New Year
Calendars
Year of the Horse
"Fir" and "Pine" Trees
Visit to St. Augustine
Yale Glee Club
Homophones: "Ale" and "Ail"
O.K.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Keeping Up
"The Greatest Show on Earth"
"Wonderland"
Carolinas Border Survey
New Year
02/01/02
Scientifically speaking, a year is the period of time in which the earth completes a single revolution around the sun which takes 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds. According to the Gregorian calendar now widely used internationally, a year is divided into 12 months. Months are related to the period of time it takes for the moon to make a revolution around the earth. In the Gregorian calendar, 7 months have 31 days, 4 have 30 days and 1 has 28 days in regular years but 29 days in leap years. Deciding when a new year begins is not related to natural movements but to the calendar one uses, reflecting one's culture, religion or national tradition. The Gregorian calendar begins on January 1st and this New Year is numbered 2002 A.D. (A.D. is the abbreviation of Latin words meaning "in the year of the Lord", but this is not actually the 2002nd year after the birth of Jesus.) In Japan, a new era begins with the enthronement of a new emperor and this is the 14th year of the "Heisei" era. According to the Jewish calendar, this is the year 5762, although that is no longer believed to be the number of years since the creation of the world. The Jewish New Year will begin on September 7th of the Gregorian calendar this year. The Islamic calendar, like the Jewish one, is a lunar calendar, and this year of 1422 indicates the number of years since the "Hegira", when Mohammed moved from Mecca to Medina (in 622 A.D.) This year, the Islamic New Year will begin on March 15th in the Gregorian calendar. Whatever your tradition, I hope you have a happy, healthy year, whenever it begins. (369)
Calendars
02/01/05
A "calendar" is a system of defining the beginning, length, and divisions of a year. In the creation story in the book of Genesis, it is written that God put lights in the sky to separate the day from the night and to "serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years" (1:14). Time divisions are determined by the movements of the earth and the moon. One rotation of the earth on its axis determines the length of a day. One revolution of the moon around the earth determines the length of a month and a revolution of the earth around the sun determines the length of a year. The problem is how to combine these three separate units of time into one consistent calendar for these different movements do not fit together precisely. Lunar calendars are based on the movement of the moon while solar calendars are based on the relation of the earth and the sun and unless there are periodic adjustments, seasons of the year gradually move away from their previous designations on a calendar. An ancient Roman calendar had ten months in it, but in 45 B.C. the "Julian calendar", decreed by Julius Caesar, went into effect. It had twelve months and a total of 365 days in common years followed by a "leap year" every fourth year that had an extra day. The Gregorian calendar, promulgated by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, made the simple change of considering century years as common years except when the year number is divisible by 400. As a result, the seasons always begin on the same days. Whatever calendar is used, we may affirm the words of Psalm 118:24: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (370)
Year of the Horse
02/01/06
Very few English words begin with z, the last letter of the alphabet. Only the letter x has fewer words in its section of a dictionary. A number of words that begin with "zo", derived from a Greek word meaning "living being", are related to animals, including "zoo", "zoology", "zoolatry" and "zodiac". "Zodiac" signifies a zone of the sky in which there is a group of stars, some of which were given animal names. There are twelve such constellations and, in the Orient, time is divided into 12-year cycles, every year of which is related to an Oriental zodiacal animal that supposedly exhibits certain characteristics. The twelve animals involved are: rat, ox/bull, tiger, hare/rabbit, dragon, serpent/snake, horse, sheep/ram, monkey, rooster/cock, dog, and boar/pig. This year of 2002, according to the Gregorian calendar, is the year of the horse. People born in the year of the horse are supposedly popular, attractive, cheerful and friendly. There are a number of English words that begin with "horse", including such plants as "horse chestnut", "horse nettle", "horseradish", "horsetail" and "horseweed" and a fish called "horse mackerel". Some English expressions are also related to "horse". To "horse around" is to engage in rowdy, rough play also known as "horseplay". To "hold one's horses" means to restrain oneself and "a horse of a different color" signifies another matter entirely. In ancient times, horses were important symbols of military might and were often used in battles. In Psalm 20:7, it is written that "some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." (371)
"Fir" and "Pine" Trees
02/01/09
