Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (April 4, 2015)

Armenian Proverb

Money gives light to a dark place.

Lucine’s Observation

It is better to take a pill than to be one.

Helpful Advice

A certain gentleman had suffered some reverses, and was feeling dejected when he entered a diner to have a little something to eat. When seated he said to the attending waitress, “Give me a bowl of soup and some kind words.” The waitress left and returned shortly with his order. After placing the soup before him she started to leave, when he called after her, “What about the kind words?” She turned her head and said, “Don’t eat the soup.”

From the Word Lab

Lusitania: Ancient name of Portugal; so-called from Lusus, the companion of Bacchus in his travels. This Lusus colonized the country, and called it “Lusitania” and the colonists “Lusians.”

Anachronism

In the city of Forli, Countess Caterina had just put her children to bed for their afternoon nap, and was enjoying a quiet moment in the castle, when suddenly a group of musicians struck up a merry tune outside the children’s bedroom window. Furious, she summoned her maidservant. “Tell those musicians to leave immediately,” she ordered. “My uncle died and I am in no mood for music.” The servant quickly completed her errand and returned to offer her condolences. “When did your uncle die, Your Ladyship?” she asked in a properly subdued voice. Replied the countess, “20 years ago!”

…Ludovico Domenichi

Daffy-nition

Money: The mint makes it first and it’s up to us to make it last.

What’s in a Name?

Kholamian: Turkish in derivation, identified as a trade, a kholam is defined as a cinch belt a hamal (porter) uses to haul heavy objects on the shoulders. Thus, a maker or seller of such equipment.

Bio
Latest Posts

CK Garabed

Weekly Columnist

C.K. Garabed (a.k.a. Charles Kasbarian) has been active in the Armenian Church and Armenian community organizations all his life. As a writer and editor, he has been a keen observer of, and outspoken commentator on, political and social matters affecting Armenian Americans. He has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Reporter and the AGBU Literary Quarterly, “ARARAT.” For the last 30 years, Garabed has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Weekly. He produces a weekly column called “Uncle Garabed's Notebook,” in which he presents an assortment of tales, anecdotes, poems, riddles, and trivia; for the past 10 years, each column has contained a deconstruction of an Armenian surname. He believes his greatest accomplishment in life, and his contribution to the Armenian nation, has been the espousing of Aghavni, and the begetting of Antranig and Lucine.