The KellyGram

Wisdom and Wit About the Wonderful and Often Wacky World of Words

Published by Bob Kelly

Resident Wordsmith and Quotemeister

WordCrafters, Inc.

www.wordcrafters.info

Providing the Right Word for Speakers, Writers, Ministry Leaders, Business Executives and Just Plain Folks — since 1979! 

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Volume 7 — Number 12 December 2009

EXTRA! OUR NEW BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE. SEE ARTICLE BELOW!

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Welcome to Issue 84 of The KellyGram!

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In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, wrote these words: "We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times."

This has been a difficult year in so many ways but, as we look to the future, let’s do so with that same attitude displayed by "the Father of Our Country," with the faith that our situation will indeed change for the better.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed and bountiful New Year.

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In This Issue:

• Fun with Words
• The Quote Corner (The Future)
• Our New Book! See Sample Below!
• The Word[s] of the Year
• Smile Awhile
• Odds and Ends
• The Last Word

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FUN WITH WORDS

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This month we’re featuring anagrams, defined as "words or phrases made by transposing the letters of other words or phrases." Your challenge is to match the clues in the left column with the words in the right column. For example, (1) "got turned round" is (E) tog, and (2) "left in disarray" is (D) felt.

You'll find the correct answers elsewhere in this issue.

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THE QUOTE CORNER (The Future)

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Nobody can really guarantee the future. The best we can do is size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to deal with them and them make our plans with confidence.
    Henry Ford II

To pierce the curtain of the future, to give visage to mysteries still in the womb of time, is the gift of the imagination.
    Felix Frankfurter

We are always looking to the future; the present does not satisfy us. Our ideal, whatever it may be, lies further on.
    Ezra Gillett

The future belongs to the learners — not the knowers.
    Eric Hoffer

What the future holds for us depends on what we hold for the future. Hard-working todays make high-winning tomorrows.
    William E. Holler

The future has several names. For the weak, it is the impossible. For the fainthearted, it is the unknown. For the thoughtful and valiant, it is the ideal.
    Victor Hugo

The future is not in the hands of fate but in ours.
    Jules Jusserand

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
    Charles F. Kettering.

Act with determination not to be turned aside by thoughts of the past or fears of the future.
    Robert E. Lee

How narrow our souls become when absorbed in any present good or ill! It is only the thought of the future that makes them great.
    Jean Paul Richter

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
    Eleanor Roosevelt

As for the future, your task is not to foresee but to enable.
    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Far from offering a shortcut to clairvoyance, history teaches us that the future is full of surprises and outwits all our certitudes.
    Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

The frontiers of the future lie invitingly before us. They stretch to fabulous horizons of scientific and technological discovery.
    Earl O. Shreve

The past cannot be changed; the future is still in your power.
    Hugh White

The future is called "perhaps," which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the important thing is not to allow that to scare you.
    Tennessee Williams

(Note: These quotations are from our collection of more than 425 published volumes of quotations and 1.5 million entries. If you're looking for quotes on virtually any subject, send us an email at bob@kellygram.com, or call us at 480-895-7617. Or, if you have a quote topic you'd like us to feature in an upcoming issue, email it to us and we'll get it on the schedule.)

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A SAMPLE FROM OUR NEW BOOK FEATURING STORIES OF SUCCESS

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I’m happy to report that my new book: The Best of Success: A Treasury of Inspiration, beautifully illustrated in full color and written in conjunction with Mac Anderson, founder and CEO of Simple Truths, LLC, is now available on the Simple Truths web site, www.simpletruths.com.

Each of the book’s 25 chapters focuses on a specific characteristic of success, opening with a story about someone who demonstrated that characteristic, followed by about 20 quotations which support it. The stories are of the famous and the obscure, of men and women of various ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, each of whom traveled a different path on the journey to success.

Chapter 1 is titled "Believe in Yourself," and begins with these words:

"She was born to Jewish parents in Russia in 1898. When she was eight years old, her family moved to the United States, settling in Milwaukee. Her parents enrolled her in a local school, although she knew no English. Nevertheless, by the time she graduated, she was valedictorian of her class."

The Best of Success might prove to be the perfect Christmas gift for that family member, friend, colleague or client who already has "just about everything." You may preview the book at www.simpletruths.com, and order copies by clicking the following link: http://www.shareasale.com/m-pr.cfm?merchantID=17824&userID=344748&productID=468240100"

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WORDS[S] OF THE YEAR!

