Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

Words QUESTION

There ARE a few words that I can specifically remember learning, and not just as a child, that I have regularly incorporated into my vocabulary.

The wallpaper is beginning to peel in our bedroom, probably because of a leak, now fixed by the new roof we got this summer. It’s always something with a house that’s about a century old. I said to The Wife, “This house is giving me agita.” She thought I had made up the word; I had not.

Agita (n) – a feeling of agitation or anxiety. “Judging by its spelling and meaning, you might think that ‘agita’ is simply a shortened version of ‘agitation,’ but that’s not the case. Both ‘agitation’ and the verb ‘agitate’ derive from Latin ‘agere’ (‘to drive’). ‘Agita,’ which first appeared in American English in the early 1980s, comes from a dialectical pronunciation of the Italian word ‘acido,’ meaning ‘heartburn’ or ‘acid,’ from Latin ‘acidus.’ (‘Agita’ is also occasionally used in English with the meaning ‘heartburn.’) For a while the word’s usage was limited to New York City and surrounding regions, but the word became more widespread in the mid-90s.”

So the Wife says, “Where did you learn that word?” I reply, “How the heck do I know?!”

But it got me to thinking that there ARE a few words that I can specifically remember learning, and not just as a child, that I have regularly incorporated into my vocabulary.

Ersatz (adj)- being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation. I learned this from a book about recordings by the Beatles, both as a group and as solo artists, that I read in the late 1970s. The writer referred to Ringo’s Goodnight Vienna LP as an “ersatz Beatles album.” All four Fabs appear, albeit not together, on the album.

Penultimate (adj) -next to the last. I was reading a black and white comic called Elfquest in the early 1980s, and in issue 19, co-creator Richard Pini noted that it was the penultimate issue. I’ve used the word a lot ever since.

Are there any words you picked up from reading as an adult that you didn’t know before but have integrated into your vocabulary?

In honor, two versions of the song Words by the Monkees.
TV show version
singles version

Flashmob Fridays…and ME?

I feel like that guy who used to watch movies from 1915 through 1925, then went away from them for a score. Suddenly, he’s watching films that have SOUND! And COLOR!

There’s this comic book critic named Alan David Doane, who I’ve known since he used to come to FantaCo, the comic store I used to have something to do with for 8.5 years back in the 1980s. He asked me if I wanted to participate in something called Flashmob Fridays whereby “this batch of writers-about-comics…will converge in this space and weigh in with their thoughts on the comic chosen for review that week.” I actually participated once in the old iteration.

There are a lot of reasons NOT to do this. For instance, after voraciously reading comics for a couple of decades (1972-1992), I found my attraction to the medium had waned considerably. I had issues from 1992-1994 that I never even read before I sold the bulk of my collection in 1995 or 1996. I have picked up an odd issue or two, usually on Free Comic Book Day, but that is hardly representative.

So I feel like that guy who used to watch movies from 1915 through 1925, then went away from them for a score. Suddenly, he’s watching films that have SOUND! And COLOR! So he’ll either be awed by the new technology, even if it’s a lesser effort or, conversely, be annoyed/appalled by the changes.

Besides, I’m busy. Competing with the wife and now the daughter for computer time is difficult already; this will just make it worse.

So why do it? Maybe precisely because it IS scary. I’m not likely to climb a mountain or jump out of a plane. This is, perhaps, as dare devilish as I’m likely to get. Ah – the risk of public humiliation. And being slapped by ADD.

Also, Alan used the word interregnum. I LOVE that word. How the heck am I supposed to ignore THAT?

So look for #flashmobfridays on Twitter. I won’t participate EVERY week, but I’ll try to join in as often as time, and sanity, allow.

Approximating the Christmas Spirit

This is the first Christmas since my mother died. Purchasing something she wanted had always tough in recent years, as she said she wanted for nothing. Last year, I hit on a bathrobe she apparently really liked, plus her word puzzles she used to keep her mind sharp. I so wish I still had the aggravation of buying for her.

This is one of those “breakfast blog” posts, so dubbed by my friend Dan, the kind you read over oatmeal. Or something.

