Bytes: 2024

Sunday, May 5, 2024

LEARNED

Not all of the above may apply but there is something there for everyone to consider.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

ORIGINS

-----------ooOoo-----------

Dance Name Origins

-----------ooOoo-----------

Tango:

There are several theories regarding the origin of the word tango, none of which have been proven:

An African culture is often credited as the creator of this word; in particular, it is theorized that the word derives from the Yoruba word shangó, which refers to Shango, the God of Thunder in traditional Yoruba religion. This theory suggests that the word “shangó” was morphed through the dilution of the Nigerian language once it reached South America via slave trade.

According to an alternative theory, tango is derived from the Spanish word for "drum", tambor. This word was then mispronounced by Buenos Aires’ lower-class inhabitants to become tambo, ultimately resulting in the common tango.

It is also sometimes theorised that the word is derived from the Portuguese word tanger, which means "to play a musical instrument".

Another Portuguese word, tangomão, a combination of the verb tanger ("to touch") with the noun mão ("hand") meaning "to play a musical instrument with one's hands", has been suggested as the etymon of tango.

According to some authors, tango is derived from the Kongo word ntangu which means "sun", "hour", "space-time".

BTW –

__________

Waltz:

The word waltz is derived from a German word that means "to revolve" This refers to the rotating pattern used by waltzing dance couples.

The waltz originated from Austria and Bayern in the Germanic region of Europe. It spread from there throughout Europe, where it became very popular as well as infamous.

BTW –

The waltz was initially decried by older generations of the aristocracy and religious leaders as an obscene and immoral dance, due to the proximity of the dancers. Whereas previous formal dancing styles involved very limited human contact (hand-holding at most), the waltz was far more tactile and fast-paced than its predecessors, leading to newspapers panicking about its impact on the traditional sexual mores of the time.

The rapid popularisation of waltzing in the late 18th and early 19th centuries led to the opening of public dance halls. London was home to one of the first, Carlisle House, which was opened in 1760 by a Venetian opera singer.

__________

Hokey Pokey:

The Hokey Cokey, as it is still known in the United Kingdom, Ireland, some parts of Australia, and the Caribbean, (now known as Hokey Pokey in the U.S and Canada), is a campfire song and participation dance with a distinctive accompanying tune and lyric structure. It is well-known in English-speaking countries. It originates in a British folk dance, with variants attested as early as 1826. The song and accompanying dance peaked in popularity as a music hall song and novelty dance in the mid-1940s in the UK.

The words hokey-pokey date from c 1847, "false cheap material," perhaps an alteration of hocus-pocus, or from the nonsense chorus and title of a comic song (Hokey Pokey Whankey Fong) that was popular c. 1830. The modern dance song of that name hit the U.S. in 1950 ("Life" described it Nov. 27, 1950, as "a tuneless stomp that is now sweeping the U.C.L.A. campus"). But a dance of that name, to a similar refrain, is mentioned in a 1943 magazine article (wherein the "correct" title is said to be Cokey Cokey), and the dance is sometimes said to have originated in Britain in World War II, perhaps from a Canadian source.

An alternative version is that in 1940, during the Blitz in London, a Canadian officer suggested to Al Tabor, a British bandleader of the 1920s–1940s, that he write a party song with actions similar to "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree". The inspiration for the song's title that resulted, "The Hokey Pokey", supposedly came from an ice cream vendor whom Tabor had heard as a boy, calling out, "Hokey pokey penny a lump. Have a lick make you jump".

BTW

__________

Foxtrot:

There are various explanations as to the origin of the name foxtrot:

Foxtrot took its name from its inventor, the vaudeville actor Harry Fox;

"a slow trot or jog trot, a pace with short steps," such as a fox's, especially of horses, from fox (n.) + trot (n.). As a type of popular dance to ragtime music, from late 1914, a fad in 1915.

__________

Rumba:

Rumba refers to a music style, rumba rhythm, traditional and ballroom dance style, and a generalised term for Afro-Cuban music in the 20th century before the popularity of other Latin-American dance styles. The word rumba itself is a Cuban word for "party".

