12 June 2009

Drink! Drink! Drink!

Greetings,

It's funny how songs can evoke such strong memories, isn't it? I was pottering around the kitchen one day this week when I heard a snippet of a song that whisked me back to the time I was still in single digits ...

The song was "The Drinking Song" from the film, The Student Prince, you know, the one with the refrain of "Drink, drink, drink to eyes that are ...dum de dum de dar dum ..." and I can recall vividly that my parents took me to the pictures with them when they went to see it.

I've deliberately used that long-winded explanation of the occasion to emphasise how I was taken with them when they were doing something they wanted to do, because this was in the pre-child-centric days when kids were taken places with their parents -- if they were lucky and promised to be on their very best behaviour. Not like modern times when every activity seems to centre around the ankle-biters.

Going to the pictures in the early 1950s was a major outing. Mum got dressed up in her best dress and Dad wore his suit and tie ... and a hat. We walked a couple of miles to the railway station, caught the train to the nearest major town that had the theatre (a trip of about 30 minutes) and walked from the station to the theatre. Then we had to line up to buy our tickets.

This entailed a shuffling process along the footpath at the side of the picture show, then into the foyer and up to the ticket box, and it could last 20 - 30 minutes, depending on the picture that was showing.

Once we'd bought the tickets, we then had to queue up again as we snaked our way up the stairs to the door to be shown to our allocated seats by the usherette.

Remember the usherettes? They were always very glamorous ladies dressed impeccably in uniforms with straight skirts and tailored jackets and blouses, often also with a jaunty cap perched on their well-coiffed heads. I loved watching the people who came in late and had to be shown to their seats with a torch lighting the way up the stairs and along the rows. I stared, fascinated by the way the usherettes never tripped or stumbled in the dark and always knew where the seats were. (It didn't take much to amuse kids in the 50s!)

We, however, always arrived early and once we were seated, Dad would go to the Kiosk and buy me a small bag of Smiths Potato Chips and a small block of Old Gold dark chocolate for him and Mum to share (although I always got a couple of squares of chocolate as well). I used to squish all the chips up into tiny pieces before I opened the packet, and then I'd eat each morsel individually, so the packet would last me the entire night.

Thinking about The Student Prince made me recall all the other musicals that were around at this time. I remember going to see Hans Christian Anderson, Kiss Me Kate, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Brigadoon, White Christmas and Call Me Madam (all from the same era of 1952 to 1954).

It was a different time, wasn't it? Much more innocent ... the films always had a happy ending and there was nothing scary about any of them, which explains why my parents were willing to take a six-year-old along, even though it meant carrying me home all the way from the station to our house!

One thing that is very, very different now is drinking habits ... Back in the 50s, my parents were never able to afford any sort of alcohol except on super-special occasions. Dad would buy two bottles of beer for Christmas Day when his parents came to celebrate with us, and that's the only time I can remember seeing beer in the house. Wine was something you only saw in the movies and spirits were completely unknown in our world.

How different things are now, when every fridge has a supply of alcohol that would have done us for a decade back then! And much as I love my glass (or two) of wine with dinner these days, I can't help but feel we don't enjoy it nearly as much as my parents enjoyed their bottle of beer at Christmas.

And if you're wondering how I'm going to link all these rambles to a writing tip, you're not alone ... Ummm ... Give me time ...

Some well-known poets and writers claim to have been inspired by their association with that man for all seasons, Al K. Hol, among them French enfants terrible, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, who turned to the Green Fairy for inspiration: (Source)

I don't think I'd recommend it! Instead, browse some of the articles on what to write about.

Speaking of alcoholic beverages, I'm reminded of this little rhyme:

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!"  

And this week's Little Something Extra has some useful sites for those of you bothered by or interested in the Demon Drink.

Have Your Say

If you have a couple of minutes to spare this weekend, feel free to drop by and join the Write101 community and leave your comments. These new comments boxes scattered throughout the site will also be a source for me when I'm looking for comments to post on my site, so if you say something about the newsletter or site, remember, you may end up being read by one of the 2,000+ unique visitors who visit Write101 every day! You'll find the new toys on the Home page: http://www.write101.com/index.html

This week's quiz:

Try matching up these slightly groggy terms:

cooper, isinglass, ale, grist, sparging, chromatography, draught, fining, lees, wort

1. substance which is added to beer or wine to aid its clarification, for example isinglass, gelatin, silica and bentonite

2. method for separating a mixture of chemical compounds into individual components by selective distribution between two immiscible (cannot be mixed) materials (or phases), one stationary and the other mobile; the phases are selected so that the mobile phase will carry the various components through the stationary or solid phase at differing rates to give separation; the method used by the major beer and spirit manufacturers to measure alcohol strength

3. sediment deposited by wine during manufacture and maturation (includes grape skins and other residue)

4. person who makes and repairs wooden casks

5. unfermented mash, particularly if produced from a liquid feedstock or if the solids have been removed to yield a relatively clear, free-flowing liquid

6. type of beer.; brew made with top-fermenting yeast; usually brown to dark-brown with a distinctive fruity taste

7. semi-transparent colloidal substance obtained from the swim bladders of sturgeon

8. crushed malt ready for mashing

9. term for beer which is drawn through a tap or pump to the bar

10. spraying hot water through a rotating arm over the mash in the mash tun to ensure complete extraction of malt sugars

As a community service, here are some warnings about the consumption of alcohol ...

