Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (May 23, 2015)

The Triple Threat

Three things can ruin a man—money, power, and women. I never had any money. I never wanted power, and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now.

… Harry S. Truman

Japanese Proverb

The sparrow flying in the rear of the hawk thinks the hawk is fleeing.

A View of the Ages

Varo recognizes three ages:

• From the beginning of man to the Great Flood (the period wholly unknown)
• From the Flood to the first Olympiad (the mythical period)
• From the first Olympiad to the present time (the historical period)

Fond Reminiscence

My mother taught me the wrong way to tie my shoe laces. Instead of a square knot, I’d end up with a granny knot.

From the Trivia File

It is said that Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, whose daughter Cleopatra was married to Tigranes II, King of Armenia, had so fortified his constitution that poisons had no baneful effect on him.

From My Persian Dictionary

Badal: instead

Tarbiyat: instruction

Sáz: musical instrument

´Ákúl: intellectual

What’s in a Name?

Tatoulian: Armenian in derivation, identified as a proper noun and descriptive term, Tatoul is described as follows by Tatul Sonentz Papazian:

“Tatul (Tatoul) means the paw of a large feline—puma, jaguar, tiger, or lion; as such, pre-Christian Armenians—before names from the scriptures became fashionable—used it as a totemic appellation.”

• 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.

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