TODAY - December 10

 

NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS

ON: DECEMBER 10

New edition

TODAY’s LENGTH:

This day is here in Belgium 8 hours and 25 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 8 hours and 4 minutes – from 08.34 to 16.38.

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

TODAY’s NAME:

Today’s name is JUDITH’s DAY.  She was according to the Old Testament a beautiful woman from the town of Bethulis.  The town was about to be conquered by enemies. But their leader Holofernes was so thrilled about Judith that she managed to seduce him. Afterwards she beheaded him. And in this way she saved her natal town.

This day is also the United Nations Day for Human Rights.

In Belgium the day’s name is SAINTE EULALIE.  She was young Spanish girl, who lived in the years 290-304.  He was killed by the Roman emperor Diocletian’s soldiers because of her Christian faith.

PS: You might recall that yesterday’s name was the same.  My fault   

Yesterday was called SAINTE LÉACADIE – after a young Christian girl in Toledo in Spain.  She was killed by the Roman soldiers in 303 because of her Christian faith.

 

TODAY’s EVENT:

1799:  France introduces as the first country in the world the metric system.

TODAY’s QUESTION:

A Hamburger ( to eat) -  what is the history behind that name?

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:

Nicotin – where does that word come from?

47 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EUROPE:

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

 

TODAY’s QUOTE & FAMOUS PEOPLE :

1.  Yesterday’s quote:

To be an actor is a boring profession. Which man with wit and genius can

base his life on that?

This was said by the American actor Kirk Douglas.

 

2.  Today’s quote:

I should like to invent a material or a machine with the possibility for

mass destruction, so that war never would be possible again.

 

Who of today’s persons has said that?

3.  Famous people born on this day:

1830:  Emily Dickinson  ( died 1886 )

1891:  Nelly Sachs  ( died 1970 )

1914:  Astrid Henning-Jensen  ( died 2002 )

4.  Famous people died on this day:

1896:  Alfred Nobel  ( 63 years )

1936:  Luigi Pirandello  ( 69 years )

2006:  Augusto Pinochet  ( 91 years )

 

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

niels4europe@gmail.com  

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

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