Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Jan. 30, 2010)

So that’s the Clue
Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them.
…Suzanne Necker
 
From the Word Lab
Walnut: The foreign nut; called in M.E. walnote, from O.E. wealh, foreign. It came from Persia, and was so called to distinguish it from nuts native to Europe, as hazel, filbert, chestnut.
Some difficulty there is in cracking the name thereof. Why walnuts, having no affinity to a wall, should be so called. The truth is, gual, or wall in the old Dutch signifieth “strange” or “exotic” (whence Welsh foreigners): these nuts being no native of England or Europe. – Fuller. It is said that the walnut tree thrives best if the nuts are beaten off with sticks, and not gathered. Hence Fuller says, “Who, like a nut tree, must be manured by beating, or else would not bear fruit.”
 
Laying It on the Line
The pompous judge glowered at the prisoner brought before him on a charge of vagrancy. “Have you ever earned a dollar in your whole life,” he demanded. “Yes, your honor,” was the reply, “when I voted for you in the last election.”
 
Ith that Tho?
A reporter for a rural newspaper turned in a story of the theft of 2,025 pigs from a local farm. The copyreader could hardly believe it; so he called the farmer to verify. “Is it true about the theft of so many pigs?” he asked. “Yeth,” was the farmer’s reply. “Thanks,” said the smart copyreader, and proceeded to correct the copy to read “two sows and 25 pigs.”
 
What a Pal!
Edo: I found a package tour for you that will fit your budget.
Bedo: Tell me about it.
Edo: Christmas in Alaska. Five nights and four nights.
 
What’s in a Name?
Azizbekian: Arabic and Kurdish in derivation, identified as a descriptive term, aziz is defined as powerful, strong, glorious; bek, a variant spelling of beg, is defined as lord.

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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