Easily Confused

How does this damned thing work, anyway?

World Income Gap Staggering And Frightening

 Below is the link to a story carried on "NBC Nightly News" on Monday, January 20, 2014. (Unfortunately, the link has expired, but the basic point is covered here.) I've talked about income disparity here many times over the years and this story only goes to prove that the situation is dire and may just be a powder keg waiting for a lit match. The world's 85 richest people have more wealth than the three and a half billion poorest people. While the article mentions "societal breakdown," it fails to specifically mention the serious danger to the wealthy themselves, because, in my opinion, if and when that match touches the powder keg, they are likely to lose their heads, literally, as revolutionaries lose their heads, figuratively. With the instantaneous communication and fast travel of today, the upheaval will likely spread worldwide. At present there doesn't seem to be a political figure on the political right anywhere in sight who has the sense, or the desire, to try to lessen the growing income gap, and thus lessen the tensions.* A few very wealthy American individuals, like Warren Buffett, have spoken out about the growing inequality, but no one has really stepped forward to lead a movement to challenge the fascistic egomaniacs of the extreme right, and Buffett is well into his 80s. Any Democrat will be lambasted as a "socialist," or worse, as we've seen happen with Barack Obama, a man left of center, but generally only modestly so.

This is the link to the article, which is not all that long: 

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/worlds-85-richest-have-same-wealth-3-5-billion-poorest-2D11958883

 * As a comparison, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/12/german-question-part-sixty-three.html

WORD HISTORY:
Ken (Kenning)-This word, closely related to "can" ("to be able") and "know," is little used in the U.S. and Canada (I did recently hear it used on CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" comedy), but it does get some use in the U.K. It goes back to Indo European "gn(oh)/gn(eh)," which meant, "to know." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "kunnan," which meant "to know, to come to know/learn, to know how to do something from learning." This verb's causative form, "kannijan," meant "to make something known," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cennan," initially with the same meaning. Old Norse, another Germanic language, brought its form, "kenna" (initially with the same meaning, but by the time it came to England, meaning simply "to know"), to England with Danish/Norwegian invaders, who then settled in the eastern part of England, especially in the northeast and in southern Scotland, and it seems to have influenced the meaning of the English word to simply mean "know." The noun form "ken" is means "knowledge, perception/feeling." The other Germanic languages have (verb/noun): German "kennen/Kenntnis," Low German "kennen/Künn ," Dutch "kennen/kennis," West Frisian "kenne" (verb), Danish "kende/kends-" (first part of some compounds which mean "knowledge/ken"), Icelandic "kunnugt" (noun, and verb form "kenna" means "to teach, make known"), Norwegian "kjenne/," Swedish "känna/kuns-" (first part of compounds meaning "knowledge/ken"), plus "kännadom," which also means "knowledge/ken." Unless noted, the forms generally mean "to know" for verb forms and "ken," "knowledge," for noun forms.

Farewell To Our Friend, The Professor

Russell Johnson, better known to so many as "the Professor," from that role on "Gilligan's Island," died on January 16, 2014. 

When I was a kid fifty years ago, CBS aired a weekly comedy called "Gilligan's Island," a show that quickly became one of my favorites. The network execs thought the show wouldn't last, because they saw it mainly as a children's show running in prime time.What they didn't seem to realize was, many of us humans, hopefully all, retain at least some of our childhood likes, whether we'll admit it or not. Gilligan's Island lasted for three years, 98 episodes and the show's ratings placed it in the top 20 shows during two of its three seasons. The show contained a good deal of slapstick, with stumbling, falling down, dropping things and the like, mainly by the show's namesake character "Gilligan," played perfectly by Bob Denver. The show's scripts laid out a general pattern, presented in comedic form, of how seven people from various walks of life became castaways on an uncharted Pacific island and how they needed one another to survive. One of the characters was played by actor Russell Johnson, who is better known around the world as "the Professor." And I do mean "around the world," as the original 98 "Gilligan's Island" episodes continued to be shown in the U.S. and in numerous countries for the decades since the show left prime time and actual filming, although several full length movies and a cartoon series were done years later, too.

The Professor's character, who was from Cleveland, was a bit more serious than some of the others, and it was to him that the other six castaways turned for help in most matters, as his scientific mind tried to come up with a way to get them rescued or to develop a solution to save them from some predicament. Johnson later talked about how difficult it had been to memorize his lines, which were frequently filled with all sorts of complicated scientific terms. Like the rest of the cast, Russell Johnson's role as the Professor became so etched in the public's mind, that after the show was canceled, he had trouble getting acting jobs. According to various  interviews done later, Johnson said he was at first bitter about the typecasting brought about by the show, but that the comments he got from people everywhere he went, as well as the mail he received, finally made him realize how the show had positively affected the lives of so many people. He and some of the others began to do interviews and make public appearances about "Gilligan's Island."*

Johnson suffered a terrible blow when his son died of AIDS in the 1990s at the age of 39, and I remember seeing a heart tugging interview with a distraught Russell Johnson talking about his son's death.

