Palooka has two main senses, both principally American.  One refers to an unsuccessful boxer, especially one who is both large and stupid, the other to any large and stupid or clumsy person, an oaf or lout.  Many older people first came across the word as the name of the boxer in Ham Fisher’s famous comic strip.  This is variously stated as having begun in 1928 or 1930, though the truth seems to be that it was briefly syndicated in the earlier year but then disappeared for a while, only becoming widely available two years later.  The strip featured the eponymous Joe Palooka as a slow-witted and inarticulate boxer, even though “his heart was pure and his ideals high”.  But Ham Fisher didn’t invent the word: it had been around for several years by the time his strip first appeared.  (The earliest I can find is in the Lincoln Star, Nebraska, in March 1923:  “But [Jack] Dempsey against some palooka who had been press agented into greatness and into the form of a Dempsey menace—that would pack any outdoor arena.”  The casual reference shows that it was even then familiar to the writer and that he expected his readers to know it.)  The boxing associations seem to have been particularly strong, to judge from the magazine The Ring, which in November 1926 glossed the word to mean “A tenth rater, a boxer without ability, a nobody” and which implied it had been known for some time.  It’s often said—following the statement by H L Mencken in the 1945 supplement to his work The American Language, which in turn echoes the belief of a writer in Esquire in September 1936—that palooka was the invention of Jack Conway, the editor of Variety magazine in the 1920s who was largely responsible for developing the magazine’s weird style; he is credited by Mencken with creating a whole group of slang terms that include pushover and baloney.  Whether he actually invented palooka, or popularised it, we have no way of knowing, nor do we have any firm idea what it was based on.  However, it has been suggested that it is based on the Polish surname Paluka and might be a variation on dumb Polack, a relatively mild racial slur of the period.  Several of Joe Palooka’s adventures were made into films, and Palookaville came to be a slang term for a hick town full of gentle losers.  http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pal1.htm

Occlude means to stop, close up, or obstruct.  Collude means to cooperate in a secret or unlawful way in order to deceive or gain an advantage.  

                                                           

Our English "lude" words (allude, collude, delude, elude, and prelude) are based on the Latin verb ludere, meaning "to play."  Collude dates back to 1525 and combines ludere and the prefix col-, meaning "with" or "together."  The verb is younger than the related noun collusion, which appeared sometime in the 14th century with the specific meaning "secret agreement or cooperation."  Despite their playful history, collude and collusion have always suggested deceit or trickery rather than good-natured fun.  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collude

In the early 1800s, Notre Dame was half-ruined when a writer used the crumbling structure as the setting for one of his greatest works, setting in motion a rescue operation nearly as grand as its original construction.  The first stone of the cathedral was laid in 1163 in the presence of Pope Alexander III, according to the Notre Dame website.  The altar was finished about 20 years later; the two towers were constructed between 1225 and 1250, and the entire cathedral was completed in 1345.  During the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715), Notre Dame underwent a rather unfortunate renovation.  Stained glass was replaced with clear windows, a pillar was demolished to allow carriages to pass through, and the original rood screen—an ornate partition usually made of wood or stone that divides the nave from the chancel—was torn down.  The French Revolution era was even worse for it.  Seized by revolutionaries, dozens of statues were destroyed.  The bishop’s palace was burned to the ground and never rebuilt.  The spire was deconstructed after it was damaged by wind.  Lead from the roof was used for bullets, and bronze bells were melted down for cannon, according to National Geographic.  The cathedral was returned to the Catholic Church by 1802, but it continued to decay.  Then, in 1831, the writer Victor Hugo published his novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”  It tells the tale of Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of the cathedral, who becomes obsessed with the beautiful Esmeralda.  A classic novel now—more than a dozen movies have been based on it—it was also a hit when it was released.  Suddenly, people cared again about the eyesore on an island in the middle of Paris. The government formed the Commission on Historical Monuments and in 1841 assigned architects Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus to return Notre Dame to its former glory.  Lassus died in 1857, leaving Viollet-le-Duc to finish the job.  During the next few decades, he oversaw the rebuilding of the spire, resurfacing of the stonework, restitution of the statues, construction of a new sacristy, reglazing of stained-glass windows, the addition of its famous gargoyles, construction of a new organ and countless other tasks.  It was rededicated on May 31, 1864, by the archbishop of Paris.  Gillian Brockell  https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/04/15/notre-dame-was-ruins-victor-hugos-novel-about-hunchback-saved-it/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a2797d89fee9

