Spanish Butter Bean & Chorizo Stew (Fabada Asturiana)

The Spanish name for this dish is "Fabada Asturiana," as it originated in the Asturias region (capital: Oviedo) of northwestern Spain, but the dish is not uncommon in other parts of Spain. I looked at so many recipes for this dish, I lost count, but 25 would be a good guess. Some used smoked pork belly or smoked pork hock or salt pork, but I chose, as I saw in some recipes, raw pork belly, but I added a small smoked pork hock, just to add a slight smoky flavor to the smokiness of the Spanish paprika. I used dried, and thus firm, Spanish chorizo,* which is also seasoned with paprika. I like to bake many dishes that others cook on the stove top, and this recipe was no exception. It would also be a good dish to fix in a crock pot. Frequently served in Spain with hard cider or red wine and good crusty bread. 

1 pound white beans (fabada beans, butter beans or cannellini/white kidney beans)
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 medium tomato, chopped 
3/4 pound raw pork belly (you can trim off some of the fat)
1/2 pound firm chorizo, cut into about 1/4 inch slices 
1/2 pound Spanish morcilla blood sausage (also called, "blood pudding"), cut into two inch pieces
1 small smoked pork hock (also called "ham hock")
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sweet paprika, preferably Spanish, or Spanish-style
2 tablespoons olive oil
a good "pinch" of saffron threads (saffron is an expensive spice derived from the crocus flower. Many supermarkets or spice shops have it. The spice is a common addition to dishes in Spain; thus, I have used it in the Word History, below)
water

You can soak the dried beans overnight, or put them into a pot, cover them with water and bring the water to a boil. Add no salt to the water. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let the beans soak in the hot water for 60 to 75 minutes. Drain. Heat the oven to 325 F. In a pot or casserole, put the beans, the onion, the garlic, the salt, the pepper, the paprika, the tomato, the olive oil and the saffron. Stir to mix the ingredients a bit. Add the bay leaf, and snuggle in the pork belly, the chorizo slices, the morcilla and the pork hock. Add enough water to almost cover everything. Cover and bake for 75 minutes. Check to see if the dish needs water added (the beans won't cook properly if they don't have water). Bake until the beans and the pork belly are tender. The paprika from the chorizo and the loose paprika, along with the saffron, will give a reddish color to the stew. You can further slice down the morcilla blood sausage before serving.  

* Americans and Canadians are much more familiar with the soft chorizo which is common in Mexico, but most Spanish chorizo is more the texture of salami or pepperoni. 

WORD HISTORY:
Saffron-The ultimate origin of this word for the expensive thread-like spice taken from the crocus flower is unknown, although an Indo European or a Semitic origin seems likely, due to the plant's history in the general area of the Middle East, where people speaking Indo European and Semitic languages interacted, sometimes peacefully, but sometimes violently. Arabic, a language from the Semitic family of languages,^ had the transliterated "zafaran," as the word for the spice. Latin borrowed the word as "safranum," and this became "safran," in Latin-based Old French. English borrowed the word in the early 1200s. Spanish has azafrán.

^  The most common modern Semitic languages are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Tigrinya. Arabic and Hebrew are commonly known in much of Europe and North America, but Amharic is spoken in a large part of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is also spoken in parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, another East African nation. 

The Phantom of the Opera, 1962

I first saw this version of "Phantom of the Opera" back, I'd guess, "about" 1967 or 1968, as it first aired on American television on NBC, either on Saturday Night At The Movies, or on their other movie night, which varied over the years between Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken. The film was a Hammer Films Production, the British production company famous for many horror films, often starring Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee. I've read over the years that this Phantom script was written to star none other than English/American actor Cary Grant (he became an American citizen during World War Two). The thing is, the writings mentioning Grant do not specify if he was to play the Phantom or the other main male character. Whatever the case, the film went to production without Grant. Prior to this film, there had been one famous silent picture version, starring Lon Chaney, in the mid 1920s, followed in the early 1940s by an American produced version, in color, with a musical edge to it, starring singer/actor Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster, with a favorite of mine, Claude Rains, as the Phantom. Like Cary Grant, Rains was born in England, but later became an American citizen (around the time of the outbreak of World War Two). For the article on the Claude Rains film version, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/08/phantom-of-opera-1943.html

In this 1962 Hammer Production version, the film is set in London, not Paris, and the Phantom, played by Herbert Lom, is not a killer. * Instead, the script had "a dwarf," ** so listed in the cast, played by Ian Wilson, who is the killer in this movie. The film begins with a new opera about to open in London about Joan of Arc, and listed as written by Lord Ambrose D'Arcy (played by Michael Gough***). As the lead female singer prepares her voice in her dressing room, a voice speaks to her and she sees a figure. Her screams bring the producer/director, Harry Hunter, played by Edward De Souza, running to her room. He calms the singer and essentially tells her, "the show must go on," but he realizes the woman did see and hear something. During the singer's performance, one of the stagehands comes through the stage scenery swinging by the neck from a rope. The singer quits the show, but you can't say the production was left hanging by a thread. Ah, anyway....

Mr. Hunter finds a new singer, Christine Charles, played by Heather Sears.**** When she is in the dressing room, she too hears a voice speaking to her, telling her that she will be a great singer. Unfortunately for Christine, Lord Ambrose, who is unbearably haughty and conniving, takes a fancy to her, but not for her singing abilities, and he invites her to dinner at an upscale restaurant, only to try to get her to his apartment for a late night "singing lesson." She is "saved" when Harry Hunter enters the restaurant, and Christine asks him to also accompany them to the "singing lesson." Lord Ambrose leaves the establishment quite angry, but Hunter and Christine go back to the opera house, where, in a bit of comic relief, the two meet the poor, but sassy, cleaning women for the opera house. Hunter takes Christine back to the dressing room where she heard the voice speak to her. Suddenly the voice comes through again, but this time Hunter is present, and the voice warns Mr. Hunter not to meddle in things with the singer. Screams from the cleaning women interrupt, and Hunter and Christine go to see what is the matter. A large shadow is shown moving toward them, but it turns out to be a rat catcher, played by Patrick Troughton, who has been prowling the opera house that night for his catch, and he tells them, "the place is loaded with them" (you may never go to an opera house after this). In another lighthearted moment, the rat catcher wants to show Hunter and Christine his catch, telling them, "They make a lovely pie, you know," only to have Mr. Hunter say, "We're.... vegetarians." Moments later, the rat catcher is murdered by the dwarf, who stabs him with what appears to be a screwdriver, right in the eye. Well, you can't say he didn't see it coming. When Hunter goes to investigate, he leaves Christine unattended and a man in black and with a mask showing only one eye appears at the top of the steps near Christine. Her screams bring Hunter back to her, and the masked character quickly disappears.

