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The Write Way 30 December 2005 How Many Noses? Greetings, Did you know, that if you go down to your closest railway station tomorrow, you'll see a man with as many noses as there are days in the year? No, really. I can remember my dad walking with me to our station every year on New Year's Eve when I was little, and every year I was disappointed not to find a man with noses all over his body. I wasn't quite sure whether the noses would be distributed across his entire anatomy or rather confined to his head, but it was with a delightful sense of the ridiculous that my dad and I entertained ourselves with the whereabouts of said noses as we walked the mile or so (in the days before we went metric!) to the station. Sigh ... Traditions are funny, aren't they? We have our quirky family traditions, and then we have those wider traditions ... like kissing at midnight on New Year's Eve. Ever wondered why we do that? (I'm sure you've occasionally remembered who you kissed and wondered afterwards why you did it ... but that's another story!) Apparently this tradition is one we can thank my Scots ancestors for making popular. It's all tied up with Hogmanay ... Back in 1824, a chap by the name of John MacTaggart, reckoned that the word Hogmanay was actually a corruption of "hug-me-now." That works for me! Another theory is that it comes from the Gaelic "oge maidne" (new morning) ... Hmmm , yes, well, I suppose that makes sense, too. But I prefer "hug me now," don't you? Read more about how the Scots celebrate New Year's Eve (and why) here.
And have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve and a healthy, happy and prosperous 2006! This week's quiz: I know we've done these before, but it is nearly New Year's Eve and time for a little lunacy. Choose the correct collective noun from the list below for each of the following groups: school, parliament, murder, business, flight, pod, pride, exaltation, covey, dray 1. A ... of crows 2. A ... of fish 3. A ... of lions 4. A ... of owls 5. A ... of whales 6. A ... of ferrets 7. A ... of swallows 8. A ... of larks 9. A ... of partridges 10. A ... of squirrels Here are some more ... of a whimsical nature this time: A rash of dermatologists A slew of dragons A descent of in-laws An innuendo of gossips An afraid of ghosts A piddle of puppies A shortage of money And here are some resolutions Sandy found and thought we could all relate to at times: I will stop checking my e-mail at 3:00 in the morning ... 4:30 is much more practical. When I hear a funny joke I will
not reply, "LOL... LOL!" Last week's quiz: advent, carols, epiphany, Yule, Frankincense, manger, secular, wassail, nativity, baubles 1. secular songs to accompany dancing during communal celebrations - CAROLS 2. a trough or box used to hold food for stable animals - MANGER 3. the four week period preceding Christmas which serves as a time of reflection in preparation for the celebration of the Nativity (from the Latin adventus 'coming') - ADVENT 4. the custom of toasting to each others health, a custom that has woven itself into Christmas traditions - WASSAIL (From the Middle English "Waes Haeil", meaning to be in good health) 5. an aromatic resin from the Boswellia Thurifera tree and used in incense, perfume and embalming fluids. One of the gifts presented to Jesus by the Wise Men - FRANKINCENSE 6. the birth of Jesus - NATIVITY 7. a life changing event; the last of the 12 days of Christmas, this celebrates the revelation of Christ to the gentiles, as represented by the visiting Wise Men - EPIPHANY 8. shiny trinkets and ornaments, traditionally made from glass, used in Christmas decorations - BAUBLES 9. ancient pagan festival celebrating the Winter Solstice and the coming spring around the 21st of December - YULE 10. not religious - SECULAR Never-Ending Story Dr Morgenes ... Elvis ... a talking Rottweiler who dreams of being the next Rin Tin Tin ... Orson Welles ... You name them, we've got them! http://write101-never-ending-story.blogspot.com/ Just click on the Comments button at the end of the entry to add your contribution. If you have friends who fancy themselves as writers, invite them to contribute (just forward this newsletter in its entirety to them). Map of the World I often trawl this for comments to post on my site ... so if you say something about the newsletter or site, be warned, you may end up being read by one of the 2,000+ unique visitors who visit Write101 every day! Make your Mark on the World. Then stop by our Map of the World and read the messages. (Just click List) and add your mark: http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 A Little Something Extra This is the time of year when we all get a tad introspective ... so this week's LSE may be just what you need! "Imagine if your great, great grandfather or grandmother had left you a book with their secrets for living. Maybe it contained nuggets of wisdom, yummy recipes, favorite jokes, or just insights for how to lead a good life ..." If your grandparents missed this golden opportunity to have their words echo through the generations, there's no reason why you should, too. Read how to go about creating your own Manual for Life: http://www.write101.com/life-manual.htm Word of the week: Auld Lang Syne Old times gone (the good old days) This is traditionally sung to farewell the old year and welcome in the new, and for best effect, should be sung while standing. (Since this singing takes place at the end of a night of celebration, you don't need to look far for the accompanying tradition of holding hands with the person next to you ... someone has to hold you up!) You'll find the original words (and explanatory notes) here: http://www.rabbie-burns.com/thepoems/auld.htm And if you click on the link Making of a Haggis, you'll discover all about this national dish that contains "sheep's 'pluck,' consisting of heart, liver and lungs." Yum-mee! Oxymoron of the week: delicious haggis And since we've made a tentative approach to haggis today, we can't go past Cicero's words for the last Latin phrase of 2005: O praeclarum custodem ovium lupum! (An excellent protector of sheep, the wolf!) Not sure how you can work that one into the conversation tomorrow night ... but you never know! [OH pri-KLAH-room koos-TOH-dem OH-wee-oom LOO-poom] Kind regards, Jennifer P.S. Want to donate to the upkeep of this newsletter? Here's how: 1. Pay by PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/affil/pal=jennifer@write101.com OR 2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque (made payable to Jennifer Stewart): http://www.write101.com/fund.htm To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. Copyright 2005 Jennifer Stewart Individual articles copyrighted by
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