Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (June 4, 2016)

Maxim

Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.

…La Rochefoucauld

An Early American Toast

To the enemies of our country!
May they have cobweb breeches, a porcupine saddle, a hard-trotting horse, and an eternal journey.

Sharp Politics

During his first campaign for mayor of New York City in 1929, La Guardia charged the popular Jimmy Walker with all sorts of corruption, and Walker never answered a single charge. “Why should I make his campaign for him?” he said to me. “I won’t build him up. It would be fun, though, to ask him one question—what was he doing in Waterbury on July 16, 1928?”

“Was he there at that time?” I asked.

“I dunno,” Walker replied. “But if I asked that question he could deny he was there until he was blue in the face. A lot of suckers would still believe there was something very fishy about him and Waterbury.”

…William Conklin

Armenian Proverb

It is beneficial to sneeze in the evening.

Folk Wisdom

During all the years since time began,
Today has been the friend of man;
But in his blindness and his sorrow
He looks to yesterday and tomorrow.
Forget past trials and your sorrow.
There was, but is, no yesterday,
And there may be no tomorrow.

What’s in a Name?

Chifteyan: Turkish in derivation, identified as a descriptive term, chifte is defined as twin or pair; therefore one of a pair of twin children.

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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
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• Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (July 22, 2017) - July 22, 2017