Uncle Garabed's Notebook (Aug. 7, 2010)

German Proverb

A good lie finds more believers than a bad truth.

Sound Advice

Playing poker is like investing in the stock market. If you have a winning hand, raise. If you have a losing hand, don’t play in the first place.

An Old French Tale

In a small village of Poitou, a woman fell into a state of torpor or trance, and was taken up for dead. They carried her to the field of rest, wrapped in a sheet, for coffins were too expensive at the time in those parts. Passing by a hedge of hawthorns on the way, a bough got entangled in the sheet. A thorn pricked the woman, who suddenly revived, and she was brought back home and lived 10 years longer. She then died, and as they were passing along the old path her husband cried to those who were carrying the corpse: “Do not go near the hedge; beware of the thorns.”

In the Altogether

Then there was the nudist couple who broke off their relationship because they were seeing too much of each other.

Wisdom Indeed!

During a college lecture, the professor was interrupted by the appearance of an angel who says, “I will grant you whichever of three blessing you choose: Wisdom, Beauty, or Money.” The professor, without hesitation, chooses Wisdom. Following a flash of light the angel disappears, and the professor appears transformed, and then bows his head, but remains speechless. After a few moments, one student breaks the silence and says, “Say something.” The professor raises his head and says, “I should have taken the money.”

A Practical Reply

Edo: (On the telephone) Doctor, come quickly! My son has just swallowed a pen.

Dr. Tsavouni: I’ll be right there. What are you doing in the meantime?

Edo: Using a pencil.

What’s in a Name?

Bergubegian: Armenian and Kurdish in derivation, identified as a title, Berg is a village in the vicinity of Kars, and beg is Kurdish for lord; therefore Bergubeg is defined as lord of the village of Berg.

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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.