Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Quote of the Day: A Child Mishears
Aunt Florence was a pistol from a young age, and she hated school. She seems to have taken a dislike to it early on and found more and more reasons to dislike it.
Her mother would drive her and drop her off at school, and Florence would be sitting on the back porch before she got back home.
The servant would spot her and open the door, “Now, Miss Florence, I’ll have to tell your mother when she gets back.”
Florence would shrug.
“Shall I get you some coffee before I tell her?”
“Yes, please.” Florence would say. She would have her coffee and then be taken back to kindergarten.
One day she came home after school and announced, “I am never going to school again!”
“Why not?” her mother asked.
“They make fun of me.”
“What do they make fun of you about?”
“The teacher asked our birthdays, and mine is on Groundhog’s Day.”
Her mother shook her head, “Tell them it’s on Candlemas Day.”
Florence looked a bit defiant, but the next day, she went off to school.
That day she came home from school grumpier and madder than ever.
“I told them what you said, and they laughed and made fun of me even more. I am not going back!” Florence insisted.
Before her mother could get to the bottom of what had happened this time, the phone rang.
“Hello, this is Florence’s teacher. Could you tell me when her birthday is?”
“February Second.”
“Oh,” the teacher said, “she said something today, and I was unfamiliar with the particular holiday.”
“You’ve never heard of Candlemas?” my grandmother asked.
There was a momentary pause, “Oh! Candlemas! That’s not what Florence said. She said she was born on Cow Mess Day.”
So, happy Candlemas, Groundhog’s Day, Cow Mess Day, or whatever you may celebrate.
Published in Group Writing
I’m celebrating that for the first time in 900 years, this Sunday is a palindrome – 02/02/2020 – the same forwards and backwards. (And that the Niners are in the Super Bowl.)
Happy Palindrone Day, Eustace.
Happy palindrome day!
Yes! And, Happy Super Bowl Day! … Hail the Chiefs!! :-)
Michaelmas, Groundhog Day, Palindrome Day and Super Bowl Sunday. Do you know what it means when they all fall on the same day??……………….Wait for it,…………..Absolutely nothing!!Have a nice day ;>)
I have mentioned this on other threads, in years past, but here goes again (in the spirit of Groundhog Day, the movie). My Mother used to call my siblings and me every February 2nd and ask if we’d had sausage for breakfast. Because it was Groundhog Day.
That’s great! I’m keeping it. But it misses two of my favorite palindromes, comments by George Washington Goethals and Napoleon Bonaparte, to wit:
A man, a plan, a canal..PANAMA!
Able was I ere I saw Elba
Great suggestion! Sausage for me for breakfast today.
I love it. I may have some with my supper.
Oh how cool. Thanks for pointing that out!
Yup. Jimmy Dean’s.
I am always appalled (in a funny way, of course) that some people don’t know this ancient tradition. Alas! I was once one of them, myself. I had never heard of this tradition and had to make it up for myself, meeting incomprehension and disbelief everytime I would discourse thereon. It took many years, but here I have found fellow-traditionalists.
(How did you all learn of this, since I originated it some 40-50 years ago???)
I always had a lesson about groundhogs and the silly tradition and how it got started because so many of my students (4th grade) were not culturally from the United States. They may have lived here most of their lives, but they didn’t know things. There was a good video I found on a teacher site, and I had a reading passage and some questions to answer so that we could use different learning methods to figure it all out. They loved learning stuff like this because they’d heard something, but didn’t know what was going on. They got to draw pictures, and write something, so we had all the skills covered. In Germany the badger was used instead of a groundhog. And it’s kind of an astronomy event…
This is part of what we learned:
Groundhog Day in history and culture. In the Celtic calendar, the year is also divided into quarter days (equinoxes and solstices) and cross-quarter days on a great neo-pagan wheel of the year. Thus, just as February 2 is marked by the celebration of Candlemas by some Christians, such as the Roman Catholics, in contemporary paganism this day is called Imbolc and is considered a traditional time for initiations.
The celebration of Groundhog Day came to America along with immigrants from Great Britain and Germany. The tradition can be traced to early Christians in Europe, when a hedgehog was said to look for his shadow on Candlemas Day.
Yes, Happy Imbolc, too.
Perhaps you are a long, lost cousin?
I’ve never heard of it before. But I did have Jimmy Dean’s this morning.
I screwed up. I guess my bacon this morning made it Slicedhog Day for me.
Did you chew thoroughly? You may qualify on a technicality.
Yesssss! I’ll take that technicality, too, thank you.
Until today, I’ve also never heard of Candlemas. It was today’s message at church.
Join other Ricochet members by submitting a Quote of the Day post, the easiest way to start a fun conversation. There are many days available on the February Signup Sheet, including Friday this week. We even include tips for finding great quotes, so choose your favorite quote and sign up today!
I was flummoxed momentarily by the post’s title. What does “mih-shears” mean? An Adult Misreads. (How I miss the hyphen.)