So now we must bid farewell to our friend Russell Johnson, who will continue to live on as "the Professor." Thank you for giving me great memories from my childhood and thank you for helping to keep that part of my childhood alive in me to this very day. R.I.P.

* Actress Tina Louise, who played "Ginger" on the series, has remained bitter over "Gilligan's Island" throughout her life, and she chose not to participate in the later movies, nor to participate in the public appearances regarding the show. My mind's a bit hazy on this, so take that into account, but several years ago Tina Louise had released a children's book and was doing some promotional interviews for it. I believe she wanted (or was asked?) to do an interview on a popular Cleveland radio show, but she made the interview conditioned upon her being asked only one question about "Gilligan's Island." One of the show's hosts was outraged by the condition and to be quite honest, I can't remember if the interview went forward or not, but that's really not that important, as I add this only to show how contentious her relationship with "Gilligan's Island" has been.

WORD HISTORY:
Professor-This compound goes back to the Indo European root "pro/por," which had the notion of "in front, ahead, before," and the Indo European root "bha," which had the general idea of "speak, talk," which then gave Latin "fateri" (meaning "acknowledge," and whose participle was "fassum," which contributed the "fessor" part of our word). The combination gave Latin "profiteri," which meant "to acknowledge publicly;" that is, "in the open, in front of others." From that was derived Latin  "professor" ("one who openly declares knowledge of a subject, or subjects"), which then was inherited by Old French, a Latin-based language, as "prof(f)esseur," and it was then carried to England by the Normans, but it was the latter part of the 1300s before it was borrowed into English, likely reinforced by the Latin word itself.

The Weather and Feeling Miserable and Scared

This was originally published in January 2014

I'm always interested to hear the weather reports. I not only want to find out what the conditions will be, but I want to hear how miserable and scared I should feel, and weather reporters seldom disappoint on that. Now I realize that extreme weather conditions are a major story, and about ten days ago the eastern part of the country experienced far below average temperatures. Here in Cleveland, a few days later the temperatures rose to the upper 40s and low 50s. Never ones who seem to want to celebrate good fortune when it comes along, the weather people here quickly told us "what was coming." Yes folks, believe it or not, winter did return, but not with a vengeance, at least not yet, but the temperatures actually dropped into the 30s, perish the thought, and there were some snow flurries. One station exaggerated... I mean, reported, how it had been snowing all day and how the temperature was 8 degrees less than the day before. This prompted me to look at the calendar, which to my surprise, told me it was January. I really believe the weather people need to check the calendar at times, just to gain a little perspective. Having been a "northerner" my entire life, I guess I just expect to see some snow and cold temperatures in the winter. I think I'm going to start turning down the sound and just watching the weather reports, rather than listen to all of the hype, as they try with all their might to scare the living hell out of everyone!

I'm sure it's the same in other northern cities, but here in Cleveland, people once took pride in how the population managed winter conditions. Now the weather reports blare out in a voice tinged with the panic of Fred Sanford shouting, "Oh no, this is the big one:" "We might get 2 inches of snow today! And hold on, the temperature might drop to 18 degrees tonight!" The only thing missing from the hysteria is, "YIKES! Stock up on food, water, and extra blankets, and, in spite of how panicked I sound, try to keep calm."

So folks, try to remember, if you live in parts of the country that actually have a good many days with cold or snow and you get a couple of spring like days, DON'T CELEBRATE! I'm sure your local weather person will rush to tell you "What's coming!" Remember, behind every silver lining, there's a dark cloud.

WORD HISTORY:
Gate-English has two such words,^ although one is now archaic, except in some street/place names. Their history is a bit sketchy, but the two are from the same Old Germanic source. If I find other convincing evidence, I'll do a post to make the necessary corrections.

"Gate" goes back to Old Germanic "gatan," but where Germanic got the word is uncertain; in fact, it might be more specifically West Germanic, one of the three branches of Germanic, as some seem to believe the North Germanic forms were borrowed from West Germanic. It originally "seems" to have meant "opening or passage." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "geat," which meant "a hinged barrier for an opening in a wall." When the Old Norse speaking Danes and Norwegians invaded and settled in parts of England, they brought their own forms of the word with them ("gata/gat"), which then became the second English form of "gate," but which meant "passageway," thus giving English the meaning "street," a meaning that is now pretty much confined to street names or places in England, but there might be a few here in the U.S. and Canada. There are various forms in the other Germanic languages, as German has "Gasse" ^^ (a narrow street, lane, alley), Low German has "Gaat" (gutter; that is, path for water), Dutch has "gat" (hole, opening), Danish has "gade" (street), Swedish and Icelandic have "gata" (street), Norwegian has "gate" (street). I could not find a form in modern Frisian, but Frisian once had a form.
 
 ^ Actually there are three such words, but the third, still in use, is now spelled "gait," and means "how a person carries themselves when walking."

^^ One of the characteristics of Old High German (the forerunner of modern German) was often the change in "t" to "s," or in this case, to double "s." Another example is English "kettle," but German "Kessel."