Terms of Endearment
I looked at the juggler again last night - Chris Bliss. If you click on the link, there’s another video of a juggler imitating him with a more complicated routine. But he doesn’t have Chris Bliss’ mastery - he even dropped a ball a couple of times (pun intended?). I think that’s what makes Chris’ performance so compelling - it’s his mastery. He and his balls are “one”. He’s the Yo-Yo Ma (my hero!) of juggling.
Did you know that in Chinese, repeating the first name like that (Yo-Yo) is a term of endearment? I have a good friend that calls me “Mare-sy” (as in “Mares eat oats and so do goats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid’ll eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?”) and I call him “Mikey”. Or my good friend “Johnny” Byrne. I’m the only one in the world that calls him Johnny, I think. Sometimes, he calls himself “Little Johnny”. Other people have asked me, “Why do you call him Johnny?” Well I’ve known him for nearly 30 years and he taught me all I know about real estate - and his middle initial is E. So he is, literally “John E.” Of course, then there’s my husband Bobby - which I’m the only one allowed to call him that. Then there’s the pianist Lang-Lang. Same deal. I don’t know of any other Chinese examples. Just imagine, if he weren’t “Yo-Yo”, he would sound like Sylvester Stallone calling for his mother: “Yo! Ma!”
“All Things With Exuberance!”
mary!