As retaliation for her snub, Ambrose removes Christine from the opera. Not long thereafter, he also removes Hunter, who goes to tell Christine the news of his own dismissal. On his visit to the house where Christine rents a room, Hunter finds some old music. When he plays some of it on a piano there, he finds it is the same music from the opera. The homeowner, an older lady, tells him she got the music from an eccentric musician, Professor Petrie, who once roomed there (I think I've seen some of his "dishes;" oh wait, that's spelled 'petri'). This starts Hunter on a search to learn more about Professor Petrie, whom he suspects is really the composer of the opera, as he knows that Lord Ambrose is no musician. He goes to an old London print shop, where Professor Petrie supposedly died in a fire, according to Christine's landlady. One of the old printers tells him that no one died that night, but that a man had broken in, then must have broken a lamp (oil lamp) and that it started a fire. When the man tried to put the fire out, he threw what he thought was water on the fire, but that it was actually powerful nitric acid, used for etching metal, and that some of it splashed back onto his face, burning him badly, and causing him to run from the print shop. Mr. Hunter and Christine go to the police and talk with the officer who had been on duty near the print shop the night of the fire. He tells them that the man ran out of the shop and jumped into the river. The assumption made by all was that the man drowned, although his body was never found.

When Christine returns home, the dwarf is waiting outside of her window. He carries her off to the Phantom, who lives beneath the opera house, in the subterranean passages of the old London sewer system. He is seen playing an old pipe organ, his acquisition of which is never explained (no Ebay or Amazon back then, either). He tells Christine that he will teach her to sing. Meanwhile, Lord Ambrose is auditioning singers, but since he's so obnoxious, he fires the orchestra conductor, causing the entire orchestra to walk out in protest. The opera house manager tells Lord Ambrose that he can't continue to let him go on like this, and that Lord D'Arcy should apologize and ask Mr. Hunter to return. This infuriates D'Arcy just as Mr. Hunter comes to the door of the room, so Lord Ambrose stomps out, leaving the opera house manager (played by English actor Thorley Walters) trembling from his daring resistance to Lord Ambrose D'Arcy. Mr. Hunter agrees to take over again, but he is immediately told that Christine is missing. He suspects the Phantom and therefore goes to the opera house. All the while, the Phantom has Christine practicing, interspersed with lectures about her needing to sing from her heart, and with occasional outbursts of irrational behavior, including talking to someone not present. The reason for the last will become evident later, but it's clear, Professor Petrie is not playing with all of his musical notes.

Mr. Hunter goes through the opera house, but he can find no hidden panels or passageways. This brings him to return to the place where the man from the printer's shop fire jumped into the river. When he gets very close to the river, he hears the faint sound of the pipe organ, and he sees a sewer opening from the river. He goes into the water and enters the waterway. After some time, the sound of the music grows louder, but the dwarf hears Hunter's disturbance in the water and goes to see who it is. The two men fight and Mr. Hunter drags the dwarf into the main chamber where Christine is resting and the Phantom is playing music. Hunter tells the Phantom that he knows he is Professor Petrie, who then explains what happened when he took his music to Lord D'Arcy years before to get his help in having it published. He had ten years' of music, including the opera about Joan of Arc, but Lord D'Arcy, treacherous, miserly bastard that he is, smugly offered Petrie a mere pittance for all of it, but, after even begging D'Arcy for more, the desperate professor finally agreed. (Petrie's conversation with Lord Ambrose that day is what keeps being played over in Petrie's mind and why he is seen talking to someone not present.) When Petrie leaves D'Arcy's office, Lord Ambrose takes a pen and scratches through Professor Petrie's name on the music and writes his own name on it. Later, Petrie goes to the print shop, only to see the music being printed with Lord D'Arcy's name on it. When he goes to D'Arcy, Petrie tells him the printer is mistakenly printing the music with Lord D'Arcy's name on it. This brings Lord Ambrose to say, "I bought it from you ... MY music with MY name on it. Is that so surprising?" (Buying Mozart's music doesn't make YOU the composer, or my name's not Randy van Beethoven.) Lord Ambrose strikes Professor Petrie with his walking stick, knocking him to the ground, and Lord D'Arcy then rides off in his carriage. This brings Petrie to go to the print shop that night to try to destroy the piles of the already printed music. A sheet of the music falls from the furnace and starts a fire. As the old printer had told Mr. Hunter during their meeting, Petrie mistakenly threw nitric acid on the fire and there was splash back onto the professor, causing intense pain and burning. He ran from the shop, went into the river and floated into the sewer waterway, where the dwarf saved him. Petrie says he doesn't know the man's name, because he cannot speak, but they have lived there under the opera house ever since that night. He asks Mr. Hunter to allow him to teach Christine to sing his opera. After a pause, Petrie begs Mr. Hunter.

The scene shifts to the opening performance of the opera, and a furious Lord Ambrose rushes into the opera house and to the manager's office, where he finds a mysterious man in black, wearing a mask. The man says, "Good evening, Lord Ambrose." The always condescending D'Arcy orders the man, "Take off that ridiculous mask when you speak to me." When the man just stands there, Lord Ambrose tears the man's mask off, only to be terrified by the sight, and D'Arcy turns and runs from the room. The opera is performed and Christine's singing is tremendous, especially the beautiful aria (it will get into your head, I'm warning you; after all, it's my music...ah, I mean, Professor Petrie's). The Phantom/Professor Petrie stands looking on from an upper box. When Christine sings the aria, a tear can be seen coming through the mask hole for Petrie's one good eye. As Christine takes her bows and receives flowers from well wishers, a stagehand begins chasing the dwarf, who has been watching from the scaffolding and cable work high above the stage. He jumps over to the thick rope holding the large chandelier suspended over much of the stage and under which Christine is standing. The chandelier sways, making the audience gasp. Mr. Hunter calls to Christine and heads to the stage from his box. The dwarf grabs another nearby rope as Professor Petrie looks up at the chandelier and sees the fraying rope cannot support the chandelier much longer. He stands on the railing of the box, rips away his mask, exposing a hideously disfigured face (the only time viewers see his unmasked face) and jumps to the stage, pushing Christine out of the way as the chandelier crashes down, killing him.

The dwarf is the murderous villain of the story, since he killed two people that we know of, the one stagehand, early on, and then the rat catcher. Lord Ambrose is despicable, as he has wealth and title, but he treats others as unfit to be in his very presence. The dwarf satisfies his isolation and loneliness by taking care of Professor Petrie, but he is the immediate cause of the cheated, half-mad professor's death. While Professor Petrie is a sympathetic figure, he is not guilt free, as he knows the dwarf is "uncontrollable, at times" (taken from Petrie's words in the movie). Earlier in the film, when the Phantom warns Hunter not to meddle in things, he tells Hunter and Christine, "there are forces of evil at large in the opera house tonight." This is just before the dwarf kills the rat catcher, so Petrie seemingly is aware that someone will be killed by the dwarf that night.                

* "Perhaps" this shows that Cary Grant was to play the Phantom, as the character is toned down and not the actual killer in the film; otherwise, would the public accept Cary Grant as a killer?

** The character certainly doesn't seem to be a dwarf, but rather a stooped and somewhat crippled man, but perhaps, lacking a better term, they used "dwarf?" 