As noted in the Introduction of this "Timely Words" homepage, the "Daily Word" telephone messages that I transmitted in Japan were later introduced into the NIFTY-Serve computer network. Readers were able to raise questions or make comments in Japanese related to the messages that appeared there. The university professor who introduced those messages into the English Forum of NIFTY-Serve continues to put these "Timely Words" messages there also (as well as to add them to the "Previous Messages" section of this homepage), for which I am very grateful. He recently sent me a question raised by a reader related to the message in which I stated that we decorated a pine tree for our Christmas tree when I was a child. The question was whether "pine" trees ("matsu" in Japanese) were really decorated as Christmas trees rather than "fir" trees ("momi"), which the reader considered quite different. Checking my reference books, I found that the "fir" tree is a particular species within the "pine" tree family, so it would have been more accurate, or exact, to call that Christmas tree a "fir" rather than a "pine", even though the original statement was not incorrect. I am happy to receive questions or comments regarding messages, which may also be entered in the "Guestbook" section of this homepage. Incidentally, both "the fir tree" and "the pine tree" are listed together in many English versions of Isaiah 60:13, but Japanese translations use different words, which indicates a difficult problem faced by translators of literature written in a completely different cultural and geographic setting. (373)
Visit to St. Augustine
02/01/11
St. Augustine is the name of an important person in the history of the Christian Church who lived in north Africa in the 4th century. It is also the name given to the oldest permanent European settlement in what has become the United States of America in 1565 by Pedro Menendez, the Spanish explorer who established the settlement there. Whenever we have guests who come to visit us here in the state of Florida, if we have time and if they are interested, we take them to the city of St. Augustine, about 45 minutes away, where there are many historic sites and other attractions. One day during the visit of our son and granddaughter over Christmas, we took them there again. This time, we went to two places they had not been before. First, we went to the Fountain of Youth where there is an ancient spring near the site where Ponce de Leon arrived from Spain in 1513. It is said that he was seeking a legendary fountain that had the power to restore youth to those who drank of it. We all drank of that fountain. Then we went on to the St. Augustine Lighthouse, which my wife and I also had never visited before. The present lighthouse was built in 1874. Over 50 meters tall, there is a circular staircase in the center of it with 219 steps from the ground floor to the top. Thankful for the refreshing, stimulating drink from the Fountain of Youth a short time before, we all walked up to the top, from which we had a fine view of the surrounding area. We were reminded that it takes an effort to attain a desirable end. Needless to say, it is always easier to go down than to go up. (372)
Yale Glee Club
02/01/13
The state of Florida is a peninsula in the southeastern area of the United States of America. The Atlantic Ocean is on the eastern side of the peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico is on the western side. The city of Jacksonville is located in the northeastern corner of the state and the coastline along the city is known as the First Coast. One of the well-known churches near the seacoast is St. Paul's By-The-Sea Episcopal Church. For the past 28 years, this church has hosted a Beaches Fine Art Series to bring "great cultural experiences to Florida's First Coast." At times, a busload of residents from our Penney Retirement Community makes the 50-minute trip to that church to attend one of the programs. Recently my wife and I joined the group that went to the performance of the Yale Glee Club. The school that developed into Yale University, now located in New Haven Connecticut, began in 1702. The word "glee" signifies gaiety and joy and a "glee club" denotes a group of singers who perform pieces of choral music to entertain others. The Yale Glee Club began with thirteen men of the Class of 1863 who were accompanied by banjos and guitars. In 1970, the Glee Club became a mixed chorus of both men and women students. Over fifty stupendous singers, obviously from different ethnic backgrounds, were in the group that sang at the performance we attended. Following the performance, we enjoyed speaking in Japanese with the two young ladies who had Japanese names and faces. We were again impressed with the praiseworthy result that can be gained through the disciplined cooperation of a wide variety of individuals. (376)
Homophones: "Ale" and "Ail"
While composing the message related to the Yale Glee Club, I was again
reminded of how strange the English language is with its irregular
pronunciation and spelling. There are many different ways to pronounce
English vowels. It is for that reason that lines or dots are drawn above
vowels to indicate their correct (or common) pronunciation. While
writing about "Yale", I checked a dictionary to see how many words
beginning with "y-a" are pronounced like "Yale" with a long "a".I did
not find one such word in my dictionary. Words that have the same
pronunciation but differ in spelling, origin and meaning are called
"homophones", derived from Greek words meaning "same sound". If the last
three letters in the name "Yale" are detached and considered a separate
word, that word is a homophone. "Ale" is a fermented alcoholic beverage.
