Tuesday June 25th 2024 "82F / 28C - phew what a scorcher !!!!"

Friends, do you get fascinated by our wonderful English words, and the eternal mystery of "where did that particular word come from"? 

Well, here in Malvern, my long-suffering wife Lois and I are endlessly fascinated by words, and in particular by some recent discoveries of "words that everybody seems to have forgotten about" - incredible concept isn't it! -  and this whole "malarkey" gives us plenty to talk about, both during our morning walk on nearby Poolbrook Common, and in bed this afternoon for our daily "nap time".

Have you heard about "mummers"? I expect you've absorbed, at some stage of your life, the fact that they're jobbing street-actors who perform street-theatre by staging medieval plays that people can't really understand any more, mostly because of the quaint old English that they're written in. 

typical "mummers", seen here performing street theatre

in medieval towns like York and Lincoln

Let's be honest - it's all a bit of a nonsense isn't it!

But "mummers" is an odd word, and Lois and I have been thinking a lot about this word today. For our sins, we run the local U3A Intermediate Danish group in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, and our next fortnightly meeting is coming up on Thursday, thanks to the online "zoom" software that enables online meetings.

a typical local U3A language group online meeting

Things are a little bit embarrassing with our group at the moment, and there have been a few red faces at recent meetings. The reason is that our group is currently reading a "whodunnit", Danish writer Anna Grue's best-selling book "Judaskysset" ("The Judas Kiss"), and it's a story which for the moment has turned a little "spicy" to put it mildly. Oh dear !!!!

"Judaskysset" (The Judas Kiss), a murder mystery

written by Danish writer Anna Grue, the whodunnit

that the members of our local U3A Danish group are reading

The story is all about a 63-year-old menopausal Danish college art-teacher, Ursula, who's taken up with a "bit of rough" - in the person of 29-year-old local small-time entrepreneur, Jakob. This Jakob supplies Ursula with the paints she uses with her students, while also giving her lots of "action" in the single bed that they sleep in, in her little room above the art-room, upstairs on the college's first floor.

We're a mixed-sex language group, so this kind of story can get a bit embarrassing, but we soldier on regardless!

The latest bit of "spiciness" is that Jakob and Ursula apparently like to dress up - him as a North-Sea trawlerman with an enormous false grey beard and scarlet-powdered cheeks and with a little pipe hanging out of the corner of his mouth, and wearing a knitted sweater and black "waders" under a yellow sou'wester. While Ursula, on the other hand, likes to be in pirate costume with an eye-patch, and a bandanna tied round her forehead.

And let's hope Ursula keeps her plastic "sabre" out of Jakob's way whenever they're "canoodling" in their costumes. What a madness it all is!!!!

typical pirate and trawlerman costumes

Fortunately young Jakob should be well protected from Ursula's "sabre", hopefully, because he's warmly "togged up" as a North Sea trawlerman, or "Vesterhavfisker" (literally West-Sea-fisher), as the Danish has it. 

Ursula's and Jakob's "costumes" - she likes to dress up as a pirate, and he likes to be

a North Sea trawlerman (Danish: vesterhavsfisker)

It makes us wonder whether "Vesterhav" (literally: West Sea) is what the Danes maybe call the North Sea - it would make sense from their angle wouldn't it. And yes they do call it that, apparently, but they also call it, perhaps more often, the North Sea (Nordsø) just like we do. And in some contexts "vesterhav" just refers to some of the coastal areas of the Danish northwest coast, where they've put a lot of their windfarms. 

Complicated or what !!!!

h

coastal areas "Vesterhav North and South"

- locations for some of Denmark's largest wind-farms,

which makes sense!

But let's get back to "mummers", those street-actors who perform medieval plays in medieval towns like York and Lincoln etc. [Must we? - Ed]

Lois and I have both noticed also that our Danish book says that its 'odd couple', the menopausal Ursula and the 'young thrusting' Jakob, like to get "formummet" (i.e. disguised) as trawlerman and pirate, and the word "formummet" reminds us of the English word "mummers" which also refers to people - actors in this case, who are kind of "disguised", in costume, for their street-theatre performances.

And so it seems to be, there is a connection there, as I find when I check the etymology on Wikipedia:

So the English word "mummers" (i.e. people wearing some sort of disguise) is indeed related to the Danish word "formummet" (disguised) after all. It's probably also connected to the idea of "keeping mum", i.e "keeping quiet about something", and the warning "Mum's the word!", meaning "Don't tell anybody - it's just our little secret".

