Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Jan. 16, 2016)

Italian Proverb

Our last garment is made without pockets.

Newspaper Advertisement

“A piano for sale by a lady about to cross the Channel in an oak case with carved legs.”

Keen Observation

There is a strain of human beings who have a talent for making unwholesome things holy.

Daffy-nition

God Bless America: Native American national anthem

Tombstone Twitters

On the twenty-second of June

Jonathan Fiddle went out of tune.

… Attributed to Ben Jonson

There’s a Difference

Most scientists deal with probabilities, but the true scientist deals with possibilities.

Folk Saying

All husbands are alike, but they have different faces so you can tell them apart.

Cultural Shift

Haroutiun (Artin) Shalian, author of the celebrated English translation of David of Sassoun, dedicated the work to his wife, Baidzar Janeves Shalian. She was the niece of the writer Vahan Totoventz, and her mother married an Italian by the name of Genovese.

One can see how cleverly Artin Armenianized the name Genovese to Janeves.

What’s in a Name?

Setian: Hebrew or Syriac in derivation, identified as a descriptive term, Set from Shet in Hebrew, the son of Adam, is defined as garment or appointed; from Syriac it is defined as appearance. Seth is the Anglicized form of the name.

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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