Tom Glenn's Blog, page 20

Annamese Dust Jacket

A reader asked me about the design of the dust jacket (the paper cover over the book’s hard cover) for my 2017 novel, Last of the Annamese. Here’s what it looks like:

What may not be obvious these days is that the colors and images on the jacket are quintessentially Vietnamese. The figure beneath the “A” in “Annamese” is a Vietnamese woman dressed in a conical hat and an áo dài, the traditional Vietnamese gown. And the lower half of the jacket is a stylized representation of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) flag.

I had nothing to do with the design of the dust jacket, but I was (and still am) very pleased with it. These days, its symbolism is lost on most people. The Republic of Vietnam disappeared 47 years ago when it was conquered by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (communist North Vietnam, which now calls itself the Socialist Republic of Vietnam).

Last of the Annamese is a novel set during the fall of Saigon from which I escaped under fire after the North Vietnamese were already in the streets of the city. As the author Joseph L. Galloway observed, “Tom Glenn has poured a broken heart and a grieving soul into the pages of Last of the Annamese . . .” The dust jacket reflects the essence of that grieving.

Earned Health

I’m the healthiest man my age I know. Granted, there aren’t many of us at this age, almost ten years beyond the life expectancy for American men. And while luck is a factor in my longevity, I claim credit. I work hard to maintain my health. I drink plenty of water, and my diet is primarily vegetables and fruits, with minimal meat and sweets. I sleep far more than most people. And I stay physically fit by lifting weights for more than two hours every other day.

I recognize that my healthy lifestyle would not be possible without substantial income. I retired as early as possible more than thirty years ago from the federal government so that I could write fulltime. The result is six books and 17 short stories now published. My annuity is so generous because I was at the top of the Senior Executive Service when I retired. I got promoted so often because I was willing repeatedly to risk my life on the battlefield providing signals intelligence support to U.S. and friendly forces using the seven languages in which I was fluent. When I became an executive, I led rather than managing, which allowed my subordinates to achieve amazing results.

All that said, I can feel my body slowing down. I need more sleep than I did at my prime. My walk is uneven due to a botched knee replacement surgery some years ago. I move more slowly than I once did, and my memory is becoming unreliable. One’s abilities are debilitated by age.

With one exception: thinking. I find that the older I get, the better my ability to cogitate. That means that my writing, the reason I was put on earth, is better than ever. I am the most fortunate man I know.

So I thrive. As noted here previously, I fully intend to live past a hundred. Evidence thus far suggests that I’ll make it.

Etymology

Readers of this blog have undoubtedly noticed my fascination with the English language, how it works, and where it came from. None of the other seven languages I know have anything like the number of words or the rich and varied background of English. For that reason, I spend a fair amount of time studying the etymology of English.

What is etymology? According to Oxford Languages, etymology is defined as the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

And what is the etymology of the word “etymology”? Are you ready for this?

According to the web site https://www.etymonline.com/, here is etymology’s etymology:

Late 14c., ethimolegia “facts of the origin and development of a word,” from Old French etimologie, ethimologie (14c., Modern French étymologie), from Latin etymologia, from Greek etymologia “analysis of a word to find its true origin,” properly “study of the true sense (of a word),” with -logia “study of, a speaking of” (see -logy) + etymon “true sense, original meaning,” neuter of etymos “true, real, actual,” related to eteos “true,” which perhaps is cognate with Sanskrit satyah, Gothic sunjis, Old English soð “true,” from a PIE *set- “be stable.” Latinized by Cicero as veriloquium.

Put differently, etymology is a word in two parts: etymo meaning an earlier form of a word in the same language or an ancestral language; and –ology, a branch of knowledge or field of study.

So you can see why this word craftsman is so intrigued by etymology. I am privileged to work in what is probably the richest and most diverse language in the history of the world. And, as a writer, words are my business.

How fortunate can you get?

One More Time: Vote!

At the cost of being deliberately reiterative, I remind everyone one more time: go vote! Never has it been more vital. We are at a crossroad in the U.S. If the MAGA Trump supporters win the election, our democracy is threatened. President Biden put it very well when he warned, “Make no mistake, democracy is on the ballot for all of us.”

A major symptom of the danger to democracy is the very large number of Americans who deny that President Biden legitimately won the 2020 election. A majority of Republican candidates are telling voters, without any basis in fact, that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. At the beginning of the year, the Guardian reported “More than 40% in the US do not believe Biden legitimately won [the 2020] election.” The Washington Post in the lead editorial of yesterday’s edition reported that “a Post tally found nearly 300 election deniers running for major office in 48 of 50 states.” The front page lead article in today’s Post declares that tomorrow’s election is “a fresh test for American democracy” because “a majority of Trump supporters still believe his disproved claims of a rigged election.”

