Colleen Margaretta McCullough AO (married name Robinson, previously Ion-Robinson; 1937-2015) was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being The Thorn Birds and The Ladies of Missalonghi.  McCullough was born in Wellington, in the Central West region of New South Wales, to James and Laurie McCullough.  Her father was of Irish descent and her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent.  During her childhood, the family moved around a great deal and she was also "a voracious reader".  Her family eventually settled in Sydney where she attended Holy Cross College, Woollahra, having a strong interest in both science and the humanities.  She had a younger brother, Carl, who drowned off the coast of Crete when he was 25 while trying to rescue tourists in difficulty.  She based a character in The Thorn Birds on him, and also wrote about him in Life Without the Boring Bits.  Before her tertiary education, McCullough earned a living as a teacher, librarian and journalist.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_McCullough

The Ladies of Missalonghi is a short novel by Australian writer Colleen McCullough commissioned for the Hutchinson Novellas series and published in the United States in the Harper Short Novel series in 1987.  Set in the small town of Byron in the Blue Mountains of Australia in the years just before World War I, the novel is the story of Missy Wright and the Hurlingford family.  The book closely resembles The Blue Castle, a 1926 novel by L.M. Montgomery, best known as the author of Anne of Green Gables.  The plot and character details are nearly identical.  Gillian Whitlock and Mary Jean DeMarr have described the history of the allegations of plagiarism, and McCullough's defence of subconscious recollection.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ladies_of_Missalonghi  The frugal sisters save soap slivers and use them to provide pleasant scents.

Let no one tell me that silence gives consent, because whoever is silent dissents.  Maria Isabel Barreno *  Silence is one of the hardest things to refute.  Josh Billing *  Silence is sometimes the severest criticism. *  Charles Buxton  Dictionary of Quotations in Communications 

Why are apartment buildings known as “arms”?  It seems that back in 1945, a fellow named Arthur Minton published an article in American Speech (the journal of the American Dialect Association) entitled “Apartment-House Names.”  Minton’s focus was primarily the five boroughs of New York City, where, he estimated, one fourth of the apartment buildings at that time had names.  Approximately one-third of those names included the words “Court” or “Arms,” and a lesser but still significant number of buildings ended in “Hall” (e.g., “Harrowick Hall,” etc.).  The remainder of named buildings sported less grandiose names such as “Terrace,” “Gardens,” “Towers” and “Plaza.”  New York being New York, some people didn’t know when to stop, and Minton mentions such florid creations as the “Manor Palace” and the “Palais de Mosholu” (on Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx).  At the other end of the scale, he found the weirdly recursive “Arms Apartments,” also in the Bronx, whose name, Minton notes, “suggests an unprecedented exhaustion of the imagination.”  The terms “Hall,” “Court” and “Arms” in the names of apartment buildings are preceded in most cases by British or pseudo-British personal or place names (“Kensington Arms,” “Mountbatten Court,” etc.) that attempt to lend an air of historical grandeur, prestige and tradition to what is, in most cases, a fairly utilitarian building.  But while such grandiose names for apartment houses are largely an American affectation, we got the idea from the Brits themselves.  Back when England was awash with Dukes, Earls and similar nobility, many happy centuries before motel and restaurant chains, the local inn or pub (or, indeed, the whole town) frequently sat on land owned by the Duke of Earl, or whomever.  This was also a time when many people were illiterate.  So pubs and inns relied on highly recognizable graphic signs, perhaps calling themselves “The Blue Swan,” signified for non-readers by a blue swan on the sign.  In many cases, the most recognizable symbol in town was the coat of arms of the local nobility, so if one paid rent to the Duke of Norfolk, it made sense to feature the Norfolk family coat of arms on your sign and to call your establishment “the Norfolk Arms.”  Incidentally, although today we use “coat of arms” to mean the heraldic insignia of a noble family or other group, usually featuring a shield, a motto and perhaps some fierce animals, the original meaning took “coat” very literally.  A “coat of arms” was a linen or silk coat, worn by a knight over his armor on formal occasions, and decorated with his (or his sponsor’s) heraldic emblem.

