ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 47 of 91

T is for Tarantism

There are at least a dozen SEPARATE songs with the title Dance with Me, or a variation (Dance Wit’ Me. e.g.) that charted on the US charts.

Tarantism (n.) is an illness characterized by the sudden urge to dance. More specifically, according to Merriam Webster, it is “a dancing mania or malady of late medieval Europe popularly regarded as being caused by the bite of the European tarantula (Lycosa tarentula).”

Here’s an interesting article about the topic. As I suspected, the dance of the tarantella is tied to this narrative; see an example of that dance HERE.

I’m convinced that just about any kind of dancing will heal the spider’s bite.

25 Amazing Dances From Around The World, and a really cool site, Discover Folk Dances from Around The World, unfortunately with some dead links. And THIS (don’t know if it works if you’re not on Facebook).

Top 10 Dance Movies according to Mojo.com; I’m sure you’ll disagree with some of the picks, as I do.

There are at least a dozen SEPARATE songs with the title Dance with Me, or a variation (Dance Wit’ Me. e.g.) that charted on the US charts! I’m not talking covers, I’m talking totally different words and music.

Some of MANY dance songs to LISTEN to. (Ranks on US Billboard pop charts.)
The Jackson 5 – Dancing Machine (#2 in 1974)
David Bowie – Let’s Dance (#1 in 1983)
Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself (#102 in 1983)
Bruce Springsteen – Dancing in the Dark (#2 in 1984)
Martha and the Vandellas -Dancing in the Street (#2 in 1964)

Finally, LISTEN to the only song to be #1 on the US pop charts in two non-consecutive years. Did you know what it was? The years, BTW, were 1960 and 1962.

ABC Wednesday, Round 15

Q is for Qualtagh

Sometimes, the first person I see after leaving the house in the morning is a grizzled old man smoking a cigarette because he is not allowed to do so in the house.

The Wiktionary defines qualtagh (Manx English) as “The first person one encounters, either after leaving one’s home or (sometimes) outside one’s home, especially on New Year’s Day.” Unused Words describes the word as “the first person one meets (either leaving or entering their house) after the start of the New Year.”

But the first reference I saw did not specify the New Year. So I started thinking about this: Who IS the first person I see when I leave my house? For the comic strip character Dagwood Bumstead, it’s Mr. Beasley, the postman he often collides with.

For me, during the school year, it’s often one particular school mom and her two kids, who seem to pass our house at just the right time. Last school year, it might have been the crossing guard, an animated woman who can practically stop traffic with her voice.

Sometimes, especially on the weekend, it’s one of the neighbors, a grizzled old man smoking a cigarette because he is not allowed to do so in the house. Occasionally, it’s a red-haired woman, the wife of a library school buddy of mine, doing her daily brisk walk.

I remember when I used to live alone, I would not have spoken to anyone before I left the house. On Election Day about 20 years ago, I was walking to the place where the election was conducted about 5:50 a.m. because I like to be first at the polls when I can. This cheerful man said, “Good morning!” I replied, apparently inaudibly, “Good morning.”

Mister Cheerful continued, “I SAID, good MORNING!” I explained that I had replied to his earlier greeting but that my vocal cords had not yet warmed up.

Y’know, that guy really ticked me off.

Here’s Good Morning from the 1939 movie Babes in Arms with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

Plus Good Morning from the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain, with Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and a young Debbie Reynolds. The Wife, The Daughter, and I watched the video together a couple of years ago.

ABC Wednesday, Round 15

P is for People songs

Plastic Jim by Sly & the Family Stone borrows from Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles.

I had all these posts for Round 15 lined up, either odd words or 70th birthdays, except for a few. After I mucked it over a good while, I said, to no one in particular, “I’ve got nothing, people.” Then suddenly, I did. Songs starting with the word People in the title that I own.

One must start, naturally, with People by Barbra Streisand, her signature song from Funny Girl that went to #5 in 1964 on the US Billboard singles charts. “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” Is that true? I was rather fond of the cover version by Nat King Cole) that only went to #100 that same year.

A lot of People songs are inspirational. People Get Ready by The Impressions, featuring Curtis Mayfield, went to #14 in 1965, but was an anthem of the civil rights movement.

People Are Strange by The Doors, #12 in 1967, is a simple song, with a single verse and chorus; I tended to relate to it.

Back to the inspiration mode is People Got to be Free by The Rascals, #1 in 1968.

