Smile! It's Healthy

Sweetie walked into the room as Bigger Girl and i were discussing Cajun French.

"Would the people in Paris understand it if someone went there who speaks it?" he asked.

"Maybe some," Bigger Girl responded.

Cajun French, i explained, is what i've heard called "a delightful mixture of French and Spanish."

That comment led to a discussion about how syncretic some languages are, and how English so easily adopts words from other languages.

"There are no pure languages, and no one can find the original one, although they know some things about it.  I read about that online," Bigger Girl added.

"Did I ever tell you the story of my friend Pitre?  We went to high school together, and he spoke fluent Cajun French," Sweetie said.

"What about him, Dad?"

"Well, being  Cajun, he was Catholic, of course, but one day he was approached out on the beach by these Protestants who preach out there during spring break.  They were Pentecostals, so they believed in speaking in tongues.  Well, he was a real prankster, and knew they were Pentecostal, and got them to pray with him, and then he started spouting stuff in Cajun.  He said they started yelling, 'He's got it, he's been baptized by the Holy Spirit' and he just kept talking Cajun.  Finally he started speaking English again, and he left, and he said he never laughed so hard in his life once he got where they couldn't see him.  He really had them going."

Bigger Girl and i were grinning over the story, and then i added my bit of fun to the evening by sharing this website with them.

Have a smiley Saturday, everyone!


Today is

Bartletide -- West Witton, Yorkshire Dales, UK (a/k/a Burning Bartle, a ceremony in which a straw effigy of Owd Bartle, a sheep theif of yore, is paraded, then burned after sunset, as a warning to the light fingered)

Be Kind to Humankind Week: Speak Kind Words Saturday

Birthday of Horus -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

De Ducasse -- Ath, Belgium (Giants of Ath Festival, celebration in which "Goliath" marries, then goes to do battle with David; through tomorrow)

Discovery of the Runes/Odin's Ordeal ends -- Ancient Norse Calendar

Ferret Buckeye Bash -- Colombus, OH, US (ferret show)

Green Corn Pow Wow -- Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (through tomorrow, Pow Wow and presentations of Native heritage to all)

Independence Day -- Uruguay(1825)

International Bat Night -- through tomorrow, go enjoy these wonderful creatures; www.eurobats.org or www.batcon.org

Kiss and Make Up Day

Koenji Awa Odori Festival -- Suginami City, Tokyo, Japan (thousands dance in the streets, through tomorrow)

National Banana Split Day -- some sites have it as Aug. 10

National Second-Hand Wardrobe Day -- pull out the hand-me-downs or thrift store purchases and wear them with pride!

Opiconsivia -- Ancient Roman Calendar, Vestal Virgin Festival in honor of Ops

Rumpleskunkskin's Bride Escapes to Heewigoland Anniversary -- Fairy Calendar (Fairy celebration, Goblins get grumpy)

Saddleworth Rushcart -- Saddleworth, West Yorkshire, England (similar to rushbearing, a cart goes through the area with Morris men, the bounds of the area are checked for enemy breaches, rushes are gathered to line the church floor, and there is celebrating, gurning, wrestling, singing, and a final procession tomorrow to St. Chad's Church at Uppermill for the 11am service)

Sheep Market Fair -- Ho, Denmark (annual sheep market and family fair)

Sidewalk Art Festival -- Portland, ME, US

Soldier's Day -- Brazil

St. Genesius of Arles' Day (Patron of notaries, secretaries; against chilblains, scurf)

St. Genesius of Rome's Day (Patron of actors, attorneys, barristers, clowns, comedians, comediennes, comics, converts, dancers, epileptics, lawyers, musicians, printers, stenographers and torture victims)

St. Louis, King of France's Day (King Louis IX; Patron of barbers, bridegrooms, builders, button makers, construction workers, Crusaders, difficult marriages, distillers, embroiderers, French monarchs, grooms, haberdashers, hairdressers, hair stylists, kings, masons, needle workers, parenthood, parents of large families, passementiers, prisoners, sculptors, sick people, soldiers, stone masons, stonecutters, tertiaries, trimming makers; Québec, Québec; Saint Louis, Missouri; Blois, France; Carthage, Tunisia; La Rochelle, France; New Orleans, Louisiana; Oran, Algeria; Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France; Saint Louis, Missouri;`Versailles, France; Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Louis; against the death of children)

Tara Puja -- Tibetan Buddhist fast

Usuki Stone Buddhas Fire Festival -- Usuki, Japan (torchlight at twilight lights the regions mysterious Buddha statues)

Whiskey Sour Day



Birthdays Today

Claudia Schiffer, 1970
Rachael Ray, 1968
Billy Ray Cyrus, 1961
Ann Archer, 1947
Regis Philbin, 1933
Sean Connery, 1930
Leonard Bernstein, 1918
Walt Kelly, 1913
Ruby Keeler, 1909
Clara Bow, 1905
Hans Adolf Krebs, 1900
Ludwig II, "Mad King" of Bavaria, 1845
Allan Pinkerton, 1819
Ivan the Terrible, 1530


Today in History

The Council of Nicaea ends with the adoption of the Nicene Creed, 325
The Children's Crusaders under Nicholas reach Genoa, 1212
The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed, 1537
Galileo demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers, 1609
Hundreds of French settlers arrive in New Orleans, which had been founded only a few months before, marking its true beginnings as a city, not just an outpost, 1718
James Cook begins his first voyage, 1768
Alice Meynell becomes the first female jockey, in England, 1804
British forces destroy the Library of Congress, which then contained about 3,000 books, 1814
The New York Times perpetrates the Great Moon Hoax, 1835
Kitasato Shibasaburo discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet, 1894
The United States National Park Service is created, 1916
US Army officer and missionary John Birch is killed by the armed supporters of the Communist Party of China, considered by some as the first victim of the Cold War, 1945
Zimbabwe joins the United Nations, 1980
Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn, 1981
Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist Prime Minister in Central and Eastern Europe, 1989
Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary, 1989
The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko), 2003