http://www.word-detective.com/2010/07/arms/

Outside of UBS’ New York headquarters in the heart of Manhattan are futuristic mushroom-shaped tables and chairs designed by the late artist Scott Burton in 1984.  Officeworkers and tourists gather on the granite seats at lunchtime, or for a rest during the day as they walk the busy streets, grabbing food from nearby food trucks.  Now, they can also glimpse contemporary artwork through the tall glass windows, and if they have the time, and inclination, they might walk inside to find a public gallery sprawling across the lobby.  In May 2019, UBS officially opened the “gallery” within the newly renovated lobby of 1285 Sixth Ave., to share their collection of 30,000 pieces of art—typically only seen by clients in offices across the globe—with the public.  While the cafe artwork by Burton, Urban Plaza South, 1985-86, isn’t owned by UBS, Mary Rozell, global head of the bank’s art collection, believes its presence will naturally bring visitors to the works inside the building.  The UBS gallery is divided in two, with a North Gallery featuring permanent installations, and a South Gallery featuring rotating special exhibitions, beginning with A History and a Moment, a selection of photographs, paintings, mixed media, and works on paper, that UBS has collected since the 1960s.  An exhibition in the fall will feature UBS-owned works by the pop American artist Ed Ruscha, while the bank plans to partner with nonprofit institutions for future shows beginning next year.  Among the permanent installations in the North Gallery is Sarah Morris ’ 42-foot wide UBS Wall Painting, 2001-2019, a redesign of a 2001 piece Morris was commissioned to do for the bank’s Swiss headquarters, but had to be demolished along with the building in 2015.  Morris agreed to re-imagine the piece, visible from Sixth Avenue, in part because one of the first works that UBS acquired from her, Midtown-PaineWebber (with Neon), 1998, is an image of the building where the bank now sits.  Midtown-PaineWebber also happens to be featured in A History and a Moment.  “So it’s kind of coming full circle,” Rozell says.  Also in the North Gallery is a new minimalist sculpture by Eva Rothschild, whose work was featured at the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and a parabolic lens work by the Los Angeles artist Fred Eversley, a member of the “L.A. Light & Space” movement, which Rozell says was purchased for this location.  “His work is technically beautiful and perfect,” Rozell says.  The permanent installation also includes a second commission that was reimagined for UBS—a chromo-kinetic sculpture by the Venezualan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez that was originally commissioned for a UBS building in Zurich in 1975.  The bank worked with Cruz-Diez’s studio to repurpose the work as a permanent piece for the lobby, she says.  UBS began collecting art in the ’60s simply to have something to put on the walls of its offices across the globe, now numbering about 700.  But it chose to focus on contemporary art out of a belief that it reflects innovative thinking, and “that’s what the bank wants to reflect,” Rozell says.  Abby Shultz  https://www.barrons.com/articles/sales-under-2-million-lead-transaction-surge-in-prime-central-london-01571322491  Thank you, Muse reader! 

National Book Awards Handed To Susan Choi, Arthur Sze And More by Colin Dwyer  More than 1,700 books began the autumn with a chance at winning a National Book Award.  Now, after a swanky ceremony November 20, 2019 in Manhattan, the folks behind just five of those books have each emerged with a trophy, a purse of $10,000 and the right to slap that precious gold medallion on the front cover of their work.  The winners of the 70th annual National Book Awards are:  Fiction:  Susan Choi's Trust Exercise; Nonfiction:  Sarah M. Broom's The Yellow House; Poetry:  Arthur Sze's Sight Lines; Translated literature:  Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming, by László Krasznahorkai and translator Ottilie Mulzet; and Young people's literature:  Martin W. Sandler's 1919:  The Year That Changed America. 

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/20/781353829/national-book-awards-handed-to-susan-choi-arthur-sze-and-more

Apple Music Gets Into the Muzak Business  Apple Music has been quietly piloting a version of its music-streaming service for businesses including Levi Strauss and Harrods stores.  Wall Street Journal  November 21, 2019  p. B1

WORD OF THE DAY  well-boat  noun  (nautical) a fishing vessel designed to carry live fish in a tank or well.  November 21 is World Fisheries Day, which was established by the World Fisheries Forum to  advocate sustainable fishing practices and policies  Wiktionary

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  Work saves us from three great evils:  boredom, vice, and need. - Voltaire, philosopher (21 Nov 1694-1778)

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2185  November 21, 2019

Where Does The Term 'Gubernatorial' Come From?  Why don't we say gubernator instead of governor?  "Because, if you go back to where this word came from, in the original Latin, it's from the verb, gubernare and gubernator, one who governs," Lisa McLendon, who teaches at the University of Kansas School of Journalism, says.  Then, "governor, with the 'v,' came into English from French in about the 14th century," she says.  "French had taken the Latin and they swapped the 'b' for a 'v.' "  English speakers went back to the "b" about 400 years later, but just for gubernatorial.  And, there's the split.  Interestingly, this is mainly a U.S. usage, says McLendon, "Most other varieties of English spoken throughout the world do not use gubernatorial."  Acacia Squires https://www.npr.org/2019/11/15/779603330/where-does-the-term-gubernatorial-come-from

