Proofreader Panda

The origins of the strange word "Yuletide". A favorite time for pandas.

Yule came to us because Old English borrowed Old Norse's 'jol', and made it 'geola' which was a heathen feast. For Anglo-Saxons it eventually came to signify the two-month winter season corresponding to the Roman December and January, but by then it was known as 'giuli'. When Anglo-Saxons were Christianized it narrowed to only mean the 12-day feast of the nativity beginning with December 25th. By the 11th century it only meant Christmas day. The word fell out of regular use for a few hundred years. In the 19th century it was revived by writers to signify The Christmas of Merry England (with an emphasis on the Merry part) because apparently Old French also borrowed Old Norse 'jol' - making it 'jolif', which became Modern French's 'joli' - meaning pretty, nice, and festive - British writers apparently merged these meanings. The first reference to a yule log is in the 17th century.

On to 'Tide' - in Old English it was 'tid', which meant a point or portion of time. It was a period, a season, the time that something was due, a feast day or a canonical hour. This came from Proto-Germanic 'tidiz', which simply meant a division of time.

The panda's curiosity is satisfied for now....

TODAY'S PANDA WORD IS:

Gauche (adj)

• having or showing a lack of awareness about the proper way to behave

• socially awkward

"He thanked us for a wonderful evening and then climbed out the window, gauche as he was."

From the French, meaning 'left' as opposed to right.

TODAY'S PANDA WORD IS:

Perspicuous (adj)

• clearly expressed and easily understood; lucid:

• able to give an account or express an idea clearly.

"He provided a perspicuous summary of his treatise on the benefits of using gibberish in sociological works."

Noun form: Perspicuity

The word originates from the late 15th cent. (in the sense ‘transparent’): from Latin perspicuus ‘transparent, clear’ (from the verb perspicere ‘look at closely’)

ONE THOUSAND pandas typing on one thousand typewriters may never accidentally write the works of Shakespeare...but they could edit them. Watch closely:

ORIGINAL:

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

PANDA:

To yourself be true, and just as day follows night, you can then be false to no man.

IF YOU believe the panda's version to be clearer and more succinct please Like this post.

Panda Dinner Etiquette:

A Panda bear goes to a restaurant. He orders a meal and eats it. After paying for his meal, he pulls out a gun and shoots it in the air. He immediately walks out the door.

"Why did you do that?" hollers the confused waitress.

The panda says, "I'm a panda. Look it up in the dictionary."

The waitress finds a dictionary and searches for the definition of Panda Bear. Finding it, she reads, "Panda Bear - a large black and white bear, native to the far east. Eats shoots and leaves."