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March 14, 2010

The warning to "beware the ides of March" originated from the assassination of Julius Caesar on March 15 in 44 BCE, but what the heck is (are?) ides anyway?

Ides is an old Roman calendar term used to denote a full moon, so every month had an ides, not just March. (In rare cases, what we call Blue Moons, some months would have had two ides.)

The Romans at first based their calendar at first on the phases of the moon: Kalends started on the new moon, Nones began on the first quarter, and Ides started on the day of the full moon. A lunar year has some drawbacks, though, not least of which is that it doesn't match up evenly with a solar year. So it didn't take long for seasonal events like festivals to be seriously out of whack with the official calendar.

Julius Caesar implemented calendar reform, setting the length of the year at 365 days (plus a leap day every 4 years) and fixing the lengths of the months and setting the ides of March, May, July and October on the 15th and the other months, on the 13th.

In the Christian era, the Julian calendar eventually eas replaced by the Gregorian calendar, in large part to make calculating the date of Easter somewhat simpler. Like Passover, the date of Easter is related to lunar cycles, which is why it jumps around on the calendar so much. Further adding to the confusion is the fact that Eastern Churches and Western Churches calculate Easter differently, so their celebrations only rarely coincide.

June 3, 2009

The Kroger Supermarket (universally and incorrectly called Kroger's) in my town has been located on Nashville Pike for at least 25 years. So you would think they could spell the address correctly. But no. I was shopping there this week and noticed that the ad plaque in the grocery cart's fold up basket had a major typo:

I went back the next night to shoot the photo, and had a chance to point it out to the managers on duty. One of them acknowledged that other shoppers had point it out, too. Someone slipped up, he said with a shrug. I hope they clean it up soon.

June 1, 2009

After weeks of frequent - and needed - rain, the weather around Nashville has been warming up and dry for several days now - which makes it the perfect time to make hay.

Everyone has heard the phrase "Make hay while the sun shines." It's used to encourage people to take advantage of opportunities, to save for that legendary rainy day, or generally to be industrious and not waste time.

It wasn't until I moved to Tennessee 25 years ago that I learned where the phrase "make hay while the sun shines" originated. Like so much in farming, haying depends on the happy coinciding of several factors. The grass has to be fairly mature - tassels ripening but not so ripe that the blades of grass are starting to die and droop. the grass needs to be dry when cut to get the most efficient cutting - if you've ever mowed early in the morning you know how dew-drenched grass clogs blades.

Then the cut grass has to dry some before being baled - if it rains after you've cut it, you have to let it dry out. Again, this is to reduce the chance that mold will develop, which would ruin the hay.

Typically, hay is made when the weather is warm; if farmers are lucky, the rain will hold off while they cut in the spring, then come back often enough so they can get a second cut later in the summer - when of course they want dry weather. If you live someplace with a predictable climate, there's less pressure to complete the job asap. Here in the South, where sudden thunderstorms can pop up on hot, humid afternoons, we don't have that kind of leisure. When it's time to make hay, it's an all-out process.

The last couple of years have not been great for hay - drought precluded most second cuttings, so the price went up. The price of fuel for tractors also rose, adding to the price of hay. The wilting economy put even more pressure on folks who needed hay for livestock. My fingers are crossed for a better summer this year for making hay.

Speaking of haymakers - the hard punch swung with everything you have - got its name from the action of cutting hay with a scythe. We have one of those implements in the barn - a reminder of a time when muscle power alone did everything. I cannot imagine spending days swinging a scythe to cut hay, then raking it into windrows and heaping it in stacks or ricks. By the end of that process, you would be ready for a month of rain just so you could stop.

April 3, 2009

Typos discovered this week in two very different kinds of communications turned some faces scarlet with embarrassment, and anger, while amusing many other folks.

First, an unidentified, and now possibly job-hunting, functionary in the White House mistyped a phone number for reporters to call for a G-20 briefing with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor General James Jones, USMC Ret. The phone number on the press release was instead the number for a phone-sex outfit. Talk about worrying who answers when the phone rings at 3 a.m. ...

Next, the makers of Peace Cereal accidentally printed a phone-sex number on boxes of its breakfast food instead of the company's toll-free number. The Eugene, Ore. - based company, Golden Temple, immediately apologized and set about removing boxes from the shelves. I don't know, I think this typo unintentionally helps them carry out their mission statement: "By enjoying a bowl of our cereal, you’re joining us in our ongoing campaign to bring much-needed funds to people who could use a helping hand."

Inquiring minds have to wonder: Are incorrect phone numbers like this always for sex-industry outfits, or are those the only ones that make the news? It's like those sorta-faces on trees, paint stains, grilled cheese sandwiches, freezers and such - surely there are many more that don't look like Jesus or Mother Theresa. Do people just shrug and say, "Oh that dried catsup blob? We think that's just Henry Kissinger," and don't bother to call the news?

June 22, 2008

Three cheers for Great Britain's Local Government Association, which sent round a memo to officials and officious bureaucrats to ditch their doublespeak and eschew buzzwords.

Seeing as how we at Hammock are in the business of trying to improve communication between our clients and the rest of the world, I can only shake my head in wonder at this example of "impenetrable jargon": "Why do we have to have 'coterminous, stakeholder engagement' when we could just 'talk to people' instead?" he said.

The list includes some real headscratchers - one wonders how much productive time was lost coming up with some of them.

Several words and phrases that set my teeth a-grind made the list (where present, words in parentheses were suggested as more sensible phrasings):
Best practices (best way)
Bottom-up (listening to people)
Customer (people or person)
Engagement/Engaging (working with people/getting people involved)
Level playing field
Transparency (clear)

Others that didn't make the list - perhaps they aren't used in England? - that I would have included are "corporate/organizational DNA; green, which may have set a record for the speed at which it has become meaningless; conversational media, which too often resembles a shouting match in a late-night bar; and COB - with today's technology, when does a business ever close?

I'm sure you have your own list of buzzwords and clichés and hackneyed phrases. Send 'em along and I will keep a list in which we can all be community stakeholders.

Bill Hudgins

Editor

o: 615.690.3403

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