"Vituperative", I should add, means insulting and unpleasant, which is Conrad's default setting (as you surely know by now). This blog title proves two things:
1) Conrad is a deceitful unprincipled unapologetic liar
2) He is fond of using long obscure words
Guilty on both counts, your honour! Why, only this afternoon I was using the word "Alumni" of young Dan, no longer with us*. Any of my South Canadian brethren and - er - sistren? - here present will know what I mean; what might be called an Old Boy here in the UK.
None of this has anything to do with what I was pondering on in the kitchen as I put away the evening's shopping: how the Rolling Stones are not human beings any longer**.
Really, they're not! Just do the simple mathematics and see - they began in 1955, 60 years ago, and were all into their thirties even then. Mick Jagger is a cyborg, as much machine as man, so whenever a bit wears out they just chuck it away and plug in a new one. Keith Richards is a zombie, you can tell just by looking at him; I mean one of those Haitian versions, not the George Romero version. If he were the latter then Rolling Stone's fan's brains wouldn't keep him going for long. Charlie Watts is a robot, plain and simple, sporting a shaven-head look because it's difficult to get hair right on a robot. Keeps excellent time on the backbeat, however. Ronnie Wood is indeed made out of that very substance, with a moveable jaw so that a puppeteer can make him seem to speak. And anyone I've forgotten is a hologram.
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| Vindicated! Okay, maybe they're ALL zombies. |
Mead
I like the Harvest Gold variety available at Morrisons because it is cloyingly sweet, always a good thing in Conrad's opinion.
Doing a bit of research for NANOWRIMO, what did I discover but that mead has an immensely long history, easily going back to Sumer and Babylon. That's ooooold, man***. That's not all, the word mead coming from Old english "Meodu". You make it by fermenting honey in water, and it can come out at Strong Beer Strength - 8% - or Falling Over Strength - above 20%. Nor is the sugar-sweet variety the only one, as it comes in semi-sweet and dry versions, also sparkling.
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| Mustard and Mead? |
"Weregild"
You know Oscar, my memory, and/or my mind, depending on how I'm feeling at the time. Today Oscar came up with the word "Weregild", which is not quite out of left field as I have a Theme I've been working up - this must remain a secret^.
I had a vague memory of it cropping up in "Lord of the Rings", and I was correct. Isildur takes the One Ring from Sauron as weregild for the deaths of his father and brother. Ah now, if only he knew ...
| "With this ring I me dead" |
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| Damn you, weregild, damn you! |
The Pub Quiz Last Night
As ever, there is one extremely tricky historical question that nobody got correct last night, not even our team.
What's that? You are desperate to know what it is? Very well then -
Q) Who was the author of the Charlie Chan novels?
A) Earl Derr Biggers
| Hmmm. I sense a theme here. |
Aaaaand today's coincidence hits home. I've just been looking on Wiki for a link and what do I see but "He was posthumously inducted into the Warren City Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame".
Allow me to post the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Derr_Biggers
And there you have it.
| I don't think that'll do instead of a key, mate. Besides, you could always call a locksmith. |
* No, he's not dead, you termagants! Moved to another employer. DO keep up!
** This presupposes that they were ever human in the first place. Let us assume so.
*** To be quantitative about it, 2500BC
^ No it mustn't, said Mister Hand. It's about the letter "W"
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