Greetings,

Do you have Cheap Chuesday in your part of the world? Out here, restaurants, take-aways, video outlets and movie houses all offer discounted rates on Tuesdays ... I don't know why 'they' can't leave us alone ... no doubt some marketing consultants were paid obscene amounts of money to come up with ways of winkling us out of our cosy homes every Tuesday.

Anyway, we often take advantage of this and head off to the movies at one of those sterile multi-plex-thingies. 

I really miss the old cinemas - remember when you used to get dressed up to go to the Pictures on a Saturday night? You'd get shown to your seat by an usherette, get a box of chokkies, stand up when the Anthem was played ... sigh ... 

And even further back ... going to the Sat'day arvo Pictures. Remember the serials, those old black and white B-grade films, the cartoons, the newsreel, rolling the Jaffas down the aisle? (Jaffas are marble-sized balls of chocolate, coated in an orange-flavoured, crunchy candy - sort of the grandparents of Smarties and M&Ms. They rolled down the tiered aisles of theatres in a way that was very satisfying to children.) Kids miss out on so much these days, don't they?

And so do the rest of us.

This little trip down Memory Lane was triggered by the films that are currently playing at our local complex: Moulin Rouge and Pearl Harbor (among others). The love song from Moulin Rouge (the original one, Where is Your Heart? not the latest Marmalade one) was on the first long playing record I ever bought (by Connie Francis ...)

Watching the shorts for Pearl Harbor started me thinking about those famous figures I always associate with WW II - Churchill and Roosevelt. Despite what you think of their policies, you have to admit that these two fellas could talk. They were both masters of the art of rhetoric - public speaking ... effective public speaking that is! It's a pity that this is becoming a lost art - so here's my little contribution to revive some of the finer points of rhetoric.

You can improve your speaking (and writing) by using some of these devices:

Anaphora:  the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines.

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender." (Winston Churchill)

Antistrophe: the repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

 

"In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded Manchukuo -- without warning. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia -- without warning. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria -- without warning. In 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia -- without warning. Later in 1939, Hitler invaded Poland -- without warning. And now Japan has attacked Malaya and Thailand -- and the United States --without warning." (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

 

Anadiplosis:  ("doubling back") the rhetorical repetition of one or several words; specifically, repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next.

 

"Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and servants of business." (Francis Bacon)

Used in moderation, such techniques add a definite fillip to any writing.

Larry Lowrance, from what he likes to call the "Nashville Depot," caught me out after last week's reference to the remnants of our fence:

Gotcha!!

Johnny did it last week to your Latin pronunciation and now it is my turn to correct you on the usage of *cement* in your construction story.

You wrote >>...lurking just under the ground were two rows of bricks and a trough of cement 500 cm deep...<< when, I assume you mean *concrete*.

My Webster defines the two words thusly:

cement - a fine gray powder, consisting chiefly of alumina, lime, iron oxide and silica burned together, then pulverized for mixing with other materials.

concrete - formed by coalescence of particles of matter, made by mixing cement, sand and broken stones with water, and allowing the mixture to harden. (mortar, for laying bricks,etc., is made the same way except no stones are used)

Sorry about that ... I always knew there was a difference, but cement/concrete hasn't been high on my list of Things I Need to Know ... until now. I started thinking about concrete (as one is wont to do) and remembered that the Romans used it extensively, in fact the Coliseum is built from concrete, although the Romans had some secret ingredients "...animal fat, milk, and blood were also used as admixtures." Mmm ... nice.

I found this next piece fascinating ...

The formula for making concrete has been known since the time of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Limestone was roasted until all of the water locked within its molecules was driven off and it became powdered lime. The lime was mixed with sand to make mortar for bricks, and with sand and gravel to make the familiar grey concrete that is as much a part of our cities today as it was in the days of the Romans.

The Romans did discover one extra ingredient to add to their concrete that gave it the durability to last through twenty centuries of rain, wind, freezing temperatures, and even the scouring action of sand in a fast moving river current. Pozzolana, a fine grained volcanic sand, was very hard and could resist wear and abrasion better than the soft lime which bound the pieces of gravel together in regular concrete made only of lime, sand, and gravel. 

The Romans soon learned to make their bridge piers from pozzolana concrete to keep the sand borne by river currents from eroding away the foundations of their bridges below the water. Today, modern industrial chemists use silica from blast furnace slag to replace the pozzolana used by the Romans when making portland cement used in construction but many bridges and other structures made with pozzolana concrete by the Romans are still in daily use.

I wonder how many of our modern bridges will still be standing two thousand years from now.

While looking at the origins of some idioms last week, I forgot to include an explanation of the first example I used - thanks to Robert Keller for reminding me to tell you about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. As an animal lover, this one always worried me - unnecessarily as it turns out.

It's actually an English corruption of an old French word. In old France the peasants would keep their money in a cloth purse called a Sousier [pronounced sows-ier] (from the old French coin, the sous). There was no way to make a fine silk purse from a tatty, rough, cloth Sousier ...

That makes me feel better about using the expression.

This week's quiz:

Choose a word from the list for each of the meanings below:

salient, aver, impassive, piquant, equipoise, intrepid, demur, morose, loquacious, raffish

Since we've looked at the cinema already this week, here are some things we've all learnt from the movies:

Large, loft apartments in New York City are plentiful and affordable, even if the tenants are unemployed.

One of a pair of identical twins is evil.

If you are blonde and pretty, it is possible to be a world-famous expert on nuclear fission, dinosaurs, hieroglyphics, or anything else, at the age of 22.

Honest and hard-working policemen are usually gunned down a day or two before retirement.

All beds have special L-shaped covers that reach up to the armpits of a woman but only to the waist of the man lying beside her.

You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it is not necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.

A man will show no pain while taking the most horrific beating, but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

If staying in a haunted house, women must investigate any strange noises in their most diaphanous underwear, which is what they happened to be wearing when the car broke down.

If someone says "I'll be right back", they won't.

Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel from time to time.

A police detective can only solve a case after he has been suspended from duty.

If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone around you will be able to mirror all the steps you come up with, and hear the music in your head.

When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.

These always make me chuckle ... Thanks, Mandy, for passing them along.

Last week's quiz:

Try matching these idioms with their meanings:

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Since we've been revisiting past favourites this week .... stop me if you've heard this ... the Lone Ranger and Tonto are sitting around the camp fire when the Lone Ranger remarks to Tonto that a thousand Indian warriors are bearing down on them and asks him, "What should we do?" to which Tonto replies, "What do you mean we, white man?"

Another oldie but goodie. (Thanks to Bruce Mumbray for the chance to chuckle again.) Being a Lone Ranger fan, I put up a few pages last year to celebrate the anniversary of the series - if you have a minute, you can relive some good times.

Word of the Week: Foudroyant (adj) Dazzling, flashing; thunderous, noisy, stunning

The Latin word for "lightning" is fulgur, which gave us the French synonym foudre, as well as foudroyant - literally, "striking with (or like) lightning." (Foudroyant is also used in medicine to describe a disease that strikes with sudden severity.)

"Well, I have absolutely no idea what that halftime extravaganza was all about - but you have to admit it certainly was foudroyant." (Funwords)

Tautology of the week: the hoi polloi (hoi means “the”)

Another all-purpose Latin phrase:

ke-TAY-ra DAY-soont.

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