44 By the way ...
Ponte Vedra Recorder · November 5, 2015
100 words? 500 words? 700? Who’s counting?
It’s a good thing I came up with
the title “By the Way” for this column.
That gives me leeway to write about
anything. But today I have nothing to
say. So go watch TV. Clean out your
drawers. I feel like Charlie Brown and
friends. The teacher tells them they
must write a book report of 100 words.
Well, Charlie, I can top that. For more
than four years I have written 600
words or so for the Recorder every
week. And by the way I hope I haven’t
harmed your mind, body, or soul with
my 600 words, week after week. Incidentally, the Charlie Brown song, “The
Book Report” is a marvelous tonic. I’d
forgotten how amusing it is. Do take 5
minutes and watch it on the Internet.
A trick for writers—if you’re in a
funk and can’t get a word down on paper—surf the Internet for silly/funny/
unusual words or phrases. Where did
certain words or phrases come from?
For instance:
Going bananas:
“John and Mary
gave their kids
a puppy for
Christmas, and
the children are
going bananas.”
Why do we say
“going bananas”?
Mims Cushing
Because
most
By the Way...
monkeys when
given bananas
jump around with glee and are ecstatic when they get them. Another site
talked about the phrase referring to
the thought that roasted banana peels
resulted in a psychedelic sensation.
(Eating them? Smoking them?)
Number 2: Great sufferin’ catfish:
Just doesn’t sound right to say “great
sufferin’ shrimp” or “great sufferin’
grouper.” According to Wiktionery (a
THEME: FAMOUS ATHLETES
Wiki-based open-content dictionary),
it means “an exclamation of disgusted
dismay” and dates back to the ‘40s.
Or it’s an exclamation of surprise. The
catfish industry is sufferin’, but “great
sufferin’ catfish industry” doesn’t sound
right. In truth I don’t think I’ve heard
anyone say “great sufferin’ catfish”
anyway.
Number 3: It can be frustrating to try
to find how some phrases started, such
as when and where did the phrase
“underwater basket weaving” come to
mean a snap course? It dates back to
the ‘50s and is an idiomatic expression
meaning a Mickey Mouse elective, or
useless course.
Here’s a phrase from “Downton
Abby,” that has quietly gone out of our
language. “To be unhappy in a marriage is ill-bred.” If that’s the case we
have a lot of ill-bred people in this
world today, wouldn’t you say?
ACROSS
1. Hassan Rouhani’s language
6. Filling station
filler
9. “____! In the
Name of Love”
13. Like closed
curtains
14. Paleontologist’s
estimate
15. Unit of electrical energy
16. Bitter
17. Between generations?
18. Harbor city of
Ancient Rome
19. *Tennis great
21. Kind of can
23. *Golfer Trevino
24. Hefty competitor
25. Island strings
28. Queen of Carthage
30. Mexican ranch
35. Salty septet
37. Chow
39. In no manner
40. Up it in poker
41. Polynesian
dance, pl.
43. Like a broken
horse
44. Kelly Clarkson
and Phillip Phillips
46. Hindu Mr.
47. Julia Roberts’
Brockovich
48. Dairy choice
50. NCAA tourney
position
52. “Owner of a
Lonely Heart” band
53. Affirmative
55. Indigo extract
57. *1968 Olympic
figure skater
61. *Bruce no more
64. Bad car
65. ____ Tzu
67. Be of use
69. Wine ripening
70. Caribou kin
71. Dots and
dashes code
72. A _ ___ ____
move
73. *Result of first
Lewis-Holyfield
title fight
74. Like Tin Man
after being helped
Have you noticed how words ebb
and flow? We are taught the word
“well” must not begin a sentence.
“Well” is slowly going out of vogue,
though sometimes we hear a nervous
speaker blurt out a river of “wells.”
The new word you hear is “so.” Watch
“Shark Tank.” The well-coached entrepreneurs begin sentences with “so” a
lot. Other speakers on media are starting to say “so,” instead of “well”. It’s an
epidemic.
So, today’s column is 543 words
more or less. Do not add up the
words; I’ve added and dropped words
here and there. My friend and CPA
says, “It’s close enough for government
work.” (A derogatory phrase meaning
not worth perfecting). Ain’t that the
truth? “BOY HOWDY!” It’s used as a
substitute for “WOW!” (That phrase can
be used genuinely or sarcastically.)
Great sufferin’ Chilean bass…
SUDOKU
DOWN
1. Health and Human Services org.
2. Parentheses, e.g.
3. Hard to find
4. Top of a DQ
cone
5. Truly
6. Lady singer
7. Eastern title
8. Part of a calyx
9. Average
10. Sounds of
reproof
11. Medley
12. Church sound
15. *Bull and
Wizard
20. Black Beauty’s
cry
22. *Mike Tyson bit
one
24. Hungarian stew
25. *Fastest man
on Earth
26. Japanese
sword fighting
27. To ____ ____ a
table
29. Clobber
31. Do, re or mi
32. Characterized
by great caution
33. Friend, slang
34. *Credited for
crushing Hitler’s
myth of Aryan
supremacy
36. Narcissist’s love
38. *a.k.a. The
Sultan of Swat
42. Napped leather
45. “I’m just ____...”
49. X
51. Electrical current generator
54. End of a shoelace
56. Concluding
portion of a poem
or essay
57. Old Glory
58. Children’s construction block
59. What exhaust
pipes do
60. Opposite of
stereo
61. Jester’s remark
62. *____ “The
Pearl” Monroe
63. Do like phoenix
66. *He floated like
a butterfly?
68. Light-emitting
diode