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe that ex-lovers are really dying for you to telephone them at four in the morning.

Last week's quiz:

moirologist, moue, discombobulate, prosopagnosia, borborygmus, pseudandry, schadenfreude, somniferous, obambulate, cacology

1. causing or inducing sleep - SOMNIFEROUS (We've made this word up from two Latin words Latin, somnus meaning 'sleep' and ferre the verb 'to bring.'

2. malicious joy in the misfortunes of others - SCHADENFREUDE (This is a fairly recent word [and what does that say about our society?] dating from the early years of last century. It comes from  the German schaden meaning 'damage, harm, injury' [we also get our word scathe from this] and freude, meaning 'joy.' This wonderful word that gives us all guilty pleasure featured in a newsletter some time back.

3. inability to recognise familiar faces - PROSOPAGNOSIA (Here's another word we've cobbled together from Greek. It's made up of prosopon 'face, mask' and agnosia 'ignorance.' This is what happens when something goes wrong with our brain's ability to recognise patterns from the chaos around us).

4. to walk about - OBAMBULATE (Well, why have only one word when youc an have several that all mean the same? This one comes from the Latin prefix ob- 'towards, against' plus ambulare meaning 'to walk.'

5. a hired mourner - MOIROLOGIST (This useful word comes from the Greek moira meaning 'fate, death' and logos 'word,' which has given us so many other words, including the word neologism, which means a 'new word.' And while we're chatting ... our word 'logic' comes from another Greek word connected to logos -- logikós meaning 'of speech or reason.'

6. poor choice of words; incorrect pronunciation - CACOLOGY (Another borrowed from the Greek caco meaning 'bad' and logy 'word.' A cacophony is a bad sound ...)

7. to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate - DISCOMBOBULATE

8. pout; grimace - MOUE (This is a word that should be all too familiar to anyone who's raised daughters ... Little girls are champions at the moue!)

9. a rumbling or gurgling sound caused by the movement of gas in the intestines - BORBORYGMUS (Further proof - as if we needed any - that we have a word for just about everything. This comes from the Greek borborugmos, which apparently is the sound that Greek bellies make when they rumble... Now you know!)

10. use of a male name as a pseudonym by a woman - PSEUDANDRY (Again, we pinched this from the Greeks - pseudo 'false' and andro 'male.' Think of pseudopods - that have 'false feet' - and polyandry 'having more than one husband' for other words using these Greek building blocks.)

A Scotsman goes into his favourite pub. There at the bar is a beautiful barmaid, so he looks at the barmaid, and in a thick Scottish brogue says, "You are prettier than any stamp in my collection."

To which the barmaid replies, "Philately will get you nowhere!"

Archives

Did you know that every newsletter is archived? So if you've missed anything since 1998 or want to revisit some favourites, you can do so any time!  

Don't forget to bookmark the page when you get there ... or even make it your Home Page. (For Internet Explorer, just click on Tools ... Internet Options ... General ... fill in www.write101.com/archives/index.htm and click OK. For Netscape, select Edit ... Preferences. Then select Navigator from the left menu, click Home Page and enter the URL above next to Location and click OK. For all the flash new browsers, you'll have to do a search on my mate google to find what to do. There's a search box on the archives page!)

Subscribe Here and Be Bribed!

If you've received this little missive from a friend, you can get your very own issue, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every Friday morning by clicking here: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogrups.com And I'm even prepared to offer a shameless bribe.  

Never-Ending Story

An Ape that wants to play Hamlet after being type-cast as King Kong, a talking anvil and ... Dr Morgenes is still caught in the nightmare that is the casting couch. Help him find a plot!  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.

A Little Something Extra

If you're trying to cut down your alcohol consumption, this might just help ...

A glossary of terms used in the production of alcohol (see what you're drinking!) here

A comprehensive site that has terms associated with alcohol consumption and lots of articles about the problems and solutions associated with alcohol here

If you've ever wondered about the alcohol content of your favourite tipple ... here it is

And calculate your blood alcohol content here  

The history of alcohol here

Word of the week: Tope (vb) to drink alcoholic liquor habitually and to excess.

This word has some interesting theories as to its origin ... some say it comes from the Italian toppa meaning 'done!' signifying acceptance of a bet; others that it's a variation of the word top meaning 'to drink' as in 'to top off' or 'to finish in one draught.'

Oxymoron of the week: Just one drink ...

And a Latin phrase you can use this weekend ...

Hoc ei propinado!

[HOHK AY proh-pee-NAH-doh]

(I'll drink to that!)