Dog On A Root

You’d think Hallowe’en would be over by now based on how long Hallowe’en candies have been available in stores. You would also think we would already have sufficient Hallowe’en candies to pass out to the trick or treaters that will be soon knocking on our door. I mean we’ve been buying more each week since they arrived in the stores late last summer. But somehow, most of them have disappeared.  So, what do you do to prepare for Hallowe’en when all the goodies have vanished? Do you want to give the ghosties and goblins that will be coming around something delicious or something healthy? Some years, we will throw an apple into their pillow sheets along with some traditional treats of sugar filled delights just to help keep their teeth clean. But why not give them both in one? Who’s not going to love getting an apple covered in caramel or taffy? Back in the day when I was young, there was one house in the neighbourhood that was known for handing out taffy apples. But you had to get there

 

Part 3 of a 3 Part series on Names - jim Young “That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.” - Pee Wee Herman In my last article on names, in the Great North Arrow (September 1, Issue 16, Volume 10) I discussed how the unusual spelling of a first name could have some legal benefits. The use of unusual spellings of a first name however doesn’t always involve a legal conflict. For the first half of the 20th century, in the western world at least, most names were pretty common and easy to pronounce. Boys were often given names like Tom, Dick and Harry. Girls would be assigned names like Jane, Betty and Sue. But then came the 60s revolution and everything changed.  First it was just unusual names for children like Skye, Harmony, Jasmine, Ziggy, Summer, Dharma and Nirvana just to name a few that were chosen for their children by the hippies. As some of these names became more generally accepted, parents tried to find unique ways to spell their children’s names and Diane became Di-Anne, Michele becam

  - jim Young “Beware of false knowledge. It is more dangerous than ignorance.” - George Bernard Shaw “Fake news”, or more correctly “lies” have been around pretty much forever. The actual term “ fake news” however was first used in the 1890s. So although Donald Trump didn’t invent the term “Fake News”, according to Wikipedia, “Trump has been credited with popularizing the term by using it to describe any negative press coverage of himself”. Aye… there’s the rub. “Negative press” isn’t really the same thing as a “lie” now, is it? Regardless, wouldn’t you think that someone that is so sensitive to “negative press” and to be fair, even “misinformation” in some cases being reported about him, would be wary of the validity of any information from those same sources? At the very least, it would certainly behoove a politician running for such an important position as President of The United States Of America to vet the accuracy of this information prior to declaring it a fact on National Tel

 

Who’s Got Time To Pick Guitars In Nashville? - jim Young “I sure am glad I got a chance to say a word about the music and the mothers from Nashville.” - John Sebastian In 1966 there were “thirteen hundred and fifty-two guitar pickers” in Nashville. How do I know that? John Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful told me. Well, they didn’t tell me that directly. It wasn’t like John came up to me and whispered in my ear and said “Psst. Hey jim, did you know there are ‘thirteen hundred and fifty-two pickers in Nashville’?”   It wasn‘t a secret, as the Lovin’ Spoonful babbled it to everyone who bought their records or just listened to them on the radio. The song “Nashville Cats” was a tribute to the Nashville A-Team. The Nashville A-Team were a group of studio musicians in Tennessee that backed artists like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Jerry Lee Lewis among others. They were kind of Nashville’s answer to L.A.s Wrecking Crew that backed artists from Frank Sinatra and Sonny & Cher to the Monk

Part 2 of a 3 part series on Names - jim Young “Luck is my middle name. Mind you, my first name is Bad.” - Terry Pratchett Last time, in my column in the Great North Arrow (August 1, Issue 14, Volume 10) I wrote about first names. Today’s topic is about second names. Or is it really your first name in disguise? First names are complicated enough, but then there’s the issue of second names. Second names rarely get abbreviated like first names do, unless the second name becomes the first name. A coworker of mine was known as Rob which of course was short for his given name of Robert. But Robert wasn’t even his first name, it was his second name. Rob’s parents had named him John Robert but from the beginning began calling him “Rob” . What is the point of that? When asked his first name, Rob usually responded with “Rob” . But when asked his second name, Rob would then have to explain that “Rob (or more correctly Robert)” was really his second name and “John” was his first name. In actu