Ballroom rumba differs completely from Cuban rumba in both its music and its dance. Hence, authors prefer the Americanised spelling of the word (rhumba) to distinguish between them.

__________

Charleston:

The Charleston is a dance named after the harbour city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularised in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called "The Charleston" by composer/pianist James P. Johnson, which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one of the most popular hits of the decade.

While the dance probably came from the "star" or challenge dances that were all part of the African-American dance called Juba, the particular sequence of steps which appeared in Runnin' Wild were probably newly devised for popular appeal.

At the time, it was common for dance styles to carry the name of the city where they first appeared, and the Charleston was no different. Once a dancer from Charleston performed this step in other cities people started referring to it as the “dance from Charleston” or “Charleston dance.”

From:

https://ilindy.com/blog/origins-of-the-charleston/

When people hear the word “Charleston,” they tend to picture a glamorous White flapper girl, in a gorgeous gold and silver dress, gloves up to her elbows, feathers in her hair, twisting her knees while puffing away on a cigarette. Well-known films, such as The Great Gatsby, Chicago, or any black & white films from the 1920s, paint the image that Charleston dancers were upper-class, White women.

However, the origins of this fascinating dance couldn’t be further from this depiction. That global craze might have been represented in the media by White women, but it certainly wasn’t their creation.

Charleston is an African American vernacular jazz dance. It was done to both Ragtime and Traditional Jazz music that embodied quick, syncopated rhythms and improvised steps taken from several African dances.

During the slavery period, Charleston, South Carolina had the largest slave port in colonial North America. Nearly 150,000 enslaved Africans arrived through that port. After emancipation in 1863, Black people accounted for 56% of the city’s population, which was the highest black-to-white ratio of any of the Southern cities.

-----------ooOoo-----------

More dance name origins to come.

Friday, May 3, 2024

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

(Sounds like Colonel Jessep in a Few Good Men).

READERS WRITE AND UNICORNS

-----------ooOoo-----------

Recently I posted some Bible oddities, which included numerous verses referring to unicorns.

It prompted Tim B to send me an email:

Hi Otto, we know why there are no unicorns today.

The Unicorn Song - The Irish Rovers - Lyrics , - YouTube

The link provided by Tim is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4bc9UwZsYs

The lyrics of the song tell the story of Noah and his ark, taking in the animals two by two, however the unicorns were hiding, playing games, kicking and splashing while the rain was coming down, and they literally missed the boat.

Thanks Tim.

There are some other explanations for their extinction:

This one is sad . . .

_________

Some facts and trivia about unicorns:

__________

In medieval Europe, where food poisoning was common (both as hazard of poor domestic hygiene and as a tool of political assassination), unicorn horns were believed to neutralise poison.

__________

In 1577 Queen Elizabeth was gited by explorer Martin Frobisher what was believed to be a unicorn horn but was actually a Narwhal tusk. It is now part of the Crown Jewels and known as the Horn of Windsor.

__________

The unicorn was adopted as the national animal of Scotland in the 1300s. Scotland’s connections with the unicorn stem from its Celtic culture. Celtic mythology believed unicorns to represent innocence and purity whilst also being associated with chivalry, pride and boldness. The unicorn is also the natural enemy of the lion, adopted by English royalty some 100 years before.

__________

To test whether a horn was a true unicorn horn, King James once poisoned a servant, believing that unicorn horns neutralise poison. When the servant died, King James knew the horn was a fake.

__________

King James I introduced the unicorn into the British royal coat of arms in 1603, to symbolize his joint sovereignty over England and Scotland.

__________

In the 17th century, what people believed to be "powdered unicorn horn" was valued at well over its weight in gold. It was most likely made of narwhal tusks harvested off the coast of Greenland.

__________

The narwhal is sometimes called a sea unicorn. A narwhal's horn is a tooth that has grown into a long, spiral tusk.

Narwhal comparison with a human

__________

Artists of the Middle Ages believed that only a virgin could capture a unicorn.

The Maiden and the Unicorn by Domenichino, 1602.

__________

In the Middle Ages, books called bestiaries listed the biological properties of unicorns. These books were also the first source to claim that virgins had power over unicorns.

