Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (May 9, 2015)

The Viking Reminder

Always remember to pillage before you burn.

Daffy-nition

Liberty: the privilege of being free from things we don’t like so that we can be slaves of things we do.

The Countess of Nottingham

A quondam sweetheart of the Earl of Essex, and his worst enemy when she heard that he had married the Countess of Rutland. The queen sent her to the Tower to ask Essex if he had no petition to make, and the earl requested her to take back a ring, which the queen had given him as a pledge of mercy in time of need. As the countess out of jealousy forebore to deliver it, the earl was executed.

… H. Jones; the Earl of Essex (1745)

Armenian Proverb

Always tell the truth in the form of a joke.

On Blinders, Self Esteem, and Stepping Stones

Isn’t it strange that Captains and Kings,
And Clowns that caper in sawdust rings
And common folks like you and me

Are builders for eternity?

To each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass, a book of rules.
And each must build ere life has flown,
A stumbling block or a stepping stone.

… R.L. Sharpe 1890

What’s in a Name?

Mahmarian: Persian and Arabic in derivation, identified as a profession, maʿmár/miʿmar is defined as builder, architect, as in “Maʿmar Sinan.”

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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.

Latest posts by CK Garabed (see all)

• A Reminiscence: John Najarian - February 19, 2020
• Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Aug. 5, 2017) - August 7, 2017
• Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (July 22, 2017) - July 22, 2017