David Gersh

The Cat

September 5, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

cat-o-nine-tails_psf

I’d like to let “the cat out of the bag,” but golly, I can’t:

The derivation of the phrase is not clear. One suggestion is that the phrase refers to the whip-like “cat o’nine tails,” an instrument of punishment once used on Royal Navy vessels. The instrument was purportedly stored in a red sack, and a sailor who revealed the transgressions of another would be “letting the cat out of the bag.” Another suggested derivation is from the “pig in a poke” scam, where a customer buying a suckling pig in a sack would actually be sold a (less valuable) cat, and would not realise the deception until the bag was opened.
Both of these suggestions are rejected by Snopes.com, who find no evidence of it originating in naval slang, nor of whips being stored in sacks, and consider it “nigh on impossible to mistake a cat for a pig.”

I favor the naval version myself. Your guess may be better than mine.

Body guard of lies

August 29, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

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The truth is so rare and precious, it needs to be surrounded by a body guard of lies.

Winston Churchill.

May I Feel, Said He

August 22, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

People think of ee cummings as avant garde and incomprehensible and avoid him like the plague. Well, sometimes he is. But he is also one of the great romantics and very funny. Try this one and see if you perhaps can understand it. Hugs

may i feel said he
by e e cummings

may i feel said he

(i’ll squeal said she

just once said he)

it’s fun said she

(may i touch said he

how much said she

a lot said he)

why not said she

(let’s go said he

not too far said she

what’s too far said he

where you are said she)

may i stay said he

(which way said she

like this said he

if you kiss said she

may i move said he

is it love said she)

if you’re willing said he

(but you’re killing said she

but it’s life said he

but your wife said she

now said he)

ow said she

(tiptop said he

don’t stop said she

oh no said he)

go slow said she

(cccome?said he

ummm said she)

you’re divine!said he

(you are Mine said she)

Gression

August 15, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

5-11-15

Here’s a word I bet you don’t know:

Gression

To step or go.

The root of digression, transgression, aggression and regression.

I thought that would make you gruntled. Nope, unfotunately, not the opposite of disgruntled, but one can hope.

The Stationers

August 8, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

stationers-crest-2005

We were just with our friend in London, Captain Peter Hames, RN, Retired. After Peter left the sea he became the Clerk to the Stationers, a member organization of the Livery Company. We went to see the Stationers Hall, a beautiful 17th Century hall built after the Great London fire to replace the old hall.

The Livery Company was a corporation organized with the approval of the Crown which incorporated the various Guilds. The Guilds were the trade organizations formed to regulate the trades and prevent competition in old England.

I thought of Livery as meaning delivery or chauffeurs or the like. But it is a broader term, meaning the right to wear certain dress. The Livery Company has produced many Lord Mayors of London. Meaning the City of London, the financial district within the old city walls, comprising a square mile. While not an important position, the Lord Mayor exercises a lot of political influence.

A Clerk of the Stationers is a key person, worthy of a carved wooden plaque listing all the Clerks going back hundreds of years. It sits beside the plaque of all the past Masters of the Stationers, the elected head of the trade organization. There is a similar arrangement in every musical organization, like the L.A. Philharmonic, which has a Music Director and an administrative President, who is a paid and powerful full time employee.

Several interesting etymological facts. The Stationers, who began as the organization to control the content of printers, to assure that nothing was printed that was salacious or seditious, evolved as time changed into an organization whose approval had to be obtained in order to reproduce a printed work. Copies could be sold. It is there that the term “copyright” was born.

And originally, members of the Stationers were the only ones allowed to sell their manuscripts from fixed stalls in the courtyard of St. Paul’s. All other sellers were itinerant. They were “stationary,” even if the term is spelled differently.

Thank you Peter.

Bootleg

August 1, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

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The term “bootleg” originated from the late 19th century smuggler’s practice of concealing a bottle of liquor between his (or her) boot and his leg.

Credit to Marisa Christensen for finding the origin.

Not afraid to die

July 25, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

woody-allen

I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.

Woody Allen

Morton’s Fork

July 18, 2016June 30, 2016Leave a comment

fork

We’ve all talked about a Hobson’s Choice when we are on the horns of a dilemma. But we got it wrong. A Hobson’s Choice is no real choice (pay your taxes or go to jail). What we really have is a Morton’s Fork.

Look it up.

Romeo and Juliet

July 11, 2016June 28, 2016Leave a comment

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This is simply beautiful:

When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine,
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet

The New Golf Rules for Older Golfers

July 4, 2016June 28, 2016Leave a comment

b1b8d47e_oldtommorris

For older golfers like me:

A friend told me about these new rules changes. Finally some changes we can live with. I don’t think I’ve read about them in Golf Digest yet so all you Seniors take notes and pass on this information to your playing friends.

New Rules Changes from the USGA: The AARP has negotiated with the USGA to modify the Rules of Golf for seniors.

Rule 1.a.5

A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed on the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough with no penalty. The senior should not be penalized for tall grass which grounds keepers failed to mow.

Rule 2.d.6 (b)

A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree. This is simply bad luck and luck has no place in a scientific game. The senior  player must estimate the distance the ball would have traveled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from there.

  Rule 3.b.3(g)

There shall be no such thing as a lost ball. The missing ball is on or near the course and will eventually be found and pocketed by someone else, making it a stolen ball. The player is not to compound the crime by charging himself/herself with a penalty.

Rule 4.c.7(h)

 If a putt passes over a hole without dropping, it is deemed to have dropped. The law of gravity supersedes the Rules of Golf.

Rule 5.

Putts that stop close enough to the cup that they could be blown in, may be blown in. This does not apply to balls more than three inches from the hole. No one wants to make a travesty of the game.

Rule 6.a.9(k)

There is no penalty for so-called “out of bounds.” If  penny-pinching golf course owners bought sufficient land, this would not occur. The senior golfer deserves an apology, not a penalty.

Rule 7.g.15(z)

There is no penalty for a ball in a water hazard, as golf balls  should float. Senior golfers should not be penalized for manufacturers shortcomings.

Rule 8.k.9(s)

 Advertisements claim that golf scores can be improved by purchasing  new golf equipment. Since this is financially difficult for many senior golfers, one-half stroke per hole may be subtracted for using old equipment.