__________

The earliest reference to unicorns is found in the works of Herodotus (484–425 BC). He describes the existence of an Indian "wild ass" with one horn. He was probably describing the Indian rhino.

__________

Greek historian Ctesias of Cnidas wrote the first description of a unicorn that sparked the unicorn craze. In his book Persica, unicorns are depicted as having a purple head, blue eyes, and a multicolored horn.

__________

Adventurer Marco Polo believed that he had seen unicorns and wrote, "they are very ugly brutes to look at." He was probably describing rhinoceroses.

__________

The King James translation of the Old Testament refers to unicorns 9 times because of the mistranslation of the Hebrew word re'em, which is the Assyrian word rimu, which refers to an extinct species of wild ox.

__________

Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, issues unicorn quest permits. Unicorn hunters are advised to bring a pair of pinking shears and a flask of cognac.

__________

The word "unicorn" comes from the Latin word unicornis, meaning "one horn."

Clare Danes in Stardust, a delightful little film

__________

Because the ancient Greeks believed unicorns were real, the creatures are not included in Greek mythology but rather Greek natural history. The Greeks believed that unicorns lived in India, which they thought was a realm of mystery.

__________

An early depiction of what archaeologists thought was a unicorn was found in France's Lascaux Caves, dating as far back as 15,000 BC. However, archaeologists later found that it was actually two horns.

__________

On his way to conquer India, Genghis Khan said he had seen a unicorn, which he thought was a sign from his deceased father to turn back.

__________

A Pegasi is a unicorn with wings and is able to fly. A Pegasus is a winged horse but not a unicorn.

A unicorn's horn is called an alicorn.

__________

According to legend, a unicorn holds the power to divine truth and will pierce a liar's heart with its horn.

__________

A baby unicorn is called a sparkle.

__________

The Indus Valley Civilization (3300 BC–1300 BC) used a unicorn emblem to seal clay tablets.

__________

A group of unicorns is called a blessing.

__________

The Chinese unicorn has a short, curly horn.

__________

According to ancient Chinese mythology, a unicorn, or ki-lin, gave the emperor a package of symbols that taught the Chinese people their first written words.

__________

According to some myths, Adam named the unicorn first when he named all the animals. God then reached down and touched the unicorn's horn, a sign that it was blessed above all creatures.

In some versions of the biblical story, unicorns refused to board Noah's Ark. When the earth flooded, the unicorns started to swim. However, birds landed on their backs and weighed them down, so the unicorns sank below the waves, never to be seen again.

__________

One of the most famous tapestries in the world is called "The Hunt of the Unicorn" and is filled with Christian beliefs and symbols.

The Unicorn Tapestries or the Hunt of the Unicorn is a series of seven tapestries made in the South Netherlands around 1495–1505, and now in The Cloisters in New York. They were possibly designed in Paris and show a group of noblemen and hunters in pursuit of a unicorn through an idealised French landscape.

The Unicorn crosses a stream

The Unicorn defends itself

__________

Various cultures have different iterations of unicorn myths. Some of the most famous are the Asian unicorn, Southern unicorn, and European unicorn.

The Asian unicorn is said to gallop so smoothly that it doesn't crush even one blade of grass.

In most cultural myths, unicorns have long, flowing tails. However, Asian unicorns have short tails.

An Asian unicorn's coat can be scaly and either yellow, white, blue, red or black; some mythical Asian unicorns can even change colors.

__________

According to European myth, unicorns are fairly shy, but you could tell if one was close by the sweet smell of cinnamon in the air.

__________

In unicorn mythology, unicorns are born without a horn; it usually takes about a year for the horn to grow to full size.

__________

The Throne Chair of Denmark is made from "unicorn horns," which are most likely narwhal horns.

__________

One final fact, spoilers ahead.

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. It’s one of my Top 10 films, it id set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies, When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard reluctantly agrees to hunt them down. Replicants have been banned from Earth after a replicant uprising and the persons who hunt them down are known as Blade Runners.

Deckard falls for replicant Rachael, who genuinely believes that she is not a replicant until he recounts her private, implanted memories.

