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thegirlwiththeninjaturtletattoos · 5 months ago

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Bayverse Tipsy HCs

I went to a fun lil bar with some friends tonight and as I was looking around, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of drinkers the guys would be...so here we are. Everyone is 25+ (drink responsibly)

mentions alcohol, obviously

-Raph is a lightweight. Like a few drinks, and he's laughing and goofing around with Mikey like he's 16 again, messing with his brothers and telling stories; like a weight comes off his shoulders and he can relax, a lopsided smile plastered on his face.

-Leo only drinks sake (for the aesthetic). Mikey makes fun if him relentlessly (he calls Leo a weeb, in sibling name-calling fun). Leo claims he likes the taste, but Mike has compared the spirit to sweaty socks on multiple occasions. Leo will roll his eyes as he sips from his cup, Mikey and Raph giving him endless shit- but no one misses the wince as he swallows.

-Mike is the party dude- always has been, always will be. When he's feelin' it, he's all smiles and laughter until everyone else goes to bed for the night; sometimes staying up even later to play videogames by himself, or to text a friend, so the fun doesn't end too soon. He's the party instigator, turning movie nights into drinking games, or card games into waterfall. The guy loves to have a good time- and to turn his brain off so he doesn't have to think for a while.

-Don is a wild card. He likes whiskey, scotch, or bourbon- but doesn't drink to get drunk, he just genuinely enjoys the taste (Mikey and Raph know better than to make fun of Donnie, cause of threats that will be followed through on). When he wants to party, though, he rolls a joint in the back of his lab and lights up a fat one; and the man is alllll giggles when he's stoned- just a happy high going on while he watches his brothers with amusement on his face, and a bag of pork rinds in his hand.

-Mikey knows that Donnie smokes, and the brothers occasionally sneak off together to a tunnel far away enough from the lair that mother hen (Leo) won't smell anything (Leo knows, he's not an idiot). Leo doesn't really care, he's mostly just annoyed that they feel like they need to hide it from him. Raph smoked with them a few times, but it just made him paranoid- so he just sticks to what works.

-Raph gets goofy when he's tipsy; sometimes singing along to the music Mikey puts on the stereo, sometimes dancing to it in the middle on the living room- but always having a good time. He would 100% put the lampshade on his head and dance around to Elvis if he felt like it (90s movies). Loveable drunk guy energy.

-Leo is the sad girl drunk- getting emotional for seemingly no reason, abruptly leaving the room, then coming back an hour later and demanding an apology when every one else has forgotten what in the hell he's talking about. He feels things so much deeper when his guards are down; much quicker to anger, quicker to cry. He also wants to talk about deep things when he's tipsy, much to Mikey's irritation.

-Mikey has jackass energy when he's trashed. Like, let's ride this shopping cart off this ramp and see how far it goes into the street. Or what will happen if we shoot fireworks off in the tunnels? Or let's go down to the Hudson and see if we can spar underwater. Raph is his ride or die when it comes to his drunken schemes, but Leo always manages to shut down their plans somehow (he's not afraid to tattletale).

-Mikey can drink all of them under the table though, even Splinter.

-The guys' favorite game to play is beer pong- Raph is the undisputed champion of singles, but Mikey and Leo have won doubles every tournament for two years in a row. Donnie and Raph together can't focus long enough for the competition; Raph getting distracted by the music, and Donnie laughing too hard at him to aim the ball.

-Once Donnie set a glass of six raw eggs in front of a hungover Mikey, sliding it to him and mumbling about a hangover cure as Raph recorded them on his phone from the hallway to the kitchen. Splinter walked in as Mikey spit the mixture everywhere, and they were cleaning up egg yolk from the walls for a week.

-When Leo does let go of the control and anxiety, he has so much fun goofing around with his brothers like they used to as kids. It warms his heart to see them all gathered around a table, playing games and spending time together, as adults. He loves them so much. No Mike, I'm just a little tired, that's why- yeah, don't worry about it.

tags : @thelaundrybitch @sophiacloud28 @zombiesnips-blog @4evrdreamin5 @gornackeaterofworlds @the-cauldron-witch @pheradream-15 @iridescentflamingo @scholastic-dragon

this was so fun lol :) as always, hit me up if you wanna join the tag train 18+

#tmnt aged up #tmnt #tmnt headcanons #tmnt leonardo #tmnt leo #tmnt raph #tmnt donnie #tmnt mikey #tmnt bayverse #bayverse leonardo #bayverse raphael #bayverse donatello #bayverse michelangelo #bayverse tmnt #bayverse mikey #bayverse donnie #bayverse raph #bayverse leo #my writing

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scotianostra · 7 months ago

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William Stevenson, the hoarding beggar died on July 17th 1817 in Kilmarnock.

Some beggars have been remarkable quite as much for their eccentricity, as for the amount of money they left behind them. Such was the case with William Stevenson, who died at Kilmarnock on the 17th of July 1817.

Although bred a mason, the greater part of his life was spent as a beggar. About the year 1787, he and his wife separated, making this strange agreement – that whichever of them was the first to propose and reunion, should forfeit £100 to the other. According to the statements in the Scotch newspapers, there is no evidence that they ever saw each other again.

In 1815, when about 85 years old, Stevenson was seized with an incurable disease, and was confined to his bed. A few days before his death, feeling his end to be near, he sent for a baker, and ordered twelve dozen burial-cakes, a large quantity of sugared biscuit, and a good supply of wine and spirits. He next sent for a joiner, and instructed him to make a good, sound, dry, roomy, ‘comfortable’ coffin.

Next he summoned a grave-digger, whom he requested to select a favourable spot in the churchyard of Riccarton, and there dig a roomy and comfortable grave. This done, he ordered an old woman who attended him, to go to a certain nook, and bring out £9, to pay all these preliminary expenses: assuring her that she was remembered in his will.

Shortly after this he died. A neighbour came in to search for his wealth, which had been shrouded in much mystery. In one bag was found large silver pieces, such as dollars and half dollars, crowns and half-crowns; in a heap of musty rags, was found a collection of guineas and seven-shilling pieces; and in a box were found bonds of various amounts, including one for £300 – giving altogether a sum of about £900. A will was also found, bequeathing £20 to the old woman, and most of the remainder to distant relations, setting aside sufficient to give a feast to all the beggars who chose to come and see his body ‘lie in state.’

The influx was immense; and after the funeral, all retired to a barn which had been fitted up for the occasion; and there they indulged in revelries but little in accordance with the solemn season of death.

#scotland #scottish #history #beggar #hoarder #Kilmarnock

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peace-coast-island · 9 months ago

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Diary of a Junebug

Carving treasures out of wood after going on a wild goose chase over a what seems to be self-inflicted curse

Wood carving is actually kinda chill once you get the hang of it and stop worrying about accidentally cutting one of your fingers off. Sure, I’ll probably really need to smooth things out with sandpaper, but after several attempts, I’m finally satisfied with what I’m coming up with. After all, you shouldn’t expect to be able to get something right the first few times if it’s all completely new to you.

This venture into wood carving was kinda random in the sense that we didn’t plan for it, but it provided us a nice sort of distraction after the past couple days have been quite eventful. By that, I mean in a not so good way, the kind that sorta leaves you tired in an I’m done with this shit. And I was not the only one who felt that way.

I’ve learned over the years that solving a mystery or a dilemma isn’t always straightforward. Sure, it can be satisfying when you can finally address a nagging question or bring closure to something that’s haunted you for a long time. But more often than not, trying to get to the heart of a mystery or a problem often results in more questions, bringing in more uncertainty that can potentially lead to an unsatisfactory resolution.

Sometimes it’s best to leave things alone, especially when it’s not in your place to get involved. Trouble comes to those who don’t know when to stay in their own lane. For me though, I don’t find it an issue - I know when to back out. But for some, they’re too busy poking and prodding that they don’t realize the disturbance they’ve caused - and that’s obviously not a good thing. In other words, it’s easier said than done when it comes to minding your own business.

We originally just came here to collect wood gyroids, and since the woods isn’t too far from the consultation office, I invited the gang - Taiki, Nene, Batt, Emmanuelle, Mikayla, Satoshi, Scotch, Haru, as well as Aileen and Kira - to join in on the fun. The kids especially enjoyed running around looking for gyroids.

What was supposed to be a chill get together turned out to be something else - not that it took away from the good, just an unexpected detour that maybe we could’ve done without. then again, work is work, and with exorcism jobs few and far between, they weren’t really in a position to turn it down, even if they had misgivings about the job. To be clear, it’s not like they’re struggling - the exorcism gig is basically a side freelance thing for them, if that makes sense - but since they’re the only exorcists in this area who happen to be very well versed and serious about what they do, if something of the sort comes up, they can’t afford to not address it.

Basically, when it comes to the supernatural, like cursed spirits, there’s a lot of unknown factors at play, so you want to be 100% certain if stuff like that is involved, If left to its own devices, a cursed spirit can really wreak havoc on its surroundings and mess with people’s minds, even cause mass destruction if it’s powerful enough. Exorcism’s a dangerous field, which is why there’s not many of them, and it’s even more unusual to find a small group of them working together who aren’t related by blood.

So we were in the middle of a break from collecting gyroids when Taiki, who was on call, received a message. We were gonna head back to the office anyway and that was where we met the client. Her name was Tibby, and right off the bat it was clear that she was loaded when she just handed Taiki a stack of bills like it was nothing. Of course, to the exorcists, it’s not unusual for someone to throw money at them when they’re desperate. She seemed pretty serious, so he decided to take her in for further questioning.