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  Don't believe it for a minute!  Michael Bedford  American Organist magazine  November 2019

Erik Thorvaldsson, (about 950–1003 AD) known as Erik the Red, is remembered in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland.  Erik the Red’s father was banished from Norway for the crime of manslaughter.  He sailed west from Norway with his family and settled in northwestern Iceland.  The Icelanders later sentenced Erik to exile for three years due to “some killings” he committed around the year 982.  After being sentenced to exile, Erik sailed to a somewhat mysterious and little-known land.  He rounded the southern tip of the island (later known as Cape Farewell) and sailed up the western coast.  He eventually reached a part of the coast that, for the most part, seemed ice-free and consequently had conditions that promised growth and future prosperity.  When Erik returned to Iceland after his exile had expired, he is said to have brought with him stories of “Greenland”.  Erik deliberately gave the land a more appealing name than “Iceland” in order to lure potential settlers.  One group of immigrants which arrived in 1002 brought with it an epidemic that ravaged the colony, killing many of its leading citizens, including Erik himself.  Nevertheless, the colony rebounded and survived until the Little Ice Age in the 15th century.  In addition to an increasingly colder climate, conflict with Inuits moving into Norse territories, drop in value of walrus ivory, the colony’s abandonment by Norway and other “unfortunate” circumstances became other factors in its decline.

https://thornews.com/2013/12/25/why-erik-the-red-named-greenland-greenland/

Red herrings are misleading clues designed to trick you into drawing an incorrect conclusion, and they're a popular ploy among storytellers of all stripes.  If you've seen or read the Harry Potter series—and really, who hasn’t?—then you may recall some of the many instances where J.K. Rowling employed this literary device.  That endearing plot twist about the nature of Snape's character, for example, is likely one of the longest-running red herrings ever written.  Sometimes they aren't even subtle. Agatha Christie's murder mystery And Then There Were None directly mentions red herring in reference to a character's death, and a statue of a red herring appears in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.   Perhaps most blatantly, a character in the cartoon A Pup Named Scooby-Doo who was constantly being blamed for myriad crimes was named—you guessed it—Red Herring.  But where does this literary device come from, and why is it named after a fish?  For a bit of background: herring are naturally a silvery hue, but they turn reddish-brown when they're smoked.  Long before refrigerators were invented, this was done to preserve the fish for months at a time.  The actual origin of the figurative sense of the phrase can be traced back to the early 1800s.  Around this time, English journalist William Cobbett wrote a presumably fictional story about how he had used red herring as a boy to throw hounds off the scent of a hare.  He elaborated on this anecdote and used it to criticize some of his fellow journalists.  "He used the story as a metaphor to decry the press, which had allowed itself to be misled by false information about a supposed defeat of Napoleon," British etymologist and writer Michael Quinion writes in a blog.  "This caused them to take their attention off important domestic matters."  Emily Petsko  http://mentalfloss.com/article/562812/where-did-phrase-red-herring-originate

A red herring is a prominently placed clue that leads nowhere, used as misdirection in order to fool viewers into falling for a “twist”.  A McGuffin is slightly different from a red herring, in that a MacGuffin is integral to advancing the plot, through character motivation, and yet its significance is never revealed to the viewers.  Chekhov’s gun may be the opposite of a red herring.  It follows what is known as the “Law of Conservation of Detail”.  Basically, a gun (or any other detail) that is shown in the beginning of the narrative, has great significance later on.  https://lostblg.wordpress.com/2006/04/19/red-herrings-macguffins-and-chekhovs-gun/

What did a meal taste like nearly 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylonia?  Pretty good, according to a team of international scholars that has deciphered and is re-creating what are considered to be the world's oldest-known culinary recipes.  The recipes were inscribed on ancient Babylonian tablets that researchers have known about since early in the 20th century, but that were not properly translated until the end of the century.  The tablets are part of the Yale Babylonian Collection at the Yale Peabody Museum.  Three of the tablets date back to the Old Babylonian period, no later than 1730 B.C., according to Harvard University Assyriologist and cuneiform scholar Gojko Barjamovic, who put together the interdisciplinary team that is reviving these ancient recipes in the kitchen.  A fourth tablet was produced about 1,000 years later.  All four tablets are from the Mesopotamian region, in what is today Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.  Read more and see picture at https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/11/16/779930201/eat-like-the-ancient-babylonians-researchers-cook-up-nearly-4-000-year-old-recip

