KLEM AM

linky

Those dirty rings!

Speaking of the annular -- we're approaching another year, so it's time to reflect a bit on January. Everyone pretends to know that January was named after Janus, the two-faced worthless Roman god. But did you know that that may be false?

January (in Latin, Ianuarius) is named after the Latin word for door (ianua), since January is the door to the year. The month is conventionally thought of as being named after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology, but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month.^[1]

Interestingly, the Romans only had 10 months and each one was longer. How else to fill a full year with months? Surely I thought, the month is defined by how many times the moon orbits the earth [moon, month, get it?]. Wrong!  The moon goes around the earth 13 times in a year, not 12 as people might think. My faith in the power of words and etymology is shaken. It's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world:

linky

n.b., that is the original "Coca-Cola" version of the song -- the one banned in the UK.

From St. Nick To Eartha Kitt In One Fell Swoop Across 18 Centuries

Something goes off inside my head every year at this time and this year is no different.

Two years ago, I wondered about the disconnection between St. Nicholas gift-giving and Christmas. Chip Ahoy provided some answers in the comments to that post. This year, reading about the Saint, I learned what may be the origin of the chimney and stockings tradition. I quote Wiki at length:

In his most famous exploit, Nicholas aided a poor man who had three daughters, but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment, would have to become prostitutes. Even if they did not, unmarried maidens in those days would have been assumed as being a prostitute. Hearing of the girls' plight, Nicholas decided to help them, but being too modest to help the family in public (or to save them the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to the house under the cover of night and threw three purses (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window opening into the house. 

One version has him throwing one purse for three consecutive nights. Another has him throwing the purses over a period of three years, each time the night before one of the daughters comes of age. Invariably, the third time the father lies in wait, trying to discover the identity of their benefactor. In one version the father confronts the saint, only to have Nicholas say it is not him he should thank, but God alone. In another version, Nicholas learns of the poor man's plan and drops the third bag down the chimney instead; a variant holds that the daughter had washed her stockings that evening and hung them over the embers to dry, and that the bag of gold fell into the stocking. link

What does this have to do with Eartha Kitt?  Ask ricpic:

ricpic said...

Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree for me,
Been an awful good girl,
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, a '54 convertible too, light blue,
I'll wait up for you dear,
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, I want a yacht and really that's not a lot,
Been an angel all year,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.

The immortal Eartha Kitt!

December 6, 2014 at 9:40 AM

Yule Be Glad

Welcome to Yuletide!

From The Anglo-Saxon Year, a historical look at the naming of months by the Anglo-Saxons. Their words are our words now:

The months corresponding to December and January were both known as Giuli, 'Yules'. Bede implies that Geola, Yule, was the name for the winter solstice when he states that these months 'derive their name from the day when the Sun turns back to increase, because one precedes and the other follows'. But judging by the names of the months it's equally possible that Geola was the name for the whole midwinter season. December was Ærra Geola, which can be interpreted as either 'first Yule' or 'preceding Yule', and January was Æfterra Geola, 'following Yule'.

Yuletide begins with a shiver but ends with tidings of great joy.

The Antidote To Loneliness

Ancient Egyptians used stibnite to make blueish black mascara, giving their eyes allure (and the origin of the 72 black-eyed virgins?). You can still see the Latin origin of antimony's name stibium in its modern chemical symbol:

The alchemist's symbol for antimony is:

which sort of resembles an upside down (heels over head?) version of the female symbol.

According to the Wiki, antimony is no longer used in mascara. Instead, carbon black (the same stuff that makes tires black) is used. link

[added]:

Needles of stibnite in calcite

KLEM FM

The song is from 1958, from a highly successful group that cool people love to hate.  BTW, did you know that only one original member is still alive?  Did you know that he attended the same prestigious Honolulu high school that our president attended?

Don't ask for a translation because they do that for you.

The song ends with something "funny" about cats.

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My older brother and I loved this song as kids. We would never have thought of making my parents' albums into frisbees.

Weed It And Reap II

August 

eighth month, 1097, from Latin Augustus (mensis), sixth month of the later Roman calendar, renamed from Sextilis in 8 B.C.E. to honor emperor Augustus Caesar, literally "Venerable Caesar" (see august (adj.)). In England, the name replaced native Weodmonað "weed month."

August = Weed month: lol, but too brutally literal, like all Germanic languages. None of those pussyfooting euphemisms.
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Added: A discussion of the Anglo-Saxon names of the months.