What Would Jimmy Do?

My sister visited recently from Oklahoma. Sometime during the course of her visit, the term “Broomcorn Johnny” came up. When I was growing up, every year Maysville had an influx of “Broomcorn Johnnies.” They set up camp just outside town and of course were a boon to the Maysville merchants. They bought groceries, clothing, and other stuff and went to the movies. (Yea, Maysville, at one time, had two movie theaters.)

I’m sure both my faithful readers don’t even know what broomcorn is…. first of all let’s get some facts straight — broomcorn isn’t corn at all, although if you saw it growing in a field, you’d think it was corn. It very much resembles regular corn, except it doesn’t have — well, ears of corn. “Broomcorn” is actually a type of sorghum — knowing that, it sort of looks like cane sorghum, or sugar cane, but to the un-initiated, it looks like corn. I was well into adulthood before I knew that broomcorn wasn’t really corn.

Anyhow, before the “broom” was invented, people used bundles of twigs, corn husks and things like that to clean. There is at least one reference to some sort of a broom in the Bible….”Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?” Well, ok, maybe this doesn’t actually reference a broom, but it might….

Early brooms were usually made at home from whatever materials were at hand — they basically bundled together whatever they were using to sweep with to a wooden stick with rope or twine. Of course these devices didn’t do a good job or last very long and had to be replaced fairly often.
So — eventually someone (possibly Levi Dickinson in Hadley, Mass.) got the bright idea to make a broom from a species of tasseled grass (sorghum vulggare) that resembled sweet corn. Turns out that the plant’s fibers made an excellent broom. Previously, the sorghum plant’s seeds and fibers had been used as animal feed and not much else. Dickinson’s broom was a round bundle of broomcorn tied to a stick with some weaving around the top and proved to be very effective and durable. As word spread, demand for the brooms increased and Dickinson and his sons went into business making and selling their brooms.

But back to today — a lot of people don’t remember when brooms were made of straw since most are now plastic or some other synthetic fiber. Back when I was a kid, growing broomcorn was a major business. A town about 10 miles from where I grew up christened itself “the broomcorn capital of the world.” I’m sure it wasn’t, but try telling that to the Lindsay, Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce.
The downside of broomcorn production was that harvesting it was hot, dreary work. Like so many undesirable jobs, this task was mostly accomplished with migrant labor. These migrant workers that worked the broomcorn fields around Maysville were called “Broomcorn Johnnies.” Like probably most migrant workers, Broomcorn Johnnies got a bed rap. They often looked raggedy, not well dressed and a lot of people considered them “dirty.” They probably looked “dirty” because they worked in the fields in the hot sun all day and didn’t have ready access to showers, as most lived in tents. I remember the women, most of whom worked in the broomcorn fields along side the men, were sometimes referred to as Broomcorn Sallies. Probably in most places, these people would have been referred to as Gypsies, but in Maysville, they were Broomcorn Johnnies.

Today, most people use vacuum cleaners or the new-fangled “swiffer” thing that looks kind of like a dirty napkin attached to the end of a stick. I’m not sure most households still have brooms around, but I’d bet that a lot do. Of course most of these brooms came about without the help of Broomcorn Johnnies.
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We recently went to a restaurant to celebrate Anne Oxfort’s birthday. We sat in a room with a long table occupied by elderly ladies obviously celebrating something. When they were getting ready to leave, some of them were taking pictures, so Claire asked if they’d like her to take a picture of the whole group — and they agreed.

When the group had all gathered for their picture, Claire said, “say cheese.” Well, I got to wondering why the heck do I say “say cheese” when I take someone’s picture or why do they say it to me when I’m having my picture taken?
After doing some extensive research, I’ve decided it’s a mystery plagued with rumors, myths, assumptions and mis-information with no factual information available.

