Ooh...March 13. Unlucky, chain saw wielding, wander through the graveyard where the guy with a rusty knife is waiting thirteenth.
There are many reasons why 13 is considered unlucky. There are biblical reasons, such as there being 13 people at the last supper. Traditionally there were 13 steps leading to the gallows. Anyone walking them was considered to be quite unlucky. The Knights Templar began to be rounded up on Friday the 13th. Luckily Templar readers, today is Tuesday. Having 13 letters in your name was considered to be a curse. I have 12 in my name so you can feel relatively at ease in my presence.
On to other things. Last week I started with three unusual words and their meanings. This week I will add in one more word, and those who have mastered the alphabet have probably already guessed that I will be doing a word that starts with D. Drumroll please...wait, drumroll was not the word. Your D word has an acceptable and not at all unlucky 10 total letters. Here it is...doodle sack. I will tell you what it means later. See if you can guess it though. It should be easy if you have ever eaten haggis. Hint...it is a noun.
Now for a list of famous things that happened on this day. I will follow each one with a little doodle sack. For those who cheated and looked it up, you know that I misused that word!
In 607 AD the 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurred. Thankfully Bruce Willis had used a nuclear explosion to divert this dangerous rock from hitting Earth years earlier.
In 1564 Cardinal Granvelle fled from Brussels. The rumor is that his mom found out he had not been eating his sprouts.
In 1781 William Herschel sees what he thinks is a "comet" but is actually the discovery of the planet Uranus. I have been advised by the people reading over my shoulder to avoid saying anything about this event.
In 1884 the US adopted Standard Time. To balance the family, they later adopted daylight savings time...an evil little child that has caused more people to be late, or worse early, for church for many years.
In 1947 "Brigadoon" opened at Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. It stayed there for 581 performances. Then it was Briga-done. This is the opening song here.
And finally, in 2004 Luciano Pavarotti performs in his last opera at New York Metropolitan Opera's "Tosca". Reports are that the applause went on for tenor eleven minutes.
A couple of famous people born on the 13th of March in years ending with 13 are Lambros Konstantaras (1913), Greek actor born in Athen, Greeces (d. 1985)
and Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian writer also born in 1913. That was all I could find for March 13 birthdays in years that end in 13. Very unlucky if you ask me, kind of a doodle sack. Once again, improper use of the word.
A famous children's book author was also born on March 13. Dorothy Aldis was born in 1896. She wrote poems and stories for kids. You can listen to a poem of hers here. Don't worry, it is short and cute.
One more for the road. In 1961 Pablo Picasso (age 79) married his model Jacqueline Rocque (age 37). Sources say the ring was a cubic zirconia.
Okay, so I know the suspense must be killing you, so here goes. This is an actual picture of a doodle sack.
For those of you who guessed that it was an old English word for bagpipe well done!
As usual, if you wish to send me a sack of doodles, you can do so at ffefreekshow@hotmail.com . I will leave you a little doodle sack of my own.
There are many reasons why 13 is considered unlucky. There are biblical reasons, such as there being 13 people at the last supper. Traditionally there were 13 steps leading to the gallows. Anyone walking them was considered to be quite unlucky. The Knights Templar began to be rounded up on Friday the 13th. Luckily Templar readers, today is Tuesday. Having 13 letters in your name was considered to be a curse. I have 12 in my name so you can feel relatively at ease in my presence.
On to other things. Last week I started with three unusual words and their meanings. This week I will add in one more word, and those who have mastered the alphabet have probably already guessed that I will be doing a word that starts with D. Drumroll please...wait, drumroll was not the word. Your D word has an acceptable and not at all unlucky 10 total letters. Here it is...doodle sack. I will tell you what it means later. See if you can guess it though. It should be easy if you have ever eaten haggis. Hint...it is a noun.
Now for a list of famous things that happened on this day. I will follow each one with a little doodle sack. For those who cheated and looked it up, you know that I misused that word!
In 607 AD the 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurred. Thankfully Bruce Willis had used a nuclear explosion to divert this dangerous rock from hitting Earth years earlier.
In 1564 Cardinal Granvelle fled from Brussels. The rumor is that his mom found out he had not been eating his sprouts.
In 1781 William Herschel sees what he thinks is a "comet" but is actually the discovery of the planet Uranus. I have been advised by the people reading over my shoulder to avoid saying anything about this event.
In 1884 the US adopted Standard Time. To balance the family, they later adopted daylight savings time...an evil little child that has caused more people to be late, or worse early, for church for many years.
In 1947 "Brigadoon" opened at Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. It stayed there for 581 performances. Then it was Briga-done. This is the opening song here.
And finally, in 2004 Luciano Pavarotti performs in his last opera at New York Metropolitan Opera's "Tosca". Reports are that the applause went on for tenor eleven minutes.
A couple of famous people born on the 13th of March in years ending with 13 are Lambros Konstantaras (1913), Greek actor born in Athen, Greeces (d. 1985)
and Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian writer also born in 1913. That was all I could find for March 13 birthdays in years that end in 13. Very unlucky if you ask me, kind of a doodle sack. Once again, improper use of the word.
A famous children's book author was also born on March 13. Dorothy Aldis was born in 1896. She wrote poems and stories for kids. You can listen to a poem of hers here. Don't worry, it is short and cute.
One more for the road. In 1961 Pablo Picasso (age 79) married his model Jacqueline Rocque (age 37). Sources say the ring was a cubic zirconia.
Okay, so I know the suspense must be killing you, so here goes. This is an actual picture of a doodle sack.
For those of you who guessed that it was an old English word for bagpipe well done!
As usual, if you wish to send me a sack of doodles, you can do so at ffefreekshow@hotmail.com . I will leave you a little doodle sack of my own.
Veeerrry interesting. Before my beloved Joe, I was married to a Brit for 16 years. Where he came from haggis was sheep's stomach stuffed with - well - who knows what - probably entrails and shiitake mushrooms. But then, my former husband was English, not a Scot. Wars have been started over less. CS
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