Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Aug. 30, 2014)

Quotable Quite

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.

… Henry Ford

 

Anticipation

Teacher: Hrachgive me a sentence starting with “I.”

Hrach: I is…

Teacher: No, Hrach. Always say, “I am…”

Hrach: All right… “I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.”

 

On Pedigree

It was Lord Thurlow who called high birth “the accident of an accident.”

 

Perfectly Reasonable

The manager of a branch of the ASPCA had just hired a new secretary, and had spent some time explaining the aims of the organization and the office routine. Before permitting her to assume her new duties, he assured her that, if she had any questions, to not hesitate to ask. In no time she was at his desk with the question, “Is it all right if I swat a fly?”

 

Misapprehension

Visitor: My, this is a fancy vase on your mantel. What’s this in it?

Hostess: My husband’s ashes.

Visitor: Oh, I’m sorry. How long has he been dead?

Hostess: Oh, he’s not dead. He’s just too lazy to find an ashtray.

 

From My Persian Dictionary

Dil: heart

Khátir: heart

Kalb: heart

Yahúdí: Hebrew

 

What’s in a Name?

Karadian: Turkish in derivation, identified as a descriptive term, karad is a variant of karadayuh, where kara is defined as black, swarthy, and dayuh is defined as maternal uncle; therefore, swarthy maternal uncle.

CK Garabed

CK Garabed

Weekly Columnist
C.K. Garabed (a.k.a. Charles Kasbarian) has been active in the Armenian Church and Armenian community organizations all his life. As a writer and editor, he has been a keen observer of, and outspoken commentator on, political and social matters affecting Armenian Americans. He has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Reporter and the AGBU Literary Quarterly, “ARARAT.” For the last 30 years, Garabed has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Weekly. He produces a weekly column called “Uncle Garabed's Notebook,” in which he presents an assortment of tales, anecdotes, poems, riddles, and trivia; for the past 10 years, each column has contained a deconstruction of an Armenian surname. He believes his greatest accomplishment in life, and his contribution to the Armenian nation, has been the espousing of Aghavni, and the begetting of Antranig and Lucine.
CK Garabed

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