Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Aug. 23, 2014)

Attention, Poetasters!

I believe that a poem ought to be translated in the way a poet himself would have composed it, had he belonged to the nation for which he is being translated.

…Henrik Ibsen

From the Word Lab

Lemniscate: The word for infinity symbol. ∞

Daffy-nition

Disgustipated: Condition that is induced whereby one is crammed with revulsion.

Black Humor

According to actor Vincent Price, when he and fellow actor Peter Lorre went to view the late actor Bela Lugosi`s body at Lugosi`s funeral, Lorre, upon seeing Lugosi dressed in his famous Dracula cape, quipped, “Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?”

A Modern Aphorism

There are some people who, by their ridiculous antics, give religion a bad name.

Destiny Fulfilled

In The Samarkand Legend, a servant encounters a woman in the market place in Baghdad, and recognizes her as Death. The ominous figure looks into the face of the servant and makes what seems to him a threatening gesture. Trembling with fear, the servant runs home, borrows his master’s horse, and rides like the wind all the way to Samarkand so that Death will not be able to find him.

Later, the master sees Death and asks her why the threatening gesture. And Death says, “There was no threat. I was merely startled to see your servant in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarkand.”

What’s in a Name?

Malkadjian/Malkdjian: Turkish in derivation, identified as an attribute, malkadji is a corruption of malkochoghlu, which is defined as a swindler.

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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