Christine’s Hello

Each issue of Lovatts crossword magazines begins with a welcoming “Hello!” from Christine Lovatt. The columns contain fascinating insights into our wonderful  language; its history, idiosyncrasies, the things that we delight in and the things that drive us mad!  You can read some of Christine’s columns from the past here and a new one will be added each month.

Recent articles from Christine Lovatt

• Hello – Colossus 224
• Hello – Colossus 223
• Hello – Colossus 221
• Hello – Colossus 218
• Hello – Colossus 215

Hello – Colossus 224

Last modified on 2010-08-25 05:23:33 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Since the ancient times of the Greeks, owls have been perceived as being wise.

Athena, The Greek goddess of wisdom is often depicted with an owl perched on her head or on one of her shoulders, symbolising knowledge and scholarship. Athena and her ‘Little Owl’ appear on opposite sides of ancient Athenian coinage. The Latin name for Little Owl, Athene noctua translates to ‘Athena’s Night’ or ‘Athena of the Night’.

In Hindu Mythology, the Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi has an owl as her vehicle. In Bengal she is worshipped on the brightest night of the year. It is believed that on this night she, along with the great white owl, descends to Earth and takes away the darkness of poverty, stagnation, anger and laziness from our lives.  In early Indian folklore, owls represent wisdom and helpfulness and have powers of prophecy.

Owls are also popular figures in literature. They pop up in Shakespeare’s works as well as in Aesop’s fables where animals go to wise old owls for advice. A.A. Milne’s owl in Winnie-the-Pooh has ‘the gift of brains’ and offers advice, anecdotes and opinions to the residents of the 100 Acre Wood. In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, the wizards each own an owl for carrying messages, packages and brooms.

The nursery rhyme ‘A Wise Old Owl’ refers to the traditional image of owls as the symbol of wisdom:

A wise old owl lived
in an oak
The more he saw
the less he spoke
The less he spoke
the more he heard.
Why can’t we all be
like that wise old bird?

Today, a person who appears wise or serious is said to be owlish or have owl-like characteristics. Owls are popular logos for institutions of learning and are included in the crest of arms of many universities. An owl is the unofficial mascot of the high-IQ society Mensa. Collective nouns for owls include ‘a parliament of owls’ or ‘a wisdom of owls’.
The truth is, research shows that a bird’s intellect is tied to how big its brain is compared to its body, which means owls in their own right aren’t particularly clever.

In fact, a goose has a larger brain than an owl, although I can’t imagine ‘as wise as a goose’ catching on.
Can you?

Happy puzzling!

Hello – Colossus 223

Last modified on 2010-07-08 00:04:09 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Does your name come with a description?  History has given forenames many a soubriquet which makes us curious about their origins.

Some are easy to work out. Doubting Thomas came from the dubious apostle who did not believe that Jesus had arisen from the dead until he saw him with this own eyes. Plain Jane probably comes from Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre, in which Jane attends a school that enforces plainness among its students.

When the revolving server became popular, it was known as a Lazy Susan, Susan being a generic name for a servant, while Simple Simon, meaning a gullible person, comes from the popular nursery rhyme.

Peeping Tom, meaning a voyeur, comes from the legend of Lady Godiva. To persuade her husband the Earl of Mercia to abolish the crippling taxes of the people of Coventry, she rode naked through the streets of town, first ordering everyone to stay indoors and shut their windows. Only Tom the tailor disobeyed – he looked at her and was struck blind (but the Earl of Mercia DID abolish the taxes).

A Smart Alec is a person considered irritating by their know-all attitude, and possibly comes from a resourceful 19th century thief called Alex Hoag who outsmarted himself in the end and got caught. A similar character is a Clever Dick, also irritatingly knowledgeable, and possibly comes from Dick Whittington, a British folk hero, although Dick was a common name so it could have been any number of people.

Australian boxer Larry Foley never lost a fight and retired at 32, collecting a purse of £1,000 for his final fight, so no wonder we say Happy as Larry.

Old Nick, another name for the devil, possibly came from the name Nickel, a perfidious mountain demon in German folklore.

Some say that Jolly Roger, the pirate flag, comes from the French words jolie rouge meaning ‘pretty red’ but in the Elizabethan era, Roger was a slang term for vagrants. There’s another theory that Jolly Roger is a corruption of the name of a Tamil pirate Ali Raja.

Big Bertha was the nickname given to a heavy mortar-like howitzer used by Germany during WWI. It was named after the owner of the Krupp industrial empire Bertha Krupp.

There are many other names, whose origins are lost in the mists of time, such as Proper Charlie – a fool and a Sloppy Joe, a loose-fitting pullover. A recent arrival is called a Johnny-Come-Lately and an excessively timid person is known as a Nervous Nellie.

Happy Puzzling!

Hello – Colossus 221

Last modified on 2010-05-03 00:59:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“You are as welcome as the flowers in May” is a much-quoted line from a play by Irish playwright Charles Macklin, and it’s true that May is associated with the blossoming of flowers, and the much-longed-for warmth of summer.

In ancient times, the beginning of May, which we now call May Day, marked the coming of summer and the end of the long harsh nights of winter. It was a time of great celebration, such as the festival of Beltane which was held by the Celtic people. The name Beltane comes from the old Irish Beltene meaning ‘bright fire’ and nowadays the Irish for the month of May is Bealtaine. Bonfires were lit on hilltops at this time and herds of livestock were driven out to the summer pastures or mountains.

In Germanic countries they had Walpurgis Night and in other parts of Europe they held the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers.

