M. Nack’s Blog

“Let the good times roll!” I don’t know, this expression strikes me as ersatz French - kindred to this example of ersatz Greek: a tombstone in Graceland Cemetery has Greek lettering on it which says, ”One foot in fairyland”. It’s not Greek at all, of course, just confounding to the uneducated - on many different levels. Apparently the occupant of this particular grave wore a ring during his lifetime with the inscription, making it a suitable epitaph for when he finally arrived at that destination. I know just enough Spanish to know that you rarely say things the same way you do in English. You turn nouns and verbs around and so forth. I know an even smaller smattering of Greek - and I am quite certain that it would be altogether different. As for Ground Hog’s Day, when, in Chicago, has Spring ever arrived on Feb 2? We have actual real live ground hogs living under the deck of our cottage in Door County. I didn’t know what they were at first. Being a Big City kid, I was quite certain they weren’t rats, since they don’t have long hairless tails. Ground hog is synonymous with woodchuck. Like bears, they hibernate for the winter. They emerge in the Spring with voracious appetites - if they don’t starve to death in the meantime. When they go into hibernation, they truly are “one foot in fairyland.” Not unlike us humanoids plunging into the deep, dark days of winter. “L’aissez les bon temps roulez!”

“All Things With Exuberance!”

mary!