Messages of other months can be read by clicking HERE.

Interest in Words (10/09/02)

Newspaper Delivery (10/09/03)

Telegram Delivery (10/09/07)

Refrigerated Refreshments (10/09/09)

Theocrats and Tithes (10/09/13)

Drivers Licenses (10/09/16)

“Retirement” (10/09/19)

Summer Work (10/09/22)

Awards (1334) (10/09/25)

Sports (10/09/29)

Interest in Words (10/09/02)

As I look at the scrapbook mentioned in the previous message, I realize that my interest in words and their meanings began long ago. The rest of this message is a quotation from a newspaper article pasted in that scrapbook. "We received today a remarkable contribution from an eighth grade school boy in Zion, Clark B. Offner, containing many good bits of common sense and a clever ending.

A WINTER POEM

Winter has blown in

With big loads of snow.

So you must be careful

Where e'er you go.

You must go slow

When riding a bike,

Or you'll take a spill

I'm sure you won't like.

You must not go fast

When driving a car

Because you're likely to slide

And skid very far.

When walking, too,

You must watch your step,

Or you might fall down

And all snowy get.

So wherever you are

Or wherever you might be

Always Be Careful

Should be your A-B-C." (1326)

Newspaper Delivery (10/09/03)

Nowadays, the main way news is communicated to others, whether far or near, is by radio or television. When I was a child, however, there was no television and radios only broadcast news orally—nothing to see or read. It is the characteristic of a newspaper to provide written news that can be read repeatedly and shared with others, but it is necessary for the newspaper to be delivered at a proper time and place. It was to accomplish that task as well as to receive remuneration that I began delivering evening newspapers when I was in the 8th grade of an elementary school. I was assigned a certain area in my hometown and received instruction regarding which houses were to receive which newspaper and where the paper was to be put. Every day after school, I rode my bicycle to the store to get the newspapers, to fold or arrange them appropriately and put them in the huge newspaper sack I could hang on my shoulder or tie on to my bike. For some houses, I could simply throw the rolled up newspaper on the front steps or the lawn, but others required more careful disposal. On Saturday mornings, I went to the same houses to collect fees for the delivery. In Japan, it was considered a newsworthy event when my son became a newspaper delivery boy in response to my query after I read the need for one in a bulletin. He and his American friend who joined him became celebrities in numerous magazine articles, television and radio interviews for it was very unusual (unbelievable) for a couple of “blue-eyed” boys to become newspaper boys in Nagoya. (1327)

Telegram Delivery (10/09/07)

There are many English words that begin with the prefix “tele.” How many can you think of? In the dictionary by my desk which I often use when composing these messages, there are more than fifty such words. “Tele” is derived from a Greek word meaning “distant.” Making use of “television,” we are able to see something far away. A “telescope” also is a device used to view something from a distance. Using a “telephone,” we are able to hear someone’s voice from somewhere faraway. And we may write a message to someone far away using a “telegraph.” Such a message is called a “telegram.” In my hometown, telegrams were sent and received in the office of the Zion Home, the largest building in town, which had 350 rooms where both residents and guests lived. Another one of my grade school jobs was delivering telegrams. I do not now recall the time periods when I was available (whether weekends or during the summer when there was no school), but when a telegram required delivery to a certain address, the office would call me on the telephone and I would ride my bike to the office, pick up the telegram and deliver it. If no one was at home when I arrived, I would hang a notice on the door informing them that there was a telegram for them at the office. Since I knew the layout of the town well, enjoyed riding my bicycle and received a payment for each delivery, I enjoyed this way of making a little extra money, except when the weather was stormy. (1328)

Refrigerated Refreshments (10/09/09)

