What's in a name?

Recently, I was browsing ship manifests looking for my ancestors who, I know, emigrated from Sweden in the 1850’s.  I was looking for the surname Gustafson (my great grandmother) and I noticed, amongst many Gustafsons, some Gustafsdotters.  Intrigued, I looked into the naming system in Sweden prior to 1800 and this is what I learned.  In Sweden, personal nomenclature was based on the use of patronymics wherein a person’s name would be that of the father with the addition of ‘son’ or ‘dotter’ affixed depending on whether the child was male or female.  Thus, the offspring of Pedre would become Pedresson or Pedresdotter.  In the case of ‘son,’ even the added ‘s’ was maintained and that is why you find so many double esses in Swedish names;  Petersson, Ericsson, Johnsson, etc.

With a little more poking around I found out that the old Norse name Endri, was fairly common through the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th centuries and that Endrisson and Endrisdotter were also fairly common.  When Sweden finally adopted the surname system of naming children, sometime in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, Endrisson became Hendersson and finally Henderson.

One more thing, do we really need two words to describe the act of moving from one country to another?  If you are in Sweden talking about people leaving for another country, they are Emigrating, but if you are in the other country talking about those same people coming into your country, they are Immigrating.  Change the first letter and add an ‘M’?  Why bother?

Clear and Present Danger!!

Last week, a friend of ours visiting from Scotland, told us that his wife and son would be arriving for the Christmas holidays.  We were excited and looking forward to seeing them also, since it has been almost five years since we saw them last.  Yesterday, our friend told us that homeland security and the immigration department had detained them for several hours in New York, and then deported them back to Scotland!  Apparently, the wife’s crime was that she had overstayed her visa five years ago by two days!  Because of this heinous crime, she was banned from returning to the United States for ten years!  To make matters worse, there is no appeal; nowhere to go and nobody to reason with.  Is this really what we have come to?  Millions of illegals bleeding our country to death, and our government thinks it’s more important to perpetrate this kind of injustice on a visiting, hard working, self supporting, family of three.

How would you like to be subject to this kind of arbitrary injustice?  In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news, there is now a “bill” on President Obama’s desk that gives the justice department, homeland security, the military, or any law enforcement agency the right to hold American Citizens Indefinitely if they are suspected of being terrorists.  The scary part is that any low level bureaucrat could be making the decision about who is a threat.  Indefinitely, without the right of appeal, without legal defense and without due process!  What the hell is going on in this country?  Does this not frighten all of us?  This should be a wake-up call to anyone who values freedom and “The American Way.”

Do we really want the demagogue in the White House to have this kind of power?  This power grab is unprecedented in our history, and was last seen during the French Revolution and the “Reign of Terror” that followed.  Don’t let it happen here.  Speak now, or forever hold your peace, or you may end up being detained indefinitely.  Call your representatives, write to your newspapers, or just talk to your friends and neighbors.  There is a real danger here and awareness has to be raised!!!

I'm sorry Mike, that my country has treated you so poorly.

Our, too short, trip to Italy

In 1967, Gail and I had a chance to visit Rome, Italy for three days with a group of friends and associates.  We traveled from Germany through the Alps to Rome by train, a trip that passed through some of the most beautiful country in Europe.

Although the trip across the Alps was only about 100 miles, as the crow flies, that part of the journey took the most time because of the switchback nature of the path we had to follow to get over the mountains.

Once over the Alps, the train made a stop in Milan, Italy where vendors were waiting to sell cheese, bread, and wine to the travelers.  There was no need to leave the train since the vendors conducted business through the windows of the passenger cars.  The wine, I remember, came in those familiar round-bottomed bottles encased in a straw basket, called a “fiasco.”  Needless to say, we were all in good spirits by the time we reached our final destination.

Our first day in Rome was spent visiting the Coliseum and several fountains, including the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi-Ganges, and the Trevi fountain (Three Coins in a Fountain). The Trevi Fountain is the largest and most spectacular of Rome's fountains, designed to glorify the three different Popes who created it.  It was built in 1730 at the terminus of the reconstructed Acqua Vergine aqueduct.