The English month of May is named after the Roman goddess Maia and many English villages celebrated May Day by dancing around a maypole on May Day, until Cromwell’s reign put a stop to it. However with the restoration of the monarchy, the custom was resumed and was more popular than ever. The Maypole Dance was originally a dance celebrating the fertility associated with spring, both in nature and in human procreation. Youngsters would dance around the maypole, each holding a ribbon attached to the top of the maypole so that the ribbons became interwoven into patterns.

Villagers would go out early and collect greenery and flowers to decorate their homes and make garlands for the young girls to wear. One of the girls would be crowned as the May Queen.

 “But I must gather knots of flowers, and buds and garlands gay,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.”

So wrote Tennyson in his poem The May Queen. The traditional Morris dancing would often be performed on this day as well.

In some parts of Britain, these activities still go on, especially on the May Bank Holiday, which will fall on Monday 3rd May this year. In St Andrews, Scotland, students gather on the beach and at first light on May Day run into the North Sea, which I imagine would be icy cold! Bravo to the brave Scots.

There are many legends associated with May. Young girls would wake up early on the first day of May to go outside and wash their faces with the dew, which would ensure a clear complexion for the whole year. There is an old saying “Marry in May and you’ll live to rue the day” – oh dear, James and I were married in May.

May Day is the distress call in an emergency and was originated in 1923 by Frederick Mockford, a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London. Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word mayday from the French m’aider.

“Venez m’aider” means “(you) come help me.”

May you enjoy the joys of May!

Happy Puzzling!

Hello – Colossus 218

Last modified on 2010-03-08 01:33:58 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

Many words have changed meanings over the years and there’s usually an interesting view of history behind the words. Here are some words from ancient Greece.

Paraphernalia, for instance, comes from the Greek para alongside and pherne dowry. In ancient Greece, when a bride moved into her husband’s house, she took her personal property with her, cooking utensils, jewellery, cosmetics etc which she was allowed to keep. If they got divorced, which was quite common then, the woman was allowed to keep her paraphernalia, while the families sorted out the lands, cattle, house and money.

In those ancient days, the world as they knew it was surrounded by the great river Oceanus, for it was generally considered that the world was flat. If you failed to return from a voyage on the dreaded River Ocean, you must have fallen off the edge. Oceanus gave its name to ocean.

A long, arduous and eventful journey can be described as an odyssey, which also comes from ancient Greece. The Greek poet Homer wrote the long epic poem Odyssey about the Greek hero, Odysseus (known as Ulysses to the Romans) and his long journey back to Greece after the fall of Troy.

The Trojan War lasted ten years and it took him another ten to reach home. His wife Penelope was still waiting for him, fighting off her many suitors, with the help of her son.

Marathon runners might be interested to know that the village called Marathon, north of Athens, was the spot where the Persians invaded Greece, about 2,500 years ago. The Athenians defended and the battle raged on in Athens, resulting in a win by the home side.

A Greek soldier, Pheidippides, who had fought all day, was ordered to tell the people of Marathon that their city was saved. For some reason he ran all the way, about 43 kms, delivered the good news, and dropped dead from exhaustion.

This distance of 43kms, or 26 miles, is now the standard marathon distance run, thanks to poor old Pheidippides.

Happy Puzzling!

Hello – Colossus 215

Last modified on 2009-11-29 23:58:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Some time ago I wrote about my favourite place, Bere Island in Bantry Bay, Ireland, where my mother came from. Readers have since asked to hear more about its history and whether I’ve been back there recently.

I return every year and have just spent the summer there. It has a fascinating history. It lies opposite Berehaven Harbour and got its name, according to legend, from an Irish chief Owen Mór who was defeated in battle, fled to Spain and married Princess Beara. When he returned with a great army and navy, he named the area Berehaven in honour of his wife.

The prehistoric inhabitants of Bere Island left behind an ancient legacy of their time – a megalithic wedge tomb built circa 2000 BC, ringforts and a spectacular standing stone over 3m tall, which stands in the very centre of the island. At the eastern end of the island Lonehort Beach was once a Viking harbour, where a breakwater was built in the Scandinavian style.

Berehaven is the second deepest natural harbour in the world (after Sydney) and the deepest in Europe, and the scene of many a naval clash. Bere Island belonged to the O’Sullivan Beara Clan since the 14th C, but was taken at the The Battle of Dunboy in 1602, when Gaelic chieftain Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare was defeated by Sir Carew and his people massacred.

The French Invasion of 1796 led to the need to build defences and four Martello towers were built on the island, each with a gun battery. Two towers still remain and afford commanding views of the island and bay.

Due to the strategic position of the island, the British maintained a military presence on the island from 1898, when tenants were cleared from the East End and seven gun batteries in all were brought in to protect the British Dreadnoughts when in port. A moat was built to surround the fortifications, prisons and army barracks, some of which can still be seen today. The British army departed in 1938 and in the 1950s the islanders were finally allowed to buy their land back.

The inclement weather has caused many shipwrecks, with ships smashed on rocks and islanders involved in courageous rescues over the years. Fishing has always been the main occupation, and the local fishermen risked their lives many times to ply their trade. Despite the fishing, the island population was greatly reduced by the Famine in the 1840s and later by emigration. In 1841 there were 2,122 inhabitants. Nowadays there are just over 200 permanent residents, although this number swells in the summer with visitors.

Much of the information here comes from Bere Island – A Short History by Ted O Sullivan. His account of the ingenious prison escapes is highly recommendable reading.

Happy Puzzling!