A Hollywood studio executive once suggested that Julia Roberts should play African-American activist Harriet Tubman in a biopic.  In a recent Q&A, screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard opened up about the 26-year journey to getting the "Harriet" biopic to the big screen.  "I wanted to turn Harriet Tubman's life, which I'd studied in college, into an action-adventure movie.  The climate in Hollywood, however, was very different back then," Howard said.  "I was told how one studio head said in a meeting, 'This script is fantastic.  Let's get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman.'"  Howard said when someone suggested Roberts could not play the role, the executive responded, "It was so long ago.  No one is going to know the difference.'"  British actress Cynthia Erivo got the role of the legendary abolitionist and freedom fighter in "Harriet."  Faith Karimi  https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/20/entertainment/julia-roberts-harriet-tubman-trnd/index.html

LeBron James completed his triple-double collection on November 19, 2019.  With 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 112-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar became the first player in league history to log a triple-double against all 30 NBA teams, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28119808/lebron-james-first-player-ever-triple-double-vs-all-30-teams

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is. - Nadine Gordimer, novelist, Nobel laureate (20 Nov 1923-2014)

WORD OF THE DAY  Nuremberg defense noun  (American spelling)  (ethics, international law, idiomatic)  An explanation offered as an excuse for behaving in a criminal or wrongful manner, claiming that acted in this way because one was ordered by others (particularly superiors) to do so.  (US law, by extension)  An explanation offered as a defense to criminal or wrongful behavior, claiming that one is justified in not obeying a governmental order or a domestic law because the order or law is itself unlawful.  The trials of major war criminals by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, after World War II began on November 20, 1945, lasting till October 1, 1946.  Wiktionary

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2184  November 20, 2019

Is there anything more fantastically homey than that most marvelous of soft-baked cookies, the snickerdoodle?  The name is thought to have come from nineteenth-century New England, deriving from the word Schneckennudeln, a type of snail-shaped German cinnamon roll.  Snickerdoodles are famously associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch and the Amish communities of Indiana, which explains how they made their way to the Midwest and have long been a homespun favorite here.  And, of course, if you can find a way to turn something, anything at all, into a recipe that can be crammed into a 9 x 13, it becomes extra midwestern.  The swath of frosting on top gilds the lily here, but it’s so worth it.  Shauna Sever  Find recipe making about 2 dozen bars at https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/frosted-snickerdoodle-bars

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From:  Charlie Cockey  In Czech, here are the days of the week with approximate meanings attached: 
Monday = pondělí = The Day After Sunday; Tuesday = úterý = The Second Day (after Sunday); Wednesday = středa = The Middle Day; Thursday = čtvrtek = The Fourth Day (after Sunday); Friday = pátek = The Fifth Day (after Sunday); Saturday = sobota =The Sabbath Day; Sunday = neděle = The Do-No-Work Day
From:  Eric Miller  In German, “ein blauer Montag” (a blue Monday) is one that you take off from work.  Its origins lie in the medieval dyers, who would hang their blue-dyed cloth out to dry on a Saturday, then take Monday off from work to give it extra time to dry.  (Apparently, blue dye took longer than the others.)  The neighbors knew from the blue cloth that the dyers were not working that day.  By extension, “blau machen” (to “do blue”) has come to mean any time taken off from work or school, although now generally without permission from the boss or teacher.

From:  Nadine Smith  In English we use a lot of blue:  blue-chip stocks, blue-sky stocks (don’t buy them), blue-collar workers, blue-blooded ancestors (yours maybe; not mine), blue-nosed folks (prudes), folks who swear a blue streak, and blue stockings (folks with intellectual inclinations). Lovers should always be true blue.  In our country it’s not good to feel blue, but the bluebird of happiness)?  Blue.  In Brazil, if you’re blue, it means everything’s great (todo azul).

From:  David McKenzie  Interesting that the term “Sunday Driver” has first documented use in 1877, eight years before the motor car was invented in 1885!  Presumably it initially referred to a horse and cart driver (or train driver?)