And so the story goes like this. A few months ago, Tibby’s partner’s sister died from ingesting poison, presumably by suicide. As far as anyone knows, Alix was not the kind of person who would willingly end her life like that. She was said to be a well respected and successful woman who has it all. However, she had a difficult relationship with her half-sister Isidora, which is why the family pins the blame on her for Alix’s death. Along with the harassment, Tibby said that Isidora has also been plagued by nightmares, leading to her believing that she’s cursed by her sister.

Since Taiki and Mikayla were on call, they took on the case and asked if any of us wanted to tag along as assistants, so Nene, Haru, and I joined in. The others headed back to Scotch and Satoshi’s house since we got a pretty nice haul of gyroids thanks to the girls. I’m glad they had such a great time playing outside, especially after being cooped up inside because of the rainy season.

Just like Tibby said, Isidora was in a terrible state, huddled up in a corner and muttering incomprehensibly. At a glance, you could say that maybe she’s under some curse, but if not, it’s obvious that something’s very wrong. Seeing her was unsettling, to put it simply - though that was probably the least concerning thing going on compared to what we later uncovered. In short, she was not under some sort of curse or possession, at least not an actual one caused by Alix herself.

As soon as Taiki and Nene began questioning the family, we had a feeling that something was off. It’s not that they were exactly flat out lying to us, it’s more like they’ve deceived themselves so much that they won’t know the truth if it hit them in the face sort of thing. How sad it is to craft such lies that are so ingrained into you that anyone who dares challenges them is seen as a threat. Sure, the ugly truth may be hard to accept, but there should be limits as to how much you can play ignorance, especially when the whole picture has been rotten to the core to begin with.

In the family’s view, it’s “Poor Alix was driven to her death by the cruel and heartless Isidora.” The way they paint Alix as some poor helpless victim, a saint who could do no wrong and yet a tortured soul too fragile for this harsh world we live in - that alone is disturbing, almost to the point of absurdity. To put it respectfully, it was like watching a terrible soap opera, like from start to finish rather than hearing bits and pieces and leaving the rest to imagination. I wouldn’t say predictable, but it’s easy to have an idea of which direction things are gonna go. Kinda like witnessing some online discourse happening that you really couldn’t care less about but you’re somehow invested in watching both sides go up in flames.

I mean, according to them, Alix committed suicide because she was fed up with Isidora’s failures, which doesn’t sound like a lot to go on. Alix seemed to have it all, wealth, power, popularity, charm, charisma, beauty, intelligence - she sounded like an infuriatingly perfect person, almost too perfect. Meanwhile, Isidora was almost the opposite in terms of luck and success, having been described as intelligent and possessing great beauty, but lacks ambition and direction, making her a constant source of frustration towards her family. In other words, they saw her as a failure and an embarrassment - the perfect scapegoat to explain away anything that goes wrong.

Not surprisingly, outside of the family, they’re conflicting views on what exactly the kind of person Alix was. She had many who idolized her, seeing her death as tragic because she could do no wrong, and she had those who saw her as a tyrant, a conniving, manipulative bitch who knows how to play the victim turn things towards her favor. The truth that no one wanted to admit was that she made her way up to the top by stepping on everyone else, using everyone and everything she saw as an obstacle to her convenience to bring in a false sense of security.

Basically, she wasn’t above using suicide baiting tactics to manipulate someone to coerce them. One of her former colleagues asked to meet in private so she could open up about what happened, and it’s just as bad as it sounds. Alix saw her as a threat and bullied her to the point that she threatened suicide by drinking poison, setting it up in such a way that made it look like murder. Not only Alix was conniving, but she also had the resources to be able to pull such a scheme like that, and considering how much power and influence she had, the other person had no choice but to comply to her terms unless she wanted to bring ruin to herself and those around her.

Yikes. No one should have that much power over another. Such a blatant example of abuse of authority - not just by Alix alone, but also by those around her who let something like this happen. And of course, she wasn’t raised in a vacuum, the fact that she was able to get away with manipulating people like that means that those around her not only found that behavior acceptable, they most likely encouraged it because that’s how they got into those positions themselves.

Now we know why Alix took the poison that ultimately killed her. She pulled that same stunt with Isidora in an attempt to get her to cut ties with Tibby and work under her. The reason, I feel like that’s one of those things where we’re like, we don’t have time to unpack all that. Could easily be them making a big deal out of nothing, or there could be more to it - doesn’t matter, it has nothing to do with the case. If anything, I think it’s a ridiculously stupid thing to get riled up about, so I’m pretty sure it’s one of those flimsy reasons they latch on to just so they can justify their hate.

The reason why Alix was harassing Isidora was over a fucking web novel that she and Tibby were writing together. Apparently, the reason why the family was clutching their pearls over it is because it’s a slice-of-life historical drama that takes place in a pleasure district with the main character working in a brothel. From a quick search, there’s nothing controversial about the novel, though there are issues with the tone as Tibby leans more into slice-of-life while Isidora leans towards the drama, resulting in what most call a tone-deaf mess. But other than that, it’s an average web novel that is doing fairly well - not groundbreaking or anything, just light entertainment.

I skimmed through a couple chapters out of curiosity and it was all right, nothing worth noting, and definitely nothing worth getting mad about. I’d get it if it’s like some overly sexualized bullshit or some other gross porno stuff, but it really seems like Alix and the family saw the words pleasure district and courtesans and automatically assumed the worst. Like, there’s literally nothing wrong with writing fiction about courtesans as long as it’s not offensive - the same could be said for all kinds of subjects that are considered dark or taboo, really.

Again, it’s basically stupid online discourse, except it’s happening offline and not as funny.

Said web novel that I honestly can’t be bothered to remember the name of because it’s ridiculously long ended up getting a publishing deal thanks to Tibby. Like I said earlier, she is loaded - in other words, she and Isidora have been living off that money. As to whether a story like that is worth publishing material is questionable. I mean, a lot of light novels started off as web novels, so obviously the light novel version is likely going to be more polished, and probably more detailed, but it does leave me wondering how much different the light novel version will be. I mean, it’ll probably take a lot of extra work - basically a drastic revamp, in my opinion - to bring the web novel to publishing standards - meaning something people will actually pay to read.

And so Alix threatened to kill herself in order to stop Isidora from publishing the novel, which is such a stupid thing to do. It was the same stunt she pulled with her former colleague, drinking poison and just pushing Isidora into a difficult position like she had always done - except she went a bit too far this time. A couple weeks earlier, Alix used that same poison on Tibby - attempted murder - except her plan was thwarted by Isidora. Of course, the family denied that ever happened, so we only have Tibby’s word to go off on. It’s clear that they don’t like each other - but that’s a whole ‘nother tangent that’s also irrelevant.

In conclusion, Alix’s hubris is what killed her. She thought she could have it her way again, manipulating Isidora like she always did. And she went as far as to actually drink the damn poison to prove her point if we were to believe that she really did poison Tibby. However, Isidora refused to comply, so maybe Alix got annoyed and took another dose of the poison to really hammer it in, only to be ignored once again. A stupidly fatal move indeed.

While Isidora is indeed the victim in all of this, she’s not entirely innocent either. Again, it’s not relevant to the case, so it’s none of our business, but it looks like she’s also good at playing the victim game and using people when it’s convenient for her. The family was actually in the right to be skeptical about Isidora and Tibby’s relationship, just for the wrong reasons. To put it simply, there seems to be some toxic co-dependency on both sides, even more so now that Isidora’s incapacitated by her demons.

Of course, that’s not what Taiki and Mikayla told Tibby, not when she and Isidora insisted that Alix was cursing them. They’re used to dealing with clients like that, so they’re able to improvise. Usually the reason why they put on a show is to give people some peace of mind, but in this case it’s to appease the masses, which didn’t really take much effort. Whatever happens after, it’s out of our hands, and honestly, I could care less.

Mikayla felt bad over how things ended, especially since she wanted me to see her in action, as in actually helping people. I don’t hold it against her - there’s no way of knowing how things will turn out. I’ve heard that she and Taiki aren’t on good terms with their family, so it’s understandable why the whole thing was getting to them, especially the whole “it’s for their own good” shtick that some people like to throw around to justify mistreating someone. They only care about you when it’s convenient for them and have no problems deserting you when you can’t give them what they want.

Still, it was nice seeing her and Taiki in action, as well as Nene and Haru working together as assistants, so I don’t think it was an entire waste. The reason why they set up this consultation office is to help people and dealing with a few bad apples won’t stop them. The world is thankfully not full of people like Alix because that would be a disaster.

Nothing like getting into wood carvings and journaling your thoughts out to unwind and feel like yourself again.

Read on AO3

#animal crossing pocket camp #animal crossing #headcanon ramble #diary of a junebug

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maximumwobblerbanditdonut · 9 months ago

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The World’s Best Gins, According To The 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition

SH’s Wild Scottish Gin can win a gold medal but his bottle is not considered the World's Best Gin, according to the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits. SH’s favourite Spirits competition. For every brand of gin, 100 exceptional competing brands appear. This should help SH to understand he is not the only one in the level of competition.

Best in Class Gin Finalists 2024 KATELYN TUCKER PHOTOGRAPHY

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) just released its finalists for its Best in Class awards, which will be revealed this October. If they made the finalist list, they are the crème of the crop. The finalists in their three most prominent gin groups are in no order.

Best in Class Gin Finalists

Dada Chapel Organic Dry Gin

Housed inside a converted convent in Ghent, Belgium, the team at Dada Chapel Distillery, led by a descendant of the Duvel Moortgat family of brewers, makes award-winning spirits using local raw materials. Their Organic Dry Gin eschews the trend of flavouring their gin with a wide array of botanicals. Instead, it only uses fresh-harvested juniper berries. The resultant liquid is herbaceous and crisp.

