"To acknowledge the presence or arrival of (somebody) with gestures or words." So if I lurched away from you in horror at a cocktail party would I have greeted you? I think not.
Yet, Season's Greetings say the cards atheists send to Christians whom they like. Let's see if Roget can help.
"Give one's regards" I discard; it's the sort of piety banks use at the end of a letter foreclosing a mortgage. "Hail" sounds more positive, more promising. But, I fear, more antiquated. Englishmen may be "at home to someone" but Americans shouldn't laugh; the US equivalent is "have the latchstring out." Surely latchstrings are electronic now.
More specifically: accost (A bit near the bone, that one), address, salute, curtsy (But would I ever straighten up again?)
I rather like "glorify" but only God gets glorified. No, just a minute: "Describe or represent as admirable, especially unjustifiably. (As in: A football video glorifying violence.)" Strike out glorify.
Sod it, I'm going to go with "honour", flavoured with goodwill. And I'm aiming to be comprehensive. I wish to honour those who:
● Comment on Tone Deaf.
● Comment, but only rarely.
● Did comment but have now died.
● Did comment but have withdrawn for stated personal reasons.
● Did comment but have withdrawn without stated reason.
● Did comment but have withdrawn because they disapproved of the author’s insufferability and self-aggrandisement.
● Might have commented but after due deliberation decided the blog fell short of its aims.
A small world but one which has entertained me, disputed with me, informed me, challenged me, corrected me, shamed me and – very occasionally – garlanded my brow with laurels. Diesen Küss der ganzen Welt.
Although I no longer write a blog I will always visit your's, RR during my after-breakfast stint at the desktop. It is a link to times when the blogging world was alive and interactive. How quickly that has changed with the continual advent of social media,luring most to instant "look-at-me" methods of splurging vapid comments and images across the internet. A prostitution of a technical wonder.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I take a quiet enjoyment from your cogent and well written posts.
I hope this will continue throughout 2018, meaning that we both are still here and still compos mentis (something which cannot be guaranteed with certainty for either of us!)
I wish you well
Avus: Your comment fits together a couple of jigsaw pieces. Most of my posts are written and posted between 6.30 and 8 am. Your post-breakfast session at the computer explains why yours are always the first comments to appear - often before I shave.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is in a sorry state but then to some extent it was always something of a miracle. Its main attraction is to those who are keen to write as opposed to merely pass on facts, for whom style is as important as narrative. Over the years one notices the enthusiasm drain away. The clincher is when bloggers start admitting there is "nothing to write about", unaware, it seems, that life itself is an infinitely regenerating subject and that most of the material is born within the noggin rather than in the visible physical world. Another symptom of blog-fatigue: a tendency to cut and paste which slowly reduces itself to the provision of links.
This is, however, a natural state of affairs. Writing - even bad writing - is tiring and takes time. And mental exhaustion often proves to be less tractable than physical exhaustion.
Thank you for your graceful interest. For me you will always associated with Jean Behra, the racing driver who had only one real ear. More important, the actual father of HHB and the distant surrogate father of the late Blue Dog. As to guarantees re. outlasting 2018 and/or our present mental capacity we are all in the same boat. Donald Trump I hope is in another boat.
I am not sure which is better, a Happy Christmas or a Merry Christmas. I wish you the one you prefer, and I thank you from the heart for your witty and interesting blog. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Compliments of the Season - which is what my catholic father in law would use when faced with a stranger of dubious religious allegiance.
ReplyDeleteWhatever, happy merry xmas etc. with good food and drink and many songs I hope.
BTW: I know, Brits love the Umlaut pretty much anywhere on a German word, but the singular kiss does not. Never mind, my mistakes when I write in your language are probably worse.
Colette: My aim was a phrase of my own that was nevertheless acceptable and uncontroversial. Hence "honour" which as far as I can see is neutral without being bland and as close to my intentions as I could get.
ReplyDeleteAs to the difference between "happy" and "merry", the latter does have a secondary meaning in English implying (I'm taking advantage of your blogonym) ivresse if not ivresse publique. Does this mean anything to you? If not you may be too young to recall those grim l m x 1 m boards that French bars were required to stick up on their walls, offering perhaps two-thousand words in tiny typeface about the law as it applied to bars and the penalties for infringing them.
All of which is by the by (a phrase I haven't used since short pants). The compliment I am most desirous of is "witty", hard to deserve it and even harder to define. Yet lo...!