Since my retirement, I have become more conscious of the implication of the prefix “re.” Often, it indicates a repetition; “rerun” means to “run again.” Since I have become very busy in various ways following my “retirement,” I have jokingly told people that, when I “retired,” I became “tired again.” Note that the title of this message does not imply a repetition. Rather, it reminds me of another simple, moneymaking activity I engaged in during my final year in elementary school. The manager of the dairy in my hometown was a remarkable, responsive man. He permitted me to take a variety of small refrigerated refreshments that would fit into the refrigerated box I had with a strap attached so that I could carry it on my back or put it in its place over the front wheel of my bicycle. Along with the frozen refreshments that included ice cream and ice-related products, dry ice was put in to keep the box cold and the refreshments frozen. I was charged 4 cents for each item I took, which I sold for a nickel (5 cents), so I gained a penny for each item I sold. The places where I took the refrigerated refreshments were: a lumber yard, where workers transported lumber and cut it up, a candy factory, where workers produced various kinds of candy and a printing factory, where books, etc., were printed. In the lumberyard and printing factory, I was permitted to walk through the working area and sell items to those who desired them while they were at work. The candy factory had an afternoon rest time when work stopped and workers could go to the restroom or relax. At such times, I was nearby with the refrigerated refreshments. Following that, I returned to the dairy, returned the unsold items and paid my bill. (1329)

Theocrats and Tithes (10/09/13)

As noted in previous messages, my hometown of Zion, Illinois was founded as a religious community. The church was the main authority and residents were expected to follow the rules or teachings of the church as explained by the church ministers or officers. Whereas “democracy” signifies government by the people, “theocracy” denotes government by God. It was the hope and aim of the town leaders to move the community in that direction. A periodical entitled The Theocrat was published, and in addition to my grade school extracurricular jobs of delivering newspapers and telegrams, I became the church delivery boy who delivered both The Theocrat and tithe receipts. A “tithe” is a tenth part of one’s income consecrated to God. According to the Old Testament law, one-tenth of one’s possessions, or income, belongs to God. This is made clear in the final verses of the final chapter of Leviticus (27:30-34). As a child, I had a small matchbox with a sliding drawer. When I earned money, into that tiny box, I put a penny, a nickel or a dime, depending on the amount of income I had received. Since then, I have continued to recognize ten percent of my income to be God’s. When I was young, it was the custom of our church to provide a printed form for those who desired to specify the tithe amount of their offering and the church sent out tithe receipts to those who did so. As the church delivery boy, every week, I received from the church treasurer tithe receipts enclosed in envelopes with names and addresses on them for me to deliver. First, I took them home with me and arranged them in the order that I planned to follow when I delivered them. (1330)

Drivers Licenses (10/09/16)

One of the happy events of my later elementary school days was obtaining a driver’s license, issued by the State of Illinois when I was 15 years old. Since then, I have had licenses in 2 American states and 1 foreign country. Comparing them, I can recognize differences in the cultures that produced them. For example, now all the licenses include colored snapshots of the driver, but it is only the Illinois license that continues to list the gender, height, weight and eye color of the licensee. The State of Florida issues a ‘Driver License’ while the State of Illinois now issues a ‘Drivers License,’ but on my first license, issued 60 years ago, it was written: ‘Driver’s License.’ At that time, there were not many occasions for me to drive a car, but in my hometown, between the avenues on which the houses of residents were built, there were alleys where garages for cars could be built and garbage could be placed for weekly pickups. When my father parked the car on the street in the front of our house, I regularly offered to ‘put the car in the garage,’ which required driving around the block to the garage in the alley. At that time, when cars were not often used for short runs within the town, I got a part-time job as a delivery boy for an express company that was starting a home delivery service for customers who walked from their homes to the stores in the downtown area. When they bought many groceries, it was troublesome to carry the large bags or boxes back home. Those who desired the delivery service wrote their names and addresses on a slip of paper that was kept with their groceries at the store. Using a small pickup truck, I made regular rounds of the grocery stores and loaded the boxes and bags onto the truck. I arranged them in a certain order, considering the route I would take, so that the groceries of the first houses visited would be conveniently placed at the back of the truck. At that time, I enjoyed delivering groceries by truck more than delivering newspapers, telegrams and other things by bicycle. (1331)

“Retirement” (10/09/19)