"Ail" has the same pronunciation, but means to feel ill. I wonder how
many four-letter words you can think of that end with either of these
three letters: "a-l-e" or "a-i-l". You may wish to stop reading (or
listening to) this message and write down those words you know before I
list the 22 that I have found. Half of them end in "ail" and the other
half end in "ale". Seven pairs of these homophones begin with the same
letter. They are: "bail"/"bale", "hail"/"hale", "mail"/"male",
"pail"/"pale", "sail"/"sale", "tail"/"tale", "wail"/"wale". The
remaining eight are: "dale", "fail", "gale", "jail", "kale", "nail",
"rail"and "vale". I hope I have not confused you and that your
understanding of the English language is helped by these "Timely Words"
messages. I would like to know your reaction to them. (377)
O.K.
English has become an international language. Even many people who
cannot speak English fluently make use of certain English terms or
expressions. One such term is "O.K." which has spread around the world
and has been called "the most widely used single term in human speech."
Usually, periods are printed following the capital letters, but
sometimes they are omitted; at times the term is spelled o-k-a-y. The
term, signifying approval or agreement, may be used as an interjection,
an adjective, a verb, a noun or an adverb (note the last sentence of
this message). There have been various explanations of its origin. One
theory is that it comes from a Native American language in which "okeh"
meant "it is so". Another relates it to the abbreviation of the
misspelled, slang expression "oll korrect", meaning "all correct". A
third explanation is that it represents the initials of Obadiah Kelly,
an early railroad clerk who used to stamp his initials on parcels for
shipment. Finally, although this may not have been the first use of the
term, the influence of the O.K. Democratic Club formed in New York in
1840, during the campaign to reelect President Martin Van Buren, is
widely recognized. In this case, the letters were an abbreviation of the
birthplace of President Van Buren, the New York town of Kinderhook,
which he often called "Old Kinderhook", and "O.K." became a rallying cry
for his supporters during that unsuccessful campaign. "Kinderhook" is a
Dutch term meaning "children's point". O.K.! that's the end of the
message; I hope you think it's O.K., that you will O.K. it (give it your
O.K.) and that you are doing O.K. (378)
Martin Luther King Jr.
A student in the third year of high school or college is a "junior" and
a fourth year student is a "senior". A son who bears the same name as
his father is also a "junior" and his father is the "senior". In this
case, the abbreviations "Jr." and "Sr." are usually written after their
names. Martin Luther, the Roman Catholic priest who stimulated the
Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, is respected by all
Protestants, not only members of Lutheran churches. Martin Luther King
was the name of a Baptist minister in Atlanta, Georgia and his son, born
72 years ago on January 15, 1929, was given the same name as his father.
Martin Luther King Jr. also became a Baptist minister and a leader of
the civil rights movement which aimed at racial equality, to raise the
status of black Americans through non-violent means. In his most famous
speech, made before some 200,000 people gathered near the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, D. C. on August 28, 1963, he spoke of his dream
that "one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of
its creed: '. . . that all men are created equal,' . . . that my . . .
children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by
the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Martin
Luther King Jr. suffered for his convictions and finally was
assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to help
organize a strike of the city's predominantly black sanitation workers.
The third Monday of January has been declared a holiday by Congress to
honor him and to remind the nation of the ideals he sought to realize
but which are still not attained. (375)
Keeping Up
There are a number of definitions of the word "keep", all of which
include the idea of retaining or maintaining something. "Keep" is also
found in such compound verbs as "keep down", "keep off" and "keep up".
