The Write Way

20 June 2003

What a Coincidence!

Greetings,

Wow! That's what I call a coincidence! In last week's newsletter, I made a passing reference to football and then this week comes news that David Beckham has been involved in a multi-million dollar transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Yes, I know Becks chases a different shaped ball around the paddock, but it's still a ball and he kicks it with his foot. Well, all right then, it's only a little coincidence ... 

There are varying figures being bandied about regarding the motza of moolah that's changing hands - it ranges from $29.5 million to $41 million ... and David's share of this? A handy $225,000 a week ... that's a week, Girls and Boys, a week. And may I remind you of what Becks does? He kicks a football around a paddock while other dashing young chaps with jolly nice legs try to stop him.

While I know that there are plenty of others who make lots more, $225,000 a week is not to be sneezed at. Do you know how long it would take the average little worker on his $40,000 take home pay to earn what Becks earns in a week? Nearly 6 years!

I had a bit of a chat with Lavinia about this very matter yesterday, and when I asked her what she would buy with $225,000 a week, without hesitating she replied, "Flash undies!"

While this may strike some as an unusual response, I knew exactly why she opted for undies over world trips, investment properties or toy boys.  Both Lavinia and I spent our childhood with our mothers' words ringing in our ears. Whenever we left the house, our mums would call out the dire warning, "Make sure you're wearing nice undies in case you get hit by a bus!"

Now I don't know about you, dear reader, but I'm thinking that in the unfortunate event of a close encounter with the wrong end of a bus, French silk knickers would probably not be uppermost in my mind. But I digress ...

Do you ever wonder what these wealthy people do with all their money? I mean, there's a limit to how much you can eat, how many clothes you can wear at any one time, how many cars you can drive. 

The love-of-my-life and I spent a happy hour last night working out what we'd do if someone offered one of us this sort of income ... We'd pay off our loan, pay off the kids' mortgages ... Umm, buy everyone in the family a new, safe car like a Jag or a Merc or a Volvo ... Go for a bit of a holiday ... And that would take care of the first few months' wages. But then what would you do with it all?

When you stop and think about it, it's really not all that surprising that many of the mega-rich turn to philately. 

Although, maybe they should invest in a good dictionary first ... Probably philanthropy would be a more worthwhile use for all that money.

Philately is "the collection and study of postage stamps, postmarks and related materials." It comes from two Greek words, philo (having a strong affinity or preference for; loving) and atelia (exemption from payment). Clear about the reason behind that? Because when you buy a stamp, it means you've paid the postage. You're exempt from any more. And you love it! See?

Philanthropy, on the other hand, is "the effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations." It also comes from the Greek. It has the same root as philately, but this time it's followed by the Greek word for man - anthropos. This is also the origin of a few other interesting words: 

anthropology (the study of mankind)

anthropomorphic (ascribing human characteristics and attributes to non-humans) These are the people who believe their dogs are just little people in fur coats.

anthropoid (resembling a human) You know, like that kid your daughter insists on going out with all the time.

Since we've taken a quick peek at words which are easily confused this week, try your hand at these - they're all to do with word puzzles:

This week's quiz:

palindrome, anagram, rebus, lexicon, chronogram, univolic, acrostic, lipogram, pun, pangram

1. a poem or puzzle in which the first letters of each line spell out a word, phrase, or name.

2. uses pictures, numbers, and letters of the alphabet, to make words and sentences.

3. a word, phrase, sentence, poem, or longer item which reads the same backwards as it does forwards.

4. a sentence that contains every letter of the alphabet.

5. a piece of writing that omits a particular letter of the alphabet.

6. a piece of writing that includes only one of the vowels.

7. a play on words which have the same sound but different meanings; an expression in which two different applications of a word present an odd or ludicrous idea

8. chronogram an inscription in which certain numeral letters, made to appear especially conspicuous, on being added together, express a particular date or epoch.

9. a word or phrase spelled by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase

10. a language user's knowledge of words

On a totally unrelated matter, here's a sobering thought that John found and passed along:

"The number of physicians in the US is 700,000. Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year is 120,000. Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171. (US Dept. of Health &Human Services)

"Now think about this: The number of gun owners in the US is 80,000,000. The number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) is 1,500. The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is ..0000188.

"Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

"Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets out of hand. As a public health measure, I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear that the shock could cause people to seek medical attention."

Last week's quiz:

I told you there were evil spirits at work on Friday 13th, didn't I? And did you see what they did? They mixed up one of the questions in the quiz! They did! They forgot to put "pentacle" ( or pentagram) and "besom" in the list and they added a couple of words for which there were no clues. Curse those evil spirits! Ahem ... Here are the right answers.

arcane, divination, bane, shaman, invocation, necromancy, ankh, spiritualism, amulet, chakras

1. a natural or created object that gives protection to the owner - AMULET

2. something bad, evil or that causes harm - BANE

3. five pointed star enclosed within a circle - PENTACLE

If you're wondering about the difference between a pentacle and a pentagram (and aren't we all?) here you go: 

PENTACLE- A pentagram surrounded by a circle. It may be a disc placed on an altar, a pendant to be worn, or any such representation.

PENTAGRAM- The five-pointed star often representing the five elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit (the upper point). It may also represent a person with arms and legs spread. Pentagrams are used in many pagan rituals for either positive workings such as invoking or negative ones such as banishing. Inverted the pentagram may represent the Horned God, though it also has Satanist associations. http://www.branwenscauldron.com/witchcraft_glossary.html

4. universal life charm - ANKH

5. requiring secret or mysterious knowledge - ARCANE

6. a broom of twigs tied together on a long handle; witches' broomstick - BESOM

7. seven major intersections of energy located on the vertical axis of the body - CHAKRAS

8. one who acts as a medium between the physical and spiritual worlds - SHAMAN

9. belief that departed spirits communicate by physical means such as knocking on walls - DIVINATION

10.the art of revealing future events by conjuring up the dead; black arts - NECROMANCY

Just to redress the balance from last week, here are some great little stories Howard sent me:

As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was? 

The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." 

The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." 

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" 

One little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

If you received this newsletter from a friend and you'd like to have your very own copy delivered to you on Friday, just click here: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and why not spread the word? Send your friends a copy and invite them to join our merry band - we number nearly 7,000 now.

A Little Something Extra

"There are two features of coincidences not well known among the public. First, we tend to overlook the powerful reinforcement of coincidences, both waking and in dreams, in our memories. Non-coincidental events do not register in our memories with nearly the same intensity. Second, we fail to realize the extent to which highly improbable events occur daily to everyone. It is not possible to estimate all the probabilities of many paired events that occur in our daily lives. We often tend to assign coincidences a lesser probability than they deserve.

"However, it is possible to calculate the probabilities of some seemingly improbable events with precision."

Read how to do just this here at the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal site: http://www.csicop.org/si/9809/coincidence.html

Map of the World: http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 ? You can read the previous 99 messages by clicking on the List button at the top of the page. 

Word of the week: Doppelganger (n) a spiritual or ghostly double or counterpart

This word comes from the German: doppel, (double) and Gänger, (goer).

Oxymoron of the week: What else? "Scientific investigation of the paranormal."

Got a question about grammar, punctuation or any other language matter? Here's the place to go: http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3170114826 

A fitting Latin phrase:

Verba volant, scripta manet. (Words fly away, the written remains.)

[WER-bah VOH-lahnt, SKRIP-tah MAH-nayt]

Regards,

Jennifer

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