Quotes and such

I have a liking for good quotations and tend to quote the most quotable if I remember them.  This is as good place as any to do it, so here is the first:

"We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.  And we should call every truth false which was not accompaned by at least one laugh."  

Friedrich Nietzsche.

Plenty of dancing and laughs last night at practice with the Appalachian clogger team Cricket on the Hearth, followed by beer at the Swan on the Stray.  FN's advice seems to work.       

Use of English

I’ll start with something unrelated to morris, travelling and beer but it is relevant to writing and the English language:

It struck me today that the short, pithy word “pop” is used a lot at the expense of more suitable words. 

Today, a shop assistant offered to “pop” my purchase into a gift box.  I declined (I mean, who wouldn’t at £2.50 extra) so she said she would “pop” it into a bag for me and would I please “pop” my credit card into the machine.  Three uses of “pop” inside thirty seconds. 

I remember when “pop” was the sound of a cork leaving a grown-up’s wine bottle, the noise of poor-quality fireworks, hydrogen gas being ignited in a test tube in Chemistry lessons and the word of choice to name sugary soft drinks guzzled from big screw-topped bottles or metal cans.  The “psst” of gas release from these vessels was most definitely not a “pop”, but lemonade, Tizer, Orangina and the rest were full of tiny bubbles which, when grown large enough, were known to go “pop”.

In a way it is similar to the encroachment of “like” (following “I’m”, “he’s”, “she’s”, “they’re”) into sentences where people used to say (after “I”, “he”, “she”, “they”) “said”, “shouted”, “argued”, “complained” (and even) “retorted”.

So why not “put” my purchase in a gift box, or “drop” it in a bag and let me “insert” my card?  There are many alternatives to these examples and this is my point.  Let’s not be lazy and use simple, newly generic words at the cost of losing the myriad others with or without favoured onomatopoeic features.

The abuse of “pop” is not new and my theory is it was started years ago by some television chefs who “pop” food into the oven/fridge/pan/processor.  Fortunately Jamie Oliver is helping to roll back this tide with his use of words such as “slam” (it is the oven), “bang” it in the fridge, “chuck” it in the pan, etc.  One syllable will do most of the time, so let’s do it. 

Starting Out

The original intent, way back in November '11, was to chronicle my travels through (morris) Festival England, including visits to the jewels in England's national treasure chest of microbreweries.     

It hasn't quite worked out that way.  Not at all, in fact.  I've visited a couple of breweries, but not yet posted my writings about them.  Festivals have been in short supply - the morris season is pretty much that of the spring and summer months - so are not featured either and so for the time being this blog is a general one.     

That will do for now, but everything here: subject, content and degree of reality, is subject to change without advance notice.   

Morris