doctors' code of ethics is based on the "\JHippocratic Oath\j." Dating back to ancient Greek days, it controls their professional conduct. Among other things, the oath obliges a doctor never to give information about a patient to outsiders. The patient's well-being - and not his own enrichment - must be the sole aim of his medical practice.
The oath is still taken by graduates of a great number of medical schools and reflects the professional ideals held and taught by \JHippocrates\j, the Greek "father of medicine" and the most famous physician of antiquity (d. 377 B.C.). However, he never wrote it! It was later ascribed to him, most likely because of his fame. Anything bearing his name, it was thought, would be read and obeyed.
Its present-day text is an edited version of the original - non-Hippocratic - oath. There are significant omissions. They include the promise to honor one's teacher like a parent and, in case of his need, to share all income with him. Should his children wish to take up medical studies, it further pledged, to teach them without charging a fee or making any other stipulation. In another clause the doctor vowed in no circumstances to facilitate \Jabortion\j or to supply a woman with a pessary.
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"His Name is Mud",1079,0,0,0
Unfortunate circumstances linked with a tragedy in American history gave rise to the defamatory expression that "his name is mud." The mud spoken of, however, is not ordinary dirt but a man's name.
On the night of President Lincoln's assassination, a peace-loving country doctor in southern Maryland, Dr Samuel A. Mudd, treated an injured traveler. He was completely unaware of the man's identity and that, in fact, he was the assassin John Wilkes Booth who, only a few hours previously, had killed the president. While making his escape from the scene of the murder, Ford's Theater, Washington, DC, a spur on his boot had been caught in one of the flags decorating the presidential box, causing a fracture of one of his legs.
Dr Mudd, after setting and bandaging Booth's injured limb, let him and the friend accompanying him stay in his home overnight. It was only on the following morning that Dr Mudd heard of the assassination and, his suspicions aroused, immediately informed the authorities of what had occurred.
Nonetheless, he was arrested, subsequently to be tried by a military court. All Mudd had done was an innocent act of mercy and his duty as a doctor. But in the eyes of a vengeful prosecution and of a grieving nation, embittered to the point of \Jhysteria\j, he was an \Jaccomplice\j in the conspiracy. In their minds, he had committed \Jtreason\j. He was sentenced to a life of hard labor and, in chains, taken to Fort Jefferson, the country's most notorious prison. Overnight "his name is Mudd" became a contemptuous charge.
There is no doubt that this tragic incident made the phrase known worldwide. However, with the passing of years, its origin was forgotten and Mudd's name changed into mere "mud."
Some authorities feel that, although Dr Mudd's sad fate popularized the phrase, it had existed for many centuries. Mud, being dirty, obviously soiled people. It could do so both by splattering them in the street or, figuratively speaking, by besmirching their character by scandalous accusations. Long before the \JAmerican Civil War\j, newspapers which made it their business to slander men's names were referred to as the "mud press."
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"History is Bunk",1080,0,0,0
That "history is bunk" is a statement attributed to Henry Ford. He is said to have made it on the witness stand in a libel action against the \JChicago\j \ITribune\i at Mt Clemens, \JMichigan\j, in July 1919. Questioned in later years whether these were really his words, he could not recollect ever having used them, most definitely not "bunk." He nevertheless admitted that, although as far as he could remember, the words were not his, they reflected his opinion.
#
"History of Billiards",1081,0,0,0
Of many suggestions as to how \Jbilliards\j began, the least likely but most amusing is linked with a sixteenth-century London pawnbroker, William Kew. On rainy days when business was slack, he used to remove the three balls of his trade emblem from outside his shop. At first he possibly did so merely to preserve their sheen. Bored by inactivity, he soon found that he could use the spheres in a sort of game, pushing them around with his yardstick. Thus \IBill\i with his \Iyard\i-measure and three balls created \Ibill-yard.\i
According to this version, a minor change in the spelling of his surname, created the term for the indispensable tool of all billiard games - the \Icue.\i
An equally fantastic claim is made for the origin of the marker. One of the early players, it is said, was so enthusiastic that he neglected all other duties. His wife certainly did not relish his playing and, well aware of this, he left instructions with the man at the door to watch and \I"mark her!"\i
However plausible these stories sound, they are based on mere folk \Jetymology\j. Yet, they add some flavor to the many unconfirmed, unfounded, if not indeed altogether false tales told about the date, the place, and the circumstances of the birth of \Jbilliards\j and its nomenclature.
The history of \Jbilliards\j links fact and fiction, winding its way from the green lawns of early bowling to the green baize cloth of a table, no doubt a reminder of its "natural" roots. The game's development owes much to the ingenious mind of a French political prisoner and the smart business brain of an Englishman.
No wonder that the complex past of \Jbilliards\j confused early writers, among them Charles Cotton, the friend of Izaak Walton. His was the first English description of \Jbilliards\j. Tracing this 'most genteel, cleanly and ingenious game' in his \ICompleat Gamester,\i in 1674, Cotton wrote that \Jbilliards\j was first played by the Italians, but then, strangely, also says that \JSpain\j was its birthplace:
\IBilliards from \JSpain\j at first derived its name,
Both an ingenious and a cleanly game.
One gamester leads (the table green as grass)
And each, like warriors, strive to gain the Pass.\i
Other authorities suggested that in the first place billards was an Oriental sport pursued out-of-doors. The Crusaders had brought it from the East to England, where it had been changed into "lawn-bowls on tables."
Frequently cited as the oldest reference to \Jbilliards\j is a passage dealing with Anacharsis, a mythical Scythian prince of the sixth-century BC and a contemporary of Solon. On one of his journeys through \JGreece\j he is said to have watched players engaged in a pastime very much like modern \Jbilliards\j. Actually, similarities to the game have been pointed out in a great variety of Roman, Greek, and later, French sports.
Another tradition asserts that Catkire More, second-century Irish king and ruler of \JLeinster\j, engaged in \Jbilliards\j. He bequeathed, it is told, "55 billiard balls of brass with pools and cues of the same material" to a certain Drimoth. However, this claim, made by Abbe McGeoghegan in his \IHistory of Ireland,\i cannot be true. The very wording of the legacy proves it unreal, as in the second century neither term - billiard or cue - existed.
Shakespeare, the source of so many quotations, has been equally cited as an authority on \Jbilliards\j. Indeed he does mention the game but, unfortunately, in a rather misleading way. In \IAntony and Cleopatra\i (Act II, scene 5) written in 1607, the Queen of \JEgypt\j invites Charmian, her attendant: "Come, let us to \Jbilliards\j . . . " This passage has been quoted as evidence that 2,000 years ago, in Cleopatra's days, \Jbilliards\j must have been a common pastime. All it proves, of course, is merely that the sport was established in Shakespearean England, so that the poet could expect his audience to understand what he was talking about.
All these various and contradictory claims show that no one really knows exactly where and when \Jbilliards\j originated. We can only reconstruct, hypothetically, how it all started, taking our "cue" from reliable evidence at hand.
Most likely the game developed out of an early version of lawn bowls. When inclement weather too frequently interfered, the frustrated players went indoors. There, the restricted space led to an adjustment. Instead of shoving stone balls toward the cone, players began to knock them first with a wooden pole, and then a mace, shaped very much like an elongated Indian war club.
Some players soon felt that the new fashion lacked excitement. It was far too easy and needed some features to tax their skill. For that purpose, a number of hazards was introduced, adopted from another, then popular game. Old prints have preserved its main features. Players had to drive a ball through some obstacles and around others, without knocking them down. The "battleground" thus presented a variety of objects, such as hoops and ivory pegs. In one version, known as the fortification game, the hazards were miniature forts and military equipment.
Such arrangements made the indoor game more exciting, but experience taught that they did not create the ideal sport. When players knocked the balls too hard, they rolled too far. Moreover, stout men could not enjoy a game that called for frequent stooping and bending.
It was almost an obvious step to raise the game on to a platform - the billiard table. ln recollection of the original outside lawn (and to give the table a suitable surface), this was eventually covered with a green cloth. The table further restricted the playing area and this in turn, demanded a more intimate style and new rules. The balls now had to be pushed, not knocked. This could not easily be done by the former method of using the thick end of the club. The natural thing was to apply the thin end (then broad with a slight curve at the end and pointed) to propel the ball. This was the beginning of the modern cue.
It was now realized that passing the ball through and around many hoops and arches was much too cumbersome. In the course of time these were replaced by holes cut into the sides of the table and known at first as hazards. It is a name preserved to this day in one type of shot, though the hazard itself was eventually superseded by the modern pocket. The changes, of course, made the cone used in the old game redundant.
The game was now played with two balls - one to shoot and the other as a target to be hit and directed so that it would fall into a pocket. The player who could do so with the least number of shots, won. At first two pockets were fixed, one at each end of the table. Then their number was doubled. When, finally, the table was of an oblong shape, two additional pockets - midway - increased the number to six.
All other developments in equipment, accessories, and style really were mere improvements. The balls, originally round pebbles, were shaped out of \Jlignum vitae\j, then of brass; and eventually ivory. The sticks which developed from the original club grew lighter and smaller.
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"History of Bowling",1082,0,0,0
Today's bowlers, in their distinctive cream outfits and carrying their highly polished woods, now made mostly of plastic, are easily recognizable, and the carefully tended greens on which they play are familiar sights in cities, suburbs, and in country towns.
The game of bowls is possibly yet another of man's earliest and simplest sports, its main requirement being to roll or aim an object at a target lying on the ground. It satisfied, and still does, a human instinct that makes man love to throw and hit things.
That is why the first bowlers amused themselves by rolling a round object (perhaps a coconut, a clay ball, or a stone) toward a chosen mark, probably of the same sort. No elaborate equipment was needed; nature supplied everything.
The origin of the game is still a matter of conjecture. Finds in Egyptian tombs, likenesses on ancient painted and sculptured vases, and diverse artifacts of early ages proved the existence 4,000 years ago of a game that consisted of rolling balls or other rounded objects as a pastime at the royal courts. From \JEgypt\j the sport spread to ancient \JGreece\j and \JRome\j. The Caesars knew some type of the game, calling it \Iboccie,\i a term that still survives in \JItaly\j.
The Romans probably introduced bowling to northern Europe, where, as records show, the population enjoyed it in the tenth century. It was another 300 years before England adopted it, but it was there that the modern game was born and became a most favored pastime, at first among kings and noblemen.
Bowling alleys and courts then were privately owned, usually forming part of a royal, or a gentleman's, garden.
Bowling (some prefer to call it bowls) is one of the oldest British national games. It may well be true that when the \JSpanish Armada\j approached the English coast in 1588, Sir Francis Drake, who was just then playing in a match with fellow-officers, refused to stop the game, saying there was plenty of time to "win the match and beat the Spaniards."
From the beginning, Englishmen called it bowling, a word going back to the Latin \Ibulla,\i "a bubble," which referred to a bowl's shape.
It was not because people had become fastidious that they began to describe the sport, more explicitly, as "lawn bowling," but to differentiate the game from skittles (or nine-pins) which, from early times, as still today in the United States, was also called bowling. This duplication of terms may be rather confusing when investigating the past of both sports, as one can never be quite sure which kind of bowling ancient documents are discussing. They could refer either to bowling at pins, to knock them down, or at a jack on the ground to lay the bowl nearest to it.
In a rudimentary sort of way, the game was played in England as early as the thirteenth century. This is proved by a manuscript of that period, now in possession of the Royal Library at Windsor. It depicts two players aiming not at a jack but at a small cone. Another picture of the same century, however, shows players bowling much the way they do today.
In 1299, \Ibowles\i (as it was then spelled) became so popular in the \JBritish Isles\j that a group of enthusiasts formed the first club in \JSouthampton\j. As the \JSouthampton\j Town Bowling Club, it is still in existence and its members play on the original green.
The history of the sport was not all smooth running. It had its many ups and downs. Its very popularity almost became its undoing when the 'common people' took up the game, neglecting other pursuits, especially \Jarchery\j which was so essential for the country's defense.
Another development rendered bowling, in the eyes of responsible governments, even more harmful. Somehow it became a game closely associated with gambling. People played it not so much as a pastime, but to place wagers and enrich themselves "the easy way."
As in the case of other modern methods of gambling, they were bound to lose large sums of money earned by hard work. In 1579 the greens were described as "moths that eat up the credit of many idle citizens." Hunger and penury, it was reported at the time, had come to face the families of those who spent their time bowling and gambling away their money.
To make it worse, most greens were attached to inns as a means of encouraging drinking at these places. The game attracted dissolute persons and led to betting, drunkenness, quarreling, and even dueling.
That is why edicts, as issued by the governments of Edward III and Richard II, made bowling illegal. Even when the introduction of \Jgunpowder\j and \Jfirearms\j rendered \Jarchery\j obsolete as a means of national defense, the law was not changed, and an Act of 1511 still forbade the playing of bowls to "artificers, laborers, apprentices, servants and the like - at any time except Christmas and then only in their master's house and presence."
Other regulations threatened anyone playing bowls outside his own garden or orchard with a fine of ú6.82s. Owners of properties whose annual value exceeded ú100 could apply for a license for a private green. But in 1555 Queen Mary again canceled the permits as the game had become "an excuse for unlawful assemblies, conventicles, seditions, and conspiracies."
In spite of the discredit into which the game repeatedly fell, a great number of monarchs and noblemen went on playing bowls. Reports speak of their delight in the game (mostly when getting on in years), the bets they laid, and the money they lost.
That is why, all through that period, opinions differed about the sport, some praising it as the finest pastime, and others condemning it as the most nefarious form of gambling.
Royal estates were equipped with beautiful greens on which to play the game. Though \JHenry VIII\j prohibited the game for the masses, he had a fine alley laid out at \JWhitehall\j, so it is said, to amuse himself between executions. James I actually advised his son to take up the game. Charles I was an expert bowler who placed bets on himself and, on one occasion, lost ú1000 to a merchant. It was only in 1845 that the Gaming Act legalized bowling for all.
The earliest bowls were made of stone; by 1409, the bowls were wooden. The sixteenth century brought a further important change; to make the game more difficult, the bowls were biased in several ways. The most obvious yet least common method was to insert a piece of metal in one side. Reports say \Jpewter\j, brass, lead, and iron were used for that purpose. Almost from the very beginning, however, another practice was adopted, and is still retained. The required bias was produced by the way in which the bowl was shaped.
This ingenious way of creating the bias, it is believed, goes back to a game popular in 1477 and known as half-bowls. lt was played with a perfect hemisphere and 15 conical pins. Twelve of them were arranged in a circle, the thirteenth was placed at its center and the remaining two at its back. The principle of that game was to knock down the circle of pins by sending the bowl around the two pins in the rear. It was the strong bias of the half-bowl that made the feat possible.
The knowledge of how a half-bowl was pulled sideways suggested the shaping of the modern, biased, round bowl. Players soon experienced the extra thrill of its use, the fact that the bias drew it from the direction in which it was aimed, challenging their skill.
Yet not everyone accepted the innovation, and some even opposed it. At a tournament in 1857 it was stipulated that "no loaded bowls" should be employed. But when in 1892 the Scottish Bowling Association was established, it introduced a minimum standard of bias that was generally adopted the following year.
Today, it is a requirement wherever the game is played that all bowls used conform to a minimum bias. They are tested and stamped officially as a sign that they fulfill this condition.
All through the centuries, the development of bowling owes much to the Scots who first played the gamed in the sixteenth century. Its standardization is mainly due to them. Many of the rules they laid down 300 years ago still remain in the modern game. Most influential of all in the governing of the sport were the laws they framed in 1848-1849 under W. W. Mitchell, one of the greatest bowling authorities the world has known.
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"History of Chauvinism",1083,0,0,0
Currently chauvinism is almost exclusively associated with \Jsexism\j. Forgotten is its original use as the description of extreme patriotism. It became such by a strange combination of circumstances. But for a stage play, it would never have existed.
It goes back to Napoleonic times, and one of the emperor's soldiers, Nicolas Chauvin. He had distinguished himself in many battles, being wounded, as the story has it, 17 times. In recognition of his services, Napoleon himself, it was further told, had presented him with a ceremonial sword and red ribbon, and ensured that he was paid a pension.
Even after the emperor's final defeat, Chauvin continued to worship him and did so in the most exaggerated terms. Demobilized and badly scarred, Chauvin returned to his village. He did not settle down quietly but went about constantly praising his fallen idol. Fanatically, he described him as the greatest hero of all times, and Napoleon was the sole topic of all his conversations. Almost obsessed by his past military career, Chauvin used any and every opportunity to display his patriotism.
It did not take long for him to become a figure of fun. No doubt his name would have been forgotten had not dramatists made him the central figure of their plays. Most notable among them were Charles and Jean Cogniard. They truly immortalized Chauvin in their comedy \ILa Cocarde Tricolore,\i which they wrote in 1831. His protestation of extreme devotion to his country, "I am French, I am Chauvin," soon caught the imagination of the people. It created chauvinism as a term for blind and excessive patriotism.
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"History of Cricket",1084,0,0,0
For many enthusiasts, cricket today is a way of life. Anything that is "not cricket" is considered unworthy of an Englishman.
Its beginnings are obscure. Like all bat-and-ball games, cricket evolved gradually from various sources. It is related to an early Scottish sport known as 'cat and dog', a thirteenth-century pastime called 'hand-in - and - hand-out' \I(handyn\i and \Ihandoute),\i and a similar French game.
Some suggest that cricket was first "properly" played in the forests, where tree stumps offered a natural mark for attack. The word "stump" may recall early forest matches where the uprights were rooted in the soil.
Cricket is related closely to "stool ball," a game played particularly at Easter, which was then a season of courtship. Both men and women took part. One player threw a ball at an upturned, three-legged stool which was defended - with his outstretched hand - by another player. Subsequently, a second stool was added. That is how the two wickets came into existence.
Other authorities have contended that stumps of any kind were unknown at first; that players simply cut two circular holes in the ground. The player guarding the hole was armed with a bat (the "dog") with which he tried to keep out of the hole a small piece of wood (the "cat"), aimed at it by his opponent. The batsman was "out" when the ball was bowled into the hole. Naturally, the target was no easy one, which rendered the game rather slow and cautious.
The great need was to make the hole more conspicuous and the most obvious means of doing this was to indicate its position with a stick. Soon players began to aim at the stick, instead of at the hole, and a rule was introduced which put a batsman out if the stump was knocked down by the ball.
By 1700, two upright stumps had taken the place of the original single stick. They were then one foot (30 cm) high and two feet (60 cm) apart, with a third stick (or bail) stretching across and beyond both of them. This arrangement soon proved inadequate as the ball went between the stumps without touching either of them. To remedy this, a third stump was added.
Yet another hypothesis traces the introduction of the third stump to a different cause. Early in the evolution of the game, the striker, in making the run, had to thrust the end of his bat into the hole which was then situated between the two sticks. The wicket keeper, on the other hand, tried his utmost to anticipate him by getting the ball into the hole. In attempting to do so, his hand was often seriously injured by the batsman's bat. To avoid this, it was decided to abolish the hole between the stumps and to replace it by the middle stump.
Whatever the real reason, the third stump came into existence around 1775, when the bail was stretched across all three. At that time the pitch was 22 yards (19.80 m) long and the wicket 22 inches (55.80 cm) high and six inches (15.24 cm) broad. No rule then governed the size of the bat, which often was very long, and bent.
Various claims have been made (and disputed) regarding the first mention of cricket and its earliest pictorial illustration. In some documents cited, and pictures discovered, it really is not certain whether a game called \Icreag,\i or "club and ball," was actually cricket.
The account of the Royal Household for the 28th year of the reign of King Edward I (1300) itemized the expenditure of a hundred shillings for the king's son, the Prince of Wales (then 16 years old) for "the Prince's playing at \Icreag\i and other sports at Westminster." It is interesting to note that though the entry is in Latin, the word taken to mean cricket, having no Latin equivalent, appears in Saxon, as \Icreag.\i
A fourteenth-century illustration produced in England in a document issued under Papal authority, depicts a boy with a club and ball, and his tutor, who unmistakably is demonstrating a game very much like cricket.
The oldest description of the sport has been attributed to a poem by William Goldwin, of King's College, Cambridge, published in 1706. The first preserved cricket score and earliest code of laws date back to 1744. They relate to a match between Kent and All England played at the Artillery Ground, Finsbury, London, and won by Kent by one wicket. Nevertheless, it was not until the second half of the seventeenth century that cricket became a generally adopted sport. It gained popularity among the higher classes, the noble and wealthy, in the following century.
To add tragedy to the sport, it is also known that in 1751 Frederick, the Prince of Wales who greatly enjoyed the game, was killed by being hit with a cricket ball. Even this misfortune could not stem the Englishmen's enthusiasm for the sport. The Hambledon Club had been founded just prior and was to play a significant part in the evolution of the game. It was superseded by the Marylebone Cricket Club. With its headquarters at Lord's, London (called after Thomas Lord), this was to become the world authority on the sport and its sanctuary.
Cricket reached the United States towards the middle of the eighteenth century and, until the advent of \Jbaseball\j, was pursued with zeal. The first American international match, in fact, took place as early as 1841 when members of the New York club went to Toronto and beat there the Canadian "eleven." However, eventually, sedate cricket had to give way to the so much more lively and dynamic \Jbaseball\j.
Just as the game has a fascinating history, so its terms have a colorful background.
The original bat was a primitive club, used for attack and defense. In an early translation of Holy Scripture, John Wycliffe equips a crowd of men with "swerdies and battis" while smugglers in southern England who moved about armed with cudgels were referred to as "the Sussex batsmen."
Bats greatly varied in shape, length, and weight. The earliest bats gave cricket its name. They were just branches broken off a tree, and slightly curved. The linguistic root of cricket is \Icricce,\i from the \JAnglo-Saxon\j. The word has survived in a great variety of things and terms which all share the same underlying meaning - "something that is not quite straight," something that has a curve or a twist. Thus, a bishop's or a shepherd's crook is really a looped stick: a creek is a winding rivulet and a painful crick in the neck the result of a twist.
Similarly, cricket as a sport recalls the crooked club (resembling the modern \Jhockey\j stick) with which it was once played. Indeed, some authorities claim that the first to join in the game were sons of shepherds who used broken-off parts of their father's crooks as bats. (One hypothesis sees a direct link between cricket and the French croquet, using it as a "confirmation" of the French origin of the game! Others, going even further, have discovered an affinity with croquet.)
The wicket certainly goes back to pastoral life and sheep-pens, whose entrance usually was a small hurdle consisting of two uprights and a movable crossbar - a bail.
It was this gate into the pen that was first called a wicket, a word also derived from \JAnglo-Saxon\j and meaning, very appropriately, "to yield," or "to offer a way through." Early theological treatises used the term in this very sense. When in 1545, for instance, Wycliffe's tract on \ITransubstantiation\i was published, it was known as "Wycliffe's Wicket," presenting, as it were, "a narrow opening to Salvation."
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"History of Lacrosse",1085,0,0,0
\JLacrosse\j is probably the only sport in the world associated with a fearful massacre. The game was used as a stratagem by \JAmerican Indians\j to wipe out an entire British garrison on Canadian soil, soon after the Treaty of Paris in which the French ceded Canada to the British.
The Indians hated their new masters. Settlers robbed them of the best soil and decimated their finest forests, while fur traders cheated them.
The Indians awaited an opportunity for revenge. This came at the celebration of the birthday of King \JGeorge III\j on 4 June 1763. Pontiac, high chief of the Ottawas, a savage and cunning leader, carefully laid his plans. He conspired with the Ojibways, who had made the king's birthday the occasion for a game of baggataway just outside the British garrison at Fort Michillimackinac. The Indians pretended that they had specially arranged the match to entertain the soldiers on that happy day, and to honor their king.
According to some, the English had received warning of the plot but did not heed it. In fact, the Indians said they had chosen the field close to the garrison so that there would be no need for the soldiers to leave to watch the play.
At first, the gates of the fort remained closed. However, the soldiers and traders inside got so carried away with the game that to get a closer view, they opened up the fortress and came out, standing around in groups. That was exactly what the Indians had hoped would happen. The garrison lay wide open to them.
The Indians carried only their hooked sticks. Their womenfolk sat quietly on the sidelines wrapped in thick blankets, although it was a warm day. No one suspected their unusual garb. It was assumed that this was their way of dressing.
The game had gone on for about an hour when suddenly, on a signal, the men dropped their sticks, and the squaws the blankets, under which they had hidden tomahawks. These their men quickly grasped. With piercing war-cries they charged the stronghold, mercilessly cutting down all inside it. Only three men are said to have escaped.
Another version tells how in the apparent heat of the battle - though actually according to a prearranged plan - an Indian threw the ball into the fortress. Thus play was transferred into its precincts and the Indians had occupied it before the British soldiers realized what was happening.
In spite of this unhappy association, \Jlacrosse\j continued to attract the white settlers, and Indians came to delight in giving displays. As they were playing for spectators, they had to limit the field and introduce some rules. That is how the game slowly changed from a wild affair into a strictly ordered sport, from a roving chase to a game confined to a certain area.
The Europeans were anxious to take up the sport themselves, and records tell of early matches arranged between Indians and French Canadians as far back as the 1840s.
The year 1856 saw the establishment of the Montreal \JLacrosse\j Club. The game gained royal acclaim when in 1861 the Prince of Wales watched an exciting encounter between Indians and Canadians, with 25 men on each side.
Dr George W. Beers, a Montreal dentist, has been called "the father of modern \Jlacrosse\j." He was instrumental in the drafting of the first definite rules and - in 1867 - encouraged a convention of enthusiasts to form the National \JLacrosse\j Association which drew up a proper code. In the same year, parliament formally adopted \Jlacrosse\j as the national game of Canada.
The old Indian ball of deerskin stuffed with hair was replaced by a ball of India-rubber sponge. The stick was improved. Instead of the early rawhide sack, it carried at its end a pocket made of thongs. The number of players was limited to 12 on each side and their exact positions on the field were defined. (It was only in 1933 that the teams were further reduced to 10 players, the tenth man being the goal keeper.) Playing time was fixed at two periods of 45 minutes each. There were to be two small, netted goals about 80 yards (72.80 m) apart. The goal opening had to conform to a definite measurement, eventually six feet (1.80 m) square. A circle around the goal, clearly marked in white, became known as the "crease."
Soon \Jlacrosse\j spread beyond Canada. It was pioneered in the United States by the Mohawk Club of Troy, New York, in 1868. Even before that date, French Canadians and Indians had given demonstration matches in \JFrance\j and Britain.
In 1876, Indians and Canadians played at Windsor Castle before Queen Victoria, who recorded the event in her \IJournal\i (the extract having been published in her \ILetters).\i She wrote on 26 June 1876:
\I. . . at five, after having tea, drove with Beatrice and Janie E., below the South Terrace, very near the summer house . . . and I watched a game of la crosse played by a team of 14 Canadians and 13 \JIroquois\j Indians . . . The Indians who had most curious names, came up, headed by their Chief, a very tall man, and read a long address in the \JIroquois\j language . . .
They were strangely painted and some were very dark. They wore coloured feathers on their heads and sorts of "tricots" like acrobats. I gave both Canadians and Indians, each, one of my signed photographs . . .
The game was very pretty to watch . . . It is played with a ball, and there is much running . . .\i
\JLacrosse\j became popular in England, especially at some schools, which imported sticks from Canada. The game was modified to serve the new purpose and lost all its original, war-like aspects. It was completely civilized and any type of body contact was strictly banned.
Some headmistresses welcomed the sport as most suitable for education. Dame Frances Dove, when introducing \Jlacrosse\j at her school, said that she valued it because it
\I. . . required qualities of obedience, courage and unselfishness for the sake of the side - a player who attempts to keep the ball instead of passing it, being absolutely useless - and is full of interest on account of the various kinds of skill required, fleetness of foot, quickness of eye, strength of wrist, and a great deal of judgement and knack.... The game of \Jlacrosse\j well played is a beautiful sight, the actions of the players being so full of grace and agility. The skill required moreover, is so great that the attempt to acquire it is a splendid training in courage and perseverance.\i
The first British club was formed in Glasgow and within a decade, the game spread to other parts of England and Ireland.
North of England played the South in 1877 in a match that resulted in the formation of the Northern and Southern \JLacrosse\j Association. The English \JLacrosse\j Union was established in 1892.
Throughout the years play was tightened up, and pads, gloves, and a headguard adopted to protect the players. The game came to demand more brains than brawn.
A unique feature of \Jlacrosse\j is the confrontation of the opposing teams before the game. Players face each other at the field's center. Originally, this line-up enabled officials to inspect equipment. In the early days players often used unauthorized sticks and shoes. Nowadays the purpose of the line-up is to give each player an opportunity to meet his opponent. This, too, symbolizes the maturity of a sport that, in spite of its bellicose and bloodthirsty roots, has grown into a most civilized pastime.
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"History of Man's Dress",1086,0,0,0
Biblically, tailoring started in Paradise, when \JAdam and Eve\j sewed their first dress of fig leaves. But somehow this must have proved unsatisfactory, as soon afterwards the \JBible\j records the first change in fashion, when animal skins supplanted the fig leaves.
Opinions stilI differ as to what man's first dress, at least according to biblical tradition, looked like. Some describe it as a simple girdle. Others suggest that the apron was man's first costume. A 16th century translation of \JHebrew\j Scripture erroneously stated that \JAdam and Eve\j made themselves breeches!
From the very earliest times, men and women have covered their bodies, and the reasons why have become increasingly complex. Nearly everything we wear has had, at different times through the ages, a definite purpose, although today, in many instances, this has faded into obscurity.
Primarily, clothes protected the human body from the forces of nature. Man needed them in order to survive. A sense of modesty was another source. Associating sex with shame, man tried to hide the erotic zones of his body. However, dress was often designed also to impress others and arouse fear, admiration and desire. It is a form of attractive display (like the feathers on birds or the gay marking on animal skins).
Clothes were introduced to emphasize the difference between the sexes, to stimulate the senses, but to avoid promiscuity. On the other hand, dress was a means to stress class distinction. In the nude, people are equal. But costumes removed this democracy of the uniformity of naked bodies. An outer skin could make all the difference and thus dress became much more revealing of human character than nakedness. It was the earliest status symbol, proclaiming the wearer's profession, power, and social rank.
Always anxious to make the greatest use of anything they possessed, people soon employed their cloak for numerous other functions as well. It became their blanket, and even their bed. When the Hebrews left \JEgypt\j, they wrapped into their garments their kneading troughs and all they contained. Merchants used their robes as counters, on which they displayed their wares, and cloaks served as saddles and carpets as well.
To be properly dressed has meant many things to different ages. What was considered decent to one generation and quite in order, has sometimes shocked and offended another. Fashion certainly is a taste shared by a large number of people for a short time. There have been eras when dress has tried to conceal natural shapes and others when everything possible has been done to display them.
It becomes evident that man's wardrobe is crowded with intriguing revelations about his attitudes and reactions to life, society, and the other sex. What applies to dress in general, is equally true of each of its peculiar features, with their contradictions, incredibilities, and many surprises.
The leopard cannot change his spots. But man has the power to change his skin. And certainly he has made good use of it. There are few sayings truer than that "clothes make the man."
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"History of Swimming Literature",1087,0,0,0
The first book on swimming is attributed to a German professor of languages, Nicolaus Wynmann, who published in Latin, in 1538, a volume in the then popular dialog form. He called it (rather ponderously but convinced of its value), \IThe Diver,\i or \IA Dialog Concerning the Art of Swimming, Both Pleasant and Joyful to Read.\i
More humble and scientific was a treatise produced in 1696 by a Frenchman, M. Thevenot, called simply, \IThe Art of Swimming.\i The method described clearly pictures the traditional breast stroke. Certainly, this did not give the swimmer much speed, but its popularity was due to other advantages. It did not obstruct the swimmer's vision and helped him to breathe freely. By moving his arms under the water, he did not splash his face. Altogether, the stroke gave the swimmer a feeling of security and it is not surprising that it was retained everywhere for many centuries.
It is not certain who introduced swimming into the \JBritish Isles\j. It might have been the Phoenicians, Vikings, or Romans. Or the Britons may have learned swimming independently. After all, they had many opportunities.
The first literary evidence of the art is contained in the seventh- or eighth-century epic poem \IBeowulf.\i For five days its hero is made to swim in a tempestuous sea, killing sea monsters with his sword. In 1531, Sir Thomas Elyot published \IThe Boke Named The Governour.\i He referred to "the Usefulness of Swymmynge," though his concern was limited to times of war.
The first actual book on swimming in England stems from Everard Digby, a Master of Arts at Cambridge University. Written in 1587, in Latin, it contained a weird assortment of woodcuts. In 1895 it was translated into English. He recorded that in his days the art had been much neglected and as "it hath nat bene of longe tyme moche used, specially amonge noble men, perchance some reders wyll litle esteme it." Curiously, Digby expressed the opinion which provoked much justified opposition that man swam "naturally." His fallacious notion was equaled, centuries later, by an absurd assertion made in a passage attributed to Benjamin Franklin though since described as an \Jinterpolation\j. This held that a swimmer could not open his eyes under water.
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"History of the America's Cup",1088,0,0,0
In 1851, only seven years after the foundation of the New York Yacht Club, international yacht racing began with what later came to be known as the \JAmerica's Cup\j.
The club's commodore, John C. Stevens, received an invitation from the Earl of Witton, Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, England, to join in a race along a difficult 60 mile (96 km) course around the \JIsle of Wight\j. The immediate occasion was the holding of Britain's \JGreat Exhibition\j, the first World Fair.
Expressing warmest thanks, Stevens agreed on behalf of his associates "to avail ourselves of your friendly bidding, and take with a good grace the sound thrashing we are likely to get by venturing our longshore craft on your rough waters." He added that four or five of his friends were about to launch a schooner that they would like to enter in the race.
This boat was the \IAmerica.\i She had a low black hull, her bow was "as sharp as a knife," and her stern "remarkable broad, wide and full." In spite of the reservations voiced in the letter, the \IAmerica's\i builders entertained the most sanguine expectations about her performance. And, "built to represent a nation," with 13 men aboard, the \IAmerica\i duly sailed for England.
She had been modeled after the well-known New York Harbor pilot boats. Of course, the American prediction of defeat by the British, renowned for ruling the waves, made in the original letter of acceptance, had been merely a polite (if not clever) flattery. No forecast could have been further from the mark.
The \IAmerica\i proved vastly superior and outsailed all of the 15 contestants, picked vessels of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Apocryphal but telling was the often quoted message said to have been sent by an English signalman to Queen Victoria. Anxiously following the race, she had inquired who was the winner. Supposedly the signal had read: \I"America\i first, Your Majesty. There is no second."
The trophy won was The One Hundred Guinea Cup. A typically Victorian, ornate silver ewer, it became a priceless award to be "preserved as a perpetual Challenge Cup for friendly competition between foreign nations." Because it was first won by the US schooner \IAmerica,\i the race and the trophy have been known ever since as the \JAmerica's Cup\j.
The triumphant American syndicate who had entered the schooner had one great disappointment. Irrespective of the feelings expressed in the original letter, they themselves had been certain of victory, although they had hoped that it would come as a great surprise to all others. They had spent an enormous amount of money on the construction of the boat, being convinced that they would more than recoup their outlay in wagers and side bets they expected to be laid on their ship. But, unwisely, the \IAmerica,\i during her final lap from \JFrance\j to Britain on her trans-Atlantic voyage, had disclosed her mettle. To test the performance of the American challenger, the \ILavrock,\i an English cutter of 70 tons and one of the fastest afloat, had sailed from \JCowes\j to meet and to race the visitor. The \ILavrock\i had been so easily beaten that even the most adventurous gamblers refrained from placing any bets. In material gain, the America's victory thus provided the syndicate with nothing but a mediocre wine jug. (Yet ever since, millions of pounds and dollars have been spent to gain - or retain it.)
Perhaps symbolic was the fact that when finally (in 1857) John C. Stevens (in whose home it had been previously deposited) handed it for safekeeping to the New York Yacht Club, it was fixed firmly by a bolt to an oaken table in the trophy room.
In spite of superlative performances, for 132 years no rival was able to wrest the trophy from its first winner. However, in 1983 \JAustralia\j became the first country to take the "Cup" outside the United States, with the yacht \IAustralia II\i which had a revolutionary winged keel. This feat was repeated in 1995, when \JNew Zealand\j won the Cup with \IBlack Magic.\i
Many opinions have been proffered on what are the most important requirements for a yacht to win (especially the \JAmerica's Cup\j). Philip L. Rhodes, the naval architect, felt that, arranged according to importance, the factors most essential for a yacht to come first in a race were these: the crew (and not least among them the helmsman); the boat's sails, and her hull (in which he included the rig). Sometimes, he added, her owner as well. Rhodes said that, sparing no money, the owner must have the wisdom to leave the conduct of the match completely to those put in charge.
The worldwide pursuit of yachting made its inclusion on the agenda of the first revived \JOlympic Games\j in \JGreece\j in 1896 almost a foregone conclusion. However, the weather would have none of it, and its inclemency led to the cancellation of the sailing event. It was held during the next meeting, in 1900.
No matter who carries home the "blue ribbon" of world sailing supremacy or, for that matter, any award in yachting, the true yachtsman, loser or winner, will echo the sentiment once expressed in the paraphrase of the famous tag that "it is better to have raced and lost, than never to have raced at all."
#
"History of the Cross",1089,0,0,0
There is a language of symbols. More eloquent than words, they can rouse the human spirit and revolutionize life and society. That is why modern political movements have used such symbols as the clenched fist, crooked cross, and bundle of rods.
Thousands of years earlier, each of the three world religions, \JJudaism\j, \JChristianity\j, and \JIslam\j, knew of the symbol's dynamic power. They realized that a picture could talk louder than words and its impact outlast them. Therefore they chose the Star, the Cross, and the Crescent to represent their beliefs, spread their faith and conquer the hearts and minds of men wherever they might be and no matter what their station.
The cross is one of the world's oldest and most universal symbols. Many centuries \Ibefore\i the Christian era, it was a common pagan emblem and it has been found as such, carved in stone, in remote ages.
The reason for its choice was that it was one of the simplest figures to draw, and expressive in its message. Its arms pointed upward, downward, and sideways. Therefore the cross became a sign of all-embracing space. The East was represented by its top, the North by its right limb, the South by its left branch and the West by its lower portion.
The arms of the cross came to represent the rays of the sun as well. The ancient Assyrians used it as a symbol of the sky and its god Anu, and from earliest times it symbolized \Jsolar power\j. Consequently, it became the sign of fire and of the suffering of existence, where eventually everything is burned up. Indeed, it is quite likely that the arms of the cross developed out of the two kindling sticks with which primitive man produced fire.
The cross stood for the world axis - the bridge that linked heaven and earth; the ladder with which man could reach out towards God. It became the symbol of the joining of opposites, the linking of the left and the right.
Then, the cross was regarded also as showing the division of the world into four quarters whence rain came and the winds blew. Accordingly, it indicated the four cardinal points from which droughts and floods could bestow blessings or curses on man.
The similarity of the cross to a simple sword associated it also with a weapon wielded to kill all that was evil.
By pointing to the sources of warmth, storm, and rain, the cross became a visible symbol of fertility. It assumed this role even more so as a wooden cross, easily constructed from two simple branches, and was seen as the emblem of all that grew and prospered. It was the tree of life. Stuck into the earth in fertile soil, an apparently dead and withered twig would start sprouting, as is still experienced today in the case of the "living fences" on the islands of the South Pacific. No wonder, therefore, that such miraculous change from a dead branch into a living tree seemed to represent the power of life over death. That is how, first of all, the cross became a symbol of \Jresurrection\j.
Legend relates that after Adam's death, his son Seth planted on his tomb a branch, taken from the tree of life of Paradise. The slip grew into a tree. From it Moses obtained his magic rod and Solomon essential timber for his shrine. Finally, so it is said, Jesus' executioners cut from the tree the beams for the cross on which they crucified Him at \JCalvary\j.
All the many and varied early meanings of the simple sign of the cross gave it, in the minds of men, magical power. From a belief that it indicated the sources of warmth, winds and rain, people started believing that it actually controlled those vital elements in the life of man and nature. Thus, eventually, a cross was used as a magic wand with which to exorcise or ward off evil spirits which harried man.
Numerous crosses were excavated at Troy. Thousands of years ago the emblem was used there not as a decorative sign, but as a magical defense against the entry of Devils into the city and its individual homes.
The sign of a "looped cross" was found equally frequently on ancient Egyptian artifacts. Indeed, in this shape, that of a T with a circle on its top, it became part of early hieroglyphic writing.
How this came about has been variously explained. Most probably, the sign represented the keys used for the canal locks which regulated the flow of water. The key's picture was carved on the canal walls because, so the Egyptians imagined, its presence would magically control the volume of water and thus avoid both floods and droughts. Then the symbolic key assumed the importance of the very key of life which surmounted by a handle - the loop - was used by the gods to awaken the dead to an existence above.
Others recognized in the early occurrence of the cross on Egyptian soil pictures of the phallus, the loincloth worn by men, or a jar standing upon an altar. The message of these many interpretations is clear and identical. The cross was the symbol of the vital germ and key of life.
Methods of execution have differed from country to country and changed throughout history. Crucifixion was practised by Greeks and Romans. It was tainted with shame and reserved for the worst of offenders, especially those who were foreigners, and for slaves. The criminal was either nailed or bound on a wooden post, surmounted by a cross bar, and left there till he died.
When Jesus was condemned to death, it was this type of ignominious penalty which the Romans, as the occupying power of the Holy Land, chose for him. That is how the cross gained a new meaning throughout the world. It became the venerated symbol of Christ's \Jresurrection\j and man's salvation.
However, few people realize that this cross, though now the most widespread symbol of the Christian religion, is certainly not the most ancient one. Christians adopted it as such only many years after Christ's death. Indeed, the crucifix, the cross with the body of Jesus nailed to it, was adopted as a religious emblem only in the 7th century after His death.
Most people think now of one type of cross only. Yet there are many different kinds. These vary in the direction of their limbs, form, and extension. Best-known are:
ò The \BGreek Tau Cross\b - resembling the letter T.
ò The \BEquilateral Cross\b - also referred to as the "Greek Cross," of which each limb is of identical length, a vertical line being bisected by a horizontal one of equal dimension.
ò The \BLatin Cross\b - in which the lower branch is longer than the three others.
ò The \BLooped Cross\b - which, like the Egyptian hieroglyphic, is a T with a circle on its top and is also known as the "Handled Cross."
ò \BSt. Andrew's Cross\b - in the form of a capital letter X, so called because St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland, was martyred on a cross of that shape.
ò The \BMaltese Cross\b - formed of four triangles joined at their apex.
ò The \BSwastika\b - or "Crooked Cross" - common in India, representing the solar wheel turning darkness into light and night into day.
#
"History of the Gettysburg Address",1090,0,0,0
Abraham Lincoln's \JGettysburg Address\j, delivered on November 19, 1863, is world-famous. All the more surprising are the false notions associated with it.
It was said that Lincoln improvised the speech, spoke "off the cuff" as it were. Widespread is the tradition that he had drafted it almost at the last moment on the back of an envelope during his train trip to Gettysburg. In fact, Lincoln had started to prepare the speech, with great thought and care, two weeks prior to the event and did so on official \JWhite House\j notepaper. Though the final text amounted to only 269 words, they were the result of much editing. Lincoln is said to have amended the speech five times! It was certainly not a haphazard effort but a most conscientiously worded address.
Even its exact text at the time of delivery has been subject to doubt. It is believed that the original draft contained no reference to the divinity. However, when the newspapers reported the speech, the President was "quoted" to have said, "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom." It is possible that on the spur of the moment Lincoln actually added the two significant words, but no one knows for sure. Perhaps they were a later "edited" version, correcting an otherwise conspicuous omission.
The effect of his speech showed how the unexpected can prove of paramount significance. Edward Everett, one of the foremost orators at the time, had been scheduled to give the major address at this historical dedication of the famous battlefield of the \JAmerican Civil War\j as a soldiers' cemetery. His speech lasted two hours. Lincoln had been invited mostly out of courtesy to the President, to follow Everett with "a few appropriate remarks." He commenced his address by stating that "the world will little note nor long remember what we say here." But the ten sentences he spoke, delivered in less than three minutes, and not the preceding marathon oration, have become everlasting.
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"History of the Rosary",1091,0,0,0
According to traditional belief, it was 12th century St. Dominic who instituted the devotion of the rosary. He was "admonished by the Blessed Virgin" to preach it "as a special remedy against heresy and sin." In fact, however, rosaries were in existence - even in \JChristianity\j - long before then. St. Dominic merely extended and popularized the custom which in reality originated in Asia and is very ancient.
Hindus and Buddhists made use of it centuries before Catholicism. The oldest reference to a rosary has been traced to India, where it was used by Hindu monks. When \JMarco Polo\j visited the king of Malabar, he was surprised to watch the monarch worshiping with a rosary of more than 100 precious stones.
Some authorities claim that the Crusaders brought the custom to Europe, having adopted it in the East from the Mohammedans. Nevertheless, examples of rosaries of one kind or another were known in Western Europe before then. Thus it is said that Lady Godiva of Coventry, who died before 1070, bequeathed to the monastery she established "a circlet of gems which she had threaded on a string, in order that by fingering them one by one, as she successively recited her prayers, she might not fall short of the exact number."
The rosary was a simple device to keep count of prayers - an aid to memory. Appropriately, it was referred to in Sanskrit as "the muttering chaplet" or "the remembrancer" and, early in Europe, as "calculi," and "numeralia."
Devotion demands complete concentration. For the mind to wander, even for a moment, because of having to think of other things, would interrupt man's communion with God. According to ancient tradition, frequent repetition of prayers and their multiplication added to their efficacy. In the early days of the Church it was a well-known practice to recite privately all of the 150 Psalms and to repeat the \JLord's Prayer\j 50 times. Centuries later Knights Templar, who could not attend choir, had to say the \JLord's Prayer\j 57 times and, on the death of any of their brethren, were required to recite it 100 times daily for a week.
The absence of prayer books made it most difficult to keep count of the many and varied petitions and Psalms the devout had to or wished to recite. To count and pray at the same time, even by using the fingers, was practically impossible. Mechanical help was needed. At first, most simple means were employed, such as discs of bone, fruit stones, berries, pebbles, and knots in a cord.
When, for instance, in the 4th century, Paul the Hermit imposed on himself the task of repeating daily 300 prayers, he collected an equal number of pebbles and threw them away, singly, at the end of each prayer. Monks of the Greek Church used cords with 100 knots to count their numerous genuflections and signs of the cross.
A bead simply means a prayer. The word is derived from the \JAnglo-Saxon\j \Ibede,\i also retained in the German \IGebet.\i Hence people "said their beads." Lest they omitted any, they tied knots in a string - one knot for each prayer. Eventually, they began to call each knot a prayer, that is, a bead. But to identify part of a string with a petition to God seemed unworthy. The crude knots were therefore discarded and replaced with precious stones and sometimes even with little balls of gold. As these remained the symbol of prayer, they continued to be known as beads.
The modern woman does not realize that her necklace of beads goes back to the worship of the Desert Fathers and recalls not precious ornamentation but fervent prayer, even in its literal sense.
There was another, psychological function of the rosary which is not always realized. People found it helpful to let their hands play with an object while their mind concentrated on an image or an idea. Somehow the activity, carried on almost unawares, intensified the thought-process. Hugo von Hofmansthal, who wrote several librettos for Richard Strauss, kept in his desk a small box of colored glass balls. He was convinced that fingering them fired his imagination.
The beads of the rosary, then, helped the worshiper in his \Jmeditation\j. To let smooth round objects slide through his fingers released tension and soothed the mind. It increased his spiritual power and added to his creative spirit, in which the soul laid itself open to the divine.
To ascetics and mystics in quest of union with God, the counting of beads not only symbolized but promoted progress towards the \Jsupernatural\j realm. They believed that as each bead passed through the hand, they reached nearer to God. Thus, Indian Sikhs could pray: "Thou art the string, Thou art the beads of the rosary, Thou art its knots, Thou art its chief bead, Thou art God."
The word rosary means "a garland" or "a wreath of roses." The term itself probably did not appear till the 15th century. Its origin has been explained by simple facts, \Jsymbolism\j, and a legend.
Early on, so it is said, the beads were carved out of \Jrosewood\j, and it was the choice of this material that was responsible for the name. Others have suggested \Irosaire,\i French for bead, as the linguistic root. As there were so many beads strung together, people began to call the mechanical aid to prayer simply "the beads," using the Latinized form of the French word.
The rose was a symbol of beauty and perfection. Thus, early and medieval Christians chose it as the emblem for the Virgin Mary - the rose of womanhood. Since, according to tradition, she herself handed the first chain of beads to St. Dominic, this has been called ever since by one of her titles, the \Irosa\i mystica.
At some time its individual beads were marked with her emblem, the rose, and that is how, it is further claimed, the rosary really received its name.
An early legend, known all over Europe, relates its origin and description to a vision. In it the Virgin Mary was seen watching a young monk at prayer. While he was uttering repeated Hail Marys with deep emotion, the Virgin appeared to gather rosebuds from his lips, one for each salutation. These she wove into a garland, which she put on her head. It was the first "rosary."
The "complete rosary" of Catholicism, consisting of 150 beads, goes back to the ancient Desert Fathers and their recital of 150 Psalms of \JHebrew\j Scripture. The purpose of the Mohammedan "string of prayer" is mainly to help Moslems in the uttering of Allah's 99 names because, according to their tradition, "whoever recites them (in their full number) shall enter into Paradise." Accordingly, an equal number of beads is counted, with an added terminal one called \IImam,\i the Leader. The beads are of aloes or other odoriferous and precious wood, seeds, or corals.
During the \JMiddle Ages\j, praying-strings frequently served especially for the repeated recital of the \JLord's Prayer\j and thus came to be known also as Paternosters, the prayer's first two words in Latin, "Our Father."
Manufacturers of the praying-strings were called Paternosterers. They comprised a recognized craft-guild of considerable importance and their concentration in one London street is said to have given it its name - Paternoster Row. It is still in existence.
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"History of the Solstice",1092,0,0,0
Twice every year, the sun - in its imagined circuit around the earth - seems to come to a halt. This occurs when it reaches the southernmost and the northernmost distance from the equator. According to the hemisphere, the occasion is known as the summer or the winter \Jsolstice\j. The term \Jsolstice\j, literally describing the event, is derived from a combination of the Latin \Isol\i for "sun" and \Istitium\i for "standing still." It thus speaks of the solar "standstill."
Calendar-wise, the phenomenon coincides with June 21 and December 21 respectively, being regarded as the beginning of summer or winter, depending on the hemisphere, northern or southern. The dates are postponed by one day whenever a \Jleap year\j follows.
The apparent standstill of the sun did not go unnoticed. In fact, for thousands of years, people anxiously used to watch the occurrence. They were deeply concerned that the solar body would not get stuck but return, as they were well aware how much their very existence depended on its warmth and light. They did whatever they could, particularly so at the time of the winter \Jsolstice\j, to help the sun to turn around. The magic they employed is still re-enacted (though rationalized) in some of the Christmas customs, such as the burning of the yule log and the firing of the pudding.
Rituals linked with the summer \Jsolstice\j equally have left their mark and are continued to be observed to this very day in some parts of the world. Best-known of all the ceremonies held at that time are those at the ancient sun sanctuary of \JStonehenge\j, England, situated near the cathedral city of Salisbury.
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"Hitch-hiking",1093,0,0,0
Englishmen used to obtain a free ride by "thumbing" it. Americans, ever since 1936, learned to hitch hike, a term that has traveled worldwide. To begin with, it meant exactly what it said: those wanting to travel free, temporarily "hitched" on to a (slow-moving) vehicle.
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"Hobnob",1094,0,0,0
Hobnobbing, today solely used to describe persons "rubbing shoulders" with people of superior standing, has a much more egalitarian background.
The phrase to "hobnob" can be traced to English inns and public houses of the 1700s. Anyone invited to hobnob was asked to join in having a glass of beer. This could be obtained either warm or cold. In winter the beer was warmed up by letting it stand on a sort of grate inside a fireplace, which was known as the "hob." With refrigeration still unknown cold beer was served at room temperature. The filled mugs were kept standing on a table which was referred to as a "nob." When offering a beer to his guest, the host inquired which of the two was preferred, "hob or nob."
Drinking together created good fellowship. This ultimately developed close relationships and familiarity. Using a contracted version of the hob and the nob, those concerned were soon said to "hobnob." The term eventually was no longer confined to ale houses or drinking, but generally indicated socializing, being on intimate terms.
An alternate derivation, going back to Shakespearean times, claims that the term is a corruption of the \JAnglo-Saxon\j "hab nab" - "to have" and "not to have" something. Soon this took on the meaning of "give and take." It pointed to an easy-going friendship of those hobnobbing. Treating each other with a drink in turn, in the very sense of the Australian "shout," they became true mates.
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"Hobson's Choice",1095,0,0,0
Thomas Hobson owned an inn at Cambridge, England. As a sideline, he hired out horses to students who used to ride to London, ninety kilometers each way.
His stable housed altogether forty animals, which greatly differed in stamina and in speed. It goes without saying that the students would select the best ones which therefore were in almost constant demand. Not all riders took good care of their mounts, and some treated them very roughly.
Hobson, who ordinarily was a very obliging man, nevertheless was not prepared to see his horses maltreated. He also realized that those most favored would soon be worn out. To prevent this, he adopted the method of hiring out his horses in rotation. Whoever came for a mount had no choice. He had to take the horse next in line, thereby giving all the animals equal use.
Obviously some riders did not fancy the horse thus allocated and demanded another one. However, Hobson was adamant. "This or none," he would say. And this is the origin and the meaning of "Hobson's choice." It is no choice at all.
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"Hock",1096,0,0,0
Though nowadays an entire group of German white wines (initially known as "Rhenish") is referred to as "hock," originally this was one specific brand.
The name is derived from that of Hochheim, a German city on the Main. Situated near the river's confluence with the Rhine, it is the center of an entire region noted for the growing and producing of some of the best white wines. Not surprisingly therefore, people called them after the town, the "Hochheimers." A long name, they soon cut it short. Merely retaining its first syllable, they changed the Hochheimer into the "Hoch."
The English took a liking to the wine, not least so Queen Victoria. No doubt it was a taste she had acquired through Prince Albert, her German-born husband. To voice the guttural "ch" of Hoch (very much like the "ch" of the Scottish "loch") was beyond the English tongues. They thus smoothed the hard sound to that of a "k" and thereby changed the hoch into hock, by which name the drink has been known ever since.
As if to confuse the issue, another claim has been made. It denies any connection of the name with that of the city and asserts its independent existence from the very beginning. Hoch is the German for "high" and the German toast, equivalent to the English "he is a jolly good fellow," chanted that "high (hoch) shall he live, three times high" (Hoch soll er leben, dreimal hoch). The "high" in this context was equivalent to "long" and "noble." As, traditionally, a toast is made with a glass of white wine, the drink was soon identified with the first word of the felicitation and thus became the "hoch."
#
"Hockey and Hurling",1097,0,0,0
Pursuits very similar to \Jhockey\j existed in ancient \JGreece\j and no doubt were introduced there from \JPersia\j. In fact, the earliest pictorial presentation of the game stems from \JAthens\j and was found, quite by chance, when in 1922 workmen were repairing the ancient wall built by Themistocles nearly 2,500 years earlier, to guard the city from the sea. The relief then discovered showed young men engaged in some sort of \Jhockey\j game. They hold curved sticks and a central pair can be seen crossing sticks above a ball, very much in the manner of a "bully" being played. The old Olympian and \JIsthmian Games\j included a sporting event in which the contestant hit a ball with a hooked stick.
The Greeks handed the "stick game" over to the Romans, who must have carried it, like so much of their civilization, to the outposts of their empire and into the countries they invaded.
Modern \Jhockey\j, as created in England, resembles most closely games once popular in the \JBritish Isles\j and, no doubt, \Jhockey\j's immediate forerunners: the Scottish \Ishinty,\i the English and Welsh \Ibandy,\i and the Irish \Ihurling.\i
Shinty was a favorite sport of the Scottish Highlanders, in which the players propelled a ball at extraordinary speed with a curved, broad-bladed stick (called in \JGaelic\j a \Icaman),\i either along the ground or through the air. Soldiers thus amused themselves in a combat of great violence, but of a nevertheless friendly nature. The name shinty may be derived from the same root as shindy, meaning a commotion and a brawl. As among the \JAmerican Indians\j, the \Jhockey\j game concluded with a feast. A keg of whisky, presented to the winning team, actually was shared by all.
It is generally assumed however, that the true ancestor of \Jhockey\j was hurling. The national game of the Irish, it goes back to the dim past of their history and appears even in their early legends. It was played in the Emerald Isle, so tradition relates, in pre-Christian times, long before the coming of St Patrick. Cuchullian, chief of the Irish heroes, is said to have been a champion hurler. On one occasion, when on his way to the annual athletic feast at Tara, the seat of the high kings of Ireland, he carried the ball on his hurling stick over a distance of nine miles, repeatedly throwing it into the air and catching it, without once letting it fall to the ground.
The original \JGaelic\j name of the game was \Iioman,\i a word depicting a thrusting action (like that of a rocket), a vigorous forward drive. The forceful "hurling" of the ball obviously gave the sport its English name.
An early record speaks of a lethal hurling match (with nine hurlers on each side) in which the losing team also lost their lives. Another ancient account tells of balls made of brass and a game played by 150 boys against one solitary lad who, holding the goal with his stick, won the day. However, in consequence of his victory, his opponents turned on him as a pack and took away his stick. In self-defense, he then slew one third of them with his bare hands. But finally, he himself was killed. His head was severed with his own stick.
Certainly, even ignoring such legendary traditions, hurling was the most savage, spectacular game - as Irish as the shamrock. For player and onlooker alike nothing could compare with a hurler hitting the ball a great distance through the air, to the stick of a team mate ready to catch it, or toward the far-off goal.
No doubt, hurling crossed the sea from Erin to England, to be assimilated into the English way of life and, eventually, to become \Jhockey\j. Initially, one of its most favored versions was known as bandy ball, bandy being merely an alternate (and descriptive) term for the \Jhockey\j, the bent stick. Obviously the forerunner of \Jhockey\j, bandy ball was rather a simple game in which the ball, struck by the horn or metal-capped end of a curved stick, was driven either from one post to another farther off, or aimed at a goal.
A passage from Fitzstephen's \IChronicle\i has been frequently quoted as the earliest mention of \Jhockey\j in England, although it is not definite that it really refers to this particular game. It describes how in 1174, London schoolboys were amusing themselves after dinner with a \IBalle Playe.\i For the purpose, they went into a field with their own balls and sticks. The latter, it has been suggested, were hockeys or bandies.
The image of "\Jhockey\j players" (youths with curved bats and a ball) appeared even in early sanctuaries. They are shown on a 1333 silver altar flask, now owned by the National Museum in \JCopenhagen\j, and in a \Jstained glass\j window of 1360 at \JGloucester\j Cathedral.
\JHockey\j became another of the games so enthusiastically taken up that the government became perturbed that it would interfere with men's \Jnational service\j as archers. \JHockey\j was therefore included in a ban, issued by King Edward III in 1365, which is the first definite record of the existence of the game in Britain. It was then still called bandy ball. The king pointed out to his sheriffs that "by the people pleasing themselves with divers games such as \Jhandball\j, bandy-ball, football .... the realm is likely, in a short time, to be destitute of archers." Landowners who nevertheless permitted playing of the game on their property faced a fine of ú20 and three years' imprisonment.
The love of \Jhockey\j must have been stronger than fear of prosecution, as the ban had to be repeated several times. Implements used in the forbidden sport were not only to be confiscated but, to prevent their further (ab)use, had to be destroyed.
Views and laws are time-conditioned and eventually, when with the invention of \Jfirearms\j \Jarchery\j became obsolete, there was no longer any harm in taking up \Jhockey\j. For many years it continued to be played very ruggedly and dangerously, in keeping with its hurling ancestry. A seventeenth-century manuscript spoke of players who were "plying their \Jhockey\j vigorously."
Contestants did what they liked on the field of play as their game was uninhibited by any rules. The positions of the players, and their number, varied greatly. To get hold of the ball, men were not reluctant to belabor an opponent with the stick. They were determined to win at all costs. Anyone joining in the fray did so at his own peril.
Very slowly and gradually the game became more civilized and its roughness, if not totally eliminated, was lessened. Among the earliest refinements introduced was the prohibition on raising the head of the stick above shoulder level, and the immediate suspension of any player who struck his opponent either with the stick or his hand. A wild, dangerous, and uncontrolled game which had been more a brawl than a sport, matured.
The foundation of the Blackest Club around 1840 (the exact date can only be assumed as records of the time no longer exist) led to the drafting of a first code of rules. Nevertheless, the new clubs that were formed played \Jhockey\j in their own individual way. The game was finally standardized by the Wimbledon \JHockey\j Club in 1883. Its regulations (adopted in 1886 by the \JHockey\j Association) thoroughly modernized the sport, making it highly scientific and skillful and thereby putting it on the sports map of the world. From then on it spread from England to other countries. In the United States was it was played first in 1890.
The first international match was held in 1895 - between England and Ireland. In 1908 \Jhockey\j was included in the modern \JOlympic Games\j. It had come a long way from its appearance in the ancient Olympics. Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of its evolution is that a game once so rough and unruly, was adopted by women (for the first time at Molesey, England, in 1837). They took it up with at least as much fervor and proficiency as the male sex. This development is indicative of the devious route a sport can take. \JHockey\j, which makes the claim of being one of man's first games - in its original form as a solemn, life-giving magic - certainly gave no early inkling of its final destination.
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"Hocus Pocus",1098,0,0,0
People have always been gullible. It is no wonder, therefore, that those who were anxious to deceive traded on the ignorant person's respect for apparently superior knowledge. Anything that could not be grasped, necessarily contained special power. Who could ever check up to see if that foreign-sounding word or phrase were really a mere sham? That, indeed, is the background of hocus pocus. Yet people have been tricked by this formula, not only when observing a conjurer's performance, but also when seriously seeking the origin of the term.
Of course, there were some who regarded hocus pocus as mere gabble, some spurious Latin that did not exist in the dictionary. After all, as Latin formulas were customary in the prescription of medicines that cured disease, why should not a juggler likewise work wonders with Latin words which were beyond the comprehension of the average man?
Philologists, on the other hand, could point to a linguistic phenomenon known as "reduplication." Especially common in the world of slang, it doubled up words and thus created, for instance, "hoity toity" and "hanky panky." And hocus pocus was seen as just another phrase of that type. There was really nothing mysterious behind it all.
Yet others, equally learned in the realm of language, were well aware that sometimes a man's name was adopted as a word. Thus we speak of the \Jguillotine\j and eat sandwiches: one recalls an eminent eighteenth-century Parisian physician, Dr Joseph Ignace \JGuillotine\j, and the other a hurried meal (on 6 August 1762) of the fourth Earl of Sandwich! Hence, they claim, hocus pocus had as its ancestor a person as well. Some identified "hocus pocus" with a mythological figure; others with Mr Ochus Bochus, allegedly a famous seventeenth-century conjurer. But neither claim has ever been substantiated - each is hocus pocus itself.
In fact, hocus pocus has a religious basis. It goes back to an ancient theological controversy in the Christian faith and sadly recalls early Catholic-Protestant antagonism. It was first coined, so it was said, to decry and actually to ridicule the Roman Catholic faith and to stress the (rational) superiority of \JProtestantism\j.
Both share the Communion Service but give it different meanings. The Communion Service is based on and re-enacts Christ's Last Supper. Jesus and his twelve disciples, like all other Jews (and the thirteen, of course, had all been Jewish), had joined in the traditional Passover eve meal, as it is still celebrated in Jewish homes. A conspicuous part of the meal was the breaking of bread and blessing of wine, as practised on the eve of every Sabbath and Jewish festival. Only this time, because it was Passover, the bread used was unleavened, (known as \IMatzah)\i in memory of the bread of affliction the Israelites had eaten as Egyptian slaves.
Meticulously following Jewish tradition, after blessing both the bread and the wine, Jesus shared them with the rest of the company. The Gospel, which gives a detailed account of the occasion, tells how when handing the wine to his disciples, Jesus accompanied the action with the remark that "This is my blood." Equally, when sharing the bread, he had pointed to it, saying "This is my body."
Catholic priests recall these incidents when celebrating Mass. When they lift up the bread, they use the Latin formula, saying \I"Hoc est corpus domini"\i ("This is the body of the Lord"). In fact, Catholics believe that at that moment, mysteriously the substance of the bread is actually changed into the body of Christ. This is the accepted Catholic doctrine of \Jtransubstantiation\j.
Protestants deny such miraculous transformation and believe that Jesus used the famous words merely symbolically. And to voice their disagreement, some (militant) extremists parodied the sacred formula and rendered it hocus pocus, which certainly sounds very similar to the Latin. The underlying intention of ridicule gave hocus pocus the originally blasphemous connotation of make-believe. And that is how eventually \Ihocus pocus dominicus\i became the modern conjuring formula!
Mock Latin and a misquotation, hocus pocus survives as well in the modern "hoax", which is merely the telescoped, Anglicized hocus pocus!
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"Hogmanay Origins",1099,0,0,0
To Scots all over the world, 31 December is known as \JHogmanay\j. Several explanations have been given as to the meaning and origin of the name.
The name has been said to derive from \Iaguillaneuf,\i the Old French (Norman) word for the last day of the year. The Scots merely adopted it and then adapted it to their tongue.
Others have claimed that the word is a contraction of a French wish for "[good luck] to the \Jmistletoe\j of the New Year" - \Iau-gui-l'an-neuf.\i After all, the \Jmistletoe\j, once the sacred plant of the Druids, played a prominent role at Christmas time, and the Scots may well have taken it over for their celebration of \JHogmanay\j. Yet another explanation sees in the obscure word, a corruption of the Old French \Iau gui menez,\i "lead on to the \Jmistletoe\j."
\JHogmanay\j also is said to have been an ancient Scottish exclamation, uttered when asking for or presenting a gift.
This would link the name with a custom once associated with the day. Groups of youngsters, carrying sacks, went from door to door soliciting gifts - usually oatmeal cakes. They continued their visits till the sacks were full, then feasted on what they had collected. The children invoked God's blessing on all who welcomed them, and they marked the households of those who let them go empty-handed, mainly by erecting in front of them small cairns, which proclaimed the owner's miserliness to every passer-by. The custom survives in the "trick or treat" of the American \JHallowe'en\j.
A specifically Christian explanation suggests that the name of \JHogmanay\j developed from the French \IHomme est nΘ\i - "Man is born."
The celebration of \JHogmanay\j is distinguished most of all by its characteristic Scottish features. These include the playing of \Jbagpipes\j, the drinking of whisky and punch and the enjoyment of favorite Scottish dishes.
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"Hoi Polloi",1100,0,0,0
Those who condescendingly speak of "the common crowd" as "the hoi polloi" give away their own ignorance. A Greek expression, \Ihoi\i represents the definite article. \IHoi Polloi\i already means "the many" and hence to speak of "the hoi polloi" literally doubles up the article, saying "the the many."
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"Holi Festival",1101,0,0,0
\BThe Festival of Color\b
\JHoli\j is the Hindu festival of spring and usually falls in February or March. It is a happy season that lasts between three and ten days. It is distinguished by colorful floats and exuberant processions. People dance in the streets and light bonfires.
The festival is called after Holika, a she-demon, and one of the conspicuous features of the celebration is the burning of her effigy together with those of other demons. It is meant to symbolize the hoped-for destruction of the powers of evil.
\JHoli\j, "the festival of color," has acquired this name from the people's practice of squirting colored water and throwing red powder on each other and passers-by. They do so in recollection of a legend told about the god Krishna as a youth. Krishna is worshiped during \JHoli\j.
According to the legend, the young Krishna was working as a cowherd and amused himself by throwing milk and yellow powder over the maids who were sharing his work. In response, they showered him with red powder.
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"Holocaust and its Meaning",1102,0,0,0
The word "\Jholocaust\j" now has deeply emotional overtones, associated as it has become, through 1986 Nobel Peace Award Winner Elie Wiesel, with the callous murder of six million Jews.
However, this term comes to us from ancient religious ritual, and was a particular kind of sacrifice, made by the Israelites to honor God. This was the "burnt offering" in which the slaughtered sacrificial animal (a bull, sheep, \Jgoat\j or bird), was placed on the altar to be totally consumed by fire. (Only its hide was saved and kept by the priests.) This, indeed, is the literal meaning of \Iholocaust,\i a combination of the Greek \Iholos,\i "whole," and \Ikaustos,\i "burnt" - the animal was "wholly burnt."
It was felt that the main purpose was, not the offering of the animal, but "the pleasing odour" ascending to heaven from its burning flesh. This explains why in the original \JHebrew\j text the burnt offering is called \Iolah,\i "that which goes up."
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"Holtermann's Nugget",1103,0,0,0
"Holtermann's nugget" is the largest speciman of reef gold ever to be found in the world. It was discovered at Hill End, \JNew South Wales\j on 19 October 1872. Weighing 283.50 kg (then valued at ú12,000), it yielded 85 kilograms of gold.
The find was typical of Holtermann's extraordinary life. Rumor has it that this German-born migrant to \JAustralia\j, whose enterprise knew no bounds, amassed a fortune of more than ú150,000 ($300,000), an enormous amount at that time.
Strange incidents and coincidences marked Bernhardt Otto Holtermann's experiences in the colony. Soon after his arrival on the goldfields, around 1860, a blasting accident so seriously injured him that for a considerable time he lingered between life and death.
Later on, he roused people's anger advising them not to invest their money in a venture which produced enormous wealth; to their great loss, they heeded him. They blamed Holtermann for having missed a never-to-be-repeated opportunity of enriching themselves, and to vent their wrath they burnt his effigy in public!
Many were Holtermann's contributions to his adopted country. Not least of them was his introduction into \JAustralia\j of lager beer, so called because it was matured whilst stored \I(gelagert\i in German) in a cellar.
Another of his permanent gifts were the photographic records he made of Australian life. They covered large areas of the goldfield towns in Victoria and \JNew South Wales\j, and much of the Australian countryside. In fact, his collection of 3,000 pictures (produced by the wet-plate process), had no equal, in number, size, or historical value. It was not just a hobby, but a serious enterprise aimed at promoting \JAustralia\j worldwide, mostly to attract migrants.
With this purpose in mind, Holtermann arranged special exhibitions of his photographs in both the Old and New Worlds. It was in recognition of the valuable part he played in building up of the country that he was elected to the \JNew South Wales\j parliament, as member for St Leonards.
Holtermann died in 1885 at the age of 47. His had been an eventful life indeed. Strangely, it so happened that the date of his death, 29 April, was not only the same as that of his birth in 1838 in \JHamburg\j, coincided as well with the day in 1858 on which he had first set foot on Australian soil in Sydney.
The home he had built on the heights of the North Shore was so outstanding - in every sense of the word - that people came to call it "Holtermann's Tower."
In contrast, his last resting place, in St Thomas' churchyard seems all the more humble. In fact, its headstone no longer covers the original grave. When the cemetery was turned into a public park, the stone was moved. Though still within the area of the former cemetery, it now stands among a group of other monuments without graves.
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"Holy Smoke",1104,0,0,0
"Holy smoke," now a mild swear word, used harmlessly as an expression of intense amazement, originally had sacred associations. In the early days to refer to it lightly and in a mundane situation was regarded as totally out of place and highly offensive, quite literally profane.
Smoke - as from a furnace - ascended from \JMount Sinai\j, when God revealed the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19:18). A pillar of cloud looking like smoke preceded the Israelites on their wanderings through the wilderness as a guide and a guardian (Ex. 13:21).
Smoke, like a prayer, rose heavenwards from the altars of the sanctuary on which the priests burned the offerings of the people and the incense. In each case it was "holy smoke" which, to make use of in everyday conversation, was regarded as blasphemous.
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"Home Address",1105,0,0,0
\BLlew Morgan\b
Quite out of the ordinary is a tombstone that records the former address of the deceased. Such a monument can be found in the Rookwood Cemetery. The epitaph reads:
\IIn Loving Memory of
LLEW C. MORGAN
Engr. M. V. 'Fresno City'
74 Station Rd Llanelly Wales
Died April 8, 1931. Aged 22 Years\i
Obviously, Morgan, a Welshman, was a ship's engineer. He must have passed away whilst his vessel was docking in Sydney.
#
"Honeymoon",1106,0,0,0
There are several opinions as to the origin of the honeymoon. Its true meaning depends on whether we take it very literally or merely as a beautiful picture.
The moon gave birth - on the loom of language - to the "month." In ancient days (and still today among \JArabs\j and Jews) the duration of a month coincided with the period of revolution of the moon. You had only to look at the moon to ascertain the approximate date. A new moon always signified the first day of the new month. Hence the honeymoon was the first month of marriage, when all was sweet.
Other lunar observations turned away from the sunny side of the moon - and life - and noted their ever-changing character. The moon never appears the same. It is always different. According to this dismal way of thought the honeymoon refers not so much to the period of one month as to the eventual waning of love, after the first white heat of passion. Indeed, not a few misanthropes explained that the honey was bound to change - like the moon - but to water and gall...
\IBut of all the lunar things that change,
The one that shows most fickle and strange,
And takes the most eccentric range,
Is the moon-so-called of honey.
Thomas Hood\i
However, the most likely origin of the phrase is an old Scandinavian, and generally Northern European custom, of drinking honeyed wine or other kinds of diluted and fermented honey as an aphrodisiac during the first month of marriage.
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"Honeymoon Plans Kept Secret",1107,0,0,0
Many a newlywed couple do not like to reveal, even to their closest friends, the place where they are going to spend their honeymoon. They really do not know why they keep it a secret and mostly, superstitiously, believe it to be for good luck. The practice has also been rationalized by the explanation that they want to be left alone and, by the added air of secrecy, make the occasion all the more romantic.
Actually, the custom originated in the days when the man used to capture his bride-to-be. There was every reason, therefore, for the couple not to make known their whereabouts, lest the woman's family catch up with them and create unpleasantness or, at the very worst, take the woman back. Once the honeymoon was over, the young couple hoped, tempers would have cooled and the new situation would be accepted.
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"Hoo-ha",1108,0,0,0
Hoo-ha, as a slang word for a rowdy, noisy argument or lots of fuss and bother, may well be an imitation of the raucous noise it creates. As philologists would say, this is an onomatopoeic term.
Yet it has also been suggested to come from the \JYiddish\j language to be popularized by comedians both on radio and \Jtelevision\j, particularly in the United States. In its \JYiddish\j connotation, it is a multipurpose exclamation which can indicate a whole spectrum of human sentiments and attitudes. Hoo-ha can express excitement, admiration, jealousy, and surprise. Which of these it is depends on one's tone of voice and facial expression.
#
"Hoodlum",1109,0,0,0
The hoodlum is a social phenomenon found in many countries, and it is no wonder therefore that the origin of this name has had a variety of explanations.
It is perhaps the result of a printer's error in a \JSan Francisco\j paper in the early 1870s. At the time, a gang of thugs made life in that city very unpleasant. In search of an apt description, a reporter made use of their leader's name, which was Muldoon.
To make his coinage more memorable, he reversed the name and referred to the hooligans as "noodlums." When printing the report, the typesetter mistook the initial "n" for an "h" and thus, by mere error, introduced the "hoodlum," a word and designation which has never been corrected. From the \JSan Francisco\j region it spread to all English-speaking people.
Another version gives the account a slightly different slant, and is more plausible. There was no mistake on the part of the typesetter and the reporter had in fact called the gang by its leader's name, without changing it in any way. However, his editor, afraid of retaliatory action from the gang, though using their leader's name, cleverly changed it - he hoped beyond recognition. For this reason, he spelled Muldoon's name back to front and, further to camouflage it, replaced the "n" with an "h" - with the resultant hoodlum.
Other derivations cite (South) German and Swiss roots, particularly a Bavarian slang word for ruffians.
It has also been said that the hoodlum embodies the gangster's cry when attacking their victims, "huddle 'em!"
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"Hooker: Origin of the Name",1110,0,0,0
Prostitutes have been known by many names. Some of these are self-explanatory. Others - like that of the hooker - leave room for doubt. Most obvious is the explanation that a hooker earned her name by having learned every ruse to "hook" men.
"The Hook" was an old district of the city of New York which housed a number of brothels. Sailors frequenting them referred to their special residents as the "Hookers."
Mostly, however, the hooker's name is linked with that of Joseph ("Joe") Hooker, the famous general of the \JAmerican Civil War\j. Though opinions again differ as to why she was called after him. Some say that it was because of this great soldier's love of the ladies. This made him spend many off-duty hours in their company. People, well aware of the general's tendency, came to dub the town's red light district "Hooker's division." Inevitably, the girls "stationed" there, became known as the hookers.
An alternate (and opposite) view gives the general a totally different standing. Determined to see his men in top physical condition and hence in their best fighting mettle, he did not want them to dissipate their energy in loose living. Consequently, the soldiers under his command were informed that for them the red light district was "out of bounds."
Naturally, the men deeply resented their sexual confinement. To vent their feelings, as it were in a counterattack, they began to call prostitutes by the general's name, and a prostitute has remained a hooker ever since.
Yet another version that links the general's name with the oldest profession is the most likely. The "girls," well knowing how welcome they were to Hooker's fighting men, attached themselves to his columns, as camp followers. In no time, they were regarded as part of Hooker's army, which made them "hookers."
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"Horned Helmets",1111,0,0,0
A distinguishing feature of early armor was the horned helmet, best known through the portrayal of Viking warriors. It is often incorrectly assumed they were worn to frighten the enemy by simulating a charging bull or deer. They developed from an earlier custom, steeped in occult tradition. Fighters used to don the skin of an animal, with the horns still attached to it. The animal's power and aggressiveness, they believed, would be magically transferred to them.
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"Horned Moses",1112,0,0,0
One of the most famous statues of \JMichelangelo\j is his \IHorned Moses.\i Now standing in the Roman Church of St Pietro in Vincoli, it has been the subject of much speculation. People wondered what had prompted the sculptor to give Moses horns.
Several explanations have been given. Some saw in the horns simply the fancy of \JMichelangelo\j's genius. Others considered them symbolic of Moses" spiritual force, a materialization of the divine light that inspired him.
More critical scholars pointed to obvious parallels in pagan \Jmythology\j, the horned representation of Babylonian and Egyptian deities, and claimed that \JMichelangelo\j had copied them. They also quoted a passage from the Koran in which Alexander the Great was called the "two-horned," which suggested that the horns expressed authority and power.
Yet none of these answers is correct. Neither a \Jsupernatural\j miracle nor the adoption of pagan tradition was responsible for Moses' horns. They are the result of a mistake, of one misunderstood word in the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j.
Pitfalls exist in all languages. They are multiplied in \JHebrew\j because its ancient text lacked vowels. It was left to the reader's scholarship to add these to the skeleton of consonants. As an illustration, this could be compared to an English word represented solely by the three consonants BRD. Only the context and erudition on the part of the reader would be able to determine whether these stood for a bird, a bard, a beard, or bread, to quote only a few possibilities.
When the \JBible\j describes how Moses, for the second time, came down from \JMount Sinai\j, carrying the tablets of the Law inscribed with the ten commandments, it tells that, "Moses knew not that his face KRN." In \JHebrew\j the combination of the three consonants KRN can have two totally different meanings, either "to shine" or "to sprout horns." (Actually, it was the latter which formed the root of the Greek \Ikeras,\i the Latin \Icornu\i and the English \Ihorn\i all of which developed from the \JHebrew\j KRN.)
Jewish tradition and the fact that further on in the passage we are told that Moses had to cover his face with a veil, leave no doubt as to the correct word. It could only be that his face "shone." In the exaltation of the moment he was radiant. It was as if a \Jsupernatural\j light emanated from his inspired countenance. Indeed, so strong was the light that the people were afraid to approach him.
Yet the word was misunderstood and the wrong alternative chosen. It was perhaps because of his pagan background that Aquila, a second century convert to \JJudaism\j, when translating the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j into Greek, rendered KRN as "sprouted horns." The (later) Latin translation of the \JBible\j, the Vulgate, which in the sixteenth century became the official Roman Catholic version, copied this error, interpreting the word to mean \Icornuta erat.\i As a devout Catholic, \JMichelangelo\j used the text approved by his Church, and thus created his "Horned Moses," a unique piece of art, but distinguished even more for its perpetuation in stone of an early translator's mistake.
#
"Horoscope",1113,0,0,0
When man's dependence on the stars was accepted and their determination of his fate and character recognized, astrologers were ready to produce the horoscope.
The term is a combination of Greek and Latin roots. It spoke of man "observing" \I(skopos)\i the "hour" \I(hora).\i This, of course, referred to the specific moment of time concerning the birth of a person, the occurrence of an event, or an occasion of national importance on whose behalf the heavens were consulted.
The resulting horoscope presented a geocentric map of planetary positions in relation to the Zodiac and subsequent calculations about the future or character of the subject "under review."
This, of course, presented its own problems which really have not been satisfactorily solved for those who most gullibly and blindly believe in this part of the occult. Our calendar has changed, and the maps of the skies and stars still being consulted by those claiming the gifts of \Jastrology\j are largely erroneous, as any astronomer knows.
More significant still is the question, which \Jconstellation\j of stars determined a person's fate, if in fact any did. The general assumption and choice of the actual moment of birth seems inadequate. After all, the child's life began nine months prior to its delivery. Why should the stars only "count" when the mature embryo leaves the mother's womb? Should it not really be the split second when the sperm found its target in the \Jovum\j and fructified it? But who would ever be able to time exactly this moment of conception?
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"Hors d'oeuvre's Origin",1114,0,0,0
The hors d'oeuvre does not come from the kitchen at all but from \Jarchitecture\j. Early blueprints showed only the main structure. They omitted outbuildings which technically were designated "outside the work," in French \Ihors d'oeuvre.\i When enterprising French chefs supplemented menus with "appetizers," served prior to the main meal, they adopted for them the architectural term as, after all, they too were "outside their (main) work."
#
"Horse Accidents",1115,0,0,0
Fatal motor accidents have become an everyday occurrence. But even prior to the advent of the car, its forerunner, the horse, caused numerous deaths, documented in many a graveyard.
John Kirkwood, buried in the East Perth Historical Cemetery, "met his death by the kick of a horse on 14 November 1872 - aged 40."
Victim of another type of equestrian misadventure was John Cameron. A migrant from Scotland - "a native of Argyleshire" - he died on 18 October 1875 "by a fall from his horse."
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"Horse Before Hearse",1116,0,0,0
At the military funeral of an officer, it is a tradition to have his riderless horse precede the hearse, with its master's boots hanging upside-down from the saddle.
However sentimental and moving the custom appears nowadays, it originated in a much more solemn (and deadly) religious ritual in which a slain warrior's horse was actually sacrificed at his burial. The practice was based on the belief that the horse's spirit would then accompany its master into the world beyond, to serve him there.
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"Horse Bells and Brasses",1117,0,0,0
Superstitious beliefs have been attached to the horse, not least to its hoof, as the universally accepted lucky horseshoe shows.
A piebald horse was regarded almost as a walking, magical medicine chest. A hair from its side, or merely the smell of its stable, are thought to possess curative properties. Eventually, these were transferred to its owner. Advice he gave for the treatment of sickness solely through his association with the piebald, would effect a cure. On the other hand, Yorkshiremen regarded an encounter with a white horse on leaving home as an omen of misfortune. The only possible antidote was to spit on the ground, preferably three times. A horse with white-stockinged forelegs generally was taken to mean good luck.
Many fables and legends have credited the horse with \Jclairvoyance\j, giving its master timely warning of things to come. It is not surprising therefore that Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychologist, saw in the horse the symbol of man's intuitive understanding, his magical side, "the mother within us."
The introduction of horse bells and brasses was due to superstitious notions. A horse was considered specially vulnerable to the attacks of mischievous forces, particularly the evil eye that, it was thought, by an invisible ray could inflict worse harm than the most poisonous arrow. The origin of the belief may be based on the not infrequent irrational behavior of a horse. Man was bewildered by its refusal to go on and its breaking out into sweat or stumbling, on occasions when human eyes or mind could not see any apparent reason.
To protect the horse against such invidious, unaccountable forces, its owner provided it with an amulet. Plates of metal or bells were attached to the animal, by their noise to frighten off the evil forces. Another "devil repellent" was an object of bright and shining color fixed to the forehead of the horse. A red piece of cloth, a red \Jcoral\j, or a magical silver hand served for the purpose. Most effective of all, it was considered, was a brass disk. It assumed a variety of forms, all regarded as of sacred potency, such as a cross, an eight-pointed star, the horseshoe, the lunar crescent, or the solar wheel. What appears nowadays a mere ornament and decoration thus can be traced to early religious beliefs and magic.
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"Horsemeat",1118,0,0,0
That horsemeat is disliked and shunned in Britain and countries that have adopted English tastes is largely the result of ancient local religious tradition.
Norse \Jmythology\j shows that the horse was once worshiped. It was sacred to the god Odin. To kill the animal for food was tantamount to sacrilege and would provoke divine wrath. On the other hand, offered as sacrifice, the horse was truly "food fit for the gods." On such occasions, the faithful would share some of its meat in a sacramental meal. To eat horsemeat therefore became part of pagan ritual, practiced solemnly and with deep conviction.
Consequently, \JChristianity\j strongly disapproved of the custom, and instructed its followers and converts under no circumstances to consume horsemeat. This was easier said than done, and the Church experienced great difficulty in weaning its adherents from partaking of the flesh. Consequently (in A.D. 732) Pope Gregory III felt the need to issue an edict specifically prohibiting the practice.
From those times onwards, the eating of horsemeat became identified with the evils of pagan worship, creating, as the years passed by, an almost physical abhorrence to the practice. When the Normans invaded Britain, they brought with them their \Jcult\j of the horse which reinforced the Englishman's revulsion, so that he shunned horsemeat all the more.
The ecclesiastical authorities went even further. They feared that if ever the English broke the \Jtaboo\j, readopting the blasphemous eating habit, they might easily resume other pagan customs as well.
Paganism vanished and, with it, its horse-worship. But like an ancestral memory, the Englishman's repugnance to horsemeat has remained deeply ingrained in his psyche.
Frenchmen's partiality to horsemeat, on the other hand, has a comparatively recent historical origin. When, during the 1870-71 war, the Germans besieged Paris, hunger proved stronger than religious tradition. Desperately short of food, Parisians, it is estimated, slaughtered 70,000 horses. As appetite grows by eating, so the enjoyment of horseflesh became an acquired French taste, retained even after Paris had been relieved, just as the British did not lose their atavistic \Jtaboo\j.
#
"Horsepower and James Watt",1119,0,0,0
That the output of a car-engine is reckoned in \Jhorsepower\j is the result of business promotion. When James Watt had perfected his \Jsteam engine\j, he naturally wanted to market it. For this purpose he advertised it (in 1776) and clearly concentrated on its main advantage: the enormous power it possessed.
Coal miners and cotton weavers were the most likely customers and therefore he had to "sell" his invention to them most of all. He could do so best by expressing himself in terms they would easily understand and appreciate. Both used horses in their work as the source of power. (To hoist a 100 pound pail of coal, a horse had to walk 330 feet in one minute. A strong dray horse working at a cotton gin for eight hours a day, averaged 22,000 foot-pounds per minute.) For them to know how many horses could be replaced by one \Jsteam engine\j was essential to make them buy his product. This prompted Watt to choose \Jhorsepower\j as a standard measure.
Working horses have been redundant for a long time. Nevertheless, man continues to compare with them the output of the latest high-powered engine.
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"Horseshoe",1120,0,0,0
Horseshoes were generally adopted on the continent of Europe as late as the tenth century and introduced into England by William the Conqueror. The earliest use of the horseshoe has been the subject of much controversy and confusing conjecture.
Ancient Greek records have been quoted and then rejected as misleading on the ground that they were based either on a misunderstanding or a wrong translation of the original text. Homer's reference to "brass hoofs," for instance, was not a description of early horseshoes (it was said), but merely a figure of speech to picture the prancing advance of the horse and the firmness of its hoofs.
A passage, often cited in the past, mentioned a kind of stocking or sandal, tied to the horse's feet by means of a strap to enable the animal to advance more easily over difficult territory and great distances. \JXenophon\j tells of little bags put around the horse's feet in the depth of winter, so that it should not sink into the snow.
However, on examination of the texts, other authorities pointed out that the so-called protective covers were only adopted as dressings by early veterinary medicine, and were not the forerunner of the metal shoe. Aristotle's is the only authentic reference to leather shoes. These were put on camels to avoid foot soreness.
Not one of the many Greek sculptures in existence, featuring the horse in most detailed form, reveals the use of "shoes." The \JBible\j did not know them either. It was only in the way of a \Jmetaphor\j also when it spoke in Deborah's song (Judges V:22) of the foe's horses in flight with their stamping hoofs, or in Isaiah's prophecy (V:28) of the enemy's advance with chariots as swift as the \Jwhirlwind\j and the horses' hoofs as hard as flint.
Only an abundance of iron could lead to its use for hoof protection. Bronze was too soft and would have worn down speedily. That is why the introduction of horseshoes was of a relatively late date. Man's trend to specialization is well exemplified by the fact that the production of horseshoes and the nails necessary to fix them, created a specialized craft. Farriers were very conscious of their skilled vocation and considered themselves (as one of them expressed it in a treatise devoted to the craft) the aristocrats of the nail trade.
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"Host Pouring Wine Into his Own Glass First",1121,0,0,0
Ancient and modern, civil and gruesome, are the two reasons that account for the custom, which is now etiquette, of a host's first tasting the wine. It has nothing to do with the assumption that it was to ensure that the wine was of the best quality and right temperature - thus good enough for his guests.
That before filling their glasses he pours a few drops of the drink into his own glass first, nowadays has the obvious purpose to remove any pieces of cork that may have fallen into the bottle whilst it was being opened. This thoughtful gesture, however, goes back to much earlier times, when it was made in different circumstances.
Before the introduction of corks, the Italians used to top the wine with oil, which filled the neck of the bottle. In serving drinks, therefore, it was necessary first to pour off its liquid protection, the oil. To make quite sure that none of the guests received in his drink any drops, which might still be floating on top of the wine, it was only natural for a considerate host to fill at least part of his own glass first.
The custom leads back still further - to medieval times when conviviality frequently was mixed with assassination, and the drinking of wine offered an occasion to poison one's foes. It was thus not merely as an act of courtesy that the host sipped the offered drink before everyone else, but as a kind of life assurance in its most literal sense. It was to kill all suspicion (and not his friends), that he did so. The company was assured they had nothing to fear, and could relax. Perhaps this background of the custom explains why Jewish people, for thousands of years, have been using for their toast the wish, "For Life."
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"Hot Air Balloon - Thomas Downes",1122,0,0,0
A unique \Jengraving\j of a hot air \Jballoon\j can be found on the headstone of the grave of Thomas Downes in the Camperdown Cemetery. It has the additional distinction of commemorating the first Australian fatality associated with \Javiation\j.
It also is a reminder of early mob violence in Sydney, of which Thomas Downes was a victim. It is not known for certain whether he was a bystander watching the riot, or was associated with the abortive attempt at a \Jballoon\j flight over the city on 15 December 1856.
Pierre MaigrΘ, a French \Jballooning\j entrepreneur, in a publicity campaign extending over many weeks, had promised to present to the people of Sydney a spectacle they had never seen before: a huge "\Jairship\j" cruising above their heads. It was to be launched from the Sydney Domain, and everything would be done to ensure the spectators' comfort.
The promotion had its desired effect and many thousands of people turned up. They admired the large inflated and gaily decorated \Jballoon\j, still safely tied down.
But no effort on Monsieur MaigrΘ's part succeeded in getting the "\Jairship\j" aloft. The people, not believing that a technical hitch had occurred, felt they had been fooled. It was all a hoax on the Frenchman's part. Incensed, they chased him out of the Domain. He managed to take refuge in a small cottage in Macquarie Street. However, a horde of pursuing teenagers caught up with him there and smashed the windows.
They then returned to the Domain to join the angry mob of people determined to vent their \Jspleen\j. If Pierre MaigrΘ could not send the \Jballoon\j up, they would - in flames. Wrecking the seats put up for their comfort, they heaped them into a large pile, which they set on fire. They then tried to add to the flames the fifteen-metre poles that had served as an anchor for the \Jballoon\j. These collapsed in the process, killing Thomas Downes.
A pictorial record of his cause of death is thus hewn in stone on the now badly-worn monument on his grave.
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"Hot Cross Buns",1123,0,0,0
The custom of eating hot cross buns on \JGood Friday\j goes back to pre-Christian days and pagan worship. The word bun is derived from "boun," the archaic description of a sacred ox. The ox was sacrificed at the time of the vernal \Jequinox\j and a stylized representation of its horns was stamped upon the festive cakes that were eaten on the occasion. Hot cross buns are also linked with early lunar worship. The round bun was the replica of the full moon and the indentations symbolized its four quarters.
Whenever the early Church realized that it was impossible to abolish ingrained ancient customs, it wisely adapted them to its own beliefs. Thus, it reinterpreted the horn marks on the buns as the sign of the cross, which was so appropriate for the day of Jesus' crucifixion. The symbol also proved to have practical value. It made it easy to divide the cake into four equal parts, which could then be shared by the worshipers when they broke their fast (the origin of "breakfast") even before returning home after the early morning Mass.
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"Hot Curry",1124,0,0,0
Only those who have never visited India imagine that all curries are hot. There are mild curries as well and they are equally favored by Indian people. The name "curry" - from the Tamil tongue - describes merely a "sauce" or "relish" without referring to any ingredient which gives a burning sensation. Significantly, the very condiments that make curries hot - such as \Jchili\j and cayenne peppers - come from the American tropics! They were introduced into India in the sixteenth century.
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"Hot Dog",1125,0,0,0
In the 1870s, German migrants brought their frankfurters to the United States. The Americans took a liking to them, and "franks" became their favorite snack. All over the country vendors sold the sausage hot from a grill. The hungry customer soon painfully learned that, however delicious the sausages were, they were too hot to handle! Besides, they made their hands greasy. Consequently, trade slowed down. Frankfurter vendors had to do something to revive business. One ingenious vendor thought he had the problem solved by providing each customer with white cotton gloves. His business immediately flourished, but not profitably. Customers assumed they had received the gloves as a bonus and not just on loan. So the hot franks business reached yet another dead end.
Problems exist to be solved. It was at the \JChicago\j World's Fair in 1893 that yet another vender (Anton Feuchtwanger, a Bavarian) found the answer. He encased each hot frankfurter in a bread roll! Almost immediately it was a success. The novel "red hots," as they came to be called, became the rage.
However, this was not the end of the story. New York had the privilege of completing this epic of so simple a snack. At one particular ball game held at the Polo Grounds in 1903, spectators appeased their hunger with "red hots." They especially favored them, as it was a chilly day and the ice cream and soda pop were much too cold.
One of the spectators on that occasion was "Tad" Dorgan, a then-famous American cartoonist and sports commentator. Somehow his attention must have focused on the "red hots" more so than on the game. To him, the sausage's elongated shape resembled a German \JDachshund\j. Next day he duly presented the public with a sketch of the snack, with the addition of four legs, a snout, and a tail!
The story goes that either he, or Harry Stevens who ran the red hots concession, was going to call the popular snack a "hot \Jdachshund\j." As he was not sure of the spelling, he dropped the dachs and translated the hund into English. Thus the hot dog entered the culinary vocabulary.
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"Hot Tea Cools",1126,0,0,0
It is pure imagination that the drinking of hot tea is cooling. In fact, the hot tea adds - temporarily - warmth to the body. When this effect has worn off, it makes people feel relatively cooler.
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"Hourglass and Clockface Symbols on Tombstones",1127,0,0,0
An hourglass with its sands running out, portrays the passing of time and symbolizes the impermanence of earthly existence. As the grains of sand ceaselessly drop from the upper into the lower globe, with nothing able to stop or delay their passage, so man's years on earth relentlessly vanish, and a beckoning future inexorably changes into an irretrievable past.
To emphasize the swift process of this progression towards the inevitable end, some of the hourglasses depicted on headstones are "winged." Time literally flies, and the span of every man's years is running out fast.
The hourglass on a gravestone, therefore, is a reminder of both time's fleetingness and the certainty of death.
The same effect is intended, in a more updated form, by a clock dial. Inexorably, the hours are ticking away. More personally applied, the \Jsymbolism\j of a clock may reflect the temperate, controlled nature of the deceased. His lifestyle followed a regular pattern - neither too fast nor too slow. Always steady and disciplined, he or she could be relied on to the last minute.
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"House Numbers",1128,0,0,0
Early on, individual houses, like street corners, were identified by means of signs, displaying specific colors or pictures. Thus a building could be recognized by the bear, the wolf or the red shield. When governments made the adoption of a surname obligatory, many a family chose for it its house sign. This was the creation of names such as Fox, Bear, Bird, Wolf and Rothschild, the latter from the German for "a red shield."
Napoleon was the first to introduce the numbering of houses, reserving one side of the street for the even numbers and the other for the odd.
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"House of Plantagenet",1129,0,0,0
Originally, Plantagenet was a royal nickname. It then became a surname and was adopted to designate the House of Plantagenet, the long line of English kings which included Richard I, Edward I, Henry IV, and Richard III.
The name is said to have been derived from an incident in the Holy Land in which the plant \I(planta)\i of the broom \I(genista)\i played a part, to leave its imprint, as it were, on an entire royal line.
Tradition has it that when Geoffrey, Count of \JAnjou\j, went on pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher in \JJerusalem\j, he was guilt-stricken for the murder of the Earl of Brittany. To atone for his crime, he had asked two of his attendants to scourge him. They did so with a switch of the broom. To keep his penance perpetually in mind, he decided from that day onward to wear a sprig of the plant in his cap - a practice that earned him the nickname, \IPlantagenet.\i
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"Housewarming",1130,0,0,0
A "housewarming" nowadays is a party - possibly with lots of alcohol which may make you feel warm inside. A social get-together, it is arranged to introduce friends to one's new home. But if you come to think of it, the very description of the occasion - if taken literally - makes little sense. This applies even more so in climes and seasons in which people would welcome air-conditioning and would feel most uncomfortable if you were to warm up the house.
However, far back in time, a housewarming was an important event and very appropriately so named. It was arranged not for the entertainment of the guests invited, but out of deep concern with the spirit world and an actual fire.
An interesting study of social life is what served as a focal point in a home in various epochs and cultures. No one can deny that in the present-day western world the focal point of the home is the \Jtelevision\j set. The family gather in front of it in silent communion, not with each other but with the screen facing them.
But in earlier times the position was taken up by the hearth which, both symbolically and literally, formed the very center of a home. It did so, of course, particularly in the northern hemisphere, as in winter the fireplace supplied the warmth so essential for survival.
The flames of the fire burning in the grate mystified man. Their shape and their constant flicker seemed to reveal some live force, some in-dwelling \Jsupernatural\j being. Was not the fire itself part of the divine sun? Thus in ancient \JGreece\j the hearth became the very site occupied by the domestic gods. It was like an altar, on which a sacred fire was kept burning. The fire was tended with infinite care as, should it ever go out, the gods would leave. (Besides, it was no easy task to light it afresh.)
These housegods were worshiped throughout the year as the keepers and guardians of both the household and its food supply. In their honor the fire was kept burning and the hearth, no longer just an altar, became a shrine. Soon the fire itself was regarded as sacred and as representing life. Therefore it was never allowed to go out.
Even when man forgot the original divine nature of the hearth, it went on influencing his life. The ancient Roman housegods were replaced by fairies, brownies and other spirits who subsequently were thought to have taken possession of the hearth and on whose good will it was imagined the family's life and luck depended. The first place to which a newlywed bride was led when entering her new home was therefore the hearth, which was not then built into a side wall but formed the very center of the house.
The spirits which had made their home in the hearth cared well for the entire family. To please them in every possible way, not least by keeping them warm, would make them all the happier. To neglect their welfare, on the other hand, would disgruntle them with all the inevitable consequences. Hence, prior to going to bed, people specially tidied up the grate. To keep the fire burning and thereby the goblins well satisfied, they put on a new log or fresh peat.
At times and in certain regions this procedure, which was the duty of the woman of the house, was conducted with deep reverence and accompanied with special invocations asking for protection.
It followed that when people moved, they were truly concerned that the new home might lack a protecting spirit and that the sprites which had looked after them would stay behind in the old house. It is not just by way of \Jmetaphor\j that we continue to speak of a home having, (or lacking) a special atmosphere!
Therefore when people moved from one place to another, they made sure they took with them live embers from the old grate, to start a fire with them in the new hearth at once. By this "housewarming" they ensured continuation of their good fortune. They had brought with them the very spirits that belonged to and had looked after their family for so many years. And that is how all housewarming parties have their basis in the world of, and the belief in, the occult. And it is in this "spirit" that they survive.
#
"How Numbers Count",1131,0,0,0
From the very moment numbers had become part of human thought, they were given a unique status of great importance. They were not only used for the practical purpose of counting. They scored as the very elementals of life and were seen as the foundation of the world. Just as in later years all matter was explained to consist of atoms, the figure was seen as the basis of existence. Not an abstract concept, not merely related to objects, it constituted and controlled life.
Numbers assumed an independent reality to be reckoned with. They had a particular degree of distinction, even of sanctity. Therefore they served an important role in calculating fate and determining the destiny of man and of this world. Figures were first noted down not only to assess and record quantities, but - much more importantly - to express symbolic values.
The Babylonians depicted their gods by "figures" - in the numerical sense. The Mayas, on the other hand, in writing their numbers used different types of human heads to represent the numbers from 1 to 13, and zero.
The monumental pyramids, both in \JEgypt\j and Mexico, were constructed according to exact measurements, calculated not for architectural and constructional purposes, but for reasons associated with the fate of the nation. Their true meaning still escapes us and has given rise to countless (and at times fantastic) speculations.
Chaldean astrologers and Persian magi were the first to discover how numbers figured in the pattern of the universe. However, it was the Greek sixth-century B.C. philosopher Pythagoras who popularized the idea that a figure was not just an abstract number but had its own individuality, as for instance persons and mountains have. And he further taught that "all things are numerical." And that is how, from antiquity onward, numbers took their part in man's attempt to understand, to calculate and to control fate. Man sought to find out their mystical qualities and began to apply these magically so that they became an intricate part of his world of the occult.
#
"How Sailing Began",1132,0,0,0
Long after the era of sailing ships passed, we have continued to speak of the sailing of huge ocean liners and even of atomic-powered submarines. This shows not only man's \Jconservatism\j in his manner of speaking, but equally the significant role that sailing has had in the history of civilization.
Like yachting millennia later, sailing as a pastime and recreation could be classed as a typical example of man's "natural" sports. It arose almost inevitably out of some of his early essential pursuits: to transport himself (and later, his goods) and to catch fish. How he first began - adventurously - to leave the dry land to move across water can only be guessed, as can be seen in the stories on the origin of how rowing, surfing, and swimming originated.
No doubt man used the first "boat" on a river, and not on the sea. To get to the other side of the stream, he ferried himself across. In countries such as \JEgypt\j where a huge river was the most obvious means of conveyance, either for himself or his chattels, he learned to take advantage of it. There is evidence to show that huge blocks of stone were carried by boat along the Nile for the building of pyramids in 5000 BC.
Possibly before he tried to reach nearby islands, man dared farther out on the water in his battle for survival, in his search for food. When the growth of the soil and the meat of the hunt were insufficient to sustain him, he found that riches were waiting for him out at sea, where thus necessity taught him to fish. He also soon discovered that the denizens of the sea could be found in greater numbers in shoals further out from the coast. To reach them, he might have held on with one hand to a log or, perhaps, to a bundle of reeds. Possibly these were starting points of the raft and the boat.
Always dependent on material near at hand (and his tools), man built his first sailing craft out of reeds, logs, or skins. There were at least four kinds: the dug-out canoe, the raft (also developed from a single log), a bundle of reeds (used as a float), and inflated skin "boats" or coracles. Even catamarans appeared early in the history of man. Two large logs were joined together, side by side. The method is recalled in the \Jcatamaran\j's name which, from the Tamil, is merely a contraction of the two words \Ikattu\i (to "tie") and \Imaram\i ("wood").
#
"How Satan Came Into the World",1133,0,0,0
Satan is a \JHebrew\j word which - like Selah, Hallelujah, and the Jubilee - has been adopted universally. But through the years "Satan" has experienced a \Jmetamorphosis\j second to none.
To begin with, Satan was not a devil at all nor a fallen angel. All the word described then (both in the form of a noun and a verb) was someone quite contrary, someone who objected, obstructed or, at worst, acted as a kind of prosecuting counsel and His Divine Majesty's most loyal opposition.
If personified at all, Satan was a merely human "son of God" (Job 1,6); even when he was "elevated" to a divine task, he still belonged (and very faithfully so) to God's "staff." Throughout the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j he never appears as God's rival or antagonist.
Various examples can be quoted of the early use of Satan as a verb describing the different types of obstructive actions. Thus the Philistine princes objected to David's offer to join his small group of adherents with them as allies in their fight against the rest of the Israelites. They were afraid that, once the battle had started, he and his followers might turn "adversary" \I(satan)\i and attack their forces from the rear (I Sam. 29,4).
Only once does "satan" appear in the \JPentateuch\j in a \Jsupernatural\j sense. It is in connection with God's attempt to use an angel to stop Balaam, the pagan priest, from proceeding on his mission to curse the Israelites. Even then the purpose of the "obstruction" was obviously motivated to avoid - and not to create - evil, to act as a servant and not as an adversary of God (Num. 22, 22, 23).
Only when \JJudaism\j came into contact with Persian \Jdualism\j during the \JBabylonian exile\j, did satan undergo a personality change. At the time, \JZoroastrianism\j had become a powerful conquering force in the East, teaching that the world was ruled not by one God but by two independent forces: the powers of light \Iand\i of darkness, of good \Iand\i of evil.
The great unknown \Jprophet\j of the Jews at that time (usually referred to as Deutero-Isaiah) raised his voice against such personification of evil. He proclaimed and strongly reaffirmed that God had created both light and darkness. He alone was the Lord of both good and evil. Nevertheless, the philosophy coming from the East did exert an influence on the \JHebrew\j mind, and Satan was seen by Jews as well as a power in its own right. Though still subordinate to God, his intentions were malevolent and to harm man was his delight.
The prologue to the book of Job (which inspired Goethe in his writing of the prologue to \IFaust)\i tells how Satan wandered all over the world to locate sin and sinners in order to make them pay for their evil ways. And where God saw only good, as in the case of Job, Satan cynically suggested that the man's "pious" attitude was mere opportunism. Satan maintained that Job - in his loss and pain - did not defy and deny God only because of self-interest, and his wish to have (and keep) God's favor.
At this stage, Satan had stepped on the slippery downward path. And it did not take long for him to deteriorate further in people's imagination. He no longer occupied his time and made it his business to seek out evil, but produced it himself. And it was at this dramatic moment in Satan's "career" that authentic \JJudaism\j drew the line beyond which it did not permit him (officially) to advance.
Despite this, outside "the \JSynagogue\j," Satan continued to gain ground and to leave his conspicuous traces in Jewish belief. He came to personify all that was evil and dark. This view is reflected in parts of the Apocryphal books which, though excluded from the canon of Jewish Scriptures, were nevertheless preserved in some versions of the Christian \JBible\j. It was also expressed - though only occasionally - in rabbinical tradition contained in the Midrash, the Talmud, mystical writings, and in \JHebrew\j commentaries.
Satan was thus identified with the serpent in Paradise. It was said that he had made God test Abraham's loyalty by asking him to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son. Likewise, when the Israelites had gone astray and worshiped the \Jgolden calf\j during Moses' absence on \JMount Sinai\j, they had done so at Satan's instigation.
Oddly enough, belief in Satan even left its mark in Jewish \Jliturgy\j in some cases. Some authorities claimed that the ram's horn is sounded on the New Year to confuse and frighten Satan with its noise so that he would forget to accuse the sinners before the divine judgment seat. The nightly prayer for peaceful rest includes a petition which asks God to "remove from us the enemy, sickness . . . and Satan."
But all these references are merely peripheral and exceptions. It was in the young Christian faith that Satan found a new role and a prominent place. The authorities did not ban him from the \JNew Testament\j, but acknowledged his power and influence. He became the anti-Christ and was seen as the very embodiment of the cause of all evil. Satan was described as "the prince of darkness," "that old serpent" which deceived the whole world (Rev. 12,9). It was he who tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4, 1-11).
Satan was now seen as a "fallen angel" and his demotion was due to his pride and jealousy. When God had created man in his divine likeness, one of the angels had felt deeply grieved and envious. How could the Almighty give man such dignity as, after all, man was created only out of the dust of the earth! Leading a rebellion against God, Satan and his followers had been thrust out of heaven down into hell. There, as a fallen angel, Satan had dwelt ever since with his retinue.
Refused residence in the Jewish faith, Satan had found a home in Christian belief. There he was a force to be reckoned with. With its conquest of the western world, \JChristianity\j spread its belief in Satan which, after all, had to be taken as "Gospel truth." No wonder that this belief became a powerful influence in the minds, lives, \Jfolklore\j, and (for an extensive period of time) even the judicial system of so-called Christian nations.
Millions of people came to believe in the existence of Satan during the last two millennia. And tragically, the Jews, from whom \JChristianity\j had first adopted the belief in Satan, became its victims. The Gospels already had referred to them when they had refused to accept the divinity of Christ as "the \Jsynagogue\j of Satan." The medieval Church took up this vilification and used it to classify Jews as "the spawn of Satan." It did so not just metaphorically but to justify the denial of rights to the Jewish people, their brutal persecution, and murder. It is one of the sad "religious" roots of anti-Semitism.
#
"How the Matador and the Bull Ring Came About",1134,0,0,0
Modern lovers of \Jbullfighting\j found in it a symbolic dramatization of man's quest for knowledge. They interpreted the various stages of the fight as phases in man's intellectual progress and evolution. When, before the commencement of the fight, the bull is kept confined in darkness, it represented man's original lack of knowledge and understanding. The animal's entry into the ring was like man's first confrontation with reality. Both are perplexed and perturbed, yet in their probing of the surroundings reveal individual characteristics, reactions, and attitudes. The following stages, when the picador and the banderilleros thrust their lances and darts into the bull, portrayed man's assault on his ignorance. Like the matador, he was trying to gain mastery (over his passions and instincts) by his own hand (his higher nature), ultimately, if he followed the rules and remained strong, to prevail. Not by accident, it is claimed, has the climax been described as "the moment of truth."
Even the 'suit of light" \I(traje de luces),\i the popular description of the matador's embroidered costume, has been linked with this explanation and tradition. Light, personified by the bullfighter, was attacking darkness, represented by the bull, eventually to conquer it. Further improvement of the sport, its growth in "refinements" and intricacies, ritual and rules, resulted from various factors. These included national predilections, royal and papal attitudes, climatic and economic conditions, and, last but not least, the influence of individual, outstanding matadors whose innovations were adopted throughout the \Jbullfighting\j world.
Several explanations have been given as to how sport first came to \JSpain\j, its true mother country, whose soldiers and colonizers carried it wherever they went. Some have suggested that \Jbullfighting\j was introduced by the Roman conqueror who well knew how to fight a bull. Julius Caesar, it is said, if not giving it a try himself, certainly encouraged others. However, most authorities believe that the Moors brought \Jbullfighting\j to \JSpain\j. Nevertheless, it might have been indigenous to the country, where it evolved out of an early vegetation rite. Tradition has it that the Cid, who drove the Moors from \JSpain\j, indulged in \Jbullfighting\j as his favorite pastime. He was the very first to organize it in an enclosed area - the first "ring" - and in the presence of spectators. Dexterously guiding his horse to protect himself and his mount from injury, he killed a savage bull with a lance.
Irrespective of the historicity of these traditions, \Jbullfighting\j soon captured the imagination of the Spanish people. Initially, the principal participants in the sport were members of the noble class. A knight or a nobleman mounted on his precious steed, chased the bull around the arena to tire it out and then, awaiting its charge, threw a spear to kill it. (In fact, this is the origin of the present-day banderilla, now used solely to weaken the bull and force it to keep its head down.) A lance eventually replaced the early dart. The noble's servants all on foot, were engaged, whenever the need arose, to divert the bull's attention by movements with a cloak.
No definite records exist about the initial procedure. Certainly, there were no hard and fast rules. We do know that during at least 600 years, the \Itorero\i (a Spanish title meaning "bullfighter") fought the bull on horseback.
It is equally certain, and testified by early accounts, that for a long time fights were far from orderly, the ring presenting a scene of utter confusion with bulls, dogs, mounted nobles, and their footmen servants getting in each other's way.
Only slowly (and not before the twelfth century) were fights properly organized. They became the highlight of state occasions. No feast, indeed, was complete without its "running of bulls." Bullfights also served to promote proficiency in the use of arms. The fights were held in the plaza (the city square), and that is why up to this day a bull ring is so called, though in reality the name no longer applies, and \Icorridas\i mostly take place far away from the city center.
Meanwhile another development, totally divorced from the arena, took place. In the course of time it was to give \Jbullfighting\j a completely different style. Some of the \Itorero's\i helpers began to give their own, separate performances. Too poor to own horses, they did so on foot at country fairs, competing with other side-shows. Unable, of course, to buy a new bull for each occasion, they used the same animal time and again. Often they did this at their own expense - and in a more costly way. The bulls soon learned to anticipate the "no killing" tactics, and the gorings and the death rate at those fairs rose frighteningly.
It was no wonder, therefore, that in 1567, Pope Pius felt the need to ban \Jbullfighting\j, threatening with excommunication both spectators and participants. He decried such occasions as "fitting for demons and not for men." Yet the papal edict did not have the desired effect, and Pope \JGregory XIII\j felt compelled to recognize that \Jbullfighting\j could not be stopped. In a new and far more Lenient decree, he reserved excommunication for the higher clerical orders, also stipulating that each bull could fight only once.
Then history intervened. When \JPhilip V\j, the first Bourbon to rule \JSpain\j, ascended the throne, he left no doubt in his courtiers' minds (possibly because of his French background) how much he loathed the cruel sport which he deemed unworthy of noblemen. They could not but obey their master's wish that they should relinquish it. It was the third (and last) stage in the history of the sport. Once a primitive ceremonial, then an aristocratic pursuit, it was now - around 1700 - "democratized," becoming the pastime of the common people. So far they had merely served their masters in the ring, as footmen following their orders. Now they themselves began to fight and kill the bull (as some of them already had learned at fairs).
Thus the man on foot emerged as the central figure. Because of his proud mission to kill the bull, he was appropriately called matador, a title combining the Spanish words \Imatar\i (to kill) and \Itor\i (bull). (Those who call him torero do so in error. Similarly, the term toreador never belonged to the bull ring. A toreador is a baritone in an opera, and was introduced to the world through Bizet's \ICarmen\i!)
On the other hand, since the noblemen no longer had a part in the fight, the horsemen were now the poor and lowly, acting as mere assistants. Theirs was a subordinate role: to enrage and weaken the bull by sticking a lance - the \Jpica\j - into its neck muscles. This accounts for the name by which they have been known ever sincer- picadors.
All this development, of course, was gradual. Francisco Romero, born around 1700, is credited with having perfected the new style and is rightly considered the pioneer of the modern bullfight. Trained to be a carpenter, he became the founder of a great dynasty of bullfighters who dominated the ring for a hundred years. With unprecedented skill, he employed every part of his body in subduing the bull, and fearlessly stood his ground against the attacks of the ferocious beast.
More efficiently to manoeuvre and "play" the bull around the ring - to tire it out and prepare it for the kill - he invented the muleta, which now is so much part of the equipment of every matador. It supplanted the former loose cloth or cape that fighters had used for the identical purpose. Francisco well realized its great disadvantage: unsupported it could not be managed easily. By draping it over a stick, it became a much more pliable accoutrement.
In addition to the picador, the matador now also engaged as helpers the banderilleros. Their duty was to plant banderillos - barbed darts - into the bull's neck, to weaken the animal even further, to enable the foot-fighters to get close. (The colored streamers decorating the darts explain their name, literally meaning "little flags.")
Matadors on foot needed much practice for their dangerous task, but through the years they became the most qualified fighters - a profession of their own. It was their individual style that exerted the greatest influence on the further development of the sport which was now regulated by definite rules. Successive measures civilized \Jbullfighting\j ever more.
No individual has done more to give \Jbullfighting\j a "new face" than Juan Belmonte, one of the most famous modern matadors. Indicative of his untiring pursuit of the art is the fact that in one season alone (in 1919) he fought 109 \Icorridas.\i Due to his efforts (really motivated by his own physical handicap of being of slight stature and bow-legged) the emphasis in the fight was shifted from the killing of the bull to manicuring it dexterously by the skillful use of the cape and muleta. He showed to a supreme degree how to master and dominate the creature. This, and not the actual death of the bull, became the \Icorrida's\i real thrill and greatest attraction. Belmonte's new style has been described as a revolution in the ring.
#
"Howling of Dogs",1135,0,0,0
It is a long-held belief that the howling of dogs portends misfortune, if not death. People were convinced that everything has a cause and they could not imagine that a dog would howl just for the sake of howling.
It was assumed that the dog, a friend of man, tried to give him a message. The dog's prolonged doleful cry, full of wails, suggested that the message was of a calamitous nature. This is the most obvious explanation of how people began to believe in the \Jclairvoyance\j of dogs and to credit them with the faculty of seeing \Jghosts\j and spirits. There were other contibutory factors.
A dog's perception, at least in part, extends beyond that of a human. Its senses of smell and hearing excel by far those of its master. Thus, it took note of many things which, to man, did not seem to exist.
Unable at first to find a natural explanation to this phenomenon, people endowed dogs with \Jsupernatural\j gifts and mysterious instincts. These, it was thought, gave them the power not just to "sense" spirits and \Jghosts\j - especially the approaching figure of death - but literally to \Isee\i them, even though man could not perceive their presence. To warn him that death was hovering over his home, the animal began to howl. It was the least it could do.
Many examples of such "\Jsupernatural\j" gifts of dogs can be found in literature from the earliest times. Best-known is the account given in the Odyssey, where it is told how the dogs of the swineherd Eumaeus, "with a low whine shrank cowering to the stalls' far side" in the presence of Athene, whom Telemachus was unable to see because "the gods in no wise appear visible to all."
Again, there is the story of \JHecate\j, associated in Greek lore with the realm of the uncanny and \Jghosts\j. Hovering at the crossroads, she foretold death. But only dogs were aware of her. They gave warning by their show of terror and barking.
It is hard to determine whether the numerous tales of that sort were the result or actually the origin of the superstitious notion. At all events, they certainly helped in spreading it. Gullible man, not always capable or willing to differentiate between fact and fiction, soon took the myth for reality.
There may be a much simpler and more rational basis to man's belief in the ominous nature of the dog's howl. When \Jrabies\j was rampant, the whining and howling, no doubt, were linked with the dog's going mad. By its bite, it transferred the sickness and consequently caused death. Unaware of the medical facts, man considered the symptom of the disease as a \Jsupernatural\j omen of death.
#
"Hullabaloo",1136,0,0,0
"Hullabaloo" is a tumultuous noise, with a variety of assumed origins and alternative renderings.
Some recognize in the word the imitation of the sound of howling wind or of a roaring crowd. In other versions it appeared as hurley-bolloo and, immortalized by Shakespeare's witches in \IMacbeth,\i as hurly-burly.
An Irish ancestry has been suggested too. Hullabaloo copied the sound of wailing that accompanied Irish burials and was part of their wakes.
The English linked it with death of a different kind. They traced hullabaloo to an imitation of "halloo," the hunter's cry with which they urged on their hounds to chase the quarry. This "halloo," most likely, had developed out of an earlier shout of "hare" or "haro," as it was specifying the animal.
The hullabaloo has also been cited as a typical example of rhyming reduplication, the echoing of the uproar made by people - their halloo...
Another meaning serves to confuse rather than clarify. The confusion comes from an interpretation which expresses a real contradiction of terms. Hullabaloo, it said, was a combination of "hello" called out to get attention and (the Scottish) baloo for a "lullaby." If true, it would present the oddest of mixtures.
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"Hunky-dory (Honky-dory)",1137,0,0,0
The pleasing affirmation that everything is "hunky-dory" has been traced to different parts of the world.
No matter how far people travel and how much they enjoy their trip, they are always happy when safely returning "home," known in Dutch as honk. Honky reflected their joyful contentment. Extended to "honky-dory," it became even more expressive of their feeling that everything (now) was fine.
"Honk" is also the name of the goal in the game of tag. The first to reach it was "home" and had every reason to be happy. They had won the game.
Hunky-dory is a peculiar phrase and might very likely be the result of corrupted speech. This would tally with an explanation linking the words with American sailors. They are said to have picked the phrase up as an odd kind of memento when their ship called in at \JYokohama\j, \JJapan\j. After spending so much time at sea, sailors are always happy to make port and to seek "relaxation and recreation." This they often do in the red-light district of the city. Thus when an American naval unit docked at \JYokohama\j, the men made their way straight to the area where the "ladies of the night" were waiting, in and around a street named Huncho-dori. Strategically positioned, it was not far from the ship and the sailors had no difficulty in finding their way back.
Recalling the location later and the good time they had enjoyed there, they spoke of how everything had been "hunky-dory," slightly changing the name of the Japanese city street of pleasant memories.
Honky-dory has also been understood to be indigenously American. It has been linked with the \JCivil War\j and a song popular at the time, "Josephus Orange Blossom." One of its catchy lines spoke of the red-hot honky-dory contraband. No one before had ever heard anything like this. It helped people remember the words all the more and use them on every possible occasion. Once hostilities had ceased and when the song was forgotten, "honky-dory" remained ingrained in popular speech. It denoted the delight that things were going really well, just as it had once expressed people's satisfaction on the arrival of contraband goods.
#
"Hunting as a Necessity",1138,0,0,0
According to one view, man, to begin with, did not eat meat. He lived on the natural products of the soil, such as berries, roots, seeds, and wild fruit. Even the formation of man's teeth, it has been further asserted and cited as a confirmation of this theory, indicated an originally meatless diet. Man's carnivorous habits only developed later, after he had tasted flesh and blood and thereby acquired a liking for them.
The \JBible\j suggests that for the first ten generations man did not eat meat, but was completely herbivorous, and that Noah had introduced the practice only after the deluge. However, the findings of \Janthropology\j, archaeology, and anatomy seem to agree that from the very beginning man lived on a multiple sort of diet, eating both the growth of the soil and meat. Therefore, from the start he must have learned to hunt. By partaking of the flesh of some killed foe (either of his own or the animal species), man turned into a carnivorous being and has remained one ever since. But he began hunting in self-defense.
Surrounded and threatened by ferocious, marauding creatures, man had to kill them, not be killed by them. That is why he took up hunting - for self-protection. Using his strong hands, stones, and clubs, he attacked the beast. But he was taught by bitter experience that he was confronted by a being far superior in tooth and claw. In such an unequal fight man was bound to be the loser unless he evolved some technique to compensate for his deficiency. In his battle for survival he was forced to use his mind, and he proved himself a "tool-making animal." He became an inventor and, in various stages, devised the spear, the harpoon, the \Jboomerang\j, the bow and arrow, nets, and the sling. He grasped the value of sharp fragments of flint and rock which he attached to his missiles. Archaeologists have unearthed skeletons of prehistoric creatures with the heads of stone arrows and spears still embedded in the bones.
Once man had acquired the habit of eating meat and had become dependent on it, he experienced another crisis - shortage of food. On occasion, and for long periods, animals did not approach near enough to be bagged. And so the first hunting expeditions were organized. These were communal, and the food the killed beast provided was the property not of the individual hunter, but was shared by his entire group.
Hunting thus began as a dire necessity. In seeking security, food, tools, and clothing (more or less in that order), man had to find prey and, by devious methods, kill it. The hunter developed the art of hurling stones with deadly accuracy; he invented the sling, the spear, and the axe; and, as primitive races continue to do to his day, he ran after the game to tire it out or to drive it into nets or across cliffs to fall to death.
In winter, \JAmerican Indians\j chased \Jbison\j into deep snowdrifts where, caught up and unable to escape, they were easily killed. The first representation of the use of skis - on rock carvings discovered in Scandinavia and dating back to 2000 BC shows hunters gliding along the snow in pursuit of the elk. Already some primitive tribes had reserved the chase to a special class of professional hunters, trained in the art.
Man's genius led to perhaps the greatest of all discoveries, one which has been compared in importance to the invention of the wheel. He found he could make nature work for him. He learned to dig pits and build animal traps which eventually he camouflaged. The prey was caught, as it were, automatically. The trap was the first robot.
The various types of traps ingeniously constructed by early man, revealed his intuitive knowledge of laws discovered only in the scientific age. He took advantage of the force of gravity and wisely employed the principle of leverage and the stored-up energy in a spring, whose equivalent then was a bent tree or twig. A hole dug in the ground was carefully covered up so that the unsuspecting animal would step on the cover and fall into the pit. Heavy stones, to be released by the slightest touch, were cleverly positioned to crush the game. Any contact caused spring-poles to go off and ensnare the wild beast in an attached noose.
Primitive man was deeply conscious of his dependence on superior forces. He felt that alone he could achieve nothing, certainly not bag any quarry. To subdue nature he needed the help of \Jsupernatural\j power. To gain it he evolved magical hunting rites, still practiced in modern days by Aboriginal races.
Led by holy men he joined in chanting magical songs on the eve of the hunt. Games were "played" and dances performed in which a disguised member of the tribe played the role of the game to be hunted. Even painting was utilized as a most significant rite for ensuring the success of the hunt by sympathetic imagery.
The earliest, extant prehistoric drawings of man, discovered in caves and rock shelters (the most famous of all in southern \JFrance\j and north-western \JSpain\j), are of animals - mammoths, \Jbison\j, buffaloes, and \Jreindeer\j. Preserved for millennia in their glowing colors of red, yellow, brown, and black, they were found far back in the caves which were man's earliest picture gallery. Mystical symbols of geometrical pattern (now understood to depict traps) were added to the most naturalistic portrayal of the beasts. For some time these pictures baffled modern man. There is no longer any doubt. They were part of the hunting magic.
To primitive man, a picture was something real. He who had drawn an animal had already caught an essential portion of its spirit. Similarly, the symbolic spearing of a beast (or the catching of it in a trap), drawn on a wall or traced in the sand, by magical means predestined the outcome of the actual chase. Hence, when the hunters went out, perhaps on the following morning, they knew that in reality the principal part of their work had already been done, that they were merely collecting what \Jsupernatural\j powers had prepared for them. The magical drawings were indeed an odd kind of the earliest "grace before meals:" not expressing thanks for the food about to be received, but making sure of obtaining it. They also illustrate the beginnings of art - drawing, painting, dancing, chanting, and drama - not as art for art's sake but as part of man's battle for existence.
Primitive man really did not cherish killing animals. He saw in them creatures like himself, endowed as he was with a soul or a spirit. He believed that taking their lives was highly dangerous, as the slain animal's spirit would try to take revenge. Surviving brethren would also seek to wreak vengeance, to take life for life in a kind of blood feud. Consequently, early man fenced in all his hunting with solemn rites and ceremonies, endeavouring to propitiate the animal's soul and its outraged family, even asking their pardon in advance.
Before the actual hunt man would purge himself, fast for long periods, and offer sacrifices to pay for the crime he was about to commit. Many taboos thus belonged to the hunter's life. Readying himself for the task, he would abstain from certain activities which, he imagined, might impede if not totally spoil the chase. Some tribes, for example, would not wash themselves. They were convinced that if they did so, the wounds they inflicted would prove merely superficial. Only if the hunter himself, and his weapon, had been properly safeguarded for the chase, would it be successful. Charms of various kinds were employed. They were worn by the hunter or fixed to his hunting tools. He would chew red pepper or blacken his face (not for the purpose of camouflage) with the soot of burnt, fragrant bark. Hunting involved even those staying at home, as any inadvertent action on their part could interfere with its success.
When the chase was over, other taboos and rites were observed. The hunter would confront his kill and apologize for his deed. When carrying the slain prey home, some tribes carefully avoided taking it through the customary entrance, as this was considered ritually unclean since it was used by women. Bones of the killed beasts were treated with caution, if not reverence. They were burned, or carefully buried.
#
"Hunting as a Sport",1139,0,0,0
The powerful kings of the ancient world - in \JEgypt\j, \JMesopotamia\j, and \JPersia\j - made hunting a royal sport and proudly recorded their successes in bagging enormous numbers of a wide variety of beasts. Their accounts are still preserved on cuneiform tablets and in hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Only occasional references are made in the \JBible\j to hunting. Scripture praises \JNimrod\j as a mighty hunter - "a hero of the chase" - before the Lord, and his name became proverbial in the description not only a hunter but generally of a sportsman. Esau is pictured as a skillful hunter who brought venison to his father Isaac. King Solomon's table was enriched with the flesh of harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fowl. Mighty Samson, with his bare hands, rent a young lion he encountered in the vineyards of Timnah, and Benaiah slew the king of the beasts which had been caught in a pit "in time of snow."
Hunting was practiced among the Hebrews against predatory animals, and for food. In its dietary legislation the book of Deuteronomy included a list of seven varieties of game permitted to be eaten, among them the hart, the \Jgazelle\j, the roebuck, and the \Jantelope\j. Yet Isaiah, in his vision of the ideal future, the Messianic Age, foresaw a time when even animals would abandon all carnivorous practice and "the lion shall eat straw like the ox."
Many are the stories of the hunting exploits of legendary heroes and mythical figures. Apollo, a son of Zeus by an earthly woman, the "lord of the silver bow" and "archer king," slew with his arrow the dragon at Delphi. The Athenian hero Theseus killed the \JMinotaur\j, that man-eating creature of human body and bovine head. Well known is the legend of St George, the patron saint of England, who killed, with the power of Christ it is said, the monstrous dragon.
With the advance of civilization, man was able to contain and further reduce the beasts of the forest and jungle. He acquired the art of agriculture and domesticated once wild animals. Hunting thus largely lost its original purpose. However, man's hunting instinct, like some of his organs that no longer fulfill an original function, did not disappear but assumed various forms in different parts of the world, especially so among leisured classes. \JFalconry\j, big game hunting, fox hunting, and pig sticking are prominent examples.
No doubt it was very early - even when the life-preserving motive of hunting was still valid - that man came to appreciate the sheer enjoyment of the chase. \JXenophon\j spoke of man being "in love with hunting." There was nothing as exciting as matching his strength and wits against those of a savage animal and experiencing the triumph of victory. Hunting thus quite naturally, grew into a sport.
Hunting was a wonderful aid in training man. It made him strong, promoted his powers of endurance and his courage, all necessary in a different type of fight for survival: not against the dumb beast but against his own flesh and blood. Hunting was a good rehearsal for warfare. \JXenophon\j, therefore, counseled young men not to despise the art of hunting, pointing out that it would make them fit for war and any pursuit that demanded quick thought and action.
In the fourth century BC the philosopher \JPlato\j praised as standing "above and surpassing all ... the pursuit of wild animals by the hunter in person." By racing, fighting, slinging, and chasing, the hunter showed his deep concern with "the ideals of manhood." In the fourth century AD the Roman author Flavius Vegetius, in a treatise on \Jmilitary science\j, recommended "hunters of stags and wild boars" as the most "welcome recruits."
Man also quickly learned, without conflict of conscience, to train animals to help him chase and retrieve the quarry. For this purpose he employed dogs, hyenas, cheetahs, and ferrets. The ancient Egyptians even used lions. Everything that could help man obtain his prey was enlisted, including the birds of the air. That is how \Jfalconry\j developed, and in early times itself grew into a noble sport. Potentates prided themselves on their birds of prey which, with great efficiency, caught the quarry. Hawks were bred and trained thousands of years ago in China and \JMesopotamia\j, long before \Jfalconry\j flourished on the European continent and in Britain.
It has been suggested that this sport has enriched our vocabulary by one word - debonair. From the Old French, \Ide bon aire\i (of good disposition), it now describes an affable person, one of pleasant and genial demeanor. However, according to this theory, it was used at first in medieval \JFrance\j, not in reference to a man, but by falconers in connection with their best hawks. Fine specimens were highly treasured and proudly displayed and, in fact, their excellence provided a favorite topic of conversation. Everything was done by their owners to care for them. The birds of best appearance and of almost gracious bearing were lauded as being "of good air." Debonair hawks in \Jfalconry\j became prized possessions.
That their praiseworthy description was eventually extended to humans is just another example of the influence of the world of birds and beasts on man's phraseology and figures of speech. We speak of people having the hide of an elephant, the industry of an ant, and of being as busy as a bee. When, through the use of \Jfirearms\j in hunting, hawks had become largely an auxiliary in the chase, and - in the seventeenth century - \Jfalconry\j died out as a major sport, "debonair" became the exclusive property of the human species.
#
"Hurricanes and Typhoons",1140,0,0,0
Modern society - irrespective of the beliefs of its members - still designates natural disasters as "acts of God."
Indeed, from early days onward, man has blamed some \Jsupernatural\j power for the occurrence of frightening natural phenomena. That is why we call violent windstorms, "hurricanes;" and closely-related whirlwinds, "typhoons."
\IHurricane\i is the Caribbean word for an "evil spirit" which, so West Indians thought, manifested itself in the \Jcyclone\j.
The \Ityphoon,\i though most commonly traced to the Chinese, \Itai fung,\i for "a great wind," has also been linked with divine power. Overawed by the experience, man believed that in each \Jtyphoon\j, Typhon, the monstrous figure of Greek myth, was resurrected. This hundred-headed rival of Zeus had been finally defeated by the great god, who struck him down with a thunderbolt. Zeus then buried him under Mount Etna, at a site lashed with \Jlightning\j. Typhon still struggles to free himself. Each time he attempts doing so, he not only causes the \Jvolcano\j to erupt, but raises terrifyingly violent, hot windstorms. Recognized as of his making, they are called after him - typhoons.
#
"Hyacinth: Origin of the Name",1141,0,0,0
Greek myth created the flower name, \Ihyacinth.\i An ancient tradition worshiped a god of vegetation by that name, celebrating his annual festival with \Jresurrection\j rites. Legend then wove around his figure a story of romance and tragedy, though with a beautiful ending.
Originally, so the story goes, \JHyacinth\j(us) was a most handsome youth who attracted the attention of several gods. They vied with each other for his affection, but one by one had to abandon their courtship. Eventually, only Apollo and Zephyr were left as rivals.
Hyacinth responded to Apollo's approaches but ignored Zephyr. This made Zephyr insanely jealous, and he waited for a chance to take revenge and make \JHyacinth\j pay for his unrequited love.
The opportunity offered itself when one day Apollo was teaching the youth to throw the discus (or, as another tradition has it, the quoit). Zephyr, as the master of the west wind, made the heavy metal discus deviate from its course to strike a fatal blow on \JHyacinth\j's forehead.
In spite of his divine power, Apollo was unable to revive him. Deeply distressed by the loss of his lover, all he could do was to cause a beautiful flower to spring forth from the blood-soaked soil and to call it by \JHyacinth\j's name. It was like a \Jreincarnation\j of the youth.
The odd spots which mark the petals of the flower have been variously interpreted. Some recognized in them the indelibly written record of Apollo's cries of anguish, "alas, alas" - \Iai-ai\i in Greek, and, in fact, with a little imagination, the Greek script for the doleful call looks very much like those dots on the flower. It was this tradition, no doubt, that prompted Milton to speak of the \Jhyacinth\j as "that sanguine flower inscribed with woe." Others saw in the spots a countless repetition of the initial of the youth's name which, in Greek writing, was the \Iupsilon.\i Forever the initial-like marking identified the flower with the unfortunate lover.
To complicate matters even more, it is now assumed that the flower, so much deified and mythologised, in reality was not a \Jhyacinth\j at all but an iris.
#
"Hydromancy",1142,0,0,0
Water has always been regarded as an element of truly cosmic dimensions. It is no wonder that many cosmogonies believed that the world was created out of water. And indeed, if the first words of Genesis really contained a copyist's mistake of the \JHebrew\j text, this, too, might have originally read that "in the beginning God created [not 'heaven' but] water and earth!" The rarity of water in certain regions of the world added to its preciousness and its value. This explains also why one early type of sacrifice offered the gods not slaughtered animals, but a libation of water.
Water has mystified man in so many ways. It could bestow life and bring death. It might flood vast areas or, by its absence, cause \Jdrought\j and death. It could taste sweet or salty (and salt, of course, added its own essentially occult property). In the form of rain, water descended from heaven - the divine realm. The tides with their irresistible bodies of water surging forward and then receding showed an element of innate mystical power that no man could stem or retain. The depth of water at some places was as unfathomable as all that was associated with it.
Because of its cleansing properties, too, water was endowed with magic. It was believed to purify man from his sins and other defilements. This is the origin of \Jbaptism\j and the reason why the devil and all evil forces were thought to be allergic to it. The consideration of the devil-repelling quality of water was responsible for the introduction of one of the most (in)famous practices in the medieval judicial system - the ordeal by water (or "swimming").
No wonder therefore that water, too, became a significant means of \Jdivination\j known as hydromancy, a word derived from the Greek \Ihudor\i for "water." Those adept in the art observed and interpret "ominously" and mantically every detail of the water: its movement, the direction of its flow, its calm or restlessness and what happened to a ring which, attached to a string, was dropped into it.
And was it really surprising that those who claimed the ability to gauge psychically-concealed messages, would find an almost limitless source of information in this "noblest of elements" with all its power to cleanse, to give life and prosperity, as much as to create chaos, destruction, and death.
#
"Hygiene",1143,0,0,0
\IHygiene,\i the word we commonly use to denote health - safeguarding cleanliness, honors Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health.
She was a daughter of Asclepius, the god of medicine, and the two of them were traditionally worshiped together. This explains why, originally, they were also jointly invoked in the famous \JHippocratic oath\j.
Hygieia was often pictured feeding a serpent, the \Jreptile\j still part of the medical symbol. Sacred to Asclepius, the regular shedding of its skin symbolized rejuvenation and rebirth.
#
"Hypnotism and Hypnotic Drugs",1144,0,0,0
James Braid, the Scottish-born surgeon, devoted much time to the study of mesmerism. But he is best remembered for having coined (in the 1840s) the word \Ihypnotism\i as a medical term, its variant form now also applied in \Ihypnotic\i drugs.
Both words pay tribute to Hypnos, the ancient Greek god of sleep. Whenever he appeared to men, he did so quietly and with kindly intention.
Greek myth pictures him as a winged youth who brought sleep to the weary. He did so either by touching their forehead with a branch or by serving them a soporific potion from a horn he carried.
#
"Hypochondriac",1145,0,0,0
An apocryphal story tells of a headstone which, at the specific wish of the woman whose grave it marked, carried the inscription, "I told you I was sick." From beyond the grave, the deceased reprimanded people for having disbelieved her genuine complaints of ill-health.
To be called a hypochondriac nowadays suggests someone's abnormal anxieties about their health, imagining that they suffer from a disease which has no organic basis. It is all in the mind, it is said.
The very name of hypochondria shows that early doctors saw in the patient's condition an actual physical malfunction. The hypochondriac thus is the victim of both imagined bad health and its misdiagnosis. The description - from the Greek - locates the cause of the affliction "under the ribs" (combining the Greek hypo for "under" with khondros, for "cartilage"). It was (wrongly) assumed that vapors from that part of the body caused the patient's illusion.
#
"Ice Skating Origins",1146,0,0,0
Well-known is the story immortalized by the English essayist Charles Lamb, that roast pork was discovered by the accidental burning down of a Chinese home. An ingenious theory suggests that an accident, of another kind, might also have been the father of skating. From time immemorial men have slipped many times, and not only on banana skins. One of our ancestors living in an ice-bound region might one day have slipped on a piece of bone on the ice, so that he was propelled at considerable speed for some distance before he landed on his bottom. On getting up, he could not fail to remember his experience. However, being an intelligent type, instead of moaning about the mishap and feeling his bruises, he applied what the fall had taught him, and made man's first skates of bone.
Of course, it is not possible ever to determine historically who the very first ice skater was, and in which part of the world the earliest attempts were made thus to course over frozen water. Most probably, as in many other cases, they occurred simultaneously and independently at several places.
Some theorists claim that the original skates in reality were mini-skis and that skating evolved from \Jskiing\j. As skis initially consisted of large and extensive bones which, because of their cumbersome size, impeded swift progress over the frozen waterways, anyone could have surmised that the easiest way to achieve better mobility and speed was merely to use smaller and less cumbrous bones, resulting in the birth of the skate.
However, it is more likely that skates were invented without any \Jskiing\j forerunners. Their primitive form was the shankbone of an animal (an ox, a \Jreindeer\j, a sheep, or a horse) fastened to the feet by leather thongs. They existed in prehistoric times in Asia and Europe, and archaeologists have unearthed such specimens, shaped very much like the modern skate, both in Central Europe (at the site of modern \JHungary\j) from the \JBronze Age\j, and in Scandinavia from the days of the Vikings. There is no doubt that skating of a kind was practiced in Norse countries long before the birth of Christ. Eskimo hunters pioneered another type of skates from \Jwalrus\j which they fastened to their boots when pursuing prey.
The word skate is derived from the Dutch \Ischaats,\i which itself can be traced to earlier roots in Low German and Old French, denoting an animal's shankbone or legbone. It properly indicates the substance of the first skates. In fact, in its ancient usage the original term described a device that, like a \Jstilt\j, elevated the wearer above the ground and, in Dutch for instance, then acquired the meaning of wooden shoes and clogs.
Early man soon developed small refinements in skates. He split the bone and drilled holes either at one or both ends, through which the thongs could be tied. The rounded side of the bone was used as the skating surface.
As was the case in other pastimes, skating began as a necessity when nomadic tribes in Asia and northern Europe sought some way to travel more quickly over frozen lakes and fjords, whether to escape an enemy, to hunt for food, or merely to move from place to place. Naturally it started as a novel and better method of getting about on the ice in winter. It did not take long, however, for people thus "skating" to gain enjoyment from their newly acquired art and to practice it for pleasure's sake. It was only a small step to competing with others in speed and distance covered, which led to racing on skates.
The earliest literary reference to skating occurs in the \IEdda,\i a famous collection of Icelandic sagas. According to a traditional translation (sometimes challenged), this describes how the god of winter was speeding over the ice on animal bones.
However, the first mention of the actual sport - and not merely of a myth - is contained in the \IDescription of the Most Noble City of London\i written in Latin (in 1175). This chronicle by William Fitzstephen (included in his \ILife of Thomas Γ Becket)\i gives a plain and amusing account of skating at the time. It relates: "When the great fenne and moor. . is frozen, many young men play upon the yce, . . some tye bones to their feete, and under their heels and shoving themselves by little picked staffe, doe slide as swiftly as a birde flieth in the air or an arrow out of a cross-bow. Sometimes two runne together with poles, and hitting one the other eyther one or both doe fall not without hurt. Some break their armes, some their legs, but youth desirous for glorie, in this sort exerciseth itselfe against the time of war."
As it appears, the heavy bone skates which did not cut into the ice and grip it properly were not sufficient in themselves to keep the skater moving. To gain momentum, he pushed himself along periodically with a pointed stick or staff, in a manner very reminiscent of the modern use of poles in \Jskiing\j and punting.
Propelling themselves vigorously, men began to compete in skating races across the ice.
#
"Iced Tea",1147,0,0,0
It so happened that both iced tea and tea bags were introduced to the world by the United States in 1904.
An English exhibitor at the World Fair then held at St Louis, Missouri, sold tea he had imported from the Far East. To promote the product, he cleverly offered free cups of hot tea. However, his well-laid plans went awry. In the heat of summer, no visitor to the Fair fancied his samples.
An enterprising merchant, the Englishman did not give up easily. Observant as well, he soon noticed how people enjoyed the iced refreshments served at neighboring stalls. This gave him the idea to cool down his hot tea with ice cubes and offer it as a novel refreshing drink.
No sooner thought than done. The experiment paid off and his iced tea caught on. In fact, a weight-conscious clientele welcomed a beverage which was not only low in temperature and in price, but also in calories.
#
"Iconoclast",1148,0,0,0
For 120 years, in the eighth and ninth centuries, a heated controversy raged throughout the Christian world about "icons," holy pictures mostly painted in oil on wood. Predominantly worshiped in the East, the rest of \JChristianity\j strongly rejected them, regarding their veneration as the despiritualization of true faith.
Vehemently advocating and pursuing their destruction, they became known as the "image breakers" or "iconoclasts" from the Greek \Ieikon,\i "image," and \Iklastes,\i "breaker." Historians indeed believe that the iconoclastic dissension was the uItimate cause of the schism between the Eastern and the Western Churches.
Their difference is now accepted and the icons no longer create arguments and upheavals. But the name of the iconoclast lives on. Removed from the religious field, it is now applied to those determined to break down established concepts and to destroy cherished beliefs, pushing from their pedestal as it were, generally worshiped public "idols," in politics and idiology.
#
"Id al-Adha Festival",1149,0,0,0
\BThe Feast of Sacrifice\b
The Feast of Sacrifice, \IId al-Adha,\i is the second of \JIslam\j's most important festivals. It is held on the tenth day of the twelfth month, the month of the \JHajj\j, when Muslims go on pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca. To undertake this pilgrimage is the highest ambition in their life. Even those who stay at home join in its celebration, which centers on the sacrifice of an animal.
The sacrifice recalls the dramatic incident in Abraham's life when, according to Muslim tradition, he was about to sacrifice his son Ishmael in obedience to a command from God. At the last moment a divine voice stopped him from slaying his son and directed him to offer a ram in his stead. And this is the message of the festival: like Abraham, every Muslim must be prepared to obey God's wishes and to do so at all costs, no matter how great the sacrifice.
On the morning of the festival, Muslims sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep or a \Jgoat\j. Symbolically following Abraham's example, they express their readiness to give their own life whenever God demands.
The meat of the slaughtered animal is divided into three parts. One portion is kept for a family meal, the second is presented to friends, and the rest is distributed among the needy or handed to charitable institutions.
Although it is more serious in mood, Id al-Adha shares some customs such as visiting friends and giving presents - with the more joyous celebration of \JId al-Fitr\j.
#
"Id al-Fitr Festival",1150,0,0,0
\BThe Festival of the Breaking of the Fast\b
Immediately on the conclusion of Ramadan there commences one of the two major feasts of \JIslam\j, appropriately called the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast, \IId al-Fitr\i in Arabic. It takes place on the first day of Shawal, the tenth month of the Muslim year.
It is a most joyous occasion, mainly for two reasons. A strenuous period has come to an end and the faithful are sure that, as God has promised, they will be rewarded on the day of judgment for having observed the fast. The moment the new moon is in the sky, indicating the beginning of the feast, people congratulate and wish each other a "joyful festival."
Preparations for the holy day begin days beforehand. Houses are decorated and Id greeting cards sent out to members of the family and to friends. Special food is cooked in advance and money is distributed among the poor, lest they miss out on the celebration.
On the day itself, the faithful don new clothes, visit each other and the graves of their loved ones, exchange presents and aware of their social obligation, give food to the poor. They gather in mosques and in public places for special Id prayers.
Significantly, \JIslam\j's prohibition of alcoholic drink does not diminish the genuine happiness that this festival brings to its participants.
#
"If Not the Body, at Least the Stone",1151,0,0,0
\BMajor Archibald Clunes Innes\b
Major Archibald Clunes Innes has left his imprint both in Australian life and on the country's map. Lake Innes and the town of Glen Innes are called after him. A soldier and a pioneer, he was the first Australian to cater for the Indian remount trade and to plant lantanas and cape gooseberries.
He is said also to have introduced the first Hereford and Devon \Jcattle\j into \JNew South Wales\j, and was responsible for the development of vast tracts of land in New England.
In the 1820s Innes was appointed Commandant of Port Macquarie, where he acquired property at the lake which now bears his name. He was hard-working and successful, his achievements were many and he was respected and well liked by all.
Everything seemed to be going his way, when misfortune struck and depression set in. With his beef and mutton fetching a mere penny per pound (half a \Jkilogram\j), he lost all his wealth. For a short while he took on the office of assistant gold commissioner at Nundle, subsequently to be appointed police magistrate at Newcastle. He died - 57 years old - in that city, in 1857, and was buried in the cathedral grounds.
On his passing, Margaret, his wife, returned to Lake Innes, which in the meantime had been leased. She was to survive her husband for a mere twelve months, to be laid to rest in a sarcophagus in the Port Macquarie Cemetery.
People felt that if not her husband's body, at least his headstone should be transferred to her gravesite. They felt it all the more strongly because of a plan at the time to convert the Newcastle Cemetery into a public park. Thus, by permission of the Synod, the stone slab covering Innes's grave was taken from Newcastle to Port Macquarie.
The occasion of its relocation was planned as an auspicious event, and was even to be telecast! However, the grandiose project went awry; the carter transporting the stone unceremoniously dumped it at its new site. Now, re-erected next to Margaret's grave, adding to its misfortunes, its inscription has become indecipherable.
#
"IHS",1152,0,0,0
A monogram frequently found on headstones is a combination of the three letters IHS. These are either placed next to each other or superimposed upon each other. Few people realize that they are Greek and not Latin characters, and that the Greek "H" is not pronounced like the modern "H," but represents our "E." IHS are Iota, Epsilon, and Sigma, the first three letters of, Jesus' name in Greek.
Heading the inscription, it places the departed under Christ's care. It is also meant to indicate that the deceased, who during his lifetime proved himself a devout Christian, now, in death, rests with Jesus.
Other explanations and interpretations of the three letters of a much later date, reflect a variety of circumstances.
People recognized in the IHS not an abbreviation but an \Jacronym\j: the combination of the initials of the Latin phrase \Iin hoc signo,\i "in this sign," associated with the Roman Emperor Constantine's vision prior to the battle at Milvan Bridge, in 312 AD. The banner he had then seen in the skies, apart from displaying Christ's name, had carried the additional message that \I"In this sign\i you shall conquer" - in Latin, \IIN HOC SIGNO (VINCES).\i
In medieval times, Dominicans and, subsequently, \JJesuits\j adopted the monogram, giving it their own connotation. For them, it was the abbreviation of their Latin testimony that "We have Jesus as our companion" \IJesum Habemus Soceum.\i
Applying to all Christians is the doctrinal interpretation of the three letters as an \Jacronym\j, affirming \JChristianity\j's claim and fundamental belief that Jesus was the Savior of man which, expressed in Latin, reads: \IIesus Hominum Salvator.\i
#
"Illiterate X",1153,0,0,0
It was not exclusively \Jilliteracy\j that made the cross the signature of those who could neither read nor write. In such cases, any other mark, a circle, square, or simple tick, could have served the same purpose. Even literate and learned men who could well have signed their name, often substituted it with the cross. Its choice therefore must be of a totally different nature.
There have always been dishonest people who would sign well nigh anything, false or true, so long as it was to their advantage. However, at a time when religion still dominated life, they would have been too scared to make use of a sacred symbol to deceive others. Hence, in a Christian society, they would never place the sign of the sacred cross as their signature under something they knew to be untrue. The "cross" thus ensured the absolute veracity of the statement it endorsed or the fulfillment of any promise made in the document. This was the original purpose of the so-called illiterate "cross."
#
"Imbecile",1154,0,0,0
Today an imbecile is an intellectually handicapped person. This has not always been the case. The word comes from a combination of the Latin \Iin\i used in the sense of "on," and \Ibaculum\i for a "rod" or a "stick," therefore literally meaning "on a stick." A physically handicapped person, when moving about, needed the aid of a crutch. Around the seventeenth century the term was transferred from the physically impeded to the feeble in mind.
Oddly, imbecile thus carries the same root as the bacillus, so called because some bacteria, when seen under the \Jmicroscope\j, are rod-shaped.
#
"Importance of Chinese Festivals",1155,0,0,0
An abundance of celebrations is part of Chinese culture. With their unique talent for compromise, the Chinese have been able to combine in their observances elements of Confucianism, \JBuddhism\j and Taoism. Respectfully and tolerantly, they subscribe to them all, even though aspects of them have been secularized. A Chinese saying compares the three traditions to the three legs of a tripod: they support the entire structure of their life, and by ignoring even one of them, the structure would falter, and even collapse.
The most important Chinese festival is the Chinese New Year.
#
"Important People in Ice Skating's History",1156,0,0,0
\JIce skating\j was first practiced in the United States in the eighteenth century. Most probably it was introduced into the country by English soldiers. It became a favorite sport first in Philadelphia, where Colonel Howe was the leading exponent, enthusing American youth with the novel way of running across the ice. The first American ice skater of renown was the famous painter Benjamin West who, on going to London, displayed there the "Philadelphia style." It was in Philadelphia also that America's earliest skating club was formed, in 1849.
Canada, too, it is said, took up skating through the example of English servicemen stationed there. A story is told of a Canadian settler who was captured by Indians. They were about to kill him, but very observant to the last moment, he recognized among their belongings a pair of skates. When he ascertained that they did not even know their purpose, he quickly offered as his last gift to them a demonstration of how to use the peculiar contraption on a frozen lake nearby.
The Indians gladly agreed. Enthralled, they watched him buckle on the odd shoes and then slide majestically along the ice. At first he did so in small circles but then, all of a sudden, darted off at tremendous speed across the lake. Before the Indians were able to grasp what had happened, he made his escape. Thus he owed his life to skates.
Experimentation with new and improved designs of skates was carried on through the nineteenth century. All earlier models suffered from certain defects. Most obvious was that they either slipped easily off the foot or were strapped to it so tightly that they stopped the circulation of the blood. One major concern was to discover some method to secure the skate more firmly, yet comfortably.
The greatest advance from every point of view was the invention of the first all-metal skates (with blades of hard steel) by E. W. Bushnell in Philadelphia in 1848. This type of skate eliminated the cumbersome wooden footplate. To begin with, it still used those bothersome straps - at times as many as four. However, eventually Bushnell discarded them and manufactured skates that were fastened to the boot by clamps. He sold his invention at $30 a pair.
Even his skates were not perfect. They frequently became unclamped. A further and most welcome improvement was the introduction of skates that could be screwed firmly to the sole of the boot. One of the first to use these skates was the greatest skating champion of the time, Jackson Haines, a young American from \JChicago\j.
It is not only the technical development of the skates to which \Jice skating\j owes its high place in the world of sport. Even more so, it is through the promotion it received from great skaters. First in line, undoubtedly, was Haines. His name is perpetuated in the classic spin he invented after, some say, nine years of arduous practice. His contributions to the sport surpassed by far this single item in the repertoire of every ambitious skater.
Son of a cabinet maker, he spent some time in Europe as a youth, but returned at the age of 17 to the United States, at his father's request, to join the family business. However, his love of the stage was too strong and he embarked on a theatrical career. He specially favored dancing. Being a perfectionist, he had a large mirror installed in his home to study every movement he made. It was at this time that he learned to skate. Immediately he recognized the tremendous contribution he could make by employing on the ice his masterly art of dancing.
Still a ballet master, he soon began to give, with theatrical flair, spectacular skating exhibitions in many centers along the east coast and in Canada. He further developed his own skates which were much more solid than any previous models. He fixed the blade to the toe and heel plates, which in turn he screwed to the skating boot.
When the \JAmerican Civil War\j almost completely stopped his career as a dancer, he decided to go to Europe again. He arrived there in 1864 to go on a tour that was to electrify the continent and revolutionize skating throughout the world.
At first, however, when in London, he met with no response. Certainly, the British had been among the first to develop skating as an art so much admired by Pepys. Gradually they had perfected what came to be known as the English school. Concentrating on the purity of poise, its style was very rigid. No wonder, therefore, that the conservative English were not impressed by the uninhibited, natural way Haines skated, with even his "unemployed" arm and leg playing a prominent part. Skating had graduated from a mere drill to a dance. It was not surprising that Haines' performance actually shocked Londoners. They condemned it as being much too fanciful and theatrical.
But on the continent, the enthusiasm Haines aroused knew no bounds. His trip became a triumphant tour. People acclaimed him with frenzy. Vienna, the musical city, most of all took him to heart. Children were christened with his name and ice rinks were called after him.
He never tired of presenting new features, always appearing on his own. To add to the attraction of his entertainment he donned every type of costume. He danced on skates as a fairy prince, or disguised as a lady or a \Jpolar bear\j.
Then, because of failing health, his career came to a sudden end. He retired to \JFinland\j where, when only 39 years old, he died in 1879. "The American Skating King" reads the simple but telling inscription on the stone over his grave. His death did not stop the revolution he had wrought in skating. The rigid British school was now replaced by the scintillating, lively method he had pioneered and which, still the basis of all modern figure skating, has been known ever since as the international style, still the basis of all modern figure skating.
The Amateur Skating Association of Canada (founded in 1878) owes its existence to Louis Rubenstein who had been enthralled by the spectacles and thrills of figure skating while visiting Europe. He became the Canadian, American, and world skating champion, and at his death in 1930, was president of the association he had established with some of his friends.
Though America's first skating club dates back to 1849, it needed still some time before Americans took up the sport ardently. Once again, this was due to the zeal of one man, Irving Brokaw of New York. After having won a European international championship, he passionately promoted skating in his own country and was responsible for its figure skating tournament, held at \JNew Haven\j, Connecticut, in 1914. Proudly he announced that it was "open to the world."
Amateurs were still those most prominent in the sport, whether in figure or speed skating. This was changed when Sonja Henie, the "Norwegian doll" (who had been the first in history to win three Olympic championships) turned professional. By her supreme art on the ice she captured the public's imagination and gave skating a completely new aspect, making it a spectacle second to none and drawing enormous crowds. "To skate like Sonja Henie" became a worldwide endeavor.
No one should imagine that her rise was easily achieved. Her father "put her on the ice" at the age of seven and a minimum of eight hours' practice soon became her daily routine. This she continued throughout life. She had every justification therefore to point out in a reply to one of the countless letters she received in later years, soliciting financial support, that had the supplicant worked eight hours a day from the age of seven, prosperity would not have eluded him.
She was one of the few fortunates on earth who always could do what they wanted. Her hobby became her work. In her autobiographical \IWings on My Feet,\i she wrote: "All my life I have wanted to skate and all my life I have skated."
It is interesting to know that Sonja Henie was the first to introduce the mini-skirt. She did this in 1924 for professional reasons. In the beginning people were shocked, but soon other skaters copied her, realizing the freedom of movement the abbreviated skirt gave.
Skating's final and greatest advance was the modern invention of artificial freezing, first used for the purpose of food refrigeration. This led to the creation of indoor rinks and enabled lovers of skating both as a sport and spectacle to pursue and watch it on ice rinks everywhere and at all times, no matter what the climate.
The first mechanically refrigerated ice rink was London's Glaciarium, opened in 1876. Constructed in a permanent building, it contained special galleries for spectators and its walls were decorated by a French artist with Swiss \Jalpine\j and forest scenes. The first artificially frozen rink in the United States was installed in the old Madison Square Garden, New York City, in 1879, and covered an area of 6,000 square feet.
Coming down from antiquity and born of necessity, skating has truly conquered the world as a sport and an art. Some of the world's great writers enjoyed and extolled it. William Wordsworth was an ardent skater who is said always to have been the first on the ice and to have been so expert in its art that he could cut his name with skates. Goethe also was a passionate skater. Time spent in its pursuit, he wrote, was never wasted. Skating was not only a magnificent aid to him in producing poetic inspiration but, he was convinced, was most suitable for each and every one "to keep off stagnant old age." This "poetry in motion," he firmly believed, caused "an awakening of noble thoughts."
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"Improvements in Ice Skating",1157,0,0,0
No country invited the use of skates more than the Netherlands, a land criss-crossed by numerous waterways which freeze for many months in winter. The fact that the ice was not covered usually with deep snow - as was the case in more northerly climes - favored skating. No wonder, therefore, that Netherlanders soon took up skating both for commerce and pleasure.
Skates used then were made no longer of bones, but completely of wood. They had a wide traveling surface and were fastened, not very securely, with straps and buckles to the foot and ankle.
It was the use of iron (probably also initially in Holland) that brought a real advance to skating. To begin with, only iron runners were fixed to a wooden base which in turn was strapped to the foot. It enabled the skater to get a real grip on the slippery surface of the ice which increased both speed and mobility and made the use of poles redundant. Skaters now could gain momentum merely by running, as this allowed them to slide over the ice until the impetus was spent, whereupon they simply repeated the procedure.
Iron-bladed wooded skates can clearly be recognized in the earliest illustration of skating - a \Jwoodcut\j printed in Holland in 1498. Apart from being a "first," it is distinguished by several other features. This oldest portrayal of skating pictures an accident on the ice; it shows, so early in the history of the sport, women enjoying it; its central figure - the victim of the mishap, a girl of 15 - was to become the patron saint of all skaters, St Lidwina.
Lidwina was born at Schiedam in Holland in 1380, the daughter of a nobleman and a poor country girl. Even as a young child she had revealed a deeply religious bent. She was drawn to the Mother of God whom she worshipped with deep devotion before a miraculous image at a shrine in her home town.
When in the winter of 1395, she went skating with girlfriends, she fell on the ice and broke a rib. (It is this accident which the \Jwoodcut\j depicts.) The fracture proved tragic. No medical skill could cure the many complications it caused. In fact, the accident was the beginning of the girl's martyrdom and her future sainthood.
She became a permanent invalid. Pain wracked her body almost constantly, but even in her agony, she never lost faith. If anything, her prayers became more fervent, and she claimed to have divine visions. But people began to suspect her, believing that, after all, she was merely a fake or perhaps possessed by the devil. To test her, her priest brought to her bedside an unconsecrated host. She immediately recognized it as such, and only then did the Church acknowledge her genuineness, and no one any longer doubted Lidwina's nearness to God.
Pious and famous scholars came to visit her and brought with them tracts they had specially written for her comfort. Miracles began to occur at her bedside. But what would have been the greatest miracle of all - her cure - never happened. Her suffering did not cease until the moment of her death on Easter Day 1433, after 38 years of pain. She was 53.
A vision of a rosebush in bloom had told her that the end of her suffering had come at last. Soon after her passing, pilgrims from far and wide came to pray at her graveside over which, within a year, a shrine was built. Venerated by the devout for centuries, Lidwina became the patroness of skaters and in 1891 was made a saint by Pope Leo XII.
History shows that a victory in war can certainly be claimed through the employment of skates. In 1572, when the Dutch fleet was ice-bound at \JAmsterdam\j, Spanish forces under the command of Don Frederik were about to capture the vessels. But the use of skates by Dutch musketeers enabled them to launch a swift attack on the enemy from the rear. Completely taken by surprise the Spaniards were routed. By then speed skating was an established sport in Holland, pursued both by men and women and drawing many spectators.
King Charles II of England, it is said, learned skating while in exile there and, on his return home, no doubt, brought with him the iron-bladed skate. The English diarist Samuel Pepys tells in his journal how amazed he was on 1 December 1662 when "it being a great frost," for the first time in his life he watched in a London park "people sliding with their skates, which is a very pretty art."
In an entry for the same day, John Evelyn in his \IMemoirs\i also recorded his admiration on seeing "on the new canal in St James Park. . . the strange and wonderful dexterity of the sliders... after the manner of Hollanders" - "with what swiftness they passe, how suddenly they stop in full carriere upon the ice."
No longer merely a sport, skating had become also a graceful and elegant art. However, it still lacked proper organization. The credit belongs to Scotland for having established, in Edinburgh in 1742, the first skating club. To qualify as a member, early regulations stipulated that applicants had to prove their ability to skate a complete circle and on either foot to jump first over one, then two and, finally, three hats!
Thirty years later, the first handbook on figure skating was published in London. Its author, Robert Jones, explained that its principles were "deduced from many years of experience by which that noble exercise is now reduced to an art, and may be taught and learned by a regular method, with both ease and safety." The treatise was illustrated with copper plates, "representing the attitudes and graces."
Skating, thus, was not only enjoyed as a pastime and as a racing sport, but people also had become aware of the variety of intricate movements possible on the ice, including an inside and outside edge. Instructions on how to learn them suggested some strange procedures. The learner was advised to weight his pocket with shot and, in addition, to carry a bag of shot and some heavy article in his right hand and then to transfer the ballast to the left side for performing the outside edge.
By 1813 skating had become so well established in Britain that followers of the sport began to publish their own journal, \IFrostiana.\i
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"Imps",1158,0,0,0
Imps are really pleasant little devils. Whether you believe in them or not, they can teach a lot. Their ancestry, far removed from the \Jsupernatural\j, was most natural; in fact, it is found in the realm of botany.
The ancient Romans had already developed the art of grafting fruit trees. In this operation, to produce a new variant of a species, the shoot of one plant was transferred to another by inserting it in a groove specially cut for that purpose. In Latin such a "transplant" was referred to by the verb \Iimputare.\i It was from this root that the imp traveled far and fast into the languages of European nations.
Imp came to describe a scion, a sprout, a sapling, or an off-shoot - either of plants or of humans. That is how, for instance, Thomas Cromwell used the word when in his last letter to King \JHenry VIII\j he spoke of "that most noble imp, the prince's grace, your most dear son."
Germans, on the other hand, continue to employ the ancient imp in its original role of a kind of graft, though no longer on plants but on humans. To "vaccinate" they call \Iimpfen\i - the grafting of a vaccine into the body.
But among \JAnglo-Saxons\j the imp experienced a common social phenomenon. We are judged by the company we keep. For good or ill, it colors us. This makes modern snobs "drop names" hoping to cash in with their implied "greatness by association." The same principle works even more actively if we are observed mixing with people of bad repute, particularly if they are renowned or feared. And that is exactly what happened to the imp. This little fellow, once grown on trees in gardens, was to become so weak on its own that it could not help acquiring the reputation of his fellow-traveler in the world of language. At times that were possessed by thoughts of the devil, people frequently referred to those serving him as "his children," the "scions of Satan" or, his "imps."
One opinion suggests a different explanation and says that its devilish label was first bestowed on the imp by an early generation gap. Obstreperous youngsters, it was claimed, so annoyed their elders by causing trouble that they called them imps of the devil.
Thus no matter by which avenue, a once innocuous botanic term slowly but inexorably assumed its demonic attribute. And yet, like an echo of the old days, imps retain something of their former pristine nature even in their mischief-making.
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"In God We Trust",1159,0,0,0
If God is so deeply hidden in many features of our daily life that it requires intense search, and at times careful probing, to reveal Him, it is almost paradoxical that, of all things, His presence is conspicuous on American money. He was placed there by the zeal of a Baptist minister, the Rev. Mark W. Watkinson of Prospect Park, \JPennsylvania\j.
Watkinson was motivated by a peculiar fear that, in 1862, must have appeared most far-fetched - though would not perhaps appear so today. He reasoned that, should the United States ever be completely annihilated, archaeologists in later centuries, digging in the ruins, would no doubt come across some coins. Studying them, they would inevitably be led to the conclusion that the Republic had been a Godless, heathen nation. The Rev. Watkinson sent a letter to Salmon P. Chase, the then Secretary of the Treasury, describing his apprehensions in dramatic terms. To avoid future misconceptions about the nature of nineteenth century America, Mr Chase should prevail on the government, he suggested, to have the words, "God, Liberty, Law," embossed on every coin.
Received in Washington, it must have been a rather haunting Ietter. Mr Chase did not disregard it as the rantings of a crank, but followed its suggestions. He placed before Congress the proposition that a motto be added on American coinage, expressing "in the fewest and best words possible the recognition of God." Consequently, in March 1865 Congress legislated that henceforth the four words, "In God we trust," should be engraved on American coins. Almost a century later, in 1957, the motto was also adopted for one dollar bills.
Few people today - even in the United States - know of Mark Watkinson, that humble pastor who gave American currency its divine imprint. However histrionic were his thoughts about a future devastating \Jholocaust\j, he was also prompted by practical religious considerations. People have to handle money daily. In the pursuit of worldly matters, they might easily lose all sight of God. But the addition of the pious motto to the currency would constantly remind them of Him.
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"In the Beginning...",1160,0,0,0
A copyist's error concerning one letter may well have become part of the creation story at the very beginning of the \JBible\j, introducing into it a perplexing inconsistency. That this is rarely noticed shows how something too well known might become so familiar that we take it for granted, and fail to observe the most obvious.
According to the text as it now stands, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." The earth was without form and void and the Spirit of God "hovered over the face of the waters." On the second day God divided the waters by a firmament which he called heaven.
Anyone reading this account for the first time as if it were an ordinary story, would immediately be struck by an incongruity. Where did the waters come from, which God divided on the second day? There is no mention of their creation. On the other hand, heaven comes into existence twice, both on the first day and on the second day. It just does not make sense.
A clerical error could be the simplest explanation, resolving the difficulty. The ancient \JHebrew\j in which the \JBible\j was written had no space between the words, nor vowels. Each line presented a continuous row of consonants and only the learned were able to read the text correctly, knowing where to divide the words and which vowels to add. The \JHebrew\j for "water" is \IMAYIM\i and for "heaven," \ISHAMAYIM.\i In the original method of writing, the two words (MYM and SHYMYM) differed by a single letter: the added "sh" of the heaven. Moreover, the two consonants - the \Imem\i and the \Ishin\i - looked so similar that they could easily be confused. The original text might well have read, "In the beginning God created water and earth." The rest would then follow on logically. He subsequently divided the waters by a firmament which he called heaven.
A simple writing mistake on the part of the copyist thus rendered an essential part of the creation story unintelligible. Water and earth are well known as primal elements in many cosmogonies.
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"In the Land of Nod",1161,0,0,0
Jonathan Swift, the famous eighteenth-century English satirist and Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin, gave us "the land of Nod" as a place of sleep. He did so, in a whimsical mood, in one of his essays. About to go to sleep, he wrote that he was "going into the land of Nod." It was an obvious play on words, a pun, for anyone acquainted with Scripture.
The Book of Genesis (4.16) tells that the land of Nod was situated "east of Eden," where Cain settled after having slain his brother Abel.
No one has actually succeeded in identifying the district. Most likely, it never existed. \JHebrew\j scholars recognized in its name the word \Inad,\i meaning "a fugitive." And as Nod served as a place of refuge for murderous Cain, it would be a fitting explanation to associate the two words. Also sometimes rendered as "the land of restlessness," it is indeed tempting to link the land of Nod with a short nap...
Those suddenly falling asleep, especially if sitting up, "nod off." The witty Dean immediately connected the mythical land of Nod with the nodding head. Widely read, his pun caught on and gave our sleep a biblical connotation to which modern atheists using the phrase have not yet woken up.
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"In the Lap of the Gods",1162,0,0,0
People who feel that they have done everything possible in their power to obtain a certain objective and that therefore the final result is beyond their control, might say that the ultimate outcome now "lies in the lap of the gods."
The mere fact that the phrase speaks of gods and hence reflects \Jpolytheism\j, shows its antiquity. No wonder that it occurs as early as in Homer's \IIliad\i and \IOdyssey.\i According to ancient Greek custom those anxious to see a wish fulfilled inscribed it on a wax tablet, which they then deposited on the lap or the knees of the statue of a god. They were convinced that thus they would draw his attention to their need. The practice survives in the modern saying.
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"In the Limelight",1163,0,0,0
To be "in the limelight" is an expression now used only figuratively. In the beginning, however, its meaning was very real. Prior to the invention of electricity, the lighting up of a stage presented many problems. After all, actors wanted not only to be heard, but to be seen.
The theatrical world was therefore delighted when, in 1816, Thomas Drummond invented a spotlight with a brilliance that exceeded anything known so far. It was produced by burning lime. Its focus on an actor was so bright that, divorced from the stage, "in the limelight" was adopted as a fitting description for anyone occupying a prominent position.
It is believed that a lime-green colored light used to be thrown only on the "star" performer. The rest of the cast was picked out by white lights.
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"In the Name of Peace",1164,0,0,0
When, in 1548, two warring factions of the Spanish Conquistadores agreed to make peace, they ascribed the end of their fratricidal strife to the intervention of the holy Virgin. They decided to express their gratitude by calling the township they established on the very spot where they had laid down their arms, in her honor, "The New City of Our Lady of Peace" - in Spanish, \IPueblo Nuevo de Nuestre Se±ora de la Paz.\i
So extended a name had little chance of surviving in its entirety: the reference to Mary was dropped, and all that survived was "the peace" - to create the present-day La Paz, the capital city of \JBolivia\j. Situated high up in the \JAndes\j, it is the most elevated capital in the world. La Paz has another, unfortunate distinction. So "peaceful" a city - in name and its religious source - it has witnessed more revolutions than any other place.
A similar paradox applies to the American city of Salem, in \JMassachusetts\j, its name best-known in recent times, perhaps, as that of a \Jcigarette\j brand. In the seventeenth century, however, it shocked the civilized world by its witchcraft trials. \ISalem,\i a shortened form of \JJerusalem\j, means "peace," from the \JHebrew\j \Ishalom.\i
Munich - from the \JOld High German\j \IMunih\i - refers to the monks who built their monastery on the site of the future city. However, instead of recalling the ecclesiastical founders of the city, its name has quite other associations. Because of the sham agreement made there between Chamberlain, Hitler, and Mussolini in 1938 preceding World War II, the name, \IMunich,\i has become synonymous with a policy of appeasement!
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"In Vino Veritas",1165,0,0,0
Popular proverbs do not always conform to fact. This applies to the well-known Latin saying that "in wine is truth" (in \Ivino veritas).\i Its claim that, no matter how deceitful people might be while sober, they will tell the truth when drunk, is a misconception.
The effect of drink varies according to the individual. It may make people jovial or aggressive, happy or depressed. It may loosen some persons' tongue to say things they would carefully keep to themselves otherwise. Thus they will do a lot of talking, but whatever they say may still be far removed from the truth.
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"In-laws",1166,0,0,0
When getting married, one acquires not only a mother and father-in-law, but many other in-laws as well.
It is generally assumed that although not blood-related, the spouse's mother and father have become parents "in law," meaning according to the \Jcommon law\j of the country. This is incorrect, and the term is misleading and needs qualification. The lawful part within the relationship does not bestow any legal standing.
The law referred to is the \Jcanon law\j of the \JChurch of England\j, the ecclesiastical rules and regulations concerning "Kindred and Affinity," as tabulated at the end of the Book of Common Prayer.
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"Incorrect Interpretations",1167,0,0,0
Many a person is (mis)judged by his physical features, which are wrongly taken to indicate certain character traits. A large mouth thus has been seen as the expression of generosity, whilst protruding lips are supposed to be a give-away of sensuality. A receding chin was interpreted as a sign of weak will and cowardice. The square jaw, on the other hand, was imagined to reveal a determined nature, someone who was tough, resolute, and fearless.
Certainly looks can deceive. It is so easy to misinterpret an intention, a gesture or a facial expression. \JBody language\j varies among different people, just as one word may mean opposite things in another environment, even to those speaking the same tongue.
Without knowing the circumstances or certain facts, the conclusion we draw may be incorrect. Manifold are such misinterpretations. They have been responsible for abstruse ideas, broken friendships and the outbreak of hostilities.
A misinterpretation may have a variety of reasons. These include lack of knowledge, wishful thinking or antipathy. A preconceived notion can make us misconstrue what is really meant and read into words and actions something they do not contain.
A significant feature of Greek oracles was their ambiguity. There message could thus easily be misinterpreted, and to understand it correctly, at times, became a matter of life and death. Famous is the answer the Athenian envoy received at Delphi when, on behalf of his city, he wanted to know how best to defend it against the advancing Persian invader. The oracle suggested that \JAthens\j' safety was assured by "a wooden wall." Many a war leader would have immediately embarked on building a fortification around the town, in preparation for a siege or attack. Themistocles, however, who correctly interpreted the wooden wall, hastily built up the Athenian fleet, to defeat the Persians at Salamis. It shows the importance of interpretations.
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"Incubi and Succubi - the Source of all Nightmares",1168,0,0,0
At all times people have been mystified by the unusual. More so, they were greatly worried by occurrences and phenomena of some evil nature. Even centuries prior to the scientific age, they were convinced that everything had to have some cause which, if not natural, lay in the realm of the occult.
Long before Freud, sexual dreams thus left their mark in the mind of man. He wondered what created them. Equally, the birth of deformed children puzzled him. And looking for an explanation that made sense, he invented an ominous creature which, he thought, visited men and women during the night and made love to them as they slept. Therefore any sexual dream was not a \Jchimera\j but the actual experience of this odd type of ghostly intercourse, with its possible monstrous birth as a consequence.
The very name given to the lecherous demon reflected this conviction. The spirit visiting a sleeping woman was called \Iincubus.\i From the Latin \Iincumbere,\i it referred to its "lying upon." In the case of man (changing the position) it was the \Isuccubus\i - the one who was the "underlier."
Apart from its countless other demons and devils, the world was thought to be populated by a special army of such incubi and succubi whose chief occupation was to have sexual intercourse with a "sleeping partner," in a very literal sense.
Of course, the nightmare experienced by man is merely a follow-up of this ominous tradition. The name reflects the belief that something truly heavy had taken up position on one's chest during sleep. Weighing down the victim, it caused a most frightening sensation of being suffocated, and was remembered with trepidation on awakening.
"Mare" here has no relation at all to the female horse, though it sounds like it. It recalls the old Irish queen of elves known as Morrigain which, in fact, was just another term for \Jincubus\j. The French, in their usual logical way, called a nightmare "the fiend that tramples" - \Icauchemar.\i And Chaucer was well justified in expressing the prayerful wish to God to "Blisse this house fro the nightes-mare."
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"India Ink",1169,0,0,0
India ink has no Indian connection. It was first made by the Chinese. They produced it by combining lamp-black with gum, which they moulded into (at times slightly perfumed) sticks. Correctly, therefore, the ink should be referred to as Chinese, as the logical French actually did. The misnomer goes back to people wrongly identifying the product with the Indian ships importing it.
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"India Paper",1170,0,0,0
India paper does not come from India. Its original homes were China and \JJapan\j! However, because the product was brought from the Far East to Europe in ships engaged in the India trade, it was identified with that country. In Britain, India paper was pioneered by the original \JOxford University\j Press, who first used it for the printing of Bibles and prayerbooks. It is rather odd that religion and learning - both sticklers for truth - thus combined in giving currency to a deceptive name.
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"India Rubber",1171,0,0,0
Mistakes breed other mistakes. The error that mistook America for India and hence regarded its native populations as (Red) Indians, created the India rubber.
It goes back to Columbus' days and his second voyage to the New World that took him to \JHaiti\j. On landing on the island, the Spaniards were enthralled to see its inhabitants playing with balls that bounced. These were made of a substance, completely unknown in Europe, which oozed out from incisions made in the bark of certain trees. Natives called it in their tongue "weeping wood," a description which, rather disfigured - via the Spanish and French - reached England as \Icaoutchouc.\i When in 1770 the English chemist Joseph Priestley accidentally discovered that this elastic substance was able to rub out pencil marks, he called it "rubber," a name which has never been erased. In fact, not even its association with the mistaken India has been "rubbed out."
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"Inexorable",1172,0,0,0
If events are regarded as "inexorable," they are inevitable. Nothing can deflect their progress - not even a prayer. This supplies a clue to the meaning of the word in terms of its origins: it referred to circumstances, determined by God, that were so definite and final that he would "not be moved by prayer."
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"Infant",1173,0,0,0
An infant is so called because a young child does not speak. Infant joins the Latin negative in with fari, the Latin for "speak." Literally therefore, an infant is "speechless." Hence, if taken seriously, no child should be called an infant from the moment it starts to speak.
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"Ingrained",1174,0,0,0
Something which completely and irremovably belongs to an object or a character is called "ingrained." This figure of speech in a single word does not, as might be imagined, relate to the grain in wood which penetrates it throughout. It is derived from \Igranum,\i the Latin for both a grain of wheat, a seed, and the name of an insect from whose dried body the Romans produced a fast red dye. This was also known as \Jcochineal\j from the Greek \Ikokkos,\i for a "berry," for which the insect was first mistaken.
"Ingrained" therefore once referred to something so thoroughly dyed that nothing could ever change its color or cause it to fade. Shakespeare used the \Jmetaphor\j in \ITwelfth Night\i when Olivia says, "'Tis in graine, Sir; 'twill endure wind and weather."
#
"Inn",1175,0,0,0
The word \Iinn,\i in the sense of a public house or a small hotel providing food and accommodation, owes its existence to Tyndale's translation of the Gospels into English, published in 1534. Until then an inn was simply an enclosed place inside a home, known, in Old English, as a \Iwithin,\i until eventually to be shortened to an \Iin.\i
Tyndale gave the term its novel meaning when translating St Luke's account of young Mary's futile search for a shelter for the infant Jesus and herself. In his rendering of the text, she placed the babe into a manger because "there was no room... \Iwithin the ynne"\i (Luke 2. 7). The popularity of Tyndale's translation made people soon adopt the special meaning he had given to \Iynne\i in their everyday speech - a usage that survives to this day in the modern English \Iinn.\i
#
"Inn Names",1176,0,0,0
Even the choice of certain inn names reflects the influence of religion. It must be remembered that for many years during the \JMiddle Ages\j thousands of pilgrims visited holy shrines, needing hostels to shelter and look after them on their way and at their destination. In fact, pilgrims constituted a substantial part of all tourist traffic.
It was not surprising therefore that innkeepers, aware of a religious aspirations of the majority of their guests, tried to give them a special feeling of being at home by selecting an appropriate name for their establishments.
Frequently, names chosen were simply those of animals, such as "The Deer," "The Fox," and "The Lion." But others, not always obviously, had religious connotations. Who would ever guess, for instance, that "The Lamb" referred to Christ (the Lamb of God). "The Bull" one of the most popular names, was not meant to recall the animal, but referred to the Latin \Ibulla,\i the seal of a monastery.
An inn called "The Anchor" was not a meeting place for sailors, but for men of faith to whom the anchor was the traditional symbol of salvation and hope. A hostel that bore the name of "The Ship," likewise, did not refer to the ordinary sailing boat or a fishing vessel but to \Ithe\i ship in religious lore - Noah's Ark. "The Cross Keys," obviously, was meant to honor St Peter, who according to Catholicism, held the keys to heaven, just as "The Bell" was often an inn close to a cathedral.
#
"Innocent Victim of a Shooting",1177,0,0,0
In the Gulgong Cemetery rests the body of Charles Stewart, of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The inscription on the \Jobelisk\j marking his grave states only that it was erected by "the government" and that on 10 April 1883, at the age of 56, Stewart was "shot dead in his house near Gulgong during an encounter between the police and armed criminals." Nothing is revealed about the circumstances. Was the Scotsman involved in the shoot-out, or was he an innocent bystander?
Rather fittingly, though by mere chance, a stone in the Historic Goulburn Cemetery, which is located facing Goulburn Prison, recalls a murder. The monument dates back well over a century and is specially notable by the craftsmanship and (mis-)spelling of its inscription:
\ISacred
To the
Memory
of
JOHN FULLER
Who was murdered at Golburn
on January 23 1840 Aged 57 Years
Consider Reader, when you look
How suden this Soul was took
And see that thou prepared be
Least Death should come so
Quick on thee.\i
#
"Insomnia and the Somnambulist",1178,0,0,0
Those suffering from \Jinsomnia\j and the somnambulist walking in his sleep, share a divine feature. Their conditions are called after Somnus, the Roman god of sleep.
A twin brother of Death (Mors), art portrayed both deities as youths who, if not holding a torch upside-down, were mostly asleep themselves.
Somnus slept on a sable-covered couch, surrounded by empty dreams. The couch itself was placed within a cave in the underworld, so isolated that no ray of sun ever entered it nor could the sound of a bird be heard. Outside the cave, rather significantly, grew a profusion of poppies.
#
"International Cricketer - Victor Thomas Trumper",1179,0,0,0
A captain of the Australian Test Team described Sydney-born Victor Thomas Trumper as "the world's greatest batsman, a genius without an equal."
Famous for his perfect timing on the playing field, the span of his life was badly timed. Contracting Bright's disease, he died at 36. On the occasion of his passing, the \ISydney Morning Herald\i commented that Australian cricket without Trumper was almost unthinkable and that his style had rightly been described, as "the champagne of batting."
Trumper was always humble and withdrawn in manner. He neither smoked nor drank. A man of few words, he hated display and disliked players who boasted. Almost going to the other extreme, he carried an old, battered cricket bag, tied up with string.
As modest and unassuming as the man is the brief inscription on the memorial marking his grave in the Waverley Cemetery.
\IVICTOR THOMAS TRUMPER
Died 28th June 1915 Aged 36
International Cricketer\i
At the age of 17, Trumper had been recognized as a superb batsman. He excelled on bad wickets and no one could equal him on damp pitches. He was the first Australian in a Test match (at Manchester in 1902) to score a century before lunch.
He is listed among the Australian cricketers who received the highest testimonials; a match played for his benefit in 1913 between \JNew South Wales\j and the rest of \JAustralia\j yielded almost ú3,000 ($6,000), a sum doubled by subscriptions when presented to him.
At his death, his record showed that in his short life he totalled 16,939 runs, averaging 44.57, with 42 centuries. In Tests he scored 3,163 runs at 39 an innings and eight centuries.
Trumper always felt sympathy for the underdog and the battler. On one occasion, for instance, whilst on tour in London, he and his mates went to see a show at the Coliseum. It was a blowy and rainy night. On leaving, he saw a small, dishevelled boy standing in the street selling sheets of music. Victor left his party and bought the lot; he knew it would make the lad happy, at least for that one night.
No wonder people idolized him. Their feelings were aptly expressed in a poem Victor Daley wrote, published in the Sydney \IBulletin.\i Its first stanza read:
\IHo Statesmen, Patriots, Bards, make way!
Your fame has sunk to zero:
For Victor Trumper is today
Our one Australian Hero.\i
#
"Introduced Anzac Dawn Services",1180,0,0,0
\BFather White\b
The Dawn Service on \JAnzac\j Day has become a solemn Australian tradition. It is taken for granted and few wonder how it all started. Its originator is buried in a small cemetery carved out of the bush some kilometers outside the northern \JQueensland\j town of Herberton.
One grave stands out by its very simplicity. It is covered by a whitewashed concrete slab with a cement cross at its top end. No epitaph recalls even the name of the deceased. The inscription on the cross merely says "A PRIEST."
No one would identify the grave as that of the dedicated clergyman who created the Dawn Service, without the marker placed next to it in more recent times. It reads:
\IAdjacent to, and on the right of this marker
lies the grave of the late Rev. Arthur Ernest
White, a \JChurch of England\j clergyman and Padre,
44th Bn., First A. I. F.
On April 25th, 1923, at Albany, W. A ., Rev.
White led a party of friends in what was the
first ever observance of the Dawn Parade on
\JAnzac\j Day, thus establishing a tradition which
has endured, \JAustralia\j wide, ever since.\i
Rev White served as padre with the earliest Anzacs to leave \JAustralia\j with the first AIF in November 1914. When he returned to \JAustralia\j in 1919, having been gassed on the Western front, he was appointed relieving \Jrector\j of St John's in Albany.
"Albany," he is quoted as having said, "was the last sight of land these Anzacs saw after leaving Australian shores and some of them never returned. We should hold a service [here] at the first light of dawn each \JAnzac\j Day to commemorate them."
On \JAnzac\j Day 1929, White held the first Dawn Service. As the sun was rising, a man in a boat cast a wreath into King George Sound, whilst White, with a band of about 20 men gathered around him on the summit of nearby Mt Clarence, silently watched the wreath floating out to sea. He then quietly recited the words, "As the sun rises and goeth down, we will remember them."
All were deeply moved, and news of the ceremony soon spread. The Dawn Service was adopted all over \JAustralia\j and has been conducted annually ever since.
Eventually, White left Albany to serve other congregations, first in South \JAustralia\j, then at Broken Hill, where he built a church, and at Forbes. He was made a canon of Bathurst in 1951.
On his retirement, he went to Herberton to become chaplain to St Mary's Girls School. But soon after his arrival on 26 September 1954 he died. His son remembers how, just prior to his death, they both had discussed and agreed upon the two words "A PRIEST," "and nothing else."
Canon White or "Padre," as he was known to all his friends - had come from England to Western \JAustralia\j to serve as a bush brother. Born in London in 1883, the son of a fishmonger, he graduated in Arts at the University of Leeds and received his theological training at Mersfield. White was known throughout \JAustralia\j as a Conductor of Missions and Retreats. He was a very High Church militant priest with the courage of his convictions.
On first arriving at Albany, he found out that the church was in debt. From the pulpit he announced that he would not eat again, but only pray until the church was out of debt. This took five days. His son vividly recalls the incident, particularly as his mates in school henceforth nicknamed him Ghandi!
There are other stories told about the determined priest. During a bad \Jdrought\j, White conducted a service of intercession at Ironbarks, an outcentre of his Forbes parish. On the occasion, he called on the congregation to join him in prayer for rain, and even before the worship had ended, it began to pour. The entire region was soon flooded and the clergyman was stranded in Ironbarks for two days and nights. It is said that never after did he feel quite at ease when visiting this congregation.
Another tale survives in Forbes. One of his congregation asked him to baptize her seven children - simultaneously! To fulfill her request, White replied, he needed a bowser and not a font.
Apart from the plaque next to his grave, White's memory is honored by a stained-glass window in All Souls Church at Wirrinya, a small farming community near Forbes. Its members built the church with their own hands. They put up "the Dawn Service Window," as their own tribute to White's services to \JAustralia\j.
#
"Introduced Myxomatosis",1181,0,0,0
\BDame Jean MacNamara\b
The last resting place of Dame Jean MacNamara in the historic cemetery of Beechworth is as unusual as the woman was herself. Hers is not the traditional headstone but, by her own request, a mossy rock. A plaque fixed to it reads:
\IDAME A. JEAN MACNAMARA
M.D., B.S., LL.D. HONORAS CAUSA
1.4.1899 - 13.10.1968
Daughter of
Annie, and of John Macnamara who was
Clerk of Courts in Beechworth 1894-1909
Wife of Joseph Ivan Connor M.D., M.S.
She brought \Jmyxomatosis\j to \JAustralia\j, thus
Overcoming the \Jrabbit\j problem, and
Spent her life working to prevent
Crippling and deformity in children.\i
The inscription tells only part of her achievements, which were all aimed at improving the quality of life.
As a child, Jean had shown remarkable talent. At 15, she won a prize for "general excellence," and from then on was awarded one scholarship after another. Perhaps even more significant was her feeling of having a vocation, a duty "to be of some use in the world."
Children were her primary concern. On graduating in medicine at Melbourne University, she chose \Jpediatrics\j as her special field, and to expand her knowledge went overseas on a Rockefeller Traveling Fellowship.
To subdue the scourge of \Jpoliomyelitis\j was Jean's earliest aim. In its pursuit, she was among the first to test a polio serum, hoping that it might stave off paralysis. But when she published the encouraging results, she was given no official support. In her own words, the application of her findings was "wrecked . . . on the rocks of carelessness."
Undaunted, she did not abandon her efforts but carried them on in her private practice. With (later Sir) MacFarlane Burnet, who had graduated with her in the same year, she was able to trace several strains of the polio virus. Their discovery proved an early step in the development of the Salk vaccine.
To make life more fulfilling for crippled children became yet another of her objectives. Jean was instrumental in the foundation of \JAustralia\j's first center for \Jspastic\j children. Her aim was not merely to help them overcome their physical handicap, but also to remedy any psychological damage they had suffered, so that they could grow up as happy and useful human beings.
Jean MacNamara's paramount contribution to Australian life, however, was her introduction of \Jmyxomatosis\j. This viral disease was able to reduce the vast number of rabbits that were ravaging large expanses of precious farming land. It was not an easy task, and, as early as 1933, Jean became a target for conservationists. It did not discourage her. Resolute, she persevered, determined to succeed. At a conference, she forcibly expressed her views:
\IA community is not sound, no matter how beautiful are the roads and the buildings, how costly the car or the clothes, if the physique of youth is deteriorating because of lack of good \Jnutrition\j . . . I regard the \Jrabbit\j as the robber of the children's birthright.\i
It took 20 years before Jean saw her dream come true, enabling her to record how "I have seen land before and after the ravage of the \Jrabbit\j pest and the change in pastures has been amazing. I am glad I have been of some help in solving one of the farmers' major worries and that we can conserve some more Australian soil."
No mention is made, on her epitaph, of Jean's valuable work in connection with \Jpsittacosis\j, popularly known as "parrot fever," which caused human deaths. Once again in conjunction with MacFarlane Burnet, she was able (in 1934) to trace the fatal infection to budgerigars and various wild species of parrots. She further established that the disease was confined to certain areas and became life-threatening only when the birds were kept in captivity in unhygienic conditions.
Yet another of her many achievements was her introduction of the first artificial \Jrespirator\j into \JAustralia\j.
Such was the vast extent of Jean's concern and achievements. Small in stature (a mere 152 cm), she was a human dynamo and a workaholic. She would not rest till people listened to her and, with good reason, she described herself as "the human gadfly." A heavy smoker, she neglected her own health. Sickness dogged her for the last four years of her life. She died from coronary disease at the age of 69.
Though she had spent only the first eight years of her life in Beechworth, it was her express wish that her ashes should be interred in this town, her birthplace.
Countless former patients attended her funeral and it was said that they presented a spectacle reminiscent of \JLourdes\j.
#
"Introduced Quinine and Llamas",1182,0,0,0
\BCharles Ledger \b
The memorial on the grave of Charles Ledger in Rookwood Cemetery bears, in larger letters than those used for Ledger's name, the words:
\IHe Gave \JQuinine\j To The World\i
Indeed, when London-born Ledger died in Sydney on 19 May 1905, at the age of 87, he could be regarded as one of man's great benefactors. The tree-bark he first exported from the \JAndes\j, and which was called, after him, \ICinchona Calisaya Ledgeriana,\i contained the \Jquinine\j essential to lessen the effects of \Jmalaria\j.
Another grandiose scheme of Ledger's was to domesticate Peruvian alpacas, llamas, and vicunas in \JAustralia\j. Their precious wool would make a most valuable contribution to the country's wealth, and would create a new Australian industry. What Macarthur had done for the sheep, he would do for the \Jllama\j.
A born adventurer, he had a tumultuous life, following a tortuous road. In 1836, at the age of 18, he was sent as a clerk to \JPeru\j by a London mercantile firm. Ambitious and full of ideas, he soon set up his own business. He learnt the Indians' language and traveled far and wide, with his mind open for opportunities and ventures.
It did not take him long to realize the inestimable value of the beautiful wool of the \Jllama\j and \Jalpaca\j. In pursuit of his plan to introduce the animals to \JAustralia\j, he visited Sydney for the first time in 1853.
Five years later, on 28 November 1858, having overcome numerous difficulties and obstructions and even circumventing South American export laws, he succeeded in landing in Sydney - out of a flock of 1,500-276 animals. It was an historic event and expectations ran high.
When, in the following year, the first clip of colonial \Jalpaca\j wool was shorn and the first \Jalpaca\j meat "partaken of by a party of more than 300 ladies and gentlemen of the elite of Sydney," including the then Premier of \JNew South Wales\j, Charles Cowper, it seemed that \JAustralia\j had every reason to celebrate a momentous occasion. It was Ledger's dream to see, within 50 years, herds of ten million llamas, alpacas, and vicunas roaming the Australian countryside, yielding well over 70 million pounds of the finest wool.
Ledger, having been appointed by the Department of Lands to the newly created office of "Superintendent of Alpacas," settled in \JNew South Wales\j. With a commencing salary of ú300 ($600) and ú1,000 ($2,000) for expenses, he was to fill the position for five years. But the bureaucracy so frustrated him that he resigned long before his term had expired.
His dream was never realized and the experiment proved a failure. Bitterly he observed, "I undertook every risk, did succeed, and am ruined."
Whilst promoting his llamas in \JAustralia\j, Ledger had heard of abortive attempts to import from the Bolivian \JAndes\j the tree-bark that contained \Jquinine\j. Losing no time, he contacted an old Inca friend, asking him to collect the tree's seeds, and in 1865 he went back to \JPeru\j to embark on his history-making second venture.
He first offered the "medication" to the British Government. They showed no interest. Not discouraged, Ledger approached the Dutch. They accepted his services, and ultimately acquired what amounted to a world monopoly of \Jquinine\j.
Things did not run smoothly. As with his llamas, Ledger had to export the cinchona seed from \JPeru\j to Java clandestinely.
After temporarily residing in the United States, the Argentine, and Uruguay, in 1883 Ledger returned to \JAustralia\j, not least, it is believed, because of his Australian-born second wife.
At last he was ready to settle down, on a farm about 30 kilometers outside Goulburn. But his was not to be a serene retirement. His wife died, and the crash of Australian banks in the early 1890s totally impoverished him.
He must have truly welcomed the decision of the Dutch Government, on the occasion of his 77th birthday, to grant him a life-long pension of 1,200 guilders, at the time worth ú100, in acknowledgment of his services.
Ledger died 11 years later, having subsisted on the foreign subsidy and leaving an estate valued at two pounds ($4).
When standing at his gravesite, who would guess at the many lives he had saved, how much anguish he had alleviated, and the millions of dollars he had made - for other people and nations?
Even those enjoying a gin and tonic do not realize that the \Jquinine\j it contains, giving the tonic its distinctive bitter taste, is a product of the bark Ledger "picked up" so long ago in the land of the Incas.
#
"Invention of Dominoes",1183,0,0,0
Although not necessarily the game itself, the name \Idominoes\i owes its existence to the world of faith.
A tradition claims that a prisoner held in an eighteenth-century Italian jail invented the game. An inveterate gambler, he was not prepared to miss his pastime even in prison. As he was not permitted to take his dice with him; with much thought and experimentation he ingeniously devised a substitute. This replaced the unavailable rolling knuckleheads with an improvised set of twenty-eight small pieces. Marking each of these tiles with spots, he made sure that the total of their number represented every possible throw of two dice.
Though the technique of the gamble was different, the result was the same. Because of its novelty, his camouflaged dice game was undetected by the authorities and therefore not forbidden as a prohibited activity.
The game did not stay within the prison walls, but soon gained popularity among the general public. The early gambling tiles were made of ebony and ivory. Their combination of black and white colors reminded people of the \Idomino,\i a cloak worn by priests during the winter months. Of heavy black cloth, it was lined with white. This rather tenuous coincidence led them to transfer the cloak's name to the novel game - which has been called \Idominoes\i ever since.
Even more closely related to religion is another theory about the origin of the game. It was not the inmate of a prison but monks, it tells, who first designed the pastime. And it was they who were responsible for its name, in this case with a more pious connotation still: the Italian word, \IDomino,\i means "the Lord."
Having violated some vow, several monks at the monastery of Monte Cassino had been confined to the penitential cell. To while away the time, they cut out squares from wood which they marked with points. They used the various pieces to join in an innocuous but most entertaining pastime. Indeed, they came to enjoy it so much that, on their release from the cell, they taught the new game to their brethren who took it up enthusiastically. It became the practice for the winning monk, on putting down his final piece gratefully, to bless God, for his victory, and to do so with the Latin formula \IBenedicamus Domino!\i The last word of this benediction soon became identified with the game, and gave rise to the name by which it is still known.
#
"Invention of Gunpowder",1184,0,0,0
Though \Jgunpowder\j was first used in China, the credit for its invention for the Western world might belong to Berthold Schwarz, a German Franciscan monk, who, in 1313, also pioneered its use in weapons. This claim, made by Felix Hemmelin in 1450, more than a century after the event, has been disputed. However, it is difficult, now, to unravel the facts of the case.
According to Hemmelin, Schwarz was a native of the German city of \JKonstanz\j. He taught at Paris University, where he engaged in chemical experiments. In the course of one of these, says Hemmelin, the monk discovered the explosive force of a combination of sulphur, \Jsaltpetre\j and charcoal, and immediately realized its great potential for the development of a new type of gun.
His idea was soon picked up, and the first weapon of this novel kind was used, and with great success, in 1334, to defend the Bishop's Palace in \JKonstanz\j. Whatever doubts remain about the part Schwarz played in the invention of the powder, this story certainly provides us with the earliest known description of explosive \Jfirearms\j.
To confuse the issue even further, some believe that the monk's name was not Berthold Schwarz at all. This was merely a translation of his real name, Aventins von Bertoldus \JNiger\j.
#
"Invention of Rollerskates",1185,0,0,0
Love of one sport created another. That, in short, is the story of the origin of \Jroller skating\j. Actually, it took almost a hundred years for the child to cut itself completely loose from the apron strings of its mother.
It is traditionally believed that roller skates were invented early in the eighteenth century by an unknown Dutchman. His love of \Jice skating\j, a sport highly popular in his country, was so great that he wished to enjoy it all the year round, even in summer. Artificial ice rinks, of course, were then unknown.
His problem, therefore, was how to transfer the art from the slippery ice to firm ground. For this purpose, it was obvious, he had to adapt the ice skates. He did so by fitting large, wooden spools to the wooden strips (or blades) nailed to the skater's shoes, a method which, in retrospect, looks so simple.
Thus, even when the canals were no longer frozen, Dutchmen could still follow their favorite sport in a different version. Instead of sliding over the ice, they rolled along over the ground.
It was soon realized that skating on rollers demanded its special skill and long training. The earliest models of roller skates were cumbersome and crude, and as a result movement was considerably restricted. Further advance of the new sport therefore depended very much on the evolution of the rollers.
Men in various countries took up the challenge and ingeniously constructed new and better types of skates. First of all, they replaced the original rollers, or spools, with wheels. In not a few cases this device proved inadequate, if not dangerous, as some of the creators learned to their cost.
A typical example was the "pair of skaites" (as a contemporary writer spells it) built and demonstrated by Joseph Merlin, a Belgian. He was a musical instrument maker, a violinist, and, not least, it seems, a showman. Actually, he is the first man on record to have made roller skates. When he came to England to settle in 1760, he displayed his skates and tried to promote their use by a gimmick which, alas, ended in disaster.
Invited to a fashionable party, he brought his roller skates with him. Mounted on them, he mixed with the dancers, rolling along and playing his violin at the same time. His strange acrobatics, which attracted the attention of all and sundry, had a most unexpected result. Reaching a dangerous speed, Merlin tried to stop or, at least, to change direction. He was unable to do either and smashed head on into a large, gilded mirror valued at ú500. As well as the mirror, he broke his priceless violin, and injured himself seriously. \JRoller skating\j with Merlin's skates was just not good enough and, certainly, too costly.
Various types of skates were developed, each with some novel idea thought to be an improvement on earlier models. The \IVolito,\i for instance, used five wheels, arranged in the fashion of the ice skate blade in a \Jstraight line\j. Another kind had only a single wheel. Yet another inventor used copper rolls. But it was a patent taken out in \JFrance\j in 1829 which became the prototype of the modern roller skate.
Sometimes, a sport, a fad, or a product is promoted in the most unexpected way, not by design, but by mere accident. This, indeed, was the case with \Jroller skating\j. It was used, though surreptiously, in a completely different setting from sport - in the world of art.
In his opera \IThe \JProphet\j,\i composed and first performed in Paris in 1849, Giacomo Meyerbeer included a skating scene. Since ice skates could not be used on stage, the actors and singers used roller skates. The opera surged to success and the skating scene became its most famous part and, inevitably, roller skates a topic of worldwide discussion.
When, in the same year, Paul Taglioni, choreographer and ballet director of the Royal Theatre in Berlin, staged his ballet \IThe Skaters,\i he also had the dancers use roller skates.
However, none of the skates then in existence was satisfactory enough to make \Jroller skating\j a success as a sport. The models so far produced were difficult to master. In 1863, an American, James L. Plimpton, of New York, at last was able to construct a pair that presented a real advance. With four small boxwood wheels cushioned by rubber pads, it enabled skaters to take due advantage of the force of gravity and keep a right balance and even perform intricate figures.
Nevertheless, as the wooden spools or wheels often split, throwing the skater to the ground, they certainly did not help to popularize the sport. It could not capture mass imagination. Only the introduction of metal wheels with pin bearings, and of casters, enabled men and women not only to roll along smoothly, but to work up speed without having to fear a sudden collapse or collision.
Meanwhile, in 1864, another American, Jackson Haines, the famous ballet master who already had promoted \Jice skating\j as an art, had taken up \Jroller skating\j as well. By his supreme performance on wheels (made possible by the substitution of inclined axles for the fixed axle) he opened up completely new vistas for the sport, introducing to it dance movements from \Jice skating\j, and spins, jumps, and figures.
A National Skating Association was formed in Britain in 1879 to foster the sport further (early referred to also as "rinking"), and London's famous Olympic Hall was built as a \Jroller skating\j rink. Finally, the invention ball-bearing wheels, patented by L. M. Richardson in 1884, led to a boom. \JRoller skating\j swept America almost as a craze, and then spread to Europe.
A promoter staged an historical six-day race at new York's Madison Square Garden where the winner covered 1091 miles. At numerous places new rinks were constructed and people realized the great advantage of \Jroller skating\j: its complete independence from seasons: it could be pursued both indoors and out and, most of all, without the expense of artificial freezing.
However, in England, \Jice skating\j and \Jroller skating\j were jointly controlled for nearly a century. The formation of the United States Federation of American Roller Skaters for the first time made the sport totally independent. The FΘdΘration Internationale de Patinage α Roulettes (FIPR) became the world governing body.
Enthusiasts of the sport developed various exciting competitions on roller skates, concentrating either on speed or on grace of movement. The roller derby, introduced by the United States, was a totally new idea, dreamed up by Leo ("Bromo") Seltzer of \JChicago\j. Gaining widest popularity in the late 1940s, it presented one of the roughest and wildest forms of skating competitions, embodying features of wrestling, football, \Jhockey\j and, in its early stages, even of six-day \Jbicycle\j races.
Thus an unknown Dutchman's early dream and first crude device, through periods of trial and error, emerged as a pastime and a sport taken up either singly or in exciting rivalry all over the world.
#
"Iris and Rainbows",1186,0,0,0
Iris was the goddess of the rainbow. Just as this colorful arc seemed to link heaven and earth, so she was worshiped as a divine messenger, bringing the gods' tidings to man. It was, no doubt, because of her variety of striking colors that Iris' name was bestowed on the beautiful flower that Milton so fittingly described as the "Iris of all hues."
Gods have played many parts - and so did Iris - in our vocabulary. Not only did botanists make use of her, when they chose her name as an apt one for the perennial flower. Anatomists appropriated it for the iris of the eye, that muscular diaphragm surrounding and controlling the size of the pupil, its color varying among different people.
In 1804, the English chemist Smithson Tennant, a clergyman's son, discovered a new metallic element which, on being dissolved in certain acids, produced a variety of bright colors. In search of a name, Tennant, too, could find none more suitable than that of the ancient rainbow goddess. So he called the metal \Iiridium.\i
The \Iiridescent\i ancient deity thus survives in three totally diverse realms of nature.
#
"Irish Coffee",1187,0,0,0
Surprisingly, Irish \Jcoffee\j is not only a gift of the Emerald Isle to the world, to add to its enjoyment in food and drink, but part of the history of \Javiation\j. It was created in the 1950s, at Shannon airport on the west coast of Ireland, and was the result of early trans-Atlantic flights.
At the time, the quantity of fuel \Jaircraft\j could carry was just sufficient for the long stretch between the United States and the Irish coast. This made it necessary for all planes to stop over at Shannon to refuel. Tired and exhausted from the then still long and wearisome flight, both crew and passengers could well do with a "pick-up." Joe Sheridan, the airport's barman, was quick to come to the rescue. He served the arrivals a strong cup of \Jcoffee\j. To fortify it, he added a dash of whiskey, topping his novel concoction with whipped cream. It was the birth of Irish \Jcoffee\j and immediately caught on.
#
"Irish Harp on a Gravestone",1188,0,0,0
Australia has been greatly enriched by the Irish, whether they came as free immigrants, political refugees or - in the early days of the colony - as convicts. Many a grave recalls their Irish roots and does so by heading the inscription on their monument with the depiction of an Irish harp.
Often referred to as a lyre, its choice as the country's symbol goes back to medieval times, to the days of the high kings and chieftains. History then was handed down from one generation to another by the songs of bards, rendered to the accompaniment of a harp. The practice so closely associated the instrument with Irish tradition and the Irish pride in the past, that eventually the harp was adopted as the national emblem.
Another explanation links the choice of the symbol with the English rule of Ireland in the sixteenth century. The English could not suppress Irish patriotism, and the Irish continued to fight for their freedom. In the ongoing battle, harpists came to play a significant role. Moving around the country unhindered, apparently to entertain the people, they carried secret information to supporters.
When caught by the English and identified as disguised couriers, they were mercilessly executed. But their harp survived as a potent and venerated symbol of Irish self-sacrifice and patriotism, the very badge of their nation.
A fourteenth-century instrument, the earliest existing model is treasured in Dublin's national museum, once part of Trinity College. Its appearance has never changed; the lyre embossed on the graves of those of Irish descent is of the same design as the original harp.
#
"Irish Monasticism",1189,0,0,0
The Irish were taught the Christian faith chiefly by monks, who pursued their work as solitary missionaries all over the Emerald Isle, usually living in simple huts, or "cells." And the Latin \Icella\i (the origin of the modern \Icell),\i became the \JGaelic\j \Ikil.\i
As more and more converts were made, the monks' abodes became the nucleus of monasteries and of churches, around which developed cultural centers, places of renown and large townships. Their humble religious origin is still indicated by the \Ikil\i in their names. Indeed, this word is the counterpart of the Welsh \ILlan.\i This explains \IKildare\i (the "cell or church by the oak"), \IKilkenny\i ("St-Kenneth's cell"), \IKillarney\i ("the cell or church by the black thorn"), and numerous other Irish place names containing this element.
Monks have thus left a conspicuous mark, not only in Irishmen's religion, but also on the Irish map.
#
"Irish Whiskey",1190,0,0,0
Irish whiskey had its beginnings in a monastery.
The early religious centers on the Emerald Isle kept in constant contact with scholars and ecclesiastics of the rest of Europe. Many of the monks and priests of Ireland had, in fact, come from there, so that a great part of their religious traditions and everyday customs were those of the European continent. And it has been suggested that monks who had arrived from \JSpain\j some time in the twelfth century, had taught the Irish the art of distilling.
It was a religious import, so to speak. The monks called the drink "water of life," which was, in the \JGaelic\j they spoke, \Iuisge bheatha\i or \Iusquebaugh.\i Eventually the \JGaelic\j name was contracted to become the present-day \Iwhiskey.\i Significantly, the Irish version differs not only in taste but in spelling from whisky, its Scottish derivative.
The monks' example was soon taken up by the rest of the Irish, and distilling whiskey became a cottage industry. This was pursued for centuries without being restricted by licencing laws or other government regulations.
To St Patrick - so beloved by the Irish and credited with many things he never did - has also been attributed the introduction of whiskey to the people. It is said that he taught them to use a mash of malted \Jbarley\j to make potheen. But this, most certainly, is pure legend.
#
"Iron Bars",1191,0,0,0
In the world of magic, iron is the most effective guard against the devil. In fact, it is the very ingredient that contributed greatly in creating the good-luck syndrome of the horseshoe. Of course, it must be realized that the horseshoe offers good fortune in a negative sort of way. It does not attract good luck, but repels the devil.
The universally accepted anti-devilish quality of iron has its deep roots in remote history and man's early powers of observation. First of all, there were the meteors that struck the earth, which were seen as truly heavenly missiles. Everything connected with their "\Jsupernatural\j" appearance combined to make the meteors carriers of divine and occult power: their fiery streak on their passage downward from the heights, their mysterious arrival, and the discovery of such ancient meteorites embedded in the ground.
Man soon learned to make good use of the salvaged meteoric iron. With the aid of the sacred fire, he forged his tools and weapons from it. He saw in the iron a divine and magically mysterious gift specially sent to him from above. Most of all, however, the fact that it had come from outer space (then identified with heaven - the seat of God) made the devil loathe it.
One of the great revolutions in the history of man was the replacement of stone and bronze by iron. As the poor "devil" was only equipped with stone and bronze weapons, he did not have a ghost of a chance against the iron of the invader. This, for instance, was the case of the victorious \JCelts\j in their occupation of Britain. Always ready to attribute the inexplicable to \Jsupernatural\j causes, man soon declared iron a divine element against which those serving the devil were powerless.
The stone-wielding natives of many areas just had no chance against the superior power of iron weapons which, in their primitive way of thinking, they ascribed not to the metal itself but to its magic. On the other hand, the victorious foe seemed invulnerable as he was protected with shields and armor made of iron. This invulnerability was again thought to be due not to the harder substance of the metal, but to mystic force!
Though psychological warfare is a modern concept, it has been applied throughout history. Early warriors cleverly spread the notion of the magic power of the iron to increase the terror of their enemy and their own reputation of being unassailable and immune from attack.
Numerous customs can be traced to this belief in the magic potency of iron. The first-century Roman author Pliny recorded how the idea had taken root in his time, when people used to remove nails from coffins and stick them into the lintel of their homes or bedrooms, to "lay" spirits that might haunt them at night. Scots and Irishmen used iron to ward off attacks by fairies. Christian families believed that by putting an iron poker across the cradle of an as yet unbaptized child, they would protect the infant against the power of the devil.
#
"Iron Ration",1192,0,0,0
The reason for calling provisions kept only for use in emergency an "iron ration" is subject to misunderstanding. The words originally did not refer to their essential durability. They merely recall the iron container in which the food was kept for soldiers serving away from their base.
#
"Islam's Symbol: Crescent Moon",1193,0,0,0
\JIslam\j's symbol today is the Crescent Moon. It represents the moon in a state of increase and, therefore, points to a faith's growth from small beginnings until one day, so Mohammedans believe, it will fill the world "all round."
This sign of the youngest of world religions is not indigenously Mohammedan. Like the cross and the star, it goes back to most ancient and certainly pagan days.
People had always been puzzled and awed by what they saw in the sky. The waxing and waning of the moon indicated to primitive man the presence of a miraculous power that dwelt in the crescent - a germ of fertility.
Like the moon's sickle, its replica, whether drawn on cloth or shaped in metal, was thought to ensure an increase of all that man sought after most - first of his own fertility and that of his fields and \Jcattle\j, and then of his wealth and power.
The figure of the crescent thus became not only a symbol of growth and prosperity, but also a magical means of attaining it. That is why ancient Egyptians and early Greeks decorated their gods with the emblem, and Athenians of illustrious birth wore a crescent of ivory and silver. It was for the same reason that Romans chose it as their Empire's symbol, hoping that, magically, it would foster her might.
It is said that an event in 339 B.C. gave the Crescent Moon an additional significance in \JAsia Minor\j and hence in the \JMiddle East\j. Philip, father of Alexander the Great, experienced great difficulty in his attempt to conquer Byzantium, the future Constantinople. Besieging the city, his forces were unable to scale its walls and he decided to enter the fortress through tunnels. At first all went well. But then, a crescent moon suddenly appeared and revealed to the Byzantian defenders men building tunnels. Byzantium was saved!
In gratitude for their deliverance, thanks to the new moon, the citizens adopted the crescent as their badge.
Another story links the choice of the symbol with Othman, the Sultan. He is said to have seen in a vision a crescent moon whose horns grew ever wider until they extended from the East to the Far West. He chose the crescent for his standard, believing that under its sign his rule, likewise, would spread to the ends of the earth.
When the Turks rose to power over the Byzantians, they took over the emblem of the convex figure of the waxing moon. And because the Turks adopted Mohammedanism, people soon forgot the original national meaning of the Crescent Moon and mistook it as the religious symbol of the faith of \JIslam\j.
#
"Isolation Wards",1194,0,0,0
The isolation of patients suspected of suffering from an infectious disease was a practice strictly adhered to in biblical times. Detailed instructions in the \JBible\j deal with the treatment of lepers, with special regard to their being kept separate from the rest of the population.
#
"Israeli Flag",1195,0,0,0
Religious symbols make up the flag of the modern State of Israel. The \JStar of David\j, its center piece, both leads back to Jewry's glorious past and points to a Messianic future.
The praying shawl, in which the pious Jew wraps himself during worship, suggested the flag's blue and white colors. In the \Jsynagogue\j, those hues reminded the faithful of a pure life and a God-centered existence. Blue, by its association with the sky, immediately suggested Heaven.
There was no difficulty in re-interpreting those colors for a national flag. The white was to be symbolic of the purity of the new life the Jewish people, when returned to their ancient homeland, were meant to lead - a life of social justice, unsullied by arrogant \Jnationalism\j. The blue was to remind the new citizens, and those whom they chose as leaders, that their country should be based on God's law and be worthy of a people called into existence with one aim in mind - to serve God.
The Israeli flag was designed almost exactly half a century before the establishment of the State. In 1895, Theodor Herzl, \JZionism\j's great dreamer who wrote the blue-print of the new State, already had felt the need for a flag. "We need one," he then wrote. "If we desire to lead men, we must raise a symbol above their heads." He claimed that with a piece of cloth as a banner, even if fixed to a mere broomstick, he would be able to lead the Jewish people back into the Holy Land.
In 1897, the first World Zionist Congress met at Basle. One of the 240 delegates, who came from many countries, was David Wolffsohn. He was responsible for the arrangements and it was he also who designed the first Jewish flag. "Let us take the praying shawl from its bag and unfold it before the eyes of Israel and the eyes of all nations," he said.
When the Conference met, it did so under the sign of the new banner. Quickly this captured the imagination of Jewish people everywhere and came to express their aspirations to return to the Holy Land.
When during World War II, in 1944, Nazi armies threatened the \JMiddle East\j, a Jewish fighting force was created in Palestine as part of the British army. On the occasion, Winston Churchill suggested consulting the king, as "I cannot conceive that this martyred race, scattered about the world and suffering as no other race has done at this juncture, should be denied the satisfaction of having a flag."
Two months later, Churchill was able to announce to the British Parliament the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group. With it, for the first time in history, the Jewish flag gained official recognition.
When the State of Israel was born in 1948, as everyone had expected, the Zionist banner was proclaimed Israel's official flag.
#
"Israeli Hymn",1196,0,0,0
Israel is one of the youngest of modern nations. Yet its National Anthem preceded the new State by almost 70 years. It was written by an Austrian Jew who dedicated it - with other poems - to a Christian English friend.
Its theme is optimism. Its words express the eternal Jewish hope of the fulfillment of ancient prophecy: the return of a rehabilitated and rejuvenated Jewish people to their ancestors' land. That is why, appropriately, the very title of Israel's anthem is called "The Hope."
The hymn was written by Naphtali Herz Imber, born in \JGalicia\j in 1856. At 14 he won a government prize for a \JHebrew\j poem on a patriotic Austrian theme. Four years later he migrated to Vienna. But he did not stay there for long. Always restive, he led the life of a wanderer. He traveled through \JHungary\j, \JRomania\j and all over the Balkans, finally reaching Constantinople.
There he met Laurence Oliphant, one of the most outstanding non-Jewish Zionists. Born of Scottish parents in South Africa, Olipant became a member of the British \JHouse of Commons\j, a diplomat by profession and a successful novelist. But the idea that dominated his life was the wish to re-establish the Jewish people in the Holy Land.
Imber and Oliphant became intimate friends, fervently sharing the Zionist dream. Together - in 1878 - they went to Palestine. There Imber was greatly inspired by the early Jewish settlers who, in the midst of \Jmalaria\j-ridden swamps, had founded their first colonies, one called (from the \Jprophet\j Hosea) "The Gate of Hope."
This name gave Imber the title and message for his poem. In nine stanzas he expressed the eternal longing of the Jewish heart: to dwell once again in the city where David had put up his camp to become "a free nation in Zion and \JJerusalem\j."
A young pioneer in an adjacent colony set it to music and, in no time, it became the people's hymn. Its tune is that of both an old Spanish and Slav folk song, which can also be found in Smetana's tone-poem \I"Die Moldau."\i Spanish and Portuguese Jews had used the melody for one of their ancient \JHebrew\j prayers, a supplication for dew.
Imber did not stay in Palestine either. When, in 1888, Oliphant died, he went first to Britain and then to the United States. Associating with mystics there, he became now interested in the Theosophical movement.
However successful Imber was in his literary work, there was no real happiness in his personal life. Eventually he took to drink. Taverns became his haunt. He was rarely sober. Drink did not make him amiable but quarrelsome. Even his friends could not bear with him any longer, a fact which made him still more bitter and cynical.
Typical was the incident at a Zionist meeting from which Imber, obstreperously drunk, had to be forcibly removed. Outside the hall he heard, at the meeting's end, the crowd join in his song. The cast-out drunkard, with shaking but triumphant voice, remarked: "They may kick me out, but they must sing my song."
Lonely and embittered, he died in 1909, aged 53, in a New York \Jhospital\j. He had a pauper's funeral, but the hymn did not die with him. It circled the world. First sung by the colonists in the Holy Land, it soon became the fervent expression of Jewish national aspiration in every county.
The fact that "Our Hope" was sung by the world delegates attending the Sixth Zionist Congress held at Basle, \JSwitzerland\j, in 1903 gave the hymn official recognition. It was a foregone conclusion that, at the \Jdeclaration of Independence\j of the State of Israel, 45 years later - in 1948 - this Zionist song, the hymn of hope, was to become the National Anthem.
#
"Israeli Independence Day",1197,0,0,0
On 14 May 1948, Israel was proclaimed a nation. Its anniversary, Israeli Independence Day \I(Yom ha-Atzma'ut),\i is celebrated according to the \JHebrew\j date, on the fifth of Iyar (which may occur in either April or May). However, should the day coincide with the Sabbath or its eve, it is observed on the preceding Thursday.
Prizes are awarded to those who during the past year have made the most valuable contribution in the fields of science, agriculture, literature and art. In a special ceremony twelve torches are lit. Originally each symbolized one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Now they represent the diverse groups, from all parts of the world, that make up the nation of Israel.
#
"It's all Boloney",1198,0,0,0
Foolishness may be the result of many causes, which certainly applies to - the American-born - boloney. This colloquial description of nonsensical and foolish talk has been derived from a multitude of sources: the (corrupted) name of a city, a music hall, the political platform, and the slaughterhouse - a mixed bag indeed.
It has been said that the (silly) boloney (or, baloney, as mostly used nowadays) came from the Italian city of \JBologna\j - misspelled and mispronounced. Why, of all places, this town should have been chosen to be so abused, seems rather puzzling. Far from being a center of unreason, \JBologna\j was the site of the oldest European university, founded in 1088.
Nevertheless, the claim may be correct, as boloney did not refer to any of the city's inhabitants, but to a large sausage, either produced there, or named after it by Italian migrants to the United States. No one knew for sure its ingredients. They could be of the most inferior (and nauseating) kind, and to those who did not fancy the sausage, "boloney" became synonymous with anything of dubious origin and taste. Dislike and misspelling may thus have been responsible for the first boloney.
Another version moves the birthplace of boloney to the \JChicago\j stockyards, where butchers are said to have launched it. When they thought that the meat of an old bull was too tough, they remarked that it was fit only for the making of a sausage, the \Jbologna\j. The word soon deteriorated into the "unfit" boloney.
Others have found nothing corrupt in boloney. They "explained" that Jack Convey (d. 1928), an ex-\Jbaseball\j player turned actor, had invented the word on the spur of the moment during a \Jvaudeville\j show. His "silly" improvisation had caught on, perhaps helped by the fact that he also wrote for \IVariety,\i the theatrical weekly, widely read throughout the United States.
Politicians are fond of making memorable remarks. The Hon. Alfred E. ("Al") Smith has been credited with having popularized (though not originated) in 1934 all that is "boloney." Condemning the proposed introduction of new dollar coins, the gold content of which was to be greatly reduced, he contemptuously referred to them as "boloney dollars." And a politicians words are well publicized.
#
"It's all Silly",1199,0,0,0
The phenomenon of depreciation does not apply to material values alone. Some everyday words have experienced an identical fate. They have gone down in the world so much that we would never imagine their once lofty status.
\ISilly\i belongs to this category. Its present-day derogatory connotation is far removed from the pious concept it designated originally. Going back to the German \Iselig\i (and its \JAnglo-Saxon\j equivalent), it denoted a state of sublime blessedness. A silly person was one blessed by God and therefore divinely happy.
It is not difficult to reconstruct the way in which the word gradually devalued, eventually to assume its modern meaning. In their unworldly piety and blissful happiness, some people were trustful to a fault. Gullible and easily taken in, they were "innocents abroad." They could not see wickedness in others. No wonder that the wordly-wise, well-acquainted with evil, regarded those men and women as very simple, indeed naive individuals. The word \Isilly\i thus became identified with their supposed foolishness. No longer seen as something to be revered, silliness became a ridiculous, if not contemptible disposition.
#
"Italian Pasta is Chinese",1200,0,0,0
Spaghetti, \Jmacaroni\j, vermicelli, and other noodle-like pastas are taken to be typically Italian. Certainly, the sound of their names seems to confirm the belief. They are not Italian at all but Chinese.
Marco Polo, the famous Italian world traveler had first tasted "noodles" in far-off China, where "\Jpasta\j" had belonged to the people's staple diet for hundreds of years. (Excavations of a tomb at Turfan uncovered remnants of Chinese "ravioli" dating back to A.D. 800.) Marco Polo took such a liking to \Jpasta\j that, on his return to Venice in 1295, he taught his countrymen the (Chinese) art of making it. Italians came to relish the novel (and inexpensive) food so much that they lost no time to make it their own, so that the world now gives them all the credit. Historically, however, this is incorrect.
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"Ivory Tower",1201,0,0,0
Ivory has always been treasured, to be utilized in diverse ways. Figuratively, it appears in the \Iivory tower.\i This \Jmetaphor\j has totally changed its meaning from the one it carried when it made its first appearance in biblical writings.
The original ivory tower occurs in the romantic Song of Songs (7.5), in which the young man, enraptured by the beauty of his lover, likens her neck to "a tower of ivory." (His comparison might not be appreciated nowadays.)
From the Song of Songs, \JChristianity\j adopted the figure of speech to use it in a supplication to the Virgin Mary, the litany of Loretto. Here, however, the "ivory tower" is no longer a feature of a young woman's physical beauty; it has become the symbol of the Virgin's unassailable purity.
Charles Sainte-Beuve, a nineteenth century French critic, made use of this \Jmetaphor\j again, but once again changed its meaning. While he compared Victor Hugo to a feudal baron, armed and ready to join in battle, he likened Alfred de Vigny, unflatteringly, to someone who had retreated into his "ivory tower." That is how the expression assumed its present-day meaning of a state of isolation and withdrawal from the problems of life.
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"Ivy on Gravestones",1202,0,0,0
Ivy embossed on a gravestone is not a decoration, but a powerful symbol. Ivy never wilts or changes its color. Neither did the deceased ever waver or abate in his or her loyalty, allegiance, and affection.
Just as ivy clings tightly to trees and other objects, so is the bond between the loved one and the bereaved, who will never forget him. After all, even if a tree falls down, the ivy still clings to it.
As an evergreen, the presence of the ivy on the stone consolingly assures the mourners of the immortality of the deceased's soul.
#
"Jack Tar",1203,0,0,0
Before sailors learned to protect themselves against the wet with oilskins, they used to coat their canvas clothing with tar, achieving the same result. This, it is often wrongly claimed, explains their description as Jack Tar, also interpreted as the shortened version of their tarpaulin.
Actually, the name goes back to much earlier days when all sailing boats were built of timber. To keep them waterproof and seaworthy, they had to be regularly caulked and tarred. In fact, each time a boat was tied up in port, it became the duty of sailors to undertake this task. In the process the tar got stuck to their hands and faces and, hard to remove, soon became their mark of identification responsible for their nickname.
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"Jack-o'-lantern and Will-o'-the-wisp",1204,0,0,0
The mysterious and ominous seemed to surround man particularly in the dark of night. A fatal experience that was known and feared was the sudden appearance of lights hovering around marshy lands. It was believed that lonely, straying wanderers were attracted by the lights and put into a hypnotic spell. They could not help following those flickering lights and, misled, eventually found themselves lost in the midst of a swamp from which there was no escape.
It was only natural that these lights intrigued and frightened man. Ignorant of their real source, he imagined that they were the spirits of dead people flitting about, possibly in search of a body to occupy. Various regions identified them differently. Russians, for instance, said that they were the souls of still-born infants. Totally lost, they were floating about in limbo between heaven and hell.
Because those flames appeared like beckoning lamps, seeking to guide the straying wanderer, people chose appropriate names for them. Thus they were called "Jack-o'-lanterns" or, more simply, "the \Jfriar\j's lanterns." The more highbrow, shunning such rather homely terms, used instead the Latin \Iignis fatuus.\i This, very realistically, spoke of "the foolish fire" which misguided and deluded man, leading him to certain death.
Best-known of all, however, was yet another description for the phenomenon, calling it "will-o'-the-wisp." Originally and much more correctly, it referred to "Will with the wisp." Not a \Jfriar\j nor a Jack, William used not flames or a lantern but a handful of straw, a wisp, to achieve the identical nefarious aim, causing men to lose their way and subsequently their very lives in a bog.
Of all these expressions, only will-o'-the-wisp survives in everyday language as a telling \Jmetaphor\j used for any deluding scheme or ephemeral, utopian dream that ends in frustration and calamity.
All those flickering lights and wandering flames, by whichever name they were known, certainly were not spirits, Jacks, or Williams. Only man's imaginative mind, still lacking a rational explanation, could see them thus. Eventually the natural phenomenon was recognized as phosphorescent lights hovering over swamps at night, the result of the spontaneous combustion of gases produced by decaying plants or the \Jdecomposition\j of other organic matter.
With the mystery gone, Jack-o'-lantern's lamp should really have been extinguished. And yet, it is still lit up in countless numbers all over America on one night every year. No longer linked with the marshes, it is now the name of the lamps fashioned out of pumpkins, turnips, and potatoes which decorate American homes on \JHallowe'en\j, that great mysterious night of the year, when they also are used to illumine the gatherings celebrating the auspicious occasion of All Souls Day on the eve of the Feast of All Saints of 1 November.
The custom goes back to the ancient \Jcult\j of the Druids and their rite to mark the arrival of winter. The hollowed-out vegetable with its glowing light within, truly reflects their mysterious ritual.
Just as the \JBible\j explains many a practice of later years by linking it with some specific event of the past, so did Celtic tradition, and no less so in the case of Jack-o'-lantern. It all goes back, so the Irish tell, to Jack, one of their countrymen. He had loved life and all its pleasures, but particularly so strong drink. He shunned work and to help other people was not in his line. In fact, he was a most stingy sort of person. His dissolute, selfish life well qualified him to become at the hour of death, a permanent resident among those wicked people whose home was hell.
Jack, however, in spite of his drinking, had his wits about him. Well aware of a rather unpleasant future as his final destiny, he was determined somehow to change his luck, but to do so without changing his way of life. With this end in mind, he spied his chance, one day, when meeting the devil. Jack enticed him to climb an apple tree to pick the most luscious of its fruits. But the very moment the evil one had taken hold of the apple, Jack traced the sign of the cross on the tree: this forced the devil to stay aloft in great distress.
Whatever the price, he had to come to terms with Jack and made him remove the sign that kept him "up the tree." And that exactly was what Jack had expected in his well-laid plan. He promised to erase the cross if, in turn, the devil would give his word to leave him alone for the rest of his life and, what was even more significant, not to demand his soul after death.
Everything thus seemed to go Jack's way. There was no longer any need for him to worry, he imagined. But when the day of his death finally arrived and he went to heaven, he was duly refused admission. A man of his type certainly had no rightful place there. What could Jack do now? To hover around as a homeless wanderer was out of the question. All that was left for him to do was to go to the very place he had hoped to avoid at all costs. But even hell now had its gates closed to him - the devil as well is ultimately obliged to keep his word and, after all, he had promised never to take Jack into his abode.
Poor Jack was at a total loss. He tried to climb back up from the netherworld. But in the dark and confusion, he could not find his way. Possibly to help him by lighting up the path from the abyss, the devil threw him one of the glowing coals used to keep the hell fires burning. Jack, who just then was eating a pumpkin (a \Jturnip\j or a \Jpotato\j, other traditions say), got hold of the ember and stuck it inside the vegetable! And, ever since, he has used this improvised lantern in his ceaseless search all over the world for a place to rest.
Another version of the story tells that Jack really made the devil get stuck in the tree just for fun. He had meant it by way of a practical joke. But, unfortunately, the devil had no sense of humor. And when Jack had been refused admission to heaven for his stinginess, he tried to find accommodation in hell. But the devil had not forgotten (nor forgiven) the incident when Jack had made him look a fool. Therefore he did not grant him domicile. And that is why Jack has been left to walk the earth with his lantern. He must do so till the coming of judgment day.
#
"Jackknife",1205,0,0,0
It would be easy to imagine that a jackknife is so called because it is such a handy tool for anyone - any Jack. People can carry it safely in their pockets wherever they go as its sharp edge is sheathed when not in use. However, it has been claimed (in 1776) that its description was chosen in honor of its inventor, allegedly Jacques de LiΦge, a cutler.
The Scots corrupted his name (and the knife) into jockteleg, which gave the English the now obsolete jackleg.
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"Jackpot",1206,0,0,0
The jackpot nowadays may refer to a diversity of accumulated stakes - from a game of poker to a slot machine. But its very name clearly reveals its place of origin: the card table. A player who had the good luck to have at least a pair of \Ijacks,\i collected all moneys so far paid into the "pot."
#
"Jacob's Staff and Camera Obscura",1207,0,0,0
In their historic voyages of discovery and exploration, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan substantially relied in their navigational calculations on the Jacob's Staff, the invention of Rabbi Levi ben Gershon.
This instrument remained in wide use for almost three centuries until it was superseded by the reflecting quadrant. The first known \Jcamera obscura\j was another of Rabbi Levi's contributions to the advance of civilization. He described it in great detail in one of his mathematical treatises.
Though he invented it as an aid in astronomical observation, he could not guess, at that early stage, the role his camera was to play one day in the development of photography and the cinema.
French-born, fourteenth-century Rabbi Levi gained world fame through the originality of his achievements, as a philosopher, commentator on the \JBible\j, mathematician and astronomer. His astronomical theory - occupying an entire section of 136 chapters of his philosophical master-work, \IThe Wars of the Lord\i - caught the attention of Pope Clement VI. At the Pope's behest, it was separately published in an abridged Latin version of the original \JHebrew\j text.
Rabbi Levi's only ambition was to serve God and to find out truth which he proclaimed without fear or favor. "The law cannot prevent us from considering as true what our reason urges us to believe," he wrote in 1329.
#
"Jacuzzi",1208,0,0,0
Several factors combined in the invention of the jacuzzi, a whirlpool bath. It is named after Candido Jacuzzi, an Italian immigrant to the United States.
Born in the village of Casarsa del Friuli, in a poor farming region of northeast \JItaly\j, Candido was the youngest of seven brothers who, with six sisters, came to America in 1905. Settling in Berkeley, they purchased a small machine shop, establishing a family firm, known as Jacuzzi Brothers. To start with, they manufactured agricultural machinery and - taking advantage of the emerging aero-industry - \Jaircraft\j. The Jacuzzi propeller, nicknamed the Jacuzzi "toothpick," was used by the United States and allied forces during the First World War. However, the death of one of the brothers (in 1921) due to a crash in one of their planes, on their mother's suggestion, made them switch to another, much less perilous, industrial venture - the manufacture of hydraulic pumps.
Candido's son was afflicted with rheumatoid \Jarthritis\j, just when doctors had realized the great value of \Jhydrotherapy\j. This made Candido feel that hydro-massage might be of benefit in the treatment of his son. But, at the time, only large communal tubs in hospitals and spas could provide it. He felt that this could be done at home as well, and thus he installed a jet pump into their bath. The invention became known as the jacuzzi.
When further developed and improved, the "hot tub" as "jacuzzi" became a craze in the 1950s, making its production a multi-million-dollar enterprise. What had been a personal misfortune created a veritable fortune for the family firm.
Candido died at the ripe old age of 83 in 1986. Though paralyzed then, he could look back on a phenomenal career, and how an Italian country boy's name had become a household word.
#
"James Bond",1209,0,0,0
Who would expect to find James Bond in the outback of \JAustralia\j? A James Bond is interred in the Catholic section of the Broken Hill Cemetery. He died at the age of 56 on 28 January 1915 and now shares his grave with his wife Jane.
His marble headstone is in the shape of an open book, and a low, ornate iron railing surrounds this last resting place of the Australian James Bond.
#
"James Naismith: the Father of Basketball",1210,0,0,0
Devised by a clergyman, \Jbasketball\j has the distinction of being the only major competitive sport which began on American soil. All other so-called new games were mere adaptations of established sports. \JBasketball\j presented something completely original; it was deliberately created as an American game.
It was first played within the precincts of the Young Men's Christian Association in Springfield, \JMassachusetts\j, in early December 1891.
Dr James A. Naismith, a Canadian by birth, a graduate of McGill University, and a Presbyterian minister, was also a good athlete. In 1890 he enrolled as a student of physical education at Springfield's International YMCA training school.
His exceptional qualities soon caught the attention of Dr Luther Gulick, head of the athletic department. Most likely it was due to his persuasion that, on completion of the course, Naismith decided to remain at the school as an instructor. An incident at a rugby game had convinced the young clergyman that "there might be more effective ways of doing good besides preaching."
He certainly did not believe in the orthodox ways of life, whether in \Jtheology\j or sport. He felt that whenever the exigencies of the times demanded it, a "new look," a reform, was necessary.
At that period the youth of the country was unsettled and could not find a proper use for leisure hours. Sport was an obvious outlet, and at the YMCA especially, everything possible was done to attract youngsters and get them to play traditional games.
Somehow none of the sports adopted from England, \JGermany\j, Sweden, and \JFrance\j proved successful. After a little while, the young people became bored and looked for something new, and membership of the YMCA grew ever smaller.
It was essential to find a sport that could hold the youngsters' attention. At Springfield, the problem was regarded as a national one, and Dr Gulick asked all tutors to devise or suggest an exciting type of game which could be played indoors, day and night, and especially in winter, when \Jbaseball\j was impossible on account of snow or the hardness of the ground.
Naismith carefully studied all the existing sports, listing their distinctive features. He then asked himself which characteristics should be embodied in the new game he was determined to introduce. He was convinced it had to be a team game, easily learned and enjoyed by average men and women. The emphasis was to be not on the players' strength or weight, but on the skill and speed of both the individual and the team. The game had to be exciting both to watch and to play.
Naismith considered that perhaps just a ball should be used, certainly neither sticks nor bats. A large and light ball, easy to handle but difficult to conceal, seemed ideal. To keep the game moving freely and safely, all tackling was to be banned and rough conduct prohibited. The ball should be touched by the hands alone.
All that was left to determine was the game's final objective. Naismith decided that the winning team had to score a maximum number of throws of the ball into a basket, and to encourage individual skill and initiative, the number of players in each team was restricted.
Having logically developed the elements of his new game, Naismith lost no time in arranging a match in the gymnasium of the YMCA. A peach-basket was suspended from each end of its balcony, and it was those baskets which gave the game its name.
Earlier, Naismith had worked out rules. To encourage individual initiative and skill, he restricted the number of players belonging to each team. Basic provisions were that:
ò the ball must never be kicked but thrown in the air;
ò the only way of moving it on was by passing it to another player or by dribbling it - bouncing it with one hand while running;
ò in no circumstances should a player run while holding the ball;
ò the goal had to be above the players' heads and horizontal;
ò as a non-contact game, any kind of rough play brought disqualification and a penalty.
The rules were displayed on the school's notice board. Unfortunately, one of the students souvenired them and with it the only existing copy.
\JBasketball\j immediately became popular. At nearby Buckingham Grade School, the women instructors wanted to try it out themselves. They were granted permission but with the one proviso that they did so in private. The result was that not only did they become enthusiastic fans of the sport but one of them - Maude - attracted Dr Naismith's attention so much that they were married soon afterwards.
The new game caught on throughout America and then spread throughout the world. Naismith's original 13 rules were constantly changed and not until 1934 were they finally standardized.
Each team originally had seven players, but in the course of time the number was changed to five, eight, nine, and eleven. On one occasion, at Cornell University, there were 50 students on each side.
The peach-basket was replaced by a metal one and in 1906 by open loops fixed on a pole or board, ten feet (3 m) above the ground. This dispensed with the ladder that had been necessary until then to retrieve the ball from the basket.
At times, over-enthusiastic spectators tried to do their bit to make their side win. Taking their seat on the balcony as close to the basket as they could get, they used their hands, sticks, or even umbrellas to push the ball on its flight either into the basket or away from it depending on the team they favored.
To make such unsportsmanlike interference impossible, backboards were introduced. At first, they were of wire mesh. This soon proved unsuitable. It gave an advantage to the home team, familiar with its peculiarities. Plain wood was then chosen, though in many cases glass also was used so as not to obstruct the spectators' view.
The many benefits of the game soon became apparent. It demanded and fostered alert minds and supple bodies. Decisions had to be made quickly, play had to be neat and nimble. It certainly never grew boring as situations changed all the time, and players had to perfect tricks of sudden stopping, feint-passing, and side-stepping. Furthermore, those anxious to find in sport not only a pastime or a means of character-building but also health-giving exercise, were gratified. The fact that the ball was mostly up in the air, necessitated frequent stretching and jumping on the part of the players. This certainly was most beneficial, particularly for the growing adolescent.
#
"Janmashtami",1211,0,0,0
\BKrishna's Birthday\b
The Hindu god \JVishnu\j, the Preserver, assumed many forms in order to save the world and its people. Krishna was his eighth \Jincarnation\j. Janmashtami, falling during August or September, is the anniversary of his birth. The day is celebrated by the re-enactment of incidents that occurred in the god's early life. Special ceremonies take place in every temple dedicated to him. Their principal feature is the display of Krishna's image as an infant.
The image is bathed in milk mixed with sugar, honey, and butter, after which it is laid into a silver cradle, together with toys. At night time the baby is carried through the streets in torchlight processions. As it passes, people hold out their hands, in hopeful expectation that some of the mixture still adhering to the image may drop on them.
#
"January",1212,0,0,0
January is called after Janus, the Roman god of gateways and beginnings. His name is derived from the Latin \Iianua,\i meaning "door." Always represented with two faces, simultaneously surveying the past and looking into the future, Janus was a most fitting choice to have the opening month of the year dedicated to him.
#
"January 1",1213,0,0,0
\BThe Horse's Birthday\b
The first of January is the official birthday of all horses. Irrespective of when a horse was actually born, its birth will be celebrated on this day and, much more significantly, its age will be calculated accordingly. No matter how old it really is, on the 1 January after its birth, the horse ceases to be a weanling and becomes a yearling.
The date was not chosen arbitrarily. It is related to the breeding season and was selected to give the horse its best chance when competing in races in its age group. A horse that is foaled soon after 1 January has the longest time to grow big and strong before it is classed a yearling.
In \JAustralia\j, where the seasons differ from those of the northern hemisphere, 1 August has been designated as the horses' birthday.
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"January 15",1214,0,0,0
\BMartin Luther King's Birthday\b
An American national holiday now - and the most recently proclaimed of all - is the anniversary of Martin Luther King's birthday (in 1929). It honors the man whose fight against \Jracial discrimination\j and for \Jcivil rights\j, and whose assassination at the young age of 39 rocked the American nation to its very foundation. King was killed on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, where he had gone to support a garbage workers' strike.
His "dream" of the day when his (black) people, and indeed all people, would be judged by their character, and not by the color of their skin, became an inspiration all over the world. His leadership in the \Jcivil rights\j movement and his belief in non-violence as the best means of obtaining equal justice, gained him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Only 35 years old at the time, he was the youngest person ever to be given this award.
King is the first, and so far the only, black person in the United States to be honored by a public holiday and only the second - American George Washington was the first - to have a special day set aside in his memory.
Commemorations of King's birthday centre on the inspirational "I have a dream" speech, which he gave at the 1963 march on Washington. Bells are tolled in all 50 states, and ceremonies also include the symbolic tapping of the \JLiberty Bell\j and the actual ringing of the Independence Bell in Philadelphia. An ever-increasing number of other countries join in the celebration in which King's philosophy, as well as its contemporary meaning and application, is expounded. His birthday has become a "day for peace and non-violence."
#
"Inauguration Day",1215,0,0,0
The United States presidential election is held every four years, and the 20 January following this is Inauguration Day. It is the date on which the President, sworn in by the \JChief Justice\j of the Supreme Court, assumes office. The date used to vary and it was only in 1933 that, by the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, Congress finally fixed it.
George Washington, the first President of the United States, was inaugurated in New York City, which was the temporary capital, on 30 April 1789. Thomas Jefferson's inauguration, the first to be held in Washington D.C., was conducted on 4 March 1801.
The Founding Fathers envisaged the day as one of simple ceremony, centring on the administration of the oath, in which the new President promised faithfully to execute his office and "to the best of my ability [to] preserve, protect and defend the \JConstitution of the United States\j." With the passing of the years (and of presidents), Inauguration Day grew into an ever more elaborate and festive occasion. Its program came to include a gala ball, military parades and other colorful celebrations watched by thousands. Its most significant feature, however, became, and remains, the President's inaugural address.
Memorable phrases distinguish some of the speeches delivered on the occasion. They may reflect the special historic circumstances of the time or be indicative of the stature of the president. Abraham Lincoln, who had experienced the tragic destruction and loss of life brought about by the \JCivil War\j, solemnly promised to "finish the work we are in [and] to bind up the nation's wounds." It was in his inaugural address, given at the very depth of the \JGreat Depression\j in 1933, that Franklin D. Roosevelt first made the observation - so often quoted - since that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Many a statesman has repeated the message John F. Kennedy gave on the occasion of his inauguration "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
#
"January 26",1216,0,0,0
\BAustralia Day\b
\JAustralia Day\j commemorates the landing of Captain Arthur Phillip and the convicts of the \JFirst Fleet\j in 1788 at what is now called Sydney Cove. The establishment of the first British settlement on Australian soil was the starting point for the building of a modern nation in the ancient land.
Previously, Britain had sent over convicts to America which, after gaining independence, refused to accept any further transportees. Far-off \JAustralia\j was chosen as the most suitable alternative. Paradoxically, the day of the arrival of the first of these convicts has become a national holiday and an occasion of celebration.
Until quite recently, whenever 26 January fell midweek, the celebration was moved to the following Monday. This practice satisfied the typically Australian love of the "long weekend." However, there were strong objections to this custom. It was felt that, regardless of when in the week the day occurs, as a day of national pride and unity, its historical associations should take precedence over mere hedonistic concerns.
Another problem which has been highlighted in recent times is that while the day commemorates European settlement, it totally ignores the \JAborigines\j who have populated the continent for thousands of years. Many \JAborigines\j regard \JAustralia Day\j not as a day of pride, but as one of shame - a commemoration of white man's invasion of their land.
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"January 6",1217,0,0,0
\BThe Three Magi and the Feast of the Epiphany\b
On 6 January, Christians observed the Feast of the Epiphany, as on this day the Magi, the three wise men from the East, are said to have arrived at \JBethlehem\j with their gifts for the infant Jesus.
It was the first time that he was shown to the Gentile world, and it is this "manifestation" which is commemorated on the Feast of the Epiphany. Its name comes from the Greek epiphany, which means "manifestation" or "showing."
It is popularly believed that the three Magi, following a star, came to pay homage to the baby Jesus. The Gospels' account, the original source of the story, gives no indication of the names, or the number, of the visitors; nor does it say, as is often claimed, that they were kings.
These fanciful details were added much later. Tertullian, who was converted to \JChristianity\j in A.D. 190, and who became a famous Father of the Church, was the first to suggest that the Magi were "almost kings" (he used the Latin words \Ifere reges).\i It was at least another 300 years before the Magi's royal status was taken for granted. The visit was claimed to have been anticipated by the Psalmist who had spoken (in Psalm 72:10) of far-off kings who "shall bring presents" and "offer gifts."
\JOrigen\j, a third-century Father of the Church and eminent biblical scholar, was the first to assert that they were three in number. It was indicated in the Gospels, he wrote, by the three different gifts they carried - the gold, the \Jfrankincense\j and the \Jmyrrh\j. The claim that their names were Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar is of even later date.
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"Japanese Gion Festival",1218,0,0,0
\BIt all Started in an Epidemic\b
Sickness has always haunted mankind, especially when it seemed beyond its power to subdue. People then realized that only divine intervention could halt it. The celebration of the Gion Festival originated in one instance of this realization.