*** Michael Gough is one of those actors whose face is likely to be familiar to many, but whose name is not familiar. He plays the role of Lord D'Arcy to a despicable perfection, and you will likely be hoping the dwarf will be stabbing him in the eye with a screwdriver. Michael Gough played similar characters in other movies, and he died in 2011, age 94! (Special note added 6-22-23: Edward De Souza, who played Harry Hunter in this film, is now 90 years old; Heather Sears, who played Christine, passed away in the mid 1990s; Herbert Lom, who played the Phantom, died at age 95 in 2012; Ian Wilson, who played the 'dwarf,' died at age 86 in 1987.)    

**** Her singing was dubbed by an actual opera singer.   

Photo is from the 2011 Universal Studios Home Entertainment DVD

 WORD HISTORY:
Phantom-This word "seems" to go back to Indo European "bhah," which had the notion, "to shine, to be bright, to appear as bright." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "phaínein," which meant, "to cause to appear, to bring into the light." This then produced transliterated "phantázein," meaning, "to make visible, to make appear." This produced the noun "phántasma," meaning, "image, apparition, something unreal." Latin borrowed this from Greek as "phantasma" ("apparition"), and this passed into Old French, a Latin-based language, as, "fantosme." English borrowed the word around 1300, at first as, "fantom," but by the mid 1500s the "ph" spelling was applied, seemingly due to the old Greek ancestor.

"Denial:" No Making Nazis Great Again Here

Back in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, there was much controversy in the world about the American role in the Vietnam War, especially about the bombing of North Vietnam and parts of South Vietnam. Part of the questioning of this bombing led back on the Allies in World War Two, and to the heavy aerial bombing by the Americans and British of the German city of Dresden in mid February 1945. Dresden is located in eastern Germany, and a large, but unknown quantity, of German refugees had flooded into the city as the Soviets advanced into Germany from the east (Germany was far larger in area back then). The bombing had been somewhat controversial earlier, but a book by English writer David Irving, "The Destruction of Dresden," brought the issue to a heightened state.* Irving's book became a bestseller, a copy of which I bought in the late '60s (?) in paperback.** Irving "claimed" that there were more Germans killed in the Dresden attacks than had been killed in the nuclear attack on Nagasaki, or likely even in the nuclear attack on Hiroshima. The thing was, I don't recall anyone really challenging Irving's statistics, although Irving did scale back the number of killed in Dresden "a bit" in later editions of his book. 

In the 1970s, Irving published a two part biography of Hitler. With these biographical publications, Irving pursued a course to show "the real Hitler," a man whom Irving felt had been given a bad deal by historians. Irving recounted how he had gone through countless documents from German records (the Allies captured tons and tons of records from the Nazi era), and that he could not find any document where Hitler had ordered a killing of Jews, but, at that point, Irving did not dispute that such killings had taken place. Later, however, Irving began to challenge the overwhelming consensus of historians, let alone survivors of the massacre, as something that had been fabricated, even used by Jews to make money. So a conspiracy theory was pushed out more into open. While many people were appalled, unrepentant old Nazis loved it, as did younger Nazis of the (then) 1980s and 1990s. The most infamous symbol of Nazi murder and horror was Auschwitz, a concentration camp/labor camp complex, that became a death camp, with gas chambers to kill people, and with crematoria to burn the bodies. Often Nazi apologists and deniers of history only admitted that people died there from disease, but not from mass murder. Folks, Auschwitz was the stalking grounds of Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor who decided which newly arrived prisoners would live (to work) or die within a short time in the gas chambers. You can't get much lower than that son-of-a-bitch!

As World War Two ground to a conclusion, General Eisenhower, the commander of the Western Allied forces in Europe, made sure the evidence of the concentration camps overrun by his forces was preserved on film and in other documentation, because, he noted, that at sometime in the future, "some bastard will get up and say that this never happened." Folks, David Irving is that bastard! There have been others, too, but Irving chose to take the issue to court, hoping to use the British law to strike a blow at truth.

In 1993, American historian Deborah Lipstadt published a book, "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory." In her book and in some of her public speeches or interviews, Ms. Lipstadt correctly called David Irving what he was, "a Holocaust denier." Within a couple of years, Irving filed a lawsuit against Lipstadt and the publisher, "Penguin Books," for libel.   

So this is some of the background for the 2016 film, "Denial." It stars Rachel Weisz as Deborah Lipstadt, English actor Timothy Spall as David Irving and English actor Tom Wilkinson as the lead attorney, Richard Rampton. The film is about the libel suit filed by Irving against Lipstadt and Penguin Books. In a libel suit in the UK, believe it or not, the burden is on the accused, not the accuser. Hm, I wonder what the members of Parliament have been smoking? Ah, does this mean I have to prove they've been smoking something? Anyway, the attorneys representing Lipstadt and Penguin decide upon a strategy aimed at making Irving the only issue. Irving will represent himself and he agrees to forego a trial by jury; thus, the ruling will come from one judge who will hear the case. Lipstadt does not like the way her own Holocaust research and the views of actual Holocaust survivors will not be presented by the attorneys, who feel Irving will not spare the survivors any pain in his attempt to win the case. As one attorney tells her, if a witness says there was a door on the left in a certain part of Auschwitz, but it was actually on the right, Irving will say the memory of the witness is unreliable. Lipstadt still presses the attorneys, especially because one survivor tells her that survivors don't want to speak for their own benefit, but they want to give voice to all of those who didn't make it. In spite of such a strong argument, the attorneys stick with their plan. 

As the trial drags on, Irving scores some points, but finally attorney Rampton shows, through video of some of Irving's speeches, and excerpts from his writings, how Irving has been more than just casually on the side of vindicating Hitler and the Nazis in general, but how Irving is a racist, who has espoused anti-Jewish views on numerous occasions. He shows how Irving has manipulated historical records to give added weight to his own published works, rather than to the cause of history. Near the end of the trial, the judge causes some uneasiness by asking about what amounts to a person's freedom of speech and entitlement to hold contrary views to much of society, and wonders if a person holding such views can be a liar, if they really believe what they are saying. So we await the verdict.

Finally the judge writes hundreds of pages to his decision, laying out the evidence presented in the case against David Irving as a racist and as someone who denied clear evidence that there were gas chambers at Auschwitz operated with the intent of killing many thousands of people. (Note: In the actual case, the judge found insufficient evidence that Irving kept a picture of Hitler above his desk. Hm, I wonder if they checked his wallet for photos?)

This movie is a docudrama and an important one, not only because of what it shows about David Irving trying to distort the history of mass murder decades ago, but because of the attack on truth we see going on today. Distortions about an elected president of the United States not being an American citizen, allegations about that American's birth certificate being phony, allegations about Ted Cruz's father being part of a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, claims that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, also, "I inherited a mess," "Obama had my wires tapped," "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. ... They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us (sic). They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." Like David Irving, all a bunch of fascist crap!  

* It's good to remember a couple of things here: there was also questioning about the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons. The United States twice used such weapons against Japan in August of 1945. Further, the world, circa 1970, was fraught with the danger of two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. A push of a button could lead to mass destruction, or perhaps even the end of humankind.

** In those times, a paperback book likely would cost less than a dollar, but keep in mind, the value of the money was far different then. I bought the book from money I earned working in a men's clothing shop after school and on Saturdays for a dollar and hour. The minimum wage then was $1.60, but it didn't apply to my employer, as he had too few employees.

