When I was about ready to start High School, my father bought me a set of encyclopedias from a door-to door salesman. I think he paid a down payment and $6 a month for two years. It was called the American Peoples Encyclopedia. The books came with a coffee table bookcase with the encyclopedias filed under glass, binding up, on each side. It was quite handsome. It also came with an extra volume of quotes from famous people in history, listed under the subject matter of the quote. I spent many hours reading this book and have loved quotes ever since. Peter’s mother on the other hand went out and bought him a Funk and Wagnall’s volume each week from the A&P Supermarket. I became the President of the Honor Society at my school while Peter was blackballed from his the first year; something about a teacher who disliked him. I wonder why? All this doesn’t matter. It just goes to show that sometimes beginnings can be auspicious and vice-versa. But I digress.
Back to my love of words and quotes. My favorite quotes came from Andy Rooney. I have below Brainy Quotes, a site, which lists some of his quotes. They left out my two favorites. “Don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper, but bare in mind that most of it is true.” And “In a conversation, keep in mind that you’re more interested in what you have to say than anyone else is.”
Another fun site is Heather Carreiro’s “20 obsolete English words that should make a comeback”. It’s on Matador network (website below). Can you make a new sentence using one of the words? I liked the word jargogle meaning “to confuse, jumble.” Ms. Carreiro said “I’m planning on using it the next time my husband attempts to explain complicated physics concepts for fun. Seriously, I don’t need you to further jargogle my brain.“ l also liked twitter-light. Twitter-light is my favorite time of day; sunlight getting softer, city lights coming on, families gathering for dinner, lovers walking in the park, animals settling down for the day, fireflies coming out in the heat of summer, the earth quieting along with us. It’s a time to deliciate in the beauty of the earth. Please forgive all the perissology in that last sentence.
I have to end with my Mother’s favorite saying which I have often used. “ The more you stir in garbage, the worse it stinks.” This means, “Stay right out of it.” Of course, she used a better word than garbage. My Mom was not one to mince words.
Brainy Quote: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/andy_rooney.html
Heather Carriero, “20 Obsolete Words that Should Make a Comeback”: http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/20-obsolete-english-words-that-should-make-a-comeback/
And so it continues. I guess I’d have to say that my favorite philosopher is Lewis Carroll. Now you might think this is strange but he wrote some pretty pithy stories. If you want a good explanation about how people interact, read the conversation concerning the walrus and the carpenter. Also, when my students would get frustrated about how to organize a problem to put it to code I’d tell them, “as the king said to Alice, ‘Start at the beginning, go to the end and then stop.'” Unfortunately, when I would say that to one of them, I’d very seldom ever get that light turn on. But it was fun and would leave us in a place where they knew that this whole effort wasn’t all that serious and we’d get through it.
Your description of twitterlight brought back the Longfellow poet which always gives me a warm feeling – “Between the dark and the daylight when the light is beginning to lower, comes a pause in the days occupation that is know as the children’s hour.”
Keep them cards and letters (and blogs) coming in. It is so great to interact with you and Peter in this way.
Skip keeps asking what I am chortling about. I’ll be smiling all day! And what a wonderful conversation starter.
Lots of thoughts on this blog!
1. I loved the Andy Rooney quotes. My favorite is:
“I didn’t get old on purpose, it just happened. If you’re lucky, it could happen to you.”
Yes, how did it happen? I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on my grandchildren. An essay entitled “The Grandparent Clock” (3/30/15 Time Magazine) reflects on the implications of parenting later in life, i.e., elderly grandparents who can’t take an active role in their grandchildren’s lives. How many grandchildren have a ‘blogging grandmother!” I tell you really!
2. My PT passes on the following quote from his grandfather who was born in 1908 and raised in Nebraska: “If you can’t see it from a galloping horse, it doesn’t matter.”
3. My parents passed on their love of words to me. My Dad who was fluent in 5 or 6 languages once bet my mother a diamond on the gender of water (l’eau) in french. Most french nouns ending in ‘eau’ are masculine; two exceptions are l’eau and la peau (skin). My younger son owns the diamond she won in that exchange!
One of my War College professors introduced me to my favorite word: persiflage (a frivolous or flippant style of treating a subject) as in ‘Oh, persiflage.” It is definitely a more acceptable expletive when someone is completely off-base.
But not everyone loves words. When I left my job in California, my deputy gave me a “Dictionary” that translated my terms into his mid-western lingo, e.g., “ameliorate” became “get better.” He was a ‘no frills’ guy.