If you’ve ever looked at old pictures, you’ve probably noticed that people didn’t smile in photographs. There’s probably a number of reasons — bad dental care, the long exposure time to take the picture and just that’s the way you’re supposed to look when having your picture taken. At some point, the serious look went away and slowly the smile became the standard facial expression for photographs. The early photographers used a mechanical birdie, usually held just above the camera and the phrase “watch the birdie” became popular — but it was more effective for kids, getting their attention, giving them something to look at and at the same time making them laugh.
Somewhere along the way, “say cheese” began to be used to let adults know the picture was about to be taken. From what I can tell, no one knows who first said it or why. One theory is that the double “e” of “cheese” creates a baring of the teeth and produces an almost automatic smile. And some people think the absurdity of saying cheese for no reason makes you laugh or smile naturally….

So once again, I’ve asked myself a question that I can’t answer — even after extensive research. I think today “say cheese” is used not so much to make one smile, but as a cue signal that the photo is about to be taken. A race is started with “ready set go,” so I suppose a picture can start with “say cheese.”
Wonder what cheese says when it gets its picture taken?
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A little while back, I blogged about a discussion with a friend about the word amen. During that same discussion, while we were defining terms, begotten or begot was mentioned. My friend was of the opinion that begot essentially meant to create. To be honest, I wasn’t sure but I thought the two must be different because of the phrase used in church, “begotten, not made.”

Well, of course this called for some extensive research on my part. Turns out that “begotten” and “created” do not mean the same thing at all. Create means to make something out of nothing. Begot, on the other hand, comes out of another thing that already exists. Any begotten thing has to have a source from which it stems. That source cannot be nothing, as in creation.

One explanation that I found, that I thought was pretty good, is that to beget is to become the father of; to create is to make. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself. A man begets human babies, a beaver begets little beavers and a bird begets eggs that turn into little birds. When you make something, you make something of a different kind from yourself. A bird makes a nest, a beaver builds a dam, a man makes a table. The explanation goes on to point out that what God begets is God; what man begets is man. What God creates is not God, just as what man creates is not man.

There’s no point here, I just found this interesting while keeping up my extensive research skills. So until next time, I’m done with this blog — made, not begotten…..
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Since my last update was about cats, and I don’t even especially care for cats, I thought I’d give equal time to something I do care about — dogs. There have been a number of dogs in my life. In fact, I can’t remember them all. We had big dogs, little dogs, black dogs, white dogs, dogs with spots, indoor dogs and outdoor dogs — they were all special in their own way.
Lots has been written about dogs and one thing that strikes me, is that almost all writings about dogs are complimentary and positive — not so with cats (remember a book, “100 Things to do with a Dead Cat?”)

The term dog has made equally as much headway into our language as cat. Maybe I should just let sleeping dogs lie, but here’s some phrases most of us use mentioning man’s best friend:
My dad used to say he was going to see a man about a dog, and we’ve all heard that his bark is worse than his bite and if you’re married, or even if you’re not, you’re sometimes in the doghouse. What kid hasn’t tried the old favorite — the dog ate my homework, and we all know that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Right now we’re in the midst of the dog days of summer in this dog-eat-dog world and it’s been so dry here lately, I’d like to see it raining cats and dogs.
Just like we do with cats, we often use dog idioms in our conversations that have nothing to do with dogs. With the elections gearing up, we’ll probably hear crooked as a dog’s hind leg a lot, and if you’re like me, just listening to the politicians makes me sick as a dog. Some of us tell shaggy dog stories, put on the dog and think we lead a dog’s life because we have to work like a dog. And I often wonder who let the dogs out?
Again, like cats, there are a lot of old wives tales about dogs — like if a dog’s nose is cold or wet, the dog is healthy, that dogs eat grass to induce vomiting or feeding a dog raw eggs gives him a shiny coat. Most people believe that one human year equals seven dog years — according to my extensive research, after a dog reaches 2 years of age, he ages about five dog years to every human year. Also something to keep in mind is that if a dog wags his tail, it’s not necessarily a sign that he’s friendly.
There sly dogs, shaggy dogs, bird dogs, dirty dogs, dog collars, hot digity dogs, hot dogs, lucky dogs, prairie dogs, top dogs, mad dogs, junk yard dogs, hound dogs, and of course hush puppies that will probably be the subject of another blog…..