Photo is from the 2017 Universal Home Entertainment DVD

 WORD HISTORY:
Deny-The ultimate origin of a part of this word is a bit shaky, but the word is really a suffixed form of a compound word. The prefix part, "de-," is a distant relative of "to," as it was derived from Indo European "de/do," which had the notion, "toward;" thus also figuratively, "for such purpose (of)." This gave Latin "de," meaning, "from, away from;" and also, "of, about." Next we have Indo European "n/ne," which meant, "not, no." This gave Latin "nec," which meant "not," which is distantly related to English "no, not," by way of Indo European. The core word is the problem, but it seems to go back to some Indo European form that meant, "to say, to speak, to speak out," and this produced Latin "aiere," meaning, "to affirm." Put all together, Latin had "denegare;" that is, "to refuse;" literally, "to not affirm." This passed into Latin-based Old French as, "deneier," meaning, "to refuse, to deny." English borrowed the word in the first half of the 1300s. 

FOXTOPUS, A Good Name For Fox News

Well we've all heard the use of "octopus" for someone who can't keep their hands to themselves, especially on a date, and especially in reference to the places where they like to put their hands. Since Fox News has been dealing with the likes of Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly, and as Fox News has been in support of the "P---y Grabber-in-Chief," Donald Trump, I'd say a good name for them is, "FOXTOPUS." Hopefully they'll like the name; they've earned it.

WORD HISTORY:
Sleazy (Sleaze)-The word "sleazy" seems to have come from a "cute" English pronunciation in the 1600's for German "Schlesien" (German pronunciation as if, "schlay-zee-en," thus English "sleazy"). Schlesien (English form: "Silesia") was then a German region ^ known for the production of cloth, which was often a German export. Indeed, the English form, Silesia," was used as a word for the cloth. The cloth was thin, thus "flimsy," and this meaning began to be attached to the word, which eventually broadened beyond the cloth itself. From this "flimsy" meaning, came the further meaning, "low quality," which then broadened to, "someone of low character (20th Century);" thus, "The sleazy councilman in the neighborhood took bribes from drug dealers." Also the meaning, "a place of low or dirty repute;" thus, "We're entering a sleazy part of town, where all sorts of illegal activities go on." The noun "sleaze" was derived from the adjective (mid 20th Century?). 

^ Today, due to border adjustments after World War Two, parts of the "Silesia" region are in Poland, the Czech Republic (Czechia) and Germany.   

The Best of Enemies, Good Film From the Early 1960s

It is hard to write about war movies that are lighthearted, since in war, REAL people get killed and wounded, and all participants return with scars to their bodies or to their minds, or both. However, this somewhat rare war "dramedy," released in 1962, might bring a few smiles to your face, and the ending just might find you having to hold back a tear. This is a delightful Italian production, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, the grandfather of television cook Giada De Laurentiis, but the film was directed by English director Guy Hamilton. It is about a little known part of World War Two; the war in East Africa; more specifically in this case, the war in Abyssinia (also known as Ethiopia). The British and the Italians both had colonies in eastern Africa, and both countries used the local populations to help them retain control of their respective colonies; that is, both used colonial military units. This movie is not easy to find, but it has been on television, including, "if I'm not mistaken," on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). You can also check sources that show movies online. It is available more easily on DVD, but in (dubbed) Italian with English subtitles, although you might find a few DVD copies in the original English. It will be well worth your effort. 

The movie was filmed in Israel to simulate the very rough terrain of parts of Abyssinia in 1941. In that year, the British forces were on the advance against Italian forces in Abyssinia, and the movie depicts an Italian infantry company, "supported" by some Abyssinian warriors, including a few with only spears, that captures a British officer, Major Richardson, played by David Niven, along with his pilot, when their plane crash lands. The Italians want to get back to their main force, but their radio goes bad, so they are out of touch with their headquarters. The experienced and professional Italian commander is killed when a British reconnaissance vehicle comes into the Italian camp, so the writers make sure we still see the reality of war. This leaves Captain Vittorio Blasi in charge, played by Alberto Sordi. Blasi is not the most competent officer, to say the least, and when he is interrogating the captured British officers, he accidentally tells the British where he and his men are headed, which is more information than he can get from his prisoners, who give only name, rank and serial number. Still, the mistake seems harmless, since the information is of little use to the British prisoners at the moment. Major Richardson sort of bullies Captain Blasi at first by pulling rank on the Italian and frequently demanding a salute from him. He then brings up the Geneva Convention about treatment of prisoners, leaving the uninformed captain to wonder if he is violating a law of warfare. The two officers engage in some shouting matches at various times. Blasi may not be a professional officer, but he is a good man who is tired of the war. He only wants to get himself and his men to safety, but, in perhaps a mocking by the scriptwriters of Mussolini, he tries to portray himself as tough, but there is little substance to his posturing.* Blasi decides to make a deal with the condescending British major, who has a contemptuous opinion of the Italian captain. Blasi decides to let the two Brits escape, with the understanding that Richardson will then tell his superiors that the little Italian force is weak and not worth bothering with; thus allowing the Italians to get to safety unscathed.

All goes well, the British men escape (but they take the Italian mules, which wasn't part of the deal) and their commanding officer is pretty well sold that the Italian company is no threat to his own forces, but Richardson then casually mentions where the Italians are heading (Blasi's earlier mistake comes into play by Richardson now making the mistake of saying too much). Another British officer then informs the commander that the Italians are regrouping in the aforementioned place, so the commander decides to send a reluctant Richardson with some armor (British spelling: "armour") and motorized units to destroy the Italian company. Richardson and his men find the Italians in a fort already abandoned by the main Italian force. When the British pull up near the fort, Richardson puts up a white flag to signal he wants to talk. The inexperienced Captain Blasi thinks the British want to surrender and frets over how he will care for his prisoners. Another Italian soldier has to tell the captain it is only a signal the British want to talk and that Blasi must now also show a white flag to show agreement. When Blasi finds Richardson leading the British force against him, he sees Richardson as having broken their agreement and he is furious. Blasi is given one hour to surrender, but in that time, and unknown to the British, Blasi and his Italian men sneak away from the rear of the fort, as Major Richardson failed to order the fort to be surrounded, as he can't imagine Blasi being competent enough to pull a fast one. Who's incompetent now? When more than an hour passes, the other British officers want to open fire, but Richardson doesn't want to kill the Italians and suddenly out of the fort comes some men. Blasi had told some of his colonial soldiers to march out to surrender to the British in one hour, but he failed to give them a watch so they would know when the hour was up, that's why they are late! It's too funny!

