Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Aug. 27, 2011)

Self-Proving
Psychoanalysis is that mental illness for which it regards itself a therapy.
…Karl Kraus

A Legend
The Georgian Women.
Allah, wishing to stock his celestial harem, commissioned an imaum to select for him 40 of the loveliest women he could find. The imaum journeyed into Frankistan, and from the country of the Ingliz carried off the king’s daughter. From Germany he selected other maidens; but when he
arrived at Gori (northwest of Tiflis), he fell in love with one of the beauties, and tarried there. Allah punished him by death, but the maidens remained in Gori, and became the mothers of the most beautiful race of mortals in the whole earth.
Note: The territory of Gori has been populated since the early Bronze Age. According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, the town of Gori was founded by King David IV (r. 1089-1125) who settled refugees from Armenia there.

Modern Aphorism
I’d rather go nowhere with somebody than somewhere with nobody.

A Plug for Popular Programs
Have you noticed how a concert audience will applaud a familiar encore after a few bars are played? They are applauding neither the performer nor the music. They are applauding themselves because they recognize it.
…Sigmund Spaeth

A Quiz with No Answer
Why do mirrors reflect from left to right, and not from top to bottom?

What’s in a Name?
MADJARian: Armenian in derivation, identified as an occupation, madjar is defined as new wine; wine made from sour grapes; beetroot. Gurdjieff the mystic in his writings refers to Mollavallian madjar. (Mollavalli is a small place in the south of the Kars region and madjar is a very new, not yet fermented wine (must)). Also Hungarian in derivation, identified as national
origin, Madjar is defined as Hungarian or Hungarian-Armenian, from the word Magyar.

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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