an exercise in percussive maintenance
Category: A Bit Of Silliness
Guinan, the bartender aboard the Federation Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, is hundreds of years old. In the episode, Yesterday’s Enterprise, she is able to sense it when the timeline changes. She met Picard five centuries before Picard meets her. And the Enterprise has holodecks which are bigger on the inside. Discuss.
Welcome to the first-ever instalment of Percussive Etymology. In this feature, which will initially publish once a fortnight, my trusty hammer and I will explore the origins of one of the many quirky phrases contained in the English language.
I’m kicking this off with the phrase, “Gumming up the works”. Why? Because a couple of weeks ago the phrase, along with the idea for this feature, simply popped into my head while I was in the shower. Some people sing in the shower, some solve mathematical formulae, I think up wacky blog ideas that will probably not survive until the end of the year.
Got your hammer? Then hold on tight!
Continue reading “Percussive Etymology – Gumming Up the Works”
I was planning to launch a new regular feature for if all else fails… today, but then I heard over the radio this morning (yes, I sometimes get information from other locations than the interwebs) that today is International Left Handers’ Day. I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.
Lefties have always been discriminated against. In ancient Hebrew culture the left side of the body was considered unclean and during the Middle Ages many lefties were executed for witchcraft simply because they preferred to use a different hand when wielding a sword, swinging an axe, or brushing their teeth. (Hang on. Did people brush their teeth in the Middle Ages?)
I feel after yesterday’s post I need to write a follow-up. No, I did not cry when Holland was eliminated from the tournament. And come on. It was an excellent game.
I am wondering who to support in the final, though. On the one hand I’m thinking Germany. My ancestors on both maternal and paternal side come from there, and I know how to make glühwein to enjoy during the match. On the other hand I have no problem supporting Argentina after their performance last night.
Really, I just want to see what happens when when the German scoring machine encounters that Argentinian defence. I’ll rather not support anyone and just enjoy the show.
I fear I might be turning into a fan. (I even looked up the meaning of “offside” the other day…)
I’m not too big on sports. Some of my countrymen would say that just makes me a poor South African. Especially the fact that I don’t particularly enjoy rugby (but considering that we are probably the only country in the world who fired our coach after the national team won the World Cup can you blame me?)
I watch the odd game of cricket (and by watch I mean I don’t mind it playing on the television while I’m busy with other stuff in the house) and at one point I even knew the names of the players in the national squad. However, at the moment the only player in all of international and local cricket I can identify by sight is Hashim Amla. Must be the beard.
And then there’s soccer. I’ve never been able to get excited about Bafana Bafana. I was not particularly upset when they dropped out of the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and, knowing they only made it into the tournament that year because we were the host nation, I wasn’t at all surprised when they did not qualify this year either.
(Hmmm. That does sound frightfully unpatriotic…) Continue reading “On sports and other stuff that make people cry”
if all else fails...use a hammer 