Book and Movie Lists from the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library categorized as What's New, In Demand and Children and Teen  http://www.toledolibrary.org/booklists

Here is a beautiful menu for a springtime evening or Easter supper from Clodagh’s Suppers: Suppers to Celebrate the Seasons by Ireland’s charming chef, Clodagh McKenna.  The meal begins with Spring Pea, Pea Shoot, Pancetta & Goat Cheese Salad; for the main plate it’s Hazelnut & Herb-Crusted Lamb Cutlets with Pea and Wild Garlic Puree; and finish the meal with a bite of Rhubarb, Rosewater & Pistachio Galettes.  Sally Swift  https://www.splendidtable.org/story/springtime-menu-by-clodagh-mckenna

The French sculptor Claude Lalanne, known for her work in copper and bronze inspired by flora and fauna, died April 10, 2019 in Fontainebleau, near Paris, at the age of 93.  Her imaginative sculptures sometimes carried a Surrealist touch, such as Pomme d’Hiver (2008), a large-scale bronze apple, Choupatte Géante (2016), a cabbage with chicken feet and a series of Crocodile benches.  Lalanne also made sinuous jewellery and pieces of furniture that appear to be fashioned from twisted branches, leaves and flowers.  “Claude Lalanne had an extraordinary eye,” says her Parisian gallerist Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand.  “She knew how to take a small flower, dip it into galvanoplasty to turn it into metal, and assemble the pieces to make a sculpture.  Her work is imbued with a fantastic understanding and intuition of the magical side of nature that she metamorphosed.”  Lalanne’s work was admired and collected by many leading fashion designers such as Yves Saint Laurent—with whom she collaborated on his autumn/winter collection in 1969—Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford.  "In my house there are always works by Claude," Saint Laurent said in a 1994 interview for Vogue Paris.  "What touches me about her is that she has known how to unite, with the same exigence, the artisanal and the poetic.  Her beautiful sculptor’s hands seem to brush away the fogs of mystery to reach the shores of art."  A set of 15 gilt bronze and galvanised copper mirrors adorned with branches by Lalanne from the collection of Saint Laurent and Bergé fetched €1.9m at Christie’s, Paris in 2009.  “In a few decades, Claude Lalanne created unforgettable and universal worlds where poetry and imagination speak to everyone,” says Olivier Gabet, the director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, which organised a retrospective dedicated to the artist and her husband at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 2010.  Lalanne's work is in public collections including the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.  In recent years, solo shows of her work have been presented by the Galerie Mitterrand in Paris, Ben Brown Fine Arts in London and Hong Kong, and Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York.  The Clark Art Institute is due to host an exhibition of Les Lalanne in summer 2020.  Anna Sansom   https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/french-sculptor-claude-lalanne-has-died-aged-93

LeBron James is a legend on the basketball court, but when billionaire investor Warren Buffett first met James, the NBA star’s athletic prowess wasn’t the only thing that impressed him.  The two met over a decade ago while filming a skit for Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, Buffett writes in an article honoring James’s spot as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2019.  In the video, Buffet beats James at basketball, “so it was clearly a comedy,” Buffett says in Time.  “We had a good time, and since that day, I’ve been impressed with his leadership skills, his sharp mind and his ability to stay grounded,” Buffet writes.  “People in LeBron’s position get tugged in different directions and have a lot of chances to make bad decisions.  He’s kept his head, and that’s not easy.”  It’s not the first time Buffett has complimented his friend.  He told USA Today that James has a “money mind” and praised his business savvy to Cleveland.com.  “He’s smart about business, but he’s just a smart guy,” Buffett said.  “I noticed that the first time I met him . . . And you know he doesn’t miss anything.”  Sarah Berger  https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/17/what-impressed-warren-buffett-when-first-met-nba-star-lebron-james.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2083  April 18, 2019