Bits & Pieces: Interesting and Unusual

by Paula Johnson

Sometimes as I read information that includes dates, I think about the date in relation to a member of my family (usually deceased at this point in my life). It gives me a sense of time and what things were like for my family member at some stage in his or her life.

   I was reading about traffic in cities before automobiles. It seems that horses, carts, and people vied for right of way long before we faced street congestion with cars. 

   The first traffic signal in Britain was for trains. They were called semaphore signals (see picture). These use flags or moving arms, much like aircraft carriers or airports to direct planes. 

   The first gas traffic light was approved and installed in London on December 9, 1868. To me, this would be about 5 months after my Grandpa John was born in Davenport, Iowa.

   Within a month the hollow tower filled with gas, exploded, and severely injured the officer who was operating it. London had no more traffic lights after that incident until electric lights were installed in 1929. 

By 1929, Grandpa finished high school, went into business with his brother-in-law, married and had five children, four already through high school. 

   I wasn’t surprised to learn that not all movement is forward in education. I was in education for a long time, and several changes back and forth that may have seemed like forward movement to those on the outside, were just changes in terminology for some who were involved in it.

   Example: I began teaching at the sixth-grade level. I taught Language Arts (reading, grammar, spelling, etc.), Social Studies (Central and South America), and Art (!!). During those ten years, several styles of teaching reading came and went. One of them was called Open Court (now merged with SRA).

   With the emergence of downsizing during the Reagan years, I was “pink slipped” after 16 years, and headed into the general business world. When I returned to teaching in Michigan eleven years later, a principal asked me if I knew of Whole Language. I replied that I did; however, when I taught it, it was called Open Court.

   So, when I saw that a “new” certification was available through MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), I was intrigued. MIT is quite a school of higher education. It is even well-known for NOT bestowing honorary degrees.

   What is this certification available since 2012 through MIT’s Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation?

   If a student successfully completes classes in sailing, fencing, pistol shooting and archery, and takes the school’s secret oath, the student is then awarded a certificate of piracy (pictured) – without license to begin a pirate-like activity.

   Do you ever come across a word in your reading that doesn’t match up with a definition you already have for that word?

   I was reading a sentence in which the sailors were heading for a gam session with another whaling ship pulling up alongside. 

   My dad used to admire my mom’s gams. She had very attractive legs, even as she aged. But “gam” as an attractive leg didn’t match what I was reading about whaling ships and sailors.

   In whaling terms, a gam is a social visit among sailors. Kinda like a guy party to boost morale. I would think that a girl’s gam could also boost morale, but this was an interesting twist.

   In high school I took trig. Actually, I liked trig better than geometry. But this sentence was confusing: “He looked trig and dapper in his new sport coat.” To me trig was the term for trigonometry, a branch of math. Did you know that trig also means “neat and smart in appearance?”

   John Hancock’s signature is famous for several reasons. We grew up learning that he supposedly said that he was going to write it so King George could see it, and know whom to hang.  His appears as the first name in the center of the signature line in bold writing with a flourish below. 

   That flourish is called a paraph. Phonetically it is /perəf/ or /pair if/. Some people used it to help discourage forgery. Others because they can’t write well, so scribbled. Yet a few might want to appear important and sign “like a doctor.” However, it does have its own definition and is special.

   If you are looking for something unusual to do this Christmas – get out your skates. Roller skates, that is. The tradition in Venezuela is to roller skate to church on Christmas. Of course, don’t forget that Venezuela is in the Southern Hemisphere, so December 25 there is like June 25 here – no snow!

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