It’s worth repeating: the allegation that Biden didn’t win the election or won it by fraud is demonstrably false. And it discourages people from voting by suggesting that elections are illegitimate and don’t count.

So I beg, plead, urge, and demand: don’t be fooled. Get out there and vote!

Living in a Forest

A solar energy company just informed me that installing solar panels on the roof of my house won’t be effective: too many trees that block out the sun. They’re right. I live in a forest. Trees of every variety surround me. And at this time of year, they are ablaze with color with yellow, orange, and red leaves predominating.

This in the middle of a city—Columbia, Maryland. Established in 1967 by businessman James W. Rouse, it has a population of 105,412 and is 32.19 square miles in area. It has three large lakes (and many smaller bodies of water I call ponds) and ten self-contained villages. Much of its territory is taken up by forested park land joined by walkways—one can walk throughout the entire city area without ever leaving the woodlands. And I regularly see wild animals—deer, rabbits, foxes, and several I can’t identify, not to mention squirrels by the dozens.

The leaves are starting to fall. I can now make out through the trees the outlines of houses across the pond behind my house. Within a month or so, the leaves will be gone, and I’ll be able to see my neighbors’ homes plainly. The ground will be thick with leaves, and I’ll have to get out with a blower, rake, and wheelbarrow to clear the walks and driveway.

I live, in short, in the most beautiful city I’ve ever come across. It’s also one of the most expensive. But I’m blessed with a generous annuity. So I’m free to enjoy the glory surrounding me without concern.

The January 6 Insurrection Was Planned

The press is reporting more and more evidence that the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was planned ahead of time. Two right-wing extremist militias, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, were well prepared in advance of the January attack. The Oath Keepers leaders’ plan was for a “bloody and desperate fight” in Washington, D.C., to overturn the election. The group had positioned weapons around D.C. well in advance of January 6 and had an armed “Quick Reaction Force” at an Arlington, Virginia hotel, only twenty minutes from the Capitol. Meanwhile, Proud Boys leader, Enrique Tarrio, had a written plan called “1776 Returns” to incite a violent revolution by storming and occupying federal buildings. The plan laid out tactics and a timeline very similar to those used on January 6.

According to press reports, two anonymous sources detailed “dozens” of planning briefings and meetings about the insurrection with members of Congress who are still in office. Those accused of planning the January 6 insurrection are all Republicans—Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Paul Gosar (Arizona), Lauren Boebert (Colorado), Mo Brooks (Alabama), Madison Cawthorn (North Carolina), Andy Biggs (Arizona), and Louie Gohmert (Texas).

The purpose of the insurrection was to overturn the 2020 election and restore Donald Trump to power despite his election defeat. Trump egged on the mob telling them to march down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol. “We fight like hell,” he said. “And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He told the crowd that he’d be with them. And he tried to join them—he had to be physically restrained to prevent him from going.

The insurrection will always be shameful reminder of the depths to which we are capable of descending. We as a nation must never cease working to assure that it never happens again.

Phrases (2)

Back to it again. Because English is often considered to be one of the languages with the most words (the Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 200,000 words including 171,476 words in use and 47,156 that are obsolete), I can go on at length about its words and phrases. Maybe we should consider ourselves lucky that it doesn’t have as many as Korean—1,100,373, according to one source.

Today I start with goof off. If spelled with a dash—goof-off—it’s a noun that means a person who wastes time or avoids work, a shirker. Without the dash, it’s a verb that means to spend time idly or foolishly, to shun beneficial work. The origin of the word goof is a mystery. It might be a variant of English dialect “goff,” meaning foolish clown. That derives from the sixteenth century term “goffe,” probably from French goffe meaning awkward or stupid.

Next: wise up. It means to become alert to something one had previously been unaware of to his detriment. Its source, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, is the Old English word “wis,” meaning learned, sagacious, or cunning. My understanding of “wise up” is that it implies abandoning foolish simplicity that overlooked the obvious.

In the lurch: without help or protection when it is needed, to be in a vulnerable or embarrassing position without support. “Lurch” as a noun means a decisive defeat. As a verb, it means to loiter furtively. It originated in the late 17th century as a noun denoting the sudden leaning of a ship to one side. It derives from Middle English lurche, from Old French lourche (deceived, embarrassed), from Proto-West Germanic lort with a variety of meanings—left, left-handed, crooked, bent, warped, underhanded, deceitful, and limping.

