WHY . . . ?

    

Tucson Weather Today

 

____________________

I was browsing the Words and Language blogs, as I often do, when I once again encountered the clever quotation by George Bernard Shaw: "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." And, as usual, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly.

Some British words and phrases, in good ol' American English, "simply drive me up the wall."

One of those horrible-sounding words is whinge, which is supposedly British for the American "whine." I don't know why whinge should affect me as adversely as it does... but it does -- IT DOES!

In fact, I hate that word so much that I once wrote a limerick about it.

Whenever a Brit says, "whinge"
I shudder, I quake, and I cringe.
In the States, we say, "whine"
Which is perfectly fine --
A Yank would never say, "whinge"

Sometimes I shake my head in perplexed confusion and wonder why the hell I am that I am.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

'Topolino' is the name for Mickey Mouse in Italy.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1901 Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving detractors who told him that the curvature of the earth would limit transmission to 200 miles or less.

The message -- simply the Morse-code signal for the letter "s" -- traveled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada.

In 1909, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics with the German radio innovator Ferdinand Braun. After successfully sending radio transmissions from points as far away as England and Australia, Marconi turned his energy to experimenting with shorter, more powerful radio waves. He died in 1937, and on the day of his funeral all British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stations were silent for two minutes in tribute to his contributions to the development of radio.

Note: The Morse Code signal for the letter 's' is three short 'dits.'

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

bloody
adjective
1. Stained with blood.
2. Of, characteristic of, or containing blood.
3. Accompanied by or giving rise to bloodshed: a bloody fight.
4. Bloodthirsty.
5. Suggesting the color of blood; blood-red.
6. Chiefly British Slang Used as an intensive: "Everyone wants to have a convict in his bloody family tree"
adv.
Chiefly British Slang Used as an intensive: bloody well right.
1. To stain, spot, or color with or as if with blood.
2. To make bleed, as by injuring or wounding: The troops were bloodied in the skirmish.

Interesting explanation of the British term: 'bloody'

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra
(Dec 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998)

Frank Sinatra was an American singer and film actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era as a boy singer with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra found unprecedented success as a solo artist. He released his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra in 1946.

Sinatra won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity. He signed with Capitol Records in 1953 and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy). Sinatra was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy.

Sarah Douglas
(born 12 December 1952)

Sarah Douglas is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). Her other prominent roles include that of the evil Queen Taramis in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer, and Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest (1983–85).

Edward Goldenberg Robinson
(Dec 12, 1893 – Jan 26, 1973)

Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo. Other memorable roles include insurance investigator Barton Keyes in the film noir Double Indemnity, Dathan (adversary of Moses) in The Ten Commandments, and his final performance as Sol Roth in the science-fiction story Soylent Green.

Sheree Julienne Wilson
(born December 12, 1958)

Sheree Wilson is an American actress, producer and former model. She is best known for her role as April Stevens on the American prime-time television series Dallas (a role she played from 1986 to 1991), and as Alexandra "Alex" Cahill-Walker, on television series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993-2001.

__________

Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone.
--Paul Tillich

This Is Who I Am

Unisex

     

Tucson Weather Today

_________________

WORD FOR TODAY

unisex
adjective
-  Designed for or suitable to both sexes: unisex clothing; unisex hairstyles.
-   Not distinguished or distinguishable on the basis of sex; androgynous in appearance.
noun
-  Elimination or absence of sexual distinctions.

Unisex refers to things that are suitable for either gender, but can also be another term for gender-blindness.

The term was coined in the 1960s and was used fairly informally. Though the combining form uni- is from the Latin unus meaning one, the term seems to have been influenced by words such as united and universal where the uni- prefix takes on the sense of shared. In this sense, it can be seen as meaning shared by both sexes.

Hair stylists and beauty salons that serve both men and women are often referred to as unisex. This is also typical of other services that traditionally separated the sexes, such as clothing shops.

According to Wikipedia: A unisex public toilet, also known as a unisex toilet, unisex bathroom, family toilet, or gender-neutral bathroom, is a public restroom or toilet that is available for use by either the male or female gender, including family restrooms for family or elderly use. Unisex toilets can be used by all persons, regardless of gender identity. Unisex toilets may be built by developers to save costs; instead of building two separate facilities, they only need to build one or one type, which may save costs as well as reduce space. Where it is impractical to have separate facilities, such as in airliners, trains, or buses, unisex toilets are used.

My first formal introduction to a unisex toilet came when I was forty years old, circa 1980, when I was a dormitory resident student at Valparaiso Technical Institute located at Valparaiso, Indiana. One night as I was standing in the (Men's?)) restroom before one of the urinals, a tipsy teenage female from a wild party in a room down the hall came bustling in and entered one of the stalls, giving me no more than a passing glance. Before the night was over, this event recurred twice again.

