Tuesday, September 21, 2021

I’m your huckleberry is a once common idiom that meant, I’m the person you are looking for, I’m the man for the job, or, simply, I’m your man; I’m inconsequential, unimportant.  The idiom I’m your huckleberry, in modern times, was made famous in the movie Tombstone from 1993, starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.  This movie was another in a long line of movies about Wyatt Earp and events in Tombstone, Arizona during the 188Os, including the famous “Shootout at the OK Corral.”  It was Doc Holliday who uttered the unfamiliar phrase to the character Johnny Ringo:  “I’m your huckleberry, that’s just my game.”  Whether or not Doc Holliday went around saying this all the time, we do not know, but it was used in the 1929 book Tombstone, by Walter Noble Burns.  The expression itself appeared in print as early as 1883.  In Doc’s case, it meant also, “I’m ready to fight.”  Normally, the expression seemed to be in response to a need.  It has been claimed that Mark Twain named Huckleberry Finn for the idiom.  Twain may have used the name Huckleberry to mean small and insignificant.  As well, while the character is most known as the main character in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, we first encounter him as Tom Sawyer’s sidekick in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  If I’m your huckleberry, the idiom, was on Twain’s mind when he named the character, then Huck Finn’s role as a sidekick or willing companion would have fit well, as this is also a possible allusion of the idiom.  See more on Victoria Wilcox, the Art of Story.  The idiom may be based on the ease of picking the huckleberry, as multiple berries can be stripped off the bush by hand, making the more literal meaning ‘pick me’ or ‘I’m an easy pick.’  https://www.idioms.online/im-your-huckleberry/ 

I’m Your Huckleberry is the title of an autobiography by actor Val Kilmer.  I’m Your Huckleberry may mean I’m Your Hero. 

Huckle Cat is the main protagonist of Richard Scarry's "Busytown", as well as the animated cartoon "The Busy World of Richard Scarry".  He is 7 years old.  See pictures at https://jds-toonworld.fandom.com/wiki/Huckle_Cat 

lipstick tree  noun  The shrub Bixa orellana, which is native to Mexico and northern South America; the arils covering its seeds are a source of the orange-red colourant annatto, and the ground seeds are used in traditional CaribbeanCentral American, and South American cuisinequotations ▼  Synonyms:  achioteanattoannattoarnatto  See pictures at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lipstick_tree#English 

Retro style is a style that is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the historical past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes.  In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that are 20–30 years before the current one.  The term retro has been in use since 1972 to describe on the one hand, new artifacts that self-consciously refer to particular modes, motifs, techniques, and materials of the past.  But on the other hand, many people use the term to categorize styles that have been created in the past.  Retro style refers to new things that display characteristics of the past.  Unlike the historicism of the Romantic generations, it is mostly the recent past that retro seeks to recapitulate, focusing on the products, fashions and artistic styles produced since the Industrial Revolution, the successive styles of Modernity.  The English word retro derives from the Latin prefix retro, meaning backwards, or in past times.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro_style 

A book of poetry, art and photographs created and compiled by Hollywood legend Kim Novak is now on sale exclusively through The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio.  The planning for the book came about during Novak’s retrospective exhibition, Kim Novak:  An Iconic Vision, in the summer of 2019 as part of The Butler’s 100th anniversary celebration.  The exhibition was a retrospective collection of over 75 pieces of Novak’s artwork.  The museum also presented an exhibition of Novak’s paintings titled Kim Novak:  Pastel Paintings in 2014.  Before she became an actor, Novak was an artist.  She won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago but instead took up modeling and later moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.  She walked away from her film career in 1966, when she was still at her peak, because she was wary of losing her identity to the Hollywood lifestyle.  Guy D'Astolfo  https://businessjournaldaily.com/butler-museum-publishes-book-of-art-poetry-by-kim-novak/  Copyright 2021 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio 

The Butler Institute of American Art, located on Wick Avenue in YoungstownOhioUnited States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art.  Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the museum has been operating pro bono since 1919.  Dedicated in 1919, the original structure is a McKim, Mead and White architectural masterpiece listed on the National Register of Historic Placeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler_Institute_of_American_Art  See also https://butlerart.com/

The phrase "apple of my eye" refers in English to something or someone that one cherishes above all others.  Originally, the phrase was simply an idiom referring to the pupil of the eye.  Originally this term simply referred to the "aperture at the centre of the human eye", i.e. the pupil, or occasionally to the whole eyeball.  The earliest appearance of the term is found in the ninth-century Old English translation of the Latin Cura pastoralis attributed to Alfred the Great.  The sense "pupil" appears to be the meaning Shakespeare used in his 1590s play A Midsummer Night's Dream.  In the play, the fairy character Robin Goodfellow has acquired a flower that was once hit by Cupid's arrow, imbuing it with magical love-arousing properties, and drops juice of this flower into a young sleeping man's eyes, saying "Flower of this purple dye, / Hit with Cupid's archery, / Sink in apple of his eye".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_of_my_eye 

Put your foot in your mouth means to accidentally say something that is embarrassing or that upsets or annoys someone.  The British expression is put your foot in ithttps://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/put-your-foot-in-your-mouth  possibly  originated in 16th century--became common in 18th century.  To put your foot down - To act firmly / To tell someone strongly that they must do something or that they must stop doing something.  - To drive faster.  To press down harder on the accelerator (gas) pedal of your car.  See cartoon at https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/phrasal-verb-put-ones-foot-down 

Anniversary Gifts by Year  https://ideas.hallmark.com/articles/anniversary-ideas/anniversary-gifts-by-year/ 

mooncake  noun   A richdense Chinese pastry traditionally filled with lotus seed paste and nowadays with a variety of other fillings, usually eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar; early September to early October).  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mooncake#English  Mid-Autumn Festival, during which mooncakes are traditionally eaten, falls on September 21, 2021.  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2425  September 21, 2021  

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