A devastating epidemic struck \JKyoto\j in AD 869. Hundreds of citizens fell victim to it. It became obvious that only some \Jsupernatural\j means could stop the disease, so a strange ritual was devised. The chief priest of the Gion Shrine gathered 66 spears, each representing one of the provinces of \JJapan\j. He mounted them on a portable shrine. He transported this - spears and all - to the emperor's garden and immersed it in a sacred pond. He was convinced that, thus purified, the spears would chase away the evil spirits of sickness.
Instantly, the plague stopped. In acknowledgment of the god's help, the priest carried the sacred implements of the shrine through the streets of \JKyoto\j, dramatically bringing home to the people the fact that only divine help had saved their city.
His show of gratitude, re-enacted every year, developed into the spectacular festival that now occupies the entire month of July. No longer related to sickness and its miraculous cure, it recalls and honors a rich variety of figures and events of the Japanese past. Gion Matsuri, indeed, is not only one of the major festivals that centres on \JKyoto\j-\JJapan\j's capital for more than a thousand years - but is also one of the most resplendent celebrations in the country.
Its outstanding feature is a spectacular procession of picturesque floats. Each is named after the scene it depicts. Some of the floats weigh up to ten tons and tower to a height of 65 feet (20 m). They are pulled by large teams of up to 20 people. Residents who live along the route of the pageant open the doors of their homes as it passes to display some of their own precious possessions - usually antique folding screens.
Throughout the festival, lanterns illuminate the streets and all the people join happily in the celebrations.
#
"Japanese Tea Ceremony",1219,0,0,0
The Japanese \Jtea ceremony\j goes back to at least the fifteenth century. Now practiced as a traditional art, it began as a meaningful religious ritual, expressive of Zen Buddhist teaching.
Already, the cultivation of the tea plant, so \JBuddhism\j pointed out, put man in his proper place. It gave him a totally new perspective and quality of perception. It enabled him to view himself and all life, as it were, from the outside, as a spectator might, teaching him humility and self-restraint. Most of all, it helped him to strengthen his sense of unity with all men and with the world around him. In a gradual process, it allowed him to find ever greater peace within himself and to broaden his experience of the oneness of all things until, at last, he knew himself to be an integral part of the universe.
This early religious aim of true harmony and complete sharing is still reflected in the very smallness of the room in which the \Jtea ceremony\j is traditionally held. The enforced intimacy creates a feeling of nearness, tranquillity and social equality.
Every detail in the preparation of the drink itself has its deep \Jsymbolism\j. For instance, Buddhist priests distinguished three significant stages even in the heating of the water, which they compared with natural phenomena. The small bubbles rising in the water early in the heating process were like the eyes of a fish. The expanding bubbles then became like crystal balls. Finally, the boiling water resembled mountainous seas.
Thus, in this human activity were reflected the processes of nature, reminding the priests that all things in life were not, as they seemed superficially, separate, but one.
As a side-effect, the priests also discovered the practical function of the infusion, finding it most effective in keeping them awake, for and during their midnight devotions.
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"Jaywalker",1220,0,0,0
The jay is a colorful bird which once abounded in America. But with the arrival of the European settlers, it retreated ever further away from the new civilization invading its domain. A rustic creature, it did not feel at all at home in city life. It was happiest in the backwoods of nature. Eventually, people living in the country were identified with the bird and a jay became synonymous with a country cousin. He was looked down upon as rather naive and dim-witted. Not up to the sophistication of city life and particularly so its traffic, he was completely lost - almost like a jaybird, running this way and that. And it was in this sense that jaywalking came into existence.
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"Jeans and Levis",1221,0,0,0
Some materials and garments are called after their place of origin. However, at times, this might be so well camouflaged that it is almost beyond recognition. Muslin comes from \JMosul\j in Kurdistan, and cashmere from Kashmir. It needs some probing to discover in the name of the popular jeans the city of \JGenoa\j where the tough, twilled-cotton cloth of which the trousers are made was first manufactured. The English adopted it from the French rendering of the town as Genes. When the Liverpool firm of Lybro first imported the material to Britain, around 1850, it did so for the making of working clothes.
Levi Strauss, a sail-maker in \JSan Francisco\j, USA, used the identical material for his product, but lacking sufficient business, he looked around for some other way to utilize his unsold cloth. So he started to make trousers for miners. They welcomed their toughness, as it enabled them to fill their pockets with heavy ore samples. The universal popularity of Levi's jeans made his trademark into an everyday name.
#
"Jeep Origins",1222,0,0,0
It is an unfortunate paradox that the exigencies of war have always spurred the inventive genius of people. War provided the incentive (and governments the funds) for numerous innovations, discoveries, and improvements which, subsequently, in peacetime, enriched life. The jeep is such a child of war.
A powerful, versatile four-wheel-drive vehicle, it was first constructed for the American forces in the Second World War. As it was to serve as a general purpose vehicle, the military authorities referred to it as such. However, for the sake of brevity, they substituted for the ponderous designation two letters, GP, its initials. Some of the early models are said to have had them already painted on their bodies.
Nevertheless, to begin with, the soldiers were not sure what to call it. This made them dub the car with a colorful variety of names. They called it the "blitz buggy," the "command-reconnaissance car" and, as it could carry four men, the "quad car." However, none of the names really fitted or caught on.
Imaginatively, the men then combined the letters GP. Making out of them a new word, they coined the "jeep." Not being linguists, they were not bound by laws of language or spelling. Their transformation of the "g" into a "j" was not due to slovenly speech or faulty spelling. It was the result of the men's love of "Popeye the Sailor," then one of the most popular comic strips. One of its figures, it is assumed, actually influenced them in their choice of name.
Elzie Crisler Segar, who had first created the comic strip in 1930, on March 16, 1936 added to it yet another character. It was a small mystical animal, endowed with \Jsupernatural\j power. In the \Jcartoon\j it was delivered to Popeye in a box. Segar called it "Eugene the Jeep." The odd creature could do almost anything and made the chirping sound of "jeep," no doubt responsible for its description.
The widely-syndicated \Jcartoon\j was well-known to the soldiers, and so was the "jeep." It did not take them long to bestow its name on the powerful car which, like the creature, was most versatile.
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"Jerry-built",1223,0,0,0
Anything that is jerry-built does not last. But the word itself, describing impermanent and faulty construction, has been built very well. It has lasted for at least 100-odd years now. Its foundations have proved exceedingly strong, though the material used is still unidentified, and various theories exist as to the origin of the jerry-builder.
Some authorities suggest that it perpetuates the name of a builder renowned for the poor quality of his work. Nothing he ever built stood the test of time, and consequently his customers were dissatisfied. That is how Mr Jerry's name became proverbial, a by-word of faulty construction. And on any occasion that people wish to stress the frailty of things or ideas, they compare them with Jerry's work, saying that they were jerry-built!
Others have assumed that the word originated not on firm land, but on the high seas, and as long ago as the 17th century. Sailing vessels then had to meet many a trial, worst among them high winds and storms. Masts often snapped and crews had to rig up a temporary pole to enable the ship to reach the nearest port.
The make-shift mast, used for the emergency and not expected to outlast the trip to the sheltering harbor, was referred to as \Ijury\i-built. It may be that the fact that a jury served on a panel only for a restricted term was responsible for the choice of word. Soon common usage and the slurring of speech changed the jury into jerry. From the sailors, land-dwellers eventually adopted the word, and the jury-belt mast became the father of anything jerry-built.
According to yet another theory, "jerry" is the Anglicized form of \Ijour,\i the French word for "day." Cheaply-built houses certainly were so unsubstantial that they were said to last merely for a-French-day.
Some people like to find in the \JBible\j the answer for everything. Jerry-builders definitely have some claim, and on two counts. It has been suggested, first of all, that jerry is an abbreviation of Jeremiah, that \Jprophet\j of doom. He foretold so much destruction, of whole people and nations, that his name was most apt to describe all things destined to speedy decay and ruin, and so of impermanence.
But then, others found in Jericho's walls the origin of the expression. They fell down at the mere shouting of people, and collapsed at the blast of trumpets. Jerry-built thus may stand for Jericho-built. A house constructed in a hurry and with cheap material will be like Jericho's walls, unable to withstand even the sound of people shouting.
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"Jerusalem Artichoke: Origin of the Name",1224,0,0,0
The \JJerusalem\j \Jartichoke\j is indigenous to \JPeru\j. Italians introduced it into Europe. As it stems and leaves seemed to resemble those of the \Jsunflower\j, they called it the "\Jsunflower\j \Jartichoke\j," \Igirasole articiocco.\i The choice of \Igirasole\i referred to the plant's "turning towards the sun."
People ignorant of Italian, misunderstood \Igirasole\i for \JJerusalem\j, a name certainly so much better known and remembered than an Italian foreign word. More so, a vegetable linked with the Holy City would ensure its popularity, and hence its sale!
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"Jew's Harp Origins",1225,0,0,0
Wrong notes offend the musical ear. All the more surprising is the existence of the \JJew's harp\j, the result of mistaking a sound. This small, simple and ancient instrument, in which a single strip of metal held between the teeth, is plucked by a finger, appropriately used to be called a jaw's harp. Misheard, the jaw's harp became the \JJew's harp\j.
A biblical tradition possibly contributed to the misunderstanding and the association of the instrument with Jews. In the well-known story, young David is said to have played the harp so beautifully that its music was able to soothe King Saul's mind during his bouts of melancholia.
Another suggestion traces the \JJew's harp\j to the French "play trumpet," \Ijeu tromp.\i The English mistook the French \Ijeu\i for "Jew." The substitution of the trumpet by a harp is easy to explain. The instrument sounded so much more like it and was equally "twanged."
#
"Jewish Connection",1226,0,0,0
Monumental indeed is the Johnstons' vault in the Waverley Cemetery, guarded by the figure of an angel on its pinnacle. AII around it, on separate plaques, are the names of the family members entombed in this \Jmausoleum\j. Many of them were well-known Australians who served their country, often in high positions, or were distinguished by an eventful career. Foremost among them is:
\IGEORGE JOHNSTON
Of Annandale
Formerly Lieut. Colonel of H.M. 102nd Regt.
With which he arrived in this Colony
26th January 1788
Died 3rd January 1823, Aged 75 Years\i
Johnston not only arrived in the colony with the \JFirst Fleet\j, but also is said to have been the first man to alight on Australian soil, at Port Jackson. He served as Adjutant to Governor Phillip and was Captain of the NSW Corps. Involved in several early convicts, he led the troops who deposed Governor Bligh, then himself assumed the position of Lieutenant Governor of \JNew South Wales\j.
Subsequently court-martialed and cashiered in Britain, he returned to \JNew South Wales\j as a private citizen. At the time of his death he had made good again and was highly respected. His passing was mourned by many friends. Among his lasting contributions to \JAustralia\j are its \JNorfolk Island\j pines. Johnston had first introduced them into the colony to flank the avenue leading to his home.
Johnston's, no doubt, was a turbulent life. But who would suspect that the woman buried by his side and merely referred to in inscription as "Esther Relict of the Above," was a Jewish convict, Esther Abrahams? At first his mistress, she then became his "de facto" and finally his legal wife. She bore him seven children, all of whom therefore had Jewish blood in their veins.
Esther's own story was most colorful. A London girl, at 15 she had been caught stealing lace. Pregnant at the time, she gave birth to the child, a girl she called Rosanna, whilst in \JNewgate\j Prison. She was sentenced to seven years' transportation.
Esther must have been most attractive, as on her way out to \JAustralia\j, she caught the eye and fancy of Lt Johnston and became his mistress. In no time Esther was pregnant again, with their first son. Their union was legitimized only after 25 years of their living together, when they were married by famous Rev Samuel Marsden, at St John's Church, Parramatta.
Esther's was a long and, in the end, tragic life. She survived her husband and her eldest son. Greatly distraught and experiencing many worries, she took to drink. Hers, indeed, was not a happy ending. Robert, her second son (who was to become the first Australian officer in the Royal Navy), had her declared insane and incapable of administering "Annandale," the large estate left to her by her husband. If he did so in the hope of managing the property himself, his plan went awry; the Supreme Court appointed trustees to look after it.
Esther was to spend most of the rest of her life, another 15 years, with her son David at George's River. She passed away in his home on 26 August 1846. Her death ended a remarkable story of love and adventure. From the slough of despond, she had risen to one of the highest social positions in \JAustralia\j.
#
"Jewish Monuments",1227,0,0,0
A Jewish grave can easily be recognized by its headstone. At least in part, it uses \JHebrew\j lettering. At times, additional telling symbols also show that the buried person was a member of the Jewish faith.
#
"Jewish Nose",1228,0,0,0
The (so called) "Jewish nose" is a myth. Jewish nasal profiles are of every type. Jews whose noses are of aquiline shape, share in this feature with many other people in large parts of the world, who certainly are not Jewish. The convex curvature of the nose was characteristic of the Hittite people, an ancient Anatolian race!
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"Jewish Stone",1229,0,0,0
\BSolomon Mark\b
All on its own stands a grave in the Jewish section of the Cooktown Cemetery. It is the burial place of Solomon Lyon Mark. In \JHebrew\j and English the inscription on his headstone gives his name, his age (47), and the date of his death, with the year rendered, according to the Jewish tradition, as 5635.
The Masonic symbol of compass and square above the text indicates that he was a member of the Masonic order.
Two questions remain unanswered. What were the circumstance of Mark's death? And where did he join the Masonic order, as the first Cooktown Lodge was established only three years after his passing?
#
"Jewish Wedding Ring",1230,0,0,0
Examples of Jewish wedding rings from sixteenth and seventeenth-century \JGermany\j and Venice still exist. Often the \JHebrew\j words \IMazal tov\i - the traditional Jewish wish for "good luck" - is either engraved or in relief around the hoop.
Just as \JChristianity\j only adopted the wedding ring at a comparatively late date, so did \JJudaism\j, in the fifth century AD. To start with, the ring simply served as a token of the groom's ability, and his pledge, to maintain a home. However, the ring soon assumed a new meaning, indicating that henceforth the husband endowed his wife with all the authority he himself possessed.
Ultimately, the wedding ring came to symbolize the sanctity of the marriage bond. This role was reflected in the very formula which still accompanies the presentation of the ring: slipping it on his bride's finger, the groom proclaims, "With this ring you are consecrated unto me..." in the presence of witnesses. It is a most significant and very beautiful choice of words.
The Jewish wedding ring was especially cherished as a precious memento of a sacred occasion. In the past, goldsmiths embellished it in exquisite and often unique ways, creating rings of elaborate beauty. They were ornamented with a model of a house, a \Jsynagogue\j or the temple in \JJerusalem\j, all shown in intricate detail with miniature windows, gabled roofs, or even a movable weather vane. The house represented the new home the couple were about to establish and their promise to make it an abode of true and lasting love. Equally, it was meant to stress the high regard in which the husband held his wife, recalling the Talmudic saying that, "A man's home is his wife."
When the choice of such particular architectural decoration rendered a ring too cumbersome to be worn constantly, it was kept at home or at the local \Jsynagogue\j. In fact, it was not always a finger ring. Occasionally, its size was so extraordinary that it was designed to serve as a holder for the bride's bouquet!
By way of contrast, the majority of English Jewish wedding rings were plain hoops made from gold or other metal. \JGemstones\j were rare, the more usual distinction being a simple \JHebrew\j inscription.
#
"Jews are not a Race",1231,0,0,0
To describe Jews as a race is scientifically untenable and incorrect. A misconception propagated by Hitler for political reasons, it has not died with him. Through the millennia of their history, Jews have acquired most varied racial strains from the many people among whom they have lived. Thousands of converts of every race have joined the Jewish faith, among them entire nations, such as the Chazars on the \JCaspian Sea\j.
The Jewish people, therefore, present a wide spectrum of heterogeneous racial types. This is shown, very obviously, by the diversity of the pigmentation of their eyes and hair, and the variation in their cranal and facial measurements. That Jews are a homogenous racial group is further underscored by the existence of Indian, African, and even Chinese Jews.
#
"Jigsaw Puzzle Origins",1232,0,0,0
The modern jigsaw puzzle was invented not as a game, but as a teaching aid! It was first devised to help in the teaching of \Jgeography\j. A map, mounted on wood, was cut into irregular pieces by means of a jigsaw, the tool best suited for the task. By fitting the various parts together, pupils playfully learned their \Jgeography\j lesson.
To begin with, these cut-up pieces were marketed as "Dissected Maps." Later on, however, they were described by the instrument used to shape them - the jigsaw.
The name stuck to the map, even when the tool was no longer used. \JGeography\j tuition through jigsaw maps, too, was abandoned. But the joy of the pursuit was not lost. Enterprising manufacturers applied the principle to make pictorial "jigsaws," with no one realizing their ancestry nor the reason for their name.
The earliest specimen of the original jigsaw (map) dates back to the late 1760s. It is a hand-colored engraved map of "England and Wales Divided into their Counties" and was published by its inventor, John Spilsbury of Russell Court, Drury Lane, London, who described his firm as "Engravers and Map Dissectors in Wood..."
#
"Jingle Bells",1233,0,0,0
James S. Pierpont was a popular American composer. He wrote the words and music of "Jingle Bells," no doubt one of the most loved of all Christmas songs, in 1857.
Pierpont was a member of a staunch Unitarian Church family, and his father was a minister. It is no wonder, therefore, that he first composed his famous ditty - originally entitled "One Horse Open Sleigh" - for a local Sunday school entertainment.
Its catchy tune was soon taken up by Christmas revelers who, early on, often accompanied the chorus with the jingling of glasses.
#
"Jinx",1234,0,0,0
People who have a run of bad luck might say that there must be a jinx on them. In so doing, they perpetuate the ancient occult belief in the malevolent power of the wryneck. The bird, related to the woodpecker, was known in Greek as \Iyinx.\i
The bird possibly asked for its evil reputation by a peculiar habit. When disturbed, it twists its neck in the strangest way. Another of its features which might well have further contributed to the bird's imagined \Jsupernatural\j connection was its plumage. Of mottled grey and brown, it serves as a perfect camouflage. As a result, it frequently happened that though being heard, it could not be seen. No wonder then that the wryneck became part of witchcraft and was used for charms, spells, and aphrodisiac potions.
Luckily for the creature, its association with the netherworld has been forgotten. With its Greek name being misspelled beyond recognition, it is well concealed. No one would recognize its presence in a jinx.
#
"Jockey",1235,0,0,0
The \Ijockey\i (as a word) is really a diminutive form of Jack (which is merely coincidental with the fact that jockeys usually are short and slight). At some time all horse-traders were addressed in a rather familiar sort of way as Jock or Jack. There was no great distance from trading in horses to riding them. That boys first did so would easily explain Jock's becoming jockey.
The jockey's cap goes back a long time to the head covering of Roman charioteers. Their skull-protecting caps were made of bronze and they were identical both in shape and purpose with the modern cloth cap. Like twentieth-century astronauts, the charioteers had to safeguard themselves against potential dangers. Their fast motion along the racing track, with its repeated turns around the pillars at either end, in itself could cause vertigo. In addition, the rays of the burning sun reflected by the sands of the arena could easily blind them. To avoid this, and therefore for merely utilitarian reasons, the Romans ingeniously added to their bronze head cover the peak. It was this peaked cap which became the modern jockey's headgear (just as its shape was also adopted as part of the English school uniform).
#
"Joe Blow",1236,0,0,0
Joe Blow is not only an eponym of the average, typical man. He actually exists in real life or, now, in death. His grave can be found at Rookwood Cemetery, \JNew South Wales\j. The words on his headstone reverently and simply identify the deceased:
\ISacred
to the Memory of
JOSEPH BLOW
Who departed this life
Nov. 11th 1873
Aged 45 Years\i
#
"John Cadman's Permanent Address",1237,0,0,0
Fame has its peculiar ways. John Cadman is most remembered not for the services he rendered to \JAustralia\j, or for what Governor Sir George Gipps called "his great respectability," but for the stone cottage in which he lived from 1816 to 1845. A tourist attraction in the historical Rocks area, it is the oldest building in the City of Sydney.
Sadly, Cadman's burial place has proved less lasting. Laid to rest in the Old Devonshire Street Cemetery, it had to make room for Central Station. Cadman's very large headstone, like so many others, was moved to the Botany Pioneer Park. Its lengthy inscription, of which some words have become illegible, summarizes his career:
\IMr. John Cadman
Who departed this life on Sunday the 19th
day of November 1848 at the advanced
age of 90 years and 10 months.
He has been a resident of Sydney
For 50 years
The whole of . . . time he has held
Responsible situations under Government
For the last 25 years
As principal Superintendent of Government
. . . at the Dock Yard Sydney . . . Departure
of Sir George Gipps
From this Colony he resigned . . . His Age
. . . to serve another Governor
In consequence of which the establishment
Conducted by him for so many years with
such general satisfaction . . .
Entirely broken up he . . .
All who knew him
He left a wife and 2 daughters to deplore
The loss of an affectionate Husband and Father
I know that his Redeemer liveth\i
The words on the stone tell only part of Cadman's story. English-born, he had been transported to \JAustralia\j in 1798 for life, for stealing a horse. Ultimately, he received a free pardon. Being made the superintendent of government boats, he moved into the cottage. On his retirement, this became the headquarters of the Water Police.
Cadman did not stay idle, even after relinquishing his government post. With his retirement gratuity of ú182, he opened an inn in Parramatta, the Steam Packet Hotel. It was to be his last venture.
#
"John Dory's Markings",1238,0,0,0
From early Roman days, people have relished the John Dory as a delicious fish. But they were puzzled by the conspicuous circular spots on either side of it. Steeped in religious tradition, they linked them with an incident told in the Gospels (Matth. 17:24-27).
Peter wondered whether to pay a regularly raised (Temple) tax. Jesus advised him "not to give offense" to the authorities and, whether obliged to or not, to meet their demand. The necessary money would be provided to him miraculously. "Go to the lake," Jesus instructed Peter, "and throw out your line and take up the fish that first comes up." He would find in its mouth a coin which he should take to the tax collectors to give to them "for me and you."
Following Jesus' directions, Peter held the caught fish by his thumb and one of his fingers, duly extracting from its mouth a coin. Fingermarks were imprinted on the fish and have remained there ever since.
This explanation of the spots, which was accepted throughout Europe for many years, accounts for the John Dory becoming known also as St Peter's fish. The Spanish called it \IJanitore,\i the "door-keeper" (of heaven), a name by which the \Japostle\j was also known and which, according to some, is the real origin of its English description, as the "John Dory" was the misheard Spanish \IJanitore.\i
#
"John Gilbert's Sole Victim",1239,0,0,0
Edmund Parry, sergeant of the \JNew South Wales\j police, was a guardian of the law who fell victim to a bushranger's gun. He was the only man John Gilbert ever killed, rather a morbid distinction.
He now rests in the Gundagai Cemetery. His headstone was "erected by some of his officers and comrades by whom the deceased was much respected and regretted." Its inscription records the manner of his death:
\IIn the execution of his duty
Whilst courageously endeavoring
to capture
the Bushranger Gilbert
by whom he was shot dead near Jugiong
on the 16th Novr. 1864
Aged 32\i
In the same plot of the Gundagai Cemetery, right next to Sergeant Parry, is buried Senior Constable Edward M. Webb-Bowen. In the words of his memorial, he was "mortally wounded when bravely performing his duty in an encounter with armed criminals near Wantabadgery on the 17th of November 1879."
Just 28 years of age, he died less than a week later, on 23 November 1879, at Gundagai. His headstone was put up by the Government of \JNew South Wales\j and, though well over 100 years old now, is well-preserved.
#
"Joining of Hands at Prayer",1240,0,0,0
From the earliest times, men have accompanied their spoken prayer with gestures and postures. Most common, and first in \JHebrew\j and Christian worship, was the spreading of arms and hands towards heaven. Later on, this custom was reduced to the hands being folded or crossed on the breast, one wrist resting on the other.
The joining of hands, as we know it now, was then unknown. It is not mentioned anywhere in the \JBible\j and did not appear in the Christian Church before the 9th century. Its origin is divorced from religion and far from peaceful. It leads back to men's early desire to subjugate each other and developed out of the shackling of hands of prisoners!
Though the handcuffs eventually disappeared, the joining of hands remained as a symbol of man's servitude and submission and his inability (or even lack of inclination) to grasp a weapon. Many examples are at hand to show how the custom - long before being accepted in Christian circles - had become a standard gesture. Indeed, it was used as the real or imaginary shackling among pagan people.
Tacitus relates, for instance, how a German tribe, the Semnones, venerated a sacred wood "into which none penetrated without being bound as a sign of dependence and as a public homage to the power of the gods." Greeks and Romans adopted the identical gesture as a magic means to bind the Devil and other occult powers and thereby to compel their obedience. Feudal lords finally adopted the joining of hands for their vassals, who thus had to swear and indicate their loyalty.
It was from those various sources that \JChristianity\j took over the gesture representing shackled hands as a sign of man's total obedience to divine power. It has also been suggested that there was Indian influence at work, as Hindus for many centuries prior used to join hands at prayer. All other explanations are of a later date.
Prayer to be perfect demands complete relaxation, one's being at ease and at rest. To attain this mood, the body has to be comfortable and motionless. To keep thus the hands together avoided any fidgeting and assured a natural position of repose. Man with his hands joined sloughed off the turmoil of daily life and was able to look inward with all the force of his spirit.
It is a well known fact that our instincts, without us even realizing it, help us to attain certain goals. The pressing together of hands or the clenching of our fingers into a fist somehow generates in the body additional electric potentials and impulses. It may be that by joining hands forcefully or clasping the fingers we add considerably to the store of spiritual power as well and make prayers all the more potent and effective.
The study of comparative religion suggests yet another possible origin of the gesture. Idol-worshipers were accustomed to stretch out their arms and point with their fingers to the objects whose help they wished to invoke - toward the sea, the sun or the statue of one of their gods. Sometimes they even went so far as to touch and to stroke the idol. It is possible that as a reaction and protest against these pagan habits, Christians made sure of avoiding any pointing by joining their hands in the shape of what has later been interpreted as that of a church steeple.
A final psychological observation may be added. The mere fact that the early Christian custom to spread the arms far and wide, has been replaced by the humble and inconspicuous gesture of joining the hands, is indicative of the secularization of life. Once religion was a powerful force, proudly displayed with the passion of men who wished that their faith should embrace the world. Now it has become much less demonstrative, almost meek and mild, and its retiring posture seems almost apologetic.
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"Jolliness",1241,0,0,0
If we say that someone is "jolly" we unconsciously allude to the celebration of Yule-tide, the forerunner of Christmas. \IYule\i - from which the word \Ijolly\i derives - was the Old Norse name for the festival celebrated at the winter \Jsolstice\j, when man made every possible effort to help the "wheel" \I(yule)\i of the seasons to turn.
By the burning of a log, for instance, he thought to feed the fires of the dying sun to ensure its rebirth after the harsh winter. \IYule\i thus survives not only in a religious context at Christmas time (and in the "yule log"), but in any kind of "jollification" throughout the year and in everyone of a jolly nature.
#
"Jonah and the Whale",1242,0,0,0
Everyone "knows" the story of how Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The biblical account of the incident never mentions a whale. All it refers to is "a large fish" (Jonah 2:1) - without trying to identify it.
#
"Joss House and Joss Sticks",1243,0,0,0
The Chinese joss is a misunderstood God!
Portuguese travelers, who were among the first Europeans to reach China, were devout Christians. They told the Chinese of their beliefs. To Chinese ears the Portuguese for God - \Idios\i - sounded like joss, a name possibly arrived at as well by Chinamen's difficulty with pronouncing the Portuguese word properly. This is the (faulty) origin of both the joss house for a Chinese shrine, and joss sticks for their incense.
#
"Joviality",1244,0,0,0
Those of a jovial nature owe the way we describe them to the god Jupiter. This "lord of heaven" was also known as Jove. When surprised or excited, we still call on him by exclaiming, "By Jove!"
It may seem surprising that a divine figure of such elemental power, once worshiped as the source of thunderstorms, should have given his name to people blessed with a cheerful disposition. But the reason for it is astrological: it was supposed that those born under the influence of the planet bearing the god's name would have happy, convivial natures.
#
"Joystick Origins",1245,0,0,0
"Joystick" is an intriguing term pilots once colloquially used for the stick with which they controlled the \Jaircraft\j.
Though at times interpreted in an obscene sense, the origin of its description might be quite innocuous. Some say it reflects the joy it gave to the pilots by enabling them by slightly moving the stick to change the course of the flight, its altitude and direction. Others believed that the name was suggested by the vibrations of the stick. Recalling human \Jbody language\j, the pilot compared it to someone so exhilarated that they were shaking with joy.
#
"Judge's Black Cap",1246,0,0,0
When the death penalty was still part of the criminal code, the judge passing the sentence used ceremoniously to cover his head with what came to be known as a "black cap." In reality, this was not a cap but a square of black silk meant to symbolize his sorrow in having to condemn the criminal to die. Early custom decreed that the judge had to don the cap once again, when his sentence was about to be "executed."
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"Judge's Wig",1247,0,0,0
Only the most observant will discern a small circular depression (about two cm in diameter) at the center of the judge's wig, still worn in Britain and some Commonwealth countries. The hair at that spot instead of being curly, is somewhat flattened.
The peculiar feature recalls the original administration of justice by ecclesiastical authorities, out of which the modern law courts developed. The depression is a telling relic of the priests' \Jtonsure\j.
#
"Jug on a Headstone",1248,0,0,0
The replica of a jug heading an epitaph relates to the specific religious status of the person buried. His ancestors were \JLevites\j, members of the tribe of Levi. In Temple times they were delegated to assist the priests in their ministerial functions. One of the \JLevites\j' duties was to wash the priests' hands prior to the bestowal of the benediction. This made the water-jug the \JLevites\j' emblem.
#
"Juggernaut's History",1249,0,0,0
Metaphorically, a \Jjuggernaut\j is a tremendous force, irresistibly moving on and crushing everything in its way.
Now a figure of speech, it perpetuates a ritual once part of Hindu worship of the god \JVishnu\j. In one of his manifold manifestations he was known as Jagannatha, the Sanskrit for "the lord of the universe," the English \Jjuggernaut\j.
An annual festival in his honor was celebrated at the famous shrine of Puri in Orissa, India. On the occasion, his image, of gigantic size (13.5 meters (45 feet) in height and 2.1 meters (7 feet) across), was placed on a vehicle equally enormous in dimension and rebuilt every year. Each of its 16 large wheels, made of solid wood, measured almost 2.1 meters in diameter. In a procession the wagon was dragged along by means of ropes, with pilgrims vying with each other to undertake this most onerous task. Many of the volunteers collapsed from exhaustion, some of them fatally.
Countless devout Hindu believers crowded around the cart and accompanied it on its way. Some of them, so tradition tells, overcome by religious frenzy, threw themselves under the moving vehicle to be crushed by its heavy wheels. They are said to have done so happily, in the belief that their sacrificial death would bring to an end their ceaseless cycle of birth and death, attaining for them instant and eternal bliss.
Though, during their rule of India, the British stopped the practice, the memory of the \Jjuggernaut\j did not die. It became a picture of a force, ruthless and relentless in its progress, and as such joined the vocabulary.
Far removed from the religious association, in England a \Jjuggernaut\j also describes a large transport vehicle, used to carry heavy loads over vast distances.
#
"July",1250,0,0,0
July honors the memory of Julius Caesar and is the first month in the year to be called after an historical figure.
It was named after him at Mark Antony's suggestion following, and in the same year as, Caesar's assassination. Antony chose this month to pay tribute to him as it was Caesar's birthday month.
Until the end of the eighteenth century, July was pronounced "ju-lee," a pronunciation that was much more reminiscent of Julius Caesar.
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"July 1",1251,0,0,0
\BCanada Day\b
On 1 July 1867, the Dominion of Canada was born. On that day four separate British colonies with some three and a half million people joined in a confederation which was to grow into the great nation of Canada. The occasion was celebrated by the ringing of church bells, the playing of bands, the marching of soldiers and the lighting of bonfires in every township throughout the vast area that comprised \JNova Scotia\j, New \JBrunswick\j and Lower and Upper Canada. The last two later became the provinces of Quebec and \JOntario\j.
The historic moment was the result of a two-week conference held at Quebec. Seventy-two resolutions that were framed at that conference became the basis of the "British North American Act" which was passed by the British Parliament. This made Canada a free and independent Dominion of the \JBritish Empire\j. At the time, Lord Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary, who had moved the second reading of the Bill, stated "We are laying the foundation of a great state - perhaps one which at a future day may even overshadow this country."
Scottish-born John Alexander Macdonald, who was to become Canada's first Prime Minister, was the leader of a Canadian delegation to London which was instrumental in securing the Act. At the meeting he had suggested "The Kingdom of Canada" as the name of the new country. The British parliamentarians, however, rejected his idea. They feared that to refer to Canada as a "kingdom" might offend the citizens of the neighboring republic with whom the people of this [new] country would have to live in peace, if live at all.
Tradition tells that Samuel Tilley of New \JBrunswick\j, another powerful advocate of confederation, had then proposed "The Dominion of Canada" as an alternative name. He had taken the description from the Psalmist's passage "He shall have \Idominion.\i..from sea to sea" (Psalm 72:8).
That is how the Dominion of Canada came into existence and why, for many years, \JCanada Day\j was celebrated as "\JDominion Day\j."
#
"July 14",1252,0,0,0
\BBastille Day: \JFrance\j's National Day\b
The French national holiday bears the name of a notorious Paris prison, the Bastille. Incarcerated in it were political prisoners who had fought for a more just society in which liberty, equality and fraternity would prevail.
Parisian citizens stormed this infamous prison on 14 July 1789, forcing the commandant to surrender. The event marked the beginning of the \JFrench Revolution\j whose impact was felt throughout the world. It is a proclaimed national holiday and is celebrated with fireworks, parades, and dancing in the streets.
#
"July 15",1253,0,0,0
\BSt Swithin's Day\b
The fifteenth of July is \JSt Swithin's Day\j. It would have acquired no special significance were it not for a \Jsuperstition\j attached to this day that persisted for a thousand years. It claimed that should it rain on 15 July, the rain would continue for another forty days.
Swithin was a ninth-century bishop of Winchester, England. A humble man, he left instructions that at his death his body should not be interred in the cathedral, as was a bishop's privilege, but should be buried among the poor in the north churchyard where "the sweet rain of heaven" would fall upon his grave. His request was duly honored, in 862.
Time passed and Swithin was raised to sainthood. The \Jclergy\j now felt that the remains of so pious a man should not stay outside the sanctuary. Their rightful place was in a vault inside the cathedral. All the necessary arrangements were made to transfer his relics on 15 July 971. But when, on that day, they were about to do so, it began to pour in such torrents that it was decided to postpone the project.
When, after forty days the rain had not abated, the people felt that this could not be a natural phenomenon. They interpreted it as a message from St Swithin, protesting against the dishonoring of his wish. So the plan for removing his remains was abandoned and, almost instantly, the clouds dispersed and the sun shone again. Memory of this event survives in \Jsuperstition\j; some country folk still look out every \JSt Swithin's Day\j to see whether or not the sun is shining.
Subsequent research has disproved the \Jsuperstition\j. In fact, on 15 July 971, St Swithin's remains came to rest inside the cathedral without the occurrence of any untoward incident. They did so, however, without being moved! As a result of an ambitious building program to enlarge the old Minster, the section of the old churchyard in which the saint was buried became part of a new "shrine church."
Records also indicate that it did not rain on that specific date, so that even this part of the tradition holds no water! Further investigations reveal not a single instance of continuous rain following \JSt Swithin's Day\j. The maximum period of precipitation, which occurred in 1848, was still three days short of the traditional forty.
#
"July 4",1254,0,0,0
\BAmerican Independence Day\b
The fourth of July commemorates the birth of the nation. On this day in 1776, at the \JContinental Congress\j in Philadelphia, the thirteen American colonies adopted the document which declared their independence and separated them from Britain. In American tradition, the date became so memorable that "The Fourth of July" often takes precedence over its official name, "Independence Day."
The "\JDeclaration of Independence\j" proclaimed as self-evident truths that "all men are created equal, and are endowed with certain inalienable rights," among which life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are paramount.
The observance of Independence Day became the most popular and patriotic celebration in the United States. Speeches, parades and fireworks are some of its traditional features. It is interesting to note that the word "firework," previously referred to as "rockets," was first used in connection with the day's celebration!
One of the many well-known figures called upon to deliver the "Fourth of July Oration," was Daniel Webster, famous for his statesmanship and eloquence. The sentiments he expressed on the occasion are as applicable nowadays as in his time:
\IThis anniversary animates and gladdens all American hearts. On other days of the year we may be party men, indulging in controversies more or less important to the public good. We may have likes and dislikes, and we may maintain our political differences...But today we are Americans all; and all, nothing but American.\i
#
"Jumper",1255,0,0,0
Among the many novelties the Crusaders brought back from the Orient was the jumper. Unaccustomed to the desert heat, the Crusaders sweltered inside their heavy armor which already weighed them down. This made fighting all the more arduous. The short cotton coat their foes wore, seemed, in comparison, light and cool. The obvious thing for the Crusaders to do was to adopt this \Ijubbah,\i as the coat was called in Arabic. Thus they took both the garment and its name home with them to the West.
Though now a unisex sweater, totally different in cut and shape, made of wool and worn to keep warm, the \Ijubbah\i - Anglicized as \Ijumper\i - remains a gift of the religious wars.
#
"June",1256,0,0,0
June pays homage to Juno, one of the great goddesses of ancient \JRome\j. Worshiped as the Queen of heaven, she was also venerated as the guardian of womanhood and marriage, which explains why this month, placed under her protection, was favored for the celebration of weddings.
As with the preceding month, June has been linked with Roman political life. One theory asserts that it was given the name to honor the junior branch of the Roman legislature, the \IJunioribus.\i
#
"Justice is Blind",1257,0,0,0
One of the most highly treasured possessions of Britain's democracy is the independence of her judges. They are guarded jealously against even the slightest suspicion that their verdicts might be influenced by any personal consideration, \Jprejudice\j, or sympathy.
Perhaps one of the best-known statues in the world is the figure of Justice over London's \JCentral Criminal Court\j - the \JOld Bailey\j. Traditionally she is blind-folded, so that she may not see the scales she holds in her hand. This implies that there should be no favoritism and that a judge should be completely impartial, neither intimidated by the mighty and rich nor influenced by pity for the weak and poor. Nothing but the evidence and its right interpretation must guide him in the trial of an action.
That Justice should be blind is an ancient principle. It goes back to the old Egyptians, who applied it literally. Their Courts of Law met in a darkened chamber. This made it impossible for a judge to see and recognize the accuser, defendant, and witnesses.
#
"Kabbalah and the Supernatural",1258,0,0,0
There has always been a religion for the masses, for the ordinary, average person who was satisfied with general rules and regulations. So long as he could safely follow a pattern which more or less gave sense to his life and answered what (for lack of a better term) were called his spiritual needs, he found fulfillment in his faith, and happiness.
But there were others to whom this type of faith was insufficient and, therefore, unsatisfactory. It lacked depth and true meaning. Nevertheless, they were also aware that the profound knowledge they really craved was beyond the grasp of man's limited intelligence. Only by mystical vision and ecstatic experience could they approach, and in some exceptional cases, actually attain and preserve this state.
They were conscious that the majority of people were unable to follow and understand them and the fact that their pursuit and preoccupation carried tremendous mental and spiritual dangers.
Such "esoteric" groups with their carefully guarded secrets existed in various ancient cultures. The term "esoteric" itself stems from Pythagoras and is most descriptive. This great Greek philosopher and teacher used to deliver his lectures standing behind a curtain. Only those students who were ready to absorb his profound message were permitted physically to share his presence, to see his face and therefore to stay "within" (the Greek \Iesotero\i for "inner") the "veil" - the region of the initiates. All the others, still anxious to learn from him but unable to comprehend fully what he said, had to remain outside. Appropriately Pythagoras called them his exoteric pupils Aristotle adopted these terms which have been used ever since, for the two approaches to acquiring learning and wisdom.
All esoteric knowledge, of course, was far beyond the grasp of the uninitiated. Its daring speculations would at best be totally misunderstood by them and, at worst, would cause confusion in their minds. From the very beginning, therefore, the exceptional men who steeped themselves in this type of search and mystical contemplation did not reveal it to outsiders. Their refusal to do so was not prompted by false intellectual and spiritual pride nor by the wish to create an exclusive, power-wielding circle of initiates.
This especially applied to the Jewish sages. In fact, the task and only justification for existence of all Jews was to try to comprehend the divine order of things and to seek to commune with and understand the \Jsupernatural\j. Few, indeed, were able to attain the goal for which the ancient rabbis had striven with all their hearts, minds, and souls.
Thus "to enter Paradise" was the very descriptive \Jmetaphor\j used for such superhuman efforts to comprehend the incomprehensible by total concentration, intense vision, and ecstatic experience. A report from the first half of the second century tells of four rabbis who embarked on this quest. And their individual fates were most revealing.
One of the men could not withstand the "pressure" and died. The second went out of his mind, never to regain his sanity. The third (in illustration of the modern axiom that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing") became a totally changed person. Immaturely trespassing beyond his mental capacity, this once pious and "conforming" rabbi assumed the role of a rebel and renegade or, as he would be called nowadays, of an aggressive atheist. Only Rabbi Akiba, the fourth of this unique quartet, had left "Paradise" unscathed - "in peace." His experience had greatly enriched him spiritually and gave his life and his teaching an added quality.
Naturally, those who had acquired the rare and precious insight did not want to see it wasted. To keep it for themselves, therefore, would have defeated the very purpose of their dangerous pioneering mission. So sharing the revelation they had received with those able to absorb it, became to them a sacred duty. Hence the mystic scholars, with great care and caution, selected those they regarded as worthy and ready to have the message revealed to them, thereby to become a link in that chain transmitting the heritage of esoteric tradition.
To "receive" in \JHebrew\j is called \Ikabal.\i The volume of mystical knowledge handed from one generation to another became thus known as \IKabbalah,\i a term which could be rendered as "receiving" and "tradition." But in its specific meaning, it referred exclusively to the carefully transmitted profound mystical insight. The Kabbalah taught that the \JBible\j, apart from the literal meaning of its text, had deep occult meaning, contained in each of its words and letters. To interpret Scripture "in (mystical) depth" was the hallowed task of the Kabbalist!
To begin with, the speculations of the Kabbalah had been taught orally, because of their very nature and danger of their falling into wrong hands. But they were eventually recorded, through fear of their getting lost. They became the contents of some significant works. These included \IThe Book of Creation, The Alphabet of Rabbi Akiba,\i and \IThe Book of Splendor\i or the \IZohar\i which, in fact, has been called "the \JBible\j of \JMysticism\j." Other manuscripts of similar kind were discovered among the \JDead Sea Scrolls\j.
The knowledge of the Kabbalah and certain of its most treasured details, however, remained the exclusive property of some few individuals who claimed the special gift of mystical intuition. They further developed the occult message they had received and became experts in \Jsupernatural\j art and practice. Greatly revered, they were at times looked upon as "wonder workers." But as was only to be expected under the circumstances, the secret lore presented a fruitful field for abuse as well. Unscrupulous men exploited it and took advantage of it for their own enrichment and power.
The Kabbalah was assiduously studied by many mystics and searchers after \Jsupernatural\j wisdom, no matter of which faith. It helped them in their exploration and possible application of the profound secrets of existence. The Kabbalah has proved a truly rewarding source for devoted study and has left also its deep imprint on the art and teaching of the occult.
#
"Kaddish Prayer",1259,0,0,0
Authorities were not unanimous as to the duration of punishment. Some thought that a sinner had no chance of reprieve or parole at all. They saw the world as either white or black. Once a man by his way of life had chosen the path to hell, it was a one-way street, and there was no possibility of return. On the other hand, the view which generally won the day was that the maximum sentence, even for the worst of offenders, could not exceed a period of twelve months. And oddly enough (and hardly ever realized) this ancient belief still determines orthodox Jewish practice in honoring the dead.
Traditionally, this is done by the recital of a prayer known as "Sanctification" or in \JAramaic\j, \IKaddish.\i One of the most sacred and revered customs, it continues to be practised by even the most unobservant Jew. Every service - no matter of which type or on what occasion - concludes with the Kaddish, in which all those who are mourning a beloved join.
A son "says Kaddish" for his parent for exactly eleven months after the burial and, if he strictly adheres to tradition, does so at the daily services, both in the morning and at night. It seems today such a beautiful and reverential observance that no one could believe that it all began as a magic rite very much concerned with the realm of the \Jsupernatural\j.
A legend has been quoted as the origin of the prayer. It told of a strange sequence of dreams experienced by Rabbi Akiba, the renowned second-century Jewish scholar.
One night in his dream, Akiba had seen the figure of a most unhappy looking man who was carrying a heavy load of wood. When (still in the dream) the rabbi had asked him why he suffered thus, the man explained that he was really dead. But he was condemned to suffer the agonies of hell fire for the sins he had committed on earth. To increase his punishment, he himself had to carry the very wood that was to nourish the flames that burned him. The man further related that he had left behind a son. During his life time he had failed in his duties to introduce this son to even the elementals of his faith. If Akiba could trace and instruct him to say just one \JHebrew\j prayer, this would quench the fires of hell.
On awakening (so the legend continues) Akiba sought out the boy. The moment he had found him, he started teaching him one of the most sacred of Jewish prayers - the "Sanctification" (the Kaddish). And the boy recited it with fervor and devotion . . . On the following night the father reappeared to Akiba in a second dream. Gratefully he informed the rabbi that the boy's "saying Kaddish" had saved his soul and canceled the remainder of the sentence.
Ever since, every son says Kaddish for his parents, just in case their souls need redemption. But it was thought that for the worst sinner the maximum sentence was a "stretch" of twelve months in hell, and no loving child could ever believe that his father or mother could have been wicked enough to merit the extreme penalty. And to express this trust, Kaddish is said for only eleven months, though mourning lasts for an entire year.
#
"Kamikaze Attacks",1260,0,0,0
Suicidal missions undertaken by Japanese pilots during the Second World War became known as \Jkamikaze\j attacks. The Japanese word literally means "divine wind." The description can be traced to the end of the thirteenth century when in 1281 the \JMongols\j, then at the very height of their power, tried to invade \JJapan\j.
Twice their attempts failed. On each occasion, the Mongolian fleet which had embarked on the mission was stopped, finally to be wiped out by devastating typhoons. Japanese people at the time were convinced that it was the result of divine intervention. Thus they called the \Jtyphoon\j a "divine wind," kami kaze in their tongue. (It is interesting to note that, in modern terminology, a disastrous \Jcyclone\j is still referred to as "an \Jact of God\j.")
In the Second World War the Japanese military power formed the famous suicide squads in which pilots had to crash their planes, loaded with explosives, on selected targets. To enthuse the men chosen for the mission and make them feel that their tragic task was a godly deed, the authorities called it by the ancient name - \Jkamikaze\j.
#
"Kangaroo: Origin of the Name",1261,0,0,0
The \Jkangaroo\j, so a story is told, hopped into our vocabulary by misinterpreting something that was said. When the early explorers first encountered the \Jmarsupial\j in \JAustralia\j, they had not the faintest idea what it was. Anxious to know the animal's name, one of the men is said to have asked an Aborigine who happened to stand nearby, "Can you tell me what it is called?" The native was highly amused by the English so foreign to him, and mimicked the questioner. His imitation produced a sound very much akin to \Jkangaroo\j. The Englishman, not realizing on his part that the Aborigine was merely aping his question, imagined that he had actually answered it and that "\Jkangaroo\j" was the Australian name of the \Jmarsupial\j.
A slightly different version, equally discarded as mere fiction, claims that Joseph Banks had asked the question. The Aborigine had replied, "I don't know," something like "\Jkangaroo\j" in his \Jdialect\j. The naturalist had mistaken this for the name of the animal.
Even more far-fetched is another explanation. This links the \Jkangaroo\j's name with the tradition that Australian \JAborigines\j were survivors of the Ten Lost Tribes of lsrael. They had given the animal an ancient \JHebrew\j description, \Ikahn-gahroo,\i recalling that "here they dwelt." Out of it has sprung the \Jkangaroo\j!
#
"Kao Phansa",1262,0,0,0
\BThe Buddhist Lent\b
The Buddhist Lent - lasting a full three months - falls during the rainy season, beginning in July. During that time no wedding is solemnized or other festivity celebrated. Offerings are presented to the monks who stay in retreat throughout the whole period, joined by laymen anxious to be taught by them.
It is believed that this extensive season of retreat dates back to \JBuddha\j's time, when the rains made it impossible for him and his disciples to proceed on their travels and spread their message. Yet another reason given for the monks staying inside their monasteries is their determination not to break one of \JBuddhism\j's principals: not to do harm to or cause the death of even the least of creatures. At this season, because of the wet, swarms of insects fill the air. The monks could easily cause their death by either inadvertently swallowing or inhaling them or by stepping on them while walking about outside.
#
"Karate's Development",1263,0,0,0
Karate means "empty hand." Its name highlights its principal feature: the hand holds no weapon, not even a stone. With sumo, ju-jitsu, and judo, it shares the origin and traditions of weaponless combat. Yet it is vastly different.
Karate is the most outstanding example of how the total ban on weapons led to the introduction of a deadly system of unarmed fighting. Its practice was conceived in deadly earnest for the defense of life and was never intended to become a sport.
Karate was developed early in the seventeenth century in \JOkinawa\j, the main island of the Ryukyu group, approximately half way between China and \JJapan\j. The circumstances of its birth were expressive of man's undying will not to submit to an enemy, and his irrepressible longing for freedom.
\JOkinawa\j had been invaded once again by a most powerful and tyrannical enemy, the Satsuma clan of \JJapan\j. To ensure the complete subjugation of the conquered people, the possession of arms was made a capital offense. However, determined to liberate their country and cast out the invader, the islanders took up training their men clandestinely. As they could not use arms of any kind, they employed a unique, secret weapon, so secret that no search party could ever detect it - an empty hand.
Through necessity they discovered that nature had provided them with a potentially most lethal weapon: their own bodies. By arduous training, the fists, elbows, knees, and feet could be developed to such a degree that with the application of proper methods, the islanders could maim, smash, and kill any opponent by aiming blows from a safe distance at the most vulnerable parts of his body (such as the throat, groin, or temples). That is how karate was created. It was called, briefly, \Ite\i - "hand."
Of course, all training had to be done surreptitiously: in the early hours of the morning and under cover of dark, late at night. Only those known to be loyal patriots were allowed to join the force. The circumstances were such that the existence of the underground groups with their newly developed fighting techniques could not be divulged. For that reason, early records of the practice of karate are lacking.
Few if, any, ideas, institutions, and pursuits in life are "original." Mostly, they are evolved from earlier concepts and, by adaptation, transformed into something completely new. This was true of the new art of karate. Though developed in \JOkinawa\j, its principles were not indigenous to the island but had found their way there from China in the form of kempo and Shaolin boxing. Even these had grown out of other systems that preceded them, going back, step by step, almost to the beginning of history.
Archaeological discoveries and extant pictures supply evidence of the early existence of barehanded combat in \JEgypt\j and \JMesopotamia\j. The Greeks "perfected" the art in the Pancration which - for some time - they made part of the \JOlympic Games\j. The Pancration (Greek for "all powerful") was a most vicious and dangerous contest in which the entire body served as a weapon.
The fighters used methods of boxing and wrestling; they hit, strangled, and twisted the limbs of the opponent. To kick the other man in the \Jstomach\j or to break his fingers was fair. Only gouging and biting were disallowed. No wonder that, realizing the cruelty of the Pancration, the Greeks eventually omitted it from their programs. However, it was revived in another form by the Romans who developed and transformed its practice and created out of it the modern sport of boxing and wrestling.
On his conquest of the East, Alexander the Great may have introduced features of unarmed combat to India. However, it is also known that this country had mastered the art long before the arrival of the Macedonian king. It belonged to Buddhist religious practice and was considered essential for mental and physical health. Some of the stances and postures of the early statues and pictures of \JBuddha\j indeed reveal a striking resemblance to those of modern karate. Not surprisingly, then, Buddhist missionaries, wherever they went, introduced not only their faith, but armless combat techniques as well.
Tradition tells that the Indian "fighting technique" was brought to China in AD 520 by the great mystic Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen \JBuddhism\j and China's first Buddhist \Jpatriarch\j. He trained the monks of the Shaolin monastery to excel in it, incorporating breathing methods from \Jyoga\j and Zen. The proficiency of the monks in the art eventually led to the establishment of a whole school, referred to as "Shaolin boxing."
No one really knows who first brought its practice (or that of kempo) to \JOkinawa\j some time in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Maybe it was a traveler from the mainland or Okinawans themselves who, on visits to China, had watched it there. One theory even suggests that in earlier days, enemy soldiers had introduced kempo to \JOkinawa\j and taught it to the people. No matter who it was, almost providentially it existed on the island when it was needed most to inspire the freedom fighters to evolve from it their only means for survival in the very face of the foe, and for liberating their country from its occupation.
Thus karate, the creation of the Okinawans, became, as it were, their property and, though temporarily forgotten, was practiced on the island for centuries. From there it spread - first in the nineteenth century - to \JJapan\j where, however, it was firmly established only in the 1920s by the demonstrations of the karate master Gichin Funakoshi. With refinements and applications of ju-jitsu traditions, it eventually grew from a secret, martial art and lethal method of self-defense into a sport, with competitions and tournaments.
Qualities of humility and self-discipline became an essential requirement of all true karate men. Their ability to perform incredible feats of strength with their "empty hand" (elbow or knee) is fantastic. They can smash strong brick walls, blocks of ice, and stone. To watch a flawless demonstration of karate can give aesthetic pleasure. Born in China, developed in \JOkinawa\j, and refined in \JJapan\j, it is now practiced everywhere. Although it has become a sport, it is incorporated also in the training of military units and police forces.
#
"Keep an Ear to the Ground",1264,0,0,0
A well-informed and alert person, always watching out for any sudden changes, developments or surprises, is said to keep an ear to the ground. The phrase is derived from a practice attributed to \JAmerican Indians\j. Endowed with an acute sense of hearing, they would put their ear to the ground, enabling them to hear the approach of an enemy still outside their range of vision. By the vibrations of the ground, they could also tell the number of horses and their distance.
#
"Keep at Bay",1265,0,0,0
People had observed that bay trees never seemed to be struck by \Jlightning\j. This could not be accidental, they reasoned, but - believing in the occult - must be the result of some \Jsupernatural\j power the tree possessed. This gave it not only immunity to thunderbolts, but endowed its foliage, berries, and roots with the gift to act as a potent antidote against a multitude of dangers.
For their own protection, people thus planted bay trees near their homes. During thunderstorms, they put some of the leaves on their head and used the foliage as a repellent against poisonous snakes, witches, demons, and other nefarious forces. Convinced of its curative properties, they used parts of the plant to heal consumption, liver complaints and even ease the effects of the plague. Most possibly, it was out of a combination of these superstitions and practices that the phrase to "keep at bay" evolved. After all, as Einstein once remarked, "imagination is more important than knowledge."
Belief in the tree's potency is rooted in ancient myth. Greek legend tells how, to rescue his daughter Daphne from Apollo's pursuit, the river god Peneus had changed her into a bay tree. Romans believed a withering bay tree was an omen of death.
There is also the view that the phrase may embody the remnant of \Iabayer,\i an Old French word. This spoke of the "barking" or "growling" of a dog which, most certainly, would keep an attacker at a safe distance - at bay.
#
"Keep the Pot Boiling",1266,0,0,0
"Pot boilers" refer to authors' uninspired works. Not written to give a message, to tell a story, or to enrich the public mind, their sole purpose is to provide a living for their author. Therefore to say that a well-known writer's latest publication is a mere pot boiler, is to condemn it outright. Now a mere figure of speech, it goes back to an actual practice of the early 19th century. Men of the "upper class" were loathe to do any manual work. Indeed they were not expected to attempt such occupation, regarded by their peers as menial.
So that those without independent means could keep their cooking pot boiling to avoid hunger, and at the same time not lose face, they wrote books or painted. Even if their works proved to be inferior, they still sold because of their noble authorship, thus supporting those gentlemen who had fallen on hard times.
#
"Keep Your Shirt on",1267,0,0,0
Fashion has not only determined our dress, but it has also left an imprint on our way of speaking. During the last century, men's shirts had stiffly starched fronts. Though looking elegant, they constricted the wearer's movements. So attired, it would be very difficult for him and disadvantageous to engage in fisticuffs, not uncommon at the time. To do so successfully, he had to remove his shirt first.
When a heated argument threatened to get out of hand and develop into a physical fight, an opponent anxious to avoid it called on his adversary to keep his shirt on.
A very practical advice, it has now entered the realm of metaphors. It is used when trying to pacify and calm down someone highly agitated or in a belligerent mood.
#
"Khaki",1268,0,0,0
\IKhaki\i is a Hindustani word meaning "dust." Thus the very name of Britain's earliest camouflaged uniforms points to the scene of their origin. They were first used during the Indian Mutiny (1857-8). An irregular corps of Guides raised at Meerut adopted the color and was appropriately referred to as "the Khaki (dust) Squadron."
To protect themselves against native snipers, who excelled as marksmen, the soldiers dyed their white drill with curry powder or the mud and dust \I(khak),\i available in huge quantities at the site of action. However, it was soon realized that this primitive kind of "khaki" neither lasted nor resisted the sun and weather. In addition, it spoiled the gleaming white uniforms and wasted a lot of time, as the process of dyeing had to be repeated again and again. Officers felt the urgent need for ready-made battle dress in khaki color.
In 1883, a Mr Leeman, the representative of a Manchester cotton firm, went to India to sell cloth. He met a Colonel Kinlock who related to him his problems and worries and suggested, that if he could find a way to produce cotton cloth of khaki color that was fade-proof and resistant to frequent washing and changing weather, he would both profit the army and himself.
On his return to England, Leeman and a Lancashire dyer, F. A. Gatty, began experiments. His own wife's kitchen served as their laboratory. Samples of khaki cloth were boiled in Mrs Leeman's copper pans. But somehow none of them was successful. The color was there alright, but when exposed to the sun for any length of time, it faded.
Chance eventually led to success. Mrs Leeman was cooking dinner and all the pots were in use. Not prepared to wait till at least one of them was available, the two men boiled a piece of the cloth in a rusty old pan. The dye they used, oxide of \Jchromium\j, was fixed by the oxide of iron from the rusty pan. From then on khaki had come to stay.
On the spot, the friends formed the firm of F. A. Gatty and Co. which for more than 50 years enjoyed a monopoly in supplying British forces with their khaki battle dress. The cloth was no longer used in India only, but in many places throughout the Empire, wherever British soldiers were sent to keep the peace or to restore order. However, it was not until the Boer War in 1899 that the khaki battle dress was universally adopted.
#
"Kick the Bucket",1269,0,0,0
The term "to kick the bucket," as a description of man's passing from this world into the next, might seem on the surface to be mere slang. But it has, in fact, an interesting history.
The ancient Egyptians used the bucket not only in the construction of their pyramids but equally in the \Jsymbolism\j of their faith. It became the sign of death. Hieroglyphic script employed it as the representation of a body without life.
To kick, in this context, had nothing whatsoever to do with our modern "striking out with the foot." It is an ancient Egyptian word that, as if it were mummified, has survived in our modern way of speaking. It is the Egyptian \Ikhekh,\i meaning to "return," to "send back."
Therefore, to "kick the bucket" really means to send back and return the empty bucket - a lifeless body.
Another interpretation of the phrase dates back to the late 18th century and to British farm life. Farmers usually killed their own \Jcattle\j and pigs, using a heavy three-legged contraption with a pulley in the center. The animal's legs were tied to a wooden beam which was hoisted by a rope. As this reminded the farmer of pulling a bucket from a well, it was not long before the beam itself was called a bucket.
Often, as the animal was being lifted, its feet were thrown against the beam or bucket. This gave the impression that it was kicking it. But as in reality by that stage the beast had become a carcass, the phrase "to kick the bucket" assumed a deadly significance.
A third derivation of the term comes from the act of suicide. A common form of killing oneself was always by hanging; in former times men frequently stood on a bucket to adjust the noose around their necks. When they were ready to die, they kicked the bucket (away). Soon the description of this suicidal method was adopted for any kind of dying, no matter who cut the thread of life.
#
"Kickbacks",1270,0,0,0
Kickbacks, symptomatic of a corrupt society, have almost become an accepted practice in many walks of life.
Originally an American term, it goes back to the days of sailing vessels, when their captains were grossly underpaid and therefore forced somehow to supplement their meagre earnings. All at sea as it were, to make some extra money, they came to a private agreement with the provider of the goods their ships carried. Working hand in glove with them, they "kicked back" into the stores of these merchants cargo destined to go on board. Literally, they "re-stored" the goods and, in reward, split their value with the double-dealing "suppliers."
#
"Kid",1271,0,0,0
The kid is a young \Jgoat\j. So frisky and playful, it endeared itself to people. The kid's antics reminded them of those of their children whom they lovingly thus came to call by its name. That is how youngsters became known as kids. As children are very trusting and can easily be taken in, "to kid" became synonymous with fooling others.
#
"Kill Time",1272,0,0,0
People speak of "killing time" when forced to idle away precious hours, waiting for something or somebody.
The origin of the phrase is obscure. It was thieve's jargon, it has been suggested. They applied it - much less deadly - to wasting time.
According to others, at first there was nothing homicidal in the expression, not even figuratively. Its present-day murderous part is based on a mistake, a mix-up of words. The original saying did not refer to killing at all, but to early potter's kilns. Restricted in size, these could only process a limited number of items at a time. Thus potters were forced to interrupt their work frequently, waiting for the wares in their kiln to be ready, then to be replaced by the next batch to be fired.
They referred to this enforced interim as the "kiln time." Not to sit around doing nothing, the potters occupied themselves with odd jobs, of not much consequence. It did not take long for the "kiln time" to be corrupted into "killing time," a phrase that has been kept alive ever since.
#
"Killed by a Drunken Driver",1273,0,0,0
Intriguing and unique of its kind is the inscription on a stone in Botany's Pioneer Park, removed there from the Old Devonshire Street Cemetery. It honors the memory of unlucky
\IWILLIAM JACKSON
who Was carelesly rode over
And Killed returning from the
Races May 21st 1831. Aged 21 Years\i
An added verse now hardly decipherable, accuses the guilty party not only of having been intoxicated on the occasion, but of subsequently having refused to meet the medical expenses incurred by his unfortunate victim:
\IO Henecy you did me Kill
And would not pay my Docters Bill
Your Drunkedness has caused my fall.
But consider you must come when God doth call.\i
Other features distinguish the memorial. Apart from conspicuous corrections by the stonemason, its text displays very noticeably an additional name - that of Elizabeth Edwards. Rendered in slightly larger lettering than the rest of the inscription, it is placed above Jackson's.
Records show that Elizabeth, a young girl of 13, had died on 27 June 1829, two years prior to the victim, of an early case of drunken driving. From all appearances, Jackson's monument was a second-hand, recycled headstone!
#
"Killed by a Tortoise",1274,0,0,0
Aeschylus has been called "the father of Greek drama." Reputed author of ninety plays and recipient of at least twelve \Jliterary prizes\j, his influence on stagecraft was enormous. Legend tells that his death (in 456 B.C. at Gela on \JSicily\j) was due to the weirdest of circumstances. An eagle flying overhead had dropped a \Jtortoise\j straight on to his skull, thereby killing him. The myth was soon believed to be fact and became part of his \Jbiography\j.
Legend further enlarged on the story. Eagles, it claimed, fed on the \Jtortoise\j. As this animal's strong protective armor made it difficult for the eagle to gain access to its flesh, it cleverly dropped the \Jreptile\j from high up in the air on to a stone to split open its shell.
Aeschylus had been warned of his imminent death and even been told its date and manner. He would die by being hit on the head by an object. To escape this fate, he went out into the open field. But he could not run away from destiny. He was bald-headed and an eagle flying above in the air with a \Jtortoise\j in its talons, mistook the writer's shining pate for a stone. Following Its usual practice, it dropped the \Jreptile\j on it. The impact cracked open Aeschylus' skull, killing him on the spot. No record supports the story.
#
"Killed by a Tree",1275,0,0,0
Little John Andrew Suttor is buried in the historical Parramatta Cemetery. A child of nine years and eight months, he:
\I. . . SUDDENLY MET HIS DEATH
BY A TREE FALLING UPON HIM
WHILE ON HORSE BACK IN COMPANY
WITH HIS FATHER 12 May 1841\i
#
"Killed by the Ned Kelly Gang",1276,0,0,0
Ned Kelly's exploits have become legend and the bushranger himself a folk hero. Little thought, however, is given to the men who gave their lives to protect the law and who, in the course of their duties, were gunned down.
Three such brave policemen, killed by the Kelly gang in the \JWombat\j Ranges, Victoria, are buried in the cemetery of Mansfield, the closest town. All were Irish by birth and in their mid-thirties. Mounted Constable Thomas Lonigan was a native of County Sligo, Michael Scanlan came from Kerry, and Sergeant Michael Kennedy from Westheath.
Surprisingly, though they died in the same clash, confronting the \Jbushrangers\j on 26 October 1878, they are not buried next to each other. However, their gravestones are all of the same type, "erected by the Parliament of Victoria."
It is interesting to note that none of the epitaphs mentions Kelly by name. They perpetuate the memory of loyal servants of the law, not of \Jbushrangers\j. Though the memorials for two of the men use the same words, briefly recording that they were "murdered by armed criminals . . . in the execution of duty," the sergeant's inscription is more explicit. It tells how, "cruelly murdered, he died in the service of his country, of which he was an ornament" and speaks of him as "Highly respected by all good citizens, and a terror to evil doers."
#
"Killed During a Cycle Race",1277,0,0,0
The Victorian city of Warrnambool was the site of the world's earliest cycle event, the Warrnambool Road Race. First held in 1895, it extended from Warrnambool to Melbourne, a distance of about 260 kilometres.
The town's close association with the sport has left its trace, even in the cemetery. Buried in its grounds is John Joseph Ryan, who was 22 years old at his death. As his headstone - "erected by the Warrnambool \JCycling\j Club and Friends" - relates, Ryan was "killed in the Holland Cycle Race, July 15th 1939." (The race, from Melbourne to Ballarat, was so called after Holland, its sponsor, a manufacturer of bicycles.)
Jack had been a promising and popular racing cyclist, both on road and track. One of the most outstanding endurance riders in the district, he was renowned for the great number of prizes he had won and, not least, for his sportsmanship. On several occasions, he was known to have forfeited a winning chance to help other riders who were in trouble.
Competing as usual in the annual Holland Road Race, he was tragically killed in an accident, 15 kilometers from the finishing post. To overtake competing cyclists, Jack had swung out to the other side of the road. This made him collide head-on with a truck. With fatal head injuries, he was rushed to the Ballarat Base \JHospital\j, where he died soon afterwards.
Ryan's funeral became a public event, attended by hundreds of sportsmen. They all had come to pay their last respects to a mate they would dearly miss. After a \JRequiem\j Mass in St Joseph's church, fellow cyclists carried his coffin to the cemetery, where they passed through a guard of honor formed by the members of every other local sporting association.
The money for Ryan's memorial was raised by an all-sports ball, with 350 dancers enjoying themselves.
#
"Killed in a Copper Mine",1278,0,0,0
Descriptive of the loss suffered, and of its suddenness, are the epitaphs for two other young Cobar miners. They, too, were victims of accidents, at the early age of 17 and 21.
\IA Precious One from us has gone
A voice we loved is stilled
A Place is vacant in our home
Which never can be filled.
God in his wisdom has recalled
The boon his love had given
And though the body lingers here
The soul is safe in heaven
A Sudden change, at God's command he fell;
He had not time to bid his friends farewell;
The summons came without a warning given,
That bade him haste to meet his God in heaven.\i
Some poems and quotations recur on a variety of headstones and in many cemeteries. They usually all belong to the same period. Most likely, they were fashionable at the time, and eventually went out of use again. A typical example is the couplet on the memorial to yet another Cobar miner who was killed at work. Short but reassuring, it asserts:
\IAs the Ivy clings to the Oak
So our memory clings to thee.\i
#
"Killed on the Railway Line",1279,0,0,0
Obviously, the frequency of occupational accidents is related to the type of employment, In spite of every possible safety measure being taken, work on the railways throughout the years has accumulated a considerable record of fatalities.
In the Old Penrith Cemetery, located at the back of St Stephen the Martyr Church, is the grave of Joshua Craven. In 1885, when just 35 years old, he was killed in an accident on the railway line at Penrith.
\IHow melancholy was the news
To those he lov'd so dear.
To hear his precious life was lost
Assistant none was near.\i
Farewell dear wife my life is past,
May you and I unite at last:
Mourn not for me nor sorrow take
But love my children for my sake.
At his death, Craven's fellow workers called a meeting to raise funds for his widow and children.
#
"Killed Through Carelessness",1280,0,0,0
Many of the men buried in the two cemeteries at Hill End were killed in mining accidents. Time and weather have rendered once telling inscriptions hardly legible.
Among the most quoted is the observation that "Men's lives are cheaper than rope." It was not a mere \Jmetaphor\j but relates to an accident when John Green, about to start his nightshift, was killed when the rope that let him down the mineshaft broke.
It is further told that his wife who was asleep, was woken up by their little dog (which always accompanied her husband to work) scratching on her bedroom door. She immediately realized that something was wrong. She rushed to the mine, where she was told of her husband's death.
Though objectively stated, reading like an accusation is the cause of death recorded on the epitaph of George Griffiths. It tells that he was "killed through carelessness in the Newcastle Cos. Claim, Tambaroora, on 4 October 1872, aged 37 years."
There is no indication as to whose neglect his death was due to. Possibly, at the time everyone knew. On the other hand, the details might have been omitted to avoid giving personal offense. A story still current, however, tells that he died deep down in the mine when someone dropped a bucket full of ore onto his head. The inscription ends, in the form of a verse, on a positive and hopeful note,
\IDear brothers sisters and friend
Farewell
I soon shall rise to Thee
And when we meet no tongue can tell
How good our joys will be.\i
Also accidentally killed, on 23 September 1872, and buried at Hill End was 34 year old Alexander McIvor. A Scotsman by birth, he was working for the Krohman Company's claim. The mason originally misspelled the company's name. As it was not possible for him to rectify his error, so indelibly carved into the stone, he merely superimposed the correct letters. The incorrect letters still show through.
#
"Killed Whilst in Army Training",1281,0,0,0
The cost in lives of any war is devastating. But, at times even the training for military duties has its price. Charles Brearley of the Australian Staff College at Queenscliff, Victoria had to pay it. He is buried in the cemetery of nearby Geelong. The inscription on the large and impressive stone marking his grave recalls how, aged 38 years, he was accidentally killed at Queenscliff Forts 28 March 1891.
\IA fearful shock, a pain severe,
To part with one we loved so dear.
Our loss is great we'll not complain
But trust in heaven to meet again.\i
Brearley must have been of Irish descent, as his monument, in addition to the emblem of a canon, is ornamented with the symbol of the Irish lyre.
#
"Killed Whilst on Picket Duty",1282,0,0,0
\BJohn Hynes\b
Picketing is a powerful weapon used by unions during strikes. The term itself is of military origin and, to begin with, a picket was a soldier or troops delegated to watch out for the enemy. It was first applied to industrial action in 1857, in England. Australian unions adopted the practice, which at times cost lives, as testified by a grave in northern \JQueensland\j in the cemetery of Innisfail.
The inscription on its headstone, which is in the shape of a broken column, is self-explanatory:
\IIn Memory of
JOHN HYNES
Shot whilst on Picket Duty
at South Johnstone
on 4th July 1927
Aged 47 Years.
R.I.P.
Erected by his fellow-Unionists\i
The exact circumstances of Hynes' death have never been clarified. It is known that it happened during a dispute between the new management of the South Johnstone sugar mill and their employees, which on 25 May 1927 led to industrial action. It is also established that the fatal shooting occurred more than a week later, when Hynes joined the pickets on the road to the mill.
However, doubts exist as to whether he himself was one of the strikers or, as some unionists claimed, merely a tourist, watching the action. There is yet a third possibility, that a man indiscriminately fired several shots into the picket line. When Hynes tried to get hold of him, a struggle ensued, during which Hynes was shot dead. Whatever happened, his assassin was never apprehended.
#
"Killed Whilst Shunting",1283,0,0,0
Strange coincidences occur in death as well as in life. In the Bathurst Cemetery, one gravestone marks the last resting place of two brothers, Robert and John Webster. Both were killed whilst shunting - but at different times and sites.
Robert met his death at the age of 27, on 28 February 1880 at Kelso Station. Three years later) John, then 26 years old, was "also killed whilst shunting - at Bathurst Station."
#
"Killer and Victim, Head to Head",1284,0,0,0
Unique in several ways is a double grave in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Two men are buried not next to each other, but head to head. They seem to share one headstone, literally, between them, but in fact there are two stones standing back to back. The text on the stones has become almost illegible.
The two graves are the burial place of a murderer and his victim - Ensign Vere Pennefather and Dr McAuley. Both men were members of the 4th Somersetshire Foot and had previously served at the \JEureka Stockade\j. Two years later - in 1856 - Pennefather, who was then 20 years of age, became deranged. Running amok, he wildly discharged his gun, seriously injuring two officers and then killing Dr McAuley, the surgeon, whom he shot through the mouth. He then turned the gun on himself, committing suicide.
An official report on the tragedy, almost added insult to fatal injury. It suggested that had Dr McAuley given Pennefather a proper medical examination, he could not but have noticed his demented state of mind and could therefore have avoided the ensuing tragic chain of events.
#
"Killer's Image on Pupil",1285,0,0,0
People seriously believed that a murdered person's eyes retained the image of the killer. When Rudyard Kipling in his story \IAt the End of the Passage\i adopted this false notion, he further popularized it. In 1908, people were so convinced of the validity of this myth, that at a famous murder trial, they demanded the examination of the victim's eyes, as this would, undoubtedly, reveal the murderer's identity.
No \Jretina\j can retain a picture. Though the eye works like a camera, to "hold" pictures as in photography, a chemical fixer would be needed which no eye provides.
#
"Killers and Their Victims",1286,0,0,0
Murders make front-page news. But once the crime has been solved and the murderer has paid his penalty, he and his victim are soon forgotten.
When death sentences were still carried out, the body of the executed usually was interred in an unidentified grave within the precincts of the prison in which he had met his death. To hasten its disintegration, the body was covered with \Jquicklime\j.
There are exceptions. In some cemeteries around \JAustralia\j, the graves, not only of the unfortunate victims of murder, but also of the killer, can be found, at times strangely positioned.
Hardly ever identifiable, however, are the last resting places of those who served as executioners.
#
"Kilt's Origin",1287,0,0,0
The Scots kilt is not Scottish originally. One of the earliest forms of dress, it appears on \JBronze Age\j frescoes discovered in \JKnossos\j on \JCrete\j, and used to be worn by the ancient Egyptians. Known already in biblical days, the kilt was part of Assyrian soldiers' uniform. Scotland, in fact, acquired the kilt as late as the eighteenth century.
A foreign import thus, several theories have been advanced, as to who first brought the kilt to Scotland. Irishmen claim that the Scots took it over from them. The most favored tradition, however, credits Thomas Rawlison, an Englishman, with the introduction of the kilt to the Highlands. As overseer of ironworks in the county of \JInverness\j, he had visualized the usefulness of the kilt for the workers. Scotsmen found it so practical, comfortable, and attractive that, in no time, it became their favorite dress, eventually (wrongly) to be identified with their race.
#
"King Solomon's Stables",1288,0,0,0
When in 1930 the famous ruins of \JMegiddo\j were excavated in the Holy Land, then still Palestine, the world was thrilled with the discovery of what was believed to be relics of "King Solomon's Stables." There seemed to be no doubt as to the genuineness of the claim.
The unearthed stalls had room for almost 500 horses. They still contained revealing details, such as rows of pillars which had served simultaneously as supports for the roof and as hitching posts, with holes that had become polished by the countless times the horses' straps had been pulled through. Even the feeding troughs were still there. It was easy to imagine how the great king's horses had been kept and cared for in these stables. Did not the biblical "Book of Kings" speak of this "city of chariots," in which Solomon had provided 40,000 stalls for the horses drawing his carriages (I King 4:26)?
It was all an error. Further diggings - by Professor Y. Yadin in 1960 - showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the so-called complex of "King Solomon's stables" had been built long after the king's death in 931 B.C.! They belonged to King \JAhab\j's time who, at the battle of Karkar in 835 B.C., rallied 2,000 chariots against the Assyrians.
#
"Kink in a Siamese Cat's Tail",1289,0,0,0
A Siamese cat with its outstanding features - the raucous voice, blue and sometimes crossed eyes - is most distinctive and different.
Folklore explains the conspicuous kink in its tail. It tells of a Thai princess and her pet Siamese cat which was her constant companion. One day, when about to take a bath in the river, the princess was concerned about the many precious rings on her hands, afraid that she might lose them in the water. To prevent this from happening, she removed the rings from her fingers and slipped them on to the tail of her faithful cat, and to secure them, she tied a knot. Ever since, the legend claims, Siamese felines have kept the kink in their tails.
#
"Kiss",1290,0,0,0
Western civilization takes the kiss for granted. Greek poets called it "the key to Paradise." Other people and ages have condemned the kiss as vulgar, indecent, and a social sin. Japanese never kiss (except parents their children) and have not even a word for it. Chinese regarded a kiss as suggestive of cannibalism and in Indo-China mothers used to frighten their children by threatening them with the white man's kiss.
The origin of the kiss leads back to the earliest stages of human existence and even beyond. Some authorities claim that the kiss developed because primitive man believed that the air he exhaled had magic power. It was an emanation of his true self. By kissing each other men and women mingled their souls.
Others have assumed that the mouth kiss was only the last stage of a long evolution. It started with face touching face (just as Eskimos and Maoris still rub noses) and one man smelling the other (as Indian tribes used to say "smell me!" instead of "give me a kiss!").
Touch has been called the mother of senses and experiments have shown that even the slightest contact with another skin excites the brain. Many animals touch and feel each other and those of whom they are fond. Cats and dogs rub their heads against their owners; birds stroke beak with beak and elephants intertwine trunks. Even insects caress each other with their antennae and snails with their horns. Man's most sensitive touch-zone is the mucous membranes of his lips, and that is how in the search to express deepest affection, mouth found mouth.
Another ingenious explanation links the mouth kiss with our earliest ancestors and animal forebears. The mother, so it is said, used to warm and premasticate the food in her own mouth before transferring it - by way of a "kiss" - to her infant. It was the \Jsubconscious\j memory of this pleasant association of the far distant past that gave us our present-day kiss.
#
"Kiss it Better",1291,0,0,0
Frequently, when a child has hurt itself and starts crying, its mother will try to soothe it by saying, "I'll kiss it better." Several reasons may have prompted the practice.
No doubt the display of love, concern, and tenderness shown by the parent in itself will lessen the pain.
The kissing of the wound also recalls an early and effective method in the treatment of injuries. It is responsible for the well-known saying which speaks of someone lying low and licking their wounds. Animals instinctively do so. Apart from cleaning the sore, \Jsaliva\j has healing properties.
Those bitten by a venomous snake have learned the benefit of sucking out the poison from the wound. Inevitably, the action became associated with kissing something better.
A religious tradition reinforced the belief. It tells how on a visit to Paris, fourteenth-century St Martin, Bishop of Tours, took pity on a leper he found sitting at the city gates. In deep compassion, he went up to him and kissed his sores. Instantly and miraculously, the man was cured.
#
"Kiss Me Hardy",1292,0,0,0
Generally known and well documented are the last moments of Horatio Nelson's life. In his victorious battle against the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar (October 21, 1805), he himself had been mortally wounded. Realizing that he was about to die, he made some last requests to Thomas Hardy, the flag captain and his close friend, who was by his side at the time. He asked Hardy to see to it that his body should not be thrown overboard and made him promise that good care would be taken of Lady Hamilton. He is said to have then expressed the wish, "Kiss me, Hardy!" and kneeling down, Hardy had kissed the Admiral's cheek. "Now I'm satisfied," Nelson said, "Thank God, I have done my duty!"
It has been suggested that actually Nelson had never made such a request which would have been rather odd, no matter how close their friendship. In the excitement and tension of the situation, the Admiral's words were misunderstood. What Nelson in fact had said was not "Kiss me, Hardy," but "Kismet, Hardy!"
This would have been most appropriate. At the very height of his career, Nelson was destined to die and thus was not to savor the glory of his victory, in which once and for all he had shattered Napoleon's dream of naval supremacy. It was all "Fate" - \IKismet.\i
#
"Kissing of a Hand",1293,0,0,0
To kiss the hand of an idol was an ancient gesture of pagan worship. It survives in the kissing of a lady's hand - to express to her one's adoration.
#
"Kit and Caboodle",1294,0,0,0
Although to speak of the whole "caboodle" refers already to the entire lot, to enlarge the phrase to "kit and caboodle," if possible makes it even more embracing.
Kit is a shortened form of the kitbag, a knapsack in which soldiers packed and carried their eating utensils and other essentials. It is said to have evolved from the Dutch \Ikitte,\i a box made of wooden staves in which workmen kept their tools. On the other hand, people have been suggested as its source - one's kith. After all, one's kith (and kin) are all the family and friends.
Caboodle, too, might be a combination of the kit with boodle, slightly disfigured in the fusion. Boodle has been derived as well from the Dutch \Ibodel,\i used for "property" and "moveable goods." Others traced it to an Old English word, designating a "bundle" or a "bunch."
Kit and caboodle thus expressed an all-comprehensive collection, everything and everyone, linguistically still more closely drawn together by its \Jalliteration\j.
#
"Kiwi Shoe Polish",1295,0,0,0
William Ramsay, who first produced the Kiwi shoe polish in 1906, is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. The simple inscription on his headstone makes no reference to his contribution to commerce and daily life. Instead, the quotation of a well-known biblical verse expresses his relatives' pious submission to his early death:
\IIn
Loving Memory
of
WILLIAM
Loved Husband of
ANNIE RAMSAY
Who Died at Essendon
4th September 1914 Aged 46 Years
'The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away.'\i
Most people would assume that Kiwi shoe polish must be a \JNew Zealand\j product. However, it is indigenously Australian! The choice of the "Kiwi" label was the result of romance.
William, a Melbournian, fell in love with a \JNew Zealand\j girl, Annie Elizabeth Meek. The couple were married in 1901. Annie proved to be not only a most loving wife, but also William's constant helpmate and inspiration.
When, five years after their marriage, he produced his new shoe polish, he could think of no better name for it than Kiwi. It was meant to pay tribute to his wife's native country.
It was a wise choice promotionally. The name and the logo contributed much to the product's almost instant success. Kiwi was a name easily remembered in any language and the symbol of the bird was visually pleasing. Kiwi proved not just another polish on the market. Within two years, the firm developed the famous "dark tan," the first stain polish, capable of altering the color of leather.
Kiwi soon conquered the Australian trade and, having found its foothold "down under," established branches in England and Europe. It is rather paradoxical that a polish called after a flightless bird spread so far and wide and so quickly.
William was destined to enjoy the success of his ingenuity and hard work for only a few years. His death at 46 cut short an exciting and most fulfilling career. It is sad to note that Annie, who had been so close to him in life, is not buried next to him.
In spite of his early passing, Ramsay was a lucky man in love and, even after death, in his endeavor. World War I proved a boon to his product. It was adopted by the British forces and subsequently, by the Americans who, serving in Europe, soon came to appreciate its advantages. Today Kiwi is an international company, managed still by direct descendants of William Ramsay.
#
"Kneeling to Pray",1296,0,0,0
Kneeling is a most ancient custom and well attested in Holy Scripture. King Solomon knelt when dedicating the Temple and Daniel went down on his knees in worship three times every day to give thanks to God. Jesus knelt in prayer on the \JMount of Olives\j at the fateful hour preceding His arrest. To St. Paul, kneeling and prayer were synonymous. In \JHebrew\j the term for praise is rooted in the word "knee."
Kneeling is even more characteristic of Mohammedan worship. This is accompanied by much genuflecting, a fact responsible for the very name of the \JMoslem\j sanctuary: \IMosque\i meaning a place of "kneeling."
The custom itself stems from the Orient and Greeks decried it as such. It expressed a man's total submission to a higher power. In essence, kneeling itself is a survival and a small part of the complete prostration of one's body on the ground, of a vanquished foe before his conqueror, a \Jvassal\j in front of his lord and a subject before his king.
Originally this was not merely a symbolic gesture, but a humbling position in which a man was helpless and could not commit any aggression.
That religion adopted this posture was due to several reasons. God was the King of Kings, who demanded complete submission. In homage to Him and in self-abasement, man bent his knee and threw himself down. Like an offering, he presented himself to God. That is why St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans could say: "I beseech you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God..."
But religions also realized the close relationship between outward attitude and inward feeling. Kneeling thus not only symbolized, but fostered, a mood of humility, so essential for prayer. It was further felt that man's whole being had to participate in it: not only his mind, but his body as well.
#
"Knife and Fork",1297,0,0,0
Knives have always been used. They had a place in the equipment of the stone-age man.
Forks are mentioned as far back as in the \JBible\j and, as excavations have shown, were used by the \JAnglo-Saxons\j in 796 A.D. However, it seems that forks lost their popularity and disappeared from use.
A book on how good children should behave, written in 1480, says: "Take your meat with three fingers only and don't put it into your mouth with both hands. Do not keep your hand too long in the plate."
And yet, forks were referred to in \JItaly\j in the 11th century, and Thomas Becket, Chancellor of England under Henry II, knew of and introduced them to royal society. However, it seems that his innovation died with him as, some 450 years later, in 1811, an English traveler, Thomas Coryate, observing their use in \JItaly\j, re-introduced forks into England. But people ridiculed him and scorned them as finicky and effeminate. Priests condemned their use as most unsuitable and almost irreligious. An angry preacher told his congregation that to eat meat with a fork was to declare impiously that God's creatures were not worthy of being touched by human hands!
Savages of the South Sea Islands used forks - but only to devour their enemies. Their religion did not permit them to eat human flesh with their fingers.
#
"Knife as a Present",1298,0,0,0
The \JTrojan horse\j is a "classical" example of how the giving of a present at times may have sinister reasons and consequences. By his gift, the donor has bought himself, as it were, an \Jalibi\j and therefore would never be suspected of being the cause of his generosity's fatal effect.
Any sharp cutting or piercing instrument, like a knife, scissors, or pins and needles, can easily do damage, but their danger is multiplied if - in occult belief - they are empowered by black magic. How easily thus, at the very least, a knife given as a present could cut friendship.
To annul any such potential evil, the recipient of the gift presents the donor with a small coin. This subtly changes a free gift into a token purchase, thereby defusing a possibly aggressive weapon.
#
"Knitting Machine",1299,0,0,0
In the cold winters of England it is essential to wear stockings. The Rev. William Lee, a \Jcurate\j at Calverton in \JNottinghamshire\j, sympathised with the women who had to spend so much of their time in knitting them. A man of practical religion, but also mechanically-minded, in 1589 he invented a machine that would do their work.
Proud of his achievement, he presented a pair of his novel machine-made stockings to Queen Elizabeth. He hoped that his gift would gain the queen's patronage for his invention and by her royal support to make it commercially viable. His plan, however, went awry. Unfortunately, chance willed it that Her Majesty had already been presented with a pair of silk stockings. Compared with their delicate weave, the reverend's product was much too coarse.
Lee might have been disappointed, but he did not allow frustration to get the better of him. On the contrary, the queen's apparent lack of interest spurred him on to improve on his invention, to produce a machine with many more needles. It was capable of making hosiery of a much finer texture and at a faster rate.
For the second time, he tried his luck. But, again, he failed. On this occasion it was not the quality of his stockings, but the queen's fear of industrial trouble that caused her to refrain from granting Lee the hoped-for patent. Stocking manufacturers, seeing their livelihood threatened, also made sure that Lee could not utilise his mechanical device.
Distraught, he left Britain for \JFrance\j, to set up his machine in \JRouen\j - with the same lack of success. Tradition tells that this final disappointment totally broke his spirit and, together with the experience of living the life of an exile, led to his early death, in 1610, in poverty.
His invention not only outlived him but, eventually adopted in Britain, proved so effective that the Rev. Lee's Framework Knitting Machines were recognized everywhere, making the clergyman the pioneer in the mechanisation of hosiery manufacture.
People have always tried to debunk a successful man's achievements. It is not surprising therefore that, added to the early rebuttal of the Rev. Lee's invention, a story gained currency casting doubt on his motives. It tells that it was not concern for the hard-working women but jilted love had prompted him to embark on the venture. A young lady for whom he felt deep affection rejected his advances. Whenever he visited her, she excused herself by saying that she was too busy to see him, as she had to finish knitting badly-needed stockings. Lee then vowed to construct some gadget that would make hand-knitting hosiery obsolete and, with it, his lady love available or her excuse invalid. His "stocking frame" device was the result.
#
"Knock Off Work",1300,0,0,0
No one can be expected to keep on working all the time. Even Roman galley slaves deserved a rest, if only to renew their strength for further exertions. But it was their masters who determined when and gave the signal. The way they did so causes people to "knock off work" to this very day.
To make the slaves manning the oars pull them in unison, the rhythm was beaten out on a block of wood. When those in charge of a boat realized that the men were tiring and needed a break, they announced it by a distinctive "knock." Thus they (were) "knocked off work." The retention of the phrase makes people wonder whether or not even the freest of man has become a slave to his job.
#
"Knock One Up",1301,0,0,0
Bernard Shaw's observation that the only thing that divides the British from the Americans is their language is well known. Their different interpretation of a phrase or expression may become a source of embarrassment. A striking illustration is to "knock one up."
The American connotation of the idiom is to make a woman pregnant. Oddly, this retains the early English meaning of the words. In Shakespearean times "knock" described the penis. In modern English, as spoken by the British, however, to "knock one up" merely suggests waking up a person by knocking on the door.
The expression itself is part of English \Jsocial history\j. In the early days of the Lancashire textile industry, those employed at the mills had to work from early morning till late at night, returning home totally exhausted. They could easily oversleep next morning. To make sure that they turned up at the factory on time, led to the introduction of a simple practice. Before sunrise, men walked through the streets of the city, equipped with a long stave. This they banged against the worker's bedroom windows, mostly situated on the upper floor. "Knocking them up," they made certain that they were not late for work.
Working hours are now regulated by law. But, as a memento of the sweat labor, to "knock up" has become an integral part of the English vocabulary, though now used merely metaphorically in an innocuous and harmless sense of being awakened.
#
"Knock the Spots Off",1302,0,0,0
If you "knock the spots off" an opponent, in either a contest or a fight, you defeat them soundly.
The phrase might be connected with early shooting contests, in which \Jplaying cards\j were used as the target. Whoever was able to hit or "knock off" its pips - the "spots" - proved the best shot.
Another explanation relates the expression to boxing. Anyone knocked about was hit hard. Some unfortunates suffered brain injuries. Others, more lucky, merely saw spots in front of their eyes. As a figure of speech, it indicated that their opponent had taken the "stuffing" out of them.
Initially, the saying might have been used much more literally. It could have suggested that the winner had thrashed his sparring partner so thoroughly that he knocked even the freckles - the spots - off his face.
#
"Knocking on Wood",1303,0,0,0
Fear often haunts man, not least in moments of happiness. He is afraid that some jealous agency, real or imagined, may try to deprive him of his good fortune. To talk of personal good luck became almost a challenge of fate, and that in turn gave rise to many precautionary measures, some belonging to the psycho-\Jpathology\j of everyday life. One of these is the custom of touching wood.
The usual explanation associates it with the cross of Christ. Churches all over the world treasure pieces of wood which, they believe, once were part of the real cross. To touch them would assure sustained happiness. Touching any lid of wood, in memory of the cross, was an obvious further development of the custom.
Another interpretation, still in the realm of religion, recalls the ancient days when a church offered sanctuary. Once a pursued person reached the holy precinct and touched the church's wooden door, nothing could happen to him. He was under the protection of the cross. No one would have dared to apprehend him there as that would have been tantamount to sacrilege.
Yet a further explanation dates back to the more distant past, when people lived in wooden huts. Those who were prosperous were afraid of talking about it, lest evil spirits would envy their luck and try to interfere with it. Thus, when discussing their good fortune, people knocked loudly on their wooden walls. The noise was meant to drown their conversation and prevent any ill-meaning eavesdropper hearing what they were saying about their luck.
However, the custom most probably stems from pagan times, when trees were deified. The fact that \Jlightning\j often struck tees led to a belief that divine power had entered them, and they were soon identified with particular deities. It was thought, for example, that the oak was the dwelling place of the god of \Jlightning\j and thunder. Hence to touch its timber would get magic results.
#
"Knuckle Under",1304,0,0,0
Those who yield to superior power are said to "knuckle under." The phrase recalls a former gesture of submission. The knuckle described not only the finger joints, but also those of the knees. Hence, to "knuckle under" referred to people who went down on their knees, assuming an inferior position not only physically, but expressed in \Jbody language\j. Thus bowed low, they made themselves more vulnerable.
Another explanation links the knuckle with a knock and a practice once followed in arguments. Whoever was beaten admitted their defeat by knocking (knuckling) the underside of the table. In fact, in the seventeenth century to "knock under" was still used in the sense of the modern to "knuckle under."
Some have seen the phrase as a description for a self-inflicted predicament. Totally drunk, people weakened in their knees so much that, no longer being able to stand upright or remain seated, helplessly they knuckled under the table.
#
"Kowtow",1305,0,0,0
\JBody language\j, now recognized as a significant part of communication, has been used by religion for thousands of years. Without uttering a single word, gestures conveyed the faithfuls' submission to the divinity. Their variety included the bending of one or two knees, the prostrating of one's entire body, the joining or raising of hands, and the closing of eyes.
The Chinese way of veneration was to "touch" or to "knock" \I(k'o\i in Chinese) the ground with "the forehead" \I(t'ou)\i - hence the expression \Ikowtow.\i
When China was still a monarchy, its emperor was worshiped as the son of heaven, a divinity, so people demonstrated their veneration by kowtowing in his presence.
This practice of paying homage to the god-head of the nation was considered so important that on one occasion it created a diplomatic incident. When Lord Amherst was appointed British Ambassador to China in 1816, and went to present his credentials to the emperor, he refused to kowtow to him. This angered the Chinese people so much that they prevented Amherst from carrying out his mission, forcing him to return home.
China has become a republic and officially no longer practices religion. But kowtowing - as a figure of speech - has survived the revolution and, in fact, gone multinational. We now apply it to any kind of obsequious behavior, especially by an inferior to his superior.
#
"Kurama No-Hi-Matsuri",1306,0,0,0
\BThe Japanese Fire Festival of Kurama\b
The district of \JKyoto\j, \JJapan\j, can pride itself on an auspicious celebration, the Fire Festival of Kurama, which is held on 22 October. People of all ages join in a solemn procession, carrying lighted grass torches. The grass, cut five months earlier, is left to dry in preparation for this occasion. Bonfires, spaced at regular intervals on either side of the parade's route, add further to the splendor and brightness of the spectacle.
It was not to worship the forces of fire, however, that the festival was introduced, but in honor of the annual visit of the gods and the spirits. Initially, therefore, the torches and bonfires were merely a means to an end. They were lit to invite and welcome the heavenly guests and to light up their path on their way from their celestial abode to earth!
As time passed, people forgot the original function of the fires and lit them, not for the sake of the gods and the spirits, but simply for their own enjoyment. Soon, however, the practice took on a new religious significance. As they carefully watched the fires, people interpreted the height to which they rose and the direction in which the smoke drifted as divine predictions of their future and fortunes.
#
"Ladybird or Ladybug",1307,0,0,0
In spite of its name, the \Jladybird\j is not a bird, but a beetle - and hence the term is a misnomer. Americans, more correctly though less attractively, refer to it as the \Iladybug.\i
Both names, however, are misleading in suggesting - rather oddly - that all members of this brightly-colored insect group belong to the female sex. The "lady" part of its name, however, has nothing to do with the sexes. It was chosen to honor the Virgin Mary, commonly designated in the Roman Catholic faith as "Our Lady." There are several reasons for giving the tiny creature this honorific distinction.
A mere coincidence in the calendars of nature and of religion was a prime factor. It so happened that the little beetle is first seen around the time of the Feast of \JAnnunciation\j of Our Lady, celebrated on 25 March. To the faithful Catholic, this pointed to some mysterious connection between the two. At first, in fact, the insect was known as "the bird of Our Lady," a phrase eventually contracted to \Iladybird.\i
The name chosen for the beetle may also recognize the beneficial role it plays in the \Jecology\j of nature, feeding on plant lice and many other harmful pests. Because of this, it surely earns the right to bear the name of someone so highly venerated by Roman Catholics as "Our Lady."
The \Jsuperstition\j that it was unlucky to kill a \Jladybird\j which has alighted on one's person is a wise precaution. It has helped to preserve this insect which had proved of such value to nature and man.
#
"Lager Beer",1308,0,0,0
Lager beer is so called from the German word for "storage" (Lager) because, to attain perfect quality, it was kept in a storehouse for a fixed period of time. It was first brewed in a Bavarian monastery in the fourteenth century.
#
"Lamb on a Headstone",1309,0,0,0
The figure of a lamb on a headstone can have several meanings. On a child's grave it indicates innocence. The boy or girl died without a blemish, in spotless purity. On an adult's stone, it refers to the gentleness and meekness of character that distinguished the deceased, qualities traditionally attributed to the animal.
In the early history of religion, man believed that by sacrificing a lamb he could obtain forgiveness for his sins. A lamb carved on a stone was meant to proclaim that the deceased had paid for all his wrongdoing, committed out of weakness or in error. His guilt was wiped out.
The Christian belief that Jesus died for man's sins led to his depiction as "the lamb of God." The lamb on a grave therefore was to assure the mourners that the departed now rested under the protection of Christ, the lamb of God.
#
"Lamington Named After a Person",1310,0,0,0
The lamington is a "dinkum" Australian cake. A square piece of sponge, coated with a soft chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut, once it belonged to every garden party and church fete. In spite of such claim, its name has no connection with the English town of Lemington Spa. Even the spelling is different. Like peach Melba and Melba toast, it honors a person.
Lamington was the titled name of the Scottish-born eighth Governor of \JQueensland\j. Appointed to the office in 1895, he assumed his duties the following year. He so endeared himself to the people that on his departure, they called their most favored cake after him.
No one really knows whether the choice had any specific reason. Was the Lamington first served at the Governor's garden parties? Did he himself relish it so much that eventually it became identified with him? Or was the name chosen merely because people felt that he should be remembered by something that was really sweet?
Baron Lamington's popularity was due not least to his youth. He was a mere thirty-six years old when he took up his position. An avid sportsman, he freely mixed with the people and felt at home "down under."
#
"Lance Corporal",1311,0,0,0
In the days of chivalry, a basic combat unit was known as "the lance." It was composed of the fully armored knight and his retinue of squire, page and several mounted retainers.
Only the wealthy could become knights. Nevertheless, other fighting men, though below them, still ranked above the common soldier. In recognition of their status, they were permitted to be mounted like the knights. At times, however, they lost their mount in which case they were nicknamed a "broken lance" \I(lanz spessado).\i Unable to replace the horse, they had to join the foot soldiers, but remembering their former rating, did so with the title of lance corporal or lance sergeant. All is forgotten about the lost horse, but the lance corporal is still around in his own right.
#
"Landlubber",1312,0,0,0
To refer to people as landlubbers is taken to express sailors' contempt for those not at home at sea. Their love of the land made them long to be back on shore. This explanation misinterprets the "lubber" to mean a "lover." However, there is no relationship between the two. From a Scandinavian root, "lubber" describes a "clumsy" sort of person who, lacking experience, is good for nothing and would be as awkward and incapable on land as at sea.
#
"Language of Flowers",1313,0,0,0
To "say it with flowers" has been a universal tradition, at moments of both joy and sorrow, in life and at death. Not surprisingly therefore, flowers play a significant role in the \Jsymbolism\j on headstones.
In their diversity, they may express intense feelings of gratitude, admiration, and love. They are also used to demonstrate qualities that once distinguished the life of the deceased, and the religious beliefs of the bereaved.
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"Last Inn",1314,0,0,0
At times, a name seems just to ask to be misunderstood. Certainly, this applies to a public house in the Welsh seaside resort of Barmouth. Called "The Last Inn," it led people to believe that no other tavern could be found on that road further along and that as in the case of garages it would be wise to "fill up" there, whether with a snack or a drink.
In reality, however, there is nothing final in that inn. Its "last" refers to the wooden or metal form on which cobblers make or mend shoes. In fact, the sign hanging outside "The Last Inn" portrayed a shoe placed on a last. Undoubtedly, "The Last Inn" was once either a favorite spot for cobblers to meet in or, more likely, a cobbler's place of work. People coming to have their shoes repaired, whilst waiting for the job to be done, could spend the time enjoyably by having a pint or two.
#
"Last King of his Tribe",1315,0,0,0
Twenty-nine kilometers west of Coolah, on the left side of the Neilrex road, stands a simple \Jsandstone\j monument. It is decorated with representations of a \Jboomerang\j and a nulla nulla, and its inscription tells that it was erected on the burial place of:
\ITOGEE
KING
OF THE
BUTHEROE TRIBE\i
The \IMudgee Guardian\i of 1916 quotes a letter from C. Nevell, late manager of Weetalibah Station, in which he claims to have had the stone cut "in memory of a faithful blackfellow who was the last King of the Botheroo tribe."
Togee had proved himself an honest and loyal friend to the early white settlers. In fact, he and his tribe had established such close ties with them that when Mr Nevell's grandfather died, they went into mourning, "plastering their bodies and hair with pipeclay."
The first time Togee saw a white man smoking, in his own words, "Me thought him debbil-debbil, and me run like an emu."
In his old age Togee was speared to death by "Cut-a-Bush," a fellow tribesman, who had been jealous of his being the tribe's leader. White men who had watched the incident took the fatally injured Togee into a shed where he died soon afterwards.
Old Mr Nevell then dug a grave for him, its site still indicated by the headstone on the road. The emblems of \Jboomerang\j and nulla nulla, now hardly recognizable, were meant to pay tribute to the late king's distinction as "a good shot."
The tribe soon left the area, never to return.
#
"Last Monday in August",1316,0,0,0
\BThe English August Bank Holiday\b
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries numerous public holidays - sometimes as many as 33 in a year - made the \JBank of England\j close its doors, causing serious disruption to British commerce and industry. To make things worse, these holidays were not properly regulated but were frequently decided upon almost on the spur of the moment - to celebrate some special event, saint's day, or anniversary.
There was a growing realization that drastic rationalization was essential for the benefit of the nation. The result was the introduction of the August Bank Holiday. It, along with six other annual official holidays, was to replace all other "free days." An Act of Parliament, referred to by its promoter's name as the Sir John Lubbock's Act, was passed in 1871 and decreed that on the first Monday in August all banks would be closed. Bills due on that day would be payable on the following day. Offices followed suit and the (so-called) "Bank Holiday" developed into a people's holiday with fairs, sporting events, and other amusements.
The August Bank Holiday has now been moved from the first to the last Monday of the month.
#
"Last Monday in May",1317,0,0,0
\BMemorial Day\b
The US Memorial Day, held on the last Monday in May, was first observed shortly after the \JCivil War\j. Its original purpose was to honor the war dead of both the South and the North, thereby healing the split and helping to make the nation one again.
From early times, it was the custom on this day to decorate the graves of the fallen with flowers. This explains why the day also became known as Decoration Day.
There are a variety of claims as to where, how and by whom Memorial Day was introduced. Traditionally, the credit is given to the village of Waterloo in the state of New York and to Henry C. Welles, a local pharmacist. In 1865 he is said to have conceived the idea and submitted it to a committee, which then organized the first celebration on 5 March of the following year.
The occasion was marked by the flying of flags at half-mast, a veterans' parade and processions to the three cemeteries of the village. Flowers were placed on the graves and the village was decorated with foliage intertwined with black ribbons.
As Americans subsequently had to fight in many other conflicts, the scope of Memorial Day was expanded to pay tribute to all American servicemen and women.
#
"Last of the Great Whalers - George Davidson",1318,0,0,0
Modern conservationism has sounded the death-knell to whaling, a once flourishing Australian industry. Among its most outstanding participants was the Davidson family, who had come to \JAustralia\j from \JAberdeen\j, in 1842. For three generations and for almost 100 years, the Davidsons were among the finest whalers.
To them must go the credit for having operated the longest-running whaling shore station in \JAustralia\j. Its headquarters was at the mouth of the Kiah River at Twofold Bay, Eden. In 1845, 27 whale boats used to ply from this thriving centre, with up to 12 boats chasing one whale.
George Davidson was the very last of the great whalers. Following the family tradition, he had gone on his first whale-hunt as a boy of eight! At 14, he became a fully-fledged master whaler, and he was active as such for the ensuing 55 years! His death on 30 June 1952, at the ripe old age of 89, closed an exciting chapter of Australian history and enterprise, in which 21 Davidsons had played a major role.
George Davidson's grave is in the Catholic section of the Eden Cemetery, where he is buried next to his wife. His gravesite is so close to the shore that in stormy weather one can clearly hear the huge waves breaking on the sandy beach and the wind howling out at sea.
#
"Last Piece of Cake/Bread",1319,0,0,0
To eat the last piece of cake or bread on a plate is regarded as unlucky. If a woman did so, it is said, she would never marry.
Psychologically, the \Jsuperstition\j could be based on significant consideration. A woman who is not loath to take the last piece shows greed and selfishness. She also demonstrates traits of masculine aggressiveness which might frighten off any potential suitor.
Rationalized, the prime objective of the belief may be good manners. It took advantage of superstitious fear to enforce courtesy, frightening people into leaving the last portion for someone else.
The custom may well go back to biblical days and social legislation commanding that at harvest time the corners of a field should be left standing, just as a lost sheaf must not be gathered. They were for the poor, the widow, and the homeless alien. To be classed, or merely associated, with any of those unfortunates, certainly spelled bad luck.
#
"Laugh Up One's Sleeve",1320,0,0,0
To "laugh up one's sleeve" is certainly not a sign of good manners. Worse still, it shows not the best of character. After all, no decent person would laugh at another's expense and do so - cowardly - hiding his amusement.
Altogether the phrase itself seems so absurd. You laugh in front of a person or behind his back. But who could ever laugh up his sleeve? It just does not make sense.
Yet what now seems so meaningless an expression, was quite intelligible (and possible) in days gone by. To laugh up one's sleeve, indeed, is part of the history of man's dress and its peculiar evolution.
The fact is that while costumes changed in shape and dimensions, language lagged behind and was slow to adapt itself. It carried outmoded notions and references to long discarded fashions. Man's sleeves were once not as tight-fitting as they are today. Nor did they extend only to the wrist. They were wide and exceedingly long, so much so that at times they had to be carried over the arm or knotted so as not to drag along the ground. Ingenious tailors even put holes in the sleeves which enabled the wearer to put his hands and arms through them much higher up - without having to reach down all the way.
In some circles the length of the sleeve indicated the owner's importance. This is a tradition which is preserved, like those wide, hanging sleeves themselves, in academic gowns. At \JOxford University\j, for example, an undergraduate's gown lacks sleeves altogether. But those worn by a Master of Arts reach down almost to the ground.
In the days when the phrase was coined, it was quite simple to hide one's smile by lifting and holding the long sleeve in front of the face. It served as a screen and no one could see or guess what one was actually doing behind it.
#
"Laurel Wreath",1321,0,0,0
When Apollo failed to secure Daphne as a lover, he acknowledged his defeat, bearing no malice. On the contrary, still deeply enamoured with the maiden, he now embraced the bush. With his divine power he bestowed on it the gift of ever-greenness: its leaves would never wither, but stay permanently fresh and glossy. To make sure that he himself would never forget his love, he resolved to wear perpetually a garland of laurel leaves. This is how, according to Greek tradition, the laurel wreath came into existence. Used to crown and, by its mystic power, further to inspire those who had excelled in battle, in sport or in any other triumphant achievement, it became a general emblem of victory and distinction.
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"Lay an Egg",1322,0,0,0
Oddly, used as a phrase, to "lay an egg," points to a failure. Actors lay an egg when their performance falls flat, and likewise, comedians do so when their jokes fail to get a single laugh.
The expression, nevertheless, did not originate on the stage but in sport. A cricketer who scored no runs had a large zero placed next to his name on the scoreboard.
Spectators, always imaginative in their appraisal (and criticism), soon remarked on the resemblance of the shape of this "nought" with that of an egg. So they called it a "duck's egg." Subsequently, they dropped the egg altogether, to keep the "duck."
Americans adopted the simile from the British, but adapted it to their way of life - both in sport and in food. Using it in \Jbaseball\j, they changed the duck into a goose, a fowl much more common in their country, portraying the zero in their figure of speech as a goose egg.
The French did not attribute the egg to any specific bird, but saw in the zero any kind of egg. Therefore for them - in tennis - a score of nil was just "the egg," l'oeuf. When the English took over their way of scoring, they kept the (French) egg, which on their tongue sounded like - and eventually was spelled as - "love." This kind of love signified nothing!
From the playing field, the figurative "egg" spread to any walk of life where, slightly expanded, "to lay an egg" came to mean a flop.
#
"Lbs: Wrong Weight",1323,0,0,0
To use "lbs" as an abbreviation for "pounds" of weight is an error. Obviously the letters are meant to be a contraction of the latin for "pounds," \Ilibrae,\i which lacks the "s." This was added mistakenly from the English. Correctly shortened the (Latin) "pounds" should appear as "lb."
#
"Lead Pencil",1324,0,0,0
Lead pencils never contained lead. But because in the sixteenth century people mistook as lead the thin stick of a compound of \Jgraphite\j and clay then used for writing, their error persisted, and the description was adopted worldwide. As it were, it became indelible in the human mind, and no evidence to the contrary was able to erase it. The mistake was possibly suggested by an old custom to draw lines of paper by means of a leaden plummet.
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"Leap Year Proposals",1325,0,0,0
Long before women's liberation, spinsters were given equal rights with men - but only every fourth year, and then exclusively in the realm of marriage! They were permitted to propose to men during leap years. There are several explanations of the origin of this tradition.
It was once believed - though this has since been proved untrue - that in 1288, Queen Margaret of Scotland had given women this right. Any man who refused to accept such a proposal could be fined a hundred pounds. Bachelors were quick to appreciate the threat and soon took precautionary measures. Though forced to recognize and submit to the women's newly achieved right to "pop the question" during leap years, they restricted it by stipulating that a woman could do so only if she wore a clearly visible red petticoat. This gave the men due warning - and the opportunity to take evasive action!
Another legend links the introduction of \Jleap year\j proposals with two well-known saints, at a time when celibacy was not compulsory for priests and nuns. It tells how St Bridget called on St Patrick to ask his advice. The nuns in her charge, she told him, had become very restive. They objected to the man having the sole right to propose marriage. Why should women not be equally entitled to take the initiative?
Patrick fully understood the problem. To pacify the nuns, he suggested a compromise solution. Henceforth women would be allowed to propose; they could do so for a full year - every seventh year! Though not entirely satisfied, Bridget expressed her appreciation by throwing her arms around Patrick who, no doubt, must have enjoyed her show of affection.
His pleasure did not go unnoticed and Bridget, grasping the opportunity, now implored Patrick to extend the right by making it valid every fourth year. In the circumstances, he could not resist her plea. In fact, he agreed to make it not only every fourth year, but the longest year in every four - which, of course, was the \Jleap year\j!
#
"Learn By Heart",1326,0,0,0
It took man a long time to understand the specific function of the various organs of his body. Pride of place must go to the heart, and for an obvious reason. It made its presence felt, particularly so on occasions of excitement. Early on, its palpitations were (mis)taken as the cause (and not the effect) of happiness and or distress. The heart came to be regarded as the very organ in which human feelings were produced. "With all my heart" became an affirmation of sincerity, sympathy, and devotion. At one time the heart was imagined to be the seat of the mind as well. This led to the belief that man thought and remembered with the heart, and not the brain.
It was unfortunate that Aristotle, the renowned Greek philosopher, made this mistake. As anything he wrote was accepted as truth, countless generations after him copied the error. Actually, the fallacy of the view was discovered soon after Aristotle's death by the Greek surgeon and anatomist \JHerophilus\j. Founder of the School of Anatomy at Alexandria, he was among the first to conduct post-mortems and to examine and describe the brain. In spite of it, in the way of speaking, Aristotle has never been corrected so that we still "remember" his mistakes and continue, senselessly, to describe memorizing as "learning by heart."
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"Leave No Stone Unturned",1327,0,0,0
To "leave no stone unturned" is an advice going back well nigh two and a half millennia, to one of the early great battles fought in world history. It was given by the oracle of Delphi to Pausanias, the Spartan general in command of the allied Greek army in its decisive victory over the Persian forces at \JPlataea\j in 479 BC.
After defeating the Persians, Pausanias was determined to take possession of a treasure of gold, which, he had been informed, Mardonius, the enemy leader, prior to the encounter, had hidden somewhere on the battlefield. However, his efforts to locate what promised to be the most highly-prized booty failed. Not giving up the quest, he consulted the Delphic oracle. This directed him to "leave no stone unturned."
Thus, renewing his search, assiduously he explored every possible site, finally to discover the hoard of gold under the stones which covered the floor of the luxurious headquarters of the defeated Persian general.
Mostly historians study the events of the battle. But the counsel given at Delphi has lived on as a valuable admonition to everyone in pursuit of a worthwhile goal.
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"Ledger",1328,0,0,0
Once upon a time books were available only in limited number and expensive to produce. Thus they were highly prized. This was especially true of the \JBible\j, and the reason for the odd practice to secure it by chaining it to the reading desk, the lectern. Some churches still treasure such "chained" Bibles as relics from those early days.
Another essential volume used at services of the Roman \JCatholic Church\j was the \Jbreviary\j, the liturgical book from which the officiating priest recited psalms, hymns and lessons. It was not chained but to impress on the worshipers that they should not take it home, it was referred to as a \Ilidger,\i from the Old English for "to lodge" or "to stay:" the \Jbreviary\j was to stay in the church.
Though not the book, its name nevertheless left the church. Secularized, it was applied to any volume of importance which under no circumstances was to be taken away. Ultimately, its name was applied by merchants exclusively to the book containing the irreplaceable records of trade transactions, listing the accounts of debtors and creditors. The ledger has certainly traveled a long way from its original ecclesiastical home to the world of commerce.
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"Left-handed Compliment",1329,0,0,0
Many features which once belonged exclusively to the ritual of the Church have become so much part and parcel of everyday life that their religious source is forgotten. Such is the case of the "left-handed compliment." Ambiguous in its praise, the irony implicit in such a compliment is meant to hurt.
When class distinctions were still rigid, an unbridgeable gap separated the nobility from the "common people." They lived in different worlds and, in some places, even worshiped God in separate churches! It was a policy of \JApartheid\j, not between races, but social classes.
For a member of the upper class to marry a commoner was just not done. Love, however, knows no bounds and, in spite of the unwritten law, such misalliances did happen.
To discourage them, an invidious practice was adopted, intended to give public expression to society's disapproval. A man of noble birth who had dared to choose a woman "below his station" as his bride was not permitted to follow the usual custom at the solemnisation of their marriage of giving the bride his right hand. He had to offer his - inferior - left hand.
This manner of indicating the low standing of such alliances gave rise to the habit of calling them "left-handed." And this verbal expression of contempt for the union was not the only mark of disapproval imposed. The unfortunate low-born wife was never recognized as having joined the ranks of nobility. For the rest of her life, she remained a commoner. So did any children born of "left-handed" wedlock. None of them could ever share or inherit their father's title or property.
Fortunately, such obnoxious class distinctions are now a matter of the past. But we still pay "left-handed" compliments, using an expression which is the linguistic residue of a long obsolete part of the marriage ceremony.
#
"Left-overs",1330,0,0,0
Not so long ago; it was considered bad manners to drain a glass of wine or a cup of tea to the last drop. It was regarded as equally uncouth to finish all the food on the plate. For a guest to do so was not interpreted as a compliment to the hostess' good cooking, but as a sign of greed.
The custom is not an example of the conspicuous wastefulness of an affluent society. On the contrary, it reflected an attitude of social responsibility towards the unprivileged and impecunious, as taught by religion. In the days of servants, the "leftovers" - whether in glass, bottle or on the plate - were their rightful due (and thoughts of hygiene non-existent).
To be aware of the needs of the less fortunate and to show self-discipline by curbing one's appetite were the hallmarks of a religiously motivated person. These were the reasons for not totally finishing one's food or drink. Did not the Book of Ecclesiasticus teach to "leave off first for manners" sake and be not insatiable?"
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"Legend of the Raven",1331,0,0,0
The raven is generally regarded as an ominous bird, an opinion fostered by its jet-black color, though there are exceptions. After all, the \Jprophet\j Elijah was fed by ravens when he was hiding at the brook of Kerit, which made the bird in Christian tradition a symbol of divine providence. Legend has it that prior to its abortive mission from Noah's Ark to bring evidence that the Flood was receding, the bird had been snow-white in color. In punishment for failing to do so, God had blackened it.
Even the raven's name has been misunderstood and linked with all that is ravenous. Ravenous - from the Latin \Irapere\i for "to seize" - came to describe the greedy and gluttonous. Obviously, the raven's practice of pouncing on and "seizing" helpless lambs and other easy prey, seemed to suggest the association. However, the raven's name comes from a totally different source. Its raven's name comes from a totally different source. Its (linguistic) root is the Sanskrit for "the making of a grating, discordant noise," \Ika-rava.\i Literally thus, the raven is a "screamer," a title truly merited by its raucous voice.
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"Lemon Sole: Origin of the Name",1332,0,0,0
The \Jlemon sole\j is a species of \Jplaice\j or \Jflounder\j. Its lemon part has been attached to the fish in error. A flat fish, in Old French it was compared with, and actually described as, a "flat board" \I(limande)\i which, misheard, was changed into the lemon. Others have discovered in the lemon half of the fish the corrupted Latin root \Ilimus,\i for "mud," and assert that the fish was so called because its usual habitat was deep down in the muddy waters.
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"Leo - the Lion",1333,0,0,0
That people imagined the outlines of a lion in the night sky was no wonder. Its majestic figure has always produced feelings of awe and fear in man. Yet views still differ as to why a \Jconstellation\j was called by its name.
A very early opinion given was that when the sun passed through this celestial "sign," it reminded people by its burning heat of the fiery ferocity of a raging lion. Therefore they had called the \Jconstellation\j after the king of beasts.
But the Greeks as usual had their own story to tell which was linked with Hercules - this time with his first labor. A fearsome lion was ravaging vast areas of the country near Nemea. All attempts to kill it had been unsuccessful, as this mystical creature was invulnerable to stone, iron, and bronze.
After meeting a peasant whose son had fallen victim to the murderous beast, Hercules was all the more determined to slay it. He pursued the killer and the moment he caught up with it, attacked it with his arrows, sword, and club. But none of them could harm the lion which withdrew into its lair unhurt.
But Hercules did not give up the fight. When he found out that the animal's hide-out possessed two openings, he immediately blocked one and entered by the other. And then, confronting the Nemean lion, he strangled it with his bare hands. He carried its body back to the mourning father and together, in gratitude, they brought an offering to Zeus.
To perpetuate Hercules' valiant deed, the god placed the lion high up among the stars, where it has dwelt ever since. Now known by its Latin name, \Ileo,\i it belongs to the Zodiac. With great imagination you might still recognize in a sickle of stars its head and the front part of its body.
#
"Leprechaun Legends",1334,0,0,0
The \Jleprechaun\j is the most famous of all Irish fairies and gnomes. Stories abound of the hidden treasures they know about and can be forced to reveal to whoever is lucky enough to get hold of this pygmy sprite. However, it is essential to keep the little creature constantly in sight until the fortune is actually secured. Should one take one's eyes off the \Jleprechaun\j even for a split second, it will escape, taking with it a unique chance in life to acquire a buried crock of gold. Leprechauns are well aware of this "escape route," and having been caught often, make cleverly use of it. Suddenly they might call out: "Your house is on fire!," "Watch out!," or a similar alarming cry. And when, inevitably and for however short an instant, their captor then looked away, the \Jleprechaun\j would have vanished, and with it the fortune which had seemed so close!
Many stories have been told of how leprechauns managed very cunningly to keep the crock of gold underground. Best-known is the tale of the Irishmen who had actually succeeded in forcing the fairy to lead him to the site of a buried treasure. But, alas, he lacked any tool to dig it up. Wisely, so he thought, he marked the spot by taking off one of his red garters and tied it around the nearest tree. As the \Jleprechaun\j had done what was required of him, the Irishman let him go. Rushing home to fetch a spade, the man was back in less than three minutes. The \Jleprechaun\j meanwhile had departed but, prior to vanishing, had put identical red garters around all the other trees growing there. Thus tricked, the man never found the treasure nor did he see the roguish elf again.
The \Jleprechaun\j's name describes the dwarfish creature very aptly. A combination of \JGaelic\j words, it refers to a "small" \I(lu)\i "body" \I(corp)\i which is made even smaller by having attached to its end - as a \Jsuffix\j - the diminuitive \Ian.\i
That leprechauns were shoemakers is now a generally accepted tradition. However, this is a fallacy, based on a complete misconception by people who, as so often happens in life, misinterpreted what they heard. Not versed in the \JGaelic\j tongue, they imagined that the name of the \Jleprechaun\j stood for a "half brogue," fusing the Irish for "half" \I(leith)\i and "shoe" \I(brog).\i Brogue, of course, described the typically Irish shoe of untanned hide. A \Jleprechaun\j was so called, it was further claimed, because usually he made only one shoe, which fitted his little figure all the better into Irish fairyland.
Oddly enough, a very early tradition, and perhaps the very first mention of the \Jleprechaun\j, links him neither with Irish shoes nor crocks of gold. Anticipating the modern submarine, it tells of how a \Jleprechaun\j was able to teach man how to travel below the seas invisible from above.
#
"Let Down One's Hair",1335,0,0,0
Throughout the ages, hair has served men and women in the most diverse ways, not least as a status symbol. It was a naturally-grown asset to beautify oneself and gain in standing of which both sexes made frequent use. They built up their hair into veritable pyramids, often further heightening themselves by elaborate, powdered wigs. Though these must have proved a burden, they nevertheless gladly carried it for the sake of appearance, attraction and social standing. It was all well worth the trouble.
Applying their demeanor to the style, it became very formal and assumed an air of ceremoniousness and solemnity. They must have felt relieved when at the end of the day or among their intimates, they could let go by "letting down their hair." The physical act survives in the \Jmetaphor\j.
Louis XIV of \JFrance\j, very conscious of his \Jbaldness\j, never permitted anyone to see the "nakedness" of his head, for which reason his wig was his constant companion. He removed it only when retiring at night and, even then, did so himself, hidden behind the drawn curtains of his bed. From there, he handed it to a pageboy who was instructed to return the wig to him first thing next morning. How sad that a royal head was so restricted in letting down the hair, which was not even his.
Hair has been regarded as sexually attractive, if not arousing. Some religions, aware of the danger, make women cover their hair, if not all the time, at least so during a service, lest men's attention might stray from prayer. It was one of the original reasons for the custom, still adhered to by some congregations, for women to wear hats in church. On the other hand, in their portrayal of Mary Magdalen, traditionally a repentant sinful woman and former prostitute, artists show her with her hair hanging down to her feet.
To let down one's hair therefore also acquired a distinctly erotic note.
#
"Let the Cat Out of the Bag",1336,0,0,0
Were we to hear the phrase "to let the cat out of the bag" for the first time, we would imagine that, obviously, it gave account of a rescuing act. After all, cats love their freedom and would loathe being imprisoned in a sack.
But, of course, the words are used in a completely different sense. They show no concern whatsoever for the cat's fate, its likes and frights. Rather strangely, they tell of a secret coming out, quite suddenly, just as a cat, kept prisoner, would jump out of a bag.
For the origin of the phrase we have to look at marketing methods at the country fairs of old England. There, sucking-pigs were frequently sold ready wrapped in a sack.
Tricksters bent on taking advantage of a trusting customer, would hand over a sack containing, not a piglet, but a cat, and the deception would not be discovered until the purchaser opened the bag at home.
The wary buyer who insisted on opening the bag at the fair to examine the non-existent pig, let the cat out of the bag and exposed the cheat!
Naval circles suggest another origin of the phrase. It referred, they say, not to an animal but to the whip known as the cat o'nine tails. This cruel instrument of punishment was kept in a sack and to "let the cat out of the bag" meant to take out the whip for a flogging. The action certainly left the sailors in no doubt as to their captain's intention.
#
"Let Them Eat Cake",1337,0,0,0
On hearing that people were so destitute that they had not even bread to eat, only a callous cynic or an insane person would suggest "let them eat cake." For a queen to do so would be outrageous. But "history" attributes this very remark to Marie Antoinette. She is said to have made it on her arrival in \JFrance\j in 1770, when told that some of the population were so impoverished that they had not even bread to eat.
She never uttered the words. They were ascribed to her malevolently, to increase her unpopularity and to justify her later condemnation and execution.
Marie Antoinette was an unlucky queen. Though wife of King \JLouis XVI\j, she was looked upon as a foreigner, as "that Austrian woman." Disliked at Court for ignoring royal "etiquette," she was hated by the people for her love of luxury, extravagance, and apparent indifference for the underprivileged.
In reality, the phrase "let them eat cake" comes from J. J. Rousseau's \IConfessions\i which were published in 1760, when Marie Antoinette was a child of five! Rousseau quotes the words as "the thoughtless saying of a great princess" (most likely the Duchess of Tuscany) and certainly not as those of the future queen. Even the circumstances under which this unnamed princess made the remark were entirely different. They showed not callousness but compassion. Hearing of peasants going hungry, she advised that they should be given \Ide la brioche.\i This was not cake at all but a superior type of bread, like a bun or scone. Her suggestion expressed the wish to share it with the starving peasants.
The story was a ready-made weapon for the revolutionaries of the time. Taking the passage out of its context, they changed the bun into cake and identified the unnamed princess with the queen. It was a perfect plot to besmirch Marie Antoinette's name and further to enrage the people against her.
#
"Lethal",1338,0,0,0
Lethe, in Greek myth, was the river of oblivion, situated in \JHades\j. Those who drank of its waters forgot all their past. To the Romans death alone could bring total \Jamnesia\j, so they identified this river with anything that was deadly. Thus our word, \Ilethal,\i applied to that which is death-dealing, preserves a reference to the mythical river of forgetfulness.
#
"Lethargy",1339,0,0,0
Those of a lethargic nature may move so slowly that they might seem to come almost to a standstill. Nevertheless, they owe their description to a flowing river - the very same \JLethe\j, situated in \JHades\j, that gave birth to our word \Ilethal.\i
The Roman poet \JOvid\j enlarged on the ancient myth, in which the souls of the dead, on their way to the netherworld, would drink of \JLethe\j's waters, and thus forget all they had experienced in their previous existence. \JOvid\j portrayed \JLethe\j as a river whose murmuring sound induced sleepiness in those resting in the Cave of Sleep which the river encircled.
A combination of these traditions gave us \Ilethargy\i as the name of the condition of people who are apathetic, listless, and forgetful.
#
"Lewdness",1340,0,0,0
During the \JDark Ages\j, clerics were among the very small number of educated people able to read and write. This gave us the modern \Iclerk,\i now an occupational title for one who manages the paper records of any enterprise.
The rest of the people, the laymen, were called "lewd," from an Old English word meaning simply "unlearned" or "not of the \Jclergy\j." But as these illiterate, if not ignorant, laymen were often despised for their vulgarity and real or imagined lasciviousness, the once innocuous \Ilewd,\i assumed its present-day meaning, "obscene."
#
"Libra - the Scales",1341,0,0,0
\ILibra\i - the Latin for "balance" - has become the description of the seventh sign of the Zodiac. Going back only to the sixth pre-Christian century, it differs from all other constellations in three aspects. It is the youngest of all symbols. It is the only one which does not represent a living figure but an inanimate object. And there is no Greek myth to support or explain its place in the skies.
Scales, almost from the very moment they became part of life, have served as a symbol of justice. Weighing man's deeds and his soul, they determined his innocence or guilt and thereby his final destiny.
The choice of "the scales" for a \Jconstellation\j may well be based on a natural phenomenon. At the time the sun passes through this part of the celestial arc, day and night are of more or less equal length and therefore properly "balanced."
The "scales" were only the final name given to this "house." A variety of other objects had preceded them: among Chaldeans the picture of an altar; among Egyptians a yoke, most probably the beam of the instrument used to measure the inundations of the Nile; and among the Greeks a scorpion's claws.
#
"Lick Into Shape",1342,0,0,0
That people, putting the finishing touches to a job, "lick (it) into shape" is rather an odd description. No one's tongue is so effective. The \Jmetaphor\j is based on a fallacy, never corrected in the way of speaking. At one time it was believed that a bear cub was born formless and that its mother had to lick it into shape. The illusion was possibly due to the mother bear's intense washing and cleaning with her tongue of the tiny progeny.
#
"Lieutenant",1343,0,0,0
In many professions, at times, the need arises for a "stand-in." During his absence, a doctor, for instance, makes sure of someone else taking his place. His surrogate is usually (in \JAnglo-saxon\j countries) referred to by the Latin term \Ilocum tenens\i (often shortened to \Ilocum),\i meaning "the one who holds the place."
The same procedure was followed in naval and army circles in the case of the absence of a captain or commander or the necessity to delegate their duties. Oddly enough, however, the title of their replacement, whilst retaining the Latin for "holder," \Itenens,\i used for the word "place" not the Latin term, but \Ilieu,\i its French equivalent. Fusing the two into one (hybrid) word, it created the lieutenant, holding the place of his superior.
That is why Americans, recalling the French \Ilieu,\i correctly pronounce the title "lootenant." But not so the British. Not very definite about early spellings, Englishmen made a mistake. By a "labial glide" at the end of the French \Ilieu,\i they misread the "u" for a sound like "v" or "f." And that explains why among the British, the lieutenant erroneously has become known as the "leftenant" and nothing can ever change this mispronunciation of his rank.
#
"Life Flashing Past at Death",1344,0,0,0
A widespread popular notion claims that at the moment of death, particularly so from drowning, a man's entire life flashed past him. It is an assertion which, obviously, is difficult to prove or deny. Nevertheless, people who could have been described as actually dying, but escaped death by the narrowest margin - being resuscitated or rescued - have testified that they did not experience the phenomenon. Instead, they had focused their mind, in what they assumed to be their last moments, on a desperate attempt to save themselves.
#
"Life is Not all Beer and Skittles",1345,0,0,0
The English pub has always been an integral part of British life. A meeting place for the people, they gathered there to relax and enjoy themselves.
Innkeepers realized that the longer their guests stayed on the premises, the more they would drink. At the time, bowling, in the form of ninepins and known as skittles, was a favorite pastime. Wisely thus, the proprietors of public houses had bowling alleys and greens built adjacent to their establishments.
As an additional attraction, it greatly contributed to the happiness of the patrons and no less to the coffers of their host. "Beer and skittles" came to express a lifestyle of delight and pleasure.
Sooner or later, however, people were to realize that life was "not all beer and skittles." The figure of speech was popularized by well-known poets and writers, and became so much a part of everyday language that it has outlived the game of ninepins which had played such a significant role in giving birth to it.
#
"Lighting Three Cigarettes with One Match",1346,0,0,0
The Holy Trinity, commercial interests and self-protection in time of war, are cited as the direct cause of aversion of lighting three cigarettes with one match.
Three is the symbol of the trinity. To make a mundane use of it was to defile its sanctity and to transgress the holy law. Man would invite disaster and put himself into the power of the "evil one." Thus, a match, trebly used, would light the fires of Hell for one's own soul.
Another, less fearful tradition, claims that the \Jsuperstition\j first arose among British troops during the \JCrimean War\j. They learned from Russian captives of the danger of using any light for a threefold purpose. They were told that it was the sacred rule of the Orthodox Church that the three candles on the altar were not to be lit from a single taper, except when the High Priest used it.
However, a more likely explanation of the origin of the custom is that British soldiers, entrenched against Dutch foes in the Boer War, learned by bitter experience of the danger of lighting three cigarettes from one match. When the men thriftily used one match to serve three of them, they gave the Boer sniper time to spot the light, take aim and fire, killing "the third man."
Ivar Kreuger, the Swedish match king, certainly did not create the \Jsuperstition\j, as has been alleged, but he made the widest possible use of it to promote sales. People, innately superstitious, did not mind wasting a match. After all, there might just be something in it! Certainly there was millions of pounds of profit for Mr. Kreuger who thus, by fostering for his own purpose a realistic wartime precaution, was able to increase his sales manifold.
#
"Lightning Never Hits Twice",1347,0,0,0
Lightning has always frightened man and, as a "bolt from heaven," created its own myths. Most prominent among them is the belief that \Jlightning\j never strikes twice in the same spot. Evidence disproves this assumption. Many well-known tall and exposed landmarks - such as New York's \JEmpire State Building\j and the steeple of St Mark's in Venice - have been frequent targets.
Another fallacy has it that knives, scissors, and mirrors attract \Jlightning\j. Consequently, during a \Jthunderstorm\j people either kept a safe distance from them or, at the very least, covered them up and drew the blinds.
#
"Like a House on Fire",1348,0,0,0
Many of the early English homes, built of timber with thatched roofs, presented a great fire hazard. A spark from the open grate could easily set aflame the flimsy wooden dwelling and, in no time, reduce it to ashes.
An unforgettable traumatic experience, it has left its trace both in preventive legislation and in speech. It was responsible for the introduction of the curfew and created the phrase "like a house on fire" as a \Jmetaphor\j for extraordinary speed and intensity, or for when two people get on very well with each other.
English villages are still admired for their thatched cottages, not realizing the danger these once presented. American settlers putting up log cabins were equally exposed to high fire risks. Once aflame, little could be done to extinguish the conflagration which was so speedy that Americans, too, came to compare a fast horse as going like a house on fire. In America the phrase was popularized by Washington Irving's use of it in his 1809 humorous and satirical \IHistory of New York.\i
#
"Lilith - the First Eve",1349,0,0,0
Modern medicine and scientific knowledge have vastly reduced the incidents of death among women during the last months of \Jpregnancy\j, the hazards of childbirth, and infant mortality. And if such deaths do occur nowadays, the medical reason or the unfortunate circumstances that led to them are recognized and correctly attributed. But centuries ago, such tragic events were by no means infrequent, and a logical explanation was not always at hand. Therefore people who experienced - or even merely apprehended - such tragedy, "reasoned" that the blame lay not with natural causes but with some adverse influence, some malevolent spirit.
That is how all early cultures invented fearsome figures who threatened mothers-to-be and their progeny. The child-stealing witch was a common figure in ancient days. She would use any foul means and all her malevolent wits to attain her aim. But no witch gained greater notoriety than Lilith, the evil demon of the night. Who was she and what made her so evil?
It may surprise many a biblical scholar that Adam, if not actually a bigamist, had two wives. To make the claim more convincing, legend added significant personal data. Eve was not Adam's first spouse, it said, but was preceded by Lilith. And when Eve ousted her, she was determined to wreak vengeance by seeking the death of Eve's children and all those who (throughout the ages) would descend from them.
Odd to relate, and little realized is the fact that after having told of Eve's expulsion from Paradise (in consequence of her and Adam having eaten of the forbidden fruit), the \JBible\j remains silent about her fate. Nothing more is recorded in Scripture about what else she did or what became of her. And Eve had no further influence over Adam or on (any) man. But this was not the case with Lilith: she survived in the minds of people and became a power greatly feared throughout the world.
The early chapters of Genesis, which tell the story of \JAdam and Eve\j, make no mention of Lilith at all. In fact, her name appears only once in the entire \JBible\j. The passage - in the \Jprophet\j Isaiah (34,14) - tells how (together with beasts of prey and spirits) she would take her place in laying waste the land on the day of doom. The same verse has also been interpreted to mean that Lilith would dwell in the devastated palace of wicked Edom.
It is interesting to note that the later translations of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j do not give Lilith's actual name, which appears in the original. They substitute it by various and misleading aliases.
The Vulgate, the \JBible\j's (first) translation into Latin, called Lilith, Lamia, surprisingly introducing a Greek mythical character into \JHebrew\j tradition! According to Greek legend, Lamia was a beautiful Lybian queen who became Zeus' mistress. Zeus' wife Hera consequently was consumed with jealousy, and in her wrath she killed all but one of the children born out of the illicit union. Lamia, for her part, was anxious to take her revenge. But unable to do so on Hera herself, she was determined to destroy anyone's child wherever opportunity offered itself. After all, Zeus as chief god, would sadly feel the loss of any and every child.
The English translations of the relevant passage do not refer at all to Lilith as an identifiable individual. The Authorized Version changes Lilith into "a \Jscreech owl\j." The later Revised Version makes her "a night-monster." Certainly, even in the minds of theologians Lilith rang her changes "nominally."
Though Lilith came to play an ever more important part in post-biblical Jewish tradition, she was not indigenously \JHebrew\j at all. She was merely an "adopted" woman, originating - like so many other early \JHebrew\j concepts and mythological figures - in ancient \JMesopotamia\j, where she had her autonomous place. Sumerian \Jdemonology\j believed in the existence of a winged female who strangled children and also appeared in storms of the desert. Even her name is not \JHebrew\j but Babylonian. Its frequent erroneous derivation from \JHebrew\j is easily explained by the fact that as the name of the nocturnal demon, Lilith sounded very much like the \JHebrew\j \Ilaylah\i for "night."
Lilith came to occupy a prominent place in the \Jfolklore\j of the Jews. This imagined that ever since her displacement by Eve, Lilith had become an inveterate adversary of all pregnant women and their progeny. To guard both, every precaution had to be taken - magically.
Being the first woman, Lilith, like Adam, had been created from the dust of the earth and not, like Eve, out of one of Adam's ribs. Therefore she had been his equal much more than Eve ever would be. She had first come to Adam in his sleep and made love to him in his dream. The children born subsequently had not been ordinary human beings - like Cain and Abel - but rather were demons and spirits who thus came to enter and populate the world!
But one day Adam and Lilith had been engaged in a heated argument about their equal rights - the first-ever fight for women's lib! Lilith objected to taking a subsidiary position. Greatly agitated by their first quarrel, she had uttered God's ineffable name. By doing so (equivalent to modern "swearing"), she had acquired \Jsupernatural\j power which gave her the ability to become airborne. And so she flew away from her husband far and fast.
Adam was greatly distressed, as he could not find her. He asked God's help to locate his missing spouse and bring her back. The Almighty in turn entrusted three of his angels (Snwy, Snsnwy, and Smnglf) with the search mission. With their angelic power and vision they succeeded in tracing and catching up with the run-away wife just as she was flying over the \JRed Sea\j. But she refused to listen to them or ever to rejoin Adam. In fact, she informed the divinely appointed messengers that should Adam ever marry another woman, she would do her utmost to kill any children resulting from such union. And if she could not do so on the first generation, she would transfer her vengeance to the descendants of those children, which meant all future generations. After all, these would still be the offspring of "that woman!"
The angels realized that such terrible threats demanded immediate action. They could not afford to lose time by reporting back to God to ask for further instructions, thereby giving Lilith a chance to get away on her nefarious future mission. Taking advantage of the predicament of her position just then above the sea, they tried to drown her. It was a clever move since Lilith, realizing the peril in which she found herself, was prepared to reconsider and modify her resolution.
To save her own life, she agreed on a compromise which, rather cunningly, involved the three angels. She promised never to enter a home which displayed their names. That is why amulets used by anxious parents in the East to this very day call on these angels' assistance in the protection of their home and children. The wording on the amulets recollects the assurance given to the angels by Lilith, back in Adam's day, flying high up in the air above the \JRed Sea\j.
With the passing of years, Lilith's power continued to grow in the minds of people. At first she was said to be dangerous to boys only up to the eighth day after birth when, by the act of \Jcircumcision\j, they were initiated into the Covenant Abraham made with God. Girls, on the other hand, were unprotected up to twenty days. But then the danger period was prolonged to forty days in the case of boys and sixty days for girls.
If an infant smiled or laughed during sleep, this was not thought to show happiness or to be the result of a pleasant dream; on the contrary, it was regarded as a sign of danger: Lilith was playing with the sleeping child and hence it was essential to wake it up at once and thereby save it from Lilith's clutches, for the monster was getting ready to smother the guileless infant.
In her evil pursuits, Lilith did not confine her nefarious activities to young mothers and their babes. From earliest days, she was known as well as the great seductress of men. Of ravishing beauty and endowed with glorious long black hair worn loose, she was said to have only one flaw that could give away her identity: she had claws instead of feet. This feature was rather appropriate to her constant endeavor (like a bird of prey) to pounce on men and not let go of them.
Clay tablets excavated in \JMesopotamia\j and stemming from ancient \JSumer\j and the year 2000 B.C. portrayed her figure in exactly that shape. And her image hardly ever changed through the millennia. In medieval \JFrance\j she was still recognized as "the queen with the bird's foot."
It was alleged that Lilith often appeared in disguise and, to attain her objective, impersonated both the highest and the lowest characters. To gain entrance to King Solomon, for example, she had transformed herself into one of the two prostitutes who had approached the king for judgment in the motherhood trial. On the other hand, the Queen of Sheba was not actually the royal personage she had pretended to be, but yet another of Lilith's protean impersonations. Lilith's wickedness had been so great that she was even regarded as a fitting counterpart to Satan, if not his wife.
Lilith has indeed been a fearsome creature who has left her mark throughout history. She did so not only on literature, \Jfolklore\j, and millennia-old artifacts, but also on the lives of young families throughout the world. Especially at that most vulnerable time of \Jpregnancy\j and childbirth, gullible women (and their families) have let themselves be haunted with fear. They took every precaution to keep this vindictive demon away from their kith and kin and out of their homes. Thus they would "fortify" the four walls of the room in which mother or child slept with specially written amulets. They placed magic "scripts" above the head and under the pillow of a woman in labor. These became known by the \JYiddish\j term \ITzetl,\i derived from the German \IZettel,\i meaning "a slip of paper," "a note," or "a written ticket."
Lilith became a renowned figure in the entire world of the occult and not just among Jews. Even Goethe recognized her significance in the occult realm. She appears in the \IWalpurgis Nacht\i scene of \IFaust,\i together with the warlocks and witches.
The English painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82) further developed the legend. In his poem \IEden Bower,\i he claimed that Lilith had actually been the serpent in Paradise. To wreak vengeance on Adam's "human wife," she had urged Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit and to conceive Cain - the brother and future murderer of Abel. In her jealousy, she wished no member of the human family ever to be happy. Thus she cursed the world by being instrumental in the birth of the first man to commit fratricide.
#
"Lily and the Lily of the Valley",1350,0,0,0
The lily is symbolic of purity. Its pristine whiteness speaks of a life that had been unsullied, virtuous, and chaste.
This \Jsymbolism\j of the flower was reinforced by a legend. It told how Eve, on her expulsion from Paradise, was remorseful of the role she had played in bringing sin into the world. Tears she then shed miraculously changed into a lily. Ever since, the flower was to remind man of the blessings to be gained by his resisting temptation and staying pure.
The Roman Catholic faith linked this flower - as it did the rose - with the \Jimmaculate conception\j by the Virgin Mary.
The lily of the valley, another flower portrayed on gravestones, in biblical times, and particularly in the Song of Songs (2, 1), was used to express loveliness. In the northern hemisphere, after the cold of winter, the lily of the valley is among the first flowers to break the ground. Like a messenger, it announced the imminent coming of spring, with life being renewed. This natural phenomenon gave the flower yet another symbolic meaning. It pointed to the advent of Christ and the rising of the dead out of their graves at the time of \Jresurrection\j.
#
"Limousine",1351,0,0,0
A limousine is now a long, smart and luxurious car. But its origin was very mundane. Indeed, a type of peasant dress was responsible for the naming of the vehicle.
Limousin is an historic district in the center of \JFrance\j and was, until the \JFrench Revolution\j, one of its provinces. Its inhabitants, but particularly the local shepherds, protected themselves against the vagaries of the weather by adopting a dress all of their own. A large hooded cloak, it almost completely enveloped them. It was so distinctive that people eventually identified it with the region. They called the coat after it - a limousin. The name soon spread far beyond.
When eighteenth-century carriage builders developed a new model of coach, reserved for the wealthy and pampered, they provided not only the passengers with a sheltered enclosure but by projecting the roof, equally protected the driver. Somehow it reminded people of the peaked hood so typical of Limousin and, in no time, they named the new model after it - a limousine. The name was retained, even when the horse-drawn coach was replaced by its motorized version.
Some doubt this derivation. They claim that it was not the roofed vehicle that first suggested its designation, but the driver who, by way of a uniform, used to wear a cloak reminiscent of the Limousin costume.
#
"Lincoln's Assassination",1352,0,0,0
Not unusual is the eerie experience for a lively conversation suddenly to stop, without any apparent reason. It has been claimed that this always happens at exactly twenty minutes after the hour. Americans believe that this coincides with the very minute Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theater, Washington, D.C. Like a ghost from the past, the ominous event thus continued to haunt man and halt his talk.
In memory of this fatal occasion as well, it was said, watchmakers using as their trade-sign the enlarged replica of a clockface, set its hands at twenty minutes after eight, the moment of the assassination.
History disproves this claim. Lincoln was not shot at 8.20 pm but at 10.10 pm, and he died only the following morning. The position of the clock hands had never been linked with his death. It was a practical choice to give maximum space for advertising. The hands formed a frame around the watchmaker's trademark.
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"Line One's Pockets",1353,0,0,0
The giving of bribes may take many forms and so does the description of the (mal)practice. An actual incident, it is said, explains the phrase "to line one's pockets."
London-born dandy Beau Brummel led Britain in elegance for almost twenty years. An intimate friend of the then Prince of Wales, the later King \JGeorge IV\j, he set the fashion. Obviously, his patronage and recommendation carried much weight. To obtain them, and with it countless new customers, a certain tailor used devious means. He presented Brummel with a coat, having cleverly lined its pockets with money. In acknowledgment of the "gift" Brummel sent the message that he very much approved of the coat, but particularly of the lining.
#
"Lingerie",1354,0,0,0
There was a time when any direct reference to objects and functions of a "private" nature embarrassed people. For this reason they chose to describe them by some refined term, a mere hint, a euphemism, or words borrowed from another language, especially the French, which gave them a stylish sound, untouched by any uncouth association.
Wearing apparel, particularly if it was worn next to the bare skin or, more so, covered the body's lower sexual region, became a frequent subject of circumlocution. To give it its "proper" name was hitting below the belt.
This is the origin of all lingerie. To call women's underwear by its real name, was out of the question. Instead, its French equivalent was used to serve as a welcome disguise, possessing additional elegance. All that "lingerie" means (in French) is "linen," derived from the Latin \Ilinum\i for "\Jflax\j." As the original nighties and undies were made of that material, the name fitted. Modern society has replaced the linen with cotton, silk, and synthetics. Nevertheless and erroneously, we continue to refer to a garment covering closely the female body by the vanished "linen," as lingerie.
#
"Literary Errors",1355,0,0,0
During the \JDark Ages\j, not only the ordinary man and woman, but those in highest office, could neither read or write. If their signature was needed, they made a simple cross. \JLiteracy\j was confined to members of certain clerical orders. Monks and priests thus were called upon to draw up legal documents and write personal letters. Eventually, ecclesiastics lost their unique status and to others were able to take their place, but the "clerical" past of scribes (and accountants) was never forgotten. It survives in the (slightly contracted) name of the clerk which still carries within it its religious root.
However conscientious and learned a person may be, he is bound to make a mistake here and there. No one is infallible and, at times, there is a human tendency to get things wrong. That is why authors proofread and even wordprocessors provide an ingenious correcting device.
In most cases, mistakes were recognized and duly rectified. Through the years it also happened that they slipped by unnoticed and, once made, were adopted and have become an integral part of a people's culture. Indeed, clerical errors that have been perpetuated, make up an impressive list.
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"Little Bird Told Me So",1356,0,0,0
Asked for the source of certain information, but being unwilling to reveal it, people have learned to give an evasive answer, without offending the enquirer. In the most friendly manner they say that "a little bird told me so."
Shakespeare and Swift made use of this figure of speech which actually paraphrases a biblical passage. There, however, it has an ominous meaning, reminiscent of the bugging of homes and police surveillance as practiced under totalitarian regimes. The Book of Ecclesiastes warned citizens to be cautious in discussing rulers or people of influence because of their wealth. It was dangerous to do so, even in the very privacy of the bedroom "for a bird of the air may carry the voice, and a winged messenger may repeat what has been said" (Eccl. 10.20). The choice of a bird as informer almost ominously anticipated modern spy satellites. Was it a mere coincidence that one of their prototypes was called "Early Bird?"
It must be remembered that from early days, occult power was attributed to the bird. Its ability to wing its way so mysteriously between heaven and earth suggested its role as a divine messenger.
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"Loaf of Bread",1357,0,0,0
Bread once was the "staff of life" and to "break" it a solemn occasion. That we still speak of "breaking bread" goes back to \JOld Testament\j times, when the unleavened bread eaten by the ancient Hebrews, because of its thinness and texture, could not be cut but had to be broken. Jesus did so at the Last Supper. The introduction of cutlery was a much later refinement, at the time frowned upon by people who much preferred to use the dexterous fingers God had given them.
To speak of a "loaf of bread" is a contradiction in terms. The original "bread" was merely a portion, a fragment, literally a "crumb." A left-over from the meal, the morsel was offered to hungry beggars calling at the door. "Broken bits of loaf" continued to be the meaning of any bread till the thirteenth century. To speak of "bread-crumbs" therefore is to say the same thing twice over!
\ILoaf,\i an old English term, denotes anything that was expected to "rise." A loaf of bread thus linked crumbs with the gaining of height, rather an odd phenomenon and certainly, an indigestible combination of words in the realm of language.
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"Lobster AmΘricaine",1358,0,0,0
That larger fish swallow the smaller ones applies to crustaceans as well, even on menus. Lobster AmΘricaine has nothing American in its distinguishing French sauce or garnish. It comes from Brittany in \JFrance\j, where a region known as Armorica was renowned for its succulent lobsters, which were soon called after it. Its name was too localized, it seemed and, mistaken, shed its Armorican shell to assume the American look.
Perhaps to save the genuineness of the American designation, an unsubstantiated tradition has it that because American tourists relished the lobster, it was called by their name. Maybe it was also part of business promotion, cleverly catering to American tastes and patriotism.
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"Loch Ard Cemetery",1359,0,0,0
Loch Ard Gorge near Port Campbell, is renowned for its cemetery and memorial. The gorge is called after the clipper which was shipwrecked on its cliffs, on the morning of Saturday 1 June 1878. There were only two survivors. Of the 52 lives lost, only four bodies were recovered.
One of the two rescued passengers was Eva William Carmichael. She lost her entire family in the wreck, two of whom were among the four bodies retrieved from the sea. In coffins hurriedly made from some of the timber washed up on the beach, they were buried in what is now the Loch Ard Cemetery.
Initially their grave was marked by a cross made of spars. Eva had this replaced by a large stone. The epitaph pays tribute not only to the loved ones buried there, but to the rest of her family, who perished in the disaster and whose bodies were swept out to sea:
\ISacred
to
the Memory of
MRS. EVORY CARMICHAEL
and
MISS RABY CARMICHAEL
Whose bodies lie beneath
Also in remembrance of
DR EVORY CARMICHAEL
MISSES MARGARET ANNIE
CARMICHAEL
MASTER EVORY THOMAS
CARMICHAEL\i
All of whom were lost in the calamitous wreck of the \ILoch Ard.\i
Eva, having been "most miraculously preserved," had erected the memorial "in Affectionate remembrance of their deceased Parents Brothers Sisters."
The biblical text that heads the inscription (not, as is usual, following it), quotes the words with which Abraham once challenged God, when he was about to destroy \JSodom and Gomorrah\j, with the possible deaths of many innocent victims: "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right."
Not far from the small cemetery, a more modern monument describes the tragic event. It was erected on the centenary of the wreck and lists all the names of those drowned, passengers, and members of the crew, the latter including the captain, boatswain, sailmaker, cook, lamp trimmer, carpenter, and two apprentices.
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"Lock, Stock, and Barrel",1360,0,0,0
Anyone acquainted with the component parts of a gun can appreciate the phrase that describes the completeness of anything as "lock, stock, and barrel." The lock is the mechanism that explodes the charge; the stock, the handle to which all parts are attached; and the barrel, of course, the tube through which the bullet is propelled.
Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish poet and novelist, is said to have popularized the phrase. He might well have picked it up from a joke current at the time that poked fun at the Highlanders. It said that a Highlander's gun to be effective required only "a lock, a stock, and a barrel." Possibly taking a fancy to the \Jmetaphor\j, Scott used it and, according to John Gibson Lockhart, his son-in-law, was thus responsible for its adoption into everyday speech.
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"Locket of Hair",1361,0,0,0
To give a lock of one's hair to a cherished person is a beautiful custom. But its real meaning is much more profound.
A locket of hair is now considered an ornament or, perhaps, a charm - a constant reminder of someone we love. Originally, however, it was worn or carried to dominate the donor.
The gift of a lock was an act of surrender. It was based on the ancient \Jsuperstition\j that the hair was the seat of one's vital spirit. Whoever had even a single strand of it was able to influence, even bewitch, the person who had grown it. Thus, if you bestowed a lock of your hair on a chosen person, you entrusted to him (or her) your very life. Certainly, nothing could surpass such testimony of love and trust.
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"Log Book",1362,0,0,0
Prior to the advent of modern aids, sailors ingeniously used a log and a rope to measure the distance their boat had covered and to determine the speed at which it had advanced.
The earliest printed description of this method is contained in a 1574 tract by William Bourne, entitled "A Regiment for the Sea." This tells how a wooden board - the log - was weighted down at one end, whilst the other end was attached to a rope. Thrown over the stern, the weighted end made the log stand up in the water perpendicularly, thereby being visible. As the ship sailed on, the logline was allowed to run out for a specified period of time. Believing that the log remained stationary at the very spot where it had been cast into the water, by measuring the length of rope the sailors ascertained how far the ship had traveled and were able to calculate at what speed. They noted the data thus obtained. Appropriately, the record kept was called after the piece of wood - the log book.
Nowadays, a log book lists everything appertaining to the day to day life of a ship, its crew and numerous other facts gathered by highly technical means. Nevertheless, its name has never been changed. Now totally outdated, it perpetuates the original piece of wood, as it were - petrified.
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"London Buses",1363,0,0,0
Passengers trying to get on a crowded double-decker bus in London, many a time are reminded by the conductor that there is room left "outside only!" With the vehicle being completely enclosed, his words make little sense and, in fact, are bound to confuse visitors from abroad. What the conductor really means to say is that because the inside of the bus is "full up," all further "fares" should go upstairs. His obsolete terminology stems from the days when the upper deck of London buses had no cover and its seats were in the open - "outside."
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"Loo",1364,0,0,0
Prior to modern sewerage and plumbing, people emptied their slops out of the window into the gutter below. Before doing so, they warned unsuspecting passers-by to "Watch out for the water!," in French, they said \Igardez l'eau,\i and the loo is all that remains of the (French) water slightly corrupted. This also explains the early building custom of having the upper storys of a house jutting out: it was to protect pedestrians from untoward showers.
Another explanation links the loo with man's constant endeavor to use a refined term for the lavatory, a name that itself owes its existence to this very quest, merely meaning a "washing" place. That is why people want to "powder their nose," "spend a penny," or "go to the bathroom." For the identical reason, at one time the W.C. (i.e. the water closet) was referred to very delicately as "the place" or in the then current French style, \Ile lieu.\i The loo was its British version.
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"Loophole",1365,0,0,0
People who try to circumvent the law without actually breaking it are always on the lookout for some subterfuge - a "loophole." For them it is a battle of wits and the term used for their subtle ploy is more appropriate than they could ever imagine. The loophole, originally, formed part of fortifications. It was a narrow slit in the walls, behind which archers took their stand. From there they could watch out for the approach of the enemy and were ready instantly to repel their attacks.
The opening was ingeniously constructed. Wider on the inside, it provided the archer with ample room to draw the bow. On the other hand, by becoming a mere slit on the outside, it gave extra protection against missiles fired by the foe.
Simple in itself, the loophole was a great advance in defensive warfare and is attributed to the Dutch. Loophole itself is derived from their language, from a root which spoke of someone "watching" or "looking slyly."
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"Losing a Ship for a Hap'worth of Tar",1366,0,0,0
"Losing a ship for a hap'worth of tar," refers to parsimonious people who by saving a little, short-sightedly lose a lot.
Apparently a nautical figure of speech, it is far removed from the sea. It did not speak of a ship at all but - with a rural accent - of a sheep! As a precaution against disease, sheep used to be tarred, an early custom recalled even in Shakespeare's works. To identify their property, sheep owners branded their animals with their initials, doing so with hot tar. To save the small cost, some niggardly farmers trusted luck and did nothing. Consequently, they lost their sheep through sickness or theft.
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"Lotteries and Religion",1367,0,0,0
Though nowadays lotteries belong to the realm of gambling, their beginnings are part of the history of religion and its early practices. The casting of lots then was not a game of chance, but a solemn rite.
Mentioned in the \JBible\j as a religious institution, lots were used to make decisions and determine doubtful questions, to allocate land to the various tribes, choose leaders and dates for special occasions.
Part of the \Jvestments\j of the \JHebrew\j high priest was the "breast-plate of judgment." This contained the mysterious \IUrim\i and \IThummim\i by which he ascertained God's will.
"Lots" (the \JHebrew\j \IPurim)\i is the name of a Jewish festival. It was so called because of the Jews' deliverance from a threatened organised \Jholocaust\j at the time of Xerxes, in which Haman, its plotter, had fixed the date of extermination by the casting of lots.
Jonah was picked by lot to be thrown into the sea. Early religious rituals divined the future by casting lots.
Druids used the same method in the selection of sacrificial offerings, while the Romans, during their feast of Saturnalia, drew lots for the winner to be awarded precious gifts.
Religious rites incorporating lucky or fatal draws, then, were the precursors of the modern lottery. The first of its kind was held in Florence, in 1530, with dice, straws or counters constituting the lots.
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"Lounge About",1368,0,0,0
"To lounge about" is to take things easily, just as a lounge, whether at home, in a hotel or a bar, is a place set aside in which people can relax. It is surprising and mystifying, then, to find that this word \Ilounging\i - applied to a state of inactivity and relaxation - comes from the name of a soldier - the Roman centurion Longinus. He is said to be the soldier referred to in the Gospel of St John (19.34) who had pierced with a spear the side of the crucified Christ.
Actually, the \JNew Testament\j never mentions any name. The soldier was identified as Longinus only much later, in the apocryphal Acts of Pilate. So called, he would always be associated with his heinous deed, because Longinus recalled the very lance \I(longche,\i in Greek), he had used to inflict the wound.
No longer aware of the real \Jetymology\j of his fancied name, later generations gave it a different meaning. It was derived, they said, from \Ilongus,\i (Latin for "long") because of his tall figure, and medieval Christian mystery plays always portrayed Longinus as of a tall build.
At one time the word "long" was also used to describe an indolent person, someone who enjoyed his leisure and was slow to carry out any task In conformity with his name, it was now further alleged that during the crucifixion, Longinus, unconcerned, had lazily leaned on his spear. Worse still, it was also said, that on this gruesome occasion, thinking only of his comfort, he had stretched out idly on - of all things - Christ's coat.
All that the expression "lounging about" now conjures up, thus derives from the erroneous interpretation and subsequent corruption of the name of the probably non-existent Longinus.
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"Love Apples or Tomatoes",1369,0,0,0
Just as love in tennis has no amorous connotation, signifying "zero," so love apples (an archaic alternate for tomatoes), however tempting their name, were grown in a totally different soil.
Originally, tomatoes were cultivated in South American lands. Introduced into \JSpain\j, they reached \JItaly\j from Morocco. Italians therefore called the new "fruit" \Ipomo dei Moro,\i "the apple of the Moors." (It must be remembered that in the \JMiddle Ages\j, Europeans used to apply the name of Moors to all Moslems.) The French, misunderstanding the Italian \Ipomo dei Moro,\i rendered it in their language \Ipomme d'amour\i - "love apple!"
Erroneously named, it became victim of yet another misconception. Often served with a main course, the \Jtomato\j was considered a vegetable, though botanically it is a fruit.
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"Love Your Neighbor",1370,0,0,0
One of the best-known and most frequently quoted commandments of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j (Lev.19:18) is generally mistranslated as, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Correctly rendered it should say, "You shall love your neighbor for he is as you are." There is a world of difference between the two. The faulty translation puts man's ego first. Condescendingly, it assures our fellow human being that "I love you as much as I love myself." Properly translated, the passage emphasizes the sameness of all men who, as equals, are entitled to each other's love.
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"Lower Case",1371,0,0,0
Even when using the most up-to-date, completely computerized printing press, small letters are still referred to as "lower case." A proofreader thus will write "l.c." in the margin of a galley, wherever a capital letter needs changing into its small equivalent.
The term belongs to the category of obsolete survivals. It stems from the period when all print was typeset by hand, for which purpose the individual letters were kept in containers. While the capitals were stored in the upper tray of a compositor's typecase, its bottom half, known as the lower case, contained all the small letters. Eventually, these became identified with it and, however inapplicable nowadays, are still known as such.
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"LSD's Creation",1372,0,0,0
Modern man embarked on his first psychedelic trip quite by chance! A mere fluke created LSD.
In 1943, a young Swiss scientist, Albert Hofmann, was investigating the effects of \Jergot\j on hemorrhage and the \Jnervous system\j. During the experiments, some of the substance got stuck to his fingers with which unintentionally he touched his lips. In no time, he experienced hallucinations and a sense of euphoria, which lasted for the rest of the day.
A trained scientist, he immediately set to work to find out the reason for the phenomenon which had come his way so unexpectedly and accidentally. It resulted in his discovery of the hallucinogenic potency of the drug.
Its common description (by initials) as LSD is rather an odd mixture and in itself confusing. Meant to represent Iysergic acid diethylamide, the central "s" makes no sense. How did it take the place of the "a" in acid? There is a simple explanation. It was not due to a mistake, but to an apparently strange choice on Hofmann's part. He spoke German and the German for acid is \Isauer.\i For some reason, best-known to him, he chose its initial in preference to that of the acid and thereby created the hybrid of LSD.
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"Lucifer's Origins",1373,0,0,0
Lucifer is the Latin for "light-bearer" - \Ilux-ferre\i - and thus from its very root a most deceptive sort of devil. In fact, he misappropriated a beautiful ancient description of the morning star. He sneaked into the world of religion and the occult when the Fathers of the Church took a powerful \Jmetaphor\j too literally.
To call the most evil force by such a beautiful name, however, had yet another, self-protecting, reason. Lucifer was used as a euphemism for Satan with the purpose not to offend or, by uttering his real name, to summon this most diabolic of creatures.
Actually, Lucifer recalled the famous passage of the \JHebrew\j \Jprophet\j Isaiah, originally applied to the Babylonian king who, like all tyrants after him, in his \Jmegalomania\j proudly boasted his invincibility. In powerfully dramatic language, Isaiah compared him to a power-drunk potentate who bragged that he would ascend to heaven to make himself equal to God. But, instead, he was plunged into the uttermost recesses of the pit, to be eaten by worms. In poetical grandeur, the \Jprophet\j likened his apparent invincible glory to that of Venus, the morning star. It could shine brightly for only a brief period, then quickly disappeared before the rising sun. "Take up this proverb against the King of \JBabylon\j, and say . . . How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Is. 14,12). The \Jprophet\j's imagery might have been inspired as well by a \Jmeteor\j streaking from the sky to vanish from sight.
Going back even further, it can be assumed that Isaiah, if not actually aware of, was influenced by an ancient Babylonian astral myth which reappeared later in a different form in Greek legend. This told of the expulsion of the morning star from its heavenly sphere as punishment for its insolence and overbearing pride. At the time, Babylonians saw the stars not as inanimate spatial bodies but as living celestial beings. In spite of their heavenly status, they were very much like men and were possessed by lust, envy, ambitions, and aspirations for power.
By its brilliance most of all, the morning star asserted that it was entitled and destined to take precedence over all others and to be given the loftiest seat among the star-gods. But the supreme power ruling the Babylonian pantheon resented its arrogant demand and hurled the star down from heaven into the dark abyss.
The Greeks, on the other hand, had Phaδthon. He was one of the sons of \JHelios\j, the sun god. For a long time, however, he had been kept ignorant of this fact. When learning who his father was, he had approached him at once, to ask some special favor which, after all, was due to him. \JHelios\j could not deny his paternity and granted his son's request. He did so rather generously by leaving the choice of gift to Phaδthon himself.
Phaδthon had asked permission to guide his father's chariot across the skies - for just one day. As promised in advance, his wish was granted. However, he proved himself far too inexperienced and weak to master the fiery horses which pulled the sun god's chariot. Boisterously enjoying their newly-gained freedom under so unskilled a driver, the horses (now completely out of control) threatened to set the world (and Olympus) on fire. To avoid such catastrophe, Zeus had immediately taken drastic steps, and with a thunderbolt, killed Phaδthon who blazing thus fell into the Eridanus river.
When the \JHebrew\j text of the \JBible\j was translated into Latin (the Vulgate), Isaiah's "morning star" was rendered "Lucifer, son of the morning." And the Authorized (English) Version adopted this translation. That is how Lucifer first saw the light of day, in mistaken identity taken not as a figure of speech - as it was originally intended - but as a figure cast out from heaven.
A passage in the Gospels then (mis)led St Jerome, to change the original epithet that described the pride and vain-glory of a Babylonian king, into a \Jsynonym\j for the devil.
St Luke (10,18) tells of seventy men who - after the twelve disciples - had in their turn gone out into the world to preach Jesus' message of the kingdom of God. On their return to the master, they informed him with great joy that with his name they had been able to subdue not only humans but the demons.
Jesus, in reply, then is said to have stated that he himself had watched Satan falling out of the sky "like \Jlightning\j." And it was this juxtaposition of Satan and \Jlightning\j that prompted the Fathers of the Church (and among them most prominently, St Jerome) to identify this \Jlightning\j from heaven with Satan, the arch rebel, and thereby to complete the birth of Lucifer as one of Satan's identities.
The view that Satan indeed had "come down" (in every sense of the word) from his celestial abode, as punishment for his diabolical pride, predestined Lucifer for the new application. Lucifer thus came to stay and to haunt man, and to lead him into many types of confusion. The very vanity said to have been the cause of his downfall became so generally accepted that an English proverb (first documented in \IPolitical Poems\i published in 1394) could speak of men "as proud as Lucifer."
It is a matter of conjecture how Lucifer's name came to experience an odd kind of revival in modern times. He who was seen as the power of darkness was then used actually to light it up! Was it a temporary decline of his power in the minds of men, rebellion against the arch rebel, or a symbol of the new "enlightenment" that prompted the manufacturer of the newly invented phosphorous (friction) light in 1831 to market his novel match as Lucifer? He took from the devil a name that the devil himself had stolen from the morning star.
In this case of the phosphorous Lucifer match, etymologists have tried to rescue the situation by cutting out the devil altogether. The match, they say, received its name (as the true light-bringer) straight from the original morning star and in total disregard of Lucifer "in-between."
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"Lucky Break",1374,0,0,0
To speak of a lucky break, at first thought, is self-explanatory. A long period of bad fortune which seemed never to cease is suddenly "broken" by good news or long-delayed success. And yet the saying contains much more than the words suggest.
It recalls people's early fears when, haunted by \Jsuperstition\j, they felt threatened by countless malevolent forces ready to do them harm. But they also believed that those fiendish demons were allergic to noise. Any sudden sound would drive them away. For this reason, the threatened individual would pick up any small stick or branch within reach and break it. The noise this made would have the desired effect. Literally, it was a "lucky break."
Some modern customs or habits are based on this early practice and assumption. It might well be the original reason for people snapping their fingers, cracking their knuckles or breaking a match in two. They might do so nowadays to release some inner tension. Apprehending an attack by evil spirits, they were convinced that they could scare them off by the noise they were making.
The solemnization of a Jewish wedding concludes with the odd custom when the bridegroom breaks a glass by stamping on it. When hearing the sound, all those present call out "good luck," its \JHebrew\j rendering, \Imazal tov.\i
Psychologists know of many a case when people who experiencing good fortune or some newly gained happiness are afraid that it might not last, as envious forces will destroy it. To pay them off, they break some precious object!
Professor Sigmund Freud, who probed the recesses of the human mind, admitted that he himself was prone to such \Jsuperstition\j. He gave a personal example. About to launch a treatise on one of his revolutionary ideas, to ensure its success, (as a sacrificial gift, as it were), he broke a valuable crystal vase. Indeed, a lucky break is part of the psycho-\Jpathology\j of everyday life.
The phrase has also been associated with a game, and the world of entertainment. A pool player who succeeded in pocketing a ball on the first "break" was lucky and could well speak of a "lucky break."
Traveling circuses - once the main attraction in an existence which still lacked movies, radio, and \Jtelevision\j - very much depended on the weather. Rain, wind, and snow would keep audiences away and their tents (and coffers) empty.
In their slang, circus people experiencing such a debacle would remark that "it broke bad." Nothing would be more welcome to them than a lucky break.
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"Lucky Caul",1375,0,0,0
A caul is the membrane (the amniotic sac) that surrounds the \Jfoetus\j in the mother's womb and contains the fluid that acts as a buffer (or "shock-absorber") to shield the unborn child against hurt and injury. Shortly before birth this "skin pocket" bursts, to let out the fluid and make it possible for the child to be born. The membrane itself is expelled soon afterwards as part of the afterbirth.
Occasionally however, the caul (or a major part of it) clings to the child's head who thus is born with it. This is regarded as lucky and the "happy hood" was once highly treasured and prized. For anyone to be able to say that he was born with a caul on his head was synonymous to saying that he was particularly favored and that he certainly would never die by drowning.
The reason why the caul became such a powerful talisman is obvious. As together with the fluid in the womb it had once acted as protection to the \Jfoetus\j, it would go on doing so in life to the grown-up person. And that is why especially those going to sea "used it" as a charm against being shipwrecked and perishing in the water.
Thus the caul came to assume the role of a life-saver. In some parts of the world, it was thought to bestow \Jsecond sight\j on its owner or to make him immune from any attack by a sorcerer or other nefarious beings. The magic of the caul was not restricted to whoever was born with it. It could be transferred to others. Some people, but most of all sailors (always afraid of drowning) would pay as much as they possibly could afford to acquire it. To advertise a "caul for sale" used to be a not uncommon custom.
Certainly the rarity of being born with a caul gave it all the more \Jsupernatural\j significance. No wonder therefore that people believed that witches used cauls in their black magic; this made it all the more essential never to lose it.
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"Lucky Four-leafed Clover",1376,0,0,0
The origins of the belief that a four-leafed clover is lucky are lost in antiquity. Only a legend that offers an explanation survives. This relates that when \JAdam and Eve\j were expelled from Paradise, Eve took a four-leafed clover with her, which flourished in the Garden of Eden.
She wished to retain at least something that would remind her always of her happy existence in the now lost Paradise. That is how its presence in one's own garden came to be looked upon as an omen of good luck.
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"Lucky Horseshoe",1377,0,0,0
There are several explanations as to why horseshoes are thought to be lucky.
Best-known is the legend about St. Dunstan. He was noted for his skill in shoeing horses. One day, the Devil himself, in disguise, called on him "for repairs," presenting his single hoof. But St. Dunstan recognized the "evil one." He fastened him tightly to the wall and then set to work so roughly that the Devil roared for mercy. St. Dunstan, however, did not let him go until he had promised never to enter a home on which a horseshoe was fixed.
Much more likely is the theory which associates the horseshoe \Jsuperstition\j with an early and widely-held belief in witches. All over the world and until late in the \JMiddle Ages\j, men feared them and their nefarious work. It was commonly supposed that one was immune from their evil spells while in the open air, but that they could do harm in the home. It was believed that witches feared horses, for which reason they rode on a broomstick. It followed that a horseshoe at the door of the house would be a protection, as the mere sight of it would frighten away the witches.
The horseshoe has always been considered lucky. Its shape was that of the crescent moon, in which primitive man saw a sign of good fortune. It indicated fertility and the increase of all that was good.
The ancient Romans held that evil could be nailed, and the hammering of nails on the doors of their houses was a means of curing or diverting ill luck and disease.
The horseshoe cannot be hung just any way. It should be fixed with its points upward, lest the luck run out.
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"Lunacy",1378,0,0,0
Madness has been explained by the craziest ideas. Those thus afflicted were thought to be "possessed" by God which made men take their words as a divine message. On the other hand, it was surmised that people became insane because an evil spirit had entered their body. To heal them, it was necessary to exorcise the demon.
Most of all, however, it was seriously maintained that exposure to the moon resulted in madness. Therefore, it was described as "lunacy" (from the Latin \Iluna\i for "moon").
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"Lunar Reflections",1379,0,0,0
Man saw great variations in the appearances of the moon. Was it not almost inevitable to assume that its growth would magically ensure an identical waxing of synchronized action on earth, for instance? That, indeed is the origin of the \Jsuperstition\j still practised by some people when they jingle or turn over coins in their pocket at the moment they see the new moon. It was a sure means of multiplying their own fortune: as the moon grew ever fuller from its thin crescent, so one's own pocket of money would surely fill up likewise.
Conversely, it was inadvisable, if not potentially outright fatal, to commence any task of consequence, such as a construction, an expedition or a battle, during the period when the lunar body was waning.
Early Assyrian astrologers took note of any strange or "peculiar" features of the moon. The authorities were well advised to apply the astrologers' observations to the conduct of state affairs, particularly regarding war and peace. Thus careful watch was kept on the brightness and color of the moon, the shape of its "horns" and the chance appearance of any halo or ring. The ring, for instance, was interpreted as the omen of a forthcoming siege; any break in the circle foretold a happy escape.
No one should underestimate the powers of observation of so-called primitive man, which were so much keener than that of our minds which, in their sophistication, have become blunted to the wonders of earth and sky.
Man eventually recognized a definite link between the phases of the moon and the tides.
We continue to describe - somewhat unkindly - any person whose mind is unstable as a lunatic. This, of course, once again is based on the belief that his abnormal behavior is due to some disturbing influence of the lunar body. Doctors have actually observed that people who suffer from nervous ailments might show a worsening of their condition at the time of the full moon.
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"Ly-ee-Moon Victims in Green Cape Cemetery",1380,0,0,0
Very close to the lighthouse at Green Cape is a small, remote and unique cemetery. It was specially created for bodies recovered from the wreck of the \ILy-ee-Moon.\i
No gravestones of the traditional type mark the graves, but simple whitewashed flat rocks and crosses without individual inscriptions. They are not huddled together, as the victims must have been while desperately, for six hours, watching unsuccessful rescue efforts as their ship was breaking up, but are spaced out on the ground. A separate monument has been put up for all those resting in this cemetery:
\IThe graves in this enclosure are of those people who lost
their lives in the wreck of the S.S. LY-EE-MOON on 29th
May 1886.
The ship of 1.202 tons was sailing from Melbourne to Sydney
when it struck the reef off Green Cape. Of eighty-six
on board only fourteen survived.\i
Detailed reports exist as to the circumstances of the disaster. During the night the beautiful, slender steamship smashed, at almost full speed, into the rocky headland near the recently completed Green Cape Lighthouse, south of Twofold Bay. It was a terrifying end for this "\Jflying fish\j" (for which "Ly-ee-Moon\" is the Chinese word).
Some of the 72 victims died swiftly, whilst others did so only after having suffered a cold and cruel ordeal.
It took several days to recover the remains of about 30 bodies, 24 of whom were buried at Green Cape in graves dug by a local man from Eden about 300 metres to the north of the site of the disaster. The first committal took place at 9.30 on the morning of 3 June. A simple service was conducted by the Rev W. Poole, who was one of the 14 survivors.
The \ISydney Mail\i related how his words were "broken by strong emotions [and how] strong men wept, and the moan of the sea was the only \Jrequiem\j." The graves were laid out in three rows, running parallel to the cliff edge.
Relatives of those laid to rest at Green Cape intended to honor their memory by planting young Norfolk pine trees among the graves. However, their plan was not realized. Rough seas prevented the Eden fishing boat carrying the trees from reaching its destination. Instead, the crew landed them at a sheltered inlet and the memorial forest was planted there.
In later years, some of the trees' seeds were taken to Green Cape Cemetery in the hope that they would take root in its soil. They never did.
Several of the bodies from the \ILy-ee-Moon\i were buried in Sydney, in the churchyard of St Charles', Ryde. Among them were the remains of Flora Mackillop. She was the mother of Mary Mackillop, "Mother Mary of the Cross," the founder of the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. She had been on her way to Sydney to help her daughter run a fete to raise funds for a Providence Home the Sisters had opened for destitute women and children.
When the Ryde Cemetery had to give way to modern development, the Sisters of the Order worried that the grave of their Mother Mary's mother might be desecrated, and had her body removed and reinterred in the Northern Suburbs Cemetery. The inscription on the monument erected on her new gravesite reads:
\IIn loving remembrance of
FLORA H. MACKILLOP
Who whilst coming on a
Mission of charity
Was drowned through the
Wreck of the S.S. Ly-ee-Moon
On 30th May 1886
In the 70th year of her age
R.I.P.\i
Subsequently, Mother Mary visited Eden personally to thank all those who had been involved in the finding of and caring for her late mother's body. To recall their kindness and to show her appreciation, in 1891 she sent a group of her Sisters to establish a school in Eden - a living reminder of the \ILy-ee-Moon\i disaster.
#
"Lychgate",1381,0,0,0
A simple and rarely identified symbol crowning a headstone is a miniature model of a lychgate.
The lychgate is closely linked with early burial customs, especially in Britain, going back to the time when the ground surrounding the local church - the "churchyard" - served as the cemetery. Prior to the introduction of the hearse, friends used to carry the bier from the house of death to the churchyard. At times, this was a long and tiring walk.
On arrival, they entered the yard through a roofed gateway. Once inside it they halted, to place the bier on a table and await the arrival of the minister who was to conduct the service. It is this practice which explains the name of the lychgate. \ILych\i is derived from the Old English and Saxon word for a "body" or a "corpse," which also gave rise to the German word \ILeiche.\i
The gate was useful in other ways linked with the funeral. In inclement weather, it gave shelter to those who had come to pay their last respects. Benches, which remain a feature inside the gate, originally provided the pallbearers with an opportunity to take a much needed, short rest.
These early circumstances led people to identify the lychgate with death. It was like the portal through which the deceased had to pass from this world to the next, but it also became symbolic of the divine shelter under which he had now come to rest.
#
"Lynching",1382,0,0,0
At least four men named Lynch have been cited as the possible originator of the term describing mob-law. The word itself was first recorded only in 1817.
The Irish claim ownership of the original Lynch. His story was full of personal tragedy.
James Lynch Fitz-Stephen was the Mayor of \JGalway\j. About 1493, he sent his son to \JSpain\j to purchase a cargo of wine. But the young man lost his father's funds at gambling, bought the wine on credit and assured the merchant it would be paid for in due course. The Spaniard, anxious to see the debt paid and perhaps suspicious of the young man, sent his nephew with Lynch back to Ireland to collect the amount owing.
During the voyage, Lynch, to avoid discovery of his \Jfraud\j, killed the nephew and threw his body into the sea. Lynch's father soon discovered the crime. As Mayor, he had to sit in judgment over his son and he duly pronounced the death sentence.
Everyone was shocked by the great tragedy that had befallen a citizen so well respected and loved. No one was prepared to carry out the sentence, but old Lynch was determined to see justice done, even though it meant the death of his own son. He hanged him from a window in their home.
Courts of Justice are most assiduous to establish the true facts of a case. But when popular feeling runs not, the result can only be much confusion. This certainly applies to Lynch-law and the many attempts at explaining the origin of its name. Even the story of the Mayor of \JGalway\j has its two versions. The second tale, though still relating to the same year and the identical persons, differs in all other aspects.
According to this tradition, James Lynch Fitz-Stephen was anxious to improve trade relations between his own country and \JSpain\j. For this purpose he himself undertook the arduous journey to the then far-off country.
When he was ready to return home, he invited his host's son to sail with him to Ireland and stay as his guest. The invitation was accepted. In \JGalway\j, things went well and everyone seemed happy, till one day the Mayor's son became suspicious. He imagined (or perhaps it was not just fancy) that his father's guest was paying too much attention to his own sweetheart. Overcome with jealousy, he stabbed him.
The rest of the story - more or less - follows the pattern of the first. Lynch, as the head of the guard, seized the murderer and, as Mayor, passed sentence of death. But the \JGalway\j people wished to protect his son and a riotous mob tried to rescue him. However, Lynch forced his way through the crowd and when all others refused to execute the boy, himself hanged him. He then returned to his home and was never seen again.
Other claims to having originated the term Lynch-law belong to the American scene.
Charles Lynch (1736-96) was a Virginian planter and a Colonel in the army of General Greene. During the \JAmerican Revolution\j, he was concerned to keep order in the Staunton River district, where he lived. He and two of his friends combined to protect the region from marauders, though some have suggested that this protective union was against political opponents.
Taking the law into their hands, Lynch and his associates punished all those breaking the peace of the realm (or not sharing their views!) by creating their own, extralegal, court. They punished lawlessness (or political disagreement?) either by flogging the offender or expelling him from the district. However, so different from what Lynch-law came to mean in later years, no one was ever killed.
Eventually - in 1782 - Lynch himself was apprehended and accused before the Virginian Assembly, for his unlawful execution of justice. But wisely the judges indemnified him.
Other authorities attribute this type of unauthorized tribunal and its name not to Charles, but to his brother John Lynch, founder of Lynchburg in Virginia.
Early editions of \IWebster's Dictionary\i quote yet another American, James Lynch. He was a farmer at \JPiedmont\j in Virginia and highly respected. As the nearest court was a considerable distance away, neighbors elected him to try and pass sentence on accused persons at \JPiedmont\j.
Another tradition associates Lynch-law not with a person but a place. At Lynch Creek, in \JNorth Carolina\j, people set up their own tribunal to court-martial and execute the corpse of a Tory whom they had already hanged. They thus tried to legalize a death sentence posthumously.
Some authorities feel that neither a person nor a location, but an old English \Jdialect\j, was responsible for the Lynch-law. People in the North of England used the word \Ilinch,\i meaning "to beat" or "maltreat." Could it be that, in spite of all those many stories, our Lynch-law simply goes back to this word?
#
"Macabre",1383,0,0,0
The word \Imacabre\i recalls a gruesome episode in the history of religion, which two millennia ago almost spelled the end of \Jmonotheism\j, even before \JChristianity\j and \JIslam\j had come into existence.
\IMacabre\i is the slightly corrupted French rendering of the name of the \JMaccabees\j, those valiant Jewish fighters who, in the second pre-Christian century, stood up for religious freedom. At the time, Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes had conquered a great part of the \JMiddle East\j, making its population worship pagan idols. In pursuit of this aim, he called on the Jews to abandon their ancestral faith in the one spiritual God, who was the Father of all.
The practice of \JJudaism\j was outlawed and made a capital offense. To display their adherence to the new paganism, leading Jews were asked to eat pork publicly, something strictly forbidden by their faith. Once they had done so, it was reasoned, others would follow their example and all resistance would collapse. But steadfastly refusing to bend their knees to idols, the Jewish people, led by the family of the \JMaccabees\j, kept their faith - but they did so at a horrendous price. They preferred martyrdom to the betrayal of their sacred tradition.
The Book of the \JMaccabees\j, which is now part of the Apocrypha, gives detailed examples, of the horrors to which they were subjected: one such account fills an entire chapter (II Macc. 7). It tells how seven brothers and their mother were arrested. Taken to the public square, the officer in charge commanded them, in front of a crowd forced to watch, to eat pork. Each in turn defied the order and, one by one was tortured to death.
The record does not spare the readers' feelings and in horrifying detail describes the scalpings, mutilations and burnings inflicted on each victim. None of them, however, not even the youngest, would change his mind. They all died as witnesses to their faith.
The account deeply moved the faithful of all ages. It was felt that a dramatic representation of the horror and heroism of that event would present an awesome spectacle. The first of its type was staged in the fourteenth century, in the form of a "dance of death." It was to become a most popular attraction.
In fact, the idea of Death as a dance was not new, but had often been featured in morality plays, in which Death, in the form of a skeleton, called on his victims. At first resisting, and disputing his claims on them, each had ultimately submitted, and been led from the stage by Death.
The \JMaccabees\j' story gave a new slant to this subject. It fascinated the spectators, but its horrific and tragic aspects also haunted them. Appositely called "the \JMaccabees\j' Dance," the name became associated with anything morbid and horrifying. Eventually, detached from the dance, and transformed into \Imacabre,\i this became identified with anything grim and gruesome - the presence of the ancient \JMaccabees\j hardly any longer recognizable in the word.
Other suggestions about the derivation of the word, linking it with the Arabic for "cemetery" \I(magbarah)\i or the \JHebrew\j for "gravedigger" \I(m'kabber),\i are incorrect.
#
"Mad as a March Hare",1384,0,0,0
The month of March has one interesting, though rather confusing, association with the animal world. A well-known phrase describes some people as being "as mad as a March hare." The odd association has been given several interpretations.
Hares mated during this month and, while engaged in this pursuit, they appeared off balance. This interpretation, however, is probably the result of a misunderstanding. Initially the month of March was not mentioned at all in connection with hares. The original expression spoke of someone being as "mad as a \Imarsh\i hare."
Hares that lived in marshes had very little cover in which to hide when attacked. Their vain attempts to find shelter must have driven them to desperation and, as they ran frantically hither and thither, they appeared to have lost their minds. People therefore had every justification to speak of someone being "as mad as [such] a marsh hare."
#
"Mad Hatter",1385,0,0,0
Only in recent times have we learned to regard insanity as a sickness. For thousands of years the mentally sick were decried a people possessed by the Devil or harmfully affected by the rays of the moon, and therefore called lunatics.
To describe a person unbalanced in mind as being "as mad as a hatter" added insult to injury and slandered a respectable occupation. The two completely different explanations which exist for this unfortunate phrase reveal the wretched effect of ignorance.
The observation has nothing to do with hatters. It refers to atters, which is \JAnglo-Saxon\j for an \Jadder\j or viper. The word mad formerly was used in a quite different sense. It described something as harmful or poisonous. Hence, the phrase originally spoke of a person being "as venomous as an \Jadder\j."
The second version asserts that the words really meant what they said, and that the saying is the result of an early occupational hazard of those who, before the industrial revolution, made hats for a living.
Hats were then mostly manufactured from the fur of animals such as the beaver and \Jrabbit\j. Mercury, more commonly known as quicksilver, was used in the processing. Its harmful qualities were then not realized, and hatters, through frequent handling of the dangerous metal, slowly absorbed it into the system and poisoned their body. The first symptoms of sickness appeared as "the shakes." These were soon followed by mental aberrations.
Of course at the time no one even guessed the cause of the illness, and it was not to defame hatters, but merely to acknowledge an unfortunate phenomenon, that people began to compare anyone unbalanced in mind with hatters.
That is how the saying first entered English phraseology. It was popularized by William Thackeray and, most of all, Lewis Carroll, in their writings.
#
"Magazine",1386,0,0,0
That a magazine contains a great variety of articles is well justified by the very history of its name. Initially, this was the Arab description (makhzan) of a storehouse for grain and other \Jcereals\j. It was then applied to buildings storing arms and ammunition. Crusaders picked up the word and idea while in the Holy Land, and introduced them in Europe. To start with, as "magazine" it was exclusively employed for a place holding armaments. Its function was then expanded to become a warehouse for all kinds of goods. Its ultimate application in a literary sense - as a "storehouse of information" - goes back to 1731.
In that year the first periodical appeared, known as \IThe Gentleman's Magazine.\i It presented itself as "A monthly collection to treasure up, as in a magazine, the most remarkable pieces on the subjects abovemention'd." (It should be noted that the word "pieces" at the time was the designation of the arms kept in the military magazine.) The novel sense of name caught on, and magazines of all types became an institution in the world of publications.
#
"Magic Carpet",1387,0,0,0
The legend of the magic flying carpet belongs to the Orient and is found there in numerous miraculous tales.
In their simplest form, these tell of a carpet that to all appearances is quite ordinary. But once a man is sitting on it, his wish to be transported to any other place, no matter how distant, comes true.
The story became so famous and widespread because it is based on Mohammedan sacred legend and the Koran, the holy scripture of \JIslam\j. There the carpet belongs to King Solomon.
But it was not the carpet itself that was responsible for the unusual kind of transportation. This was due solely to Solomon's power over the forces of nature. The king commanded the wind to carry the carpet wherever he wished it to go.
According to \JMoslem\j tradition, this carpet was woven of green threads. It was so huge that it could carry all the king's forces. Like our modern \Jaircraft\j, the carpet was permitted to take off only when its load was rightly balanced. Solomon himself supervised the proper placing of cargo and men, grouping them around his throne, which always traveled in the center of the carpet. Men and women had to take their places on the king's right and the spirits on the left. To protect the company from the sun, he had birds fly in formation over the carpet, forming a canopy with their wings.
#
"Magic Codes and the Golem of Prague",1388,0,0,0
A great part of \IThe Book of Creation\i - one of the earliest and main works of Jewish Kabbalah - is devoted to the magic power of letters. It taught that these were not only elements of common speech and writing. If properly used and manipulated, they could have a \Jsupernatural\j effect and achieve miraculous feats. Just as nowadays those who know the right combination of numbers can open the door of a safe, so those in possession of the right combination of letters could unlock the doors of the occult and bring to life inanimate matter.
Most effective of all was the knowledge and application of God's secretly guarded names, of which there were many. The Kabbalist, initiated into the secret of the names, would write down the magic code. The moment he had placed it inside the man-like but soulless figure, it would quicken, and become his obedient servant. Endowed with superhuman strength but bereft of speech and individual reasoning, a Golem could be sent on any mission - if duly "programmed."
In the fifteenth century, the Golem became a favorite theme of legend, particularly so among German Jews; in the centuries that followed it became even more popular and spread far and wide. All the "cases" reported, whether apocryphal or real, can be divided into three categories.
First of all, there was the Golem who was said to have been created as man's mechanical tool and labor-saving device. He meticulously executed all the tasks allotted to him. He worked hard for six days every week but on the seventh, like any human, he was given his Sabbath rest. With the magic formula then removed, his source of energy was turned off.
The second type of Golem was designed with the opposite purpose in mind. When all other men hallowed the Sabbath by abstaining from work, he was to carry out essential duties, to keep the wheels turning. He was especially useful on cold winter nights in the Jewish homes when he lit the fires and lamps and heated the ovens to give light and heat and to warm up the food.
But a Golem was most needed in times of insecurity, when entire communities were threatened by extermination. The third kind of Golem then served as a secret gatherer of information and an automated defense weapon. He informed his owners of lurking dangers and struck down the foe with his enormous strength.
And yet this wonderful and fantastic magic anticipation of the modern robot and computerized, remote-controlled "missile," had its inbuilt danger. If unrestrained or out of control, it could wreak havoc of fearful dimensions. And this is exactly what is supposed to have happened in almost every case when occultists created such a Golem by magical power.
Most famous of all is the Golem of \JPrague\j. Though there is no historical evidence whatsoever, tradition attributes its creation to Judah Loew, the city's chief rabbi. This no doubt occurred because of his well-known preoccupation with the occult. A sixteenth-century world-renowned scholar, Rabbi Judah was a friend of the astronomer Tycho Brahe. In 1592 the rabbi had an audience with Emperor Rudolf II, and although no records exist as to the purpose of their meeting or the subject of their conversation, it is generally assumed that their common interest in \Jalchemy\j brought them together.
It is told that the Golem of \JPrague\j, like others of its kind elsewhere, conscientiously executed the community's menial duties under the rabbi's directions. But his chief purpose was to act as its guardian, as the Jews' very lives were in danger. On the eve of every Sabbath, so the legend goes, Rabbi Loew removed the magic formula. But one Friday he forgot to do so. And soon the Golem, totally uncontrolled, was roaming the streets.
The rabbi tried desperately to find him before he could do any damage or desecrate the Sabbath which was about to commence. Eventually, he caught up with the Golem at the entrance to the \Jsynagogue\j. The moment the rabbi took away the potent script, the Golem collapsed and disintegrated.
Visitors to \JPrague\j's most ancient \Jsynagogue\j are shown odd debris stored in its attic. And the guide explains that this was all that was left of the once famous Golem. Fact or fiction, the Golem became so well-known a figure that it served as a theme for modern orchestrations, ballads, operas, and films.
Though most of the Golem legends stem from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, their similarity to modern robots make them very up-to-date. This applies to both their artificially-produced enormous potential power and to their inbuilt threat to destroy the very people and society who (in their wisdom and genius) gave birth to them.
#
"Magic in Names",1389,0,0,0
The choice of a given name is mostly subject to fashion. Parents like to be "with it." Annual statistics record the most favored name during the year. Its selection might be influenced by the popularity of an actor and TV star, or be just a crazy idea created by the media.
People forget that by falling victim to this "system," they actually "date" their child for the future. For instance, all Shirleys called after Shirley Temple must be a certain age which willy nilly is public knowledge at a time when the bearer least wishes to be reminded of that fact.
Children may be named after a parent: either alive or dead. This depends on the tradition of the culture to which the person in question belongs. Among Christians, succeeding generations are often given the identical name, distinguished merely by a subsequent "senior" or "junior" or, following the example of kings, by numbering them, a custom often used in the United States.
Jewish people (who follow the Ashkenazic tradition), however, never call a child after a living parent, which would be tantamount to wishing for the death of the father or mother. This fact recalls a time when names were regarded not just as a means of identification and differentiation between one person and another, but rather were believed to be of great magical value.
The name was seen as an integral part of the individual who bore it. It determined his or her fate. Its choice, therefore, demanded utmost care and consideration. To know the name of a person would deliver him or her into one's power. For this reason, primitive races guarded as a precious secret their real, "first" name and added others to mislead those anxious to manipulate them. The second and fictitious name, of course, was not tied to their spirit and therefore could do no harm by being revealed. In some societies, the person concerned did not even know his real name, which his mother had only whispered into his ear at birth.
This also explains why, in early times, God's so-called "name" was kept secret. Among the Hebrews, for instance, the high priest alone was entitled to use it and then only on the most sacred day, \JYom Kippur\j. It was never written down but was transmitted orally from one priestly generation to another.
The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j tells how Moses, on meeting God, was anxious to know the divine name. He justified his request by explaining that when approaching the Israelites on God's behalf, they were likely to ask what the God who sent him was called. The answer God gave, as related in Scriptures (Ex. 3,14), has been subject to varied interpretations and originated the mysterious tetragrammaton - YHVH - the "four-letter" name.
Quite possibly, God evaded the issue and did not want to entrust even Moses with this vital information; he just called himself "I am that I am" (as the Authorized Version renders the \JHebrew\j). Should Moses be asked by his people, all he would have to say was that "I am" had sent him.
"Change of name" (not by deed-poll, but by magic) was a custom that reflected the belief in a name's occult power. The practice could actually change a person's fate. This ritual was still observed in recent times especially among Jewish people; when someone was dangerously ill and any hope of survival was very slim, as a last resort, the individual was given a new name. It was thought that by doing so, the person himself was changed, and thereby his or her destiny. A name was not merely a label but part of the individual's soul-essence.
It was also believed that such change of name was like the change of dress by people anxious to go into hiding. The angel of death was already on his way, to collect Mr X. And, of course, he only knew the name given to him on this death warrant. But if Mr X no longer existed, it was reasoned, death could not find him and was unable to execute (!) his mission. So the former Mr X, under his new alias, had been given a new lease of life. The change of name had acted as a magic life-saver.
Yet another significant custom concerning the magic of a name is linked with the belief in \Jreincarnation\j. It taught that at death the body died, but not its soul or spirit. This only "passed on" and would be reborn in some other creature or being. Possibly, this could even be a descendant of the very same person. And that is why, in some societies, a new-born child was given the name of a dead ancestor. It was not done just to honor his or her memory, as we now rationalize the practice. Rather it was assumed that by this act, the new human being was "ensouled" with the spirit of his dead forebear. Among Scottish Highlanders, who practised this custom, it was called (in \JGaelic\j) "raising the spirit."
To give a name, indeed, was not merely a poetic art. It could be a magic pursuit. A name was an omen. But it was also a powerful means to dominate people; therefore there was danger in being "introduced." Shakespeare with all his genius was not entirely right in his depreciation of the importance of a name by asserting that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." At least that is the belief of the occult.
#
"Magic Lantern",1390,0,0,0
A valuable contribution to the history of \Jcinematography\j was made by the German Jesuit Athanasius Kirchner (d. 1680). By using lenses, he greatly improved the magic lantern, thereby paving the way for the future development of a vast industry, at his time still totally undreamt of.
#
"Magic of Names",1391,0,0,0
A boy applying for a job as a gardener was asked his name. "Winston Churchill," he replied. "That's a very well-known name," the inquirer remarked. "So it ought to be," the boy said. "I've been delivering newspapers in this district for two years."
There can be magic in certain names. They open doors, and anyone called by them will not be forgotten. This is the case even if those who first endowed them with value or popularity are long dead or far away. Their charm or their shame survive, commanding respect, fear, or a smile.
#
"Magic Shield",1392,0,0,0
The magic circle has ruled the living and the dead, almost from the very moment that man caught sight of the sun. The circle, in fact, was an early replica of that bright solar body. And just as the sun vanquished the darkness, its representation here on earth in the form of the circle was thought to be most effective against all sinister forces which (by their very nature) shunned light.
The circle's shape increased its highly-charged, anti-demonic potency. Having neither beginning nor ending, it stood for eternity and infinity, the most powerful concepts that knew no limit. It symbolized perfection and constant renewal. It meant ultimate oneness in which there was no room for any other power.
It is no wonder that the earliest cultures made frequent use of this charmed image. They used it as a magic shield to protect themselves against all hostile and dangerous agencies. This explains the choice of such peculiar emblems as fish, serpents, or dragons biting their own tails. These formed (live) circular figures which endowed their owners with an animated, vital, and dynamic force with which to counteract evil.
No other shape excelled the circle in beauty and completion. It symbolized utter perfection, yet another attribute that evil forces would loathe and shun. This then made the circle the ideal barrier against attacks by the devil. He could not penetrate its magic line nor find in it any dent, curve, or nook he could secretly occupy to launch his nefarious work. This belief influenced some odd nineteenth-century \Jarchitecture\j in the English village of Veryan, in Cornwall. Five completely circular cottages there had their round shape specially chosen so that the devil could not find any corner in which to hide!
This background of the circle explains how it assumed its significant role in the charmed work of magicians and wizards. Its purpose was twofold. First of all, the ring's function was to act as an invisible, impenetrable barrier keeping out and at bay any forces that might interfere or try to defeat the magician's occult pursuit. But even more, the magic circle was meant to serve as a container of psychic power which gave extra, highly-concentrated strength to the magician. Isolated and protected inside the circle, he cast spells and engaged in other occult and mystic activities.
#
"Magical Multiplication Table",1393,0,0,0
If individual figures - like the 3, 7, and 13 - are distinguished by their intrinsic dynamic and magical value, it goes without saying that in the minds of the superstitious their multiplication (or their joining forces, as it were) must result in an even more awesome potency. And this is exactly what happened. It created the most diverse concepts and customs, some of which are still observed in some parts of the world and in our own lives most conscientiously!
The belief in a cat's nine lives, a royal salute, the coming of age at 21, and the belief in the periodic systematic destruction of civilization every 52 years all have their origin in this magic multiplication of sacred and mystic numbers.
#
"Magical Renewal of Life",1394,0,0,0
The ancient Mayan civilization was most "figure"-conscious which no doubt was the reason for its being one of the first in the world to introduce a symbol for zero. Counting for nothing, it could mean so much.
Mayas believed that certain numbers determined the very fate of man and the universe. These were 4, 7, and 13, which continued to play a significant part in the lives, the joys and fears of the Toltecs and \JAztecs\j who followed the Mayas. These figures were applied and embodied in their temples and pyramids, as can still be verified in their (excavated) monuments and constructions.
Thirteen steps from each of its four sides thus led up to a famous altar platform near \JMexico City\j. Four times the sacred thirteen added up to fifty-two steps, a number significantly identical with the number of the weeks in the year!
Indeed, the 52 became the \JAztecs\j' most sacred figure. It was of cosmic significance. Life, they believed, consisted of cycles of exactly that number of years. Consequently a fire was kept burning continuously for 52 years on the altar platform. Its flames, it was thought, ensured the survival of all living things, of nature, and the universe. In fact, these flames were imagined to nourish the sun.
But once the end of the fifty-second year had come, the fire was extinguished. An era had come to an end. And all through the country, people put out the fires in their homes as well and even broke all their vessels. It was one of the most dramatic moments of life.
And then everyone anxiously waited for a certain star to reach its zenith. Coinciding with that occurrence, the sacred fire was rekindled in a solemn ritual. Runners standing by, lit torches from its flames, which they carried to every part of the country, hastening along to bring the happy message of the rebirth of life.
The home fires, too, were now relit and new vessels were made to replace those that had been destroyed. Life had started all over again and the sun would shine on it - with its gifts of light, warmth, and fertility - until this cycle was complete, at the end of another four times thirteen years.
#
"Magnetic Island",1395,0,0,0
Magnetic Island, in Northern \JQueensland\j, \JAustralia\j, is renowned for its beauty. When James Cook discovered it (in 1770), he erroneously imagined that it affected the compass of his ship. Believing that this was due to magnetic ore buried in its hills, he called it Magnetic Island. His assumption was proved wrong, but the name has never been changed.
#
"Maiden",1396,0,0,0
To speak of a maiden nowadays sounds rather old-fashioned. An unmarried girl, she was innocent and "unspoiled." To speak of a "maiden over" in cricket therefore was a very appropriate choice of term for an "over" during which the batsmen have been unable to score any runs.
#
"Major",1397,0,0,0
Anything "major" is "more" than the ordinary. And that is exactly what, in the order of ranks, a major rightly claims to be. He is "more" than the sergeant. The title thus given him leaves no doubt as to his superior position.
Though spelled slightly differently, a mayor's message is the same. His title proclaims to all citizens and those serving under him that he, too, is "greater" than all others working for the city.
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"Make a Sacrifice",1398,0,0,0
People are often called upon to make some sacrifice. It may be for the good of their family, community or nation. The choice of words implies the surrendering of something of value, something we need and, by giving it up, will miss dearly. Thus we honor the war dead for making the "supreme sacrifice" - having offered their lives for their country and the ideals it represents.
But the concept of sacrifice is religious in origin - a reference to a ritual that was part of many faiths. Worshipers paid homage to their god, the \Jsupernatural\j power they worshiped, by denying themselves something precious. The offering could take a variety of forms, extending from vital water reserves and essential foods, to highly valued animals.
The very word, \Isacrifice,\i recalls its sacred character. Combining the Latin \Isacer\i and \Ifacere,\i it means "to make holy."
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"Make Bricks Without Straw",1399,0,0,0
Anyone who, in pursuit of accomplishing a task, is deprived of essential materials or tools, is said to be expected "to make bricks without straw."
A biblical phrase, it recalls one of the dramatic incidents preceding the Israelites' exodus from \JEgypt\j. Conscripted as slave laborers in the Pharaoh's monumental building project of new store cities, their specific task was to produce the bricks.
When Moses and Aaron, as the Israelites' spokesmen, called on the Pharaoh (assumed to have been \JRamses\j II), seeking for one day's leave to worship God at a site some distance away in the wilderness, their request was refused out of hand. Moreover, their impudence in asking, as slaves, for time off, was punished by a new order making their forced labor even harder. Until then, the straw necessary to bind the clay in the making of bricks had been supplied. Henceforth, the Israelites were expected "to make the bricks without straw" being given to them. This they now had to collect and prepare themselves in the fields. Disregarding the additional time needed for this arduous task, the Pharaoh expected them to deliver daily the same amount of bricks as before; only perfect specimens were included in the count.
Bricks excavated in \JEgypt\j and now in the British Museum, London, have stamped on them the name of Pharaoh \JRamses\j II, supporting the veracity of the biblical account!
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"Make No Bones",1400,0,0,0
Bones not only make good soup, they also have supplied the English language with many a picturesque phrase. Those who "make no bones about it" carry on an even older expression that spoke of "finding no bones" in the soup. Their enjoyment in downing a bowl of soup was not spoiled by the presence of bones, and those who bluntly and frankly voice their opinion "make no bones" either.
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"Making of a Witch",1401,0,0,0
Various considerations and circumstances caused a man or a woman to "turn" into a witch or to be regarded as one. Many "wise" men and women had dedicated their lives to what came to be termed in modern days "the old religion." (The theory that witchcraft was a survival of the ancient pagan cults was powerfully propounded by Professor Margaret A. Murray, Egyptologist, anthropologist, and renowned scholar of witchcraft.) The witches served the old fertility gods and practised their rites with no evil thought. They sought to aid man and not to harm him.
However, the fact that they did not accept and follow the established order condemned them outright. Unable or unwilling to give up their pursuit and to submit to the ruling authority, they began to practice their way of life clandestinely. This made it - and them - all the more mysterious and subject to suspicion. In turn, it gave them extra attraction for those who are always drawn to the occult and enjoy living dangerously, or at least provocatively.
On the other hand, the very power they came to exert over the lives of many, made them a rival to the Christian faith. They were accused of having chosen the devil as their master, and serving him, having sold him their immortal souls. In exchange he had given them magical power and all the goods of this world. If priests guided man to heaven, witches did so to hell. Pope Innocent VIII in a Papal Bull of 1484 denounced witchcraft as heresy.
Self-delusion was another factor that led certain people to imagine themselves to be witches. There is no doubt that without considering what such an assertion might cost them in suffering and even life, they were convinced that they belonged to that extraordinary group of people endowed with \Jsupernatural\j gifts. Self-deception can achieve miraculous things, even more so if it is linked with the desire for power over people.
There were also individuals who shammed witchcraft. They did so in order to be dreaded, to subjugate others, and to amass a fortune for themselves. The reputation of having occult power gave them a tremendous hold over the gullible who lived in fear or with unfulfilled, lustful desires.
Their field of activities was wide, and they found many victims ready for the plucking. The Church itself had made men believe in the existence of a realm beyond the senses, and those "sham" witches traded on that belief. Why should the \Jsupernatural\j be exclusively reserved for the priests? Thus witches were ready and only too willing (for the asking and for a substantial fee) to help people to master life and to gain control over the demonic forces, with which they allegedly had a special agreement.
Another opinion was that at some periods of dearth, poverty could create a witch, just as it could a prostitute. When penury forced people to go hungry, some women tried to sustain themselves by an odd type of occult \Jblackmail\j. Claiming to be witches, they threatened that unless they were freely provided with food, they would curse their neighbors, who would be forced to regret their lack of charity for the rest of their lives.
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"Male and Female",1402,0,0,0
Although the male and the female - as words - sound and look so much alike, one appearing almost the echo of the other, in their ultimate source they part company. One has nothing to do with the other. Each, independently and in its own way, expressed one of the natural and so different functions of the male and the female sex. The "male" - linguistically - is derived from a root that recalls the man's "begetting" a child, i.e. his act of insemination. The "female" on the other hand, from the Latin \Ifemella,\i refers to a mother's (role of) breastfeeding her baby. It speaks of the "milk-giver", "the one who suckles."
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"Malthus' Birth Control",1403,0,0,0
The Rev. Thomas R. Malthus is frequently quoted as an early fervent advocate of \Jbirth control\j. His name has been so closely identified with the practice that, at one time, contraception was described as Malthusianism. Nothing could have been more inappropriate.
Malthus was greatly concerned with the ever-growing discrepancy between population growth and food supply. A conservative churchman, he vehemently opposed artificial \Jbirth control\j, explicitly stating so in the 1816 edition of his classic, the \IEssay on the Principle of Population as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society.\i He refuted "any artificial and unnatural modes of checking population" as immoral. What however he did suggest was sexual restraint: postponement of marriage and, with it, of sexual relations, till later in life.
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"Man and Dog - Robert Hancock",1404,0,0,0
A life-sized statue of a man with a dog sitting at his feet serves as the monument for Robert Hancock, in the Anglican section of the Rookwood Cemetery. Dressed in the fashion of the 1850s, he is portrayed in a Napoleonic stance.
Notorious whilst alive, even in death Hancock attracts attention because of his memorial and the questions it raises. What is the explanation of the different dates given on the monument - 13 May 1844 on the statue and 26 February 1876 on its large pedestal? It is believed that the first refers to the completion of the effigy and the second to his death, 32 years later.
All records suggest that "Bob" Hancock must have been the "Mr Sin" of his day. The various hotels he owned were renowned as haunts of "larrikins of the lowest type, thieves, and outlaws; and the females . . . of the 'hay-bag' order."
Hancock's residence, built in the early 1840s near the present-day Central Railway Station, Sydney, became known as "Hancock's Tower." And it was a tower indeed, complete with battlements and (dummy) guns. To make his kitsch castle appear even more real, he had the figure of a knight in armor, guard each of its corners. In front of this fortress (another report has it, in its courtyard), Hancock had put up the very monument that, according to his wish, now adorns his grave.
Rumors had it that the real purpose of Hancock's odd residence was to serve as a prison for his wife! In fact, children were scared to pass the "tower" and, when doing so, looked up with frightened eyes, expecting any moment for the prisoner to appear at one of its upper windows.
People even suggested that Hancock was in league with the devil. He did not mind the many rumors, calumniation's, and insinuations; if anything, he relished them. No doubt his appearance and demeanor gave credence to them. Sinister in looks, he was cross-eyed (one-eyed, others said), and eccentric. Filthy in his habits, he was said to have an "equally dirty mind." And as for his associations with ladies, stories abounded.
Hancock died at the age of 73 at his "residence" in the Lady of the Lake Hotel, yet another of his properties, where he had moved four years earlier. Even his passing became the talk of the town. His housekeeper had his body laid out on the taproom table, with lit candles at either end. She then invited "all and sundry" to come to the hotel to drink to Hancock's well-being in the world beyond. More an orgy than a wake, the "celebration" was cut short only when Mr Dixon, the undertaker, arrived to collect the body.
Figures differ as to the size of the estate Hancock left. They vary from ú50,000 ($100,000) to ú100,000 ($200,000), excluding the value of his monumental statue.
Hancock's story did not end with his death; he had other surprises in store. At first, it was thought that he had died intestate. However, a will was soon located, which revealed that, of all people, Hancock had appointed as one of the executors, John Cecil Reid, the governor of the Darlinghurst Prison!
There was a reason for his odd choice. Reid, of Irish descent and a clergyman's son, had come to \JAustralia\j with the first contingent of London policemen. And chance so willed it that he was the "inspector on duty" for the very district in which Hancock's Tower was located. Inevitably, the two men came into contact, with "Bob" often seeking the "bobby's" advice. Obviously, Hancock trusted Reid to look after his affairs.
Hancock's will stipulated that, apart from the statue, all his properties were to be sold. Half of the proceeds were to go to a Mrs Hincksman, a former lover; a quarter of the money was to be handed over to George, her son, whose father Hancock was; and the rest was left to another old flame.
But a second will was discovered which, it was claimed, had been drawn up at a later date and therefore superseded all previous arrangements. It left some property to yet a third lady-love, and a legacy of ú2,000 ($4,000) to the Randwick Asylum. Hancock made this will it was asserted, in atonement for his sins. The Supreme Court, however, declared this will invalid and a \Jforgery\j; it was the work of the very solicitor's clerk who had "found" it. Tried, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years' hard labor.
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"Man and Dog Relationship",1405,0,0,0
The dog is man's oldest companion and friend. Beautiful legends seek to explain that it all started with the dog's own choice.
When God had created the world and all the beasts in it, He wished to crown His work with a masterpiece. So He made man, but He soon realized that he was far from perfect. Therefore, He caused a chasm to open up between man and all other creatures.
The dog, standing among his animal brethren, watched man across the ever widening gap. Taking pity on him, he jumped across the \Jcanyon\j on a sudden impulse, to become man's loyal companion, which he has remained ever since.
Another myth tells how the snake devoured \JAdam and Eve\j on the first night after their creation. When God made them all over again, the serpent swallowed up the second couple as well. So for the third time, God had to fashion man and woman. Determined to preserve their lives, He created the dog, to serve as their guardian. When, after the setting of the sun, the snake once again appeared, ready to devour \JAdam and Eve\j, the dog chased it away by barking. To protect man's life, the dog has never left his side, and that also is why, the legend claims, a dog howls whenever a man dies.
No one really knows the origin of the dog's domestication. It has been suggested that in earliest days wild dogs used to gather outside caves and wait for scraps to be thrown to them. Eventually, man took some of those uninvited guests "indoors." Another theory claims that, when hunting and roaming the countryside, man came across a litter of young dogs and ate most of its members. However, he felt pity for one of the puppies and took it home to rear it. That is how, one way or another, man befriended the dog and soon came to realize its usefulness to him.
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"Man and Mountain's History",1406,0,0,0
Sports are many and diverse. Attempts have been made at various times to classify them. Such groups of specific types differentiated, for instance, between conquest and contest sports, sports pursued singly and in teams, spontaneous, and organized sports.
Roger Caillois in a study, \IThe Structure and Classification of Games,\i separated competitive sports from games of chance and pretence, and games "in which people have deliberately sought out the confusion that a slight giddiness provokes." He included in the latter class \Jmountaineering\j - a rather strange explanation of man's love of scaling heights.
At first, mountains were feared and looked upon with awe, if not superstitious dread. Their height, vastness, and remoteness made people shun them. The clouds that enveloped the summit, the mist that shrouded the foothills, the sound of howling wind and the crash of falling rock puzzled and frightened man who, in his imagination, peopled mountain peaks with divine and demonic powers. Typical was Lot's remark when, reluctant to leave the cities of the plain, he declared: "I cannot escape to the mountain lest evil overtake me and I die." (Genesis XIX:19)
Mountains were avoided as a stronghold of evil spirits or, as the summit was so close to the sky, as the seat of gods. The fear was universal and applied to the heights of Olympus, Fuji, Everest, and \JSinai\j. The mighty mountain ranges were regarded as a God-made barrier that man must not penetrate and as a defense against hostile forces.
In the \JBible\j there is a close association of mountains with the great moments of revelation, with the early history of the Hebrews, and with the life and death of Elijah and Christ.
Mountains were considered the realm of God, where men could commune with the divine. Their towering elevation could serve as a platform from which to view a country or look out towards the distant horizon. Moses ascended \JMount Sinai\j to receive on its summit all alone with God - the Ten Commandments. From Mount Nebo he was permitted to see the expanse of the Promised Land he himself could not enter. Solomon built the Temple on the lofty hill of Mount Zion. On Mount Carmel, Elijah proved the supremacy of monotheistic faith over the idol worship of \JBaal\j. And from the same mountain his servant saw the little cloud - "as small as a man's hand" - approach from the Mediterranean, heralding rain and thereby ending an almost catastrophic \Jdrought\j.
The \JNew Testament\j tells of the mountains of Temptation and \JTransfiguration\j, Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount," and his crucifixion on Mount \JCalvary\j.
The \JBible\j used the mountain as a symbol of everlastingness, of stability, of difficult and dangerous paths in life, and of insurmountable obstacles.
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"Man from Snowy River",1407,0,0,0
Several claims have been made as to who was the "Man from Snowy River" whom "\JBanjo\j" Paterson immortalized in his poem. If headstones tell the truth, he was Jack Riley. He is buried in the Corryong Cemetery and the inscription on his memorial unequivocally states:
\IIn Memory of
THE MAN FROM
SNOWY RIVER
JACK RILEY
buried here
16th July 1914\i
The monument, made of granite, is in the shape of a sawn-off tree trunk, and replicas of small logs outline the actual grave.
The inscription omits any mention of Riley's age at the time of his death, and for a valid reason - no one knew it. There is the suggestion that he reached four score years, though he is said to have admitted, just prior to his passing, that he was 87 years old. The poem itself has been quoted as an argument against Riley having been its prototype; Paterson must have had a much younger man in mind for the vivid description of his exploits:
\IHe sent the flint-stones flying, but the pony kept his feet,
He cleared the fallen timber in his stride,
And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat-
It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride.\i
On the other hand it is known that, whilst on a camping trip, "\JBanjo\j" visited Riley in his hut, high up in the Snowy Mountains. In fact, he spent an entire evening with him, listening to the stories of his life in the rugged bush. That not long afterwards the \IBulletin\i published the poet's \Jballad\j could not have been a mere coincidence.
Jack Riley was born in the Irish county of Mayo, and migrated to \JAustralia\j as a very young man. He opened a small tailoring business, mainly to support his older, widowed sister. On her remarriage he abandoned his trade and, loving solitude, sought employment at Tom Groggin, about 75 kilometers from Corryong, high up in the Snowy Mountains. There he managed the \Jcattle\j station of J. Pierce. He loved rounding up brumbies, breaking them in and droving. And for almost 30 years, he followed this way of life.
In July 1914 news reached Corryong of Jack having been taken sick and being in need of help. A party of five \Jbushmen\j immediately set out into the mountains. They found him seriously ill in his hut. Realizing that Jack had to be hospitalized, they decided to carry him back to Corryong, not an easy task.
The terrain was so uneven and precipitous that frequently they had to lift him from the stretcher they had improvized onto the saddle of a pony, and hold him there - by then Jack had become semi-conscious.
When the sun was setting, they had reached Surveyor's Creek. As it was a bitterly cold winter's night, they sought shelter in a hut, lighting a fire to make Jack more comfortable. But he never recovered. In front of the fire he passed away, it was later established, from heart failure.
In the words of the \ICorryong Courier\i of 23 July 1914, "The journey was over as far as old Jack was concerned. The game old heart had ceased to beat, and out there among the great silent trees, with the rain falling softly on the roof of the hut, his spirit went home to its long rest."
Next morning several parties of men, taking the task in turn, carried his body the final stretch to Corryong - no longer to the \Jhospital\j but to the cemetery, where, in the presence of some of his mates and a few friends, he was interred. A member of the \JCatholic Church\j read the burial service at the graveside. There was no close relative in the district.
Jack merits remembrance no matter whether he really was the man in \JBanjo\j's \Jballad\j. Possibly, there was no specific "Man from Snowy River." He might be a composite figure that Paterson created out of several individuals he had met.
One of the latest theories suggests that Paterson actually borrowed the figure of the celebrated hero of Australian \Jfolklore\j from a volume of stories and poems popular at the time, in which case the typical Australian bushman would have been an Aboriginal lad named Toby, renowned as a superb rider.
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"Man of Many Facets",1408,0,0,0
\BThomas Sutcliff Mort\b
At times, even concern for one's fellow man can prove fatal. Certainly, this was the indirect cause of Thomas Sutcliff Mort's death. When he attended the funeral of one of his employees, it started to pour with rain. Seeing the mourning widow becoming drenched, he lent her his umbrella.
Consequently, he himself became soaked to the skin. He caught a chill, which developed into \Jpneumonia\j, resulting in his death and the loss of a man of phenomenal gifts and history-making contributions. His life story is a saga.
Born on 23 December 1816 in the Lancashire town of Bolton, Mort came to \JAustralia\j at the age of 22. As a clerk with a large company, anxious to learn, he soon acquired a great fund of knowledge and commercial experience.
Within five years he was ready to start on his own. He immediately proved a success. Auctioning wool, at which others before him had tried their luck but had failed, he made a fortune. He had the Midas touch; almost anything he touched came to prosper.
He engaged in the mining of gold and copper and the exploitation of shale deposits for kerosene. Founding the Sydney Tramway and Railway Co., he built locomotives. He also cultivated sugar cane and cotton. Not least, at his property in Bodalla, he created the most up-to-date and extensive dairy and \Jcattle\j estate.
Surpassing all these achievements, however, was the dry dock Mort built at Balmain. At the time, it was the largest in the southern hemisphere. With its construction, he was responsible for yet another "first" in Australian history, in the field of labor relations; he offered a half share in the firm to his employees. He was convinced that participation in ownership would not only improve often volatile industrial relations, but act as an incentive to maximize production.
Once he had become a man of wealth, he gave generously to many causes. A loyal member and lay leader of the Anglican Church, he donated the land at Darling Point on which St Mark's Church was built, commissioning Edmund Blacket, \JAustralia\j's great architect, to design it. He provided finance, most liberally, for the building of both St Paul's College at Sydney University and St Andrew's Cathedral.
His own home at Darling Point was a showplace. Set in beautiful gardens, it was furnished with priceless antiques, including a cabinet once owned by Marie Antoinette.
He incorporated in his mansion a private art gallery, which he also had designed by Blacket. Like his garden, he opened it to the public, to let them share his enjoyment of nature and beauty.
Yet another and perhaps the greatest contribution Mort made to \JAustralia\j's life and future was his venture into refrigeration. He invested in it more than ú100,000 ($200,000), though personally it brought him hardly any gain. Community-minded, he looked upon it as a gift to the nation.
His dream went even further. He hoped to see refrigeration installed in ships as well, for the export of Australian frozen meat, a project only realized after his death. Nevertheless, he had the satisfaction of seeing refrigeration benefit the domestic market.
In 1875, Mort established the \JNew South Wales\j Fresh Food and Ice Company. Its multiple offshoots included slaughtering and freezing works (said to have been the first in the world), refrigerated railway vans for the transportation of meat and milk, and \Jcold storage\j depots. They all were revolutionary innovations.
Mort's gravesite in the cemetery of Bodalla - like all his endeavors - stands out because of its vastness. Covering an area of 100 square metres, it is surrounded by a large hedge. A slab of white marble with a lateral cross covers his grave. All its inscription says is:
\IIn memoriam
THOMAS SUTCLIFFE MORT
Who was taken to his rest
On the Ninth Day of May
Anno Domini 1878\i
There is no indication of Mort's having been the great entrepreneur, the innovator, the achiever, and the benefactor of \JAustralia\j. The omission followed his own instructions; in spite of all the wealth and splendor he had amassed and enjoyed whilst alive, he insisted that everything be kept simple at his death.
For many years previously he had advocated funeral reform, the rationalization of all burial and mourning customs. He wanted them to be kept to their very minimum for each and everyone.
The body was to be placed in the plainest of coffins. The wearing of black hatbands and the sending out of invitations to funerals, then the general custom, were to be abolished. Setting an example at the funeral of his first wife, he had removed the black plumes from the horses drawing the hearse.
To make sure that his own funeral followed such rules, he had pre-arranged it. In fact, at the news of his death, when notable citizens met to organize a public funeral for him, a letter of Mort's was read out, saying that, according to his instructions, he had been buried on the previous day.
The funeral had taken place privately and his body had been interred in a plot he had chosen. Within a year of his death, the first consignment of frozen meat left Sydney for London.
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"Man Who Gave Australians Vegemite",1409,0,0,0
\BCyril Percy Callister\b
Vegemite is an Australian institution. It is part of the people's diet from early childhood onward. Few, however, have heard of Cyril Percy Callister, to whom must go the credit for having created it.
Callister's grave is in the Box Hill Cemetery. The inscription on its headstone of red marble makes no mention of his achievements. All it says is:
\IIn Loving Memory of
CYRIL PERCY CALLISTER
Passed away 5th Oct. 1949\i
Its modesty and simplicity reflects Callister's lifestyle, which was humble and withdrawn. He was small of stature, yet had great presence. A brilliant food technologist, he had incredibly high personal standards with regard to both behavior and the quality of the product over which he exercised control.
Callister was born on 16 February 1893 in a small township near Beaufort, Victoria. An achiever early on in life, he won a major residential scholarship to Melbourne University.
On graduation, he joined Lewis & Whitty, a firm of food processors. Six months later, in 1915, the second year of World War I, he resigned to enlist in the Australian Imperial Forces. After a few months in the army, he was seconded to the Munitions Branch of the Department of Defence. He was to spend the rest of the war in Britain, where he was sent as an expert in the manufacture of explosives.
On his return to \JAustralia\j in 1919, Callister joined his old firm. Four years later, he accepted an appointment with Fred Walker's company. Walker was particularly interested in yeast extracts, until then totally unknown in \JAustralia\j, and he asked Callister to give his special attention to their development. His ultimate aim was to create a product similar to the English Marmite.
No doubt Walker had the idea, but Callister did the work. It was totally new territory in Australian food technology, and no information was available as to how Marmite was made or on the autolysis of yeast, on which the manufacture of yeast extracts depended. Callister had to start from scratch. In 1924 he introduced Vegemite to the Australian market, producing it from brewer's yeast.
His timing could not have been better. The importance of vitamins in the daily diet was just being realized, and Vegemite was a good source of Vitamin B.
The choice of Vegemite as its name was the result of a competition, a little-known fact substantiated by the directors' minute book, to which Dr K. T. H. Farrer had access, when writing an (as yet unpublished) history of the company. Dr Farrer, a protegΘ of Callister's and himself an outstanding scientist, had joined him in 1938. It was a happy collaboration, as his own work was directly related to Vegemite.
Farrer recalls how "Callister had the uncanny knack of going straight to the heart of the problem and anyone going to him with a report of their work or a proposal for future research had better [make sure that he] had a very clear and well thought out statement. Inevitably, he would put his finger on the weak spots and ask the 'good' question. Of inexhaustible energy, he would 'fly' round the factory turning up in the most unlikely places with pertinent questions or comments. Scrupulously fair, though demanding, he led from the front but always showed concern for his staff."
The extracting work and continuous strain took their toll. In 1939 Callister suffered his first heart attack, soon followed by others. Yet he carried on as if nothing had happened, developing and promoting his brainchild.
With Walker, he acquired the license for Kraft, branching out into cheesemaking and other sectors of food technology. When Walker's firm was taken over by Kraft, Callister became the firm's chief chemist and production superintendent. A fatal heart attack struck him down on 5 October 1949. He was then 56 years old.
Fred Walker had predeceased him by 15 years. He died suddenly on 31 July 1935 and is buried in the Kew Cemetery. If Callister's memorial fails to recognize his work, Walker fared even worse. The stone marking his grave toppled, making it hard even to identify where his remains rest.
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"Man's Dwelling",1410,0,0,0
\JArchitecture\j is the reflection of man, the spirit of his age, the preoccupations of his mind, his hopes and frustrations.
When Heinrich Heine, the great German poet, was asked how it was that people no longer were able to build the awe-inspiring cathedrals of medieval times, he replied: "Men in those days had convictions. We moderns have only opinions. And it requires something more than opinions to build a Gothic cathedral."
Buildings, like human beings, can be honest or deceptive. Some are mainly "facade," whilst others, almost to a frightening degree, are completely functional.
Though much of ancient \JEgypt\j's culture has been preserved, hardly any of its homes survived. This was not accidental; Egyptians built their dwellings of perishable material. All that mattered to them was life \Iafter\i death and thus the home of the dead was their chief concern. The Greeks laughed at the Egyptians' strangely constructed tombs, calling them "wheaten cakes," which gave us the word "pyramid"
South Africans used to build their banks in the style of the Greek temples. Many a modern church is shaped like a supermarket. On the other hand, the United Nations center in New York has been likened by critics to a king-sized tombstone.
It is told of the famous American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, that he used to sleep all night on the ground under a tree to get the feel of a client's property, before even starting his design. The story emphasizes that building a home means more than putting together bricks and mortar or glass and steel.
Churchill, on the occasion of the reconstruction of the \JHouse of Commons\j in l944, remarked that first "we shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape us."
\JArchitecture\j can be most confusing. It stresses the diversity of man; his frequent changes of mind, taste, and values. Americans have turned flats into apartments and lifts into elevators; they have heightened the traditional ground floor into their first floor.
The exploration of the foundations of everyday architectural terms is fascinating. \IResidence\i goes back, through French, to Latin. It is a place where we "sit back." Disappointingly, the noble-sounding \IMansion\i is most humble in origin. All it means is an abode "one lives in."
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"Man's Five Senses",1411,0,0,0
Since Aristotelian times, man's "five senses" of hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch were thought to provide him with a total perception of the external world. This is not so. Indeed, restricted to those five facilities, his world view would be very deficient, fragmentary, and inadequate.
Man has been endowed with many other senses and, though not having been conscious of them until comparatively recent times, has used them nevertheless. They include his sense of balance, temperature, time, and direction. Even these do not cover the whole range of human, sensory perception. No doubt, other senses have not yet been explored or identified. Therefore it would be far from "common sense" to continue to speak of man's "five senses."
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"Man's Less Rib",1412,0,0,0
Because the \JBible\j tells that God created Eve out of one of Adam's ribs, people actually believed that every man had one rib less than a woman. Anatomy is a comparatively modern science and, for thousands of years, the dissecting of a corpse was condemned as blasphemous. Therefore no one ever dared to check up on the accuracy of the claim.
Ever since Adam's loss, so a story goes, every man travels far and wide to find his missing rib. Some never succeed. They are confirmed bachelors. Others find "a" rib, but it is not theirs. Hence it does not fit and causes much pain and anguish. Those, however, who find "their" rib live happily ever after.
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"Man's Place in the World",1413,0,0,0
Discussing the biblical creation story, religious thinkers have asked why God created man last. They felt that it could not be because he was the crowning glory of all that had been made. So they suggested another reason. It was meant to warn man never to overestimate his importance. If ever he became too arrogant, a \Jflea\j could put him in his place by reminding him that "Even I was in this world before you!"
Animals have been man's companion from the very beginning, and he ought to know them well. Nonetheless, we maintain many wrong notions and, instead of being the animals' friends, have often looked down on them and maligned them without any reason.
Man has excused his own shortcomings by blaming the animal world, calling all that is despicable in him "beastly." Numerous are the unflattering epithets based on erroneous ideas of animal behavior. You "chicken out." Women are called "catty." You "make an ass of yourself," or are "as sick as a dog." Nonsensical verse is described as a "doggerel" and sly people portrayed as "foxy." A list of such defamatory language would include the "hare-brained," the "bully," and the "old cow." You may be as "fat as a pig," "as stubborn as a mule," and "as scared as a \Jrabbit\j."
Certainly, in describing human habits and traits there are also many laudatory references to the animal. Conspicuously, however, they are much fewer in number and, at times, inaccurate - not true to fact. To be "as wise as an owl," for example, may sound like a compliment till it is realized that the bird has very little intelligence!
It is truly amazing how the animal, for so long used and abused by man and often living in such close proximity to him, has been misunderstood. Many are the errors still current about it. How much do we really know even about our own pet? It made the French essayist Montaigne wonder, "whether the cat is not amusing herself with me more than I with her."
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"Man, the Horse, and History",1414,0,0,0
Philip - from the Greek \Iphil-hippos\i - means "horse-lover." All over the world and in every tongue man has cherished the horse.
The horse has been in existence for perhaps millions of years, but even this is still uncertain. Initially, its height did not exceed that of the fox, and amounted to less than a foot (30 cm). With the donkey and zebra, it shares the distinction of having a single hoof.
The horse was domesticated in prehistoric times and has served man ever since in diverse ways. At first of course he ate its flesh and used its hide to clothe himself. Eventually, to own this noble and precious creature was high ambition, though only Caligula (AD 37-41 Roman emperor) went as far as to appoint a horse a senator.
The dog alone can equal the horse as man's companion from earliest days.
The horse, it is thought, was even responsible for the invention of men's trousers. Asiatic riders realized that when they were clad in leggings, their movement was much less impeded than when they were wrapped in their traditional flowing garment.
The Asian steppes were the home of the horse. Here, nomadic tribes were the first to learn to ride it once it had been bred tall and strong enough. The vast expanse of \Jtundra\j and steppe greatly favored the art of horse-riding which was not possible in the more restricted and often mountainous regions elsewhere. The nomads took to the horse so completely that whole populations were trained almost to live on the back of the horse. In \JAsia Minor\j, archaeologists discovered Hittite cuneiform clay tablets from the fourteenth century BC with elaborate instructions for an entire course of horse training. The breeding of horses was practiced in Central Asia as early as the fifth pre-Christian millennium.
Assyrians and Babylonians were expert horsemen and made good use of the animal in hunting. A \Jstone carving\j from \JNimrod\j's palace at \JNineveh\j, now displayed in the British Museum, London, shows the king sitting secure on his galloping horse and, notwithstanding its tremendous speed, shooting an arrow at the prey. Mounted servants are seen following him, carrying a supply of spare arrows and his lance.
A most formidable factor in battle, the horse helped to win wars and, on several occasions, has changed the course of history. On horseback, mighty powers - the \JHittites\j, \JHuns\j, \JMongols\j, and the Spanish Conquistadores - swept across entire countries and conquered them. With the invention of the wheel, man learned to build chariots, and, tethering his horses to them, entered the fray of battle on this new war machine with disastrous effect to the foe.
The \JParthians\j were supreme in the mastery of the horse. From the galloping horse, in ruthless, highly mobile, and ever-renewed attacks, they were able to aim their arrows at the enemy with deadly accuracy.
From antiquity onward, horses served to maintain lines of communication over vast distances. In amazement, Herodotus wrote of the swiftness of Roman mounted messengers who at great speed linked the outposts of the empire. If anything, they were even surpassed by the \JMongols\j of Ghenghis Khan who, according to tradition, employed 300,000 horses, stationed at 10,000 posts. They were kept in constant readiness for couriers who, riding through day and night, could sleep and eat in the saddle. Bells attached to the horses announced their approach from afar, so that nothing should stop them (a practice anticipating by thousands of years that of our own ambulances and fire engines).
No wonder that such traditions in warfare, hunting, and communication caused man to produce ever better horses, both in speed and endurance, by selective breeding.
An animal which belonged so much to everyday existence must have induced people early on (soon after its domestication) to think of it also as a means of diversion. Watching two horses running side by side, no doubt, gave them the first idea of a race. This they took up eagerly, impelled by an innate desire to prove supremacy. To out-distance each other on horseback became an early pastime of man, and racing contests with horses date back to prehistoric times.
However, it has also been suggested that first races were run as part of a sacred fertility rite.
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"Mantelpiece",1415,0,0,0
The mantelpiece preserves in its name its original function. To begin with, a mere wooden ledge with pegs, it was fixed above the fireplace to serve for the drying of wet clothes. Obviously, those coming in out of the rain would hang up on the peg their soaking mantles which explains not only how the mantelpiece came into existence but why it was so called.
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"Manuscripts and Subscripts",1416,0,0,0
A "manuscript" literally refers to a text "written by hand." It applied to early documents and was in the form in which authors used to submit their books for publication. Typed manuscripts thus are a contradiction in terms.
A "subscription" (for membership or a magazine) likewise is outdated and goes back to the time when the contributor used to "write" (script) his name "under" (sub) the contract. Literally, he "sub-scribed."
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"Many a Mickle Makes a Muckle",1417,0,0,0
Although it is generally assumed that the (originally Scottish) proverb "many a mickle makes a muckle" expressed the obvious fact that many small things add up to much, in its present wording it does not say so. Both "mickle" and "muckle" mean "a lot." So worded, therefore, the sentence makes no sense, as all it would say is that "much is much." Correctly rendered the proverb said "many a little (or pickle) makes a mickle." This is yet another example how one misheard word can lead to much confusion.
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"Many a Slip 'Twixt the Cup and the Lip",1418,0,0,0
That there is "many a slip "twixt the cup and the lip" are well-known words, reminding people that nothing is ever certain till it is finalised. To rejoice in anything prematurely therefore is unwise. The axiom is based on a classical legend associated with the Greek Ankaios. Famous as a skilled navigator, after Tiphy's death he became helmsman of the \JArgos\j.
While in the process of planting a vineyard, he was approached by a slave who, solemnly addressing Ankaios, foretold that he would not live to drink of its wine. Soon after his sinister prophecy, a miracle occurred. The saplings just planted instantly produced grapes which immediately ripened. To prove the slave wrong in his ominous prediction, Ankaios lost no time in having some of the grapes taken to his home to press their juice into a cup.
However, at the very moment he was about to drink from it, with the soothsayer slave still present, a messenger arrived. He carried the bad news that a wild boar had destroyed the vineyard. Devastated, Ankaios forgot all about drinking the wine to rush off in pursuit of the animal. Though he caught up with the boar, he did not succeed in slaying it. Instead, it killed him.
Thus, Ankaios was never able to enjoy the wine. It proved the veracity of the observation that there is "many a slip "twixt the cup and the lip."
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"Many Happy Returns",1419,0,0,0
To wish anyone "many happy returns of the day" on the date of his or her birthday is a custom, which no one ever questions. Nevertheless, it makes no sense. Everyone one has only one birthday. As the word explicitly states, it is the day of his or her birth. All subsequent occasions are its anniversaries. What the congratulations should really express is the wish of "many happy returns of the anniversary of your birthday."
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"Marathon's History",1420,0,0,0
A marathon now generally refers to a contest of endurance, a task extending over some considerable distance or time, needing great stamina. The name recalls the site of one of the many battles fought between the Persians and the Greeks during the first half of the fifth pre-Christian century. The Persian forces were advancing victoriously towards the west, conquering one country after another. In 490 BC in the Plain of Marathon they were confronted by the Greek army which, under the command of Miltiades, counted just over 10,000 soldiers. It was outnumbered three times by the Persians.
In desperate need of more men, the general dispatched Pheidippides, the fastest runner among his soldiers, to Sparta, to ask for reinforcements. Pheidippides covered the vast distance (amounting to 240 kilometers (150 miles)) in two days. But it was an abortive mission. Assistance was refused. Religious reasons, he was told, made it impossible for members of the Spartan army to be dispatched prior to the next full moon - much too late to be of any help.
Undaunted, and without the aid of an ally, the Greeks thus joined in battle. In spite of their numerical disadvantage, they defeated the Persian army overwhelmingly. Once again, Pheidippides was sent off, this time to \JAthens\j (42 kilometers (26 miles) away) to announce the victory. His second "run," too, was essential. It was feared that the Persian fleet, still unbeaten, might attack the city. With the lack of communication, the men defending \JAthens\j might prematurely surrender if unaware of their countrymen's triumph at Marathon. Once aware, they would be all the more determined to resist any invasion, holding out till backed up by the returning victorious fighters.
No doubt already fatigued by his previous race to far-off Sparta and back, Pheidippides reached his destination totally exhausted. With his last breath he reported the victory. Gasping, "Rejoice - we conquered," he collapsed and died.
His run became historic. Now no longer part of military operations, it is re-enacted as a foot-race. As a significant sporting event, it was included in 1896 in the then revived \JOlympic Games\j. On the occasion, to the gratification of everyone, it was won by a Greek peasant.
Forgotten now are the martial circumstances of the first marathon and its tragic ending.
The race became standardized to extend over a distance of 42 kilometers (26 miles).
Marathon originally was the name of the \Jfennel\j plant. No doubt it grew abundantly on the battlefield and hence gave it its name. Of pungent smell and yellow color, it served as a favorite flavoring in Greek cooking. Roman \Jgladiators\j used it as an early additive to food, in the belief of its efficacy as a stimulant. Even the wreaths used to crown victorious \Jgladiators\j were made of the plant, the marathon.
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"March 1",1421,0,0,0
\BSt David's Day: Wearing the Leek\b
The first of March is the anniversary of the death of St David, the patron saint of Wales, in about A.D. 588. On this day, Welshmen all over the world honor his memory. Proudly, they wear leeks or, at times, daffodils. A wealth of traditions, based both on fact and fiction, embellish the story of his life and wondrous achievements.
Born of a noble family, David took up the priesthood. Soon he became renowned for his piety, missionary zeal and austere lifestyle. People came from far and wide to listen to his words and to ask for counsel and material help. Visiting many parts of Wales, he spread his message and established monasteries and churches at numerous places.
Legend tells that, whenever he preached, a snow-white dove sat on his shoulder. On one such occasion the crowd that had come to listen to him was so enormous that his voice could not be heard. Miraculously, the ground on which he stood rose ever higher, till eventually he was standing on top of a hill, where everyone could see and hear him!
David founded Menevia and became its first abbott-bishop. On his passing, it was called after him, St David's. Its cathedral treasures his bones, which were not discovered until 1866.
The association of the leek with the saint and its subsequent adoption as the Welsh national emblem has been variously explained. At the time, the Saxons were fighting the Welsh. In one of the decisive encounters, David advised his countrymen to wear leeks in their caps. Thus identified, they would be able to recognize each other, even in the heat of battle, and more easily pick out the enemy!
The Welsh achieved a resounding victory and were convinced that it was due in no small part to their following St David's suggestion. They therefore made the leek, which had ensured the survival of their nation, their cherished symbol.
Another tradition claims that the leek was a reminder of the saint's simple way of life. He had restricted his diet to water and wild leeks. No wonder that people referred to him as \IAquaticus,\i the "water drinker."
The simple fact that daffodils bloom around the time of St David's Day may account for the wearing of this flower. Its choice may have been influenced as well by its being popularly known as a "daffy." Daffy, a shortened form of Dafydd, was St David's Welsh nickname.
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"March 15",1422,0,0,0
\BThe Ides of March: An Ominous Day\b
\IIdes,\i a pre-Latin, Etruscan word, means "divided." As in the ancient Roman calendar the months were divided into halves, the Ides of March referred to the fifteenth day of this month. It was the very day on which, in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated.
Caesar had ignored previous forebodings and warnings of threats to his life. According to the writings of \JPlutarch\j he had also made light of an augur's admonition to be specially on his guard on the Ides of March. In fact, when on that day he was walking up the steps to the Senate house, Caesar encountered the seer, he almost tauntingly reminded him of his unfulfilled prediction - "The Ides of March have come," he defiantly challenged. Ominously, the augur responded that though, indeed, they had come, "they have not yet passed."
Soon afterwards, on entering the Senate, Caesar was stabbed to death.
Through Shakespeare's play, the portentous association of the day was perpetuated and so popularized that, ever since, "Beware the Ides of March" has been used worldwide as a warning of impending danger or calamity.
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"March 17",1423,0,0,0
\BSt Patrick's Day: "The Wearing of the Green"\b
Traditionally, 17 March is the date both of St Patrick's birth (in C. 385) and of his death (in C. 461). Though the patron saint of Ireland, he was not born on Irish soil. He was, most likely, of Scottish birth.
At the age of sixteen, he was captured by \JGaelic\j raiders. Taking him to Ireland, they sold him there as a slave. Whilst working as a shepherd, Patrick began to ponder about God and came to feel his presence ever more strongly.
After six years, he escaped to the Continent where, possibly in Gaul, he studied religion. He then had a dream. It urged him to go back to Ireland to convert its pagan population to \JChristianity\j. He heeded the "call" and in C. 435, this time as a bishop, he returned to embark on his mission.
This was not an easy task. The well-established Druids tried everything in their power to stop him. They even threatened his life, but they never succeeded in carrying out their threat.
Indomitable in his zeal, he managed to convert ever more pagans. He displayed his courage by challenging the High King of Tara. More than anything else, however, it was the miracles attributed to him that attracted the crowds.
The best known of these was his alleged banishment of all snakes from Irish soil. There are two versions of how he did this. It had become his habit on his visits to the various parts of the country to announce his presence by beating a huge brass drum. One day, he promised, he would use this drum to rid Ireland of all its venomous creatures.
At the appointed time, he climbed Croagh Patrick, the mountain now called after him, which is situated just outside the present Westport in the county of Mayo. During his ascent, he beat his drum with such force that it burst! This made many in the crowd that was following him start to lose faith, especially when they saw a huge \Jblack snake\j suddenly appear. As it glided down the hillside its body was shaking with what the people interpreted as laughter. But suddenly an angel, sent from heaven, appeared and patched up Patrick's drum. When, with renewed vigor, he resumed beating it, the snakes began to vanish. Not one of them remained - or ever returned.
According to the second tradition, Patrick ascended the holy mountain ringing a handbell. On reaching the summit, he threw the bell over the precipice and, as it fell, hundreds of serpents cascaded into the depths with it! Time and again angels retrieved the bell, and Patrick repeated the wondrous act till no snake was left! Patrick's bell is now displayed in the National Museum in Dublin along with the shrine in which it had been kept reverently for centuries.
It is asserted that St Patrick's miraculous feat permanently endowed Irish soil and timber with a potent anti-venomous quality. The story goes that as King's college, Cambridge, was built of Irish wood, no \Jspider\j ever comes near it. Irish soil was specially shipped to Sydney, \JAustralia\j, to be deposited around the newly built Vaucluse House to protect its grounds against the intrusion of snakes!
When teaching the Irish the principles of the Christian faith, St Patrick experienced great difficulty in explaining to them the meaning of the Trinity. Ingeniously, he then used nature as an illustration. Picking a shamrock, the plant that grows in profusion in Irish fields, he pointed to one of its distinctive features the way its triple leaf grew out of one stem. Had not God thus implanted the Trinity in the soil of their country? His message was well understood. The Irish not only adopted the dogma, but made the shamrock their own.
The shamrock's green color, indeed, gave the Emerald Isle its special \Jhue\j and name. The Irish wear the shamrock with pride, and particularly so on St Patrick's Day. The custom is known as "the wearing of the green."
St Patrick became one of the most beloved of saints, and every Irishman identifies himself by his nickname, "Paddy."
When he was about to die, the story goes, Patrick implored the people not to grieve overmuch for him. On the contrary, he urged them to celebrate his departure to celestial heights. As practical as in his use of the shamrock, he suggested that to alleviate their sorrow, Irishmen should take a small drop of "something."
In lasting obedience and reverence, the Irish continue to observe St Patrick's Day in the manner ordained by their saint. They do the rounds and, in convivial gatherings, "wet the shamrock." Some authorities trace Irish men's love of their whiskey to this practice.
Patrick has been given credit as well for the making of poteen, the strong, home-brewed drink distilled from potatoes. Even the name poteen, it was said, did not derive, as is generally thought, from the "little pot" in which it was made, but was a variation of St Patrick's name.
Many other customs commemorate the saint's birth and death. As, in the northern hemisphere, the date falls in March when the weather is often cold and windy, the celebration of St Patrick's Day includes the eating of hot Irish stew and the drinking of an abundance of Guinness beer, followed by strong Irish \Jcoffee\j.
Of the many parades held on St Patrick's Day in American cities, the largest and most renowned is the one in New York City, which proceeds along Fifth Avenue and passes St Patrick's Cathedral. Hundreds of thousands of people including numerous bands, join in it. Proud of the Irish ancestry of so many Americans, participants and onlookers alike display the shamrock.
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"March: the Month",1424,0,0,0
March, called after Mars, the Roman god of war, was originally the first month of the year. People have rightly wondered how any nation could begin the year by venerating a martial deity dedicated to death and destruction.
There were valid, but now forgotten, reasons. Initially, Mars was a Roman god of vegetation and fertility, and it was appropriate to worship him at the time of the renewal of nature. It would gain his goodwill and encourage him to fructify the soil and the \Jcattle\j, thereby keeping away \Jfamine\j for the entire year. It was for this reason, primarily, that March was named in his honor.
For strategic reasons, this god of fertility, endowed with life-giving power, later became a god of war, with all the slaughter it implied. Springtime was regarded as the most suitable season in which to embark on campaigns. To ensure victory, a god's help was needed - and that is how Mars' function was extended to the realm of war!
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"Marching Orders",1425,0,0,0
When troops were first taught to march in step it was not merely for reasons of discipline or to display their prowess. The purpose was to rouse their martial spirit and to boost the morale of soldiers suffering from fatigue.
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"Marching Orders - Left Foot First",1426,0,0,0
To start something on the right foot is not only an expression, but a custom once almost obsessively observed. To get out of bed "on the wrong side," and enter a home with the left foot first, augured misfortune. A notable exception is the marching of soldiers. They are trained to step out with their left foot first, and well known is the marching order "left, right, left, right!"
The shouted command "left, right" may roll off a sergeant major's tongue more easily and smoothly than "right, left." But there is another explanation for putting your left foot first, and it is based upon \Jsuperstition\j.
The majority of people are right-handed. Consequently, their left is their weaker side. Superstitiously, they believed that evil forces, out to do them harm, cleverly would attack them from the left. This "left" came to be identified with the devil, which explains why the Latin for "left" became the English word "sinister."