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The New Oxford American Dictionary has announced its 2009 Word of the Year: unfriend. And it’s not a noun, it’s a verb, referring to the act of removing an erstwhile friend from one’s page on Facebook, MySpace or other social media site. Oh, the shame of it all, to be unfriended. At least one person has objected, claiming the right word should be "defriend." Is there no end to this lunacy?

Merriam-Webster’s 2009 Word of the Year is "admonish," based on the actual number of user lookups on its online dictionary and thesaurus. According to an M-W spokesman: "Admonish shot to the top of the list three days after Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during a speech made by President Obama, and it remained among our top lookups for weeks." In case you missed it, Wilson’s outburst consisted of two words: "You lie."

Wilson wasn’t the only member of Congress to be admonished by his peers in 2009. Last month, the U.S. Senate’s Ethics Committee sent Illinois Senator Roland Burrus a "Public Letter of Qualified Admonition," apparently for his allegedly less than forthright statements about the circumstances leading to his appointment.

According to one newspaper report I read, the letter included a statement which struck me as rather amusing (hilarious, actually), so you’ll find it in our "Smile Awhile" section, which follows.

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SMILE AWHILE

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The statement in the Ethics Committee’s letter to Senator Burrus which gave me a laugh (in a cynical and curmudgeonly sort of way) was this: "Senators must meet a much higher standard of conduct." The exact height of that standard wasn’t mentioned, but one can hope, despite much evidence to the contrary, that it might be at least a bit higher than the dismal approval ratings Congress is receiving from our citizenry.

On the subject of Congressional ethics, Wesley Pruden, editor-in-chief of The Washington Times until retiring last year, once commented: "‘Ethics’ is suddenly the congressional mantra, though looking for an ethic in Congress is as foolish as looking for a virgin in a bordello."

Of course, there’s nothing new about making fun of our elected officials. A century or more ago, two of America’s greatest humorists, Mark Twain and Will Rogers, often made them the butt (no pun intended) of their humor. For example, Rogers once said: "This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer," and Twain quipped: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

Okay, I know all too well that what’s happening in Washington these days is very serious business, and that the stakes for all of us and for future generations are very high. But no matter how serious any given situation might be, a little humor can be a great stress reliever. So, smile awhile! It’s a whole lot better for you than crying and swearing and gnashing your teeth.

I firmly believe there are better days ahead. If you’re having difficulty buying into that notion, I suggest another look at the words of George Washington which begin this newsletter, and the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson which end it.

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ODDS AND ENDS

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Back Issues:

All previous issues of The KellyGram, dating back to January 2003, are available on our website: http://www.wordcrafters.info/back_issues.html.

Privacy Policy:

Your privacy is very important to us. We assure you that under no circumstances will we share, distribute, publish, give away or sell our mailing lists or other information about you to any other party.

Reprint Permission:

You may copy or distribute excerpts from The KellyGram by using the following credit line: "The following is taken from the December 2009 issue of The KellyGram, and is used with permission." We will appreciate receiving copies of any publications in which you use materials contained herein. Thank you.

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As always, I welcome your support. If you've found The KellyGram to be a helpful resource, I'd be grateful if you'd send this issue along to your friends, family members and colleagues. If they'd like to subscribe — it's FREE — all they have to do is send an email to bob@kellygram.com or use the form at http://www.wordcrafters.info/newsletters.html. Thanks so much!

Comments/Questions:

Your comments and questions are always welcome. Please contact us at bob@kellygram.com, or call Bob Kelly at (480) 895-7617.

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FUN WITH WORDS

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Here are the answers to this month's puzzle:

The credit (or blame, if you prefer) for this month’s Fun with Words goes to G. Armour "Van" Van Horn, who hosts our web site and has faithfully been launching The KellyGram into cyberspace for the past several years.

Van is also a dedicated collector of quotations, and I’m one of thousands of subscribers to his "Quotes of the Day" ezine. For your own free subscription, visit the Quotes of the Day subscription page at http://www.qotd.org/subscribe.html. I highly recommend it.

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THE LAST WORD

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"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be."

(Alfred Lord Tennyson)

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© 2009 by Bob Kelly. All rights reserved.