James Edward Carter, OBE (born 19 August 1948) is an English film and television actor.  He is best known for his role in Downton Abbey (2010–2015) playing Mr Carson, a role that has earned him four nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2012–2015).  He reprised his role in the feature film Downton Abbey (2019).  Carter's film credits include A Private Function (1984), A Month in the Country (1987), A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992), The Madness of King George (1994), Richard III (1995), Brassed Off (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Ella Enchanted (2004), The Thief Lord (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), My Week with Marilyn (2011), and the film The Good Liar (2019).  His television credits include Lipstick on Your Collar (1993), Cracker (1994), The Way We Live Now (2001), The Singing Detective (1986), Arabian Nights (2000), The Chest (1997), Red Riding (2009), A Very British Coup (1988), the Hornblower episode "Duty" (2003) and the Midsomer Murders episode "The Fisher King" (2004), and Dinotopia (2002).  He also plays Captain Brown in the five-part BBC series Cranford (2007) alongside his wife Imelda Staunton.  Carter is a former chairman of Hampstead Cricket Club, whose ground is near his home.  On 18 September 2011 he organised the Hampstead Cricket Club (HCC) Celebrity Cricket Match.  Carter is a keen cyclist and has frequently ridden for charity causes.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Carter_(actor)  Carter played Montego, the magician in the 1986 film Haunted Honeymoon with Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner and Dom DeLuise.  

Delaware is often called the Small Wonder.  It consists of 2,044 square miles*.  Most of Delaware is on the Atlantic Coastal plain.  The northern part of the state is on the Piedmont plateau, a hilly area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coastal plain.  The dividing line runs east-west between the cities of Wilmington and Newark.  Delaware is 96 miles long* and 39 miles at its widest.  Delaware declared its independence from Great Britain on June 15, 1776.  It thereby also became independent of Pennsylvania with which it had been connected since 1682.   It is known as the "First State" because on December 7, 1787, it became the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution.  In 1610 explorer Samuel Argall named the Delaware River and Bay for the governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Lord De La Warr.  The state of Delaware takes its name from the river and bay.  One of its nicknames is the Diamond State.  Legend has it that Thomas Jefferson called Delaware a "jewel" among the states because of it's strategic location along the East Coast.  http://dehistory.org/delaware-facts  *The maximum length of Long Island is 118.1 miles, and it consists of 1,401 square miles.

Ulmus glabra, commonly called Scotch elm or Wych elm, is a large, wide-spreading, deciduous tree that typically grows to 70-100’ with a broad-rounded crown.  It is native from Great Britain to Siberia.  It was once widely planted in the U.S. as a shade tree for large lawns and parks, but is no longer used because of susceptibility to Dutch elm disease.  Insignificant small reddish-green flowers appear in spring before the foliage emerges.  Flowers give way to single-seeded wafer-like samaras (each tiny seed is surrounded by a flattened circular papery wing).  Seeds mature in April-May as the leaves reach full size.  Broad oblong-obovate to elliptic, rough-textured, dark green leaves (to 3-6” long) have acuminate tips, doubly toothed margins and asymetrical bases.  Leaves typically turn an undistinguished dull yellow in fall.  A magnificent specimen tree dating back to 1861 is located at the Missouri Botanical Garden next to Henry Shaw’s house.  The name wych comes from Anglo Saxon meaning “with plant branching”.  http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=287399

Wych elm once covered large parts of the UK.  Following the last ice age, as woodland became the dominant form of vegetation, Wych Elm stood out as one of the success stories.  For a few thousand years it flourished but then succumbed to what is thought to have been a disease very similar, if not, Dutch elm disease.  At the same time, humans, with their rapidly developing tools, were clearing larger and larger areas of woodland for farming.  The death of so many elms must have helped them.  See graphics at https://treegrowing.tcv.org.uk/identify/wych-elm  See also https://www.wood-database.com/wych-elm/

THINK, WRITE, SPEAK  Uncollected Essays, Reviews, Interviews, and Letters to the Editor by Vladimir Nabokov ; edited by Brian Boyd & Anastasia Tolstoy    Award-winning biographer, editor, and literary critic Boyd (English/Univ. of Auckland; Why Lyrics Last:  Evolution, Cognition and Shakespeare's Sonnets, 2012, etc.) and scholar and translator Tolstoy (Junior Research Fellow/University of Oxford; co-translator: Nabokov’s The Tragedy of Mister Morn, 2013) have gathered more than 150 uncollected writings by the prolific Nabokov (Letters to Véra, 2014, etc.):  essays, reviews, questionnaire responses, letters to editors, and—accounting for the majority of the pieces—interviews, most dating from the “post-Lolita years of world fame.”  An informative introduction places the selections in the context of Nabokov’s life and writing career.  A rich treat for Nabokov’s admirers.  publication date:  November 12, 2019  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/vladimir-nabokov/think-write-speak/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2183  November 18, 2019 