A few years back, there was this graphic that featured Stephen Colbert and a board with eight lines of text. I had used it a few times around 2007, but I couldn’t get it to work correctly a few weeks ago. Too bad; I had worked out my first message:
THERE IS NO
“WAR ON CHRISTMAS”.
“HAPPY HOLIDAYS”
JUST NOTES
KWANZAA, HANUKKAH,
NEW YEARS EVE
ET AL.
CHILL OUT, OK?

(But listen to Charles Ingalls doing his Linus van Pelt imitation.)

And besides, Christmastime, by the church calendar, doesn’t start until Christmas day, running to Epiphany, in early January.

We are currently in Advent. A party held right now would be an Advent party, if you want to get all technical/fussy about it. (Science tricks to impress/distract your family during said holiday gatherings.)

Every year recently, there has been a Medieval Faire in Albany in late October. I always look forward to it, in no small part, because that’s where/when I start my Christmas shopping in earnest. I know people who have finished their shopping before the summer solstice (Northern Hemisphere) is over. Actually, in the past, I had found presents earlier, then promptly hid them – from myself, only to rediscover them in February. A couple of months of hiding I can keep track of. And for the decade or so when the Faire was on hiatus, I’d really struggle, especially re: the wife’s gift.

This is the first Christmas since my mother died. Purchasing something she wanted had always been tough in recent years, as she said she wanted for nothing. Last year, I hit on a bathrobe she apparently really liked, plus her word puzzles she used to keep her mind sharp. I so wish I still had the aggravation of buying for her.

Oh yeah, here’s the John Lennon seasonal song.

Check out Scott’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar, not just this year’s but over the previous seven seasons!

 

Infamy

I believe there is wisdom to be gained from the past, but specifically, what is it we are supposed to learn?

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

I wasn’t born yet, but I do remember the distinctive voice of FDR in his radio address, and I remember many of the words he spoke.

I was thinking about this around 9/11 this year. Of course, most Americans don’t remember Pearl Harbor, 70 years ago, directly anymore, as the population ages. But if we did, what lessons are we to glean now?

“Never forget” is the mantra after many significant disasters. But Japan, and for that matter, Germany, are our allies now; maybe that’s the new message.

Incidentally, of the 16,112,566 Americans who served in the armed forces during WWII, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimated in November 2011 that only 1,711,000 nationwide are still living, and a greater number die each year.

And, as the population ages, we will forget 9/11 too, maybe not any time soon, but eventually, in a few generations. I believe there is wisdom to be gained from the past, but specifically, what is it we are supposed to learn? I think about this regularly, yet have no tidy answers.

St. Nick, the Real One

Is Saint Nicholas Day celebrated where you are?

I’m so fascinated by the various iterations of Christian gift-giving days, which stretch from about December 6, St. Nicholas Day in parts of Europe (it’s flexible) to January 6, Three Kings Day. Those dates, BTW, are the very earliest AND the very latest I’ll play what’s come to be known as Christmas music. Also intrigued by the guy who, at least partially, inspired Santa Claus.

From the Wikipedia:

“Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus. He was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra in Lycia, now in the Antalya Province of Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious man with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes.

A great gift, indeed.

He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Germany) he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. In 1087, the Italian city of Bari, wanting to enter the profitable pilgrimage industry of the times, mounted an expedition to locate the tomb of the Christian Saint and procure the remains. The reliquary of St. Nicholas was desecrated by Italian sailors and the spoils, including his relics, taken to Bari, where they are kept to this day. A basilica was constructed the same year to store the loot and the area became a pilgrimage site for the devout, thus justifying the economic cost of the expedition. Saint Nicholas became claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers and children to pawnbrokers. He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Liverpool, among many others.

The Turkish Government announced that it would be formally requesting the return of St Nicholas’s bones to Turkey from the Italian government. Turkish authorities have cited the fact that St Nicolas himself wanted to be buried in his episcopal town. They also state that his remains were illegally removed from Turkey.

Is Saint Nicholas Day celebrated where you are? I vaguely recall that, when I was growing up in upstate New York State, the kids of central and eastern European ancestry had another holiday before Christmas, which made me jealous, but I did not yet have the intellectual curiosity to get the details.
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Oh, and remember You’re never too old to sit on Santa

Cookie Monster’s Letter to Santa

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