It is no wonder then that putting one's left foot first was seen as an indication of evil and of aggressive intentions. To enter a home thus showed hostility. One of the original functions of footmen which also explains their name was to guard the entrance of a home to watch visitor's feet and make sure that they would not enter with their "hostile" foot first. It followed that, in contrast, an army, trained to be aggressive, would start marching with their left feet first. Magically, it was imagined, this would increase their fighting prowess. Most of all, they would gain the assistance of all the dark and sinister forces of the occult world. A vivid illustration of this choice of foot in military action is an early \Jfrieze\j, excavated at the \JMausoleum\j in Bodrum, Turkey. It shows a soldier engaged in "hand to hand" (!) combat, kicking his enemy in the groin with his left foot!
This background may well be the primary (though now forgotten) reason for the martial tradition of giving priority to the left foot. Even if no occult power came to the soldier's assistance, the very practice would psych them up to be at their most aggressive.
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"Mardi Gras: Origin of the Name",1427,0,0,0
Mardi Gras is the French version of the \JCarnival\j and is another term for Shrove Tuesday. It means "Fat Tuesday." It is so called because of the French custom of parading a fat cow festively through the streets on this day. The fat animal was to serve as a live reminder of the lean time that was about to commence. Making up in advance for the deprivation to come, people used the occasion for unbounded revelry and frenzied frivolity.
From \JFrance\j the custom spread to \JNew Orleans\j, then still a French possession. There it grew to such dimensions that the \JNew Orleans\j \JMardi Gras\j gained world renown.
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"Mare's Nest",1428,0,0,0
A mare's nest points to a most disappointing experience. Believing to have made a significant discovery, it turns out to be an illusion and worthless. Horses do not build nests and therefore to find such is not possible.
A typical example of such an abstruse occasion is the story of a seventeenth-century English astronomer. Watching the skies through his \Jtelescope\j, he astonished the world by the sensational news that he had discovered an elephant on the moon. The announcement turned out to be completely unfounded. What he had really seen was a little mouse, which had found its way inside the \Jtelescope\j and had got stuck between the lenses. Greatly magnified, it had misled the star gazer to believe it to be a \Jpachyderm\j.
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"Marigold: Origin of the Name",1429,0,0,0
Many plants were grown not merely to add beauty to life but for their therapeutic qualities or the flavor they added to food. A typical example was a flower of brilliant yellow \Jhue\j, specially cultivated in monastery and convent gardens. Added to soups and stews, it improved their taste. Applied to wounds, it made them heal faster.
Because the flower blossomed at the time of the Feast of \JAnnunciation\j dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it was named in her honor and, in reference to its conspicuous color, became known as \IMary's gold,\i soon to be shortened almost beyond recognition to \Imarigold.\i
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"Marionette Origins",1430,0,0,0
The puppet or doll manipulated by strings from above the stage, known as a marionette, is called after the Virgin Mary. \IMarionette\i is the French diminutive of her name.
Now reserved for children's entertainment, for a long time the puppet theater was a popular adult attraction. It played a significant role in dramatising folk legends, especially those concerned with the fight against infidels, a very likely reason for the choice of Mary's name as that of the puppets.
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"Marks of Resting Places",1431,0,0,0
A gravestone is meant to mark the last resting place of a person. Yet throughout \JAustralia\j there are gravestones without any remains buried beneath. Any one of a variety of reasons may account for this.
The deceased's body might be interred at another site or have vanished altogether. Old cemeteries have been closed down to make room for modern constructions; rather than destroying the monuments, they were re-erected elsewhere, with the remains of the people they were meant to honor left behind in the old burial ground.
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"Marmalade",1432,0,0,0
In the \Jgenealogy\j of foods, Sir Loin has a close relation in Mary, Queen of Scots. What the fictitious knight did for sirloin, the Scottish queen matched for breakfast.
It all happened, so it is told, when Mary had taken ill. On her sickbed she refused all food and those in charge of the royal invalid were worried. To regain strength, Mary had to eat.
But how could they coax her to do so, as she lacked all appetite? How delighted therefore were they, when they discovered that the queen relished a certain jam, then a rarity and a delicacy. In their joy, they named it (after) "sick Mary" and did so in the French tongue they then used, speaking of \IMarie malade\i which gave the world its marmalade.
Of course, all this, though charming in itself, is fiction. Actually, there is no trace of "sickness" in the breakfast spread. What it really contains is another wrong notion.
Marmalade now is made of oranges, as every recipe book tells. But to begin with, marmalade was far removed from the orange tree. Its origin goes back to classical times and an unknown Greek gardener. Fond of experimentation, he grafted scions from an apple tree on the \Jquince\j. The result was a fruit so deliciously sweet, that he called it "honey-apple," \Imeli-melon\i in his Greek tongue.
Marmalade thus is truly a preserve. It continues to keep in its name this original Greek honey-apple out of which it used to be made. The name, if not the jam, then traveled a long way from \JGreece\j to reach England via \JPortugal\j \I(marmelada)\i and \JFrance\j \I(marmelade).\i It is no wonder that along the way, by its use on the various tongues, \Imeli,\i the Greek "honey" with its mellifluous "l" turned into the rasping "r" of marmalade. All this belongs to the forgotten past, though it still sticks to the jam.
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"Marriage at Sea",1433,0,0,0
A captain cannot marry a couple at sea. The notion is merely romantic fiction.
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"Marriage Certificate",1434,0,0,0
Originally the usual form of contracting a marriage was the simplest. The mere act of cohabitation made a man and a woman husband and wife. With the refinement of taste, the growth of moral consciousness and the development of a sense of social responsibility, this type of union came to be considered legally insufficient and shameful.
At first a woman counted for nothing. She was captured or purchased as a mere chattel and became her husband's property. The price widely differed, depending on supply and demand, on the girl's qualities (again assessed differently according to tribe), her age, and her family's status in the community.
Central Africa's Nandi tribes, for instance, considered six cows a fair price for a good wife, 14 years old. Most expensive among African Bantus was a girl who was already an unmarried mother, as she had proved that she was able to bear children.
The purchase-price led to the certificate. This is not mentioned in the \JBible\j. Its antiquity is shown by the discovery of a document of this type, possibly the earliest "marriage certificate" in existence. It was found among \JAramaic\j papyri, relics of a Jewish garrison stationed at Elephantine in \JEgypt\j in the 5th century B.C.
The Book of Tobit, which is part of the Apocrypha and was written in the 3rd century B.C., explicitly tells how on the marriage of his son Tobias to Sarah, the father-in-law "took a book and wrote an instrument and sealed it." Though what it contained is unknown and left to our imagination.
The certificate had become a regular document among Jewish people well before Christian days. Its text was influenced by pagan marriage contracts of similar nature, some of which, dating back to that early period, are still preserved. In them the husband agreed to give his wife all the food, clothes and amenities she needed, and the wife, on her part, pledged to conduct herself blamelessly.
The marriage certificate was officially introduced among the Hebrews in the 1st century of our era. Jewish religious law then stipulated that a marriage without the contract having been drawn up was not properly consummated.
This was not a mere formality or the result of ecclesiastical bureaucracy, but due to important considerations. These took into account that a woman was still without rights of her own and completely at the mercy of her husband, who could disown or dismiss her on the slightest pretext. To safeguard her for all evenualities and to give her a more secure status, the new kind of marriage certificate was demanded.
Its dual purpose was clear. First, it defined the husband's duties toward his spouse, giving a promise to honor her, work for her, maintain her and honestly provide her with everything necessary for her comfort. But as its most significant part, it provided for his wife, should he divorce or predecease her.
The terms laid down in the certificate made any husband think twice before sending away his spouse as, ridding himself of a companion he no longer desired, he also had to surrender a considerable part of his fortune! Likewise, the document guarded a widow against greedy heirs who might try to deprive her of sustenance.
The original marriage certificate was thus most realistic. Though presented at the couple's very pinnacle of happiness, it lacked all romance. At the moment of marriage, it was concerned with the possibilities of an untimely end to the relationship by death of the man or divorce.
Its text was rigid, following prototypes of \JRoman law\j. First of all, it had to detail date and place of marriage. If this was celebrated in a small village, it was essential to add the nearest town and any river on which it was situated.
The partners' names followed and, as at the time surnames were unknown, bride and groom were carefully identified. Next came the statement that the man had actually sued for the bride's hand and pronounced the traditional formula that she should "be consecrated unto him according to the Law of Moses and Israel" and that she, in turn, had accepted him.
Final clauses specified the dowry received and provisions in case of divorce or the husband's passing. They further guaranteed the bride maintenance, cohabitation, and burial!
The writing of the certificate was the groom's responsibility. It had to be read out publicly at the wedding. Two men, unrelated to each other or either of the partners, had to witness and duly sign it. No signature was required from bride or groom.
The wife was expected to keep the document in safe custody for future reference, should that unfortunate necessity arise. In case of loss, she could demand a new copy. She could still collect the moneys promised 25 years after her husband's death or divorce, even in the case of her own remarriage.
The Christian Church early adopted and adapted its text, adding an obligation on the wife to "love, cherish, and honor" her husband, who on his part had to do all that a free-born wife expected from a worthy husband.
Yet from the 6th century onward, its use among Christians lapsed, except in the case of marriages between persons of high rank. The Jews - always conservative in their habits - still, even after 2,000 years, use almost the identical form of the ancient marriage certificate.
As if to compensate for the legal and dry nature of the document, people began to ornament it. They added, apart from the portrait of bride and groom, all kinds of artistic creations, including nude figures representing \JAdam and Eve\j in Paradise.
#
"Marriages Made in Heaven",1435,0,0,0
A happily married couple will say that their marriage was "made in heaven."
This romantic claim is actually based on an ancient belief that, when a soul left its heavenly abode and was about to enter an individual's body, the Divine Master had already determined its future partner. For two "soul mates" to be joined in marriage was, therefore, not the result of a lucky chance. It was truly predestined.
Going back to Roman days, we find the record of a conversation between a matron and a theologian who were discussing God. The lady wanted to know what God had been doing ever since completing the work of creation. He had been arranging marriages, the wise man informed her. This answer did not satisfy the lady. There was no need for divine help to join couples, she argued, it was an easy job. Determined to prove her point she gathered her many slaves together and paired them off. Well, it did not take long for all those incompatible newlyweds to quarrel with each other! The noble lady had to agree after all that matchmaking was best left to God.
#
"Martin: Origin of the Name",1436,0,0,0
In the northern hemisphere, when, with the advent of winter, their insect diet becomes unavailable, swallows fly off in huge flocks to the sunny south. As the season of their migration coincides with the period around St Martin's day (11 November), people came to call the birds after this once popular figure, the patron saint of \JFrance\j. It explains why these swallows are known as \Imartins.\i
#
"Martini: Origin of the Name",1437,0,0,0
The Californian town of Martinez, north-east of Oakland, claims that the world's first martini was concocted there. Documents in possession of the Martinez Chamber of Commerce are said to state that a local bartender first mixed the drink in 1849. Using sauterne wine with a dash of orange bitters, he added a locally-grown olive. The slight change of spelling, the citizens of Martinez assert, was the result of people's fast speaking which made them pronounce their city's name rather carelessly.
Another tradition locates the birthplace of the martini on the road towards the city. It was the invention of Jerry Thomas, a \JCalifornia\j bartender famous for his cocktail recipe book, said to have been the first of its kind. He had mixed the drink to cheer a weary traveler who, on his way to Martinez, had stopped over at his roadside saloon. The man's delight with the novel cocktail prompted him to give it a special name, calling it after his destination!
A more convincing derivation links the martini with New York City. It was called after Signore Martini di Arma di Taggia, a well-known bartender of the Knickerbocker Hotel whose expertise in mixing drinks well deserved thus to be perpetuated.
The martini offers indeed a veritable cocktail of explanations. However, the most obvious is erroneous. This asserts that it was called after the famous firm of Martini & Rossi. Renowned for their vermouth, they had no connection with "the martini."
#
"Marzipan",1438,0,0,0
A confectionery similar to marzipan most likely was already known in Roman times as an offering to the gods. \JFolklore\j, however, gives the credit of its invention and naming to the German city of Luebeck. Its citizens claimed that the confectionery was first made - literally - within its walls and that, therefore, the credit should go to their town. The sweet confectionery, in fact, was the outcome of a bitter war.
During a prolonged siege, Luebeck's granaries were empty and food was getting scarce in the city. All that was left in its stores was an odd variety of goods: almonds, oil of roses, and sugar. It was obvious that unless some nourishing provision was quickly obtained, the population was bound to be starved into surrender. This prompted the city council to offer a reward to anyone who could find some way to combine the odd assortment of ingredients still available, and create some wholesome food which could sustain the people.
Ingeniously a baker was able to produce out of the leftovers the desired fare which - apart from being nutritious - proved a delicious confection! He distributed the first batch on the feast day of St Mark. In search of a name for his concoction, he appropriately called it after the saint, "the bread of St Mark," Marci Panis. Fused into one (word) it became marzipan!
#
"Mascot",1439,0,0,0
In all his sophistication, modern man continues to fear unknown forces that might threaten his safety and life. Without admitting it, he fortifies himself with special "guards," both in animate and in inanimate forms. They are referred to as mascots.
Mascots may "decorate" the hood of a car or be a special "pet" for a regiment. Their purpose, however, is not ornamental or the result of animal love. They are present and cared for in reality for the sake of protection of those they serve and by whom they are being looked after so assiduously.
There is a \Jstraight line\j from the (misinterpreted) "winged angel" on the Rolls Royce and from the \Jgoat\j led by soldiers on the parade ground to the fetish providing assurance and courage to the most primitive tribes. To trace the line from present to hoary past shows once again how, in spite of all technological progress, man has advanced but little in surmounting his fears and changing his mental attitudes.
It all started in prehistoric times, when masks played a significant role in society. Carved or painted, made of wood, bark, animal skin, or wicker work, masks have been used all over the world. They were produced in the weirdest and most striking forms for two purposes. From the very beginning they were meant to serve both as a camouflage and as a deterrent, considerations which are still a paramount concern of military experts of every nation who are determined to protect their forces and to frighten the foe. Air attacks are not a particularly modern feature. They were equally feared in ancient days. Then, however, an invisible, \Jsupernatural\j enemy was thought to be launching them.
The masks were donned to conceal the identity of the wearer lest evil spirits might recognize him. The grotesque mien of these masks was intended to frighten off any such demons that might otherwise inflict on him untold harm.
The sorcerers engaged by individual groups soon realized the important possibilities such a mask presented. So sorcerers too made use of the mask, as in their dangerous occupation, it protected them from the demonic agencies with which they had to deal. But also, of course, its bizarre features enhanced their status and increased their power psychologically among their own people, who came to view them with even greater awe. Eventually, the mask became their very badge of office.
The law of association has always been a potent force in the life of man. Something or someone linked to a person or action eventually takes over the very faculty which previously distinguished the subject or object to which it was attached. (A typical example is the story of the amulet.) And that is exactly what happened to the mask. Originally merely a protective screen, it gained independent value and was regarded as the very force that acted as a guard.
\ILa mascotte\i was an old French word for "the (little) mask." And by association, the sorcerer (who wore it as his tool of trade) came to be called after it. Even when witch doctors had become figures from the past, their designation survived in French (Provencal) \Jdialect\j to describe both the mask and its wearer - the witch or the sorcerer! This is the origin of the modern mascot that survives in the army, on automobiles or in the pockets and purses of men and women who treasure them as precious possessions which they think ensures luck but which, in reality, were originally seen to keep away misfortune.
The world-renowned and universal application of the mascot was due to one of the strange coincidences with which life abounds. Even enthusiastic music lovers and those learned in the history of song, hardly would know the name of Edmond Audran who died at the age of sixty-one, at the beginning of this century (in 1901). A church organist in the French city of Marseilles, he also composed comic operas! In the 1880s these were so popular that they had runs of more than 400 nights. How short-lived is fame!
And yet one of the comic operas he composed (in 1879) gained him immortality: if not in the world of music itself, in that of the occult. The central figure in the opera was a character whose extraordinary good fortune could not be due to mere chance or be the result of ordinary circumstances and the law of averages. It could only have been caused by some \Jsupernatural\j agent. And looking for an appropriate figure and name for the opera, Audran "picked" from the Provencal \Jdialect\j the "little sorceress" - the original mask: \ILa Mascotte.\i
It was the phenomenal success of the production and its catchy tunes that made a local slang word world-famous; thus the Anglicized "mascot" survives as the name for objects or living beings imagined to bring good luck.
#
"Mass Lemming Suicides",1440,0,0,0
Lemmings are renowned for their tendency at certain periods to commit mass suicide. As if obsessed with the urge to end their lives, in multitudes they then forge towards the ocean to plunge into the water and drown.
The account reveals a tragedy of errors both on the part of the mouselike rodent populating the northern \JArctic\j region, and men witnessing their "exodus."
Lemmings do not want to die. Like any other creatures, they prefer to live. But in so-called "lemming years," they reproduce in such vast numbers that their food supply proves insufficient. It is then that, in search of new pastures, they migrate in extraordinary numbers. Taking a straight route they swim through lakes and streams. When, eventually, they reach the sea, they do not recognize it as such. Mistaking it for yet another lake or river, they dive into it, swimming on to a point of no return. A tragic misjudgment in navigation and not a morbid death wish thus explains their fatal plunge.
#
"Master Honoring his Servant",1441,0,0,0
\BCharles Jacob\b
Inscriptions can tell much not merely by the way they are worded, but by the very size of their letters. This applies to a headstone erected by a master for his late servant in the Fremantle Historical Cemetery.
He had the memorial put up in his memory and in recognition of his loyalty. However, very noticeably, the text not only mentions the employer's (and donor's) name, but displays it in almost as large lettering as that of his servant:
\ISacred to the Memory
of
CHARLES JACOB
Who died June 17th 1869
Aged 79 Years
This stone is erected as a
token of his faithful
services for 29 years in the
family of the late
J. H. DUFFIELD.\i
Obviously, Mr Duffield passed away before the completion of the stone he had ordered.
#
"Masterpiece",1442,0,0,0
The description of a work of outstanding value, particularly in the field of art, as a masterpiece, goes back to English goldsmiths and their guild and their pursuit of perfection.
No one was admitted to their craft until he had proved that he could master it. To do so, an apprentice had to submit to the guild a piece of art he had completed without outside assistance. Appropriately it was referred to as his "masterpiece." Representatives of the guild carefully and critically examined it. If they agreed that it came up to the high standard set by them, the apprentice was invited to join. Taking the oath of loyalty, he became a fully qualified member of the craft, a "master of arts."
#
"MatinΘe",1443,0,0,0
One mistake leads to another and, on occasion, in totally different spheres. The confusion of hours left its mark in the world of art. An early afternoon performance is (wrongly) known as a MatinΘe, meaning "morning," called after the ancient goddess of dawn, Matuta.
It used to be the custom in medieval times for nobility to have some artistic entertainment precede their main meal on the day, eaten at "noon," which was then 3 pm. As this was then still morning, it was simply referred to by that time of day, in fashionable French as MatinΘe. When, with the change of clocks, the morning became afternoon, the MatinΘe retained its now obsolete name.
#
"Matzah",1444,0,0,0
This festival, which celebrates spring, lasts eight days (seven in Israel and in Progressive \JJudaism\j). During this time Jews abstain from any food that is leavened. The ordinary type of bread is replaced by unleavened bread, known as \IMatzah.\i Described as "the bread of affliction," it is a reminder of the suffering endured, not only by the Israelites of old, but by all people bereft of freedom.
The traditional explanation of its origin carries with it a special message - never to give up hope. Even in the most desperate situation, unexpected divine help might be imminent.
After centuries of \Jslavery\j, many of the Israelites never expected to be free again. \JRedemption\j then came so suddenly, and the people's departure was so hurried, that they had no time to prepare ordinary bread by adding yeast to the dough and then waiting for it to rise. So the people simply mixed flour and water, creating flat, thin wafers!
#
"Maundy Thursday: Origin of the Name",1445,0,0,0
\JMaundy Thursday\j is the day before \JGood Friday\j. Its name is derived from the "mandate" (now rendered maundy) or commandment Jesus then gave to his followers, to love one another.
That Thursday was the eve of the Jewish Passover and Jesus, joined by his twelve disciples, celebrated it by the traditional festive meal, remembered as his "Last Supper." Its \Jsymbolism\j survives both in the bread and wine of the Communion service and in the portrayal of Jesus as "the lamb of God."
At the meal, Jesus and his twelve disciples made up a company of thirteen, and people began to wonder whether this was the cause of his being crucified on the following day. The mere association of that number with his execution may have been largely responsible for thirteen's reputation as an unlucky number.
The Gospel report relates how at this supper, as an act of humility, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. This led to the custom - practiced for many centuries - of those in high positions washing the feet of a selected number of aged and poor. In the case of the English monarch, their number corresponded with the years of his (or her) age. As well as washing their feet, the king or queen presented them with much-needed gifts, such as clothing, food and money. Silver coins, specially minted for the occasion, became known as "Maundy money."
#
"May 1",1446,0,0,0
\BMay Day\b
May Day - the first day of May - is principally celebrated nowadays as Labor Day, a holiday for the workers. Originally, however, it was a spring festival. It was observed to promote the fertility of all growing things on which man's life depended. Its ritual included magic - and even the offering of human sacrifices. Bonfires, still lit in many places throughout Britain and Europe on May Day, are actually the remnants of "bone fires" - part of those ancient murderous practices.
The floral decorations and dances that characterize May Day are also relics of rituals that were performed, in order to force the pace of nature. The ancient \JCelts\j used to dance around a living tree in an attempt to arouse its spirit. Moreover, the \Jmaypole\j recalls primitive man's worship of the phallus as the source of reproduction.
Labor Day was proclaimed as late as 1889 at the International Workers' Congress which was organized by French socialists and was being held in Paris. It stipulated that the day should be set aside as a workers' festival in all countries. It became a worldwide tradition, marked by public meetings, parades and political speeches, and fostered primarily by trade unions and other representatives of working people.
#
"May: the Month",1447,0,0,0
May honours Maia, an ancient Roman goddess of spring. She was chosen to be remembered and worshiped at this time of the year, as she was linked in \Jmythology\j with the growth of nature. The linguistic roots of her name spoke of a mother, a nurse, and of universal increase.
An alternative explanation claims that political reasons were responsible for the designation of the month. Its name pays tribute to the Majores, who formed the original Senate of \JRome\j.
#
"Mayday",1448,0,0,0
To link an emergency or situation of distress with a day in May makes no sense. "Mayday" in fact, is merely the phonetic English spelling of the French cry for help, \I"M'aidez!,"\i "Help me!"
It is the voice-radio equivalent of the Morse S.O.S. Transmitted on a wavelength permanently reserved for it (2.182 kHz) and constantly monitored by shore stations, a Mayday message has a good chance to be picked up.
#
"Mayonnaise",1449,0,0,0
However well-prepared, mayonnaise lacks one ingredient - the proper spelling of its name. Opinions differ, as to what it ought to be. All agree that a clerical error covers up significant data.
Generally it is believed that mayonnaise was called after Port Mahon, the capital city of the island of \JMinorca\j in the western \JMediterranean Sea\j.
The British who had captured the island during the Spanish War of Succession, were finally driven out by the French (in 1756). To celebrate the victory and make Frenchmen recall it at (many of) their meals - with relish so it is said, mayonnaise was created!
This explanation seemed unsatisfactory. People felt that there had to be some additional reason for the choice of the special dressing. This gave rise to a story told about the Duc de Richelieu, who had led the victorious French forces. Always fond of food, he was ravenous after the battle, but he looked in vain for something to eat. The army kitchen had used up all rations. To satisfy their General, the cooks occupied the nearest home and in its kitchen tossed into a bowl whatever food they could find in the larder. The meal they then prepared surpassed anything Richelieu had ever tasted.
When the story eventually reached Paris, it became the talk of the town. A French chef hearing it, immediately spied his chance. Without losing a moment, he set about to contrive a new dressing, made up of ingredients that would delight a gourmet. Appealing to French patriotism, he named his new creamy sauce mahonnaise, in honor of the French victory at Port Mahon, hoping thereby to ensure its instant adoption.
A war monument in the form of a relish which has outlived many other memorials built of rock and stone, in itself is unique in the annals of history. Even odder would be the phenomenon that, in memory of a (long-forgotten) victory of one people, all nations, including the defeated British, continue to enjoy a dressing called after the site of battle.
The city of Bayonne (in south-west \JFrance\j) refused to accept the bellicose origin of the sauce. Already famous for its hams, woolens, and soaps, it sought the credit for the invention of mayonnaise as well. Its citizens therefore asserted that, correctly spelled, this should be known as bayonnaise!
Irishmen begged to differ. They registered their own claim, saying that mayonnaise had come from their country. It had been called after General MacMahon, one of their great soldiers, whose chef had concocted the dressing in his honor. Hence, it should rightly be called MacMahonnaise.
There are other explanations, all based on some misspelling. The name mayonnaise, it was claimed, was meant to make reference to the many egg yolks used in preparing it. Hence is should be described as \Imoyeunaise.\i
Antonin CarΩme, the French chef of the future King \JGeorge IV\j, suggested yet another \Jetymology\j. Mayonnaise was derived from the French for to "stir" \I(manier)\i as, certainly, the sauce would lack perfection unless properly "stirred."
#
"Mazda Globes",1450,0,0,0
Matches - like the "Lucifer" and the "Vesta" - quickly burn out. But another religiously named product was meant, as its name suggests, to bring light throughout the hours of darkness. Though first manufactured in the New World early this century, its name goes back to pre-Christian sixth-century \JIran\j. At the time, a new religion arose in that country, captured the imagination of thousands and, spreading ever further to the West, seemed about to conquer the world.
Its founder was \JZoroaster\j. He taught a metaphysical \Jdualism\j. Two gods ruled the universe. They were the powers of Light and Darkness or, ethically expressed, Good and Evil, or Truth and Falsehood.
Perpetually struggling with each other for supremacy, the conflict remained undecided. It was man's duty to help Light overcome Darkness, Goodness prevail over Evil. He could do so by the quality of his life, his goodness, generosity, justice and truthfulness.
The name of the god of light was \IAhura Mazda,\i Persian for "Lord of Wisdom." It was said of him that "his body is the light and the sovereign glory." He was worshiped as the creator of all the good stars, numbering 486,000. From the heights of heaven, they were to serve as an ever-present defense against the forces of evil which served \IAhriman,\i Ahura Mazda's antagonist. Just as light expelled darkness, so knowledge enlightened man's mind.
In spite of its tremendous appeal and dynamism and the strength of its temporary advance westward, \JZoroastrianism\j, confronted by the monotheistic faith of \JJudaism\j, lost its impetus. Its conquest of the world came to a halt, and, finally, it petered out. Today only a few adherents remain. Mostly living in India, near or in \JBombay\j, they are known as Parsees. \JZoroaster\j's teachings and scriptures, however, were not lost.
When - in 1910 - the General Electric Company was in search of a name with which to promote its electric globes, someone drew the directors' attention to Ahura Mazda, the ancient god of light: there could be no better choice than his incandescent name. A Persian deity of old was thus resurrected, to illuminate the world again in the form of a shining light bulb.
#
"Maεtre d",1451,0,0,0
Traditionally, many gastronomical terms are French, the language of a country renowned for its exquisite cuisine. Therefore it is only natural that the person supervising the menu of a restaurant is known as the maεtre d. Mysterious is the single letter in the title, but easily understood, when it is realized what it represents.
"D" was not the initial of the name of a famous cook. It is the mere shortening of the French d'h⌠tel. The maεtre d'h⌠tel is the "master of the hotel," the head of the establishment or, more humbly, the chief steward.
#
"Meaning of 'What the Dickens'",1452,0,0,0
There is no connection whatsoever between the exclamation "what the dickens!" and Charles Dickens. In fact, it was used centuries prior to the novelist's birth. It can be found in Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor" which he wrote in 1598.
The dickens referred to is no man at all but the devil. Afraid to mention his name, lest hearing it he might answer the "call," people camouflaged it beyond recognition. All the devil and dickens were left to share was the initial. And yet, everyone knew who was meant. It might even be possible that the devil is present in the "dickens" in a much more substantial form than at first appears. A "little devil" was nicknamed a "devilkin" of which dickens may have well been the residue.
#
"Meaning of Carnival",1453,0,0,0
\JCarnival\j bids "farewell" to the eating of "meat." Its Latin roots, \Ivale carnis,\i say so literally, though the English word reverses the order. Originally, and more prosaically, it refers to the actual "removing" \I(levare)\i of all "meat" \I(carnis)\i from the table.
In some parts of the world, particularly in the Rhineland of western \JGermany\j, it has developed into an occasion of organized merrymaking. Starting on the Thursday before Shrove Tuesday, it is celebrated over three days which, for good reason, have been called the "three mad days." People wear fancy dress or, at least, false noses. Masked balls are held and colorful processions, with superbly decorated floats and much pageantry, wind their way through the streets. Everyone is expected to let his or her hair down. Paradoxically, not to do so is regarded as foolish.
The meaning of \Jcarnival\j became so secularized that now, divorced from its religious origin and significance, the word is applied to many varied types of organized festivities.
#
"Meanings Behind Football",1454,0,0,0
The term "football" did not originally have its present meaning. What it was meant to convey at first was that the ball game was played "on foot" and not, like other games, such as polo, by men mounted on horses. The word "football" actually is of comparatively recent coinage. The first document in which it appears dates only from 1486 in England. Until then, the game was referred to as "a ball play" or "playing at ball."
Football belongs to the category of primitive fertility rites. The ball represented the sun. In many parts of the world representations of its shining disc were used in magic ceremonies to fructify the soil and all growing things. The discs were hung on trees and dug into the ground. People threw a round stone or some other type of globular body (replicas of the sun) to each other.
Tribes divided themselves into teams, and engaged in a contest that they believed would have cosmic consequences. Imitating the course of the sun, they played "ball" in the very direction in which the heavenly body was known to move, from east to west.
In some early instances of the game, the players dipped a ball into water (magically) to ensure rain. In general, "playing at ball" reflected primitive man's conviction that the success of his crops depended on the way he tossed the symbolic sun.
Obvious traces of this fertility rite survived for more than a thousand years. In Devon, England, peasants who had planted potatoes on \JGood Friday\j ceremoniously kicked a ball across the fields. This was the season when the sun was most needed. At Whitby, it was believed that a young man who failed in the football game on Shrove Tuesday would experience disaster at the next harvest. Indians in Oklahoma played a football game to celebrate the gathering in of their crop. On certain days Irish villagers carefully carried around a gold and a silver ball, symbolic of the sun and the moon.
In some cases, the goal was a tree, a symbol of growing things. To hit it with a ball meant the impregnation of all that grew with the source of warmth and life. Another custom required the player to sink the ball into a hole in the ground. This brought the "sun" into closest contact with the soil, ensuring a rich harvest.
There was an early division of players into opposing teams: either of bachelors versus married men, or virgins versus married women. They believed that the to-and-fro throwing between them of the symbol of fertility would bring virility and fruitfulness to those who needed it.
Another theory suggests that the modern football did not evolve out of a replica of the sun, but the head of an animal that had been sacrificed. Players of rival teams anxiously tried to get hold of it to bury it in their own ground and to promote growth of their crops. The game thus represented a vital combat, with the fertility of the winning team's field as the coveted prize.
Some authorities believe that not the Romans but the Normans introduced the game into the \JBritish Isles\j. Their opinion is supported by the fact that reliable references to football occur only after the \JNorman Conquest\j in 1066. The Normans are said to have developed the game from the rites of the Roman saturnalia, a feast much concerned with fertility.
The first extensive description of English football goes back to the London of 1175. It is a vivid account by William Fitzstephen of how, on Shrove Tuesday of that year, all the youth of the city spent part of the day \Jcockfighting\j "and in other boyish pursuits." After dinner, they went:
\Ito a local piece of ground and just outside the city for the famous game of ball. The students of every branch of study have their own ball and those who practice the different trades of the city have theirs too. The older men, the fathers and the men of property, come on horseback to watch the contests of their juniors, and in their own way share the sport of the young men; and these elders seem to have aroused in them a natural excitement, at seeing so much vigorous exercise and participating in the pleasure of unrestrained youth.\i
Obviously by that time the game had caught on and the centuries that followed saw its popularity increase among the masses. Even a carol linked it with the boy Jesus. It sang of how Our Savior asked leave of His Mother Mary. If He might go play at ball.
The earliest mention of the game in English literature belongs to the once widely popular \Jballad\j \IThe Jew's Daughter\i or \ISir Hugh of Lincoln\i (quoted by Thomas Percy in his \IReliques of Ancient English Poetry\i and possibly going back to the thirteenth century). This actually begins with a football game, during which the ball is kicked into the Jew's home. Typical are the stanzas found in one of the \Jballad\j's many versions:
\IHe toss'd the ball so high,
He toss'd the ball so low;
He toss'd the ball in the Jew's garden,
And the Jews were all below.
Oh! then out came the Jew's daughter,
She was dressed all in green:
'Come hither, come hither, my sweet pretty fellow,
And fetch your ball again.'\i
Soon authorities came to view the game as a nuisance and, as in the case of other sports, a danger to national security on the grounds that it interfered with the country's defense, in which efficiency with bows and arrows was most essential.
The only documentation of English football during this period is contained in many and repeated accusations and prohibitions:
\IEvery able-bodied man of the . . . city on feast days when he has leisure shall in his sports use bows and arrows or pellets and bolts, forbidding them under pain of imprisonment to meddle in football and other vain games of no value.\i
There were other grounds as well on which the authorities based their opposition to football. Games had become very rough, often ending in brawls.
Most of the people loved football. Everyone could take it up. It was simple and had no rules. All that was needed was a ball. It was the lack of a code that caused the game to degenerate often into a riotous, running battle. Not alone on Shrove Tuesday was it known as "mob football."
The entire length of the town became the field, with the goals at opposite ends. The number of players could well exceed 500. The game might last all day, and it was not out of order to kick an opponent's shins or to trip him. In fact, everything could be done to get and keep the ball. Small wonder that the result included innumerable broken windows and fractured legs and, at times, even deaths. No wonder that monarchs began strongly to condemn the sport on this count also. In 1314, King Edward II issued an edict forbidding football:
\IForasmuch as there is great noise in the city, caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils might arise which God forbid, we commend and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in future.\i
Another declaration referred to:
\IFooteballe, wherein is nothing but beastlie furie and exteme violence, wherefore it is to be put in perpetuall silence.\i
Yet it seems that occasionally not even clerics could resist the game. This apparently necessitated an order that "if any minister or \Jdeacon\j shall go into the feelde to play at football, he shall forthwith be banished from the universities."
Indeed, all efforts to obstruct or ban it permanently were of no avail though, inevitably, it suffered a decline. This went on till 1603 when, on the coronation of King James I, football was again publicly recognized and the people were even encouraged to take it up. By then, the main reason for its prohibition no longer applied: \Jarchery\j had become redundant with the introduction of \Jfirearms\j. Oliver Cromwell was a keen player and frequently mentioned the game in his letters.
Football evolved out of confusion into the modern disciplined game. The process was gradual and was not completed before the nineteenth century, when the game was popular everywhere.
#
"Meanings of Symbols",1455,0,0,0
A wealth of symbols can be found in cemeteries. Most of them are mistaken for mere ornamentation by artistic masons. However, each and every one originally had a specific meaning, a message it was meant to convey about the deceased, his way of life, his passing or his life after death. Figuratively, some also expressed deeply-felt emotions of love, affection, and loss.
A symbol can say much more than words can. Symbols displayed on or around headstones contain a storehouse of information. To explore and explain them can enable us to appreciate the lifestyle, character, and beliefs of our forebears. Like signposts to the Australian past, those symbols point to our ancestors' ethnic roots, their aspirations and hopes, the circumstances of their lives and times.
#
"Measurement of Time",1456,0,0,0
Much of modern society is possessed by the notion that "time is money." Punctuality is praised as a virtue and split-second timing has become an essential in research, industry and almost every type of scientific and technological endeavor.
Life is ruled by the clock and regulated by schedules. Failure to be punctual may lose a man a job, a courting male his date and a business executive his travel connections.
Early man certainly had no trains or planes to catch; he did not have to clock in at work or to attend a shareholders' meeting, scheduled to commence "on the dot." Nevertheless, he, too, had his kind of appointments to keep, especially in the service of his tribe and his gods. How did he know then when to arrive and to worship his deity at just the right moment?
The calculations and dates of the calendar serve many aspect of human endeavor. The calendar reflects various obligations of man, as well as his organizational talent. It fixes events and is a reminder that life does not stand still.
And yet the calendar, which seems so definite, fixed and of most ancient date, is full of errors, inexactitudes, and incongruities. It is divided into two periods - the years preceding and those following the birth of Jesus. We indicate them accordingly by the common abbreviations of B.C. \I(B\iefore \IC\ihrist) and A.D. \I(A\inno \ID\iomini, meaning "in the year of the Lord"). But somehow the year "0" got lost: the year 1 A.D. immediately follows the year 1 B.C., whilst the actual year of Christ's birth is missing. Above all, it is now generally assumed that Christ was born four years "Before Christ!"
That January 1st is the beginning of each year is taken for granted. Yet until 1752, not January 1st, but March 25th, was \JNew Year's Day\j!
Originally, a month was a moonth - the time it took the moon to revolve around the earth, approximately 29 days. Thousands of years ago, a method of measuring time by the sun was adopted . The term month, however, was retained, although a misnomer.
We are a Christian country and pride ourselves on our enlightened mind. But in the naming of the months and days, we still reflect beliefs in \Jastrology\j and pagan gods. It has been said that a calendar is always up-to-date. However, turning its page backwards we shall find the exact opposite.
Life would be dull if one day were like another. Then truly the calendar, with its changing dates, would merely impress the passing of time on us and make us melancholy.
That is why it is essential that we not only add years to our life but life to our years. As if aware of this need, the calendar has provided annually recurring Red Letter Days. They interrupt the monotonous flow of time and give people a chance to let themselves go.
Each of these special dates has its own story. Their origin goes back into the distant past and is the result of man's battle with nature and his own complexes, fears, and desires.
Some of the days and months of the year have become linked with certain mysterious notions and telling phrases. Not only are they part of our chronology, they are full of romance, the fanciful beginnings of which it is good to know.
#
"Meaty Language",1457,0,0,0
Usually, people say it with flowers. But as meat is so all important in life, it got stuck on the loom of language and is used to convey many a message. Some people can be said to "bite off more than they can chew." Anything that is full of substance, is called "meaty."
On the other hand, in the religious realm, meatless days were regarded as a fast. Deprivation from meat during Lent created the \Jcarnival\j. Literally, this said, "Farewell to meat" - \Icarne val!\i In the period that followed, sadness was symbolized by abstention from meat.
#
"Medals on the Left",1458,0,0,0
The custom to wear decorations on the left side goes back to the Crusaders. They wore a small cross on their left breast for several reasons. The cross identified them with the sacred cause for which they were fighting. Its position proclaimed how close it was to their heart. Simultaneously, the sanctity of the cross was believed to act as a divine shield, giving them extra protection against the attacks of infidels.
#
"Meet One's Nemesis",1459,0,0,0
Nemesis was the goddess of retribution. She measured the amount of happiness and misery experienced by each individual. Wherever she discovered an imbalance, it was her task to rectify it, reapportioning both luck and misfortune, giving to each and everyone exactly what was his due.
No one could get away from her, for which reason she was also called "the inescapable one." When we say that people must sooner or later meet their \Jnemesis\j, we accept the ancient notion and refer to the Greek goddess. Her name comes from the Greek \Inemein\i for "to give what is due."
#
"Meeting a Black Cat",1460,0,0,0
To meet a black cat is considered both lucky and unlucky: it all depends in which country you live.
The belief that - in certain circumstances - black cats are lucky goes back to \JEgypt\j. There, all cats, but especially those that were totally black, were looked upon with utmost reverence. They were even deified.
The cat was sacred to the goddess Isis. The goddess Bast or Pasht, the daughter of Isis, was represented with the face of a cat. A cat was thought to be so holy that anyone who killed it, even by accident, was put to death.
Frequently, mummified cats were buried with their worshipers. Cat cemeteries were found by achaeologists in \JEgypt\j and a shipment of embalmed cats was taken to England. Thus, the belief that a black cat that crosses your path brings luck is rooted in Egyptian \Jmythology\j.
A tradition which arose in the \JMiddle Ages\j in Europe made the black cat not a god, or one of its associates, but a companion of witches and even their familiar. People believed that a witch could assume the form of a black cat. Therefore, all black cats were suspected of being transformed witches. Thus, to have a black cat cross your path came to be regarded as an omen of bad luck.
In Lincolnshire, England, a popular story was told of a father and his son meeting a black cat which they suspected was a witch. They pounded it with stones. Next day they encountered the witch in her real form. Her face was bandaged and she died soon after.
Thus the two contradictory beliefs about a black cat are the result of two strands of tradition: the Egyptian idolized cat the European witchy one. It is just a matter of geographical circumstances whether the black cat you meet augurs good luck or warns you of impending misfortune.
#
"Memorial Misspelled",1461,0,0,0
\BThomas Allen\b
Dating back to 1799, the inscription on the headstone on the grave of Thomas Allen in St John's Historical Cemetery, Parramatta, is distinctive not only because of its historical significance but also because of its spelling:
\IMaster miller from
The admiraltry
Who departed this
life agust the 24th
1799 aged 46 years\i
#
"Mendelism",1462,0,0,0
Modern \Jgenetics\j was founded by an Austrian monk who doubled as a botanist! The only son of a peasant farmer, Gregor Johann Mendel (b. 1822) entered an Augustine monastery at Brⁿnn at the age of twenty-one, to spend there - with few interruptions - the rest of his life.
For eight years he experimented with the growing of sweet peas in the monastery garden, in painstaking research and with mathematical calculations to establish what was to become famous as \IMendel's law.\i His findings, published in 1865, showed the principles of \Jheredity\j. They demonstrated how characteristics of parents of cross-bred offspring reappeared in certain proportions in future generations.
When Mendel tried to interest others in his monumental discovery he was cold-shouldered. No one took much notice of him.
As Abbot of the monastery, administrative duties became time-consuming. Worse still, when, in 1874, a new taxation law threatened the very existence of religious institutions, Mendel felt obliged to fight it single-handed, ultimately prevailing over the authorities. But exhausted by his efforts and disheartened by the lack of recognition of his work, he died in 1884.
It took another sixteen years until, in 1900 and by sheer accident, his history-making theory was re-discovered. At long last it received the worldwide prominence it so much deserved, to become the fundamental principle of the laws of \Jheredity\j. And it was all the result of (at the time completely ignored) breeding experiments with sweet peas by a monk.
#
"Menstruation and Water",1463,0,0,0
In early days, the menstruating woman refrained from swimming or taking a bath. She was convinced that her period made her uterus open up to suck the water into her body. The heat of the bathwater, furthermore, would increase her blood-flow so much that it might induce anemia. On the other hand, cold water would chill her body and with it her power of resistance which, already greatly lowered, would make her an easy victim of disease.
#
"Mephistopheles",1464,0,0,0
Mephistopheles is a (comparative) newcomer in the diabolical world. We know all about the place and date of his birth, though we are still mystified by the meaning of his artificially-constructed, synthetic name.
He first appeared in 1587 in a German book dealing with Doctor Faustus, though then with a slightly different spelling, as Mephostophiles. He was an evil spirit to whom, for the enjoyment of this world, Faust had sold his soul. He was then a vicious itinerant magician who, by his devilish art, created great mischief wherever he went.
Marlowe (in 1588) and Goethe (in 1808) used the legend in their great dramas. When Goethe in his prologue to \IFaust\i incorporated the famous first chapter of Job, in which Satan was given divine permission to test Job's loyalty, he gave Satan the name Mephistopheles.
Mephistopheles' name probably defines his very character as the prince of darkness. Joining the Greek words for "friend" \I(philos)\i and "light" \I(phos)\i with the Greek negative \I(me),\i Mephistopheles proclaimed himself as the one "not loving light."
It was through Goethe's renown and the success of his \IFaust\i that the medieval legendary figure of Mephistopheles gained world fame. It did so in such large measure that, for many years, Mephistopheles shared the status, if not actually took the place, of Satan.
#
"Merchandise, Merchants and Mercury",1465,0,0,0
Mercury, the courier of classical myth, has left his legacy to modern society in manifold and often unexpected ways. They were all suggested by features the Greeks and Romans (who called him Hermes) attributed to this divine figure.
Acting as the gods' messenger, he was said to flit around the world at high speed, almost never being at rest. Thus, he is frequently portrayed with a winged hat and winged sandals. Because of this quality of \Jlightning\j speed, it was apt that his name should be bestowed on the element known as quicksilver and called after him, \Imercury.\i
Astrological lore claimed that individuals, who, by their date of birth or other circumstances, were under the influence of the planet identified with Mercury, had a "mercurial" temperament. They were lively, volatile, and restless.
Mercury's presence in those spheres is obvious. More surprising however, is the fact that even merchants, mercers and all merchandise owe their description to Mercury who was also the god of trade and gain, though his name is slightly corrupted now in their "calling."
#
"Mess of Pottage",1466,0,0,0
Proverbial is "the mess of pottage" for which Esau is said to have sold his birthright to his twin-brother Jacob. However, the \JBible\j does not mention any "mess" of pottage or that Jacob purchased the "rights" of a firstborn at the price of a hurried one-course meal.
The scriptural story (Gen. 25:29-37) differs essentially. When Esau returned from one of his hunts, he felt faint from hunger. Seeing his brother cooking a \Jlentil\j stew, he asked him for a helping. Jacob cunningly took advantage of the situation. He would let him share the meal but "first sell me your birthright." The \JBible\j does not say that Esau sold him his rights for the price of the food. All it mentions is that, prior to letting Esau eat, Jacob wanted to finalize the transfer of rights.
At the time, Esau could not care less. All he was interested in was to still his hunger, to "gulp down" some of that "red stuff." For, "of what use is a birthright to me?"
Early readers of the \JBible\j did not misquote it nor misunderstand the text. They actually wondered what Jacob gave Esau to obtain his privileges as the first-born son. Some commentators suggested that "Jacob paid Esau in cash." Others claimed that he gave him \JMethuselah\j's sword which he had treasured as an heirloom, well realizing that, as a hunter, Esau would value it more than any amount of money.
#
"Metric System",1467,0,0,0
The modern metric system originated in \JFrance\j, where it was introduced in I799. It was one of the many revolutionary measures adopted then by the National Assembly, in its determination to overturn numerous sacrosanct traditions. In fact, however, the idea of a system based on the number ten, had been mooted, more than a hundred years earlier, by a cleric.
In 1670, Gabriel Mouton, Vicar of St Paul's Church in Lyons, proposed this revolutionary idea. At the time, no unified standards existed in weighing and measuring. This, the vicar pointed out, was an obvious handicap for the advance in science, which could easily be eliminated by the general adoption of a \Jdecimal system\j \I(decem\i being the Latin for "ten") - a far more practical and sensible basis for calculation. Not revolutionaries, then, but an ecclesiastic was the true pioneer of our present-day reckoning!
#
"Mickey Finn",1468,0,0,0
A Mickey Finn refers to some drops or a substance surreptitiously added to the food or (mostly alcoholic) drink of an unsuspecting person as a fast-acting laxative or knock-out. It may be meant as a mere joke but also has a serious, if not sinister purpose. Originally, a Mickey Finn was not intended for human consumption but, in the form of a pill or powder, was administered to animals, particularly horses, as an evacuant.
The name has been associated with a variety of people. Some say "Mickey" was a barman who introduced the practice to rid his premises of patrons who, having indulged in too much liquor, proved troublesome. Suffering almost instant diarrhoea, they made a hurried exit.
The second Mickey Finn was a \JChicago\j gangster. He was renowned for his conjuring tricks and specifically his sleight of hand. It was not difficult for him, working behind the bar, unobtrusively to slip a strong knock-out into the drink of whomever he had chosen as his victim. The moment he was unconscious, Mickey robbed him.
Opinions vary as to the nature of this fast-acting and effective "knock-out." Some believe that the additive was a hypnotic or barbiturate. Others identified the substance with \Jchloral\j \Jhydrate\j.
#
"Might-have-been - William Gay",1469,0,0,0
There are gravestones that speak of unfinished tasks, of hopes never realized. If only life had been kinder and death not cut short promising careers and prevented dreams from coming true!
They are the might-have-beens, the unfinished symphonies, of people who could have become outstanding. Dogged by sickness, poverty and unfulfilled plans was the short life of Scottish-born William Gay, a "might-have-been" of Australian poetry, buried in the Bendigo White Hills Cemetery.
For almost half of the mere nine years he spent in \JAustralia\j, he was hospitalized in Bendigo, where he died on 22 December 1897, 32 years of age. His tomb is a permanent reminder of his fleeting presence.
Gay considered himself a "foster child" of \JAustralia\j, though none of the few works he left reveal a particularly Australian flavor. Coming to \JAustralia\j from \JNew Zealand\j, he had settled in Bendigo because, suffering from consumption and other ailments, he had imagined that the city's climate would be beneficial to him.
Though a chronic invalid, his mind never rested. Founder of the local Philosophical Society, he used every spare moment to inculcate in people especially the young, a love of literature.
His sick room became the meeting place of budding authors, in fact, of anyone interested or active in creative writing. Indeed, like a magnet he attracted some of his most famous contemporaries, from many parts of \JAustralia\j, who gathered around his sickbed, to engage in stimulating conversation.
Gay was a determined man, who had strong views on the most diverse subjects. The multiplicity of his interests is reflected in the variety of topics of the writings he was able to see published, such as a significant essay on Walt Whitman, a treatise on federation and a volume of sonnets.
His \IChrist on Olympus,\i a collection of poems, proved his greatest success. Showing a strong religious quality, they might have been a recollection, at the very door of death, of his parents' early wish for him to dedicate his life to the church. Among the works he had planned, but was not able to complete, were a \IPronouncing Dictionary of Geographical Names\i and a pamphlet on consumption, the disease of which he had learned so much first hand!
#
"Migrant's Short Stay",1470,0,0,0
\BRichard Binnie\b
Australia, the new and promising home of countless migrants, sometimes served as such only for a brief period. The fate of Richard Binnie is reflected in the words carved on his headstone, now preserved in Botany.
\ISacred
To the Memory of
Mr RICHARD BINNIE late of George
Street who departed this life on
the 25: day of August 1836,
Aged 18
Having breathed the air of
Australia exactly twelve months
Leaving behind him an affectionate
Wife and Family to lament his loss.\i
Richard must have been very young indeed when he married!
#
"Military Staff",1471,0,0,0
The military "staff" owes its description to the fact that the commander of an army learned to lean on his advisors as on a staff. Their supporting role merited the name. Others, however, believe that the staff recalls the baton carried by its members, as their status symbol.
#
"Milliner",1472,0,0,0
Cities have attained world-fame for many reasons, not least because of some product in which they specialized or excelled. Sheffield and \JSolingen\j thus are renowned for their cutlery, and Frankfurt and Salisbury for their culinary contributions in sausage and steak. Who would suspect the ltalian town of Milan to have found a permanent, though slightly disfigured place in every (English) milliner?
Milan used to be a well-known center for the making of exquisite ribbons and lace, favored in the trimming of bonnets. It became so renowned as such that Milaners were eventually identified with the craft of hat-making. When, with the passing of time, this was no longer restricted to them, their former distinction lapsed and, subsequently, was forgotten. Nevertheless, it survived - unrecognized - in the name of the milliner.
#
"Mince Pies",1473,0,0,0
The mince pie was once a very significant part of Christmas fare; similarly, in days gone by its name once made more sense.
The mince pie was originally of oblong shape, with a crusty cover which was indented at the centre. The pie symbolized Jesus Christ's cradle. In fact, a small pastry doll - the figure of the Christ-child - used to be placed in the hollow.
This early mince pie was actually a meat pie, filled with minced lamb's tongue and mutton. On their return from the East, the medieval Crusaders brought highly-prized spices with them which eventually replaced the meat in the pie, which also became round rather than oblong in shape.
Though its original \Jsymbolism\j has been forgotten and its name has actually become a misnomer, the mince pie remains one of the favorite treats of Christmas.
#
"Mind One's Ps and Qs",1474,0,0,0
The curious phrase "to mind one's Ps and Qs" - meaning to be careful in one's words and behavior - evolved from the shape of the letters themselves.
However, the letters as capitals provide no clue to the original reason for the saying. But once p and q are written or printed as small letters their similar appearance must strike the eye. Without special care, children learning the alphabet or inexperienced typesetters might easily confuse these characters. Young pupils and printers' apprentices were thus specially reminded not to mix, but "to mind their Ps and Qs."
But the most obvious answer need not always be the real one, and particularly so in this case. After all, the same danger of confusing similar shapes of letters applied to other parts of the alphabet as well. Further investigation confirms this assumption and offers two totally different interpretations of the phrase. These have nothing to do with either the art of \Jcalligraphy\j or of typesetting, but belong to the social side of human life.
One explanation leads straight into ale houses of former times. Innkeepers then used to keep a score of what customers drank by chalking up on a board (or the wall) a record in pints and quarts, which they indicated by Ps and Qs.
A careful drinker, anxious not to be overcharged, would remind the publican to be exact when chalking up the score - in other words, to mind his Ps and Qs.
On the other hand, and this is no less likely, it could have been the innkeeper who, concerned that people should not drink above their (monetary) capacity, warned them, especially when they were well advanced in their rounds, to mind (the number of) Pints and Quarts, lest, when the final account was rendered, they were unable to pay.
More far-fetched, but still possible, is another origin of the phrase, which links it with French court etiquette of the 17th century. During the reign of \JLouis XIV\j men used to wear huge wigs. When greeting members of a higher class, especially royalty, they bowed low. This needed much practice. Men might stumble over their feet, or worse still, in the course of the bow their wig might become disarranged or even fall off altogether.
Dancing masters cautioned their pupils always to "mind their feet and wigs." In French this was \Ipieds\i (feet) and \Iqueues\i (wigs). When the English adopted the French fashion and caution, being of a practical mind and perhaps not too sure of the right accent, they shortened the French "feet" and "wig" to their mere initials. That is why we now speak of minding one's Ps and Qs.
#
"Miniature",1475,0,0,0
It is wrong to believe that a miniature is so called because of its "minute" dimension. Its name has nothing to do with any measurement. It was chosen because of the color originally used to produce an illustration or a portrait. \IMinium,\i the etymological root of the word, was the medieval. Latin for fiery "red lead" - vermillion - the bright red pigment employed in the ornamentation of manuscripts, and particularly so of their capital initials.
As the portraits and paintings using this special color were usually small-sized, the miniatures became identified with something minor in extent, though in reality it had no linguistic connection with anything minimal. People, ignorant of the real source of the term, mixed it up with the Latin for "small" \I(minimus)\i and started to (mis)name any small picture a miniature, regardless of whether or not the "red lead" pigment was used.
#
"Minor Muslim Festivals",1476,0,0,0
\BMuharram: New Year's Day\b
\JMuharram\j is the first month of the Muslim year. Its first day, accordingly, is celebrated as \JNew Year's Day\j. It is also linked with Muhammed's "departure" (the \IHijrah)\i from Mecca to \JMedina\j in A.D. 622, which is regarded as the most important event in the establishment of \JIslam\j and the beginning, the Year One, of the Muslim era.
Rather than an occasion of exuberant festivities and joyous parties, it is a solemn day of introspection on which Muslims renew their resolve to come ever closer to God.
\BAshurah\b
\IAshurah\i means "ten." The festival of Ashurah occurs on the tenth day of \JMuharram\j and is a day of voluntary fasting. It is by tradition the anniversary of two important events: Noah's leaving the Ark, and Moses' freeing of the Israelites from Pharaoh's bondage.
Shiah Muslims mourn on this day, as it is also the anniversary of the martyrdom of Husein, Muhammed's grandson, at Karbala, \JIraq\j, in A.D. 680.
\BThe \JProphet\j's Birthday\b
Muhammed was born on 20 April 570 which, according to the Muslim calendar, is the twelfth day of its third month, Rabi' al-Awal. The founder of \JIslam\j, he was, according to Muslim faith, the greatest and last of all prophets. He was "the seal of prophecy," to whom God revealed the entirety of the Quran - all of its 114 chapters, or \ISuras,\i as they are called. The day of his birth, therefore, was of paramount importance and its anniversary is an occasion for special celebration.
Gatherings and processions distinguish the day, with the participants sharing traditional sweets and pastries.
\BThe Night of the Ascent\b
The night of Muhammed's ascent to heaven - on 27 Rajab, the seventh month of the calendar - is celebrated annually. On that night, so tradition has it, Muhammed, guided by the \JArchangel\j Gabriel, traveled from Mecca to \JJerusalem\j where he ascended to heaven from a rock. The rock from which he alighted to celestial heights is now venerated in the Mosque of the Rock.
#
"Minutes",1477,0,0,0
A cynic once observed that minutes were kept at meetings because hours were wasted. The mystifying name of the written record of proceedings has no association with time. It goes back to the early days when, whatever was said at a meeting was initially noted down in the smallest possible script, i.e. in minute writing. (Prior to the introduction of shorthand, this helped the recorder better to keep up with the speakers without unnecessarily delaying the discussion.)
After the meeting and at his own pace, the secretary then transcribed his early "minute" script into large copperplate writing. Though nowadays the difference in size and form no longer applies, we continue to keep the original "minutes."
#
"Mirror of Sickness",1478,0,0,0
A long-held fallacy claimed that the condition of health of every part of the body could be recognized in the eyes. Diagrams and charts published for such "iris diagnosis," allocated specific sections of the eye to each individual organ. These were imagined to reflect whether the organ functioned well or was diseased. Studying, for instance, a spot at "3 o'clock in the iris was thought to reveal the state of the \Jesophagus\j, whilst the sector situated at "5 o'clock was believed to disclose the health or malfunction of the bladder.
In actual fact, only certain facets of bodily health show up in the eye. Typical examples concern the hardening of arteries, elevated blood pressure, a high \Jcholesterol\j level, diabetes, and the existence of a brain tumor. Each of these abnormalities have specific indications, typical of them.
#
"Misleading Names",1479,0,0,0
Some place names, apparently of religious origin, turn out, on investigation, to have no such significance.
Sermon Lane in London, for instance, is not so called for any association it may have had with preachers. Its name is the corruption of quite a different word. Originally, when the mint was situated nearby, it was the site of the homes of money shearers or clippers. Its true name, therefore, was \IShere-moniers Lane,\i only later on to be "clipped" into Sermon.
Covent Garden, on the other hand, famous for its vegetable market and opera house, was a Convent Garden, the earliest use of the area.
#
"Misleading Surnames",1480,0,0,0
There is a story behind everyone's name. To seek it out is an intriguing pursuit. However, at times, one can be misled and draw the wrong conclusion.
Many a family name recalls an ancestor's occupation. This, obviously, explains the Taylors, the Smiths, the Farmers, and even the Chamberlains. It would be totally erroneous for a Mr King, Duke, or Prince, in like manner to imagine that they were descendants from royalty, as suggested by their names. In their case, these go back to completely different circumstances. In medieval times many cities held annual pageants or processions in which on each occasion, members of the same family came to personify the identical figure, such as that of the king, the prince, or the duke. At first; this was done for a merely practical reason. They had learned the role and, hence there was no need for them in the following year to study a new part. It also enabled them to make their performance ever more real and true to the nature of the character they portrayed.
With the passing of time, the family came to regard the specific role as their prerogative. Eventually, they were identified with it and that is how so many Kings, Dukes, and Princes survive. Their original home was not a castle or a palace, but the stage.
This also explains the otherwise puzzling phenomenon of families bearing the name of Pope, Bishop, or Priest. No one could (legitimately) ever have descended from them as, of course, their very status implied celibacy. People so called, can be sure that their "titled" name was not inherited from an ancestor who filled the ecclesiastical office, but from play-acting.
#
"Misplaced Noon",1481,0,0,0
Times certainly have changed and, with its the counting of hours. Our noon used to be roughly three hours later which rendered part of what we now call afternoon, morning! Until the fourteenth century, following Roman tradition, the day began not at midnight as at present, but at dawn, from which time the hours were counted. This made the ninth hour, known as "noon" - from the Latin \Inona\i for "nine" - fall approximately three hours after midday, around 3 pm our time. When, starting the count from midnight, the hours of day were shifted back, their numbering was not adjusted. Thus we continue to call 12 o'clock "noon," meaning "nine."
#
"Misprints",1482,0,0,0
Printers' errors are a fascinating study in themselves. However efficient a typesetter may be, they are bound to occur. It is no wonder that proof galleys leave ample room for corrections:
Reviewing a book by a prominent historian, a scholarly magazine praised it as a "provocative contribution to a well-known shitorian."
When a president of \JFrance\j, renowned for his tallness, strongly supported a proposition, a newspaper report stated that he "threw his height behind the plan." After all, weight and height may be correlated!
A plain of land described by an author as being widely covered with "erratic blocks" was made to be strewn with "erotic blacks."
An obituary notice for a beloved and "dear" father was made to read, "In loving memory of a very dead Dad."
There are unfortunate misprints. Much indignation followed a newspaper report during the First World War which, quoting one of the then Prime Minister's speeches, had him say that "Everything is ready, even the coffins for the troops." The offending word, of course, was meant to read "\Jcoffee\j."
Fritz Spiegl in "A collection of clangers, misprints, and other typographical disasters" \I(What the Papers Didn't Mean to Say,\i Scouse Press, Liverpool) quotes a striking example of how the omission of a single letter might create havoc, if not a diplomatic incident. A State dinner had "harmoniously" brought together the American and Russian leaders. Subsequently it was reported that at the conclusion of the meal, when Mr Khrushchev led Mrs Eisenhower by the arm down the Embassy steps, "President Eisenhower took Mrs Khrushchev's ars." To make things worse, the account continued to relate that, on the occasion, "the Soviet Prime Minister was smiling broadly and obviously enjoying himself."
#
"Missing Rib",1483,0,0,0
According to Biblical tradition, woman was created from one of man's ribs. Ever since, it has been said, men have been running all over the world to find their missing ribs! Some never succeed and become "confirmed bachelors." Others get hold of a rib, but it is not theirs; it does not fit and is the cause of much distress.
Fortunate are those who find their "rib." It makes them complete. They will have a fulfilling life, with peace in their homes and joy and contentment in their hearts. They can truly count their blessings, and that is exactly what they do when they "count" the anniversaries since their wedding, happily recalling how many years have passed since the day when - with hope and anticipation - they pledged their love for one another.
Professor Alfred Whitehead was an English mathematician and philosopher of world renown. He realized that, like so many famous figures, he could never have been so successful without his wife's encouragement and support. "By myself I am only one more professor, but with Evelyn I am first-rate," he said fondly.
#
"Missionary's Death",1484,0,0,0
Martyrs, people who suffered death rather than renounce their belief, are part of any religion.
Fortunately, \JAustralia\j has never experienced the horror of religious persecution or seen people killed in the name of God. However, in the Rookwood Cemetery is the grave of a minister of religion who died in pursuit of his calling. When trying to spread the message of love, he was cruelly murdered. The inscription on his monument tells the tragic story.
\ISacred
To the Memory of the
Rev. THOMAS BAKER
Wesleyan Missionary
Who when visiting a heathen tribe
to invite it to embrace \JChristianity\j
and to pass through it to other tribes,
was treacherously murdered at
Navosa, \JFiji\j,
On Sunday 21st July 1867,
Aged 35 Years.
In Heaven at last, life's trials past,
We'll meet our lov'd once more;
Whose feet have trod the path to God
Not lost but gone before.\i
#
"Mistaken Caterpillar",1485,0,0,0
Dr Samuel Johnson's (1755) \IDictionary\i made him famous and earned him an Oxford degree. Ever since its publication, it has been used as a reference book. It has supplied valuable information but also been responsible for mistakes perpetuated by the learned clergyman.
This applies to the caterpillar. Misled by its looks, people (first in the fifteenth century) compared it with "a cat which is hairy" and thus called it in popular Latin \Icatta pilosa.\i Subsequently, its elongated shape made them confuse its "hairy" part (the \Ipiller)\i with a pillar. Dr Johnson adopted the mistake, directing his readers that, correctly spelled, the worm-like creature should not end with \Ier,\i the genuine "hairy" part, but with \Iar,\i the tail-end of a pillar. Since then and through Johnson's authority, the caterpillar has not changed its form.
Another suggestion derived the caterpillar from a French root, connecting its pillar section with the French verb \Ipeler,\i for to "peel," "rind" and "skin." Hence, its name referred to the creature's (imagined) practice of stripping the bark off trees.
#
"Mitzpah Brooch",1486,0,0,0
Rarely seen nowadays, but once highly treasured, is the Mitzpah brooch. Its very name, often engraved in \JHebrew\j, explains its origin and purpose.
Jacob, having acquired a large family and a substantial fortune, had aroused the envy of his uncle Laban and his cousins. Afraid of them, he fled, taking with him all his possessions and dear ones. The moment Laban heard of their departure, he pursued them, to catch up with the caravan at Gilead. In his anger, Laban's original intention had been hostile. But God warned him to do no harm to his nephew or any of his family and belongings. And Laban heeded God's words, so that a reconciliation and a treaty of amity resulted. Both men solemnly pledged never to hurt or attack each other.
To seal their oath, they put up at the site of their pact a heap of stones. The cairn was to serve as a perpetual monument to the promise and their commitment. Symbolically, they called it \IMitzpah,\i the \JHebrew\j for "watchtower," because, said Laban, "The Lord \Iwatch\i between me and you, when we are absent from one another" (Gen. 31.49).
This dramatic story of the resolution of human conflict in harmony and peace suggested the Mitzpah brooch. Ignoring the preceding events, its beautiful message speaks of God's watchfulness and of people staying close together, at all times, whether near to each other or separated by a vast distance.
The brooch was given to a loved one to ensure him or her that no matter where they were, giver and recipient remained united and affectionately remembered. At times, a pendant took the place of the brooch. Broken into halves, each of the two people wore one part, convinced that, even when away from one another, mysteriously they were still together and protected by God watching over them.
#
"Mixing Drinks",1487,0,0,0
The mixing of drinks does not bring about intoxication. A person gets drunk not from the variety of spirits he imbibes, but from the total amount of alcohol, once this exceeds his limit of tolerance.
#
"Mizpah Ring",1488,0,0,0
The \JHebrew\j word \Imizpah\i expresses the sentiment "May the Lord watch between me and thee." Ornaments with "mizpah" inscribed upon them were often exchanged between lovers in Victorian times.
A mizpah ring, so named for the inscription which is embossed or engraved on it, is usually chosen as a gift for someone very close who is about to go away for a long time. Its purpose was twofold. First of all, this ring was meant to ensure that even while the recipient was away, the donor's thoughts would constantly be with him or her. Simultaneously, it implored God to watch over both of them during their separation.
\IMizpah\i is the \JHebrew\j word for watch tower. Its present-day application to a ring is linked with the biblical account of one of the dramatic incidents in the \Jpatriarch\j Jacob's life. Becoming aware that his prosperity had made his uncle Laban envious, Jacob was concerned for his safety and that of his family. He fled during his uncle's temporary absence, taking his wives, children and possessions with him. On his return three days later, Laban's anger was roused and he set off after Jacob, catching up with him in the hill country of Gilead.
However, with God's intervention, what had threatened to become a hostile confrontation changed into a reconciliation. Jacob and Laban made a pact, pledging never to harm or hurt one another. To commemorate the occasion and to serve as a witness to their commitment, they erected a heap of stones at the site of their encounter.
This cairn was to be a permanent memorial of their promise and so they named it Mizpah, a word used both as a benediction and a warning. It summarised the words Laban then spoke: "The Lord watch between me and you, when we are out of sight of each other." (Gen. 31:49)
Divorced from its context of family conflict, the message conveyed by both the uninscribed monument and Laban's words was so beautiful that it became a popular prayer for God's "watchfulness" over someone about to depart. "Mizpah" also came to express the determination of both parties to stay close together in heart and mind, no matter how far apart they were, or for how long they might be absent from one another.
#
"Mob",1489,0,0,0
Originally, an unruly and excited crowd was referred to in Latin as \Imobile vulgus,\i "the moveable public." "Moveable" was used in the sense of their excitability, being fickle and disorderly. Easily, they would change their attachment and support from one side to the other.
Through the years, the term was abbreviated, first so in the seventeenth century. After initially omitting its "public" (vulgus) part, even the remaining mobile section was cut short, to leave "mob." Strange to observe that of the expression only its "everchanging" portion was left.
From the 1930s onward the term "the mob" was used in the United States for members of the underworld, eventually specifically the Mafia.
#
"Modern Fairy",1490,0,0,0
The word fairy itself links the "little people" with the \Jsupernatural\j. In its \Jetymology\j the word "fairy" referred to "enchantment" and can be traced to the Latin for "destiny" and "fate." This might well be an explanation of the modern "fairy" - the male homosexual. It is his "fate" to be such.
However, there is another theory which associates this use of the word with the stage. In productions of Shakespearean plays, it was found that the part of fairies was performed most convincingly by homosexual actors. And this choice in the casting of plays eventually led to the identification of the fairy with homosexuals.
#
"Modern Playing Cards - in the Making",1491,0,0,0
Though present-day \Jplaying cards\j evolved from the early \JTarot\j fortune telling pack, they differ in various aspects and reveal interesting changes and adaptations.
Playing cards now are double-headed. This feature was introduced in the nineteenth century for the sake of convenience. It enabled players on either side easily to recognize the identity of the card. In the earlier pack, each carried a full-length portrait and people had to learn to see things upside-down.
Originally, the king, queen, and knave because of the elaborate robes they wore, were known as "coat" cards. It was so easy to err in this case by their association with the royal court. Soon they were mispronounced and erroneously called "court" cards, which they have remained ever since.
The modern "trump" goes back much further. It is a telling monument of early triumph not in gambling but in warfare. The trump recalls the \Itriumphal\i processions by which Roman generals celebrated their victories!
The pictures on the cards were never updated. Thus they continue to reflect the fashion, the way of life, and \Jsymbolism\j of the time in which the cards came into existence. Originally, the four suits were meant to represent the four social classes which made up medieval society. The present-day clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds are a later evolution and partially a misunderstood interpretation of the early designs! To indicate the four strata of society for which they stood, the suits showed chalices (for the \Jclergy\j), swords (for the nobility), coins (for the merchants), and staffs or wands (for the peasantry).
In spite of its apparent appropriateness, the "spades" have nothing to do with the agricultural tool used to dig up the ground. From the Spanish \Iespada,\i they really referred to the "sword" and as such, symbolized the warrior class. Oddly, the English retained the old (Spanish) word and possibly did so not least because the shape of this sword looked very much like a spade, which made things even more complicated.
The early chalice or communion cup was not retained. It was replaced by the heart. It is not certain what actually caused this substitution. Some believe that it was to express the supreme position of ecclesiastical power. Were not the bishops and \Jclergy\j the very "heart" of the community? Their station in life would bring home the message so much better than a communion cup.
To make confusion even more confounded, "clubs" were not, as the word might suggest, wooden implements used as weapons. They were trefoil symbols, meant to remind the player of the three-leafed clover and thus represented the peasant, significantly doing so in a luck-spelling way of the trinity.
Diamonds seem so plainly to be associated with the money-making merchant class. But they, too, are not what they appear to be. They recall the checkered floor paved with diamond-shaped stones of the exchanges where the important business transactions took place.
Few players realize that in every pack one of the aces is specially ornamented, a fact which can be quickly checked. As nothing in life is without its meaning, this also has had a valid (and costly) reason and an unwelcome one to players (at the time the "decoration" was first introduced).
Governments, always anxious to raise funds, do so conspicuously in taxes and seem to be never at a loss to find new avenues for their revenues. Eighteenth-century Britain put a levy on \Jplaying cards\j. And they incorporated the "duty stamp" (adding insult to injury) artistically inside the ace of spades which thus - metaphorically - dug into players' pockets! That the tax has been paid for a pack of cards is nowadays indicated by a sticker on the wrapper outside. Nevertheless, our packs retain the original "tax receipt," and though it no longer counts, it continues to take part in every game and in cartomancy in general.
The earliest European cards preserved (of which there are altogether seventeen), stem from a pack painted in Paris in 1392, for therapeutic purposes! They had been made for King Charles the Mad of \JFrance\j in the first stages of his mental sickness. It was hoped that they would help to relax and distract his mind. Forgetting the unfortunate circumstances, the mere fact that "cards" played some part in the \Iroyal\i household gave them standing and led to their vast popularity.
However, their association with both gambling and \Jdivination\j soon created a crisis. Official edicts were issued prohibiting their use. And, surprisingly, the ban was welcomed by many and for very good reasons. Aristocrats had lost huge sums of money gambling with them and were threatened with \Jbankruptcy\j. Unfaithful spouses and corrupt officials in high quarters, who believed in the efficacy of the new art of cartomancy, feared that the "pack" might bring to light what they tried to keep dark: their adulteries and dishonesties.
But, as always, the prohibitive measures were counterproductive. The very desire and effort to suppress the novel practice publicized it all the more and gave it special attraction. Card-reading and playing became the fashion. And though people are known to get tired of so many things, they have not lost their fascination for cards.
#
"Mohammed and the Mountain",1492,0,0,0
Though of little consequence, it is nevertheless surprising how frequently famous remarks are inaccurately quoted. Recalling an incident in Mohammed's life, Francis Bacon is said to have observed that "if the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain." The essayist never referred to a resistant mountain. He spoke of an immovable hill.
#
"Mohammedanism",1493,0,0,0
Mohammedanism is a misnomer and offensive to those following Mohammed's faith. Just as \JChristianity\j expresses the worship of Christ, so the name could imply the apotheosis of Mohammad, totally foreign to his followers. To deify him would be contrary to \JMoslem\j belief.
Moslems regard Mohammed as a \Jprophet\j, in fact, as the greatest of all - the "seal of prophecy." Succeeding Abraham, Moses, and Christ, he is said to have surpassed them and no other \Jprophet\j would follow him. However, he was still only a man.
The correct name of the faith is \JIslam\j. An Arab term and concept, it speaks of the faithfuls' complete "submission" to the will of God. Accordingly, its adherents should not be called Mohammedan, but Moslems - derived from \JIslam\j.
#
"Mollycoddle",1494,0,0,0
To pamper and dote on a person is to "mollycoddle" them. It is a combination of words which, as it were, put the cart before the horse. It really speaks of coddling a molly. To coddle was once used for looking after an invalid and - according to one derivation - to feed them spiced hot drinks or a thin gruel. Molly has been traced back to the Latin mollis for "soft." It was a pet name for Mary, at one time given specifically to milkmaids, as well as to feeble, effeminate men. To refer to people being mollycoddled thus contemptuously spoke of their being truly spoiled and overindulged.
#
"Monday Before May 24",1495,0,0,0
\BVictoria Day\b
Also known as the Queen's birthday or Empire Day, this Canadian holiday takes place on the Monday before May 24 which was Queen Victoria's birthday. Celebration of the Queen's birthday was a tradition during her long reign from 1837 to 1901, but it was only in 1896 that Clementina Fessenden of \JOntario\j conceived the idea of a day set aside to honor \JGreat Britain\j.
The first Empire Day was celebrated in Canada West (\JOntario\j) the following year, and after Victoria's death, the two holidays were combined. Through legislation passed by the Canadian Parliament in 1952, Victoria Day became a statutory holiday.
#
"Money is the Root of all Evil",1496,0,0,0
To say that "money is the root of all evil" omits an important specification. What St Paul - the author of the observation - actually wrote (in his First Epistle to Timothy, 6:10) was that, "the love of money is the root of all evil." Only he who is obsessed by money and worships it, makes it a source of unhappiness and evil.
#
"Monkey Wrench",1497,0,0,0
Among the various tools fulfilling the function of a spanner is the monkey wrench. Many believe that its intriguing name was suggested by its adjustable jaws. They reminded people of a monkey chewing its food. It has also been thought that the tool was so easy to handle when tightening nuts that even a monkey could do it.
Alternately, it was asserted that the implement was called after its inventor, a Mr Monk or Moncke. If so, his identity has never been definitely established. Some say that he was an English blacksmith. Others give the credit to an American mechanic who in the 1850s worked for a firm in \JMassachusetts\j. At first people acknowledged the creator of the tool by referring to it as a Monk or Moncke wrench. But as the name meant very little to them, soon, perhaps out of mere fun, they came to call it a monkey wrench.
It would be a strange reversal of the Darwinian theory. He taught that man had descended from the ape. In the case of (the name of) the monkey wrench, it would be the other way round: a man was its ancestor.
#
"Monkey's Face",1498,0,0,0
It is a mistake to apply human concepts to the animal world, not least so to the facial expression of the great apes. Their mien might convey a totally different attitude to what the identical features would indicate in man. When, for instance, a chimpanzee is highly elated, it "looks" angry. On the other hand, its apparently funny face does not display amusement but in most cases is a contortion of anger or pain.
#
"Monkeys and Fleas",1499,0,0,0
The antics of monkeys amuse grown-ups as much as children. Watching the animals search each other's fur and then, with apparent delight, swallow whatever they have found, led to the mistaken belief that - in mutual aid - they were defleaing each other.
What they actually do is not pick fleas from their fellow's hairy coat, but to remove \Jdandruff\j and loose pieces of dead skin! Their activity is prompted not by any desire to groom each other or to rid themselves of irritating vermin. The skin and \Jdandruff\j contains a salty substance essential for the animals' diet and hence is relished by them. The practice therefore serves their own well-being and pleasure and has nothing to do with \Jflea\j-hunting.
#
"Monsters and Monstrosities",1500,0,0,0
The monster came to us, linguistically speaking, as a sign from heaven.
At one time, anything unusual was seen as a divine message. It needed careful interpretation, and a member of the priestly class was specially trained to "read" such omens, which could portend good or evil, but were most often regarded as a warning of impending disaster sent by the gods. And that is how the Latin for "warn," \Imonere,\i gave us, through a process of linguistic change, the \Imonster.\i
Deformity is now understood to be usually the result of faulty genes, of birth defects, of nature having gone wrong. Once upon a time, however, when religious thought still dominated man, he explained such genetic abnormalities as a \Jsupernatural\j phenomenon. Sent by God, they were meant as a "warning" and, identified with it, became known as "monsters."
#
"Monument Below Sea-level",1501,0,0,0
\BHarold Holt\b
Port Phillip Bay has its dramatic stories; many ships have been wrecked and numerous drownings have occurred in the area. One of the bodies never recovered was that of Harold Holt, Prime Minister of \JAustralia\j at the time.
At Portsea, renowned for its gales and dangerous currents, the sea swallowed him up. The memorial that recalls the tragic event has been erected on Point Nepean and overlooks the beach from which he entered his cold and watery grave. It reads:
\IIn Memory of
HAROLD EDWARD HOLT, P. C., C. H.,
Prime Minister of \JAustralia\j from
21.1.1966 until he disappeared while
Swimming off Cheviot Beach during
Rough weather on 17.12.1967.\i
An additional monument, even less accessible than the former is now located in what has been declared a military reserve. It is a plaque fixed by divers on the rock ledge below the waterline, near the spot where, on that fateful morning, Holt vanished:
\IIn Memory
of
HAROLD HOLT
Prime Minister of \JAustralia\j
who loved the sea and
disappeared here abouts
on 17th December 1967
Placed here by the Underwater Explorers Club of Victoria
17 December 1968.\i
#
"Moon and Menstruation",1502,0,0,0
The mere coincidence of the menstrual cycle (of 28 days) with the duration of a lunar month (of approximately 29.5 days), led to a wrong conclusion that a woman's "period," like the ebb and flow of the sea, was controlled by the lunar phases!
#
"Moon Festival",1503,0,0,0
The Chinese celebrate the Moon Festival by treating their family and friends with moon cakes, so called because of their round shape. It is a joyous occasion indeed with the festive gatherings and unique gifts dating back to a significant historic occasion. There are also cosmic explanations of its origins.
It is related that during the \JYuan dynasty\j in the fourteenth century, \JMongols\j ruled the people with an iron hand, taking away from them all their freedom. Determined to throw off the yoke, a resistance movement came into existence. It chose the most brilliant night of the year - the fifteenth night of the eighth month according to the lunar calendar - to stage a rebellion.
However, as they were constantly watched by guards who were billeted in their homes, the plotters had to be very careful to avoid detection of their intended uprising. To coordinate the rebellion which they had fixed for the stroke of midnight, they passed on their message on scraps of paper which they hid in moon cakes and sent all over the city to their fellow conspirators.
Their plan succeeded, and this early victory of democracy over despotism is recalled at the Moon Festival with feasting and rejoicing. It is celebrated on the anniversary of the deliverance.
According to the cosmic explanation, the Chinese, early on, were convinced that the destiny of the world was determined largely by lunar power. It is no wonder, then, that they dedicated a special festival to the moon, to be held at the very time when it was believed to be at its brightest. According to this tradition, the moon cakes were first baked with magical intent, to ensure that the heavenly body would bestow its blessing on the universe and, after periods of waning, would increase again to its full strength.
Delicious in taste, the brown pastry cakes are filled with a paste made mainly of sweet beans and ground lotus seeds. Significantly, they are embossed with the emblem of the lunar god. Some of the moon cakes are offered to the silver disc in the sky, "to promote harmony between man and moon." Others are sent as gifts to neighbors and friends, "to promote a close relationship between man and man."
#
"Moonlighting",1504,0,0,0
Moonlight has played a significant role in a variety of circumstances. It has been seen as the source of a person's sleeplessness and being unsettled mentally, particularly when the moon is full.
"Moonlighting" acquired a sense all of its own. It was concerned with activities pursued when the sun had set. The much weaker moonlight cast a shrud over what was happening and made it difficult to identify individuals.
A typical example of such "moonlighting" was the hunting by poachers during the night.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the term was applied specifically to the exploits of patriotic Irishmen who, during the hours of darkness and in disguise, raided the homesteads of English landlords who had evicted impecunious Irish tenants from their lodgings. They frequently sent a warning note prior to the raid, which they signed "Captain Moonlight."
Eventually, the early meanings and associations of moonlighting were forgotten, for the term came to acquire a much more harmless connotation. Moonlighting now spoke of people who, though paid to do one job, unbeknown to their employer or the taxation authorities, earned extra money, doing so after hours.
#
"Moonshine",1505,0,0,0
Moonshine, similar to moonlighting, refers to things done or obtained during the hours of darkness. In England, it became the name of brandy smuggled from \JFrance\j into the country by night to evade the payment of excise. In the United States, both during the days of prohibition and also to avoid government taxes, people made their own whiskey by night - in their private stills. Appropriately, they spoke of their illicit produce as "moonshine."
#
"More Early Sport in Australia",1506,0,0,0
\BLawn bowling\b was enjoyed from the colony's early days onward, first played by enthusiastic Englishmen arriving in \JNew South Wales\j who brought their bowls with them. Following the English pattern, bowling greens were laid out adjacent to, and as part of, hotels. Inn-keepers put them down not only as a new type of amenity for their patrons but as a clever means of increasing their trade. Australians not only learned to play the game second to none, they also knew how to produce equipment for it of unsurpassed quality. Australian-made bowls are now acknowledged to be among the best in the world and are exported to countries far and wide.
Bushwalkers were the first to take up \Bmountaineering.\b This was a natural result of their exploration of the countryside which began in the 1890s. Sometimes their path was obstructed by steep mountains and precipitous rocks. However, determined to get to their destination, they learned to scale the heights and to master the slippery boulders. It was chiefly in \JTasmania\j that real \Jmountaineering\j could be practiced. Curiously, the first book written on Australian \Jmountaineering\j is in German and its author, Franz Malcher, was an Austrian, who in 1913, related his experiences \IAs Mountaineer and Skier in the Fifth Continent.\i
British army officers have been credited to have brought \Bpolo\b to \JAustralia\j where it was played first in the 1870s. British cavalry regiments in India imported many of their mounts from \JAustralia\j. Coming from \JNew South Wales\j, they were called "Walers." Hardy bush horses, they proved very suitable as polo ponies. This fact led the officers, when on buying visits "down under," to suggest that Walers be used to try out the game in this country.
Records speak of "the first polo in \JAustralia\j" being played in Albert Park, Melbourne, in 1875. In some small way \JAustralia\j even contributed to the efficiency of the game by inventing an "instrument" to be used by umpires for picking up balls. This saved them from having to dismount, and hence speeded up the game.
Among the chief promoters of \Broller skating\b were the boxer "Larry" Foley (possibly best remembered by the Australianism "happy as Larry") and George Wirth of circus fame. \JAustralia\j's most fashionable and spectacular rink, the \JPalladium\j, was opened in Sydney in 1912.
The Australians' excellence as oarsmen might well derive in part from the early colonial days when ships returning to harbor after a long voyage were anxious to restock their food supplies, especially meat. This was the time of the "butcher boats." Butchers, keen to make sales, rowed out to the vessels, vying with each other to get there first. These spontaneous races had a commercial incentive and certainly trained the men for future regattas.
The first known \Browing\b race with local men took place in 1818 on a course that extended from Bradley's Head to Sydney Cove. It was won by John Piper, to whose enthusiasm and zeal Australian rowing and yachting owe a great debt. The first rowing regatta took place in \JTasmania\j on the river Derwent at Hobart in 1827.
The winning of the \JAmerica's Cup\j was only the culmination of Australians' love of \Bsailing.\b In the early days of the colony it could rightly be said that "next to the outside of a horse, your true Australian was most at home in a boat." Among the many achievements was the design of several new classes of sailing boats, notably the famous eighteen footers.
\BSkis,\b crudely made from local timber, were first used in the 1830s by Tasmanian fur trappers.
\JAustralia\j pioneered public courts for \Bsquash,\b the first of which was opened in Melbourne in 1835. Anyone, whether a member or not, could play there at any time by simply paying a small fee. This gave squash the widest popularity and, no other nation, it is claimed, counts as many women squash players and clubs as this country. Though among the youngest sports in \JAustralia\j (the first court having been built at a Sydney gymnasium as late as 1919), it is nevertheless a fact that Australians soon excelled in squash rackets and became its world leaders, with Heather Blundell a champion.
\BSwimming\b belongs to the Australian way of life. No other country can claim a finer record of achievements, and produced proportionately more champions. Even the early \JAborigines\j excelled in swimming. A record tells of an incident concerning a native who was one of Governor Phillip's servants. One day he was taken by ship from Sydney. When a fair way out at sea, he suddenly panicked, jumped into the water, and struck out for shore. Dawn Fraser was the first swimmer to win an Olympic title three consecutive times.
\BTable tennis\b caught on towards the end of the last century and "ping-pong" championships were played in 1898 in Adelaide. By the early 1900s, \Jtable tennis\j was played in most of the capital cities and it almost seemed as if the game was becoming a craze.
Australians began to play the earlier form of \Btennis\b around 1850, and the game was enjoyed by all sections of the community, with "every residence of consequence" having its tennis court. A popular construction material in the early days, particularly in country districts, was the ant-heap. A student returning from Britain is said to have brought the new tennis to \JAustralia\j soon after 1874. At first, this was played on private lawns. Club tennis was started in 1878 by the Melbourne Cricket Club. \JAustralia\j took up the challenge of the \JDavis Cup\j in 1905. Within two years, Norman E. Brookes carried home the trophy, thus starting an unequaled Australian record.
An illustration of 1855 shows that Ballarat, Victoria, had a bowling alley. No doubt \Bnine-pin bowling\b was a pastime followed early in various parts of \JAustralia\j, especially among German settlers in the Barossa Valley, South \JAustralia\j. The history of \Bten-pin bowling\b began only in May 1960. Jack Carthy of Glenelg, South \JAustralia\j, who had never seen a game played, but had read about it in American books, took such a fancy to the novel sport, that he was determined to introduce it in his home town. He converted a local old cinema into the first ten-pin bowling alley. The first fully automatic bowling center was opened at Hurstville, Sydney, in 1960 as well. \JAustralia\j added its own particular features.
When an American leading bowler inspected the Australian alleys, he was struck by the custom for everyone to pay before the game, a precaution then not adhered to elsewhere. Yet another Australian-created difference was the practice to book lanes by time.
\BTrotting\b began haphazardly, in private and improvised contests. Owners of horses that could pace or trot liked to display their ability and ran races against each other. Trotting races became part of Australian sporting events soon after 1800. The Parramatta meeting on 30 April 1810 featured Captain Piper's "famous \IMiss Kitty,"\i which won a race in a style praised as "scarcely to be surpassed by some of the first trotters in England." Nothing did more to make trotting popular than the introduction of night meetings on flood-lit tracks, the first held in Perth in 1914.
\BWater polo\b was already played during the latter half of the last century. Eventually, it became highly popular, specially in Sydney, which leads the world in the number of teams, including school teams, playing regularly.
A short film and an enthusiastic viewer who owned a speed boat and a weekender on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, NSW, combined to give birth to Australian \Bwater \Jskiing\j.\b Reg Johnston, a resident photographer at Prince Alfred \JHospital\j, Sydney, quite by chance one day saw an American film of the sport. He took an immediate fancy to it and on the spur of the moment decided to try it out himself on homemade skis. He and his wife were to become the pioneers of water \Jskiing\j in \JAustralia\j. At the end of World War II, Johnston's work took him to the United States. When he returned home, it was merely a matter of spreading his first hand knowledge. In 1947, the Aqua Club was formed and the sport soon caught on throughout the country.
\BWrestling\b became a favorite competitive pastime in \JAustralia\j soon after the landing of the \JFirst Fleet\j. Matches - often mere impromptu bouts - took place between soldiers and convicts. Professional wrestling began in the 1880s.
Ever since the inauguration of the modern \BOlympic Games\b in 1896, Australians have participated on each occasion, a distinction shared by only three other nations - Britain, the United States, and \JGreece\j.
#
"Morphine and Morpheus",1507,0,0,0
Morphine, which has given many a sick person relief from severe pain, relaxing the patient and often making him drowsy, is called after \JMorpheus\j, the Greek god of dreams. The drug was so named by Friedrich Sertⁿrner who was the first to isolate it (in 1805) from unripe poppy blossoms.
#
"Morris Dance: Origin of the Name",1508,0,0,0
The Morris dance, once a popular English folk dance, was not called after any individual of that name. Morris is the misheard description of a Moor. Originally, a Moorish military dance, it reached Britain from \JSpain\j in the fourteenth century, and the Spanish for Moor is \IMorisco.\i
There is also a tradition that the "Moorish" part of its name recalls the custom of those performing the dance to blacken their faces to look like Moors.
#
"Mortarboard",1509,0,0,0
Mystifying indeed is the customary name of the academic cap "mortarboard." No less intriguing is its peculiar shape. Both are closely interrelated.
The mortarboard developed out of a special type of skull cap. Covered with a loose square of material, the combination proved most impracticable. Frequently the cloth flapped into the wearer's faces, obstructing their view and altogether being a nuisance. To remedy this, the cloth was replaced by a stiff square board covered with black fabric and firmly attached to the skull cap.
The new contraption reminded people of the board used by construction workers, which, loaded with mortar, they carried on their heads. They called the new headcovering a mortarboard, nominally transferring a tool of the building trade into the field of education!
An alternate derivation discovers in the mortarboard remnants of a cap once donned by French kings and judicial dignitaries. Its outlines strikingly resemble those of an upturned mortar (the French mortier), the cup-shaped bowl used to pulverize drugs and other like substances with a pestle.
#
"Moth-eaten",1510,0,0,0
Moths do not feed on clothes. It is therefore a mistake to describe the damaged material as "moth-eaten." The imputation is based on fallacious \Jcircumstantial evidence\j. Discovering clothes ruined after moths have been seen flying out of the closet, these are wrongly blamed as the culprits.
What actually happens is that moths lay their eggs on material they favor and the developing larvae eat the cloth. Once these have become moths, the harm has already been done. The holes are the result of their prenatal activity.
#
"Mother's Day Origins",1511,0,0,0
The phrase, "a red letter day," goes back to a time when, on the Church Calendar, days of religious significance were marked in red. Which days of the year nowadays are celebrated as such differs from nation to nation and among the various faiths. But "red letter days," kept irrespective of people's religion or country, are \JMother's Day\j and \JFather's Day\j. Though secularized and often commercialized, they have their roots in religious tradition
Thousands of years ago, mothers were venerated as the source of new life. A festival was dedicated to a mother goddess and observed at the time of the year when nature renewed itself. On this feast (known to the Romans as \IHilaria),\i grateful children brought offerings to the temple to honor "the mother of the gods."
The Church adopted and adapted this celebration to its own faith. It introduced Mothering Sunday, kept on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Apprentices who lived away from home were given a day's leave to enable them to join their families for this special occasion. They did not come empty-handed, but brought with them a small gift for their mothers. Mostly, this was what came to be known as a "mothering cake," baked by themselves or, for them, by their employer.
The beautiful practice lapsed, and with it, for most people, the observance of Mothering Day. This was revived in its modern form, as \JMother's Day\j, only this century by the determination of one woman, who never was a mother herself.
She was an American, a minister's daughter - Anna Jarvis. Born in 1864 in Grafton, a small town in Western Virginia, she remained a spinster throughout her life. A teacher by profession and deeply devoted to her mother, she was all the more horrified to see adult children neglect their mothers. She made it her goal to change this attitude and indifference.
One day every year, she felt, should once again be set aside to pay tribute to all mothers, since theirs is the only love that asks for no return. To make her wish come true, she needed public support and the ear of the nation. She wondered how she could ever gain it, herself being an unknown, childless teacher.
At the suggestion of friends in Philadelphia, to which city she and her mother had moved, she started to write hundreds of letters to influential people in the community, and did so nationwide. She wrote to congressmen, clergymen, labor leaders, doctors, and mayors. As there was no one in the world who had no mother, she could appeal to everyone personally. Hers was a crusade for a noble cause.
A special, though sad, opportunity offered itself when her mother died. In her honor she arranged that services be held in churches both in Grafton and in Philadelphia. And this is how, on May 10, 1908, she launched the modern \JMother's Day\j. It was the second Sunday in May, a date which has never changed since. Because white carnations had been her mother's favorite flowers, she had them distributed at those very first services.
Her example, widely reported, caught people's imagination, and the letters she continued to write in ever greater number hit home. She and a group of followers that soon gathered around her knew how to get their message across. At times, they even used emotional \Jblackmail\j. Anyone who opposed the idea of a \JMother's Day\j, they said, just did not love his or her mother.
A private venture became a public campaign with politicians and administrators taking up the cause. In 1910, a proclamation by the Governor of Western Virginia introduced \JMother's Day\j in his state. Other states soon followed suit. Ultimately, on May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the official celebration of \JMother's Day\j throughout the United States. Just as Anna had done, it was to be kept on the second Sunday every May. In acknowledgment of her role in the establishment of this "red letter day," he invited her to read out the proclamation.
Adopting her practice as well, though slightly modifying it, Americans began to wear white carnations in memory of mothers who had passed away, and red ones to pay tribute to one's living mother. Soon presents were added, and the sending of greeting cards.
Meanwhile, a \JMother's Day\j International Association had done its work and, like wildfire, Miss Jarvis' dream came true all over the world. Business was not far behind, and, for its own purposes, publicized, and commercialized the celebration of the day.
As happens so often in life, the pioneer of all this was forgotten. While millions of dollars were made by taking advantage of her idea, Anna Jarvis, having used up her money to fight the commerialization of "her" day, became so poor that friends had to pay for her upkeep - in a nursing home where, having lost her eyesight, she spent the rest of her days.
She died in 1948, 84 years old - disillusioned. Her hope to see her \JMother's Day\j as a religious event, in the way she had started it, had not been realized. And yet, she would be happy to know that the day did not die with her, but has conquered the (Western) world.
#
"Mount Kembla",1512,0,0,0
At least three cemeteries, at Wollongong, Mount Kembla, and Cordeaux Heights, bear witness to the most devastating of all Australian mining disasters. It occurred at the Mount Kembla colliery on 31 July 1902.
Igniting coal gas caused the explosion. The mine tunnel collapsed and trapped all the men working underground. The engine house at the mouth of the pit was lifted into the air and then hurled to the ground and smashed to matchwood and iron shreds. The side of the mountain split, and all was chaos and a mass of ruins.
A frightening roar was heard all over the countryside and a cloud of coal-dust filled the air, mistaken in Wollongong for dense smoke. People living far away from the scene of the disaster believed that they were experiencing an \Jearthquake\j.
When the news reached Sydney, both houses of parliament were adjourned and special trains were despatched immediately to take medical teams and rescue parties to Mount Kembla.
Altogether 95 lives were lost. Four days after the explosion the last body was recovered and interred.
On the day of the funeral, the mountain road was jammed with mourners. A newspaper reporter, used to many a heart-rending sight, was deeply moved when he witnessed how "out of their homes by the roadside and from almost everywhere the coffins were carried."
The great number of dead, in fact, had created a problem. With only three hearses available, every type of vehicle was used to transport the bodies to their last resting place: heavy carts, light wagonettes, a dray, and a coach. Eleven coffins had to be carried over a distance of ten kilometres along mountain roads to the Wollongong Cemetery.
Nineteen of the miners, just as they had died together, were to share a common grave; either they were bachelors with no next of kin or their families were too poor to afford an individual burial.
In the afternoon the first interments took place. Because of the remoteness of some of the homes, at times eight funerals joined together in one long procession. As they did not arrive at the cemetery until the sun had set, the coffins were carried to the grave on the shoulders of the workmates of the dead by the light of candles and buggy lamps. There was hardly a single home which had not been struck by sorrow, and in one case five bodies were carried out of one house.
Most of those killed are buried in Mount Kembla's churchyard. Others rest in a small bush cemetery, higher up the road, at Cordeaux Heights. Each grave and the stone marking it is a vivid reminder of the tragedy. Henry and Sandy Morrison, for instance, were two brothers, 17 and 15 years of age, who died together in the explosion.
Some memorials are more explicit in voicing the sense of sudden loss. A verse on the epitaph for 20 year old George Russell thus tells how:
\IHe never thought his time so short,
In this world to remain,
Nor thought when from his home he went
That he'd never return again.\i
The most conspicuous of all the monuments in the Mount Kembla churchyard is a tall \Jobelisk\j. Though inscribed with many names of others victims, it was erected to honor the memory of Major McCabe. It was not because of his status that he was so singled out, but because of the way in which he died. He lost his life in his attempt to save lives.
Immediately after the explosion had occurred, he and Mr McMurray, another expert in the field, rushed to the mine to enter it with the rescue party. Soon deadly monoxide fumes enveloped them. Aware of their fatal effect, McCabe commanded the party to go back at once. He himself collapsed. When the men tried to carry him out, realizing that he would be too much of a burden, he resisted and made them leave him behind. So he died, as did McMurray.
Their bodies were retrieved from the shambles two hours later. In acknowledgment of his self-sacrifice, Major McCabe was given a separate military funeral. Thousands of spectators lined the streets of Wollongong to pay their last respect.
The Mount Kembla mining disaster is recalled by an annual memorial service.
#
"Mountaineering and Science",1513,0,0,0
Extensive records exist of the history-making \Jmountaineering\j efforts of two Swiss professors in the middle of the sixteenth century. Their motivation was primarily scientific research.
Professor Conrad Gesner of Zurich was an eminent naturalist who, to further his botanical studies, ascended the nearby Alps. It was an experience he never forgot and which, in fact, spurred him to further exploits. ln a letter to a friend in 1541 he spoke of his resolution "so long as God grants me life, to climb mountains every year, or at least one . . . partly for botanical observation, partly for the proper exercise of the body and the delight of the mind."
Indeed, Gesner was among the first to realize and express in so many words the joys and gratification \Jmountaineering\j could give by gaining new knowledge, invigorating the body, and exhilarating the spirit: "What must be pleasure, think you . . . to gaze upon the huge mountain masses and, as it were, lift one's head into the clouds? The mind is strangely agitated by the amazing heights and carried away to a contemplation of the great Architect of the Universe." It was equally wonderful after the climb to recall all its toil and its dangers and to talk of them to one's friends.
Professor Josias Simler, Gesner's successor, continued his predecessor's scientific work as well as his exploration of the mountains. His was the first book ever to be published (in 1574) on the Alps, and his \ICommentary\i included the first practical advice "concerning the difficulties of \Jalpine\j travel and the means by which they may be overcome." In fact, it is the earliest treatise on the craft of \Jmountaineering\j. It recorded the experience of crossing glaciers and the use of ropes, the Alpenstock, and darkened glasses to protect the eyes against snow \Jblindness\j. Simler was also the first to mention climbing boots which, "resembling the shoes of horses, with three sharp spikes," enabled mountaineers to counteract the slipperiness of the ice and to stand firmly.
No doubt, the professors' example and enthusiasm inspired their students to take up the craft. They formed themselves into a \Jmountaineering\j group, adopting the sound ideas explained in their teacher's \ICommentary.\i
None of those climbing the mountains, for whatever reason, could fail to acquire a love and a longing for \Jmountaineering\j for its own sake. That is how, eventually, \Jmountaineering\j became a sport - undertaken just for the love of it.
At first, of course, attempts at conquering peaks were very sporadic. No mountain was then viewed with greater awe than \JMont Blanc\j. In 1760, Horace Benedict de Saussure, a naturalist and physicist of Geneva, offered a reward to the first man to conquer its summit. As no one came forward to make an attempt, he renewed the offer two years later. However, it was only in 1786 that Michel Gabriel Paccard, a country doctor and hunter from Chamonix, succeeded in climbing \JMont Blanc\j. His feat became one of the most important events in the history of \Jmountaineering\j and led to its becoming a vogue.
The ablest of men took it up, sharing Dr Paccards' view that "the desire of ascending the highest part of remarkably elevated land is so natural to every man." What had been an exotic pastime gradually grew into a recognized sport followed without any ulterior motive, not as a means to an end, but for itself alone. The \JJungfrau\j was climbed in 1811 and the Wetterhorn in 1854 by Mr (later Sir) Alfred Wills, a climb which, it is generally held, inaugurated the Golden Age of British \Jmountaineering\j.
#
"Mourning Band",1514,0,0,0
The wearing of a black band around the left sleeve as a sign of mourning in British countries is now reserved to military forces on the death of a monarch, or at funerals. Once, it was a common expression of grief.
The custom is a survival from the days of chivalry, when the Sovereign Lady used to tie a scarf around the arm of her chosen Knight. She did so to bind him symbolically to serve her. Nothing would make him part with the cloth.
Eventually, a black band became a token of a man's loyalty to the departed, with whom he was linked forever, even beyond the portals of death. The days of chivalry passed but their insignia of devotion thus remained.
#
"Mourning Widow",1515,0,0,0
A once popular expression of grief by a wife bereft of her husband, perpetuated as it were in stone, was the sculptured relief of the widow, shown mournfully kneeling in front of an urn. Rather surprisingly, the symbol is not used to depict a widower's sorrow.
#
"Mr",1516,0,0,0
Most men enjoy flattery and would resent to be relegated to a status inferior to their real position. Recognizing this fact of life and to avoid offense, the practice developed, in case of doubt, to elevate a person by giving him a title of courtesy. If it did not apply, it was still far better than doing the contrary. This, surprisingly, is the origin of our present-date so-ordinary "Mr." Originally, in Roman days, it stood for \Imagister,\i the "Master." He has been truly reduced in value and cut short, and in his modern abbreviation (in the form of address) has lost all former glory.
#
"Muckraking",1517,0,0,0
Heads of state and politicians have left their mark in many ways. President Theodore Roosevelt has the distinction that, apart from making valuable contributions to his own country, he gave the English-speaking world a new word - "muckraking."
He first used it in a dinner speech to the Washington Gridiron Club, on April 14, 1906, in which he discussed the writers who had set themselves the task to expose corruption in public places. An essential mission, they could pursue it responsibly and with the welfare of the nation in mind. However, there was also the danger of sensation-mongers who for the sake of publicity and to create a scandal, besmirched innocent people's names by making unsubstantiated charges. Roosevelt admitted that "the men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the well-being of society." He qualified his statement by adding, "but only if they know when to stop raking the muck."
His muckraking \Jmetaphor\j soon caught people's imagination. It gained wide currency and became part of the vocabulary. Roosevelt had not invented the word but, as he himself explained, merely adapted it from John Bunyan's \IThe Pilgrim's Progress\i (first published in 1678). In this popular \Jallegory\j of a dream, Bunyan portrayed the encounter with a peculiar sort of man. He could look no way but downwards and had a muck-rake in his hands. With it, he "raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and dust of the floor," all the filth.
#
"Mud in Your Eye",1518,0,0,0
Of the many toasts given prior to taking a drink, "mud in your eye" seems least clear. But it makes sense, if all the circumstances are considered. The drinker is meant not merely to sip from the glass, but to empty it in one go. The sediment resting at the bottom could easily be compared to mud. Hence, if the drinker truly downed his drink, he would eventually be holding the glass upside down, with the (muddy) dregs falling into his eyes.
#
"Mufti and Religion",1519,0,0,0
When, off duty, military personnel change into civilian clothes, we say that they wear "\Jmufti\j." In doing so, we unknowingly use an honorific name for a type of dress. \IMufti\i was the title given to a \JMoslem\j theologian and religious leader, a scholar of the Koran and the laws of \JIslam\j. He was a familiar figure to British soldiers serving in India.
During that time of British rule, it so happened that one day army friends saw one of the officers wearing civilian clothes which were not English-tailored, but of the local style. To them, he looked very much like one of the \JMoslem\j muftis. They told him so in front of others, and their observation did not go unnoticed. In fact, it caught on and - the peculiar circumstances of its adoption into English forgotten - \Imufti\i took on its present-day meaning, devoid of any religious significance.
#
"Mug Shot",1520,0,0,0
A mug shot is generally associated with photographs taken by the police for the identification of suspects or criminals.
The term owes its existence to drinking mugs. Made of ceramic, they used to portray faces, usually with distorted features. A ruffian's mien often reminded people of those grotesque mugs.
There is also a suggestion that the "mug" literally means a "face." From the Sanskrit root \Imukha,\i gypsies had adopted the word in India and, after adapting it to their tongue, brought it to the western world.
#
"Mum's the Word",1521,0,0,0
"Mum's the word" is said to people if they are expected to keep what is being told them strictly secret. It has nothing to do with one's mum.
It has been thought that mum is all that is left of mumbling. Those who mumble cannot be understood. Anything confided to them almost inevitably remains undisclosed.
More feasible is a physiological explanation. To produce the "m" sound, the lips have to be compressed. Consequently, when one "m" follows another, the mouth remains shut. Trying to duplicate the "m," nothing is said. In the attempt to voice the inexpressible - "mum's the word."
As with many other everyday phrases, here, too, credit must be given - at least for its popularization - to Shakespeare. In \IHenry VI (Part II),\i one of his characters counsels, "Seal up your lips, and give no words but mum."
#
"Mumbo Jumbo",1522,0,0,0
Tracing the origins of the occult and of all its phenomena, it is only right to investigate also the terms used to discredit its practices. It was said that such practices were not genuine, but were aimed at exploiting people's credulity. They were a meaningless and pretentious ritual. In fact, a mere "Mumbo Jumbo."
Mumbo Jumbo comes from the western \JSudan\j in Africa. This at least is the claim of Mungo Park, the explorer-writer who was Sir Walter Scott's friend. He gives details about its birth in his \ITravels in the Interior of Africa,\i published in 1799.
Mumbo Jumbo certainly was make-believe - but for a very valid reason. A husband had been greatly irritated by the constant chatter and irresponsible talk of one of his wives. This had caused such dissension at home that he was determined to silence her to re-establish the sorely needed peace and harmony.
As, apparently, his own word carried no weight, he deviously employed a bogey, the guardian of their tribe and its territory (\JSenegal\j), known as Mama Dyumbo.
Mama Dyumbo was also regarded as their ancestral spirit, reflected in its very name which in their \Jdialect\j meant "the ancestor" \I(Mama)\i with a "pompon" \I(Dyumbo).\i It is not certain whether the husband himself or a good friend impersonated the god. Whoever it was did a good job. Whether spouse or confederate, he distinctly displayed a tuft of feathers - the pompon - on the front of his head-dress. His face was disguised by a mask. To scare the woman out of her wits, he accompanied his appearance with a terrifying, hideous noise.
Going beyond a display, the (apparent) god stripped the culprit naked and tied her to a tree to give her a sound beating that she would never forget. The entire performance was gleefully watched by the members of their tribe, who gave vent to their feelings by appropriate jeers, and added their contribution to make it an even more "memorable" occasion.
There is another claim which does not identify the original Mumbo Jumbo with the impersonated god. It alleges that Mumbo Jumbo actually grew out of the earth and was the name of the tree \I(mama jombo)\i which served as a whipping post for the obstreperous, trouble-making woman.
No doubt, in a male-dominated society it was all done to keep a woman strictly in her place and to warn off other potential trouble makers. It would teach them to toe the (male) line and never again threaten the men's peaceful existence. And with all the disguise, noise, and chastising, the woman learned her lesson, and any other unruly wife henceforth was doubly careful to mind her words.
Through Mungo Park, Mama Dyumbo became universalized and, somehow corrupted on western tongues, grew into Mumbo Jumbo: a figure of terror became a figure of speech.
It is well to note how the Mumbo Jumbo in its original form - in spite of all its deceit and unreality - is said to have achieved the desired effect. Opponents and critics of the occult may well agree that even what appears as spurious data, nevertheless might produce significant results.
#
"Murder Victim",1523,0,0,0
No further explanation is necessary of the tragic death of an army captain, laid to rest on a hill at Port Macquarie. The words on the marble plaque fixed to his grave give all the relevant information:
\ISacred to the Memory of
JAMES VAUGHN.
of Captain Alliman's 48th Regt.
Who died 24th November 1823.
of a Gunshot Wound Received
While trying to capture escaped convicts
Aged 23 Years.\i
#
"Murdered by 'Captain Starlight'",1524,0,0,0
An \Jobelisk\j, ornamented with shamrocks and a \Jfrieze\j of darts and eggs (the classical motif of death and \Jresurrection\j), marks the grave of John McCabe in the Bourke Cemetery. Senior constable in the \JNew South Wales\j police force, he died on 1 November 1868, as the inscription on the monument tells:
\IFrom the effects of
Wounds received
Whilst courageously
Performing his duty in
Endeavoring to apprehend
An Armed Bushranger\i
Once again, the killer is not identified. He was "Captain Starlight," who was the first bushranger in this remote area of \JNew South Wales\j. When he bailed up the hotel in Enngonia, by mere chance the constable and another trooper were inside! When they tried to arrest him, Starlight got the upper hand and mortally wounded McCabe who died a week later in Bourke.
Starlight managed to escape, though he was captured soon afterwards. Strangely, he was to die, accidentally, by his own hand in Perth; whilst intoxicated, he swallowed the entire contents of a bottle of \Jcyanide\j!
"Captain Starlight," of course, was the most famous of the many aliases Frank Pearson, born in London in 1837, assumed after his arrival in \JAustralia\j around 1866. There were several explanations he gave for his rank of Captain. To some he said that he was made a captain as a member of the Russian Tzar's bodyguard. Others were told that he had earned the distinction whilst serving in the British army.
The reason for a thick leather band he always wore around one of his wrists, he said, was to cover up an old wound he had received in battle. Much more likely, it was to hide the scars left from long periods spent in irons!
#
"Muse",1525,0,0,0
To \Imuse\i nowadays means to "reflect," mostly in silence, on any topic. To begin with, however, such contemplation was specifically confined to questions that concerned art, literature and music, all subjects connected with the \JMuses\j, and hence divine.
#
"Music in Pubs and the Music Hall",1526,0,0,0
In their radical pursuit of the purification of religion from anything they viewed as unscriptural and corrupt, the Puritans paid special attention to the form church services took. Apart from the communal singing of psalms and hymns, they held that all other music was improper, and banned the playing of an organ.
The banished instrument, then, was widely offered for sale, and frequently picked up at rock-bottom prices by English innkeepers. They realized that musical entertainment at night would attract more customers. In no time, organ recitals became a welcome feature in the taverns, and the music all the more resented by the Puritans. Visitors from abroad wondered how an instrument once used to praise God, should now be employed to give enjoyment to revellers.
Time passed and, eventually, in the nineteenth century, this "take-over" from the Church led to the creation of the modern music hall.
#
"Music, Museums and Mosaics",1527,0,0,0
\IMusic, museums\i and even \Imosaics\i share a common ancestry in old-time religion. They are called after the sacred \JMuses\j, Zeus' daughters, who were the goddesses of inspiration. Numbering nine, each of them presided over one specific form of art or knowledge, such as comedy, tragedy, choral and religious dance, Iyric and amorous poetry, as well as history and \Jastronomy\j.
All that the word \Imusic\i signifies is that the art it names "belongs to the \JMuses\j;" it derives from the Greek \Imousike. Mosaic\i tells the same story, only slightly differently: the tessellated designs it refers to are "of the \JMuses\j," in Greek, \Imouseios.\i
Originally, a museum, meaning the "home of the \JMuses\j," was a shrine or grove dedicated to them. The \JMuses\j were thought to dwell also in famous springs and fountains. This explains why we still speak of "the fountain of knowledge" and "the springs of inspiration" - expressions which are thus more than mere figures of speech.
No wonder that music was regarded almost worldwide as a link to the eternal and divine. In fact, the first known musical contests were held as an act of religious devotion in the amphitheater of Apollo's temple, coinciding with the Pan-Hellenic athletic games.
The first museum which was more than a place of worship was established in 280 B.C. by Ptolemy I Soter. It was situated in Alexandria, \JEgypt\j, then a world center of scholarship and research. Though still built in honor of the \JMuses\j - like a temple to them - it now also served men of learning as a kind of university. It also contained a large library and - the first example of a museum's modern use - displayed a collection of rare specimens of animals and plants that Ptolemy had gathered from all over the then known world.
#
"Muu-Muu",1528,0,0,0
Religion has contributed much to life and at times in ways most unexpected. The Hawaiian muu-muu was the gift of \JBoston\j missionaries to the island race! When, in 1820, they reached Hawaii, the missionaries were shocked to see the native women walk about almost naked. To the Christian mind their "nudity" was synonymous with immorality.
They were determined almost prior to teaching the Hawaiians the words of the Gospel, to make the women cover their naked bodies. The missionaries' wives undertook this task. With the help of a very primitive sewing machine, they instructed the Hawaiian women in sewing for themselves a sack dress. Standing next to the native women, they told them exactly when to "Go" and when to "Stop." And as in their Hawaiian tongue \Iholo\i meant "go" and \Iku\i was "stop," the natives first called the dress by the combination of these two directions - the \Iholo-ku.\i This was the forerunner both in style and name of the present-day muu-muu.
#
"Mysterious Origin of the Tarot",1529,0,0,0
The story of the origin of \Jtarot\j cards is as enigmatic as their meaning. One claim asserts that they were the surviving leaves from the ancient Egyptian \IBook of Thoth\i which had been brought from the Nile valley to Europe by gypsies, those experts in magic and mystics. But there is no substantiation of this theory. \JTarot\j cards certainly existed prior to the arrival of the Bohemians, by which name gypsies were frequently called.
Others traced the tarots to the \JHebrew\j Kabbalah or to thirteenth century \JArabs\j. \JLeonardo da Vinci\j, that great genius in so many spheres, has also been credited with their invention. People loathing "cards" and all they stood for in gambling and fortune telling, honestly believed (and stated) that they were the creation of the devil. Going to the other extreme, enthusiastic card-diviners discovered in the tarots the ancient "tablets" which the Hebrews consulted in their quest for divine guidance. Still others linked them with astrological and numerological pursuits.
It is most likely however (and can be supported by much evidence) that the cards - as so much of our civilization - were first designed in the East. They were certainly known in China before 1000 A.D. The cards then carried pictures from the domino game and from chess, and were produced in oblong and circular shapes of wood, ivory, plant fiber, or even metal. Card packs existed in India and in \JPersia\j early on, each with their individual features. And it was from the Far East that cards eventually reached the \JMiddle East\j. From there they were taken, like so many other Oriental practices and traditions, by the Crusaders to the West, where, Europeanized, they soon caught on.
It has been suggested that the Crusaders had concealed their arcane employment and had done so with very good reason. They had to avoid persecution by anti-occult authorities. Therefore they specially stressed the cards' entertainment value. The cards were described as a splendid device for amusement and gambling. According to one strange tradition, the "original" purpose of their introduction into Europe was due to the wish to help concubines pass their time during their "off hours."
Tarot cards, as they now exist, stem from fourteenth-century \JItaly\j. (An Italian Renaissance game was actually known as \ITarrochini.)\i From there they found their way all over the continent to be used both for amusement and \Jdivination\j.
Like the origin of the \Jtarot\j cards, their very name is shrouded in mystery. Opinions still greatly vary as to what or who gave them their peculiar designation.
Those linking this type of fortune telling with the gypsy race, discover in the \Jtarot\j the Hungarian gypsy word \Itar,\i itself derived from the ancient Hindustani \Itaru.\i Very much to the point, this merely said of it what it really was - "a pack of cards."
A grid of lines that once marked the back of the \Jtarot\j cards was the origin of its name according to another hypothesis. Either plain or dotted, straight lines crossed each other diagonally, thereby forming a shape described in French as \ItarotΘe.\i And it was this simple pattern "on the other side" which had been responsible for the name of the \Jtarot\j.
Other authorities discovered a Hittite root in the word. \ITarrh\i in ancient \JMesopotamia\j was the name of the mysterious "force" which controlled life. The \Jtarot\j therefore was said to speak of the "powerful" one.
Those who condemned the cards as evil and devilish had their own derivations to offer. \JTarot\j recalled, some said, the god Tar. A member of the Egyptian pantheon, his dominion was the netherworld which made him fiendish and unfriendly. Hence his name would be the perfect choice for cards that in all they did proved equally inimical to man.
Unconvincing, though sharing the same attitude and location is the suggestion of those who saw the Greek \ITartaros\i as the source of the \Jtarot\j. This infernal region abounded with devilish spirits and was apt to lend its name to the cards.
Sylvia Mann in her \ICollecting Playing Cards\i links the cards to a geographical site. She points to the fact that the tarots were first popularized in the north Italian valley of the \JTarot\j river, a tributary of the Po. And it is a common occurrence indeed in the phenomenon of word-making that an object, profession, or person is called after the very city or region of their first appearance. And why should not something that applies to the Hamburger (from \JHamburg\j), Frankfurter (from Frankfurt) and, in another sense, "milliner" (from Milan), have given rise as well to the \Jtarot\j card?
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"Mystery",1530,0,0,0
From ancient religious rites stems all that is "mysterious" in life, from situations that puzzle us to a mystery novel which keeps us spell-bound.
The first mysteries were celebrated at Eleusis as practices of a most sacred \Jcult\j, from which the general public was excluded. Only the initiated were admitted to the rites, and they had to swear a sacred oath to keep their lips sealed about the rituals in which they were to participate. This religious obligation to keep a "closed-mouth" was expressed in Greek as \Imystes,\i which is why we now describe anything obscure as a \Imystery.\i
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"Mystery of Death",1531,0,0,0
Death is one of the great mysteries that have always occupied people's minds. Is it \Jextinction\j, or a portal to a higher level of consciousness? There is more to death than modern science can yet suggest or even conjecture.
And just as death itself has mystified, so have many circumstances linked with it, for many reasons. In cemeteries, there are some intriguing examples of how the deceased can, from their grave, encourage questions.
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"Naked Truth",1532,0,0,0
Cynics may find special significance in the fact that "the naked truth" is the product of a \Jfable\j!
Told in ancient \JRome\j and related in the works of Horace, it spoke of both "Truth" and "Falsehood" going for a swim. Taking off their clothes, they jumped into the river.
They did not stay together for long. Falsehood got out of the water first. Stealing Truth's garments, she dressed in them, leaving hers behind. When, eventually, Truth left the river and discovered that her clothes were missing, she refused to don those of Falsehood. She preferred to remain naked and go forth into the world as the "naked truth."
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"Names of the Days",1533,0,0,0
\ISunday\i recalls the early worship of the sun. It was only in the fourth century that the Church declared it a holy day. As it was the day of Christ's \Jresurrection\j it was to replace the celebration of the Jewish Sabbath.
\IMonday\i is the moon's day. It is dedicated to the lunar deity, whose memory is also perpetuated in the word "month," which is derived from "moon."
\ITuesday\i honors Tiu or Tiw, the Norse god of war. He corresponds to the Roman Mars who, faring rather better, is commemorated by an entire month - the month of March.
\IWednesday\i is Wodan's day. Its name offers an interesting example of the phenomenon of metathesis - the transposition in the order of letters. Strictly, the day should be known as "Wedensday." Woden, better known as Odin, was the god of storms. He welcomed brave warriors to \JValhalla\j and rewarded their valor by providing them with the pleasure they most desired while on earth. He was the father of Thor and husband of Frigga.
\IThursday\i is Thor's day. The oldest son of Odin and Frigga, he was the Norse god of thunder and \Jlightning\j. Appropriately, he is portrayed with a hammer and an iron glove, the latter enabling him so much more easily to throw his bolts. He was also worshiped as the god who brought good luck and, accordingly, his images were carved on houses and ships.
\IFriday\i is called after Frigga, the Norse goddess of love, marriage, and fertility, and counterpart of the Roman Venus. The only female deity in the sequence of days, she was chosen, it has been said, mainly to pacify her feelings of neglect. After all, as the preceding days bore the names of her husband and her son, it seemed only reasonable to include her too.
\ISaturday\i is the day of Saturn, the Roman god of sowing who is commemorated as well in the festival of the Saturnalia. His presence in the nomenclature of days links the worship of a planet to that of the sun and moon.
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"Naming of the Clock",1534,0,0,0
We owe the name of the clock to religious practice.
Experience has shown that the progress of \Jmechanization\j alienates man ever more from his God. But not so in the case of the clock. It is now believed that the earliest mechanized time-keepers were invented specifically to help people in saying their prayers.
Once, prayers belonged to everyday life and were a regular habit. It was not left to the individual to worship whenever the spirit moved him which, after all, might never be. A ritual had to take place at the appropriate hour and a service had to be held at the right moment. That applied especially to those who had dedicated their lives to God - monks and nuns.
How could they know that the hour had come for devotion, particularly after nightfall? A clock that struck the hour was the answer. Thus the chiming of bells became part of the first mechanical clocks. The discipline of monastic orders, and not necessities of civil life, brought the modern striking-clock into being. Actually, the earliest models indicated the time not visually, but audibly, by means of bells.
The French word for bell is \Icloche.\i That is how, from the regulated and properly chimed hours of worship, and through the French tongue, we received the name for our clock.
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"Naming of the Pacific Ocean",1535,0,0,0
There is nothing particularly peaceful about the \JPacific Ocean\j, a name it certainly does not merit. It has been the scene of many ferocious naval battles. Storms and hurricanes ravaging its waters, have wrecked many a ship and drowned countless sailors.
When (in 1520-22) Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer, undertook his history-making first circumnavigation of the world, he did so from east to west. After passing through the wild and stormy waters that divided the southernmost tip of the Latin American mainland from Tierra del Fuego, he entered a sea that - in comparison - seemed calm and serene. The contrast was so great that he called it the "peaceful ocean" - "the Pacific" - from the Latin \Ipacificus.\i It was a \Jpacific ocean\j only relatively speaking.
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"Narcotics: Origin",1536,0,0,0
The name of "\Jnarcotics\j" goes back to Greek \Jmythology\j and is linked with the figure of \JNarcissus\j. A youth of extraordinary beauty, he was passionately loved by the nymph Echo. But he did not return her feelings and, in fact, ignored her approaches. This hurt her deeply. In spite of the rebuff, she could not forget him. She pined away till, finally, nothing was left of her, except her voice, her echo!
In punishment, the gods caused \JNarcissus\j to suffer an even more cruel fate. They made him fall in love with his own reflection in the water. It was a futile yearning and, doomed from the outset, bound to end in tragedy. One day, \JNarcissus\j, enamored with his image in a pool, leaned over too far, fell into the water and drowned. After his passing, the gods changed his body into a flower, now called after him, \JNarcissus\j. Properties contained in some of its species, can produce numbness and sleep. Drugs derived from them, recognizing their source, bear the name of \Jnarcotics\j.
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"Nation of Shopkeepers",1537,0,0,0
It is generally assumed that to show his contempt for the English, Napoleon had called them "a nation of shopkeepers," and this description has been quoted many a time as the emperor's "original" observation. In reality, he did not coin the phrase which can be traced back to a political treatise by Josiah Tucker which appeared in 1766, three years before Napoleon was born! Whether he ever used it himself is a matter of conjecture.
Napoleon had studied Adam Smith's \IWealth of Nations,\i a work in which the Scottish economist discussed whether "to found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers" was a project fit only for "a nation of shopkeepers." It has been suggested that Smith had culled the relevant phrase from Tucker's pamphlet and that - in turn - Napoleon could have quoted Smith, applying the words to the British.
However, the only authentic record of Napoleon ever having thought of the English as a nation of shopkeepers comes from his doctor. He recollects in his \INapoleon in Exile\i or \IA Voice from St Helena\i a conversation in which the exiled emperor had expressed agreement with a Corsican patriot's opinion to that effect.
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"National Association of Professional Baseball Players",1538,0,0,0
In 1857, amateur clubs joined together in the National Association of \JBaseball\j Players, which produced the first uniform rules. They stipulated that a batsman was out when a batted ball was caught either in the air or on the first bounce. The length of a game was fixed at nine innings.
In 1869, Harry Wright organized the first professional \Jbaseball\j team in which regular salaries were paid to the players. This was certainly a revolutionary - and ardently criticized - step at the time. In 1871, the National Association of Professional \JBaseball\j Players was established in New York. It was also on Wright's instructions that the first knee-length uniforms were designed by a local dressmaker for the \JCincinnati\j Red Stockings. A mask was worn for the first time in 1875. To John Montgomery Ward belongs the courageous innovation (he ignored possible public ridicule of what was a novel fashion) of wearing a glove on the fielding hand.
No one, it seemed, could escape the fascination of playing \Jbaseball\j or watching it being played, not even the future President Abraham Lincoln. It is said that when a delegation of politicians called on him to inform him of his nomination for the presidency, he was engaged in a game himself and kept the men waiting until he had had another chance to make a base hit.
\JBaseball\j became more and more an integral part of the American way of life. Its vivid slang and terminology entered everyday speech. This even includes the "giving (or taking) of a rain check." It originated, so it is said, in the custom of issuing spectators with a ticket for another game if the \Jbaseball\j match for which they had paid was interrupted or canceled because of rain.
Indicative of the magnetism of the sport that no one could resist was this poem, printed in the \IOfficial Base Ball Record\i of 1886:
\I'In court,' says the card on the lawyer's door,
'Back in ten minutes', on many more;
'Gone to \Jhospital\j,' on the doctor's slate,
On another, 'Sit down and wait,'
'Gone to the bank,' on the notary's sign;
'\JArbitration\j,' that young clerk of mine.
'Back soon,' on the broker's book;
'Collecting rents,' on my agent's hook.
They were all too busy, a matter quite new.
Very sorry was I, I had nothing to do.
Then I hied me hands to the \Jbaseball\j ground,
And every man on the grand stand found.\i
Henry Chadwick, whose view had been so prominent in the controversy on the origin of the sport, became known as "the father of \Jbaseball\j." He originated the box score, and his extensive knowledge of \Jbaseball\j and his unsurpassed love of it made him the most reliable source of information and an \Japostle\j of the American game.
The origins of many sports can be traced back to early religious rites or magic. \JBaseball\j, however, presents almost a picture in reverse. Started in the streets and on the greens of hamlets and towns as a pastime of young lads, it became almost a \Jcult\j, with all the paraphernalia of devout religion. It created its own myth and a gospel which though proven wrong, is still believed by many and fervently quoted. It built a shrine to which thousands of people make a pilgrimage to gaze reverently at numerous relics, assembled, and preserved almost with awe.
Its heroes are not only lionized but idolized, in the original and not merely metaphorical meaning of the word. Like the saints of old, the heroes are "enshrined" and worshipped as immortals of a game which is played and watched with a devotion and zest experienced elsewhere only in the realm of religious faith.
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"National Symbols in the Cemetery",1539,0,0,0
Sometimes the homeland of a deceased person is remembered and perpetuated on the headstone, particularly so in the case of Australians of Irish and Scottish descent. Their national emblem is often proudly displayed on their graves.
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"Nativity Scene",1540,0,0,0
The crib, representing the manger in which the baby Jesus Christ was laid after his birth in a stable in \JBethlehem\j, has became a favorite Christmas decoration. For centuries it has been used to bring the Christmas story to life.
Francis of Assisi, who was renowned for his love of animals, instituted the custom of the nativity scene. After receiving permission from the Pope, he erected the first one during the Christmas of 1224 in a cave outside the Italian town of Greccio. It was not the modern type of crib or crΩche (its alternate name from the Old French) nor was it a crafted model - but a live scene. A friend, John Velita, supplied Francis with a manger, straw and animals. It was a novel and eye-catching way to celebrate the memory of the child who was born in \JBethlehem\j. When people gathered to view the spectacle, Francis stood in front of the manger and recited the Gospel relating to the scene; then he delivered a sermon.
Francis of Assisi's idea certainly caught the public's imagination. Today, nativity scenes with the figures of Joseph, Mary and the three wise men along with an ox and an ass, have become popular throughout the Christian world. Models of every kind and size have replaced the idea of a live spectacle. Some communities, however, recalling St Francis' first manger, have once again started to dramatize the nativity scene with costumed actors and, at times, even a real baby.
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"Naval Customs",1541,0,0,0
The tradition of the sea has widely and deeply influenced the English way of life and nautical terms and customs abound in our everyday talk and habits.
People who try "to make both ends meet" most probably do not realize that they are speaking in nautical terms. Many centuries ago, some frugal owners of sailing vessels were unwilling to replace broken ropes. They had the torn ends pulled together and spliced. Thus, by making both (of their) ends meet, they saved money.
Many people wonder why a ship is referred to as a "she." The explanation is that it was customary in early days to dedicate a new ship to a goddess, under whose protection she sailed. The ship carried the deity's carved image on her bow not as a decoration, as later generations imagined, but as an aid to finding the way.
Many customs and phrases "sail under false colors." Beneath their present meaning they hide surprising facts. It is well, therefore, "to know the ropes" (once there were hundreds of them on board ship) and to "fathom" how it all started.
Consider the pilot. Navigating vessels safely into port, he received his name from the fact that he did so without use of the \Ipeil-loth,\i the lead-line.
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"Navvy",1542,0,0,0
Men, first employed to build canals criss-crossing Britain, were nicknamed navvies. It was the shortened form of their original description of navigators, a name given to them as, to begin with, the canals were known as "navigations."
The construction of the 365 miles (550 kilometers) of canals was supervised by James Brindley (1716-72), a prominent engineer. A real expert in his profession, he used neither written calculations nor drawings. A self-taught man, his spelling left much room for improvement. Whenever writing of his laborers, he misspelled their name as navvy-gators. Doing heavy work, they like to quench their thirsts with lots of drink. Rather rough fellows with uncouth manners, people came to fear them. All that is left now of those pioneer "navigators" is the navvy, a remnant of a significant chapter in the history of English communications and a famous engineer's \Jilliteracy\j.
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"Navy Blue",1543,0,0,0
It was through a woman, so the story goes, that British sailors came to wear their navy blue uniforms.
British naval officers used to meet socially at the popular Will's \JCoffee\j House in London, and it goes without saying that they then talked about topics of mutual interest. At one such gathering (in 1745), they discussed the lack of uniforms, with every sailor wearing clothes of his own choice. All present agreed on the need of an official naval dress, already introduced by other nations. They sent a petition to this effect to the Admiralty, which immediately responded by inviting a number of selected officers to submit suggestions.
Several were received, among them one of a gray uniform with red trimmings. The eventual choice of blue and white, it is said, was due to King \JGeorge II\j in whose hands lay the final decision. The story is told that at the time, he had felt deep affection for the Duchess of Bedford, the wife of the First Lord of the Admiralty. Watching her on horseback, he admired her blue and white riding habit and on the spur of the moment made up his mind that these were the right colors for his navy as well.
Another version differs slightly. This claims that the Lord of the Admiralty himself had favored the blue and the white. Knowing however that he could not introduce the colors without royal consent, he had resorted to a devious scheme. Well aware of the king's feelings towards his wife he had persuaded her to wear the blue and white outfit. The king fell for the trick, with the inevitable result for the British navy.
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"Nebuta Festival",1544,0,0,0
\BA Festival to Ward off Sleep\b
The Japanese are renowned for their innate industriousness. Few people, therefore, would regard it necessary for them to reserve an entire day (in the first week of August) to invoke the help of \Jsupernatural\j powers to prevent them going slack in their work. But this was the original meaning and purpose of the Nebuta Festival. Held prior to the beginning of the rice crop, it was intended to ward off sleepiness during the gathering of the grain.
On all other festive occasions, the floats used are dismantled at the end of the feast and their parts are carefully stored away to be reassembled in the following year. Not so at the Nebuta Festival. On its conclusion, the floats are cast into the river, in the hope that its waters will carry them out to sea and, with them, take away the spirit of sleep. This final ceremony became known as "the washing away [of] sleep."
Another explanation traces the origin of the feast to a ninth-century rebellion in the far-off northernmost part of \JHonshu\j. The region was isolated from the imperial centre and the number of troops stationed there was insufficient to quell the uprising. So the emperor employed a ruse. He had dummy figures of soldiers placed along a line. Unaware that these were not real, the rebels felt greatly outnumbered, and surrendered.
In commemoration of this bloodless victory, processions are held every year on its anniversary. They include figures of colossal size, carried on men's shoulders or on carts. Made of papier-mΓchΘ on a framework of \Jbamboo\j and wire, the giant dolls (called \INebuta)\i measure up to 65 feet (20 m) in width and 35 feet (10.5 m) in height.
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"Needlework and Eyesight",1545,0,0,0
Incorrectly it was thought that fine needlework would ruin the eyesight. All it can do is to tire the eyes.
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"Nepotism",1546,0,0,0
What modern colloquialism calls "jobs for the boys" is not a new phenomenon. Already, centuries ago, there were people in authority who, when making appointments to lucrative positions, gave preference to members of their family without regard to seniority, ability, or qualifications. That their favoritism became known as nepotism reflected their close relationship to those chosen to hold office. The term is derived from the Italian for "nephew" (nepote), a designation once also used generally for close relatives.
The coinage of the term goes back to Pope Alexander VI, notorious for his abuse of power. After his elevation to the papal throne in 1492, he distributed the most influential ecclesiastical offices to his nephews and other members of his family. One of his nephews, for instance, was appointed cardinal, while he made Cesare, his own son, then a mere youth of 16 (and born to him by a Roman lady prior to his assuming the papal office), \Jarchbishop\j.
It did not take long to secularize the abuse and for it to become a common, unfortunate feature in almost every walk of life, practised by people who lack integrity in positions of power.
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"Nero's Fiddling",1547,0,0,0
Nero's vanity, cruelty, and extravagance made him a most disliked emperor. Scandalous stories about his personal life circulated and grew in the telling. It is not surprising therefore that a man who was so unpopular, if not hated, was wrongly accused of fiendish acts he never committed. It is not true that (in A.D. 64), "Nero fiddled while \JRome\j burnt."
Nero could never have done so. The violin did not exist at the time. It dates back to as late as the sixteenth century! Those realizing the anachronism suggested that, if not the violin, he had played the Iyre. It is an invented story prompted by the antagonism of Nero's foes. That it gained currency and was accepted as historic was, no doubt due to the fact that it seemed to epitomize Nero's depravity so well. After all, it implied that Nero rejoiced in the devastating disaster, in which countless victims were burned to death.
Actually, the emperor was not even in the city at the outbreak of the fire. At the time he was almost 75 kilometers away, in his villa at Antium. In spite of it, he was accused of having started the conflagration. Some said that he had done so to create a scene very similar to what Troy must have looked like in flames. In his perversion, it had served him as a most ghoulish background to sing an aria from his own opera on \IThe Fall of Troy.\i Others asserted that his intention was much more practical. He wanted to clear the vast ground of the city, to be able to realize his masterplan to rebuild \JRome\j on a grandiose scale. So far he had been frustrated by wealthy property owners. Nero himself falsely blamed the Christians for the inferno and made their alleged arson an excuse to persecute them.
Efforts have been made to exonerate Nero and to explain the anachronism. Those taking his part claimed that, indeed he had played the Iyre whilst watching his beloved city go up in flames. However, he had done so to lament the disaster and give voice to his grief. He himself had taken charge of the men combating the fire and ordered them to pull down whole rows of houses to serve as a firebreak. Later on, this instruction had been misinterpreted as prompted by Nero's warped wish to raze \JRome\j to the ground. The Iyre he had played was confused with a fiddle because the Roman description for the "Iyre" - \Ifidicula\i - sounded so much like a fiddle.
Even Nero's harassment of the Christians, it was said, had a valid reason. He had been enraged by rumors that members of the young sect had refused to participate in fighting the fire. If correct, they did so on religious grounds, seeing in the catastrophic event a necessary and expected forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ, which they believed they had no right to delay.
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"Nest Egg",1548,0,0,0
A nest egg is money kept in reserve for times of need. Now a mere figure of speech, originally it referred to the custom of placing an artificial (china) egg into the nest of a hen believing that this would encourage the bird to lay a real one next to it.
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"Netherworld",1549,0,0,0
It is wrong to assume that the netherworld was originally thought to be exclusively reserved for the wicked. To begin with, in most mythologies it was the abode of everyone who had "passed away," and therefore had not only passed "on," but "down." In later elaborations differences evolved as to the kind of existence the newcomers led and the specific terms and conditions of their tenancy.
As its very title suggests, the Egyptian \IBook of the Dead\i deals particularly with these questions. It expresses the view that, in fact, the netherworld could prove a very pleasant place. But this depended on the actions taken by those left behind! If they duly mummified the body of the deceased and, with great care and punctiliousness, made use of spells and special ceremonies, they would indeed ensure that the "dead" was very much alive "down below." The departed would then be able to pursue in the nether regions almost the identical type of existence he had enjoyed up "on top."
On the other hand, the Babylonian residence reserved for the dead was far from inviting or pleasant. Those entering it had to do so without their clothes. They had to pass seven gates. It was a "land of no return," enveloped in darkness. Nevertheless, even in this Babylonian "hell," the fate of the dead could be eased by proper burial and the provision of food and drink by those "above."
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"New Clothes for Easter",1550,0,0,0
To wear a new garment on Easter is an old-established tradition. It may well date back to the time when the year started in March and was celebrated by the wearing of a new garment. The custom was even more appropriate for Easter, with its message of rebirth and regeneration.
The donning of a new dress on this festival recalls, as well, the former Easter (and Whitsun) practice of baptizing new adherents and investing them with white roles for the occasion. Inspired by this example, and in memory of their own \Jbaptism\j, all the faithful then put on new clothes at Easter. (It was only natural and human for those wearing a new outfit to be eager to display it. This was the origin of the Easter bonnet and of the Easter parade, which are so popular in the United States.) \JSuperstition\j reinforced the custom. People came to believe that, by sympathetic magic, a new garment would rejuvenate the wearer.
Those too miserly to acquire new clothes were looked down upon. Even the birds, once regarded as God's messengers, were said to despise them. To show their displeasure, the birds dropped excreta on the clothes of such parsimonious worshipers as they made their way home from the service.
With the passing of time, people no longer remembered the exact circumstances. All they knew was that the bird droppings had "some" meaning. Perplexed, and possibly influenced by wishful thinking, they interpreted such untoward incidents the opposite way - to be thus "decorated" meant good luck!
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"New Moon Through Glass",1551,0,0,0
Screens can be protective or harmful. A window, for instance, can keep out the cold, the wind, and the rain. But it also bars healthy fresh air and, in the world of the occult, acts as a barrier to beneficial radiation! Nothing therefore - not even the branches of a tree - must obstruct the passage of lunar rays.
Anything coming between man and the moon might become a filter, not letting the good fortune pass through. Hence, one must never look at the new moon through the (barrier of a) window pane.
Others have related the \Jsuperstition\j to ancient pagan practice and seen in it a survival of the worship of Diana, the moon goddess, who was also known - and very appropriately so - as Luna. Special homage was paid to her at selected shrines, whenever the new moon was seen in the sky. Those who, forgetful of their duty, stayed at home, offended her. In punishment for their negligence she would send bad luck to the absentee worshipers for an entire month, till the moon had turned "full circle."
Eventually, idolatry waned and the worship of Diana was forgotten. But the fear of staying at home and thereby seeing the new moon not from the open precincts of the sanctuary but through the window remained, and with it, the \Jsuperstition\j that it meant bad luck.
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"New Year Gifts",1552,0,0,0
Before they became practical in nature, New Year presents had a magic significance. Thus, the gift of branches from sacred trees was believed to bring the gods' blessings into the home. Druids chose twigs from the \Jmistletoe\j, a plant sacred to them as a magic source of fertility. It would bestow on the recipient a fruitful year: in the number of his children, as well as of his \Jcattle\j, and in the size of his crop.
Gloves later became a traditional New Year present in England; they were most useful in winter. This explains why monetary gifts, which eventually took their place, were referred to as "glove money." Before the invention of buttons, pins were in great demand. As they were often in short supply, they were considered precious and were, for some time, a welcome New Year gift.
With the passing of time, necessities, values and beliefs changed and, with them, the kinds of presents that were traditionally given at New Year.
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"New Year's Customs",1553,0,0,0
New Year's traditions were not based on the pursuit of mere fun and jollification. Their purpose was to wipe out the evils of the past and to ensure a new start. Moreover, anything that happened or that was done on the day, or on its eve, assumed a "fateful" meaning. It would affect the rest of the year. Carefully and anxiously, then, people were concerned about what they did and whom they met, whether inside or outside the house.
Nothing should be taken out of one's home on the day because one might easily remove one's good luck along with it. Instead it was wise to make sure that lots of things were carried in. As well, both one's pockets and one's \Jstomach\j should be full. This would make certain that in the ensuing year, one would be prosperous and well fed. Empty pockets and unstocked shelves or cupboards augured a year of poverty.
The variety of New Year's customs in different regions and countries is almost unlimited. In one canton of \JSwitzerland\j, for instance, it was the practice, despite Swiss people's traditional and fastidious cleanliness, to spill some cream onto the door. It would bring a year of overflowing abundance.
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"New Year's Day - 1 January",1554,0,0,0
\JNew Year's Day\j is man's oldest holiday. It has been universally celebrated on many different dates and in the most varied ways.
The Romans were the first to celebrate it on 1 January - in 153 B. C . Until then they had started the new year on 25 March, chosen because the date coincided with the time of the vernal \Jequinox\j, when day and night were of equal length. The new date no longer had any connection with the cycle of nature. It had a political significance, being the date on which the newly elected Roman consuls assumed office.
Christians, at first, strongly rejected the celebration of New Year on 1 January as a pagan institution. Eventually, however, they welcomed it by changing it into a religious festival. It commemorated Jesus' \Jcircumcision\j. Like any other Jewish boy, he had been initiated into the Covenant of Abraham on the eighth day after his birth, which was 1 January.
It was a long time before Europeans generally began to adopt 1 January as \JNew Year's Day\j. As a result of Pope \JGregory XIII\j's calendar reform in 1582, Catholic countries were the first to adopt it. Protestant Europe followed later. England and Wales (and Britain's American colonies) did not celebrate New Year on 1 January until 1752!
Whenever it fell, New Year was, from the very beginning, a significant day. It symbolized the renewal of life and human relationships. Quarrels were made up and everything was done to make it a memorable and festive occasion.
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"News",1555,0,0,0
News, a popular explanation claims, reflected its worldwide coverage of events: from North, East, West and South. The word was an \Jacronym\j, made up of the initials of the four directions from which the information was gathered.
The first occurrence of any "news" in its present-day meaning disproves this assertion, however attractive it may sound. The word existed many centuries before such synthesis was suggested. Not artificially created, news is derived from the Latin \Inovus,\i used for all that is "new."
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"Nick of Time",1556,0,0,0
Making a notch or nick into a stick of wood known as a tally was an early method to keep account of money owed or lent.
Notches in sticks are said to have served also to record time, with each nick representing a specific hour. A person arriving at the very last moment could be said to have come "in the nick of time." The practice and idiom was adopted as well in the scoring at matches. If a goal was shot at the very end of the game, justifiably people said that it was scored just "in the nick of time."
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"Nickel and Superstition",1557,0,0,0
The fear that the devil was able to creep into anything has possessed man's mind for thousands of years. It has led him to take countless measures to obstruct such an entry.
Enlightened men have ridiculed such fear as gross \Jsuperstition\j. And yet, the belief gave Old Nick permanent residence not just in chimeras and illusions but in the substantial world of \Jmetallurgy\j and hard cash! In fact, he so "bewitched" a metal still used in modern alloys that it is universally known by his (German) name. Americans have gone much further and millions of them acknowledge "Old Nick" when they spend (or merely talk of) a five cent piece, a nickel.
However elusive mischievous forces generally might be, Nick's itinerary is freely available to anyone and not a matter of conjecture. His travels lead from tantalizing prospecting operations to the money market, from mining to minting.
It all began in \JGermany\j. Miners anxious to find some new source of copper, believed they had discovered it in quantity in rich deposits of apparently genuine copper ore which showed the typical reddish-brown color of the metal. But once they began to dig up the ore, their early expectations were dashed to the ground. Smelting down the ore, it yielded not a single ounce of copper. In their frustration, they looked for an explanation of the mystery of the "disappearing" copper. They had been so sure of its presence. Had they not seen it with their own eyes? Therefore, it could only be the result of the work of mischievous forces, of goblins, dwelling inside the mountain. It was the devil's doing, they were now fully convinced. He had bewitched the copper!
Verbalizing the assumption of the nefarious interference of occult power, they duly named the substance "the devil's copper" which in German is \IKupfernickel.\i For many years, disappointed people took little notice of the ore which "by the devil's doing" had lost all commercial value. But in 1751, Baron Axel Frederik Cronstedt, a Swedish scientist and mathematician, took a new look at it.
There was no doubt in his trained mind that there was no trace of copper in the substance. Instead - and much more exciting - it represented a totally new, so far completely unknown metal with slightly magnetic properties. In due course, Cronstedt was able to isolate the metal and wondered what to call it. He dropped from its original name the copper part, the presence of which he had shown to be unjustified. All that was left now was (Old) Nick - in German, \INickel.\i It did not take long for the name of the new metal to be adopted all over the world.
Soon other metallurgists and scientists discovered nickel's great usefulness as an alloy. Soft copper, for instance, became hardened with the addition of just a little nickel. Copper coins, which up to that time had proved of a short life expectancy, suddenly could be changed into hard cash.
Americans produced the first specimen coin with the novel alloy in 1857. This was valued one cent. The presence of nickel, which guaranteed its prolonged lifespan, made people refer to it colloquially by the (German) demon's name. But soon - long before modern \Jinflation\j - the gremlin took possession of the five cent piece, and the nickel has been associated with that coin ever since. Money, some wit has explained, is purposely made in a round shape because no sooner have you got hold of it, than it starts rolling away. Is it any wonder, if it is realized that even the nickel is just part of Old Nick?
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"Nickname",1558,0,0,0
A nickname in itself is not real. It is the result of a misunderstanding, of a wrong kind of separation or attachment - whichever way it is looked upon. All the term intended to convey was that it was an "additional" name, an "also"-name, which Middle English expressed as "an \Ieke\i-name." Somehow the final "n" of the "an" lost its proper position and, changing sides, made eke-name a neke-name, eventually to be pronounced and written as nickname.
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"Nicknames",1559,0,0,0
Nicknames preceded surnames. Bestowed for a variety of reasons, they expressed affection or heaped abuse, honored, or showed contempt.
Many old nicknames have gone out of fashion or no longer make sense. Others have been retained, irrespective of whether they were complimentary or derogatory.
Religious circumstances and tradition account for the origin and explain the meaning of some well-known nicknames - names that reflect on human nature, national characteristics, and the tastes of the time. Their story might well be considered part of history - of His-story, God's story on earth.
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"Night Air and Malaria",1560,0,0,0
Malaria was believed to be caused by "bad (night) air." People imagined that the disease struck those who lived near swampy ground, from which poisonous fumes rose, especially at night. That is why they called the sickness \Imal aria,\i from the Italian for "bad air." It made them close their windows tightly at night and wonder why, in spite of their precaution, they caught the infection!
Once again, it was Shakespeare who popularized the fallacy through one of his plays, \IThe Tempest.\i When, eventually, it was discovered that it was not bad air but the bite of the \Janopheles\j mosquito which was responsible for the sickness, its misleading description as "\Jmalaria\j" was still not abandoned.
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"Nightcap",1561,0,0,0
In the northern climate, nights at times are freezing. With rooms unheated, to protect their heads against the cold men used to cover them with a cloth cap which, appropriately, they called their "nightcap."
Times changed. Bedrooms were no longer icy. But men retained the nightcap - with a significant difference. They applied its name to the hot, and preferably alcoholic, drink (the "toddy") they imbibed prior to retiring, to warm their insides.
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"Nightingale's Song",1562,0,0,0
The \Jnightingale\j's name was bound to lead man astray. The bird does not confine its song \I(galan,\i from the Old English for "to sing") to the hours of darkness, but sings just as much during the day. The false impression arose because daytime noise often made its song inaudible, whilst the bird could clearly be heard during the stillness of the night.
Unfortunately, Shakespeare uncritically adopted the wrong notion, adding to it yet another mistake. In \IThe Merchant Of Venice\i (Act V, scene I, line 104) he observed that should the \Jnightingale\j sing by day when every goose is cackling, she would be thought "no better a musician than the wren." It is the cock which sings and never the female bird.
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"Nightmares",1563,0,0,0
Nightmares have terrified people so much that their experience has left its mark even as a figure of speech. Confusing indeed, their name has been misinterpreted. Its "mare" part has nothing to do with a female horse. It goes back to ancient \Jsuperstition\j and the belief in an evil spirit, known as "mare." Also described as \Iincubus,\i it visited people in their sleep and settling on their chest like a heavy weight, harassed them, producing in their victim a sensation of suffocation.
Belief in this mare has long been discarded, which explains why people no longer connect the (night)mare with the world of the occult, but wrongly see in it the mysterious presence of an equestrian creature.
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"Nine Day's Wonder",1564,0,0,0
As one of the disappointments of life, success and fame are short-lived. That they have been described as a nine day's wonder has been explained in several ways.
After birth, kittens and puppies are blind for approximately nine days, during which, as it were, they live in a world of wonder. Once their eyes are opened, everything becomes very ordinary. Humans, likewise, may be deluded for a certain period of time. However, as in the case of the young cat or dog, eventually their eyes are opened, their illusion ends and they have to face reality.
The figure nine has been a mystical number of great potency, being three times the trinity. Therefore it was believed that the true facts became apparent after exactly nine days.
In the Roman Catholic faith, the devotion known as the novena, as its Latin name indicates, extends over nine days. Once completed, it might immediately be followed by another one. Of identical length, its object totally replaces that of the preceding nine days of prayer which, having been relegated to the past, is almost entirely forgotten.
Likewise, religious festivals of the church once were kept for nine days. During this time the image of a saint in whose honor it was celebrated was carried round in procession. Centuries earlier, in pagan times, the ancient Romans recognized in terrifying storms an omen of forthcoming disaster and were convinced that by keeping a period of nine days of supplications they could prevent its occurrence.
It is quite possible that the religious institution and tradition, once well-known and widely practised, was adopted as a \Jmetaphor\j and applied to earthly matters which, at the time when they happened, seemed sensational. They, too, were limited and, after nine days of glory their appeal would vanish, with the event soon sinking into oblivion.
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"Nine Tailors Make a Man",1565,0,0,0
Proverbs and sayings have often mystified people, not least so, when they seemed to make little sense. This applies to the observation that "nine tailors make a man." In search of a meaning, absurd interpretations have been given. Typical was the suggestion that - at some time - a tailor had so low an opinion of himself that in his own mind he was merely a ninth part of a (real) man!
The saying as it reads now, is the result of a misunderstanding. In former times, when a death occurred in the community, it concerned everyone and not just the immediate family. The passing of a person was therefore publicly announced by the ringing of church bells.
The number of tolls indicated the sex of the deceased. Nine "tollers" marked a man and six a woman. An alternate word for "tollers" was "tellers." Hence, it could rightly be said that "nine tellers mark a man."
With the growth of the population, the practice was eventually discontinued and the phrase became meaningless. No longer understood, it was changed into the absurd statement that "nine tailors make a man."
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"Ninth Anniversary",1566,0,0,0
\BThe Copper or Pottery Anniversary\b
To be "on cloud nine" aptly describes the happiness experienced by a couple who complete nine years of marriage.
Among the first metals humans learned to use, copper was specially treasured because of its malleability. Copper also gives out an atmosphere of warmth, just as affection does. Both respond to loving care: the more they are polished, the more they will shine.
Pottery preceded copper by thousands of years, but both substances share the gift of pliability, so essential in a successful marriage.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Decorative objects made from copper, such as a plate, urn, jug, or pot
ò Choose from many pottery items, from simple bowls to a large sculpture for the garden
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"Nit Picking",1567,0,0,0
Those who look out for and (delight in) minor errors and faults are said to be nit picking. Originally, this was not a mere \Jmetaphor\j. It referred to the unpleasant task of removing the small eggs of lice which stuck to people's skull and hair.
It seems that those fussy pedants who make it their business to point out and pay attention to the smallest and least significant detail, often besmirching other's actions or ways of life, take special pleasure in their dirty work and merit being called nit pickers.
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"Nitwit",1568,0,0,0
Whoever speaks of a nitwit, unknowingly and unintentionally, recalls an early antagonism of the English for the Dutch. To call anyone a nitwit made fun of the genuine Netherlander who, if ignorant of a subject, freely admitted it by saying "I don't know," which in Dutch is \IIk niet wiet.\i The "nitwit" mimicked this sincere remark.
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"No Bones in Whalebone",1569,0,0,0
Whales are the largest animals alive, and yet, paradoxically, they feed on the smallest creatures. They do so for a valid reason. Their \Jgullet\j is rather narrow and, to enable them to swallow the right type of food, nature has provided them with a special straining system: plates attached to the \Jmammal\j's jaw which take the place of teeth. Similar to man's fingernails, this "sieve" is of a horny substance. Certainly, it is not bone. Nevertheless, it has become known as whalebone.
Surprising is the variety of use man made of it from the earliest days. In the treeless region of the Orkney Islands, it helped him to prop up his turf roofs. It provided Eskimos with runners for their sledges. The first modern umbrellas had whalebone skeletons, which, no doubt, added to their weight and initial unpopularity.
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"No Place Like Home",1570,0,0,0
That "there is no place like home," is a well-known observation. Going beyond its sentimental implications, in many of its aspects and features, the home offers valuable information on the growth of civilization and man's mores and fears. In addition, it has made its contributions - away from home - not least in colorful figures of speech.
Originally, the majority of people could neither read nor count. To locate a house, therefore, was hard for them. To help them find it, the house on the corner of a street carried an easily recognizable distinguishing mark in the form of a flower, an animal or a popular object. This was either painted on one of its walls or, as a figure, fixed to its roof. All that was necessary now was to look, for instance, for the elephant, the rose or the shield.
A similar problem presented itself in finding the right floor of a house. To facilitate the task, this was indicated by portraying on its outside wall part of a familiar legend or story. Those visiting someone, living, for example, on the second floor, went up to the story of St George and the Dragon.
Everybody now living in a city, recognizes street names and house numbers. But, like a monument to man's former \Jilliteracy\j, he continues to refer to the (now forgotten) "story" in counting the floors of a building.
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"No Room to Swing a Cat",1571,0,0,0
There are all kinds and types of cats: Siamese, Persian, and Manx; black, ginger, tabby, white, and \Jtortoise\j-shell. No matter what their origin, color, or habitat, they all share definite features and characteristics. They are independent individualists and cannot be bribed. They have a mind and will of their own, either accepting or rejecting us, and no saucer of cream will change their opinion. Perhaps they remember that once they were considered sacred and were worshiped, which would account for their looking so dignified and self-possessed.
We have grown accustomed to find cats in all places and at all times. A cat may even look at a king, as the saying goes. But, as if in a topsy-turvy, dream world, there are some occasions when we merely imagine that we see a cat. In reality, it is not there at all. When we look closely for it - it just disappears.
Therefore, it is not surprising at all that the very phrase "there's not enough room to swing a cat" most probably does not refer to cats either. Who, after all, could be so cruel as even to try to swing a cat. Though, at some time, it is said, this was a strange kind of amusement, practised among so-called sportsmen. To inflict pain on cats was then considered by the ignorant and superstitious almost a meritorious act. They believed that cats were the companion, if not the \Jincarnation\j, of witches and evil.
Actually, the expression leads back to naval days that knew harsh punishment for recalcitrant sailors. The "cat" mentioned is the cat o'nine tails, the thonged instrument used in the British army and navy for disciplinary thrashings.
Its link with the cat was forged by the fact that the marks left on the flesh of the unfortunate victim looked much like deep scratches inflicted by a cat's claws.
Sailors to be flogged were usually taken up on to the deck as in the confined space below there was no room to swing "the cat" (o'nine tails) for a proper whipping.
To those worshipers of cats who are loath to see their pet associate - even only "conversationally" - with cruelty of any kind, another, yet less likely, explanation offers itself. This makes the cat a kind of sleeping partner, still within naval circles - though only in a corrupt way!
Sailors used to sleep in swinging hammocks which they called "cots." Ashore they usually dossed in cheap lodging houses, so crowded that they would say that there was no room to swing a cot. In time, through frequent usage and indistinct enunciation, the cot changed into a cat: at least so in its sound and spelling.
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"No Star in Starboard",1572,0,0,0
To seek for even the vestige of a star on the starboard side of a ship would lead us astray. The "star" here is completely out of place as a stellar body. Starboard merely records the navigational fact that mariners once used to "steer" (the \JAnglo-Saxon\j \Isteor)\i the vessel with a paddle or oar from that side \I(bord)\i of the ship. And the steor-part slipped on the English tongue into a "star!"
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"Normanby Woman",1573,0,0,0
It is not possible to miss the gravesite of the "Normanby Woman" in the historical Cooktown Cemetery. Not the usual headstone, but a conspicuous wooden cross, with a crucifix on its upper beam - looking like a miniature shrine-marks her last resting place.
In the 1880s rumor had it that a white woman was living with an Aboriginal tribe near the headwaters of the Normanby River, some 50 kilometers southwest of Cooktown, but no one knew who she was. Neither had anyone been able to make contact with her. Some claimed that, in fact, she was not a white woman at all, but an albino Aborigine.
One day, the rumor was confirmed. A prospector who was looking for his lost horses in the bush met her face to face. There was no doubt as to her European features. On seeing him, she became so frightened that she tried to run away, but the prospector caught up with her. However, when he tried to engage her in talk, she could not understand what he was saying.
Immediately on his return to the mining camp, he reported his encounter and, accompanied by a policeman, he returned to the tribe to "rescue" the poor woman. They soon realized that she had no wish to be "saved." Vehemently, she resisted her self-appointed liberators. Eventually they captured her as if she were a wild animal!
They forcibly carried her back to their camp. After having cleaned her up, they discovered under her rough and dark exterior a woman of typical Nordic features, with beautiful long blond hair, about 30 years of age.
She refused to put on clothes or to accept any food. All she seemed to want was to be back with "her" people, the tribe whose language she spoke and whose life she had shared. Some of its members surreptitiously had followed her and were now hiding in the bush nearby.
On the following day, a mounted policeman who had been put in charge of the captive, was to take her to Cooktown. To prevent her from escaping, he tied her like a sack of corn to the saddle of his horse.
Shortly after he had left the mining camp, the natives of her tribe stopped him, unsuccessfully trying to force her release. During the attempt, the horse to which she was tied bolted, dragging her along the ground. Badly injured, she was carried on a litter to Cooktown, an arduous two-day journey. Admitted to the local \Jhospital\j, to prevent her from running away, she was tied to the bed!
Four days later, the "Normanby Woman" died. It was not from the injuries she had suffered, so the doctor believed, but from a broken heart. Who then was this Normanby woman? No one was ever to know for certain. Even attempts to make her reveal some details of her life with the aid of interpreters had failed.
Conjecture has it that, in the 1850s when still a small child, she was the only survivor of a shipwreck. An Aboriginal tribe found and adopted her. She grew up among them and happily shared their lot, till her fatal "rescue" by European, "civilized" man.
A tablet has now been fixed to the cross, briefly telling her story, in all its tragedy.
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"Northern School",1574,0,0,0
The festivals of \JMahayana\j \JBuddhism\j, like those of Theravada \JBuddhism\j, include the celebration of \JBuddha\j's birth, enlightenment and death. However, adherents of \JMahayana\j \JBuddhism\j also celebrate the birthdays of reincarnated Buddhas and of the founders of other schools.
Whenever possible holy days are kept at the time of the full moon. A particular feast is set aside to show concern for dead souls, and features of this have been adopted in the Chinese 'Festival of Hungry \JGhosts\j'.
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"Nose Bleeding",1575,0,0,0
Fanciful, indeed, are the various procedures people followed to stop nose bleeding. They placed a key or an icebag at the back of the neck, or tilted the head back.
None of these treatments is of any use. In the majority of cases, the bleeding will stop by itself. The apparent success of the home cures merely coincides with the natural cessation of nose bleeding. When tilting the head, the flow of blood is only redirected down the throat, which, instead of improving the situation, might create complications, such as vomiting and nausea.
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"Nosy Parker",1576,0,0,0
A "nosy Parker" who pries into affairs which are no concern of his, derives his nickname, it is said, from the name of a former Church dignitary, who happened to exhibit this characteristic.
He was Matthew Parker whom Queen Elizabeth I had appointed \JArchbishop\j of Canterbury in 1559. Concerned as to whether his \Jclergy\j and flock conscientiously followed the Christian faith, he sent out nationwide questionnaires (and anticipated the Gallup Poll). No wonder that people came to associate his name with impudent curiosity.
Another tradition ascribes the \JArchbishop\j's unflattering designation to intolerance and \Jconservatism\j. Parker, in fact, had been a dedicated cleric and leader of his Church who minded his own business and disliked controversy. But the reforms he introduced met with considerable opposition.
In the manner of caricaturists, his enemies made use of one of his "out-standing" physical features - his prominent nose - to ridicule him, referring to the \JArchbishop\j as "that nosy Parker." It is a pity that a man of his standing, also reputed to have been the author of the first privately printed book in England (published in 1572), should have become immortalized by such an ungracious nickname.
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"Not Caring a Fig",1577,0,0,0
Whoever takes the phrase of "not caring a fig" literally does an injustice to figs. He obviously implies that they are worth very little. This misjudgment is due to a misunderstanding resulting, as it were, from a transplant of the fruit from one culture to another.
This fig of trifling value is uneatable! It is no fig at all, but describes a rude (Spanish and Latin-American) gesture known as \Ifico.\i Made by forming a fist with the thumb protruding between the index and middle fingers, it is meant contemptuously to express the worthlessness of a person or object. Shakespeare used the expression in this sense, when in \IHenry V,\i he spoke of "fico for thy friendship" and in \IHenry VI,\i of "a fig for Peter."
Actually, this visual \Jmetaphor\j is not indigenously Spanish. It can be traced to the ancient Romans, who used it vulgarly as part of their \Jbody language\j to show disdain. Its description as a "fig," no doubt, was based on the shape made by the hand. Though resembling a fig, its outline also suggested the female genitals! The figurative use of the fig was thus tantamount to telling a person, without uttering a single word, in obscene sexual picture language how much one detested and rejected him.
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"Not to be Sneezed At",1578,0,0,0
Some of the sayings popular today started long ago and in totally different circumstances. A case in point is the phrase "not to be sneezed at." We, who have become so germ-conscious, might immediately jump to the conclusion that the words originated as a commendable precaution to avoid catching other people's colds, as "coughs and sneezes spread diseases." But far from it.
People in older times imagined that a sneeze cleared the mind. It certainly gave them a feeling of exhilaration. Suddenly, 17th century Europe caught a craze for sneezing. It was considered the right thing to do in good society. Indeed, the more you sneezed, the more you proved yourself a member of the privileged class.
To build up this new status symbol, all kinds of devices were used. It was soon realized that snuff caused sneezing. Therefore everyone who was someone carried with him a little box, containing a mixture of sneeze-producing herbs or \Jtobacco\j. By drawing an ample pinch of it into the nostrils, a hearty sneeze resulted in no time.
Of course, only the rich and idle had time to sneeze or could afford snuff. Hence the self-induced sneeze became synonymous with aristocratic living. If you were able to sneeze "on call," you showed audibly your status in society.
But one matter had still to be decided. Just to sneeze haphazardly was not good enough. There had to be a special occasion. Soon sneezing became part of men's conversation. You indulged in it whenever you wanted to show your disapproval of anything said or, even more so, your lack of interest in the matter discussed. A sneeze was an unmistakable way of saying politely "you bore me."
Consequently and logically, anything "not to be sneezed at" was something really worthwhile.
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"Not to Care a Rap",1579,0,0,0
In the 1720s, during the reign of King George I, copper was in short supply in Ireland. Consequently, coins struck of it were very scarce. Counterfeit halfpennies circulated throughout the land, which the peasants nicknamed "raps." Why they did so might well have been due to a practice then current to test the genuineness of a coin by dropping it and listening to the sound, the rap, it made. At the time, a genuine halfpenny was worth hardly anything. How much less then its bogus copy! Those who did not care "a rap," cared very little indeed.
A totally different derivation discovered in the rap an \Jacronym\j: the combination of the initials of the Indian monetary units, as used by the English when trading with that country. It was the custom to abbreviate the English pound, shilling and penny by the letters l.s.d. (standing for their Latin equivalents). English book keepers, adopting the same principle to the Indian rupee, anna and pice, referred to them briefly as r.a.p. And as compared with English currency this seemed worth very little, a rap took on this very meaning.
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"Not Worth a Damn",1580,0,0,0
There is nothing profane in anyone saying something is "not worth a damn." It goes back to the time of the English Sahib, when the British still ruled the vast Indian subcontinent and therefore were well acquainted with its currency. A damn originally was a small copper coin, worth a mere 40th part of a rupee. When, eventually, it further depreciated, it was of so little value that people were well justified to refer to anything that was almost worthless as being not even worth a damn.
Another, less likely, theory connects the phrase with a tinker's dam. In the old days when tinkers went about from village to village, to mend pots and pans, they used a simple method in stopping up holes. To prevent the hot solder from spreading or running through, they put around and beneath the hole a litte "dam" of bread they had previously moistened in their mouth. (Some used clay or a sort of putty instead.) With the job completed, the dam had lost its purpose and was therefore useless. It was thrown away just as anything is that is not worth a "dam."
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"Notorious Prostitute",1581,0,0,0
\B"Tilly" Devine\b
Described in court in 1945 as "the most notorious woman in Sydney," for 20 years "Tilly" Devine was the city's undisputed queen of ill-repute. She was said to have been involved in just about every major racket.
Matilda Mary Twiss (her maiden name) was a Londoner by birth. In 1917, at the age of 15, she married Jim Devine, an Australian soldier. The couple were well matched. Whilst "Big Jim" was a renowned figure of the underworld, Tilly, in the words of the Sydney \IDaily Mirror,\i was "one of the most frightening creatures ever spewed up by the razor gangs."
A most ambitious and successful entrepreneur of her kind, Tilly made a fortune from selling sly grog, consorting, and, above all, from prostitution, particularly as a brothel keeper. She could well afford the most expensive of furs and owned diamonds which, she boasted, were bigger and more valuable than those of the Queen of England.
As so often among people of her profession, she had a warm heart and showed compassion, especially with people of her own "class," whom she was always ready to help. When, for instance, a well-known criminal could not raise the bail necessary to keep him out of prison, she procured the considerable sum by arranging a ball in his aid at the Sydney Maccabean Hall. On hiring it, she explained to the management that she needed it for a charitable purpose!
After getting divorced from Jim, she took up with Eric Parsons, a sailor. Their romance did not run smoothly either. During a disagreement, she shot him in the foot. Charged with attempted murder, she was not convicted; at the trial, Eric did not turn up to give evidence against her. Three months later, they were married! In her own words, Eric was "the best man I have ever known."
In spite of all her glamor and the wealth she amassed, Tilly died in misery. A victim of cancer, she passed away on 24 November 1970. A report published in the \IDaily Telegraph\i included a story which sounds almost apocryphal. When Norman Allan, the then Commissioner of Police, heard of Tilly's impending demise, he asked Vic Green, the Chief Detective Sergeant of the Vice Squad, to go and visit her to "see if there is anything we can do for her." On his arrival at the \Jhospital\j, Tilly was in a semi-comatose state. But somehow, the sergeant was convinced, she recognized him and seemed to be thrilled to think that "the coppers were still interested in her."
Tilly Devine-Parsons was cremated at Botany. Her ashes now rest in the cemetery grounds. The plaque marking the site expresses true filial affection:
\IIn Loving Memory of
My Beloved Mother
MATILDA MARY PARSONS
Died 24-11-70
Aged 70 Years
R.I.P.\i
Prior to her passing, Tilly had written her own obituary. It was contained in a letter she had sent to the \ITruth\i newspaper. "Give a dog a bad name," she wrote, "and it will stick. I was not as bad as I was painted. There's lots in Sydney who will miss me - even coppers."
#
"November",1582,0,0,0
\INovem,\i the Latin for "nine," has given November its name. In the old Roman calendar it was the ninth month of the year.
#
"November 1",1583,0,0,0
\BAll Saints' Day\b
\JAll Saints' Day\j, initially known in England as All Hallows' Day, commemorates, as its name says, all the saints, known or unknown. It was specially instituted to honor saints who had died without their sanctity being recognized.
Its celebration goes back to the seventh century when the Roman Pantheon, a pagan temple built to honor the "All-holy Ones" (and not, as is often assumed, "all the gods"), was converted into a Christian sanctuary. On 13 May in about 610, Pope Boniface IV dedicated it as a church "To the Blessed Virgin and all Martyrs."
For more than a century, an annual memorial service for "All Saints" was held on the anniversary of this dedication. Pope Gregory III moved it to 1 November, on which day he consecrated a chapel in the \JBasilica\j of St Peter to "All the Souls."
Mere practical considerations, it was suggested, and not ecclesiastical or theological reasons, were responsible for the change of date. As the feast now fell after the harvest and no longer during the busy springtime, it was so much easier to look after the vast number of pilgrims who flocked to \JRome\j for the occasion.
In the following century Pope Gregory IV (d. 844) decreed that \JAll Saints' Day\j should be universally observed.
#
"November 11",1584,0,0,0
\BRemembrance Day and Veterans Day\b
At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 - "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" - World War I came to an end and the armistice was signed. At first designated \JArmistice Day\j, this date was set aside to honor those who fell in this war. To include also those killed in subsequent wars, the name was changed to Remembrance Day in Britain and member countries of the \JBritish Commonwealth\j of Nations, and to Veterans Day in the United States.
A two-minute silence, starting at exactly 11 o'clock, movingly pays tribute to all the men and women who lost their lives during the hostilities. Poppies, chosen because of the poppies that grew among the trenches and graves on the battlefields of Flanders, are worn on this day in memory of the dead.
In Britain, \JRemembrance Sunday\j (the second Sunday in November) has now taken the place of the original date. At 11 o'clock sharp, silent homage is paid to the fallen, and a solemn ceremony is held at the Cenotaph in \JWhitehall\j, on which are inscribed three simple, but symbolic and meaningful, words "THE GLORIOUS DEAD."
Veterans Day in the United States - as its name suggests - honors not only the war dead but all those who fought for their country in any war.
#
"November 2",1585,0,0,0
\BAll Souls' Day\b
\JAll Souls' Day\j, following so closely on \JAll Saints' Day\j, was first celebrated in the ninth century. It was established out of solicitude for the souls of those who had died but were still lingering in \Jpurgatory\j, on their way to heaven. Prayers said on the day implored God to help them quickly to attain "the fellowship of the heavenly citizens."
Christians who rejected the belief in \Jpurgatory\j either ceased to observe \JAll Souls' Day\j or, if they did so, extended their concern (and their prayers) to all the dead.
#
"November 30",1586,0,0,0
\BSt Andrew's Day\b
On 30 November, Scotsmen all over the world celebrate St Andrew's Day. According to tradition, it is the day on which, in A.D. 70, the saint suffered martyrdom. Lively parties, celebrated in typical Scottish fashion, honor his memory. The men wear kilts, \Jhaggis\j is eaten and plenty of drink enjoyed. Dancing reels and the stirring sounds of the \Jbagpipes\j contribute further to the festive atmosphere.
Paradoxically, the saint so revered by the Scots had never been to Scotland. He never even knew of its existence! His only association with the country was the burial of his bones in Scottish soil.
Accounts of his life and death are indeed scant, though through the centuries they have been embroidered by many a legend. A Galilean fisherman and early follower of Jesus, Andrew had been one of the twelve Apostles. After the crucifixion, he left the Holy Land to travel abroad and spread the Christian message wherever he went. It was a dangerous task, and one frowned upon by the Romans who were then ruling that part of the world and who regarded Andrew's activities as undermining the authority and divinity of their emperor.
They arrested Andrew two days after his arrival in Patras in the \JPeloponnese\j and, after flogging him, put him to death. He was crucified on the X-shaped cross now known by his name.
Its choice has been explained in diverse ways. Andrew himself had requested it, one version tells. He is said to have asked for a cross of diagonal beams because he considered himself unworthy to die on an upright one, as Christ had done.
On the other hand, it has been suggested that it was the Romans who purposely and cruelly used this method of execution. It was bound to prolong his agony, and for this reason, too, they fixed him to the cross by cords instead of the usual nails. They had not reckoned on Andrew's extraordinary power of endurance, which enabled him to withstand even the worst of tortures. Indeed, he welcomed the extra time, which gave him the opportunity to go on preaching to the crowd that had gathered around him. He did so to the very last moment.
For almost 300 years the Saint's bones were kept in Patras. One night, in A.D. 368, the monk who was looking after his grave had a vision. An angel, appearing to him in a dream, told him to gather St Andrew's relics and take them by boat to an unknown destination. The monk did as instructed.
After many weeks of sailing, he was shipwrecked at Fife, on the eastern coast of Scotland. He interpreted this as an indication that God willed the saint's remains to be left there. He laid them to rest in a sanctuary he built for this purpose. It is the site of the present-day city and cathedral of St Andrew's.
The Scots, convinced that divine providence had brought St Andrew's bones to their country, made him their patron saint. They believed that he helped them in their battles and took good care of their country. As a \JBible\j-loving people, they may have been influenced in their choice by the traditional representation of the Saint, in which he is shown holding a \JBible\j in his right hand.
#
"November 5",1587,0,0,0
\BGuy Fawkes Day\b
Guy Fawkes Day, celebrated on 5 November, commemorates the foiling of the political plot by Guy Fawkes and fellow conspirators to blow up the British Houses of Parliament on that day in 1605. They were Roman Catholics, and had been driven to such acts of desperation in retaliation for severe penal laws that affected members of their faith.
The incident has become known as the \JGunpowder Plot\j because of the 36 barrels of \Jgunpowder\j Guy Fawkes had concealed in the vaults of the \JHouse of Lords\j and which he intended to ignite whilst King James I was opening the new session of Parliament. With the government and all members of both Houses being present, the timing was perfect. Had the scheme succeeded, the entire leadership of the nation would have been eliminated in one blow.
Almost at the last moment, the conspiracy was discovered. One of the plotters was the brother-in-law of a peer of the realm who would certainly have attended the opening of Parliament. In order to save his life, the plotter sent him an anonymous message urging him to stay away. His suspicion roused, the peer informed the authorities, who instantly launched an investigation. This led to the discovery of the explosives and the apprehension of the conspirators. Guy Fawkes and his accomplices were arrested, tried and executed.
Though Guy Fawkes' name is the only one now remembered and "celebrated," he did not mastermind the scheme. He was only the instrument chosen to execute it. As a trained soldier who was familiar with explosives, he was the person best suited for the job which, as a fervent convert to Catholicism, he gladly accepted.
When the news of the plot and of the apprehension of the plotters became known, a wave of patriotism swept the nation. An Act of Parliament decreed that for all times 5 November should be celebrated by a thanksgiving service and as a public holiday. Guy Fawkes Day thus became an occasion of jollification, looked forward to particularly by children. Bonfires are lit all over Britain and fireworks are set off. But, most important of all, effigies of the wicked "Guy" are burnt. For many days before the date, children go round collecting "a penny for the Guy." They used to accompany their request by this popular jingle:
\IRemember, remember, the fifth of November,
\JGunpowder\j, \Jtreason\j and plot.
There seems no reason why \Jgunpowder\j \Jtreason\j
Should ever be forgot.\i
In its own intriguing way the \JGunpowder Plot\j has enriched the wealth of British ceremonial traditions. Every year before the opening of Parliament by the sovereign, \JYeomen of the Guard\j, carrying lanterns, ceremoniously search its cellars for hidden explosives or conspirators. Following a prescribed route, they look into every nook and cranny.
Guy's name has become part of the English vocabulary. At first reserved for the effigy of Guy Fawkes, it was soon applied to any sort of guy, and has totally lost its contemptuous taint.
#
"Nudity and Morals",1588,0,0,0
Standards of morality change, not least so regarding dress. It was quite reputable for ladies of Victorian times to expose their bosom. To display their ankles, on the other hand, was unseemly if not immoral, and a show of leg was considered sexually rousing to men that even the legs of a \Jpiano\j and table had to be "properly" covered.
For a long time, nudity was looked down upon as depraving, whilst the covering of a maximum part of the body was lauded as modesty. Missionaries were appalled to see natives they had come to convert, running about stark naked. To teach them virtue, they gave them clothes - with unexpected results. By making them cover their nakedness, they roused their sexual feelings, thereby destroying their innate innocence. \JAdam and Eve\j in Paradise - so the \JBible\j tells - were not conscious of their bare bodies till they had sinned.
Topless and nude figures do not necessarily express or awaken lewd thoughts. To the unsophisticated, unspoiled by Western civilization, they might have no erotic effect. They are accepted as "natural," in every sense of the word, and taken for granted.
#
"Number of the Beast: 666",1589,0,0,0
Periods of political upheaval and cataclysm often have been regarded as the work of satanic powers. It was thought that no human could cause such disastrous conditions, leading the world to the very brink of destruction. For almost 2,000 years, the evil-bringing force has been identified with the apocalyptic "Beast." To add to the mystery, it has been said that its number is "666."
Its origin is a passage in the Book of Revelation (13:18) which gives some indication as to the meaning of the puzzling numerical reference:
He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six Hundred and Sixty Six.
The number specifically refers to a person - not a \Jsupernatural\j demonic force such as Satan or \JAntichrist\j, as is sometimes assumed.
The Book of Revelation, the last book in the \JNew Testament\j, is in majority a series of visions. They deal with the terror and disaster at the end of time when, in a last battle with the forces of evil, the divine power will triumph, to establish a New Heaven and a New Earth.
A period of great worry, people still vividly remembered the terror of the fall of \JJerusalem\j and the suffering that Nero's persecution had caused. St John, no doubt, wrote the Apocalypse (by which name the Book of Revelation is also known) to give courage and comfort to the young Christian community. When human power was at its wit's end, divine intervention would save the world by establishing a new era, cleansed from evil and ruled by the divine spirit.
To understand the relevant passage, it is necessary to realize that John was well acquainted with Jewish tradition and, no doubt, with a particular characteristic of the \JHebrew\j language. Like Greek, the letters of the \JHebrew\j alphabet double up as figures, the A standing for "1," the B for "2," and so on. Therefore, every name (or word) has a numerical value as well, easily ascertained by adding up the letter-figures of which the name consists.
Applying this method to a common name of today, the number for Smith (with the name spelled out in \JHebrew\j), would be 124, the total achieved by adding up the value of the S (60), the M (40), the I (10), the T (9), and the H (5):
SMITH
60+40+10+9+ 5=124
Experience throughout history further clarifies the employment of this method of coding in political circumstances. Ruthless dictators outlawed any criticism. Whoever dared to criticize would be punished by imprisonment, exile, or execution. However, freedom-loving people then, as now, would not be silenced. Unable to voice their opinions openly, they learned to use secret symbols, or cryptograms. The peculiar faculty of the \JHebrew\j alphabet easily lent itself to such a code. People just replaced the name too dangerous to be mentioned with its numerical value! Contemporaries had no difficulty in identifying who the "figure" represented.
Present-day readers can only guess which tyrant was meant by "666." The Book of Revelation was written during a tumultuous period when many tyrants were trying to gain the upper hand. Identifying who was meant by "666" is a hazardous task which may easily lead to error or misinterpretation. It is no wonder that the number of the beast has been said to refer to, or to prophesy, many people throughout history. These include Emperor \JHadrian\j, the Pope, Napoleon, Martin Luther, and even some twentieth-century heads of state!
However, the most plausible suggestion points to Nero Caesar. Spelled out in \JHebrew\j characters (in which initially only consonants were used), the letters of his name add up to 666:
NRWNKSR
50+200+6+50+100+60+200=666
There is another, and much less complex, explanation. Traditionally, "7" was regarded a sacred figure. It was "the perfect number." But when reduced by one it changed into its opposite. With one digit less for each number - 666 - it was thought to represent "the man of sin" - the \JAntichrist\j.
#
"Numbering of Years",1590,0,0,0
Primitive races needed some sort of calendar. To them it was almost a matter of life and death. It was essential for them to know the proper time for sowing and reaping; when to seek shelter from heat or cold, from wet seasons and dry and from the inundations of rivers. Hunters and fishermen depended on the annual migrations of animals and fish. Not least, early man was conscious of his total dependence on the will of the gods, whom he had to serve at the proper moment. Therefore the timely celebration of feasts was to him a vital part of his religion.
Observation taught man that the seasons coincided with certain positions of heavenly bodies and other celestial phenomena. That is why \Jastronomy\j assumed such an important place in the life of the earliest races and became the fountainhead of all calendars. Indeed, the daily and annual movements of the sun, the moon and the stars offered themselves from the very start as a basis for the division of time. We can only wonder at the remarkable accuracy of early astronomical perception.
From the rotation of the earth on its axis came the divisions of day and night. The period of the revolution of the moon around the earth suggested the month. The time it took the earth to rotate around the sun created the year.
At first, years were not counted continuously but related to some outstanding event, such as a flood, an \Jearthquake\j, or a conquest. People said "it was so many years since they happened."
Then the calendar used the accession of rulers as the reference point, as the \JBible\j shows. Each year was dated from the beginning of the reign of the monarch that ruled at the time. So we read in early records that an event took place, "in the year X of the reign of King Y."
With the further progress of civilization, continuous numbering of the years was introduced. Its starting point differed from nation to nation and largely depended on the people's outlook on life.
#
"Nurse's Uniform",1591,0,0,0
The nurse's uniform developed from the habit of nuns. It recalls how these sisters of mercy were the first to look after the sick, "nursing" them back to good health. When professionals took over their task, they adopted the nuns' dress.
#
"Nutrition and Religion",1592,0,0,0
Most religions have recognized the importance of \Jnutrition\j and included dietary laws in their regulations. Already in early days, the priestly class directed the people to restrict their eating to foods that were wholesome and "suitable" for their body (and mind). It is significant that the well-known \JHebrew\j word \Ikasher\i literally means "proper." The food so defined was thought to be both acceptable to God and amenable to the body.
Modern diets have revived many of the early principles. Great, indeed, is the variety and multiplicity of "religious" ingredients and precedents of present-day food consciousness.
The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j lists in detail the various categories of meats and fish, permitted or forbidden, giving specific examples. Many authorities now agree that the selection was not arbitrary, but revealed the healthy instinct or informed knowledge of early ecclesiastical leaders. Pork was prohibited not least because of its frequent infestation by \Jtrichina\j larvae, causing trichinosis. Effluent often polluted the water of estuaries and rendered the shellfish caught there poisonous. Perhaps this was a reason why these were banned from the dining table.
Hinduism taught vegetarianism. There was no greater sin, a Hindu Sutra warned, than for a man to increase his own flesh with the flesh of another creature; only those who refrain from eating meat will remain free from disease.
Even a \Jglutton\j knows of the dangers of overeating and overweight. A regular period of fasting is one of the five pillars of \JIslam\j!
#
"Nuts and Alcohol",1593,0,0,0
The ancient Romans well knew the intoxicating effect of alcohol. They believed that the eating of almonds would counteract it. To keep their guests sober, they thus served them almonds with their drinks, which became an integral part of every party.
When eventually experience showed the futility of the practice, this had become so much of a habit that it was kept on without remembering its original purpose. This explains why bowls of all kinds of nuts are now served at cocktail parties, to be nibbled by the guests with their drinks, totally unaware of their initial "practical" function.
#
"Nuts Not Nutty",1594,0,0,0
Nuts - so hard to crack - have given many a problem. As their shape somewhat reminded people of that of a head, the nut became its slang name. In spite of their hard shell, some nuts were found to have deteriorated inside, which led to the description of the mentally sick as "nutty." There is nothing nutty, however, in the walnut. Like cashews and almonds, it is not a nut, but belongs to the species of fruit known as drupe, of which peaches and olives are other members.
#
"O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree)",1595,0,0,0
With the evergreen \JChristmas tree\j having its origins in German soil, it would seem only appropriate for a German to have created the carol dedicated to it.
According to one tradition this person was Ernst Anschⁿtz, an elderly teacher in the city of \JLeipzig\j. However, his work was prompted by circumstances far removed from the traditional Christmas spirit of peace and harmony.
Just before Christmas 1824, Anschⁿtz had been greatly upset by a heated argument he had had with the headmaster of his school. The quarrel was weighing heavily on his mind as he made his way home, when he caught sight of Christmas trees being offered for sale. Somehow, this calmed his agitation. Was it not wondrous how this tree kept its green foliage, even during the harshest of winters? Perhaps it reminded him of how he, too, should be able to preserve his peace of mind during difficult times. Inspired, he sat down and leafed through a collection of folksongs by the Berlin composer August Zarnack. His attention was caught by a love song about a \JChristmas tree\j, and he lost no time converting it into the popular "O Tannenbaum."
Actually, the tune itself dates back to a 12th century Latin drinking song written by Walter de Mapes, a \Jdeacon\j at Oxford.
#
"O.K.",1596,0,0,0
Winston Churchill was convinced that the short words are the best. O.K. is now the universal slang to say that "it's alright." No one will mistake the meaning of these two capital letters. Yet views differ on how they first came into existence as a vivid term of approval and approbation.
This shortest and internationally adopted expression supplies one of the longest lists of possible explanations. \JIlliteracy\j, political slander, a clever election campaign, bureaucratic efficiency, a Red Indian chief and the French, they all, in turn, have been credited as the originators of the O.K.
America's Presidents are no mere figure heads. Frequently, they have been known as the policy makers of their country, directing the course of their nation's history. Yet none of them has had the distinction of having been a word maker as well, except Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States. He has been called the father of the O.K.
This claim, however, was not made by his admirers, but by those who sought to discredit him during the Presidential campaign in 1838, as a completely illiterate man and not qualified to lead the nation.
His enemies spread the rumor that Jackson, then a General and one of the candidates, so lacked even the rudiments of ordinary education that he used the abbreviation of O.K. for "All Correct," as he, so untutored and ignorant, thought that the words were spelled \I"O\irl \IK\ierrect"!
It is quite possible that Jackson was fond of calling things that were correct O.K. But if he really did so, it was not because of any lack of education or faulty spelling. It is said that he derived it from the Choctaw Indian word \Iokeh,\i which they used to emphasize the validity of a statement or the hope that what they said would come true, in much the same way as we use Amen.
Other authorities hold that O.K. came into being in a different American Presidential election campaign. It was invented, they say, as a slogan, not to malign an opponent, but to boost a candidate.
A catchy phrase if cleverly chosen is worth thousands of votes where mere policy speeches go unheeded. Disraeli rightly stated that "With words we govern men."
In 1840, Martin van Buren was standing for a second term as President of the United States. Though he was generally known as "The Little Magician," his chances of success were doubtful. His followers therefore tried every possible means to get him votes. What they needed most was a good slogan.
Van Buren was born in the township of \IO\ild \IK\iinderhook in the State of New York. By combining the initials of its otherwise rather cumbersome name, supporters referred to him as O.K. Soon those two letters became a rallying call. In New York, his party even organized an "O.K. Club," further to popularize the cause and - quite unintentionally - the new "word."
As it happened, the "Old Fox of O.K.," as he was known, was not re-elected, but the two letters survived van Buren's defeat, to become a favorite colloquialism among all English-speaking people.
To add further to the confusion, another view states that O.K. stems from the Red Indians after all, although it is not one of their actual words. It represented the initials of \IO\ild \IK\ieokuk, the name of one of their famous chiefs, who, believing that time was money, saved it by signing treaties with his initials instead of his full name.
So O.K. came to stand among the Indians as an affirmation of things said or done: the final approval. Unfortunately, none of the documents is preserved to verify or disprove the claim.
Other explanations of the O.K. are interesting, yet most unlikely. One attributes the expression to an old French term. The other suggests that, in reality, the O.K. is altogether an error. Originally, the letters were not O.K at all, but O.R, which stood for \I"O\irder \IR\iecorded," a once customary endorsement of documents.
Certainly, there is ample choice of possible explanations for the O.K but we are left to wonder which is truly O.K.
#
"Oak Leaves",1597,0,0,0
That oak leaves are now a sign of high rank in the British army is both magic and symbolic in origin.
To the Druids the oak tree was sacred. Even to touch it brought strength and luck (hence, "touch wood"). To wear its leaves added to the power of those directing an army.
The oak leaf also recalls the early days when the timber of sturdy oaks was used for the building of British naval vessels and these powerful ships ruled the seas and protected the mother country. The oak leaf thus represented the rank of supreme authority invested in the office of a field marshall.
#
"Obesity in the Early Days",1598,0,0,0
There is not one type of weight-watcher. Long before man's concern with overweight as a health hazard, \Jobesity\j was thought to show superiority of character. Shakespeare confirmed this fallacious view when in \IJulius Caesar\i he expressed preference for men "that are fat" and decried as dangerous those with a "lean and hungry look." We continue to believe in the good-naturedness of the well-padded. He is most trustworthy. Solidly-built he looks at life and others pleasantly and with good intentions. The reverse is true of the slim.
Reality contradicts this notion. In anything, those suffering from overweight are not the happiest people. Certainly, they might be kindhearted and good-natured but would be so in spite of, and not because of, their \Jobesity\j. Apart from Shakespeare's "authority," a contributing factor might well have been the physiognomy of the stout. His full face covers up folds and frowns, those telling lies drawn by the muscles, often creating the wrong impression of a sour outlook and an unhappy mind.
#
"Obscene",1599,0,0,0
Havelock Ellis, one of the pioneer-authors on sexology, explained the "obscene" as something "off the scene," though somehow corrupted and disfigured in speech. The term was intended to indicate that, not to outrage the susceptibilities of people used to traditional morality, a potentially "offensive" subject was kept away from them - the "public." Not exposed or displayed on the stage of life, it was relegated to the "sides," to remain hidden from ordinary view. Irrespective of Ellis' moralization of (all) sex, the "obscene" might well have grown out of (the Latin word for) "filth," \Icoenum.\i Which theory to accept presents a choice between an objective observation and a statement of value.
#
"Occam's Razor",1600,0,0,0
Little is known about the personal life of William of Occam (or Ockham), the "Doctor invincibilis." Born in 1300, he died on 10 April, though in which year is not certain. It might have been in 1349 or 50, when the \JBlack Death\j was raging in Europe. An outspoken English philosopher, he clashed with Pope John XXII and was excommunicated. Subsequently imprisoned, he succeeded in escaping, to spend the rest of his life in Munich, where a street is still called after him.
Challenging the mind, he wrote his political works in the form of philosophical disputations. He presented all the arguments for and against, leaving the conclusion to the reader.
Occam now is best (and possibly solely) known by the maxim "Occam's razor." Called after him, actually the phrase does not appear anywhere in his writings. It is based on his teaching and conviction that one should always concentrate on the essential and avoid any unnecessary digression: "Entities must not unnecessarily multiply."
Occam himself assiduously applied the principle, dissecting every problem as with a razor and eliminating - cutting off - superfluities.
#
"Occult Power of Coins",1601,0,0,0
It was not as an ornament that coins were first worn as a necklace, but for very practical reasons. It served as a public demonstration of allegiance to a king and a personal guard against evil.
The custom goes back to classical times when the Roman emperor was worshiped as a god and in veneration his image was embossed on coins. To wear such a coin like a party badge showed patriotism.
But there was much more in the coin than its face value. Bearing the divine royal imprint, it gave the wearer occult protection against the evil eye and other invisible malevolent powers. The fact that the coin was made of metal added to its anti-demonic potency, as the devil was allergic to the element. No wonder that people preferred to keep the coin than to spending it. After all, it kept evil away from them.
#
"Ocean",1602,0,0,0
As there is a flower behind a fragrance and a bird behind a song, so there is divinity behind each ocean - mythologically speaking.
Every ocean is called after \JOceanus\j, described by Homer as "the father of all gods." He was said to encompass the entire world in the form of a stream which was also the source of all earth's rivers. These were said to issue from \JOceanus\j through subterranean channels. His waters, indeed, were responsible for all growth.
As man's geographical knowledge increased, \JOceanus\j was assigned, as his special region, the outer waters, the vast expanse of unenclosed seas. This was referred to at first as the \JOceanus\j' sea, as distinct from the Mediterranean and other inland seas, and then identified in everyday speech as "the ocean." No longer a divine designation, \IOceanus\i had become a geographical term: the god had moved from celestial heights to the high seas, where he lives still as a common name.
#
"October",1603,0,0,0
\IOcto,\i the Latin for "eight," gave October its name as, in the old discarded calendar, it used to be the eighth month of the year.
#
"October 24",1604,0,0,0
\BUnited Nations Day: A Modern Anniversary\b
The formation of the United Nations was an attempt to achieve what the \JLeague of Nations\j had failed to do. In the words of its Charter, it was "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war...and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person."
Representatives of 51 nations signed the Charter in \JSan Francisco\j in June 1945. It was officially adopted on 24 October and two years later this date was designated as United Nations Day.
Its purpose was to remind people everywhere of the necessity of establishing peace between all peoples, races and nations. It also sought to acquaint them with the aims of the Charter and the work done by the various special agencies that were created by the organization in combating disease and hunger, in giving relief in areas of disaster, in supervising the cessation of hostilities between warring factions, and in caring for those least able to care for themselves.
The emblem of the United Nations, emblazoned on its flag, is widely displayed on United Nations Day. Fittingly, it depicts a pair of olive branches encompassing the map of the world.
#
"October 31",1605,0,0,0
\BHallowe'en: A Chance to Scare\b
Hallowe'en is a contraction of Hallow-Even. Its name indicates its place in the calendar. Its celebration precedes All Hallows' Day, better known by its modern form of \JAll Saints' Day\j. Literally, Hallowe'en is its eve.
Its origin goes back to pre-Christian days, to Druid beliefs and customs that were adopted by the \JCelts\j. For them the day was the "summer's end" \I(Samhain)\i and the last day of the year.
As the power of the sun waned with the onset of winter, people were afraid that life, and not just the year, was coming to an end. They imagined that the night was haunted by \Jghosts\j and witches and, more particularly, by the spirits of the dead who were revisiting their earthly homes. With the \Jsupernatural\j rampant, the night was full of danger and omens.
Concerned with their survival, people employed every possible means both to fortify the flames of the dying sun and to chase away, or at least to pacify, the evil spirits. For this purpose they lit bonfires and, not infrequently, offered gruesome sacrifices.
Even after \JChristianity\j had succeeded in suppressing paganism, people continued to practice some of its customs. However, they reinterpreted them to give them new and innocuous meanings. Going almost to the other extreme, they transformed a fearsome night into an occasion of jollification, particularly for the young.
Most popular - and a typical example of the change brought about - is the game of "trick or treat." In early times, people in scary disguise went around on that night, asking for alms. For the gifts received, they would pray or fast for lost souls who, it was believed, would gratefully give their goodwill to the donors. People who did not respond to the request would be haunted by the spirits of the neglected dead.
Nowadays children don scary masks and dress up as ghouls and \Jghosts\j. They roam the streets, going from house to house, knocking on doors demanding a "treat," usually in the form of sweets. They play pranks on those who do not comply!
As in earlier times, bonfires are lit, but now they brighten up happy gatherings. Pumpkin lanterns with grinning faces carved into them add a mischievous and bizarre aspect to the present-day celebration. While they make the night of \JHallowe'en\j all the more eerie and spooky, they are totally divorced from the macabre roots of the festival.
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"Odd Story of any Inauguration",1606,0,0,0
Inauguration as a term can be traced to ancient Roman augury! The function of all officially appointed soothsayer was to observe the flight of birds and, by interpreting it, to select "auspicious" days on which to hold events of national importance or to embark on significant ventures.
The \Jetymology\j of the words recalls their "bird-watching" origin. "Auspicious" joins \Iavis\i ("bird" in Latin) with \Ispecio\i (which means "I observe"). "Inauguration" combines the Latin \Iaugur\i (which preceded \Iavis\i as the word for "bird") and the verb \Igarrio\i (which means "I talk" or "I chatter"). No doubt it referred to the soothsayer's ability to understand the message contained in the mystifying but meaningful sounds made by the birds.
The application of the ancient meanings to the modern institution would suggest that Inauguration Day should be the most propitious day for a new President to assume his term of office.
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"Odds Have it",1607,0,0,0
To explain the significance of numbers and the influence they have exerted on man is part of history and civilization. Numbers certainly have been responsible for many of man's anticipations and apprehensions. A specific figure can be linked with good or ill fortune for the most varied reasons. The cause may be based on a single historical incident or a mere coincidence. Or it could have been started by an alert mind with a keen sense of observation, be the result of a deeply-rooted but unexplained occult tradition, or have been inevitably stumbled upon by repetitious experience.
Ever concerned with his fate, man carefully watched the effect of each figure. He took note of the association of a number with a certain event and then never forgot the link. This gave that figure a permanent place in the realm of magic.
A man's life was regarded (by the Psalmist) to last "three score years and ten." If he was especially vigorous, it could extend to eighty years. Passengers arriving by the latest jet planes may be put into quarantine. If so, they would observe the early tradition of the magic figure 40. This is the literal meaning of (the Italian) \Iquaranta.\i It was thought to work wonders. If a person afflicted by a disease was kept in isolation for exactly forty days - not a day less or more - he would be cured.
Likewise, because of the sacrosanct quality of the figure 40, Noah and his family spent forty days in the Ark and Moses spent forty days on \JMount Sinai\j to receive the divine revelation. The Israelites wandered through the desert for forty years, and Jonah gave the people of \JNineveh\j forty days to repent. For forty days Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. . .
With some notable exceptions, even numbers were always regarded as unlucky. Since they could be divided and thereby diminished in their value, they were considered as foreboding dissolution and death. But there was "divinity in odd numbers" (in the words of Shakespeare) which reflected an ancient and established conviction. No wonder therefore that 3, 7, 9, and 21 were particularly promising omens. And because of that, they were inimical to evil forces which, scared by them, would do everything to shun them.
Examples of the belief in the lucky odd number could be given from all over the world. A tradition tells that the legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius added an extra day to those months of the calendar which (unfortunately) counted an even number of days. Chinese pagodas, not accidentally either, always have an odd number of storys which may vary between three and thirteen.
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"Off the Cuff",1608,0,0,0
That impromptu speeches are said to be made "off the cuff" once had a good reason. After-dinner speakers used to jot down on their cuffs any idea that came to them during the meal, which they could then include in their address. Very literally, thus, they entertained the guests "off the cuff."
Much more likely, the phrase goes back to the time when cuffs, apart from being decorative, were found useful in another way. Around the 1900s, waiter's cuffs, made of celluloid, were detachable. Much more quickly soiled than the shirt, they could be removed to be washed separately. It was also realized that instead of chalking up orders on slates, which was the custom then, waiters could note them down on their cuffs so much more easily. Once they had served the food and the bill was settled, the cuffs could be wiped clean again.
Hollywood film directors have been given credit as well to have led the world in all that is done "off the cuff." It often happened that while they were watching a movie being shot, new ideas came to their minds which, they imagined, could improve the script. Not to forget them, they quickly scribbled them on to their cuffs.
Cuffs are no longer a detachable item on men's shirts nor (ab)used as note pads of a kind. Nevertheless, remarks are made and audiences addressed "off the cuff." The alternate description of the practice as speaking \Iex tempore\i was first used by Cicero, the second-century Roman statesman and philosopher renowned as an orator.
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"Offsider",1609,0,0,0
It is an Australianism to refer to one's "aide" as an offsider. This recalls the early pioneering days when transports moved along primitive roads in bullock teams. Their driver had an assistant whose job it was to walk on the off side, from there to urge on the beasts. Frequently, this assistant was a learner who, in the words of the Australian historian C. E. W. Bean, "was allowed to try his apprentice tongue on the offside of a bullock team." His "position" suggested the use of offsider for any helper.
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"Ogre",1610,0,0,0
The ogre is well-known as the man-eating giant of fairytale. But, while Charles Perrault, the French writer, was the first to use \Iogre\i in this sense (in 1697), it recalls a much older name - that of Orcus, the Roman god of the infernal region, respected and feared, as well as the god of oaths who punished perjurers.
There is another explanation of the derivation of ogre, removed from \Jmythology\j. This claims that the word is the corruption of the name of a savage Asian people, who so terrorized neighboring countries, that the very mention of their name made people shudder.
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"Oktoberfest",1611,0,0,0
\BA Beer Festival\b
A nineteenth-century medical opinion referred to beer brewers and beer cellars as the best pharmacists and pharmacies in the world. At one time religion not only supported, but greatly fostered the drinking of beer. Monks largely contributed to the art of brewing. After all, beer provided a nutritious supplement to man's diet during the meagre days of Lent. Beer has always been a favorite of Munich citizens. They refer to it as their "liquid bread."
Of all the world's beer festivals, none equals Munich's Oktoberfest either in fame or in size. Once limited to only one day, it now extends over sixteen days. In spite of its name, the Oktoberfest begins in September and concludes on the first Sunday in October.
Its origin in the nineteenth century concerned not the drinking of beer, but the racing of horses. On 12 October 1810, a royal wedding took place between Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. A spectacular horse race was a fitting way to mark the royal event. The race was run at the closing of the festivities and proved an outstanding success. Sixty horses from all over \JBavaria\j competed.
The race became an annual event, drawing vast crowds of spectators. A biennial agricultural show served as an additional attraction. In 1818 the original one-day race meeting had developed into several days of exuberant celebrations, with thousands of people thronging the grounds. To cater for their needs and to quench their thirst, beer tents and booths were put up. No one then realized that this was the birth of the Oktoberfest, as it later became known. Now, in all the drinking, glamor and abandonment to enjoyment, no one remembers the horses that started it all.
The festivities are officially opened when the Lord Mayor taps the first barrel of beer. A large parade of colorfully decorated brewers' drays and magnificent floats brings the festivities to an exciting climax on the first Sunday of October. Beer tents erected for the occasion provide an unending supply of drink and food and a \Jcarnival\j atmosphere permeates the entire festival.
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"Old Harry",1612,0,0,0
Old Harry is one of the devil's "familiar" nicknames. No doubt, it tried to create the impression of familiarity either to coax the devil to be pleasant or make light of him and his power. After all, anyone you could call by his first name (to speak of the Christian name would be out of place here) and so common a name at that, would do you no harm.
Others, however, rather suspicious and frightened of such a nonchalant attitude and overawed by the devil's wickedness, derived the innocuous Harry from camouflaged horror. Harry, they said, really referred to the devil's harrying work that constantly harrassed and worried men.
Touching more neutral ground, a third explanation simply feels that Harry recalls (by its sound) the devil's hairy aspect. His body was overgrown with hair. Of course, this attempt to identify the devil by his hairy nature had dangerous implications during "witch" hunts. Poor innocent men who prided themselves on their hairy growth which did not just cover the usual "spots," but large expanses of their body, came under suspicion. Just as nowadays the wrong notion prevails that extra hair indicates manliness and virility, so in former days it was misinterpreted as revealing a person's true devilish nature.
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"Old Nick",1613,0,0,0
Nick's itinerary is freely available to anyone and not a matter of conjecture. His travels lead from tantalizing prospecting operations to the money market, from mining to minting.
It all began in \JGermany\j. Miners anxious to find some new source of copper, believed they had discovered it in quantity in rich deposits of apparently genuine copper ore which showed the typical reddish-brown color of the metal. But once they began to dig up the ore, their early expectations were dashed to the ground. Smelting down the ore, it yielded not a single ounce of copper. In their frustration, they looked for an explanation of the mystery of the "disappearing" copper. They had been so sure of its presence. Had they not seen it with their own eyes? Therefore, it could only be the result of the work of mischievous forces, of goblins, dwelling inside the mountain. It was the devil's doing, they were now fully convinced. He had bewitched the copper!
Verbalizing the assumption of the nefarious interference of occult power, they duly named the substance "the devil's copper" which in German is \IKupfernickel.\i For many years, disappointed people took little notice of the ore which "by the devil's doing" had lost all commercial value. But in 1751, Baron Axel Frederik Cronstedt, a Swedish scientist and mathematician, took a new look at it.
There was no doubt in his trained mind that there was no trace of copper in the substance. Instead - and much more exciting - it represented a totally new, so far completely unknown metal with slightly magnetic properties. In due course, Cronstedt was able to isolate the metal and wondered what to call it. He dropped from its original name the copper part, the presence of which he had shown to be unjustified. All that was left now was (Old) Nick - in German, \INickel.\i It did not take long for the name of the new metal to be adopted all over the world.
Soon other metallurgists and scientists discovered nickel's great usefulness as an alloy. Soft copper, for instance, became hardened with the addition of just a little nickel. Copper coins, which up to that time had proved of a short life expectancy, suddenly could be changed into hard cash.
Americans produced the first specimen coin with the novel alloy in 1857. This was valued one cent. The presence of nickel, which guaranteed its prolonged lifespan, made people refer to it colloquially by the (German) demon's name. But soon - long before modern \Jinflation\j - the gremlin took possession of the five cent piece, and the nickel has been associated with that coin ever since. Money, some wit has explained, is purposely made in a round shape because no sooner have you got hold of it, than it starts rolling away. Is it any wonder, if it is realized that even the nickel is just part of Old Nick?
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"Old School Tie",1614,0,0,0
The "old school tie" has played a significant role in English life. It is said that whoever wore it had the key to open up many a closed door guarded by those of a common bond. Surprisingly though, this almost proverbial necktie has been misunderstood.
It is wrong to assume that the old school tie was worn by all the pupils of a particular public school, such as \JEton\j and Harrow, never to be discarded. The term referred solely to the tie of the "old boys" who, on graduation, joined a club or an association of former members of their school. No one else could wear the tie, even if he had been to the same institution of learning.
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"Olympic Gold Medals",1615,0,0,0
Olympic "gold medals" are not of gold. Priceless to the winner in symbolic value, the gold is not solid. It refers merely to the thin plating that covers the medal, of which nine-tenths is silver.
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"Olympics Get a Second Wind",1616,0,0,0
After an existence of almost 1,200 years, the decline of Greek culture, and the conquest of \JGreece\j by \JRome\j, led to the deterioration of the Games. The new Christian teaching of the sinfulness of the body, and its abhorrence of heathen practice, dealt the deathblow to the Games, which were finally banned in AD 393 by the Christian Emperor, \JTheodosius I\j, as "pagan idolatry." When, to his horror, his grandson, \JTheodosius II\j, learned that in spite of the prohibition the contests were still being held at Olympia, he had its buildings burned to he ground and the last physical traces of the Olympics thus disappeared.
For the Games to have existed almost uninterruptedly for 12 centuries is in itself a proud record, unequaled in the annals of history. Certainly paradoxical is the fact that while one religion had given birth to the \JOlympic Games\j, in the name of another they were destroyed.
It took 1,502 years to revive the Games. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Games, was inspired by their ancient aim to create good will and peace among men.
He was not an athlete himself, but a scholar and educationist. His "revivalist" enthusiasm had been roused by several experiences and factors. On a visit to England he had been impressed by the practice of sport at schools, particularly so at "Rugby." A Scottish friend had fired his imagination with the Olympic ideal. Even more so, he had been deeply affected by the excavation of the actual ancient Olympic site by German archaeologists (1875-81).
At the time, the subject of \Jfree trade\j was hotly argued about by politicians who strongly advocated the abolition of tariffs in the movement of goods from one country to another. The French Baron, with the archaeologists' triumph vivid in his mind, then declared: "Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers, into other countries. This is the true \JFree Trade\j of the future, and the day it is introduced into Europe, the cause of peace will have gained a strong ally."
At first, however, there was opposition to his proposal. Undaunted, Coubertin, deeply concerned with the future of man, pursued his aim. Instead of merely talking about it, in 1894 he sent out invitations to all sporting organizations in the world to an international athletic congress to be held at the \JSorbonne\j University, in Paris. He wrote: "Re-establishment of the \JOlympic Games\j under conditions conformable to the needs of modern life would bring together every four years representatives of all nations, and it is permissible to suppose that these peaceful and courteous contests would thus supply the best of internationalism."
Though acceptances were slow in coming, the meeting took place as arranged and was attended by an enthusiastic group of sportsmen. However, the Baron had learned his lesson. He was not only cautious, but shrewd. At least so some people suggested. In the agenda drawn up for the meeting in the famous French university, the main object in Coubertin's mind - the Olympics' revival - was listed only eighth.
Things went even better than the Baron had expected in his most sanguine mood. When, after much wearying discussion of the preceding seven topics, the meeting eventually reached item "number eight," all were so tired and anxious to conclude that no one tried to argue, and the motion was carried easily. It was also agreed to offer \JGreece\j the honor of being host nation for the first of the resurrected Games. This, of course, was out of deference to their Greek beginnings.
Two years later, on 6 April 1896, in the presence of a crowd of 50,000, the King of \JGreece\j declared the first of the new series of \JOlympic Games\j open, for men to unite from the four corners of the earth in the pursuit of excellence or, in the words of the ancient Olympic motto, to be faster, higher, stronger.
The Bishop of \JPennsylvania\j, in a sermon preached in London on the occasion of the 1908 Olympics there, epitomized the true spirit of the Games (and, indeed, of all sports) in an often quoted observation that "the important thing in the \JOlympic Games\j is not winning, but taking part, for the essential thing in life is not so much conquering as fighting well."
The story of the Olympics thus leads from small, parochial gatherings to propitiate gods and the spirits of departed heroes to a universal contest in the service of peace and brotherhood. And as such, sport can make its greatest contribution yet to our world.
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"Omelette",1617,0,0,0
There is nothing for nothing. Or, as the French as masters of cuisine say so much more descriptively, "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs."
It is nevertheless a fact that there is not a single egg in an omelette, linguistically speaking. All an omelette tells is its (supposed) shape. The chief "ingredient" of the omelette is \Ilamella\i for "thin plate" - the Latin diminutive of \Ilamina.\i
An omelette therefore, if properly cooked, according to the rules of language should never be fluffy but thin as a blade! But one never knows how wrong one can go when things get heated. How odd that a housewife should get upset if her omelette falls flat. If only she knew how true to the language her cooking is!
The identical thinness of the Latin \Ilamella\i appears in all things that are laminated. The word refers to the "thin" layer of veneer.
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"On Cloud Nine",1618,0,0,0
A much happier application of the figure is when we talk of being "on top of cloud 9." There is a suggestion that this figure of speech, expressing rapture and ecstasy, might be derived from the dry (or wet!) science of \Jmeteorology\j. Weather experts, very factually, numbered the various cloud formations and in their \Jnumerology\j, one type of cloud "No. 9" referred to a thunder cloud. To sit on top of it would certainly put a person up very high. In fact, he would be out of danger of being struck by \Jlightning\j which, it was assumed, always struck downward. But, "above" all, a person thus positioned, was sure to enjoy the full benefit of the warmth and brightness of the sun.
Also it is very likely that "cloud 9" was specially chosen as a figure of speech because people in the heaven of perfect bliss felt so "uplifted" that they would describe their state of mind best by linking it with the most perfect of numbers, the holiest figure - the trinity of trinities.
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"On the Carpet",1619,0,0,0
The offices of senior British Civil Servants were carpeted. A conspicuous feature, it became their status symbol. For a minor official to be summoned to such "sanctum" for a reprimand, literally put him "on the carpet."
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"On the Dole",1620,0,0,0
Colloquially, those unemployed are said to be "on the dole." It is a very sad and descriptive phrase, expressive of the mood of people willing, but unable to work. They are heavy-hearted, cheerless and - \Idoleful,\i from the Latin \Idolar.\i
However, this negative interpretation is not the real one. "On the dole" can be traced to the relief money "doled" out during the days of the \JGreat Depression\j. First used in connection with the British National Insurance Act of 1911, it then referred to the unemployment benefit, the "portion" allotted to each workless man. "Dole" as the general description of a charitable "gift" goes back to Saxon days, when \Idel\i was the chosen name for the "piece" \I(Teil\i in German) of land annually allocated to individual peasants.
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"On the Stage",1621,0,0,0
A critic once wrote of a poor play that "It opened at 8.40 sharp and closed at 10.40 dull." The theater can truly excite and bore, exalt, and debase. Tragedies have agitated the human soul, and comedies, at their best, have provoked "thoughtful laughter." The theater is as old as man himself. Play-acting has been a human instinct from earliest days.
But in the beginning, the theater was not meant to entertain. It was a matter of life and death. Among primitive tribes and in the early civilizations, the theater was not a pastime, but part of life and religion.
The word \Itheater\i comes from the Greek and means "a place for looking." Originally, plays were performed not to be heard but to be seen. A \Idrama,\i therefore, is literally something "acted" in the way of a mime.
Drama's 3,000 years of history tell about man himself, his tears and laughter, his fears and loves, the strange quirks life can play, and its many paradoxes.
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"On the Water Wagon",1622,0,0,0
That those who abstain from alcoholic drink are said to be "on the water wagon" has a simple historical explanation. It goes back to a practice of the Salvation Army in New York. Its members would pick up drunks in the city streets, to drive them to a safe shelter, for which purpose they used a water wagon. Their compassionate practice and rescuing mission has been perpetuated in the simple phrase, though its original literal significance as a means of transport is no longer remembered.
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"Once in a Blue Moon",1623,0,0,0
When we speak of "once in a blue moon" we mean "very rarely indeed." Obviously, a blue moon is not an everyday occurrence.
The moon has been blamed - rightly or wrongly - for many things. She has given us lunatics and the tides. We speak of the moon as being yellow as cheese, though in reality its proper color is probably a dark, brownish-black. The "blue moon" is a optical illusion. It has never existed in reality.
All light of the moon is reflected sunshine, and the color in which it appears to the eye changes according to the atmosphere surrounding the earth through which the rays have to pass. That is why the moon may look bright yellow, whitish, orange or, very rarely, blue.
Any change in the atmosphere, which is caused by particles of dust or other matter being absorbed in it, immediately influence the color of the rays of light reflected by the moon from the sun.
That is why in 1883, for example, the world saw a blue moon. The moon had done nothing. But on earth, the Indonesian island of \JKrakatoa\j had been blown almost into halves, and enormous clouds of volcanic dust and water vapor had been thrown into the atmosphere and were circling the earth for many weeks.
This dust and other matter changed the light rays reaching the earth from the moon, and made people believe that the moon was blue. Things are not always what they seem to be.
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"One of Australia's First International Cricket Heroes",1624,0,0,0
Two monuments honor the memory of Johnny Mullagh, the outstanding professional international cricketer. One is his headstone in the Harrow Cemetery. Surrounded by an iron railing, it is simple in design and wording. It records that:
\IHere Lies
JOHNNY MULLAGH
(Aboriginal)
World Famous Cricketer
Born 1843
Died 14th August 1891.\i
The second monument has been erected in the park - like sports ground of the city, on the banks of the Glenelg River. A column carrying a shroud-draped urn, it stands on a two-tiered square base inscribed on all sides.
The text on one side is almost identical to that on his tombstone. Much more specific are the statistics recorded on the second side. They recall his "Batting Average for English Tour 1868 - 23.65 Runs - 43 Matches." A large, full-length photo of Johnny covers the third side. The fourth side recalls the Aboriginal cricket hero's batting average for the Murray Cup "for 3 years," which was 45.7.
Both monuments were paid for by public subscription. Contributions came not merely from nearby districts, but from many parts of \JAustralia\j.
Johnny was born in the Harrow district. His father, it is thought, was "King Watertight." When reaching adulthood, he went to live and work on Pine Hills Station, owned by the Fitzgeralds, and Mullagh Station, owned by the Edgars. It was from the latter that he received the name under which he became the famous cricketer.
He was originally known as Unarrimin or Muarrinim, but people soon affectionately called him just "Black Johnny." Once fame had come his way, "Black Johnny" became "John of Mullagh" ultimately to be shortened to John Mullagh.
Johnny was first taught cricket by James Edgar, John Fitzgerald, and William Burvill, the latter being the tutor at Pine Hills. Soon "station cricket" became Johnny's life. He excelled so much in it that, in 1868, he was chosen as a member of the first Australian cricket team to visit England. Made up of \JAborigines\j, it preceded the first Australian team of European descent by ten years!
Their tour, in fact, had to be undertaken clandestinely. In case the Central Board for Protection of \JAborigines\j should stop them from going overseas, they were smuggled on board the \IParramatta.\i They played 47 games in England, with three of the players sharing 600 wickets and three scoring more than 1,000 runs. Their total score amounted to 14 wins, 14 defeats, and 19 draws.
Even glorious moments of life at times are overshadowed by some untoward occurrence, as if man just was not meant to experience pure joy. This applied to the tour of 1868, which made Johnny famous. In part, it was spoiled by tragedy. King Cole, one of the members of the Aboriginal team, died from tuberculosis shortly after its arrival in England, in Guy's \JHospital\j on 24 June. His remains rest in the Victoria Park Cemetery, East London (now Meath Gardens), where he was buried in a pauper's grave.
On their return, most of the Aboriginal players forgot all about cricket. Not so John Mullagh. Having made his name in the game he became a professional. However, preferring to live in the country he finally returned to his beloved Pine Hills, where he was to die at the age of 48. The cause of his death is unknown. One morning (14 August 1891), a station hand found him in great pain, with his voice gone. On the arrival of the doctor, Johnny was dead!
The funeral arrangements were taken care of by the Cricket Club. Johnny was laid to rest with his bat and a set of stumps. As the \ISpectator\i at the time reported, "each member of the Cricket Club put a sprig of blackberries and yellow flowers on the coffin as emblems of the Harrow colors - black and gold."
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"One-night Stand",1625,0,0,0
New lifestyles may completely change the meaning of well-known phrases and expressions, a fate experienced by the "one-night stand."
In modern promiscuous society the term is taken unambiguously to refer to people having casual - one night - sex with an almost total stranger. Originally, the one-night stand had no erotic connotation. It was part of actor's lives. Traveling theatrical companies went from place to place. To cover vast areas of territory and to ensure a full house on each occasion, they restricted their performance to a single night. Theirs was a "one-night stand."
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"Only Laughing Animal",1626,0,0,0
Aristotle, like Shakespeare after him, can truly be blamed for the perpetuation of many a fallacy. Certainly, at their time they did not know better, but since the wrong notions were included in their writings, people never queried them. After all, did not Aristotle say so? It must be true, as Shakespeare mentions it.
Because Aristotle had stated that, "laughter is the specialty of man," it became almost an axiom that "man is the only laughing animal." The Palais Royal Theater in Paris has Aristotle's passage inscribed above its stage curtain. It seemed so appropriate as the comedies performed gave the audiences so much cause for laughter.
Laughter is not confined to man. Some animals, such as dogs and certain species of monkeys, share this gift. On the other hand, the "laughing hyena," "laughing \Jjackass\j," and the \Jkookaburra\j, are misnamed. Their prolonged raucous call is merely "laugh-like."
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"Only Waterloo Veteran Buried in Australia",1627,0,0,0
The only Australian known to have fought at Waterloo and to be buried in \JAustralia\j was Richard Jennings. His grave is in the cemetery of the small Victorian town of Ellerslie, where he died at the age of 87 in December 1874.
A modest tomb, it is shaded by cypress trees. Its headstone gives only his name and the dates of his birth and death. There is no indication of the role he once played in one of the momentous clashes of world history.
Born in the Irish County of \JGalway\j, Jennings as a young man of 19 fought in the \JPeninsular War\j, and at the age of 28 under Wellington at Waterloo in 1815, in which battle he was wounded.
He migrated to \JAustralia\j in 1851, to settle in Geelong, where he opened a small hay and corn store. It was not known at the time that Jennings was a veteran of those historic battles; it was 114 years before he was recognized as such.
G. D. Mackenzie, a retiree Mortlake farmer became aware of the facts and made them public. Subsequently the local branch of the RSL decided to pay Jennings tribute. Close to the 173rd anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, the members held a memorial service at the gravesite of the former trooper.
Bruce Ruxton, the then President of the Victorian RSL, unveiled a plaque on his grave duly authorized by the \JCanberra\j Office of the Australian War Graves Commission. Made of brass with black lettering, featuring a Latin cross and the British Service Badge, it carries this inscription:
\IRICHARD JENNINGS
13th Light Dragoon Guards
Veteran of Waterloo
Died 1874 Age 87
Born \JGalway\j, Ireland 1787
Arrived \JAustralia\j 1851\i
In his oration Ruxton said, ". . . today we commemorate a man who fought in what could be said as the last, largest battle of two great armies consisting of about 600,000 men [and Jennings] was a Trooper there, at that last great battle."
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"Opening an Umbrella Indoors",1628,0,0,0
It is a common \Jsuperstition\j that opening an umbrella inside a house brings bad luck. A belief in magic and in the right order of things may have given rise to it.
An umbrella is meant to be a shield in the open air, no matter whether it is used against the rain or the sun. Therefore, to open it where it does not belong is, as it were, a defiance of natural order and an insult to the spirit of the umbrella which, thus personified, would surely take revenge. God intended umbrellas to be employed out of doors and will punish those who do not respect but scorn His intention.
There was also an ancient fear of having an unjustified cover over the head. People believed that evil forces enveloped them all the time, watching out for every possible opportunity of doing harm. But beneficial mystical powers protected them by their invisible radiation. Opening an umbrella indoors, however, put up an impenetrable screen against the rays of good fortune.
In modern times, practical considerations reinforced the ancient \Jsuperstition\j. An open umbrella in a room obstructs vision and can easily cause breakage, damage, and injury. Even the most enlightened man, therefore, is well advised to deem it "dangerous" to open his umbrella indoors.
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"Opera and Music",1629,0,0,0
The opera shares its root with all operations. From the Latin \Iopus,\i it merely refers to "works," without indicating of what type. On its own, an opera therefore may mean anything. In fact, the original full title of a musical drama, first performed in \JItaly\j, was \Iopera in musica,\i "a work set to music." The music somehow was lost and only the "work" survives.
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"Orange Blossoms",1630,0,0,0
Flowers have expressed, without words, many a significant message, not the least on behalf of a bride on her wedding day.
The orange blossoms that traditionally adorn her were originally not merely a decoration. They were used to tell - in silent language - facts and hopes which it would be too difficult and embarrassing to voice in so many spoken words.
The white blossoms were, first of all, a symbol of innocence and purity. They were worn to announce publicly that the bride was a virgin. But then, as few trees bear greater crops, the orange blossoms were meant to express equally the fervent prayer for future fruitfulness on the part of the bride as well. Even more so, they tried magically to ensure the realization of this wish.
Only on rare occasions does life bestow on man all he desires. Mostly it is a question of one thing or the other. Various qualities are thus distributed among different individuals, and only in the most fortunate cases combined in one person.
In former days a man hoped to wed a wife who was not only beautiful in both looks and character but, at the same time, prolific, the future mother of many children.
The orange tree, an evergreen, was one of the few plants which produced both fruit and flower simultaneously. Therefore its blossoms could most suitably voice the hope and wish that the bride, too, far from being merely "a worthless flower of beauty," would be blessed with the two virtues of the orange tree.
Orange trees are a common sight in countries of a warm climate. But in Northern Europe they were known as something exotic. They were rare and costly. Hence only the rich could afford to import them. For this reason their blossoms were chosen to adorn brides from the wealthy and noble classes. Consequently they became a symbol of high rank.
To imitate the rich has always been the desire of those less fortunate. They were anxious to do so especially on their wedding day, when only the best was good enough. That is how all the brides, no matter at what cost, began to adorn themselves exquisitely with the rich and noble men's orange blossoms.
In England, the custom is of a comparatively recent date. It was introduced from \JFrance\j about 1820. The French had adopted it from the Spaniards who many centuries earlier, so tradition says, received their first orange trees from the Moors.
A beautiful legend tells the story of the origin of the custom and associates it with a poor Spanish girl. Soon after the trees had been introduced into \JSpain\j, the then reigning monarch planted them in his palace garden.
There was especially one tree he treasured most. The French ambassador often expressed the wish to obtain an offshoot for himself. But, possibly jealous of his possession, the king refused.
His gardener's daughter knew all about this. She was in desperate need of a dowry to marry the man she loved. Her father was too poor to give it. Secretly, the girl cut a slip from the prized tree and sold it to the ambassador at a high price.
On the day of her wedding she felt that, somehow, she had to acknowledge her debt to the tree to which, after all, she owed her happiness. For that purpose she took some of its blossoms and put them into her hair. Thus she inaugurated the fashion which became universal.
Though the custom's origins, as a symbol of virginity and a magical aphrodisiac, were crude and selfish, this story lends it the romance and beauty it so much deserves. It interprets the orange blossoms as an expression of exuberant joy and deep gratitude.
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"Ordeal",1631,0,0,0
When we speak today of an ordeal we refer to anything that severely tests character or endurance. Use of the term dates back thousands of years to the time when an ordeal was not just a character test but an actual trial of suspects. The outcome of the trial determined the charged person's innocence or guilt and thus his life or death.
The word ordeal is \JAnglo-Saxon\j, meaning "judgment." That is exactly what an ordeal was assumed to be - God's judgment.
"What is truth?" is a question which has puzzled man from earliest times. But it has not always been possible to do like Pilate: to put the question and then to walk away without even waiting for an answer. In matters of right and wrong it is of vital necessity to know whether a man is innocent or guilty. That becomes the more difficult if sufficient evidence is lacking to clear or condemn the accused.
Primitive man left the decision to the gods in a trial by ordeal. The question of where truth lay was addressed not to a human judge but to \Jsupernatural\j powers. It was always categorical and asked: "Is this man guilty or not?" A third possibility was disregarded - that the gods might not answer.
Trials by ordeal were held all over the world. They were known among early \JAryan\j races and examples of them are found in the \JOld Testament\j. Surprisingly, this kind of judicial inquiry where \Jsupernatural\j aid was invoked and relied on in place of evidence, did not disappear with antiquity. In the \JMiddle Ages\j, ordeals were sanctioned and applied by both Church and State all over Europe, including Britain.
Ecclesiastical authorities devised special liturgical formulas to accompany the procedure, and Law Courts approved of several forms of the trial. All shared the principle that God would save the righteous and punish the evil-doer. If the accused succumbed to the ordeal, his guilt was proved. If he passed through it unscathed, God had declared him innocent. The individual choice of the ordeal depended on the standing of the accused.
In the \Itrial by battle,\i the suspect was forced to fight the person who had charged him. It was believed that victory would go to the party who was in the right. The ordeal was not an appeal to force, but to God, who would let the righteous win.
It is not difficult to discern that modern warfare among nations is based on this identical primitive misconception that not the force of arms but the justice of the cause determined the final outcome.
In the \Itrial by hot water,\i the accused had to plunge his hand and arm - up to the elbow - into boiling water. The hand and arm were then bandaged. If after three days they showed any injury, this was taken as a divine indication that the man was guilty.
In the \Itrial by fire,\i the suspect was forced to hold in his hand a red-hot iron or, blind-folded and with bare feet, to walk among nine red-hot ploughshares, placed haphazardly on the ground. If he passed through the ordeal unharmed, he was innocent. This type of trial was reserved for a person of high rank who could appoint a deputy on his behalf!
In the \Itrial by the morsel,\i the accused person had to swallow - in one piece - either bread or cheese weighing 1 ounce. His innocence was considered proven if he could do so without effort. But should the "morsel" get stuck in his throat, God had pronounced him guilty.
In the \Itrial by water,\i the suspect was thrown, with his hands and feet bound, into a river. If he sank it was an intimation by God that he was free of guilt. But if he floated, the opposite was the case.
At first sight and to the reasoning of our mind, such a decision seems rather paradoxical, and we should have expected it to have been the other way round. But the apparent contradiction resolves itself, if it is realized that water was considered the symbol of purity. It rejected the guilty - who therefore floated - but it did not object to receiving the innocent, who hence drowned!
It is one of the peculiar traits of human nature that once an institution or custom has been carried on for some time, it is taken for granted and never questioned. Even when eventually it has lost its usefulness or, worse still, has become harmful, people continue to observe it, accepting it as something right and proper. This applies especially to those features in human society which are closely associated with religion and said to be done in the name of God.
That is why the cruel and totally misleading \Itrial by ordeal\i kept a hold on the people for so long. They had neither the courage nor the wisdom to rebel against it. But at last, in the second half of the 12th century, some enlightened men realized the total injustice of a system that, in the determination of a man's innocence or guilt, claimed to listen to the voice of God, but in reality relied on pure chance.
Still, nothing was changed until the Church itself took matters in hand. In 1212 Pope Innocent III forbade the use of the ordeal when this was applied by the Bishop of \JStrasbourg\j against heretics.
The Lateran Council of 1215 decreed that henceforth no priest anywhere would be permitted to participate in a trial of that kind. As the presence of an ecclesiastic on such occasions was indispensable, trials by ordeals could no longer be held. It was one of the significant cases where religion proved itself not as a reactionary force but as a goad to progress.
The problem now facing the authorities was who should assume the function of the defunct ordeal in determining right and wrong. All agreed that a more rational form was needed. Wisely, the choice fell on the jury.
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"Orgy",1632,0,0,0
Astounding is the fact that the basic meaning of orgy is "intense work," though confined to the field of sexual activities! \I(Erg\i - of identical \Jetymology\j - is still the name of a unit of energy.) Significantly however, the sex acts were pursued, not in the spirit of self-indulgence by lechers and profligates, but as a sacred ritual by initiates of mystery rites. They took part in the orgies with religious zeal and for profound reasons. This explains why another early meaning of the orgy was "secret worship," focusing on fertility.
At all times man has been deeply concerned with survival - his own and that of the whole of nature. He also believed in the effectiveness of sympathetic magic, that a specific minor act performed by him could - magically - have a major effect of a similar kind. His pouring water on to the ground, for instance, could result in showers of rain, he believed. Equally, worshipers were convinced their copulations and sexual indulgences would ensure the fertility of all living things.
Such "orgies" became a conspicuous part of celebrations and rituals in various cultures and periods. They were held in honor of a Thracian fertility god, the Greek Dionysus and the Roman Bacchus.
Human nature being what it is, it is not surprising that these sacred rites deteriorated, in time, into occasions of riotous debauchery. They became so unrestrained that, in 186 B.C., the Roman authorities felt it necessary to suppress the overindulgence that had become a prominent feature of the \JBacchanalia\j - the name by which the festival then was known.
However, the word \Iorgy,\i remains to remind us of an aspect of ancient worship. For us, it has lost all religious connotations, and applies simply to an occasion of uninhibited licentiousness.
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"Origin of Apostles' Creed",1633,0,0,0
The "\JApostles' Creed\j," as a statement of faith and the epitome of the doctrines taught by the Apostles, used in the Western Church, originated about three centuries after their death! Tersely worded, though possibly based on the Gospels (Matth. 28:19), none of its affirmations is Apostolic in words. Its title cannot be traced back beyond about A.D. 390, around which time the legend arose that the Creed was the joint composition of the twelve Apostles. Each of them had written one of its clauses. Its present-day text was first quoted in a manuscript going back only to the eighth century.
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"Origin of Cobalt",1634,0,0,0
German people were convinced that their homes housed a little devil whom they called a \IKobold.\i
Various explanations have been given for the meaning and origin of the name. Some saw in it an earlier personal name which in \JOld High German\j was Gottbald. And just as the English euphemistically called the devil Old Nick, so the Germans referred to him as \IKobold.\i Others - more appositely to the creature's real (mischievous) work - derived the name from words that spoke of the cottage \I(Kobe)\i being ruled \I(walten,\i the English "wield") by it. The Kobold would really mean "the governor of the house."
Starting off as a guardian spirit, the Kobold deteriorated into an impish little creature who delighted in pranks. He would upset things, break precious vases, spoil a cake or curdle milk. In fact, he might do anything that would cause trouble and annoy the mistress of the house.
Eventually, Germans blamed anything that went wrong or did not quite go their way, not on natural causes or their own mistakes, but on the gnome or sprite.
In one specific instance this applied particularly to miners who - by the very circumstance of their dangerous occupation - tended to be superstitious. Time and again, deep down in the earth, they would discover a reddish-gray ore of lustrous sheen. At first there would be no doubt in their minds that they had found something really valuable. But when they tried to smelt it down, this promising element would prove entirely worthless, yielding no metal. Worse still, it seemed to smell of sulfur and made them sick (as we now know, because it also contained \Jarsenic\j).
The miners were convinced that they had not made a mistake in their initial assumption. Rather, once again, it had been the work of the Kobold - the demon of the mines - who had changed the precious metal into this base and dangerous substance. Hence its devilish sulfuric smell and the sickness it caused to those handling it. The Kobold alone surely was to blame for this evil substitution of a useless, vitiated substance for a rich discovery. And to express their firm belief, they called the "find" after the demon. And that is how \Jcobalt\j (as it is spelled in English) got its name.
The miners cast away as utterly useless the ore which they had contemptuously named after the imp. The (devilish) name stuck and was even retained when a miracle happened and Georg Brand, the Swedish chemist, (around 1730) discovered the hidden qualities of the metal. Even in its radio - active healing properties, \Jcobalt\j (in its name) perpetuates man's early belief in evil spirits always out to annoy and damage him. This is as paradoxical as the fact that though the metal in its natural state looks silver-white with a pinkish tinge, the \Jpigments\j produced from it are of a deep blue or yellowish green color!
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"Origin of Knots in Sailing",1635,0,0,0
That the speed of a ship is reckoned not in kilometers or miles, but knots, has its valid reason. It records for all time how in the 15th century, sailors learned to improve their method in determining the speed of their boat. They did so by tying knots at regular intervals (eventually fixed at 47 feet 3 inches) on the log rope. They then counted how many knots passed through their hands in a specified time (ultimately standardized at 28 seconds), measured by the sand running out of an hour glass.
By a simple multiplication they then were able to say at how many knots per hour their boat was moving. And that is how, as a companion of the obsolete log, these antiquated knots survive.
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"Origin of Superstitions",1636,0,0,0
Superstitions have been with man from his earliest days, and even in the scientific age of today, the most enlightened of us are often tempted to keep them, as there might be "something in them." For superstitions are not always as irrational and illogical as may be imagined. They have a reason, a background, and a practical explanation.
From earliest times men assumed the existence of powers which could influence their lives for better or worse. To placate anger of these forces or to buy their good will became (to some people) almost an obsession \Jneurosis\j, which has been responsible for many habits and customs that are meticulously observed even nowadays.
The fact is that, at some time or other, everybody, no matter what his education or place in life, is a slave to \Jsuperstition\j. Mostly, however, we do not realize it. We cleverly rationalize the meaning of superstitions and refer to them as beautiful customs. No doubt they belong to the social life of both the civilized and the savage. To trace their origins is a rewarding adventure, prompting us whether to be - superstitious.
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"Origin of the Blues",1637,0,0,0
The colorful description of having "the blues" for being depressed has been explained in several ways.
Some blues can be quite darkish, far from cheerful. Workers preparing indigo dye were said to suffer from bouts of melancholia. Absorbing some of the chemicals used in the process, they were slightly poisoned which made them morose. This created the association of blue with fits of depression.
Another theory links the origin of "the blues" with \Idelirium tremens.\i It was popularly believed that excessive drinkers suffering from D.Ts did not only see (imaginary) pink elephants, but blue devils as well. When recovering from the attack, they were dispirited and moody, and sad and sorry for themselves. This caused people to blame the blue devils for their dejection and blue became synonymous with such a state of mind.
Blacks who were brought to the New World as slaves had very little reason to be happy. They expressed the anguish of their suffering in some of their songs which therefore reflected their sadness and did so in a melancholy mood mixed with echoes of their unsuppressible humor. No wonder that these compositions became known as "the blues." It was W.C. Handy, a black dance-band leader who launched the blues. He did so at Memphis, \JTennessee\j, in 1909.
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"Origin of the Royal Garter",1638,0,0,0
The story of how (after having successfully challenged the French crown) King Edward III in 1349 established the much coveted Order of the Garter is well-known. This Badge of Chivalry was to be reserved for persons of the highest distinction.
At a royal ball, so goes the tale, the Countess of Salisbury's garter had slipped and fallen to the ground, which had greatly embarrassed the lady. As a true gentleman, the king himself had stooped, picked it up and, making light of the incident, put it on his own leg. But lest bystanders misinterpret his action (or start gossiping about the unfortunate "slip" later on), he had remarked very audibly (so no one would misunderstand the implied threat) that "evil [or, shame] to him who evil of it thinks."
The king then felt that the occasion deserved to be remembered in perpetuity. And for this reason he had created the noble Order of Chivalry! Its very motto recalled the words he had uttered at the time (and in the French he had used): \I"Honi soit qui mal y pense."\i
However, despite its frequent repetition, the story is hardly convincing. Fourteenth-century ladies, even those attending royal functions, were not so finicky or modest that the mere loss of a garter would have caused them to blush or feel uncomfortable. The reason for all the commotion lay in a completely different region (a theory first advanced by Margaret Murray). At that time, a garter was not only an article of clothing used to hold up stockings, it was also said to be the distinguishing badge worn secretly by a witch. To lose it publicly and thereby to give away her allegiance to the devil was thus not just a cause of embarrassment but of acute danger (and more so if it concerned a noble lady). If she had been recognized as a witch, even her status would not have protected her. The Countess' very life was threatened.
So suddenly a delightful social occasion had turned into a most frightening situation. This was saved (and even more importantly, so was the lady herself) by the king making light of it and courageously grasping the nettle, thus protecting her honor.
By picking up the garment in the sight of all and donning it himself, he intended to reveal that it was certainly worn by the Countess as an innocuous piece of finery and not as the ominous badge of a witch. However, just in case anyone might still dare to think otherwise and to link the garter with the world of the occult, he loudly remarked that he would mete out "evil to him who would think evil of it" - by interpreting the garter the witchy way! His words therefore were uttered not in a jocular vein but constituted an actual royal threat.
A king tackling occult power at a royal ball was the real background of the Order of Chivalry, still so greatly cherished.
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"Origin of the Steeplechase",1639,0,0,0
An odd story explains the origin of the steeplechase. Eighteenth-century fox hunters were returning home disappointed because their chase had proved a complete failure. They had been unable to make a single kill.
To compensate for their lack of success one of the men, on the spur of the moment, suggested a different type of chase. He may have conceived the idea when he caught sight of the steeple of their village church in the far distance. Pointing to it, he proposed that they should race in a direct line towards it, no matter what obstructions they had to overcome on the way. The first to touch the steeple with his whip would be the winner.
Thus even the church has found a place in racing, as long as this is across ditches, fences, hedges, and other formidable hazards. Traditionally the earliest race of this type took place in Ireland around 1752 and was run from one church steeple to another over a distance of about four miles (6.40 km). From Erin, the sport spread to England, where its course was extended to more than 20 miles (32 km). An early match is said to have been held between two Lords near Huntington in 1807. Hunters and cavalry - men particularly welcomed and sponsored this adventurous riding.
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"Origin of the Tie",1640,0,0,0
The tie was first worn for a very practical reason. Jackets lacked buttons and to "tie" their collar around their neck, men used a narrow strip (of either linen or muslin) loosely knotting it under their chin. This is the origin of the necktie and explains its name. With the introduction of buttons, its function became redundant. But man, as a creature of habit, did not discard the superfluous "tie."
In his love of adornment, he used its loose ends to add color to his dress. The "loud" tie was worn to attract attention. The "old school tie" proclaimed loyalty to a particular college or club. The "red tie" announced sympathy with the political "left." Its black color conveyed one's sense of loss at the death of a close relative or friend.
Psychoanalysts have seen in the custom of wearing a tie erotic significance. The tie was symbolic of the male organ. Therefore Protestant ministers often donned a tie of white color signifying purity, whilst Catholic priests as celebates, wore no tie at all, but a plain clerical collar.
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"Origin of the Toby Jug",1641,0,0,0
A toby jug is a beer mug in the shape of a squat man wearing old-fashioned garb and a three-cornered hat. It was only natural to personify it, calling it by name, and Toby, short for Tobias, was as good as any. However, there is a story behind its choice.
Ralph Wood of Burslem and his son were the owners of one of the famous 18th century English Staffordshire potteries. They specialized in producing this type of jug. They modeled it on the figure of Toby Fillpot, "a thirsty soul," popularized at the time by a humorous \Jballad\j by Francis Fawkes, which had first been published in 1760. Their design was based on an \Jengraving\j of Toby they had purchased from a London print-seller, Carrington Bowles. It was no wonder therefore that in the beginning their jug was also known as a fillpot. It was a name, which apart from playing on words, expressed a thirsty man's wishful thought.
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"Origin of Urim and Thummim",1642,0,0,0
Of all divinations, no doubt the most concise was that which demanded a definite, unequivocal "yes" or "no." It was a method practised in ancient \JHebrew\j times, and it was included in the duties of the High Priest. Its origin goes back much further, most likely to the Babylonian religion and its "tablets of destiny."
How the oracle was actually worked is still a matter of conjecture. The \JBible\j tells very little about it. The "apparatus" used and referred to as the "\JUrim and Thummim\j" was attached to the High Priest's breastplate; this part of his official garb was more fully and very aptly then known as "the breastplate of decision."
Questions put not only had to be specific, but had to be worded in such a way that the answer given would be one of two alternatives. When, for instance, David consulted the oracle of the Thummim, wanting to know whether or not the men of Keilah would deliver him and his followers into the hands of Saul, the answer was definite: "And the Lord said [by means of the breastplate] 'They will deliver you!'" (I Sam. 23,10-12).
Most probably the \JUrim and Thummim\j were some kind of lots, made of stone or wood. That they might have been "sacred dice" - symbolizing "Truth" and "Justice" - has been suggested by actual examples of that type that were excavated in \JEgypt\j, where they were found around the neck of a mummified priest.
Another hypothesis explains the \JUrim and Thummim\j as flat stones, colored white on one side and black on the other. And, obviously, the way they fell indicated by the color the divine affirmative or negation. Implying magic potency, some authorities even claimed that it was the appearance of the stones (their sudden luster or their becoming completely dull) that conveyed God's approbation or disapproval.
Equally uncertain and mysterious is the \Jetymology\j of their names, as shown by the variety of explanations given for \JUrim and Thummim\j. These range from \JHebrew\j words standing for "curse" \I(arar)\i and "integrity" \I(tum)\i to others for "lights" and "perfections." In the "Thanksgiving Psalms" discovered among the \JDead Sea Scrolls\j, a very similar term appears (though spelled as one single word): \Iurtum,\i which was applied to express "divine enlightenment."
Once again, the name has also been linked with the magic use of the oracle, and it has been noted that it could surely not be merely accidental that the \JUrim and Thummim\j commenced with the first and the last letter of the \JHebrew\j alphabet.
That the oracle was worn on the priest's heart was given a special interpretation. It was meant to indicate and to emphasize its truly sacred mission. In fact, the \JUrim and Thummim\j could only be consulted in questions that concerned the fate of the community. To do so in matters of a personal and individual nature was not permitted and strictly \Jtaboo\j.
With the passing of time and the further spiritualization of religion, the \JUrim and Thummim\j lost their original function. Though still worn as part of the priestly regalia, they were no longer consulted. Like a diadem, they served as a conspicuous symbol of the High Priest's authority, and of his right and gift to interpret God's will, but now doing so by inspiration alone without the aid of an instrument.
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"Original Dozen",1643,0,0,0
Babylonian culture, based on religion, has left its traces in many a modern concept and institution, including the money market.
Much of Babylonian religion was linked with the stars and other heavenly bodies and phenomena. Their long experience with astronomical observations, and with calculations based on them, endowed the priests with a masterly proficiency in \Jmathematics\j. Their division of the constellations into the twelve sections of the Zodiac gave us the dozen, which came to play a prominent role in many of our systems of measurement. Until recently, it served as an English monetary unit - with twelve pence in the shilling. Our calendar continues to divide a year into twelve months.
Upon the Babylonians' sacred twelve was based the sexagesimal system. Sixty \I(sexaginta\i in Latin) - five times twelve - was a basic figure, of fundamental and even mystic significance. It was for this reason that every hour was divided into sixty minutes and every minute, into sixty seconds.
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"Original Fairies",1644,0,0,0
Belief in fairies seems so childish to modern man. \JFairy tales\j are good for nurseries, but even there they have been replaced by stories of "Superman" and creatures from outer space. Little do we realize the important role fairies have actually played in the early life of man, or how they continue to exert a notable influence among some cultures even now in an age that is no longer fairy-minded.
Most likely, fairies were not as unsubstantial and ethereal as it is now believed. To begin with, they were not even luck-bringing. Their original existence was very much "down to earth." In fact, they presented a real menace to the newly "established" society who at the least feared and paid cautious respect to them.
One theory asserts that the fairies were the original (\Jstone age\j) inhabitants of large parts of Britain. But when the \JCelts\j - a much taller race, equipped with better armor - came from Europe to invade their country (about 500 B.C.), the indigenous fairies were unwilling to submit. They withdrew into the dense forests that then covered a vast area of the land. There, away from the new "civilization," they settled to eke out a living as best they could. However, they did not give up the battle, but waged what we would now call guerrilla warfare, launching almost continual attritional attacks on the invader.
It was not easy to trace these original Britons. To make their detection even more difficult, they lived underground and made use of camouflage, anticipating the modern practice by many centuries. They donned the green foliage and color of their surroundings. This explains how the myth of the "little green men" first came about. It was the product not of a vivid imagination but of dire experience.
Members of the conquered race, the original Britons, often raided their foes' homes during the night, to harrass them as well as to supplement their sparse rations.
At the coming of night therefore, frightened people wisely left bowls of cream and of oatmeal outside their dwellings. The food, quite naturally, had disappeared by next morning, a fact which added to the conviction that the forest spirits visiting their homes had accepted their good will offering and would not harm them "in turn." But, if spurned, the spirits would become most spiteful and wreak vengeance.
Faint memories of the displaced race lived on: of their numerous acts of retribution and the many ways in which they tried to ensure their survival in a hostile environment. Certainly, these people must have fired the imagination of later races and their powerful successors. And, no doubt, the stories they told and themselves came to believe in, continued to grow in the telling and with the passing of time. But all that was actually remembered was that those early "little people" were dark-skinned, small, and possessed outstanding occult powers.
The weapons of those stone and \Jbronze age\j people were no match for the iron armor of the invaders. And yet their prehistoric sharp flint arrow-heads proved very fatal (of course, because they were cleverly dipped in poison). The invaders were bewildered by the lethal effect of these Lilliputian arrows, and attributed it to magic power. Otherwise, it was reasoned, they would not have done so much harm, and killed the victims even though the actual wound inflicted was but superficial. Those primitive missiles became known as "elf bolts" because they were believed to be charmed. (It is interesting to note that in German, \Jlumbago\j is called \IHexenschuss\i - literally "the shot of a witch!")
Present-day \JAborigines\j are able to communicate over vast distances without any of our modern technological gadgetry, and the fairies also had this ability. This further added to their mystery and the awe in which they were held. Possibly they also knew, and made ample use, of the healing and dangerous properties in plants and in minerals. They might have used these properties to cure disease, paralyze people, or even transport their minds to other dimensions (in the very way experienced by the twentieth-century drug culture).
In the absence of a natural explanation for all these real phenomena, it is no wonder that the fairies in those days were regarded as a race of \Jsupernatural\j creatures endowed with the power to work magic. To propitiate them was a wise counsel. Therefore even the names by which they were called were chosen with great caution, and attempted to flatter them. They became "the good folk," "the hidden people," and "the good neighbors." Because of their darker skin, some spoke of them as "brownies."