Trevi Fountain

 On our second day in Italy, we left the group we were with and took a train 130 miles south to visit the ancient ruins of Pompei.  We spent most of day day roaming the grounds and museum at Pompei and still didn’t see it all.  One unusual thing I remember about Pompei is the depth of the streets below the sidewalks.  If you stepped off the sidewalk, it was a two foot drop to the street!  At intervals and the intersections, there were three or four stepping stones, raised to sidewalk level, spaced just far enough apart to allow wheeled carts to pass through and over them while providing a convenient pathway for pedestrians.  I guess the entire street was used as a drainage system and, judging from the depth, they must have had lots of rain in Pompei.  We got back to the hotel late that evening, and did not see the group we were with.

Pompei Street

 The following morning, day three, we left the group yet again and took a train 170 miles to the north to visit the town of Pisa and the famous leaning tower.  In those days we were allowed to walk the spiral steps to the top of the tower, and we did.  After the obligatory photos, we hopped on a local bus and found our way to the nearby town of Torre del Lago, and their famous Marble factory.  I purchased a marble chess table with brass “catspaw” legs that I still have today.  We bought several other marble pieces and managed to lug it all back to our hotel room in Rome just before midnight that day.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 Most of day three was spent in “recovery mode” from the first two days.  We had a late and casual lunch at a local bistro and visited Vatican City.  That evening, we met up again with the group we had come with, for the first time since day one.  We all met for a formal dinner at a very nice Italian Ristorante.  I remember the place being slightly below street level which leant an air of authenticity to the ambiance.  Again, we drank lots of wine and the live musicians played Arivederci Roma for us before we left to pack for the trip back to Germany.

Some Useless Trivia

It has been alleged by Mike M. that “nitty-gritty” is a derogatory reference to the English slave trade of the 18th century, but this is what I’ve discovered.

The phrase is usually used with the prefix “getting down to” and there is a sense that, whatever the nitty-gritty is, it is at the bottom of something. The suggestion is that it originated as a term for the unimportant debris left at the bottom of ships after the slaves had been removed and that the meaning was extended to include the slaves themselves.

The general touchiness over language that might have had a racist origin is enhanced by the ongoing guilt felt by some communities that were formerly involved with the slave trade, for example the English sea-ports of Bristol and Liverpool. In July 2006, Liverpool Council debated the proposal that Penny Lane in Liverpool should be renamed to remove the association with the slave-trader James Penny. This was dismissed as ludicrous by many in the city, but the very fact that the suggestion was made indicates a degree of ongoing unease.

There is no evidence to support the suggestion that 'nitty-gritty' has any connection with slave ships.  It isn't even recorded in print until the 1930s, long after slave ships had disappeared, and none of the early references make any link to slavery.

The first reference to be found of the phrase in print is from a 1937 catalog of song titles wherein a song with the title “That Nitty Gritty Dance” is listed.  The phrase isn't found in print again for some time and reappeared in several newspaper citations dating from 1956, for example, this line from Alice Childress' novel “Like One of Family”:

"You'll find nobody comes down to the nitty-gritty when it calls for namin' things for what they are."

Another is from the Texas newspaper The Daily Journal, in June 1956 and comes from a piece which gave examples of 'the language of 15-year old hepcats':

"She buys, with buffalo heads, ducks to the local flickers, but they prove to be corny and along comes a nitty-grittygator in a cattle train which she hops."

Unfortunately, the Journal didn't include a translation, but several former “Beatniks” who are "hep to the jive" confirm that, in that context, a 'nitty-gritty gator' was a 'lowlife hip dude' and a 'cattle train' was a Cadillac.

It has also been suggested that 'nitty-gritty' refers to head lice, a.k.a. 'nits', or that it refers to ground corn, a.k.a. 'grits', but again, neither of these theories is supported by any hard evidence.  Where it does come from isn't known. It is one of the many phrases that use rhyming reduplication, for example, namby-pamby, willy-nilly etc.  It is most likely that the rhyme was formed as a simple extension of the existing US adjective 'gritty', meaning determined or plucky.

