Master wordsmithBrian Barratt has been looking into the origins of well-known ‘Americanisms’ – with surprising results.
This is the first in a series of three articles. The second in the series will appear in Open Writing next Friday.
For further intellectual stimulation and delight do please visit Brian’s Web site The Brain Rummager www.alphalink.com.au/~umbidas/
...It has been my misfortune to come into contact with many potentials who would benefit from a refresher course in good manners....
Enid Blackburn recalls displays of exceedingly bad manners.
Peter Hinchliffe admits that he would much rather admire a garden, rather than tend one.
Ron Pataky considers the possibility of a new use for Seattle’s Space Needle.
Do visit Ron’s fun-filled Web site http://worlds-premiere-ransom-note-factory.us/
Mike Shaw's Yorkshire characters muse upon political matters.
Andrew Hicks goes climbing on Koh Chang, the second biggest island in Thailand.
Do please visit Andrew's Web sites
http://www.thaigirl2004.com/
http://www.thaigirl2004.blogspot.com/
And visit one of these sites if you wish to purchase his book
www.monsoonbooks.com.sg
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b/026-5652098-6994033?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Thai+Girl&Go.x=9&Go.y=13
…It goes without saying, if you are travelling alone and have to handle your own luggage you need to pack lightly. Nevertheless, even if you are travelling with another person, never take more than you need. Remember, the enjoyment of any holiday diminishes as the size of your baggage increases…
Eve-Marie Wilson offers sound and detailed advice to older travelers.
Print this column. File it away in a safe place. Then refer to it the next time you are thinking of taking a holiday.
And do go travelling!
In this week's cartoon David Marsh pokes a humorous finger at folk who place sport ahead of culture.
To enjoy more of David's visual fun please click on David Marsh Cartoons in the menu on this page.
David Benny assists David in posting his cartoons on the Net. Mr. Benny also runs a marvellous website http://www.smce.org.uk/ where you can listen to classical music.
...Farming, and rural life in general, has changed so much in my lifetime it's hard to believe. Communications, for example. Radio, TV, telephone. Cell phones, computers. Most farmers have two-way radios, a cell phone, and a GPS unit in their big, sound-proofed, air conditioned tractors. Many use an on-board laptop computer. And everyone has several motor vehicles. We don't live in a four mile an hour world these days...
Jerry Selby muses on changing times in rural America.
…‘Getting on’ was paramount in Bradford and Keighworth. From the cradle to the grave you had to get on and make money to show the world you'd got on and were summat. Those who had nowt were nowt. But those who had summat were summat, and young Clemence made damned sure he was going to get on and be summat at Illingworths…
A younger generation are becoming involved in running Illingworths’ textile mill.
John Waddington-Feather continues his story of a Yorkshire business dynasty.
Peter Wintersgill presents a brief portrait of the noted oratorio and lieder singer Isobel Baillie.
...We then worked on the second half of the programme. Two minutes into the gentle Morceau de Concours by Fauré, one of Johannesburg’s mini-bus taxis pulled up outside the open door of the shop, its sound system pumping full-blast. The pounding bass should have been capable of propelling the vehicle without the need for an engine. Instead, it remained there, pulsing with noise. We continued playing, ignoring the din. The marvellous strains of the morsel of music soared among chairs which swayed above us to the booming beat from outside. We finished the Fauré two minutes later, just as the taxi moved on...
There was a variety noises off when Isabel Bradley rehearsed for a concert in Johnnesberg last month, but her concentration rose to the challenge.
Reading Isabel's splendid column is the next best thing to having been there to enjoy the music.
...As a result of constantly striving towards their status goals, I feel that American women have evolved into a society of chronic complainers. Their list of wrongs is headed by what they perceive as a lack of job and education opportunities. Yet ten Fortune 500 companies are currently run by women, and twenty Fortune 1000 companies. In education, women now make up nearly half of the Ph.D. recipients in the United States, and 58 percent of all undergraduates, according to the U.S. Education Department...
John Merchant ruminates on the changing expectations and demands of American women.
To read more of John's insightful columns on life in 21st Century America please click on American Pie in the menu on this page.
