The Write Way

14 December 2001

Capitol and Capital

Greetings,

How many have you received so far?

You know what I mean - those Christmas brag letters. It's not so bad when you just get news of all the hatchings, matchings and dispatchings - you sort of expect that. It's the maddening "anything-you-can-do-we-can-do-better/ faster / at-greater-expense-than-you" letters that get up my nose. Here's an example ... read it and weep.

Isn't that wonderful? There are lines in there that could have been lifted from the pile of letters on my coffee table!

But it is fun to find out what friends have been up to during the year - especially when all the kids start growing up and making their way in the world. I love to hear about their successes and travels ... but I wouldn't want to be that age again, would you? 

It's much better when you sort of "grow into" your own self and can be happy with who and what you are ... That's not to say I still couldn't do with the odd million - I'm sure we could think of plenty of ways to put that to good use. But, when you stop and seriously think about it, as long as you have enough to pay your way, having millions of dollars is not that important, is it?

One of our family mottoes is: "It's only money." We came up with that when the kids were little and something would break or get lost and there'd be tears ... We'd look at each other, look at their little faces and say to each other, "It's only money ... we can always buy another whatever-it-was."

When the car/ washing machine/ (insert the name of an expensive but essential home appliance) would break down just when we thought we were getting ahead, we'd just shrug and say, "It's only money - it's not like someone is hurt or sick ... it's just bits of paper, after all."

It's helped avoid an awful lot of stress over the years, I can tell you.

Another of our mottoes is Nil Desperandum (There is no reason for despair) - which we translate as, "Don't let the bastards get you down ..." That's also helped!

"What a capitol idea!" I hear you exclaim, "We'll make that our family motto, too."

Well, not if you think it's a capitol idea - capitol is actually a building or complex of buildings in which a state legislature meets.

The word comes from the Latin (now why aren't you surprised?) Capitolinium - the Capitoline Hill, where Jupiter's Temple stood. The Capitoline Hill became the seat of government for the Romans ... and now a capitol is the building which houses the government.

Now, had you exclaimed that it was a capital idea, I'd be more likely to listen.

Capital is an adjective that has the following meanings:

1. First and foremost; principal: a decision of capital importance
2. First-rate; excellent: a capital idea
3. Relating to or being a seat of government
4. Extremely serious: a capital blunder
5. Involving death or calling for the death penalty: a capital offence
6. Of or relating to financial assets, especially being or related to those financial assets that add to the net worth of a business: made capital improvements at the plant site
7. Relating to or being a capital letter

And it's also a noun that means:

1. A town or city that is the official seat of government in a political entity, such as a state or nation
2. A city that is the center of a specific activity or industry: the financial capital of the world

Or

1. Wealth in the form of money or property, used or accumulated in a business by a person, partnership, or corporation
2. Material wealth used or available for use in the production of more wealth
3. Human resources considered in terms of their contributions to an economy: “ [The] swift unveiling of his... plans provoked a flight of human capital” (George F. Will) (dictionary.com)

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This week's quiz:

And now for something completely different ... I remember doing these with my classes at the end of the year - educational (to ease my conscience) but fun, to keep the kids from pestering me to let them watch videos, "like all the other classes!"

You have to find the words that are hidden in each of the following words - the letters must be in the same order, but don't have to be adjacent. They also must have some connection with the meaning of the original word.

e.g. from container, you can find can and tin

a chariot has car and cart

Get the idea?

Try these:

1. perambulate
2. arena
3. rotunda
4. knapsack
5. fallacies
6. departed
7. neurotic
8. splotch
9. plagiarist
10. purged

Last week's quiz:

Match up the words with their meanings: recondite, torpid, rubric, probity, gregarious, sinuous, recidivism, inherent, iconoclastic, profligate

Now this is a story that you may be able to relate to at this particular time of year ...

One Christmas a long time ago, Santa was getting ready for his annual trip but there were problems everywhere.  Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves didn't produce the toys as fast as the regular ones, so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule.

Then, Mrs Claus told him that her mother was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more.  

Then when he went to harness the reindeer, he found three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress.

Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys.  Frustrated, Santa went back into the house for a cup of coffee and a shot of whisky.

When he went to the cupboard he discovered the elves had hidden the liquor and there was nothing to drink.  In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the coffee pot and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw it was made from.

Just then, the doorbell rang and Santa cursed his way to the door.

He opened the door and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas Tree.

The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas Santa. Isn't  it  just a lovely day?  I have a beautiful tree for you.  Isn't it just a lovely tree? Where would you like me to stick it?"

Thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas Tree.

Chuckle ... I bet you've always wondered about that.

Mondegreen of the week: God-damned sinners reconciled ...  God and sinners reconciled (Hark, The Herald Angels Sing). Well, it is Christmas.

Word of the week: Widdershins (adv) Anticlockwise; backwards, in the reverse order or direction to normal

This word features in a poem called Bullocky, by one of my favourite poets, Judith Wright:

Beside his heavy-shouldered team,
thirsty with drought and chilled with rain,
he weathered all the striding years
till they ran widdershins in his brain:

Till the long solitary tracks
etched deeper with each lurching load
were populous before his eyes,
and fiends and angels used his road.

(The bullocky is the man who looked after, and walked beside the old bullock teams that were used to transport timber and supplies in the Australian countryside, until trucks made their appearance.)

You can read the rest of the poem here. 

Wright uses some fabulous imagery - here's her description of old Dan, in her poem South of My Days:

Seventy years of stories he clutches round his bones,
Seventy summers are hived in him like honey.

Isn't that a wonderful way to think about your memories? "... hived ... like honey?" I love it.

And a Latin phrase for when people offer all those wonderful "morning-after" remedies for the Silly Season:

Aegrescit medendo. The disease worsens with the treatment (the remedy is worse than the disease).

Regards,

Jennifer

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