Hilbing London Dry Gin

The family behind the Hilbing Franke Distillery in Mendoza, Argentina, has been producing high-quality spirits from pure Andean Mountain water known for their delicate flavours for five generations. Their London Dry Gin blends Argentinean citrus, coriander, and juniper flavours with Malbec grapes from their vineyards to create an exceptionally smooth gin.

Ben Lomond Scottish Gin

Inspired by the majestic Ben Lomond Mountain in the Scottish Highlands, the team behind Ben Lomond Scottish Gin labours to produce gins that embody the rugged and adventurous spirit their country is known for. Their award-winning Scottish Gin uses a distinct blend of eleven botanicals to create a herbaceous liquid that's perfect straight up or in a cocktail.

Eight Lands Organic Speyside Gin

Yet another fantastic gin from Scotland, Eight Lands Organic Speyside Gin, is the result of a meticulous focus on producing clean organic spirits. Located in the heart of Scotch whisky country, this gin from Glenrinnes Distillery was created to win the hearts of traditional Martini drinkers with its balanced flavour profile and crisp aromatics.

Juniperus Gin

Hailing from the land Down Under, this flavour-packed gin from Prohibition Liquor Company delivers quite a hit with each sip. An ultra-premium craft gin, it's a classic London Dry Gin with layers of flavours that surface with each sip. Using exotic ingredients like Grains of Paradise and cassis bark, it is both complex yet approachable.

Best in Class Flavoured Gin Finalists for the 2024 KATELYN TUCKER PHOTOGRAPHY

Best in Class Flavoured Gin Final….

Settlers Spirits Yuzu Gin

Located in South Australia, Settlers Spirits produces a range of gins designed to showcase the wide array of flavours that gin can present to drinkers. Its Yuzu Gin is one such bottle. Made from Australia’s first commercial crop of Yuzu, a citrus fruit from Japan, China, and Tibet, it is brimming with bright flavours and has a clean finish.

Gervasi Spirits Pink Peppercorn Gin

The beauty of flavoured gins is that you can sip them straight or use them to punch up a cocktail. Gervasi Spirits Pink Peppercorn Gin is one such bottle. Made in Canton, Ohio, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it uses Pink and Szechuan Peppercorns to create an aromatic gin that delivers a spicy punch with each sip.

DiBaldo Spirits AU 79 Saffron Gin

DiBaldo Spirits must be onto something with their AU 79 Saffron Gin. It continually lands at the top of most major spirit competition award lists. Made in Emilia Romagna, Italy, it uses one of the world's most expensive spices, saffron, to craft an ideal balance between Mediterranean flavours and Far East exoticism. If you are into making off-the-wall cocktails, this is the bottle for you.

Luscious Spirits Raspberry Gin

When you name your company Luscious Spirits, you better deliver some over-the-top flavours. Crafted in small batches through vapor infusion, their Raspberry Gin delivers. Using a blend of 12 botanicals and a dose of fresh raspberries, it exhibits vibrant juniper and citrus tastes up front with a sweet, fruity finish.

Junipero Smoked Rosemary Gin

If you are a fan of craft gin, then chances are you have heard of Junipero Gin. Founded in 1996, Junipero Gin was one of the first craft gin makers in America. They helped reset drinkers' opinions on what gin could be. Still handmade in San Francisco, each of their bottles is loaded with flavours, perhaps none more so than their Smoked Rosemary Gin. An unfiltered gin bottled at 98.6 Proof, its distinctive smoky rosemary flavours make it unforgettable.

Best in Class Barrel Aged Gin Finalists for 2024 KATELYN TUCKER PHOTOGRAPHY

Best in Class Barrel Aged Gin Finalists

Starlight Distillery Simon’s 1794 Bottled-In-Bond American Dry Gin

When Starlight Distillery launched a little over a decade ago in Borden, Indiana, its primary goal was to produce brandies and ports using fresh fruits from the Huber Farm, of which it is a part. Luckily for drinkers, they branched out, and these days, they offer a wide array of spirits, many using ingredients from the farm, one of the largest fruit farms in the state. Their Simon's 1794 Barrel Finished Gin is one such product. A small batch of gin, its distinctive citrus and juniper flavours blend perfectly with spices from the barrel.

Crazy Eights Gold Oak Gin

One of the beautiful things about barrel-aged gins is their unpredictability. You never know quite what you will get until the first sip. Inspired by the film Kill Bill's murderous yakuza gang, the Crazy 88's gin from Hai Seas Distillery in Shanghai, China, delivers something killer. Made from a fusion of eight botanicals, Crazy Eights Gold Oak Gin is aged in the world's first whisky barrels made from French, American, and Chinese oak. It's overflowing with citrus and caramel flavours.

Nozawa Onsen Distillery Barrel-Aged Gin

Made at the newly opened Nozawa Onsen Distillery in the heart of mountainous Nagano, Japan, home of the 1998 Winter Olympics, this barrel-aged gin has yet to be released to the public. Entered into the competition as a sneak peek at what's yet to come, it wowed the judges. There is a reason for that: every gin they have released in their short lifetime has won widespread acclaim. Keep an eye out for this bottle when it is released; it's one to grab.

Corsair Distillery Barreled Gin

When Corsair Distillery opened as the first craft distillery in Nashville, Tennessee, since prohibition, they had lofty goals: to make some of the best craft spirits in America. Well, a pile of accolades accumulated over a decade and a half points to a goal achieved. Known for their whiskies and gins each of their bottles is one to search out. Their smokey with whisky undertones Barreled Gin is another bottle that is not ready for public release, but judging by its showing at the SFWSC, expect to see it soon.

Seabourne Distillery Barrel Aged Series-Pedro Ximenez Cask

When distillers decide to barrel age their gins, they often take big swings for the fences. Some work, some don't. Often, the products they do come up with are only available in limited releases or just at the distillery itself. Such is the case with this amazing gin from Seabourne Distillery. Located in the town of Noosa in Queensland, Australia, its gins often result in drinkers making a pilgrimage to the distillery to sample their wares. This barrel-aged gin is brimming with black pepper flavours and goes down sweet.

*Hudson Lindenberger - Forbes

Posted 4th June 2024

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non-electrical-outlet · 2 months ago

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12/30/24: Tequila and Regret from the Cancun Airport

My family and I finally made it back home after 4 flight delays, 2 additional overnight hotel stays, and way too many hours of sitting. It was a nice trip overall, though my generally positive perception is likely due to not having paid for it myself. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort so I ate and drank as much as I could, and I enjoyed the novelty of nice restaurants with no bill at the end of the meal. Most of the few unpleasant things about the trip came towards the end.

There were 2 things about this trip that I personally feel bad about. The flight delays and extra nights were unpleasant for all, but there were 2 things that I both regret and feel responsible for.

First was the Unlimited Vacation Club sales pitch. In order to make some of our excursions more affordable, we went to a sales pitch for the UVC. We spent over 4 hours there, and finally ended up spending around $7000 on a 5 year package; That is to say, the parents ended up spending $7k, and I played a role in convincing them to do so. The whole time we were at the pitch, I ate it all up: The fancy environs of the other resort they sent us to, the whole "it's not a timeshare" spiel, every sales tactic under the sun and I gobbled it all up. Even began trying to explain what the salesperson was saying to my dad to convince him. In the moment, I was excited at the prospect of more luxury vacationing in the future. Looking back on it however, I just feel so gullible.

The second thing just compounds on that feeling of gullibility and susceptibility. I spent $800 at the Cancun Airport for essentially $100 worth of tequila. I went up to the booth of my own free will, and tasted a bunch of different ones, and had a great time chatting with the person at the booth. When it came time for him to pitch me the "deal" on bottles, I was in such high spirits that it didn't even occur to me to google the bottles he was showing me. I didn't even consider that I've never spent more than $200 on any bottle of scotch, and there I was ready to spend $800 on 3 bottles of "special edition" mezcal. And I did. All because of fatigue, dehydration, a little bit of tequila, and those damn sales tactics again.

People pleasing definitely has something to do with the airport incident. This guy stroked my ego so well with "noticing my taste for finer things", which is definitely a core part of my interest in scotch that I ignore. When I first started drinking more, I got so much praise from strangers and passing acquaintances for my refined taste in booze. Finally, when nearly all was said and done, I spoke the 3 words that sealed my fate: "let's do it". And just like that, I dropped nearly a grand. A third of my bank account, without a second thought.

With the intention of being kind to myself, I must note that the last time I was traveling "luxuriously" like this was like 10 years ago when we took that cruise. Even when it comes to just vacationing in general, it's been a few years. If I'm ever back in Mexico, I'll make sure to buy some mezcal at an actual store in the city somewhere, and pack the bottles in a checked bag.

In the future, I think I should reflect further on this vulnerability to sales tactics and/or my proclivity towards impulsive purchases. I do think most of my previous online shopping escapades have been under the influence as well. Now that I am generally sober, smaller amounts of inebriants have unpredictably greater effects on me.

Okay, tired now. Overall, I'm not too torn up about this whole thing. I still have the stability of my home and the support of my parents. I have my career path to work on and look forward to. I have plans to start DoorDashing to start recuperating my losses until clinicals start. I'm going to get back into doing my daily routines, using my planner, being thoughtful about both the present and future. Maybe it's not my weekend, but it's gonna be my year. Opening those bottles on after graduation will still be fun, if a little bittersweet. Life will go on.

