Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Dec. 11, 2010)

Riddle (Answer below)

What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a hundred years?

Countdown

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.

…Albert Einstein

In Memory of the Native Americans

America will begin to be a great nation when Americans stop claiming it is a great nation.

From The Devil’s Dictionary

“J is a consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel—than which nothing could be more absurd. Its original form, which has been but slightly modified, was that of the tail of a subdued dog, and it was not a letter but a character, standing for a Latin verb, jacere, ‘to throw,’ because when a stone is thrown at a dog the dog’s tail assumes that shape. This is the origin of the letter, as expounded by the renowned Dr. Jocolpus Bumer, of the University of Belgrade, who established his conclusions on the subject in a work of three quarto volumes and committed suicide on being reminded that the j in the Roman alphabet had originally no curl.”

…Ambrose Bierce

From the Word Lab

Beg: (“lord”) a title generally given to lieutenants of the provinces under the grand signor, but rarely to supreme princes. Occasionally, however, the Persian emperors have added the title to their names, as Hagmet beg, Alman beg, Morad beg, etc.

… Selden: Titles of Honour (1672)

Answer to Riddle

The letter M.

What’s in a Name

Zaratsian/Zaratzian: Believed to be Armenian in derivation, identified as a geographical location, Zara is a district in the Province of Sepastia (Sivas), and a Zaratsi is defined as a native of Zara.

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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