Asking A Democrat A Few Questions

Hi folks! This is Dan Ratherbe in Philadelphia, as promised, with a Democrat who will answer all questions today with no holds barred. My guest is John Wussywuss.

DR: Welcome Mr. Wussywuss.

JW: I'm glad to be here, I think. I'm a little nervous. Don't make those questions too tough now.

DR: First, is it true if a Republican shouts "boo," that many Democrats jump into bed and pull the covers over their heads?

JW: No, that's not entirely true, because I bury my head under the pillow, but I actually prefer to use two pillows. Besides, those mean old Republicans don't always scare me, I sleep with the light on. 

DR: Is it true that President Obama has said he believes the Indians made a good deal with the Dutch in trading a few trinkets for Manhattan?

JW: Well, I believe what he said was that he felt the Indians bargained too hard with the Dutch and that they should have scaled back their offer before hitting the Dutch with such demands. After all, the Dutch offered some good trinkets. You couldn't find trinkets like that just anywhere, since that was before the five and dime stores were founded.

DR: Some have said President Obama negotiates with himself. How does he tell who wins? 

JW: I believe Harry Reid tells him. You know, Harry was once a boxer, but not any more. 

DR: I'm sure you remember that Governor Deval of Massachusetts said at last year's Democratic Convention that Democrats need to grow a spine. Do you agree?

JW: We have a spine, and besides, that guy's going to get us into trouble saying things like that. Going to get the Republicans mad, then where will we be? Just like those people who wanted the "public option" in the health care law. Geez, if we'd have pushed for that, the Republicans would have thrown everything into stopping the law from passing.

DR: You mean they didn't throw everything into trying to stop health care from passing? After all Mr. Wussywuss, Republicans and their allies far outspent supporters of the health care law.

JW: I think I've said enough on this subject. You're aiming to get me into trouble with the Republicans too. Next they won't even sit with me in the lunch room.

DR: You mean some Republicans actually sit with you?

JW: No, but is that any way to get them to start?

DR: Okay, last question. How many Democrats believe the jellyfish should be be the symbol of the party?

JW: Oh I really can't say at the moment. At last count the jellyfish was neck and neck with a one day old fawn. I kind of favor the fawn, they're cute.

DR: Thank you Mr. John Wussywuss. You've just heard Mr. Wussywuss talk about the Democratic Party, President Obama and the public option on health care.

JW: Shhhh! Hush! There you go with that public option stuff again. I'm tellin' you. You're going to get the Republicans all stirred up and they'll be shouting "boo" at me before I even get home and I don't have any pillows with me. You don't care, leaving a poor guy defenseless. What's that?

DR: It's just your shadow Mr. Wussywuss.

JW: Are you sure it's not Mitch McConnell or Eric Cantor?       

WORD HISTORY:
Rear (rere)-English has a couple of words "rear," and this is the archaic and dialectal one that formed the first part of "rearmouse" (once also spelled "reremouse"), which was long the main English word for "bat" (the animal), a word that remained in use dialectically after "bat" replaced it. It goes back to Indo European "khere/khera," which had the meaning of "mix, stir," but with the underlying notion being "motion or movement used to mix something." This gave its Old Germanic offspring a form something like "hrerazjana," which had the same meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hreran," which meant "to shake, to agitate, to move," and this then became "reren." As other words replaced the meanings of "reren," it seems to have been confined to the above mentioned forms of the first part of a compound that meant "bat," with the movement/agitation idea combined with "mouse," to give "fluttering mouse, mouse that stirs/agitates the air." Some of the Germanic relatives of "rear/rere" are still around, as German still has "rühren" (whose older form was spelled "hruoren"), which still means, among other things, "to stir/mix ingredients, move ones limbs or fingers;" Low German Saxon has "röhren;" Dutch has "roeren," which means "to stir, to beat/whip (sauce or batter), to shake;" West Frisian has "oanroere" (a compound which means "touch," once also a secondary meaning in English, and still used in German along with the similar to Frisian "anrühren"); Danish and Norwegian have "røre," meaning "to stir;" Icelandic has "hraera," meaning "stir;" Swedish has "röra," which means "stir, move, touch." Notice that Icelandic is the only Germanic language to retain the initial "h" from long ago. Also, the "touch" meaning can be in the sense "affect," as in, "Their gift touched me deeply."