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nwbeerguide · 6 months ago

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A collaboration between Paso Roble's Calwise Spirits and Firestone Walker Brewing Company is finally out! Introducing Axe Hole Single Malt Whiskey.

Press Release

Paso Robles, CA: Calwise Spirits is excited to unveil its latest neighborhood collaboration with Firestone Walker Brewing Company—a special-edition “Axe Hole” Single Malt Whiskey, distilled from a mash of traditional brewing grains and aged for three years in American oak barrels.

Only 100 cases of Axe Hole Single Malt Whiskey ($75) were produced from a total of three barrels. It is available at the Calwise Spirits tasting room in Paso Robles as well as online at CalwiseSpirits.com.

The Axe Hole Single Malt Whiskey comes from an all-barley sour mash fermented by Firestone Walker and distilled by Master Distiller Aaron Bergh at Calwise Spirits, which is located just a mile from the brewery in Paso Robles. In keeping with the requirements of American single malt whiskey, it was aged in all-new American oak barrels prior to blending and bottling. Bergh also held some additional barrels back for a second bottling to come in 2025.

“A lot of people associate single malts with the peaty character of traditional Scotch, but ours is closer to a bourbon with these vanilla and caramel notes that you get from the charred American oak,” Bergh said. “I love how smooth and unique it turned out, with these beautiful fruit and cola notes that can only come from the sour barley mash provided by Firestone Walker.”

Bergh added, “The brew side often gets overlooked when it comes to distilling, but it’s foundational. It was fun to get out of the way and let the masters of brewing handle that side of things, and it’s why this whiskey tastes so good.”

This is the second collaborative spirit created by Calwise Spirits and Firestone Walker, following the limited release of “Old Tom” gin in 2022.

“These collaborations are another way for us to deepen our artisanal roots and share what we do with a friend and neighbor,” said Nick Firestone. “We’ve been working with spirits barrels for nearly 20 years to create our barrel-aged strong ales, and we see this as an extension of that tradition.”

# # #

Master distiller Aaron Bergh was destined for this adventure. During Prohibition, the Feds shut down his family’s moonshining operation—but not for very long. A century later, the law came knocking again, because the college authorities didn’t appreciate Aaron making hooch in his dorm. Calwise Spirits is Aaron’s ode to this renegade heritage, and a nod to his homeland of coastal California. Now established as one of the youngest master distillers in the world, he has created a line of premium spirits that embody the essence of the Golden State, infusing them with native ingredients that provide a pure taste of liquid California. Visit CalwiseSpirits.com.

Founded in 1996 by brothers-in-law Adam Firestone and David Walker, Firestone Walker is a second-generation, family-led brewery based on California’s Central Coast. Helmed by highly decorated Brewmaster Matt Brynildson, Firestone Walker's main brewery in Paso Robles produces a diverse portfolio including 805, California's #1 craft beer brand; Mind Haze, a top 5 national hazy IPA; and Cali Squeeze, one of the nation's fastest-growing beer brands. The Firestone brand family also includes iconic beers such as DBA, Union Jack, and Pivo Pils, as well as the storied Vintage Series of barrel-aged strong ales led by Parabola. As a California beer company, Firestone Walker also has two additional locations: the Barrelworks wild ale cellar in Santa Barbara County and the Propagator R&D brewhouse in Venice. Firestone Walker was recently named “Best American Brewery of the Decade” by Paste Magazine. More at 805beer.com and FirestoneWalker.com

#Paso Robles #California #CA #Firestone Walker Brewing Company #Calwise Spirits #Distilling #Spirits #Whiskey #Single Malt American Whiskey #Press Release

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mazojo · 3 years ago

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Ok no I love rambling so it’s ok! And yeah, this fandom is very stuck on “Tsukasa hurt Mitsuba so he deserves nothing but hatred.” Except… Tsukasa tried to help the second time around, quite literally his second appearance is him trying to fix his mistakes right here. When he says, “I hope your wish comes true this time,” he’s speaking on Mitsuba considering that he straight up mangled him the first time they met. I don’t think someone who “has no emotions and lives to hurt others and abuse everyone.” (Aka the fandom’s words) would ever say something like this. I don’t think if he really was as bad as the fandom says that Tsukasa would so blatantly try to fix what he had done wrong. He would have ignored it, shrugged it off, except he didn’t.

And also, right here too! When Mitsuba and Nene are attacked, Tsukasa says this line and I feel like a part of his real personality is still there somewhere too? He’s so upset here, and then this line kinda adds onto it imo because he could have said any other dialogue about why no.3 is ruining everything and yet.. his main concern is no.3 picking on things weaker than it

And then, of course, once we get into the gritty details, we also realize that Tsukasa is quite kind despite his dispositions like, the fake world? He created it simply for Mitsuba’s wish and if there was any ill intent, it would have been stated. He simply did it because Mitsuba asked, even Hanako himself comments on how “this is all your wish meant to you?” Aka, Tsukasa did this entire fake world thing just because Mitsuba wished for it.

Like sometimes I feel like the fandom is too hung up on single Mitsuba arcs to realize that Tsukasa has tried to remedy his mistakes the only way he personally knows how to. It’s not great, it’s definitely not okay, but just like Hanako, he’s not supposed to be entirely good or entirely bad. He’s a Grey character and people constantly assuming that he’s meant to be this big bad villain is so .. annoying. Like? Are we reading the same manga? hhh

Yess agreed!! As you say, people tend to write off characters from the get go that aren't 100% "good" before understanding no character truly is 100% a good guy. I think It also goes tied down to the fact a lot of people compare Tsukasa to Amane when...... they are completely different persons loll. Theres a clear difference of treatment between both by the fandom imo (and this is no hating Hanako of course, I love his character and this is also part of the reason why he is such a complicated and well builded character too in the series) where for example in the last arc he pretty much offed every spirit related being (still prayer circles for Mitsuba pspsps come back pspssp asdfghj) and people brushed over it. If Tsukasa would have been the one to take that decision everyone would have jumped on his throat but Hanako for the most part gets off scotch free (again, I dont want it to seem I am hating on him asdfghj I love Hanako but its a bit frustrating people justifying what he did all the time when its okay to admit he can also be morally gray too and thats part of the charm imo xdd)

BruHH you are tempting me so hard to reread the manga with your entire analysis because there are so many details I had never caught on to like the first part of the "I hope your wish comes true this time" !! Its such a good take on his character and I wish other people read this post because it truly goes to show the misconception everyone has of Tsukasa.

I feel like people just see Tsukasa and think he is evil for being the main "antagonist" (not really villain imo but just the opposing party I guess you could say it???) that they dont see past that. I would love to see the manga show more of the Broadcasting Club members :(( They are underrated for suree

#I went through my past screenshots after reading this and it just goes to show how detailed tbhk truly is #I feel like a lot of people read and skim through things and adopt the take everyone believes and its sad :((#I also feel like Aoi's and Teru's characters fall into a lot of misconceptions and it makes me sad ™#ask #tbhk spoilers #tbhk #tsukasa

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hong-kong-art-man · 3 years ago

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Age Appears Best In One Thing: Old Wine To Drink. The History Of Wine Culture In Hong Kong Told By Nigel Fong

About 3,000 years ago, a type of Chinese alcoholic beverage Huangjiu(or Yellow Wine黃酒) was made from grains. More than 1,000 years ago, liquor Baijiu or Shaojiu(白酒或燒酒) was made after a process of distillation.

It has been the tradition in some of my known families to pass the interest in wine through generation to generation. I have great respect for these people. The family tradition helps them define who they are. Nigel Fong(方志基)’s family was in Tai O, one of the oldest fishing village in Hong Kong, 100 years ago. His ancestors sold wine there. Nigel laughed, “Being family is determined more by wine than by blood in my case. I might be born with a wine glass. When I went to the UK to study at 13, I fell in love with Scotch whisky. In 2012, I acquired a winery in Scotland and later took up a very old wine shop called J.L. Gill which has been in Perthshire, Scotland since 1875. I now buy and sell liquors as a business as much as a hobby. I meet my wine buddies regularly. I elect something that I love and can absorb myself in it. I am lucky.”

Nigel remembered, “Westerners stored wine in a barrel. We Chinese kept wine in a jar. In the old days, only the very rich could afford imported foreign wine. Local Hongkongers bought wine from the ‘mom-and-pop’ grocery stores which displayed jars of wine of different tastes. The price charged was calculated by the number of bamboo or coconut ladles of wine given. Customers used rice or soup bowls to contain wine. When I look back, I am filled with a strong sentimental wistful affection for the simple past.” I added, “Bars in those years were not meant for ordinary people. Men drank at home or street food stalls with friends. Tired of Chinese wine, they might switch to beer who was not a kind of expensive drink. The first beer brewery in Hong Kong is San Miguel from the Philippines which was established in Sham Tseng in 1948. Teenagers enjoyed beer mixing cream soda, a sweet soft drink flavoured with vanilla.”

Nigel gave an account of the history, “Whisky used to be more popular than other spirits. Due to massive advertising campaigns, French brandy became overwhelmingly successful in Hong Kong in the 1970s. Brandy is a spirit distilled from fruit and the liked brands were such as Hennessy, Martell, Camus and Courvoisier. XO (extra old) Cognac usually refers to the brandy with a long period of age. Interestingly, the term ‘XO’ then became a social jargon meaning ‘first rank’ or ‘high class’, only understood by people in Hong Kong.”

I challenged, “Can Hong Kong produce great local wine?” He frowned, “Impossible. Hong Kong does not even have natural wells anymore. We do not have high mountains. Can we use tap water or distilled water to make good wine? Our spring water, I guess, has been polluted in one way or another in a big and crowded city like Hong Kong. Good water is critical for good wine.”

