Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Pull out all the stops (and, yes, music)

We are now in the thick of the winter celebratory season. Do you like to curl up and quietly meditate and hibernate at this time, or are you someone who pulls out all the stops and parties nonstop?

Speaking of pulling out the stops...

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The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer has this to say about the phrase:

pull out all the stops: Use all the resources or force at one's disposal... This term comes from organ-playing, where it means "bring into play every rank of pipes," thereby creating the fullest possible sound. It has been used figuratively since about 1860.

But why use it figuratively, when we can go with a literal musical compilation of Christmas-themed organ music? So, here you go, courtesy of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford (England): 45 minutes of Christmas Organ Music from December 16, 2020.

Slang-o-Rama takes a break for: Christmas song "firsts"

Since the Christmas holiday is breathing down my neck and the Cambridge Singers are featured on Pandora as I type, we're going to take a break from SLANG this week and turn to SONG (with a holiday twist). Sooooo do you know (without peeking!):

1. What was the first song that mentioned Santa Claus?
2. What was the first Christmas song played in space?
3. What was the first Christmas song ever written?

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Now, I won't stake my first-born on these answers, but this is what I found:

1. According to Insider, the earliest song that references Santa Claus (aka Saint Nicholas)  is Up on the Housetop written in 1864 by Benjamin Hanby. (Wikipedia concurs on the date and the author, and even supplies the original lyrics.) Here's a 1949 version sung by Bill Boyd and his Cowboy Ramblers. Get ready to stomp your feet, clap your hands, and warble along...
   



2. Guinness World Records says that on December 16, 1965, while in orbit above planet Earth, the crew of Gemini 6 "spotted Santa" after which a tinkly rendition of Jingle Bells burst forth from the capsule. Jingle Bells has another "first" claim: Written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont, it is also the first secular Christmas song. Enjoy this space-y rendition, below.
     



3. Classic FM has a nifty post titled A dive into the surprising history of the Christmas carol, with all kind of fascinating information, including this passage:  "It’s generally accepted that one of the first Christmas carols ever to be recorded was the 129 AD Angels Hymn, according to The New Daily." (You can read more about Angels Hymn on The New Daily, here.) 
   I'm not sure if the music below is THE Angels Hymn, but it's titled The Old Angels Hymn, which is good enough for me...
   

And finally, I leave you with this compilation of Christmas carols (a sing-along!) performed by a virtual choir of employees from the Houston Methodist Hospital.  

Sending my heartfelt gratitude to all health workers, wherever they may be, and wishing everyone a peace-filled season...

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Face the music

In my newest Silver Rush novel MORTAL MUSIC, several characters—including prima donna Theia Carrington Drake—must face the music as the story unfolds.

Since I'm exploring music-related slang this month, this seems like the perfect time to dig into the origins of this idiom. On the surface, to face the music sounds enjoyable—what's not to like about experiencing a musical interlude? (Unless it's really loud or not to your liking, of course.) But the definition of this phrase is anything but pleasant: to meet, take, or accept the consequences of one's mistakes, actions. 

So, what's the origin, and why isn't facing the music a more welcome prospect?
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PhraseFinder's thorough entry reflects my musing before giving a shrug:

The phrase 'face the music' has an agreeable imagery. We feel that we can picture who was facing what and what music was playing at the time. Regrettably, the documentary records don't point to any clear source for the phrase and we are, as so often, at the mercy of plausible speculation...

 Two possibilities offered up are:

1. It reflects the tradition of disgraced officers being "drummed out" of their regiment
2. It originated in the theater world: Actors "face the music" when they go onstage and face the orchestra pit.

The PhraseFinder notes the phrase first popped up in U.S., with one of its earliest appearances in The New Hampshire Statesman & State Journal in August 1834:

Will the editor of the Courier explain this black affair. We want no equivocation - 'face the music' this time.

My copy of American Slang: Second Edition, edited by Robert L. Chapman, has the phrase in use by 1850 and offers two possible sources:

1. It might have come about from the necessity of forcing a cavalry horse to steadily face the regimental band.
2. It refers to the plight of a performer on stage.

I'm going to go with the second suggestions in both cases. For me and MORTAL MUSIC, it hits the right note!

Unlike some of my characters, this singer is prepared to face the music.
By Ivan Kramskoi - The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6359697

POSTSCRIPT: In the comments to this post, Liz V notes she found another "origin story" for face the music on the World Wide Words blog site. Theory: That it comes from contra dancing (which I also had to look up... :-) ). Thank you, Liz!

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Chin music

As promised, here's another musical idiom to herald the upcoming release of the seventh book in my Silver Rush series, MORTAL MUSIC:

 Chin music.

I'll confess, this is a new one to me. Not that it's "new." In fact, it apparently first appeared almost two centuries ago...

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According to American Slang, Second Edition, edited by Robert L. Chapman Ph.D., chin music has several definitions, depending on the context. It can mean:

1. talk, especially inconsequential chatter or chitchat (first appeared in 1830s)
2. various kinds of raucous shouting at a baseball game, from the crowd, from the players to each other, from the players or manager to the umpires, etc. (by 1880s)
3. a pitched ball that passes close to the batter's face; a beanball (by the 1980s)

I checked this one on Google's ngram, and sure enough, there it is, going waaaay back.



