Tuesday, October 18, 2005
my name
The name Ryan is a Celtic name that means “little king” or “little ruler”. I am really proud of my name because I am very proud of my Scottish heritage. I am not one hundred percent Scottish but I am a fourth. I am Scottish, Aztek Indian, German, and Czechoslovakian. My Grandfather, who is Scottish, picked my name. He died two years ago, his death was very hard on me. We were very close, and in his last years he discussed with me how important my name was. He actually wanted to name me O’rion, but he and my parents agreed on Ryan. The idea of me being a “little king” is pretty cool. As a kid, my mom always told me that I always thought I was the boss. I guess this is because I thought I was a king. My dad always tells me that bagpipe music “makes his blood boil”, and that it makes my grandpa’s do the same. I feel the exact thing whenever I hear bagpipes. I get goose bumps and I get a surge of adrenaline. I love listening to it before sports events because it pumps me up. I feel like I am a living legacy of diluted Scottish blood. I want to name my kids Austin (girl), Dallas (boy), and Houston (boy). But Ryan will be both boys’ middle names. I really love Texas and I want to name my kids after it’s biggest cities. It may sound trashy, but it actually has a higher meaning for me because I have traveled Texas a lot. I am also proud of my last name, being that I am related to Kellogg’s cereal, unfortunately only by blood not money. I still get a lot of attention for it, so it’s a good topic of conversation.
Favorite Phrases from Descriptive Readings
“The wind is terrific out of the west” states Dillard in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The phrase is a fantastic use of the word terrific. Terrific is usually used in describing the goodness of something such as fantastic, excellent, or great! This use of the word really catches the eye and makes the phrase flow in way that it would not otherwise. If it said the wind is strong out of the west, then the phrase would be lacking in the flower and flow.
Chocolate on Sunday
While sipping my hot chocolate, I decided that I wanted to find out the history of the word “chocolate.” Surprising to me, the Oxford English Dictionary came up with much information about the word. One of the many definitions of “chocolate” is that it is “A beverage made from the seeds of the cacao-tree; now, as distinguished from cocoa, that is made by dissolving chocolate cake in boiling water or milk.” These definitions make “chocolate” a noun, but it can also be used as an adjective. The definition for its use as an adjective is “Chocolate-coloured; dark brown; in U.S. spec. of certain soils.” It has its origins in Spanish (Mexican) language. However, it is believed that the Europeans had a role in the origin too. It seems that they had started to call their drinks made of cocoa “cacaua-atl” derived from the Mexican word for cocoa “chocolatl.” One of the earliest quotations comes from E. Grimston D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies IV. xxii. 271 (1604) in which it says “The chiefe vse of this Cacao is in a drinke which they call Chocolate.” A quote about the word’s use as an adjective can be seen in Jrnl. Trav. Arkansa vi. 99 by T. Nuttall. In the journal Nuttall states “The chocolate or reddish-brown clay of the salt formation.” Who knew that a word could have such a delicious history?