Sunday, December 30, 2012

6th Day of Christmas


10 comments:

  1. ZOUNDS! (and woot!)

    Numbers hadn't changed in a long time, so I was GLAD to see *this*:

    Obama 51.06% Romney 47.21%

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  2. I don't know if I've ever heard anyone say "Zounds!" I identify it with 18th century Britain.

    I never had much contact with Howard. I heard him give one speech in Chicago during the Sleepless Summer tour and one in Wisconsin. And after the campaign I met him and spoke briefly at a reception in Chicago.

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    1. I've never met him at all, nor am likely ever to do so... *sniff*

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  3. Bill, tried as a reply, and it got eaten up.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The Cool Passion of Dr. Dean
    By JOHN CLOUD/BURLINGTON Sunday, Aug. 03, 2003


    The other day 600 people, give or take, showed up in Portsmouth, N.H., to see Dr. Howard Dean III talk about why he wants to be President. True, they were plied with bowls of coffee cake and just-melting ice cream, but it's still something for so many to rally on a hot weekday six months before the New Hampshire primary. At first the former Vermont Governor couldn't talk for all the cheering. Finally he was able to utter just one word before being drowned out: "Zounds!"

    Zounds? Zounds is an old word, a fine word, a word with a pedigree. Iago says it in the opening lines of Othello; it was the 17th century's whoa. But it's not the first word one expects to hear from the "maverick" (USA Today), "insurgent" (Los Angeles Times), "fiery" (New York Observer) self-proclaimed leader of "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," the great repository of hope—and donations—from the antiwar, anti-Bush, pro-gay, Michael Moore left. Even so, the Anglophile locution sounded quite natural coming from Dean's thin Wasp lips.

    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,472817,00.html#ixzz2GZJW9H2E

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  4. Rannoch was what I couldn't quite think how to spell. Probably would have used one "n" and an "a" in place of the o. Thanks, Bill.

    For quite some time I thought the murderer was Wiffy, but eventually worked out that it was Tristram. Of course, I like the idea that Georgie's gentleman friend is Irish and Catholic.

    As I said, these aren't really the sort of books I'd have thought you'd enjoy, Bill. Too light and girly. It was game of you to try though. I'm well into the second, A Royal Pain. No body yet, but again utterly delightful, if you like fluff, which I do. Certainly cleanses the pallet after Stephen King!

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    1. Ah! So I was right after all.

      I'm still only a little over half-way through. Work has picked up a bit and I've spent much of today paying attention to football to see if the Bears make the playoffs. They won, but still need to Packers to beat the Vikings. Which isn't happening at the moment, although the game is close.

      I expect to finish Her Royal Spyness but probably won't read more of the series. I was expecting something heavier on the whodunit angle than I'm seeing so far.

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    2. No, I think you'd be better served directing your reading elsewhere.

      So, let's see. In 2013 I'm waiting for the next Harry Dresden, the next Thursday Next and, once I make it through the rest of the Georgianna Rannoch, the next of those. It's nice having books to look forward to. The Thursday Next books are strange. I don't really like them, but I do feel compelled to keep reading. By contrast, I truly enjoy Harry Dresden, though the series is getting steadily more bizarre.. Pretty sure I'll make it through the Georgianna Rannoch still wanting more.

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    3. Well, let's see. In 2013 I will read 11 books for the chicago-sf book discussion group (we decided to skip January due to conflicts), 6 books for the Futures and Fantasies discussion group, and 5 Hugo nominees. I don't know how much else I'll have time for, but there are several books by Charles Stross and Kage Baker that I want to get to.

      Futures and Fantasies has at different times done both a Dresden and a Next. Reasonably enjoyable, but didn't make it to the top of my *must read that* list.

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  5. BTW I've never actually heard anyone say zounds, though Mum used to say gad zooks all the time.

    Don't really care for either, since they seem to make light of something terribly serious. Zounds is a contraction of God's Wounds and gad zooks comes from God's Hooks, that is to say nails. *shudder* But then I always was a sissy.

    Mum has a Catholic school joke that I also find distasteful. Something about standing on the Via Dolorosa and seeing Our Lord coming along with His Cross. He seems to be muttering. He comes closer and is still muttering. He comes abreast and you hear what He's saying: "I love a parade..." Again, maybe I have no sense of humor, but I don't think that's funny at all! Not that anyone would accuse me of being devout, but there are certain things one does not joke about!

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