People Make The World Go Round is a melancholy tune by the Stylistics, #25 in 1972, with a long instrumental outro. I also have a Jackson Five cover of this.

Violent images show up in the odd People Who Died by The Jim Carroll Band, #103 in 1981. The lyrics are serious – and he repeats TWO verses – but the music is pretty straight-ahead rock and roll. I heard this a lot on WQBK-FM, my favorite radio station, at the time.

A more hopeful tune is People Are People by Depeche Mode, #13 in 1985.

The N-word is used in context in People Everyday by Arrested Development, #8 in 1992. I found it unfortunate that it’s so much less hopeful than the song it borrows heavily from, Everyday People by Sly & The Family Stone, #1 in 1969.

I see that Kelly Clarkson had a song called People Like Us, #65 in 2013, on her greatest hits album. I didn’t have that but I DID have a totally different song with the same title, in fact, the title track of an album by The Mamas and the Papas.

Finally, I was pondering the sad tune Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles – “all the lonely people” – #11 in 1966, from which Plastic Jim by Sly & the Family Stone borrowed.

ABC Wednesday, Round 15

N is for Nudiustertian

I always seem to remember where I learn words as an adult I hadn’t known before.

Nudiustertian pertaining to the day before yesterday; it has nothing to do with strippers and nakedness. I’ve also discovered that, in the same linguistic family, hesternal relates to yesterday, and hodiernal pertains to today.

“The OED goes on to gives its only example of the use of the word in a sentence from 1647, taken from the ever-popular The simple cobler of Aggawam in America, written by Nathaniel Ward. ‘When I heare a‥Gentledame inquire‥what [is] the nudiustertian fashion of the Court; I mean the very newest.'”

I love such specific words. I also like this one, which is similar in intent: antepenultimate means “last but two in a series; third last. ‘The antepenultimate item on the agenda…'” Chapter 8 in a ten-chapter book also qualifies.

Somehow, I had not known the word penultimate, meaning next to last, until I had read it in an intro to the comic book Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini. #19 was the penultimate issue of the original series, which means that #18 was the antepenultimate one.

I always seem to remember where I learn words as an adult I hadn’t known before. The word ersatz means “(of a product) made or used as a substitute, typically an inferior one, for something else.” I first saw it in a book about albums by the Beatles, plus the solo works. Ringo’s Goodnight Vienna, which features contributions of the other three on various tracks, was described as an “ersatz Beatles album.”

ABC Wednesday, Round 15

J is for Jentacular

My favorite thing to drink for breakfast is half orange juice, half cranberry juice.

Dan, you said this was a breakfast blog. THIS will REALLY be a breakfast post!

I had read somewhere in a list of weird words that jentacular was an adjective meaning “pertaining to breakfast.” But as I looked at other sources, it appears to mean, “Of or pertaining to a breakfast taken early in the morning, or immediately on getting up.” There’s even the word “antejentacular” meaning to eat breakfast BEFORE getting out of bed. Breakfast in bed, I imagine.

The majority of dictionaries do not include the extended definition, so I shan’t either, except to note that I usually get up before I’m hungry. I wake up when the CATS are hungry, which is around 4:30. I feed them, work on the e-mail, blog for an hour or so, and sometimes go back to bed when The Wife’s alarm goes off, usually around 5:30 during the school year.

Breakfast is often cold cereal. I have written EXTENSIVELY about cereal, so I need not get into that, except to note that the great thing about cereals, and the weird thing, is that one brand or other is often on sale, and usually have lots of coupons in the newspaper, so I seldom pay full price.

In the winter, and even in the colder days of autumn and spring, we often have oatmeal. Not only is it warming, the oats, but I also gather, are good cholesterol fighters.

The first thing I ever made on our gas stove when I was eight, give or take, was scrambled eggs, using a cast-iron skillet. Teflon non-stick pans did exist then, but we never used them. For one thing, in the early days, they were far too expensive.

On weekends, we usually have either pancakes or waffles, with whatever fruit we have available. One of our indulgences is that we like real maple syrup and use it far more often than the store-bought concoction. (I’ve expressed my mixed emotions over Log Cabin syrup.)

As I’ve mentioned a few times, my favorite thing to drink for breakfast is half orange juice, half cranberry juice. When it’s cold, I drink tea, but, and I know it’s a mortal sin, I’ve ever gotten into drinking coffee.

What do YOU like for breakfast?
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Coffee and the brain. Plus What does caffeine do for us?

ABC Wednesday, Round 15