We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes;  But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.  Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese,  Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.  (extract from Linguistic humor, the English lesson)  https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/english-lesson.html 



Caldecott Award-winning children’s author and illustrator Mordicai Gerstein, who created more than 40 books for young readers, sketched out a book titled Moose, Goose, and Mouse before his death in 2019. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/81290-obituary-mordicai-gerstein.html



Manhattan Melodrama is a 1934 American pre-Code crime film, produced by MGM, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy.  The movie also provided one of the earliest roles for Mickey Rooney, who played Gable's character as a child.  The film is based on a story by Arthur Caesar, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Story.  It was also the first of Myrna Loy and William Powell's fourteen screen pairings.  Notorious criminal John Dillinger attended a showing of the film at Chicago's Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934.  After leaving the theater, he was shot to death by federal agents.  Myrna Loy was among those who expressed distaste at the studio's willingness to exploit this event for the financial benefit of the film.  Scenes from Manhattan Melodrama, in addition to Dillinger's death, are depicted in the 2009 film Public Enemies.  The film has a Harlem nightclub scene featuring Shirley Ross singing a song called "The Bad in Every Man."  After the film's release, the lyrics were rewritten by Lorenz Hart as the retitled "Blue Moon".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Melodrama



A molehill (or mole-hill, mole mound) is a conical mound of loose soil raised by small burrowing mammals, including moles, but also similar animals such as mole-rats, kangaroo moles, and voles.  The word is first recorded in the first half of the 15th century.  Formerly the hill was known as a 'wantitump', a word still in dialect use for centuries afterwards.  The phrase "making a mountain out of a molehill" is commonly used metaphorically to mean "to exaggerate a minor problem".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molehill



Beans, being fairly easy to grow, are commonly used in everyday expressions to indicate something of little value.  Consequently, someone who isn’t worth a hill of beans is seen as being worth very little, although one could argue that today a hill of beans costs a pretty penny.  An older saying, “not worth a bean,” appeared as far back as 1297, when historian Robert of Gloucester wrote it in his English Chronicles.  The American saying, “not worth a hill of beans,” began to appear around 1863; “a hill of” was often inserted into phrases to emphasize their meaning.  https://www.almanac.com/fact/where-did-the-saying-not-worth-a

Joe Biden wrote Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose (2017);

Promises to Keep:  On Life and Politics (2007); Promise Me, Dad:  A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose (2017); and, Conversations with Joe (2018).     

Hope Never Dies (Obama Biden Mysteries, #1) is by Andrew  Shaffer.

The President Is Missing (2018) is a novel by Bill Clinton and James Patterson.

Jimmy Carter wrote
The Hornet's Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War (2003); Our Endangered Values (2006); Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006); Beyond the White House (2007); We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land (2009); White House Diary (2010); A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power (2014); and, A Full Life: Reflections at 90 (2015)

Barack Obama wrote Dreams From My Father (1995) and The Audacity of Hope (2006)


"Hokey pokey" was a slang term for ice cream in general in the 19th and early 20th centuries in several areas—including New York City and parts of Great Britain—specifically for the ice cream sold by street vendors, or "hokey-pokey" men.  The vendors, said to be mostly of Italian descent, supposedly used a sales pitch or song involving the phrase "hokey pokey", for which several origins have been suggested, although no certain etymology is known.  One such song in use in 1930's Liverpool, UK was "Hokey Pokey penny a lump, that's the stuff to make ye jump".  The name may come from the term "hocus-pocus", or it may be a corruption of one of several Italian phrases.  According to "The Encyclopedia of Food" (published 1923, New York) hokey pokey (in the U.S.) is "a term applied to mixed colors and flavors of ice cream in cake form".  The Encyclopedia says the term originated from the Italian phrase oh che poco-- "oh how little".  Alternative possible derivations include other similar-sounding Italian phrases:  for example ecco un poco - "here is a (little) piece".   Find related uses at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokey_pokey_(ice_cream)

-gress-, root.  -gress- comes from Latin, where it has the meaning "step; move.''  It is related to -grad-.  This meaning is found in such words as: aggression, congress, digress, egress, ingress, progress, regress, transgress.  https://www.wordreference.com/definition/-gress-