The Italians are now on the run. Both the Italians and the British make their respective camps in something of an oasis, near a lake. When the spear-armed Abyssinian warriors kill the Italian mascot, an antelope, Blasi orders the warriors to leave, but this affront brings the warriors to start a fire in the brush. The dry grass and trees are quickly whipped into a major fire which destroys the British vehicles and sends both the Italians and the British men fleeing for their very lives to an island in the middle of the lake. So we now have two armed enemies together, but striving to just stay alive from a common enemy... FIRE! When the fire dies down, the Italians lay down their arms and surrender. With everyone now on foot, the column meets a group of native tribesmen who want the British to turn over the Italians and the Italian guns to them, ending with, "Death to the Italians." Richardson refuses the request and the British and their prisoners move on. The British enter an abandoned native village and make camp, as one of their men is very sick with pneumonia. The Italian doctor treats him, but the writers pull us back from lightheartedness to reality, as the soldier dies. The two sides get involved in a soccer match (football to most of the world), which then evolves into a fight. Damn! Just like a real soccer or hockey match. The situation changes dramatically when the earlier native tribesmen reappear in large numbers. The British withdraw a short distance to a better defensive position.

Captain Blasi asks Major Richardson to give the Italians their weapons, so they can help defend themselves, but Richardson won't do it. While the group waits for what they assume will be an attack by the tribesmen, Blasi and Richardson get into personal details about their lives, and we find out that Captain Blasi has a wife and two children, and he shows Richardson their photo. He tells the major, "My wife said, 'I don't care if you are a coward, come home to me.' " Richardson at first denies having a family picture, but Blasi catches him when he takes the photo from his wallet. The two discuss their dislike of the war, and the major tells him they still have a job to do, but that Blasi doesn't really make the effort. Blasi then tells Richardson that he would willingly fight for his home, but that serving so far from Italy in Africa, he doesn't feel that he is doing that. With this, Richardson decides to give the Italians their weapons, only to learn that his second in command left the Italian ammunition behind. We're back to another competency evaluation.

The group tries to escape under cover of darkness, only to be captured to the last man. The tribesmen not only take their weapons, but their boots too. So now we have a group of barefoot British and Italian soldiers with no weapons. The tribal chief tells them to get out of his country and go fight in their own countries. The men move out in the direction ordered by Richardson, and finally they reach a paved road, but they don't know where they are, although they assume they are behind British lines. Richardson orders the prisoners to the rear, but when Captain Blasi steps off the road to relieve himself, he sees the road marker indicating that they are only 10 Km (about 6 miles) from Addis Ababa, the capital of Abyssinia and thus the center of Italian military command. Blasi bursts out laughing, yelling out, "We are behind the Italian lines." Richardson is furious and frustrated, and he tells Blasi that he should have fired on the Italians when they were hiding in that fort. So now the tables have turned again, or have they? Blasi now also turns serious in response to Richardson. He tells the major, "It's not the best and bravest who win the wars, but the ones who make the least mistakes." The Italians march off toward Addis Ababa and the British march off in the opposite direction. When trucks approach, the British hide off of the road until the column has passed. When they get back on the road, another truck column approaches, but this time with soldiers singing ..... in ENGLISH! Richardson and his men find out that Addis Ababa has fallen to the British and these men are on their way to the victory celebration. Meanwhile, the first truck column approaches the Italians, who are singing in happiness, only to have to raise their hands in surrender... AGAIN!

Later, the Italian prisoners are lined up to board a train to carry them to a prisoner of war camp. Major Richardson and his men are there too, as they have just been issued new vehicles to replace those destroyed earlier. The two groups can't help but notice one another and to think of all they've been through together. The difference is striking, as the British are decked out in new uniforms, while the Italians are in their dirty, torn and ragged uniforms. Major Richardson and Captain Blasi look at each other. The British troops look back at Richardson, seemingly hoping he will say or do something, but Richardson gives the order for his men to march off. Then suddenly he has his men do an about face and he orders them to present arms in a salute of respect for the Italians. Richardson salutes as the train begins to pull out, as a smiling Captain Blasi shouts "Ciao!" The Italians look on as the British men flash big smiles and even a "thumbs up" to them. Captain Blasi and the Italians finally get some respect, and the two groups are really "the best of enemies." 

* Mussolini was known for his strutting and serious poses in newsreels and while giving speeches, but his military forces were ill prepared, ill led, ill trained, ill equipped and ill supplied during World War Two (that's a lot of 'ills'), leaving 'ill' ... I mean... Il Duce's boasting to ring more than a little hollow.

WORD HISTORY:
Enemy-The ultimate origin of "enemy" is uncertain. It goes back to Latin "amare," which meant, "to love, to be fond of, to like." This produced Latin "amicus," meaning "friend." When coupled with the negative Latin prefix "in," tracing back to Indo European "n/ne," this gave Latin "inimicus;" literally, "not a friend" or, "an unfriend;" thus, "enemy," but also with the extended religious meaning, "someone possessed of evil, someone wishing to bring harm to others." This passed to Latin-based Old French in various spellings: "inimi, anemi, animi, enemi" (remember, there were not standards in those tymes... ah, I mean, times), and with the same meanings. English borrowed the word from French circa 1200 as, "enemi/enemy," before settling on the latter as the spelling. It replaced, in specific meaning only, "feond," which had meant "enemy," but "feond" has remained in English right up to the present, but with the updated form "fiend," although its close German cousin, "Feind," still is the primary German word for "enemy."   

German Bread Dumplings (Semmelknödel)

Bread dumplings (Semmelknödel) are common in many parts of Bavaria and Austria; in fact, they are a part of the food culture in these areas. Making bread dumplings is a great way to use leftover bread or rolls. The standard German word for a bread roll is "Brötchen," the diminutive of "Brot" (bread); thus, literally, "little or small bread," but there are several dialect terms, including "Semmel," in much of Bavaria and Austria. Traditionally, rolls are used to make these dumplings, but you can use bread, although this may make you a target of the "Semmelknödelpolizei" ("Bread Dumpling Police"), who are the "flour" of the food police. "Knead" I say more?

Ingredients:

10 stale kaiser rolls (or 10 large slices of stale white bread)
3 to 4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons bread crumbs (panko are best)
1 to 1 1/2 cups heated milk
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
10 parsley sprigs, chopped
pinch of nutmeg or mace
salted simmering water

Slice the rolls or bread, put them into a bowl and add 1 cup of the heated milk. Depending upon the dryness of the rolls, you may need up to a half cup more milk, but wait until you see that the extra milk is necessary. You want the rolls softened, not mushy. Soak the rolls for half an hour. Meanwhile, heat 5 to 6 cups of water in a pan. Add some salt to the water and bring it to a simmer. Melt the butter in a skillet and add the onion. Saute until the onion is softened. Add the onion to the bread, and add the beaten eggs, the bread crumbs (if the "dough" is too mushy, wring it out a bit and add some more bread crumbs), the salt, the nutmeg and the parsley. Mix everything by hand, but don't over knead the dough, which should be fairly firm. Form the dough into rounds about the size of golf balls. Roll each round in flour on a plate, just to coat. Shake off excess flour. Put the dumplings into the simmering water, but don't overcrowd the pan; cook them in batches. The dumplings will float when done, although I give them 1 or 2 extra minutes after they float. Serve with meat dishes with plenty of gravy or meat juices. 

In this picture I used beef gravy, sliced tomatoes and a good beer.