I’ve heard it said that the world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog…. hard to argue with that — I’ve always thought the average dog was nicer than the average person, but don’t let your dog’s admiration for you convince you that you’re wonderful.
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We have a cat that lives next to us. I’m surprised he’s still alive considering all the potentially life-ending experiences he’s gone through just since I’ve known him. Maybe there really is something to the saying that a cat has nine lives. Thinking about that old saying that cats have nine lives got me to thinking about cats… I’m not a big fan of cats but it occurs to me that we do have a lot of phrases in our language about cats. There are alley cats, cat burglars, catcalls, catgut, catnaps, cat o’nine tails, cats eye marbles, the cat’s meow, catty remarks, catwalks, cool cats, tomcats, copycats, hellcats, scaredy cats, and people often fight like cats and dogs, act like sourpusses, sit in the catbird seat and let the cat out of the bag. Of course there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and remember that curiosity killed the cat. And if you’re not talking about this blog to someone, maybe the cat got your tongue. When I’m given a task or attempt to do something that’s futile, I often use the phrase, “like herding cats.”

There are a lot of old wives tales about cats — I heard my grandmother say numerous times that you should never let a cat be around a baby because cats suck the breath from a baby and the baby will die. There are a lot more “wives tales” about cats, like pregnant women shouldn’t ever clean a cat’s litter box, or that cats cause schizophrenia, or that cats can see ghosts.

There are a lot of theories about how these old wives tales came about — the myth that cats have nine lives may have been started by a book in England written in 1854, that stated that a witch could only take on a feline form nine times. Probably as good a theory as any. Cats, especially black cats, are often associated with witchcraft. As for cats sucking the breath from babies, cats probably get close to the baby’s mouth because they like the milky smell.

So anyhow, our neighbor cat continues to do whatever it is he does and if the proverbial curiosity doesn’t get him, I don’t know what will. But I suppose he’s nice to have around — he reminds me that not everything in nature has a purpose…..
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We went out to dinner at one of the nicer restaurants here in Shepherdstown a couple of nights ago. I ordered a glass of wine and was asked for ID. Actually, it kind of made my day. It turns out that just any kind of ID won’t work, it has to be a photo ID. At least in a case like this, why is a photo so important? If you look at me, I got wrinkles and gray hair. If I’m old, why would I pretend to be someone else that’s old — any fake ID would have to have a picture of another old person….

But, to finish the story — I can understand the need card me, I’m only 77, but we were with another couple, both in their 80s. We all had to produce IDs to have a glass of wine.
Anyone that thinks I’m 51, 41 or 31, let alone 21 is obviously brain dead.
The explanation we got was something like, “we apologize for the inconvenience, but we’re required to ask all customers for ID…” Of course, there’s a simpler explanation — some people are stupid. It’s hard to believe that anyone at our table needed a card to prove they are over 21. But — to determine that, it would take something called common sense.
One argument is that since “profiling” has become a discussion point, mostly to those that think they’re being discriminated against, or picked on, it’s become necessary to implement the card everyone procedure. If a young person is asked for ID and old people are not — that’s profiling.
I know I said earlier, that being asked for ID made my day, but when you think about it, you are basically being accused of lying….

There are laws that tell us when we’re too young to drink, I suppose the day is coming when there will be laws telling us when we’re too old to drink. Sigh…..
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Amen is a word that we’re all familiar with and it’s usually used at the end of a prayer, especially in church. But a few days ago, we had a discussion about what amen really meant. I thought it came from Hebrew and meant “so be it.” My friend thought it meant “in agreement.” I suppose we both were pretty much in agreement as to its meaning, but I thought this would be a good occasion to practice my extensive research.

From what I gather, amen is a word that came to English from Latin, which got it from Greek, which got it from Aramaic, which got it from Hebrew. It turns out that the word is difficult to translate directly, so, like some other words, rather than translate it, we just borrowed it.
If you check the dictionary, it says something like ….uttered at the end of a prayer or hymn. It’s interesting to note that “amen” is not used to conclude any prayers in the Bible. The word is usually used to begin certain passages or sayings, e.g., “Amen, amen, I say to you…”

Amen was used in the Old Testament only thirty times, and five of those it was used as a double word (amen, amen) so it’s only found in 25 passages.
The word is used 129 times in the New Testament and 99 of those are spoken by Jesus, Himself. He often began a sentence with amen or used it to give emphasis to what He said.

