TODAY - August 14

 NIELS’ SUMMER GREETINGS

ON: AUGUST 14

New edition

TODAY’s LENGTH:

This day is here in Denmark 2 hours and 26 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 15 hours and 9 minutes – from 05.45 to 20.54.

See more – also in English – about where you are on:  www.dagenslaengde.dk

TODAY’s NAME:

This day is called EUSEBIUS' DAY.  He was a Roman priest, who after seven months in prison died in 357 AD.

The day’s name in Belgium is SAINT MAXIMILIEN MARIE KOLBE. He was a Polish Franciscan priest, who lived in the years 1894-1941.  He died voluntarily in the Auschwitz KZ camp as a replacement for another prisoner.

TODAY’s EVENT:

1980:  Lech Walesa ( pronounced Walensa ) starts the general strike in Gdansk against the Polish communist authorities.

 

TODAY’s QUESTION:

Wet behind the ears - what does that mean?  And what is the story behind it?

This expresssion means that somebody is very unexperienced and knows very little. Just as if he or she had just been born and therefore still is wet behind the ears from the birth.  This explanation is very well known.

But what is perhaps less know to you is the same expression in the Danish language: He just arrived with the four o'clock train!  This is primarily a sort of slang from Copenhagen - with the same meaning as above. The historical explanation is that a hundred years and more ago many people from the west of Denmark ( Jutland ) took the train to Copenhagen to look for work. There weren't that many trains at the time. So you could take one mid morning from Jutland and be in Copenhagen at 4 p.m.  And those people were often by the locals seen as very unexperienced and therefore only qualified for very unskilled tasks. So history is as always a very active factor in the development of any language.

QUESTION FOR TOMORROW:

Jorvik - what is that? And what is the history behind it?

47 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EUROPE:

EUROPE AT WORK     www.europe-at-work.be

 

TODAY’s QUOTE & FAMOUS PEOPLE :

1.  Yesterday’s quote:

        A man is only really married, when he understands all the words his wife does

             not say.

             This was once said by the British-American actor and film director

             Alfred Hitchcock.  

2.  Today’s quote:

        It is not easy to stop in politics. It is like riding a tiger. You cannot get off.

             Who among today's persons has said that?

3.  Famous people born on this day:

1771:  Walter Scott  ( died 1832 )

1777:  H.C. Ørsted  (  died 1851 )

1867:  John Galsworthy  ( died 1933 )

1914:  Poul Hartling  ( died 2000 )

1949:  Morten Olsen

 

4.  Famous people died on this day:

            1951:  William Randolph Hearst  ( 90 years )

            1984:  J.B. Priestley  ( 90 years )

            1988:  Enzo Ferrari  (  90 years )

            1994:  Elias Canetti  ( 89 years )

 

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

niels4europe@gmail.com  

www.simplesite.com/kimbrer   + EUROPE AT WORK:  www.europe-at-work.be

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TODAY - November 29

  NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS ON: NOVEMBER 29 New edition TODAY’s LENGTH: This day is here in Belgium 8 hours and 7 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 8 hours and 22 minutes – from 08.20 to 16.42. Se more – also in English – about where you are on:   www.dagenslaengde.dk TODAY’s NAME: Today’s name is SATURNINUS’ DAY .   He was a missionary in Toulouse in the southwest of France. And later he became a bishop there.   In the year 250 AC the non-Christians decided to kill him. He was tied to the legs of a bull. And the bull was then pursued down the stairs from the local capitol.   Later a church named Notre-Dame-du-Tours was built on that spot. The day’s name in Belgium is SAINT RADBOD – after a Frisian king, who was also bishop in Utrecht in the Netherlands.   He was fighting with the Franconeans and defeated Karel Martel near Cologne.   He died in 719.   TODAY’s EVENT: 1814: The newspaper The Times in London star...
Read more

TODAY - FEBRUARY 8

Image
  NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS ON: FEBRUARY 8 New 2021 edition TODAY’s PERSON: I have chosen the French author JULES VERNE .   He was born on this day in 1828 and died 77 years old in 1905.   He was and still is very well know for his many book about adventurous travels to many places.   His point of departure was the many new scientific discoveries in his lifetime.   Based upon them he tried to imagine how their use would develop in the future – what they could be used for.    For many he   considered to be the father of science fiction.   In his special way. Among his many famous books are the following: Five Weeks in a Balloon   ( in Africa ) Journey to the Centre of the Earth   ( taking place in Denmark and Iceland ) From the Earth to the Moon In Search of the Castaways / The Children of Captain Grant Twenty-Thousand Under the Sea: A Tour of the Underwater World Around the World in Eighty Days His books were ...
Read more

TODAY - July 12

NIELS’ SUMMER GREETINGS ON: JULY 12 New edition TODAY’s LENGTH: This day is here in Denmark 28 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 17 hours and 7 minutes – from 04.47 to 21.54. See more – also in English – about where you are on:   www.dagenslaengde.dk TODAY’s NAME: This day is called HEINRICH’s DAY .    It has its name after Holy Heinrich , who was German-Roman emperor in the years 1002-24. He created the diocese Bamberg and initiated the building of many churches and monasteries. In Belgium the day’s name is SAINT JEAN GUALBERT – after an Italian abbot, who lived in the years 985-1073.   He started the Vallumbrosa order. TODAY’s EVENT: 1920:   The Panama Canal is opened by US president Woodrow Wilson . TODAY’s QUESTION: Sandwich - what's the history of that word? And what is it? We all know what a sandwich is: two pieces of bread put on top of one another and with some nice stuff like meat, ...
Read more