The powers of magic attributed to the fairies caused people both to fear and to seek to appease them. But people were greatly puzzled and also tried to find out who they really were and how they lived. Although mostly invisible, it was said that fairies nevertheless shared the existence of man. But they would reveal their presence only when they felt so inclined, when the spirit moved them, so to speak. In their lives, time was a relative quantity. People who alleged to have visited them claimed that what had seemed to be a short while, had really been many years. On the other hand, to fairies, a single second could be crowded with an immense number of events.
Their abode was underground, just below the surface. In fact, dwelling there they were in charge of and responsible for the growth of all verdure.
Others asserted that fairies really were homeless souls that had belonged to unbaptized and still-born children or to pagans. Having been refused entry to the Christian heaven and hell, they were lingering on in this world. But they were able to flit here, there, and everywhere.
Medieval magicians, on the other hand, saw "the little people" not as creatures of flesh and blood, but as magical materializations of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. And to raise them and to employ their power, the magicians devised a complex ritual of spells and ceremonies.
Yet a further belief arose which saw the fairies as angels - but as "defrocked" angels, who because they had not been quite as bad as Lucifer and his gang, had not been sent straight from heaven into hell. Their sentence had confined them to the earth.
Finally, the view was held that a fairy did not come from the other world but actually was most closely attached to man - dead or alive: it was his astral body.
The great variety of traditions and occult assumptions relating to fairies inevitably led to the conviction that they were closely akin to witches, also survivors of the old religion. Thus, many of the stories told, and beliefs held about both creatures, overlap. Witches, for instance, were said to dance (on their Sabbats) in the magic circle, just as fairies did in their rings!
Altogether, the fairy myths may be rooted in the ancient worship of nature. They might well be a take-over of the outlawed "old religion" which had deified the forces of fertility that were thought to dwell in the trees, the rivers, and the wells in the forms of nymphs and satyrs. And did not the fairy keep closely "in touch" with those mysterious forces?
And the mischief the fairies were alleged to cause and the consequent fear this aroused, eventually led to their being linked all the more closely with the witches and their craft, which seemed so similar.
#
"Original Meaning of Hell",1645,0,0,0
In all ages and societies man was convinced that death could not be the end of life. Surely death was merely a gateway to some other existence. In the various parts of the world and epochs, views only differed as to what form this "other existence" took.
When the geocentric world-image prevailed, the universe was imagined to be constructed in three tiers. The earth stood in the middle - for "this life." Above it was the heaven and below it, the netherworld. And just as we continue to speak of "high" and "low" to express "good" and "evil," so ancient man allocated the two regions to the "best" and the "worst." Heaven was the seat of the gods and a haven for the righteous. The netherworld became the realm of the devil, a place of punishment for the unrighteous and therefore - "hell."
And however enlightened and contemptuous of outdated notions man becomes, he still cannot divorce himself from their legacy that survives to this very day. We go on enjoying "heavenly bliss." We continue to be "in the seventh heaven." So-called most spiritually-minded Jews and Christians, when saying their prayers, might actually look up towards the sky - to God in his heaven, as if he really had his abode there!
Correspondingly, people curse others to "go to hell" or try their utmost to "give them hell." All this is reminiscent of the story told about a fervent unbeliever. He was proclaiming in public his conviction of the absolute non-existence of a deity. When interrupted by a heckler who piously tried to defend his faith, the speaker retorted scornfully: "Thank God, I am an atheist!"
Surprisingly, the original word "hell" merely recorded that it was a place that was "hidden" and "covered up." Nothing further was suggested by the name. In its pristine state, hell thus was rather an agnostic and unemotional term. And only when you took off the lid did hell reveal all that it "concealed."
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"Original Palladium",1646,0,0,0
A popular name for theaters, cinemas and places of public entertainment, \Ipalladium\i has come down from celestial heights, in every sense. The word's history shows how something once regarded as sacred is not immune from being profaned and degraded.
The original \Jpalladium\j was a holy talisman in the form of a wooden image, whose presence, it was believed, would protect a city and, ultimately, an entire nation. Legend has it that a statue of Zeus' daughter, Pallas Athena, of colossal size and made of timber, had been sent down from heaven to guard the city of Troy. And, indeed, so the story goes, Troy was doomed once the idol had been stolen. Her image was called, after the goddess' title, \IPallas,\i the \Ipalladion.\i
How the sacred name, in its Latinised form, was later transferred to places of amusement, poses a problem. Cynics say that the stars of the screen and stage like to be worshiped. Moreover, knowing the fickleness of popularity, they need a protective charm. Therefore, "\Jpalladium\j" was an apt choice as the name of any theater building.
Much more likely, however, is the idea that this usage derives from the naming of the London \JPalladium\j, the prototype of all the others. It was so called by mistake, because of an erroneous notion that - like \JRome\j's Colosseum - the ancient \JPalladium\j had been an amphitheater of huge dimensions, designed to serve as a site for spectacles.
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"Original Porridge",1647,0,0,0
Originally, porridge was a "leek broth." Its name consists of a strange sort of mixture. It joins part of the (Latin for) "leek" - \Iporrum\i - with a portion of the biblical mess of "pottage" for which Esau erroneously is believed to have sold his birthright to Jacob and which is a corruption of the French "soup," \Ipotage.\i The Scots then put oatmeal into the porridge where, in spite of what its name says, it has remained ever since.
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"Original Santa Claus",1648,0,0,0
The original \JSanta Claus\j was St Nicholas, a 4th century bishop of Myra, which was in a part of \JAsia Minor\j that is now Turkey. All that is known of him is that he was a man of great piety and compassion who had to suffer much persecution.
After his death St Nicholas became the subject of numerous legends. One story related how he restored life to three schoolboys who had been murdered. This deed made him the favorite of children. Other miracles attributed to him included rescuing shipwrecked sailors and calming a stormy sea. The stories grew in the telling and Nicholas became the patron saint of a variety of countries, places and people, particularly sailors and children.
From Turkey, St Nicholas' fame spread far and wide. The day of his death - December 6th - became his feast day. On its eve he was believed to visit homes and leave gifts for those children who put shoes outside the door or hung up stockings to receive them.
The Dutch, in particular, came to love the legend of Nicholas. In their language his name became Sinter Klaas. When Dutch settlers arrived in the USA in the 17th century they built their first church in New \JAmsterdam\j - the future New York - in the saint's honor. The British eventually Anglicized his name, thus creating the modern \JSanta Claus\j. When \JSanta Claus\j also became known as Father Christmas, his visit was postponed to Christmas Eve. He was clad in red and white, which were thought to have been the colors of his vestment when he served as bishop of Myra.
Traditions vary concerning the way \JSanta Claus\j travels and how he visits homes. Some accounts have him walking, carrying his heavy sack. Others depict him riding a horse or in a coach. However, he is most often in a sleigh pulled by \Jreindeer\j, and invariably gives his permanent address as the \JNorth Pole\j.
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"Original Witch",1649,0,0,0
People who are convinced that the existence of witches has always been a figment of the mind, continue to use them in modern days metaphorically (particularly in the political sphere), when they speak of "witch-hunts." However, for more than 300 years, between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, witch - hunting constituted a loathsome pursuit that victimized many thousands of wretched people. One estimate puts their number as high as nine million! They were shunned, persecuted, tortured, and put to gruesome deaths by burning or hanging.
And yet, at the very beginning, to be called a "witch" had no evil implication. The origin of the word itself is innocuous. All that its Anglo Saxon root described was a "wise" person: \Iwicca\i in case of a man and \Iwicce,\i of a woman. Witchcraft thus pointed to "the craft of the wise" which could be rendered much more correctly as "wisecraft."
Nevertheless witches were an age-old phenomenon, if not by name, by the magic they were alleged to practice. Even in the distant past their occult occupation was part of life and accepted as such, either with awe and fear, or with revulsion. The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j condemned them and commanded that "you shall not allow 'a witch' to live" (Ex. 22,17). Of course, by implication this acknowledged their existence and their effective powerful work. They were ostracized because whatever they did was seen to contradict, rival, and undermine the recognized divine rule.
Odd misconceptions relate to both age and sex of the witch. Generally people came to assume that all witches had to be women; the traditional picture of them was that of an old hag with a long pointed nose, sunken cheeks, and a hairy lip, who rode on a broomstick. In reality, they may belong to either sex, any age and be bewitching in looks.
The many repulsive traits they were said to show are typical symptoms of the ageing process in a woman. These include the hair on the face, the haggard look and the sole remaining tooth sticking out. . . But to attribute these features to the witch was a later development in society's attempt to make people loathe and shun "the witch" altogether.
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"Origins of 'Xmas'",1650,0,0,0
The spelling of Christmas as "Xmas" comes from an ancient Greek practice.
In the \JGreek language\j, the letter "x" - shi - was the initial letter of Xristos, meaning Christ. Early scribes were busy people and parchment was costly. They often shortened words to save time and money, and that is how they came to use just the letter X.
"Xmas" was retained even when these practical considerations no longer applied. Not only had it become traditional, but people believed, wrongly, that the "X" represented St Andrew's cross. An even more significant reason, perhaps, was that Jesus Christ's name was regarded as too sacred to be written in full.
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"Origins of American Football",1651,0,0,0
Controversy, as was experienced in such vehement form about the fatherhood of \Jbaseball\j, never arose regarding the antecedents of \JAmerican football\j. No one ever denied its English ancestry, though it was to become so typical an American game that it well merits its description.
\JAmerican football\j is a modified combination of Rugby and \Jsoccer\j. It was not invented at any specific place or date or by any one person or group of people but evolved gradually, by a method of give and take, of compromise between players who knew and delighted in either Rugby or \Jsoccer\j.
Some sort of football was played on American soil from early colonial days. To kick a ball around a "field" (a paddock or a village green) was a natural type of amusement taken up by the pioneer settlers. It can well be imagined how colonists brought their football with them from Britain and, if not the ball itself, the enjoyment of the game.
In the first part of the nineteenth century (just as had been the case in England), schools and colleges had organized games on their campuses. Play, however, was so rough and wild that eventually the authorities (both at Yale and Harvard) felt compelled to ban football altogether. They were able to do so only for a short while and could not prevent its revival.
The inevitable happened: two colleges - Rutgers and Princeton - agreed to play against each other. It was the first intercollegiate game and an historical date in the story of \JAmerican football\j. The match took place at New \JBrunswick\j, \JNew Jersey\j, on 6 November 1869.
There were 25 players on each side and the rules followed were - more or less - those of \Jsoccer\j, as laid down by the London Football Association. The inflated rubber ball could be kicked or batted with the head, but no one was permitted to carry or run with it. Many of the Rutgers students, to distinguish their team, donned scarlet jerseys or caps, the forerunners of the "uniform."
Two hundred spectators watched the memorable game which was engaged in with so much excitement that two players, while running after the ball, crashed into a fence, smashing it. Rutgers won by six goals to four. The local newspaper \ITargum\i commented that a "seventh goal probably would have been added to our score but for one of our players, who, in his ardor, forgot which way he was kicking, a mistake which he fully atoned for afterward."
Yet another "first" distinguished the game. To encourage their side, Princeton students introduced the first "cheer." They adopted this yell from soldiers of the \JCivil War\j. Tradition has it that a member of the Seventh Regiment of New York, while passing through Princeton on his way to the battlefield in 1861, had been heard raising it.
The next significant stepping stone in the growth of \JAmerican football\j dates to May 1874. It added the Rugby ingredients to the game. Rugby was then most popular back in England but it was still unknown in the United States. Canadians, however, had adopted it and through them it was brought to the American playing field. It was the result of American courtesy and of a true gentlemanly compromise.
Harvard had invited a team from McGill University, Montreal. When watching their guests in a practice run on their field at Cambridge, they were greatly astonished by the completely different type of play of the Canadians, particularly the players running with the ball and not solely kicking it.
To pay due respect to either party and to give each an equal chance, the teams then agreed to play the first half of the game according to Harvard's \Jsoccer\j tradition and the second according to McGill's Rugby rules. Though the game resulted in a scoreless tie, Harvard could not help but become enthusiastic about Rugby. That is how the synthesis of both games was started, and with ever more revisions, innovations, and variations \JAmerican football\j came into existence.
No individual contributed more to its evolution than Walter Camp who rightly has been called "the father of \JAmerican football\j." He introduced some of its most distinctive features, including the eleven-man team and the scrimmage line. The rules he laid down revolutionized \JAmerican football\j. He wrote (in 1891) the first book ever to be published on the game in the States.
\JAmerican football\j grew through the years into the vital and exciting game it is now. With its many American characteristics, its highly efficient organization, padded and armored players, and fervent partisanship, it is a game pursued with deadly earnestness and unsurpassed zeal.
#
"Origins of Archery",1652,0,0,0
\JArchery\j is a sport that goes back to the earliest times. It helped man to survive and to create his civilization, and enabled Britain to become a world power.
The importance of \Jarchery\j has been compared to that of the wheel and fire. Only when man had learned to use the bow and arrow was he able to confront the mighty beasts of the jungle. Without \Jarchery\j, man might well have died of starvation or as the victim of the animals that exceeded him so much in strength.
That is why some of the most ancient races believed that the art of \Jarchery\j was a divine gift to man for his survival.
No one knows exactly when, where, and by whom bows were first used. However, \Jarchery\j was practiced in almost every part of the world by the most primitive tribes - among \JAmerican Indians\j, African \Jpygmies\j, and races of the Asian steppes. Hence it is assumed that \Jarchery\j did not spread from one source, but was taken up independently in various places.
Archaeological excavations proved its existence over at least 10,000 years. Stone arrowheads were found in the skeletons of prehistoric beasts killed by the first hunters. They have been discovered embedded in the bones of extinct, giant bisons, elks, and huge rhinoceroses of the pre-glacial era. Such fossils had been buried under the ice for many millennia.
The earliest cave-paintings extant, found in \JSpain\j and south-western \JFrance\j, show dramatic pictures of men hunting animals with bow and arrow.
Different legends have tried to explain how man first got the idea and acquired the art of \Jarchery\j. He had seen the porcupine shoot off its quills, which led him to construct a device that could do the same sort of thing. This is one explanation. (Surely a myth, as a porcupine never shoots its quills but merely raises them.)
Indian lore links the beginning of \Jarchery\j with an early hunting expedition. Chasing bears with a spear in dense jungle, a tribesman suddenly found himself alone in thick undergrowth, face to face with an enraged bear.
While making his escape he slipped and fell. Convinced it was the best thing to do, he lay still.
When nothing happened, he looked around, to discover the bear's dead body close by. He realized what had saved him. When he slipped, the butt of his spear had struck an overhanging vine which, acting like a bowstring, had "fired" the spear and killed the bear.
Returning to his tribe, the hunter brought back with him not only his trophy, but also \Jarchery\j - the result of an accident.
Primitive man called on magic to reinforce the results of his prowess in \Jarchery\j. To his fearful mind, merely to hit a foe with a poisoned arrow was insufficient. The effect had to be prolonged and secured by what is now called contagious or sympathetic magic.
A man who had inflicted a wound thus, would drink hot juice, chew highly spiced plants or heat the bow which had shot the arrow. All these acts, the bowman was convinced, would irritate the wound and make it burn. If he could retrieve the arrowhead, he would throw it into the fire to achieve the same purpose. Similarly, the bowman kept his bow strung tight, hoping thereby to cause his foe to become tense.
The victim, for his part, tried to use magic to ease the pain and undo the effects of the arrow. His friends, after carefully removing its head, would bury it among wet leaves or in a damp spot to cool the wound.
Magic and \Jarchery\j were also linked in a completely different way - to secure the perpetuation of the life-giving force, whether on earth or in the heavens. Sir James Frazer cited examples of this connection in his \IGolden Bough.\i
At an eclipse of the sun, men were greatly worried lest this source of all life, as they regarded it, would vanish forever. So they shot arrows toward the disappearing disc, believing that, magically, they would bring it back.
Some tribes held that evil forces and fearsome beasts were trying to destroy and devour the celestial body and that, by shooting arrows at them, they could drive them away and save the sun. Others, again, thinking that for some unknown reason the heavenly light was dying, to revive it, shot fire-tipped missiles at it.
\JArchery\j was also used at times of \Jdrought\j to precipitate rain, and to restore sexual power. Among the ancient \JHittites\j, for instance, it was part of a magic rite to cure impotence or \Jhomosexuality\j. A treatise gave a detailed account of the treatment.
The patient had to don a giant black cloak. After chants intoned by a priest, the man was asked to disrobe and stark naked then, to walk with a spindle in his hand (symbolizing womanhood), through a sacred gateway. The moment he had passed through it, he discarded the spindle, taking in its stead a war-bow (expressive of manhood). A magical formula then confirmed, as it were, the man's return to his proper sex and the expurgation of all female demeanor.
The Japanese believed that the sound produced by lightly drawing the bowstring and letting it flick back several times would magically drive away evil spirits.
Bows and arrows were among the earliest weapons of warfare and hunting. They were used by the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, \JScythians\j, and \JParthians\j. Archers on horseback or in chariots were man's first mobile artillery. A famous \Jfrieze\j excavated in the former \JMesopotamia\j, pictures Assurbanipal, the Assyrians' mighty king, hunting lions with a bow from his chariot.
#
"Origins of Astrology",1653,0,0,0
It is not difficult to realize how thousands of years ago, as man looked up to the sky, he came to worship its luminaries and to imagine that they contained and actually determined his very destiny.
So high up in the heavens, the stars seemed to him the all-seeing guardians of his fate. Unapproachable, they were invulnerable to any attack and thus almighty. Therefore he saw them as powerful gods on whose every will and whim he depended. He could only try to obtain their good will by worshiping them, and doing his utmost to understand what they were saying to him.
Once such attitude of mind existed, human imagination began to "read" a definite message from above into the various natural features displayed in the skies. If properly "observed, it would make all the difference between good and bad fortune, between life and death.
#
"Origins of Australian Rules",1654,0,0,0
\JAustralian Rules football\j, once called the "Victorian Game," has become part of the Australian way of life. Its roots have been traced to Irish migrants, gold diggers of the 1840s. In their spare time they improvised the wildest of games which they based on whatever they remembered of hurling and \JGaelic football\j at home. And Australian Rules, it has been said, evolved as the refined and civilized version of those early rough battles.
\JAustralian Rules football\j is played at a tremendous pace, demanding great skill, supreme control, and strength. Yet it is a strange paradox that this game was first introduced for the sake of cricket. Equally intriguing is the fact that the man who developed this specifically Victorian sport, originally came from \JNew South Wales\j.
Thomas Wentworth Wills was born near \JCanberra\j in 1835. He went for his schooling to Rugby in England where he soon proved himself an outstanding all-round athlete, becoming the school's captain and playing cricket for Kent. On his return to \JAustralia\j in 1856, he settled in Melbourne, Victoria, and played for the Victorian cricket team against Sydney, \JNew South Wales\j, but was dismally disappointed at the Victorian Eleven's lack of stamina which deservedly lost them the match.
Wills was convinced that the cause of the Victorian's weakness was the absence of practice during the winter months. He believed they must find a sport they could play during that period of the year to keep them in good trim and ready for the cricket season. From that idea the stage was set for the invention of \JAustralian Rules football\j.
He discussed the problem with H. C. Harrison, his cousin and future brother-in-law, and, as was only to be expected, the first sport that came into their mind was Rugby. It is recorded that they also agreed that "the ordinary Rugby is unsuitable for grown men engaged in making a living. Let us together evolve a new code which is a little less strenuous."
About this time a master at Scotch College, Melbourne, who also had been trained at Rugby, had six footballs sent out from England and encouraged his pupils to play with them. Both Wills and Harrison watched their game. After some practice the boys felt ready to challenge others to a match. For this, they approached Melbourne \JChurch of England\j \JGrammar School\j which accepted the invitation. The "grand football match," as it was advertised, took place near the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 7 August 1858. It is considered the first ever to have been played according to what finally became known as Australian Rules though, in fact, hardly any rules were observed.
The playing field was an undefined area of huge dimensions with goal posts a mile apart. Each team consisted of 40 players and teachers and boys joined in what developed into a drawn-out battle. Both teams agreed that the side which first scored two goals should be the winner.
It took three hours for Scotch to kick one goal. Nothing else happened before darkness interrupted the match. It was decided to continue it on the following Saturday but someone must have misunderstood the arrangement, for Melbourne Grammar did not turn up. Subsequently they published an explanation, if not an apology, in \IThe Melbourne Argus,\i suggesting that the game be resumed a week later, to which Scotch agreed.
The next step was the formation of the Melbourne Football Club in 1859. The games played continued to be a mixture of \Jsoccer\j, Rugby, \JGaelic football\j, and Rafferty's Rules, and matches lasted several days. The ball used was round and, altogether, this earliest version of Australian football was a "go-as-you-please" affair. What rules there may have been were made up as the game progressed with frequent breaks during which the players quenched their thirst.
Umpiring was crude. No whistle was used, free kicks were given only if the players appealed for them by, simultaneously, calling out "umpire" and raising their arms. This practice sometimes created further complications, and not a little amusement, as in the case of the man who felt impelled to take advantage of his "appealing" opponent's raised arms to pull his jersey over his head. There was no gate money either, the game being strictly amateur. Not even the umpire was paid.
Wills was convinced a code of rules was essential, and to develop these he joined forces again with Harrison who, in later years and not quite correctly, became known as "the father of Australian football." They drew up eleven fundamental rules, the first set of laws for the Australian game. Its main points were that: the throwing of the ball was not permitted; tripping and hacking were strictly banned; the side losing the toss was to begin the game by kicking off from the center; and there had to be fixed boundary lines and a maximum size of the field.
With the passing of years, further developments took place. Rugby School's idea of running with the ball was adopted, but modified by stipulating that the player had to strike it against the ground every five or six yards. Other features revealed traces of cricket, such as the oval shape of the field. This goes back to the early days when the game was played on cricket grounds and controlled by cricket clubs.
By 1867 the oval ball was in universal use and eventually exact measurements were specified for it. In 1869 the rule that the winning team was the one which scored the first two goals was replaced by a new law giving victory to the team with the highest score at a fixed time.
Ever more innovations were added. They included the office of an umpire (previously the captains had been the sole arbitrators in all vital decisions), the introduction of uniforms (caps had been used until then as the only means of identification), and rules governing the number of players (eventually 18 a team), and all measurements, such as the size of the field, the distance of goal posts, etc. In order to be prepared for all eventualities, each team was augmented by two further players; they were reserves to replace any casualties.
Step by step, \JAustralian Rules football\j grew into one of the fastest and most spectacular codes. It demanded toughness and great exertion on the part of each player. No wonder that a former middleweight boxing champion confessed that no fight in the ring ever left him as sore as a hard bout of \JAustralian Rules Football\j.
The Melbourne Football Club, founded in 1859, was followed soon by other clubs.
Australian Rules continues to be a most thrilling game, both to watch and to play. The late Conan Doyle once wrote: "I have played both Rugby and \Jsoccer\j and I have seen the American Game at its best, but I consider that the 'Victorian' system has some points which make it the best of all - certainly from the spectacular point of view."
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"Origins of Beer",1655,0,0,0
Man began his modern drinking habits with the imbibing of beer, his oldest alcoholic drink. He did not invent its production, but discovered it in the process of nature. Possibly some bread crumbs fell into water and started fermenting. Tasting the product, primitive man rather enjoyed it and, long before the development of his scientific mind, started his own research - with intoxicating results!
The history of brewing goes back well over 10,000 years. It began long before the Egyptians had started building their first pyramid. It almost coincides with the beginning of agriculture and the first making of bread. Indeed, baking and brewing thus went together.
Beer not only belonged to man's original diet, but helped him in serving his gods. The very origin of the beverage was considered divine. It was the spirit of the corn and was used as a sacred libation. It was poured into the ground to appease the gods so that they would bless the fields with fertility. Without this ritual, primitive man was convinced, nothing would grow.
The brewing of beer was so sacred that, among some tribes, men engaged in the task were kept isolated from their womenfolk. Otherwise, it was believed, the magic transformation of Corn into Sprit would not take place.
One of the most ancient clay tablets in existence, dating back to Babylonian lands and the year 6000 B.C., depicts a crude type of beer-making for sacrificial purposes. Babylonians actually specialized in a bread reserved for fermentation. By 4000 B.C. they had learned to produce 16 different types of the beverage. Brewing was a privilege set aside for their kings and restricted to temples. Thus the earliest breweries were places of worship!
The Egyptians attributed the introduction of brewing to Isis, their goddess of nature. Beer became their national drink, as popular with the living as with the gods and dead. Peasants and workers were allotted a daily allowance of four loaves of bread and two jugs of beer! An ancient hieroglyphic temple-inscription records that Pharaoh Rameses III consecrated 466,303 jugs of beer to the gods.
From \JEgypt\j, the art of brewing spread to \JGreece\j and then to \JRome\j. However, it is quite likely that the people of Northern Europe discovered the drink separately. Beer had been established in Britain at the time of Christ and was found and enjoyed there by the Roman invaders.
Its early religious association lingered on through the ages. Medieval monasteries excelled in making beer and provided different brands for the monks and their guests, each of whom was given a gallon a day.
Churches sold beer to raise funds. It became the most popular drink at weddings where it was poured by the bride herself. Thus it became known as the \Ibride's ale,\i accounting for the word \Ibridal!\i
People soon saw many qualities in beer. It nourished them and, so they imagined, saved them from the plague. It buoyed up their spirits and relieved fatigue. Water became stagnant and deteriorated on long trips across the seas, whilst beer not only kept its taste but remained wholesome.
Beer even made history. It was because their casks were almost empty that the Pilgrim Fathers, sailing on the \IMayflower,\i decided to cut the voyage short and look for a port, ahead of shedule: "For we could not take time for further search and consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially beer."
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"Origins of Boxing Terminology",1656,0,0,0
That for centuries the art of boxing was known as \Ipugilism\i is easily explained. In a most descriptive manner, the word recalls (from the Latin \Ipugnus)\i one who fights with his "fists." However, the term \Iboxing\i is something of a mystery.
Henry Downes Miles in his \IPugilistica\i oddly derives the word from the Greek \Ipuxos\i (the origin of our modern "box" as a receptacle and also of the "pyx" in church, the vessel in which the consecrated bread is kept) for the "closed hand" or "clenched fingers," the Greek \Jsynonym\j for anything "in the shape of a closed box."
The most likely explanation is that it was first applied by Bernardino, a thirteenth-century Italian priest, later raised to sainthood. In an age of frequent combats, he was horrified by the injuries and fatalities that resulted from use of weapons. Eventually he persuaded fighters to use their bare fists only and this merely for the purpose of defense. Describing the method, he referred to it as "the art of \Iboxing up\i an opponent."
The ring recalls the early days of the sport when bouts were held in the huge circle of ancient arenas, without ropes or restrictive space. Another theory is that the reference is to the circle formed by spectators.
Boxing has left its traces in most unexpected ways. Those who "throw in the sponge," unknowingly bring back the early days of the sport when it was most crude, uncontrolled, and gory. Professional gamblers then sponsored no-rules bouts held in barns and improvised rings. Opponents fought to the bitter end. Blood flowed freely and to wipe it off between rounds, "seconds" were given sponges. When a man was so battered that he could not stand up for another round, his second threw the blood-soaked sponge into the air or into the ring. It was the sign of surrender. Ever since, to "throw in the sponge" has become a vivid expression of admitting defeat and giving up the fight.
Another relic (so to speak) from early bouts is the well-known phrase "to come up to scratch." An actual such "scratch" existed as a mark at the center of the "ring" in early prize fights. A boxer who had been knocked down was permitted a breathing spell of half a minute in his corner. Then, within eight seconds - counted out aloud - he had to make his way to the line. Should he be unable to "come up to [the] scratch," he had lost the fight.
The German breed of dog known as boxer rather merits its name. This square, short-haired species was specially raised for the purpose of fighting and, no one can deny, very successfully so. If for nothing else, it deserves its pugilistic name by the very technique it employs in combat. The (canine) boxer, when fighting, uses its front paws very much like its human prototype his fists, though it might be difficult to determine who was the teacher.
For a boxer to be compared with a chicken appears at first rather uncomplimentary, and yet, the bantam weight boxer (with his maximum weight of 54 kg) has been so called in admiration.
His description usurps the name of a famous fowl once bred in Bantam, a district in the north-west of Java. A bird of small size, the bantam fowl was known for its courage and fighting qualities. Without fear, the bantam rooster would face others of any size. Because of its stamina and fortitude it was said of this rooster that it had "a great soul in a small body." The bantam weight boxer thus bears a chicken's name of which he can be justly proud.
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"Origins of Boycott",1657,0,0,0
Boycott as a word and policy was the result of the struggle between the Irish and the English and a landlord's refusal to take note of his tenants' poverty and distress.
In the late 70s of the last century, crop failures in Ireland were disastrous and there was a great \Jfamine\j. Thousands of farmers were unable to pay rent to absentee English landlords, and suggested paying as much as they could.
In many cases landlords reduced the rent. But not so Lord Erne, who owned big estates in the County of Mayo. He instructed Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, his local agent, to use any measure he deemed essential to get the money. Some 3,000 people were concerned, but Boycott showed them no mercy.
He had reckoned without the Irish temper and the people's determination to throw off the English yoke once and for all. Far from being intimidated, the farmers now refused to pay any rent. They stopped reaping the harvest, such as it was, and formed the Irish Land League. Thus organized, they decided to have no dealings of any kind with the agent, Boycott.
The campaign against the Captain gathered strength. Servants were forced to leave his employ. His mail was intercepted and attempts were made to cut off his food supply.
In retaliation, 50 Orangemen from the North of Ireland, under the protection of 900 soldiers, were sent to Mayo. There they harvested what remained of the crop and managed to rescue Boycott. He fled to England, where he died, 17 years later, in 1897. His name was quickly adopted everywhere as a new word describing the very treatment of which he had been a victim.
One of the vigorous young Irish members of Parliament, J. Dillon, with Boycott's fate still fresh in his mind, expounded to his countrymen the new policy as a bloodless safeguard against their rapacious and avaricious masters. In a speech, delivered to the Land League in 1881, he said:
\I"One word as to the way in which a man should be boycotted. When any man has taken a farm from which a tenant has been evicted, or is a grabber, let everyone in the parish turn his back on him; have no communication with him; have no dealings with him. You need never say an unkind word to him; but never say anything at all to him. If you must meet him in fair, walk away from him silently. Do him no violence, but have no dealings with him. Let every man's door be closed against him; and make him feel himself a stranger and a castaway in his own neighborhood."\i
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"Origins of Bullfighting",1658,0,0,0
\JBullfighting\j has roused man's emotions either in enthusiasm or revulsion. Some have decried it as the most callous of sports; others have praised it as an art. However there is no division in its appeal all over \JSpain\j, \JPortugal\j, and Latin American countries, where thousands of people flock weekly into the plazas to watch bullfights.
\JBullfighting\j or, as it is properly called, the \ICorrido de Toros,\i meaning "a running of bulls," began as a religious rite all over the Mediterranean world, and far beyond. In pre-Christian days it was known in countries as far apart as \JEgypt\j, \JCrete\j, \JGreece\j, \JRome\j, Korea, and China.
Man's greatest need was to find sufficient food; in his search for it, he soon realized his dependence on the forces of nature. In his primitive reasoning, he felt that it was necessary to do everything possible to propitiate those powers.
The earliest \Jcattle\j-breeders knew of the fertility of the bull and it became for them a natural emblem of the generative force. So it was that ancient races worshipped the bull as a sacred beast. The lsraelites in the desert at the very foot of \JMount Sinai\j were tempted to revert to its adoration and frantically danced around "the \Jgolden calf\j." That we continue to call a \Jconstellation\j of stars \JTaurus\j ("the bull"), first so named in far-off Babylonian days, recalls the animal's original, sacred character.
All over the world, thousands of years ago, the bull was venerated as a god itself. It was sacrificed, and its blood was drunk or poured on the ground to be soaked up by the soil. The blood was believed to imbue the earth and man with new life. At times, even the bull's testicles were eaten and its flesh fed to boys.
Egyptians who thus deified the bull, made the animal their symbol of the warrior king. Strong and unbeatable, with death-dealing horns, it was the god of strength. The Persians paid homage to it. The University Museum of Philadelphia treasures a terra cotta plaque that was unearthed in \JMesopotamia\j. Made by the ancient Sumerians in the third millennium BC, it strikingly depicts the bull. Fiery darts shoot from its four legs, while its human, bearded face is lit up by an angelic smile. All these are symbolic of the generative force that fertilizes the earth.
Other classical representations found in the eastern Mediterranean show a slain bull with vegetation springing from its flesh.
One of the main features of the ancient, sacred ritual of Mithra, the god of light and truth, was the sacrifice of a bull. This took place inside a cave, where the animal's blood was applied to the initiate, thereby admitting him into the faith's secret circle. The slaying of a bull was part also of the sacred solemnization of the death and \Jresurrection\j of the mythical Attis, held in spring. The \Jbaptism\j of the devotee of this \Jcult\j has been described in James G. Frazer's \IGolden Bough.\i
Crowned with gold and wreathed, he descended into a pit. Its opening was then covered with a wooden grating, on to which a bull was driven, adorned with a garland of flowers and its forehead glittering with goldleaf. Stabbed to death with a consecrated spear, its blood poured through the apertures of the grid and covered the worshipper underneath. He finally emerged from the pit drenched in blood. His \JAscension\j was regarded as his \Jresurrection\j from the grave and worshippers who had been waiting for that moment, paid homage to him. He was the one reborn to eternal life and washed clean from all sins by the blood of the bull!
Similar cults conducted a ceremony in \JRome\j at the sanctuary of the Phrygian goddess on Vatican Hill, almost on the very site where St Peter's now stands. When early in the seventeenth century, the cathedral was enlarged, inscriptions were discovered which referred to the ceremony. From the Vatican Hill, the ritual spread as far as Gaul and \JGermany\j.
In man's mind the shedding of the bull's blood became not merely a symbolic act, but a magic means for promoting and ensuring fertility and hastening the new birth of vegetation.
Well-known is the Cretan myth of the monstrous \JMinotaur\j (literally meaning "the Minos bull"), killed by the hero Theseus. Eventually, the \JMinotaur\j too was deified and its slaying dramatically re-enacted annually. It was the same, age-old, agrarian ritual of the god-king, of life enduring in death. The bulls were ceremoniously killed in a ring, with a priestly matador dealing the final blow.
In modern days to become virile, African Zulus carried out a similar custom. They killed the bulls with their bare hands, and warriors then drank the gall while youths ate the flesh.
All these ancient rituals and mystic plays obviously were variations on the identical theme and the basis of the modern bullfight. Other factors came to reinforce and, finally, secularize this originally religious act. Savage \Jcattle\j lived in the primeval forests and early man soon found it necessary to hunt them. Also realizing that the very ferocity of the bull could serve him in his own battle for survival, he made use of it in warfare. In 229 BC the defenders of besieged Ilici (the modern Elche in Valencia, \JSpain\j) herded the wild beasts, hitched them to chariots, and drove them with burning torches fastened to their horns into the Carthaginian army, routing it.
People engaged in religious rites and cruel combats experienced a thrill in dealing with and fighting fierce bulls, and, eventually, bloodthirsty contests came to be held solely as exciting adventures. Men delighted in pitting their strength and agility in a life-and-death struggle against the vicious bull. They gloried in proving their superiority, and thousands of spectators relished the encounters. That is how, in the end, a religious rite became a popular entertainment: a primitive sport, in every sense of the word. It was influenced and further fostered by the gladiatorial games of pagan society, especially the Roman circus, which also pandered to the lowest instincts. When the decaying empire wished to entertain the masses to distract them from revolutionary ideas, the authorities arranged just that type of fight.
Psychologists have examined the question of why men like fighting bulls, and have suggested several reasons. The fight gave man a feeling of pride and achievement, and a sense of glory. Man instinctively longed for thrills, a desire certainly gratified when facing the possibility of death in its most elemental form by confronting the frightening crescent of the needle-sharp horns of an enraged bull.
Every modern arena has a chapel, in which, before the fight, the matador prays for divine protection. An up-to-date operating room is prepared for any emergency. Some matadors never eat anything solid before the \Icorrida\i to make, if necessary, the surgeon's task less difficult. Even a priest is attached to every bull ring, in case of need to administer \Jextreme unction\j.
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"Origins of Champagne",1659,0,0,0
Champagne started with a bang. A bottle of wine burst and a wise monk asked, "Why?" At least that is the traditional tale. The champagne recalls an Eastern province of \JFrance\j, famous for its vineyards and generally known as "The Garden of \JFrance\j."
Dom Perignon, a Benedictine who in 1668 was put in charge of his Abbey's cellar, was not satisfied with just looking after the wine. He tied to improve it. His dream was to blend the best of the grapes growing in the vineyards around him, and have his new creation surpass everything else in taste, color, and fragrance. He spent countless hours experimenting.
One day, so the story goes, there was an accident. One of the bottles of wine exploded. Perhaps it was nature herself who, in her peculiar ways, tried to point out with a loud bang what had so far escaped Dom's attention.
Investigating the damage, he noticed that strange bubbles were rising in the wine left in the bottle. He readily assumed that these were somehow related to what had happened. He sipped the wine. Never before had he tasted a drink like it! Excitedly, he called out to his brethren, "I am drinking stars!"
Here was the answer to his quest. All that he needed was to find out what had taken place. Once he had traced the source of the magic bubbles, he would be able to produce the effervescent drink. He reasoned that something inside the bottle must have built up such a pressure that it burst. The bubbles pointed to some kind of secondary fermentation. Soon his research was successful, resulting in the "invention" of champagne.
It may be that all this is just a beautiful story to give additional lustre to the dance of the sparkling atoms. Perhaps the birth of champagne was much more prosaic, yet no less exciting. The fact remains that we owe its discovery to Dom Perignon.
The drink's popularity began with one of those unexpected events which abound in life. At one of his lavish banquets, the Marquis of Sillery wished to offer his guests something unique. He chose the new champagne. When the party was well in swing, a dozen girls appeared on the floor. They were dressed in the guises of the drunken revelers who once danced and sang in honor of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine. They carried flower-wreathed bottles whose corks suddenly popped. The champagne, fizzing out, was poured into huge glasses specially made for the occasion.
Its taste enchanted the guests who, soon after the feast was over, spread the tale of this wondrous drink wherever they went. The court once again had set the fashion. Ever since, the serving of sparkling wine has become an indispensable part of all ceremonial occasions throughout the world.
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"Origins of Chopsticks",1660,0,0,0
The Chinese give much thought to their food. It must have perfect flavor, crispness, tenderness, and delicacy.
It is said that \JConfucius\j divorced his wife because she did not fulfill his expectations as a cook. He demanded that meat should always be served in its proper sauce, be cut perfectly square and have exactly the right color. For him, even the choicest of rice was generally not white enough, and minced meat rarely fine enough.
The Chinese are fastidious too in the way food is eaten. Meals, they reason, have to be prepared properly in the kitchen. Once served, they have to be completely ready for eating. To have to cut meat into small pieces at that stage not only would be uncouth, but barbarian. "We sit at table to eat, not to cut up carcasses," is an often quoted Chinese observation.
It was among the cook's duties to dish up the food in a convenient size. The process of eating consisted of graciously lifting the morsels from their bowl and transferring them into the mouth. \JChopsticks\j served just that purpose and, if dexterously applied, did so smoothly and at high speed. This is recalled by their name which means "the quick ones."
Made of ivory, bone or wood, they obviously had to be used in pairs and, as the Chinese soon discovered, they could also serve as a code between host and guest. Anyone wishing to leave the table, for instance, placed the sticks across the bowl.
According to another explanation of the origin of the \Jchopsticks\j, the Chinese initially made proper use of cutlery. But one of their emperors, fearing an uprising and assassination, forbade his subjects to own any kind of utensil made of metal.
Knives and forks came, of course, in that category. As the Chinese were loath to eat with their fingers, they invented \Jchopsticks\j.
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"Origins of Cockfighting",1661,0,0,0
Records show the significant function \Jcockfighting\j fulfilled in primitive religious cults. It is told that in \JSumatra\j, for instance, an annex of a temple was reserved for the keeping of fighting cocks. These were pitted against each other in solemn battles watched by the congregation and presided over by a specially chosen priest qualified as a cocker, astronomer, and philosopher. The victorious cock was at once offered to the deity. Its slain victim, however, was burnt with gum and spices on an altar and its ashes subsequently placed - for perpetuity - in a golden urn. In a concluding sermon, the priest exhorted the congregation to apply to their lives the "lesson" - not read from a volume of holy scripture but the drama staged by the birds. This would render them invincible and create in them a firm and stable state of mind.
Through the years, cock-fights have been staged to promote courage, calling on men (and especially on soldiers) to emulate the birds. Christian, King of Denmark, is reported to have said that were he to lead an army against the "infidel of Constantinople," he would choose none but cockers for his commanders, and none but lovers of the sport for soldiers.
\JCockfighting\j was enjoyed in southern and southeastern Asia at least 3,000 years ago. In earliest combats, grey or red \Jjungle fowl\j (the ancestor of the game cock and our domesticated chicken) were used. If those were lacking, partridges and quails took their place. From India the sport spread into \JPersia\j and then to \JGreece\j.
Its introduction into Europe has been linked with martial endeavor and a general's wish to make his soldiers triumph in battle. A tradition tells that the Athenian statesman and commander Themistocles (528-462 BC), while leading his army against the Persians, had his attention drawn to the indomitable bravery of two cocks joined in a fight. Realizing that their example could inspire his men, he stopped them and invited them to watch the contest. Addressing the soldiers, he said that those cocks fought to the death for the most selfless reasons, not "for glory, for liberty, or the safety of their children, but only because the one will not give way to the other." And it was the birds' courage and resolute heroism they should now imitate: "to be firm and unshakable in the midst of danger, nay in death itself."
Thus encouraged, his troops with unsurpassed valor locked in battle with the Persians and defeated them. In celebration of the victory, Athenians made \Jcockfighting\j an annual feature in their city, as a sacred and patriotic event. Of course, people soon took it up merely for their own enjoyment.
From \JGreece\j the sport was carried to the entire Mediterranean world. Initially, Romans frowned on this cheap "Greek diversion" but then became such devotees of it that a first-century writer expressed his concern over people wasting all they had on bets on cocks. In fact, Romans were the first to hold organized cock-fights.
Colonizers from \JRome\j then brought the pastime to western Europe, and in England (which, according to some sources, had held cock-fights even earlier) it attained immense popularity among all classes and all ages from the twelfth century onward.
\JCockfighting\j had its dangerous features for the onlooker. Cocks trained to fight, in the heat of battle, would pursue each other into the crowd and, with their deadly spurs, could easily inflict serious injuries to any one in their way. To protect spectators, promoters in the early development of the sport learned to dig round pits to contain the ferocious fighters. This was the origin of the cockpit which soon belonged to almost every village. Cock-fights were arranged also in churchyards and even inside churches and in schools!
William Fitzstephen, in his twelfth-century chronicle, records how the teachers themselves directed the match (called a "main") and did so not without some personal interest. The dead birds became their property.
The annual climax of all English \Jcockfighting\j was reached on Shrove Tuesday (so called because in olden times, Christians making their confession then were "shriven"). It offered a last opportunity to people to enjoy themselves before the long fast of Lent, as well as to eat meat, most likely supplied in huge quantities by the fallen feathered warriors. On that day pupils brought cocks to school and the entire morning was given over to the fights. Parents, for their part, were expected to subscribe to their children's "entertainment." Their annual contribution was known as "cock-pence" and was used for the purchase and training of the birds.
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"Origins of Croquet",1662,0,0,0
Monuments honor battles, discoveries, and national heroes of all kinds. So it is with many streets. Few, however, would guess that a famous thoroughfare in the fashionable quarter of one of the world's greatest capitals recalls a game once enthusiastically practiced there by the aristocracy, but now completely forgotten; a game which was really the forerunner of modern croquet.
London's Pall Mall is so called because the game of palle malle was once played there. The word derives from the French \Ipallemaile\i and traces also to the Italian \Ipallamaglio,\i as the game was introduced into Britain from \JItaly\j by way of \JFrance\j in the seventeenth century during the reign of Charles II.
The basic idea of the game was to drive a ball \I(palla)\i with a mallet \I(maglio)\i through raised iron rings, or hoops, along an alley. That is how it received its name. The London street in which palle malle was first played by the king and his court was initially called Catherine Street, in honor of Catherine of Braganza. Because the game was played there, the street acquired its present name.
In an old house in Pall Mall, illustrations were found of a mallet actually used then. It shows a mallet of rough workmanship and was circled by iron rings to prevent it from splitting. Its shape was "irregularly oval and slightly curved." Its head was of oak and its handle (of which the top was covered with white, soft leather, to ensure a firm grip) was of ash.
Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary for May 1663 how he walked "in the Park, discoursing with the keeper of Pell Mell, who was sweeping of it; who told me of what the earth is mixed that do floor the mall, and that overall there is cockle-shells powdered."
Palle malle then is the father of croquet. How palle malle itself came into being is still shrouded in mystery. However, it is clear that it goes back, like other ball games, to man's ancient, intuitive wish to hit a stone with a stick and then to propel it through single or multiple goals.
Some suggest that the game developed straight from field \Jhockey\j. One writer, in a lengthy (but unconvincing) treatise, has traced its rise to the ancient Greek sport of \Ichicane.\i
There is evidence that palle malle was played in the old French province of Languedoc in the thirteenth century. A book published in Paris in 1717 gave a detailed description of the implements used, though it is very vague about the actual manner in which the game was played. A picture shows a player about to hit a ball approximately the size of a billiard ball through an arch.
English political exiles, no doubt, became enthusiastic about palle malle while in \JFrance\j. Thus, when Charles II and his retinue returned to England, they brought back with them as well as other sports palle malle. And so the Stuart King introduced and himself enjoyed the game in Britain, where it soon became the rage.
It was played on level, sand courts or tracks covered with the powdered cockle-shells referred to by Pepys. Long-handled wooden hammers served as mallets to drive boxwood balls through suspended metal rings almost one foot (30 cm) in diameter. Then palle malle suddenly petered out and had become almost forgotten by the eighteenth century. It was to be revived under a new name - croquet - early in the 1850s.
Once again, the reborn game reached Britain from \JFrance\j. The use of the distinctive mallet, shaped very much like a \Jhockey\j stick, now led people to describe the entire game as croquet, a name which is derived from the French word \Icroc,\i meaning a hook or a crook (also known from the hooked crochet needle). The croc in its primitive form, as used by French peasants, had a simple broomstick for its handle. A knotty piece of hard wood was fitted into one end of the handle, through a hole, to serve as a striker. The earliest hoops were fashioned of willow rods.
From \JFrance\j the sport spread to Ireland, where it was played in 1852. From there it soon reached England. Some accounts credit a Miss Macpherson with having reintroduced the game to England under its new name, from the Emerald Isle. Others accord the honor to Mr Jaques, of Hatton Gardens. He had watched the game in Ireland and was so taken by it that he not only promoted its appeal in England but at an early stage began to manufacture the necessary equipment. A long poem acclaimed him as the game's great pioneer, although it also indicated the mystery of its origin in its opening stanza:
\IWhence Croquet sprang to benefit the earth,
What happy garden gave the pastime birth,
What cunning craftsman carved its graceful tools,
Whose oral teachings fixed its equal rules,
Sing, Jaques, then \Japostle\j of the game!
If dissylabic is thy famous name
Or if, as Frenchified, it is but one,
By saying, "Sing, John Jaques!" the trick is done. Mysterious Croquet! like my "Little Star"
Of infancy, "I wonder what you are?"
Owning new parent, yet here in no shame,
Where all the honor would so gladly claim.\i
Soon, as formerly, croquet became a national pastime for men and women. A serene game which did not depend on muscular strength, it had its dramatic ups and downs. Croquet made many friends, and matches were played in numerous country centers. However, rules, if they existed, were most inadequate and often there was chaos on the lawn.
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"Origins of Famous Horse Races",1663,0,0,0
The English Racing Calendar was established in 1773 as an annual account of all the "places, matches, and sweepstakes run in Britain and Ireland," with their winners and prizes. It has been published regularly ever since.
The "sport of kings" found ever greater favour and drew bigger and bigger crowds. Through the years a number of innovations by ardent patrons became historical landmarks.
Colonel Anthony St Leger felt that the traditional practice of racing at his time demanded too much of a horse. Frequently, five-year-olds had to run eight, if not 12, miles in one afternoon. In 1776 he therefore introduced at Park Hill, near Doncaster, a race for three-year-old colts over two miles (3.20 km), with one heat to decide. Within two years, people had started to call it after him, the "St Leger." And so this racing classic was born.
Fame is attained in the most unexpected ways. A man might spend his life in the service of an ideal, but this is completely forgotten. And yet, one feature, least expected, might immortalize him.
The Stanleys were one of England's most aristocratic families. They were descended from one of William the Conqueror's companions and had served their country well for many generations and in countless causes: as Lieutenant Governors of Ireland, Privy Counselors, Chief Justices, and famous soldiers holding command on many a battlefield. In the fifteenth century they were presented with the Earldom of Derby. Nevertheless, few would know of them nowadays had not the 12th Earl of Derby been a lover of horses.
He was concerned about three-year-old fillies which did not qualify for the St Leger. In 1779, to provide a feature race exclusively for them, he inaugurated a race on his property, the Oaks, in Epsom. It was to be a race over a distance of a mile and a half (2.40 km), again with "one heat to decide." Just as had happened with the St Leger at Doncaster, it did not take long for people to give the race its name. This time they called it not after the founder himself, but his estate - "the Oaks."
The Earl made a second contribution to the sport of kings which was to link his name for all times with one of the chief events of horse-racing. In pursuit of his hobby, the 12th Earl of Derby in 1780 added to "the Oaks" yet another race, also over a mile and a half, but this time open for three-year-old horses of both sexes. Run annually at Epsom Downs, it became "the blue ribbon of the turf." That it was called "the Derby," some say, was the obvious thing to do. However, a tradition has it that the choice of name was due to mere chance.
At a dinner party at his homestead, the Earl discussed, it is told, the future race with his friend, Sir Charles Bunbury, who in no small measure was responsible as well for its inauguration. Having resolved to start the race, they also agreed to call it after one of them - either "Derby" or "Bunbury" - but leave the final decision to the tossing of a coin. The coin came down on the Derby side. And "the Derby" it has been ever since.
There is another version of its origin, linked with wagers made at Tattersall's, which is another name written large in the racing world.
Tattersall's is called after its founder, Richard Tattersall, whose own story and place in the sport has hardly an equal. A Yorkshire farmer, he had taken up the buying and selling of horses. Soon his reputation in this field had become so great that people said he was the first honest horse dealer in the world. The Prince of Wales (the future King \JGeorge IV\j) made him his person adviser on horses.
In 1766, Tattersall had expanded his trade so much that he opened up premises at Hyde Park Corner, London, to auction there in its courtyard, the finest horses he could gather in from any part of Europe. For this purpose he had his agents travel far and wide.
The extent of his property was so great that it could accommodate 150 animals with their grooms and handlers. He also set aside a 15-acre (6 hectares) paddock to have the animals exercised.
Anxious to serve his customers in every way and to give them a congenial meeting place, he purchased the adjacent Turf Inn and completely rebuilt it. He included a "subscription room" in which his clients could place and settle bets. In fact, the proper organization of this part of racing, which became so important to the sport, was his great ambition and under his supervision the first rules of wagering were drafted. Tattersall's became a name renowned among all patrons of the turf in almost every English-speaking country.
Horse owners and race-lovers gathered regularly in the establishment on Monday nights for a convivial dinner with plenty of wine. Naturally, they discussed across the table the various horses and argued about their relative merits. On one such evening, early in 1780, the topic of conversation was three-year-old gallopers owned by some of the men. The owners could not speak highly enough of the horses' superb qualities, but others disagreed and a heated controversy ensued.
To settle the issue, someone suggested what was really the most obvious solution: to test the horses in action. To do so they arranged to hold a special race in May of that year, at Epsom Downs. As the event should have a name all agreed there was none more appropriate than that of one of the best-known experts on horses at the time - the Earl of Derby, whom they could thus honor as well. That is how, according to this story, the 'Derby Stakes' were launched.
It is interesting to note that the original distances set down for the races at Doncaster and Epsom were never adopted. An initial error in measuring was responsible for their having been slightly changed from the very beginning.
Meanwhile, The Jockey Club had become England's recognized leader in the sport and its organization served as an example to the whole world of the turf. It controls the \IStud Book,\i yet another history-making institution of racing - first published by Messrs Weatherby in 1791. In Volume I of 'The Book', they included all records at their disposal of thoroughbred pedigrees in the previous 54 years. It contained the names of approximately a hundred brood mares and an equal number of sires which were authenticated parents of winners. A rule of 1913 stipulated that only those horses could be described as thoroughbred whose lineage could be traced back to ancestors recorded in either the first volume or, in the case of some mares, the second volume of "The Book."
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"Origins of Fencing",1664,0,0,0
A perfect example of a sport created by warfare is fencing. Its name is an abbreviated form of "defense."
A feeling of insecurity has always been with man. Throughout many centuries when an encounter with a stranger could prove fatal, to leave one's sword at home was to invite trouble. So the carrying of a sword became the custom of a "gentleman."
With this background in mind it can be easily understood how fencing evolved out of the training for the not uncommon sword fights. Battles were not always determined by the clash of two tribes, or two armies, but by individual encounters between selected representatives of warring groups. To refrain from the practice of fencing would endanger not only a man's life, but possibly the very existence of his people. Unprepared for mortal combat, one could become an easy victim of an aggressor. Even more so, neglect of practice in swordsmanship would be tantamount to evading national duty to be prepared for the defense of the clan, tribe, or country.
An Egyptian relief from the time of Pharaoh \JRamses\j III (1190 BC) depicts a fencing bout, not an actual martial fight but a practice match. The carving, excavated in a temple near Luxor, shows the points of the swords covered. The fencers wear masks and are watched by a motley group of spectators, while the fight is supervised by judges. Accompanying hieroglyphic passages quote a proud fencer's request to admire what his valiant hand would do, and the crowd's vociferous urging on of the victor in his superb and praiseworthy fight.
All ancient races had learned to master the sword and records of early bouts from almost every part of the world have been preserved. Swords belong to man's earliest relics. The Japanese treasure as a sacred possession a "divine sword" which a legendary prince is said to have used to mow down burning shrubs threatening to envelop him, and to defeat the foe. Indian tradition credits \JBrahma\j himself with having invented swordsmanship and with having taught it and other mysterious sciences to the initiates of his \Jcult\j. The supremacy of the sword caused it to become the official symbol of power. To this very day, the English monarch bestows the honor of knighthood by touching the recipient's shoulder with a sword.
Another source of swordsmanship is the duel. Long before it attained its formalized pattern and, to our modern minds, the odd purpose of defending one's honor, it had deep religious implications that alone explain its existence. Fundamentalist believers in the literal truth of the \JBible\j regarded Cain's slaying of Abel as the first duel in history. The scriptural words "and Cain spoke unto Abel his brother," had been the first challenge given and accepted.
Divine judgment was expressed in the result of the fight that therefore did not depend on the contestants' own strength, but involved \Jsupernatural\j power. That is how David had beaten \JGoliath\j; victory had proved the justice of his cause. Some theologians in fact believed that their confrontation divinely introduced the judicial duel.
The duel itself is closely linked with the institution of the ordeal. This assumed that divine intervention established the guilt or innocence of a party. Trials by ordeal were manifold and one form of ordeal was the duel between two men. Not their skill or strength determined the outcome, but the justice of their cause. In this "trial by battle," might was right.
At first, there were several systems of combat. Opponents might use their bare hands alone, or their fists or wooden sticks of various lengths. They could confront each other with swords and the first who drew blood was proved - by God - to be the innocent party whose cause was just. In the extreme case, only the death of one of the adversaries would reveal the divine judgment.
Duels were fought almost all over the world and were regarded as the fairest possible way to settle a dispute. There was certainly no possibility of an appeal. However, Roman civilization frowned on it and decried it as a barbarian practice.
The combat is known to have been reinstituted by the Burgundian King Gundobald in AD 501, to take the place of the oath and other ordeals which at the time were equally regarded as the judgment of God. Only women, invalids, and men over 60 (and eventually also priests) were exempt for the trial in which \Jplaintiff\j and defendant agreed to submit their cause to the judgment of heaven "by dint of the sword."
The revived duel was soon accepted all over western Europe as part of the judicial system. It can well be imagined that people felt it necessary to be prepared for any such "court action" by learning to be good swordsman and thus be able to prove the justice of their case should ever the need arise. This fostered greatly the practice of fencing which, no doubt, must have given people a love of it for its own sake. Even when through the invention of \Jfirearms\j the sword was relegated to the arsenal of obsolete weapons, it continued to be employed in the duel.
The original swords were very heavy, as they had to pierce the armor which was also traditionally worn. To wield the sword successfully needed more strength than skill.
In the 1500s the invention of \Jgunpowder\j and \Jfirearms\j made the bow and arrow redundant. Heavy armor was now useless as it could easily be penetrated by the novel bullet. As an immediate result swords - still necessary for individual combat - were changed. They could (and had to) be much lighter now. Lack of defensive armor meant that the heavy, double-edged, unwieldy weapon was no longer needed. On the other hand, the absence of the weighty mail shirt permitted men to move so much more quickly and deftly. This demanded a weapon that could be easily managed and enabled a man to tackle dexterously an ever more evasive foe. That is how gradually the long, slim rapier came into existence. Its lightness permitted greater speed, which made its use all the more deadly.
When wearing a suit of armor, a warrior had been well protected and thus had used the sword only for attack. But now man had to learn to employ it for defense well, and skill in swordsmanship became indispensable. Even when open, individual warfare was no longer practiced, travelers were frequently threatened by attacks from bandits and, with no police force in existence, had to look after their own safety.
These various factors combined to make an all-round knowledge of swordsmanship almost a matter of life and death. Enterprising and imaginative fencing masters immediately grasped the opportunity and began to promote their art. The first fencing schools and \Jguilds\j of fencing masters were established. In their own way, and for the new purpose, the schools further evolved the instruments of fencing and its craft. Teachers jealously guarded their particular styles and personal techniques, just as modern nations do with their secret weapons, and all tuition was given in strict privacy.
Spaniards made fencing a highly scientific pursuit. Gonzalo de Cordoba (d. 1515), known as "the Great Captain," is credited with having invented the hand guard. His sword is still displayed in a Madrid museum.
Italians, however, were without doubt the most prominent promoters of fencing as a science, teaching that not force but skill and speed were of prime importance, and emphasizing use of the point of the sword, not of its edge. Until then, methods of fencing had been crude and rough. Even features from wrestling had been borrowed. The development and refinements in fencing that the Italians prompted caused them to be regarded as the originators of true swordsmanship. Significantly, the Italians called the art by the word \Ischerma,\i which, derived from the German \Ischirmen,\i means to "defend" and to "guard."
Italian fencing masters, having perfected technique, were in great demand. To begin with, both hands of a fencer were occupied. While handling the offensive weapon with his right hand, he used the left for defense, holding a dagger, a gauntlet, or his cloak to throw over his attacker's sword.
\JHenry VIII\j, himself a vigorous athlete in his younger years and an enthusiastic fencer, by a Letter Patent of 1540 incorporated professors of fencing in his realm to teach the noble science of defense. The professor enjoyed this right as a privilege and a monopoly. Scholars graduated to become Provosts of Defense.
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"Origins of Glass",1665,0,0,0
Glass was not invented. Like wine and champagne, it was discovered by accident. No one will ever know by whom, and exactly when. It is one of the many anonymous, chance-discoveries that have enriched human life. Glass has been in use for at least 6,000 years.
The famous 1st-century Roman writer, Pliny the Elder, claims that it was first "found" on the sandy shores of Palestine. \JPhoenician\j sailor-merchants were camping there. One night they took from their cargo big lumps of carbonate of soda to support their cooking pots over the fire. Next morning, when raking the ashes, they discovered the first glass. It had been created by the melting sand in the presence of the \Jalkali\j.
But archaeologists have shown that even this early claim was much too conservative. At the site of ancient \JBabylon\j, Sir Flinders Petrie excavated specimens of glass, antedating the \JPhoenician\j "invention" by many centuries. The earliest examples of man-made glass are Egyptian stone beads coated with blue glass and dating from the year 4000 B.C.
At the beginning, and for a long time, glass was used only as a surface coating or to imitate precious stones and gems. Almost a thousand years passed before the first glass vessels were made. They were definitely in use in \JEgypt\j and \JMesopotamia\j in 1500 B.C.
The most common method for making them was known as that of the sand-core process. A core of sand was formed in the desired shape of the vessel and then tightly wrapped in a cloth, which then was either dipped into, or covered by, a solution of warm, viscous glass. When this had cooled, the inner core was removed and the vessel was ready. Alternatively, glass was pressed into a mould or the vessel was ground out of a cool block of glass.
After another 1,500 years - just around the birth of Christ and again in Palestine - a new and revolutionary method of making glassware was invented-blowing, whose essential principle has not changed ever since.
Mystery envelops even this comparatively late invention. Was it the result of ingenuity or again the outcome of chance? Tradition favors the latter view. It says that a glass maker found a faulty tube - it had been accidentally closed by the hot glass at one end. To remove the obstructing blob, he blew into the tube from the other end. But instead of the tube opening up, the blob of glass became a bubble. Thus the latest method of glass-working was born.
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"Origins of Hindu Celebrations",1666,0,0,0
\JHinduism\j is the native religion of India and its history covers a period of well-nigh five millennia. Its philosophy and teachings are wide-ranging and comprise an infinite variety of ideas, beliefs and rituals. The \IRig \JVeda\j,\i one of its ancient Holy books, quotes as the fundamental tenet of the faith that "Truth is One, though sages call it variously."
Of the many gods worshiped, three are paramount: \JBrahma\j, the Creator; \JVishnu\j, the Preserver; and Siva, the Destroyer.
There are many festivals at all times of the year. Some of them are peculiar to specific regions of India. Other feasts are universally observed.
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"Origins of Hockey",1667,0,0,0
Today, the term \Jhockey\j describes differing games in various parts of the world. In \JNorth America\j it refers to "ice \Jhockey\j," elsewhere to what Americans call "field \Jhockey\j." The earliest mention of the present-day name dates back only to 1527, when the \JGalway\j Statutes included \Ihockie\i - "the horlinge of litill balle with . . . stickes or staves" - in a list of prohibited games.
The name itself depicts the hooked shape of the stick which is an integral part of the game. Some believe it is an Anglicized version of the Old French \Ihoquet\i meaning "shepherd's crook." Others claim that \Jhockey\j is a diminutive form of the hook. A least likely theory quotes an early alternate name, \Ihackie,\i and suggests that not the bat's shape but its use to hack at players' feet or shins to get the ball was responsible for the ultimate "\Jhockey\j."
\JHockey\j is one of the many sports derived from prehistoric man's delight in stick and ball games which gave the world such varied pursuits as the English cricket, American \Jbaseball\j, Persian polo, and Canadian \Jlacrosse\j. All of these share the same ancestor and are the result of both man's instinctive urge to hit an object with a "bat" and his primitive belief in the efficacy of a ball game as a religious rite. \JHockey\j was therefore played, initially and primarily, too, not as a mere pastime but as a solemn ritual of magic and cosmic significance. The flight of the ball and the outcome of the contest, it was thought, would determine the course of nature, the rising of the sun (symbolized by the ball), and the fertility of the fields.
It can only be conjectured how at first a man tore off a branch from a tree, or used the slightly curved leg or antler of a deer, to hit a pebble or a stone as far as he possibly could. That must have been the beginning of \Jhockey\j, thousands of years ago. Its birthplace was Asia and authorities credit \JPersia\j with having devised it about 2000 BC. A people who perfected the game of polo must have known "\Jhockey\j on the ground" long before they took up "\Jhockey\j on horseback."
The Asiatic origin of the game might also explain the favorite place it has occupied in the life of the \JAmerican Indians\j, who are themselves thought to have made their way into the "New World" from Asia. No doubt, these Indians, too, engaged at first in the sport at part of their ritual. An Aztec code pictures the gods of light and darkness playing ball. A creation myth among \JWichita\j Indians tells how the first "\Jhockey\j" was played as the result of the earliest surgical operation.
It relates how out of his own body primeval man had produced the implements for the game. From his left side he removed a ball and from his right a stick with which he immediately started to knock the ball about. Other men, created soon afterwards, learned the art from him and, dividing themselves into two groups (the earliest \Jhockey\j teams), they joined in the first match.
Sioux Indians played \Jhockey\j with a soft ball made of elk or moose hair and covered with buckskin. Their sticks were short and had a sharp hook at one end. The Mapuche Indians of \JChile\j, on the other hand, employed hard balls, of stone or heavy wood, which eventually they covered with hide. That the Makah Indians engaged in \Jhockey\j specifically during the whaling season suggests that the game was a magical rite to ensure good hunting.
\JNebraska\j Indians evolved perhaps one of the fairest methods of choosing teams. They made all players place their individually marked sticks on one heap. A blindfolded outsider was then invited to pick them all up, two at a time. On each occasion he was to put one to his left side and the other to his right. When he had exhausted the store of sticks, he had most impartially allocated each player to a team.
The Indians' \Jhockey\j games were really rough and the players, completely unprotected, used their sticks pitilessly against any contestant obstructing their way in the chase of the ball. Not infrequently, play turned into a riotous battle with plenty of bruises and injuries. Yet the moment it was over, the players threw off partisanship and, transformed as it were into one fellowship, celebrated the conclusion of the game with a happy feast.
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"Origins of Horse Riding and Racing",1668,0,0,0
Sir James Frazer tells how in the ancient world, the horse was regarded as an embodiment of the corn spirit, whose task it was to hasten the growing of grain. Romans sacrificed the horse to Mars, whom they worshipped not only as a war god, but as the guardian of the fields. In fact, Mars was originally a deity of vegetation. The right-hand horse of a winning team in a sacred race was offered to the god. Its severed head was crowned with a string of loaves and its blood applied to the young crop in spring to ensure its growth and fertility.
That the word race goes back to an old English root describing a "rush" or a "hurry," is very appropriate. Few people, however, would imagine that - literally - Chaucer's \ICanterbury Tales\i have given the horse its canter. But that is exactly the origin of the term. The mounted pilgrims' ambling gait along the Old Kent Road, on their way to the shrine of Thomas α Becket at Canterbury, led people mockingly to call their leisurely progress "the Canterbury pace." Eventually, they dropped most of the phrase and retained only half of Canterbury. To canter in this way became a fitting word-picture for a horse's slow gallop.
A method all its own is maintained in the measuring of the height of a horse and the distance of a race. One of the most primitive measuring rods of man was his hand. He has abandoned it everywhere except in connection with the equine species. A hand spans four inches (10.16 cm). The bovine world has given equestrian contests of speed their measure of distance. The furlong (today 220 yards - 200.20 m) has been said to derive from the length of a furrow an ox could plough without having to stop for rest. Another, and more likely, explanation is that the furlong (a combination of two old English words for \Ifurrow\i and \Ilong)\i is based on the extent of the original furrow determined by the once customary size of a field - a ten-acre (4 hectares) square.
From Central Asia, no doubt, at first through invading or marauding forces, the horse and its manifold uses reached \JEgypt\j and the western world. The breeding of famous thoroughbreds in the North African region goes back at least to 2000 BC.
To begin with, only Asian races had acquired the art and appreciation of horseback-riding. To Western eyes, a man on a horse initially was such an amazing sight that it filled him with awe. Some have even surmised that the legendary figure of the \Jcentaur\j, so prominent in Greek \Jmythology\j, originated from the appearance of foreign riders. Half beast, half man, its lower body was equine and its upper torso and head human. A man mounted on a horse seemed a combination which could only be \Jsupernatural\j.
During the Spanish conquest of Mexico the \JAztecs\j and other Indian tribes were so struck with horror at the sight of \JCortes\j' mounted soldiers that, believing they were confronted with divine creatures, they felt it futile to resist them. Pizarro's riders, in like manner, created panic among the Incas of \JPeru\j. When one of the Spanish cavalrymen fell from his horse, the Indians imagined that the \Jsupernatural\j creature had broken into two. Going to the other extreme, \JAttila\j's \JHuns\j, crouching over their horses while racing along, were regarded as cripples who, because of their malformation, could not walk but had to be carried on horseback, safely secured in their saddles!
Even when the riding of a horse no longer appeared unnatural, it continued to be regarded as undignified. Both Asian and Egyptian nobles preferred to be carried in a chariot, delegating horseback-riding to the scout and courier. Pharaoh Thutmosis included entire units of war charioteers in his army.
The earliest extensive account of an actual chariot race belongs to Book XXIII of Homer's \IIliad\i (c.850 BC). It shows how well established the sport was at that ancient date, which suggests a long previous history. Positions in the race were determined by the casting of lots. Apart from a tripod, the first prize offered was a woman, highly skilled in domestic duties . . .
Horse-racing became a favorite Greek sport. By the time of the Pan-Hellenic festivals and the \JOlympic Games\j, it had become so popular that it was featured in races first of driven, and then also of ridden horses. However, at the 33rd Olympiad in 624 BC, the four-horse chariot still predominated.
The oldest treatise on horse-riding goes back to \JXenophon\j (430-354 BC), the famous Greek soldier and author. His twelve-chapter manual \IOn Horsemanship\i was a comprehensive study of the horse, containing most modern ideas. It deals with the training of a horse, tells how to break it in and to teach it to jump ditches. \JXenophon\j reminds his readers to pay proper regard to the horse's sensitive nature. A trainer should on no account lose his temper. Should the animal be frightened by any object, and refuse to go near it, the trainer should make it feel that it had nothing to fear by approaching the object himself, and touching it. The use of a whip on such an occasion was the worst thing to do, as the mind of the horse would associate the pain suffered with the very object it tried to avoid. A horse of fiery nature was affected by everything it saw, heard, or felt. Hence nothing should be done to it without due warning. Yet another work by \JXenophon\j deals, in a more specialized way, with the duty of cavalry commanders and, in fact, was addressed to a man who was about to assume such a position.
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"Origins of Jai Alai",1669,0,0,0
Jai alai, pronounced high-a-lie, or \Jpelota\j, is Basque, meaning "a jolly feast" and is one of the fastest and most vigorous games in the world.
Opinions still differ as to its origin. Some suggest that it is an ancient sport, first devised in \JCentral America\j by the early Mayas and \JAztecs\j. When Cortez conquered their country in 1519, he watched jai alai played there and carried the idea back to \JSpain\j.
Others, however, feel that credit for initiating the game lies with the Basque people of northern \JSpain\j, whose national sport jai alai still is. Their contests were mostly held as part of public celebrations and were distinguished by great exuberance. That is how they came to call the game itself jai alai - "a jolly feast."
From the Basque country jai alai spread to the rest of \JSpain\j and southern \JFrance\j, and then further to \JCairo\j, \JLatin America\j (where it was adopted first in \JCuba\j in 1900), and even China. It was introduced into the United States at the World's Fair in St Louis in 1904.
The game is related to ancient Greek ball games and, most likely, was carried to the Basque country by the Romans. It was influenced by seventeenth-century \Jhandball\j and is similar to English "Fives," so called, according to one explanation, after the five fingers of the hand.
The invention of the lively rubber ball added to the excitement of jai alai. The Basques were anxious to enliven play even more and it was with this aim that they developed by trial and error the modern paraphernalia of jai alai.
First of all, there was the ball itself. In Spanish, this is called \Ipelota\i (a little ball - preserved in the English "pellet"), and Spaniards to this day know the game by this name.
As the ball had to withstand tremendous impact, the rubber type used soon proved completely inadequate and did not take long to disintegrate under the rough treatment it received. The modern jai alai ball, which meets all the demands of the game, is about three quarters the size of a \Jbaseball\j, harder and heavier than a golf ball (weighing about four ounces - 113 g), and much more lively. Its core consists of hand-wound strands of Brazilian rubber. This is enveloped by linen threads and the whole is encased in two wrappings of hardened goatskins.
In early games, players aimed the ball at an ordinary adobe or brick wall. This, too, it was found, could not take the battering for long, nor cause the ball to rebound at the desired high speed. Concrete walls also proved unsatisfactory against the repeated impact of the stonehard ball. Finally, huge, granite blocks were chosen.
To add to the thrills of the game, two more walls were introduced. First, a side wall was placed at right angles to the existing wall. Then, during the middle of the eighteenth century, a back wall completed the present-day \Ifronton,\i which is the Spanish description of the jai alai court.
Originally, players used their bare hands to throw and catch the ball, but this method was not entirely satisfactory. The hard ball, caught in mid-air at high speed, inflicted excruciating pain to the hand, and to get greater power to propel the ball, some booster device was needed. Players began using a bowl-shaped glove to cushion the impact of the ball, but this certainly did not help to speed the actual throw. For this purpose players tried flat, wooden bats, approximately two feet (60 cm) long, but this combination did not prove ideal either.
Many experiments followed, resulting at last in the curved wicker-work basket used today and known as \Icesta,\i from the Spanish \Icestero,\i "basket." Its adoption changed the whole game. The "basket" is three feet (90 cm) long and is firmly fixed to a leather glove worn by the player and secured tightly to his hand by strong tape strapped around the wrist. Instead of batting the ball, players could now catch and return it with tremendous speed.
Betting soon gripped jai alai, at times causing authorities to ban it. Thus, a temporary ban was imposed in \JMexico City\j in 1934. Nowadays, the excitement of watching skillful, quick-moving contestants catching and throwing the ball without stopping is heightened by the bets that may be made as the game progresses, with the odds changing continuously according to the developing score.
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"History of Judo",1670,0,0,0
With few exceptions, Western man has always acted on the conviction that force must be opposed by force. To his mind, it would be absurd to suggest that victory against a powerful opponent could be attained by gentleness. But this is the very basis of judo.
Judo means "the gentle way." It was created by Professor Jigoro Kano, a great Japanese educationist. To teach it, he established his own school in \JTokyo\j in 1882. It came to be known as the Kodokan Institute. Kodokan means "lecture hall," but Kano defined it as "a school for the study of the way." From an initial enrollment of nine pupils it grew into the headquarters of a sport pursued by countless people all over the world.
Judo is one of the few sports of which the origin is known in definite detail. The story of how it started tells of a remarkable man of inexhaustible energy and imaginative initiative, who was concerned not merely with the introduction of a new sport but with man's way of life. While its immediate forerunner was ju-jitsu, the traditions on which Kano based judo - and without which it could have never come into existence - can be traced back.
However well known the origin of judo is, obscure indeed are the beginnings of ju-jitsu, essentially a combat without weapon. While some assert its indigenous Japanese roots, it is commonly believed that its fundamental concepts were brought to the country, like so much of its civilization, from China. One Japanese dictionary even claimed that the Chinese invented the art as a method of torture which, more than 2,000 years ago, the Japanese had transformed into a system of self-defense and physical exercise.
Tradition links its invention with religion. Chinese monks of the twelfth century, living in isolation and having to travel desolate roads, had been threatened by brigands' attacks. As they abstained from the use of weapons, they had to learn to defend themselves without them, skillfully developing the art of unarmed combat.
Centuries later, in 1659, a Chinese priest named Chin Gen Pin, coming to \JJapan\j, taught the art of "kicking and striking" (known in China as \Ikempo)\i to three independent warriors. They immediately grasped its value for their own people, and to train them in its practice, they opened three separate schools. To the imported \Ikempo\i methods of combat, they added specific features of their own invention.
However, it is a fact that before the priest's arrival, \JJapan\j already knew forms of bare handed fighting although, no doubt, Chin Gen Pin contributed to their evolution by his instruction in kempo.
The earliest account in Japanese lore of an unarmed struggle is contained in the \IAncient Chronicle (Koji-Ki).\i It tells of a mortal combat between two mythical figures in the presence of the Emperor Suinin (29 BC-AD 70). Their fight (in which the loser was kicked to death) combined elements of wrestling with striking at an opponent, and therefore the combat has been claimed as the origin of Japanese wrestling (called sumo), ju-jitsu, and karate.
That feats of strength determined the course of Japanese history even in the dim distant past, is the tradition of yet another myth contained in the \IChronicle.\i It deals with an early occupation of the country by hostile forces. A national hero and his aide called on their leader and demanded their immediate withdrawal.
Surprisingly, the enemy agreed to do so with the proviso, however, that before giving his final decision, he would discuss the matter with his two sons. He consulted both in the presence of the two men. While one son was prepared to leave \JJapan\j at once, the second strongly resented any such suggestion. Taunting the patriot, he said that he would settle the argument by force and was about to attack him with a stone. But the patriotic hero did not waver. Standing his ground, and unarmed, he challenged the invader's son to see what he could do, then caught him by his hand and effortlessly threw him to the ground.
That unarmed combat might have originated among men bereft of weapons is an obvious possibility. Such combat must have started with earliest man who, unarmed, had to fight for his survival, and in self-defence developed skills to subdue any adversary with his bare hands, feet, and body.
Myths of many races tell of early grappling matches. A manuscript discovered in a Tibetan monastery spoke of two gods who kept their followers to the right path by the employment of special "holds."
Throughout history, examples are many of victorious nations prohibiting the defeated foe from owning any armament and from training their people in pursuits of war. Their subjection, it was considered, should be permanent and no opportunity (or temptation) put in their way to free themselves and again change the balance of power, now in the victor's favor.
Equally frequent were attempts on the part of the loser, one way or another, to circumvent such a ban. If swords could not be used, the vanquished trained their men in the handling of mere sticks - with deadly efficiency. When \JGermany\j, after World War I, was prevented from rebuilding her air force, nationalists cleverly promoted gliding. People who want to fight will fight, if necessary with their bare hands. The banning of weapons, of whichever kind, will never prevent war.
As early battles were fought not always between the people themselves or their armies, whether mercenary or conscript, but between representative champions of both sides, it sometimes happened that the weapon of one or both was broken or struck out of the hand. Nevertheless, they were expected to continue the contest to the complete submission of one of them. The men had to go on fighting at close range and unarmed. To be prepared for such an emergency became a matter of life and death.
Living in an aggressive world, people, from earliest times, must have often been concerned with their defense. Strong men could always be confident that by sheer force they could tackle any adversary. But not so the physically weak man. Determined to survive in spite of it, he must have looked for ways and means to outwit his opponent. Countless stories are told in which a David struck down a \JGoliath\j.
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"Origins of Lipstick",1671,0,0,0
No one can deny that the features of the mouth can reveal character. We speak of sensuous lips. Easily we can recognize the \Jcupid\j's bow and the tightly-closed mouth and, again, protruding lips. Look at a person's lips and you may find there affirmations of generosity, self-control and intelligence or of bad temper, hardness and selfishness.
One purpose in painting the lips was thus fear - of giving oneself away. Lipsticks were a perfect instrument to accentuate a woman's good points and to disguise her bad ones.
Fear and sex are two of man's strongest instincts. They aim at self-preservation of both the individual and the race. It was those two forces which most of all were responsible for the painting of the lips.
One of man's most dangerous zones was thought to be his mouth. It was an invitation to mischievous spirits to enter the body and take possession of it. Red has been universally a protective color. It has been used from time immemorial to stop evil forces. Thus, people began to paint their lips red. Even in the ancient Babylonian Epic of Creation it is told that the god Marduk smeared red ochre on his lips before engaging in deadly battle against the dragon Tiamat.
Paradoxes abound in life. The same streak of color that was used to repel and frighten demons came to serve also as a force to allure man and to arouse his passion.
Nature demands the survival of man. Anything that aids him in this has been judged right. From the most distant past, women have found a colorful mouth a powerful bait and when the modern girl paints her lips, she does so exactly as her ancestors did, 4,000 years earlier. She knows that it helps not only to remedy defects and to enhance her beauty but, most of all, to ensnare man.
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"Origins of Medication",1672,0,0,0
Ancient Egyptian medicine was closely linked with religion. Toth was worshiped as the god who "endowed physicians with the skill to cure."
As sickness was often diagnosed as the symptom of a demon's presence, the patient was thought to be cured by expelling the evil spirit. The spirit was believed to abhor certain substances, most commonly those which were evil-smelling and of bitter taste. By swallowing such a potion, the patient would sicken the demon inside him who, by swiftly leaving the body, would restore it to health.
This is how the taking of medications originated in religion. No doubt, in cases of real sickness and not merely psychosomatic complaints, the priest - doctors, by a method of trial and error, soon realized what type of "drug" would be effective in a specific condition.
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"Origins of National Anthems",1673,0,0,0
How is a National Anthem created? Is it decreed by government order and given birth to in a cabinet room? Should a referendum "sense" people's opinion, and a competition call for suggestions? Should a country adopt a popular song, so that the National Anthem truly arises out of the people, as Australians unofficially seemed to have done with "Waltzing Matilda"?
National Anthems - at least in their text if not the music - differ from country to country. And rightly so. After all, they are meant to express the character of a nation and to stir its soul.
The British pray for their monarch. Germans used to praise their country "above everything in the world," whilst Americans visualize their \JStar-spangled Banner\j.
Few anthems have been specially written or were the result of a \Jpoet laureate\j's appointed task. Most of them were born out of some particular event of war or revolution. Written then, on the spur of the moment, for that one occasion, they have survived ever since. And it was the people themselves who made them their own, whilst governments only (sometimes after years) acknowledged tune and words as the authoritative National Anthem.
As most anthems go far back in nations' histories, the origin is often difficult to trace.
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"Origins of Paper",1674,0,0,0
Trying to trace the origin of paper, we are led back thousands of years to two centers of ancient civilization, far removed from each other.
The word "paper" comes from \JEgypt\j's \Jpapyrus\j, that tall straight reed once covering acres of marsh to a height of 19 ft. In wild thicket and later in cultivated fields, Egyptian workers used to cut the \Jpapyrus\j stems individually for their "factories."
\JPapyrus\j was then the raw material for many things. Its base was eaten as a delicacy. Its rind made loin-cloths for the lower classes and its inner pith was used for sails, boats, baskets, ropes and sandals; but above all it served as the source of writing material.
The choice of the old Egyptian word \Jpapyrus\j for this plant was not without purpose either. \IPapyrus\i meant "The Royal." It proclaimed the reed as a royal property and the manufacture of "paper" as a strictly guarded State monopoly.
For centuries \Jpapyrus\j was the only substance in the world from which "paper" was made. The Egyptians wrote on it as long ago as the year 3000 B.C. From there it reached the Greco-Roman world, where it was used for more than 1,000 years.
Yet it had disadvantages. One of them was that supply of \Jpapyrus\j was limited to regions where the plant could be grown or be exported in sufficient quantity. Furthermore, it yellowed with time and was rather brittle.
That is why it was replaced by parchment, made of animal skins. This name came from the city of \JPergamum\j in \JAsia Minor\j, where parchment became a substitute for \Jpapyrus\j in the 2nd century B.C., when King Ptolemy stopped its export from \JEgypt\j.
Parchment then surpassed the unobtainable paper in many ways. It was much tougher, lasted longer and could take twice the amount of writing, as both sides could be used. But it was still expensive and only the rich could afford it. Nevertheless, it conquered the world and, for the next 1100 years, was most favored by Europe's scribes, monks, and scholars.
However all that time, though unknown to the West, a much cheaper writing material was available in the Far East - real paper, invented in ancient China.
For once we are lucky to know even the name of the man said to have made it, his profession and the year. T'sai Lun manufactured the world's first paper in 105 A.D. after many experiments with varieties of bark, fibers, and waste. The astonishing fact is that T'sai Lun's own profession had nothing to do with learning. He belonged to the Imperial Palace and his appointment was that of Chief Eunuch to the Emperor Ho Ti.
For hundreds of years the use of paper was restricted to the Far East alone. In the 8th century, Chinese prisoners revealed the art of paper-making to their Arab captors. These, in turn, introduced it into Europe where - in 1340 - the first paper mill was established in the town of Fabriano in \JItaly\j.
The ancient "royal" name of the Egyptian \Jpapyrus\j was then welded to the "modern" Chinese material, and the paper took over the name of its earliest predecessor. Thus the East and the West combined in bringing enlightenment to the whole world. Literary knowledge was no longer restricted to a small coterie of scholars but available to all the people.
It was the new kind of paper that made possible the invention of printing in 1450.
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"Origins of Perfume",1675,0,0,0
The sense of smell is one of man's most precious possessions. Certain odours immediately recall to mind certain people and places. Doctors identify some diseases by their odor. Even the like or dislike of food is closely linked not so much with its taste as with its smell.
Smell can cause both nausea and euphoria. Human beings have their individual smell, a fact of which dogs are well aware. African natives asserted that white men reeked of dead meat whilst Europeans, in turn, found "non-whites" to exude an unpleasant odor.
The history of perfume extends over a period of 5,000 years. It has been known to the most ancient races and has penetrated into almost every aspect of living. When, in 1922, the tomb of Tutankhamen was opened in \JEgypt\j, it contained several vases of perfume which had not yet lost its fragrance, though dating from 1350 B.C.
Aesthetically scent is beautiful. Psychologically, it gives women a feeling of well-being and superiority. Erotically, it can excite the senses. In the realm of religion, it has served as a deoderant, a gift to the gods and a stimulant to the faithful, in whom it produced a state of ecstasy. Sorcery and witchcraft employed it because of its "compelling power." Medicine has applied perfume as a curative and a prophylactic. No wonder that the ancient Greeks believed that perfume was created by the gods themselves and called it accordingly "the scent of divinity."
Egyptians were convinced that perfume gave perfection to all parts of man's body and that, after his death, his soul was wafted to heaven by the smoke of incense. Holy Scripture, similarly, knew that "ointment and perfume rejoice the heart," and supplied numerous recipes for the making of aromatics.
Mohammed admitted that the three things he enjoyed most in this world were women, children and perfume. Not inappropriately, therefore, \JIslam\j promised its faithful believers a Paradise that was permeated with the finest of scents to arouse their desires and passion. A regulation of the Zoroastrian faith commanded that five times every day man must burn sweet savor on an altar.
The humorous definition of perfume as "any smell which is used to drown a worse one" is not as far-fetched as some people might think. That was, in fact, its first purpose.
Perfume originated at sacred shrines. It belonged to religious cults and was the concern of priests, not, as in later times, of beauticians.
Early in history man believed that the best way to serve God was to serve Him with meals. These consisted of the burned carcasses of slaughtered beasts. Animal-sacrifice, so man imagined, was a welcome food for the gods and gained their favor. Altars became the very pivot of worship.
But the burning of beasts was far from pleasant, especially because of the stench it created. To cover this up, perfume was introduced, and it became an essential ingredient of divine sacrificial service. It still survives in the form of incense in some churches. This early use of perfume is recalled in its name which, derived from the Latin, literally means \Ithrough the smoke\i (in this case of the burnt offerings).
Almost immediately, a natural development took place. People came to believe that the odor itself, thus added to the offering for man's sake, actually pleased the gods. When Noah, grateful for his survival from the Flood, burned animal-sacrifices as a thanksgiving to God, the \JBible\j records that 'the Lord smelled the sweet odor" and promised never to repeat such calamitous punishment.
Associated with this earliest religious use of perfume was a belief that it also was a potent agent against evil forces. These were allergic to it and immediately took their leave. Perfume was even considered a means to exorcise the demon of disease. That is how medicine came to apply it. Greek doctors recommended its health-giving properties, specifically so in the prevention of respiratory ills.
People experienced the stimulating effects of perfume. They imagined that its fragrance cleansed the body and cleared the head, not least after their brain had been fuddled by too much drink.
Man's body contains more than two million sweat glands and the unpleasant smell of their secretion has been a frequent cause of embarrassment. Perfume was an ever-ready aid to remedy this.
Women realized its sexually-exciting qualities. Just as flowers by their scent attracted bees, women, too, could draw near a mate with perfume. Indeed, the choice of the right kind of scent became as much part of a woman's attraction as her voice, her smile and her hair. Rudyard Kipling went even so far as to say that "scents are surer than sounds or sights to make your heartstrings crack."
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"Origins of Playing-cards",1676,0,0,0
The Devil himself has been credited with the invention of playing-cards. However, that assertion and all it implies is rather unappreciative of the good cards have done, apart from their obvious evil. They have provided man with relaxation and, as psychologists have pointed out, even more so, helped him to canalize his aggressive instincts into innocent channels.
One tradition claims that we owe playing-cards to itinerant gypsies and that they first devised them for their fortune-telling. The fact that a French craftsman was commissioned in 1392 to paint a set of cards for Charles the Mad led to a third suggestion - that cards originated as a kind of \Joccupational therapy\j. They had been invented to soothe the king's nerves - whenever he had a bout of insanity.
Actually, playing-cards stem from China where they first appeared more than 1,000 years ago. A claim that they had been invented during the reign of 12th century Emperor Seun-Ho to keep his concubines amused is probably nothing but malicious gossip.
The Chinese used circular cards made from various kinds of wood or plant-fiber. Simple in design, they were painted in rich colors. From the East, cards eventually reached Europe through the \JArabs\j.
Some of the oldest specimens in existence came from Venice. They, too, were painted, but still lacked numerals and special names. At first, the European-type of cards pictured a whole galaxy of emblems and figures. These included the sun, moon, and a star; the Emperor and Empress; the Wheel of Fortune; Justice; "the Lovers," and "the Hanging Man." They also showed the Fool, the Mountebank, and the Devil.
Only then did people start to number the cards and divide them into suits. These distinguished cups (representing faith), swords (justice), money (charity), and clubs (fortitude). The painting of cards became a special craft and their supply a monopoly and - for the state - a special source of revenue by taxation.
From \JItaly\j and \JSpain\j, card-playing spread to \JFrance\j where it created an industry. Though there is no record of the date on which cards were introduced into Britain, they certainly were known there by 1480. A Royal decree, issued 15 years later, prohibited card-playing by servants and apprentices, except during the Christmas holidays. Yet even the Puritans could not suppress the love of the game. King James I was an addict. He had two courtiers in constant attendance, one to hold his cards and the other to suggest which one to throw.
Cards were now elaborately decorated and illuminated with gold and silver. With the passing of time and the increased popularity of the game, the original simple collection of cards had become numerous and complicated. But eventually the pack was again reduced and limited to the present number, 52, apart from the joker.
Various countries adopted their own names and figures. \JSpain\j and \JPortugal\j retained the original Italian cups, swords, money, and batons. \JGermany\j and other Northern European nations preferred to have hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns. From \JFrance\j, England chose hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs.
Practical considerations were responsible for a further development. Painted cards were rather expensive and not easy to shuffle, and people began to have them stenciled and, finally, printed. They were bought not in ready-made packs, but in sheets, with several cards printed on each of them, to be cut out by the player.
In the excitement of the game, some players were at a disadvantage. Those sitting on the "wrong" side could not at once recognize the card's value when it was thrown on the table. An ingenious Frenchman thought out a remedy. Instead of picturing a whole-length figure, he introduced the double-headed one, equally recognizable from either side.
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"Origins of Polo",1677,0,0,0
The story is told that polo began in India in the early 1860s. To entertain British army officers stationed in the Punjab, horsemen from \JManipur\j gave a display of fancy riding. This included all kinds of tricks, notably hitting a ball with a stick while the rider raced at a gallop.
One of the officers watching was greatly intrigued by the strange game and he asked one of the players what it was. "Pulu," was the answer. This was a Tibetan word meaning "ball." However, linguistically, \Ipulu\i recalled the root of a willow tree out of which the ball was fashioned.
The soldiers, as was to be expected, were anxious to have a go at the game themselves. Improvising sticks, they obtained one of the balls and, racing their horses across a paddock, they enjoyed immensely, as they called it, 'polo'. This pronunciation has been used the world over ever since to describe both the ball and the game of "\Jhockey\j on horseback."
When the officers played it again, they added sports features known to them at home, such as goal posts and lines. This was the beginning of modern polo.
However convincing this story may sound, records prove that polo is one of the most ancient of games and was merely revived by the British in India in the 1860s. It became their favorite pastime, and there is some justification for calling one of their number, Major Sherer, the father of polo in its modern setting.
No one knows exactly where and by whom polo was first played. Yet thousands of years of tradition testify that it belonged to far-off days, and started in the East. Legend relates that \JAttila\j, king of the \JHuns\j and "the scourge of God," had a polo team accompany him on his conquests. The \IArabian Nights\i relate that a wise man invented the game for his king, as a cure for \Jleprosy\j.
The original purpose of playing polo, as was with almost every ancient sport, was to promote the growth of crops and increase the \Jcattle\j. Polo thus too, began as a fertility rite, and so was especially practiced in the spring, to help with magic the forces of reproduction in the perpetual struggle between summer and winter, growth and decay. This was dramatized ritually by two teams, sometimes with more than 1,000 people on each side. The ball itself (representing the sun) was the symbol of fertility.
It has been suggested that the earliest polo was played in \JEgypt\j where the ritual was practiced on foot. Spreading eastwards, it was adopted by the expert Persian horsemen and thus took on its equestrian form. On pictorial evidence, preserved in the British Museum, \JPersia\j is now generally considered to be the true birthplace of polo.
Polo soon lost its original religious meaning and became a secular game. The players used a forked instrument, but how it was employed is not certain.
The authorities encouraged the game as it proved most helpful in teaching horsemanship and developing military qualities. For those reasons, officers of the Persian army were commanded to take it up. Persians proudly cited as the three elements of the educational system the training of children to tell the truth, the arts of \Jarchery\j, and - riding.
From \JPersia\j, the game of "horse-ball" spread both west, reaching Constantinople and \JCairo\j, and east, as far as China and \JJapan\j. The early Japanese players, however, dribbled the ball and used a stick with an oval-shaped racket attachment at the end, instead of a mallet. At first, polo was reserved for royalty and the court.
Historical records abound with interesting facts about polo. A polo stick was presented to Alexander the Great on (or prior to) his conquest of the East. Some say he received it as a tribute; others have suggested that it was meant to be a warning: he should play with it rather than make war. Firdusi, the great Persian poet who lived in the eleventh century, mentions the popularity of the game at the court of the famous Sultan Mahmud.
The first fatal polo accident is recalled by a monument still standing in a small side-street in the bazaar of \JLahore\j, \JPakistan\j. The memorial was erected on the grave of a sultan who died in 1206 after having been injured in a game.
The sixteenth-century \JMogul\j emperor, \JAkbar the Great\j, whose wisdom, vigor, and humanity were unsurpassed in the East, has not only been called "the guardian of mankind" but also "the patron of polo," which was played regularly at his court. It was through his initiative that the first set of rules was drawn up for "horse-ball."
Tradition says that Akbar was an outstanding player who was able both to hit the ball while it was in the air, and before anyone else. However, cynics have suggested that other players deemed it wise to keep out of their ruler's way.
It was in \JPersia\j that the rule was introduced that the ball must be struck only at a gallop. At Isfahan there can still be seen ancient, stone goal posts, eight yards (7.28 m) wide and 300 yards (273 m) from each other, measurements that have survived through the centuries.
Because the manner in which polo was played depended on many factors, including the type of horse and saddle available, the lie of the land and the climate, variations of the game inevitably developed.
In olden days, horsemen in the eastern countries used cumbersome saddles with high fronts and backs, placed on heavy quilting. They were much too heavy for small ponies, whose speed and agility were thus impeded. In China, polo was played on mules and donkeys, and accuracy rather than speed was all-important.
The popularity of the sport underwent several ups and downs. There is no doubt that without the British it would have died out altogether. Historical circumstances combined to cause its revival in India in the middle of the last century. In that country the horse was then one of the main means of transportation, and many people owned saddle-horses which were cheap. As a result, polo was popular.
The game was then played without hard-and-fast rules, and there was no restriction on the number of players in a team. Sometimes even stony, hilly village streets served as playing fields. One of the main centres of polo was the state of Rajputana, whose principal city, Jodhpur, has given its name to riding breeches, which properly pronounced, incidentally, should be \Ijodpoors,\i not \Ijudpurrs.\i
In the 1850s, British planters in Assam began to participate in the local polo games, and in the 1860s, British officers who had watched their first polo game were so taken by it that they started playing themselves. They referred to it at first as "\Jhockey\j on horseback."
Meanwhile, in 1859, the first European polo club - the oldest in the world - had been established. Three years later, for the first time since the dissolution of Akbar's empire, polo was played in public at \JCalcutta\j. It was then taken up enthusiastically all over India.
Opinions still differ as to who introduced polo into Britain. Some assert that it was a cavalry regiment that had returned from service in India. Others claim that subalterns of the Tenth \JHussars\j, stationed at Aldershot, who had read of the game, were captivated by its description, and decided to try it out themselves.
Certainly the first recorded game in England was played on Hounslow Heath between the regimental teams of the Royal \JHorse Guards\j and the Tenth \JHussars\j. The officers rode their chargers and played with \Jhockey\j sticks and billiard balls. They soon realized that the horses were too big and the balls too heavy. Ponies and willow root balls were imported from India, and the game was then organized on the original Indian pattern.
In 1873, the Hurlingham Club, London, felt that the newly imported "\Jhockey\j on horseback" might serve as a welcome change from their then chief sport of pigeon shooting. The club adopted the game and became the headquarters of English polo and the governing body for the \JBritish Commonwealth\j. Within a year it published the first modern code of rules, reducing the number of players in a team from eight to five. The present number, four, was introduced in 1882.
All over the world, countries began to adopt the British pattern of polo, derived from India.
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"Origins of Quarantining",1678,0,0,0
Everyone now understands quarantine as a medical term. It refers to the isolation for a prescribed period of people or animals arriving by sea or air from abroad. The object is to prevent their carrying a contagious disease into the country.
Originally, however, quarantine was just a figure, meaning 40. It was used to describe any period of that duration, whether measured in hours, days, months, or years. There are many examples.
In ancient legal tradition, for instance, a quarantine meant the 40 days during which a widow had the right to stay in the house of her deceased husband. The privilege of sanctuary, equally, extended to one quarantine - 40 days.
In a truce between England and Flanders there was a special stipulation that "if the Earl should depart from the Treaty and the parties could not be reconciled in \Ithree quarantines\i (i.e. 120 days), each of the hostages shall pay the sum of 100 Marks."
The choice of the figure 40 was not arbitrary or accidental. Once it was believed that there was magic in figures and the number 40 especially was thought to possess \Jsupernatural\j power. That is why Moses spent 40 days and nights on \JMount Sinai\j to receive God's revelation, and the Israelites wandered through the desert for 40 years. Both Elijah on his journey to Horeb, and Christ during His temptation in the wilderness, fasted for 40 days.
The period of Lent extends over exactly 40 days. This caused Italians to call it, simply and appropriately, by that figure - the \Iquarantena.\i
A unit of 40, so it was imagined in early days, could shield man from all kinds of evil. For that reason, widows in primitive tribes had to mourn their husbands for 40 days. They did so not in sorrow but out of fear - to ward off any evil from the disembodied spirit of the deceased, effective for that period of time.
Plague was once considered to be brought on by demons. To fight them one needed magic - supplied by 40 days! Thus, sailors were first kept in "Quarantine" not out of medical wisdom but in magical \Jsuperstition\j. Only 40 days exactly could achieve a cure or provide protection. To increase or to reduce that figure immediately broke the spell and subjected the men to the influence of evil forces.
In 1348, at the time of the \JBlack Death\j, Venetians introduced the quarantine as a magical shield against the disease. England adopted the institution from them. That is how we still retain the word and the precaution. But we have forgotten how it first started - in the field of magic and through the mystical figure of 40.
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"Origins of Rackets",1679,0,0,0
Rackets (or racquets) is a very young - and remote - relative of tennis. But while tennis can pride itself on a royal ancestry, rackets, developed in the late eighteenth century, is of the lowest of parentage, which may account for the uncertainty about the correct spelling of its name.
It came out of prison (at least, this is generally assumed). However, in spite of its disreputable cradle, racquets became a most fashionable sport and almost the exclusive property of the rich and educated. Its path led from rags to riches.
It all began in the Fleet Jail of London, where debtors languished, waiting to be summoned before the judge of the insolvents' court. As they were not hardened criminals, they were given liberties denied to other prisoners and were permitted to exercise in the prison yard. As its area was very restricted, the choice of pastime, of course, was limited. To amuse themselves with a ball was the obvious thing for the debtors to do. It has been suggested that as the inmates of the prison were often gentlemen of high standing, they might have thought at first of court tennis which they had enjoyed before incarceration. However, as there was not enough room to run after the ball, they improvised a game by batting a ball against one of the walls that confronted them.
The ball they used was exceedingly hard and to return it with the bare palm of the hand was most painful which rather spoiled the fun of the game. To obviate this they ingeniously got hold of a plank, whittled it down at one end to provide a handle, and used the other part as a striking surface. With this rudimentary sort of racket the men began to play the game called after it.
Experts have disputed the origin of the name. Several of their explanations are imaginative, rather than scientific. Rackets, some said, had obtained its name from noise (the "racket") that used to accompany the sport or the word could be a diminutive of the (torture) rack, since stretching was "the essence of rackets." Alternatively, rackets stemmed from an early root that meant to "dash against." And rightly so, it was said. Was not the principle of the game to dash a ball against a wall?
However, the true \Jetymology\j of the word racket, as in tennis, traces it via the French \Iraquette\i to the Arab \Irahat,\i a colloquial form of \Iraha\i - the palm of the hand, which certainly was the very first (and natural) racket used.
Charles Dickens in his \IPickwick Papers\i has given a description of the game as it was practiced and watched in the prison. No doubt it was through his authority as a writer that the origin of the pastime was attributed to prisoners of Fleet Jail.
According to Dickens the area of the yard, in which Mr Pickwick stood, was "just wide enough to make a good racket court" and "one side, of course, [was formed] by the wall itself and the other by that portion of the prison which looked (or rather would have looked, but for the wall) towards \JSt Paul's Cathedral\j . . . Sauntering or sitting about, in every possible attitude of listless idleness, were a great number of debtors ... some were shabby, some were smart, many dirty ... a few clean ... Lolling from the windows which commanded a view of this promenade were a number of persons . . . looking on at the racket players, or watching boys as they cried the game."
Many a "gentleman" thus acquired a liking for rackets during an enforced stay in the Fleet Jail and it can be said that he was given ample opportunity to perfect himself in the game with the result that, once out of prison, he wanted to continue playing, though in different company, what he had learned so well within the four walls of his confinement.
However, his dilemma was that he could not excel in it too much, as people otherwise might rightly surmise where he had undergone his training, which was no recommendation. Nevertheless, the first true champion of rackets, Robert MacKay, of London, who won the title in 1820, did not hide the fact that he had learned the art of the game while domiciled in Fleet Street.
Somehow the game fascinated the most respectable circles, and in 1822 it first became part of the sporting activities of English Public Schools, particularly so at famous Harrow, and then at Cambridge University.
Harrow, which was preeminent in the sport, preserves in its records a detailed account of the rackets courts there, and of some of the outstanding games played on them. Originally one of the schoolyards served as a court. The game played there against an old Elizabethan wall presented great difficulty, as there were many wire-covered windows, corbels, and projections of every sort. This certainly gave the finest training and demanded skill and judgment in placing the ball accurately.
Two proper rackets courts were built in 1850 at a cost of ú600 and ú250 respectively, the money being raised partly by subscription and the rest by a grant from the Governor. Both courts were uncovered and one had only one side wall. Fourteen years later, a new court was added at a cost of ú1,600, a sum collected by "Old Harrovians and others."
Old Boys then transferred the game to the precincts of their clubs, and a sport that was first pursued in the dingy, dismal exercise yard of a prison attained a social status of the highest degree. The Prince's Club of London built a court as early as 1853 and the Queen's Club did the same in 1888. The earliest important date in the story of rackets refers to the establishment of the Amateur Championship at the Queen's Club.
Rackets grew ever higher in public esteem, especially when crack cricketers took it up during the winter months. It reached the peak of its popularity in the Victorian Age.
Of course, in its early stages, hardly any definite rules existed. Rackets was played on courts of any size, with or without side walls. Then, to make the game more exciting and exacting, young men introduced ever more intricate rules which demanded more elaborate courts and equipment.
As rackets became more sophisticated it was played within four walls, instead of against a single one, and hazards were added. Eventually, so that the game could be played in all seasons, the court was roofed. This underscored the paradox in the evolution of racquets. Courts at first were in the open air of a well-guarded and enclosed (prison) yard. The moment the game became the aristocrat's property, the play areas were closed in completely, and the primitive, rough outdoor court became a lavish indoor construction of cement, built at enormous expense.
The balls and rackets, too, became costly. They were manufactured with utmost care to give the maximum of satisfaction in this fast and exhausting game. The handmade balls consisted of tightly wound strips of cloth and were leather-covered; and the racket had to be strong enough to take great punishment from the hard ball which traveled at tremendous speed.
Rackets, played in prison and in taverns, in the public schools, universities, and clubs of England, next spread to the colonies, particularly so to India, to find its way via Canada to the United States.
Some mystery, however, is linked with its introduction there. When, around the middle of last century, Edward H. LaMontagne reached New York from Canada, anxious to popularize rackets, he was surprised to find a court already in existence in a large building on Allen Street, off the Bowery. No one could tell him when and by whom it had been built. However, it is known that in 1850 the Broadway Racquet Club erected a court which, therefore, is the first of its kind in the United States of which the actual beginnings are known.
Rackets, the child of an English prison, never conquered the world. Yet it made a significant contribution in the history of sport by giving birth to another more compact and less expensive game - namely, squash.
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"Origins of Rings",1680,0,0,0
Rings have existed since the third millennium BC in almost all cultures. They were worn around or through many parts of the body. There were finger rings, toe rings, nose rings, armlets and bangles. They were made from all kinds of materials, from straw and wire to \Jplatinum\j, silver and gold. Most were simple single bands while others were bejeweled. Some rings were decorated with telling features, such as clasped hands, a heart, a skull or initials. On occasion, they were engraved with enigmatic words or a message. Instead of being just one circular band, a ring could also be a combination of several hoops - at times up to seven - joined in a diversity of ways.
Rings were chosen to serve a variety of purposes. They could express friendship, love or sorrow, the promise of marriage or an inseparable union. Apart from being merely symbolic, rings also fulfilled a utilitarian function. Thus, signet rings were used from earliest times to authenticate documents with a seal. Scarab rings were believed to have \Jsupernatural\j powers and to be able to protect their wearer against threats of the evil eye or other nefarious, invisible forces. A husband's jealousy and mistrust in a wife's fidelity led to the creation of yet another type of ring, ingeniously designed to ensure her faithfulness!
Rings have indeed played a significant role in human relationships and they are part of our \Jsocial history\j, with many a ring having an intriguing story.
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"Origins of Rowing",1681,0,0,0
By its very nature, rowing undoubtedly is one of the most exciting of all water sports. Even without research it is not difficult to picture how it developed . . . Primitive man was challenged by water barriers... rivers became the earliest traffic lanes . . . often they were hazardous... strength, ingenuity, and keen powers of observation were demanded of the oarsmen-ferrymen.
From earliest times in the various parts of the world, men learned to build boats. Although dependent on natural resources, they used almost identical methods. Ancient canoes dug out from the mud of river mouths and portrayed on Egyptian bas reliefs and rock engravings prove that boat building was one of the earliest crafts. It is so ancient that similar words for oars and rowing are common to all Indo-European tongues.
Man saw a drifting log and conceived the idea of using it as a means of transportation, perhaps at first by merely sitting astride it. Soon he began to hollow it out with primitive tools or by burning the wood and patiently chiseling away the charcoal. This was the birth of the first dug-outs. The smoothing of the exterior of the craft was another step forward, and its proper shaping a final refinement.
Where the felling of trees was too difficult a task, peeled bark supplied another kind of canoe. North \JAmerican Indians\j used this type especially, to navigate forest streams. In some of the bark boats the open ends were filled with clay.
In countries that had little timber (such as \JEgypt\j), bound \Jbamboo\j or reeds were used. Skin-boats were probably constructed in the ancient world as a result of an observant and imaginative person having seen a swollen carcass floating down a river. In some still primitive regions, inflated skins are today employed as a unique kind of river craft. The hunter in remote times learned to sew the skins of killed animals into garments and discovered he could use the hides similarly to make canoes.
No matter which way the first boats were shaped, and which material was used, the next obvious step was to propel them by means of a stick or branch of a tree which eventually evolved into the paddle and oar.
When several boats were crossing a stream, or plying their way along it, it was a natural instinct for the men to try to overtake and outdistance one another. To do so, they applied extra power and, by trial and error, went on to improving their craft so as to give it greater speed. This process led at last to boat races, enjoyed not as a hobby by amateurs, but contested for material reasons by professional men engaged in river traffic.
All further development was merely a matter of time. The dimensions of both the boat and the oars, and their shape, were important areas of early research. In southern Europe, a type of craft was evolved which came to be known as "carvel-built." Its planks were fixed flush, edge to edge, to a framework. Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans used this kind of boat. In later years, it was revived and its superiority, in speed at least, proven.
Evidence shows that rowing was practised as a sport in classical times. We owe one of the earliest descriptions of rowing to the poet Virgil who, in his masterpiece, \IThe Aeneid\i (completed in 19 BC), vividly pictured boat-races as part of the funeral games arranged by \JAeneas\j for his father Anchises:
\IThe waiting crews are crowned with \Jpoplar\j wreaths;
Their naked shoulders glisten, moist with oil.
Ranged in a row, their arms stretched to the oars,
All tense the starting signal they await.
Together at the trumpet's thrilling blast
Their bent arms churn the water into \Jfoam\j;
The sea gapes open by the oars up-torn;
With shouts and cheers of eager partisans
The woodlands ring, the sheltered beach rolls up
The sound, the hills re-echo with the din.\i
In exciting detail the poet relates how the Trojans had organized "a rivalry of naval speed." One of the boats competing in this early regatta was the \IChimaera.\i It was of:
\IHuge bulk, a city scarce so large
With Darden rowers in triple bank,
The tiers ascending rank o'er rank.\i
But their coxswain did not know how to lead them, and when, in the heat of the race, the crew's captain became ever more incensed by the steerman's shortcomings, he flung him out of the boat and himself took charge.
Yet, neither leadership nor stamina finally determined victory in the race, but a god's "helping hand." Portunus, protector of ports and harbors, was moved by a fervent prayer from Cloanthus, captain of the \IScylla.\i In answer to the supplication, the god added his divine power to that of the \IScylla's\i rowers and supernaturally pushed the boat onward to victory.
Ancient myth thus reported on an early regatta with its aura of the mysterious and its religious fervor. However, translating Virgil's account into modern concepts, we may say that he tried to show the existence of imponderable factors in any race.
Another tradition tells how Ulysses, on his return to Ithaca, was entertained by the islanders' taking part in a spectacular \Jboat race\j.
However, such myths and legends apart, it is believed that rowing contests belonged to early Greek festivals, such as the Isthmian and Panathenaean Games.
It did not take long for rowing to become generally adopted for transportation in peace as well as in war. Since it was considered unworthy for free men thus to exert themselves, slaves, criminals, and captured foes were conscripted as oarsmen, especially among the Egyptians and Romans. Often the rowers were chained to their seats, which gave rise to the term "galley slave." The number of oarsmen varied according to the size of the boat and could range as high as 80.
Caesar's legions landed on English soil from oar-propelled boats. The Britons, paddling along in their coracles, were no match for the Roman triremes with their three banks of oars. Indeed, the Britons were helpless against the invaders' far superior boats.
It was from their Roman conquerors that the Britons eventually learned the art of rowing. However, instead of using forced labor, they hired men for the task and their boats often were constructed small enough to need only one or two men to operate them.
Wherever it was feasible, boats became an essential means of conveyance for both people and goods. Yet it took many years - in fact not until the beginning of the eighteenth century - for rowing to be revived as a sport. Credit for this goes, as in the case of so many other athletic contests, to the English people, among whom rowing developed at first almost haphazardly and then by natural evolution. It was the English, as well, who first adapted canoes for the specific purpose of racing.
#
"Origins of Rugby League",1682,0,0,0
A question of money created Rugby League. It started in the early 1890s in the industrial northern countries of England.
Football enthusiasts there were mostly miners and mill-workers. They were keen to play for their country, county, or club, but they could ill afford to do so as they would miss work and thereby lose pay.
Naturally they demanded that, at least, they be given expenses to cover loss of wages. As soon as Rugby Union officials heard of the claim they were aghast. To them, this was a most ominous threat to the future of the game. In no time, they believed, it would open the door to professionalism, an idea which horrified them. Meanwhile, the payment of "expenses," though not openly admitted, became the practice of the northern clubs. Rumors even had it that, apart from defraying hotel bills and the fares of players, moneys paid out included what may be termed a retaining fee and bonuses for goals scored and matches won.
An impasse was reached. It was as if the irresistible force had met the immovable object. Neither side was prepared to give in, though it must be recorded each party was motivated by nothing but the love of the game.
On 20 September 1893, when the annual meeting of the Rugby Union was held in London, the inevitable clash occurred. Two representatives from Yorkshire moved that "players are to be allowed compensation for bona fide loss of time." The motion was defeated. However, of 418 votes cast, 136 favored the innovation.
This gave new confidence to the northern clubs and, far from submitting to the majority's opinion, they remained as determined as ever to persevere in their quest. They met privately many times. At last they felt that the time was ripe to take public action. They convened a special meeting, to which they invited all interested clubs.
The historic gathering took place at \JHuddersfield\j on 29 August 1895, and was attended by delegates of 22 clubs. These decided to resign forthwith from the Rugby Union and establish their own \INorthern Union,\i which would permit payment of legitimate expenses for players. Remuneration, it was laid down, should not exceed six shillings a day. It was the final split. There was no turning back.
The new Union lost no time in arranging matches. The first of these were held within little more than a week of the establishment of the new body (on 7 September) and, very pointedly, on the Saturday before the official start of the Rugby Union season.
The mother body took a dim view of all that had happened. At once, it barred all its members from participating in any way in matches played by the Northern Union. It reaffirmed its resolute stand against even the slightest trace of professionalism and envisaged more stringent rules against any type of monetary compensation.
Soon after the Northern Union's inception, its administrators agreed that there was need for some change in the rules of the game in order to give the new form of Rugby a distinctive character and to improve style.
Variations were introduced in 1897 by which some 80 clubs had joined the break-away union. The new measures agreed upon aimed at a more orderly game with greater discipline. Late starts carried a heavy fine. A simplified system of scoring equalized the point value of all goals, now to be fixed at two. Progress was the watchword.
Pure amateurism was declared obsolete. However, it was also decreed that each player must follow a legitimate occupation. Penalties were provided for disregard of this rule.
What had been feared in London, happened. Compensation payments did not stop at the comparatively small, fixed sum. They grew out of all proportion to the players' actual loss of wages. Even worse, the buying and selling of good footballers became an almost obnoxious practice. In 1897 the \IBadminton Magazine\i castigated such type of "slave trading," to which it amounted. It spoke of a player's transfer papers being prepared "with all the detailed care and accuracy of the title deeds of a property" and described the procedure under which prominent football players were bought, sold, and manipulated as surpassing the evils of the Roman gladiatorial system.
As the game began to draw tremendous crowds, professionalism became accepted. This was officially adopted as part of the Northern Union Code in 1898. Yet, it was still stipulated that no player should make a living entirely from football. He was to have a full-time occupation as well. In spite of warnings, professionals tried to defeat the clause by accepting bogus jobs. To end such deception, club officials were authorized to investigate each player's occupation and to register it in lists issued weekly and duly signed. Nevertheless, everything possible was done to gain and keep expert players. Possibly strongly biased reports circulated at the time spoke of "ingenious devices, of money dropped into men's boots or slipped into the hand in lavatories by seeming virtuous officials, of tons of coal arriving from nowhere and stopping at football players' houses."
There was a continuous increase in attendance figures and play-registration. The Northern Union was firmly entrenched. At the annual meeting in 1899, it was felt that the Union had expanded to such an extent that applications for new membership could not be considered.
The break-away Union now had status, a maximum number of members, huge funds, and, not least, the pick of the players. Its teams now consisted of only 13, instead of the 15 in Rugby Union. Games were both spectacular and fast. The Union certainly had outgrown its geographical description, restricting it to the north of England. When the clubs met in 1922, the majority agreed that a change of name had become imperative. They adopted Rugby League as the new title.
#
"Origins of Rugby Union",1683,0,0,0
There is nothing obscure about the origin of Rugby or, as university slang came to call it, Rugger. It is known who started it, and where and when he did so. Its name perpetuates the place of birth, Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, famous both for scholarship and sport.
Rugby began quite accidentally. One afternoon in 1823, William Webb Ellis, a student at the college, was participating in an inter class football match, then played according to traditional \Jsoccer\j rules, which permitted only kicking and bouncing.
He became bored with the tedium of the game and on the spur of the moment bent down, picked up the ball, and ran like mad, carrying it down the field. The move was so unexpected and contrary to the rules that some spectators even imagined that the boy wanted to steal the ball.
His action caused much consternation. His captain, deeply embarrassed, apologized for the lad's unsportsmanlike act and breach of rules. Ellis certainly was sharply criticized, but there is no record that he was ever punished. Reports of his escapade became the topic of much discussion not only at Rugby but at other schools. Some players began to speculate that running with the ball would give the game new verve and improve its appeal. Other players went further than talking and tried running with the ball.
It was only natural that Ellis' unorthodox behavior was identified with the name of his school. In 1839, Arthur Pell, a student at Cambridge University, suggested to friends that they "have a go at that game at Rugby." The name stuck and Rugby football became famous in the world of sport.
Then Cambridge players, urged on by Pell, experimented with the different type of game, they enjoyed it so much that they decided to retain it. They adopted the rule that a player could run with a ball if he caught it on the fly or on the first bounce.
Curiously enough, the boys at Rugby School itself continued to play the traditional \Jsoccer\j version, carefully avoiding any repetition of Ellis' offense. Rugby did not return to Rugby College as an accepted part of the official football code until 1841, 18 years after Ellis' spurt.
It was not long before the new game spread to other schools. In 1848, a meeting was held to standardize the rules for the game, which then was still strictly confined to schools. In 1862, the Old Blackheathens became the first club to adopt Rugger, and their example was soon followed elsewhere. Within a year, the first recorded inter-club game was held between Blackheath and Richmond.
In 1872, in London, 21 clubs combined and formed the Rugby Union, a strictly amateur organization. The same year also saw the first international game. It was played between England and Scotland and was won by Scotland. The teams then still consisted of 20 players each side. They were reduced to 15 players a side for the first time in 1875. This figure was generally adopted in 1877, when the practice of deliberate hacking (kicking the shin of an opponent) was abolished.
Other countries came to love the game. Frenchmen adopted it as early as 1870. Soon afterward it was taken up by students in Montreal, Canada, where it found its way to the United States. Rugby spread to all parts of the \JBritish Empire\j where it became a force to be reckoned with in sport. Names that speak for themselves are \JNew Zealand\j's \IAll Blacks,\i South Africa's \ISpringboks,\i and \JAustralia\j's \IWallabies.\i
At first balls were not of standard size. They were of inflated pig-bladders, and it was really the animal's size that determined their volume. The early pig-bladder balls were round and comparatively large which favoured the practice of dribbling and drop-kicking. It has been suggested that it was the wish to obtain a ball that was easier to catch and carry than the round ball which was responsible for the introduction of the India rubber bladder and the ball's elliptical shape.
Early Rugby matches, up until 1875, were decided by goals alone. Then tries were added and, in 1887, a system of scoring by points was introduced. This counted a try as one point and a goal as three. Then came the creation of penalty goals. Through the years, the point value of the various kicks was changed - at times increased, at other times decreased.
\IScrummage,\i known equally well by its abbreviated form scrum, is one of the features of Rugby. To start with, it lived up to the word's original meaning, which was "skirmish." Indeed, it was a confused, rough struggle between tough men. One mass of players tried by brute force to drive the ball toward the opposite goal through a similar group of tough opponents.
With the development of the game, the scrummage grew into an ordered formation. It was brought together on the referee's order to restart the game, when and where it had been temporarily stopped for some minor infringement of rules. In the words of the Oxford Dictionary, it is then that "the two sets of forwards pack themselves together with their heads down and endeavor by pushing to work their opponents off the ball and break away with it or heel it out."
Rugby gained world fame and became popular in many places. As so often in life, the man actually responsible for it all was hardly remembered. The authorities of Rugby School eventually felt the need to give him credit and erected a marble tablet on the campus of the school. It bears the inscription:
\IThis Stone,
Commemorates The Exploit Of
William Webb Ellis,
Who With A Fine Disregard For The
Rules Of Football,
As Played In His Time,
First Took The Ball In His Arms And
Ran With It,
Thus Originating The Distinctive
Feature Of The Rugby Game,
A.D. 1823\i
#
"Snooker Beginnings",1684,0,0,0
Snooker comes from India. It was evolved there in 1875 by British army personnel stationed in the country. Its name is English. In fact, it is a term originally applied to first-year cadets at the Royal Military College in Woolwich. The game's inventor, tradition has it, was Neville Bowles Chamberlain (later General Sir Neville) who distinguished himself in several campaigns in the sub-continent.
To pass their time during the rainy season, officers of a Devonshire regiment posted at Jubbulpore, played what was known as black pool. This was a development of life pool, which also used black, so-called Rover balls. Neville, a young subaltern at the time, then suggested adding a pink ball to make the game more interesting. After some experimentation, and the introduction of further colors, the various balls were allotted definite positions. That is how eventually snooker came into existence.
Snooker reached England around 1885, possibly through John Roberts, Jnr., who, on a visit to India, was taught the game by Neville himself. The first snooker rules were issued by the English Billiard Association in 1903. Amateurs became its first enthusiasts. The final popularity of snooker undoubtedly was due to its liveliness.
#
"Origins of Soap",1685,0,0,0
None of the many industries serving the modern way of life has had as complex and contradictory a past as soap-making. Though soap can be traced into far-distant times, it was not used or known for its real qualities for thousands of years.
The \JHittites\j cleaned their hands with plant ashes, dissolved in water, and the early Sumerians in Ur boiled oil with \Jalkali\j. Possibly first discovered in ancient \JEgypt\j, soap was brought by \JPhoenician\j seafarers to Southern \JFrance\j in 600 B.C. From there it found its way into \JGermany\j.
The \JBible\j, at least in its Authorized Version, mentions soap. But in spite of this often-quoted evidence, the \Jprophet\j Jeremiah refers to it only as a cleansing agency for clothes. The passage speaks of washing-soda and \Jpotash\j. True soap was unknown to ancient Palestine.
Similarly, when excavations at \JPompeii\j seemed to have unearthed the oldest soap factory in the world, this, too, was soon proved to be incorrect. Chemical analysis showed that the product found there was \JFuller's earth\j, used for washing clothes but not the body.
Greeks and Romans loved cleanliness. But they never used soap. After gymnastic exercises they took hot baths and removed the sweat and dirt by beating their bodies with twigs or scraping themselves with an instrument, known as a strigil.
Soap is now considered a mark of cultured living. Yet it was unknown to ancient civilizations as a means of cleaning the body. It was invented as such by a "barbarian" people, and it took millennia for it to be adopted as an everyday necessity.
Actually, the first mention of real soap occurs in the writings of Pliny the Elder. He refers to it explicitly as an invention of the barbarian Gauls. They made it from \Jgoat\j's tallow and beech ashes, which were the ancient equivalent of modern \Jpalm oil\j and caustic. They used it not for washing but as a pomade to give extra sheen to the hair.
When, in the following century, soap at last was used in the bath, it was for medical and not hygienic reasons. Indeed, a Greek doctor in 160 A.D. recommended the use of soap for the treatment of \Jelephantiasis\j, and a physician in 385 A.D. as good for shampooing.
It was only during the later \JMiddle Ages\j that, very slowly, soap was accepted for washing the body. As such it was in general use in the 16th century. But even then only the aristocracy applied it (or could afford to do so). After all, we must remember that Queen Elizabeth I had but one monthly bath, whilst lesser folk indulged in this kind of ablution even less, if at all.
For centuries, washing oneself with soap continued to be considered not a necessity but a luxury. Thus it is not surprising that the British used soap - and very effectively - to raise revenue. Soap was taxed (from 1712 onward) for almost 150 years and it was only through public pressure that Gladstone, in 1853, was forced to abolish this tax on cleanliness. Then he condemned soap as "most injurious both to the comfort and health of the people." Probably to make up for the substantial loss, he introduced in the same budget death duties. They and soap are still very much with us.
#
"Origins of Spectacles",1686,0,0,0
Ancient \JNineveh\j knew spectacles of a kind. They were magnifying lenses which were made not of glass, but of crystal.
However, it was not until the 13th century A.D. that the first real spectacles appeared. It is now assumed that Roger Bacon was one of the first to make them. The credit for inventing them has been given to an Italian, the Florentine Salvina Armato, who died in 1317.
These early spectacles were used by short-sighted monks to read manuscripts. At first, they held the lenses in front of their eyes and the two "glasses" were joined by some kind of hinge. Eventually, this was made stiff enough to keep them, though very precariously, on the nose.
A long period of trial and error followed, during which all kinds of methods of fixing the spectacles to the head were tried out. Long strips of metal were used, leading from the bridge of the nose over the center of the head and down to the neck. It was a complicated and cumbersome way and not very successful.
Further experiments employed chains with little weights at their end. Straps, not very different from present-day motor-cycle goggles, were another attempt to solve the problem. Some people even attached their spectacles to the hat. This was not pleasant for indoor studies, nor for the citizens obliged to greet superiors in the street.
After many years - the precise date is unknown - someone hit on the idea of fastening the glasses to the ears with side pieces or "legs."
By the end of the 14th century, spectacles were in common use. They then frequently appeared on paintings and, as they were considered a precious possession, were specially mentioned in inventories. Records show that in 1520, Pope Leo X went hunting wearing spectacles.
Bifocals are not as recent an invention as people imagine. They were known by the end of the 18th century. Benjamin Franklin had a pair made so that on his trips he could enjoy both the beautiful scenery and his treasured books. Contact lenses were first applied in \JFrance\j in 1888 for medical reasons. Certain diseases of the eye impaired the vision in such a way that it could not be improved by the use of ordinary glasses. An example at hand is conical \Jcornea\j.
#
"Origins of Table Tennis",1687,0,0,0
Devised as a kind of miniature tennis only toward the end of the last century, \Jtable tennis\j really goes back to the twelfth-century Royal Tennis. Who first invented \Jtable tennis\j as it is played today is not known, nor is the country of its origin quite definite.
Britain, the United States, as well as India and South Africa, have each been named as the birthplace of this popular sport, but most people concede that it began in England. Even those who suggest that \Jtable tennis\j was played first in India or South Africa agree that British army officers stationed there were probably responsible for its introduction into those countries.
The simplicity of its rules and the fact that its equipment was (and is) so easily and cheaply obtained has made \Jtable tennis\j a most popular sport enjoyed both by the young and not so young, the man in the street and royalty.
King \JGeorge VI\j had a table installed at \JBuckingham Palace\j and, at the outbreak of World War II, provided his daughter (then the young Princess Elizabeth) with facilities for the game at \JBalmoral Castle\j.
Likewise, the late Shah of \JPersia\j, Pundit Nehru, and the former King Farouk of \JEgypt\j, were protagonists of \Jtable tennis\j. Sportsmen of every type found, and still find it, an excellent way of conditioning themselves for their own individual pursuit.
This is not surprising, as \Jtable tennis\j combines so many features. It gives agility to the player, demands good footwork and \Jlightning\j speed, and promotes faster reflexes. Altogether, it is a most exhilarating sport.
Industrial psychologists have stressed the game's great contribution to higher efficiency in people's work, having found that after a good game of \Jtable tennis\j they have returned to their task refreshed and with increased energy. \JTable tennis\j, equally, has been considered a valuable means in attaining a better co-ordination of the eye and the mind.
\JTable tennis\j began, though not under that name, as a parlor game in Victorian homes. The equipment used in those early days was mostly improvised and homemade. The ball was made of string, while books, placed on a table, represented the net. The racket or bat was cut out of a piece of thick cardboard.
Early literature on the game advised that the room chosen for it should be sparsely furnished and that such furniture as there was, should be covered up to avoid wear and tear.
Commercial interests soon spied a chance of exploiting the new pastime and began to produce equipment more suitable than the hitherto home-made variety. Rivalry between the various manufacturers stimulated the game all the more.
An American firm, Parker Bros of Salem, \JMassachusetts\j, who made all types of sporting goods, are said to have been one of the first to develop what they called "indoor tennis." They exported their sets to England where their British agent, Hamley Bros, of London, first marketed them.
Meanwhile, other English companies had registered their own patents, such as Ayres Ltd (who advertised the sport as "The Miniature Indoor Lawn Tennis Game") and Charles Barker of \JGloucestershire\j.
The balls supplied then were either of rubber or cork and frequently were covered with a knitted web or a piece of cloth to prevent damage to furniture and give a spin to the ball.
Bats still continued to be of various shapes, materials and weight. Their handles were exceedingly long and their blades, which were hollow, were covered with parchment or leather, giving them the appearance of small drums.
Sometimes the net was stretched across the table between the backs of two chairs. A game was completed when one of the players scored 21 points, or two clear points after 20-20.
It was the introduction of the hollow, celluloid ball which completely revolutionized the game, giving it new impetus, extraordinary speed, and split-second precision.
Tradition relates that a player named James Gibb (or, according to others, an unidentified clergyman), on a visit to the United States, had come across such colored balls, used by children as toys. On his return to Britain, he tried them out at \Jtable tennis\j and discovered their great advantage. He lost no time in telling a business acquaintance who dealt in sporting goods about them who, realizing at once their great potentialities, began to sell them. Inevitably, the innovation further boosted the game.
Business competition was vigorous, and the various firms patented their particular set of equipment. Among the names chosen were such fancy descriptions as (the now obsolete) Gossima, Whiff Whaff, and Flim Flam. Parker Bros adopted the tradename Ping-Pong.
In fact this was the second time that a sport was called onomatopoetically The name "ping-pong" imitated the two sounds the ball made: when the racket hit the ball, the sound was a \Iping;\i then, when the ball hit the table, it was a \Ipong.\i
In no time it took people's fancy, and ping-pong became a real craze, both in America and Britain as well as other countries. Every home that wished to keep up with the Joneses, as it were, contained facilities for the sport. Not everyone, however, approved of the fad, and some newspapers of the time regretted its popularity, regarding the fascination it exercised on strong men as much as on women, as a sign of \Jdecadence\j.
After some time, as always happens to such fads, people tired of ping-pong, whiff whaff, or by whatever name it was called. It went into decline until one day a man named E. C. Goode gave the game a new lease on life.
According to the story told at the time, the sudden surge of interest in \Jtable tennis\j was due to a headache suffered by Goode, who had not yet lost the love of the game. Searching for a remedy for his pain, he had gone to a chemist and, when paying for whatever drug he had purchased, he noticed a studded rubber cashmat on the shop counter. The thought came to him that it would make an ideal surface for a ping-pong bat, as it should give the player much greater control over the ball. His headache forgotten, he bought the mat from the chemist and, trimming it to the right proportions, glued it to a ping-pong bat.
He lost no time in starting to practice, and soon proved the vast superiority of his improved implement, with which he became so efficient, that at the national final he challenged the English \Jtable tennis\j champion and was able, through the novel bat alone, to beat him by 50 points to three!
From that day onward, ping-pong never looked back. Aristocrats and the people took it up again with new verve. Private tournaments as well as public contests became the vogue and countries all over Europe joined enthusiastically in the sport. Well-known players took due advantage of the revolutionary bat with its fascinating ball control by introducing many new techniques which gave the game a totally different appearance.
Once again, however, \Jtable tennis\j lost its appeal - around 1904 - and did not revive till after World War I when, in 1921, the Ping-Pong Association was established in Britain. Realizing that a commercially patented name was being used, it was changed in the following year to the \JTable Tennis\j Association.
The Hon Ivor Montagu, a son of Lady Swaythling, then studying at \JOxford University\j, became a \Jtable tennis\j enthusiast. Other undergraduates caught the fever and joined in lively contests. Soon the first inter-Varsity match, Oxford vs. Cambridge, was played.
It was through Ivor Montagu's initiative that his mother donated the Swaythling Cup which, like the \JDavis Cup\j in Lawn Tennis, has become the much coveted and treasured international \Jtable tennis\j trophy.
A world congress held in Berlin in 1926 resulted in the foundation of the International \JTable Tennis\j Federation which, by 1939, included more than 30 nations with England still leading, having 260 leagues with almost 3,000 clubs. At long last the game's rules and equipment were standardized.
Britain did not retain the prime position she had held in the game. Other nations began to catch up and even surpassed her, notably \JJapan\j and China, but also the Americans, Czechs, and Hungarians.
#
"Origins of Tennis",1688,0,0,0
Tennis may refer to two totally different types of game: the original court or royal tennis (also mistakenly known as "real" tennis) and its modern adaptation, lawn tennis. The history of the game goes back into the distant past, and there are various explanations of its origin.
In the very beginning, tennis was played not as a pastime, but as most other ball games as a solemn fertility rite in \JEgypt\j and elsewhere in the \JMiddle East\j. Some authorities link it with a game of \Jhandball\j, mentioned explicitly in Homer's writings, as being played by \JNausicaa\j, King Alcinous' daughter, and her personal maid servants in Phaecia where Odysseus was shipwrecked.
Other authorities have traced tennis to an early kind of polo, played on horseback and with rackets at the Byzantine court. However, it is clear that the Crusaders brought tennis to Europe from the \JMiddle East\j, and that the game was taken up and elaborated in \JFrance\j.
Philologists have suggested that the name tennis was adopted from the French exclamation \Itenez,\i "hold!" or "pay heed!," which was the player's call to his opponent before serving the ball. Englishmen, it is said, watching "the game with the palm" \I(jeu de paume),\i as it was known among the French, and hearing the call repeatedly, took it up to describe the game by that very expression.
Another view associates the term tennis with an Egyptian town on the Nile, known as Tinnis in Arabic, and Tanis in Greek. The city was famous for its fine linen and the earliest balls were made of that material. Therefore, it is not so far-fetched to assume that "tennis" preserved, and very gratefully so, that early source of tennis balls, the fabrics of Tanis. There are many similar examples of words deriving from place names, such as Tuxedo, China, Eau de Cologne, Homburgs, Frankfurters, and Hamburgers.
Other derivations trace the name to Greek, Latin, and German roots. Tennis was linked with the Latin verb \Itenere\i - "to catch" - a feature of the game. On the other hand, the "dance" of the ball, from one side of the court to the other, led some writers to imagine that the German \ITanz\i (dance) was the origin of "tennis." Again, it was said that just like the game of Fives took its name from the number of players, so tennis had been called after an early number of ten players. The variety of (possible and unlikely) explanations of the word certainly seems unending.
Together with court tennis the twelfth-century Crusaders brought some of its terms to Europe. Thus, racket is derived from the Arab \Irahat\i for "the palm of the hand." "Hazard," also belonging to the terminology of the game, has been traced to the Arab description of dice and chance. Deuce, however, is the Anglicized version of the French \Iα deux\i (two), implying that two successive points must be gained to win the game.
The early practice to ask a servant to deliver the first ball may account for the introduction of the term "service" into tennis.
Records confirm that tennis was played in \JFrance\j in the twelfth century, at first with the palm of the hand only. Rackets then were still unknown. That is why the logical Frenchman came to call the sport not tennis but "the game of the hand."
Those enjoying the pastime soon felt that to strike the ball with their bare hands could hurt very much. Therefore, to soften the blow, players began to wear gloves. It was found that not only did the glove guard against injury, it gave the ball greater impetus.
The next ingenious development was the stretching of strings crosswise on the glove. (Its \Jmeshed\j pattern has been suggested as yet a further explanation of the game's name. The glove was compared with a sieve, which in French is \Itamis.) \i The result was that the ball could be struck with greatly increased power.
This marked the birth of the racket. All that was further needed was to take off the improved glove and add a handle to it. That happened in the sixteenth century. As if to remind us of the true origin of the bat, we continue to call it by the original Arab description of the hand racket.
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"Origins of the Attic",1689,0,0,0
The attic comes from \JAthens\j. Though now at the top of our homes, its meaning has come down to an all-time low. We now use the attic, if we use it at all, for menial purposes. For centuries, the poorest of people alone chose this part of the house for their living quarters. Situated immediately under the roof, and sometimes within its framework, it could be reached, in most cases, only through a narrow manhole.
Yet originally an attic spelled neither poverty nor neglect but an elegant style. In \Jarchitecture\j it referred to a specific Athenian way of decorating a building and giving it symmetry and refinement. This was achieved mostly by the use of a certain type of facade enriched by columns and placed above another story of greater height.
When 18th century England revived the ancient classical mode of construction, architects ornamented the top floor of a house in exactly that way. They faced it with the Athenian - "Attic" - kind of pilasters. Hence people came to refer to the top story by its conspicuous classical style and called it briefly the "attic." Even when styles changed again and the room under the roof had lost all its Athenian splendor and pillars, the name remained.
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"Origins of the Bungalow",1690,0,0,0
\IBungalow\i is a Hindustani word. Meaning "from Bengal," it recalls the region in the Indian subcontinent, where this type of building was common.
During the British rule, Europeans living in the interior of India, used to reside in such one-story houses which, generally, were surrounded by a veranda. On their return home, they introduced the bungalow there, and by retaining its indigenous name, acknowledged its original site.
There is an apocryphal story as well as to why the bungalow was so called. A builder had been commissioned to construct a two-story house, to be ready at a specified time. Unforeseen circumstances, however, delayed the completion, with the result that on the stipulated date only one story was finished.
The client remonstrated with the builder, asking him what he proposed to do. Nonplussed, the latter suggested to \Ibung a low\i roof on to the ground floor which was already finished. That is how, according to this tale, (the name of) the bungalow came into existence.
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"Origins of the Caddie",1691,0,0,0
That the "caddie" has traveled a long distance is not surprising. In his case there is no doubt of ancestry though, as is so typical of life, he has come down very much from his aristocratic beginnings.
His home was \JFrance\j, where at the time he was far removed from games and golf. The word caddie is derived from the French \Icadet,\i meaning a "diminutive chief" or "a little head" (itself rooted in the Latin \Icaput).\i The title was mostly used for the younger sons of the upper class. Mary, Queen of Scots, introduced it into Scotland where it soon assumed a derogatory connotation. In fact, the noble word deteriorated so much that it was used to describe messengers and pages waiting around for an odd job. Eventually, "caddie" was further reduced to refer specifically to those hanging around golf courses to carry sticks.
It was also their job to clean the sticks with emery paper during and after the game. Still carrying on the Scottish queen's French pronunciation, cad-day, the Scots began to spell it their own way, and that is how the cadet changed into the caddie.
Later his task extended far beyond transportation and cleaning of clubs. Before the introduction of tee-pegs, making tees belonged to his duties as well. He did so mostly by taking a handful of sand out of the hole or the tee-box (which also deteriorated in value and changed into the present-day refuse receptacle) and putting it on to the turf, shaping it into a small cone on top of which he placed the ball.
Links originally were not reserved for golfers. They also served other purposes such as \Jhorse racing\j, cricket, children's games, grazing for cows and sheep, and a drying ground for laundry which housewives had washed in nearby creeks.
A golfer needed a guide to avoid those many obstacles, and at first it was the caddie's job to lead the way and point out the hole which he did with a broken-off branch or by sticking a feather into it, creating the forerunner of the modern "flagstick." Indeed, caddies developed an elaborate code of signals to indicate to their employer the best course to follow. Eventually, the caddie became an expert adviser, who told his master not only which way to go, but which club to use. Perhaps he, most of all, learned to appreciate the finer points of the game of golf and was its best critic and most ardent enthusiast.
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"Origins of the Coaster",1692,0,0,0
Coasters nowadays put under glasses or bottles to protect the table or cloth from being scratched or soiled no longer live up to their name. The original coaster served a different purpose, and there was a valid reason for its being so called. Not cheap cardboard pads, they were expensively made, often of wood or metal, with a base of cloth or felt. They were part of every elegant home.
After the meal, once the table was cleared and its cloth removed, the port was served. This practice followed a strictly adhered-to ritual. After a guest had filled their glass, they would slide the bottle to their neighbor on the left. To avoid the highly polished table from being scratched, the bottle was placed on a base-to coast along. It was this consideration and practice which was responsible for the coaster and its name.
There was also a reason for the direction the bottle was passed on-clockwise from right to left. It was not a haphazard choice. It followed the movement of the sun, imagined to bring about good fortune!
The term "to coast" has its own story, going back to an early American winter sport. Both in the United States and in Canada people enjoyed wintry days by sliding down iced-up slopes on sledges. These they referred to as "coasts," a name then applied to the gliding movement itself in which the rider just sat tight on their sled without any need to propel it.
No wonder that the early "coasting" was then applied to cyclists who freewheeled down a hill, and to motorists who parsimoniously save petrol on downgrades by turning off the engine.
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"Origins of the Coffin",1693,0,0,0
The English word \Icoffin\i stems from the Creek \Ikophinos,\i meaning a "basket." The ancient Sumerians and Egyptians used to encIose their dead in a structure of plaited twigs which resembled a basket.
From earliest days, a kind of wooden coffin, in its most primitive form, was equally known. It was a tree (often an oak, which was considered sacred) split into two. One half served as the bed for the dead and was suitably hollowed. The other half was used as a lid.
Such early tree-trunk burial had its roots in ancient, pagan belief. It was linked with the myth that man had grown out of a tree. More significantly, there was a striking resemblance between this "tree of the dead" and the dug-out, the primitive form of canoe. The original coffin was not just a "bed," but a boat, ready to transport the dead on the last journey across the waters.
The modern commercialization of death has taken due advantage of the coffin. To be properly "boxed" has become almost a status symbol and thereby has added further to the cost of dying. Many people are led to believe that it is the right thing to enclose their beloved dead in a substantial "casket" (which is the modern, American-born term, replacing the outlived "coffin"). This has to be of the finest wood, highly polished, with comfortable lining within and precious ornamentation without.
Nevertheless, this is not a recent development either. Hundreds of years ago, a "chested burial" was considered to be an attribute of the privileged classes alone and, therefore, reserved for people of wealth and social standing. The poor had to be satisfied with a coffin only for a short time, as a temporary place of abode. It conveyed the body from the house of death to the graveside. There, the corpse was removed and put in the grave, wrapped only in a shroud. The coffin, aptly described as a death-hamper, was returned empty, to await further use in other funerals.
Apart from the social significance of the casket, many other reasons account for its use. They lead back, through the centuries, to prehistoric times. No doubt, they reflect the various stages of civilization, religious belief and human attitudes. They can be divided into two main objects - protection of the corpse and safeguarding the living.
There is first of all - especially so in more recent times - the wish to pay due respect and deference to the dead. To preserve the body from decay as long as possible, it had to be enclosed in a chest. This protected the corpse against the weather and microbes in the soil, for a time at least.
But other dangers threatened the body. Wild animals might dig it up. During the early days of anatomy, when religious authorities frowned on the dissection of human remains, corpses were at a premium. Body-snatchers were active but coffins hampered their activities.
The ancient belief in bodily \Jresurrection\j, which is still observed by the orthodox sections of many faiths, was a contributory reason for using coffins. At the end, all the dead would rise again. Therefore everything possible should be done to keep their bodies in perfect condition. A suitable chest was the first and most obvious means, and the more durable it was, the better it was.
But if we dig deep enough in search of the original coffin, pious considerations for the dead suddenly change into crude self-interest on the part of the living. Indeed, this was the prime motive in its invention.
Survivors were concerned to protect themselves from anything their dearly beloved could do to them, now that he had moved to realms beyond their power. Thus, everything had to be done to prevent a dead person from returning and haunting the living. Frequently, his feet were fettered and sometimes, for the identical reason, even his head was cut off and placed between the legs.
On the way to the graveside, devious means were employed further to bamboozle the dead person, lest he find his way back to his family and former home. He was carried out of the house feet first and, in many communities, not through the usual door but by way of a hole in the wall made for that one occasion and immediately closed up again. Then, the longest and most circuitous route was chosen.
It was for this reason - to keep the dead away - that coffins were first introduced. Often they had heavy stone lids to make doubly sure that the departed stayed inside. Nailing down the lid served the same purpose!
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"Origins of the Crown",1694,0,0,0
The crown has uppermost importance in a king's regalia. Its very name has become synonymous with the sovereign, and his investiture is referred to as his coronation. The crown, indeed, came to symbolize power, prosperity, victory, and glory. It can be traced back in history more than 5,000 years, when it was worn both by kings and gods.
The practice of displaying a man's special status in the community by a symbol belonged already to the \Jpsychology\j of primitive people. Persons of higher rank were distinguished by their headdress, especially at celebrations. Chiefs, priests and medicine men dressed their hair most elaborately and ornamented it with all kinds of material, such as feathers, teeth, bones, shells, and leaves. To stop the hair falling into the face, a band or skin was wound around the head. This "rimless hat" became the first crown.
A king's authority implied superiority. This could be expressed most conspicuously by giving him greater height that was easily attained by his wearing a tall hat - the crown. This made the king stand out above all other people, who thus were constantly reminded of their royal leader.
Kings were looked upon as divine. They claimed direct descent from the gods and it was believed that the crown surrounded the head with the radiate nimbus of the sun-god. The crown was his aureole, and a living, powerful being itself. In ancient \JEgypt\j, the crown was identified with the god's burning eyes, a flame protecting the king, and Uraeus, a mystical serpent which spat fire at the monarch's foes.
It may well be that the crown was also an evolution of the garlands worn by victors and gods in early times. At first made of the flowers and leaves of sacred plants and trees, the crown was "great in magic." The king used it as an instrument of \Jdivination\j and people tried to propitiate its occult power by singing hymns to it.
Thus, the crowning of a king was at first a magical, ritual act. It set the king apart from all other men as a person singled out by divinity as the ruler of his people and, if not a god himself, as divinely anointed.
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"Origins of the Drawing-room",1695,0,0,0
A drawing-room has nothing to do with lines, designs or art. It is a shortened form of the original \Iwithdrawing\i-room which traces back to the 18th century. It was attached then to public rooms to give persons of high station an opportunity of finding some privacy away from the crowds.
Two hundred years later the room's function had changed. It was reserved for women. They withdrew to it after a dinner party, leaving their menfolk to talk freely and enjoy their port.
This new association gave the withdrawing-room its elegant meaning which it retained even when, still later on, it was again opened up to both sexes and no longer used for purposes of privacy. Time withered away the word's first syllable and shortened the room, if not in its architectural dimensions, but in the length of its verbal description.
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"Origins of the Fan",1696,0,0,0
Fans were the earliest - man-propelled - air-conditioners. The first fan was probably a huge palm leaf, or some other naturally grown device (such as a bird's feathers), swayed by slaves. The artificially created breeze appeared to cool the air, and the movement kept away irritating insects. Ancient Egyptian hosts employed special servants to stand behind their guests and fan them with big fans of \Jpapyrus\j.
Though thus completely utilitarian in origin, it did not take long for the fan to assume other significant functions.
Only the rich and noble could be concerned with their comfort or afford extra servants to carry and sway the then sizeable fans. Therefore almost inevitably these became a symbol of the "upper class," of dignity and position. The fan came to indicate superiority and importance, and thus was used for state and religious purposes, as it is today among Oriental potentates and in Papal processions.
The original, naturally grown, fan eventually gave place to new gadgets, cleverly constructed to fold in a small compass and, when expanded, to take the form of a section of a circle. Because of their new small size, servants were no longer needed to carry or sway them. The fan had become an accessory for all people, but especially so for women.
Feminine ingenuity soon discovered yet a further and quite unexpected value of the fan: it could rouse passions. Women of primitive races had learned the usefulness of a sham - flight from the men, to be pursued all the more fervently. Now their modern sisters discovered that by just sitting still behind their fan, in an assumed retreat of modesty, with their eyes peering over its top from time to time, they could lure their prey all the more easily and in comfort. The fan had become a potent weapon in the war of the sexes, with the woman's dignity well preserved.
Charming is a Chinese tradition as to how the fan was first invented. It was one of the pleasant chance-discoveries of daily life. A royal princess, participating in the Feast of Lanterns, had her face covered with a mask, which was proper for a person of her rank. But the heat and the pressure of the mask became too much and she lifted it slightly. Then, to cool her brow, but at the same time still to conceal her features, she moved the mask quickly to and fro in front of her face. Others, similarly distressed, followed her example. The fan had made its entry.
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"Origins of the Handkerchief",1697,0,0,0
Poets and dramatists have used the handkerchief both as a beautiful \Jmetaphor\j and a target of vitriolic attack. Bernard Shaw decried it as a vicious harborer of bacteria, whilst Walt Whitman called grass "the handkerchief of God."
Today a handkerchief seems a very ordinary item of dress. But it has had an eventful history. It is full of contradictions and contains an Oriental past and a French corruption. Most disappointing of all, it got its \Ihand\i only at the very end, though now this appears as its prefix.
Originally, the handkerchief had no connection at all with man's hand. It was a simple cloth used in the East to protect the head from the burning rays of the sun. Probably sailors introduced it from there into \JFrance\j, where it soon became fashionable. And quite logically the French called this new kind of garment (which it then was) "a covering for the head" - \Icouvrir chef.\i
The cloth crossed the Channel and the British adopted it and its French name, but in the process they corrupted the word simply to kerchief.
It did not take long, however, to become apparent that such a light covering was inadequate in the cold English climate to protect the head. And without doing away completely with the new attire, people removed it from their head, and carried it (often very conspicuously) in their hand! They found the kerchief useful for blowing their noses and wiping away \Jperspiration\j from the face.
They duly acknowledged the new way of carrying the cloth instead of wearing it by adding the \Ihand\i to its name and thereby creating the monstrous and contradictory word of a hand - head-covering or, in its English hybrid form, hand-ker-chief!
A further development took place to add to the confusion. Men began to put into their pockets this piece of cloth they had carried in their hands which originally had covered their heads!
The Romans anticipated our modern handkerchief by napkins carried by the upper class. This custom completely disappeared for more than a thousand years with the fall of the Roman Empire. \JAnglo-Saxons\j, too, had their "sweat cloth," which still survives, though for a different purpose, in one of the ecclesiastical \Jvestments\j of the Church.
We know for certain that even in the late \JMiddle Ages\j the handkerchief was still unknown by the fact that priests were then reprimanded by their superiors for using their sacred garments for the blowing of their noses. It was indeed only in the 16th century that the handkerchief (just as the word) came into use, though at first only among the aristocracy. Hygiene has led some of us today to replace the original cloth by soft paper substitutes. The handkerchief itself has quite largely resumed the role of a decorative accessory.
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"Origins of the Hatband",1698,0,0,0
The color and width of the band around a man's hat may vary according to fashion. But the band itself today is considered as something without which a hat would be incomplete. Its purpose is accepted as merely ornamental, to add a little "color" to an otherwise rather dull male attire.
Yet the origin of the band leads back to man's earliest head-dress. It served then an indispensable practical function. Indeed, it could be said that the band itself was man's first hat. Egyptians, for instance, when traveling, secured their hair (not cut as short as ours) with a band around the head.
However people did not just think of keeping their hair tidy. They were much more concerned with their health. They knew that to walk about bare-headed at times was perilous and could impair their well-being. They had to take notice of the vagaries of the weather and protect the head both from the sun and cold.
A simple piece of cloth was an obvious device. It is still retained, almost in its original form, in the \IKephiyeh,\i worn mainly by desert tribes of the \JMiddle East\j. Here again, a band, or cord, or, first of all strands of camel hair, were essential to keep the "hat" on. It was tied around the crown of the head.
Early examples of the modern type of hat, which supplanted the primitive cloth, were not made to measure. They fitted loosely and a gust of wind or sudden movement could dislodge them. Again, the band was utilized. Tied under the chin, it fastened the hat properly and kept it on. When the sun went down and a head-covering was no longer required, there was no need to take it off and carry it. All that was necessary was to loosen the band and let the hat hang down the back. It was a simple and sensible method of wearing and carrying it and yet keeping one's hands free.
The making of hats improved and the use of new materials and methods at last enabled hatters to take note of individual taste and measurements. Suddenly, the band had outlived its usefulness. If logic ruled our life, the band, having thus become obsolete in its original function, could have been discarded forthwith. But people soon forgot its initial purpose. They retained it, considering it a "must" for those who wished to be properly dressed.
The streamers which hang down at the back of the Scottish cap and children's sailor hats are vestiges of the original hat band. They are just its loose ends.
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"Origins of the Hearse",1699,0,0,0
Originally the hearse was not a vehicle to transport the dead to his last resting place but an agricultural implement. Hearse is a French word signifying a \Iharrow.\i That is exactly what it was in the very beginning. It consisted of an iron, triangular frame, to which spikes were attached. Roman peasants were the first to use it. The French adopted it from them.
Its earliest "harrowing" use (not to be confused with the grievous connotation of the word) is reflected in the modern theatrical term, \Irehearsal.\i Like a farmer, the actor harrowed the field of his memory over and over again, until the part he had to play was so deeply ingrained in his mind that he would not stumble over his words.
In the 13th century, ingenious peasants discovered that their harrow, when not used to rake the fields, could serve another purpose. Turned over, it became a multiple candlestick. The rake's spikes were just right to impale the tapers. Thus, the hearse took on the additional function of an inverted chandelier, decorating and illuminating the farmer's house. Soon it was found especially useful on religious occasions, particularly at funerals. That is how eventually the hearse was transferred from the home to the church.
With the passing of time, the original, small harrow grew ever larger. Its height extended to six feet and it evolved into a magnificent, elaborate construction. Indeed, such was the rake's progress that it became a masterpiece of fine workmanship, worthy of adorning and lighting the burial service of the most noble.
Its development did not stop there. From each of the hearse's three corners, supports were erected. These were joined at the top, thus forming a framework. This was draped with black cloth on which mourners and their friends pinned tickets with poems and epitaphs on them, in honor of the departed.
Numerous ornaments were added and the number of candles impaled became so large that the flickering lights were compared to the stars. Then the inevitable happened. The very width and height of the hearse suggested that the coffin be put on its summit. The whole structure was next surrounded by a rail.
The hearse was still stationary. It remained in the church, even after the body had been removed from it to be carried to the grave. It served as a shrine to honor the dead. The bereaved continued to light votive candles on it in memory of their beloved, long after his remains had been laid to rest.
Later, the hearse itself, with the dead still reposing on it, was carried to the grave. Soon wheels were added and the mourner pulled the "harrow" like a cart. The hearse had become a death wagon.
In modern times, horses pulled the deceased on his movable bier to his final destination. Then, with the invention of the internal combustion engine, came the motorized hearse, in which nevertheless are still entombed many remnants and traces of its thousand-years' growth. The hearse has certainly traveled an exceedingly long way since the Ancient Roman days when it was but a crude rake.
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"Origins of the Lumber-room",1700,0,0,0
The lumber-room has come a long way. Its name dates back more than 2,000 years to the Teutonic Lombards. Caesar is said to have named them so on one of his campaigns, because of their long beards \I(longobardi).\i In 568 A.D. they invaded \JItaly\j and settled there in the north-central part of the Po Valley, which was eventually called after them.
They specialized in lending money, and did so in large amounts on terms and for a security. Gradually their occupation became synonymous with their name. Some of the Lombards migrated to England in the \JMiddle Ages\j and continued their original trade there. In fact, they became London's first bankers and resided in the street which to this day is called after them.
Until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the Lombards held a monopoly for \Jpawnbroking\j. The many and miscellaneous pledges they received were kept in a separate part of their establishment. This was soon known as the Lombard Room. As with most foreign words, it did not take long for it to become corrupted and Anglicized into Lumber Room. Though nowadays this no longer stores pledges, it is still reserved for all sorts of odds and ends.
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"Origins of the Mace",1701,0,0,0
The Mace has come a long way. Now associated with the Speaker as his staff of authority, and symbolically representing the king, it stems from the Orient. Originally it was not a sign of sovereignty, but a most effective and feared weapon. It was used long before swords and consisted of a heavy, spiked, metal club hanging from a horseman's saddle. Its blows, though not capable of severing the adversary's head, could crack it and its spikes were able to pierce the heaviest armor.
The Mace was a weapon specially welcome in later years to hypocritical \Jclergy\j who, in spite of their calling, were anxious to participate in battle. According to the \JBible\j, they could not shed blood. But by adopting the Mace, they still could kill people - bloodlessly. It was a pitiable piece of casuistry on the part of ecclesiastics.
Even after the introduction of the sword, when the Mace became redundant as a weapon, it was not abolished altogether. Its antiquity gave it special value and it was thus retained by kings and noblemen. They carried it no longer for the purpose of individual combat but as a sign of their status and might.
The next step was obvious. For royalty to encumber themselves with a heavy iron ball was no longer considered the proper thing. Hence this office was delegated to a trusted Knight, the king's champion. He preceded his royal master on all state occasions, carrying the Mace on his behalf.
As the spikes no longer served any practical purpose, they were removed and the Mace, now silver and gilt, was richly ornamented and decorated with the crown. Ever since, it has been the symbol of the king. No longer protecting his person, it actually came to take his place. Wherever the Mace could be seen, people felt the sovereign's presence, though he might be miles away.
Thus the Mace found its way into Parliament as the visible sign of royalty. It is ceremoniously borne in front of the Speaker and, during debates, conspicuously displayed, resting on two hooks on the Table in front of the Speaker. In his absence, when the House "sits in committee" (which originally meant free from the kings supervision), the Mace is removed and concealed under the Table.
The word Mace has its roots in the ancient language of Sanskrit, but reached us through the Greek. It described an aromatic spice, once rare and highly prized. Bulb-like, it was similar in shape to the iron club which for that reason was named after it.
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"Origins of the Palace",1702,0,0,0
Geography has contributed numerous words and expressions to the vocabulary. In most cases these plainly reveal their place of origin. Turkey has given its name to a bird. The province of Burgundy in \JFrance\j is recalled both by a wine and a color. However, some words are so common that their "geographical" connotation is completely forgotten. This applies especially to the description of the most notable of all homes, the palace.
Palace now designates the official residence of a sovereign ruler. Its dimensions and costly ornamentation made it the most distinguished dwelling place anywhere. The Roman Emperor Nero is said to have built the first palace. Actually, we owe its name to \JRome\j. It is derived from the proper name of one of her seven hills, the \IPalatine\i Hill.
Originally this was the main part of the ancient city. It was indeed the cradle of Roman civilization. There, so tradition has it, Romulus traced the first furrow, and around it he built the first wall. When the city spread, the Palatine Hill became the most fashionable district.
When the Roman Empire was established, it was a foregone conclusion that Augustus, its first ruler, having been born on the Palatine Hill, would choose it as the place for his official home. His example was followed by nearly all his successors who erected a series of splendid and substantial dwellings there.
Many years passed and Roman dominion was accepted and feared all over the world. Emperor Nero, in his lust for power and unsurpassed vanity, was not satisfied to share the Palatine with others, no matter how noble or aristocratic they were. He wished to have it for himself alone. He issued orders that all other private homes situated there should be razed.
When that had been done, he gave instructions to his architect for the erection of a building of unprecedented magnificence. The edifice, the sole residence on Palatine Hill, soon was identified with that name and became known as \Ithe palace.\i That is how, ever since and all over the world, a royal abode, as well as its cheap imitations, is called by this name.
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"Serviette Origins",1703,0,0,0
For the many centuries when forks were unknown, man's hands carried food from plate to mouth. This naturally caused the hands to become greasy and dirty. Thus, washing and drying them after the meal, and still at the table, became a custom. It was for this purpose that the napkin was introduced, and assumed the practical role of a small towel at every meal.
However, once forks were adopted, the napkin became redundant. But it was retained nevertheIess, yet with a different objective in mind. It changed from an indispensable adjunct to the dinner table, serving human cleanliness, to a decoration. Hosts vied with each other in displaying napkins in fantastic shapes. The various foldings were meant to appeal to the diner's aesthetic taste.
Long lists are still in existence which suggest numerous ways as how to fold the napkin. Instructions of the year 1682, for instance, give 26 different shapes. These included serviettes folded in the form of Noah's Ark, of a hen and her chickens, a \Jcarp\j, a \Jtortoise\j, and two rabbits!
Today the wheel has turned full circle. The rabbits and tortoises, made of cloth, have disappeared from the dinner table and the napkin, much smaller and less conspicuous, again serves a utilitarian purpose - mostly to protect the diner's clothes.
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"Origins of the Tombstone",1704,0,0,0
The practice of putting a stone on a grave arose not from piety, but from atavistic fear; its origin was not respect for the dead but the motive of self-protection. Even after all other precautions had been taken, the living were still afraid that the dead person might return and act against his former community. To make absolutely sure he stayed in his tomb, they weighed the soil down with a heavy stone.
At first, people were buried anywhere, generally near where they had died or been killed. Thus graves could be found in most unexpected places.
Primitive society looked on a dead body as something impure. To touch it, or even pass over its burial place, defiled. Thus, they marked graves with stones. These were meant to be a warning to passers-by to keep well away. At times, to make the stones stand out more clearly, they were coated with lime.
The identical consideration led to the origin of the cemetery. Special fields, removed from human habitation, were set apart to isolate the dead in order to protect the living from contamination.
A later development was the worship of graves. The tombstone was looked on as an abode of the deity or the spirit. At this time, people were no longer worried about getting defiled, but about the grave being desecrated. They heaped stones on it to prevent animals from digging up the body.
Inscriptions on headstones and monuments came later. Initially, they were reserved merely for people of rank, to draw special attention to their last resting-place and to invite passers-by to pray for their soul.
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"Origins of the Umbrella",1705,0,0,0
Originally, the umbrella served only as a sunshade. Its name is a reminder of this fact. \IUmbra\i is the Latin word for shade.
Umbrellas were introduced in the East thousands of years ago. They were known in \JMesopotamia\j, \JEgypt\j, and China as early as the 12th century B.C. They were then a mark of nobility. The audience chamber of the king of Siam was furnished with three umbrellas - and nothing else.
Few people could afford an umbrella. No wonder that kings prided themselves to own one or, luckier still, several, such as the ruler of Ava who signed himself as "The King of the White Elephants and Lord of 24 Umbrellas."
Umbrellas were not only costly, but heavy, and special servants, mostly slaves, carried them. Ancient pictorial representation shows dignitaries, kings and priests, being accompanied by their umbrella-carriers, whose only duty it was to shelter their master from the sun. Inevitably, the open umbrella, like its rolled descendant in English society thousands of years later, became a status symbol.
Europe eventually adopted the umbrella, though for a considerable period it remained a guard against the sun only, and was reserved for the rich and noble. That is how Papal \JRome\j came to use it, and even horsemen in the \JItaly\j of the Renaissance.
Technical advance and the invention of cheaper material in the 17th century made the umbrella available to everybody. The traditional leather was replaced by lighter cloths, of which silk became most popular. Whalebone was used for the ribs and the umbrella became so light that the owner could carry it himself. Yet another occupation of man had been made redundant by the progress of science.
Only then did people begin to appreciate the umbrella's usefulness as a protection against rain. The logical French wisely differentiated between its dual functions and, ever since, have continued to speak of the para\Isol\i - in the case of the \Isun\i - and the para\Ipluie\i - in reference to the \Irain.\i
Yet the umbrella was still not generally adopted. Opposition arose from various quarters. Men considered it effeminate. Snobbishness, too, made people avoid its use. It was reasoned that only those who could not afford a carriage needed umbrellas. Thus, to carry one immediately stamped its owner as a man of little means. The umbrella, once the precious property of wealthy potentates, had thus deteriorated into a cheap substitute for a carriage, appropriate only for the impecunious.
Jonas Hanway (1712-1786) made Britain umbrella-conscious. The claim, commonly held, that he actually introduced it there, is a slight exaggeration. However, he was the first to display it conspicuously. Because of it, he had to suffer ridicule and almost assault. The general population, always suspicious of new-fangled gadgets, jeered at him whenever they saw him walking about so suitably fortified against the inclement English climate. Worse still, he angered sedan-chair men and hackney coachmen, who deemed it their monopoly to protect people from rain. They saw a threat to their livelihood in the new contraption. But in spite of all their abuse, Hanway continued to carry his "guard from chilly showers."
Only when his example was followed by one of Britain's famous dandies, popularly known as Beau Macdonald, did the umbrella at last catch on. Though he, too, at first was subjected to ignominy. His own sister refused to be seen with him in public.
Improvements reduced the umbrella's weight and added to the efficiency of its mechanism. Metal replaced the whalebone and a new frame first constructed in the 1850s gave the umbrella even less weight and more strength and Samuel Fox, its inventor, large profits.
Of course, people continued to use the umbrella as a sunshade as well. To protect the skin from \Jsunburn\j was then presumed to be essential for health, and a pale face was looked upon as dignified and attractive. Then, soon after World War I, people changed their opinion. Sunshine was now taken to be health-giving and a sun-tanned face beautiful and desirable. As a protection against rain, the umbrella resumed its initial role of a status symbol, "the acknowledged index of social position." To carry it over one's arm, neatly rolled, came to symbolize the English gentleman.
The umbrella has played a part in many spheres. It has formed the object of affection and inspiration, been an instrument in the psychological interpretation of dreams and even, at a moment of grave crisis, it has led one of our modern dictators to draw wrong conclusions.
One woman became so attached to her umbrella that she left instructions in her will that it was to be enclosed with her in the coffin. Sigmund Freud's vivid imagination saw in the appearance of an umbrella in dreams, an indication of their sexual content. It was a symbol of the phallus.
Chamberlain's umbrella at Munich has become almost proverbial. The story is told that when Hitler, at that crucial hour of history, saw Britain's Prime Minister alight from his plane fortified with an umbrella, he sneered loudly. A nation whose leader was so much concerned with protecting himself from rain, at a time when the existence of whole countries was in the balance, must lack power of resistance, he reasoned - so wrongly, as he had to find out in the deluge that was to follow.
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"Origins of the W.C.",1706,0,0,0
Many taboos have surrounded man's bodily functions. To leave evidence of them was once regarded as dangerous. It was a source of defilement and had to be carefully removed and hidden away. Worst of all, one's enemy could use it for nefarious, magical purposes. Though the origins of sanitation thus stem from primitive man's superstitious fears, it might well be that a healthy instinct also played a part.
Those early dreads were responsible for later feelings of shame, and the mere mention of excretion became \Jtaboo\j, though the \JBible\j itself does not shun referring to it, even in relationship to a king. Whilst pursuing David, King Saul felt the need to "cover his feet," as the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j discreetly put it. However, its later official Latin translation, the Vulgate, bluntly rendered that passage by the words, "to void his belly." Young David duly took advantage of the situation and, to show the king later how easily he could have killed him, "cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily."
Society was most reluctant to call "the smallest room" in the house by its "proper" name. It invented numerous euphemisms to refer to it. Medieval monasteries had their "necessaries" and castles their "garderobes" (literally "to keep the robes"), a forerunner of the modern cloak-room.
Toilet is derived from the French for "little cloth," possibly a towel used to wipe the hands. Lavatories suggested the action of "washing" (from the Latin). Latrine is simply the contraction of its original Latin root. Privy emphasized isolation. So, too, did \Iretirade,\i in Dutch-speaking countries.
This multiplicity of words used to speak of the toilet is a record of man's continuous endeavor to circumvent in speech the room's real function. To mention it in so many words was viewed to be improper, if not obscene. And yet, all attempts to do that proved futile. No matter which innocuous word was chosen, after some time, it became soiled by its association. Even the English "water closet," whose abbreviation "W.C." was internationally adopted, suffered the fate of \Jdevaluation\j.
Nowadays men ask where they can wash their hands, women where they can powder their nose, and pupils to be excused. Men and women travelers diffidently inquire for the comfort station or rest room. No doubt, these latest terms invented in search of a "bathroom" that does not soil one's speech, will lose their respectability, become unmentionable and thus, in their turn, be in need of replacement.
The toilet dates back to ancient civilizations, which could pride themselves on most modern standards of sanitation. Excavations in \JMesopotamia\j, \JCrete\j, \JEgypt\j, and India have brought to light examples of elaborately constructed and carefully designed water closets and sewerage systems.
Brick-built seat-closets of 2000 B.C. were discovered in the Indus Valley. They were situated on the ground and first floors of private homes. Sloping channels joined them either with a receptacle outside, or a sewer.
In the 14th century B.C., Cretans in their island's capital, \JKnossos\j, had closets built over a conduit of running water. The palace of their famous king Minos, which was unearthed by Sir Arthur Evans, contained most up-to-date toilets. The pans were constructed so as to hold water. They were flushed either by rainwater or, if that was not available, by water drawn from a cistern. Residents of \JPompeii\j in \JItaly\j, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., used water-supplied closets hidden in a niche next to the kitchen.
Yet those curiously modern conveniences of ancient days vanished from the daily life of medieval society, which reverted in that part of its habits to almost primitive days. There was no drainage system. Privies were commonly placed over large pits. Worse still, people frequently threw all their refuse, including human excrements, out of the window into the open street where a gutter served as a sewer.
This is one of the explanations of the British custom of a man always having the lady walk "inside" along the footpath - away from the road. The upper story of houses once jutted out and this protected anyone walking underneath from slops emptied from windows.
In 1596, during the Elizabethan era, Sir John Harington, a poet and the Queen's godson, invented the first modern water closet. He called it "a privy in perfection" and installed one in his home near Bath. Its design included a high water-tower on top of the house, a hand-operated tap that controlled the flow of water into the pan, and a valve that could be opened and closed to release sewage into a cesspool near-by.
Though the Queen had the closet copied in her palace at Richmond, the general public cold-shouldered it and regarded it as a joke. They continued their usual filthy habits.
Nothing further of a permanent nature happened to sanitation for almost 200 years. Then, in 1775, Alexander Cumming, a mathematician and watchmaker, took out the first patent for "a water closet upon a New Construction." This certainly was an improvement on Harington's design. It differed in one significant aspect which, though small in itself, was revolutionary and most beneficial. It has been applied ever since. The soil pipe immediately below the pan was bent so as "constantly to retain a quantity of water to cut off all communication of smell from below." At long last, the nauseating feature of the toilet had been eliminated. All that followed were merely refinements and comparatively minor advances.
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"Origins of the Waistcoat",1707,0,0,0
Fashion has had a profound effect upon the waistcoat, a garment that has come and gone many times since its first appearance in the 16th century. Its purpose was manifold and equally subject to change.
In its earliest use it was an elaborate and costly apparel of show, lending itself especially to the expression of individual taste. It was worn purely as an ornament and it was most unusual to wear a waistcoat made of the same material as the coat.
Though worn under the jacket, it was meant to be seen and admired and had, therefore, to be - at least partly - visible. This was made all the easier as at the time the sleeved coat was not fastened at all: its buttons served only a decorative purpose. Indeed, later on, coats were specially cut away in front so that the waistcoat would show to better advantage.
It was made of the finest of materials, often with silver and gold, and in all colors, the gayer the better. Frequently quilted, embroidered and even fringed, the waistcoat was lavishly adorned with delicate handwork.
An inventory of \JHenry VIII\j's wardrobe records a waistcoat of "cloth and silver, quilted with black silk" and another of "white satin, with sleeves embroidered with Venice silver." When the Earl of Essex, the unfortunate favorite and victim of Queen Elizabeth I, was led to his execution, he put off his doublet and was seen to wear underneath a scarlet waistcoat.
Even so modest a man as the great Beethoven was anxious to have an elegant waistcoat. In 1793, he wrote to a young lady of whom he was fond, asking her kindly to help him in the realization of this wish: "that I may be lucky enough to possess a waistcoat worked by you in \Jgoat\j's wool."
Gradually, however, the waistcoat was not only shortened in length (at first having reached the dimensions of a jacket) but was reduced in status as well. Instead of its original ornamental role, it came to fulfill a strictly utilitarian function. Frenchmen in particular stressed its purpose: "to protect chest and \Jstomach\j from the air" in winter, and encourage "a healthy tendency to sweat in the summer."
And even when medical opinions changed and sweat and the exclusion of fresh air were no longer considered helpful but harmful, the waistcoat still served man well. Its multiple pockets were useful for carrying many small items.
Between the two World Wars, the waistcoat lost both it aesthetic and practical appeal. It is only now making a comeback - once again as an ornament to brighten up man's drab clothes.
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"Origins of the Whip",1708,0,0,0
Each parliamentary party elects its Whip whose duty it is to watch over the activities of members and enforce discipline whenever necessary. When divisions are about to take place, he rounds up all those belonging to his party to ensure they vote on a question and lest their absence may defeat a cause. Most of all, the Whip sees to it that members "toe the (party) line."
The Whip's power was illustrated by the traditional circular sent out before a motion in the \JHouse of Commons\j. This gave notice to the member that his presence was \Iearnestly\i required. The number of lines - in red ink - under the word "earnestly" indicated the degree of urgency of the request. One line meant that he was \Iexpected\i to come; two lines that he \Iought\i to come, three lines that he must come and four lines that, if he stayed away, he did so \Iat his own peril.\i
The Whip's manifold responsibilities and the power he wields prove the appropriateness of the choice of his name. Whip is an abbreviated form of the word Whipper-in. This was borrowed from the 18th century vocabulary of fox-hunters, who were mostly English Squires. The Whipper-in was a hunter's assistant and his task was to keep the hounds from straying, by driving them back to the pack with a whip. The Parliamentary Whip lives up to the original meaning of his title. Though wielding his whip merely metaphorically, in the final result it is no less effective.
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"Origins of the Word Fortnight",1709,0,0,0
If \Jtelegraphy\j had been invented at the time, we could have assumed that the word fortnight originated in the minds of thrifty people who, knowing that every word was counted and charged, were anxious to save money by making one word of two. Fortnight is the combination of two old English words, fourteen nights.
It is surprising that Americans, who are usually keen on economizing and \Jstreamlining\j matters, up to recent times had not adopted fortnight, but used in its stead the more cumbersome "two weeks."
The fortnight's antiquity is indicated by the fact that its reference is to nights. That our calendar also originally took more note of lunar changes than of solar circumstances is apparent in several other terms in daily use.
The word month - literally - has the (word) moon inside it and was used to describe the moon's phases. In Oriental countries, every new month still coincides with the appearance of the new moon.
Similarly, the starting of the celebration of Christmas on its eve relates to the early domination of night over day. This was first expressed and emphasized by the biblical story of Creation in which it is said "there was evening and there was morning - one day." The day began at night!
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"Origins of the Wreath",1710,0,0,0
The story is told of a soldier who in a foreign land visited the grave of a former comrade, to place flowers on it. On his way, he met a native who was carrying an offering of food to his ancestors' tomb. The soldier stopped him and pointed out the absurdity of his action. "When do you think," he asked, "your relatives will come out of their graves to enjoy the meal?" "At the same time as your friend will come up to smell the flowers!," was the immediate retort.
To send a wreath to a funeral and to lay it on the coffin or the grave is a relic of ancient \Jsuperstition\j and idol worship. The early Christian authorities did their best to stop the custom. But they did not succeed. The floral wreath is a survival of the belief that it was necessary to provide comforts for the departed.
The flowers were also regarded as, literally, a floral offering, a sacrifice to the dead. They were meant to keep them happy, lest, being dissatisfied, they might haunt the mourners.
The wreath was a magic circle to keep the dead man's spirit within bounds and away from the sorrowing family and friends.
The Egyptians used wreaths thousands of years ago and kept special gardens to grow flowers for that purpose only. They crowned mummified bodies with chaplets of flowers or leaves in order to assure them a triumphant and safe passage into the other world.
The wreath for the dead was also a continuation of the Greek and Roman habit of crowning with laurels, emperors, victorious generals and distinguished athletes. Its evergreen leaves not only symbolized but ensured an existence that would never fade or wither - eternal life. The wreath was a floral tribute not so much to the dead as to the vegetation spirits which, it was believed, resided in its very flowers.
None of these various early roots are remembered. There is no magic left in the wreath, and to "say it with flowers" has become an established custom in the Western world, though other nations and races still prefer to put small stones on their dear ones' graves.
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"Origins of Trotting/Harness Racing",1711,0,0,0
Trotting, or, as it is known in the United States, harness-racing, goes back to the ancient chariot races and may have preceded racing "in saddle" by many centuries. Even when horse races were first included in the Panhellenic Games, these were still run "in harness." It needed many more years for horseback races to be featured in the Olympics.
Even, after that, for a considerable time, chariot races remained the more popular type of equestrian contest then to disappear and only after more than 2,000 years to make a comeback. Harness-racing owes its modern development and form almost exclusively to America. Trotting races of a primitive kind were held in the country's early colonial days, particularly in New England, and grew almost accidentally out of people's love of their horses and need of diversion.
Young settlers who owned a fast horse that could trot, liked to show it off and prove its superiority in speed against others. To do so they staged the first races along the early rough roads as completely private and improvised contests, watched, perhaps, by interested, friendly neighbors who were glad of a break in their still very lonely existence.
Man's competitive spirit and his delight in rivalry (whether as actual participant or mere observer) led eventually to trotting races being arranged solely for enjoyment. And so in America, harness-racing gradually evolved from a local pastime into an independent sport. It was taken up at various places, though records of the first public events are missing.
There is implied evidence, however, of their popularity in edicts which were issued in several parts of the country. These either totally outlawed the sport (as in Maryland in 1747), or restricted it to certain days of the year (as in \JNew Jersey\j in 1748). The very fact that bans were considered necessary indicates that trotting then must have been in existence for some time, and that it had drawn large crowds.
Strangely, it was religion which more than 50 years later unintentionally promoted trotting most of all. Fervent Puritans in New England and along the Atlantic coast had become deeply concerned with people's preoccupation with \Jhorse racing\j and, no doubt, the gambling that accompanied it. They condemned the sport as injurious to spiritual health and detrimental to morals. Their pleas and agitation did not go unheeded and in 1802 they resulted in the closing down of all racing tracks in that part of the country.
However, the religious zealots, in their wrath about racing and its evil effects, had completely ignored the trotting 'field'. The reason for this omission can only be surmised. Perhaps the trotting horse, with its stately gait, did not appear to them to run over-fast, and thus they did not regard trotting as racing. Another possible explanation is that at the time, fewer people were attracted by (or made bets on) this different type of equestrian competition. It is likely, too, that the puritanical spoilsports had simply overlooked trotting.
When people could no longer enjoy the "sport of kings," they found themselves looking for an alternative amusement. They immediately turned to its not-frowned-upon substitute and, by force of the circumstances of the time, trotting assumed a new standing. By its own merit it soon became a most popular pastime. The New York Trotting Club, founded in 1825, laid down the first rules ever for the new sport.
Trotting proper is a gait in which the horse strikes the ground with each diagonally opposite pair of feet alternately: moving one front and the opposite rear leg, together. With a minimum of jerking, the gait ensures a much smoother ride than the gallop.
A story is told of an eighteenth-century Englishman who discovered, quite by chance, the pleasure of riding a trotter. He had purchased a new horse - a thoroughbred - and was trying it out. Never before had he experienced such a comfortable ride. Naturally, he sought an explanation. Dismounting, he ordered one of his grooms to get up on the horse and put it through a variety of manoeuvres, all the time carefully watching its behavior. He soon realised that the horse did not move in the usual manner, but was "trotting." When he told his friends about it, they tried to make their own horses trot but, as the natural gait of a horse is the gallop, they did not succeed.
Whether this apocryphal tale is true or not, a newspaper report in England shows that a trotting event definitely did take place along the Essex road in 1791.
In pacing, the gait of a horse is lateral: both legs on the same side move together. The various gaits of the horse were known in early times. Indeed, they are depicted on the famous fifth-century BC \JParthenon\j \Jfrieze\j, known as the \JElgin Marbles\j, exhibited in the British Museum. Horses carrying Greek soldiers are shown galloping, trotting, and pacing. The cavalry horses of the Roman legions paced. The majority of medieval knights rode horses which trotted.
Trotting is not a natural but an acquired gait which not every horse can be taught. The English learned to hobble a horse to stop it from galloping and encourage it to take to the pacing habit. Once it had grown accustomed to this gait, it was no longer difficult to teach it to trot. At first, Americans did as the English had done.
For trotting to become a success, however, the right type of foundation sire was needed. It was by a strange quirk of nature that America received this precious gift.
American trotting horses as a breed trace back to an English thoroughbred which itself neither paced nor trotted. \IMessenger\i (which was its name) was a grey stallion, taken to America in 1788 to sire gallopers and certainly not to breed trotters. No one at the time ever imagined that this horse, a descendant of Darley Arabian, was to make history on the American trotting field. As intended, for many years all of his offspring were gallopers.
Life must be lived forward but can be understood only backward, as the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard said. It seems that this applies - sometimes - even to the life of a horse. When \IMessenger\i had grown old, it was felt that he could no longer sire the best thoroughbreds. However, his owner now mated it with mares of a different breed, mostly Canadian thoroughbreds, descended from French Normans.
Meanwhile, men interested in trotting were scouring the country for horses that took easily to this gait and could be trained to perfect it. They found what they were looking for in the crossbreds of \IMessenger.\i These fulfilled their most ardent hopes as, by some extraordinary phenomena of \Jgenetics\j and inter-breeding, they were born with a natural pacing gait and were able to transmit their potent ability to their progeny. And to convert a pacer into a trotter was not difficult.
As a sire of thoroughbreds, \IMessenger\i had become a celebrated horse and was duly honored on his death in 1808 after 20 years at stud. A volley was fired over his grave. As so often in life, however, \IMessenger's\i supreme value as the progenitor of the most perfect trotters was appreciated only after he had passed away.
John H. Wallace was responsible for the coining of the term "standardbred." It refers to the "standard" rules a horse had to meet in its performance to be included in the \ITrotting Register,\i the first volume of which Wallace published in 1871. Originally, it was stipulated that to qualify for registration as a standardbred, a horse had to be able to trot a mile (1.60 km) in 2.3 minutes. The name standardbred was finally adopted as the official description of the trotting horse by the National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders in 1879.
As the country developed, improved roads enabled farmers and their friends to run much faster trotters. With an increasing wealth, many began to own horse-drawn vehicles and gradually these supplanted saddle horses in transport. Naturally enough it did not take long for people to want to match the two-wheeled carriages in a race. They felt that this was even greater fun than outdistancing each other in the saddle.
To let a horse gallop in harness was out of the question. This gait rocked the cart too much. Pacing, on the other hand, would make the gig sway all the time. The only suitable gait for the purpose was the trot, which ensured a smooth, continuous movement even at fast speed.
Experience soon taught that the ordinary sort of road-cart, or gig, was not made for harness-racing. And thus, carriage makers, at first as a sideline, began to manufacture gigs specially suitable for racing. They had to be designed for speed, comparative lightness, and safety. To avoid unnecessary vibration they had no springs. By a process of trial and error, Americans were eventually presented with the "sulky," which was first used on the country's racing tracks in 1845. It was a high-wheeled carriage for one, with iron tires, but still rather heavy (weighing about 75 lbs-33.75 kg).
Of course, any innovation at first is inevitably opposed by "experts." No wonder, therefore, that horsemen began to decry the new contraption and heaped ridicule on the men who dared to ride in it instead of on the horse itself. Their jeers soon died down and harness-racing so caught the imagination of people that trotting in saddle no longer proved an attraction and soon after 1850 was almost completely replaced by the "horse-powered" racing cart.
Meanwhile another development had occurred. With the ever-increasing traffic, public roads no longer offered the ideal racing course. Such was racing's popularity that it now needed its own track, and proper trotting courses were established, giving the sport its final setting. In 1870, the National Trotting Association was formed as the governing body.
There was still much room for improvement. For example, the original, heavy sulky was superseded in 1892 by a much more streamlined model, the "\Jbicycle\j sulky." By the many advantages this presented, it revolutionized trotting. Constructed entirely of tubular steel and equipped with pneumatic tires on ball-bearing wheels, it weighed between 25 lbs and 30 lbs (11.25 kg and 13.50 kg) - only about one-third the weight of the original gig. Much easier to handle, this "skeleton carriage" enabled the trotter to race at speeds which had previously been regarded as unattainable.
Harness-racing had been perfected and now fulfilled the most fervent hopes of all devoted to the sport. Dearly loved and widely pursued all over the country, it became America's great contribution to the outdoor sports of the world. Indeed, the trotter has even been called the national horse of America.
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"Origins of Trousers",1712,0,0,0
Trousers were first worn by the Nomads of Central Asia, possibly a thousand years before Christ. We owe their invention to the horse.
Originally, people dressed merely by wrapping a piece of cloth or animal skin around their bodies. The warriors of the Asian steppes found that this sort of garment was uncomfortable on horseback and restricted their movement greatly. That is how they got the idea to clothe the lower part of their bodies with trousers. These were not as drab as ours. They were striped, checked and even embroidered.
And when the Nomads clashed in battle with their "civilized" neighbors, these recognized the usefulness of trousers, as their own long flowing garments put them at a disadvantage. They lost no time in adopting the barbarians' attire - not out of fashion, but in order to survive in battle.
Thus from Central Asia, through war and the horse, the use of trousers was eventually adopted by the Persians, the Indians, the Chinese and found its way into Northern Europe.
When in 55 B.C. Julius Caesar reached Britain, he specially remarked on the brightly-colored trousers worn there by the men. It was actually the Romans' conflict with the barbarians of the North, that introduced trousers into their Empire.
However, at first there was much opposition, and the Romans despised the new garment, called it unworthy of noblemen and fit only for slaves. But in spite of it, the trousers' obvious advantages soon made them fashionable. So much so that an Imperial edict was issued, threatening those freemen who wore trousers with loss of property and banishment. But it had no effect. Trousers had come to stay at least for a while.
Then, even in Northern Europe, they went out of fashion again. In their present form they were reintroduced in England at the end of the 18th century, superseding breeches and silk stockings. But even as late as 1814, the Duke of Wellington was refused admission to his club because he was wearing trousers.
Trinity College issued an order in 1812 that any student who appeared in Hall or Chapel and was clad in trousers, should be deemed absent. In Sheffield a special clause appertaining to \Jclergy\j ruled that "under no circumstances whatever shall any preacher be allowed to occupy the pulpit who wears trousers." Indeed, anyone so attired would not go to Heaven!
Modern times rendered the wearing of trousers a matter of life and death. During the \JFrench Revolution\j, they became a political symbol of the equality of man. Former aristocrats put on the blue linen pants of workmen, to try to escape the \Jguillotine\j.
On the other hand, less than a hundred years ago, rich men in England adopted the wearing of trousers. They suffered badly from \Jgout\j and were convinced that this proletarian (and barbarian) attire would assuage the pain of their swollen legs.
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"Origins of Turn-ups",1713,0,0,0
An immaculate Englishman's concern with his dress on a rainy day in New York is said to have been responsible for the introduction of cuffs on trousers.
People have often wondered why trousers should have this peculiar fold at the bottom. What purpose did it serve, apart from collecting dirt and dust which, according to clothing experts, amounts to at least 28 grams every year?
Some have suggested that tall men invented the cuff because it made them appear somehow shorter and less ill at ease. Others, more commercially minded, assumed that the cuff owes its existence to merchants to whom every inch of extra cloth sold meant more profit.
As far as records are available, cuffs on trousers were first seen in New York towards the end of the last century on the occasion of a big society wedding. This was attended by numerous dandies as well as by respectable visitors from the Old World. At the time Americans specially watched their English cousins, whom they then still tried to imitate, at least as far as their dress was concerned.
One of the overseas guests was late; he had been caught in a downpour which flooded the streets. The ingenious Englishman, so meticulously clad, did not want to spoil the hang of his trousers and so, to keep them dry, he rolled up their bottoms.
Due to the excitement and his late arrival, he somehow forgot to turn them down again and so, when ascending the church steps, conspicuously displayed his "cuffs."
Many took notice of them but, unaware of their real reason, took them to be the latest English fashion and eagerly copied the "turn-ups."
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"Origins of Water Polo",1714,0,0,0
The name \Jwater polo\j is almost a complete misnomer. In the first place, the game has nothing to do with horses. Nor is the ball used in the water made of wood, the original meaning of the Tibetan word \Ipulu.\i The only correct reference in \Jwater polo\j is to its being an aquatic sport. However, although it was played in clear water, in its early years it was the dirtiest of all team games, in point of rough play.
The story is told that it all began in 1876 by accident; more specifically, through a misfired shot. Members of the \JBournemouth\j Rowing Club were idly tossing a medicine ball about for no other reason than to fill in time. When one of the rowers miscalculated a throw, the ball "landed" in the water. Others jumped after it and soon were engaged in throwing it to each other in the sea.
They enjoyed the diversion so much that they decided, there and then, that this would be a new game.
It is a good story, but alas quite untrue. The only facts it contains are that \Jwater polo\j was devised in England and developed by the \JBournemouth\j Rowing Club.
Actually, \Jwater polo\j was first played with the intention of creating a new water sport. It is one of the few sports which did not grow out of small, haphazard beginnings.
\JWater polo\j had its origin in a slump in swimming. Promoters were very concerned because swimming competitions had become so monotonous that they no longer attracted crowds, and business was at an all-time low. What was needed was a new, spectacular game that would give swimming fresh appeal and excitement. Clearly, swimming was in desperate need of a shot in the arm.
In 1869, patrons who had busied themselves with finding a new stimulus, conceived the idea of "football in water." The rules of \Jwater polo\j in fact are based on those of \Jsoccer\j. England had been the first country in the world to make swimming a competitive sport and the first nation to build indoor pools. Now it became the first to combine football and swimming in the new game of \Jwater polo\j.
Its description as such came later. In its infancy, \Jwater polo\j was known by other, perhaps more appropriate names, such as aquatic football, aquatic \Jhandball\j, and water \Jsoccer\j.
The game's very nature gave much room for foul play. After all, a referee could not well observe what was going on under water, and players often took advantage of his restricted view. \JWater polo\j became one of the roughest and crudest of sports, marred by wholly unsporting tactics. In the beginning, of course, there were no rules at all. All that mattered was the scoring of a goal, by fair means or foul.
To wrest the ball from a swimmer who was making for the goal, players sometimes did not hesitate to apply what was described without much exaggeration as drowning tactics. They held the man in possession in a tight grip under the water until he let go of the ball. Again, players were often dunked at the outset for a considerable time in order to weaken them. \JWater polo\j frequently deteriorated into a wrestling match, with the more ruthless team, not the more capable, winning.
It was these factors that led to the laying down of the first rules. These aimed especially at making \Jwater polo\j a clean, but nevertheless virile, sport. There were other considerations as well. The fusion of good \Jhandball\j with skillful, fast swimming made great demands on the players. They had to excel at getting about in the water while catching and throwing an elusive ball, all the time in an element that gave them no firm footing. The goalkeeper had to "jump from nothing" to reach high shots. Throughout the game the players had to keep their head high above the water to follow the progress of the ball.
In short, the players had to reach a high point of efficiency in two sports simultaneously. They had to be alert, speedy swimmers and top \Jhandball\j players as well. They had to be superbly fit so that their swimming was almost automatic and unflagging in all kinds of situations.
The development of \Jwater polo\j owes most to William Wilson, of Glasgow, a fervent sportsman who has even been called its founder.
In 1870 a committee of members from the London Swimming Club agreed on the first rules of water \Jsoccer\j. These had little resemblance to the present-day code. Each team then consisted of only three players.
In the years that followed, several attempts were made to popularize the game. The first really official match took place at the \JCrystal Palace\j, London, in 1874. We are fortunate that an account of a contest arranged in 1876 by the \JBournemouth\j Rowing Club has been preserved. It was of an unexpectedly short duration and terminated when vigorous handling of the flimsy rubber ball made it burst. A newspaper reported:
\IThe \JBournemouth\j Premier Rowing Club carried out the first of a series of aquatic hand-ball matches off the pier. Goals were marked by four flags moored at the west of the pier, 50 yards apart. After a severe struggle, the ball burst, but the players, nothing daunted and properly habited, displayed their aquatic accomplishments for some time.\i
The number of players was now fixed at seven a side and the size of teams has remained the same ever since. The area of play, hitherto undefined, was also determined, and a referee and two goal judges were appointed.
There were no proper goals yet, and to make a score, players had to place the ball on a floating platform or a shelf at the end of the playing area. The game was still so rough that men were kept in reserve to take the place of injured team mates. Nevertheless, \Jwater polo\j by now had proved its potential and those anxious to see it gain firm place in popularity ratings set to work to organize it more efficiently.
The laws eventually agreed upon were still unwritten. With the exception of the goalkeeper, players were to use only one hand to throw the ball and, in doing so, could not stand on the bottom. Everyone, however, could duck an opponent and swim under water, with or without the ball. This new code was adopted by swimming clubs all over Britain.
The rules were still much too loose so that the many teams which had come into existence interpreted them in their own way, causing bitter controversy and much confusion. As a result, the game lacked status. In fact, for several years the English Amateur Swimming Association refused to recognize \Jwater polo\j as a separate and proper sport. It sanctioned it in 1885. Taking control of the game, the association introduced new rules and demanded their strict observance. These provided among other things that:
ò The game's duration was to be 20 minutes.
ò The ball should be passed from player to player and could be carried either on or below the surface of the water.
ò No player was permitted to interfere with the goalkeeper, whether in or out of the water, or to hold his opponent unless he was in possession of the ball.
ò Penalties for infringements were to be a free throw from the spot where the foul occurred.
ò A goal was scored when the ball had been fairly placed on a floating stage or a boat, used for that purpose.
ò On the scoring of a goal, the umpire had to blow a whistle, which terminated play for the time being.
But even these rules were far from final. Throughout the years, and on many occasions, they were amended.
A proper goal was prescribed: eight feet (2.40 m) wide and extending six feet (1.80 m) above the water. Most of all, those anxious to see the game prosper aimed at removing its many rough features and making it a contest distinguished by great skill and stamina.
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"Origins of Water Skiing",1715,0,0,0
Claims clash as to who invented water \Jskiing\j, and \JFrance\j vies with the United States for the honor. And there is some confusion in another respect. The sport's very name indicates that its beginnings can be traced either to the water or to the snow - to the enthusiasm of aquaplanists or of snow skiers.
Quite possibly water \Jskiing\j was conceived independently and almost simultaneously in both \JFrance\j and the US, arising from different circumstances in each country. Without doubt, technical improvements to speedboats (and the consequent reduced costs) gave some the idea of exploring new possibilities for sport on water. The water ski itself is an evolution of the snow ski (known for more than 5,000 years) and the aquaplane (very much in evidence around 1914). While, however, in snow \Jskiing\j the propelling power was in the skier's own exertion, in water \Jskiing\j it was in the engine of the boat.
Man, always in search of new adventure, will make use of any opportunity offered him to add to the thrills of life by adopting some new method to propel him faster through the air, along the ground, across or beneath the water. It is not surprising therefore that when launches became motorboats with speeds up to 16 mph (25.60 km), some adventurous young man (or woman) conceived the idea of being pulled along the surface of the water at an ever accelerated speed. All that was needed was a flat board on which to stand, and a rope to link the plane with the boat.
Undoubtedly, that is how aquaplaning came into existence. To ride on a plank, usually five to six feet (1.50 m to 1.80 m) in length, ranging in shape from circular to rectangular (or just a door or a garbage-can cover) and be towed by a speedboat, was thus described by a combination of the Latin word for water - \Iaqua\i - and "planing," a term that denoted the act of riding on the surface of the water, rather than displacing it.
It was in pursuit of this sport, so it is told, that "accidentally" water \Jskiing\j was invented. It, too, belongs to that category of progress in civilization where a mishap is responsible for something entirely new.
Count Maximilian Pulaski, the story goes, was aquaplaning with a lady friend at Juan les Pins, on the French Riviera. His companion lost her balance and fell into the water. It is not told how far the Count went out of his way to help the Mademoiselle, who somehow must have reached dry land safely. However, her empty board got into the way of the Count, bumping his plane. Trying to push it aside with one foot, he stepped on it and at that moment learned the delight of water \Jskiing\j.
Realizing the potentialities of what he had discovered through the mishap, with a few friends the Count developed two smaller shaped aquaplanes which were bound to the feet. The best shape and the convenience of holding the ropes in one's hands were discovered after some experimentation.
Among those who had watched the Count was Jay Gould, an American millionaire, then living at Juan les Pins. He had actually developed the resort by building its casino and Grand Hotel. An astute businessman, he at once grasped the new sport's great future and, with his wife, lost no time in putting it on a proper basis. From the French Riviera it made its way into \JSpain\j and down the Italian coast to the Isle of Capri.
Even in \JFrance\j the Count is not the sole claimant. The invention of water \Jskiing\j is also linked with officers of the famous \IChasseurs Alpins,\i French ski shock troops. On leave in \JCannes\j (some records date it to 1929), they were enjoying \Iskijoring,\i the thrilling sport of being pulled on skis over ice and snow by a horse, on the shores of Lake \JAnnecy\j. In a spirit of fun, some friends suggested that the officers take their snow skis on to the water to be pulled along by a motor boat.
The men took up the challenge, although it had never been meant seriously. At first, they fell into the water as a result of the speed the tow boat traveled, and learned, as a consequence, their skis were too narrow. One of the officers shortened and widened the skis and altered the position of the binding to his feet, at the same time modifying the curving toe of the ski - and this led to success, the birth of water \Jskiing\j.
Another French claim, also associated with the Riviera, asserts that one day in 1920, playboys and their friends discussed how they could transfer the principles of snow \Jskiing\j to the water. With this purpose in mind they joined a pair of snow skis by means of a small board and on this H-shaped contraption made trial runs, pulled by a motor launch. It was in the wake of these pioneers that water \Jskiing\j developed, eventually taking the place of aquaplaning.
Completely different from these various European traditions, some of which are certainly amusing if not apocryphal, the American story of water \Jskiing\j is simple and well substantiated. It goes back to one man, Fred Waller of Long Island, whose inventive genius has also given the world the \Jcinerama\j. His is the credit for water \Jskiing\j as we know it today.
It was thus that in the film \IThis is Cinerama\i water \Jskiing\j was featured as a sparkling sport, and the scenes were actually shot at Cypress Gardens, \JFlorida\j, the mecca of water skiers.
Some people have suggested that America acquired the idea of the sport from Hawaiian surfing at Waikiki, where the method of getting across water on a flat board was first developed. From this, American water \Jskiing\j evolved, step by step, through trial and error. Others trace the American sport indirectly to \JFrance\j. British Captain D'Arcy Rutherford had watched water \Jskiing\j on the French Riviera and then practiced it himself at Nassau, in the \JBahamas\j. Americans there were attracted so much by it that they introduced it, in turn, to the States.
In 1924, Waller became definitely the first man in the New World to make his own water skis, and ride behind a boat (on Long Island Sound). Soon afterwards he took out the original patent for his Dolphin Akwa Skees. They were twice the length of the snow ski, and the earliest models made were very similar to the French ones.
His new sport greatly resembled aquaplaning, as the tips of each ski were linked with a bridle (to keep the two ropes apart) which in turn was attached by a single line to the launch. The rider balanced himself by means of two ropes joined to the bow-end of each ski.
Waller eventually discarded this and evolved a type more or less identical with the modern Free Tow Boards. Its advantage was that the skis were no longer pulled directly by the boat. The rider himself held the tow-rope while his feet were secured to the skis by shoe-like bindings.
Another pioneer was Don Ibsen, of Bellevue, Washington, who made his first pair of skis in the early 1930s. He steamed a couple of \Jcedar\j boards over a five-gallon (22.70 l) can of boiling water, and then moulded his skis to the desired shape around the end of a telegraph pole. Instead of the foot binding which was used later, he merely mounted a block of wood on each ski, against which to press his feet. He then replaced the blocks with tennis shoes tied to the skis with rubber bands.
The development of much cheaper outboard craft, its fast acceleration, and the fact that it produced a much smaller wake than inboards, contributed to the sudden popularity of water \Jskiing\j. All age groups (from seven to seventy, it was said) could enjoy skimming across water on skis, either singly or in groups, just for the sake of rushing along at high speed, or in competition with others.
Very rapidly the sport developed many new features. These included riding in pairs, being towed backward, and riding on one ski. The last named, referred to as mono-\Jskiing\j, may have been introduced through another accident: a rider losing one ski and realizing that he could still maintain balance on the other.
The sport took its terminology from snow \Jskiing\j and many of water \Jskiing\j's thrilling features were adaptations from it. In the slalom, the water skier had to run a multiple S course between buoys (replacing the original flags of the snow field known as "gates"). These were spaced at varying intervals and the water skier zigzagged through the wake of the tow-boat.
Dick Pope, Sr, creator of \JFlorida\j Cypress Gardens, and one of the great American pioneers of water \Jskiing\j, introduced jumping into the sport when he made the first leap from a low slanted ramp off \JMiami Beach\j in 1928. Referring to it in his book on \IWater Skiing\i he wrote: "Sometimes the first person to do something sets off a reaction that reverberates through the world. My 'first' did just that . . . The record I set was 25 feet as I soared through the air thinking I would never come down." Charles R. (Chuck) Sleigh, an American furniture manufacturer, was the first person to do turn-arounds. He used ordinary skis with the fins removed.
The earliest record of trick \Jskiing\j belongs to the United States as well - to John H. (Jack) Andresen, an engineer, who took up the sport in 1933 after seeing a picture of a French water skier. His demonstrations, and those of the Pope brothers, won over many former aquaplanists.
The more efficient the skier became, the smaller his skis grew. Eventually, skis were replaced by "shoes" and then - the ultimate in water \Jskiing\j - nothing was used underfoot. When approaching a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) the rider slid off his skis and continued to travel over the water on the soles of his bare feet.
Dick Pope, Jr, is said to have been the first to display the new art of barefoot \Jskiing\j in 1947. It was a feat so unbelievable that when a correspondent to the "Live Letters" of the London \IDaily Mirror\i inquired whether it was possible to water ski without skis, the editor replied that he would not think so but that "of course, it depends on the size of your feet."
Contrary to what most people would surmise, barefoot \Jskiing\j cannot possibly damage the soles of the feet. Neither is it restricted (another false notion) to skiers with large, flat feet.
Barefoot \Jskiing\j clubs became among the most exclusive in the world. Only those who had skied barefoot for a minimum of 60 seconds (a figure halved in the case of juniors and women) were eligible for membership.
The immense popularity of the sport was due not least to its promotion by Dick Pope, Sr, who also was an expert at aquaplaning. It was his philosophy that anyone who could walk could learn to water ski in minutes. Displays and stunts he performed with his brother Malcolm led people all over the world to adopt the sport, and not without reason he was called the true father of American water \Jskiing\j.
The first American competition was held in 1936 (as part of an aquaplane tournament) at Masapequa, New York, and was won by Jack Andresen. The American Water Ski Association was formed in 1939 by Dan Hains, who also became its first president.
The outbreak of World War II temporarily halted the remarkable rise of the new aquatic pastime. In 1946 organizations throughout the world combined in the International Water Ski Union which sponsored the first world championship in Juan les Pins, \JFrance\j, in 1949. The sport thus returned, fully grown, to its (alleged) birthplace.
Riders developed their own sign language to communicate with the skipper of their boat. The universal signal of an "O" made with the forefinger and thumb, indicated that everything was "OK." A request to cut the motor was conveyed by drawing a finger across the throat in a cutting motion. An upward movement of the open palms told the captain to "speed up," if both hands were in use, a nod of the head was all that was needed.
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"Origins of Wigs",1716,0,0,0
Wigs have come into their own again. Yet they have been used for thousands of years. Mummified bodies, found in Egyptian graves, wore wigs. Men and women alike have used them. They did so for various reasons.
Wigs are rooted in superstitious fear and magic make-belief. Hair was considered a source and a symbol of strength and in earliest times people regarded their hair as a seat of the vital spirit of life. The more there was of it, the stronger they imagined themselves (or others) to be. Warriors, especially, let it grow long, lest they lost their vigor and invited defeat, as illustrated by the story of Samson.
For this reason, primitive races refrained from cutting their children's hair for at least the first year of their lives. Otherwise, they were convinced, the infants' future strength and health would be impaired.
People tried not only to protect what hair they had, but to add to it by every possible means. For that purpose, first and primarily, wigs were invented. It was thought that - magically - they increased vigor and that the abundance of hair frightened off enemies, real and imaginary. The wig deceived evil forces and threatening foes by emphasizing or simulating towering strength.
A beautiful crown of hair has always been treasured. It made people so much more attractive and has been found sexually exciting. A wig, most certainly, could add to the lure of both male and female. Thus it became a significant accessory and weapon in the battle of love. It enhanced a man's (and woman's ) appearance by framing the head with dark, blond, or white hair.
Sparse hair or, worse still, \Jbaldness\j, made impossible the natural wish of men and women to be just like other people. The mere fact of looking so different caused disdain, suspicion, and ridicule. Therefore wigs were also devised to hide \Jbaldness\j.
Wigs served, too, as a useful disguise. They could conceal the wearers' identity and were therefore chosen by spies, fugitives, and actors. The Greek theater was fond of colored wigs. Their shade indicated the character represented. A black wig was the sign of a tyrant. Heroes wore blond curls. Red was the color of the comic servant.
As wigs are distinctive and can accentuate social status, they became part of man's professional attire. They were worn to proclaim a dignitary's special standing, as they still continue to do in British courts and in Parliament.
The fashion of wigs, just as their shapes and sizes, has waxed and waned through the centuries. Like the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, the Romans and Greeks favored false hair.
In the days of Tacitus, even primitive German tribes welcomed its use. They did so, however, not for the sake of adornment but for commercial reasons. They exported bales of their own blond hair to \JRome\j. Yet the early Church frowned on wigs and denounced them as evil.
It was only in the 17th century that wigs became firmly established in Europe. A royal example, born of necessity, set the fashion. \JLouis XIII\j of \JFrance\j became bald prematurely. He first used a few artificial strands to supplement his own sparse growth, but as his \Jbaldness\j increased, he had to don a complete covering wig.
Possibly out of courtesy, if not sympathy, and to make the king's new hair-style less conspicuous, the courtiers followed suit. Soon the "common" people, always anxious to ape nobility, copied the \Iperruque,\i as the French called it. It was this word which gave the English language its \Iperiwig,\i eventually to be shortened to our present-day wig.
Another French king reinforced the custom. When \JLouis XIV\j was a child, everyone admired his lovely locks which fell to the shoulders. Those who surrounded and served the prince tried to emulate him, at least in the growth of his hair. They did so by donning a wig. Imitation has always been the sincerest flattery. Many years later, the king adopted the fashion he had created as a boy!
From \JFrance\j, the wig spread all over Europe. It arrived in England during the second half of the 17th century. In no time it was thought to be "the proper thing," though its form changed frequently. Some people wore the "natural" or full-bottomed wig. Others adorned themselves with one of huge dimensions, towering above the forehead is two huge peaks and falling around, and far below, the shoulders.
The many variations became known by such descriptive names as "the staircase," "the spinach seed," "the \Jartichoke\j," "the \Jcomet\j," "the pigeon's wing," and "the wild boar's back." By the middle of the 18th century there were almost 40 different types.
It was from those early days of the wig in Britain that we retain it as an accessory of ceremonial costume. As a survival of that general fashion, it is still worn by the Speaker of the \JHouse of Commons\j, the Lord Chamberlain, and all judges and barristers in the \JBritish Commonwealth\j.
Suddenly, the trade in wigs experienced a slump. To meet the cost of the French wars, the government introduced a tax on powder, so essential for wig-wearers. Wig-makers felt the pinch so much that they petitioned King \JGeorge III\j to help them, as (so they wrote) their business had grown so small "by the present mode of all men in all stations wearing their own hair!"
When wigs became fashionable again, not a few men, probably on the score of expense, cleverly dressed their own hair so that it appeared like a wig. Still, the vogue of wigs continued. Some grew to such heights that caricatures showed barbers attending their charges while standing on ladders.
Immediately before the \JFrench Revolution\j, head-dress reached up to one meter. Blond became the most stylish color, though Madame Tallien, of Paris, preferred black. Some women owned 30 wigs in different tints.
Paradoxes and intriguing features are associated with the custom of the wig. Jewish ecclesiastical authorities made its wearing obligatory for a married woman! Her own hair was considered too seductive to be seen by any man but her husband. Therefore she had to cover it with the artificial creation, meant to render her unattractive, if not ugly. But women soon took their revenge and began to use wigs of the latest color and shape.
Even in the Age of Reason, men of enlightened education continued to wear wigs and did not mind their artificiality. They did not think it strange at all to shave off their own hair and then to don that of others. Pepys went so far as to wear his own hair as a wig. According to him, to do so was more hygienic!
Others chose the hair of their wives or of children, who had to be guarded from robber-haircutters, trying to deprive them of their rich curly growth. Poor people soon discovered in the fashion a welcome means of livelihood. They sold their hair to the highest bidder. Even corpses were a source of material.
Wigs have been made of all kinds of stuff: wool, fur, horsehair, straw, wire, and nylon. What a wealth of material men's wigs thus present. Ostentation, vanity, and husbands' fear of losing their wives to other men: they all participated in making the wig a distinctive feature - coming and going in the course of civilization.
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"Origins of Wine",1717,0,0,0
Wine, this "living blood of the grape," comes second to beer: not in quality, but in age. It was already produced in \JMesopotamia\j before the year 3000 B.C.
Though not dating back quite as far as beer, wine rejoiced men's hearts almost from the beginning. It was considered not only a gift of the gods, but a part of the gods themselves, and drunk as such. Wine was their blood, and with the wine the god entered the human body. Thus, the drinking of wine initially was a sacred ritual, and intoxication was regarded as the presence of the divine spirit, mysteriously working within man. Egyptians saw in the black and purplish grapes, so round and lustrous, the divine eyes of \JHorus\j.
All evidence points to \JAsia Minor\j - and especially to the Caucasus - as the vine's original home. It did not take long for man to learn to cultivate the wildly growing grapes. The very name of wine stems from that region and at least from the year 1500 B.C. It has been found in cuneiform-script on Hittite clay tablets of that time. Both wine and its name spread from there all over the world.
The \JBible\j gives Noah the honor of having invented wine and planted the first vineyard. It further relates that he did so almost immediately after the Flood, when he had alighted from the Ark. This had landed on the summit of the Ararat mountain range - the highest part of the Caucasus!
Accidents happen and mistakes are made all the time. Sometimes, however, they proved not a bane but a boon. Hence it is very likely that a Persian legend is correct in its claim that we owe wine to human error. In fact, wine at first was considered a waste of precious grapes and almost poured away as a poison.
Grapes were plentiful around the city of \JPersepolis\j, whose founder, Jam-Sheed, was exceedingly fond of them. He wanted to enjoy them even when they were out of season, and anticipated modern methods of preserving by having grapes bottled and stored.
But one day an accident happened. The luscious round grapes were crushed. Their juice duly fermented and its taste was so strange that Jam-Sheed had it poured into a separate jar. This he immediately marked POISON, but somehow forgot to throw away.
One of his servants had grown tired of life and was determined to commit suicide. By chance she saw the labeled bottle. It was exactly what she was looking for. Secretly she drank of the juice, yet with most unexpected results.
When she came to, she drank some more. No one really knows whether she did so imagining that she had taken too small a dose for the poison to do its work properly, or because she was getting the taste of it and rather enjoyed that strange kind of dying. She repeated the procedure until the jar was empty. Far from dying, she had experienced most world-affirming sensations.
She confessed her deed to her master. By uncovering the prohibited jar, she had discovered wine. This soon became known all over \JPersia\j and was described as "the delightful poison."
Wine's popularity spread far and wide. Soon the wild vine shoots were cultivated all over the world - climate permitting. The use of wine increased steadily and was glorified in proverbs and hymns of both pagan and Christian nations. Mohammedans, officially asked to abstain from the drink, excelled in singing its praises.
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"Origins of Wrestling",1718,0,0,0
Surrounded by jungle inhabited by wild beasts, experience taught prehistoric man that proficiency in wrestling could save his life, and so he practiced the art with members of his own family and tribe.
Wrestling is one of the most ancient recorded sports. It is an innate wish of man to prove himself superior to his fellows and in primitive times he could best do so by displaying his physical prowess and forcing his opponent, literally, on to the ground. Men wrestled long before the invention of arms or armor.
In warfare, especially, it took its early significant place when victory in battle was determined not by the mass clash of armies, but by individual combat.
At first, wrestling was more a test of brute strength than of skill, and victory often went to the heavier and more ruthless adversary. A tribe's champion wrestler was greatly honored and matches were often arranged with the experts of other tribes.
About 5,000 years ago, in ancient \JAssyria\j and \JEgypt\j, the technique of wrestling was highly developed and practically all present-day holds were known.
Numerous monuments testify to the sport's early existence. A bronze statue excavated in the former \JMesopotamia\j, from a temple near \JBaghdad\j, shows two wrestlers in action. (The same archaeological site has yielded one of the earliest representations of boxing.)
Vivid paintings discovered on the walls of the temple tombs of Beni Hasan on the Nile depict a great variety of wrestling positions and almost every type of hold. A wrestler, painted red, can be seen struggling with another painted black. Another such pair is shown with one man grasping the other around the waist, and so on through all the well-known holds of today.
From \JAssyria\j and \JEgypt\j, wrestling found its way to \JGreece\j, although later legend ascribed its introduction there to the Athenian hero, Theseus. He was the first, it was said, to understand and lay down the principles of the sport, and it was this knowledge that enabled him to overcome, not by strength but by skill, the murderous Cercyon.
Greek \Jmythology\j tells how this ancient king, who had put to death his own daughter, used to challenge strangers passing through Eleusis, a city - state 14 miles (22.40 km) west of \JAthens\j. When Theseus entered the city and came face to face with Cercyon, he accepted the challenge. Boldly, he dashed his opponent to the ground and killed him.
Classic contests are described by Homer. The match between Ajax and Odysseus is the most famous of all.
Wrestling belonged to the life of the Greeks. They made it both a science and an art and it was regulated by strict rules. Manuals of wrestling were published, carefully explaining every detail. Fragments of such an early textbook have been discovered in the form of an ancient Egyptian \Jpapyrus\j. Wrestling eventually became so popular that, just as nowadays we may invite a friend for a round of golf or a game of bowls, Greeks asked each other to go wrestling together.
The rules varied for men and boys. The different holds, throws, and movements were taught systematically, advancing from the simplest to the most complex style. Some states included women as wrestlers and even permitted them to compete with men.
With the growth of the sport, individual schools developed their own methods. One favored upright wrestling. The aim was to throw the opponent to the ground who, after three "throws," had to concede defeat. Another type permitted the struggle to continue on the ground to end only when one of the wrestlers was pinned down by both shoulders.
Wrestlers used to oil their bodies before starting a match. Why they did so has been variously explained. The suggestion that its purpose was to render the body so slippery that the opponent should be unable properly to get a hold is incorrect. It was done for hygienic reasons: to cover the pores of the skin lest the sand and dust of the arena clog them. This view is confirmed by the additional practice after oiling the body to rub it in with fine powdered clay, which certainly helped the wrestlers to gain a better grip. Aristophanes alludes to some cunning and unsportsmanlike wrestler who, apparently unobserved, rubbed off the dust from his shoulders so that his adversary should not be able to get a grip on this vulnerable part of the body.
The arena was covered with a thick layer of sand to soften the impact of falls. As matches were held in the open air and therefore were subject to weather conditions, at times (fights then took place exclusively in summer) heavy downpours changed the ring into a mud bath. To be prepared for such eventualities, training was pursued in two types of ring, one the customary sandy arena, the other "wet," colloquially described as "bees' wax." In the training, wrestlers changed over from one ring to the other, giving rise to a vivid phrase, speaking of going "out of the sand into the mud," anticipating by millennia our own saying, "out of the frying pan into the fire."
Wrestlers were very conscious of the hold their hair could provide and therefore (also possibly to avoid injuries to the head) donned a protective headcover. We know that in at least one case such a leather cap was sent as a gift to a wrestler - by the Latin poet Martial. Using his art of poetry, he penned his accompanying note in the form of a verse, explaining that the cap would be able to cover his friend's oiled locks, lest the mud of the ring soil his sleek hair.
#
"Oscar: Origin of the Name",1719,0,0,0
It has been claimed that a mere accident, the mistaking of one person for someone else was responsible for the naming of the Oscar, this coveted motion-picture award.
It happened one day in the offices of Donald Gledhill, the secretary of the \JHollywood\j Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He had been joined by his wife, expecting the visit of their "Uncle Oscar," whom they had not seen for a considerable time. While they waited for his arrival, the jeweler who had been commissioned to make the then still unnamed gold-plated statuette, called unannounced and without an appointment.
Mrs Gledhill, who at the time was in the outer office, mistook him for the expected guest and called out to her husband, "Here's Uncle Oscar!" It being \JHollywood\j, the press was not far away. In fact, a reporter was hanging around in that very room. On hearing Mrs Gledhill's announcement, he imagined he had gotten hold of a scoop and that she had given away the name of the statuette still kept strictly secret.
He did not wait for a confirmation, but rushed off to publish the news in his column which appeared next morning. Other newspapers immediately copied it and by the power of the press a mistaken identity became the accepted description of the award which was never meant to be called an Oscar.
As could only be expected with a \JHollywood\j "production," other stories about its naming soon circulated. One such account stressed the fact that though established in 1927, for the first four years the trophy was without a name. It was simply known as "the Statuette." But when one day in 1931, Margaret Herrick, the Academy's librarian, was shown the statuette, she burst out saying, "He reminds me of my Uncle Oscar!" A newspaper columnist who chanced to be present overheard the remark and felt it was too good to be ignored. Subsequently, he made it into a story. An employee of the Academy, he reported, had affectionately dubbed the famous trophy, "Oscar," and the name stuck.
#
"Ostracized",1720,0,0,0
Anyone ostracized is shunned by society. The term used is significant not only in its \Jetymology\j but as part of history. It goes back to the ancient Greeks and their concern for the preservation of democracy.
If a political leader became too powerful or, by his dictatorial manner, was thought to threaten the people's freedom, a majority vote of citizens could remove him - at least temporarily - from his office and the country.
The way this was done took the form of a referendum which necessitated a minimum of 6000 votes. These were registered by means of earthenware tiles or potsherds cast into the ballot box. They were known as ostrakon, a Greek word derived from the description of an oyster shell. No doubt they were so called because they resembled it.
Citizens who felt that the accusation was unfounded left their ostrakon blank. Those agreeing with the \Jindictment\j, inscribed it with the would-be dictator's name - they "ostracized" him!
No trial was held and no evidence required. Neither could the accused defend himself. Within ten days during which time he was given a chance to wind up his personal affairs, he had to leave the country. The maximum period of banishment was ten years, later reduced to five. He was not deprived of his personal property or civic rights, both of which he resumed on his eventual return.
The institution of \Jostracism\j was one of the significant reforms introduced by the Athenian statesman \JCleisthenes\j on his assuming office in 508 BC and first applied 20 years later. It was abolished only towards the end of the fifth pre-Christian century by \JAlcibiades\j, who himself had been one of its victims.
Archaeologists have unearthed almost 1000 ostrakons, with the still legibly-inscribed names of politicians exiled in classical times.
#
"Ostrich's Head in Sand",1721,0,0,0
That in the face of danger and when alarmed ostriches bury their heads in the sand is a widely-held belief, even applied in daily speech. Faulty observation, once again, is the basis of the fallacy. When sighting possible danger, the \Jostrich\j might lie down on the ground, stretching its neck flat out so that it can watch what is happening. It is a clever maneuver, as standing up, this (largest living) bird would present an easy target.
In fact, ostriches do not always adopt this position. Like any other animal when threatened, this flightless African bird may at once take to its feet and, at the tremendous speed of which it is capable, run the other way.
#
"Ostriches Eat Anything",1722,0,0,0
Ostriches are supposed to digest anything, including iron objects, such as nails, coins, and keys. This is not true. Certainly, ostriches are indiscriminate eaters. They may gobble up the most unlikely fare and do so to their own detriment. Capable of coping with a considerable amount of foreign matter, too much metal can prove fatal for the bird. Here, too, Shakespeare can be blamed for having perpetuated the \Jfable\j. In the play \IKing \JHenry VI\j,\i a character threatens his possible murderer with making him eat "iron like an \Jostrich\j, and swallow my word like a great pin."
#
"Otway Lighthouse Cemetery",1723,0,0,0
About a kilometer from the Otway Lighthouse is a small, wind-swept cemetery with but half a dozen graves. Located in a hollow among sand dunes, it can only be reached by a four-wheel-drive vehicle or on foot. Buried in this cemetery are two small children of former lighthouse keepers. In their isolation, they had died before a doctor could arrive.
Also interred at this lonely spot are the bodies of Chief Officer Albert Griffiths, aged 33 years, 34 year old Thomas Monk, AB, and Alex Mathison O.S., aged 23. "They all lost their lives in the Blanket Bay Disaster on 21 March 1896." Most of the stones have disintegrated. The inscriptions on others have become illegible.
#
"Our Glad - Gladys Moncrieff",1724,0,0,0
An ancient legend relates how King David, a lover of music, had a harp suspended above his bed which, whenever the wind blew on it, played celestial tunes.
Love of music also was the reason for the choice of an ornamental lyre as part of the monument for the Moncrieff family in the South Head Cemetery. It is moulded into the heavy slab of white marble marking the gravesite and raised above it on four modernistic "legs."
Originally only Gladys Moncrieff's parents were buried there, both of whom had passed away in 1922, just four months apart. When Gladys died 54 years later, on 8 February 1976, she was cremated at the Nerang Crematorium in \JQueensland\j, but her ashes were sent to the South Head Cemetery, to be entombed there with her parents' remains under the lyre-like canopy.
The unique memorial was most fitting. Gladys' parents had been accomplished musicians, and it was through their inspiration, encouragement, and persistence that she became one of \JAustralia\j's most popular singers, with no rival in \Jmusical comedy\j.
Beloved by all, she had thousands of fans and became known all over the country as "Our Glad." No one could excel her in what was to become her favorite role, the leading lady in \IThe Maid of the Mountains,\i in which she appeared at least 3,000 times.
Gladys started her career in Bundaberg, her native town. There she sang her first song at the age of eight, doing so for a fee of one shilling (ten cents), really a bribe given her by her Dad. When still a young girl, she was taken by her parents on a concert tour, billed as "Little Gladys, the Australian Child Wonder."
There was no stopping her, even when, at the height of her career, she suffered broken limbs in a motor accident and had to spend more than five months in \Jhospital\j. She was the first woman artist during World War II to entertain servicemen in New Guinea, singing to 17,000 Australian and American troops.
The soldiers adored her, and she knew how to capture their hearts. Once, she gave a concert at the front line, appearing on stage in a beautiful evening gown. She noticed that the front seats had been cordoned off for officers. Ad-libbing, she told the men, "Well, chaps, the war is over!" Pausing, she continued, "And you know how I know? All the officers are out front!"
"Our Glad" was 83 years old when she passed away on the Gold Coast, where she had spent her years of retirement entertaining a stream of visitors who still called on her, to share memories of the past.
Years have gone by since her death and for many "Our Glad," has become a legend. The strings of the tombstone lyre have disintegrated. Although her parents' names and dates are recorded, the fact that with them rest the ashes of their famous daughter is not mentioned; not even her name appears. Without the cemetery records, no one would know she was buried there.
Two texts are inscribed on the slab. "God gave his great Command," are the words above the now stringless lyre, those below it, "Thy will be done."
#
"Outdated Calendar",1725,0,0,0
Even dates date. But man, as a creature of habit, has made no effort to update his calendar. He might never catch up, not even in the way he calls the months which are now in part wrongly numbered.
In Caesar's time (whose calendar was adopted in Europe early on), the year commenced in March. Accordingly, September was the seventh month, October the eighth, November the ninth and December the tenth. This, of course, is the very meaning of their names - using the Latin \Iseptem\i for "seven," \Iocto\i for "eight," \Inovem\i for "nine" and \Idecem\i for "ten."
When the \JGregorian calendar\j was introduced (in Scotland in 1600 and in England as late as 1752), New Year was advanced by two months. This made the old numbering of months obsolete and inapplicable. In spite of it, no one bothered to correct their names to bring them up to date.
#
"Outdated Mistress",1726,0,0,0
Very appropriately, a wife shared her husband's distinction as the Master of the house, at least in her designation which, adapted the feminine way, became known as Mistress. Everything gets worn by frequent usage, and so did her name. Possibly slurred as well, ultimately it was pronounced "Missis," though in its abbreviated form as Mrs, it continued to recall her original status as the Mistress.
Once the significant change had taken place, her title deteriorated. Losing its former respectability, it assumed as a mistress (no longer spelled with a capital "M') the role of a man's kept woman, his paramour.
Perhaps there is a psychological reason for her (mis)appropriation of the Mistress' title. Does not frequently the novel mistress master the Master much more than the (outdated) Mistress could ever do?
As if to recall her past glory, the genuine Mistress of former days occasionally reappears as "the mistress of the house."
#
"Owen Gun Inventor",1727,0,0,0
Thousands of Australian lives were saved during World War II through Evelyn Ernest Owen's invention of a submachine gun, yet his gravesite in the Wollongong Cemetery, where he is buried next to his parents, tells nothing of his place in Australian history and of the debt the nation owes him. His is a most unassuming, concrete-covered grave.
Guns had been Evelyn's hobby in childhood days. He read every book he could obtain on the subject and as a teenager, experimented in the backyard of his home with explosives and \Jfirearms\j of many types. The pursuit became almost an obsession and left not a few scars on his body. In his parents' garage, he invented the gun which was to be called after him. But before he could do this, Owen had to experience countless disappointments and rebuffs.
The uniqueness of his gun was its simplicity and the fact that, unlike more sophisticated models, it worked equally well when immersed in water or clogged with mud or sand.
However, when Owen first offered his brainchild to the authorities, they were not interested. They did not even bother to examine his gun. Typical was the reaction of an officer at the Victoria Barracks in Sydney. When Evelyn demonstrated the gun, he was aghast. "That's an American gangster gun" was all he could say, apart from that "the army has no use for it." Finally his weapon was officially rejected because "sub-machine guns are not part of British standard equipment."
Totally frustrated, Owen gave up the fight. He returned home to Wollongong and, like his two brothers, enlisted in the AIF.
On his final leave before going overseas, he felt the urge to have a few last spurts with his gun, at the seaside. On his return, he met some friends, who invited him to join them for a drink, which he gladly did. Carelessly, he left the sack containing his gun, with its butt sticking out, propped up against the wall of his home.
V. A. Wardell, a neighbor who also was the manager of Lysaght, the Port Kembla sheet metal plant, caught sight of it. To prevent others from picking it up, he took it to his flat and, examining it, and well acquainted with \Jfirearms\j, immediately realized its many advantages. When Evelyn came back he discussed the gun with him and then promised, ignoring all previous abortive attempts on Owen's part, to submit it to the authorities.
By-passing bureaucracy, he went straight to the top, contacting both Essington Lewis, the Director General of Munitions, and P. C. Spender, the Minister for the Army. They had to admit the superiority of Owen's gun, which far exceeded in effectiveness the heavy, complicated US Thompson, then general issue.
Perfect in design, it could be produced at far less cost. Best of all, it could be fired under the worst possible conditions. A project Evelyn had been forced to abandon, suddenly was given national priority. He was released from the army to supervise the manufacture of his submachine gun. The boy from Wollongong was to see his dream come true after all.
The Owen gun became a standard weapon for the Australian army. Its advantages were soon recognized by every Digger, not least so by the men fighting the Japanese in New Guinea.
Unfortunately, in the end Owen himself had little to show for his invention. Though royalties and the later sale of the production rights netted him $20,000, not being a businessman, he lost most of the money he had earned, through bad investments.
Ill health started to dog him and he could not settle down or forget the early rebuffs. On 1 April 1949, at the young age of 35, he died in the Wollongong District \JHospital\j, a bitter and disappointed man.
#
"Oxygen: Origin of the Name",1728,0,0,0
Oxygen is an essential for life. Its very name, coined (in 1779) by the French chemist Lavoisier, perpetuates a misconception on his part. He erroneously believed that this gaseous element was vital in the formation of acids. He therefore called it by a name which scientifically referred to his imagined faculty of "giving rise to acids," oxygen - from \Ioxus,\i the Greek for "sharp." His mistake has never been rectified.
#
"Pacing Lion",1729,0,0,0
People who watch the big cats pacing up and down in a zoo may take pity on them by interpreting the animals' almost ceaseless movement as an expression of their frustration and feeling of confinement. They are mistaken. The animals would do likewise anywhere. They restlessly walk to and fro not because of being restricted in space. They do so in anticipation of feeding time or, in natural surroundings, because they are hungry.
Those concerned with animal liberation must beware of anthropomorphising the animal behavior and applying human standards to the world of beasts which has its own rules, lifestyle, and \Jbody language\j.
#
"Paddy - the Irishman",1730,0,0,0
The Irish are among the few nationals of a country to be called after a saint. Frenchmen are called "Frogs" - because Englishmen imagined that frogs were their favorite food. An Englishman, on the other hand, used to be known as "John Bull" and the American continues to be a "Yank" - all names of mundane derivation. But the Irishman is "Paddy," an endearing diminutive of St Patrick, a name evolved from the Latin for "nobleman."
Traditionally, Patrick converted Ireland to \JChristianity\j in A.D. 432. His figure became so prominent that soon many a legend was associated with him. Best-known is the unfounded claim that he had liberated his adopted country (he was born in England) from snakes.
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"Paddy Wagon",1731,0,0,0
As is well known, New York policemen mostly are of Irish descent. No wonder therefore that they were nicknamed "Paddy" - the popularized form of St Patrick, the Irish patron saint. So that the vehicle they used (an enclosed van or truck) to take people under arrest to the police station, became known colloquially as the paddy wagon. It was a somewhat sad application of the saint's name.
A tradition even more derogatory of the sons of Eire derives \Ipaddy wagon\i from the allegation that most of the apprehended trouble-makers were of Irish stock. Often under the influence of drink, they were transported to the nearest police station locked up in a van. Because of its Irish "passengers," this became known as the paddy wagon.
#
"Pageant",1732,0,0,0
At one time, a church was not the only place where people could receive religious inspiration. It was brought to them as well in the form of popular religious drama and mystery plays which came to be enacted in the open, mostly in a public square. They were performed on a moveable, wagon-like stage, a wooden structure mounted on wheels.
To begin with, this mobile dais and its scaffolding was called a \Ipageant,\i from the Greek word for "to fasten" or "to fix," the name simply referring to the manner in which this primitive platform was constructed.
The term was then transferred from the stage to the enactments of religious episodes on it. Eventually, the religious contents and associations of the word's meaning lapsed, leaving it with its present-day \Jdenotation\j: any showy spectacle or grandiose procession.
#
"Pago for Pango - a Printing Exigency",1733,0,0,0
Many a tourist has wondered why the principal port of \JAmerican Samoa\j in the South Pacific, though rendered Pago Pago in print, is pronounced Pango Pango. Equally puzzling is the pronunciation of Fijian Nadi as Nandi. In either case, the endeavor to spread the Christian faith has been responsible for the confusing discrepancy between the spelled and spoken names.
When missionaries first arrived on the islands, they were anxious to provide the population with religious literature in their native tongue. Trying to transliterate local sounds however, they faced a problem. Certain sound combinations, common in island languages, necessitated that the letter "n" precede a number of consonants. As this was a frequent occurrence, the missionaries found that their printing font was far short of the vast amount of \In\is required. At a loss, they did the next best thing. They simply omitted the "n" aItogether. The original difficulty no longer applies, but the resultant error has not been rectified.
#
"Paint the Town Red",1734,0,0,0
People who, in uninhibited exuberance, go on a spree are said to "paint the town red." A colorful description, it has given rise to several possible explanations, ranging from the innocuous to the violent.
An early meaning of to "paint" was to "drink." Those who imbibed an excess of liquor were thought to show their overindulgence by a red complexion, if not of their faces, at least their nose. Intoxicated, people might lose self-control. Giving vent to their feelings, they would light fires which, with their red glow, lit up the city's streets.
It has become the custom for brothels, bars, and (often illegal) gambling places to be aggregated in one specific neighborhood, well-known to those in search of them. It is not uncommon for groups of sailors or other men, jointly on the loose, to go on a drunken spree. Their obvious choice of destination is that part of the city known as the "red light district." Its color, as it were, rubbed off on them and their revelry. "To paint the town red" has become a euphemism for their notorious visits to this disreputable part of town.
As fire and blood are red, the color became symbolic of danger and of violence. It is no wonder, therefore, that the high jinks of inebriates frequently generate hooliganism and, with its ensuing bloodshed, leaves its traces on the pavement. It is a real but regretful way of painting the town red!
American Indians, too, have been credited with the introduction of the phrase. When still on the warpath, after having sacked a town, they often would set it on fire. And did not the flames that shot up into the sky paint the town red?
#
"Painted Eggs",1735,0,0,0
At first Easter eggs were dyed bright red - a joyful color, and one appropriate to express excitement at the coming of spring. Red, as the color of blood, also symbolized, and actually was thought magically to ensure, the renewed life-sap that was coursing through nature. To Christians, specifically, it was a reminder of the blood shed by Jesus for the good of man.
Various reasons have been given for the custom of painting Easter eggs in different colors. Christologically, it was linked with Simon of Cyrene, a \JJerusalem\j egg merchant whom Jesus had passed on the way to his crucifixion. Out of his deep compassion, Simon not only accompanied Jesus but, leaving behind his baskets of eggs, helped Jesus carry the cross to the site of execution. On his return from \JCalvary\j he discovered that, miraculously, all the eggs were colored!
A Polish legend traces the practice of dying the eggs for Easter to Jesus' early childhood. To give her son some extra joy, Mary had painted hard-boiled eggs in a variety of colors - yellow, green and red. Other mothers soon followed her example. Only when the egg became the symbol of \Jresurrection\j was the custom restricted to the season of Easter.
#
"Painting of Nails",1736,0,0,0
Women have painted their finger-nails for thousands of years. In ancient \JEgypt\j, all women followed the practice. Cleopatra used stain on her nails.
In Europe women did likewise. To enamel their nails belonged to their daily beauty culture. It had become a custom so prevalent in Cromwell's days that he denounced and banned it. But women eventually won their way and, with the Restoration, painted fingernails also were restored. Only when, centuries later, Queen Victoria was "not amused" by the habit, did women's nails lose their color again. But not for long.
Originally, women thought that the conspicuous color of their nails repelled evil spirits. Then women used the paint to make themselves more attractive and arouse passion in the male breast.
The painting of nails helped equally to cover up small imperfections. The protective cover of varnish, so it was claimed, improved the health of the nails and made them less brittle.
But other significant considerations reinforced the custom in countries as far removed as China, \JSpain\j, and the United States.
Chinese Mandarins gilded their nails to indicate their high rank. It was part of their insignia of nobility: not worn, in the form of pips and stripes, on a uniform, but painted in distinct color on a conspicuous part of their body. So to speak, look at a person's nails and you will know who she is, her position, and rank.
It is an unfortunate fact of historical experience that certain races have considered themselves superior to others. They were possessed with the wish to preserve the purity of their blood. Thus anything darker than white was frowned upon. Anyone showing the slightest stain - of "impurity" - was socially ostracized.
But often nature was stronger than convention, and miscegenation took place in numerous cases. All laws of segregation were not able to prevent the mixing of the white and the colored, socially, and sexually. The inevitable results were children who bore the mark of their parents' mixed blood.
Sometimes they were lucky and took on almost completely the features and color of their white parent and, apparently, did not give away the (to them) unfortunate secret of their dark (prenatal) past. And yet, there was one slight but most visible indication. This existed in the pigmentation of their nails. Therefore to cover them up and to give them the right kind of color became a necessity.
This applied equally to Spaniards with Moorish blood in their veins as to American citizens, one of whose parents had not quite withdrawn from the line of segregation. They needed the camouflage. Indeed, it was as if the wheel had come full circle. Once again, as in savage days, the paint on their nails was not a matter of beauty culture, but a weapon of defense. It was used to ward off misfortune, though this time of a different and more tangible kind.
All this is now mostly a matter of the regrettable past. Women once again have extended the painting of nails from their fingers to their toes. But they are doing so for no other reason than that all other women do likewise.
#
"Pajamas/Pyjamas",1737,0,0,0
To call the two-piece sleepwear "pajamas," does not do justice to their name. If they were truly pajamas, they would be topless! Of Persian origin, the word literally speaks of leg-clothing, \Ipae-jamah.\i In fact, to start with, it described loose-fitting trousers, held up by a cord around the waist. Worn as a unisex garment by Moslems in the East throughout the day, the English adopted them from the Portuguese. In the transfer the original day-apparel had become a night garb and a jacket been added to the trousers.
In the early days, pajamas had even "foot-ends" sewn on to them. Asked by a customer for their purpose, a London Westend outfitter is said to have replied, "I believe, Sir, it is because of white ants."
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"Palm Sunday's Origin",1738,0,0,0
The Sunday before Easter is celebrated as \JPalm Sunday\j. It commemorates Jesus' entry into \JJerusalem\j when the people "took palm branches and went out to meet him."
At the time, the city was thronged with pilgrims who had come for the Jewish Passover, which was about to begin. Many of the crowd, so the Gospels tell, greeted him jubilantly. They spread out garments before him and covered his path with branches they cut from the trees which, traditionally, were palms. They waved the fronds as symbols of peace.
This is the basis of \JPalm Sunday\j and the custom on that day of bringing fronds to church to be blessed and carried in procession. Some of the fronds are kept to provide the ashes for Ash Wednesday of the following year. Others used to be taken home by the worshipers in the belief that they would act as a powerful charm against \Jlightning\j and storms.
#
"Palmistry",1739,0,0,0
The difference between a man's two hands - in the way they varied in strength - did not go unnoticed. Always observant, man detected other distinctive features, not least among them the numerous lines that crisscrossed his palms and the odd formations of miniature "mounds" and "dales." Comparing notes, he came to realize also that no two hands were ever alike.
Convinced that everything in life had a purpose and meaning, he felt that this mystifying discovery must have some message for him. To explore it became a highly specialized task and occupation.
That is how palmistry came into existence. Using the Greek word for "hand" - \Ikheir\i - it is also but more rarely referred to as cheiromancy. (The Greek \Ikheir\i survives as well in the much more popular chiropodist who looks both after the "hand" and the "foot," \Ipo√s,\i and the chiropractor who, of course, manipulates patients with his "hands.")
Palmistry, no doubt, is the oldest of the arts which chose part of the human body for \Jdivination\j purposes. Later on there followed physiognomy, which judged man's character by his facial features, and phrenology, which concerned itself with the configuration, the "bumps," palpable on his skull.
Palmistry goes back at least 5,000 years to China and India. The \JBible\j contains numerous references to the hand and has been quoted as a divine support of the art and as God's "charter" of palmistry. In Job's words God "seals up the hand of every man, that all men may know his works" (Job 37,7). Indubitably, so medieval chiromantics asserted, this verse clearly indicated that the imprints in man's hands had been specially provided by God for the purpose of palmistry.
Greeks certainly believed in and studied the art. A story tells that among archaeological remnants in \JEgypt\j, Aristotle discovered an ancient manuscript on the science of "hand reading" written in Arabic letters of gold. Deeply impressed by it, he had forwarded it to his patron, Alexander the Great, and urged him to study it because it was "worthy of the attention of an elevated and inquiring mind."
The palmist was the expert who claimed the gift, either by intuition or by acute observation, of being able to detect and then rightly to interpret the coded message held in a person's palm. Every line, mound, and marking had a meaning. To assess the meaning correctly, it was necessary to carefully note these features' depth, size, and dimension, the figure they formed and the position in which they were placed. If rightly done, this would give profound insight into the person's character, his past or his future and even the state of his health.
Maps were drawn of the outstanding marks to look for, and each was given its individual connotation. Among them, for instance, were the "line of life" and "line of heart," names that are self-explanatory. The mounds of Venus and of Mercury, on the other hand, clearly indicated by their names that they concerned characteristics of sex and mercurial quickness and changeableness.
It was further reasoned that the two hands of a man would not give the identical message. God and nature were too economical to repeat in one hand what the other had already shown. Evidence of this claim was again found in the \JBible\j by quoting the statement made in the Proverbs (3,16) that "length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor." This was not, it was said, just a metaphorical statement. It was the divine acknowledgment of the distinctive function of each hand for divinatory purposes.
Subsequently, a tradition claimed that while the left hand "contained" everything that belonged to a person in innate qualities, tendencies, and endowments, his right hand registered what he had done with them, i.e., his actual achievements. With this background in mind, Osbert Sitwell chose as the title of the first volume of his \Jautobiography\j the phrase, \ILeft Hand, Right Hand.\i
There was another significant observation that those studying a person's hands were able to make. People can be divided into two groups according to the manner in which they clench their hands into a fist. Many, when doing so, will put their thumb inside their fingers; as it were, they hide it within. Others - equally instinctively and without giving it any consideration - will always superimpose the thumb and let it rest on top of the clenched fist.
The clasping of the fingers, too, can be done in one of two ways, and a person will never change the method he has adopted. Either he puts the right thumb over the left or vice versa.
It was a foregone conclusion that the type to which an individual belonged was thought to convey a special message and reveal some definite characteristics. Even psychologists claim so, though they are not unanimous as to the actual meaning of this conspicuous variation in the manner of "clenching fists" and "interlacing fingers."
At times, it was felt that palmistry would be even more effective as a means of \Jdivination\j in combination with \Jastrology\j. By joining forces, they would be able to penetrate further and deeper the mysteries of the future and man's mind. But then palmistry experienced a setback which was not of its making. Charlatans discovered that man's curiosity to "know" his character and his future could easily be exploited. And "fortune tellers" became a favorite attraction at country fairs. Thus cheapened, palmistry lost much of its standing and many people came to look down upon it.
Nevertheless, chiromancy has not died out. It has gained an entirely "new look" and meaning by its application in modern medical science which has learned to take note of the hand in its diagnoses. To the doctor, a man's hand, his finger prints and even his nails, can indicate significant features, proneness to (or the presence of) certain diseases and his general state of health.
The personality of a hand thus has contributed its share to \Jdivination\j. It reflects the occult view that just as man is the microcosm of the universe, so is his hand the microcosm of man. And in many ways he cannot disguise it. People can deceive others about their age, for instance, by making up their face or undergoing cosmetic surgery. But their hands will still give them (and their age) away.
The hand certainly has faithfully served those dedicated to the occult in their constant quest for foresight and farsightedness. But beyond it, chiromancy has focused the attention of everybody on the true and lasting significance of the hand, which still is far from being fully appreciated.
Confronting the uncertain future, man continues to use his hands. Whether he does so actively or in speculation depends on the view he takes of the validity of palmistry, which it has been said, along with \Jalchemy\j and \Jastrology\j, constitutes man's unholy trinity.
In their portrayal of God and his influence on this world, medieval artists used to picture an impenetrable cloud in the sky, from which a hand - God's hand - was reaching down. With this they tried to convey how the unknowable divinity because of human limitations was concealed from man. However, God did reveal himself by the hand - a divine instrument. It not only signified God's workings that were recognizable by the senses, but presented a gift of unending potential which has not yet fully been grasped.
#
"Pan - the Goat God",1740,0,0,0
Why have horns, a tail, and cloven hooves become the typical features of the devil's figure? Certainly, they are not of recent growth. Surprisingly, they belonged to one of the most ancient, "original" descriptions of a demon. A mythological text, stemming from Ugarit, tells how El, the chief god, was once almost terrified to death by the appearance (!) of a demon with "two horns and a tail."
A prehistoric cave drawing discovered in \JFrance\j shows the figure of a man clad as a stag with antlers of enormous size! Horned gods were part of the \Jmythology\j of the dream-distant past. And, no doubt, the universal and ancient horned figure played the role of a fertility symbol. A Greek god's sprouting horns (as stags, bulls, and goats did in nature) became the prototype of the later conception of the Christian devil.
All "panic" started with this god - and so did the devil's horns and his tail. They are the gift of Pan.
The Greeks worshiped Pan as their god of flocks, herds, pastures, and fields. He was in charge of reproduction and, himself very amorous, his chief business was to make the flocks fertile. As man depended on his flocks at the time, he realized that without Pan's aid, the world would die.
Pan's shape was mainly seen as that of a \Jgoat\j and for obvious reasons. A \Jgoat\j covered all the territory subject to Pan. He darted around fields and through herds of \Jcattle\j. Even more, he was renowned for his lustful nature and powers of reproduction.
And man, always deeply concerned with fertility - of his fields, his \Jcattle\j and, not least, himself - acknowledged the supremacy of the \Jgoat\j - god and how much he relied on his good will. Thus he paid Pan the homage he so much deserved, hoping that in return the god would reward him with extra fecundity.
It is no wonder that the Christian faith encountered great difficulty in stamping out the age-old veneration of a force that was so near and dear to every man. In its fervor and determination to get rid of the "old god" who was so deeply rooted in nature, the Church used the \Jgoat\j - god's very features (and even exaggerated their hideousness) as part of the image with which it portrayed the devil.
The devil now grew the \Jgoat\j's horns and had its tail and its cloven hooves. Worst of all, as a faith which abhorred the physical as unworthy of man and tried to suppress all intimations of "nature," \JChristianity\j depicted the devil as a creature as lascivious as the \Jgoat\j! Both could never get enough of copulation.
The \Jgoat\j had other characteristics that made it very suitable to be the ideal embodiment of the devil. Its black hair was the very color which symbolized (the darkness of) sin. No doubt, it was this consideration which made the Israelites of the \JBible\j select a black animal for a \Jscapegoat\j to carry away the sins of the people. Its two horns in particular fitted perfectly the devilish \Jcult\j which metaphorically tied on them the fundamental philosophy of its worship. This denied God's claim for supremacy as the omnipotent power in the world. It re-asserted the Gnostic teaching (based on earlier Persian thought) that just as there were two horns of identical size and strength, so were the forces of evil equal to the forces of God. Moreover, often when God failed, the devil would prove successful.
#
"Pan Books",1741,0,0,0
With the end of World War II approaching, Alan Bott, the then managing director of the Book and Reprint Societies, decided to embark on the establishment of his own paperback publishing house. He well knew how important it was to find for it a suitable and catchy name, different from, and yet in line with, those used by competitive firms already in existence.
Of the many ideas that came to his mind, none seemed really what he wanted. Then the unexpected happened, by serendipity. Whilst sitting in his office behind his desk one day, quite by chance, his eyes fell on a small pen and ink drawing. Mervyn Peake, a well-known illustrator, had given it to him some time ago. It depicted the mythological god Pan, and Bott immediately realized that it presented the answer to his quest. It was the birth of Pan Books.
Among paperback logos, it provided the only divine figure. Whether, at the time, Bott also thought of the fascinating multiplicity of the god's range of activities as something that might be reflected in his range of titles, is a matter of conjecture. But it is true that the god certainly ruled over a vast variety of territories and phenomena.
A pastoral deity, he also loved the solitude of mountains and hills. He was master of flocks and herds and, indeed - as his Greek name proclaimed - he was the god of "all" \I(pan\i in Greek) nature. He could startle people and give them nightmares. On the other hand, when playing his pipes, he soothed them. \JSocrates\j prayed to him for beauty of the soul. A fertility god as well, he excelled in amorous pursuits. Panic and \Jpanpipes\j, both were of his making. What promise of diversity in titles and experiences his name spelled for Pan books.
#
"Panama Hat",1742,0,0,0
Panama hats originated in \JEcuador\j, Panama's southern neighbor. The misleading use of the Central American republic's name was due to the fact that Panama used to be the chief exporter of the hat, which in the beginning was hand-plaited from the leaves of the scew-pine.
#
"Pancake Tuesday",1743,0,0,0
Conscious of the approaching, and lengthy, time of Lent, people took advantage of their last opportunity to enjoy themselves. They did so by playing all kinds of games and watching various sports. Cockfights, wrestling and football matches were all popular, as was another unique form of entertainment that is now linked closely with the day - pancake races.
Because the coming fast would demand the total exclusion of eggs and fat from the daily diet, all the eggs and butter left in the pantry had to be used up. One of the favorite ways to do this was to make pancakes.
The pancake races, so legend tells, came about early in the fifteenth century as the result of a housewife's absentmindedness. Just when she was frying her cakes the church bell started to ring, calling the people to the service. She lashed out of the house and ran to church, forgetting that she was still clutching her frypan. In fact, she continued to toss the cakes on the way.
The most famous of all pancake races is the one run at Olney in the English county of Buckinghamshire. It is supposed to date back to as early as 1450. Run just before noon over a distance of 400 yards (364 m), it was open to all housewives over the age of eighteen. They had to adhere to strict rules, even with regard to the way they were dressed. Their hair had to be covered by a hat or a scarf and they had to wear an apron, but never slacks. Contestants were also required to have lived in the area for a minimum of six months.
