Number 48
From a reader regarding what our war is and is not (see PO 46):
I don't recall the war in Vietnam being referred to as a police action. I do recall my father's displeasure with the government for calling the Korean war a police action. I also remember the Vietnam war being referred to as the Vietnam conflict. To the media, the pink politicos, and any who suffered through such conflicts (including members of both our families, or even me personally in carrying that wonderful draft card and watching the lottery numbers pulled), war is war is hell, etc.Anyway, I don't know if you get to spend time with veterans of our recent conflicts, whether lifer or reserve, but I work with many. One of the complaints of the reservists is that neither they nor the current enlisted will receive service ribbons for what they now participate in in the Middle East, including Iraq, because ~ there is no war. [I guess they still get routine service ribbons and would receive a purple heart if wounded.] Please note that Congress only gave Mr. Bush the option of taking actions against elements that may be seen as being a threat to the security of this country. The Congress did not by this action abrogate their right or responsibility to declare war. Even this vile administration has been rather careful in referring primarily to the war (small "w") on terror, of which the conflict in Iraq is but one small part. Remember, in May when Geo. the younger announced the end of the first phase of this conflict, both he and his administration lackeys have usually used the term "hostilities". Much softer imagery than fighting, killing, maiming, or war.
(Note: The U.S. War Department, organized in 1789, was changed to the Department of Defense in 1947. Sounds to me like a defensive move.)
Here's a lovely WWII poem by a British writer, on learning the names of things. The Latin translation is my own rough one. I don't actually know Latin, but I had help from Fred, plus another translation by Jon Stallworthy, which I decided to alter slightly. Why would I do such a thing, considering I don't know Latin? Stallworthy explains how Reed prefaced his poem with a couplet from Horace and changed one word, puellis, "girls", to duellis, "battles". The fact that idoneus is an adjective, not an adverb, suggests to me that "capable" rather than "creditably enough" might be a better choice from among the various dictionary definitions, and I added punctuation to go with it. Mainly I just wanted to play around.
By Henry Reed
To Alan Michell
Vixi duellis nuper idoneus
Et militavi non sine gloria
(Lately I have lived amidst war ~ capable ~
And have soldiered ~ not without glory)
I. Naming of Parts
Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But today,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
And today we have naming of parts.
This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.
This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.
And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers
They call it easing the Spring.
They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
For today we have naming of parts.
1946
You can listen to a beautiful reading of this and other parts of "Lessons of the War" on the BBC radio by the author and Frank Duncan as the instructor.
Some may see this poem simply as anti-war rhetoric, but I think it elegantly juxtaposes the opposite, yet simultaneously necessary, practical knowledge of life and death.
Fred reminded me that the "Nez Perce" mix-up was caused by translations from the Indians to Lewis and Clark through four languages. Sort of like the game called Gossip that we played in school, where a message was whispered from one person to the next, until it was completely garbled by the time it got to the last person in the group. Conquering peoples do have a tendency to name people, places, and things, as if they were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but this mistranslation wasn't intentional, and Nez Perce stuck and is now the tribe's web site name.
From the reader lady:
There is a term of address ~ "hon" ~ widely used in Baltimore which amuses, annoys, and/or comforts the bestowee(?), depending on whether he/she is open to new terms, stuck up and stuffy, or just back from somewhere less hospitable. Cops, waitresses, cab drivers, supermarket cashiers, bus drivers, ticket takers ~ all perfect strangers ~ use it, with respect, when addressing ALL women, and by females addressing men. Certainly not men addressing men, lest someone get the wrong idea and punch the speaker's lights out. Or offer to go home with him, whatever. If you have seen (or heard of) "Hairspray", a marvelous spoof of the Baltimore of the 50s, you know "hon". The beehive, pencil-eating hairdos and record hops are gone, but "hon" remains untouched by time.I've never heard a reasonable theory of how the term evolved, but shortly after moving here (30 years ago) I watched a local late-night TV silly person who suggested that when the Huns got through conquering Europe they set out to find new turf to burn and pillage, eventually landed in Baltimore, became Baltimorons, and, of course, later called each other "Hun" to distinguish themselves from the Italians, Irish, Polish, English, Scots, etc. who eventually settled here as well.
Groan.
Well, honey ~ what on earth is "bestowee"?
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