Couch potato: Oxford Language defines the term as a person who spends little or no time exercising and a great deal of time watching television. “Couch” is defined as a long upholstered piece of furniture for several people to sit on. It originated in the 14th century meaning a bed, from Old French couche from coucher meaning to lie down, from Latin collocare. “Potato” is a vegetable. Its name derives from the Spanish patata, from a Carib language of Haiti batata meaning sweet potato.

Facts of life: According to Merriam-Webster, “facts of life” means the physiological processes involved in sex and reproduction. The phrase also refers to something that has to be taken into consideration. “Fact” simply means something that has an undeniable existence. It derives from the Latin facere, to do or to make. “Life” means animate being, as opposed to that which is dead. The word derives from Proto-Germanic leiban, meaning “to happen.”

More when the spirit moves me.  

Phrases

I’ve listed intriguing words several times in this blog, and once or twice (I don’t remember how often), I’ve talked about phrases. Time to do that again.

I’ll start with lower the boom. It means to act suddenly and forcefully to punish someone or force him to adhere to a set of rules. The expression came into use in the United States in the early twentieth century and has an odd etymology. The boom referred to is a is a spar (pole), along the foot of a sail on a ship, that can be raised and lowered. Lowering it so that it would strike someone would be a severe attack.

Done for means sunk in defeat, beaten, mortally stricken, doomed. It derives from the use of the verb “do” to mean to kill, as in “do in.”

Tank as a verb has two meanings. The first is to make no effort to win or lose intentionally, as in “he tanked the match.” The second meaning is to place, store, or treat in a tank. The noun “tank” means a place to store liquid. It is also the name applied to an armored, gun-mounted vehicle moving on continuous articulated tracks. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the word “tank” was originally imported by the Portuguese from India, from a Hindi source, such as (1) Gujarati tankh, a cistern, underground reservoir for water; or (2) Marathi tanken, or tanka meaning a reservoir of water. The word may be ultimately from Sanskrit tadaga-m meaning pond, lake, pool, or large artificial container for liquid. Another possible source is the Portuguese tanque “reservoir,” from estancar, meaning to hold back a current of water, from Vulgar Latin stanticare.

Storm category: The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane’s maximum sustained wind speed. The ratings range from Category 1, 74-95 miles per hour (MPH) winds, labelled “very dangerous,” to Category 5, 157 or higher MPH winds, considered to be capable of inflicting “catastrophic damage.” To give you a sense of how serious the categories are, Hurricane Ian, which recently hit West Florida, was classified as a Category 4 hurricane, meaning it had wind speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. Only 32 hurricanes have made landfall as a Category 4 storm or higher in the continental U.S. since record keeping began in 1851.

More next time.

Go Vote!

I’m being deliberately repetitive in my urging all my readers to vote. It is the patriotic duty for all of us to legally express our will with respect to the future of our country. More important, it is our honor.

Like so many journalists and commentators, I believe that voting has never been more important. Democracy itself is at risk. If those who support the Big Lie gain control of the country, autocracy will soon follow.

So I exhort you all: Let nothing stop you: Get out there and vote!

Attack on Pelosi

Some weeks ago, I wrote a blog post predicting that we’d soon be seeing physical attacks on politicians as the language used by right-wing advocates became more and more violent. Now it’s happened—a man looking for Nancy Pelosi attacked her husband with a hammer and hospitalized him.

Last month, Trump said the nation would face “problems . . . the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen” if he were indicted over his handling of classified documents after leaving office, an obvious suggestion that such a move by the Justice Department could spark violence from Trump’s supporters. Now Georgia Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is leading an investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. Not too surprisingly, the violence has started.

Trump dialed up the hate several notches close to a month ago with a social media post that accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, with whom he has a strained relationship, of having a “death wish”—a none-too-subtle invitation for violent action against the senator. The press, commentators, and journalists often cite Trump and his followers as the underlying or overt source of violence. Yesterday, for example, the Los Angeles Times opined that America is going through an upsurge in right-wing violence. And the Washington Post proclaimed, “Don’t blame ‘both sides.’ The right is driving political violence.” The obvious example the press offers of Trump’s guilt is his incitement of the January 6 insurrection.

I think we can expect more violence against politicians, especially against those on the left. It is a sad testimony of how low we have sunk in the wake of Trump’s attempts to cleave to the presidency even after he was defeated in the election.