Mind Your P's and Q's

In the world of the occult, there are many people out there who have special talents; Jean Dixon, Nostradamus, and Edgar Cayce, just to name a few of the most prominent.  I have always been fascinated by these people and the things they can do.  Are there really demons and ghosts?  Can some people actually foresee the future and talk to the dead?  I have never really bought into this stuff but, many years ago some friends and I fooled around with an Ouija board and after I learned that the boards may open a doorway to the underworld, I never played with one again, so maybe I do believe a little bit.

I once read a book titled “Bridey Murphy” that has since, been debunked and undebunked.  The book is about reincarnation and a Colorado housewife name Virginia Tighe who had recollections of a previous life in Ireland wherein her name was Bridey Murphy.  Virginia was able to remember many things about her life as Bridey that only Bridey would have known.  I have since, read many books on the subject of reincarnation and there are some fascinating stories out there.  Even if the facts are true, there is no way to tell whether the person in those stories actually lived a previous life or whether that person is tapping into an archive of “memory records” of some other, long deceased person.

A famous clairvoyant named Edgar Cayce told us that these “memory records” exist in the form of “Akashic Records” and that we all have the ability to tap into them.  He also said that the “Akashic Records” are an archive of everything that has ever happened and everything that ever will happen!  Of all the clairvoyants I have read about or seen on TV, Edgar Cayce is the most interesting.  His “readings” are very well documented and his abilities have been well proven.

Almost without exception, these clairvoyants and many other prominent people of our age such as Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People), James Allen (As a Man Thinketh), and Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) profess one thing, and that is the power of the mind.  It seems that if we could learn to control our minds we could tap into those Akashic records, summon spirits, talk to the dead, or even move mountains!

In the final analysis, we have to be very careful with our minds.  We have to be careful about what we think and believe, because that is what we will get.  The human mind is a wonderful gift and a powerful tool and it would be a shame to let others shape if for us.  Question everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, and keep an open mind.

What were those Indians up to?

Did you ever wonder what was in those “peace pipes” the Indians used to smoke?  The pipes were in use long before tobacco was introduced to the New World, so what were they smoking?  And, why was it a “peace” pipe.  Did it have any relation to the “peace” loving pot smoking hippie generation?  Hmmm’.

While we're on the subject, what do drugs have to do with “peace” in the first place?  When anyone speaks of drugs, the first thought that comes to mind is crime!  When prohibition (18^th Amendment) took effect in 1920, crime escalated to unheard of levels.  That was the era that saw the rise of Al Capone and his ilk.  When the 18^th Amendment was finally repealed, the associated criminal activity evaporated.  Why haven’t we learned anything from that?

Maybe its time to legalize drugs.  Give them all they want!  The associated crime and power of the Cartels would instantly evaporate and many of the heavy users would soon OD, removing that burden from society.  The mystique that probably lures a lot of young users would also vaporize.  We could establish institutions for chronic users and our schools could visit them on field trips to show the students what to expect if they start using.  I couldn’t think of a better deterrent; kind of like “scared straight.”

A 2008 study by Harvard economist has estimated that legalizing drugs would inject $76.8 billion a year into the U.S. economy — $44.1 billion from law enforcement savings, and at least $32.7 billion in tax revenue.  How long do we continue failed policies before we do what is intuitively right, even though it might seem a little harsh?  We should learn from the Swedes, whose legalized but controlled policy on drugs has produced a druggie population that is one fifth that of neighboring Great Britain and even less than that of the United States.

Euro Collapse

I fear the worst is about to happen.  British banks are now preparing for a total meltdown of the Euro and a financial Armageddon.  British investors are bailing on the currency and that will only exacerbate the problem.  They are expecting widespread riots across Europe!

The morons in control of our government have been trying to convince us that the recession ended in 2008 but they have not been fooling many of us.  The meltdown in Europe will not leave us unscathed and the recession we have been experiencing for the past few years is about to get a lot worse.

Thank you Barney Frank and the rest of you liberal Democratic idiots!  Your “no homeowner left behind” program has not only ruined this country, it has ruined the world financial markets!  George Bush and Newt Gingrich tried to warn you but you did not listen.  Now, the piper will get his reward and we are all going to pay for it.

This is going to be an interesting ride!