Aren't words fascinating !!!!   [If you say so! - Ed]

And this morning, as Lois and I stumble through the long grass on the common, in the lea of the 700-million-year-old Malvern Hills, we feel quite excited about our etymological discoveries, and we've decided to brave the horrific heat, up a whole 9 degrees Fahrenheit from yesterday's high, at 82F / 28C. Yikes !!!!

We're already feeling quite hot, but we go out anyway - well, you're only old once, aren't you haha! - despite the apparent official health warning, which we hear about, first, from the Free Press website, via a message from Steve, our American brother-in-law in Pennsylvania, who monitors the site on our behalf.

health warning issued this morning, 

received by way of Pennsylvania:

And Steve comments, quite reasonably we feel, "What kind of alert do they issue when the temperature reaches 96F..." [as it has in Pennsylvania. Touché, and point taken, Steve! Kudos!!!!!].

Despite the official "health warning", Lois and I decide

to brave the horrific 82F heat in the long grass on the common 

this morning. Well, you're only old once, aren't you haha!

[Editor's note: I've decided to "redact" most of Colin's legs in the above picture, on the grounds that

many readers might find them distressing - Ed]

18:40 In the interval between tea and Lois disappearing into the kitchen to take part in her church's online weekly Bible Class, there's just time to wallow in a bit more nostalgic smut from the old 1970's TV sitcom "Are You Being Served", all about the staff in the menswear and womenswear departments of a fictional old-fashioned London Department Store, Grace Brothers.

,

In this episode, store janitor Mr Mash delivers yet another new consignment of underwear to Mrs Slocombe and her assistant Miss Brahms in the womenswear department.

And "If you can read this, you're too close" is followed, in quick succession, by those other old favourites, "Hello, cheeky!", "I love Elvis!", "Your flies are undone!", and "No Parking".

Ooh - that stuff - it never gets old, does it!  [I'd like a second opinion on that!  - Ed]

Also in this episode, the rumour is getting around the staff that the store's geriatric owner, "Young Mr Grace" is working up the nerve to ask Mrs Slocombe to be his wife. For her part, however, Mrs Slocombe insists that she hasn't made her mind up yet whether to say "yes" to Mr Grace or not.

Still fantastic value this sitcom, isn't it, even after 50 years!!!  [Have you found that 'second opinion' yet, Colin? - Ed]

21:00 Lois emerges from her online Bible Class and we get in the mood for bed by watching last night's edition of Popmaster TV, the quiz show on the More4 channel that tests knowledge of pop music over the last 60 years.

The show is sponsored by Fosters Australian lager, which is a tempting thought - well, it's a warm evening! I go to the larder and we've only got Guinness, but that's close enough haha!

the ad from the show's sponsors - Fosters Lager - you know, 

the one with the two Aussie beach lifeguards: a classic, isn't it!

[Editor's note: I've decided to "redact" a large part of the Fosters Ad Aussie guy's legs, on the grounds that some readers might find them offensive - Ed]

One of the favourite parts of this show is when Scottish DJ presenter Ken Bruce is chatting to the contestants at the start of the show, as here, where he's introducing a woman called Ally, from Shrewsbury, who talks a bit about her partner Andy, who's an Elvis tribute act.

I hadn't heard about "French chalk", but Lois says it was some stuff a bit like talcum powder - in bygone centuries they used to spread it on highly-polished dance-floors before the dancing began, she says, so that the couples wouldn't slip on it and take a tumble while they were in the middle of a polka, say, or something similar. 

In Regency times and beyond, some enterprising hosts or hostesses employed "chalk artists" to create intricate designs on their dance-floors where a dance was due to be held - this design would then be "danced out" by the dancers on the night of the dance: a pity, but I suppose, from the dancing couples' viewpoint, it all added to the fun, which must have been nice.

example of an elaborately chalked dance-floor,

in preparation for a holiday wedding dance (Delaware c.1840)

"French chalk" was also employed in "dusting" used rubber condoms (a.k.a. "French letters") after they'd been washed, Lois says, so that they could be used again.

Who knew? [I expect a lot of people knew that! - Ed]

The next contestant along the line is Gemma.

Oops, still Bedford, Bradford, all a much of a muchness aren't they - and they're only 150 miles apart haha! 

And whose "bad" was that particular "snafu"? Was it the show's researchers, or maybe just Ken's eyesight reading his notes? I think we should be told! Should have gone to Specsavers, Ken haha !!!!

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!