Continue reading "There Is Nothing Like A Dame - American Dame That Is" »
…One Sunday morning I remember particularly well and as usual, I was sitting with my parents in church. The vicar was just getting into the flow of his sermon when a rustling sound disturbed the quietness. The verger was walking down the aisle and he proceeded to the pulpit, up the half-dozen steps to whisper something in the vicar’s ear. There was a lengthy pause, followed by an announcement from the Reverend Corrin. “It is with regret that I have to tell you that, from 11 0’clock today Great Britain is at war with Germany”. ..
Shirley Lingwood has richly detailed memories of her hard-working and talented parents and of her own early years.
Esme has a plan for retired life, and it does not include her husband Bill...
Rose Perry tells a tale of a scheming wife.
Joyce Worsfold presents a psalm for the troubled - a psalm for all people.
Ida Smith's story concerns a mysterious and troubled school teacher.
...I’ve always been somewhat of a history buff. No, that’s not quite accurate. Let me put it another way. I’ve always been a sponge for trivia and the trivial. Digging up dead relatives’ stories is right up my alley...
Dona Gibbs digs into her family history and finds a link to the infamous Dalton Gang who robbed banks and trains throughout Kansas and Indian Territory in the 1890s.
To read more of Dona's wonderfully entertaining cvolumns please click on After Work in the menu on this page.
“Gi’e me a bi’ o’ Yorksher fayre,
A Yorksher scene an’ Yorkshire air,
Whear t’ lads a’ bold an’ t’ lasses fair,
An’ Ah’m contented.
The’s no’ another place in t’ land
A fair comparison c’n stand.
T’ spend t’ rest o’ mi life Ah’ve planned
‘Mid t’ Yorksher Dales an’ t’ mount’ns grand –
Unless prevented.”
Yorkshireman Paul Serotsky first heard these words 40 years ago when he was a university student.
Paul thought he would spend the rest of his life in his beloved native county, put the Fickle Finger of Fate prodded him into an unexpected decision.
Over the next five months, in weekly episodes, he will be entertaining us with an account of the results of that decision.
See also Paul’s wise and informative words on the greatest music ever written by clicking on Views And Reviews in the menu on this page.
…I went in to the Long Bar, a 'Watering Hole’ over many decades for the famous and the infamous who had refreshed themselves there: from Lawrence of Arabia to Generals Kitchener, Allenby, Alexander, Montgomery, Eisenhower and also Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden...
While having a drink in the famous Shepheards Hotel in Cairo John Powell receives proof that he has been conned.
To read earlier chapters of John’s gloriously readable autobiography please click on Shalom And Sheiks in the menu on this page.
...I don't think there is any way you can disguise that you have children in the house. Apart from the 'tram-lines' on the once highly-polished coffee table, and the crayon drawings all over the walls, the water pouring under the bathroom door is a sure sign that the boys are playing boats..
Bernard Heller tells pf the "joys'' of bringing up children,
Bernard writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Grey clouds remind Caroline Glyn of ancient gods.
Ken Patterson tells a tale of a chance meeting in the Olde Worlde cafe, which is followed by a great surprise.
...I saw Acker's mother lay about his back somewhat viciously with the flat side of her bread knife as he sat at dinner. She was a big woman and he would be about thirteen. She showed him no mercy. He did not cry or attempt to defend himself....
Ronnie Bray recalls a boy who commanded respect at school, if not at home.
To read earlier chapters of Ronnie's on-going autobiography please click on the menu on this page.
Toni Rossetti and Maudie succeed in scaring foul Steven Dyson half to death.
Here’s crime writing at its very best in the latest chapter of Peter Lacey’s novel.
To read earlier chapters please click on The Limit in the menu on this page.
...You could say that practicing journalism in the field for the first time in my life has opened my eyes to a whole world of people I would never have met otherwise. At the same time, it has made me more aware of the heavy responsibility that journalists must face if they are to be honest and do their jobs properly...
Claire George muses on journalistic morals and responsibilities.
Father Francis has written a Canticle which he wishes to have performed at the Edinburgh Festival.
With some reluctance Linda McLean agrees to raise funds to help him achieve his goal.