The relevance of the unicorn is that Deckard, sitting at a piano, begins ddraeming of a unicorn running through a field. Later, Officer Gaff leaves him an origami unicorn, showing that that was also an implanted memory and that Deckard is himself an unknowing replicant. It gives an added meaning to Gaff’s closing remark to Deckard: “You’ve done a man’s job, sir.”

Thursday, May 2, 2024

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

FUNNY FRIDAY

---- 😊😊😊 -----

Byters and readers:

Willkommen. Bienvenido. Bienvenue. Benvenuto. Hela.

Or, in more common parlance, welcome.

In even more common parlance, g’day, how are ya?

It’s time for another Funny Friday, people, and today’s theme is ‘food’, for an obvious reason. There is more than a smattering of Jewish humour, I love it.

Some risque content included.

Enjoy.

---- 😊😊😊 -----

SOME HUMOUR:

__________

I know we're all supposed to be tolerant of people from other cultures, but is it too much to ask that Asian waiters learn that all Caucasians don't look alike? My waiter just served my food to some other customer!

Wait. Never mind. That wasn't my waiter.

__________

An international school teacher asks a question: "What's your own opinion on food scarcity in other countries?"

An African student: What's food?

A European student: What's scarcity?

An American student: What are 'other countries'?

A Chinese student: What's 'my own opinion'?

__________

Mende isl eating at Minky’s Diner, where he orders his favorite matzah ball chicken soup from Steve, his regular waiter. As Steve is walking away, Mendel calls him back.

“Please taste this soup,” Mendel says.

“Why?” asks Steve. “What’s the matter? It’s the same soup as you always have.”

“Please taste the soup,” Mendel repeats.

“But there’s nothing wrong with your soup,” says Steve.

“For the third time, Steve, I ask you to please taste the soup,” says Mendel.

“All right then, if you insist,” says Steve, looking around the table. “But where’s the spoon?”

“Ah hah!” exclaims Mendel.

__________

The afternoon was drawing to a close, and the guests were getting ready to leave.

"Mrs. Goldberg," said one of the ladies. "I just wanted to tell you that your cookies were so delicious I ate four of them."

"You ate five," responded Mrs. Goldberg. "But who's counting?"

__________

A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to make the presentation and to give a little speech at the dinner. However, he was delayed, so the Priest decided to say his own few words while they waited.

“I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money from his parents; embezzled from his employer; had an affair with his boss’s wife; had sex with his boss’s 17 year old daughter on numerous occasions, taken illegal drugs; had several homosexual affairs; was arrested several times for public nudity and gave VD to his sister in-law.

I was appalled that one person could do so many awful things. But as the days went on, I learned that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.”

Just as the Priest finished his talk, the politician arrived full of apologies at being late. He immediately began to make the presentation and gave his talk: “I’ll never forget the first day our parish Priest arrived,” said the politician. “In fact, I had the honour of being the first person to go to him for confession.”

__________

Menachem is talking to his psychiatrist. “I had a weird dream recently,” he says. “ I saw my mother, but then I noticed she had your face. I found this so worrying that I immediately awoke and couldn’t get back to sleep. I lay there thinking about it until it was time to get up and have breakfast. So I made myself some coffee and a slice of toast, and came straight here. Can you help me explain the meaning of my dream?” The psychiatrist keeps silent for some time, then says: “One slice of toast and coffee. You call that breakfast?”

__________

It was Passover and two Jewish attorneys, Saul and David, who worked downtown met at a food court to have lunch. Saul and David proceeded to produce matzah sandwiches from their briefcases and began to eat.

One of the waiters in the food court marched over and told them, "You can't eat your own food in here!"

Saul and David looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and then exchanged matzah sandwiches.

__________

A Jewish man took his Passover lunch to eat outside in the park. He sat down on a bench and began eating his matzah, complete with perforations and all.

A little while later a blind man came by and sat down next to him. Feeling neighbourly, the Jewish man passed a sheet of matzah to the blind man.

The blind man handled the matzah for a few minutes, concentrating intently, and finally exclaimed, "Who wrote this? It's genius! "

__________

I stood in line at a Vietnamese food truck for an hour.