During the race, each housewife had to carry the still sizzling pancake in its pan and to toss it three times on the way at the start of the "sprint;" at an optional point on the route; and at the finish. The winner became the pancake champion for the year. She was awarded a \JBible\j from the vicar and a kiss from the bellringer, who could keep all the cakes cooked by the "racers."
It is no wonder then, that Shrove Tuesday also became popularly known as Pancake Tuesday.
#
"Pandemonium",1744,0,0,0
Wherever "pandemonium" rules, the word suggests, it is because demons are everywhere \I(pan).\i
John Milton coined the term, using it first (in 1667) in his \IParadise Lost\i as the name of the capital city of hell. The very center of wickedness in this infernal region, Pandemonium was under Satan's supervision.
Therefore in the original meaning the poet gave to Pandemonium, it was an exclusively theological site. Then detached as it were from satan's dominion, people came to use the term to describe tumultuous situations in life, with things so much upside-down and in such infernal confusion that they were - figuratively speaking - truly "hellish."
#
"Panic",1745,0,0,0
The god Pan loved to have his special fun and do so at the expense of others, mostly by scaring people. And he achieved this aim in various forms.
He might suddenly dart out of a thicket and frighten the passer-by by his unexpected appearance and, no less, his hidious features. Pan's dominion expanded far and wide, embracing the whole of nature. (Pan, after all, is the Greek for "all" which accounts for the term \Jpantheism\j to describe the belief in the identity of God in \Iall\i nature.) When people, always afraid of the mysterious, were all on their own in a dark forest and heard eerie sounds, they were unnerved. They immediately assumed that the weird noise came from Pan who also delighted in rattling men by emitting a scream. And because this terrifying behavior came from him, the alarm it created was called after the god: we continue to speak of - panic.
#
"Pantry",1746,0,0,0
A house most certainly contains many odds and ends, not least in the description of some of its features. It stores numerous things of the past which have become obsolete. But unable or unwilling to dispose of them, it makes use of them for purposes never originally intended. This applies to the pantry. Now the storing place for every type of food, all it should contain is bread. It explicitly states so in its name. Pantry is derived from \Ipanis,\i the Latin for "bread."
#
"Pants: Origin of the Name",1747,0,0,0
A saint survives in every pair of pants and, with it, in the panty as well. The mere fact that little was known of the 4th century St Pantaleon was all the more reason for legend to embellish his life and his martyr's death. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, he was brought up as a Christian. For some time, however, he drifted back into paganism till a devout friend brought him back to his mother's faith.
Pantaleon became a noted physician who counted among his many patients Emperor \JGalerius\j. But fate took a turn for the worst, when in A.D. 303 Emperor Diocletian began to persecute Christians. Jealous colleagues denounced Pantaleon; he was arrested, tortured and, after six abortive attempts to execute him, finally beheaded.
With the passing of centuries he became ever more popular among the pious. They venerated him as one of the great martyrs, a miracle worker and a doctor who had selflessly and without payment looked after the poor sick. He was made the patron saint of Venice, which resulted in Pantaleon becoming the Venetians' favorite baptismal name.
No wonder that so beloved a figure conquered the (16th century) Italian stage. Strangely, however, he developed into a stock character of Italian comedy, portrayed as a foolish, old and haggard man, a harmless sort of dotard. The paradox of his very name was cause for laughter. He who was so mild and meek a person was called Pantaleone, Italian for "all - lion!" He always appeared in slippers. The loose trousers he wore became so much identified with him that eventually they were called by his name: pantaloons. Duly shortened to pants, they are now the trousers of every man, even of those not making fools of themselves.
#
"Parasite",1748,0,0,0
A parasite lives at the expense of its host. It is a sponger. All the word innocuously says - in Greek - is "beside food." That was the parasite's original "position" in early Greek religious cults. As the representative of those making an offering, the parasite actively participated in the ritual and, in acknowledgment, shared the priest's food, and as a further gift, received a portion of the sacrifice.
It was a rewarding occupation and a welcome opportunity to live at other people's expense. Greek dramatists soon took hold of the idea and gave the parasite a place of its own, now totally detached from religion. They made it a stock figure of comedy - who gatecrashed parties, flattered the host and, in any argument, however undeserved and unjustified, took the host's side. Even the name given in some farces indicated the parasite's special role. There was "Mr Soup," for instance, so called as he always turned up at the very beginning of a meal, not to miss even its first course.
From the sanctuary and the stage, the parasite then was adopted in the nomenclature of nature, to become as well the description of a creature or plant that lived at the expense of others. It took everything from its host without giving anything in return.
#
"Parents' Lament",1749,0,0,0
\BJaney\b
Children's graves, so numerous in the pioneering days of \JAustralia\j, are a pathetic sight in themselves. They become even more heartrending when one reads the words parents had inscribed on the stones they set up on the little plots in which their lost treasures lie.
Janey was the "dearly beloved third daughter of Edward and Jane Toole, who died on 12 May 1887" at the age of seven. The inscription on her grave in the Yarra Glen Cemetery echoes her parents' feelings:
\INo more thy welcome footsteps
Shall tread our cottage door
No more will watch thee coming home
When the school time is o'er.\i
#
"Parliamentary Procedure and Royal Regalia",1750,0,0,0
Parliament is the very heart of democracy. Its growth in British lands reflects the maturing of a nation's desire to rule itself in the most effective and reliable manner. Every detail of Parliamentary tradition and procedure was evolved in the pursuit of that ideal. Added to this was a determination to stop any government from becoming an autocratic force.
Parliament goes back to 1258. In that year, in opposition to King Henry III, the Earl of Leicester convened an assembly at Oxford. He ordered two Knights from each shire and representatives from certain boroughs to meet selected Barons and members of the \JClergy\j there and then. However, what has been called the Model Parliament dates back to 1295, when "Commoners" were first elected - and not just appointed - to represent the people.
Rules of courtesy permeate all Parliamentary procedure. A member must stand up to speak. He is expected to do so without reference to notes. Maiden speeches are treated with special consideration. Tradition demands that a member of the opposing party shall congratulate the speaker on his first effort.
Even in the heat of debate, everything that might hurt or insult a member must be avoided. No one in Parliament can be accused of having lied. That is why Churchill, when trying to point out how a member had made an untruthful statement, was unable to do so in so many words. Instead, in his ingenious way of coining new phrases, he suggested that the man had been guilty of "a terminological inexactitude."
Parliament has taught man that democracy means not: "I am equal to you" but that "You are equal to me."
#
"Parrot: Meaning of the Name",1751,0,0,0
The parrot has been a popular pet in the Western world for more than two millennia. Alexander the Great was the first to introduce the bird. He brought it home from India, as a gift for his teacher, the philosopher Aristotle.
Birds have had their share of having their names usurped by humans to identify themselves and their families. Typical examples are the Falcons, the Hawks, and the Peacocks. With the parrot the reverse is true. It bears the name of the \JApostle\j Peter, only does so in its diminutive form. What every parrot says - in its name - is "little Peter."
#
"Parsley's Magic Qualities",1752,0,0,0
So innocuous, inconspicuous and decorative a plant as \Jparsley\j, for millennia has played a significant role in man's life and death.
Medicinally, it was eaten to relieve \Jindigestion\j and to counteract poison. In fact, its presence in food assured guests of their host's friendship and good intentions. It was safe to eat at his table.
From antiquity onward, magic qualities were attributed to \Jparsley\j. Greek and Roman custom and myth linked it with death. As an evergreen, it symbolized, if not actually ensured, immortality. The victors in the Nemean Funeral Games were crowned with wreaths of \Jparsley\j, and the Greeks referred to anyone who had passed away by saying that he had "need now of nothing but a little \Jparsley\j." Romans scattered it on graves.
On their campaigns, no doubt, Roman soldiers carried the tradition to far-off lands, including Britain. Though eventually the original practices and reasons were forgotten, \Jparsley\j's association with death lingered on. Somehow, it was thought, the plant could magically influence existence and do so for better or worse.
Intriguing features of the \Jparsley\j plant reinforced the belief. At times its seed did not take or its germination took exceedingly long. Not knowing a natural cause, people blamed the devil. \JParsley\j was owned by him, they said. Prior to germinating, therefore, it was obliged to visit and pay homage to him in hell - not once, but twice, three, or seven times. And it was this that prolonged its sprouting. On some occasions, indeed, the devil permanently detained the plant, which explained why \Jparsley\j did not grow.
No wonder that planting \Jparsley\j was a dangerous undertaking. The only safe day was on \JGood Friday\j - God's Friday - when the devil was powerless. But even then it should preferably be done at sunset when the light was fading.
In Maryland and Louisiana, Americans employed additional anti-demonic measures. They never sowed \Jparsley\j by hand, but blew it on to the seedbed - from a \JBible\j!
To transplant \Jparsley\j was equally fraught with danger to life and health. Giving \Jparsley\j away might invite disaster. A donor therefore should indicate the plot where it grew for the intended recipient himself to dig it up.
Paradoxically, \Jparsley\j was regarded as well as an aphrodisiac. Its magic potency could make a sterile woman fertile, particularly so if she planted it around a \Jcarrot\j, which by its shape became a phallic symbol. The effect might be so fast that she could become pregnant even before the \Jparsley\j had germinated. "Sow \Jparsley\j, sow babies," ran an old proverb. On the other hand, a husband was wise to control its growth, as an overlush plot of the plant would result in the birth of only girls.
Sex as a producer of life was the most powerful force on earth and - because - \Jparsley\j was linked with sex it became a potent devil-repellent, imagined to ward off any type of evil.
Life and death, blessing and curse thus came to dwell in this little plant through custom and myth. It made people very cautious in planting, picking, and using it.
#
"Parson's Nose",1753,0,0,0
Colloquially to refer to the fleshy protuberance of the posterior of a fowl as "the parson's nose" was not the result of a harmless joke which in this case could not be called tasteless. The choice of name was deliberate and meant to be insulting. This parson's nose was created by people who wanted to vent their \Jspleen\j and to voice their contempt of a faith they abhorred.
The Pope's nose, an alternate description of that part of the bird, leaves no doubt against whom the abusive name was directed. In \Jsymbolism\j as in hierarchy, the Pope represented the (Roman) \JCatholic Church\j.
The story is told that the name was first chosen by Protestants, who in their antagonism imagined to have discovered a striking resemblance between the nose of the then-ruling Pope and the posterior of a chicken.
Their vision certainly was slanted. It reflected historical circumstances, most likely during the reign of King James II of England (1685-88). His Catholic sentiments, his favoritism towards "Romanists" and, not least, his attempt with the help of French troops to restore Catholicism in the country had greatly stirred the Protestant majority of Englishmen. They were determined to do everything in their power never again to have a Papist occupy the throne.
Anti-Catholic feeling agitated the people, causing them to express their hostility even at the dining table by associating the "smelly end" with the spiritual head of the Church they loathed. Later on, in more tolerant times, people possibly eager to forget the hateful past, in the way of speaking, replaced the Pope's nose by that of a parson. After all, he could belong to any denomination, and \Jclergy\j, taught to be humble, seemed not to mind if put to the very end.
#
"Participated in Historic Expeditions",1754,0,0,0
A beautifully carved stone marks the grave of Tommy Dower in the East Perth Cemetery. He died at the age of 50 on 2 July 1895, and his memorial was erected by "the \JAborigines\j Protection Board." Its inscription tells that "He was possessed of more than ordinary intelligence and ability." It pays special tribute to the services he rendered whilst participating in historic expeditions into the then still unknown expanse of the colony's territory:
\IHe accompanied Alexander Forrest on his exploration from the DeGrey River to Port Darwin 1879, when the Kimberley district was discovered. He also accompanied Sir John Forrest on several surveying expeditions in various parts of the colony.\i
#
"Parting of the Hair",1755,0,0,0
There are reasons for the various partings of hair. Women, in particular, realize that the choice of the "right" place for the parting can influence their hair style and, with it, their facial expression. The place chosen often depends on the shape of the face and the head. A center parting, for instance, is only advisable in those rare cases where a woman has perfectly symmetrical features.
However, parting of the hair on one side or the other is not primarily due to considerations of beauty and appearance.
People have often wondered why it is that men part their hair mostly on the left. For once, \Jsuperstition\j has played no part in this selection of sides. It is the result of purely physiological conditions. The explanation is that for right-handed men it is easiest to part the hair on the left.
Most of all, however, the place of parting is the outcome of the growth of hair. It depends almost entirely on the position of the whirl (or crown), which divides the hair naturally.
Mostly, the crown is on the left side, hence the parting is on the left. In exceptional cases (fiction claims among the most intelligent people) nature has provided two whirls. The fortunate person with two crowns can part his hair either way.
#
"Parting Shot",1756,0,0,0
All things come to an end, though wits have observed that a sausage has two. Mistakes, however, seem never to cease. Even a "parting shot" is not what it sounds like to our ears. It is completely foreign indeed and was last heard ages ago.
The ancient \JParthians\j, who lived south-east of the \JCaspian Sea\j, had a strange war-practice. The moment their mounted archers had shot off their arrows, they turned their horses around as if to flee to mislead the enemy. The deceptive maneuver became known as "the Parthian shot." When the \JParthians\j had disappeared from the historical scene, those ignorant of their former existence and name mistook the Parthian shot as a parting shot.
#
"Pass the Buck",1757,0,0,0
Those who "pass the buck" may well do so because of the new method of dealing at poker that became popular in the American West in the 1860s. When draw poker came into fashion, the traditional practice of the winner to deal the cards after each hand was abandoned. Instead, the deal was automatically passed on to the player on the left.
To avoid any argument or mistake as to whose turn was next, a simple procedure was introduced. Some handy object was placed in front of the dealer who then passed it to whoever followed, i.e. his neighbor on the left. That a knife was used for the purpose, was almost a gone conclusion. At the time, everyman carried one. And as a knife then had a handle of buckhorn, it became the custom for the men to refer to it briefly as "the buck."
The rules of the game permitted a player, if he so desired, to pass his turn in dealing. In the circumstances, this was termed "passing the buck." The phrase soon became popular generally, applied to anyone who, not prepared to take the blame or to undertake a task, passed it on to someone else.
Times changed. Deer became sparse and therefore buck's horn was no longer used for knife handles. Most of all, many men gave up carrying knives. But they continued to play poker. Lacking a knife to use for a marker, they replaced it by a silver dollar, of which everyone had some in his pocket. Nevertheless, they continued to call it "the buck." That is how the dollar has been colloquially called "a buck" ever since.
#
"Passing on Stairs",1758,0,0,0
The belief that it is unlucky to pass anyone on the stairs going in the opposite direction, has a biblical foundation. It goes back to Jacob's dream of the ladder (related in the book of Genesis, Chapter 28), on which he saw angels ascending and descending.
No one ever knows whether the apparent human passing on a stairway is not in reality a divine being "going up" or "coming down." In any way to obstruct a messenger from God would be sacrilegious. One's presence on the stairs might make him swerve and thereby delay his progress. To avoid any such possibility with its dire consequences, it was best never to pass anyone on the stairs.
#
"Passing the Port",1759,0,0,0
Traditions are strictly observed in the navy, even at convivial meetings. When at an officers' dinner, the decanter of port is passed around the table for the filling of glasses, it has to be done from right to left. This direction is a vestige of ancient solar worship when the movement "with the sun" was thought magically to ensure good luck and to overcome the forces of darkness by the powers of light.
#
"Passionfruit",1760,0,0,0
The \Jpassion fruit\j was so called, not because of any aphrodisiac qualities it possessed. Nor did it receive its name (as has been suggested) because of some fanciful notion that features of the plant resemble, in form or color, certain pans of the human body in a state of sexual arousal.
Spanish missionaries in South Africa named it so in the sixteenth century in memory of Christ's passion. To their minds, parts of the plant's flower resembled the instruments used at the crucifixion and recalled other circumstances linked with the fateful event. They discovered likenesses to the crown of thorns, the nails with which the Roman soldiers fixed Jesus to the cross, and his five wounds. The ten parts of the \Jperianth\j (consisting of the calyx and corolla) they interpreted as representing ten of the twelve Apostles, purposely omitting Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, and Peter, who had denied knowing him. The tendrils suggested to the missionaries the scourges with which Jesus was lashed, whilst the stamens of the plant were said to symbolize the hammers used by the Romans to drive in the nails.
#
"Passover: the Festival of Freedom",1761,0,0,0
Passover is the "festival of freedom." It commemorates the Israelites' liberation from Egyptian bondage more than 3,000 years ago.
The name Passover is derived from the biblical story which tells how on the night when a divine messenger slew the Egyptian firstborn (the last of the ten plagues), he spared, or "passed over" the homes of the Israelites. Called \IPesach\i in \JHebrew\j, the name refers to the Paschal lamb, sacrificed as an offering of thanksgiving on the eve of the Exodus.
#
"Passport",1762,0,0,0
The very name of the passport explains its (at least initial) purpose. It was issued to facilitate a traveler's progress by helping him to \Ipass\i safely through a \Iport\i on his journey.
Passports go back to the most ancient civilizations. It has been suggested that even the \JBible\j implied their existence in its story of Abraham, when he sent Eliezer, his servant, to \JMesopotamia\j to find there a wife for Isaac, his son.
Originally a passport was not a written document but a precious ring with the ruler's seal. Its possession secured the traveler's protection. Thus the Pharaohs of \JEgypt\j likewise gave their messengers a cartouche, an oval figure engraved with their royal name in hieroglyphic script.
The document was first given as a "Letter of Confidence" to subjects traveling on behalf of the king. It was actually referred to by this name as testified in a Greco-Roman \Jpapyrus\j of the 2nd century B.C.
Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus is said to have furnished Potamon, a philosopher, with a certificate for safe conduct, which certainly did not mince its words. It read: "If there be anyone on land or sea hardy enough to molest Potamon, let him consider whether he be strong enough to wage war with Caesar." The wording thus anticipated by 2,000 years our own modern text. Though couched in more diplomatic terms, it still serves the same purpose and requests and requires "all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to \Bpass\b freely, without lack or hindrance, and to afford him (or her) every assistance and protection of which he (or she) may stand in need."
Rulers throughout the world (and as far back as in China over 1,000 years ago) deemed it their duty to control and protect the movement of their subjects. They claimed, too, the right to exclude other nationals from their territory, when necessary.
Eleventh-century King Canute is said to have been the first potentate to have issued documents to pilgrims en route to the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul in \JRome\j, with the express purpose of securing their safe passage through the many countries they had to traverse before reaching their destination.
Copies of this early passport, still extant, are interesting. Typical is this text:
\I"I (the name of the person granting the passport) to our holy and apostolic and venerable father in Christ, and to all Kings, bishops, abbots, priests, and clerks in every nation of Christendom, who devote themselves to the service of the Creator, in monasteries, in cities, in villages, or in hamlets. Be it known to you that this our brother (the name of the holder of the passport) and your servant, has obtained permission from us to proceed on a pilgrimage to the Church of St. Peter, your father, and to other churches, to pray for his soul's sake, for yours and for ours.
Therefore do we address this to you, begging that you will, for the love of God and of St. Peter, give him hospitable treatment, aiding, consoling, and comforting him - affording him free ingress, egress and regress, so that he may in safety return to us. And for so doing, may a fitting reward be bestowed on you at the last day, by Him who lives and reigns forever!"\i
That by 1215 passports must have been generally adopted in Britain is obvious from a clause of the \JMagna Carta\j, which provided that certain categories of persons might leave the country without such a document. This plainly implied that all others could not do so.
This passport, a royal instrument, had, still in the days of Charles II, to be signed by the king himself. Yet eventually, and generally until World War I (excepting periods of unrest), passports were no longer needed for foreign travel. They were just helpful in establishing a man's identity and nationality. A Texan likened them to a \Jpistol\j: "You didn't want it often, but when you did want it, you wanted it very badly."
But 1914 changed all that. Passports became compulsory for going abroad, and in that same year photographs were first added to the British version. And when war conditions had passed, passports remained an essential.
For centuries the passport was merely a thin sheet of paper, sometimes torn from a roll and still showing perforation marks at top and bottom. But in 1921, the \JLeague of Nations\j introduced a uniform document which was adopted by almost every country. The ancient ring had become a booklet of 32 pages.
#
"Patronage",1763,0,0,0
Those who give special support to a cause or person not least in the realm of art - owe the term applied to them, \Ipatrons,\i to religion. Early on, whoever founded a church or built a temple had the privilege of appointing its priest. It was a dangerous practice, said to have been greatly abused, particularly in the fourth century during the reign of Constantine the Great.
People of wealth who provided the means to establish a new congregation thereby gained extra power and influence. The feeling of importance it gave them contradicted the very teaching of religion, to be humble and not vain. More so, the incumbent, grateful to his sponsor, felt obliged to him and, if lacking courage and integrity, lost his independence.
With the passing of years, the name, \Ipatron,\i was applied generally to those nominating \Jclergy\j. Eventually, the religious context lapsed and patronage came to refer to any type of sponsorship. A patron might back the writing of an opera, the staging of a play or the publication of a book with the composer, producer or author not infrequently dedicating the works to their supporters, at times with most obsequious words.
In his famous (eighteenth-century) \IDictionary,\i Samuel Johnson expressed a very low opinion of the patron. He defined him as "commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery."
#
"Patter",1764,0,0,0
Those who patter, speak so fast that whatever they say becomes indistinct. Comedians do so purposely because of its amusing effect, and magicians patter to distract the audience's attention from their sleight of hand.
To refer to such fast talk as \Ipatter\i recalls the once widespread, unfortunate habit of people, and among them some priests, to hurry through their daily devotion. Mechanically rattling off their prayers, their enunciation became slovenly. This happened not least when reciting the \JLord's Prayer\j. Then said in Latin, its opening words were \IPater noster\i ("Our Father"). Said in a hurry, the \IPater\i sounded like \Ipatter,\i which thus became a new word, synonymous with rapid and glib speech.
#
"Patterned Cloth",1765,0,0,0
It is understandable for anyone not blessed with an abundance of money, to refuse to throw away a flawed product.
This applied to a weaver who, to his horror, noticed that fabric he had just woven showed imperfection. As the expensive material was of one color, the fault was all the more conspicuous. For him to discard the cloth was out of the question. It would have meant too great a financial loss. Ingeniously thus, he set about to cover the "fault" by adding a stripe of a different color. This proved a welcome change for the patternless, plain cloth, which now looked so much more attractive. It caught on and by (correcting) a mistake, a new fashion was set, that of patterned cloth! It proves the veracity of the proverb that "necessity is the mother of invention" and once again shows how productive even a fault can be.
#
"Pauper's Grave for a Medium",1766,0,0,0
But for an extensive obituary in the Adelaide \IObserver\i on December 8, 1884, dramatically entitled "Funeral of a Medium," no one would know that Catherine Wood ever existed or that her remains rest - a without her grave being marked by a stone - somewhere in Adelaide's West Terrace Cemetery.
Details of her life as a medium were supplied by a migrant from Lancashire. He had known Miss Wood back home and was present at her funeral.
Born in Newcastle, in the north of England, in 1858, she had first shown "mediumistic" qualities at the age of 18. Developing her psychic gifts, she became a renowned medium, giving seances all over Britain.
Her "control" was the spirit of an Indian girl, she asserted, who assisted her in materializations of many kinds. Mostly, she took on the form of a stout, tall man, nearly 1.8 meters in height, or of a young woman, "with an exceptionally lovely face."
At the time of her death, Catherine had been in \JAustralia\j for only one year, during which she had given seances in Sydney and Brisbane. Adelaide spiritualists, hearing of her extraordinary talent, had then invited her to their city. And it was during this visit that she contracted the typhoid fever that caused her death, at the age of 26, on 18 December 1884.
Far away from her home and people, she was buried in a pauper's grave. A few friends were present at her funeral. In the short time they had known her, they had learnt to admire her character and, in the words of the obituary, "were desirous of paying the last tribute in their power to her worth."
Perhaps it was rather appropriate for a woman who had claimed constant communication with the spirit world to leave no material evidence of her life, not even in the form of a gravestone.
#
"Pawnbroker's Three Brass Balls",1767,0,0,0
As in all money matters, all element of uncertainty is attached even to the pawnbroker's sign of the three brass balls. It is generally acknowledged that his trade-mark originated as the emblem of Italian nobility, the Medici family who came from Lombardy. They introduced money lending into England, arriving there, it has been suggested, as financial agents of the early Popes, to collect their dues. They are known to have financed the kings of England to the time of Edward III.
To indicate their place of business, they displayed the three balls, their family crest, outside the house.
As money lending on pledges proved itself a lucrative trade, it did not remain for long a monopoly of the Medicis. Soon other merchants entered the field, wisely copying the sign which by then in people's minds had become identified with this type of financial transaction. Ever since, the three brass balls have served as a pawnbroker's trade-mark.
Yet it is still a matter of doubt how in the first place the Medicis came to adopt their crest. One explanation is that the name Medici is derived from the art of medicine and that if early and prominent members of the family were physicians for whom a pill was a trade-mark. In medieval times it was customary to gild pills to make them more acceptable to rich customers.
Even those who deny an early association of the Medicis with medicine, maintain that the obvious pun, the mere similarity of sound, had led the family to adopt the three enlarged pills in their coat of arms.
Another theory relates the three balls not to the healing of the sick but to the defeat of an enemy. Averardo de Medici, who served as a commander with Charlemagne, was famous for an encounter with a giant, Mugello, whom he slew in combat. After the battle he carried with him as a trophy the giant's club, weighted with three iron balls. To commemorate the victory, Medici adopted the three balls as his arms.
A further tradition is completely divorced from the Medicis and links the pawnbroker's symbol with the emblem of St. Nicholas of Bari, and three purses of gold he is said to have left three poor, pious sisters, to help them find husbands.
To nickname a pawnbroker "uncle" is neither a family matter nor does it reflect any special familiarity. Actually, it introduces a note of corruption into this otherwise honest trade, though only in the way of speaking. This type of uncle is merely a mispronunciation. The word is derived from the Latin \Iuncus,\i which described the "hook" once commonly used by pawnbrokers to store and remove the pledges.
#
"Pay on the Nail",1768,0,0,0
Anyone who discharges a debt at once "pays on the nail." This peculiar term goes back to medieval times, when merchants, on completing a deal, paid for the goods by placing the money on top of a squat, flat-topped pillar. This was known as a "nail," most likely because of its superficial, though vastly magnified resemblance to one. Four such "nails" from the 18th century are still in existence in England. Made of bronze, they stand outside the \JBristol\j Corn Exchange.
#
"Pay Through the Nose",1769,0,0,0
The payment of debts has produced a colorful variety of descriptions. People "cough up" the money. They "fork" it out, and they are "bled" for it. No doubt, the most puzzling idiom speaks of the "paying through the nose." The choice of words is not due to a desire to stress the painful experience of having to settle exorbitant debts, comparing it in a far-fetched simile to the forcing of hard cash through the narrow openings of the nostrils, which certainly would be agonizing. The phrase is based on specific historical circumstances and English slang.
First of all, it is a relic of a gruesome practice of some governments and countries to enforce the payment of taxes and other levies. Citizens or subjects defaulting, had their nose slit or even cut off. The threatened punishment explains why, for instance, a 9th century tax imposed by the Danes on the Irish became known as the "nose tax," and as the fear of such mutilating penalty made people meet the demands of the government, however unfair and unjust, it could truly be said of them that they paid "through the nose."
In 17th century England, the slang for money was \Irhino,\i the Greek for "nose." It was not an arbitrary choice of word. Most likely, it was the result of a very expensive and popular sex stimulant. As still today among some primitive societies, many people at that time imagined that powdered \Jrhinoceros\j horn (from the animal's "nose") was a potent aphrodisiac. Like modern unscrupulous drug dealers, those trading in it took advantage of the demand, selling the powdered "nose" at outrageous prices. This could well have accounted for people's saying that they were paying "through the nose" for anything that was overpriced.
#
"Peach Melba and Melba Toast",1770,0,0,0
The stage has enriched human life in many ways. But it was left to an Australian prima donna to add two dishes to the culinary enjoyment of man. Years after Dame Nellie Melba's voice has been silent, people still talk of her, when they crunch a certain type of thin toast or order a special kind of dessert.
Only the best was good enough for her. "If I'd been a housemaid," she once said, "I'd have been the best in \JAustralia\j. I couldn't help it. ...It's got to be perfection for me." She wanted to show the world that \JAustralia\j could produce more than sheep and boomerangs. Even in the choice of her stage name, she gave worldwide publicity to Victoria's capital where she was born.
One thing worried her - that not her artistry, but her culinary tastes might be remembered longest. But that is exactly what happened. Melba is still listed among the great sopranos of the world, but her name is spoken most around the dinner table. Peach Melba and Melba Toast have immortalized one of \JAustralia\j's greatest singers to a larger extent than her glorious voice.
Peach Melba as it is served now, is a far cry from the original, spectacular sweet. This was a blend of beautiful color, attractive shape and delicious taste which combined the flavors of raspberry, peach, and vanilla. It was devised by a great culinary artist.
George Auguste Escoffier, Officer of the Legion of honor, has been called the king of cooks. He was a perfectionist whose principle was that nothing in food should ever be camouflaged. He fought sham and make-belief in the kitchen. Yet, small of state, he wore high heels to make himself taller.
His taste extended beyond the delights of the palate to the world of art. He worshiped Dame Melba, who herself was one of his patrons.
During 1892-3 she was staying at the Savoy Hotel, London, when he was its chef. He often went to the theater to listen to her, and enjoyed especially her performance as Elsa in \JLohengrin\j. That night at the opera was to him an unforgettable occasion which, somehow, he wished to perpetuate in his own creative way.
The brilliant singer was to dine at his hotel on the following day. To surprise her and show his appreciation, he resolved to serve her a completely new dish - a dessert in her honor.
From a block of ice he shaped two wings of a swan and coated them with icing sugar. Between them were peaches resting on a bed of vanilla ice cream. Obviously, the dish was to recall the most famous scene in \JLohengrin\j and, at first, he called the sweet \IpΩches au cygne\i - "swan - like peaches."
Later, on the occasion of the opening of London's Carlton Hotel, he improved the sweet by adding raspberry sauce. It was then that he renamed the dessert and, recalling the moment of its first creation, gave it the description it has carried ever since - Peach Melba.
Melba Toast made its debut as a mere accident. On one of her visits to London, Melba once again stayed at the Savoy Hotel. She was keeping to a strict diet to control her weight and mostly ordered nothing but dry toast.
One day she again asked for "the usual." The head waiter was busy and left its preparation to one of his men. Somehow things went wrong, and the toast served was much too thin and dry.
When the chef noticed the error it was too late. He rushed to Melba's table, profusely apologizing and expecting a vociferous complaint. To his surprise, Melba did not mind at all. On the contrary, she complimented the chef on the "exquisite toast," the like of which she had never tasted before. The chef was overjoyed and there and then called the toast by her name.
He continued to serve the new "invention" as long as Melba was at the Savoy. Soon other guests asked for it and "Melba Toast" became a favorite, low \Jcalorie\j delicacy in fashionable restaurants the world over.
A second, much less exciting story, relates Melba Toast not to an accident, but to yet another of Escoffier's inventions. He created it first not for Melba but a friend, Madame Ritz, who had complained to him that the usual toast served was much too thick. It so happened that at the time Melba was a guest at the Savoy and known to favor toast. This gave Escoffier and his friend the idea that the toast should bear the singer's name.
#
"Peacock Feathers in the Home",1771,0,0,0
\BWhy Peacock Feathers are Bad Luck in the Home\b
Man has always kept his eyes open and carefully observed everything around him. From ancient times onward he has asked questions, wondering about a myriad whys and wherefores. He was convinced that everything in life had a purpose and that there was nothing without a cause. This, of course, applied particularly to the sights, sounds, and experiences that were out of the ordinary and therefore especially conspicuous. And when man saw peacocks strutting about with their gorgeous tail feathers spread out, he felt that their countless eyes which never closed must have been placed there for some significant reason.
Greek \Jmythology\j gave its own interpretation for the presence of those many eyes on the peacock's tail. It made it part of its wealth of legends, linking it with early jealousy among the very "human" gods.
Hera was much distressed about her husband Zeus and his constant unfaithfulness. She certainly was not unaware of the affair he was having with Io, his latest mistress. To conceal his lover, Zeus used his divine power to camouflage her by changing her into a heifer. Innocently grazing, he hoped, the "animal" would not rouse Hera's suspicions. But he had not reckoned with a wife's jealousy, for she could not be deceived even by the cleverest scheming and subterfuge.
Hera, knowing the true identity of the heifer, enlisted the help of Argus, the hundred-eyed giant, to keep watch on the "animal-mistress" and thereby prevent any tryst between her and the amorous Zeus. Argus, no doubt, was the best possible choice for the purpose. He was renowned for keeping at least two of his eyes open at all times, no matter how tired he might be.
But the unlucky spouse could not outwit Zeus, who remained master of the situation in this contest of passions. He commanded Hermes to put Argus completely to sleep by the sound of his magic flute and by songs so soporific that not even the faithful Argus could resist dozing off. But the moment his hundred eyes had closed, Hermes slew him by severing his head!
In her grief and rage, Hera transferred the eyes of her loyal servant to the tail of the peacock, where they have remained ever since. It is one of the strangest "living" memorials. Renewed with each generation, in colorful, brilliant display, it perpetuates the death of a vigilant hero for the goddess of monogamy.
The peacock thus became sacred to both Greeks and Romans, who revered and cared for it as the treasured guardian of their temples, wifely virtue, and conjugal rights. Only priests were allowed to handle it. For an ordinary mortal to do so was a sacrilegious crime punished by death. Hence private possession of even one of its feathers was defying sacred tradition. In consequence, to have such a feather at home would surely be unlucky.
But even without this legend, the glorious colors of the peacock's feathers in their manifold shimmering beauty and his majestic bearing as he strutted around like a truly noble creature must have made man from earliest times see the peacock as a sacred, divine bird. The numerous eyes on its tail were regarded as the gods' never-resting watchfulness. Thus the bird became part of sanctuaries.
However, it was the belief in the devil and in the evil eye which were primarily responsible for the universal adoption of the \Jsuperstition\j. The numerous eyes on the tail must have intrigued man. Fears which haunted him led him to believe that the eyes belonged to the devil or were a perilous multiplication of the evil eye. In either case, to live constantly under their stare (after all, they never closed a lid) would expose the entire household to the malevolent influence of the power of darkness.
The belief was reinforced centuries later by a \JMoslem\j legend which told that the peacock had opened the gate to Paradise to admit \JIblis\j (the devil) thereby enabling him to cause man's fall. The bird's early association with (and help to) the "evil one" has never been forgotten. No one could ever trust it again! Worse still, the devil might take advantage of its spectacular plumage by tempting people to take a feather home and thereby place themselves within the power of an ever-vigilant traitor.
It is not surprising that the bird's beautiful plumage made it a desired object, reserved for kings and the aristocracy. To own a peacock became a royal monopoly. To be found in possession of even a small part of it (such as the conspicuous feather) could only be the result of theft. The penalty for being caught with a feather was death. Mores changed and kings ceased to be absolute monarchs of their realms. But as a vestige of former days, ordinary citizens, though they no longer knew why, continued to be afraid to bring the plumage of a peacock into their homes.
People certainly must have noticed that a peacock's feathers did not fade nor lose their luster as time went by. This might have easily given rise to the fallacious notion that the bird's flesh never decayed either. Because of its assumed incorruptibility, the bird became a symbol of immortality and \Jresurrection\j. This, in turn, led to the custom of using the bird's plumage at funerals. It was meant to indicate that the person who had passed away was not really dead. His spirit survived and his eventual rebirth was assured. In fact, it was further thought that the presence of the feathers would actually help the deceased in his life hereafter!
This custom had a side-effect. The peacock's feathers now became closely linked with death. And people, forgetting their original association and \Jsymbolism\j, started to dread the presence in their home of peacock feathers, as they spelled death; they were no longer an assurance of immortality but an omen of doom. It is a telling example of how ignorance of the original reason and cause can confuse man's mind and lead to sad misunderstandings.
#
"Peacock Feathers in the Theater",1772,0,0,0
A story is told of Sir Henry Irving, that renowned figure of the stage, who was horrified when during a performance of \IOthello,\i he saw a woman in the front stalls fanning herself with a peacock feather. He was convinced that its presence would doom the success of the play.
He immediately sent a note to her, asking that she should take the fan out of the theater at once. When instead she tried to hand it to the attendant who had brought the message, he refused to take or even to touch it.
Only when the woman herself had left the theater did Sir Henry feel relieved. He was then able to go on acting without the haunting fear of imminent failure. He had been sure that the glare of the limelight would never have been able to outshine the stare of the evil eye.
#
"Peanuts and Monkeynuts",1773,0,0,0
Anything considered of trifling importance or little value is often described as "peanuts." It is a most ill-chosen comparison. Tests made by the University of Georgia, USA, to ascertain the nutritional significance of the peanut, proved its tremendous food value. Half a kilo of peanut butter was equal to 1 1/8 kilo of steak, four liters of milk, or 32 eggs.
George Washington Carver, son of slave parents, devoted most of his life to the research of the peanut. He was able to show its extraordinary usefulness; how it could serve as the source of more than 300 different products! His discovery was historical, as it revolutionized the entire American south. A unique museum, dedicated to Carver and the peanut, is now part of the "black" Tuskegee University, in \JAlabama\j.
There is another fallacy about the peanut. It is misnamed. The peanut, coloquially also known as monkey or \Jgroundnut\j, in not a nut. It belongs to the legume family and is a pea! Much more correct therefore is its African description as goober pea.
#
"Pedigree's History",1774,0,0,0
Genealogists tracing a family's ancestors used to indicate the descent of each individual member by a small arrow. In their eyes, the sign very much resembled the "foot of a crane." This made them call it so, in French, \Ipied de grue.\i Run together and Anglicized, it created the "pedigree" which was then applied to the entire graph of the family, with its numerous crane feet spread all across.
Suggestions that the pedigree actually relates to the "degree" of relationship, though factually true, have no etymological significance.
Applied to the animal world and disregarding its avian connection, the pedigree became a valued documentation of descent and pure breeding.
#
"Pelicans Fed on Blood",1775,0,0,0
That the \Jpelican\j by piercing its breast fed its young on its own blood was a widely-held misconception. The tradition became so established that it was even adopted by the Christian Church, which chose the \Jpelican\j to symbolize Christ's sacrifice on the cross who with his blood, had saved man. As early as the fifteenth century, "the \Jpelican\j in her filial devotion wounding her breast for the sake of her young" became a favorite illustration in \Jheraldry\j. In 1517 the New College of Corpus Christi, Oxford, England, incorporated the bird in its emblem. As late as 1902 the American State of Louisiana selected the \Jpelican\j for its seal and, ten years later, for its flag.
The myth is based on an ancient \Jfable\j which arose from a faulty observation or mistaken identity. A \Jpelican\j feeds its young by regurgitation. To disgorge the food, it presses the lower part of its bill against its pouch. In so doing, the "red nail" of its upper mandible appears to touch its breast. Mistaken for blood, it gave people the erroneous notion that to feed the nestlings, the mother bird actually pierced her breast.
It has also been suggested that at one time the \Jpelican\j was confused with the \Jflamingo\j. The latter's habit to eject a bloody secretion from its beak had been responsible for the legend.
#
"Penicillin: the Discovery",1776,0,0,0
Penicillin was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming through what could be termed an accident. Working at the bacteriological laboratory of St Mary's \JHospital\j, London, he was studying a problem far removed from anything connected with the future drug. A culture of \Jstaphylococcus\j germs he was growing in his investigation somehow became contaminated. He could have easily thrown away the dish. Instead, he was intrigued by the green mould and its effect on the surrounding germs. Further examining the phenomenon, Fleming laid the ground of what was to become one of the twentieth-century wonder drugs.
Recalling the historic occasion of receiving his knighthood in 1944, Sir Alexander remarked, "Like many other bacteriologists, I have had many culture plates contaminated with mould spores which drop in from the air, and like every other bacteriologist, I have cast them out with suitable expressions of annoyance; but on this one occasion I did not cast it out, and \Jpenicillin\j was the result. It seems to me, as it must seem to you, most extraordinary that a stray mould \Jspore\j, coming from no one knows where, settling in St Mary's \JHospital\j should eventually have led to such phenomenal results."
#
"Penitentiary",1777,0,0,0
The phenomenon of sin has always occupied a central place in religion. To make those who had gone astray, return, or find their way back, has been of great concern to every faith.
To make amends and obtain divine forgiveness, sinners were instructed to fast, to pray or to spend a prolonged period of time in silent \Jmeditation\j in solitude. To help them in this task, some churches reserved an enclosed area for the penitent where, totally undisturbed, he could pursue his penance. Appropriately, this room became known as a "penitentiary."
When the practice was abandoned and the penitentiary lost its place in the Church, its name was adopted by penal systems as most apposite to describe a place of confinement for offenders. Therein, isolated from the community, they were given time and opportunity to reflect on their crimes, to regret them, and resolve to refrain from them in future.
#
"Penknife: Origin",1778,0,0,0
Throughout the \JMiddle Ages\j and until the nineteenth century, the quill served as a major writing tool. It explains why the very meaning of "pen," derived from the Latin \Ipenna,\i is "feather!" Mostly, this was obtained from the wings of geese, crows, turkeys, or even peacocks.
That pocketknives are called penknives is an anachronism and yet a fitting reminder of progress. It recalls the time when people used quills for writing. Constant usage blunted the feather's point, which needed sharpening. Always to be ready for such an eventuality, scribes carried small knives in their pockets, identified by their purpose as "penknives."
#
"Pennsylvania Dutch",1779,0,0,0
The \JPennsylvania\j Dutch are not Dutch. They are the descendants of eighteenth-century \JAnabaptists\j who, as refugees from the Rhineland, settled in that part of America. They were therefore German or, in their mother tongue, \IDeutsch.\i The \IDeutsch\i was mistaken for Dutch! Dutchmen call themselves Netherlanders or Hollanders, a name not subject to any similar confusion of sound.
#
"Pennsylvania's Name",1780,0,0,0
If father and son share the identical name, there is bound to be confusion. That is exactly what happened to Sir William Penn, Admiral of the British navy and William Penn, his son.
Generally it is believed that the American State of \JPennsylvania\j was so called to honor the junior Mr Penn, the Quaker. That is not so. In fact, it would have been contrary to his very faith in which humility played so great a part, egotistically to have his name put on the map!
The circumstances of the naming go back to a debt - of ú16,000 - Charles Il - of England owed to the Admiral. Penn's son suggested to the king that, instead of paying back the money, he should provide Quakers who were suffering persecution at home, with a tract of land in the New World, to enable them to establish there in freedom a colony of their own. Young Penn intended to call the new settlement either (by the Latin for) "Woodland," \ISilvania,\i or "New Wales." Charles II acceded to his wish. However, he insisted that the name of William's father should be added. After all, the charter was given to him in payment of a debt. Young William rejected the idea as it was against his conviction. Nevertheless, the king prevailed and it was thus that \JPennsylvania\j (Penn's Woodland) came into being.
#
"Pens and Pencils",1781,0,0,0
The modern pen completely belies its name which - from the Latin \Ipenna\i - means a "feather." It is a relic from days long past and recalls the obsolete practice of scribes to use a quill for writing.
Equally outdated and wrongly applied is the description of the pencil. This goes back to the use of a miniature brush which, imaginatively, became known as "a little tail," \Ipenicillum\i in Latin.
#
"Pentacle - the Star of the Magician",1782,0,0,0
The five-pointed star of the Pentacle has always served as a powerful magic sign both to conjure up demons and keep them at bay. Its potency was no doubt due first of all to the supreme sanctity of the three triangles making up the sign. The triangle on its own was already a mighty symbol because it represented the holy trinity in ancient \JEgypt\j, in India and in the Christian faith. Its triplication in the Pentacle surely would render it thrice powerful in repelling and dominating evil forces.
This five-pointed star received its name from the Greek \Ipenta\i - for "five." This figure is well known from its presence in the \JPentateuch\j (the \IFive\i Books of Moses), the \Jpentathlon\j (the athletic contest of \Ifive\i events), and the modern Pentagon (the \Ifive\i-sided headquarters of the American Defense Forces).
There were additional Greek names for the star which also mentioned its "five" corners. The symbol was thus also called a \Ipentagram:\i adding to the Greek "five" the Greek (for) "letter" - \Igramma.\i Its pattern was imagined to be constituted of five times the letter \Ialpha\i (the first letter of the alphabet), joined in five different positions. Hence an alternate description used for the pentacle was \Ipentalpha.\i
The "figure" in both senses of the word has been responsible for the name and the tremendous magical efficacy attributed to the pentacle.
There were several significant reasons for the all-importance of five in magic. One goes back to Pythagoras who, with his school, spread the idea of the vital role that numbers played in the very existence and fate of the world. Everything in fact, he taught, depended on numbers. Therefore they were not only used to count - their effect was bound up with all life.
"Five" obtained its special value, particularly for its control over evil spirits, through a combination of factors.
To begin with, it was a compound of the first even and odd numbers, adding up the 2 and 3, figures which are endowed with deep mystical quality in occult tradition.
But there was so much more to the "five." Man's five fingers may have pointed the way, as they produced the complete hand that could work wondrous deeds.
It was believed that man had been given five senses which alone could open up to him the world that would otherwise remain a closed book. It was often thought that in fact only the use of all five senses would ensure total enjoyment of anything. This was one of the reasons given for the strange custom of clinking glasses prior to drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage. Without doing so, only four of man's senses (smell, sight, touch, and taste) would partake of it, and therefore his experience would remain merely partial. He had to "hear" the drink as well.
Almost every culture and \Jmythology\j adopted the sacred "five" and saw in it a symbol of true completeness and \Jsupernatural\j power that could have the most beneficial (or devastating) results.
The instructions given to the Israelites for the building of their sacrificial altar stipulated that it had to measure five cubits both in length and in width. Young David smote the giant \JGoliath\j with five smooth pebbles he had picked up out of a brook. The Gospel speaks of the five wise virgins and the five foolish ones. And again, it was surely not accidental that Jesus fed 5,000 with five loaves of bread (and two fishes). Most of all, five gained supreme sacred significance in the Christian realm by the five \Jstigmata\j: the five wounds on Christ's crucified body caused by the nails that pierced his hands and feet and the lance that pierced his side.
It was the actual star-shape that added further strength to the magic of the "five." After all, a star was a heavenly body, a well-known sign from above. Descending, as it were, from the heights of heaven down to earth, the pentacle was also identified with the footprint of \Jsupernatural\j magic-working powers and thus seen as (and called) "the wizard's foot" and "the Druid's foot."
The fact that the pattern of the pentacle could be drawn in one continuous line without ever lifting pen from paper made it all the more significant. It came to be called "the endless knot" and was believed to tie up forces which otherwise were beyond control.
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"Pentacle in History",1783,0,0,0
The star of the pentacle played a prominent magic role in man's dream-distant past. Its design has been found embossed or drawn on pottery excavated from ruins of the ancient Chaldean city of Ur. In \JEgypt\j it "decorated" the statue of the god Anubis, "chief of the divine pavilion" and, not surprisingly, "lord of the necropolis." Druids wore the sign of the pentacle on their sandals.
The \IKoran\i called it King \JSolomon's seal\j and based this description on a legend which told how this mighty king, so adept in the world of the occult, used the pentacle whenever he dealt with any kind of \Jsupernatural\j forces. He had received the seal as a gift from God. Its five-pointed body was made of iron on one side and brass on the other. Both surfaces carried the ineffable divine name. Whenever Solomon sealed an order that directed, restricted, or banned dark, demonic forces, he used the iron part because of the well-known effect of that metal on evil powers. But on the occasions he directed or activated the powers of light, he sealed his instructions with the brazen surface.
From its earliest use onward, the pentacle never ceased to have an important place in the realm of the arcane and magic. It was adopted by the Jewish Kabbalah, the Rosicrucians, and Freemasonry.
Painted as an emblem on the door of homes and stables, it was thought to keep out witches. Authors drew it at the head of their manuscripts or displayed it on the first page of their works, believing that it would keep out the devil and thereby bring luck and success to all they had written. Even letters addressed to rulers or friends were prefaced by the symbol.
Magicians engaged in occult work often wore the pentacle on their chest. At times they traced it in the sand and stood at its center. They thought that they would thus be protected against hostile interference in their pursuit.
No wonder that even the star said to have guided the magi to the manger in \JBethlehem\j was believed to have been five-pointed. Was not the young Christ-child to grow into the savior who, by his sacrificial death on the cross, would overcome the powers of evil?
Architects included the pentacle in their design of churches. They did so, once again, not as a decoration but to use it as a potent magic sign against demonic agencies who might try to enter the sanctuary.
The five points of the star were interpreted as a magic combination of the four elements of life with the supreme spirit of the unseen, that mysterious source of all occult work. Great care had to be taken as to how the pentacle was drawn and which way its rays were directed: whether one or two of its points projected upward. Potentially the star could serve good or evil, depending on which of the two principles it represented. If one of its points was directed upward ("in the ascendant"), good would prevail, as it magically caused the superiority of the spirit. But should the pentacle be reversed and thereby two of its points be uppermost, they would be symbolic of the two-horned \Jgoat\j. The star then would conjure up the powers of darkness, cause the predominance of their malevolent influence, in short, serve Satan and "black magic."
Not least by its very shape the pentacle seemed to "contain" man, that "little world." In every aspect - as a microcosm - it mirrored the universe, the macrocosm. Many an illustrated magical text shows man thus "fixed," with his arms and legs extended sideways within the framework of the five-pointed star.
The pentacle, certainly, by its countless traditions, became highly charged with sacred potency which accounts for its multiple application in life throughout the world.
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"Penthouse",1784,0,0,0
Those who live in a penthouse may not realize that the description of their residence shares its main part with the (useless) appendix. Both names are derived from the same Latin root used for something "attached." Their mere position thus was responsible for the choice of their name. The appendix is "attached" to the intestines, the penthouse to the very top of a block of flats or apartments.
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"Percussion Lock",1785,0,0,0
Napoleon's fate and, indeed, the course of history might have been very different, had it not been for the inventiveness, determination and selfless patriotism of the Rev. Alexander John Forsyth, gifted Scottish clergyman of Belhelvie. In addition to his ecclesiastical duties, he still found time to immerse himself in invention, pioneering - perhaps paradoxically for a man of his calling - a history-making weapon.
Forsyth first became interested in \Jfirearms\j when shooting wild fowl. He noticed that the moment the birds saw the flash of his flintgun, they took evasive action, and escaped his shots. To outwit them, he embarked on the experiments which led to the development of the percussion lock, a device which was to revolutionise the firing mechanism of the gun.
When, in 1806, the Master-General of the Ordnance, the Marquis of Hastings, learned of the clergyman's research, he realized its military implications. Consequently, he made it possible for Forsyth to conduct his tests in the \JTower of London\j. This he did - until the authorities in charge, shortsightedly stopped him, asking him "to remove the rubbish." They lacked the imagination to see that his lock would prove a most "advantagous method of discharging, or giving fire to Artillery and all other \Jfirearms\j..."
Undaunted, Forsyth continued his experimentations elsewhere, and at last patented his invention on 4 July 1807. When the French got to know of it, they immediately grasped its importance and offered to purchase his secret for ú20,000 - at the time a considerable sum of money. But Forsyth refused. His love of country took precedence over material gain. Another thirty years elapsed before the British government recognized the value of his percussion lock and adopted it for the army. At long last acknowledging his achievement, they added a small pension to his stipend.
Forsyth was a man of character and advanced ideas, never afraid to question accepted wisdom or to speak his mind. For instance, when a pompous colleague, discussing the punishment of sinners in the world to come, voiced his unshakable belief in fire and brimstone, Forsyth challenged him. "After all," the man had asserted dogmatically, "there is a devil." Forsyth responded at once: "And how do you know there is a devil?"
His alert and active mind never rested. It was occupied with every type of topic, from his next sermon to his next invention. He loved to do his thinking while walking and apparently changed his itinerary according to the subject matter. To ponder the subject of a sermon, he customarily walked up and down the avenue leading to his manse. (Usually, he was accompanied by his pet goose, which many a time would have followed him into the church, had not his parishioners stopped it from doing so.)
For his inventions, however, his brain seemed best stimulated by a stroll along the seashore. It was easy, therefore, to know what was on the reverend's mind just by following his footsteps.
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"Person: Origin of its Name",1786,0,0,0
In the fight for complete equality of women and against man's dominance, in all walks of life, including speech and writing, the use of the genderless "person" has assumed a new significant role. It hides the gender behind a mask - and does so quite literally.
The first "person" appeared on the classical Greek and Roman stage. The actor did not show their real face, but covered it with a mask. It was not to camouflage their identity, but to fulfill a dual function. By the very mask worn, the actor indicated to the audience the type of play they were about to watch and their part in it. There were two kinds of masks: a laughing face and one expressing sadness. From their first appearance thus, the actor told by their countenance whether their role was a happy or a tragic one.
The mask had an additional advantage. With no modern electronic aids, actors, to be heard, depended solely on their voice. A cleverly constructed mask amplified the volume of the spoken word, acting as a megaphone. The mask therefore not only reflected the character portrayed, but made it so much easier for those taking part to make themselves heard "through the sound," which in Latin is \Iper sona.\i It is the source of the present-day "person," sexless and, paradoxically now, so impersonal.
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"Peruvian Sol",1787,0,0,0
If people have made a god of money, in some parts of the world they certainly continue to worship it - in the very name given to their currency. The sun was the Incas' god, and now as "Sol" (the Spanish for "sun") is the standard monetary unit of \JPeru\j.
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"Peter Out",1788,0,0,0
Anything that has petered out has come to an end. The "peter" has been traced to the \Jsaltpetre\j contained in the explosive used in American goldmines to blast away rock in order to reach the gold-bearing seam. When the seam had been exhausted, the blasting stopped and, with it, the use of \Jsaltpetre\j, colloquially known as peter. In short the mine had "petered out."
Others have linked the term with the Gospels and St Peter's threefold denial of having known Christ prior to his crucifixion. Once he had been the most favored of the disciples, so much so that he was described as "a rock," his name coming from the Latin \Ipetrus.\i At a moment of personal danger however, his loyalty "petered out."
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"Phony",1789,0,0,0
Anything fake is "phony." It is no wonder therefore that the term describing something counterfeit first gained currency in the early 1900s in the American underworld.
Its \Jetymology\j is uncertain and explanations proffered have been decried as phony as well. No specific data supports the theory that it is merely a cut-down (tele)phone, which conveys sound alone without any further substance.
Phony has also been quoted as the corrupted name of a one-time manufacturer of inferior jewelry, sold at a high price - a Mr Forney.
Another suggestion discovered a close link between the expression and people's fawning. Both shared the elements of being unreal and deceitful, which made the fawning attitude lead to all that is phony.
As something fraudulent, phony may well recall, in a corrupted form, which would be most suitable in its case, the "fawney ring." It was once used in English slang for a worthless ring, palmed off as a valuable object to an unsuspecting customer. Swindlers conned buyers by switching a solid gold ring for a fake one, a practice which became known as "fawney dropping."
Phony was really "funny," it was also said. Therefore it was well suited to be applied to any kind of funny business, especially if the joke was on the other person.
Finally, as a word expressing scorn and contempt, it was thought, phony really stood for "phooey!"
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"Pickets",1790,0,0,0
Pickets play a prominent role in modern industrial action by stopping would-be strikebreakers from entering the premises. However, they are not as recent as may be assumed. In fact, the first picketing by unionists took place in England around the 1860s.
A militant action, its description actually is of military origin. Armies posted a soldier or a small detachment as "pickets." They were to watch out for the enemy and give early warning of its approach.
The name of the picket goes back to the French, \Ipiquet.\i Sharp-pointed stakes or pegs were so called. They served a variety of purposes. To start with, horses were tied to pickets. They were also used in the construction of palisades, built around army camps. By mere association, the soldiers patrolling this protective fence, or placed there as guards, were called after these pickets which gave birth to the word in its modern sense. The stakes also survive in the picket fence that divides or marks the boundary of modern homes.
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"Picnic",1791,0,0,0
A picnic, certainly, is no longer what it used to be and to apply the name to the type of outdoor party held at a site away from home, belies its meaning.
Picnics used to be held anywhere: as much at home around the dining-table as in the open air. The distinctive feature explaining the choice of its name was the combined effort made by all those sharing in it. They "picked" individual dishes which they brought to the party, jointly to make up the menu. Like so many terms associated with food, the picnic is derived from the French, those masters of cuisine. In their tongue to "pick" was \Ipiquer.\i A \Ipique-nique,\i to begin with, described a small coin or any other minor item. After all, on this occasion as well, each guest was expected to provide (to "pick") merely a (small) part of the provisions.
It was good fun and, as all shared in preparing the "table," it was of little cost to the host. Hence, people came to speak of a situation or an achievement that lacked pleasure and had demanded much unenjoyable work that "it was no picnic."
Picnics developed into a fashionable social entertainment. They became so popular in nineteenth century Britain that a special Picnic Society was established in London. Its members met regularly for dinner but prior to doing so, drew lots to determine who was to bring what for the meal.
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"Picture Falling Off Wall",1792,0,0,0
Originally pictures were portraits. People thought that these were not something lifeless but possessed a soul. They further reasoned that anything happening to the picture would magically happen to the person it portrayed. If a picture fell off the wall, its owner too, would drop dead.
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"Picture Puzzle",1793,0,0,0
St John's Cemetery in Parramatta is renowned for the many well-known historical figures buried there. But one of its gravestones abounds in mystery. Its wealth of ornamentation is a combination of many rare and intriguing features. The inscription on the stone simply tells that:
\IHere lies the Body of
John o Bryan Who Depd.
This life Febr. the 28th
1802 Aged 21 years\i
Records, listing his name spelt as in the inscription, reveal that he came to \JAustralia\j with "the Fourth Fleet."
However, this scant information is vastly supplemented by the multitude of signs, figures and symbols carved into the stone, which, considering its age, is in remarkably good condition. A large crucifix at its center top suggests, just as his name does, that he was of the Catholic faith. (That he was buried at St John's, an Anglican churchyard, is not surprising, as in the early days it served for the dead of all denominations.)
A radiant face on the right side of the crucifix, obviously represents the sun, once symbolic of Christ, an interpretation based on Malachi's prophecy (4, 2), "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings."
But what is the meaning of the two coffins on the other side of the crucifix? On close inspection it becomes apparent that they are linked and that, in reality, the apparent second coffin is merely the open lid of the other. Most likely, this puzzling decoration was meant to express the hope of the final \Jresurrection\j of the deceased when, with his coffin again opened up, he would arise from the dead.
Odd, and even more puzzling, is the stylized boat pictured beneath, with a figure sitting in its center. On a Christian monument it cannot have any connection with the ancient Greek myth of Charon ferrying the dead across the River \JStyx\j to the underworld. In fact, the ship is a typical Christian motif, signifying how, in the midst of the vast wickedness of the world, the faithful are saved. It is representative of the Church as well, whose adherents were promised a safe passage to the beyond. Like a ship, the Church would carry them over the perilous seas of life to the realm of eternity.
The five-pointed stars, so conspicuously sculpted on either side of the boat, are not just decorative. Stars have always been symbolic of divine guidance and favor. On a gravestone, they might well express the deceased's passing from the darkness of sin to the light of salvation. More so, from its earliest use onward, the pentacle has played a significant part as a powerful magic sign, displayed even in churches to keep demonic forces away.
The superabundance of ornamentation can thus be seen to convey a meaningful message, charged with great spiritual potency. Those many pictures on o Bryan's stone say much more about his life, faith and hope than an inscription, however long, could have ever done.
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"Pie",1794,0,0,0
Pies are universally popular, each country having its favorite recipe. Though many versions contain chunks of meat, their name, nevertheless, honors a bird!
Magpies are renowned as collectors. They like to fill their nests with whatever they can pick up. They gather a most colorful variety of odds and ends: pieces of broken glass, bottle-tops, feathers, and shiny objects. When housewives first filled a pastry-crust with all types of leftovers, their husbands quickly compared the dish with a \Jmagpie\j's nest, dropping the "mag" and retaining the "pie."
Less appetizing is another suggestion. This traces the pie to the French who, while usually renowned for their good taste, in this case stooped rather low. Early shoes were crudely made and the footprints they left on the sandy roads were shapeless. Their indentations resembled pastry containers which parsimonious housewives used to fill with a miscellany of left-overs.
In search of a name for the repast, they called it after the French foot(print), \Ipied,\i which duly Anglicized became the pie. It would be the only example in which it is good to put the foot into one's mouth!
Yet another theory claims that the pie was so called as originally it consisted of \Jmagpie\j meats.
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"Pig and Whistle",1795,0,0,0
If cats are supposed to play the fiddle, it seems not so absurd either for pigs to whistle, at least in the name of taverns in which, after having downed a number of drinks, patrons might imagine lots of things. And yet, "The Pig and Whistle" is not the creation of \Jfable\j or intoxicated minds. The name belongs to the world of intriguing misunderstandings and has been traced back to completely diverse situations.
\IPiggen\i was the Old Saxon word for the "pail," in which beer was served in the early days, for the guest to dip in his mug. The mug was known by the diminutive of piggen, as \Ipig. Wassail,\i on the other hand, expressed the Anglo Saxon wish "Be well!" and "Be of good health!" - \IWas hael.\i
\IPiggen Wassail\i as the name of an inn, thus invited passers-by to partake of its pails of ale to gain good health! When no longer understood, Piggen Wassail was thought to represent a Pig and Whistle.
Others have discovered in the Pig and Whistle a corruption of words from the \JAnglo-Saxon\j version of the Gospels: "Pige-Washail," the angel Gabriel's Salutation to the Virgin Mary, as it appears in the Gospel of St Luke (1:28), "Hail, thou that art highly favored ..."
Another, mundane explanation, belongs to Shakespeare's time. A servant, when asked to fetch a pig of ale, was not trusted. To prevent him from taking a swig "on the way," he was asked to whistle. Certainly, this made it impossible for him to wet his whistle!
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"Pigeonholes",1796,0,0,0
Pigeons have made their distinct contributions to daily life. They have left their traces both on buildings and in speech. In either case, they did so in a negative, if not destructive way. Their mark on structures certainly has had a corroding influence. In matters that needed attention, they gave their name to prolonged delay, if not oblivion.
The divisions embodied in roller-top desks or bureaus look very much like the pigeonholes of a dovecote, specially provided for the nesting of the birds.
To start with, to pigeonhole a matter, such as a letter, a document or an application, solely referred to filing them, putting them into their proper compartment. Unfortunately, language, as do customs, often deteriorates. This was exactly the fate of the concept of pigeonholing. Once papers had been filed away for future reference, they were forgotten. The matter they dealt with was not just deferred, but lost sight of altogether. It was as if the pigeons had flown away.
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"Piggy Bank",1797,0,0,0
A favorite medium for savings, among children and adults, is the piggy bank. Modern potteries often turn it out in the shape of a pig with a slot in its back.
Though piggy banks have contributed much to man's savings, in one way they have also added to his confusion. Why, people wanted to know, was the "coin holder," of all things, thus called and even shaped?
Pigs have been known for many things, but certainly never and nowhere for being thrifty or concerned with the future, saving up for a rainy day.
Dogs bury bones. Camels are said to store away water. But as for pigs, even the proverb says that you will never make a purse out of a sow's ear, and Holy Scripture reminds us of the futility of throwing pearls to swine.
Indeed, there is no true relationship between a piggy bank and a pig. All similarities are merely coincidental. The fault is not that of the swine. It is all a human error. Actually, there is no pork of any kind in a piggy bank - only clay.
During the \JMiddle Ages\j, metal was rarely used in the manufacture of common household utensils; it was too expensive. More economical and pliable was a type of clay then commonly know as \Ipygg.\i This was so popular for dishes, pots and jars, that eventually people referred to all earthenware as pygg.
Frugal housewives then, as now, put what they could save into a pot or jar, which then was made of pygg. And that is how, by a natural process of evolution, that container, serving the purpose of the family treasury, came to be known as the pyggy bank.
In time, however, the origin of the term was forgotten. In 19th century England, potters, being excellent craftsmen but not good etymologists, did not realize the true meaning of pyggy - that ancient clay. Therefore, when customers ordered a pyggy bank, they produced erroneously a pig-shaped money-box.
Mistakes always prosper. In no time the piggy bank caught people's imagination. Subconsciously they might have remembered the fertility of swine, hoping that their money would multiply likewise.
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"Pineapple: Origin of the Name",1798,0,0,0
The shape of the \Jpineapple\j suggested its name, first used by 16th century travelers. Seeing the fruit, it reminded them of a fir cone, known as \Ipina\i in Spanish.
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"Pioneer Astronomer - John Tebbutt",1799,0,0,0
\JAustralia\j's paper $100 note carries the portrait of John Tebbutt. Before \Jinflation\j reduced the value of notes of this denomination, the choice seemed very apt, as all through his life he aimed high-literally, at the skies.
An astronomer of repute, his observations and calculations, made over more than 50 years, were published internationally in the most prestigious scientific journals.
Tebbutt is buried in Windsor, the town in which he was born. He died from cerebral paralysis at the age of 82 on 29 November 1916. His body rests in the large family vault in the churchyard of historical St Matthew's.
A teacher at school first roused his interest in watching the stars, which soon was to become his consuming hobby and lifelong pursuit. Anxious to keep his independence, he refused an attractive offer to become Government Astronomer.
On his father's property and with his own hands, he built his personal observatory, which he equipped with a great diversity of astronomical instruments. His observations bore fruit and led to his discovery, in 1861, of a striking \Jcomet\j, which consequently was called after him. A prolific writer, he published 371 different features and treatises, listed in an appendix to his \IAstronomical Memoirs.\i
With his nose so consistently to the grindstone, Tebbutt would not have dreamt that the world would go on remembering him, through the name of a \Jcomet\j, and that Australians particularly would recall him when paying their bills.
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"Pioneer Medico and Malaria Fighter",1800,0,0,0
\BDr Edward Albert Koch\b
Born in 1843 and educated in \JGermany\j, Dr Edward Albert Koch made his name in northern \JQueensland\j. There he died, at the age of 57 and now rests - next to his English-born wife - in the McLeod Street Cemetery in Cairns, the city in which he played such a prominent part and became a legend in his lifetime. A memorial erected in his honor was paid for by public subscription and the municipality called a street after him.
Koch settled in Cairns after having accompanied several transports of European migrants to \JAustralia\j as a ship's doctor. At the time, Cairns was a fledgling port, and the more he saw of it, the more he liked it. This made him decide, in 1876, to stay on. He was then just 32 years old.
Dr Koch worked both at the \Jhospital\j and in private practice. If patients could not afford to pay a fee, he would treat them free of charge. For further visits, no one received an account.
At the time, malarial fever was rampant in and around Cairns. An eyewitness report vividly describes "the shocking sight of prostrate men, stricken to deplorable helplessness by the terrible virulence of [this] pernicious . . . infection . . ." Koch made his name fighting it. He was among the earliest medical authorities to suspect the mosquito as the carrier. His suspicion was confirmed four years after his death!
Deeply concerned about those who had the disease, Dr Koch did not wait for them to come to him, but sought them out by visiting areas known to be infected. The numerous large pockets of the frock coat he usually wore on his calls were stuffed to their very limit with bottles of medicine. Specially prepared by him, this became known as "Dr Koch's famous fever mixture," and it is still sold in Cairns!
Made of \Jquinine\j, it proved to be not only an effective treatment for \Jmalaria\j, but also a prophylactic. To disguise its bitter taste, Koch advised his patients to mix it with lemon juice, and for children he administered it in sweets he made up.
There were other diseases and ailments that Dr Koch was called upon to treat. Although his records have been lost, death certificates signed by him over a period of 18 months highlight their variety. Causes of death include enteric and climatic fever, pulmonary complaints, \Jdysentery\j, cancer, \Jencephalitis\j, \Jpuerperal fever\j and gun-shot wounds.
It is no wonder that Dr Koch became the friend of everyone. The high esteem in which he was held was shown after his death, from apoplexy, on 28 June 1901. The cortege was led by the local band and the naval brigade, and the funeral was attended by members of the Masonic order, clad in their regalia, and countless men, women and children from every walk of life.
People had difficulty in pronouncing Koch's German name with its guttural ending. Had he Anglicized it, he would have become yet another Australian "Cook." As he never changed it, in the Australian tradition of cutting words short, people called him Dr Koe.
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"Piping on Board",1801,0,0,0
The naval tradition to "salute" an officer of high rank coming on to the ship by "piping him on board" goes back to ancient \Jslavery\j and a naval command to join battle.
In classical \JGreece\j and \JRome\j, galley slaves manned the oars. To keep them pulling in unison, they were directed by the rhythmical sounds of a pipe or flute! Eventually, it was realized that the shrill, short blast of a pipe lent itself eminently to give signals. No one could miss its penetrating, commanding sound. During the 1248 Crusade, English crossbowmen were ordered to rush on to the deck and launch an attack by the sound of a pipe.
Ultimately, "piping" (with a whistle) was reserved for the naval salute. It became so much identified with the navy's way to show honor to high authority that at Queen Victoria's funeral, a naval detachment paid their last respect by piping her into the grave.
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"Pisces - the Fish",1802,0,0,0
Water certainly dominates the last quarter of the Zodiac. It does so in such abundance that the ancients described that part of the sky as the heavenly sea: the \Jgoat\j of Capricorn displayed unmistakable fishy features in its lower parts; by its very name, \JAquarius\j proclaimed its exclusive concern with water, to make things grow on earth. The cycle of the Zodiac ends with the creature most closely associated with the water, without which, in fact, it could not live - the fish.
Gliding silently through the water, with their glistening skins reflecting light, fish must have mystified early man and filled him with awe. He came to worship them as gods. They served him as a staple food. Recognizing their gift of reproduction with its wealth of progeny, man made fish one of his early \Japhrodisiacs\j.
It was only right and just that the fish, which occupied such high status in the mind and hopes of man by his very existence and perpetuation of life, should be given appropriate recognition by reserving for it a place of honor in the sky. Thus fish joined the illustrious company of other celebrated figures to become the twelfth and last "house" of the Zodiac.
In the early pictures of the sign, two fish are shown swimming in different directions, with their tails joined by a ribbon. Other ancient representations retain the two fish, but place one above the other, facing the opposite way.
Immediately two questions present themselves. Why, first of all, were the fish given the last of the twelve houses of the Zodiac? This position was not meant as a slight or "afterthought." On the contrary, it stressed the fish's significance. Just at the time when the sun reached this \Jconstellation\j, the fish in the Nile were growing large and fat - it was the fishing season. Look at the sky, it could be said, and if you see that the sun has joined "the fish," you will know that they are ready to be caught in terrestial waters!
The second question was equally obvious. It concerned the choice of two fish. Why their duplication? This was not accidental either, and two significant reasons have been suggested. It was meant to stress the eternal male-female relationship in the world of reproduction. But it also has been traced to an original close connection with the Babylonian calendar. This was based on the moon and not, like ours, on the sun. As lunar months are shorter than those of the solar year, a problem arose, as festivals, linked with definite seasons, inevitably would move to the wrong part of the year, so that, for instance, a holy day dedicated to spring might occur in winter. To avoid such occurrence, Babylonians wisely introduced their own type of \Jleap year\j in which they periodically added not just one day, but an entire month to the length of the ordinary year. And they chose as the time for this additional month the very period when the sun entered the "house" of the fish. To record the fact and to remind the people that the moment had possibly come to duplicate a month, they put not just one but two fish into the \Jconstellation\j, thereby doubling it as well.
Though fish do not talk themselves, they certainly have much to say about man's early methods of calendar-making, his fishing expeditions, and his deep concern with fertility. Fish thus were truly worthy and fitting to conclude the celestial cycle of the Zodiac. They do so to this very day the Latin way - as \Ipisces.\i
Looking for a mythological reason for the fish in the sky, the Greeks found it ready-made in the incident that transported the \Jgoat\j heavenward to become Capricorn. It just so happened that when the frolicking gods were attacked by Typhon, the fearsome monster, \JAphrodite\j was taking a stroll with her son Eros along the shore of the river Euphrates. And likewise threatened, they, too, sought refuge by jumping into the river and taking on a disguise: they became (the) two fish.
To commemorate and perpetuate their life-saving \Jmetamorphosis\j, not by getting out but into the water, the goddess Athena had placed \JAphrodite\j and Eros (as they then were - as fish) into the sky where we still recognize them.
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"Pistol Originally Not a Gun",1803,0,0,0
Pistols are called after Pistoria, the Italian city in Tuscany situated north-west of Florence and famous for a great variety of wares manufactured there, including arms. The \Jpistol\j, one of its products, was not a handgun at all but a sharp-bladed dagger!
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"Pits and Stalls",1804,0,0,0
In the 17th century, the ground floor of the theater was known as "the pit." From it, and under the open sky, the audience watched the play standing up. Later, they were seated on wooded benches without backboards against which to lean. There was still no roof to shelter the spectators from inclement weather. They must have been so absorbed in the play that they just did not care for or notice their own discomfort.
This alone is evidence of the popularity of many of those early stage productions. The name pit has another significance. The first performances of dramatic art in England took place in arenas previously used for cock-fights. Obviously, the pit is a survival of \Icock-pits,\i the place in which birds were \Ipitted\i against each other. London's first theater, built in 1618, where Shakespeare's plays were performed, stood on the site of a famous cockpit in Drury Lane.
Centuries passed, \Jarchitecture\j developed, and the theater changed into a refined center of culture. Auditoriums were no longer remembered as former arenas, and playgoers demanded comfort.
Theater managers obliged. As the seats nearest the stage were favored most, they were also the dearest. Only well-to-do people could afford to book them. To cater for these patrons' taste and at the same time give value for money, front seats were most luxuriously equipped. Appropriately, the former pit was now called by the fashionable French word \Ifauteuils,\i meaning "armchairs." Soon the French term was Anglicized and became stalls.
Yet as if to remind the unsuspecting, comfortably placed spectator of what went before, the "stall" still recalls, at least etymologically, the former cockpit. The word stall is derived from an old-English term which meant "standing room." Thus, to speak of a stall-seat is really a contradiction in terms. You sit down on something that denotes "standing room" only! This is a symbol of the make-belief world that is the theater, so full of paradox, where the play's the thing!
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"Pittance",1805,0,0,0
The economic law of diminishing returns applies even to the modern pittance, showing how a generous gift can depreciate, to take on miserable proportions.
Nowadays we refer to an amount of money which is so small that it is hardly worth anything, as a pittance. In medieval times however, when the word came into circulation, it denoted a substantial sum donated to a monastic order out of "piety and pity." The contribution thus became known as a \Ipittance.\i
The bequest often carried the stipulation that it should be used to establish a fund, out of which to defray the costs of an annual dinner for the monks. This was to be arranged on the anniversary of the donor's death, for the good of his soul.
The best of intentions can misfire and, with the passing of the years, the bequest grew so small that it became insufficient to pay for a substantial meal. All it provided was a snack. A once literally "pious" word had come down in the world and, like so many a religious treasure, been tossed aside as a valueless trifle - a pittance.
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"Pizza",1806,0,0,0
Pizza pies are Italian. Their description has nothing to do with their actual content, although one hypothesis discovers in the pizza, slightly deformed, the medieval Greek word for a "cake," which is \Ipitta.\i Much more likely is the suggestion that, not referring to anything edible, the pizza recalls a simple tool. It was named in Old Italian after its "sharp point," pizza, probably derived from \Ipizzicare,\i to "prick." Italian bakers used it to decorate the edge of the pie by pressing the tool into the soft dough.
An apocryphal story traces the pizza to Naples. It tells how necessity was the mother of its invention. A Neapolitan baker had run short of dough to prepare the traditional pie, and did not have enough left for its upper crust. Ingeniously, he lined the tin with dough which, before baking it, he topped with chopped meat, cheese, anchovies, olives, and such like.
Unexpectedly, the end result proved so delicious that soon people clamored for the novel pie. All that remained for him to do was to give his creation a name. What better choice than that of the very gadget he had used for it. So he called it a pizza, which it has remained to the present day.
Some culinary experts have denied the Italian source. They assert that, in reality, the idea of the pizza comes from Armenia whose people used to top a bread-like crust with minced lamb.
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"Placebo: Origin of the Name",1807,0,0,0
Placebos play a significant part in the modern pharmacopeia. Their value of psychological effectiveness is well expressed by the meaning of their (Latin) name, "I shall please."
Fortunately those taking them are unaware of what they really are and of the morbid context of their name. The \Jplacebo\j is taken from the opening words of the Office for the Dead in the \JCatholic Church\j: \IPlacebo Domino,\i "I shall please the Lord."
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"Plane in a Cloud - Peter Chellas",1808,0,0,0
A monoplane in a cloud is portrayed on a black marble headstone in the Cudal Cemetery, marking the grave of Peter Chellas. The words simply add personal data to this telling picture. They relate that this "Dear Husband and Father" was "Taken 21.9.78, Aged 37 Years."
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"Platonic Love",1809,0,0,0
By a general misconception, platonic love is divorced from any sexual desire. Purely intellectual, it is supposed to be based on mutual non-erotic esteem between a man and a woman. It received its name because \JPlato\j and his school had advocated such attachment between people of the opposite sex.
This totally misrepresents what \JPlato\j actually taught. A \Jsynonym\j of \Iamor Socraticus, amor Platonicus\i (as defined in \JPlato\j's \ISymposium)\i referred to the interest \JSocrates\j took in young men, also misinterpreted and misjudged in his time by those who could not understand "pure" love. "Platonic love," in fact, was exclusively restricted to males, completely ignoring members of the opposite sex.
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"Play 'Ducks and Drakes'",1810,0,0,0
Whoever plays ducks and drakes with their money spends it carelessly. They throw it away just for the pleasure of seeing it go. This made people compare the short-lived enjoyment with the old simple pastime which became a favorite children's game known as "ducks and drakes." All it required was a flat stone. They threw it across the water of a pond to watch it skimming over its surface. To the imaginative eye the skipping stone looked like "ducks and drakes" taking off from the water, which explains the choice of name for the game.
No matter how forceful the toss, eventually the stone lost its impetus, ultimately to sink to the bottom. The joy given by playing "ducks and drakes," indeed, was limited, just as the enjoyment of money by those who squander it. To describe such irresponsible wastage by the name of the game was all the more appropriate, as frequently people used coins instead of stones which, after their short passage across the water, were irretrievably lost.
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"Play Second Fiddle",1811,0,0,0
There is no hidden meaning in the \Jmetaphor\j that speaks of someone playing second fiddle. It says exactly what it means.
The second violinist in an orchestra obviously plays a less important role than the first violinist. As it were, the violinist comes only second in every sense of the words. And so it is in any walk of life.
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"Please",1812,0,0,0
The first evidence of the custom of saying "please" as a basic form of courtesy goes back only to 1622, six years after Shakespeare's death. At its source, this simple expression of good manners had a religious connotation.
Originally it was used to express the hopeful expectation that one's action or desire was going to \Iplease\i God, to give Him pleasure. When someone asked for a favor or suggested that he might do one himself, he humbly qualified his request or offer by adding that it should or would only be done "if it pleases you." This primary meaning of the phrase is retained by its French version, \Is'il vous plait.\i
Frequent use shortened the saying until all that was left of it was our present-day "please." Now totally divorced from its indigenous religious context, the expression is used quite routinely, in a stereotyped and really meaningless way, just as people, on being introduced, ask "How do you do?" - but would regard as a real bore anyone who, in reply, might tell them how he really is!
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"Pleasure Seeking Epicure",1813,0,0,0
An epicure is now understood to be a person who relishes sensuous pleasure, particularly so in food and drink, in which he is regarded a connoisseur with great refinement in taste. In the very extreme, the description is applied to a hedonist, out to have the best of all worlds, in luxury and in temperance. Nothing could do greater injustice to Epicurus whose name the lifestyle bears.
A Greek philosopher of renown (born c. 342 B.C.) Epicurus was a most frugal man. He saw as the aim of all existence the achievement of "a good life." This, he taught, was attained by learning to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. His pleasure, however, was not that of modern times, with sensual gratification as the be-all and end-all of life. The pleasure he thought of was peace of mind and freedom from want. To obtain them, a man must practice moderation and self-control, with a wise choice of food. Epicurus was convinced that one of the major factors preventing human happiness was a man's "insatiable desire."
In spite of the clarity of his teaching, later generations, to justify their own self-indulgence, distorted it. They selected passages that suited them and, taking them out of their context, made the Epicurean synonymous with a \Jglutton\j and a hedonist, an equation completely unjustified and defaming.
#
"Plimsoll Line",1814,0,0,0
Greed has cost many lives, even at sea. To make a maximum amount of profit out of the transportation of cargo, irresponsible ship owners frequently overloaded their boats. Unable to weather or outride storms, these capsized with much loss of life. Little concern was shown by the public who attributed the disaster not to profiteering but to an \JAct of God\j.
But not so Samuel Plimsoll, the British Member of Parliament for Derby. The moment he became aware of the circumstances, he was determined to stop the nefarious practice. He agitated far and wide to rouse people's consciences. His fight led to the passing of an Act of Parliament which, literally, drew the line to limit the load of cargo a ship was permitted to carry. The mark painted on its hull indicated the maximum load. If the mark was submerged, the cargo exceeded the permitted weight. The parliamentarian's selfless pursuit of what he considered right is perpetuated in the name of the mark, ever since known as the Plimsoll line.
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"Plonk",1815,0,0,0
Plonk is slang for any cheap wine, whether red or white. Some say that it is all that was left of French "white wine," \Ivin blanc,\i on the tongues of Australian soldiers serving with the Australian Expeditionary Force in \JFrance\j during World War I. Others explain the name as of onomatopoetic origin. The noise a bottle makes when uncorked sounds like "plonk."
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"Plus Fours",1816,0,0,0
"Plus fours" is just another name for knickerbockers, once generally popular but now reserved for sportswear. Their name derived from the "additional four" inches of cloth that hang over the knees where the trousers terminated.
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"Plutocracy and Pluto",1817,0,0,0
That a society ruled or controlled by the moneyed class is called a \Iplutocracy,\i goes back to the ancient worship of the god of wealth. His name, \IPluto,\i means "the rich one" or "the giver of prosperity." Significantly, he was thought to be blind. It explained why he distributed riches so indiscriminately, often giving most to those who deserved it least.
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"Pneumonia: Origin of the Name",1818,0,0,0
The divine spirit and the soul that animates the body were once identified with breath; indeed, we still speak of "the breath of life." Called in Greek \Ipneuma,\i it has been perpetuated in the medical term for the \Jinflammation\j of the lungs, \Ipneumonia.\i
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"Poet Laureate and Mythology",1819,0,0,0
As the supreme deity, Apollo was also the god of poetry, so that the Greeks believed in his deep concern for those expressing beauty in verse. This is why they paid tribute to their most eminent poets by honoring them with the laurel wreath, this crown of divine recognition.
When, at medieval courts, sovereigns introduced the office of a personal versifier they remembered the ancient Greek custom and came to refer to him as their \Ipoet laureate.\i British monarchs then perpetuated the practice and, to this day, on recommendation of the Prime Minister, they appoint an official \Jpoet laureate\j. To be chosen as such is regarded an honor and privilege. The laureate's duties are to celebrate any occasion of national importance in poetry composed especially for the event. William Wordsworth, Lord Tennyson, John Masefield, and Cecil Day Lewis were among those occupying the position in the past.
The association of the name with the Greek myth now largely forgotten, the present-day \Jpoet laureate\j is nevertheless linked, through that name, with the religious faith of days long ago.
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"Poetess of the 'Sunburnt Country'",1820,0,0,0
\BDorothea MacKellar\b
Waverley Cemetery is well known as the burial site of both Henry Kendall and Henry Lawson. It is the last resting place of yet a third famous poet, Dorothea MacKellar. \JAustralia\j owes her its most beautiful portrayal: the best-loved and most quoted poem:
\II love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains . .\i
She wrote it in 1904, initially entitling the poem \ICore of my Heart.\i Oddly, it was first published (four years later) not in \JAustralia\j, but in the London \ISpectator.\i It has been suggested that she actually composed it whilst in England. Feeling homesick, she yearned for "the core of my heart, my country." Kipling was so right when he observed that to appreciate one's own country, one has to go abroad.
Subsequently, the poem was reprinted many times in \JAustralia\j, and was included, under the new title of \IMy Country,\i in her first book of verses, \IThe Closed Door.\i Australians, particularly during and after World War I, were inspired by the deep feeling of her lyric patriotism and her love of the country, and the poem became part of numerous anthologies.
Dorothea published other collections of both poetry and prose. But nothing was ever to surpass in popularity the poem that made her name. With sincerity and humility, she herself evaluated her work, "I have written - from the heart, from imagination, from experience - some amount of words."
As the daughter of a renowned Sydney physician, Sir Charles MacKellar, who was also a wealthy landowner, Dorothea never experienced financial worries. And yet, her personal life was far from happy. The man with whom she had fallen in love in London, married someone else.
Because of her increasing ill health, she had to give up writing. For ten years she was confined in a nursing home. This was all the more tragic as she loved outdoor life, and had excelled both as a swimmer and a horsewoman.
Dorothea died - 83 years old - on 14 January 1968 in Sydney, her birthplace. Her death was not due to sickness or old age, but was the result of a fall. At the funeral service at the fashionable St Mark's Church, Darling Point, her poem \IColour\i was read. It was her favorite work, of which she once had said, "You know, I think I was as close as I ever came to writing poetry . . ."
Dorothea was the last of her branch of the family. She was cremated and her ashes were placed in the grave of her brother, Keith Kinnard. A second Lieutenant with the 7th (Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards, he had been killed in action during the Boer War on 11 July 1900. He was then just 20 years of age. His body had been brought back from South Africa to \JAustralia\j five years later, to be interred in the Waverley Cemetery, on 14 November 1905.
A simple white marble \JCalvary\j cross marks their joint last resting place. Though Dorothea might not have an imposing headstone, a magnificent life-sized statue of her on horseback honors her memory in a Gunnedah park. She was well known and loved in that city, close to one of the family properties that she frequently visited and that no doubt inspired some of her poems, if not \IMy Country\i itself as some have claimed.
The estate Dorothea left well exceeded one and a half million dollars.
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"Poinsettias for Christmas Decorations",1821,0,0,0
The \Jpoinsettia\j is named after Joel R. Poinsett, who served as the USA's first ambassador to Mexico, from 1825 to 1829. During that time he came to admire a beautiful indigenous plant with large scarlet leaves encircling small, greenish-yellow blossoms, which the Mexicans had adopted as their Christmas flower. He liked it so much that he sent specimens back to the USA, where they soon flourished.
A Mexican legend tells how the \Jpoinsettia\j became a Christmas flower. A poor peasant girl was anxious to bring a gift in honor of the Virgin Mary to the Christmas Eve service. She had nothing of value, though, so she went empty-handed. On her way to church she met an angel, who told her to pick some weeds. She did so and, with a heavy heart and a feeling of shame, placed them on the altar. Miraculously, they were transformed into the bright scarlet "flowers." Ever since, poinsettias have been popular decorations for churches and homes during the Christmas festival.
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"Pointing",1822,0,0,0
It is considered rude to point at people. This is merely a rationalization of an ancient \Jsuperstition\j and a primitive practice.
In some parts of the world to point at a celestial body was taken as an affront to divine power, which would punish the offender. His action could not harm the sun, moon or stars but only himself. By a natural development, the dangerous import of pointing was generalized.
Pagans, while worshiping idols, pointed at their image. It was thus a natural reaction for Christian people to view with disfavor any type of pointing.
However, black projective magic is the most likely source of the disapproval. Widespread and most feared among savage people was the practice of pointing. It was a \Jsupernatural\j way of killing. Possibly at first the savages pointed at an adversary whose death they desired. They did so with a bone taken from a dead man's body, believing that with it they could best express and attain their aim.
Survival of this magical death ritual among primitive races, including Australian \JAborigines\j, rendered the act, if no longer fatal, reprehensible. To avoid any possible ill effect, yet (consciously or unconsciously) not wishing to admit knowledge of the original murderous background, any sort of pointing was decried as uncouth.
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"Pointing the Finger",1823,0,0,0
We teach our children that it is rude to point a finger at anyone. But why should this be so? In reality, the warning given has nothing to do with etiquette or good manners. It, too, is a survival of man's magic past. He believed that in his finger - like in a magic cone - was concentrated supreme (psychic) power. If this power were aimed at a target and hit it, it could magically achieve miraculous things.
The \JBible\j tells how Moses produced the plagues that hit Pharaoh and his people by "pointing." By stretching his hand towards the sky, he made the sun vanish and darkness envelop the land. When at Moses' bidding Aaron pointed his rod towards the river Nile, he caused the frogs to come up and cover the land. Whether a rod or hand (the five-fold multiplication of the finger), they all reflect the identical magic of the phallus as represented by the digit. It was therefore not a colloquial saying or the use of a powerful \Jmetaphor\j when the Egyptian magicians referred to the plagues that had befallen their land by saying that "This is the finger of God!" (Exodus 8,15).
Man's ancestral memory has not forgotten the original "ominous" connotation of the pointing finger. And this is why we continue to decry "unreasonably" as uncouth when educated people employ the gesture. The ancient fear remains at the back of our mind. Eventually, the pointing finger became detached from the hand, and "stretched." Helped by the rod, it evolved into the magic wand, now totally independent of the hand but no less effective. Though the wand is used in modern times in circumstances that arouse pleasant surprise, it still contains memories of its early deadly aim.
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"Poker Origins",1824,0,0,0
The origin and meaning of poker is as uncertain as the outcome of the game. Though most likely it originated in Europe, where the first literary mention of poker goes back to the sixteenth century, it was developed and became a favorite card game as late as the nineteenth century in the United States.
It has been linked with a similar German card game in which bluffing and betting played a significant part. This was known in German as \IPochspiel,\i from \Ipochen,\i a word literally meaning to "knock" or to "rap," but also used metaphorically for "boasting" and "bragging." Germans are supposed to have called the game so because a player, when passing, used to say \Iich poche,\i simultaneously doing just that - knocking on the table with their knuckles.
When, in \JNew Orleans\j, the French adopted the game, they could not produce the German guttural sound (its "ch" being voiced like that of the Scottish "loch"). Instead, they pronounced the \Ipoche\i as \IpoquΘ\i (poe-kay) which then further deteriorated into the American poker. If not bluffing, it certainly is confusing.
Another explanation derives poker from the French poche for a "bag," the very word which gave English the "pocket" and the "pouch." The name of poker therefore referred to its all - important and so coveted kitty or pool, containing the money.
There is also a Dutch claim, in which language the devil was known as \Ipokker.\i At the very time the game became a favorite gambler's pursuit in the United States, pokerish was the vernacular for anything "frightening" or "alarming." And was not indeed the novel pursuit devilishly frightening? Hence, to call it "poker" seemed most fitting.
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"Pokerface",1825,0,0,0
It seems so obvious that the making of a poker face, showing no expression, goes back to the game poker in which "bluffing" one's opponent plays such an important role. By keeping a straight face, the player does not give away their "hand," particularly essential if the combination of cards they hold would make them lose the game.
And yet, there is also a theory which claims that the origin of the phrase is not connected with the actual game. It might have been "forged," as it were, in the fireplace. The poker used to stoke the embers in the grate is a metal rod. Its very rigidity permits no change of shape or appearance. A poker-face, equally unbending, betrays no emotion and, by controlling every facial muscle, conceals one's true attitude and feelings.
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"Policeman's Lot",1826,0,0,0
Every policeman knows the chances he takes when choosing his career. Special hazards are his lot. Gravestones in every part of \JAustralia\j testify how, as the appointed guardian of the law, his is a dangerous, and at times fatal, pursuit.
In the Old Penrith Cemetery, adjacent to St Stephen the Martyr Church, is the gravesite of James Beatty, "late Sergt. of Police." As his epitaph records, he "died at Penrith through injuries received while in the execution of his duty on the 11th Jany 1890, aged 54 Years."
Irish by birth, James came to \JAustralia\j at the age of 21. Following in his father's footsteps, he joined the police. His duties included a diversity of tasks, such as looking after "degenerate characters" imprisoned on Cockatoo Island and, after joining the mounted detachment, acting as gold escort. Assigned to restore order at the outbreak of the Lambing Flat riots, he received a knife wound to his head.
Undaunted, he continued his career and was duly promoted. He served at Parramatta, Windsor, Campbelltown, Douglas Park, Ryde and - finally and fatally - at Penrith.
A detailed report, published in the \INepean Times\i of 26 June 1926, relates the circumstances of his death. It quotes the testimony of ex-Constable Moseley who, 36 years earlier, had witnessed the event.
Beatty had ordered an Indian he found loitering in the streets to leave town. The Indian not only ignored his request, but attacked Beatty ferociously, stabbing him five times, penetrating his liver. The wounds proved fatal.
Penrith residents surrounded the man and, greatly agitated by the murder, tried to lynch him. Constable Moseley had arrived on the scene and stopped the crowd from taking the law into their own hands. He himself became the target of further attacks by the Indian.
Moseley fired his gun. Though the bullet lodged in the Indian's spine, he still could not be subdued. For fear of hitting bystanders, the constable made no further use of his weapon, but at last managed to disarm and arrest the Indian. After a temporary detention in the Penrith lockup, the assailant was moved to the Parramatta Prison \Jhospital\j. There he died soon after arrival.
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"Politeness",1827,0,0,0
Metaphorically speaking, polite people are said to be "polished" in their manners. Indeed, the two words, \Ipolite\i and \Ipolish,\i share a common origin in the craft of precious metal-workers.
When ancient Roman craftsmen - goldsmiths or silversmiths - had completed a work of art, they polished it to make it shine, and achieved a gleaming surface called, in Latin, \Ipolitus:\i the connection of this word with our \Ipolite\i is plain.
With the conquest of the ancient world by the Barbarians, the splendor and culture vanished, and life once again became coarse, brutal and primitive. The elegant items of the Roman artisans were no longer made; \Ipolitus\i was lost.
It was not until the fourteenth century that clergymen resurrected "politeness." To glorify God, they polished the sacred golden and silver vessels and implements used in worship. They did so conscientiously and devoutly.
The "polish" of these objects caught the attention and excited the admiration of the congregations, and in due course, polite came to mean "refined." Ultimately, by the eighteenth century, "to be polite" was the aspiration of anyone with pretensions to good breeding and refinement. \IPoliteness\i in its modern sense - wherever still practiced - therefore owes its survival to churchmen's endeavor to serve God in ways truly worthy of him - in the beauty of holiness.
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"Pomegranates on Gravestones",1828,0,0,0
Ancient pagan cultures made symbolic use of the \Jpomegranate\j. Its numerous seeds indicated fertility. Judeo-Christian tradition expanded the \Jsymbolism\j to reflect the belief in the rebirth of the dead at the end of his or her days.
Superstition attributed a special magic power to the \Jpomegranate\j; of all the fruits, it alone was immune from destruction by worms. The representation of the fruit on a gravestone therefore was thought to protect the body from being devoured by worms.
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"Poor as Church Mice",1829,0,0,0
Once, a church, as a spiritual center, provided no food. Consequently, it had no cupboards or pantry, as might nowadays be the case, with social functions often being held on the premises as well. This made a mouse living in a church poor indeed. It could not find even a crumb of bread.
The original English proverb, stemming from the seventeenth century, and the source of the present-day phrase, much more aptly did not refer to anyone as "poor" but as "hungry" as a church mouse.
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"Pope's Fans",1830,0,0,0
Christianity adopted the ancient \Jsymbolism\j, which had seen the peacock as an emblem of immortality, and used the bird in various ways in its ceremonial and sacred art. When the early Christians during a period of persecution by the Romans were forced to practise their religion hidden in the \Jcatacombs\j, they decorated the walls with the peacock motif to express their new faith and belief in Christ's \Jresurrection\j. Centuries later, artists used peacock feathers in their ornamentation of churches to embellish or depict angels' wings. When the Crusaders returned from the East, they brought with them feathers of the bird as treasured and venerated possessions!
Still today, when the Pope is borne in solemn procession in his "portable chair" \I(sedia gestatoria),\i the attendants accompanying him on each side carry two huge fans, known by their original Latin term, \Iflabella.\i They are made either of peacock feathers or \Jostrich\j plumage on which are sewn the eye-spots. The fans are then attached to two long staffs. No doubt, the fans are a carry-over from imperial, pagan \JRome\j in which exactly that kind of fan belonged to the Caesars' pomp and was their badge of honor and emblem of power.
Most probably they originally served a very practical purpose: to cool the air and keep flies and other insects away from the supreme pontiff. But the many-eyed feathers then became symbolic of the ever-watchful eyes of the (Catholic) Church and the Pope, its supreme representative. The fans' use on Easter was all the more significant, as then they carried the additional message of Christ's \Jresurrection\j.
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"Poplin",1831,0,0,0
An unhappy period in Papal history was the time when two men claimed the Pope's position and neither gave way to the other. Occurring in the fourteenth century, it belongs to the remote past. Nevertheless, it is still recalled in one of the strangest ways - by the name of a dress material used for women's clothes, children's wear and men's shirts!
When, in 1305, Clement V could not occupy the Papal throne in \JRome\j, he took up residence in the French city of Avignon, then also a Papal possession. His successors, equally exiled, continued to live and to rule from there until 1377.
Specially favored because of the "rightful" Pope's presence there, Avignon grew ever more prosperous as a center of commerce and industry. Goods manufactured in the city were soon labelled (and promoted) as "pertaining to the Pope," in French \Ipapeline.\i Among them was a woven corded fabric, accordingly marketed as "papal linen." Becoming most fashionable, the cloth was exported to Britain to be sold there under an Anglicized version of its name - \Ipoplin.\i
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"Poppycock",1832,0,0,0
All poppycock comes from the Netherlands, language wise. The English took it from the Dutch for "soft excreta" - \Ipap kak.\i
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"Porcupines Shoot Quills",1833,0,0,0
That porcupines shoot off their quills is a popular belief. It has even been suggested that \Jarchery\j was invented by watching an animal doing so. No porcupine ever shoots off its quills. All it does to frighten a foe and keep it at a safe distance, is to erect its "spikes" (just as for the same purpose it slaps its tail forcefully on to the ground). In the process, loose quills may easily fly off in all directions.
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"Pork as Forbidden Food",1834,0,0,0
One of the best-known food prohibitions is that of eating pork. It is carefully observed by Jews and, for that matter, Moslems as well. At times of religious persecution, they preferred martyrdom to partaking of the flesh of swine.
It is a mistake, however, to assume that the pig was singled out as the only animal forbidden by Jewish dietary law. It is not fit for human consumption, according to \JHebrew\j tradition, because it does not fulfill one of the two requirements of the \JBible\j for animals which it is permissible to eat - that they chew the cud and have cloven hoofs. Both the cow and the sheep qualify, but not so the pig, and this only because it does not chew the cud.
But there must have been other weighty reasons that led the \JHebrew\j people and other groups in the \JMiddle East\j not only to exclude the pig from their diet but to view it generally with abhorrence. It was a combination of factors that rendered swine unclean to the Jews.
The pig was \Jtaboo\j, at first, for significant religious reasons. It was worshiped by primitive races who also sacrificed it to their idols and ate its flesh in sacred meals. This fact especially, of the pigs association with alien gods and rites, made Jews, in their passion for a monotheistic, spiritual faith, reject the pig and decry it as unclean.
Man often scorns even the best of things, if he is not accustomed to them. The unfamiliar is under suspicion even today. It is no wonder, then, that primitive groups faced the unknown with horror. They believed that the eating of strange foods was fraught with grave danger. These were avoided not because of possible food-poisoning - something completely unsuspected at that time - but for the terrifying possibility that they carried magical, harmful forces which, once absorbed by the body, could cause irremediable damage.
Primitive races imagined that they became what they ate, and acquired the qualities of the animals they consumed. Thus, to become swifter, some tribes favored venison and refrained from eating the meat of the clumsy bear. The Caribs did not eat pork because they feared that if they did, they would grow the pig's small eyes, while Zulu girls shunned the pig lest their children grew to resemble it.
Although the ancient Egyptians reared and ate pigs, they regarded them as unclean. Herodotus, the Greek historian, recalls how anyone touching a pig had to plunge with his clothes on into a river, and that swineherds, though Egyptian by birth, were the only people excluded from the sanctuary. Socially, they were so ostracized that they had to choose wives from their own class.
As pigs seem to revel in filth and to consume almost every kind of dirt, they were regarded as contaminated and too dangerous to be eaten.
It is unlikely that in the initial stages of civilization, hygiene prompted the devising of laws and customs. Modern notions are often wrongly applied to primitive man. That is why it has been deemed fallacious to suggest as yet another reason for the prohibition of pork that the animal was frequently infected by microbes and that, therefore, fear of disease, specifically trichinosis, led the ancient Hebrews wisely to reject pork as part of their diet.
Nevertheless, human instinct works in wondrous ways and in many cases anticipates, by centuries, future knowledge. Perhaps that was true of the early banning of pork.
Certainly, aesthetic and ethical reasons have played their part in creating contempt for the pig. In addition to its supposedly filthy habits, it was known to devour its young, and such infanticidal tendencies rendered the beast all the more abominable to people trained in the reverence for life.
A further theory sees in the aversion to the pig, even in pre-\JHebrew\j times, survival of early antipathies of pastoral groups to settled, agricultural races. The nomads thought themselves a better breed and despised people bound to a permanent home and leading a regulated life which seemed to lack adventure.
The raising of pigs was part of the early agricultural pattern and pastoral people soon came to regard swine as an expression of settled existence. Later, they transferred their contempt for a way of life to its symbol, the pig. They decried it as unclean and avoided its flesh.
Finally, totemism has been cited as the earliest cause of rejecting the pig as food. Primitive races recognized in the animal the symbol of their group, indeed their ancestor, whom to kill would have been fatal to themselves.
#
"Pork-barreling",1835,0,0,0
Though "pork barreling" is a coinage of American politics, it has made its way across the seas to other English-speaking countries.
The phrase describes the practice of members of the \JHouse of Representatives\j to have federal treasury allocate special funds for projects favored by (and of benefit to) their \Jconstituency\j. The pursuit certainly gained (and retained) them votes among their electorate.
The term is said to have been adopted from the Deep South, where it had particular significance in antebellum (pre-\JCivil War\j) days. Though often refuted, this tradition claims that plantation owners occasionally used to treat their slaves with a gift of salted pork. Delivered in huge containers, their arrival created a veritable stampede among the blacks. Each one tried to get to the barrel first to get hold of as much of the meat as was possible.
However plausible the derivation sounds, it has been rejected as a mere \Jfable\j. Pork, it was said, was easily available to the slaves at the time. More likely, it has been suggested, the "pork barrel" of modern political maneuvers merely enlisted the use of "pork" as a common slang term for corruption and graft. Already congressional records of 1879 had spoken of St Louis receiving some of the "pork." What they really meant was the "fat" of the land, with which to buy patronage.
#
"Port Campbell Memorial",1836,0,0,0
Succinct, and perhaps because of it all the more memorable and dramatic, are the words on a monument at Port Campbell. It was erected to commemorate sailors who were victims of a shipwreck. Put up on the burial place of "the remains of Captain Scott (Banff)" and four of his sailors, it pays tribute to:
\IThe Nine Seamen
Who lost their lives in the wreck of the
S.S. Newfield, at Peterborough
29th August 1892\i
The gravesite is close to the actual scene of the disaster. During a storm, the men, trying to seek shelter, had left their \Jbarque\j in two boats. One was swept out to sea and the other broke up when it was smashed against the side of the ship.
#
"Porterhouse Steak",1837,0,0,0
Porters and other laborers used to enjoy a beer of darkbrownish color and bitter taste. Brewed especially for them, it was so much their favorite that it became known as the porters' ale or beer. In their love of abbreviations, they eventually dropped the ale and the beer from the name and just spoke of the brew as porter.
A New York City tavern which served a great deal of porter, also sold a special cut of steak. Thus porterhouse steak was named through this association.
#
"Portholes on Starboard",1838,0,0,0
The obvious purpose of the portholes in a ship is to let in light and fresh air. Their name is puzzling. Why should they be called portholes, as they are equally situated on the starboard side? The explanation lies in a confusion of terms. The porthole has nothing to do with the portside of a ship but was the "port" for guns, positioned, of course, on both sides. When no longer needed for the purpose of firing guns, it assumed a new function, but retained its former, now senseless name, so much subject to misunderstanding.
The modern covered portholes go back to King \JHenry VI\j. In 1485 he felt the need to equip his ship, the \IGreat Harry,\i with heavier guns for which purpose the gun ports had to be enlarged. James Baker, a ship-builder who was given the task, copied French methods and provided the "holes" with watertight doors, to be shut, when the battery was not being fired.
#
"Possessed",1839,0,0,0
There have always been people who seemed to act "oddly." They mystified all others in their group who looked upon them with awe, wonder, and consternation. What made a person so strange and so different, they anxiously asked? And they reacted to the odd person according to the explanation they gave for his peculiar demeanor.
The "odd man out" might be a figure of \Jsupernatural\j power. He was god-possessed and hence particularly venerable. Therefore he was treated with respect and reverence, if not actually worshiped.
Going to the other extreme, people imagined that a demonic force, an evil spirit had entered the person. Unable or unwilling to leave him, it had created his "character change" and all the weird and often frightening phenomena accompanying this.
Man learned early to differentiate between his physical body and indwelling spirit. Dreams especially, most vivid among primitive races, convinced him of the reality of the duality of his being. Though his body certainly was confined to the "here" and "now," his spirit could move about: both horizontally as in space, and vertically in time. How else could he explain that, during his sleep, he met far-off friends, talked to people long dead, or visited places so distant that it would take him many days to get there in the ordinary way.
More ominously still, strange, evil spirits could enter the body and, taking possession of it, bring about a personality change. The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j thus explains King Saul's melancholia. It was caused, it says, because an "evil spirit" had entered the king; luckily, young David was able to drive it out by his (magic) playing of the harp (I Sam. 16, 14-23).
The early "diagnosis" of the strange demeanor of a man suffering from \Jhysteria\j, \Jschizophrenia\j, or epileptic fits was that he was possessed by such an evil spirit. How else, lacking the medical knowledge of later days, could people account for the bizarre gestures, strange speech, the frothing at the mouth, the distorted features, or convulsions of such unfortunate individuals? They thought such behavior was not due to physical or mental sickness, but to "the demons" possessing them.
Such "possession" seemed to interfere with, if not to threaten, the very life of the group. It was felt that something had to be done to cure the victim so afflicted: not only for his own sake but for the sake of all others who were exposed to his destructive influence. The assumption that terrible trouble could be caused by the "evil spirit" that had entered the body led to the logical conclusion that only its expulsion would restore the person to his former natural self and the group to its equilibrium.
The problem, of course, was who and which measures could achieve this goal. From earliest days onward, the "wise men" (the wizards and magicians) were regarded as qualified and spiritually powerful enough to undertake this dangerous mission. The way they went about it varied among different cultures and became known as demon expulsion or "exorcism."
#
"Pot-shot",1840,0,0,0
A pot-shot is a shot taken carelessly, in haste and without proper aim. The description goes back to the sport of hunting, as practised in medieval times. To give the quarry a sporting chance, hunters had to conform to a code of detailed regulations. However, some people who hunted not for sport but for the "pot" could not care less how they killed the game.
Hence, they completely ignored the hunting rules. They would shoot the animals in or out of season, use banned snares and prohibited baits. Frequently, they would not chase the game as was the sporting tradition, but ambush it. And that is the background of the modern sense of taking a pot-shot, with people no longer being aware of its original meaning so closely associated with the wish to keep the pot boiling.
#
"Potato Crisps",1841,0,0,0
Sometimes complaints have results. This may be in the most unexpected way. A constantly dissatisfied customer thus was responsible for \Jpotato\j crisps.
It happened in 1865 in Saratoga Springs, a fashionable holiday resort in the state of New York. A visitor, staying at the Moon's Lake House (though versions differ as to the locale) never left off grumbling. He seemed to find fault with almost everything. He just could not be pleased. Even the \Jpotato\j chips - the "French fries" - served were not to his liking. They were soggy and much too greasy, he told the waiter, who, dutifully, passed on the complaint to the kitchen.
The chef took due notice of it. Perhaps where everyone else had failed, he might succeed in making the guest happy and satisfy him by preparing for him something really special. This time, he sliced the potatoes exceedingly thin and deep-fried them. The result was a completely new product so crisp and brown that the fault-finder had to admit that he had never tasted anything so delicious.
A man who certainly could not hold his tongue, he now went about praising the crisps, talking about them to all his friends. That is how the Saratoga chips, as they were called at first, conquered the market. It all began with one man who had a chip on his shoulder.
#
"Potholes",1842,0,0,0
Potholes in roads, of every size and depth, add to traffic hazards. Nowadays, they are mostly caused by the number and size of heavy vehicles, bad weather or lack of maintenance. Their mystifying description however, points to an origin of a possibly totally different kind.
Potters, it has been said, in need of clay for their wares, did not go to far away places to obtain it. They just dug it up from a road nearby, "producing" the original potter's hole which, if not in size, in name, contracted into the modern "pothole."
#
"Pour Oil on Troubled Waters",1843,0,0,0
It is rather strange that more than a thousand years ago, long before oil slicks occurred, man had realized that rough waters could be calmed by pouring oil on them. Indeed, the expression existed at a time when boats were hardly large enough to carry oil in sufficient quantity to achieve this feat.
Benjamin Franklin experimented with this method and, in 1855, Charles Kingsley used the \Jmetaphor\j in \IWestward Ho.\i Nevertheless, the figure of speech goes back much further - to a legendary event recounted in the Venerable Bede's \IEsclesiastical History,\i completed in 731.
As St Bede tells it, St Aidan, the first bishop of the Irish county of Wexford, renowned for his many miracles, had handed a flask of consecrated oil to a priest who was to embark on a ship to escort a young girl on her way to marry King Oswin of \JNorthumbria\j.
During the voyage, a storm threatened to wreck the boat. However, when the priest had emptied the flask of sacred oil on to the water, the sea calmed, and both reached their destination safely. "To pour oil on troubled waters" can thus be traced beyond its present-day meaning - to defuse an explosive situation with kind and wise words - not to a physical phenomenon, but to the miracle story told by St Bede.
#
"Pouring Milk Before Tea",1844,0,0,0
It is proper among the English, when drinking tea, to pour milk into the cup first. This was not an affectation or an arbitrary matter of taste. It shows an early practical sense. When, in the late 17th century, Britain began to import tea, it came from China. Appropriately, thus, it was served in bowls from that country. Being apprehensive that the hot tea might crack the fragile china, they cooled it down by first putting cold milk into the cup.
Fine china may be heat-resistant nowadays and most other cups used are very ordinary. Nevertheless, the once-precautionary measure has become a habit among the English. Some people welcome the custom; it saves them using a spoon to mix the milk and the tea.
#
"Power Corrupts",1845,0,0,0
That "power corrupts" is an unfair generalization and misquotes Lord Acton. What the English historian actually wrote (in a letter to Mandell Creighton dated April 5, 1887) was that "power tends to corrupt." One of the significant qualifications is therefore omitted. His statement claimed that power was conducive to corruption, a dangerous possibility but certainly not - as the misquotation assumes - an inevitable effect.
#
"Power Loom",1846,0,0,0
It seems that ministers of religion were not only concerned with biblical texts but also with the texture of cloth. A worthy successor of William Lee, the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, Vicar of Brampton, England, in 1785 invented a power-driven loom which was soon to replace its hand-operated forerunner. In its first primitive form already, it doubled the weavers' output. Within a year, the mills of Doncaster and Manchester adopted invention.
But Cartwright's initial success came to a sudden end. Weavers, seeing their livelihood threatened, wrecked the machines. Their action was the forerunner of the militant industrial action of our own technological age.
The workers, however, did not prevail, for progress cannot be turned back: ultimately, Cartwright's power loom was accepted. Its introduction greatly profited the country and - a rare occurrence - Cartwright's achievement was acknowledged in his lifetime. Fifty Lancashire firms sent a special memorandum to the then Prime Minister which resulted in his being awarded, in 1809, a grant of ú10,000. He used the money to purchase a farm in Kent.
Cartwright proved himself a prolific inventor. Apart from the power loom, he pioneered a wool-combing machine, an engine run on alcohol and notable improvements in rope-making and agricultural implements.
#
"Power of the Rod",1847,0,0,0
Sticks and branches have served man in a multiplicity of forms from antiquity onward. He used them in making fires, in building his home, or in fording rivers. They belonged to his primitive weapons: with his club he "beat" his human and his animal foes. By way of fences, or living hedges, branches gave him extra protection. As message sticks, they were his original (bush) telegraph.
It was the way in which they grew and then mysteriously suddenly sprouted which made man look upon them with tremendous awe. They were not just dead wood, he reasoned, but - even if cut off - they retained some miraculous, \Jsupernatural\j power. More so, their resemblance to a phallus bestowed on them extra life-giving qualities in his imagination. That is how rods, sticks, and branches found a place in man's occult pursuit from the beginning.
Rods in the right hands could work wonders - so man was convinced already at the dawn of history.
Egyptian lore told how Pharaoh Nectanebo of the XXXth dynasty moved models of his entire fleet to attack and defeat the enemy naval force by manipulating an ebony rod. No doubt, he did so not in the form of a war game or an innocuous pastime, but by seeking to practice sympathetic magic. On a major scale, it was very much like what witch doctors did with dolls or waxen figures: by sticking pins into them they tried to bring pain and possibly death to the living person represented by the doll.
Well known is the frequent use made of a magic wand in the stories of the \JBible\j. In their confrontation with Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron tried to convince him of the divine power which would protect and deliver their people by "wielding" the stick. Significantly, in some cases Egyptian magicians were able to emulate their performance. Commentators have suggested that Moses' rod actually was his shepherd's crook. Therefore, it was his psychic gift that had invested it with its \Jsupernatural\j quality.
A different type of branch served Aaron to quell a rebellion directed against his hierarchical monopoly that could have easily cost him his supreme ecclesiastical position. A faction of his own people resented and openly questioned Aaron's right to appropriate to himself and his family the priestly rights, privileges, and vested interests they carried. Aaron then, so the \JBible\j relates, "demonstrated" the legitimacy of his divine appointment by the miraculous budding of a rod, ever since referred to as "Aaron's rod" (Num. 17, 16-26). And, like a modern charter, he is said to have kept it in safe custody in the sanctuary itself.
Rods were also thought to be able to cure disease by their magic quality. Often they were linked in this special mission with the snake which, when stiff, was so much like a rod. A representation of such a "healing rod" with serpents coiling around it, was discovered in an ancient Sumerian artifact, going back to the third millennium B.C.
The United States and British Army Medical Corps have retained this very rod as their emblem. Known as the caduceus, its name indicates how (in ancient myth) it served as a herald's staff. The herald, however, was not an ordinary messenger but the god Hermes. He carried the staff to guide disembodied spirits to the other world and to restore to life those who were dead.
Originally, the wand was an olive branch, symbolic of immortality. Its power then was reinforced by the twin serpents. The regular shedding of their skin was seen as representing (and magically ensuring) rebirth and constant renewal. And that is how, thousands of years later, doctors continue to treasure the rods and the Masonic craft to use it in its \Jinitiation rites\j to bring home to the candidate the message of everlasting life.
In ancient days the rod became a life-preserver. It did so in the role of a divining tool to trace hidden sources of water.
A telling example is known from the \JBible\j. When the Israelites, lacking any water in the heat of the desert, were utterly exhausted, they were once again about to rebel. It was then that their leader Moses (who no doubt possessed great psychic power) is said to have made a rock gush forth a spring which supplied them with water "abundantly" (Num. 20,7-13).
The circumstances as related in the \JBible\j plainly point to the way in which he succeeded in what was regarded as a miracle. With his "magic" rod he struck a rock twice. To the discerning mind, the scriptural text describes - though rather distortedly - a typical case of water divining. In this particular incident, the effect of the discovered water was so powerful that it caused Moses' hands, holding the rod, to react so violently that it seemed to the people watching him that he actually had struck the rock. And that is the reason why the \JBible\j record puts things in the reverse and tells that the water gushed forth because Moses had dealt a blow to the rock! In reality, it was a case of dowsing.
The practice of water divining in antiquity has been testified to further by Herodotus, who quotes examples from Scythian and Persian sources.
First explanations of the phenomenon assumed the existence of a miraculous magic power of detection in the rod itself. Like a modern \JGeiger counter\j, it was thought to indicate the subterranean presence of water. Others saw in it the working of contagious magic: the moisture in the green twig would pull towards the underground water-like being attracted by like - and the twig would dip.
The fact that various types of wood, among them hazel, oak, and elder, were used for the (mostly cleft) divining rod, suggests that the actual power of finding the water (mineral, plant, coal, or other substances sought) was not in the rod itself but in the person who carried it. He was an individual highly sensitive to some (still unidentified) type of radiation that emanated from the water (or other object) underground. This caused his involuntary muscular action which, in turn, made the rod in his hand jerk or vibrate. The entire process is well illustrated by Galvani's experiment in which the muscles of a frog's legs were made to twitch by the "invisible" currents of electricity.
The rod is not just a relic of ancient beliefs and a symbol in arcane and medical craft. It continues to serve as a practical tool in the hand of diviners to tap water or other hidden buried treasures.
#
"Powers of Evil",1848,0,0,0
Man has always been aware and afraid of evil forces. No matter where and when he lived, he felt threatened and experienced suffering and misfortune. It did not take him long to ask for their origin. Somehow, he felt, there had to be a powerful source of all the evil that befell him and his people. And that is how, all over the world, man came to personify evil. The way he did so, of course, differed in the various cultures and periods.
Evil was seen and identified as an independent force that had existed from the very beginning and was a rival to good and to God. It was explained as a being which, once perfect itself, had become depraved.
Another view regarded evil as either something apart from man or innate in him. There were some who saw in evil a mere illusion, the deprivation of good. Others, however, took the opposite view: life seemed to prove that only evil was real and that all good was spurious and imaginary. Hence they deified evil as the supreme power.
All of history was looked upon as a perpetual struggle against the forces of evil. Man's choice was to ally himself either with "the light" or "the darkness." And the way in which Judeo-Christian civilization evolved its concept of evil and its personification, is linked with preceding Egyptian, Babylonian and Persian myths. Taking over some of their features, it strongly reacted to others. The final result was the figure of Satan which has its own story to tell.
#
"Pram",1849,0,0,0
Mothers may not know it, but they owe a special debt of gratitude to monarchs for having eased considerably their burden. Strange though it may seem, the adoption of our modern pram is due, in no small measure, to Royal example.
Since babies are the hope of man, it is not surprising that from prehistoric ties every care was taken to protect the young child physically, psychologically, and even magically.
Mothers were not so lucky. For thousands of years it was considered their pre-ordained fate, biblically attested, to bear children in pain. Even after the birth, little was done to case the mother's lot. It was almost symbolic that, among primitive tribes, the father went to bed at the birth of a child to rest there for days, if not weeks.
Women were expected not only to bear children but, afterwards, to go on carrying them - in one way or another. The husband's only concern was that this did not interfere with her other work. Thus, North \JAmerican Indians\j carried their babies in cradle boards tied to the back. An Eskimo mother put her child in the hood of her fur jacket. \JBedouin\j women fixed their children securely high on the shoulder. Many a native woman in Africa still carries her youngster on her back in a blanket wrapped around her own body.
The modern pram is a little more than 100 years old. It was first constructed in New York City by Charles Burton in 1848. His new-fangled idea did not catch on, mainly because the pram collided with too many pedestrians.
Burton, however, was determined to make a success of his invention. He went to Britain and opened a factory there. And the change of site brought him a change of luck. His pram appealed to the common sense of mothers and became fashionable when Queen Victoria (and later Queen Isabella of \JSpain\j and the Pasha of \JEgypt\j) ordered the new type of baby carriage for their families.
The choice of the word perambulator for the new baby vehicle is interesting. Its literal meaning, derived from the Latin, is to walk through. Actually, the term was first used to describe a machine which measured distance by "walking" along it. The shortened version, "pram," first appeared in the vocabulary in its new sense in 1857.
#
"Praying Mantis and Prayer",1850,0,0,0
Man all too often mistakenly interprets the world around him according to his own standards, tastes and meaning of gestures. One of the most absurd examples is his naming of the \Jpraying mantis\j.
He called it so, first of all, because of its conspicuous practice, whilst resting, of raising and folding its front legs. Was not this man's position at prayer?
Then, the name \Imantis\i reinforced the association of its peculiar stance with a religious attitude. This Greek word referred to the prophetic gift of a seer, also believed to belong to this predatory creature!
To speak of the creature as a "\Jpraying mantis\j" is, indeed, aImost a verbal \Jcaricature\j. No name could be less suitable for this carnivorous green insect, always ready, from an apparent attitude of supplication, to pounce on to an innocent victim, to capture and devour it.
#
"Precarious",1851,0,0,0
To describe a situation as "precarious" reflects the belief that God alone can change it. The relevant part of the word is derived from the Latin, \Iprex,\i for "prayer." The only remedy left to those finding themselves in precarious circumstances, according to the root-meaning of the term, is to obtain divine help by an act of supplication.
#
"Premeditated Murder/Suicide",1852,0,0,0
Soon after the discovery of goldfields on the Turon River in 1851, more than 4,000 diggers crowded the new settlement of Sofala, \JNew South Wales\j. A ghost town now, its cemeteries still recall the drama and turmoil linked with those early hectic days. Lust for gold was not the only cause of tragedy. The grave of Mary Corf in the Sofala Catholic Cemetery calls to mind a brutal murder committed out of the passion of love. It happened on Christmas Eve, in 1866.
For some time, Mary had been separated from Robert, her husband. He was a shepherd and lived at Two Mile Creek. They had two children, one still a baby. Robert was convinced that they had become estranged through the interference of Mary's parents, with whom she was staying in Sofala.
Still deeply in love with her, he was determined once again to try for a reconciliation, though he held little hope. They had agreed to meet at a lonely spot at nine o'clock that night. As he could not go on living without her, he had made up his mind that, were he to be refused again, he would end it all. He arrived carrying a razor.
When, as feared, Mary did not agree to leave her parents to rejoin him, he cut her throat in a horrendous manner, from ear to ear and whilst she was holding their baby in her arms! Having killed the woman he loved so much, he slit his own throat. The doctor's report suggested that neither of them could have lived more than a few minutes afterwards.
Soon it became obvious that the murder had been premeditated. A note found on Robert, addressed to Joseph Walford of Sofala, gave instructions for the burial of Mary and himself. As a last request, Robert implored his friend to see to it that their two children be taken to the Randwick Asylum, to be cared for there.
News of the tragedy, described as "one of the most revolting and premeditated cases of murder and suicide ever committed on the western goldfields," spread fast. That same evening and next day, hundreds of people gathered at the scene to view the site. Pools of blood still covered the ground.
An eyewitness account of the gruesome spectacle is preserved in the memoirs of William Day, an ex-convict living at Sofala, who performed a variety of tasks, including those of an undertaker.
He tells how "after the inquest I went to see Bob and where he lay stretched out, his arms now by his side, the razor still in hand and his long boots on his feet. And thus he was buried. I attended the funeral of his wife at the Catholic cemetery with members of the family." Subsequently Day, assisted by Mary's brothers, surrounded her grave with large boulders.
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"Presenting Arms",1853,0,0,0
Initially, the command to "Present arms!" meant exactly what it said. The soldiers standing to attention were ordered to surrender their weapons, thereby rendering themselves defenseless. In so doing, they held their rifles vertically in front of them with the trigger and sling forward, ready to be grasped by whomever they "presented" their arms to.
Now merely a gesture of salute, the action stops there - without the arms being actually seized.
#
"Pretty Kettle of Fish",1854,0,0,0
To understand the phrase "a pretty kettle of fish," it must be remembered first of all that pretty is sometimes used ironically, to describe a nasty sort of situation. And to speak of a pretty kettle of fish referred to exactly that: awkward circumstances, a real mess. But the kettle itself remains the problem, which has been explained in several ways.
One tradition links the kettle with Scottish picnics, at which much of the fare was improvised. Camping near a river, the people boiled a huge kettle, putting into it salmon they caught on the spot. At times, they were unlucky and, for one reason or another, the meal did not turn out the way they had hoped. With the outing spoiled, they spoke of it as "a pretty kettle of fish."
Another explanation eliminates the kettle altogether and sees in the word a corruption. Originally, the fish were not in a kettle at all, but where they truly belonged: in the water of a river. Unfortunately though, they had lost their freedom, as they had been caught in a "kiddle."
This was a sort of net or a basket placed into the water to catch fish. The right to do so was strictly controlled and often granted as a privilege to certain selected people. Poachers who discovered such traps, duly raided them. When, later on, the rightful owner of the traps found them empty, he lamented their loss by the exclamation, "What a pretty kiddle of fish!" Indeed, it was a sad state of affairs.
Language has a life of its own and even word usages grow old and eventually die. And that is what happened to the kiddle. When later generations no longer knew what a kiddle was, they replaced it with the kettle and thus created the really senseless "kettle of fish."
Yet another school of thought, agreeing on the mispronunciation, links it with slightly different circumstances. It was the poachers themselves, it said, that put the kiddles into protected waters, illegally to catch in them precious \Jtrout\j and salmon. They did so very ingeniously lest their mischievous pursuit be discovered. When, nevertheless, the traps were found, possibly crowded with fish, the master of the manor or warden cried out, either in wrath or even in admiration of the substantial haul of fish by the felons, "What a pretty kiddle of fish!."
#
"Pretzel",1855,0,0,0
Pretzels are enjoyed as savoury snacks. Glazed and flavored with salt, their shape suggests a loose knot. They seem far removed from religion. And yet, it was religious concern that created them. Tradition credits a sixteenth-century Italian monk with their invention. He had conceived the pretzel to encourage young children to say their prayers.
Worried by the boys' and girls' reluctance to pray, he also realized that forcing them to do so would have no effect. If threats of punishment were futile, the promise of a reward, a tasty and attractive incentive, was much more likely to achieve his aim. Moreover, the very gift, both in its name and form, could convey an unspoken message.
With this purpose in mind, the monk had round strips of dough baked in a shape that resembled the folded arms of a priest in prayer. Any child that had said its devotions received one of those pastries as a little reward. And "a little reward" is the literal meaning of \Ipretzel,\i the name the monk chose for it, from the Latin \Ipretiola.\i
An alternate derivation traces the name to \Ibracciatello,\i signifying "little arms." The \Jbiscuit\j portrayed the little arms of a praying child. Further enriched by \Jsymbolism\j, the three openings of the pretzel were said to represent the holy trinity.
The monk's ingenious idea thus to motivate children to pray soon proved so successful that other teachers of religion adopted his method, thereby popularising the novel pretzel. Like so much that started in religion, the pretzel has become completely secularized. No longer an inducement to prayer, it now serves as a savoury for drinks.
To begin with, it is believed, the pretzel was a soft sort of \Jbiscuit\j, more attractive in appearance than in taste. One day, an apprentice asked to watch it while it was baking, had fallen asleep and, on waking up, found that the product of his inattention had turned crisp. At first, his master had lost his temper, chiding the young man for his negligence. But then, tasting the "spoilt" pretzel, he was thrilled to discover that its crispness made it a real delight to eat.
#
"Primitive Forms of Boxing",1856,0,0,0
The hands are man's most natural means of defense and attack. There is no doubt that they were his earliest weapons and that they were used against man and beast alike. It is not surprising, therefore, that boxing is one of the most ancient sports. Indeed, it goes back to prehistoric times, many centuries before Greek and Roman days when pugilist contests were common and popular.
Stone representations from the fifth millennium BC were excavated in the \JMiddle East\j, near \JBaghdad\j, unmistakably depicting pugilist tactics, men joined in battle with their fists. And at that early stage, in this first portrayal of the sport, it can be clearly recognized that the fighter's hands were swathed in wrappings.
Some primitive tribes used thick padding of string to protect their hands. Others (on the Mortlock Islands), turned them into most dangerous weapons by arming the fists with sharp shark's teeth. In Hawaii, a sort of umpire separated contestants with a stick if he considered the fight unfair or too prolonged. On the \JTonga\j Islands, boxing matches were held as regular performances commanded by the king.
In earliest times, boxing knew no rules, ring, or rounds. Two men pummelled each other ruthlessly, while moving about over a wide area. Footwork as such was non-existent. Close combat was rare. The use of thongs and gloves did not permit wrestling tactics. Classification according to weight, of course, was completely unknown. Each bout was a fight to the finish. The match was over only when one of the contestants was beaten, no matter how long this took.
The first development of boxing concerned principally the method of protecting and reinforcing the fists. Until 400 BC, fighters usually wound soft strips of leather around their hands and arms. These shielded the knuckles and added to the force of their blows. Then gloves replaced thongs. They were made of hard pieces of leather with cutting edges and resembled a knuckle-duster. A more brutal development was the Roman \Icestus.\i The word generally described a belt or girdle. The \Icestus\i was weighted with pieces of iron and had metal spikes fixed over the knuckles.
Greek legend associated the introduction of boxing as a national sport with Theseus, its Athenian hero. Passionately he loved mortal fights, and to see blood flow quickened his pulse. Prowess of body and indomitable courage were his ideal. He conscripted the youth of his country. They had to serve in combat, and to be able to excel at this, had to maintain physical fitness.
One means of doing this was by fights with their fists, for which Theseus laid down rules. The contestants had to sit on flat stones, closely facing each other. On a signal they had to start battering each other without mercy. Their fists were enclosed in leather gloves. The fight went on without interruption. Only the death of an antagonist was considered victory for his opponent. A story is told that Theseus eventually found it too tiring and boring to watch prolonged fights and to get quicker results he invented murderous spiked gloves. ln fact, it is known that this gruesome weapon was not used until after the Romans had conquered \JGreece\j.
Pugilistic bouts became a most popular feature of Greek and Roman holidays, and were also arranged at burial services. It was believed that the spirit of the departed would be so interested in and absorbed by the contest that he would forget all about haunting the living. A new stipulation demanded that fighters had to confront each other standing and they were not permitted to move out of a prescribed area - the first ring!
Boxing matches degenerated into murderous gladiatorial combats. Eventually use of the \Icestus\i was banned and, during the first century BC, boxing itself was prohibited. For hundreds of years the "sport" almost completely vanished, to be revived only in the seventeenth century - in England - when it was again considered a thrilling pastime, an invigorating exercise, and a most welcome form of public amusement. Schools of duelling and swordsmanship came to include lessons in pugilism in their curriculum. At first taught merely as a sideline, it was made the main pursuit, once the carrying of weapons had become outmoded among the gentry. Again, displays of boxing became savage spectacles. Often the victims were badly maimed, blinded, or even killed. As was only to be expected, it was then a sport that appealed to the most cruel streak in man and to those crowds who relished watching people hammering each other into insensibility and death.
Modern boxing was introduced into England by Jim Figg. He was not only the acknowledged authority of the ring but also a celebrated fencer and duelist. One of his admirers, Captain Godfrey, left a vivid account of Figg's unsurpassed strength: "I chose mostly to go to Figg and exercise with him; partly I knew him to be the ablest master, and partly, as the man was of a rugged temper, and would spare no man, high or low, who took up a stick against him."
In 1719 Figg became the first bare-knuckle champion of Britain. Though his boxing was more a kind of fencing with fists, he developed it into a true art. Godfrey described his mastery in the ring: "Strength, resolution, and unparalleled judgment, conspired to form a matchless master. There was a majesty shone in his countenance, and blazed in all his actions, beyond all I ever saw. His right leg bold and firm and his left, which could hardly ever be disturbed, give him the surprising advantage already proved, and struck his adversary with despair and panic."
Through Figg's enthusiasm the new sport soon became a popular entertainment and drew big crowds. These further increased when fights were arranged - illegally - for money. This was the birth of the prize fight.
Jack Broughton's London amphitheatre, situated near Tottenham Court Road, became the centre of boxing. Regulations he issued in 1743, known ever since as the Broughton Rules, introduced "science and humanity' into the sport, making it respectable and clean. It was really due to his efforts that boxing changed from a coarse and obnoxious combat, enjoyed only by the crude masses, to a well-organized fistic encounter, truly meriting the name of sport. Boxing was now patronized by nobility and royalty. The Duke of Cumberland, the king's second son, regularly attended Broughton's "booth."
One of Broughton's fans stated that "the code promulgated by this Fistic Napoleon whose law making was very much like that of his great successor, had a much longer duration than the 'Code Napoleon' - for it lasted in perfect integrity" from the date of its inception until 1838. Broughton was so highly regarded that it was said of him that "by the moral effects [his teachings] inculcated, more has been done to establish the high character of Englishmen for honor and fair play, than by the eloquence of the pulpit or the senate."
One of the many problems Broughton had to solve was the common experience during a fight that whenever one of the contestants weakened, his supporters entered the ring to assist their man in every possible way. To stop this malpractice, Broughton decreed that the stage had to be raised six feet from the ground. This has been strictly adhered to ever since. It was introduced, therefore, not, as may be imagined, for the sake of spectators, to enable them to view the fight all the better, but for the protection of the (winning) fighter and to prevent others from participating in a contest meant to take place between two men alone.
There were still no rounds. Bouts went on until one man fell. If he could not take up a fighting position within 30 seconds, he was declared to be "knocked out of time," and beaten. Some prize fights lasted for hours, others ended within minutes. As the fighters hammered each other with their bare fists, they usually first bathed them in a solution of soda to toughen them.
Broughton invented the modern boxing glove - but this was then worn only for sparring and not for serious contests. He also introduced a chalked square-yard at the center of the ring. Each of the fighters had to toe the line on opposite sides of the square before beginning a bout. Footwork was not as free as in modern matches and, as turf was underfoot, the men frequently wore shoes with spikes or studs.
Although Broughton's rules had a tremendous effect on the sport, there was still much room for improvement. In 1867, the Marquis of Queensberry reviewed all aspects of boxing as then known and drew up his 12 famous rules which, only slightly modified, have been observed throughout the world ever since. His innovations provided for the use of padded gloves, canvas, and three-minute rounds with a one-minute interval. Among other things, he also ruled that:
ò fighting had to be a fair, stand-up match in a twenty-four-foot ring, or as near that size as practicable;
ò should a glove burst or come off, it must be replaced to the referee's satisfaction;
ò a man on one knee should be considered down and should he be struck, entitled to the stakes.
Americans at first did not welcome pugilist contests. In fact, they were frowned upon by the authorities and even outlawed. Early fights, therefore, were arranged clandestinely and naturally could not draw large crowds. The sport was truly popularized only in the 1850s and 1860s by English fighters visiting America.
Boxing, which had always been a combat for the fittest, demanding vigorous exercise, endurance, and skill, now far removed from its earliest fearful beginnings, had graduated to a noble sport, commanding respect and being regarded with well-deserved deference.
#
"Principle of Representation",1857,0,0,0
The legal principle of representation that "he who acts for another acts for himself," is based on the biblical account (Ex. 12.3) of how God assigned Moses and Aaron to speak on His behalf. Rabbinical commentators deduced from it the maxim that "one's agent is like one's self."
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"Prison Warder Killed by Charges",1858,0,0,0
Some inscriptions supply a mere skeleton of information. This might prove frustrating, particularly when the deceased was a victim of violence, \Jhomicide\j or murder; people are always anxious to know the particulars of such death. Owen Owen's remains are also buried in the Williamstown Cemetery. All his monument tells is that he was 23 years old when he was killed by prisoners when in the performance of his duty as Warder Boatman in the Penal Dept. on the 22nd of October 1856.
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"Private",1859,0,0,0
There is nothing private in the life of a private nowadays. No one knows for sure how he first joined the army.
A rather negative suggestion discovers in the private an early reference to his inferior status. The designation, it claims, was derived from the Latin \Iprivatus\i for "deprived." And did not indeed a private lack any rank? Some authorities even go so far as to assert that the name originally was applied to only those serving in the army who had been reduced (deprived) in rank, as is still the practice in a court martial.
Other explanations raise the status of the private considerably, at least in the beginning. One theory traces the title to the days of the Commonwealth (i.e., the middle of the 17th century). Those serving in its army resented being called "common soldiers" and to please them they were named instead, "private soldiers." Eventually, the "soldier" was dropped and all that remained was the private.
An alternate claim links the original private with the reign of King Charles II. Many members of the gentlemanly class then volunteered for the forces. To serve in them was not lucrative but regarded as a very honorable career, particularly so for the younger sons of nobility. To remind people of their rank in society, they proudly enlisted as "private gentlemen" in the King's Royal Regiment. When in later years, men of their class became ever fewer in number, the "private" stayed on, to become the description of any soldier of non-commissioned rank.
#
"Private Eye",1860,0,0,0
For a detective to be known as a private eye has been seen as the result of the shortening of his profession's description as that of a Private Investigator, using the latter word merely for its initial. Properly rendered thus, he therefore ought to be spelled "Private I." However, the principal credit for the adoption of the designation must go to Allan Pinkerton. He was the American Sherlock Holmes. Yet, while Sherlock Holmes was a figure of fiction, Pinkerton was a real man. A Scot by birth, he pioneered detective work in the United States. His life story is an epic.
Born in 1819, in the slums of Glasgow, he was the son of a warder at the local prison. Because of his father's death, he had to leave school as a child of eight. Forced to earn a living at so young an age, he served an apprenticeship as a cooper.
Pinkerton became involved in local politics. As a fervent Chartist, he took up the fight for the rights of workers. Threatened with arrest, he fled the country in 1842 to migrate to the United States. Settling at Dundee, Illinois, he made his living as a barrel-maker. Fate then caused a change in career. Discovering a \Jcounterfeiting\j ring, he realized his special gift for detecting crime. After serving as a sheriff and succeeding in the capture of several criminals, he was appointed as the first (and then the only) detective of the \JChicago\j police force.
Of alert mind and initiative, he saw his opportunity to establish his own private National Detective Agency in the city, in 1850. Soon the name of Pinkerton became a byword in crime detection, not least so because of his flair for public relations. Astutely, he chose a wide-open eye as the logo of his agency, with "We Never Sleep" as its slogan.
Pinkerton gained national prominence due to his many enterprises and assignments. They included missions for the American \Jsecret service\j, the solving of widespread robberies and guarding Abraham Lincoln on his trip to Washington for his inauguration as president.
The name of Pinkerton became synonymous with crime detection and people came to refer to his firm as the "Eye." It was through the writings of Raymond Chandler, most of all, that the "Private Eye," based on Pinkerton's logo, assumed its present-day connotation.
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"Prodigy",1861,0,0,0
"He who can see three days ahead will be rich for three thousand years" runs an old Japanese proverb.
Everywhere and from earliest days onward, man has felt concern for his future. Thus, he would watch anxiously for any sign heaven might send as an indication of things to come. He was convinced that his fate lay in the lap of the gods who, on occasion, would alert him to some threatening danger or warn him of some imminent disaster. Any unusual natural phenomenon might be interpreted as an omen bearing such divine messages.
Romans commonly described such an "ominous" forecast as \Iprodigium,\i meaning a "prophetic sign." An extraordinary, unaccountable occurrence would thus cause not only wonderment but apprehension.
When people no longer believed in such \Jsupernatural\j forewarnings, they transferred the use of the word \Iprodigium\i to apply to any astonishing event, and, by extension, to outstanding individuals whose unusual qualities startled them. This gave birth to the modern prodigy.
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"Professor's Grave and its Guard",1862,0,0,0
The sculpture of a tenth-century \JMagyar\j soldier is a prominent feature of a grave in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Wearing the uniform of his time, he is shown seated on the tomb of Padßnyi Viktor, a Hungarian professor who passed away at the age of 57, on 3 December 1963.
Born in \JHungary\j on 26 January 1906, he had been a university professor in his native country. Migrating to \JAustralia\j, he taught at grammar and high schools, and became a leading and respected member of the Hungarian community in his adopted country. His status and background are vividly indicated by his unique memorial, which immediately attracts attention.
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"Proof Spirit Proportions",1863,0,0,0
The term "proof spirit" refers to a standard mixture of water and alcohol. The resulting diluted spirit must be of approved strength. The original method to check if the right proportions were used, was by mixing the spirit with gun powder. If the compound could be ignited, the spirit was considered "proved." If, however, it merely fizzled or died out altogether, it was "under proof."
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"Prophetic Tombstone",1864,0,0,0
The parish church of St John the Baptist in \JCanberra\j is the oldest building in the \JAustralian Capital Territory\j. Its churchyard, covering a period of 140 years, is the burial place of many of the city's early residents, of farm workers and a former governor-general.
Nothing, however, equals in significance one monument, appropriately referred to as "the prophetic tombstone." It marks the grave site of Sarah and George Webb and their daughter Betsy Celia. In chronological order, its inscription records the dates of their deaths: the wife, at the age of 55, in 1845; the daughter, as a young child of 11, in 1848; and the husband's, at the ripe old age of 85, in 1868.
But it is the text, added to these personal data, which makes the stone so important. A quotation from the Epistle to the Hebrews (13, 14), it foretells the development of \JAustralia\j's future capital: \IFor here have we no continuing city but seek one to come.\i
The cemetery is now an historical monument. It was officially closed in 1937, and only a few burials still take place there, for people who own exclusive rights to certain plots. But its prophetic tombstone - on an ordinary family's grave - makes the church of St John the Baptist more than a landmark.
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"Protection and Precaution from the Vampire",1865,0,0,0
People were always on the lookout for danger and often wondered whether the person they met was "real" and good or (during times of vampire fever) merely a disguised creature of that kind. Anyone somehow "different" had to watch his step. In \JGreece\j, for instance, this applied to men and women whose eyebrows had grown together above the bridge of their nose.
Fear of vampires produced an almost inexhaustible variety of precautions. In some countries, the branch of the \Jjuniper\j tree was kept for protection. If not actually able to keep out the blood-thirsty creature, it nevertheless would render its efforts ineffective.
The vampire myth accounts as well for many deeply engrained superstitions and among them, not least, for so-called mourning customs. Their purpose originally was not so much to honor the dead as to protect the bereaved! Primitive people gashed their own bodies when a kinsman died. To begin with, this was not a sign of grief, but was motivated by vampire fear. They hoped that the freely flowing blood would feed the thirst of the spirit of the departed and be accepted as a free-will offering for the nourishment of the soul of the dead person. Thus completely satiated, it would not return later to suck the blood out of the body of the living.
Relatives would cover the mirrors in the house of death, lest the spirit should see its reflection and stay on. They never left off watching the corpse which was eventually carried away through a special door reserved for the dead and often subsequently bricked up.
The corpse was interred deep in the ground, in a coffin with the lid firmly screwed down and, to top it all, with a heavy stone placed above - which we now call a memorial. All this was done not out of reverence and piety but to avoid at all costs the return of the dead or his ghost. Once a vampire had risen, the damage was done. And man soon realized that prevention was so much better than cure.
The bodies of those most liable to transform themselves into vampires were duly fixed to the bottom of the grave by driving a stake through the heart. This was not merely a physical "nailing down" of the body, but a magic rite. The choice of the wood for the stake was given much thought and depended on local traditions as to the mystical qualities of wood. It could be maple, hawthorn, or aspen. Aspen, for instance, was specially chosen because of its sacred association in the Christian faith. The cross on which Christ had been crucified was said to have been made from the timber of the aspen tree. This was seen as a reason for the aspen's mysterious tremble, caused by memories of the cruel execution and a never-dying sense of horror and shame.
The legs and feet of the dead were often fettered and, when the shackling was deemed insufficient, limbs (and at times even the head) were severed. Going still further in method and distance, at other times the deceased was buried far away from his erstwhile home, to make his return most unlikely and difficult, if not impossible. The choice of churchyards for burial grounds might well be based on the identical fear. The vicinity of the house of God doubly consecrated the ground and therefore would keep the dead in their place and the living unmolested.
To further protect themselves from becoming involuntary blood donors, the bereaved changed their clothes (particularly their color). This was done as a disguise lest their dear departed recognize them - it was not done for any reasons of mourning. In some cases, the bereft actually donned masks and, on the way home from the burial, never turned their faces back and took a devious route.
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"Protoplasm and Controversy",1866,0,0,0
Protoplasm has been called "the physical basis of life," whether in plants, animals, or humans. This scientific term for the substance in every cell goes back to St Paul's Epistles and, in fact, to a passage there, which in modern days has given much cause for controversy.
Jan Evangelista Purkinje was a Czech physiologist of renown. He was noted for many important discoveries, not least relating to the eye. But he is best remembered for having introduced into the world of science the term \Iprotoplasm.\i He used it (in 1839) to describe the living embryonic material in the egg. He did so with good reason, for this substance constitutes the "first form" of the future animal. And "first form" is the literal meaning of the word.
That Purkinje chose the term was due to his early training in \Jtheology\j; before taking up medicine, he had intended to enter the Catholic priesthood. It is likely that he first came across the word while studying the \JNew Testament\j, and that he culled it from there.
In his First Epistle to Timothy, St Paul argued that a women ought not to fill a superior position in the Church, because it was her duty to listen quietly and "with due submission." She was neither to teach nor to dominate any man. There was a primary reason, Paul claimed, for a woman's inferior status: she had been created only second in line, "for Adam was \Ifirst formed"\i and only "then Eve" (I Tim. 2.13). In the early text, "first formed" was expressed by a combination of the Greek \Iprotos\i - for "first" - and the late Latin \Iplasma,\i from the Greek \Iplassein,\i for "to fashion" or "to form" (also responsible for the modern \Iplastic,\i so-called because it is molded.) That is how \Iprotoplasm\i came into existence.
In 1846, seven years after Purkinje first used it, Hugo von Mohl, the German botanist, applied the novel scientific word - with a slightly different meaning - to the material within a cell, the life substance. It was really not so far-fetched a development since, after all, every living being - whether one-celled, as the \Jprotozoa\j, or composed of millions of cells, as man - has its beginning in a single cell. Thus, the name for the substance of all life grew, most appropriately for the believing mind, from religious soil.
#
"Public Health",1867,0,0,0
Born in the English county of Somerset (in 1788), Thomas Southwood Smith became an evangelising preacher and Unitarian minister in Edinburgh, Scotland. After having added the study of medicine to his theological pursuits, he made his home in London.
Constantly applying his religious awareness to the human condition, he promoted a social conscience and consciousness. He pointed to the close link between poverty and epidemics and the damaging effect of factory work on children; and he agitated for the improvement of housing for the working class.
He played a significant part in the foundation of the Health of Towns Association which led to the constitution, in 1848, of the Board of Health on which he served as advisor. Indeed, Smith was largely responsible for the introduction of the concept of public health and, fittingly, became known as the English "sanitary reformer."
Even Jeremy Bentham, the English thinker and founder of the Unitarian school of Morals and Politics, a materialist and atheist, could not help but admire Smith. As a special token of his esteem, he presented him - posthumously - with the most personal (but rather morbid) gift: his body for dissection. Smith accepted it. For some time he kept Bentham's skeleton for study and instruction at his home, but eventually donated it to the University College, London.
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"Pudding",1868,0,0,0
The Christmas pudding can be traced far back into the distant and pre-Christian past. In the freezing cold of the northern hemisphere the fields lay barren during winter. People were worried whether the land would provide them with the grain they needed to keep alive in the year to come. Therefore they tried to ensure the land's fertility by preparing a magical "pudding."
To begin with, this was simply wheat boiled in milk. \JChristianity\j adopted this cereal dish but suppressed or forgot all about its original magical significance, using the pudding for breakfast fare on Christmas Eve. Though this practice was eventually discontinued, the pudding was retained as a side dish to the meat course of the Christmas dinner. Gradually, it was enriched with the addition of other ingredients, such as eggs, prunes, and even chunks of meat. The pudding thus developed into a sort of meaty plum porridge, and was served in a tureen. Ultimately, the meat was again omitted to make the delicious sweet plum pudding we know today.
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"Pull Out all the Stops",1869,0,0,0
Anyone pulling out all stops goes all out to achieve an objective, withholding none of the resources at their disposal.
The phrase comes from playing the organ. The instrument was known already in pre-Christian times, though churches adopted it only as late as the fifth century and then, to start with, in \JSpain\j alone. Eventually, organ music was recognized as adding to the beauty of a service. With one exception. Puritans resented and rejected it. To them it was \Jmechanization\j of worship, and they nicknamed the instrument "a chest of whistles." In expressing their contempt, they chose one of its main features: the many pipes with their diversity of sizes.
The great variety of sounds the pipes produced was achieved by means of air (or "wind") pumped into them through special holes (or "mouths"). The number of whistles used was controlled by wooden slides. The way these were positioned either activated the pipes or stopped them from making any sound. The latter function was responsible for their being called "stoppers," often shortened to "stops."
The organist pulled out the particular stopper (singly or in combination) necessary to give the item rendered the tone and volume desired.
Organs greatly varied in the number of these stops. This could range from a few dozen to many hundreds. Pulling out all the stops used the organ to its fullest capacity and, inevitably, resulted in the maximum volume of sound of which the organ was capable. There was no holding back.
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"Pull the Leg",1870,0,0,0
There was no fun in the pulling of the leg, when it was first practised. On the contrary, then it was a most gruesome occasion taking place at the gallows and that was at a time when these devices still lacked modern "refinements" - such as the long drop and the knotted rope - to assure the instant death of the condemned.
For many hours thus, the hanged man could linger on, before he finally expired. That is why friends were given permission to help in hastening his death. They did so by pulling his legs which tightened the rope around his neck, choking him more quickly.
It was a horrible spectacle, perversely enjoyed by the countless people who specially came to watch the execution and found in the pulling of the legs an extra source of entertainment and even amusement.
With the advance of civilization, public executions ceased. More humane methods of hanging made the pulling of the legs unnecessary. But the phrase was given a new lease of life and meaning in totally different circumstances, in the world of thieves.
A crook out to rob pedestrians, often worked with an \Jaccomplice\j whose job it was to trip up a passer-by. This he did by dexterously pulling one of his legs with the curved end of a stick. Before the victim had realized what had made him fall, he was deprived of any valuables he carried.
People always laugh at others' misfortune, possibly they are happy that it has not happened to them. Thus the "pulling of the leg" with its resultant loss of dignity and property gave the phrase its humor.
Thieves also learned to improve their methods and their kind of "pulling the leg" became redundant as well. That is how eventually the phrase took on its present-day, harmless meaning. No longer associated with loss of life or possessions, all the victim might lose now, if he lacked a sense of humor, was his temper.
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"Pull Up One's Socks",1871,0,0,0
In the ancient Greek and Roman theater the audience could tell by the actors' footwear what sort of show they were about to see. A short shoe with soft uppers \I(soccus\i in Latin) was worn by the actors when playing a comedy. Knee-high thick-soled boots (the \Icothurnus)\i were the correct costume for a tragedy.
Early on, the English stage adopted the classical custom. The standard program presented two plays: a comedy was always followed by a tragedy. For a quick change, the players did not put on different shoes. They merely "pulled up their socks" from ankle to knee length. This told the audience that the stage was now set for something serious. Shakespeare's observation that "all the world is a stage," literally applies whenever people asked to take things seriously, are told to "pull up their socks."
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"Pull Wool Over the Eyes",1872,0,0,0
Pulling the wool over a man's eyes obstructs his view and prevents him from seeing what is really going on. The "wool" actually recalls the (woollen) wig, once worn by English "gentlemen" and public figures. Some of the wigs were so large that their weight made them slip down over the wearer's eyes, temporarily blinding him. Jokers were said to have teased friends by pulling their wigs over their eyes. More seriously, robbers applied the same method to take their unsuspecting victim by surprise.
Except in the case of certain officers in Parliament and in the Court within the \JAnglo-Saxon\j world, these wigs are no longer worn. Nevertheless, the early experiences survive in the phrase used to describe the hoodwinking of a person as "to pull the wool over his eyes."
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"Pulling Down the Blinds",1873,0,0,0
The mystery of death made man adopt a multitude of "mourning" customs. Even if now outmoded, they still seem to express respect to the departed and the grief suffered by those left behind.
But in the majority of cases such interpretation is also a mere rationalization. In reality, the apparent lament - of whatever kind - is a defense mechanism. Its true purpose is to protect the survivors from the malevolent agencies activated by or closely linked with death.
This applies even to the general custom of pulling down the blinds in a house where a death has occurred. It is not done, as so often imagined, to convey the mood of gloom or to symbolize the darkness of the shadow of death that now envelops the home. On the contrary, mourners greatly feared that the body that was laid out inside (with its soul gone) was ready for reoccupation, and that some evil force might enter the empty shell.
Worse still was a Chinese belief that by a \Jchain reaction\j a dreadful \Jmetamorphosis\j could take place. Within the body, so the Chinese thought, had remained a lower soul - so far inactive and too weak to achieve anything. However, a ray of the sun or the moon touching the body would act as a catalyst and change the corpse into a fearful vampire creature.
To avoid this at all costs, the blinds had to be drawn. Who now would imagine that such ancient vampire fear could have led to a custom of so-called pious respect!
#
"Pulling the Wishbone",1874,0,0,0
Who has not at one time or another - jokingly perhaps and yet not without a little hope "just in case" - shared in the custom of "pulling a wishbone."
The procedure is so simple. Two people grasp either end of the \Ifurcula\i (which is the "proper" name of this forked bone) by hooking their little fingers around one side. Each then pulls his way, till it snaps. Because of its specific structure, the "breaking point" can never be the exact center. Hence, one of the parties is bound to obtain the larger piece. And whoever does so is regarded lucky.
If still single, he or she would get married in the near future. Or, more generally and irrespective of marital status, he or she would have any silently made wish fulfilled. Tellingly an alternative English name for this wishbone - furcula is "merry-thought."
Pulling a wishbone is a children's game; whenever there is a chicken on the dinner table, they expect to be given the wishbone to try their luck. Who then would guess that this apparently innocuous, if superstitious, custom can be traced back into antiquity to a serious concern about sex?
The cock and the hen have played a significant role in the history of man who linked them with mysterious forces beyond human understanding. The primitive mind took note of the conspicuous way in which the rooster made itself heard on occasions that were vital to man, and saw not natural occurrences of daily living but something closely associated with the \Jsupernatural\j.
The cock's crow announced the coming of dawn and thereby the happy ending of the night which was subject to demonic rule. He was indeed a strong ally of the forces of light in their constant fight against the powers of darkness. The clucking of a hen proclaimed the laying of an egg, potentially a new life. Hence, from earliest days, the hen was a symbol of fertility. It was through these significant circumstances that the chicken assumed a sacred status and its bones, beyond their natural structural function, an innate magical power.
But what caused the furcula to become the wishbone? This, too, was the result not of a haphazard selection but a deliberate choice. Though situated below the neck of the bird, in appearance this forked breast bone (of combined clavicles) strikingly resembled the human crotch. This juncture of a man's legs was also the place of both the male and female genitals, the very source of fertility ensuring the continuation of life. And because of its similar shape, the wishbone magically became a focus of generation: to give birth to luck and good fortune.
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"Pulse Rate",1875,0,0,0
To take a patient's pulse is an elementary feature of medical practice nowadays. However, it was only in 1450 that its significance was realized by Nicholas of Cusa, a bishop and future cardinal. He was the first to ascertain the rate of the pulse and to point out that by doing so, a doctor could be helped in discerning a patient's state of health.
A universal thinker, this renowned German ecclesiastic made valuable contributions in other spheres of science. His was the discovery that plants absorbed their nourishment not solely from the soil, but also from the air. And he also developed the first spectacles to use concave lenses, enabling the nearsighted to recognize objects and people further away.
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"Pumpernickel",1876,0,0,0
Though pumpernickel, the heavy German black bread, originated in the German province of \JWestphalia\j (in the seventeenth century), it is claimed that its name is not German. It was so called because of a misheard, and then mispronounced French observation.
A Frenchman of unknown identity had found the coarse German bread so indigestible that he regarded it unfit for human consumption. All it was good for, he said, was to be fed to his horse - Nicole. So he referred to it as \Ipain pour Nicole\i - "bread for Nicole."
Germans liked the sound of the French "description" of their favorite bread. Not realizing its implication, they adopted it. However, in their accent it sounded like Pumpernickel.
Another version of the same "\Jetymology\j" attributes the (French) reference to Napoleon! When he discovered that Nicole, his pet horse, loved the black bread, he requested people to provide it, asking them for \Ipain pour Nicole.\i They not only supplied it, but called it by the emperor's "demand."
There is a further "faultless" derivation of pumpernickel which credits the origin of its name exclusively to the Germans. In calling it so, they made no mistake but were very outspoken and crude. At the time, a common lout was known as a \Ipumper,\i which literally meant a "stinker." And did not the coarse bread produce lots of unpleasant wind? The \Inickel\i part is a later addition. It merely underscored the rather unfortunate side-effect. It stood for "Old Nick" who - it was claimed - was very partial to this German rye bread, as black as his art. In spite of all his devilish tricks, after having eaten the pumper he could not stop himself suffering from the most malodorous wind. Thus his name was duly added to the "stinker." There is also the possibility that people who believed in the devil and all the evil he wrought, attributed the bad smell to him and because of it called the bread "Nick's stench" - \Ipumper-nickel.\i
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"Pumps",1877,0,0,0
Of intriguing origin is the name of pumps. Now worn for comfort and sport, these light, close-fitting shoes once were reserved for formal functions. Worn for "pomp," the occasion eventually was confused with the footwear which, further corrupted linguistically, assumed the modern form of pumps.
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"Punch: the Drink's Origin",1878,0,0,0
The \JPentateuch\j, the Pentagon, and the Punjab have much in common with punch. In fact, they all use it, figuratively! Punch is the Sanskrit for the numeral "5," \Ipunca.\i The \JPentateuch\j speaks of the \IFive\i Books of Moses. The Pentagon is a five-sided building. Punjab, a former province of British India, in its greater part occupied the valleys of the Indus and its five great tributaries.
Punch as a drink was so called because it was made up of five ingredients: tea, water, lemon juice, sugar, and arrack. From India, the English introduced the "five" drink into Britain. Its ingredients now greatly vary in kind and number and they no longer amount to exactly five. But whatever the brew, it is still so "figured."
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"Pundit",1879,0,0,0
We eulogise the scholarly intellectual who is an authority in his field as "a pundit." Of Sanskrit origin, the name referred to a Brahmin learned in the Hindu faith and philosophy.
#
"Punk",1880,0,0,0
The modern punk has quite a past. Once, anything punk was regarded as of little use or value. A punk therefore was a worthless sort of person, a good-for-nothing.
In New England, USA, anything smelling foul was referred to as "punk." American Indian speech used the word for decayed wood. When burned, it emitted a nauseating stench.
After a period of disuse in the 1880s, the term experienced a revival in the United States, becoming the designation of the hobo, and as the result of a strange combination of circumstances. Handouts given to tramps were mostly chunks of dry bread. As these looked and even smelled very much like decayed wood, they resurrected, as it were, the earlier punk. Its new application was reinforced by the odd coincidence that bread in French is pain, in sound so reminiscent of punk. All this added up to the hobos being identified with the bread they were given, and to be called punks. Soon their name was linked with thugs and, eventually, in the slang of criminals, with homosexuals.
In modern times, punk became popularized through the American author Dashiell Hammett, the writer of detective and mystery fiction, who applied the term to offenders distinguished by out-of-the-way sexual practices. In its new sense, punk gained worldwide currency through the Bogart movie \IThe Maltese Falcon.\i
The punk then became a social phenomenon. In the late 1970s, idle unemployed teenagers in Britain, resenting the indifference shown to their plight by the general community, were determined to demonstrate their protest and to do so most conspicuously and by flouting traditional values. In pursuit of their aim, they adopted what they called the "punk look." Each of its features cried out for attention. No one could ignore their unconventional dress, their brightly dyed and stiffly lacquered hair, and their general appearance of repulsive neglect. Nor could anyone close their ears to their deafening, raucous music.
Their ultimate goal was both to express and to create anger, fear, and pity. Indeed, the outsized safety pins they frequently sported on the clothes they wore were meant to symbolize their helplessness. The punk was not a rebel only, but as vulnerable as a baby in nappies!
#
"Purim: the Feast of Lots",1881,0,0,0
Jewish festivals are celebrated according to the lunar calendar and therefore fall on different dates of each solar year.
The Feast of \JPurim\j occurs either in February or March and is the most joyous of all Jewish holy days. It celebrates the Jews' deliverance from a fiendish plot. Its story, found in the biblical book of Esther, is read out during the services from a special scroll.
The name \JPurim\j means "lots." It refers to the lots cast, as in a game of dice, by Haman, a chief minister of the ancient \JPersian Empire\j, to choose the most propitious date on which to massacre all Jewish citizens within the realm. His decision was the result of mere personal vanity. He had felt slighted because one Jew, Mordecai, had refused to pay him divine homage. Not revealing his true motive, Haman obtained the king's consent to exterminate the entire community.
His scheme was thwarted by the intervention of Queen Esther, a Jewess herself, who was able to convince the king of the selfish reasons behind Haman's evil design. A day of threatened doom was thus changed into an occasion of rejoicing.
The feast of \JPurim\j is celebrated by the distribution of gifts to the poor and to friends. Children particularly enjoy dramatizing the ancient events and impersonating the biblical figures. At the services, during the reading of the scroll of Esther, they express their contempt for Haman by stamping their feet and sounding noisy rattles each time his name is mentioned.
Among the typical delicacies served on the festival are triangular pastries filled with poppy seed. Called in \JYiddish\j \IHaman-Taschen,\i these "pockets" are meant to recall the fiend's three-cornered hat. And Jews, usually not given to drink, may get intoxicated on thus one occasion in the year.
Apart from all the jollity and exuberance, \JPurim\j is a day of thanksgiving and commemoration. It recognises God's providential protection of the Jewish people and the triumph of good over evil.
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"Purse",1882,0,0,0
A purse that contains money (or in the American usage, a woman's everyday paraphernalia) does not speak of money at all. It merely refers to the material out of which it was originally made, a hide or a skin, from the Latin \Ibursa.\i The association of the purse with money, in turn, was responsible for the naming of the Paris Stock Exchange as \Ila Bourse\i and the Berlin one as \Idie Boerse.\i Money "paid out" literally is taken from a bag, dis\Ibursed,\i and the burser at a university is so called because he is in charge of finance. All come out of the same "leather" bag.
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"Put a Flea in One's Ear",1883,0,0,0
The \Jflea\j is \JAnglo-Saxon\j, at least in the origin of its name. Very descriptively this recalls one of the insect's outstanding gifts: its ability to "jump." Feeding on the blood of man and beast, it can leap thirty times its own height. This fact was first established in Greek days by \JSocrates\j, the philosopher.
Others have discovered a close affinity between the \Iflea\i and \Ifleeing,\i as this lively creature always seems to be able to get away.
Usually, a \Jflea\j - like its bite - points to something trifling, a thing of really no importance. And yet, to put a \Jflea\j in one's ear can assume tremendous proportions. It becomes most annoying and can drive a man almost mad.
Commonly the phrase has been explained as the result of watching a dog with a \Jflea\j in its ear. It makes him so restless that sometimes he flees in terror.
However, man himself has long been a \Jflea\j-victim. As far back as 700 A.D., Saxon nobles complained bitterly of its bites, though only a few of the over 500 different species of fleas choose man as their host.
Fleas became especially aggravating at the time of the medieval Knights. In mail from head to foot, those valiant men soon discovered that almost more worrying than the adversary they had to face outside, was that small \Jglutton\j which had invaded the inside of their suit of armor, which now shielded the \Jflea\j as much as its wearer.
At first the \Jflea\j enjoyed a good feed, truly having a field day. Jumping about freely without the Knight being able to hinder its progress, it went and bit where it pleased. No one could stop it from sucking the man's blood.
Sooner or later the \Jflea\j felt it had enough of the gentleman. Trying to leave its dark prison, it just could not find a way out. In its search for an escape route, it eventually got into the Knight's ear.
There it settled - sometimes for hours - intermittently biting and jumping. This caused the helpless Knight's unending frustration, aggravation, and even torture. That is how, when we speak of putting a \Jflea\j in ones ear, we recall - unknowingly - those former days of chivalry, when Knights in shining armor experienced alarm and distress through those wingless insects which, unwantingly, had become their prisoners.
#
"Put on the Spot",1884,0,0,0
To make suspects tell the truth, those in authority used all kinds of methods. At times, these were most inhumane, violent, and cruel. They included torture, the successive pulling of teeth till none was left, and depriving a person of food and drink for days on end. The catalog of inquisition is a sad record of ordeals.
It took some time before the force of public opinion stopped the abuse and the guardians of the law were made to apply more humane ways for their interrogations. One of them particularly was of an odd nature. A small square \Jchalk\j mark was made on the floor. The suspect was then compelled to stand "on the spot." He was not allowed to move from it till he had made a full confession or had satisfied those questioning him that he was not lying. The process, often extending over many hours, was intended ultimately to prove beyond endurance, so that the person "on the spot" broke down and confessed. Unfortunately, this included even the innocent who, just to end the ordeal, admitted to crimes they had not committed!
No wonder that the trial, by being "put on the spot" too, in the end was abandoned, and few people would ever know that it existed. Nevertheless, it has left its traces in everyday speech as a phrase now applied in much less fearsome and frightening conditions. People who find themselves placed in some awkward predicament are "put on the spot."
Totally different circumstances have also been quoted as a source of the saying, associating it with death threats! Those out to kill a person sent him the ace of spades, a card with one black symbol at the center, long regarded as an omen of death. Whoever received it could not mistake the message and, well realizing the seriousness of his position, had every reason to be scared. It could truly be said of him that he was put on the spot and wisely should take notice of the warning.
#
"Put One's Foot in",1885,0,0,0
"To put one's foot in" is such a pedestrian way to express a \Ifaux pas,\i that it is really most unexpected to find a bishop blamed for doing such a thing. But the original, more specific text of the phrase leaves no doubt as to the identity of the culprit. It clearly states that "the bishop has put his foot into it."
At first the \Jmetaphor\j was usually applied when food had been burned. The bishop at the time was notorious for his harshness, mercilessly condemning heretics to be burned at the stake. No wonder, that anything burned soon was referred to as being "bishopped."
Other explanations still link the phrase with both a bishop and burned food, though do so in different and not gruesome ways. When a famous bishop passed through a village, the women busy in their kitchen rushed out into the street, anxious to receive his blessing. In their excitement, they forgot all about the pot on the boil, with the result that, on their return, the food was burned. They therefore did not tell a lie when later they explained to the family, who had to put up with the spoilt dish, that it was due to the bishop who had put his foot in.
A different version attributes the peculiar saying to a cook. When he served burned porridge (or - according to another tradition - a scorched joint of meat), he stated that it was really not his fault at all. Whilst preparing the meal, a procession had passed, led by a noble bishop. He could not resist looking out of the window and, watching the spectacle, had forgotten all about watching the food - with the inevitable, unfortunate consequences.
It must have been a memorable excuse, whoever made it and in whichever circumstances, for it soon became proverbial to blame the bishop and his foot for anything. Eventually, the bishop was dropped and even the spoilt food forgotten. However, the rest of the expression - the putting in one's foot - has been retained as the description of a blunder, the troublesome remark which would have been better left unsaid.
A famous version is the Irishman's remark that "every time I open my mouth I put my foot in."
#
"Putt",1886,0,0,0
There are still doubts about the original meaning of "putt." Some suggest that the word is derived from the Dutch \Iputten,\i meaning "to place in a hole." However, Robert H. K. Browning relates the term to the Highland sport of "putting the weight" and asserts that the putt once described any shot that started a ball off on a low trajectory.
#
"Pythons and Mythology",1887,0,0,0
In all cultures, serpents have fascinated and frightened man. He has portrayed them both as wily tempters and as the \Jincarnation\j of wisdom. The regular shedding of their skin made them a symbol of regeneration and new beginnings, to become part of the medical emblem.
Judeo-Christian tradition tells how the serpent beguiled the first humans to make them eat of the forbidden fruit, an act of disobedience which led to their fall and subsequent loss of paradise.
From Greek myth the name of one of the largest serpents has been universally adopted. Once a monstrous dragon (or snake), Python used to guard a cave and a chasm on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, site of the oracle of Delphi. Though killed by the god Apollo, Python remained closely linked with the famous shrine. Even the oracular priestess in charge of it became known by a form of the mythological serpent's name - \IPythia.\i Indeed, in a sense, the slain creature never died, but survives to this day in the name, \Ipython.\i
#
"QT",1888,0,0,0
QT are truly puzzling characters, like a mystic formula. Anyone saying or doing things on the "QT" does so "off the record," if not surreptitiously, and expects the other party to keep "quiet" on the matter. It is this very silence that the QT represents, using solely the initial and final letter of quiet. That, traditionally, these are spelled with capitals merely emphasizes the importance of secrecy.
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"Quack",1889,0,0,0
To call a doctor a quack certainly does not reflect kindly on him, as it infers charlatanry. "Quack" is the shortened form of quacksalver. A word of 16th-century Dutch origin, it described a hawker of all-cure remedies. He sold his "ointment," \Izalf\i in Dutch, from stands, which he put up mostly at street corners or at fairs. To attract the passing crowd he would make strange sounds. A gibberish kind of prattle, it was very much like the quacking \I(kwakken\i in Dutch) of a duck. All that is now left of this early "medical" salesman is his signature tune, so to speak, his "quack."
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"Quaker Oats",1890,0,0,0
In one case, an attempt to capitalize on religion for promotional purposes, however unintentional, led to political action. It concerned the sale of Quaker Oats.
When Henry D. Seymour and William Heston, the joint owners of an American oat mill, were about to market their product, they were naturally most anxious to make it a winner, and to that end strove to devise a selling Iabel.
Accounts differ as to who should be credited with the choice of name. According to one tradition, it was Heston who first suggested "Quaker Oats." He did so because of his own background and a certain coincidence.
His own forebears had been members of the Society of Friends, popularly known as Quakers. Just about the time when he and Seymour were preparing to launch their new cereal, but still lacking a memorable name, he was walking down a street in Cincinnatti, Ohio, when, a picture, conspicuously displayed in the street, caught his attention. It showed William Penn, in typical Quaker dress. In a flash, Heston had found the answer to the problem. Nothing and nobody could better epitomize the essence of the cereal than Quakers: their faith, like the food, was wholesome and robust, as typified in the stalwart Penn.
An alternate claim asserts that the name, "Quaker Oats," had been Seymour's brain child. He had found it, not accidentally, but by methodically searching for it, first by studying the dictionary from cover to cover, looking for an attractive and promotional designation, then, when this failed, turning to an encyclopedia.
He opened it almost at random - and in the process came across a feature on Quakers. He was immediately struck by the way their teachings and way of life represented the very values which he imagined distinguished his oats. Both were of the best quality, lacked impurity, and provided invigorating nourishment - the one for the Soul, the other for the body.
One way or another, "Quaker Oats" became the chosen name, a trademark which, with the portrait of a typical Quaker, advertised the breakfast food.
Quakers themselves were rightly upset. In fact, the Society of Friends petitioned the United States Congress to pass a law against the commercialization of religious ideas and groups. No one should be permitted to apply the name of or any image representing a religious community to trademarks. Such an action irreverently, if not blasphemously, associated religion with the sale of products. The petition, however, was rejected.
#
"Queen's Birthday",1891,0,0,0
That the British Sovereign has two birthdays every year - one on the actual date and an official one in June - has nothing to do with Royal privilege. The custom was introduced during the reign of King William IV and the idea behind the Sovereign's official birthday was, and is, to bring happiness to the greatest possible number of people.
While the present Queen was born on April 21, her official birthday always falls in June. Then it is midsummer in Britain, theoretically the best time for the people to spend the day in the open air.
Another example of how concern for the public interest determines the date of the official Royal birthday was the decision in 1959 to conduct the celebrations on the second Saturday in June because London's dense traffic would have made it very difficult to Troop the Colors on a weekday.
There was another practical consideration for selecting June as the fixed, official Royal birthday season. It is an established tradition of British Royalty to bestow titles and decorations twice annually - an Honors' List is published on \JNew Year's Day\j and the Queen's birthday. By making the latter fall always in June, it was ensured that the two occasions would never clash; in fact they were kept as far apart as possible.
Thus even the very birthday of the Queen and its duplication reveal the thoughtfulness and democracy of British Royalty and its concern with the happiness of the people.
#
"Quelled the Lambing Flat Riots",1892,0,0,0
\BCaptain Henry Zouch\b
Henry Zouch is buried in the historical Goulburn St Saviour's Cemetery. He became renowned in 1860, when, in charge of the police, he dealt fearlessly with the anti-Chinese riots at the Lambing Flat gold mine.
Born in Quebec in 1811, he followed in the footsteps of his father, a prominent soldier. Zouch arrived in \JAustralia\j in the early 1830s. He was appointed superintendent of the Bathurst mounted police, and his authority soon extended over the entire southern district of NSW.
Among his other historic assignments was that of gold commissioner at \JOphir\j. He was considerate and efficient in whatever he did, and his achievements were acknowledged even in parliament.
When his regiment was posted to India, he sold his commission and settled in Goulburn. He took an active part in public life until his death on 28 October 1883 at the age of 72. It is said that he died of \Jsunstroke\j.
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"Question Mark",1893,0,0,0
The question mark has a fascinating past. In Latin a query was indicated by the word \Iquestio,\i meaning "question," which was placed at the end of a sentence. However, this took up valuable space on the page.
An unknown economist in the art of writing, whom we might also consider an early pioneer of shorthand, had the idea to abbreviate QUESTIO to QO. But this was not satisfactory, since it could be mistaken for the ending of a word. Writers began to place the Q on top of the O.
It did not take long for the Q to deteriorate into a squiggle and the O to contract into a dot. Our present question mark had finally arrived.
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"Question of Interpretation",1894,0,0,0
\B"Jno" Paterson\b
Very personal indeed, and ambiguous, is a versified memorial at Mount Gambier. A widow put it up for her late husband.
\IJNO PATERSON
Of Shetland
Who departed this life
February 28th 1869
Aged 37 Years
My faithful husband
Is buried here
I hope his soul is at rest
Kind stranger here
May drop a tear
But I am not so blessed\i
Did Mrs Paterson suffer a physiological defect, making it impossible for her to cry, or did the absence of tears reflect an unhappy marriage?
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"Qui Vive",1895,0,0,0
Alert people are said to be on the "qui vive." They are watchful and keep a sharp lookout. Though their attitude is not typically French, the phrase is unadulterated - Anglicized neither in pronunciation nor spelling.
It received its present-day meaning from the early use of the phrase. Originally, it was a (French) sentry's challenge to anyone approaching, equivalent to the English "Who goes there?." During hostilities, the soldier on guard wanted to know on whose side the visitor was, and who they supported. Literally the words said "Who lives?." This might well be a shortened form of "Long live who?." A loyal subject was expected to identify his allegiance by replying "Vive le roi" - (long) live the king.
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"Quinine's Discovery",1896,0,0,0
Quinine was first discovered by the Incas. They obtained the drug from the bark of certain trees growing high up in the \JAndes\j. This explains its name which - in the native \JQuechua\j language - simply repeats the word for "bark" \I(quina-quina).\i Duplication of a name in their tongue indicated special qualities possessed by the object (or person) thus singled out.
Legend tells how the Incas came upon \Jquinine\j by mere chance. Bark of the tree that had fallen into a pool had made its waters undrinkable. Because of its bitterness, the Incas believed that the water was poisoned, in fact lethal.
One of their people, suffering from a debilitating fever (most probably \Jmalaria\j), desperately needed to quench the resultant thirst. So he dragged himself to the pool to drink of its waters, irrespective of the consequences. The unexpected happened. Instead of dying, he was cured and, with it, the healing properties of \Jquinine\j became apparent.
However, had it not been for a Jesuit priest, Padre Calancha, who lived in a local monastery, the knowledge of the remedy would never have reached the Western world. He was the first to write (in 1633) about the wondrous tree. He reported that the Indians ground the bark of what they called "the fever tree" into a powder which they then used in a potion to cure fevers. He confirmed the "miraculous cures" their medication had achieved.
Jesuits elsewhere took note of the padre's information, making use of it with great success. They popularized \Jquinine\j so widely that this "Peruvian bark" soon became known as "the Cardinal's bark" or, even more frequently, as "the Jesuit's powder." Thousands of victims of \Jmalaria\j benefited from the power of observation of a Jesuit priest, living in the land of the Incas.
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"Quiz Origins",1897,0,0,0
Quiz is a modern word. It has the distinction of being the only one added to dictionaries as the direct result of a bet. More surprising is the fact that when the word was first formed, it was meant to mean exactly - nothing.
Quiz, as a word, was born in Ireland about 1780. Its parents were the manager of a Dublin theater (a Mr Daly) and some of his friends.
One night they discussed the gullibility of people. Daly asserted that "the mob" could be made to believe and accept well nigh anything. His friends maintained that people were not as stupid as all that. But Daly was adamant and said he was prepared to prove his point. He claimed he would make the masses adopt a new word - a meaningless chain of letters - just overnight. He was ready to take a bet on this.
His friends felt quite safe in agreeing to the wager.
All night Daly and his friends rushed through the streets of Dublin with pails of paint and brushes.
Next morning, Dubliners, wherever they went, found - on houses, pavements, and fences - four mysterious letters: Q U I Z.
Everyone \Iasked\i what they meant. Later, the quiz spread from Dublin all over the world. Introduced to prove man's foolishness, it is now used to demonstrate the extent of his knowledge, which is yet another paradox of human life.
Some people have seen in the quiz an abbreviation of the word inquisition, i.e. questioning.
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"R with a Stroke Through it",1898,0,0,0
Every time a doctor writes out a prescription, he heads it with the capital letter "R," a tiny stroke straddling its right foot. He himself might not realize that he does so "prayerfully." His odd symbol is a petition that whatever the script contains may bring divine cure to the patient.
The "R" topping the script is the initial of the Latin \IRecipe.\i It indicates what the patient should "take," and is a word which doctors share with all cooks.
The tiny stroke through the right "leg" of the "R" is not an aesthetic decoration or a writer's affectation. An ancient sacred symbol, it is a now stylized prayer in sign language, an invocation to Jupiter, the god of gods in the Greeks' pantheon without whose help, it was thought, no drug could bring healing to the sick.
Thus, mostly unbeknown and unrecognized, God retains his special place in every prescription. If only atheist physicians, writing out a prescription, knew what they are doing and freethinking patients realized what they are "taking!"
#
"Rabbit's Foot for Luck",1899,0,0,0
Widespread is the belief that a \Jrabbit\j's foot brings luck. Children were brushed with it at birth, and well-wishers used to present one to young actors when first they appeared on the stage, to be used ever after when applying make-up. The \Jrabbit\j's foot was deemed a guarantee of good fortune, and its loss a threat of disaster. As with numerous other customs and superstitions, many and various causes made the \Jrabbit\j's foot a lucky charm.
The superstitions may be a survival of ancient Totemism, which preceded monotheistic faith. This claimed (anticipating Darwin by many thousands of years) that man was descended from the beast. But, differing from scientific opinion, these early evolutionists thought that each tribe had its own kind of animal ancestor, which they worshiped, refrained from killing, and frequently used - either as a whole or only in parts - as their lucky charm. They called it their \Jtotem\j.
This ancient concept can be traced in biblical literature as the root of many dietary laws which prohibited certain (\Jtotem\j) animals being eaten. In much the same way, the modern regimental mascot, whether sheep or \Jgoat\j, is believed to secure luck for the regiment.
It is probably that the \Jrabbit\j, too, is a long-forgotten \Jtotem\j which became the guardian spirit of its descendants. Thus, its foot is still considered a bringer of good luck.
But then, again, rabbits were taken to be evil, an opinion possibly quite feasible to those accustomed to speak of the Australian pest. The story was told of a ship's crew of God-fearing men who landed on an island. Being hungry, they chased and killed rabbits. When they sailed for home, their ship was lost on the high seas - "because of the rabbits!"
The \Jrabbit\j's burrowing habits undoubtedly further contributed to the suspicion with which it was once regarded. What was the animal doing down under? People asked themselves that question and some surmised that the \Jrabbit\j had a secret communication with the underworld's evil forces. So it was that rabbits were said to have the power of the evil eye, an assertion reinforced by the erroneous notion that young rabbits were born with their eyes wide open.
It was the \Jrabbit\j's fecundity that helped to give its foot an association with good luck and prosperity. The \Jrabbit\j was so prolific that people considered it the outstanding example of all that was creative, and it became symbolic of an abundance of life.
After that it did not take people long to assume that by carrying part of a \Jrabbit\j, its proximity on touch would transfer to them the \Jrabbit\j's good fortune. The choice of the foot was not accidental. Even before Freudian sexual interpretations were known, a foot was recognized as a phallic symbol and regarded as a sure means to foster fertility.
#
"Racial Smells",1900,0,0,0
Racial \Jprejudice\j has been responsible for many an injustice and misconception. The "dislike of the like for the unlike" led to the misinterpretation of most innocuous features, to excuse and rationalize antipathies and justify a policy of discrimination. A specific, repulsive body odor was thus attributed to certain races. It was said to make them unpleasant to mix with, if not obnoxious.
The peculiar smell, if it exists at all, has nothing to do with innate racial characteristics. It is produced by certain foods favored by that particular group of people. Its ingestion causes the pores of their skin to exude the distinctive odor, which a change of diet would quickly eliminate.
#
"Rack One's Brain",1901,0,0,0
Trying very hard to recollect something temporarily forgotten or to find the solution to a problem, one "racks one's brain."
Dramatically, the portrayal of the effort makes figurative use of the rack (from the German \Ireck).\i A most cruel instrument of torture, it was once employed to make people confess or submit, against their better judgment and beliefs.
Gruesome indeed was the function of this infernal gadget. The person interrogated was tied by their hands and feet on to a frame or sort of ladder. This then was gradually extended, to "stretch" \I(recken\i in German) the body. It was hoped that the pain caused by the ensuing dislocation of joints and the body literally being torn apart, would make the victim "remember" - "rack the brain." They would supply their torturers with the desired information and thereby, as they termed it, help them to "find out the truth."
It is interesting to note that the equivalent German idiom speaks of "breaking one's head."
#
"Racketeers",1902,0,0,0
Racketeers cleverly now mostly make their gain "on the quiet." They seem far removed from the early days and ways which gave them their name. This recalls the "racket," in the sense of noise, profiteers used to create whilst engaged in their pursuits.
What form the racket took has been explained variously. Unconvincing is the suggestion that it was the loud noise crooked gamblers made when throwing their (loaded) dice. The designation has also been traced to the practice of gangsters who, unable to obtain "contributions" quietly, persuaded their victims to hand over money by loud threats and the sound of their guns.
Another origin of the "noisy" name links it with a practice of petty thieves. To distract the attention of their intended victims, they let off crackers in the streets or caused some other racket which created confusion. This made people look round to see what had happened. It was the opportune moment for the crooks to pick pockets.
It has also been alleged that American gangsters were the first racketeers. They arranged alleged charity functions to which they invited the very wealthy. Those who turned up as honored guests found that they had been duped. In a rowdy gathering (the "racket"), they were forced to donate large sums to their hosts.
In the end, the original "noise" became identified with the shady business and gave the racketeer as a silent partner in crime its present-day meaning.
#
"Rafferty's Rules",1903,0,0,0
Rafferty's rules is the Australian (slang) description for extemely rough play during football games, in which no rules are observed. It is not certain what accounts for the odd "naming" and there is a choice of two explanations.
A great proportion of the population in the early European settlement of the Australian (penal) colony was of Irish descent. The Irish were renowned for their wildness. They could fight like Kilkenny cats, without rules or restraint. Rafferty was an Irishman's name and thus Rafferty's rules was a reflection on his countrymen.
Others, exonerating the Irish, deny that there had ever been actual person of that name in the phrase. Originally this had referred to the unmanageable situation in a football game as "refractory" or "raffatory," but not knowing the English word, Australians misunderstood it and imagined that the expression recalled a (Mr) Rafferty's unruliness.
#
"Raining Cats and Dogs",1904,0,0,0
Several explanations have been given for the description of a heavy downpour as "raining cats and dogs." They range from the misheard Greek word for a waterfall \I(catadupa)\i to faulty reasoning. After a cloudburst and flash-flooding, drowned cats and dogs used to float down London streets. The simple-minded imagined these to have come down with the rain from the skies.
Most probably, however, the phrase goes back to German migrants to America who had settled in south-eastern \JPennsylvania\j. Their English was hard to understand.
Heavy showers reminded them of a popular saying "back home." It spoke of raining so much that it kept in the cats and brought out the ducks. In their strong German accent the ducks sounded very much like dogs. Those listening to them, puzzled by what they were talking about, misunderstood them to say that it was raining cats and dogs. The strange combination of two pets that usually keep strictly apart, made the bizarre phrase all the more memorable.
#
"Raise Cain",1905,0,0,0
Those who create a disturbance by quarrelling noisily, "hitting the roof," as we say, are also "raising Cain."
Several reasons may account for Cain's presence in the phrase. Those causing trouble were believed to summon the devil. Afraid to mention "the evil one" by name when discussing such a situation, people used Cain's instead - as a euphemism. "To raise Cain" really meant to say "to raise the devil." Cain merely acted as his precautionary surrogate.
Another explanation links the expression with Cain's murder of his brother Abel. According to the \JBible\j (Gen. 4.5), he committed the crime, the first of its kind, because of his violent temper. Whoever "raised Cain" created a similarly dangerous situation, in which a tearing rage may lead to dire, if not fatal results.
Totally different, but equally feasible, is a third interpretation which relates the phrase to education. Cain's murder of his younger brother was blamed on his parents. They had let him run wild as a child and grow up undisciplined. Anyone neglectful in the training of his offspring would raise another Cain, a troublemaker, an angry man, if not a potential killer.
#
"Raising One's Hat",1906,0,0,0
The raising of one's hat to a lady, not inappropriately, dates back to the age of chivalry. Yet its origin was not courtesy but an assurance of peaceful intentions. Knights in armor lifted the visor to indicate they were not afraid of being attacked. Eventually, it became the custom for a knight to stand bareheaded in the presence of a lady.
The doffing of the helmet in a home showed that the protection of the host was relied on and in a church that one was not afraid of an enemy in the House of God. Friendly knights raised their visors to each other, and the removal of the helmet indicated friendship and utter trust in a hostile world.
Going beyond this chivalrous interpretation, the raising of the hat can be traced to the early days of primitive warfare when captives were stripped. Their nakedness was to proclaim complete subjugation. Gradually, this symbol of serfdom was restricted to the baring of only the upper part of the body, down to the waist. Finally, all that remained of the early stripping was the removal of whatever served as a hat. "I am your obedient servant!" is thus the implicit message from the days of \Jslavery\j, when silently a man greets a lady by baring his head.
Women have always been exempt from the custom. However, this does not really imply that they have been considered the master. It does not show lack of courtesy on their part either. Perhaps it reflects man's complete trust in the female sex, or his feeling of superiority - that he has nothing to fear from a mere woman.
#
"Raising the Glass",1907,0,0,0
The custom of lifting the glass in the direction of the person to whose health one drinks was practised by the ancient Greeks. Actually, it stops short of what they did. Having proposed the toast with the words "It is to you!" they handed the cup to whoever had been toasted to drink from.
Scandinavians say "Skoll." The word is derived from the Norse for "skull," as the ancient Vikings toasted each other by drinking from the skulls of their slain enemies.
#
"Raking in the Shekels",1908,0,0,0
Those making plenty of money, facetiously and colloquially are described as "raking in the shekels." A shekel was an early biblical monetary unit, a coin of either gold or silver, its name literally meaning "weight." Thus, like the English pound (of sterling silver) the shekel recalls in its \Jetymology\j, the days when money was valued according to its weight. You did not count it, but put it on the scales!
Curiously, the earliest reference to the shekel in the \JBible\j (Gen. 23) concerns funeral arrangements: Abraham's purchase of a burial ground for his wife Sarah. Its price was 400 shekels of silver. Paying the amount, the text significantly records that Abraham "weighed" it.
#
"Rats Leaving Ship",1909,0,0,0
Rats leave a sinking ship is an ancient \Jsuperstition\j now widely accepted as fact. The notion became so common that it was soon applied to people who selfishly abandon a venture which they know will founder.
From the sea, the \Jsuperstition\j spread to the land. It was thought that rats would equally abandon ramshackle homes prior to their collapse. Even as enlightened a man as Roger Bacon, the famous English philosopher and scientist, shared this belief and voiced it in his essay, "Of Wisdom for a Man's Self," in which he stated, "It is the wisdom of rats that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall."
Sailors believed that rats deserted a doomed ship before it set out to sea on its fatal voyage. That they did so was not due to a natural instinct for survival but an occult sense of foreboding.
The claim is not mere fiction but can be explained rationally. Rats wisely choose their home in places where they are sure of comfort and sufficient food supply. Loathing to get wet, they will soon forsake any site in which they can no longer keep dry. Hence, long before sailors would recognize small leaks in a ship's hold, the rats discovered them. Thus they "deserted" a ship to look for some more congenial (and dry) home, thereby saving their lives.
#
"Ravioli and Vermicelli",1910,0,0,0
A variety of factors have suggested the names given to food. They included its distinctive flavor or smell, the place where it was first grown, created, or eaten. A no less significant role was played by its appearance, which accounts for why ravioli and vermicelli were so called.
Small pockets of \Jpasta\j stuffed with minced meat or cheese, they resemble miniature turnips. \JTurnip\j in Italian is \Irava.\i Though so totally different in taste and ingredients, its very shape prompted Italians to call the \Jpasta\j after (the diminutive of) the vegetable - \Iravioli.\i
Vermicelli, on the other hand, might not be too appetizing to finicky eaters if they realized that this kind of \Jpasta\j received its name because it looks like "little worms" - \Ivermicelli\i in Italian.
#
"Raw Meat on Black Eye",1911,0,0,0
The traditional treatment of a black eye was to apply raw meat. It was thought to be an effective remedy. It is of no particular help. All it might do is to reduce the swelling equally achieved by anything else that is cool and moist.
#
"Read Between the Lines",1912,0,0,0
Generally, it is expected that people mean what they say and say what they mean. But on occasion, there is a hidden meaning in their words as well, and those astute enough can "read [it] between the lines."
Now used (mostly) metaphorically for guessing inferred information, to start with the phrase was taken very literally. Conspirators and secret agents inserted their message "between the lines" of a letter they had written. They did so with invisible ink.
Codes were used from early times, for example by Julius Caesar in some of his battle reports. Their employment was intended to prevent important information falling into the hands of foes or of a competitor. Personal and private notes could thus equally be assured of secrecy - unless (and until) cryptographers were able to break the code.
One of the most famous messages conveyed "between the lines" (though not literally in this case) was responsible for the foiling of the \Jgunpowder plot\j in 1606. When Francis Tresham got to know of the planned blowing up of the British Houses of Parliament, he was most anxious to save the life of his brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle, who was sure to be present in the Upper House on the occasion. But it was impossible to communicate directly with him and inform him of the threat. Indeed, he did so in an apparently innocuous letter in which - unnoticeably for the ordinary reader - he inserted the urgent advice for him to stay away because of the "terrible blow" about to be struck. His message was contained (and hidden away) in alternate lines! The Lord must have been well acquainted with the method of cryptographic writing which in this historic instance led to the discovery and frustration of the conspiracy.
#
"Reading in Bed",1913,0,0,0
Deepy-rooted was the general (fallacious) belief that reading in bed was injurious to the eye. (However, it is wise to have good light and to be so positioned that any muscular strain, particularly in the neck and shoulders, is avoided.)
#
"Real McCoy",1914,0,0,0
It is very rare that the person responsible for a phrase himself explained its origin. But, according to one version, this is the case regarding "the real McCoy."
He was a famous boxer, Charles ("Kid") McCoy, a one-time world welter-weight champion, who died in 1940. For many years he was unbeatable in his class and so his name became a legend. The real McCoy came to mean the real thing, the genuine article! It was the finest praise anyone or anything could receive. People came to speak of the real McCoy in every sphere of life, whenever they wished to describe the best of its kind or someone who excelled in his class, profession, or sport.
Yet even so it did not assure happiness for the real McCoy, once so celebrated and adored by the American people. He accidentally killed his sweetheart and was sentenced to serve a prison term at St. Quentin. While there, he rescued a pilot whose plane had crashed near a road-gang of prisoners and as a reward and recalling the ex-boxer's former happier days, the warden presented him with a pair of boxing gloves and a punching bag to use when not employed in prison duties.
While serving his sentence (he received his parole in 1932), he had many friendly talks with Warden Duffy. On one occasion, McCoy gave his own version of how his name came to be perpetuated in American speaking. Duffy relates the story in his book, "88 Men and Two Women."
Duffy says McCoy told him that while having a drink with a lady friend in a saloon, a man accosted the woman. Trying to brush off the intruder without much fuss, McCoy asked him to go, adding as a warning which needed no further explanation "I'm Kid McCoy!" But the man persisted in pestering the lady, not believing that McCoy was the American champion fighter. He remarked with scorn "Yeah? Well, I'm George Washington!" McCoy said he struck the man once and quite lightly. The man collapsed and when, ten minutes later, he regained his senses, he rubbed his eyes and called out "Jeez, it \Iwas\i the \Ireal\i McCoy!"
And so, according to Kid, it was this incident that gave birth to the now commonly used phrase of approbation.
It is sad to know that the life of the real McCoy, whose name had come to stand for the finest and best, ended tragically. After his release from St. Quentin, he worked for the Ford Motor Company in \JDetroit\j. In 1940, whilst looking forward to his 10th marriage, he died from an overdose of sleeping tablets.
Nevertheless, in spite of McCoy's own testimony, there are other intriguing claims and definitions of the phrase's origin.
The Irish were not slow to recognize in his name one of their own kind, and took the phrase as a general tribute to Irishmen's honesty and excellence.
Their people were famous as fighters. No one could match them. A \Jballad\j of the 1870s tells of an Irish woman who had beaten her husband mercilessly - just to prove that she was "a real McCoy."
There is also the claim that the phrase relates to the days of prohibition in the USA, when bootleggers prospered. Some took advantage of the fact that, even should they defraud their thirsty customers, these could not claim any compensation or take their dishonest supplier to a \Jcourt of law\j. Therefore, the greater proportion of illegal liquor sold to them as the real thing, was heavily diluted with all kinds of substitutes.
One bootlegger named McCoy, however, refused to cheat his clients and supplied only the best-quality undiluted imported whisky. His name became a trade mark and a recommendation and his product was referred to as "the real McCoy." The phrase soon caught on and survived prohibition and \Jbootlegging\j days to become a general term of praise.
#
"Reason for Scalping",1915,0,0,0
Contrary to general opinion, until the coming of the European settlers, the custom of scalping was restricted to only some of the Red Indian tribes who treasured the scalp as a trophy of a slain enemy. The white colonist then copied their example, first in mere retaliation. Soon, however, they inflicted the practice on members of all tribes, doing so for mercenary reasons, as they were paid a bounty for each scalp.
The Red Indians misinterpreted the motivation of their pale-faced enemy. They imagined that he prized their scalps so highly because of some magical power inherent in them. Thus they began to scalp people, not out of cruelty, but in the genuine belief that a man's hair was the seat of his strength which, by acquiring the scalp, would be magically bestowed on them.
#
"Reasons Behind Cockfighting",1916,0,0,0
For cocks to fight each other is a natural instinct to attain dominance, to rule the roost. For people to watch the mortal combat of the male rivals - and to enjoy it - made \Jcockfighting\j one of the earliest spectator sports. For man to take sides and make a certain cock his favorite was almost an inevitable further step in the evolution of \Jcockfighting\j. To lay bets on the outcome of the fight added to its excitement, and was the final stage in the establishment of \Jcockfighting\j as a popular attraction in many parts of the world.
Cocks were available in great number (and before the breeding of precious gamesters, at a relatively cheap price), and it was easy to pit two birds against each other in a hollow (the "cockpit"): the sport appealed to the poor therefore as well as the rich.
Another feature that made the sport so acceptable was that it offered little opportunity for abuse by crooks, a fact that made people who were anxious to see "fair play" admire it as a "clean" sport and "absolutely on the level."
All these circumstances explain how \Jcockfighting\j, through many centuries, even millennia, of its existence, possibly had more followers in the world than any other sport, and how so many of its terms to this day - without most people realizing it - belong to our everyday vocabulary and the idioms of our speech.
Like so many sports, \Jcockfighting\j probably evolved from religion and a ritual. It could well have grown from a magical rite, watched with awe, to ensure fertility, the casting out of evil spirits, and the bringing of victory to man in his continual battle against natural and \Jsupernatural\j foes. The cock was (and, in some primitive societies, still is) regarded as a sacred bird. Several of the bird's characteristics (its shrill crow at dawn, its pugnacity, and its salaciousness) already in ancient days gave people this notion, a fact that is documented by early religious literature and later writings.
The cock's place is especially prominent in Persian \Jmythology\j in which this "herald of dawn" was the strong ally of the forces of light in their battle against the powers of darkness. Its Greek name - though in a doubtful folk \Jetymology\j - has been explained to mean "ward off" and "protect." A cock's crow ushered in the new day and its shrill cry was considered to put to flight the evil spirits of the night that could not tolerate the sound.
The \JNew Testament\j preserves traces of this tradition when it relates how Peter denied knowing Jesus: three times before the cock crowed twice (Mark XIV:72). Commentators explained that the mentioning of the cock's crow was not merely an indication of the early hour of the day and Peter's disloyalty so soon after his master's arrest. Its significance went much deeper. In fact, it was the very cause of the disciple's realization of his treachery. The devil had urged him to deny his master and was keeping him in his power. But at the cock's repeated crow, the "evil one" was forced to flee. That is how Peter suddenly came to himself and bitterly repented what he had done.
Even the placing of the figure of a cock on top of church steeples can be traced (like the ringing of bells) to the belief that it would scare away demons. Later, its more rational purpose was to serve as an innocuous weather vane.
This background prompted the introduction of an early \JHebrew\j prayer in the Jews' morning worship, praising God, the Lord of the universe, for having given the cock the "understanding to distinguish between the night and the day." \JArabs\j believed that cocks crowed whenever they became conscious of the presence of demons, and peasants kept a cock inside the home to keep out the devil.
Sacrifice of the bird became a powerful means of warding off disease and obtaining forgiveness of sin. Greeks, who called the cock also "the Persian bird," offered it to the goddess Maia, and in mystery rites initiates did not eat chicken. Particularly, Greeks sacrificed the bird to Asklepios, the god of healing; even \JSocrates\j, when about to take his life by drinking the cup of hemlock, still remembered that he owed a cock to Asklepios.
Scots were known to have buried live cocks under the bed of an epileptic to cure him of his "possession," and the bird's blood was mixed with flour to bake cakes for invalids. Jews offered a cock as a means of atonement before the beginning of their most sacred holy day, the Day of Atonement. The "scape-cock" served them in a similar role to that of the \Jscapegoat\j in biblical days.
To sacrifice cocks assumed an even deeper meaning. Cocks came to be considered protectors of the souls of the departed, and as such were needed in the "underworld" to keep away hostile demons from their charges. Russians are known to have strangled cocks as an offering to the dead. By the common association of opposites, the cock was also used in perverse rites of black magic as an evil bird.
From earliest days, cocks were known too for their virility, and became a symbol of fecundity. They were employed - magically, and at the cost of their lives - whenever and wherever people wished to ensure the fertility of the soil and of man. They also have their place in primitive marriage ceremonial and in the harvesting and sowing of the fields. Sir James Frazer quotes many examples of European customs in which cocks were associated with the bringing in of the last sheaf, and being identified with the spirit of the corn.
A cock was tied up in the last sheaf, and killed. Its feathers were kept until the following spring to be scattered with the seed magically to quicken and fertilize the new life in the soil. Thus the cock became an emblem of immortality and appeared in Christian catacomb paintings as a \Jresurrection\j symbol: just as this bird announced the dawn after the darkest of nights, so the Christian faith proclaimed the life of the world beyond at the time of spiritual obscurity.
A sacred bird from which demons fled (both in this world and the next), a bringer of fertility whose own death ensured life, the cock also served for \Jdivination\j. It has long been held that chickens were first domesticated not for food, but for this purpose. The cock's intestines and liver were thought to foretell the future. Who else faced death so bravely and even invited it so that he could prove himself the better bird? Even the destiny of a nation was considered to be linked up with the cocks' contest!
\JCockfighting\j thus was not a cheap amusement at first, but exciting in a completely different way from mere sporting events: it concerned not just the life (and death) of a bird, but the immediate and ultimate future of man.
#
"Reasons for Headstones",1917,0,0,0
Headstones on graves have had a variety of functions in different epochs and cultures. In early days they were not set up in deference to the deceased or to perpetuate his memory; their purpose was self-defense: to prevent his or her spirit from escaping and haunting the living.
Fulfilling a more practical function, stones were also placed on tombs to protect the remains from being dug up by animals or - at the time when anatomy was still a prohibited science - to impede the work of so-called "resurrectionists," trying to recover bodies for dissection. In other ages, only the distinguished or wealthy were "recognized" by the erection of a headstone (and, to indicate the full length of their grave, perhaps a footstone as well).
On the other hand, the absence of a stone can be equally telling. It was not only convicts and suicides whose graves were left unmarked. A grave without a stone might highlight the poignant vicissitudes of human fate.
#
"Reasons for Japanese Celebrations",1918,0,0,0
\JJapan\j is a country of festivals. No cost is spared and much time is spent in their celebration. Some are held nationwide, while others, though centered on local shrines, attract crowds from all over \JJapan\j.
Shrine festivals, in particular, are distinguished by processions of boats. The number and magnificence of these boats give an indication of how highly rated a particular festival is. Some of the boats are more than a hundred years old, of enormous size and are, indeed, outstanding works of art.
The reasons for the celebrations are varied. Some are linked with legendary or historic figures of the distant past while others focus on present-day life and the needs of the people, or show concern for the future.
The Japanese word for "festival" is \IMatsuri,\i and it often features in the names of individual festivals. Originally it meant "worship" or "service."
#
"Reasons for the Rodeo",1919,0,0,0
The original \Jrodeo\j was neither a contest nor a pastime. It belonged to the cowboys' work. They had to "round up" the \Jcattle\j, a task which demanded great skill and stamina on their part. Many of the early cowboys were Mexicans and the Spanish word for the practice of "surrounding" and "encircling" was \Irodea.\i
Almost inevitably, cowboys began to vie with each other and an original purely occupational pursuit developed into an exciting competition. It was the birth of the modern \Jrodeo\j. Meticulously organized, it was regulated by strict rules. Reins had to be \Iheld\i by the hand and never wrapped around it. The rider was not permitted to change hands. He was disqualified if he touched his saddle with even only one hand or lost a stirrup.
#
"Red and White Flowers",1920,0,0,0
A widespread English \Jsuperstition\j, also adopted elsewhere, regards it as unlucky to bring a bunch of mixed red and white flowers to a patient in a \Jhospital\j.
The \Jsuperstition\j is based on an ancient belief in floral magic. Red and white flowers, it assumed, by their very colors, would trigger off \Jsupernatural\j forces, causing the recipient to bleed to death (the result of the red), ultimately thus taking on the (white) pallor of a corpse.
One tradition links the \Jsuperstition\j specifically with the \JCrimean war\j. Wounded soldiers then believed in the harmful magic potency of flowers of those hues. They would make them bleed profusely and, consequently, necessitate lots of white bandages.
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"Red Blood Corpuscles",1921,0,0,0
Though never ordained to the priesthood as his father had hoped he would be, the seventeenth-century Dutchman, Jan Swammerdam, became deeply involved in religious pursuits. An ardent believer, his faith dominated his entire life.
In addition to these pious preoccupations, however, he made his name as one of the very great naturalists of his time, a pathfinder in science and medicine. The father of modern \Jentomology\j, he developed a technique enabling researchers to dissect the smallest insect under the \Jmicroscope\j. Swammerdam is most renowned for his discovery (in 1658) of the red blood corpuscles, and for his description (in 1664) of the valves of the Iymph vessels.
In spite of his scientific bent, Swammerdam came under the spell of a fanatic religious sect. Ultimately, he became so obsessed with its doctrines and practices that he turned his back on all his former work and achievements. Denouncing them as too worldly, he destroyed some of his valuable unpublished manuscripts - a great loss to science.
#
"Red Flag",1922,0,0,0
There were, of course, red flags long before Soviet \JRussia\j or \JCommunism\j were thought of.
Red is the color of blood and since time immemorial has been associated with danger and bloodshed. A red flag was thus the signal for battle among the ancient Romans - their call to arms and war. The distinctiveness of the color, which made it visible from long distances, added further significance to its choice.
In the 18th century, the ancient red flag was adopted by modern revolutionaries as a symbol of defiance and rebellion. In \JFrance\j the struggle was not between nations, but classes. It was then that the red flag became a political badge. It meant to express the people's challenge, violent and bloody if need be, to the established order.
In 1792, the French National Assembly decreed that the Paris Municipal authorities were to show a red flag at the principal window of the Town Hall whenever there was a sign of riot. It is said that it was from that moment onward that the red flag became finally identified with Revolution. As such it was flown again on the barricades of a rebellious Europe in 1848.
It was almost inevitable that Communists would take over this revolutionary symbol. Another intriguing factor might have reinforced their choice and lent it special importance. Russians consider red the color of beauty. And they do so not accidentally. It is not just the result of a peculiar national aesthetic sense but the effect of a linguistic connection between "red" and "beauty." The Russian word for red is \Ikrasny\i and for beauty - \Ikrasivy.\i
#
"Red Flag in the Cemetery",1923,0,0,0
\BPercival Brookfield\b
Numerous features and copious inscriptions distinguish the most conspicuous memorial in the Broken Hill Cemetery. Of truly monumental size and outstanding in every sense of the word, it was put up by "The Workers of \JAustralia\j" on the grave of Percival John Brookfield. One of the most radical socialists of his time, he was regarded as so extreme a leftist that some people dubbed him "the Bolshevik."
The tall column is topped by a large sphere which displays the famous slogan from Karl Marx's \ICommunist Manifesto\i - "Workers of the World Unite." The square base on which the column rests is inscribed on each of its four sides with texts, messages, poetry, and a verse from the "Red Flag," the Communist "battle hymn."
It also contains a mini-\Jbiography\j of this stalwart champion of the working man, who "forfeited his life at Riverton, South \JAustralia\j, on March 22nd 1921, in a gallant effort to save the lives of others."
Brookfield was born in Lancashire, England, in 1875. As a boy of 13, he went to sea. Two decades later, he came to Broken Hill, where he worked as a miner. He soon made his presence felt as a fighter and, some would say, a stirrer. People could not help but admire him. Even if they strongly opposed his views, they had to acknowledge his sincerity and integrity.
During World War I, a time of large-scale industrial struggles and political ferment, Brookfield became a leading anti-war activist. "The only flag I will fight under is the Red Flag," he proclaimed.
Whilst leading a demonstration against military conscription, he was arrested. Charged under the War Precautions Act, he was given the choice of either paying a fine of ú50 ($100) or serving a prison sentence of one month. It was almost a foregone conclusion that he chose prison. Not long afterwards, he was elected to the \JNew South Wales\j Parliament as (Labor) Member for Sturt. No one expected him to be a docile member.
No doubt to keep him silent, he was offered the position of Speaker of the House, an honor he refused outright. To him, parliament was just another battlefield. Provocatively he informed his colleagues on the floor that he "would welcome the Red Army to Sydney, if it meant \Jsocialism\j."
During their extended strike (1919-20), he supported the Broken Hill miners' fund by donating 10 per cent of his parliamentary salary. He spoke up for the Sinn Fein, backing them in their fight for Irish independence.
Typical was his refusal of an invitation to a state dinner in 1920, arranged in honor of the then Prince of Wales, who was visiting \JAustralia\j at the time. It would be "unfair for well-fed people to gorge while others were starving for bread," he explained. Adding insult to injury, as it were, he also wrote in his "apologies" that, in any case, he had a previous engagement - an appointment with the (then still unrecognized) Russian Consul!
Much more significant than all such "incidents," however, is the legacy he left as the vice president of the underground section of the Amalgamated Miners Association and other such groups. Ultimately, in no small measure this resulted in the reduction of the miners' working hours and general improvement of their working conditions.
As his tombstone recalls, even the end of his life at the age of 46, was out of the ordinary and violent. Paradoxically, he was killed by a Russian! Whilst traveling by train to Adelaide, during a short breakfast stop at the small township of Riverton, a man (later identified as Koorman Tomayeff) started gunning down the passengers who were still on the platform. When, fearlessly, Brookfield tried to disarm him, he was shot twice. Fatally wounded, he was taken to the Royal Adelaide \JHospital\j, where he passed away on the same day.
When news of his death reached Broken Hill, the people were stunned. One of the workers expressed the feeling of them all when he said, "We have lost our greatest friend."
Though Tomayeff at first claimed that he was a paid assassin who had been promised ú100 ($200) for killing Brookfield, it was later established that he was insane, and he was confined to an asylum. It was a sad ending for Brookfield, who would have much preferred to have died for his ideals, than to end his life with a madman's bullet.
His funeral was a public event. With their wives and children, thousands of miners lined the streets along which the long procession proceeded from the Trades Hall to the cemetery. Many of them wept.
Unionists and mourners marched in mass formation, eight deep, before the hearse. On its arrival at the gravesite, a band played "The Red Flag," softly repeating the tune whilst the coffin was lowered.
The monument on Brookfield's grave was unveiled on 14 April 1922, in the presence of a large crowd. They had learnt to love the man who, in their eyes, had died a martyr and to whom applied yet another of the verses inscribed on the monument, words by Thomas \JBracken\j, the \JNew Zealand\j poet:
\INot understood. Poor souls with stunted vision
Oft measure giants by their narrow gauge;
The poisoned shafts of falsehood and derision
Are oft impelled 'gainst those who mould the age.
Not understood.\i
#
"Red Herring",1924,0,0,0
A reference to "a red \Jherring\j" may mean one of two completely different things. Metaphorically, it might be used to denounce an evasive action or remark intended to divert people's attention from the real issue. In this sense, it recalls the practice of fox hunters whilst training their dogs to drag a smoked "red \Jherring\j" across the animal's trail; its strong smell was intended to cover up the quarry's scent.
The real red \Jherring\j is not red at all. Even when dried, smoked and salted, it retains its original color. However, because the treatment turned its eyes red, the entire fish has been wrongly tainted as being red altogether.
#
"Red Letter Days",1925,0,0,0
We speak of a Red Letter Day when we wish to stress or recollect some special, joyous occasion.
This colorful description of a momentous day seems always to be associated with some completely worldly matter. Yet the origin of the Red Letter Day is just the opposite. It belonged to the Church and its most sacred and solemn occasions.
It goes back to the time when Saints' Days and Holy Days appeared in the calendar in red print. This distinguished them from all other days and, at the same time, indicated that special services for them were contained in the Book of Common Prayer. The rest of the year was shown on the calendar in ordinary, plain black type.
The color was not chosen just because it was conspicuous. Red had always had a sacred association, especially in the minds of the pious. They were reminded by it of the blood shed by the martyrs.
#
"Red Light District",1926,0,0,0
The story is told that early American railroad men used to spend some of their spare time, either when off duty or between trains, with the "ladies of easy virtue." They took their red signal lamps with them, which they left - still lit - outside the brothel. Should, unexpectedly, their immediate help on the rails be required, they could easily be located by their red lamps. Soon the lit lamp became identified with the section of the town in which the brothels were situated and that is how the red light district came into existence.
Another theory traces its colorful description back to the \JBible\j and times before the Israelites had conquered the Holy Land. The contact of their spies in Jericho was Rahab, the local prostitute, whose very name surprisingly meant "the broad." She promised to identify her residence for the invading Israelite forces by suspending from its upper story a conspicuous cord of scarlet. Brightly shining in the sun, it could not be missed.
Detached from any particular incident or occupation, the choice of color has also been said to have been motivated by the red-hot passion of man.
#
"Red Rag to a Bull",1927,0,0,0
Widespread and general is the belief that a red rag infuriates a bull. Therefore to enter a paddock with anything red where there is a bull would be foolish and dangerous.
The idea is so deeply ingrained in common thought and speech that we describe anything that makes us get really angry and excites our rage to be "like a red rag to a bull."
Equally well-known and accepted is the explanation that the phrase stems from the experience of Spanish bullfighters. To attract their four-legged adversary's attention and rouse it into an angry charge, it is said, they flourished their red cloak in front of the bull's face.
It is certainly true that, from the earliest days of this Spanish pastime, the torero employed a red cloak. Yet that the bull's anger was roused by its color is completely fallacious.
A bull is not affected by any color. Like most animals, it is color-blind. It is the motion of the cloth, not its \Jhue\j, that annoys the bull. A waving white cape would make it just as angry. Red was chosen only as a spectacular color.
An ancient but now discontinued presentation in the bull-ring supports this explanation. In early days a man would stand on a pedestal in the arena and keep absolutely still. When the bull rushed towards him, he had to hold even his breath. For a while, the beast would gaze and sometimes even sniff at the human statue. Because it lacked all motion, the animal would walk away. But let the frozen figure move ever so slightly and the docile bull would change into a ferocious fighter.
Thus the colorful phrase lacks all foundation in fact and proves once again how some of our most cherished expressions are based on fiction.
#
"Red Sea: Origins of the Name",1928,0,0,0
Commentators have taken pains to explain the color of the \JRed Sea\j. Ever since the (third century B.C.) Greek translations of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j (the \ISeptuagint),\i its redness has been linked with the death of the Egyptians who, in their pursuit of the escaping Israelites, were drowned in the waters. Oddly enough, no one considered the absurdity of the claim as, of course, drowned people do not bleed.
Other explanations suggested that the red color was due to as diverse factors as the growth of corals, the reflection of either sunlight or of red sand or soil which either surrounded the waters or formed the sea-bed.
A simple reference to the original \JHebrew\j text of the passage would have avoided the many false trails. This clearly states that the Egyptians drowned in the Sea of Reeds \I(yam suf).\i If did not take much effort or time, particularly in connection with the death of so many Egyptians, popularly to adopt the false notion which changed the "reed" into "red" and it has been the \JRed Sea\j ever since.
#
"Red Square: Origin of the Name",1929,0,0,0
The \JRed Square\j in Moscow was not so called because of the association of that color with \Jcommunism\j. In fact, the name pre-existed the Red revolution. To Russians, red has always been a beautiful and attractive color. To speak of a square as "red" therefore was not meant to affirm a political conviction, but expressed aesthetic delight and splendor. No doubt, an additional factor in the choice of name was the similarity in sound of the Russian words for "red" \I(krasny)\i and "beauty" \I(krasivy).\i
#
"Red Tape",1930,0,0,0
Modern bureaucracy has been decried for its "red tape," the frustrating, rigid application of rules and regulations. The \Jmetaphor\j was first applied by Sydney Smith, a distinguished English clergyman-author (and not by Charles Dickens, as is frequently claimed). He adopted the expression from the practice of lawyers and government officials of tying up their files with a pink ribbon.
Smith was renowned for his brilliant wit and his serious endeavor to change the world into a better place. After having served as a hard-working country parson for 20 years, he was appointed Canon of St Paul's, London, in 1831.
#
"Regatta",1931,0,0,0
A regatta, as a sport and a term, is the legacy of Venetian gondoliers to the world. The Italian description of "a struggle for mastery" and a friendly "strife," it was first applied by seventeenth-century gondoliers, when racing for supremacy along the \JGrand Canal\j. Traditionally, they called their contest a "regatta." Their choice of name had a good reason. Regatta is the diminutive of the Latin \Iregus\i for "a royal head." And Venice was ruled by a doge - a "little king." As the race was run in his honor and for his entertainment, it was only right in its designation to pay tribute to his position.
#
"Regeneration of a Dying Town",1932,0,0,0
\BAlbert Morris\b
Today Broken Hill is a modern garden city and not the drab mining town many might envisage. This was not always so. Almost weekly, severe dust storms used to reduce visibility so badly that people could not even see the house across the road, let alone the sun in the sky. The story is told of one occasion on which a funeral was forced to stop in Argent Street, at the very center of the city, with the mourners seeking refuge, and consolation, in a nearby hotel till the storm abated.
All this was changed by Albert Morris. It is regrettable that no stone marks this benefactor's grave in the Broken Hill Cemetery; it is merely outlined by a low fence of iron railings.
When Morris died on 9 January 1939 he was only 52 years old. And yet in the relatively short span of his very full life, he certainly proved himself to be an achiever. He was a miner's son; his parents had to struggle hard and he grew up at the time of strikes and lock-outs, with his father often out of work.
Young Albert had two ambitions - he wanted to become a metallurgist and to study plant life - and he fulfilled both. He was not only to occupy the position of chief metallurgist at the Central Mine, but his love of botany and botanical experiment made him an authority on the native flora of the inland. This enabled him to launch the regeneration program which was to save Broken Hill from being swallowed up by the surrounding desert.
It became obvious to Morris that for Broken Hill to survive and grow, something had to be done in a hurry. It was equally obvious to him that among the major causes of the city's plight was soil erosion, precipitated by grazing \Jcattle\j and the ever-increasing plague of rabbits. But the worst predator was man himself. Thoughtlessly and selfishly he had destroyed nature's self-defense; to build fences, he had cut down the protective trees growing around the town.
When in 1936 it became impossible to extend mining operations on account of the sand, the authorities recognized that Albert was their only hope. It did not take him long to devise a plan to overcome the problem. He outlined his project to the Zinc Corporation, who agreed to provide the finance and to supply the necessary labor out of their workforce.
Fencing off a large area around the mine, Albert made it \Jrabbit\j and \Jcattle\j-proof. He then planted shrubs, grasses and local trees; their roots were to hold down the soil and thereby prevent any further encroachment of destructive, drifting sand upon the town. Through irrigation, Morris managed to turn an arid area into a green oasis.
Perhaps, after all, a man like Albert Morris does not need a headstone in the cemetery. His monument is all around Broken Hill and takes the form of green nature: foliage, shade-giving trees, and all the other vegetation now flourishing in a once desolate, sandcovered wilderness.
#
"Regimental Mascot",1933,0,0,0
Regimental mascots have their own story to tell in the way they command respect and are regarded as giving special protection to those keeping them.
It all probably started (as so much in life does) by mere accident. Soldiers stationed in a far-off place, bereft of any other comfort or companion, might have adopted a stray animal or, anticipating the circumstances, taken with them a pet from home. Looking after it filled their spare time, entertained them, and gave an outlet to their starved need for affection. And that is how the animal became "attached" to them, in both senses of the word.
When, subsequently, the regiment won a battle or was saved from a dangerous situation, the soldiers "reasoned" that this had come about not through their own valor, superior equipment, or other "material" factors, but rather was due to the animal. It had brought them luck!
And thus having saved them once, the animal was retained and enlisted for permanent - luck-bringing - service. It looked after those who were looking after it.
Other regiments who heard the story (or even its wrong end), felt that if an animal had contributed to the safety and success of fellow soldiers, it could do so for them as well. Consequently they, too, took out this special insurance and acquired a pet of their own.
Two ancient traditions that lived on in the minds of men served to reinforce the regimental mascot. Thousands of years before Darwin, primitive races already were convinced that man had descended from the animal. After all, it still excelled him in so many ways. Man could not soar up into the sky as birds did under their own power. Fish stayed under water continuously and other creatures were able to do so for long periods of time: feats he could never attain. Animals' strength - both in tooth and claw - exceeded his many times!
Individual clans and tribes thus adopted a specific beast, bird, or fish as their ancestor or - using the American Indian term - as their "\Jtotem\j." They felt that their own fate was intimately linked with the well-being and good will of the creature and that, in fact, they depended on it.
For this reason they began to worship it. In special ceremonies, they impersonated the animal. They adopted it as their emblem and would not dare to hurt or to kill any of its species. To eat its flesh was tantamount to sacrilege. This is one of the origins of dietary laws, the refusal among certain races to eat the flesh of animals that once were sacred to them, such as the cow or the horse. It explains as well the use of animals on standards, banners, emblems, and flags. But, equally, it contributed its share to the enrolment of the regimental mascot which, as an animated fetish, incorporated as it were the spirit of the company.
Finally (also from earliest days) man had learned to believe that there existed a magic, psychic link between him and special animals. They could read his thoughts, were concerned with his fate and, at times, went out of their way to save his life by giving him due warning of danger. This is still given as the reason for the presence of apes on the Rock of \JGibraltar\j. Should they ever depart from there, so would British rule!
Ravens have played a similar role in the \JTower of London\j. They were regarded essential guarantors for the survival of Britain. No wonder that during World War II, Winston Churchill made sure that there were plenty of ravens around. The story goes that in fact he had given special instructions that any fatality among the birds should be quickly replaced. Ravens should never be absent from the precincts of the Tower lest the British (or their morale) would suffer.
Belief in the psychic link and totemic ancient faith thus gave the army mascot, the original pet, its ultimate military value which really became priceless.
#
"Relative of the Duke of Wellington",1934,0,0,0
To have as one's ancestor in direct line the commander of the victorious Allied army at Waterloo, the battle that spelt Napoleon's doom, merits some kind of distinction. The remains of such a descendant now rest in a niche in one of the many columbarium walls of the Rookwood Crematorium Gardens.
The small plaque on the recess records that "Louise Natalie de Gant Sutcliffe who was born in Durban on 4 March 1905" and "passed away [in Sydney] on 26 April 1973," was the "Great-grand-daughter of the Duke of Wellington."
#
"Rembrandt's Nightwatch",1935,0,0,0
A landmark in Rembrandt's paintings is his famous (1642) group portrait, known worldwide as \IThe Nightwatch.\i The title was never his and is a misnomer. The picture does not show guardsmen but members of a citizens' shooting club. They are not on watch nor is it night! For 150 years, the painting was known correctly as \IThe Company of Frans Banning Cocq.\i Rembrandt depicted the men as leaving an armory - at noon - either to go on parade or to a shooting contest.
The erroneous name was given to the painting only towards the end of the eighteenth century. For many years it had been displayed in the \JAmsterdam\j Town Hall, which was heated in winter by a large peat fire. No doubt, the smoke of the peat covered the picture with a layer of soot, creating the wrong impression of watchmen at night. Custodians, concerned to preserve the precious painting, decided to protect it with a (further) layer of varnish. This at the time, was slightly tinted with caramel, thereby adding to the darkness and gloom of the picture. No one therefore came to question the authenticity of the \INightwatch\i title, in reality so anachronistic and incorrect.
#
"Removal or Loss of Wedding Ring",1936,0,0,0
The removal of her wedding ring by a bride has always been regarded as an ominous sign. Even if it is only temporarily removed, such action was seen as a threat to the permanency of the couple's love. Worse still, should the ring be lost or broken, it was thought a grim foreboding of the loss of marital happiness.
This \Jsuperstition\j is based on primitive society's belief in sympathetic magic. Anything happening or done to an inanimate object would similarly affect those to whom that object belonged, or who were linked with it.
#
"Restaurant",1937,0,0,0
The restaurant, as a name, is a mere "left-over." It is all that has remained from the first establishment of its kind. Opened in Paris in the mid-18th century, its owner supplied mainly fortifying soups. To attract customers, he displayed conspicuously above the entrance (in Latin) the message, "Come to me all you who suffer \Jstomach\j ache (from hunger) and I will restore \I(restaurabo)\i you!" His "restoration" of famished guests caught on and created the modern restaurant.
#
"Rev Lancelot Threlkeld",1938,0,0,0
\BAn Epitaph Full of Success and a Life Crowded With Failure\b
In contrast to the Rev White's simple stone is the verbose inscription on the large square pillar marking the grave of the Rev Lancelot Threlkeld in Rookwood Cemetery.
The words are not only tightly squeezed together, but all characters are capital letters. The epitaph is an "abbreviated" account of his life. This, indeed, covered a vast area - geographically, and occupationally.
\IIN MEMORY OF
THE REVD LANCELOT
EDWARD THRELKELD.
M.L.S.
BORN IN THE CITY OF LONDON
OCTOBER 20th 1788:
ORDAINED IN 1815.
HE LABOURED AT TAHITLAND
RIAETEA. A COADJUTOR OF
THE REVD JOHN WILLIAMS.
IN CONNECTION WITH THE
LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY
UNTIL 1824 WHEN HE UNDERTOOK
A MISSION TO THE \JABORIGINES\j
AT LAKE MACQUARIE.
OF WHOSE LANGUAGE HE WROTE
A GRAMMAR AND LEXICON
APPOINTED CHAPLAIN OF SEAMEN
AT THIS PORT IN 1815.
HE BECAME MINISTER OF THE
MARINERS CHURCH ERECTED
CHIEFLY THROUGH HIS EXERTIONS
WHERE ON THE LAST DAY OF HIS
LIFE HE TWICE PREACHED THE
GOSPEL FROM 15th & 16th VERSES,
AND 1st CHAPTER OF ROMANS
16th VERSE AND RETIRING FROM
THE PULPIT TO HIS CHAMBER.
SLEPT IN CHRIST.
SUNDAY 10th OCTOBER 1859.
AGED 71 YEARS
O THAT WITHOUT A LINGERING GROAN
I MAY THE WELCOME WORD RECEIVE:
MY BODY WITH MY CHARGE LAY DOWN
AND CLOSE AT ONCE TO WORK AND LIVE.\i
Threlkeld certainly left his mark in the history of \JAustralia\j. He pioneered the study of Aboriginal languages and for well over 40 years served as a devout missionary who, in his quest to help the natives, antagonized many. He also mined coal and became the minister of two Sydney congregations.
He was a determined man of independent spirit who spoke his mind freely and did not suffer fools gladly. His life was a continuous battle with many setbacks but ever-renewed efforts in the cause of the natives and the mastery of their languages.
In his early London days, Threlkeld, having acquired a smattering of medical knowledge, assisted an \Japothecary\j. Then he became obsessed with the stage and joined the Royal Circus, but not for long. He entered commerce, but did not like it.
Getting married, he hoped his wife would look after the business, whilst he could resume his career as an actor. But he was not offered even a minor role. It was then that a friendship with a vicar roused his enthusiasm for religion and changed the course of his life. However, he did not want to serve God at home but in far-away places.
Ordained a minister of religion in 1815, he was made welcome by the London Missionary Society, who appointed him as their representative in Tahiti. On the way out, tragedy struck. In \JRio de Janeiro\j, his wife took ill and their first-born child died. Nevertheless he proceeded to Tahiti, which he found a most disappointing place. "We are all confused," he wrote. And when his wife died on the island, he decided to abandon his mission and to return - with his five children - to Britain. He never did. Whilst stopping over at Port Jackson, waiting for his "connection," he fell in love with the daughter of a surgeon of the \JFirst Fleet\j and married her.
His presence in \JAustralia\j coincided with a renewed awareness of the neglect the Christian community had shown towards the Aboriginal people, and a delegation of the London Missionary Society had arrived in Sydney to make feasibility studies for a new venture to be undertaken on a grand scale.
To assist them in their plan, the government provided a grant of 4,000 hectares of land, 30 kilometers from Newcastle. Threlkeld was on the spot and seemed predestined to take charge of the task, and was duly asked to do so. Convinced of his own merits, he did not hesitate to accept the call, immediately canceling his passage on to London.
Alas, this project, too, proved a failure. When he reached the "promised land" on the shores of Lake Macquarie, he described it as "a howling wilderness." Misled, as he thought, by the society, he resigned from it. He started his own mission on the other side of the lake and was able to obtain much support from the Australian Government.
Despite this, after ten years of ceaseless labor he had to admit defeat. In his words, it was "the most unpromising [mission] in the world . . ."
To add to his story of grief, his second wife died. No wonder that on his 70th birthday he wrote in his diary that all he was waiting for now was his own death. And yet, still a man of action who could never rest, he also resolved to keep busy to the last moment - whenever that was to be.
At least this wish came true. On the very day of his death he conducted two services and was still occupied with translating the Gospels into his beloved native \Jdialect\j though there was hardly anyone left who could understand it. His funeral procession was one of the largest witnessed in Sydney in his generation, and in deference to his memory all ships in port flew their flags at half-mast.
#
"Rev William Pascoe Crook",1939,0,0,0
The Rev William Pascoe Crook preached the first sermon in Victoria and founded the Congregational Church in \JAustralia\j.
One of the first missionaries in the South Seas and the first to preach a sermon at Port Phillip was the Rev William Pascoe Crook. He also has the distinction of being the first to translate the \JBible\j into the Polynesian tongue, and of being the founder of the Congregational Church in \JAustralia\j, at Sydney in 1810.
He is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Bushes flank his headstone, which lists his many firsts.
Crook was born in Devonshire, England, on 28 April 1775, and left for \JAustralia\j at the age of 21. He arrived with Captain Collins at Sullivan's Bay (Sorrento), on the ship \IOcean\i in 1803. Seventy-one years of age, he passed away at his son's Melbourne residence on 14 June 1846.
#
"Revelation of the Ritual",1940,0,0,0
That there is magic in any ritual can be expected. This, of course, is the reason as well why those solemnizing it - whether in witchcraft or religion - meticulously follow the "order" prescribed and handed down with care from one generation to another. To deviate even in a minute degree from the right sequence, or to omit one detail, would spoil the efficacy of the act performed.
This also explains the strong objections raised by some people to any "updating" or changing of the traditional order of a rite. They do so not really because of any sentimentalism on their part, nor an innate love of traditional tunes, words or ceremonies. The fundamental reason is their (unconscious) fear that any change might destroy the magic potency of the solemn practice.
Any "rite" or "ritual," in fact, literally reveals this anxious concern. Both terms are derived from the Indo-European root \Iri\i which actually speaks of a "number" and of "counting." A ritual therefore was the correct pattern in which each part "counted" and was allotted its proper place. And unless the correct sequence was maintained, the magic would just not work. The order of events was the most crucial condition for its success.
The rosary used in \JRoman Catholicism\j owes its existence to this very consideration. Its purpose was to help worshipers keep an exact account of the number of prayers they said, as their entire devotion might prove futile if they did not complete the prescribed amount. Very appropriately then, a rosary was known earlier in Europe as \Icalculi\i and \Inumeralia.\i
The reason the Jewish people call both their Passover eve celebration and their daily prayer book by the \JHebrew\j terms for "order" \I(Seder\i and \ISiddur\i respectively) has the identical original basis in magic. Only if the "order of worship" was properly followed, and the Passover ritual observed in the right "sequence," would both attain their desired end in approaching and influencing the \Jsupernatural\j.
Of course, nowadays all these origins are in the process of being forgotten and the names and practices have been to a great extent "rationalized."
#
"Reverence for Life and Conservationism",1941,0,0,0
Born a pastor's son in a small village in the \JAlsace\j in 1875, Albert Schweitzer from childhood onward was "different." At an early age, his social conscience prompted him to do what seemed peculiar, at least in the eyes of conventional people. When his parents gave him new shoes, he refused to wear them because, he explained, the poor children in his village had none. He would not fish, as to use worms as bait was cruel, and to give pain to the fish was inhumane. To purchase new clothes for his graduation he considered a waste. So he wore borrowed old ones that did not even fit him.
While serving as a minister in Strassburg, he became the principal of the Theological College. But he was not happy. He felt that he was not doing enough for people. He took up the study of medicine to qualify also as a doctor and, on \JGood Friday\j 1913, he left home for French Equatorial Africa to serve the people there in this capacity.
On arrival, he took charge of a small missionary settlement and, in a disease-ridden swamp, opened a \Jhospital\j. A chicken coop served him as his consulting room which had to double as his first operating theater.
Schweitzer was convinced that "nothing of real value is ever accomplished without enthusiasm and self-sacrifice." His greatest impact on the world was his lifestyle which he based on what he termed "Reverence for Life."
"Reverence for Life" became the keynote of all he did and wrote. It was the very basis of his existence, his \Jtheology\j, philosophy and legacy. Everybody must recognize, he said, that he has a "responsibility without limit for all that lives."
Indeed, man's very purpose on earth was to maintain and encourage life. Anything that destroyed or obstructed it was evil. It was man's supreme duty to give himself, as man, to the man who needs a fellow-man. Such a belief would not allow the scholar to live only for his learning, even if this made him very useful, nor the artist to exist solely for his art, even if by means of it he gave delight to many.
Schweitzer's influence was widespread and never confined to the field of \Jtheology\j: it was publicly and universally acknowledged when, in 1952, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In many ways, his teaching of the reverence for life foreshadowed modern \Jecology\j and conservationism.
Thus, after his death in 1965, Schweitzer's "motto" continued to inspire all those concerned with the future. He showed what one man can do, even from the solitude and sweltering heat of the backwoods of Africa.
Lovely and so typical of Schweitzer was the way he treated Sizi, his cat, which he had adopted when it had been abandoned as a kitten, saving its life by feeding it with an eye dropper. His constant companion, Sizi followed him everywhere. Whilst Schweitzer was writing, using his right hand, she loved to go to sleep on his left arm. This he would not move till Sizi woke up. At times, this meant a long period of immobility on the one hand and of writing, on the other.
#
"Rhubarb's History",1942,0,0,0
Revealing is the story of \Jrhubarb\j - both as a plant and as a slang word.
Rhubarb came to the western world twice over. In antiquity the Greeks imported it from what is now Russian territory, where it grew in abundance around the Volga river, then still known as Rha. Its very source, it was thought, was responsible for its name, first given it by the Greeks, who called it rha-barbaros. The word itself has been explained as either being the original, pre-Slav description of a "root" or a shortened version of a Greek recollection that it had been imported from the barbarian country of the river Rha.
Barbarians to them, of course, were all foreign people, whose language they could not understand. For this, they did not blame their own lack of knowledge but genuinely assumed that the mere reason for their not comprehending what they said was that these aliens suffered from a speech impediment. They were like "stammerers," for which the Greek word is \Ibarberos,\i still thus surviving in the \Jrhubarb\j as in the barbarian.
The second country of origin was China. Between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, the roots were exported from there via the Levant to Europe. It was believed that eating \Jrhubarb\j improved one's state of health, as it resulted in "pouring" excess humors from the body. Shakespeare makes mention of \Jrhubarb\j in this very sense in \IMacbeth.\i
People have often wondered how the "h" found its way into \Jrhubarb\j. It might well be - figuratively speaking - an overflow from the river Rha. Some scholars, though, have associated it with the Greek rhein, for to "flow," possibly still a reminder of its original source, the flowing river which was to become the Volga. Adopted in England, the plant's Greek name was shortened to \Jrhubarb\j.
That to Americans "\Jrhubarb\j" served as a slang word for a quarrel, a noisy argument and a fracas, particularly so on the \Jbaseball\j field, may go back to the stage. To make a mob scene appear real, imitating the sound of an angry and hostile crowd, actors or stagehands repeated the word "\Jrhubarb\j" again and again. By doing so, they created the desired illusion.
#
"Rhyming Praise",1943,0,0,0
\BRebecca Hayward\b
Poetry of many types abounds in cemeteries. A very ornate stone in the Goulburn Historical Cemetery marks the grave of Rebecca Sarah Hayward, "who died on 24 January 1881, aged 70 years." Its inscription informs visitors that:
\IA tender wife, a mother dear;
A faithful friend lies buried here
To rest and pass the time away
Until the \JResurrection\j Day.\i
#
"Rice Paper",1944,0,0,0
Even rice has firmly engrained itself in the vocabulary of misnomers. The so-called rice paper Chinese and Japanese use for their beautiful scrollwork and opaque window panes, has no connection with rice. It contains nothing of the plant or its seeds.
Its "rice" is made from the pith of a small Taiwanese tree-plant, belonging to the ivy or \JGinseng\j family. After having been cut, its pith is pressed into sheets which constitute the "paper."
#
"Rich Man's Disease",1945,0,0,0
To suffer from \Jgout\j was once almost a distinction. Those indulging in rich food and plenty of drink were thought to be specially prone to the complaint which hence was confined to the upper class and the rich. Though this may have helped psychologically those having the affliction in raising their "status," the notion does not conform with facts.
#
"Ride Piggyback",1946,0,0,0
To ride piggyback has nothing to do with being transported by means of a pig. It is the result of the slurring of words and the well-known experience that people are apt, unthinkingly, to adopt and perpetuate mistakes once made. The original phrase, which can be traced back to the sixteenth century, spoke of pick-a-back and referred to the pitching of a load - a pack - on one's back or shoulders.
#
"Ride Roughshod",1947,0,0,0
In early times of combat, still unmechanized, the horse was enlisted to help man in fighting his wars. He used it not merely as a means of transport or a mount, but as an actual "live" weapon. Brutally, it was ridden over the bodies of fallen enemies to crush them to death. To make the maneuver all the more effective and deadly, the horse was roughly shod. The sharp nails of the shoes purposely left protruding added to the severity of the injuries inflicted on the prostrate foe.
The cruel practice has left its mark in the idiom that speaks of those who treat others harshly, without paying regard to their feelings, as "riding roughshod" over them.
The spiked nails on the horse's shoes proved of value in peacetime as well - in the field of transport. During the winter, when the roads were covered with ice and snow, a horse could easily slip and throw the rider. To prevent such mishaps, blacksmiths shod them roughly. The nails left sticking out enabled the animal to get a better foothold.
#
"Riding Accident",1948,0,0,0
Numerous graveyards throughout \JAustralia\j give eloquent evidence of how the harshness and vicissitudes of the country claimed many a victim. At times in intriguing detail, epitaphs bear witness to the frequency, the diversity and often the freakishness of such accidental deaths. The inscriptions on numerous graves in the Goulburn Historical Cemetery suggest that a multitude of their kind must have occurred in its area.
Most conspicuous, no doubt, is the headstone marking the grave of Richard Bull. Surmounted by the sculpture of a weeping woman kneeling in front of a shroud-draped urn, its epitaph reads:
\ISacred to the Memory
of
RICHARD BULL
second son of
Mr. John Bull
of Liverpool
Who died January 25TH 1864
In the 31ST Year of his Age,
from injuries received by coming in
contact with a tree while riding on
horseback.
Leaving a wife and four children to
Mourn their Loss.\i
#
"Right and Left in Politics",1949,0,0,0
The differentiation in politics between the "right" and the "left" and their identification with \Jconservatism\j and \Jsocialism\j respectively, goes back to the last days of the French monarchy. Though now part of political terminology everywhere, it does not really tie in with the British parliamentary system or any other system derived from it. The term, so emotive now, once reflected merely a seating arrangement.
In the British parliament and therefore the Westminster system, it is the tradition for the members of the ruling party to occupy the benches on the right side of the Speaker's chair. In consequence, representatives of the opposition sit on the left. They do so irrespective of their political affiliation. As a result, when a socialist government rules, it is on the "right," its conservative opposition on the "left." The apparent paradox perpetuates a memorable occasion, not of British but of \JFrench history\j.
In 1789, the French monarchy was fighting for its survival. In a last attempt to save it, the king tried to show his willingness to listen to the people. He convened an advisory body, something that had not happened for almost 200 years. It embodied the representatives of the various classes into which the community was then split. The allocation of their seats was almost a foregone conclusion and reflected the mores, divisions, and attitudes of the time.
Traditionally, those of superior standing and to be shown respect occupied the right-hand side. (At a banquet, for instance, or any formal gathering, the host always invited an honored guest to be seated on the right.) In the circumstances, it was also the "rightful" place for the nobility. Inevitably, the delegates of the "common" people, known as "the third estate," had to take their seat on the side still unoccupied which, of course, was the left. Simultaneously (and then very obviously) their placement indicated their inferior status. The position in front of the president of the assembly soon was identified with certain political views, resulting (and maintained to this day) in the meaning of the "right" and the "left."
The underpriviledged, still fighting for equality, obviously, were regarded as radicals, whilst the nobility and aristocracy, anxious to retain their privileges, of necessity were "conservative."
Even the reference to the left and right "wing" of a party had a meaningful beginning. "Wing" was a military term, used in battle. Applied in politics, it reflected the frequent militancy of members in propounding and fighting for their views.
#
"Right Foot First",1950,0,0,0
To enter a house with the left foot first is considered unlucky. It goes back to the time when men used to live in constant fear of attack. They therefore felt the need to be ready to defend themselves at an instant.
In close combat, they used their left foot to kick the enemy in the groin. The left foot thus became known as "the hostile foot." To use it first when stepping into a home was taken not only to express belligerency, but magically to precipitate aggressive action.
Additionally, just as in the case of the left shoe, the left foot would make one step into "devilish" territory. Hence, to speak of "starting on the right foot" has a much deeper and occult meaning than is realized.
#
"Right Shoe First",1951,0,0,0
For some people it is almost an obsession when dressing to put the right shoe on first. Not to do so, they imagine, would make the entire day one of bad luck. They might rationalize their habit as being systematic. But the \Jsuperstition\j is founded in the belief that the left side is that of the devil, who always placed himself there. He did so very cleverly. Well-knowing that the majority of people were right-handed, he realized that the left was the weak side from which it was most advantageous to attack. This explains also why the Latin word for "left" became the English word "sinister." Therefore, stepping into the left shoe first would deliver one into the devil's realm for the entire day.
#
"Rim on Coins",1952,0,0,0
Ever since the invention of money, there have been forgers. Our modern counterfeiters have had their unworthy predecessors even at times when paper-money was non-existent and its precautionary water-marking could not be employed. Savage penalties like cutting off the hand of the offender, which was common for centuries after early Saxon times, did not deter them.
The earliest coins were hand-made and, although of marked weights of gold, silver or bronze, could differ in shape. This allowed forgers to clip the rims of the coins and steal the metal thus gained. The practice was so widespread and troublesome in the reign of \JHenry V\j of England that it was classified as \Jtreason\j and made punishable by death.
In 1695, a special window tax had to be introduced in England to cover the nation's enormous expenses for replacing clipped and defaced coins. (This tax was levied on all houses which had six or more windows and was not repealed until 1851.)
But the mere threat of punishment proved insufficient. It did not stop unscrupulous persons from continuing to shear around the edges of gold and silver coins. Further precautionary measures were called for to make their iniquitous practice more difficult, if not impossible. That is how an ingenious mind conceived the idea of "decorating" all coins with a graining around their edges known as milling. The rim around coins, therefore, was introduced first not as an ornament. So to speak, it was a case of "milling vs. clipping." Any coin lacking the grained rim was no longer acceptable as currency.
Obviously, some of the more persistent forgers must have tried - after clipping the coin - to provide the reduced disc with their own home-made edge.
Discovering this new ruse, Oliver Cromwell decreed that, instead of milling the edge, this should be inscribed with suitable mottoes. First these legends piously referred to God and faith. Eventually they became very explicit. In some cases they read: \B"The penalty for clipping this coin is death."\b However, at the time of Charles II, the inscription became less threatening, saying briefly: \B"An ornament and a safeguard."\b
Modern coinage is not valuable enough as metal to tempt clippers. And yet the milled edge is kept as a tradition. Perhaps this might still serve as a safeguard, though of a different kind. It may help people to grasp the coin more firmly and thus enable them to hold it longer in their hands before, inevitably, it will roll away.
#
"Ring the Changes",1953,0,0,0
To "ring the changes" certainly breaks the monotony. As a \Jmetaphor\j, the phrase goes back to the practice of ringing church bells, not mechanically according to a regular striking order, but artistically in ever changing variations.
A peal can consist of a considerable number of changes. Twelve bells, it has been calculated, could produce 480 million changes. To ring all the possible changes on the twelve-bell-peal of \JSt Paul's Cathedral\j, London, would take a minimum of thirty years of uninterrupted ringing!
#
"Ring True",1954,0,0,0
Anything that rings true can be trusted. It has no fault. It is like the clear ringing of a bell that has no cracks. Not church bells, however, but coins were responsible for the phrase. To test whether they were genuine and not counterfeit, they were dropped and, to the experienced ear, the sound they made indicated that they were not fake.
#
"Rings a Bell",1955,0,0,0
Something that jogs the memory "rings a bell." It is like suddenly remembering from childhood days the sounding of the school bell and all it meant at the time.
The expression recalls how, through the ages, a bell was rung as a reminder and a call to action. It indicated imminent danger or told members of a congregation that a service was about to commence.
Differently, in the United States, the phrase refers to the gaining of an object, eagerly desired and pursued. If the bell rings, one's efforts have proved effective. The figure of speech used in this sense, might well have been suggested by the bells rung in shooting galleries and amusement parks, whenever someone hits the bull's eye or successfully completes a difficult task, winning a prize. In its modern version, it is like the bell ringing when a lucky player has "pulled" the jackpot of a gaming machine, the "pokie."
#
"RIP",1956,0,0,0
Traditionally, the last line of older epitaphs displays in capital letters RIP. An \Jacronym\j, it stands for the Latin petition that by God's grace the deceased may "Rest in Peace" - \IRequiescat In Pace.\i
#
"Ritual of Courting and Marriage",1957,0,0,0
The history of courting is a mirror of human civilization and technological advance. Its duration and speed have varied enormously. Its time and pace have fluctuated between the 14 long years it took Jacob to woo Rachel and the \Jlightning\j speed of our times.
The range of its intensity, likewise, has differed greatly. It extends from the reticence of young lovers making polite conversation in the presence of ever-watchful chaperones in Victorian parlors to the impetuous petting of modern teenagers in the complete privacy, propinquity, and mobility of their car.
Even the choice of one's partner has undergone many significant changes. There were times when the bridal couple met for the first time on the day of their marriage, which had been arranged - independently of their own wishes and desires - by the tribe or the family. Then marriage brokers took over the task, on a strictly commercial basis, yet they were not unaware of human factors. \JRome\j had its lottery for lovers.
For the sake of marriage, God gave Eve to Adam. Ever since people have married. They have made many mistakes and have often taken the bond for something that it is not.
We speak of wedlock and imagine that a marriage is something that locks people up and chains them together like prisoners. The original \Ilock\i is no lock at all but the \JAnglo-Saxon\j for \Igift,\i as \Iwed\i means a \Ipromise.\i Wedlock thus pledged the finest of all gifts - the happiness of a man and a woman. To achieve that aim, numerous customs have been followed down the ages.
The story is told that ever since God created woman out of one of Adam's ribs, men have been rushing all over the world, seeking their missing rib.
Some never get hold of it and they rationalize their failure by calling themselves confirmed bachelors. Others actually find "a rib." But it is not theirs and that is why it does not really fit, and both parties concerned experience much anguish and pain. But then there are the lucky ones. They retrieve the rib which belongs to them and thus become once more "complete," with all the happiness this implies.
Beautiful and romantic are the numerous customs we now associate with courtship and marriage. Nearly all of them can be traced to primitive ritual and early practice designed to ensure - by magical rites and armed force - the fertility of the union.
#
"Ritz",1958,0,0,0
By his perfectionism, Swiss-born CΘsar Ritz not only enriched the hotel industry but the vocabulary. His name, in the form of ritzy, became synonymous with anything that was elegant and luxurious or, if overdone, flashy and pretentious. Ritz was born in Niederwald in 1850, the thirteenth child of an \JAlpine\j shepherd. Migrating to \JFrance\j, he accepted any job that offered itself. This included feeding elephants in the Paris zoo. He liked to say that it was his first step in the catering trade.
In 1898, he opened a hotel in the French capital. From the outset he was determined to make it the best of its kind in the world. For this purpose, he engaged as its chef Escoffier, then recognized as a master of cuisine and unsurpassed in the art of cooking.
Not only in the food, but in every sphere Ritz aimed at providing his guests with the best. He himself slept in each room, to make sure that all the beds were comfortable.
His efforts paid off. Having succeeded in Paris, he moved to England to carry on what he had started on the Continent.
In 1902 he suffered a nervous breakdown from which he never recovered. He lived as an invalid for sixteen years. In spite of it, he made the plan for his second great venture, the Ritz Hotel in London. He was present at its opening in 1905, but was never able himself to manage it. Nevertheless, it bore his name and, as he had wished, offered the ultimate in service and luxury. New York soon followed. And thus his name and fame spread worldwide, spelling out elegance, splendor, and sumptuousness.
Ritz died in Kⁿssnacht, \JSwitzerland\j, in 1918. But his name has survived these many years by being adopted by the finest establishments, even more so, in being recalled whenever anything is referred to as "ritzy."
#
"Robin Hood in Fairyland",1959,0,0,0
Robin Hood, who traditionally befriended the wretched and downtrodden, robbing the rich to help the poor, is one of history's great legendary figures. He is the hero of countless English ballads. The earliest literary reference to his (alleged) existence dates back to William Langland's (second edition of) \IThe Vision at Piers Plowman\i in 1377.
