Mumps: "I heard frogs peeping in a local park today; I've come to think of that as the first real sign of Spring."
Me too.
""When the groundhog casts his shadow And the small birds sing And the pussy willows happen And the sun shines warm And when the peepers peep Then it's Spring.""
I'd never heard of Margaret Wise Smith (I thought), but when I checked her website I discovered she had written one of my, and my brother's, very favorite Little Golden Books -- Seven Little Postmen.
Mumps, I used to read Pussy Willow to my kids, and always considered it Zen-ish, in a way. It has an odd writing style, also.
I've never heard of Seven Little Postmen. Sounds cute.
I think her most famous book is Goodnight Moon, which is a jewel in pictures and text:
"In the great green room There was a telephone And a red balloon And a picture of- The cow jumping over the moon And there were three little bears sitting on chairs And two little kittens And a pair of mittens And a little toy house And a young mouse And a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush And a quiet old lady who was whispering “hush”...
Aha! Having familiarity with mumps from childhood, I had no clue what a mumpsimus might be or mean. So I looked it up to only to discover it is a Malapropism of Latin sumpsimus,(form of sūmō (“I take”), from a story of an old monk who misrecited the Eucharist with quod in ōre mumpsimus instead of quod in ōre sumpsimus “which we have taken into the mouth”, and stubbornly continued using the incorrect form even after being corrected.
Good story, fun connection.
Current definition: A mumpsimus is an action by a person, or the person themselves, who adheres to a routine, idea, custom, set of beliefs, or a certain use of language that has been shown to be unreasonable or incorrect.
I prefer this type of learning to taking the citizen's test, as I wait some something like a peep out of spring. The best I have right now is sunshine and water gurgling in the gutters from the massive amounts of snow and ice still on the roof, as I wish and hope for something more like gold.
Star Magnolias are my favorite, Christy. I love the way they smell up close, like fresh air and spring, so faint and lightly sweet as to be almost ethereal.
Twenty years ago, we bought a Star Magnolia as a gift for my father's 80th April birthday. We'd decorated the bush with six white paper flowers bearing our names afixed with bows and he'd planted the bush the next weekend with the paper flowers still attached. Two weeks later he unexpectedly died from an accidental fall, with no time for goodbyes. At noon, on the day we were to return his body to the earth, I'd stopped by the house to pick up my mom, and found the bush had bloomed. Six fresh white flowers had opened in the morning sun to join the paper ones. So I picked one of the live ones, took it to the cemetery and put it with the casket as we five survivors said our final goodbye. When my mom moved to her condo she took the bush with her where it grew too big to be moved again. Now twenty years later, it blooms for someone else to enjoy as I remember the story and the life it celebrates.
Yes, Star Magnolias are my favorite. Thanks for the prompt!
According to the version of the incident told in 1517 by Richard Pace, later the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London, the monk replied that he had said it that way for forty years and "I will not change my old 'mumpsimus' for your new 'sumpsimus'".
...in 1545...Henry VIII referred to it in a speech: "Some be too stiff in their old mumpsimus, others be too busy and curious in their sumpsimus".
17 comments:
Titus bait.
It's snowing... big gusts of fat snowflakes...
I hope my son gets home from work soon.
We used to get into trouble with mom from wasting food. But even so the game of javelin tossing our pickle spears was worth it.
Never got one to stick straight up like that.
From a sea of devastation and desolation, life springs forth.
Let's see Neil deGrease Tyson try to even get close to that.
I heard frogs peeping in a local park today; I've come to think of that as the first real sign of Spring.
Snow predicted for Monday, though.
Gold!
Ground here in MI is still frozen rock solid. Low of 3 predicted for tonight and tomorrow.
Remember everything that spring can bring
Baby you can never hold back spring
He's home safe and there is already at least an inch of snow.
I need to go paint a room now. :P
Good news Synova.
Mumps:
"I heard frogs peeping in a local park today; I've come to think of that as the first real sign of Spring."
Me too.
""When the groundhog casts his shadow
And the small birds sing
And the pussy willows happen
And the sun shines warm
And when the peepers peep
Then it's Spring.""
Pussy Willow
Thanks for the link, deborah; nice little story.
I'd never heard of Margaret Wise Smith (I thought), but when I checked her website I discovered she had written one of my, and my brother's, very favorite Little Golden Books -- Seven Little Postmen.
Daffodils on south facing banks, hyacinths, and star magnolias blooming here.
Mumps, I used to read Pussy Willow to my kids, and always considered it Zen-ish, in a way. It has an odd writing style, also.
I've never heard of Seven Little Postmen. Sounds cute.
I think her most famous book is Goodnight Moon, which is a jewel in pictures and text:
"In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of-
The cow jumping over the moon
And there were three little bears sitting on chairs
And two little kittens
And a pair of mittens
And a little toy house
And a young mouse
And a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush
And a quiet old lady who was whispering “hush”...
Aha! Having familiarity with mumps from childhood, I had no clue what a mumpsimus might be or mean. So I looked it up to only to discover it is a Malapropism of Latin sumpsimus,(form of sūmō (“I take”), from a story of an old monk who misrecited the Eucharist with quod in ōre mumpsimus instead of quod in ōre sumpsimus “which we have taken into the mouth”, and stubbornly continued using the incorrect form even after being corrected.
Good story, fun connection.
Current definition: A mumpsimus is an action by a person, or the person themselves, who adheres to a routine, idea, custom, set of beliefs, or a certain use of language that has been shown to be unreasonable or incorrect.
I prefer this type of learning to taking the citizen's test, as I wait some something like a peep out of spring. The best I have right now is sunshine and water gurgling in the gutters from the massive amounts of snow and ice still on the roof, as I wish and hope for something more like gold.
...and star magnolias blooming here.
Star Magnolias are my favorite, Christy. I love the way they smell up close, like fresh air and spring, so faint and lightly sweet as to be almost ethereal.
Twenty years ago, we bought a Star Magnolia as a gift for my father's 80th April birthday. We'd decorated the bush with six white paper flowers bearing our names afixed with bows and he'd planted the bush the next weekend with the paper flowers still attached. Two weeks later he unexpectedly died from an accidental fall, with no time for goodbyes. At noon, on the day we were to return his body to the earth, I'd stopped by the house to pick up my mom, and found the bush had bloomed. Six fresh white flowers had opened in the morning sun to join the paper ones. So I picked one of the live ones, took it to the cemetery and put it with the casket as we five survivors said our final goodbye. When my mom moved to her condo she took the bush with her where it grew too big to be moved again. Now twenty years later, it blooms for someone else to enjoy as I remember the story and the life it celebrates.
Yes, Star Magnolias are my favorite. Thanks for the prompt!
@MamaM (love the palindrome):
According to the version of the incident told in 1517 by Richard Pace, later the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London, the monk replied that he had said it that way for forty years and "I will not change my old 'mumpsimus' for your new 'sumpsimus'".
...in 1545...Henry VIII referred to it in a speech:
"Some be too stiff in their old mumpsimus, others be too busy and curious in their sumpsimus".
Lol, Mumpsimus,
...and so it goes!
MamaM, wonderful story. I love the spirit that bought a sapling for your 80 year old father.
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