WORD HISTORY:
Scrape-This word, distantly related to "scribe," "script" and "shear," goes back to Indo European "sker," which had the notion "to cut," and to its extended form, "skerb," which meant, "to cut into, to carve, to engrave." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "skrepanan," which meant, "to scrape, to shave, to scratch up." This gave Old English the verb forms, "scrapian" and "screpan" (depending upon dialect), both meaning, "to scrape, to scratch." These then became "scrapen," reinforced by the related Old Norse form, "skrapa," which had the same meaning. The Old Norse form likely influenced the pronunciation of the English word, changing it from the "sh" beginning, to the hard beginning sound as if, "skrape." The other Germanic languages have: German "schrappen" (to scrape, to scratch"), Low German Saxon "schrapen" (to scrape, to scratch), Dutch has three forms:  "schrapen" (to scrape), "schrabben" (to scrape or scratch) and "schrappen" (to scratch through or scratch out (that is, "cancel"), West Frisian "skraabje" (to scratch), Danish "skrabe" (to scrape), Norwegian "skrape" (to scrape), Icelandic "skrapa" (to scrape), Swedish "skrapa" (to scrape).

It's About Coalitions, Not Purity, Part Forty-Five

"The Chickens Come Home To Roost-George W. Bush's Second Term," Part 2

George W. Bush chose 3 nominees for the United State Supreme Court, although one of those, Harriet Miers, withdrew. Both John Roberts and Samuel Alito were confirmed, with opposition, by the U.S. Senate.*

In the late summer of 2005, a major hurricane, named Katrina, struck the U.S. Gulf coast. President Bush and his administration were slow to respond to what became a major crisis, as state and local governments struggled to accommodate those displaced by the violent storm, as well as to clean up the immense destruction caused by Katrina. Photos and videos of people begging for help from rooftops in flooded areas struck a raw nerve with many Americans, as they turned on the president and the conservative philosophy of people needing to do more to help themselves. The reports about the clean up and the overall catastrophe went on for months.

George W. Bush also tried to reform the immigration system, including what was termed, "a path to citizenship," but hard line conservatives opposed the measure, and it did not pass, in two separate attempts.

The war in Iraq continued, with the president sending more troops, a part of a "surge." When the surge helped to cut some of the violence in Iraq, President Bush and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki, made an agreement with the goal of the withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of 2011. During President Bush's entire second term, the debate over the use of torture to obtain information from prisoners came under intense fire at home and abroad. Further, responsibility for the faulty information used to get the U.S. into Iraq in the first place was front and foremost in the minds of many. The drumbeat had ceased to be the one leading to war, but rather one wanting answers and accountability for the previous drumbeat TO war.

Oil and gasoline prices surged ahead to new records, with the president and Republicans saying it was "just the free market at work." More and more another statistic began to be heard in economic reports... FORECLOSURES, as the numbers for such continued to escalate. The banking system began to show signs of strain (I'll cover the financial crisis in the next segment) and the president and congressional Democrats (Democrats controlled Congress after the 2006 election) worked together to get a tax rebate totaling about 150 billion dollars. As speculation in the oil and gas markets drove prices ever higher, I recall one analyst saying how a significant part of the tax rebate would go into the pockets of big time speculators. Ahh, c'mon, now. You don't think those greedy, no good bastards would do that, do you? After all, the Bush administration said it was "free markets." I guess pickpockets could claim the same thing... free markets.

Another sign of the free markets was showing..... tremendous stress on the Republican coalition.

Next.... The Chickens Come Home To Roost, But It's Too Hot In The Hen House ... The Financial Meltdown

* Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired and then Chief Justice William Rehnquist died; thus the two Supreme Court vacancies. 

WORD HISTORY:
Term-This word, distantly related to "through," goes back to the Indo European root "terh," which had the idea of, "pass through, pass beyond," which then produced the extended "termen," which had the notion, "limit, boundary." This gave Latin "terminus," which meant, "boundary or limit:  geographically, time wise, contract wise;" thus also, "a word or expression." This gave Latin-based Old French "terme," and this was borrowed into English, circa 1200, initially with the ending "e."

"It's About Coalitions, Not Purity" Part Forty-Four

"The Chickens Come Home To Roost-George W. Bush's Second Term"

George W. Bush's second term began with the failure of his Social Security privatization plan to get anywhere. In Iraq, a civil war had broken out between Iraqi Sunni and Shia Muslims. Caught in the middle were American, British, and other coalition forces or their assistance groups, as well as a number of private security contractors. Bombings and killings were common, and the whole situation was a mess, as coalition forces also tried to oust al Qaeda units. On top of this, reports and photos had surfaced of various torture techniques used by Americans against prisoners in Iraq. This brought condemnation from many within the U.S., as well as from international sources. This part of the war in Iraq continued to grow in media coverage as time went on.     

On the domestic front, oil/gasoline prices surged to new highs, tapping the pocketbooks of already financially strapped Americans. The number of housing foreclosures were rising ominously, as the further movement of jobs to overseas production facilities, and the subsequent reduction in wages in some parts of the American economy, hung like a dark cloud over the country, bringing a queasy feeling about the storm that was coming. During the campaign, a story broke regarding Republican Mark Foley, a congressman from Florida. The story indicated that Foley had sent sexy messages to teenage boys who worked, or had worked, as congressional pages. Foley resigned about 5 weeks from the election, but the whole matter brought into question how much the Republican House leadership knew about Foley's activities. * Also brewing at that time were separate, but related scandals involving lobbyist and Republican contributor Jack Abramoff (and others), including deals about a casino boat company in Florida, a deal about minimum wage in the Mariana Islands (a U.S. Territory in the Pacific), Native American gambling casinos and campaign contributions. All of these matters are highly complex, but they touched several Republicans in Congress and government, as well as Republican supporters outside of government. Their complexity makes them far beyond this article, but there are many online sources, and also check your local library for books and articles. 

The 2006 midterm elections saw a major win for Democrats, as President Bush's popularity plunged, dragging down many Republicans with it, and the Republican coalition fractured to a degree. Democrats gained 31 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, 6 seats in the U.S. Senate. These Democratic victories often came at the expense of Republican incumbents, and in the Senate, Democrats took seats from Republicans in Ohio, Montana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Rhode Island. Democrats also gained 6 governorships, as well as numerous state legislative seats, and state and local offices. Nancy Pelosi of California became the first ever woman Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

* Republicans, by this point in time, almost all of the conservative bent, had made anti-gay rhetoric a major part of their political party. Here was a Republican directly involved in gay sexual activities. At that time, Dennis Hastert was the Republican Speaker of the House. In the spring of 2016, Hastert admitted that he had molested teenage boys when he was a high school wrestling coach. He was given a prison sentence and a fine.

WORD HISTORY:
Torture-This word, distantly related to "thwart," goes back to Indo European "twork/terkw," which had the notion of "turn, twist." This gave Latin the verb, "torquere," which meant, "to twist, to bend," and its participle form, "tortus," gave Latin the noun, "tortura," which meant, "writhing, pain brought on by injury inflicted to get information or to get agreement to something." This passed into French as "torture," with the same meaning. English borrowed the word circa 1500 from French, but likely with the reinforcement of Latin itself. 