It is possible that Robin, too, has been greatly misrepresented and, far from being a human being, belonged to fairyland. Much that is told about him would bear this out. His home was \JSherwood Forest\j: like that of other fairy people, a dark wood. He and his gang, too, were clad in green. Like all elves living "outside the law," he was a deadly shot with the bow and arrow.
Robin, in fact, was a name frequently bestowed on a fairy. Even the "Hood" might well go back not to an original surname but to the hooded garment or pixie cap the fairies were supposed to don. Therefore his unabbreviated name could have been "Robin with the hood."
An inveterate foe of the "establishment," like the subjugated "aboriginal" fairies, he made its members and those serving it the target of his constant attacks. A friend of the common people, they cherished him as they did the nature spirits of the original "old religion."
Even Robin's death would fit in with the tradition associated with the fertility gods of paganism. It is told that he bled to death by the treachery of a nun, who had claimed that she would restore him to vigorous health by "bleeding" him . . . Perhaps, as in the case of the ancient fertility gods, his blood was meant magically to fructify the soil and to ensure the rebirth of nature.
#
"Roger",1960,0,0,0
"Roger," short for "message received and understood," goes back to the days of Morse \Jtelegraphy\j. The tapping out of the letter "R" (dot-dash-dot) informed the sender that his communication had been received. When the radio-phone was introduced, a voice code was laid down for every letter, and "R" was spelled out roger. It was a foregone conclusion that the spoken roger should be given the identical symbolic meaning as the "R" had in the Morse language.
#
"Role of Archery in British History",1961,0,0,0
It is not known definitely when \Jarchery\j started in Britain. The Roman occupation forces, as well as the Danes, have been credited with its introduction there, and certainly the "wild Welsh" became expert shots.
Until the Norman invasion, the Saxons had regarded fighting with the bow and arrow as unworthy of Saxon warriors. Only close combat between individual men with hand-held weapons such as the sword and battle-axe was considered appropriate. Any impersonal shooting of missiles from a distance lowered the noble art of war. It was disreputable because it lacked valor and personal courage, the Saxons reasoned.
All this suddenly changed. The Normans, resolved to keep the Saxons a subject race and to prevent rebellion, made the carrying of arms illegal. However, they had not reckoned with the Saxons' gift of improvisation and their determination to regain freedom.
The people realized that the only military pursuit left open to them was \Jarchery\j, so long despised and practiced only by hunters, and as a sport. Equipment could be easily made from material near at hand.
Thus, in the eleventh century, the English took up \Jarchery\j with zeal and were well tutored by the proficient Welsh. Through a national emergency, it gained a new status in Britain. It was practiced for 350 years, and as time passed it made England a first-class military power. Folktales celebrated tremendous feats with the bow and arrow by such legendary figures as \JRobin Hood\j.
\JArchery\j became part of British compulsory military training. Every man was obliged to keep a bow. Officers, appointed by the Crown, inspected homes to ensure that the law was obeyed and that the weapon was in good order and ready for instant use.
The people had to keep up regular practice. When other sports became overly popular and threatened to take up too much of the people's spare time and so interfere with \Jarchery\j, those sports were banned. Anyone daring to take part in them was liable to severe punishment. To make certain of a continuous supply of raw material for bows, the growing of yew trees in cemeteries was made obligatory. That is how those trees found their permanent place in English churchyards!
The English people became so well trained that they began to excel all other nations in \Jarchery\j. It was their superb use of the long bow that led them to victory over \JFrance\j, especially during the Hundred Years War (which started in 1340 and actually lasted 116 years). The celebrated victories of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, in 1415, were largely due to the Englishman's mastery of the long bow.
A chronicler of the time spoke of the devastation it wrought, saying how "our \Jarchery\j was such that the arrows, flying in the air, as thick as snow with a terrible noise, much like a tempestuous wind preceding a tempest, they did leave no disarmed place of horse or man unstricken." At Agincourt, it is said, a mere 6,000 archers, under the command of King \JHenry V\j, faced and beat triumphantly the massed forces of 85,000 Frenchmen, thereby changing the course of history.
Shakespeare was an \Jarchery\j expert and, according to some, his plays can be fully understood only by those versed in its art, as many of his expressions and terms stem from it.
Kings and noblemen, as well as the people, came to delight in shooting the arrow, and it was said of King \JHenry VIII\j that "His Grace shotte as stronge and as greate a lengthe as anie of his garde."
It was during his reign that (in 1545) the classic work on \Jarchery\j was published (indeed, it was the first book on the subject ever written in English). Its very title, \IToxophilus,\i gave the sport its technical name. Ever since, \Jarchery\j has been known among experts as \Itoxophily\i (from the Greek, meaning "the love of the bow"), and those who indulge in it as a pastime as \Itoxophilites.\i The book's author was Roger Ascham who, in fact, occupies in the world of \Jarchery\j a similar place to that of Izaak Walton's in fishing. They both share the merit of having written the authoritative treatise in their field of sport and Ascham's \IToxophilus\i can be compared to Walton's \ICompleat Angler.\i
Ascham was an enthusiastic archer and erudite Cambridge scholar, whom \JHenry VIII\j chose as tutor of the future Queen Elizabeth. He dedicated his work to the king and prefaced it with these words:
\I. . .although to have written this book either in Latin or Greek had been more easy and fit for my trade in study; yet nevertheless, I, supposing it no point of honesty, that my commodity should stop and hinder any part of the pleasure or profit of many, have written this English matter, in the English tongue, for Englishmen.\i
Ascham composed his work specifically in the vernacular so that the greatest possible number of people could read and learn about \Jarchery\j, and become, as the book's title indicated, true "lovers of the bow."
Two centuries later (in 1761), in a preface to a new edition of Ascham's classic, Dr Johnson related a delightful story on what prompted the Cambridge don to write this work. Ascham's continuous research and study rather exhausted him and, to relieve his mental fatigue, he took up \Jarchery\j as a pastime. Some of his colleagues resented this and, somewhat unkindly, suggested that the hobby was undignified for a man of his station. Moreover, it took up too much of his valuable time which he could use to much better purpose. Their final dart was that he set a bad example to others engaged in educational matters.
To justify himself, Ascham had written this book to show both the merits and precepts of \Jarchery\j. Whether his critical friends approved of it is doubtful. However, the king was most favorably impressed. As Ascham recorded, Henry "did so well like and allow it" that he gave him "a living for it" - an annual allowance of ú10.
Such was the popularity of the sport at the time that at a two-day meeting at Shoreditch, London, in 1583, some 3,000 people actively participated. They were so keen that they began shooting at daybreak and did not cease until it had become too dark to distinguish the target.
#
"Role of King Louis XIV in Billiards",1962,0,0,0
By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, \Jbilliards\j had been adopted as a pastime both in England and \JFrance\j. Its name is French and is derived from \Ibilliart,\i a word describing a little staff or stick. It is the diminutive of \Ibille,\i which means "log."
The earliest actual code of rules, framed about 1517 is attributed to Henrique Devigne (also spelled De Vigne), a French artist who lived during the reign of Charles IX. He also designed billiard tables. It was these traditions that led some authorities to regard him as the real father of the game.
King \JLouis XIV\j was most instrumental in popularizing \Jbilliards\j. In 1694 his health was indifferent, and his doctor felt it essential for him to take regular exercises after meals. The doctor himself had played \Jbilliards\j in England and was convinced that it was the game for the king to take up.
Louis soon became an enthusiastic and expert player. Eventually only one man could beat him. He was M. de Chamillart. In acknowledgment of his superiority, so the story goes, the king made him a minister of the crown. It must be the only appointment to cabinet rank ever made that was due to skill in \Jbilliards\j! A seventeenth-century illustration (included in Cotton's \ICompleat Gamester)\i shows the king at play. He is using a shovel-shaped stick to propel the ball on an oblong table. \JBilliards\j became a vogue because of the king's interest.
#
"Role of Pantomime",1963,0,0,0
Pantomimes are a key part of English Christmas celebrations. They are spectacular productions with lots of fun, jokes, songs and even commentaries on current affairs.
Paradoxically, these noisy performances go by a Greek name that describes complete silence! '\JPantomime\j', literally, means that 'all' (pan) is 'mime'. For thousands of years this was in fact the case, with not a single word being spoken or sung in a \Jpantomime\j. Everything was expressed through gestures, dance and mime.
The version of the \Jpantomime\j we know is only 200 years old. So different from its prototype, it nevertheless perpetuates one significant feature of pagan times: the reversal of roles. Men are always dressed as women, and women as men.
#
"Role of Sir Ashton Lever in Archery",1964,0,0,0
After the invention of \Jgunpowder\j and the subsequent revolution in methods of warfare, \Jarchery\j became redundant in combat. It changed into a pure sport and as such almost died out. It revived in the 1780s when it was given a great impetus by the formation of the Royal Toxophilite Society (in 1781).
Its foundation was due, so it is said, to Sir Ashton Lever, an extraordinary man of many pursuits and an all-round sportsman. He collected wild birds and prided himself on an aviary containing about 4,000 of them. Then he became an enthusiastic animal trainer. His next hobby was the gathering of fossils and shells.
Eventually, he opened a museum which attained such popularity that it was always so crowded that Sir Ashton felt compelled to restrict admission. He made a rule that anyone arriving on foot was excluded! The story goes that a man who had been refused entry as a pedestrian, procured a cow, rode back to the museum, and was duly admitted.
Associated with the museum was a man named Waring who suffered from a chest complaint. No doctor could cure it. He himself felt that all he needed was exercise. He took up \Jarchery\j and soon was well again!
Sir Ashton, feeling somewhat off color himself, thought that \Jarchery\j might also do him much good. With some of his friends, he formed the Royal Toxophilite Society for that purpose. The society met at Leicester Square, London, and became the parent body of future \Jarchery\j organizations. In fact, it was through its activities that the sport became a vogue.
Most famous among the other clubs was "The Woodmen of Arden." Scotland, however, had led the way many years before when, in 1676, the Royal Company of Archers was established as a semi-military group acting as the Queens' bodyguard in Scotland. In 1861, the Grand National \JArchery\j Association became the sport's governing body.
The first \Jarchery\j championship was held in 1864. Of all those who took up the pastime, no one equaled Horace A. Ford. He eclipsed all previous records and was 12-times champion of England.
The secret of his achievements was his scientific approach. He paid meticulous attention to every aspect of shooting the arrow. He advised students to "use your brains as well as your muscles." His enthusiasm was so great that frequently he rose at 4 a.m. to have a round of \Jarchery\j.
On Sundays, however, when religious scruples did not permit him to shoot, he still went out to the targets, "just to look at them." We can well imagine his frustration that this was all he could do. To convey his methods and art to people of his own time and future generations, he produced the second great classic on \Jarchery\j, \IIts Theory and Practice.\i
In the United States, \Jarchery\j was not adopted from the native Indians, but gained its impetus from England.
Though it was first practiced in America in the seventeenth century, it did not catch on for another 150 years. Then, in 1828, young Titan R. Peal founded a club called "The United Bowmen of Philadelphia" with a group of friends. These early enthusiasts were immediately confronted with an obstacle. They had no proper equipment, nor did they know what it really should be like. They therefore visited the local museum to make a close study of the bows and arrows exhibited there. Then they improvised their own equipment. It could not have been very satisfactory as in the following year they imported bows and arrows from Britain.
#
"Role of Skis in Wartime",1965,0,0,0
Greek authors described primitive skis which travelers had seen in foreign lands as wooden horses, giving rise to the myth of people with horses' hoofs. Pliny, the famous Roman historian, quotes an ancient authority who had claimed that when accompanying Alexander the Great on his conquest of the East, he had met horse-footed men there. Similar reports stem from the first pre-Christian century from China and the Turks also are known to have had skis in far-off days.
It is not surprising that eventually skis were used in war. However, historical records in this regard go back only to the battle of Ilsen (near Oslo) in AD 1200 during which King Sverre, of Sweden, equipped his reconnaissance troops with skis. It is told how six years later, two skiers (referred to as "birch legs"), loyal supporters of the king, prevented the capture of his two-year-old son by the enemy by carrying the child to safety across vast snow-covered mountain ranges. To recall in perpetuity their valiant achievement, the "Birch Leg" Race was introduced, a sporting event demanding utmost exertion and agility on part of the skiers, who have to negotiate the most difficult mountainous country over a distance of 35 miles (56 km).
During their rebellion against Danish rule in 1521, Swedish soldiers used skis to rescue an injured comrade from the battlefield. They improvised a stretcher, possibly the first of its kind, by stretching animal skins between two skis!
Certainly, skis became an established feature in the Scandinavian armies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Four thousand soldiers, mounted on skis, were employed in the campaign of 1610, ranging as far as Moscow.
It is strange that for a long time no one thought of making use of \Jskiing\j for relaxation and competition. \JSkiing\j as a sport was first practiced as late as the eighteenth century by the Norwegians, and then only very spasmodically. Norwegians are the fathers of this modern pastime.
The sport began as part of a military competition held in Oslo (then known as Christiania) in 1767. Soldiers were invited to vie with each other in \Jskiing\j down a steep slope "without riding or leaning on their sticks." Another feature anticipated the modern slalom. Those taking part had to descend "a moderately steep slope," but had to do so "between bushes without falling or breaking their skis."
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"Rolls-Royce Radiator",1966,0,0,0
The \JRolls-Royce\j is a combination of contrasts. It joins the names of two men of most diverse backgrounds, and its body design links a world-famous monument of ancient \JGreece\j with a 20th century myth.
Henry Royce came from a poor home. Born the son of a flour miller in the east of England, he had to go out to work at the age of ten. In his first job, as a living scarecrow, he earned six pence (five cents) per week! The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls, on the other hand, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The son of Lord Llangattock, he was educated at illustrious \JEton\j. Yet, the two so entirely different men became inseparable, with even their names fused by a hyphen.
Determined to make their car the finest on the market, both in quality and elegance, they decided that even its radiator should be the most distinctive in the world. They chose as its prototype the facade of the \JParthenon\j! No other car was fronted with a feature of such exquisite beauty and uniqueness. Standing on the south side of the Acropolis in \JAthens\j, the \JParthenon\j was renowned as the most magnificent structure of classical times. A holy site, it was the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena in whose honor \JAthens\j was called. And thus the front of every \JRolls-Royce\j, no matter of which vintage, duplicates its facade.
To have the \JRolls-Royce\j radiator topped not by an ordinary mascot, but by the figure of the spirit of ecstasy, based on a modern legend, is yet another outstanding trademark.
#
"Roman Holiday",1967,0,0,0
Throughout history governments and rulers who faced grave problems - often of their own making - have cunningly tried to divert the minds of the people. They did so by providing them with special "treats:" and entertaining them with spectacular celebrations. In the words of the Roman poet \JJuvenal\j, they gave the people "bread and circuses."
Worse still, they would organize what became known as a "Roman holiday." This catered for the sadistic streak in people who gained special pleasure from watching others suffer. To keep the loyalty of their subjects, the ancient Roman emperors staged barbaric spectacles in public arenas in which \Jgladiators\j, facing insuperable odds, were doomed to meet a cruel death.
The phrase was coined by Lord Byron, who first used it in his famous poem Childe Harold. It portrays a captured Gaul who, forced to fight as a gladiator, was "Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday."
#
"Romantic Mistletoe Tradition",1968,0,0,0
Kissing under the \Jmistletoe\j, now a romantic and innocent practice, originated in the early belief that this plant, which stayed green even in winter, could produce and increase sexual power.
In some parts of the world \Jmistletoe\j was regarded as being so potent that it could increase the productivity of the soil, be used as a fertility drug for \Jcattle\j, and as a cure for impotence in humans. Although its fabled aphrodisiac role is now long forgotten, a vestige of it is retained in the romantic Christmas custom with which the plant is associated now.
The Druid priests of early Britain worshipped the \Jmistletoe\j. A \Jparasitic plant\j, it grew intertwined with the branches of oak trees, which were also objects of veneration for the Druids. Clad in white robes, Druid priests used to cut the "golden bough" of the \Jmistletoe\j with golden sickles and then distribute bunches of the plant to the faithful. The Druids believed that the \Jmistletoe\j's magic potency extended far beyond just conferring fertility. It was thought to cure almost any disease, and was therefore known as "all healer." Sprigs fixed above doorways of homes were said to keep away \Jlightning\j and many kinds of evil. As the plant had no roots in the ground, it was imagined in these early times that it grew from heaven, which gave it all its wondrous qualities.
An old \Jsuperstition\j had it that a girl who had not been kissed under the \Jmistletoe\j would be barren. Today, kissing under the \Jmistletoe\j is only an excuse to take innocuous liberties.
#
"Ropeable",1969,0,0,0
To make anyone "ropeable" means that he becomes really angry. His temper has been roused so much that, not to go out of hand, it has to be controlled. Ropeable, an Australianism, goes back to the cattlemen's practice in the outback, when finding some of their beasts gone wild, to manage them tied them with a rope.
#
"Rosella: Origin of the Name",1970,0,0,0
Early settlers in \JAustralia\j had the exciting experience of encountering creatures unknown to them so far. Many a story is linked to the names they chose for them.
It was around Parramatta in \JNew South Wales\j that they first saw a beautiful, multicolored parrot. At the time, Parramatta was still known as Rose Hill. It was named in honor of George Rose, the then secretary to the British treasury. Initially his name had been given to the house built for Governor Phillip. It was then transferred to the entire district, for which it was used from 1788 to 1791.
The name bestowed on the bird underwent several changes. To start with, people simply linked it with the bird's apparent habitat. They called it the Rose Hill Parrot. Dropping the parrot, it became known as the Rose Hiller. Finally, slurring the words and no longer realizing their local significance, they contracted the Rose Hiller into the \Jrosella\j, by which name the parrot has been identified ever since. Its description carries with it part of early Australian history.
#
"Rosemary for Remembrance",1971,0,0,0
To remember and be remembered has always been man's concern. Aids to memory are nothing novel. One of the early methods imagined to increase the faculty of remembrance was the use of rosemary. Already in Roman days the plant was thought to possess mind-strengthening qualities. Roman students used to wind it around their heads, convinced that this would increase their powers of retention. Medieval physicians prescribed potions made of rosemary as a cure for forgetfulness. To avoid loss of memory, astrologers recommended the carrying of rosemary leaves in one's clothes. No wonder that even when this manifold application of rosemary was no longer believed in and practised association with memory was not forgotten, and the plant became symbolic of remembrance.
An additional reason for the choice of rosemary goes back to yet another early use of the plant. Afraid of being fatally infected by fumes exuding from the dead, people used pungent herbs as a countermeasure. They either scattered them on the corpse or burned them nearby. A rosemary was one of the herbs used for the purpose.
In spite of everyone now knowing that rosemary neither invigorates the mind nor has the medicinal quality claimed, it continues to be used as a symbol of remembrance. Thus rationalized, in some countries such as \JAustralia\j, sprigs of the plant are worn in lapels on \JArmistice Day\j in honor of those fallen in battle: "Lest we forget."
#
"Roses on Gravestones",1972,0,0,0
The original rose, tradition tells, grew in the Garden of Eden. It had no thorns. A flower of pure beauty, it gave only pleasure and never hurt. The thorns were added after man's fall. They were to be a constant reminder of the sin that had caused his expulsion from Paradise.
The rose, as shown on a headstone, is thornless. In the language of flowers, it speaks of the bliss and the joys of Paradise now experienced by the deceased.
In Christian tradition, the "rose without thorns" became a symbol of the Virgin Mary, said to have been born without the burden of original sin. Its presence on the stone therefore was meant simultaneously to pay tribute to her and to ask for her protection. In a more personal way, the \Jallegory\j of the rose also recalls the beauty of character and a life well lived by the departed.
#
"Rosewood and Dogwood",1973,0,0,0
In spite of its name, \Jrosewood\j has no botanical link with the rose. The hard, dark timber of leguminous trees owes the misleading description to its faint roselike odor. A similar reason explains the name of the American \Jdogwood\j. It is so called not because dogs favor it, but because it is said to smell like a wet dog.
#
"Rosh Hashanah Festival",1974,0,0,0
\BThe Jewish New Year\b
The Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement are the two most important Jewish festivals, known as High Holy Days or "Days of Awe." Celebrated according to the lunar calendar, they might fall during September or October.
The New Year, \IRosh Hashanah\i in \JHebrew\j, is traditionally observed for two days. Far from being boisterous, its celebration is solemn and is distinguished by reflection, prayer and penitence. On \JRosh Hashanah\j, God is believed to examine the conduct of every person. Those who have gone astray, are given an opportunity to recognize their failings, to amend their ways and to start afresh. Appropriately, the literal meaning of the \JHebrew\j for "repentance" is "return."
On this holy day of universal concern, the Jew asks God's forgiveness for all sinners and prays for the unification of mankind.
Rosh Hashanah is also regarded as the anniversary of creation. Significantly, the Jew counts the years, not from any event in his history, but from the beginning of the world. While the actual number is certainly unscientific, it is highly symbolic. It is a reminder that people should view life not from a narrow, parochial point of view, but with a concern for the whole of humanity and the universe.
#
"Rotten Row",1975,0,0,0
"Rotten Row" is an awful name for the beautiful shady track horseriders have been enjoying for so many years in London's Hyde Park. Who could have suggested such an ugly description? In fact, no one ever did. There never was a "Rotten Row."
Majestically, it was called a "Royal route" as the King and Queen used to take it whenever they traveled from the palace at Westminster to the forest. At the time, French was the language of courtiers who therefore referred to this "Kings" way as \Iroute du roi.\i Ordinary citizens, unacquainted with court French, misinterpreted what they heard. To their English ears it sounded very much like Rotten Row. Their (corrupted) description thus survives as a relic from the distant past.
#
"Rowing Competition and Boat Design",1976,0,0,0
History-making improvement in rowing came from the United States. It was the invention of the sliding seat. This had been anticipated in the practice of many oarsmen of greasing or polishing the fixed thwart, enabling them to move more easily back and forth. The first sliding seat was constructed in \JChicago\j in 1857 and used in an American race in 1870. A Mr J. C. Babcock, of the Nassau Boat Club, is said to have been the first to fit the sliding seat in his sculling boat. The earliest of the new seats slid on bone runners, or by means of greased glass or steel grooves or tubes. Eventually, the modern wheels were used exclusively.
As is the case with almost all new inventions, not everybody welcomed the sliding seat. It was described as inelegant and much too noisy. Some people even considered the sight of eight pairs of knees rising simultaneously as uncomely!
Oarsmen competing in the United States were the first Englishmen to see the new seat in use. The story goes that when they returned home and rowed in a race, one of them had his boat fitted with the new seat. He did not tell his rival and won easily. In no time boat builders adopted the invention. Some authorities maintain that the credit for introducing the sliding seat to Britain should go not to the Englishman but to Walter Brown, American champion sculler.
Within less than 50 years, a phenomenal growth in the art of rowing had taken place. The period witnessed the change from a short, clinker-built, inrigged, keeled boat, with fixed seats, to the design of the modern racing craft: the long, outrigged eight with sliding seats, smooth exterior, and no keel.
Meanwhile, other rowing enthusiasts anxious further to improve its style, approached its problems scientifically. With diagrams and formulas they worked out mathematically ideal methods. Typical was a Swiss mathematician's book published in French under the title \IThΘorie ComplΦte de la Construction et de la Manoeuvre des Vaisseaux.\i
Some concentrated on methods of training. German-born professional strong man Eugene Sandow, whose feats of strength earned him the title of modern Hercules, as an exponent of physical culture, suggested most unorthodox ways. He offered to coach a crew who had never before sat in a boat. They would be permitted to do whatever they liked, without any of the usual training restrictions on eating, drinking, and smoking. All that he would require of them was - under his supervision - a regular, daily, two hours of practice, to gain greater muscular strength.
In America, too, it was in the early years of the nineteenth century that rowing became a popular sport. Just as in Britain, the first races developed between professional watermen. The sport experienced a decline when betting and suspicion of foul play gave it a bad name. The establishment of the New York Castle Garden Boat Club in 1834 was the real beginning of amateur rowing. Competition between universities dates back to 1852, when the Harvard-Yale race was first rowed, on Lake Winnepeasaukee, New Hampshire. It is the oldest of American intercollegiate sports.
Steve Fairbairn, an Australian, has become a legendary figure in rowing. His theories revolutionized its style. Previously rowers had assumed that a steady pull with the arms and trunk was essential for speed. Fairbairn taught (and proved by results) that the true basic principle was a powerful thrust of the legs, which gave the greatest possible "punch" to the start of the stroke. It has been suggested that the adoption of his method by Cambridge enabled it to win an unbroken series of races over Oxford after World War I.
In his exposition of the "Fairbairn style," he explained, "I coach for wins, not for show" and then methodically summarized the fundamental rules he had employed in coaching crews and leading them to victory:
\ITHE A B C OF ROWING
A is for Action,
Which must easily be done,
B is for Boat,
Which smoothly must run.
C is for Crew,
Who together must row.
D is for Dash,
Which makes the boat go.
E is for Ease,
The hallmark of pace.
F is for Feet, used
To make the \Jboat race\j.
G is for Gather
On your stretcher to strike.
H is for Hand
To draw as you like.
I is that Idol
Perfect form ever more.
J is that Joker,
The "body-form'' oar.
K is for Kicking
The stretcher like Hell.
L is for Listen:
The boat runs well.
M is the Maxim
Which lies under all: 'If you can't do it easy,
You can't do it at all.'
N is for Neatness,
Not flashiness, nor show.
O is for Oar, which
You must learn to row.
P is for Poise: the
Foundation of Time.
Q is for Quickness
To which you must climb.
R is for Ring
The bell note sublime.
S is for Spring.
If elastic, 'twill do.
T is for Timing,
Must be mechanically true.
U is for Use
The oar as a friend.
V is for Vigor
Which to victory will tend.
W is for Water
One drives with a hit.
X is for Excellence:
Strive ever for it.
Y is for Years
Through which you attain
Perfection by rowing
Again and again.
Z is for Zebra,
Whose stripes represented
By your blade in the water
Will make you contented.\i
#
"Royal Links with Cockfighting",1977,0,0,0
English monarchs made \Jcockfighting\j a "royal sport." Henry Vlll favored it so much that he added a cockpit to his palace at Westminster. It was equally enjoyed and enthusiastically promoted by Kings James I and Charles II. And, naturally, the royal example was copied by the kings' subjects, the nobility, and the commoners.
Detailed instruction on how to arrange a fight (including the choice, the breeding, diet, and training of the birds) were contained in a treatise published in 1614 dealing with \IPleasures for Princes.\i Attempts by the Church to ban \Jcockfighting\j were short-lived and even Oliver Cromwell's outlawing of the "diversion" by an Act of Parliament in 1654 ended with the Restoration of King Charles II, when the national pastime was revived also. Only in 1849 did the British Parliament declare the sport illegal.
Throughout the years decadent tastes were pandered to by sadistic refinements in the cock-fights, and various versions were developed in this most popular of amusements which also served as a model to the first (eighteenth-century) rules of prizefighting.
Only the best of fowls were considered good enough to enter the arena, and the breeding of fighting roosters became a consuming passion which, it was hoped, would pay dividends on the day the fighters were let loose. Pedigreed birds became prized possessions. No effort was spared to prepare them for the confrontation. Sometimes, for 30 to 50 days before the main, the bird was trained and properly conditioned. To toughen its body it was given daily baths and massaged with a mixture of alcohol and ammonia.
To increase its fighting stamina and pugnacity, it was fed a special diet, often of a secret composition. To make its attack more deadly, its spurs, beak, and claws were filed and sharpened. The ancient Greeks had invented metal spurs to fortify the birds' natural ones. This cruel practice was also adopted to give both contestants an equal chance, as the cocks' own spurs varied greatly in different breeds.
Wagering on the birds made the fights an even more breathtaking experience, as this involved the spectators personally. To begin with, the owner of the winning game cock received awards in money, and a prize. It did not take long, however, for the onlookers to put money on their favorites. Enormous sums were won and lost in the cockpit, which provided the most common opportunity to gamble. This, not least, was responsible for the cock-fights' unsurpassed popularity.
Pepys, watching a cock-fight for the first time in his life (on 21 December 1663 at a new pit in Shoe Lane, London) not only remarked in his journal that "I soon had enough of it;" he added "one thing more: It is strange to see how people of this poor rank, that look as if they had not bread to put in their mouth, still bet [so much] and lose it."
Most exciting of all tournaments was the "battle royal." In fact, it is from the cockpit that this term entered our language as a \Jmetaphor\j for a general squabble. In its original, \Jcockfighting\j connotation, it referred to the bloody elimination contest between a maximum number of birds (eventually fixed at 16), dropped simultaneously into the pit, each finding its "match." With the first round over, the eight surviving cocks were then pitted against each other and had to fight it out until just two remained. Their confrontation determined the ultimate winner. This "perfected" form of mass combat shocked even hardened men.
From \JSpain\j, where \Jcockfighting\j was introduced by the Romans and became a major sport, it was carried across the ocean to the Spanish possessions in the New World, which explains why in some Latin American countries it is still practiced. The English brought the sport to \JNorth America\j, where it was even patronized by Presidents Washington and Jefferson. Many American cities became great \Jcockfighting\j centers, with huge sums being wagered. But, eventually, the authorities in the various states felt compelled to declare \Jcockfighting\j (never favored in New England) illegal. \JMassachusetts\j was the first state to ban it, in 1836, 13 years before it was outlawed in Britain.
\JCockfighting\j is no longer a favored sport and is banned in most parts of the world. Yet, the legacy of its popularity in former times lives on as an integral part of our speech.
#
"Royal Toast",1978,0,0,0
To drink to someone's health may well go back to an ancient religious ritual, when Greeks and Romans at ceremonial meals poured out libations to their deities and their dead.
In British lands, many variations of drinking the toast evolved. Records tell, for instance, that at Christmas, 1643, members of the Middle Temple in London "toasted the health of Princess Elizabeth by standing up, one after another, holding in one hand the cup and in the other their sword, pledging their loyalty even unto death." Another tradition demanded that those drinking a toast had to do so in a kneeling position. According to a one-time Scottish custom, the toast was drunk with one foot on the chair and the other on the table!
Sailors, however, drank the toast seated. Their privilege has been explained in various ways. It has been said that it was introduced for a very practical reason. In the old men-of-war, quarters were low-ceilinged and, standing up for the toast, the men could easily bang their heads against the beams turning a felicitous moment into a painful one! Therefore it was best not to rise at all.
Others have associated the custom with the dethronement of King James II. Naval officers still loyal to him could expect to be engaged in a fight at any moment. To be prepared for it, they took their pistols with them even to the mess. These then were of considerable size and to be more comfortable whilst seated at the table, they kept them under their seats. To avoid anyone seizing the weapon when they stood up for the loyal toast, they did the obvious thing and remained seated.
The personal experience of the Prince of Wales, a third claim asserts, was responsible for the tradition. When during his inspection of the fleet, the royal toast was proposed, standing up, he bumped his head on a low beam. His immediate reaction was to say, "Once I'm king there'll be no such foolishness!." Many a promise made on the spur of the moment is forgotten later on. But the Royal navy saw to it that on his \Jascension\j to the throne, the prince kept his pledge!
#
"Rub the Wrong Way",1979,0,0,0
To "rub someone up the wrong way" certainly has nothing to do with a massage. The figure of speech used for upsetting a person by words or actions they resent may well be derived from the observation of an animal's reaction to what humans do to it. If a cat's fur is stroked the wrong way, it will not only look scruffy, but feel discomfort and disconcerted, and will not hold back from expressing its displeasure by voice or claw.
On the other hand, the phrase may have been first coined in connection with inanimate objects. If "rubbed up the wrong way," they will show the traces of such inappropriate, and possibly damaging, treatment. A carpet of fabric, for instance, rubbed (or in modern times vacuumed) against the pile, looks untidy.
The expression may even go back to the Elizabethan era with its spacious homes. These had oak floorboards, which had to be carefully looked after. If servants mopped or rubbed them against the grain, they became streaky and unsightly. "Rubbed up the wrong way," they aroused the anger of the lady of the house.
#
"Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer",1980,0,0,0
Every Christmas season the mail order store of Montgomery Ward, in \JChicago\j, USA, used to distribute a coloring book for children as a free gift and advertisement. Until 1939, the firm obtained these books from a local manufacturer. In that year, however, the management decided that Montgomery Ward had all the facilities necessary to produce them themselves. This would not only save the firm a lot of expense, but would create an opportunity to present the books in a new form.
Robert (Bob) May, a 35 year-old employee working in the copy department, was given the task of putting together the coloring book. It was suggested that he create some new, lovable creature, similar to the popular "Ferdinand the Bull." Unfortunately, this job came at the worst possible time for May. He was deeply worried about his wife, who was terminally ill, and the medical bills had put him into great debt.
Despite his anguish, he accepted the job, deciding that his book would contain a story and pictures which gave a message of hope to people like himself who were facing problems. That is how he came to create the \Jreindeer\j called Rudolph which pulled \JSanta Claus\j' sleigh. Rudolph's shiny red nose made other animals laugh at him, but this very defect was to prove an advantage. Like the strong headlight of a car, Rudolph's nose could penetrate the densest fog, guiding Santa to those who lived in dark, isolated and lonely places.
The boss rejected May's idea at first, but May persisted. Remembering the saying "One picture is worth a thousand words," he asked \JDenver\j Gillen, a friend in the art department, to draw the \Jreindeer\j he imagined. He resubmitted "Rudolph with the red nose" - and this time his boss was enchanted.
When May's coloring book appeared the following Christmas, it immediately became a hit. Children lapped up the story of Rudolph, and the first print run of 3 million copies was quickly followed by many more. In 1949 Johnny Marks wrote the song, "Rudolph the Red-nosed \JReindeer\j" which, with its catchy tune and a first rendition by Gene Autry, was to become so popular.
#
"Rule the Roost",1981,0,0,0
To "rule the roost" could be a misnomer. It has been suggested that the term had nothing to do with roosters and their harem of hens. It is claimed that the expression recalls the time when the master of the house did all the carving. To "rule the roast" was his prerogative. At the head of the table, he apportioned each his rightful share.
Through usage, "to rule the roast" was soon applied to other situations far beyond the dining table. But people, always forgetful, were no longer aware of the original source and soon mixed up the roast with the roost.
#
"Rules and Exceptions",1982,0,0,0
That "exception proves the rule" is a maxim frequently quoted to assert that, in spite of contradictory evidence, an accepted norm is still valid. It is a misinterpretation, as one of the decisive words in the phrase has changed in meaning. To "prove" anything now means to confirm. This was not the original sense of the word.
"Proving" is derived from the Latin \Iprobare,\i responsible also for "probate," and "probation." The term initially referred to a process of probing, testing, and examining. Very appropriately and logically therefore, an exception to a general rule tested its validity. It did not demonstrate it.
This explains, too, the otherwise rather odd observation that "the \Iproof\i of the pudding is in the eating." What it means to say is that only by tasting the pudding do we test it and find out what it is like.
#
"Rules for Using Amulets",1983,0,0,0
Some general rules apply to amulets, charms, and talismans. They were only effective if they came into a man's possession as an unsolicited gift. Asked or paid for, they would never work.
To intensify their potency, magical formulas should be written in red ink - the color of blood. This symbolized and magically took on the form of that vital fluid.
As children were not strong and women were "the weaker sex," they were particularly exposed to misfortune. Therefore their need of protection was greatest. That was the reason why they were showered with every type of safeguard: with countless brooches, pendants, rings, and necklaces. They were not an expression of wealth but of fear. The \Jprophet\j Isaiah was able to list (3,18) in his time, twenty-four varieties of "ornaments" cherised by "the daughters of Zion."
The ultimate effect of safeguards might well be psychological. It may depend on the power of positive (and negative) thinking, the influence of mind over matter. Someone who strongly believing that an object would bring him good fortune or help him in surmounting adversity, might well be so strengthened in his effort and aim that, indeed, it would affect (and actually change) his luck.
#
"Rules in Hunting",1984,0,0,0
Mounted on a horse or, in early days, in a chariot, man followed his prey. Hunting became a favorite pursuit "to brace the nerves and stir the blood." It was regarded "a noble art" and taken up for the excitement it gave and its precious loot in the form of hides, furs, horn, and tusks. Once "the labor of the savage," it grew into "the amusement of the gentleman." It took on such proportions that, particularly through ever more efficient hunting techniques, it so reduced the number of animals that laws were issued prohibiting hunting altogether or restricting it to certain seasons, areas, and classes.
Laws strictly defined hunting grounds, protecting not only the animals but the rights of the king and of those to whom he granted the privilege of the chase. Royal forests were patrolled. Killing the king's deer or trespassing into his domain was punished with heavy fines or imprisonment. Commoners were denied the keeping of large dogs in lands adjacent to those used in hunting. Poachers could be transported for seven years or, worse still, lose both eyes, hands, or their life.
There were times when \Jclergy\j were hunting-mad, a fact condemned by the church as well as by poets. Chaucer, for instance, deplored the fact that priests, instead of preaching the word of God, spent their time chasing game. Hunting the fox grew into a popular pastime for all classes. George Washington enjoyed it and encouraged it in America. Hunting was also promoted by governments, who regarded it an excellent school in the art of warfare, making for efficient marksmen and soldiers.
Field sports, described as blood sports, eventually became a most controversial subject, rousing vehement opposition. To kill for food was bad enough, but to do so for fun (or funds) was considered not only inhuman but evil. Oscar Wilde's definition of fox hunting became famous. He described it as "the pursuit of the uneatable by the unspeakable." Actually, he merely reiterated an earlier description of the sport as "pursuing with earnestness and hazard something not worth catching." People decried hunting as a sport "that owes its pleasures to another's pain."
No doubt, a passion for hunting, as Charles Dickens wrote, is "deeply implanted in the human breast." Its spice of danger, spirit of adventure, and demand for supreme powers of observation, concentration, and endurance have always attracted man and caused it to become a universal sport. However, those condemning the infliction of pain for the sake of pleasure can still hunt, though in a different way. They can go on safari and most adventurous chases. Instead of shooting the animal, they shoot merely its picture, which is at least as permanent (and less bloody) as the traditional trophies of rugs, tusks, and antlers.
#
"Rules of Ramadan",1985,0,0,0
\BA Month of Fasting\b
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim year, is unique in the history of religion. It is one of the most sacred months in \JIslam\j because during this month the Quran was revealed to Muhammed. For the entire month it is compulsory for Muslims to fast from dawn to sunset. During the hours of daylight they must not eat, drink, smoke or have sexual intercourse.
Children under the age of twelve, though not expected to keep the entire fast, are trained to eat less and are encouraged to fast on at least some of the days. Anyone too old, weak or sick to observe the fast is exempt, but is expected, means permitting, to compensate by providing food for the poor.
The reasons for the fast are manifold. It gives the faithful a proper sense of proportion and values and makes them realize that there are more significant things in life than eating, drinking, and sex. It teaches self-discipline and endows the followers of \JIslam\j with extra strength enabling them better to face life's problems and to withstand any tribulation suffered because of their loyalty to the faith.
By fasting for a whole month, the devout are drawn ever closer to each other and to God. Moreover, by abstaining from food, the Muslim learns how it feels to be hungry and will therefore be all the more willing to practice compassion and charity towards those in need - one of the five pillars of \JIslam\j.
During the month in which God gave his revelation to Muhammed, Muslims are also expected to dedicate much time to the study of the Quran. Specially pious people will try to read it from cover to cover.
Ramadan was also the month in which the battle of Badr was fought. The faithful of \JMedina\j defeated the idolatrous forces of Mecca who were invading their city. The victory was a turning point in the history of \JIslam\j and its commemoration gives the month even greater meaning and significance for all Muslims.
#
"Run the Gauntlet",1986,0,0,0
The word gauntlet is of French origin and refers to a glove. It was worn as part of medieval armor, being made usually of leather, covered with plates of light steel or chain mail.
But when speaking of "running the gauntlet," to describe a passing through a critical ordeal or being attacked from all sides, that kind of gauntlet has nothing to do with wearing apparel. Its place there is only because of mistaken identities.
In this phrase, gauntlet is derived from a combination of two Swedish swords: \Igata,\i meaning "a passage" (which actually created the English word gate) and \Ilopp,\i meaning "to run" (responsible for our leap). And this explains the expression.
The passage referred to consisted of a double row of soldiers, who faced each other. Through it an offender, stripped to his waist, had to run as a form of punishment.
Each of the soldiers was provided with either a knotted cord, the end of a rope or a stick, with which he had to hit hard the passing delinquent. It goes without saying that the latter did not amble through this double row of soldiers but ran as quickly as possible in great leaps to avoid as many blows as he could.
The description dates back to the \JThirty Years' War\j when military authorities first introduced this kind of punishment. Later, it was adopted by American courts of law, the first reference to it being made in 1676.
Indians made use of it also, subjecting their captives, red or white, to the ordeal. Scottish regiments applied the same treatment to minor offenders, mostly in order to keep good discipline.
Another, but less likely explanation is that the phrase comes not from the Swedish but from the Flemings. It is said that the gaunt in gauntlet is a corruption of the city of \JGhent\j in Flanders, where the punishment is believed to have been invented.
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"Russian Wedding Ring",1987,0,0,0
Several explanations have been given for the so-called Russian wedding ring, a combination of three intertwined rings, each of a different color gold.
It has been seen as symbolizing the Holy Trinity, the central dogma of Christian \Jtheology\j which occupies a prominent place in \JRussian Orthodox Church\j rituals. The sacrament of holy matrimony was solemnized in the name of the Holy Trinity, thus the triple ring would constantly remind the couple of the sanctity of their union.
According to a second explanation, two of the rings represented the bride and groom being joined in marriage, while the third one stood for the witness whose presence legalized their bond in perpetuity. Various methods were used for joining the three bands. One way was to interweave the rings. Alternatively, they were held together by a pair of clasped hands. This was reminiscent of the "handfasting" custom which once was part of a betrothal, being the confirmation of the marriage agreement with a handshake.
There is also a claim that, in its present form, the Russian wedding ring was designed as late as 1923 by Cartier, the internationally renowned jewelers. It was to be yet another of their distinctive creations, in which they adopted and made use of an ancient tradition, rendering it in their own exquisite style.
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"Sabotage",1988,0,0,0
As sabotage can take various forms, so there are several traditions as to when and how the term was first applied. The word itself comes from the French \Isabot,\i for a wooden "shoe." This was used to wreck a plant, to stop production, or to do some other notable damage.
The earliest claim traces such practice to French peasants' rebellion against rich land owners who were exploiting them. They destroyed the crops by trampling on them with their heavy \Isabots!\i
Others relate the first case of sabotage to industrial unrest. Dissatisfied factory workers dropped their wooden shoes into the machines to make them break down.
Wooden "shoes" - of a different kind - were employed on railroads. They served to secure the iron rails to the sleepers on which they rested. When in 1910 French railway workers declared a national strike, to prevent strike breakers from running trains, they removed some of the "shoes." It was this type of French (railway) shoe which is also quoted as the source of all sabotage.
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"Saccharin's Origins",1989,0,0,0
Saccharin, which for many years has been of great benefit to those not permitted sugar, was not the result of scientists' search for a sugar substitute. It came about by chance.
When one night in 1879, C. Fahlberg came home from his laboratory at Johns Hopkins University and, as usual, sat down for his evening meal, eating a slice of bread he could not make out its peculiar sweet taste. Scientifically trained, he took nothing for granted. In no time, he ascertained that there was no change in the bread. The sweetness therefore had to come from another source. Although he had washed his hands before leaving work, he realized that, from experiments he had made (together with his colleague Ira Remsen) on that day, some sweet tasting substance must have stuck to his hands which somehow he had transferred to the bread.
Forgetting all about his food, he returned at once to the laboratory. He examined every test-tube, beaker and instrument they had used that day. His thrill knew no bounds when he was able not only to trace the substance, but to identify it as a by-product of \Jcoal tar\j. Its sweetness exceeded that of cane sugar almost 550 times! A practical man, he did not stop there. Aware of the product's dietetic value, he and Remsen lost no time in presenting \Jsaccharin\j to the world. They chose \Jsaccharin\j as its name from the ancient Sanskrit description of "sugar!"
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"Sacred Bone",1990,0,0,0
Religious belief and hope were responsible for the naming of a specific part of the human skeleton.
A curved triangular bone, almost at the base of the spinal column below the last lumbar \Jvertebra\j, is termed \Ios \Jsacrum\j,\i "the sacred bone." It was so called because of the early belief that this bone would survive death and decay. Indestructible, at the end of days it would form the nucleus from which "man will blossom forth at the \Jresurrection\j." For this reason medieval medicine also called it, colorfully, \Ios resurrectionis.\i
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"Sacred Days of Buddhism",1991,0,0,0
Buddhism dates from the sixth century BC. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, son of a powerful ruler in northern India. He was born in about 563 BC and at the age of 19 he married a princess. Ten years later he abandoned his home, his wife, and the child she had borne him to turn his back on the world of pleasure and become an ascetic and a wandering monk. When he was 35 years old, he was meditating under a \Jbanyan\j tree one day, when enlightenment came to him: "Then I did become certain that I had attained the full knowledge of highest wisdom in heaven and on earth." Siddhartha had become the "Enlightened one," the "\JBuddha\j," by which name he has been known ever since.
Buddha concentrated on the problem of suffering that haunts man and the entire world. His final teaching was aimed at lessening pain of any kind and striving for the supreme goal of all existence, the stage of Nirvana. It is a term which is untranslatable but which refers to the cessation of all desire, the \Jextinction\j of greed, anger, and delusion, and the union with ultimate reality. To reach this goal, man had to follow "the noble eightfold path" of: (1) Right Knowledge; (2) Right Intention; (3) Right Speech; (4) Right Action; (5) Right Means of Livelihood; (6) Right Effort; (7) Right Thought; and (8) Right Concentration.
The faith he taught eventually divided into two branches: the "Southern School" (known as Theravada \JBuddhism\j), which is specifically followed in \JSri Lanka\j, \JMyanmar\j (formerly \JBurma\j) and \JThailand\j; and the "Northern School" (designated \JMahayana\j \JBuddhism\j), which is practiced in China and \JJapan\j. Whilst the former school regards \JBuddha\j as an enlightened teacher, the latter sees him as a divine being. Buddhist holidays vary in different places, but they also overlap.
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"Sacred Three",1992,0,0,0
The notion "third time lucky" is closely linked with the idea of trinity, a holy concept in many races and creeds, pagan and Christian alike. So much in life itself seemed to reveal a threefold basis. Life consisted of past, present, and future. Man was imagined to be made up of body, soul, and spirit. The ideal family was the father, the mother, and the child. Three expressed the beginning, the middle, and the end. And nature itself was believed to embrace the three kingdoms: animal, vegetable, and mineral. Above all, it was the moon (so closely associated with the occult) which brought home to man the all-importance of the three. The moon showed itself in three aspects: waxing, full, and waning. Three, so Pythagoras taught, was indeed "the perfect number."
And that is how the triangle, with its three sides, became a potent emblem recurring all over the world as a magic sign. Because of the sanctity attached to it, evil forces were thought to be allergic to the three. Confronted by it, whether in sight or sound, the devil would take his leave!
This explains, too, why three volleys are fired over a soldier's grave. Originally, this was not done in his honor but (as in primitive pagan days) the thrice repeated noise was imagined to frighten away the devil who was anxious to get hold of the soul.
The \Jsuperstition\j against using one match for three cigarettes was equally linked to the sacred number 3 and not, as so often "explained," to the danger to which soldiers exposed themselves in the dark of night. The practice would offend the deity, as it would desecrate a most holy number by using it in a profane task. The 3 should be reserved only for holy occasions such as for the lighting of three candles on the high altar in the \JGreek Orthodox Church\j.
The deeply-rooted tradition of the close unity of the "3" led to the common belief that (good and bad) things also happen in a series of three.
Three was already a significant number among the \JCelts\j. They applied it in their magic and knew of triplets and gods they arranged in groups of three. Greek \Jmythology\j also venerated the triad. There was meaning in the existence of the Three Graces, Three \JFuries\j, and Three Fates.
The sanctity and inherent potency of the 3 accounts for the conviction that a magic formula must be repeated three times to work effectively, just as we continue to give cheers in threes. The holiest blessing in both the Jewish and Christian faith is the threefold benediction!
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"Sacred Vanilla",1993,0,0,0
Vanilla originally came from Mexico. Grown around \JVeracruz\j by the Indian tribe of the Totonacs, they regarded it as sacred and of divine making. Indeed, so their legend has it, its origin went back to the early days of the world, when the gods still walked the earth, mingling with human beings.
Xanat, the daughter of the fertility goddess, met a Totonac youth with whom she fell deeply in love. Unfortunately, however, her celestial status prevented her from marrying him. Nevertheless, to stay with her beloved and his people, she transformed herself to look like the vanilla vine. And that is why, to the present day, Mexican Indians call vanilla by her name - Xanat.
The plant was considered so precious that when the \JAztecs\j subjugated the tribe, they demanded as part of the tribute to be paid to them vanilla pods. The Spanish conquistadores became interested in the plant and its aromatic fruit, then completely unknown elsewhere. \JCortes\j sent a consignment of its pods back to \JSpain\j, where, because of their shape, they were called vanilla, a word derived from the same linguistic root as vagina, meaning a "sheath."
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"Saddle",1994,0,0,0
It is generally conceded that horse-riding owes the saddle, bridle, and spurs to the Asian nomads who, in the invasion of Europe, introduced them there.
Long before using a saddle, riders had learned to throw some kind of cover on to the horse's back, a custom thought of most probably at various places independently and known early in \JEgypt\j and \JGreece\j. Riders at first did so not for the sake of comfort, about which toughened men did not care. They soon realized that while riding at a gallop, a saddle would seat them more securely and give them better balance.
Animal skins, or some crude type of fabric, fastened under the horse's belly, served as the earliest covers. Some of the sculptured horses in the \JParthenon\j, \JAthens\j, distinctly show such saddle cloths.
However, the proper type of saddle, fitted to the horse's back, is of a much later date and, no doubt, as copied from the barbarian Asiatic horsemen. This saddle was known to the fourth-century Byzantines who, in their clash with forces coming from the east, had adopted it from them. In combat, the saddle enabled the warrior to throw the spear or to shoot the arrow so much better. The saddle can be discerned upon the \Jfrieze\j of the column erected at Constantinople in honor of the Roman Emperor Theodosius who, in an edict of AD 385, had limited the weight of a saddle to 60 lbs (27 kg).
The Gauls employed a different sort of saddle, reminiscent of the howdah used by \JArabs\j and Indians when riding the camel and the elephant, but also already known to the Chinese of the \JHan dynasty\j, which came into power in the second century BC. The horsemen were well aware that the contraption raised them higher, thereby giving them an advantage over the foe.
Considerations of combat as well contributed to further developments in the shape of the saddle used by the medieval knights. Obviously they needed a firm support in tournaments but once these were no longer held, the saddle's weight became ever lighter and eventually it evolved into the so-called English saddle of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Americans gave to the world of racing the short stirrups and the "monkey crouch" which replaced everywhere the traditional English seat. It is only fair to state that Australians claim to have pioneered the "monkey seat" almost simultaneously and, certainly, independently.
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"Safeguards Against the Supernatural",1995,0,0,0
From earliest times, experience taught man that he was surrounded by evil forces of every type. Their constant threat by far exceeded his natural power to resist or repel their onslaught.
In the dark of night, ferocious creatures assaulted him and his \Jcattle\j. During the light of day, bolts of \Jlightning\j, zigzagging out of the sky, might set fire to his home or strike him down. Claps of thunder made him afraid. The bite of a snake might paralyze or kill him.
Even more mysterious and frightening was what we now identify as "sickness." It attacked man's body or mind. An invisible and inveterate foe, it hit him without distinction of rank, resulting in excruciating pain, weird demeanor, convulsions and, possibly, death.
Man soon realized that no ordinary remedy or weapon could help him to counteract those hostile powers and render him immune from their apparent malevolence. That could only be done by something endowed with extraordinary, \Jsupernatural\j potency. Magic was needed to enable him to withstand, annul, or repel the evil and to protect his body, mind, home, and property from attack.
This battle for survival in an evil-infested world led man to create the first safeguards. These could be strictly positive, by adding to the strength of the individual in need of protection. Or, they could seek to employ negative, destructive power against the "assailant." Their magic could rest on the defense, or go over to the attack.
From the very start, man had much reason to be afraid, so all over the world he acquired his safeguards equally early. Specimens of such safeguards have been excavated from ancient prehistoric tombs. As they evolved, they developed roughly into three categories: the talisman, the charm, and the amulet, and each has its own story to tell.
The talisman was used in a positive sense: to attract good luck generally. A charm was employed not only to counteract misfortune but to inflict it on others. As distinct from the talisman and the amulet, it frequently was reserved for a particular, specially selected purpose. A charm, for instance, was worn to protect a woman during her \Jpregnancy\j, to aid her in childbirth, or to prevent a miscarriage. It could likewise help in cases of snake bite or even in modern days to avoid a collision while driving a car. This special purpose, of course, limited the efficacy of a charm in its application and duration.
An amulet was credited with the inherent power to act as a passive protector against evil "influences" of any kind that threatened a person, an animal, or a home.
Eventually the three types again intermingled and, in fact, were greatly confused and hardly differentiated. Therefore, in modern times, their names are used almost indiscriminately. They certainly share significant traits in their origin and in their purpose to serve as a guard against the malevolent forces of darkness which could play havoc with man's life and luck.
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"Sagittarius - the Archer",1996,0,0,0
\ISagittarius\i is the Latin for "the archer." And, indeed, the majority of ancient cultures recognized in this \Jconstellation\j the features of an archer, or of his bow and arrow. The Babylonians, of course, those pioneers of \Jastrology\j, had done so in very early days.
Quoting the \JBible\j, later generations felt that the \Jconstellation\j represented (in fact, contained) the very bow God is said to have placed into the skies after having saved Noah and his kin from the deluge. It was meant as an everlasting token of God's covenant with man "and every living creature" that he would never again send such a catastrophic inundation. As it were, \JSagittarius\j was a divine life assurance against death by flood!
Greek myth identified the archer with \JChiron\j. His place among the stars, it explained, was the result of his unselfishness. \JChiron\j was the most famous of centaurs, that mythological race of monsters, half horse and half man. His skills were manifold and outstanding. He excelled in the arts of healing, teaching, prophesying and, not least, hunting. But he had also no equal in performing acts of kindness and was thus an exception among the centaurs.
Quite by accident and sheer misfortune, a poisoned arrow from the bow of \JHeracles\j pierced one of \JChiron\j's legs. \JHeracles\j, greatly agitated and deeply grieved by the misfired shot, immediately removed the missile. But the wound never healed.
Chiron was in constant pain. As he was born immortal, not even death could help him. Then, at last, release was offered, yet for a price not less torturous.
It concerned \JPrometheus\j, the Titan. Fettered to a rock, \JPrometheus\j suffered terribly. At last, Zeus relented and was prepared to give the Titan back his freedom. However, he could not do so until some other immortal being was willing to take his place in Tartarus, that deep, dismal, and sunless abyss far below \JHades\j. And \JChiron\j gladly volunteered for the sacrifice. After all, this would end his own suffering from the wound. And to reward him for his noble deed, Zeus elevated \JChiron\j to the stars.
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"Sahara Desert's Meaning",1997,0,0,0
A desert is assumed to be an arid region in which little grows. And yet, those speaking of the "\JSahara Desert\j" - unknowingly - have given it a gift of growth, actually doubling it up. Sahara, from the Arabic \Isahr,\i already means "desert."
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"Sailing Terminology and Phrases",1998,0,0,0
The importance of sailing and the part it has played in man's life, are demonstrated by the countless traces it has left, like other sports, in descriptive phrases, idioms, and words. Some are very obvious, others hardly to be recognized.
Coming first to everyone's mind are expressions such as "plain sailing," "to sail close to the wind," or "to take the wind out of one's sails." We speak of "riding the crest of a wave," being "at one's beam's end," "on the rocks," and "out of one's depth." But who would guess that "to take the gilt off the gingerbread" might have started on boats (and not in their galleys!).
Gingerbread cakes used to be made in various forms; often in the shape of men, animals, and birds. Sometimes they were covered with gold leaf and sold at fairs. Eventually, their name came to describe showy and tawdry objects. When in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the sterns of warships were decorated with gilded carvings, these were colloquially referred to as "gingerbread work." As this frequently deteriorated because of the water and weather, sailors spoke of "the gilt being taken off the gingerbread." And from them, the phrase reached the land.
Even "to make both ends meet" started at sea - when sailors endeavored to repair a torn rope. To avoid expensive replacement, they pulled together and spliced its two tangling ends. It certainly took some time "to know the ropes!" Most likely this phrase also stems from the sailing boat and not, as has been also suggested, from the wise handling of a horse's reins.
Supposedly an \Jacronym\j, formed of the initial letters of an entire phrase of the maritime world, "posh" is said to go back to the early days of P & O liners, on the Britain to India run. In order to avoid the burning sun of the Indian Ocean, wealthy passengers reserved for themselves accommodation that was "\IP\iort - \IO\iutward - \IS\itarboard - \IH\iomeward." Its contraction (on the purser's list) soon came to denote "posh" travelers, able to afford such luxury.
A combination of the sea, sailors' love of strong drink, and a coarse sort of cloth is the peculiar mixture that supplied grog! The origin of this odd "cocktail" can be dated to 1740. Some sailors enjoying their generous allowance of neat rum (they received daily a total of half a pint - 0.28 1 - in two rations) became raucous, and there were many violent brawls.
Admiral Edward Vernon, concerned with naval discipline, was determined to stop such excess. Consequently, he issued an order that henceforth all rum had to be supplied in diluted form. The innovation certainly was not welcomed by the crews who immediately called it by part of the Admiral's nickname - "(Old) Grog." This had been bestowed on him because of his practice of walking the decks in a cloak made of \Igrog\iram (from the French \Igros grain\i - "coarse grain").
Who would expect even the word "filibuster" to have been born on the high seas? Yet it is a fact that the word has traveled a long way from the sea before finding its obstructive, delaying function in modern parliamentary procedure. It originated among early pirates who were preying on shipping around the West Indies. These \Jbuccaneers\j were called by the Dutch word \Ivrijbuiter\i (freebooter) which by way of the French \Iflibustier,\i eventually assumed its English version, now completely landlogged and preying merely on politicians' time.
The buccaneer himself, so much once part of the high seas, could be said to have reversed direction, at least in his description. In \JHaiti\j, natives largely lived on the \Jcattle\j and pigs that roamed the island. As salt was in short supply, and therefore costly, they devised their own method of preserving meat. First, they dried it in the sun. Then they smoked it over fire on a wooden grid, known as \Iboucan.\i When the French invaded their country, they soon took over the custom but they also stocked their boats with the dried meat, not only for their own provision but to sell it at a profit. This caused them to be eventually identified with this very meat (or rather the boucan from which it was taken to their ships) and that is how they received as their nickname, buccaneer. As they also, and not least, were pirates, the word finally, far removed from its original meaning, came to refer to any adventurous marauder.
Of course, like other sports, sailing and yachting, too, have created their own vocabularies. Some of their common terms have interesting origins.
Starboard, the right-hand side of a ship looking forward, has nothing to do with stellar matters. Its star derives from the \JAnglo-Saxon\j \Isteor\i (to steer). Early mariners used to steer the boat with a paddle or oar on that side \I(bord)\i near the stern.
The left side, on the other hand, originally was known as larboard. According to some, this term was a modification of ladeboard, assimilating the d of lad to the r of star. As the rudder projected on the right of the boat, to do the loading \I(lade),\i sailors pulled their craft in with the left side to the dock. An alternate suggestion traces the name to \Ileere,\i the Old English for "empty" (still extant in the German \Ileer).\i With the steersman stationed on the right side, the left remained vacant.
Starboard and larboard, however, sounded so much alike that shouted directions of the helmsman could easily be confused. To differentiate clearly between the two, larboard was replaced by port. It was an obvious choice, as this was the side nearer to the wharf or jetty (the port) when in harbor.
The measuring of the capacity and displacement of a ship by tonnage goes back to the old French description of a "cask of wine" \I(tunne).\i Boats, particularly those plying for \JBordeaux\j wine merchants, used to carry many tunnes. It was natural and appropriate for the merchants to ascertain how many casks a ship could take. Even when wheat superseded wine in importance as cargo, the original casks stayed on as tonnage, at least in nomenclature.
The diversity of \Iballast\i carried in ships is reflected in the variety of the word's etymological explanations. These range from a "bad lading" and "bare load" to the "hull's load" and "belly load." \ILast,\i the second syllable of the word, always means, of course, a load or burden.
Preserved for all time is the frequent employment of ships in warfare, when sea battles were fought at close range and boats became floating platforms for infantry combat. The battle continued even when enemy soldiers had boarded them. Fortified superstructures (like castles) were built for this purpose. One of them, the military "forecastle," now peacefully survives in our present-day, curiously abbreviated fo'c'sle.
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"Sailing Under False Colors",1999,0,0,0
Not to attract undue attention prior to their attacking a ship, pirate vessels would fly the flag of a friendly nation, thus "sailing under false colors." This is the origin of the phrase.
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"Sailing Without Sails",2000,0,0,0
Any travel by sea is referred to as "sailing." Even the largest of ocean liners "sails" to its destination. However, the sails are non-existent. They are carried only metaphorically as a survival of early sailing days.
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"Sailor's Bib",2001,0,0,0
Most parts of the sailors' uniforms have their interesting story. The blue-and-white color has a romantic association. It was chosen as the result of a king's admiration for a pretty horsewoman whose riding habit was of those colors.
Contrary to popular belief, the three stripes of the sailor's collar (which itself served as a kind of antimacassar to keep his uniform from getting soiled by his tarred pigtail) are only decorative. They definitely were not to mark a trio of famous victories by Admiral Lord Nelson.
The sailor's bib has been linked with Queen Victoria, her aesthetic sense and human susceptibility. It is said that when she inspected the Fleet at Spithead for the first time, she was deeply impressed - and said so. However, in her own private circle she later confessed there had been one feature of the review which had rather upset her - the men's hairy chests. This criticism came to the ears of the Admiralty and when next she inspected the Fleet, the sailors' chests were covered by bibs. They have continued to be so ever since. The bib has become an essential part of naval uniform.
There is another and much more likely, though less colorful, explanation. Sailors were expected always to look spick and span. To have any part of their uniform sullied, carried a penalty. On the other hand, in more distant days, clothes could be washed aboard ship only at certain stated hours, and these were few and far between. To add to the sailors' hardship, the frequent drill with greasy rifles inevitably soiled the men's uniforms, and especially so their shirts.
Therefore, whatever they did they could not do right. If they washed their shirts outside laundry hours, they were guilty. But if they did not do so and were seen dirty, they were punished as well.
They solved the shirt washing problem by making a dicky. This was detachable from the rest of the uniform and could be washed, clandestinely, in a small basin.
It did not take officers long to detect the ruse. Wearing a dicky was made a punishable offense and some ships even introduced searches for dickies. If any were found, they were confiscated and subsequently destroyed.
Even in modern times, the Navy did not recognize the dicky as part of a sailor's correct uniform. Thus, a man going on shore leave and found to be wearing a bib was dismissed from the shore-going party and made to replace his dicky with a shirt.
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"Sailor's Collar",2002,0,0,0
It belonged to 18th-century British naval tradition for sailors to plait their long hair into pigtails. These they stiffened and made shiny with oakum and grease. To protect their uniform from getting soiled by rubbing against the fatty plaits, sailors adopted the custom to wear a kerchief outside the jacket with one of its corners hanging down at the back, just under the pigtail. This was the origin of the detachable collar, retained long after the pigtail went out of fashion and now part of the regular uniform.
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"Sailors Three Stripes",2003,0,0,0
The three stripes on the collar of English naval personnel has caused much speculation. However, the usual explanation that the stripes were introduced to recall Lord Nelson's three great naval victories, is incorrect.
The stripes are merely decorative. They have no historical association. Indeed, they are not confined to members of the British navy, but could equally be found on the collars of American and German naval men. Significantly, the stripes adorned the collars of French sailors as well, many years prior to the British Admiral's three famous battles.
To begin with, the wearing of uniforms was not a general rule in the British navy. It became only obligatory in the eighteenth century, and even then was restricted to officers. It took another 100 years before the regulation was applied to ratings. To achieve complete uniformity, a special naval committee was appointed in 1856. Their deliberations included the sailor's collar which, at the time, still varied, displaying either two or three white stripes.
It was agreed to limit their number to two. But someone made a mistake and, when the new regulation was published, contrary to the decision, this stipulated that the collar of naval men should carry three white stripes. The error has never been rectified.
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"Saintly Cities",2004,0,0,0
Many a saint has been perpetuated in a place name. A favorite in this respect, both in the Old and New Worlds, was St Paul. This was not surprising as, after all, he himself had traveled long distances. Considering the circumstances of his time, he had covered a vast area, visiting communities in \JAsia Minor\j, \JSyria\j, Macedonia, \JGreece\j, and possibly \JSpain\j.
Jesuit monks established \JSπo Paulo\j in \JBrazil\j in 1555. They called it after the saint (in their Portuguese tongue) because they celebrated the first Mass on the site of the future city on the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, 25 January.
In the United States, St Paul, which became the capital of the State of \JMinnesota\j, received its name for the simple reason that a mission church, built there in 1841 by the French priest Lucien Galtier, was dedicated to the saint.
Spanish explorers paid tribute to St Anthony in the name of \JSan Antonio\j, \JTexas\j, because they discovered the river in which the city now stands on St Anthony's Day in 1691.
Specially popular among Spaniards, once the great colonizers of the world, was St James. Several traditions linked him closely with their country. Crossing the entire length of the \JMediterranean Sea\j, he had visited \JSpain\j to preach the Gospels there. It was also claimed that after his martyrdom in \JJerusalem\j, his body had been brought to \JSpain\j for burial. No wonder, therefore, that when, in 1541, Spanish conquistadores founded the future capital city of \JChile\j, they bestowed on it their saint's name. In Spanish, \ISan Jago,\i it was soon contracted into the present-day \ISantiago.\i
A popular saint in medieval England was St Botolph. He was renowned for his "remarkable life and learning." A monastery he established at a site in Lincolnshire became known as Botolph's Stone, soon to be shortened into \JBoston\j. English migrants transferred the name to the New World - to the city which is now a proud center of knowledge, the home of \JHarvard University\j.
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"Saints Among the Welsh",2005,0,0,0
Everyone recognizes \ILlandudno, Llanfair,\i and \ILlangollen\i - to mention just a few - as Welsh names. But who would imagine that each honors a religious figure? Moreover, they all share, in their first syllable, the typical Welsh \ILlan,\i the Celtic prefix denoting a church, indicating that the village or town so named was considered a site inseparable from God's spirit.
Llangollen is the "church called after Collen," a saint who lived as a hermit.
Llandudno has its own story to tell of St Tudno, a miracle-working holy man. Long before the advent of modern fads for instant remedies, he is said to have an "instant" whetstone. In no time it would sharpen a brave man's sword but, equally swiftly, totally destroy that of a coward.
Llanfair is simply "St Mary's Church."
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"Sake's History",2006,0,0,0
The history of \Isake,\i \JJapan\j's national drink, stretches back to earliest times when it was an important part of the country's religious life. This favorite rice-based intoxicant of the Japanese was regarded as being so holy that to become inebriated from drinking it was not seen as any disgrace.
Bottles of sake were daily offered to ancestors and at shrines. The drinking of sake (its name is untranslatable into any other tongue) is an essential ingredient of every major ceremony.
#
"Salmonella's History",2007,0,0,0
Among the most feared and virulent food poisonings is that caused by \Jsalmonella\j. The "salmon" contained in its description is misleading and does not refer to the fish. Its name honors Daniel Elmer Salmon (1850-1914), an American veterinarian and one-time chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, who inaugurated systematic meat inspection and a quarantine period for imported livestock. He was the first to identify the bacteria responsible for the contamination.
#
"Salt Cellar",2008,0,0,0
When at the dinner table we ask for the "salt cellar," we say salt twice over. This cellar has nothing to do with the basement, but is the French version of the Latin for "salt." We merely repeat in French what has already been said in English. Americans have eliminated the error by doing away with the salt cellar and putting the salt shaker in its place.
#
"Salt on Bird's Tail",2009,0,0,0
The suggestion that all that was necessary to catch a bird was to put salt on its tail, may now be taken as a jest or a mere figure of speech to describe the difficulty of the task. In reality, it recalls the ancient belief in the magic quality of salt.
Just as salt became a symbol of incorruptibility (it never deteriorates), the emblem of immortality (it is a preservative) and a devil-repellent ("salt over one's left shoulder"), so it was believed that no bird could escape from its magic potency.
Others have pointed out that, in fact, it was a very reasonable observation. If a bird was so near that one was able to put salt on its tail, surely one could simply stretch out the hand to get hold of it.
#
"Saluting the Quarter Deck",2010,0,0,0
The salute of the quarter deck pays respect to something that is no longer there. In pagan days, the quarter deck of a ship was the site of an altar at which sailors worshiped their gods on whose good will they so much depended, when facing the great unknown of the ocean. When \JChristianity\j superseded paganism, it replaced the altar by a crucifix or a shrine dedicated to the Holy Virgin, to whom the sailors now paid homage to gain divine protection.
Though neither an altar nor a shrine is on the quarter deck any longer, naval tradition carries on the old custom to salute the - now empty - quarter deck.
#
"Same Vein",2011,0,0,0
"In the same vein" refers to something of like kind. However, it is not a blood-related term, as might be imagined. It belongs to mining operations and, metaphorically speaking, has been dug up out of the earth. Minerals, ore or coal of similar type are confined to specific layers underground. They can be found "in the same vein."
#
"Sandwich: Origin of the Name",2012,0,0,0
Everyone eats sandwiches. Few realize however that the first of its kind was prepared for a member of the nobility, whose very name it perpetuates. He was John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92). A notorious gambler, at times, without respite, he would spend an entire day and night at the card table. So possessed by the game, he would not even take off a few moments for a hurried meal. That is why on one such occasion (c. 1762), he instructed his servant to bring him a thick slice of beef stuck between two pieces of bread. This impromptu snack he could easily eat without interrupting his gambling.
His improvisation of a meal did not go unobserved, and soon began to catch people's imagination. They adopted the earl's idea and, in acknowledgment, called the repast after him, a sandwich.
Actually, the practice of serving food in the form of a sandwich antedates John Montagu by more than 1800 years. It goes back to the ancient Romans. The Jews adopted it from them and continue annually to recall and re-enact the custom by a religious ceremony. During the Passover meal, taken on the eve of the festival, they partake of a special kind of sandwich. The tradition is explained in the prayer book used on that night. It tells that "this was the practice of Hillel," the most outstanding rabbinical authority of the first pre-Christian century. He used to combine the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs and ate them together, no doubt in the way of a (Roman) sandwich.
#
"Sanitarium Products and Kellogg's Cereals",2013,0,0,0
Intense, enduring and, in fact, unparallelled has been the influence of the Seventh Day Adventist Church on modern health habits. Renowned for its vegetarianism and promotion of eating mainly dairy products, its objection to smoking and alcohol is equally fundamental to its faith. Probably no other religious movement has placed greater emphasis on diet and \Jnutrition\j as part of its daily routine and service of God.
Young John Kellogg (b. 1852) belonged to the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, \JMichigan\j, USA. In recognition of his outstanding intellectual gifts, his congregation awarded him a scholarship to study medicine. On his graduation, Dr Kellogg did not start a practice of his own, but chose to stay with the Church to take charge of its Department of \JNutrition\j.
He did not do so for long. In the mid-1870s, he became convinced that, if it were run independently as a private enterprise, the department would achieve even more by greatly expanding its services. His Church gladly obliged. After Kellogg had acquired the department, he opened it up as a separate venture. He called it the Battle Creek Sanitarium. It was a telling name, as \Isanitarium\i (from the Latin \Isanus,\i for "healthy") referred to an institution intended to foster good health.
Health-seekers were soon attracted in large numbers. With enthusiasm and conviction, they followed the doctor's prescribed diet, with the regular serving of large portions of bran constituting its staple food.
Things did not always go smoothly. On one occasion a patient strongly objected to eating the Zwieback, yet another item Dr Kellogg had included on the daily diet sheet, intended to maintain good teeth. \I(Zwieback\i was a German name for a crackerbread. Combining the German for \Izwei\i and \Ibacken,\i it was so called because it was "twice baked.") Following up the man's complaint, Dr Kellogg substituted for the Zwieback the first real breakfast cereal ever, then known as Granose.
The wheel had come full circle. The ancient pagan goddess Ceres, as it were, had proved immortal, and returned to modern religion in the form of a breakfast food.
#
"Sapphires and Religion",2014,0,0,0
The sapphire is one of the earliest gems known to man and, not surprisingly, has been associated from antiquity with religious lore. Its very name is from the \JHebrew\j \Isappir,\i which occurs in the \JBible\j. It has also been traced to Sanskrit, in which tongue it meant "dear to Saturn," the planet called after the god Saturnus.
The sapphire was regarded as a symbol of exquisite beauty and as a stone so precious that, the \JBible\j tells, it could not be valued in the gold of \JOphir\j. It was given divine dimensions when, in yet another scriptural passage (Ex. 24.10), God is seen in a mystic vision above "a paved work of sapphire," the clear blue color of the heavens themselves. In Catholicism, the jewel was treasured so highly that, according to a decree of Pope Innocent III, it was to be reserved as the badge of rank for only the most exited of ecclesiastical offices. No wonder then that the sapphire was believed to be a potent guard against all evil spells, treacherous acts and pernicious influences.
#
"Satan's Alias - the Devil",2015,0,0,0
Like anyone whose intentions are evil, Satan adopted many guises and aliases. As it were, if he could not force entry with one name, he did so with another. And, of course, of all his "given" names, that of the devil became best known. Its popularity almost equalled the obscurity of its beginnings. The derivation of the "original" devil is indeed uncertain and undetermined.
The most likely claim is the blasphemous one that the devil shares his beginning (on the loom of language) with \Ideus,\i the Latin for God! Both come from the Sanskrit \Ideva\i which speaks of the "shining one." The Gypsies' Indo-European rooted \JRomany\j tongue actually calls the deity they adore - \Iduvel!\i
Later on, knowledge of Greek discovered in the devil the "slanderer" \I(diabolos)\i who in his "diabolic" way "threw" \I(ballein\i - which also gave us "ballistics") "across" \I(dia)\i mischievous gossip.
When the Jews translated their \JBible\j into Greek, the \JSeptuagint\j, in the third century B.C. they rendered "satan" as \Idiabolos.\i Adopted generally, with slight alterations, diabolos then changed his appearance to become the devil.
#
"Sauce Mornay",2016,0,0,0
Philippe de Mornay was a famous sixteenth-century French Protestant leader. His religious zeal and influence - in face of ruthless persecution - gained him the nickname of "the Huguenot Pope." He was lucky to escape from the massacre of St Bartholomew's Night in 1572.
However, the world remembers him merely for a culinary reason, the tasty cheese sauce called after him, \Isauce mornay.\i He had created it for Henry IV of Navarre, prior to the king's conversion to Catholicism, when Mornay was still his trusted adviser and close friend.
#
"Save One's Bacon",2017,0,0,0
To save one's bacon is a statement so clearly worded that it is hard to believe that there may be any doubt as to its original meaning. Nevertheless, it may be traced to two completely different sets of circumstances.
Some say that the phrase came into existence at a time when to save one's bacon for the winter season, during which food became scarce, was a grave concern of people. Hungry dogs were then roaming the barren and often snow-covered countryside and, unless precautions were taken, would get hold of and feed on the bacon.
Others, however, maintain that this bacon was no bacon at all, in the present sense of the word. It was derived from the Old Saxon \Ibaco\i for (a man's) "back." The phrase thus spoke of someone deserving a punishment, but luckily getting away unscathed thereby saving his back from a thrashing.
#
"Saved by the Bell",2018,0,0,0
That anyone escaping defeat or misfortune by the narrowest margin or at the very last moment is said to be "saved by the bell" is generally traced to the boxing ring. It referred to a situation when one of the contestants, on the verge of being beaten, is spared this fate because at that very moment the ringing of the bell announces the end of the round. However, the phrase has also been linked with a much earlier occasion, the striking of a famous church bell in an incident of the seventeenth century.
A sentry on night duty at Windsor Castle was accused of having been asleep, a capital offense at the time. He was court-martialled, but at the trial firmly denied the charge. In defense, he recalled that he had, in fact, heard St Paul's bell ring the hour at midnight, but oddly (he distinctly remembered) doing so by striking 13 times!
His claim was dismissed as a fiction of his mind, a dream or a clever ruse to save his life. Apart from the fact that the considerable distance of Windsor from London made it most unlikely that he had heard the chimes, the bizarre allegation that there were thirteen chimes seemed incredible. Consequently, the court condemned the soldier to death. But when news of the sentence reached London, and with it the sentry's assertion, Londoners confirmed his testimony. On that very night St Paul's had chimed not 12 but 13 hours! Thus, "saved by the bell," he was set free.
#
"Scab",2019,0,0,0
There are at least three suggestions why a member of a union who refuses to join in industrial action, working while his mates are on strike, is despisingly called a scab. The worker is compared with \Jscabies\j, the obnoxious skin infection. Slightly less pejorative is the explanation that this portrayal as scab applies the term used for the crust forming on sores which it is always a pleasure to remove...
In the scab has also been discovered a Latin root, which would make the worker a "shabby" person, a loathsome "scoundrel."
#
"Scab Graves",2020,0,0,0
\BA Warning to Others\b
Broken Hill miners were prominent in the fight for what they regarded their fundamental rights: adequate payment, proper living conditions, and a reduction in working hours. During the 1909 industrial dispute, they did everything within their power to make all miners toe the line. No doubt unique, and most bizarre, are the "scab" epitaphs, set up on mock graves during the industrial action.
Directed against those disobeying or interfering with the strike, they were strongly worded and must be the only derogatory epitaphs in the world. They were not placed in the cemetery but, near the home of strike-breakers, who were regarded as below contempt and, as far as the union was concerned, dead.
Typical of such "scab epitaphs" is one still preserved by the CRA, now lodged with the Melbourne University \JArchives\j. It depicts the hanging of a "scab," taking place on top of a large building, and carries as its inscription:
\ISoft as the Fading Vesper
At the breaking of the day
In Answer to the Union's Whisp
Past his Scabby life away.
Where he's gone we cannot tell
But we think the B- gone to
Hell.\i
The photograph of another mock grave of the time shows a different scene. This grave is surrounded by iron railings and has a pair of old shoes lying on it, as well as a second object, unidentifiable, but clearly displaying in block letters, SCAB. The headstone, made of wood, is seen leaning against a rough timber cross, on the vertical bar of which the pejorative word is repeated. Very explicit, indeed, is the wording on the "memorial" meant for three strike-breakers:
\ICURSED
To the Memory of
HODGE, SNELL &
WINGIE GRAY
The three Disciples
Who crawled into
BLOCK 10
MAY 3rd 1909\i
#
"Scapegoat: Origin of the Name",2021,0,0,0
Throughout history the \Jgoat\j appears to have been identified with fools and sin.
The \JBible\j taught to separate the goats from the sheep. Though we no longer, like our medieval forebears, represent the Devil in the shape of a \Jgoat\j, we still rebuke people for "acting the \Jgoat\j."
Those blamed or punished for the sins of others are known as scapegoats. This description is based on an ancient sacred rite and, originally, was not a mere \Jmetaphor\j. \JMosaic law\j decreed that on the holiest day of the Jewish year, the Day of Atonement, two he-goats had to be brought to the altar of the \JTabernacle\j. They had to be without blemish. The High Priest, by casting lots, chose one of them to be sacrificed on the spot. The other was sent into the wilderness to \Iescape\i there, symbolically carrying with it all the sins of the people.
The Book of Leviticus (Chapter XVI) describes the ritual in detailed form: "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live \Jgoat\j, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their trangressions, even all their sins. And he shall put them upon the head of the \Jgoat\j and shall send him away by the hand of an appointed man into the desert. And the \Jgoat\j shall bear upon him all their iniquities. And he shall let the \Jgoat\j \Iescape\i into the wilderness..."
An early mysterious rite thus still survives in one of our common expressions. But the omission of a single letter, which once prefixed the word, hides its original meaning. The escaped \Jgoat\j became the \Jscapegoat\j!
#
"Scepter",2022,0,0,0
The scepter has served as a sovereign's badge of office from most ancient days, though its shape has varied with time and place. It is frequently mentioned in biblical writings, was part of the regalia of Oriental monarchs, and appears in the representation of Greek gods.
Behind its present-day, merely symbolic use, a totally different past lies hidden. Though views still differ as to its original purpose, all agree that at first the staff provided a potent means of exerting authority both over nature and men.
In the scepter, an ancient, magical wand survives. This, it was said, was a branch from a sacred tree, if not of the tree of life itself, which gave those wielding it \Jsupernatural\j power to control the world.
Thus, it has been suggested that the scepter grew out of the \Ilituus,\i which Roman augurs employed in their acts of \Jdivination\j. Similarly, priests engaged in the ritual of rain-making, used such a mystical branch from the sacred oak tree.
Others have seen in the scepter the original shepherd's staff, indispensable to him for keeping his sheep together. Later, the staff proved itself as an all-purpose utensil which also could be used effectively as a weapon, a tool to help break the soil and, in the case of overseers, an instrument for the punishment of idle slaves. Small wonder that, eventually the staff became a symbol of authority.
In primitive wars the victors were always anxious to appropriate the foe's weapons, not only to disarm the enemy, but magically to secure for themselves his former strength. They thus kept and carried with them captured weapons, especially spears, as a continuous source of extra power. Eventually, the spear became the badge of victory, a telling sign of the victor's invincibility.
The captured spear lost its usefulness as a weapon and gradually was transformed into a ruler's emblem. As such it was richly embellished and finally the camouflage was so complete that the last traces of the scepter's original role - in war - were lost.
#
"Schnitzel",2023,0,0,0
Taking the meaning of schnitzel literally, it would be an exceptionally thin and small slice of meat. From the German, its name is derived from the carving of wood chips, known as \Ischnitzen.\i It is an odd association which makes the choice of its name even more surprising. The schnitzel is expected to be tender and not to remind those eating it of a piece of wood.
#
"School Howlers",2024,0,0,0
Hilarious are the numerous blunders committed by school children in their work. To relate them has proved such a source of fun that they have become a rewarding part of comedians' repertoires. "School howlers," as they were termed, are a special category in the world of errors, mistakes innocently made by children with the only effect that they make people laugh heartily. Their number is so great that only a few telling examples must suffice.
ò A class of adolescents was told to compose a letter to the local Council requesting more recreational facilities for teenagers. In her draft, one of the girls asked the Council "to provide more pleasure for teenagers in their pubic (public) areas."
ò After attending a service at church, children were requested to relate their experience in an essay. Rather critically, one pupil recorded that he had had great difficulty in hearing the preacher, as the agnostics (\Jacoustics\j) in the church were terrible.
ò A little boy, asked by his mate why he did not come to his church, explained that he belonged to another "abomination" (denomination).
ò In an essay on Johann Sebastian Bach, a schoolboy described him as "a most prolific composer" who was the father of twenty children and who, in his spare time, "practised in the attic on a spinster (spinet)."
ò Asked by the history teacher to illustrate the popularity of the Duke of Wellington, a pupil referred to his "glorious funeral" - "it took six men to carry the beer (bier)."
ò A student discussing the value of primitive art in modern studies, epitomized his view by stating that "studies of art have contributed mush (much) to \Janthropology\j."
Other "howlers" spoke of tundras as "treeless forests in \JSouth America\j" and called Genesis, the first book of the \JBible\j, "Guinesses." Sins of omission were explained as those "we have forgotten to commit."
ò One pupil, proud of his community's low rate of traffic fatalities, which he hoped would be emulated at other places, recalled that "it has been about a year since the town had a fertility."
ò A famous general was described as "a battle-scared (scarred) warrior!" In correcting the mistake, the valiant soldier was changed into a "bottle-scarred" hero.
ò Dealing with ancient history, a child related how the "Carthaginians won (!) their first defeat."
ò \JZoology\j has had its share of blunders. \JRabies\j was defined as "Jewish priests" (rabbis) and marsupials described as "poached animals."
ò Memorable, too, are specifically Australian school howlers. They include statements like "the people squatted and then grew wheat;" "there was soil erosion on the river bank until the government stepped in;" the cow usually produces more milk than its father did;" and "the people who started plantations were Europeans from America."
ò Was it a future doctor or an aspiring author who defined an appendix as a portion of a book which nobody has yet discovered to be of any use? Yet another pupil referred to the liver as an "infernal organ."
ò Asked to write in clearer English badly worded statements, a ten-year-old girl "improved" the sentence, "If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk, it should be boiled" to read, "lf the baby does not thrive on fresh milk, it should be killed." Maybe she had watched too many horrendous TV movies.
ò Paradise was explained as "what happens to you when your arms go stiff." King Solomon, certainly, would have been a much happier man if a student's account had been correct that the \JOld Testament\j monarch "apart from his many wives kept 700 porcupines (concubines)."
ò Defining the difference between a king and a president, a pupil wrote that whilst the King was the son of his father, "the president isn't."
At times, parents do not lag far behind their children in contributing to the store of howlers. An Italian migrant child had missed classes because of an attack of \Jmigraine\j. In a letter of apology, her mother explained that she was sorry Dominica has been absent from school, but "she has been having migrants, which are very painful."
#
"Scoring in Tennis",2025,0,0,0
Playing tennis, some wits have suggested, goes back to the Garden of Eden, when Eve "served" an apple to Adam: the first "fault."
Scoring in tennis, so different from all other sports, has mystified many. Its units of "15," and "60" for game, in fact, stem from "paume," the forerunner of modern tennis.
In paume, as in present-day tennis, the field was divided by a net. Each half was subdivided into 15 sections individually numbered. As still nowadays, ordinarily the ball was not permitted to bounce more than once. However, if the player could not return the ball on the first bounce, he was still allowed to do so on the second, so long as he was able to hit it into a sector of his opponent's field of a lower number. For instance, if he returned the ball from his sector 7 he had to make sure for it to land into a sector not higher than 6.
The scoring in the sequence of 15, 30, 40, and game, which tennis has also adopted from paume, fundamentally is a legacy of ancient Babylonian culture of thousands of years ago, when no one ever dreamt of a game like tennis. This introduced to the world the sexagesimal system which has left its impact in diverse ways. Babylonians believed in the cosmic significance of the figure 60 \I(sexaginta\i later in the Latin) which made man divide every hour into 60 minutes. Subdivided into quarters, it made 15 a popular unit generally.
It was for this reason that fourteenth-century \JFrance\j chose it as the basis of its monetary system. A coin was valued 60 sous. By means of an embossed cross, the coin could be divided into four quarters, each worth 15 sous. It so happened that at the very time the "game with the palm" had become a favorite pastime of the French. They played it for money, mostly for a 60 sous piece which, prior to the game, they either handed for safe keeping to a spectator friend or placed under the net. No wonder, having the beckoning prize in mind, they did not score in simple numbers - 1, 2, 3, and game - but in the 15 (sous) units for each quarter, totaling up to 60 (sous) for the game.
Maybe \Jpsychology\j played its part as well in the rather inflated scores. To gain 1, 2, or 3 points sounded not very much. But to be able with one hit to obtain a score of 15 was something worthwhile and was an extra incentive to a player.
It was a practical reason that eventually reduced the 45 score to a mere 40. In calling out the figure (whether in French, English or, for that matter, in any tongue) 40 was so much more euphonic and rolled more easily from the tongue than the ponderous 45.
That in the vocabulary of the game "love" means "nothing" is far removed from amorous considerations. Though, how this type of love on the court really started is still uncertain. There are two possible explanations. In Shakespeare's language "love" expressed "nothing," as is shown in such phrases as "a labor of love" and "neither for love nor money." The French have staked a claim here as well. The shape of the figure zero resembles the egg, which in French is called \Il'oeuf.\i On English tongues, \Il'oeuf\i soon changed into "love." Probably, this was the origin of the term.
#
"Scorpio - the Scorpion",2026,0,0,0
Fossils show that the scorpion has lived on earth for as long as 400 million years. This makes it all the more intriguing that this most ancient terrestial being (preserved in stone) is immortalized as well in the skies.
A combination of several factors gave the scorpion a unique place and meaning in the picture gallery of stars. Of all creatures in the sky, the scorpion and most of all its striking tail, is easiest to recognize. Very little imagination and inventive power was demanded of the viewer. This explains why, from earliest days, diverse cultures independently trying to identify the constellations, could not but help catching sight of "the scorpion" after which they duly called the eighth sign of the Zodiac.
It was a Greek myth which gave it special meaning for the entire Western world. And however down to earth modern man might be, he still subconsciously maintains the Greek legend when looking up into the sky.
The scorpion's elevation there was due, so says the myth, to \JArtemis\j, the queen of heaven. She wished to acknowledge in perpetuity, the scorpion's deed of having killed Orion, the mighty hunter, by its sting. It had done so at the bidding of the goddess who had wanted to punish Orion for his boast that he was superior to even the fiercest animal in stamina, strength, and speed.
The \Jconstellation\j thus is also one of the earliest monuments put up to honor a murderous act, no matter how justified. Certainly, it towers high above all later memorials of similar kind.
#
"Scotch Tape",2027,0,0,0
A mishap in the production of a new, fashionable bicolored (1926) model of a car resulted in (the naming of) Scotch tape. To ensure a neat line where the two colors met, the painters used a masking tape. Supplied by the \JMinnesota\j Mining and Manufacturing Company (the 3M - a company made up of Scottish immigrants), it served the purpose perfectly. Without effort, its adhesive side (5cm in width) could be stuck to the surface.
However, 3M soon realized that to produce the tape was too costly. To make it a paying proposition, they decided to coat not the entire tape with glue, but merely its edges. The idea proved unsuccessful as, insufficiently glued, the tape fell off and the envisaged neat edge became smudged all over. Annoyed about the mess the tape had caused to their work, the painters asked the representatives of 3M to take "this Scotch tape back to those bosses of yours and tell them to put adhesive all over it, not just on the edges." Their angry description (using the so unjustified myth of the Scotsmen's meanness) has stuck to the tape ever since.
#
"Scotch Whiskey",2028,0,0,0
Irish monks were very likely responsible for the existence of \JScotch whisky\j. When they arrived in the land of the heather to convert the Scots to \JChristianity\j, they taught them, tradition has it, the secret of a different spirit as well, one they had known in their homeland.
No doubt, the missionary monks settling in Scotland came to appreciate the special value of their "water of life," both as a nutriment and a stimulant, in a new abode which seemed so poor and dour a land.
The Scots did not deny the Irish their claim to have preceded them in distilling the precious "water." However, to save Scotch honor (the story goes), one of their poets asserted that the Irish had crested their whiskey. But they had done so, not for human consumption at all, but for truly assinine and medicinal purposes: to rub the liquid into the skin of their sick mules! It had been left to the ingenious Scots to discover the true value of the stuff and actually to start drinking it.
#
"Scroll",2029,0,0,0
Modern society, on noteworthy occasions, has retained the redundant scroll for special documents or events. Thus, some degrees or honors bestowed, are still recorded not on sheets of paper but on impressive, rolled parchment manuscripts. This explains why many a memorial carries, carved on the stone, an open scroll. Unrolled, it is often suspended from a hand, no doubt representing that of God in whose hand lies - man's entire fate.
That these stone scrolls, with their commemorative inscription, are slightly rolled up at both ends, has its own meaning. The part below the text represents the past, now "buried" as it were, whilst the furled top-section signifies the unseen future. The scroll, therefore, is not just a mason's fanciful way of beautifying a headstone, but is deeply symbolic of life and its mysteries.
#
"Scythe and Sickle",2030,0,0,0
It is easy to see how the scythe and sickle, man's earliest harvesting tools used for the cutting down of corn and grass, came to be used on tombstones as dramatic symbols of the cutting off of the strands of life.
They equally serve as a reminder of the rapid (and, on occasion, sudden) passing of life, and are responsible for the \Jmetaphor\j of death as "the grim reaper."
#
"Seamy Side",2031,0,0,0
Those seeing the seamy side of life look at it from the wrong side. It is like turning a garment inside out, displaying its seams.
#
"Season of Lent",2032,0,0,0
Lent is the period of forty lays before Easter. As the date of Easter, determined by the first full moon after the vernal \Jequinox\j, changes from year to year, the beginning of Lent varies accordingly and may fall either in March, or April.
The name Lent merely reflects the seasonal fact that at this time of the year, in the northern hemisphere, the days noticeably begin to "lengthen" \I(lenctene\i in Old English). That Lent extends over forty days commemorates the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness before embarking on his ministry. Accordingly, it is a solemn season.
In the early days of the Church people abstained totally from eating meat, eggs, milk, butter or fat, and from having any sexual relations. In addition, they were expected to avoid any other food of which they were specially fond. The prohibition of sex survives in the \Jsuperstition\j that it is unlucky to get married during Lent.
#
"Second Anniversary",2033,0,0,0
\BThe Cotton or Calico Anniversary\b
Apart from indicating the type of present to be selected to mark this occasion, the choice of the name "cotton" lends itself to a variety of symbolic interpretations. For instance:
ò Cotton is a natural substance. Two years of marriage will have taught the couple the importance of being their natural selves, and of shunning anything artificial in their relationship.
ò Just as cotton is comfortable to wear, they will have experienced a new feeling of comfort, brought about by being totally relaxed together.
ò Cotton is a hardy fibre. With all the changes married life brings, the couple's union will have proved strong. Marriage will have given them fortitude, enabling them to overcome any untoward circumstances.
ò Cotton clings easily to one's clothes. Thus, metaphorically, it symbolizes how the husband and wife now cling to each other.
Some couples might worry that once the white heat of passion of the early days has abated, their relationship might cool down too, an analogy suggested by the coolness of cotton fabric. However, they may be reassured by remembering that cotton, if ever smudged or dirtied, can be easily cleaned and restored to its original pristine state.
A happy marriage is not merely for two people to gaze lovingly into each other's eyes. It is rather for them to be looking in the same direction, with a common goal in their sight.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Initialed handkerchiefs
ò Cotton garments of every type, ranging from shirts and blouses to underwear and socks
ò Material and reels of sewing cotton
ò Tablecloth and serviettes
ò Towels, for the bathroom or the beach
#
"Second Monday in October",2034,0,0,0
\BCanadian Thanksgiving\b
Canadian Thanksgiving is very similar to its American counterpart, except that it is observed on the second Monday of October. It is traditionally a day of general thanks and, as in the United States, the main items on the dinner menu are turkey, \Jcranberry\j sauce and pumpkin pie.
The first documented Thanksgiving Day in Canada took place in 1763, when the citizens of \JHalifax\j, \JNova Scotia\j, celebrated the Treaty of Paris, which gave Canada to Britain. In \JOntario\j, Thanksgiving Day was first observed in June of 1816, to give thanks for the end of the war between \JGreat Britain\j and Napoleon.
Through a parliamentary act proclaimed in 1879, Thanksgiving became an annual holiday for Canada. Between 1921 and 1931, Thanksgiving and \JArmistice Day\j were merged and the two were celebrated on the Monday in the week in which November 11 occurred. In 1931, however, Thanksgiving Day was once again proclaimed a separate holiday, and since 1957 it has taken place in October.
\BColumbus Day\b
Columbus Day - originally celebrated on 12 October - honors the discoverer of the New World, who on this day in 1492 set foot in the \JBahamas\j. Its scope has been extended to honor all the pioneers - European and African settlers - who have helped to make America great and strong. For this reason an alternative name now used for Columbus Day is Pioneers Day.
The official celebration of Columbus Day was introduced by President Benjamin Harrison on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the landing. In a proclamation, Harrison called on all the people to cease from their toil on this day to express honor to the discoverer and to celebrate the great achievements that were subsequently attained. It was to be a day on which the youth, especially, should appreciate the patriotic duties of American citizenship and show "gratitude to divine Providence...and for the divine care and guidance with which he directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people."
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"Second Saturday in June",2035,0,0,0
\BThe Queen's Birthday\b
The British sovereign has two birthdays every year - on the real date of his or her birth and on an officially proclaimed day. This explains why, although the present queen was born on 21 April, her birthday is celebrated on the second Saturday in June.
The day was not chosen because any particular monarch was actually born then. Indeed the choice had nothing to do with the needs or convenience of the monarch. Concern for the people's enjoyment was the major reason for fixing the date in June. Because the day fell during the summer season, it was most likely that the sky would be blue and the weather pleasant, and therefore conducive to all types of outdoor events, games, and sports.
Other considerations of a practical kind also supported the new date. Traditionally, the king or queen awards titles and decorations twice annually. Honors' lists are published both on \JNew Year's Day\j and the monarch's birthday. To prevent the occasions from being too close together or, worse still, happening to fall during the same month, the middle of the year was chosen as the most feasible time to fix the monarch's official birthday.
"\JTrooping the Colour\j" forms the stirring climax of the celebrations. It attracts vast crowds. With the ever-increasing weekday traffic causing congestion in London streets, people experienced great difficulty in reaching the \JHorse Guards\j Parade off \JWhitehall\j, where the ceremony is held. To eliminate this problem, it was decided to move the celebration to a weekend - a Saturday early in June.
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"Secretary: Origin of the Name",2036,0,0,0
A secretary was so called because she was expected to keep secrets! (Of course, this applies also to male secretaries.) This was the original purpose of her employment. The name described her position of trust, now no longer recognized.
One mistake led to another, and the misconceived title gave birth to the modern "confidential secretary," an unnecessary duplication of words. If only we knew what we say.
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"Seder Nights",2037,0,0,0
The first two nights of Passover are known as \ISeder\i nights. The \JHebrew\j word relates to the prescribed "order" (or "sequence") of the service followed. It is a home celebration in which the family reads the \IHaggada,\i so called in \JHebrew\j because it contains the "story" of the Israelites' exodus from \JEgypt\j. Editions of the \IHaggada\i are often beautifully illustrated.
Numerous practices and symbolic dishes that are prepared on the Seder nights employ elements of sight, texture and taste to help people relive the events of the past.
Bitter herbs or horseradish \I(Maror)\i are a reminder of the bitter times experienced by the Israelites during the years of their bondage - and of the suffering of all who are still oppressed and deprived of their freedom.
The color and texture of a mixture prepared from grated apples, nuts, \Jcinnamon\j and wine known as \ICharoset,\i is meant to recall the bricks the Israelite slaves were forced to make, even without straw to bind the clay. Salt water is symbolic of the tears shed by Jews, and all those who are persecuted, in their suffering.
A roasted shankbone recalls the Paschal lamb. A roasted egg (still in its shell) is reminiscent of the festival offering once brought to the ancient Temple in \JJerusalem\j. Hard-boiled eggs served in a dish of salt water prior to the actual festive meal reiterate and reinforce the theme of the entire Seder service. The eggs symbolize, as they do in the Easter tradition, how something that is apparently dead can become a source of new life. It may well happen at a time when men are crying out in desperation, as history has proved.
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"See Naples and Die",2038,0,0,0
The superb beauty of Naples has been regarded as so overwhelming that, once having seen it, no other place could ever equal it. To visit any other city would be an anticlimax. This, it is generally believed, originated the adage "see Naples and die." Having experienced its splendor, there is nothing left to enjoy.
However understandable the praise, it appears odd. After all, the recollection of beauty makes it all the more precious and enriches life. Therefore there is another suggestion which recognizes in the saying a warning to visitors. At one time, typhoid and \Jcholera\j were rampant in Naples and those who had come to enjoy its sights easily fell victim to the scourges.
Many a pleasure-seeking visitor contracted venereal disease, which equally abounded in the city as a busy seaport. With \Jantibiotics\j still non-existent, the infection took its toll and, quite literally, those who had come to see Naples subsequently died. It justified and made sense of the saying.
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"Seeding in Tennis",2039,0,0,0
Who plays whom in tennis could be determined by drawing a lot and be left thereby completely to chance. It was realized that this was not the way to make games in a tournament exciting. On such occasions, it was much better to arrange the matches with forethought, avoiding having ranking players or teams meet in the early rounds.
In 1911, this system of allocation of games was first described (in the United States) as "seeding." Opinions differ as to why this particular term was chosen. Some believe that no other word could have described more adequately what was being done. In its original application in agriculture, "seeding" denoted the separation of the seeds from the straw - and was not that exactly the procedure followed in the matching of players and teams?
Others, however, deny any connection between the seeding in tennis and that practiced in the agrarian field. The term was the result of a fault, they said; not in the game but in speaking. Originally, this method was very simply called the "conceding" of a position to certain players or teams. Slovenly speech made people drop or swallow the first syllable. As the remaining "ceding" made no sense in the circumstances, it was soon confused with the well-known seeding and, sounding alike, eventually spelled that way.
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"Seersucker",2040,0,0,0
The name of seersucker is an adaptation of its Persian description as \Ishir a shakkar\i for "milk and sugar." This was possibly suggested by the cloth's original stripes which alternated in color. Its \JHindi\j version was \Ishirshaker\i which the British picked up in India.
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"Selah",2041,0,0,0
Selah is generally taken to be an almost sacrosanct \JHebrew\j word which, interspersed in the Psalms, is pronounced with great reverence. It has baffled translators, some of whom have - mistakenly - rendered it "for ever and always."
In reality, "Selah" is untranslatable. A simple musical term, it directed the leader of the ancient Temple orchestra to stop the choir from singing, for the instrumentalists to start playing an interlude and doing so with increased volume, possibly produced by the clashing of \Jcymbals\j and a fanfare of trumpets.
To read out the word Selah as part of the text, as is the present-day practice, therefore is wrong.
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"Send 'er Down Hughie",2042,0,0,0
The Australianism, "Send 'er down Hughie," as a fervent plea for rain or its continued downpour, has puzzled people. Who was Hughie? He has been identified - and not unconvincingly so - with several once well-known Australians.
One of them was Hugh Watt, a government meteorologist who certainly would qualify as having something to do with precipitation. Glasgow - born Hugh McColl was another, even more suitable candidate. Having arrived in \JAustralia\j in 1852 he pioneered irrigation in his new homeland - with real zeal and enthusiasm. His ceaseless campaign for water conservation made him not only a popular figure, but at times the butt of ridicule. To appeal to him for rain would not have been so far-fetched.
Most claims, however, link \IHughie\i with the realm of religion. Allegedly, it was the bushman's way to call on the god of rain, known as Jupiter Pluvius. Men of the Australian outback were stumped by the ancient Greek god's name. At a loss how to pronounce it, they called on him as Hughie. After all, both shared the distinct "u" - sound.
\IHughie\i has also been explained as a corruption of the \JHebrew\j \IYahveh,\i as God's name first appears in the \JBible\j.
A further tradition identifies Hughie with Hugh, a sixth or seventh century bishop of \JWessex\j in England. He was famous and revered for his successful intercessions for rain. Even after his death people continued to entreat "Hughie" to send them rain!
Yet another theory recognizes in the phrase an adaptation of \JAborigines\j' supplication to thunder, which they called \IYowie,\i mispronounced by European settlers as Hughie.
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"Senior Service",2043,0,0,0
The Royal Navy is known as the Senior Service. Most people imagine, wrongly, that the expression highlights the fact that the Navy preceded both the Army and the Air Force.
Actually, the term first became current in the 17th century during the rise of the East India Company. Many of the company's trading ships not only were better than those of the Royal Navy, but offered much higher pay. As a result, a number of officers relinquished their commission in the Navy and joined East India Company vessels which for many years were the finest even among merchant ships.
Nevertheless, compared with the Royal Navy, the East India Company's fleet was a mere newcomer. It was in recognition of this fact that the Royal Navy was spoken of first as the "Senior Service."
\BIn the Army\b
Churchill said that "the story of the human race is war. Except for brief and precarious interludes, there has never been peace in the world."
As long as can be remembered, people have fought for their lives, property, and country. The earliest monuments celebrate victories. History, to a large degree, is nothing but a record of innumerable battles, defeats, and conquests.
Military traditions and customs are the pride of every army and country. They express and reinforce the spirit and discipline of a nation and have contributed in great measure to the whole pattern of life - to the vocabulary of man, his phrases, customs, and even dress. However, in most cases, the original influence was exerted so far away and so long ago, that nowadays it is concealed in a perfect kind of camouflage.
Etymologically speaking, all \Isoldiers\i are mercenary. Their name recalls the (Latin) "money" or, originally, "salt," paid them for their services. \IPrivates\i owe their (verbal) existence to the ancient Romans as well. They were men "deprived" of rank or office.
The modern \Itank\i is camouflaged, even in its name, which was specially chosen in December 1915 during World War I to mislead the enemy and make him believe that the oblong monster, then being manufactured and assembled, were innocuous water-containers.
The Chinese have a keen sense of humor. They invented gun powder and found its best use in making fire-crackers to celebrate their grandfathers' birthdays. Similarly, nitro-\Jglycerine\j was introduced by a French chemist in 1847, not as an explosive, but as a remedy for headache!
Nothing is too costly for war. The latest inventions are first applied for defense and attack. Yet in its \Imartial\i aspect, modern war shows its primitive roots and its link with ancient superstitions, \Jpolytheism\j, and \Jastrology\j. The term martial itself is derived from Mars, the Roman god of war.
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"Sent to Coventry",2044,0,0,0
Countless visitors now go to Coventry, the famous English cathedral city, which also was the home of "Peeping Tom." At one time, however, "to be sent to Coventry" was a disgrace and a punishment, responsible for the present-day phrase. Those who are "sent to Coventry," are ostracized and cold-shouldered. No one will associate with them.
Two explanations have been proffered for the origin and meaning of the saying. At one time, it is asserted, the citizens of the city were strongly anti-militarist. They would not have any contact with the soldiers of the local garrison. A girl seen to fraternize or merely talk with any of its men was instantly shunned.
Among the worst disciplinary measures meted out to members of the army deserving punishment thus was "to be sent to Coventry." The hostile treatment given to soldiers there became known nationwide. It resulted in the phrase "to be sent to Coventry" eventually being applied generally, to anyone tabooed.
Others have linked the saying with the English \JCivil War\j in the seventeenth century. In this historic confrontation between King Charles I and parliament, Coventry was strongly anti-royalist. Supporters of the king who had been taken prisoner and found troublesome in Birmingham, were therefore sent to this Cromwellian stronghold. In Coventry they would find no friend, and be treated with disdain. Totally isolated, it was tantamount to being in solitary confinement.
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"Sentry",2045,0,0,0
A sentry is a soldier on guard whose designation shields an early error which was responsible for several interpretations of his title. These include the false claim that the "sentry" was derived from the sentinel, or the (French) "path" - \Isentier\i - he covered in the course of his duty or patrols. Equally unlikely is the further suggestions that "'sentry" was a colloquial contraction of a former "sanctuary." As a place of safety, it had served watchman as a shelter.
What really happened was an unfortunate exchange of its initial letter. This, originally, was not an "s" but a "c." The sentry's office goes back to the military organization of ancient \JRome\j which included heavy infantry groups, each counting a hundred men and therefore known as "centuries." The officers commanding them accordingly were known as "centurions." Following this tradition, the "private" in the English army (still in the eighteenth century) used to be referred to as a "private centinnel."
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"Separate the Sheep from the Goats",2046,0,0,0
For some reason or other, goats have never been regarded highly. No wonder that people are asked "not to play the \Jgoat\j." Its destructiveness might have helped in giving the animal such a bad name. A \Jgoat\j was notorious as well for its lasciviousness, its indulging in lewd copulations. This explains why the animal gave its horns to the image of the devil and why, in biblical days, on the Jewish Day of Atonement; the high priest symbolically heaped the sins of the people on the animal, for it to carry them away, escaping into the wilderness as the escapegoat, from which our word, \Iscapegoat,\i is derived.
The sheep, on the other hand, has had a predominantly good reputation. It was known for being gentle and kind - with the rare exception of the black sheep. And only the expression "sheepish" people testifies to one of its less attractive qualities.
With such background, it is not surprising that the two animals came to represent two contrasting human behavior patterns and moral attitudes: the good and the bad. When the \JNew Testament\j spoke of the final day of judgment, it foretold (Matth. 25. 32-33) how all the nations of the world would then be gathered together, for the good to be separated from the evil-doers, just as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. This judicious division, and its figurative expression, "to separate the sheep from the goats" is the origin of the still current \Jmetaphor\j.
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"September",2047,0,0,0
Though September is the ninth month of the year, its name - from the Latin \Iseptum\i - refers to it as "the seventh."
The apparent miscount is not a mistake. It is the result of man's \Jconservatism\j, his aversion to discard names, even when they no longer apply. September used to be the seventh month when, in the old calendar, the year started in March. No one cared to update the name when the calendar was reformed and the beginning of the year advanced by two months, to January.
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"Sergeant",2048,0,0,0
A sergeant proclaims - at least by his name - that he is a man chosen to "serve:" from the Latin \Iservire.\i
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"Served Under General Custer",2049,0,0,0
Custer's last stand against the Indians, who surrounded and killed him with his 260 men at Little Big Horn, has become an American legend. To have served under him was regarded as a true distinction. One soldier who did so is buried in the \JToowoomba\j Cemetery and his epitaph recalls his association with this brilliant cavalry officer, who during the \JCivil War\j had reached the rank of Major General:
\ISacred to the Memory
of
SAMUEL FOX
Who died December 9 1894
Aged 45 Years
Served under
General Custer
During the Indian Modoc War
U.S. America
Rest in Peace\i
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"Set Fire to the Thames",2050,0,0,0
To set a river on fire - prior to oil slicks - seemed an almost impossible undertaking. Nothing could describe the most vigorous pursuit of a task more vividly than to compare it with such an achievement. Romans, Frenchmen and Germans, a long time back, thus spoke of indolent people as being so slow in their work that they would not set the Tiber, the Seine and the Rhine, respectively, on fire. It therefore appears that the English phrase of identical kind, speaking of not setting the Thames on fire, was only a later version of the almost universally used \Jmetaphor\j.
And yet, in this case the Thames did not refer to the famous river at all. It must be realized that originally its name was Temze or Temse, which accounts for the (odd) pronunciation of the present-day Thames. (The "h" in the Thames did not occur until 1377.)
A temse was an Old English word for a corn sieve. If used at great speed, the friction would heat it up so much that sparks would fly, setting the sieve with its contents on fire. Masters who felt that their workers were slack and dragged their feet in doing their job, urged them on to hurry up, because in the way they were carrying on, they would never "set the temse on fire." And it was the confusion of the sieve with the river (of identical spelling then) that made the paradoxically sounding phrase so attractive that it was applied far and wide as an idiom.
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"Setting the Table",2051,0,0,0
Grace has disappeared from most meals, whether as a prayer of thanksgiving said prior to partaking of the food or as a general social attitude. However, whoever we are and whatever our belief (or disbelief), we continue to be indebted to religious custom whenever setting the table. It is yet another telling example of how even simple mores of our daily life and ordinary speech patterns are deeply embedded in a long-forgotten and rarely recognized religious tradition.
"To set the table" for a meal is an odd way to express the placing of crockery and cutlery in their correct order, ready for the food to be served and eaten. But it makes sense, if traced to the original circumstances in which the phrase was coined. Once again, we are led back to a religious environment, an ecclesiastical framework.
Originally, in secular life, people did not sit down at a table for their meals. In the refectories of monasteries, however, monks used to dine from boards which, for this purpose, were specially "set up" on trestles. The monks certainly did "set the table" for their repast.
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"Seven - a Gift from Heaven",2052,0,0,0
The belief that the seven is a lucky and mystical number is based on an early error. Ancient astronomers recognized seven "planets" in the skies. They included in this number the sun and the moon which, of course, is incorrect.
As heavenly bodies, the seven "stars" were regarded as divine, which made them sacred and luck-bringing. This concept created the seven-day week (which even in Christian countries continues to honor the celestial pagan gods). Sunday pays homage to the sun and Monday to the moon, as Saturday does to the planet Saturn.
There were other factors which gave the 7 an even more fortunate meaning and caused it to be treated with awe and respect. The early Greeks and followers of Pythagoras saw in the 7 the combination of 4 and 3 - two other significant numbers which added up to 7. Therefore its very constituents made the 7 doubly holy and the very pinnacle of good luck.
Seven had the further distinction of being a number which was completely "on its own" (indivisible). Unrelated to any other figure in the sequence of 1-10, its unequaled character bestowed a \Jsupernatural\j quality on it in the minds of people.
Seven also came to express symbolical perfection and completeness. And this is why we still speak of "the seven seas." The number was never meant to be taken literally, though people have often tried to enumerate them individually. Originally, the phrase was a figurative term to denote all the seas and oceans of the world. Rudyard Kipling popularized it by choosing \IThe Seven Seas\i as the title for a collection of poems he published in 1896. But even he then pointed out the merely symbolic meaning of the figure.
This background of celestial, astronomical, and arithmetical features rendered the 7 a mystic and sacred figure and made it play a significant part in many areas of the world from earliest days. To take an oath on the 7 made a ceremony so binding that no one would ever doubt its truth or break the promise given. That is why in the \JHebrew\j of the \JBible\j the word for "swearing" is derived from the same root as the numeral 7. Herodotus records how \JArabs\j, for the same reason, took their oaths over seven stones which they smeared with blood. It is no wonder therefore that examples abound of the use of the mystic 7.
There were the Seven Wonders of the (ancient) world. Lists of what they were have varied through the centuries. The first dates back to Antipater of Sidon in the second century B.C. Undoubtedly, the wonders were restricted to seven because of the symbolic significance of that number!
The Greeks had their seven sages. \JRome\j was built on seven hills. Noah, obeying God's word, is said to have taken seven animals of each clean species into his Ark. Most likely it was because of the mystical number that their survival was assured after the Flood. Seven days was the period necessary to be ritually purified for a cured leper.
Conspicuous were the seven lamps on the seven-branched candlestick of the Temple in \JJerusalem\j. Looted by the Romans, they portrayed this "\JMenorah\j" on the Titus Arch in \JRome\j, where it can still be seen. In his vision of the future sanctuary, the \Jprophet\j Ezekiel pointed to the seven steps that would lead up to it. When the dead son of the Sulamite woman was revived by Elisha, he rose up and opened his eyes after sneezing seven times!
The Jewish festivals of Passover and Tabernacles lasted seven days, and exactly seven weeks were counted between the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks so called because of the interval. The name of Pentecost is based on the same principle: it falls on the fiftieth day after Easter - seven times seven days later.
The seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, is the most sacred, dedicated to God. The Sabbatical year, of course, was the seventh year. One of the earliest social institutions, it stressed the dignity of the individual and the value of the soil. Debts were canceled. The soil had to lie fallow to renew its strength to grow things. The ancient Sabbatical year has now become part of academic life: for scholars to renew their knowledge!
To this very day at the Jewish solemnization of a marriage, the couple's union is "sanctified" by the utterance of the "seven benedictions."
Moslems believe in and popularized the existence of not one but seven heavens, of which the seventh was the holiest of all. It was the region of pure light and the abode of God. We still thus describe the acme of happiness by saying that we are "in the seventh heaven."
With such wealth of tradition linked with the mystic seven and all it implies, ensures, and creates, it is not surprising that in the world of the occult, the seventh child of a seventh child was regarded as endowed with special psychic power.
The value of the figure 7 thus was firmly established. And there was really no further need to confirm its all-embracing significance and to demonstrate its genuine presence in the pattern of nature itself. Yet this happened in the realm of modern science in the nineteenth century when the Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ingeniously classified for the first time the chemical elements according to their \Jatomic weight\j. The way he did so enabled him to predict correctly certain qualities of elements and to stipulate the existence of yet other (at the time still unidentified) elements. And his discoveries were due to his realization of the importance of the figure 7! By systematically arranging the elements in parallel columns of seven, he was able to achieve this tremendous feat and to prove at the same time that the value of seven was not just a human contrivance but was innate in nature!
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"Seven Day Week",2053,0,0,0
Originally, days did not have individual names and weeks did not exist. The smallest unit in the calendar was the month. When life became more complex, the convenience of shorter units of time became obvious, and the week was invented.
At first its length varied from one culture to another, from a mere four up to ten days. It was usually the interval between market days or days that were regarded as specially sacred.
The modern seven-day week comes from ancient \JBabylonia\j. Babylonian astronomers - among the first in the world - had identified in the sky what they called the seven "planets." They believed these to be divine celestial bodies which guarded and influenced life. Seven thus became a holy number to them, symbolic of completion. And seven days completed the week!
The Hebrews acquired the seven-day week from the Babylonians. No record has done more for its adoption than the biblical story of Genesis which tells how, after six days of creation, God rested from his work on the seventh day - ever since known as the Sabbath.
The Hebrews did not give individual names to the seven days of their week. They merely counted the position of each after the Sabbath calling Wednesday, for instance, "the third day," and Thursday "the fourth."
The Egyptians introduced the practice of calling days by particular names. They chose for them the names of the seven planets, in which they included the sun and the moon.
The Romans followed the Egyptian example and, when they invaded and occupied northern Europe, they introduced their names of the days. The Roman system was never abandoned, although the \JAnglo-Saxons\j soon replaced most of the Roman divinities with the names of equivalent Norse gods.
The days of the week thus have their origins in ancient myth and \Jastronomy\j. Like the names of the months, they have remained unchanged over many centuries and no day passes by without modern man paying unconscious tribute to a figure or power in which he no longer believes.
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"Seven-branched Candlestick",2054,0,0,0
The seven-branched candlestick known as the \IMenorah\i has been the symbol of \JJudaism\j for thousands of years, ever since the days of \JSinai\j. It speaks of the divine light permeating all existence. Most of all, the \JMenorah\j signifies the all-importance of a life inspired by God. Displayed on a monument, it recalls how the deceased could truly say that God had been "a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (Psalms 119, 105).
The choice of seven lights has been interpreted in several ways. It was related to the seven planets in the sky, which made it a "heavenly" figure.
Seven was the ancient figure denoting completeness, hence it indicated perfection. It recalled the seven patriarchs of the human race from Adam to Job and the seven days of Creation. \JMysticism\j taught the existence of seven celestial spheres through which the divine spirit descended to man and through which man's soul ascended to God, finally in death to meet him "face to face."
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"Seven-year Itch",2055,0,0,0
The popular idea of a "seven-year" itch," when spouses seem to be tempted to have extramarital affairs, can be traced to the belief that a personality change occurs every seventh year.
Less convincing is the "diagnosis" which associated the alleged phenomenon with a troublesome irritation it took seven years to clear up.
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"Seventh Anniversary",2056,0,0,0
\BThe Woollen Anniversary\b
Seven has been regarded as a mystical, if not sacred figure, which in itself completes a circle. As with the 7th day of the week, the 7th year of marriage demands special observance.
Wool is durable as true love. Love should not be subject to what has become known as the "seven-year itch," with its accompanying threat to loyalty and fidelity. Wool is also soft to the touch. A loving couple knows how to give each other comfort, even when times are rough.
\IThe days that make us happy make us wise.\i
John Masefield
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Woollen garments, such as gloves or socks, or a cap, jumper, cardigan, or dressing gown
ò A decorative throw rug for the house or car
ò Blankets
ò A small carpet
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"Shaking Hands",2057,0,0,0
Suspicion and stark fear are the source of the apparently harmless and polite gesture of shaking hands.
People once were haunted by the many dangers which threatened them both from beasts and other men. You could trust no one. Thus, in a spirit of self-defense, men moved about well armed. Primitive man carried a club and more civilized man his sword.
Meeting with a stranger aroused immediate suspicion. Neither man knew the other's intention. Four possible reactions offered themselves. Both men could turn and make their escape without waiting to find out what might happen. They could stand their ground and fight. Grasping their weapon all the more firmly, they could proceed on their way, perhaps giving each other the widest possible berth. Or, they could remain peaceful and, perhaps, become friends.
To do that they first had to make sure that there was no possibility of attack. That is why they laid down their weapons or kept their hands well away from them, displaying their empty palms. But to be doubly sure, and to prevent the other man from suddenly grabbing his sword, they clasped hands firmly.
The hearty handshake, therefore, did not in the beginning show friendship but distrust. Nor did the customary use of the right hand originate by chance. It was a precaution to immobilize the other man's weapon hand.
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"Shambles",2058,0,0,0
Things "in shambles" have a story all their own to tell. Originally, the shambles from the Saxon \Iscamel\i - referred to a small "bench." This was soon associated, and then identified, with the meat butchers displayed on it. And the street in which they thus offered their wares became known as "shambles," a name still retained in many an English town as a street name, though no one nowadays remembers why!
People's vivid imagination linked the benches laden with meat with its production. That is how eventually shambles came to denote a scene of slaughter of any type or, less bloodily, a place in great disorder.
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"Shamrock on a Gravestone",2059,0,0,0
The shamrock, a distinctive symbol of the Irish, has been linked with St Patrick, Ireland's patron saint. When trying to teach the "natives" the Christian faith, so the story goes, he encountered great difficulty in making them understand the doctrine of the Trinity.
To ease his task, he used as an illustration the shamrock, the plant growing in such abundance in Irish fields. From the very beginning, he told the converts, God had implanted the message of Trinity in the very soil of their country, as the shamrock's three leaves represented "God the Father, the Son, and the \JHoly Spirit\j."
The national significance of the shamrock was confirmed by another tradition, according to which the plant had the magic power to repel snakes. Was not St Patrick reputed to have cleared Ireland of the scourge of snakes? No doubt he had done so with the aid of the shamrock!
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"Shaping of Eyebrows",2060,0,0,0
Eyes do not only see but are seen as well. They reveal their owner's thoughts and feelings perhaps more clearly than any other part of the body. A mere glance can convey a message of love or hatred, scorn or encouragement. At times some people look daggers, others shoot arrows of love; and we all know the person who cannot look one "straight in the eye."
Sight is one of man's most precious gifts. Its mystery has fascinated the human mind from earliest days. To preserve and protect the eye, therefore, has always been a natural instinct. This was once reinforced by the ancient belief that the soul of man rests in his eye.
That is how paint and razor were first applied as a \Jsupernatural\j device. A certain shape of the eyebrow and a definite color, so people believed, would ward off evil. And when, in the course of the evolution of civilization, paint and razor were no longer used magically, they were employed for medical purposes.
The make-up of the eye was considered efficacious against disease and \Jblindness\j. People assumed that eye-paint was a defense against flies and infection. It was described as good for sight and a means to stop bleeding.
Only third in importance and chronological order were reasons of beauty. Eventually these outweighed all other considerations. Women realized that the eye could draw near and bewitch the male. It dominated the face and, in no small measure, could render it ugly or enticing. Thus, anything that would enhance its beauty was good and right.
Tastes differ and continuously change. What is fashionable and refined to one generation is decried as cheap and unseemly by the next. However, modes of make-up have repeated themselves time and again.
Eyes have been called the signature of character and it was even believed that fate was written there for those who were able to decipher it. The appearance of the eyes much depends on the shape of the brows. No wonder, therefore, that these were given special attention. High, eminent and unconcealed, they showed part of the mind within. Soon this was thought to be their only function!
Eyebrows that touched each other, for instance, were once viewed with admiration or fear. Goethe described them as an expression of sensuality. Others saw in them an indication of arrogance and pride. In medieval times, a man whose brows touched each other was marked as a \IWerewolf\i or vampire, or fated to die a bachelor.
Not surprisingly, women refused to accept their natural brows as final. They examined them and manipulated the shape with razors, tweezers and pencil, in search of the character they wished to show. A little adjustment, paint and powder, they found, could work wonders.
To shave eyebrows off altogether served an important purpose - it prevented recognition. No one could now see a woman's true thoughts. But then, and not least, it also gave her a sphinx-like appearance, producing an expressionless mask. The very enigma of the face so created, served as a magnet to men who, thus baffled, were anxious to penetrate the screen of inscrutability.
One's eyes express individuality. Even if only slightly so, they make women look different. But we live in an age of mass production and a love of crowds. Individuals count little. To be just like our neighbor is a commonly held ideal, greatly fostered by commercial concerns. To shave off one's eyebrows and replace them with the latest and last general shape, half-moon or straight, thin or tapering, serves well in mass producing the common woman. This, too, is an expression of character: not only of a person but of an age.
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"Shavuot: the Feast of Weeks",2061,0,0,0
\BThe Jewish Celebration of Revelation\b
The Feast of Weeks - \IShavuot\i in \JHebrew\j - was so called because it followed seven "weeks" after Passover. Celebrating the revelation on \JMount Sinai\j, the giving of the Ten Commandments, Shavuot is the birthday of the Jewish religion.
On Shavuot, too, the Jew expresses thanks for the blessings of nature, this time for the beginning of the wheat harvest in the Holy Land. Synagogues are decorated with flowers and plants.
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"Shells on Gravestones",2062,0,0,0
To place shells on graves or to use them as a motif on a headstone is a worldwide custom.
In pagan myth, the shell was regarded as a source of life. \JAphrodite\j, the Greek goddess of love and fertility - later to become the Roman Venus - was born from sea \Jfoam\j. She then sailed in a shell to the shore.
Likewise, mourners hope, and express by the \Jsymbolism\j of the shell, that the dead buried in the grave, after a safe journey to the unknown shore of life beyond, will embark on a new and everlasting existence.
In its shape, the shell closely resembles the pudendum, the female genitals, which are the gateway of life. A shell thus symbolized the source and basis of all existence, fertility, and reproduction.
Looked at superficially and merely from the outside, a shell is hard and lifeless. However, on the inside, it is soft and vibrantly alive. The frozen features of the dead, equally, are like a shell. On the other side of death, in the beyond - eternal life awaits them.
Shells on a grave, therefore, in whichever form, point to death as being merely a gateway to renewal and to a higher level of consciousness.
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"Sheol",2063,0,0,0
The early \JHebrew\j concept of the abode prepared for the dead, referred to as \ISheol,\i is very vague. Sheol itself is a very obscure term. All authorities agree that it stems from an Assyrian notion; but which one has been the subject of controversy. A great variety of suggestions have been made. One links the \JHebrew\j Sheol with Assyrian roots describing a kind of "chamber" \I(shilu),\i a "hollow" structure, or the act of "asking," which would point to Sheol as a court of scrutiny and investigation. Yet another derivation discovered in Sheol the Assyrian "West" \I(shillan).\i If correct, this would make Sheol the very first example ever of referring to death as "going west."
With such diversity of interpretation, it is no wonder that English translations have equally given Sheol a great variety of appearances: it has been shown as "a pit," "a grave," or - misleadingly - "hell."
Sheol was situated beneath the earth. It offered a dark and gloomy sort of existence, as if in a very inactive semi-consciousness. The residents had lost all concern for life and the ability to feel and to think. They were more "shadow" than real. No one was exempted from having to go there, once death had struck. However, on special occasions the deceased was given "leave" and could return to earth - temporarily!
Rules and regulations were completely democratic and no one was able to pull strings. Certainly, there were no class distinctions. Irrespective of the influence they had wielded on earth, their wealth or poverty there, now only their way of life counted. The good were rewarded and the evil were punished.
The \JHebrew\j Sheol must have been in the hands of early "developers." To start with, it seemed to have been the only region "out of bounds" for God. Even the most righteous who was confined to its precincts and was anxious to contact God, could not do so. God alone was refused admission. However, soon the view changed. God was thought to be able to assert his power in Sheol as well and to manifest himself even in that dark and dismal netherworld.
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"Sherlock Holmes' Hat",2064,0,0,0
Almost a trademark of Sherlock Holmes is his deerstalker hat. He never wore one. Conan Doyle did not mention it even once in the four novels and fifty-six stories he wrote about the Baker Street detective. In fact, it would never fit in with the Holmes he created who, as a man of propriety, strictly adhered to established custom. Deerstalker caps belonged to the country but not to a city-dweller.
Sherlock Holmes' cap was his very own, designed by the detective himself and distinctly differed from the traditional deerstalker. The mistake can be traced to Sidney Paget, the illustrator of the \IStrand Magazine.\i He was partial to the deerstalker, in which he could be seen from time to time walking the streets of London. Because of his fondness for the cap, in some of his drawings Paget made Holmes - wrongly - wear it as well, and this created the fallacy!
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"Sherry: the History",2065,0,0,0
It has taken a long time for sherry to become what it is today. The name of this Spanish product would confuse even the most sober. It has no relationship to the beverage itself which was originally a still white wine. Experiencing many a \Jmetamorphosis\j, it perpetuates the city in whose region it was first cultivated, situated 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of modern Seville and near to Cadiz.
Established as a Roman settlement in honor of Julius Caesar, it was called \Iurbs Caesaris,\i the "city of Caesar" or, in brief, \ICaesarea.\i When the Moors occupied the town, they did not change its name, but in their accent it sounded totally different. Caesarea became Sheres. History so willed it that it was located just on the frontier of the Moorish kingdom. Christian Spaniards to the north thus referred to it, in their tongue, as Xeres de la Frontera, "Xeres on the border." When, in 1264, Alfonso X conquered the Moorish territory, and with it the city, he retained its name. But since it was no longer a border town, Alfonso X rightly dropped its "frontier," whilst rendering its remaining part as "Jerez."
The English, taking a great liking to the drink, imported it to their country. In the process, however, they misinterpreted its historic, geographical name. To their ears the Spanish pronunciation of the former Arab name which had replaced the Latin one, sounded very much like Heb-reys. They mistook its final "s" for the English plural. Pronouncing the name as sherries, they erroneously imagined therefore that as a single drink it would be "sherry." That is how, by mere mistake, the modern aperitif came into existence.
It is an intriguing tale of a drink, which reflects the changes of history and the effect of errors produced by a confusion of tongues. Whoever would suspect the presence of Julius Caesar in every sherry?
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"Shibboleth",2066,0,0,0
Shibboleth is a most fateful word. Though used today merely for a principle or characteristic which distinguishes a particular class of people or members of a party from another, once it determined whether a man was going to live or die.
It was first applied in biblical times on a specific historical occasion on the shores of the River Jordan. When the Ephraimite army had been routed by the Gileadite forces, their remnant ran for their lives. Knowing that safety beckoned on the other side of the river, they tried to cross it. However, Jephthah, the Gileadites' leader, had anticipated their move and stationed guards on all the fords of the Jordan.
As in those early days uniforms were still unknown, it was difficult to differentiate between friend and foe, making it all the harder to identify the fugitives. A linguistic peculiarity on the part of the defeated forces came to the aid of the victors. The Ephraimites spoke with a distinct accent. As many people nowadays cannot produce the guttural sound of the Scottish loch and the Chinese change the "r" into an "l," so they were unable to voice the "sh." Well aware of the Ephraimites' speech impediment, the sentries stopped everyone wanting to cross the Jordan. If he asserted to be a Gileadite, to verify his claim, they asked him to repeat after them shibboleth, the \JHebrew\j for an "ear of corn." If he was a fugitive, he pronounced the word sibboleth. His tongue gave him away and he was killed on the spot.
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"Shifty-eyed Person",2067,0,0,0
It is so easy to misjudge a person. A simple habit of his may mislead people and make them draw wrong conclusions as to his character. A frequent victim is the man or woman who cannot look one straight in the eyes. Condemned as "shifty-eyed," he or she is regarded as someone not to be trusted.
There is no foundation for this "character assassination." Some people, out of mere shyness, may look down whilst talking to you. Crooks and con men have made good use of this misconception and, when offering their scheme cunningly - to create an impression of candor and honesty - will purposely look you straight in the eye.
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"Shingles and Nerves",2068,0,0,0
Shingles were already known to the ancient Greeks. They referred to them as \Izona,\i obviously because the rash appeared on specific "zones" of the body. A very painful condition, it has been misunderstood and been subject to various misconceptions.
A popular fallacy believed that if the rash completely encircled the waist, shingles would prove fatal. "It kills if it encircles," wrote first-century Pliny the Elder.
Even more general is the erroneous notion that shingles were caused by a nervous condition. The mistake is the result of a linguistic confusion. Shingles are an acute viral infection, brought on by the same virus as \Jchickenpox\j. This affects the ganglia of certain nerves, manifesting itself by \Jinflammation\j and skin eruption (blisters) along their tracts. Shingles therefore concern "nerves" in the anatomical sense, but not in any psychological connotation. One need not be a nervous person to suffer from shingles, though suffering from shingles might well make one nervous.
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"Ship Inn",2069,0,0,0
A "Ship Inn" situated at the seaside would be a welcome invitation to sailors. But to find a tavern of that name away from the sea, in a Cheshire village (at Styal), has rightly made people wonder. Could it not be compared with the existence of an admiralty in land-locked \JSwitzerland\j? Its name, too, is the result of mishearing. In the \Jdialect\j of the region, shippen or shippon was a cowshed and that was originally the tavern's name. Cowsheds, certainly, were plentiful in that part of the country, and for an inn to be so called was most appropriate.
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"Ship on a Gravestone",2070,0,0,0
A ship depicted on a gravestone does not mean that the buried person was a sailor or died at sea. A much more general symbol, the ship indicates that the deceased has safely reached his destination - the divine realm. He has weathered all storms and, henceforth, has nothing to fear.
The ship is reminiscent of Noah's Ark, which safely floated on the surging waters, whilst the rest of the world was drowned by the Flood. Early Christian theologians compared the Church with a ship.
Sailing through all perils, it carried the faithful to salvation. The dead, likewise, as a loyal member of his faith, was resting now securely under divine protection and was sure of his soul being saved. The same theological concept - and not any architectural similarity - explains why the central space in a church is called \Inave,\i a term derived from the Latin word for "ship."
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"Ship's Bell",2071,0,0,0
A ship's bell is looked upon with almost reverential awe and considered so precious that it is preserved even after the ship has been broken up. This suggests that the bell once had a purpose other than merely sounding the hour and calling sailors out of their bunks to duty.
This assumption is reinforced by the fact that, after all, the bell could not be heard in the bowels of a ship nor could it be imagined that sailors would wake up each time the bell was sounded assiduously to count the number of its strokes, to ascertain whether their turn had come to go on watch. Actually, they are called on deck by word of mouth or - a whistle.
Originally the bell was used to repel the nefarious forces of the ocean which followed ships, according to popular belief, waiting for an opportunity to harm or destroy them. But they could not endure a loud, clanging noise. Hearing it, they would scatter far and wide.
Horsebells and those that once were attached to the hem of the High Priest's cloak initially served the same purpose - to scare away demons.
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"Ship's Propeller - John Leys",2072,0,0,0
A huge ship's propeller blade is a fitting memorial to John Leys, a foreman engineer at Mort's Dock, Balmain, Sydney. He died on 11 October 1883. The monument was originally erected by his fellow workers on his grave in the Old Balmain Cemetery. When, in 1941, this was converted into a park, the Mort's Dock \JEngineering\j Company had the monument transferred to Camperdown Cemetery.
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"Shoes on Table",2073,0,0,0
That it is unlucky to place shoes on a table is a \Jsuperstition\j linked with an ancient custom of putting a new pair of shoes on a coffin. The table was made of wood and so was the casket. The one would bring into the house the other. Moreover, the only time shoes were actually put on a table was when dressing a corpse for burial. The twofold association made shoes on a table an omen of death.
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"Shooting Stars",2074,0,0,0
Anything out of the ordinary puzzles man. The sight of a brightly-lit heavenly body traversing the night sky and then apparently falling to earth fired the imagination of every people and race.
They did not have any scientific explanation of the phenomenon. Now known to be "cosmic junk," comets or meteors were not thought to be of material substance at all, but a divine communication. From heaven above, God was sending a soul to animate a child about to be born. Or, going in the opposite direction, the light crossing the sky was a soul ascending, having either just left a dying body or having been released from \Jpurgatory\j.
Moslems, on the other hand, believed that a "falling star" was Azrael's summons to death.
Whatever it was and whichever way it went, the streak of light was seen as a link with the heavenly realm. Therefore to make a wish whilst it was visible would ensure divine fulfillment.
Superstitions are hard to uproot. When in 1807 a professor of Yale University, USA, claimed to have finally proved that the "shooting stars" were meteorites falling from the sky, Thomas Jefferson - then president of the United States - is said to have remarked that he would "rather believe that a Yankee professor would lie than that stones fall from heaven."
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"Shotgun Wedding",2075,0,0,0
In former days, for a girl to give birth to an illegitimate child used to stigmatize the entire family. Therefore, a man who had made a girl pregnant was honor-bound to marry her. Because he often did so only at the very last moment possibly is one reason why the enforced solemnization of the marriage is called a "shotgun wedding." It is "celebrated" in a hurry and under duress.
More dramatic is another interpretation of the explosive terminology. A man not willing to do "the right thing" by the girl was made to do so by her concerned father, anxious to protect his daughter's reputation. At the nuptials, he stood by with a shotgun at the ready, just in case the reluctant bridegroom and father-to-be might try to make a getaway at the last moment. It was indeed - and very realistically so - a shotgun marriage.
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"Shower Party",2076,0,0,0
Apart from the many substantial items a young couple need to establish a home, there are countless small things, equally necessary. Costing not much individually, they soon add up. To help the bride in obtaining them is the desire of those wishing her well. Nevertheless to give her insignificant gifts, however useful, might cause offense. Jointly done, it becomes a welcome presentation. Neighbors and friends thus would "shower" a bride with small, but essential tokens. Thoughtfully chosen, these were not only symbolic of their affection and good wishes, but very practical.
Tradition believes that the shower party started in Holland. A girl was deeply in love with a miller who though himself poor, was known for his compassion which made him give away flour to the needy, something he could hardly afford to do. The girl's father objected to the marriage because the man owned so little. In fact, he refused to give his daughter a dowry, should she go ahead with the plan.
The couple ignored his threats. When the miller's friends heard of it, though themselves having little, each brought a small but useful gift to the girl's home prior to the wedding. They showered her with linen, kitchen utensils, and all kinds of household goods, and this, it is said, was the first "shower." That the story might not be mere fiction is suggested by the fact that, early on, the British referred to the bridal shower as a "Dutch party."
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"Shrove Tuesday: Origin of the Name",2077,0,0,0
Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the long fast of Lent. Its name recalls how on this day the faithful confessed their sins and did penance for them. This act of "confession and absolution" used to be referred to in archaic English as "being shriven" - hence the "Shrove" in Shrove Tuesday.
Being sorry for one's sins, however, was only part of what the day was all about. Shrove Tuesday had a very joyful side as well, as is evidenced by the variety of other names, among them Pancake Tuesday, \JCarnival\j, and \JMardi Gras\j, by which it is known.
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"Siamese Twins: Origin of the Name",2078,0,0,0
To compare an indissoluble attachment with that of \JSiamese twins\j, oddly and regrettably goes back to sensational displays of freaks of nature. It was coined in the United States to promote sideshows exploiting the unfortunate fate of two brothers.
Born in Siam, present-day \JThailand\j, in 1811, Chang and Eng were twins, the sons of a Chinese father and a mother who was half-Chinese and half-Thai. They were born joined by a ligament at their breastbones.
Sadly, in more senses than one, jointly they grew up, and engaged in the poultry business till, dramatically, their lives changed. While on a visit to \JBangkok\j, a merchant discovered them. He immediately realized their commercial value and persuaded their mother to let him take care(!) of them. He took Chang and Eng, then 18 years old, to \JBoston\j. From there they were made to tour the whole of the United States. Exhibited as freaks of nature by P.T. Barnum in his circus, they were billed as "the \JSiamese Twins\j." And it was this advertisement which coined the term!
Becoming naturalized American citizens, they adopted the name of Bunker. In 1846, they married two sisters, sleeping in a bed for four. They were to father 22 children, of whom 20 were born normal and two deaf mutes.
Their fame and publicity did not make Chang and Eng happy. Though twins, they were totally different in character. They often quarreled. There were personal problems they had to face. While one brother was a teetotaller, the other became an alcoholic. For long periods of time, they did not speak to each other, which made them truly silent partners. Oddest of all was their decision to have separate homes, in reality an impossibility and a problem solved by living in each alternately. No doubt, they must have been the most peculiar foursome that has ever existed.
On January 17, 1874, at the age of 63, the brothers died within three hours of each other. Their sad fate has become history, hardly remembered by anyone. But, paradoxically and abstrusely, the expression "\JSiamese twins\j," born out of their misfortune (and its commercialization), has become synonymous with the closest possible friendship.
Chang and Eng were not the original \JSiamese twins\j, though the first to be so called. The earliest record of twins of their kind anticipates them by some 700 years. It goes back to the twelfth century to the English village of Biddenden, Kent, which makes their name even more paradoxical. The first known \JSiamese twins\j thus were not indigenously Thai, but British! Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, born c. 1100, were joined at their shoulders and hips. When at the age of 35 one of the twins died, her sister was advised that, to save her own life, the dead body had to be surgically removed from her side. She refused. Together they had come into this world, she said, and together they would depart. Within six hours, she joined her sister in death.
The "Biddenden Maids," by which name they became known, are remembered annually in their village by a special dole distributed among the poor, and cakes baked in the twins" honor carrying the impression of their figures.
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"Sideburns",2079,0,0,0
Sideburns are not what they seem. In fact, in one aspect they are reversed. Their name perpetuates the famous \JCivil War\j General Ambrose E. Burnside, the one-time commander of the Union Forces. He grew and popularized this particular type of mutton chop whiskers. Called after him, they became known as burnsides. Their eventual change of "sides," so to speak, had no military significance but was the result of common sense. As the outstanding beard sprouted mainly on the sides of the face, to call them sideburns made so much more sense. Nevertheless, whichever way, their name continues to honor the general.
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"Sidney or Sydney",2080,0,0,0
People observe meticulously the difference of spelling between Sidney and Sydney. They imagine that it must have some fundamental reason or meaning. There is none in fact. Written either way, both Sydney and Sidney originated from the contraction of a third-century French saint's name - St Dennis. The variation developed in the early days of the printing press, when typesetters frequently interchanged the "i" and the "y."
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"Signet Ring",2081,0,0,0
Signet rings had several features which combined to render them truly potent in man's battle against mischievous forces, and to make them a preservative of good luck. Certainly, they were first worn (round the finger, the arm, or near the heart) not as an ornament, nor as a sign of dignity or some ever-ready die to validate documents and decrees with a seal. Their original purpose was magic. A signet ring was an amulet of supreme power, received by three inherent features: the precious material of which it was made, its magic circle, and the sacred name or inscription it bore.
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"Significance of the Yule Log",2082,0,0,0
Yuletide is an alternative name for the season of Christmas. This name was first used for a pre-Christian feast - the Scandinavian celebration of Juul - which was observed at the same time of year. The Juul, meaning a wheel, represented the annual (apparent) revolution of the sun. At Yuletide the sun was at its very lowest, but would, hopefully, come back. The yule log was a magical source of much-needed fuel for the sun, and subsequently symbolized the sun's light, warmth and life-giving power. Another story has an Anglo Saxon and Gothic origin for "yule," which supposedly referred to the ale drunk at that time.
\JChristianity\j adopted the Yule log and it became customary to place it on the hearth on Christmas Eve. It was kept burning there for at least twelve hours, its glow adding extra warmth to the home and enhancing the atmosphere of the festival. Strict rules had to be followed in everything pertaining to the log. It could never be purchased: it had to be received as a gift, be part of a tree grown on one's own property or just be picked up. It had to be kindled with a fragment of the previous year's log which had been specially preserved for this purpose, and its fire was never to be permitted to go out by itself.
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"Silent Night",2083,0,0,0
This favorite Christmas hymn originated by accident. It was created for an emergency, on the spur of the moment, and owes its existence to church mice!
On Christmas Eve 1818, Father Josef Mohr, the priest of the Austrian village of Oberndorf, was preparing his church for the midnight Mass. To his consternation, he discovered that the organ was out of order. Looking for the cause, he found that part of its leather bellows had been eaten away by mice. Time was too short to have the damage repaired.
Father Mohr felt that the service would lose much of its beauty and warmth if there were no music. Something had to take the place of the organ. He had written a Christmas poem which he now took to Franz Gruber, the local schoolmaster, who was also an amateur composer and, like himself, played the \Jguitar\j. Mohr asked him whether he could quickly set this poem to music so that it would be ready that night. He should do so for two solo voices to be accompanied by guitars. Gruber gladly obliged. It took him only a few hours to compose the tune of "Silent Night, Holy Night," which was sung for the first time on the very night of its rapid composition by the two men in that little village church.
"Silent Night" captivated the hearts of many Christians, far beyond Oberndorf. The renowned Zillertal Choir sang the hymn at recitals all over the country, making it popular nationwide and, eventually, throughout Europe. Almost 100 years later, Bing Crosby gave it world fame.
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"Silhouette: Origins of the Name",2084,0,0,0
Not infrequently, an appointment as treasurer or minister of finance has not been an easy one. Their task of balancing a nation's budget, often implied the imposition of increased or additional taxes. A Frenchman filling the office in the eighteenth century experienced this very fate. Almost paradoxically, it gained him world renown and caused him - without his wish - to make a personal contribution to art and the vocabulary of all nations.
╔tienne de Silhouette was the French minister of finance, known as "controller-general" [of the economy], for just over eight months in 1759. During this short period, he greatly antagonized the people by the introduction of measures which considerably reduced their living standards. New levies raised by him included a special \Jpoll tax\j on bachelors and a consumption tax. On the other hand, he cut government pensions. His ensuing unpopularity, in fact, led to his premature resignation.
To express their dislike of the man who had lowered their lifestyle and wealth so much and, simultaneously, to ridicule him people used his very name as a byword for niggardliness and diminution of substance. They referred to it as being "according to Silhouette" (α la Silhouette). New expressions, now and then, experience a strange fate. It was the case with this phrase coined to voice disaffection. Just at that time, it had become fashionable to replace, or at least supplement, expensive portraits painted in oil by shadow drawings. Comparatively inexpensive, they showed merely the outline of the figure. They seemed as parsimonious as the treasurer. What better way than to call them silhouettes?
On the other hand, it has been suggested that those pictures were so designated because making them was one of Silhouette's hobbies. Another theory claims that though he himself did not create them, he liked them so much that he owned a large number, which he displayed both in his office and his castle. This made visitors soon call them by his name.
Cynically, it has also been said that the name of the silhouette reflected the minister's short period in office. It, too, was like a passing shadow, a silhouette!
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"Simchat Torah",2085,0,0,0
\B"The Rejoicing of the Law"\b
Immediately after Succot follows a final festival, appropriately called the "Feast of Conclusion." It is a joyful conclusion to the extended season of holy days. It is traditionally a two-day festival which, however, Reform Jews combine into one.
On its second day, separately called "the Rejoicing of the Law" \I(Simchat \JTorah\j),\i the annual cycle of the reading from the \ITorah\i (the "Law") is completed, and then recommenced. There must be no pausing in the learning of God's word.
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"Simple Beginnings of Curling",2086,0,0,0
Scotland, that beautiful country of heather, lochs, and staunch men, had another grim winter. As usual, all the crofters' work had come to a stop. The fields were as hard as rock, and many a plough was frozen to the furrow. The lochs, tarns, ponds, and streams were covered with ice. Everything was at a standstill.
The men were at a loss what to do with themselves when, on the spur of the moment, an ingenious fellow loosened a rock from a river bank (or was it out of a field?) and casually hurled it across the icy surface of the stream. He was so delighted when it slid along fast and smoothly that he repeated the performance. Others who had watched him soon began to imitate his throws. The innate spirit of competition then made them try to out-distance each other in throwing stones along the frozen surface. Eventually, they put on the ice a distant mark that they tried to hit with the stone, or "draw" as near as possible to it. Some players managed to propel their stone in such a dexterous manner that it either knocked an opponent's stone out of its position or "promoted" (i.e., knocked into a better position) a stone belonging to his own team.
Further to advance their game, the players improved the rough rocks with which nature had provided them, by chipping these into better shape and polishing their bases. All that was needed now for the game to develop was an agreement on rules.
An unplanned pastime thus evolved into a new sport. Friends formed regular teams that met in contest and then, joining together, challenged a neighbouring hamlet in hurling missiles of granite across the ice.
That is how, with a little imagination, the beginnings of \Jcurling\j could (and, indeed, have been) reconstructed, more so as there is no historical evidence of its origin.
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"Sinecure",2087,0,0,0
A clergyman's duty used to be aptly described as the care of souls. But strange things happen; people find ingenious ways of evading their duties - and so indeed, once at least, did men of the cloth.
In medieval times, there were occasions when a minister might be specially favored by being given an ecclesiastical appointment which carried a good stipend but no work. His office was nominal only, and his duties were carried out by a "vicar" whose very title, at that time, publicized that he solely acted as a "delegate."
The clergyman himself might not even reside in his parish. His position was thus known as a \Ibeneficium sine cura,\i Medieval Latin for a "benefice without the care (of souls)," finally contracted to \Isinecure.\i
The ecclesiastical malpractice was officially discontinued in 1840. But "sinecures" - paid appointments or offices entailing a minimum of work - have not lost their attraction. No longer part of church - life, they are now often of a political nature: "jobs for the boys," with no work but lots of pay.
#
"Sinister Side of Life",2088,0,0,0
Ours is a right-minded, i.e. a right-oriented world. It has been so from almost the very beginning. Only in recent times - in an effort to rectify any type of (unbalanced) discrimination - have thought and consideration been given to the minority of (left-handed) people who differ.
It all began as a physiological fact. Man learned to use his right hand which, either by cause or effect, was the stronger one. Even stone-age men must thus have clubbed down each other "dexterously." The right side of (most) men was where their strength lay. It was only natural that evil forces, and particularly the devil, would look for man's weak "spots." Therefore they positioned themselves on man's left. They knew that they were safer there and would be more successful in launching an attack from that side.
That is how \Isinister,\i originally the innocuous Latin word for "left", eventually assumed its unfortunate connotation in modern tongues to describe all that is ominous, evil, and foreboding.
For instance, there is no doubt that this was one of the reasons why ancient augurs, when looking into the future (by viewing the flight of birds, the drift of clouds or the general lay of things such as the entrails of slaughtered animals) always regarded a tendency towards the left as an indication of coming misfortune.
Plato and Aristotle added another significant explanation. Traditionally the left had been identified with the West, a custom still maintained on all maps. But as it was the side of the setting sun, it also was seen as the site of departing good fortune. Vanishing light and absence of strength combined to make the left doubly evil and vulnerable. It is not surprising therefore that such a tradition deeply and permanently influenced man's view on life. Some superstitious customs and suspicious attitudes observed today are really "left-overs" of the "sinister" past.
The superstitious person who has accidentally spilled salt will take immediate remedial action to cancel out any unfortunate after-effect by throwing a pinch of salt over his left shoulder. He does so for a variety of significant reasons. As the result of the "upsetting'" incident, the devil is about to pounce on him. But being a most cunning creature, he will do so not only from the rear where he cannot be seen, but also from the left - the weaker side.
Salt is most loathsome to the devil. Everything appertaining to it links it with God and his power: salt was used in the divine ritual; it signified all that was incorruptible and immortal; a substance used as a preservative would be inimical to any evil force always out to destroy. Hence to hit the devil in the eye with a pinch of salt would temporarily blind him and make him turn tail at once - with his mission unaccomplished.
Another explanation suggests a connection with the value of salt. It was so precious that it was even used as currency (our modern "salary" is derived from the Latin \Isal\i - for "salt"). By throwing the devil a pinch of it, it was thought, one would buy him off. It was paying "protection money" in reverse, as it were.
There are other spheres of life as well in which "sinister" considerations continue to prevail. People are warned not to get out of bed on the left side. By doing so, they would start the day all wrong, entering immediately the realm and power of the "evil one." To walk into a house with the left foot first has been regarded an ill omen and made the superstitious carefully watch their step.
This same background of the "sinister" left created the irrational \Jprejudice\j and discrimination against left-handed people, already under suspicion by being "odd." That they preferred (or even were compelled) to use their left hand, when "normal" men would use their right, was seen as an indication of their having some link with sinister forces - most likely, the devil himself. Of course, no one today would like to admit such devilish association of his irrational \Jprejudice\j. But this is just one more example of how man's occult past goes on manipulating his present.
#
"Sir Alexander Fleming",2089,0,0,0
There is no doubt that \Jpenicillin\j was discovered (and even so named) by Sir Alexander Fleming, the great Scottish bacteriologist (in 1928). He is also attributed with having established, in theory, the antibacterial powers of the mold from which the drug subsequently was developed. However, its practical application, contrary to a widespread opinion, is not his. The modern antibiotic was pioneered much later (actually when it was needed most, at the beginning of the Second World War), by Australian-born Sir Howard Florey and Sir Ernest Boris Chain, a Berlin-born Jew who had fled from Hitlerism to Britain.
#
"Sir Arthur Streeton",2090,0,0,0
Sir Arthur Streeton, one of \JAustralia\j's "greats," is represented in every major national gallery. For 60 years he caught on canvas the beauty of the Australian scenery on a scale and in a manner never attempted before. His landscapes made Australians appreciate the exciting and breathtaking grandeur of their country.
Born in Victoria at Mount Duneed, the son of a schoolteacher, Streeton first trained as a lithographer. At the same time he studied drawing at the Melbourne National Gallery School, where in later years he became a much sought-after teacher. His talent soon became apparent, and when at the age of 19 he joined an artists' camp at Box Hill, his career as a painter started in earnest.
To begin with, Streeton, like so many artists, had to struggle. But when, at 21, he sold his first painting for 50 guineas, he gave up \Jlithography\j to devote all his time to painting.
Profitable sales of his works enabled him to travel abroad and further develop his talents. During one of his sojourns in London he met, fell in love with and married a well-known Canadian violinist.
Streeton was to have the satisfaction of seeing his paintings recognized worldwide and of becoming the recipient of many prestigious awards. During World War I, he was commissioned to go to \JFrance\j as an official artist of the Australian Imperial Forces.
Streeton was knighted in 1937 at the age of 70. By that stage he no longer traveled, but spent much of his time at home, on the property he had purchased at Olinda in the beautiful Dandenong Ranges where, after the death of his wife in 1938, he retired.
He loved his garden and the many trees he had planted throughout the years, which eventually surrounded the house. Its wooden, shingled roof was specially chosen as a reminder of his wife's Canadian home. After a long illness, Streeton died at Olinda on 1 September 1943. His body was taken to Ferntree Gully, to be laid to rest in the local cemetery. A polished granite slab covering his grave has the simple wording:
\IHere lies
ARTHUR ERNEST STREETON
Knight
Australian Landscape
Painter
1867-1943\i
#
"Sir Howard Florey",2091,0,0,0
\BA World Famous Scientist And Nobel Prize Winner\b
In no small measure, the world owes \Jpenicillin\j - once regarded as a miracle drug and for a considerable time one of the most used \Jantibiotics\j - to Adelaide-born and educated Sir Howard Florey. He developed it jointly with Ernst Chain. Together with Sir Alexander Fleming who was the first to discover the substance, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine and \Jphysiology\j.
An illustrious son of \JAustralia\j, Florey died on 21 February 1968 in his 70th year, in Oxford, England, where he had taught \Jpathology\j and been provost of Queen's College.
His wife and children agreed to have his body cremated and - in Lady Florey's own words - that "scattering of the ashes at the crematorium, sad though that is, would best meet our feelings."
Twelve years later, a special plaque in his memory was dedicated in the porch of St Nicholas' Church, Marston, on the festival of St Luke. In his address prior to the unveiling, Professor David Jenkins, Chaplain of Queen's College (and subsequently Bishop of Durham) said that it was a most appropriate choice of day, this feast day of Luke, the physician. Florey, after all, by making available \Jpenicillin\j to physicians and for routine clinical use had "pioneered the antibiotic revolution and contributed immeasurably to the efficiency of medical care." The words on the plaque read:
\IIn Memory of
A GREAT MAN
A GREAT SCIENTIST
HOWARD WALTER FLOREY
OM FRS
1898-1968
Baron Florey of Adelaide & Marston
Provost of the Queen's College Oxford
HIS RESEARCH WAS DEVOTED
TO UNCOVERING THE CAUSES
OF DISEASES & BY HIS VISION &
LEADERSHIP \JPENICILLIN\j WAS
PLACED IN THE HANDS OF THE
PHYSICIANS\i
About the same time, Australians in London had obtained permission for a memorial in Westminster Abbey. It was carved in Adelaide out of South Australian stone and was put into the floor of the north aisle, close to the memorials of Charles Darwin and Herschel, the great astronomer:
\IIn grateful memory of
HOWARD WALTER
BARON FLOREY
O.M.
His vision, leadership and research
made \Jpenicillin\j available to mankind
BORN ADELAIDE 1898 DIED OXFORD 1968\i
Australian friends still arrange for flowers to be placed on the stone on his birthday each year.
#
"Sir Raleigh's Cloak",2092,0,0,0
No evidence supports the historical authenticity of the famous episode in which Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have spread his mantle over a muddy puddle so that Queen Elizabeth should not soil her dainty feet. It was unfortunate that Sir Walter Scott used the anecdote (dating back only to the seventeenth century) in his popular (1821) novel \IKenilworth.\i
Possibly to give it greater credence, he added that, afterwards, the queen had commanded her (then) favorite courtier to wear "the muddy cloak till her pleasure should be further known." The writer's fame made people accept as factual his romantic account of an incident that never happened.
#
"Sir Redmond Barry",2093,0,0,0
Sir Redmond Barry tried Ned Kelly and was the First Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Memorials on tombstones have to be selective, if for no other reason than the limited available space. It is interesting to study the kind of information chosen. There is no doubt that a multitude of data could have been mentioned on the imposing headstone marking the grave of Judge Sir Redmond Barry.
Barry tried and sentenced Ned Kelly. He sat in judgment over most of the men who had taken part in the \JEureka Stockade\j. He sent to death the convicts who had murdered John Price, the Inspector-General of Penal Establishments, in 1857, in their case showing little mercy and even denying the accused a defense counsel.
They were all famous cases, yet there is no reference to the part he played in any of them in the inscription:
\ISIR REDMOND BARRY
First Puisne judge of the Colony of Victoria
Chancellor of the University of Melbourne
For 28 Years
And Founder of the
Melbourne Public Library
Third Son of
Major General Barry
of Ballyclough County Cork, Ireland
Died 23rd November 1880
Aged 67 Years
Deeply and Universally Regretted\i
Barry studied law in Dublin and served the legal profession both in Ireland and in England. However, he realized that prospects for a profitable career in either country were slight, and after his father's death in 1839, he decided to migrate to \JAustralia\j. He soon was to make his presence felt in Melbourne, which was to become his permanent home.
As his epitaph recalls, his were significant firsts in the history of the small settlement. Prior to his establishing the Melbourne Public Library (now the State Library), he had opened his home to anyone wishing to avail himself of his voluminous private collection of books. In the days leading up to the opening of the library, Barry could be seen dusting the books and carrying loads of them to the shelves, so that they would all be in place on schedule.
Though renowned as conservative, he showed himself far in advance of his contemporaries in his attitude towards the \JAborigines\j. They could freely call on him for legal help. This he extended to them as conscientiously as he would have done to any European. There was only one difference: he did not charge them a fee.
Barry attended to his many public duties to the very end. Though suffering from diabetes and greatly weakened from complications caused by a \Jcarbuncle\j, he refused to cancel important work at the Supreme Court. On his return home one day, he fainted. He never recovered.
News of his death spread gloom over the city. Parliament adjourned to pay tribute to a man who had proved himself a pioneer in so many fields.
A significant feature of his epitaph is its impersonal wording. There are no endearing words, no mention of any family relationship. And yet, though not referred to on the stone, buried by his side is his common-law wife. For 35 years they had lived in a de facto relationship. Barry had a separate residence built for her, and they had four children. Unashamed of their association - rather astoundingly for their time - they had appeared together at public functions. The conspicuous omission of her name from his memorial is thus all the more surprising and paradoxical.
#
"Sirloin and Baron of Beef",2094,0,0,0
King \JHenry VIII\j not only loved pretty women but was equally enamored of good meat. One day at a banquet at \JHampton Court\j he particularly enjoyed a choice cut of beef. He was determined publicly to proclaim his pleasure, and he did so in truly royal fashion. He conferred a knighthood by drawing his sword and dubbing the beef "Sir Loin!"
Obviously this is a legend which has been told for many years in many versions and also has been ascribed to other monarchs. Actually the sirloin owes its name to its very position prior to removal from a side of beef, but as described in French. Cut from "above" \I(sur)\i the "loin" \I(longe),\i adapted to English speech, it became the sirloin.
Mistakes often survive in peculiar ways to enrich our language. It was the erroneous explanation of the knighted "sirloin" that created the baron of beef.
In the hierarchy of English nobility, a Baron is superior to a mere Sir. That is why, possibly only in a jocular vein, some noble Englishman, enjoying a huge piece of unseparated, double sirloin, thought that it deserved to be referred to as a Baron! And Englishmen continue to speak of a baron of beef.
#
"Sixth Anniversary",2095,0,0,0
\BThe Iron or Sugar Anniversary\b
A happy marriage is not merely for two people to gaze lovingly into each other's eyes. It is rather for them to be looking in the same direction, with a common goal in their sight.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Decorative objects for the house or garden made from wrought iron
ò Fireside irons
ò A year's supply of every type of sugar, such as caster, lump, brown and white, all presented in attractive canisters
#
"Sixtieth Anniversary",2096,0,0,0
\BThe Diamond Anniversary\b
After 60 years of married life, it is fitting that this anniversary is named for one of the hardest and most lasting stones known. "Diamond" literally means "unconquerable." Just as a diamond's sparkle is unsurpassed, so too, we may suppose, is the "light" reflected by a couple who have shared everything, both joys and sorrows, for so long. Think for a moment, too, of the fact that a diamond is not naturally beautiful. It needs to be worked on at length to become so - just as a good marriage is not the result of "luck" but of constant effort and attention.
Sixty years of togetherness can serve as a real inspiration to those around the couple, and teach many young married couples valuable lessons about tolerance, companionship, and respect.
\IAs tides of time in prospect ebb and flow,
And sands of time drift thither and beyond,
So comes the zenith of life's folio
That few survive to sanction and respond.
Old age, relentless as the sands of tide,
Sifts memories of fortitude or tears,
And readily is sorrow set aside,
With recollections of contented years.
For time bestows an amnesty on care,
And with remembrance, life's tenure remains,
While thanksgiving is murmured with a prayer,
And memories of gladness, life sustains.\i
Len Green
\BGift Suggestions\b
These should be quite self-evident! To quote the long-running slogan of De Beer's Diamonds, "Diamonds are forever ..."
#
"Skeleton in the Cupboard",2097,0,0,0
To exhume a body used to be against the law and carried heavy penalties. That it was regarded as a serious offense was based on ancient tradition and \Jsuperstition\j. It was thought that to unearth a corpse was a most dangerous undertaking, threatening the entire community. It might cause the soul of the dead to be disturbed and, once released, haunt the living. Religiously too it was abhorrent, decried as a desecration of the dead and one's last resting place. The only bodies exempt were those of executed criminals.
The prohibition severely limited medical training and research. For the sake of their anatomical studies, doctors therefore engaged professional grave robbers who, for a high price and, of course, illegally, dug up bodies. Bizarrely they became known as \Jresurrection\j-men.
To avoid discovery of their grisly possession, the doctors hid the skeletons in the closets of their homes. And it was this "skeleton in the cupboard" which came to serve not only anatomy but daily speech. Many people were thought to have a private secret, something they did not want others to know. There was no better \Jmetaphor\j to depict their concealment than that of the doctor's "skeleton in the cupboard."
Though the Anatomy Act of 1832 permitted the exhumation of bodies, and there was no longer any need for their bones to be hidden away in closets, the "skeleton in the cupboard" survived in the phraseology of everyday speech.
#
"Skid Row",2098,0,0,0
Logging was hard work and did not end with the actual felling of trees. Often, from the heights, the giant logs had to be transported down to the waterfront to be floated or to be loaded on to boats. To facilitate their movement small logs were laid transversely along the route. These skids, as they were called, were greased with oil, to make the logs slide all the more easily down the track.
The loggers referred to the route along which the timber was thus pulled (whether by man-power, bullock team or, eventually, mechanically) as the skid road.
All along the way, but particularly so at its terminus, the skid road attracted all sorts of people. Some came just to watch and to idle away their time. Others, to sell wares of many kinds to the timbermen who, especially at the end of the day, were only too ready to relax and have some fun.
In no time, bars and brothels had opened up. It was this final development that made the skid road synonymous with sordidness and vice. Soon it became the description of the most delapidated section of a town, the meeting place of the "down and outs." As if to descend to its low level, even the name of the skid road slipped, to deteriorate into the present-day skid row. Seattle, Washington, USA is credited with having had the first of all skid rows: Yesler Way along which, in the old logging days, the logs slithered down to Puget Sound. And it was the lumberjacks living along this route, it is claimed, who called their settlement first Skid Row.
#
"Skull and Crossbones",2099,0,0,0
Among the most fear-inspiring symbols is that of a skull and crossed bones. Emblem of mortality and death, it is still used as a warning of fatal danger. No words are necessary to explain its meaning. Even illiterates understand its message.
They were once displayed on the flags of ships, to indicate the outbreak of a life-threatening disease on board. Pirates used it as their symbol on their flag. It became part of some military uniforms. It was also adopted as the distinguishing badge of the Nazi storm troopers, the dreaded SS.
The emblem of skull and crossbones also played a part in the \Jsymbolism\j of religious faith and ancient mystery cults. They served them as a reminder of the transience of life on earth, prompting the faithful to contemplate their mortality, to practise penitence and renounce this world.
Positively, it expressed a powerful message of solace and of hope. The preservation of the skull and two legbones of a deceased was believed to ensure their \Jresurrection\j.
#
"Skylarking",2100,0,0,0
Before it was realized that \Jscurvy\j was a disorder due to vitamin C deficiency, on their long voyages sailors became its frequent victims. Unaware of the real cause, they applied many a useless remedy. Additional exercise was thought to combat the disease. Therefore it became the daily routine of seamen and, in fact, part of their duty, every evening to dance the \Jhornpipe\j, then popular in the \JBritish Isles\j and so called because it was performed to the accompaniment of that instrument. The customary tune played was the "Song of the Skylark." To let off steam, the sailors soon changed the nightly practice into an occasion of fun and merriment.
This gave "skylarking" the sense of fooling about and playing pranks. Even when the true cause of \Jscurvy\j had been discovered and, to prevent it, British sailors were given limes (responsible for their nickname "limeys") they continued their "skylarking."
A "flighty" term, it soon reached land and has remained a telling description ever since, in spite of having been conceived in error.
#
"Slapstick",2101,0,0,0
Slapstick humor obtained its name from a simple stratagem of nineteenth-century comedians and clowns to amuse their audience and raise laughs. They used two sticks tied together at one end, but loose at the other. With this they struck the rear end of their victim, not once, but many times. Skillfully "performed," each time the impact on the posterior of the dupe (in reality a partner) thus castigated produced a resounding noise.
The sticks, though no longer used, survive in what is now called "slapstick" comedy, with its horseplay and maltreatment of the various characters.
#
"Slaughterhouse",2102,0,0,0
Sacred temples were the original slaughterhouses! Meat was so rare that to kill an animal was regarded a sacred task. Hence, only the holiest precincts were proper for the occasion. This, too, explains the practice of burning incense at worship. To begin with, its practical purpose was to cover up the stench of the blood, the killing, and the burning meat.
Thus priests were the earliest butchers. Appropriately, they received the major part of their stipend in kind. From the animals people offered as a sacrifice to the gods (or God), they could keep for themselves choice pieces of meat.
#
"Sleep Like a Top or a Log",2103,0,0,0
Witches seem to have crept into the most unexpected places. People who are completely at rest and so much at ease that nothing would rouse them, are said to sleep "like a top" or "a log." And who would ever guess that such a common phrase was truly bewitched?
In fact, the saying sounds so simple and uncomplicated that the moment you start probing into its origin your head (and not a top) starts spinning. And what at first appeared so clear, so plain and so uncomplicated, becomes most complex and problematic, posing numerous questions.
Of course, the usual explanation links the phrase with the well known toy which was already enjoyed in the nurseries of ancient Mesopotamian culture. Gyrating on its tip at tremendous speed, its very movement is so imperceptible that the top really looks as if it were at a standstill. And according to this interpretation, someone sound asleep would be as much at rest as apparently the spinning top.
At the very least, this popular explanation is very far-fetched. Why, of all things, choose a toy to describe those who are completely "out?" Was it meant to say that a person "sleeping like a top" in reality was all wound and churned up, and only shamming rest and repose? But the "answer" becomes more unreal if it is remembered that the spinning top stays in its (illusionary) state of immobility for only a very short time - not enough even for forty winks. It does not take long for it to start to wobble and then to fall over. Therefore, the traditional "childish" explanation makes no sense and can easily be discarded.
A second suggestion to solve the now intriguing puzzle, creates a different problem. This alternative theory traces the simile to \JFrance\j and "recognizes" the top as the English \Jtransliteration\j of the French word for a "mole" - \Itaupe.\i Giving it some thought, this might seem a very logical (and therefore, very French) way of portrayal. The mole spends much of its time - unobserved - underground. People might easily imagine that it does so to be sure of sleeping comfortably, for a long time and soundly - undisturbed by all the noises overhead.
Nevertheless this "\Jgenealogy\j," like that of the spinning toy, easily falls to the ground and is just as odd. Why should the English have chosen the French word for mole to express their sound sleep? Was their own species of that furry creature not good enough or perhaps less restful?
Of course, it could be feasible (and there are other examples of the kind) that the English literally adopted a popular French saying. But the Gallic equivalent description of a person who is sound asleep does not speak of a mole at all. The French say that he or she sleeps "like a wooden shoe," which certainly makes much more sense.
New complications, however, arise. The French word for a "wooden shoe" is \Isabot\i which, indeed, is responsible for all international sabotage. In fact, very surprisingly, \Isabot\i was also used by the French to describe a wooden top! But then again it must be asked why the French "wooden shoe" (even if holding a wooden top) on crossing the English Channel should have changed its name and be translated into the English tongue to be rendered "top." It all is so incredibly complicated and most unlikely.
Might not, therefore, the top actually have come out of the log? To sleep "like a log" would cause none of those many problems. Like the French wooden shoe, once it was put down, it was truly at rest and, if it were heavy enough, could not easily be moved. And it was in connection with this very log that the occult took over the quest for a right and sensible explanation. An apparently down-to-earth article served as a useful "cover up" for those engaged with the \Jsupernatural\j.
It was told that when witches left for a nightly tryst, they went out of their way to make their absence from home inconspicuous and unnoticed. Anyone who found their bed unoccupied would become suspicious and start asking questions. To avoid this, the witch placed a log into her bed. At times, to make the deception still more realistic, she would top the log with a nightcap. Whoever looked at her bed in the dim light would no doubt think that she was fast asleep, so soundly in fact that she did not stir once.
Very much aware of the lurking danger from those who were witch-hunting, the woman took an additional precautionary measure to make absolutely sure that her dummy body would do its duty and work well as her sleeping representative. She would use for the log wood from trees regarded by witches as endowed with occult power, such as the hawthorn and the elder. A log that came from such magic source would surely not "give away the show" by delivering to her foes the very person who looked after the \Jsupernatural\j to which both were so deeply attached.
A witch had to be careful at all times. Consequently when meeting one of her own kind and wanting to discuss a coven she had attended the previous night, she had to do so with great caution. If overheard, she would endanger herself and her group. For this reason she used the innocuous phrase that last night she had slept "like a log." This said everything to those "in the know."
Eventually the phrase was adopted as a (telling) password among witches. However, when the outside world somehow got hold of it, all the magic went out of the log and it lost its original function as a secret sign. Discarded by witches, it was taken over by the world at large. And if we now happily sleep "like a log" or "a top," we do so unperturbedly, and are truly unconscious of the occult root from which the log grew.
#
"Sleepers",2104,0,0,0
Sleepers, known to Americans as cross ties, once well deserved their name. In the early history of the railways (around 1825), the rails used were not strong enough to carry the weight of the train and therefore needed some extra support. For this purpose longitudinal timbers were placed directly underneath them.
To ensure that the rails would be kept apart at the right gauge, wooden ties were fixed between them here and there. They were of no other use but to maintain the correct distance between the two parallel rails. With so little to do they were like sleeping partners. No wonder they became known as "sleeping timbers."
With the improvement of rails, these became strong enough to carry the heavy trains without the support of the longitudinal timbers, which consequently were discarded. Instead, the number of sleeping timbers was increased which were laid at regular and much more frequent intervals. They now played a major role in the support of the rails. A dominant partner in the railway bed thus, their name nevertheless was never upgraded and they are still called "sleepers."
#
"Sleigh and Reindeer",2105,0,0,0
A father's wish to give his children a memorable Christmas story led to the idea of \JSanta Claus\j arriving in a sleigh pulled by eight \Jreindeer\j.
The father was Dr Clement Clarke Moore, Professor of Oriental and \JGreek Literature\j at the New York General Theological Seminary and the author of many scholarly works. On a cold winter's night in 1822, two days before Christmas, he sat down with his two little daughters in front of a blazing fire in their New York home to read them a poem he had written. He had called it \IA Visit from St Nicholas.\i It portrayed Santa "dressed all in furs from his head to his foot," with "a bundle of toys flung on his back." He had a broad face and a round belly "that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly." Moore described his Santa as chubby and plump, traveling in a sleigh pulled by \Jreindeer\j:
\I. . . when what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a miniature sleigh and tiny \Jreindeer\j . . .
More rapid than eagles
His coursers they came
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name
'Now Dasher! Now Dancer!
Now Prancer! And Vixen!
On \JComet\j! On \JCupid\j!
On Donner and Blitzen! . . .
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!'\i
Dr Moore never intended to publish his poem. A friend of the family who was very much taken with it asked for a copy. The following year she sent it - anonymously, and without informing Dr Moore - to a journal in Troy in the state of New York, where it was published in the Christmas edition. Other papers reprinted the poem, making it even more popular. None, however, gave credit to its author. Dr Moore himself possibly felt that, as a professor of considerable standing, he should not admit that he had written it. Only in 1844-22 years after he had first read it to his children - did he acknowledge his authorship. He then included \IA Visit from St Nicholas\i in a collection of his poetry.
Meanwhile, Moore's figure of Santa traveling in a \Jreindeer\j-pulled sleigh had caught the public's imagination. It became so popular that it was taken for granted. It is ironic that no one, except for a few experts, knows anything of the erudite work of the learned professor. His sole-enduring legacy is the image of Santa he presented to the world in a jingle which he originally did not intend to publish!
#
"Slipshod",2106,0,0,0
Anything "slipshod" is carelessly made. The word goes back to the (mispronounced) slipshoes, at one time the name of loosely-fitting slippers. Not laced up, they were very much like modern loafers. Worn only at home, it was unfitting to be seen in them in the street.
In the sixteenth century, however, people got lackadaisical and did not care very much about their appearance. All they were concerned about was their comfort. So they did not mind keeping their slipshoes on, even when they slipped outside. But those among the population who still appreciated the niceties of life considered such people disrespectful and uncouth, and their untidy dress as despicable. To be slipshoed became a description of the slattern, eventually further to deteriorate linguistically from slipshoed to slipshod, applied to anything done in a haphazard, slovenly manner.
#
"Slit in the Lapel",2107,0,0,0
Today the slit in the lapel of a man's jacket is only decorative. That is why its size and shape may differ according to taste and fashion. However, it was not consideration of comeliness that first introduced the "cut." Its origin can be accounted for in two different ways: one rather sentimental and even sorrowful, the other practical and rational.
The ancient Hebrews, as a sign of mourning at the death of a loved one, made a tear in their coat. In the case of parents, they never sewed this up again; it served as a permanent reminder of their loss. Actually this custom is merely the last token of an even more ancient habit in which the garment was rent altogether at the moment of bereavement. Perhaps it was the manifestation of a psychological mechanism, helping people to overcome their grief by externalizing it.
No matter what the reason, the fact is that the "mournful" tear in one's coat became a widespread custom all over the world, and is still being kept by observant Orthodox Jews of our time. Somehow, their Christian neighbors adopted the slit in the lapel and an original mourning rite was continued even at moments of greatest joy. Without knowing it, men began to walk about all the time wearing what is really a gesture of sorrow.
Yet much more likely is a second explanation. This claims that not sentimental, but practical, considerations introduced the slit. In olden days, collars were very large, mainly because in wintry cold they could serve as a natural shield. Men just turned them up to protect and keep warm their throat and neck. So that the collar could remain flat when turned down in normal weather, it became essential to insert a slit, which has endured to this day.
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"Slogan",2108,0,0,0
Slogans act as messages. Catch phrases, they advertise goods or popular causes. Concise and to the point, rhythmic and startling, they are easily remembered.
To start with, however, a slogan was not used for the promotion of merchandise or to express and spread an ideological view or policy. The slogan was the Scot's battlecry for which, at times, they used the name of their clan or leader. Advancing against the enemy, the men joined in stridently and in unison, repeating it numerous times. They did so with a triple purpose: to galvanize themselves into action, to confront the enemy in a state of almost frenzy, and by their cries to scare the adversary into submission. Not surprisingly, the original \JGaelic\j words out of which grew the now so peaceful slogan, \Isluagh ghairm,\i meant an "army shout" or a "war cry."
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"Slouch Hat",2109,0,0,0
Colonel Thomas Price is credited with the introduction of the slouch hat, this most conspicuous feature of the Australian military uniform. He now rests in the family vault in the \JChurch of England\j section of the Melbourne General Cemetery, which he shares with his father, another military man.
Thomas was born in Hobart on 21 October 1842 and, following the family tradition, made the army his career. After training at the Royal Military College in England, he joined and served in the British forces till he was 41.
On his retirement in 1883 he returned to \JAustralia\j, intending to settle down in Victoria as a farmer. But it was not to be. That same year, Victoria decided to reorganize and expand its volunteer defense forces and, as Price was regarded the ideal man to undertake the task, he was asked to do so. As soldiering was in his blood, he welcomed the opportunity. He founded the Victorian Mounted Rifles, whom he was to command for many years and shape into a magnificent fighting unit.
A disciplinarian and a stickler for proper drill, he felt that the customary wide-brimmed hat worn at the time by Australian soldiers had several disadvantages. It prevented men on parade, when passing the Inspecting Officer, from looking him straight in the eye. Worse still, in battle drill, shouldering the rifle could easily knock off the hat. Price realized that by turning up the hat on one side, both problems were solved! The looped-up felt hat was adopted almost universally in the Australian army.
After the outbreak of the Boer War, in January 1900, Price was sent to South Africa, in command of the Second Victorian Contingent, which was to serve on the front line.
With all his toughness, Price was deeply loyal to his men, as exemplified by an incident during that period. With his acquiescence, his diggers had "commandeered" some "stray" horses. The horses actually belonged to the City of London Volunteers and their commanding officer came to interview him on the matter.
Indignantly, Price denied any such misdemeanor on the part of his men. After all, he told his English counterpart, every Australian under his command was a station owner who had brought with him to Africa his best mounts, and hence had no need to steal horses.
The moment the visitor was out of earshot, however, Price ordered his men to fall in and called them a bunch of scum who would be in prison had it not been for the war. If they had followed his advice to dock the manes of the "stray" horses they had acquired, it would have changed the animals' appearance so much that their owners could not have recognized them. By their neglect, he had been forced to lie, which he had done to save their faces.
Though popularly Price was known as "Colonel Tom," another, less flattering nickname stuck to him. It was "Thomas 'Lay 'em Out' Price." It was given to him in August 1890 when he was in charge of a military force assigned to keep vigilance at a mass meeting of striking seamen and wharf laborers at Port Melbourne. On the occasion, he had instructed the men that if, in the event of any trouble, they were commanded to fire, it was their duty to do so - "to fire and lay 'em out."
In later years, possibly trying to exonerate himself, he explained that his intention had been misunderstood. In fact, concern for the strikers had prompted his order, as shooting at them so low, would have hit only their legs and saved them from any fatal wound.
Price retired for the second time in 1904, to settle in Warrnambool, where he died on 3 July 1911, at the age of 69. For several years he had been ailing, suffering from liver and \Jspleen\j trouble, the result of malarial fever he had contracted whilst serving in India.
A notice published in the \IWarrnambool Standard\i on the following day, with the announcement of his passing, informed the public that "the funeral will leave his late residence at 2 p.m., this day (Tuesday) for Warrnambool Railway Station." It also carried a request from the commanding officer of the First Squadron, 11th A.L.H., for all members to attend the solemn occasion, to "Fall in at Orderly Room at 1.30 p.m. [with] Rifle, Bandolier, Waistbelt and Four Pouches."
Price's body was then taken to the Melbourne General Cemetery for its interment.
Price's father John, whom he joined in the family vault, had died more than half a century earlier, on 27 March 1857. His had been a brutal death at the early age of 48. He, too, had distinguished himself as a soldier and was known as a strict disciplinarian.
At the time of his murder, he was serving as inspector general of the Victorian penal establishments. He was reputed to show little mercy, and the convicts hated him and were only waiting for a chance to take their revenge.
This came on 26 March 1857. One report has it that he was to meet convicts at Williamstown; they wanted to complain to him personally about the insufficiency and inedible quality of their food ration.
Somehow, Price must have had a premonition of the fate awaiting him. On the steamer taking him from Melbourne to Williamstown, he asked a friend of the Williamstown Superintendent of Police, to give a message to the latter, asking him to have his men ready for action.
At the meeting with the convicts, one of them had knocked him down with his chains, and they so severely battered him that he died from his wounds the following day. Seven of the men were hanged for his murder.
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"Slush Fund",2110,0,0,0
Slush funds are a phenomenon of modern, corrupt society. Their money - unaccounted for - is used to buy votes or the goodwill of people who, lacking integrity, are prepared for a price to do or say whatever is asked of them. It is dirty money, indeed, murky like slush and the name chosen for it most appropriate. However, surprisingly, for slush to sink so low is only a comparatively recent development.
The original slush funds, established in the nineteenth century, were not hidden accounts nor had they any political connotation or association with bribes. They started at sea and were above board. Slush to sailors was the refuse from their ship's galley, primarily the waste grease or fat of the meat left over after it had been cooked. It became their rightful property which they were permitted to sell. The money collected from the proceeds they called their slush fund which they used to buy themselves extra luxuries.
The word slush comes from a Scandinavian root for "mud" or "filth" or any "sloppy matter."
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"Smoking of Cigarettes",2111,0,0,0
The Holy Land, it is claimed, was not only the source of the three world religions of monotheistic faith, but the place where man enjoyed his first \Jcigarette\j.
This occurred in Acre in 1832 and in a strange combination of circumstances. During the Turko-Egyptian war and the siege of Acre, Egyptian forces occupied the city. It had been invested by the British, who were aiding the Turks.
During a bombardment of the fortress, a cannon ball made a direct hit on a store of hookahs and totally destroyed it. Known in their more primitive form as hubble-bubbles, hookahs are the Oriental kind of pipe, in which the smoke is drawn through water by means of a flexible tube.
The loss was soon felt by the Egyptian soldiers. One of them, dying to have a smoke, improvised a new way of enjoying \Jtobacco\j. Picking up discarded containers of \Jgunpowder\j (known as "Dutch tubes"), he used them as wrappers around \Jtobacco\j and smoked this new device - the first \Jcigarette\j. The experiment succeeded. Once again, necessity had been the mother of invention.
Some 20 years later, British soldiers serving in the \JCrimea\j smoked the "little cigars" and took the vogue to England.
Inventions, however, have a peculiar way of their own and "famous firsts" are often proved to be not so original after all. This certainly applies to the Oriental claim of the first \Jcigarette\j.
It is now known that thousands of years earlier natives in the West Indies and Mexico smoked cigarettes. They used thin palm bark or \Jmaize\j husks as the wrapper. It was part of the old Maya culture to blow \Jtobacco\j smoke towards the sun and the four points of the compass. The \JAztecs\j used reeds filled with \Jtobacco\j for this purpose.
Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers first discovered this ancient habit in the New World. They adopted it and through them it spread over all the Mediterranean countries, as far as \JAsia Minor\j - the future Turkey. At that early stage, Spaniards started experimenting with all types of wrappers, including paper, which became popular in the 17th century.
Perhaps - giving the Egyptians the benefit of the doubt - the habit of smoking cigarettes was lost, to be rediscovered that fateful morning in the fortress of Acre.
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"Snags",2112,0,0,0
Snags is typical Australian slang. Though widely used, its origin has mystified many. A sophisticated but cynical explanation finds in this Australian sausage a combination which sounds not very tasteful. It is said to be an \Jacronym\j: the abbreviation of \IS\iomething \IN\iauseating \IA\ind \IG\iruesomely \IS\iuggestive. Taking the initials of each of these words and stringing them together has resulted in SNAGS.
Others saw in them the product of mispronunciation. Because of their popularity among Australian people, they became their snacks. In the course of time these "snacks" deteriorated linguistically into snags.
A third explanation derives from the term used for anything short and not very shapely, such as a tree stump, a jagged tooth, or any sharp protuberance. These were known as snags. And was not the early sausage just like that?
The most likely origin of snags, however, is associated with fishing! It is so easy for a line to become badly entangled. Likewise, the long string of sausages coming out of the machine became easily snagged and hard to unravel. Hence they were called snags.
A final claim derives their description from the name of an early Melbourne firm of butchers, said to have been the first to make sausages in \JAustralia\j. They were Messrs Snags.
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"Snob",2113,0,0,0
A snob is an arrogant, pompous upstart who actually says so themselves - but in Latin.
Even the name is not real, but a combination of two abbreviations. In days gone by, in class-ridden Britain, some of the Cambridge colleges requested that those registering as students had to add their rank to their name. Commoners, not of noble blood, were obliged to record the fact by noting down on the college list that they were "without nobility." They had to do so in Latin, \Isine nobilitate.\i With insufficient space, they shortened their (dis)qualification by putting instead S.nob.
It did not take long to drop the full stop and, by combining the two abbreviations, give birth to the snob. When the latter started to imitate his noble classmates, pretending to be like them, a member of the aristocracy, it gave the snob its present-day meaning.
Thackeray is believed to have been the first to use "snob." He did so, not very deferentially nor loyally, in conferring the title on King \JGeorge IV\j!
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"Snowy Mountains Scheme Deaths",2114,0,0,0
No other endeavor has displayed Australian multiculturalism more dramatically than the building of the Snowy Hydro-Electric Scheme, the country's greatest achievement. The 100,000 men who participated in its construction from 1949 to 1974 came from more than 30 different countries. They probably constituted \JAustralia\j's largest ever multicultural workforce.
Inevitably, this giant enterprise caused fatalities, and the graves of the men who died whilst engaged in the work could be regarded as its most moving memorials. A monument erected in the grounds of the authority's administration complex honors those who lost their lives "whilst at work on the scheme or proceeding to or from their place of employment."
Significantly, added to the name of each of the 121 men listed is his country of origin. The 30 nationalities apart from Australians, include Austrians, Dutchmen, Englishmen, Germans, Greeks, Hungarians, Irishmen, Italians, Norwegians, Roumanians, Spaniards, and Yugoslavs. Their names alone indicate the ethnic groups to which they belonged; among them are names like Breier, Cerubino, Egan, Grigori, Henriksen, Johansen, McDonald, Nemeth, Van Hoof, Thiers, and Yannacopoulis.
As varied as their countries of birth were the causes of their deaths. Many of the men were crushed, by "rocks tumbling down, by cascading concrete, or by a toppling power pole. Others fell down the shaft, were struck by a dislodged log, electrocuted, drowned, or fatally injured in a tractor and tunnel loco accident."
To see the graves of those modern pioneers is a memorable experience and a valuable lesson. They reflect true Australian mateship in the words chosen for the epitaphs and in the fact that frequently the headstones were put up by workmates in honor of the friend they had lost.
A great number of the fatalities now rest in the Cooma Cemetery. Some of their memorials are inscribed in their mother tongue. Josef Hager had come from \JAustria\j and was only 29 years old when he was struck down during the operations. A short and (partially misspelled) German sentence on his monument observes that "God's earth is everywhere."
The stone on the grave of Hungarian-born, 22 year old Lajos Nemeth was "Erected by his workmates at Tantangara." With other men, he had been killed by a steel pipe that fell on them. The text on his memorial is bilingual. The words movingly tell that "here lies a Hungarian boy whose parents will never forget him."
Andrew James Galvin, born in the Irish county of Kerry, was 25 years of age when, at Tumut Ponds, he was fatally injured. His headstone, too, was put up by his mates, as was the monument for the Australian-born 41 year old Francis Patrick Lynch. The verse on his epitaph reflects the affection and sense of loss felt by his friends:
\IWe were not there to see you die,
To raise your head or say good bye,
But we will remember
Our whole life through
The last few words we had with you.\i
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"Soap Opera Origins",2115,0,0,0
In the early history of commercial radio, manufacturers of soap and soap powders, to advertise their products, sponsored programs of popular drama. It did not take long for people to associate this type of entertainment with soap. "Soap opera" became the general description of this kind of feature. Though usually soap easily washes off, it did not do so in the case of the soap opera. The name stuck even long after soap manufacturers had stopped advertising in this form.
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"Soldier: Origin of the Name",2116,0,0,0
Warriors have been called many names, according to their rank and tradition. But a soldier has been such from Roman days onward. The strange thing is that, fulfilling a martial task, whether as a volunteer or conscript, he still carries a name that sounds a very mercenary note! His name does not speak of fighting, but of money alone. "Soldier" is derived from the Latin \Isolidus,\i the coin with which he was paid for services rendered.
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"Something Old, Something New...",2117,0,0,0
Many a bride makes sure to wear on her wedding day-
\I"Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, something blue."\i
She does so without realizing the originally magic and psychological significance of the practice. It was aimed at overcoming and resolving deeply-buried feelings, fears and superstitions at this so crucial moment in her life.
Primitive man believed that, just as every living being, so every object had a soul. An item, brought into close contact with the body, particularly so during the highly-charged occasion of a wedding, could exert strong occult power, with significant and lasting effect. Anything a bride wore, therefore, had to be thoughtfully chosen. She had to remember that her manner of dress might influence her entire future and with it, not least, her happiness. This accounts for the selection of something old, new, borrowed and blue. Each in its own way has a fascinating background and purpose.
However progressive, man has always been afraid of change. The old familiar way creates a feeling of security. Getting married inevitably breaks with the past. Starting an entirely new phase of life, thus, is fraught with an awareness of uncertainty and its accompanying anxiety. To ensure her future, the bride, therefore, holds fast to "something old." It has proved its value and, reducing the element of novelty and insecurity, it will sustain her and make her start the marriage with confidence and happy anticipation, instead of with suppressed feelings of forebodings.
Paradoxically, in spite of his innate \Jconservatism\j, man also believes in the potency of novelty. "Something new" is regarded as a bringer of luck. This explains why, for instance, people carefully retain, and even carry with them, a new coin that has come into their possession. They might not know it, but the original reason for it was the belief that its newness would make it a source of good fortune. Therefore, for a bride to wear "something new" on her wedding day was not merely in keeping with the festive occasion or symbolic of her new status as a wife. Much more significantly, it was designed to act as powerful bringer of happiness.
It was thought that an object which had been worn by a person during a deeply emotional experience, would absorb as it were, its radiation. Becoming saturated with it, would preserve, and then magically transfer it on another wearer. This was responsible for the choice of "something borrowed." It had to be borrowed not just from anyone, but specifically from a woman who had once worn the very object at a moment of great joy. The bride expected, supernaturally, to secure for herself the blessing associated with it.
That is why frequently the veil once worn by her mother on her wedding day was among the most coveted items for "something to be borrowed," while a bride would shun borrowing anything from a widowed friend. A contributing reason for merely loaning the item is rather obvious. No woman would part with something linked with her happiest day. She would not give such an article to the new bride "for keeps," but merely loan it to her.
Protective magic and expressive \Jsymbolism\j account for the wearing of "something blue." This color acquired its special meaning by a chain of associations. God was believed to dwell in heaven. Heaven was once "located" up in the sky. (Do not, to this day, people praying to him, look up?) The sky, when cloudless, is blue. Hence, the blue color was identified with the divine and became symbolic of purity. Evil forces therefore would shun the color. The bride was most vulnerable to them on her wedding day, as a focus of their evil intentions and jealousy. Therefore she donned "something blue." Magically, it acted as a powerful shield that made the evil entities, ready for attack, turn around and flee.
The four "somethings" of a simple rhyme and wedding custom, in their odd combination, thus perpetuate age-old concepts, scares, and superstitions. No doubt, they are rooted in man's constant concern and search for lasting happiness.
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"Son of a Gun",2118,0,0,0
The "son of a gun" may well have been born on a vessel of the Royal navy. Women were not always banned from coming on board, at least while the ship was in port. On occasions, they even sailed with their men, though then were kept well out of sight and out of the way. For this reason they were made to take up their "quarters" between the guns, often protected and hidden behind canvas screens.
Some of the women were pregnant and gave birth next to the guns. A boy who was born in that situation, particularly so if his paternity was uncertain, was listed in the log of a ship as the "son of a gun." In many cases he was, indeed, a bastard, in the technical sense of the word. Memories of his illegitimate birth lingered on, to render the "son of a gun" a general term of abuse and contempt.
An alternate suggestion denies any relationship between the son of a gun and the Royal navy and does not believe that he received his name, so to speak, from his (gun) cradle. It traces the phrase back to \JHebrew\j-\JYiddish\j slang in which a thief was known as a \Igunnef.\i Somehow his description was mutilated and all that was eventually left of the \Igunnef\i was the "gun."
Not much good could be expected from the son of a gunnef who grew up in an environment of dishonesty; he is tainted by his father's pursuit. Nevertheless, people who call anyone by that name nowadays, do so more in a jovial sort of way.
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"SOS",2119,0,0,0
SOS, the universally adopted distress signal, is generally believed to stand for "Save Our Souls." This would imply that the sailors' bodies were lost already! Others have seen in the call an abbreviation of "Save Our Ship." Neither interpretation is correct. The choice of the letters has no connection with any verbal message. They were selected because SOS in \JMorse code\j - three dots, three dashes, three dots - was most easy to transmit and to be recognized. No special training was needed to make or understand the emergency call.
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"Sound of Thunder",2120,0,0,0
Just as on every Thursday the world pays tribute to Thor, the Norse god, by calling the day after him - Thor's day - so this pagan deity, renowned for his strength and bravery, is also present in every \Ithunder\iclap. Thunder not only bears his name but, according to ancient myth, is produced by him. Thor does so with his wondrous hammer which his worshipers adopted as a sacred symbol, emblematic of the thunderbolt. Like a \Jboomerang\j, the hammer always returned to him.
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"Source of all Magic",2121,0,0,0
Fabulous ancient \JPersia\j gave the world all magic. It stems from the \Jold Persian\j word magu which was the original title bestowed by the Medes (long before \JZoroaster\j) on their priestly class.
These priests - like the \JHebrew\j \JLevites\j - jealously guarded the monopoly of their profession. Worshiping the fire, they kept it burning continuously in their temples. The earth was equally holy to them and therefore they decried as sacrilegious its defilement by human remains. For this reason, the priests built the first towers of silence on which to place the bodies of the dead, for the flesh to be devoured by vultures. The faith of these magi included a belief in the planetary influence on the fate of man.
In the sixth century B.C. when the original nature worship was eventually replaced by the Zoroastrian \Jdualism\j, the magu retained his position, and his word was law. He wore a distinctive white robe and a tall felt cap with side flaps that covered his jaws. His numerous functions included sacrificing certain animals which were regarded as creatures of the world of darkness.
But to visitors from foreign lands, most impressive and conspicuous in the priests' practice was the occult part of their ministry: the way they interpreted dreams and omens, appealed with incantations to invisible forces, and looked into the future. The Greeks were so fascinated by that aspect of their work that it seemed to them the magus' sole occupation. Adopting their name, they made it part of the Greek vocabulary in which \Imagos\i therefore became the description of a sorcerer, a wizard, or a person endowed with \Jsupernatural\j power.
The Romans then borrowed the term from the Greeks and, assimilating it to their own tongue, created the magus, much better known in the plural form of \Imagi.\i It was merely another step to call all the work of the (new type of) magi - magic!
This is a telling example of the survival of errors, and of how superficial observation can cause the adoption of totally novel notions which, like modern magicians in their conjuring work, might focus people's attention on the fanciful while concealing from them the real facts and complete picture. And oddly enough, even in \JPersia\j itself, the original sacred magu deteriorated. Through the religious contempt shown to Zoroastrian priests by another powerful faith, their name became so debased that its modern derivation \Imagh\i has come to mean a low-class innkeeper!
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"Source of all Oratory",2122,0,0,0
Prayer might well be the source of all oratory - literally speaking. In its earliest use, \Ioratory\i did not refer to the gift of eloquence, but to a small chapel built on a martyr's grave where friends might pray for his soul. And as "to pray" in Latin is \Iorare,\i the chapel was given its name.
Gradually, the use of oratory was extended to places of any size, still set apart exclusively for worship, though of many kinds. Eventually, oratory became the name of a small secluded room in a home, which was specially reserved for private prayer. No doubt, someone pouring out his heart to God became most eloquent, which could explain how the fervent words of prayer in the oratory led to the application of the term to the art of speaking.
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"Sources of Alcohol",2123,0,0,0
Man has always been thirsty, but the water nature provided did not satisfy him. Ingeniously, thus, he improved on it. Northern European countries, unable to grow grapes, produced mead from the honey of wild bees.
The first distilled liquor was served not as a beverage, but "for medicinal purposes only." Alchemists welcomed the novel drink. They were convinced that in it they had found the long-sought cure for old age. This was the reason for their calling it "the water of life" which is the source of all whisky. The word alcohol comes from the Arab \Ial-kohl\i for "powdered \Jantimony\j," used already in ancient Egyptian days as a cosmetic for the eyes.
The story of drink can be traced to many places. The Portuguese city of \JOporto\j gave man his port wine. Tea, \Ich'a,\i came from China. Bourbon was distilled first in the Kentucky county of that name. Selters was a Prussian village famed for its waters. Scotch is now universal.
Far beyond such localities is the intoxication provided by the variety of information drink offers. The well-known Latin proverb claims that "there is truth in wine," \Iin vino veritas.\i Certainly, all drink - the way it is chosen, served, drunk or otherwise used - tells lots about people and their culture.
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"Sources of Justice",2124,0,0,0
Man has always had a passion for justice. From the beginning of civilization he has felt the urge to see right prevail and wrong punished. At first, the execution of justice was part of religious faith, even in its most primitive forms. It is not accidental that the Five Books of Moses are known as "The Law." The priests were the earliest guardians of justice.
It is a well-known dictum that ignorance of the law is no excuse and it has been generally applied in every country. There should be no excuse either for being ignorant of the origins of the law, its colorful institutions and great variety of procedure. To delve into the past and see how it all started provides a wonderful insight both into the workings of the mind and the growth of civilization.
Research shows, for example, that the black cap worn by a judge when passing sentence of death is not a cap. It is a three-cornered piece of black silk, used as a sign of mourning.
Butchers were excluded from serving on juries in medieval times. Obviously, so it was thought, a man whose occupation was the killing of animals was so used to taking life that to him even the death of a human being would mean little.
An 18th century candidate for an important office in the City of London listed eight points as essential for winning a case. They were: a good cause, a good purse, an honest and skillful attorney, good evidence, able counsel, an upright judge, an intelligent jury and, last but not least, good luck.
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"Sourpuss",2125,0,0,0
A sourpuss is not related to a cat. The "pussy" part is American slang for a "face." Derived from the Irish \Ipus\i for a "mouth," it seems a most appropriate choice of word. The turned-down corners of a person's mouth reflect his sour disposition. Never smiling, he presents a gloomy mien, scowling and morose.
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"Sow Wild Oats",2126,0,0,0
Youths (mostly males) are said to "sow wild oats" when, prior to settling down they lead a lifestyle of permissiveness and indulgence, doing so adventurously and often irresponsibly. Though it must be remembered that "wild" has meant many things throughout the years. In days past, one didn't have to do much to be so regarded.
The phrase itself is a peculiar choice of words. Anything growing wild is not cultivated. How then could anyone sow wild oats? But the very paradox was meant to stress the youth's folly in spending precious time and energy on things that had no lasting value. Wild oats were worth very little. They were just weeds.
Even the horse might have had a share in the creation of the saying. Feeding on lots of oats made it specially frisky and, it was believed, in its state of wildness, sexually highly roused. In like manner, youths sowing their wild oats became impetuous and intensely ardent and, anxious to prove their adulthood by sexual prowess, did not hold back.
Now regarded as a mere phase of life and accepted as "natural," once upon a time "sowing one's wild oats" was not only condemned morally but decried as a mistake. The only result of the pursuit was a worthless crop of weeds - "wild oats!"
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"Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child",2127,0,0,0
"Spare the rod and spoil the child" is a maxim in which the original (biblical) text is distorted. The actual words (in Proverbs 13:24) say that, "a father who spares the rods hates his son," or in the Authorized Version "chastens him betimes."
No doubt Samuel Butler, the English seventeenth century satiric poet, had this passage in mind when in his poem "Hudibras" he wrote, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." People adopting Butler's paraphrase imagined it was a literal quotation from Scripture, and further misinterpreted it as a biblical injunction to practice unmitigated harshness in the upbringing of a child.
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"Spaying and Weight Gain",2128,0,0,0
The spaying of a dog (or cat) does not automatically make it put on weight. A weight-gain in the circumstances has a different reason. A "doctored" pet uses up less energy and therefore requires less food. If, in spite of it, the animal continues to consume the same, but now excessive amount of food, it is bound to put on weight.
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"Speakeasy",2129,0,0,0
The name of the "speakeasy," the unlicenced club which, illegally, serves liquor, goes back to the days of American prohibition. Establishments circumventing the law and selling drinks were so called. Hidden away and well-guarded by the profiteers running them, they were well known to the "informed."
To gain entry, would-be customers had to have good recommendations. They were admitted only by a password, whispered to the doorkeeper. Colloquially, to speak softly and with a quiet voice was to "speak easy."
There is also an opinion which claims that though the term was popularized in the United States, it originated in the English underworld. Smuggler's haunts there were known, at least as early as 1823, as "speak-softly shops." Among the goods they supplied - on the quiet - was cheap liquor.
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"Special Talents",2130,0,0,0
Originally, a \Italent\i was a monetary unit. Its modern use, to mean "the gift of a special ability," is actually figurative, and based on the well-known \JParable\j of the Talents (Matth. 25. 14-30).
This tells how, before going on a long trip, a master handed to his three servants certain amounts of money, differing for each: five, two and one talents respectively. He asked them to put the sums entrusted to them to profitable use. This they did according to their individual ability. Whilst the first two doubled the amount, the third, being of a very timid nature and afraid to lose his single talent, merely buried it, eventually to return it to his master - unused. (The end result showed their different talents.)
Monetary units changed, and the original Greek talent was withdrawn from circulation, to be superseded by other currencies. Nevertheless, its name survived in the popular Gospel story, and, through its association there with clever speculation, changed its meaning. No longer used on the money market, it is applied to describe a natural endowment and special aptitude. Indeed, in the case of the talent, money talks!
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"Spencer",2131,0,0,0
Most people will throw away objects that are broken, torn, or spoilt. Others parsimoniously, will try to rescue whatever there is left. This practice is not confined to the impecunious.
Lord Spencer (1758-1834), certainly, belonged to the wealthy class of aristocratic Britain. A rather eccentric gentleman, he loved to be admired for his exquisite clothes and always to look spick and span.
On a cold English winter's day, so the story goes, he was warming his back in front of a roaring fire. At the time, he was wearing his latest suit, made of the finest of cloth and perfectly cut. He must have been too close to the fire, as the flames caught the tail of his coat which, before the fire could be put out, was badly damaged.
In spite of his wealth, Spencer was not prepared to sacrifice the entire coat. Summoning his tailor, he instructed him to trim off the charred and damaged parts and then neatly to finish off the remainder. The tailor duly accomplished the task. The result was a totally different sort of jacket. It was tailless, tightly fitting, and reached just below the waist.
It immediately caught people's attention who had never seen anything like it before. As it was then the custom to ape nobility in whatever they did or wore, it did not take long for the public to adopt the coat, displayed by so famous a person. Inevitably, it was called after its first wearer. "The Spencer" became a popular garment with both sexes and, in some form or another, survives to this day.
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"Spick and Span",2132,0,0,0
Anything smart, trim and spruce, is "spick and span" or, as it was initially called, "spick and span new."
A "span" was a chip of wood, freshly cut from a tree. Often serving as a spoon, never having been used before or for any other purpose, it was thoroughly clean and completely new.
A "spick" was a spike or nail. Just as the wooden chip was entirely new, so the spike came straight from the blacksmith's anvil. (Germans still speak of something as Nagelneu.) It has even been suggested that, next to the wooden spoon (span), the spike might have once served as a complementary eating implement, a primitive kind of fork.
Another derivation links anything span - new (developed from the \JAnglo-Saxon\j spanna) with the weaving of cloth. It had been "spun new" and came straight from the loom!
Going back to the sea, "spick and span" has also been claimed as relating to the beauty of a new ship which, with all its timber and its nails totally new, looked sparkling and stately.
"Spick" and "span" thus said the same thing - only in different ways. Reinforcing each other, no doubt they were specially joined because of their attractive alliteration.
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"Spill the Beans",2133,0,0,0
Beans grew plentifully in American soil and served the country's indigenous people and early European settlers as wholesome food. This explains why in everyday speech beans were used as a general \Jmetaphor\j. In the 1830s, for instance, Americans spoke of those who were ill-informed or totally ignorant of a matter that they "did not know beans." On the other hand, people admired for their shrewdness and wisdom were described as "knowing how many beans make five."
This usage, most likely, was responsible for the now common description of revealing a secret prematurely as "spilling the beans." It too comes from the United States, where it was first employed in the early 1900s.
Popular, but apocryphal, is the claim that the phrase is based on a practice of secret societies in antiquity. Esoteric communities in ancient \JGreece\j admitted a new member only if agreed upon by a majority vote of the initiates. They indicated their acceptance or rejection of the candidate in a secret ballot. Each voter was given two beans: a white one, to be counted as affirmative, and a brown (or black) one, as dissent. The beans were cast into a ballot box, initially a simple jar of a helmet, then counted in secret. The candidate receiving a majority of white beans was accepted. However, no one was ever to know the actual number of white or dark beans cast which left the newly-chosen member ignorant of how many had voted for or against him.
Occasionally, by an untoward accident the receptacle was knocked over and, by "spilling the beans," disclosed what had been meant to be a secret.
#
"Spilling Salt",2134,0,0,0
From the beginning of civilization, salt was important in daily diet and was considered a holy substance. No sacrifice, whether according to Biblical rite or pagan tradition, could be offered without the addition of salt. Its presence at every table was held to be a necessity, and a meal without it thought to be profane. Salt is still used today in the baptismal ritual of the \JCatholic Church\j.
Even our everyday speech testifies to the importance of salt. We speak of people "not being worth their salt." The word \Isalary,\i meaning "pertaining to salt," is derived from the fact that in the Roman Empire soldiers were paid either with lumps of salt, or an allowance to buy salt.
Salt purifies, Hence it became a symbol of incorruptibility. That is why the Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, saw in it an emblem of justice which had to belong to every table. It was to remind all those participating in the meal of this essential virtue. To upset the salt was seen already then as a forewarning of an injustice.
Salt is a preservative. This made it a symbol of lasting friendship, as well as of immortality. Therefore, \JArabs\j to this day put salt in front of a stranger to assure him of their good will, and in many countries salt was put into the coffin as a reminder of the soul's survival. When the \JBible\j wished to stress God's everlasting bond with man, it spoke, likewise, of "the covenant of salt." In Scotland, brewers used to throw a handful of salt on top of the mash, believing that its purifying character would ward off witches.
It was a combination of these various traditions and factors that from Roman days to our time made the spilling of salt an omen of ill luck which could be averted only if the offender threw a pinch of it with his right hand over his left shoulder.
An explanation frequently given, though confusing cause and effect, relates to the famous painting of the Last Supper by \JLeonardo da Vinci\j. On his canvas, the salt, facing Judas, is depicted as being upset. The scene captured the moment when, according to the Gospels, Jesus startled His Apostles with the announcement that one of them would betray Him. Their faces vividly show consternation and grief. But Judas, to appear as innocent as the rest, whilst clasping in his right hand the bag with the 30 pieces of silver, raises his left hand as if in a gesture of horror. By the very movement he upset the salt.
The fact that this Passover meal immediately preceded the betrayal of Jesus made people assume that there was a causal connection between the spilling of salt and Jesus' crucifixion. However, there is no confirmation of any such occurrence. It is obvious that da Vinci merely made use of the much older \Jsuperstition\j to dramatize further his picture.
#
"Spinnaker",2135,0,0,0
Any boat rigged with a spinnaker carries the Egyptian Sphinx, though mutilated. The fanciful name goes back to the first vessel using that type of sail (in the 1870s). It did so in a race in the Solent, the channel extending between the \JIsle of Wight\j and the mainland of southern England.
On the occasion, the sail was unnamed. When other yachts watched the boat so rigged forging ahead, they realized the value of the novel sail and adopted it. They called it by the name of the boat that carried it, the Sphinx. A name not easy to pronounce, it was distorted to Spinxer, eventually to become the spinnaker! It has been suggested that its choice might have been influenced by the spanker, once hoisted as a fairweather sail, yet ultimately used to take advantage of a tail wind.
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"Spinster",2136,0,0,0
Spinster was the official designation of a female who had never been married before. The term, now mostly discarded, originally reflected a significant practice. It goes back to the time when a girl had to provide and actually to make her own trousseau.
In pre-industrial days, the manufacture of textiles was mainly a cottage industry. Not surprisingly therefore, with women not going out to work, the girl was expected to spin the yarn from the fleece of sheep which she then weaved into cloth for her outfit and bed linen. In fact, she was regarded suitable to serve (!) as a wife only when she had spun all the cloth needed to cover her body, the table and the bed. It was for this reason that unmarried girls became known as the "spinners" or "spinsters." No wonder that Alfred the Great called the women of his house the "spindle side."
The trousseau, obviously a French word, actually refers to the "little bundle" of clothes the girl prepared, while still a "spinster."
#
"Spitting",2137,0,0,0
The habit of spitting on things for luck has a sacred origin. It leads back to belief in magic and the story of the Gospels.
Ancient man regarded spittle as representative of his soul. To expectorate, therefore, was like making an offering to the gods who, in return, would extend protection to the spitter.
On the other hand, primitive races believed that if they could get hold of their foe's spittle, they would be able to bewitch him. That is why on the Sandwich Islands, for instance, chiefs were accompanied by a servant who carried a portable spittoon. He carefully buried its contents every morning at a secret spot, lest sorcerers used it for their nefarious purpose.
Human \Jsaliva\j served as a charm against witchcraft and enchantment and was considered a potent antidote against every type of poison. The magical rite of spitting thus found its place in primitive medicine, especially in treating the eyes.
In pugilistic bouts in ancient days, fighters spat on their hands, expecting that this would magically increase the strength of their blows.
Authorities quoted by Pliny asserted that the pernicious powers of toads, frogs, and serpents were rendered innocuous by spitting into their mouths. Tacitus recorded how \JVespasian\j healed a blind man in Alexandria by wetting his eyes with spittle.
Above all, it was the narrative of the Gospels that spread among Christian nations the belief in the miraculous power of spittle. It is told in several passages of the \JNew Testament\j how Jesus, by its use, worked wonders in restoring sight and speech:
\I"And they brought unto him one that was deaf and stammered... and he took him aside from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, 'Be opened!'... and straightway his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly." (Mark VII, 32f) "And they brought a blind man unto him... and he took the blind man... and he spat into his eyes, and put his hands upon him, and asked if he saw anything, and he looked up, and said, 'I perceive men...'." (Mark VIII, 22f)
."..he saw a blind man from his birth... he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay; He went away... and washed, and came seeing." (John IX, 1-7)\i
It was stories of that kind, both sacred and profane, which were remembered by the people. They hoped that what had worked once might prove successful again in their own case.
Eventually spitting was credited not only with possessing the power of curing disease, but with acting as a general prophylactic against evil of any kind. And as it could ward off misfortune, so it would attract good luck.
#
"Spitting Image",2138,0,0,0
A confusion of language and the slurring of speech have largely been held responsible for the creation of the "spitting image," a rather odd choice as a figure of speech.
When, in the Deep South of America, blacks wanted to give comfort to a child bereaved of its father, they complimented it by remarking how much it looked like him. This they expressed by saying that it was "the very spirit and image of its dad." In their drawl, the word sounded like "the very spit an" image." It did not take long for people to take them literally.
Originally, according to another derivation, the spitting image was a "splitting" image. Just as splinters from a tree look very much alike, so did those so depicted.
There is also a suggestion that the phrase is a corruption of "spit and image." Improper enunciation then changed the "spit and image" into "spit'n image," eventually resulting in the mystifying "spitting image." Intended to stress the striking resemblance of two people, very realistically it stated that they were as much alike as two drops of \Jsaliva\j.
In early times (and still in some remote regions), \Jsaliva\j was considered a sacred substance. It was part of a person's soul and spirit. No wonder that it was used to heal, to make the blind see or - in primitive magic - to dominate a person by getting possession of some of his spittle. People who wanted to stress the striking likeness of a child were thus well justified to remark that it was like the very spittle out of its father's mouth, part of his very substance and soul.
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"Splicing the Main Brace",2139,0,0,0
To splice the main brace was an intricate but essential task in the old sailing days. No wonder that on completing it, sailors were paid a bonus which took the form of an extra ration of rum.
The splicing of the main brace is now a forgotten art. However, the job and the drink have become so closely associated that the mere mention of the one pictured up the other, so much so that eventually "splicing the main brace" became identified with partaking of (strong) drink.
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"Splitting the Atom",2140,0,0,0
Ancient Greek thinkers "created" the atom. They were convinced that ultimately everything that existed was a combination of most minute building blocks. These were irreducible in size, indestructible, and eternal. Hence the Greeks called them individually \Ia-tom,\i for "in-divisible," "un-cuttable."
Two thousand years later (in 1803), the British chemist John Dalton (who was also one of the pioneers of \Jmeteorology\j and the first to describe color-\Jblindness\j) adopted the Greeks' atomic theory to chemistry. Applying the identical law, he taught that every substance could be reduced to elemental, indivisible particles nothing could ever break up.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, however, it was suddenly discovered that the thousand-year-old belief in the indivisible nature of the atom, responsible for its very name, was incorrect.
The splitting of the atom has become a reality. Nevertheless, we retain the outdated concept, whenever we speak of the atom.
#
"Spoonerism",2141,0,0,0
A curious form of mistakes is the accidental transposition of letters, syllables or words, putting them where they do not belong. A "butterfly" thus is turned into a "flutterby" and a "crushing blow" becomes a "blushing crow."
Somehow lines get crossed and normal channels of communication between the mind and the tongue break down. Commands sent from the speech center in the brain are either delayed or arrive too early and, by lack of synchronization, with the tongue unable to cope, speech gets twisted. Scientifically, the phenomenon is termed "metathesis." A Greek word, it simply expresses the "change of position." But because the Reverend William A. Spooner (1844-1930), a well-known English clergyman and for many years Warden of New College, Oxford, was particularly prone to making such mistakes, they have been called by his name-Spoonerisms.
Numerous are the examples attributed to him, though each needs careful examination as to its authenticity. The comic effect was too inviting not to tempt people to manufacture spurious "quotations," i.e. Spoonerisms which were not Spooner's at all but invented.
Some of the most popular were addressed to his students. "You deliberately tasted two worms," Spooner reprimanded one of his charges. What, of course, he meant to say was that the student had deliberately "wasted two terms." "You can leave Oxford by the down train," was twisted to "by the town drain." "You hissed my mystery lecture," was yet another of his blunders.
Spooner made a number of other mistakes in his ecclesiastical capacity. When, at the end of the wedding ceremony, a nervous bridegroom forgot to fulfill one of the traditional customs, the helpful Dr Spooner reminded him that it was "kisstomary to cuss the bride." Well-known is his announcement of the hymn "When conquering Kings their titles take," as "When kinkering Kongs their titles take." God, the "loving shepherd" became the "shoving leopard." Spooner stopped a female congregant from entering a reserved pew by politely informing her, "Mardon me, Padam, this pie is occupewed." Offering his assistance, he added, "Allow me to sew you to another sheet."
Further transpositions on Spooner's part concerned his view on life, historical figures and moments. "We all know," Spooner observed, "what it is to have a half-warmed fish within us," indeed a memorable reversal of a half-formed wish. Queen Victoria became "our queer old dean." To give soldiers returning from war service in \JFrance\j a proper welcome, he suggested, "When the boys come back, we'll have the hags flung out." The "sons of toil" changed into "tons of soil" and "smelling salts" became "selling smalts."
Spooner's peculiarity in speech must have had a reason. It has been suggested that a combination of circumstances might have been responsible. He was an albino who also suffered from weak eyesight, conditions that made him nervous and could have resulted in his speech affliction. However, there are other explanations.
To begin with, Spooner may have made such an amusing and "memorable" slip of the tongue quite accidentally. Realizing its effect on his listeners, he came to produce such misplacements of words intentionally, as a sort of gimmick. Probably, he also enjoyed the mental effort it took, so much so that his habit developed into an addiction.
Being only human, it is not unlikely that Spooner loved to show off his mental agility, the \Jlightning\j speed of his thoughts, able to transform a common expression into something "different." Thus it may have become an affectation. Certainly, ordinary words of a preacher or teacher are quickly forgotten, but not so a mistake, particularly if it was so clever and sounded so funny.
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"Spooning",2142,0,0,0
Three possible explanations offer themselves for the use of the word spooning to describe courting.
Far from being slang, the term recollects a beautiful custom. Young men in Wales used to carve a wooden spoon which they presented as a token of love to the girl of their choice. Often this took the place of an engagement ring. If she accepted the spoon, it was as good as a promise of marriage.
The spoon itself was elaborately carved. Frequently it was decorated with intricate floral patterns, both on handle and bowl. It was stained and embossed with the lovers' initials, suitably intertwined.
Only the progress of civilization with its mass production of spoons discontinued this lovely mode of courting. Engagement rings, easily purchased and comparatively impersonal, took the place of the spoon, now merely retained in the way of speaking.
A less romantic interpretation relates the spoon to childish behavior, and implies that spooning couples are not serious about their love-play.
Lastly, there is the suggestion that spooning refers to the lying closely together of two people, as spoons fit into each other.
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"Spreading of Germs",2143,0,0,0
It is good manners for anyone who coughs or sneezes to cover his mouth or nose with the hand - this is meant to protect those nearby from catching the germ. However, this thoughtful gesture may well achieve the opposite result to the one intended by spreading his cold all the same. The hand now carries the germs and might transfer them to others, either by a handshake or by touching a doorknob or tap from which someone else could easily pick them up. A disposable tissue should always take the place of a bare hand.
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"Spreading Plague by Prayer",2144,0,0,0
Facing desperate situations, men have committed fatal mistakes. Instead of halting disaster, they intensified it. This applied particularly to the plague. Ravaging entire communities, it led to the deaths of thousands. Men saw in the scourge divine punishment for their sins. Crowding the churches to ask for God's forgiveness and help, they spread the infection all the more!
Error of judgment was not confined to the common people but extended to London's Lord Mayor with equally disastrous consequences. Blaming the many dogs and cats roaming the streets of the city for the epidemic, he embarked on a campaign to have them all destroyed. He did not realize that the animals exterminated had killed the rats that had carried the fleas which spread the infection! Instead of stopping the plague, his measures caused an enormous increase in the number of victims, further decimating the population of London.
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"Spuds",2145,0,0,0
Man is a creature of habit. He frowns upon and suspects anything that is new. When in 1585 Sir Francis Drake brought the \Jpotato\j from America, Englishmen shunned the strange tuber. For a long time, in fact, they decried it as a dangerously unhealthy vegetable.
Food fanatics, the story goes, went so far as to establish special associations to warn and discourage the population from eating it. They called themselves the Society for the Prevention of Undesirable and Dangerous Species or, according to another tradition, the Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diets. Too much of a mouthful to be remembered, they soon were referred to colloquially by their initials alone, as the SPUDS. It did not take long for their name to be identified with the \Jpotato\j itself.
This is a mere story, an anecdote. The real, linguistic root of the spud is the instrument used to dig it up! A short knife, generally employed as a weeding tool, was known as spudde. And out of it, slightly shortened, grew the (\Jpotato\j) spud!
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"Spurs and Stirrups",2146,0,0,0
The earliest spurs were bone splinters.
A problem for any horse rider was how to mount his steed the fastest way. To begin with, he leaped on to it by using his spear or a pole. The employment of "mounting blocks" (of one kind or another) was an alternate, obvious, and simple way. In search of a better method, man eventually invented the stirrup. This, however, was not added to the Roman saddle until the fifth century, when hordes of \JHuns\j brought it to Europe. Nevertheless, it has been doubted whether they themselves had devised this refinement. Much more likely is the suggestion that they had merely adopted it from the Chinese, their eastern neighbor.
Most probably, however, the first stirrup was conceived by the Indians toward the end of the second century BC. Suitable for barefoot riders, it was of the "big toe" variety. Wherever Indian culture spread, it carried also the stirrup. Thus it arrived in China. As the colder climate there made it necessary for riders to wear boots, in the fifth century AD they enlarged the one-toe stirrup sufficiently to hold the entire foot.
The most primitive sort of stirrup was a loop in a rope that hung from the saddle. It was the combination of its purpose and material that actually created the word from the Old English. \IStirrup\i is a fusion of \Istige\i - "to climb," and \Irap\i - "a rope."
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"Square: Different Meanings",2147,0,0,0
The geometric figure of the square came to play a significant function as a figure of speech as well, experiencing a change of meaning as the years went by.
Initially American slang, an honest person was called a "square." Appropriately, among card players, a "square deal" acknowledged that whoever had dealt the cards had not cheated. Those praised for their square talk spoke the truth - outright and plain.
The carpenter's tool, no doubt, suggested its specific linguistic use. His square enabled him to draw straight lines. They did not deviate, were not crooked or even slightly bent.
Theodore Roosevelt picked up the word, to give it wide currency and make it popular. The first time he used it was in 1901. Urging federal curbs on the new United Steel Corporation, he demanded that "big business give people a square deal." Three years later, he once again employed it during his presidential campaign of 1904. In a speech he made in Washington, he promised that, if elected, he would see to it "that every man had a square deal, no more, no less."
In the early 1940s, jazz musicians adopted the term. However, they gave it a totally different connotation. "Squares" to them were the people who, set in their ways and with closed minds, failed to appreciate the type of music they had introduced. The novel interpretation of the word was eventually taken up by the new generation of hippies and beatniks. Condescendingly they attached the label to those too old-fashioned to understand and appreciate their lifestyle, likening them to "square pegs in round holes."
Theirs was not a new \Jmetaphor\j. It had first been asserted by Sydney Smith, the nineteenth century clergyman and essayist, renowned for his wit displayed both in his conversation and writings. He had discussed in his Sketches of Moral Philosophy (published in 1806) the various types of people and the necessity to find for them their proper place in life. In doing so, he made use of a simple \Jmetaphor\j. He compared the opportunities life offered with holes made in a table top. Of different shapes, they were circular, triangular, oblong, and square. Individuals, on the other hand, were like bits of wood, equally diverse. Unfortunately, it sometimes happened that they were placed in the wrong type of hole which did not match. A square person thus might (try to) squeeze themselves into a round hole.
The comparison soon caught on and "square" was adopted as the description or designation of a misfit.
For a new generation which regarded itself as up-to-date and well-rounded, it was not far-fetched or difficult to decry those not recognizing their advanced lifestyle as being (such) squares. They did not fit into the new world. Apart from it, there was nothing rounded in their way of life. Everything they did was cornered, jagged, and time-worn.
Other explanations exist as to how the square acquired its modern connotation. At one time, a dull-witted person was nicknamed a "squarehead." People actually believed that an inferior mind was reflected in an abnormal, unrounded shape of the person's head. Ultimately, the "head" was dropped, which left the square as a term of reproach for those "out of step" with the latest.
Going to the other extreme, square was also used for an intellectual. This was done, it was explained, because it reminded people of the square-shaped mortarboard of academic dress.
To dub people disapprovingly as "squares" in the sense of their being out-of-date and totally antiquated has also been seen as the result of their no longer being "with it." They still enjoyed square dancing, long after it had gone out of fashion.
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"Squirrels and Nut Stores",2148,0,0,0
Squirrels have wrongly been regarded as highly efficient weather prophets. Instinct (or was it \Jsupernatural\j vision?) told them whether the winter was going to be harsh or mild and, accordingly, they hoarded their provisions. Should they gather lots of nuts, a severe winter could be expected!
This is not the case. Squirrels have no meteorological gift. The amount of nuts they gather solely depends on the available supply. They will collect as much as they can find, irrespective of future weather conditions.
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"St Bernard Dog",2149,0,0,0
Many a mountaineer owes his life to the St Bernard dog, named after a priest.
To cross the Alps between \JSwitzerland\j and \JItaly\j used to be a most arduous venture for travelers. For most of the year much of the route was covered in deep snow, claiming many lives. Robbers also saw their chance to waylay pilgrims on their way to \JRome\j.
Tenth-century Bernard of Montjoux was given the task to supervise those \JAlpine\j passes and keep them clear from brigands. For the travelers' safety, and to enable them to break their journey, he established at the very top of the passes permanent rest houses. Best known of all became the \Jhospice\j he founded at a height of about 2,400 metres above sea level. When, in recognition of all he had done, Bernard was canonized, the \Jhospice\j was called after him to become the St Bernard monastery. Through the centuries it continued to care for \JAlpine\j travelers in distress.
In the 1500s, the monks of St Bernard's realized how dogs could greatly assist them in their rescue missions. For this purpose they bred a dog called after them, the St Bernard. Specially trained, it was able not only to track travelers and mountaineers lost in the snow but, if buried in drifts, to dig them out with their paws. They even learned to revive unconscious victims by licking their faces. However, the common belief that the St Bernard usually carries, fastened to its collar, little kegs of brandy, is incorrect.
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"St Christopher Medal",2150,0,0,0
Folk \Jetymology\j has enriched life with many beautiful tales. People felt that behind every famous name there must be a story. To find it, they gave free rein to their fantasy. Though totally incorrect linguistically, their explanations often gained wide currency and, at times, were adopted "religiously."
Thus Moses, for instance, is a typically Egyptian word meaning "child." It is well known from the names of such renowned Pharaohs as \JRamses\j and Tutmoses. However, the \JBible\j related its choice to the fact that the child was "drawn out" of the waters of the river and therefore claimed that his name was not Egyptian at all but \JHebrew\j!
St Christopher's medal owes its name and fanciful explanation, indeed its very existence, to the phenomenon of imaginative folk \Jetymology\j. Nevertheless, it is believed to ensure safety to those who travel. Hardly anything is known about St Christopher, an early member of the Church. The only facts recorded relate that he lived in \JAsia Minor\j in the third century, converted from paganism to \JChristianity\j and suffered martyrdom by the Romans. To mark the occasion of his \Jbaptism\j, he was given the "telling" new name - Christopher. In the \JGreek language\j of his time, this tried to express beautifully that henceforth he "carried Christ" in his heart.
The very lack of any other information about his life gave ample room for fantasy. Numerous legends arose that soon surrounded his figure. Christopher was now explained to mean "one who bore Christ" and that he had done so quite literally and not merely by the way of a \Jmetaphor\j. He was said to have been a giant of a man, who had lived a humble existence on the banks of a river. One night he had heard a cry for help from a child who was anxious to cross the water. Without hesitation he had answered the call and had lifted the lad on to his shoulders to take him to the other side. But the deeper he stepped into the river, the heavier the child seemed to grow. It was as if he were carrying not an infant but the burden of the world. And indeed, so it was. The child was Christ himself who was carrying the sins of man. And because of this occasion, the man deserved to receive as his new name that of "Christ bearer."
Not surprisingly, frequent repetition of the story made it grow ever more in its wondrous dimensions. It was now told that originally Christopher had been a soldier. His fervent wish was to serve the most powerful master. And to find him, he wandered the world. Eventually he heard of a king whose might was supposed to excel that of any other ruler. Christopher duly enlisted in his army, but soon discovered that the alleged invincibility of his lord was not real. The mere mention of Satan frightened the king.
Obviously therefore Christopher had to change masters. And as Satan appeared to be so much more powerful, he gave his services to him. But again it did not take long for him to realize that even the "evil one" had a chink in his armor. The moment Satan was confronted with the sign of the cross of Christ, he squirmed.
Thus, at long last, the soldier had found his right master. Christ was the mightiest power far and wide and Christopher would serve him alone.
To do so, however, he soon was made to understand that he had to devote all his help to men who, after all, were God's children. For that reason he settled on the bank of the river at the very spot where pilgrims had to cross it on their way to \JJerusalem\j.
Day and night he stood by with his stout stick to assist the pilgrims if not to carry them bodily safely across the river. The waters ran deep and they had claimed many a victim prior to his arrival. But from the moment Christopher took up his task as a ferryman, no one ever drowned again... And then the story continues, to lead up to the climax - the (original) incident with the Christ-child.
Christopher - the "one who bore Christ" - was now adopted as a safeguard to all travelers. He became their patron. Many churches painted his figures as a mural opposite their entrance. Any passer-by who merely looked at it would suffer no harm or accident on that day: "After you have seen Christopher you go safely."
Eventually, the painting was replaced by a medal. This became a popular amulet, which will be difficult to devalue, even by ecclesiastical decrees issued in recent times to update the Church. But it all started in the dreamland of man and his wish to explain what was beyond his comprehension and to gain courage and assurance along his dangerous journeys.
#
"St Patrick's Snakes",2151,0,0,0
There is a detailed account of how St Patrick (d. A.D. 461) freed Ireland from its snakes. Ascending the country's holiest mountain, now called after him Croagh Patrick, he had banished them, together with toads, by a strange ritual. After ringing a bell, he had thrown it over the precipice. With it, miraculously, hundreds of the venomous creatures had cascaded into the depths. Angels then retrieved the bell, for Patrick to repeat the feat until he had completely eradicated all snakes.
All this is a \Jfable\j, as unreal as the tradition that St Patrick had "explained" to the lrish the Trinity by means of the shamrock which was thus considered lucky and became the national emblem of Ireland.
There never were any snakes on the Emerald Isle, just as its fauna lacked weasels and moles. Irishmen possibly wondered why their country was free from snakes and attributed it to the wondrous work of their national saint, thereby enhancing his prestige.
Perpetuating the legend, the saint's emblem depicts snakes, and artists portraying St Patrick show him in the act of treading on snakes.
#
"St Vitus' Dance or Chorea",2152,0,0,0
For a saint to be specially remembered by the name of a sickness is rather an odd distinction. St Vitus experienced this fate. His name became attached to the nervous disorder, medically termed \Ichorea,\i from the Greek for "dance."
Vitus was a third century pagan who became a Christian and ultimately died a martyr. Little is known of him individually or about the circumstances of his death. That \JSt Vitus' dance\j was called after him may derive from the way in which this saint was venerated, or as others claim, a peculiar feature at the celebration of his feast day, 15 June.
In medieval times, those afflicted by \Jepilepsy\j invoked the saint's aid. They accompanied their intercession with a dance in front of his image. The strange practice led people to identify St Vitus with dancing generally, but then link his name specifically with the "dancing sickness."
Another explanation traces the origin of the term, \ISt Vitus' dance,\i to the annual worship of the saint, and does so in two ways.
According to some, the faithful who came to pay homage to St Vitus and gain his protection from illness for the ensuing twelve months, to attract his attention, joined in an ecstatic dance around his statue. Their dance became so uncontrolled that it reminded those looking on of the symptoms of \Jchorea\j, suggesting the popular name for the disease.
The other explanation seems crude and almost unfeeling. It was a custom to celebrate the feast day not only with prayer and a sacred dance, but by sharing a meal of fried fish. This, to our mind now, was prepared in a repulsive manner. Live small fish, caught in the sea, were put straight into the sizzling fat of a pan. Their agonised wriggling and leaping reminded people of the convulsive twitchings of those suffering from the affliction. It was a small step, then, to link it with St Vitus.
#
"Stag Party",2153,0,0,0
The modern stag party, known in \JAustralia\j as a buck's party, arranged as a send-off to a friend about to be married, is the last link in a long chain of male domination. It goes back to the custom of excluding women from tribal gatherings. The main reason for the discrimination was fear. This was based on a physiological phenomenon that, not understood, mystified and frightened man. The blood that periodically issued from a woman's body was regarded a threatening substance and a source of defilement. Her very presence therefore was imagined to spell misfortune. Ignorance of the facts of \Jmenstruation\j was the beginning of separation and exclusion of women. It has been perpetuated through the millennia in all types of gatherings, societies, and clubs.
Men invented their own excuses for their male chauvinism. They said it was to save the women embarrassment at obscene jokes and talk that was off-color, particularly in the case of a stag party prior to the nuptials.
#
"Stainless Steel's Origins",2154,0,0,0
Stainless steel was born on the scrap-heap! During the First World War, \Jcorrosion\j occurring in rifle barrels presented a serious problem. The government commissioned metallurgists to search for an alloy that would resist this costly deterioration which potentially could delay, if not endanger, the Allies" victory in battle.
All their experiments, however, seemed to prove futile, and thus barrel after barrel was thrown away. When one of the scientists passed the by then considerable scrap-heap, he noticed that some of the discarded tubes had not rusted. He immediately realized the importance of the "find." The accidental observation led to the invention of stainless steel.
#
"Stamina",2155,0,0,0
People who have resilience, vigorous strength and staying power, owe their "stamina" to ancient Greek myth. Just like \Istamen,\i the word for the male organ of a flowering plant supplying the \Jpollen\j, \Istamina\i has its linguistic beginnings in the "threads" of life spun by the Fates, the three goddesses of destiny. This explains why in past days a man's stamina used to be linked with his moral "fibre."
#
"Stamp Collecting Clubs",2156,0,0,0
The first club for stamp collectors in the world was founded in Britain, in the early 1860s, by the Rev. F. J. Stainforth. His rectory at All Hallows, Staining, in the City of London, served as the venue for members, who regularly met there to exchange information and swap stamps.
#
"Standing Ovation",2157,0,0,0
A standing ovation is now regarded as a notable public display of respect for a person deserving highest recognition.
The present-day status of the gesture, however, exceeds its original, lesser value. To begin with, an ovation was a second-rate "applause" and only a minor recognition. The "ovation" - from the Latin for "rejoicing" - was awarded to a general who had distinguished himself in a minor battle.
Much more superior to the "ovation" was the "triumph." This described the jubilant welcome given to a military leader on his return from a decisive battle. A major celebration, it included the crowning of the victor with a wreath of gold.
#
"Star Chamber",2158,0,0,0
Misleading is the description of England's historical and most feared "Star Chamber." History books and even the latest edition of Brewer's \IDictionary of Phrase and Fable\i have - wrongly - claimed that this court received its name because its ceiling or roof had been decorated with stars.
Its star, however, has no stellar meaning at all. It stands for documents. And how and why is an intriguing but very sad story, that goes back to the Jews in twelfth-century Britain. At the time they were owed vast sums of money by many people, who instigated a persecution to get rid of their substantial debt, which they certainly had no intention of repaying. They beat up and murdered countless Jews and burned their homes. Most of all, they saw to it that in doing so, all records of their debts were destroyed. Now the Jews who had survived that twelfth-century \Jholocaust\j could not demand any money, as they could not present any proof of ever having lent it out.
This caused King Richard I great concern. He was not worried because of any sympathy he felt with the Jews or because he had any sense of outrage about the injustice done in his country. His thoughts were focused on an entirely different aspect. He well knew that whenever Jews were expelled, their property automatically was appropriated by the state and the crown and that, of course, included all the debts still owed to the Jews. But when rioters got out of hand and burned the relevant promissory notes, all evidence disappeared and the king could not "cash in" by collecting the money.
To avoid such loss (of unearned fortunes!), he established government offices in which a Jew had to file a copy of the document that certified the debt owed to him. This then was kept in the \Jarchives\j of the registry office. To make doubly sure that it would not fall into wrong hands, it was placed into a special safety box secured by a lock that needed three keys and these were handed to three different people.
Once the debt had been paid, the Jew had to issue an official receipt. This took the form of a document which could be drawn up either in \JHebrew\j with a Latin translation, or in Latin, or in Norman-French. And it was only natural that the lender had to file a copy of this note of acquittal for such creditors at the court as well. He referred to this "record" of paid debts by the \JHebrew\j word for "document" which was \Ishtar.\i
It was merely a matter of time for the court at which the documents had been filed to become known as the "document chamber" but by using the \JHebrew\j term, the "shtar chamber." Frequent use of the word eventually blunted it and, of course, a non-Jew did not know the meaning of \Ishtar.\i That is how the real origin of the name was lost and it was mistakenly supposed to refer to a star and not to a (\JHebrew\j) document. And so, by mere error and ignorance, the star chamber came into existence; years later it became renowned and decried for the harsh and arbitrary sentences meted out by its judges until it was abolished in 1641.
#
"Star of Bethlehem Theories",2159,0,0,0
Few, indeed, are the passages that deal with stars on the \JNew Testament\j. Mostly they serve as religious \Jsymbolism\j, such as the reference to "the bright, the morning star" in the Book of Revelations (22,16). The description of Satan falling from heaven as \Jlightning\j (Luke 10,18) most likely uses the picture of a \Jcomet\j or \Jshooting star\j.
No star has dominated Christian thought and lore more strongly and permanently through the ages than the star of \JBethlehem\j. St Matthew tells (2, 1-12) the legend of how it actually guided the magi coming from the East to \JBethlehem\j, to the very crib in which the Christ-child rested in the stable. Whether myth or an astronomical phenomenon, the mere fact that the men are described as magi, those wonder-working Persian astrologers, reflects the Gospel writers' belief (in this one passage at least) in the guidance by a star.
Of course, those who are not Fundamentalists have seen the entire tale as a legend. It was used to stress the \Jsupernatural\j nature of the event. However, it also was meant to emphasize the cosmic significance of Jesus' birth and the fact that it was destined to influence not just the Palestinian Jewish community but the entire pagan world, including the heathen magi! A common feature of many legends is the sudden appearance of a star at the birth (or death) of a great figure.
That Jesus' birth should thus be announced was all the more understandable as those believing in his Messiahship well remembered a prophecy of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j. In the Book of Numbers of the \JPentateuch\j (24,17) Balaam had foretold that "there shall come forth a star out of Jacob." And, no doubt, Christians believed that this spoke of the (future) Jesus, the Christ. According to Jewish interpretation, however, the passage referred not to him but to King David or Bar Kochba.
Other suggestions have been made to explain the story of the star. Some said that the magi had not observed a star at all in the sky; it had been an exceptionally bright \Jmeteor\j or fire ball. This would not tally with the Gospels' account that "the star of \JBethlehem\j" stayed in the skies for a much longer time than a \Jshooting star\j or fire ball ever would.
A further theory advanced suggested that "the star" referred to an extraordinary \Jcomet\j. This idea is not so far-fetched, as the appearance of comets throughout the ages has been a source of awe to many people. And investigating such possibility, calculations actually proved that a \Jcomet\j appeared in the sky in both the years 4 B.C. and earlier, in 11 B.C., when it was the famous Halley's \Jcomet\j. Later times could have easily confused their dates with that of the birth of Christ. Nevertheless, the theory is untenable, for the significant reason that comets have always been regarded as evil omens, harbingers of misfortune, of war and of pestilence, and have never been seen as indications that a forthcoming event would be good and bring blessings.
There were of course pious people who were convinced that the star of \JBethlehem\j could never have been a mere natural phenomenon. Worthy of the savior that then entered the world, they said, it was a \Jsupernatural\j miracle.
Yet another school of thought, still assuming the veracity of the Gospel story, went to great pains to explain that what Holy Scripture called a star was really an entire conspicuous planetary conjunction, the like of which had never been seen before. Among those anxious to prove this case was Johannes Kepler, the great German astronomer. When, between December 1603 and February 1606 he observed a certain conjunction of stars, he was struck by the sudden appearance of a brilliant new star which gradually faded and vanished. He was convinced that what he had seen was the exact repetition of the phenomenon known as "the star of \JBethlehem\j." And calculations he made subsequently seemed to prove his point.
Modern astronomers have taken up Kepler's lead. They tried to ascertain with their immensely increased knowledge whether any unusual astronomical phenomenon did occur (such as the sudden coming into view of a bright nova) at the time of Jesus' birth which might have given rise to the Gospel account.
New difficulties were added which rendered the astronomers' deliberations most problematic and their quest to identify the star of \JBethlehem\j almost impossible. We now know that our modern calendar is very inexact. It certainly does not give the correct amount of years that have passed since the assumed birth of Christ. Taking into consideration data now commonly accepted as true and based on historical records, such as the extent of Herod's rule and the periods of tax collection by the Romans, it seems definite that Jesus must have been born several years "Before Christ," certainly not later than 4 B.C. but most likely in 8 B.C.!
#
"Star of David's Significance on Gravestones",2160,0,0,0
Best-known of all Jewish symbols is the \JStar of David\j which in the cemetery (particularly on war graves) takes the place of the Christian cross. This six-pointed "shield of David" \I(\JMagen David\j,\i in \JHebrew\j) is seen as a guard against all evil forces. Its six points represent God's omnipotent universality; his power extends in all directions, to the four points of the compass, above and below.
The intertwined equilateral triangles making up the star signify the close link between this world and the world to come, and the interdependence of man's daily tasks, his life on earth, and his spiritual values and existence. Last but not least, the \IMagen David\i is a divine, guiding star, pointing to the Messianic expectation of a world without evil and at peace.
#
"Star on the Christmas Tree",2161,0,0,0
The star placed at the very top of the \JChristmas tree\j recalls the one seen by the three wise men "in the East" at the time of Jesus Christ's birth, the star that "went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was" (Matthew 2:1-12).
Several attempts have been made to identify this "star of \JBethlehem\j." Some researchers have suggested that it was a \Jcomet\j with a fiery tail. In fact, Halley's \Jcomet\j has been cited as a possibility. It is visible every 76 years and would have been particularly brilliant in the eastern sky. Other astronomers have calculated that the planet Jupiter would have been rising, rather like a shining morning "star," over \JBethlehem\j in August, 2 BC. In the 17th century, the renowned astronomer Johannes Kepler referred to a specific conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the \Jconstellation\j of \JPisces\j which would have occurred in 7 BC. This was a most unusual phenomenon, and could easily have appeared to the naked eye as one great light.
In recent times, the star has been explained as a \Jsupernova\j which flared up at the time to an extraordinary brilliance and stayed bright for many weeks before fading away. However, as none of the dates for these planetary or astral oddities coincide with the traditional year of Jesus Christ's birth, the "star of \JBethlehem\j" remains a mystery.
#
"Star-spangled Banner's Origins",2162,0,0,0
No mystery is attached to the origin of America's Anthem. Its words were written on September 14th, 1814, at sea by a young patriotic American, when the British navy bombarded - unsuccessfully - a United States fort. Its tune, however, was composed by an Englishman in London for a club of music lovers! Few people realize that only on March 3rd, 1931-117 years later - did an \JAct of Congress\j officially recognize the \IStar-spangled Banner\i as the nation's anthem.
Its story began in August, 1814, when the British fleet was anchored off Baltimore with William Beanes, an old doctor of Marlborough, Maryland, a prisoner in the flagship "Surprise," which was commanded by General Ross.
His friend Francis Scott Key, a young lawyer who felt it his duty to come to the doctor's rescue, reached the British fleet in a sloop and his passionate appeal for his friend did not fall on deaf ears.
General Ross himself acceded to his request. He could take Beanes home - but not yet. The British were about to shell Fort McHenry, hoping to reduce it in no time. Therefore for Mr Key's party immediately to return to the mainland might jeopardize the action, as naturally they would give due warning to their people. They would have to stay under guard on the sloop till the fortress had been captured.
Thus they were compelled to witness from afar the terrific bombardment. Anxiously throughout the day they watched the "Stars and Stripes" flying on top of the fortress, sometimes obscured by mist, drizzle, and smoke. During the night, they continued to look out for it, happy to recognize it, whenever lit up by the burst of shells or the flash of guns.
When at last dawn came, with grateful hearts they could see that the flag was still showing. Obviously, the attack had failed, in spite of the Englishman's previous boast.
Stirred to the very depth of his heart, it was then that Key composed the poem, writing down its words on the back of an envelope. When the Fleet was about to withdraw, Key and his party were allowed at long last to go ashore.
With him he took his new poem. No wonder that it was immediately read by his friends who, equally deeply moved, had it printed at once and distributed as a handbill. Baltimore's daily paper printed it in its first issue after the city's liberation.
Still, it was merely a poem and not a song. But when Key wrote it on that glorious morning after a fearful night, he must have anticipated its tune. He certainly chose the right meter, fitting for an air that was then most popular. It belonged to a song which had come from England, where it had been used for the opening hymn at meetings of music lovers, who had established clubs, known as Anacreontic Societies.
American soldiers celebrating their victory were joined in a city tavern by Francis Key who, exhilarated, read them his poem. An actor who was present got up on a chair and, on the spur of the moment, led them in song, choosing the melody Key had envisaged.
Within four days all Baltimore was singing it. It spread throughout the land. The original manuscript of the poem was sold for $24,000 at an auction in New York in 1933.
#
"Stark Naked",2163,0,0,0
That anyone wearing no clothes whatsoever is described as "stark naked" is due to an old \JAnglo-Saxon\j word that originally (and still in the thirteenth century) did not sound like "stark" at all. It was \Isteort,\i pronounced more like "start" and referred to the "rump and tail." Whoever was "stark naked," therefore, was completely in the nude - even to the (metaphorical) tail.
#
"Stars and Stripes",2164,0,0,0
Officially, the first flag of the United States was adopted by the American \JContinental Congress\j in Philadelphia on June 14th, 1777. It was based on the report of a special committee, submitted by John Adams. Congress then resolved: -
"That the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white;
That the Union be 13 stars, white and in a blue field, representing a new \Jconstellation\j."
George Washington explained the flag's features to the people in stirring words. He said: "We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."
There are various views on the flag's beginnings and to whom the credit should go for its final design. Not even the names of members of the committee have been preserved. In spite of sworn affidavits as to the accuracy of one certain claim, this has now been accepted as a legend.
Probably several people were responsible for the new flag, although Francis Hopkinson, a delegate to Congress and signatory to the \JDeclaration of Independence\j, considered himself entitled to a reward as the originator. His claim was rejected because, as was pointed out to him, he "was not the only person consulted."
The fact is that the American flag is the result of a long evolution and in each of its parts has its own story.
What was regarded as the first distinctly American flag was flown on Prospect Hill on January 1st, 1776, by the American forces besieging \JBoston\j. Unmistakably it was meant to proclaim by 13 red and white stripes that Union of that number of seceding colonies, yet paradoxically it still carried in the canton the British crosses of St. George and St. Andrew.
It was a strange combination. While the 13 stripes told the world of the colonies' united revolt against the mother country, the inclusion of the Union Jack reminded the people of their allegiance to Britain. Indeed, it took almost a whole year after the \JDeclaration of Independence\j to remove any obvious likeness to the British flag. The two crosses in the canton were replaced by 13 stars.
Several theories have been brought forward as to the origin of the stars. They were preceded, so it is said, by the picture of a \Jrattlesnake\j with 13 rattles and the motto, "Don't tread on me!" No one knows whether the stars were taken from the flag of \JRhode Island\j or from the coat of arms of the Washington family.
The story is told that in June, 1776, George Washington with two other men called on Betsy Ross, a widowed seamstress renowned for her needlework, at her upholstery shop in Philadelphia. They showed her a rough draft of the suggested flag and inquired whether she could make one.
Betsy convinced her callers that it was advisable to use five-pointed stars instead of the proposed six-pointers because these could easily be made by a single clip of the scissors.
Washington is said to have suggested that the stars should be arranged in a circle, to emphasize the full equality of the states. Actually, there was no definite rule about the arrangement of the stars at first. Earliest samples show a circle of 12 stars, with the 13th occupying the center.
After the preliminary discussion, a sketch of the new model, prepared by an artist, was duly submitted to Betsy, who in no time sewed America's first national flag.
No contemporaneous independent report supports the claim which was made only by Mrs. Ross herself to her family. Though her descendants repeated the assertion and even supplied sworn statements, many now regard the claim as only a legend. Nevertheless, the house of Betsy Ross at 239 Arch Street in Philadelphia has become a national shrine to her memory.
Originally it was intended to add a new stripe and star for each state joining the initial 13. By 1818, their number had grown to 20, and it became obvious that the method adopted was impractical. Consequently, Congress resolved to revert to the original 13 stripes, but to indicate the admission of new states by adding a star for each. That procedure has been followed ever since.