I dug a little deeper and found several 19th-century examples, including the one below from Potter's American Monthly: An Illustrated Magazine of History, Literature, Science and Art, Volumes 10–11 (1878).

Chin music would fit right in with my Silver Rush series. So is this idiom new to you as well? Or is it just me?

A chin-music ensemble? (Cue the accompanist, entering the room.)
By Eugene de Blaas - Art Renewal Center, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7753932

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Blow one's own horn

With the newest of my Silver Rush historical mysteries, MORTAL MUSIC, officially releasing on January 27, I thought I'd spend this month exploring some not-so-random musical idioms and bits of slang. After all, as an author, I should blow my own horn or alternatively (or more specifically) blow my trumpet.
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According to The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer, these phrases, which mean to "brag about oneself," have been out and about since the late 1500s.

I was having a hard time finding out much else about this phrase until I stumbled on an archived Writer's Block post by S. D. Liddiard (from the year 2000!) titled "Instruments of Expression: Bells, Drums, and a Horn," which notes:

To blow your own horn is to be a braggart or "blowhard." This expression, arising in the American West about the middle of the 19th century, derives from an earlier expression, blow your own trumpet, dating back to at least 1576 and probably originating in medieval times, when heralds blew trumpets to announce the arrival of the king. Of course, any merchant or other commoner who wanted to announce his arrival had to blow his own horn.

And if that strikes a chord with you, feel free to check out this Slang-o-rama post from July 2019 that delves into that particular expression.

Now here is a man who knows how to blow his own horn! Might he be an author with an upcoming book release??
The actual title of this 1818 cartoon by G. Cruikshank is "A German mountebank blowing his own trumpet at a Dutch concert of 500 piano fortes!!" (From the Library of Congress)

Christmas came early (Slang-o-rama takes a break)

My author copies of MORTAL MUSIC arrived earlier this month... yet another reason for me to celebrate the season.

And here, as a little gift to you, is a piece of music that features prominently in this most recent Silver Rush historical mystery. Sit back and enjoy!



Wishing you all a restful break this week. Slang-o-rama will return next Wednesday: the first day of a new year and a new decade.

Blog Hop Part 3: Getting "into the mood"

Continuing the blog hop on "the writer's process" from yesterday (exploring the question: How does my writing/work differ from others in the genre?) and the day before (What am I working on/writing?), today I'm tackling the question: How does my writing process work?

How does my writing process work?

How does my writing process work?

How does my writing process work?

How does my writing process work?

This is actually the fourth/last question in this particular blog hop questionnaire, but I feel like doing this one today, and who's to stop me? Answer: No one, because I'm sitting here at my home computer and there's no one peering over my shoulder as I pound out the words...

Basically, my writing process is pretty straightforward:

• Sit down at "my station" (my home office, if I'm working from home, or a client office, if I'm stationed there)
• Rev up the computer
• Slide on computer glasses (effectively throwing everything but the screen, keyboard, and papers in the immediate vicinity "out of focus" ... which cuts down on visual distractions)
• Check emails to be sure the world hasn't ended since my last session
• Put my cell phone aside (but nearby, for any text/check-in needs)
• Make sure that cuppa Joe is at hand
• Plug in the noise reduction earphones and slide 'em on
• Call up my Pandora stations (or, if for some reason, I can't access/use Pandora, I attach the earphones to my cell and call up my iTunes library)
• Put hands on keyboard
• Type

At  my home battle station, ready for action. Note fuzzy companion, snoozing off her "food coma," by window to left.

Of course, before all this happens, there is some requisite dithering around. For instance, this morning, I fed the cat (so she's sated and won't sit on my keyboard and glare at me accusingly for starving her), read the front section the newspaper, opened some windows downstairs for fresh air before the heat sets in.

Me? Sit on your keyboard? When have I ever done that?

All the time, I was thinking about this post (well, off and on, anyway), and how I might get started. I made a short list of things I need/want to do today, so as not to "get lost" and find myself at day's end, gnashing teeth over what I didn't do.

 For fiction writing, or any kind of writing, this overall process is pretty much the same.

For me, music is a key component. Sometimes, Pandora shuts off/leaves in a huff (with that plaintive "Are you still listening?" bubble floating on the screen). If I'm deep into writing, I don't even notice the music is gone. But, at least at the start, it helps me enter the process and "the zone." I created a variety of stations to choose from, depending on my mood and what kind of writing I'm doing, mostly (but not entirely) leaning toward classical and Celtic ("New Age") music. That said, I'll confess to a certain fondness for P!nk (who channels what I think of as the sort of "in your face" attitude that my protagonist, Inez Stannert, occasionally takes on). I captured the lineup of stations on that are on my list, just FYI, if you're interested. (DISCLAIMER: Not all of these are "mine." I have stations that I listen to with my spouse--Pink Floyd and Gabby Pahanui, anyone?--and my daughter--that's the Autechre station--etc.)

My list of Pandora stations... apologies for the raster effect!

Once I'm in the zone, I write, with inner editor off, if possible. (For fiction, this comes pretty easily. If I'm working on a piece for a client, I often have the political/technical parameters rumbling around in my brain at the same time, so it's not quite the headlong dash.)

Well, time to wrap this up and proceed to the next project. I can now tick "finish blog post" off my list of the day! Progress!

Tomorrow, I'll tackle the final blog hop question: Why do I write what I do?

Some of the necessities for "getting in the mood."

How does my writing process work?

How does my writing process work?