Sabine: Again, I was trying to bring my own slant to greetings which in many instances have lost much of their original impact through repetition. Compliments of the Season is perfectly respectable but here I suffer the penalty of having lived too long. In my youth tradesmen (a shockingly "anti" sub-division of society; think of Jane Austen and "He's in trade.") used to wish that - eg, the man who delivered the coal, the "chemist" (ie, pharmacy) that sold the wine. Being typed occasionally in south-east England by my English accent as belonging to the lower orders I am keen to see all class barriers destroyed. But not hopeful.
All of which palls when I learn that the singular form of the German noun "kiss" does not take an umlaut. I try to be rigorous about this sort of thing, since I honour the two other languages I am faintly familiar with. It is, as I'm sure you are aware, a quote from Schiller and I hate the fact that I may have traduced such a sentiment,
Might things have been different in the 18th century? No they weren't. I should have stuck with Seid umschlungen, Millionen! with its equally glorious aspiration.
But do not think for a moment I am resentful. I doubt I will ever make that mistake again and thank you for the gentle way you corrected me. So the gradus ad Parnassum remains.
Robbie, thank you for honouring my absence, that's a very honourable gesture to make. I no longer comment (or so rarely it doesn't count) but I still stop by to keep up with your posts. I don't know if you do the same with mine but I hope so. In any case, with no further ado or adon't, I sincerely wish you and yours an enjoyable merry season, whatever you prefer to call it, and a New Year full of singing and writing, good health and as much cheer as you can handle.
ReplyDeleteSeasons greetings ‘ BB’!
ReplyDeleteDad pointed me in your direction. I hope all is well with you and yours. I have taken on a new challenge and am learning to drive a motorbike! As you can imagine my Pa is chuffed (what a lovely word, chuffed). Am relishing the challenge and highly recommend any new challenge later in life.
Onwards Barrett Bonden, onwards and fair you well.
Susan HHB
Ps any typos or spelling mistakes I shall blame on my tiny phone screen!
Merriness all around!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard an American say "latchstring"...
Good health and good mind to you in the coming year! Pax tecum.
Natalie: Blogspot, which I use, does have a rolling record of other bloggers' fleeting visits. I have noticed your very distinctive name there from time to time (also, strangely, someone with whom I parted brass-rags years ago). I too have returned the favour but I'm not sure whether you use Blogspot and whether this tracking system is available. I think that silence becomes me in certain situations. I have just wished Marly a festivity blessed with benign revelation and comfort. It is not laziness that causes me to offer you these wishes a second time over.
ReplyDeleteAnon: About as anonymous by now as Donald Trump though much, much nicer. Thank you for dropping in and I'm delighted, retrospectively, that my observances towards your Dad included my remembrances of you.
You say motorbike, and leave it there. Both your Dad and I would have wished for specific details: cylinder capacity, valve actuation. Personally I hope it's a Honda Fireblade. I've always wanted one (mainly because of the name) but since advanced age and good sense have intervened I would be able to ride your Fireblade vicariously.
Spelling mistakes don't matter a damn if the heart is in the right place. Leaves used to feature in your blog. I hope they continue to fall gently and rewardingly on you.
Marly: As to "latchstring" my third-edition Roget was published in 1968 when these devices were no doubt all the vogue. My tortuous blessing, re. the coming festival rests with a comment I have just deposited at The Palace at 2 AM.
You've just about covered all of us who have commented at least once. Thank you for that inclusion. (I hope all my spelling is correct.)
ReplyDeleteI have (as I'm sure you may have noticed) pretty much abandoned my blog. Since the U.S. elections fiasco last November, I seem to have less and less to write, though I had already started slipping away several months before.
Much pleased to see that you are still writing. I hope to pick it up again, whilst I still can.
Thank you for all the comments and recommends and the emails back and forth. They - and still do - mean a great deal to me. My best wishes to Lady V, OB and OS.
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ReplyDelete"So if I lurched away from you in horror at a cocktail party would I have greeted you? I think not."
ReplyDeleteI'm remembering, and reliving some of the embarrassment, of having done this (not at a cocktail party, but at a birthday party - thankfully not to the birthday girl). I'm also laughing at the idea that this might be a 'greeting' of sorts.
I wish you a happy new year, full of good health, liveliness, warmth, and learning.
The Crow: In having "less and less to write" are you hampered by Quakerism? I can't stop writing about him (your CEO) and was surprised to find that under certain lights he appears as a figure of pathos. It's a view that finds little acceptance.
ReplyDeleteDoes the greetee "Lady V" imply I have accepted a peerage? Never! Equality is all.
More strength to your elbow.
HKatz: The definition of "greeting" is so unspecific I think my line could be a goer. Though I'd hate to have stirred unpleasant memories for you.
You wish me "learning" and that's often forgotten in these exchanges. Wishing me "wisdom", however, would be going too far.
Cheers.
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ReplyDelete