Exactly when amen began to be used to conclude a prayer isn’t clear. One theory is that today many people pray with their eyes closed and amen signals that the prayer has ended. In Bible times people prayed by lifting their eyes toward heaven with outstretched arms, so everyone could easily see when the prayer had ended.

Even though the meaning of amen can be translated different ways depending on content, it basically conveys the idea of agreement. So when someone says “amen” after a statement such as, “This is a really great blog,” it means they agree…..
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There’s an old saying that it’s better to be lucky than good. I guess I mostly agree with that, but sometimes I find myself noticing that some people are “lucky” more than their fair share of the time. So that got me to thinking — are some people genuinely luckier than others? Are they born blessed with some mysterious predisposition that regularly brings them good fortune?

When good or favorable things repeatedly occur for some people, seemingly against the odds, we usually attribute it to good luck — and — when misfortune strikes us, we attribute it to bad luck. But maybe there’s more to these happenings than just ‘luck.”

If we buy into this luck theory, we’re saying that our fortune, and misfortune, are caused by external factors that are beyond our control. But is that really true?
Maybe some people seem to have better luck because they believe in themselves, or they’re always curious, or they work harder, or they have a clear purpose.

Luck may be only an illusion. Some people believe that you can make your own luck. That’s at least partially true. Instead of attributing everything to luck, good or bad, maybe we ought to explore taking steps to make things happen, not just rely on luck.
If you look closely at “lucky” people, you’ll probably notice that most, if not all, of them work hard, are usually focused on a goal, they take action, they believe in themselves, they’re curious, and probably don’t believe that they were “born lucky.”

So I guess if you want to be luckier in life, maybe you should think about changing things — if you’ve been doing what you’ve been doing and the results are less than satisfactory, why not try a new strategy. It’s been said that luck is when preparation meets opportunity….
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Emily has been attending Dance Camp this summer and Friday we attended her “recital.”
There must have been about 20 or so in her class and they all did a great job — of course Emily did much better than the rest, but I knew she would. Apparently the camp had a “Frozen” theme (what else?) and a couple of the Frozen Princesses showed up to attend the show.

After the performance, we went to lunch, and then it was off to Maine for the Giffords to spend some time with the other Grammy and Poppy.
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When I was a kid and went to the movies, the “previews” of movies to come (and there were never more than 1 or 2 shown) were called “trailers.” Today, they’re still often referred to as trailers even though they’re shown before the movie.

For both my faithful readers who are too young to remember how things used to be, let me explain.
When I was growing up, the movie theater started showing the movie —at, say, one o’clock. It always started with a cartoon and during the week, a newsreel came next and then the movie. You paid your money (10 cents for kids and a quarter for adults) and came in any time you wanted — before the movie started or in the middle — didn’t matter. After the movie ended, the screen never went blank. At the end of the movie “trailers” showing scenes from the next movie (or two) the theater was gong to show came on and when they were finished, the cartoon, newsreels, and movie started again. It didn’t matter if you set through the movie two or three times, it still just cost a dime, or quarter. They never cleared the theater until the final showing and the theater closed.
So obviously during my younger days the term “trailer” made a lot of sense.

The first movie trailer was shown at the end of a “serial.” Serials were kind of like TV shows that lead up to some dramatic climax and then flash on the screen that the episode will be continued next week. When I was a kid, all the movie theaters showed serials after the cartoon and before the movie on Fridays and Saturdays. Anyhow, at the end of each serial episode, there wold be a short film teasing you to come back next week to see what happens…. just like a “preview” today — an advertisement for a coming attraction. These were called trailers and the name stuck.

Hollywood has periodically attempted to introduce other names for these advertisements, like Previews and Prevues of Coming Attractions, but for some reason trailer has remained the preferred name in the movie industry.

So trailers aren’t just for trucks and people that live in West Virginia, they’re for the movies too — even if they are shown in the wrong place….
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