#
"Stars in Our Speech",2165,0,0,0
It was not only the Jews who preserved and applied - unknowingly - ancient astrological beliefs. \JAstrology\j has left its mark even more conspicuously in the English tongue.
That is why we thank our "lucky stars" for good things and put the blame for misfortune on being "ill-starred" or having been "born under an unlucky star." There cannot be any doubt as to the (original) implication of expressing the view that a person's "star is in the ascendant." Any disaster equally (and very obviously to those learned in Latin) attributes its cause to the antagonism \I(dis\i - "against") of the "stars" \I(astra).\i
Dwelling further on the "dismal" side of life, this very description is tied up with \Jastrology\j and its view that each day, whether good or ill, is subject to a star. Stellar influence predestines an effort to be successful or a failure. Dismal, from the Latin \Idies mali\i speaks of "the evil days." We do not make them so, but they exist so in advance, and are the result of the stars. Bringing misfortune, they should be shunned for any new venture or enterprise, whether marital, martial, or commercial.
Our calendars still indicate the "red letter days" of the year. In the same way, ancient nations marked the "evil days" as foreboding no good and therefore - literally in their tongue - being "dismal." The Roman calendar distinguished two "dismal" days every month. In some parts of Europe these kept their unfortunate association well into medieval days.
To "consider" a situation seems to be objective and detached. Yet if we were really to mean (or know) what is implied each time we "consider" a matter, we ought to consult an astrologer! Also hailing from Latin, the word "consider" literally says that we relate the subject "with" \I(con)\i the "star" \I(sidus),\i and the position of the star is the decisive factor in our final course of action. Consideration thus is the contemplation not so much of our minds but of stellar vicissitudes.
Becoming even more specific, our language attached concepts to individual planets. "Jovial" people are related to Jupiter. War and strife are regarded as "martial," because they were seen as the direct effect of the planet Mars.
Less common nowadays is the use of "saturnine" for people of a gloomy, sluggish, and taciturn nature. These were once (astrologically) linked to the planet Saturn. Mercury gave us those individuals who like quicksilver in their "mercurial" personality are quickwitted and volatile. Venus, which personified the goddess of love, has fared rather badly on the loom of language and has come down from her lofty heights. This planet chiefly survives in the evil effects of (loving) promiscuity, as "venereal" disease.
Language, indeed, has built a colorful variety of lasting monuments to man's astral associations and his belief in "star power."
#
"Start of Skiing",2166,0,0,0
What made man first think of skis? No doubt, it was his wish to improve his foot grip on the snow. To achieve this he must have thought initially merely of enlarging the soles of his boots - a method which would explain the early reference to "snow shoes." A chance experience might have led him to the next important discovery: that it was so much easier and swifter to glide along the snow than to traverse it step by step. But for this purpose, his novel "platform" had to be lengthened and narrowed down. Skis then served man in his search for food in hunting \Jreindeer\j and elk.
All evidence shows that men have been \Jskiing\j in northern Europe and Asia from before the dawn of history. The oldest known pair of skis (displayed in the Djur-garden Museum in Stockholm) is thought to be more than 5,000 years old. Hundreds of ancient "snow shoes" have been dug up, mostly from Finnish and Swedish bogs. There are remnants of \JNeolithic\j, \JBronze Age\j, and \JIron Age\j skis. Illustrations of \Jskiing\j were found in the form of rock engravings dating back 4,000 years. Skis from early times have been decorated, and carved ornaments on the upper surface have assisted researchers in dating many old specimens.
Throughout the ages, skis have differed in many ways. The world's first skis were probably made from bones of large animals. The earliest skis were made smooth on the running surface, but soft snow got stuck to these and impeded the skiers' progress. Skin of elk, \Jreindeer\j, and seal was then used to cover the boards to give grip.
Towards the end of the \JBronze Age\j, grooves approximately two inches (5.08 cm) wide were made in the snow shoe and filled with hairy skin - secured by wooden borders. When skiers realized these assisted in keeping a straight course, they abandoned the skin and kept the borders.
Generally the ski was strapped on with leather thongs. Primitive types had a footrest hollowed out of the wood with two wooden tongues holding the foot in position from either side. Thongs were threaded through holes in those side pieces. Some skis had a raised foot-rest.
A great variety of experimentation took place. In the eleventh century skiers used the "kicking ski" on the right foot and the long "running ski" on the left, a combination thought to give greater speed. In modern days, Germans and Americans introduced special alloys and plastics to supplant the hard woods, such as ash and hickory, which had replaced the spruce and pine used centuries earlier.
Skiers learned early the advantage of using a stick which, for many centuries, was simply a sturdy branch. Bone points were then fixed to its lower end and a hoop to its top. It was only in 1615 that (from northern \JFinland\j) mention was made of the use of two sticks. But there were skiers who never adopted any. They secured themselves by a rope which they tied to the point of each of the skis.
The word "ski" has a northern European linguistic root describing a splinter cut from a log. It became the Scandinavian term for a shoe, and was pronounced \Ishee.\i
The northern countries of Europe worshipped Skadi, a goddess of \Jskiing\j, who shot at wild creatures with her bow and arrows while moving across vast stretches of snow on her snow shoes. Icicles were the jewelry that adorned her hair and her clothes.
The god Ull was her male counterpart. He excelled so much as a snow runner - on skis with turned - up tips - that none ever attempted to outdistance him, and his speed was so great that at times he became invisible. A giant in size, he was thought to travel across the snowfields with ships on his feet, though philologists still doubt whether this descriptive phrase really refers to skis and not to a shield. Many skiers believed in his protective care and carried a medal embossed with his image.
The Finnish national epic, \IKalevala\i (compiled of numerous folk songs), vividly recalls how one of its heroes chased the elk of the mountain ghost Hiisi, on skis:
\IOn his back he bound his quiver,
And his new bow on his shoulder,
In his hands his pole grasped firmly,
On the left shoe glided forward,
And pushed onward with the right one...
Chased the elk upon his snow shoes,
Glided o'er the land and marshes,
O'er the open wastes he glided.
Fire was crackling from his snow shoes,
From his staff's end smoke ascending...
Once again he speeded onward,
And they could no longer hear him,
But the third time he rushed onward,
Then he reached the elk of Hiisi.\i
#
"Stateroom",2167,0,0,0
That cabins on luxury liners are referred to as staterooms has been linked with two entirely different sources and continents.
The original stateroom was not afloat, but part of an English mansion or palace. It was the room used for all "state" occasions and, accordingly, richly ornamented. The British navy then adopted the name, using it for the quarters reserved on their vessels for the superior officer. Passenger ships then took over the term, to call by it the cabins occupied by "first-class" passengers who used to live "in state." Whilst the great mass of people was confined to two large sections, one for the women and one for the men, sleeping in primitive bunks, those who could afford to travel in style thus were given their own "stately" room.
In America, however, a story is told which traces the stateroom to the enterprise of Captain Henry Miller Shreve, one of its riverboat pioneers. In 1815, he introduced the steamboat on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. His endeavor was to improve river traffic and make it popular.
To attract passengers, he promised them extra comfort and for this purpose (in 1844, tradition has it), he had special cabins built on his boat. To make them even more distinctive, he gave them individual names, calling them after the various States bordering on the two rivers, such as Louisiana, \JArkansas\j, Missouri and Illinois. For some time they were briefly referred to as "states," eventually to become known as staterooms.
The city of Shreveport, Louisiana, in its name perpetuates Captain Shreve's memory. But his zeal and initiative to improve the navigation on two American rivers are recalled in every stateroom, even on the largest luxury liner cruising far away from the (United) States.
#
"Statue of Eros",2168,0,0,0
Anyone who has visited London knows the famous statue of Eros, the God of Love, standing at the very center of Piccadilly Circus. Its description is a telling example of how love and sex may creep into the most unexpected places.
Eros is a mistaken identity. The sculpture was designed by Sir Alfred Gilbert to top the memorial fountain he was commissioned to build in memory of the (seventh) Earl of Shaftesbury, the renowned Victorian philanthropist. Fittingly, the "winged archer" portrays - not Eros - but "the Angel of Christian Charity."
#
"Steak: Origin of the Name",2169,0,0,0
Man has always enjoyed eating meat. At first, he ate it raw. It was certainly an advance of civilization when he learned to cook, broil, or fry it. Originally, he did so on an open fire. He roasted the big slice of meat, if not the entire carcass, on a spit.
It was the original name of this spit - the stake - which, by its close and constant association, was eventually transferred to the piece of meat itself. That is why, whenever we eat steak, we recall the original stake, only slightly disguised by its different spelling, though still with the identical sound.
#
"Steal Thunder",2170,0,0,0
Varied indeed was the career of John Dennis. A saddler's son, he was educated at famous Harrow and Cambridge. One college expelled him for stabbing a man. Eventually, he became a playwright and critic. All of his plays proved failures, and yet, one of his tragedies, "Appius and Virginia," written in 1709, made him famous. It was not because of any inherent merit of the play, but through a gadget he had invented for it. This produced better sounds of thunder than anything had done before. The show soon folded up. But when, shortly afterwards, Dennis visited the same theater to watch a performance of Macbeth, he discovered that his thunder (machine) was being used. Outraged that someone should have "stolen his thunder," he exclaimed, "My God, the villains will play my thunder but not my plays!." Dennis himself is forgotten but echoes of his outcry can still be heard, whenever people speak of someone "stealing the thunder."
#
"Stellar Delusions",2171,0,0,0
There are times when we see stars that really do not exist. This is due to a heavy blow to the head, and does not apply to the use of the word in the world of the stage and the screen. After all, to apply the image of the luminaries of the sky in order to lionize or advertise outstanding actors and actresses was justified because of the very brightness of their performance. The stars of this type emerged rather late, only around the middle of the eighteenth century, when David Garrick and Peg Woffington appeared on the London stage, and for their art, were worshiped as idols that outshone all lesser lights.
#
"Stepmother and Stepfather",2172,0,0,0
Misunderstood and misrepresented is the name and role of step-parents. The prefix in their title does not refer to any "step," leading upward or downward, in the scale of their relationship or the "degree" they occupy in the family tree.
More human, it recalls the reason for their assuming this - at times - thankless function. From Old English, the "step," in their case, means "bereavement." It records the fact that one's real mother or father has passed away and that the "bereaved" parent has remarried. Hence the new mother or father, no longer blood-related, has come to occupy her or his position through the bereavement. The sad circumstance was recalled in the name, when its meaning was still recognized.
It is sad enough to lose one's parent, but an additional source of deep regret is the bad reputation given, often undeservedly, to the person taking her or his place. The association of step-parents with being cruel and unkind is not the result of real experience. Fairytales, such as \ICinderella,\i have been responsible for it. Read out in the nursery, these stories, mostly depicting a stepmother as a horrible creature, have left their mark in the mind of the adult. It shows what fiction can do, and how feelings and attitudes acquired in early childhood condition people's outlook and the emotive effect of words and names for the rest of their lives.
#
"Stethoscope's Origin",2173,0,0,0
The doctor's stethoscope owes its existence to one patient's bashfulness! It all started in 1819 with a visit of a lady patient to the surgery of Dr Rene Laennec, a French physician. As had been customary for so many years, to examine a patient's heart he placed his ear closely to her chest. But exceedingly shy, the young lady showed utter embarrassment. She recoiled from having a man, even a doctor, touch her naked breast so intimately!
Not to upset his patient (or bring up her blood pressure unnecessarily!), the doctor took due note of her \Jhypersensitivity\j. His mind worked fast. Picking up a magazine that happened to lie on his desk, he solved the problem instantly. By rolling the paper up, he improvised a sort of tube, through which now from a "proper" distance, he could listen to the lady's much less agitated heartbeat.
His experience remained no secret. In fact, other doctors applied his technique and found that it even helped in their diagnosis. The stethoscope - the result of an over-shy lady patient - became an everyday instrument of medical paraphernalia.
#
"Steward",2174,0,0,0
Stewards who look after passengers (or, in the Masonic craft, fill an office of respect), to start with, had pigs as their wards. They used to be sty-wards!
#
"Stiff Upper Lip",2175,0,0,0
For a person, particularly a man, to show emotion, especially among the British, used to be regarded as unfitting and undignified. It proved a lack of maturity and self-discipline. But to do so as a member of the armed forces would be all the more degrading.
In spite of it, not everyone succeeded and, without being aware of it, gave away their inner feelings. On the brink of bursting out in tears, but withholding them, their lips would tremble. This movement became all the more noticeable at a time when fashion made young soldiers sport moustaches, so common then that they almost seemed to be part of their uniform. To make them even more conspicuous, they were kept stiff by the application of wax. This practice had one disadvantage. The very rigidity of the moustache drew attention to the least movement of the upper lip, of which the slightest twitch revealed that the man was under stress.
To keep a stiff upper lip therefore became a military necessity. Eventually adopted as a \Jmetaphor\j in civilian life, it portrayed the ability to keep oneself under control in the most adverse of circumstances.
#
"Stock Broker",2176,0,0,0
If brokers only knew how intoxicating their name is. It was first applied to people engaged not on the share market but in the wine trade. The \Ibrokierre\i "opened up" a cask of wine. That he did so with a spigot, a \Ibroche\i in French, was actually responsible for his name. This original meaning of "broker" is still recalled whenever people "broach" a subject.
By the end of the 14th century, English wine salesmen generally were thus known as brokers. Subsequently, the term was applied to professional match-makers, then to become the description of people concerned with any kind of deal. It has rightly been asked why the wine merchant's title came to be used so far removed from its original source. A possible explanation is the former Spanish custom known as \Ialboroque\i (of identical root as the broker), in which the conclusion of any sale was celebrated with a drink.
Eventually, the broker's activities again contracted, to be restricted specifically to the trading in stocks and shares, and doing so very soberly without even a glass of wine.
#
"Stockings",2177,0,0,0
St Nicholas, so the story goes, was deeply concerned about three lovely sisters. They lived on the outskirts of a city and were desperately poor and destitute. The saint was determined to save the girls from their most likely fate - prostitution.
One night he went to their home and, unnoticed, dropped three pieces of gold through the smoke-hole (chimneys did not exist at that time). The coins did not fall onto the hearth as he had expected, but into the sisters' stockings, which had been hung up near the fire to dry. Nothing could describe their happiness when they found the money in the morning. People have hung up Christmas stockings ever since, hoping to receive similarly pleasant surprises.
#
"Stollen",2178,0,0,0
The universally popular Christmas treat known as the stollen is of German origin. It is a kind of sweet bread, enriched with a variety of dried fruits and nuts and covered with icing sugar. Originally, families and bakeries treasured their special recipes for the stollen they baked, and would not reveal their secret ingredients.
The stollen, in its sugar coating, symbolizes the baby Jesus Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes. The word itself refers to its shape, which is rather like a short "prop" or "post."
#
"Stone Carved by her Mother",2179,0,0,0
\BHarriet Crowhurst\b
Without doubt the work of an amateur mason and therefore all the more moving, is the crudely carved stone on the grave of a little girl in the Avoca Cemetery:
\ITO THE MEMORY
OF HARRIET THE
BELOVED DAUGH
TER OF GEORGE
AND ELIZA CROW
HURST. WHO DEPARTED
THIS LIFE THE 16 OF NOV
1870 BORN 14th OF OCT. 1866
AGED 4 YEARS\i
The story behind this tragedy and memorial is told on a bronze plaque which was placed next to the grave on \JMother's Day\j 1963. Harriet had died of \Jpneumonia\j in Percydale, a village eight kilometres from Avoca now no longer in existence, but once part of the shire that still bears its name.
Harriet's mother carved the headstone with her own hands, and wheeled it in a barrow all the way to the cemetery in Avoca "to erect it herself." Appropriately, the inscription on the plaque adds the quotation, "The memory of the just is blessed."
#
"Stone That Has Gone a Different Way",2180,0,0,0
\BJudge Ellis Bent\b
Judge Bent's memorial must be unique, for several reasons. Its site is now far away from the burial place it was first set up to mark, whilst the body itself has been moved not just once, but twice!
At his death, Bent was interred in the Sydney Burial Ground. When this was resumed by the authorities to make room for the future Sydney Town Hall, his body was exhumed and transferred to Garden Island. Even there it was not to stay permanently, but experienced a second - and final exhumation, and was again moved, this time to St Thomas' churchyard in North Sydney where it now rests in a sarcophagus which carries on top, in a chest of pyramidal shape, his best friend's remains.
On his wanderings, Bent's original headstone did not accompany him. As yet another of the stones now without a body, it has been re-erected in the Botany Pioneer Park. In spite of the many years that have passed since the judge's first burial, and despite the stone's having been uprooted and moved about, its extensive inscription has not suffered or weathered away. It can still be deciphered easily:
\ISacred
To the Memory
of
ELLIS BENT. Esqr. A. M.
of the Honorable Society of
Lincolns Inn
Barister at Law
Judge Advocate
and
Judge of the Vice Admiralty
In This Territory
Who Departed this Life
November the 10th 1815
Aged 32 Years\i
#
"Stonehenge Mysteries",2181,0,0,0
Stonehenge is a monument which grew for thousands of years. Its existence has mystified countless generations of men who discovered in it ever more puzzling features and, at times, added some of their own.
There was the stupendous size of its giant boulders. Where did they come from? Who had been able to transport them (4,000 years ago) all the way to the vast expanse of what is now Salisbury Plains in the English county of Wiltshire? What accounts for the choice of the actual site and what were those monoliths meant to represent? Obviously, the monumental stones formed a circle, a shape that has always been endowed with magic potency. What did the builders - whoever they were - intend to gain by arranging the massive rocks thus?
There was the enigma of its very name. Certainly, it was not the original one, but why was \JStonehenge\j called that? From the Old English, it identified the site as "hanging stones." But where did this odd description come from: was it perhaps because the stones reminded people of later years of gallows? Or was it - as in the case of the hanging gardens of \JBabylon\j - because the stones (or their lintels) seemed suspended in the air?
Whose plan was it to put up these huge boulders in the solitude of that vast plain? And what was the initial meaning, the driving force and impelling belief that led man to erect this structure with infinite patience and precise astronomic accuracy, but with only the aid of primitive tools? And why did he then surround the entire complex with a (magical) bank and a ditch? Samuel Pepys once wrote that only "God knows what their use was."
Suddenly another astounding fact was realized. This unique type of statuary - apart from forming a magic circle - was aligned accurately with certain celestial constellations (rather like the entrance passage of the Great Pyramid) that included significant moments in the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars, such as the equinoxes and solstices. On midsummer day, for instance, the sun rose exactly above what is now called \JStonehenge\j's Helle stone. Only men gifted with extraordinary perception and erudite mathematical and astronomical knowledge could have designed such "settings."
It seemed that new revelations never ceased which well nigh overwhelmed the mind. As late as 1953, someone was looking at the stones during the short twilight while the sun was setting. And the peculiar slant of the light illuminating the stones showed up surface carvings of axes and daggers which had passed unnoticed for thousands of years. Undoubtedly, they were symbolic and magic signs.
The awe-inspiring character of \JStonehenge\j, coupled with all those many questions, was bound to rouse man's curiosity (and fancy) in quest for answers. And that is how, through many centuries, he has tried to explain the why and wherefore, the how and when, of this archaeological and architectural wonder.
One tradition claimed that this circle of stones certainly was a unique monument. It did not honor heroes of the past but was intended as a warning to the present (whichever that was) and all future generations, never to desecrate the Sabbath. Once upon a time, a group of young girls had amused themselves on this very site by dancing around in a circle. But they had done so on the Sabbath - the sacred day of the week which, instead, they should have observed in prayer and \Jmeditation\j. And because they had turned Sunday into fun-day, God - as a punishment - had turned them into stone! Other myths saw in the stones humans who had been magically petrified for various reasons.
Twelfth-century \JGeoffrey of Monmouth\j linked \JStonehenge\j with the Saxon invasion of the country. It had been built, he claimed, to serve as a massive grave and everlasting monument for early Britons who had been brutally murdered by an unnamed Saxon king. The "magic circle" of their entombment, indeed, had become so sacred that many later English kings had been laid to eternal rest within.
Many legends were, of course, concerned with the actual stones. A typical assertion was that they had originally come from an African land. A race of giants had carried them from there to the mysterious island of Erin where they had been deposited. Then the wizard Merlin had enlisted the aid of the devil to steal them from an Irish woman and, tying them up, had flown them across to \JStonehenge\j, to the very spot where they have stood ever since.
Apart from the wealth of myths that centered on \JStonehenge\j, many other explanations have been advanced by students of religion, \Jfolklore\j, and history. One claimed that the Romans, while in Britain, had built the "original \JStonehenge\j" as a shrine in honor of Uranus, their god of heaven. Others believed that it had served as a coronation court for Danish kings. Further hypotheses were that it had been a burial place of sacred dimensions, an altar for human sacrifice, the first Druidic temple, and (as was suggested by a British astronomer in 1966) an early sort of computer to calculate and chart the movements of the stellar bodies.
Actually, Druids probably did use \JStonehenge\j to practice their mystic rites thousands of years ago. But they did not themselves build that sanctuary which, in fact, goes back much further to prehistoric times. Those versed in the science of comparative religion can recognize in the basic features of \JStonehenge\j certain common phenomena met with in other ancient structures and monuments of like nature in different parts of the world.
Stones and windows constructed and erected in such a clever manner and with such detailed astronomical knowledge that their direction coincided exactly with the position of a star at a definite hour on a certain day have also been discovered in shrines and sacred observatories high up in the \JAndes\j in \JMachu Picchu\j, the lost city of the Incas, in \JBolivia\j's Tiahuanaco, and at Chichen Itza, at \JYucatan\j in Mexico.
Stones have always played a significant role in man's worship. They were regarded as the abode of spirits and of \Jsupernatural\j powers. Special divine qualities were attributed to them, particularly if they were meteorites or were outstanding by their monumental size as were those used at \JStonehenge\j.
But even more significant was the use of sacred circles in man's veneration of the gods. These already existed in the land of Canaan. The \JBible\j tells of rites practised in Gilgal, a name which now merely describes a geographical site but originally (and literally) spoke of such a "circle" of stones. And there were many Gilgals. Best-known of all, of course, is the site of identical name, "on the east border of Jericho," where Joshua made the Israelites encamp after crossing the Jordan. Significantly, he set up there twelve stones when celebrating the Passover (spring) festival. Long after Joshua and the Israelites had passed through Gilgal, the site continued to serve as a pagan sanctuary. Its \Jcult\j was gravely denounced many centuries later by the \JHebrew\j prophets.
All these considerations, parallels and further finds have led to generally accepted conclusions. \JStonehenge\j was undoubtedly built as a temple to the sun. This solar body was worshiped from the magic circle of stones by men who, as others elsewhere in the world, recognized the heavenly disc as the supreme giver of life and growth.
The construction of \JStonehenge\j was commenced as long ago as the (late) \JNeolithic\j times - four millennia ago. The monument did not at once attain its final shape and dimensions. It was changed, expanded, and refashioned through the centuries that followed. In fact, it is obvious now that in parts the builders followed a method of trial and error, and that plans originally made were altered during the actual operations.
In addition, \JStonehenge\j reveals unmistakable Minoan-Mycenaean traces and therefore it is not a purely local structure but incorporates features imported from that ancient civilization which flourished in the Mediterranean area during the second millennium. It was in the great Homeric days of the Achaean culture that \JStonehenge\j reached its present-day monumental appearance, way up in the land of the tin trade in the far northwest.
Whatever its origin and the data of its construction, \JStonehenge\j is a timeless, mysterious monument of man's veneration of the \Jsupernatural\j. Awed by the powers beyond, with superhuman strength and magnificent co-operation and co-ordination he built this cathedral at the dawn of history - a feat of supreme enthusiasm and architectural genius. Its huge stones indeed look like symbolic gateways into a dimension still beyond man's grasp.
#
"Stonemasons' Errors",2182,0,0,0
Early stonemasons, inexpert at their craft neither centered lines nor used correct word divisions. They let the text run on to the very rim of the stone and started the following line with whatever letter came next. The historic cemetery of Wilberforce presents a typical example. An epitaph recalling the tragic death of a young boy, is thus broken up.
\IJOHN HOPKINS SON of a
JOHN and CATHERINE HOP
KINS Who Departed this
Life August.12.1826 Aged 10
Weeks and 4 Days\i
The rest of the inscription is so much in disarray that it could almost be said that it was meant to reflect the distraught state of mind of John's grieving parents. As if to underscore how the tragedy that had struck them just did not make sense, the last line is superimposed on an earlier text, thereby making it indecipherable:
\IWhen the Archangels Trump
shall sound and souls to body
s Join millions no Earthmy
Babe will wish that Day then
Were.\i
Another example of the same type can be found on the epitaph on the grave of William Jacklin, in the cemetery of the historic Ebenezer church, on the banks of the Hawkesbury River. He "Departed this life Jany. 6th 1836. Aged 76 Years."
Though beautifully wrought, the memorial pays no attention to proper word division in the poem it includes, of which the last line is difficult to understand:
\IOn swelling waves and dangerous seas
I toiled all my youthfull
days
But now liest beneath the
ground
Awaith the trumpetday
will sound\i
#
"Stony Broke",2183,0,0,0
Someone who is completely down and out, unable to pay their bills, is colloquially called "stony broke" or, in the United States, "stone broke." The strange description is said by some to have started among craftsmen. When unable to meet their obligations, they had their stone bench broken. Quite literally, thus, they were stone broke.
The explanation would confine such fate - at least originally - to one specific class of workmen. Unfortunately, insolvency can strike anyone. Therefore an alternative interpretation of the term seems more acceptable. It recalls the use of "stony" in general speech as an intensive, adding emphasis. People completely bereft of hearing are called "stone deaf" and those who cannot see at all are "stone blind." Since there are degrees of wealth, so poverty, too, has its degrees. Some people are plain broke, others, entirely impecunious, are stony-broke.
#
"Stopping of Clocks at Death",2184,0,0,0
Clocks and watches have been linked closely with human life and its vanishing hours. No wonder, therefore, that they have stirred man's imagination for centuries and given rise to many a fallacy and \Jsuperstition\j.
Some people claimed that the "electricity" of their body made it impossible for them to carry or wear a watch. Others refused to turn back its hands because they thought - wrongly, except in the case of striking clocks - that this would damage its works.
The \Jsuperstition\j that some clocks stopped at the moment of their owner's death is deep-rooted. It sounds so sentimental and, as it were, assumes that even a clock can feel or, among the more primitive-minded, that it was regulated not just by an intricate mechanism but by sympathetic magic. Several factors and considerations - apart from "magical" agencies - account for the belief.
First of all, though exceedingly rare, there is always the possibility of a mere coincidence. It might just have happened that, accidentally, a clock stopped at the hour of death. And who could blame people, already emotionally upset, for regarding sole chance as a matter of cause and effect? They would tell the story to others, and tales of that kind are always easily spread and accepted as accurate by those susceptible to the mysterious.
A more feasible theory relates the \Jsuperstition\j to facts. Once a clock was a rare and precious possession. Hence its owner - who was always the head of the house - treasured it and it was his jealously guarded privilege to perform - like a solemn regular rite - its winding up.
It was only natural that at his death his family was confused and harassed and forgot all about the clock and its needs. But even if they did remember the necessity of winding it up, they still refrained from doing so. They were reluctant to undertake - at least immediately - a task so long reserved for the head of the house. Otherwise it might appear that he was not being missed and that his passing had not really upset the smooth running of the home. With its works run down, the clock inevitably stopped.
Visitors couId not help but notice that in the house of mourning time was standing still. They did not draw the obvious conclusion that this was due to natural causes. Gullible, ignorant and in awe of the dead, they saw in the stoppage a \Jsupernatural\j phenomenon. They further assumed, and later asserted, that the occurrence had actually coincided with the exact moment of death.
In many places it was believed that a clock must be stopped at the hour of death or bad luck would stay in the home. The gesture was prompted by deference to the dead and a wish to express symbolically that, in this home at least, life itself had come to a stop and the world was at an end.
It was a moving custom. Yet its original purpose was not concerned with the dead. The clock was stopped not to honor the deceased but to guard the living. The action told Death to get out of the house; that, having done his nefarious work, the time of his rule there was over, and a new era of life was about to begin.
Man's memory is short and indulges in rationalizations. That is why the true sequence of events is often forgotten. Possibly driven by some unconscious urge, people came really to believe after some time that not they themselves, but Death, had stopped the clock!
#
"Stories of Special Rings",2185,0,0,0
Most cultures have created their own type of wedding ring, each with its specific story and message. Still, no matter what form the rings take, or what their size, material or artistic value may be, all share the \Jsymbolism\j of the inseparable and unending link forged by matrimony, the new reality in the lives of both bride and groom of belonging to one another.
#
"Stork and Babies",2186,0,0,0
Dutch, German, and Scandinavian mothers especially tell their children that babies are brought by the stork. They say, too, that the stork, when depositing the baby, bit the mother's leg, causing her to stay in bed for some time.
In its very name the stork carries a tradition of love. The English word comes from the Greek \IstorgΘ,\i meaning \Istrong natural affection,\i and in the sacred language of \JHebrew\j the stork appears literally as \Ithe pious one.\i
Several factors combined in creating the belief in the stork as the bringer of babies. First, there was the bird's remarkable tenderness towards its young and old. Legends grew up which described how the young ones looked after the aged, blind, and weak parents; how they carried them around on their own wings and fed them.
People watched the stork's care in making its home and noted how it loved to return to the same spot each year. Soon, the stork's very presence was considered a sign of good fortune. Indeed, German peasants often encouraged it to build its nest on the roof of their house, putting a wagon wheel there for a foundation. The stork soon used it for that very purpose.
The bird's regular tip abroad added to the mystery. At the time, people knew nothing of the migratory habit of birds, and legend assumed that during the winter, storks went to \JEgypt\j and there changed into men. It was believed that the stork once had been a human being.
Finally, there was the fact that storks loved water and frequented swamps, marshes, and ponds. Ancient tradition held that it was in those watery places that the souls of unborn children dwelt.
It was easy to link all these beliefs and superstitions, to make the stork, so conspicuous in appearance, all-important in the propagation of man.
#
"Stormy Petrel",2187,0,0,0
\BMother Carey's Chickens\b
When sailors on the high seas first observed a small bird skimming the waves with its long, pointed wings, they imagined that it was dipping its feet into the water. It seemed to them as if the bird was running along the surface of the sea. This reminded them of the Gospel story (Matth. 14,29-31), in which St Peter left his boat on the Sea of \JGalilee\j to walk on its waters towards Jesus. So they called the bird after the \Japostle\j. But because it was so small a creature, they used for it the more affectionate, diminutive of his name "little Peter," Peterel. In Italian this was Petrello, a name which eventually contracted into the \Jpetrel\j!
The sailors also noticed that the bird attached itself to the boat particularly during rough weather, when a hurricane blew. This made them speak of it as "the stormy \Jpetrel\j," a description adopted worldwide.
The seamen were puzzled. What accounted for the bird's sudden presence? The most obvious explanation that it sought shelter in the lee of the ship did not satisfy their superstitious minds. They believed it was a messenger. Soon confusing the sequence of events, they assumed that the stormy \Jpetrel\j had been sent by the Virgin Mary to give them warning of impending danger.
At the time, Catholics still used Latin, and Mary, "the beloved mother," was known to them as \IMater Cara.\i Fondly they therefore referred to "her" birds as "Mater Cara's chickens." When the Latin words became incomprehensible to the sailors, they mistook them to mean "Mother Carey's chickens." Eventually the new name - the result of faulty hearing - was applied to anyone whose arrival seemed to coincide with imminent trouble.
In another version, the birds were seen as the envoys of a powerful sea-witch, doing her bidding. Destructive storms were ascribed to her. She created them to bring havoc to ship and crew. Sailors were so scared of her that they did not dare to utter her name, as in doing so, they thought, they would conjure her up and prompt her all the more to do her nefarious work. Hence, whenever they spoke of the witch, they referred to her by the name of the Virgin Mary, Mater Cara who, surely, would not mind her name to be used to protect her faithful children. If, however, the witch were to discover their ruse, the sailors further reasoned, she would feel flattered and refrain from harming them. Inevitably the deceptive name was equally used for what were considered the witch's birds.
#
"Strategy",2188,0,0,0
Whoever speaks of strategy recognizes that only those of the highest rank who are fully informed of all the facts are qualified to direct the battle. Strategy refers to the "general" of an army, \Istrategos\i in Greek.
#
"Straw That Broke the Camel's Back",2189,0,0,0
The camel is renowned as a beast of burden and has served people through the millennia most often in arid countries. It is known for its ability to go without water for long periods of time. But even with all its power of endurance, it reaches a limit when "enough is enough."
Mostly a camel can carry up to a maximum of 450 kg (1000 lb) in weight. But a single straw then added to it would break its back. It is the "final straw."
The animal's example served as a poignant warning to everyone not to go beyond the point of no return. Once having reach the extent of their stamina, even the hardiest of people break down. The smallest of incidents will change a calamity into a catastrophe. It would be like the straw that broke the camel's back.
It has been suggested that the saying is an adaptation of Charles Dicken's reference to "the last straw [that] breaks the laden camel's back" in \IDombey and Son,\i which he wrote in 1847-8. On his part, Dickens could have been influenced in its choice by a passage in the works of the seventeenth-century English clergyman Thomas Fuller. A clever and prolific author, the reverend was noted for his gift in compressing shrewd observations into memorable, quaintly humored aphorisms. In one of these he had expressed the thought that "'Tis the last feather that breaks the horse's back." Not mixing the breeds, as it were, it must have seemed to Dickens so much more feasible to change the feather into "the last straw," and the horse into the camel.
Actually, the phrase can be traced to a discussion said to have taken place in the seventeenth century. It concerned the limit of tolerance eventually reached by everyone. As an illustration it quoted an experiment done with a camel, measuring the maximum amount of weight it could carry. To ascertain it, the animal's load was increased very gradually and slowly, by adding one straw each time. It was so light and little, that it really did not seem to matter. Ultimately, however, the stage was reached when just one more straw - the "last" one - broke the animal's back.
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"Street Names",2190,0,0,0
Philadelphia was founded, in 1682, by the English Quaker William Penn, and the name he chose for it - taken from the Greek - expressed his religious ideal, of "brotherly love." Also prompted by his faith, he pioneered a novel way of identifying streets in the city.
When he found that some of the streets had come to be known unofficially by the names of prominent families living there, he was deeply distressed. The practice did not conform with his basic beliefs. If all citizens were brothers, how then could one be raised above the others by having a street named after him? Numbers would do so much better. So Penn introduced the numbering of streets. To his mind, it was an arrangement that was religious and democratic. He did not realize the practical significance of the system, which made it so much easier to find one's way. Starting from the eastern end of the city, the numbers went up going west.
The problem now was what to do with the cross-roads, having already used numbers. Once again, his religious faith influenced Penn's decision. Their names could glorify the divine creation, and, even in the built-up and paved areas of a city, remind men of the beauty of nature. The streets running from north to south, Penn thus called after trees, among them the pine, the walnut, the chestnut, and the cherrytree.
This is how a Quaker's avowed faith changed a worldwide tradition and was instrumental in introducing a system for identifying streets that was useful, simple and did not date. Above all, the new street names did not pander to people's vanity.
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"Strike While the Iron is Hot",2191,0,0,0
Idioms and sayings are time-conditioned. Observations of everyday occurrences often serve to illustrate and underscore an idea. But changing times and circumstances as well as the advance of civilization make many practices obsolete and any reference to them meaningless to a new generation. Nevertheless, language is slow in adjusting and updating itself and continues to employ metaphors that, once clear and obvious, have become puzzling and obscure.
A typical example is the advice not to postpone an action when the most opportune moment for it has come, by counseling to "strike while the iron is hot." To present-day society the iron would suggest the appliance used for pressing fabrics and clothes, in which context the saying makes little sense. However, at the time it was coined, everybody understood it. Blacksmiths then fulfilled an essential function in the community. When shoeing horses, they could hammer (strike) the iron into the required shape only while it was still red hot.
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"Strikes",2192,0,0,0
All strikes began at sea. To strike is the nautical term for the dipping of a flag or the lowering of sails. And that is exactly what sailors did when, for one reason or another, they were determined to make their ship inoperative. They struck the sails. The sea-born word then conquered the land and a "strike" came to denote all stoppage of industrial action.
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"Stumbling",2193,0,0,0
People about to embark on a new venture instinctively and superstitiously look out for signs, which will either encourage or deter them.
A bride on her wedding day will welcome sunshine and a blue sky as a happy augury. To stumble, on the other hand, has been associated with bad luck and "explained" as a warning of misfortune to come.
As early a writer as the Roman Cicero mentioned the fear as one of the many omens at which weak minds are terrified. Seventeen hundred years later, Shakespeare could still record the identical obsession:
\IFor many men that stumble at the threshold
Are well foretold that danger lurks therein.\i
Historical and biographical examples, ancient and modern, seem to support this \Jsuperstition\j.
Tiberius Gracchus stumbled on the threshold of his home and died the same day.
When leaving his tent pitched on a battlefield, Antigonus slipped. His men immediately interpreted the accident as a revelation of the gods' ill will. And to all appearances they were confirmed in their opinion because Antigonus was killed that very afternoon.
Napoleon's horse stumbled one day during his invasion of the East. The General, so it is said, defied the sign. Ridiculing it, and considering himself above Fate, he continued his campaign - with disastrous results.
About to embark on his second - and fatal - expedition to Africa, Mungo Park took leave of Sir Walter Scott. Immediately afterwards, on crossing from the left moor to the road, his horse stumbled. Sir Walter, watching the incident, expressed his fear and tried to stop his friend from proceeding. But Park rejected the warning, saying that "omens follow them who look to them." He was never seen again.
Such examples, however numerous they are, prove nothing. They are mere rash rationalizations. After all, how many people have stumbled and nothing has happened to them! On the other hand, how many people who had never slipped, did not return from their ventures, or died tragically.
Originally, stumbling was taken as a revelation of the agency of unseen, evil forces, determined to frustrate a person in the task on which he was about to embark. Therefore they made him stumble, as it were, to give him a last warning. If he still did not heed the sign and refused to turn back, they would see to it that their will was done.
Common sense offers a more obvious explanation. Stumbling is perilous at all times. A man who trips up or, worse still, whose horse misses a foothold, might easily break his neck.
Modern \Jpsychology\j, however, points to a much more rational answer. A close relationship exists between body and mind. Feelings can condition our actions. The way we approach a task - with confidence or with fear - will greatly determine its final execution, its success or failure. Hence, people who are not sure of themselves and hesitant in what they are doing would come to grief even without stumbling. But subconsciously they miss their footing. Their stumble is not a superstitious omen, but a symptom of their own mood. No wonder therefore that eventually, already preconditioned to defeat, they miss their objective.
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"Stumbling Block",2194,0,0,0
To call an obstacle standing in one's way a stumbling block is the result of missionary zeal and, hence, part of the history of religion.
To make a message stick in people's mind, the message given will make use of a striking phrase and some popular \Jmetaphor\j, easily comprehended and remembered by those addressed.
St Paul did so in one of his letters which are now part of the \JNew Testament\j. Written to the young Christian community in \JRome\j, he tried to impress on its members how much they needed each other. In his Epistle to the Romans (14:13) he exhorted them to be mindful not to put any obstruction into each other's way. To underscore his admonition and make it all the more memorable, he employed a term used in hunting, then a popular pursuit among the Romans. He asked the new Christians in the city not to put "a spring of a trap" (skandalon) in their brother's path. Everyone would know what he meant.
When Tyndale (1492-1536) translated the Greek text of the \JNew Testament\j into English, he realized that skandalon had become a meaningless word to his generation. At his time, people no longer trapped animals by means of springs. For this reason, he changed the obsolete term to a word which would be understood immediately. Substituting the original phrase, he altered the traditional text, but did not change its sense. In his "translation" the passage read that they should not put "a stumbling block" in their brother's path.
So simple a word, it was the most appropriate description, soon to be adopted generally in English. The subsequent King James edition of the \JBible\j adopted Tyndale's novel idiom and did so in eleven different cases. Thus, the "stumbling block" became part and parcel of English speech without people being aware that it had all started by a \JBible\j translator's desire to make scripture a living document for his time and, with this purpose in mind, had rendered its text not only accurately but colloquially. A perfect translation is not translating words alone, but the meaning of them.
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"Stumped",2195,0,0,0
The stump is a small leftover of a felled tree, still stuck in the ground. Hence, to stump a person by asking them questions they are unable to answer reduces them, as it were, to a stump of their former impressive stature which could be compared with tall trees. So to speak, they are being cut down to size.
Alternately, the choice of words may recall an early experience of settlers on wooded land. Felling huge trees to prepare the ground for cultivation, stumps left were so deeply embedded and of such girth that the men, lacking modern machinery, were at their wit's end how to remove them. They were truly "stumped!"
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"Stye in the Eye",2196,0,0,0
People were convinced that a stye on the eyelid could be cured by the touch of a golden wedding ring. Mere \Jfolklore\j, this is based on the ancient myth that gold, as a precious royal metal, was endowed with miraculous curative power.
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"Succah",2197,0,0,0
A harvest thanksgiving, Succot recalls the gathering in of fruit and grapes at that season in the Holy Land and the shelters \I(Succot)\i the workers then put up in the fields and vineyards to protect themselves from the burning sun.
As a reminder of that joyous time and custom, Jews build "booths" in the grounds of their synagogues. A small temporary hut, the \ISuccah\i is decorated inside with flowers; foliage and fruit and roofed with branches. Pious Jewish families erect their own private Succah in the yard of their home. They eat and live in it, weather permitting, during the seven days of the feast.
The \ISuccah\i also serves as an historical reminder. It recalls the forty years during which the Israelites wandered through the desert, on their way from \JEgypt\j to the Holy Land. Without a fixed abode, they had to live in flimsy, makeshift huts which they built wherever they halted. For this reason the \ISuccah\i must be a simple, temporary structure.
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"Succot",2198,0,0,0
\BThe Feast of Tabernacles\b
Succot, a seven-day festival and "season of gladness," starts on the fifth day after \JYom Kippur\j. Its name means "booths" or "tabernacles." It is derived from the \ISuccah,\i one of the conspicuous features of its celebration, expressing the twofold character of the feast.
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"Sucker (person)",2199,0,0,0
The sucker is a person so naive and gullible that they are easily deceived. How the nickname was given has prompted a variety of explanations.
A person's innocence and simplicity of mind has been compared to that of a baby, still sucking its mother's milk.
Fish have equally been given the credit for being responsible for the word. During early white settlement in the United States, the pioneer's attention was soon drawn to a peculiar type of fish. By protracting its toothless mouth with its fleshy lips it seemed to suck up its food from the beds of the lakes. This made them call the fish a sucker. Plentiful (at least 60 of its species have been identified in \JNorth America\j), the fish were easily caught. True sportsmen regarded them as too easy a prey. The least experienced angler could catch a "sucker!"
It did not take long for its name to be transferred to humans who also bite when a conman throws them a bait. Well-known is the observation, commonly attributed to Phineas Barnum (d. 1891), the famous American showman, that "there is a sucker born every minute." Whether he really said so is uncertain, but it is known that he was convinced that people like to be taken in, to be "humbugged."
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"Sum Up",2200,0,0,0
All "sums" lead "up" to the "summit," as theirs is a common root, the Latin \Ires summum,\i the "highest figure," in every sense of the word. A sum like modern summit meetings at which heads of state meet, referred to whatever or whoever was placed at the very top.
When the ancient Romans totaled "up" figures, they did so literally: from the bottom to the top, with the final result crowning the column. Though this method was reversed long ago, we continue to speak of the "sum" and still "sum up."
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"Sun Shining on Bride",2201,0,0,0
"Happy is the bride on whom the sun shines" is a universal belief. And very naturally so. Sunshine enhances the happy occasion, whilst a dismal day spreads gloom and seems foreboding. In Britain, there was yet another very logical reason for the observation. For a considerable time, weddings there were solemnized not inside the church, but outside in the open air, mainly at the gateway leading into the churchyard. Rain certainly would spoil not only the pretty dresses, but the entire service.
As if to confirm these natural causes, belief in magic then took a hand. Sunshine presaged happiness, whilst rain was a bad omen. Raindrops like pearls were symbolic of tears. A bride on whose wedding day it poured with rain seemed destined to shed lots of tears throughout her marriage.
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"Sun Shining on Fire",2202,0,0,0
An optical illusion led people to imagine that if the sun shone on a fire, it extinguished it. This is not so. The fallacious impression arose from the fact that the brightness of the sun made the glowing embers almost invisible.
There is another possibility that might have given rise to the fallacy. On a cold and cloudy winter's day, the flames of a fire are a very noticeable source of warmth, and to keep the fire going more fuel is added. However, when on occasions the sun suddenly broke through the cloud-cover, its warmth made people forget to stoke the fire, with the result that it died. Not realizing the cause, they thought that the sun had put out the flames.
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"Sun Worshiping",2203,0,0,0
As the sun was recognized by primitive man as the mighty ruler and source of life, in fact, of the entire universe, it was worshiped from very early days as the supreme deity. But merely to pay homage and bring offerings to it was regarded as insufficient. Man watched the heavenly body and its daily movement across the sky with utmost awe. There were so many features that puzzled him and some occurrences connected with the sun did not create just worry in man's mind, but filled him with terror.
The sun's notable decrease of power in winter frightened him. Would the sun die altogether and thereby cause him to freeze to death? When a solar eclipse occurred, he feared that the end of the world had come. Therefore man used every magical means at his disposal to seek to aid the solar body at its moments of apparent grave crisis. He felt certain that unless he did so his own life was endangered, since his own future surely depended on the fate of the sun. And he pursued this endeavor in various ways which were the beginning of many customs that are still observed; with the original reason now completely forgotten, these customs appear far removed from man's early anxieties and desperate battle for survival.
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"Sundae",2204,0,0,0
A strange mixture of piety, hypocrisy, and legal subterfuge make up the sundae ice cream with syrup, fruits, and nuts. Its name is an obvious and even intentional misspelling of Sunday.
One tradition erroneously asserts that it referred to Sunday's left-over icecream dishes, sold, possibly at a cheaper price, during the following week. So that a customer would not think they were freshly made and thus be deceived, they were specifically called "Sunday's."
In reality, we owe the first sundae to the United States of America and the business acumen of a drugstore owner. However, where exactly it was first concocted is still a matter of controversy and various claims.
Some say that the sundae was invented in Evanston, Illinois. Others are equally definite that the pride of place belongs to Norfolk, Virginia, where to this day people point to a certain store as "the birthplace of the sundae."
No matter where it was first made, all accounts agree on the reason for it. It was purely a matter of circumventing the law! Sunday, the Lord's Day, had to be strictly observed in many, and sometimes peculiar ways. Puritan tradition made it a solemn and somber occasion. Children's swings had to be chained and barred. The reading of books was banned unless they were religious in theme. Theaters were closed. The "blue law" of Virginia outlawed even soda drinks on the Sabbath!
But people were still thirsty and not satisfied with mere water. In this, an ambitious drugstore proprietor saw his chance, both to give customers a refreshing dish on the Lord's Day and to increase his takings to a considerable degree.
If to serve icecream with soda was illegal, why not offer icecream with syrup? He began to sell this new and permissible formula every Sunday. And no guardian of the Law could object. Appropriately, he named his concoction after its birthday - Sunday.
Still, the authorities took exception, not to the dish itself, but to what it was called. To name it after the Lord's Day was sacrilegious, they contended. In consequence, the drugstore owner changed its spelling and his "Sunday" became overnight the "Sundae." It still sounded and - most of all - tasted the same. It did not take long for the sweet to become popular all over the world and soon people asked for sundaes even on weekdays.
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"Suntan",2205,0,0,0
Looks can deceive. Suntan is generally assumed to promote and reflect good health. This is far from the truth. In fact, to expose the bare skin too much to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, able to penetrate even thick cloud-cover, can prove dangerous. The tanning effect of "sun-bathing" is not a sign of well-being, but nature's attempt to protect the skin from harmful damage.
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"Superstitions",2206,0,0,0
Superstition "stands over" man. This is the literal sense of the word, and it well describes the phenomenon. Superstition dominated man in primitive times. It continues to do so in many and subtle ways. Like a blackmailer, it keeps him in fear. In the guise of so called good manners, it makes him do things or avoid them. Almost compulsively, he will follow certain practices, merely because he has been taught to regard them as "proper."
In this uncertain world, man looks for assurance and security. He imagines he can attain them by some prescribed actions or words. If he has to face a difficult situation or undertake a hazardous task, he looks for anything that might reassure him. The most insignificant incident he will thus interpret as a happy omen.
On the other hand, an inconsequential occurrence or feature that either preceded or accompanied a success or failure, by mere association will be seen as the magic cause or, at least, as an essential link in the chain of events. He will adopt them as lucky charms or magic gestures for all future occasions, or cautiously keep away from them.
Everyone wants to be happy and, therefore, does everything possible to ward off misfortune and to attract good luck. Even those who think that they have discarded superstitions as unworthy of intelligent beings observe many of them unknowingly. Their practice has become so integral a part of everyday life and speech, that no one would guess their original source and purpose.
To discover these and to dig up their roots will show how much man still is fettered to a world obsessed by belief in malevolent forces that might lurk anywhere, ready to pounce on him unless he takes necessary precautions.
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"Surfing's Hawaiian Roots",2207,0,0,0
Quite likely the thrills of surfing were first realised merely accidentally; perhaps it was an exhausted swimmer being caught up and swept along or a native fisherman in a primitive canoe battling shoreward.
That surfing's first site was the \JPacific Ocean\j is not surprising. Contrary to its peaceful name, its waters can be most violent. Most probably several thousands of years ago the first settlers in the \JPacific Islands\j, possibly coming from India, were the earliest surfers. The word surf itself is almost 300 years old and was first used in reference to the Indian coast.
It has rightly been asked why Europeans had never thought of surfing, something which could not be explained merely by the fact that other oceans could not boast of the majestic swell of the Pacific. Was it that Western man lacked the imagination and physical stamina of his "primitive" and "savage" brothers? Or, perhaps, was it his fear of the water? It must be realized that in "civilized" Europe for many hundreds of years men shunned the water and even bathing the body was considered harmful. No wonder that people's bodies reeked and the only method of ensuring "cleanliness" was to cover up the offensive smell by the application of perfume.
It can be assumed that surfing did not develop in one center of the Pacific, from where it spread to other islands, by "diffusion," but that it started independently in various areas. (There is also evidence that it was practiced in a minor way on the West African coast of the Atlantic.) Through the centuries, Polynesians and other related races perfected the art and learned early to exploit the energy of the surf simply by the use of a wooden base, the prototype of the modern surfboard.
When Captain Cook and his crew on their famous voyage reached Hawaii in February 1778, they were amazed to watch men skimming across the water. It was an almost unbelievable sight, and the Hawaiians' mastery of surfing was duly recorded by the explorer:
\IWhenever, from stormy weather or any extraordinary swell at sea the impetuosity of the surf is increased to its utmost height, they choose that time for their amusement, which is performed in the following manner: 20 or 30 of the natives, taking each a long narrow board, rounded at the ends, set out together from shore, the first wave they meet, they plunge under, and suffering to roll over them, rise again beyond it, and make the best of their way by swimming, out to sea. The second wave is encountered in the same manner with the first; the great difficulty consisting in seizing the proper moment of diving under it, which, if missed, the person is caught by the surf, and driven back again with great violence; and all his dexterity is then required to prevent himself from being dashed against the rocks. As soon as they have gained, by these repeated efforts, the smooth water beyond the surf, they lay themselves at length on their boards, and prepare for their return.
As the surf consists of a number of waves, on which every third is remarked to be always larger than the others, and to flow higher on the shore, the rest breaking in the immediate space, their first object is to place themselves on the summit of the largest surge, by which they are driven along with amazing rapidity toward the shore.\i
The popularity and antiquity of the sport, totally unknown elsewhere, but skillfully pursued by the Hawaiians not later than in the tenth century, is attested by numerous legends, sacred chants, and their own rich surfing vocabulary, which gave expression in most detailed form to the various phases and methods of riding the waves. These terms referred, for instance, to the point to which the surfer paddled to catch a breaker \I(kulana nalu),\i to his sliding at an angle to the swell \I(lala),\i and to his prone position \I(kipapa).\i
Class distinctions then demanded different categories of boards. Royalty was privileged to use large and thick boards, called \Iolo.\i They extended to a length of eighteen feet (5.40 m) and, though made of the lightest wood, weighed as much as 150 lbs (67.50 kg). All other men were restricted to "planks," which were much shorter (seven to twelve feet - 2.10 m by 3.60 m - long) broader, and thinner. They were known as \Ialaia.\i Even the surfing areas were strictly defined by a policy of \Japartheid\j. No commoner, on penalty of death, was permitted to surf at places reserved for the royal class. The Polynesian law of \Jtaboo\j thus extended to surfing.
The boards were highly treasured and treated with utmost care. Every time they had been used, they were properly dried and oiled. They were personally owned.
To the Hawaiian islander, surfing was not merely a national pastime, but a solemn ritual. This started with the very selection of the tree from which the board was to be carved. Its choice was marked by placing a native red fish at its base. Once the tree had been felled, a hole was dug among its roots into which the fish was put as a sacrificial offering to the gods in payment for the tree, in the prayerful hope that the board would be divinely blessed.
When the board had been properly shaped, polished, and stained, so that it should gleam in the sun, another solemn dedication ceremony was held, preceding the board's first contact with the sea. This was to make sure that the surfboard would ride well.
Of course, successful surfing demanded also the right condition of the sea, which with yet further incantation and magic, the faithful Hawaiian now tried to ensure. He did so by joining in hymns, the famous surf chants (many of which are preserved), appealing to the spirits for big surf. As well, priests twirled around their heads vines, with which they then beat the surface of the waters. The ceremonial, the surfers were convinced, gained them the gods' favor and, having their minds thus attuned and properly fortified, they were indeed able to attain almost superhuman surfing feats.
Displays and fierce competitions in the riding of the swell soon found a prominent place in Hawaii and contests were made the occasion for betting. Prizes might cost the loser not only all his possessions but the loss of freedom for himself and his family, or even his life. Accounts also tell of more innocuous wagers, for instance the one of 16 war canoes against 4,000 wild pigs. Contests included several heats in a surf race from an outside point to the shore, or a marked buoy near it. The winner was the man who was the first to reach the goal without toppling over.
For many years after their first contact with the white man's culture, Hawaiian men, women, and children continued to enjoy the sport which gave them vigor and health. It was a true expression of their carefree and happy existence. When in 1821 Calvinist missionaries arrived in their country from \JBoston\j to teach them a new way of life, they were forced to use \Imuu-muus\i to cover up the nakedness of their body which, it was explained to them, was shameful and sinful. The new puritanical teachings also strongly condemned surfing as a pagan and morally seducing pursuit whose practice was contrary to modesty and the laws of God.
It has been pointed out by those defending the missionaries that in reality it was not surfing itself they opposed but its morally and religiously dangerous "incidentals:" the gambling associated with it, the "scanty costumes" worn by the surfers and, most of all, the free intermingling of the sexes "at all times of the day and at all hours of the night." By decrying and prohibiting these, they rendered the sport so dull and unattractive to the Hawaiians that they lost all interest in surfing which therefore suffered a decline.
The abolition of the traditional faith of the Hawaiians - of which surfing was an integral part - ultimately caused its wane and made the sport almost \Jtaboo\j. Perhaps typical of the revolution wrought was the example on one of the islands, where, to their newly built school house, Hawaiians carried their surfboards to use them no longer for riding on the waves, but to sit and to write on them. They transformed them into their benches and tables!
For almost a century (with one brief exception), surfing was hardly practiced in the very isles in which it had been developed to such perfection. It was only at the beginning of this century that the sport was revived - as a tourist attraction on \JWaikiki Beach\j - and that the first surf club was formed.
Its pioneer was Alexander Hume Ford, an American from the mainland. When he saw surfing in Waikiki, he immediatley grasped its great potentialities and lost no time in resurrecting and popularizing it, first of all by opening classes in surfing for youngsters. His initiative and enthusiasm made surfboard riding, in Jack London's words, "the sport of sports." "There was nothing like it anywhere else in the world. It was one of the island's assets, a drawing card that would fill the hotels and bring them many permanent residents." Ford's efforts resulted in the foundation in 1908 of the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Club for the express purpose of "preserving surfing on boards and in Hawaiian outrigger canoes." It was the world's first organization of this kind.
Thus modern surfing came into being, soon once again to nourish on the very shores of its ancient pursuit, not least by the promotion it received by the famous Hawaiian swimmer, Duke Kahanamoku, who excelled in the sport.
Once adopted by Europeans, refinements in the design of surfboards were introduced. These included major considerations such as \Jbuoyancy\j, manoeuvrability, resistance to becoming waterlogged or breaking up, and ease of transport. It was not long either before enthusiastic surfers developed an ever greater variety of styles and stunts. From Hawaii the sport was now carried to other parts of the world.
The pursuit of business was the major factor that brought surfing to the United States. When the Pacific Railroad Company extended its tracks to the Southern \JCalifornia\j coast in 1907 the route was little patronized and appeared far from becoming a paying proposition. Anxiously the company's directors looked around for some gimmick, some novel attractions that would bring thousands to Southern \JCalifornia\j along its coast route.
Aware of the wonderful surf in that area and people's love of aquatic sports, the directors felt that surfing was the ideal solution. To promote their business, they engaged George Freeth, an Irish Hawaiian and surfing champion, to give demonstrations on Redondo Beach.
Their scheme not only paid dividends to the railroad but made surfing in \JCalifornia\j a vogue, greatly boosted as well by the nationwide publication of Jack London's \IA Royal Sport\i and five years later, in 1912, by the visit of Duke Kahanamoku himself, "the grandfather" of modern Hawaiian surfing. He was on his way to the Olympics.
Thousands of spectators came to watch the sport, this "novel" and exciting way to ride the waves that was soon to extend to many other centers along the coast.
That is how surfing found its spectacular place in American sporting life, with the United States Surfing Association, established in 1961, controlling and fostering it.
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"Surgeons Addressed As 'Mr'",2208,0,0,0
Today, all surgeons are doctors. But as at first they had been just barbers, they maintain their original form of address and go on being called "Mister." A present-day courtesy thus leads back to humble beginnings and shows how "titles do not reflect honor on men, but rather men on their titles."
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"Swan Song",2209,0,0,0
Poetically, the last performance of a great artist is known as (his or her) swan song. The romantic figure of speech goes back to ancient legend, according to which a dying swan burst forth in glorious song.
Greek myth featured the swan as Apollo's bird. It is no wonder therefore that the god had endowed it with a magnificent voice. It was equally not surprising that the bird, joyfully, used it at its very best at the moment of death, when about to join its master who, after all, had so blessed it.
Swans, of course, never sing. Although, almost 2,000 years ago, in his \INatural History,\i the Roman writer Pliny had pointed out the fallacy, his words went unheeded. Poets and dramatists, once again among them Shakespeare, continued to give credence to the myth and to perpetuate it in their works. Because of their authority, its authenticity was not doubted.
There might be a rational explanation of the fanciful swan song. People were mystified by the weird, prolonged death rattle the dying bird produced, when its expiring breath slowly passed through its elongated \Jwindpipe\j. Man has always given much thought to death and dying. Piously, if not wishfully, he felt that it need not be destructive or tragic, in fact nothing to be feared. He therefore beautified those last moments of passing away - whether from the public eye or from the stage of life. He imagined to hear a jubilant note in the generally terrifying sound of death, thus creating the swan song. It made Byron express the wish of most men, "Swanlike, let me sing and die."
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"Swan with Two Necks",2210,0,0,0
No one would ever forget a "swan with two necks" or a tavern so called. Nevertheless, it was not good advertising or a freak bird that created the name.
Swans once were the exclusive property of the British Crown. They were indeed royal birds. In the fifteenth century, however, English kings introduced the practice to present some of their swans to people they favored, and to own such royally donated birds came to be regarded a privilege. Among the recipients so honored were the Dyers and Vintners, at the time two of the most powerful \JGuilds\j.
A problem soon arose. As all swans looked alike, it was difficult to determine whose property they were. Eventually, an easy method was devised to tell the difference. Annually, during the third week of July, three "swan masters" (representing the Crown and the two \JGuilds\j) caught and examined every bird on the river Thames, a custom which became known as "swan upping." The swans allotted to the Vintners were "branded" by two nicks in their beaks.
It was not surprising that Vintners who owned such swans were justly proud of the fact. If they also ran an inn, as many of them did at the time, they publicized their privilege by calling it "The Swan with the Two Nicks." When ultimately, the custom was forgotten, people had no idea what a swan with two nicks meant. Thus the misheard "swan with two necks" was hatched.
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"Swastika and Magic",2211,0,0,0
The design of the \Jswastika\j, one of man's earliest and most universal symbols, was due to solicitude for the sun as man's own fate was so closely linked with the solar body. There can be no doubt that the very first, prehistoric use of the \Jswastika\j was magical. Representing the wheel of the sun that rolled across the skies, its advance was facilitated by aid of its "feet," those short protrusions at the four ends of its spikes. It was therefore of significance to observe their (original) "right" direction. This had to lead "forward" - from East to West and in no circumstances be withershins.
From prehistoric days onward, the \Jswastika\j was part of a great number of primitive cults. It was employed by pre-Columbian \JAmerican Indians\j, by Hindus and by the ancient Chinese. It served as a powerful emblem in Britain from 3000 B.C. to 300 A.D. Archaeologists have unearthed ancient Etruscan tombs marked with the \Jswastika\j, and have also found it displayed in Buddhist inscriptions on the rock walls of caves. It is part of the \Jsymbolism\j in the \Jsynagogue\j of Capernaum, and early Christians used it as an emblem on the walls of the \Jcatacombs\j in which they secretly practised their faith, away from the Roman persecutors.
The term \Jswastika\j itself is of Sanskrit derivation which has led to the claim that the sign originated in India or in the vicinity of this ancient cradle of civilization. Fusing the words for "good" \I(su)\i and "being" \I(asti),\i it was meant to express, and more so to promote, good fortune and luck.
Later on, the Greeks, interpreting the \Jswastika\j according to their own culture, called it \Igammadion.\i They did so after their character \Igamma,\i as they saw in the sign the fourfold combination of this letter.
\IFylfot\i is yet another but much later and specialized designation of this magic sign of the sun. This term is almost exclusively used by modern antiquarians who adopted it from their interpretation of its solitary appearance in a fifteenth-century manuscript in the British Museum, London. The context in which it is found there led them to believe that it described a \Jswastika\j-patterned device or ornament which architects used to "fill (the) foot" of a \Jstained glass\j window.
The frequency of the \Jswastika\j's occurrence certainly has puzzled modern man and has led to many other interpretations, over and above that linking it with the original sun worship. Professor Max Muller took note of the existence of two types of swastikas: one with its short arms turned to the right, and the other to the left. He suggested that this \Jdualism\j was intended to represent both the vernal and autumnal sun. In its turn, each type was employed to ensure the sun's safe passage and return.
Others have attributed a sexual meaning to the symbol, well knowing how early there was awareness of the importance of sex in life, assuring the survival of man and \Jcattle\j. They said that the \Jswastika\j represented the sexual union of the male and female by the joining of two lines bent at their center. Therefore it was deemed a potent magic symbol in the promotion of fertility.
Fire, regarded as a gift from the burning sun, was also recognized as a prime essential for the preservation and furtherance of life. And the \Jswastika\j was thought to depict one of the primitive fire-producing devices. Specimens of that type have been dug up in several parts of the world, from \JAsia Minor\j to China. These consisted of two short pieces of wood which were joined at their center. Their four ends were bent at right angles to anchor the "cross" to the ground. The fire was kindled by the friction caused by turning a "lighting stick" at the juncture of the rods. And the replica of this primitive "generator" of the so necessary energy was seen as a magic sign making sure that man would never be bereft of that life-giving force.
The "crooked cross" was also explained as the magic "fixing" on earth of the divine fire sent down from heaven in the form of two zigzag flashes of fork-\Jlightning\j.
In Scandinavian countries, the \Jswastika\j represented the hammer of Thor, the northern god of thunder and \Jlightning\j. Each time he wielded his hammer, he created a deafening noise, after lighting the blackest of nights for a split second. No wonder that it filled the men of those days with mortal fear, prompting them to adapt it to their own occult purposes: to protect man against the personified gigantic evils of disease and disaster, so that these in their turn might also be awestruck by the emblem of Thor's powerful hammer.
The Indian sect of the Jains, on the other hand, interpreted the sign as a symbol of progress. They believed that it represented the four significant stages in evolution, leading from the lowest protoplasmic existence to the final release of the soul from the body. When they traced the \Jswastika\j on initiates' foreheads as a mark of blessing in a holy ceremony, they were certain that it would ward off evil.
Eventually, everything about the sun's wheel, the fire, and sex, was forgotten. But the early vital role the \Jswastika\j had played in the life of man lingered on in his memory, and it became a general magic sign, a bringer of good fortune and a defense against evil.
That Hitler - around 1920 - chose the \Jswastika\j as the emblem of the Nazi movement was no accident. He was known for his \Jsuperstition\j and belief in the occult. Actually, however, Hitler only took over the sign from the German Baltic Corps which had adopted it as a badge on their helmets while serving in \JFinland\j. They, in turn, had copied it from the Finnish airforce which used it as their distinguishing mark. But it was Hitler who changed the ancient sacred and protective symbol into a figure that spelled death-dealing horror.
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"Sweat Blood",2212,0,0,0
Those who work arduously and, over-exerted by hard toil, "sweat blood," do so only in the manner of speaking. "To sweat blood" paraphrases the Gospel's description of Jesus' agony on the \JMount of Olives\j prior to his crucifixion. The passage (Luke 22.44) relates how on that occasion, "his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
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"Sweepstake",2213,0,0,0
In a sweepstake the lucky individual who has backed the winner "sweeps up" the whole amount (or a substantial part) staked by all the other betters. The choice of word almost conveys the exhilaration of the fortunate person who collects the money "in one sweep."
Best-known of all are the Irish Sweeps. Ironically (or typically Irish), they were held on the occasion of English horseraces, particularly the Derby and Grand National Steeple Chase, and the tickets sold for them were mostly purchased outside Ireland! However, a quarter of the takings was used for the upkeep of Irish hospitals.
Though, initially, the winner of a game or race swept the total amount of stakes into their pocket, the "sweep" then became a shared venture, with prizes divided according to value.
Several puzzling features still unresolved are part of the sweepstake. Though sweepstakes in the modern sense date back only to the eighteenth century, Sweepstake as a family name is listed in a 1379 poll-tax register. Naval records show that a ship was so called in 1495. One is left to wonder as to the origin and meaning of the name at that time.
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"Swimming Clubs and Strokes",2214,0,0,0
Europe's \JDark Ages\j took the joy out of aquatic sports. Sport, generally, was discredited and anything pertaining to the body held in contempt. Most of all, diseases, especially the epidemics that decimated Europe's population in frightening measure, were thought to be spread by the water. No wonder that ordinary people began to shun outdoor bathing and swimming for fear of catching a fatal sickness. Yet members of the nobility, it appears, did not give up swimming. They felt that it was not only a military necessity but that its skill and art were part of the true gentleman.
Nevertheless, the association of plague, death, and water lingered. lt took many centuries for the \Jprejudice\j to die out and for swimming to capture people's imagination once again. Only the nineteenth century saw a revival of aquatic sports.
The world owes the rebirth of swimming to Britain. The opening of the first swimming baths at Liverpool in 1828 was soon emulated elsewhere. London is said to have been the first city to introduce competitive swimming and about 1837, the city owned six pools. The contests then held were supervised by the National Swimming Society.
Not until the 1860s were swimming clubs established, and the Serpentine Club claims to be one of the oldest. Soon interclub competitions followed. In 1869 the Metropolitan Swimming Association was formed. It changed its name later to the London Swimming Association.
In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb, of Shropshire, became the first person to swim the English Channel. He swam from Dover to \JCalais\j in 21 hours and 45 minutes, a feat that caused a worldwide sensation.
Naturally, the rivalry between the various clubs created a wish to increase speed. It was realized that the traditional breast stroke could not serve this purpose. Coaches everywhere began to experiment to discover a faster style. That is how, eventually, the breast stroke was replaced by the side stroke.
Bets and cash prizes added to the excitement of swimming, but brought unruliness into the sport. When the Amateur Swimming Association was established in 1886, it laid down strict rules. Within three years, it outlawed betting of any kind. The stage was set for a faster evolution of the reborn pastime, which no doubt received its greatest impetus from the first modern \JOlympic Games\j in 1896.
Meanwhile (the exact date is uncertain), J. Arthur Trudgen, an English amateur swimmer, had visited \JSouth America\j. There he had learned from the natives a completely new style. On his return to Britain he copied and developed it into the famous double-overhead stroke. At first, people referred to it as the "alternating over-arm stroke." But he made it so famous that eventually it became known by his name, the Trudgen.
But no other stroke had equaled the revolution brought about by the Australian gift to the world of swimming - the crawl. Really, it was nothing new. It had been practiced either unknown or unheeded among indigenous American tribes, including the \JAztecs\j, as well as in western Africa, and on the islands of the South Pacific.
In 1844, North \JAmerican Indians\j used the style when competing for a silver medal in London. A London newspaper report, often quoted since in various books on swimming, gave a vivid account of the race, in which Flying \JGull\j defeated \JTobacco\j. Their method of swimming was described as "totally un-European." They were said to have lashed the water violently with their arms, "like the sails of a windmill," and, blowing forcefully, to have beaten the water downwards with their feet. Altogether, the spectacle appeared to the writer as a performance of "grotesque antics."
The Cavill family developed the crawl in \JAustralia\j and were responsible for its worldwide adoption. London-born Frederick Cavill had excelled in swimming in his own country. Twice he attempted to emulate Captain Webb in crossing the Channel. Each time using the breast stroke, he had failed within sight of his goal.
In 1879 he emigrated to \JAustralia\j with his family. He built and owned in Sydney a floating swimming pool. Styling himself professor, he trained numerous people in the sport, including his six sons.
There are slight variations in accounts of how the Cavills first adopted the crawl. It is told that on a trip to the South Sea Islands, they were so impressed by the Polynesians' manner of propelling themselves in the water, that on returning to \JAustralia\j they introduced the new style.
Others claim that it was Aleck Wickham, a Solomon Islander living in Sydney and employed there as houseboy to a doctor, who had given the Cavills the idea when they saw him swim at Bronte baths.
The Cavills certainly used every means to promote the style and display its effectiveness. Dick, the youngest son and the crawl's real pioneer, used ingenious methods to achieve this aim. He demonstrated the advantages of the crawl by giving starts to the fastest swimmers, while himself swimming with his legs tied above the knees.
At first, people called the crawl the "splash stroke." How it gained the name "crawl" also has been variously explained. According to one tradition, it stems from the answer Dick had given when asked what it felt like to swim the stroke. "Like crawling through the water," he said. Other sources have suggested that the movement reminded people of an infant's crawl, and that this was the origin of its name. Finally, a local official at the baths has been cited as its author. Watching Wickham he had remarked: "Look at that boy crawling over the water."
In 1902 Richard Cavill went to England, having won 18 Australian and 22 \JNew South Wales\j championships. He had become the first man to swim 100 yards in less than a minute. It was a foregone conclusion that his crawl stroke would conquer. Indeed, in competitive simming, it enabled him to leave everyone else behind.
Sydney St Leonards, the fifth Cavill son, became a swimming coach in the United States, where for 25 years he trained numerous champions. The American Daniels, using the Cavill's stroke as a model, further developed the crawl, which in its new form was renamed the "American crawl."
The Australian crawl in one form or another became most popular everywhere and the results it achieved proved its value. The speeded-up stroke led to records. Miss Gertrude Ederle, a young American girl, used the crawl when she swam the Channel in 14 hours 31 minutes, improving Webb's time by more than seven hours.
Later years brought further refinements in swimming styles and ever more records. It is hard to believe that still as late as 1880, a rhyme of unknown authorship could have read:
\IMother, may I go out to swim?
Yes, my darling daughter;
Hang your clothes on a hickory limb
But don't go near the water.\i
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"Sword Salute",2215,0,0,0
Each of the various phases of the sword salute has its individual meaning. Though the reasons have been long forgotten and are now redundant, the practice is still observed meticulously.
In the first movement, the hilt is lifted to the chin with the sword pointing upward. This is reminiscent of the Crusaders who, fighting in the name of Christ, prior to going into battle as on other solemn occasions, kissed the hilt as they would do with the \JBible\j. They did so because the hilt was in the shape of the cross which to them symbolized the divine presence. And was it not in the name of God that they went into battle? It is this belief that survives in the initial part of the sword salute. (The cross symbol can still be found on the swords carried by the offsiders of several nations, just as it can be seen on the English \Jmidshipman\j's dirk.)
The second motion, the lowering of the point of the sword to the ground, again was meant to express utter trust. It was like the raising of the visor. (Desert \JArabs\j observed a similar custom when, to show friendship, they trailed the points of their lances in the sand.)
The lifting of the sword has also been traced to the Orient. It was to cover or shade one's eyes. To look a powerful master in the face amounted to arrogance. The salute showed awe and submission.
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"Sycophant",2216,0,0,0
A sycophant who, by servile flattery, tries to gain some advantage from an influential person, literally is "showing a fig." The reason for this Greek-derived description may be manifold.
The sign of a fig, clandestinely made by the fingers of one's hand, pointed to a person whom (rightly or falsely) one accused of a misdemeanor. More specifically, a sycophant was an informer against people who, at a time when the export of figs from \JAthens\j was prohibited, ignoring the law, sold them abroad. By handing over the smuggler to the authorities, the sycophant expected special favors from them.
Another theory suggests that the name can be traced to the time when fig trees were regarded as sacred and no ordinary person was permitted to pick their fruit. A sycophant gave away those who blasphemously and selfishly had done so nevertheless. No doubt in return they hoped to receive a reward - either from the gods or those representing them.
"Sycophant" thus goes back a long way and in the process completely changed its meaning. Once an informer and accuser, the name has come down to assume the position of a bootlicker, a back-scratcher, and a toady.
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"Sydney's Most Famous Eccentric",2217,0,0,0
\BBea Miles\b
From the 1940s onward Bea Miles gave her address as "N.F.A." - No Fixed Abode. She constantly was "on the move," making her home at all odd places, such as in the porch of a church, in a stormwater canal in Rushcutters Bay, or in the corner in the basement of a Housing Commission block of flats. It is not surprising, therefore, that even her eternal home has no "permanent address" either.
The memorial put up for her in the Rookwood Cemetery is in keeping with her eccentric lifestyle. It does not mark her last resting place, as she has none; Bea was cremated, and her remains were neither committed to the ground nor preserved in the niche of a wall. Her monument - a substantial square pillar - indicates the spot from which her ashes were scattered!
For more than 30 years Bea had haunted Sydney streets. She was well acquainted with the inside of a prison, having been convicted at least 200 times. Significantly, though, it was never on criminal charges, but for a multitude of comparatively minor offences. The long list of her "misdemeanors" included offensive behaviour, insulting words, fare evasion, obstructing traffic, "having inflicted malicious damage," and wrenching off the door of a taxi. Taxi drivers avoided her like the plague.
There was much paradox in Bea's life. She had been educated at "Abbotsleigh," a respectable and exclusive private school on the North Shore of Sydney, and books of poetry and Shakespeare's works were her constant companions. On the other hand, at the age of 38, she had become the habitual eccentric.
Bea Miles was not an "out and down." On the contrary, she not only had savings in the bank but, on one occasion hired a taxi to take her all the way from Sydney to Perth and back - without forgetting to pay the fare.
Sydney was her favorite city; though she traveled far and wide throughout \JAustralia\j, she was always happy to return - much to the chagrin of the police, who would have preferred her to stay away.
On one of her many court appearances she provided the reporters with a written statement, which listed six reasons why the police who, by then, had "persecuted" her for 27 years, had been unable to put her away permanently:
1. They can't make me leave the city
2. They can't get me on a criminal charge
3. Nor on a vice charge
4. Nor on a drunk charge
5. They can't "vag." me [i.e.: arrest her under the Vagrancy Act]
6. They can't get an honest doctor to declare me insane.
In fact, she explained, "psychologically [she was] incapable of crime - I'm too wise." \JSocrates\j, she said, had taught that knowledge was virtue and that a wise person was impelled towards good actions, though she also admitted to having "a tongue like the bite of a \Jtaipan\j."
Bea proudly proclaimed herself an atheist and a rationalist. She boasted of being able to live on next to nothing, though she was not averse to accepting gifts of milk and fruit from street vendors.
Bea Miles died in 1973. She was then 71 years old. People wondered how, considering her lifestyle, she had been able to reach that age.
As out of the ordinary as the woman and her monument in the cemetery is its inscription. "Here were scattered the ashes of Bee Miles," it states. After giving the years of her birth and death (1902-1973), it describes her as one "who loved \JAustralia\j." But then, the epitaph quotes words of defiance, a verse which seems out of place in a cemetery and yet is typical of the character Bea was:
\IReason thus with life
If I do lose thee,
I do lose a thing,
That none but fools would keep\i
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"Syllabus",2218,0,0,0
A syllabus sets out a course of studies, listing the subjects to be taught. It is all the more unfortunate that the term was victim of a mistake and in both its present-day spelling and meaning combines a misprint and a wrong deduction.
Cicero (106-43 B.C.) was not only a Roman statesman of renown, an orator and philosopher, but also a man of letters, in every sense of the word. More than 800 of his letters are preserved, covering a period of twenty-six years. In one of his "Letters to Atticus" he refers to \Isittybas,\i the Greek description for the parchment strips or labels which used to be attached to the scrolls (the precursor of books), giving their title and author. The 1470 publication of these letters misspelled the term as syllabus.
The error was never corrected but copied in all later editions. That is how the modern syllabus came into existence. Scholars, unaware of the reason, wondered what the etymological root of the word was. In their search for it they wrongly traced it to a Greek expression that spoke of something which was "put together." Thus they added another mistake, now perpetuated in the modern meaning of syllabus which therefore, and very literally so, was born in error.
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"Symbol of Power",2219,0,0,0
Horns and antlers from the very beginning also served animals to impress others of their own kind. Making them look so majestic, they displayed their superiority. Hence, horns assumed the quality of a status symbol from a very early date. That is how in the various parts of the world, in Minoan-Mycenaean, Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures, man came to worship horned animal gods - the \Jbison\j, the ram, and the bull. Their awe-inspiring majesty and the way they could charge their adversary certainly made them awesome and fearsome creatures who seemed possessed by \Jsupernatural\j power.
And then, as it were, the horns detached themselves from the original animal gods to become the property of the gods that replaced them - both in myth and statuary. A divine symbol now, priests and medicine men adopted the horns for their own headdresses. Horns were also attached to the corners of altars. Their role there was not that of ornamentation but of potent magic. Possibly it is even a vestige of former totemistic rites in which man worshiped the beast as his ancestor.
Until the destruction of the Temple in \JJerusalem\j in 70 A.D., the hornlike projections of its altar were regarded as so sacred that their power overruled that of "the law." From Israelite days onward, a fugitive criminal was "safe" from being apprehended, the very moment he grasped the altar horns. The horns were also sprinkled with sacrificial blood at rites of priestly initiations or sin - offerings of animals.
It did not take long for secular powers to adopt the horns from the ecclesiastics. To frighten their foes and to show their own invincible power, rulers and warriors crowned their helmets with them. (However the tradition of Viking horns is a complete fallacy. They never existed in reality and to depict Norsemen thus is pure fiction!)
This explains why Alexander the Great, who conquered almost the entire known world at his time, was called "the two-horned." The identical tradition may also account for \JMichelangelo\j's "Horned Moses" which has puzzled so many people. Generally, the odd feature has been explained as the result of a mistranslation of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j by the (Latin) Vulgate which the great sculptor adopted. However, it is very likely that \JMichelangelo\j purposely used the horns to highlight Moses' majestic spiritual power.
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"Symbol of Silence",2220,0,0,0
The placing of the index finger in front of one's mouth is the universally accepted gesture to invite silence. It speaks more loudly than words could do. However, this interpretation is based on an early misunderstanding. The sign goes back to the ancient Egyptians' worship of the child-god \JHorus\j, son of the goddess Isis.
Traditionally, he was depicted as an infant who, very humanly, was sucking his finger. The Greeks did not recognize the portrayal for what it was, but mistook the simple childish habit as a divine indication of silence. Subsequently, their error, undetected, was adopted throughout Europe, later on to be rationalized as a symbolic sealing of one's lips.
#
"Symbolism of Holly",2221,0,0,0
The evergreen holly symbolizes eternal life. This shrub's most conspicuous features have long been associated with Jesus Christ. The bright red berries represent the drops of blood He shed on the cross; their color also represented the burning love for God present in the hearts of the faithful. The prickly leaves remind us of the crown of thorns the Roman soldiers placed on Jesus Christ's head.
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"Symbolism of Tinsel",2222,0,0,0
The \Jsymbolism\j of light is behind the custom of decorating the \JChristmas tree\j with glittering tinsel. Light in all forms - fire, candles, even a flashing jewel - was thought to be magic enough to ensure that the forces of darkness would not have any power.
\JChristianity\j has added its own message, weaving a beautiful legend around the origins of tinsel. A poor widow was determined to give her large family a memorable Christmas, so the story goes, but all she possessed was a tree. She spent many hours decorating it and finally fell asleep, exhausted. Late that night, spiders wove webs all over the tree's branches. Then, to reward the widow's unselfishness, the Christ-child changed the \Jspider\j webs into shining silver threads.
Legend also has it that, as a child, Jesus Christ once decorated a tree. He was assisted in this task by angels and, when their hair was caught on the branches as they departed, it turned into tinsel.
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"Tabby Cat",2223,0,0,0
Some cats, like the Siamese and Burmese, highly prized (and priced), proudly proclaim by their name the country popularly assumed to be their homeland. A tabby cat is different. Its ancestry apparently is unattached to any specific part of the world. Nonetheless, its name goes back to \JMesopotamia\j, Abraham's home, the site of the most ancient culture, the modern \JIraq\j. Its link with that historic land, however, is not one of a blood relationship. It is an involved chain of events, showing the rich heritage of even a simple striped cat.
Attabiya was a district of \JBaghdad\j, named after Attab, a medieval Arab prince. The suburb developed into an industrial center. A silken dress fabric manufactured there and distinguished by its striped pattern, appropriately was called after the suburb, Attabi, and exported as such. The French sold it as tabis which on the English market became tabby cloth. The pattern of the material resembled the markings of a striped cat so much that this feline soon was named after it - to become the tabby!
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"Table Manners and Eating Habits",2224,0,0,0
Some people love eating. Mere mention of food is sufficient for their body to begin the process of digestion - the mouth starts watering. Of them it could be truly said that the way to the heart is through the \Jstomach\j.
Others could not care less about what, when and how much they eat. Percy Shelley, the great English poet, could never understand why people wanted more than plain bread. His wife sent meals into his study, but he frequently forgot to eat them. Joining her later, he would inquire, "Mary, have I dined?"
Originally, people gorged themselves like beasts. They ate whenever and as long as they had food. The introduction of regular meal times was one of the great stepping-stones in the history of civilization.
The present generation is highly food-conscious. The right kind of diet, with enough vitamins and not too many calories, is a feature of all our menus. Beyond the facts of mere nourishment, early philosophers already appreciated the effect on us of the food we eat. The Germans have a pun, \I"Der Mensch ist was er isst"\i - "Man is what he eats."
Menus have differed in various ages and they still change from country to country. It has rightly been said what is one person's meat is another's poison. Every country has its national dish - Irish stew, Italian \Jmacaroni\j, German Wurst, Scottish \Jhaggis\j, English roast beef, Australian steak and eggs, and so on.
Thus every age and nation have had their own food fads and taboos, the dishes they craved and abhorred. Few people, however, realize that generally accepted eating customs have a history set against a background of national traditions and sociological considerations, of irrational superstitions and practical intentions.
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"Taffy - the Welshman",2225,0,0,0
Taffy is derived from the \JGaelic\j for David, frequently spelled \IDafydd.\i It became the Welshman's nickname because St David was the patron saint of Wales, this land of the leek.
Legend tells that this sixth-century abbot-bishop was the son of a Cardigan chieftain, who founded twelve monasteries throughout Wales, and was consecrated a bishop in \JJerusalem\j by the \Jpatriarch\j John III. The portable altar-stone treasured in St David's Shrine to this day, allegedly had been the \JPatriarch\j's gift to him.
David is said to have drunk neither wine nor beer but only water, which made his contemporaries refer to him as "the Waterman," \IAquaticus.\i Austere in his entire lifestyle, this father of all Taffies frequently genuflected and immersed himself in cold water.
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"Take a Powder",2226,0,0,0
Modern society indulges in "taking powders" for a quick remedy. But used as a slang phrase, the taking of a powder has a totally different meaning. It describes a fast escape. Whoever takes a powder in this sense, "dusts off," as, running away, his feet kick up dust. And it was this dust that makes (up) the powder. A quick disappearance could be compared as well to rapidly exploding gun powder, it evaporates.
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"Take Down a Peg",2227,0,0,0
"To take down a peg" is an 18th century British naval expression. It referred to the practice of pegging flags at different heights, commensurate with the rank of whoever was to be honored or the esteem in which he (or the nation) was held. The higher a flag was flown, the more deference it showed. Therefore, to be lowered a peg - on the flagmast - displayed publicly a lowering of respect.
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"Take Pot Luck",2228,0,0,0
Nowadays housewives may have their precooked foods stored in the freezer for emergencies. Not so very long ago they were equally ready to serve instant meals and hot at that! They kept a stew pot on the boil all the time. Thus a warming meal was available constantly to any friend dropping in.
Of course, guests were given no choice. They had to eat whatever was cooking. They had to take "pot luck." Recollecting this early way of genuine, unsophisticated hospitality, friends are still invited to take "pot luck." Having nothing specially prepared for them and their taste, they have to accept whatever may come out of the freezer.
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"Taken for a Ride",2229,0,0,0
Nowadays if someone is being "taken for a ride," they are being cheated, deceived or tricked. Mostly, the victim chosen is a simpleton or a gullible sort of person. Originally, the expression was meant literally. People were taken for a ride in a car. However, theirs was a one-way trip.
During American gang warfare, members who had fallen out with the "boss" were sent for to meet the leader, they were told, to settle matters. They got into the car - but never returned.
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"Tale of Two Cities",2230,0,0,0
People like brevity and economy, not least so in speech. This applies especially to names. Too long an appellation is nearly always pruned, with the result that the message the original name was intended to convey is totally lost. \JLos Angeles\j and Buenos Aires - like La Paz - are typical examples on the map of the world.
\ILos Angeles\i ("the angels") is a mere left-over, the tailend of the city's original name bestowed on it by Spanish missionaries in 1781. This was "the Town of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels of Portiuncula" \I(El \JPueblo\j de Nuestra Se±ora la Reina de \Jlos Angeles\j de la Porti·ncula).\i Portiuncula was the Old Italian for "a little piece" and had been the name of a ruined chapel near Assisi in \JItaly\j which monks had given to St Francis in 1208. He rebuilt it, and it became the birthplace and headquarters of his Order.
The new Californian city was called after it merely because of a coincidence of dates. It was established just after the celebration of the Feast of Portiuncula. However, all that remains of its original name is "the angels," - \ILos Angeles,\i eliminating every trace of the Franciscan connection.
Buenos Aires fared even worse. Founded as a Spanish settlement in 1536, it was given a name that was made up of sixteen words! They were (in English) the "City of the Most Holy Trinity and port of Our Lady St Mary of Good Winds" \I(Ciudad de la Santisima Trinidad y puerto de Nuestra Se±ora Santa Maria del los buenos aeres).\i Two factors determined the choice. The city was established on \JTrinity Sunday\j and the Virgin Mary was worshiped as the patron saint of sailors who called on her to send favorable breezes for their ships.
Gradually but inevitably, the entire religious context of the name was omitted, until finally, by the nineteenth century, only the last two words remained. On their own, they seem to make little sense, unless interpreted as a reference to the "fresh winds" blowing into the city from the sea or its "good air." But, as we now know, this is not the case.
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"Talisman",2231,0,0,0
The talisman as a luck-bringer has traveled a very long way. However, it must never be confused with any male, as its \Imanly\i part has nothing whatsoever to do with humans. Therefore, if ever we speak of more than one talisman, the correct plural is talismans, and not talismen.
The word was introduced into the world by the \JArabs\j. Hence it carries traces of their tongue. \ITilsam\i was the Arab description of a "magical charm," though of course the idea did not come from them but was a take-over from the mystical \Jcult\j of the Greeks.
Oddly enough, in \JGreek language\j the root of the talisman - the beginning of the word - most literally was the "end." This is in Greek \Itelos,\i which has become part as well of \Iteleology,\i the doctrine of "final" causes. The \Itelos\i took on the form of \Itelesma\i whenever Greeks referred to the "completion" of a ritual and the "fulfillment" of a consecration. It was their description of an initiation.
This \Itelesma\i was then adopted by the \JArabs\j who, duly adapting it, gave us the talisman. In its \Jmetamorphosis\j, the talisman became an object gifted with \Jsupernatural\j power. Totally changed, it now denoted the numerous types of discs, stones, or figures inscribed or embossed with magical letters, words, or signs, that were believed to bestow great benefit on their owner.
A talisman may owe its existence to mere chance. Because an object was carried or worn on one specific auspicious occasion, such as the defeat of an enemy, the birth of a child, or cure from a fever, it was deduced that the good fortune was at least linked with it, if not actually due to it. And from that moment on the person in question would not join in a fight, commence a task, set out on a journey (or play in a football match or sit for an examination) without it.
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"Talk of the Devil or the Evocative Power of Words",2232,0,0,0
The power of speech has always been recognized, respected, and has filled people with awe. It made them carefully watch their words.
Eloquent speakers by their gift of the "gab" can easily "carry people away" and do so for better or worse. Churchill thus fortified a nation on the very brink of disaster, and Hitler roused his people to the heights of death-dealing frenzy.
The evocative power of speech was much more heeded when it concerned the forces of the occult. Merely to voice their names could summon them, so it was firmly believed. This conviction, indeed, is one of the fundamental bases of the birth of euphemisms which have become part and parcel of everyday speech. From the Greek, euphemism literally means to "speak well" and "favorably" - of a person, object, or situation. Actually, it refers to the substitution of their real but dangerous or indelicate description by a word or name that sounded inoffensive, agreeable and was so totally different. At times, in fact, it expressed the exact opposite of the tabooed term it replaced.
Euphemisms originally did not enter speech to avoid giving offense by their vulgarity or obscenity to the susceptibilities of easily-shocked minds. Their chief objective was to protect people from a curse, an evil spirit, a sickness, or even death. To mention such phenomena by their actual name, it was assumed, would be tantamount to inviting their presence. Thus misfortune could be caused by the evocative power of speech.
Numerous euphemisms are used in the \JBible\j. Some of them are still applied in everyday speech, particularly those which refer to death. Death was personified and to speak of it could actually summon his presence and was bound to precipitate the very event feared: the severing of the thread of life.
Enoch, who had walked with God, "was no more, for God \Itook\i him" (Gen. 5,24). King David told his son Solomon that he was about to "go the way of all the earth" (I Kings 2,2). Suffering Job spoke of the few years left to him before he would "take the road from which I shall not return" (Job 16,22).
The same reasoning prompted the Greeks to call the "spirits of vengeance" (the \IErinyes)\i by the name \IEumenides:\i "the kindly ones." They did so not, as might be imagined, to flatter the monstrous creatures and thereby possibly gain their good will and make them change their minds. The purpose was that if their real name were not mentioned, they would be unaware of being discussed and therefore would keep away. To voice their name would "call them up."
And if nowadays we jokingly use the phrase "talk of the devil" (and all it implies), originally it had the same ominous meaning. By the evocative power of speech it was believed that by mentioning the devil's name, he would be conjured up.
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"Talking Money",2233,0,0,0
Any talk of money - literally - voices a warning. This is the original meaning of the word.
The early sound of alarm came not from an economist, but from geese! All monetary speculation leads back to Roman \Jmythology\j and an ancient link of religion with making money, at least its coinage.
When, in the 4th century B.C., the Gauls attacked \JRome\j, they almost succeeded in capturing the city. A detachment of soldiers had scrambled up the Capitoline Hill and, under the cover of night, passed the guards undetected. But then their plans went awry. The intruders disturbed a flock of geese sacred to the goddess Juno, kept on the hill. Startled, they began to cackle so loudly that the noise woke up the soldiers who, alerted, immediately realized the situation. Counter-attacking they repelled the invaders.
There was no doubt in the Romans' minds that the divine protection of their goddess had saved the city by the warning cry of her geese. To show their gratitude for the miraculous escape, they dedicated a temple to her on that very spot, worshiping her now as Juno \IMoneta,\i Juno, the \IWarner.\i
In later years, the Romans established their first mint within the precincts of that temple. They referred to it briefly by Juno's honorific name, as Moneta. Transferred to every "mint" and all its products, it created - linguistically - all "money." Unknowingly thus, whoever spends money recalls the ancient goddess and her "warning" geese. No wonder that money is said to speak all languages and that people still worship it.
To begin with, business referred to people's busy-ness with any kind of task. Only in later years it became confined to the mercantile world. Whoever pays a debt tries to "pacify," to appease. All "payment" comes, literally, from the Latin \Ipax,\i meaning "peace."
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"Tally",2234,0,0,0
An early method of keeping account, when the general public could neither write nor read, was the tally. At the conclusion of a transaction, a sale or a purchase, the price agreed upon was registered by making a notch on a piece of wood known as the tally. This was then split lengthwise, for each party to keep one half. When, eventually, the debt was settled, the two pieces were put together and if they "tallied," no one could question the amount.
The English Exchequer used such tallies from the time of the Norman kings to the end of the 18th century. The procedure followed was very simple. A rod of hazelwood was duly notched in acknowledgment of money paid in, mostly as a loan to the government. The name of the creditor and the date of the transaction were noted down next to the mark.
The rod was then split. One half, called "the stock," was taken away by the creditor; the other, "the counterstock," was retained by the Treasury. When, later on, the money was claimed for repayment or used for the settlement of taxes, the creditor returned his stock, matching it against the counterstock. It could easily be ascertained if the amounts tallied. Subsequently, the stock and counterstock were fastened together to be stored as a record in the vaults of the Exchequer.
It was a cumbersome sort of bookkeeping, demanding ever more space. When eventually the system of tallies was discontinued, a vast amount of sticks had accumulated. Thus, in 1834, under the reign of William IV, it was decided to destroy them by burning. Unfortunately, the fire went out of control, resulting in a conflagration that burned down the English Houses of Parliament. Money did not just burn holes in pockets but, for once, burned the very center of democratic government.
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"Taming the Waves",2235,0,0,0
Nature's challenge to man came not least from the ocean. Tireless in its incessant motion and sonority, its treacherous waters kept man in awe and its mysterious deep demanded countless victims in drowned men and wrecked ships. Its apparently boundless expanse frightened man whose imagination peopled its waters with monsters.
It was precisely those roaring waters, with their mountainous waves pounding shores and breaking on beach and reef, that also gave man a passionate urge to prove himself master. Striving for power over nature and trying to tame its most fearsome element, he took up surfing. To pit his skill against the surging sea, to ride its waves, gave him a feeling of exhilaration, of strength, of supremacy, and even intimations of immortality.
The principal and most elementary source of surfing lay in the very depth of human nature: man's everlasting battle against life's hazards and his innate urge to rise above them as a conqueror. Jack London described this, man's triumph over the rolling waves tumbling shoreward, so mysterious both in their origin and destiny, in a feature that he included as an entire chapter in \IThe Cruise of the Snark\i and entitled "A Royal Sport:"
\IWhere but the moment before was only the wide desolation and invincible roar, is now a man, erect, full-statured, not struggling frantically in that wild movement, not buried and crushed and buffeted by those mighty monsters, but standing above them all, calm and superb, poised on the giddy summit, his feet buried in the churning \Jfoam\j, the salt smoke rising to his knees and all the rest of him in the free air and flashing sunlight and he is flying through the air, flying fast as the surge on which he stands.\i
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"Tank: Origin of the Name",2236,0,0,0
The name of the tank is mere camouflage. It was chosen to hoodwink the enemy who, at the time, knew nothing of its existence.
Invented by the British in World War I, the new weapon was meant to take the Germans completely by surprise. To do so, every precaution had to be taken to prevent its premature detection. When the novel armored vehicles were first moved to the front, they were hidden under tarpaulins. To confuse any enemy spy who might overhear mention of the secret weapon, this was referred to as a (water) "tank."
The secret never leaked out. Once the real function became known in battle, the fictitious name of the tank stuck, and it has been known by it ever since.
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"Tantalising",2237,0,0,0
Modern culture has creatively assimilated its religious past; its language and customs echo old attitudes and old fears. Disdainfully, we may look down on ancient myths and beliefs, yet, without realizing it, we continue to perpetuate them in the way we view certain situations. Those we find "tantalising" are a case in point.
The word, \Itantalise,\i is rooted in the myth of Tantalus' excruciating torments. Because he had revealed divine secrets to mortals, the gods confined him to the underworld. To punish him further, they forced him to stand up to his chin in a river, with fruit-laden trees above his head, but beyond his grasp. When parched by thirst, he tried to drink, the water receded. When suffering pangs of hunger, he stretched out his hand to pick some of the fruit, this suddenly withered or was swept away by a gust of wind. Indeed, he was "tantalised" almost beyond endurance.
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"Tarantula's Bite",2238,0,0,0
Tarantulas are greatly feared for their "poisonous" bite. There is no scientific basis for this. Research has proved that the poison is so minimal that its effect is almost harmless. In the worst incidents, related to a South American species, the victim suffered no more than a rash.
The fallacy goes back to sixteenth-century Europe and its manifold superstitions. People imagined then that the \Jspider\j's bite could cause vertigo and melancholy, if not death. As the \Jspider\j abounded in the Italian city of Taranto, it was called after it, "\Jtarantula\j."
Folk medicine prescribed a curious antidote to the threatened consequences of its bite. If those "fatally" bitten immediately started a very fast dance, their vigorous movement would make them perspire and sweat out the poison before it had a chance to take effect. Primitive peasants soon confused cause and effect, believing that the dance was not the (fancied) cure, but the result of the \Jtarantula\j's bite.
Eventually, all the circumstances were forgotten and the \Jtarantella\j survived as a popular fast dance, now totally divorced from the \Jspider\j. It is hard to believe that it owes its very name to \Jsuperstition\j and a combination of fallacious beliefs.
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"Tarmac",2239,0,0,0
A peculiar sort of amalgam is the name of the tarmac, the runway used by \Jaircraft\j for their take-off and landing. It joins "tar" to the first syllable of macadamized. The choice of word pays tribute to an early pioneer in road building, while simultaneously taking note of an essential improvement, the addition of tar.
John Loudon McAdam (also spelled Macadam), a Scotsman by birth (in 1756), already as a child had been interested in the smooth flowing of traffic. In the backyard of his home, he built a model road. When John was only 14, his father died and he joined his uncle in the United States. Eventually he returned to Britain to settle down in Ayrshire, where he was made a magistrate and a road trustee. Almost immediately he resumed his childhood pursuit - now seriously. Aware of the neglect of the mostly dirt roads and appalled by their condition which caused great damage to coaches, he set out to find some way to make the traffic lanes of Britain roadworthy. In 1827, he was appointed general surveyor of roads of the English highways.
He traveled 48,000 kilometers (30,000 miles) and spent ú5,000 out of his own pocket on experiments. The end result was his invention of a novel process that ensured a more stable and resistant surface for roads. After putting down several layers of crushed stones, these were compressed by means of heavy rollers, providing a much superior kind of highway. The weight of the coaches passing over it did no damage: on the contrary they further consolidated it. His method was soon recognized as an extraordinary advance in road construction, to be referred to as "macadamization."
A final improvement came about in 1901 by mere accident. While on an inspection tour, E.P. Hooley, a Midlands county surveyor, was struck by the fact that a short section of one road was far better preserved than the rest. Puzzled, he pursued the matter, to be told that not long ago at that very spot a barrel of tar had fallen off a dray, with all its contents being spilled. Unable easily to remove the spillage, workers had done the next best thing and covered up the tar with slag they had obtained from nearby iron works. No one had noticed the result, prior to the surveyor. Having ascertained the circumstances, he lost little time in making use of them. Within two years, he formed a company to construct the new type of road. He called his firm the Tar Macadam Syndicate. Shortened, it created the modern "tarmac."
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"Tarot Pack Analysis",2240,0,0,0
There are altogether seventy-eight \Jtarot\j cards. These are divided into two distinct groups.
One pack of fifty-six (eventually reduced to fifty-two) is known as the "minor arcana." The term \Iarcana\i - from the Latin - refers to the "secret" and "mystery." Immediately therefore the very name stresses its \Jsupernatural\j purpose, though it is surprising that it is from this deck that our modern \Jplaying cards\j evolved.
The fifty-six cards, in turn, are divided into four suits. This number has been interpreted mystically in several ways. It was said to represent the four elements, the four corners of creation, and the four worlds of the Kabbalah. They were originally known as cups, coins, swords, and wands and are the predecessors of the modern hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades.
Each suit consists of fourteen cards. These are made up of the ten digits (the "pips") - the usual ace to ten - and "the royal house." This has a horse in addition to the king, queen, and knave. This equestrian figure has been "discarded" or merged with the knave in modern \Jplaying cards\j. The (usually unnumbered) "fool" also was part of the original pack, to be changed later into the "joker."
Much more important in the field of cartomancy is the second pack, appropriately called the "major arcana." It is the real \Jtarot\j. The number of its twenty-two (trump) cards itself has caused much speculation. It was pointed out that it was not mere accident that this coincided with the number of letters of the \JHebrew\j alphabet with its profound importance in mystical circles and the Kabbalah.
The cards carry a colorful variety of allegorical figures and symbols. All are typical of the customs, fashions, and emblems known in medieval times. They include the Juggler (1), the Emperor (4), the Pope (5), and the Devil (15), as well as the Star (17), the Moon (18), and the Sun (19).
Gypsies recognized in the series a pictorial record of their wanderings and their fate. Churchmen interpreted the sequence as a dramatic illustration of man's moral and spiritual progress with its culmination in "the Judgment." Yet another explanation and possible rationalization was that the tarots served as an ingenious aid to memory (a "mnemonic" device). This theory might have been chosen to make acceptable and respectable the suspected "book of the devil." Finally, it was said that the cards were meant to recall fundamental sacred truths which had already been represented in their manner to the members of early Gnostic sects.
Some of the cards seem to have obvious meanings. The Wheel of Fortune, for instance, is so universal that anyone will easily get its message of either hope or forewarning. Things never stand still and, inevitably, will change - for better or worse.
Other \Jtarot\j cards, though their symbols are easily identified, are not as self-explanatory as at first appears. The Sun did not only foretell the clearing up of a problem, nor did the Hermit (an itinerant aged man with a lantern) merely point to waywardness. The Fool may not refer at all to "stupidity" but to a child's purity and innocence. The Tower, many centuries prior to Freud, was seen as a phallic sign and all it conveyed.
In the majority of cases a card does not have a single, simple, and unambiguous meaning. Therefore it is open to every type of interpretation, which is why during the last 500 years, countless explanations have been given for each individual picture and symbol. Perhaps nothing exceeds the mystery of and the problems presented by No. 12 - "the Hanged Man."
The young man hanging by one leg from a horizontal beam at first seems to present a straightforward, though morbid, message: imminent disaster and death. But looking at him more carefully, striking and contradictory aspects are revealed. The man does not really hang down from the gallows. Only one of his feet is bound to, or perhaps merely touches, its cross-beam. The other foot is bent at right angles and thereby creates the sign of a cross. His face which obviously should show anguish and suffering, if anything looks placid and serene!
No wonder therefore that some tarotologists were convinced that the so-called Hanged Man was not hanged at all. The "suspension" was a printer's error! What had happened was the printer had carelessly reproduced the picture upside-down. In reality the man was standing with one foot on the ground while still watching out, as it were, where to put the other one. Hence the card was meant to convey not horror and death but the virtue of prudence.
And thus the problem seemed solved. A picture of doom had suddenly changed into one symbolizing sagacity. But then it was realized that when this card was first produced, it was not printed at all but painted. Therefore the theory of the reversal of a printing block fell to the ground.
Nevertheless, another school of thought claimed, the "topsy-turvy" aspect of the man was still a misconception. It was due to the faulty Latin knowledge of an early card maker. Indeed, the man was meant to represent prudence. For this reason special instructions had been given to the artist to portray him in a position that symbolized such attitude of cautious demeanor. The card maker was to depict the man \Ipede suspenso\i - "with (one) suspended foot" - holding it up. But the printer had misinterpreted the direction and misunderstood it as saying that he should draw the man "suspended \Iby\i his foot!"
The puzzle remains and gives ample room for numerous views of what the card really was supposed to tell. Eliphaz Levi saw the Hanged Man as the true \JPrometheus\j - the eternal sufferer. With his feet in heaven, he only slightly touched the ground. Another opinion found in the picture the message of the link that should exist between the infinite spirit and the finite earth. That it wanted to impress the complete reversal of life, was yet another view: man should learn the true value of life and substitute spiritual force for his material love. A further interpretation explained the Hanged Man as representing not the ultimate fate of a condemned man, but a stage of initiation into sacred, esoteric rites.
By paying attention to other incidental details in the picture, it becomes even more complicated. What was the meaning of the gold coins that seemed to drop out of the man's pocket? Was it to show his contempt for riches and that we should replace love of money by "the golden rule?" Or did it recall the thirty pieces of silver for which \JJudas Iscariot\j had sold his master, subsequently in repentance of his crime hanging himself? What appears to be a halo around the man's head presents more difficulties. No, others say, it is no halo at all but just a crude depiction of his hair.
The mysteries multiply as more attention is given to the card. The one lesson it does teach is the infinitude of meanings it can suggest to an unbiased observer, interested only in "facts." But if used in cartomancy by an imaginative clairvoyant interpreter who is saturated in the tradition of fortune telling, and who has psychic rapport with the questioner for whom he is trying to look into the future, the ideas this one picture can conjure up, defy description.
Added to it, it must be remembered, is yet another complication. The value of the card on its own is not its final message. The card appears in tandem and therefore its interpretation is modified by the "pictures" that precede and follow it. Furthermore, of course, its particular position in the pattern chosen must be considered. Attention must be given whether any of the cards, in front or behind, above or below, instead of being placed right-side-up, accidentally were put down in the reverse.
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"Tarred with the Same Brush",2241,0,0,0
People sharing common faults or traits are said to be "tarred with the same brush." The words, carrying now a disparaging meaning, may have been suggested by one of several practices.
At one time, felons or political opponents, to be easily recognized and publicly penalized with their body stripped naked, were "tarred and feathered." Naturally, the same brush was applied to all of them.
Cattle could easily be identified by their owner by branding them with their mark. This, however, could not be done to sheep. It would damage their fleece. Instead, these were tarred distinctly at a specific spot, done of course with the same brush.
Animals who suffered from sores or ticks were equally treated. To heal their open wounds or protect them from the vermin, they too were tarred with the same brush.
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"Tart",2242,0,0,0
Just as tastes change, so has the meaning of the tart when applied to a woman. A rather crude description of a promiscuous female now, once it served as a term of endearment among the lower classes of Londoners. They spoke of their lady-love as a "tart." No doubt, they compared her sweetness to that of a jam tart. A similarity of sound might well have contributed to the choice of the word. Did not the sweetheart sound very much like a "sweet tart?"
As tarts may go stale and spoil, so did the name which eventually deteriorated. Gradually it lost all respectability and good taste. By 1920, only prostitutes were thus called.
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"Tartan Origins",2243,0,0,0
A painting displays the artist's signature in one of its corners. Many a garment has woven into the (linguistic) texture of its name its place of origin. At times, this might be so well camouflaged that it is almost beyond recognition. Calico comes from \JCalicut\j in India, worsted from Worstead in Norfolk, England. \JDenim\j originated in (the southern French town of) Nεmes and recalling its source was named \Ide Nεmes\i - "from Nεmes."\i
The Scotch tartan covers more territory - at least speechwise. Certainly, it has no connection with the Tartars, as some might imagine. It is a mistake, however, to think that the tartan was the original Scottish Highland attire. When the Gaels first arrived in Scotland from Ireland, they wore a distinctive kind of shirt, known as \IlΘine\i in \JGaelic\j. Mostly made of linen, it had a yellowish tint. This led the English to describe it as a saffron shirt. Early on, it was marked with stripes to indicate the rank of the wearer. Seven stripes, one of which was purple, distinguished the High King, whilst, indicative of the appreciation of scholarship among the Scots already in early days, the Ollamh, the Chief Man of Learning, could be recognized by his six stripes!
Equally erroneous is the assumption that when the tartan became part of the Highlanders' vocabulary and dress, the word designated its design, the checkered pattern with its design, the checkered pattern with its specific colors. Coming from the French \Itartaine,\i "tartan" referred to a certain fabric - a mixture of wool and linen. The French themselves had borrowed the term from the Spaniards, who called a silken material \Itirita±a,\i most likely because of the swishing sound it made, as the root of the word was the Spanish for "rustle."
There is another mistaken view attached to the tartans. This is that, from the beginning, their various types were the deliberate historical choice of the individual clans, so that they could be identified. However, this was not so. It was by mere chance, the local availability of dye-stuffs, that made a clan wear certain colors. Many of the so-called clan-tartans of today, in fact, are of recent origin, not going back much beyond the beginning of the nineteenth century!
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"Tartini's Devil's Trill",2244,0,0,0
Some of the best-known works of art, no matter in which medium, owe their existence to religious inspiration or to a religious environment. In the world of music, Tartini's \IDevil's Trill\i \JSonata\j is one of them. Possibly it would never have come into being without its peculiar religious circumstances.
Giuseppe Tartini had been educated for the priesthood. But instead of taking orders, he became a champion fencer and accomplished violinist. He fell in love with a Paduan girl, his music pupil, and intended to marry her. However, her aristocratic and very influential parents objected to the union, feeling that a fiddler and a fencer was not good enough for their daughter.
In spite of their prohibition, the young couple married secretly. As it was now impossible for Tartini to stay in Padua, he fled, disguised as a monk, first to \JRome\j, then to Assisi, where he found refuge in the monastery. There, withdrawn from the outside world, he continued to study and practice the instrument in which he excelled, and to compose. This music, and the significant improvements he made to the bow and strings of the violin were notable contributions to music. In his retreat, he also discovered, though was unable to explain, the acoustical phenomenon which came to be known as "Tartini's tone."
The monks, who continued to act as his hosts, enjoyed his playing, which greatly inspired them in their religious pursuits.
Then a mysterious event occurred. After a day's intense work, Tartini retired to his cell and fell into deep sleep. However, his stimulated mind did not rest. In a most vivid dream the devil appeared to him, offering his services to the great violinist. Anything Tartini wanted, he would gladly provide.
In his dream, Tartini responded eagerly and was granted every request. Then he handed the devil his violin and invited him to play on it. The devil did so in the most masterly fashion, producing a melody so rousing and exciting that it woke Tartini from his sleep.
Deeply stirred by his dream experience, he immediately sat down to record the music on paper. His pen could hardly keep up with his urgent need to note down the theme before it faded. He succeeded in capturing three of the movements which he called after the phantom composer, \IThe Devil's Trill.\i
For a long time after, Tartini stayed on in the monastery, doing everything possible to repay the monks' kindness and hospitality. He would play at the services, but always from behind a curtain lest he be recognized. Meanwhile, he had become famous through his glorious music. One day, a priest carelessly pulled the drapes aside and the congregation caught sight of him...
At long last he returned to Padua where his home was to become an artistic center with countless students coming from far and wide to sit at his feet to learn from him the mastery of the violin.
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"Tattooing",2245,0,0,0
Fascinating is the manifold and often odd use made of tattoo marks. On occasion they can be gruesome. A man once had a dotted circle tattooed around his neck with the inscription, "Cut along the dotted line."
During World War I some Tommies expressed their aversion to the German Emperor by having his image tattooed on their buttocks. A wealthy businessman in the United States ordered a tattooist to imprint hinges on all his joints. A famous doctor had his skin tattooed solely because the vibration of the needles soothed his nerves!
Perhaps the most ghastly tattoos of recent times were those with which Nazis branded their victims in concentration camps.
Tattoo is one of the few Polynesian words that have become part of the English language. The explorer Captain Cook introduced it in 1796 from the Tahitian, in which it was used in the form of \Itatau\i to describe any kind of mark. It has nothing to do with a military tattoo. In that use the word is derived from the Dutch \Itaptoe,\i meaning "to turn off the tap of a cask."
Tattooing by means of gashes or, in the modern technique, with small punctures filled with pigment, is an ancient and widespread custom. Fear of the unknown and of evil forces may have accounted for its first appearance.
Tattoo marks were a kind of magic to protect men both from the evil eye and sickness. Just as the ancient Britons painted their bodies with woad to strike fear into their foes, so tattoo marks were used to ward off intangible dangers.
However, many other and less frightening reasons were soon superimposed. They rendered the custom a permanent feature, continued even when man had outgrown his primitive superstitions and dreads.
Sex has dominated the human mind at all times. Therefore, it is no wonder that tattooing was soon believed to serve as a potent means to increase virility and sexual attraction.
Tattoos were used as well as tribal markings or professional emblems, as a sign of rank or caste and whether a man or woman was married or not. Sometimes tattoo marks served as badges of courage, reminding both viewer and wearer of the pains suffered at the hands of the tattooer. Again, some parents tattooed their children with the sign of a god to ensure his protection.
Man has always possessed an aesthetic sense. This urged him to add beauty (or what he considered as such) to life as he found it. Instead of looking for stones and trees to impose on them his artistic creations, did not his own body provide a readily available canvas?
Thus with some tattooing became a form of artistic expression, a favorite way of bodily decoration. Man's innate desire to show off and impress others further fostered the custom. To have his etchings and paintings on constant exhibition, with no difficulty of transportation or danger of deterioration, made the "art" all the more popular. This way a person could carry his masterpiece with him wherever he went - in fair weather and foul - and it was no burden at all!
But weighty utilitarian reasons were responsible, if not for the creation, for the retention of those early tattoo marks. They were a lasting identification in time of war, so frequent in the annals of history. By his tattoo marks, a combatant could be easily recognized on the battlefield - whether dead or alive. They were the earliest type of uniform, and surpass those of today in one respect at least - they never wore out. And even traitors and fugitives could not disguise their identity, as the marks labeled them permanently.
But going even further, the scars' special significance extended from this world to the next. The Hindus of Bengal, for instance, regarded tattoo marks in a vastly different light. They believed that a person without them would find it hard to enter Heaven.
Though biblical legislation expressly stated that "you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you," tattooing became fashionable among Christian nations, including their Sovereigns.
That sailors are fond of being tattooed (even King \JGeorge V\j had himself tattooed as a young \Jmidshipman\j) has several reasons. Sailors are reputed for their superstitions and their love of ladies. They maintained the ancient belief that tattoo marks made them all the more desirable, and assisted them in their amorous adventures, especially so if their bodies depicted suitable subjects and legends.
Sailors first introduced the art of tattooing into the Western world, from China, \JBurma\j, India. It is not surprising, therefore, that they themselves preserved their new discovery.
Finally, there was the constant but secret fear among mariners that one day they might be drowned and their bodies washed ashore beyond the possibility of recognition. Tattoo marks, which were always individualized, were a wise precaution to ensure identification in such unfortunate circumstances. The custom was fostered all the more by the additional \Jsuperstition\j that the mere fact of being prepared for such ill luck would keep it away.
#
"Taurus - the Bull",2246,0,0,0
Early man called the most brilliant and exquisite group of stars by the Latin name \JTaurus\j (bull) not because of a fancied likeness of the \Jconstellation\j to the bull (there is hardly any resemblance), but because of the supreme importance of the animal in life and myth.
Man must have felt that no other creature was worthy to be so honored. From prehistoric days onward, the bull symbolized the treasured powers of reproduction. That is why, as the procreative animal par excellence, the bull appears among the earliest cave paintings. No doubt, its presence was meant magically to ensure fertility - among \Jcattle\j and men. For the same reason, the Egyptians paid homage to the sacred bull, which they called \JApis\j.
The bull was worshiped all through the East. Traces of its deification can be found even in the \JBible\j. When the Israelites felt lost during Moses' prolonged absence, they began to pray to an idol in the form of a \Jgolden calf\j! (The ancient worship and sacrifice of the bull actually survives to the present day in Spanish and Latin American lands in the bull-fight. This did not, as is often mistakenly believed, start as a blood-thirsty sport, but has its roots in a potent and awesome fertility rite!)
When the Greeks took over this tradition, they linked it too with one of their legends. They told that when Zeus had fallen in love with beautiful Europa, daughter of the \JPhoenician\j king, he abducted her by assuming the shape and color of a snow-white, golden-horned bull. He had swum all the way from the shore of her country to \JCrete\j carrying Europa on his back. And both a continent and a \Jconstellation\j received their names from this romantic ride and swim. The princess survives in the name of Europe but Zeus, in his bovine disguise, is \JTaurus\j.
#
"Tavern",2247,0,0,0
\ITavern\i is now merely an alternative, somewhat archaic name for a "pub." That it shares its root meaning with the \Itabernacle\i of both the Jewish and Christian faiths mostly goes unrecognized.
The first \Jtabernacle\j was built by the Israelites and served as their portable shrine embodying God's presence, during their forty years' wandering through the desert. In Latin, the word for tent is \Itabernaculum,\i while \Itaberna\i is a hut or tavern.
Christianity transferred the name of the Jewish tent-shrine to the \JTabernacle\j of the Church, where it became the designation of the ornamental receptacle of the host of the \JEucharist\j.
#
"Tavern and Pub Signs",2248,0,0,0
A colorful feature of English inns, adopted elsewhere, are their names and the imaginative signboards depicting them. Their introduction goes back to medieval times when the ordinary man was illiterate and thus identified his favorite alehouse by the attractive and telling picture prominently displayed outside. (It must be remembered that such inns were not few and far between, but numbered many and often were located in close proximity to each other and therefore could easily be confused.)
It is most likely that these "pub" - signs might have been first suggested by a church practice, introduced in similar circumstances and for the identical reason, though obviously serving a different type of spirit.
Those belonging to a certain congregation needed to identify it, as churches looked very much alike. A mere name plate was of no use, as most of the worshipers could not read. However, who could ever mistake the statue of a figure holding a key as being other than that of St Peter, or a man slaying a dragon, as being any but St George?
That is why, in times long past, churches helped their congregants to find them, by erecting such statuary either next to the entrance gate or in a recess above the central door. For the same purpose, others made use of \Jstained glass\j windows or murals to depict a scene which made it easy for anyone to identify the saint to whom the church was dedicated and after whom it was called.
The population became so accustomed to finding their destination by means of these images, that it was only a short step for alehouses to adopt the ecclesiastical signposts. It was yet another takeover of secular life from the spiritual realm.
#
"Tawdry",2249,0,0,0
A seventh-century nun of royal descent, St Audrey, enriched our vocabulary, after her death, with all that is \Itawdry.\i It was certainly a strange legacy of a saintly woman.
Though twice married, she remained a virgin. She founded a monastery at Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, and served as its abbess till her death in 679.
The most venerated of all \JAnglo-Saxon\j female saints, she was honored with the passing of years by the establishment of many sanctuaries, among them a shrine in Ely, now the site of the city's cathedral. But nothing exceeded in popularity the annual fair held in St Audrey's memory on 17 October.
Among the goods sold, visitors specially favored lace necklaces and golden chains. They were of the very type St Audrey had loved wearing as a young girl. Unfortunately, however, the quality of those offered by the stalls was very inferior. The happy crowds thronging the fair, easily became victims of unscrupulous hawkers who palmed off the cheapest of wares, including gaudy mementoes of all sorts. It did not take long for people to realize how worthless these were, and not least so the lace.
That is how, on the loom of language, the saint's name became devalued and what had been sold as "St Audrey's lace" contracted into "tawdry lace." Eventually, the finery was dropped altogether, to leave \Itawdry\i as a word meaning all that is "kitsch," cheap and in bad taste. It was a sad fate for St Audrey, to have her name thus disfigured.
#
"Taxation and Tax Evasion",2250,0,0,0
Both income tax and a form of capital gains tax were already known in biblical times.
Taxes were not graded but, according to \JMosaic law\j, everyone had to pay one tenth ("the tithe") of his earnings - mostly in kind. Usually, the tax was levied on new wine and oil, newly born \Jcattle\j and lambs. It was applied to the upkeep of the sanctuary and its institutions. Every third year, however, it was handed on to the local community, specifically earmarked to provide social security for the needy.
Safeguards were taken to avoid tax evasion or any other "clever" scheme to get the better of the authorities. A favorite ruse, for instance, was to substitute inferior specimens for healthy animals, or leaner lambs for fat ones.
To prevent such fraudulent deception, a simple but most effective system was introduced. The young herds were driven into a holding pen which they could leave only through a narrow exit in single file. The tax collector stood at the exit with a rod in his hand. This he dipped into red paint to mark every tenth animal, destined to be part of the tithe. Owners still trying to cheat were heavily fined and forfeited both animals.
#
"Taxi",2251,0,0,0
The taxi started on its very first trip as a taxi-meter cab. It happened in New York City on 25 October 1907 and was the result of a New Yorker's anger at being grossly overcharged for a short ride in one of the horse-drawn hansom cabs that were then plying their trade.
Harry Allen, on his way home, felt so exhausted that, though he had not far to go, he decided to use a cab. Arriving at his destination, he could not believe his ears when he was asked to pay $5 for the fare, an exorbitant charge in those days for so short a ride.
On the spot he determined once and for all to stop such exploitation. He would introduce a new service for commuters from one part of the city to another, in which passengers paid a fare fixed according to the distance covered and based on a "tariff" or "tax" (from the French \Itaxe\i for "charge") measured in units. The distance covered was not left to guesswork, but was accurately calculated by a meter. At the end of the journey, this indicated the mileage driven. There would be no chance left for overcharging.
Appropriately, Harry Allen called his new type of conveyance a taxi-meter cab. Universally adopted, it went different ways in the various parts of the world. Too cumbersome in its name, a portion of it was dropped. Some retained the "cab" and others, the "taxi."
Allen admitted that he had adopted the idea of the taxi (and the word) from a French company which produced meters for horse-drawn cabs and had first coined the term taximeter for its intricate device (invented in \JFrance\j c. 1898) to "clock" the exact charge. All he had done was to join the "taxi" to his cab.
#
"Taxiing",2252,0,0,0
Taxis take fares to the airport, but they are strictly banned from the tarmac. How then did it happen that nevertheless they operate there, verbally, in the description of the movement of an \Jaircraft\j on the ground prior to take-off or after landing that is known as "taxiing."
The taxi landed on the airstrip, in the manner of speaking, quite by chance. It is a relic from the early days of \Javiation\j and goes back to young airmen's fancy whilst being trained (in 1911) at Brooklands, one of the pioneer airfields, situated in the county of Surrey, England.
Just as a baby has to crawl before learning to walk, so the trainees received their first "flying" instructions on the ground in a monoplane which was no longer airworthy. As taxis stay safely on the ground, it was perhaps not surprising that the cadets soon fondly referred to this kite as "the taxi."
It was a well-chosen name. The distance a taxi travels is metered. The kilometers (then miles) the "would-be" pilots covered were equally counted, eventually to entitle them to take off.
George Eliot wrote that "words have wings." It seems all the more appropriate if applied to a word used by flying men. And so the novel description of a training craft as "the taxi" soon spread to other airfields.
It did not stay with crews of fledgling airmen. Transformed into a verb, as "taxiing," it became the general description of the movement of all planes which were not yet or no longer airborne, but advancing along the tarmac under their own power.
#
"Tea and Sleep",2253,0,0,0
Those who cannot sleep after having drunk \Jcoffee\j, imagine that tea will not keep them awake. Unless it is a case of mind over matter, theirs is a misconception. Tea contains theine, as strong a stimulant as \Jcaffeine\j.
#
"Tea's Origin",2254,0,0,0
A mystical quality has been ascribed to tea, which, for that reason, was drunk on sacred occasions. No wonder that early legend traced the growing of the first tea bush to a priest.
Indian myth tells of Darma, a Buddhist monk, who had vowed to spend nine years in continuous \Jmeditation\j. Sitting down, he faced a wall. Without speaking a single word, he kept awake constantly, through day and night. But, however good his intentions and determined his will, eventually nature got the better of him. After five years of permanent wakefulness, he dozed off.
On waking up, his feeling of guilt was so intense that, out of contrition and to prevent his eyes from ever closing again, he pulled off his eyelids. The instant these fell on the ground, at the very spot they touched it, miraculously a bush sprang up. It bore slender, tapering leaves. The monk chewed some of these to be more than surprised by the effect. All his drowsiness vanished and his mind became more alert than it had ever been. Immediately he resumed his \Jmeditation\j, to complete his vow, without any further untoward incident. His experience became well-known and made history. It gave man the precious gift of refreshing tea.
#
"Teddy Bear",2255,0,0,0
Presidents of the United States may be remembered for many things. But none, possibly, equals in fame Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. It was not short-lived, merely lasting for the tenure of his office, but has continued to this day - in every nursery. His gift to all people, whether young in years or in heart, was the teddy bear.
In 1902, the second year of his presidency, he paid an official visit to Mississippi. His intention was to settle a border-dispute between that state and adjacent Louisiana. In between strenuous negotiations, he took some time off to relax, and went hunting.
On the outing, he unexpectedly came across a small bear cub that had taken refuge in a tree not far off. He could easily have shot it. But he regarded this as cruel and unsportsman-like. Without hesitation, he lowered his gun and let the cub go free.
It did not take long for the media to get hold of the story. Clifford K. Berryman, cartoonist for the \IWashington Evening Star,\i immortalized the incident in an appealing sketch. It showed the President in a posture in which while downing his gun, he was raising his hand toward the little furry creature. The artist captioned the picture with the telling words - so appropriate in the circumstances of his mission - "Where the President draws the line." No doubt, ingeniously, the political inference of the words was Roosevelt's intervention in the borderline dispute between the two states.
Americans are astute business people and before long Morris Mitchom, a Russian immigrant who had a toyshop in Brooklyn, commercialized the incident. From brown plush he made a small bear. To attract customers, he placed it in his show window. He then wrote to the President asking for permission to call the little animal after him. In his reply, "Teddy" Roosevelt gladly conceded, though expressing the view that he did not think that his name "is worth much in the toy bear-cub business." Thus the "teddy" bear came into existence to give joy and pleasure to countless children everywhere.
Another slightly different version tells that Roosevelt had gone to Mississippi specifically to hunt bears. To please the President, his hosts made sure of his quarry. On the very first day of his visit, they captured a small brown bear which, surreptitiously, they released just prior to the President's arrival, thereby presenting him with an easy target. Catching sight of the lovely creature, however, he took pity on it and, without knowing of the ruse, did not fire, but made sure that the little creature got away.
#
"Teetotaller",2256,0,0,0
The \JBible\j not only gives Noah the credit of first making wine, but tells also that he was the first man to discover the mystery of the new plant. After having tasted the fermented juice of the grape, he became drunk and began to act strangely. He behaved most improperly, even according to the primitive standards of ancient morality. He committed the offense of indecent exposure.
No one could blame or condemn Noah for his drunkenness. How could he have known the evil effects of wine on his \Jnervous system\j and moral inhibitions?
Thousands of years ago, some people decried the use of fermented grape juice. The \Jprophet\j Hosea, for instance, bitterly attacked those indulging in wine which "took away the heart." Isaiah, too, pointed out, in words whose implication could not be misunderstood, that even the priests and prophets had erred and stumbled in judgment "through strong drink."
Early on thus small groups of men began to dedicate themselves to shun and oppose the drinking of liquor. One of these, the Rechabites, was highly commended by the \Jprophet\j Jeremiah.
Thus prohibitionists and the \Jtemperance movement\j have their roots in the distant past. And those who sign "the pledge," just like those who enjoy their drink - like the Devil - can cite Scripture for their own purpose.
The description of people who refrain from taking alcohol as \Iteetotallers\i is of much more recent date. Nevertheless, this has not prevented a controversy as to the origin of the name. It was first used in 1834 by Richard Turner, a Lancashire working man, in a speech advocating total abstention from intoxicating drink. However, opinions differ as to how Turner first came to use the term.
Some say that he stuttered. As is usual in such cases, his impediment showed itself specially badly at moments of nervous tension. Passionately pleading his cause, he wanted to end his address by saying that "nothing but \Itotal\i abstention will do - that or nowt!" It could have been a most eloquent peroration. But unfortunately Mr Turner's stammer spoiled it somehow. The audience watched him struggle to articulate and heard him speak haltingly of \It-t-ttotal\i abstention.
Opponents immediately made use of the incident. It offered an opportunity of ridiculing both the man and his movement, which they at once christened "t-totalism." But just as the Quakers made a description designed to deride them their name of honor, so total abstainers were neither upset nor annoyed. On the contrary, they adopted their new name and have borne it with pride ever since.
Others believe that it was not really a speaker's stammer but a preference for \Itea\i at temperance meetings which was responsible for the new word. Though the spelling itself slightly differs, the sound of tea can unmistakably be heard.
Even a game of chance has been quoted as a possible source of the term, though it can be disregarded as such. The \Iteetotum\i was a small, four-sided, lettered disk or die, spun by a player. The letter which lay uppermost when it stopped spinning, decided the player's luck. "T" stood for \Itotum,\i signifying that the player had won \Iall,\i the whole lot. Certainly, teetotallers regarded \Iall\i drink as evil.
#
"Tell It to the Marines",2257,0,0,0
To express disbelief in a claim or a statement, we invite the informant to "tell it to the Marines." People have often wondered how it came that these valiant men, specially praised by Rudyard Kipling, should be considered so gullible.
Most probably it all started as a natural dislike of experienced sailors for newcomers - troops serving on board ship. These might excel on dry land but seemed completely out of their depth at sea.
Britain led the world in stationing groups of soldiers aboard ship. These were soon referred to as the Royal Marines. They represented a new and significant development in military strategy but sailors at first resented them.
Proud of their own tradition of service and their knowledge of the sea, they looked down on the marines as land lubbers. What did they know of the hazards of the ocean? You could tell them anything and, in their credulity and lack of experience, they would believe it. Naive in matters of sailing, they would swallow any tale.
That is how empty bottles were nicknamed "marines." To the sailor, often keen on his drink, they served no purpose. They only took up precious space.
Another explanation is much kinder, though equally old. It goes back to Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist, who also served under Charles II as Secretary of the Admiralty.
One day he told the king about a naval captain who had alleged that, on a cruise through the \JRed Sea\j, he had brought up with his anchor a wheel of one of Pharaoh's chariots sunk there in Moses' time. He also claimed that, while sailing the Southern seas, he had frequently met with shoals of fish "flying in the air."
The king laughed heartily. It was just unbelievable. Who had ever heard of \Jflying fish\j?
It so happened that during this conversation between Charles and Pepys, an officer of the newly raised Maritime Regiment of Foot was standing near by. The king called him over, asking his opinion. "What do you say, Colonel, to a man who swears he has seen fishes fly in the air?," he enquired.
The sea-soldier was not at all surprised. His reply confirmed what the captain had said. "I should say, Sir," he answered, "the man has sailed in the Southern seas. For when Your Majesty's business carried me thither of late, I did frequently observe more \Jflying fish\j in one hour than the hairs on my head in number."
Having listened to the Marine confirming the story, the king, now convinced that there were \Jflying fish\j, addressed Pepys again. "From the very nature of their calling, no class of our subjects can have so wide a knowledge of seas and lands as the officers and men of our loyal Marine Regiment. Henceforth, ere ever we cast doubt upon a tale that lacketh likelihood, we will first \Itell it to the Marines."\i
That is how, according to this version, the phrase was first introduced by none other than Charles II. Obviously, it was then meant not as a slur at all. On the contrary, the king intended to convey by it that if his Marines would believe a story, he could do so as well. After all, they had served in all parts of the world and observed there many strange sights, unknown to anyone else.
#
"Teller",2258,0,0,0
A teller at a bank "counts" the amount of money paid in or out. That is exactly what his name says in its root-meaning. For the same reason, Catholics "tell" their beads and people speak of "untold" (i.e. uncounted) wealth. The only difference is that the counting of the modern teller is reserved to banks. His name and occupation are closely related to the tally, the keeping of a score.
#
"Telling Gesture",2259,0,0,0
An interesting phenomenon of language is how in describing certain institutions or even individuals, it chooses as their name one of their conspicuous characteristics. Thus "a part" stands for "the whole." That is how, for instance, "the crown" is used for the king and "the stage" for the theater. The devil therefore merely followed this rule when his horns, as his outstanding feature, became symbolic of him.
When the persecution and murder of Jews was "justified" during the \JMiddle Ages\j by seeing them as the devil, they were said actually to grow horns. And the practice of Jews covering their heads, then conscientiously followed at all times and not just during prayer at \Jsynagogue\j, was thus explained as a clever ruse to hide the very feature that would give them away!
On the other hand, the "horned hand" became a recognized sign of the occultist. He could easily make it by turning down the middle fingers and the thumb and keeping raised both the index and little fingers. Held up against the light, the gesture was thought to deprive the devil of his power.
#
"Temples and Birds",2260,0,0,0
Those who have worshiped or gathered in a temple of whichever kind (pagan, Jewish, or Masonic) have, without knowing it, really paid homage as well to birds and respect to the Roman augurs.
Though the word temple reached us from the Romans (and their Latin tongue), they had taken it over from the Greeks. The Greek \Itemenos\i defined a "sacred enclosure" which was literally "cut off" \I(temnein)\i from the surrounding, unconsecrated area. The Romans applied \Itemplum\i first of all not to any region on the ground, but to air space!
\ITemplum\i was, in fact, the technical term which described the sacred area in the sky marked out by the Roman bird-watching soothsayers' outstretched arms. The birds' flight within that confine was thought to foretell the future. And therefore it was on that "temple" that the augurs focused their attention.
Eventually, this "outline" of the upper region was applied to its earthly equivalent: the area on the ground specifically chosen and restricted for divine worship and speculation. It was fenced off for that purpose as holy territory.
Only much later was the term temple transferred to an actual building erected in this "out of bounds" compound. And that is how the temple came down from celestial heights to earth. At first it was applied, of course, exclusively to pagan shrines. But then, oddly enough, the Jews took it over and called their sanctuary in \JJerusalem\j dedicated to the One God "temple" as well.
Modern Masonic lodges, Liberal and Reform synagogues go on using - quite inappropriately - this term of the augurs of \JRome\j to describe their meeting places where they worship and do the workings in honor of the invisible God and the Architect of the Universe.
Well nigh countless were the ingenious methods man applied to try to learn of his future. They represent indeed an important chapter in the history of the occult. Strangely enough, the many ways of divining all came to be known as "auguries." The original meaning which was restricted to birds, expanded to embrace almost everything in the sky, on earth, or below the ground that could serve in foretelling the future. The multitude of divinations is so immense that only a selection can serve as examples. Their terminology certainly sounds profound and their practice goes back to the remote past.
#
"Tempura's Introduction",2261,0,0,0
Among the Japanese dishes most popular among foreign tourists and in Japanese restaurants all over the world is Tempura. It is regarded as a typical Japanese food. In reality it was introduced into the country by Christian missionaries from \JPortugal\j in the 16th century - to be eaten on meatless days. In fact, its very name is said to have been derived from a word for temple.
#
"Ten Sefirot",2262,0,0,0
The influence which the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j and its tradition have exerted on Western civilization is well known and acknowledged. But there are very few, outside those steeped in the world of the occult, who realize the equal importance played by Jewish \Jmysticism\j, of which even most Jews are ignorant.
Fundamental in the world of \Jmysticism\j is the belief in the "ten sefirot." Like its name, its teaching stems from the Jews. Sefirot is the plural of the \JHebrew\j "number" or "\Jcipher\j" \I(sefirah),\i though some authorities have derived the term from other sources such as the Greek \Isphaεra\i for "sphere." It reflects the idea, explicitly propounded by the Greek Pythagoras, that we do not only count with numbers, but that each figure has a meaning in itself and is of great mystic and cosmic significance.
First of all, thus, the ten sefirot "enumerate" the ten primordeal figures, each of which conveyed not just a "\Jcipher\j," but a dynamic concept of universal dimension. Still echoing this early tradition is the idea of unity of the "one world" in which everything depends on the other. A descriptive rendering of this interpretation of life is the popular and well-known modern observation that one man's sneeze in the subcontinent of India could change the entire course of world history.
Dualism is expressed by the figure 2. Throughout life, man is made to recognize the juxtaposition or strife between white and black, good and evil, left and right, above and below.
Pythagoras had called 3 "the perfect number." It expressed completion and - fertility. That the words three and tree sound so much alike is not accidental. They have the identical root which is buried in the ever-active power of "reproduction." The idea of trinity, indeed, has played its significant part in the world of mystic contemplation. It was a fundamental belief in the Egyptian pantheon which combined into "one" Isis, \JOsiris\j, and \JHorus\j. \JHinduism\j taught the \Itrimurti\i with its three members of \JBrahma\j (the creator), \JVishnu\j (the preserver), and \JShiva\j (the destroyer). There is, of course, the Christian dogma of trinity. Man's total being, too, has been represented as constituted of body, mind, and soul.
And the remaining seven ciphers, in like manner, were seen to possess vital and dynamic attributes, meanings, and influences. But Jewish mystic belief went much further. Those ten numbers did not exist independently. Exactly as in counting one figure followed the other and, in fact, was its result (e.g. 1 plus 1 made 2, and twice 2 made 4), so there was a causal chain between the first and the tenth numbers. The ten sefirot thus represented the uninterrupted flow of divine revelation and manifestation. It led from the most complete and incomprehensible "one" - referred to as the \Iayn sof:\i the "unending" or the "infinite" - by successive stages or grades to the most "basic" level of existence.
Out of the supreme One, like out of an overflowing fountain, emanated the entire world which in itself presents in ten interrelated "spheres," the various manifestations and qualities of God. However, the further the numbers are from the source, the less they contain of the divine substance.
Overabundant are the metaphors in which the literature dealing with the sefirot tries to explain this philosophy of emanation. The ten sefirot were depicted in the form of a tree. Did this not show how one part grew out of the other - from root to crown - each embracing and being fed by the (divine) sap? And they all formed one essential unity.
Another simile used is that of the human body. Its various parts symbolized each of the ten divine qualities. Their very position indicated their particular virtue and meaning.
As in the Aristotelian picture of the universe, the ten sefirot were compared with ten concentric spheres or "shells" - one encircling the other. The further removed from the vital and dynamic center, the less the shell would retain of its radiating force.
In this chain, each sefirah symbolized one of the divine qualities or attributes. They could be compared with the many colors of a \Jprism\j which, joined together, form the universe of the shining, all - permeating divine light.
The way the sefirot have been identified and the very sequence in which they are given differed in the various traditions. The most popular and generally accepted tradition places them in this order:
1. The Supreme Crown
2. Wisdom
3. Intelligence
4. Love
5. Power or Judgment
6. Compassion or Beauty
7. Lasting Endurance
8. Glory or Majesty
9. The Basis or Foundation of the World
10. The Kingdom or Diadem
If duly imbued and dedicated, man potentially has the gift of a mystical, spiritual ascent. This will lead him from the lowest level of the tenth sefirah, through all the others - like through various regions each possessing an individual character - finally to reach and experience union with the great First, the One - the Infinite and Divine Spirit.
#
"Ten-gallon Hat",2263,0,0,0
Almost proverbial is the ten-gallon hat worn by Americans in the "Old West," particularly so in \JTexas\j. Its description is taken to refer to its enormous size, which would conform with all the other Texan superlatives. The implication, of course, is that the hat was so large that it could be filled with ten gallons of liquid. This is an error due to a linguistic "mix-up." In this case the gallon is not the unit of capacity, but the Spanish \Igalon\i for "braid."
The hat is not Texan at all but stems from Mexico. When Spaniards occupied the country, they wore sombreros because the wide brims protected their faces from the burning sun. Spaniards' love of beauty made them embellish this utilitarian brim with braid. The more of it they used the happier they were. Some men thus wore a hat with ten different braids. Very accurately and without exaggeration, it was a ten \Igalon\i hat.
When the Americans adopted the Spanish head covering, they acquired its Spanish name as well. Continuing to call it a ten gal(l)on hat, the Spanish \I(galon)\i braid was soon misunderstand and mistaken for the liquid measure. This created the ten-gallon hat.
#
"Ten-Pin Bowling Origins in the USA",2264,0,0,0
The exact time and place of the first "bowling at pins" in the United States is uncertain. Its earliest literary reference is contained in Washington Irving's \IRip Van Winkle,\i published in 1819. This speaks of the thunder of the balls colliding with pins, showing that by then the game must have been generally known.
In the late 1830s its popularity had extended far beyond New York into many other parts of the country. However, gamblers and crooks soon took advantage of the vogue for their own enrichment.
Huge bets were wagered. Bowling alleys became the haunting places of shady types whose behavior gave the game an evil name.
Matches were rigged and those who refused to play a fixed game were victimized. Refusing to be beaten in the match, they were subsequently beaten up by the thugs who tried to run the game for their own financial gain and that of their cronies.
Things became so bad that the authorities, especially in New York, \JMassachusetts\j, and Connecticut, felt obliged to intervene and to classify the game as gambling and, as such, illegal. The Legislature of Connecticut introduced an Act outlawing bowling at nine-pins.
The wording of this and similar edicts was responsible for the birth of ten-pin bowling. The very preciseness of the ban gave those anxious to carry on the game, a loophole. To sidestep the law, they added a tenth pin to the original nine and described the old-new game as "ten-pin bowling." No law-enforcing officer could now object. That is how ten-pin bowling came into existence.
In 1895, in New York, the American Bowling Congress was established. Ever since, it has been known by its initials as the A.B.C.
The sport was revolutionized when modern, technological knowledge was applied and ten-pin bowling became completely mechanized.
#
"Ten-Pin Bowling Terminology",2265,0,0,0
For centuries, the pinboy had fulfilled various tasks, such as setting up the pins, calling out the number knocked down, and returning the ball to the player. Now he became redundant, being replaced by intricate machinery. Even the score was registered mechanically on a screen known as the pindicator.
Intriguing is the variety and expressiveness of the glossary of terms that developed in modern ten-pin bowling. Pins are "wooden bottles" and the ball the "apple." A good ball becomes "a honey." A "barmaid" serves for a hidden pin, while "No. 7" pins has become synonymous with a "mother-in-law."
Lanes that prove easy for making a hit are "cheesecakes," while their opposite number, taxing the player's skill, are "graveyards." Those so overanxious to succeed that they miss the mark altogether, "choke." Pins that survive the first ball are a "\JChristmas tree\j."
In its new garb, bowling at pins (now termed "indoor bowling") returned from the US to Europe. Britain's first ten-pin bowling center was established at Stamford Hill, London, by the American Machine and Foundary Company in 1960. A meeting convened at the Conway Hall, London, in 1961, and attended by more than a hundred enthusiasts, resulted in the formation of the British Bowling Organization. Its constitution adopted the rules and regulations of its American parent body and it was spared the teething troubles of a new venture.
No doubt, ten-pin bowling has become commercial, a feature in which it does not differ from such other sports as \Jgreyhound\j racing or professional football. Neither can anyone deny that its worldwide boom was due, to a large degree, to efficient business promotion. And yet, its tremendous popularity, it has been suggested, was the result of whole families being able to join in the game. Ten-pin bowling appealed to every age and to men and women alike. It could be played in all weather and at all times.
#
"Tending the Side",2266,0,0,0
In sailing days, the flagship often served as the venue conferences of officers. In rough weather, the visitors from other boats had to be hoisted on board in a boatswain's chair. Members of the crew were ordered to stand by to help in hauling it in. For this purpose they lined up in orderly fashion on that side of the boat, simultaneously thus paying respect to their superiors. The maneuver became known as "tending the side."
The practice, once an essential part of naval life, has become redundant. But it is still remembered in words of command and by a spectacular sight. When, in the British navy, the captain is coming alongside, the officer on duty gives the order to "hoist him in," though in reality he is climbing up the companion ladder. The custom "tending the side" nowadays is a specific naval form of salute.
#
"Tenor",2267,0,0,0
The tenor, as a male singer or voice, used to "hold" the melody of the hymn sung or chanted in church. He called the tune, as it were, and fittingly therefore was referred to as \Itenor,\i the "holder," the word derived from the Latin \Itenere.\i
#
"Tenth Anniversary",2268,0,0,0
\BThe Tin or \JAluminium\j Anniversary\b
Tin is a durable and useful metal; however, it is the \Jsymbolism\j of tin that is most relevant here. Firstly, just as tin is used to preserve food, so has the couple's affection been kept fresh. Secondly, just as the making of a faultless tin requires meticulous workmanship, so staying in love has demanded a thorough cultivation of mutual interests. After 10 years of marriage, a couple can look back proudly on many achievements attained through being true helpmates to each other.
\IMarriage has been compared to a currency note. Torn in two, neither part is worth anything. Each needs the other to be of value.\i
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò An ample supply of tinfoil is perhaps the most practical gift
ò A tin grater, baking tins, and a tin opener
ò Tins of food, particularly if they contain a special treat
#
"Terror at Night",2269,0,0,0
Man has believed for thousands of years that this earth was crowded with evil forces, demons of the most varied kind and rank. Just as in the everyday world, those demons who were mere underlings were all the more anxious to assert their power and to make people fear them.
Minor devils, closely associated with the forces of the dark, were said to be particularly active (and effective) during night. Then man was least protected and would much more easily fall prey to them. Even the \JBible\j reflects this \Jsuperstition\j or widespread belief in the occult. In the ninety-first Psalm the faithful are reminded not to be afraid of "the terror at night" (verse 5). And this phrase certainly was not originally meant in a figurative sense.
Those cunning demons, imps (or whatever name they were called), operated at night, and cleverly chose as their victims those least prepared - at best people who were asleep. That was the original reason why for centuries (until love of fresh air became almost a mania), people securely closed their windows during night. To keep them open was asking for trouble. It was tantamount to an invitation for those evil entities to come in. (This also explains why it was believed that the "bad air" - \Imal aria\i of the Pontine marshes brought malarial fever!)
The fear of such intrusion was aggravated by yet another conviction also connected with the occult. It was imagined that during sleep, a man's soul often left his body to go wandering, at times far away. This concept was fostered - there is no doubt - by the experience of dreams in which a person seemed to travel to far distant sites. When, on awakening next morning, he found himself "back" at home, he was sure that as nobody could have ever covered such a vast distance in so short a time, it must have been his spirit that had undertaken the trip! Therefore, he further reasoned, while the spirit had been away, his body must have been lying in bed like an empty shell, for any evil spirit to enter and take possession of it.
This made man all the more anxious to watch out that the moment darkness came and he went to sleep, all windows were tightly shuttered.
#
"Thanksgiving Turkey",2270,0,0,0
That the turkey became the "thanksgiving bird" may be the result of mere chance. Four men, whom Governor Bradford had sent out to hunt game to supply the meat at the festive meal, returned with a large amount of wild fowl, many of which were turkeys. These proved so delicious that they set a precedent and have been retained ever since as the main course at the thanksgiving dinner.
The very name of the bird has its own fascinating story. After all, it seems odd, on a specifically American national day, to feast on a bird called after a foreign country. The apparent paradox is based on a misunderstanding and the turkey was really a most appropriate choice. In actual fact, it is an American bird and its name is the result of a curious error.
The Spaniards had brought the bird to Europe from Mexico, where it was already domesticated. It later reached Britain by way of Turkey, and this led the English to assume wrongly that Turkey was its actual home. And so they (mis)named the fowl after that country!
Certainly apocryphal is the claim that credits Luis de Torres with its naming. In 1492 he had accompanied Columbus, as an interpreter, on his first voyage of discovery, and was the first European to set foot on American soil. On catching sight of the unusual fowl, he was so amazed by its size that, impulsively and at the top of his voice, he called out "Tukki"! \ITukki\i was \JHebrew\j for "a big bird." Torres, a Jew by birth, had used it instinctively. His companions, unacquainted with the sacred tongue, assumed that he had identified the bird and adopted "Tukki" as its proper name. However, mispronouncing the \JHebrew\j, they called it "turkey."
To serve \Jcranberry\j sauce with the roasted fowl soon became another traditional feature of the thanksgiving dinner. It is probable that the Pilgrim women chose it not merely for culinary reasons but for its nutritional value. Lacking our knowledge of vitamins, they must have guessed intuitively the value of cranberries in the prevention of \Jscurvy\j.
#
"That Takes the Cake",2271,0,0,0
Something outstanding and extraordinarily remarkable - in fact, something so fantastic that it is almost beyond belief - is said to "take the cake." Though the expression goes back to a practice in classical times of awarding a cake to a successful contestant, it assumed its modern connotation in the deep south of the United States in the days of \Jslavery\j.
Among the favorite pastimes of the blacks was a competition which took the form of a "walk-around" or "parade." It was known as the cake-walk, because the prize to be won was a cake. This, in fact, formed the very centerpiece around which the couples moved in their "march" or "dance." They vied with each other to excel in the way they walked, the intricacies of their fancy steps and their gracefulness, as well as, at times, the smartness of their dress. Those judged to have been the best performers "took the cake."
#
"That's All My Eye and Betty Martin",2272,0,0,0
To describe anything as utter nonsense by saying "That's all my eye and Betty Martin" is certainly mystifying. Various explanations have been proffered, two of them tracing the phrase to the misinterpreted words of a prayer.
Most commonly, British naval personnel is given the doubtful credit for the expression. When their ship docked at an Italian port, some of the sailors attended the local church service. Among the prayers said, was a supplication appealing to St Martin of Tours. Hearing it pronounced in Latin - a language totally foreign to the men - they misunderstood the words. To their ears the invocation to the saint, \I"O mihi, beate St Martine"\i (meaning "Oh grant me, blessed St Martin..."), sounded just like "All my eye and Betty Martin."
Equally bizarre and rather more involved is another claim advanced by L.A. Waddell. This links the expression with the visit of ancient Phoenicians to Cornwall in Britain, from where they imported tin. While there, they had introduced to the people the worship of Britomartis, the Cretan mother goddess. Cornishmen listening to their prayer to the alien deity - \I"O, mihi, Britomartis"\i - "Oh, (help) me Sweet Maid" had imagined those Latin words to say in English: "all my eye and Betty Martin". words to say in English: "all my eye and Betty Martin".
Rejecting such far-fetched theories, Eric Partridge in his \IDictionary of Catch Phrases\i suggests that, in fact, the expression is indigenously British. It started with a favorite exclamation by an eighteenth-century English actress, Betty Martin. She loved to call out on every possible and impossible occasion - perhaps as a gimmick or affectation - "my eye" or "all my eye." Soon the words were associated with her name.
#
"Theater Origins",2273,0,0,0
Long before the actual birth of the theater, people performed. They did so, however, not to amuse themselves, or others, but to survive.
The theater originated in one of the most primitive forms of religious worship - sympathetic magic. This holds that if you properly act something, you can make it really happen. If you want to ensnare a beast, or see your fields and \Jcattle\j prosper, or kill a man, you can achieve those aims by "remote control." You merely have to enact the scene and, by magic, fiction will be translated into fact.
Hunting tribes, for example, lacking meat, would enact a hunting scene, with some men representing the game and others the successful party of huntsmen. Fertility rites were man's earliest "theater." Dances then performed were thought to promote, magically, the falling of rain and consequently the growth of vegetation and the increase of \Jcattle\j. Primitive man was convinced that on such play-acting depended his prosperity and adversity.
A theater resembled a sacred shrine, and the actors were the priests whose dramatic performance magically directed nature and the gods to do their bidding. Thus early "productions" were not restricted to a limited circle of art lovers but concerned all people. They were a communal event, second to none in importance.
The noise the "actor" made whilst moving rhythmically (with stepping feet and swaying body) in his mimic dances, eventually led to tribal chants, the chorus, and ultimately to poetry. It is, therefore, not an accident that the measure of a verse is the "foot" and that there is a close affinity between the ballet and the \Jballad\j. Dramatic performances gave not just aesthetic pleasure but, much more so, roused religious passion and sensuous excitement.
#
"They Could Not Live Without Each Other",2274,0,0,0
It is not uncommon that a spouse bereft of his or her partner, soon dies as well, especially if they shared many years together. A typical example can be found at Mount Gambier. Both husband and wife died in 1910, within 12 days of each other! The husband was almost 92 years old and his spouse just over 89. A couplet recalls those:
\ITwo happy weary Wanderers
Now resting on Jesu's breast.\i
#
"They Dug Their Own Grave",2275,0,0,0
About a kilometer outside Lorne, next to the coastal road leading to Melbourne and close to the footbridge across the Erskine River, is a small enclosure. It was put up to protect the graves of the two Lindsay brothers, Joseph Southwell and William Firth, four and eight years old respectively. A plaque tells that they were "the two sons of a splitter whose hut stood on the hillside above" and that they were "drowned in a quicksand while at play and buried here next day."
Even inscriptions on gravestones can be erroneous. It is most doubtful that quicksand ever existed at that site. Much more likely is another cause of their death, as claimed by local lore. This tells that the two boys had been playing in the sand and had dug a tunnel for a cubby hole. This had collapsed over them and they had suffocated before the accident had been discovered.
#
"Thick As Elephant Skin",2276,0,0,0
Misinformation on elephants started early on and has survived the centuries. One tradition, indeed, became so ingrained that it now belongs to our everyday speech. People are said to have an elephant's hide or are "as thick-skinned as an elephant." Nothing touches or upsets them.
The comparison is based on the fallacy that an elephant's skin is so thick and tough that it is highly resistant to injury and pain. The fact is that, although an elephant's skin may be as thick as 21/2 centimeters, it is not bullet-proof and bleeds easily when pricked.
#
"Third Anniversary",2277,0,0,0
\BThe Leather Anniversary\b
From the earliest days and in many cultures, three has been seen as a lucky number. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras, in the 6th century BC, called it "the perfect number," and Shakespeare wrote that if there was luck in all odd numbers, it was particularly plentiful in the number 3.
To link the occasion with leather gives it added meaning. Leather reminds us of the power of transformation. Just as humans learnt to change perishable skins into a tough and lasting material, so too can love transform our lives.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Some personal apparel, such as a belt or jacket, or a pair of gloves, shoes, or slippers
ò A handbag, briefcase, purse, wallet, or keycase
ò Writing set or desk set
#
"Third Degree",2278,0,0,0
To be given the "third degree" pictures a situation of the most severe interrogation, when a suspect is being grilled to tell the truth.
The phrase is now linked with criminal investigation in which the accused or the witness is cross-examined - without respite and with harshness - to supply information he is thought to be holding back.
Some authorities believe that the "third degree" started in American legal practice, in which the crime of murder was graded. "Murder in the first degree" was premeditated, while "murder in the second degree" was judged to have been committed unintentionally. This led people - wrongly - to assume that there also existed murder of "the third degree."
This is mere fiction. There never was a "third degree." In any case, the derivation would make no sense, as in such a scale of degrees, the third one would have been the least severe.
In reality, the giving of the third degree goes back to Freemasonry. In its craft, this was the highest degree, that of the Master Mason. To advance to it, the candidate had to pass the most rigorous "trial" of proficiency. As the workings of the Masonic craft - its "rituals" - are kept secret from the general public, it did not take long for people to imagine that the test the mason had to pass to qualify for, and to be initiated into, the third degree, was the most punishing and frightening. And this is the real background of "the third degree" and all it now means.
#
"Third Monday in February",2279,0,0,0
\BPresidents' Day\b
The American people felt that just as the English celebrated their monarch's birthday, the republic should make the birthday of its president a public holiday as well. Thus, George Washington's birthday - 22 February - became an occasion of festivity, even during his lifetime. It was then decided that Abraham Lincoln's date of birth - 12 February - should equally be honored. Both men had been greatly admired for the part they played in building up the American nation and their lives had become legends.
For many years, therefore, their birthdays were commemorated as national holidays. It was then felt that it would be much more practical to combine their individual celebrations and to remember both men on one day. This created Presidents' Day.
Fixed for the third Monday in February, the date was particularly chosen because of its close proximity to the birth of Washington thereby paying special tribute to the republic's foundation president.
By no longer identifying a specific head of state, Presidents' Day now honors not merely the two renowned men, as originally intended, but each and every president of the past, the present and the future.
#
"Third Time Lucky",2280,0,0,0
The proverbial saying that "third time's lucky" is not just an encouragement never to give up trying - "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again." It has its ancient and sacred associations and is based on the belief, spread throughout the West and East, in the significance of the figure three.
The Greek philosopher Pythagoras in the 6th century B.C. called 3 "the perfect number." It was the sign of completion and fertility. That is why in some languages the figure 3 and the word tree have the same root, meaning the power of reproduction. In Arian tongues, 3 is the first expression of plurality and the multiplication of things.
This concept of "the perfect 3" is inherent in man's thinking and imagination. It can be found as much in ancient \Jmythology\j as in modern \Jpsychology\j. That is why all through the history of mankind the idea of the essential triangularity of matter, and of the trinity of the spirit, has prevailed. Shakespeare wrote that there is luck in odd numbers, especially three.
In most prescriptions of folk medicine, three ingredients are necessary to ensure a cure. Indian philosophy speaks of the three worlds - heaven, sky, and earth. We ourselves speak of the three parts of man - body, mind, and soul.
In ancient \Jmythology\j Neptune appears with the trident, and Jupiter with three-forked \Jlightning\j. Mankind itself, according to biblical tradition, is descended from the three families of Ham, \JShem\j, and Japhet. And in our time, Professor Freud distinguished in man the three aspects of \Jsuper-ego\j, ego, and id.
#
"Thirteenth Anniversary",2281,0,0,0
\BThe Lace Anniversary\b
Lace represents the process in marriage of two lives becoming ever more interwoven, as, through the years, husband and wife jointly create their unique pattern of life with their own distinctive characteristics.
The more care taken in producing the lace, the more precious becomes the fabric. The best of lace has always been the result of painstaking solicitude.
\IHere is my heart,
It's yours,
I've saved it for you.\i
Beverley Cottee
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Place mats or a tablecloth
ò Lace collar or dress
ò Lace-trimmed handkerchiefs
ò Curtains
ò Bedspread
#
"Thirtieth Anniversary",2282,0,0,0
\BThe Pearl Anniversary\b
That the 30th wedding anniversary is related to the pearl may be somewhat surprising, given the widespread \Jsuperstition\j that pearls are associated with tears (unless they are tears of happiness).
It is, however, in the creation and qualities of the pearl that we find \Jsymbolism\j relevant to a loving relationship spanning 30 years. For instance, a pearl does not immediately attain its full splendor; rather, like marital happiness, it grows with the years. Also, to keep its luster, pearls have to be worn next to the warmth of the body. In much the same way, marriage needs warmth and affection.
Another significant consideration is that, in the majority of cases, a pearl grows as the result of an untoward incident in an oyster's life usually when a grain of sand enters its shell. Metaphorically speaking, after 30 years of marriage, a couple is also bound to have encountered unforeseen "irritants." However, if theirs is a mature and loving relationship, such crises may actually enhance the relationship and add value to their lives together.
It occasionally happens that a string of pearls may snap, and the pearls be scattered on the ground. Surely no one would leave them there, preferring instead to collect and restring the pearls, wearing them with even more care in the future. This bring us to another analogy - what of couples who may experience a break-up of their marriage? Perhaps, with wisdom and care, they will similarly gather the broken pieces and repair the damage, so as to restore their relationship to its former beauty.
\IThe only thing that can hallow marriage is love, and the only genuine marriage is that which is hallowed by love.\i
Leo Tolstoy
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò A pearl necklace, brooch, or ring
ò Pearl tie pin, or tie-tack
#
"Thirty-fifth Anniversary",2283,0,0,0
\BThe \JCoral\j Anniversary\b
Unique of its kind is the \Jcoral\j. Not a mere gem, \Jcoral\j is an organic substance with a wide range of beautiful colors, so much like a loving relationship.
Coral reefs continuously grow, just as even after 35 years of marriage, life has not come to a standstill. The couple, grateful for the dreams that have come true, will take of all the things they still want to do and the plans they have for the future, making an actuality of many a possibility.
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Coral ornaments
ò Necklace, brooch, or ring
ò Tie bar, or tie-tack
#
"Thistle: the Scots' symbol",2284,0,0,0
The choice of the thistle as the Scots' symbol also has been explained in diverse ways. Metaphorically, it spoke of their roots.
One tradition traces its adoption to the reign of King Malcolm I when Danes had invaded the country. They were besieging Staines Castle and planned to take it by a surprise attack during the night.
Before scaling its walls, they had to cross the moat. Expecting this to be filled with water, they removed their boots. But they had been mistaken. The moat was not only dry, but its ground was covered with thistles which, of course, in the darkness of night, they could not see or avoid. When the soldiers trod on them, these painfully stuck into their bare feet. This made them cry out so loudly that their screams alerted the defenders of the castle, who were able to rout the Danish foe.
In recognition of the part the thistle had played in the Scots' victory, they made it their national emblem, which it has remained ever since.
Others credit King James III with having been the first to suggest the emblem. He had selected it as an apt illustration of his motto, "In Defense."
#
"Thomas α Becket in Australia",2285,0,0,0
Archbishop Thomas α Becket was murdered in his own Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. No one would ever look for his name on a headstone in the Pioneer Park of the Botany Cemetery in \JAustralia\j.
Its inscription relates that this Australian Thomas α Becket died a natural death on 1 March 1810, at the age of 46. He was not an ecclesiastic.
Nevertheless, he must have distinguished himself in good and not so good ways, as those who knew him well (and chose the wording of his epitaph) wanted him to rest in peace and therefore expressed the special request that no one should recall either his benevolence or his failings. A strange and mystifying plea, it was worded not in simple prose but in poetry:
\INo further seek his merits to disclose
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode
There they alike in trembling hope repose
The bosom of his Father and his God.\i
#
"Thorn in One's Side",2286,0,0,0
To have "a thorn in one's side" is a painful experience. To trace the phrase to its original source may lead into completely different directions.
Most likely, it goes back to St Paul. A traveled man, he had seen much. To appeal to the masses, he had learned to use common metaphors, often chosen from daily life. An experience not rare at the time among those traveling on foot along narrow paths was to brush against bushes. A thorn might thus easily get stuck in their flesh, and starting to fester, cause much pain.
That is how people came to speak of "a thorn in one's side." In his \ILetters to the Corinthians\i (II, 12, 7) St Paul relates how, possibly to save him from becoming unduly elated, he experienced severe physical pain. Adapting the popular phrase, he described it as "a thorn in the flesh." And as the \JApostle\j's words were greatly heeded and became part of the Christian \JBible\j, his figure of speech became proverbial.
Nevertheless, the thorn may have grown on different soil and be associated not with the early history of the Church, but with pagan \Jsuperstition\j.
Husbands have called their wives all sorts of names. The reason for their choice may range from feelings of deep affection to extreme dislike. The men of some native tribes, the Tuyangs, for instance, never referred to their spouses by their individual names. They feared that in so doing, they would bring misfortune to their family.
Instead, they used a general and most unkind term, "the thorn in my ribs." Taken literally, this certainly did not reflect favorably on their marriage, and yet, to draw such conclusion would misinterpret the circumstances.
The motivation for their choice was the exact opposite. They loved their wives so much that they feared that any expression of their true feelings would rouse the jealousy of evil spirits at all times ready to destroy happiness. Their pretence of a painful relationship - like a thorn in their ribs - would not attract the attention of those malevolent forces. Thus, their married bliss would continue.
As descriptive a phrase as "a thorn in my ribs" could not go unnoticed. With the slight change from rib to side, it caught on, though the thorn no longer stuck (in)to a spouse but to any kind of torment or anguish.
#
"Thorn in the Alphabet",2287,0,0,0
Most people mispronounce "Ye" whenever they see it in supposedly Old English names, as "Ye Olde \JCoffee\j Shoppe." They make it sound like \I"yee"\i as if it were the archaic form of the plural for "you" (ye), still used in the Authorized Version of the \JBible\j. This is quite incorrect. The "Ye" should be pronounced as \Ithe,\i because the "Y" is not a "Y" in this case. The confusion arose through an early clerical error!
Our present-day alphabet has evolved from an earlier one and lacks an important letter, once part of it and fulfilling a very useful role. Known in runic as "thorn," it represented our present-day "th" sound, so frequent on the \JAnglo-Saxon\j tongue.
With the passing of time, the thorn's shape deteriorated and, incorrectly transcribed, came to look very much like the "Y." This made printers, lacking the character of the thorn in their font, use the "Y" in its stead. As the letter now served two totally different sounds, inevitably they were mixed up.
#
"Thoroughbred not Pure-blooded",2288,0,0,0
A thoroughbred is not, as often assumed, pure-blooded. The term merely indicates that the horse has been bred scientifically and with great care. Primarily raised for racing, the ancestry of the thoroughbred must be traced back to one of three famous Arab "foundation" sires, the Godolphin Arabian, the Darley Arabian, or the Byerly Turk. In the seventeenth century, these were imported to Britain to improve the native breed. Mated with European mares, their foals were the first to be called "thoroughbreds."
#
"Threats of Suicide",2289,0,0,0
That those who threaten to commit suicide never do so, is a fallacy and a dangerous generalization. Certainly, some people use such a threat as a psychological \Jblackmail\j to achieve an objective, if only to attract attention or to be pitied. They never intend taking their lives. However, in many cases, those who speak of putting an end to their lives, really mean it and their talk might well be a call of distress which should not be ignored. Records have shown that in the majority of suicides or suicide attempts, the individual had previously made known his or her intention.
#
"Three Daily Meals",2290,0,0,0
It is surprising that the basic pattern of our three daily meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - has been established only since 1890. It is the result of a development through many centuries.
Meal times have differed in various countries and epochs. They are the outcome of many circumstances, such as climate, occupations, and general working conditions.
Originally, \JAnglo-Saxon\j tradition knew of only two meals a day - breakfast and dinner. In the 16th century, breakfast was a snack, with no fixed menu. Its only purpose was to \Ibreak\i one's \Ifast.\i But 200 years later it had become a sumptuous meal; not just for the family, but for plenty of guests as well. It was a social occasion, which commenced at 10 a.m. and often lasted till 1 p.m. Then breakfast began to deteriorate. It became - comparatively - meagre and was then at a much earlier hour. By 1850 it had retreated to 8 a.m. and shrunk to a family affair.
Dinner, however, went the other way. In the 16th century it was eaten at 11 a.m. Years afterward, it moved to the early afternoon, then to 5 p.m. By 1850 it had reached 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Lunch is a relatively recent innovation. It first appeared on the time-table as a snack to fill the gap between breakfast and dinner. In his Dictionary of 1755, Dr. Johnson defined it, "As much food as one's hand can hold."
The literal meaning of \Ilunch\i retains its early frugality. It denotes a \Ilump\i - a piece of whatever you may choose to swallow. As breakfast became ever earlier and dinner later, lunch assumed an important position and developed into a big meal. The division of the working day in the Victorian age into two periods - from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. - finally made luncheon an institution.
That is how the three daily meals, as they are known today, came into existence. It is quite possible that, with ever shorter working hours, lack of domestic help, \Jcalorie\j - consciousness and popularity of precooked dishes, the pattern and rhythm of our meal times will change again.
#
"Three Fighters Linked with One Stone",2291,0,0,0
A combination of strange circumstances is linked with the gravesite of Isaac Aaron, a once famous Sydney doctor. Though he has a Jewish-sounding name, he was the president of the Sydney Unitarian Church and nothing is known of his forebears.
His large and impressive monument in the independent section of the Rookwood Cemetery serves also as a memorial to the Rev James Pillars, the minister of Aaron's congregation who met his death in a manner that was never fully explained. To top it off, the conspicuous double-purpose headstone was executed by a professed atheist who, having fallen on bad times, had become a monumental mason to eke out a living.
To locate Aaron's burial place poses a great problem. The obituary published on the occasion of his death in the \ISydney Morning Herald\i announced that his funeral would take place on Saturday, but it did not say where.
As Aaron was a leading freemason, it should have been easy to obtain the details of Aaron's burial from Masonic records. Alas, those go back to 1880, only three years after his death! Neither can the Unitarian Church supply any information, as all minutes and bulletins of the time have been handed for safe-keeping to "\Jarchives\j," where it is impossible to trace them.
The Australian Dictionary of \JBiography\j relates that Isaac Aaron passed away in his Sydney home, in William Street. It does not mention where he was buried, but gives as the date of his death 17 August 1877. Actually, Aaron had already been buried by then, as he passed away on 10 August!
Aaron was born in Birmingham, England, in 1804. From the very beginning of his career, his interests extended far beyond the field of medicine. Fearlessly, he fought for the establishment of an equitable and just society. He joined in the struggle for the reform of electoral rights and for their extension to all classes; on one occasion he addressed a gathering of 200,000 people on the subject. A vehement opponent of church rates, he refused to pay them.
To raise the money he thus owed, the authorities confiscated part of his furniture, to auction it, (adding insult to injury) in front of Aaron's home. However, none of the crowd of more than 5,000 present dared to make a single bid!
In 1838 Aaron migrated to \JAustralia\j. For the first seven years, he practiced in the Hunter Valley, supplementing his earnings by farming. He then moved to Sydney where, just as he had in the old country, he raised his voice whenever and wherever he felt the need.
There was so much he found wrong in the colony, and he was determined to see it changed. He joined in the fight against transportation. He condemned Sydney's filthiness and lack of hygiene, agitating for the cleaning up of this "city of cesspools," a task he regarded of vital necessity.
People, not least the authorities, could not ignore his protest nor his volatile presence. Possibly to silence him, in 1857 the Sydney City Council appointed him their health officer. He resigned from the position two years later, as those in power had reduced his emolument by three-quarters!
An erudite scholar and gifted writer, Aaron participated in early efforts to publish a monthly \IAustralian Medical journal.\i He became its editor and, ultimately, its proprietor. However, lack of time and colleagues' refusal to co-operate, forced him to discontinue the journal. A second attempt - this time under the name of the \INSW Medical Gazette\i - did not fare much better.
Most significant of all, however, was the part Aaron played in the establishment of the first organized body of Australian medical practitioners, a forerunner of the Australian Medical Association.
For the last 11 years of his career, Aaron acted as medical officer for both the Darlinghurst Prison and the Reception House. It was not an easy job, especially for a man who could not suffer fools gladly. He was accused of being heartless and lacking compassion, and a public inquiry as to his suitability for the position was suggested. Fortunately for him, the intervention of one of his political friends "high up" stopped it.
He was a public figure and a pioneer medical journalist and health officer, but little is known of Aaron's private life. Though he arrived in \JAustralia\j a rich man, he lost most of his fortune by ill-chosen speculative investments.
At the time of his death at 73, he left a legacy not of monetary gifts but of benefits bestowed on Sydney and the Australian way of life, by all he said and did to improve living conditions, particularly for the working class and generally in sanitary reforms.
Odd reports complement the scanty information given on Aaron's headstone about the Rev James Pillars. It is known that at the time of his death the minister, then 41 years of age, had been at loggerheads with the trustees of his church.
In fact, their dispute had split up the congregation and actually prevented the completion of the new sanctuary. On 31 July 1875, he had taken a party of Sunday school boys to the beach, during which outing he is said to have accidentally fallen to his death "from the rocks near Bondi." His body was never recovered; as the text on the stone states, "His grave was the ocean."
A report in the \ITown and Country Journal\i told how:
\IThe young companions with whom he took his last and fatal ramble on the cliffs, on July 31st, stated that after they had leapt the chasm, they observed him gazing, as if in admiration and deep thought on the waves that dashed up from beneath. It was from the calm enjoyment of such a contemplation that he passed in a moment into the unseen world.\i
As extraordinary as the story of the two men - both pioneers and achievers in their own ways - is the tale relating to their joint monument, (which also covers the graves of Mrs Aaron and Mrs Pillars). William Lorando Jones, the artist, was chosen for valid reasons and public subscription paid for his work.
A lecture Jones had given in the Parramatta Park for the Sydney Secular Society had resulted in his being arrested, prosecuted and found guilty of blasphemy. He was to serve two years in prison and pay a fine of ú100 ($200).
The Rev Pillars, hearing of it, was scandalized. He convened a public protest meeting in the Unitarian Church and, in the name of religion and human decency, demanded to have the sentence quashed. Two thousand people signed a petition and a committee was formed to see Jones released. The agitation paid off and he was freed after four weeks.
However, the publicity given to the case had greatly damaged his name in the community. Though an artist of renown, with eight of his works having been exhibited at the 1870 Intercolonial Exhibition, he was now shunned, and was forced to work as a mason. To create something really outstanding in the memory of Rev Pillars, who had done so much for him, was the finest task he could undertake.
The beautiful marble medallion of the minister's portrait, at the base of the monument's pedestal, is a private as well as a public tribute to a clergyman who fought valiantly and died tragically.
#
"Three Kings of the East",2292,0,0,0
One of the favorite Christmas stories tells of the magi (the three kings of the East) who followed a star all the way from their country to pay homage to the Christ child in the manger at \JBethlehem\j. But going back to the original source in the Gospels, the relevant passage in Matthew (2,1) merely speaks of "magi" generally (often rendered "wise men"), without any indication of their number or royalty. Their traditional names, said to have been Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, do not appear in the \JNew Testament\j either.
All these fanciful details were added much later and are mere fiction. Tertullian, a lawyer who converted to \JChristianity\j in 190 A.D. and became a famous Father of the Church, was the first to suggest that the magi were "almost [!] kings" (in his original Latin words, \Ifere reges).\i But by the sixth century, their royal status was taken for granted and linked with the passage in the Psalms (72,10) that spoke of far-off kings who "shall bring presents" and "offer gifts."
That there were three kings is a claim first made by \JOrigen\j, another Father of the Church and eminent biblical scholar (who died about 254 A.D.). He thought that this must have been their number as, according to the Gospel, they had carried three different gifts (gold, \Jfrankincense\j, and \Jmyrrh\j), and they would have done so separately!
#
"Three Misfortunes in a Row",2293,0,0,0
That bad news is received and misfortune experienced in a series of threes and mostly one following the other in quick succession is a widespread \Jsuperstition\j. Many people are so convinced of its reality that having been struck twice, they anxiously and apprehensively wait for the third blow to fall.
The \Jsuperstition\j is based on the gospel story which tells how Peter had denied knowing or in any way to have been associated with Jesus, and did so consecutively three times - "before the cock crowed." The sequence of three calamitous messages or events is thus an echo, if not result of, Peter's threefold negation.
#
"Three Steps",2294,0,0,0
A three-tiered base of what is known as a \JCalvary\j or graded cross may have two meanings. The three steps may recall how the three theological virtues - Faith (top), Hope, and Charity - inspired the life of the deceased. Alternatively, it may refer to the Holy Trinity.
#
"Three Volleys Over the Grave",2295,0,0,0
Fear of haunting spirits originally led to the firing of volleys over a soldier's grave. People were afraid that an evil ghost might attach itself to the dead person. Only the loudest possible noise would frighten it away. There is the identical explanation for the tolling of a bell at funerals.
But martial virtues soon rationalized and militarized the ancient \Jsuperstition\j. Soldiers were used to the sounds of battle. To fight for their country and hear the booming of guns represented to them the essence of life. To fall in battle was a glorious end. Thus the last volleys tried to recreate an atmosphere of war and to convey an impression that the dead soldier was going to a life beyond on an occasion of battle; that to the very end he was doing his duty.
Belief in the Holy Trinity is responsible for the actual number of volleys fired. Just as a child the soldier had been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the \JHoly Ghost\j, so now at his death he was blessed by the symbol of Trinity, this time expressed not in words, but by their military equivalent. The firing takes place after the solemn words: "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust."
#
"Three Wise Monkeys",2296,0,0,0
It is a fallacy that the Three Wise Monkeys, who hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil, are indigenously Japanese. It is true that they have had their domicile there for many centuries. But originally they came from China and were introduced into \JJapan\j by a Buddhist monk of the Tendai sect, probably in the 8th century A.D.
The monkeys were at first always associated with the blue-faced deity Vadjra, a fearsome god with three eyes and numerous hands. Their characteristic gestures of covering their ears, eyes, and mouths with their paws were a dramatic pictorial way of conveying the command of the god. This shows an early realization of the psychological fact that a striking picture is more impressive and lasting than a spoken message.
Nevertheless, the story has been told in various traditions in prose and poetry. It dates back at least to the 7th century and is part of the teaching of the Vadjra \Jcult\j that if we do not hear, see, or talk evil, we ourselves shall be spared all evil.
In folk \Jetymology\j and by a play on words, the very names of the monkeys - Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru - express their three gestures and thus anyone by merely referring to them, immediately proclaims their message.
#
"Thrice Australian Prime Minister",2297,0,0,0
\BAndrew Fisher\b
Andrew Fisher, three times Prime Minister of \JAustralia\j, is perhaps best remembered by his declaration at the outbreak of World War I that \JAustralia\j was prepared to assist the Empire to her "last man and last shilling." He died in London on 22 October 1928, and is buried in the West Hampstead Cemetery.
#
"Through the Eye of a Needle",2298,0,0,0
Much thought has been given to Jesus' observation that it was easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matth. 19:24).
The \Jmetaphor\j seemed so far-fetched, if not absurd, that many authorities came to the conclusion that Jesus had never used it. He was misquoted, they said, because of a scribe's error. They suggested that the original (Greek) text of the Gospel never mentioned a camel but, instead, a thick rope or a cable, which would make sense. For a rich man to go to heaven, Jesus had said, was more difficult than to thread a thick rope through the eye of a needle. The confusion between the rope and the camel could easily be explained, as in the \JGreek language\j "camel" and needle were so much alike, both in spelling and sound. One was \Ikamelos\i and the other \Ikamilos.\i
Another interpretation made Jesus refer not to a needle or its eye, but to one of the gates in the wall surrounding \JJerusalem\j. This was so low and narrow that it was difficult even for pedestrians to pass through it. For a camel to do so was well nigh impossible. Very appropriately thus, the gate became popularly known as "the eye of a needle." It served Jesus as a most fitting illustration to drive home his message.
Both explanations however may well be wrong. In his parables Jesus liked to employ metaphors that were so striking that they immediately caught people's attention and would not be forgotten. He also frequently used idioms and figures of speech current at the time, quoting favorite rabbinical sayings. A very similar \Jmetaphor\j, used to underscore the absurdity of an impossible task, occurs in contemporary \JHebrew\j writings. This spoke of "an elephant passing through the eye of a needle." No doubt, Jesus knew this simile. Adapting it to local conditions, he replaced the elephant by the almost equally large camel, an animal well known in \JJerusalem\j.
Jesus was not an antagonist of the rich, and any such deduction from the passage would further misinterpret it. What he intended to say was that money could never buy salvation. A rich man who imagined that his wealth could save him, was gravely mistaken.
#
"Throw Dust in One's Eyes",2299,0,0,0
Dust in one's eyes dims the vision and prevents one from seeing things clearly.
A \JMoslem\j tradition relates how. Mohammed taught his followers a simple stratagem to gain supremacy against the forces of "unbelievers." He himself had applied it during several decisive battles. Dust thrown into the air blinded the foe, who, totally confused, could then easily be defeated.
This practice, it is claimed, gave rise to the use of the popular phrase, "to throw dust in one's eyes," to mean to mislead someone and prevent him from seeing the truth.
When recording these tactics, the Koran commented that, in reality, it was not Mohammed who had cast the dust into his adversaries' eyes, "but it was God who [thus] confounded them." Most likely the \JMoslem\j forces wisely took advantage of the dust storms which frequently occur in the desert to assist them in battle. However, these too, like everything happening in life, according to \JIslam\j, were sent by God.
#
"Throwing Coins Into a Well",2300,0,0,0
Throwing coins into a well "for good luck" is a custom observed all over the world. And, despite \Jinflation\j, the money spent must cumulatively amount to quite a considerable sum.
Coins tossed by visitors into the Trevi Fountain in \JRome\j are thought to ensure their return one day to the eternal city. In \JShiraz\j, \JIran\j, on the other hand, Persians thus pay honor to Saadi, their world-renowned national poet. A pool, for that very purpose, is part of his magnificent \Jmausoleum\j. However lightly we may now treat such "offerings," they go back to the distant past when people were convinced that a spirit dwelt at the bottom of each fountain. Wells were the sacred abode of spirits and unless one paid them a tribute willingly, they would raise it by sending misfortune.
In remote days, to quench the divine thirst of the spirit, men gave what was most precious to them: their own flesh and blood. Human offerings were the price paid to buy good luck. This was testified by the gruesome discoveries made at the bottom of the now famous Well of Sacrifice in Chichen Itza, Mexico. Young Mayan girls thus drowned did not have to be forced to pay with their lives for their people's good fortune. On the contrary, they regarded it as a privilege. They imagined that at the bottom of the well, the "indwelling" spirit (the rain god in this case) acknowledging their (self-)sacrifice, would marry them and they would live happily ever after in his palace.
Eventually, "civilization" advanced and replaced the once deadly payment with money tokens. So to the present day, without admitting it, the throwing of coins into a fountain continues to pay homage to, and buy the protection of, the spirit "possessing" it.
#
"Throwing of Confetti",2301,0,0,0
The word "confetti" comes from the Italian, being of the same root as the word "confectionery." It refers to "sweet meats" - a recollection of the time when nuts and sugared almonds were thrown over the bride and groom.
This custom in turn derived from the ancient pagan rite of showering the happy couple witch grain. Most of the wedding ritual was designed to expel evil. But in this case at least the intention was to impel bliss. The missiles of grain or rice were a standard feature of pagan marriage. Their purpose was not just symbolically to express wishes for a fruitful union. It was believed the fertility of the seeds would be magically transferred to the pair on whom they fell.
Confetti is the inexpensive paper-substitute for the rice, wheat, or nuts originally thrown on the newlyweds. It is strange to imagine that our age, which has become so proficient in \Jbirth control\j, still enthusiastically applies - in its paper version - the ancient magic of birth promotion! A generation so conscious of the use of contraceptives showers the couple with confetti, the original purpose of which was the exact opposite - the boosting of fertility.
#
"Throwing of Old Shoe",2302,0,0,0
In our days the throwing of a shoe, or the tying of it to a carriage, is restricted to wedding celebrations - when a bridal couple is about to go away on the honeymoon. It expresses people's wish for good luck to the newlyweds. Not so long ago, however, people threw shoes after anybody starting on a trip. Ben Jonson could thus say:
\IHurl after me an old shoe
I'll be merry whatever I'll do.\i
Who would guess that such a simple custom as throwing a shoe contains a wealth of meaning, good and bad? It was observed as a magic means of ensuring plenty of children and lots of luck. The shoe is an ancient symbol of fertility. Eskimo women, for instance, used to carry a piece of an old shoe to make themselves prolific. At some time shoes were part of a man's wages and greatly esteemed as such for the same reason.
The choice of an old shoe for throwing was not a matter of economics. On the contrary it was a most thoughtful selection. People believed that a man's soul lived in his shoes. These preserved the essence of the life of the person that wore them. Therefore, to throw them, or just one of them, after a bridal couple or, better still, to tie them to their carriage, gave to those embarking on a new life all the additional good luck and experience of the shoes' former owners. Indeed, it was not only the cheapest but the most precious of all gifts.
For thousands of years slippers and shoes have also served as an emblem of power and possession. To cast one's sandal on a piece of land, actually meant to take possession of it. Holy Scripture itself supplies an example when it makes God say that "Over Edom itself I cast My shoes." Still prevalent in various languages is a phrase that speaks of having a person "under one's slipper" or "under one's heel," meaning that one dominates him.
In case of a sale or the transfer of property, the former holder would take one of his sandals or shoes and give it to the new owner. The shoe was the ancient equivalent of the modern title deed to goods or property. The ceremony was therefore a legal procedure, not restricted to marital occasions alone.
In antiquity, a wife was considered a man's chattel. Her parents sold her to her future husband and the transaction was confirmed in the then customary way of a business deal, in which a sandal was given as a token of good faith and of the transfer of property. By throwing shoes after the bride, parents indicated - in the presence of witnesses - that they had relinquished all rights of dominion over their daughter who now legally belonged to her new master.
Yet another explanation links the custom with the ancient institution of capturing one's bride. In this case, the throwing of shoes is a last remnant of the old (but later merely mock) battle between the bride's family, anxious to retain the girl, and the bridegroom's party, set on abducting her.
There are two further interpretations. Throughout marriage, the wife formerly had to present shoes to her husband. She thereby re-affirmed symbolically her inferior position and his lordship. To help build up a stock of shoes, friends tossed some on the day of the wedding.
It is also been suggested that not men, but unmarried women, were the original shoe-throwers; out of happiness and in self-congratulations. The shoe was the symbol of women's serfdom to men. But they had - so far - escaped from that fate and preserved their liberty. Happy for themselves, but sorry for the bride, they cast shoes after her as she was being carried off as a slave.
#
"Throwing the Garter and Bouquet",2303,0,0,0
It used to be the custom for the bride when "going away" to throw her garter to the groomsmen who would scramble for its possession. Having been so close to her body, and particularly so high up on her thigh, it was thought to have absorbed special sexual potency which would be transferred to whoever came to own it. At times, it was difficult, if not embarrassing, for the bride to remove the garter, and the men struggling for it, became very rough. Therefore, it was no wonder that she much preferred to present her "pursuers" with flowers.
Considerations of propriety thus made the bride replace the garter with the bouquet which, appropriately, now she throws to her attendants. It is caught by one of the bridesmaids with the hope that she should catch the bride's good fortune and be next in line to be married.
The custom of throwing the bouquet has also been seen as an expressive, though little realized, symbolic gesture. It has been described as a visual pun referring to her imminent defloration.
#
"Thug",2304,0,0,0
Religious fanaticism has played a significant part not only in history but also in linguistics. The over-zealous adherents of faiths hardly known to Western man have left us some useful expressions.
The word \Ithug\i comes from an exotic sect in northern India which worshiped Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. In existence at least as early as the thirteenth century, its members were known as \Iphansigars,\i from \Iphansi,\i for "noose."
Appropriately chosen, the name reflected the \Imodus operandi\i of the entire group. The phansigars would befriend a traveler, and then accompany him, at times for many days and over vast distances. This they did with only one purpose in mind: to watch for the most opportune moment to choke him to death with a noose, doing so in the name and in honor of their goddess. Then they ceremoniously buried the victim, after which they divided his money and possessions.
Part they dedicated to the sanctuary of Kali, but the rest they kept for themselves, their crime sanctioned by their religion. They were not unlike modern crime syndicates or murder gangs though the rationale they adopted for their activities was bizarrely different.
As late as the 1830s, the British (then in control of India) introduced strong measures to stop this heinous practice. More than 400 of the "worshipers" were hanged and almost 3,000 sentenced to \Jlife imprisonment\j. It took almost another half century before the \Jcult\j was completely suppressed.
When dealing with the members of this grim and grizzly sect, the British did not call them by their traditional name, but, with typical British understatement, referred to them by the Sanskrit - derived word \Ithag,\i a "swindler," which survives in the modern English term, \Ithug.\i
#
"Thumbs Up",2305,0,0,0
"Thumbs up" as a symbol of approval and encouragement, became such by mistake! To add to the confusion, whoever makes the sign, does so wrongly. In spite of speaking of "thumbs up," he will use only one thumb and not both, as suggested by the plural of the phrase.
Originally, the showing of a thumb - in whichever direction - meant death! It goes back to the Roman gladiatorial fights in which the fate of the loser was decided by the spectators. According to the usual, but incorrect version, it was the practice that if they admired the courage and valor of the defeated mare and took pity on him, they turned their thumbs up. This indicated that his life should be spared. However, if their verdict was death, they conveyed the fatal message by their downturned thumbs, immediately to be followed by the man's execution.
Common sense should suggest the impossibility of such system of signaling. It would be most difficult for those carrying out the sentence to distinguish from afar, in which direction the thumbs pointed.
The mistake arose from a mistranslation of the authentic ancient records. These told that the gesture made in the condemnation of the loser was showing "a turned thumb" \I(pollice verso).\i No direction was specified. The phrase was misunderstood and believed to refer to "a turned down thumb." People then further (wrongly) reasoned that a thumb pointing the other way must signify "life," and that is how our "thumbs up" gesture came into existence, the product of mere fiction.
In reality, the gesture used by Roman spectators to save a gladiator's life was to hide their thumbs in their fists. It was known as the "compressed thumb" \I(pollice compresso).\i No one could mistake the one for the other. Additionally, both gestures were symbolic. The outstretched thumb, most probably turned towards the victim, dramatically represented the short Roman sword that almost instantly was going to carry out their sentence. The thumb tucked away, on the other hand, was like a sheathed sword. It was not going to be used.
#
"Thunder Turns Milk Sour",2306,0,0,0
Prior to \Jpasteurization\j and refrigeration, people believed that a \Jthunderstorm\j made milk turn sour. They were mistaken. It was not the thunder that curdled the milk, but the humid weather. This activated a chemical process in the milk, souring it.
#
"Ticker Tape",2307,0,0,0
People have always loved to show their admiration of heroes and celebrities on the occasion of their visit or homecoming. The way they did so has differed from country to country and through the ages.
A universal custom was to shower them with flowers. Americans, generally innovative and pragmatic, created the ticker-tape parade as their unique type of reception.
Just as in the confetti showered on a bridal couple, the paper substituted for the original (and much more costly) rice and grain, so the thin streamers of paper served as an economic, but most spectacular replacement of flowers.
Unforgettable, indeed, was the sight of tons of shredded paper cascading from up-high. To watch it being dropped out of the windows of skyscrapers onto the motorcade in which the person being honored was driven along in an open car was an exciting experience. The procession, traditionally, went up Broadway, leading through the financial district to the city hall where the official reception took place. The choice of route almost preselected the throwing of ticker tape.
Originally, the quotations of the stock market used to be relayed by messengers, a wearisome and prolonged procedure. The introduction of the first stock ticker (in 1868) revolutionized the practice. Henceforth the latest figures on the market were made available almost instantly and received simultaneously by the thousands of clients and speculators. In 1902, the ticker ribbon was superseded by the so much cheaper "ticker tape." Once having fulfilled its function, it was of no further use. Huge quantities of it were thrown away. After all, it was a period when people were not yet concerned with environmental \Jpollution\j.
New Yorkers then discovered how even this surplus refuse was not without value, but of great ceremonial usefulness. Ingeniously utilized, it could provide some extra splendor in expressing the citizen's welcome to outstanding personalities coming to New York.
Historic was the ticker-tape parade that in 1927 honored Charles Lindbergh, perhaps the first of its kind, with 1,800 tons of streamers enveloping the procession.
Possibly the largest ticker-tape reception ever to be given welcomed John Glenn, the \Jastronaut\j, on March 1, 1962, after his return from his orbital flight. Well-nigh 3,500 tons of paper were showered on him!
#
"Tickled Pink",2308,0,0,0
Those greatly pleased are "tickled pink." The colorful portrayal might well reflect their physical expression of feeling highly gratified. They blush with pleasure.
#
"Tiered Wedding Cake",2309,0,0,0
The first tiered wedding cake was baked in London about 40 years after the great fire (in 1666) had devastated a large part of the metropolis. In fact, the cake indirectly owes its prominent design of several layers to Christopher Wren, the famous architect who rebuilt the city.
St Bride's Church was one of the many buildings destroyed by the conflagration. (Its name has no connection with any bride, but stands for and honors St Bridget.) Its reconstruction, one of Wren's finest achievements, was admired not least for its attractive spire. He completed it in 1701. Among ecclesiastical buildings, its height was surpassed only by that of the spires of St Paul and the Catholic Westminster Cathedral. In no time St Bride's was counted as one of London's most conspicuous sights.
It so happened that a pastry cook had his bakery near the church. Situated on Ludgate Hill, it was in close proximity to the Fleet Street Prison. In the fortuitous ways of life, these various factors combined to create the tiered wedding cake!
At the time, marriages were not permitted to be solemnized for convicts. A compassionate clergyman, nevertheless, clandestinely did so. And the baker, whose identity is lost, is said on each occasion generously to have provided a cake for the celebration. Inspired by St Bride's new steeple, he adopted its tiered shape. Thus, to this very day, unknowingly to all concerned, every tiered wedding cake continues to copy Wren's masterpiece and carries on a tradition started to add beauty to the illegally performed nuptials of convicts.
#
"Till the Cows Come Home",2310,0,0,0
In most European countries cows are kept in sheds during the winter. With the coming of spring, they are turned out to graze in the fields. They relish the fresh young grass, particularly after having been fed on hay and straw through the many and long winter months. If left to their own devices, it takes a long, long time "till the cows come home." They go on gorging themselves till an overfull and therefore painful udder makes them return to be milked.
#
"Time and Space",2311,0,0,0
Faith motivated many explorers to traverse vast distances in quest of the unknown, and sustained them in the face of desperate situations. So it is not surprising that the names of the lands they discovered or the nations they founded reflect and perpetuate their religious zeal.
This explains why many place names are those of some date from the Christian calendar. A navigator would call a newly discovered site after the day on which it was reached, especially if it was one hallowed by his faith.
When, in search for a sea route to India on the famous voyage that led to the re-discovery of America, Columbus at long last reached land, he was deeply thankful to God. To show his gratitude, he named one of the islands of the West Indies "the Holy Savior" - \JSan Salvador\j. On his second voyage, another island, reached on a Sunday, was named the "Lord's Day," Dominica, from the Latin \Idies Dominica.\i
The South African province of Natal was so named because, on his voyage of discovery, Vasco da Gama reached this stretch of the African coast at Christmas (in 1497) which, in Portuguese, was \INatale.\i
Other - self-explanatory - examples of date-based names are those of Christmas, Easter, and \JAscension\j Islands.
It was not for its luxurious vegetation that Ponce de Leon called \JFlorida\j so, but because he had discovered this part of the American mainland in 1513 on Easter Sunday. In his Spanish tongue the festival was known as \IPascua Florida\i - the "Passover of Flowers," after the many flowers decorating the churches on that day. That this part of America seems a specially "flowering" region only underscored the appropriateness of the name.
#
"Tinned Food",2312,0,0,0
To leave food in an opened tin in the \Jrefrigerator\j, a fallacy claims, is asking for trouble. It will go bad in no time. In reality, the sort of container in which the food is stored is of no consequence. Deterioration can only be due to a contaminating agent getting into the food from the outside.
#
"Tippler",2313,0,0,0
Those habitually enjoying intoxicating drinks in small quantities, are referred to as "tipplers." This is an obsolete description of a tapster. The choice of name is based on an old tradition and habit of those serving drinks. Whenever tapping from the barrel, they would sample a little of the liquor.
#
"Tips",2314,0,0,0
In some parts of the world tipping has become a fact of life. As uncertain as the amount of the tip expected is the \Jetymology\j of the word. It has been suggested that the tip recalls the "tap" once given surreptitiously on the back of the person an appreciative customer wanted to reward. To pay any gratuity publicly was just not done.
Human nature being what it is, people give better service if some extra reward is beckoning them. Tips are believed to be so called as - contracted into an \Jacronym\j - they were expected \It\io \Ii\insure \Ip\irompt \Is\iervice.
The story goes that in 18th-century English inns and \Jcoffee\j houses, boxes were set up for guests to deposit in them coins as their thanks to the waiters. As a subtle reminder the boxes were accordingly marked. But as these were much too small to carry the lengthy inscription "to insure prompt service," this was replaced by its initials. T.I.P.S. became a word and a custom so familiar that it needed no further explanation. It spoke for itself. Significantly, in French, German and \JHebrew\j, tips are called "drink-money."
Tips have also been derived from other sources. These include an Old English word for a "present" which, in turn, had its root in the \IDiodol,\i an old Greek coin of small value. Others have seen in the tip all that is left of a stipend, derived from the Latin \Istips,\i denoting a contribution, a tax or a gift.
#
"Tipsy",2315,0,0,0
Anyone slightly inebriated is most likely to lose their balance. And, tipping over, they became known as "tipsy."
#
"Tish'ah b'Av",2316,0,0,0
\BA Jewish Day of Mourning\b
\ITish'ah b'Av\i is the \JHebrew\j date (9 Av) and the name of the most mournful day of the Jewish year, falling in either July or August. A day of fast, it demands complete abstention from food and drink. The most ominous day in Jewish life, it is the anniversary of the destruction of both the first and the second Temples in \JJerusalem\j (in 586 B.C. and A.D. 70). By an ominous coincidence, it was on this day in 1492 that the Jews were expelled from \JSpain\j. It was also the day in 1914 (1 August) on which World War I started.
#
"Titmouse: Origin of the Name",2317,0,0,0
A \Jtitmouse\j has no connection with the rodent. The small \Jsongbird\j's "mousy" part is a corruption of the Old English \Imase,\i used in the name of several birds. Misled, people make yet another mistake when they use titmice as its plural.
#
"Toads and Superstition",2318,0,0,0
Toads are ugly creatures and few people nowadays would be attracted by them. But through the ages, the \Jtoad\j has played a significant role, particularly in the occult. Next to the cat, the \Jtoad\j became the most favored "familiar" of the witch.
Toads used to be kept as pets by many people. Therefore people felt "at home" with them, just like they did with the cat. And the feline and the \Jamphibian\j both proved themselves true helpmates of a benevolent nature, even for ordinary humans. While a cat kept away mice and rats, toads looked after the garden, where they fed on the noxious insects and vermin that menaced flowers and plants. This was the real explanation, it has been said, of a "\Jsuperstition\j" among the Ozark hillfolk which was not so senseless after all. They warned that the killing of a \Jtoad\j would result in cows giving blood instead of milk. The true purpose of the threat was to protect the \Jtoad\j from extermination as it filled a most useful place in nature's \Jecology\j.
But there were many other traits of the \Jtoad\j that both fascinated and frightened man and gave the \Jamphibian\j its special \Jsupernatural\j standing as an object of fear and \Jsuperstition\j.
Its very appearance seemed ominous. It had a warty skin and felt clammy when touched. There was the peculiar manner in which it breathed. But then there was the undeniable fact that out of its ugly, repulsive face shone two jewel - like eyes. This was somehow not in keeping with the rest of the body.
These features on their own would have sufficed to make room for the \Jtoad\j in the \Jsupernatural\j world. However, it possessed an even greater mysterious gift: when agitated, the \Jtoad\j would secrete a substance which, if swallowed, would intoxicate a man and carry him into "another world" of fantastic dimensions.
Peasants became so afraid of the ugly creature that they would not dare touch it. If they did so, they feared that at the very least they would come out in warts. As contradictory as it may seem, they also applied the ancient magic belief that like could cure like and placed a \Jtoad\j on their warts, convinced that it would make them disappear.
The \Jtoad\j, indeed, seemed to be reserved for those serving the \Jsupernatural\j, for better or worse. And that is how the \Jtoad\j found its right mate (and mistress) in the witch.
Fancy and fact soon commingled and created a bizarre mixture of toady tales, practices, and even a new name for a low type of person. Some of the beliefs associated with the \Jtoad\j certainly were early recognized as the mere figment of the imagination. Others, though equally fictitious, were cleverly and profitably used by mountebanks to sell their wares. A third notion, apparently the most far-fetched of all, has been proven completely correct by medical science and has been applied in significant and successful experiments.
A rocky knobble between and somewhat higher than its eyes made people believe that the \Jtoad\j carried precious stones in its head. Appropriately called "toadstones," certain "gems" were marketed as having valuable and magic properties. Shakespeare recalled this myth in the famous passage in \IAs You Like It\i (II,1):
\ISweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the \Jtoad\j, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in its head.\i
It was actually believed that the stones could be obtained only from a living \Jtoad\j. In fact, the animal could be most co-operative. By its own volition it would eject the stones when placed on a cloth of scarlet, a color it loved.
So-called toadstones were assumed to be an effective antidote for poisons. Swellings, inflammations, and pain caused by the sting or bite of a poisonous insect, \Jspider\j, or snake would at once be reduced and relieved by the mere touch of a toadstone. Anyone who had swallowed poison, could save his life by taking the stone in powdered form. This would instantly render the poison harmless.
Apart from being a life-saver, the stones were reputed to be so sensitive that proximity to any type of toxic substance, would make them change color. That is why toadstones were used like a \JGeiger counter\j or mine detector.
No wonder then that the miracle - working "jewel" became part of coveted amulets which were either suspended from the neck or worn on a ring. Crushed toadstones became a valued ingredient of philters, spells, and love potions.
Finally, there was the intoxicating effect of the peculiar secretion from toads' skin glands. The toxic substance was duly identified and very appropriately given the name of \Ibufotenine.\i This combines the Latin "\Jtoad\j" \I(bufo)\i and the Greek "\Jtendon\j" \I(ten).\i It has been established that the secreted fluid produced elevated blood pressure and was even said to be hallucinogenic. Thus the "wise women" who partook of the elating toady drug certainly had every reason to feel "high." They did not tell a lie when they claimed that it gave them extrasensory perception and \Jsupernatural\j experiences. Truly, the \Jtoad\j was their most faithful and helpful "servant." They could be genuinely fond of it and grateful for the potent ingredient it provided for their secret brews.
#
"Toadstools Unrelated to Toads",2319,0,0,0
However much its name might suggest, the \Jtoadstool\j has no link with the warty creature. Derived from the German, its description refers to "death" \I(Tod)\i which has its "seat" \I(Stuhl)\i in the poisonous \Jfungus\j.
#
"Toady",2320,0,0,0
One of the myths told of the \Jtoad\j has created a rival to the "sycophant." A so-called apple-polisher is today also known as a "toady." And it all started with the mysterious secretion of a \Jtoad\j which had the extraordinary result. While toadstones were seen as life-savers, the \Jtoad\j itself was regarded as extremely venomous. People truly believed that if they ate so much as a \Jtoad\j's leg, they would surely die.
Itinerant quacks soon spied their chance. They made good use of this tall tale to hoodwink people and "con" them into buying remedies claimed to cure any fatal disease. To demonstrate the remarkable effectiveness of their concoction, they made their assistant (usually a boy) swallow a dead \Jtoad\j-renowned and feared for its lethal nature. And in no time, as everyone expected, the poor young stooge would be writhing in agony. And then, as the climax of the "exhibition," the quack would ask him to take his fabulous panacea. Its miraculous effect of course would become immediately apparent. The youth's convulsions and contortions ceased in a twinkling. Completely restored to health, he was the "living proof" of the efficacy of the proffered nostrum. And, no doubt, subsequent business was brisk.
The abuse of the \Jtoad\j in those unethical circumstances eventually transferred its name to the stooge who, for a small consideration had been prepared to gulp down its ugly dead body. He became known as a \Jtoad\j-eater, an epithet which was soon contracted into toady. The "toady" ever since has been used to describe those people who, lacking all self respect, will show obsequiousness and servility to gain even the slightest favor or advantage.
#
"Toast",2321,0,0,0
In recent years motorists have grown accustomed to "additives" which are said to increase the power of petrol. In former times, and long before the invention of the internal combustion engine, people used to apply additives to certain liquids reserved for the inner man.
People used to put a piece of bread "parched with heat" - which is the literal meaning of the word toast - into a tankard of beer or glass of wine. By doing so, they believed, they improved the flavor. Such additives are still customary at some universities in connection with their Loving Cup.
Eventually, the toast additive was found to be of no real value and was again left out of the drink, and we have forgotten all about it. Drinking to the health of a person or cause is still called a toast, reminiscent of the now vanished piece of parched bread.
Further, to add an element of romance to the toast, the story is told that in reality it originated in Bath at the time of King Charles II. On a public holiday, when spirits were gay, a famous beauty was taking her bath in the public baths of that city.
One of her many admirers watching her, took a glass of the water in which she was standing and drank her health. Another of the revelers, anxious to outdo the man and, as those who tried to excuse his behavior liked to point out, slightly inebriated perhaps, offered to jump into the bath himself. "I do not like the liquor so much," he explained, "but I should love to have the toast" - indicating the lady.
#
"Toff",2322,0,0,0
Students of noble birth, enrolled in Oxford or Cambridge University, conscious of their high standing in society, conspicuously displayed it in public by wearing a special kind of academic cap. This was distinguished by a golden tassel or tuft, the gold appropriate to the high fees they paid. So noticeable and outstanding was their special mark, the tuft eventually was identified with the wearer of the cap and became his nickname. However, in the transfer from the cap to the person, the tuft was corrupted in speech to "toff." The name did not remain confined to the undergraduates of the renowned institutions of learning. Eventually, it was applied to any member of the "upper class," of titled rank.
A final transformation was then experienced by the tassel turned "toff." It became a favorite description of snooty people who, without reason or merit, regarded themselves as superior and displayed their imagined status by showiness of dress and affectation in manner.
Closely related to the toff - linguistically at least - is the toupee, the French "forelock" (toupet), now applied to a hairpiece worn by bald men; and German women's Zopf, their plaited "pigtail."
#
"Toilet Paper",2323,0,0,0
Though the most widespread daily applied utility, little thought is given to the origin of toilet paper nor to its inventor, Joseph C. Gayetty of New York. Proud of his product, he had his name watermarked on each sheet. He first marketed it in 1857. Advertising it - very personalized - as "Gayetty's Medicated Paper," he recommended it as "a pure article for the toilet and a prevention for piles!" It is said that the early specimens were made of pearl-colored manila \Jhemp\j paper. The product was sold in bundles of 500 sheets, at 50 cents per packet. Its present-day description as toilet paper goes back only to the 1880s.
#
"Toilet: Origins of the Name",2324,0,0,0
Of the many euphemisms used for the smallest room in the house, toilet has proved one of the most lasting and widely accepted ones. French in origin, \Itoilette\i is the diminutive for a cloth, toile, and therefore denoted a "small cloth."
To start with, in the seventeenth century, toilet described the act of putting on one's clothes. Within less than a century, its application was expanded to a "toilet call." This did not mean, as might be imagined, a visit to the bathroom or lavatory. It referred to a then common practice of ladies of society to receive early callers, while still in the process of getting dressed. Toilet now implied a dressing-room.
Americans were the first to use toilet in the sense of the English water closet, the WC.
It is an odd fact that the French, always so logical and elegant, found no reason to camouflage the function of this so necessary convenience, if provided for men. They called a public urinal just what it was - a \Ipissoir.\i
#
"Tom Cat",2325,0,0,0
Male cats are toms. Generally it is believed that this name, a common abbreviation of Thomas, was given them for the sole reason of identifying their sex. But this is not the true ancestry of its designation.
"Ram" used to be the customary description of a male feline. That the ram was replaced by the tom is due to a story published anonymously in 1760. Entitled \IThe Life and Adventures of a Cat,\i it caught people's imagination and gained nationwide popularity. It so happened that its male character was "Tom the Cat." The association became a permanent one.
#
"Tommy Rot",2326,0,0,0
The phrase "tommy rot" (for "utter nonsense") may have a saintly source and may have been coined in a context of charitable behavior. It originated in the days when loaves of bread were distributed to the needy on St Thomas' Day, 21 December, a custom that continued to be practiced for hundreds of years. It is no wonder therefore that people, especially of the poorer class, came to identify the \JApostle\j's name with bread and, ultimately, with food of any kind.
It did not take long for them in their daily talk to change "Thomas" into the more intimate "Tommy." But then, as it were, the rot set in. It was the result of modern industrialisation and the early exploitation of labor.
In many cases, workers were not paid in money but in goods, mostly taking the form of food. To add to their profits, employers also frequently owned the shops at which the workers were expected to make their purchases. In fact, failing to do so would mean their dismissal.
Taking advantage of their captive clientele, the owners supplied food of a very inferior - almost rotten - quality. This led the working man to refer to it as "Tommy rot," the "Tommy" now totally detached from its saintly ancestor. What religious benevolence had started had become contaminated by man's exploitation of man. The Truck Act of 1831 stopped the malpractice, but the word reminiscent of it lives on.
#
"Tongue in Cheek",2327,0,0,0
To say anything with the tongue in one's cheek is almost a physical impossibility. Thus positioned, the tongue would be immobilized or so restricted in its movement that any words would become indistinct and garbled beyond recognition. In fact, no one nowadays takes the words literally. The phrase is seen as a mere figure of speech. Those who speak with their "tongue in cheek" really do not mean what they say. Their remarks are insincere or derisive.
And yet, what is now a mere \Jmetaphor\j, not to be taken literally, once was done. The practice of talking with one's tongue in the cheek is an early example of \Jbody language\j. Just as today people wink at a person to let them know that whatever they said was not intended to be taken seriously, and that they are only "kidding," so, formerly, they conveyed this message by another type of \Jbody language\j. They pushed their tongue into one of their cheeks, causing it conspicuously to bulge. Their gesture could not be missed or mistaken.
Eventually, the practice was abandoned. But memories of it survived and its description became an idiom of everyday speech.
It is assumed that the gesture was rarely if ever used. Much more likely, hence, is the suggestion that the popular expression was merely the imaginative invention of an English clergyman. The Reverend Richard Barham was renowned for his humor. A minor canon at St Paul's, he became famous as an author and, in fact, the \Jmetaphor\j has been traced to him and his story of "The Black Mousquetaire" which, in 1840, he included in his collection of \IThe Ingoldsby Legends.\i It appears there in connection with a Frenchman's (ironic) remark about something being superb and magnificent. After quoting the words, Barham adds in brackets that they were spoken "with his tongue in his cheek." Other writers adopted his phrase which thus became part of the English language.
#
"Tonic Sol Fa System",2328,0,0,0
For five centuries, the Italian monk's method was followed, proving its great value. And yet, there was still room for improvement. Once again, it was in the world of religion that the next significant step was made, in 1841.
At the time, the Rev. John Curwen, a twenty-five year old Yorkshireman and Protestant minister, was serving a Congregational church at Stowmarket. He was especially interested in the musical part of the service, and not least the singing of hymns. Having no musical ear himself, he was nevertheless anxious to join in. More so, he wanted the young under his care, whether they were musically gifted or not, to do so as well.
It was no wonder therefore that when, at a Sunday School Convention at Hull, the question was raised whether there was any possible way to make even unmusical pupils join in hymns, Curwen took a prominent part in the discussion. Seeing his enthusiasm and concern, the conference commissioned him to investigate the problem and, subsequently, to make suggestions as to an effective and simple method to teach young people to sing melodiously and in tune.
Curwen knew that a Miss Sarah Glover who lived at Norwich, less than forty-five kilometers from his parish, had been interested in that very topic. With her help and a thorough study of all possibilities and previous experimentation, finally he came forward with the proposition that the Tonic Sol Fa System of annotation be used in musical teaching. Though still based on d'Arezzo's work, it synthesised and simplified the best of all previous attempts at improving it. Its great advantage was soon recognized. Now even the least musically gifted would be able to sing in tune. The new system was adopted. Its popularity spread far and wide throughout the English-speaking world and beyond, adding millions to the number of people able to read music at sight.
#
"Tooheys Brothers",2329,0,0,0
The British have always been great beer drinkers, a liking Australians inherited from them and adapted to their taste. The Toohey brothers - John Thomas and James Matthew - became the founders of one of the country's great breweries, with its once widely-known slogan "Here's To'ee."
A huge vault in the Catholic section of the Rookwood Cemetery is their burial place. By a strange coincidence, both men died whilst on a world trip, and their bodies had to be brought back to \JAustralia\j.
James was a mere 45 years old when, on 25 September 1895, he passed away in Pisa, \JItaly\j. At the time, he was the Chairman of Directors of Tooheys.
John Thomas died on 5 May 1903, in \JChicago\j, at the age of 64. Whilst with his wife in England, he had caught a chill, which developed into \Jpneumonia\j. In spite of not having fully recovered, he insisted on proceeding to the United States - with fatal results.
It was a mournful passage home for the widow who traveled on the ship that carried the coffin containing the embalmed body of her late husband, clad in a brown monastic habit. This had been supplied by a \JChicago\j convent, the Little Company of Mary, the only one of its Order in America.
As for his brother eight years earlier, a solemn \JRequiem\j Mass was celebrated for John at St Mary's Cathedral. A special funeral train then took his body from the mortuary station to Rookwood, and countless admirers and friends joined the mourners.
Just as they died in different parts of the world, so their birthplaces were far removed from each other. Whilst James was born in Melbourne, Limerick in Ireland was John's native town, from which, at the age of two, he was taken to \JAustralia\j.
After at first going their separate ways (on properties near Lismore and at Coonamble), in 1870 the two brothers embarked jointly on their brewing venture in Sydney. Initially, they did so in partnership with a third person.
To begin with, they divided their tasks. While James traveled the town to sell their beer, John, who lived in a cottage at the rear of the brewery, managed the firm. "Tooheys" went from strength to strength.
John became a most popular citizen. Respected for his philanthropy and public spirit, he was nominated for the Legislative Council. The \JCatholic Church\j invested him, much to his pride, with the Order of St Gregory. Deeply conscious of his Irish birth, he was a fervent Irish nationalist. He campaigned for his native country's freedom and the improvement of its people's living conditions.
Tradition has it that James Matthew Toohey was given his middle name in honor of the Irish \JApostle\j of Temperance! Perhaps even more surprising was the evidence he gave before a Royal Commission investigating the excessive drinking of alcohol. He asserted that the Australian habit of "shouting" was its main cause.
On the other hand, as a member (for South Sydney) of the Legislative Assembly, he opposed legislation intended to curb or ban drinking. It would be ineffective, he convincingly stated, as no Act of Parliament could ever make anyone sober.
#
"Tools for Billiards",2330,0,0,0
\JBilliards\j was well established when Captain Mingaud, one of Napoleon's officers, was imprisoned in the Bastille. While there he somehow managed to have a billiard table installed in his cell, which must have been rather spacious. Experimentation to improve the game occupied him daily, so much that when the time for his release came, he asked permission to stay on to continue his tests for a better style. \JBilliards\j owes him a tremendous debt for his inventions.
Through the years, the stick, or mast, further developed and eventually reached its tapering shape, which explains its name, cue, derived from the French word for "tail," spelled \Iqueue.\i About 1790, Mingaud devised a new cue that was adopted universally. With a file - rather an unusual instrument in the hands of a prisoner - he rounded the square end of the stick and created the modern tip. By this simple operation, he could make shots which far surpassed any ever seen before.
Having completed the task, he left prison and spent most of his free time displaying his new skill and his cue wherever \Jbilliards\j was played in Paris. His splendid shots with the novel stick aroused great enthusiasm among spectators, and \Jbilliards\j became the rage. In 1807, he further improved the cue by fixing a leather tip to its end.
The next move to advance the game came from England. John ("Jack") Carr, a most astute man, was a lover of the game. Indeed, he was to become the world's first billiard champion. He also liked money and was well aware that an aura of the uncanny was good for business promotion. And knowing the \Jpsychology\j of crowds, he was able to amass a fortune - through \Jbilliards\j!
In 1820 he was employed as a marker by a Mr Bartley at Bath, and soon excelled in bringing off apparently impossible shots with ease and assurance. His speciality was a side-twist or, as it came to be known later, the screw-stroke. No one else could achieve it, and each time he used it he did so with great ceremonial.
When people asked him how he did it, he confided gravely that it was all due to a magic powder he had invented and applied to the tip of his cue. Of course, its composition was his secret. However, anxious to help other players, he was quite prepared to supply them with his "twisting \Jchalk\j" for a price. He sold his \Jchalk\j in small pillboxes, at half a crown each, in those days a big amount.
All went exceedingly well for Carr, until one day a customer, who had used up his supply of expensive magic, was unable to buy more and decided to use ordinary \Jchalk\j. He found it had the same result. Soon he broadcast his discovery and Carr's lucrative business in \Jchalk\j ended. Carr's stroke became part of \Jbilliards\j and is still referred to as putting "English" on the ball.
Carr used the money he gained to travel to \JFrance\j and \JSpain\j, where he zealously spread his novel style. Wherever he went, his new, dexterous shot and chalked cue tip made him a hero. Eventually, his triumphant tour came to an end, and he returned to England almost in rags. His love of gambling had cost him his fortune. But he had not yet lost his skill or astuteness. Going to a billiard saloon looking very unlike a world champion, he was unrecognized. He challenged a player who in no time lost ú70 to him.
Carr left at once to buy himself the finest outfit obtainable, including a blue coat, yellow waistcoat, and top boots. Nobly clad, he returned to the saloon next day and (as indeed "clothes maketh the man") he appeared to be a different person. He challenged his rival of the previous day who did not recognize him. They agreed on a wager, and Carr won.
When Carr had collected his winnings, the loser remarked how truly unfortunate he had been. On two succeeding days he had met two persons capable of giving him a severe beating. Carr then made himself known, thanked the loser politely, and took his leave.
Because of intemperate living, Carr never enjoyed the money he made. Indeed, when about to meet the famous Edwin Kentfield in a match, he became ill and the match did not come off. Kentfield became champion and kept a "subscription room" in Brighton. In 1829 he published a book called \IThe Game of \JBilliards\j - Scientifically Explained and Practically Set Forth in a Series of Novel and Extraordinary, but Equally Practical Strokes.\i
Tables, so far, had been built entirely of wood. Even the surface had been of timber, though experience had taught makers to construct it using small panels, to allow for expansion and avoid buckling. Marble beds had been tried, but found wanting. In hot weather the marble started sweating. In 1827 slate replaced the wood and marble and, covered with smooth cloth, provided a perfect bed, enabling greater accuracy and giving a smoother run.
The table's edges were soon padded with felt. Next came the introduction of rubber cushions. These gave the ball a much better rebound but otherwise proved inadequate. They were subject to changes in temperature, especially in the English winter. Finally, in 1865, vulcanized rubber, resistant to any weather, was adopted.
The philosopher, Herbert Spencer, one of England's greatest thinkers, became passionately fond of \Jbilliards\j. Until his health began to wane, he daily went to the Athenaeum Club to enjoy a game. He could be seen with his coat off, as intent on scoring a victory on the billiard table as he was known to wrestle with a controversialist in the philosophical arena.
The first public billiard room in Britain was opened at the Piazza, Covent Garden, London, early in the nineteenth century. The Royal House did not lag far behind the enthusiasm shown for the game by ordinary people. At Queen Victoria's request, a billiard table was set up in Windsor Castle.
A general code for the game was adopted by the \JBilliards\j Association in 1885, and in 1919 the Control Council was formed to organize championships.
In America, the sport was pioneered in 1565 by a family which had settled from \JSpain\j at the site of present-day St. Augustine, \JFlorida\j. Subsequently, English migrants introduced \Jbilliards\j in Virginia and New York.
#
"Torrens Title Originator",2331,0,0,0
\BSir Robert Torrens\b
Anyone in \JAustralia\j buying a house or a piece of land will want to know if it has a "Torrens Title." Few however, realize that this statutory system of registration of title, designed to facilitate and simplify the transfer of property' and thereby permanently to safeguard people's possessions, is called after a former South Australian Premier!
Torrens is yet another Australian of renown who now rests far away from home - in English soil, in the West Country. In fact, his main purpose in going to Britain was to see his "Torrens Title" introduced there.
Born in 1814 and educated in Ireland, Torrens emigrated to South \JAustralia\j at the age of 21. His father's influence as Chairman of the Colonization Commission for South \JAustralia\j no doubt procured for him his immediate appointment as collector of customs. But Robert needed no further sponsor or connection to advance quickly in public life. He did not suffer fools gladly, nor was he prepared to be obsequious to anyone.
Strong-willed and unorthodox in his methods, he was bound to make enemies in high places. This included even the governor, who publicly expressed his displeasure that Torrens would not show him the cheerful acquiescence, he was used to receiving from all others.
Within 12 years, Torrens became the premier of South \JAustralia\j. He held the office for just one month. However, during this short period he succeeded in introducing the Torrens Title, "his" bill, into parliament. In the following year, 1858, it became law. In no time its value was recognized and it was adopted nationwide.
Torrens wanted to see his system adopted in Britain as well. But to achieve this aim, which he liked to describe as his "cause," he had to be on the spot and become a member of the British \JHouse of Commons\j.
He went to England, and, standing for election, he was defeated three times. As a man of determination, he did not give up and, on his fourth attempt, became member for Totnes, in Devon. Law required that as such, he had to reside in his \Jconstituency\j. For this reason he became domiciled in the district which, as his parish, was to become his last resting place as well.
Torrens is buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, at Leusden, on the very edge of Dartmoor, renowned for both its prison and its rugged, desolate beauty.
His grave is covered by plain grass and marked by a \JCalvary\j (or graded) cross. Its stone plinth is sharply cut, dressed granite. The inscription, divided into three parts, is embossed in lettering flush with the surface, on the three steps of the pedestal on which the cross stands:
\IIn Memory of
SIR ROBERT R. TORRENS, G. C. M. G.
Died Aug: 31: 1884 Aged 70
'At evening time it shall be light'
Zech. XIV.7.\i
Barbara Ainslie, Lady Torrens, his wife, who died in 1899 at the age of 96, shares his grave. Oddly, her inscription, on the reverse side of the cross, makes no reference to their relationship.
It is rather tragic that Torrens, so much concerned with property dealings, should have acquired his last piece of land - just large enough to contain his and his wife's bodies - so far away from the country he served so well, not only during his lifetime but, through his title, to this day.
It is also sad to know that the purpose which brought him to Britain, and finally to the edge of Dartmoor, was never fulfilled. After having at last won a seat in parliament, he was not given the chance to introduce his bill. Torrens' life and death indeed show the vicissitudes of fate.
#
"Tossing a Coin",2332,0,0,0
In the beginning, tossing a coin to decide an issue was rooted in the superstitious belief that the way the coin fell was not accidental, but directed by a superior power. It was the divinity that caused "heads" or "tails" to come up.
An ancient method of \Jdivination\j, it revealed the god's message of which way to go and what to do. More than that, it indicated their wish, which was synonymous with a command. No one would dare to ignore it.
History played an additional part in the adoption of the practice and even was responsible for the terminology, possibly going back to Julius Caesar's time. His head was embossed on one side of every coin. To settle an argument, people tossed a coin. The person for whom Caesar's head showed up was right. The decision was not arbitrary, but like a royal command. No one would dispute it.
Superstition, \Jdivination\j, and early \Jauthoritarianism\j thus combined to create the now so innocuous practice of tossing a coin.
#
"Touch and Go",2333,0,0,0
As a seafaring nation, Britain adopted for general use many phrases that once had a specific nautical meaning. Now they have become so common that, unless acquainted with early sailing days, no one would suspect their original use. This applies not least to the description of a situation as so precarious that it is "touch and go." It will make sense only if put back into its context, which is the sea. It concerns a sailing ship that almost ran aground. Just touching with its bottom a shoal, without actually getting stuck to it, it was able to float clear again at once. Its experience was a sequence of "touch" (rock-bottom) and "go" (again).
#
"Touch Wood",2334,0,0,0
to summon its spirit for help, to pay homage to it, and to ensure their own good fortune.
\IThe Star of David\i
Some authorities have claimed that even the so - called \JStar of David\j was originally a Druidic magic seal. This hexagram, they said, was first employed by those Celtic priests in their \Jsupernatural\j rites.
Only later ignorance and the erroneous rendering of its name came to link "the star" with King David. In reality, it should be called - as the earliest spelling is said to have been - the Star of the Druid. And in \JHebrew\j lettering, in fact, this would imply a minute change in just one letter by lengthening its upper bar and rounding its corner. This would make the "V" (the \JHebrew\j \Ivav)\i of David into the "R" (the \JHebrew\j \Iresh)\i of Druid and it must be remembered that early \JHebrew\j was written without vocalization, using consonants only.
\IKissing Under the Mistletoe\i
To kiss under the \Jmistletoe\j is a welcome custom at Christmas time which few people would ever realize is derived as well from the ancient Druids. Its original purpose was not just to steal a kiss and do so "duly authorized" by an established tradition. On the contrary, it is a relic of the Druidic belief in the fertility - promoting qualities of this divine "golden bough," which they might have looked upon as the oak's genitalia.
The \Jmistletoe\j, a \Jparasitic plant\j, grows in bunches entangled with branches of the (holy) oak, so by mere association it was made sacred too. Its seed had been carried there by birds. The magic potency of the branch, according to the Druids' belief, extended far beyond the realm of fecundity. Thought to cure almost any disease, the \Jmistletoe\j frequently was referred to by the name "all-healing." Sprigs fixed above doorways of homes were said to keep away \Jlightning\j and evils of many kinds.
No wonder therefore that the Druids treated the \Jmistletoe\j with utmost awe and venerated it in solemn rites. Clad in white robes, they cut it off with a golden sickle, then distributed its bunches among the members of their congregation!
There is a striking parallel - if not a causal chain - between this ceremonial and sacred \Jcult\j concerning the severing of the branch and the partaking of the holy \Jeucharist\j in the Christian Church. Just as only gold was regarded pure enough to touch the sacred plant, so the inside of the chalice serving the consecrated wine (said either to represent or actually to have changed into Christ's blood) had to be of pure gold.
\IGuy Fawkes Day\i
Guy Fawkes Day in Britain for hundreds of years has been a jolly occasion with children lighting bonfires all over the country to burn effigies of the wicked "Guy." This custom is said to celebrate the discovery (on 5 November 1605) of the political plot which had intended to blow up both king and Parliament.
However, a theory strongly suggests that the political circumstances and a national anniversary were not the true origin of the custom. To start with, the burning of the effigy did not have any connection with the plotter of the rebellion, but was a survival of an ancient Druid rite. And when children, on 5 November, light bonfires to burn on them figures, they are told represent the evil Guy Fawkes, they actually re-enact one of the gruesome rituals of the Druids.
Druids believed in the immortality of the spirit and its indestructibility. They also were convinced that it migrated after death from one body into another. Such view gave life a deeper meaning and, simultaneously, took fear out of death. However, a horrifying aspect of early Druid cults was their original offering of human sacrifice. It was so repugnant a custom that the Romans duly prohibited it (and made it their main reason to ban the faith). Probably then, Druids discontinuing the actual sacrifice, symbolically offered effigies in its stead. They enclosed these in huge baskets which they burned in honor of their gods.
Astonishing indeed are the varied and many facets of life in which Druidic tradition thus has survived.
The training of Druids was very intense and extended over a period of many years. Yet their traditions were never entrusted to writing, but were handed down orally. This was done for the obvious reason, so Caesar maintained, that no unqualified person should ever be able to come into possession of their secrets and work their magic. This, of course, makes it all the more difficult to assess completely the Druids' place in the history of man.
More than a thousand years after being outlawed, the Druids experienced a revival. In 1717 the Most Ancient Order of Druids was established. Its members claimed to take up and carry on the noble practices of the Druids. They regarded and called themselves their legitimate heirs. Among their most publicized ceremony nowadays is the annual celebration of the summer \Jsolstice\j at \JStonehenge\j.
#
"Townsville's Founder and Pioneer Cotton Grower",2335,0,0,0
\BRobert Towns\b
Robert Towns, an ambitious and dynamic entrepreneur, was a developer in the modern sense, with most diverse interests. The memorial on his grave in Sydney, 69 years after his death, became a topic of heated controversy.
\JTownsville\j, by its very name, honors Towns' memory on the Australian map. The city was his creation; he established it in 1865 to serve as a port for his ships. Close to his properties in the region, it would save him precious money.
Towns had started life as a seaman in England, where he was born on 10 November 1794. As a boy of 11, he had been apprenticed to a collier. He proved so extraordinarily efficient that before his 20th birthday he was put in command of a ship.
With a determination and a drive to succeed, he soon owned ships himself. He started regular trips to and from Sydney, permanently settling in the city in 1843, and established a mercantile and shipping business.
A workaholic, Towns started work every day at six in the morning and did not stop till at least six at night. In his own words, he was "as regular as the \Jplatypus\j." He expected his employees to do likewise and proved a hard taskmaster.
Towns pioneered cotton growing in \JAustralia\j and advanced sugar production. However, his sugar venture created deep resentment when, to save costs, he imported Kanaka natives from the South Sea Islands - against their will, it was said. He made them labor on his north \JQueensland\j properties, cultivating and picking cotton and looking after his canefields.
On one of his early trips to Sydney, Towns met D'Arcy Wentworth's daughter, his junior by 22 years, and married her. He served in the Legislative Council and became president of the Chamber of Commerce. Generously he contributed towards the building of St Andrew's Cathedral, the pulpit of which was his gift.
Towns died from a stroke at the age of 79, on 11 April 1873, at his sumptuous Sydney home at Bellevue Hill. Known as "Cranbrook" it was later to become the site of the prestigious Cranbrook School. He was buried in the Balmain Cemetery, with a towering structure as his headstone. Ornately carved from \Jsandstone\j, it was about five meters high. A pointed \Jobelisk\j, it stood on a large square base. In contrast to its splendor was the brevity of its inscription, it merely gave Towns' name and date of death.
In 1942, the local council decided to convert the Balmain Cemetery into a public park. Whilst the bodies were left undisturbed in the ground, all headstones and superstructures were to be removed. The families of the dead could claim them, but the uncollected stones would probably be destroyed. Among these monuments, and the most illustrious of them, was that of Towns.
The Balmain Council offered it as a gift to the Municipality of \JTownsville\j, promising to co-operate in every possible way in the transfer, though not to take any financial responsibility. There was strong opposition to transferring the stone on the part of some of the \JTownsville\j councilors. They recalled that Towns had been a "blackbirder" and that he had founded the original settlement not for the good of the people but for his own profit.
Eventually, however, those in favor of the proposition won the day. Had it not been for Towns' extraordinary foresight, they reminded their colleagues, the beautiful tropical city of \JTownsville\j would have never existed.
Towns' monument was duly dismantled in Sydney, transported to \JTownsville\j and erected on top of Castle Hill to overlook "his city."
No doubt, Towns experienced many a stormy passage. But he would never have anticipated that in 1972, almost a century after his passing, his re-erected monument would be struck by a \Jcyclone\j, and further badly damaged by vandals. Its fragments were scattered far and wide, but they were carefully collected and the monument was reconstructed.
Two stipulations Towns made in his Will showed his determination to extend his power even beyond death. Unless Robert, one of his two sons, for the next five years lived "in a sober reputable proper and becoming manner," he was to lose his inheritance. The same would happen to Sarah, one of his three daughters, were she or any of her children to abandon association with the \JChurch of England\j.
#
"Trademarks",2336,0,0,0
Over time, religion has been used and abused, but whether as an influence for good or ill, it has left its mark, and the entire tapestry of life is interwoven with the heritage of faith. Even well-known trade names have, in some cases, been derived from religious sources, to give the product special status and marketability. They provide homely examples of the commercialization of religion.
#
"Traffic Lights",2337,0,0,0
There is a reason for everything, even for the red, amber and green of traffic lights. The choice of their colors, internationally adopted, was not arbitrary. It was the result of traditions, careful considerations and experience.
Traffic lights were first introduced on railways - the American railroads. Their application and adaptation to the road came only later.
Today traffic lights are taken for granted. Few people realize the amount of deliberation and the various factors that led to their selection. To begin with, fundamental conditions had to be met.
╖ The colors had to be recognized easily, quickly and unmistakably.
╖ This had to be possible from a considerable distance and while in motion.
╖ The quality, intensity and contrast of the colors had to be such that they served their purpose in all weather, day and night.
As for the choice of the individual colors best-suited to convey the essential information, some seemed to be "pre-selected." Certain colors were traditionally linked with the very purpose they were now meant to serve. Almost from antiquity their association had prepared them to express to the modern age of speed the command when to stop, to pay heed, or to go "full steam" ahead.
\IRed for "Stop"\i
Red was an obvious choice for "stop." It had always represented danger. Fire was red; man had learned early on to keep a safe distance from it lest he be burned. Blood was red; to shed it brought death. It is no wonder that therefore red became associated with emergency and with danger. Native tribes in many parts of the world made use of red to give warning and strike terror. The Incas in ancient \JPeru\j, for instance, made their messengers carry red beads when they wished to give warnings of war.
Hence "red" was best qualified through man's constant battle for life. In addition, in the \Jprism\j of hues it was vivid and distinct.
\IWhite for "Go"\i
Though "to give the green light" has become the proverbial permissive signal in many a situation, green was not the original choice for "go." White first indicated that the railroad was safe and that the train could proceed without danger. After all, white had always been regarded, though unscientifically so, as a pure and clear color. Consequently, in the language of \Jsymbolism\j it came to express purity. Therefore it was not surprising either that initially it was decided upon to make it the signal that the line was "clear."
Other factors favored the choice as well. A white light was the most easily produced. It was a "natural," without the need of paint or other coloring aids. Like red for danger, it seemed the obvious selection.
\I"Caution"\i
Two "lights" were to control the running of trains - white for "go" and red for "stop." It was then realized that safety would be served better still by introducing a cautionary light to warn the driver of an imminent change. Its color once again was to be determined by considerations of contrast, distinctiveness and visibility. The eventual choice was green.
At a meeting of railway officials in Birmingham, England, in 1841, it was finally agreed to make red, green, and white the standard signals for "danger," "caution," and "go ahead."
\IGreen for "Go"\i
It did not take long for "white" to prove the wrong color for "go." Bitter experience taught that it was far from ideal. In fact, it could prove fatal. And for a very pertinent reason. At that early stage, kerosene lamps served as the source of light. Any color other than white was produced by fixing a colored glass plate in front of the lamp.
It sometimes happened that the glass plate was smashed or just fell off. In either case the red warning light instantaneously changed into the white "go ahead." An approaching train then had no apparent reason to stop. Full steam ahead it would rush on, with possibly disastrous consequences.
White had proved unsuitable also for another reason which could cause confusion, if not a collision. After all, the white lamps were not the exclusive property of railways or used as traffic signals alone. They served generally and in an ever greater number, as a source of illumination during night. Therefore how easily could it happen that those in charge of a train could mistake a kerosene lamp put up to shed light as their signal telling them that the "road" was clear. As "green" had already proved its value in clarity and noticeability, it was now appropriated to replace the faulty white.
Indeed, people must have wondered why no one had thought of it previously. Green, after all, was a "natural" color. It was the \Jhue\j of all foliage and growing things. Man knew it so well environmentally that it spelled out to him life, safety and normality. Like the green sap in a plant, it was symbolic of motion, drive, and vitality. Therefore, from the very beginning it should have been the obvious color for signaling permission to proceed. Thus green found its rightful place in the scheme of traffic lights. All that was needed now was to find a replacement color to "caution" drivers. The (second and final) choice fell on yellow-amber.
That is how green, yellow, and red became the standard combination of colors for railroad signals. The New York, \JNew Haven\j, and \JHartford\j Railroad, USA, was the first to introduce them in 1899.
\IFrom Rail to Road Traffic\i
The increase of road traffic in cities necessitated its regulation. Policemen on point duty did a good job, but soon were outnumbered by intersections demanding attention. It became clear that only mechanical aids could solve the problem. The traffic authorities did not have to go far in their search. They simply adopted and adapted - though very gradually and even before their final standardization - the ready-made and well-tried system of railroad signals. The way this was done has many an intriguing feature, at times not lacking drama.
In England, primary consideration was given to Members of Parliament! To help them safely across the street to reach the Houses of Parliament, the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police in London had the first lights installed at a "danger spot" near Parliament. It was a revolving gas-lit lantern mounted on a pole almost seven meters high, which indicated the red and the green (the latter then still being used for "caution"). A policeman stationed at its base controlled it by turning a lever. These "lights" were inaugurated on 10 December 1868. No one then guessed the hazard they presented. On 2 January 1869, the gas container supplying the lights with fuel exploded, badly injuring the policeman.
One of the world's first electric traffic lights was developed in 1912 in \JSalt Lake City\j, \JUtah\j, USA, by Lester Wire, a detective on the city police force. A wooden box with a slanted roof, the lights were colored with red and green dye and shone through circular openings. The box was mounted on a pole and the wires were attached to the overhead trolley and light wires. It was manually operated. Cleveland, Ohio, adopted a more elaborate electric signal in 1914, which became the prototype of all modern systems. Its two colors (red and green) could be controlled both by hand or by an automatic timer. They were supplemented by warning buzzers. These could still easily be heard, as traffic then was not as deafening as it is nowadays. The number of buzzes - one or two - indicated the direction.
In 1918, New York City put up the first automatic (three-colored) lights. Britain followed suit as late as 1926 with a still manually - operated set in the Westend of London. The first English automatic lights were installed - as a one-day experiment - in the following year at a busy intersection in Wolverhampton, a town in Staffordshire, north - west of Birmingham. The test proved so successful that within a month the new lights were adopted in Leeds, and, subsequently, in Edinburgh, to become eventually and inevitably a common and essential feature of traffic control everywhere.
#
"Tragedy of the Picnic Train",2338,0,0,0
Two graves in the Broken Hill Cemetery recall the only occasion when blood was shed on Australian soil in connection with World War I. The casualties were all civilians; four were killed and seven injured. The two terrorists responsible for the tragedy died as well.
On \JNew Year's Day\j 1915, 1,200 men, women, and children were on their way to the annual picnic arranged by the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows at Silverton. Going by train, they occupied trucks usually employed to transport ore.
About three kilometers from Sulphide Street Station, an ice - cream cart was parked close to the railway fence. Oddly, it was displaying the Turkish flag. Although Turkey, as \JGermany\j's Ally, was then at war with \JAustralia\j, no one took much notice of it, or of two men crouching nearby.
The moment the train came alongside them, the men opened fire, pumping 20 to 30 shots into the happy crowd of picnickers. The train did not stop, but sped on till it reached the Silverton Tramway Company's reservoir, from there to phone for the police and a doctor.
The two attackers, ever after referred to as Turks, ran away. On their flight, they killed yet another man.
The news of the incident spread fast. Members of the Rifle Club and citizen forces joined the police to pursue the murderers, who had taken refuge in an outcrop of \Jquartz\j. In the ensuing shoot-out, one of the Turks was killed and the other fatally wounded.
The inquest revealed that both men were well known in Broken Hill and were friends. Gool Mahomed, the younger of the two and an Afghan, was the ice-cream vendor, and he had instigated the attack.
His \Jaccomplice\j was a 60 year old Indian, Mulla Abdulla. For 16 years a resident in the city, he had worked as a camel driver. In more recent times, he had also served the local Muslim community as their ritual butcher. Not so long ago, he had been caught illegally slaughtering a sheep on unlicensed premises. He was duly fined. Unable to raise the money, he was disgruntled and ready to do anything to vent his \Jspleen\j.
It was not difficult for Gool to persuade him to take his revenge and simultaneously prove his support for Turkey which, oddly, he considered his country and had visited several times prior to the war. Should he himself be killed in the attempt, his would be a glorious death, ensuring him perfect happiness in the hereafter. Whatever happened, he could not lose. And the picnic train was just the right sort of target - he could hardly miss.
Seventeen-year-old Alma Priscilla Cowie is one of the two victims buried in the Broken Hill Cemetery. Standing next to her friend, she died instantly when a bullet struck her. The inscription on her grave records that she was "Killed on M.U. Picnic Train."
Alfred Elwin Millard, whose is the second grave, was riding his \Jbicycle\j along the train track, inspecting water pipes, when he was gunned down. A bullet penetrated his head and killed him. The text on his stone states that he "Met his death on the New Year Day Tragedy."
It is not known for sure what happened to the Turks' bodies, and their burial place continues to be a matter of speculation. It has been suggested that, covered in \Jquicklime\j, they were interred in the prison precincts. Another version tells that they were put into the ground at night, somewhere along the railway line. The Muslim community, greatly shocked by the incident, refused to be involved in it in any way.
The Turks' deaths were not the end of the unfortunate event, which had the most unpleasant consequences. Broken Hill citizens blamed the Germans among them for the incident. Anti-German feeling ran high and the German club was burned down. Afghans, too, were victimized, and the police and military personnel had great difficulty protecting the Afghan camel drivers' camp on the outskirts of the town.
One mine immediately dismissed all workers of "enemy nationality," and the accusations and suspicions did not remain local; the "fever" spread to the highest places. Ultimately, the Attorney General was prompted to point to the danger of keeping "enemy subjects" at large.
#
"Tragic Deaths",2339,0,0,0
To die a natural death, if possible whilst asleep, is the wish of all. But many are not so fortunate. Disease takes its toll; fatal accidents abound; not least, occupational hazards have been responsible for many a tragic passing.
Not a few epitaphs mention the deceased's cause of death. It is an awesome reminder not only of the pain and loss suffered, but of the sacrifice brought in the building up of the Australian nation and of the many perils that faced its pioneers. It also serves as a reminder of how much man has advanced by his conquest of many formerly deadly diseases.
#
"Tram: Origin of the Name",2340,0,0,0
It has been suggested that the tram was so called to honor a person, though opinions differ as to whom. According to some it was named after Sir James Outram (d. 1864). He was a renowned British army commander in India whose brilliant military exploits had made him a famous and popular figure at the time, well meriting public recognition. Another less martial and noble derivation traces the (name of the) tram to a Benjamin Outram. He owned a quarry in the English county of \JDerbyshire\j. This claim is not as far-fetched as it may appear, if it is realized that the earliest trams were not used to transport people but to move coal from mines and stones from quarries.
Actually, the "tram" is of a much earlier origin and goes back to at least 1555. Its description is not the (truncated) name of any Englishman, but refers to one of the significant features of the trucks which were the immediate forerunners of modern trams. To facilitate their movement along the often uneven and difficult ground near the mine or quarry, they ran on rails Initially, these were wooden beams, known as \Itraam\i in Old German. The "cars" were called after them. Unfortunately, along the way, people forgot where the tram really came from and, interested to know not only its destination but also its origin, derailed it, as it were.
#
"Transference of Sin",2341,0,0,0
The primitive mind believed that it was possible to transfer evil (of many kinds) on to another being, or even an inanimate object. Just as a man can shift a load of wood from his own back on to that of another man or animal, ancient man reasoned, he could do likewise with the guilt, the sickness, or the evil that "burdened" him.
This general principle was applied all over the world. Only the individual way this was done differed in the various cultures. Often an animal or a bird served as the "\Jscapegoat\j." It was let loose or let fly, driven off perhaps by pelting it with stones, cast into a river or down a cliff, ritually slaughtered or burned to ashes.
Preceding the Hebrews by hundreds of years, the example of an actual \Jscapegoat\j was known in the civilizations of the \JHittites\j and Babylonians. At the time of a plague, \JHittites\j ceremoniously sent a \Jgoat\j, symbolically laden with the dreaded disease, into enemy territory. They believed that it would carry the pestilence with it. In this way a dual purpose was simultaneously achieved: it would take away the scourge from them; and give it to their foe, thereby eventually destroying him. In Akitu, the Babylonian celebration of the New Year, a \Jgoat\j took the place of man and was sacrificed to the goddess of the abyss.
Incas used a black \Jllama\j to take away their sicknesses. Another South American Indian tribe appointed the guinea pig as its \Jscapegoat\j. Similarly, Moroccans kept a wild boar in their stables. They thought it would attract and divert the evil spirits out to harm their precious steeds.
In Britain, Shropshire people beat a cat to expiate their sins. The \JBible\j demanded (Lev. 14,7) that a man who had been cured from \Jleprosy\j had to release in a field a bird dipped in the blood of its slaughtered fellow. No doubt, it was imagined that the bird would take the place of the afflicted person, taking with it his dreadful disease.
To this very day, orthodox Jews observe a similar practice on the day before \JYom Kippur\j. Symbolically they transfer their sins to a fowl, the \IKapporah Huenchen,\i as it is called in \JHebrew\j-\JYiddish\j phraseology. The purpose it serves is made perfectly clear by the actual ritual. Prior to killing the bird, they swing it around above their head three times and while doing so recite a formula, saying: "This is my substitute, my vicarious offering and atonement." They imagine that the chicken, by its death, suffers for their sins and thereby shields them from the punishment which really should be meted out to them!
In some mythologies, the search for a \Jscapegoat\j went beyond the animal kingdom. These cultures believed that their own god offered himself as sacrifice for their sins. He died for them - vicariously - just as Jesus Christ did, according to the Christian faith. The event was duly represented and even dramatized in a solemn ritual which became a central part of the religions.
Human beings also died as scapegoats. At one time in \JGreece\j for instance, this role was accorded such honor and privilege that men volunteered for it. Nothing seemed more meritorious than giving one's own life for the sake of others and by doing so ridding them of any feeling of guilt or possession of evil.
The \Jscapegoat\j thus covers a tremendous territory. It extends from the desert of \JSinai\j to everyday modern speech and from the practice of gruesome rituals to noble human self-sacrifice. It includes the story of a god dying for man's guilt and the occult belief in the devil.
It is strange to realize that the actual word "\Jscapegoat\j" was first coined as late as 1530 when William Tyndale translated the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j into English. It was his attempt to render adequately the mysterious Azazel as it appears in the book of Leviticus. In his version, Tyndale spoke of "the goote on which the lotte fell to scape."
#
"Traveler's Checks",2342,0,0,0
To carry large sums of cash has become a dangerous practice, not least so when traveling abroad. Loss or theft may leave the victim not only all the poorer but stranded in foreign parts of the world. At best, it will cause him time-consuming trouble.
Centuries ago, travelers equally shunned carrying large sums of bulky cash which, in most cases, was not accepted in foreign countries. "Letters of Credit" were thus introduced. However, they proved only partially successful, as few banks would cash them and they could easily be forged.
A London banking company (in 1792) tried to solve the problem. It presented customers with what were called "circular notes" valued at ú20 each. Arrangements were made with just under a hundred institutions to honor them.
Nevertheless, it was not an ideal solution. Though insured against loss or theft, the use of the notes was limited, both in the amount of money thus being carried and, more so, the number of places where the notes could be cashed.
An overseas trip in 1890 by James Fargo, the brother of famous William ("Wells") Fargo, and president of the American Express Company, was responsible for the invention of the modern traveler's check. Not burdening himself with lots of cash, he carried - as he thought - a sufficient number of letters of credit. To his dismay, he found that many European bankers refused to accept them and, consequently, Fargo was short of money.
On his return to New York, still irate by what had happened to him spoiling his trip, he lost no time in contacting Marcellus F. Barry, a member of the firm and renowned for his financial genius. He told him of his unhappy experience and asked him to work out a method which would avoid any recurrence of the problem.
Barry - also nicknamed "the Edison of Finance" - set to work at once. Realizing how difficult it was to forge a signature, he presented Fargo with the idea to create some document which was to carry it owner's signature and was to be valid only if, in the presence of responsible officials, he was able to countersign it. Any difference with the "original" signature would immediately be recognized.
Rather appropriately, the first such check (for the amount of $50) was cashed by Fargo's son William, when visiting the German city of \JLeipzig\j.
#
"Treatment of Wounds",2343,0,0,0
The spiritual welfare of man was the chief preoccupation of religious leaders. But not a few prominent clerics, of almost every faith, showed extraordinary regards also for the physical well-being of their flocks, and, as we have already seen, rendered lasting service to medicine.
Yet another was Theodoric, a thirteenth-century Bishop of Cervia. Like the announcement of a lesson from Holy Scriptures sound the introductory words to a medical work he published: "Here begins the Surgery edited and compiled by the Dominican Brother Theodoric, Bishop of Cervia."
Theodoric showed great concern for the ailments of the human body and, not least, the treatment of wounds. He refuted the then generally accepted principle that the formation of pus was beneficial. On the contrary, he strongly advised, every effort should be made to avoid the "pussing" of a wound. It was in this connection that the bishop became the first to recommend the application of a simple dressing.
#
"Tree on the Roof",2344,0,0,0
Originally a European custom introduced by migrants elsewhere as well, is the "topping out" of a building when it reaches its full height. The builder then places a tree, preferably a fir, on top to mark the achievement. To begin with this was not done in the way of a joyous celebration of the successful completion of the task, but as a magic rite to ensure the owner's health and prosperity.
Trees have been sacred since days of old. They were worshiped as divine. Placing a tree on top of a building thus put it under the protection of a \Jsupernatural\j guardian who would bring good luck to all who were to live and work inside, and ward off evil spirits. In fact, what a foundation-stone was thought to achieve from below, the magic of the tree was meant to do from the top.
#
"Tree Worship",2345,0,0,0
Early men viewed the world differently: spirits abounded. They made their home almost everywhere. It was all a matter of the lie of the land and man's geographically-conditioned way of life. Wherever and whenever, people felt that they owed a special debt to those invisible forces on whose good will their entire existence depended. If left unpaid, the dues would be collected at tremendous cost to the wayward debtor.