Nigel mused like a scholar, “I want to recall and express my respect for a wonderful place called Fenwick Pier(分域碼頭) which was built in Wan Chai in the 19th century. It is gone for good now and will never return. What a pity! It is a non-government pier serving military sailors from the western world. Fenwick Pier was seen as the lighthouse of hospitality, answering questions from visitors about Hong Kong, giving postal service, providing the finest tailoring for custom suits and most importantly, supplying reliable wine and spirits from different countries to the thirsty sea-based men to Hong Kong. The wine shop there was almost like a museum devoted to the display of great alcoholic objects of magnificent interest and value. Fenwick Pier arcade contributed to the intellectual and emotional connections, if not explorations, between people in Hong Kong and the outside wine world.” I added, “Wan Chai used to be a famous area of bars and nightclubs because of Fenwick Pier and the sailors. Remember the world-known film about a bargirl in Wan Chai called The World of Suzie Wong?” I remember the good old days of going to Macau, the nearest Portuguese colony city to Hong Kong, for great European food. At the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal, one could buy Mateus Rose and Port Wine. Outside the Terminal, there was a night market where vendors performed kung fu in order to attract people to buy their ‘3-snake’ wine in low grade bottles.

‘It takes a lot of good beer to make great wine’. It takes a lot of wine to make an expert. Nigel always told me, “I already drank too much out of the work necessity. Life is now too short for me to drink bad wine.” I can certainly see that Nigel knows and loves wine. I am therefore very embarrassed in front of him as I could not tell the difference between Bordeaux and Burgundy.

MLee

Chinese Version 中文版: https://www.patreon.com/posts/jiu-bi-qing-nong-55311855?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copy_to_clipboard&utm_campaign=postshare

Fenwick Pier in the Old Days Acknowledgement-Michael TAM https://youtu.be/ha0AuFziP-4

Wanchai Bar Street Lockhart Road Acknowledgment-港古佬 https://youtu.be/ezgXvybKsug

HK Old Grocery Stores selling Wine Acknowledgement-HKonTV https://youtu.be/_7h6CwpVSuQ

Classic Ad: Old Chinese White Wine 1993 Acknowledgement-TPB HKCM https://youtu.be/6jEdQKWuMfo

Classic Ad: San Miguel Beer 1988 Acknowledgement-hk80adloversinc1990b https://youtu.be/QgrQaJSKwRU

HK Oldest Jazz Wine Bar Acknowledgment-香港衛視 https://youtu.be/mY5G4OrClPw

Song About Wine Acknowledgement-GEM鄧紫棋 https://youtu.be/8Z7xd7rTwiA

#Huangjiu黃酒 #Baijiu白酒 #Shaojiu燒酒 #Scotch Whisky #San Miguel #J.L. Gill #Hennessy Brandy #Martell Brandy #Camus Brandy #Courvoisier Brandy #XO Cognac #Brandy #Bordeaux #Burgundy #Mom-And-Pop Store #Fenwick Pier分域碼頭 #It Takes A Lot Of Good Beer To Make Great Wine

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

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The Crane Team: Tamayuki Ghost Road

This is a continuation of the ReWritten series told in 3rd person. In Dragon Raja’s Fifth novel, there is a mention of a Team of White King Hybrids that are mixed between Hydra and Devil Clan mere months after those two gangs fought in a fiercely bloody Gang War. How that team came together is the subject of this shorter (shorter) series.

In the hills outside the Tama River, most areas were completely closed to the public. The hills were covered with thick forest that served as a buffer zone between the city and the surrounding area, absorbing water runoff and pollution and serving as one of the last remaining bastions for wildlife. That’s not to say there was nothing. Military and civil engineering projects regularly went on here and there were a few ancestral plots of land owned by citizens.

One such citizen had a small tourist hut for hikers and bikers wanting to explore the woodlands. He called himself Tamayuki and claimed the land here was named after his family. A doughy faced man who looked deceptively young, he greeted Yoko and Crow as they drove up the gravel driveway to his small flat surrounded by trees.

“Come for a drive?” Tamayuki greeted them in a grey kimono. A thin grey beard rested in front of his chest, one of the few actual indicators of his age.

Yoko tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. “I think I’ll take the Supra today. Tamayuki-san. This is Crow.”

Crow stood next to his red sports car and nodded to him. “Nice to meet you. This is a race track?”

“Not really. It’s actually a private road up to an observatory. The Lady likes to use it as a personal track though.”

“Lady?” Crow looked at Yoko and she smiled back at him as she walked away to a large garage behind the house.

The massive roll up door opened and the lights turned on, each one highlighting supercars of modern and old eras.

Crow took the cigarette from his mouth. Some of them were genuine racers, formula one cars with numbers painted on in decals and colored blue, black, yellow and red, but most were modified cars, Toyotas and Fords, suped up and trimmed down for maximum speed. Yoko knew exactly which car she wanted and opened the door to fish the keys from the magnetic holder. She didn’t even ask permission. The door slammed, the car roared to life and she drove out the other side of the door onto another gravel driveway without a word.

Tamayuki turned to Crow. “Care to chat over tea?”

“Got anything harder?” Crow asked.

“Of course,” He chuckled.

They made their way back to the house. The shadow of the mountains made the sun set early and without the fanfare of a sunset of colors. There was light, and then there was just the dark shadow of the mountain. The soft tap of a deer-chaser provided a rhythm to the chorus of crickets.

“She doesn’t usually bring people up here. Are you someone special to her?” Tamayuki asked.

“I shouldn’t be. We don’t really know each other. Why do you call her Lady?”

Tamayuki clasped his hands behind his back. “Because she is the Dragon Lady. The wife of Ruri Kazama.”

“So is she the leader of the Devil Clan?” Crow asked, glancing at him, blowing a thin line of smoke. They were approaching an enclosed patio. The lights were on and it seemed to be larger space. Too large just for some lonely old man.

“She doesn’t think of herself as such… but … that’s what she is whether she accepts that title or not.” He opened the glass door to a room with an array of mounted TVs connected to cameras set on various areas of the road. From this room, they could observe the activity of the entire mountain road.

Tamayuki took a small bottle of whiskey from the cabinet, a fine Japanese Scotch, and brought it back to Crow to show him.

“You don’t have to bring out the good stuff, Pops.” Crow kept his eyes on the road.

“I insist. She brought you.” He poured them the fine spirit.

“I’m just a driver. Nothing more.” Crow insisted firmly.

Tamayuki chuckled again. “Oh, no. You are a Hydra. I can’t expect you to understand. But you are with her, a Devil Clan member, a high ranking one. In the middle of the woods, no one would question you very much if she just disappeared. She has to have tremendous trust in you.”

Crow lowered his glare to the cup. “Things are changing right?”

“That’s hard to say. I don’t think anyone is expecting too much.” The man sighed.

Crow glanced to the TV screens. “Car racing huh? Not something I would have assumed looking at her.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call what she does racing.” Tamayuki sat back to watch the cameras and grimaced. “It’s more like torture than racing. By the time she reaches the top of the hill, the tires and suspension are completely wrecked and the car is smoked well before that. Normally, the speed is only around 25 miles per hour but she will run up the road at near or over 100. On one run, I clocked her doing 140. It will take the average driver an hour at legal speeds to drive this road, but she does it in 10 minutes. I do my best to maintain the road but bumps and cracks and ridges will form overnight. There are no braking markers, turn indicators or even any frame of reference for where she is. The road is completely dark. Just the sky in front of her and a one hundred foot drop off. No guardrails.”

“Is she trying to die?” Crow’s eyes were wide.

Tamayuki watched the cameras. She was using headlamps that pierced the darkness, but at those speeds they hardly mattered. Her car was only on the screen for a split second at a time. “She says when she’s up there it feels like she’s flying away from the world. She has the road memorized.” He eyed Crow for a long time. “But… if she dies, it will be one less Ghost in the world. Right?”

Crow didn’t respond to that, he tilted the ice in the glass.

Tamayuki let the silence sit, eyeing him with an unspoken accusation.

Crow met his eyes with an even sharper glare. “Look, old man. Ghost killing wasn’t ever something I enjoyed. It’s not something I brag about or I’m proud of. But it’s not something I can say I regretted. It’s just the way things were back then. You’re a Ghost. Aren’t you?”

The man nodded.

Crow licked the remaining alcohol from his lips, his heart pounding. “You didn’t just poison me did you?” He laughed lightly.

“She doesn’t bring Hydra here… for a reason.” The man’s face was suddenly cloaked in shadow, and Crow noticed that there was a faint golden brightness in his eyes that was far from natural. “She trusts me with you, as much as she trusts you with me. I can’t say I’m happy that she brought you here. But I'm not about to break the bond I have with her. She’s a very lonely woman. And I am a very lonely man.”

A bead of sweat rolled down Crow’s temple.

“I spent my forty years in detention as a ghost. All the best years of my life were squandered. I never found a wife, never had kids, or got a steady job. I only live off my inheritance. I guess, you could say, I never was able to escape the prison they put me in. She comes and races my cars. I can see her, have her close to me. That’s as much as a man my age can hope for.”

He finished off the whiskey. He watched the screen as Yoko pulled off a drift on a spectacular hairpin turn. The back of the vehicle hung off a one hundred foot drop and it skidded for a moment, throwing a huge plume of dust, before zooming off into the night. “She likes throwing dirt off the road. She gets a kick out of it.” Tamayuki smiled.

Crow swallowed hard, realizing that if she went off that cliff, he was a dead man.