In the thirty-plus years since that time, I have had occasion to us the facilities at other unisex public restrooms.

If this becomes the norm, I believe that I will have no qualms about it.

_____

I received some emailed comments regarding Portents, the Flash Fiction story I posted in yesterday's blog entry. It seems that most of these responders liked the story, and even the few negative comments, those pointing out the story's 1950s era atmosphere (Sad Sack, etc.) were helpful; they are things for me to keep in mind for possible future revisions.

Feedback, to a writer, even a writer of Flash Fiction, almost always proves to be extremely valuable. And I sincerely thank those of you who offered their critiques and opinions.


A few years back I tried my hand at writing limericks. Below is one of those attempts:

Whenever a Brit says, "whinge",
I shudder, I shake and I cringe.
In the States, we say, "whine",
Which to me is perfectly fine --
A Yank will never say, "whinge".

Copyright 2008 Gene Chambers

_____

BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Ernest Borgnine

Born Jan. 24, 1917
Died: July 8, 2012

Ernest Borgnine was an American film and television actor whose career spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, winning an Oscar in 1955 for Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–1966 series McHale's Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.

In 1951, Borgnine received his big break in From Here to Eternity (1953), playing the sadistic Sergeant "Fatso" Judson, who beats a stockade prisoner in his charge, Angelo Maggio (played by Frank Sinatra). Borgnine built a reputation as a dependable character actor and played villains in early films, including movies like Johnny Guitar, Vera Cruz and Bad Day at Black Rock.

Borgnine's film career flourished through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including roles in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Ice Station Zebra (1968), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Emperor of the North (1973), Convoy (1978), The Black Hole (1979) and Escape from New York (1981).

He was also known for being the original voice of Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants from 1999 to 2012.

Sharon Tate

Born Jan. 24, 1943
Died: Aug. 9, 1969

Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Valley of the Dolls (1967). She also appeared regularly in fashion magazines as a model and cover girl.

Married to film director Roman Polanski in 1968, Tate was eight-and-a-half months pregnant when she was murdered in her home, along with four others, by followers of Charles Manson on August 9, 1969.

John Belushi

Born Jan. 24, 1949
Died: Mar. 5, 1982

John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician. He is best known as one of the original cast members of the hit NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live and as the co-star and co-creator of the hugely successful motion picture The Blues Brothers. He was the older brother of James "Jim" Belushi. He was known for his brash, energetic style and raunchy humor. During his career he had a close personal and artistic partnership with fellow SNL comedian and author Dan Aykroyd.

Belushi died on March 5, 1982 in Hollywood, California after overdosing on a mixture of cocaine and heroin at the age of 33.

Neil Diamond

Born Jan 24, 1941
Age:  71 years old

Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career that began in the 1960s. As of 2001, Diamond had sold over 115 million records worldwide including 48 million in the United States alone. He is considered to be the third most successful adult contemporary artist ever on the Billboard chart behind Barbra Streisand and Elton John.

Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Additionally, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and in 2011 was an honoree at the Kennedy Center Honors. He has had eight number one hit singles: "Cracklin Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Desiree", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "Love on the Rocks", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight".

__________

If modesty disappeared, so would exhibitionism.
--Mason Cooley

Do You Whinge Or Do You Whine?

Tucson Weather Today

_____

On this morning's TV news regarding the contraception dispute between the government and religion, I heard some Bishop, or it might have been some other high Catholic official, say that the Church and President Obama were "at loggerheads." At loggerheads? Loggerheads? What in Darwin's Green Earth does that mean?

The phrase: at loggerheads simply means: in dispute with. Originally, a loggerhead was used with the meaning of a stupid person - a blockhead.

The idiom has now come to mean: If people are at loggerheads, they are arguing and can't agree on anything.

The Bishop (or whatever he is) might have better said, "The Church and President Obama disagree with each other on some points."

_____

Happy Birthday

Alice Walker

born February 9, 1944

Author of The Color Purple

_____

Earlier today I ran across a blog entry written by some Brit who spoke of "... all those whinging cretins..." -- and this reminded me of a Limerick I had several years ago written making fun of the Brits who say whinge -- pronounced Whin-j. So I searched through my 'Old Writings' folder until I found it.

Here it is:

Whenever a Brit says, "whinge"
I shudder, I quake and I cringe.
In the States, we say, "whine"
Which is perfectly fine --
A Yank would never say, "whinge"


The above indicates that I might not be an Anglophile.

And despite my paternal lineage . . . I'm not.
(more about this subject at some other time)

__________

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
--Edmund Burke