When I finally got to the window, they were sold out and closing for the day.

What a big Pho queue.

---- 😊😊😊 -----

A bakery owner hires a young female shop assistant who liked to wear very short skirts and thong panties.

One day a young man enters the store, glances at the shop assistant and at the loaves of bread behind the counter.

Noticing her short skirt and the location of the raisin bread, he has a brilliant idea. "I'd like some raisin bread please," the man says.

The shop assistant nods and climbs up a ladder to reach the raisin bread located on the very top shelf.

The man standing almost directly beneath her is provided with an excellent view, just as he thought.

When she descends the ladder, he decides that he had better get two loaves.

As the shop assistant retrieves the second loaf of bread, one of the other male customers notices what's going on and requests his own loaf of raisin bread.

After many trips she is tired and irritated and begins to wonder, "Why the unusual interest in the raisin bread?" Atop the ladder one more time, she looks down and glares at the men standing below. Then, she notices an elderly man standing amongst the crowd.

Thinking that she can save herself another trip, she yells at the elderly man, "Is yours raisin too?"

"No," he stammers, "But it's twitchin’ a little."

__________

Two old guys, one 80 and one 87, were sitting on their usual park bench one morning. The 87 year old had just finished his morning jog and wasn't even short of breath. The 80 year old was amazed at his friend's stamina and asked him what he did to have so much energy.

The 87 year old said "Well, I eat Jewish rye bread every day. It keeps your energy level high and you'll have great stamina with the ladies."

So, on the way home, the 80 year old stops at the bakery. As he was looking around, the lady asked if he needed any help. He said, "Do you have any Jewish rye bread?"

She said, "Yes, there's a whole shelf of it . Would you like some?"

He said, "Yes, I want 5 loaves."

She said, "My goodness, 5 loaves...by the time you get to the 5th loaf, it'll be hard"

He replied, "I can't believe it, everybody in the world knows about this stuff but me."

---- 😊😊😊 -----

LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:

Winkleigh is a small village in Devon, England. In 2011 the historic farming village topped a list of 2,400 postcodes in England and Wales ranked according to their suitability for family living.

A wanton young lady from Winkleigh

Reproached for not acting quite primly

Said, "Heavens above!

I know sex isn't love,

But it's such an entrancing facsimile."

---- 😊😊😊 -----

GALLERY:

---- 😊😊😊 -----

CORN CORNER:

__________

I accidentally ate my cat's food last night

Don't ask meow

__________

I took a class recently on the history of food preservation.

In the early days, metal containers were the cheapest and easiest to make, so almost all food was stored in cans. Tin was a particularly soft and easy to mould/shape, and didn’t rust like other options, so most preserved food cans were made of tin.

Things went great for a while, with some foods easily being shipped to places they previously wouldn’t have survived due to long journeys, and families could store food to eat when it wasn’t available fresh.

However, reports of illness around certain foods started to become prevalent. Pickles foods would frequently “go bad” much sooner than other canned foods, and even though the food tasted the same, people would report illness very soon after eating older pickled products. After years of analysing (crudely) samples of purportedly problematic pickles, scientists finally concluded the preserved foods themselves were fine—it was the cans that were the problem!

They discovered certain food solutions—like pickle brine—could “leach” harmful chemicals from tin, much faster than non-brined foods. As an experiment, they started un-canning recently preserved pickles and putting pickled food in glass containers instead of tin. Jarred pickles tasted exactly the same and were preserved just as well as their canned counterparts, but nobody got sick!

In the end, the conclusion was uncanny and jarring.

__________

My wife said she was leaving me because of my obsession with food.

I wasn’t really listening, but she said something about not making enough thyme for her.

__________

They say never go food shopping when you're hungry but it's been over a week now and every day I just get hungrier.

__________

My brother took going to jail really badly. He refused all offers of food and drink, spat and swore at anyone who came near him, and smeared the walls with his own faeces.

After that, we never played Monopoly again.

__________

A woman who lost four husbands through the years was married first to a banker, then an actor, then a preacher and finally an undertaker.

When asked about the unusual variance in her spousal occupations she replied "one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go."

---- 😊😊😊 -----