sociologist at the oddness of moments

femmejenn  joked earlier that if I move (back) to Europe for a while upon my return I would find out that Turtle Island swam away to smite me. The play on the 1st Nations name for this continent lead to a discussion on the origins of continental names. However, I quickly realised I didn't know the etymology of all the continental names (heck, I don't even know all the different names for the continents). Here's what a horrificly shady research tells me:

( toponomy and continent )

( America is named after Amerigo who was named after Saint Emeric of Hungary )

( turtle island )

Arctic come from the word "Arktikos" which comes from Arktos, the Greek name for the constellation of the Great Bear Ursa Major, visible only in the Northern Hemisphere.

Antartica got it's name from the Greek word "antarktikos". The word antarktikos, is a combination of the Greek words "anti" and "arktikos", which means "opposite the Arctic".

The word Australia is derived from the Latin word "Australis", meaning of the South.

( Europe & Asia )

( Africa )

I have evidently just finished eaten something past its due date. My digestive system would like to know if it would be innapropriate cultural appropriation to request Hara Kiri. Doing a little more research on that, evidently it would be. Rather unfortunate at the moment.

I have been inspired by  madknits  for a while now to restructure my blogging with certain days of the week having specific themes/content as his blog does. He has a delightful weekly post entitled Thursday Randomocity and I have decided I will follow suit. Mine is likely to contain less random things about me than his does about him but the spirit is the same. However, I have been at a lost for coming up with an equally snazzy title. Suggestions?

Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame, appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. His original name was Jumpman, but a failure to accurately translate this from Japanese to English resulted in a decision to change his name to Mario to honor the landlord of Nintendo of America's office, Mario Segali.

My favourite herb is thyme. I add it to a myriad of dishes.

Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: heart represented the Church, spades represented the military, clubs represented agriculture, and diamonds represented the merchant class
 

( Read more... )

Jackson's term: 1829-1837
Party: Democratic
Fun Fact: After Jackson's inauguration in 1829, he held an "open house" at the White House. Due to the massive crowds in attendance, furniture was broken and fights broke out.

Taylor's term: 1849-1850 or 16 months.
Party: Whig
Fun Fact: According to the notes I took in 1989, no man ever became President knowing less about what he was supposed to do. Taylor was  simply a soldier, used to giving and taking orders. My 2008 fun fact is that he was nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready" because of his messy style of dress. Perhaps his inner child was a dragqueen.
Johnson's term: 1865-1869
Party: Democratic / National Union
Fun Fact: He was taught to read and write by his wife.
Hoover's term: 1929-1933
Party: Republican
Fun Fact: Hoover was the 1st preseident born west of the Mississippi River. During the Great Depression, people who had lost their homes lived in makeshift villages known as Hoovervilles. Anyone know why that term didn't stick around longer instead of reverting to (bor)ghetto, which stems from Venice's anti-semetic history? Was is purely anti-semitism that won out in this case or is there something else?
Bush Sr's term: 1989-1993
Party: Republican
Fun Fact: 1st war time president not to be reelected.
Bush Jr.'s Term: 2001-2009
Party: Republican
Fun Fact: He didn't call Chrétien or Martin Freedom Canadians even though I was sure he would. Hey, it wouldn't have been out of character but now Harper is PM, Dubbya missed his opportunity!

And now, as part of my spring cleaning, momentos from my 1st visit to DC will be thrown out.