#Dragon Raja

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scotianostra · 3 years ago

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William Stevenson, the hoarding beggar died on July 17th 1817 in Kilmarnock.

#Scotland #scottish #kilmarnock #beggar #history

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bunkershotgolf · 5 years ago

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The Country Club of Indianapolis Hires Daniel R. Irons as Golf Course Superintendent

The Country Club of Indianapolis recently named Daniel R. Irons as Golf Course Superintendent. Prior to his appointment, Irons was the Head Assistant Superintendent at Illini Country Club in Springfield, Illinois.

Irons’ professional experience includes former positions at two top ranked Iowa clubs, Spirit Hollow Golf Course in Burlington and the Wakonda Club in Des Moines. As an intern at Wakonda Club, he was part of the team that prepared the course for the 2013 PGA TOUR Champions tournament, The Principal Charity Classic.

Irons earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Turfgrass Technology from Indian Hills Community College in Iowa in 2014. He graduated from Carl Sandburg College in Illinois in 2012 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Criminal Justice.

About Links Asset Trust

Links Asset Trust (“Links”) is a boutique private club capital and operating investment firm that provides capital, debt retirement, and over 100 years of expertise from its founders and partners. The company’s approach is to recapitalize and revitalize private clubs and resorts. Links is able to recapture market share with an operating plan that eliminates annual assessments and benefits from capital invested in the club’s lifestyle components (pool, fitness, food and beverage, lawn sports, etc.), and restores century-old golf clubs and resorts.

The Links family of clubs includes four newly acquired and two affiliates for clubs owned by its investment partners. Links Clubs include: The Country Club of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana www.ccindianapolis.com ; Hidden Valley Country Club, Salem, Virginia www.hiddenvalleycc.com ;

Pine Island Country Club, Charlotte, North Carolina www.pineislandcc.com ; Out Door Country Club, York, Pennsylvania www.odcc.com. Links Affiliated Clubs are: Shackamaxon Country Club, Scotch Plains, New Jersey www.shackamaxoncc.com ; Forsgate Country Club, Monroe Township, New Jersey www.forsgatecc.com.

#Golf Courses #submission

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nightskied · 5 years ago

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🍻+ “ what scares you more than anything ?” (naomi)

send 🍻 + a question and my muse has to answer alcoholized and 100% honestly . @dissolvedshadows .

naomi frowned deeply at the question , the side of her face leaned against her palm as she propped herself up with her elbow atop of the coffee table . of course she was sat on the floor while they were drinking and of course she wasn’t slurring her words and had not been slurring for … a while now . “ well —– i’ve always wondered if drinking the blood of a person with some sort of illness gives me the illness or makes me immune , or if i’ve had every illness passed through blood ever , but my whole … vampy thing just gives it DEATH , y’know ? “ the vampire rambled , gesturing widely with the hand that was holding the glass of scotch before necking it . “ also , “ she swallowed down the alcohol and cleared her throat , then gestured for caleb to pass her the bottle that he was hoarding . “ i don’t like the idea of mummies … and spirits . one time a witch told me that if you’re , uh , if you’re communicating — with a spirit , you gotta cover your face ‘cos otherwise the spirit will see your soul . and that’s some scary shit , y’know ? being seen , and all that mess … that’s some hardcore … stuff , vulenra - vulnear - vulnerabililityp - you get it . so i guess i should at that to the toppity - top of the list , too … right next to the tp - hoarding mummies , who are hopefully eye - less . “

#dissolvedshadows #icb she had to give out a whole spirit thing explaining to say she's scared of being seen aka being vulnerable . wow .#* naomi hale.#dissolvedshadows:naomi.

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rockofeye · 5 years ago

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Hi Houngan Alex, thank you for your posts on Ghede. I am going to my first fete (for Ghede) soon, and I guess I wanted to ask about some things I have seen on social media re: how Ghede manifests. I have seen someone with a prominent voice that you have written about recently saying that a Ghede possession is not real unless Ghede exposes his/her genitals. Is this true? I don't have an issue seeing genitals, but...I dunno. Something rubs me wrong.

Hi there,

So, you’re not the only person asking this or who has sent the thing in question and asked for an opinion. Largely, the answer to these questions is to consider the source. This information is coming from someone who has said many untrue things, engaged in unethical and harmful behavior with no plan to address it, and, really bluntly, is at the beginning of their journey and has shared publicly that she has been involved in the family/temple she is currently with for less than a year. So…interpret that as you will.

The bigger questions that come from absolutist statements about spirits who enjoy bucking convention are interesting to think about.

If we make an absolutist statement about the Gede nasyon, that they ALWAYS expose their genitals to confirm the possession and that it’s not real if they don’t, we are creating a power dynamic to place ourselves on a pedestal of having The Truth. Folks who say they have the absolute truth are trying to sell you a bill of sale; they want your investment and to come to them asking what The Truth really is. Those kind of statements come from several places: lack of knowledge, the decision to deliberately mislead, or, tied to lack of knowledge, parroting statements that come from someone else.

The actual reality of what proves a possession as valid is much more varied and nuanced, and even varied when it’s Gede. It’s a good thing to talk about. So…what does that mean?

When a lwa comes down and mounts a chwal/horse, it can be proven in any number of ways if someone challenges the validity of the possession. For someone who knows how to look at possession and how to ‘see’ it, you can watch and observe what seems to be going on. I have seen possessions I believe not to be 100% true, and, to me, it looks like there’s a hole in the person that has not been filled appropriately.

There are also somewhat intricate ‘passwords’ that priests have. There is langaj/language that only the spirits speak and priests can understand. Each houngan or manbo asogwe has at least one secret name known only to the spirits, and a priest can ask a spirit for it to verify the fullness of what is happening. I’ve had a spirit use my private name when needing to get my attention on something and it’s an eye-widening moment, even when you already feel that it is truly the spirit present. There are gestures that are a language between spirits and people that recognize that someone is asking a question and the spirit is answering.

Sometimes it’s feats of strength. Sometimes Ogou will press the point of his machete into his stomach and bend it in half to prove his strength and resiliency without harming the chwal. Sometimes Ti-Jean will dance in a bonfire and come out unburned. It’s wide and varied.

Sometimes it is telling you things that no person knows. I’ve had spirits who have mounted people I have never met before tell me deeply personal things that I had never told anyone in the temple, or describe a dream I had in detail without me ever having told anyone the dream. They cut to your heart when they need to.

With Gede, it can be a lot of things. Piman, his most common drink, is undrinkable by actual people–it it made with 21 or more scotch bonnets and is literal firewater. Even having it poured on the ground can make your eyes water and your throat burn. So, Gede might chug on a bit of that. He might wash his face with it, pour it in his eyes, or use it like cologne and go about his business, which would be really uncomfortable for a person.

Sometimes Gede might expose the genitals of the chwal to wash them down with piman, but what is more common is Gede simply pouring some down the pants of the chwal and maybe giving the chwal’s junk a quick scrub or flipping up a skirt and doing the same thing with the chwal’s underwear–just pouring a whole bunch in and giving things a scrub.

It’s important to think about why this might happen. It certainly proves that Gede is there, since no person is going to scrub down their genitals in scotch bonnet infused rum (or…they’re only going to do that once and flee screaming), but it also serves other purposes. It could be a treatment for the chwal, not necessarily for something involving their genitals but just in general for a need the chwal may have. Libations for the lwa are things they enjoy drinking, but they are also medicine.

It could be for the shock factor of the crowd, because most of us don’t go around showcasing our genitals in public. This is taboo behavior socially, and Gede is the lwa who breaks taboos and does not behave as expected since death frees him from social conventions. In the same vein, NOT exposing genitals could be the shock factors as well; if someone fully expects to see some dick and they don’t, but Gede does other very meaningful and deep things then that is it’s own breaking of social conventions.

It could also be to embarrass or humiliate the chwal. Most folks who come back from a possession would be absolutely horrified to hear that Gede dropped their pants or flipped up their skirt. I mean, I know Haitian manbos who get very upset if their underwear was seen, nevermind their genitals. I’ve seen video of Gede punishing someone like that: he mounted his chwal and then stripped the chwal naked in the middle of the temple. Folks tried to intervene because even with Gede present there is modesty, and he turned his head and told them that the chwal doesn’t like to listen but maybe he’ll listen if he wants his clothes back.

Gede can be negotiated with, too. For some priests who are very modest and worried about being exposed, they negotiate with Gede to offer him something in return that he wants in exchange for his assurance that he will wear their body in a way that feels respectful. Like, they might get him a set of clothes for him only that he will change into once he comes, or he might get a new bottle or a new hat.

There’s no one answer here because Gede and all of the lwa are not made of stone; they do not do only one thing all the time ever. The assertion that they do betrays our attitudes about the spirits; that they are rigid, inflexible, and will conform to what we say. This is not the case with any spirit, ever, and particularly Gede. He takes our expectations and flips them and, when we hold too tightly to our ideas, he will take them from us one way or another because the only person who can truly dictate what Gede will do is Gede (and maybe a Bawon but that’s another post). Gede will happily make the fool of us when we project what we want him to do or when we try to use him as a tool to build ourselves up.

So…you might see some genitals come out at your fet Gede, or you might not. If Gede feels the need to expose himself, he will…but he’ll do as he wants how he wants. If the question comes up as to whether he is really there, he’ll make clear that he is, one way or another.

I hope this answers your question..I know this might be more than you really wanted, but I hope it helps!

