TODAY - November 12

 NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS

ON: NOVEMBER 12

New edition

TODAY’s LENGTH:

This day is here in Belgium 7 hours and 22 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 9 hours and 7 minutes – from 07.53 to 17.01.

See more – also in English – on www.dagenslaengde.dk

TODAY’s NAME:

This day is called TORKIL's DAY.  It has been like that since 1725. But nobody knows any longer, what the reason is. There are no saints with that name.

TODAY’s EVENT:

1859:  Charles Darwin publishes the book "The Origin of Species”.   Many Christians got very angry with the book and its findings.

 

TODAY’s QUESTION:

Hamburger – what is that ?  And where does the word come from?

Of course, the word is the name of the inhabitants in the city of Hamburg in Germany. But it is more than that.

It is the name of a special burger, a sort of sandwich, you can say. A piece of minced beef between two pieces of bread. It can take many forms, and it is normally hot, when it is served. There are many different types of hamburgers, of course. It depends on who makes them – and in what part of the world you are.

But the question here is: Where does the name come from?

The best known explanation is that it comes from New York at the end of the 19th century. Lots of Jewish immigrants arrived from Hamburg to the city. Many of them could not find any work. As Jews are often full of initiative some of them started the production of “fast food” – some beef between two pieces of bread. That dish was soon sold all over New York and became a huge success. And as the producers came from Hamburg it wasn’t surprising that this new lunch food soon was called a hamburger.

There are other explanations such as the story that it comes from the small town of Hamburg in upstate New York. A town called Hamburg (56.000 inh.) near the border to Canada. I do not believe in that explanation.

I believe more in a third explanation: that the hamburger is invented by a Dane, Louis Lassen. He was originally a mechanic, had immigrated to the US in the 1880ies and lived in the small town of New Haven in Connecticut north of New York.  After a few years he bought a railway car and started a small kiosk with food. And when a client one day came into the kiosk and asked for something to eat in a rush as he had to leave quickly Louis grapped a piece of meat and wrapped it between two pieces of bread.  The hamburger was invented.  Louis claimed for the rest of his life that he in this way invented the hamburger. And his restaurant Louis’ Lunch still exists in New Haven and claims that it is the only restaurant in the world, which invented the hamburger and continues to serve it!   Why is it then called a hamburger?  Perhaps because Louis came from the small village Hamborg in the west of Denmark?  This still has to be found out!

But enjoy your next hamburger with all this knowledge. If it is good and tasty!

By the way: a small not too serious thought linked to hamburger:  We all remember, when president Kennedy during a visit to Berlin in 1963 ended his speech with the famous words: Ich bin ein Berliner!  So why did Reagan never visit Hamburg?  How should he have ended his speech ?!

 

QUESTION FOR TOMORROW:

Roskilde Peace Treaty of 1658  - what is that?

 

THE EUROPEAN QUESTION FOR TOMORROW:

What is the EU defense cooperation?

 

47 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EUROPE:

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

 

TODAY’s QUOTE & FAMOUS PEOPLE :

1.  Yesterday’s quote:

To make the truth more likely you always have to mix it with some lies.

            This was once said by the Russian author Fjodor Dostojevski.

2.  Today’s quote:

        In today's society it is almost only the artists, who do their work with joy.

             Who has said that?

3.  Famous people born on this day:

1684:  Edward Vernon ( ”Old Grog” )  ( died 1757 )

1833:  Alexander Borodin  ( died 1887 )

1840:  Auguste Rodin  ( died 1917 )

1866:  Sun Yat-sen  ( died 1925 )

1929:  Grace Kelly  ( died 1982 )

1961:  Nadia Comaneci

 

4.  Famous people died on this day:

1035:  Cnut the Great  ( 40 years )

1667:  Hans Nansen  ( 69 years )

1720:  Peter Wessel Tordenskjold  ( 30 years )

1948:  Umberto Giordano  ( 81 years )

1987:  Cornelis Vreeswijk  ( 50 years )


Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

niels4europe@gmail.com  

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

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