But now Father Francis comes knocking on the door with a further request for help. The organisers of a World Wildlife Fund want the Canticle to be performed at a festival they are organising in the Italian town of Assisi...
For the first part of this narrative please type Linda's name in the search box on this page.
Betty McKay tells of the village atmosphere in the Square - and of a very important midnight announcement.
...We didn't feel the cold as we walked to school that evening. Warm winter coats covered all our finery. It looked like Fairyland passing all the gleaming windows. After the party was over we had the fancy dress parade. We all walked around slowly, passing the teachers who were the judges. Thanks to Dorothy, I won first prize, a pretty decorated box with four different colours of note paper and envelopes in it...
Gladys Schofield recalls Christmas festivities.
At the age of 18 Robert Owen becomes a football referee.
To read earlier chapters of Robert’s autobiography please click on Two Rooms And A View in the menu on this page.
Steve Harrison tells how he found another soul mate on his lonely Christian path.
...The date May 4 is printed in heavy type on my brain. Whatever else I may forget I always remember May 4. Why? Because on May 4 1942 I was blown up by a mine during the invasion of Diego Suarez in Madagascar where the Vichy French were allowing Japanese submarines to rest and refuel and attack British convoys on their way to Suez where Montgomery was building up a force to repel Rommel’s Army. I was serving in a minesweeper, HMS Auricula, and we hit a mine as we led the invasion force to the landing beach at Antisirane...
Ninety-five-year-old Henry Jackson, Britain's oldest columnist, brings another dramatic mixture of news, autobiography, poetry and history.
Ah, but who is this who comes knocking on the door?
Richard Mallinson tells a deliciously enigmatic story.
Eric Shackle introduces us to Australia's Ken Sillcock, a writer who is even older than Open Writing's celebrated weekly columnist Henry Jackson.
John Waddington-Feather tackles a subject which, though rarely discussed, is hard to ignore.
John Powell tells of falconry and hunting gazelle in the deserts of Syria and Iraq.
Eric Biddulph pictures his Aunty Gerty's home in Nottingham. "There were two features of her house I vividly recall. Her budgie, with whom she had regular conversations, and her grandfather clock which boomed out the chimes on the hour and the half-hour. It had a man in the moon face which swayed as it chimed. She lived in a finely built rented terrace house on Hucknall Road not so far from our first house in Sherwood. Like most houses of the time it had a coal fireplace with a side oven and a stand to place pans over the open fire, a scullery and an outside toilet....''
To read earlier chapters of Eric's life story please click on The First Seventy Years in the menu on this page.
Continue reading "16 - A Somewhat Inhospitable Environment" »
Paul Serotsky, an outstanding encourager of the appreciation of good music, introduces us to Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2.
...People are also given the idea that all Maoris wear grass skirts, are covered in tattoos, and that they will be greeted at Auckland airport by some fierce warrior, brandishing a spear and screaming at them in some strange language, before he lays a sprig of greenery in front of them and steps back to see if they will accept his peace offering. It just isn’t like that. The chap in the blue uniform, smiling at you as you hand over your passport, is probably part Maori, but he will greet you with, “I hope you will enjoy your stay in New Zealand.”...
Glen Taylor thinks there's a place for local customs and traditions - but a show for tourists should not be allowed to mask real problems.
...In an age when largeness is frowned upon, if not openly, then tacitly, and slim and lithe are often requirements to attract affection, there is much to be gained for liking people less for how they look, and more for what they are...
Ronnie Bray, in a proposed series paying tribute to folk of ample size who have crossed his line of vision, pays tribute to the entertainer Sophie Tucker.
…We went in a pick-up to the hillside. It was peaceful there now, with newly made graves on a ridge on the brow of the hill, each marked with a simple cross and the man's name. One was Stan's, and I couldn't hold back the tears…
Jack Merewood tells of the aftermath of the terrible battle of Coriano Ridge.
A midnight fishing trip brings the hope of continued serenity to William Burkholder.
To read lots more poems please visit Bill's Web site http://www.freewebs.com/nirvanasgate/index.htm
Elaine Lutton takes the family to see a film while grandfather snoozes.
Elaine writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
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