In forested countries, one of the most favored seats of the gods was, of course, the tree. In those regions man realized how his very life was determined by its mysterious growth which, he was convinced, was the result of the spirit that dwelt within. Trees gave him shelter and shade. Their timber enabled him to warm himself, to build a home and to cross waters. Their fruit - such as the \Jacorn\j in the case of the oak tree - would nourish his animals. The rustling of their leaves, particularly at night, was meant to convey a \Jsupernatural\j message. Most of all, from root to the crown, the tree seemed to link earth and heaven.
It is no wonder that worship of trees was one of the early forms of religion. At the beginning, it consisted of the offering of human beings. People were tied to the tree to be sacrificed with arrow shots. In later years, the cruel custom was humanized by completely omitting the body; the shots were aimed straight at the trunk. Figures have been unearthed which depicted the original ritual; they showed a replica of the human body which, pierced with arrows, was bound to a tree.
Both the story of \JRobin Hood\j's forays with bow and arrow in \JSherwood Forest\j and the Swiss account of William Tell (in which the hero aims an arrow at the apple placed on the young boy's head) are not mere national myths. They are echoes of the once very real and widespread custom of sacrificing humans to the spirit of the wood. Men paid for its guidance and guardianship with the life-sap of their own kind!
So deeply engrained was the belief in the magic of trees that man did everything to ensure their growth and prevent their decay. From ancient days onward, arrows symbolized rain. Therefore by shooting arrows into the trunk of the tree they thought to nourish it (by sympathetic magic) with this life-promoting and life-preserving liquid.
The oak was regarded particularly sacred, and especially by the Druids. No doubt, its apparent "evergreen" nature revealed an undying power, the divine spirit.
The ancient \JHebrew\j prophets vehemently castigated their own people for continuing the Canaanite custom of deifying the tree. Tree trunks (with chopped off branches) were erected and worshiped. Sacred to the goddess Asherah, by whose name they were called, and no doubt symbolic of the phallus, the Asherah fulfilled an eminent role in the \Jcult\j of vegetation.
The yule log, now associated with Christmas, assumed its mysterious power by joining the fertility of the earth with the life-giving warmth of the sun. It was thought to help nature magically overcome the darkness of winter and see the rebirth of spring.
Growing yew trees in churchyards and cemeteries also had a significance and a message. Originally, in fact, it was not that yews were planted in churchyards, but that early churches were built near yew trees. Man had observed how the yew kept growing for many centuries, hence it became symbolic of his faith in immortality.
But even those who nowadays continue to "touch wood" (or knock on it) for luck, do so in some degree because of the ancient tree worship. People used to summon the friendly spirit they imagined lived in the tree by knocking on its trunk. By doing so they paid it their respect, and also called on its help to maintain their good luck and to protect them from impending misfortune.
The influence of ancient tree worship thus goes on in the modern world, even though unrecognized. A Chinese proverb has it that "if the roots are deep, there is no fear that the wind will uproot the tree." And this applies as well to its occult traditions.
#
"Trinity of Trinities",2346,0,0,0
A cat has always been looked upon as a mysterious creature, somehow related to "the other world" and therefore endowed, if not with occult power, at least with the gift of telepathic communication. A cat certainly seemed always to fall on its feet (in every sense of the word) and was very tough, resistant and resilient. Hence it was thought to have not just one life but nine. Nine was the multiplication of the sacred trinitarian figure which in itself was worthy to be part of the lives (!) of a being which already the Egyptians had deified.
Man must have realized early the obvious, fertile potency of the nine. The nine months of \Jpregnancy\j demonstrated so plainly its life-giving faculty.
Those juggling with numbers observed yet another outstanding quality and phenomenon of the 9, which added to the mystery of the figure. No matter what other digit it was multiplied by, the digits of the product always added up to 9. Thus, for instance, 6 times 9 makes 54; 9 multiplied by 9 is 81; each time the sum of the digits (5 + 4 and 8 + 1) is the 9. No wonder that those seeking the occult meaning of numbers paid special reverence to this thrice three, the 9 which was the perfect plural.
To give maximum effect to its power of curing disease, the abracadabra was thus worn for exactly nine days.
#
"Trivia",2347,0,0,0
There is a trivial explanation for all trivia. From the Latin, it refers to the intersection of "three roads" - \Itri via.\i
Such a location was very public and, in the early days of leisurely traffic, the crossroads served as a meeting place for all kinds of people. Coming from three directions and possibly from far away, they were only too ready to stop for a while, to exchange gossip, tittle-tattle of little consequence. Their interchange of news and views was soon identified with the very site where it occurred as "three-ways" - trivia!
Going to the other extreme, trivia have been derived not from a mere junction of streets and things happening there, but from academic life. In medieval times, studies of the liberal arts were divided into seven subjects. These were taken up according to a fixed schedule and sequence. Students who, for instance, enrolled at Cambridge University did so at the age of 14, if not before, when their only knowledge was a smattering of elementary Latin. After a preliminary introduction into Latin grammar, they took up a course in logic. This was followed by the study of \Jrhetoric\j based on the Latin text of Aristotle's treatise on the subject.
On having finished this part of their studies, the students became "commencing bachelors." Thus promoted, they advanced to the second and much more profound part of their training. A four-year course, it was comprised of four subjects: arithmetic, \Jgeometry\j, music, and \Jastronomy\j. Its successful conclusion qualified them as masters of arts which entitled them to become lecturers themselves.
Because of the number of subjects studied during this second part of the curriculum, this became known as the "fourfold" course, in Latin the \Jquadrivium\j. In distinction and appropriately, the much less onerous and exacting preceding three-year study of three comparatively minor and basic topics was designated the "threefold" course or, once again using the Latin tongue, the trivium. Thus, the present-day "trivia" (its plural), however trivial, mundane and unacademic, may well be the product of Cambridge University!
#
"Trooping the Colour Parade",2348,0,0,0
\JTrooping the Colour\j has been described as "the most impressive military parade in the world." Ever since 1805, it has been part of the sovereign's birthday celebrations.
The custom, now merely ceremonial, originally played a most important military role. Until the \JCrimean War\j, to inspire troops to feats of bravery, an individual unit's flag was carried ahead of it into battle. Just as important was the flag's function as a rallying point if a company was in danger of being routed or scattered.
This made it essential for the soldiers to be totally familiar with their regimental colors and able to recognize them instantly, even in the heat of battle and the most desperate of situations. Any hesitation on their part could spell death for them or defeat for their company. For this purpose the flag (the "color") was paraded ("trooped") before the men daily. The custom was first practiced in the seventeenth century, in the time of Charles II.
#
"Trouser Braids",2349,0,0,0
The ornamental braiding on tuxedo trousers and those of some uniforms is a remnant from the days when man's trouser legs were worn tightly. This posed a problem as their narrowness made it impossible for him to get his feet in. For this purpose, a row of buttons ran down the sides of the trouser legs for them to be opened up lengthwise. Mostly the buttons were hidden behind a pleat of cloth.
#
"True Father of Croquet",2350,0,0,0
Walter James Whitmore is regarded as the true father of croquet. He roused the spirit of competition and in 1867 challenged other players to meet him at Moreton on Marsh. He beat them all and became the world's first Croquet Open Champion. He then devised a real system of play which he published in 1868 in his book on \ICroquet Tactics.\i At the time, hoops were still nine inches (22.86 cm) wide as compared with the eventual standard size of a mere 33/4 inches (9.52 cm). Whitmore considered any narrower gauge as "absolute lunacy!" Ten hoops were used (instead of the later six) and there was a "turning peg" and a "winning peg" (instead of the single one of the modern game, introduced only in 1922).
Considering a governing body essential, Whitmore convened a meeting in 1868 at the office of the English weekly \IThe Field.\i The result was the formation of the All England Croquet Club, meant to be "analogous to, and perhaps of similar benefit to croquet as the Marylebone Club is to cricket."
In 1870 it acquired four acres (1.60 hectares) of grassy land at Wimbledon for the laying out of proper courts in terraces. A first championship meeting was held and all seemed to go exceedingly well. Indeed, croquet became so popular that its appeal was surpassed only by that of cricket. For some difficult shots, its addicts did not disdain to lie flat on the ground and use the mallet's handle, sometimes rubber-tipped, like a \Jbilliards\j cue, a practice that eventually was banned.
Then suddenly, Major Wingfield's invention of lawn tennis caused a revolution. Lawn tennis courts became an indispensable adjunct to country houses and quickly began first to supplement and then to replace the croquet lawns. The attraction of the new game of tennis proved all-potent; even the croquet club's committee reluctantly felt compelled to admit tennis into its precincts at Wimbledon and lent one of its courts to players of the new sport.
The consequences were disastrous. Within seven years of its foundation, the croquet association's title was extended to read "The All-England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club." Within another five years, croquet had so lost its lustre that no longer was it felt worthwhile to buy a new challenge cup, and the word croquet was deleted from the club's name. The deletion underscored the game's decline.
Croquet, indeed, soon became the butt of jokes. It was said that the game was suitable only for elderly ladies and the vicar. Thirteen years later, croquet made some kind of comeback. Significantly it had to take second place to lawn tennis and the name of the famous club, though readmitting the sport, put it into its "proper" - subservient - place. It called itself now the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. In 1897, the Croquet Association was founded, but three years later its headquarters were moved from Wimbledon to Roehampton and finally to Hurlingham and its original site was wholly taken over by tennis. (More than half a century passed until in 1957 Wimbledon invited croquet back, supplying its players with a court. History seemed to repeat itself, but in reverse.)
Meanwhile, and for many years afterwards, croquet, played with wide hoops, became the garden-party variety, enjoyed by the leisured class and especially ladies. In 1903 the \IGraphic\i described the pastime. "Croquet," it wrote, "has a wonderful hold . . . It is even more popular than golf, and suits equally well the active old lady, or the dashing young girl. It is now generally accepted as a game of skill and the 'shop' talked by croquet players has grown to be as unintelligible to outsiders and as keen and earnest as that of any other sport."
Croquet's development continued to be one of change and of decline, particularly during the two great wars. However, to make it more attractive and interesting for everyone, and again a serious game, its rules were altered and became ever more intricate. Now, indeed, it needed the strategy of a good chess player and the delicacy of touch of a \Jbilliards\j expert. Reconstructed, croquet revived. So simple outwardly, yet when properly played it demanded skill, resource, and utmost accuracy.
#
"Truth Stranger Than Fiction",2351,0,0,0
The proverbial expression that "truth is stranger than fiction" is a condensation of Lord Byron's observation in \IDon Juan,\i which he wrote in 1823 (canto XIV: st. 101): "Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange, - Stranger than fiction."
#
"Tumbler",2352,0,0,0
To call a certain drinking glass a tumbler was once very appropriate and to the point. The original (17th-century) tumbler was not flatbottomed but had a round or pointed base, so that when put down, it would tumble and spill its contents. Its design forced the drinker to empty the glass first, a custom regarded proper at the time.
#
"Turbulent Life - Count de Rossi",2353,0,0,0
The inscription on the stone marking the grave of \JMauritius\j-born Count de Rossi, in the Waverley Cemetery, reads:
\IIn Memory of
My beloved and devoted husband
CAPT. FRANCIS ROBERT LEWIS
COMPTE DE ROSSI
Who fell asleep 13th Nov 1903
In his 81st Year
Waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor.1,7
He that believeth on Me though he were
Dead yet shall he live John XI, 25\i
No one reading the words could guess the turbulent life of the deceased.
Rossi's family came from \JCorsica\j, an ancestry he proudly remembered and referred to whenever possible. In fact, he inherited his noble rank (indicated by a crown above the inscription) from one of his Corsican uncles.
Francis came to \JAustralia\j in 1825 as a child of two, upon the appointment of his father, a former captain in the British army, as superintendent of the \JNew South Wales\j police. His father held the position for ten years and executed his duties so efficiently that at the end of his term of office he was awarded a large grant of land at Goulburn, well over 1,010 hectares. The huge mansion he built on it, he grandiosely called the Rossiville Estate.
Francis inherited it in 1851, and soon made his presence felt all over the district, playing a prominent role in the history of Goulburn and beyond. De Rossi spared no expense in acquiring the best racehorses. When John Gilbert stole three of them, he was not upset; it only proved, he said, the bushranger's excellent judgment of horseflesh.
Eccentric, egotistic, and arrogant in the extreme, Rossi insisted that everything be done according to his wishes. As captain of the Goulburn Volunteer Rifles, he expected members of his corps, even when in civvies, to salute him. Generally, his instructions were obeyed. However, his demeanor and autocratic attitude caused unpleasant fights, sensational incidents and, at times, costly litigations.
He created a veritable turmoil as a trustee of St Saviour's Church, a congregation he had supported with generous contributions, when it was made a cathedral. He accused the bishop of "misappropriation" and of depriving the local community of its rightful spiritual care. He lost no opportunity to vociferously voice his protests.
On one occasion, he even interrupted the Holy Communion Service. Standing up in the aisle, he loudly denounced the bishop for ignoring the Goulburn parishioners' needs.
Eventually, Rossi could not maintain his position or continue to dictate to other people. He experienced a fast decline in his fortunes and, with it, in the power he wielded. He had to sell his beloved Rossiville. The \JNew South Wales\j Government purchased it, intending to use it as a mental asylum, a plan never realized.
De Rossi died an old and disillusioned man. His first wife had divorced him for desertion. He had married again, but as he had no children, after his widow's death no one was left to care for his grave, which nevertheless is still in remarkably good condition. It reflects the past grandeur of de Rossi's tempestuous life, distinguished by his disregard of all conventions, by contentiousness and by irrepressible \Jegoism\j.
#
"Turkey for Dinner",2354,0,0,0
For centuries, the boar's head and the fattened goose were the main course for an English Christmas dinner. The turkey was imported from the USA to Europe, reaching the UK in the 1520s. Once there, however, it soon "gobbled up" the traditional English Christmas fare!
There were several reasons for turkey becoming so popular. For one thing, the bird was conspicuous by its bulk and patterned feathers, and it attracted further attention by the way it strutted about the farmyard - it almost asked to be served in honor of Christmas. Most of all, however, it was the delicious taste of its savory and succulent meat that established the turkey as a popular and permanent feature of the Christmas table.
#
"Turkeys from Mexico",2355,0,0,0
A Christmas dinner would be incomplete without a turkey, just as ever since the first American Thanksgiving Day in 1621, the fowl is part of its (culinary) celebration. Who then would imagine that the bird's very name is an alias, a counterfeit? No bird could be further removed from Turkey than the turkey, which became the victim of a multiplicity of mistakes.
The turkey is an American bird, first domesticated in Mexico. From there (in 1530) Spaniards brought it to Europe. Where eventually it reached England, the British confused it with the \Jguinea fowl\j, an earlier African arrival (from Guinea). This has been misnamed a turkey, because "Turkish traders" had imported it. It was a real mix-up.
#
"Turkish Bath",2356,0,0,0
The Turkish Bath is neither a bath nor Turkish. However, because it was introduced into Europe from the \JMiddle East\j at the time when the Turkish \JOttoman Empire\j dominated that entire region, it was regarded "Turkish." In Turkey itself, it was known as \IHamman,\i an Arab word recalling the "heat" generated by the steam which induced copious \Jperspiration\j.
Its prototype was a very similar kind of bath, already known to the Romans. They treated the body with a sequence of sweating, cold baths, and oiling of the skin.
#
"Turkish Puzzle Ring",2357,0,0,0
The Turkish puzzle ring has been adopted and admired in many countries. This ring is not one solid band, but is made from various parts, combining at least three bands which are cleverly interlocked. Any attempt to put them back together once they are separated presents an exacting and formidable puzzle. A puzzle ring may therefore be a very thoughtful gift, providing a friend with long hours of entertainment, or a group with a lively contest as to who can first achieve the feat of reassembling it.
Traditionally, however, the ring was first introduced for a totally different and not so pleasant reason. It was a gift from a mistrustful husband to his wife! If he was about to go to war or take an extended trip, and was afraid that during his absence she might get bored and be tempted to yield to other men's advances, he had to find some means to keep her busy. What could better achieve this aim than to give her, on his departure, a disassembled puzzle ring? "Puzzling out" how its parts fitted together would fully occupy her, theoretically leaving her no time for any other activity. On his safe return, the husband would expect to find the ring in one piece!
An alternative explanation is also based on this idea of a husband's determination to guard his wife's chastity during any absence on his part. However, this time it was not by presenting her with the various parts of the ring, but with the complete item. He placed it on her hand and she was to keep it there till his return. If she removed it to hide her married status, the ingeniously interlocked pieces would come apart and she would have great difficulty rejoining them, thus revealing her unfaithfulness. Aware of this threatened "give-away," she would, hopefully, refrain from committing adultery and the puzzle ring would have achieved its purpose as a safeguard against infidelity.
#
"Turn Down a Proposal",2358,0,0,0
To "turn down" a suitor is not merely an expressive phrase, but based on a custom once practised in colonial America. A young man, not bold enough to "pop the question," proposed to a young lady silently and with the additional aid of magic! He placed a mirror in front of the girl. But prior to doing so, he looked into it, convinced that magically it would retain his reflection which the girl would see.
If she fancied him when gazing into the glass she would smile. It was her acceptance of his unspoken proposal. If, however, she rejected him, all she would do was to turn the mirror face downward. Without the exchange of a single word, he knew that he had been "turned down."
#
"Turn the Tables",2359,0,0,0
In a reversal of fortune it can be said that the tables are turned.
The phrase has been traced to \Jboard games\j, such as draughts, chess, and \Jbackgammon\j in which, suddenly, the winning player becomes the loser. It has even been suggested that, far from being a mere figure of speech, the saying recalled a ruse. The change of luck was the result of opponents about to be beaten, by surreptitiously reversing the board ("turning the table") placing themselves on the winning side.
A second derivation links the saying with entertaining guests, and a very practical type of table once in existence. It fulfilled a dual purpose: for meals to be served on and as a workbench. For this reason its top was reversible. The side with a smooth surface was used for eating, and the other side, the rough one, used for manual chores. To turn the table on a visitor for the rough side to be on top, without saying a single word, clearly indicated how busy one was. Work had to be done and there was no time to act as a host to serve food. The message could not be missed.
Totally different and far-fetched, both in time and credibility, is the claim that the phrase goes back to ancient Roman days and an argument between spouses. It concerned money spent, or rather wasted. In those days, it is said, men liked to own tables of the most expensive timber and therefore highly priced. They had no qualms about purchasing them. When chiding their wives for having been too extravagant in spending money on unnecessary luxuries for their own pleasure, literally as it were, these turned the tables on them - as a silent reminder of their own wastefulness. Their gesture was well understood and fulfilled the purpose.
#
"Turncoat",2360,0,0,0
Turncoats who, without qualms of conscience, change their allegiance to the opposite side, take their name from mercenaries of former days. These military merchants, as they could be called, sold their martial services. They fought in wars not because they were conscripted or believed in the cause. Though adventurers, their main motive was the money they were paid for their services.
In those days uniforms were not camouflaged. On the contrary, they were distinctly and conspicuously colored. The purpose of the practice, of course, was clearly to identify the country or the army for which the soldier was fighting and therefore to be able to distinguish between friend and foe. It also added to men's morale and their sense of pride.
When a mercenary realized that the forces he had joined were about to lose the battle, his only concern was to save his own life. With this aim in mind, he took off his uniform jacket and turned it inside out. All that was now visible was the coat's lining. Of a drab and unidentifiable color, it would hide his former allegiance. He was truly a turncoat.
#
"Turning Back Time",2361,0,0,0
Everyday speech and popular practice frequently lag behind scientific progress. This even applies to watches and clocks which indicating the advance of time, really should remind man of its changes. When adjusting the hands of their timepiece, people are still reticent to turn them back. They imagine that this might damage the works. They do not realize that there is no need to worry any longer, as modern mechanism allows the hands to turn either way.
#
"Turnip: Origin of the Name",2362,0,0,0
"Neap" - the old English word for "round" - was the descriptive name given to the common vegetable which served \Jcattle\j, sheep, and men as a nourishing staple food. By the sixteenth century people must have forgotten its meaning, because they preceeded the "neap" by the French \Itour,\i equally referring to the root's "roundness." This created our \Jturnip\j (a contraction of the \Itour\i and the \Ineap),\i which is thus round twice over, as it were a double circle.
#
"Tuxedo",2363,0,0,0
Several strands are woven into the tuxedo. Its name is derived from that of a tribe of \JDelaware\j Indians. These worshiped the wolf as their \Jtotem\j. In awe of the animal, and afraid that the mere mention of its name might summon it to do harm ("talk of the devil"), they cautiously referred to it as "round foot," identifying it by the shape of its paws. They did so in their native tongue as \Iptaksit.\i Adopting their \Jtotem\j's name as their own they became known as the Ptuksits.
When the white man moved into their area forty miles north of New York he named a lake there after them, but (mis)pronounced it Tuxedo. Years later, an exclusive residential community was established nearby and become known as Tuxedo Park. To buy into the estate was regarded a privilege, reserved only for the upper class. Members had to follow strict rules.
At a function held in 1866 in celebration of the opening of a men's club, one of the members turned up rather oddly attired. Instead of wearing the expected formal dress, he had donned a new-fangled sort of jacket that lacked the traditional swallow tails. Fed up with the cumbersome tails, so the story goes, he had the suit tailor-made in London for his own convenience.
The jacket immediately caught the attention of everyone present, among them a member of the famous Astor family who, on the spur of the moment, dubbed it the "Tuxedo coat." It set the fashion nationwide and, omitting the (word) coat, tuxedo was adopted throughout the English-speaking world. It is a strange way for men to dress in wolves' clothing of a different type.
#
"Tweed: Origin of the Name",2364,0,0,0
The rough, hard-wearing cloth known as tweed, is not named after the river Tweed, though it was first manufactured in Scotland. A clerical error and not a geographical feature is woven into (the name of) the material. Its original description was not tweed at all, but "tweel," the Scottish for "twill," recalling the manner in which it was made. Unfamiliar with the \JGaelic\j tongue, people came to assume that not tweel, but tweed was the correct name of the fabric.
#
"Twelfth Anniversary",2365,0,0,0
\BThe Linen Anniversary
Gift Suggestions\b
After 12 years of marriage, much of the wedding or trousseau linen will have probably worn out. Therefore, gifts of sheets, pillowcases, towels, serviettes, tablecloths, and hand or guest towels may all be welcomed.
#
"Twelfth Night Celebrations",2366,0,0,0
The "Twelfth Night" after Christmas concludes the festive season.
In earlier times, this was the last opportunity for exuberance and revelry before people returned to their regular routine, so they used to spend the night with games, disguises and plays. Among the comedies often performed was Shakespeare's \ITwelfth Night.\i It was specifically written for this occasion and was first produced in 1602.
#
"Twelve Days of Christmas",2367,0,0,0
In AD 567, at the Council of Tours in \JFrance\j, the Church extended the period of celebrating Christmas to 12 days, from the nativity to Epiphany, the day when Jesus Christ manifested Himself to the world. According to the \JJulian calendar\j, Epiphany was the original Christmas Day celebrated by the Eastern Church, and it is still kept as such by the Armenian Church. It has also been suggested that the Church actually borrowed the idea of this twelve day period from the pagan celebration of the winter \Jsolstice\j, Saturnalia.
The "twelve days of Christmas" was a very festive time, distinguished by exuberant, even riotous, behavior. Activities included the appointment of a Lord of Misrule, or King of the Bean, the lighting of bonfires, pouring \Jcider\j over apple trees and, not least, wassailing.
No doubt that now-famous folk song greatly contributed to the popularity of the idea of making Christmas last for longer than one day. This song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," became part of the traditional Twelfth Night party of the 16th and 17th centuries, when mince pies and iced cakes were eaten for the last time. The whole company would join in all twelve verses, repeating the text after a leader. As the verses became progressively longer - and therefore harder to remember - anyone making a mistake had to pay a forfeit. The task would be difficult enough when sober, and even more so after plenty of "Christmas spirit" had been drunk!
\IOn the 12th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
12 lords a-leaping, 11 ladies dancing,
10 pipers piping, 9 drummers drumming,
8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming,
6 geese a-laying, 5 gold rings,
4 calling birds, 3 French hens,
2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.\i
#
"Twentieth Anniversary",2368,0,0,0
\BThe China Anniversary\b
China is an apt gift choice for this anniversary. Certainly, after 20 years of marriage, it is likely that quite a few treasured pieces may have been lost or broken.
Apart from this practical consideration, the \Jsymbolism\j of china prompts some thoughtful observations. Just as a precious piece of china gains in value with the passing years so too, after 20 years together, will the couple have enriched each other's lives. And, just as they might be wanting to replenish their china collection at this time, they may also wish to reaffirm their vows for the years to come.
Such appreciation is all the more appropriate in our modern times, when we witness so many marriage break-ups. Perhaps the "china" anniversary may also serve as a reminder that a marriage may become fragile if care is not taken to preserve it.
The best part of a happy marriage is coming home after a trying day and being able to discuss your woes with an understanding partner.
\BGift Suggestions\b
Select from the enormous variety of china objects which may be bought - from ornaments to a dinner service or a special cup - depending on the recipient's taste.
#
"Twenty-fifth Anniversary",2369,0,0,0
\BThe Silver Anniversary\b
Unlike most of the other anniversaries which owe their designation to the type of gift suggested, the naming of this anniversary is linked with a beautiful and romantic tradition. Many years ago, the sharing of 25 years of marriage was commemorated by the husband placing a wreath of silver on his wife's head. This act expressed so much more than words could ever say.
Even though the tradition has been abandoned, the naming of the silver anniversary still holds a special magic - the value of a couple's marriage being indeed comparable to the qualities of sterling silver.
\IMarriage in amity is this world's paradise.\i
\BGift Suggestions\b
ò Silver platter or tray
ò Tea or \Jcoffee\j set
ò Cutlery
ò Vase or jug
ò Jewelry - watch, bracelet, necklace, or ring
ò Cufflinks, tiepin, or tie-tack
#
"Twenty-one Guns",2370,0,0,0
A loyal salute of "21 guns" is not as "odd" a number as might at first appear. It was chosen with utmost care, for the king himself and for those representing him. The figure was endowed with tremendous magical power brought about by the multiplication of two vital numbers: three times seven makes twenty-one!
The reason for the choice of this combination of shots in welcoming a king was not to honor but to protect him. However, this magic shield was not directed against possible attacks by human foes but by devilish forces, whose constant desire was to inflict harm on those specially dedicated and consecrated, as kings were.
The devil himself has his weak spots. He was very allergic to noise, which would make him depart hurriedly. And what could be better and louder than the violent bang made by the firing of a gun? But to repeat this twenty-one times made absolutely sure of the departure of the archfiend and thereby the safety of the king. The devil was unable to endure bombardment with three times seven blasts!
The identical magic background of 21 - as the multiple of the lucky 3 and sacred 7 - caused man to believe that life was renewed at the age of 21. It was a year of destiny. Reaching it, life started all over again, a fact legally recognized by giving citizens full responsibility and declaring a person to have come "of age." This magic spell has now been broken in our so much faster life-style, when in many countries the prosaic 18 (years) has taken the place of the magic 21.
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"Twinkling Stars",2371,0,0,0
Stars do not twinkle. They only appear to do so. The optical illusion is the effect of the atmosphere through which the light reflected from the stars passes on its way to the earth. Ann Taylor's well-known rhyme, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," certainly did its part to perpetuate the wrong interpretation of the phenomenon.
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"Two Founders of Melbourne",2372,0,0,0
Sometimes several people are given the credit, or themselves assert to have been the first to accomplish something. Such contradictory claims occur even in cemeteries. The headstones on the graves of two men eulogize each of them as "the founder of Melbourne." Buried in separate cemeteries of the city, John Batman and John Fawkner, are both remembered (and honored) as such.
Fawkner's monument, in the Melbourne General Cemetery, has no equal. A large structure, solidly built of heavy stone, it has a shingled roof and a bench in front of its entrance. Inside on the back wall, underneath a striking relief of Fawkner's profile, a stone tablet bears the inscription:
\IHere Lies
The Mortal Remains of
JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER
who founded the City of Melbourne
August 29th 1835.
Born October 20th 1792 at London
Died September 4th 1869 at Smith St Collingwood
Aged 77 Years\i
Buried with Fawkner are his wife and parents.
Batman, the other claimant, is buried in the cemetery which, ironically, is named after Fawkner - the Fawkner Memorial Park.
The confusion of claims was brought about by the two men's almost simultaneous arrival in the area. After having, on 6 June 1835, signed his famous treaty with the \JAborigines\j, by which he purchased land for the future Melbourne, Batman temporarily returned to \JVan Diemen's Land\j. Meanwhile, Fawkner's party reached Port Phillip and he was later to claim that, as early as April of that year, he had planned to form a settlement.
Inevitably, the two parties clashed. Ultimately their conflict was resolved by making the new settlement a joint venture and agreeing to call the township, oddly, Bearbrass, a name ratified by Governor Bourke in 1836, but changed to Melbourne, after the then British Prime Minister, in the following year. Apparently the controversy as to who was Melbourne's founder never died.
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"Two Life-boat Crew's Graves",2373,0,0,0
People are impressed by numbers, forgetting that every individual counts. A disaster is no less a disaster because it involves the loss of just a few. Buried in the grounds of the small, serene cemetery at Robe are the remains of two members of a lifeboat crew, drowned on 23 June 1883, when their craft capsized.
Thomas Barret Brown was 64 years old at the time; William Savage was much younger. Paradoxically, while practicing to save lives, they themselves drowned.
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"Two Strings to a Bow",2374,0,0,0
For millennia, one of the chief weapons employed in warfare was the bow and arrow. They proved their value equally in hunting. During the pursuit of an enemy or a quarry, it sometimes happened that the string broke, rendering the weapon useless. Wisely, therefore, warriors and hunters carried with them (at least) a second string to their bow. In case of emergency, it was of inestimable worth, possibly preventing the loss of (one's) life or prey.
Though the bow and arrow are obsolete now, except in sport, they have left their impact on speech. In pursuit of an aim, it is always wise to have in reserve an alternate plan, in case the first one fails. Those adhering to this principle can well be described as having "two strings to their bow."
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"Two Sweethearts and a Murderer",2375,0,0,0
Acts of violence, on the \Jtelevision\j and cinema screens and in actual life, have become a daily occurrence. But the horror of a grisly double murder in \JAustralia\j in 1932 has not faded, and is still recalled by the graves of the victims and the executed murderer.
It is the story of how a romance ended in tragedy, with the culprit paying the ultimate penalty within four months. As if to keep apart the perpetrator of the crime and his unfortunate victims even in death, they are buried in separate cemeteries.
The grave of the murderer, William Moxley, can be found in the Botany Cemetery, where his body was entombed after his execution at Long Bay Prison. His two young victims lie close to each other at Rookwood.
Twenty-five year old Frank Wilkinson and 20 year old Dorothy Ruth Denzel were sweethearts. As so many times before, on the evening of 5 April 1932, they went for a drive in Frank's red Alvis sports car. This they parked near the Rookwood crematorium, in a lonely spot favored by lovers.
A hooded man, carrying a gun, emerged from the bushes and, after brutally murdering the unfortunate couple, buried them separately in hastily dug shallow graves, one quite a distance away from the other.
After waiting in vain for Frank and Dorothy to return home, their families reported them and the car missing. Foul play was first suspected when the police received information that an Alvis had been left in a garage in Ashfield. It was Frank's. A \Jfingerprint\j led them to the killer; it belonged to William Cyril Moxley, well known to the police as a habitual criminal.
Now the search for the missing couple was on in earnest. It took six days for their bodies to be discovered - the first one after the gruesome sighting of a hand sticking out of the grave. Just over a week later Moxley was apprehended. He claimed that he did not remember seeing, far less killing Wilkinson. However, he also stated that he was suffering from delusions.
Tried and found guilty, he was hanged on 17 August.
In a letter to a friend from Long Bay Prison, written just prior to his execution (and published in the \IDaily Telegraph\i of Friday 12 August 1932), he reaffirmed his innocence, or at least his ignorance of having killed the couple. "Tell them, I told you, I have no knowledge of ever fighting or seeing Wilkinson."
He bequeathed his body to Sydney University "to further science." If they would accept his legacy, he would ultimately return to the very place where he had started his working life exactly 20 years earlier. In 1912, Moxley had been engaged as a \Jtelephone\j attendant at the university. The reference given to him on his resignation a year later certified that he had shown himself always "to be courteous, honest, and industrious."
Moxley himself must have wondered what made him a double murderer. Indeed, this was the very purpose of his gift to the university. He hoped that the post-mortem, particularly the examination of his brain, would confirm the veracity of his claim and thereby exonerate him. In the words of the \ITelegraph,\i he was "asking death to prove for him what life had denied."
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"Tying the Knot",2376,0,0,0
"Tying the knot" certainly is a descriptive \Jmetaphor\j of marital union. Like so many phrases, however, which nowadays appear to be solely figurative, once upon a time it applied literally. In ancient Babylonian days, threads, taken from the garments of both the bride and groom, were tied into a knot. This was not a symbolic practice but believed to act as a magic means of ensuring the oneness of the couple.
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"Uncertainties on Rottnest Island",2377,0,0,0
Almost nothing remains of the once walled-in cemetery on Rottnest Island, just off the mouth of the Swan River, 30 kilometers west of Perth. The few graves still in existence are hard to identify, as whatever is left of their inscriptions has become almost illegible.
Conjecture and imagination have played their part in suggesting who rests there. One grave is said to be that of a convict, which would not be surprising, as in 1839 Rottnest was proclaimed a penal settlement.
Others, of a more romantic bent, however, have claimed that the tomb is that of a young Dutch or French naval rating, killed whilst fighting a duel on the then still unsettled island.
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"Uncle Sam Origins",2378,0,0,0
"Uncle Sam" became the nickname for the Americans during the "War of 1812" between Britain and the United States.
At the time, Samuel Wilson, a meat packer and former bricklayer, worked for his uncle, Elbert Anderson, who had a store yard at Troy on the \JHudson River\j in the state of New York. His firm had the contract to supply meat (mostly beef and salted pork) to the army. They despatched it in large barrels.
Samuel Wilson was given the task of inspecting on behalf of the government each delivery. If passing it as fit for consumption, he stamped the individual container with a sign, indicating his approval. The mark chosen was four capital letters: EAUS. They represented the initials of Elbert Anderson's name and those of the United States.
One day, so a story goes, a visitor to the packing shed was intrigued by the four characters on the consignments and asked what they meant. Pulling his leg, one of the workers explained to him that they stood for Elbert Anderson's "Uncle Sam." The choice of "Uncle Sam" in this instance was very appropriate. It was the nickname given to Samuel Wilson both inside and outside the firm. He was a well-known and liked identity in the city. What was meant as a joke was taken seriously and soon adopted far and wide, as the personification of the American. The authorities welcomed this as, at the time, they realized the role "Uncle Sam" could play as a forceful symbol and propaganda weapon against mighty John Bull, representing the hostile British.
When, in 1854, at the ripe old age of 88, Samuel Wilson passed away, his name did not die with him and as "Uncle Sam" it has been adopted worldwide as a nickname for a typical American and then for the entire American nation.
Years later, in 1868, a cartoonist's art created the picture of the Uncle Sam as it is known today. He was Thomas Nast, who worked for \IHarper's Weekly.\i Oddly, he transferred to him features, such as the goatee beard and the stars on the vest, he had previously used in the drawing of a famous clown.
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"Under the Weather",2379,0,0,0
Who would imagine that those who complain to be "under the weather" are all at sea. The phrase - a clichΘ now - which describes a feeling of being unwell, often accompanied by a mood of dejection, was born on the ocean.
During a gale, seafarers used to take shelter below the deck. In every sense of the phrase, they placed themselves "under the weather." As it were, they went the opposite way to those being on "cloud nine."
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"Undercover Agent Killed",2380,0,0,0
The grave of a police agent who had infiltrated the Ned Kelly gang and was killed by them whilst following his dangerous assignment must be the only one of its kind.
Aaron Sherritt was an ex-policeman's son. From the very beginning, he must have known that - sooner or later - he would be found out and "dealt with."
In \JAustralia\j, it never paid to "dob" anyone in, not least \Jbushrangers\j. As if to continue, even in death, the cover-up role Aaron played in his short life, his burial place, which he shares with his father in the historical Beechworth Cemetery, is still unmarked.
Apart from the few data revealed at the inquest, held on 29 June 1880 and reported at the time in the local press and the \IArgus,\i little is known about Aaron. According to his father, he was 25 years old at his death. It is also believed that, a few months prior to his "execution," he had married a "Miss Burke."
Sherritt closely co-operated with the police and was on their payroll. He had been given the specific task of acting as their undercover agent, in their desperate chase of the notorious outlaws.
However, his services were cut short, as the double role he played was soon discovered. In the evening of Saturday, 27 June 1880, there was a knock on Sherritt's door. Opening it, he was confronted by Joe Byrne, his bushranger friend, who, without any exchange of words, gunned him down. Sherritt certainly was taken by surprise. Four policemen had been assigned to guard him and, at the very time of the murder, were inside the house, but they took no action. Challenged by the assassin, who was aware of their presence, to come outside and fight it out, they made no move.
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"Unexplained Assassination",2381,0,0,0
Two gravestones in the Bourke Cemetery are not only of the same shape and size, but have almost identical wording. Both were put up by the \JNew South Wales\j Government to honor the memory of two police constables - George Robert Armitage and Michael Costigan - "shot dead at Bourke on the 11 September 1877."
The details of their violent deaths, and of the aftermath, are contained in a report of the time, published in the \ITown and Country Journal.\i Entitled "Assassination and Suicide," it reads:
\IA man named Getting, in the employ of Mr. G. Harris, of the Royal Hotel, made a desperate and unexpected attack on the police. He shot Constable Costigan dead on the spot. Constable Armitage attempted to arrest the assassin when he fell mortally wounded by a revolver ball. Inspector Keegan now advanced towards the spot, armed with a revolver, when he also was struck by a bullet and compelled to retire. The assassin then fled to the river, and it is suspected that he has been drowned in attempting to get away.\i
Though subsequently the river was dragged, Getting's body was never found. Altogether, the incident left questions unanswered. What prompted the unexpected fatal assault on the two constables? What happened to the assassin's body - did he in fact manage to escape?
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"Union Jack",2382,0,0,0
Britain's Union Flag - usually wrongly called the Union Jack - records in its name and fusion of three different emblems, the growth of one kingdom out of the successive union of three crowns.
The original English flag was white and bore the plain red cross of St. George, the country's patron saint. He was a 3rd century Christian soldier who had preferred death by beheading to denouncing his faith. The red cross recalled his martyrdom by Roman hands at Lydda, in Palestine. When the English Knights joined in the \JCrusades\j, they identified themselves by the saint's symbol. On their return, the religious emblem eventually became the national flag.
The choice of St. George as a patron has been linked with the tradition that during the \JCrusades\j, the saint's apparition rescued the English from the fury of their \JMoslem\j foes. His sudden appearance on the battlefield threw the Mohammedans into confusion and flight. Thus the English recognized and acknowledged him as their patron. King Edward III adopted his name as a battle cry, and his emblem became the English flag.
St. Andrew was one of the 12 Apostles. A simple fisherman, he, too, suffered martyrdom. The story is told that because he had converted a Roman Consul's wife to \JChristianity\j, her husband had him flogged and afterwards crucified. The cross used for the execution was shaped like the letter X, which explains how this became the saint's symbol and is still called St. Andrew's cross.
His association with Scotland dates back to the tradition that in 368 A.D., a monk transferred some of his relics from Constantinople to Scotland, to be buried there on the east coast, on the very spot where the city and cathedral of St. Andrew's now stand.
The story is further told that when the Picts and Scots were attacked by the Saxons, they called on St. Andrew for help. Looking upward, they noticed a strange formation of clouds. It seemed as if their white vapor had formed itself into the shape of a cross, backed by the blue sky. This appeared to the anxious watchers as an assurance of victory and a manifestation of the saint. Spurred on, they joined in battle and defeated the foe. After their victory, they adopted St Andrew's cross as their emblem, with the specific colors of cloud and sky. It was the birth of the Scottish flag.
When James Stuart came from Scotland in 1603 to ascend the English throne as James I, the two kingdoms were united. The immediate problem was which flag to hoist on the king's ships. English sailors resented the Scottish colors and the Scots scorned the cross of St. George.
A compromise was the answer and it led to the creation of the first Union Flag. In 1606, a royal decree declared that the ships of the Kingdom of \JGreat Britain\j "shall bear on their maintops the red cross, commonly called St. George's cross, and the white cross, commonly called St. Andrew's cross." In 1707, after the Act of Union of England and Scotland, Queen Anne sanctioned this combination.
The white border which surrounds St. George's cross is due not to aesthetic or decorative reasons. It expresses deference to both original flags. Even in their union, they were meant to remain distinct. The rules of \Jheraldry\j demanded that two colors must never be placed on top of each other, or even touch each other. They must be separated by a strip, no matter how narrow.
Neither the year nor place of St. Patrick's birth is known. It was toward the end of the 4th century somewhere in Britain or Gaul. At 16, pirates captured him and sold him as a slave to Ireland. After serving there for six years, he managed to escape to \JFrance\j. However, a vision, so it is said, made him return to the island to rid it from snakes and convert its pagan people to the Christian faith. In pursuit of his task he miraculously overcame the magic and cunning opposition of the Druids.
Because he died an old man from natural causes, no cross was linked with his name at first. The red saltire on a white ground, which eventually became his emblem, dates only from the 12th century and was adopted from the heraldic device of an Irish family.
When the Parliament of Ireland was joined with that of \JGreat Britain\j in 1801, what was then recognized as the cross of St. Patrick was duly incorporated in the Union Flag. Thus the Union Flag recollects in its distinctive markings and colors the inspiring story of three great saints and the traditions of three ancient races which, step by step, grew into one United Kingdom.
The popular but erroneous description of Britain's flag as the Union Jack can be traced back either to naval tradition or to the historic union of Scotland and England.
James I was the first common ruler of the two kingdoms. He signed his name the French way, Jacques, which, spelled phonetically in its English pronunciation, was Jack. Colloquially, people nick-named his new flag the Union "Jack." The term therefore perpetuates the name of a specific king and one of the great moments of British history.
Correctly, however, a Jack relates only to the sea. It is a small flag used by naval vessels for signaling. It received its name because it was hoisted on a mast known as the jack-staff. Thus, in the view of some, the Union Jack refers merely to a flag of comparatively small dimensions used at sea.
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"Unlucky 13",2383,0,0,0
The figure "13" shares the fate of the black cat in man's ambivalent attitudes. It all depends on who and where you are, whether both the cat and the 13 mean to you good luck or misfortune!
Thirteen has not universally been the unlucky number it is now generally assumed to be. Pre-Columbian Mexicans saw in it a divine figure. The Mayas worshiped "the 13 gods of the upper world" and regarded them as so holy that they saw in the "13" collectively one single deity. Thirteen steps led up to the sacred platform on which the \JAztecs\j kept their holy fire burning for exactly fifty-two (4 x 13) years at a time.
Thirteen was then indeed an important magical, if not cosmic figure. Various myths all over the world told of a group of twelve figures who, by the addition of one, grew to the paramount number of thirteen. The sun, thus added to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, made thirteen. Indians in their pantheon paid homage to thirteen Buddhas.
Equally, in the Jewish faith, thirteen has always had a happy and sacred connotation. Interpreting a passage in the book of Exodus (34, 6-7), God was believed to reveal himself by thirteen (of his) attributes, all of which expressed his bountiful mercy. The divine name itself, as it appeared in the tetragrammaton - the four-lettered Yahveh (YHVH) - so numerologists pointed out, added up to a value of twice thirteen. (Y was the numeral for 10; H for 5 and V for 6.)
Still part of every orthodox Jewish prayerbook are the "Thirteen Principles of Faith". They were drawn up in the twelfth century by Moses Maimonides, a philosopher whose constant aim was to be a \IGuide to the Perplexed,\i the very words with which he entitled his main work. To this day, Jewish boys celebrate their Bar Mitzvah, when they become full and responsible members of the community, at the age of thirteen.
Historical circumstance gave the figure "13" a specially happy role in the United States. Because of her original thirteen states, the American flag continues to display thirteen stripes and the \JAmerican eagle\j has thirteen feathers on each wing.
Thirteen was the favorite number of the German composer Richard Wagner. Not only did he take note that his name consisted of thirteen letters, but he was born in 1813, composed thirteen operas and completed \ITannhΣuser\i on 13 March (1845).
Despite all these good associations, there are very understandable reasons for the notion of the "unlucky 13" becoming so deeply rooted in man's mind. It, too, goes back to earliest times. Now part of man's ancestral memory, it has almost become an instinct.
The ability of primitive man to count was limited. He could do so up to twelve but no further. That is why the figures beyond twelve do not have an individual and independent name, but are merely composed of a combination of the description of the previous figures. This might also explain why - for no apparent reason - the traditional multiplication table stops at "12 times 12."
If twelve was the end of the line, thirteen (which followed it) had no exact value and definite meaning at first. Hence it was a most uncertain figure and therefore fraught with mystery. It was like going into outer space - you did not know what to expect. And uncertainty has always caused man to feel uneasy and to be afraid. Utterly scared, he felt countless dangers lurking in this "unknown territory."
It was most of all this enigmatic quality of the "13" that made man fear it and that rendered the figure so fateful and foreboding. This original association has never died and, unconsciously, continues to haunt and to obsess people.
No doubt another observation of later years deepened the ominous quality thus attached to the "13." While "12" was a most "fortunate" number in the way it could be split up and could be seen as a multiple of 3 times 4 and twice 6, "13" stood all on its own. Completely indivisible, it seemed not to mix with anything else. And because of its lonely existence, as if shunning everyone else, it came to be shunned itself.
This applies to the often quoted Norse myth of the twelve gods who gathered for a banquet in \JValhalla\j. Loki gate-crashed the party and increased their number to thirteen which led - so it was claimed - to the death of Baldur, the beloved of the gods.
The fact that "13" became a particularly unlucky number in the Christian tradition may well have its roots in the world of the occult - whether based on real or imagined facts. To begin with, \JChristianity\j as a child of \JJudaism\j actually saw nothing evil in "13." Neither Jesus nor the circle of his (twelve) closest friends shunned it. At the Last Supper, which was to become the prototype of the Holy Communion service, Christ and his twelve disciples rnade up a company of exactly thirteen as, no doubt, they had done many times previously.
But it was this very occasion that made Christians give the "13" its ominous meaning as a fateful number. Because Jesus and his twelve disciples at the Last Supper numbered thirteen, it was later thought, the crucifixion had followed. The meal and subsequent execution of Christ were seen not as a chronological sequence alone but also as a chain of cause and effect. The crucifixion had actually been the consequence of the presence of "13" at Christ's last celebration of the Jewish Passover eve. It was all a matter not of \Ipost hoc\i but \Ipropter hoc.\i
At least this became the fixed idea in many Christian minds, centuries after the event. After all, it seemed only to confirm the widespread pagan tradition of the disastrous effect of any "13."
Later on, when satanic cults tried to ridicule Christian tradition, they introduced the black mass as a mockery of the Last Supper (and the communion service that had evolved from it). And when the followers of black magic, dedicated to occult art, met in their secret covens, it was said (whether true or false really does not matter) that on each occasion they made sure to number thirteen: twelve ordinary witches plus their "warlock" - leader!
The Church was convinced that they had chosen this quorum deliberately, in direct derision of its own sacred tradition, like so many features of the black mass. One theory maintains that it was this association of "13" with witchcraft and devilry that had caused Christians forthwith to decry the figure as evil. It was unlucky and an omen of misfortune. As part and parcel of \Jsatanism\j, no good could ever come out of it. This was a wise move on the part of those concerned with the Christian faith who were anxious to fight a practice so abominable in their eyes. By proclaiming "13" the most unlucky of numbers, they felt they would keep people away from those satanic gatherings.
Thus a chain-reaction developed which by diverse means seemed to be determined once and for all to establish "13" as the unlucky number. If anything, this was reinforced by the pack of \JTarot\j cards: its number "13" is called "Death" and depicted as a skeleton carrying a scythe.
Belief in the "unlucky 13" is the real reason why the thirteen loaves bakers once supplied "in bulk" were never called by their real number, but described as "a baker's dozen." People just did not dare even to utter the unfortunate figure. More so, the thirteenth loaf was regarded as a special bribe for the devil - not to spoil the sale or the bread!
Even as fashionable a hotel as the world-renowned Savoy in London, where the most famous and rich used to stay and to dine, kept a special wooden cat named Kaspar in acknowledgment of the ominous power of "13." If a party was arranged for thirteen guests, to avoid any apprehensions of bad luck, a fourteenth place was specially laid for the feline. And waiters carefully arranged and watched that Kaspar sat through the meal on the fourteenth chair!
Perhaps to make the irrational fear of thirteen respectable, the very sophisticated liked to refer to it in "learned" tongue as "triskaidekaphobia." This sounds so clever but really is so simple. All it does is to say all over again, but this time in Greek (a language in which \Itriskaideka\i is "13"), that people suffer from fear \I(\Jphobia\j)\i of that number.
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"Unlucky Green",2384,0,0,0
The \Jsuperstition\j that green is an unlucky color which might bring misfortune to one who wears it is based on the ancient belief that green was the fairies' color. They treasured it and would resent anyone else using it. This would amount to a misappropriation of their monopoly rights. Their hostility roused, they would be determined to punish the offender.
Actors are known to be superstitious. The very uncertainty of their profession makes them so. Does not the success or failure of a performance depend only too often on irrational imponderables? It is no wonder therefore that they shun the color green, though paradoxically they relax in a "green room." Using green, they, too, would become the target of the possessive little gnomes.
In the case of the theater there was an additional, practical reason to avoid green. To begin with, plays were enacted on lawns in the open. An actor wearing anything green certainly would not stand out. Even when eventually performances were held on an indoor stage, the force of tradition made producers adopt for its floor covering the green lawn color.
Another development rendered the wearing of green even less suitable. The original limelight was of a greenish color. If focused on an actor who wore green, it would make him look insipid. Thus green, the luscious color of the fertile earth became shunned, if not feared, both in daily life and in the theater.
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"Unlucky Opal",2385,0,0,0
The \Jsuperstition\j that the wearing of an opal may bring bad luck is the result of a combination of circumstances and long-held beliefs. It is associated with false reasoning, the sickness of an Italian woman, Spanish royalty, and the fictional character of a world-renowned writer.
One third of Europe's total population died of the \JBlack Death\j that ravaged the continent in the 14th century. At the time, Hungarian-mined opals were a favorite adornment. A Venetian woman who had caught the fatal disease continued to wear the stone even on her sickbed. Those looking after her remarked on its brilliancy.
Soon after her passing, they noticed that the opal had lost all its fire and luster. They imagined this pointed to some strange connection between the wearing of the gem and her death. In the tortuous reasoning of their minds, it did not take them long to assume that, in fact, the opal had caused it. Some malignant power inherent in the stone had killed the patient! Doing so, it had spent all its energy which "explained" why the opal looked suddenly so dull and lifeless.
Point the finger at anything and, sooner or later, people will believe it or at least say that "there must be something in it," and the misdiagnosed cause of the Italian woman's death spread the \Jsuperstition\j of "the unlucky opal."
Oddly enough, people had been right in what they had seen; it was just their interpretation that was at fault. Modern knowledge supplies the true reason for a phenomenon quite correctly observed at the time. Changes of temperature affect an opal's appearance. The unfortunate victim of the plague had been feverish and her overheated body had made the opal shine so extraordinarily. Soon after her death, her body naturally turned cold. The variation in temperature, no doubt had caused the fire in the opal to die as well, at least temporarily.
The story is told that Alfonso XII, King of \JSpain\j (1875-85), on his wedding day had presented a beautiful opal ring to his bride Maria. Two months later she died. At the time, it did not enter the king's mind that there could be any connection between the stone and her passing.
After the funeral thus he gave the precious heirloom to his sister, who died a few days later. Still unsuspecting, Alfonso now passed on the opal to his sister-in-law and with it, so it seemed, also her death sentence. Within the short period of three months, she too passed away.
When the stone was returned to the king, he decided to keep it for himself. He had it made into a tiepin which he wore with pride and with the identical fatal effect. Two weeks later Alfonso was buried.
Playing safe, the Queen Regent now donated the opal to a Madrid church where, protectively, it was suspended from the neck of the statue of the Virgin of Almudena. But the damage had been done to the name of the opal.
Nevertheless, the belief in the opal's death-dealing quality was based on mere \Jcircumstantial evidence\j. Many of the quoted dates and data cannot be substantiated. Rumors grow in the telling. Soon a mere myth was taken to be an undeniable fact.
Modern fiction reinforced the doleful reputation of opals. In his novel \IAnne of Geierstein,\i Sir Walter Scott told the story of Lady Hermione, a charmed princess. She arrived quite suddenly on the scene, from no one knew where. Conspicuously, she wore in her hair an opal which, like herself, seemed enchanted. Somehow it was bound up with her life, reflecting her various moods. Thus it sparkled when Hermione was gay; her anger, however, caused red beams of piercing light to shoot from the stone. Holy water would immediately extinguish its luster.
The phenomena were as mysterious as the woman herself, who eventually vanished as unexpectedly as she had first appeared. Collapsing, she was carried into her room and placed on her bed. Next morning, all that could be found was a small heap of ashes. The spell was broken and the enchantment was at an end.
People are always intrigued by the mysterious, and soon, not least because of Scott's popularity, the novel was avidly read. Readers are only too apt to believe in anything as factual, once they have seen it in print.
A mere confusion of words has been suggested as well as the reason for the \Jsuperstition\j. In Elizabethan times, the opal was spelled "ophal." It appears as such, for instance, in a list of the queen's jewelry. Those knowing Greek soon were reminded of a striking resemblance with the Greek \Iophthalmos\i for "eye."
And did not, in fact, some opals look very much like an eye? Fascinated by the stone's mysterious "lights," it did not take long for people to imagine that some ominous link existed between the eye-shaped stone and the "evil eye." That is how they came to shun the stone.
Not \Jsupernatural\j causes, but very much down-to-earth reasons may have contributed to the opal's bad reputation. At the famous Australian opal-mining center of \JLightning\j Ridge, so the story goes, two men were determined to buy up all stones mined there. To do so at the lowest possible price, they cunningly spread the rumor that bad luck was associated with all opals. Consequently, miners worried about getting stuck with their treasures, let them go for very little money. A bad name, once given to anything, sticks and no logic can ever wash it off.
Lapidaries and jewelers, on the other hand, have also been blamed for the \Jsuperstition\j. And for some very valid reasons. Experience had taught them how brittle the opal could be. Many a time, when asked to set a stone, it fractured. Naturally, that was bad luck for them and their customers. They loathed thus to have anything to do with opals. Their well-founded \Jprejudice\j then attached itself to the stone generally.
It is really no wonder that the opal became an object of so much fear. Of exquisite beauty, it had the distinctive faculty to change its colors swiftly and so mysteriously. Even Shakespeare was aware of this quality which he used in \ITwelfth Night\i (Act 2, Scene 4) to express fickleness, "For thy mind is very opal."
Mystery creates awe and the inexplicable, fear. That is how the opal acquired its ominous quality, no matter what its explanation.
#
"Unlucky Wattle",2386,0,0,0
The wattle is the English \Jacacia\j tree or mimosa. It is said to have received its Australian name from the colony's early English settlers who used its timber and twigs for building their "\Jwattle and daub\j" homes. They had brought from the old country the custom of using thin flexible twigs of a tree to secure the thatch on the roof, and of intertwining the twigs with mud to build a wall. This process was known to them from back home as "wattling." Looking for the most suitable tree to supply the branches, they found the Australian \Jacacia\j which grew abundantly everywhere. Eventually identifying the tree with the practice, they called it a "wattle."
Because a wattle in bloom was a beautiful sight, it was frequently chosen as an Australian national emblem. Nevertheless, in many rural areas it was regarded unlucky to have a flowering wattle indoors. One possible reason was the notion, supported by experience, that wattles caused hayfever. Another more morbid suggestion believes that the smell of the blossoms reminded an imagined odor of the dead.
#
"Unusual Objects",2387,0,0,0
Man's earliest choice for "safeguards" against the \Jsupernatural\j were objects that attracted his attention by some conspicuous and unusual feature that was due, so he reasoned, to some particular "spirit" and occult power which would serve him in his quest.
It might be a branch, a root, or a stone that had a peculiar shape or quality which had caught his eye. A stone, for instance, that strongly reflected the sun or shone in mysterious colors almost asked to be used as an amulet. On the other hand, it might happen that a heavy \Jthunderstorm\j would wash away the top soil and lay bare stones that had been buried for a long time. Yet to the primitive mind these stones appeared to be the very thunderbolts that had just fallen from heaven; because of their assumed celestial source, they must surely be endowed with magic properties. They were god-given amulets.
Of course, anything linked with the deity by its very nature was most obnoxious to the devil and therefore could be made to serve as the best of "charms." So the deity's name in itself, displayed in whichever way chosen, became a favorite repellent of evil design.
Indeed, anything related to divine power would serve to drive away the devil and act as a luck-bringer. This explains the frequent use of blue beads for both man and beast. The choice goes back to the days when people actually believed that God dwelt in heaven and that heaven was up in the sky. (The "pious" of our own days still speak of "looking up" to God!) And because the natural color of the sky was blue, it was regarded a divine color to which, obviously, the devil or any of his kind were allergic. Evil forces just could not bear its sight and the moment they were confronted with blue, they would surely rush away. Therefore to wear blue beads would ward off misfortune.
There is no doubt that ornaments also originated as amulets. To start with, bracelets, pendants, and brooches were worn not for the sake of adornment but as a shield to repel attacks of invisible mischievous beings. That is how, for example, the first pendant came into existence: a man who had picked up stones that had mysterious holes in their centers was convinced of the occult power that dwelt in them. No doubt, the resemblance of the "holey stone" to a woman's private parts (which served as the gateway to birth), added to its life and luck-bringing "qualities." And threading through the hole the first man-made chain (plaited of grass or hair), he suspended the stone as an amulet from the neck of the person to be protected. It was the first "charm."
#
"Unusual Start of Speedway",2388,0,0,0
Speedway \Jmotorcycle racing\j, or dirt-track racing, is the second sport (the first being \JAustralian Rules Football\j) which originated in \JAustralia\j. It was created quite by chance, not as a sport, but as entertainment to fill an unexpected gap in programmed features.
It happened at Maitland, \JNew South Wales\j, in 1925. "Johnny" S. Hoskins was presenting a diversity of attractions as part of the Agricultural Show which was then being held on the Agricultural Society's grounds. He suddenly realized that a scheduled number could not be staged. He had to decide quickly what should be substituted.
A couple of young, local motorcyclists told him that they were prepared to fill the gap by racing around the show ground's grassy track. On a trial run, however, they found that the surface was much too slippery and caused their bikes to skid dangerously. A firmer course was needed to give the tires a better grip. A nearby slag-heap was the solution to the problem. Losing no time, the cyclists covered the track with a coat of cinders and all was ready for the world's first dirt-track race on a short circuit.
It was an immediate success. A new sport had been born of an emergency, just one more of the odd coincidences which have enriched life in so many ways. Hoskins certainly realized at once the great potential of the new sport. A man of initiative and drive, he did not let grass grow under his feet on the new cinder track.
At first, dirt-track races were included as novelty events at Sydney's Speedway Royal. The first permanent dirt-track was laid in 1926 at the Sydney Show Ground. Speedway racing soon spread throughout \JAustralia\j - and far beyond. In 1928 Hoskins himself and A. J. Hunting, a Queenslander, went to England with their teams to establish the sport there and become its successful promoters.
It was yet another mere chance that provided the new sport with one of its finest early exponents who greatly helped to put dirt-track racing on the map of \JAustralia\j and other countries. He is Lionel Van Praag.
A Sydney-born tailor's son, the world of \Jmotor racing\j soon dubbed him "the \JFlying Dutchman\j" because of his Dutch-sounding name. Motorcycles were his passion. His father did not stand in his way, and without much resistance he agreed to lend his 16-year-old son the ú50 with which Lionel acquired his first machine. It was an old touring motor bike that he duly "souped up." He repaid the loan after his first race, having won a prize large enough even to keep some pocket money for himself.
He went to the speedway, mixing with the riders and befriending them. At the time, Johnny Hoskins offered a special opportunity for adventurous youths. They had to run a hundred yards, then grab a machine, race it to a bucket of flour out of which they had to pick an apple with their teeth, jump back on the cycle, and dash on to deposit the apple in a bin further away. Lionel won the race without much effort.
He took up dirt-track racing seriously, making it his career. Soon he became champion, establishing outstanding records on numerous tracks. Well aware that only a perfectly geared machine could attain victory, he started his own, well-equipped workshop. There he not only carried out all repairs himself, but continually experimented, evolving new, specialized equipment.
The world's first dirt-track championship was held in Wembley, London, in 1936, and was won by Van Praag, the "master of the cinders," in the presence of 75,000 spectators.
Australian-born speedway racing now has become a spectacular sporting feature in almost every country, with many exciting variations.
#
"Upper Crust",2389,0,0,0
Speaking of the "upper crust" makes one immediately think of people at the top, constituting what was once called the "upper class." Actually, to start with, the expression was used very literally. It goes back to medieval banquets, when dinner plates were still unknown. Round loaves then took their place. Cut in half, each part served as a plate. Once the guest had consumed the food heaped on their bread "plates," they finished up the meal by eating them as well. There were no leftovers and no need to wash up.
As the upper crust of the loaf was by far the better one, it was reserved for the most honored and important guests. Though a long-forgotten custom, it is recalled in daily conversation, without the crust having become stale. It is used whenever people refer to those making up the elite of society as the "upper crust."
#
"Upshot",2390,0,0,0
The ultimate result of something undertaken is known as its "upshot." A sporting term, the final (and parting) shot in an \Jarchery\j match was once so called. Most likely, it received its name because the shot was aimed upward, into the air.
#
"Urchin",2391,0,0,0
To refer to a mischievous and scruffy youngster as an urchin bestows on them (slightly streamlined to the modern tongue) the archaic name of a \Jhedgehog\j. Several reasons have contributed to the peculiar choice.
Hedgehogs often proved a nuisance. Their continuous poking around in search of food did all kinds of damage. Though they consume a lot of harmful insects, they also have a taste for eggs, in pursuit of which they raid many nests. And was not a street urchin equally destructive to their environment? Like the \Jhedgehog\j, they, too, are a source of irritation, rough and prickly just like this spiky creature.
Going back much further in time and to the world of the occult, it was also once believed that an evil spirit or mischievous goblin possessed the animal - at least for some periods of time, The peculiar noise of its snorting made people imagine that the uncanny sound revealed their presence. No wonder, therefore, that troublesome young people were likened to the \Jhedgehog\j. Its early name of urchin has long been discarded, but the \Jsuperstition\j associated with it concerning the devilish \Jghosts\j that inhabited it has survived in the modern street urchin. It has been seen as an explanation for their ragged appearance and unsavory demeanor.
#
"Urns on Tombstones",2392,0,0,0
\JCremation\j was an early form of committing the dead. In some periods, such as in classical times, it was more common than burial. The ancient Romans used to put the remains of the burnt body into a simple box or a precious jar, often made of marble, which they placed atop a sarcophagus or a pillar. No matter of what substance the container was, they called it an "urn," a word derived from the Latin \Iuro,\i for "to burn," and therefore actually referring to its contents of ashes, all that was left of the burnt dead.
When the Romans adopted \JChristianity\j, their new religion, because of its belief in bodily \Jresurrection\j, no longer allowed people to destroy the body and for this reason prohibited \Jcremation\j. This made burial the only possible way to dispose of the dead.
However, by that time the urn had become so closely associated with death that it was retained, though it served a different purpose. No longer able to fulfill its original, practical function, it was now used as a symbol of death. As such it continues to appear on graves. It also came to express the sense of loss felt by the bereaved and thus symbolized their mourning.
#
"US Baseball Stretch",2393,0,0,0
The Americans customarily take a "stretch" after the seventh inning at their national game of \Jbaseball\j. The usual - but erroneous - explanation bases the practice on very practical considerations. Having sat for some time on not always too comfortable benches, spectators need to get up and "stretch."
It all started, however, in totally different circumstances, in republican America, to honor a president. Herbert Hoover, who was attending a game, for reasons unknown or forgotten, had to leave before it was finished. It so happened that his departure coincided with the end of the seventh inning. Seeing their president leave, all spectators got up to pay him respect. This is the origin of the "stretch," which has been observed at that very juncture of every game ever since.
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"Valentine Card",2394,0,0,0
On February 14, millions of Valentine cards are sent out to people of the opposite sex. Once individually written and now mass produced, they are light-hearted missiles of love. Either in prose or in rhyme, they voice amorous feeling. Mostly they are humorous, sometimes vulgar, and often accompanied by illustrations.
It is all a play of love, strongly spiced with sentimentality and fun. Who would think that this gay and harmless custom of budding romance began many thousands of years ago and has its origins in pagan tradition about the love-life of birds, an ancient lottery for sweethearts and, most of all, the martyr's death of a Christian bishop? The Valentine cards' popularity also testifies to the early Church's successful endeavor to Christianize heathen practice.
Long before the advent of \JChristianity\j, the middle of February was considered propitious for love. It was the season of Spring and birds started mating.
Roman \Jmythology\j associated the day with the goddess Juno, worshiped especially by women at all crises of life. She was the "venerable ox-eyed" wife of Jupiter and the queen of heaven. Identified with the Greek Hera, she became the guardian of women and marriage, though significantly also a goddess of war.
Part of the pagan ritual honoring Juno was a unique kind of lottery. Young girls wrote their names on slips of paper and these were placed in a drum from which tie boys drew their luck. There were no blanks. The girl drawn by a young man became his sweetheart until the next annual draw.
All the world loves a lover, and \JChristianity\j was unable to uproot a day dedicated to the enjoyment of life and love. Therefore, the early Church appropriated February 14th for its own calendar, linking it with the martyrdom of St. Valentine.
Originally, Valentine was a pagan priest of the 3rd century A.D. He was converted to \JChristianity\j and became a bishop. The story is told that at the time the Roman Emperor Claudius had decided to abolish the institution of marriage, as he felt that husbands did not make good soldiers. He tried to enforce the new law with the utmost rigor.
Valentine considered such policy against the spirit of God and of human nature. He secretly married young Iovers, but not for long. He was arrested, imprisoned, and brutally murdered on February 14, 269 A.D.
Another (and more plausible) account, relates that Valentine frequently aided persecuted Christians, and that it was for this reason that he was thrown into prison. But even there he continued his saintly work, miraculously restoring vision to his jailer's blind daughter. But he was doomed. On February 14 he was clubbed to death. The date coincided with the ancient pagan feast of Juno, and ever since has been celebrated as St. Valentine's Day.
But the Church's desire to Christianize pagan practice did not end here. There was still the most popular part of the feast - its lottery for love. Those early theologians were men of the world and certainly did not live in an ivory tower. They knew only too well that one cannot suppress man's deepest urges, including his love of gambling - no matter for what.
Therefore they retained the ancient lottery but changed its prizes. The names of saints were substituted for those of girls! Now the lucky winners were expected in the ensuing year to match their life to that of the saint whose name they had drawn. This bored the participants. The girls recaptured the lottery drums, putting into them once again their own names, and the ancient love-play started all over again.
Then a final development took place. People were no longer satisfied with having their sweetheart chosen for them by chance. Their own choice, they felt, should take the place of luck. So on February 14 they began sending a gift, a card, or a set of verses to whomsoever they considered nearest their heart.
Often the cards were sent anonymously and it was left to the recipient to guess their author. Their text either stated briefly but to the point that "The honey's sweet and so are you" or went into most elaborate and passionate musings. Those who could not write their own words selected them from specially published handbooks, such as "The Young Man's Valentine Writer," which appeared in 1797. And that is how eventually the printed Valentine card came into existence. Its popularity was greatly fostered by the introduction of cheap postal rates.
It was only the new fashion of Christmas cards that ended the vogue of the Valentine. Though in its small and quiet way it still survives, hoping perhaps one day to recapture the imagination of young lovers.
#
"Vamp",2395,0,0,0
The vampire as a mystical, occult being, fortunately now belongs to the past. And yet, it has left its traces in the modern world in two completely different spheres.
In the first instance it survives - rather "cut up" and shrunk - in the vamp. This is the woman who has only one aim in mind: to use every means at her disposal to ensnare men seductively and unscrupulously. This new type of vamp was born in 1914 when Theda Bara in her first starring role played such a vampirish, man-hungry creature in the movie \IA Fool There Was.\i Oddly enough, the actress' assumed name (replacing Theodosia Goodman, her real one) was an \Janagram\j for "Arab death."
In contrast to its abbreviated form, the second type of surviving vampire is linked with the bat. As vampire bat, it spends most of its time up in the air. Indigenous to Central and \JSouth America\j, this creature feeds on blood and therefore merits its name.
#
"Vampire Alibi",2396,0,0,0
The vampire myth - so historians have suggested - served as a welcome \Jalibi\j for the most obnoxious, dastardly cannibalism and desecration of the recently dead, perpetrated not in "darkest Africa" but in food-starved European lands.
When \Jfamine\j and pestilence threatened people, they went almost out of their minds. To keep alive and to strengthen their weakened bodies, they were prepared to go to any lengths. And somehow they then remembered the superstitious belief in the life-giving, invigorating properties of human blood. Thus, under the cover of night, they committed atrocious murders in order to suck the blood from their unfortunate victims.
When daylight came and the remnants of their nefarious acts were discovered, they deliberately spread stories of the ancient vampire myth. They suggested that it had all been the work of that blood-thirsty creature that once again was at large, undoubtedly because of the apocalyptic times.
Such rumors, of course, helped these criminals greatly. Those who could have made every effort to solve the abominable crime and who would have succeeded if they had investigated, did not dare to do so. They were afraid that if they pursued the matter, the fearful being might strike at them as well . . .
The traces of the murder were thus cleverly covered up. But that was not the end of the matter. Gullible people soon took fiction for fact and thereby gave another lease of life to the ancient fantasy. As it were, the vampire (legend) was now truly fed on the blood of people!
Human misfits and psychotic killers adopted the vampire custom and presented a real threat to their society. Theirs was not the world of the occult, however, but of mental and sexual aberration. They even confessed that they were in need of blood as others were of alcohol. Their place therefore is restricted to medical textbooks.
On the other hand, our present-day world has made an idol of the horrific, and has been smothered and deluded by commercial interests featuring vampire creatures on the cinema and TV screen. Certainly, only two-dimensional, the only harm they can do is to create traumas in the minds of young people. "Suckers" they remain - but of money not of blood.
#
"Vampire Myths",2397,0,0,0
Vampire, a word of \JMagyar\j or Turkish origin describing a "blood sucker," has gained international currency. And, indeed, vampirism, the belief in such blood-thirsty creatures, has been worldwide and existed in primitive form in the ancient world. However, it was in the \JMiddle Ages\j that, like the belief in the \Jwerewolf\j, it assumed epidemic proportions and grew into a mass \Jhysteria\j.
Several traditions and phenomena combined in the creation of the vampire myth. A primary factor was the belief in the potency of blood. Blood has always been recognized as the vital substance of life. Observation had taught even primitive cultures that loss of blood could spell death. So even in early times blood was regarded as the source of life and the seat of the soul - a precious fluid of divine nature, endowing vigor and virility. But its very value rendered it also highly dangerous.
Consequently people looked with awe on blood. The mysteries surrounding it caused numerous (and often contradictory) practices. Their purpose was either to annul its dangerous properties or to add strength to the human body or the gods.
Primitive people presented blood to their gods: at times, this was the chief or only part of their solemn sacrifice. It was thought to appease the gods' wrath or to obtain their good will. Some primitive people drank the blood themselves, especially that of their slain enemies. They imagined that by doing so they absorbed extra vitality. Some, indeed, were so "blood-thirsty" that they licked the dried blood off the spears with which they had wounded or killed their foes.
In their ancient worship, Hebrews also poured the blood of sacrificed animals on to the altar and sprinkled it on the four corners of the altar. In the Communion Service, Christians partake of Christ's blood. They do so either symbolically or believing in the miraculous \Jtransubstantiation\j of the wine.
On the other hand, blood shed on the ground could not be left uncovered. A woman's menstrual blood was regarded \Jtaboo\j and anything touched by it became unclean. The \JHebrew\j \JBible\j forbade man to partake of any blood - for "the blood is the life." Jewish dietary legislation, evolved from the biblical law, specified various means to remove every possible trace of blood from meat prior to its consumption. That is why orthodox Jews came to observe the ritual slaughter of animals (when the blood was carefully drained away) and to demand that meat, before being cooked, should be further drained of blood by salting and soaking it in water for several hours.
This view of blood also accounts to a large degree for accusations and practices of ritual murder in ancient and medieval times. It was alleged that men committed such murders to gain possession of blood deemed essential for additional powers. This might well explain the origin of cannibalism, surviving even today in some persons' atavistic taste and strong desire for steak \Jtartar\j or blood-red underdone meat. It may be the reason, too, for the ghoulish privilege of some medieval European executioners who retained for themselves the blood and certain parts of the body of their victims.
If some living beings thus thirsted for blood, was it any wonder that in the imagination of man, some already dead (who were thought to be anxious to live again or to reinvigorate their spirits in the beyond), should yearn for the magic fluid even more desperately? This, no doubt, was one of the chief factors in the birth of the vampire myth. Common \Jsuperstition\j claimed that the dead, or their spirits, left their graves during the hours of night to recharge their bodies with life-giving force. They did this by sucking the blood of a sleeping victim. According to some, they could also attain their aim by killing the best of the \Jcattle\j.
Vampires were specifically those dead who, for individual reasons, could find no rest in their graves. They included malevolent characters of many types, suicides, and heretics who had been excommunicated by the Church. To regenerate their power, they desperately longed for the blood so vital for them. And that is why they were said to ascend out of their graves in the dark of night to find a source for a blood transfusion. Opinions differed as to who was most liable to such nocturnal attack.
Man's limited knowledge of the cause of disease was yet another potent source of the spread of the vampire myth. People usually take their luck for granted. But they try to blame their misfortune on others. This applied all the more if entire communities contracted some fatal illness that struck indiscriminately and wiped out a great part of a population. This happened during the plague that ravaged Europe. Indescribable terror seized whole regions. People hastened the burial of the thousands of men, women, and children who had died, placing them at a depth of at least six feet. Homes that had become infected with the \Jblack death\j were marked with the sign of a huge red cross and the prayerful inscription: "Lord have mercy on us."
The constant threat that one could be struck down by the scourge at any moment created a climate of \Jhysteria\j and fear - \Jpsychosis\j. With no known cause, it was only natural that everyone looked for a \Jscapegoat\j. The Jews were blamed and accused of having poisoned the wells, thereby creating the plague, and thousands of them were murdered. Seeking the cause of the disaster beyond mere human beings, people then came to feel that the havoc wrought was of such awful dimensions that it could not be the outcome of "natural forces" alone. It had to be the work of some malevolent \Jsupernatural\j power. And looking for the cause in the realm of the occult, the vampire seemed the most feasible creature to blame. And thus an ancient legend which had almost died out at the time gained a new lease of life.
Modern heart transplants have raised the problem of determining at what precise moment life really terminates. When has the doctor the right to pronounce a man dead in order to remove his heart? It is generally now agreed that the stopping of the heartbeat does not spell death. For doctors and theologians the entire question has become a very controversial medical and ethical issue. Not so long ago many people were obsessed by the fear that they might be certified dead when in reality they were still alive. A German term (of which there is no English equivalent) calls this condition of being "apparently dead" - \Ischeintod.\i
The conditions of \Jcatalepsy\j though they are now diagnosed as being of a mental nature, cause the patient to be completely paralyzed and in a trance-like state. His complexion is waxen and, altogether, he shows no sign of life. Because of his suspended animation and rigid body, the still living person could appear to be dead and be overhastily buried. He finally really died, but deep down in the earth - from asphyxiation. Statistics show that such incidents were not altogether infrequent.
Who then could blame past generations of doctors to have been totally misled by the symptoms and hence declared such a person as dead?
To avoid this, a law introduced in European countries instructed undertakers not to inter any corpse before the expiration of three full days. It was a period considered long enough for anyone who was only apparently dead, to return to life.
Individuals who were still not satisfied and afraid that they might be buried in a state of cataleptic trance, left in their will the stipulation that their coffin should be provided either with a bell they could sound by means of a rope to attract attention, or a vent that would keep the inside of their coffin well ventilated, so that just in case their death was not real, they would be able to survive.
Others even demanded that their jugular vein should be severed at death. This would make quite sure that there was no possibility of "\Jresurrection\j." Odder still, but in the circumstances quite reasonable, was the request by some people to have a bottle of \Jchloroform\j entombed with them. Should their burial prove premature, they would use it to commit suicide in order to avoid unnecessary suffering since for them there was no other "exit" provided.
And when sometimes it did happen that people buried prior to their real death came to life and found themselves incarcerated in the grave or coffin, terror seized them. Hoping to be heard, they screamed for help. Attempting to escape from their underground prison, they tried to lift the lid and the earth above. In frenzied desperation they struggled for life. They tore their shroud and started eating it. They bit into their own flesh and by doing so made their own blood spurt which covered their body, the shroud and the inside of the casket. And, if buried in a \Jcrypt\j, the coffin was hurled around.
And, as at the time, man did not know the true cause of the terrible noise and the screams coming out of the grave or vault, he came to the queerest conclusions. He imagined that the buried person must have changed into a vampire creature which raised its voice in lust for blood.
Corpses used to be exhumed by robbers anxious for spoil buried with the dead, or by anatomists in quest of a body for dissection. If they found a body that showed terrible signs of convulsion, with part of the shroud in its mouth and blood all over, was it any wonder that their dreadful discovery made them believe that they had unearthed not an ordinary mortal but a blood-sucking vampire? In such cases, ignorance certainly was not bliss but a curse to man.
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"Vampires and Blood",2398,0,0,0
Gruesome stories about the vampire bat have grown in the telling. Occult tradition has bestowed on it demonic gifts. Primitive tribes imagined bats to harbor the souls of the dead. Most frightening however, was the belief in the blood-sucking vampire bat. Only certain species of bats, found in Latin American lands, feed on blood. They never suck it. After having punctured a victim's skin with their sharp teeth, they will lap up the blood as a cat laps milk.
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"Vanishing Stars",2399,0,0,0
For thousands of years man believed that the stars vanished from the sky during the day. Not seeing them, he reasoned that, with the arrival of dawn, they must have moved away, to return again at nightfall. He did not realize that the brightness of the sky, lit up by the "risen" sun, made the stars merely invisible to his eyes.
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"Various Methods of Teaching in Judo",2400,0,0,0
Perhaps worry about his own inadequacy in traditional combat, led a frail person of unknown identity to discover a technique in which even the weakest could overcome the strongest. A Japanese tradition to this effect tells of a doctor from \JNagasaki\j who, it suggests, invented ju-jitsu. He had learned the art of unarmed combat in China, but had found that as practiced there, it demanded great physical exertion.
While his mind was preoccupied with the problem, he witnessed a storm and discovered the answer to his question in its effect: a sturdy cherry tree was uprooted and overturned but a nearby willow tree, by yielding to the gale, resisted it and, unharmed, eventually lifted its bent branches to their original height.
Did not nature thus teach man that only by yielding could he survive? Convinced that this principle could create a totally new approach to life, and taking advantage of his knowledge of anatomy, the doctor worked out techniques of defense which were to become ju-jitsu, and taught them at a school which he called "the heart of the willow." Irrespective of the historicity of the tale, it became a most favorite \Jmetaphor\j in the demonstration of the power of gentleness: how with skill and balance the weak could overwhelm the strong.
No one really knows which of the various considerations and traditions (singly or combined) actually were responsible for the origin of ju-jitsu. However, there is no doubt that its roots go much deeper. Ju-jitsu, with its teaching of unarmed combat, could never have arisen or flourished without Taoism, one of the great, indigenous faiths of the Chinese people, which exerted a deep influence on the Eastern mind. It is not accidental that the very name of Taoism indicated "the way" or "the path" \I(tao)\i man is meant to choose, anticipating by thousands of years the description of judo, meaning "the gentle way."
The concept of Tao teaches that by following "the way," man has the power to transform and perfect everything. But only he who is gentle, humble, frugal, and free from \Jegoism\j can do so. He will realize how the soft overcomes the hard, the weak the strong, and how he who grasps only loses.
It is essential to keep the mind in a state of perfect balance and to follow nature, taking the line of least resistance. Taoism condemns all weapons of war as "instruments of ill omen." All man needs do is to yield. Laotse, the founder of Taoism, frequently applied the simile of water. Water is able to adapt itself instantaneously to every circumstance, yet it always seeks the lowest point. Similarly, man must not try to change, but must learn to accept what life offers. Nothing on earth is as weak and yielding as water, but for breaking down the strong it has no equal. Thus, man in his weakness can conquer the mighty. He ought to wait until things happen to him, and then to respond like an echo.
Taoist concepts became part of the Oriental world view, and principal elements of its philosophy reached \JJapan\j from China. Their presence in the ideological background of unarmed conflict is conspicuous. Only a society that accepted and was influenced by the basic teachings of Taoism could develop and perfect ju-jitsu.
During the long and turbulent period of internecine struggle in \JJapan\j, the feudal lords kept men specially trained to fight their battles. This led to the creation of a class of warriors - the \JSamurai\j. They learned to excel in every type of combat - \Jarchery\j, swordsmanship, and grappling without the aid of any weapon, known then as kumiuchi.
Out of kumiuchi ju-jitsu emerged in the sixteenth century as its improved and refined form. It developed the original crude and violent methods of barehanded fighting into a highly effective system of unarmed combat. The fact that superior force could be overcome without use of any weapon and merely by right techniques resulted in the choice of name - ju-jitsu, usually translated as "the gentle art." \IJu\i is a term for "soft" or "yielding" and \Ijitsu\i describes a "practice,", and "art," and a "technique." One story goes that Samurais first adopted ju-jitsu when they were debarred from using their traditional swords, bows, and arrows. To survive, they learned to perfect the "gentle art."
Among the numerous techniques evolved were blows with the hands and kicks with the feet, thrusts, choking, the bending and twisting of arms, and the throwing of the opponent on to his back and keeping him immobilized on the ground. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, numerous schools were founded. Each specialized in a particular style and acclaimed its superiority in causing pain and fractures, in crippling or killing an adversary. To prevent others from learning the methods, the various schools guarded them jealously, handing them down in secrecy, only to pupils.
There is a suggestion that, initially, not the \JSamurai\j but the common man introduced ju-jitsu. In the feudal period he was not permitted to bear arms and no doubt on many occasions had to ward off attacks with his bare hands. However, no matter who first acquired it, training in ju-jitsu, which grew into a masterly and elaborate art, became almost a monopoly of the \JSamurai\j class.
It fitted in perfectly with its code of ethics and honor, known as \Jbushido\j, itself deeply influenced by the austere discipline and character training of Zen \JBuddhism\j, which reached \JJapan\j from China in the twelfth century. The "way of military knights" demanded loyalty, sincerity, and rectitude, as much as unflinching courage.
It also taught that bravery had to be tempered by benevolence. Among its chivalrous traditions was an early practice never to permit oneself undue advantage over a foe. For instance, should the latter lose his sword, it would be unfair and dishonorable to go on fighting him, armed. The correct thing to do was to cast the sword away and to grapple the opponent hand to hand. To be ready for such an eventuality, both fighters had to be adept in the art. That is how schools of ju-jitsu came to occupy an ever more prominent place in Japanese life.
Ju-jitsu became a most widespread pursuit among the \JSamurai\j and its essential secrets were carefully guarded by this warrior caste. In keen rivalry, masters taught their individual styles, evolved scientifically with increasingly more complicated techniques and not rarely including fearsome, cruel, and vicious features.
The opening up of \JJapan\j in 1854 to Western thought and civilization brought ju-jitsu into disfavor and disrepute. The \JSamurai\j class ceased to exist and, with it, the promoters of ju-jitsu. In the excitement of the adoption of a totally new way of life, \JJapan\j went to extremes to belittle and deplore her own traditions and, with the fervor of a convert, to embrace all that was new. The rejection of ju-jitsu was also due in no small measure to the many rough methods it then employed, methods which were a danger to life and limb.
Ju-jitsu would eventually have died out had it not been for one man, Jigoro Kano. As a frail youth, he had taken up many sports and also ju-jitsu, possibly to increase his strength. He studied it under the finest masters who by then lacked pupils. Early on, the story goes, he had discovered how he himself could improve on the methods taught. At one of the schools he joined, he became an easy victim of its star pupil, a sturdy fellow, by far his superior in strength, stature, and weight. Determined nevertheless to tackle him, Kano ingeniously conceived a new ju-jitsu technique with which he was able to defeat the hitherto invincible opponent.
Possibly encouraged by the feat, he continued to explore the large field of martial, unarmed combat tradition. In doing so he realized the great loss it would mean should ju-jitsu disappear altogether, although he also was convinced that it needed a completely new image and purpose. He elaborated, adapted, and synthesized the best features of all schools, wisely eliminating all those elements which were crude, cruel, and dangerous.
With scientific acumen, he created a completely novel style and transformed what had been a way of fighting into a fine sport. He called it judo, "the gentle (or yielding) way." This was not a new term. It had been used for one of the many methods of ju-jitsu, although of a different kind. The choice was deliberate. The inclusion in the name of the word \Ido\i (pronounced dough) had deep significance.
From the beginning, Kano wished to make clear that his new system, not being a combative art, was yet more than physical exercise. It was meant to be "a path to perfection" for the entire man, embracing his body, mind, and spirit. Judo was not only to be practiced "on the mat," but as a way of life. Its fundamental principle was to obtain maximum efficiency in the use of the mind and the body, with minimum effort. The practice of non-resistance-yielding, ultimately to conquer - was merely one of judo's applications.
Quite possibly, too, there was another reason that prompted Kano to give a new designation to what was after all an outgrowth of ju-jitsu. The term Ju-jitsu, through abuse, had acquired a low and unworthy connotation, and he knew that anything practiced under its name, however different, would be rejected by the mass of the people.
At the time, Kano lived in the compound of the Eishoji Temple and in 1882 (he was then 23 years old) he opened his first school in its living room. It provided ten mats. Even in his wildest dreams he could not have guessed that from this simple cradle in a Buddhist shrine would grow a sport of worldwide dimensions. In fact, Kano initially had a hard struggle to keep his "institute" open and provide his few pupils with sustenance. Lacking funds, he was forced to raise them by working at English translations first thing in the morning and late at night.
People continued to resist his idea. They would have by far preferred to see ju-jitsu in any form (or under any name) never revived. When at first Kano taught his new method, he had to camouflage his class by pretending that the pupils attending it were taking a course in English literature. But Kano persisted and, believing in the supreme value of the new sport, was able to inspire his students with his infectious enthusiasm.
Four years after the establishment of the school, a public match between judo and ju-jitsu experts proved the irrefutable superiority of "the gentle way" over "the gentle art." It was a decisive victory which led to the recognition of judo as an outstanding art.
The government realized its tremendous value in the training of the nation and put Kano in charge of the country's physical education at schools. He made judo an obligatory part of their syllabus. His enthusiasm and perseverance had been worthwhile. However, to reserve judo for \JJapan\j was wrong. With almost missionary zeal and with organizational talent, Kano gave practical demonstrations in other countries. On a visit to the United States, one of his pupils gave a display at the \JWhite House\j in Washington and inspired in President Theodore Roosevelt a love of the sport.
In recognition of his work, Kano, the creator of judo, became in 1909 the first Japanese to be elected a member of the International Olympic Committee. Unquestionably he had given the world a new sport of great potential benefit.
Perhaps even more significant to the present-day world than its throws, locks, and holds, is the message contained in some of its basic principles. In an epoch of specialization, it calls on everyone to be concerned with the entire man: not only his muscles, but his intellect and spirit as well. In a permissive age, it stresses the essential need for self-discipline and self-control. In an era in which brutal force (or its threat) plays such a significant role, it suggests that the better way to meet and master the problems of the world and of life is the gentle way.
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"VD",2401,0,0,0
Venus, the Roman goddess of love, survives in the medical term \Ivenereal,\i applied to anything related to, or involving the genitals. Thus, the expression \Ivenereal\i disease carries within it a hidden reference to the divine Venus - a rather sordid place to find her.
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"Venetian Blinds",2402,0,0,0
In spite of their present-day misleading description, Venetian blinds did not originate in Venice. They come from \JEgypt\j, in which country they were first made more than 5,000 years ago, beautifully embroidered. From \JEgypt\j, they found their way to \JGreece\j and \JRome\j, eventually via the Tartars to reach \JPersia\j. In fact, Frenchmen for that reason called them \Ipersiennes.\i \JMarco Polo\j picked them up in the East to carry the idea back to Europe where, from Venice, they then spread worldwide and hence they are now known by the name of that city.
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"Vent One's Spleen",2403,0,0,0
One of the misconceptions of early medicine concerned the \Jspleen\j. It was regarded as the seat of morose feelings and irascibility. Tantrums of people were diagnosed as the result of a malfunction of their \Jspleen\j. A substance it secreted made them so ill-tempered.
Therefore, it was said of them that they released or "vented" their \Jspleen\j.
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"Ventriloquism",2404,0,0,0
Ventriloquism literally means "to speak from the belly," joining the Latin \Iventer\i for "\Jstomach\j" and \Iloqui\i for "speak." It is as misleading a term as the art. The ventriloquist does not speak from the tummy. It only seems so. Skillfully he has learned to produce his voice further back in the \Jlarynx\j than is normal, and to do so without moving his lips.
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"Verdict",2405,0,0,0
From Babylonian days onward, twelve was a sacred number. Just as there were the twelve tribes of Israel, so Jesus had twelve Apostles.
No wonder, then, that each jury was constituted of "twelve good men and true," a number neither merely fortuitous nor arbitrary, but helping to guarantee that the divine spirit would guide their deliberations towards the right verdict. Reduced or increased by even one person, the mystical power of twelve was lost and, with it, a jury's divinely bestowed infallibility.
This, too, explains why, until recent times, it was universally regarded as essential for a jury to reach a unanimous finding of innocence or guilt. It is the very meaning of \Iverdict,\i derived from the medieval Latin \Ivere dictum,\i for "truly spoken." It was a judgment uttered in veracity, ensured by their holy number, the seal of God's truth.
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"Victa Mower",2406,0,0,0
Interred under a rosebush in the Sydney Northern Suburbs Crematorium Gardens are the remains of "Merv" Richardson, the inventor of the Victa Mower. Surrounded by a beautiful plot of plants and a green sward, it is a fitting site for a man who, in the words of his firm's first slogan, helped ordinary men and women to turn grass into lawn with ease.
There is a close parallel between him and Lance Hill. Both men were prompted to make their inventions by a member of their family and started out manufacturing and selling their products from their homes.
Mervin Victor Richardson had had many jobs. He had worked for a signwriter, made jewelry and built airplane engines. At the time of his invention he was 57 years old and employed as a salesman by an \Jengineering\j firm.
It all happened almost by chance in 1952. Merv's son, home during a university break to make some pocket money, mowed people's lawns. When helping him load the family's conventional, heavy, motor-driven mower into the sidecar of his \Jmotorcycle\j, Merv realized its many disadvantages. It was much too cumbersome and inefficient. There was a need for a lightweight, petrol-driven motor mower.
A man of action, he set to work there and then, using for his first experiments an old peach tin for the petrol tank and a rotary engine design. It did not take him long to perfect his new mower, which was to prove a real boon to every householder - and to himself. Not only did it cut close to walls and edges, but it was so light that even his wife could push it with ease.
Merv immediately started to manufacture it in the garage of his Concord home. All that was needed was a catchy name. His mower cut down the grass - why not cut down one of his own names and use it for his novel product? And that is exactly what Merv did; his middle name was Victor and Victa became the tradename of his mower!
Word soon spread and every Saturday Merv opened shop, demonstrating and selling the mowers he and a helper had assembled during the week. In no time 20 to 30 people were queuing up to see the mower in action. He exhibited the machine and what it could do for their own lawn.
This soon created a problem. His lawn did not regrow fast enough to show the many would-be customers how the Victa worked. Once again, Merv found a solution. He restricted his demonstrations to a strip of half a metre for every two customers.
It was a true family enterprise. Mrs Richardson also participated in the establishment of the Victa firm. Acting as the cashier, she handed each purchaser, together with the receipt, a three-month guarantee. Within a month their takings amounted to almost ú1,000 ($2,000), for 21 mowers sold.
Merv gave up his job and acquired separate premises for the full-time production of the Victa. Within five years, his factory was able to turn out one mower every 48 seconds!
Employing more than 100 people, Merv gave them a share in his profits, anticipating modern business practices and proving their advantages. It maximized the output of his workers, and at no time did they take industrial action. If any of his men fell on hard times through sickness, he advanced them a loan, free of interest.
Merv's methods of marketing the Victa throughout \JAustralia\j had no equal. He engaged people of the most diverse occupations to be his agents. They included undertakers, a newsagent, a mushroom wholesaler, a barber and a draper. To be appointed a dealer, the applicant had to fulfill two qualifications: he had to be financially sound, and be able to service the mowers.
Certainly, Merv did not let grass grow under his feet! When he passed away, at the age of 78, on 30 December 1972, he could truly say that for him life began at 57. His name is a household word literally and metaphorically so, as every third home owns a Victa lawn mower.
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"Victim",2407,0,0,0
A "victim" was not, originally, a person subjected to injustice, persecution, accident or disease. The word recalls the sacrificial \Jcult\j of ancient \JRome\j.
To gain the good will or to placate the anger of the gods, animals were offered to them on an altar. After having been selected as sacrifice and before they were slaughtered, a ribbon was tied to the horns of the chosen animals to indicate their consecrated status. As this "headband" \I(vitta\i in Latin) became their distinguishing mark, the animals soon were identified with, and called after it. Thus, a simple ribbon is the source and literal meaning of all "victims."
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"Victim of a Gun Shot",2408,0,0,0
The discovery of gold lured countless men to \JAustralia\j from many parts of the world. In no time, they established thriving settlements on formerly barren fields. Once the gold had petered out, the thousands of diggers departed, to leave behind ghost towns and cemeteries containing the graves of those who, seeking their fortune, had found death.
The biblical reference to shipments of gold brought to the Holy Land in King Solomon's time from a place called \JOphir\j, prompted Edward Hargrave to give the name \JOphir\j to the first goldfield to be discovered in \JAustralia\j.
Little is left today of this once thriving mining town, 15 kilometers northeast of Orange in \JNew South Wales\j. However, a small cemetery recalls the vanished past. Most of its graves no longer carry a monument. Those epitaphs still in existence are hardly readable, and are of a more recent date. But even they tell of the many dangers that threatened those sturdy pioneers.
One of the graves preserved is that of Charles Corse. He died on 18 August 1872 at the age of 55. According to the inscription on his headstone his death was caused "through a gun shot wound." One is left to wonder as to the circumstances.
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"Victoria's First Postman - John Conway Bourke",2409,0,0,0
John Conway Bourke, buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery, was Victoria's first postman. He regularly brought mail from Sydney to Melbourne. Born in Limerick, Ireland, on 24 June 1815, he died at Flemington, on 5 August 1902. A stone on his grave, erected by the Historical Society of Victoria, pays special tribute to him and his place in the annals of Australian postal services.
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"Virgo - the Virgin",2410,0,0,0
In spite of the traditional view that woman counted for nothing until modern days, the fact is that she was worshiped and highly esteemed in antiquity. It was thought that - paradoxically - both her virginity and her fruitfulness ensured the survival of the world. However odd and contradictory it might seem, both were therefore honored and fostered among women. In ancient \JRome\j a status symbol - though, of course, of a different kind - was attached both to the vestal virgins, and to women engaged in holy prostitution.
The respect paid to woman was not restricted to any single region but was practically worldwide. Hence it is not surprising that when man began to identify the various groups of stars, he reserved one of the twelve houses of the Zodiac for a woman. She was never merely an ordinary female but the most illustrious - possibly divine - figure of her sex.
Babylonians chose Ishtar - the mother of all life and the goddess of love (who oddly enough survived in the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j by the name of Esther, the Jewish queen of \JPersia\j and savior of her people). It was almost a foregone conclusion that the Egyptians would similarly elevate and honor Isis. The most familiar figure of their pantheon, she was the archtype of a devoted mother and a loyal wife whose faithfulness to her husband extended beyond his death.
In a similar manner, the Inca races of \JPeru\j identified the \Jconstellation\j with "the earth's mother." Going as it were to the other end of the world, even the Chinese recognized in the "house" a female figure, although, surprisingly to the Western mind, they called her rather strangely "the frigid woman."
A religious problem faced the \JMoslem\j people. Like Jews, they spurned making any pictorial representation of the human figure, since to do so in their eyes was tantamount to idol worship. This would apply even more so if the "image" was placed in the sky. And that is why the \JArabs\j, to begin with, saw the \Jconstellation\j as an "ear of corn" which, after all, also symbolized fertility. The selection or substitution was in fact not as far-fetched as might be imagined. Each of the women placed in the sky by the various cultures had carried a sheaf of corn in her arms. All the \JArabs\j really did was merely eliminate the woman and retain the corn.
Eventually, however, their religious scruples waned and, as so often in other spheres, the woman won - if not the day, the night - and the ear of corn gave way to what the \JArabs\j then came to call "the innocent maiden." No doubt, they followed thus the Greek tradition which by then had been adopted throughout the vast Mediterranean region and beyond, seeing in the \Jconstellation\j a virgin, \Ivirgo\i in Latin.
But she was not just any virgin. She referred to a definite, well-known figure. Because of her renown, there was no need at the time to identify her further by name. Everyone knew who was meant. (Later on, the same practice was repeated by the Roman \JCatholic Church\j: Catholics spoke of "the Virgin" without having to mention Mary's name.)
The stellar virgin's name was Astrea. She had experienced the golden age of former days, when the world was young. Though a goddess, symbolizing innocence and justice, her abode was this earth. But the purity of life soon vanished and sin began to raise its ugly head. There seemed no further place for a being of her kind - so unsullied and so virtuous. And to keep her from harm and the corruption of a permissive and law-defying generation, the gods rescued her. Raising her out of the moral mire, they placed her into the skies, which were so immaculate and pure. There she took up residence in the "house" that has been called after her ever since - the Virgin.
The Greeks gave yet another and very gruesome explanation for the virgin occupying the special part in the Zodiac. It was linked with Greek peasants' first experience of drunkenness. Icarius, a citizen of \JAthens\j, had been instructed by Dionysus in the art of growing grapes and making wine, and had proved a most apt pupil. Soon he shared his product with many of his countrymen who drank plenty of it. Having never known what it felt like to be intoxicated, they imagined that their Athenian "friend" had poisoned them and consequently killed him! To cover up their murder, they buried him under a pine tree.
When Icarius did not come home, his daughter Erigone became most worried and went out to look for him. Led by her father's howling dog, she found his corpse in its shallow grave. After discovering the heinous deed, she was so overwrought with grief that she took her own life by hanging herself from the very tree under which the peasants had dug the grave to hide their crime.
As if to add a happy ending to this dismal tale, Greek myth told that her body did not stay underground on earth. It was duly taken to heaven to become there a \Jconstellation\j of stars - Virgo.
There is a good reason why ears of corn have always been linked with the maiden (whatever her name). Virgo was the \Jconstellation\j through which the sun passed at the very season when the harvest was ripening. That indeed also explains why in classical times the "house" was known as well by the name of Ceres. Ceres was the protector of corn and the goddess of grain to whom we (linguistically) owe our daily food, the "cereal."
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"Vision and Bedrest",2411,0,0,0
One of the earliest English books on the eye was written by Dr Walter Bayley, court physician of Queen Elizabeth I. In it he expressed the view (held for centuries after him) that a person's position in bed while asleep affected his daytime vision. It was desirable to go to sleep on the left side, later to turn over to the right. Exposure of the eyes to the rays of the moon whilst in bed, was inadvisable, as it would harm the eye. For many years thus, people paid special attention to the manner in which they rested.
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"Vocabulary of Archery",2412,0,0,0
In the United States, \Jarchery\j was not adopted from the native Indians, but gained its impetus from England.
Though it was first practiced in America in the seventeenth century, it did not catch on for another 150 years. Then, in 1828, young Titan R. Peal founded a club called "The United Bowmen of Philadelphia" with a group of friends. These early enthusiasts were immediately confronted with an obstacle. They had no proper equipment, nor did they know what it really should be like. They therefore visited the local museum to make a close study of the bows and arrows exhibited there. Then they improvised their own equipment. It could not have been very satisfactory as in the following year they imported bows and arrows from Britain.
By 1844, American archers were so well organized that they even wore a distinctive uniform. This consisted of "white duck trews, iron grey jackets with black braid trim, and peaked caps of bombasine." The sport experienced many ups and downs but received perhaps its greatest boost from Dr Saxton Pope, who became famous for having shot 17 lions with a long bow!
\JArchery\j has thus played an active part in everyday life from the early \JStone Age\j onward. Indeed, some of its addicts felt impelled to call it "the sport of man since time began." In our modern atomic age it is well to remember that earliest man had mastered the art (by means of his strung bow) to accumulate and store energy and then to release it, all of a sudden, not haphazardly but fully under control.
\JArchery\j's vocabulary of terms is misleading at times, as some of the expressions used do not actually mean what they at first suggest. On the other hand, the sport has created some metaphors which, now completely divorced from their original source, belong to everyday speech.
A \Iself-bow\i is not one produced by the archer himself for his personal use. It is a bow made from a single piece of wood or metal.
\IFree-flight shooting\i does not refer to aiming at flying birds. It has become the technical description of a position in which the archer, lying on his back, straps the bow to his feet and, with both his hands, draws back the string.
\IPoundage\i has nothing to do with the weight of the bow but indicates its strength by the number of pounds required to pull the string 28 inches (71.12 cm) from the bow.
A \Ifletcher\i manufactures bows and arrows or merely fixes feathers to the latter.
To hit the \Ibull's eye\i is every archer's desire. He little realizes that his target's description is derived from a completely different and most brutal sport, once very popular among the British, and outlawed as late as 1835.
It goes back to the days of bull-baiting, the cruel practice of making dogs attack and pin down a bull by his nose, and the wagers associated with the game. Spectators chose their favorites (either bull or dog) and placed their bet accordingly. If they backed the bull, they expressed this by saying that they had put their money on "the bull's eye," just as today racegoers bet on a horse's "nose."
As the usual unit of money wagered was a crown, with the passing of time the actual coin was identified in people's minds with the bull's eye. The fact that the crown piece and the bull's eye were approximately of the same size, probably contributed to this development. Eventually, the coin itself was called a bull's eye, and when target-shooting came into fashion, the small black spot (which became golden in \Jarchery\j) indicating the target's center, came to be known as the bull's eye. It is a strange and complex story, linking bovine and canine, betting and baiting, vision and target.
\IArrow-root\i is a plant so called because its root-starch was applied by \JAmerican Indians\j to absorb the poison from wounds caused by arrows.
Tall stories, not unlike those told by fishermen, of superb marksmanship created the idiom of \Idrawing the long bow\i for giving an exaggerated account of anything.
The modern word \Itoxic\i owes its origin to \Jarchery\j's technical name, toxophily. Toxic really means "pertaining to the bow" (from the Greek \Itoxon),\i but was associated specifically with the poison used for smearing arrows to ensure their deadly effect.
Sometimes people who are unnerved and full of apprehension are called "unstrung." This expression, too, comes straight from \Jarchery\j. Bowmen realized that it was inadvisable to keep the bow constantly strung, as the perpetual tension weakened its resilience. The obvious thing to do, after using the bow, was to loosen the bowstring by unhooking it at one end.
This, however, had a great disadvantage. In an unexpected attack, the archer was unprepared, and the time it took to restring the bow could make all the difference between victory and defeat, life and death. Those caught with an \Iunstrung\i bow had every reason to be tense and nervy, and "unstrung" became the colloquial term for that state of mind.
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"Volcanoes",2413,0,0,0
Volcanoes, as their name testifies, were created by Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. Myth tells how he placed his forges right beneath those fire-spitting mountains and openings in the earth's crust. Whenever worked, these forges cause the terrifying rumblings, heard near and far. Further effects of the god's activities are the smoke, the molten \Jlava\j and rock fragments ejected from below.
Though for a long time now man has known the scientific explanation of all these phenomena, we continue, when speaking of volcanoes, to pay respect to the ancient god who, as if to defy modern enlightenment, was given a new lease of life in the process of \Ivulcan\iisation.
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"Voodoo's Birth",2414,0,0,0
Everything that concerns voodoo is truly dramatic: the circumstances which created it, its practice, effect and, possibly even the origin of its name.
Voodoo was born in the West Indies, where African slaves bought from their African kidnappers by slave traders, had been transported and sold. In battling for survival, they needed an identity. They found this in a common faith which they molded out of the most diverse traditions. Their new religion helped them to gain their freedom and led them to establish the first independent all-black country in the world.
The term voodoo itself may have had an equally exciting background. At least this is suggested by one \Jetymology\j of the name. This claims that voodoo goes back to a religious movement in \JFrance\j in the late twelfth century, which was founded in Lyons by Peter Waldo, also known as Pierre Valdez in the French rendering of his name.
Like so many others, Waldo had been deeply agitated and appalled by the Church of his time and the picture it presented of splendor and luxurious living. This was totally unChristian, he proclaimed. It misrepresented and actually contradicted the original Christian faith. His ardent desire and indefatigable campaign was to re-establish it in its pristine state. And no doubt the religion he taught included esoteric and occult elements. His words and work did not go unheeded. Others joined him in his protestations and battle for reform. They called themselves after their leader. But soon their name became corrupted and they were known as Waldenses or (in French) Vaudois.
As was only to be expected, the official Roman \JCatholic Church\j vehemently opposed the new sect and decried it as diabolic and outright sorcery. Its efforts to suppress the heresy, however, were counterproductive. The Waldenses gained adherents in far-off regions of \JFrance\j, and did not die out with Waldo's death. In fact, they experienced a revival in the sixteenth century.
In 1677, \JSpain\j ceded \JHaiti\j to \JFrance\j and soon French Roman Catholic missionaries went to the island to convert its people. They were shocked by the natives' primitive cults, the witchcraft they practised and the spells they cast. The priests identified them with the heretical sect of the Waldenses and applied that name, in the \JCreole\j \Jdialect\j, to those Haitians. It did not take long for "Vaudois" to deteriorate further and to become finally voodoo, a name which has not changed ever since.
Another derivation of voodoo perhaps more convincingly traces the term not to \JFrance\j but to one of the West African regions from which the Haitian slaves had come. There (in \JTogo\j and Dahomey) the black race had worshiped a powerful fetish and guardian spirit called Vodo. And was it not very likely that they had taken with them from home, as the only possession they could carry away, their god, who in the West Indies eventually took on the form of voodoo?
No man can live without some kind of faith, no matter what it is called. It gives meaning to his existence and integrates him within his group. However, the coexistence of several types of belief within one region among people who are still immature and intolerant, may lead to unending strife, internecine wars and personal unhappiness.
This unfortunate experience threatened the thousands of negroes in \JHaiti\j who, at the end of the seventeenth century, had been shanghaied there from their widely dispersed West African homes. They were employed as slaves to work the sugar plantations. To prevent them from joining in a rebellion, they were scattered all over the island by their French masters. Even their families were split up.
This made the Africans feel completely lost. Lacking any common worship as they had come from different parts of the African continent, they had no bond of cohesion. They were deprived of a shared faith which could give them a feeling of oneness and - in the eyes of their cruel employers - a source of hidden strength.
With the passing of time, however, they were able to create a new type of religion. This combined the various traditions they had brought from their different homes far back in Africa. But they added to them a new special fervor born out of the circumstances in which they lived. They sought their gods' help to end the \Jslavery\j, poverty, unhappy, and lonely existence which had become their fate.
Meanwhile, the Christian missionaries who had arrived from \JFrance\j tried their utmost to convert the slaves to their faith which, they promised, would bring them, if not freedom, the salvation of their souls. But their efforts were far from successful. Nevertheless, the negroes adopted and adapted some of the Christian features to their own way of worship and system of belief they had developed by then. And that is how, as the end product, voodoo came into being. It was the odd mixture of something of everything. It joined their newly-created synthesis of primitive African rites (with West Indian flavor) to the Roman Catholic symbols and practices which had attracted them. No wonder that their new religion was a veritable hotch-potch of diverse rites and teachings.
In their worship, the Haitian negroes thus called both on Christ and their old-time idols, among them particularly their snake-god. Their hymns glorified their African gods and the saints of the Church. They prostrated themselves in front of an altar adorned with the images of Christ, Christian saints, and pagan deities. They placed on it offerings of fruit and of flowers, bottles of drink, and clay jars which they believed contained their ancestral spirits. The voodoo \Jcult\j included as well the sacrifice of fowls, goats, dogs, pigs, and bulls.
The beating of drums at ever-increasing speed accompanied their chants which, the longer they lasted, grew ever louder. And the pounding of the congregants' feet on the earthen floor and the clapping of their hands produced a highly charged atmosphere of ecstasy and delirium. As the volume and speed of the music and singing increased, the worshipers broke forth into wild dancing, whirling around and around with their eyes rolling. They writhed in frenzied contortions, in intoxication, eventually reaching a stage of trance.
The climax of the voodoo service, no doubt, was the moment when the adherent imagined that a spirit had taken possession of his body and controlled it completely. Now, he believed, Loa (one of the voodoo gods) "rode" him like a horse. And all the other voodoo worshipers were convinced that while he carried this invisible god on his back, he gained \Jsupernatural\j power to prophesy and to cast spells. When, finally, with the frenzy spent and the trance over, the "divine horseman" returned to his former self, he remembered nothing of what he had said or done during his period of "possession."
The traces that the Roman Catholic tradition has left on voodoo are apparent in many of its features. The drums used at the service are baptized like church bells. Incense is burned and holy water sprinkled with a leafy branch on those gathered in communion with the \Jsupernatural\j.
The ritual is celebrated by a priest (Houngan) or priestess (Mambo) whose ecclesiastical power is great and fearsome. They can heal or harm people with black and white magic, and can even cause death. Going beyond the realm of this earth, they also claim the gift to make the dead rise again from their graves to assume the odd nature (and phenomenon) of the zombie.
Once voodoo had taken hold of the slaves, they practised it with ever greater fervor. And the more their white masters oppressed them, the stronger their ardor became. And then, suddenly, the French landowners, who had mercilessly exploited the slaves in forced labor, felt threatened by these slaves' newly gained "\Jsupernatural\j" power. Aware of their practice of voodoo with its (real or imagined) occult power and working of magic, the French grew terribly frightened and almost panicked.
And thus voodoo gained another, historical meaning which affected the very fate of the negro race on the island. Fortified by their voodoo beliefs and very much aware of the terror it had struck among their oppressors, the Africans rebelled in 1791. For many years they struggled, until they won the battle in 1803. They now formed their own state which they ruled themselves. It was the first time in the modern world that a nation of the black race had become independent and changed a colony of a foreign power into a proud country of their own.
Voodoo, as it were, had fulfilled its mission. Its practice had helped a "race" to survive and to achieve its national goal. But voodoo did not die then. On the contrary, with new vigor it continued its hold on African people and did so far beyond the West Indies. It spread to other parts of the world, particularly into Latin American countries further south, which added their own local color. In \JBrazil\j, for instance, voodoo became macumba.
Voodoo, indeed, is a unique phenomenon of syncretism. Joining witchcraft, devil worship, and African sorcery with Christian practice and belief, it molded the lives and the destiny of an entire people.
#
"Vulcanized Rubber",2415,0,0,0
When the Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh had produced the world's first waterproof cloth, it was a boon to man. His novel "macks" (which he patented in 1823) proved a welcome protection against the wet. However, a flaw soon became apparent, as it were a chink in the armor. Though the rubbery substance was resistant to rain, when exposed to extreme cold and changes of weather it became brittle and stiff.
The American inventor Charles Goodyear was determined to remedy the defect and find some way to render the rubber more pliable. For this purpose he embarked (in 1839) on a series of experiments. In their pursuit, he upset a bowl which contained a mixture he had prepared for the tests, accidentally spilling its contents on a hot stove. Clearing up the mess, Goodyear discovered that the heat had made the rubber elastic! An accident had turned out to be a blessing and to be responsible for a significant technological advance. In search of a name for the process, Goodyear called it vulcanization. The name (which he patented in 1844) recalled VuIcan, once worshiped by the Romans as their god of fire. The warmth of fire, indeed, had provided Goodyear with his invention.
#
"Waffle's Accidental Invention",2416,0,0,0
The story is told that an accident created the waffle at the time of the \JCrusades\j.
While Sir Giles Wimple, an Englishman, was fighting the Saracens in the Holy Land, his wife Ermintrude looked after their home. She even continued her weekly practice on Fridays to bake cakes for the holy Sunday. It was on one such occasion that, most unexpectedly, Sir Giles returned.
Seeing her husband, whom she had thought to be at the other end of the world, at the door, Ermintrude was overwrought with joy. Dropping everything, she rushed to embrace him. Anxious to tell her all about his adventures, Sir Giles did not even sit down. But eventually, the weight of his heavy chain-mail armor began to tell and, feeling tired on his feet, he sat down on the settee.
It was only then that Ermintrude remembered what she had been doing when her husband arrived. Oddly enough, she had been baking the very oatcakes he loved so much. But where, in her excitement, had she put them? She could not see them anywhere.
It then dawned on her that in her joy and hurry to welcome him, she had dropped them on the very settee where Sir Giles was now sitting! And what she feared, had really happened.
Telling Sir Giles about it, he at once jumped up to find the cakes still on the settee. But the weight of his armor had completely flattened them. Moreover, his chain-mail had marked them with indentations which had made numerous square hollows in the (now so flat) brown pastry.
Sir Giles was famished. After all, these oatcakes were his favorites and he still fancied them, no matter what they looked like. To camouflage the damage, as it were, and make the cakes look more appetizing, he suggested that his wife spread some Devon butter on them. Never before had he tasted such oatcakes! They seemed more delicious than ever.
Ermintrude was not only a loyal wife and a good cook, but an observant woman as well. She immediately noticed that the butter had melted on the still warm cakes but, instead of running off, had been retained in the pattern so fortuitously created by the Crusader's chainmail.
Henceforth Sir Giles donned his armor every Friday. He did so not to go fighting again, but merely to sit on the freshly baked oatcakes to provide them with the novel cups for the melted butter. It did not take long for the new cakes to become renowned far and wide. And that is how, the story goes, the modern waffle came into being.
Its name, so people believed, is easily explained. "Waffle" is all one can say with one's mouth full chewing the delicious cake. Actually, however, the name is derived from an Old German root describing the honeycomb - \IWabo\i - which it so resembles.
#
"Walking Down the Aisle",2417,0,0,0
To "walk down the aisle" as a bride is still many a girl's wish. No bride ever does; she walks down the central nave!
Aisle - from the Latin \Iala\i for "wing" - refers to the sides of a building. Its use for the passageway leading in between the pews is a misnomer.
#
"Walking Under Ladders",2418,0,0,0
It is commonly held that to walk under ladders is unlucky. At first sight it seems a logical deduction. Accidents do happen and a painter working on top of the ladder might splash down some paint or even drop the pot itself. Or we might be even more unfortunate and become the unintentional target of a dropped tool or a tile.
Such explanations, however logical they might appear, are not the real ones, but what psychologists term rationalizations.
The true origin of the \Jsuperstition\j leads back to the ancient, pre-Christian belief in the sanctity of the trinity. A ladder, leaning against a wall, forms a triangle. This has always been the most common symbol of Holy Trinity. To pass through its area would be tantamount to defiance of sacred power and an intrusion into sanctified space. It would be a dangerous play with \Jsupernatural\j forces. Even worse, such action might disturb, if not annul, the trinity's potency as a guard against satanic forces which, thus released, would immediately start their evil work.
Another explanation relates to an ancient \Jtaboo\j, still observed by some primitive races. This concerned man's head, which was considered not as the seat of his wisdom but of his guardian spirit. By walking under a ladder, this spirit would take some offense and, simultaneously, become ineffective, thus delivering the trespasser to malevolent agencies. A similar \Jsuperstition\j led the Burmese to decry as undignified to walk even under an awning.
Early Christian tradition took due cognisance of the \Jsuperstition\j about ladders. However, trying to interpret it in its own way, it pointed to the fact that because a ladder was used in connection with the crucifixion of Christ, it has been associated ever since with evil and death.
#
"Wallop",2419,0,0,0
How a wallop became synonymous with a blow or spanking has been explained both in fact and in fiction.
The term has been traced to the Old Norman French waloper, meaning "to gallop." A rider who proved superior to another horseman had "walloped" them! Also, those harshly knocked about might feel like being struck by the hoofs of a galloping horse. From its equine source, the wallop spread to any life situation that implied some kind of beating.
Wallop has been linked as well with a naval encounter said to have taken place in 1514. At the time, the French fleet made frequent raids on parts of the southern coast of Britain. On one occasion, they even succeeded in destroying by fire the city of Brighton, then still known as Brighthelmstone. To stop such incursions, King \JHenry VIII\j called on Admiral Sir John Wallop, one of his most outstanding naval commanders. He was instructed not only to repel any further attacks, but by retaliatory action make the marauders pay dearly for what they had done.
Wallop duly executed the task. He inflicted severe damage on the French, destroying numerous villages and ports on their coastline. Indeed, he thrashed the enemy so thoroughly that, in admiration, the British came to identify his name with any battering or pounding inflicted on an opponent. In this meaning to "wallop" entered the dictionary as a strange (and unreal) war memorial, honoring the memory of an admiral who knew how to give a beating to those who well deserved it.
#
"Walls Have Ears",2420,0,0,0
"Walls have hears" is a centuries-old warning. It calls on people to take caution in what they say, even in the privacy of their homes. "Careless talk costs lives" was a widely displayed slogan during the Second World War.
Modern life has given the admonition increased validity. Bugging rooms and buildings has become a common practice, almost a routine operation of any \Jsecret service\j or devious commercial interests.
The saying originally was no mere figure of speech. To start with, more than 2,000 years ago, it was taken very literally and it could truly be stated that walls had ears.
No doubt Dionysius, the "tyrant of Syracuse," in \JSicily\j, who ruled in the fifth century BC, was an early forerunner of twentieth-century demagogues. He anticipated their cruel treatment of political opponents and prisoners of war. At his command, captured Athenian soldiers were incarcerated in a quarry at Syracuse. There they were forced to live in filth and starved of food. Ingeniously, he had an artificial ear, said to be shaped like a real one, built into the walls of the prison. It enabled the guards to overhear whatever was discussed by the men inside.
The saying that walls have ears therefore was not coined by an imaginative mind, but based on an historic fact.
Catherine de Medici (1519-89), King Henry II's wife, was known for her selfishness and as a stirrer. Cleverly, she updated and expanded the use of the ancient tyrant's device. She copied the idea in her palace, the famous Louvre. She had hidden tubes inserted in the walls of the various rooms, all of them leading into her chamber. Thus she could hear whatever was being said "within four walls." It gave her due forewarning of plots against her life and information that proved invaluable in her scheming.
#
"Waltzing Matilda",2421,0,0,0
Multi-talented James Inglis was busy in many other fields. He became known as an author, a newspaper editor, business executive and entrepreneur. Entering politics in 1887, he served in Henry Parkes' cabinet as Minister of Instruction. But there is no doubt that it was his "Billy Tea" that gave him lasting fame.
Twice married, Inglis had no children. When, on 15 December 1908 - at the age of 63 - he died from kidney disease, he could look back on a life crowded with achievements and exciting adventures.
#
"Wardrobe",2422,0,0,0
The wardrobe now is a closet or cupboard provided to hang up one's clothes. As in the case of so many items of fashion, this term as well is an import from \JFrance\j. \IWarder robe,\i in the French tongue, was "to guard the robe" - the real function of the modern piece of furniture.
Historically, this wardrobe can be traced back to a steward specially employed in the homes of nobility and royalty. It was his responsibility to take care and keep an eye on the precious ceremonial dresses, the robes of state. Accordingly, he was known as the warder of the robes - the first human wardrobe.
Eventually, his name was transferred to the part of the house or castle which was his domain and in which he guarded the garments. Life became more simple, dresses less numerous and the room or rooms once needed to store the many robes were reduced to a plain piece of furniture, as it were a mini-version of the original cloakroom, the present-day wardrobe.
#
"Warm the Cockles of a Heart",2423,0,0,0
To "warm the cockles of one's heart" portrays genuine delight and gratification. Paradoxically, the figure of speech is based on an ancient fallacy and an outdated medical description.
Excitement causes the heart to beat faster. Its noticeable palpitation, as is known now, is the result of additional adrenaline entering the bloodstream. Early on, however, the strange sensation led to the misconception that the heart actually controlled and ruled emotion, thereby confusing a mere symptom with the cause.
When seventeenth-century anatomists dissected the heart, the shape and surface of its ventricles reminded them of cockle shells. That is how their impression entered the loom of language and - metaphorically speaking - attached the shellfish to the human heart. Though not identified with it, it still serves it in the popular idiom giving voice to one's strong feelings of pleasure and satisfaction.
#
"Warts and Toads",2424,0,0,0
Man was repulsed by the ugliness of a \Jtoad\j. \JFairy tales\j around the world told of many a human who, in punishment for a misdeed, was changed into the hideous creature. The \Jtoad\j was shunned as well-not in the realm of fantasy but in everyday life - because people were convinced that by touching it, they would grow warts. The reason was the wartlike appearance of the \Jtoad\j's skin. This was thought, by mere touch or by sympathetic magic, to infect those handling it, resulting in the growth of ugly "blotches" of a similar kind.
#
"Washing Hands Prior to Eating",2425,0,0,0
To wash one's hands prior to a meal is now an elementary hygienic practice. It, too, developed from a religious custom which not only metaphorically, but in everyday application, juxtaposed cleanliness to godliness.
An ancient Jewish law - still adhered to - makes it obligatory to wash one's hands prior to eating anything, even a mere slice of bread and, while doing so, to praise God for the commandment. Detailed instructions further required that the hands should be washed, not casually but with care and, preferably, up to the wrists. Nothing - not even a ring on one's finger - should prevent the closest contact between the water and the skin. The water used should be poured from a jug or vessel that had a wide mouth and was undamaged, without a chip or a crack.
#
"Washout",2426,0,0,0
For a complete failure or disappointment to be known as a "washout" can have several reasons. It may recall a debacle, of minor or major degree. Heavy rains which caused a picnic to be called off literally washed it out. Roads and railway lines become impassable by having been "washed out" by a flash flood or inundation. In the navy, "washout" was the slang for the cancellation of an order and very understandably so. The order used to be recorded in \Jchalk\j on a slate. If the signal was voided or had been transmitted, it was duly "washed out."
Militarily, a washout used to designate the end of a shooting practice. The choice of word here, too, was justified and based on a procedure followed. To prepare the target for the next squad, all traces left from the previous exercise were obliterated. The bull's eye was blackened and bullet holes were covered up with white paint - literally they were whitewashed. The routine possibly was responsible for not only the "washout" but the "whitewash" as well.
Water fulfilled a useful function in the mining of gold. It helped separate the ore from the dirt, by washing away the latter. For this purpose boxes were placed at strategic points. But everything comes to an end, and so did the supply of alluvial gold. When miners discovered that the containers were washed clean, they voiced their disappointment by saying that they were "washed out." Their description of this fact lent itself fittingly to any other situation that had come to a sad ending, proving a failure one way or another.
#
"Wassailing",2427,0,0,0
At one time the singing of Christmas carols was known as "wassailing." In particular, this term applied to the custom of a group of people, mainly children, going from house to house and stopping in front of each to render a carol, in the hope of receiving a reward.
The word "wassail" dates back to pre-Christian days and practices. Derived from the Anglo Saxon \Iwas hale\i - "be thou hale" - it expressed a wish for good health. This festive season toast was traditionally offered with a drink, usually a concoction of hot ale, roasted apples, sugar and spices. The blend was sometimes further enriched with eggs and cream, when it was known as "lamb's wool."
The well-wisher did not drink alone! The beautifully decorated wassail bowl was passed from hand to hand, so everyone in the household could share the toast in the spirit of true fellowship. After each sip, those partaking in the toast were expected to top up the bowl. Indeed, great care was taken to ensure that the wassail bowl remained full throughout the entire festive season, from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Night, thus ensuring the continuity of good cheer.
These verses are typical of many of the early wassail songs:
\I Wassail, wassail, wassail syng we
In worship of Christ's nativity.\i
To begin with, the idea of wassailing went far beyond merely fostering goodwill. It had more to do with people's concern to see nature renew itself after the harsh winter months. Wassailing was believed to magically bestow fertility on the recipient, whether it was a man, a tree, or a beast. For instance, fruit trees were toasted with the wassail bowl so that they would bear well in the coming season. This was most important in the case of apple trees, where a good crop would mean plenty of \Jcider\j for the next year's wassailing!
#
"Watch Origins",2428,0,0,0
Not faith in God, but suspicion of men was responsible for the naming of the watch. This was first used in 1588 to describe a timepiece sufficiently small to be carried in the pocket.
To prevent crime and catch criminals, guards were appointed. It was their duty to patrol the streets and keep \Iwatch.\i These early policemen followed their "beat" rather haphazardly, both as to where they went and the time they took. After all, they could not know the exact hour of the day or night.
Then the invention of the drive-spring revolutionized not only the working, but the size, of the clock. No longer weighted, it could now be carried. Its new small dimensions had changed it into a portable time-piece. The first still rather clumsy, iron-cased pocket clocks began to appear everywhere. They were just what the guards needed to keep a definite schedule in their watching. Soon they prided themselves on owning the new device.
People naturally took due notice and it did not take them long to associate, in every sense of the \Iword,\i their \Iwatch\imen with the portable clocks they carried. Eventually, the small pocket clocks became completely identified with the men of the watch!
#
"Water from the Hot Tap",2429,0,0,0
Many people hold the view that it is inadvisable, and possibly injurious to health, to use water from the hot tap for the brewing of tea. There is no hazard in doing so. The fallacy might well have arisen from the flat and stale taste of tea so made. Heated water loses a considerable amount of oxygen, depriving it of the fresh taste of cold water.
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"Watermen",2430,0,0,0
For many centuries, rivers were the great natural highways, the Thames the greatest of them all. Bridges were non-existent; boats provided the link from shore to shore. Watermen thus filled a significant place in London's life. At one period their number exceeded 40,000 (in a population of just over six million). As nowadays commuters stand on street footpaths to signal a passing taxi, so wayfarers then from numerous piers used to beckon a barge-man to take them up or down or across the river.
People of social standing, royalty and the wealthy, had their private boats and employed their own watermen, just as their twentieth-century counterparts were to hire chauffeurs for their private limousines. It was a status symbol to have one's personal waterman. He was liveried in a uniform which gave him an air of distinction.
Members of the nobility whose homes were on the banks of the Thames, "up the river," almost exclusively made use of barges. These were equipped most luxuriously. In 1454, Sir John Norman, Mayor of London, had his own barge built. It was of impressive dimensions and noble appearance, with silver oars. The Mayoral procession by water to Westminster became an annual festive occasion and attracted large crowds. (It was discontinued only in 1856.)
However, a waterman's life was far from secure. All through the year he had to escape from being "shanghaied" into the navy, for which he was a most suitable candidate. He was threatened by unemployment during the winter months, when the river was frozen over. No wonder that the coming of "the great thaw" greatly cheered him, as vividly pictured in verses by an anonymous writer in 1784:
\IThe Water-men now at all stairs they shall fly.
"Next Oars!" - "Next Sculler!" let this be their cry:
For now you may see they have changed their notes,
They pull'd down their tents, and they row in their boats.
Twas the work of the Lord, we may well understand,
He made mighty rivers as firm as the land.
Then let us be thankful, and praise God therefore,
For He in good time heard the cry of the Poor.\i
In spite of its tribulations, a waterman's occupation was much sought after, and an ever increasing demand led many unsuitable individuals to join the ranks of the watermen. These lacked proper skill and training and in many cases were ruffians and persons of low repute. Such newcomers introduced an element of unruliness among bargemen and caused frequent collisions and accidents. During the reign of \JHenry VIII\j matters went so out of hand that urgent control measures were needed. For this purpose, in 1555, the Watermen's Union was established.
The introductory part of the Act of Parliament that provided for the union to be constituted gives a detailed account of the unfortunate circumstances that necessitated the legislation:
\IWhereas heretofor, the lack of good government and due order amongst the wherrymen and watermen, exercising, using and occupying rowing upon the Thames, there have divers misfortunes and mischances happened, and chanced of late years past, to a great number of the King's and Queen's subjects, as well as to the nobility, as to the common people, that have passed and repassed and been carried by water, by reason of the rude, ignorant and unskillful number of watermen, which for the most part have been masterless men and single men, of all kinds of occupations and faculties... and many boys, being of small age, and of little skill... and do for the most part of their time use dicing and \Jcarding\j. . .\i
Under the Act, only those registered with the union could offer themselves for service, and unauthorized watermen faced severe terms of imprisonment. The new law also stipulated that anyone seeking employment had first to serve a proper apprenticeship. This also was regulated in every detail. Young men anxious to take up the occupation had to submit to strict rules, extending to their general appearance as well as to their dress, which had to be provided by their master.
Dress had to be simple and inconspicuous, lacking any adornment of silver or silk. The apprentice could wear no rings, nor carry a sword or dagger, but only a knife. Hats were banned within the precincts of the city, and the only headcover allowed was a woollen cap.
Towards the end of the reign of King \JHenry VIII\j, more than 3,200 watermen had been issued a license, and the number of apprentices was even larger. The new regulations undoubtedly gave the occupation a new standing and reputation. For a long time watermen retained their significant position in the life of London. In a later century - the year 1774 - a poet could still speak of one such man:
\IAnd did you not hear of a jolly young watermans,
Who at Blackfriar's Bridge used to ply?
He feather'd his oars with such skill and dexterity,
Winning each heart and delighting each eye.
He look'd so neat and row'd so steadily,
The maidens all flocked to his boat so readily.
And he eye'd the young rogues with so charming an air,
That this waterman ne'er was in want of a fare.\i
Water parties became highlights of royal entertainment. In fact, tradition has it that, in much later years, Handel composed his "Water Music" for one such occasion. Well known (but often refuted) is the story how he came to write it. His refusal to settle in the kingdom of \JHanover\j had incensed George I. To bring about a reconciliation, one of Handel's friends secretly invited the composer to join one of the king's water parties, though in a separate barge, and delight the monarch by writing special airs for this festive event. His boat should follow so closely that the king should be able to hear every note.
A newspaper report of the time recorded how thus a city company's barge was employed "with 50 instruments of all sorts, who played all the way from Lambeth, while the barge drove with the tide without rowing." It continued to say that "the finest symphonies, composed express for this occasion by Mr Hendel" delighted His Majesty "so well that he caused it to be played over three times - going and returning."
With so many boats plying the river, and the oarsmen serving different masters, rivalry in oarsmanship grew quickly, and the rowers strove to prove their superiority. It may be that it all started with one boat simply trying to overtake another, but the fact is that races between watermen soon became a common sight. On some occasions, rich and noble owners themselves took to the oars to engage in a contest. The boats, however, were still not built for racing but for carrying passengers. The seats were fixed and the rowlocks built into the gunwales.
Any crowd likes excitement and the many people along the river banks must have taken a keen interest, as well as sides, in the competitions. It did not take long for them to place bets on their favorite boat. The masters themselves, proud of their watermen, started to offer prizes, among them a new badge and coat. Professional sculling grew from these beginnings, with the rowing matches of later years an inevitable outcome.
#
"Weakest Go to the Wall",2431,0,0,0
Early churches had no seats. The congregation either stood or knelt. Later on, benches were fixed to the wall. They were reserved for elderly people and the sick. Therefore it was quite correct and not merely a figure of speech to say that "the weakest go to the wall."
#
"Wear One's Heart on a Sleeve",2432,0,0,0
Whoever wears their heart on their sleeve openly displays their innermost feelings.
The now puzzling expression can be traced to the medieval days of chivalry. Knights fighting in a tournament wanted everyone to know for whom they fought. Proudly and conspicuously they thus wore something the lady of their choice had given them as a token of her affection. It could be a ribbon, a scarf, or a handkerchief. Records of the time tell that "Maydes and gentlewomen gave to their favorites, as tokens of their love, little handkerchiefs of about three or four inches square, wrought round with a button at each corner." (The button, it has been suggested, in fact was a tassel.)
The knight tied (or pinned) the treasured gift to his sleeve. Therefore it was true to say that, contrary to hiding his attachment, he wore his heart (or rather his heart's desire) on his sleeve.
The days of chivalry have long gone. But the knight's practice of broadcasting their attachment to a lady in so special a way is recalled in what is now merely a phrase.
Not least, we still use it because Shakespeare immortalized it in \IOthello\i where Iago professes to Roderigo a devotion which he really did not have:
\IFor when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, "tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.\i
#
"Wearing Apparel",2433,0,0,0
In the language of clothing, \Iapparel\i is now mostly used as a general and rather genteel description for outer garments, particularly in the retail industry. Originally, however, this term did not generally refer to the dress of ordinary people, but was specifically applied to a distinctive aspect of ecclesiastics' \Jvestments\j - the fanciful ways in which these were adorned.
The prominent features added to the clerical robes to give them extra splendor and to reflect their sacred function were called "apparel." It was considered to "make [them] ready" - \Iapparare\i in Latin - to serve God in dignity. \IApparare\i then, like so many fashions, changed in appearance (though only slightly) to take on the shape and function of the "ordinary" apparel.
#
"Wearing Other People's Glasses",2434,0,0,0
The wearing of the wrong type of spectacles or those of someone else does not damage one's eyes. All it can do is to cause eye strain resulting in a headache and discomfort.
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"Wearing the Green",2435,0,0,0
The Irish are renowned as being superstitious. How then can it be explained that they, of all people, did not steer clear of "green", considered unlucky? On the contrary, unofficially, green is Ireland's national color. Even Irish pillar boxes are painted green. (Certainly, the emerald isle has the kind of rainfall and climate favorable to grass and to lawns.)
Everything has a reason. Therefore there must be a basis for the miraculous change in the significance of that color in Irish eyes. In fact, it is linked with religion: it shows how faith can conquer notions, however deeply rooted they are.
St Patrick's choice of the shamrock as the Irish symbol is well known. He chose it wisely and with a spiritual purpose: in his attempts to convert the people to the Christian faith, he was anxious to teach the difficult doctrine of trinity to them in the easiest way. And this he did by means of an illustration and from nature itself. God had implanted the trinity, so he taught, even in their soil in making it grow the shamrock! And it was the color of the shamrock which gave the emerald isle green as its distinctive \Jhue\j.
In their fervor, the Irish forgot the unlucky past of green and were prepared to ignore its bad side in their national life. Proudly they "wear the green" of their shamrock emblem.
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"Wedding Breakfast",2436,0,0,0
The Christian wedding is regarded a sacrament which therefore should be solemnized fasting. Not to make a couple go too long without food and hence feel uncomfortable during the celebration of their marriage, traditionally the ceremony took place very early in the morning. This meant that the meal following it was the breakfast!
Weddings now are held at all times of day and night, whether solemnised by ministers of religion in a sanctuary or by civil marriage celebrants in a garden. The couples rarely fast. Nevertheless, the festive dinner given in honor of the occasion, whether at lunchtime or late in the evening, continues to be called - religiously - "the wedding breakfast."
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"Wedding Cake",2437,0,0,0
Even the wedding cake has its history, and its present sugarcoating, like the veil, covers up quite an exciting past. It first appeared among the Romans, where it was used only at the nuptials of the upper class, the \JPatricians\j. It was part of a ceremony known as the \Iconfarreatio,\i meaning "eating together."
First, the bride and groom shared a small part of the cake, which was a sort of unleavened scone made of flour, salt, and water. This was thought to secure for them a life of plenty, in both children and happiness.
Then the cake was broken over the bride's head and the guests scrambled for the fragments, believing that they, too, would share in the blessings these symbolized.
Only children born of a marriage solemnized in this fashion, with a cake and in front of ten witnesses, qualified for the high sacred offices in Roman life. The cake thus provided not only the guests with some tasty morsels of food (and a little extra luck) and the couple - magically - with future fertility, but even their still unborn children - legally - with opportunities for advancement!
The wedding cake rites, with the food symbolizing fertility, were followed all over the world, with local variations and developments. \JAmerican Indians\j used the simple, scone-type cake, which the bride herself had to bake and present to her groom. The early \JAnglo-Saxons\j supplied at a wedding a huge basket of small, dry biscuits. Each guest took one and any remaining were distributed among the poor. Later on, guests began bringing their own cakes. These were often spiced buns, which were piled into an enormous heap. If the bride and groom were able to kiss each other over the mound, it was considered a good omen for their life-long happiness.
Eventually, around the time of King Charles II, the many buns were combined into one big cake. Legend credits the inspiration for this to a French chef visiting Britain. Watching the cumbersome way of piling numerous little cakes on top of one another, he decided it would be more practical to ice the mound of buns into one mass. Out of this grew the tradition of the elaborately decorated, many-tiered wedding cake of today.
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"Wedding Ring",2438,0,0,0
In early times, the presentation of a wedding ring signified the transfer of authority as much as the joining of two people. By placing the ring on his bride's finger, the man publicly endowed her with all his rights and she became the mistress of his house.
The wedding band developed out of the betrothal ring. However, its story goes back much further, to the very beginning of the institution of marriage. Far removed from the beautiful \Jsymbolism\j it has today, in its original form, a ring served a variety of totally different functions.
One of them was part of primitive man's customary means of acquiring a wife: he simply captured a woman. To secure his precious booty and prevent her from escaping whilst carrying her home, he encircled both her wrists and her ankles with fetters!
Less crude was the alternative method of purchasing a wife. In this case the ring was not a gift, but represented the price he had paid to her family, the original owners. Having safely brought his conquest (or purchase) home, the man was naturally concerned about keeping and protecting his valuable asset. After all, the woman might still try to run away; or, even if she had settled down as a loyal wife, she might be harmed or harassed by evil spirits, jealous of the couple's newly found marital bliss. Early man was convinced only magic could prevent either from happening, so he bound a rope around his bride's body. This "magic circle" would, he thought, not only protect her by repelling outside attacks, but it would fetter her to him in spirit, too, thus making their souls mingle.
As society became more civilized, these practices were discarded and the large "circle," as it were, contracted to the size of a modern ring. However, it still retained much of its imagined magical potency.
It is generally assumed that, in the seventeenth century BC, the ancient Egyptians were among the first to use the ring as a symbol of marriage. They placed circular bands on the fingers of those joining in matrimony. According to their hieroglyphic scripts, these circles symbolized eternity: just as their lines were unending, so would be the couple's affection. Indeed, the ring would serve not merely as a constant reminder of the permanency of marriage, but as a magic means to ensure it.
Wedding rings were made from all types of material. Those who could afford it - and by law were permitted to do so - chose gold. Apart from its value, gold also conveyed a meaningful symbolic message. One of the early Fathers of the Church, Tertullian (AD 160-220) spoke of gold as "the nobler and purer metal." Remaining "longer uncorrupted," it intimated "the generous, sincere and durable affection which ought to be between the married parties."
Interestingly, \JChristianity\j rejected and condemned the wedding ring as a pagan accessory for several centuries. Only gradually did the Church adopt it, ultimately making it an essential part of its conjugal rites and a symbol of the sanctity of marriage. Its circular shape served to remind the couple of the harmony, perfection and unending love that should prevail through all the days of their married life. Ninth-century Pope \JNicholas I\j was the first to refer to the specific Christian use of the wedding ring.
Though the wearing of a wedding ring is now an almost universal custom, the practice varies in detail. In some countries, the bride and groom exchange rings. In others, the minister, after having blessed the rings, places them on the fingers of those about to be joined in holy matrimony. In England, it was the tradition for a long time that the bride alone would wear a ring.
Today, it has become the general fashion for both parties to do so. According to German custom, the same rings that serve as a token of a couple's engagement become their wedding rings. They are simply moved from the left hand to the right.
With their initial interpretation of almost everything as having a sexual connotation, early psychoanalysts saw the representation of the male organ in the finger and that of the female in the ring, which were thus joined together.
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"Weeping Willows on Gravestones",2439,0,0,0
No doubt, its drooping branches suggested the motif of the weeping willow as an expression of grief and sadness on headstones. This meaning was reinforced by the biblical tradition which linked the tree with the \JBabylonian exile\j of the Israelites.
In their great sorrow, so Scripture tells, they sat down by the country's rivers and wept. Asked by their captors to sing to them one of their "songs of Zion," they refused to do so. "How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?," they protested. Instead, they hung up their harps on the willow trees next to the river.
A legend relates that the instruments' weight permanently bent the until then, straight branches of the willows. According to another, they drooped out of compassion for the exiles.
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"Welsh Rabbit",2440,0,0,0
A proverb says that "toasted cheese has no master." The Welsh \Jrabbit\j has been considered the national dish of Wales and accordingly had been described as "the Welshman's delight" and "Davies' darling."
Many people like Welsh \Jrabbit\j. It is a simple but tasty dish of toasted bread covered with toasted cheese and smeared with mustard and pepper. People still wonder how the \Jrabbit\j got into this savory which is completely vegetarian and lacks even the slightest resemblance to a bunny, in taste or shape.
The appetizing morsel owes its name, and perhaps existence to human antagonism, a former condescending dislike of the Welsh by the English. At a time when the English looked down on the Welsh and were contemptuous of everything that came from Wales, it was not by chance that the well-known rhyme "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief, Taffy came to my house and stole a leg of beef," was coined.
The Welsh, so it was thought, were a poor lot in every sense of the word. Their country lacked almost everything, even rabbits, which were numerous elsewhere. As they could not afford to buy them from England they were forced to find a pauper's substitute, their own kind of synthetic \Jrabbit\j. This they made from the cheapest ingredients available, bread and cheese. Disdainfully, the English thus called this national "delicacy" of the Welsh their "\Jrabbit\j."
\IJenny ap - Rice, hur could eat nothing nice.
A dainty Welsh \JRabbit\j? - go toast her a slice
Of cheese, if you please, which better agrees
With the tooth of poor Taffy than physics and fees.
A pound Jenny got, and brought to his cot
A prime double Gloster, all hot, piping hot-
Which being a bunny without any bones,
Was custard with mustard to Taffy ap-Jones.\i
An old anecdote illustrates this one-time attitude to the Welsh and their (lack of) food. It tells of a bragging Welshman relating how his father entertained 12 guests and employed no fewer than 12 cooks. But the listener would have none of it. Sarcastically he remarked: "Ah, I suppose every man had to toast his own cheese!"
Inevitably Welshmen came to resent deeply all that was associated with their "\Jrabbit\j." They soon claimed that they themselves had never spoken of a \Jrabbit\j at all. How could they have done so? Actually, the Welsh "\Jrabbit\j" was the result of bad enunciation on the part of jealous Englishmen. In reality the course of melted cheese had nothing to do with the common \Jrabbit\j but, on the contrary, was a "rare-bit" of delicious food.
Alas, the chronology of philology contradicts this. As attested by the Oxford Dictionary, the Welsh \Irabbit\i appeared first in 1725, whilst its refined version, the \Irare-bit,\i came into existence exactly 60 years later, in 1785.
Perhaps the change of terminology was due, after all, to some fair-minded Englishmen. Regretful of an earlier generation's bad taste toward a brother race, they may have tried to modify the name by taking the sting out of the \Jrabbit\j.
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"Werewolf Legends",2441,0,0,0
The belief that a man could be transformed into an animal (or the reverse) is so widespread and ancient that it has become part of the myths and \Jfolklore\j of many nations. Modern fairy-tales speaking of such changes are relics of those legends, and not just a fabrication of imaginative writers.
Equally universal and old is the conviction that some men took on (or were forced to assume) the shape and nature of the fiercest creature known, and did so because they were particularly gifted, fated, or thus punished. The type of animal, of course, depended on the myth's locality. In Africa, for instance, natives believed in the existence of man-crocodiles, man-leopards, and man-hyenas. In \JSouth America\j it was the jaguar, and in Turkey it was the boar into which people were thought to change.
Europe was overrun by the wolf. For centuries, this creature presented a dreadful menace all the way from the Atlantic coast to the Russian steppes. His ferocious attacks claimed countless victims. (The last wolf was killed in England only during the reign of King \JHenry VII\j, in Scotland in 1743, and in Ireland even later. In some parts of Europe wolves are still reported.)
Wolves were an even greater danger during winter when their own prey was scarce. Driven by hunger, they daringly invaded human habitations to kill and devour \Jcattle\j and sheep. But there was not enough livestock, and when the opportunity presented itself, wolves attacked even humans and carried away children to eat them themselves or to feed them to their cubs.
At such periods, not surprisingly, panic seized entire communities. The strongest of men seemed helpless against the attacks of the famished creature. To hear the wolves' eerie drawn-out howls at night or to watch them skillfully hunting in packs added to the terror. The mystery and the horror was deepened when a man was bitten by a wolf which suffered from \Jrabies\j, a disease then still unidentified and for which there was no cure. Frothing from his mouth like someone possessed, he became the victim of the dreadful and lethal sickness, taking on the dangerous madness himself - the biter thus came to be regarded as some sort of \Jsupernatural\j being.
Was it any wonder then that people came to see the wolf not as an ordinary animal, but as a mysteriously transformed man, endowed with dangerous, occult powers?
It did not take long for fact and fiction to mingle and to create in people the conviction of the existence of "werewolves." The word clearly describes the ghastly nature of a "wolf-man," as \Iwere\i was the \JAnglo-Saxon\j word for "man." More learnedly, the phenomenon became known as \Jlycanthropy\j, a term which conveys the identical meaning but does so in Greek; \Ilukos\i is the Greek for "wolf" and \Ianthropos\i for "man."
Several important factors contributed to the belief which, however far-fetched to the modern mind, was very real to those threatened and haunted people. First of all, they must have known some of the ancient myths which spoke of that very type of shape-changing and, in some cases, actually told of a man who had been transformed into a wolf.
A typical example from the classical age is told by the Roman poet \JOvid\j. Surprisingly, it is linked with Arcadia, which came to be renowned as a haven of rustic bliss. In this story it was not just an ordinary human being who was changed into a wolf but Lycaon, the king of Arcadia. Lycaon was a most cruel tyrant and much evil was committed in his name. Zeus, as chief god, was determined to stop him from pursuing his wicked ways any further. To confront the brutal ruler, Zeus came down from heaven to call on Lycaon in Arcadia and made no secret as to who he was.
The king doubted whether his guest was really the god he alleged himself to be, the supreme divine ruler. To test him, at dinner he had served Zeus a dish made of human flesh. One tradition says that he had murdered a messenger that had just arrived for that purpose. Another even more gruesome claim asserts that the meat came from the body of one of the king's own sons that he had slain to provide it.
Zeus, beside himself with rage, lost no time in meting out punishment on the blood-thirsty tyrant. He not only destroyed his palace but changed him into a wolf. In this transformation, Lycaon assumed every lupine feature - except for the eyes. These, as in the werewolves of later years, kept their human look! One tradition claims that not only the king, but also his remaining sons, changed into wolves.
There is no doubt that the myth tried to explain the presence of countless blood-thirsty wolves in Arcadia and their frequent fearsome attacks on peacefully grazing flocks of sheep.
Primitive tribes' belief in werewolves was supported by their own type of faith, one of the very early forms of religion now termed totemism. This taught that each group of men had descended from a specific animal - its \Jtotem\j - upon which it looked as its "guardian." As this animal was sacred to them, they would never kill it. Identifying themselves with the \Jtotem\j ancestor, they could easily believe that some outstanding member of their race was able to assume the original "shape."
All this was given even more credibility by reports and experiences of children lost or carried away into forests and reared there by wolves. When finally found, they had not only adopted lupine traits but actually regarded themselves as wolves. Rudyard Kipling's famous figure of Mowgli in his \IJungle Book\i is based on this misadventure. The young Indian boy saw the wolves that had brought him up as his brothers!
Primitive peoples have very vivid dreams attributable in large measure to their different eating habits. Dreams to them seemed most real. Who, after all, could prove to them the difference between the world of imagination and that of fact? Therefore, when recollecting a dream in which they had been a wolf, they could well believe that this had been so and that on waking they had merely returned to their original human shape.
Fantasy-producing drugs, either taken orally or applied in the form of ointments, caused people to imagine that they were no longer humans but wolves. Thus deluded, they acted exactly as the beast would do. They moved on all fours and attacked men and \Jcattle\j, tearing off their flesh and devouring it raw. \JLycanthropy\j described this type of mental aberration. People who suffered from it exhibited symptoms of wolfish traits. In fact, this kind of insanity has served as a major explanation of the \Jwerewolf\j phenomenon.
Indian religion further confirmed the possibility of the existence of werewolves. After all, did not the Hindus' beliefs in the transmigration of souls and in \Jreincarnation\j assume the closest kinship between animals and man? Any animal could be possessed by the spirit of a former human, retrogressively passing through such a stage on its journey to the final destination of Nirvana.
Ancient magic hunting customs were yet another contributory source for the idea. The hunter who impersonated the chased animal by donning its hide and imitating its demeanor, did not only try to deceive his prey by appearing like one of its pack: he actually imagined that he himself had taken on its personality.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, fear of werewolves grew into a mass \Jhysteria\j, especially in \JFrance\j. It has been suggested that 30,000 cases of werewolfery were recorded within a period of less than 150 years. No one seemed safe either from attack by or from suspicion of being such a creature. And once people start believing this sort of myth, however improbable, they soon find confirmation of their fears wherever they look. The discovery of the mangled body of a child "proved" that a \Jwerewolf\j must have slain yet another victim. Mysterious disappearances were explained by saying that the person had been carried off by the beast. And, of course, there were not a few perverted characters who discovered in the \Jwerewolf\j (story) a useful means by which murders, depraved blood lust, sadism, and even cannibalism might be covered up or the blame passed on to an innocent person.
In hard times when people were "starved" for meat and, in their craving, might even live as cannibals, their untutored minds were ready to believe that their horrible desire was caused not by nutritional deficiency but by their having actually somehow or other turned into wolves. If it was pointed out to them that they, after all, still looked like human beings, they rationalized their lack of lupine features by saying, for instance, that their pelt had grown inside-out.
Having "established" that werewolves existed - even if only in the minds of people - men still seriously wondered what it could be that triggered off such a weird and ominous transformation. They thought that the condition was attained either by the individual's own deliberate will or that the state was inflicted on him by an ill-intentioned outsider. The actual method of shape-shifting was reputed to take different forms. Most effective, it was suggested, was the donning of a girdle made of the skin of a wolf or of a man. On the other hand, one specially endowed could become a \Jwerewolf\j by sheer willpower or, as we would say today, by self-\Jhypnosis\j.
Of course, how to detect wolf-people - either in their human or lupine guise - became a very significant question. After all, if only for the victim, it was a matter of life and death. With the passing of time and the spread of the epidemic, ever more features were imagined to betray a \Jwerewolf\j disguised as a man or woman. All one reputedly had to know was what symptoms to look for.
Certain (unfortunate) features immediately caused suspicion. Men who grew hair all over their bodies (medically now explained as a case of hypertrichosis) were very unlucky. They just could not hide their "wolfish" skin! As in the case of a vampire, to have converging eyebrows above the bridge of the nose was a distinguishing feature seen as yet another, unmistakable \Jwerewolf\j trait. Incidents of a little-known disease added to the \Jwerewolf\j mania. People who suffered from \Jporphyria\j would develop horrible blisters the moment they exposed their skin to the sun, and their resultant facial distortion and ugliness made them ready victims of \Jwerewolf\j \Jhysteria\j.
To rid yourself of a foe, in those unhappy times, you merely accused him of being a \Jwerewolf\j. After all, by his (alleged) pact with the devil he was able completely to disguise all his wolfish features. And once such an accusation had been made, you just could not win.
There was one sure means, so it was thought, by which to verify the true \Jwerewolf\j nature of a person beyond the shadow of a doubt. It was firmly believed that any wound inflicted on the person while in his wolf shape would not vanish. The scar would show up on the identical part of the body once the \Jwerewolf\j had changed back into its human form.
There was a deep-rooted conviction that no matter how it happened, the devil had his hand in it. Who else would give man the power thus to transmute and to take on the nature of a wolf? Hence, those afflicted with (or merely suspected of) \Jlycanthropy\j lived dangerous lives. In the eyes of the Church, and subsequently of the law, theirs was a heinous crime which only death could atone. And to hunt werewolves developed into a fascinating "blood sport."
It is only fair to note that those who believed in the occult gave their own explanation concerning werewolves. They suggested that a person's astral body could assume the personality of the wolf, while (during the transformation) his physical being stayed in a trance.
The \Jwerewolf\j, indeed, belongs to the world of the occult. But he is also part of the story of man's power of imagination, his obsessions, fears, and gullibility. As long as 2,000 years ago, the Roman Pliny reprimanded his countrymen (and not least among them authors) who were foolish enough to give credence to the occurrence of \Jlycanthropy\j. He wrote that there were falsehoods, however barefaced, to which people would bear testimony and thereby show their lack of wisdom! And yet, 1,500 years later, countless people still fanatically believed in such absurd \Jmetamorphosis\j and hideous transformation.
When Hitler saw the approaching doom of the \IReich\i that he had intended to last for a thousand years, he planned the formation of groups of young fanatics. They were to roam the country and wreak bloody vengeance on the invader. His scheme came to nought. However, the name he had chosen for those suggested ruthless marauders was significant: they were to be known as "werewolves."
The concept of the \Jwerewolf\j is closely linked to that of the vampire. In part this is due to the legend which claims that after death, the ghost of a lycanthropist becomes a vampire.
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"Wesak Festival",2442,0,0,0
\BA Threefold Anniversary\b
As a threefold anniversary - of \JBuddha\j's birth, enlightenment, and death - Wesak is the most sacred Buddhist festival. The name is merely the Singhalese description of this lunar month. Held at the time of the full moon mostly in April or May, it is celebrated by the entire Buddhist world.
Homes and streets are decorated and gifts distributed among both monks and the poor. Some faithful even open up free eating places on roadsides, entertaining anyone who passes by. In other regions, special credit is given to those who release caged birds.
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"Wet Behind the Ears",2443,0,0,0
To refer to those immature and gullible as still "wet behind the ears" is due to an early observation made in stables and in cowsheds. Having watched calves and foals being born and then licked dry by their mother, it was noticed that the last place to be "dried" was behind the ears.
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"Wet Blanket",2444,0,0,0
A wet blanket comes in handy to put out flames and thereby to avoid a dangerous conflagration. Its dampening effect made people use it as a \Jmetaphor\j for killjoys who delight in spoiling people's fun and in discouraging their adventurous spirit by giving all kinds of reasons against what they are about to do. Like a wet blanket, they put out the fire of enthusiasm and dampen all joy and pleasure.
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"Whale of a Time",2445,0,0,0
Those who have a "whale of a time" certainly are enjoying themselves. The \Jmetaphor\j pictures the extent of their excessive pleasure by comparing it to the enormous size of the whale. The largest animal alive, a \Jblue whale\j may grow to a length of 30 meters (100 feet) and weigh up to 150 tons.
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"What Are Mishaps?",2446,0,0,0
History, science, and medicine owe some of their milestones to so-called accidents. Without an error of judgment, a plan gone wrong, or an obvious fault or failure, discoveries might have been delayed by many centuries, diseases might still be unconquered and advances not taken place.
The many fruitful "accidents" must make us wonder whether, after all, there might not be some pattern behind the apparently unplanned, unintended, and unexpected. Mishaps may appear to us as such only because we do not understand them - yet. Anatole \JFrance\j once remarked, "Chance is the pseudonym God uses when he does not want to sign his name."
The phenomenon is so common that it is known by a special term, serendipity. The English author Horace Walpole coined the word in 1754. He took it from the Persian fairy tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip." (Serendip was the ancient name of Ceylon, the present-day \JSri Lanka\j.) The heroes of the story possessed the gift of "always making discoveries . . . of things they were not in quest of."
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"What Makes an Evil Eye?",2447,0,0,0
An obvious question often raised was how a person said to be so "endowed" originally acquired his evil eye. And various explanations have been given.
It was an heirloom, some people said. Like other features, you inherited it from your ancestors. You just could not help having it. Those believing in the devil saw the evil eye as his special (misfortune-producing) gift which he had reserved for and bestowed upon his favorites. There were other magical "answers." An eye, one of these said, contained a fiery substance which, like sunrays focused through a piece of glass, could cause destruction.
A further opinion was that an angry look was not the outcome of an inner emotion alone. It was activated by a powerful spirit which, emanating from the eye, was able to pounce on the person that had provoked the wrath, to punish him or her with its daggers.
According to another view, a bad person was able to concentrate in his eye all the evil that would overflow and hit the target "dead on." The evil eye - like a loaded weapon - was always ready for action. It could be triggered off at a moment's notice to damage life and property, or to jinx man and his endeavors.
Apart from a hereditary malignancy, it was thought that an eye could turn evil by reacting to the fortune of others. Good luck, as it were, was counterproductive if the latent evil in an eye caught sight of it. Out of malice and jealousy, the evil eye would "shoot to kill."
Of course, the malevolent effect of the so-called evil eye may not be the result of magic or the \Jsupernatural\j. People who are very susceptible, sensitive to unkindness and believing in the alleged evil influence of the eye, may truly experience it. We know of the power of autosuggestion and how some persons make excellent subjects for \Jhypnosis\j. It has even been claimed that telepathic abilities of people enabled them to exercise successfully "the hostile look."
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"When First Married",2448,0,0,0
Recalling the early days of their union, couples are wont to say, "when we were first married." Put this way, it might imply a previous marriage. Accurately, they ought to say, "soon after we were married."
A mere change of position, however, would avoid the confusion, without any substitution of words. "First," instead of following the verb, should precede it. "When first we were married" would exclude any misunderstanding or suggestion of a previous marriage.
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"When in Rome Do As the Romans Do",2449,0,0,0
It seems such good advice to suggest that "when in \JRome\j, do as the Romans do" - to conform with local custom is surely courteous, wise and expedient - that one might suppose the phrase to be just common sense, without any specific beginning. But this is not the case. It goes back to the early days of \JChristianity\j when the customs of the faith greatly varied among the different communities. This created a problem, if not a conflict of conscience, for those traveling. Arriving at a place away from home, should they continue there to follow their own tradition, even if this differed from, or contradicted the local practice?
A typical case applied to Sabbath observance. In \JRome\j the Sabbath was kept as a most solemn day, while in Milan people celebrated it joyfully, with cheer and exuberance. Using a modern pun, to the Milanese Sunday was fun day; what was in \JRome\j like a fast day, became a feast day in Milan.
Fourth-century Monica, a Roman resident, encountered the problem on a visit to Milan, where her son, St Augustine of Hippo, was teaching \Jrhetoric\j. As a very devout Roman Christian, she was at a loss about what to do on the Sabbath. If she followed her own tradition and stayed at home, she might easily offend her hosts. On the other hand, to join the Milan community in its feasting seemed to her unfitting. She discussed the dilemma with her son (the future author of the famous \IConfessions),\i who was already renowned for his brilliant intellect. A humble man, he felt unqualified to voice an opinion. He referred the problem to his bishop St Ambrose, who, without a moment's hesitation, gave a ruling based on his own experience and practice. "When I am in \JRome\j," he said, "I fast as the Romans do; [but] when I am in Milan, I do not fast." In the same way, not to give offense to others or to be offended by them, Monica should observe the customs of the local church.
There is another - erroneous - derivation of the phrase. This takes it literally, applying it exclusively to visitors to \JRome\j. It suggests that the phrase means that such people should do exactly as the Romans do, to show respect to their city as the center of the Roman Catholic faith.
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"When Your Number Is Up",2450,0,0,0
At times of war, soldiers and civilians exposed to mortal danger often adopt a fatalistic attitude. Somehow, they feel, destiny must have decreed in advance who should die. Therefore it is no use to fret and to fear. It was said that no man could escape his fate if "his number was up."
On the other hand, the very same people would acknowledge a narrow escape by noting with relief that the bullet that had just missed them, had done so not accidentally or by sheer luck but because, as they put it, "my number wasn't on it!" These were not mere colloquial phrases. They were the surviving belief that fate selected the individuals who were to die and magically executed its decision.
Innocuous children's games of "counting one out" have the same numerological and magical origin. (Best-known of all perhaps is the version of "eenie, meenie, miney, mo....") Like many other \Jnursery rhymes\j, these counting games have a lethal background in magic. They go back to the days of the Druids who, by exactly that method, decided whose number was up to drop out and be sacrificed to the gods.
The origin of the word "decimation" has the identical basis. Derived from the Latin for 10 - \Idecem\i it recalls the Roman punishment of army mutineers or surviving enemy soldiers after a victorious battle. One out of each batch of ten men was picked by lot to be executed.
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"Where Astrology and Astronomy Meet and Part",2451,0,0,0
Astrology and \Jastronomy\j come from the East, most likely from Chaldea once situated at the site of modern \JIraq\j. Its rulers and people were so preoccupied with the stars and what they said, that the "Chaldean" became synonymous with star-gazer, soothsayer, and astrologer. As such the name even appears in the \JBible\j.
As mere words, however, both \Jastrology\j and \Jastronomy\j are "all Greek." They say almost the same thing. \IAstron,\i of course, referred to (any) "star." \ILogos\i was the (Greek) "word" which, through St John, became so all-important in Christian \Jtheology\j as the description of God the son in the holy trinity. \INomos\i (the root of \Inomy)\i described to Greeks the majestic "law." In the realm of faith this was to take on an, alas, unfortunate role, when the Greek translators of the \JHebrew\j \JBible\j, for lack of any better and more appropriate term used it inaccurately to render the difficult \JHebrew\j word \I"\JTorah\j."\i This translation proved most helpful to the antagonists of \JJudaism\j who interpreted it in its narrow "legalistic" sense.
Astrology thus was merely "the telling of the stars," while \Jastronomy\j spoke of studying their law - "the arrangements of the stars" or their distribution. Accordingly, an astrologer was a "star-discourser" and an astronomer a "star-arranger:" not in the skies but on stellar maps.
Only very gradually did \Jastrology\j become a separate "study," and finally assumed (as late as the seventeenth century) its present-day meaning without a single change of the "word" \I(logos).\i \JAstrology\j's observation of the stars was now exclusively applied to \Jdivination\j.
Astronomy, on the other hand, entered the realm of pure science. The two words, once used interchangeably, now were strictly separate. It was a division jealously observed between the men who tried to learn what the stars told and those who made it their task to tell what the stars foretold.
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"Where Australian War Heroes Lie",2452,0,0,0
The majority of Australian war dead rest overseas, tens of thousands in unknown graves. To all of them apply the words inscribed on the traditional stone of remembrance put up in the larger war cemeteries, "Their Name Liveth for Evermore."
Many soldiers rest in Australian soil. Their graves are a vivid reminder of how Australians have distinguished themselves in numerous conflicts, whether as loyal allies, in defense of the security of their country or in support of a cause, in which they believed or for which they were enlisted to fight.
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"Where the Wedding Ring is Worn",2453,0,0,0
A variety of traditions accounts for the choice of hand and the specific finger for the wearing of the wedding ring.
The selection of the third finger of the left hand has been attributed to ancient faulty anatomy which taught that a vein led straight to the heart from this finger. However mistaken, it is still a beautiful explanation. Another reason is linked with early \Jsymbolism\j where the right hand represented dominance and the left submission. By placing the ring on the bride's left hand, the groom made her understand - without saying it in so many words - that from now on she was his property and that he was the master of their home.
The choice of the right hand is associated with this hand's traditional use in taking an oath. To confirm the truth of a statement, people either lifted their right hand or placed it on the \JBible\j. Likewise, as a token of the marriage vow, the ring belonged to this hand. Rather more poetically, the use and selection of this hand was meant to express how a wife was "like a man's right hand."
A solely utilitarian explanation is that the third finger was the least active of the hand. A ring placed there would least inconvenience its wearer, and there was less likelihood of it being worn out or damaged. An equally practical consideration was the retention and span of the ring finger. Whereas every other finger can be stretched independently, the third one cannot be extended to its full length on its own. This prevents a ring from easily slipping off, making the third finger the most secure safeguard for so precious an object.
Nowadays, the ring is immediately put on the finger on which it is to stay at the marriage ceremony. However, this was not always the case. In an ancient Church ritual, still practiced in the sixteenth century, the ring was systematically moved three times prior to finding its permanent place. Each change was introduced or accompanied by successive parts of the Trinitarian formula. With the words "In the name of the Father," the priest placed the ring on the thumb. Whilst saying, "In the name of the Son," he moved it to the forefinger and then, with "and of the \JHoly Ghost\j," to the middle finger. With the closing word "Amen," he slipped the ring on the third or ring finger, sealing the marriage bond.
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"Whipping Boy",2454,0,0,0
To make others take one's place, particularly for an unpleasant task, has been an age-old practice. In early religion, man thus used to substitute animals for himself as a sacrificial offering to the gods! It is the origin of the \Jscapegoat\j.
At one time, in parts of Europe, youths conscripted into the army were permitted to hire a "replacement" to fight and, if fate so willed it, to be killed in their stead.
Royalty provided their own type of surrogate. It took the form of the whipping boy. Now merely used as a striking \Jmetaphor\j, originally it was a very realistic designation.
Children will be children, even if they are young princes. Their behavior, too, at times merited punishment. However, being of royal blood, it was regarded below their status for them to be chastised in the way of common folk by corporal punishment.
Whenever the necessity arose to teach the prince a lesson, his punishment was transferred to a boy specially kept at court for that purpose, and aptly called the "whipping boy." The institution of this royal \Jscapegoat\j no longer exists. Nevertheless, its memory survives in the figure of speech, now applied to many new situations.
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"Whistle for It",2455,0,0,0
Anyone told that they can "whistle for it" is left in no doubt that they can just as well forget all about what they expect to obtain. Oddly, the words, which could be regarded as almost rude, have a ritual background, with exactly the opposite meaning. They go back to the belief once held that in a becalmed sea, whistling by sympathetic magic could raise the much-needed wind.
Interpreted differently, the rejection might equally imply that whoever is asking for something, has no chance of getting it. The best thing for them to do is, in the tradition of outdated \Jsuperstition\j, whistle for it. It will have the same (non) effect.
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"Whistling at Sea",2456,0,0,0
In the old days of sail, the sailor's calling was especially hazardous and it was small wonder that \Jsuperstition\j permeated much of his life. In numerous ways, seafaring men tried to ensure that the sea would be friendly. They left nothing undone that might help them to escape disaster by propitiating the many invisible, hostile forces on whose good will they depended so much and whose whims they could not guess. These agencies, sailors believed, hovered all over the sea and peopled ships. They could cause terror and destruction.
One way of dissuading them from evil intention was sympathetic magic, of the potency of which primitive man was firmly convinced. Thus, some African tribes would never heat milk. If they did so, they imagined that the cow which had provided the milk would suffer, in sympathy, from the heat and perish.
Gales were one of the most frightening hazards at sea. To avoid them by every possible means was a matter of common sense. Sailors believed it was possible to call up a gale by the accidental use of sympathetic magic - if a noise like a storm was made, a storm would come.
The sound of whistling resembled that of a gale in the rigging, and for that reason it was assumed that any one who whistled magically started a gale. Whistling on board ship was thus considered an invitation to bad luck.
Of course, when the sea was calmed, circumstances changed and on such an occasion a whistle could become the right charm. However, sailors who then whistled for the wind did so with utmost caution lest they roused the wrong type in both strength and direction. They whistled softly and only towards the point from which they wanted the wind to blow.
The view that it is "common" and wrong for a woman to whistle, whether on land or at sea, is rooted in the same belief in the magical power of a whistle. It was considered that a woman's place was in the home, and that for her to meddle in male concerns was dangerous at the best of times. But if she did so with a whistle, it could prove fatal. She could rouse winds from the wrong direction and in destructive, gale force.
Apart from that, a woman who whistled usurped a male privilege. An old-established custom gave a man the right to "whistle up" a girl he fancied. This was not, as it is today, a rather vulgar way to attract her attention. As in the case of the wind, it was thought that a man's whistle magically brought the girl to him.
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"Whistling Backstage",2457,0,0,0
Not all superstitions, initially, were irrational. Many were precautionary measures against bad luck, brought about not by mysterious demonic forces but by human negligence or untoward accidents. This applies to some well-known theatrical superstitions which do not reflect actors' feelings of insecurity, but recall some unfortunate incident they want to prevent from recurring.
A strictly adhered to \Jtaboo\j concerns whistling backstage. It was misinterpreted as whistling up the devil who, always eager and ready to do mischief and spoil success, should ruin the performance. Should, inadvertently, an actor forget himself and whistle he had to follow conscientiously a prescribed ritual to counteract any possible harmful effect. Leaving the room, he had humbly to ask to be readmitted and utter a string of profanities.
The true reason was well founded on common sense. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was the practice to give stage-hands their instructions not by word of mouth but by a variety of whistles. Their number told them whether to move scenery, to lower or raise stage props or even to open up a trapdoor. Any other "whistle" could easily be mistaken, leading to confusion and serious accidents.
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"White Christmas",2458,0,0,0
This lovely modern Christmas song was written in 1942 by Irving Berlin. He was a Jewish immigrant to the USA from \JRussia\j, where his father had been a cantor in a \Jsynagogue\j.
Out of Irving's 900 compositions, this was undoubtedly the most successful. He composed it for the film \IHoliday Inn,\i a musical which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. "White Christmas" received the well-deserved \JAcademy Award\j for Best Song of 1942, and the sale of its sheet music has never been surpassed by any other single song.
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"White Elephants",2459,0,0,0
White elephants exist only in the \Jmetaphor\j, when a present instead of proving a welcome gift, turns out to be useless. In nature, the white elephant is not white but gray. An albino, its only distinguishing features are its eyes which are pink.
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"White Feather",2460,0,0,0
White is not only a symbol of innocence and purity. It has also assumed the role of indicating and branding cowardice. During World War I, patriotic British women used to present white feathers to men who did not wear a uniform and whom they therefore considered to be shirking military duty. They did so to stigmatize them, and "to show the white feather" became a telling phrase.
Yet the most obvious explanation, coming first into one's mind is wrong. This would suggest that the association of lack of color with lack of courage stems from the fact that frightened people get pale, become "as white as a ghost" - because the blood drains out of their head.
Actually, the white feather as a badge of cowardice is a legacy from cock-fighting days, once a most popular sport.
There are all kinds of decorations, invented by the ingenuity of man. Most of them are artificial creations, well thought-out symbols and designs to distinguish bravery and merit. But the emblem of cowardice "grew naturally" and is the product of birds, made use of by imaginative people.
\JCockfighting\j was a cruel sport, enjoyed by callous men from the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans onward, and was introduced by the latter into Britain.
The plumage of a game cock was taken as evidence of it breeding. Pure-bred stock had only red and black feathers. The presence of even a single white feather in a cock's tail indicated a cross-bred bird. Experience showed that only the thoroughbred was good as a fighter. All other birds were "cowards." Therefore only birds of black or red plumage were taken into the cockpit and, "to show the white feather" came not only to imply a display of impure strain, but also to describe cowards, both among cocks and men.
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"White Flag",2461,0,0,0
Military units used to march into battle conspicuously displaying their colors. It challenged the enemy and inspired the company. A white flag - on the other hand - represents the opposite. Lacking identifying marks, it was ineffective, both as a demonstration of defiance and a motivating force. Therefore, showing a white flag indicates a plea for truce or readiness to surrender.
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"White House: Origin of the Name",2462,0,0,0
The \JWhite House\j received its name only "accidentally!" It was built in 1799 by James Hoban, an Irish architect who had migrated to America. In its design he copied the style of buildings he nostalgically remembered from back home, using grey \Jsandstone\j. John Adams, the second President of the United States of America, was its first resident.
During the "\JWar of 1812\j," the British attacked the building. Setting it on fire (on 24 August 1814), they almost totally destroyed it. All that was left were its bare, charred walls.
When hostilities ceased, Hoban was commissioned to restore the house. As it was impossible to remove the smoke stains from the grey \Jsandstone\j, he decided to cover them up. He did so by painting the entire building white. Thus, as the result of mere repair work, the "\JWhite House\j" came into being, though this description for the residence of the President of the United States was officially adopted only much later, by President Theodore Roosevelt.
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"White Rhinoceros",2463,0,0,0
Even when not wallowing in mud, a "white" \Jrhinoceros\j is not white. In fact, its brownish-gray color is no paler than that of its more common "black" relative. Its name, indeed, is based on a misunderstanding.
The two species differ in their feeding habits. The black \Jrhinoceros\j seeks its food in thorny bushes, for which purpose nature provided it with a pointed upper lip. The so-called white \Jrhinoceros\j, on the other hand, lives on siliceous grasses. To facilitate grazing, its nose is flat while its lips are square and wide. This made the South African Boer refer to the animal as the \Iwide\i-(nosed) one. Englishmen, not familiar with the \JAfrikaans\j language, mistook the \Iwijd\i (for wide) to mean "white" and that is how, by mishearing, the white \Jrhinoceros\j came into being.
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"White Spots on Fingernails",2464,0,0,0
The appearance of small white spots on fingernails has intrigued, worried, and pleased people, all depending on what they "recognized" in it. Some saw in the spots irrefutable evidence of an untruthful character, each spot representing a lie. Others, more fortunately, were of the firm belief that they were "good luck spots," ensuring a happy life.
The spots have no occult or ethical bearing. Mostly a physiological blemish, they result from dead cells near the root of the nail being pushed forward, to become visible as "white spots."
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"Whitsun",2465,0,0,0
The Christian feast of Pentecost (from the Greek word for "50th") is so called because it is celebrated 50 days after Easter. It commemorates the descent of the \JHoly Spirit\j on the Apostles, said to have taken place on that day. Anglican Churches do not call it Pentecost but Whitsun. It is a puzzling name because of the (literal) loss of a letter and a day.
Converts used to be baptized on this seventh Sunday after Easter and wore white robes for the ceremony. This made the English refer to the day as White Sunday. The tradition lapsed and the name of the feast contracted into Whitsun, a now meaningless word - lacking the "e" of white and the "day" of Sunday.
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"Whitsun or Pentecost",2466,0,0,0
The feast of Whitsun, celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter, commemorates the descent of the \JHoly Spirit\j on the Apostles, which is said to have occurred on this day. Because it was the "fiftieth" day after the \Jresurrection\j, it became also known as Pentecost - the Greek for "fiftieth."
The name Whitsun recalls a once conspicuous feature of the feast's ritual. According to tradition, the divine spirit which inspired Jesus' disciples at the first Pentecost enabled them to baptize an extraordinarily large number of people. In remembrance of this, the day was specially set aside for the \Jbaptism\j of converts who, for the occasion, wore white garments. These became so conspicuous a feature of the festival that Pentecost was eventually called after it and became known as White Sunday.
The tradition lapsed and was soon forgotten, but the name was retained. No longer understanding its significance, people contracted the two words into one, and \IWhite Sun\iday became Whitsun.
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"Who Was Claudia?",2467,0,0,0
A teenage girl's grave at Port Macquarie poses several questions. She was not buried in the cemetery, but in the garden of a home on Hibbard Drive. The memorial that once marked her grave there has vanished. The mystery is deepened by the fact that next to her are the graves of four other people. Their stones are still standing though the inscriptions, dating back to as early as 1844, have become almost illegible. There is another puzzle. As old photographs show, and as is still remembered by some people, the girl's epitaph consisted of one single word - Claudia.
Who was Claudia? And what happened to her stone, which was last seen sinking into swampy ground near her garden plot?
Reports agree that she had been a beautiful girl, and was the daughter of a Mrs Stephen and Dr William Bell Carlyle, whose grave is next to hers.
At the age of 14, on 28 October 1834, Claudia married a Mr Dutton. Their marriage license does not mention either her date of birth or the names of her parents. Three years later, Claudia passed away.
Stories vary as to the cause of her death. Some say it was in childbirth, but others claim that she had died from a broken heart. Having married Dutton merely at her mother's behest, she had not been happy. Because of this, by her own wish her gravestone did not record her surname or any other details than her given name.
Other interesting facts throw further light on the mystery. "Hamilton," the property on which the burial plot was situated, originally belonged to Dr Carlyle.
According to the \ISydney Gazette\i of 3 March 1825, prior to settling in Port Macquarie he had visited \JAustralia\j several times, serving as surgeon on a number of convict ships. He had done so first in 1820, at the age of 33. It is thought that he introduced the \Jprickly pear\j \Jcactus\j into \JAustralia\j which, in the early days, was found most suitable for hedges.
At his death at the age of 56, on 5 September 1844, his body was interred next to Claudia's at his own request. Numerous people attended his funeral. As the grave was dug in unconsecrated ground, the clergyman performing the service did so without his bishop's permission.
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"Why a Diamond?",2468,0,0,0
Traditionally, a diamond adorns the engagement ring. History claims that, in 1477, Emperor Maximilian I of \JAustria\j was one of the first to give a diamond ring to his fiancΘe, Mary of Burgundy. The choice of a diamond was not just due to its intrinsic value or conspicuousness, it was also based on a combination of long-held beliefs.
In earlier, more superstitious times, people imagined that invisible malevolent forces continually tried to destroy human happiness. No doubt a couple engaged to be married would be a prime target. It was further assumed that those evil spirits, belonging to the world of darkness, would shun light, therefore anything bright would scare them off. This made a diamond in a ring the perfect safeguard, its reflected light warding off any devilish forces nearby. Thus the couple's love would no longer be threatened and nothing would break their engagement.
Another, even more fanciful assumption which was once prevalent was that the diamond possessed procreative power! For instance, it was widely held that two stones set in one ring would multiply. And, by association, some of the diamond's supposed sexual potency would be transferred to the wearer. The presentation of a diamond to one's fiancΘe, therefore, had a very practical meaning and purpose, as well as a symbolic one. To be effective, it was further believed the stone had to be set unbacked, so that it was able to touch the skin.
The diamond was known to be one of the world's hardest substances, which no other stone could cut or scratch. It was therefore also imagined to give constancy and permanence to the forthcoming marital union. Its transparency made the diamond a symbol of purity, innocence and sincerity. Apart from indicating the wearer's virtue, it also expressed the pledge on the part of both the man and the woman never to deceive each other.
The Italians used to call the diamond "the stone of reconciliation." They were convinced that if a disagreement ever threatened a couple's happiness, a diamond would magically restore harmony. Hence its presence in a ring ensured a lasting and happy relationship between husband and wife.
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"Why Ships are Female",2469,0,0,0
Intriguing is the custom of calling a ship "she." It is a tradition that is even more paradoxical when "she" refers to a man of war, a merchantman, or to vessels called after monarchs and presidents. Cynics have pointed out that the feminine gender was well applied as, after all a ship also needed plenty of paint. Wits reminded the inquisitive seeker for an explanation that boats (also) were attached to b(u)oys.
Its real reason may be traced to one of two facts. The sailor's close and intimate link with his boat made him consider it not just an inanimate object but a person. Who would be dearer to him than a woman? More likely as the cause of the boat becoming a "she" is an even older tradition. In far-off days every vessel was dedicated to a goddess whose shrine or image it carried. Out of deference to her and to acknowledge her presence, the ship itself took on her gender.
Actually, some authorities claim that the naval custom for officers and men to salute the quarterdeck, and nowadays explained as paying honor to the flag (or, in the British navy to the reigning monarch - as all ships are His or Her Majesty's ships), really originated in that early period when sailors kept the sacred image aboard, to safeguard their passage through dangerous waters. Coming aboard, before doing anything else, they paid homage to the goddess on whom, after all, their lives depended. No wonder some consider sailing a divine pursuit.
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"Why the Chimney?",2470,0,0,0
The chimney would seem to be the very last point of entry for Santa to choose! Apart from possibly getting his rotund body stuck in the narrow passage, the soot would ruin his outfit!
The idea of entering a home via the chimney dates from prehistoric times, when people actually dwelt underground. The smokehole - which was later replaced by the chimney - doubled as the entrance and the exit. This explains why, in present-day French, the words for both "chimney" \I(cheminΘe)\i and "path" \I(chemin)\i have the identical root, just as the Italian \Icammino\i communicates both meanings.
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"Wicked Bible",2471,0,0,0
The "Wicked \JBible\j" was published in London in 1631 and truly merited its disparaging name. It was bestowed on it because of the omission of one single word! Containing the complete text of Holy Scripture, it lacks the "NOT" in the Seventh Commandment (Ex. 20:14). This therefore declared that "Thou shalt commit adultery."
It is easy to imagine the consternation of the faulty \JBible\j created. \JArchbishop\j Dr William Laud immediately ordered all copies to be confiscated and to be destroyed. The printers, who blamed an anonymous typesetter for the error, were fined ú300. It was a considerable sum then which, in fact, ruined their business. (To make things worse, they were Robert Barker and Martin Lucas of Blackfriars, the king's printers!)
A small number of the 1,000 copies of this "Wicked \JBible\j," (which also became known as the "Adulterous \JBible\j") escaped the purge. They are now highly prized collectors' items.
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"Wild Goose Chase",2472,0,0,0
People who pursue a hopeless and almost unattainable task are said to go on a "wild goose chase." Oddly, the \Jmetaphor\j originated in horseracing.
A popular game in Elizabethan times was a race between equestrians. Anyone could take the lead. But once he had succeeded in doing so, all the others had to follow him, at regular intervals. However, his route was not predetermined. The successful rider could go off in any direction he fancied, which made it very difficult, if not impossible, for the others to keep up with him. The fact that the rest of the field had to follow the leader whichever way he went reminded people of the flight of wild geese, which likewise followed the leading bird, not knowing where.
Shakespeare, as with so many other idioms, popularized the comparison. In \IRomeo and Juliet,\i Mercutio expresses his inability to understand and keep up with Romeo's mind, saying, "Nay, if thy wits run the wild goose chase, I have done."
Times changed and, with them, people's pursuits. The horsey "wild goose chase" went out of fashion and all that was remembered of it was the erratic course it once took.
People have short memories and when Dr Johnson came to define the phrase, unaware of its real beginning and context, he saw in it "a pursuit of something as unlikely to be caught as a wild goose." His explanation made sense and the lexicographer's authority assured that his interpretation has been retained ever since.
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"William Burbery's Paint Tools",2473,0,0,0
The Waverley Cemetery is the last resting place of Coventry-born William Burbery who died in 1882 at the age of 63. In a verse, his bereaved wife thus addresses him:
\IDearest husband thou hast left me
And my loss I deeply feel
But tis God who hath bereft me
He can all our sorrows heal.\i
The words are inscribed beneath a beautifully rendered artist's pallet and brushes. Though more than 100 years old, the stone is still well preserved.
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"William John McLean",2474,0,0,0
\BA Victim of the Bush Union Struggle\b
An imposing monument in the Tower Hill Cemetery marks the grave of 26 year old William John McLean, "a good son," "a faithful mate" and, above all, "a devoted Unionist." He was "shot by a non-Unionist at Grassmere Station, NSW during the Bush Union Struggle of 1894." The stone was erected by "his fellow unionists and admirers in memory of their comrade."
Falling wool prices had caused great upheaval in the pastoral industry, with the consequence that it was experiencing more strikes than all other Australian industries combined. William was a member of the local branch of the Amalgamated Shearers' Union, which all the bush workers had joined. The dispute proved a bitter struggle. It was distinguished by great militancy and acrimony, often resulting in arson and sabotage. And McLean was one of its victims.
As the date of his death recorded on his epitaph is 22 March 1896 it appears that, after having been injured, he must have lingered for another two years before succumbing to the mortal wound.
The base of his headstone displays the ancient Roman \Ifasces,\i a bundle of rods. It was meant to symbolize the power workers gain when jointly they stand up for their cause. On its own, a stick can easily be broken, but not so if it is joined with others. Inscribed on the strap binding the rods together is the slogan "Union is Strength." It was whilst fighting for his union that McLean lost his life.
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"Wimp's Description",2475,0,0,0
A vogue word of the late twentieth century is the wimp. This description may well have shrunk from a "whimper" when asked to take decisive action and show strength of character. A jellyback in his or her lack of courage, a wimp is one who makes a whining, plaintive response, signifying and achieving nothing.
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"Wind Up a Company",2476,0,0,0
When a company is liquidated and its assets distributed, it is said to be "wound up." Would it not be so much more appropriate to speak of its being "wound down?" After all, when a clock is wound up, it works. Wound down, it stops.
The term might have originated in early mining. When all the coal had been brought to the surface and the mine, exhausted, was about to be closed, the last bucket was hauled to the top. It was "wound up" by means of a rope around a windlass - and that was the end of the mine.
On the other hand, the apparently paradoxical use of the phrase may come from hand spinning and the practice of taking the "loose ends" from a fleece of wool to "wind (them) up" into a tidy ball. Winding up of a company frequently implies the unraveling of the tangled mess in which it has ended up. The similarity of situation equally could have been responsible for referring to the closure of a firm as being "wound up" and not wound down, just like those loose ends of woollen thread.
In a similar vein, a speaker winds up a talk or a chairperson a discussion. Either of them does so by gathering in - summing up - the various strands of thought or points of view expressed and, with it, concludes the discussion or discourse.
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"Windfall",2477,0,0,0
A good fortune unexpectedly coming one's way is referred to as a "windfall." Originally, the term really meant what it said. It had its beginning in Britain and goes back to British members of nobility, whose estate often included large tracts of forest. In spite of their owning them, they were not permitted to make free use of their trees. Much less so, of course, could any commoner.
To protect forests is not a modern phenomenon. Long before the ecological concern shown by conservationists and environmentalists, royalty pursued and enforced an identical policy. However, they did so with a totally different aim in mind. They were prompted by considerations of national defense.
At the time, Britain's rule and defense greatly depended on its fleet. To maintain a sufficient number of ships was paramount. For this reason, it was decreed that no tree could be felled or timber cut except for the purpose of building vessels for the Royal Navy.
There was one exception. Trees uprooted by storms or branches blown down by a strong wind were free for the taking. In every sense of the word, they became a "windfall."
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"Wine and Religion",2478,0,0,0
The drinking of wine was an essential part of earliest religious meals. With wine, man hallowed the sacred days and found communion with the divine. Jews thus still sanctify every Sabbath and holy day. When, as a loyal member of the Jewish community, Jesus celebrated the Passover eve, at his Last Supper, he shared with his twelve disciples in the blessing and drinking of wine, traditionally and significantly referred to by the Jewish religion as "Sanctification," \IKiddush\i in \JHebrew\j.
The world owes many a famous wine and liqueur to monasteries. They developed the beverages initially for solely religious reasons. The many services and celebrations held in the monastery demanded a plentiful supply of wine. To be self-supporting, the monks planted their own vineyards, and the wine-making became part of their daily lives. They became experts in the art and, not rarely, came to excel in one of the many varieties they distilled.
The quality of their product was no doubt not the result of accident, but was scientifically achieved by experimentation. On all occasions, however, the monks were prompted by the sincere desire to glorify God who - in the words of the ancient \JHebrew\j blessing still used in Jewish homes - had "created the fruit of the vine."
Any funds raised by the sale of their surplus were used by the monks to help the destitute and the sick.
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"Wise Owl",2479,0,0,0
That "looks can deceive" is not just a cliche. It is a fact of life that applies to the animal world as much as to humans. A cat that rubs its body against its mistress does so not to show affection, but to get for itself some physiological satisfaction.
The "wise owl" is a misjudgment, too. Certainly, the owl's looks gave the bird its (imagined) intellectual status. The owl appears so solemn. Its manner seems so judicial. Most of all, it was its large "thoughtful" eyes that took people in. In reality, however, in comparison with other animals, the intelligence of this nocturnal bird of prey rates very low; the owl cannot be regarded clever.
There were also historical reasons for the high esteem in which the owl was held. Owls were plentiful in classical \JAthens\j, the city which became the cradle and center of philosophy. And because of this the Greeks chose the owl as their emblem and made it a symbol of Pallas Athena, their goddess. Born out of the head of Zeus according to Greek \Jmythology\j, she became the very personification of wisdom. The owl's fame as a wise bird was thus the result of the company it kept, a typical case of greatness by association.
In spite of the general reputation of the owl as a wise bird, in Old English it was called \Igofish\i meaning "stupid." The root of this word is preserved in the Shetland Islands \Jdialect\j in which the owl is known as a \Iyuggle.\i This, in turn, so one (fanciful) theory claims, created the "yokel" as the description of a dim-witted country bumpkin, so much reminiscent of the stupid owl staring with its big eyes.
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"Wishes and Resolutions",2480,0,0,0
Wishes for a "Happy New Year" accompanied the gifts one sent. They can be traced far back into antiquity and were found - a forerunner of the modern New Year card - in Egyptian tombs!
Medals specially struck during \JHadrian\j's reign (in the second century) expressed, on behalf of the senate and people of \JRome\j, wishes for the emperor, "the father of the country," for a "Happy and Prosperous New Year."
Of all the greeting cards known to celebrate the rites of passage, those sent for New Year certainly are the oldest ones. Well known is a sixteenth-century \Jwoodcut\j, which was very popular at the time. It shows the Christ child with a cart loaded with a bag of good wishes, arriving at a home. On being questioned by the gatekeeper as to his identity and mission, the child replies, "It is I, bringing a good year."
As well as wishing each other a happy and prosperous New Year, it became customary for people to make personal New Year's resolutions. If carried out, they would become further cause for celebration.
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"Wisteria's Misspelling",2481,0,0,0
The \Jwisteria\j misspells the name of the very person it is meant to honor: nineteenth-century American anatomist Caspar Wistar, who was the first to discover the flower.
In 1818, the very year of Wistar's death at the early age of 57, Thomas Nuttal, the curator of the Botanical Gardens at Harvard, decided to call the plant after him. Careless in the spelling of the name, he rendered it \Jwisteria\j. All attempts at correcting the mistake and recall in the flower the professor's name rightly spelled - as wistaria - failed.
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"Witch's Cat",2482,0,0,0
It has been suggested that seeing the cat as a witch's familiar was an early case of mistaken identity. The confusion was tied up with the broomstick the witch was alleged to use.
The original "cat" had not been a cat at all - in the feline and purring sense. The cat in a witch's home had actually been the \Jdialect\j word for the magic broomstick she used for her occult work and transportation. To think otherwise would be tantamount to jumping to the wrong conclusion, and would defame a loyal and one time royal mouse-catcher as being an ominous creature.
Nevertheless, everything known and told of this feline creature "conspired" to make the cat the ideal representative and vehicle of occult power and thereby the witch's familiar, if not her very impersonation.
That we call a cat "pussy" is really divine. It recalls her deification in ancient \JEgypt\j where Pasht (also known as Bast or Bastet) was worshiped as a cat-goddess - our (word) "pussy" is derived from her.
The Egyptian \IBook of the Dead\i spoke of "the Great Cat who is in Heliopolis." As a feline solar deity then, the cat was thought to protect man who really has never lost his feeling of dependence on the cat. A cat certainly is internationally recognized by the way it lovingly is referred to throughout the world in all languages at least by children. The name by which they call the cat echoes its original Egyptian description as \Imau.\i
Cats were regarded by the Egyptians as so sacred that to kill one was a capital offense. At death, cats were mummified and buried in cemeteries reserved for them, some of which have been excavated in modern days.
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"Witch-hunts",2483,0,0,0
When man became possessed by a fear of witches, he applied every means to detect and identify them. Because he believed that they were "branded" and therefore identifiable by the devil's mark, bodies were carefully examined. Woe to those already suspect who bore on their skin some unusual blemish, a hairy growth, a pimple, a mole, a wart, or a \Jbirthmark\j. It was indeed claimed that the raised protuberances were actually nipples through which the familiars sucked the witches' blood.
In the words of King James I of England (famous for the \JBible\j translation he authorized), witchcraft was one of the most "horrible crimes," and he greatly promoted witch trials, which determined guilt or innocence by the infamous water ordeal. The suspect was thrown into water. If he (or she) floated, it was taken as a sure indication that he was a witch. The pure water had rejected him! If, on the other hand, the body sank, the person on trial had proved his innocence. All that was now needed was to rescue him prior to drowning.
In their worship of the devil and the practice of their craft, witches denied and defied the power of God. Certainly they did everything to show their contempt. That is how the Church came to regard them as heretics for whom no punishment was too severe.
As witches, constantly threatened, tried to hide their secret and their allegiance to the "evil one," the Church felt justified to do everything within its power to make them confess. If the painless test of floating had been unable to procure the necessary evidence, it was not seen as proof of the suspect's innocence. On the contrary, it only showed the terrible power of Satan who helped his servant to keep the secret. The witch would only devulge it under sufficient stress. Thus the Church sanctioned and practised in the name of God the most cruel and fiendish tortures. After all, had not the \JBible\j commanded us not to suffer a witch to live?
And we who have become so conversant with women's "lib," can also imagine yet another factor which contributed to the persecution of witches. As they became identified in the majority of cases as women, men must have resented their influence. Traditionally a woman was believed to be inferior. And therefore any power she exercised could never be of her own making. She executed Satan's work and bidding. And as the "evil one," never did anything for nothing, she had paid for her power by giving her soul to him.
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"Witchcraft and Black Mass",2484,0,0,0
So-called historical judgments have often been made not to present objective truth but, by slanting or actually falsifying events, to justify one's own existence or way of life.
Examples abound: Pharisees were never the hypocrites they were made out to be for well nigh 2,000 years. Their calumny was due to their antagonists' deliberate effort to discredit them and thereby \JJudaism\j.
In the same way, blaming the Jews for the crucifixion of Christ did not conform with the actual facts. The Romans executed him and did so not for religious but political reasons. They certainly did not intend either to please or placate the Jews whose country they had invaded. But the early Christian community, to curry favor with Roman authorities (on whose good will they depended) and to make them their friends, had no compunction in doing so at the expense of the Jews.
Some traditions that depicted King Arthur as an evil tyrant also did not reflect his true character. The scurrilous notion was purposely created and fostered by Celtic monks whose monasteries he had robbed for the enrichment of his soldiers. The way in which ecclesiastics (in the \JDark Ages\j the only literate men able to record happenings) dealt with King Arthur's exploits, was typical of the pitfalls in the writing of history. Because Arthur had shown no friendship for the Church, they either totally ignored his existence or, if referring to him at all, did so with biased minds, representing him as a man of little valor and even less value.
The same method was applied by the Church to pagan traditions after its unsuccessful attempt to destroy them "root and branch." Realizing its inability thus to eradicate the old faith, it adopted and adapted many of the pagan customs, reinterpreting them the Christological way. That is how the pagan goddess Eostre survives in Easter, and the Roman Saturnalia in the Christmas celebrations.
Christianity, nevertheless, could not absorb all pagan tradition by this method. Many of the ancient beliefs proved too strong. They threatened the very existence of the young Church which rightly saw them as a powerful subversive force.
The continued existence and practice of pagan traditions intruded dangerously on the territory staked out by the Church. And as all other measures of persuasion - promises of salvation and threats of damnation - had failed, \JChristianity\j took the final step. It proclaimed such beliefs and practices heresies and the work of the devil. Anyone aiding or abetting them was denounced as being in the devil's service and consequently had to be punished and eliminated. To do so was considered a sacred duty and a hallowed task, undertaken for the sake and in the name of God.
That is how, from the fifteenth century onward, the practice of the "old" religion was declared "witchcraft." Contrary to the "established" faith, it was blasphemous and illegal and therefore punishable by death. Those not toeing the official Christian line exposed themselves to prosecution. If they did not confess and if evidence of their devil worship could not be provided outright, torture was applied to the luckless victim. The outcome then was almost a foregone conclusion.
The promised confiscation of all goods owned by the convicted suspect made the "authorities," or those in their service (and pay), only too anxious to prove their point. The application of tortures appealed to the basest instinct of man and, just as in later Nazi days, attracted the sadist whose lust to inflict pain was now even sanctified.
But history never stands still. The wheel of life keeps on turning. And, suddenly, things were reversed. The Church had ruthlessly used its power to denigrate pagan belief and the ancient forms of heathenism for the sake of self-preservation. Now those opposed to its faith and dedicated to the devil, defiantly applied every means to proclaim and foster their own way of life and pattern of belief.
Instead of serving God and Christ, they worshiped Satan. Fearing his power, they hoped to gain his favor by paying homage to him. And just as the Church had taken over the old pagan rites, \Jsatanism\j now assumed Christian practice - yet with a significant difference.
It certainly used Christian \Jsymbolism\j and hallowed tradition, but did so to mock \JChristianity\j. In obscene travesty of everything holy to the Christian faith, it tried to raise and exalt the devil, Christ's arch-fiend and the "original" god. And that is the background of what came to be known significantly as the black mass - the central ritual of \Jsatanism\j.
However, to \Jcaricature\j Christian tradition was not the sole and paramount purpose of \Jsatanism\j. Its aim went much further. By twisting, distorting, and almost literally turning "upside-down" everything that was sacred to \JChristianity\j (its \Jsymbolism\j, \Jliturgy\j, and practices), \Jsatanism\j believed it could render powerless the divine enemy and thus to destroy God's dominion to replace it by the rule of Satan.
The black mass practised now as part of witchcraft is of rather recent origin. Some of its alleged elements, indeed, are mere fiction. Their description is based not on factual evidence but on fertile imagination prompted by the wish either to sensationalize or defame the diabolical \Jcult\j.
Books by the Marquis of Sade, for instance, that were banned for a long time (and for this reason read even more avidly), contributed to the spread of fantastic tales. It was only to be expected that the esoteric and arcane nature of the black mass gave ample room for statements about it which could not be disproved; the secrecy catered all the more for man's love of the erotic, the exotic, and the bizarre.
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"Witches and Medicine",2485,0,0,0
Original witches lived in close contact with nature, and were well acquainted with the qualities of plants, a knowledge arrived at possibly by a method of trial and error, and certainly applied to cure many ills. Man's great debt to the witches' knowledge and medical "practice" is exemplified by the use of \Jdigitalis\j for cardiac disease which through the years has saved the lives of millions of people.
Histories of medicine tell how the drug was first introduced by the eighteenth-century English physician William Withering. He wrote of "Some of its Medical Uses" in \IAn Account of the \JFoxglove\j,\i which he published in 1785. It is hardly known, however, that his vital contribution to medicine was due to a witch. The doctor had heard of a "wise woman" in his district (Shropshire) who was renowned for helping people who suffered from \Jheart disease\j. He obtained from her a sample of the potion she administered and duly identified \Jdigitalis\j as one of its chief ingredients. He immediately recognized that this product of the \Jfoxglove\j plant gave the witch's brew its remedial properties. And that is how \Jdigitalis\j (the dried leaves of the \Jfoxglove\j ground into powder) became part of man's pharmacopoeia.
Etymologists have been puzzled why the \Jfoxglove\j was so named. The tubular blossoms looked very much like an empty finger of a glove. But there was no connection of the plant with the fox. Most likely, its original (and later corrupted) name was folk's glove. This pointed to its application by the "little folk," the fairies, and thus indicated how those steeped in the occult, had learned of its benefits early on.
The witches' potions, drugs, and power of mind over matter cannot surprise modern man who has learned of the hallucinogenic effect of some varieties of mushroom, the working of \Japhrodisiacs\j, and has found \Jpenicillin\j even in the green mold of cheese. But to ancient man all this was "magical."
Apart from the application of such natural sources, no doubt early witches possessed psychic faculties, hypnotic power, and the gift of telepathy. Their influence must have grown even more once their authority had been established and people had "reason to believe" in the efficacy of their "practice."
To pass from white (beneficial) magic to its counterpart in "black magic" was not difficult. Once a witch had been recognized as the mysterious owner of \Jsupernatural\j, occult talents, evil was not far away. In fact, those who could do good could produce evil (if anything even better).
The frequent occurrence of inexplicable disease and sudden disaster gave impetus to the deterioration of the image of a witch. People were unable to account for the many phenomena that haunted and destroyed their lives, such as incurable disease, paralysis, and \Jleprosy\j. So they could hardly be blamed for discovering in the "wise one" a ready-made \Jscapegoat\j to whom they could ascribe the causes of all the evil they experienced - particularly if she had made false claims to unusual powers to her own advantage in happier times.
Certainly, it can be assumed that those who used their wisdom to help others, would abuse it if it served their purposes, and would have little hesitation in enforcing their will by unpleasant means regarded as curses. And it belongs to the human character to forget very quickly all the good that was done, but to remember anything that was bad.
Soon "witches" were said to exert their evil influence with remarkable results. They could harm even those far away, working, as it were, by remote control. We may now refer to it as \Jhypnosis\j or the practice of sympathetic magic. Many stories (based either on fact or fiction) gained currency that by manipulating figures representing the intended distant victim, they could actually inflict on him untold harm.
Typical examples spoke of melting down over a fire the waxen image of the person the witch wanted to destroy on her own or her client's behalf, and its immediate effect. Another method was to stick pins into a doll who symbolized the target of attack; this caused the real person - magically - to suffer pain and damage at the very spots aimed at in the replica.
Of course, such feats grew ever more in the telling. And that is how eventually, the "wise one" of antiquity became the "witch," with all the word now pictured of black magic, evil spells, and happiness and life-destroying activities.
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"Witches' Convention",2486,0,0,0
Religions have always used both individual "private" prayer and congregational worship in their attempt to commune with God. In the realm of the occult, too, a witch worked either independently, "on her own," or joined with others, in "group practice." And just as theologians have advanced strong arguments in favor of communal prayer-meetings, stressing their superior value, so witches were also convinced that by joint endeavor they bring about a manifold increase in their occult power. But instead of gathering in churches and announcing their meeting far and wide by the ringing of bells, they met clandestinely in the open air.
They did so for weighty reasons. After all, theirs was a \Jsupernatural\j mission of arcane art, reserved only for the initiates. Their pact with the devil (whether imagined or real) was condemned by the authorities as most dangerous and had been declared illegal. Detection therefore would mean dire punishment, if not death. So the coven came into existence and acquired its special features.
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"Witches' Coven",2487,0,0,0
The witches' coven is closely related to London's famous Covent Garden with its market and opera house! They share identical roots. Their common source is the convent. In fact, Covent Garden really should be called Convent Garden. In former days, its site actually was the garden (and burial place) attached to the Convent of Westminster. Somewhere along the way, the convent merely lost one of its letters and has never reclaimed it.
The word "convent" itself is pure Roman in ancestry, going back to the Latin \Iconventus\i and, like modern business "conventions," described the "coming together" of men \Iand\i women for some purpose. Eventually the Church appropriated the word. To begin with, it was applied either to the buildings housing a monastic order or to the actual community of friars, monks, or nuns resident there. Originally therefore a convent served as the domicile of either sex. Only in later days was it restricted and exclusively reserved for houses of nuns. In an even more specialized religious tradition, the term was used for the company of Christ's twelve Apostles.
Presumably it was because of the witches' constant endeavor to supplant the worship of God by that of the devil and to \Jparody\j Christian institutions, that they began to call their own gatherings covens.
Some have seen in coven an archaic form of the word "convent." In its occult connotation, the term has been traced back to 1662. It was then first made public in the confession of Isobel Gowdie, a witch who paradoxically has been described both as "an old woman" and "a pretty, red-haired girl." In spite of the diversity of opinion as to what she looked like, all records nevertheless agree that she was Scottish, and that she was duly hanged for her "crime." They also are unanimous that her body then was burned to ashes to ensure the total and irrevocable destruction of her \Jsupernatural\j, malevolent power.
The institution of the coven (if not its name) goes back to very ancient days. Some say that it evolved out of the Eleusinian mystery \Jcult\j of the eastern Mediterranean and its secret meetings which restricted the number of those admitted. One claim links the coven, in fact, with the worship of the horned god as it was practised in the days of Pan worship. Those taking part in its rites danced within a magic circle, the area of which would hold a maximum number of thirteen people.
Usually it has been assumed (though denied by some) that a coven consisted of exactly thirteen members. The ideal coven was made up of six men and six women presided over by the "devil," or whoever deputized for him. Maybe this tradition is merely founded on the Scottish girl's confession that "there are thirteen persons in each coven." However, knowing the magical significance of that figure, it is most likely to have been chosen as the right quorum. It has also been noted that thirteen would be a figure specially selected to mock its Christian sanctity.
There is even a suggestion that the baker's dozen originally had nothing whatsoever to do with the provision of bread and that the baker was not really a baker at all. His presence was only apparent and not real. The baker was either the purposely corrupted or ignorantly mispronounced name of Boucca, an old Celtic god and spirit who also may well have given us the bog, the bogey and the mischievous demon Puck. And the Boucca's dozen then would have referred to the devil's dozen, those thirteen joined in the coven in worship of the "evil one."
The coven referred to a practising cell of witches, and often was organized in the same manner as political underground movements are. On joining the group, each member was given a new name by which he or she was to be known. Though usually explained as an indication that the witch had assumed a totally new way of life, the practice had a much more vital (and rather obvious) reason. It was to hide the identity of the witch, and thereby to make apprehension difficult.
The same considerations of "security" introduced the rule that members of the various covens were never to meet nor to know of each other. This was a safeguard lest under duress of torture, one of them might reveal the identity of members of other groups. Only the leaders of the different covens kept in touch.
To avoid unnecessary competition or interference, each coven was allotted its own district (just as modern Rotary and Lions Clubs are). It was further stipulated that the distance between the groups had to amount to no less than one league, which is roughly three miles (4.8 km).
Next in importance, of course, was the question of how and when to meet. There were two distinct types of gatherings: the ordinary, regular "business meeting," and the extraordinary assembly. The first became known as the Esbat and the latter as the Sabbat.
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"Witches' Esbat",2488,0,0,0
One type of witches' gathering was called the Esbat and was held at least once a month and, generally, looked after the affairs of witchcraft. Ideas and news items were exchanged and instructions given. The Esbat also included the performance of certain rites and the working of magic. This varied from coven to coven, and what it really entailed has been the subject of much controversy.
The term Esbat most likely is derived from the (Old) French verb for "to frolic" and "to amuse oneself" - \Is'esbattre.\i For was not one of the main features of the get-together of male and female witches a "frolic" of erotic lascivousness? Hence, it was said, the name was meant to emphasize one of the chief items on the Esbat's agenda. This, however, was not for the mere purpose of "sex." Its roots once again go back to the "old religion" with its fertility magic. The coitus practised was meant to influence the course of nature and to make sure that crops and \Jcattle\j would be fruitful in the constant battle for survival.
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"Witches' Sabbat",2489,0,0,0
A highlight in the witches' lives, it was alleged, were their major "conventions," generally known as Sabbats. Why they were so called seems obvious. It was a travesty of the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week ordained by the \JBible\j to sanctify God and his work of creation. Would not satanic forces, dedicated to all that was evil, choose for their assembly the very name of the day set aside for holiness?
There was yet another factor that favored the adoption of the term. The Sabbath was closely linked with the Jews who had observed it meticulously in all ages wherever they dwelt. But when witchcraft came to obsess people's minds, the Jews experienced one of the most fiendish persecutions by Christian powers who saw them as personifications of the devil. Therefore it seemed appropriate to adopt and adapt the Jews' Sabbath as the name for the witches' most evil day.
The obviously odd spelling of Sabbat-dropping the terminal "h" - has a very simple explanation. The English took over the name from the French, in which tongue the Sabbath appears as Sabbat.
A further suggestion saw the Sabbat as a day named in honor (or memory) of Sabazius, a Thracian god, whose worship was distinguished by the kind of debaucheries and frenzied orgies which came to be linked (whether in the imagination of people or in reality) with the witches' gathering on that occasion.
The date of the celebration varied in different regions. Most favored and common were Candlemas (2 February), Walpurgisnacht (30 April), Lammas (1 August) and \JHallowe'en\j (31 October). The meeting, of course, took place during night, appropriate for the forces of darkness. It usually commenced at midnight and terminated with the rising of the sun when the witches made haste to get home.
Next in importance to the date and time of any meeting was the choice of the right venue. This had to be a secluded spot providing sufficient room for the witches to gather and to perform their rites. Among the favorite meeting places, it was claimed, were clearings in the forest or pastures removed as far as possible from settlements.
Finally, there were the questions of the selection of the most qualified witches, and the determination of their number. Ideally, the number of males and females should be equal. But if this could not be arranged, the missing "sex" should be made up by incubi in case of absent males or by succubi for absent females.
The witches, of course, met in their "natural" state - stark naked. They were also said to have paid homage to the devil by kissing each other's posteriors. Specially honored was a meeting by the presence of Lucifer himself, represented frequently by a ram (or a man taking its guise).
The entire ceremony aimed at defiling and mocking sacred Christian traditions. A holy wafer, for instance, used at communion, was fed to dogs or soiled by human excrement or by the witches urinating on it.
Altogether the witches' Sabbat was not only "out of bounds" to all other people but seemed to get out of hand.
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"With a Grain of Salt",2490,0,0,0
It is hard to understand why the phrase, "to take things with a grain of salt" should caution man to accept a statement with certain reservations. Its origin goes back to ancient Roman days and a fallacy.
First-century historian Pliny the Elder relates that Pompey, the famous general and statesman, lived in constant fear of being poisoned. Consequently he took all his food "with a grain of salt" \I(cum grano salis),\i believing that by adding it, any lethal substance contained in the food would be counteracted. Pompey certainly was not poisoned. But he did not die a natural death either. When on his flight from \JRome\j he reached Egyptian soil, he was stabbed to death.
Another version claims that it was not Pompey but Mithridates, the king of Pontus (120-63 B.C.) who was afraid of being poisoned. Anticipating any such attempt, he took precautions which were surprisingly modern. He protected himself by taking small doses of poison, thereby gradually building up a resistance, till eventually his body had acquired total immunity. In fact, he did it so well that when later on he tried to take his life by poison he failed and had to ask one of his soldiers to stab him to death.
In relating the story, Pliny adds that after the king's death, a note was found among the royal papers listing the ingredients of the antidote. However, he does not divulge the prescription. He merely quotes its last line, saying that it had "to be taken with a grain of salt." It is this grain of salt, taken out of its context that has survived as a warning never to take highly exaggerated statements too literally.
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"Withershins",2491,0,0,0
The power of the sun was recognized in man's dawn time. Its light gave life and its warmth was essential to the growing of crops. Mysteriously traveling across the sky, the sun was worshiped as the supreme god by just about every race in every clime, a fact we still commemorate each week by calling its very first day in the sun's honor.
The oldest monuments in existence - whether at \JStonehenge\j in Britain, \JMachu Picchu\j in \JPeru\j, or in Mexico - were erected for the sake of the sun and in acknowledgment of man's dependence on this celestial body. That people still worship God by "looking up" and equate heaven with the sky, is founded not least on the early worship of this brightest of stars.
No wonder primitive man was thrown into panic whenever an eclipse occurred. The life-giving god, so he thought, was about to be devoured by an evil beast. But whatever its cause, an eclipse was deemed to forecast bad tidings for the earth and man. Therefore puny man employed every possible magic and brought offerings (and always so successfully!) to rescue the god or inveigle him to return and shine again.
Man's concern with the sun was not only reserved for such exceptional and dramatic moments. It occupied and activated his mind throughout his entire life and became the source of numerous customs and self-imposed restrictions. Modern society in large degree continues to observe them, though in its ignorance not necessarily realizing their primitive, magic roots.
Bonfires were lit not to highlight days of joy but - magically - to add strength to the solar body. That is why the custom was particularly observed at times of solar "crises:" either during the spring renewal or in the depth of winter when the sun was so low and so weak that it seemed on the verge of \Jextinction\j. Man believed that the sun desperately needed his aid and encouragement to regain strength lest it die. This also explains the origin of the customs of lighting \JChristmas tree\j candles and burning the yule log.
It was equally recognized that the sun never stood still. The only exceptions applied to those moments when - miraculously - divine power stopped the progress of time to help man. The book of Joshua thus tells how God stopped the sun to give the Israelites sufficient time to win the battle against the Amorite army (Joshua 10,12-14).
To human observers the sun has always seemed to take its regular course from the East to the West, from dawn to dusk. This daily solar trip has been perpetuated in everyday speech and geographical terms. We still say that the sun "rises" and "sets." The splendor of the Orient (to some degree) was a mystical result of the rising (Latin-\Ioriens)\i sun. To die (colloquially) is "to go west."
Just as it seemed to be in man's power to impede or help the sun along its way, so for its part the sun was thought to be able to help man in his progress. If he followed its direction, as it were by sympathetic magic, he was assured success. To go "against the stream," on the other hand, would doom his efforts and curse them from the outset and should therefore be avoided at all costs.
The direction contrary to the (apparent) course of the sun became known as withershins. The term is still used among people of the northern districts of England and in Scotland. From the Old English, combining the words for "against" \I(vithr)\i and "movement" \I(sinni),\i it means "backwards." To do anything "withershins" would be foolish, as it was unlucky. For anyone to adopt that direction would cause as much horror as if the hands of a clock suddenly started turning backwards.
That is why, from the very beginning, man carefully emulated the sun's example in his varied activities. The earliest football games were fertility rites, engaged in to foster the strength of the solar body (symbolized by the round ball) and therefore had to be played from East to West.
A housewife would stir the food on the stove clockwise the way the sun was imagined to travel (in the northern hemisphere). Observant Moslems, likewise, would pass the dishes at a meal in the way the sun went. Should strangers, unaware of the tradition, do so anti-clockwise, no \JMoslem\j would accept the dish; he would politely decline to partake of it. Returning home, you had to observe the same kind of directional "route" particularly so from a visit to the churchyard.
The magic of the sun has thus dominated the world. It has done so not only by caring for the harvest and in bringing every day, but even in individual actions it has influenced the view man took in the choice of the pattern of his life.
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"Wolf's Clothing",2492,0,0,0
Man has always exploited animals. He has used them to work for him, to clothe him and to nourish him. They served as a source of amusement and sport. But not least, though perhaps paradoxically, "dumb" animals have helped man to express himself more vividly: they have lent their names for use in countless colorful metaphors.
A typical example is the phrase we use of a person who pretends to be meek and mild but in fact is vicious, or of someone who poses as a friend but in reality is an enemy. We say he is "a wolf in sheep's clothing."
The figure of speech comes from the passage in the Gospels in which Jesus warned his followers to "beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are savage wolves" (Matth. 7.15). The warning has been interpreted to refer to deceitful heretical teachers who misled the people by attractively misrepresenting the authoritative message.
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"Worcestershire Sauce",2493,0,0,0
While serving as the Governor of Bengal, this province of former British India, in the early 1880s, Lord Sandys had taken a special liking to one of its many spicy sauces. This prompted him, at the end of his term of office, to obtain its recipe before returning to England. Soon after settling down again in his home town of Worcester, he took the "formula" to the local pharmacy. He asked John Wheeley Lea and William Perrin, its joint owners, whether they could make up the "prescription" for him. They agreed at once. Astute businessmen, they welcomed it as an opportunity to expand their enterprise with a new sideline. For this reason they far exceeded the quantity Lord Sandys had ordered. The surplus they kept for themselves, with the intention in the not too distant future of marketing it as a new product.
However, when, with great expectation, they tasted the novel sauce, they were horrified. Of a sharp and pungent flavor, it was most unsuitable for the English palate. After all, it would not pay them to take up this new line! Nevertheless, they did not pour away the mixture. They bottled it and stored it in the basement.
They had forgotten all about it until one day, by mere chance, they came across the jars. Something prompted them to check their contents. Having matured meanwhile, the liquid had acquired a piquant flavor, quite unusual and now most pleasing and so different from what it had been before.
Immediately they realized that, after all, there was a commercial potential in the sauce. It was a real treasure. They alone in Britain had the recipe and thus only they knew how to mix it and, not least, to let it mature. They now seriously embarked on making it, calling their novel dark brown concoction Lea and Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce. It gave the English county, already famous for its \Jporcelain\j and bone china, yet another reason to become world-renowned. The label on the bottle proudly stated that the sauce was "the original and genuine [product] from the recipe of a nobleman in the county." It did not reveal who he was.
#
"Words Count",2494,0,0,0
People's belief in the magic of numbers extended to words. And this is the basis of what came to be known as \Jnumerology\j. \JNumerology\j claims that every word has a numerical value which determines its good or bad fortune, or other circumstances linked with it.
It all started in the \JMiddle East\j where it was easy to assess how much a word "counted." Babylonian, \JHebrew\j, and Greek writing had no separate numbers. Letters doubled up for them.
Typical was \JHebrew\j, the ancient sacred tongue. Its numbers were logically arranged in the sequence of the alphabet. The first letter - the \Ialeph\i - stood also for 1, the second - the bet - for 2, and so on. And thus each of the twenty-two consonants constituted an entire range of figures. The last, the twenty-second letter - the \Itav\i - was originally the shape of a cross or key and "counted" 400. Biblical \JHebrew\j had no written vowels, a much later addition.
It followed that any name or word virtually represented a number as well. Finding the number was the simple exercise of adding up the individual values of each of the letters that made up the word. The sum was taken to indicate the character or fate of the person or object so named.
But going beyond such speculation and simple calculation, another and more complex procedure evolved. This not only determined the numerical value of a word, but sought out another word or concept whose letters added up to the equivalent figure. The meaning of this numerically equivalent term was then related to the original (with which it was interchangeable). Representing the identical "amount" was thought to establish an occult link between both: the alternative term revealed the fate, future, or character of whatever or whomever the original word described.
The earliest reference in existence to such use of the numerical value of a word (and no doubt its magic significance), goes back to an inscription of King Sargon of \JAssyria\j, the eighth-century B.C. potentate. It recorded that the wall he had built for Khorsabad measured exactly 16,283 cubits. He had determined its length by assessing the numerical value of his name. His (powerful) name thus would protect the city!
Interpretations of the \JBible\j made equal use of this "science of numbers." For instance, when the \JBible\j tells how Jacob in a dream saw a ladder that led from the earth to heaven, it was noted that the numerical value of \Isulam\i - the \JHebrew\j "ladder" - corresponded to that of "\JSinai\j:" both individually "added up" to 130. Hence it was deduced that the revelation on "\JSinai\j" was the "ladder" that joined God in heaven with man on earth.
Mysticism (particularly the \IKabbalah)\i applied \Jnumerology\j and with its aid tried to discover the hidden meanings in words and names. It was merely another step to the development of modern \Jnumerology\j. Working out complicated systems, nevertheless based on the ancient methods, it used them to detect the destiny of people and nations. It assigned to them the lucky numbers they should favor and warned them of the figures they ought to shun.
Though numbers now have become totally independent and lost their original link with letters, and therefore can no longer be "identified," \Jnumerology\j has not died out. However, it could never have come into existence without the original Oriental duplication of letters for figures thousands of years ago.
#
"World Champion Blade Shearer - Jack Howe",2495,0,0,0
Jack Howe was not only the Australian but the world champion blade shearer. Taught by a Chinese shearer, he also inherited a talent from his father who, in a unique and never repeated feat, established an Australian shearing record.
During the abortive attempt to domesticate South American llamas, he had sheared 11 of them in one day. According to a report of the time, he could have done even better had he not been impeded in his work by the llamas, who spat at him from the moment he got hold of them.
As for "Jackie," his son, he seemed made for the job of a shearer. He had an extraordinary strong physique, and very large hands that made the handling of sheep easy for him. He broke all records, shearing 300 sheep a day.
He did not mind the introduction of shearing machines, as he equally excelled in their use. He was to win medals for shearing the greatest number of sheep - by hand or by machine. In fact, in recognition, the Wolseley Shearing Machine Co presented him in January 1893, with a shearing machine handpiece, specially engraved for him.
John Robert Howe was born in 1861 on an estate near Warwick. At 29, he married Victoria, a dressmaker. She bore him ten children and was to make her own contribution to shearing by creating the famous Jack Howe singlet.
To absorb \Jperspiration\j, it was made of a kind of flannel, and to ease the movement of the arms, had short sleeves. It had no collar. Though its modern version totally differs from the original model, it continues to be known by Jack Howe's name.
Concerned that he and his mates be properly treated, Howe took an active part in the formation of the Shearers Union and in the campaign for the betterment of their working conditions.
Like all achievers, Jackie did not lack critics who jealously tried to belittle him. On one occasion, they scoffed that his tally of 321 shorn sheep was actually only of lambs! They did not mention, however, that in the history of Australian shearing no one had ever shorn so great a number whether of lambs, weaners, or sheep!
Jackie had his own sense of humor. One day, so the story goes, while he was enjoying a drink in the local pub, a man rushed in, desperately looking for him. He told him that his sheep needed shearing and he could not find anyone to do the job. When in reply to Jackie's question as to the number of sheep, the man told him that there were 60, with a straight face Jackie asked him for their individual names!
He did not remain a shearer all his life. Just before his 40th birthday he retired. With the money he had saved he purchased a hotel and, later, some properties. But his lack of exercise took its toll. Jack put on weight and his health began to deteriorate so much that he had to be hospitalized in Blackall.
He passed away on 21 July 1920, at 59 years of age, mourned and missed by many, as was testified on the day of his funeral. It must have been one of the largest ever seen in the town. After a service in the Roman \JCatholic church\j, an open wagonette hearse drawn by two horses carried the coffin to the cemetery. The horses were decked out in body-length coats made of black open-mesh material, laced up in front. The bridles, too, were decorated with black fringes.
As was the custom at the time, all the women were dressed in black and the men wore black armbands and black bands around their hats. As a mark of respect, the shops had their windows shuttered.
The impressive monument on Jackie's gravesite (which he shares with his wife) is of \Jsandstone\j. Two square domed pillars, ornamented with large inlaid crosses, flank an oval tablet which carries the inscription:
\IIn Loving Memory
of
My dear Husband and Father
JOHN R. HOWE
Aged 59 Years.\i
A beautiful stone supporting the tablet is ornamented with ivy leaves.
#
"Wowser",2496,0,0,0
Various explanations have been profferred for the origin of the name of the Australian wowser who, it turns out, might not be indigenously Australian at all. This term for a spoilsport and kill-joy may well come from England where, in one of their early dialects, Englishmen used the word for those of their countrymen who were wont to whinge and complain.
In fact, most likely, the term was known in Britain as early as the 1300s, referring, then, to matters of religion. A petition to Parliament presented in 1394 has been quoted, which raised objection to the practice of wowsing (then spelled \Iwowing)\i in the confessional. Records show that, about two centuries later, monks guilty of such misdemeanor were actually called "wowsers."
A well-known Australian derivation which, of course, is of much later date, links the first Australian wowser with religious zealots (and a speech impediment).
Preachers in the 1870s were very much concerned with what happened on the Victorian goldfields at Clunes. The "diggers," who could only think of amassing a fortune, of worshiping Mammon, had no time to think of God. Publicly and mostly on street corners, those hot-gospellers denounced them and did so with deep emotion. No wonder that the people came to dub the zealots "rousers."
One night, so the story goes, a Clunes city-counsellor on his way to a meeting stopped to listen to one such sermon, and was so captivated by the speaker that he forgot all about his appointment. When, eventually, he arrived at the meeting, he apologized, explaining that his lateness was due to his having listened to one of the rousers.
However, unable properly to pronounce the \Ir,\i he referred to him as "a wowser." And, as anything said in error and sounding funny easily catches people's fancy, the other counselors soon spread "the word" - and wowser became part of Australian slang.
This explanation, no doubt one of the oldest given in \JAustralia\j, is the most relevant for this book. The use of the term in the Sydney \ITruth\i on 8 October 1899 did not establish, but merely popularized it as a name for people who self-righteously were said to affirm as their policy that "We Only Want Social Evils Remedied," a slogan whose \Jacronym\j is \Iwowser.\i
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"Wreath",2497,0,0,0
The wreath traditionally displayed on the front door of a home during the weeks of Advent and the Christmas season once fulfilled a multiple role.
It was intertwined with red ribbons to express the festive spirit, while its evergreen leaves were symbolic of the everlasting life which Jesus Christ's birth promised to the faithful. The circular shape was a reminder of the crown of thorns placed on His head by the Roman soldiers when they ridiculed Him as the "king of the Jews." Yet another suggestion links the wreath with celebrations related to the god Bacchus, whose worshippers were thought to have worn circular ivy crowns.
Early on, the wreath also had a practical purpose. In a world full of fear and \Jsuperstition\j, evergreen boughs were believed to protect a home from evil spirits, which were thought to be plentiful during this dark time of the year. During the \JMiddle Ages\j the red berries of holly were believed to keep witches out of the home; this is why holly became the traditional and lucky evergreen for wreath-making.
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"Writing on the Wall",2498,0,0,0
"The writing on the wall" is a phrase which might suggest many things - these days, perhaps, the scribblings of graffiti or political slogans would spring most readily to mind. However, it owes its original, foreboding meaning, of an omen of imminent disaster, to an apparition, recorded in the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel.
This passage tells how, at a sumptuous feast given by Belshazzar, the last ruler of \JBabylon\j, a mysterious, disembodied hand suddenly appeared, writing on the wall of the banqueting hall words that stunned the king and all present. Lost to make out their meaning, Belshazzar summoned the Chaldeans, the royal experts on occult lore, asking them to read and interpret the words. But they were unable to do so. Terrified, the king now sent for Daniel, a Jewish captive from the Holy Land, who was renowned for his wisdom. Daniel immediately comprehended the message of the words. In the \JAramaic\j tongue they read \Imene mene tekel ufarsin,\i "twice numbered, weighed and divided." They proclaimed that God had weighed Belshazzar and his kingdom and found them wanting. The words were, indeed, a prophecy of doom. They predicted the impending death of the king and the downfall of his kingdom. That same night Belshazzar was slain.
The dramatic scene has inspired many forms of art: poetry, music and painting. Handel's \Joratorio\j is one of the best-known. As a phrase, "the writing on the wall" has been adopted in almost every language, symbolizing a forewarning, indicating a great change for the worse, if not the foretelling of disaster.
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"Wrong Arrival",2499,0,0,0
Though it may sound strange, to begin with no one could "arrive" except by sea. The word was coined for exclusively nautical use, as its root meaning is "to the shore" - \Iad ripa.\i
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"X - the Unknown Quantity",2500,0,0,0
Arab mathematicians referred to an "unknown quantity" not by a sign but a word. They called it simply "a thing" or "something," in Arabic \Ishei.\i When the Spaniards adopted the Arab description, they spelled it phonetically as \IXei.\i Finding that it was so much quicker and much more practical to use merely its initial, they used it alone, and that is how the "X" came into existence, changing from a letter to a mathematical symbol.
#
"X for a Kiss",2501,0,0,0
The use of an X to signify a kiss began in the \JMiddle Ages\j, when the majority of people were illiterate and unable to sign even their own name. Having to testify documents, they put a cross in place of a signature. Without it a contact or agreement was considered invalid. And to affirm their sincerity, they solemnly kissed it, in the same way that they used to kiss the \JBible\j when taking an oath. Eventually the kiss and the cross became synonymous.
The choice of the cross was not accidental or, as might be thought, merely caused by its simple shape which could be traced by anyone. It was the sign of St. Andrew and implied a sacred guarantee and promise to fulfill one's obligation in that saint's name.
Everybody can write these days. But the early link of the cross and the kiss survive, and St. Andrew's mark far removed from early \Jilliteracy\j, medieval legal practice and theological tradition, has become a universal shorthand of love and affection.
#
"X-Ray's Accidental Discovery",2502,0,0,0
Professor Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen discovered X-rays by accident in his physics laboratory at the German University of Wuerzburg on the night of 3 November 1895. At the time, he was conducting experiments on the effect electric sparks have when passing through blackened tubes containing certain gases. Quite by chance he noticed that whenever he activated a tube, a chemically coated sheet of paper lying nearby started to glow. As he could not identify the mysterious rays, he referred to them simply by the traditional mathematical symbol for "an unknown quantity." He called them X-rays.
Roentgen presented his discovery to the world as a free gift, refusing to make of it any personal gain. Chiefly because of non-Germans' difficulty to pronounce his name, his phenomenal discovery continues to be called outside \JGermany\j X-rays, as if they were still unexplained.
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"Yachting",2503,0,0,0
Both the word yacht and the sport of yachting come from the Dutch. Possibly, neither would have spread throughout the world without Prince Charles' exile. This shows once again how even misfortune can have its blessings.
The English word yacht is derived from the Dutch \Ijaght,\i meaning "chase," "hunt," and "pursuit." The word was used in many combinations and not merely in connection with a boat sailing the sea. A \Ijaght hond,\i for instance, was a hunting dog. A hawk was a \Ijaght vogel,\i a hunting bird. A \Ijaght schip\i was thus a hunting boat.
There are several possibilities of how it came to acquire this name. Some believe that it was applied specifically to boats on the Dutch canals that were speeded up by being towed along by horses. Perhaps it was because compared with other boats, a \Ijaght schip\i was so much faster - an essential in the hunt. Most likely however is a final explanation that a hunting boat was used at first for the pursuit of marauding pirates and hostile vessels. No doubt it was built not for the transport of cargo, but to give the finest performance in point of speed. No matter what the original connotation, a \Ijaght schip,\i by expansion of its meaning, eventually became a general term for any fast sailing vessel.
Merchants realized that this very same \Ijaght schip,\i so swift in the chase of \Jbuccaneers\j, could serve them as well, and most profitably so, in meeting at sea the large vessels of the East India Company on their homeward voyages. The merchants enjoyed the trips in themselves, so much so that they soon went cruising merely for pleasure, inviting their friends to join them. Sailing became a pastime and "the thing to do" for the leisured classes. It was a status symbol as much as hunting and horseback riding were in nineteenth-century England.
Almost inevitably, the merchant-yachtsmen began to build and use \Ijaght schips\i for pleasure alone. The frequent use of the name led to its abbreviation. \ISchip\i was dropped altogether. The remaining \Ijaght\i was finally Anglicized into the present-day yacht.
Highlights of Dutch yachting events of the time were aquatic parades. Vast formations of sailing boats, gaily decorated, advanced in orderly lines. Mock battles climaxed the displays. Descriptive of their type is an account (of a later date) of just such a performance on the occasion of the visit of Peter the Great to \JAmsterdam\j in 1697. It tells how "after the Muscovian Ambassy had seen all that captures the eyes and hearts of foreigners in the famous merchant city . . . the worthy Council of the city conceived the idea of presenting to the Ambassy a mock fight, imitating a sea fight, on the river Y." Notwithstanding the large number of craft participating in the spectacle, it proved an outstanding success so that when at nightfall the battle ended, the visitors expressed "perfect pleasure at all they had witnessed."
"Yachting" of that type, indeed, occupied a prominent place in the life of the Dutch. But, significantly, as a pastime - apart from cruising and parades - it did not include racing of any kind. Nor did the Dutch ever think of forming a yachting club. Both were the great contributions the English made to the sport.
When young Prince Charles fled from England to find temporary refuge in the Netherlands, the country was riding the waves of affluence, and sailing was one of its favored recreations. The young prince soon took a liking to it and became enthusiastic about those swift boats, so easily manoeuvred and built for so much comfort. No wonder that, at the Restoration of the monarchy, he carried home a love of yachting and established it as a real sport in his kingdom.
As if to make sure that the king should never forget the Dutch yachts, the Prince of Orange and the Dutch East India Company presented him with a choice yacht, the \IMary,\i which in fact carried him part of the way home, from Breda to Rotterdam. Built in \JAmsterdam\j, she was "beautifully carved and gilded at the stern." Her keel was 52 feet long, her width 19 feet, and she was manned by a crew of 30. Samuel Pepys, the future Secretary to the Admiralty, himself went on board this yacht, the first ever to be seen in Britain. In his diary (in the entry for 8 November 1660), he described her as "one of the finest things that I ever saw for neatness and room in so small a vessel." Reminiscent of the early military employment of such boats, the \IMary\i carried eight guns.
Commissioner Peter Pett who, with Pepys, had inspected the \IMary,\i was now called upon (as Pepys also records) "to make one to outdo [the \IMary\i] for the honor of his country," although, as the writer continues, "I fear he will scarce better." Taking the Dutch boat as his model, Pett built the first yacht ever in England.
In spite of the many new tasks that no doubt occupied the young king's attention on ascending the throne, he did not lose his love of yachting. Just as he introduced into his country many of the customs and refinements he had noted and admired while in exile, he must have been determined to teach his people the admirable qualities of yachting as a recreation.
Within less than two years after the Restoration, the young king arranged the first yacht race, against his brother, the Duke of York. Their yachts, called after their wives, \IKatherine\i and \IAnne,\i raced on the Thames from Greenwich to Gravesend and back. Writing of the historic event, John Evelyn (another diarist of the time) recalled: "I sailed this morning with His Majesty in one of his yachts (or pleasure boats), vessels not known among us till the Dutch East India Company presented that curious piece to the King; being very excellent sailing vessels. It was a wager between his other new pleasure-boat, built \Jfrigate\j - liken and one of the Duke of York's - the wager 100 to 1... The King lost it going, the wind being contrary, but saved stakes in returning. There were divers, noble persons and Lords on board, His Majesty sometimes steering himself."
Charles II thus was England's pioneer yachtsman, and as in other sports, the royal example was ardently taken up by the nobles of the land who, by their English predilection for any sport and the additional British love of seafaring, soon learned to develop sailing for pleasure, revolutionizing the original Dutch practice.
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"Yank",2504,0,0,0
Traditionally, Patrick converted Ireland to \JChristianity\j in A.D. 432. His figure became so prominent that soon many a legend was associated with him. Best-known is the unfounded claim that he had liberated his adopted country (he was born in England) from snakes.
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"Yen for Something",2505,0,0,0
Anyone who has an intense craving for something is said to have a "yen" for it. As so many people desire wealth above all things, it is understandable that it has wrongly been assumed that the yen referred to the well-known Japanese monetary unit. Its name is derived from the Chinese \Iyⁿan,\i depicting a circular object, shaped as round as a coin.
However, the type of (emotional) yen possessing people, though also Chinese in its source, comes from the \JCantonese\j, in which language the original \Iyan\i is (nothing but) "smoke." Significantly, the smoke in this case is that from an opium pipe, desperately clamored for by addicts.
It could also be that far from being Oriental in origin or belonging to the drug culture, the yen is merely a simplified and greatly contracted version of yearn(ing).
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"Yom Kippur Festival",2506,0,0,0
\BThe Day of Atonement\b
The Day of Atonement is the climax of the "ten days of penitence" with which the Jewish year commences. The most sacred day of all, it is a day for self-searching as well as the day of God's final judgment.
Like all Jewish holy days, \JYom Kippur\j starts on its eve, at sunset. But it is the only time that the eve of a festival has been given a separate name. Known as Kol Nidrei, it is called after the prayer with which the service begins. Its haunting melody has made it world-renowned. For twenty-four hours, until the following nightfall, Jews fast, abstaining totally from food and drink. They spend the entire day in continuous worship in the \Jsynagogue\j.
\JYom Kippur\j is called the Day of Atonement because of the reconciliation it is meant to achieve. The individual, estranged from God by sin and separated from his fellow men by his selfishness, is given the chance to become once again "at one" with both his Maker and all other men. Truly, it is a day of at-one-ment.
In the words of its \Jliturgy\j it anticipates the time when "violence [shall] be gone, when evil shall give way to goodness, when war shall be forgotten, hunger be no more and all at last shall live in freedom" - as "a single family, doing Your will with a perfect heart."
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"Yuki Matsuri",2507,0,0,0
\BThe Snow Festival\b
The Japanese Snow Festival, Yuki Matsuri, is modern in its origin and devoid of any religious tradition. It began as recently as 1950, and is held during the first weekend of February in the city of \JSapporo\j on the island of \JHokkaido\j. As its name suggests, it centers on the joys of winter and is designed to foster a specific type of art that only this season can provide: sculptures made of ice and snow.
The main feature of its celebration, therefore, is a competition involving such sculptures, with a different theme chosen every year. Sculptures may vary from life-sized figures from classical Greek \Jmythology\j to intricate representations of everyday objects.
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"Yuppie",2508,0,0,0
The popularity of acronyms made people soon forget what they represented. A combination of initials in reality, they were (mis)taken for proper words. Their number now is so great that special dictionaries list and explain them.
The 1980s created the "yuppie." They are members of the ambitious and affluent but reckless young generation. They love the good life and anything money can buy. They wear fashionable designer clothes, sport expensive watches, and fill well-paid jobs in their professions. They drive fast and flashy cars and live in showy homes, located in suburbs renowned for wealth.
So distinguished, they were given their own label. A member of this group was identified as a \I"y\ioung \Iu\irban \Ip\irofessional," popularly shortened to yuppie. In people's minds, the nickname reflected their conspicuous lifestyle and ostentatious place in society.
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"Zeppelin",2509,0,0,0
Graf Zeppelin is not the real inventor of the dirigible \Jairship\j called after him. The credit should go to Hungarian-born David Schwarz, who was the very first to construct such an "\Jaircraft\j" (in 1892). A telegram from the German Government promising him greatly needed financial help (with the proviso of a successful testflight), excited him so much that he collapsed and died (in 1897).
Subsequently, Graf Zeppelin (helped by Councillor Berg) purchased Schwarz's designs from his widow and, modifying them, built the \Jairship\j which - with Schwarz forgotten - bears his name.
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"Zilch",2510,0,0,0
Zilch is "nothing." As a \Jcartoon\j character which appeared in the 1930s in \IBallyhoo,\i an American magazine, he was conspicuous by his absence. Nevertheless, everyone was very conscious of his presence. This was shown by the reaction of young girls who, almost completely naked, were portrayed in very suggestive poses. Looking askance at a pile of shed clothing or a leg sticking out from behind a sofa, they exclaimed, "Oh, Mr Zilch!."
With nothing really to be seen, Mr Zilch's identity was never established and assumed the present-day meaning. He was a man that was not there.
The figure of the \Jcartoon\j duplicated the then typical \Jcaricature\j of a college boy who was a "good for nothing." Known as Joe Zilch, he was of identical (in)significance and (lack of) presence. Whatever he said was meaningless, mere gibberish.
Maybe totally divorced from any person, however great a nonentity, zilch might combine fractions of three nothings, expressed in different languages: the English zero, the Latin nil, and the German Nichts. This may be so, even though three times zero, in whichever tongue, adds up to nothing!
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"Zodiac's Origins",2511,0,0,0
Man has always had a vivid imagination. At times his mind saw figures and objects which really did not exist. Modern \Jpsychology\j uses this capacity for its own purpose and devised a diagnostic technique popularly known as "the ink-blot test." First applied in 1921 by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, it tried to assess an individual's personality and to recognize his emotional conflicts by the figures and patterns he imagined he saw in mere ink blots.
Ancient man, looking up into the night sky, was awed by the splendor of its countless stars. He was also aware of their movement, and felt that the stars were interrelated. He populated the celestial heights with earthly creatures and creations, recognizing the fancied resemblance to living beings or well-known objects that were outlined by the stars. Divine power, he believed, had put them there and the reason and the way it had been done became the subject of numerous myths.
The various figures man discovered in the sky and identified by definite names, were called by the general term constellations. This simply recorded (by fusing two Latin words) how "together" - \Icon\i - "the stars" - \Istella\i - had formed twelve special groups. The choice of this specific number was no doubt motivated by the sanctity of the figure 12 in the Babylonian tradition of \Jnumerology\j.
Looks are not everything. They can deceive. And it sometime happens that what appears to our eyes as real is not the true fact but an illusion. That is how for thousands of years - until Copernicus - the view prevailed that our earth was the very center of the universe around which everything else rotated: literally and metaphorically. So the sun, the moon, and the planets moved around the earth.
Further observation seemed to show that it took the sun one day to travel round the earth and one year around the sky where, with the moon and the five (then known) planets, it made its path among fixed stars that formed its background.
The Babylonian priest-astrologers discovered yet another phenomenon which gave them food for thought. Each month those seven celestial wanderers (sun, moon, and five planets) met a different group of those fixed stars - the constellations. And comparing notes over the years, they further realized that on their annual itinerary around the sky, the seven heavenly bodies appeared within the identical set of stars at exactly the same season of the year. The sun seemed to rise every month in a different \Jconstellation\j. (And in each of these twelve sections they sought to interpret a feature from their treasury of legends.)
With this knowledge, they were able to fix on their stellar maps well in advance the annual march of those seven divine bodies through the twelve different stations which, by that time, had their well-known names.
The entire procession around the sky was assumed to move in a circular track. All that was now left to do was to give a proper name to this imaginary belt, to which all the movements were confined. This was not really difficult. The majority of the twelve segments (the constellations) concerned animals. Hence the belt spoke of them and has been known ever since as the "animal circle." Using the ancient Greek tongue, it was translated (and perpetuated) as Zodiac. This combines the Greek "animal" \I(zoon)\i - which also gave us our "zoo" - with \Ikyklos,\i the Greek "circle" - which we recall whenever "\Jcycling\j."
The individual signs of the Zodiac, though now called by Greek or Latin names like most of our astrological concepts, go back so much further in space and time to Chaldea.
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"Zohar - the Bible of Mysticism",2512,0,0,0
The \JZohar\j is not only the \JBible\j of \JMysticism\j, but a mysterious book in itself. It has been described as a divine revelation second to none; and as a crude \Jforgery\j. Scholars denounced it as "a book of lies" and people exalted it as the key to the most hidden secrets. Some saw in it only feverish fancies and childish ideas, while others treasured it as a volume of unsurpassed wisdom. It was claimed to have been written both to open man's hearts and their purses. Of all Jewish literature, the \JZohar\j is least known. Yet its teachings have exerted an enormous influence on the Kabbalah and with it on the occult generally.
Zohar means "brightness." However, it is one of the great paradoxes that a book so called should be lost in darkness. The obvious implication of its name was that the study of the work would enlighten the reader on the fundamental secrets of life, the mystery of creation, man, and the universe. The title was derived from a passage in the book of Daniel (12,3). This spoke in poetic \Jhyperbole\j of those who were wise and who would "shine as the brightness \I[zohar]\i of the firmament."
The \JZohar\j is not a single book but embodies writings of great diversity and compass. Its main part presents a unique kind of commentary on the Five Books of Moses aimed at revealing the hidden sense of individual passages which must never be just taken literally - at their face value. But included in the \JZohar\j is a vast amount of additional philosophical and mystical speculation. This appears almost haphazardly, certainly without any systematic order or arrangement. Indeed, the \JZohar\j is a very labyrinth of occult speculations.
Its language is not \JHebrew\j but a peculiar type of \JAramaic\j. First published in \JSpain\j in the thirteenth century, it was claimed to be the work of Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, a second-century Jewish luminary. Renowned as a great mystic, it was said that he had composed the \JZohar\j during the thirteen years he had lived in a cave in northern Palestine, hiding from the Roman occupation forces who had condemned him to death. The \JZohar\j recorded the result of his solitary meditations and communion with the divine, as well as discourses he had held clandestinely at that time with other mystics.
No one before him had gained such wealth of mystical insight and esoteric knowledge. Therefore the \JZohar\j was a companion of greatest value to all concerned with the occult. In fact, it was the complete guide to a life of spiritual fulfillment.
The mystery of its authorship has never been finally settled. Most likely, the \JZohar\j does contain some early passages by Simon himself. However, it was completed by Moses de Leon (d. 1305), its Spanish publisher who, no doubt, incorporated many other mystical works then at his disposal. This would explain the great variety of style, the many anachronisms, contradictions, and repetitions. In 1931-34, Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon, published in five volumes an English edition of its major parts.
The \JZohar\j deals with almost every aspect and theme of the occult. It speaks of man's quest to comprehend the unknown and unknowable - the mystery of mysteries. Only at rare and short-lived moments of supreme intuition could man catch a glimpse of it - "just as sunbeams play on the surface of water."
In detailed and numerous metaphors, the \JZohar\j discusses the "ten spheres" (the \Isefirot),\i those ten stages leading from "the root of roots" to the penetration of the entire universe. It asserts that nothing in life is separate or isolated. "Everything is linked with everything else down to the lowest rung on the chain." Life thus was a continuous stream in which every individual counted: even his most minute action could change the destiny of the world.
Indicative of the vast extent of the \JZohar\j's esoteric speculations are the very titles chosen for some of its subsections, those other writings embodied in the "splendor" of its framework. These include "The Book of Concealment" and "The Secret of Secrets" and range from "The Child" to "The Discourse of the Old Man." Subject matters discussed extend to the mysteries of prayer and the existence of evil, angelology, chiromancy, theories on the soul, its pre-existence and transmigration, and "the world to come."
The mark the \JZohar\j left in both Jewish and Christian thought and \Jmysticism\j generally cannot be exaggerated. The \JZohar\j motivated and inspired the modern movement of Chassidism with its emphases on love and the unbroken relationship between the world of the divine and that of man. The Besht, founder of Chassidism, could well have said (as he has been alleged to have done) that "when I open the book, I behold the whole universe." Chassidism, in turn, deeply affected the \Jtheology\j of our time and is reflected in works like Martin Buber's \II and Thou.\i
The \JZohar\j - this \JBible\j of \JMysticism\j - continues to assert its influence on man. The very obscurity of the work and its many still unsolved enigmas give ample room for further investigation and speculation by both the scholar and the seeker in the world of the occult.
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"Zombie",2513,0,0,0
Zombie is used as a slang word today to describe a person lacking intelligence and "vitality" - little more than a living corpse. He is without initiative and so lethargic that indeed one would hardly know that he is alive. To speak of anyone in this way certainly is not kind. But for those acquainted with the origin of the term, a sinister meaning is added which makes the description, already offensive, truly vile.
Zombies belong to the world of voodoo. They are actually dead people who have been reanimated by the occult power of the voodoo sorcerer-priests. How the sorcerers achieved the feat has been variously explained: some claim that they did so by means of a powerful spell; others have suggested that they attained their aim by injecting a life-giving drug into the corpse.
Of course, there was a reason behind such resuscitation. It might be, relatively speaking, quite innocuous. To gain cheap labor, for instance, an automated robot could be produced which would execute any duty at the sorcerer-priest's command, without payment. On the other hand, the sorcerer might employ his zombie for certain nefarious missions. He could be used as a remote-controlled human missile to inflict harm on, if not to kill, a distant foe.
The choice of name further explained the miraculous reanimation. Zombie is a term derived from the Congolese \Jdialect\j in which it described a fetish. It was applied to African nature spirits and deities, specifically to the snake-god still worshiped in voodoo ceremonies. A zombie thus is really called by the name of the spirit, the new occupant that had taken possession of the dead body and thereby changed it into a living tool. However, still completely without mind, feeling or will of its own, the "zombie" is at the beck and call of its priestly master. In fact, it is the perfect slave.
It follows, of course, that no one would wish to see a beloved family member end up as a zombie. Therefore the bereaved take every precaution to avoid their deceased becoming "possessed." It was generally believed that only a body still fully "intact" could be used as a zombie. Hence the surviving family anxiously watched their newly-buried dead, and almost joyously welcomed the moment when he began to decompose. For the corpse was then unfit to serve as a prospective zombie.
Additional measures gave Haitian burial customs a rather macabre note. So that the dead could not answer a sorcerer's call to rise, his mouth was sewn up. It was sometimes felt that only a second death would avoid any misappropriation of a body, and therefore death was inflicted on the deceased for the second time. This was done in different ways, including the strangling of the corpse or the injecting into it of a deadly poison.
It was all very obscure and occult. But the birth of the zombie has also been explained in a completely different and most sinister connection. This theory asserted that all that was told and believed about a zombie was mere fabrication, in fact, a criminal's convenient cover-up. Zombies did exist. But they never were what others claimed them to be - magically or miraculously resurrected dead bodies. They were living men, so heavily drugged that with time they had lost all personality and all responsive awareness of reality. Mindlessly they obeyed the commands of their evil manipulators. They had become mere instruments in the pursuit of criminal schemes.
People were not as terrified of coming across a zombie as they were of being made one themselves. The inclusion of a certain clause in the Haitian legal code has actually been recognized as designed to combat and prevent such zombie-producing manipulation. The section in question made it a serious offense to bring about a comatose state in any person in order to exploit such a victim by employing him as an unpaid worker or, worse still, ultimately to dispose of him by burying alive the only apparently dead.
Yet another dangerous possibility of turning into a zombie suggests itself. Voodoo worship is capable of producing in some participants a state of such ecstatic derangement that, no longer master of their senses, they lapsed into a cataleptic condition. And being unable ever to return to normalcy they became (and remained) half-witted zombies.
