What's In A Name?

Entertainment Value!
Amongst other items.  You recall yesterday, when I was going on about Budweiser and where it comes from in Czechoslovakia?  How the name is a Germanised one, and that there is brand competition between the Budvar Brewery and the Budweiser one (owned by Anheuser Busch), meaning the AB version can only be promoted or sold as "Bud" in certain countries.
     All stirring stuff I'm sure you'll agree.  Entertainment in a can.  What do we have here in the UK?

This.

     One can hardly weave a web of wonderful words about a beer named like that, can one?  It tastes just fine, agreed - couldn't they add, oh, zombies or atom bombs in the name somewhere?

A Little Number Crunching
Conrad, ever eager to boost his ego, likes to keep track of how many folks are visiting BOOJUM! and thanks to the traffic data screens, he is able to do this quite easily.  There is a pattern; Conrad notes that folks in the US and UK seem to be the most frequent visitors, and in roughly equal amounts.  Quite why this should be is half a mystery - a combination of ill-tempered ranting about the weather, Latin etymology and guns cannot fail to appeal to British sensitivities.  But those in the US?  Being slighted as "South Canadians" must get wearing eventually, surely?  You won't find explicit insults about our trans-Atlantic cousins here, the blog proscription on Religion, Politics and Current Affairs sees to that.  Quite contrarily, we have frequent mentions of American technology, especially TANKS and ATOM BOMBS! - er - that is, Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Nuclear Devices.  Oh, and Thomas Pynchon and Philip K. Dick, too.  
     There you go.  Conrad - slightly mystified about traffic, yet grateful it's there.

Another You What? Moment
Conrad gave up playing computer games a long time ago, as he found they consumed almost every waking hour and a good few that should have been spent sleeping.  Hitting the sack at 1:30 a.m. when you have to be up at 6:00 a.m. does not prepare you well for work the next day.  Thank you so much, "Steel Panthers".
     So!  Seeing this caused some consternation at the Mansion:

     Why on earth this came up beats me.  As I said, no computer games any longer.  Plus, if I did play a computer game it would be a Real Time Strategy one - Dune 2 or Populous 2.  Not a sports game, and no way in this universe lifetime a golf sports game*.
     Despite the free drinks.
     Bah!

"Assuage"
As you know, we here at BOOJUM! take our mission to educate you, the public, very seriously.  This is why Conrad scribbled down the above word on his bedside notepad at some unholy early hour in the morning.
     What does it mean?  "To lessen or remedy an unpleasant situation".  Unfortunately it is pronounced "Ass-wage" meaning it can be confused, at least in South Canada, for a job paying below minimum salary.
     Where does it come from?  Come on!  Like most words, it has Latin roots.  From "Ad", meaning "To" and "Suavis" meaning "Sweet" - thus "To sweeten".  Via the Old French "Assouagier" we then get Assuage.

Not Quite Sure What Was Going On Here
It does happen on occasion that Conrad takes a photo to include in the blog, then doesn't add it due to time or space constraints.  The photo ends up on his phone, only to be rediscovered days later with no context about it.  Take the below:

Liquorice - which comes from the Latin Glychyrrhiza.

     What's worrying about this one is that it got taken only last night and unless I was taking photos for the sake of it, I really don't know what the plan was.

Is This Domestic Bliss?
Let me append the relevant photo:

Yes or No?

     NO! said loudly and forcefully.  Yes, Jenny and Edna are posing together, being unusually pally and chummy, except notice that Jenny is lying on my books!
     Dog Buns!  A whole kitchen to choose from and she chooses the one square foot I do not want her on.  It makes me very cross!
     I had to have a pot of tea to assuage my annoyance.  And a Cornetto.

The Only Reason Folks At Work Miss Me
It's true, the ganterpies**.

     Gluten-free Carrot and Nut traybake.  It's currently cooling down as I type, so expect Wonder Wifey to be right in there with a knife once it's cool enough***.




* This sounds like an exaggeration but is in fact the unvarnished truth.
** I made this insult up myself.  Can you tell?
*** Either to cut it or keep others at bay