Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Tuesday Coffee Chat and A to Z: Vital Information

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week she tells us to pick our own chat topic.     





Because it is "V" day in the A to Z Challenge, my topic is vital information.  As in, it's vital you know what you are saying, and check out your word meanings, before you use them.

Little Girl used to attend the Youth Group at a nearby church where several of her friends were members.  Each young person was given a nickname by the others, or even by the Youth Pastor.  He and his wife were the usual youth pastor types, fresh out of seminary, enthusiastic, and just starting out in ministry, so they had the stamina and desire to keep up with bunches of teens.

Because Little Girl likes werewolf and vampire legends, the Youth Pastor suggested she should have the nickname "Vamp."

She came home and told me, and the look on my face must have been priceless.

Does he know what that means? i asked.

"Sure," she said.  "It's short for vampire."

No, i said, i mean the other meaning.

"What other meaning?" she asked, and i went to the dictionary and read:

Vamp, noun, a woman who uses her obvious ability to attract men to get them to do as she wishes; a femme fatale.

When Little Girl went back to Youth Group and told Youth Pastor the full definition of the word, he blushed and said, "Never mind, we'll find another nickname for you."

Get the vital information, know what the word means before you use it!


Today is:


Audubon Day -- birth anniversary of John James Audubon

Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy -- Belarus

Delphinia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Apollo; date approximate)

Fairy Laughter Convention -- Fairy Calendar

Festival of Individual Sovereignty -- an internet holiday that i think is a good idea!

Festival of Renenutet -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (as Lady of the Robes, who invented the bandages in which to wrap mummies; date approximate)

Hug an Australian Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Mayan Rain Festival -- to honor the rain gods and welcome the fruitfulness of the earth; date approximate

National Help A Horse Day -- US (Join the ASPCA in several rescue events) 

National Pretzel Day

Remember Your First Kiss Day

Richter Scale Day -- birth anniversary of Charles Francis Richter

Sacrifice to Zeus Epacrios -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

School Bus Driver's Day -- these longsuffering drivers put up with a lot, thank a school bus driver today!

Shuffleboard Day -- on the adopted birthday of the game (no exact date of origination can be pinned down, and fans want a day to celebrate, so here it is)

St. Rafael Arnaiz' Day (Patron of diabetics and against diabetes)

St. Stephen of Perm's Day / Old Permic Alphabet Day -- Russian Orthodox Church (inventor of the alphabet used for Russian before the Cyrillic was developed)

Union Day -- Tanzania

Vallenato Legend Festival -- Valledupar, Colombia (one of Colombia’s most important music and folk festivals; through Apr. 30)

World Intellectual Property Day -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

Prince Albert (future George VI) marries Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1923
The Independent Order of Oddfellows, American branch, is established in Baltimore, MD, US, 1819
Moscow State University opens, 1755


Birthdays Today:

Jon Lee, 1982
Jason Earles, 1977
Tom Welling, 1977
Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, 1970
Kane, 1967
Kevin James, 1965
Jet Li, 1963
Joan Chen, 1961
Michael Damian, 1962
Giancarlo Esposito, 1958
Boyd Matson, 1947
Gary Wright, 1943
Bobby Rydell, 1942
Duane Eddy, 1938
Carol Burnett, 1933
I.M. Pei, 1917
Hans Detlef "Douglas" Sierck, 1897
Anita Loos, 1889
Gertrude Bridget "Ma" Rainey, 1886 (Some say April 3)
Frederick Law Olmsted, 1822
John James Audobon, 1785
Marcus Aurelius, 121


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Jelly's Last Jam"(Musical), 1992
"Dinosaurs"(TV), 1991
"China Beach"(TV), 1988
"Company"(Musical), 1970
"Grand Polonaise Brillante"(Chopin Op. 20), 1835


Today in History:

Copernicus makes his first observations of Saturn, 1514
William Shakespeare is baptized, 1564
English  colonists of the Jamestown settlement  make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia, 1607
Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, 1802
Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election  to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic, 1925
In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections, 1963
Tanganyika  and Zanzibar  merge to form Tanzania, 1964
A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting, 1965
The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force, 1970
A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster, 1986
Physicists  announce first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle, 1994
Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country, 2005
During the second day of evidence at the Leveson Inquiry, Rupert Murdock reveals there was a 'cover-up' at 'News of the World' but that he had no knowledge of it, 2012

13 comments:

  1. How embarrassing! It also means the upper part of a shoe, and volunteer firefighter!

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  2. Vamp is not a good nickname. That was the first thing I though when I heard her new nickname. I'm so glad you took care of this. She's a smart one.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  3. Aaawww bless her. I hope she got an angelic nickname after that mess up. I didn't know that a vamp is also a volunteer firefighter - thanks for that Bish.

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  4. Hard to believe he didn't know what "vamp" meant.

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  5. Oops! I'm thinking what Stephen is thinking.

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  6. Oh, my. That's not a good nickname.

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  7. That story is funny now but was it at the time? I know a few Australians I'd like to hug. Hugh Jackman? Bob Morley....

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  8. Vamp! That's funny! Guess he never thought of its real meaning. Hope she got a new nickname!

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  9. LOL now that was quite funny although unfortunate heheh!

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  10. Oh my -- either he did know, but was just pretending not to know in hopes that SHE didn't know. Or, he's very very clueless. Ha.
    Yes yes, always check the source!

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  11. I'm a fan of vampire & werewolf stories, but 'vamp' isn't a knickname I would expect from a pastor. I'd keep an eye on him.

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  12. Ahh, the innocence of youth pastors fresh out of seminary! Our attorney is a member of the Latter Day Saints and did a two year mission before completing law school. He still blushes easily, and sometimes we take a bit of pleasure in seeing if we can make that happen, with a fair amount of restraint of course!

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