It is very obvious that the English language is very difficult to master, whether it is our native language or a secondary one. This is especially recognized by teachers of English when they consider the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of words that have been derived from or influenced by other languages or other English words. I have often noted various kinds of English irregularities in these messages and will do so again in this message. I would be happy to receive comments from readers, whether positive or negative, regarding the content of the present messages, which are based on my personal history and experiences rather than on scholastic points. Recently, while preparing a message, I recognized a special meaning I can give to the word “retirement.” A dictionary lists “To withdraw as for rest” as the first meaning, but that has not been my experience. Rather the “re” has implied an “again” as in such words as “reform,” “restore” and “reproduce.” As I look at all the books and documents in Japanese and English that I brought with me from Japan which I had planned to read during my “retirement,” I felt “tired again” and realized I am not yet “retired” in the dictionary sense of the word. I should make clear, however, that my wife and I are both very happy in this Penney Retirement Community (http://www.penneyretirementcommunity.org/) in whose webpage these “Timely Words” have become one of its “Links.” I will close this message with a humorous witticism I concocted about Japanese roads. Can you understand it? “The right side is the wrong side. The left side is the right side.” (1332)

Summer Work (10/09/22)

In previous messages, I noted the jobs I had as a child, or a young man, to earn money for my future college expenses. They included lawnmowing, delivering newspapers, telegrams, “refrigerated refreshments,” groceries and church receipts. During my final years in high school, the national economic and military situation changed and different kinds of work, which produced greater income, became available. I began working on Saturdays (on which there were no school classes) in a factory in a neighboring city that produced various parts for cars and trucks. The section in which I worked produced brake linings, which are important elements in the brakes of vehicles. Because high school classes were not held during the summer, during the summer prior to my final year in high school, I was able to work in the factory every day as a full-time worker. I even took my place in the changing shifts, including those that continue through the night. It was during that summer that I was particularly thankful that the basement of our family’s home remained cool even in the hot summer days and I was able to get my regular amount of sleep. It was partly due to my having taken extra classes during my 1st, 2nd and 3rd years in high school that the classes I needed to take during my 4th (and last) year were all in the morning. Thus, my afternoons were free and I was able to go to work in the factory every afternoon. [Note: To those who have not been so informed, quotations from these messages may be seen on the following webpage: http://www.lagoinst.com/WordProfiler/DailyWord_TimelyWords/.] (1333)

Awards (1334) (10/09/25)

Awards (1334) To the readers of these messages who are disappointed with the present focus of attention on my personal experiences in my hometown over fifty years ago, I apologize. Other readers have expressed appreciation for these autobiographical notes, however, and I plan to continue them. As I look through my high school class yearbook and the scrapbook which my father gave me many years ago, I see many local newspaper clippings and documents related to events and their implications which had become hazy in my memory. There are a number of clippings related to the basketball team of the elementary school I attended as an eighth grader. I was not the star, but as a member of that team, which won the regional championship, I was included in the picture of the team members in the news articles. I was also chosen as a guard on an “all star” team. There were just over one hundred students in the class of 1945, which elected me as the class treasurer in our first year in high school and the vice-president in our fourth year. At the Honor and Awards Day ceremony, I was presented with the “Good Citizenship” award. Although it was not noted in any publication, that one year that I was enrolled as a student in that school was the year that my elder sister, who had recently graduated from an Illinois state teachers college, began her vocation as a grade school teacher in that school. It was amusing for me to call her “Miss Offner” instead of “Carol,” when I met her or talked about her in the school. (1334)

Sports (10/09/29)

Etymology, the study of the meaning of words and how that meaning developed, is very interesting. The English word “school” is derived from the Greek word, schole, which appears only once in the Greek New Testament (Acts 19:9). In my Greek-English dictionary, schole is defined as “leisure; a place where there is leisure for anything, a school.” In modern English, a school is not usually considered a place of leisure, but a place of concentration. In schools, however, instruction may be physical as well as mental. In American schools, there are usually three major sports included, for which school teams are created and tournaments are held: football, basketball and baseball. American football is a bit different than the soccer (also called “football”) played in other countries. Both football (in which the ball is sometimes kicked by a foot) and baseball (which is played on a playing field with four bases) are played outdoors, but basketball (in which the ball is thrown through a basket) is played in a gymnasium. In the four years I was a student at the Zion-Benton Township High School, I regularly participated in basketball and baseball activities, which resulted in my being chosen to be a member of the varsity teams in both sports for two years and receiving certificates and large varsity letters “Z-B” to attach to a shirt or sweater. I enjoyed playing both basketball and baseball, but there are two reasons I was never interested in playing football. First, the rough physical contact, including pushing, shoving and tackling did not appeal to me. Also, football practice usually began before the regular class schedule, which meant I would have to quit my summer jobs early.(1335)