Roasted Grapes with Thyme, Fresh Ricotta & Grilled Bread  posted by Alexandra  https://alexandracooks.com/2011/09/07/lunch-roasted-grapes-with-thyme-fresh-ricotta-grilled-bread/



bandy  verb  From French bander (“to bandy at tennis”), with -y, -ie added due to influence from Spanish and Portuguese bandear and or Old Occitan bandir (“to throw”), from the same root as English band. Compare also with banter.  bandie  bandy (third-person singular simple present bandies, present participle bandying, simple past and past participle bandied).  (transitive) To give and receive reciprocally; to exchange.  to bandy words (with somebody)  (transitive) To use or pass about casually. quotations ▼ to have one's name bandied about (or around) (transitive)  To throw or strike reciprocally, like balls in sports. quotations ▼ (obsolete, intransitive) To fight (with or against someone). quotations ▼

Find much more at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bandy



Polis literally means city in Greek.  It can also mean a body of citizens.  In modern historiography, polis is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, and thus is often translated as "city-state".  These cities consisted of a fortified city centre (asty) built on an acropolis or harbor and controlled surrounding territories of land (khôra).  The Ancient Greek city-state developed during the Archaic period as the ancestor of city, state, and citizenship and persisted (though with decreasing influence) well into Roman times, when the equivalent Latin word was civitas, also meaning "citizenhood", while municipium applied to a non-sovereign local entity.  The term "city-state", which originated in English (alongside the German Stadtstaat), does not fully translate the Greek term.   Read more, see graphics and find derived terms, such as Tripolis-–a group of three cities, retained in the names of Tripoli in Libya, in Greece, and a namesake in Lebanon.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polis



November 13, 2019  This week’s recipe for Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms & Riesling is from the charming new book, Food52 Dynamite Chicken by Tyler Kord.  With his trademark wit and wacky turn of mind, Tyler has collected an amazing bunch of simple and delicious chicken recipes perfect for midweek family eating.  In this recipe, chicken thighs are browned and then stewed with good ol’ button mushrooms, garlic, cardamom, coriander and Riesling wine.  Any white wine can work here, but if you have a chance to grab an off-sweet Riesling, do so and be sure to save a glass for dinner.  Find recipe serving 4  at https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/chicken-thighs-with-mushrooms-riesling



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads. - Marianne Moore, poet (15 Nov 1887-1972)



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2182  November 15, 2019

“Holy Toledo” probably refers to the city in Spain, and not the one in Ohio, though some Ohioans would like to think it refers to either the large number of churches or the large number of saloons in that city.  The Spanish city was “liberated” from the Moors in 1085, and became one of the greatest Christian centers.  So people could swear on that holy city, as they could on a sacred fish (“holy mackerel!”) or bovine (“holy cow!”).  Anything to avoid blasphemy!  Although the phrase apparently originated in the early twentieth century, “holy Toledo” might also have something to do with the way people used their weapons as expressions of faith.  Warriors would pledge their swords to their sovereigns, and thus swear on them that something was true.  And the city of Toledo (the Spanish one) was known for the fine quality of its swords, which were often called “toledos.”  So it’s just possible that the “holy toledo” of surprise was a reference to swearing alliance on a sacred sword.  Weapons may also figure in “heavens to Betsy,” another phrase whose origin is unclear.  The “heavens” part is easy, but no one is quite sure where “Betsy” came from.  The OED posits that “Betsy” refers to frontier slang for a favorite rifle or shotgun (“I’m gonna take Old Betsy and hunt down that varmint!”). The phrase, which may have originated in the mid-nineteenth century, thus might be also be a reference to fealty sworn on a constant companion.  The heavens, of course, are one of the most popular things to swear on or about.  But it’s anyone’s guess whether “heavens to Murgatroyd” traces to Gilbert and Sullivan, a 1944 Bert Lahr movie, or “Snagglepuss” from the “Yogi Bear” cartoons.  And if you’ve heard of none of those, then for Pete’s sake, look them up!  Merrill Perlman  https://archives.cjr.org/language_corner/taking_names_in_vain.php

A Hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger and/or freight transportation, first used to describe an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX.  Drawing heavily from Robert Goddard's vactrain, a hyperloop is a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at high speed while being very efficient, thereby drastically reducing travel times over medium-range distances.  Elon Musk's version of the concept, first publicly mentioned in 2012, incorporates reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on air bearings driven by linear induction motors and axial compressors.  The Hyperloop Alpha concept was first published in August 2013, proposing and examining a route running from the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly following the Interstate 5 corridor.  The Hyperloop Genesis paper conceived of a hyperloop system that would propel passengers along the 350-mile (560 km) route at a speed of 760 mph (1,200 km/h), allowing for a travel time of 35 minutes, which is considerably faster than current rail or air travel times.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop



Andrew Shaffer is the New York Times bestselling author of Hope Never Dies:  An Obama Biden Mystery, the international bestselling parody Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, and numerous other humorous works of fiction and nonfiction.  He is a two-time Goodreads Choice Award nominee and a finalist in the Humor category.  He has appeared as a guest on NPR, FOX News, and CBS, and has been published in McSweeney's, Mental Floss, and The Daily Beast.  He is the owner and creative director of Order of St. Nick, the quirky greeting card company whose cards have been featured on The Colbert Report.  He also is the publisher of 8th Circle Press.  Shaffer attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and studied comedy writing at The Second City, Chicago’s famed improv school.  An Iowa native, Shaffer lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife, novelist Tiffany Reisz.  He teaches and mentors writers at Lexington's Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.  http://www.andrewshaffer.com/about-andrew-shaffer

Most words in Pig Latin end in "ay."  1.  If a word starts with a consonant and a vowel, put the first letter of the word at the end of the word and add "ay."  Example:  Happy = appyh + ay = appyhay  2.  If a word starts with two consonants move the two consonants to the end of the word and add "ay."  Example:  Child = Ildch + ay = Ildchay  3.  If a word starts with a vowel add the word "way" at the end of the word.  Example:  Awesome = Awesome +way = Awesomeway  https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~morelanj/RAO/prepare2.html

Pig Latin is not a true language, it is a game in which the beginning consonant or consonant sound of each word is transferred to the end of the word, along with the the syllable -ay, as in igpay atinlay.  If a word begins with a vowel sound, the word is rendered into Pig Latin by adding -yay to the end of the word. Invented language is a phenomenon that stretches across cultures.  Pig Latin seems to have been invented by American children sometime in the 1800s, originally it was called Hog Latin.  Pig Latin solidified its place in the American consciousness with the release of the song Pig Latin Love in 1919.  Note that Pig Latin is properly rendered with capitalization, though the term is occasionally found rendered as pig Latin.  https://grammarist.com/interesting-words/pig-latin/

Sour Cream Maple Cake with Lemon Glaze  BON APPÉTIT NOVEMBER 2002  A wonderfully homey cake that's equally good with afternoon tea, after a meal, or for breakfast with a cup of Italian roast coffee.  makes 10-12 servings  https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sour-cream-maple-cake-with-lemon-glaze-107332



A Santa Fe, New Mexico based chef, author, Native foods historian and photographer Lois Ellen Frank was born in New York City and raised on Long Island, New York with her father's side of the family.  She is from the Kiowa Nation on her mother's side and Sephardic on her father's side.  Her first career experiences were as a professional cook and organic gardener.  Lois has spent over 25 years documenting foods and life ways of Native American tribes from the Southwest.  This lengthy immersion in Native American communities culminated in her book, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, featuring traditional and contemporary recipes.  It won the James Beard Award in the Americana category and was the first Native American book to win the award.  She has worked with world-renowned chefs, scientists and academicians and collaborated with them to publish many culinary posters and cookbooks.  She has worked with national and international advertising agencies as well as many editorial clients as a chef and a photographer.  Lois received her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in Culinary Anthropology in July 2011.  She received her Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology in May, 1999 where she focused on the importance of corn as a common thread to all Indigenous tribes throughout the Americas.  https://redmesacuisine.com/loisellenfrank



Before buying a new dining table, measure--and then measure again.  “The first rule of design is scale,” says Young Huh, of Young Huh Interior Design in New York.  https://www.spokesman.com/tags/dining-table/



National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo or simply NaNo, is a novel-writing challenge that takes place every November.  Participants begin writing on November first with a goal of completing a 50,000-word novel from scratch by the end of the month.  It is also 501(c)(3) nonprofit.  Upon signing up, users gain posting privileges on the website's forum and a user profile in which they can post a basic profile about themselves as well as a summary, excerpt, and cover for their novel.  On the front page of this profile are any Profile Badges that the user has earned.  The challenge begins at midnight on November 1st (local time), and ends on November 30th at 11:59:59 (local time).  From November 25-30, members can verify their wordcount by copy/pasting their novel into the NaNoWriMo word counter under user pages.  If the automated validator counts over 50,000 words, the word count bar turns purple and the Wrimo is listed as a winner.  Upon validation, users will receive a winner icon, a certificate and access to other "Winner Goodies".  https://www.wikiwrimo.org/wiki/National_Novel_Writing_Month



To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature. - Auguste Rodin, sculptor (12 Nov 1840-1917)



I know what I have given you.  I do not know what you have received. - Antonio Porchia, poet (13 Nov 1886-1968)



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2181  November 13, 2019