What's In A Name: Gustav, Hannah, Anna

"Gustav," is the more typical spelling for German (somewhat for English), but also spelled "Gustaf" in Swedish (somewhat in English), and "Gustavo" in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (also somewhat in English, especially in the U.S. for Latino-Americans), and "Gustave" in French. The origin of this name is "generally thought to be" from Old Swedish for, "staff of the Geats or Goths;*" thus also perhaps, "leader of the Geats/Goths."** This is "presumed to come from a contracted form of "Gautr," the Norse word for the "Geats," or "Gutar," Norse for "Goths. The second part is from Old Norse "stafr," meaning, "staff," and yes, a relative of the English word.*** The further history of the name is also sketchy, but "presumably," the name was borrowed by Latin or a Latin-based language, from which it then spread to other Latin-based languages. Did the branches of the Goths; that is, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, spread the name into Latin speaking areas?

Hannah (also commonly spelled Hanna) goes back to Hebrew for "grace," and it was a Hebrew female given name ("Channah"), including for the mother of Samuel, of biblical fame. "Anna," "Ann" and "Anne" are all forms of  "Hannah." In English, the name became far more popular with the rise of Protestantism.

I consulted the following, so for more information on any of the names see, "A World Of Baby Names" by Teresa Norman, published by Perigee/Penguin Group, New York, 2003. Also, babynamespedia.

* The Geats were a Germanic tribe that lived in what is now southern Sweden. This tribe "may" have been a part of the far better known Goths.

** Polish has the name "Gostislav." Is this a form of the same name? Or is it a borrowed form from Swedish (the Swedes were involved in the eastern Baltic area in what became Poland. Or did the Swedes borrow the Polish name? Lots of questions, not many answers.  

*** Besides English "staff," other relatives include: German "Stab," Low German Saxon "Staff" (although some dialects have "Staav"), Dutch "staf," Norwegian, Swedish and Danish "stav," Icelandic "stafur." 

WORD HISTORY:
Rostrum-This word, distantly related to both "rat" and to "rodent," goes back to Indo European "redh," which had the notion of "scraping," and thus "gnawing."This gave Latin the verb "rodere," meaning, "to gnaw, to eat away at." This then gave Latin a noun form, "rostrum," which meant, "animal's snout and beak of a bird (the part of an animal or bird which gnaws)." As the prow (front part) of a ship or boat looked like a snout or beak, this gave the word the additional meaning of, "prow, front part, of a ship." In Ancient Rome, the platform set up for speakers to acclaim Roman sea victories had the front part of captured enemy ships decorating it; thus, the platform came to be called "rostrum." English borrowed the word from Latin in the first half of the 1500s.

Operation Crossbow, George Peppard & Sophia Loren Star

The actual story of this World War Two drama is loosely based on historical fact. It is about the German rocket program, which developed the "buzz bombs" (also called "doodlebugs"), known in German as the "Vergeltungswaffe 1," or simply as the "V-1,"* which were launched against England by the thousands during the summer of 1944. These rockets, often called "flying bombs" (German: Fliegende Bomben), carried an explosive charge, but they were relatively slow, low flying and they made a droning sound, which eventually helped the British to counter them to some extent, by shooting them out of the air before they plunged into English cities. The V-1 was followed by the V-2, the world's first ballistic missile. These far more sophisticated rockets began to be fired into England, and into other parts of western Europe, in the autumn of 1944. The movie is about the British attempt to find out more about German rocket development, including about a long range, intercontinental rocket, which Hitler wanted to reach the east coast areas of the United States.   

The first part of this 1965 movie has much to do with German efforts in developing the V-1. As German rocket development progresses, they seek engineers to help them advance their program further. The British plan to infiltrate the German rocket facility with German and Dutch speaking personnel, who will answer the German call for engineers. The British want to gain more knowledge of the German plans and their facility, with the hopes of attacking or sabotaging the German efforts. The British recruit three men (played by George Peppard, Jeremy Kemp and Tom Courtenay), and these men are given identifications of real people who had recently died. The recruits are taught great details about the lives of the men whose places they are taking. The three are finally parachuted into German held territory, where they are helped along their way by a network of anti-Nazis, including a woman, Frieda (played by Lilli Palmer), who runs the German hotel where they will stay. Unfortunately, things get tricky early on for them, as the British find out that one of the dead men being used for cover, a Dutchman (the identity assumed by Courtenay's character), is wanted by the police for murder. The police check the hotel regularly, where they require Frieda to hold the identification papers of all guests. One of the policemen thinks he recognizes the Dutchman's photo, and after some checking, the police return and arrest the man. During his interrogation, he is seen and recognized by a man (played by Anthony Quayle), who had been interviewed for one of the espionage jobs back in Britain, but who was really a German agent. So we now see how this espionage business is a two way street. The recognition of the Dutchman now tips off the Nazis that there is something going on. When the man insists that he is not a secret agent, he is executed, but he never tells the Nazis about the other two men.

Meanwhile, one of the other men (Peppard's character) is paid a visit by his dead cover's wife (played by Sophia Loren). She naturally knows this is not her husband, but the two work out a deal, which will keep his identity secret; however, Frieda, the hotel manager, kills the woman, fearful that they will all be exposed to the Nazis if the woman is let go. The two survivors go off to work in the rocket facility, which is underground. The Nazis are preparing for a major test launch of a powerful new rocket, to be witnessed by an SS general (played by Helmut Dantine**). The agents receive word that the Allies have a plan to bomb the rocket facility, but that they need the men to help the bombing aircraft locate the facility.

With the bombers approaching, the Nazis get a definite identification on Peppard's character from the Gestapo, and they chase him through the huge underground rocket facility, where the new long range rocket launch is temporarily suspended until he can be captured. He gets a machine gun and holds off the Nazis, but he doesn't know which electrical switch opens the rocket launch doors, where the RAF planes would see the lights, and thus know where to bomb. The Nazis capture the other agent, and over the speaker system, they threaten to kill him if the other man doesn't surrender. With the speaker on, the captured agent yells out the number of the electrical switch for the launch doors. He is immediately killed, but the other man opens the doors. The British pilots see the lights shining out of the underground facility and the bombers move in. The SS general orders the launch to go forward, now that the doors are open anyway. The bombs begin to fall, and as the rocket starts to lift off, the launch opening is hit and the rocket explodes, setting off a huge chain reaction in the facility, which is filled with rocket fuel. All inside, including the Allied agent, are killed.     

NOTE: Trevor Howard, John Mills and Richard Johnson, all prominent British actors of that time, also all starred in the movie, but not in the action scenes.  

* Vergeltungswaffe="retaliation weapon, vengeance weapon, payback weapon." By the way, the base words of the German compound are closely related to English, with "gelten" being a relative of English "yield," which once was spelled "gieldan" in English, and with "Waffe" being a relative of English "weapon."

** Helmut Dantine was a long time anti-Nazi, and indeed, he was arrested by the Nazis after Hitler moved into his native Austria, where Dantine, too, was born (Vienna). After his release by the Nazis in the late 1930s, he emigrated to the United States, where he pursued an acting career; ironically, often playing Nazi roles in Hollywood films. He died in the U.S. in the early 1980s.