#vodou #haitian vodou #real vodou #vodou culture #Gede #Ghede #Guede #fet gede #fet ghede #anonymous

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walaw717 · 6 years ago

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The dialect spoken by Appalachian people has been given a variety of names, the majority of them somewhat less than complimentary. Educated people who look with disfavor on this particular form of speech are perfectly honest in their belief that something called The English Language, which they conceive of as a completed work - unchanging and fixed for all time - has been taken and, through ignorance, shamefully distorted by the mountain folk.

The fact is that this is completely untrue. The folk speech of Appalachia instead of being called corrupt ought to be classified as archaic. Many of the expressions heard throughout the region today can be found in the centuries-old works of some of the greatest English authors: Alfred, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the men who contributed to the King James version of the Bible, to cite but a few.

Most editors who work with older materials have long assumed the role of officious busy bodies: never so happy, apparently, as when engaged in tidying up spelling, modernizing grammar, and generally rendering whatever was written by various Britons in ages past into a colorless conformity with today's Standard English.

To this single characteristic of the editorial mind must be ascribed the almost total lack of knowledge on the part of most Americans that the language they speak was ever any different than it is right now. How many people know, for example, that when the poet Gray composed his famous "Elegy" his title for it was "An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard?"

Southern mountain dialect (as the folk speech of Appalachia is called by linguists) is certainly archaic, but the general historical period it represents can be narrowed down to the days of the first Queen Elizabeth, and can be further particularized by saying that what is heard today is actually a sort of Scottish-flavored Elizabethan English. This is not to say that Chaucerian forms will not be heard in everyday use, and even an occasional Anglo-Saxon one as well. When we remember that the first white settlers in what is today Appalachia were the so-called Scotch-Irish along with some Palatine Germans, there is small wonder that the language has a Scottish tinge; the remarkable thing is that the Germans seem to have influenced it so little. About the only locally used dialect word that can be ascribed to them is briggity. The Scots appear to have had it all their own way.

When I first came to Lincoln County as a bride it used to seem to me that everything that did not pooch out, hooved up.

Pooch is a Scottish variant of the word pouch and was in use in the 1600's. Numerous objects can pooch out including pregnant women and gentlemen with "bay windows." Hoove is a very old past participle of the verb to heave and was apparently in use on both sides of the border by 1601. The top of an old-fashioned trunk may be said to hoove up. Another word heard occasionally in the back country is ingerns. Ingems are onions. In Scottish dialect the word is inguns; however, if our people are permitted the intrusive r in potaters, tomaters, tobaccer, and so on, there seems to be no reason why they should not use it in ingems as well.

It is possible to compile a very long list of these Scots words and phrases. I will give only a few more illustrations, and will wait to mention some points on Scottish pronunciation and grammar a little further on.

Fornenst is a word that has many variants. It can mean either "next to" or "opposite from." "Look at that big rattler quiled up fornenst the fence post!" (Quiled is an Elizabethan pronunciation of coiled.) "When I woke up this morning there was a little skift of snow on the ground." "I was getting better, but now I've took a backset with this flu." "He dropped the dish and busted it all to flinders." "Law, I hope how soon we get some rain!" (How soon is supposed to be obsolete, but it enjoys excellent health in Lincoln County.) "That trifling old fixin ain't worth a haet!" Haet means the smallest thing that can be conceived of, and comes from Deil hae't (Devil have it.) Fixin is the Old English or Anglo-Saxon word for she-fox as used in the northern dialect. In the south of England you would have heard vixen, the word used today in Standard English. It is interesting to note that it has been primarily the linguistic historians who have pointed out the predominately Scottish heritage of the Southern mountain people. Perhaps I may be allowed to digress for a moment to trace these people back to their beginnings.

Early in his English reign, James I decided to try to control the Irish by putting a Protestant population into Ireland. To do this he confiscated the lands of the earls of Ulster and bestowed them upon Scottish and English lords on the condition that they settle the territory with tenants from Scotland and England. This was known as the "Great Settlement" or the "King's Plantation," and was begun in 1610.

Most of the Scots who moved into Ulster came from the lowlands1 and thus they would have spoken the Scots variety of the Northumbrian or Northern English dialect. (Most highland Scots at that time still spoke Gaelic.) This particular dialect would have been kept intact if the Scots had had no dealings with the Irish, and this, according to records, was the case.

While in Ulster the Scots multiplied, but after roughly 100 years they became dissatisfied with the trade and religious restrictions imposed by England, and numbers of them began emigrating to the English colonies in America. Many of these Scots who now called themselves the "Scotch-Irish" came into Pennsylvania where, finding the better lands already settled by the English, they began to move south and west. "Their enterprise and pioneering spirit made them the most important element in the vigorous frontiersmen who opened up this part of the South and later other territories farther west into which they pushed."2

Besides the Scots who arrived from Ireland, more came directly from Scotland to America, particularly after "the '45", the final Jacobite uprising in support of "Bonnie Prince Charlie," the Young Pretender, which ended disastrously for the Scottish clans that supported him. By the time of the American Revolution there were about 50,000 Scots in this country.

But to get back to the dialect, let me quote two more linguistic authorities to prove my point about the Scottish influence on the local speech. Raven I. McDavid notes, "The speech of the hill people is quite different from both dialects of the Southern lowlands for it is basically derived from the Scotch-Irish of Western Pennsylvania."3 H. L. Mencken said of Appalachian folk speech, "The persons who speak it undiluted are often called by the Southern publicists, 'the purest Anglo-Saxons in the United States,' but less romantic ethnologists describe them as predominately Celtic in blood; though there has been a large infiltration of English and even German strains."4The reason our people still speak as they do is that when these early Scots and English and Germans (and some Irish and Welsh too) came into the Appalachian area and settled, they virtually isolated themselves from the mainstream of American life for generations to come because of the hills and mountains, and so they kept the old speech forms that have long since fallen out of fashion elsewhere. Things in our area are not always what they seem, linguistically speaking. Someone may tell you that "Cindy ain't got sense enough to come in outen the rain, but she sure is clever." Clever, you see, back in the 1600's meant "neighborly or accommodating." Also if you ask someone how he is, and he replies that he is "very well", you are not necessarily to rejoice with him on the state of his health. Our people are accustomed to use a speech so vividly colorful and virile that his "very well" only means that he is feeling "so-so." If you are informed that "several" people came to a meeting, your informant does not mean what you do by several - he is using it in its older sense of anywhere from about 20 to 100 people. If you hear a person or an animal referred to as ill, that person or animal is not sick but bad-tempered, and this adjective has been so used since the 1300's. (Incidentally, good English used sick to refer to bad health long, long before our forebearers ever started saying ill for the same connotation.)

Many of our people refer to sour milk as blinked milk. This usage goes back at least to the early 1600's when people still believed in witches and the power of the evil eye. One of the meanings of the word blink back in those days was "to glance at;" if you glanced at something, you blinked at it, and thus sour milk came to be called blinked due to the evil machinations of the witch. There is another phrase that occurs from time to time, "Man, did he ever feather into him!" This used to carry a fairly murderous connotation, having gotten its start back in the days when the English long bow was the ultimate word in destructive power. Back then if you drew your bow with sufficient strength to cause your arrow to penetrate your enemy up to the feathers on its shaft, you had feathered into him. Nowadays, the expression has weakened in meaning until it merely indicates a bit of fisticuffs.

One of the most baffling expressions our people use (baffling to "furriners," at least) is "I don't care to. . . ." To outlanders this seems to mean a definite "no," whereas in truth it actually means, "thank you so much, I'd love to." One is forevermore hearing a tale of mutual bewilderment in which a gentleman driving an out-of-state car sees a young fellow standing alongside the road, thumbing. When the gentleman stops and asks if he wants a lift, the boy very properly replies, "I don't keer to," using care in the Elizabethan sense of the word. On hearing this, the man drives off considerably puzzled leaving an equally baffled young man behind. (Even the word foreigner itself is used here in its Elizabethan sense of someone who is the same nationality as the speaker, but not from the speaker's immediate home area.

Reverend is generally used to address preachers, but it is a pretty versatile word, and full-strength whisky, or even the full-strength scent of skunk, are also called reverend. In these latter instances, its meaning has nothing to do with reverence, but with the fact that their strength is as the strength of ten because they are undiluted.

In the dialect, the word allow more often means "think, say, or suppose" than "permit." "He 'lowed he'd git it done tomorrow."A neighbor may take you into her confidence and announce that she has heard that the preacher's daughter should have been running after the mailman. These are deep waters to the uninitiated. What she really means is that she has heard a juicy bit of gossip: the preacher's daughter is chasing the local mail carrier. However, she takes the precaution of using the phrase should have been to show that this statement is not vouched for by the speaker. The same phrase is used in the same way in the Paston Letters in the 1400's.

Almost all the so-called "bad English" used by natives of Appalachia was once employed by the highest ranking nobles of the realms of England and Scotland. Few humans are really passionately interested in grammar so I'll skim as lightly over this section as possible, but let's consider the following bit of dialogue briefly: "I've been a-studying about how to say this, till I've nigh wearried myself to death. I reckon hit don't never do nobody no good to beat about the bush, so I'll just tell ye. Your man's hippoed. There's nothing ails him, but he spends more time using around the doctor's office than he does a-working."The only criticism that even a linguistic purist might offer here is that, in the eighteenth century, hippoed was considered by some, Jonathan Swift among others, to be slangy even though it was used by the English society of the day. (To say someone is hippoed is to say he is a hypochondriac.)

