Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (April 8, 2017)
Philosophy from a Musician
Music is the mediator between the spiritual life and the sensual life.
… Ludwig van Beethoven
From the Word Lab
Graveyard shift comes from gravy-eyed shift.
Sicilian Proverb
It takes four men to make a good salad; a scholar for the salt, a squanderer for the oil, a miser for the vinegar, and a crazy man to mix it.
An Ax to Grind
In his writings, Ben Franklin confesses to the following tale: He was standing outside his house next to the family grindstone, when a young fellow approached and asked how it worked, and offered an axe for illustration purposes. Ben sharpened the axe and gave it to the fellow who walked off laughing.
Anonymous Limerick
There was an old fellow of Trinity
Who solved the square root of Infinity,
But it gave him such fidgets
To count up the digits,
He chucked Math and took up Divinity.
Inadvertent Self-indulgence
An English mayor was attending a conference in Paris. He made a speech but nobody applauded at its
conclusion. Then a Frenchman rose and delivered a fiery oration. It was cheered resoundingly, and
the mayor joined in the applause. Then a neighbor whispered: “I wouldn’t applaud so much,
mayor—that fellow was interpreting your speech.”
What’s in a Name?
Diratsouian: Armenian in derivation, identified as a calling, diratsou is defined as church choir
member, clerk.