To "keep up" means "to maintain in good condition," "to continue at the
same level." Almost three years have passed since my wife and I left
Japan. Now, we are keeping busy with various activities in this
retirement community and the surrounding area. At times, we are asked to
give talks related to Japan and I want to "keep up" my understanding of
Japanese. To that end, I try to listen regularly to a daily short-wave
radio broadcast in Japanese and to read some Japanese every day. The
radio broadcast is the 7 o'clock morning news broadcast live from Tokyo
and heard here from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. the previous day. My Japanese
reading includes writings of Japanese novelists and newspaper
columnists/reporters, articles in Japanese newspapers available on the
internet and messages included in the book of my own Japanese language
telephone messages. On the homepage of the Nagoya-based Chunichi
newspaper, I often read articles related to that city in which we lived
for over 40 years and recently I read an article related to the city of
Takahama where our church was located. That city is noted for the roof
tiles manufactured there and this article told of a unique xylophone
whose bars are made of the clay used to make roof tiles. It is important
to "keep up" one's understanding of a foreign language or it will soon
be forgotten. Likewise, we need to nurture our faith to keep it vital
and meaningful. (380)
"The Greatest Show on Earth"
P. T. Barnum opened what he called "The Greatest Show on Earth" in
Brooklyn, New York in 1871. Later, he joined with another circus owner,
James Bailey, to form the Barnum and Bailey Circus and, after being
combined with the Ringling Brothers Circus, "The Greatest Show on Earth"
continued. Recently my wife and I joined other residents of this
retirement community to attend the "All New 131st Edition" of that show.
Included in the circus were clowns and animals as well as trapeze
artists and other acrobats. We were impressed with the coordinated
actions of elephants, tigers, llamas, camels and zebras and thought
about the kind of disciplined training that was required to make animals
conform to the detailed plans of human beings. Elephants walked in an
orderly procession, the trunk of each one holding on to the tail of the
elephant ahead, stood on their hind legs and sat on small stools. Tigers
jumped on stools and through loops. But most amazing was the disciplined
actions of the human beings on trapezes, ropes and wires high in the air.
The agility and preciseness of their movements along with the
coordination required to have a trapeze or the hand of an associate at
exactly the right place at exactly the right time was extraordinary. We
realized anew the wonder of the universe in which we live with the
precise movement of planets and constellations. We again recognized the
wonderful attributes of both animals and human beings and what can be
accomplished through careful, purposeful, cooperative discipline. There
was much to reflect upon after watching "the greatest show on earth."
(382)
"Wonderland"
One hundred and seventy years ago this weekend, on January 27, 1832,
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born in the English county of Cheshire. Son
of a clergyman and educated at Christ College, Oxford, he was ordained a
deacon in the Anglican Church but never advanced to the office of a
priest. Because he was shy and afflicted with a stammer, he did not feel
able to function as a minister. Rather, he became a lecturer in
mathematics and published mathematical treatises. He is best known,
however, by his pseudonym and for the stories he wrote for children.
Derived from Greek words meaning "false name", "pseudonym" denotes a
"fictitious name assumed by an author," a "pen name." Charles Dodgson's
pseudonym was Lewis Carroll and his most famous writing was "Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland." It is said to have been inspired by and
written for the young daughter of a classical scholar whose name was
Alice. Many of the characters in that story have become familiar figures
in literature and conversation and some statements found in it stimulate
serious consideration. One of which is the following: "Everything's got
a moral, if you can only find it." A "moral" is a lesson or principle
taught in a story or event. Looking at the world around us and at both
past and present events from the perspective of the Biblical writers, we
can perceive truths that should cause us to be more humble, more
considerate of others and their needs and to seek to manifest the love
of God for all people. If we are sensitive to divine guidance, we may
find ourselves in a more wonderful "wonderland". (383)
Carolinas Border Survey
Ten of the fifty states in the United States of America have two words
in their names. Four of them begin with the word "New" and five have a
direction as the first word in their name. The two Carolinas fit into
this category. "Carolina" is derived from a Latin word related to the
name of the British King Charles who granted that territory to the
colonizers. Both North Carolina and South Carolina were included in the
colonies that seceded from Great Britain and fought the War of
Independence. Along with all but one of those 13 original states, both
Carolinas are located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the
400-mile (640-kilometer) border line between the two states is made up
of straight lines, but part of the border is in the mountains. During
much of the 18th century, teams of surveyors waded across swamps and
hiked over mountains to map the line between the two states. Wars,
property disputes and navigational errors delayed the result, but in
1815, a 23-foot (7-meter)-long map, which required 80 years to complete,
was finally finished. It used trees, rivers and mountain ridges as
guides. Now, civil engineers are combining traditional surveying methods
with modern-day technology to make a more accurate map that will affect
decisions regarding property rights and public services provided by the
states. Sometimes, drawing accurate lines between adjacent lands or
related concepts can be very difficult. In relation to what foreign
Christians in Japan call "ancestor worship", for example, where do we
draw the line between "respect", "honor", "veneration" and "worship"?
(374)
02/01/15
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02/01/26
02/01/28
02/01/31