Words like a-studying and a-working are verbal nouns and go back to Anglo-Saxon times; and from the 1300's on, people who studied about something, deliberated or reflected on it. Nigh is the old word for near, and weary was the pronunciation of worry in the 1300's and 1400's. The Scots also used this pronunciation. Reckon was current in Tudor England in the sense of consider or suppose. Hit is the Old English third person singular neuter pronoun for it and has come ringing down through the centuries for over a thousand years. All those multiple negatives were perfectly proper until some English mathematician in the eighteenth century decided that two negatives make a positive instead of simply intensifying the negative quality of some statement. Shakespeare loved to use them. Ye was once used accusatively, and man has been employed since early times to mean husband. And finally, to use means to frequent or loiter. Certain grammatical forms occurring in the dialect have caused it to be regarded with pious horror by school marms. Prominent among the offenders, they would be almost sure to list these: "Bring them books over here." In the 1500's this was good English. "I found three bird's nestes on the way to school." This disyllabic ending for the plural goes back to the Middle Ages. "That pencil's not mine, it her'n." Possessive forms like his'n, our'n, your'n evolved in the Middle Ages on the model of mine and thine. In the revision of the Wycliffe Bible, which appeared shortly after 1380, we find phrases such as ". . .restore to hir alle things that ben hern," and "some of ourn went in to the grave." "He don't scare me none." In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries do was used with he, she, and it. Don't is simply do not, of course. "You wasn't scared, was you?" During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many people were careful to distinguish between singular you was and plural you were. It became unfashionable in the early nineteenth century although Noah Webster stoutly defended it. "My brother come in from the army last night." This usage goes back to late Anglo-Saxon times. You find it in the Paston Letters and in Scottish poetry. "I done finished my lessons," also has many echoes in the Pastons' correspondence and the Scots poets. From the late Middle Ages on up the Northern dialect of English used formations like this: "guiltless persons is condemned," and so do our people. And finally, in times past, participial forms like these abounded: has beat, has bore with it, has chose. Preterite forms were as varied: blowed, growed, catched, and for climbed you can find clum, clome, clim! all of which are locally used.

Pronunciation of many words has changed considerably, too. Deef for deaf, heered for heard, afeared for afraid, cowcumber for cucumber, bammy for balmy, holp for helped, are a very few. Several distinct characteristics of the language of Elizabeth's day are still preserved. Words that had oi in them were given a long i pronunciation: pizen, jine, bile, pint, and so on. Words with er were frequently pronounced as if the letters were ar: sarvice, sartin, narvous. It is from this time that we get our pronunciation of sergeant and the word varsity which is a clipping of the word university given the ar sound. Another Elizabethan characteristic was the substitution of an i sound for an e sound. You hear this tendency today when people say miny kittle, Chist, git, and so on. It has caused such confusion with the words pen and pin (which our people pronounce alike as pin) that they are regularly accompanied by a qualifying word - stick pin for the pin and pin and ink pin for the pen.You can hear many characteristic Scottish pronunciations. Whar, thar, dar (where, there, and dare) are typical. So also are poosh, boosh, eetch, deesh, (push, bush, itch, dish and fish.)

In some ways this vintage English reflects the outlook and spirit of the people who speak it; and, we find that not only is the language Elizabethan, but that some of the ways these people look at things are Elizabethan too. Many other superstitions still exist here. In some homes, when a death occurs all the mirrors and pictures are turned to the wall. Now I don't know if today the people still know why they do this, or if they just go through the actions because it's the thing to do, but this belief goes far back in history. It was once thought that the mirror reflected the soul of the person looking into it and if the soul of the dead person saw the soul of one of his beloved relatives reflected in the mirror, he might take it with him, so his relatives were taking no chances.

The belief that if a bird accidentally flies into a house, a member of the household will die, is also very old, and is still current in the region. Cedar trees are in a good deal of disfavor in Lincoln County, and the reason seems to stem from the conviction held by a number of people that if someone plants a cedar he will die when it grows large enough to shade his coffin.

Aside from its antiquity, the most outstanding feature of the dialect is its masculine flavor - robust and virile. This is a language spoken by a red-blooded people who have colorful phraseology born in their bones. They tend to call a spade a spade in no uncertain terms. "No, the baby didn't come early, the weddin' came late," remarked one proud grandpa. Such people have small patience with the pallid descriptive limitations of standard English. They are not about to be put off with the rather insipid remark, "My, it's hot!" or, "isn't it cold out today?" They want to know just how hot or cold: "It's hotter 'n the hinges of hell" or "Hit's blue cold out thar!" Other common descriptive phrases for cold are (freely) translated) "It's colder 'n a witch's bosom" or it's colder 'n a well-digger's backside."

Speakers of Southern mountain dialect are past masters of the art of coining vivid descriptions. Their everyday conversation is liberally sprinkled with such gems as: "That man is so contrary, if you throwed him in a river he'd float upstream!" "She walks so slow they have to set stakes to see if she's a-movin!" "Thet pore boy's an awkward size - too big for a man and not big enough for a horse." "Zeke, he come bustin' outta thar and hit it for the road quick as double-geared lightenin!"

Nudity is frowned upon in Appalachia, but for some reason there are numerous "nekkid as. ." phrases. Any casual sampling would probably contain these three: "Nekkid as a jaybird," "bare-nekkid as a hound dog's rump," and "start nekkid." Start-nekkid comes directly from the Anglo-Saxons, so it's been around for more than a thousand years. Originally "Start" was steort which meant "tail." Hence, if you were "start-nekkid," you were "nekkid to the tail." A similar phrase, "stark-naked" is a Johnny-come-lately, not even appearing in print until around 1530. If a lady tends to be gossipy, her friends may say that "her tongue's a mile long," or else that it "wags at both ends." Such ladies are a great trial to young dating couples. Incidentally, there is a formal terminology to indicate exactly how serious the intentions of these couples are, ranging from sparking which is simply dating, to courting which is dating with a more serious intent, on up to talking, which means the couple is seriously contemplating matrimony. Shakespeare uses talking in this sense in King Lear.

If a man has imbibed too much of who-shot-John, his neighbor may describe him as "so drunk he couldn't hit the ground with his hat," or, on the morning-after, the sufferer may admit that "I was so dang dizzy I had to hold on to the grass afore I could lean ag'in the ground."

One farmer was having a lot of trouble with a weasel killing his chickens. "He jest grabs 'em before they can git word to God," he complained.

Someone who has a disheveled or bedraggled appearance may be described in any one of several ways: "You look like you've been chewed up and spit out," or "you look like you've been a-sortin wildcats," or "you look like the hindquarters of hard luck," or, simply, "you look like somethin the cat drug in that the dog wouldn't eat!"

"My belly thinks my throat is cut" means "I'm hungry," and seems to have a venerable history of several hundred years. I found a citation for it dated in the early 1500's.A man may be "bad to drink" or "wicked to swear", but these descriptive adjectives are never reversed.

You ought not to be shocked if you hear a saintly looking grandmother admit she likes to hear a coarse-talking man; she means a man with a deep bass voice, (this can also refer to a singing voice, and in this case, if grandma prefers a tenor, she'd talk about someone who sings "Shallow.") Nor ought you to leap to the conclusion that a "Hard girl" is one who lacks the finer feminine sensibilities. "Hard" is the dialectal pronunciation of hired and seems to stem from the same source as do "far" engines that run on rubber "tars."

This language is vivid and virile, but so was Elizabethan English. However, some of the things you say may be shocking the folk as much as their combined lexicons may be shocking you. For instance, in the stratum of society in which I was raised, it was considered acceptable for a lady to say either "damn" or "hell" if strongly moved. Most Appalachian ladies would rather be caught dead than uttering either of these words, but they are pretty free with their use of a four letter word for manure which I don't use. I have heard it described as everything from bug _____ to bull ______. Some families employ another of these four letter words for manure as a pet name for the children, and seem to have no idea that it is considered indelicate in other areas of the country.Along with a propensity for calling a spade a spade, the dialect has a strange mid-victorian streak in it too. Until recently, it was considered brash to use either the word bull or stallion. If it was necessary to refer to a bull, he was known variously as a "father cow" or a "gentleman cow" or an "ox" or a "mas-cu-line," while a stallion was either a "stable horse" or else rather ominously, "The animal." Only waspers fly around Lincoln County, I don't think I've ever heard of a wasp there, and I've never been able to trace the reason for that usage, but I do know why cockleburrs are called cuckleburrs. The first part of the word cockleburr carries an objectionable connotation to the folk. However, if they are going to balk at that, it seems rather hilarious to me that they find nothing objectionable about cuckle.

A friend of mine who has a beauty parlor now, used to have a small store on the banks of the Guyan River. She told me about a little old lady who trotted into the store one day with a request for "some of the strumpet candy." My friend said she was very sorry, they didn't have any. But, she added gamely, what kind was it, and she would try to order some. The little lady glanced around to see if she could be overheard, lowered her voice and said, "well, it's horehound, but I don't like to use that word!"

The dialect today is a watered down thing compared to what it was a generation ago, but our people are still the best talkers in the world, and I think we should listen to them with more appreciation.

Notes1. Thomas Pyles, The Origins and Development of the English Language. (New York; Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1964), 36. "It is not surprising that those lowland Scotsmen who colonized the 'King's Plantation' in Ulster and whose descendents crossed the Atlantic and settled the Blue Ridge, the Appalachians, and the Ozarks should have been so little affected by the classical culture of the Renaissance."

2. Albert C. Baugh, A History of the English Language, 2nd ed., (New York, 1957), 409

.3. H. L. Mencken, The American Language, ed. Raven I. McDavid, Jr., the 4th ed. and the two supplements abridged, with annotations and new material. (New York, 1963), 455.4. Ibid., 459.

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