Photo is from the 2006 Turner Entertainment/Warner Brothers Home Video DVD

 WORD HISTORY:
Rocket-English has another noun of this spelling as the name for a particular plant, and it has a totally different source. This word goes back to Indo European "rukh," which had the notion of, "to spin threads, to spin materials for cloth." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "rukkon," a noun form meaning, "bobbin," a cylindrical shaped holder for use to spin threads." This was borrowed by Italian (from the Germanic tribe, the Lombards? The Lombards controlled a large part of Italy after the fall of the Roman Empire; thus, the Italian province of Lombardia) as "rocca" (bobbin), the diminutive form of which, "rocchetto," was used for a "rocket, missile," because of its shape. This was borrowed by English in the early 1600s, with likely pronunciation reinforcement by French "roquette," which was also borrowed from Italian.  

A Friend in West Virginia, Part Nineteen

I'm not perfect, by far, and I could have handled part of this whole situation better, but, depending upon the people involved, anger expressed toward others can breed anger in them to defend themselves or to retaliate. My Clarksburg friend's persistent "attack" gradually angered me, but I still should have managed the whole thing better. He then demanded an apology from me, without ever acknowledging that he had done anything wrong. Giving in or acknowledging a mistake is not a weakness, it is a strength.

WORD HISTORY:
Apology-This prefixed word, the main part of which is distantly related to "legacy," ^ goes back to Indo European "leg-," which had the notion, "to gather, collect, pick." This gave Ancient Greek the transliterated "lόgos," which meant, "something said, speech, something thought through;" thus also, "explanation" (from the idea of, "words and thoughts 'gathered' together, 'collected' "). The prefix, distantly related to English "of" and "off," goes back to Indo European "apo," which had the notion of, "away, away from," which gave Ancient Greek "apo," with the meaning "from, of, off." The combination gave transliterated Greek "apόlogos," which meant, "a story, a verbal explanation of." This gave Greek the transliterated "apologoûmai," which meant, "to give verbal defense or justification of," which produced the transliterated noun, "apologia," meaning, "verbal defense, speech in defense." Latin borrowed this from Greek as "apologia," with the same meaning. This passed into Latin-based French as "apologie," meaning "a spoken or written defense, or justification." English borrowed the word in the first half of the 1400s, with that meaning; thus, "a self defense," but this then began to change, circa 1600, to, "a spoken or written statement of regret," with the two meanings coexisting for about one hundred years, before gradually the latter became the meaning, and it has persisted to the present. 

For the history of "legacy," this is the link to the article:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/08/on-your-death-bed-reflecting.html

Spanish Romesco Salsa

This salsa (sauce) is from the region of Catalonia (capital: Barcelona), in northeastern Spain. Besides Spanish, Catalan is the regional language. While Catalan is closely related to Spanish, it is a separate language. Spaniards often use this sauce with fish and seafood, but also with chicken, roasted vegetables or hard boiled eggs.

There are variations to this sauce within Spain, let alone outside of its homeland, with varying degrees of spiciness being one of the major differences.   

Ingredients:

1 cup diced canned tomatoes, drained, or seeded and chopped fresh Roma tomatoes
3/4 cup red peppers, preferably roasted, from a jar is fine, lightly rinsed
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon sweet Spanish paprika (Spanish paprika has a smoky flavor)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
1 slice toasted Italian white bread, cubed or torn
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

You can use a food processor, blender or a stick blender. Blend all ingredients until smooth, which can take a little time, so be patient.

Very good with large shrimp broiled or baked with olive oil and garlic.

WORD HISTORY: 
Seed-This word goes back to Indo European "se," which meant, "to sow;" (pronounced the same as "so," and not to be confused with the word of the same spelling that rhymes with "how," and means "female swine") that is, "to scatter by throwing." This then produced the Indo European noun, "seti," meaning, "sowing." This gave Old Germanic "sediz," meaning "seed" ("that which is sown"), also the more specific, "sperm." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sæd," then "sed," which then became "sede," before the modern version. The other Germanic languages have: German "Saat," Low German "Saad" (some Low German dialects, influenced by standard German, now use, "Saat"), Dutch "zaad," West Frisian "sied," Danish and Norwegian "sæd," Icelandic "sæði" (ð=th), Swedish "säd." All mean "seed, sperm," although in Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish the emphasis is more on the meaning seed="sperm." 

Bloody Bull (Bloody Mary)

A Bloody Bull is really just a Bloody Mary with beef broth added; well... that, and a bull having a bad day at a bullfight in Spain. "If" you don't drink alcohol, drink the mix without the vodka.

Ingredients:

46 ounce can tomato juice*
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons celery salt
2 tablespoons adobo seasoning **
2 tablespoons horseradish
1/2 cup beef broth (the low sodium type is not only fine, but better)
2 tablespoons sambal oelek/(hot) chili sauce*** (or to taste per serving****)
vodka (1 ounce per serving****)

In a large pitcher, add all of the ingredients, except the vodka. Mix well, then refrigerate for several hours, or add vodka and ice to a glass, then add the mixture.

* I use the less sodium type of juice, as the celery salt, adobo seasoning and beef broth (especially if you use bouillon, but you can use the lower sodium broth) all will add salt, but it will help, at least somewhat, to control the amount of salt.

** Adobo seasoning is a type of Puerto Rican/Latino seasoned salt, easily available in supermarkets, although perhaps in the "Hispanic/Latino Foods" section. Ingredients vary somewhat, but generally it includes, at a minimum: salt, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, dried oregano.

*** Sambal Oelek is a chunky hot chili pepper sauce that originated in Indonesia. It should be easily found in the Asian section, or in the hot sauce section, of supermarkets. 

**** You can hold back on adding the sambal oelek and add it to each individual serving to each person's preference. I've put 1 ounce of vodka, just to keep things simple, but you can use whatever amount each person prefers.

WORD HISTORY:
Juice-The overall history of this word is a bit unclear, but it goes back to Indo European "yeus," which had the notion, "to mix." Latin had "ius," which meant, "broth, soup, juice." The question, is, where did Latin get this word. I "assumed" it had come down to Latin from some Old Italic form, which itself had been the direct offspring of Indo European. Further research has made me call this lineage into question, as Latin may well have borrowed their form, "ius," from Old Germanic, "yustas/justaz," (from the Indo European form), and English once had "wos/wós" (apparently slight dialectal differences), which meant, "juice, sap, liquid." This English word existed alongside the English word "sæp," with the same general meanings, and which became the more specific modern word, "sap." ^ Anyway, Latin "ius" then became, "jus," which passed to French in that same form, and this then was borrowed by English or merged with the English form "wos" in the 1200s, by which time the meaning as becoming the more specific, "liquid from fruits or vegetables." The related word, "jus," meaning, "reduced meat broth or meat juices, gravy," "apparently" came to English by way of American/Canadian English directly from French. It is most commonly used in the expression, "au jus," meaning literally, "with the juice;" thus, "meat served with its own juice."

^  German still uses its closely related form of the word "sap," which is "Saft," for "juice," but also for "sap" (although "Sappe" is also used for the latter); thus, for example: "Apfelsaft," "apple juice."